It's almost time for the "Hail Mary pass".

If you are Mitt Romney or one of his many supporters this must seem like desperate times. The general election is fast approaching and as it gets closer the margin in the polls seem to be getting wider between the two candidates. This has caused his many sycophants -both in the media and on the street- to become someone unhinged. (If you don't believe me read some of the comments after this post.)

I was led to one example by a tweet from CNN's Roland Martin. The AP ran a story about black Christians wavering over voting for Obama (yeah right) and the right wing News Max picked it up and stuck a false and misleading quote in their headline.

 "Some black clergy see no good presidential choice between a Mormon candidate and one who supports gay marriage, so they are telling their flocks to stay home on Election Day. That's a worrisome message for the nation's first African-American president, who can't afford to lose any voters from his base in a tight race.

The pastors say their congregants are asking how a true Christian could back same-sex marriage, as President Barack Obama did in May. As for Republican Mitt Romney, the first Mormon nominee from a major party, congregants are questioning the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its former ban on men of African descent in the priesthood.

In 2008, Obama won 95 percent of black voters and is likely to get an overwhelming majority again. But any loss of votes would sting."

I read the rest of that article and I don't see where black pastors told anyone to "stay home" on election day. But it's certainly wishful thinking on the part of my friends over at News Max. I suppose with the voter suppression laws not going quite the way that they (the right) wants it to, they now have to go to plan B: manipulating the message. 

And then there is Cheltenham's own, Benji Netanyahu. Benjamin is a very good friend of Mitt Romney, and he would like to see nothing more than Mitt becoming president of these divided states of America. He is screaming for a meeting with Obama because he says that Iran has the materials to build a nuclear weapon. (Not that they have it; just that they have the materials to build it.)And now he wants America to take action or he will. Benji has gotten so over the top that one of Israel's biggest supporters in the Senate is calling him out for trying to influence our elections. And in Israel opposition leader, Shaul Mofaz has accused Benji of doing the same thing. Folks, this is called trying to force a crisis and bring panic to the American electorate. (Yeah that's the ticket; nuke Iran and watch all of our troubles go away.) I am sure that this is just how Sheldon, Mitt, and Benji drew it up. (Read the last link, it's important.) But sometimes the best laid plans...

Honestly folks, we might need to check the real origin of that film that caused all hell to break loose over in the Middle East. I am not accusing Karl Rove and his peeps of anything, but we might just need to check.

Finally, you folks know that I can chase racism with the best of them, but every now and then I have to call out a decoy on the racism chase.

A lunchtime staple of students for years, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be considered one of the more popular items found in the sack lunches of school children.

But in conjunction with recent equity training in local Portland schools, one principal is raising questions about the mention of the sandwich, arguing it has broader implications about race, the Portland Tribune reports.
The sandwich was reportedly mentioned in a lesson plan last year. Verenice Gutierrez from the Harvey Scott K-8 School used it as an example of a subtle form of racism in language, according to the report.

"What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?" Gutierrez said, according to the Tribune. "Another way would be to say: 'Americans eat peanut butter and jelly, do you have anything like that?' Let them tell you. Maybe they eat torta. Or pita."
As part of a training program known as "Courageous Conversations" that has been phased into Portland schools in recent years, the Tribune reports that staff members at Gutierrez's school have been going through trainings, classroom observations and exercises, such as reading a news article and then talking about it from the perspective of "white privilege."
The organization behind the program is Pacific Educational Group. According to the group's website, their aim is to help minority students through initiatives that address racial educational disparities, "intentionally, explicitly, and comprehensively." [Source]

Stop it right now! Racism in a PB&J? I need a break.

Gotta go folks, the new season of "Boardwalk Empire" starts tonight.