black man hoses down white lady for calling him a nigger

Oh No She Didn't!

Yes, I'm being lazy and posting videos, but they are all worth watching.

Secret Malcolm X recording with FBI

FBI Asks Malcolm To Be An Informant

Not sure where this recording comes from, but it is significant. Malcolm X was no Ernest Withers.

Words of the Week from Troy Sanders

I had never heard of Rev. Troy Sanders but I love him now. He describes himself as a "same gender loving man" and he had this to say to Ted Haggard, who is still a closeted self hater. "It didn't take a scandal for me to come out and walk in truth. ... There are other options besides waiting until we get into scandal to be called on the carpet and walking in truth." Ouch!

Sanders made excellent points not just about the hypocrisy of anti-gay gay people but about the need to critique scripture and to embrace an inclusive theology.

Mississippi G*d Damn!

“The double life sentences imposed on the Scott sisters for an alleged robbery in Mississippi netting little more than $11 is a glaring example of a criminal justice system that is no longer much concerned with justice. No one was hurt or injured, and these women have no prior offenses. No other Western democracy subjects its own people to such draconian punishment for minor crimes. And no other country in the world incarcerates such a large percentage of its racial and ethnic minorities. This is Jim Crow justice, alive and well today. I urge all those of conscience to support the Scott sisters and the thousands of other prisoners who find themselves in similar shoes.” - Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow

Fifteen years ago Jamie and Gladys Scott were each sentenced to a double life sentence for theft of $11. They vehemently deny their guilt, and witnesses who testified against them have now recanted their testimony.

Their case is getting more and more attention and NAACP president Ben Jealous is among those seeking a pardon or commutation of their sentence. I have issues with Jealous, but the NAACP still carries weight, and his involvement can be helpful. In the meantime, please do what you can to help these women whose children were babies when they were first incarcerated in the early 1990s.

Obama and Richie Rich

I just realized something important about this story. Obama’s comments deriding progressives are now well known because the white house released them. That’s right Obama lovers. He wanted the world to know he was kicking you in the butt. If he didn’t want those views to be known, they would have been edited from the transcript.

Stop crying. Wake up and smell the coffee. Beating you down is not incidental. It is an important political strategy for the Dalai Obama.

Tea Party Will Kick Democratic Ass

"Obama continued to eradicate the old Democratic branding, as president, immediately entering into backroom deals with the second most-hated tier of Big Business villains: the drug and insurance corporations. By the summer of 2009, a new brand of Republicans, the Tea Party, had cornered the huge public market on hatred of big business bailouts. Anti-bailout, anti-banker politics had become so popular, the Tea Partyers often found they could use the brand to mask the racism and virulent white nationalism that lies at the core of their 'movement.'

The Democrats no longer have anything resembling a brand, at all. Is it any wonder, then, that Democratic congresspersons are scrambling to disassociate themselves from the national party, two months from election day?"
Glen Ford

I have good ideological reasons for freeing myself from the yoke of the democratic party. But we must never forget that the democrats are just plain stupid and can't seem to learn from their past mistakes.

Democratic liberal snobbery has been in full bloom this week ever since Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell won the republican nomination for Delaware's senate seat. First we were told to turn up our noses because she once spoke against masturbation. Now every utterance she has ever made is being scrutinized so that liberals can snicker.

Don't say I didn't warn you, but I think the democrats are looking at defeat and in large part because they think everyone else is as snobbish as they are. There is nothing stupid about O'Donnell or the other new republican candidates. They know how to campaign and they have a message they stick with or as someone once said, they "stay the course."

This election cycle is looking more and more like 1994 when the republicans gave Clinton a beating. Obama and the democrats have done nothing but run from their base, and even deride them publicly in a way that Slick Willie never dared to do. As foreclosures rise and unemployment continues unabated, the democrats continue to talk about deficits and swear off a stimulus bill that might actually help millions of people.

While they laugh at O'Donnell she and the rest of the republicans are filling the void. Nature does abhor a vacuum, especially in politics. Democratic base turn out will be low and the energized tea party will win.

The democrats only do well when republicans have been utter failures and are hated by the masses of people. Now democrats don't have a hated republican to run against. They have a lousy health care plan that they connived to postpone until 2013 and so they can't even use it to run with. The wars continue unabated and the corporate bailouts continue. Apathy rules and that means we are looking a republican victory on election day.

We must also remember that the victory isn't really that big a deal. The "stupid" Palins and O'Donnells will wave the banner of war, but so does Obama. They will assassinate American citizens but so does the constitutional law professor president. I have often said that the right wing come by their brand of terror honestly. What excuse does our smarty pants president have? And don't forget Democratic treason against their own. ACORN was destroyed with a democratic president and democratic controlled congress and yet they couldn't have been any worse off if McCain and Palin had been in charge.

At any rate, get ready for Christine O'Donnell. The republicans are supporting and raising money for her and she is only 11 points behind the democratic candidate. Get used to her. She will be around for at least six years.

Obama Sucks Up to Richie Richman (Pun Intended)

Barack Obama certainly knows where his bread is buttered. The path to political power begins with rich people, and getting and keeping their approval.

On Thursday night Obama spoke at a $30,000 per person Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Greenwich, Connnecticut. The event was held at the home of Richard and Ellen Richman. Yes, that's right, their last name is Richman. What irony.

At any rate, not only did the president tell his well heeled audience why they should keep writing checks, but he decided to take the opportunity to beat up progressives.

"Now, the second reason I'm telling you this is because Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed -- oh, well, the public option wasn't there. If you get the financial reform bill passed -- then, well, I don't know about this particularly derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven't yet brought about world peace and -- (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.)"

The odds were against any pesky progressives being present in the $30k per plate crowd, but why pass up a chance to reassure the check bundlers? Of course Obama would hang out with Richie Richman and make fun of people who have the nerve to make political demands. The Richmans of the world demand such behavior from anyone who wants to climb the political greased pole.

As for people who want world peace, we have sense enough to know that the democrats can't give it to us. That is why we have already dumped the democrats and know that we can't rely on electoral politics to produce change that will bring peace, justice and a sustainable planet.

No need to feel offended. Yes, we know who we are and we know that the democrats are not only not the answer for change, but that they are as much a part of the problem as the reviled republicans. More on that in my next post.

Hat tip to Glenn Greenwald

VANUN FREEDOM OF SPEECH MAY 23-2010.m4v

Mordechai Vanunu should be a nobel peace prize laureate, not Barack Obama.

Constitution Free Zone

I did not know that the U.S. Border Patrol was allowed to operate within 100 miles of the border until I saw the New York Times article I linked to a few days ago. Mind you, they don't have to be within 100 miles of an actual border, but also within 100 miles of international waters. What does that mean? It means that if like two-thirds of the population you live in New York City, Seattle, New Orleans, Akron, Philadelphia, Sheboygan, Bangor, Raleigh, Los Angeles, Yuma or Sacramento, you are in a Constitution Free Zone. Be sure to check out the graphic and relax and enjoy the rest of your Labor Day. No worries.

Raid on Rochester Bus

Caught in Transit: The Rochester Border Patrol Station from NewsHouse on Vimeo.

Fascism in Upstate New York

In the old days, the Bush years, I had it easy. I would go on and on with great indignation because I was convinced we were heading towards fascism because of an evil president and his equally evil henchmen and henchwomen.

