Being on the "right" side of history and humanity matters to me...

I've followed Black Agenda Report for some time now.  The first reason?  Clear and critical thinking that has always confirmed for me that -- I was not alone.  Second?  That I wasn't losing my damned mind being against the Changeling and his ilk from the get-go.

Not saying I wasn't initially hoodwinked and bamboozled by the only viable, "female" contender for a minute -- cuz I was (chalk that up to the fact that Cynthia McKinney, for whom I voted in 2008, was so Angry-Black-Woman-demonized, she didn't stand a chance and, to my having experienced more than my share of "long-legged Mac Daddies" (as my sister, Sugar used to call the Changeling back in the day -- Sugar, where in the hayell are you??) than the law allowed.

Look, I feel this mixed little boy's confusion, raised by his white mother's half of the family while not looking like them (let's not forget their connection to the Geithner family, m'kay?), with no connection to his African-ness other than his name and a Black wife, with South  Carolina, Gullah roots.  I even  get how having a white grandmama who clutched her purse and pearls when Black folk (who looked like him!) approached, would make him feel that being accepted, adored and written about by white America made him feel more important than being truly humane, like Dr. King (whom he channels whenever necessary), honest -- and Black.  I also get how he needed to feel powerful, important, relevant and most importantly, accepted in these alleged, united states -- by any means necessary (his only connection to Malcolm, please hear me).

But what I don't get is -- notwithstanding all of his "lookin' like us" shit  -- why WE don't, as young sister Lauryn sang,  "Rebel" against the Trojan Horse, megalomaniacal puppetry in which he indulges.

Not casting aside the many, critically thinking others in the following video, I have to say that Kali Akuno and Abayomi Azikiwe, both, have it exactly right in this great compilation of facts.  Family please -- do listen, and maybe learn a thing or two:

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”

Some points to ponder as you gear-up for Tuesday

The Virtual Economic Recovery
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, October 30, 2012

Americans are far more oppressed by the power brokers in Washington than statistics display. Moreover, the young are born into the oppressive, exploitative American system and do not know any different. They are fed by the Presstitute media with endless propaganda about how fortunate they are and how indispensable their wonderful country is. Americans are kept in a constant state of amusement, and many never grasp the loss of their civil liberties, job and career opportunities, and respect that the US won during the decades-long cold war with Soviet Communism.

~#~

Police State USA: In Amerika there will Never be a Real Debate
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, October 24, 2012

No doubt that Americans, if they think of this at all, believe that it will only happen to terrorists who deserve it. But as no evidence or due process is required, how would we know that it only happens to terrorists? Can we really trust a government that has started wars in 7 countries on the basis of falsehoods? If the US government will lie about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in order to invade a country, why won’t it lie about who is a terrorist?

America needs a debate about how we can be made more safe by removing the Constitutional protection of due process. If the power of government is not limited by the Constitution, are we ruled by Caesar? The Founding Fathers did not think we could trust a caesar with our safety. What has changed that we can now trust a caesar?

If we are under such a terrorist threat that the Constitution has to be suspended or replaced by unaccountable executive action, how come all the alleged terrorist cases are sting operations organized by the FBI? In eleven years there has not been a single case in which the “terrorist” had the initiative!

In the eleven years since 9/11, acts of domestic terrorism have been miniscule if they even exist. What justifies the enormous and expensive Department of Homeland Security? Why does Homeland Security have military-equipped Special Response Teams with armored vehicles? Who are the targets of these militarized units? If eleven years of US government murder, maiming, and displacement of millions of Muslims hasn’t provoked massive acts of domestic terrorism, why is Homeland Security creating a domestic armed force of its own? Why are there no congressional hearings and no public discussion? How can a government whose budget is deep in the red afford a second military force with no defined and Constitutionally legal purpose?

What is Homeland Security’s motivation in creating a Homeland Youth? Is the new FEMA Corps a disguise for a more sinister purpose, a Hitler Youth as Internet sites suggest? Are the massive ammunition purchases by Homeland Security related to the raising of a nationwide corps of 18- to 24-year-olds? How can so much be going on in front of our eyes with no questions asked?

Why did not Romney ask Obama why he is working to overturn the federal court’s ruling that US citizens cannot be subject to indefinite detention in violation of the US Constitution? Is it because Romney and his neoconservative advisers agree with Obama and his advisers? If so, then why is one tyrant better than another?

Why has the US constructed a network of detainment camps, for which it is hiring “internment specialists”?

Why does the US Army now have a policy for “establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations“?...

...How wonderful it would have been for Obama and Romney to have confronted in a real debate how QE3, designed to help insolvent “banks too big to fail,” can help households operating, with two earners, on real incomes of 45 years ago, which is where the current real median household income stands.

How does saving a bank, designated as “too big to fail,” help the family whose jobs or main job has been exported to China or India in order to maximize corporate profits, executive performance bonuses and shareholders’ capital gains?

Obviously the working population of the US has been sacrificed to the profits of the mega-rich.

An appropriate debate question is: Why has the livelihood of working Americans been sacrificed to the profits of the mega-rich?

No such question will ever be asked in a “presidential debate.”

In the 21st century, US citizens became nonentities. They are brutalized by the police whose incomes their taxes pay. They, for protesting some injustice or for no cause at all, are beaten, arrested, tasered and even murdered. The police, paid by the public, beat up paralyzed people in wheel chairs, frame those who call them for help against criminals, taser grandmothers and small children, and shoot down in cold blood unarmed citizens who have done nothing except lose control of themselves, either through alcohol, drugs, or rage.

Brainwashed Americans pay large taxes at every level of government for protection against gratuitous violence, but what their taxes support is gratuitous violence against themselves. Every American, except for the small number of mega-rich who control Washington, can be arrested and dispossessed, both liberty and property, on the basis of nothing but an allegation of a member of the executive branch who might want the accused’s wife, girlfriend, property, or to settle a score, or to exterminate a rival, or to score against a high school, college, or business rival.

