Muslims just want to have fun.

Oh Lawd! What is going on here in A-merry-ca? Why is it harder for Muslims to pursue happiness than the rest of you A-merry-cans? BTW, Speaking of pursuing happiness; I guess we won't be up in arms about this latest social media flash mob phenomenon. I mean they are just college students, and I didn't see any of you Negroes in the crowd scaring folks. But I digress.

 "Rye Playland was shut down Tuesday after cops scuffled with Muslims upset that women wearing head scarves were barred from the rides, witnesses said.
Fifteen people, including three women, were charged with disorderly conduct and assault in the chaos, authorities said.

The Westchester County park was packed with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr - the holiday marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
One woman, Entisai Ali, began arguing with cops over the amusement park's head scarf, or hijab, rule, said Dena Meawad, 18, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
The ban, which is not Muslim specific, was imposed about 3 years ago mostly to prevent hats from falling onto the tracks of roller coasters and other rides, park officials said.

"The cops started getting loud with her and she started getting loud, too. They pushed her on the ground and arrested her," Meawad said.
Her cousin, Kareem Meawad, 17, went to try to protect the woman and was beaten by cops and also arrested, she added. Her brother, Issam Meawad, 20, was pushed to the ground and taken into custody when he tried to help his cousin, she said.

"She just wanted to get on a ride. That was it," Dena Meawad said of the initial confrontation. "It's clear, this all happened because we're Muslim."
John Hodges, chief inspector of Westchester County Public Safety, insisted that police did not use excessive force.

He said up to 100 cops from surrounding departments converged on the park.
Two park rangers were injured in the melee, prompting felony assault charges against two people arrested, officials said.
The ugly incident happened just after 1 p.m. The event was organized by the Muslim American Society of New York, and attracted 3,000 Muslims from Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County.

Ali's sister, Ayman Alrabah, 24, of Brooklyn said her husband, brother and father were all tackled by cops and put into handcuffs when they tried to help her sister.
Alrabah said she was unaware of the head-scarf rule until she and her sister tried to get on the park's Dragon Coasters.

"We requested a refund and all of a sudden an argument became a riot," Alrabah said. "Cops came. They were hitting my brother, my dad. My husband was on the floor and they were handcuffing him.

She said her 4-year-old son was "traumatized" by seeing his father arrested.
"They treated us like animals, like we were nothing," Alrabah said. "They came with their dogs and sticks. We came to have fun." [Source] 

Oh stop it! Where have you ever heard of cops attacking people with "dogs and sticks"? Oh wait....never mind.

Finally, I am not an expert on climate change and global warming [or the lack of it], but I do know that we have been having some unusually freakish weather occurrences all over the world of late, and that reasonable people can disagree on just how much man made behavior is causing the earth's weather patterns to change.

Reasonable people. The wingnuts in this country, and folks like their presidential candidate, Governor Big Hair, are not convinced.  They believe that global warming is all a hoax. And thanks to their 24 hour propaganda machine and the ignorance of quite a few most of our fellow citizens, they are actually gaining the upper hand in the debate. Which is really kind of sad, because if they had their way there would be no debate in the first place.

   

Dumb Sh*t You Hear in Rainbow Hell

"No amount of intimidation will intimidate us"
(Julius Malema)

Dumbward!

Ps.  Julius "Juju" Malema is the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president and he is facing disciplinary charges for violating the ANC's constitution.

He has some scores to settle.

This should be interesting. It seems that the wingnuts in Washington want to hold up FEMA funding for the hurricane battered East Coast states.

"As rescuers raced Tuesday to free people trapped by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene, Washington politicians bickered over how to pay for it.

The same budget arguments that nearly brought the first government default in history earlier this month now raise questions about whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will have enough money to deal with Irene's aftermath.

FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund has less than $800 million remaining, and given the pace of operations in the wake of Irene, could run out before the end of the current fiscal year on September 30.

With conservative House Republicans calling for spending cuts to offset any increase in emergency funds -- a condition opposed by many Democrats -- the ability of Congress to act quickly on the issue remains uncertain.

"The notion that we would hold this up until Republicans can prompt another budget fight and figure out what they want to cut, what they want to offset in the budget, and to pit one section of the country against the other and to delay this and create this uncertainty, it's just the latest chapter and I think one of the most unsavory ones of our budget wars," said Rep. David Price, D-North Carolina." [Source] 

Oh well, I guess we do need our government from time to time after all. Republicans, however, do not believe that.

This is a new twist to the class warfare game. Let's call it region warfare.

So Dick Cheney's book, "In My Time", will be in book stores today. ["Don't call it a comeback" ]

Cheney has some scores to settle. Already he is calling out Colin and doing it without any compunction. He even tried to embarrass Condi. If there has ever been a more crass and evil man [or woman] in A-merry-can politics I would like to know who it is. Even George Will is pissed at the porcine looking Neocon.

But I guess this is, according to Pat Buchanan,his last "political will and testament" to the A-merry-can people. He wants to set the record straight before he checks out of this life to his new one where it's very warm all year around. (I hope he packs light.) Mr. Cheney, I think your time is up.

Eid Mubarak

Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim sisters and brothers and peace to all.

Onward!

Image Credit

Second Volume of Obama Memoirs Stuns the World

Michael K. Smith
Dissident Voice
August 29th, 2011

I can't wait to pick up a copy of Obama: Part-Dos.  Of course I could just assemble all my post that say: "Told you so" but who really takes what I say seriously?

No really, who?

Smith describes what we can expect in Part-Dos adding to the anticipation.  He writes:

"Marking a bold departure from conventional campaign tactics, Barack Obama has released a searingly honest memoir on the eve of his presidential re-election drive. The profoundly moving, frequently lyrical narrative relates the extraordinary story of a gifted African American overcoming seemingly insurmountable racial obstacles to reach the White House, where, in an act of sheer genius, he gives away trillions of dollars to oppressed Wall Street firms while demolishing half a dozen countries abroad in the course of picking up a Nobel Peace prize. Dramatic and fast-paced, the action leaves the reader not only breathless, but penniless.In spite of this unprecedentedly spectacular record, the author is reluctantly forced to accept that he has disappointed many who believed in his calls for “hope” and “change” in 2008."

A sneak preview of the chapter headings has me scraping $599 for the book together even as I write.  It is a veritable bargain even here in the land of monochrome rainbows and political dumb asses.  Take a gander at these mouthwatering headings from our sweet smelling messiah, President BO:

Chapter One: The Virtue of Moral Collapse: Does a Castrated Man Really Need a Spine?

Chapter Two: Healthy Profits, Sick Patients: So What’s the Problem?

