Friday, April 27, 2012

Syrian Soldiers burying a man alive (VIDEO) Fake or Real? You decide:

Texas Systematically Removing Black Males From Public Schools

African Americans have traditionally valued and reinforced the importance of education, but recent generations serve to show the opposite. Not to abrogate personal responsibility for the lack of many African Americans noting the significance of reading and math, or even having a semblance of comprehension of the economic crisis confronting the nation, the reality is that young African American males are disproportionately the target of systematic forms of exclusion. The state of Texas provides a prime example of this and is a general reflection of practices prevalent across the nation.

The Council of States Government Justice Center just released a report on outcomes of disciplinary procedures in the school systems across the state of Texas. The results are alarming. In Texas, 6 out of 10 students across the state were suspended or expelled at least once between seventh and 12th grades. Specifically, African Americans, other minorities and students with disabilities were statistically more likely to be removed from class than white students.

More problematic was the observation that approximately 83 percent of African American males had at least one suspension or expulsion and were more often given harsher out-of-school suspensions, compared to in-school suspensions, even for their first infraction. This was the case despite the fact that larger studies with representative samples provided evidence that African American students are no more or less likely to commit offenses that require their removal from school.

When such practices are unchecked, they contribute negatively to the community in general, often resulting in African American males being held back and more likely to end up involved with the criminal justice system, especially during the year such suspensions occur.

Yes, the school systems are not servicing the needs of African American males as effectively as other ethnic groups. Many years ago, a black man who knew how to read was a threat to mainstream America, and during slavery such a skill was punishable by death. Now, education is no longer considered as a valuable, revolutionary act and we eventually victimize ourselves, just as much as the school systems our students attend.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Wells Fargo profiting from for-profit prisons

Will our Next War Be in the South Pacific With China?

Okay, I didn’t want to but I feel as if it is my duty. Reason waits for no one to present timely analysis in a world in which billions of dollars are spent to wage war on emotions such as terrorism in places like Somalia alone, when poverty continues to expand and metastasize by leaps and bounds her at home. Nor could I wait for common televised media outlets to present breaking news, seeing they are two days behind print media, which is two days behind the internet. Not to mention it is obvious the televised media’s goal is identical to the rule of oppression, based on the incessant rash of treatments inundated with coverage of George Zimmerman, the secret service and any one of several reality shows purporting to display talent, it is unthinkable that the presentation of actual news content is important or possible.

What am I speaking of, well it deals with China and the Philippines and a possible new war on the horizon between the US and China. I have been leery of this possibility for sometimes. Specifically ever since President Obama decided to ramp up U.S. alliances and bases across Asia and in the Pacific. The President basically asserted that the US start to focus on Asian security risks including China and North Korea, which have over the past decade taken a back seat to Iraq and Afghanistan. From this perspective, the United States will maintain large bases in Japan and South Korea and deploy U.S. Marines, navy ships and aircraft to Australia's Northern Territory. It also deals with, if necessary, to be in a position to counter possible efforts by China and Iran to block U.S. capabilities in areas like the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. In essence, this was Obama’s presentation at a special trip to the Pentagon this past January. It was basically his post-Iraq, post-Afghanistan defense strategy.

During his Asian tour, Obama signaled the opening of a military base in Darwin and possibly one in the Philippines. Although we have solid ballistic missile defense co-operation with Japan is well advanced, this has more to do with North Korea and China.
Now things are increasingly becoming more on edge. Just this week the Philippines announced it would be seeking add
itional US military help during top-level talks next week, as it becomes more involved with China over a territorial dispute. Calling on a treaty signed in 1951, Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario indicated the desire for United States to help it achieve a “credible” defense system. The treaty calls on both sides to come to each other’s aid in times of external attacks. Currently the island nation is in disagreement with Beijing over rival claims to the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea). China claims all of the West Philippine Sea as a historic part of its territory, even waters close to the coasts of the Philippines.

Over the past few weeks, armed vessels from the Philippines and China have faced off at the Scarborough Shoal. The consequences for the US if this occurs would be another undeclared war we would be dragged into; especially if Manila gets its way and obtains the coast guard vessel and F-16 fighter jets it recently requested. The Philippines is leading a push within the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take a united stand over regional maritime disputes, including the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in one of the world’s busiest stretches of water.