In America today, law serves the powerful, not justice. In effect, there is no law, and there is no justice. Only unaccountable power.

What is the point of a vote when the outcome is the same? Both candidates represent the interests of Israel, not the interests of the US. Both candidates represent the interests of the military/security complex, agribusiness, the offshoring corporations, the suppression of unions and workers, the total demise of civil liberty and the US Constitution, which is in the way of unbridled executive power .

In the US today, the power of money rules. Nothing else is in the equation. Why vote to lend your support to the continuation of your own exploitation? Every time Americans vote it is a vote for their own obliteration.

~#~

Obama-Romney: Two Defenders of American Imperialism
By Patrick Martin
Global Research, October 22, 2012

These disputes, however, take place within a common political framework. They amount to wrangling about which individual will be more effective in implementing a policy on which they fundamentally agree.

Behind the backs of the American people, the United States is preparing new military interventions and wars of aggression against Syria and Iran, first of all, and ultimately against China, Russia and other rival powers.

The entire process demonstrates the thoroughly undemocratic character of the election itself, in which the American people have no say on any of the fundamental issues.

Obama won the Democratic Party nomination in 2008 over Hillary Clinton in large measure because he positioned himself as the more “antiwar” of the two candidates, in part by repeatedly citing her 2002 vote to authorize George W. Bush’s war of aggression against Iraq. He won the general election over McCain by taking advantage of the massive popular discontent with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Once in office, however, Obama reappointed Bush’s secretary of defense, Robert Gates, selected a former general as his national security adviser, and his “hawkish” former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. He doubled and then tripled the US troop commitment to Afghanistan, while adhering to the withdrawal schedule in Iraq negotiated by the Bush administration.

Last year, Obama played the decisive role in facilitating the NATO war against Libya, which led to the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi and 50,000 deaths. Now his administration is preparing a similar fate for the Assad regime in Syria, where the US-instigated civil war has already claimed 30,000 lives.

US troops, warplanes and drone missiles are now deployed over a far wider area than under the Bush administration, including the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and much of the Sahara and North Africa, in addition to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

~#~

Libya’s Green Resistance Did It... And NATO Powers Are Covering Up
By Mark Robertson and Finian Cunningham
Global Research, September 20, 2012

The NATO powers and the bureaucrats they installed in Libya want you to think that all 5.6 million Libyans are happy that NATO and its proxy terrorists destroyed Libya, whose standard of living had been Africa’s highest under Gaddafi.

They want you to think that NATO brought “freedom and democracy” to Libya, not chaos and death.

They want you to think that there is no Green Resistance to the NATO imperialists or NATO’s Islamist allies in Benghazi.

In reality, the Resistance has been increasingly active since shortly after the murder of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, as will be shown below. They strike any NATO target they can, and they execute key Libyans who betrayed Gaddafi and sided with NATO. The Benghazi incident was merely their latest blow against what they see as NATO’s illegal occupation of their country.

Everyone in Libya knows about the Green Resistance, whose members are called “Tahloob” (Arabic for “Gaddafi loyalists”). The denial only happens outside of Libya, by the NATO powers and their dutiful Western mainstream media.

Because of this denial, and because most of the world’s people have forgotten about Libya, the internet is filled with blind guesses, unfounded claims, and ridiculous counterclaims regarding the Benghazi incident last week in which US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and at least three other American personnel were killed. And the NATO lie factory is operating at full blast.

~#~

UPDATE:

Got this email from my friend Eric Sheptock (now, the Chairman of SHARC!) today.  I met Eric in 2009, while I was in graduate school in DC.  I am so damned proud of this Brother! Never forgetting where he'd been, he turned his homelessness (in the shadows of the White House and Congress!) into some serious advocacy!  If you're anywhere in the area, please do check him out (info at the SHARC link)!

SHARC Update and Discussion Points for November 5th Meeting,
Scanned Documents from Today's MTG & Updated demand List

All,

People did a great job coming together to make the October 29th event happen. However, Sandy tested our resilience. Let's not despair; but rather, let's get reinvigorated for yet another round of homeless advocacy. Below and attached you'll see discussion points for our next weekly meeting. Please read them and come full of ideas that we can discuss as we chart the path forward.

Also attached are the scanned documents from the mayor's office and the demand list relabeled as "SHARC Homeless Town Hall List of Demands."

SHARC Update and Discussion Points for November 5th Meeting

1 – SHARC has weathered the storm and made the best of a mess. Though Sandy “rained on our parade” by forcing the cancellation of an event which we spent five weeks planning and organizing, it hasn't discouraged us from trying again. We'll come back bigger and better the next time.

There is no need to consider what possible shortcomings SHARC may have exhibited during the storm. Given the fact that we had many food donations, the rain date would have been the next day (Tuesday) during which the government was shut down. Sandy was an unpredictable storm which we only found out on the 26th was going hit us on the 29th of October (the day of our event). That said, the five weeks leading up to October 29th were a true show of our increased organizing ability. So, let's give ourselves a hand, dust ourselves off and chart the path forward.

As a result of Sandy, SHARC members were able to:

• begin the conversation around bringing three councilmembers together in a meeting. They are Jim Graham (Human Services Oversight Committee), Michael Brown (Oversight Committee on Economic Development and Housing) and Kenyan McDuffie (oversight Committee on Jobs and Workforce Development).
• Speak with several councilmembers on the dais during their legislative meeting and make the case for ending homelessness rather than maintaining it.
• Arrange a meeting with the mayor

2 – Weekly and Homeless Town Hall Meetings during the holiday and hypothermia season:

a) What day do we want our next big event to fall on?

– November 26th (the last Monday of the month)?
– December 31st (the last Monday of the year)?