Now we have a new president, with the letter D behind his name, and we still are headed toward fascism. If you take the Lakeshore Limited train in western New York you can be questioned by the Border Patrol and arrested if you can’t prove citizenship.

A recent New York Times article tells us the grim story of racial profiling and police state tactics which caused at least one legal resident to be imprisoned for two weeks. Border Patrol agents stop people who they consider suspicious and ask them to prove their legal status in the country. This is deeply troubling for several reasons.

As the Director of the International Services Office at the University of Rochester pointed out, hardly any white people are stopped or detained. “Only one of the ten or more people who have been detained recently would be considered caucasian.” So there you have it. A democrat, the first black president, yada, yada and yada, is up to the same old tricks as the despised Bush.

Actually he is worse than Bush. He is worse because more is expected of him, he is worse because liberals are more snobbish than anything and will put up with whatever the system dishes out as long as the dishing is done by a smarty pants ivy leaguer instead of a dumb one.

So if you go through Rochester or Buffalo on a bus or train you had better have your papers ready.

Wish I’d Said That Too

When I posted the words of Reclusive Leftists in the previous post I had a sense of deja vu. Chris Floyd had similar words not long ago.

“Many of the writers seem to be operating on the assumption -- or under the delusion -- that Obama actually had some kind of political-economic-social agenda that he wanted to enact as president, and that he is now "failing" to enact it, "squandering" his opportunity. There still seems to be a belief that he ran for president because he wanted to do something with all that power.
But Obama is not "failing"; he is doing exactly what he set out to do: be the president. That's it. That's all he wanted to do. And he's doing it. The panic now emanating from the White House is not that of a man watching a chance to realize his deeply held ideals for a better world slipping away from him; it's just the flopsweat of a guy trying to stay perched on top of the greasy pole for another term. From his earliest days in office, it has been clear that Obama, like Clinton before him, had no real political program to enact; he was happy to do whatever it took to get enough votes to put him into office, while also assuring the real brokers of national power -- Big Money, Big War -- that he was a "safe pair of hands" who would never seriously disturb the blood-smeared operation of their giant sausage grinder.”

“To tell you the truth, though, I’m still not convinced that Obama actually wants anything, at least not in a political sense. He seems to me an utter blank. He’s a self-propelling election device that exists solely to get itself elected. It continues to amaze me that so many people somehow thought this empty suit was a savior. Even his campaign message was just a recycled leftover from one of Axelrod’s earlier clients.

So what does he want? I don’t know. Perhaps he has obligations to his financial backers. Wall Street bankrolled his campaign, and those vampires have been slavering for a chunk of Social Security for years now. Maybe there was a deal. Who the f*k knows.”

Reclusive Leftist

Iraq: Mission accomplished?

No, the occupation of Iraq has not ended. All troops have not left, and the number of mercenaries may double.

Don’t F*k with Iran

"The mass graves that used to be for burying Saddam's soldiers have now been prepared again for US soldiers, and this is the reason for digging this big number of graves.”

My title is short and sweet for a reason. I could go on and on about how the United States undermined democracy in Iran 60 years ago when it over threw the Mossadegh government (with the help of the U.K.) I could point out that the United States with its then ally Saddam Hussein attacked Iran and fomented a decade long war which killed 1 million human beings. I might also add that unlike Israel, Iran is a signatory of Non Proliferation Treaty and has allowed numerous inspections of its nuclear production sites.

But I’ll just get to the point. Iran is a can of whup ass, and that fact is the only thing which has forestalled a United States attack until how. Iran has launched a satellite and has now officially begun operating a nuclear reactor with the help of Russia. This is a technologically advanced country, and should not be trifled with.

Fear of defeat is the only thing which keeps the United States in line. It is imperative that the nations it declares enemies maintain enough strength to keep dumb ass Americans from thinking they can invade and occupy at will.

In case the point is lost on anyone, President Ahmadinejad unveiled a new drone with great fanfare.  "This jet, before it heralds death for enemies, is the messenger of salvation and dignity for humanity." I certainly hope Admadinejad can back up his words with action. It is imperative that Israel and the United States fail if they dare to attack Iran. There is nothing like a good old fashioned ass whipping to keep rogues in line.

The Occupation of Iraq Continues

No, the United States military has not left Iraq. The overly hyped exit is:  A) the result of a Bush era agreement (no thanks to the Dalai Obama), and B) not the end of an American presence. There will still be 50,000 troops left in the country.  Not only will these supposedly non-combat troops remain, but the number of private security will double to 7,000.

Where will the exiting troops end up? Afghanistan of course. There is still no end to warfare for this country.

Et tu Howard Dean?

So Howard Dean is channeling Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Peter King? I was a big fan of Howard Dean, in the days when I still had faith in the democrats. I defended him when the corporate media and the democratic party turned on him. I played hooky from work to get him to sign a book at a Barnes and Noble. No more.

Today Dean said that the Islamic cultural center slated to be built near the world trade center, should be moved. Not only did he go there, but he clearly had not been paying any attention to the debate at all. He referred to the "congregation" that doesn't exist. The so-called mosque is in fact a cultural center which will have one room set aside for prayer. Dean said that Islam was still in the 12th century and he also claimed that Muslims also considered the "mosque" an afront. Really? Which Muslims? The Uncle Tom Muslims?

Next week I will write about the racism, psychosis, and just plain asshattery which is being spawned in this debate. I certainly hope that center is built as planned in the location the organizers have designated.

"The best time in my life"

Eden Abergil is an ordinary young Israeli. She completed her military service in the occupied territories and went on with her life.

She was so nostalgic about her days as an occupier that she posted photos of herself on her Facebook page. The photos of Eden depicted Palestinians bound and blind folded with the smiling young soldier seated beside them.

Thanks to Breaking the Silence, a group dedicated to exposing the violence of the occupation, Abergil’s photos were made public. Abergil removed the photos after an international outcry, too late for the cyber world, but whines and pouts that she has been mistreated. “I still don’t understand what’s wrong.”

As far as we know, Abergil didn’t pose for pictures with dead bodies. Apparently that is quite common among IDF soldiers.

Ali Abunimah Explains the Obama Back Stroke

"What the critics are engaged in is collective vilification, delegitimization and incitement against Muslims in the United States and they are doing it deliberately and for political purposes. This is what needs to be recognized and confronted and sadly I do not see the president or any other senior politicians in the United States doing that." - Ali Abunimah

When I first heard that Obama supported the Islamic cultural center near the world trade center site, I couldn't believe my ears. Would I actually be able to praise Obama? Well of course I couldn't. He disavowed his statement less than 24 hours later. Ali Abunimah explains.

Obama Back Tracks on Support for Islamic Cultural Center

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable." - Barack Obama on August 13, 2010

"I was not commenting on and will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding." - Barack Obama on August 14, 2010

There is nothing worse than cynical, manufactured outrage. The debate over the construction of an Islamic cultural center to be located near the world trade center site is the latest example of this despicable phenomenon.

There is no legal way to stop the building of this center, which by the way is not a mosque. The group owns the site, they have the right to own it, and that should be the end of that. The local community board, made up entirely of area residents, gave approval for the center. Not to admit defeat, opponents then turned to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in an attempt to landmark the current site and prevent anything new from being constructed. The commission correctly affirmed that the site is not worthy of designation and the story should have ended there. How naive of me.

