Bush has three things against the NAACP: 1. He's a racist and it represents black people, 2. The chairman, Julian Bond, has outspokenly criticized Bush's racist policies, and 3. The organization is based in Baltimore, a city where Democrats and Greens outnumber Repugs by 9 to 1. So now, says Julian Bond, the NAACP's tax-exempt status is under review by the IRS in an investigation that was initiated after Bond made this statement in a July 11 speech: ''They preach racial neutrality and practice racial division. They've tried to patch the leaky economy and every other domestic problem with duct tape and plastic sheets. They write a new constitution of Iraq and they ignore the Constitution here at home." The IRS has called the criticsm "partisan" - meaning that any group that dares criticize the administration could now be labeled "partisan" and shut down. Which, of course, means only pro-Bush organizations will receive funding.

"In 'Ghosts of Florida,' Democrats.com member Tom Grayman provides a scathing analysis of America's election system and exposes the various ways - by chance and by design - it fails to reflect the will of the voter, particularly the black voter. Using the events surrounding Florida and Election 2000 as a focal point, this book analyzes such aspects of our election system as: * flaws in the way we choose our president * flaws in the way we choose our congressmen * how our manner of financing campaigns effects elections and the behavior of elected officials * the efforts that have been and continue to be made to limit access to the ballot * the way the news media cover candidates and issues * technical problems plaguing the most popular voting methods - and how each of these aspects undermines the voting power of many Americans, particularly black Americans." Download excerpts and buy the book!

"The Black Commentator" reveals the disgusting tactics being used by the GOP to suppress the black vote with a confuse-and-disempower tactic dubbed "voter suppression." "A simple attack ad is probably similar to the Swift Boat ads, that sully a candidate's character and reputation," said the DNC's William Marshall. "Whereas, a Black voter suppression ad tries to use African American voices to shift blame - They want you to come away confused." Too confused to vote, they hope. An example: "A shadowy Republican-Right outfit called America's Pac Campaign took to the Black-oriented airwaves this month in contested mid-Western states. BC could find no evidence of America's Pac Campaign ever having previously existed. According to Dayton, Ohio radio station WRNB-FM sales records, the group's president and treasurer is [white rightwing male] Richard Nadler, of Overland Park, Kansas, but Nadler delivers his [white, rightwing] message through a Black voice on the radio."

US Newswire: " The continued use of punch-card ballot systems threatens to undercut the reliability of the 2004 election results for a variety of reasons, one of which has received far too little attention: African-American votes disproportionately go uncounted when punch-card and, to some extent, 'central count' optical-scan machines are used. In contrast, the racial disparity nearly disappears when electronic voting machines are used. The Century Foundation today released a report, African Americans, Voting Machines, and Spoiled Ballots: A Challenge to Election Reform that raises the concern that recent history could repeat itself and that these machines will disenfranchise thousands of voters-a disproportionate number of them African Americans. The studies reviewed in this report all come to virtually the same conclusion: punch-card machines mean that far fewer African- American votes will count relative to uncounted votes by white citizens."

Pentapost: "The NAACP and other civil rights leaders charged that recent events suggest the GOP is mounting a campaign to keep African Americans and other minority voters away from the polls this Nov. In a new report, the NAACP and People for the American Way cite incidents from FlA to Detroit. NAACP Chair Julian Bond said efforts at intimidation and suppression, once a tool of Democrats in the Jim Crow South, 'have increasingly become the province of the Republican Party' as it seeks to counter the overwhelming advantage Democrats enjoy among black voters...as many as 4-6 million voters were disenfranchised in 2000...In Florida, the Civil Rights Commission found that black voters were 10 times as likely as whites to have their ballots rejected, a trend also found in other parts of the country."

In a recent speech, Bill Cosby - who lives in the predominantly white ivy league college town of Amherst, MA - spouted the same stereotypes about poor blacks rightwing whites have been disseminating for years. But Earl Ofari Hutchison of Black Commentator refutes Cosby's claims with hard facts and figures, then concludes: "Some poor young blacks can't read or write, join gangs, deal drugs, terrorize their communities, and beat up their wives or partners. Many whites, Hispanics, and Asians also engage in the same type of dysfunctional and destructive behavior. Cosby did not qualify or provide any factual context for his blanket indictment of poor blacks. He made the negative behavior of some blacks a racial rather than endemic social problem. In doing so, he did more than break the alleged taboo against publicly airing racial dirty laundry; he fanned dangerous and destructive stereotypes."