• December 24th (Christmas Eve)?
• December 17th (which would give us six weeks to organize and fall nicely between events highlighting homelessness and hunger in the third week of November and the Homeless Persons' Memorial Day on December 21st)?

b) Do we want to meet on Christmas Eve or new Year's Eve? Both fall on Mondays.

c) Do we want to do anything special around Thanksgiving (November 22nd)? The Fannie Mae Homeless Walkathon would have been on November 17th (the Saturday before Thanksgiving).

3 – What should our next big event (our make up event for “Occupy the DC Council”) be?

An idea is that we plan a march from CCNV to the Wilson Building beginning at 11 AM on November 26th. We make our case to the council and/or the mayor. We then return to CCNV around 1 PM for our regular Homeless Town Hall Meeting. Those who marched are given tickets upon exiting the Wilson Building and eat first.

Another idea is that we plan a large event inside of the Wilson Building on December 17th (possibly without a march) and invite churches and other groups to feed the homeless there.

It doesn't need to be “either/or”.  It can be “both/and”.
You are welcome to present additional ideas. These are just conversation starters.

4 – “The Future” of CCNV:

City officials and people from the business community have begun conversation around “The Future” of the CCNV Shelter. During my meeting with one such person, there was some confusion as to when either of us was talking about CCNV as is or the new concept which we envision. We began to refer to the revamped CCNV Shelter as “The Future”.

It is believed by many that the restrictive covenant between Ronald Reagan and Mitch Snyder mandates that the building be used as a homeless shelter until 2018 and the parking lot belongs to the homeless until 2099 with the right to renew the lease for the latter indefinitely. It is also believed that the property on which the building and parking lot sit is worth as much as $120M. What's certain is that, if the building were sold, ALL MONIES GENERATED FROM THE SALE MUST BE USED FOR THE HOMELESS COMMUNITY.

All of this adds up to the city being FORCED to use the CCNV property to assist the homeless community in one way or another. City officials and the business community have been informed that ANY PLANS TO BUILD ON THAT PIECE OF LAND WOULD HAVE TO INCLUDE HOUSING AT LEAST 1,350 HOMELESS PEOPLE. This gives homeless/housing advocates a constant (invariable) which we can use as a starting point for our thoughts on how best to assist the homeless residents of the Federal City Shelter (CCNV, Open Door, John L. Young, DC Central Kitchen and the Unity Health Clinic).

Plans that are being discussed include:

• building a 10-story building on the parking lot
• taking the present building up to 10 stories (possibly rebuilding it from the ground up)
• having a mix of permanent apartments, supportive housing units, transitional housing units and shelter for at least 1,350 people
• giving tax credits to contractors
• having homeless people help design the program

While several people have expressed understandable skepticism about the city's plans to effectively assist the homeless community, let's bear in mind that a 24-year old restrictive covenant is holding them at bay. Let's also remember that, if we refuse to come to the table with those who are ostensibly there to work with us, we give them occasion to say that they reached out to us and WE refused to work with them. On the other hand, if we come to the table with city officials and members of the business community and they fail to make good on their promises, they give us occasion to pin the blame on THEM. So, let's give them a chance.

A contract employee of the business community might attend our November 19th SHARC meeting.

5 – Forming a charette: It has been suggested that we form a charette that would draw up a plan for ending homelessness in DC and then take that plan to government officials, as opposed to waiting for the governments to end homelessness.

6 – Creating unconventional partnerships: It has been suggested that SHARC develop unconventional partnerships with environmental groups, the LGBT community and others who don't usually advocate with or for the homeless, as there are various reasons for which we are inextricably connected to them. (Most homeless teens were thrown out of their parents' house for being LGBT and the construction of affordable housing lends itself to the creation of green jobs.)

7 – Protesting/opposing unconventional targets: It has been suggested that SHARC demonstrate in front of the Verizon Center and other businesses that have tried to push homeless people and/or homeless services (including housing for the homeless) out of their neighborhood.

8 – Making our enemies work for/with us: It has been suggested that we involve those who don't want the homeless in their neighborhoods (see item #7) in our effort to end homelessness.


Related:
- Is This Really The Most Important Election Ever? If So, Then Where Are Our Issues?
- The Changeling and the Democrats still lying about equal pay
- DC Voting Rights Bill Gets Yanked By Congress

J. Sakai --"Settlers, The Mythology of the White Proletariat"

HT to the "Sons of Malcolm" for this wonderful interview.  I can't remember when it was that I stumbled upon this young man's site, but it was an immediate relationship -- at least on my part!  J. Sakai lays out some very real truths about what being "American" is, and has been about, for the self-determination of all Others in this "land of the free, and home of the brave."  Sakai definitely speaks of the MLK I believed in, and additionally, he talked about the Chicano Movement of which, Obama's Latino beard at the DNC, Mayor Julian Castro's mother was a big part (he also hits the nail on its proverbial head with regard to why "Occupy" movements make me leery!)

This, at the 1:09 click, was something else for me:

"And although he didn't say it of course, the Iroquois Confederacy, women had tremendous legal powers, under their laws of government.  Um, you couldn't have a war unless 3/4 of the mothers, women who had borne children, voted for the war, for example, under their laws.  No men could vote for war."

Think about that for a minute!




Please enjoy this -- and I hope you find something, anything, that will help you critically think (and watch out for "the new, semi-trailer coming up in your rear-view mirror, threatening to drive you off the road!").

Update: "Tails to kites" -- America, Israel and the megalomania of exceptionalism

I'd initially incorporated this into the previous post as an update, but reading it again this morning, it felt buried.  I decided to dig it out because the connect-the-dots observation was one that shouldn't be overlooked.

