Black Intuitive Thoughts, Commentary, and Hollerin'

America is Force Feeding Its Citizens the Blue Pill

2010-02-01T13:26:00.003-06:00

This is an article that speaks to my mind and heart. Near the end of the article, it asks people to critically analyze the information we receive because today information from conventional sources is not trustworthy. As an African-American, aren't we confronted everyday with negative images, statistics, and stories about us that never reflect our day-to-day lives?

Why is that? I will tell you why. Because there is a large group of people who want to maintain power over African-American lives by manipulating our minds and undermining our cultural self-esteem. We should always question the negative images that we are assaulted with because they are not true.

We must guard against an external force undermining our belief in ourselves as a group to make decisions that are best for us.

Has Forbes Gone Psychotic or Taken the Blue Pill?
Posted by:

Dr. Mercola January 30 2010 43,422 views

Forbes has declared Monsanto “Company of the Year,” calling criticism of the notorious company “vicious” attacks against a company that “has been working to make humanity better fed.”

What’s more, Forbes claims that the attacks come because Monsanto has close to a monopoly in some seed markets, which Forbes argues is because they are making “seeds that are too good.”
You read that right. Apparently, Monsanto’s decades-long attempt to control the seed market -- which has led it lawsuits against small farmers and genetically modified plants that never regerminate, forcing farmers to buy seeds year after year -- is apparently just a result of their being “too good.”

I encourage you all to BOYCOTT Forbes and cancel any subscription you may have.

For anyone who knows anything about the business of Monsanto, the news that this ominous company has been named “Company of the Year” by renowned Forbes magazine is simply shocking.

This follows on the heels of other oxymoronic honors, such as

President Obama accepting the Nobel Peace Prize while firmly entrenched in a seemingly never-ending war spread across two countries, and

Time magazine naming Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke “Man of the Year,” supposedly for “saving” the US from “an even worse” financial collapse than what Bernanke himself helped create.

Even more ironic are the media efforts to convince you that the unsustainable situation created by printing of billions of dollars to bail out failing banks and companies can be sustained indefinitely.

So, who is responsible for these strange decisions? And perhaps more importantly, why?

Through the lens of these examples, a rather bizarre picture is taking shape. I can’t say exactly what the message is, but I believe I can say this:
Beware, because deception is taking place through coordinated media manipulation.

If you know anything about how conventional media is being used on a mass scale, you realize that typically someone is trying to sell you on something – an idea, an ideology, a certain mindset, in order to eventually produce a certain behavior.

The question is, what are they trying to convince you of now?

Are We Living in Some Alternative Reality?

When reading the news these days, I often feel like I’m getting information from some alternate Universe where up is down, and left is right. Because they surely aren’t reporting reality on this planet. It’s gotten so blatantly bizarre lately, it’s as though they don’t even bother to come up with a decent cover story to shroud their attempts at manipulating your mind.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that there are still many who have not figured this game out yet, who will swallow just about anything that magazines like Time and Forbes put in print – like the story that Monsanto is a world class do-gooder.

Unfortunately, there are still those who are unaware of the many improprieties and outright crimes committed by Monsanto, such as:

Suing small farmers for patent infringement after Monsanto’s GM seeds spread wildly into surrounding farmers’ fields, contaminating their conventional crops

Secretly discharging PCB-laden toxic waste into an Alabama creek, and dumping millions of pounds of PCBs into open-pit landfills for decades after PCBs were banned in the US for being a possible carcinogen.

Being found guilty of bribery to bypass Indonesian law requiring an environmental assessment review for its genetically engineered cotton.

Last year, the supreme court of France found Monsanto guilty of falsely advertising its herbicide Roundup as "biodegradable" and “environmentally friendly.” Scientific evaluation discovered that glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, is acutely toxic to fish and birds and can kill beneficial insects and soil organisms that maintain ecological balance. Additionally, the surfactant ingredient in Roundup is more acutely toxic than glyphosate itself, and the combination of the two is even more toxic.

In 2007, the South African Advertising Standards Authority also found Monsanto guilty of lying when advertising that “no negative reactions to Genetically Modified food have been reported.”
According to one EPA scientist, Monsanto doctored studies and covered-up dioxin contamination of a wide range of its products. She concluded that the company’s behaviour constituted “a long pattern of fraud.”

In 1999, the New York Times exposed that Monsanto’s PR firm, Burson Marsteller, had paid fake "pro-GMO" food demonstrators to counteract a group of anti-biotech protesters outside a Washington, DC FDA meeting.

This is but a short list of examples, but it should give you a clue as to why I question the rationale behind giving them this honor.
Monsanto – Company of the Year?

Anyone who has studied the devastating effects of the unrestrained release of genetically modified crops into the environment will see the insanity in declaring Monsanto “Company of the Year.”

What the world needs is a return to saner, more sustainable farming practices, not mass cultivation of crops infused with “suicide genes” that prevent regermination the year after, or food crops that have been contaminated with GM seeds used for pharmaceutical production.

I truly believe that letting Monsanto lead us down the garden path is nothing short of suicidal.
It’s time for people to realize that while the declared motive behind GM food is an altruistic one -- to alleviate hunger, poverty and malnutrition worldwide – in reality, the ruthless propagation of GM crops are intended to create previously unimaginable profits above anything else.
Despite their assurances, we’re already beginning to see the real price of all that tinkering with Mother Nature: unnatural crop combinations that can harm your health and potentially cause generational DNA changes, for example.

Not only that, but contrary to promises, GM crops are FAILING MISERABLY all across the world. The reality simply isn’t living up to the hype of increased yields of healthy crops.

After 30 years of GMO experimentation, we have the data to show:

No increase in yields; on the contrary GM soya has decreased yields by up to 20 percent compared with non-GM soya.

Up to 100 percent failures of Bt cotton have been recorded in India.

And recent studies by scientists from the USDA and the University of Georgia found that growing GM cotton in the U.S. can result in a drop in income by up to 40 percent.

No reduction in pesticides use;

On the contrary, USDA data shows that GM crops has increased pesticide use by 50 million pounds from 1996 to 2003 in the U.S., and the use of glyphosate went up more than 15-fold between 1994 and 2005, along with increases in other herbicides to cope with rising glyphosate resistant superweeds.

Roundup herbicide is lethal to frogs and toxic to human placental and embryonic cells. Roundup is used in more than 80 percent of all GM crops planted in the world.

GM crops harm wildlife, as revealed by UK and U.S. studies.

Bt resistant pests and Roundup tolerant superweeds render the two major GM crop traits useless. The evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have now been confirmed and documented.

Vast areas of forests, pampas and cerrados lost to GM soya in Latin America.

Epidemic of suicides in the cotton belt of India. 100,000 farmers between 1993-2003, and an estimated 16,000 farmers a year since, have committed suicide since Bt cotton was introduced.

Transgene contamination is completely unavoidable, as science has recently revealed that the genome (whether plant, animal or human) is NOT constant and static, which is the scientific base for genetic engineering of plants and animals. Instead, geneticists have discovered that the genome is remarkably dynamic and changeable, and constantly ‘conversing’ and adapting to the environment. This interaction determines which genes are turned on, when, where, by what and how much, and for how long. They’ve also found that the genetic material itself has the ability to be changed according to experience, passing it on to subsequent generations.

GM food and feed linked to deaths and sicknesses both in the fields in India and in lab tests around the world. For example, in April 2006, more than 70 Indian shepherds reported that 25 percent of their herds died within 5-7 days of continuous grazing on Bt cotton plants.

Forbes on a Roll – But Where?

But Forbes doesn’t just throw your intelligence for a loop by hailing the success of a destroyer like Monsanto. Oh, no. There’s more.

Tellingly, in the same issue, Forbes also lashes out against chelation therapy, and derides anyone who thinks there may be a connection between vaccines and autism.

So what is this all about, really?

I have to seriously wonder why we are being urged to imagine we live in a world where no bad deed goes unrewarded; a place where what’s bad for you is somehow beneficial, and where lack of integrity, reason and logic is applauded.

What is this type of media coverage saying to you? What is this saying to your children?
This is not what America used to stand for, if I remember correctly. And it’s not what America should stand for now, or in the future.

Quite frankly, it’s all wrong. It’s all upside-down and backwards.

The only good thing about these blatantly bizarre media displays is the fact that they are just that – blatantly bizarre. And hopefully that will shake more people from their slumber and cause them to ask some basic questions about what’s really going on in this world.

Important Questions Only You Have the Answer to.
Who taught you what you know?

