Hoodwinked and bamboozled -- yet again Part 1 the ubiquitous thirst for "firsts" is just plain insanity!

I said I wasn't going to watch this shit but, I had to -- if I wanted to critique it.

The unquenchable thirst for a "first this," or "first that" doesn't always denote the accomplishment of some, one-of a kind superhuman feat -- it's merely power's permission to let one play too, and usually for their benefit.  Such is the scam known as the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination -- Exhibit A ("The Donald's" wedding):

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/345560-clintons-attend-same-wedding-as-trump-daughter

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/07/tiffany-trump-parties-with-hillary-and-bill-clinton-jennifer-lopez-and-alex-rodriguez-at-hedge-fund-heiress-wedding/

"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." (emphasis mine)

Frederick Douglass, 1857

I'm sure those who "felt the Bern" thought they'd made a demand (and in some ways they did!).  The problem though, was they weren't paying attention to the machinations of  "power" which counted on the people's desire for yet another "first."  So -- here we go again!

I had a conversation about Bernie with my alabaster brother, Alex in Key West last year and he was definitely "feelin' the Bern," particularly once Trump proved to be a legitimate GOP candidate!  In support of my argument that this was all a scam to get Killary Hillary elected being perpetrated on the American people by the powers that be, I shared this piece, written by Bruce Dixon on  May 6, 2015 over at Black Agenda Report:  Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders: Sheepdogging for Hillary and the Democrats in 2016

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass

46:14 -- 46:24 click
49:49 -- 51:50 click



Before Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm

Bernie Sanders’s New Political Group Is Met by Staff Revolt -8/24

Freedom Rider: The Clinton and Powell War Criminal Charade - 8/23

Colin Powell Says Hillary Clinton's 'People Have Been Trying to Pin' Email Scandal on Him - 8/21

Related:
- Young students in Haiti get a new school thanks to Seahawks' Cliff Avril
- Freedom Rider: Liberal Hate for Stein and Baraka
- What Do We Do Now That the DNC Rigged & Stole the Primary
- Say Her Name
- All Hail the Queen of Exceptionalistan
- Sanders Signals He'll Work With Clinton to Beat Trump
- Elizabeth Warren to Endorse Hillary Clinton
- The Presidential Election is Over -- Was Trump Ever Truly a Threat?
- Sanders Prepares to Bow Down to Hillary, But Many of His Supporters Won’t

Ruminations -- from the ridiculous to the sublime

First, a bit of the ridiculous (there was plenty more, just not enough space!):

I'd intended to post the entire, C-Span video of Hillary finally testifying on Benghazi (four months after she was supposed to), but after watching it myself, I thought it best to neither inundate, nor insult you with that pack of pat-myself-on-the-back, regime-changing, crocodile tear-filled, imperialist lies.  If you've got a couple hours to waste however, just go to the link.

Her mysteriously unwitnessed, after-the-fact reported, yet timely fainting from dehydration -- right before she was due to testify -- remains suspect in my estimation. Sure, since many of us "old gray mares" ain't what we used to be (present company included!) -- it could have happened.  I simply don't believe it did. Too convenient.

After the Changeling shoved Susan Rice under the bus into the spotlight, with that bullshit, "anti-Muslim video" causing the attack on the consulate in "Benghazi" story (Benghazi in quotes here because there was certainly nothing ambassadorial going on there, particularly since the embassy is in Tripoli), they realized they'd wholly underestimated the nitwit Republicans and had to do an, I'm sure, Bill-Hill-Changeling scramble for a better cover story of this administration's colossal screw-up in which those four people died -- particularly since, On the day of his death, US ambassador to Libya warned that he was in danger:

Hours before US Ambassador Christopher Stevens died in a terrorist attack in Libya, he sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a cable warning that local militias were threatening to take away security officers guarding the US diplomats. (emphasis mine)

You can read the cable, embedded as "the memo," in this piece on the very telling testimony of the "Four Goats Stooges" (three of whom, were put on administrative leave, but are still on the State Dept. payroll and the fourth, basically shifting to another desk):  Benghazi attack testimony claims state department ignored warnings.

This particular exchange just chapped my ass:

With all due respect the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because there was a protest or was it because there were guys who went out for a walk one night who decided they would kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?! (emphasis hers)

With absolutely NO respect intended Hill -- the difference it makes, is that YOU, and pretty much, the rest of the Changeling's administration are bald-faced LIARS in the service of neocolonialism -- and rather callously, inept ones at that!  But we already know, none of you mind having other people's blood on your hands.  Real "Change We Can Believe In." {smdh}

~#~

Gen. Stanley McChrystal: Afghans Are Like Teenagers, We Have 'Emotional Responsibility' to Continue Occupation -- McChrystal: 'I would certainly like to see American businesses in Afghanistan'

"Like a teenager, you really don’t want your parents hanging around you, but ... you like to know if things go bad, they’re going to help," he said.

"We have an emotional responsibility" to leave US occupying forces in Afghanistan, he told AP... As for drones, their real problem, he told Reuters on Monday, is not civilian casualties but one of perceptions.

"What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world," he said.

They foster a "perception of American arrogance that says, 'Well we can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.'"

Really??  Can somebody tell him, the Afghan people are neither his, nor America's damned children! They are a people whose history has endured way longer than this nascent, upstart nation has even been in existence! And rather than all the murders visited upon the people by BeelzObama's drone strikes -- all he's concerned about, is how arrogantly America is perceived in the world?  Too late for that Stanley. And this is what he'll be teaching your privileged little darlings at Yale. {smmfh} Again, real "Change We Can Believe In."

This fool, is the poster-child for Rudyard Kipling's, "White Man's Burden" -- a snippet of which, was quoted in the comments section of the McChrystal piece (you can read it in its entirety at the link, because I'm not posting it here.  Hell, we already get more than enough of this foolishness from the living imperialists with whom we have to deal on the regular!).

