This Sammon tells Whoppers.

"The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief” ~Jacques Ellul~

I keep trying to tell anyone who will listen just how dangerous the folks over at Radio Rwanda have become, and today I got more proof to back up my position.

It seems that one of their news [and I use that word laughingly] reporters was caught in a little white lie. (No pun intended) Or, as Sammon himself calls it; "a Pre-Truth." (Stop laughing.)

"In an audio recording obtained by media watchdog group Media Matters, Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon admits that he repeatedly lied on-air about Barack Obama during the home stretch of the 2008 presidential campaign. Sammon’s remarkable admission came in the summer of 2009 aboard a 12-day cruise sponsored by conservative Hillsdale College. Tickets for the cruise ranged in price from $11,800 to $37,600 per couple. The Fox News executive gave an Obama-bashing speech in which he boasted: “Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, ‘spread the wealth around.’ At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.

In the run-up to the November 2008 election, Sammon indeed repeatedly took to Fox airwaves to denounce Obama as a “socialist” and tie him to “Marxists.” According to Media Matters, he also pushed his Fox colleagues to “play the socialism card.” Using the tried-and-true Fox strong-arm tactic of sending internal memos to staffers, Sammon made much of what he described as “Obama’s references to socialism, liberalism, Marxism and Marxists.” Only problem is, Obama never once referred to socialism or Marxism during his campaign. Sammon knew exactly what he was doing; trying to smear a presidential candidate with the damaging yet false brush of socialism. Such tactics, he admitted, were “red meat when you’re talking to conservatives.” But they’re also anathema to the “fair and balanced” journalism Fox ludicrously purports to practice. " [Source]

Sammon was incredibly successful, because that is one of the wingnut talking points: "OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST". Of course, how hard can it be to preach to [and convince] a choir, where more than half of its members do not believe that their elected president was born here?

Let me repeat that: MORE THAN HALF OF THE REPUBLICANS IN THIS COUNTRY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE PRESIDENT WAS BORN HERE!!!

And people wonder why I blog.

Above the law?

I wonder what makes these wingnut lawmakers in cheese country think that they are above the law? Here we have a judge who issues an injunction, and these republi-clown lawmakers think that they can just blow it off because they are...well....republicans.

"Madison – For the second time in less than two weeks, a Dane County judge Tuesday issued an order blocking the implementation of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to curb collective bargaining for public workers. Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi said that her original restraining order issued earlier this month was clear in saying no steps should be take to advance the law.

The GOP governor’s administration did so after the bill was published Friday by a state agency not named in Sumi’s earlier temporary restraining order. “Further implementation of the act is enjoined,” Sumi said. “Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of Act 10 was enjoined. That is what I now want to make crystal clear.” She warned that those who violate her order could face court sanctions." [Source]

Sanctions? What sanctions? They don't care about "no stinkin" sanctions; they are republicans.

Finally, since we are talking about the courts and our legal system, and whether certain people are above the law. Let me finish with a story that I hope that we will never hear about again:

"I wish I knew how many hundreds of thousands of federal tax dollars have been spent investigating the New Black Panther Philadelphia voter intimidation case. We can add a few more, now that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has completed its review of the department's handling of the matter.

On election day in 2008, a pair of African-American guys wearing berets stationed themselves in front of a North Philadelphia polling place, calling themselves "security." One of them had a nightstick.

Though the beret boys didn't interfere with ingress or egress from the polling place and not a single voter can be identified who was intimidated by their idiotic behavior, conservatives have been flogging the issue ever since. They condemn the Obama Justice Department's decision not to press a voter intimidation case against four defendants, though the department did secure an injunction against the guy with the club.

After reviewing thousands of pages of documents and interviewing 44 people, the Office of Professional Responsibility has concluded there were no political or racial considerations in the Justice Department's handling of the case.

The OPR conducted its inquiry in response to a request from Texas Congressman Lamar Smith. You can read their letter to him here. You can get my take on the case in a January Newsworks post here. I'd like to think this will put an end to the controversy, but I know better." [Source]

Dave, I know better as well. This controversy will never end. Why? Because A-merry-ca needs a bogeyman.

Bessie Head: Some Notes on Novel Writing

Bessie Head

"Twenty-seven years of my life was lived in South Africa but I have been unable to record this experience in any direct way, as a writer.  A very disturbing problem is that we find ourselves born into a situation where people are separated into sharp racial groups.  All the people tend to think only in those groups in which they are and one is irked by the artificial barriers.  It is as though, with all those divisions and signs, you end with no people at all.  The environment completely defeated me, as a writer.  I just want people to be people, so I had no way of welding all the people together into a cohesive whole."

Bessie Head: A Woman Alone (1978).

Comment: I have been reading Bessie Head in the quiet moments this week and I am deeply moved by her ability to capture the struggle to write inside and outside of race/racism.

A few years ago I was struggling to write an academic article on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when I came across a newly published book by an American author on the subject.

I was struck by the authoritative and confidant manner of the author.  It seemed she was able to dispense with a torrid history to draw relevant dates, outcomes, etc.

I could not set aside the pain, its burn, and found myself mortified by my inability to write my own story, my own history.

A few months into the failed project I looked at my friend and mentor Art Neal and said "I am too close to write what is so important to me.  I have failed me and mine."

He understood.  The trauma and its consequences are not easy to set aside when the journey to come to terms, let alone heal, still pierces so deeply.

This thinking, this theme of struggle and resistance, is perhaps the most striking aspect of the brave writings of Bessie Head.

May she rest in peace.

Onward!

Picture Credit

Some parents should be left behind.

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.” ~Theodore Roosevelt~

Tabitha Allen needs a good kick in the pants.

"Tabitha Allen blames herself for her 10-year-old son's violent behavior. Growing up and living in a drug-infested, hooker-inhabited neighborhood, the 33-year-old mother of five is angry about life. "My anger reflects off my children," Allen explained one morning in the North Philadelphia rowhouse she inherited from her grandmother.

Her son - a thin, almost gaunt, boy with long eyelashes - punched a teacher last June at Kenderton Elementary School, a K-8 in Tioga. He knocked the glasses off her face and blackened her eye with a blow that packed unexpected power. As a 10-year-old, he had reached the minimum age to be arrested, and ended up with a simple assault charge in Family Court, where he was put on probation. He was removed from Kenderton and transferred to a classroom for disruptive elementary school students in Logan. Only last week, Allen said that her son was disciplined for having a BB gun at his new school. She said it was a misunderstanding and that the gun belonged to another student. [Source]

Tabitha Allen doesn't need a kick in the butt because she was born into unfortunate circumstances. She needs a kick in the butt for bringing five children into her world. A world where hope is hard to come by.

Tabitha Allen didn't give herself much of a shot, and she brought five kids along for the ride. Read the link to the Philly.com series about school violence that I provided. It will give you a wonderful insight into why Philly has 77 murders [and counting] so far this year.

"Tabitha Allen admits she wasn't on top of her children's lives the way she should have been, especially after her grandmother got sick and an aunt died. "I took my mind off my kids," Allen said. Allen, a high school dropout and unemployed, had all five of her children before she was 25. Two of her teenagers she describes as "Bonnie and Clyde." "They don't know how to walk away from stuff. They don't know how to let stuff go," she said. Her youngest, the 10-year-old who assaulted the teacher, takes after them, she said. So it was no surprise to her when she learned he had hit his teacher.

