Thoughts?

Is Tavis Smiley a corrupted corporate shill?

Big Brother is here...

As if the Orwellian state of our government, thanks to the Bush crime family isn't bad enough (the "clear skies initiative" that makes the skies clear of birds, and the "healthy forest," iniative that allows more logging of older trees are just 2 examples), the ACLU reports that we are fast becoming a fully functional serveillance society. If you're one of those, "I don't worry about being watched, I don't do anything wrong," kinds of people, can I come over and hang out a few feet away from you for a week? Then I'll watch every, and I mean EVERY single thing that you do? Sound fun????

One "extrordinary rendition" story...

Have you heard about the guy accused of plotting to kill the president (which is a really bad idea considering it'll leave us with Tricky Dick part Deux)? Did you know he was detained in Saudi Arabia and tortured before he was charged of anything here? Now you do...

Zimbabwe likes the Facism too...

We don't get much news about Africa (we barely hear about genocide when it goes on in the "dark continent," so simple facism gets no play), but here's a story abut the current situation in Zimbabwe from Salon. com (a sight that's definately worth checking out from time to time). No real comment here, we're not in that much better shape here, so why pass judgement? Okay, we are in better shape then Zimbabwe, we have a free press, they just don't actually report anything...

Hotel Sudan

While everyone's focused on the Tsunami, if they're still even focused on that, the genocide and masss famine in the Sudan continues. Reuters reports:

Millions of people are at risk of starvation unless the international community acts quickly on the situation in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, Jan Egeland, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, said.
"Some are predicting four million, some are predicting - that [more] people [are] in desperate need of life-saving assistance as we approach the hunger gap in mid-year," Egeland told a news conference in New York on Friday.

read the rest:

Wasn't the big Dubya's inauguration speech all about spreading freedom and liberty? All we will spread is famine and misery if we refuse to act. Bill Clinton went to Rwanda and apologized to the people for his shameful inaction there over a decade ago, think Dubya will after he lets how many millions die? One way that the US is stonewalling is by being opposed to using the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute war criminals in Sudan. Why? Because the Bush crime family (or administration, whichever you prefer), is opposed to the international criminal court on principle (the principle that almost anyone in their administration could be brought up on charges if US endorsed the ICC), so they don't support it's use in any instance. Here's a balanced article about the ICC and the USA's objection to it...

Four of the least graphic images of the genocide were in today's New York Times. As a Black man I have a responsibility to do what I can for my African brothers and sisters, and as a (black, brown, yellow, red, white, whichever you are) human being, u do too! We cannot allow our silence on Rwanda to be repeated, and we can't allow this to continue...

Black Folk's Don't Like Bush's Budget (I know, you're shocked)

I know that Bush's budget is hard on the poor and left out, and you know it too; but here's the facts of his budget proposal so that you have some ammunition when you argue with your neo-con friends (I hope you don't have any neocon friends but in case yo do...). My favorite part of this is the Black conservatives explaining the deep, deep cuts away by saying that, “They did the best they could do,” Renee Amoore, deputy chair of the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com Tuesday. “We have to get this deficit to drop.” How did we get these deficits? I wonder... It couldn't be tax-cuts to the rich during (unjustified) wartime could it???

Question of the Week: "President's Week/post-All-Star break,"

There was a poll that asked people to "vote" for either President Bush or George Washington. The man who could not tell a lie beat the guy who cant stop telling lies by 20 points. These reason for the slim margin of victory for the father of our country was the 2 to 1 Republican vote in favor of Bush. They really are crazy aren't they?! But that's not the question of the week. The question is, who's the bigger liar and why? Your choices are Kobe Bryant or George W. Bush. Go!

Every Day the GOP got our Backs (in their sights)!

Senator Al Franken (sorry, I'm projecting out to 2008) has an editorial in the LA Times discussing the Republican calendar that gives a daily reference to the civil rights accomplishments of the Grand Old Party. As Franken notes:

Now, it is true that Republicans have been involved in civil rights issues for a century and a half. For the first 100 or so years, they were the party that was "for" civil rights.Then they switched sides with the Democrats, and for half a century they've been more involved on the "against" side.That's why most of the Republican civil rights calendar's entries mark achievements before the advent of the modern flush toilet. For instance, the entry for April 17 reads: "1823 — Birth of Arkansas Republican Mifflin Gibbs, elected in 1873 as first African-American judge; later appointed by President William McKinley as Consul to Madagascar." Definitely an achievement. But not necessarily one that would convince a suspicious African American voter 130 years later that today's Republican Party is in his corner.

Read the entire article... and check the calendar

I don't need to comment on the sorry efforts to court Black voters...
But with this, Laura Bush's promises to kick it in Compton (the urban youth initiative) and their faith based cash payouts to Black pastors, at least the Republicans are trying to court Black voters. They might eventually hit upon some strategy that's not piss-poor, so maybe theDems should think about possibly re-engaging their oft-neglected key to their base. They don't need to lose any more stalwarts. Do they?

Serena Picture of the Week....

It's an old one, but since I'm launching I figured I should come out strong...
"Wow"

Coulter: "Bring McCarthyism Back!"

Not an exact quote, but I wish I was misrepresenting what she actually said. Maybe I'm just paranoid after seeing a documentary on the Rwandan genocide. The film makes it clear that hate radio was a key in inflaming the hatred of the Hutus that eventually massacred their Tutsi neighbors, co-workers and friends. Now the neo-con right is targeting "leftist" professors and intellectuals, their even calling Jimmy Carter a traitor! Are we so much more advanced and "civilized," that we don't have to worry about it happening here? I bet anti-Nazi Germans weren't that worried either until...
Dont' believe me, how about Robert Kennedy Jr., or Veterans for Peace, or even the American Conservative? Why don't you just google it bitches?! Wake up Sheep-ple! (was that strong enough paranoid ranting)...