~#~

There are layers of "dog-whistles"; some  too ridiculous to seriously consider (Republicans do this; Democrats do that -- as if there's any difference), some too serious not to (Zionist manipulation and decimation of a people; sanctions; fomenting rebellions; lying the country into wars).

But at the end of the day, they're all pretty much "dog whistles," intended to interrupt critical thinking and distract from the one thing, to never forget to remember about imperialism -- always follow the money.

Bro. Amenta's comment here, not only  reminded me not to forget, but to tell me a little something new:

Deb, this is an excellent post. It describes the wickedness with which Is-Ra-El operates in that region with the blessing of the U.S.

However, the attack on Iran has little to do with it's nuclear program, and by the way there is NO nuclear program in existance on this Earth that is soley for the purpose of "cheap" energy. The waste product is ALWAYS used for weaponry.

That aside, this bluffing of a combat attack on Iran is merely a veil for real war that is going on.

In Feb 2008 Iran began its Iranian Oil Bourse which began setting prices of oil on the French Stock Exchange. Prior to the advent of the Iranian Oil Bourse only the U.S. and her agencies set the price of oil each and every day. And, all oil bought and sold the world over had to be purchased with the U.S. Dollar aka the Petro Dollar. When Iran set in motion it's Oil Bourse the U.S. began sabre rattling even making plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons.

At any rate, Iran began setting oil prices in 2008 and on top of that requested that whomever bought oil from them pay in other currencies than the U.S. Dollar aka the Petro Dollar. This caused countries to dump dollars, and those dollars come right back to circulate here in the good ole U.S. And, guess what? Our prices go UP. In other words the value of the USD goes down. The Fed stopped printing the M3 report that trackes how many bills dominated in 10's, 5's and 1's circulate in the country because they knew the flood of bill back in circulation here would alarm those who knew of the report.

(Photo courtesy of hawaiinewsdaily.com)

In retalliation, the U.S. cyber attacked Iran nearly shutting down the it's nuclear program yet, Iran persisted and cut a deal with China and Russia (I think it was early this year) in which both countries agreed to buy Iranian oil utilizing their own currencies and not the U.S. Dollar aka the Petro Dollar.

Another blow to the U.S. Dollar. Thus the seeminly stupid remark by Moron, sorry I mean Mormon Romney stating that Russia is our (his) greatest enemy right now. The Changeling (your great term for this dude) seized upon the ignorance of the voting public and joked Romney was living in the cold war age. No. Moron, there I go again, I mean Mormon Romney is living in this current currency war, but, most of us don't even know there is a war raging. So, The Changeling, sensing our stupidity, (one of the many reason I don't care for this fella, ok all of them would have done what The Changeling did)) jumped on it and many of us ate it up. Transparency for ya, huh? At any rate, both the U.S. and Is-Ra-El are using each other for the sake of their own ends. Is-Ra-El will allow U.S. planes with Iraeli marking go bomb places there and the U.S. lets Is-Ra-El run amuck over the Palestinians many of whom are black folk.

Peace!

Deb said...Bro. Amenta...Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Why didn't I see it??!! -- probably because I slept the damned, Iranian Oil Bourse thing! This is the exact same reason Qadaffi was murdered and Libya damned-near destroyed! His plan for the introduction of one, African currency -- THE GOLD DINAR!!!...

Oh-h-h this shit is way more foul than I knew! I also didn't know this: "...and by the way there is NO nuclear program in existance on this Earth that is soley for the purpose of "cheap" energy. The waste product is ALWAYS used for weaponry."

~#~

Peace back at you, Brother!  I appreciate the knowledge and I won't forget to remember the next time (as I'm certain there'll be one).

Yes, I'd forgotten to remember why the murders of balking leaders, and the destruction of sovereign nations by America and the "usual suspects" had to take place in Iraq and Libya.  It was way more about those "euros and gold dinars," than it ever was about any pure, R2P "humanitarian concerns" for the people whose lives and countries have been, and remain destroyed.

Related:
- Iran presses ahead with dollar attack

African Americas: Venezuela, Panama, the U.S. and Beyond

African Americas: Venezuela, Panama, the U.S. and Beyond

Thank you Dr. Ball for your work on some "real," African unity.

Neo-colonialism still wreaking havoc in Africa -- as the world watches

"It is exceedingly important that we have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been systematically oppressed."

"Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes"
Abraham Lincoln
August 14, 1862

That particular "exceedingly important" goal of white supremacy remains in effect -- all over the world. No matter where one turns, the M.O. is sickeningly apparent, as in the recent Marikana Massacres in South Africa.

**(WARNING - GRAPHIC)**




Were you shocked?  Disgusted?  I hope so.  Indeed, like many of the "Blacks in Blue" here (Danziger Bridge, Sean Bell, these fine specimens in Philly to name but a few), these men have cast their lot with white supremacy, mowing down and beating up folk who look like them, with no apparent conscience, nor morality.  I'm sure they're paid way better than their "systematically oppressed" brothers and sisters; probably have better homes, and even cars; perhaps they even enjoy a few beers with their white counterparts, celebrating that whole, "I'm accepted-but-have-no-real-power," status thing (more on that shortly).

Guess they skipped right over the, "For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present comfort" part, in the beginning of this guilt-tripping sentence in Lincoln's above-referenced address, and headed straight to the, "...for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people" part at the end.

Two articles at Black Agenda Report this week certainly bear that out. The first, "Economic and Social Crisis in Post Apartheid South Africa" by William Bowles, is a must-read that provides an excellent rundown of South Africa's neocolonialism from Mandela to Zuma:

The African National Congress (ANC) won a resounding victory in South Africa's first democratic election in 1994 with a host of promises that it would improve the lives of the Black majority (85% of the population). And whilst there have been gains in some areas, overall, most Black South Africans are materially worse off now than they were under Apartheid.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs have vanished; costs for the basics: electricity, water, food and rents have skyrocketed. Ironically, no longer the pariah of the world, South Africa's white minority is even better off now than it was under Apartheid (remember the 'Rainbow Nation'?). The only Blacks to have gained have been a tiny minority, many from the ranks of the (former) liberation movement and the trade unions as well as the South African Communist Party (SACP).

