I’ve just returned from three weeks away from the USA. I was visiting Switzerland as I do frequently. Though still wading through the fog of jet lag, I see that Switzerland and its excellent and accessible health care system is being bandied about as a role model for what universal, comprehensive, private, health insurance coverage could look like here in America. Guess what? The Swiss health care system would never fly here.
There are a couple of reasons. The first reason Swiss health care couldn’t work here? It’s because we don’t …

Far be it from me to oppose a good passionate grassroots movement. Maybe I’m dating myself here, but I still remember big, huge marches and demonstrations that energized the heart and focused our nation’s gaze on high ideas – at least for the day. I support the scattered message tea partiers who have every right to take to the streets, distort history, wave their offensive signs and spout misinformation about the “inevitable” consequences of the proposed Federal tax increases.

And believe it or not, I don’t think the anti-spending battle …

Poor Gordon Brown, he’s having a helluva week. First he’s taken on by the Governor of the Bank of England for overspending, and then he gets to sit uncomfortably as his guest, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, goes off on a racially charged, wince inducing tirade about the reason for the global financial mess:
‘This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of people that are white, blue-eyed, that before the crisis looked like they knew everything about economics,’ he declared.
‘Now they have demonstrated that …

On Friday, in Los Angeles, the NAACP will file suit against two major banks alleging that they intentionally assigned black customers subprime mortgages while giving whites better rates. According to the Associated Press:
The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates.
Austin Tighe, co-lead counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, tells The Associated Press that class-action lawsuits will be filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.
Tighe says black homebuyers have been 3 …

During the Presidential campaign, I hammered away at our individual responsibility to engage in critical analysis and offer constructive criticism if Barack Obama should become President. Well, here we are. And I am concerned that in many circles, even questioning Obama’s strategies is seen as some kind of “betrayal.” On a news show this morning, Jack Welch spoke of how his “trust fund” daughters refused to hear even the slightest concern or critique of Obama. Welch said that he was treated like a “pariah” if he even raised a question.
I …

I applaud Alexandra Penney. It was smart and savvy to get her post onto Tina Brown’s blogsite, where a significant number of media types regularly check in. Of course Penney’s a shoo-in for a book deal. But there’s an arc to most bestselling stories in this genre and I don’t think we’ve seen enough (any??) self reflection to inspire anyone to buy the hardcover.
Right now, my little family is doing okay. But I have lived through bruising financial reversals. If I had had no core set of values or beliefs …

Those elusive ‘Undecided Voters’
My hunch is that most of you reading this blog know who you will vote for on November 4th. I would be curious to speak to anyone truly undecided to find out what their core unresolved issue is. To the credit of both candidates, both of whom spout enough bluster to cloud the Los Angeles skies, each campaign’s website is replete with comprehensive information.
Taxes
The most important issue that came up for me during last night’s Presidential debate and on the high spirited Kevin Ross Show that followed …

If you think all you should know about the pending conversion to digital television is the need for a converter box coupon, you may have been hoodwinked and bamboozled by the jumbo media companies. In fact the most important aspect of this transition may be that hundreds of new television channels to be made available by the conversion to digital have already been doled out to existing media companies with little public discussion and no public service obligations.

The pro-Migrant bloggers over at the The Sanctuary website are making national news by trying to do a very difficult thing: keep Obama and McCain honest about their immigration agenda. It seems that in an effort to catch the majority of the ever growing “Latino vote,” Obama and McCain are flip flopping all over themselves, changing what they say depending on what audience they are speaking to.
So in June, the folks at The Sanctuary made a basic request; they asked each candidate to respond to a 38 Question Candidate Survey. …

As frequent readers of this blog already know, I have long held that our inability to openly discuss and resolve racial issues limits what Americans will do for each other even as we claim the common, seemingly unifying objective of wanting our country to be as prosperous and as ideal a place that it could possibly be. Despite what we say we want, the blight crushing most inner city and poor rural schools and the often horrifying state of social services available for poor children and families exist in screaming …

As the presidential candidates clamor for the return of living wage jobs now outsourced to other countries, AT&T seeks to bring back 5,000 customer service jobs from India. And you know what? They are having a hard time finding Americans with the skills and education needed to fill those jobs.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the …

Contributor Andrew Padula has been in situations throughout his life where he’s felt compelled to address racial issues from his unusual perspective. Andrew is a white, politically conservative, blues musician who’s been teaching and touring the U.S. and Europe since 1993. He can be seen with blues legend Bobby Parker on B.E.T. Jazz Central as well as on Carlos Santana’s recent DVD release “Montreux Blues Summit”. His point of view adds plenty to our discussion, so I welcome Andrew and his column The Topsoil to Allaboutrace.com. As Andrew says, “You …

Dumbfounded? So was I when I first saw this. My next clear thought was that the late Walt Disney, a reported Nazi sympathizer, is probably doing a little jig somewhere having a good belly laugh.

Lead paint isn’t the only element that can make our children’s playthings harmful or destructive. Teaching young people that a tool of violence, and in this country racial violence, is something to be worn as a talisman of power goes beyond the pale.
Need to see more? – The Pirates of the Caribbean “Dead Man’s Chest” …

This case reads like an incomprehensible headline out of the poorest and most isolated war torn regions of another country. But it happened in Florida, about two months ago. Here are the details:
After dark on June 18, the police say, as many as 10 armed assailants repeatedly raped a Haitian immigrant in her apartment at Dunbar Village and then went further, forcing her to perform oral sex on her 12-year-old son. They took cellphone pictures of their acts. They burned the woman’s skin and the boy’s eyes with cleaning …

Recently, I’ve been asked both directly and in roundabout ways, “When do we get to press the racial reset button?” The people who’ve asked this question seem to feel tired of dealing with racial issues and in particular are frustrated by the level of “black anger” they encounter. Those who ask this question want to move on to the point where race is a non-issue. They want to embrace the level playing field so many of us have imagined.
I think it’s a fair question and one that I’ve been thinking …