Thursday, September 30, 2010

Unintended consequences?


It's a wild news and weather night here on the East coast. Here in "Iggles" nation we are just patiently awaiting 5's return. It should be fun to watch come Sunday.

Anywhooo, I want to start with uncompromising positions and how they can have sad and unintended consequences: My man Kassim Osgood is a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he decided to run a route right into the bedroom of a 19 year old cheerleader. Problem was, of course, that girlfriend had a jealous ex boyfriend. And we all know how exes can get at times.

"Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Kassim Osgood had to leap out a second-floor window late Monday to escape a gun-wielding man who had attacked him and a 19-year-old Roar cheerleader he was visiting in a home on Fort Caroline Road.

By the time it was over, police said the armed intruder had traded gunfire with the woman after sticking a gun to her head, saying, “What did that football player say to his girlfriend, 'It’s a good day to die,' ” misquoting ex-Florida Gator Chris Rainey’s recent text message to a former girlfriend.

Osgood, a former Pro Bowl special teams player in his first season with the Jaguars, had some minor bruises from his escape and being pistol-whipped, the Sheriff’s Office report said. He declined to comment Wednesday. "


Kassim, you better be glad girlfriend lived on the second floor and that she was packing. WTF? A shootout with her ex after he put a gun to her head? Gotta love those females in the Ville. [Story]

A similar story with a young man being caught in I guess what was to him a compromising position didn't end so well. He committed suicide after his roommate posted streaming videos on the web of him having sexual relations with another man.

"Fellow students Dharun Ravi, who was Clementi’s room-mate, and Molly Wei, have been charged with invasion of privacy and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

They are accused of placing a camera in the room and streaming the images straight on to the internet.

In a message posted on microblogging website Twitter on Sep 19 Ravi allegedly said: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said his group considers Clementi’s death a hate crime.

He said: “We are heartbroken over the tragic loss of a young man who, by all accounts, was brilliant, talented and kind.

“And we are sickened that anyone in our society, such as the students allegedly responsible for making the surreptitious video, might consider destroying others’ lives as a sport.” [Story]


Hmmm, lots of layers to this story. But my man's roomie was one sick dude. Obviously he (the victim) was hiding his sexuality and his roomie knew that, which is why he thought his prank was cool. Dharun and Molly must not live in the real world. I wonder how they thought their little stunt was going to turn out? It doesn't' matter now. The problem for them is that a jury will probably ultimately decide whether their actions were foreseeable or not, and that could mean a long stint in the "pokey" for both of them. I know one thing; there is a certain pastor down in peach country who is praying that....never mind.

Here is another reason we shouldn't be just sperm donors. There are truly some sick folks out there. I swear you all make me want to rethink my stance on the death penalty sometimes.

Finally, it looks like the republican candidate for governor up in Zoo Yawk is doing his best to audition for the Sopranos play that's sure to come to Broadway:

"Republican New York governor candidate Carl Paladino has launched an astonishing attack on a reporter after he questioned him about claims against his rival Andrew Cuomo.
Mr Paladino reacted angrily to a question from New York Post state editor Fred Dicker and the two had to be held apart after a furious exchange.
Mr Dicker had asked whether he had evidence for accusations levelled at Mr Cuomo..

But the Republican then launched his attack on the reporter, shouting 'I'll take you out, buddy!' He referred to the newspaper's coverage of the daughter he fathered 10 years ago outside of wedlock before making the threat. 'I want to know why you sent your goons after my daughter, Fred. 'You send another goon to my daughter's house and I'll take you out, buddy!' [Story]

Watch, just like Chris Crisco in Jersey, he will be praised by the wingnut establishment for his "in your face" style, and he will have their full support come November. He better, or he might take them out as well.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Who should we believe?

*
I see that the folks over at Radio Rwanda are all in a tizzy over his O ness putting them on blast in his RS Magazine interview.

"How on earth is Fox News hurting the middle class?" O'Reilly wondered aloud during a segment with Alan Colmes and Monica Crowley Tuesday night.

O'Reilly also said Obama criticized Fox because "50 percent of the commentators" on the network disagreed with the president, as opposed to other media outlets who "still love him."


And this from tweedledum:

"Once again, we are seeing if you disagree with the president's left-wing agenda, you do so at your own risk," he said, before blasting Obama for his economic and foreign policy.

"Mr. President, this network did not put into place policies that are going to result in higher taxes, higher health care premiums and fewer jobs," Hannity said.


Honestly, this is A-merry-ca, and the folks over at Radio Rwanda have every right to put all the bull s&^ they want on the air. If the brain dead red state masses want to treat every thing they spew as gospel, then so be it.

The problem is, of course, that they pretend to be a legitimate news organization. Their "fair and balanced" aphorism is an even bigger joke than the bimbos and former republican candidates and operatives who they have masquerading as journalist. (BTW, they have even helped their employees run for political office) This is the frustration with FOX. Not that they are a wingnut propaganda arm , but that they pretend not to be. I am sure that this is what frustrates his O ness as well. In his orderly academic world this makes no sense. Could the people who elected me be this dumb? Ahhhh.....Yes! Rupert Murdoch and his minions understands the emotional A-merry-can. They would rather watch a blond bimbo read slanted news than an old bald man read the truth. It's why they will always win the ratings war.

Finally, in typical -hypocritical- republican fashion, millionaire Meg Whitman is throwing her *nanny of seven years under the bus. Or, should we say, under the border fence. Seems Meg knew girlfriend was illegal all along, but...well, we can't have the voters of California knowing that we say one thing and do another now can we.

"..Allred said that the Social Security Administration notified Whitman in 2003 that the number Diaz provided when hired in 2000 was not valid and that Whitman did nothing until June 2009, when she fired Diaz after she asked for help with her immigration status. Diaz is filing a claim with the state Labor Commission, seeking back wages and mileage.

Here's what Whitman said in a statement:

'After nine years of faithful service, Nicky came to us in June 2009 and confessed that she was an illegal worker. Nicky had falsified the hiring documents and personal information she provided to the employment agency that brought her to us in 2000. Nicky told me that she was admitting her deception now because she was aware that her lie might come out during the campaign. Nicky said she was concerned about hurting my family and me.

As required by law, once we learned she was an illegal worker, I immediately terminated Nicky's employment. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I considered Nicky a friend and a part of our extended family.'"

Now, I ask you, who do you believe?


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

"Why are you a Christian?"


Folks are buzzing about a poll out showing that atheist and agnostics actually know more about religion than church going folks. Frankly, I am not surprised. If, for instance, the folks who worship at the foot of Creflo and Bishop Eddie are examples of religious people, it actually all makes sense.

"Why did atheists do so well? The study concluded that those who reject faith often do so after growing up in a religious household, and studying and deliberating keeping the faith. Also, atheists and agnostics tend to be better educated in general. Why did Christians do so poorly? It may be because once someone accepts a faith, they stop examining it."

You religious folks would do well to learn Second Timothy, 2:15. I am just sayin.