There were many replies to Kipling's, written White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy from both Black and white folk, but the commenter's snippet sent me looking for Virgin Island-born, Black Nationalist, Hubert Harrison's, phenomenally poetic reply -- and I found it:


THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN (A REPLY TO RUDYARD KIPLING)
Hubert Harrison - from “When Africa Awakes” (New York, 1920)

Take up the Black Man’s burden--

Send forth the worst ye breed,

And bind our sons in shackles

To serve your selfish greed;

To wait in heavy harness

Be-devilled and beguiled

Until the Fates remove you

From a world you have defiled.


Take up the black Man’s burden---

Your lies may still abide

To veil the threat of terror

And check our racial pride;

Your cannon, church and courthouse

May still our sons constrain

To seek the white man’s profit

And work the white man’s gain.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Reach out and hog the earth,

And leave your workers hungry

In the country of their birth;

Then, when your goal is nearest,

The end for which you fought

Watch other’s trained efficiency

Bring all your hope to naught.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Reduce their chiefs and kings

To toil of serf and sweeper

The lot of common things:

Sodden their soil with slaughter,

Ravish their lands with lead;

Go, sign them with your living

And seal them with your dead.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

And reap your old reward;

The curse of those ye cozen,

The hate of those ye barred

From your Canadian cities

And your Australian ports;

And when they ask for meat and drink

Go, girdle them with forts.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Ye cannot stoop to less.

Will not your fraud of "freedom"

Still cloak your greediness?

But, by the gods ye worship,

And by the deeds ye do,

These silent, sullen peoples

Shall weigh your gods and you.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Until the tale is told,

Until the balances of hate

Bear down the beam of gold.

And while ye wait remember

The justice, though delayed

Will hold you as her debtor

Till the Black Man’s debt is paid.


Today's Black mis-leadership class, top to bottom, pales in comparison to men like this!

~##~

And now, a little bit of "19 year-old" sublime:



Nineteen years-old -- 19!!  Led by the courage of her convictions, she, unlike most of our old asses, has not swallowed her tongue on this country's warmongering!

~#~

This story from Your Black World, about another 19 year-old with the courage of her convictions makes my heart full:  19-Yr Old American Gives Serena Williams Her First Loss in Months. Now don't get it twisted -- it in no way surprises me. Rather, it's just another example (and more confirmation) of that, which I already know we are capable!

Stephens said that she looked up to Williams and went straight to her phone to check for a text message from her grandmother.

...Stephens said that she had a picture of Williams up on her wall when she was a little girl. She was in tears after her big performance.

“This is so crazy. Oh my goodness,” she said. “I think I’ll put a poster of myself (up) now.”

Williams mentioned that she was having back problems, but didn’t consider that to be her excuse for not winning.

“Everyone at this stage in the locker room has something wrong with them. It’s no excuse,” she said. (emphasis mine)

Two young, extremely talented Black women squared off and, IMHO, they both "won" -- one with a healthy dose of respect and confidence, and the other -- with grace.

Related:
- Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 (Google Books has a great excerpt!)
-US Regime Change: “We initiate Terrorism to create Terrorists to Overthrow Governments”

“Non-member observer state” -- Palestine inches toward self-determination and human dignity

The fact that I'm not a particularly trusting soul (especially given the top, two "No" votes of the nine) and, that symbolism without substance means absolutely nothing to me -- I gotta say this is going to take some careful, mulling over:



Quicker than you could spit, one of Israel's favorite, lap-dogs had her two cents ready -- Clinton blasts 'unfortunate and counterproductive' U.N. Palestinian resolution:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted the United Nations General Assembly Thursday for voting to recognize Palestine as a nonmember state.

"I want to say a few words about the unfortunate and counterproductive resolution at the United Nations General Assembly," Clinton said at an event hosted by Foreign Policy magazine in Washington D.C...."it places further obstacles in the path of peace," Clinton said.

"We have been clear that only through direct negotiations between the parties can the Palestinians and the Israelis achieve the peace that they deserve," Clinton said. (emphasis mine)

Then came Susan Rice, with her, "Ditto" to Hilary's bullshit:



(Anybody else hearing strains of James and Bobby Purify's, "I'm Your Puppet?)

Seeking self-determination is a distraction?  This, from a Black woman, whose "people" (in quotes, because I'm not sure that's how either, she, or her boss see themselves) -- have been fighting for self-determination, ever since, they were brought to these, alleged united states?

Let's be clear -- from Durban, to Benghazi, to Palestine -- the string-pullers have trained both her, and the Changeling extremely well.  Rather than loyalty to any folk who look like them, their steps are undoubtedly ordered by their greed, self-loathing and megalomania (in no particular order).  I find absolutely nothing about either, of which I should be remotely proud.

I began this post on the night of the vote.  For some reason, I did not/could not finish it.  Then, lo and behold within three days, it turned out my suspicions about both of those top, two "No" votes were confirmed when I read this, US Pledges More Funds for Israeli Missile Defense and this -- Israel seizes $120m in Palestinian tax revenue over UN statehood vote:

Israel has seized more than $120m (£75m)in tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in response to last week's overwhelming vote at the UN general assembly to recognise the state of Palestine...

...The financial sanction is Israel's second punitive response to the vote. On Friday, it announced a big settlement expansion programme.

An Israeli official said Israel was entitled to deduct the sum from a debt of more than $200m (£125m) owed by the PA to the Israel Electric Corporation. But he conceded that the move was in response to the UN vote, and that it could be repeated next month. "A lot depends on what the Palestinians do or don't do," he said.

