FBI can listen to you when phone is turned off-can do same with digital TV

America: A Nation of Peter Griffin's and Homer Simpson's

Sometimes I wonder what has happened to America. On the one hand you have folk who occupy themselves with celebrity culture and reality television and on the other, extreme zealots that use presupposed intellect to propound lunacy and outright hatred. In either instance, both sides of the above coin redefine idiocy and make it seem like stupidity has replaced suma cum laude.

Now as far as the first side goes, they are just as dangerous as the race baiting, islamaphobic nativist that are on the other end of the continuum and equally as dangerous. They tend to know when Lil Wayne is getting out of prison and how many times Lindsey Lohan has been arrested that who is their representative in the state senate or how to solve a polynomial.

It is this segment of the population mainly responsible for America ranking 26 in the world in math, science and reading comprehension. There book is the music video and they read TMZ and other entertainment blogs as if the information they contained was just as valuable as the Wall Street Journal. They are more apt to spend time in clubs, bars, lenox mall and the local car wash than the PTA, library, or helping their kids do homework.

Unfortunately these folk are not our nations only problem, for on the other end of the spectrum is a cavalcade of ignorance just as appalling. Although rather knowledgeable, this group lacks the ability to lucidly employ reason, problem solve or think critically. They unlike the previous who are oblivious to all outside the entertainment industry and have a penchant to allow fear and the disability of retrograde amnesia with respect to history, to direct their understanding of the world.


It seems these folk hate all that is not reflective of traditional White Anglo Saxon Protestant culture. The hate the current president for several reasons – that he is Black, has a name unlike theirs and that he lives in the Whitehouse. They even compare him to both Hitler and Stalin, while forgetting these two fought against each other in World War 2 and that on the down low, they believe in the racial superiority that Hitler preached. They have a disdain for other ethnic groups and religions for example, like Muslims and immigrants in particularly from Mexico; while confidently forgetting they come from similar origins.

Using the example of Islam, they forget theirs a history of Popes Innocent the III and Gregory IX, who massacred and murdered people, conducted the inquisition against heretics in the name of their one true God and religion – Christianity. Doing the work of a God in their views supported the beheading of non-believers and burning them at the stake. No different than the horrid beliefs of Islamic Sharia Law in my purview regarding infidels.

Or the case of Mexican immigrants, forgetting how they came to these lands without papers, illegally, cutting off heads of the Native Americans who were here before them, murdering women and children in order to steal their land – this too in the name of their white god.

This America I live in is backwards. They pray for TI not to go to prison but let Mumia Abu Jamal rot in prison with no interest. They applaud Thomas Jefferson as a founding father but ignore his documented goal to take without trade, the land of Native Americans and his wish for their extermination. I even just read a piece by John Avlon of the Daily Beast noting that 46 books have been published demonizing President Obama in his first two years of office compared to 6 and 11 for George Bush and Bill Clinton at the same period of their presidencies.

So why? Why is this bivalve of my America in 2010? Took me a while to come to a reasonable conclusion but all I could come up with was that this nation has been reduced to these types of people. One the one side, there are the Homer Simpsons and on the other, the Peter Griffins. The rest of us are in the middle shaking our heads, moving them from left to right as if we are watching a tennis match.

US Air Force: 50 US nuclear missiles went offline over the weekend

Church by Definition - a place for slaves

Some may perceive that the church, as a bastion of religious humility, would speak out against the violence of perpetuating human bondage and degradation that has historically been inflicted upon the descendants of slaves in America. Throughout the history of Africans in America, from slavery to the present day, one constant has been the impact of religion, especially Christianity, on the physical and mental enslavement of African Americans.

Europe’s advancement into the New World brought colonialism, slavery and imperialism under the guise of Christianity, which according to Sipe Mzimela, is nothing more than variations of European cultures, specifically German (Lutheranism), English (Anglicanism & Methodism), Scottish (Presbyterianism) and the French, Belgian and Portuguese (Catholicism).

Christian missionaries preached all men were equal under the eyes of God, but yet they ridiculed Africans while forcing them to accept their inferior societal status under the “Christian” concept of suffering. History has described this concept as the white man’s burden, for if the Africans did not accept Christianity they were killed.