"Why are you a Christian?" That's what some clown asked his O ness today at a campaign stop in New Mexico. O should have told the woman that it's none of her damn business, but we all know that as the President of these divided states he couldn't do that. Not when it's a question about religion. Not in A-merry-ca. If it's one thing we love it's our religion. And we want our leader to be god fearing just like us. (I am sorry if all this passion about religion makes me a little nervous. But I just saw a grainy video of the Taliban stoning a woman to death for being caught out on a date with a man.)

"It was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead -- being my brother's and sister's keeper, treating others as they would treat me," he said. ..And I think also understanding that, you know, that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings -- that we're sinful and we're flawed and we make mistakes, and that we ... achieve salvation through the grace of God." ..My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life.."

Yes, just in time to run for President. Oh well, at least we know that you are not a Muslim.

Court Hears of U.S. Unit Killing Afghan Civilians at Random

by William Yardley
New York Times
September 27, 2010

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — Members of an American Army unit consumed with drug use randomly chose Afghan civilians to kill and then failed to report the abuses out of fear they would suffer retaliation from their commander, according to testimony in military court here on Monday.

The testimony, in a hearing to determine whether one of those soldiers, Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock, would face a court-martial and a possible death sentence, came the same day that a videotape in the case was leaked showing Specialist Morlock talking to investigators about the killings in gruesome detail with no apparent emotion.

Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock
Top Army officials worry that the case against Specialist Morlock and four other soldiers accused in the killings of three Afghan civilians will undermine efforts to build relationships with Afghans in the war against the Taliban.

The soldiers are accused of possessing dismembered body parts, including fingers and a skull, and collecting photographs of dead Afghans. Some images show soldiers posing with the dead. As many as 70 images are believed to be in evidence.

Some of the soldiers have said in court documents that they were forced to participate in the killings by a supervisor, Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who is also accused in the killings. All five defendants have said they are not guilty.

In one incident, Specialist Morlock recounted in the video, he described Sergeant Gibbs identifying for no apparent reason an Afghan civilian in a village, then directing Specialist Morlock and another soldier to fire on the man after Sergeant Gibbs lobbed a grenade in his direction.

“He kind of placed me and Winfield off over here so we had a clean line of sight for this guy and, you know, he pulled out one of his grenades, an American grenade, popped it, throws the grenade, and tells me and Winfield: ‘All right, wax this guy. Kill this guy, kill this guy,’ ” Specialist Morlock said in the video.

Referring to the Afghan, the investigator asked: “Did you see him present any weapons? Was he aggressive toward you at all?”

Specialist Morlock replied: “No, not at all. Nothing. He wasn’t a threat.”

As Monday’s hearing was getting under way, CNN and ABC News broadcast the video. In the CNN clip and the ABC clip, Specialist Morlock, speaking in a near monotone, looks like a teenager recounting a story to his parents.

Read the rest of this article here.

Comment: Imperialism is a terminal mental disease.

Credits

Peru wants its treasures back

News24
September 28, 2010
Lima -Peru's President Alan Garcia vowed Monday to use every corner of the world he visits to publicly press US-based Yale University to return thousands of treasures from Machu Picchu it took 99 years ago.

"I won't stop talking each and every day until July 7 2011, wherever I might happen to be... to demand what belongs to Peru," Garcia said during a cultural event.

Garcia called on the Ivy League university to return before that date more than 46 000 artifacts American explorer Hiram Bingham took from the World Heritage Site high in the Andes mountains.

"We won't let July 7 slip by because it's a dividing line: either we come together in understanding the integrity of Machu Picchu or we simply have to characterise (the university) as a treasure pillager," said the president.

Machu Picchu

A previous effort at an amicable settlement ended in failure in 2007, and legal measures reportedly have been filed since in a bid to have the artifacts returned.

Bingham was a professor at Yale when he re-discovered in 1911 Machu Picchu, a 15th century Inca citadel perched 2 500 meters up in the mountains near Cuzco that has become Peru's crown tourist jewel.

Peru argues that Bingham helped bring 46 332 artifacts from the site back to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut between 1911 and 1916. Many of the items are stored at the school's Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Peru had authorised the transport of the items to Yale for examination and scientific study for a period of 18 months, but the agreement was not respected by the university.

"One hundred years is more than enough to study those archaeological pieces," said Garcia.

Bingham is widely credited with bringing Machu Picchu to world attention, but many historians agree that Peruvian Agustin Lizarraga had discovered the complex in 1902, nine years before Bingham.

With 2 200 visitors a day, Machu Picchu is one of the most visited sites in Latin America.

Yale says on its website it has "legal title" to the Peru artifacts but that it is open to an "amicable settlement". The university also contends that of the objects, "none are unique or one-of-a-kind".- AFP

Comment: "Legal title" to artifacts that predate the US?

Beneath the tussle about who owns these artifacts is another compelling story of how knowledge is constructed and for what purposes.

The claim to 'discovery' must be balanced against the discourse of whiteness and its need to control how knowledge is constructed and for what purposes.

In the words of Midnight Oil in 1987 we should all be saying:

"It belongs to them .... (so) give it back ..."

Onward!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Solving the education problem.

*

It's nice to see that public education is getting so much attention in A-merry-ca these days. We can thank my man from Facebook and his one hundred million dollar gift for that. Lord knows that it needs to. I think folks are starting to realize that it's everybody's problem. Even those of us who don't have children. Maybe we can start tackling the causes of the problem and not the symptoms for once. (Thanks Dan) BTW, let me just leave this link for you haters out there who think that black children are somehow genetically inferior to those kids from the majority population. Thank you.
Anyway, I think I have a simple solution to the education problem in poor inner city and rural neighborhoods here in the land of the [some are] free. Now please believe that I did not come to this lightly. It took years of working in urban A-merry-ca with some of these children as a volunteer, a court administrator, and as a professional in private practice.

So here goes: Tie performance and attendance in school to tax breaks and more public assistance benefits-if they are receiving it- to the families of these children. That's it. It's that simple. If, for instance, the little rugrat is making all A's and is attending at least 95% of his or her classes for most of the school year. His mother or father (whoever is working at least 25 hours per week in the home) would not pay state (Keeping in mind, of course, that there is no national curriculum in A-merry-ca, and the feds are not responsible for education. Still, the feds could be involved as well, if the federal government gave money to the states which were armarked for this program.) income taxes on their salary for that year. They would send proof of the rugrats performance with their state tax returns. If the family receives food stamps or cash assistance they would get an additional food stamp voucher or cash benefits when they bring proof of their little rugrats performance to the local welfare office.

Let's face it, folks, all the great teaching in the world will not change how some of these children perform if they do not get motivated at home and learn to value education. These children are starting behind the eight ball because of the environment that they are coming from. Many of them have zero college graduates in their families or their neighborhoods. So the educational value system that some of us talk so freely about and take for granted is a foreign concept to them. Chris Crisco can keep beating up on the teacher's unions in Jersey to show off to his GOP friends, it won't do any good. It might get him political Brownie points, but ten years from now schools in places like Camden and Jersey City will still be f*&^%d up.

Maybe, just maybe, with some kind of financial incentive, the person in the home charged with making decisions that affects their child's life will do the right thing.

Arne, that was free.

BTW, what is wrong with the *picture above?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

FREE LORENZO!!