Who do you listen to?

What messages are you receiving from conventional media?

How do you determine what’s real and what’s not?

When was the last time you turned OFF the television and really pondered some issue at length, on your own, looking at it from all sides, including the sides you’ve been told to ignore?

Heck, when was the last time you asked WHY you are being told to ignore it in the first place!

Other questions may be even more important than the preceding ones, as they involve really tuning into yourself:

Where do you fall within the scheme of nature?

Do natural laws apply to you?

Where does science fit in? How far can science take you?

Are you willing to gamble the future of your children on the assurances of mega-companies like Monsanto, who have tremendous responsibility to their shareholders to turn a profit in a crumbling market?

To what degree do you think man-made chemicals can improve your health? What IS health, really?

What does your body really need in order for all those trillions of cells to thrive in harmony?

Folks, I encourage you to open your mind; think deeply and clearly, and avoid jumping to preconceived conclusions based on what you think you “know,” without first challenging yourself to discern who fed you that “knowledge” in the first place.

Personally, I’m fed up with the brainwashing that conventional media dishes out, and if you too have had enough, I suggest you boycott Forbes and cancel any subscription you may have to their magazine.

Unless you simply don’t want to live in a right-side-up world, that is.
Congressman Ron Paul said the following in one of his speeches before Congress earlier this year, and it sums up my sentiments exactly:

"Is this a dream or a nightmare? Is it my imagination or have we lost our minds? It is surreal. It is just not believable. A grand absurdity. A great deception. A delusion of momentous proportions based on preposterous notions and ideas whose time should never have come.
Insanity passed off as logic. Evil described as virtue. Ignorance pawned off as wisdom. Slavery sold as liberty. The philosophy that destroys us is not even defined. We have broken from reality, a psychotic nation. Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom." - Ron Paul

Haitian Tragedy - Opportunity for Black Independence Once Again

2010-01-13T14:08:00.003-06:00

The world witnessed the devastation that occurred in Haiti after the island was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake centered in Haitian’s capital city, Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.

This event, as tragic as it is, is an opportunity for the people of African descent to pool resources and reach out to Haitians. Whether African-Americans know it or not, we have access to billions of dollars when our monetary resources are combined. In doing a brief two-second Google search, numerous organizations and businesses appeared which had the capacity to help rebuild country (Black Contractors Association), provide medical aid to its victims (Black Nurses Association), and help black businesses win contracts to do the work (National Black Chamber of Commerce).

Starting with these three organizations, African-Americans have the opportunity to mobilize our power towards the re-development of our sister-nation, Haiti.

Yet, many of us do not know Haiti’s powerful history and why this tragedy is particularly meaningful.

In 1801, Haitian black slaves fought for and won their independence from French colonialists. Haiti became the second oldest independent republic in the Western Hemisphere next to the United States. The United States had just declared their independence from England 25 years earlier in 1776. All other countries and islands were still colonies under European rule. The people changed the country’s name from Saint-Domingue to the indigenous name, Haiti - Land of Mountains.

Only a decade after black Haitians secured their own independence, the Haitian government generously helped Venezuela. Haiti’s assistance led to the independence of Venezuela from Spain in 1815 by providing the emerging republic with significant military and monetary support. It continued to be a major exporter of sugar, rum, and coffee. It operated under its own self-created constitution that prohibited slavery and barred foreign ownership of land.

Haiti experienced growing pains as it worked to emerge as an independent Black republic amongst a world ran by slavery-minded white nations.

By 1867, the republic of Haiti achieved economic and political stability.

However, it was the United States that ended Haitian sovereignty when it invaded the country in 1915. The United States military occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 under the Woodrow Wilson presidency. The U.S. invasion was instigated by U.S. banks, particularly the National City Bank of New York (now known as Citibank, N.A.). During this nearly 20-year occupation, the U.S. stripped Haiti of its sovereignty and independence. The United States destroyed Haiti’s constitution and rewrote a new one, reinstituting foreign ownership of land and forced labor.

The U.S. speaks about public service projects undertaken in Haiti, but their purposes were always to make Haitian access easier for foreign investors.

Although U.S. withdrew its troops in 1934, it never withdrew its presence. The Haitian presidents who served during U.S. occupation were all U.S.-friendly elite mulattoes, who historically were supportive of white colonialism and profited from forced Black labor. Foreign peacekeeping troops from several countries called MINUSTAH still occupy Haiti to this day and has had a devastating effect on the economical and political stability of the country.

We cannot trust the U.S. to do right by Haiti because they never have. We cannot trust any white-run country to do right by Black people. And we cannot trust mulattoes (Obama) to do right by black African people. All we have are ourselves and we are a powerful group when we unite together.

Although for nearly 100 years, the U.S. and other foreign countries have tried to subdue Haiti, the Haitian people have never forgotten the sovereignty they once had. In 1990 and in 2004, Haiti democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide. After each election, it is suspected that the U.S. instigated a rebel uprising which always led to Aristide’s exile. After each exile, Aristide was replaced by rulers who backed U.S. policy in Haiti.

However, now Haiti can do no one any good. The earthquake has devastated Haiti completely. Yet, we as African-Americans have the money, resources, and power to help this nation rebuild. Haiti was once a fierce and strong country run by the descendant of African slaves. It has taken the military forces of the strong nations in the world to subdue Haiti, only a third of a small island. All other countries tried and failed. Now an act of God has crumbled Haiti into the ground.

But the spirit of God continues to live inside the Haitian people and the power of God beats within our African souls. We cannot let our one symbol of victory and independence die from apathy during Haitian’s greatest hour of need.

African-Americans cannot let their ignorance of history steer us away from another great opportunity. We must show our power by taking care of our own.

Jennifer M Thompson
http://BlackIntuitive.blogspot.com

A History Lesson for Black People on Affirmative Action

2010-01-12T15:15:00.003-06:00

This is a lesson in history I bet Barack Obama never had as he continues to persist with equal treatment in an unequal situation. The following article concisely sums up exactly how white people got where they are and why Black people have not yet made it to the promised land.

RACE - The Power of an Illusion

BACKGROUND:

A Long History of Affirmative Action - For Whites
http://newsreel.org/guides/race/whiteadv.htm

Many middle-class white people, especially those of us from the suburbs, like to think that we got to where we are today by virtue of our merit - hard work, intelligence, pluck, and maybe a little luck. And while we may be sympathetic to the plight of others, we close down when we hear the words "affirmative action" or "racial preferences." We worked hard, we made it on our own, the thinking goes, why don't 'they'? After all, the Civil Rights Act was enacted almost 40 years ago.

What we don't readily acknowledge is that racial preferences have a long, institutional history in this country - a white history. Here are a few ways in which government programs and practices have channeled wealth and opportunities to white people at the expense of others.
Early Racial Preferences

We all know the old history, but it's still worth reminding ourselves of its scale and scope. Affirmative action in the American "workplace" first began in the late 17th century when European indentured servants - the original source of unfree labor on the new tobacco plantations of Virginia and Maryland - were replaced by African slaves. In exchange for their support and their policing of the growing slave population, lower-class Europeans won new rights, entitlements, and opportunities from the planter elite.

White Americans were also given a head start with the help of the U.S. Army. The 1830 Indian Removal Act, for example, forcibly relocated Cherokee, Creeks and other eastern Indians to west of the Mississippi River to make room for white settlers. The 1862 Homestead Act followed suit, giving away millions of acres of what had been Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Ultimately, 270 million acres, or 10% of the total land area of the United States, was converted to private hands, overwhelmingly white, under Homestead Act provisions.

The 1790 Naturalization Act permitted only "free white persons" to become naturalized citizens, thus opening the doors to European immigrants but not others. Only citizens could vote, serve on juries, hold office, and in some cases, even hold property. In this century, Alien Land Laws passed in California and other states, reserved farm land for white growers by preventing Asian immigrants, ineligible to become citizens, from owning or leasing land. Immigration restrictions further limited opportunities for nonwhite groups. Racial barriers to naturalized U.S. citizenship weren't removed until the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952, and white racial preferences in immigration remained until 1965.

In the South, the federal government never followed through on General Sherman's Civil War plan to divide up plantations and give each freed slave "40 acres and a mule" as reparations. Only once was monetary compensation made for slavery, in Washington, D.C. There, government officials paid up to $300 per slave upon emancipation - not to the slaves, but to local slaveholders as compensation for loss of property.