Earlier, the teacher had intervened when the boy hit a classmate. That led to a fist fight in the hall between the boy and the teacher, she said. Her son had been suspended repeatedly for fighting, she said. This time, he faced legal charges and landed on probation. Kenderton kicked him out and sent him to a disciplinary classroom at a K-6 school in Logan, about a mile and a half from his house. The classroom is run by Abraxas.

This year, there are 10 such sites based at elementary schools and serving 240 children in grades three to eight, said Wright, of the discipline office. Each self-contained classroom is staffed by a teacher and a behavior specialist. Students are evaluated after 30 days to determine if they can return to a regular school. In addition to academics, the students receive counseling and character-building courses. Allen said the school is too strict. When her son enters the school, he is patted down for weapons, she said. His classroom is in the basement, she said, and he is not allowed out for recess. "He ain't no convict. This isn't jail," she complained. Allen also said she was at a loss about how to help her son, who has ADHD and sees a psychiatrist.

She did her best to discipline her children, she said, and learned how to "beat them at their own game." When her son missed her imposed 10 p.m. curfew, she made him sit outside until 2 a.m. - in the cold. When her 13-year-old was locked up for trying to steal sneakers, she let him sit in jail for a while. She did the same to her 16-year-old daughter after she got into a fight and was detained. And when her 15-year-old son said he was going to kill himself, she hung a rope and told him how best to do it. "I said, 'It depends on how you jump,' " she said. "You got to jump right."

Allen struggles with her own anger. She said it comes from "life. Period. Me growing up in a neighborhood like this, seeing all the drugs." She pointed to her front door. "I got a whole hooker row right here on the corner," she said."

Tabitha Allen gives her ten year old son a 10 p.m. curfew! And people wonder why criminal lawyers do so well. *shaking head*

"..the course of history poses challenges that threaten our common humanity and common security"

I am watching O deliver his I had to bomb Libya speech to the A-merry-can people as I type this, and I must say that I could finish the sentences for him as he goes along. We had to do it. We did not act alone. Gaddafi was going to slaughter his own people. There is a strong and growing coalition. As the commander in chief I am here to tell you that America's role will be limited. We will not put troops on the ground in Libya....... you get the idea.

But I also know what they will be saying on FOX: He is weak. He should have done this weeks ago. He did not consult congress. Who are the rebels? What if they are members of al- Qaida? America should not be nation building. What is the end game? And over at MSNBC you will here the following: Why are we fighting another war? The American people have war fatigue. He should have consulted congress. We can't go around policing the world. O is still talking.

I think we are finally hearing an "Obama Doctrine" manifest itself. We will not stand by and watch innocent people slaughtered. We acted because it was the right thing to do. But we will not go as far as to take out Gadaffi and try to institute regime change. We will not repeat in Libya what we did in Iraq. "As Commander in chief I have no greater responsibility than keeping this country safe...." There will be times, though, when our national security interest is not directly threatened, but we have to act in a way to make sure that the principals of justice and human dignity are upheld by all... I paraphrased some of that, but again, you get the point.

He is finishing now. Whenever an American president says, "My fellow Americans", you know he is about to either start or finish a speech. "But let us also remember that for generations, we have done the hard work of protecting our own people, as well as millions around the globe. We have done so because we know that our own future is safer and brighter if more of mankind can live with the bright light of freedom and dignity. Tonight, let us give thanks for the Americans who are serving through these trying times, and the coalition that is carrying our effort forward; and let us look to the future with confidence and hope not only for our own country, but for all those yearning for freedom around the world. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America."

OK, that took 28 minutes. Now we will hear one full week of criticism on one side and and praise on the other. Politics in A-merry-ca is so predictable.

Hey, at least he didn't say "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED". Or, did he?

Is Robert Fisk a Psychologist?

by Kim Petersen
Dissident Voice
March 21st, 2011

Much of what journalist Robert Fisk writes strikes a congruent cord with me; however, there are patches of his writing where he brays discordantly. In his recent article, Fisk launched into an ad hominen-laced tirade against Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Writes Fisk, “Gaddafi is a fruitcake and … he probably does occasionally chew carpets as well” and “Gaddafi is completely bonkers, flaky, a crackpot on the level of Ahmadinejad of Iran and Lieberman of Israel…” Yes, Fisk did add in Lieberman, but the implication is that Arab rulers are flakes while flakes do not become rulers in Israel.

Fisk avers that seldom do fruitcakes rule in Europe: “The Middle East seems to produce these ravers – as opposed to Europe, which in the past 100 years has only produced Berlusconi, Mussolini, Stalin and [Hitler] …”

Read the rest here.

Comment:  I read Robert Fisk's articles on the 'middle east' quite regularly and was somewhat surprised by the demonizing tone he adopted.  He is not alone of course, and he is by far not the worst offender.  

The general manner in which Gaddafi's sanity has been called into question is typical of the (post)colonial mindset that privileges the West as the reservoir of rationality or reason.

Reason exists when the Western mind confirms it.  And it seldom exists outside of the Western mind and its need to center reality around itself (whiteness).

The massacres that G. W. Bush perpetrated is not drawn from a mental illness or incapacity to reason.  His murders - which far outweigh what is happening in Libya (a sovereign country under Gaddafi) -  is a matter of wrongheaded policy or ideology.

That Obama has ostensibly added to the Shock and Awe devastation is not an indication that his mental stability or his reason is also wanting.

Racism constructs demons in the Other (or as the Other).  The frothing mad Arab with a penchant for white woman and gluttony is well defined in the histogriaphy of race (Hollywood staples).

So too is the oversexed, bestial, black man who is a rapist even when he is asleep.  The myth of the black rapist in American history has been the catalyst for many a crackdown and massacre of blacks throughout its history.  Remember Emmitt Till?  Or, the Tulsa Oklahoma Race Riots of 1921 and Dick Rowland?  (See my 2006 post Crack'ed in Pokhara for reflections on both of these young men.)

I am also not forgetting the libidinous black welfare queen with an army of kids from different fathers or the de-sexualized Aunt Jemima (Oprahfied) matron who waits patiently while white folks work their sh*t out century after century.

The terrorist gene in Islam that finds its way into conversations about Muslims and violence just about everywhere.  US Pastor Terry Jones just declared the Qur'an a violent book and guilty of killing innocent people.

The terrorist gene in the Qur'an spreads to its adherents and makes them mad and incapable of living in peace, anywhere (just see how they cover their heads and blow up sh*t in France ... all over really).

To stop the disorder of genes that cause Arabs to froth at the mouth and act irrationally it is necessary to impose order for their own good.

Stop them for they do not understand their madness and its consequences.

Where mad Arabs under Islam contributed to great civilizational feats it was a mere fluke.  A random occurrence not understood and certainly not appreciated by the mad ones.

The West is rational.  It interprets greatness.  So too it explains the feats of the mad Arabs.  So they may know what they achieved unknowlingly.

This as Edward Said wrote is the project/construction of "orientalism".  Framing Arabs, Muslims, Islam, the Other.