Then there are other geopolitical concerns involved. The Philippines' Malampaya and Camago fields are estimated to hold 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and are in waters currently claimed by China. To top it off, as you read this, the US and the Philippines are engaged in annual joint military exercises that have involved 4,500 U.S. soldiers and 2,500 from the Philippines.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced these intentions a week before the start of April, which he said showed US commitment to the strategically vital Asia-Pacific region. But such was in the work as early as last December when the Obama Administration signaled plans for the deployment of 2,500 Marines to Darwin, Australia. Darwin is also an intriguing choice since it is part of a growing energy hub where companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) are planning to spend more than a $150 billion ($156 billion) to develop offshore natural gas fields.

Given all of the aforementioned, it may not be farfetched to suggest a possible future military conflict with China. Already the Chinese state media has advanced that President Barack Obama is doing all of this to distract from US economic woes, which is logical seeing that the Pentagon is placing more troops in the region than at any time since World War II, with military outpost surrounding all of China’s eastern border (the U.S. is sending 4,700 Marines to Guam, creating the largest deployment of troops to the Pacific since World War II). Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding its naval power and increasing its presence in the South China Sea.

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Moreover, an ironic observation is that China is also increasing its naval power and their new the refurbished Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag is almost fully operational. In concert with a new seaport being built by the Philippine government in the Spratly islands, in which such would be the first step in creating a mini-naval base for U.S. and Philippine troops, we could see more action sooner than later. In particular with Vietnam and the Philippines beginning to develop stronger military ties with the US.

Last year Chinese ships confronted a Philippine oil-exploration ship as well as cut a Vietnamese oil-exploration vessel’s survey cable. In response, Vietnam later conducted a live-fire naval drill in the area. China has also expressed its concerns over statements made by the US chief of naval operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, that China’s rising capability could limit US access to the South China Sea and that Washington would continue its efforts to ensure freedom of navigation there. The comments were interpreted by some observers as confirming that the US has sided with the ASEAN claimants.

The installation in the Spratly islands could also be used as a jumping-off point for counterterrorism operations in the Palawan region of the southern Philippines. The area is home to the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic terror groups with ties to al Qaeda. Some early reports from France suggest the new facility on Pagasa Island will be the new home for thousands of U.S. Marines scheduled to leave Okinawa within the next two years.

All of this sounds similar, a military buildup in the name of counter acting emotion in the name of terrorism; making enemies we don’t need, with a nation that hold the largest portion of U.S. debt, 68 cents for every dollar or about $10 trillion; and a currency battle that is still in the frying pan, all makes sense to me – our next war will probably in the South Pacific.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

FBI and Reporters Team to Solve Murders during Civil Rights Era

It is not often that we can look at the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration within the context of crime. However, there still are many unsolved murders that occurred during the civil rights era that remain. In 2007, the FBI presented a list of unsolved civil rights murders that they were going to re-open and investigate.
In fact, they have released the names of some of the victims of murders that occurred before 1969. This includes more than 100 unsolved murder cases are under review through the Civil Rights Era Cold Case Initiative, a 2007 partnership between the FBI, civil rights groups, and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. 


At the end of last year, The FBI reopened investigations into three more Alabama slayings from the 1960s, including one case involving a former state trooper charged in 2007 with another civil-rights era murder.
The cases included the May 1966 killing of a black motorist at the Alabaster police station by James Bonard Fowler, the former trooper charged in 2007 with two counts of murder in the 1965 shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion and the September 1963 shooting by Birmingham police officer Jack Parker of a black teenager on the day of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing.


Now a writer for a small Louisiana Newspaper has revealed information that may lead to the arrest and conviction in the arson/murder of Frank Morris on December 10, 1964 in Ferriday, LA.  Morris was a business owner who allegedly was the target of the Ku Klux Klan. Stanley Nelson, a writer for the Concordia Sentinel has uncovered that a Richland Parish truck driver who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan told them he participated in the arson that killed Frank Morris. In total, three people including the suspects’ son and truck drivers former wife have provided credible eyewitness report s that placed the truck driver at the scene of the arson when the fire was ignited more than 46 years ago. The suspect,  Arthur Leonard Spencer, 71, of Rayville.  Has yet to be charged but is expected to be targeted by FBI soon.