Mayor Bloomberg, who I generally disagree with on every issue facing our city, rightly affirmed his support for the project again and again. He is the only profile in political courage to emerge from this story. Yesterday at an iftah, the Ramadan evening meal, Obama stated his support for the center, or so I and millions of other people thought.

Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Peter King, John Boehner and company all pounced on the president's remarks, and like a good little suck up, he obeyed the professional right. He always does. The left, professional or not, gets the ACORN treatment.

The attacks on Islam are just sickening. Opponents of the center go on and on about the terrorists being inspired by Islam and killing in the name of that religion. In fact, their act was primarily political. Osama bin Laden made that clear in the days when he used to give interviews. He was angry at America's support for Israel's human rights violations against the Palestinians. He was angry that U.S. troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia.

It is easier to talk about Muslims wanting to kill us all because we aren't Muslims. Nine years after 9/11 they have even more reason to be mad. Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia are all victims of mass killings at the behest of Uncle Sam. If we talked about the real reason for their anger we would have to question our government and our willingness to support, passively or actively, its criminal actions. It is much easier to foam at the mouth because a center which includes a prayer room will be located two blocks north of "ground zero."

As for our president, what can I say. He is always a double talking back stabber.

Professional Left? Hell yes!

“. . . if anyone needs to be "drug tested," it would be those denying that many of Bush's most controversial policies and actions have been embraced in full by Barack Obama.” – Glenn Greenwald

So, presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs wants me, and you, to STFU. Most importantly, his words represented perfectly the feelings of  his boss, who wants us to be quiet and let him do what he likes without so much as uttering a peep.

In an interview with The Hill, Gibbs whined about the “professional left” who have the nerve to want “Canadian health care” but who still wouldn’t be happy even if “Dennis Kucinich was president.” Anyone who dares point out that Obama is carrying out Bush policies “Ought to be drug tested.” On the one hand, I’m angry with Gibbs for openly expressing his obvious contempt, on the other hand, he did get some things right.

Yes I would like Canadian health care. It saves more lives and more money that our system. If Kucinich were president I wouldn’t be happy because that would mean he had morphed into the monsters who climb atop the greased pole of American politics. Only a corporatist who fully backs the empire and all of its authority will be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Obama and his successors will be Bushites too. Some will be smart, some will be dumb. Some will appeal to the blue and some to the red but in the end they will all work to achieve the same ends.

I have never heard Gibbs or his boss complain about the professional right. The week before his inauguration Barack Obama ran off to have dinner at the home of George Will where he was joined by the likes of Bill Kristol, Peggy Noonan and Charles Krauthamer, leaders of the professional right. 

There really isn’t anything new here. Obama kept Bush’s defense secretary, his security apparatus, and his wars. He pursued the same policy of bailing out the banksters. Health care reform is more of a bailout of private health insurers than anything else.

The professional left had better wise up and abandon this guy before it is too late.  As far as I can tell, we couldn’t be any worse off if Obama is a one termer. We might actually get a better democrat if we dump him. As one of my favorite sites, Stop Me Before I Vote Again points out, the left won’t be anything until they dump the democrats.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings "Tell Me"

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Enjoy and don't pass up a chance to see them live.

Missionaries Killed in Afghanistan

“Human beings will do anything, anything. I am convinced. That's why when all those beheadings started in Iraq it didn't bother me. A lot of people here were horrified, "Whaaaa, beheadings!" What, are you fucking surprised? Just one more form of extreme human behaviour. Besides, who cares about some mercenary civilian contractor from Oklahoma who gets his head cut off? Fuck 'em. Hey Jack, you don't want to get your head cut off? Stay the fuck in Oklahoma. They ain’t cuttin' of heads in Oklahoma, far as I know. But I do know this: you strap on a gun and go struttin' around some other man’s country you better be ready for some action Jack. People are touchy about that sort of thing. And let me ask you this... this is a morale question, not rhetorical, I am looking for the answer: what is the moral difference between cuttin' off one guys head, or two, or three, of five or ten - and dropping a big bomb on a hospital and killing a whole bunch of sick kids? Has anybody in authority given you an explanation of the difference?” - George Carlin

Medical missionaries were killed in Afghanistan yesterday. “Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Pakistan that they killed the foreigners because they were ‘spying for the Americans’ and ‘preaching Christianity.’”

I couldn’t help but think of the late George Carlin’s words. I don’t know if the individuals killed were spying or prosletizing, but I do know that their deaths were no worse than the deaths of thousands of Afghans killed by our government.

They were innocent you say? So were the people killed by Uncle Sam. Don’t mourn for one if you don’t mourn for all

Obama’s Lies About Iraq

Seventeen months after President Barack Obama pledged to withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq by Sep. 1, 2010, he quietly abandoned that pledge Monday, admitting implicitly that such combat brigades would remain until the end of 2011. – Gareth Porter

Here we go again. Barack Obama gets anti-war credibility when he deserves none.

Lest we forget, it was Bush who signed the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) back in 2008.  SOFA requires the U.S. to be out of Iraq by 2011, Obama’s double talk is irrelevant because Bush set the stage for a U.S. withdrawal.

Not only that, but the Obama plan, like Bush’s, permits up to 50,000 troops to remain in Iraq. They will not be called combat troops, they are advisers or supporters or whatever.

So let’s recap. Bush signed the agreement for a reduction of some forces but not all, Obama must abide by the same agreement and he keeps pushing back the date for the phony withdrawal.

Nothing to see here. Keep it moving.

“We are sort of a mongrel people.”

Oh no he didn’t! Yes, the president did. When he appeared on The View last week he said that black people were “sort of a mongrel people.”

I am no mongrel. Like all black Americans I have some white ancestry. My grandmother was part Creek Indian. That does not make me a dog, the species for which the term is usually reserved. Humans should not be called mongrels, ever. Calling a human being a mongrel is an insult and cannot be seen any other way.

Obama once again showed his contempt for black people. I guess he likes Michelle and his own family, but the rest of us are just domesticated animals as far as he is concerned.

I thought it interesting when the president referred to himself as a “mutt.” Of course he was referring to himself. One could argue that he had the right to compare himself to a dog, but he certainly doesn’t have the right to use such language in regard to anyone else.

Shirley Sherrod’s Righteous Anger

Read my take on the story here in Black Agenda Report. Sherrod’s story has already been diminished. She had every right to be angry and I explain why.

“These leaks won’t stop until someone’s in an orange jumpsuit.”

Those are the words of Kit Bond, republican senator from Missouri. I just saw him on the Today Show, commenting on the Wikileaks release of 92,000 classified documents revealing the war crimes created by the occupation of Afghanistan.

Bond has already gotten his wish. PFC Bradley Manning sits in detention in Kuwait for allegedly releasing the video which showed U.S. troops killing Iraqi reporters and injuring little children in a helicopter attack. Thank goodness for Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder. Too bad the Today show didn’t have the courage to interview him.

Manning is going to pay a huge price for doing the right thing. What about the left? Will we ever do the right thing, or will we defend the status quo which currently lives in the person of one  Barack Obama?

