Bill said that Arab/muslim men treat their women like shit. He said that they can't vote, drive, get a divorce, etc. Tavis came back with women are treated like shit here too. Over the years, there have been several interviews with Arab/muslim women here and in the Middle East. As with most things, women have differing views. Some women don't like the restrictions placed on them so they leave their countries and come here. They renounce their faith and stop practicing their customs. On the other hand, some of these women come here keep their faith and continue practicing their customs. Some have even wondered why we believe they're unhappy. They don't mind practicing Islam and they don't mind covering their hair and bodies. Bill used examples of the cruelty perpetrated against women by rural religious chiefs. None of the examples he used were perpetrated by men in the cities. (Unless you count the guy in New York who killed his wife.) But, if we go by the images we're seeing of the protests in the Middle East, the women there are standing along side the men. If being a woman in the Middle East was as bad as we think, they wouldn't be there.
Tavis believes that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. He's right. Women in this country are treated like shit. If we had it better than Arabs/muslims, porn wouldn't be one the biggest businesses in the world. The human trafficking/prostitution business wouldn't be booming. Women are being raped and murdered here at an alarming rate and for some reason, these crimes are not being solved. If it wasn't for Nancy Grace, I wouldn't know that women are disappearing never to be seen again. Women don't make as much money as men, the justice system, whether criminal or civil, gets a big fat "F", and let's not mention women's health. So, maybe Arab women have to be covered from head to toe, but being able to wear a bikini on the beach doesn't mean I'm better off.
Bill wanted to know why Obama hadn't been more forceful in his defense of the union workers in Wisconsin. Heilemann wasn't surprised. He doesn't believe that Obama is a democrat. He believes that all of his policies show him to be republican. That he's too buddy buddy with wall street to be anything other than a republican. Tavis brought up whether this was the change that people voted for. I agree with both.
Obama is a republican. Obama and Clinton ran on the same platform. Edwards was more progressive. Because all the prior presidents were white, I voted for Obama. (I would have voted for Edwards if Obama had dropped out.) It's been a big letdown. He said that he'd close Guantanamo, get rid of the Bush tax cuts, reform wall street, make health care affordable, start a new dialogue with the rest of the world, bring the troops home, improve education, do something about the foreclosure crisis. Another thing that bothers me, is that ninety percent (probably closer to ninety nine percent) of his appointees are white. But, the worst thing that Obama has done, has come down on the side of prosecutors in the Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee case that was in front of the Supreme Court. Mr. Harrington and Curtis McGhee were wrongfully convicted for murder because the prosecutors fabricated evidence. Prosecutors are sworn to uphold the laws of the United States. Obama believes that it's okay for prosecutors to make shit up in order to get convictions and not be held liable. They shouldn't go to jail/prison for violating the constitutional rights of American citizens. His reasoning is that if they're held responsible for their actions, then it'll prevent them from aggressively going after criminals. I'm black. My son is black. Most of the wrongfully convicted are black. My son could be Terry Harrington or Curtis McGhee.
Obama is an average politician. He made promises and didn't deliver. This isn't change. This is more of the same.
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