Monday, April 23, 2012

America: Where Pulling a Thomas Jefferson Isn’t As Bad as Tiger Woods


Welcome to America, home of apple pie, Chevrolet, the KKK and Adultery.  Yes, this week a political bomb fell on the GOP in the form of former Republican Governor and movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger  revealed that ten years ago had a child out of wedlock with one of his domestic staff.  Yes, in the vein of Thomas Jefferson and Strom Thurmond, it appears that old Arnold was keeping a long standing Republican practice alive – procreation with staff and hiding it under the guise of patriotism and service.
Now I must admit that democrats are not immune to this, just ask former Presidential candidate John Edwards. But if it is not political affiliation, one thing certainly stands out, is that the treatment the aforementioned have received for their foibles was not as severe as the ridicule thrown at professional golfer Tiger Woods, who did not even have a child out of wedlock.
This seems to be rather inconsistent.  When Woods admitted his cheating ways, everyone, in particular mainstream media threw everything at him including the proverbial “kitchen sink.” But Governor Schwarzenegger has yet to be vilified, which brings me to ask if race has anything to do with this?
On the surface I would say yes, and would add that it seems athletes seem to be held to a higher moral standard for playing a game than politicians who deal with the overt needs of their electorate. It is as if famous white men are given a pass for behavior that would condemn a black man of equal status and fame. The problem is the blatant difference with which Wood’s family issues were paraded across the media and how many of these same outlets are intentionally not speaking out against Schwarzenegger.
It is obvious that this double standard will continue and that African American men will, from this nation’s history of perceiving us as being less than human, always be held to a higher standard than white Anglo Saxon Protestants, even if they hail from Austria.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

GOP Morality is Stuck Between $100 Bills

A few months ago on the camp
aign trail, while giving a television interview following his Florida primary win, Presumptive Presidential Candidate Willard “Mitt” Romney said: ''I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.''

Although many considered this a gaff, it is more reflective of republicans than many – including those in the GOP would like to believe. It is not by accident that they GOP consistently try and place the growing poverty across America at the feet of President Barack Obama. However, it will be hard for them to abrogate themselves from the fact that the most impoverished states in the nation are places like Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama and North Carolina – all solidly republican strongholds and under GOP executive leadership.

 It is clear that poverty is not a concern for the GOP but as well that it provides target practice for their political folly. Across the nation, like bungie jumping in the past, GOP are excited with the unmitigated expectation of passing or trying to pass legislation on immigration, drug testing for welfare reform and voting ID restrictions. None of which do anything to improve the US economy or grow jobs. As if the GOP want to be known for being the bullies of the poor and struggling. Just this past January, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett indicated that he was formulating plans to start restricting eligibility to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program via an “asset test” that would mandate that anyone under 60 years old with savings of more than $2,000 would no longer be eligible for assistance. In Iowa, GOP senators have proposed that people submit to drug testing before they can receive their unemployment checks. They also wanted to force those collecting from state welfare programs to undergo drug tests. A measure introduced by Iowa State Sen. Mark Chelgren that would have required parents receiving child support to submit to drug tests at the request of the person making the payments was just defeated.

In Arizona, the Senate passed a measure that would require the jobless to pee in cups in order to receive unemployment insurance, along with more than a dozen other GOP dominated states which have also considered unemployment drug testing laws. Florida Gov. Rick Scott was one of the first to sign such a law into place, requiring drug testing for welfare benefits.

 Republicans in Oklahoma and Georgia have also passed similar laws that force welfare recipients to take a drug test, but both voted against amendments that would require state elected political figures to be required to take drug test to receive their payment. Add to the fact that according to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg-5(a), (b)) which mandates that states must register all eligible welfare applicants to vote, the state of Georgia were not weren’t giving welfare applicants/recipients access to voter-registration materials as required by federal law. As a consequence, the state was recently forced to settle a law suit that demonstrated that “Shortly after Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, Georgia reported getting 100,000 registration applications in a two-year period. In 2010, just 4,430 registered while the state was getting nearly 70,000 Food Stamp applications each month.”

In Florida, since the law requires that applicants who pass the test be reimbursed for the cost, an average of $30, the cost to the state was $118,140 - more than would have been paid out in benefits to the people who failed the test. I just don’t get it. The GOP put in place laws that punish the less fortunate for the benefit of a few, which happen to be mainly fellow republicans. The middle and lower classes in America, of which the GOP do not belong, have had it the hardest, regardless of race, creed or political affiliation. Increasingly, gains in income are mostly concentrated at the top; Based on 2010 data, 37 percent of all income gains went to the top 0.01 percent of all income earners and 56 percent of all income gains went to the rest of the top 1 percent. Only 7 percent of all income gains went to the bottom 99 percent.