It is the reason why every movie where Muslim people are found walking the streets the call to prayer plays in the background.  The call to prayer signifies the Muslim orient and it allows a handle to the Western mind to carry the baggage of orientalizing the other.

Gaddafi is said to be slaughtering thousands of his people and there is no evidence.  "He is a maniac killing his own and he must be stopped before the massacres turn the desert sand red."

This morning I heard Hillary Clinton say Gaddafi is warning the alliance that this will be a long fight while at the same time looking for a place of exile.

"It is not surprising his decision making is unstable like that ... " she remarked.

And Obama's and hers is spot on consistent.  Taking out the despot in Libya and supporting the despots in Saudi Arabia (the country from which those 19 terrorists on 9/11 killed almost 3000 people in the US).

Calling the Saudis "unstable" or a beacon for anti-American terrorism is of course irrational given that ... well ... you know ... the terrorists are to be found in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There is the main arena for taking out the cancer of Islamists/Jihadis/fundamentalists, etc.

Swift thinking, rational genes.  All available for you to view over and over again on CNN and the Western media that propagate the desired rationality of theWest over the irrationality of the Other (Muslims).

Onward!

Are We Free Yet?

White farmer.  Dog.  Black worker.

This picture along with a few others were sent to me via email.  Underneath the left tail-light you can see a web address that may be where the picture was sourced.  Dunno.

Sixteen years into the post-apartheid era it is not unusual to see black workers sitting on the back of white driven pickups even where there is an open passenger seat.

We have not progressed nearly far enough ...

Onward!

The republican's latest Negro experiment.

"Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world--and never will." ~Mark Twain~

I wish my man Herman Cain well, I really do. I heard that he was in Iowa last week giving em his I am black but I am just like you speeches. I wonder how he is playing down there? It looks like they [the republicans] are going social again and forgetting the economy now that O and his peeps have the Dow over *12,000 and the unemployment numbers heading South and not North. Anyway, Herman might have some work to do before he can convince the rest of you Negroes that he means well.

"Listen, all token black conservative presidential candidates who Republicans keep trying to push on us colored folk; I really don’t have a problem with your decision to throw your hat in the ring. Why not, right? Everyone is entitled, and if you feel like you’re qualified then do your thing and show us just that – your qualifications. Do not, however, use the same tired and insulting tactics year after year in an effort to court a political base that has little interest in you by embarrassing the rest of your community.

First, This Year’s Black Conservative Herman Cain tried to get attention for his pending presidential campaign by telling anyone who would listen: “Don’t condemn me because the first black one was bad.” Yes, of course, the go-to sleaze tactic to use when you are eager to prove to some white people that you dislike President Obama as much as them is to say something attention grabbing like that.

Now, right on schedule, he has busted out the second in what I’m sure will be a series of cliché tactics to appeal to his conservative base: Christianity. Cain appeared on the Christian Broadcast Network and told the interviewer that he believed God brought him through cancer so that he could maybe become president, Politico reports. Stop it, dude. And I say that as a Christian. We know that professed religion is pretty much a requirement for all conservative candidates, but to take advantage of that moment in your life and twist it for political gain is really sleazy." [Source]

Now now Mr. Smith, don't be so hard on Herman. Maybe he means well. Why don't we give him a chance before we call him a house dwelling hypocrite?

Carry on Herman.

Porn star!

I see the man with the porn star "stache" said that O isn't qualified to be President. Isn't that special? This from a man who worked for George W. Bush.

But we all knew that John Bolton was an idiot. In case you all forgot, let me help you remember:

This is a man who jeopardised the "six party talks" with North Korea, and almost set the world on a course of nuclear destruction. He is a fierce partisan and he politicized A-merry-ca's intelligence apparatus with the UN. He was responsible for dismantling the International Criminal Court. He pushed for the defunding of programs that curbed nuclear proliferation in the world. He lied about Cuba having biological weapons, and he was one of the people responsible for the fake yellow cake story about British intelligence determining that Iraq had tried to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger. We all know how that worked out. Oh, and did I mention that he lied to the United States Senate?

"There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States."

Move over John Holmes. Leave it to W to appoint someone to be the United States Ambassador to an organization that he doesn't believe in.

Anyway, I hear he is gearing up for a presidential run. He will fit right in with the cast of characters lining up for the GOP ticket. Just one one more porn star in in a very dirty political movie.

Message to O.

"After two years of being called a tyrant and a dictator, President Obama returns to Washington from a five-day overseas trip to find he has become a weakling.

Would-be opponents such as Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Sarah Palin had been trying out this somewhat contradictory line of attack for more than a month as Obama gave mixed signals about events in Egypt and Libya. But the "weak leader" charge gained traction last weekend as Obama chose to launch the attack on Moammar Gadhafi's forces while on an excellent adventure with his family in South America.

At about the moment the Tomahawk missiles began to rain down on Libya, Obama was joking with Brazilians about Carnival, the World Cup, and the Olympics. Rather than an Oval Office address announcing the new war, Americans got word from the president in a scratchy audio recording. As warheads pounded Libyan forces, Obama was kicking a soccer ball, seeing the sights, and watching cowboys in sequins.

It was perilously close to George W. Bush's "The Pet Goat" moment, when he continued reading a children's storybook after being told the second World Trade Center tower had been hit. Bush later said he was trying to maintain calm. Likewise, White House officials tell me the decision to proceed with the South America trip was made in part to convey that the Libya bombardment was not a major military action.

Weak or stubborn?
Obama administration officials calculated that he would take a hit. But they appear to have been surprised by the force of the weakling complaint, coming not just from usual suspects such as Karl Rove, but from liberals such as my Washington Post colleague Richard Cohen, who saw Obama "quite literally distancing himself from the consequences of his own policy."
My own sense, based on years of Obamology and confirmed by discussions with current and former Obama advisers, is that Obama's decision to proceed with spring break in Rio comes less from weakness than from stubbornness. Since his earliest days on the campaign trail in Iowa, he has made clear his aversion to the flavor-of-the-day news cycle, instead measuring his progress toward a few broad-brush goals. If something - such as the uprisings in the Middle East - doesn't fit unambiguously within his big goals, his instinct is to brush it off.

"I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle," he told reporters once. "I'm not. OK?"

Laser focus
This worked to his benefit during the campaign, when he kept his focus on electoral mechanics rather than the vagaries of his opponents' attacks. But his broad brushes have not always served him well in the presidency, as when his laser focus on health care left voters with the sense that he didn't care about unemployment. He lost the House, and with it the rest of his agenda.

The attack on Libya presented the toughest test yet of Obama's defiance of the news cycle. In a USA Today op-ed before his departure, Obama wrote that while the Middle East is important, he was going to Latin America because "our top priority has to be creating and sustaining new jobs and new opportunities."

The administration officials I spoke with argued that this was a sign of strong leadership. "To abandon course at every moment of pundit criticism is not strength," said one of the president's top advisers. They pointed to polls showing most Americans continue to regard Obama as a strong leader, and they argued that, beyond Washington, headlines from Obama's trip justified his strategy. ("Obama's trip to Brazil key to N.J. businesses," reported North Jersey's Record.)