*
I wasn't going to say anything about Bishop Eddie, but then I caught his act on CNN this evening, and I must say; my man is a trip. I can't really blame him for fighting the allegations, and I understand that he has "lawyered" up so he is being instructed not to talk about the case. But my man compared himself to David going up against Goliath, and the church gave him a rousing amen. -All ten thousand of them who were in the house- Now that is some scary stuff.

And speaking of scary stuff: what is up with my man's hair? All those members in his church and he can't find one single barber or stylist to hook up his do? I thought Atlanta had a lot of folks in the black beauty business. Sorry, I couldn't sit through one of the Bishop's sermons because of that f^%$#d up hair. Call me petty, but that Negro made all that money off those folks and he can't spring for a twenty dollar haircut? Someone should be sued alright, but it's not Bishop Eddie, it's his barber.

How would you like to live on Ardmore Avenue in the suburb of Drexel Hill, right outside of my beautiful hometown?

"Twenty cats. Frozen solid.

Upper Darby police and health officials discovered a makeshift kitty morgue Wednesday when they searched a vacant rowhouse on Ardmore Avenue in the township's Drexel Hill section.

Neighbors say the home is owned by the mother of Denise Merget, 58, a cat hoarder who has been locked up at the Delaware County prison since Sept. 10, when she allegedly pulled her .38-caliber revolver on an animal-cruelty officer who tried to remove 55 cats from her uninhabitable house on Leighton Terrace.

Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said the dead cats - mostly kittens - were wrapped in plastic and stored in a freezer. They likely belong to Merget, who is awaiting her preliminary hearing on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and weapons offenses.

The cat corpses have been taken to the Delaware County SPCA for further investigation.

'I don't know what the cat autopsies are going to show,' Chitwood said. 'My expectation was that these cats just died, but I think being so mentally ill, she's trying to preserve them even in death by putting them in a freezer. Cryonics. That's exactly what's going on.'

Chitwood said Merget could face animal-cruelty charges, depending on the results of the investigation. She apparently was watching the Ardmore Avenue house for her mother, who lives in a nursing home.

Residents of the block, just off Lansdowne Avenue, are still recovering from last week's raid of an alleged brothel across the street. Police arrested a prostitute and the madam of the house, who they say were advertising "massages" and performing sexual acts for a "generous tip."

'On one side, you got prostitution, on the other side, you got cats in the freezer,' Chitwood said. 'It's tragic. Obviously, this lady has some mental-health issues and needs to get them addressed.'

Neighbors say the well-kept block isn't the type of place where you'd expect to find hookers and frozen pets.

'At least it's not drugs," one resident said. 'Just crazy people."' [Story]

Wrong Mr. [Mrs] resident, hookers aren't crazy. *People who freeze cats, on the other hand, well they might have some issues.

Finally, to stay with the animal theme, (excluding the good Bishop of course) why isn't there an outcry from PETA to free Lorenzo the parrot?

"Sky News is reporting that a parrot named Lorenzo has been arrested for being a lookout for Colombian drug dealers. Apparently the bird would say, “run, run the cat is going to get you” when anybody in a police uniform would walk by." [Story]

I bet if poor Lorenzo was a cat they would have taken up his case. Still, you have to admit, Lorenzo has some skills. I wonder if he can cut hair?

Serengeti Road Will Be Built

News24.com
2010-09-26 20:25
Dar Es Salaam - Tanzania's president said on Saturday construction of a controversial two-lane road through the UN-listed Serengeti national park will go ahead as it will not disturb the ecosystem.

"All precautions have been taken to make sure that the wildlife is not affected," Jakaya Kikwete was quoted as saying by state-owned media as telling election campaign rallies in Ngorongoro and Serengeti districts.

Kikwete, who is seeking re-election for a second and final five tear term, was responding to local and foreign activists who oppose the project on grounds that it would scare away animals.

"What I can assure the activists is that the Serengeti shall not die and the proposed road has many social and economic advantages to the people in Mara and Arusha regions," he told residents of the Mto wa Mbu area.

On Thursday, the Tanzanian government announced they have formed a team to study the impact of the project, but that it had not changed its position on the construction of the road.

Some local environmentalists say a paved road through Mikumi National Park in central Tanzania has led to the death of many animals that are hit by vehicles despite speed bumps.

Some 27 biodiversity experts recently warned in the science journal Nature, that the proposed Serengeti highway would destroy one of the world's last great wildlife sanctuaries.

Rushing to the area


"The road will cause an environmental disaster," the experts said, urging the government to look at an alternative route that runs far south of the UN-listed site.

The planned road slashes right across the annual migratory route taken by 1.3 million wildebeest, part of the last great mass movements of animals.

The wildebeest play a vital role in a fragile ecosystem, maintaining the vitality of Serengeti's grasslands and sustaining threatened predators such as lions, cheetahs and wild dogs, they said.

Kikwete has repeatedly defended the planned road, saying the stretch crossed by migrating animals will be gravelled rather than paved with the aim of reducing speed. Sceptics say lorries will speed even on gravel.

The president has also argued that the road will improve transportation and boost economic activity for people living close to the park.

Tanzanian media have reported people rushing to the area to put up buildings and plant crops in the hope of being compensated when construction starts.- AFP
Comment: This is a very disturbing story. How can Kikwete even think of such a thing? There must be a ton of money to be made by developing this road.

Is there no end to the greed of capitalist development?

Cutting the Serengeti in half with a damn road for trucks and cars is about the dumbest thing I've read for a very long time.

It is a tragedy unfolding.

Onward!

"Israeli Ties: A Chance To Do The Right Thing" by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Times Live (South Africa)
Sep 26, 2010 12:00 AM

The University of Johannesburg's Senate will next week meet to decide whether to end its relationship with an Israeli institution, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, on the grounds of that university's active support for and involvement in the Israeli military. Archbishop Desmond Tutu supports the move. He explains why.
"The temptation in our situation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine to a state of their own.

We can easily be enticed to read reconciliation and fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Having achieved our own freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face. Yet we would be less than human if we did so. It behoves all South Africans, themselves erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice." - (Nelson Mandela, December 4, 1997)

Struggles for freedom and justices are fraught with huge moral dilemmas. How can we commit ourselves to virtue - before its political triumph - when such commitment may lead to ostracism from our political allies and even our closest partners and friends? Are we willing to speak out for justice when the moral choice that we make for an oppressed community may invite phone calls from the powerful or when possible research funding will be withdrawn from us? When we say "Never again!" do we mean "Never again!", or do we mean "Never again to us!"?

Our responses to these questions are an indication of whether we are really interested in human rights and justice or whether our commitment is simply to secure a few deals for ourselves, our communities and our institutions - but in the process walking over our ideals even while we claim we are on our way to achieving them?

The issue of a principled commitment to justice lies at the heart of responses to the suffering of the Palestinian people and it is the absence of such a commitment that enables many to turn a blind eye to it.

Consider for a moment the numerous honorary doctorates that Nelson Mandela and I have received from universities across the globe. During the years of apartheid many of these same universities denied tenure to faculty who were "too political" because of their commitment to the struggle against apartheid. They refused to divest from South Africa because "it will hurt the blacks" (investing in apartheid South Africa was not seen as a political act; divesting was).

Let this inconsistency please not be the case with support for the Palestinians in their struggle against occupation.

