Courtesy of Tom Joyner:

And let me take a moment right here and now to say hello to those of you viewing from home. Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Senator John McCain. Governor Mitt Romney. And Senator Fred Thompson. Well, you know, I had to call them out.

I guess the frontrunners had better uses for their time. Last night was NBC "Must See TV" Thursday...

because they had dinner reservations at Sylvia's.

PBS is public television so Bush put Republicans in charge of it.

They could have removed the extra ones and just shuffled folks around. But the "empty saddles" really drives home the point.

Even when somebody DOES show up, the topic is not going to be how to stop the biggest engine of racial inequality in America today.

That would be the one issue nobody is allowed to talk about in this campaign. The precious, beloved War on Drugs.

For example, last year according to the FBI, there were over 800,000 arrests for marijuana in America. As those 800,000+ human beings move through the system, at every stage there will be an decrease in racial equality in America.

Despite roughly equal rates of use among black and white people, whites are being arrested at a rate of roughly 28/10,000 while blacks get arrested at a rate of about 100/10,000. So the racial de-equalizing has begun already at the arresting stage.

And then you get the case disposition. The racial disparity seen at the arrest level continues up the chain, with blacks getting statistically disproportionate treatment at every stage of the legal process, from rate of conviction to length of sentence.

On top of that, America has a whole system in place that starts to ruin a person's life once he or she is arrested for marijuana. You get kicked out of school, you're not eligible for food stamps, welfare or public housing.

Every year this engine operates, it disproportionately punishes blacks over whites, and pushes blacks further down the social ladder while it helps white people maintain our place on the top.

But whatever -- this subject is obviously BANNED from the election.

I suppose the Democrats can always talk about Katrina. That's certainly worth talking about. That could fill up a debate.

We'll just let the War on Drugs do its racist work for another four years. Right?

Let the racist engine operate exactly as it pleases for another four years. Maybe people will be ready to talk about it in 2012.

This is further proof that elections are not about serving the American people. They aren't about finding ways to bring this country together for the betterment of all. They're contests of resource optimization with the goal simply to get elected.

The no-shows are well aware that resources spent on black voters are resources wasted. They feel no need to pay lip-service to reaching out to anyone but their base. It's a purely economic decision, and from an economic standpoint it's the right decision.

Race relations, and trying to do good for the underrepresented? Idealistic pipe-dreams, better served for those wussy Democrats. This is about how best to acquire power.

Maybe they're all die-hard baseball fans and had to watch the Cubs and Brewers games to see who'll make the playoffs...

(This is a JOKE, okay?)

It's all about perception. Even if candidate dollars would have been wasted by showing up, the Republicans are presenting the perception that they don't care about minorities. Likewise that they don't want to do the Univision debate which will be seen by the Latino population. Mitt Romney made an error in commenting on the CNN/YouTube debate that it denegrates the process and the Republicans shouldn't participate. That slammed the younger population who values that communication method, a population that wants to participate in our electoral process.

TreeRol writes The no-shows are well aware that resources spent on black voters are resources wasted. They feel no need to pay lip-service to reaching out to anyone but their base. It's a purely economic decision, and from an economic standpoint it's the right decision.

No kidding. Especially when Republicans are already getting a pretty good return on their [non-]investment in the black community. Despite a legacy of race-baiting and policies that disproportionately have a negative effect on blacks, Republicans still get 10% of the "Black Vote." Despite the strained (at best) relationship Republicans have with the black community Angela McGlowan, Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas and Michael Steele still exist.

Just think of the response Republicans could get if they made the slightest effort? Why don't they? After all, they convinced poor whites to vote against their economic interests and vote Republican on "the values." Why not try the same with blacks?

Republicans appeal to some whites by subtly and not-so-subtly invoking the threat of "the negro." Why don't they make similar appeals to the black community by invoking the threat of the latino? Another "they're taking our jobs" and "destroying our culture" argument.

Because Latinos are a better potential demographic for Republicans than Blacks are. Bush got 40% of the Latino vote in 2004, and Latinos are a rapidly growing demographic. Of course, McCain was the only GOP candidate to accept an invitation to debate on Univision. Unsurprisingly, McCain is the "pro-amnesty" candidate, and his immigration reform bill put him at odds with the party base.

Ultimately, I thinks Republicans will temper some of their anti-immigration rhetoric. The Latino population is getting too big to ignore. But the Black population? Just not money well spent.

Trying to unify a country that has a disinterest in anything but tacos, Paris Hilton, and NASCAR is easily avoided without fear of retribution from the masses. As Mr. Potter once said "...nothing but a bunch of sentimental hogwash".

I mean, really, even when folks who are poor, or the struggling middle class had a chance to correct the neocon charge up San Juan hill they came out in droves to elect a cynic who got his jollies off ordering mass murder in the form of "Shock and Awe", and then onto ethnic cleansing in the form of "Surge". Lemmings who would rather have a beer with an ex-drunk than wine with a plutocrat windsurfer illuminates the priorities of the masses in a self-delusional, TV ad-pitched, double-sized culture. We knuckleheads got what we deserved and much, much more. Momentarily, "Larry Graiged" will become the next verb. How exciting, a new verb.

Romney, giuliani, (no upper case first letter for him) Thompson and the man in the Edger Suit will get plently of votes from Blacks, Latinos, whites and every color inbetween because americans are basiclly stupid. Plain and simple. They have proved it time and again. Scary country this country. Now, where did I put those three walnut shells and that pea...