But the White House is also discovering the perils of broad-brush leadership. The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll found that when Americans were asked who is taking "a stronger leadership role," Republicans had a seven-point advantage over Obama; three months ago, Obama had a narrow lead.

The White House justifiably complains that the criticism of Obama's Libya policy has been inconsistent: First he was too slow to take action, and now he's rushing to attack without congressional approval - even though Congress is on its own 10-day spring break.

But it doesn't matter if the criticism is fair. Obama left a vacuum, and his opponents filled it. For a president suddenly called "weak," such is the tyranny of the news cycle." [Source]

O, I have to agree with Dana Milbank: You are acting as if A-merry-ca still loves you. She does not. You were the flavor of a November month when A-merry-cans were being...well, A-merry-cans. This is, after all, the country that made "Snooki" famous. If you want to win in this country, you have to get out in front of the story. Do not let the story get in front of you. Do not give your political opponents an opening so that they can create their own story.

We all know that if you were a republican president the wingnuts would be calling you a hero. We all know that the pretzel- logic they are using to say that you were wrong to join the UN and other countries (such as the African Union) to attack Libya is laughably ludicrous. But this is politics in A-merry-ca. This is what you came from, so you have to deal with it. I just wonder why no one in your inner circle told you this before

BTW, in the future, you might want to work on your soccer skills before you go kicking a soccer ball with a bunch of Brazilian kids. They are kind of good at that game.

There is that word again, and Andrew gets dumped.

"In 2007, I used a word I should have never used,'' Murray wrote. " "Minutes after saying it, I apologized to my co-workers and subordinates. Eventually, I received a very strong reprimand from my supervisor. To this day, I have the deepest regret for the incident and the pain I may have caused others. I ask the African-American community and all communities who suffer with the ugliness of bigotry to accept my sincerest apology. I pray for healing and forgiveness from those I have offended as we move toward a new chapter and forever close the old.''

Oh Lawd! That was yet another white person in A-merry-ca having to apologize because they were caught saying the word Nigger..... publicly.

Here is the story of Broward County school board member, Ann Murray, and her little slip of the tongue which happened to be overheard by some of you Negroes a few years back. Relax Ms. Murray. I know that black folks are calling for your resignation, but I say keep on doing what you are doing. You just happened to slip up.... publicly; that's all.

Finally, I see that The Huffington Post has caved in to the pressure from you black folks and dumped Andrew Pop-Tart from their front page. Hmmm, wasn't it just a few days ago that they said this?:

"From the beginning, The Huffington Post has welcomed voices from all sides of the political spectrum, including conservatives such as Newt Gingrich, Frank Luntz, Tom Coburn, Laura Ingraham, Bob Barr, George Pataki, David Frum, Byron York, Mary Matalin, and Ken Blackwell. The idea being that dialogue -- from a wide range of perspectives -- is preferable to silence. The fact that Andrew Breitbart’s first post on our site drew over 1,635 comments, conducted in a civil manner, seems to validate the premise and the decision to publish his blog post. " [Source]

I swear that you just don't know who to trust these days.

Thank you Mrs. Lacks!

Life can be so unfair at times. I was thinking that while listening to Rebecca Skloot talk about her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", this evening. (Shout out to Michael Smerconish for featuring this author on his radio show. BTW Mike, I am still waiting for my check. You can't just steal a brother's logo and not break him off with something.)

So here is the story: Mrs. Lacks visits Johns Hopkins Medical Center (The "colored" section. It was, after all, 1951.) after experiencing pain in the area of her cervix. She was later diagnosed with cervical cancer. During her treatment doctors removed samples of her tumor for research purposes. (Without her knowledge or permission.) The cells from the tumor would eventually become the "He La immortal cell line" which is a very important and often used cell line in biomedical research.

Mrs. Lacks' cells were special, because, unlike no other cells before, they could be kept alive and even grow. Here is a quote from Wiki:

"..Demand for the HeLa cells quickly grew. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta's cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe for "research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits".[11] HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products.[1] Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells.[1][15]

Doctors still have not discovered the reason for HeLa cells' unique vigor, but suspect that it is due to altered telomerase function. There are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells.[1]

In the early 1970s, the family started getting calls from researchers who wanted blood samples from them to learn the family's genetics (eye colours, hair colours, and genetic connections). The family wondered why and this is when they learned about the removal of Henrietta's cells. No one else in the family had the traits that made her cells unique .."

That's all great, and, by all accounts, billions of dollars have been made by bio research companies thanks to this woman's unique cells. Now she is getting all kinds of posthumous recognition, and a movie by Oprah is in the works. The irony is, of course, that her family remains poor. And they cannot even afford to get health coverage today for their own ailments.

This quote from Ruth Faden in the Baltimore Sun is on the money:

"The contrast is stunning between the well-endowed world of biomedical research and the situation of the Lacks family, and it contributes to our unease about the inequities in our society generally, but especially when it comes to health care."

Folks, I hope that the next time you hear a wingnut ranting about "Obamacare" you will think of Mrs. Lacks.

South Africa Speaks with Forked Tongue on Libya

President Zuma has made grandiose and deceptive statements about his decision to support UN Resolution 1973.

It is the same kind of muddled foreign policy thinking that is exemplified in the Ivory Coast situation but this is worse.

Zuma speaking on behalf of South Africans invoked the tired "we are saying politics" on Human Rights Day (March 21) to criticize the West's bombing of Libya.

He talked about sovereignty and the need to respect the people and their self-determination and even said that South Africa was opposed to foreign interference including occupation of Libya.

How duplicitous hey?  South Africa voted for the resolution.

UN Resolution 1973 is foreign aggression of the war kind.  It interferes with the sovereignty of Libya.  It stalls the processes of self-determination and it envisions, if necessary, occupation by the West.

Is Zuma serious?  Are there folks helping him and advising him on what a "no-fly zone" means for Libya?

I think he knew what he was doing but it playing a game of contrived national interests.

What did the US promise Zuma?  How was it able to buy South Africa's acquiescence?

These questions will have answers as the events unfold.

Get ready to be disgusted ... again.

Onward!

DWB. (Marc's "Skippy" Gates moment)

I can't comment on the next story I am about to post for you (professional reasons), but I would like you to read it and tell me what you think. It involves Marc Lamont Hill, (the FAUX NEWS pundit and college professor) and a little DWB encounter he had, recently. I will give you his account and then a police officer's angry letter regarding the incident.

"ON JUNE 12, 2010, while dropping a friend off at his house in Logan, I was pulled over by two uniformed Philadelphia police officers.

Although the stop made no sense to me - I had literally done nothing but let a friend out of the car and proceeded to the next stop sign - I used survival tactics that many black people are trained to use when pulled over by a police officer.

As the patrolmen approached me with their hands gripping their guns, their anxiety was contagious. Still, I remembered to keep both hands on the steering wheel, answer all questions and make no sudden movements.

Most important, I silently prayed that I would make it home that night alive. After all, for blacks, our behavior does not merely determine whether we get a ticket or a verbal warning. It determines whether we live or die.