When slavery ended, its legacy lived on not only in the impoverished condition of Black people but in the wealth and prosperity that accrued to white slaveowners and their descendents. Economists who try to place a dollar value on how much white Americans have profited from 200 years of unpaid slave labor, including interest, begin their estimates at $1 trillion.
Jim Crow laws, instituted in the late 19th and early 20th century and not overturned in many states until the 1960s, reserved the best jobs, neighborhoods, schools and hospitals for white people.

The Advantages Grow, Generation to Generation

Less known are more recent government racial preferences, first enacted during the New Deal, that directed wealth to white families and continue to shape life opportunities and chances.
The landmark Social Security Act of 1935 provided a safety net for millions of workers, guaranteeing them an income after retirement. But the act specifically excluded two occupations: agricultural workers and domestic servants, who were predominately African American, Mexican, and Asian. As low-income workers, they also had the least opportunity to save for their retirement. They couldn't pass wealth on to their children. Just the opposite. Their children had to support them.

Like Social Security, the 1935 Wagner Act helped establish an important new right for white people. By granting unions the power of collective bargaining, it helped millions of white workers gain entry into the middle class over the next 30 years. But the Wagner Act permitted unions to exclude non-whites and deny them access to better paid jobs and union protections and benefits such as health care, job security, and pensions. Many craft unions remained nearly all-white well into the 1970s. In 1972, for example, every single one of the 3,000 members of Los Angeles Steam Fitters Local #250 was still white.

But it was another racialized New Deal program, the Federal Housing Administration, that helped generate much of the wealth that so many white families enjoy today. These revolutionary programs made it possible for millions of average white Americans - but not others - to own a home for the first time. The government set up a national neighborhood appraisal system, explicitly tying mortgage eligibility to race. Integrated communities were ipso facto deemed a financial risk and made ineligible for home loans, a policy known today as "redlining." Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government backed $120 billion of home loans. More than 98% went to whites. Of the 350,000 new homes built with federal support in northern California between 1946 and 1960, fewer than 100 went to African Americans.

These government programs made possible the new segregated white suburbs that sprang up around the country after World War II. Government subsidies for municipal services helped develop and enhance these suburbs further, in turn fueling commercial investments. Freeways tied the new suburbs to central business districts, but they often cut through and destroyed the vitality of non-white neighborhoods in the central city.

Today, Black and Latino mortgage applicants are still 60% more likely than whites to be turned down for a loan, even after controlling for employment, financial, and neighborhood factors. According to the Census, whites are more likely to be segregated than any other group. As recently as 1993, 86% of suburban whites still lived in neighborhoods with a black population of less than 1%.

Reaping the Rewards of Racial Preference

One result of the generations of preferential treatment for whites is that a typical white family today has on average eight times the assets, or net worth, of a typical African American family, according to economist Edward Wolff. Even when families of the same income are compared, white families have more than twice the wealth of Black families. Much of that wealth difference can be attributed to the value of one's home, and how much one inherited from parents. But a family's net worth is not simply the finish line, it's also the starting point for the next generation.

Those with wealth pass their assets on to their children - by financing a college education, lending a hand during hard times, or assisting with the down payment for a home. Some economists estimate that up to 80 percent of lifetime wealth accumulation depends on these intergenerational transfers. White advantage is passed down, from parent to child to grand-child. As a result, the racial wealth gap - and the head start enjoyed by whites - appears to have grown since the civil rights days.

In 1865, just after Emancipation, it is not surprising that African Americans owned 0.5 percent of the total worth of the United States. But by 1990, a full 135 years after the abolition of slavery, Black Americans still possessed only a meager 1 percent of national wealth.
Rather than recognize how "racial preferences" have tilted the playing field and given us a head start in life, many whites continue to believe that race does not affect our lives. Instead, we chastise others for not achieving what we have; we even invert the situation and accuse non-whites of using "the race card" to advance themselves.

Or we suggest that differential outcomes may simply result from differences in "natural" ability or motivation. However, sociologist Dalton Conley's research shows that when we compare the performance of families across racial lines who make not just the same income, but also hold similar net worth, a very interesting thing happens: many of the racial disparities in education, graduation rates, welfare usage and other outcomes disappear. The "performance gap" between whites and nonwhites is a product not of nature, but unequal circumstances.

Colorblind policies that treat everyone the same, no exceptions for minorities, are often counter-posed against affirmative action. But colorblindness today merely bolsters the unfair advantages that color-coded practices have enabled white Americans to long accumulate.
It's a little late in the game to say that race shouldn't matter.

Olympics 2016 - Let's all exhale!

2009-10-02T13:04:00.003-05:00

I saw the writing on the wall when I read that Chicago’s plea for the Olympics 2016 bid was a little flat. Although Chicago had front-runner status, the political landscape did not favor Chicago or the U.S. for that matter.

The best thing about knowing is, well, knowing. We can finally exhale. Chicagoans have been living on the edge of anticipation for a couple of years and now we can finally relax. I know a lot of people are disappointed, but there are some who never wanted the Olympics, particularly the disenfranchised Chicagoans on the south side whose existence would have been disrupted or dismantled completely as Daley bulldozed his way into Washington Park.

As a Chicagoan who grew up in Woodlawn and in walking distance from Washington Park, I just couldn’t imagine something as grand as the Summer Olympics being housed in the congested Washington Park area. Washington Park is one of the largest parks in Chicago, but it is flanked on all sides by apartment buildings and the University of Chicago. Where would everyone park? The University of Chicago sporting and parking facilities would have helped, but it can only offer so much.

Well, whatever. We lost (ouch!)… in the first round (ouch! ouch!). What a hit to the Chicago-Obama ego. Even the magnetic, charismatic, and hugely popular Obama couldn’t pull it off for us. If Obama and Oprah couldn’t reel it in for us, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Meanwhile….

I walked over to the Daley Plaza and took a few pictures of the city hoopla. Large flat-screen viewing monitors and a media broadcasting stage with lights and cameras and dozens of reporters were set up as Chicago covered the Olympics 2016 decision today. At about 10:45am, disappointed city dwellers were already walking away from the Plaza with orange Olympics 2016 t-shirts on and signs and banners swinging from their hands.

Just as one of them was informing me that Chicago lost the 2016 bid in the first round my cell phone was buzzing from various text messages stating the same thing. Since I still didn’t know which country did win the Olympics bid, I continued to walk over to Daley Plaza.

Hundreds of people were crowded inside Daley Plaza, meandering about with a lost “what do we do now?” expression. Reporters with media tags on and steno notebooks in hand were randomly interviewing onlookers on how they felt now that Chicago was out of the running.

I liked all of the energy. But, unfortunately, it was short-lived. And after seeing how Rio de Janeiro with over 50,000 people gathered on the beach celebrated in typical Brazilian style, I think they deserve to finally get the Olympics. 2016 is going to be a fun year.
See you in Brazil!

Obama will have his Health Care!

2009-09-09T21:06:00.007-05:00

Obama gave an excellent speech on the health care reform initiative. It contained specific details about how the health care reform bill would impact American people, health care insurers, and businesses - both small and large. It was explained in a direct, matter-of-fact way.

For the most part, the president's health care reform initiative is relatively moderate. Obama said that for those whose health insurance comes through Medicaid, Medicare, or their employer - NOTHING WILL CHANGE. That means that all of the private health care insurers (Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc) who are collecting our money through our HMO or PPO plans will continue to rake in the dough because most Americans are healthy and do not demand much from their insurers. Yet we will now have the opportunity to get preventative procedures such as mammograms, colonoscopies, etc. for free (hopefully meaning no co-pay). The president said Americans shouldn't have to pay for preventative procedures because it ultimately costs less to fix a health problem earlier rather than later.

For those without health insurance, he introduced the public option, the best part of the deal, but not something conservatives and Republicans should be so uptight about. The president explained that the public option is like creating public universities. Public universities have provided a less expensive alternative to education but does not take away from private universities in any way. Instead, it means that individuals and families with fewer means can still access health care just as students without much money can attend public college.

The president also acknowledged that what the public option really does is keep health care companies in check! If we live in a competitive market-based society and people have the choice of using the cheaper, tax-payer subsidized public healthcare plan versus the expensive, bloated private health care plan - most likely the people will choose the government. So, indirectly President Obama is commanding private health care insurers to lower their prices if they want to remain competitive. Their private coverage needs to be as good as the government's subsidized coverage. It is a very blatant form of health care industry regulation that is sorely needed in this country.

Most people in America are insured through their company and most companies have long established relationships with private health care insurers. Therefore the profit margins of private insurers won't take too big of a hit. However, it does mean that when the public option takes affect, private health insurers will have a harder time exploiting Americans now that we will have a viable health care alternative that actually works for us.