According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. Not to forget that the wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined compared to the 50 percent of all Americans collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States. How can someone say they desire to save cost but produce and implement programs that increase cost and tend to punish the poor and children in particular? If they want to do something test the cooperate executives who get more state and federal money than average citizens. About $59 billion is spent on traditional social welfare programs compared to $92 billion on corporate subsidies annually. Meaning that the Federal and state governments spent 50% more on corporate welfare than on food stamps or any other social assistance programs combined.

 The reason Romney is the likely challenger to Barack Obama is because he is out of touch with the average person and reflects the best interest of corporate plutocrats (something Obama does well also). America's poverty rate is now 15.1 percent (the worst since 1993), with over 46 million people are living in poverty, 2.6 million more than in 2009. Republicans have to understand that folk don’t become poor at the drop of a dime and that drug testing and doing all you can to disenfranchise the people via voting, starving children and abrogating access to health care is a no win for America.



 Romney is the face of new American Republicanism. On welfare and regulation, Romney said, “Dependency is culture killing.” In his autobiography, asserts that women should have a choice to work or to stay at home with the kids but makes it luminous that the same is not true for poor women who receive government assistance. Romney states this inconsistency suggesting that poor women should work. His desire is to “increase the work requirement” for mothers who receive welfare. In his book “No Apology: The Case For American Greatness” Romney suggest that the children of “nonworking parents” will grow up to have “an indolent and unproductive life” when their mothers do not work. Strange, since a reduction of his argument would proffer the query, if mothers on welfare produce “indolent and unproductive” children, if they do not work, then why doesn’t the same hold true for women such as Romney’s wife Ann?



Yes Romney is the poster child for basic republican beliefs that suggest people are poor because they are lazy and don’t work hard when the reality is that poor people aren't lazy and on average work longer and harder the most republicans. I don’t think anyone in the GOP can work a field like the immigrants they are targeting and desire to leave the country. I’m sure they would have a hard time delivering packages like delivery personnel and would know what to do If they had to work 40 hours a week. Only in politics can you play golf all day, get paid, drink with lobbyist and get paid, And work only 3 days a week and get paid a full salary.

Maybe Kanye West was a little off when he said George Bush didn’t like black people. However it may be another thing all together and more accurate to suggest that the GOP has no affinity for the poor. Across the nation, Republican legislators via their actions indicate that they value their corporate affiliates more than families. The push for being against contraception and abortion but are nowhere to be found when it comes to a desire to take care of the children produced as a consequence of right to life policies. Instead they punish and criminalize those who bring the very life into the world they fought to protect.That’s what I describe as the GOP morality, a morality that is stuck between stacks of hundred bills.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common in Gulf Coast

Nazi's Soon To Lobby Halls of US Congress

America has a deep history associated in Nazism. Although many wrongly believe that the conception of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race started with Hitler, truth is it did not and that it started in the United Sates. The idea was created in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.

Eugenics was the racist pseudoscience designed to justify the removal of all "unfit," preserving only those who conformed to a Nordic stereotype. This philosophy was national policy and reflected in all forced sterilization and segregation laws, as well as marriage restrictions, prior to the Civil Rights movement. In Mein Kampf, published in 1924, Hitler quoted American eugenic ideology and openly and followed closely the progress of the American eugenics movement. Hitler once stated, "The laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock."

George Rockwell was the founder and ran the American Nazi Party from its inception in 1959 until his assassination in 1967. He invented the phrase "White Power" while in 1966 during a debate with Black Panther Stokely Carmichael. Now it seems that Nazism is again on the rise. The American Nazi Party recently registered its own lobbyist on Capitol Hill, 2008 National Socialist Movement presidential candidate John Taylor Bowles. Bowles registered with the Clerk of the House as a lobbyist this past week.

Based on a PDF of his application, as a lobbyist he will focus on issues pertaining to the "Political Rights and ballot access laws."

Bowles once ran as a Republican for the Baltimore city convention. He came in fourth out of five candidates. On April 21, 2007, he held a rally on the South Carolina state house steps on Hitler’s birthday. In his speech that day he stated, “The National Socialist Movement is America’s largest Nazi party; we’re the number one pro-white organization now,” In 2008, the former federal officer in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ran his 2008 presidential campaign from a Ku Klux Klan museum in Laurens County, South Carolina as the candidate for the National Socialist Movement Party.

A copy of Bowles application can be found here.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Black men: Already Dead in America

“You are already dead to the world.” This was written by the Marquis de Sade in The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings . Unfortunately, via logic and real life occurrences, it is clear that this is consonant with the manner in which men of African descent are apprised in the United States. It is so bad that many of us do not even respect our own lives let alone the life, well-being and prosperity of another.