Despite my adherence to the unofficial rules of traffic stops, Officer Richard DeCoatsworth - the Latino cop hailed as a hero after he was shot in the face in 2007 while on duty and who sat next to first lady Michelle Obama during a presidential address - refused to let up. Without warning, he reached into the car and began feeling my left and right pockets, as I recounted in a federal civil-rights lawsuit filed last October.

He asked if I had a weapons permit, and I explained that I wasn't carrying a weapon. He then placed his hand back on his gun and ordered me to "shut up and answer the question."

Things only got worse from there.

By the end of the stop, I had been forced out of my car and subjected to a search of my body without probable cause and a search of every part of my BMW except for the trunk. I was subjected to unnecessary physical force, threats of being put in jail and a series of condescending questions like, "How can you afford this car?" and "Why are you on this side of Broad Street?"

In fact, it wasn't until the policeman discovered that I was a college professor and media pundit that he changed his tune, allowing me to go home without a citation and ordering me, without any sense of irony, to "have a good night."

The reason that I was stopped, you ask? "Illegal discharge of a passenger."

Right.

Within a week of my ordeal with the police, I filed a complaint with Internal Affairs and filed the lawsuit in federal court, which the city quickly settled. Although I fully expected a range of responses to the suit - this is Philly, after all - I was genuinely surprised by what I heard.

Cynical talking heads said that this was nothing but a publicity stunt, a plea for public attention. This was a curious claim to me, since I have turned down every local and national interview request on the topic not only to avoid this kind of accusation but also to ensure that this matter was handled seriously in a court of law, not in the court of public opinion. I only want to hold the police accountable for their actions.

Local radio personalities point to my support for Mumia Abu-Jamal as evidence that I hate police. Do I think Abu-Jamal received an unfair trial? Yes. Do I dislike the police? No. Hell, after everything he did to me that night, I don't even dislike DeCoatsworth.

A better question might be why he seemed to hate me so much.

So why did I sue the police?

This is bigger than me and Officer DeCoatsworth. I did it for the thousands of black men in Philadelphia and other cities around the country who are victims of repressive (and illegal) law-enforcement policies like Mayor Nutter's "Stop and Frisk" program, which trades our constitutional rights for the illusion of public (read: white) safety.

I did it for the voiceless black citizens whose truthful claims of police misconduct - by officers of all races - go unnoticed and unaddressed because they don't have fancy degrees or media access. Instead, they have to accept the banality of evil, the normalcy of a world in which black bodies automatically constitute reasonable suspicion and warrant the use of lethal force.

I did it to help spark a different conversation about the relationships between police and the communities they patrol. While it is important to think about issues like "driving while black," we must also address the more fundamental issue of "patrolling while racist."

While it is easy to label Islamist radicals as "terrorists," we must also be willing to use the "T-word" when describing the feeling that poor black and brown people get whenever those blue lights flash behind them, even if they didn't commit a crime.

I did it for the dozens of police officers, some of them very high ranking, who have sent me e-mails and stopped me on the street to thank me for challenging conduct that makes their attempts at honest law enforcement more difficult.

Since the incident, I've thought about DeCoatsworth. I've wondered if he regretted that night, wishing he could take back his actions now that he has been afforded the luxury of time and reflection. I've wondered whether his tragic shooting has put him in a permanent state of trauma, causing him to find danger where there is none. I've wondered if he was a good cop at heart, who became cynical and overly aggressive after spending a few short years trying to navigate a broken system. I've even hesitantly wondered if we could sit down and discuss our differences, allowing us to move in a new direction of growth and healing.

I got the answer to my last question a few weeks ago, as I bumped into Officer DeCoatsworth at a gas station at 22nd and Walnut streets. I was sitting in my car as he walked by in plain clothes, looking much smaller and less confident without his uniform and handgun. He stopped dead in front of my car and glared at me. I made eye contact and nodded, in an effort to break the tension and offer a nonverbal olive branch. He turned his head and walked a few feet away from me. He then stopped, turned back toward me and spit in my direction. He shot me a look of cold rage that sent me back to that chilly night last summer.

So much for growth and healing."

Please read this response from a police officer. Because, unlike Marc's [sometime] employer, I believe in being "fair and balanced".

Today it's the Asians in the library, tomorrow it's black churches.

We have all seen the video by now of that UCLA student going all right wing on Asians for talking on their cell phones in the college library. Poor Missy, here she thought she was being funny and cute by making fun of another race, and it has led to death threats and damn near an international incident. You A-merry-cans are so sensitive on matters of race....

The poor chile has even left school because of it. I guess she couldn't live with the pressure, and she fears for her safety. She couldn't have picked a worse school for her Anti Asian rant. Ripping Asians at UCLA is like ripping black folks while you are a student at Howard. OK, that's a bit much, but you get the picture: There are a lot of Asian students at UCLA. Hey, at least UCLA didn't give her the boot. And, quite frankly, they shouldn't have. I believe in free speech in this instance, no matter how ignorant girlfriend sounded. Let's chalk this one up to another one of those "teachable moments" on race relations in A-merry-ca.

Let's just hope she chooses a more homogeneous school this time. I am sure that Bob Jones University would love to have her.

So now I leave Alexandria Wallace, and segue to my man, Michael Jacques. [In pic.] Alexandria, Michael Jacques is what you could become if you are not careful.

"SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - A federal prosecutor told a jury Monday that a man and two friends were racists so upset when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 that they burned down a predominantly African-American church just hours after the voting ended.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Smyth gave his opening argument on the first day of the trial of Michael Jacques, 26, in U.S. District Court.

"We are here today because of racism," Smyth told the 16 jurors, including four alternates. "We are here today because of the depth of their intolerance..."

Jacques and two co-defendants, Benjamin Haskell and Thomas Gleason, were charged with using gasoline to set the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield on fire in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2008. The building was under construction at the time. A few firefighters were injured, but recovered.

Authorities say all three men, who are white, confessed to setting the fire. Haskell, 24, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to civil rights charges and was sentenced in November to nine years in prison. Gleason, 23, who lives on the same street as the church, pleaded guilty last year, awaits sentencing and will be testifying against Jacques.

Smyth said Jacques and his friends frequently used racial epithets to describe blacks. The prosecutor said Jacques and Haskell trained a dog to "get" black people, and Jacques was upset that his sister was having a baby with her African-American boyfriend and didn't want a black child in his house.

Levinson told jurors that they will hear bad things about Jacques, but that doesn't mean he set the fire....

"You're going to hear a lot of things about him that you're not going to like," she said. "You've got to keep in mind that Michael Jacques is charged with the crime of arson, basically. He's not charged with being an all-around bad person." [Story]

Of course not. I bet he didn't go to college. There is nothing worse than an uneducated racist.

How to hunt illegals.

Today I was reading my local paper, and I had a WTF? moment after reading this:

"Here in Washington, the immigration debate is in a stalemate. But in Kansas, there has been a breakthrough.

This striking achievement came about last week during a meeting of the Kansas House Appropriations Committee on efforts to shoot feral swine from helicopters. Republican State Rep. Virgil Peck suddenly had an idea.

"Looks like to me if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works," he commented, according to a recording posted by the Lawrence Journal-World, "maybe we have found a [solution] to our illegal-immigration problem."

