I'm sure glad Fox News doesn't consider race an issue ever, because if they did, they might have seen Star Parker's remark on Hannity's show as a bit racist. The discussion was about the movie "Runaway Slave", which is a Freedomworks production originally intended to alienate African-American voters from the Democratic Party and Barack Obama during the election.

But Star Parker took it a step further, drawing a parallel between the plantations of the 1800s and today. Specifically, she said "the overseer is the Congressional Black Caucus. Their exclusive job today is to keep them on the plantation, keep them uneducated, and and keep them unarmed."

Really?

Parker is the president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. CURE's advisory board includes such Republican stalwarts as disgraced former Attorney General Ed Meese, crooked former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the recently-famous blowhard Ben Carson, former Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft, and more.

Even better, Clarence Thomas' spouse Ginni Thomas, who now works for the Daily Caller but used to run her own billionaire-backed nonprofit, sits on the board of Parker's organization. That's cozy.

With an all-star advisory board like that, I was curious about what CURE actually does, so I checked out the last couple of years' tax returns (2010 and 2011 - PDF). After paying Parker her $167,000 or so, covering five-figure costs for travel and the like, paying her daughter $36,000 to handle the bookkeeping and shelling out almost $50,000 for the office expenses, most of the rest was paid to fundraisers. According to their returns, they mailed out some newsletters, networked with pastors and redesigned their website. Of course, there is the Fox contributor thing, too, which is described as "educating the public on television and radio."

I wouldn't stoop to Star Parker's level, but $700,000 per year to produce a large part of nothing other than a mass emailing now and then and accusing well-meaning legislators of being plantation overseers seems like projection.

Remember when Andrew Breitbart swore no racist slurs were hurled at the Congressional Black Caucus the day of the health care vote? He sneered at the possibility that any teabagger had behaved in a racist or inappropriate fashion just before he promised to donate $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund if he was proven wrong.

Seems to me the video up above is pretty clear and convincing evidence of spitting, racism and hate, and it seems Breitbart thinks so, too. Now that he can't deny it happened, he's choosing to blame John Lewis et al for walking through the group of angry teabaggers.

In truly despicable fashion, Breitbart let Hannity's audience know how outraged he was at the unfairness of it all:

BREITBART: The very act of the Black Congressional Caucus, walking through the tea party people while holding all those videos was an act of provocation. They need this desperately and one last thing. The language that Nancy Pelosi is using about the civil rights movement, comparing the unpopular health care bill to the civil rights movement ties into this… They’re all on the talking points, basically telling black people that the white people are trying to take your health care from you. This is a racial, racist, racially divisive strategy that they’re playing that’s very dangerous in the United States.

The noise machine is cranked up to full volume and steaming right ahead. In classic blame-the-victim style, Breitbart suggests that John Lewis and Emanuel Cleaver should have walked around the murmuring mob of nasty white folks rather than through them, because obviously the mere presence of black Congressmen was so inflammatory as to throw all caution (and spit) to the wind.

Never mind that they were walking up stairs to the building where they work as representatives elected by the majority of voters in their districts. That doesn't matter to Andrew Breitbart, because he just cannot stand the unbearable weight of intellectual honesty.

His remarks prove how deeply racist he, and the movement he champions, truly are.

The hateful acts that occurred at the tea party rally in Washington this weekend were not isolated incidents -- they are part of a growing pattern of violent rhetoric, racially charged imagery, and paranoid conspiracy theories emerging from the Republican party's grassroots supporters.

Republicans officials have contributed to this atmosphere with fear-mongering and coded racism, and they have actively courted this element of their party. It's time that Republican leadership is forced to address what it's helped to create.

Please join us in confronting Republican leaders and demanding that they take responsibility for tamping down the bigotry and hate among their supporters, and that they disavow the fear-mongering that leads to it. And please ask your friends and family to do the same -- unless we take a strong stand against this kind of hate, it will continue. We need as many people as possible -- of every race -- demanding that it stop.

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The tea party crowd have a hard time controlling their hate and racism and it was on display big time today.

The Hill:

Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that health care protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside.

Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis the N-word.

Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour.

Lewis was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King. Jr. Asked if racial epithets were yelled at him, Lewis responded, "Yes but it's OK. I've heard this before in the 60s. A lot of this is just downright hate."

Many of these people were hiding in the shadows until FOX News promoted the tea party movement. They aren't just a sliver of the make-up of the crowds. They ARE the crowds. And it's not limited to name-calling either. A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn said that protestors spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. HuffPo got a statement from Clyburn:

Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

"It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn told the Huffington Post. "Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday... I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus."

"It doesn't make me nervous as all," the congressman said, when asked how the mob-like atmosphere made him feel. "In fact, as I said to one heckler, I am the hardest person in the world to intimidate, so they better go somewhere else."

Asked if he wanted an apology from the group of Republican lawmakers who had addressed the crowd and, in many ways, played on their worst fears of health care legislation, the Democratic Party, and the president, Clyburn replied:

"A lot of us have been saying for a long time that much of this, much of this is not about health care a all. And I think a lot of those people today demonstrated that this is not about health care... it is about trying to extend a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful."

And if that's not disgusting enough, Barney Frank was called a "f****t," today too.

