Thursday, December 23, 2010

sex and violence US military style

Obama's Poland

A few years ago on an August day, a pact was made between the United States and Poland to deploy US made ‘interceptor missiles’ on Polish soil. Althought it was implemented under the penumbra of protecting European NATO allies from a Russian nuclear attack a move that some considered to be a dangerous move towards nuclear war.

The US also planned to deploy a radar in the Czech Republic as part of this missile defense system as part of a US-controlled missile shield for Europe and North America. In theory it is to protect us and western nations from so-called potential "rogue states," such as Iran but the real deal is Russia.

This is why START is so important for the Obama administration. A while back Russian President Vladimir Putin exposed the shallowness of the US propaganda line by offering a startled President Bush that Russia would offer the US use of Russian leased radar facilities in Azerbaijan on the Iran border to far better monitor Iran missile launches. The Bush Administration simply ignored the offer, exposing that their real target is Russia. In addition The signing of the agreement may lesson tensions between Russia and NATO and reduce the probability of a brand new Cold War arms race in Theory.

Obama backs missile defense too but has cancelled plans to station an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama’s foreign policy adviser is Zbigniew Brzezinski and his foreign policy team in addition to father Zbigniew Brzezinski, includes Brzezinski’s son, Ian Brzezinski, current US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs. Ian Brzezinski - all supporters of US missile defense policy.

It was just last year that Obama said he was not going to go with the Bush plans in Poland. But how quickly things change. Refusing to continue the Bush era propsal is what maybe got the deal signed with Russia in the first place - a deal that was signed in April. What is for certain are the comments by Czech Prime minister Jan Fischer, who has indicated that Obama said the US was suspending efforts in Poland but did not give any specific reason.

How quickly do things change. Obama has flip-flopped, in order to the the START treat signed, he has now agreed to continue with Bush's proposed US-controlled missile shield in Europe. Less than 2 weeks ago President Barack Obama committed the United States to "basing land-based SM-3 interceptors in Poland in the 2018 timeframe as part of its NATO" - wide missile defense system in a joint statement with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski when he came to the White House,

They said that detractors of the New START Treaty disagree with the Preamble of the Treaty which contains the following statement, but it seems that Obama has had the last word, getting it passed and all he had to do was give the GOP what Bush desired - a missile defense system in Poland designed to keep an eye on Rusia more so than North Korea and Iran.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

happy birthday to me

although i don't recall
i was told i was brought home
on the bus in the worst blizzard
ever in Memphis history
that is what is said
of this child of monday night football
both the end and start of generations
the time of milk toast for breakfast
cane syrup and skeleton key's
four television stations
and family
screen doors that opened and closed with the same screech
followed by "stay in or stay out"
and red skelton on sunday night
same time the real world
truly was black and white.
seeing a city burn when a king was assisinated
and sneaked in to hospitals
in colonial bread trucks
while national guards said
not to play in my front yard
encyclopedias were google
wearing seat belts was not the law
and the nation led the world
in math and science
when musicians read and wrote music
and wore belts around their waist
nothing was wasted
especially time and common sense
over-road non sense
for my teachers taught my parents
and had me in check with fan belts
but last I checked
i turned out to be a man
and it was a good thing
sundries with big clear cookie jars
with large red tops in front
and meat cutters in back
selling souse, bologna, liver cheese
and pig feet
i don't know but i was told
i was brought home
on the bus in the worst blizzard
ever in Memphis history
that is what is said

Friday, December 17, 2010

Information is the currency of democracy

Last I heard the United States was supposedly a bastion of democracy. You know freedom of expression, speech, information and religion. But it seems that only is consistent and true when expression, speech and religion is in support of the United Sates.

I find it strange that the principles that we as a nation promote that make us different and stand out, that the rest of the world - namely democracy, and what we fight for in other places is really just a willy nilly catch phrase. It is OK for us to put and plant what we think and call democracy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan - even if folk do not want such or even if we fail. But when other folk use our idealistic tendencies it becomes sacrilegious.




















Last I heard the United States was supposedly a bastion of democracy. You know freedom of expression, speech, information and religion. But it seems that only is consistent and true when expression, speech and religion is in support of the United Sates.