Some other extras that the President mentioned.

- No caps on health care coverage to treat illnesses and health problems.
- No coverage drops due to pre-existing health conditions
- No watered down coverage for the same reason.
- This plan does not cover illegal aliens.
- Paying for health care will not bankrupt you.
- Everyone will be required to hold some minimal form of health insurance similar to how drivers are required to have auto liability insurance. (How the president will enforce this, I don't know. Obama didn't either.)
- Some of these provisions won't be enacted for four years.

Obama called out the Republicans by stating that his health care reform will cost less than either the Iraq War or the tax breaks given to the wealthy. In fact, he said those two Republican bills were the reasons why he walked into the White House with a one trillion dollar deficit on his desk. His statements were direct punches to all Republican arguments that health care reform will cost too much and run our economy into the ground. However, Republicans believe that anything that might help the people such as minimum wage, maternity leave, health care reform, or environmental protections will kill the economy. Yet it never occurs to Republicans that how health care companies currently treat Americans are killing us.

Most likely, Obama's health care reform bill will pass exactly as he presented it tonight after a few kinks have been ironed out.

This is Barack Obama and we all know that President Obama's timing is impeccable. He will win this battle and go down in history with the Roosevelts and Kennedy's who have kept this country progressive and out of the capitalistic dark ages.

Obama and the Grading System on CNN

2009-04-29T20:40:00.006-05:00

I just finished watching Obama's press conference and I guess this is his first quarter marking period because CNN is GRADING the president. Since when did the president get graded??? All of this undermines the authority of the president and of course this is done when the president is African-American (BLACK!)

CNN gave Obama a B grade, which is a good grade, but so the f$@! what! Can you tell I am a little upset by this??? They want to grade the president when the previous president was a sitting idiot savant. Now that we have a man of considerable intelligence and steadiness as our president who carefully, painstakingly tries to do what is right, CNN has decided to assess how he is doing in office.

Where was this grading system when Bush lied about the Iraq War? Where was this grading system when Bush blankly stared at the camera after hearing the Twin Towers had crashed into the ground? Where was this grading system when Bush left all the Black people in New Orleans to fend for themselves as he stalled in sending the city supplies that FEMA had available? Where was this grading system as Americans watched gas prices rise from $1.59/gal to $4.59/gallon? C'mon!

Obama has been dealt a hand by the devil. Only the devil would make sure that America was teetering towards economic depression, unpopular by the world, and in the midst of several wars before white America decided it was OK to have a Black president. Kind of like the Oscars. Have you ever noticed that the Oscars only give the best actor/actress award to a black person when they are playing a despot??? (Think Monster's Ball, King of Scotland, Training Day)

But that is besides the point...

This is the point. The white media wants to create a situation where Obama is truly subject to the will of the white people. They set his agenda before he came into office. And disappointingly, Obama has played to their tune. There is nothing Obama hasn't done that wasn't forecast by media pundits a month ago. I am hoping that as Obama grows more comfortable with his power, he will make decisions more independently and with more authority and less consensus. Now some would argue that his stimulus plan was out-of-the-box (Obama, you are doing too much too soon!) but his stimulus package was just a quick way of putting the agenda he ran for president on into one big package. (Which is actually very smart of him. "Get it when the getting's good!")

Of course, my problem with him, like with all Black people of color is that no where is there anything in his agenda for Black people - the 97% of us that helped him win. Are we going to get shafted by one of our own because he still fills the need to please?

I mean, as much as Bush was called an idiot, he taught me a lot of things about power. For one, his presidency was filled with a lot of unpopular ideas - chicken pox vaccine, Iraq war, investing social security in the stock market, tax cuts for the rich, Patriot Act, Guatanamo Bay and torture, etc. Need I say more. And that was just in his first term! Yet, despite our high gas prices, a war we didn't want, his friendship with a corrupt Enron CEO, his inability to capture Osama bin Laden, skyrocketing healthcare and a healthcare bill that increased costs to senior citizens, and on and on.. do you know what Americans did in response? Americans voted the worst president back into office for a second term! That is power!

And Obama can't seem to muster up the courage to put out a little bill that would for once HELP Black people instead of punish us for being the unfortunate descendants of slaves? Maybe some legislation that would make it easier for us to get into college instead of jail? Maybe legislation targeting blighted Black communities as he doles out billions of dollars to corrupt governors and mayors? Maybe sneak a few billion dollars over to Black people inside the stimulus bill just to say "I got your back" as he gives us the pound?

Bush taught me about power. He showed me that when you are president you can do whatever the f$#! you want to do. He put the middle finger in our face with each chance he got to fit his own agenda and didn't care what anyone said. Bush, basically, said screw Americans with every opportunity. Remember, his administration got us into this mess. Visit http://www.solari.com/ for whether this is actually a mess or a planned disaster. All in the first term. Remember the economic recession of 2001-2002.

And Bush helped those who helped him. He made sure his father's organization, the Carlyle Group, and Cheney's company, Halliburton, got paid during his administration. Everyone who was a friend to Bush while he was governor became a part of his administration. Why don't we see a sea of Black faces in the Obama administration?

Obama became the president of the most powerful country in the world which makes him the most powerful man in the world. Bush knew his power and ran with it. Why can't Obama?

Instead, he acts as if he is beholden to a group of people who didn't even vote him into the White House. Only 40% of white Americans voted for Obama compared with 97% of black Americans and 65% of Latin Americans.

So since he wants to play fair and hold himself accountable to the whole world, then I am giving him a C- for not showing some guts. I hold on to the fact that he still has four years to help black people ----- but I'm not holding my breath.

Update: Black contractors and Intuition

2009-04-23T23:46:00.002-05:00

This entry is actually a follow-up to a previous post I wrote about how proud I was to use all Black people in my real estate renovation process. I used a Black real estate agent, black lawyer, black general contractor, and the person who put up my wrought iron fence was black too.

Well, I have been disappointed with those choices. The real estate agent and the black lawyer were all women and actually, I have been very, very happy with them. The real estate agent is now a good friend of mine and I would use the lawyer again if I ever needed to.

However, the black contractors I used for my fence and the renovation of my building were men and I was sorely disappointed in my choice. Both of them were unorganized in a way that has cost me time and money.

Now, I won't say that throughout this entire real estate process, I have always had everything perfect, but I can say that I have been close. I finally got a tenant and I have made sure to be responsive and available to them, friendly, yet professional. I set my rent price, matched it to market and whoever could afford it, got the apartment. I went with my intuition and picked tenants that I felt comfortable with. I like them very much and doubt I will have problems with them.

On the other hand, the contractors have been unorganized and it has cost them money which means they have come begging me for more money. With the first contractor who put up my wrought iron gate, he did the job but near the end of it, wanted to charge me higher because he figured he was cutting me a deal in the first place. Now, that actually was not true since I got a much lower price from Mexican contractors. But I wanted to work with Black people and here I am paying almost $500 - $1000 more on a wrought iron fence. Dumb move. I couldn't even fully recommend him to my real estate agent friend because of the move he pulled asking me to pay more money for the fence. That is just unprofessionally and it completely irritated the mess out of me.

Second person is my beloved (sarcastically said) general contractor who I have titled the B!@#$ ( you know what I mean) because everytime I tell him something he did needs correcting and is incomplete, he whines about how he doesn't have any money, is short on the job, is broke, and how this is costing him too much. Does he really think I care?

Here is where I was smart - at least with the general contractor. It has cost $60,000 to renovate my building. That is a lot of money. Thank goodness for good credit. I used the 203k FHA Rehab loan which combines the mortgage with the construction costs into one fixed rate loan. More importantly, the general contractor gets reimbursed for his work and that is after his work has been approved by not only myself, but also a HUD inspector who assessed what needed to be done and put a dollar value to it. This protects the homeowner from being ripped off by a contractor because the contractor has to agree to the HUD inspector's renovation cost.

Back to my contractor.

My beloved contractor never read the HUD inspectors renovation assessment report..... Instead he fixed on what he figured needed fixin' (thanks for the extras!) but left my place kind of undone. Like the electrical outlets don't work and there is still a major plumbing leak in one of my units. My beloved contractor only cares about getting his final reimbursement check. Little does he know that I am an intelligent person and would never dare pay a final check to anyone unless I am fully satisfied with the job. And I am not fully satisfied with anything he has done.