Brilliant! Shooting immigrants from helicopter gunships! Why didn't they think of that in Congress?

There are a few logistical problems with Peck's idea, including the fact that Kansas isn't a border state. But maybe Oklahoma and Texas will grant overflight rights for immigrant-hunting sorties.

Peck, the Republican caucus chairman for the state House, later suggested his brainstorm was a joke, although he also defended himself: 'I was just speaking like a southeast Kansas person.' [Yeah, right!]

Kansans may be surprised to learn that the immigrant-shooting idea was offered in their names. But they wouldn't be the only Americans getting unwelcome news from their state legislators now that many tea party types have come to power..." [Article]

Folks, in the future, -and for the sake of the Republic- please be careful who you vote for when selecting our lawmakers. For starters, you might want to right off anyone with the name, Virgil.

Finally, it looks like it's not only those evil Muslims who believe in stoning people to death. Apparently "good" suburban kids do as well.

Arab League Slams West for Bombing - Huh???

A news report on PressTv says the Arab League wanted a "no-fly-zone" but not with the killing of civilians and bombing of Libya!

Are these muthaz serious?  What the hell did they think Obomber was going to do?  Play nice with the Libyans until Gaddafi fell over from natural causes?

I am f*cking pissed with the Arab League and with the South African government.  They sold out the greater principle of using diplomacy to end what is happening in Libya.

The West only knows how to kill brown and black people when they want to steal their sh*t.  War for the empire and its attachments is diplomacy! 

My boy D. points out that the murderous fools in the US/France/Britain are working on election strategies.

A war to whip up some national frenzy and moral righteousness is one sure way of dealing with sagging domestic fortunes.

I suggest the Arab League take decisive action to stop the mad mongering West from reducing Libya to Iraq/Afghanistan.

Russia, China, India, and the African Union are calling the attack on Libya "indiscriminate and disproportionate" according to The Voice of Russia. 

They are absolutely on-point.  There is no place for a war like this anymore.  The West must be civilized and brought into humanity.

I mean the US is using its B2 stealth bombers to drop bombs on a 'third world' country!  Britain is firing cruise missiles from submarines and France is leading the bombing offensive with state of the art fighters even as I write.

Libya does not have the military capacity to defend itself from this kind of lopsided and inhumane attack.  What we are witnessing is nothing short of a brutal and murderous gang bang.

Here in South Africa the mini-me mimicry is hardly touched on in the Sunday papers.  Zuma declared war on Libya and most of the citizenry including the media just went on whining about tender fraud and government inefficiencies.

D. also reminded me that BRIC has not formally included South Africa yet.  I hope they reject the colonial lapdogs with contempt now that they have seen just how shallow and selfish President Zuma and his government of re-fried sellouts can be.

Still, I don't expect that Zuma will be called to explain why he voted to unleash a Western war on an African country!

There is a little more than just a sad irony in the fact that tomorrow (Monday 21) is Human Rights Day in South Africa (a public holiday)... obviously a good time to hit the malls and buy more sh*t.

STOP THE WAR ON LIBYA!!!!!!!!!!

Onward!

Tripoli under Fire

Voice of Russia
March 20, 2011

Three American B-2 stealth bombers have dropped 40 bombs on Libya’s major airfield, CBS News reported without mentioning any details.

On March 19th, French planes fired the first shots, destroying Gaddafi’s tanks and armored vehicles outside the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Later, U.S. and British warships and submarines launched at least 110 Tomahawk missiles against the Colonel’s air defenses.

The western coalition in Libya comprises the US, Great Britain, France, Norway, Spain and Denmark. Qatar has also expressed its intention to join in.

Read the rest here.

Comment: What kind of humanity calls this justice?  This is racist anti-Islam thievery under the disguise of a humanitarian mission.  Who will be next?

According to preliminary information provided by Libyan authorities 48 people including women and children, have already died and at least 150 have been injured since the UN-backed military operation kicked in on Saturday evening.  

Many civilian facilities have been badly damaged, including a hospital just outside the capital.

Watch your back.

Onward!

Libya: The Wearingly Familiar Odor of Regime Change

by Robert Fisk
The Independent
March 19, 2011

First it was Saddam. Then Gaddafi. Now There's a Vacancy for the West's Favorite Crackpot Tyrant

 

So we are going to take "all necessary measures" to protect the civilians of Libya, are we? Pity we didn't think of that 42 years ago. Or 41 years ago. Or... well, you know the rest. And let's not be fooled by what the UN resolution really means. Yet again, it's going to be regime-change. And just as in Iraq – to use one of Tom Friedman's only memorable phrases of the time – when the latest dictator goes, who knows what kind of bats will come flying out of the box?

And after Tunisia, after Egypt, it's got to be Libya, hasn't it? The Arabs of North Africa are demanding freedom, democracy, liberation from oppression. Yes, that's what they have in common. But what these nations also have in common is that it was us, the West, that nurtured their dictatorships decade after decade after decade. The French cuddled up to Ben Ali, the Americans stroked Mubarak, while the Italians groomed Gaddafi until our own glorious leader went to resurrect him from the political dead.

Could this be, I wonder, why we have not heard from Lord Blair of Isfahan recently? Surely he should be up there, clapping his hands with glee at another humanitarian intervention. Perhaps he is just resting between parts. Or maybe, like the dragons in Spenser's Faerie Queen, he is quietly vomiting forth Catholic tracts with all the enthusiasm of a Gaddafi in full flow.

So let's twitch the curtain just a bit and look at the darkness behind it. Yes, Gaddafi is completely bonkers, flaky, a crackpot on the level of Ahmadinejad of Iran and Lieberman of Israel – who once, by the way, drivelled on about how Mubarak could "go to hell" yet quaked with fear when Mubarak was indeed hurtled in that direction. And there is a racist element in all this.

The Middle East seems to produce these ravers – as opposed to Europe, which in the past 100 years has only produced Berlusconi, Mussolini, Stalin and the little chap who used to be a corporal in the 16th List Bavarian reserve infantry, but who went really crackers when he got elected in 1933 – but now we are cleaning up the Middle East again and can forget our own colonial past in this sandpit. And why not, when Gaddafi tells the people of Benghazi that "we will come, 'zenga, zenga' (alley by alley), house by house, room by room." Surely this is a humanitarian intervention that really, really, really is a good idea. After all, there will be no "boots on the ground".

Of course, if this revolution was being violently suppressed in, say, Mauritania, I don't think we would be demanding no-fly zones. Nor in Ivory Coast, come to think of it. Nor anywhere else in Africa that didn't have oil, gas or mineral deposits or wasn't of importance in our protection of Israel, the latter being the real reason we care so much about Egypt.

Read the rest here.

Onward!

Picture Credit

Mr. Gaddafi, assez c'est assez!

Somewhere in Libya there is a dude with some f*&^%* up shades and a botched plastic surgery job humming the words to that Gap Band song from back in the day. Yes, "You Dropped A Bomb on Me", would be apropos for my man Muammar right about now.

Europe and the folks in the Arab League are saying enough. Gaddafi's people have risen up against him, and damn near everyone in the Arab world has agreed that he has to go.

There is now a 600 -plus- square mile no fly zone over Libya, and the French are showing that they can do more than just cook.