Chapter Three: Affirmative Action For Dummies: Why a Black President Had to Lead the Rape of Libya

Chapter Four: Jewish Apartheid in the Promised Land: Dr. King’s Dream Fulfilled

Chapter Five: Don’t Worry, Be Happy: How Killing With Pilotless Drones Insures a Great Future

Chapter Six: Protecting Against Terrorism: Why I Need To Assassinate Americans For Their Own Good

Predatory Books, the publisher, will have to make sure they publish a grip of copies since demand will be very high.  I hope they include ten pages of glossy pictures of Obama clutching his Nobel Peace Prize!

Those pictures alone are enough for me to buy a second copy even if moms and I have to skimp on celebrating Eid tomorrow and cutting down on essentials like our sanity for the rest of the year.

If you have an extra $599 (about R4200) you should buy an extra copy and give it to a liberal friend (preferably white) if you can.

It will be such a wonderful gesture don't you think?  We really need not turn our backs on those whom we have been designed by history to serve forever.

OK, I have to run to the mall and see if Exclusive Books knows when Part-Dos will hit the stands.

I am so happy I can't stand it.  If there was a rich white American close to me I would hug him/her with love, honest Injun.  Maybe there will be one at the mall - I really hope so.

Onward!

Ps: I wish he had written a chapter on "how I beat my blackness and even fooled a few blacks and a whole grip of YTs and almost the whole ANC and just about every African leader and their mamma for almost four years" ...

That chapter there is a whole book on its own would you not say?

I really hope some of my 'radical left' friends and colleagues who voted Obama into office are patting themselves on their backs right about now.

He could not have done it without your hopeful support.

You go.

No really, go.

Michele, "The Tonight Show" is calling.

"Tragedy hit Sunday after a young woman was caught in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene and died in her car in Salem County.

New Jersey State Police say Celena Sylvestri of Quinton, N.J., called authorities for help from her car on a flooded road early Sunday morning in Salem County and was found dead in the vehicle about eight hours later.

Sylvestri was driving to her boyfriend’s house when her car became stuck in floodwaters. Sylvestri called for help about 1:40 a.m. Sunday, first to her boyfriend then 9-1-1, saying water was up to her neck in her Honda Accord.

For some reason she had tried driving through the Salem River Creek and it had lifted her car off Harding Highway in Pilesgrove.

We tried to find her, we tried to locate her, we were screaming for her -- we couldn't find her," said State Police Lt. Jay Miller. "There was just so much water -- water was surging -- there was no telling where she went in at. It was just a dangerous situation."

Her body was found in her car about 9:30 a.m. about 80 feet off the road by state troopers, police said.

She was swept off the road and deep into the woods. She appeared to still be strapped into her car seat when she was found, according to authorities.

Her car was submerged along Route 40." [Source]

Hahaha......wait, that's not funny. Who would even make fun of something as tragic as a natural disaster that caused the death of poor Ms. Sylvestri and at least 34 other people? 

"As it turns out, Rep. Michele Bachmann was joking Sunday, according to an aide, when she said that God was sending a message to Washington through Hurricane Irene and last week's East Coast earthquake.
Talking Points Memo reports the following:

"Obviously she was saying it in jest," campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart told TPM in a statement.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, during a Florida campaign stop Sunday Bachmann, a fundamentalist Christian said the following:

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." [Source] 

 We have got to "rein" something in alright, but it ain't our spending.

"Bachmann, among the top three candidates seen to have a chance to win the Republican nomination and take on President Barack Obama next year, made similar comments elsewhere in Florida on Saturday, drawing some laughs from her audience.

When the remarks began drawing wide attention, she went into some damage control.

"Of course I was being humorous when I said that. It would be absurd to think it was anything else," Bachmann said on Monday on a campaign stop in Miami."I am a person who loves humor, I have a great sense of humor," she said." [Source] 

Hahaha!!

Surah Al-Furqan

"The (true) servants of (God) the Most Gracious are those who walk on 

the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, 

reply with (words of) peace." (25:63)

Learning to read the Qur'an inside the
Bari Imam Sufi shrine in Islamabad.

 Onward!

Picture Credit

"Assimilationist", Irene is gone, and another day another stupid comment from a wingnut.

So O won't give a posthumous pardon to brother Marcus. (h/t to Asabagna over at the Afrospear for hipping me to this story) That's a shame. I know that it's all symbolism at this point, but it would send a nice signal to folks like moi. But then again, we know that it would send a totally different message to certain folks, and O needs their votes come November, 2012. He can always count on us Negroes for our support.  Forget the fact that Garvey was the hardest working man in the Negro self improvement business, and with his ideas for the advancement of African people (not just African Americans) he was way ahead of his time.

Anyway, I know that some folks are not pleased:

"The Obama administration has rejected a call for a posthumous presidential pardon for Marcus Garvey, calling it a waste of time and resources.
The denial of a pardon came only recently, in response to a campaign waged by attorney Donovan Parker, who had been writing Obama weekly since January 2011 calling for Garvey's pardon.
The denial letter stated:

"Many posthumous pardon requests would likely be based on a claim of manifest injustice, and given that decades have passed since the event and the historical record would have to be scoured to objectively and comprehensively investigate such applications, it is the Department's position that the limited resources which are available to process requests for Presidential clemency — now being submitted in record numbers — are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request."
So the Obama administration says pardoning Garvey is a waste of time and resources, yet he has found the time and resources to pardon a turkey on Thanksgiving.

The denial is ironic, considering that the struggle waged by the Garvey Movement in the early 1900s — and subsequent struggles influenced by it — set the stage for Obama's election.

That the U.S. government even needed to deliver a black president to African people as a last ditch effort to undermine struggle for true self-determination is a direct effect of the struggles influenced by the Garvey Movement.
Marcus Garvey was the founder and leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), a global organization of African people that held at least 11 million members during the early 1900s.
His work to organize for self-determination for African people has influenced every subsequent struggle of African people.

The U.S. government sought to destroy Garvey and his organization, including utilizing FBI agents to infiltrate his organization.

J. Edgar Hoover — the FBI director who initiated the vicious COINTELPRO war on the Black Power Movement of the Sixties — first made his name by destroying the Garvey Movement. It was to infiltrate Garvey's movement that the FBI integrated.

Though Hoover stated in an October 1919 memo that Garvey had committed no "crime" to justify deporting him, the FBI eventually set the black leader up.
Garvey was imprisoned and, in 1927, deported to Jamaica.

Independentist vs. assimilationist struggle continues

While ironic, it is not surprising that the Obama administration has taken a denial stance on the question of pardoning Garvey.

Obama represents the same trend that opposed Garvey in the 1900s.
Garvey represented the aspirations of African people for independence, self-determination and power over our own lives.

In opposition to him were assimilationists like W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP, those who saw their future working within the oppressive system that exploits African labor and resources for its continued existence.

