The last 2 months of the democratic primary has left me with a deep sadness. 6 months ago, I was overwhelmed with pride at being a Democrat. Looking at our field presidential candidates and seeing America. Working in Massachusetts and seeing the same areas of South Boston that onced stoned my Aunt's car for turning down the wrong street voting 3:2 for Gov. Duval Patrick an African American. Looking at states like not only blue NJ and IL elect racial/ethnic minorities to the senate, but also purple CO and FL, I felt America was at last ready to overcome it's original sin. Don't get me wrong I'm still comitted to the party and I still believe as strongly as I ever have in the same ideals, but what so many bomb throwing pundits, and over zealous HRC supporters don't realize is that some of their tactics have tarnished some of the idealism many of us had this campaign. No amount of crap the GOP could have thrown would have done that (look at what they called Max Cleland it's just their nature), but it hurt more coming from our own heros. Look I love tough primaries. I think testing our own candidates makes them stronger and more responsive. But I would like to think we can have a fair fight by swinging above the belt.
MONEY
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Some oppose Harlem redevelopment plan.
A city commission on Monday approved a massive rezoning plan for the heart of Harlem that would create condominiums, performing arts space, hotels and a 21-story office tower with such high-profile tenants as Major League Baseball.
Officials say the changes approved by the Planning Commission will revive a cultural identity that had been threatened by unregulated development on 125th Street, a lively thoroughfare where remnants of the neighborhood's legendary past sit side-by-side with newly arrived banks and chain stores.
As new development sprouts among the soul food restaurants, funky record stores and such landmarks as the Apollo Theater, Harlem's main street -- named one of the nation's 10 greatest last year -- is struggling to retain the character residents have cherished for decades.
But many longtime residents fear a rezoned 125th Street will price them out of their homes and erode even more of their community. "It will be a disaster," said Sikhulu Shange, the owner of a 125th Street record store for more than three decades.
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CULTURE
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For 2 Black Detectives, the Beat Is Recruiting.
DETECTIVE Rhudy Snelling stood at the head of the same wainscoted high school auditorium he once sat in as a student, wearing the police uniform he hoped a few of the seniors in his audience might soon wear, too. First, though, he had to convince them that it wouldn’t cost their souls.
"This is your community," he said, again making the recruitment pitch he has lately been making to young black men and women all over the city. "And you need to represent your community."
As befits a city that looks out into the world over the shoulder of the Statue of Liberty, Jersey City is encyclopedically diverse: almost equal numbers of whites, blacks and Hispanics, and a smaller assortment of residents whose roots are in Asia and the Middle East. Its storefronts, churches and many other institutions have evolved to reflect these demographic shifts. Its police department has been slower to change: 70 percent white, and only 7 percent black.
But how do you change the colors of a police department — shaped, as it is, by both the protocols of the civil service system and the traditions of families that have served in it for generations — to better reflect the colors of its city? And how do you convince the 59 mostly black students assembled at Snyder High School this morning that the police are an ally worth joining, not an enemy to resist?
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POLITICS
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Not the way I wanted to see NY first Black Gov. I hope the Spitzer family can heal.
Paterson to Ascend to Power in Midst of Storm.
With the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, David A. Paterson, the calm and affable legislative leader turned lieutenant governor, is set to ascend New York’s highest office in midst of a political storm.
Mr. Paterson, 53, is scheduled to become the state’s 55th governor on Monday. He will be the state’s first black governor, and the third black governor of any state since Reconstruction.
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For someone who defended Clinton in 1998, and thought the world of him and Hillary, I must say I'm rethinking my opinion. Ferraro Leaves Clinton Campaign.
Geraldine Ferraro is resigning her fundraising position with Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign because of comments she made about Sen. Barack Obama. Ferarro — the 1984 vice presidential nominee — suggested in a recent interview that Obama would not be where he is in the presidential race if he were not black.
Obama said the statement was an attempt to divide America with "slice and dice" politics, and he called on Clinton to denounce the statement. On Tuesday, Clinton said she "did not agree" with Ferraro's remarks.
Ferraro said her comments were misinterpreted. This is just the latest example of how race and gender issues are complicating the Democratic race for the White House.
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INTERNATIONAL
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Four Years After War's End, Battered W. African Nation Begins a Slow Reawakening Liberia's Streets, Spirits Brighten.
So brazen were the robbers in parts of Monrovia's Paynesville district that they often sang a terrifying serenade, "I Hear My Blessing Coming," in the moments before they lifted their victims into the air, rifled through their pockets and ran off into the night.
Then in September -- more than four years after warlord Charles Taylor stepped down as president, ending the country's disastrous civil war -- a pair of diesel generators no larger than tool sheds rumbled to life in one of Paynesville's most lawless neighborhoods. Operated by the national power company, they produced just enough electricity to operate streetlights. The robbers retreated. The singing stopped.
The excruciatingly slow pace of reconstruction frustrates many Liberians as they try to navigate a postwar world of high unemployment, rising food prices and ruined national infrastructure. But small victories such as the restoration of power in some sections of Monrovia, the capital, have allowed Liberians to begin restoring the frayed fabric of their society.
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This is one of the best analogies about the Kenyan crisis I have read. It includes this sad fact "Elites share power and resources while ordinary Kenyans continue to suffer."Kenya's Power-Sharing Accord: Some nagging questions.
Suppose that after suspiciously losing the much-needed 25 electoral votes from Florida in the highly disputed 2000 US presidential election, Al Gore had led his supporters in demonstrations.
Imagine that Americans had then gone on a rampage demanding that George W. Bush resign, refusing to appeal the election results to the Supreme Court because it was weighted heavily in favor of the Republicans.
Then imagine powerful countries -- say France, Japan, and China, backed by the European Union and the United Nations -- had demanded that the U.S. Constitution be changed to accommodate a power-sharing agreement! Inconceivable as this sounds, it is what happened to Kenya, culminating in the now much-publicized power-sharing accord.
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Diaries of Note
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How Racism Feels by 123frenchwine
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The Good Luck Of Being Black in America by draylogan
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