A new investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the National Black Farmers' Association (NBFA) finds that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) willfully obstructed justice by deliberately undermining the terms of a 1997 landmark civil rights settlement with African American farmers. As a result, the vast majority of African American farmers have been denied compensation that the court, in approving the settlement, described as "automatic." For the 81,000 farmers denied compensation, there is no future opportunity to obtain relief. Even though USDA has admitted to civil rights abuses, it withheld some three quarters of the $2.3 billion that the settlement was worth. Without intervention by the United States Congress, these farmers will never receive the compensation they so clearly deserve

This week, Bush turned down an invitation to speak the NAACP convention, thereby becoming the ONLY U.S. President (using the term euphemistically in his case) since Herbert Hoover not to attend an NAACP convention. NAACP spokesman John White reveals that Bush has declined invitations to meet with NAACP leaders every year of his presidency. More insulting still, Bush's letter was signed by a White House employee, not Bush himself. White House spokesman Jim Morrell said Wednesday that the president has spoken about "equal opportunity and equal rights for all Americans" in many public places. Under Bush, btw, nearly two decades of gains in black employment have been wiped out. Meanwhile, Kerry accepted the NAACP's invitation to speak.

Betsy Leondar-Wright writes: "The recession of 2001 â?? and the historically inadequate "recovery" since â?? has again brought about a catastrophic loss of jobs...and once again African Americans have lost out disproportionately. Media coverage of todayâ??s unemployment crisis often showcases white men who have lost high-paying industrial or information-technology jobs. But recent job losses have hit black workers harder than white workers: black unemployment rose twice as fast as white unemployment in the last recession. The black unemployment rate fell from 18% in the 1981-82 recession, to around 13% in the early 1990s, to below 7% in 1999 and 2000, the lowest black unemployment rate on record. But the 2001 recession (and the job-loss recovery since then) has robbed African Americans of much of those gains.The median income of black families fell 3% from 2001 to 2003, while white families lost just 1.7%. Today, black unemployment has remained above 10% for over three years."

Margaret Kimberly writes, "I was initially dismayed at Rice's attempt to link American imperialism with the human rights struggles of this country, but upon further reflection I was not at all surprised. The modus operandi of George W. Bush has always been to use black people at the most opportune moments. Are poll numbers falling? Bring Ugandan AIDS orphans to the White House. Is there a need to fool moderates into believing that you are indeed the compassionate conservative? Hold a Republican Party convention that features T.D. Jakes and Chaka Khan. What to do on those all too rare occasions when the Democrats find it within themselves to speak out against the administration? Visit a black church, school or community organization and create yet another photo opportunity with brown faces."

From the Black Commentator: "The Bush men are, if anything, exaggerated caricatures of this culture, perfectly attuned to their (white) countrymen's self-love and other-hate imperatives, which they share. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld - whose behavior ceaselessly confirms that he believes himself to outrank the Black Secretary of State, by virtue of his whiteness - created an alternative CIA in order to feed himself more pleasing information."

When Glen Ford and Peter Gamble of the Black Commentator revealed how America's Black Forum' news program had become a propaganda organ for ultrarightwing white Republican interests, the response was overwhelming. Samples: "Your article regarding America's Black Right Wing Forum is so "on point" that it should be "required reading" in every African American household in this country! Thank you, thank you, thank you." ."The piece on the American Black Forum was EXCELLENT! Fox News is real threat to all our nation's working people who have been tricked with the "fair and balanced" mantra." "It's good to see you speaking out about all the puppets (Black and white) with the hand of Roger Ailes up their asses. There are many reasons I appreciate your site, not the least of which is my growing thirst for truth in a sea of lies..." RIGHT ON, Glen and Peter!!

"Since the mid-Nineties, ABF has devolved into a menagerie of professional Black propagandists in service of the most vicious elements of the GOP. For a time, Pat Buchanan, whose name is synonymous with 'Nazi' in many circles, seemed to be a regular...Obscure clones of racist commentator Ann Coulter share insights on world and national politics. Armstrong Williams, possibly the most noxious Black personality in broadcasting...lovingly embraces arch-racist Senator Strom Thurmond, who decades ago gave the servile yet ambitious young Armstrong an internship. Williams has served the interests of apartheid South Africa wallowed in the largess of every Hard Right foundation and think tank in the land, and reveled in long weekends with white supremacists. He is the premiere Black political whore in America, and the central fixture on America's Black Forum." Glen Ford and Peter Gamble of the Black Commentator.