I never tire of speaking about the very deep distress in my visits to the Holy Land; they remind me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like we did when young white police officers prevented us from moving about. My heart aches. I say, "Why are our memories so short?" Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their own previous humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon?

Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about all the downtrodden?

Together with the peace-loving peoples of this Earth, I condemn any form of violence - but surely we must recognise that people caged in, starved and stripped of their essential material and political rights must resist their Pharaoh? Surely resistance also makes us human? Palestinians have chosen, like we did, the nonviolent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions.

South African universities with their own long and complex histories of both support for apartheid and resistance to it should know something about the value of this nonviolent option.

The University of Johannesburg has a chance to do the right thing, at a time when it is unsexy. I have time and time again said that we do not want to hurt the Jewish people gratuitously and, despite our deep responsibility to honour the memory of the Holocaust and to ensure it never happens again (to anyone), this must not allow us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians today.

I support the petition by some of the most prominent South African academics who call on the University of Johannesburg to terminate its agreement with Ben-Gurion University in Israel (BGU). These petitioners note that: "All scholarly work takes place within larger social contexts - particularly in institutions committed to social transformation. South African institutions are under an obligation to revisit relationships forged during the apartheid era with other institutions that turned a blind eye to racial oppression in the name of 'purely scholarly' or 'scientific work'." It can never be business as usual.

Israeli Universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice. While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation. BGU is no exception. By maintaining links to both the Israeli defence forces and the arms industry, BGU structurally supports and facilitates the Israeli occupation. For example, BGU offers a fast-tracked programme of training to Israeli Air Force pilots.

In the past few years, we have been watching with delight UJ's transformation from the Rand Afrikaans University, with all its scientific achievements but also ugly ideological commitments. We look forward to an ongoing principled transformation. We don't want UJ to wait until others' victories have been achieved before offering honorary doctorates to the Palestinian Mandelas or Tutus in 20 years' time.
For background information on the call for an academic boycott see the US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Story Credit

Saturday, September 25, 2010

What if the "anointed one" is touching someone else?

As Sunday morning fast approaches, I am sure that there are 25,000.00 faithful souls in suburban Atlanta who cannot be looking forward to going to church tomorrow morning. I can't say that I blame them; "these are truly the times that try men's souls."

People have been asking me to write about Bishop Eddie, but as I have said in the past, it's just too damn easy. Some things really do speak for themselves.

Still, one of my favorite bloggers wrote on the subject, and I did a little cut and paste job from her post.

"What does James H. Bell, Tyrone Forbes, Edwin House, Bruce Curtis Leon Dupree, Clarence Garrison and Willie L. Jefferson all have in common? They are pastors that have been arrested for sexual abuses against their parishioners. And in some of the cases, several have been convicted.

It is a fact that sexual abuse goes under-reported in communities of color. Now let's take that fact and apply it when it comes to outing a pastor, deacon, bishop, or other clergymen and women who serve as high power figures in black communities. Not only is it complicated, but in some instances it can be dangerous.

The recent Eddie Long church scandal has magnified an oft-overlooked flaw in the black community. We exempt our "leaders", and more readily, our religious leaders from moral or ethical scrutiny. And when this happens, we participate in our own oppression.

With the past 10 years of sexual abuse cover-ups, lawsuits and scandals becoming a mainstay in the Catholic church and among white clergymen, there is a notion among some black church members that their black pastors are absolved from this sin. It is as if their pastors' erections are somehow different, more divine, thus are stuck in the right orifices.

And in some instances, the victim at the church becomes the predator or the enemy in the eyes of church members---resulting in a collective exile, or one that is self-imposed due to the rejection from people they thought loved them as children of Christ.

It is no wonder why George H. Bush sought out leaders of predominately black mega-churches during election time. Not only do they hold the purse-strings of parishoners, but they control the consciousness of a powerful voting bloc. And just like the teabaggers, these folks vote for someone who is totally against their interest, all in the name of not passing out condoms at schools..."
[More here]

Oh Lawd eco. soul, stop stepping on our toes.

What bothers me probably as much- if not more- than the salacious nature of this story is the monetary aspect of it. Who is watching the very long dollars that flows through the hands of these preachers and their minions, and where is the accountability to their flock?

The folks over at New Birth Missionary Baptist would do well to remember the following scripture:

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them."

OK, maybe that's a bad choice for a scripture. The fruit part was uncalled for. But you know what I am trying to say.

Friday, September 24, 2010

A-F-F-A-I-R-


This is quite a country we live in. Today a comic was testifying before Congress while in character for his comedic role. (The scary thing is he actually made more sense than the people in Washington.) Yet there is national outrage because a young lady didn't cover up enough of her body on Sesame Street. Apparently the kiddies who like to watch Bert & Ernie might catch too much cleavage and start spelling things that start with the letter B. You have got to love the A-merry-can parent.

Out in Nevada white folks are still angry and acting out in public. Imagine that, fist fights at an A-merry-can political rally. I thought that type of stuff only happened in Third World countries where the party in power literally controls who eats or not. These folks are acting like it's going to make a difference who represents their state in Washington. It won't. It will be business as usual. Wait. Maybe not. If my girl Sarah light goes to Washington there might be some changes. Come on Delaware, please help a blogger out, send this woman to Washington. I will be forever grateful.

Finally, I don't want to be messy but...OK, I am going to be messy. Because, well, I don't like hypocrites. John Boner has been allegedly having an affair with a lobbyist and the Kos folks are all over him. Republicans won't like the stories that are sure to follow about this and they will call it the "politics of personal destruction." Fair point. But ask yourselves this: If this was his O ness do you think they would change their tune? If Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi was getting their freak on with someone other than their significant other, do you think it would be looping on FOX NEWS, 24/7? Of course it would. So I don't want to hear republicans crying about the "politics of personal destruction" if another hypocrite is exposed. People in glass houses....

"Insiders on Capitol Hill are buzzing about an upcoming New York Times exposé that will detail an alleged Boehner affair. Sources say the Times is looking for the right time to drop the story in October to sway the election, similar to how the Times reported during the 2008 presidential campaign on an alleged John McCain affair that supposedly had taken place many years before and that was flatly denied by the woman in question.......

Speaker Boehner, have you been cheating with Lisbeth Lyons, the lobbyist for the American Printing Association?" Stark asks. Boehner did not respond.

Stark later contacted Lyons, the Vice President of Government Affairs at Printing Industries of America, to get a comment on the allegations. She didn't provide any.

The New York Post has since caught up with Lyons, who said the rumors were "unfounded."

"As you can imagine, I was stunned by such a question," Lyons told the Post. "I found it to be highly insulting, particularly as a female political professional, as well as unfounded. Beyond that, I have no further comment on the matter."

Well if Ms. Lyons is insulted at the accusation that settles it: there is no affair. I wonder if she watches Sesame Street? Better yet, I wonder if she would like to be a guest? She could spell a certain word for the kids.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Pledge.


Congrats to you folks in Newark for having your first murder free month since 1966. Hmmm, maybe "the times they are a changing." Here in Philly we would settle for a murder free weekend.
Damn! They are trying to put bloggers to death in Iran. That is not cool. Fortunately in the land of the the [some are] free it's nice to know that I can get on my computer and write what's on my mind every night. I think I will enjoy it while I can. I sense a wingnut wave getting ready to sweep over Washington. There is no telling what those clowns will do when they wrestle power from the dumbocrats.

