And many folks in Michigan will continue to vote for the Democrats, who could care less for the people. Just keep the people down and out, continually promise them roses but don't deliver, and offer the same promises to get their votes. When will it ever end? For years the African American community has been exploited by the Dems. Jackson, Sharpton, et. al., who don't give a crap about their own people--please, they're in this for money and power--continue to scare their fellow blacks into voting Democratic, and why? What have the Democrats done?

The African American community, as my company V-P likes to tell me, is "a culturally conservative group. We don't support gay marriage, we are pro-life, we want school vouchers, we like charter schools, we want to run our own businesses and hire our own kind not because we have to, but because we want to. Only one party, the Republicans, share these same views. The Democratic Party has lied to us, betrayed us. They are diametrically opposed to everything our people believe in."

He is so right.

A car ride into Detroit is a reminder this election season of why public policy matters. Take Exit 54 (or any Detroit exit) off I-75 and follow Grand River Blvd. into the heart of a city that has been ravaged by years of the same Democratic agenda preached by John Kerry: class envy, racial resentment, high taxation, monopoly public education, and union empowerment.

This is a living laboratory for Democratic policies.

Abandoned buildings choke block after block of Grand River. Once alive with businesses, these storefronts were abandoned when the city stopped providing adequate city services, bowing to racial furies that declared white businessmen were unwanted here. A city government built on cronyism and union obedience has yielded a regulatory thicket that most small proprietors find impenetrable. Negotiating a business license is akin to pulling teeth, and even when acquired, city services dominated by public unions - privatization is a dirty word here - are haphazard at best in a city that boasts the state's highest taxes.

Behind these storefronts lie neighborhoods in severe decay. Seventy percent of families in this predominantly black city are without fathers, a calamity accelerated by years of Democratic Party welfare programs. A poor public school system is made worse by the lack of time these fractured families have for their children at home. Just 30 percent of high school students graduate.

For those families that do have ambitions for their children, state Republicans (there are no Republicans in Detroit city govt.) have approved charter schools over Democratic and union opposition. The waiting lists for these schools run into the thousands. This year, a major effort by Republican businessman Robert Thompson to seed Detroit charters with $250 million - that's right, $250 million - was rejected by the Detroit City Council and their union puppeteers. The Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, raised not a finger to prevent this catastrophe from unfolding.

In Pontiac last week, President Bush met with black church and political leaders to promote his ideas for school choice and tax cuts and how they can help revitalize urban America. Detroit will vote overwhelmingly for Kerry. But for the 1.5 million residents who fled Detroit in the last 30 years, they have already voted on Democratic policies with their feet.

[ November 01, 2004, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: Veritas ]

This garbage doesn't even deserve a reply. A bitch-slap, maybe....

The truth hurts doesn't it? Here the evidence is clearn and overwhelming. Two plus two equals four here, yet you Leninists just. can't. admit. the. truth.

Sucks doesn't it? To be exposed for all they're worth, which is zilch. Exploiters of minorities, opponents of the Constitution, and harbingers of hatred and intolerance (though they sure talk a good BS game about the latter), they have been exposed by what has happened in Michigan.

Veritas--defender of the truth. To arms!

Good post, Veritas, and true. Those who don't want to make the Drang nach Osten all the way East to Detroit can check out my own home town - Gary, Indiana, just 30 miles SE of Chicago - for Detroit's political, social and economic mirror image. A g-d shame! :mad:

Stop by Texas to see the carnage the Republicans (starting with W) has done to our great State on your way to Gary.

BTW, Veritas is the new resident Discussion Board fraud.

All you have to do is consider the 100 years it took from the Emancipation Proclamation to Civil Rights to understand why blacks are weary of conservative principles.

You know, soon as I saw the title of this thread I knew it was started by Veritas (aka. william)

Dude nobody is impressed with your post count, do you have size issues or something? I looked and you have cranked out 50 posts in just 4 days

I thought you had a company to run? :confused:

I don't know much about Michigan, but the initial post begs the following question: how do you explain the poverty existing in black enclaves in primarily Republican states? Look in the deep south--Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana--all states that are increasingly right leaning. These are some of the poorest regions of the nation for black folk--and clearly something is not working. Cronyism, mismanagement, paternalism, and dare I say racism, can be found on both sides of the aisle.

