no news is good news

Strange to me but it seems since his Inauguration, there has been little mention of Iraq, outside of the occasional statements made by Secretary Gates or the anticipated troop withdrawals Obama ran his campaign on. No more images even on the great cathode ray tube. When Bush was in office, seems that is all we read, heard and saw.

This says a few thing to me. First our media may be liberal in perspective and doesn’t desire to remind folks that yep, we are still involved in a brutal occupation In Iraq – even under the current administration. Second, that the media is not designed nor does it have a preference for informing the public via news. Last, it reinforces why I have to read newspapers from around the world, other than US papers, conservative or Liberal to get some objective information. I first noticed this when the day before his historic inauguration, no papers nor news stations showed or talked about Israel massive bombings of innocent folks, mostly kids in the Gaza strip (pics here).

If you didn’t know, April was the deadliest month in seven months with respct to US fatalities in Iraq. In fact the civilian death toll has also been steadily increasing . On April 29, 2009 in a news conference President Barack Obama was asked if recent violence in Iraq would affect his timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops. Strange thing was that same day three car bombs killed at least 51 people in markets in Baghdad. Although Obama answered by saying that we have not “ seen the kinds of huge spikes that you were seeing for a time” and that “the political system is holding and functioning in Iraq." True the number of deaths is not as great as it was in 2007 and 2008 the same time period, but the Iraq's government says that 435 civilians were killed in April, which means the count is likely to be greater than that reported. This by my math represents almost an 40% increase since March.

This is very disturbing because it as if since the number of deaths is lower from the past year that it makes it acceptable, putting in the context of the current President. Even stranger is that during his campaign his mantra was that “the war should have never been fought . But turned around on February 27, while addressing US troops at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina he said the US military “have fought against tyranny and disorder."

After just over 100 days in office, the current Administration is considering reversing course by leaving U.S. troops in Iraq, which makes me think , like all politicians, saying what the folks want to hear is all that count for following up on such actions are not as important as getting elected. But I understand that politics is a big old game. The real deal is that we seem not to be even able to trust our media to give us the real deal. And things may be getting just ready to hit the fan the way the Taliban is putting down and with these new images that the President has said he will not release to the public. Again I had to go to a foreign sources to see 16 of the 44 pics. But in the big picture the war, and folks dying in Iraq, political lies and the like are not as important as American Idol results, Mike Vick getting out of jail, Rihanna and Drake hooking up or Nas and his woman. So make no never mind about me. I guess no news is good news.

Criminal Minded

Now i'm the first main to wanna see al my brothers out of jail, especially the ones who are in there for nothing or for just being black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I was one of them folks that used to say free Geronimo Pratt and free Nelson Mandela. But down in these parts, it seems as if we got our priorities screwed up. I mean, I hate jails and prisons, and I don’t want to ever go there. Albeit I have dirt behind m ear, I have yet to be caught for such discretions such to warrant a sentence and prison time.

As many of us know, Clifford “the big red dog” Harris, Jr. is in jail. Not prison yet, but he may soon be. Just as Michael Vick, it is for poor personal decision-making. Would like to say stupidity, but I will hold off for the time being. But in both case, these men, had prior indiscretions that I felt should have warned them to cool it and count their blessings. But for the sake of keeping it real, they kept it real stupid. I just have a problem for folks saying free Vick and Free T.I. just because of who they are, or because they like to watch them play football, or because they like their music or worse, because they think they cute.

I feel that as a people, if folks do wrong, let them suffer, learn and grow. I’d be saying free Vick and Free T.I too if they were innocent. But sometimes we must reap what we sow. I teach my son that there are consequences to his actions and that only he can live by his choices. Especially as a Black man, I tell him he MUST know better.

I remember seeing TI recently on BET and he said, folks better be glad I’m rapping about stuff and not doing it.” I feel now it was a bold face lie. My momma said she would get me out of jail for anything except raping and stealing. So I did neither. But she say if you know you are doing wrong, and something against the law, and you do it anyway – you get what you deserve. Damn, why we got to be so stupid? Nonetheless, I’m more so disappointed in those folks who calling for their freedom. I bet if one of the guns he bought were used to kill their child, wife or brother, they wouldn’t be saying such. Let’s think about what we ask for, because when we need the justice system and their laws applied to the other folks, if they don’t do such, who will be mad at then? I’m sure we won’t be saying free the KKK for fighting pit bulls and purchasing machine guns. Maybe that’s what KRS-One meant when he said ”criminal minded, you’ve been blinded.”