It should be obvious to the astute and free thinker, after all even prior to the founding fathers, the historical fact is that slavery had been a prominent feature of America almost two centuries before the founders took up the process of writing a constitution and that there had been few if any real efforts to end the ugly and barbaric practice according to, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay. Even with the constitution, the development and acceptance of the continuous tradition as to how European Americans perceived individuals form Africa, whether slave or free man has been consistent upon these shores ever since.

Slavery is mentioned in two main places in the Constitution; in Article 1, Section 2 Clause 3, and the 13th Amendment. When James Madison published Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, a clear perspective of what a large corpus of the founding fathers who owned slaves thought about slavery should be abolished. It is obvious that in terms of human life, their position was that Africans were equal 3/5’s of a white European (3/5’s Compromise) and although they could be counted as such had no vote or voice in the democracy by their fiat - based on white Anglo Saxon protestant theological beliefs. Although they did seek to deal with the trade of slaves by compromise; ending slave imports after 1807, it was only because their preference was to encouraging slave breeding within the United States and slave auctions throughout the south. Outside of this, slavery is not mentioned until the 13th amendment (Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction) Now used for mass incarceration of African American males.

Even with such, as well as the bland attempt through laws, court rulings and other actions, there is a truism that cannot be ignored pertaining to how white America interacts with his darker skinned human beings. Although there is no record of the employment rates of African Americans for the first 70 years after the civil war and the emancipation proclamation, I would be willing to be that the inequity from all from education and economics to an unconditional respect for life and dignity has been less than that of those who brought African to these shores. The real political axiom in American for African Americans, in particular males is that there is no desire for those who brought us to these shore to work for free and make them wealthy to close the gap between the principle of equality and the practice of discrimination, and such will forever remain a constant in America.

Even with an African American president, it is obvious that regardless of their race, President’s will never lift a finger to deal with specific problems of race head on regardless of party. You will never see such detailed in the media as much as contraception, women rights, or terrorism. Albeit the are aware that there is a war of terror perpetrated against African American males in the form of racial profiling, lack of economic and employment opportunities, police brutality and health disparities rather a war on Black men.

This has not changed since it was present by Authur Ross and Herbert Hill in a book edited in 1967 titled “Employment, Race, and Poverty: A Critical Study of the Disadvantaged Status of Negro Workers from 1865 to 1965.” In the book it is noted that since 1954 (when records could be found) the black unemployment rate has consistently been more than doubled that of whites and that since 1950, the labor rate participation for African Americans has been on a firm and unchanging path downward. This is no different than the trajectory observed from 1980 to date in America.

These are not new occurrences. As a populous for some reason, historically we as a collective are an impecunious group, trained to be such in many respects by a culture that holds a criminal divinity above us for the single purpose of subjugation and oppression. Even with our first African American president, we can see this through more of the incessant inaction required to redress this historical impairment. He does nothing, yet we defend him as if he does. I would even state that Richard Nixon did more for African Americans than Obama. Nixon did originally establish as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise (now the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) on March 5, 1969. President Nixon recognized the impact of minority businesses on the nation’s economy and on the general welfare of the country more so than Obama seems to be able to do.

My perspective is more than an apercu of historic fact; it is also cemented in a logic that is based on a systematic investigation into our disturbingly awkward presence in America, which clearly cannot be compared to other immigrants. Laws and names are the only things that change, not the collective unconscious of a people. To say such is like asserting that confederate celebrations do not occur anymore in this nation. The new lingo includes words and phrases like “entitlement society” or “poor work ethic” or “food stamp president” and even suggesting such exhibit a lack of respect for the “Founding Fathers” and the “Constitution” according to Newt Gingrich. Not to mention the real big ones of “taking our country back” and “old-fashioned American values.”
Yes, for all men of Africa descent in America, although we may not see ourselves as such white America and its history and tradition and laws and intergenerational privilege treats us as if we are already dead. This code also extends to attacks on legal immigrants, always carefully lumped in with illegal immigrants, as people seeking “amnesty” and taking jobs from Americans.

Some may say or think the aforementioned proposition is outlandish. If so, all I ask is that you look at the manner in which mainstream American culture views, treats and relegates others that are not descendants of slavery like Latino and Hispanic immigrants to Muslims. They manner in which these groups are treated are similar to the manner African Americans have been treated historically and are still treated today. Yes to this nation, we are expendable, dead even as de Sade described. We are victims of a sordid political system and cultural heritage founded on mere desire and crime, one I which our stature is determined by “assassins in judge’s robes” as Camus once described. I have not given up. Likewise I will not ignore fact or be ashamed to admit that I have lost a substantial amount of confidence in human nature that would allow for African descendants in America to experience the feel of equity defeating discrimination.