Even Van Jones, one of the first victims of the Obama greyhound bus express, defends the person who kicked him to the curb. Obama is like the drunk father in a dysfunctional family, beating up the wife and kids but still getting lots of love.

But I have already digressed, jumping from Wikileaks to Van Jones, but perhaps I am on the right track. You see it is all about the way our system works. No one is allowed to get to the top unless they promise to uphold empire and corporate power. Our only salvation is to oppose them. When we don’t we are complicit or like Jones we are just chumps.

Say no to war and yes to the Mannings of the world. Say no to Van Jones and say yes to opposition. Please watch the video I posted yesterday of Glen Ford’s speech. We need a “culture of resistance” not a seat at the table if all we get are crumbs.

Glen Ford: Breaking the Obama Spell, at the United National Peace Confer...

Glen Ford at Albany NY Peace Conference

I haven't posted in soooo long. I will take the easy way out and let Glen Ford speak for me. I took a vacation break but my column will return to Black Agenda Report this week.

As always, listen to Glen if you want to know what time it is.

McChrystal Done in by Liquor and Volcanic Ash

Gen. Stanley McChrystal may resign or be fired this week because of critical comments he and his staff made about their commander in chief and his team. McChrystal was hand picked by president Obama to oversee the occupation of Afghanistan. Tomorrow he must show up at the white house and explain himself to his boss.

Michael Hastings is a freelancer assigned to cover McChrystal for Rolling Stone magazine. He was scheduled to spend two days with the general in Paris, but as luck would have it, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano kept Hastings from leaving Europe. He asked to accompany McChrystal on a bus trip to Berlin and ended up spending ten days with him. On the bus McChrystal and his staff drank “the whole way” and “let loose.” In vino veritas. Perhaps volcanoes bring a little veritas too.

One staffer claimed that Obama was “intimidated” by military brass, others snickered at vice president Biden dubbing him “Bite Me” (can’t blame them).  Most importantly, they openly expressed doubt that the war, the longest in American history, is at all winnable.

It is easy to focus on the gossipy parts of this story only to lose sight of the most important fact. The United States has occupied Afghanistan since 2001 and killed thousands of its people, all in an effort to keep us “safer” from terrorist attacks. The occupation must end, and it makes no difference if McChrystal or someone else is in charge of this great wrong doing.

The U.S. presence in Afghanistan is just one more straw that will eventually break the back of the empire. No one knows when or how that fall will take place, but fall it will and not without taking a big chunk of humanity with it.

Resistance is not only non futile but it is necessary. It would be terrible if the U.S. faced no resistance from a subjugated population. Long live the resistance, and down with McChrystal or whoever else gets to sit in that corner office.

Amy Bishop Killed Her Brother

Better late than never I guess. As I pointed out in my Black Agenda Report column back in February, professor Amy Bishop should have been charged with murdering her own brother back in 1986. Despite holding hostages and pointing a gun at police, she was never charged with a crime. In 2010 she walked into a staff meeting at the University of Alabama and murdered three of her colleagues.

Bishop has now been indicted for her brother’s murder. Thank God for small favors. I certainly hope that the victims’ families sue the authorities in Massachusetts who allowed this travesty to take place.

Jun 14, 2010 11:09 AM

Rangel Sucks

I have reached my limit. Last week one of my senators, Charles Schumer, proudly said that Gaza should be "strangled." Now my congressman is trying to out do him with pro-Israeli rhetoric. I know the drill. You can't raise money in New York unless you march in lock step with the zionists. I don't want to hear any more excuses. I don't care if Rangel and Schumer are pro choice or anti the things I don't like. I won't cast my vote for either of them again. I guess it is official. I have dumped the democrats for good.

Seven Year Old Hung?

There are unconfirmed news reports of a seven year old child being hung by the Taliban in Helmand province Afghanistan. According to these reports, the child was accused of being a spy.

If true, it is simply awful, an atrocity. But I’m not convinced that the story has any validity at all. The story is completely unsourced, which isn’t necessarily proof of a lie, but we shouldn’t cast aside skepticism either.

Strategically placed tales of atrocities have always been used to keep the public in a war loving mood. I find it odd that there hasn’t been any press interviewing family or other towns people. President Karzai called the killing a crime against humanity, “if confirmed.” Doesn’t the president have confirmation? I would think he would. Such confirmation would constitute a huge propaganda victory.

Even if true, this report should give rise to some self criticism on the part of Americans.

A Taliban source in Helmand told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai on Thursday he was aware of the boy being killed, but that it was a case of a militant settling a personal vendetta against the boy's family, then using the spying charges as an excuse. The source said he believed the boy's executor had fled across the border to Pakistan.

The hanging comes as a Taliban commander in neighboring Kandahar province -- the Taliban's traditional home territory -- tells CBS News that a suicide attack on a wedding party that left 40 people dead was "collective punishment" for villagers standing up to the Islamic militants' control in the region.

If Israel massacres Gazans to exact collective punishment, why is it worse for the Taliban to do the same thing? When Israel was dropping bombs that killed little children, the United States Congress passed a resolution supporting that atrocity. Only five House members had the courage to vote nay. If the Taliban did commit this act they have now made themselves the equal of the Israeli and American governments.

Abortions via Webcam

Finally we have some good news for reproductive rights. We certainly need some. Politicians who live in fear and loathing of female sexuality have lately piled on in their efforts to prevent women from exercising their right to abortion.

But Planned Parenthood of Iowa has found a way to provide services to women who don’t live near abortion clinics. Doctors use video conferencing to prescribe RU486, mifepristone, a drug which induces abortion without the need of a surgical procedure.

The right to lifers are beside themselves with anger, suddenly concerned about the violation of the doctor/patient relationship. Too bad for them. RU486 is legal and it gives options to women who consider abortion. It is a very good thing that Iowans don’t have to run a gauntlet of abortion haters and have the ability to make their choice in the privacy of their own homes. 

“I Hate Israel”

“Okay, I admit it. In fact, I proclaim it from the housetops: I hate Israel. I hate it worse than Kosovo or Croatia or any other nasty little actually-existing racial-chauvinist country I can think of -- though in my defense I will say I hated apartheid South Africa as much, while it was around. But now that the Boers aren't running the show there any more, Israel has had to take up the slack; and it has done so, admirably, more than adequately, and con amore.

I encourage others to join me here. Free your minds of cant, abandon false piety and useless prudence, and repeat after me: I hate Israel.” - Michael Smith

What is wrong with hating Israel? It is a nation which takes a huge amount of our public funds and uses it to build nukes, kill Palestinians and make people around the world hate us all. We Americans are all accomplices to Israel’s many crimes.

The zionists control a media now devoid of standards and they use money to control both major political parties. Any politician who dares speak up against Israel immediately faces a well funded opponent.  So we are all powerless in the face of this onslaught, even those of us who would change the equation. That excuse doesn’t cut any ice in the Arab and Muslim world, so we are hated no matter what we believe.

I’m truly sick and tired of having a bulls eye on my head because of the Israelis. I live under the constant threat of terror attack because the Israelis are a bunch of sick fascists, a nation akin to “a mad dog” as Moshe Dayan said.

I love Michael Smith at Stop Me Before I Vote Again, but I take issue with one thing he said. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never said he wanted to wipe Israel off the map. Aside from that correction, I will free my mind of cant, false piety and useless prudence and gladly say that I hate any government which deliberately kills humanitarian aid workers and uses my tax dollars to do it.