So what went wrong? Did anything go wrong? Has the ANC and its partners in the Tripartite Alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the SACP betrayed their roots and sold out Black South Africa? Indeed, sold out the rest of Africa?" (emphasis mine)

The second, Mark P. Fancher's passionately succinct, "The People's Rage,"  leaves no doubt about who continues to have, "the real power" in South Africa; not only economically and socially -- but militarily:

The massacre in Marikana, South Africa was not a run-of-the-mill wildcat strike that was met by undisciplined police officers. It was instead an event that left no doubts that while imperialism may be willing to allow Africans to sit in government offices, it will not tolerate any disruption in the flow of profits from the exploitation of highly valuable natural resources. Platinum in particular is indispensable in the manufacture of catalytic converters and other motor vehicle parts, and South Africa has more than 80 percent of the world’s platinum group metal reserves.

Even in 1965, Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana’s first president) understood why South Africa was a focal point of mining activities. He said: “A 1957 U.S. government survey of American overseas investments shows the single most profitable area was in the mining and smelting business of South Africa, whose profits are higher than from any comparable investment in the United States. The high profits can be explained largely by the cheapness of African labor.”

Nkrumah went on to explain that South African mineworkers earned 27 times less than their U.S. counterparts. More than half a century later, South Africa’s miners are still paid extremely low wages for dangerous, difficult work. One worker reported that he receives about $500 a month. (emphasis mine)

Fancher goes on to make this very crucial observation, one that reverberates all across the Continent:

This violent response should not have come as a surprise. An essential element of every neo-colonial state is an armed force with express or implied standing orders to put down rebellions. Often there are armies that play this role. In the case of the Marikana tragedy, those carrying out the massacre may have been branded as “police,” but they functioned as a military unit. They were heavily armed and ready to kill.

It should also come as no surprise that an overlap in South Africa’s police and army missions means that the U.S. military is lurking in the shadows. In an article published by the South African Institute of International Affairs, writer Thomas Wheeler reported: “U.S. defense attaches have on-going interaction with the [South African] military and police to define ways in which the U.S. can assist them.

One concrete example of this “assistance” was last year’s “Exercise Shared Accord.” The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) website explained that this joint exercise between 700 U.S. Marines and about twice that number of soldiers in the South African National Defense Force was an opportunity for the soldiers to, among other things: “…engage in live-fire exercises…”

All of this raises logical questions about who South African forces are training to kill. The answers are found in the historical record. It shows that in general, African soldiers are used in conflicts with other Africans, both in their own countries and elsewhere on the African continent. The tragedy of this was not missed by Nkrumah who suggested: “…the ordinary soldier who is after all only a worker or peasant in uniform, is acting against the interests of his own class. (emphasis mine)

On another, indirectly related post over at AfroSpear, I commented, "I am so disturbed and hurt by the massacre of miners at Marikana in S. Africa! WTH?? Apartheid didn’t go anywhere, it just seemed to have melted into the ANC. {smdh}" To which Bro. Amenta replied, "Deb, when we really see and know who controls ALL of these countries; It will be clear who is the true enemy and who is not. A U.S. company owns the mine. The government agents (policemen) work at the behest of the company. Peace"

His comment, along with the two above pieces, sent me looking for some names, so I went straight to Lonmin's site and clicked on its "Investors" tab where, not surprisingly, I found the "usual suspects."  Turns out the company is owned by the UK, but yes, the U.S. is right there with them, as both "investors" and "advisers."  As for names --  JP Morgan, Bank of New York Mellon and Citigroup Global Markets.  Glance at the "About Us" and "Our Business" tabs while you're there, the information on each is particularly laughable, especially given the video above.

Finally, adding insult to injury, we have this:

On Thursday, 270 miners were charged in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court with the murder of 34 of their comrades, who were shot and killed by police at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in the North West. A further, 78 injured by the same force, have realised a charge of attempted murder for all accused. The legal vehicle used to charge the accused in the Marikana massacre case is called 'common purpose'; it was masterminded by the architects of Apartheid and used during the darkest times to send MK cadres to the gallows. (emphasis Daily Maverick)

This is just imperial madness run amok (and please, don't say, "But they're all Black!"-- it'll tell me you've not really read, nor understood a word I've written).

Briefly, from the Daily Maverick piece:

“The state began to fall back on the common purpose doctrine, which originated in English law and was introduced into South African law via the ominously named ‘Native Territories Penal Code’. At the time the courts interpreted this doctrine to apply to all members of a crowd who had ‘actively associated’ with criminal conduct committed by one member of the crowd – even if those charged were not involved at all in the commissioning of the crime,” writes De Vos. (emphasis mine)

For a concise explanation of the 'common purpose' doctrine, please, do read the first related article below by De Vos, a South African Constitutional Law professor (don't worry, he seems very unlike the one selected president of this country).

On Asabanga's latest post, "270 South African miners charged with murder of their 34 collegues killed by the police, " Bro. Amenta left this comment:

"When I read how the law was from Apartheid era, it actually made me recall how so similar the laws are here!  http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/13704992-418/man-charged-with-murder-after-police-shoot-accomplice.html"

Given the 'common purpose' doctrine originated in the same place as the doctrine of white supremacy brought here by the English, I'm neither surprised by the similarity, nor am I surprised at the inequity with which it is enforced there, or here -- if you're Black.