Of course, over on the right, the wingnuts are in an apoplectic state, because their hatred of O is so great and they cannot find enough missteps on his part to make political hay over this crisis. Over on Radio Rwanda it's comical to see how hard they are trying to come up with different ways that O has botched the Libyan crisis. Of course, to us sane folks watching all of this play out; there is none.

O has played this just right. American troops are not on the ground in Libya (not that we know of) and the A-merry-cans are off the coast of Libya offering logistical support as the French fly sorties over Libya. Gaddafi has reneged on his cease fire promise, declared a UN Security Council resolution invalid, and now it's Gap Band time.

To his credit, unlike another president who can be identified with just a letter, O did not go in unilaterally, he went to the UN and made sure that coalition forces acted together. Unlike the wingnuts who have been calling for the bombing of Libya by US forces from day one, (shocking)he has acted with restraint and has done a masterful dance on a diplomatic tightrope. So far. This, of course, comes with political risks for O. The left is not pleased, and who knows where this conflict will be a few months down the line? What if Gadaffi hangs on and drags this thing out? What if there is a civil war raging in Libya a year from now? What then?

But could the US have stood by and watch the slaughter of a half a million people take place in Benghazi , while the French, British, and others act? I don't think so.

The truth is, no one really knows the political end- game in Libya. And, if they say that they do, they are lying. Who will take over once Gaddafi is gone? There are a lot of tribes in Libya; who will keep the peace? As is often the case in the Middle East, these answers will not come easy.

So, as I write this, there are American troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, like all of you reading this, I am hoping that wars don't come in threes.

The French Start the War on Libya

BBC
March 17, 2011

A French plane has fired the first shots in Libya as enforcement of the UN-mandated no-fly zone begins. The target was a military vehicle, the French defence ministry said. 

It came hours after Western and Arab leaders met in Paris to agree (sic) a course of action to confront Col Gaddafi.

"Our air force will oppose any aggression," Mr Sarkozy said. ...

In other developments:

• Italy has offered the use of seven of its military bases which already house US, Nato and Italian forces
• Canada says its fighter jets have now reached the region but will need two days to prepare for any missions

Read the rest here.

Comment: Ummmm Canada ... what the hell hey?  They must be trying to escape that fridge they call a country.

It's obviously open season as the rush to be at the table after the shock doctrine reduces Libya (like Iraq and Afghanistan) to a marketplace for all kinds of 'development' contracts.

The Canadian government knows that game too well.

Onward!

ANG Statement of Support For Maori-Led Takutaimoana Hikoi

Issued: Mar 18 2011
aboriginalnewsgroup@gmail.com
http://aboriginalnewsgroup.blogspot.com/

For Immediate Release

ANG Statement of Support For Maori-Led Takutaimoana Hikoi To Parliament In Opposition To the Marine and Coastal Area Bill

At this time, the Aboriginal News Group (ANG) wishes to offer its support to the Maori people of Aotearoa with a statement of Indigenous solidarity and unity with those involved with the 2011 Hikoi (march) on the New Zealand government. We support their right to demand an end to discriminatory legislation and the ongoing colonial subversion of the Maori people and their ancestral territories.

Many of the original people of Aotearoa believe that the proposed 'Marine and Coastal Areas' legislation  is unjustly slanted against their community and have chosen to take their grievances to the seat of colonial governance. While this bill ostensibly restores the 'right' under colonialist law for Maori to challenge state ownership of foreshore and seabed regions, it does not extend to the Maori people full, unrestricted ownership of said territories. So in effect, non-Maori interests will still have access to land areas that should rightfully be returned to and maintained by its original owners. A political state of affairs very common, and very detrimental to many Indigenous peoples across the Fourth World.

Before the arrival of Europeans, all of Occupied New Zealand was in the control and stewardship of the Maori and they have never relinquished their claim to Aotearoa. We support their struggle to demand full redress and compensation for their territorial and cultural disenfranchisement and we also commend those non-Maori who realise that by supporting the Maori people they are also standing up for their own best interests and better relations with the Original Peoples of Aotearoa.

We ask that all the peoples of the Fourth World and others of conscience support this peaceful action in defence of Indigenous/First Nations territorial and human rights.

The Takutaimoana Hikoi is due to reach Parliament on March 22nd.

For additional information about this release please contact: Aboriginal News Group (ANG)
aboriginalnewsgroup@gmail.com

Hypocrisy and Betral by the UN: The Case of Libya

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Dissident Voice
March 18th, 2011

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
— George Orwell.

The bombing of Libya will begin on or nearly to the day of the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq, 19th March, in Europe. Libya too will be destroyed – its schools, education system, water, infrastructure, hospitals, municipal buildings. There will be numerous “tragic mistakes”, “collateral damage”, mothers, fathers, children, babies, grandparents, blind and deaf schools and on and on. And the wonders of the Roman remains and earlier, largely enduring and revered in all history’s turmoils as Iraq, the nation’s history – and humanity’s, again as Iraq and Afghanistan, will be gone forever.

The infrastructure will be destroyed. The embargo will remain in place; thus rebuilding will be impossible. Britain, France and the US., will decide the country needs “stabilising”, “help with reconstruction.” They will move in, secure the oil installations and oil fields, the Libyan people will be an incidental inconvenience and quickly become “the enemy”, “insurgents”, be shot, imprisoned, tortured, abused – and a US friendly puppet “government” will be installed.

The invaders will award their companies rebuilding contracts, the money – likely taken from Libya’s frozen assets without accounting – will vanish and the country will remain largely in ruins.

And the loudest cheerleaders for this, as Iraq, will be running round television and radio stations in London, Europe and the US, then returning to their safe apartments and their UK/US/Europe paid tenures, in the knowledge that no bombs will be dropping on them. Their children will not be shaking uncontrollably and soiling themselves with terror at the sound of approaching planes.

And this Libyan “Shock and Awe”? Shame on France, shame on Britain and the US and a UN avowed: “… to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Every shattered body, every child maimed or blown to bits, every widow, widower, orphan, will have the name of those countries, and the UN written in their blood in their place of death.

And the public of these murderous, marauding Western ram raiders, will be told that we were bringing democracy, liberating Libya from a tyrant, from the “new Hitler”, the “Butcher of Bengazi.”

The countries who have ganged together these last days to overthrow a sovereign government have, again, arguably, conspired in Nuremberg’s: ” … supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”, and yet again, plotted to overthrow a sovereign government, with a fig leaf of “legality” from an arm twisted UN. We have seen it all before.

In time, it will emerge who was stirring, bribing, de-stabilizing, and likely few will be surprised at the findings. But by then, Libya will be long broken and its people, fleeing, displaced, distraught.

When it comes to dealing with the usual “liberators”, be careful what you wish for. In six months or so, most Libyans, whatever the failings of the last forty years rule, will be ruing the day.

Comment: Excellent analysis that tells it like it is.  The idea of democracy and its emphasis on the just rule of law has been abandoned yet again.

Last night I worked late with my radio dialed to talk shows as usual.  It amazed me how callers in South Africa were congratulating the US as they waited in excited suspense (an entertainment in the age of reality news and electronic popular culture) for the attacks to begin.