Norman Finkelstein

“During Israel’s massacre in Gaza … afterwards Israeli officials were saying that they wanted to show the Arab world that they were capable of acting like a lunatic state and like mad dogs. That they wanted to restore the Arab world’s fear of Israel.

We really have to ask the question, is Israel acting like a lunatic state or has it become a lunatic state?

Israel is now a lunatic state. It’s a lunatic state with between two and three hundred nuclear devices. It is threatening war daily against Iran and against the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Things are getting out of control. We have to ask ourselves a simple basic simple fundamental question. Can a lunatic state like Israel be trusted with two to three hundred nuclear devices when it is threatening its neighbors Iran and Lebanon with an attack?”

'Israel is a Lunatic State' - Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack

Israel Murders (Again)

Israel is no longer content to just ram ships and injure human beings attempting to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Now that nation increases its criminality by killing 9 people who had every right to sail in international waters and to bring help to a suffering people.

Why do they hate us? I guess it is because our client state continues its criminality with impunity.

More “Illegals” Please

I hope my Black Agenda Report colleague Bruce Dixon will forgive this title. He rightly points out “… There are no such people as ‘illegals’ and there are no such things as ‘illegal aliens.’ The terms ‘illegals’ and ‘illegal’ aliens are nothing but good old fashioned hundred percent white American hate speech. . .”

Yet I couldn’t help but give a shout out to a blogger who is new to me. Angry Drunk Bureaucrat hits the nail on the head in describing the nonsensical outrage over “illegals.”

“Let's really focus on the fact that, if there are 140,000 illegal immigrants in the Commonwealth (Pennsylvania) that's 140,000 people that *are being counted* towards things like, oh I don't know, the Census, which keeps us from hemorrhaging population.
So fuck Metcalfe and Readshaw: bring as many goddamn illegal immigrants to PA as soon as possible. Build towns, boroughs, cities. Drive up the population. Drive up demand for services. Increase the tax base. Increase the number of seats Pennsylvania has in the House.”

I always remember the old expression “Be careful what you ask for.” If undocumented workers did leave en masse then this country would be in very deep trouble. There are thousands of undocumented who pay into the social security system but who will never see one dime of that money.

They also rent and sometimes purchase homes. They pay sales tax at the store the way everyone else does. If it weren’t for immigration, legal or illegal, states like New York would lose congressional representation.

So bring it on world! Send us your tired your poor and your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We need their cash, their taxes and their bodies for census workers to count.  Approximately forty percent of New York City residents were born outside of the United States. The city would be poorer literally and figuratively without them and so would the rest of the country too. I for one am glad they are here. Their presence helps us all.

Obama Stiffs Black Farmers

“So far, Mr. Obama has deferred to Congress. Some farmers have speculated that the president is shying away from the issue because it involves race. The White House said that was untrue.” – New York Times

No we can’t! That seems to be the president’s motto whenever black people need help. In the pre-Obama days, black people would at least go through the motions of making demands. “Democrats take our votes for granted,” was the common refrain.

Now we have a president who ignores us with absolute impunity. Black farmers in southern states were discriminated against by the United States Department of Agriculture for decades. They were denied loans on a regular basis and many lost their properties as a result.

They won a landmark lawsuit in 1999, Pigford v. Glickman, which compensated the farmers with $1 billion. An additional $1.25 billion is still owed but neither congress nor the administration has acted on the claim, missing a March 31st deadline.

The president could release money through a Treasure department Pigford fund, but has so far has declined to do so. I’ll say it for the 101st time, black Americans would be better off with a white democrat in the white house than with Obama. Obama idol worshippers want to have it both ways. On the one hand they endlessly talk about how brilliant he is and in the same breath proclaim that he can’t possibly figure out a way to do anything that benefits black people without making white people mad.

Racist white people don’t like him anyway and don’t really care what he does. So like a bunch of chumps, Obama’s black supporters give him carte blanche to stab us in the back time after time. 

It is insulting to say that expeditiously helping black farmers would somehow destroy the Obama presidency. He hasn’t acted on this issue because he just doesn’t care. There is nothing complicated going on here. The president has the power to get this money without asking congress but he refuses to do it because inaction and betrayal have worked so well for him in the past.

Drill Barack Drill

I just had to post this Mike Flugennock cartoon.

Obama Continues Oil Drilling Approvals

"Salazar is playing a cynical shell game, making the public think he stopped issuing the faulty approvals that allowed the disastrous BP drilling to occur, when in fact he has given MMS the green light to keep issuing those very same approvals. The only thing Salazar has stopped is the final, technical check-off which comes long after the environmental review."

Ever since the April 20th explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, the Obama administration has given the green light to 27 different off shore drilling projects.

Drill baby drill!

Aiyana Jones

"There is no question about what happened because it's in the videotape. It's not an accident. It's not a mistake. There was no altercation. Aiyana Jones was shot from outside on the porch. The videotape shows clearly the officer throwing through the window a stun grenade-type explosive and then within milliseconds of throwing that, firing a shot from outside the home."  Geoffrey Feiger

Aiyana Jones was a seven year old girl living in Detroit, who was killed by the police while sleeping in her own home.  The police were searching for a murder suspect thought to be in the Jones home.

The story smelled to high heaven from the beginning. The cops used a flash grenade as they entered the home, a practice meant to disorient armed and dangerous suspects. Neighbors told cops that children were in the house, why use a flash grenade? There was a weird story about the gun “discharging” and a cop’s collision with a grand mother. It made no sense.

Today it all made terrible sense. The cops were filming an episode of The First 48, a reality show produced by the A&E network. I remember when A&E meant Arts and Entertainment. Now it is reruns and reality.

The First 48 follows a  police investigation in the two days following a murder. I have to admit that I was addicted, no pun intended, to another A&E program, Intervention, which shows an addict and family in the days leading up to an intervention and a stint in rehab. I realized it was not healthy to be entertained by other people’s pain and I pulled the plug on Intervention.

It was followed by Obsession which showed obsessive compulsives under treatment and now Hoarders, where you can watch people living with their own garbage. Bad television was bad enough, but now it has resulted in the death of a child. The cops were obviously trying to make an ordinary scene seem to be a lot more exciting, so they fired into a window and threw in a flash grenade. Aiyana is dead because of bad television.

Civil Rights a Non Issue for Leahy

Today the Huffington Post breathlessly reported what first appeared to be good news. Huffpo said that Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, would “throw cold water” on the Bush, I mean Obama administration plan to gut fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination for terror suspects.

The truth turns out to be less than wonderful. "The question is not so much whether I'm concerned about the civil rights one way or another, it is what a court will agree to. After all, it was the Supreme Court that set down the rules of Miranda. Whatever changes might be made, have to made within the confines of what the United States Supreme Court has already said.”

It doesn’t matter if he cares or not? Well apparently he doesn’t. Civil rights, no biggie for the white house or for the senate either. I suppose we have to take some comfort in his tepid response, but sooner or later our rights will be watered down into nothingness, by Obama and the democrats.

The Supreme Court and the Ruling Class

Barack Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan is an absolute disaster for the democratic party and for democracy itself. The nomination is just the latest proof of Obama’s obliteration of black politics and his victory over all progressives. Anyone praised by the likes of Joseph Lieberman for moving the court in a “less liberal” direction is a bad bet for the progressive cause.