Remember last year when James Anderson was beaten up by a group of white, Mississippi darlings and then run over by Deryl Dedmond with his pick-up truck?  And it was all caught on a hotel surveillance camera?  There were seven of them.  As of March of this year, three were charged and pled guilty to murder and hate crimes and are serving life sentences; one was charged with simple assault, pled not guilty and is free on a $5,000 bond because he left the scene before Anderson was killed; I could find no criminal charges filed against the other three -- two of whom, were females (James Anderson's family has filed a civil lawsuit against all seven of them).

And the world just keeps on watching...

**UPDATE!!!** 9/2/12 - South African miners to be freed after prosecutors drop murder charges

Related:
- Abuse, Inc: The 'miners made us do it' murder charge
- Marikana Is the Latest Chapter In a Long Saga

- Mnikelo Ndabankulu speaks at Marikana memorial service (video) -- (h/t to Asa @ AfroSpear)
- The murder fields of Marikana. The cold murder fields of Marikana.

NPR on Syria - "Through the looking glass darkly"

Had to run some errands today, but Son #1 was using my car. The husband was home early so I asked him to take me (Yes, I can drive myself, but er, uh -- long story). As we rode, NPR was on, broadcasting the above story and all I could do for the duration, was suck my damned teeth -- and seethe (Yes, I realize I have issues -- with people who lie, either by omission, or outrightly.  But I have a particular disdain for those whose job it is to provide taxpayer-funded, "fair and balanced reporting").

NPR's "pot, calling the kettle black" story was American sensationalism at its best.  Other than the infamous Abu Ghraib, whose story was only accidentally told as a result of a soldier with some conscience,  how much have they reported, in detail, about the goings on at either Bagram, or GITMO (which the Changeling vowed he'd close -- even as he crowed about Afghanistan being the "necessary war," -- if you'd just vote for "Change you can believe in."  And getting  a damned Nobel Peace Prize for it to boot!)?  Yes, the Fourth Estate certainly gives me the dry heaves.

But when I got home and checked my email, seeing Clara Gutteridge's, How the US Rendered, Tortured and Discarded One Innocent Man in The Nation, I heard my Gra'mama say, "Chile, you thought that right up!"  And it seemed I had:

At our first meetings in Stone Town, the crumbling capital of Zanzibar, Suleiman would turn up wild-eyed, refusing food because eating upset his stomach. We soon forged a routine of driving together into the bush, where, he said, he could find peace. On our first trip, Suleiman drove to a derelict underground prison that had once been used by Arab slave traders, a dungeon that presumably resembled the first place he was held in Afghanistan, a secret prison he called “The Darkness.”

When Suleiman arrived there, he thought he was back home in Zanzibar, so overwhelming was the distinctive smell of the coral reef. (A clinical psychologist would later explain that olfactory hallucinations are a common response to extremely stressful situations. They are the brain’s way of making one think there is something familiar to hold on to.) In fact, Suleiman was thousands of kilometers from his familiar Indian Ocean reefs, in an underground prison in central Afghanistan.

“It was pitch black, with constant noise and not enough food,” he recalled. His American interrogators would pour freezing cold water on him and beat him, saying, “We know you are a sea man, but here we have more water than out there in the sea. It never stops raining here.” Suleiman also describes being hung from the ceiling in the “strappado position,” slung in chains so that his toes just touched the floor. He also says American interrogators would take the ablution jug (used by Muslims for ritual cleansing before prayer), and stick its long spout up his rectum.

In mid-2003, Suleiman arrived at Bagram, where he was ordered to stand within the outline of a square drawn on the floor. “From today onward, your name is 1075,” the American guards told him. “You are in our box, and we have five basic rules: One: No talking. Two: Don’t look around. Keep your face down. Three: Don’t touch anything around the cage. Four: Don’t speak. Five: Don’t run.” Later, one of the guards looked at tall, skinny Suleiman and said, “You must be related to Snoop Dogg. Maybe he’s your father.” After this Suleiman’s name at Bagram was Snoop Dogg.

At Bagram, Suleiman never saw the sun, only the constant, blinding lights hanging just above his wire-mesh cage. He says he would look at the birds flying among the rafters, swooping down to peck around his cage. Bird droppings fell from the high ceiling through the mesh. Watching them, Suleiman would think, “Look at me today! I am on the side that the birds ought to be. I am in the cage, and they are free!”

Suleiman was finally released in July 2008. What prompted the decision is unclear. Authorities most likely realized that he had little intelligence to offer and posed no threat. So they let him go. (emphasis mine)

Syria's "war crimes" are no better, nor worse than those of my countrymen. I say to NPR, "Look in the mirror!  If you want to contribute to a better country, expend your energy on the schizophrenic, "American exceptionalism" in your own backyard (either before, or as, you point the finger at other folk)!" Anything else is simply taxpayer-funded hypocrisy playing handmaiden to imperialism.

From Freedom Rider: "Black Agenda Report at UNAC"

I'm still not  able to log into, or comment on, Black Agenda Report since this happened, so I'm reallly glad Margaret Kimberley posted the following video on her personal, "Freedom Rider" blog.  If you're sure you don't want to blindly follow the Changeling and his string pullers into Armageddon - and particularly if you're not, this United National AntiWar Coalition (UNAC) workshop is well worth a listen (tried linking to UNAC but for some reason, the link doesn't work here):



During my visits to West Africa since 2010, I can definitely attest that what Glen Ford is saying, from the 32:01 to 33:34 segment of the video, is true. The Chinese are there, doing exactly what Glen said - and more.