But, call it "God," "Allah," "Jehovah," or my, crisis-of-faith preferred,"Spirit" -- take your pick.  All I know is, I'm eternally grateful that the powers-that-be were stopped (this time), from further linking their greed and brutal inhumanity, especially in Africa -- to a damned  Black face by this:  Susan Rice withdraws for secretary of state.

Her current withdrawal saves me the long, drawn-out pondering as to why in the hell, Black folk supported her for the position in the first, damned place.  The CBC in general and the still-voteless-in-DC, Eleanor Holmes-Norton in particular, certainly ought to be ashamed for this exercise in symbolism madness. {smdh}

Related:
- Israel’s Apartheid Deepens, Along With Its Global Isolation
- Freedom Rider: Susan Rice and American Evil
- Beyond Benghazi: Partisan Rift over Susan Rice Ignores Hawkish Record on War, Africa and Keystone XL
- The revealingly substance-free fight over Susan Rice
- Black Women’s Group Seeks to Support Susan Rice for Secretary of State

Still deeply mired in "Ruminations"...

As Michelle Alexander wrote in "The New Jim Crow," convict-leasing is still very much alive and well - and enriching the Prison Industrial Complex under the guise of being beneficial not only to inmates, but to surrounding communities in particular and the country in general - Georgia may use prisoners to fill farm labor gap:

State officials have set their sights on another potential pool of workers to help bridge Georgia’s severe farm labor gap: prisoners.

The idea is to put nonviolent inmates -- who are spending the end of their prison terms at one of the state’s 13 transitional centers -- to work picking fruits and vegetables across Georgia.

This is at least the state’s second attempt to tackle the labor shortages since enacting a tough new immigration law many farmers blame for their problems. State officials started experimenting last summer by encouraging criminal probationers to work on the farms, but results are mixed...

...Offenders are referred to the state’s transitional centers by prison officials and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles based on their criminal records and behavior in prison. Wages they earn on work release are sent to the centers. Portions are applied to room and board, fines, fees, restitution and child support. The rest is held for them until they are released. More than 2,700 inmates are in the transitional centers now.

This is nothing more than a damned chain gang - absent those pesky chains:

By 1955, chain gangs were eliminated throughout the United States. Georgia was the last state to abandon chain gangs in that year. However, the termination of chain gangs proved to be temporary.

Apparently, Georgia's waxing nostalgic.

I remember, both chain gangs and migrant workers (my grandmother called them "Flayida people") being used growing up in South Carolina (and I was born in 1956! -  so the termination of their use was very temporary!).   I'm 55 damned years old and both are still going on in the south (in the agricultural areas of South Florida - today - Haitians get to do the pickin') . {SMDH}

And now, some continued WTFery from the "usual suspects" in the Middle East - UNESCO clears way for Palestine seat vote:

Palestine has won a first diplomatic victory in its quest for statehood when the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO] executive committee backed its bid to become a member of the cultural body with the rights of a state.

Palestine's Arab allies braved intense US and French diplomatic pressure to bring the motion before the committee's member states, which passed it by 40 votes in favour to four - the US, Germany, Romania and Latvia – against it, with 14 abstentions...

...The move was swiftly criticised by the US and Israel. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said UNESCO should "think again" about voting on Palestinian admission...(no surprise there)

..."I found quite confusing and somehow inexplicable that you would have organs of the United Nations making decisions about statehood or statehood status while the issue has been presented to the United Nations," Clinton said..."The decision about status must be made in the United Nations and not in auxiliary groups that are subsidiary to the United Nations."...(translation:  "Not by you underlings!"   I can't believe I admired this woman at one time.  "Long as I'm living, I'm learning" is the only excuse I have for that!)

...David Killion, the US ambassador to UNESCO, issued a statement urging all delegations to join the United States in voting "no" while in Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland sharply criticised the Palestinian effort.

"This is not going to create a state for them," she said at her daily briefing. "It is going to make things harder ... It further exacerbates the environment of tension."  (Is it me?  Or does Victoria sound like she's the one a little "tense?")

Nimrod Barkan, Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, said the move would harm the agency and would not advance Palestinian aspirations.  (I couldn't resist the italics on his first name, especially after reading what he said.)

"The problem is that the politicisation of UNESCO is detrimental to the ability of the organisation to carry out its mandate," he told Reuters. (Doesn't the "U.N." in UNESCO kinda throw that whole "politicisation" as "detrimental" thing out the window?  And when hasn't Education, Science and Culture not been politicized among these "usual suspects?")

France, which has advocated observer status of the UN, said that UNESCO was not the place to further the Palestinian case for recognition.

"The priority is to revive negotiations," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "We consider that UNESCO is not the appropriate place and the General Conference is not the right moment." (And how long have they been "negotiating" with nothing but expanded settlement-building to show for it?)

Both US and Israel argue that the way to create Palestine is through negotiations. (Um, shouldn't Palestine be a part of that argument regarding "the way to create" their own damned selves??  Sounds pret-t-y, damn imperialist to me.)

As does this piece of, "You better do what we say, or we'll (literally) squeeze the life out of you!" madness - Aid Blackmail in Palestine:

Once again, Palestinians are being punished for daring to exercise a choice.
It happened before in 2006, when they took part in what was deemed to be the wrong kind of democracy and picked the wrong (Hamas) government. That mistaken execution of free will caused the international community to close its funding tap - cutting Palestinian aid and salaries.

Now, there are penalties for taking another 'wrong' turn, despite repeated threats and warnings: US congress is blocking US $200 million intended for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which persisted with its UN statehood bid in the face of US disapproval.

Few things typify international complicity in stalling Palestinian aspirations like this on/off money switch. The current cut in cash will affect health and social projects - but not, it is said, the PA's security commitments (coordinated with Israel). In other words, the pinch is designed to cause Palestinian suffering - but is calibrated so as not to upset Israeli concerns, or totally derail the stagnating status quo.