Kagan could not find one black person worthy to hire as a tenure track law professor when she served as dean of Harvard law school. Indeed, this white woman could find only six white women to hire, out of a total of 32 tenure track positions filled in her tenure.

Yet it is the Harvard connection which is one of the more disturbing elements of the Kagan nomination. If Kagan is confirmed, all nine supreme court justices will have attended either Harvard or Yale universities (Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended Harvard for a time but ultimately graduated from Columbia).

Americans love to believe in their self-aggrandizing myth of a classless society, a meritocracy. In this well rehearsed lie, this country purported to be one in which any individual might rise as a result of hard work and determination.

The fact that only two out of 160 law schools in the country have been deemed worthy for consideration to the highest court is an indicator of a very disturbing change in our society. There is no longer any pretense that this country is a meritocracy. The ever intensifying class stratification is being more and more solidified and is expressed in new and awful ways on a daily basis.

The truly awful justice Antonin Scalia said so himself, out loud and in a public venue. When asked by a student at the American University law school how she could succeed without connections, Scalia at first told her to, “Just work hard and be very good.“ When the discussion moved to the likelihood that she might reach the holy grail of being a clerk for a Supreme Court justice, Scalia set her straight.  He quickly remembered himself and told her the honest truth, that she could pretty much forget about getting anywhere when she attended such a lowly institution.

“By and large I’m going to be picking from the law schools that basically are the hardest to get into. They admit the best and the brightest, and they may not teach very well, but you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse. If they come in the best and the brightest, they’re probably going to leave the best and the brightest, O.K.?”

It isn’t clear what the young woman thought about being referred to as a sow’s ear, but she certainly went home knowing that she shouldn’t even think about venturing out of her place on the class system totem pole.

Kagan’s defenders can’t defend the blank slate technocrat on the merits, they just talk about how wonderful and brilliant she is. Period. That is proof enough of Kagan’s lack of qualifications to serve as a justice on the nation’s highest court and of a more insidious form of corruption at work as Jonathan Turley points out.

“Nominations like Kagan’s are the result of a network of graduates who work consciously or unconsciously to see that their own are nominated. Notably, after Kagan’s nomination, powerful figures from her Harvard years came forward to vouch for her abilities. Their message was the same: Despite her lack of a record, she is known in our circle as a real winner. She is, in a phrase, one of us. Indeed, reporters breathlessly reported how Kagan and Scalia are good friends and how she knows many of the main players from Harvard, as if it is the judicial equivalent to having graduated from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The favoritism shown Harvard and Yale should be viewed not just as incestuous but as scandalous. It undermines educational institutions across the country by maintaining a clearly arbitrary and capricious basis for selection. It also runs against the grain of a nation based on meritocracy and opportunity.”

Turley should have said allegedly based on meritocracy and opportunity. I will have more to say about the Kagan nomination and black America in my Black Agenda Report column on Wednesday.

Death Unmasked

Saw this Leon Kuhn cartoon. Had to post it.

John Brown

“Had he succeeded, the Civil War would have been started not by the secessionists but by the abolitionists, and the issue from the first shot would have been freedom, not union. The conflict might have been shorter and the outcome less bloody.”

I missed his birthday. Brown was born on May 9, 1800 and my blogging inactivity has caused me to miss that and other events. John is one of America’s greatest heroes.  If not for John Brown, slavery might not have ended until the twentieth century. The south controlled congress and the courts, and was adamant that the “peculiar institution” continue and spread to newly settled territories. Northerners were tired of being controlled by the slave powers, but most weren’t willing to fight back. Brown was, and he hastened the start of the war and the end of slavery.Terry Bisson and  Kevin Gray explain why Brown is so important.

Twin Disasters: Elena Kagan and Oil

No, I haven't posted in a long time, three months to be exact. Much has happened in that time, and I must have been suffering from outrage fatigue. I have of course been regularly writing my Black Agenda Report column, but alas I have neglected this blog and that means I have neglected myself as well. No mas!

Since February the president ended the moratorium on offshore drilling and told a bold faced lie in the process. "It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today don't cause spills. Technologically they are very advanced. Even during Katrina the spills didn't come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore."

Well, that was before the Deepwater Horizon blew up in the Gulf of Mexico and put egg squarely on Obama's face. Oh and by the way, oil rigs did cause spills in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Liar, liar pants on fire.

What does the oil disaster in the gulf have to do with Elena Kagan, Obama's supreme court nominee? Because the hits just keep on coming. My worst fears about Obama are being realized and in very short order. Every week brings a new outrage that I need to get over and be outraged about.

As I said in my BAR column, we are told to keep voting for democrats because of the importance of federal judicial nominations. But if a democratic president chooses a conservative democrat, what is the point of supporting him?

As dean of Harvard law school, Kagan did not appoint one black law professor during her tenure, not one. Out of 32 tenure or tenure track positions, she hired only seven women, one of whom was Asian. No African Americans, Latinos or Native Americans were hired. All 25 men hired were white.

Why did Obama choose her? Glenn Greenwald explained it all very well. "Nothing is a better fit for this white house than a blank slate, institution-loyal, seemingly principle free careerist, who spent the last 15 months as the Obama administration's lawyer vigorously defending every one of his assertions of extremely broad executive authority."

So here we are with a mediocre butt kisser on the court, a court devoid of anyone who didn't attend Yale or Harvard. The outrage is back!

Wish I'd Said That

“Black people gamble. Black people smoke. Black people drink. And so if these companies want to take some of the money they’ve earned off of our people and give it to us to support good causes, then we take it.” - Elsie Scott, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

Not a pretty picture. Our colored representatives sell themselves cheaply for the sake of good parties. They get to stay in office and throw fabulous soirees while they do it. My people, my people.

Killer Professor

You can get away with a lot if you're both white and an Ivy Leaguer. Amy Bishop, the killer professor at the University of Alabama at Huntsville is an excellent example of this phenomenon.

Twenty-four years ago, Bishop shot and killed her brother and somehow managed not to be charged with a crime. I'm guessing that mom and dad are wealthy and or well connected. Stay tuned. It also turns out that the then District Attorney was William Delahunt, now a member of congress. Delahunt now says he remembers nothing about the case. Selective amnesia can be very useful.

Some years back two white men committed armed robberies in New York and shot people in the process. They were dubbed the "gentlemen bandits." Bishop kills three and is described as "Harvard educated." Being white never hurt anybody.

I'm sure there is a lot more to this sordid tale.

Non-Citizens Have Rights

Our constitutional rights benefit anyone in this country, citizen or not. You wouldn't know it because Newt Gingrich and other republicans claim that those rights apply only to U.S. citizens. That assertion is a lie.

Huffington Post makes a big deal about Gingrich falsely stating that "shoe bomber" Richard Reid is an American citizen and was therefore entitled to his rights against self-incrimination. Reid is a citizen of the U.K., but outrage shouldn't be directed at Gingrich only because he told a bald faced lie about Reid's nation of origin.

I have had my issues with Salon's Glenn Greenwald, but he is an attorney and he makes the best case I have heard so far against the GOP's most recent attempt to keep the nation stupid.