The assimilationists attacked Garvey while he was alive, uniting with the U.S. government to undermine Garvey's movement, which was based among the African working masses.

Today, Obama represents the highest expression of the assimilationist trend.
His administration has already waged war on Africa in Libya, Somalia and elsewhere through AFRICOM, so it is only consistent that he would continue that trend by maintaining the criminalization of this African incredible leader." [Source]

Ouch!

Finally, Irene has come and gone, and, as is usually the case, the hype was more than the actual hit.

Some winners and losers:

Winners: The emergency management coordinators from state, municipal, and federal agencies. I know I always rip Governor Krispy Kreme, but he did a good job over in Jersey, and our HNIC here in Philly did a good job as well. Folks got the message to stay indoors and various public agencies were right on the spot when the going got tough.

Losers: The clueless news media. I know you have to hype and sensationalize every story for your ratings, but watching some clown stand in a puddle of water in the middle of Manhattan while the ticker is reading "BREAKING NEWS, NEW YORK FACES CATASTROPHE" is a bit much. This type of scene repeated itself over and over again. And when these idiots interviewed normal citizens who tried to tell them that things weren't as bad as they seemed, it was funny to see their reaction as they tried to scare more people into watching their over the top news cast.

One man who was just rescued from his truck here in Philly was being interviewed by a correspondent on the scene, when the anchor in the studio chimed in and asked the man if he managed to make it out -I swear to you that's what she said.-The poor man looked long and hard into the camera and and everyone watching made a silent connection with him. Everyone, of course, except the clueless anchor.

Folks, in the future, please give us less hyperbole and more of what is actually happening with the damn news.

Biggest Loser: Who else but a wingnutGlenn Beckkk for saying that Irene was actually a blessing.

"The Washington Post reports radio personality Glenn Beck has declared Hurricane Irene is a "blessing." He touts the strong storm lashing the East Coast of the United States as a harbinger to warn Americans to be prepared for anything and to stock up food."

I know Glenn, after we elect Governor Big Hair all these natural disasters will just suddenly go away. "Prayer changes things."







 


   

Posted on Facebook by Racist

Times Live
August 28, 2011.

Police are appealing to the public to identify those behind this shocking picture

Contact Crime Stop at: 086 001 0111

This is the Facebook picture that has sparked a police investigation. The police are asking members of the public who can identify the man in this picture - which may have been manipulated - to come forward to assist them in their investigation. We have obscured the child's face to protect his identity, but child advocacy groups are concerned about the youngster's well being.

The Hawks have launched an investigation into an image on Facebook in which a white man with a rifle poses over the apparently lifeless body of a black child - like a hunter celebrating his kill.

The undated picture is on the social networking site in the profile of a user called "Eugene Terrorblanche", a play on the name of the murdered leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB). As of yesterday, "Terrorblanche" had 590 "friends".

While it is not known if the photograph is genuine or has been manipulated, a child protection charity has expressed concern for the well being of the youngster.

The search is now on for the person or persons responsible for the picture, for whoever created the user profile and for those who have seen the photograph but failed to report it.

The authorities have suggested that everyone party to the posting - including those who have seen the picture - could face prosecution and, if convicted, a jail sentence.

This is regardless of whether the picture is faked.

Read the rest here.

Comment: It is most likely that this is a staged picture. Still it is very depressing to think that a grown man can put an innocent child into this racist illustration of the madness of whiteness.

I expect that a whole grip of white folks will see this as just a prank. Kinda like those racist pigs who manipulated black workers at the Free State University to consume urine laced food.

What is depicted here is the unrepentant arrogance and historical barbarity of whiteness.  And the issue of white racism does not disappear even if it emerges that the picture is digitally manipulated.  At the very least this picture advocates race hatred and child abuse (these are criminal acts in South Africa).

It is a farce to talk about reconciliation and forgiveness in South Africa.

What has to be reconciled is not even decided and forgiveness is mythical nonsense when whiteness is still the greatest fracture in post-apartheid South Africa.

And we are not free!

Onward!

Story/Caption/Picture Credit 

Update (August 29, 2011): Aasia sent a heads up that points out the Sunday Times needed to do some homework on this 'breaking' story.  It has made the rounds before, as early as 2007.  See the Daily Maverick's "Exclusive: Sunday Times exclusive isn't exclusive" here.

The Times website does not admit to their sloppy journalism this morning but says that the man in the picture admitted to paying the child to pose.  They also say he is being verbally "lashed" for the picture.  See the story here.

It is apparent that the Sunday Times used the story to stoke sensationalism (to sell papers).  But, the issues of race hatred and unrepentant whiteness as depicted in the picture stands.

The picture may be four years old but the fact that it was still being used on Facebook is telling.  The racist attitude and the historical disfigurement being celebrated/propagated is hardly in the past.

Thanks again Aasia. 

Onward!

iPads and Irene.

I love technology as much as the next guy, but at some point we have to take a serious look at ourselves and realize that we might be taking this thing a bit too far.

I recently saw the following story on Yahoo.com:

"Virginia-based Renee Armstrong desperately wanted to attend the wedding of friends Jonathan Alberico and Jamie Wilborn – she’d been asked to be a bridesmaid, after all. The problem was, her friends live in Denver, Colarado, [sic]some 1500 miles away, and the cost of getting there just proved to be too expensive in these economically tough times.

Bride Jamie told Cnet: “Unfortunately, the economy sucks. She just didn’t have the means to make it out to Denver. It was absolutely devastating when we found she couldn’t come.”

So, what to do? After having a think about it, Jamie hit upon the idea of using an

Jamie put the idea to Renee, who loved it. On the big day, the bridesmaid got ready as if she was going to be at the wedding in person, donning her best outfit for the occasion.

She was ‘carried around’ the proceedings by a groomsman, who took her down the aisle and ensured she had a perfect view of the vows. Hopefully the wedding guests knew what the groomsman was up to, otherwise they might’ve been thinking, “Why is that guy showing off his new iPad like that?”

In a conversation captured on video (see below), Renee tells Jamie, “I got all teary-eyed during the ceremony, and I couldn’t have got that from pictures.”

According to the Cnet report, the FaceTime plan nearly didn’t happen when a slightly sloshed groomsman accidentally dropped the tablet in the middle of the wedding rehearsal. Luckily, a replacement was obtained.

The short video below, shot by wedding guest Jamie Goswick, shows the happy couple exchanging vows, as well as a man walking around with an iPad showing bridesmaid Renee on the screen." [Story]

Quick, how many of you sisters reading this would allow your best friend to attend your wedding via iPad? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Now I am not trying to be mean or anythnig, but how long did girlfriend know that her friend was getting married? Virginia to Denver? Come on now, I am guessing she could have flown Southwest for a couple of hundred bucks round trip.