While I agree that black folk need to leverage their vote and strategic ways (much like the Christian right has), you should note that:

(1) black people aren't mindless automatons. We think through issues just like every other voter, and try to use our best judgment at the ballot box like everyone else. Estimates show that as much as 20% of the black community is supporting Bush, so some leveraging is going on.

(2) The black community (particularly black males) have been hit pretty hard by felon disenfranchisement. It's hard to argue that you should leverage your vote when, well, you can't vote.

(3) Lastly, Veritas, your interactions with your V-P at work do not make you an expert on the black community. There are increasing numbers of socially progressive black folk, black atheists, and blacks who still believe in the potential for integration in America. There's a diverse range of black experiences that mainstream media doesn't give much effort to report on (why do research when you can go to the local black church for all your black insights!?!). I find it pretty objectionable to try to base an opinion on a group with such limited information about it.

[ November 01, 2004, 06:59 PM: Message edited by: Neptune ]

You wouldn't know the truth if it -- like your tricks -- pissed in your face.

The poor fair poorly and would like to make life better for their children.

Wow, there's a keen political insight.

As others have mentioned, bad government knows no party. The countries in this world with the highest standard of living are socialist. They're also extremely homogenous. America is, perhaps, the most heterogenous nation in the world. What works for Sweden probably won't work for us, but I'm willing to try, since what we've been doing has failed miserably.

[ November 01, 2004, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: jqueer ]

Veritas, Where were you educated? When using examples of the urban community, do not limit to one example. For community stretches far beyond left or right wing politics. :confused:

Oh, why waste my time with this one?

I'll leave just this:

Michigan, I guess you're unaware, has been run (and run into the ground) by Republicans AND Democrats; in fact, for a long time, two Republican governors (Milliken and Engler) basically quarantined Detroit, which changed overnight from a diverse city to a predominantly black one as a result of the 1967 riots. (Are you even aware of this?)

George Romney, a Republican, was Michigan governor from 1963-1969, while William Milliken, a Republican, was governor from 1969-1982, two of the worst periods of decline both for the city of Detroit and for Michigan's economy. So pray tell, what "failed Democratic policies" are you talking about?

One thing I'll give W credit for: he went out and found a black face (Condoleezza) to front for his lies. THAT takes gumption and balls!

[ November 01, 2004, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

"The truth hurts doesn't it? Here the evidence is clearn and overwhelming. Two plus two equals four here, yet you Leninists just. can't. admit. the. truth."
Yet another claims to understand Orwell and uses a "2+2=4" reference. Using an allusion to something written by a Social Democrat, then McCarthying others as Leninist, whatever. Sounds like a David Horowitz fan.
You might want to add, "Dry yourself off with the 20 spot they rented you with".
Cuz using a "1984" reference then spewing propaganda is just a little too obvious. Negative attention is better than no attention?

[ November 01, 2004, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: Erik G ]

I work in the city of Detroit. I work in health care and I see the direct effects of a Republican run federal economy and its influence on the states and how that effects urban health care.

The governor (Jennifer Granholm) was left with a HUGE deficit after three terms of a Republican governor (John Engler). She has had to make cuts in all areas- especially with goverment funded health care services- it had been stripped to the bone and a lot of the patients who had at least minimal health care benefits for preventitive care have little to none.

Unfortunately, and both parties are guilty of this- there are more issues when preventetive health care is not taken care. For an example- patients not screened regularly for diabetes and hypertension- a lot of times enter our hospital with extreme side effects of these diseases simply from lack of ability for preventitive care and presciption coverage.

The patients are bitter and it effects all those who are poor, indigent or on severely restricted budgets.

