The Southern Poverty Law Center has issued a report in which they conclude that hate groups are on the decline. Of course, some would say that the SPLC itself is a hate group, but that's not the point. I'm more interested in what SPLC says is a "hate group":
Demoralized by the reelection of President Barack Obama but calmed by Washington’s failure to enact new gun control laws, hate groups are on the decline in the United States.
That’s according to a new report out Tuesday from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which found that the number of hate groups in the U.S. declined by seven percent in 2013. After a dramatic rise following Obama’s first election and the worst of the recession, the number of anti-government “patriot” group identified by the SPLC also fell 19 percent between 2012 and 2013.
Anti-government, patriots...?
What does that mean, exactly? Patriots are hate groups? You're a hate group if you don't expect big-government to take care of you cradle to grave?
The author of the new report, SPLC senior fellow Mark Potok, said momentum on the far-right experienced a marked turnaround in 2013 when it became clear that congressional efforts to enact significant gun control legislation would fail. “Guns and gun control are so much at the heart of the radical right,” Potok sad. “That looked like an issue that was going to become white hot, but it essentially died and went away.”
The power of hate groups is largely rooted in their ability to exist as an alternative to mainstream political debate. In recent years, as local, state and national political figures affiliated with the tea party movement have adopted some views that previously only existed outside the mainstream political system, the far-right has struggled to rally support for its organizations. Various scandals within the hierarchies of some hate groups, as well as deaths and arrests of some leaders, have also hurt organizations’ ability to recruit and build their ranks.
...because having a belief in the Constitution and in limited government interference of your daily life in matters such as education, health care, and privacy is probably not "mainstream."
Rev. C. L. Bryant's fabulous documentary, Runaway Slave, is now out on DVD. If you haven't seen this film I urge you to order it and watch.
I went to the theater five times last summer and watched it. I loved it. My review is here.
The title refers to Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad in the 19th century; Rev. Bryant contends that we need a "new Underground Railroad" to help lead blacks from the tyranny of enslavement by the United States government which is bent on keeping so many dependent on the government dole.
The documentary is a masterpiece of photography and symbolism as well as strong in its powerful message. Yet even with the seriousness of the subject, in the end I was left optimistic and hopeful.
The trailer:
I've ordered my copy already because even though I almost know it by heart by now, I still want to watch it over and over again.
The Red River Tea Party is holding a long overdue Freedom Rally this week, Thursday, October 25 at the Bossier Civic Center from 5:30 - 7:30.
We've had several Tea Party rallies in Shreveport/Bossier since the first one in 2009 and each one gets better and better. There will be live music, as always, and in the past there have been booths with groups distributing information (Fair Tax, etc.) or selling concessions.
I can't think of a better thing to do on a beautiful fall day right before the most important national election in recent history.
Scheduled speakers are conservative radio talk show host Moon Griffon, who appeared at the 2010 God and Country Rally.
Also speaking will be veteran Sharon McCullar. Sharon is also the proud mother of two Marines and is a small business owner. I've heard her speak at several of these rallies and she is always a highlight. She's brought me to tears before with her moving and powerful stories. Her speech at the 2010 Tax Day Tea Party was epic.
Also speaking will be U. S. Senator David Vitter and almost certainly the highlight of the day will be C. L. Bryant's speech.
I've often told this story, but C. L. showed up at the first Bossier/Shreveport Tea Party in 2009 as just a spectator. He had his little church in DeSoto Parish and his conservative views, and he came to see the Tea Party. Organizer Royal Alexander started talking to him in the crowd and pulled him up on stage to speak; his spontaneous speech that day launched him onto a nationwide platform that has culminated most recently into his acclaimed documentary Runaway Slave. That documentary is now available in a number of digital download options.
Add this event to your list of things to do this week! The weather is supposed to be grand, so come on out!
I'm still hospital sitting and will bring you up to speed on all that later. I brought my laptop with me today because it's easier to blog on it than on the iPad (at least for some posts). Plus I wanted to work on a letter to the Nursing Director of WK to commend an angelic, wonderful nurse we had on seventh floor last week.
Now that that's done, let's take a moment to fisk Kathleen Parker. It's a good thing I'm sitting in a hospital because I'm sputtering and hyperventilating as I'm reading her column.
Let's take a look, shall we? Her thesis seems to be that the Republican convention was too white. She opens with the mind boggling question: "What if Barack Obama had been a Republican?" Have I been hospital-bound too long? Can anyone even fathom that concept? I can't. She contends that if he'd been Republican, i.e., if Republicans had a black nominee, then the delegates on the floor would have been black. And she gets paid the big bucks for this.