Really now, is it just me??  Before you answer, read the whole the piece, cuz everbody benefits from this mess, but the Palestinians!  And Tony Blair - with his faux, Middle East Peace Envoy ass (Oh, the irony!  Like Shrub and his administration, shouldn't he be in jail charged as a WAR criminal for that fake WMD war in Iraq?  Just sayin'...) - is making sure it stays that way according to this - Palestinian leaders renew attack on Tony Blair over Israel:

In fact, Blair's remit from the Quartet was restricted to easing economic constraints in the West Bank and Gaza and helping with state-building. He was asked to take on the role of political mediator by the US only in the run-up to the Palestinians' demand for full membership at the UN. "He was parroting exactly what the Israelis wanted," said Shaath.

I tell you, nobody captures his bullshit more succinctly than anti-war political cartoonist (and Blair's fellow countryman), Leon Kuhn.

Oh, and that, "remit from the Quartet" being "restricted to easing economic constraints in the West Bank and Gaza and helping with state-building" thing?  Ve-e-ery problematic indeed - particularly on these two fronts:

1. 
   
   In a brief description over at Dispatches - The Wonderful World of Tony Blair, Peter Osborne shares this:

   Dispatches shows that at the same time as Blair is visiting Middle East leaders in his Quartet role he is receiving vast sums from some of them. If Blair represented the UK government, the EU, the IMF, the UN or the World Bank, this would not be permitted.
   
   He would also have to declare his financial interests and be absolutely transparent about his financial dealings. But no such stringent rules govern the Quartet envoy.  (Hold that thought - because, while Blair's greedy self-enrichment on the backs of the Palestinian people is an egregious problem of the first order, the definitely bigger problem, is that this "Quartet" - comprised of  the US, EU, Russian officials, and the UN Secretary General - shouldn't be able to "remit" any-damned-thing, to any-damned-body!)

2. Ali Abunimah explains why "no such stringent rules govern the Quartet envoy and rightly indicts those same "usual suspects" in - Why the UN must abolish the 'Quartet':
   

The Quartet, although often referred to as if it were an official body, was founded in 2002 as an informal committee. There is no UN resolution giving it a mandate, although it has taken on an air of permanence and precendence over every other international institution.

From the start, the Quartet served not so much as a forum for international involvement in addressing the question of Palestine, but rather a substitute for real international involvement and a cover for American control.

Anis Nacrour, a French diplomat who served as a senior advisor to Tony Blair in the Quartet office in Jerusalem told Channel 4 that from its inception, the Quartet was "a smokescreen for the action of the Americans and the tandem between Americans and Israelis. At the end of the day, all this was for buying time for allowing the Israeli government to do whatever they wanted to do." (I'd say that sure is what it looks like).

Another strange thing happened that gave me pause regarding the Middle East, though for a different reason - my skinfolk, Susan Rice.

The most brazen attack came from American ambassador Susan Rice who declared that the US was “outraged” at the UN’s failure “to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and security.” (Lawd ha' mercy!  Somebody please tell me how this woman could say this shit with a straight face!)

Without naming Russia and China, Rice dismissed any parallels with NATO’s now blatant neo-colonial intervention in Libya as a “cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.” She staged a walk-out by the US delegation after Syrian ambassador Bashar Jaafari accused the US of “partaking in genocide” by supporting Israel. The US has repeatedly wielded its veto power to block resolutions critical of Israel.  (Like I said up there, HOW?  Look I'm no foreign policy "expert" (though I do try to keep up) - but, like the walk-out staged in Durban, I do see one common denominator in both - Israel.  Thought I'd mosey on over to Haaretz to sniff around - and whaddya know -  Syria recognizes Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital!)

Rice’s comments reek of hypocrisy. While denouncing the Syrian regime’s anti-democratic measures, the US and European powers turn a blind eye to the repressive methods of their allies in the region, including the Saudi monarchy and, up until this year, the regime of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak—to name just two. As in the case of Libya, the concern of the US and European powers is not democratic rights, but the advancement of their economic and strategic interests in the Middle East.

In Craig Murray's - Diplomatic Blowback, he said:

I know the American Envoy to the UN, Susan Rice, and have in the past worked with her and had great respect for her; she was genuinely committed to the fight against apartheid. But her histrionic walkout in reaction to a Russian statement which was both plainly true, and an eminently forseeable result of Amercia’s own rash actions, was just pathetic.

His reference to her apartheid work is that "other reason" to which I alluded above.  How can sister, Rice, be so invested in the wrong of apartheid, and not see that what she and the Changeling's administration are doing is the same damned thing!  Sounds like some of that "split mind" shit that bell talked about here, in videos #4 - #5.

But on the real though, those usual suspects need to stop meddling in other people's business.  Certainly, nobody's coming over here meddling in ours (and if any of those countries even thought about telling them what to do, they'd either ignore them, or worse, start yet another baseless war)!  Continuing to engage in these imperialist forays into often, sovreign nations will - sooner, rather than later - backfire.  And it ain't gonna pretty

And finally (again, speaking of bell - see videos #4 - #5), I was just undone when I saw these pictures over at The Crunk Feminist Collective:

But proudly and humbly as hell, I've no need to comment on the whys and wherefores of the photo, except to say screw John and Yoko!  Because, not only did my lil sis, Crunktastic do the damned thing in HANDLIN' IT in her post, the others in the comment section definitely had her back! I was so moved and impressed with this piece of writing, I had to give it my Richard Wright, "Using Words as a Weapon" award today.

Not only do these young sisters continue to TEACH my old ass - they give me a genuine "hope and change" feeling.

*(All emphases in this post are mine.)

"Operation Odyssey Dawn" - a show of imperialism from Hypocritic Oafs

(Yeah, no - "hypocritic" isn't a word - but I know y'all get my meaning!)