He was a poor choice and I think this article really should be about using your intuition. Because I have used my intuition in all areas except two - the building I chose and in choosing the general contractor. I have had major problems with both. I didn't follow my intuition when I chose my general contractor. I used logic and that was a problem. There was another contractor that I did like, but did not choose and I really regret that. I doubt this project would have taken as long as it has with as much frustration had I have gone with the other non-black general contractor.

Oh well. I do have one tenant at least. Since I have a three-unit, I have two more tenants to go before I can move on with my life. C'est la vie *Sigh*

Piracy in Somalia and U.S colonial interests

2009-04-08T09:46:00.005-05:00

April 8, 2009

I saw this on Yahoo! News when I woke up this morning and as an African-American always questioning U.S. news coverage of African countries, I wondered what the context was for piracy in Somalia. Honestly, I secretly cheered that Somalia, a much maligned country by the U.S., had started a Robin Hoodesque way for evening out the distribution of money.

Somali pirates hijack ship; 20 Americans aboard

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_re_af/piracy

NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard, hundreds of miles from the nearest American military vessel in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

The 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked, said Peter Beck-Bang, spokesman for the Copenhagen-based container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk. It was the sixth ship seized within a week, a rise that analysts attribute to a new strategy by Somali pirates who are operating far from the warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

The company confirmed that the U.S.-flagged vessel has 20 U.S. nationals onboard.

http://www.khilafah.com/kcom/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=41

What is happening in Somalia?

Sunday, 21 January 2007 16:00

The US has carried out an air strike on a village in southern Somalia. The US/Ethiopian backed puppet transitional government has announced many people have been killed in the raid. The air strike follows the Ethiopian offensive against the Union of Islamic Courts, which reinstalled Abdullahi Yusuf and his American backed transitional government.

Somalia is an Islamic land that has a glorious past and it occupies an important strategic position. The people of Somalia entered into Islam very early, with some entering Islam during the early phase of the da’wah (call) in Makkah when some of the Companions migrated to Abyssinia. The land was subsequently opened in 77 AH during the time of Abd al-Malik and remained an Islamic land connected to the Muslim lands, particularly Yemen which faces it across the Gulf of Aden. Towards the end of the Ottoman Caliphate it was afflicted by the greed of the colonial states that competed for its dominance so as to take its resources and benefit from its strategic position, since then Somalia has been ravaged by poverty and famine.

The horrendous situation of the Muslims of Somalia remained until the Union of Islamic Courts; a gathering of sincere Somali’s began to unite the country once again around Islam, shunning tribalism and colonialist interference. This situation perturbed the Americans and her agents in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been funding the defunct ‘government’ of Abdullahi Yusuf, providing it material support. It fears a united Somalia, especially a Somalia united by Islam.

As for America it has not ceased yearning for the long years in which it had control in Somalia during the reign of Siad Barre. Barre was overthrown in 1991 when armed warlords removed him from power, vying for control. At the same time, Britain annexed Somaliland, which was previously under its mandate (British Somaliland). America attempted in 1992 to return her influence once again under the pretext of a humanitarian effort, calling their endeavour ‘Operation Restore Hope’. Some 28,000 troops were used in this operation, however in 1995 it had to make a humiliating retreat.

In 2000 America worked to destroy the Djibouti Agreement which would have established the government of Abdul Qasim Salad, as it was an EU initiative that did not sufficiently consolidate US control over Somalia and its resources. She then worked to establish an interim government headed by her puppet Abdullahi Yusuf and prepared to develop international recognition for this government, which had no recognition with the people. Yusuf’s government sent representatives to the African Union, Arab League and the United Nations.

As well as supporting the puppet government of Yusuf, America continued to support the warlords in Mogadishu. With this parallel strategy, America tried to retake control over Somalia by politically supporting the puppet government and militarily supporting the warlords.

However the corruption of the government and overt link to America and Ethiopia as well as the continued conflict amongst the warlords made the people of Somalia look to an alternative to rescue them from their dire situation. They turned their attention to the Union of Islamic Courts. The Union of Islamic Courts was familiar to the people, who had witnessed its justice since 1994. As Somalia lost a central government, the Union of Islamic Courts voluntarily began to solve the problems between people, earning recognition for their fairness and sincerity. The Union of Islamic Courts initially started as a social movement but after witnessing the state of Somalia it decided to put an end to the disturbed situation of the country. The warlords backed by America opposed them, frightened that a sincere unifying force would put an end to their selfish and narrow designs. But the people rallied behind the Union and soon the warlords were defeated. It was said that the people joined the Union even before their men reached their towns and villages. The Union brought stability to Somalia after years of colonial interference.

This stability was seen by America to be unacceptable, for any independence from its will especially if Islam inspires that independence will not be tolerated. Hence America pushed Sudan to broker negotiations between the Union and its puppet government led by Yusuf in Khartoum. Through these negotiations it tried to marginalise the Union and give some power to its puppet Yusuf under a power sharing agreement. At the same time it assigned Ethiopia to protect Yusuf through military support so that the Courts would not be able to defeat his weak and hated government.

When the strength of the Union of Islamic Courts became intolerable and it became clear that they would soon overrun the puppet government, America instructed Ethiopia to declare openly its opposition to the Union by open warfare. The US military backing of Ethiopia was no match for the ill equipped Muslims of the Courts Union especially since the Muslim governments and armies lay deaf to the call of their brethren in Somalia.

The war was supported by America, who planned, financed and supported the war for three reasons:

1. Islam was a unifying factor in Somalia. America fights any Islamic movement wherever it can. It detests Islam and its people, particularly those who do not conform to what its calls ‘moderate Islam’, as exemplified by the corrupt Arab and Muslim rulers that litter the Muslim world. America is all too aware that if it left the Union of Islamic Courts to stabilise Somalia, this would give strength and support to all those wishing to rid the Muslim lands from colonial interference.

2. Somalia has a strategic position on the Indian Ocean with the longest shoreline (reaching 2720km), longer than any African state. Its shores stretch from the eastern side of Somalia upon the Indian Ocean and from the northern side upon the Gulf of Aden, in front of the Bab al-Mandeb of the Red Sea. Thus its position controls the Horn of Africa in such a way that it makes Somalia a launching point, if not the controlling point, in Southern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

3. Somalia is rich in resources. The land of Somalia is, in some estimation, rich with untapped resources. According to studies it holds reserves of uranium, natural gas, petroleum and other natural resources. Towards the end of the 1980s, in the time of Siad Barre, the rights of exploration were given to American petroleum corporations who found rich reserves of petroleum, the presence of which was verified even before this by geologists from the World Bank. However the coup that removed Siad Barre brought a stop to the exploitation of these resources. America through its greed, wishes to control these resources so that its companies can once again exploit it.

The recent air strike in Southern Somalia has already been announced as a strike against Al-Qaeda camps, with this America will try to justify its shameless intervention in Somalia as part of the War on Terror. In reality what has taken place in Somalia is a result of shameless colonialism.

Recent Black Lynchings in the Media

2009-03-05T22:55:00.006-06:00

It is March 5th 2009 and I am watching Headline News report on Chris Brown's alleged assault against Rihanna. The reporter went into detail about the possible injuries that Rihanna sustained from Chris Brown's assault and said that he could possibly face five years in a state prison. As I watched them crucify this young man on TV, it occurred to me that the coverage of Chris Brown is completely different from the coverage of a prominent white actor who was in a similar situation several months ago.

I typed a search for "actor assaults wife" on Google and guess what popped up? A story I hadn't even heard of in which an actor named Sean Bean assaulted his new fourth wife. You may not know the name, Sean Bean, but any recent movie buff will know him as the actor who played Boromir in Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. He was also the bad guy in the blockbuster hit movie, "National Treasure". Sean Bean spent six hours in jail and was later seen with his wife smiling and kissing - as if it never happened. And for most of the world, it never did. Because the media didn't tell us about it.

Check out the short blurbgiven to his story.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2461106/Sean-Bean-spent-night-in-jail-over-alleged-assault-on-new-wife.html

The Chris Brown assault trial has been in the news constantly and is being used as a way to create awareness on domestic violence and abuse against women with Rihanna, a black woman, being the spokesmodel. I am not excusing Chris Brown for his actions, but the stark difference in media coverage between Chris Brown and Sean Bean calls into question whether the media is lynching Chris Brown for his assault against Rihanna while giving Sean Bean, a white actor, a pass despite being accused of committing the same crime against his wife.

One very famous example of media lynching is with the OJ Simpson murder trials and the comparatively low-key Robert Blake murder trial.