Somebody give that groomsman a high five for walking around with that ridiculous iPad throughout the wedding.

I am still waiting on Irene. I just ditched my patio furniture and it was already raining and windy outside. I just hope that PECO doesn't lose power in my area. I need my electricity. Over a million people in North Carolina are already out of luck.That's not a good look.

Let's see how FEMA does with this one. Who will be Obama's "Brownie"? Maybe he won't have one; it looks like he was ahead of the curve with this. But we will see. I know one thing, he better be glad that this is a natural disaster, because, if it wasn't, the wingut and FOX crowd would be finding a way to blame him for it. I bet that they will say that O will use my girl Irene as an excuse for the economy not rebounding as fast as it should. Wait, they already have. Never mind.

To all my friends in Irene's path, please be careful and stay safe.

Hurricanes, white quarterbacks, and the evangelical candidate.

"Field, make sure you pick up a couple of cases of bottled water and snacks, and make sure you tap the ATM and get some cash. Oh, and don't forget to get some flashlights and batteries if you can..."

That's what part of my text from Mrs. Field looked like as the big gal upstairs prepared to hit you heathens on the East Coast with yet another rare natural disaster. This times it's of the hurricane variety. What will it be next, a meteor shower? WTF? Even the city that never sleeps is shutting down. These are strange days, indeed.

Irene is her name, and she is going to cost us some money.Heck she already started. This lady has expensive taste. Not even the Donald can afford this one. She might tear up his casinos in AC and some of his Manhattan high rises with one devastating swoop.

Speaking of strange, I see that ESPN the Magazine done went and made #7 white to make a point. [See pic with this post.] As is to be expected, some folks aren't pleased. But I have to give it to ESPN, they know how to sell magazines. Fire up those color arousal buttons and folks will talk. Talk leads  to curiosity, and curiosity leads to sales. And, let me say for the record, I can't even imagine Michael Vick as white. And if you knew how white folks feel about their pets  and vice versa, you couldn't either.

Finally, congrats to Governor Big Hair. I see that he is leading the republiclown field of presidential candidates. He does seem to be the "godliest" of all the candidates. Poor Mitt, he just doesn't have the right religion to satisfy that good ole republiclown base that is so full of true believers.

Governor Big Hair is the real deal among the republican bible reading base, and the main stream media is starting to take notice:

"That’s the mirror-mirror question for Republicans. Forget charisma, charm, intelligence, knowledge and that nuisance, “foreign policy experience.” The race of the moment concerns which candidate is the truest believer.

This was always a tough hurdle for Romney, whose Mormonism is reflexively distrusted by Southern evangelicals. Even so, in the absence of a better candidate, Romney had a fighting chance to win his party’s support. Then came Perry.

Talk about a perfect-storm, composite candidate. Combine Elmer Gantry’s nose for converts, Ronald Reagan’s folksy confidence and Sarah Palin’s disdain for the elites — and that dog hunts.

Perry doesn’t just believe, he evangelizes. He summons prayer meetings. He reads scripture while callers are on hold. Not incidentally, he’s a successful governor. Perhaps most important, he’s a wall-scaling fundraiser whose instincts make him a force of nature in the political landscape." [Source]

He is a force of nature alright, I am just glad that god created him. He might be the only one who can save us from these strange  times.

Tick Tock

"If we put some foam behind the wall clock will it muffle the sound of its incessant tick tock?"

"I don't know Ridwan.  It does not bother me the way it does you.  The last clock you made me remove was louder than this one.  I don't think they make clocks that are silent."

"Fatima I cannot sit in a room with a clock that makes me hear every second of my life.  It is simply just too intrusive even in Kimberley where life just about stands still."

"Well that is the only clock they sold that matches the color of the wall.  I just don't hear it and I don't think anyone else cares but you.  Just ignore it."

"It is driving me batty.  How in the world can anyone live inside of that noise?  It interferes with my TV viewing.  Can't we just get an electronic clock that is silent?"

"No.  I like an old-style wall clock."

"Why do you need a clock anyway?  Can't you just check your wristwatch when you need to know what time it is?  Or press the yellow button on the satellite remote and see the time on the TV screen?"

"We need a clock because I want one.  And I do not wear a watch and don't want to press the yellow or blue or any other color button to see the time.  I want to look up and it must be there.  I grew up with a clock on the wall.  It is just nice to have.  And convenient too."

"I can't live with it.  Why do you think I sleep with earplugs and even leave them in some days when I do not want to hear any sounds at all?  I'm sensitive that way.  You should know by now."

"You just neurotic. That's what I know by now."

"Huh?"

"I said you are neurotic.  Are you hard of hearing?  Oh I forgot.  You hear too much."

"How do you spell neurotic?"

"R-i-d-w-a-n ... that is how.  Satisfied?"

"Fatima that clock needs to go.  We need something more modern.  Like a digital clock that is silent.  My life is too empty to hear seconds of more emptiness tick by." 

"So fill up your life.  Get something you actually like doing.  Make new friends.  Get a girlfriend.  Oh I forget you don't like just about anybody anymore because people work your nerves."

"What does a loud obnoxious clock have to do with not liking people?  And I do like some people.  Those I don't like I just ignore.  But that clock is too present.  I can't ignore it.  Can you?"

"I want to end this conversation.  I don't want to hear anymore."

"But I am not done complaining about the clock yet.  I need you to hear me.  I cannot live with that noise."

"You should learn to ignore."

"Ummm ... did I not just say I wanted to talk about this some more?  Why are you walking away?  Where are you going?"

"Watch and learn.  I'm ignoring you ... "

"What's ignoring me got to do with the clock?  Fatima I am talking to you ... come back here  ... you know I have separation anxiety issues.  Moms ... I don't like being ignored ... Fatima I'm talking to you ..."

Onward!

My Wake Up?

He doesn't like his slav...workers to have tattoos and piercings.

"Richardson, who said that Newton “was dressed perfectly” for their meeting, was blunt. “I said, ‘Do you have any tattoos?’” Richardson told Rose. “He said, ‘No, sir. I don’t have any.’ I said, ‘Do you have any piercings?’ He said, ‘No, sir. I don’t have any.’ I said, ‘We want to keep it that way.’ . . . .

“We want to keep no tattoos, no piercings, and I think you’ve got a very nice haircut.”

Interjected the host: “You sound like a Lombardi.”
Said Richardson, “No, I just sound reasonable to me.”

I must confess, listening to that soundbite sounds a lot worse than it reads.
You have to actually hear it.

I am disappointed in Charlie Rose. "You sound like Lombardi"? Nope, he sounded like someone else: A fifties era small town southern sheriff.