"The Boumediene Court held that it was unconstitutional for the Military Commissions Act to deny habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees, none of whom was an American citizen (indeed, the detainees were all foreign nationals outside of the U.S.). If the Constitution applied only to U.S. citizens, that decision would obviously be impossible. What's more, although the decision was 5-4, none of the 9 Justices -- and, indeed, not even the Bush administration -- argued that the Constitution applies only to American citizens. "

"...to see how false this notion is that the Constitution only applies to U.S. citizens, one need do nothing more than read the Bill of Rights. It says nothing about 'citizens.' To the contrary, many of the provisions are simply restrictions on what the Government is permitted to do ('Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . or abridging the freedom of speech'; 'No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner'). And where rights are expressly vested, they are pointedly not vested in 'citizens,' but rather in 'persons' or 'the accused' ('No person shall . . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law'; 'In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed . . . . and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense').

So there you have it. The underwear bomber and the shoe bomber had the right to remain silent. Republican demagogery on the subject is just that.

Katrina Good for New Orleans Schools

"Obama Plots Against Children" or so a sensationalist writer claimed. That writer would be yours truly actually. My column written last September chronicled the horrors visited upon public education by the current Education Secretary, Arne Duncan. He brazenly brags about the corporate take over of public education he oversaw in Chicago.

"I am not a manager of 600 schools. I'm a portfolio manager of 600 schools and I'm trying to improve the portfolio.” I didn't know public schools were corporations, but what do I know?

Obama's basketball buddy let his true colors show in a recent interview. "I’ve spent a lot of time in New Orleans and this is a tough thing to say but I’m going to be really honest. The best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. That education system was a disaster."

Now I don't know anything about NOLA public schools prior to Katrina, but I do know that a natural disaster which displaced thousands of people wasn't good for anything or anyone. On second thought, I have to take that back. The hurricane cleared much of the poor black population out of New Orleans and what better way to start a school system or any other system from scratch if there are no pesky colored people asking questions or horror of horrors, making demands.

Duncan is like Barbara Bush, who opined that "under privileged" black people were actually doing quite well living in shelters after they lost their homes. Duncan may not be as crass as Pat Robertson who asserted that the Haitians brought an earthquake upon themselves by practicing devil worship. He has a little more sophistication than that, but not much. He too thinks that black people are well served by disasters which allow white people to take over.

If Duncan's boss were a white republican, black people would demand an apology. But his boss is Obama and we know what that means. He gets away with things that a white guy couldn't. So we will have to look at the shameful Duncan for as long as Obama wants him to stay in his job.

Duncan is a human disaster and the best thing that could happen to children all over this country would be to have an Education Secretary who truly cares for them. Lots of luck kids. You are stuck with Obama and Duncan too.

Wish I'd Said That

"But Obama is not 'failing'; he is doing exactly what he set out to do: be the president. That's it. That's all he wanted to do. And he's doing it. The panic now emanating from the White House is not that of a man watching a chance to realize his deeply held ideals for a better world slipping away from him; it's just the flopsweat of a guy trying to stay perched on top of the greasy pole for another term."

Chris Floyd

Rest In Peace Howard Zinn

"No Donation Without Agitation"

Should you give to Haiti relief? To whom? How much? Don't text or write a check until you read my Black Agenda Report column.

Worthless Democrats

I have been dealing with a family health emergency, so I have not been able to post this week. I would have loved posting on the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts, but I have not had time. I did comment briefly to Paul Street on Facebook, who quoted me on Znet, so I will just quote myself.

"Coakley loses. Ha ha ha ha ha. Don't be fooled by this 60 vote super majority crap. Dems did nothing with it. Loss of a seat is no loss to the citizens of this country whose interests are never represented no matter who is in charge. If 60 was so wonderful, why is the health care bill so worthless?"

Indeed, Obama's reaction to this setback is typical of him. He is now vowing to balance the budget and he prevented democrats from passing his health care bill when he had the chance to do so before Scott Brown was seated.

Brown in 2012? Don't bet against him, he is the hottest political commodity in the country. If the democrats react to defeat the way Clinton did in 1994, we are in for more right wingery and more democrats slavishly devoted to doing just that.

Michael Eric Dyson Please Shut Up

Two years ago Dyson debated Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford on Democracy Now. Their debate took place after Obama won the Iowa caucuses and finished a close second in New Hampshire. Dyson's comments were useless and just plain dumb.

"To limit the scope of African American intelligence, interest or political concern to the fact that a president is being put forth who happens to be a black man versus the interests of African American people, I would not be so naive as to assume that the presidency of a Barack Obama would in any way mitigate against or militate against the vast region of problems that black people face. "

So said Dyson in 2008. What is he saying in 2010?

"I think that we should push the president. This president runs from race like a black man runs from a cop. What we have to do is ask Mr. Obama to stand up and use his bully pulpit to help us. He is loathe to speak about race."

Of course he is Dyson. You and the rest of the Love Barack or Die crowd eplicitly gave him permission to do just that. Unlike the foolish Dyson, Glen Ford made the right point two years ago. ". . . he has accomplished the central mission of his entire campaign, which is to prove that a black man can be embraced by masses of white people. The problem is, he has done that at the expense of black people, by constantly, relentlessly sending out signals to white people that a vote for Barack Obama, an Obama presidency, would signal the beginning of the end of black-specific agitation, that it would take race discourse off of the table. And he’s gone to extraordinary lengths to accomplish that."

So Dyson, just STFU already. It is too late for you and your friends to act as though you didn't say what we remember you saying. Sadly for you, we don't have amnesia.

Earthquake in New York

Am I the only one who remembers an earthquake taking place near New York City in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 19, 1985? The quake epicenter was located in Ardsley, about 20 miles north of New York City in Westchester County. It sticks in my mind because it literally shook me out of bed. There have been other earthquakes in the New York City area in recent years.

At any rate, I thought about it while watching the coverage of Haiti's post earthquake tragedy. I also thought about the government reaction or rather non-reaction to hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. We would probably be no better off than the Haitians if we were to suffer the same fate of natural disaster.

Dr. MLK Jr.: Struggling Not To Lose Him

As Glen says, King made a very public break from Lyndon Johnson, the most powerful man on earth. Remember that when you honor King.

US set Haiti up for disaster

Glen keeps it real. Thanks Glen.

Uganda, Fundamentalists and Money

"While it is largely U.S. evangelical money displacing mainline funds supporting African churches, renewal movements within mainline U.S. churches reap the rewards by securing the alliance of Africans in fighting their battles over gay ordination and other issues at home and in international venues." - Rev. Kapya Kaomo

The New York Times finally caught up with everyone else in the world. Yesterday the Times got around to reporting what Freedom Rider, Black Agenda Report, Rev. Kapya Kaoma and many others had written about one month ago.

White, right wing American Christians are behind the proposed Ugandan legislation which calls for the execution of gay people. When I first sat down to right about this issue, I was going to expound on neocolonialism, racism, fundamentalist conservative politics and so on. But the more I thought about it, I realized that money had to be behind this story.

The Times reported that a group of anti-gay activists visited Uganda and railed against the evils of gay people. That is true, but it is only a small part of the story. As Kaoma points out, there is a much larger effort to buy African support on a variety of issues that helps fundamentalists make their case around the world.