Friday, April 13, 2012

L.A. - Man SHOT DEAD - 90 BULLETS fired by Officers after High Speed Chase

sUdan comes before sYria

First I want to give a shout out to all the African Americans out on the front line protesting against the horrible atrocities in the Sudan, especially those who have written diligently and criticized the President for his lack of attention toward that war torn nation. Not to pat myself on the back for writing about Obama and his lack of attention toward Africa, not to mention its descendents who helped him get in office, I have pressed the issue vehemently but only have received comments suggesting I stop “finding” stuff to complain about regarding our current commander in chief by his coterie of folk who protect him simple because of the color of his skin.
Last month, it took a wealthy White man to bring attention to what was occurring in Sudan. I was glad of the attention but was hurt at the same time that no one that looked like me was on the front row of this issue. I’m sure there will be many now, since the uncle tom gene that many of us possess is not a recessive gene and always stands out when Master does something to say it’s ok for us to follow masters lead.

This week, Sudan on Tuesday carried out new airstrikes inside South Sudan in around the village of Tashwin. This after Khartoum vowed that it would use "all means" against a three-pronged attack it said South Sudanese forces had launched against South Kordofan state, including its key oil-producing region of Heglig. These are a continuation of skirmishes that happened last month along the undemarcated and disputed frontier in the Heglig area, with each side blaming the other for starting the fighting.

The last time I heard the President even speak of the problems in Sudan was June of 2011. He was at the United Nations as his top envoy prepared to travel to the region to address the political and military crisis concerning the peaceful division of Sudan into two states. It was right after he had met with his top Sudan envoy, Princeton Lyman as representatives from northern and southern Sudan continued talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All he did was talk and give some warning and photo ops.

It is clear the focus and interest for the present administration is Syria for they turn a blind eye toward Sudan and Africa in general. I am certain that they are aware that Khartoum fought one of Africa’s bloodiest and longest civil wars against the south - a 22-year conflict, which began in 1983 and left more than 2 million people dead.

This is what is so troubling, the visible inconsistency of Obama’s foreign policy. He says nothing for example about Omar Al Bashir, the dictator of Sudan and one of the worst mass murderers of our time who has committed genocide for longer than any political leader living currently. Obama is either hiding or intentionally avoiding this. On the one hand, it is easy for him to state that Hosni Mubarak , Muammar Qaddafi and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad must go but not Al Bashir, the tyrannt right next door to a ruler who was way less dangerous to his people comparatively speaking and way less monstrous -Qaddafi. When reality in the form of displacement, deaths and rapes supports that chasing Qaddafi and not Al Bashir is like “going after Mussolini instead of Hitler. “
Last March I wrote, “Not to beat a dead horse, but this Libya example is almost comical. The reasons proffered for intervention are even more fanatical, when we look at and examine the desire to protect the innocent. Maybe the innocent dwellers of lands endeared with oil reserves, but not solely the innocent. By that logic, worthy locations would have our attention. The Sudan where millions are having been displaced and tens of thousands butchered. The Ivory Coast, where more than 500,000 have been displaced and a civil war looms.”

Just last October, the President issued a series of waivers for the Child Soldiers Protection Act (a 2008 law that is meant to stop the United States from giving military aid to countries that recruit soldiers under the age of 15 and use them to fight wars) for Yemen, South Sudan, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not forgetting that as of 2010 the allocation of U.S. foreign aid from USAID to Sudan was in excess of $420 million. A continuance in the pattern of continuous involvement with foreign aid to Sudan for many years in which more than $250 million was given to the nation between 1977–1981.

But for the Obama administration, the fledgling democratic movement of the Sudan must be defended and preserved even at the cost of millions lives of innocent and defenseless civilians—children, women, and men. When he was a senator, in 2007 and 2008, Obama, was extremely critical of George W. Bush's administration for engaging with Khartoum. Obama even advocated for a no-fly zone for Darfur. Even his current U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice advocated military intervention with personnel on the ground. Also in 2008, then candidate Obama joined in a statement in which he demanded "that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end and that he would "pursue these goals with unstinting resolve." Not to mention a year later it was Mr. Obama, in a statement released by the White House who said “As the United States and our international partners meet our responsibility to act; the government of Sudan must meet its responsibilities to take concrete steps in a new direction.”