The older white actor, Robert Blake, was accused of murdering his wife in 2001 by gunshot. Now almost 10 years later, not a peep is said about him. Robert Blake's murder trial didn't garner nearly the same media coverage as O J Simpson, an older, retired Black athlete who mistakenly married a white woman. In fact, after 8 years since his acquittal, I could not even remember the actor's name. I remembered that there was an actor who allegedly killed his wife, but I couldn't remember his name nor what he looked like. In the case of Robert Blake, when the jury acquitted Blake of his crimes, the verdict was accepted and the case was closed.

As we all know, OJ Simpson is another story entirely....

Both men were acquitted but only one, the white actor, was left alone afterwards. Robert Blake has been allowed to fall into anonymity, while OJ Simpson is now sentenced to fifteen years in prison for just trying to get his memorabilia back from an unscrupulous dealer.

The point is that in the United States, Black men will never get a fair deal and it is best that all Black men realize this and fast! Every major Black sports athlete who has been extremely successful in life has also been lambasted by the media for some alleged misconduct.

Michael Vick - With extremely lucrative deals with the Atlanta Falcons, Nike, and Reebok is jailed because his relatives had dogs fighting in his house.

Barry Bonds -a Black man on the verge of beating both Babe Ruth's and Hank Aaron's record is slammed by the media for alleged steroid use. Although the white man who started the steroid use story is a man whose name I can't remember, Barry Bonds who hadn't used steroids in over a decade is the name smeared all over the news for weeks. And because of all the crap slammed onto Barry Bonds, I can't remember if he broke the record. Check out this white guy's honest perspective on the story....http://tabacco.blog-city.com/dave_zirin_a_white_man_on_barry_bonds_baseball__racism__it_a_1.htm

"Not enough evidence to charge Phelps, Sheriff says" reads the headline on CNN.com
despite an actual photograph of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana from a bong at a party. Unlike the black Michael Vick who lost all of his endorsements, Michael Phelps kept his endorsement deals with Speedo, Kelloggs, and Powerbar despite having a picture published of him smoking an illegal substance. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/16/michael.phelps/index.html#cnnSTCText

Click http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/150832/14-times-Olympic-gold-medal-winner-Michael-Phelps-caught-with-bong-cannabis-pipe.html to see the marijuana photo.

In mid-August 2001, the story came out that Jesse Jackson had a 2 year old child from an affair with a worker at Rainbow PUSH Coalition who was 20 years younger than him. Two weeks later, Jesse Jackson Sr. pledged to make reparations to African-descendants of slavery a priority after attending a U.N. Conference on racism in South Africa. He demanded reparations payment from the United Kingdom for their role in African slavery. Great timing, huh?

The only reason Obama is still president of the United States is because he hasn't done anything illegal and has no misconduct to report. But, trust me, the white population is waiting for an Obama mistake before they pounce.

So since Obama has done nothing illegal or of ill-repute, the media will smear him by being the president who was unlucky enough to follow George Bush, Jr. and forced to deal with Bush's mess left behind.

As I write this, I am amazed at how so many media pundits are trying to put the U.S. domestic economic crisis on Obama. Every day, I hear a story about how the Republicans do not like Obama's stimulus package or Obama's spending bill or Obama's bill to slow foreclosures. They are slowly trying to link the economic crisis with Obama by publicizing every random critique a Republican has spoken against Obama's policies.

But, cynically, I ask myself...even if Obama did fix the problem, would the white media inform the world of such a feat and properly credit Obama for his intelligence and success? Or would they create a scandal around Obama (or assassinate him - you know it's possible) just to blindside us from the reality that he pulled off the greatest political slamdunk of all time by being the Black man who turned around one of the worst economies we have seen in over half a century?

We shall see. I hope the cynic in me isn't right. People, stay awake and aware.

Simpler Way of Life

2009-02-09T16:09:00.000-06:00

I want to share with you some ideas that my fiancee and I have discussed over the past year. One of the things I said was that living on earth is free

Buying Black Has its Benefits (BBB)

2009-02-09T15:29:00.006-06:00

I just read the Ebony Experiment webpage about an African-American professional couple in the Chicagoland area who have pledged to buy only from Black-owned businesses beginning January 1, 2009 throughout the entire year.

Interestingly, as I renovate a recent investment property, I have done the same thing. So far, all of the people I have worked with have been Black and somehow affiliated with my church too.

My real estate agent, Betty Clayton, is Black.
My real estate attorney, Lynette Lewis, was Black.
Ted Billings, who installed my wrought iron fence was Black.
My current contractor, Tony Carter, is Black.
My home insurance is from, Charles Cathey, Jr., a Black franchisee of State Farm Insurance.

They all either attend my church are affiliated with them and although, I have had my issues with them, like any other service contractor, I would not do it differently.

Why? I trust them. Since they all know me and are affiliated with me in some way, they will look out for me. It turns out that that my fiancee, who knows everyone in Chicago, was good friends with Ted Billing's son. I found out about him from a neighbor and he did good work for me.

I could have gone with a Mexican contractor for the fence work but it turned out that after viewing both guy's work, I liked Billing's work better and he had 17 years experience. He helped me think through some logistical issues.

Understand that I also thought about the fact that MY MONEY, large amount of cash was going to one group and here was an opportunity where I could choose where it would go. It could go to the Mexican family or the Black family and I chose to send it to the Black family. It was truly conscious.

With my contractor, I was torn between a Polish contractor and a Black contractor who attends my church. I am happy that I picked who I picked although we got into some arguments a few times. At critical points, I realize that he was looking out for me. He is my choir director at church and also has a radio show on 106.3FM every Sunday. He has had to do some additional critical work that I appreciate and I like that my money is going to support his three children who also attend my church. It feels good.

My real estate agent is the same way. She tends to use Black services too.

Unfortunately, I did not use a Black bank to finance this deal. In retrospect, I should have searched one out and in the next deal, I think I will do exactly that because this is not my last real estate venture.

I like using Black businesses because I have seen that they actually do know what they are doing when given a chance. Their business may not be the most organized, but their work reflects expertise. But more importantly, I can talk frankly and casually with them and work with them better.

Not all Black businesses are scrupulous as my fiancee found out, but neither are all businesses from many other ethnic groups. American is already a witness to the finance crimes of Bernard Madoff who swindled billions of dollars from over 150 people. We have watched our government give $700 billion dollars to the banks that have caused our financial crisis which I mentioned in a previous post.

But I digress. The point is that the least we can do is take a chance on our own people who really overall want to please and contribute to their community than work with strangers who don't care what happens to you nor will ever put money back into the Black community.

Some Intuitive Thoughts

2008-09-15T23:14:00.004-05:00

I will just say that we are living in strange American times.

We have an African-American man and a Republican candidate whose vice-presidential candidate is a woman and both have an equal chance of becoming president. Unfortunately, the American economy has been shattered into a thousand pieces.

What is insane is that our economic crisis looks very familiar.

I read an article about how America is deeply indebted to China, Russia, and the Middle East. And I thought of another place in a similar situation. The continent of Africa is constantly paying all of their revenues to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to the point where they cannot effectively develop their own nations.

If the countries who own our bonds decide to pull our strings, what would make us any different from the nations in Africa?

I read a book called, "A Game as Old as Empire", that explained how banks purposely made bad loans to developing nations such as Indonesia to "help" build the country's infrastructure. The purpose was to indebt the country to the banks. Because of the country's debt to the bank, all of the country's resources had to be directed towards paying off the debt.

America is in debt up to its ears. Can anyone even conceive of how much money nine trillion dollars ($9,000,000,000,000.00) is? That is how much we have to pay back to someone if they ever decide to collect. There is a website that keeps tabs on the amount of debt we are accruing every day. On the site, the author explains that 40% of our debt is held by foreign investors. Forty percent of our debt equals 3.6 trillion dollars. Wow!

U.S. currency is nearly on par with Canadian currency. Our dollar has quickly fallen below the value of the euro. With the nationalization of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the U.S. government has taken on all of those bad loans erroneously (or purposely) made to Americans hoping to own their own home. We weakened our world reputation as a fair, just, yet powerful nation when we invaded Iraq using the world's credit.

What leverage we had as a country worth doing business with is weakening. If our president continues the economic policies that created this situation, foreign investors may call in our debts and request the money back in euros. That would put America into a tailspin. All of our revenues would go towards the debt we owe foreign investors. Our economic crisis would then look no different than the insane policies that grip struggling nations in Africa.

It would be the destruction of a great country.

Luckily despite all of this economic madness brought on by the greed of a capitalistic society and a Republican administration, if all hell breaks loose and our economy fully collapses, one fact remains true.