They have already made their "Pledge to America" in anticipation of their takeover.
I guess this is a variation of their "Contract on America" which they put out when Newt was literally running wild down there.

"The "Pledge to America," circulated to GOP lawmakers Wednesday, emphasizes job creation and spending control, as well as changing the way Congress does business. It steered clear of controversial issues such as Social Security and Medicare, big drivers of deficit spending.

It pairs some familiar Republican ideas – such as deep spending cuts, medical liability reform and stricter border enforcement – with an anti-government call to action that draws on tea party themes and echoes voters' disgruntlement with the economy and Obama's leadership.

"Regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent," reads a preamble to the agenda. "An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many."

I swear these people are delusional. An "arrogant and out-of-touch government"? That sounds a lot like the one we just had for the past eight years. "Deep spending cuts" from where? I bet that isn't in the pledge. What will they cut? And how much of it will they cut out?

But A-merry-ca needs a pledge. (Pledge has such a nice pietistic sound to it.) She needs to be reassured. We are lurching too much to the left. We are becoming a lot like one of those European countries we despise so much. A pledge coming from those types of faces that we know and trust will make us feel a whole lot better. (Hint hint.)

“It is a document that outlines not just the direction and our intent but how we will stand together and move this country forward together.”

His O ness will be glad to hear that. He was, after all, the change candidate.





"Para todos todo, para nosotros nada"

This is the indigenous rally cry and flag of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). The cry (in Spanish) translates into: Everything for Everyone, Nothing for Us.

I have been thinking through indigeniety issues in southern and eastern Africa recently and find myself struck by the similarity in struggles among indigenous peoples across the globe.

The Zapatista struggle against domination and neo-colonialism in Mexico looks a lot like the San struggle for recognition and traditional rights in Botswana and Namibia, for example.

I was drawn to consider the following two quotes by Subcomandante Marcos (pictured) of EZLN in Chiapas, Mexico.

The first relates to the use of force and war in indigenous struggle and the second is a scathing critique of American neoliberalism and its imperialism through globalisation:
"We don’t want to impose our solutions by force, we want to create a democratic space. We don’t see armed struggle in the classic sense of previous guerrilla wars, that is as the only way and the only all-powerful truth around which everything is organized. In a war, the decisive thing is not the military confrontation but the politics at stake in the confrontation. We didn’t go to war to kill or be killed. We went to war in order to be heard."

"All cultures forged by nations—the noble indigenous past of America, the brilliant civilization of Europe, the wise history of Asian nations, and the ancestral wealth of Africa and Oceania—are corroded by the American way of life. In this way, neoliberalism imposes the destruction of nations and groups of nations in order to reconstruct them according to a single model. This is a planetary war, of the worst and cruelest kind, waged against humanity."
The usual knee-jerk reaction to the latter quote will deride the anti-Americanism being pressed.

But there is so much more.

Marcos is pointing to the manner in which real difference is being erased for purposes of domination.

It is also a critique of how natural diversity is unbalanced by the oppressive sameness of capital driven neoliberalism and its hegemonic globalisation.

An unbalancing that is made to be "common sense" in Gramscian terms.

"That's just the way of the modern world," some would argue.

But is it really the only way? Or even, the right way?

It is becoming clearer each day that we cannot sustain lives built around neoliberalism with its greedy, and sameness, emphasis on massive and domineering consumption.

There is decidedly more to life than just a McBurger with or without fries and a soft drink.

It is a small wonder then that so much of indigenous struggle is similarly focused, inside and outside of armed resistance.

For more See "What the Zapatistas Can Teach us About the Climate Crisis" by Jeff Conant (August 3, 2010).

Onward!

Credits

Zapiro on ANC National General Council


Credit

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Rev. Eddie, Michael, Braylon & Bob


I am not going to write a post about Rev. Eddie tonight. Sorry people, my preacher bashing days are over. Thank you for your prayers. I feel a change coming on.

I honestly feel for the good Reverend's congregation. I sure hope that they can weather this storm and get back to studying up on the word and paying their tithes.

Here in Philly we have a full blown QB controversy, (I knew we shouldn't have gotten rid of "5") and it looks like Michael Vick will be the new Eagles starter. Sorry Kevin, I guess you will just have to take your 12 million and hold the clipboard for awhile. Tough job, but somebody has to do it. Anyway, it's nice to see that there are second acts in A-merry-ca for some people.

Staying with ballers for a minute: So let me get this straight: You can call a high end limo 24/7. Thanks to the Jets you don't pay a dime (not even allowed to tip). Your driver is a paid security professional who is licensed to carry a firearm to protect you. Your limo comes with little perks such as a satellite radio, satellite navigation, and dvd ports. He gets all of this and Braylon Edwards goes out with his boys, gets loaded, and decides to drive home?
Braylon, you know what's really sad? The fact that you haven't learned your lesson. Turns out you were out getting loaded with Donte Stallworth the night he hit and killed that pedestrian back in Miami. But don't worry you will get a second chance. Just be glad that you didn't hit a dog while -allegedly- driving with your buzz on

Finally, Mr. Watergate (boy talk about living off one shining moment) has a new book out about his O ness. Yawn. You will hear about this one for awhile. Obama and his aides disagreed over what to do in Afghanistan. Shocking!

The wingnuts will say that O played politics with the war, and his defenders will say that he did no such thing. And, through it all, Bob Wodward will keep calling his accountant while the cash register goes chi ching.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The black guy did it.... again.


At what point are you white folks going to learn that you just can't cry the black guy did it anymore? I mean come on! This is really getting old. I bet folks in law enforcement see red flags now when white folks say the black guy did it. This is not good. If I were a white guy (or gal) I would be pissed. What happens when the black guy really jacks me and takes my Subaru station wagon? Will the po po think that I am crying wolf?

"Joseph C. Vignola Jr., son of a former Philadelphia city councilman and controller, pleaded guilty Monday to beating an 18-year-old woman he met on a website and slashing her throat in a City Avenue hotel room...He had been charged with aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, and possession of an instrument of crime in the May 28, 2008, attack, in which he had left the woman for dead. ...In detailing the case against him, Assistant District Attorney Robert Foster said evidence, including DNA and confessions to police, linked him to the attack.
Vignola met the woman on Craigslist's "erotic services" section in May 2008, Foster said. The two got together at the North American Motor Inn on City Avenue about 9 p.m. that May 28.

The two had consensual sex, then began to argue. Vignola punched the woman in the throat and pinned her to the floor, sitting on her abdomen and placing his knees on her arms until she was unconscious. With a knife, he made a six-inch slash on the right side of her neck.

Vignola then took back the money he had given the woman and left her for dead in the hotel room.

Before confessing to police, Vignola blamed the attack on a "light-skinned black man" who burst into the room as he and the woman were having sex. "

Damn! Even light skinned brothers can't catch a break.