The Whitehouse lacks an official policy toward the Sudan and to this date has not keeping his campaign promises, although Obama once said, "Sudan is a priority for this Administration" and "There must be real pressure placed on the Sudanese government." Barack Obama says that the US will apply more pressure on Sudan but his administration has caved to a flawed election. I guess assuming that such is better than no election at all. The fact is that the present administration ignorance and inaction most likely end in a new civil war. The last north-south civil war in Sudan ended with a fragile peace in 2005, after some two million deaths.
What is our administration’s foreign policy when it comes to dictators, tyrants, Africa and democracy? Obama claims he went to war in Libya because NATO was afraid of the threat of government genocide, while we see such real time in the Sudan. Now the Administration is turning its attention and rhetoric towards Syria; which I am certain is for the benefit of Israel.

I just want the president to come correct and say openly that he has no interest in addressing what is going on in Africa with the Sudan. That he and his administration has a lack of interest in the slaughters of Africans whenever it involve people with darker skin. The numbers reported that I have seen pertaining to Sudan is greater than those in Libya or Syria, yet the White House seems not to notice. Even in the dictionary, Sudan would come before Syria.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The 411 on Obama Era Blacks

Attribution is extremely important in writing. Over this past week, I picked up a copy of the Nation Magazine at my local library. There they have a basket where people can bring their used magazines for others to read. It is there where I pick up the Nation along with “The Smithsonian”, “Reason” and my new favorite “The American Conservative.” Strange since they attack republicans and democrats equally and tend to be libertarian in purview, but the writing is unquestionably some of the best this country has to offer. Any Who.

I was reading an article by Dorian T. Warren who currently is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. In the article he made reference to the phrase “Obama era blacks.” His piece was about how African Americans who generally support Obama have a higher level of trust in government, than we have had historically, given what he describes as the “persistently high levels of black unemployment, rising to Depression-like numbers in many urban areas during the Great Recession; increasingly punitive criminal justice policies and the disproportionate imprisonment of minority offenders; a reneged government commitment to addressing inequality and poverty, as seen in welfare reform and the declining real value of the minimum wage; and an ongoing failure to provide equal access to high-quality public education, whether K-12 or higher.

I wanted to take this position even further and give an operational definition to this group he termed “Obama Era Blacks (OBEs).” From a scientific perspective, it is true that most black folks under this heading, policy aside will support Obama no matter what. Even if he announced he was coming out of the closet or if he admitted to pimping Michelle. As I have written before, for black folk to “openly criticize the economic approach of President Obama is tantamount to being an uncle tom, racist or something even worse. Albeit it has nothing to do with the person, his race and/or political affiliation, and more a dissonance with Keynesian economic philosophy, because I am an African American my position is untenable and unreasonable…Even if I state what I agree with and approve of that the President has implemented thus far, I am still considered against the President just because I am in disagreement with a single policy.“ This is description of “Obama Era Blacks.”

In the 2008 election, 95% of black men and 96% of black woman voted for Barack Obama. This population may or may not know that the President failed to stop federal financial aid flowing to for-profit colleges that prey on mainly low income African Americans when his administration caved to the industry’s lobbyists and their campaign against the Obama administration. They also know but accept it as a necessary evil that he attends upper East Side DNC $35,800 a plate fundraisers resulting in $2.4 million added to his re-election campaign from Wall Street financiers while at the same time he pushes policy that will make it easier for private debt collectors to call the cellphones of consumers delinquent on student loans and other debt owed the federal government using robo calls. However, this is just the surface for the vast majority of OEBs don’t question, read, desire to know and think that whatever is given to them via television (especially if it a black Obama support) is gospel second only to the Old Testament.

Most are unaware of the Obama’s administration decision to waive legally mandated penalties for countries that use child soldiers and provide those countries U.S. military assistance, just like he did last year. In fact the president has issued a series of waivers for the Child Soldiers Protection Act, a 2008 law that is meant to stop the United States from giving military aid to countries that recruit soldiers under the age of 15 and use them to fight wars, for Yemen, South Sudan, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Last year, the White House didn't even tell Congress when it ended the Child Soldiers Prevention Act penalties.

As of date, only African American members of congress have been brought up under ethics violations and the present administration has been silent. The Obama Administration would not speak out in the death penalty case of Troy Davis, but did attempt to block the execution of a Mexican man convicted of raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio in 1994. OEB often say it was not his place to get involve yet ignore he had a prior precedent.