Gay.AmericaBlog:

Everything you needed to know about this hateful movement is expressed in this one story. It wasn't just one bigot. The entire crowd of teabaggers erupted in laughter. Hell of a movement Dick Armey has created - after all, he called Barney Frank the same thing, "fag," back in the 90s.

Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of the treatment. Just after Frank rounded a corner to leave the building, an older protestor yelled "Barney, you f****t." The surrounding crowd of protestors then erupted in laughter.

At one point, Capitol police officer threatened to throw a group of protestors out of the building but that only seemed to inflame them more; and apparently none were ejected.

Meanwhile the gun freak teabaggers are threatening to shoot people if health care is passed.

Tea Party activists have gathered on Capitol Hill today for a “Code Red” rally against health care reform. Speakers at the event included Republican Reps. Steve King (IA), Michele Bachmann (MN), and Mike Pence (IN). The gathering was organized by Tea Party Profiteer organizations like FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity. ThinkProgress attended today’s rally and spotted a sign threatening violence if health care passes. The sign reads: “Warning: If Brown can’t stop it, a Browning can,” referring to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and a Browning firearm

Just wait. We will see violence like our generation hasn't seen in many a decade. Anyone thinking of joining up with them go right ahead at your own risk. They will never sign on to anything that is remotely liberal. Ever.

UPDATE: Think Progress has video. You can hear the shout towards the middle.

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We've known for some time that the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson -- the WorldNetDaily's favorite black columnist -- is a Real Piece of Work. On Sean Hannity's Fox News show last night, he demonstrated it once again with this rant about health-care reform:

Peterson: But to be honest with you, this whole thing is -- I remember, George Washington built America based on truth. Barack Obama is destroying America based on lies.

This thing is about the redistribution of wealth, it's about Black Liberation Theology. Obama lied on the primaries, he's been lying ever since. And the sad thing about it, some Americans -- most Americans are starting to see it, but they don't realize that they've been seduced by this man, and he doesn't care about what is right.

We see what he's doing, bowing down to everybody around the country --

Hannity: Around the world.

Peterson: And around the world. Look what's happening in Israel right now, he's never really supported Israel. This guy is not on our side.

He's -- Obama, in all honesty, is the Congressional Black Caucus, he is Louis Farrakhan, he is Rev. Wright, his minister, he is all of them wrapped up in one -- and he's gonna take -- if we allow this health-care thing to happen, he's gonna turn America into Detroit. And we cannot let this happen.

Gee, this has a familiar ring to it. Maybe because it's just a recycled version of an earlier Peterson rant:

Barack Obama hates white people -- especially white men. Sorry folks, but the truth will set you free!

Why else would Obama falsely accuse Sgt. James Crowley and other Cambridge Police officers of "racial profiling" and claim they "acted stupidly" -- creating a national racial controversy?

For months, I have said that Barack Obama was elected as a result of white fear (guilt) and black racism. Whites voted for him because of guilt and the fear of being called "racist." And the 96 percent of blacks who voted for the "Messiah" did so because of his race and his "spread the wealth" notions.

[...]

Barack Obama is Jeremiah Wright Jr. He is the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus! He embodies the aspirations of every left-wing black group that wants to tear down this country and take power away from the "oppressive" white man. He's not an obvious race hustler like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson; but Obama is a smooth pathological liar -- with a wicked heart.

That was published in WorldNetDaily -- you know, the folks who brought you the Birther Conspiracy Factory. The same magazine that speculated that Obama was the anti-Christ. The same fine rag that published Jerome Corsi's theory that Obama was building concentration camps for rounding up conservatives -- along with a whole menu of similar far-right anti-Obama fever dreams.

The only question is: Why are we getting this far-right extremism broadcast into our living rooms by a supposedly "mainstream" cable-news operation?

A little over a week ago I delved into a troubling topic: Why are so many civil rights groups and members of the Congressional Black Caucus opposing net neutrality? It seemed strange to me that leaders in communities of color would be echoing discredited telecommunications industry talking points.

For those not familiar with the term "net neutrality," it describes the rules and practices that currently keep the Internet a free and open communication medium. Net neutrality guarantees that blogs, small businesses, and organizations are on a level playing field with the largest corporations. Whether you're GM or an individual, the content you put online is accessible and delivered in the same way, with the same priority, and nothing is blocked. For communities of color, net neutrality is key. It keeps barriers to Internet entrepreneurship low so that anyone with a good idea and some technical savvy can join the 21st century economy.

Predictably, the major players in the broadband industry have been fighting the FCC's efforts to adopt rules that would solidify net neutrality principles into law, because scrapping net neutrality would enable them to make even more money by creating new revenue streams. Ironically, civil rights leaders and CBC members have joined the dominant players. Their stated reasoning: the belief that net neutrality rules could hurt efforts to close the digital divide. The problem is that, as far as I can see, the argument doesn't hold water. It falls apart whether you approach it from the perspective of business, common sense, or history.

My hope in writing my first post was that it might encourage civil rights leaders who have opposed or questioned net neutrality to publicly explain their positions. Given what's at stake, I think its incumbent on leaders opposing or questioning net neutrality to publicly make clear why. Unfortunately, none have done so.

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