But Cam had to jig. He wanted that 24 million pay day. And for that kind of money Cam would have probably told the Charlotte Panthers owner that he would play a banjo for him and sing "I Wish I Was in Dixie" before he went to bed every night. Then I heard Stephen A. Smith co-signing with that b*&& s&^t today on the radio here in  Philly. "Bless Jerry Richardson's heart" he said, "somebody had to say it". Say what, Negro? Let's try this again: Cam Newton is a football player! I could care less if he wore a a bone in his nose and drove to the stadium in a pink tutu before every game. But this is A-merry-ca, we are so concerned with our image and nothing else. 

Now I understand that it's Jerry Richardson's team, and that he is the one writing the check. He has a right to demand certain things from his employees, that's a given. But would Jerry give the same lecture to Andrew Luck or Tim Tebow? I doubt it. And if Jerry has a no tattoo or piercing policy, why doesn't he demand it of all of his Panthers? -He just signed Jeremy Shockey for crying out loud! -

Memo to Jerry, Cam won't be working on Wall Street or Madison Avenue, he will be slinging a football in the NFL. I think it's fair to say that over 50% of the players in the NFL have ink, so what's the problem? Jerry should have been more worried about the laptops in the Panthers front office than how Cam was dressed or looked. (OK, cheap shot) Maybe that's why his Panthers stink so much and they only won two games last year.

Counter argument: "Field it's the man's team, football is a billion dollar industry, the man wants to make sure he is investing his money wisely on the number one pick in the draft. Doesn't your employer have the right to tell you how to dress and carry yourself in the work place? Besides, the team is in the bible belt, the owner has to careful not to alienate his fan base."

Well yes, it's his team and the best way to keep his fan base happy is to win.
I wear suits to work every day because I work in court rooms, Cam Newton wears a football uniform because he works on a football field. Big difference.

The best way for Jerry Richardson to invest his money wisely is to pick the best player available that can help his sorry team win. How Cam Newton looks or chooses to carry himself won't help the Carolina Panthers win one single game.

Ask all those folks from the Main Line who used to come and sit court side to watch AI break off fools if they cared about all his tats and his cornrows. They didn't. They wanted to be entertained and see the Sixers win games.

"Did you get crazy after the draft and go out and get any tattoos or piercings? Do I have to check you for anything?"

"No sir,"

I am a good slave worker.




  

Bombing Libya into Capitalist Opportunities

If you are sitting at home thinking that NATO is fighting for human rights in Libya you need to check your assumptions.

Even as I write this there is an intense scramble by the West and its capitalists to 'rebuild' Libya.  The US is seeking to release $1.5 billion of frozen Libyan capital to get the ball rolling (of course under the guise of "humanitarian aid").

As of this writing, the South African government is blocking the release saying it is too early to release this money.

Mmmm ... a little too late on the matter of principle is my thinking.  South Africa had no business declaring war on Libya in the first place.

Naomi Klein wrote an influential book called The Shock Doctrine in which she documents the madness of disaster capitalism and the manner that the US, in particular, uses natural and man-made disasters for capitalist profit (its own).

The West is in decline and it needs to sell and save its economies.  Nowhere is this truth more apparent than in the US.

War is a capitalist tool in these terms.  Libya is the world's 12th largest oil producer and it offers infinite opportunities for Western interests to capitalize by spinning its post-bombing development agenda.

And what of all the noise about freeing the 'oppressed' and democratizing in Libya?

You should know by now.

See The Independent's "Dash for profit in post-war Libya carve-up" (August 24) for an early discussion of the rush to re-build what has just been bombed into development opportunities for the US, Britain, Canada, France, and even Germany who abstained from voting on Resolution 1973.

And we are not free.

Onward!

Update (August 26): True to its usual sell-out form the South African government has caved under pressure from the US and Britain and given its consent to release the $1.5 to the National Transitional Council (NTC).

To try and save a little face the ANC-led government insists that the release is not a "formal" recognition of the NTC.

Whatever.

As if Zuma and company really can stop the drift to installing a constructed government in Tripoli.  Already members of the TNC are being recognized as ambassadors in the West.

And we voted these idiots into office in the name of freedom.  South Africa is fast becoming (become) just another stooge of the West.

Onward!

Why Are Dalits Not Enthusiastic About Anna’s Movement?

Bhanwar Megwanshi
Countercurrents.org

August 24, 2011.

Dalit, Adivasi and religious minorities are curious to know why Anna Hazare and his followers did not care to go on a fast when heinous atrocities were committed against their people. Why not when Dalits were brutally massacred in Hazare’s own state of Maharashtra, in the remote village of Kharilanji, which set off mass protests by Dalits across Maharashtra and beyond? Why not when, under the guise of Salwa Judum, the government was seeking to crush Adivasis protesting against oppression by branding them as Naxalites? Might this indicate that Anna and his team have no interest at all in the injustice and oppression that millions of Dalits, Adivasis and religious minorities have to suffer on a daily basis? By praising Narendra Modi, who permitted the brutal murder of several thousand innocent Muslims, Anna has clearly shown that communalism and fascism, too, are not issues that he is interested in struggling against. Anna did not sit on a fast to protest against the suicides of tens of thousands of impoverished peasants in his own Maharashtra. Given all this, is it surprising that Dalits, Adivasis and religious minorities are, by and large, simply not interested in joining his movement?

The oppressed castes are wary of Anna’s team and its demands for another reason. The Lokpal that Anna’s team is demanding will be so powerful that it will possess all sorts of powers—to hear complaints, to investigate allegations, to arrest, to tap phones, to snoop in on emails and SMSes and even to impose punishments. This enormously powerful body will be even superior to the country’s Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. The Constitution speaks of the separation of powers of these three wings of governance, but the Lokpal that Anna’s team is demanding would clearly subvert this structure by imposing itself, in an Unconstitutional manner, over and above the three wings. While from a village-level patwari to the Prime Minister, everyone would be answerable to the Lokpal, the Lokpal itself would be answerable to no one at all. This clearly indicates that under the guise of Anna’s ‘anti-corruption movement’, an uncontrollable mob is seeking to set aside the Constitution of this country and Constitutional provisions and do away with democracy.

Babasaheb Ambedkar (Dalit leader) was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, and so Dalits have an emotional attachment to the Constitution. If a movement sets itself above the Constitution and challenges democracy, a key pillar of the Constitution, Dalits will refuse to support it. That is why Dalits and other oppressed caste groups remain indifferent to Anna Hazare’s movement. And, because of this, the movement, despite claiming to speak for the whole of India, is nothing of the sort. Rather, it may be considered the voice of just a section of the English-speaking middle-class Savarna Hindu minority.

Read the entire article here.

Surah Al-Hajj

"To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), 

because they are wronged;-and verily, Allah is most 

powerful for their aid." (22:39)

Reading the Qur'an in a mosque at Umdowan Ban 

village outside Khartoum. 

Onward!
 