I find it strange that the principles that we as a nation promote that make us different and stand out, that the rest of the world - namely democracy, and what we fight for in other places is really just a willy nilly catch phrase. It is OK for us to put and plant what we think and call democracy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan - even if folk do not want such or even if we fail. But when other folk use our idealistic tendencies it becomes sacrilegious.

Our "imperial arrogance" asserts I guess, that the only folks with rights to a free and pen society are us and no one else. We have the audacity to proclaim being open, democratic and proponents of the free sharing of information unless it pertains to information of ours. Then we become the incarnate of Mussolini and fascism. Expression is obviously OK except for the Internet. Why? I cannot answer, but i can say we use our power to make private enterprises including Paypal and Amazon.com and master card to control what the supreme courts have considered expression as well - money, when anything we disagree with is cited or revealed. It is just ridiculous, the greatest democracy in the world asking for an Internet site to be shut down and its owner killed or jailed for sharing information that he did not steal.

How quick we are to reference Thomas Jefferson but forget it was he who wrote “Information is the currency of democracy." I just find it two-faced to say on the one hand we are a Nation of liberty and freedom yet on the other hold freedom of the Internet as being completely different. Even condemning China for their censorship but we espouse the same behavior and practice from a governmental locution regarding Wikileaks. Common sense tells me that if one condemns wikileaks we have to do the same with the New York Times and other web sites.

Freedom in the US is a myth. This is the only postulate that can be contrived from this entire wikileaks fiasco. Such is even more convoluted when we have no laws to even assert criminal behavior on the web sites owners behalf outside of an outdated 1917 espionage act that deals with maps.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Credit Cards At Risk from High-Tech Pickpockets

 

No African Americans in US Senate - Again

The November 2010 midterm elections did a little more than bring in a new wave of Republicans under the Tea Party banner and removed Democratic incumbents from office. It also ushered in a new age reminiscent of the Senate after Reconstruction.

Unfortunately, what has also occurred is that the United States Senate will not have a single member who is African American.

All three black senatorial candidates, Kendrick Meek, D-Fla.; Alvin Greene, D-S.C.; and Mike Thurmond D-Ga., lost in November and the only one serving presently, Roland Burris, D-Ill.; is retiring after a scandal regarding how he obtained the seat.

"This is a matter of national importance.There are no African Americans in the Senate, and I don't think that anyone, any U.S. senator who's sitting in the Senate right now, want to go on record to deny one African American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don't think they want to go on record doing that," said Congressman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., of threats to not seat Burris two years ago.

In recent decades, there have been six black senators including three Republicans and three Democrats. Barack Obama was only the third black senator to serve since Reconstruction. The other two were

The November 2010 midterm elections did a little more than bring in a new wave of Republicans under the Tea Party banner and removed Democratic incumbents from office. It also ushered in a new age reminiscent of the Senate after Reconstruction.

Unfortunately, what has also occurred is that the United States Senate will not have a single member who is African American.

All three black senatorial candidates, Kendrick Meek, D-Fla.; Alvin Greene, D-S.C.; and Mike Thurmond D-Ga., lost in November and the only one serving presently, Roland Burris, D-Ill.; is retiring after a scandal regarding how he obtained the seat.

"This is a matter of national importance.There are no African Americans in the Senate, and I don't think that anyone, any U.S. senator who's sitting in the Senate right now, want to go on record to deny one African American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don't think they want to go on record doing that," said Congressman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., of threats to not seat Burris two years ago.

In recent decades, there have been six black senators including three Republicans and three Democrats. Barack Obama was only the third black senator to serve since Reconstruction. The other two were Carole Moseley Braun and Edward Brooke.