"Will the US use its new stealth fighters?", a caller asked.  "Don't think so they will use F18s and that should be enough to take out strategic radar targets," a defense expert said.

"Whatever happens they need to put a well placed slug in Gaddafi," the radio host, Kieno Kammies, told his audience.

How did we just become attachments to the injustice being waged by the empire?

"The US has the backing of Islamic countries to get the job done and get that tyrant out of there ..." summed it all up for me.

I am sad to be inside this kind of murderous hypocrisy.  The radio station in question is part of a campaign called "Lead South Africa" and they shovel daily nonsense about "taking responsibility" and "doing the right thing" and then a popular loud-mouth host begins to sounds just like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck calling openly for the assassination/murder of Gaddafi.

Not too many folks will call Kammies and his employer (Talk Radio 702) on this sh*t.  It is open season for hypocrites. 

I mean the South African government has just declared war on Libya yet it is sending a delegate (it was supposed to be President Zuma but he backed off) from South Africa to join an African Union delegation to talk peace to Gaddafi.

Not too long ago (weeks in fact) the Zuma government was still selling weapons to Gaddafi.  In the past Zuma and his cronies used Gaddafi's donations to finance their domestic and national elections (court cases too).

And don't forget the huge sums of capital Gaddafi has pumped into the private sector leaving government beneficiaries (cronies) knee deep in the money trough.

South Africa is fast becoming the same kind of skunk the previous government was in international relations and there must be consequences.

The BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) all abstained from voting on the resolution but South Africa, which has just been admitted (making the group BRICS), voted for the "no fly zone".

Brazil, Russia, India and China should be watching this small arrogant and over-bloated colonial stand-in very closely.

South Africa cannot be trusted.  Watch your back.

Onward!

Beef!

Oh Lawd! What is wrong with you Negroes? Now Dr. Huxtable and Mr. Def Jam himself are beefing with each other. I thought that beefs were limited to certain young bucks in our race.

"Just when you thought Russell Simmons had the last word stemming from his 2009 verbal attack towards Bill Cosby, think again.

The Def Jam Records cofounder leveraged his Global Grind platform to inform the masses of his most recent encounter with the renowned comedian, philanthropist and activist during last week's Jackie Robinson Awards gala.

During the event, which honored hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs with the Renaissance Man of the Decade award, Simmons attempted to make amends with the Emmy Award-winning comedy icon by apologizing for his criticism. His effort was met with a scathing response.

"I wanted to find him to apologize, to tell him I was sorry about my statements and to tell him that I loved him," Simmons explained. "Suddenly, I turned and he was behind the curtain and I said, 'I love you,' and he responded on some real hip-hop, 'Get the f*ck out my face!' "

The Philadelphia native has made it quite clear not to confuse him with Cliff Huxtable.." [Source]

Come on now Cos. Why did you have to go all North Philly on my man? He was trying to make nice. Don't you preach against this type of behavior? We should be setting examples, not calling out hip hop moguls back stage.

Finally, I know that you Negroes love your cable. But.... this is going a bit too far.

South Africa Votes for UN Resolution 1973 and Declares War on Libya

South Africa Joins the Imperial Axis and Declares War on Libya

This declaration of war on Libya is yet another one of those disgusting and racist imperial moments in post-colonial history and it is made worse by states like South Africa and Lebanon and the Arab League who should know better than to declare war on their own.

Before you click the comment button below to tell me about a humanitarian action to save Libyans from Gaddafi please explain why the same kind of intervention has not been imposed on states where the human rights violations are longstanding, verified, and monumentally worse by any fair measure.

Why did the UN not impose a "no-fly zone" when Israel declared war on flesh and bones in Gaza and used its full military might to attack the ghettoized Palestinians?

And what of Zimbabwe and the Ivory Coast?

I admired Gaddafi for his committed anti-apartheid stand when the US and its lapdog ally, Britain, were spewing sh*t about reforming apartheid and "constructive engagement" policies.

I am, however, no friend of the Gaddafi of the last decade who ran all across the West to make friends and spread his capital among the same murderers who now want him dead.

Why?  What has changed for the West?  And who the hell are those nameless/faceless ragtag rebels we are being asked to support as they wage war against a sovereign state with American weapons?

If we had a principled government in Pretoria our leaders would be pushing Gaddafi to step down peacefully.

I am, therefore, disgusted by the decision of the South African government to join the imperial axis in their newest war on brown and black skins.

President Zuma like Obama is a compliant stooge who can be bought.  South Africa's vote at the Security Council is about its ambitions to be inside the power arrangement of the West.

By voting to confirm the all encompassing war on Other skins this sellout regime is demonstrating its mini-me mimicry that wants nothing more than a permanent seat in the Security Council.

There should be consequences for trading on the skins of a sovereign people even as Tripoli moves to comply with Resolution 1973 (See BBC breaking news: Libya 'to halt military action').

And we are not free!  And we will never be until we remove with unreserved contempt the constructed petite bourgeois of compliant ass-kissing natives and their colonial masters who have conspired to interrupt the manifest journey toward a real revolution in South Africa.

Onward!

Picture Credit

She does not like green ties.....

I am watching "March Madness" and it's Maaaad. Two of my teams I had going deep in the tourney already got knocked out. I am glad I don't gamble for a living. --Mrs. Field would have to live in her car.--

Anywhoo, it's St. Patrick's Day, and I have an interesting anecdote to pass on to you.

Today, as I always do on St. Patrick's Day, I wore a green tie to work. It wasn't exactly in sync with my sartorial senses but I went with it. (I will explain why later.)

So I am out at lunch and I recognize a female friend of mine who was out with one of her friends. I didn't know the other young lady so she introduced us. After we exchanged pleasantries girlfriend asked me me if I was Irish. I explained that I was not (duh!), but my wonderful assistant who the city was kind enough to assign to me almost ten years ago is Irish. And so, out of respect for her culture, I usually wear a green tie on this particular day. Girlfriend gave me a whatever look and I immediately started looking around for the "Drop Squad."

"Why, a black man can't wear green on St. Patrick's Day?" I asked half jokingly. "Not if he isn't Irish", she said. Girlfriend was as serious as any "Drop Squad" wannabe could be. Our mutual friend jumped in and tried to save the day with a comment or two, but it was too late, the APB was already out for me. We said our good byes, and after one last stare-down from Ms. "Drop Squad" I was ghost.

Now, here is the thing; in some ways I understand where girlfriend is coming from, and, if it wasn't for my relationship with my assistant, I probably wouldn't be recognizing St. Patrick's Day by wearing green. But life isn't always about a culture or a race at large, sometimes it's about individuals, and individual relationships. Girlfriend thought I was selling out by wearing green, and even after I explained why, she still wasn't buying it. Too bad for her. She clearly didn't understand my relationship with my assistant, and, to be honest, I didn't expect her to. No harm no foul. She will live with her perceptions and life goes on.

Still, I wonder if she celebrates Christmas, or the 4th of July. Or, for that matter, Valentine's Day? I am betting that she does. But yet she took the time to sweat a brotha in a green tie. *shaking head*

Help me out fam. was girlfriend being a bit too sensitive or should I drop the green next year?