Picture Credit

The day after the earthquake, and Killadelphia is still here.

Well, it's a day after the earthquake, and the [right] wingnuts have already started blaming Obama. Apparently they thought that if he wasn't out golfing he might have been able to stop it. An earthquake! They thought he should have done something to stop it. Or, he should have been more engaged, and maybe, just maybe, it would not have happened. Okaaayyy.

Words are not needed for certain things.

Meanwhile, back here on earth.

 “We're going to catch the little bastard, and he's going to do some serious time,”

That's Philly's HNIC on the recent shooting at a city rec. center where six people were shot. That's harsh language from Mayor Nutter, but the guy is obviously frustrated. I can't say I blame him. As a kid, he used to play in that playground, and the young punks doing the shooting look just like he does. Probably grew up in the same environment, and with the same social structure. Yet, he went on to get an Ivy League education from one of the nation's finest business schools (Wharton), and became the mayor of A-merry-ca's fifth largest city. If he can do it, why can't the little thug doing the shooting? To Nutter this is all personal. They are destroying the image of his city, and he is not a happy camper.

Nutter is so pissed, that he is digging into the city's crime reward fund and offering up 20,000.00 to anyone who will snitch on the shooter. (I wish I knew the SOB. His ass would be in jail faster than the bullets that came out of his .40- caliber gat. But that's just me. I don't live in that neighborhood, so I don't have to worry about someone firebombing my family once I cash my reward check. But I digress) Nutter had more to say:

"'We need the community's help and support. Someone knows who it is. We want that information today. We want that person in custody today. Then he can stand up as the coward he is and pay the price for the crime committed,' ....Given the 'incredible nature of the crime,' Nutter said he decided to dip into a $500,000 crime reward fund created by City Council earlier this year.
'We will not tolerate this kind of insane, asinine, idiotic behavior at any of our facilities,....They are safe havens . . . they are off-limits to this kind of heinous behavior. We will not stand for it.'..Of the gunman, Nutter said: 'We're going to find your little butt and lock you up."' [Source]

That's if someone doesn't split his wig first Mr. Mayor.

“This guy walked up and started shooting,” said Bill Evans, 54, a lifelong neighborhood resident who was among the spectators at Kingsessing Recreation Center. “I don’t think he meant to [kill] anybody because he was aiming low, at peoples’ legs.” HUH?!! Bill, what did you say? He didn't mean to kill anybody? WTF? He was shooting into a crowd of people! I don't care where he aimed his weapon. See, this is what's wrong with some of you Negroes...let me stop, that's for another post. *shaking head*

"All are in stable condition but one man, 19, who is critical but stable after being shot in the stomach. “Kids today are armed to the teeth,” Evans said. “I saw guys all around me pulling out guns of their own to protect themselves, that’s how bad it is.” [Source]

Like I said Mr. Mayor, that reward probably won't be necessary. You might want to give that money to his mama for his funeral.





      

Is Anna Hazare a Corporate and/or Government Stooge?

We have NDTV here in South Africa, well via satellite.  Sometimes I sit watching it to remind myself of my year in Delhi.

Not much has changed on NDTV.  The busy screen with constant "breaking news" scrolling below everything even advertisements.

The other thing about NDTV that annoys the hell out of me is the Anglo-Indian lifestyle it promotes.  All kinds of capitalized light-skin and light-eyed Indians of the corporate kind sell this and that as if there is one prototype of Indian.

This is not unique to India.  This meaning the Anglo-ization of its broadcasts and public life.  In Mexico, for example, I looked to find brown skin faces reading the news or as continuity announcers.  There were none in the times I watched.

Given that NDTV hardly represents all India why is it that it sees anti-corruption Anna Hazare as "all India"?

How has this man captured the "national imagination" as the talking heads on NDTV say all the time?

An email from India today led me to read Arundhati Roy's deconstruction of Anna Hazare and it connected with and article by Vidya Bhushan Rawat yesterday that questioned Anna's silence on "untouchability" issues.

Rawat writes in part:

India at the moment is at the cross roads. Anna Hazare and his team have presented a Janlokpal bill which according to them will wipe out corruption from India. They feel that corruption is the root cause of all our evils. Now, one does not know whether they consider the caste system, untouchability, dowry as corruption or not. We do not know whether billions of rupees of cash, Gold and other treasure in our religious institutions are corruption free or meant for something else.

Anna seems to have caught the fancy of India’s upper caste upper elite and middle classes. Right from the film stars to our business tycoons every one is taking oath to fight against corruption. The local businessmen, dibbawallahs, auto-drivers, taxi unions, doctors and government servants also seem to agree with Anna and want that corruption should be ended. The Prime Minister of India also want the corruption should go. Advani and Gadkari want to hang the corrupt except Yadurappa. Anna wants to hang them but do not have the courage to ask the same treatment for Ramdev and Ravishankar or any other religious guru or corporate leader if they are found guilty. He also wants to keep safe the ‘civil society’ from any charges of corruption.

This seems to be well planned exercise with solid backing from India’s corporate. Now, it is coming to lime light and sources are alleging that the Tatas and Anil Ambani group may be behind the campaign.

Roy's critique of Anna is very similar to Rawat's.  She asks who Anna Hazare (not his real name by the way) is and why is he so supported by Indian and international capitalist interests:

‘The People' only means the audience that has gathered to watch the spectacle of a 74-year-old man threatening to starve himself to death if his Jan Lokpal Bill is not tabled and passed by Parliament. ‘The People' are the tens of thousands who have been miraculously multiplied into millions by our TV channels, like Christ multiplied the fishes and loaves to feed the hungry. “A billion voices have spoken,” we're told. “India is Anna.”

Who is he really, this new saint, this Voice of the People? Oddly enough we've heard him say nothing about things of urgent concern. Nothing about the farmer's suicides in his neighbourhood, or about Operation Green Hunt further away. Nothing about Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, nothing about Posco, about farmer's agitations or the blight of SEZs. He doesn't seem to have a view about the Government's plans to deploy the Indian Army in the forests of Central India.

He does however support Raj Thackeray's Marathi Manoos xenophobia and has praised the ‘development model' of Gujarat's Chief Minister who oversaw the 2002 pogrom against Muslims. (Anna withdrew that statement after a public outcry, but presumably not his admiration.)

