fdtappan's Blog

Sometimes it is self evident that no matter how much progress we think we have made, many thoughts and things have not changed. Contrary to popular belief, this is the year 2008, not 1958. I am a believer in the positivism of human nature. I know there are attitudinal frailties and foibles in the best of us. However, it is still a sad day and situation when the worst in us rears its ugly head. 

 I put a campaign sign in my front yard a couple of days ago. For a couple of days, everything was fine. But on the day after Halloween, my wife woke me up and explained to me that someone had removed our sign. I went outside to survey the situation and found the sign down the street in a mutilated condition. It had been cut with a knife and ripped apart. Not to be ideologically moved or politically intimidated, my son, my wife and me, put the sign back up. It was still mutilated and torn, but it stood in protest of my right, as well as others, to our constitutional right of free speech and expression. They are rights that are guaranteed to all citizens of The United States of America. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the story. The next day, Sunday morning, we were preparing to leave for church and the sign was gone again. We looked up and down the street, but it was no where to be found.

At that time a righteous fury burned in my spirit. I decided rather than to try to get even or angry, I would get busy encouraging people to get out and vote for the candidate of their choice. I decided to write a blog to encourage those that have lived through the same indignities that I experienced. I encourage you to not get mad; but get moving! Get moving to the polls today; Get busy by calling to make sure everyone you suspect has a problem getting out to vote, has transportation. I have definitely learned from this moment of trepidation that common sense is sometimes very uncommon and common decency is sometimes a scarce commodity. But still we survive!  

The order and memorandum came down at approximately 6:15 p.m. on Friday. Philip Berg's lawsuit challenging Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility to serve as president of the United States had been dismissed by the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick on grounds that the Philadelphia attorney and former Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania lacked standing.

Surrick, it seemed, was not satisfied with the nature of evidence provided by Berg to support his allegations.

Various accounts, details and ambiguities from Obama’s childhood form the basis of Plaintiff’s allegation that Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States. To support his contention, Plaintiff cites sources as varied as the Rainbow Edition News Letter … and the television news tabloid Inside Edition. These sources and others lead Plaintiff to conclude that Obama is either a citizen of his father’s native Kenya, by birth there or through operation of U.S. law; or that Obama became a citizen of Indonesia by relinquishing his prior citizenship (American or Kenyan) when he moved there with his mother in 1967. Either way, in Plaintiff’s opinion, Obama does not have the requisite qualifications for the Presidency that the Natural Born Citizen Clause mandates. The Amended Complaint alleges that Obama has actively covered up this information and that the other named Defendants are complicit in Obama’s cover-up.A judge’s attitude toward the factual foundation of a plaintiff’s claims is an essential factor in understanding just who indeed has standing to sue. The question running to the heart of the standing doctrine is whether or not the plaintiff indeed has a personal stake in the outcome of the otherwise justiciable matter being adjudicated. As has been discussed before many times here at America’s Right, a plaintiff wishing to have standing to sue must show (1) a particularized injury-in-fact, (2) evidence showing that that the party being sued actually caused the plaintiff’s particularized injury-in-fact, and (3) that adjudication of the matter would actually provide redress.

In this case, Judge Surrick’s attitude toward the evidence presented by Berg to support his allegations figures in heavily because, while there is a three-pronged test to standing in itself, there is no definitive test by which the court can determine whether a certain harm is enough to satisfy the first element of that three-pronged test by showing true injury-in-fact. Traditionally, it hasn’t taken much to satisfy the need for an injury-in-fact, but as the plaintiff’s claimed injury is perceived as being more remote, more creative, or more speculative, the injury-in-fact requirement becomes more difficult to satisfy.

As it were, much of Berg’s basis for injury-in-fact could be considered threatened injury–he felt that the country was at risk for “voter disenfranchisement” and that America was certainly headed for a “constitutional crisis”—and, while threatened injury can certainly be injury enough to satisfy the injury-in-fact element, such satisfaction depends upon the threat being perceived by the judge as being not too creative, speculative or remote.

When it came to Philip Berg’s personal stake in the matter at hand, Surrick compared his action with those of Fred Hollander—the man who, earlier this year, sued Sen. John McCain in New Hampshire on grounds that, born in the Panama Canal Zone, he was not a natural born citizen—and held that Berg’s stake “is no greater and his status no more differentiated than that of millions of other voters.” The harm cited by Berg, Surrick wrote, “is too vague and its effects too attenuated to confer standing on any and all voters.”