Living on God's earth is free.

Peace.

(If you like what you read, forward it to your friends)

Wall Street Fallout

2008-09-15T20:55:00.007-05:00

I guess the fat lady is singing - loudly!

Today the stock market dropped 500 points! That hasn't happened since 9/11 which was over 7 years ago (almost to the date, hmm...). I remember the stocks dropping sharply because when the stock market came back online, I decided to buy stocks for the first time. Can we say, "1/2 off sale"?

But today, there was no collision, no explosions, no planes crashing into buildings, and no buildings crashing down. Therefore, the stock drop of today is not caused by the same knee-jerk reaction as happened with 9/11.

This is worst.

When I invested in the stock market after 9/11, I knew that investors were reacting to catastrophic event that was, for the most part, unrelated to the economic heartbeat of Wall Street. The Dow Jones was around 10,000 points and went up to 14,000 points as of July 2007. I guess the powers that be decided that was as high as it should go because the stock market tumbled down,
down,
down...to hover between 11,000 to 11,600 points over the past year.

But dropping 500 points in one day is over the top.

As I write this, my mother has told me of a young man who was just hired by Lehman Brothers and was immediately downsized due to the bankruptcy. They were moving to California to buy a house when he received the news. Luckily they didn't buy the house yet!

I watched CNBC as they discussed all the reasons why the federal government should bail out Lehman Brothers. Doesn't bail out simply translate into continued high wages to the CEOs who caused this mess in the first place?

I guess I am thinking that if the government had regulated the mortgage industry and helped out homeowners by underwriting their loans to a fixed and affordable interest, there would have been fewer foreclosures and therefore less behemoth financial institutions going belly up.

Why should the large financial institutions get help while the homeowners buying overpriced houses be left out to dry? Obviously, the federal government had the money if they could assist Bear Stearns and take over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. A little regulation could have gone a long way.

Instead, the government under Bush's "Ownership Society", let banks have at it. They were giving away loans. And now look at was has happened. Our economy is in the toilet!

But why do the banks get federal assistance and the thousands of people in foreclosure are on their own? Why is it that regular individuals, including some first-time homeowners, were expected to know what they were doing when they bought that $500,000 house with no money down and therefore get no help from the government, while the CEO who is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to f*** up get bailed out?

You want to know why?

I do too.

Watch: McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

2008-09-13T13:07:00.001-05:00

Jennifer Thompson invited you to watch this video at bravenewfilms.org:

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

Description from robertgreenwald:

There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!

Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2.

We're doing everything to get the facts out there about McCain. Join us in making a concerted effort to tell the story that corporate media refuses to tell. E-mail this video to all of your friends and family membe! rs, news blogs and other local media outlets. And don't forget to Digg it!

According to Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't: "It is dangerous for a democracy when a presidential candidate can lie with impunity, change positions on a whim, and physically and verbally threaten others and virtually none of it is reported by a besotted media eagerly awaiting the next moment when he might slap their backs in friendship."

The mainstream press may not do their job, but we can surely do ours. It is crucial that we alert the public to the REAL McCain, and it is crucial we act now, before it's too late.

Watch the video →

Please forward this on to other people who might like it.

Obama - Political History in the Making

2008-09-09T22:56:00.003-05:00

These are exciting times in political history. On Thursday, August 28, 2008, Barack Obama was the first African-American to be nominated as the official presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. No one expected this moment to come easily, but when Americans are in a situation where all indicators of a country’s success are running low, people often are more willing to take chances. Anything is better than what we have now.

In 1992, we were in a similar, although less extreme, predicament. George Bush Sr. had plunged America into an unnecessary war and consequently, we saw gas prices spike more than we were used to. His son, eight years later, repeated the same actions with the same consequences, and we are going to see Americans react the same way – by electing a democrat to the White House. Just as we picked Bill Clinton, America is going to pick a young, inexperienced man, (mixed Caucasian and African-American on top of that!) who engages us, fires us up, and displays the potential for wisdom and excellent leadership that even 70-year old men like McCain still don’t possess.

Sure there will be those who are hesitant about Obama’s inexperience as a national statesman and commander-in-chief, but because times are so desperate, most Americans are not going to let such doubts stop them this time around like they did four years ago when they mistakenly elected George Bush Jr. to a second term.

Four years ago, Americans voted pragmatically hoping that the president who put us in an unnecessary war would get us out of it. At the time, an unnecessary war was our only problem. The war continued unendingly while the White House steadfastly withheld from the American people a good explanation for why hundreds of troops were dying each year.

Now, four years later, the debate on the Iraq war has actually waned because there is no debate. Almost all Americans want the war to end. In fact, the Iraq war has taken a backseat as Americans deal with problems closer to home and their pockets like gas prices that skyrocketed from $1.50 before Bush was elected in 2000 to over $4.00 a mere eight years later. During the eight years that Clinton was in office, gas increased by fifty cents! We still have absolutely no explanation for this increase, but we do know that someone is raking in a lot of money!

The tax cuts that Bush enacted, lowered them only for the wealthy. Even Warren Buffett couldn’t understand what Bush was doing in giving the wealthy a tax cut. When McCain said that Obama would raise taxes, McCain didn’t tell the full story. Obama will simply level the playing field by removing tax cuts to the wealthy. Instead, Obama will give tax cuts to poor and middle class, a group that is struggling under the economic mess that Bush has left for the next president to clean up.

Did I mention that my next door neighbor’s house is in foreclosure? And my best friend can’t sell hers without losing money because her equity is upside down? Or that my brother-in-law was laid off along with his entire division from Countrywide Bank when they practically went bankrupt? Or that there are now only three major banks in this country – Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup? (Monopoly, anyone? I’ll take Boardwalk.) In my litany of problems, it probably slipped my mind….

And to add insult to injury, our once strong dollar has dropped below the euro. Didn’t this currency just enter existence about a decade ago? Furthermore, our currency is running neck and neck with Canadian money, further indication of our abysmal economic state and the abject failure of the Republican administration.

Remember when we were once the Superman of the World, where other countries saw us as the caped crusader who could save the day. Since our senseless invasion in Iraq , we are now viewed with suspicion by many in the international community and our motives questioned constantly. Obama’s mixed heritage opens the door towards effective diplomacy and gives him an opportunity to undo the damage that the warmongering Republicans have caused. It is to our advantage to have Obama as president since the majority of the people in today’s emerging economies resemble Obama’s family more than McCain’s. This may have escaped our notice because we were too busy chasing those adjusting interest rates!

This time Americans will send a clear and strong message that we need a change from the failed policies of the Republican Party. Wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results”? We will see if America has kept its sanity on November 7th, 2008.

Obama Did It!

2008-06-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

You know, I just cannot get any satisfaction with the media. Here we have this historic moment where the first African-American is nominated as the democratic candidate for President of the United States and once again, all I here is Hillary, Hillary, Hillary! I was expecting a chronicled history of previous African-Americans who have run for president and set the precedence for this moment.

Instead, all I hear is what Hillary Clinton is going to do.

She doesn't want to quit the race.
Her backers reprimanded her speech.
She will endorse Obama on Friday.
Her backers plan to endorse Obama.
Enough already!

Obama needs to talk more to the media. I am an outsider to the media, but what I am coming to realize is that Hillary talks to the media quite a bit and the media feels duty-bound to report everything she says. Obama, on the other hand, does not do that. Instead, he will do an interview here and there. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is always in communication with the media.

Obama needs to do the same. That way, everytime the news comes on, it leads with an Obama story. His name needs to be just as comfortable to American ears as the Clinton's were before. Obama needs to get close to the American public instead of hiding behind the issues. We need to see him laugh more, get angry, play sports, play with his kids. He needs to get personal. The reason why Michelle Obama is such a hit is because she lets us into her world and her childhood. She connects her experiences with ours.

Obama needs to tell us what it was like while he was growing up. He needs to show us how his life is similar to many other American's lives.

And then he can go back to that policy stuff.

Rev. Wright and Cable News

2008-04-27T20:50:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, CNN and Fox News aired the speech made by Reverend Wright live from the NAACP dinner in Detroit, MI. Now, I have not seen CNN, nor especially, FOX News ever air anything from NAACP or Black-related, for that matter. When I saw this, as an Obama supporter, I was very upset because those channel's motives for showing Wright's speech were not altruistic.

Now on Monday, the cable news channels aired Wright's speech at the National Press Club further damaging the Obama campaign. So at this point, I don't know who to be mad at more - Rev. Wright, the cable news, the NAACP, or Obama.