"U.S. evangelical money is attractive because it does not come with the demands for strict accountability made by mainline churches.[19] Bishops can spend it as they like. Ironically, U.S. conservatives have always campaigned against "unrestricted" giving in U.S. mainline churches. But in Africa, they prefer unrestricted giving as another way of undermining progressives."

The only reason this story has "legs" so to speak, is that the legislation was so awful, it could not escape world wide attention. That is a good thing, but the efforts of the right wing to buy support, and the willingness of corrupt Africans to accept should not be forgotten either.

Thanks to Znet and to The World Can't Wait

I always appreciate a shout out from a good publication. Znet and World Can't Wait both printed my Black Agenda Report column Guantanamo, Illinois. Thanks to both.

'Obama is new words, but old tricks as US acts like empire'

Yours truly on Russia Today. Big thanks to host Marina Portnaya.

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab Boarded Plane Without a Passport

Nigerian "Terrorist" a Patsy?

Only Black Agenda Report would give you the scoop.

KPFK's Hutchinson Report

I was interviewed by Sikivu Hutchinson yesterday. You can listen to yours truly here.

Guantanamo Illinois

"To all those who repeatedly claimed that, no matter what 'mistakes' he might make and regardless of the scope of the devastating effects of those errors, Obama had to represent a markedly better choice than McCain, take note: in certain respects, Obama is far more dangerous than McCain could have been. For the same reasons, Obama is also more dangerous than Bush was. " - Arthur Silber

Once again, Barack Obama has accomplished what George W. Bush never could. There was a method to the madness of establishing this secret police apparatus off shore. The Bush administration were opening up a whole new legal territory, and believed they needed to keep "enemy combatants" off of American soil in order to justify their actions.

But along comes Obama. He claimed he would close Guantanamo, which never impressed me, because he didn't address the legality of holding prisoners with this new and special designation. It didn't address the issue of whether or not a president could declare anyone an enemy and have them held indefinitely without charge or trial or perhaps worse yet, set up military tribunals instead of courts of law if they were ever tried. The state of Illinois will the first victim, with Guantanamo prisoners scheduled to be transferred there.

I argued with my friend Arthur Silber when he first stated that Obama would be more dangerous than McCain. "In large part, the danger represented by Obama arises from the fact that Obama's election gutted whatever effective opposition might have existed." Of course he hit the nail on the head. Obamaites will support whatever he says or does. He can accept a Nobel peace prize and do so in the name of continuing endless warfare and no one says a word. Yes, Arthur, you told me so.

I will have more to say about the Nobel disgrace in the latest issue of Black Agenda Report which will be posted later today.

"What I can't figure out," Tiger Woods asks Vincent, the limo driver, "is why so may good-looking women hang around baseball and basketball. Is it because, you know, people always say that, like, black guys have big dicks?" - Tiger Woods

Woods made this and other remarks in a GQ interview back in 1997. The then up and coming phenom may have known how to play golf, but he didn't know that if you don't want to see something in print, you shouldn't say it in front of a reporter. Tiger was on a roll that day.

"The Little Rascals are at school. The teacher wants them to use various words in sentences. The first word is love. Spanky answers, "I love dogs." The second word is respect. Alfalfa answers, "I respect how much Spanky loves dogs." The third word is dictate. There is a pause in the room. Finally, Buckwheat puts up his hand. "Hey, Darla," says Buckwheat. "How my dick ta'te?"

But wait, there was even more. "He puts the tips of his expensive shoes together, and he rubs them up and down against each other. 'What's this?' he asks the women, who do not know the answer. 'It's a black guy taking off his condom,' Tiger explains."

It is clear from these exchanges that Tiger doesn't see himself as a black man. He made it official when he told Oprah that he was "Cablinasian." OK, fine, up to him, but his self-proclaimed non-black identity gave him even less right to make jokes at the expense of the group he claimed no allegiance to.

Now Tiger is the butt of jokes and fodder for media over kill. The over kill part does bother me, if only because I'm not very interested in his life. But I don't feel sorry for Tiger the man. He is a self-hating asshole and assholes eventually do themselves in.

I doubt that the public relations problems will last. The sponsors will stick with him and he will be wealthy for the rest of his life. I should have such problems.

It's OK to Kill the Homos

So says Obama's spiritual soul mate, Rev. Rick Warren. Uganda is considering passage of a law that would execute HIV positive men who commit acts of "aggravated homosexuality." Under current Ugandan law, homosexuality is already punishable with a sentence of life imprisonment. The new law is even worse.

"The proposed law would not just condemn HIV positive gay men and 'repeat offenders' to death, it would also jail for three years anyone who knows a gay man but refuses to report them to authorities. Further, anyone who defends in public the rights of gays and lesbians would be subjected to a seven year prison term."

Who is behind this atrocity? Why, right wing white Americans of course. The Family is a secretive christian conservative organization which gives financial and political support to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.

What does the preacher who gave the inaugural invocation have to say about all this? He says nothing. "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides." Puhleeze. Warren's church prohibits gay people from becoming members. He also opined that legalized abortion is a "holocaust." Warren has had no problem taking sides up until now. I can only infer that Warren thinks it is just fine to kill people because of their sexual orientation.

The End of The Road

SPOILER ALERT

What is it about the apocalypse that fascinates so many of us? I happen to think that what we really fear is our own personal apocalypse, death. We are all afraid to die, but it is somehow easier to wonder if Nostradamus or the Mayans or the book of Revelations can explain away the one thing we can't avoid but can't accept either.

This past weekend I saw two Hollywood stories about the end times, 2012 and The Road. 2012 was pretty bad. Yes, I anticipated seeing a not very serious big budget action movie, but I did not anticipate ten cliches in every scene or a plot that was fairly predictable despite the phony suspense. Even special effects laden films must have characters you care about and a sense that you don't really know how it will all end. The film was also a waste of talented actors like John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. Roland Emmerich really should stop destroying the world unless he can figure out a more clever way of doing it than to have the White House destroyed by the USS John Kennedy.

The Road was another story altogether. It stars Viggo Mortensen as a man struggling to keep himself and his young son alive after an unnamed disaster. (Some say nuclear war but others say meteor strike.) The two not only must find food and shelter but they must avoid their fellow humans, who if they are lucky will steal their meager belongings. If they are unlucky they will kill them and eat them.

The terrors in The Road are unseen. You don't see anyone munching on their neighbors rib cage, but knowing that it happens and how it happens was shown in one of the most frightening sequences I have ever seen on film. The movie could have been completely grim but the family does experience one happy event and the ending is uplifting. I also have to declare my love for Viggo Mortensen. He endorsed Dennis Kucinich after all. What's not to like?

There is one weak link among the very small cast. Charlize Theron does a good acting job as the wife and mother, but her actions don't really make sense other than to find a way to explain her absence in most of the film. Male writers love to get the pesky mom out of the picture and have a man and his son together doing what they want without any feminine interference. Having said that, I still highly recommend The Road to fans of good movies. It is well worth your time and your money.

As for the world ending in 2012, I hope I am still here in January 2013 so that I can give the finger, rhetorically, to the gullible. Some want to be raptured but then fear the millennium or the Mayans or UFOs. Some people just want to be scared. They should see a good horror movie and stop annoying the rest of us with their goofy predictions. They should also see better quality movies. That will make them much happier.