Joseph, good luck come sentencing day, the judge in your case is black. [Article]

Finally, I want to talk about that brother down in Florida on the school bus. (Thanks for the link Reena.) I have been getting a few e-mails about this case with folks wanting to know my opinion, so I will give it:

I have absolutely no problem with what that brotha did. I am sure he regrets threatening the little rug- rats on the bus, but honestly, I am guessing a lot of you would have done the same thing. I don't have kids and I can empathize with the guy, so I am sure that those of you who do have kids feel for this man as well.

His child has special needs and the little rug rats were teasing and harassing her on the bus. At some point dude said enough and just snapped. He realized what he did was wrong and he apologized. No harm no foul as far as I am concerned. Yeah but field, what if that was your child on the bus he threatened to kill? I would have first asked my child if he or she was one of the kids teasing that little girl. If she was not, I would have had a civil man to man discussion with James Willie Jones and I am sure it would have been all good. If he or she was one of the kids teasing that little girl, I would have apologized and still had that man to man discussion with Willie. Again, I am sure it would have been all good. Two brothers who care about their children just working things out.
Monroe, I am with you on this one. We need more men like James Willie Jones out there.

"Are You Coping" Comrade?

In a post below I asked for words, phrases, and jargon that must be banned from our political parlance (parlor?) in the spirit of stifling freedom of speech.

Below is a selection from Nolwazi that beats anything I even conjured. All of it drawn from what some would call political discourse:
1."Actually we have already begun starting to look clozly at some of the ishshoes we need to start dealing at."

2."We as the ANC are mandated to align the principles of the party together along with that particular action we may or not choose to follow."

3."Due process must indeed be carried out."

4."All protocolz observed, comrades."

5."While we agree that more needs to be done in addressing this ishshoe, we acknowledge progress has been made in such areas as this one."

6."You see you cannot say thaaaaat."

7."Measures have been put in place."

8."We are looking to see if whether we indeed need to pay citizens what they are in fact asking and whether orrrr not government coffers can indeed handle thaaat particular demand."

9."That is not necessarily easy to ascertain at this particular juncture."

10."We must now begin to ask ourselves as a nation are we as a nation continuing to build on the spirit of unity that was provided to us by the world cup."

11."The stalwarts of this movement form the cornerstone of this democracy which we now enjoy along with the media that is now manipulating it in order for its White corporate gains."

12."No we will indeed begin now to engage accordingly."

13."So that we may now begin to engage."

14."Are you Coping?"

15."To those who lost their lives, we say..." (The winner hands down!)

16. "To the struggle veterans, we salute your brave attempts at ensuring that you died in order so that we may live to enjoy fruits of your death."
You are so out of the partee and definitely more "out of orda comrade."

Onward!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Let them eat hot dogs.


I saw his O ness in that town hall meeting today. (Man, talk about mobile vulgus ) He was doing his best to convince the sceptical and troubled group that his economic plan is working, but you could see that it was an up hill battle. One woman was lamenting the loss of the A-merry-can dream, and if his O ness felt her pain I didn't see it. Not that he should have; O has nothing to do with her having to eat "hot dogs and beans." What do you want lady? Steak and eggs? That's what's wrong with A-merry-ca; we have issues with eating "hot dogs and beans" when there are babies in the world who will die tomorrow from f&*^%$g starvation. Besides, from the looks of things you could lay off the "hot dogs and beans" for awhile. Sorry, no patience for haters tonight. Obama, you couldn't say it, so I will say it for you: Yes lady, "hot dogs and beans" could be your new reality for awhile, and trust me, you could do a lot worse.

Anyway, you could see that O wanted to pull on his inner Bill Clinton, but he couldn't do it. He just couldn't project that I am feeling your pain vibe. So he came across as a smug Ivy League educated black (beige) man, which is exactly what he is. I have no problem with it, but A-merry-ca didn't sign up for this. You might be pulling them out of the recession, O man, but they don't like how you are doing it. You are too dam smug; too much of a know it all; you are not one of them. Believe it or not most A-merry-cans like their leaders to seem....well, [un]educated.

"So the challenge, I think, for the Tea Party movement is to identify, specifically, what would you do?"

O, that's the problem, they don't know what they would do. In fact, they wouldn't have a problem with what you are doing if you weren't the one doing it. Hint hint.

"The problem that I've seen in the debate that's been taking place and in some of these Tea Party events is, I think they're misidentifying sort of who the culprits are here," said Obama. "

Sorry O man, they are not "misidentifying" anything; you are the culprit. Not because of your policies, but because of...well, who you are. (Hint hint) Did you see a rise of the teabag folks under Carter? How about under Johnson when the country was being "fundamentally changed" with all types of social programs to fight poverty? Did you see it under Nixon? Under FDR? How about under Clinton when he was getting his freak in in the people's house? Why no nationwide outcry and movement then? (Field, they did try to impeach him. Yes, how did that work out? And not they- as in the the people- a bunch of partisan wingnut congressmen tried to impeach him.) How about Beckkk's favorite whipping boy, Woodrow Wilson? Hmmm, no tea party uprising under Wilson? The biggest Socialist of them all? Color me shocked.

Well what is it that could be driving these passionate teabag folks?

I have an idea, but let me think about it and get back to you. Because, you never know, I could be wrong. It just might be that they are all like the poor lady in the town hall meeting who doesn't want to eat hot dogs.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Witch of Wilmington.


I have a practice of not making fun of people's religion so I won't start now. (Wicca is a religion, right? ) But I really have to wonder about a group of people who make such a big deal about his O ness being a Muslim electing a witch in their primary to become the party standard- bearer come November.

"Oh come on, field, she said that as a passing comment that she just dabbled in witchcraft in high school. That doesn't mean she is a witch". Boy leave it to an atheist to try and bring a good witch down.

Yes, I suppose folks are right; it seems that Sarah light is declaring that this was just something she did while trying to find herself in high school.

"How many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school?" she asked fellow Republicans at a GOP picnic in southern Delaware on Sunday."There's been no witchcraft since."

No witchcraft at all!? Well how the hell (no pun intended) did you win the GOP primary in the "first state" of Delaware? There must have been a little black magic involved.

Still, I don't know why Sarah light is running away from her religion. I can understand his O ness running away from the Muslim label. The only thing we fear more than witches in A-merry-ca are Muslims. Look, I know that witches have an image problem, but Sarah light shouldn't be running from her Wiccan roots. Maybe we need some witches down in D.C. to shake things up. Work a little black magic and balance that budget. Hell we just had a skull and bones guy running the country, could a witch in the senate be any worse?

"One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's little blood there and stuff like that," she said. "We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar."

Ahhh... Sarah light, you might want to leave the "alter" in Delaware. I think it would make your fellow senators a little nervous. They don't believe in making sacrifices.



LA Times: Hindu Swastika Sparks Controversy at Irvine Museum

Controversy flared up at Pretend City, a children's museum in Irvine, when a few visitors recently complained about a Hindu swastika woven on a tapestry in one of the museum's exhibits.

The offended visitors apparently were unaware that the swastika is an old religious symbol in Hinduism and that members of many other cultures around the globe revere it, among them some Native Americans. The swastika, however, was co-opted by Nazi Germany as the centerpiece of the Third Reich's flag.