Sorry - again - for the interruption of the Africa series (it was life-changing - of course there's more!), but really - if there was ever any doubt about the hypocrisy of the Changeling (Nobel-laureate for peace that he is), Miz SOS and their whole "Change You Can Believe In" administration - they should all be cleared up with the launching of "Operation Odyssey Dawn."  {smdh}

"The Laureate and Libya" - Nate Beeler

The launching brought to mind two observations in a piece I'd read over at Race-Talk regarding another culture and another subject (though still relevant here I think) by contributor, Mikhail Lyubanski:

The assumption is that it is possible to rank-order nations/cultures on some supposedly objective hierarchy of “civilization”...Who gets to decide what is considered “civilized?”

Anyway - a few links from some folks who've been paying attention (because one of MY rants would probably take forever!):

• U.S. Stays Mum as Iraqi Security Forces Kill, Detain and Abuse Protesters
• Libya army transport deal frozen after US approval 
• U.S. Considers Arming Libyan Rebels Months After Approving Major Arms Deal Sought by Qaddafi
• The Invasion of Bahrain
• Yemeni forces massacre dozens of protesters
  UPDATE: The American Dilemma in Libya: To Bomb, Invade, Partition, Or All of the Above
• Military Action Against Libya Is Not Illegal, Not About Democracy and Very Limited
• Libya, Hypocrisy and Betrayal by the United Nations: Death and Destruction. US-NATO's New War in North Africa
• Nations Prepare for Libya No-Fly Zone
• Taking on Gadhafi:  Obama Finally Has His Own War

And how appropriate?!  He announces this foolishness IN BRAZIL - one of the five countries sensibly abstaining from this savior-cum-imperialist piece of work.  I looked at this today...

The Changeling and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

 
...and I was HOPING she was thinking this!:

P.S.  If you believe the United States is in financial trouble, know that the powers that be (including their figurehead African-American puppet, joining in on an assault on an African country) believe there's nothing better for a recession than a war.

Sorry, another slight detour...

Fast forward to today:

"We’ll have to bring down health care costs further, including in programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficits. I believe we should strengthen Social Security for future generations, and I think we can do that without slashing benefits or putting current retirees at risk. ...blah, blah, blah."

the Changeling - 2/15/11

Methinks they better find a way to do that without slashing benefits! You see, FICA,OASDI and I have had a very long and automatically withdrawn relationship from which, the Changeling and his string-pullers need to step the hell away (Egypt, Tunisia - anyone??).

But given the crooks and liars we keep sending to Congress, and in light of Flemming v. Nestor, the whole idea - of putting in a bi-weekly amount, the government not dipping into it and leaving IOU's, then I get my money back (which will be taxed a-damn-gain) at age 62 or 65 - seems more and more like a pipe dream, particularly for my children. {smdh}  

I don't know why I watched him on TV today.  I normally try to avoid it whenever I can.  This press conference on "his" budget (can puppets have their own budgets??) - which I painfully watched, ears bleeding from the bullshit - confirmed that I need to keep right on not watching his ass!

Then, to make matters worse - here came Miss SOS with her blathering hypocrisy!  Aargh!

Hill?  You can wipe that little bit of bullshit from around your mouth as well - you and your, "Iran is awful because it is a government that routinely violates the rights of it people.  The internet has become...blah, blah, blah" (here's a snippet - since I can't seem to find a video of the whole speech with this line included.  Correction:  Here's the whole thing).

(You live and you learn don't you?!  I can't believe I thought this other megalomaniac was worth my vote!)

Our government, though it's not blocked the internet completely - is no different from these other governments you so readily accuse of "internet repression" - we're just dressed up in our faux, American exceptionalist, Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes as we do it on the down-low.

You should be ashamed to stand up there and rationalize the U.S. pursuit of Assange (to include blocking Wikileaks wherever and whenever you can).  Such pure and shameless tripe!  Given he outed you, I'd venture a guess your vendetta is a little personal - just sayin'.  But hold up - let's have Glenn Greenwald  elucidate that point since he's way better at it than I am.  And while you're spewing, care to expound on net neutrality (or the lack thereof) there, Hill?  Bruce Dixon and Jared Ball at Black Agenda Report don't mind telling some truths - how 'bout you?

I'm so sick of both of you!

UPDATE:  Truthdigger of the Week: Ray McGovern - Please watch the video.

"We're better than this..." - "That's not who we are..." Really???

"People who treat other people as less than human, must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned."

James Baldwin

The first statement in the title was a part of what Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brother-in-law, Cmdr Scott Kelly had to say from aboard the International Space Station. The second, is from Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton. "How can somebody hate that much?" was an Arizona woman's comment a few minutes ago on BBC News America.

What all three statements seem to have in common, is the fact that they all seem totally out-of-touch with the reality that is, and always has been America. Apparently, those who spoke those words have rarely, if ever, been the victim of that reality.

America is NOT - "better than this." Just ask any of the many "Others" upon whom such havoc has been wreaked over the course of this country's existence. I know she's the Secretary of State, with all the attendant requirements of lying about our "exceptionalism" and all - but Hilary Clinton should be ashamed to have uttered such an untruth. And there's also something opportunistically shameful to me about her using this tragedy as some sort of diplomatic lever during her meeting in Abu Dahbi - but that's just me.

THAT, Mme. Secretary - is exactly who America is, has been and will continue to be as long as this kind of non-owning, double-talking, politically expedient revisionist history continues.

And the beat goes on...

(P.S.Guess it's not just me. In her new post over at Freedom Rider, the ever-vigilant Margaret Kimberley points out the most shameful opportunist of them all!).