Most OEB are also against war in the tradition of both President Bush’s. However they are quiet regarding his intervention in Libya, his intervention in Uganda - which is to kill Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and in Somalia, where he has approved drone strikes that have killed thousands of civilians. OEB speak out when Bush would do such but are hush on the President’s watch. The President even talks tough concerning Syria, but ignores his own campaign promise to address the murdering of tens of thousands in the Sudan by not even speaking of the conflict in the African nation at all. But let it be Israel and he all up on Fox News.

Obama vowed to end “special interests” from his administration; nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, and/or won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests. Just for raising $50,000 to $500,000 for his campaign. In total, 184 of 556, or about one-third, of Obama bundlers or their spouses joined the administration in some role. In fact, 80 percent of those who collected more than $500,000 for Obama took key administration posts. Obama knows this and this is probably why General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt Started a PAC to collect money from its employees for candidates “who share GE’s values and goals” of which Obama got more than any other politician. Immelt was appointed to Obama’s economic recovery board and eventually was named to head his Jobs Council (although it continues to ships jobs abroad). Richard Fuld is also a long-time Barack Obama along with dozens of other former Lehman Brothers Executives, such as John Rhea - (over $500,000) Co-Head of Lehman Bros. Global Investment Banking, and Mark Gilbert - (over $500,000) Lehman Brothers Senior Executive. I would even bet if some stuff hit the fan involving Goldman Sachs, there would be no investigation let alone criminal charges or penalties levied against their seeing that the executives of Goldman Sachs have contributed more than $691,000 to the Obama campaign.

Most OEBs also have a strong disdain for the mass incarceration occurring in the African American community and the manner in which the criminal justice systems promotes two standards based on race, yet ignore that the Obama administration is seeking a 4.2 percent increase, one of the largest of any federal agency for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) which would bring its total budget to more than $6.9 billion. According to Obama's new budget, four new federal prisons will open including in Mississippi and West Virginia.

OEBs are one factor why President Obama's job approval rating averaged nearly 90 percent among blacks and are quick to assert that they tend to be the folks that challenge individuals to “check their facts” or charge “racism” if one disagreed with the President or ANY of his policies. OEB, in particular those that are also African American politicians hide behind the illusion of progress, especially economic progress in terms of the idolatry of having an African America President. “Unfortunately their delusional states prevent them from comprehending that there cannot be any real economic progress in our communities if those locked up behind bars and ostracized from the community are not included in the poverty or unemployment statistics.”

Now I have great Admiration for the President, however what his policies are is different from who he is. I was brought up in an age in which we always tried and did our best. When I played sports against anyone, regardless of race, I did my best to win and beat them. This should be the same with our elected leaders. We should be objective and critical of Obama as we have been historically of all of our presidents. To do otherwise is dangerous. Ours as a collective history, is one that demanded accountability from our elected officials and to not let the cosmetic influence of their race or gender impact logic and reasoning directed toward policy that will have a impact on us. To give the President a pass because he is black , and the first black president is no different than teachers socially promoting students who cannot read or write or perform to grade level.

Why should we stand down, when as President he states the GOP has a war on women, or addresses the unemployment rate of women as a problem but not astute enough to recognize or say the same regarding the unemployment rate of Africa Americans or that society continues its incessant war against African American men?"

From the way I take it and select to elaborate, “Obama Era Blacks “celebrated and still are celebrating our nation supposed triumph over race via the election of the first black man to occupy the Whitehouse yet ignoring that the unemployment rate among Blacks is at 16.7% and a 27 year high. This corpus of individuals purposefully ignores the fact that a racial caste is alive and well in America. Nearly a quarter of African Americans live below the poverty line today, approximately the same percentage as in 1968. The black child poverty rate is actually higher now than it was then. Unemployment rates in black communities rival those in Third World countries. They tend to not have high expectations for the President and support his notion of addressing specific African American problems, problems that are essential to tackling our current economic quandary.

Yes this is our problem, Obama era blacks are more concerned with the imagery of the first Africa American president than his effort to even tackle the unfortunate truth that historically in our society, black men have been portrayed as a people to be feared; savages, unable to be tamed. And now that we are not needed to sharecrop the fields, and technology has replaced low wage jobs unskilled and uneducated African Americans typically received, OBEs sit by in their shallow support of image over substance and effort. Like Young Jeezy, all they care about is the fact that their President is Black.