This is one reason European religions — on behalf of missionaries and religious leaders — facilitated Europe’s occupation of Africa. This is a factual occurrence whether it was the Dutch Reform Church of South Africa, which overtly sanctioned apartheid or the Catholic enterprises at Goree, and continued such on the shores of North America and the new world. Missionaries taught Africans that it was the will and desire of God for them to suffer oppression, discrimination and exploitation.

Up until this day, albeit their are many churches and even African specific denominations such as in the Methodist Church, the same belief orientation exist in mind, practices and teachings of ministers ordained in the christian faith. The simple truth is that there is a historical fact that what is employed to provide salvation has mentally been used to make us slaves. Not to mention that the current state of the church seems to serve the pockets and privilege of the minister more than the flock that they attend to.

As a people it is difficult to refute that the Christianity that many of us practice now was forced upon us by the Dutch, Portuguese, French and English, and that the terms Christian, European, free, and white were synonymous. We can see this linage clearly both in the Scripture and the laws of this great nation as well as the increased visibility of white supremacists and Aryan nationalists cloaked under the guise of Christian identity.

The black church seems to have lost its way over the centuries since many of its teachings, although espoused from biblical origins, often were in contradiction to the state and church it represented. Today, as in past, it is not a bastion of religious humility, but rather a expansive commercial, industrial and financial entity that is devoted to wealth accumulation over the benefit of self-determination, free thinking and personal empowerment of the people it claims to represent.

Is America Trying to Kill Haiti?

In January of this year, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed more than 250,000 people in Haiti. Since then the country has been struggling to rebuild and restore infrastructure. The response from the United States was immediate with USAID being charged by President Obama with leading the U.S. government's response to the crisis.

Ten months later many problems remain. More than a million Haitians are still living on the streets between piles of trash and rubble from destroyed buildings. Even more unfortunate is that none of the $1.15 billion the U.S. promised for rebuilding has arrived. Although 50 other nations pledged more than $8 billion for reconstruction, less than $700 million of that had reached Haiti as of the end of September. The money was pledged by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and was to be used mostly for reconstruction.

One reason for the delay is that in the U.S., although both the House and the Senate passed a bill that would make $917 million available for aid to Haiti, the U.S. Senate has yet to pass an authorization bill that directs exactly how the money will be spent. This is because one senator, Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is holding up the bill because he is opposed to the creation of a senior Haiti coordinator because the United States currently has an ambassador to the country.
Meanwhile, deaths in Port-au-Prince are increasing due to a lack of food and shelter. Data shows a mere 2 percent of the debris and rubble from the earthquake have been removed and 13,000 temporary shelters have been built. A new report released by the international charity Oxfam indicates that the food aid pouring into Haiti is harming the country's economy, especially its agricultural sector. The majority of Haitians depend on agriculture for their livelihood but instead of AID we let disease fester - and we knew this would happen.

The only good think is that state side resident Wyclef did not run for president or it would havce been worse. remember a song by UGK back in the day that said "movies got these boy's f****d up in the minds." It specifically reminds me of celebrities and how some with fame think that's all they need to do anything, along with money and popularity that is.

Unless you have been under a rock, you should have heard by now that Wyclef Jean, the producer, singer and songwriter of the infamous Fugee's has indicated he plans to run for president of Haiti. Also, that the almost son-in-law of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, is also throwing his hat into the political ring and is running for mayor of his hometown, Wasilla, Alaska. Johnston's manager, Tank Jo
nes, confirmed that Johnston's campaign is part of a reality TV show.


I do not know Palin, Johnston or Wyclef but I will make a broad statement that non of the aforementioned are qualified to be Mayor or President. Why might you ask?

Unfortunately, money and fame may get you the attention and the votes to win an office, but it does not qualify one with the proficiencies in economics, health management or a knowledge in parliamentary procedures required to make a substantial contribution to a major governmental body. In addition, it requires a substantial knowledge base to discern, understand and solve the problems one is confronted with and discuss them with advisers and experts in their selected fields.

I think Wyclef Jean is not qualified to be president of Haiti for the same reasons I thought Palin was not qualified to be vice president of the U.S. His candidacy is a cover up for U.S. military occupation of the country. The truth is that Jean has extremely cozy relationships with Bill Clinton and others who desire via neo-colonialism to make Haiti a tourist location for the rich and a mass pool of cheap labor for U.S. commercial interest and factories.