Obama's "War of Necessity"

As everyone waits to see what spews forth from the Changeling regarding Afghanistan later today, let's be clear people - THIS is the site of Obama's "Necessary War"...

When I got these pictures from the husband in April (I think you can click on them to enlarge), all I could do was shake my damn head. I couldn't even begin to write everything I was feeling, particularly since "Hearts and Minds" (like so many other issues, hotly debated and often not agreed-upon during this 29-years-last-Saturday union) had also become another one of those double-edged swords, slicing my emotions into two distinctly different, yet equally important parts between which I ultimately find my idea of "right."

I read Eric Margolis's, Chasing Mirages in Afghanistan, a little while before the U.S. presidential "selection" redux  Afghan elections.  It was an interesting take on the no-win, win for which Obama & Co. keep constantly aiming. He makes the very good point:

Ravaged Afghanistan needs genuine, honest elections, and patient national reconciliation, free of foreign manipulation. That's the only true road to peace and stability.

And I was right there with him, but then, he had to go and say this:

America has a great deal to teach Afghanistan about how to run clean elections and build the essential institutions of democracy.

and this...democracy and good government are what America should be exporting to the Muslim World, not dictators, B-1 bombers, and Predators.

and this...Running phony elections is unworthy of the United States and demeans its values and traditions.

Really now. You know, just as well as I do, that America's already taught/exported enough of "US" to Afghanistan to nearly choke the life out of an entire people - especially if we were to really unpack those good ole American "values and traditions."  But I do get where he was trying to go with the whole "makes a mockery of everything we preach around the globe" thing.  And so do they:

Starting at the 6:18 click, the men say, "We're hoping that Obama would be much better than Bush." Then they go on - wearily it seems - to the ending 7:08 click, explaining what should be painfully clear, even to the most empathetically-challenged of us.

I tell you, if watching just that little snippet (never mind the other parts - to include that brand, spanking new SuperMax-looking prison they just built on Afghan soil - among other things) does not convince you of the absolute wrongness of this thing that the Changeling, et al are doing in our names, I don't know what will.  And, either this is some serious Undercover Brother maneuvering, or these fellas need not hold out any hope of him being better:

And he had the nerve to say, "This will not be quick nor easy." Well, all I have to say to that is, what Queen Gorgo from the movie, "300" said to the crooked, rapist-politician Theron, after she rammed that sword deep into his belly in the council chamber:  Mr. President - "This will not go quickly, YOU will not enjoy it!" 

Based on his consistent-from-the-beginning rhetoric and continued hawkish behavior on Afghanistan, coupled with his general's conveniently leaked report and "Karzai's tattered victory," nobody should have any questions about whether or not he's "better than Bush."  But of course, that's wishful thinking.   

Scott Ritter illustrates some historically inconvenient truths about Afghanistan in his, McChrystal Doesn’t Get It—Does Obama? - truths Obama & Co. don't seem to even care to get as they continue their feeble march toward imperialist nation-building.  I'm sure Hill wouldn't have been overseas a couple of weeks ago (looking for some reason to me - eerily Nixonesque), telling Der Spiegel - 'Our Goal Is to Defeat Al-Qaida and Its Extremist Allies' - if they did care.  Now, nearly deafened by his administration's increasingly louder drumbeats for more war, I felt that "quiet riot" beginning to rumble.  And with her Oscar-worthy performance in the "Patriarchy Category" - parroting the lies, and posturing, just like the man who'd brushed her off his lapel Jay-Z style during the campaign - the words that had eluded me since April finally came.  But not for the warmongers.  The words are for the Afghan brothers and sisters suffering the same foot-on-neck behavior upon which this country was founded:

"My enemy's enemy is my man remember?  I ain't tryin' to be endin' up in this Man's dilemma...'til we get there, I am on your side."

"You'll say what we tell you to say Sonia!"

The only alarm bells that went off for me about the Changeling's pick for SCOTUS was, well - that she was the Changeling's pick for SCOTUS. That she'd be Latina, I kind of expected. But, cautiously optimistic, I tried to find out more about her opinions and her two previous appointments by Daddy Bush and Bill Clinton, just to see what SHE was about. Now who woulda thunk it? After doing all that reading, it only took these three things to pretty much convince me she's probably just another woman - among the many it seems (Jarrett, Michelle, Hilary to name a few) - who's forfeited her voice, in exchange for a smooth ride to glory on his coattails - as long as she says and does whatever he says --

1) Giblet on May 29:

2) The Changling on May 29:

White House: Sotomayor's Latina Comment Was Poor Choice of Words. Sorry, you'll have to go to the link and then click on "an excerpt from the interview online" to see the actual video because he's already met his "number-of-times-I-want-to-see-his-face-on-my-own-blog-every-time-I-sign-in" quota!

3) Her Honor on June 2 (as told by Diane Feinstein):

Sotomayor to Feinstein: Latina remark 'poor choice of words':

She said, 'Obviously it was a poor choice of words if you read on and read the rest of my speech you wouldn’t be concerned with it but it was a poor choice of words,'" Feinstein told reporters.

According to The Post piece:

Neither Obama nor Gibbs said how they knew that she would say this, and Gibbs acknowledged, "I have not talked specifically with her about - this."

Rather, he said, he had had "discussions with people" that led him to believe that "if she had the speech to do all over again, I think she'd change that word."

Come on now Giblet!!! You know damn well both of you talked to her! As Cinie says, "Lying Liars Indeed Lie."

Now I know this seems a petty litmus test, but when something hits me, it just hits me. First, the (all-male?) "handlers" marginalized the importance of what she said. Then, it looked like it might not go away so they trotted the Changeling out to further marginalize it. And the-e-e-n, she goes a courtin' on Capitol Hill in a series of supposedly "private meetings" with Senators - and, using their words, takes back her words just like those "wise men" told her. And the-e-e-n, they used a female senator to put the marginalization out into the ether. Brilliant I tell you, just brilliant!

