This article is a must-read, especially in today’s turbulent economic times.

Several prominent civil rights groups have not only been taking money from payday loan and subprime credit card companies that target people of color with their predatory lending schemes, they’ve actually been actively lobbying to allow them to do even more business.

Three years ago, Al Sharpton went so far as to appear in TV commercials for LoanMax, a company that specializes in auto-title loans, whose 300 percent interest rates consumer advocates consider deeply predatory. CompuCredit has participated in Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s career fairs and economic summits. Local affiliates of the National Urban League, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights groups, have worked with the payday lending industry trade group, the Consumer Financial Services Association (CFSA), to conduct financial literacy seminars. Denise Harrod, CompuCredit’s vice president, has served on business committees of the National Conference of Black Mayors and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, both of which have received money from the payday lending industry.

Truly, truly shameful.

(h/t Ta-Nehisi Coates).

h/t Feministing

I’m amazed that people don’t see how the McCain campaign really is just Bush The Sequel. From WaPo, emphasis mine:

John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said the campaign is entering a stage in which skirmishes over the facts are less important than the dominant themes that are forming voters’ opinions of the candidates.

“The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there’s a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she’s new, she’s popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent,” Feehery said. “As long as those are out there, these little facts don’t really matter.”

From their sneering condescension toward the media (”they’re just playa-haters!”) to their blatant repetition of outright lies… doesn’t this all seem a little familiar?

Update: My post on Racialicious is up.

The October issue of Glamour magazine has a feature story about race and friendship among women. It’s the second in a series of conversations the magazine has been hosting about race, and I was invited to participate.

I’ll be sharing more thoughts about it on Racialicious soon, but here’s a sneak peek (launches PDF).

Jay Smooth always has an uncanny ability to break things down to their essence. Here he is on Palin’s speech.

This recurring theme of turning the phrase “community organizer into some sort of epithet like “communist” or “homo” or something, that’s really despicable.