Category Archives: Read Me!

Books and such.

Obama tries to end Big Oil subsidies. Will the GOP let him?

Posted on March 27, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Subsidizing hugely profitable companies is a good idea why again?

President Obama is leading the charge on ending taxpayer subsidies to the massively profitable oil companies. This week, the Senate voted in a procedural vote on Senate bill 2204, the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act, to do just that. The vote was a lopsided 92-4 but that’s not because Senate Republicans actually want to end these subsidies. It’s because, for some reason, they think this is a winning issue for them and that it will go down in flames in the end while making the Obama administration look bad in light of rising gas prices.

The Obama administration smartly disagrees. They want to have this national conversation. Why? Because rising gas prices are tracking corporate profits quite nicely as it turns out. In other words, the only ones taking a hit on the rising cost of oil are consumers, not the oil companies.
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Posted in Do The Right Thing, Eclectablog, Read Me!

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“Your Bruises” by @ThundarKitteh

Posted on March 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

[Here's a poem and guest post from the wondrous ThundarKitteh. -ABLxx]

So much blood in the carpet

It always had such a lovely pile.

But the house needs to eat…again.

You left me worse than last time,

I hope you’re having fun at the tavern.

And I will wear your bruises

While I clean the sanguine marsh.

These bruises, lacerations, and lumps

Are in fact yours, but you say

They look so much better on me.

So I will wear your bruises

Because you can’t. Continue reading →

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Posted in Lady Bits, Read Me!, Submissions from Readers

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Ann Arbor teen who fought "anti"-bully bill takes on another "Bully" issue

Posted on March 2, 2012 by | 6 Comments

Look out world, here comes Katy Butler. Again.

Last November, I wrote about an amazing teenager from Ann Arbor named Katy Butler (HERE and HERE.) She and her friend Carson Borbely put a petition on Change.org to try to force legislative change on what became known as the “License to Bully Bill”.

Well, Katy is back at it. Because she has been such an activist on the issue of bullying, starting at the tender age of 16 and continuing now that she’s 17, she is very well-informed about the issue. She recently found out about a new documentary film called “BULLY” that follows several teens who are dealing with bullies and reveals the impact this has on them and their family and friends.

But there was a problem.
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Posted in Do The Right Thing, Eclectablog, Read Me!, Respect

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My piece in The Nation on Michigan's Emergency Manager law

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | 5 Comments

Michigan’s Emergency Managers in the national spotlight

Click for a larger version

Click for a larger version

In the current issue The Nation magazine, I have a piece titled “The Scandal of Michigan’s Emergency Managers” which is a general overview of Public Act 4, Michigan’s Emergency Manager law. For regular Eclectablog readers, there isn’t much new there but for those who haven’t been following, it’s likely to be a bit of a bombshell.

Excerpt after the jump.
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Posted in Eclectablog, Now Hear This!, Read Me!

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Angry Black Book Chat: Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals

Posted on January 22, 2012 by | 35 Comments

Thanks to Newt Gingrich, a new generation is about to be radicalized.

Newt Gingrich mentioned Saul Alinsky twice in his South Carolina Klan rally Primary victory speech. This is a classic example of the coded language of Right-Wing True Believers failing to resonate outside their epistemically closed bubble. Maybe 1% of people who don’t watch Fox News or save screen-shots of Glenn Beck’s chalkboard know who he was, or why they should be frightened that he influenced President Obama somehow.

We here at the Angry Black Lady Chronicles would like to correct this ignorance by inviting you to join us for a book chat. We would like you to read Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals with us, and we’ll have a post each week to review a chapter and invite you to join us in the comments for a discussion. We’ll look to you to share what you’ve learned, what resonated with you, and how you can apply his ideas in your own political organizing for change.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Allan, Angry Black Reader Participation, Eye of Newt, Fox News Fvckery, Read Me!

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I was born a poor blah child

Posted on January 7, 2012 by | 16 Comments

By now you’ve likely heard about Rick Santorum’s offensive statement to a group of supporters in Iowa.