Hiram Rhoades Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, both from Mississippi, were the only two black senators elected in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

Obama's election may have been a major breakthrough for racial politics in America. But we still are very much underrepresented if represented at all in the U.S. Senate, since it is almost 2011 and no African American serves within its halls

Hiram Rhoades Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, both from Mississippi, were the only two black senators elected in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

Obama's election may have been a major breakthrough for racial politics in America. But we still are very much underrepresented if represented at all in the U.S. Senate, since it is almost 2011 and no African American serves within its halls

Friday, December 10, 2010

Shannon's Release show winning more inportant than Academics

People show their true colors via the simplest of ways. Take for example the educational system, or rather downfall of the educational system in America. A new study was just released looking at math, science and reading competency among 15 year olds around the world. The study was based on two-hour tests of 500,000 15-year-old schoolchildren by the OECD in 65 countries. Results showed that the Fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 25th among peers from 34 countries on a math test and scored in the middle in science and reading, while China’s Shanghai topped the charts, raising concern that the U.S. isn’t prepared to succeed in the global economy.

We all have a major concern about this in voice but in fact our actions show otherwise, and with the case of the recent firing of University of Miami Head Coach Randy Shannon, graduating students is not as important as winning.

The disparity between black and white NCAA Division I football players has historically been a problem. It is also evident that this situation is not improving, but getting worse. The annual report by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports indicated that the graduation success rate is increasing at a higher rate for white players than black players.


According to the primary author of the study, Richard Lapchick, the gap is like “the economy, if income for Latinos and African Americans grows at 2 percent but increases 3 percent for whites. Yes, it's getting better. But it's still not great for everybody."


The data was collected by the NCAA from each member institution. The Institute reviewed the six-year graduation rates for each school's freshman class that enrolled in 2003-04 in an effort to produce a four-class average. The findings also suggested that 57 schools had graduation success rates of 66 percent or higher for white football players. This was approximately three times the number schools with equivalent graduation success rates for black football players. Notre Dame and Northwestern were the only schools that graduated 95 percent of their players and at least 95 percent of their black players.


Although it has been suggested that getting more minorities in administrative positions such as head coaches and athletic directors may serve to improve these numbers, this has yet to manifest in a culture where winning is more important than graduating African American athletes. Using the example of former University of Miami head coach Randy Shannon, calls for his resignation have been occurring since the start of the season although he had inked a four-year contract. They grew even louder after his loss to Florida State and having a 5 and 3 record.
The fact is that graduation rates are not as important as winning in the NCAA. I'll bet if Shannon had finished 11 and 1, and had as many players in trouble with the law as Florida’s Urban Meyer or Georgia’s Mark Richt, he would still be coach, regardless of his players' graduation rates. Unfortunately, having the third highest graduation rate in the nation is not as important as winning a game or knowing how to read.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Deficit Reduction Plan Takes from Poor and middle class to reward the wealthy

It is an unfortunate truth that a sizable number of African Americans are seemingly more interested in whether T.I is going to prison again, or Mike Vick’s great performance against the Washington Redskins, or in Tyler Perry’s brutal dissection of Ntozake Shange’s play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, than they are in the economy. President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform revealed a recent plan to reduce the national deficit. Unlike most people, I have just finished reading the proposal and the way I read it, the deficit is the least of its targets when compared to cutting taxes for the ultra wealthy.

The guiding principle of the proposal is not to reduce the deficit, but rather to establish an upper limit on revenue — not lower. The obvious point agreed upon by the Democrats, Republicans and other members of the commission is tax cuts for the rich.

Case in point, the proposed tax cuts obviate mortgage interest and health benefits deductibles — things that the middle class and lower economic groups depend on. Yet, all gained from these tax cuts. From my reading and interpretation the tax cuts will be used to reduce the top marginal and corporate tax rates. So, in essence the breaks that regular folks receive will currently result in larger breaks for the wealthy, who do not need them. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a socialist, but rather a pragmatist who understands basic math.

Another example is the proposed increase in the retirement age for Social Security. The commission has suggested that the age to be eligible to receive social security be raised to 69, in line with the increase in life expectancy of U.S. citizens. The problem is that most Americans do not have jobs where they sit on their ‘azzez’ all day. Not to mention that African Americans and minorities, for example, have a life expectancy less than the current age for retirement under Social Security. Which, in turn, means that to expect someone to work more years labor-intensive job than somebody like a politician, who sits on their butt behind a desk, is just foul! The truth is that the rich and wealthy live longer and they don’t need Social Security for a safety net.

No way in the world is the work of a garbage man, teacher, janitor or day laborer as easy as an executive, banker or Wall Street lawyer.