And speaking of China, remember the Changeling's little, "We're filing a trade case with the WTO against China over their Rare Earths materials" performance a couple months ago? Here's it is if you missed it:

"This case involves, something called rare earth materials, which are used by American manufacturers to make high-tech products, like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid cars to cell phones. We want our companies building those products right here in America. But to do that, American manufacturers need access to rare earth materials – which China supplies. Now if China would simply let the market work on its own, we’d have no objections but, their policies currently are preventing that from happening, and they go against the very rules that China agreed to follow. Being able to manufacture advanced batteries and hybrid cars in America is too important for us to stand by and do nothing. We’ve got to take control of our energy future and we can’t let that energy industry take root in some other country because they’re allowed to break the rules.” (emphasis mine)

Taking "control of our energy future" - is accomplished by bringing a trade case against China??  It's their shit!!  As Maxine would say:

Or maybe he thought all of us did, Maxine.

Okay, he's threatening to sue China, over their rare earth materials, because our exceedingly greedy and consumptive country -

1. doesn't make a damned thing on its own anymore, except of course - those things with which we and our allies kill others in sovereign countries (as Glen so wonderfully and succinctly explained from the 25:37 to 32:00 segment in the first video) and,
2. didn't, and still won't, plan for this inevitability???

So all of this is China's fault??  Come on, Man!  I guess the gazillion dollars we're indebted to them is their fault too.  Talk about spewing the "company line!" {smdh}

I'm not going to sit here and act like I understand all the specifics of this, but here are some folk who seem to:



I don't know about you, but it seems to me - we can't have our cake and eat it too.  Food for thought.

###

Back to the UNAC video.  I just got back from South Carolina a few weeks ago now, and Bruce Dixon's observation at the 45:26 click is dead-on.  I told my brother as we rode through what used to be the predominantly Black eastside, "Riley and his cohorts are makin' sure the city will only be for white folk - and those Black folk who love to look down their noses at their own people."  And he is.  I'll write more about that, hopefully sooner, rather than later.

The Julian Assange Show...

Think what you want - I am more than pleased, to see/hear a news program, that is literally, far and away from the pablum fed to us on a daily basis from our alleged Fourth Estate.  Let's face it, we can hardly call ourselves - "global" - if we don't know jack-shit about what's going on,  in the globe!

Here's an example of the WikiLeaks founder's new show on RT (Episode 4).  I promise you, we'll certainly never get to see anything like this in our MSM:



On my trips to West Africa, I was amazed at CNN's coverage of us (Yes, CNN!).  My favorite show was "Black Voices," a weekly, Sunday installment about our Black brothers and sisters in the diaspora who were "doing the damned thing," in Africa, and elsewhere - their way!  It was there that I learned about an IT, African brother in DC, who was refurbishing donated computers and providing them to village children in Ghana with the help of his employer. It so excited me, I sent him this email on January 15, 2012 from the hotel (as I said somewhere before - I save everything!):

Mr. O----,
My name is Deb--- C------ and I am a Black American living in Texas, currently on my third trip to The Gambia.  I just wanted to touch bases with you to say that I watched CNN’s “African Voices” this morning and I was blown away that what you have been doing for some time, is exactly what I had been trying to figure out how to do on this trip (I don’t know why I’d not seen this on CNN in America before, or why I’d not heard of your absolutely wonderful endeavor!  Wait a minute, that’s a lie. I have my own ideas why I haven’t – but I digress.

I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe I was meant to see that show this morning.

I will be here for another two weeks gathering information. Thanks to you, I have a better focus. When I get back home, if you don’t mind, I would like to talk to you further about the hows and whys of doing something like your program in The Gambia. I’m no computer wonk, but I’m certain I can find one to help me out - there’s a (business name withheld) right around the corner from my house!
I am so proud of you and what you are doing! Your philosophy of an effort not having to be “BIG” truly inspires…

Sincerely,
Deb

He never responded.  To date, I've refurbished one laptop at my expense, and mailed it to a wonderfully ambitious young man who's going to University for nursing.  He helped my pack-a-day smokin', COPD sufferin' ass through a very bad cold while I was there.  I know he'll appreciate my keeping my word.  I know I sure do.

My point in sharing is not about me.  It's about the fact that there's so much we don't know about the world around us.  I think Julian Assange and his new show  (despite the fact that it's on RT, as critics have so vociferously pointed out ) can help us learn wa-a-y more than our MSM can -  or is willing to  - teach us.

Ruminating on Trayvon, racism, American imperialism - and a funny...

I'm with Field on this one:  Miami Heat, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade don hoodies for Trayvon Martin.  It immediately reminded me of two other athletes standing up for something on a much larger scale (IMHO, the comment thread on the Heat story shows that - like the reasons for all of these athletes making a statement - the more things change, the more they stay the same).

A meaningful development - ABC News Reports Trayvon Martin Dialed 911 Prior to Being Shot?  The caption on photo #64 at this link reads:  "Attorney Benjamin Crump holds cellphone records and a police report as he speaks with the media about his clients' son, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Crump says the teenager's cellphone records contradict the account of what happened between George Zimmerman and Martin in the moments before he was fatally shot by Zimmerman." (emphasis mine) The cellphone records could surely clear up a lot, No?

Over on one of Abagond's recent posts, "Grada Kilomba on racism in Europe" (if you've never checked out this blog, I so recommend you do) - commenter, Pan Africano left a link to a discussion on an Australian TV program entitled, "I'm not a Racist, But...".   Quite a peek into racism "Down Under" (makes me think about how the fear of us "Others," directly correlates to all of that occupying-cum-oppression by alabaster hands).

I saw this on RT awhile ago and added it to my "link hoard," mainly because, the endurance of my people never ceases to amaze me, and, because as a Black woman in America, I am constantly reminded of how seemingly completely, our umbilical cord to Africa was severed by the slave trade - unlike Christine, the mother in the video who, though assimilating into Russian culture, has proudly maintained her African culture through songs remembered, meals prepared and keeping her native language alive:



(I studied Russian a long time ago and, thoroughly enjoying the ability to be conversant in such a difficult language, I did very well.  I barely remember it now though.  It's true what the proverbial, "they" say - If you don't use it, you lose it!).