Despite the din, sober journalists have gone about doing what journalists do. We now have the back-story about Anna's old relationship with the RSS. We have heard from Mukul Sharma who has studied Anna's village community in Ralegan Siddhi, where there have been no Gram Panchayat or Co-operative society elections in the last 25 years. We know about Anna's attitude to ‘harijans': “It was Mahatma Gandhi's vision that every village should have one chamar, one sunar, one kumhar and so on. They should all do their work according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will be self-dependant. This is what we are practicing in Ralegan Siddhi.” Is it surprising that members of Team Anna have also been associated with Youth for Equality, the anti-reservation (pro-“merit”) movement? The campaign is being handled by people who run a clutch of generously funded NGOs whose donors include Coca-Cola and the Lehman Brothers. Kabir, run by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, key figures in Team Anna, has received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation in the last three years. Among contributors to the India Against Corruption campaign there are Indian companies and foundations that own aluminum plants, build ports and SEZs, and run Real Estate businesses and are closely connected to politicians who run financial empires that run into thousands of crores of rupees. Some of them are currently being investigated for corruption and other crimes. Why are they all so enthusiastic?

Roy is skeptical that Anna represents a revolution of any kind.  His vision is supported because it speaks to corporate interests to finger the state and press on with the further privatization of the Indian state. 

Nyla Ali Khan is more strident in his criticism of Anna than Rawat and Roy.  In a short article he asks why Anna is only willing to negotiate with political elites in India as if they represent all India (and as if India is one national byproduct of its nationalism:

Much as I admire the determination and perseverance of 74 year old Anna Hazare to go the whole hog by undertaking an “indefinite” fast, I cannot help wondering at his politics. Are Anna and his team validating the culture of the Congress by asserting that the only two personages Anna is willing to negotiate with are Prime Minister Singh and Rahul Gandhi? Last I heard, Rahul Gandhi was the scion of the Gandhi dynasty and the General Secretary of the Congress. When did his position or credibility supersede that of the Union Minister for Home Affairs of the Republic of India? All I can say is that Chidambaram is in for a tough fight. I just recalled that another personage Anna considers worth his while to talk with is the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chauhan. Perhaps the ethnic, regional, and linguistic commonalities between Chauhan and Anna would facilitate the mammoth task of speaking for a gigantic nuclear power, India. Also, is Anna, in the frenzy of his crusade, forgetting that India is a country riven by caste, class, regional and political divides? The diversity of this country cannot thrive on facile attempts to create the homogeneous category of “Indian.” Nor can it thrive on dubious attempts to gloss over xenophobic provincialism or a highly culpable state-sponsored marginalization of a minority community. The increasing communalization of Indian politics is a juggernaut that annihilates the myth of secularism in India.

Rawar, Roy, and Khan represent alternate voices on the Anna Hazare juggernaut.  I am naturally disinclined to be swayed by national products (nationalists) who see to reassert the "commonsense" of the state.

I learned a lot of things in India and hope to go back soon (without the Guru) and travel some more.  The one thing that stood out for me in my time in India is that there is no one India.  Indian nationalism is a fiction or rather a myth-making ideological posture.

Nowhere else was this point more salient than in Kashmir which for all intents and purposes is occupied by India.

When I think about the many folks I met in Kashmir who abhor their occupation it makes me wonder why Anna has not raised his voice to support the independence of Kashmir.

Roy has.  And she has thrown her considerable international celebrity behind poor communities who remain mostly invisible in mainstream elite Indian politics.

For this reason I am more inclined to be listening to her than Anna Hazare.

Thoughts?

Onward!

"All Shook Up."

"You better get your behind to church this weekend!" That was a co-worker yelling at the field as she ran down the stairs and away from her shaking office. She was just two steps ahead of me, because my black ass was running as well.

I don't do earthquakes very well. Give me thirty inches of snow, and a category two hurricane, but keep your damn earthquake. They are too sneaky, too unpredictable, and we don't know enough about them. (Kind of like tea party republicans.) One of the joys of living on the East Coast is that we don't have to deal with this particular type of natural disaster. The South has their hurricanes, The Midwest their tornadoes, and The West Coast has their earthquakes. Here on the East Coast we have enough to worry about with man made s*&^, so the good lord, in her infinite wisdom, didn't give us any natural disasters to worry about. That is, of course, until today. (Is it something we said?)

Shaking buildings is not a good look for Center City, Philadelphia. Mrs. Field, bless her soul, stayed home today, so she didn't have to endure the rocking of that high rise monstrosity she works in known as an office building.

So we are all milling about outside,--- sadly oblivious to the fact that if the buildings started shaking again and eventually start falling down, they would fall right on top of us--- And we are telling each other war stories and recounting where we were when the shaking started. Everyone is laughing about it now, but it could have been so much different.

I was laughing as well. On the outside. Inside I was thinking, WTF? This ride that we are on is kind of shaky. At any moment the wheels could come off. I mean if the natural disasters don't get us the aliens will. I know that we all have to check out at some point, but I personally would love to ride it out until the engine can't go anymore. To stay with my car analogy: I don't want to be driving down the highway and get broadsided by a Mack truck. That earthquake today could have been a damn Mack truck. 

Yep, I think I am going to start working on the last part of my "bucket list" just a little bit sooner.

Finally, enough about earthquakes. Let's talk about my favorite subject: Wingnuts.

"No, I don't ... He's a very bright man. But think about his life. And think about what he was exposed to and what he saw in America. He's only relating what his experience in life was ... His intent isn't to destroy. It's to create dependency because it worked so well for him. I don't say that critically. Look at people for what they are. Don't assume ulterior motives. I don't think he doesn't love our country. I think he does." [Source]

That was republican senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, explaining how he feels about his O ness.

You see folks, it's like this; if you are a black man in A-merry-ca, dependency is what you rely on because it works for you. Forget the fact that this particular black man went to Ivy League schools and studied law at one of A-merry-ca's finer institutions. He is a black man, so the hard work to do these things doesn't fit into the narrative of some people.

Personally, I thought that wingnuts would embrace the hard work that Obama put in to get where he is. But I guess I was wrong.

Sadly, it looks like no matter how hard you Negroes work or how successful you become, (You can't get more successful than the president of these divided states) you will still be looked upon by the wingnut as someone who "dependency worked so well" for.  

I swear, you just can't win with the wingnut.  



     

Why Persecute the Poor for Being Poor?

CommonDreams.org

Yolanda Pierce

August 19, 2011.

Raquel Nelson's conviction for causing her own child's death by jaywalking shows America's indifference to the cost of poverty

I love to cook and was delighted when a friend requested a pan of my favourite dish. In search of my "secret ingredient", I rode to the grocery store in the air-conditioned comfort of my car, focused on my task, with not a thought that it is a luxury to have several grocery stories in my vicinity, a working vehicle that can take me to those stores, and the disposable income to spend on life's basic needs and a few wants. Like most middle-class Americans, a trip to the grocery story is an errand one takes for granted. However, it is a story, like that of Raquel Nelson, which humbles me and deeply troubles my soul, reminding me that poverty in the United States means a special brand of persecution. Instead of waging a war on poverty, we are waging a war on poor people.