Obama was elected not only because of his attractive eloquence but
because we are fundamentally a good people who value fairness and
equality. Electing Obama was part of our reward to ourselves. It allowed
us to feel that we were this good and this big.
Choke, sputter, gag. "part of our reward to ourselves"? Is she kidding? Is this satire?
He was also a tantalizing candidate with a message of hope that felt
like honey after eight bitter years of terrorism and war. He courted our
better angels and articulated our best instincts. We were going to
become a purple, post-racial nation, never again to be divided. Who
wouldn’t fall in love with that?
His "message of hope that felt like honey" never came across to me. His message from day one was of big government and socialist style programs. Anyone who fell for his "purple, post-racial nation" bullshit was not listening past the scripted prose to examine the real man.
Republicans were certain that Obama was all style over substance, but
their criticisms quickly were interpreted in some quarters as racial
animus. Certainly some who call themselves Republicans also can be
called racist. Anyone who spends time on the Internet is aware of the
racist content of some political dialogue. It’s out there, and it’s
ugly.
Then Parker asks "Where are the blacks?" Kathleen Parker, meet just some of the blacks in the Republican party:
Let's start with Rev. C. L. Bryant:
Rev. Bryant gave a brilliant speech at FreePAC in July following on the heels of his brilliant documentary Runaway Slave. Did you see Runaway Slave, Miss Parker?
Meet Mia B. Love. Did you see her at the RNC convention? Wonderful speech!
Mrs. Parker, I'm sure you're familiar with Condoleezza Rice, Herman Cain, Allen West, Alveda King, David Webb, and others.
What about Stephen Broden, Sonja, Schmidt, Kevin Daniels, Jesse Lee Peterson, and Erik Rush. You ever heard of them?
In Kathleen Parker's article, she does note that there are some minorities in the Republican party, she writes:
Appearances matter, and the GOP simply doesn’t look that friendly.
Regardless of what is true, when an arena full of white people cheers
jabs aimed at the first African American president, it feels wrong. This
may not be a conscious recognition, but the subliminal is powerful. It
was with a deep, inner sigh of relief that white Republicans heard
Romney say that he had wanted Obama to succeed because he wanted America
to succeed. Bless the speechwriters.
I would suggest that Miss Parker and others get past the appearances and quit worrying so much about surface issues. Nobody boo'd or jabbed Obama at the RNC because he was black. It's because his policies are failures. It's not "subliminal" racist code. His policies are failures. They'd be failures if he was a white man. It's not about race here. Get over it
In all her search for racial code and dog whistles, she concludes with this, which I'm not even going to touch:
There they’ll learn that ecosystems thrive and are most productive
when there is biodiversity. The same can be said of political parties.
An all-white party will not long survive in a diverse environment.
The strongest and fittest are those who adapt, and that species for now goes by the name Democrat.
As you may have noticed, this blog has been obsessed in the past few days with C.L. Bryant's documentary, Runaway Slave. I believe it is critical that everyone see this film; both sides of the aisle have something to learn from this movie, however I think it will take more courage from those on the left to see it because they will be challenged. Their life long beliefs will be challenged. I'm hoping they'll have the courage to see it.
To that end, the film is more relevant now than ever. The topics the film discusses are all over the news these days. That's why I said yesterday, when this film breaks nationwide on the 27th of this month, it is all anybody will be talking about. Because they already are - they just don't know it.
Case in point: the Obama administration's move to gut the work requirement from the 1996 welfare reform law:
Today, the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive rewriting the welfare reform law of 1996. The new policy guts the federal work requirements that were the foundation of the reform law. The Obama directive bludgeons the letter and intent of the actual reform legislation.
When it established TANF, Congress deliberately exempted or shielded nearly all of the TANF program from waiver authority. They explicitly did not want the law to be rewritten at the whim of HHS bureaucrats. In a December 2001, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service clarified that there was no authority to override work and other major requirements: “Effectively, there are no TANF waivers,” it reported.
Entitlements under Obama have skyrocketed. One in seven Americans are on food stamps. In 2000, seventeen million people were on food stamps. Today forty-six million people are dependent on food stamps.
More people have gone on disability than have found jobs.
The Obama administration is enslaving a class of people who are perpetually dependent on the government to save them. And these people keep voting Democrat so they can keep getting handouts.
Wouldn't the better option be to create jobs so people won't need welfare? Wouldn't it be better to create an environment where entrepreneurs can flourish and small businesses could grow?
Instead, the Democrats just want to keep handing out checks.
How demoralizing.