In general, Democrats have a broader picture of the needs of the lower class and civil rights/equality. That is why the Democrats appeal to them. Republican examples (and Reagan was guilty of this) are to encourage people to rise above it like all Americans. The problem is- they don't provide those means- they tell them to work it out by themselves.

Democrats provide means to support programs that assist lower income families. Which in the long-run is better for all of us- I mean, who is to say that the child that one day was supposed to save my life instead was not able to have the right pieces in place to be a doctor- you never know what empowering people can do.

Republicans expect it to happen, Democrats find means to empower it to happen. I live it 5 days a week.

You know - I have finally discovered who I think is the single most irritating and uninformed person on this board.

The national federal newspaper of the russian soviet in Moscow was called 'Pravda' for over 50 years - 'Truth' - isn't it interesting that someone will take that name just before they spew the biggest lies possible?

How egotistical do you have to be to label yourself the one single and only truth or faith?

I have always been very scared of people who think that they and only they have a dirrect pipeline to god's omniscience. They seem to be very closed to discussion, debate, or compromise of any kind.

It must be very satisfying to be perfect.

Rob

Yes. Yes it is.

I humbly agree.

Ok, he was so right, if you knew Michigan, you could not argue with such refined logic!

As for the bitch-slap, well come over here Marcus, so I can give you a slap,

UPSIDE THE HEAD!!!

Michigan's democratic governor doesn't seem to have turned the place into a sewer yet.

[quote]Veritas:
Yes. Yes it is. [/quote]I humbly agree. [/QB][/QUOTE]

MIB/Ump/Internet "Judge" returns...

(yawn)

[quote]GatorJamie:
[quote]Veritas:
Yes. Yes it is. [/quote]I humbly agree. [/quote]MIB/Ump/Internet \"Judge\" returns...

(yawn) [/QB][/QUOTE]

So now I'm MIB and Ump and Internet judge? You're too much, GJ, just too much! *smooch*

I thought the X Files left the airwaves years ago.

[ November 03, 2004, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Veritas ]

Here's the deal, if you are so proud of your beliefs, then have the BALLS to espouse them from one, and only one, screen name.

Here's why inner cities have died. White people are afraid of black people and don't want their kids going to school with them. As bad as that sounds, it's the damn truth. You can have a few "good ones" move into the neighborhood, but they better have some good credentials or else for sale signs are all over the neighborhood.

And, let's not blame the whites completely. We have had 28 years of inept minority leadership for the city of Birmingham because blacks were afraid of letting whites in the government. So, just like Detroit, Birmingham, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc all went to hell in a handbasket because of isolationism for other races. Our black leadership has made a point, to keep the masses in Birmingham from enjoying a better life, because it was for the enrichment of those they put in power. How can a former mayor, with $70k a year salary, be a multi-millionaire after 20 years as mayor. Anyone remember the name Donald Watkins and his attempts to buy a sports team? Meet the former mayor's legal counsel for the City of Birmingham and his "business partner" in many ventures. Politics, no matter who is in charge, are corrupt.

Now, where there has been regentrification in the inner cities, who was the catalyst? Gays and Lesbians. Why? Hell, what do we have to fear from having a black neighbor? We're not afraid of them, we're afraid of the white majority that makes fun of us. So, we head to a part of town that allows us to be who we are, has great houses left by the whites and bought by the blacks, fix them up, make it pretty and THEN and only then do the "supposedly" liberal whites move in. Then, in a vicious cycle, they start making damn dumbass rules all over again in order to get the gays and blacks out of their neighborhood.

It's all a vicious circle because we naturally gravitate to being in homogenous groups; its what you are comfortable with. Until we can all get over this fear and enjoy living together and working together, we're not going anywhere.

I can't believe I said all of this but it's how I feel. I don't give a rat's a** who I live next to as long as I'm treated with respect and dignity. Oh, and for the record, of the 17 houses on my street, 5 gay couples, 4 jewish families, one black family, one asian and the rest WASPS. We all get along very well. That just about covers the spectrum.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

Great post Aubie.

Much better than:

G-Gay
O-Ole
P-PhillyFan