So, who does have standing? According to the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick, that's completely up to Congress to decide.
If, through the political process, Congress determines that citizens, voters, or party members should police the Constitution’s eligibility requirements for the Presidency, then it is free to pass laws conferring standing on individuals like Plaintiff. Until that time, voters do not have standing to bring the sort of challenge that Plaintiff attempts to bring in the Amended Complaint.Judge the 34-page memorandum. Let me know your thoughts regarding the verdict.(From cook2712)

Tuesday, November 4 is one of the most important days in United States history for all American citizens. It is also an important date in the history of African Americans. The first African American President could be elected. A scant 146 years after the emancipation proclamation was issued September 22, 1862. It is important to ourselves, our children and our deceased loved ones. I wish my mom and dad could be here to see this historic election. But as it stands, I and we must represent them as we cast our vote for the candidate of our choice. It is time to stop beating around the bushes; it is time for us to get out and vote!

When I think about beating around the bushes I think about Moses and his conversation with God at the burning bush. You see beating around the bush consists of hem hawing and skirting the issue at hand. God was instructing Moses on what he wanted him to do. But Moses came up with every excuse in the book, stating why he couldn’t do the job God called him to do. How many of us have done the same thing today. When God  called us to do a certain thing in our life, we began to devise every conceivable excuse to explain why we couldn’t do what God asked us to do. 

My friend, the people of God must be informed & involved in our government....and in the process of electing those who govern us!

Quote: The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves. ~Plato

This morning I want to give you some things to consider as we get informed and involved in Politics & the election that is just days away!

1. You have been given the Right to vote: Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.

Again, this is a democracy! You have a voice...You have a vote! Use It!

-You’re an American! -Born in the land of the brave & home of the free! -Thousands before us have bled & die for the rights & freedoms we enjoy! -As I speak young men & women are in harms way in Iraq & Afghanistan.

My friend, you are blessed by God to live in this nation...You’re not: -Struggling in Iraq or Afghanistan due to war & civil unrest! ....Nor... -Starving in Sudan for lack of food! 70,000 have died & 1.5 million is refugee camps. -Searching for hope & meaning in the west bank or Gaza Strip in Israel.

You live in the land of ...baseball...hotdogs...apple pie & Chevrolet!

You have the right to vote...take it and make it count for good!

Quote: When it comes to a showdown, Washington must never forget who rules ------ the people. ~Will Rogers

You have the opportunity to be heard through your vote...to elect those who embrace the things of God!

One thing that I know is that we have been beating around the bushes too long, in two ways. We have been beating around the bushes apathetically when it comes to voting. It doesn’t seem that voting is important to us. Our fore fathers have bled, died and been hung and disenfranchised to give us the freedom and the right to vote. We’ve been beating around the bushes too long! For too long we have been non participants in the voting process, using as an excuse that our vote doesn’t count.

Would our vote have counted in the 2000 election when the vote was decided by a mere hundreds of votes. It’s time for us to stop beating around the bushes!

However, there is another way we must stop beating around the bushes. For the last eight years and twelve years before that, we have been beating around the bushes. Beating around the bushes has caused 3 wars, a recessesion, record oil prices and record oil profits, unemployment rates at its highest since the 1970’s, more people without health insurance than any other time in our nations history, the lowest stock market numbers since the depression; Trickle down economics, which still hasn't trickled down to me yet. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of beating around the bushes! We can’t afford to beat around the bushes anymore; Our children can’t afford beating around the bushes anymore. Our finances can’t afford to beat around the bushes any more. Its time for us to get out, whether rain or shine, serve our civic duty, and vote November 4, for the presidential candidate of our choice!

No matter who you support in the ’08 Presidential election, history will be made. If the McCaine/Palin ticket wins, we will have the first female vice president and also the oldest elected president in United States history. If the Obama/Biden ticket is victorious, we will have the first African American President of the United States. However, the history I am more interested in is the historical footprint their platform and policies will have on our economy, foreign affairs, and our many and varied domestic issues.

Political pundits, prognosticators and psudoanalysts have stated their opinions, given their clandestine conclusions and have exacted their biased, personal and partisan spins on the issues and the candidates. However, enough is enough! I have ingested enough of the journalistic appetizer, now I am ready for the entrée of presidential action. It’s time to get to the meat of the matter. I also am astute enough to understand the truth will not fully avail itself until the election is completed. Rhetoric has its probative value; Actuality and reality is the stuff that the future and history of our country is made.