The tapestry is part of the museum's "Home" exhibit, which is displaying a Hindu family's belongings. The exhibit rotates every six months and takes cultural objects from local family homes and displays them to the public, allowing Orange County visitors to see how different families live. The last family was Chinese and Vietnamese, and, in late November, the museum will put on an exhibit of an Orthodox Jewish family's belongings.

The tapestry had been on display since July 27, but was taken down temporarily on Aug. 31. On Wednesday, the museum put the tapestry back up and posted a related statement on Facebook. That's where much of the clamor about the swastika had been expressed through on-line comments that sparked a debate on the importance of education and cultural awareness.

"The complaints we initially received about the tapestry helped us realize that the static explanation of this symbol in the Home was not sufficient to effectively educate our guests about this subject," Pam Shambra, Pretend City's president, said on Facebook.

"We had heard from people that it was unpleasant to them," she told the Daily Pilot. "We felt that there was probably a better way we could communicate the symbol. We took it down and immediately started working on a better way to display it."
Read the rest of this mind numbing story here.

Comment: I read on BBC News a few days ago that 6 out of the 10 best universities in the world are in the US. Three of them: Berkley (#8), Stanford (#4), and the California Institute of Technology (#2) are in California (where this incident took place).

Still, some of the dumbest people in the world live blissfully ignorant in the Pretend Country. ;0)

An amazing contradiction huh?

"Missing the Millennium Goals: World Fails to Deliver on Eight Key Targets"

As the UN summit on global development gets under way in New York, Emily Dugan reports on the broken promises since 2000.
It was a global compact aimed at saving the world: high-minded targets that would lift millions out of poverty for the new millennium. But as world leaders gather at a summit in New York tomorrow, figures suggest the chances of meeting any of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the target date of 2015 are remote.

The targets, set in 2005 – on poverty, education, women's rights, child mortality, maternal health, the spread of HIV, the environment and aid – were always ambitious.

Thanks to the global recession, and complacency from many of the 189 countries that signed up, the interim targets that were set are in many instances still far from being met, which means that progress may slip by as much as a decade.

Progress has been even slower for women, who continue to bear the brunt of poverty and its far-reaching effects, according to new research by Plan International and Africa Progress Panel. Girls are still much more likely to die before the age of five than boys – largely from preventable diseases such as malaria and TB. According to Plan, the MDG tracking system ignores the plight of girls, so the particular impact of poverty on them goes unrecorded.

Many rich nations that pledged aid are reneging on their promises, with a knock-on effect on the other seven targets. Overall donations in 2010 are estimated at $108bn, a shortfall of $18bn against commitments made in 2005.
Read the rest of The Independent on Sunday article here.

Comment: It saddens me to say that I am yet to come across a serious development researcher/academic or practitioner who thinks the UN Millennium Goals are anything more than a hopeful wish list unbalanced by the usual brutal game of selfish capitalist accumulation.

The poor and impoverished have no real friends in 2010 or beyond. To say that "We can end poverty by 2015" was never realistic inside or beyond the UN.

Onward!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

In the Spirit of Stifling Freedom of Speech

I want to join the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and clamp down on the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

Though I know the proposed media tribunal that is conceptualised in the current protection of information Bill does not seek to ban certain annoying words/phrases from political parlance I am hoping this post will start a movement to do so.

Please add to the list of words, phrases, and jargon below that must be banned from the public and private spheres in South Africa:
1. "We in the ANC ..."

2. "What we are saying ..."

3. "What the people are saying ..."

4. "The issue of ..."

5. "Unpack"

6. "We must unpack the issue ..."

7. "Learners"

8. "Educators"

9. "They have not come to the party ..."

10. "And so on and so forth ..."

11. "We very much want to ..."

12. "Stakeholders and role players ..."

13. "Branding South Africa ..."

14. "As a matter of urgency ..."

15. "Actually"

16. "At the end of the day ..."

17. "The question of addressing ..."

18. "Just now ..."

19. "Ethnic blacks"

20. "In this regard ..."
Some organisations, gestures, and stuttering should also be banned.

We must unpack the question of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and its brand value to stakeholders. In this regard we should actually ban the SABC, and so on and so forth.

We should address and ban the issue of President Zuma's annoying habit of sucking and licking his lips during speeches because at the end of the day it sends a bad message to learners.

On another question of annoying gestures that must be banned, can someone please tell the Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, that she needs to stop toy-toying immediately as a matter of urgency because it is disrespectful to ethnic blacks.



Finally, there seems to be a stuttering probelem among ruling politicians and their boeties or role playaz.

Educators need to step in and unpack this issue and ban stuttering.

We can't go on actually saying:"We we we we are saying that that to to to move forward there there there is is need to to to ...", and so on and so forth.

We cannot also say "ja nee" (yes no) when answering a question or starting a sentence because it is just not on (ja nee ban this saying too).

South Africans need to come to the party on these ishshoes.

Eish! (Definitely ban this exclamation especially among non-African South Africans like the indigenous Khoisan, coloureds, Indians, Afrikaans people, Afrikaners, Malays, black Chinese and Asian Chinese because it too is actually disrespectful to the real Africans or ethnic Blacks.)

Ps. Ban blogging too because only rich non-Africans like whites and Indians are online in South Africa and, therefore, not representative of the people. ;0)

Power should benefit the people, not you.


“It ain’t about Nancy. It’s about black people..” No Maxine, it's about you.

Now I don't know if Maxine Waters violated ethics rules or not. I am concerned that she did, but until I hear more I will reserve judgement. What I don't like is that her aids crashed a political event with campaign signs and brought more attention to her pending dilemma.

"Three staffers working for embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) were asked by security officers to leave an event in downtown Washington on Thursday after they tried to display large campaign signs just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was about to speak.

The aides were holding lawn signs that defended Waters from the ethics charges she is facing in the House. "


Some things, in my opinion, should be handled away from the spotlight. Maxine, if and when you are vindicated, may I suggest that you choose that time to bring attention to yourself?

“Let’s fight for Maxine Waters,” read a headline on the signs above a large picture of the congresswoman. Smaller headings read: “No improper action. No benefit. No failure to disclose. No one influenced. No case!”

No, let's fight for the people she represents. Not her. If she did wrong she doesn't deserve fighting for. If she didn't, well....this is A-merry-ca. [Article]

Friday, September 17, 2010

Ghetto Dictatorships?



I met and hung out with Kevin Powell a few years ago. We have a mutual friend and he spends a lot of time in Philly visiting this brother. When I heard that he was running again for a seat in New York's 10th congressional district I followed his campaign. I figured that if anyone could unseat the entrenched pol in that Brooklyn congressional district, he could. Boy was I wrong. I should have known that you Negroes treat your elected leaders like your furniture: you don't like to change them. (Charlie Rangel anyone?)

One of the problems, of course, with business as usual among the old school black pols, is that s&^% never gets done. Maybe we need a black version of the teabag movement to shake them up. Clearly what they are doing isn't working. Sitting around D.C. and (pardon my French) jerking each other off is not my idea of serving the people.