Nelson was convicted of vehicular homicide in her own child's death, although she does not own a car. Her conviction carries more time in jail than the person who actually hit and killed her four-year-old son. Nelson, who had taken two buses to Wal-Mart to shop for groceries, attempted to cross the street with her three children at the bus stop, located on the opposite side of a highway from her home. The bus stop is on a busy Atlanta road, a five-lane highway with no marked crossings, and the housing complex where she lived required crossing this dangerous intersection.

The driver of the vehicle, who admitted to being under the influence of alcohol and pain medication, and who is partially blind in one eye, pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run charge. He has already served his six-month sentence, despite this being his third hit-and-run conviction. The mother, Nelson, whose son was killed at the tender age of four, has been convicted of vehicular homicide for "crossing the street other than at a crosswalk" and "reckless conduct", a crime for which there is a three-year prison sentence.

I keep trying to understand this conviction and the crime that the jury believes she committed. How is one guilty of vehicular manslaughter without a vehicle? Why does the grieving victim face a stiffer penalty than the convicted driver? Why are there no safe crossings in front of a residential complex? Why were the complaints about traffic from other tenants of these apartments ignored? Why not lower the speed limit in this residential neighbourhood? Why design a city and a transportation system hostile to those who need it the most? Why persecute the poor for simply being poor?

Read the rest here.

Comment: This is a tragic story of racism first before it is even about class.  I doubt very much whether a white mother, even a poor one, would have received the same sentence.

The literature is full of studies that show sentence disparities that punish black and brown folk.  Why you think black and brown folks make up the largest sector of those behind bars?

And if you thinking it is because black and brown folks commit more crimes than whites you are seriously deluded.

Onward!

Sorry

Credit

what's the matter with your life

did someone come and shoot your wife

just as you planned

will you live or will you die

are you that butterfly

that never lands

set aside these vacant rules

break them now and don't get fooled again

sorry

how many times must i say

life is not a cake to separate

what do i have to do

to save you 

from worry

cut off my nose

 to spite my face

time is an arrow 

you are the bow

shoot it now to seal your own fate
get a life, get a love, get a new big idea

and set aside

these 

stinking 

rules

pS: मैं सच में आशा है कि आप हिंदी को पढें. कृपया मेरी माफी स्वीकार.

My bad.

...sorry S...

Onward!

South African Wine Industry Rooted in Human Misery, Says Report

David Smith
The Guardian (UK)

Unsuitable housing, pesticide dangers and barriers to union membership catalogued by Human Rights Watch monitors.

There is no question of its flair for producing a world-class chenin blanc, cabernet sauvignon or pinotage at an affordable price. But the provenance of South Africa's wines is altogether less savoury, an investigation by human rights monitors has revealed.

Workers on the country's wine and fruit farms lead "dismal, dangerous lives," according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which found on-site housing unfit for habitation, exposure to pesticides without proper safety equipment, lack of access to toilets or drinking water while working and barriers to union representation.

Farm workers contribute millions to South Africa's economy, with products that are sold in Tesco and other British supermarkets, yet they are among the lowest wage earners in the country, the group's report says.

Daniel Bekele, HRW's Africa director, said: "The wealth and wellbeing these workers produce should not be rooted in human misery. The government and the industries and farmers themselves need to do a lot more to protect people who live and work on farms."

South Africa is the world's seventh-biggest wine producer, filling the equivalent of more than 1.2bn bottles a year. The industry, concentrated in Western Cape province, contributes 26.2bn rand (£2.2bn) to the regional economy, according to a 2009 study. Tourists from around the world enjoy tastings, cellar tours and weddings at vineyards amid glorious scenery between well-heeled towns such as Franschhoek and Stellenbosch.

South Africa has laws guaranteeing wages, benefits and safe working and housing for workers and other farm dwellers. But the government has largely failed to monitor conditions and enforce the law, HRW says.

Its 96-page report, Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa's Fruit and Wine Industries, alleges: "Despite their critical role in the success of the country's valuable fruit, wine, and tourism industries, farm workers benefit very little, in large part because they are subject to exploitative conditions and human rights abuses without sufficient protection of their rights."

Read the rest here.

It has served them well.

"For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South.” ~ Michael Steele~

I am not an educator, and I do not have a degree in history. But every now and then when I post I feel that I have to give my friends in A-merry-ca a history lesson. Why? Because some folks just never seem to learn. Or, it's just really convenient for them to forget. I was inspired to give tonight's lecture because of the following tidbit from an oped by a wingnut named Billy Hallowell writing for some website called The Blaze.

"..Then, last night, Chris Matthews made a startling association — that Rick Perry is like “Bull Connor with a smile.”

For those who don’t know, Connor was a Democrat and the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights era. He infamously directed the use of fire hoses and attack dogs against peaceful, African American protestors — extreme brutality that was rooted in sheer racism.
This bizarre statement came after Matthews’ guest, Wayne Slater of The Dallas Morning News, reacted to Perry’s criticisms of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Slater explained that entitlements are only the beginning in the push for “states rights.” According to The Daily Caller, he said:

“The question is the attack on Perry is ‘Social Security is a Ponzi scheme,’ ‘Medicare needs to be changed or potentially abolished,’ which is not precisely what he said. Raising questions about the Voting Rights Act saying it is just a tool for gerrymandering in the South and the Civil Rights Act — the terms under which we’ve established — this has the look of someone who when he talks about states’ rights, states’ rights, states’ rights could make some voters, again — very nervous.” [Source] 

OK, let's try this again for the...oh, I don't know...millionth time.

Yes, Bull Conner and others like him were dumbocrats. In fact, most of your white southern racist during the Jim Crow era were dumbocrats. That fact is undisputed. What is also undisputed is that most (if not all)of those racist southern whites, fled the dumbocratic party in droves and became....wait for it wait for it..... REPUBLICANS! And this was done, thanks in part, to a wonderfully crafted political ploy called "The Southern Strategy." It was where white politicians exploited the racism felt towards blacks by fellow whites to vote against the political party which had now become the party of African Americans.

"From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats."^]


That was Richard Nixon's version of David Axelrod giving us a little insight into the strategy that now works so well for the "party of Lincoln."

Of course it all started before that, when Southern dumbocrats like Richard Russell and Herman Talmadge boycotted the 1964 party convention in Atlantic City. All because Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Many of the southern delegates at that time refused to support the national ticket because of Johnson's actions. Throw in our boy, Barry Goldwater, --who joined the southern dumbocrats to filibuster the Act-- and the rest, as they say, is history.

That is your republican party today, the one that ran away from all things civil rights and never looked back. So no matter how much you hear wingnuts try to revise and revisit history, just remember who they were back then and why they switched. It's why every time ninety percent of the time you see something like this, and like this, taking place on the national landscape; it involves a republican.

“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.” ~ reublican strategist, Lee Atwater~

Some things never change.