Speaking of Abagond - an astute tumbler update on Kony 2012:  KONY 2012’s funders: JP Morgan, Chase Bank and Exxon Mobil.

On a lighter note, this sure gave me a much-needed chuckle today - Police want bucks back from I-270 cash grab.  Really??  Come on now, what are the chances of that happening?!

"Daddy, I thought you said killing people was wrong?"

Oddly, that was the first thought that popped into my head as I sat (yet again) in the doctor's office yesterday morning.  With no other patient in the waiting room but me, and a white, older-than-me, retired military guy - the local morning show was interrupted with this breaking news report: "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is dead."

When I looked up at the flat-screen from my book, I saw a bloodied body, wrapped in what looked like a white sheet, the corner being pulled back - for all the world to see. The retiree looked at me, saying, "Oh, that's old news!" Apparently he had risen way earlier than I.

All I could do was shake my head and return to sister-friend, Nikky Finney's new book of poetry, "Head Off  & Split."

A little off-topic, but not (I promise to bring you right on back where I started!), how I found her after 35 years - both of us, fully grown into ourselves - was amazingly serendipitous. Last week, I came across a poetry review of Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie's, "Karma's Footsteps" at Chickenbones.  I wondered aloud, "Could this be the same Nikky Finney with whom I went to college?!"

I started to click away, but the question just kept gnawing at me - so I googled her. And the minute I landed on her site, I could see that same, perfectly symmetrical afro-wearing, line-sister I'd known - in the eyes I found there.

Listening to her being interviewed, I couldn't help but feel my own early foot-steps - in sync with hers. It was so wonderfully moving to hear her, expressing feelings and experiences that I'd felt required, to pack away in the recesses of my 18 year-old self, when I left home in search of my "American Dream."

Later, more than halfway through to 55 however, I began to realize that, as proffered, that particular "Dream," required way more than I was willing to give up of myself. So, I began to unpack those tucked-away feelings, smoothing out the wrinkles and wearing them proudly as I continually searched, for what being of my grandmother's Sea Island farm - and Africa - really meant.

I dithered for awhile, not sure whether I should send an email to find out for sure if it was, in fact, Nikky. Finally, thinking, “All she can say is, No!” - I said to myself, “What the hell, go ahead and send it!” She replied with a, "Hey good sister!! It's me! It's me alright! So glad you followed your mind and heart and pushed the SEND button! How you doing?" After a brief email exchange, I told her I was heading right out to get her books - and I did.

Finding Nikky and her poems last week - telling the stories that my new foot-steps had begun to recover and reclaim - was a wonderfully confirming nudge to my ongoing, "looking back, to go forward" journey (versus the Changeling's, "Look forward not back" bullshit advice to e'erybody).

Odder still, when the "breaking news" broke, I was halfway through her, at once, hilarious and sad-in-its-realness poem, "Plunder," about Shrub delivering his final State of the Union address. Here's where I was interrupted:

Repeats. This crescendo, in F major. Lip-syncing
the words better than Milli Vanilli. He palms the
ball again like he really wants to keep shooting.
He knows he should pass but it's the end. It is
midnight of every muscle-hearted wannabe.
Game over & out. With his right hand he fakes
a pass, then imagines a beautiful Michael Jordan
follow-through. His wrist hangs in the air like a
frozen praying mantis. He's feeling Dolly deeper.
"So true, Mr. President, so true!" a loyal fan
shouts. "My fellow Americans - Ain't it funny how
the years will find you searching through your plunder -
looking for all the treasures you gave up." Treasures?
Plunder? Get it? Well, are you with me?

After looking up and seeing the body, the Changeling and his daughters, along with the poem's "Treasures? Plunder?" began to roll around in my head - all at the same time, causing me to shake it as I wondered, "How will he explain this to their not-yet-grown-up selves? How would he put it, that he'd had no problem, paying that very high, "price of the ticket" (being directly involved in yet another killing and all)?" The answer came out, almost before I was done thinking the questions: "That American exceptionalism bullshit, of course!" Just too hilariously sad...

Remembering my countrymen's uproar over showing the bodies of our dead in photos or video, the bile rose up in my throat over the hypocrisy of the mainstream media. They were just a lit-tle, too eager - after a quick, "Warning:  What follows is graphic" - to televise the dead body of Qaddafi.

Some of that, "real American," revengeful, warm and fuzzy shit, I guess. Or maybe, more of that theatrical, pre-election fare (like this little piece of expediency - based, no doubt, on this little piece of we ain't havin' it!  Even though the "leaving" was also "inherited" from Shrub.  Like I said - theater.). Either way it was crass, and unwarranted.

I do wonder though - why, "our enemy," Osama bin-Laden, got the "swim-with-fishes" treatment, while Qaddafi, to whom we, and the other two "usual suspects" had been selling arms and providing military training, got the full-monty. Was it some sort of exclamation point to the Libyans, about who's in charge now? As I said, I shook my head and turned away - because Murder is Murder and, "If it bleeds, it leads" carries absolutely no weight around here.

I'm sure though, as dusk settled in on "Operation Odyssey Dawn" -- 

there was a "whole lotta shakin' going on" yesterday among the puppet, carrying on like his predecessor in the Big House, and  Wannabe King David across the pond at #10 Downing St. (gotta love cartoonist, Leon Kuhn!) - and of course, Little Napoleon-Sarkozy of "Le Gai Paris" (come to think of it, I wonder what story he"ll be telling his just-born, first-daughter?  I kinda doubt it'll be this one).


"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

No doubt about it first-daughters, killing people - especially when they pose no immediate threat to you - IS wrong.  And when your grown-up selves begin to face the truth of the rumors,  I hope you'll go back to your, dear old Dad and ask again - "Daddy, I thought you said killing people was wrong?"  Hopefully, for your sakes, he'll tell you the truth.

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.)