We all have a purpose regarding the histocracy of this election. As citizens, our job, purpose and duty is to execute our right to vote for the candidate of our choice. The purpose of the candidate is to run a campaign with integrity, one that addresses the issues and presents a platform which will ameliorate the countries current putrid condition. Moreover, the candidates’ fundamental purpose, after the victory, is not to suddenly develop political amnesia and forget the “read my lips” promises made during the elective process. The lumping proletariat is not as naïve as most perceive. We understand the critical complexities of the office; We comprehend the inundates of the position; We are sympathetic to the daily adaptations that proliferate the process of making executive decisions. The citizenry doesn’t expect every iotic proposed promise to be kept, however we do expect the core issues that the campaign was built on to come to fruition.

Yes, I am anxious to see history made. I am intrigued by the pomp and circumstance of the election. I am emotionally and uncategorically stimulated by the importance of the race. Now, I have a request of the candidates: Please show me that I was not simply propped up by the pomp and side tracked by the circumstance. You may not be the best president by the standards of ideologs  and history, but you can definitely govern in the cradle of integrity. By God, that is the history I am hoping to see, experience and enjoy. We as citizens can all make history on Election Day, by getting out and voting in numbers never before seen in the storied history of our great country. History is being made and we are the makers of that history.

Don’t vote for this candidate because he has been through a messy divorce; don’t vote for this candidate because his great granddaughter lived next to some one that owned slaves; don’t vote for this candidate because she has children that don’t share the same last name and is pregnant. Absurd? Yes! Does it show desperation on the part of a candidate that has very little record to run on and a sparse, transparent understanding of the issues? Again, yes! Will it excite the electorate? Yes. Has the tactic recently been successful in major elections? Not recently.

When a candidate stoops to sophomoric name calling and stresses the importance of negative innuendo and superfluous issues, they have joined an eclectic group of politicians that have used the foreboding tactic of running a negative campaign. Negative ads, negative comments, and negative prevarication make up the bulk of the negativity.

Who is really helped by negative campaigning? No one is. Running for public office is about candidates sharing their ideas, opinions, mores and platform regarding how they will serve the electorate. These are the instruments of cognition with which we, the proletariats, should be concerned. We should not be at all engrossed in ancillary, inconsequential or mutable facts or fictions, used to emasculate the character of an opponent. Detective Friday (Jack Webb) from Dragnet probably related it best when he said, “Just the facts maam”, with one caveat, “Just the relevant facts maam”.

I am sure the tactic will continue to be prominently postured in this hotly contested presidential campaign. Mc Caine’s extemporaneous cancellation announcement regarding the Oxford Debate will assuredly be a focus of gross negativity. However, in my opinion, it's time has past; It’s effectiveness is miniscule an it’s once prodigious prowess has been reduced to ruins. If you want to ascertain the true character of a presidential candidate, check three things: Their experience, morals and background, their voting record and their ability cross partisan lines to get things done. Let’s vote for the best candidate, not the one who slings mud the best.

I wrote a column several weeks ago that asked the question in regard the Memphis City School hiring of the of new superintendent Kriner Cash entitled, “Are We There Yet”. I guess we have a definitive answer after this feeble attempt to offset the budget crisis. The answer is a resounding NO! I am completely befuddled, baffled and confounded by this poorly-planned, ill-timed decision to fire, lay off, temporarily send to a job fair or whatever, over 100 Teachers. Yes, Teachers; The very bedrock of our education system. Teachers! The human commodity we can’t educate our children without! Teachers! You decided to lay off teachers to solve the funding problem. Weren’t there any other non-education essential personnel that could have been targeted? Aren’t their other cuts that could have been made; say laying off some administrative staff, administrative temporary pay cuts; something other than, teachers. Frankly, I am appalled at the thought of teachers being treated like corporate widget makers. Teachers do not manufacture tools or assemble product, but they manufacture minds and produce literate leaders. Plain and simple; It’s just wrong.

My second point of contention is the “job fair” re-employment solution? What? We fire you today but tomorrow go to the “re-employment job fair” and take another teachers job that we didn’t have the courage to face and fire. Metaphorically, Memphis City Schools has become para-military, educational employment snipers. They are firing teachers without the dignity of individual or even corporate explanation. They are speciously shifting the blame of the firings to other teachers with more seniority. I have a new and novel idea; Why not examine the seniority list and lay off the teachers according to seniority first. Hmmm, that just might make a little sense in regard to the process of the layoffs; maybe too much sense for the current administration at MCS. I must admit that much of my ire and venomous semantic tone is derived from a conversation I had yesterday with one of the City Councilmen at a mid-town restaurant. I asked him what was the real story behind these unprecedented layoffs. He said unequivocally, that it was related to the MCS lawsuit against the city and it is a ploy to garner sympathy for them in order to facilitate a public outcry for the plight of the MCS budget woes. The goal, I was told, is to so outrage the public that they will demand the City Council to re-allocate the funds that were removed from this year's MCS budget.