Unless, of course, she's playing the "Undercover Hermana" role like the Changeling's alleged "Undercover Brotha" role that so many Black people keep telling me he's playing because, I ought to know he can't go up in there talking 'bout what he's going to do for us because "they" won't let him (Damn, here I am in 2009 thinkin', "we is all free ya'll!" - stupid me).  If that's the case, I have no respect for her either. I might be a helluva lot poorer than them, but trust me - I am far freer (guess it depends on what's most important to you).

I tell you, POTUS, FLOTUS and SCOTUS are lookin' more like Wynken, Blynken and Nod each and every day I breathe.

Update:  Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor breaks her ankle at LaGuardia airport.  See, God really don't like ugly!  (Okay, that wasn't nice to say.)

Sen. Clinton hoodwinked and bamboozled?

I didn't think Sen. Clinton should have taken the Secretary of State position when the Changeling offered it. It just didn't feel right. It still doesn't.

Unless she did some serious wheeling and dealing during that "private meeting"in Washington last June (all those ex-Clintonistas in the Changeling's cabinet maybe?) - complete with Obama signing his name in blood - I just don't understand why she accepted the Changeling's offer.

The sexism and misogyny of the Obama campaign was palpable and it didn't just disappear because their guy won. Remember Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau and this little grown-up display of manhood (pic courtesy of Kitty at AROO)? Do you think this kind of thing just goes away? It doesn't. Especially when their guy wins.

Personally, I think the Boys Club played her. Signs of the patriarchy are all over this move, "Senator Biden's trip raises concerns."

And not unexpectedly (since patriarchy is patriarchy no matter the race or party), the Bush Administration knew about this before it happened. The article states:

Biden first ran the South Asia trip idea by Bush administration officials several weeks ago, said Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe. “We discussed the trip and reviewed it in advance with them,” Johndroe said. “We are facilitating the trip administratively where necessary.”

Wonder if they gave the presumptive Secretary of State a heads-up?

This is the reason he took so long to resign his seat - so his trip could seem "legitimate" as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This swill insults the intelligence of both the people and Sen. Clinton - not that I believe they care about that. With this act, "the guys" have signaled to the cadre of other testosterone-filled world leaders, who the "bosses" really are and sets Sen. Clinton up for an inevitable fall.

In hindsight, this exchange, from the Democratic debate in Philadelphia last April, is very telling:

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you would extend our deterrent to Israel? SENATOR OBAMA: As I've said before, I think it is very important that Iran understands that an attack on Israel is an attack on our strongest ally in the region, one that we -- one whose security we consider paramount, and that -- that would be an act of aggression that we -- that I would -- that I would consider an attack that is unacceptable, and the United States would take appropriate action. MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Clinton, would you? SENATOR CLINTON: Well, in fact, George, I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel. Of course I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States, but I would do the same with other countries in the region.

His stuttering blather about defending Israel notwithstanding, I believe he means to go the diplomacy route (why else send Biden?). And should she get confirmed, I'm sure these words, so forcefully spoken by a woman jockeying to be America's first female president, will be used against her as Secretary of State when they advise her she will no longer be serving - at the pleasure of the President.

Richardson steps down, before he even steps up

In my No Permanent Friends, no permanent enemies... post back in April '08, I pretty much summed up what I thought about Gov. Richardson - nothing's changed. Though I am a bit surprised that in exactly one month, we went from this... To this...

M-m-m-m... *smdh* This Andrea Mitchell video is interesting: "The Obama team has been rigorous about demanding......to have everything examined before their hearings are scheduled." Yep - and they knew about this too - even as he was being nominated. From the Hartford Courant: "A senior Obama adviser said Richardson gave assurances before he was nominated last month that he would come out fine in the investigation and the president-elect had no reason to doubt it. But as the grand jury continued to pursue the case, it became clear that confirmation hearings would have to be delayed for six weeks or even longer until the investigation was complete, said the adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity."

So what was this one-month appointment real-l-y about? Hubris? Strategy? What? I just do not believe Obama & Co left such an obviously long, and potentially garment-ripping thread hanging off the presidential cloak this close to the crowning for no reason. Look at the number of people jammed up under those huge charter buses of his for reasons way less important. Unless, there is a reason.

When asked, "Any idea who might be on this next list then to take over this job?" Ms. Mitchell said she frankly wasn't sure which way it'll go. Is that other Daley, you know, William M., former-Secretary-of-Commerce-in-the-Clinton-Cabinet-integral-cog-in-the-Chicago-Daley-Machine Daley? Is he still lurking around?

And doesn't it sound like there should be violins in the background as she quotes him saying he said, "I will remain in the job I love, governor of New Mexico and will continue to work every day..." (under investigation). More ammunition for Blagojevich? Hey! He only has to show there was no actual quid pro quo right? Then he can return to the job he loves - until impeachment and conviction anyway.

I read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's, "Richardson the Odd Democrat Out" over at HuffPo (Yes, I go there - sometimes). While I found nothing new as I scanned it, that very last paragraph seems awful prescient - for a few people, not just Richardson:

"The play for pay scandal just reinforced the notion that politicians who try so hard to be major players in the political ranks will often wheel and deal, cut corners, and or not averse to lining their campaign and even personal coffers with dubious contributions to get ahead. When they do, and they're called out on it, it insures that they remain not just odd men out of the rarified political circles they desperately want to crack, but disgraced ones too."

I'm sure if Molly Ivins were alive today, she'd have told the governor in that deep, smoke-laced, Texas drawl, "Now Bill, ya'll know ya'll gotta dance with them what brung you if you want to get anywhere!"