Jean was the former Ambassador to the U.S. and his uncle currently serves in that post. While Ambassador, he never met with the United Nations, World bank, the IMF nor any other major international political body. If he wanted to make a difference he should run for a seat in New York or New Jersey, supporting the interest of the millions of urban Americans who made him rich, but he won't. Cause the way I see it he is either the black Sarah Palin or Levi Johnston - all letting the people of Haiti die regardless.

Keynesian Economics is on Life Support and I wish it would die

In less than two weeks on November 3rd, the Federal Reserve next policy committee will end. It is suspected, if Chairman Ben Bernanke is true to his word, the central bank will attempt to drive down interest rates even lower. This if true, since traditionally the Federal Reserve bank usually cuts short term interest rates to spur economic activity, will show their traditional advocacy of Keynesian approach to economic growth. Unfortunately this is also problematic if trying to avoid inflation is of any importance.

John Maynard Keynes is the father if what many refer to as Keynesian Economic Theory. Keynesian economics is a theory that promotes the view that total spending or aggregate demand is essential to dealing with improving economic outputs and inflation. Its premise is based on the assumption that economic activity is influenced mainly by public sector decisions – mainly monetary and tax policy. The main output from this perspective is employment and not prices. This since monetary and tax policy cannot impact employment if prices or cost are not rigid entities. One reason why KET is obsolete, for if wages, if measured in terms of dollars, will not be able to define real or actual purchasing power at the individual consumer level.

Another unfortunate aspect of KET is that all economic solutions are designed and targeted directly to deal with the business cycle versus the individual worker or wage owner. Mostly due to the observation that there will always be a delay between when economic policy takes effect and when the individuals in charge, like the government actually recognize that an economic problem exists and the time it will really takes to impact the economy.

These methods are opposite to the prior approaches to economics that pushed for more of a Laissez-fair capitalism, which in its simple nature excludes the public sector in the market unlike Keynes. In fact, Keynes advocated for a central bank to be used to expand money supply, which assumes that putting more loot in folks hands would result in an increase of consumer confidence, which would result in people spending more since Keynes believed that putting money into the hands of the people would eventually go to the wage earnings of another.
But history has proven this wrong, although Bernanke, Obama and all the presidents and Fed Chairmen before both of the aforementioned act otherwise. First history is not equal to theory, which it is obvious Keynes could not comprehend. Second, the belief that massive deficit spending will flood the economy with money is equal to accepting that the Easter Bunny is a real creature that lays colored chicken eggs. The truth is that the economy is not starved for money. Thanks to the bailout, Tarp and prior bank rescues, their reserves have actually increased via the structurally built-in deficit spending under the guise of Keynes. Subsequently, allowing the Federal Reserve to release as much loot as they want for them to use to buy up unlimited amounts of bonds, commodities and securities unlike we the common person. That is now since the government can’t print money but rather have to borrow it from the Central bank.

This all with the applause of the Rothschild’s, Rockefellers and Warburg’s and the forced yet illegal Federal Reserve Act of 1913 – but that’s another story.

I mean tell me if I am wrong, but all the US Central bank does is lend loot interest free to banks that gamble, I mean invest it on Wall Street without any risk – cab you say savings and loan? Because all the banks they lend to is not for them to lend to others or extend and free up the flow of credit, but used to buy up all the assets and infrastructure in America. They got money they just don’t lend it or provide credit – they instead use it to make themselves rich – an assumption that Keynes never considered in his public sector government central bank spending to help the economy models. After all TARP, with the approval of congress gave banks the unfettered authority to seize all the property they desire, while at the same time decreasing the value of the dollar, making all that us regular folk buy more expensive.

All I am saying is that KET as has been practiced historically and currently promulgated by Obama and Bernanke has a troubling impact on mostly us main street folk who lived on fixed incomes. The stimulus to be honest about it was too little too late, not to mention the folks it was designed to help were the banks that CAUSED this recession. The fact still remains that the Federal Reserve Bank is a private corporation and no more apart of the US Government than Waffle House.

Thomas Jefferson spoke of such and said it best when he wrote: "If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Mr. President, Keynesian economics doesn’t work and is on life support due the idiot Wall Street bankers you take economic advice from. Please do not necessitate it.