If this scenario is true and the teachers are simply pawns in a political ploy between city government and MCS, this has taken mental midgetry and egotistical misanthropy to an all time low. Gambling with the lives, education and future of our children; Uprooting, traumatizing and unnerving over 200 teachers and their families(the fired teachers and the teachers the fired ones will displace at the firing fair); It is unfair, incomprehensible, and practically indefensible. Are We There Yet? From a practical point of view, no. However, from a viewpoint of immoral, uncaring and a profane policy of id worship, yes, we are there; we have finally arrived. God help us all.

I am providing information about some of the lesser known races that I feel are extremely important to Memphis/Shelby County. All I ask is that you make an informed decision, do some research and vote for the candidate of your choice. The next race I will highlight is the race for the Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk. Every resident of Shelby County should be very concerned about who will occupy this office. I met one of the candidates, Otis Jackson.

Otis Jackson is running for General Sessions Court Clerk on August 7, 2008. Jackson 47, in 2006, won the democratic primary for Shelby County Clerk and lost in the general election by less than 300 votes. He will now face one candidate in this race. He has worked in numerous positions requiring essential skills and leadership abilities. He has worked with documents which consist of mortgages, tax shelters, contracts, affidavits, and insurance policies.

Otis was also a standout point guard for the University of Memphis from 1978-82 where he earned his BA and later his MBA. He is a husband, father and businessman. Get out and vote for the candidate of your choice on August 7, 2008.

I am providing information about some of the lesser known races that I feel are extremely important to Memphis/Shelby County. All I ask is that you make an informed decision, do some research and vote for the candidate of your choice. The first race I will highlight is the race for the Shelby County Trustee. Every resident of Shelby County should be very concerned about who will occupy this office. I met one of the candidates, M. La Troy Williams.

M. LaTroy Williams is running for Shelby County Trustee on August 7, 2008. Williams, 58, ran for city court clerk in 2007 and will face four candidates in the trustee's race. He is president of ICA/M. LaTroy Williams Publishing Co. Inc., which has offices in Whitehaven and Washington. He is also president and chairman of the Memphis and Shelby County Democratic Club. He is a husband, father and businessman. Get out and vote for the candidate of your choice on August 7, 2008. I will inform you about another candidate and race tomorrow.

History has been made! Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, Americans, regardless of race, creed or color should be proud of America. Just a scant 144 years ago, Barak Obama would not even have had the opportunity of citizenship, nor the right to vote, own property or freely pursue happiness. Why? Because in all likelihood he would have been a slave in 1864. In 1865 slavery was abolished and the long journey of equal rights ensued. I am not attempting to give a historical snap shot of the African American struggle for equality, but I am excited about the opportunity for my children to see this incredible event take place.

If only my dad, who passed away in 2001 at the age of 76, could have witnessed this. It would have meant so much to him. However, there are others, still alive that it means just as much to. Moreover, we all should pray that some sociopath won't make an attempt on his life. I saw some video where some people were discussing the subject of physically eliminating him from the race for the presidency. Even with that, I still say, it is a great day for America.

Given the fact that gas prices are at an all-time high; the murder rate is escalating exponentially; our school system is in turmoil and our city officials are falling faster than the stock market, it is still a great day in America. Whether Barak Obama wins the election or not pales in comparison to him having the distinct opportunity to be President of the United States of America. This entire race between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, to represent the Democrat Party in the presidential election has energized Americans as never before. In a cauldron of catastrophe, an oasis of sanity still prevails. We have come a long way, but we have so much farther to go. We cannot rest on the laurels of this great accomplishment. We must press on toward the stratospheric heights of morality and success.

But this one, is worthy of nostalgic notoriety. Forty Five years after The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic, "I Have A Dream", speech, August 28, 1963; On August 28, 2008, Barak Obama will accept the nomination for the presidency of the United States for the Democrat Party. As my mother would say, “There must be a God somewhere”.

I am sorry if I seem a bit presumptuous, but I think it’s time for Senator Obama to begin covertly considering a capable running mate for Vice President. There are several potentially strong contenders for that position, such as Governor Bill Richardson and Senator Joe Biden, but they all pale in comparison to former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Edwards has the advantage of being known for his anti-poverty issues and does not have the stigma of racial dissention that has grown between many black voters and the Clintons. He appeals to the white-male demographic, a weak sector for Obama, through his blue-collar, working class roots and his rags-to-riches story.