An examination of the post-Nov. election data revealed no evidence that black voters embraced the GOP. "Indeed, the data indicates that Democrats didn't suffer a drop off in support among African Americans, despite the unprecedented Republican African American communications and field efforts and the highly convoluted nature of the issue environment," as the Black Caucus reported. "The danger lies, not in mass Black defections from the Democrats, but in Republican efforts to dissuade from voting 'younger and weaker self identifying Democratic African Americans... a cohort that is increasingly open to Republican negative messaging about Democrats.'"

"African Americans remain in remarkable, consistent agreement on political issues, a shared commonality of views that holds strongly across lines of income, gender and age. The Black Commentator's analysis of biannual data from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies confirms the vitality of a broad black consensus and that Black political behavior has not deviated from recent historical patterns, nor is any significant Black demographic group likely to diverge from these patterns in the immediate future. Despite blatant misuse and distortions of the JCPES survey by the Right and corporate media, the survey reveals very little political space for conservative inroads among the ranks of African Americans. The political tone and agenda of the nation is set by partisan advertisements posing as news headlines. The anxiously anticipated JCPES poll of Black opinion gave the corporate media a chance to spin their own wishful reality." - Black Commentator

"Through the efforts of Bradley-funded think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute and the Manhattan Institute, the illusion has been created of a Black grassroots movement for vouchers. Federal dollars will now magnify the lie, for public and media consumption. It will also provide the BAEO with enormous political patronage opportunities. A phony 'movement,' invented by rich, racist white men in Milwaukee, is being foisted on a Black and Latino public, paid for with the people's tax money. The Bush Administration is engaged in a shameless abuse of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, passed overwhelming with support from both sides of the Senate and House, and crafted largely by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy. Under cover of informing parents of options available within public school systems, the BAEO is encouraged to use public money to rally political support for private schools funding - its only reason for existence." So reports the Black Commentator.

Just days before the election, as it was poised to release its latest issue, the Black Commentator has been disabled by a malicious hacker attack. Although the attack was directed at its servers and not the publication specifically, the result was the same - and hardly seems coincidental - though the site does state, "We do not believe the hacker attack was directed specifically at www.BlackCommentator.com." For months, the Commentator has taken an heroically pro-active role in the election. They have run articles alerting blacks to the dangers of "Trojan Horse" candidates posing as "liberal friends of blacks," and have given hard-hitting coverage to the reality of how the GOP and Bush regime are impacting blacks. This issue was to include articles on Belafonte, the use of war to re-subjugate blacks, Paul Wellstone, etc. Show your support of the Commentator by VOTING - and by signing up for a free subscription to this content-packed publication.

"The first thing political consultant Raynard Jackson does when he gets to town is hit the barbershop," writes black columnist Terry M. Neal. "There, while getting a quick trim, he strikes up a conversation with the barbers and the clientele. 'You following this election?' 'What do you think?' 'How about that Democrat?' 'He done anything for you lately?' 'Oh, by the way, who are the most influential black clergymen in town?' Jackson's job is to help round up African-American votes for white Republican candidates, primarily in the South. 'It makes a dramatic difference whether a Republican gets 5 percent or 15 percent of the black vote in southern races,' said GOP pollster Whit Ayres. 'If a Republican can get no more than 5 percent of the African American vote, then they're put in the position of having to win 68 to 70 percent of the white vote.'" To the GOP, blacks are just "a vote margin." After Nov. 5, they will simply "disappear" - at least as far as the GOP is concerned.

Singer Harry Belafonte on Tuesday refused to back down from his remarks last week likening Secretary of State Colin Powell to a house slave in the Bush administration, saying his problems are not with the man but with the policies Powell is supporting. 'I like Colin Powell, I like his West Indian background, I like his intellect, I like a lot of things that he does and his style. What is at fault here is a policy that's taking this country to hell,' Belafonte said on CNN's 'Larry King Live,' referencing the Bush administration's push to go to war with Iraq... He called upon Powell and Rice and other black people in positions of power to use their platforms 'to speak out about the ill-advised policies' of the Bush administration... 'Go through the United Nations and follow the counsels and principles of the international community,' he said. 'Stop bullying the world.'" You go, Harry!