Anyway, Powell had a few choice words for the black political establishment after getting his young behind handed to him by the business as usual candidate:

"..Additionally, I must say this to my opponent, Congressman Ed Towns, his team, and his supporters: You may have won this time but it is so clear to so many that the days of your reign here in Brooklyn are very close to over. You’ve never had to work so hard to hold on to your seat, you’ve never had your nearly three decades of lazy leadership exposed so much and to so many, and you can no longer be invisible, silent, or otherwise missing in action to the people of Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional district, nor to the American people.

Mr. Towns, we expect you to earn the salary and great benefits our taxpayer dollars cover, and we expect you to think very seriously about your legacy as a Congressman in these final years of your Congressional life. When you and I crossed paths Tuesday night, election night, at that polling site near Starrett City, it was the first and only time we’ve ever had a one-on-one conversation, and I have lived in this community, in your district, for 20 years. You avoided debating me in 2008 (as you have avoided debating all opponents since you were first elected in 1982), and you avoided debating me again this year. And that is fine. It is clear you do not really believe in the very democracy that many sacrificed their lives for to achieve, including those in places like North Carolina where you were born and where some of the great battles of the Civil Rights Movement occurred.."


Kevin, I know you were on "Real World MTV", but this is the real world.
Brothers against brothers, and folks clinging to power by any means necessary.

"..Moreover, Congressman Towns, it is a two-way street: you have to begin to respect and acknowledge the leadership that is not just your son, or your daughter, or your daughter-in-law, or someone you’ve handpicked to be in your Brooklyn circle. As I have stated before, what is most troubling for me and many others in Brooklyn is that within Black Brooklyn (as is the case throughout Black America) we have something I call “ghetto dictatorships.” In other words, you may have had good intentions when you first got into office, Mr. Towns, for I do believe you are, at your core, a good and decent man. But somewhere along the way you lost your way and your Congressional seat has become more about power and influence for yourself than about everyday people..."

Hmmm, "ghetto dictatorships", Kevin you have coined an interesting phrase. And I know exactly what you mean. We could remove the name Towns and insert take your pick in its place.

"So I end this statement by saying that I challenge you, Congressman Towns, and all Black elected officials in Brooklyn and across America, to cease participating in these ghetto dictatorships, to really look yourselves in the mirror and answer the question I asked you, Mr. Towns, which you could not answer on Tuesday night: What is your legacy going to be, what have you really done for the people of your district, not just for a handful of people lucky enough to have gotten a job or favor from you? That is the true mark of leadership, to touch as many lives as possible, to help as many people as possible to become self-empowered, with or without legislation, and in as many creative ways as possible. Anything less means we’ve done a grave disservice to whatever God we claim to believe in, a grave disservice to the history and the people that came before us, and a grave disservice to that sacred space we call public service." [Article]

OK Kevin, go get em next time. Just try to keep your house clean this time. Just remember, you ain't Sarah light.

But We Are Not

A very smart, in fact brilliant, graduate student of mine I left behind at village hell university once said that it was necessary to appreciate just how damaged black people are to understand why they treat each other with such vicious disdain.

Her point traveled through my struggle consciousness only stopping briefly here and there to recall Sojourner Truth, DuBois, even Garvey, Fanon, Sobukwe, my father, and that soldier of black emancipation, Steven Bantu Biko.

She spoke the truth.

The truth we like to hide just in case YT and his agent Tom (or a figment thereof) may want to pick through our supposed freedoms and lay bare the self-hating inferiority hidden just beneath the post-colonial veneer of borrowed accents, fake hair, and flashy rides.

A veneer that can't hide the festering wound of unreconciled doubt that Don Materra says threatens to become worse even with the passing of time.

In our post-race/non-racial South Africa we have become our own worst enemy.

With knives drawn we slice and dice though our vaunted African humanism, or that thing poser black branding calls Ubuntu sometimes for no other reason but to smear guilt over YT.

Whatever sells I guess.

Ubuntu is nothing more than a load of mythical bullsh*t, a Disney like fantasy to pass time in-between fighting each other like there is only one or two slices of bread left in the whole country.

We are self-hating and self-loathing muthaz who will cut off an old lady to race through a red light or stick a burning torch into a fellow being just to be in control.

But we are not.

Onward!

Ps. Many folks were hurt in the configuration of this lamenting post, me included.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Professor Mark LeVine on Obama

President Obama has essentially continued almost every major Bush security policy, either by default or design. State secrets, targeted killings, renditions and indefinite detention, opposing the right of habeas corpus, preventing victims of admitted torture from seeking judicial redress, expanding the Afghan war while moving - however gingerly - to secure a long-term presence in Iraq; all these must surely be making Bush, and especially Cheney, happy and wealthier men.

As Michael Hayden, Bush's last CIA Director, put it in a recent interview, "Obama has been as aggressive as Bush" in defending executive prerogatives and powers that have enabled and sustained the ‘war on terror.’
See the LeVine's full article entitled "Obama edges to the dark side" here.

Surprised?

You shouldn't be.

Obama is essentially a conservative stooge who dons liberal delusions when it suits him. Like when he was running for the presidency.

He fooled a lot of folks too.

In this respect, he is the heir to Bill Clinton's middle conservative politics that now characterizes what goes for the Democratic Party in the US.

The real lefties in the Donkey Party, all three of them, should leave now and stop making excuses for Tom and the beltway gang.

Onward!

Today was a good day. (For some people.)


It was a good day for me here in A-merry-ca:Rush Limp-boy got "punked." I know my man is busy these days, but there is more to research than just Wiki. I hope all the Limp-boy faithful out there remembers this the next time they go quoting the drug addict with the golden mike.

It was also a good day for Sarah light. Girlfriend raised almost a million dollars since her big win last night. Nice. Watch your money folks; let's just say that Sara light doesn't have the greatest record when it comes to managing money.

It might have been a good day for moi and Sarah light, but I bet the last few days haven't been good for Andrew Collins. The poor brotha watched one too many Extreme Games and thought he could ride his bike on the sidewalk in the city of Dallas. Well, the po po in Big D wasn't having it, and, as po pos will do from time to time; they Rodney Kinged his ass. But, not to worry people, the police chief is black. He has the situation under control.....

It can't be a good day for the family of Irving Santana, either. Irving was shot 13 times by a man who saw him breaking into his car here in Philly. Damn! I mean I know that the wages of sin is death but this is ridiculous. Anyhooo, seems the shooter had a history of violence, and Philly's finest revoked his gun permit back in 2005. Well, thanks to the powerful gun lobby here in A-merry-ca, my man was able to apply online and get a permit from gator country.

"Hill allegedly caught Santana breaking into his car.

Police say Hill had his gun permit revoked in 2005 and lost an appeal to get it reinstated in 2008.

They say in 2009, Hill applied online and received a gun permit from Florida, despite having no ties to the state.


"His gun permit was revoked, he appealed it, and he was still able to acquire that gun permit," Deputy Police Commissioner William Blackburn said.

Hill is charged with murder and other related offenses."


Sorry Irving, I guess it's too late for you to learn that you don't mess with a black man's car.


Finally, it can't be a good day if you are one of the 43.6 million A-merry-cans living in poverty.

Poverty here in A-merry-ca is at its highest levels since 1994. That is not good. But don't worry folks, this won't last for long. When the republicans are back in power they will cut taxes for the rich so that they will start hiring poor people again. Wait...whoops, sorry, I take that back.