Senator Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, is also a plus. Elizabeth Edwards is well-liked, seen as a fighter (she is battling cancer), and would go a long way in securing the middle-aged female vote, which is the nation's largest voting bloc.

There is some sentiment regarding an Obama-Clinton ticket, however there have been too many accusations, too much negativity, and there is entirely too much fence mending to do for that ticket to be successful. The Democratic party needs unity, not division; it needs healing and not hindrances. If the Democrats are to win this presidential election, it’s best chance to do so will be an Obama-Edwards ticket. Let me know what you think.

From the Utica-Observer Dispatch, Utica, NY

UTICA -- When the Rev. William Procanick put his hand on the Bible during his sex-abuse trial in Oneida County Court earlier this year, he swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But as the former Clinton pastor was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for inappropriately touching a 7-year-old girl at his home last March, Judge Michael L. Dwyer said Procanick sacrificed his honesty the day he testified. "As a minister of God, you got on the stand and you lied," Dwyer told Procanick, the 54-year-old former pastor of Resurrection Assembly of God church on Kirkland Avenue. A jury found Procanick guilty Jan. 22 of first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Hillary is no more responsible for the actions of her ex-pastor as Obama is responsible for the actions of his ex-pastor. Let's just stick to the relevant issues such as gas prices, healthcare, and the economy. Choose the candidate that you feel will best represent your views and concerns.

Most of our regular bloggers know me not to be a race baiter or a person that seeks to hyperbolize issues of race. However, I have an issue that needs to be addressed. I was listening to Rush Limbaugh some time ago and I heard him refer to Barak Obama’s race as “Halfrican American” He was making a salient point that Barak is not African American, but half European American. Rush’s statements really disturbed me. It seems that his specious labeling of an individual of mixed parentage was not a term of respect, but a term of racial defiance. There were also many of his callers that freely used this terminology, I believe, out of blind, unabashed ignorance.

I know some people are saying I am just another overly sensitive Black Man that just needs to deal with my out of control feelings of anger and disdain. Well, I must disagree with my learned counterparts regarding this issue.  My question is why change your ideology now? Why this diacritical change of racial theory. Why are some people very anxious to align themselves with an individual’s racial heritage, when in the past it was unheard of? Let me give you a bit of history on the subject.

Due to centuries old history within the United States, historical experiences both pre and post slavery, and migrations throughout North America, the vast majority of African Americans possess varying degrees of admixture with European and Native American ancestry (My ancestry is African, Native American and Dutch). Some courts called a person Black if they had any known African ancestry, regardless of the color of their skin. It became known as the "one drop rule", meaning that a single drop of "Black Blood" made one "Black". Some courts have called it the "traceable amount rule” and anthropologist used to call it "hypo descent", rule, meaning that racially mixed persons were assigned the status of the subordinate group. 

Prior to "the one drop rule", there were different laws regarding color; in Virginia, for example a person was legally black if he or she had (1/16) one sixteenth black ancestry. For African Americans, the one drop system of pigmentocracy was a significant factor in ethnic solidarity. Starting sometime in the 1980's, the terms mixed race, bi-racial and multicultural were increasingly used and it remains common for those who possess any visible traits of black heritage to be identified, solely within Black/African American ethnic groups. As well, it is common in the United States for people of mixed ancestry possessing any recent Black Heritage to self-identify demographically as African American while acknowledging both their African American and other cultural heritages socially.

I agree, we should embrace our entire heritage. As far as my ancestral heritage is concerned, I am a proud African, Native American and Dutch individual. But in America, I am Black/African American; and it is fine for me and others to think that way. That is the norm; that is what is generally accepted because of our history in the United States. I only encourage us to be culturally sensitive. It seems that people who think like Rush rationalize it this way:

-Bi-racial bank robber - Black/African American

-Bi-racial presidential candidate-"Halfrican American" or  Half European American          

Don't adopt selective race ideologies only when it lifts you. After all, we're all members of the human race. 

1. Educate yourself on the election issues:

Take the time to investigate the issues.

2. Choose a Candidate:

Know what the candidates stand for. Weigh the candidates' values against the life principals found in God's Word and choose the candidates whose views most closely match scripture.

3. Pray for Guidance before you vote:

The future of our city is at stake. I encourage all people of faith to devote themselves to focused prayer for this critical election.

4. Get out and Vote!