Tolerance.org reports: "Alpha Gamma Rho, a national agricultural fraternity, says it's 'not just for farm boys.' And its chapter at Oklahoma State Stillwater has pictures to prove it. Photographs from the fraternity's recent party, themed 'Come as You are Bizarre,' show some members sporting Ku Klux Klan robes and blackface. In one picture, a member in blackface wears a prisoner's costume. Smiling, he stands sandwiched between two frat brothers - one dressed in a Klan costume and the other clad in overalls and a Confederate flag bandana - as a mock noose dangles above his head... According to Phil Josephson, executive director of Alpha Gamma Rho... 'I find it repulsive that any of our members would engage in this behavior... It's a violation of our ritual and it's a violation of good common sense and decency, and we will take action and sanction those involved... We need to include clear language in our behavior standards about this... about its appropriateness.'"

A major threat to black progress is the danger of "Trojan Horse" political candidates, phony figureheads who work hand-in-hand with white rightwingers. These candidates, says the Black Commentator, "must be identified early, before money and media have provided them with credibility within and beyond the Black electorate. It is a new and ominous threat, intended to destabilize existing Black leadership and, ultimately, destroy independent Black political action. Trojan Horses, who are creations of our historic enemies, should find no comfort zone in Black America. But first, we must identify them. By design, these are stealth candidacies." Worse yet, the Commentator fears the next candidates will be real Trojan horses - "blue dog" Democrats (Repugs in disguise). After the crossover vote disaster that knocked out McKinney, we would not be surprised.

Clarence Mitchell IV, incumbent state senator for a Maryland district that has a majority black votership, got handed his hat at the polls yesterday - BIG TIME - losing by a whopping 2 to 1 margin! Mitchell had long been popular with voters, until he decided to back John Erlich's bid for governor. Ehrlich is a Republican running against Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Bobby Kennedy's daughter. Ehrlich has been trying to court the black vote in by taking on a black running mate - whom it was later revealed was paid a $3,000 per month "consulting fee" as an inducement to run. Now black Marylanders have made it clear what they think of the GOP's blatant phony tokenism and of blacks who buy into that game.

Arnoldo Varona, Editor of Florida's Latin Connection reports: "August 28 marks the 39th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. Now a memorial to the slain civil-rights leader is slated to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., near the site of that historic speech in 1963. Joining the Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR memorials, King's would be the first on the Mall to honor an individual who was not a President as well as the first to honor an African-American."

Ever wonder why Bush and Ashcroft consider Affirmative Action bad, but racial profiling good? After all, in both cases, assumptions are made about a person on the basis of their skin color, right? The American Civil Liberties Union recently criticized racial profiling legislation sponsored by Senators George Voinovich and Mike DeWine (both Ohio Republicans) as "insufficient to combat the realities of racial profiling." Instead, the ACLU favors the End Racial Profiling Act of 2001, sponsored by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). The bill would prohibit racial profiling, establish remedies for victims and provide for data collection. The bill has bipartisan support from 16 Senators and 92 House members.

According to the Detroit News, "A man President [sic] Bush has chosen to serve on a black college advisory board heads a company that is the primary defendant in at least two race discrimination lawsuits. Bush announced the 21 appointees Tuesday as part of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The board is expected to make recommendations on how to strengthen historically black schools. Among those named was Girard Miller, president and chief executive of International City/County Management Association Retirement Corp. (ICMA)." (Miller is white, btw.) Amazingly, ICMA is currently defending 2 race discrimination lawsuits! "Miller declined to comment on the lawsuits because they remain unsettled. He said the White House was aware of the complaints." Bush KNEW?!?! Where is the outrage?

The new black political elite - we think instantly of Condy Rice and Colin Powell - are not using their power to aid poor and working-class blacks. Why? In large part, the role of blacks in party politics is changing and not for the better. As Democrats distance themselves from "black issues," they are tending to relegate the role of black politicians to "getting out the black vote" or focusing solely on protecting the gains of the 1960s. Meanwhile, the GOP uses the promise of more power and prestige to lure blacks to their fold, where they promptly dangle them before the public as figureheads and, worse, use them to "divide and conquer" (J.C. Watts is a prime example). So, while the Dems overlook black politicians, the GOP simply uses them - but offers better "perks."