“I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money,” Santorum begins. “I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.”

Santorum did not elaborate on why he singled out blacks who rely on federal assistance. The voters here didn’t seem to care.

Here’s the video:

Santorum is now denying he said “black people”. According to him, what he really said was (I still cannot believe this) “blah people”.

“I’ve looked at that quote, in fact I looked at the video,” Santorum argued. “In fact, I’m pretty confident I didn’t say black. What I think — I started to say a word and then sort of changed and it sort of — blah — mumbled it and sort of changed my thought.”

Ah, yes. The Blah People. As it turns out, I myself was born a poor blah child.
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Posted in Eclectablog, Now That's Some Racist Bullsh*t, Read Me!, Respect, The Frothman Cometh, What the Crap!?

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Major win for rape victims – Obama admin updates definition of rape

Posted on January 6, 2012 by | 10 Comments

Just like George W. Bush, only different

Today the Obama administration announced that it is updating the formal definition of rape. This move will help many rape victims who were previously unaccounted for achieve justice against their perpetrators and will more accurately reflect the extent of the problem of sexual crimes in our country.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced revisions to the Uniform Crime Report’s (UCR) definition of rape, which will lead to a more comprehensive statistical reporting of rape nationwide. The new definition is more inclusive, better reflects state criminal codes and focuses on the various forms of sexual penetration understood to be rape. The new definition of rape is: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” The definition is used by the FBI to collect information from local law enforcement agencies about reported rapes.

“Rape is a devastating crime and we can’t solve it unless we know the full extent of it,” said Vice President Biden, a leader in the effort to end violence against women for over 20 years and author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. “This long-awaited change to the definition of rape is a victory for women and men across the country whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years.”

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Posted in Body/Health Shenanigans, Eclectablog, Lady Bits, Obama 2012: Yes We Will!, Read Me!, Respect

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We haven't forgotten that the GOP totally caved to Dems, right? RIGHT?!

Posted on December 29, 2011 by | 1 Comment

A public service announcement from the Eclectablog Online Media Group (OMG)

A week ago tomorrow, while everyone was getting ready for the holidays and not paying that much attention, THE REPUBLICANS TOTALLY CAVED IN TO THE DEMOCRATS!

I just wanted to be sure we don’t forget that because it seems to me that we already have. Dave Weigel may have tweeted it best:

So, please, every chance you get, remind your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers that the GOP hostage-takers finally were forced to back down because President Obama and the Democrats in Congress wouldn’t let them take us off a cliff. Every. Chance. You. Get.

There’s nothing at all wrong with a little over-repetition to drive a point home.

I’m just sayin’…

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Posted in Eclectablog, Now Hear This!, Read Me!, Read Me!, Tweet of the Day

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An Update on StrangeAppar8us at RumpRoast: The Good, The Bad, and the Fundraiser

Posted on November 28, 2011 by | 5 Comments

As I posted earlier, one of my absolute favorite bloggers and a real sweetheart of a guy even though he’s not black*, StrangeAppar8tus of Rumproast.com, had a serious health scare.  He was fighting for his life, and while he is out of that particular woods, the news is still grim.  He suffered a brain traumatic brain injury, and as a result, he is now blind. Because of this, he will be needing an abundant amount of aftercare.

Strange is one of the wittiest, most clever, snarkiest bloggers I have had the privilege of reading, but more importantly, he is also one of the most kindhearted, sweetest souls I’ve come across on these here webs.

His cauliflower rant is a classic and introduced the webs to the wonders that is StrangeAppar8us.  Here is a snippet from it, and go read the whole thing for a cauliflower recipe:

Cauliflower is mostly a notational food – texture without essence, utility without passion, a strictly decorative rearrangement of dirt, water and sunlight.  It is the “mercy fuck” of side-dishes – you only eat it because you feel so sorry for it.

(Please click to see what you can do for Strange)

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Posted in asiangrrlMN, Read Me!

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