Wake up people! Turn away from government hand outs and make your own way. Create your own success. Be a role model for someone who is looking up to you. Break the cycle of dependency. Don't let the Democrats enslave you to a life of poverty; you'll never get rich on handouts.
Holy smokes. Via Red State, "the most incredible movie trailer I've ever seen":
I'm dumbfounded at the sheer blind idolatry of it!
Instead, how about a film about freedom? How about a film that makes you feel good about your country without being preachy? How about a film that lifts your spirits and fills you with optimism?
When C.L. Bryant's Runaway Slave hits nationwide, it is ALL anybody is going to be talking about. I just watched it a second time and it was more powerful the second time. Of course, after I saw the film this weekend I have read Star Parker's book and started Deneen Borelli's book, so I brought more background to the table this time.
This time around I was really watching the imagery and technical aspects of the movie. It not only holds up on message, but it holds up as a technical work, too. When I reviewed the movie I wrote that it has a "gritty, urban feel" to it. Imagery of chains, bars, and locks are flashed across the screen. Urban graffiti.
Most prevalent was the image of the railroad; one of the themes of the film is that it's time for "a new underground railroad" to escape poverty and the tyranny of big government oppression.
We see C.L. walking down railroad tracks, running on the tracks, and standing in thought on the tracks. In the beginning he picks up a rusty railroad spike and you see that spike from time to time through the film. At the end, as he shouts "Run! Run away from socialism! Run away from progressivism! Run!" This is when you get chills up and down your arms. He throws that spike off a railroad trestle into the river - freedom.
The image is there verbally, too, as AlfonZo Rachel says, "I must be on the right track!"
The most beautiful image to me was CL's visit to the Jefferson Memorial. He stands, staring up at the statue of Jefferson, a man who once owned slaves, and the sun breaks through the columns. The message? It's a new day; look forward. Don't look to the past. Look forward and where we can go, together.
It's simply a beautiful film in both message and content.
Go see it. Because when it opens up nationwide, everyone is going to be talking about it and you will want to be part of that conversation.
Write a winning caption and win two free tickets to C.L. Bryant's Runaway Slave documentary showing this weekend at the Regal Cinema on Shed Road in Bossier City. The tickets are for the 5:05 show Saturday. The contest will run until 5:00 Wednesday afternoon. I'll either snail mail or email your tickets to you - your choice.
JAMES EARL JONES: I think I have figured out the Tea Party I think I I do understand racism because I was taught to be one by my grandmother. My grandmother was part [tribal affiliation] Indian part black, she hated everybody and she taught all of her children and grandchildren to be racist to hate white people and to distrust black people.
DR CORNEL WEST: Who does she love then?
JAMES EARL JONES: Nobody
WEST: Nobody at all.
JAMES EARL JONES: But that allowed me to figure it out for myself. And I think I know what racism is better than anyone who has ever been a racist.
This drivel is exactly why James Earl Jones and people who think like him need to see C. L. Bryant's documentary Runaway Slave.
Instead of spending time watching MSNBC, James Earl Jones should use his platform and influence to help lift people out of the tyranny of the progressives who only want to enslave lower classes to a life of welfare and dependency.
Why would anyone blindly go along with that?
I won't presume to call Mr. Jones a racist; he does say that he has been able to "figure it out" for himself so we'll hope he means that he's figured out how not to be a racist despite the teachings of his grandmother.
What Mr. Jones ought to be asking while he's "thinkin' and observin'" is why Obama got 95% of the black vote when it's Obama's progressive, liberal policies that has black unemployment at about 14%. His policies have put more people on disability than to work. The food stamp population has jumped from 17 million people in 2000 to 46 million people today.
The Obama administration is creating a nation of dependency rather than a fostering a nation of self-reliance, pride, and hard work. He doesn't want people to succeed, he wants them to be dependent.
All the Tea Party wants is fiscal conservatism and for people to prosper.
I've been busy reading which is why it's been quiet here. I'm deep into Star Parker's book, Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It. She has a compelling personal story and, like C. L. Bryant and others, makes the case that welfare is the new plantation. From one set of chains to another.
When I finish Ms. Parker's book, I have Silence Makes the Loudest Sound: A Conversation Between African-Americans and the Republican Party by Marvin D. Rogers.
All of this, of course, is inspired by C. L. Bryant's Runaway Slave documentary which I saw this past weekend. The thesis isn't new: Democratic entitlement programs have enslaved many black Americans to a dependency on the government, thus the politicians get power and money while the poor get handouts and remain dependent. The Democratic programs have also decimated the family unit in black communities; to get that welfare check there must be only one parent and the more kids there are, the more money you get.