By the way, any statements from the Clintons yet? Why am I picturing that car insurance commercial with those squirrels jumping up and down, high-fiving each other as the car runs off the road?

Puff, Puff, Pass - Caroline Kennedy's turn at the "Party" joint

As it was with the Changeling, the fix is already in. Whether he wants to or not, Gov. David Paterson will be appointing the Kennedy kid to finish Senator Clinton's term - regardless of how much hell people raise about Caroline Kennedy's lack of "experience" or how many times she says, "You know." Hell, none of them raised any questions about the Changeling's deficiencies, or how many times he said "Uh!" (Class, repeat after me - PA-TRI-AR-CHY)

This exchange last year between Mos Def, Dr. Cornel West and Bill Maher is a little long, but interesting. Mos makes a good point at the 9:13 click...



...and I agree with him completely. I'd just add that ANY political office, ANY top media position and ANY executive banking position - not just the presidency - is treated like a "party joint" within the institution of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

Nepotism is essential to keep the money and power in the hands of those who've always had it. Obama's selection changes nothing (They just allow him to play the game a little bit. You know, stuff like earmarks to the hospital that tripled MO's salary, or he and Jarrett's Grove Parc bonanza, or that sweet deal on the mansion?).

He's the perfect "two-fer" - as long as he doesn't step out of line. They believe his brown face will, at once, be the vehicle that allows them to maintain their kind of status quo, and repair America's image in the world. And with all this sui generis, "post-racial" nonsense, the media side of the afore-mentioned, unholy triumvirate is more than happy to do whatever they can to keep up the charade.

I really think they chose him because they saw in him, the budding of the same power-hungry, cutthroat greed and hubris they possess that has fueled their manipulation of the masses for all this time. Easier to control the puppet's strings when the joints are already oiled right? And it worked - beautifully! "All sheeple present and accounted for, Sir!"

Now comes the Princess of Camelot, poised to cash in her nepotism chips with the aid of Uncle Teddy, continuing to rage mightily against going "gentle into that good night." This is just more shining up shit and calling it gold folks.

Let's be clear. Gov. Paterson was appointed in the aftermath of Spitzer's dalliances. If he wants to keep his job next election - and I'm sure he does - he'll fall in line. He knows all too well, what will ensure he keeps it is not that pesky election by the people thing, but rather, those "Games Mother Never Taught You."

CORRECTION: ea..."Just a nitpick: Patterson was Lt. Gov. He is Governor now because of succession. I think that is right."
Si, está correcto. ¡Gracias Mujer! Nitpick away, it makes both of us better. And as a result, I read some more about Gov. Paterson. Now I'm pissed I may be right about this appointment!

• "Elected to represent Harlem in the New York State Senate in 1985..."
• "In 2002, David Paterson was elected minority leader of the New York State Senate, the first non-white legislative leader in New York’s history."
• "And 2006 saw Mr. Paterson make history again by being elected New York’s first African-American lieutenant governor."

He's been elected a time or two. Shouldn't he have some political capital built up to say, "No" to this very wrong thing?

"Selected" by Acclamation, Dr. King an afterthought as Obama accepts the nomination

Whew!!! It's been a pretty hectic couple weeks as I start out on a path toward realizing a "dream" of my own. It took until today for me to process the significance of all that's happened since Monday when I moved to D.C. to start graduate school after 30 years. As I drove home from my very first class Thursday night, I couldn't help but think, "How fitting is this for me to be in this town, at this time, on this night - the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech!" I was so overwhelmed, I started to cry. As the tears ran down my face, I said aloud, "This is a huge part of what the dream was about." Though my route was circuitous, it was clear - like the throngs who'd come 45 years ago, I'd come to our nation's capital to cash the check that had previously been marked “insufficient funds." I stopped at an intersection on a narrow Georgetown street and looked around. I could see inside the windows of the houses nearby and then I realized why the streets were so empty. Everyone was watching what I was listening to on my car’s radio - Sen. Clinton asking the convention to stop the count so Sen. Obama could be selected the nominee by acclamation. My emotions were immediately mixed as he gave his acceptance speech. I expected him to acknowledge the importance of the day, to pay homage to the man whose life and death had made this day possible for us both. Not until the last minute of the speech, did he say this:

And it is that promise that, 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream. The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustrations of so many dreams deferred. But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color, from every walk of life -- is that, in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one. "We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back." He didn’t even call him by name.

I guess no one would eclipse his big night - not even the Black man who took on a racist America, putting everything on the line so that an African-American, Barack Obama could stand at that podium to accept that nomination.

Quel déshonneur absolu!

A Unified Democratic Party?

Sorry Sen. Clinton, as much as I respect you and bask in the pride of your ardent effort to secure equal rights for women, just as Blacks are not a monlith - neither are women. This Black woman, after some consternation, decided to vote for you after following the primaries and doing my homework. The Democratic Party has done the unthinkable in a "democracy" (and I use that term loosely) in the way they schemed and appropriated the delegates for Mr. Obama, some of which he did not even earn, not to mention the total discounting of the Florida poplular vote, barring all attempts at a revote.

I come from a long line of Black Democrats and have been one since the age of 21 when I didn't really know any better. I am now 52. I voted for Bill Clinton twice because he got it - "It's the Economy Stupid!" - my favorite election season chant!

I have submitted my applicaton to switch from Democrat to Independent and I'll write in my choice or vote for the Green candidate before I vote for Sen. Obama. I'm not a "lock-stepper." I choose, based on my own observations, needs and beliefs. If he wins, more POWER to him, but woe is the America that will be subjected to his puppeteers' decisions because of his lack of experience.

God bless you. I know you'll be just fine. I will follow your work and if 2012 is an option, I will "work my heart out for you" because you've proven your mettle, to me - and I was a doubter! If I miss the chance to "write the next chapter in America's story" - so be it.