Georgia Republican Wants National Guard to Shoot To Kill Border Crossers

Slavery By Another name: Some States Bring Back "Debtors' Prisons"

There have been two recent publications that have noted a resuscitation of history in America. The first called Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, published by the NYU's Brennan Center for Justice documents that states have begun to mandate “user fees” on individuals with criminal convic¬tions. These fees have a negative impact on communities traditionally burdened with high incarceration rates by the criminal justice system by making new routes to prison for people unable to pay their debts.This report looked at practices in fifteen states with the highest prison populations and examined mostly the proliferation of “user fees.” These are financial obligations imposed not for any traditional criminal justice purpose but rather to fund tight state budgets. Eight of the fif¬teen states suspend driving privileges for missed debt payments and seven require individuals to pay off criminal justice debt be¬fore they can regain their eligibility to vote. In all fifteen states, criminal justice debt and associated collection practices can damage an individuals credit.

Fourteen also utilize “poverty penalties” – piling on additional late fees and interest when individuals are unable to pay their debts. The state of Alabama charges a 30 percent collection fee and Florida allows for private debt collectors to tack on a 40 percent surcharge to collect underlying debt.

The second report, released by the American Civil Liberties Union is called In For a Penny: The Rise of America's New Debtors' Prisons. It presents the findings of a year long investigation into modern-day debtors' prisons. In essence the practice of incarcerating people because they cannot afford to pay their legal debts.

Although such practices are unconstitutional, the practice of debtors' prisons is growing across the country although the Supreme Court prohibited imprisoning those who are too poor to pay their legal debts more than twenty years ago.

In some states, people, mainly men and women whom are poor, being unable to pay their legal fees such as charges for use of public defenders, which is a guaranteed right in the United States - becomes a criminal act. Meaning that their only crime is being poor or living in poverty. Debtor prisons are most popular in the states with the largest prison populations like California, Michigan and Alabama.

The ACLU report cites several startling examples. Gregory White, a homeless man in Louisiana, was arrested for stealing $39 worth of food from a grocery store. He was billed $339 in legal fees. When he could not pay, he was arrested and spent 198 days in jail, which cost the city $35,000.

Percy Dear, of New Orleans suffers from epilepsy and schizophrenia. He was arrested for begging in 2007 and was sentenced with either paying an immediate fine of $200 or spending 20 days in jail. In Georgia, Ora Lee Hurley owed $705 in fines from a 1990 drug possession conviction. She stayed in jail for eight months for failing to pay.

These are examples of how the economy and justice systems are seeking ways to criminalize being poor. Although in Bearden v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that such practices violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, states all across the country use debtor prisons to impart unequal justice on the poor, in particular African Americans, under the guise of making money.

Black councilman told he should work in a cotton field

New Internet Censorship Law Introduced in U.S. Senate

Senator Patrick Leahy has introduced S.3804 or the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). Although this bill is in the first step in the legislative process, if signed into law, it would allow the attorney general and the Department of Justice to require domain registrars and registries, ISPs, DNS providers, and others to block Internet users from reaching certain websites.

In addition, it would also create a set of Internet blacklists. One would be a list of all of the government-selected Web sites served with a “censorship court order” from the attorney general’s office. The second would be a list of domain names that the Department of Justice determines singularly and subjectively without judicial review that are described as or determined to be "dedicated to infringing activities" — whatever the heck that is. The bill will block domains on both lists, with the latter requesting that service providers do so with legal immunity when they block the sites listed.

This is a censorship bill that could have an extremely dangerous impact on freedom of speech and the Internet. Moreover, it is in contradiction to the tenets of democracy espoused in the Bill of Rights. Last I read, no law shall be made that restricts limits or suppresses speech, meaning that blocking an entire domain over a portion of a single Web site is just dumb.

The Senate needs to seriously reconsider this bill. I would like to believe that the public will make the effort to oppose such idiocy, but the reality is that many do not know and would not know because reading is a lost art and most spend too much time on the Internet following gossip and celebrity than the laws of our great nation and the practices of our politicians.

Are you at all bothered by the government's quiet attempts to infringe upon or do away with our rights? Could you live without Facebook, Twitter or some of the other sites that occupy your time if they happened to make the list?