We have 48% of the people in this country not paying income tax, and yet all of them... And this is important in trying to assess all this. All of these people are eating. They're not going hungry. And they all have their cell phones. And they all are able to afford to use their cell phones. And they all have their plasma TVs, and they're all able to sign up for cable and use them. Despite all of the economic malaise. Now, the reason for this is that we're $16 trillion in debt. We've got an administration which is happily paying for this result.
There is no longer a stigma to being unemployed or a stigma to being on welfare.
What will hopefully happen as C. L. Bryant's documentary makes its way across the country at the end of the month is that people will talk about this and raise awareness. Hopefully more people will be inspired to take Star Parker's route and turn their backs on a life of dependency and poverty and instead dedicate themselves to honest work, renewed self-esteem and prosperity. C. L. and the participants in this film hope to reach what he calls the "closet conservatives."
Of course, the only way for those on welfare to prosper is to reject the big government programs favored by the Democrats and to elect small government, fiscal conservatives who support small business development and job creation on all levels. That, and as Parker notes, a strong moral code: "Although the poor need free enterprise, capital investment, and rising productivity in order to attain better living standards, the lack of a sustainable moral code and value system brings such endeavors to naught."
Nobody ever got rich living on welfare, Parker says.
Amen to that.
Watch this clip with C. L. Bryant and Deneen Borelli talking with Glenn Beck. It's 26 minutes but well worth your time:
When Runaway Slave comes to a theater near you, drop what you're doing and go see it.
Having heard Rev. C. L. Bryant speak before, I thought I had an idea what to expect but I underestimated the power of the documentary. It's very powerful.
Visually, the movie has a gritty, urban, edgy feel to it that contrasts with rural rolling hills and scenic neighborhoods as narrator C. L. Bryant makes his way from one city to the next, crossing America, ultimately ending up in Washington, D.C., where he movingly stands at the Jefferson Memorial reading lines from the Declaration of Independence. I have to say, I got a tear in my eye on that one.
Bryant drives across the country asking black individuals along the way "Are we free at last? Are you free?" He strides purposefully across the nation and listens inquisitively at both Tea Party rallies and NAACP rallies. He asks black Americans what they are prevented from doing today because of their skin color.
The only person who wouldn't, or couldn't, answer that was Rev. Al Sharpton who refused to speak to Bryant in the documentary.
C. L. Bryant tells of his journey from liberalism to conservatism. He was a chapter president of the NAACP in Garland, Texas at one time, a position he lost because of his pro-life stance. He also lost the position of pastor of his church because of his conservatism. But Bryant has brought his message to a much larger audience now with Runaway Slave and it's a message that everyone needs to see.
The thesis of the documentary is the enslavement of black society by big government. Bryant tries to determine why 95% of the black community votes Democrat and why the nation is still so racially divided. People like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are described in interviews as "poverty pimps" because while they claim to represent the best interests of black America they are profiting from the continued degraded social status of blacks.
To support his thesis Bryant talks to many black leaders across America such as Alveda King who spoke strongly against Planned Parenthood and cited the high abortion rate in black society. She noted the prevalence of Planned Parenthood in black communities and suggested they "target" black women.
He really impressed me and I'm ordering his book today (there's no Kindle version).
Steve was impressed with Mason Weaver. He wrote a book entitled It's OK to Leave the Plantation. Watch this clip of Weaver speaking in 2009:
Bryant spoke with many other black leaders and the takeaway is that it is the Democratic party that has enslaved the black community to a life of poverty and entitlements. You are not guaranteed success by the Constitution, you are guaranteed opportunity. Nothing is handed to you.
Bryant also talks with well known black leaders like Allen West, Herman Cain, and Thomas Sowell, but it was the lesser knowns like K. Carl Smith and Kevin Daniels that impressed me so much.
The movie opens July 27 in wider release; right now it's just in Bossier City. The film website is here. There you will find release locations and dates, all the interview participants, and video clips.
If you're anywhere close to Shreveport/Bossier, go to Regal Cinema on Shed Road and see this film. We were pleasantly surprised to see C. L. Bryant himself striding to the front of the theater as the credits rolled. We gave him a hearty round of applause and then he was swamped with people who wanted to shake his hand and speak with him.
The film is powerful, moving, articulate, and speaks to all of us. It's one that I'll want to see more than once and if you get a chance to see it, drop everything you're doing and go.
Update:
Linked at The Dead Pelican - the one stop shop for ALL news Louisiana!
The film has been held over through July 19th at Regal on Shed Road in Bossier. Buy tickets here.