Here is why I am mad at Rev. Wright.

Rev. Wright, this is not about you, the black church, or black people. This is about the Clinton campaign and the cable news networks doing everything they can to drag down Obama. If Clinton and cable news could use Rezko, they would use Rezko. If they could use the Canada public relations incident, they would have used that. But it seems Rev. Wright's comments have had a more detrimental effect on Obama, so they are using Rev. Wright.

Therefore, if I am the pastor of a church where one of my parishioners is running as the first African-American to actually have the possibility of being elected president, can you guess what I would have done if I knew I was the problem in my parishioner's campaign? You know it - take a long six month tour around the world until Dec. 1 2008 after the election is over. I would take cover and do what Dave Chappelle did, disappear in Africa for a few months without telling anyone where I have gone. GO INTO HIDING JEREMIAH WRIGHT!!!

Instead, what does he do on the eve of two elections in Indiana and North Carolina? Get on TV everywhere. For the past two days, all I have seen is Wright on TV 24/7. Doesn't he realize that he is to white people like Farrakhan is to Jews? Doesn't he realize that he is now the David Duke of Black people? And doesn't he realize that the media is trying to make it seem (and white people secretly fear) that whatever he says is what Obama is actually thinking? As Jon Stewart asked Obama on the Daily Show, "If you become president, are you going to do bait and switch and enslave white people?" That is every white person's secret fear and it is being exploited every time Rev. Wright opens his mouth on national television.

So what white person is going to feel comfortable electing a black man they think may set out to destroy all white people once he gets into the white house? None of them! That's who. In fact, a poll today on MSNBC showed that 41% of people polled saw Obama as "less favorable" since Rev. Wright's speeches (as was intended by the cable news networks and the Clinton campaign). So I am mad at Rev. Wright, very mad at him because his actions may have cost Obama the presidency.

What should Obama do?

Obama needs to drag all of his white relatives out to his rallies and press conferences and kiss them every day on TV to remind white people that he is, after all, half-white. Obama can't hate white people too much when his mother and the grandparents who raised him are white. He needs to let America know how close he is to his white parents and show America those other East Indian, Asian, Indonesian, whatever the world relatives he has so that he can offset his blackness. His blackness has become a detriment and now he needs to claim his other half - the white half in all fullness and sincerity.

The second thing Obama needs to do, as a panelist said on MSNBC (can you tell I watch MSNBC) is call Rev. Wright a kook and completely distance himself from the man. Obama tried to be honorable, but since Rev. Wright isn't doing right by Obama, Obama no longer needs to do right by Rev. Wright. It is a shame, it has to come to this, but what can you do? Obama needs to strongly denounce Wright, show he can't stand him and whatever else it takes to make these white people comfortable. After Obama is elected, he can take it all back and make Rev. Wright the Secretary of the Department of Reparations for Black People.

I was mad at NAACP, but now I am not so sure.

My thinking on this was that the NAACP did not have to allow cable news access into their dinner at Detroit. I noticed only CNN and Fox News air the dinner speech the Rev. Wright made - in its entirety. NAACP should have been savvy enough to know that Rev. Wright is a detriment to the Obama campaign and should not be party to any attempt the media makes to sabotage Obama through Rev. Wright.

But instead, what do I see? Not only does CNN show Rev. Wright's speech, they also show another Detroit reverend in all of his Detroit glory going off on white people and the so-called attacks being made on Rev. Wright and the black church. Is the NAACP insane??? Don't they know that all white people hear from those preachers is kill whitey, kill whitey, kill whitey. White people are scared to death of angry black men and if they think Obama is one of them, guess what they will do? Vote for Hillary Clinton - idiot!

Instead, I think the NAACP thought that a) they could get a lot of money from people and/or a lot of publicity if they had Wright there and national news coverage or b) were trying to clear Rev. Wright's name by having him speak or c) were getting hyped because national news wanted to know what they were doing.

So you have a bunch of sell out blacks at the NAACP who are short-sighted and have received much too much money from white people and other corporate sponsors in the past. Don't they realize that if Obama were president, Obama could just write the NAACP into his national budget? I mean come on, isn't this what this is all about? Isn't this why, as a black woman, I am voting for a black man. Obama will have the power and authority to create a whole department solely for the advancement of all black people if he wanted to - if the NAACP cooperated? Instead, the NAACP may have sabotaged Obama's campaign too.

What should Obama do?

If Obama loses, he should give the NAACP the finger.

Cable news media-- ooooohhh, now they are the royal pain in the derriere. Just thinking about them makes my nostrils flare in a rage that is so strong, I see red and can't think straight. Throughout this election, I have turned into a mad woman as I shout obscenities at the TV because CNN, MSNBC, and especially Fox News just won't get the story straight.

So to save my sanity and blood pressure, I have stopped watching CNN. Fox News has always been suspect so I always avoided that channel. Which leaves me with MSNBC because they were the only channel that did not air Rev. Wright's speech at the NAACP dinner.

I can understand Fox News airing the Wright speech because they make no secret about wanting McCain in office and know that Rev. Wright is the best way to destroy Obama. So they will talk about Wright everyday as Obama's ratings slowly slide downward into the gutter.

But CNN, was a different story. I tried to keep the faith with CNN. They were the channel that showed coverage of the first Gulf War when I was in school before MSNBC and Fox News even existed. Their longevity in the game should have given them some credibility, right? Right?

Wrong! I forgot about their shoddy coverage of black people during Hurricane Katrina. I forgot about their one-sided coverage of Jena Six (Jena who? - exactly!) I forgot about their limited coverage of Obama in the beginning of the campaign when they figured Obama was a non-issue and all they talked about was Hillary Clinton.

But, most importantly, CNN is run by Jewish rich people who want Clinton as their president because she favors pro-Israel policies while Obama probably could care less. (Here is where I am going to get in trouble for saying anything against the Jews and be sent to jail like they did Wesley Snipes)

See a few months ago, a bunch of rich Jews wrote Nancy Pelosi a letter asking her to take back her statement encouraging superdelegates to vote in the direction of their pledged delegates which favors Obama. They all signed the letter so you could see their names and look them up. All of the signees were Jewish, except for a few sell-out blacks. During the Clinton's presidency, he had a very pro-Israel policy. So of course, they want Hillary in office to bring back the good ole days.

So I can't watch too much cable news because their shoddy journalism and obvious bias against Obama is making my blood pressure go up and since I am only 32, I can't die from Shoddy News Syndrome. I'm too young!

So what should Obama do?

Get his butt in front of the news cameras everyday all day. Coverage, coverage, coverage!!

Which brings me to why I am mad at Obama.

Obama is not coming with it. Do you know what I mean when I say coming with it? He is not bringing it on, punching below the belt, gettin' down and dirty.

Instead, we get no response. Just like the Rezko controversy and the Canada controversy, he is too slow to address the attacks that are made against him. And it hurts his campaign each time. It also infuriates and frustrates his supporters who just want to pick up the phone and scream some needed one-two punch strategies into his ear. Personally, I tend to fantasize about driving to one of his rallies, grabbing him by the neck and yelling, "Get it together, Man!"

Personal message to Obama:

Obama, this stuff is not going to go away. This is not a matter of the Clintons and the media testing your mettle. No, they want you to LOSE and they have found your kryptonite - Rev. Wright!

Get your a-- on TV and charm the socks off the American people like you did at the Democratic Convention. As people get to know you and your policies, they fall in love with you. Your presence offsets any attacks that are made against you. Show America you can fight for yourself because then they will trust that you will fight for them.

Come on Obama! You can do it! Yes You Can!

Sun conjunct Mars

2008-04-24T23:52:00.000-05:00

There are astrological configurations and aspects that can have a powerful influence over a limited period (luckily, they are always limited). Right now Mars is in Cancer and I am a Cancer, so I am loving this right now. All of the plans I made last year are finally coming to fruition thanks to the Mars/Sun conjunction. However, that energy spell will be over on May 9th when Mars goes into Leo (according to Astrologyzone.com) and Mercury goes retrograde from late May to June 18th. I can feel it happening.

Sun conjunct Mars makes you feel bold, confident, assertive, and ready to take on new challenges. The best way to use this energy is to go full force towards any ventures, entrepreneural ideas, or career goals that you have had. You will have the energy and confidence to pursue them as well as the persistence and drive to get past any obstacles that pop up!

Obama and the Media

2008-04-24T23:37:00.000-05:00

The media has turned on its machine of inadequate journalism. I hate that Reverend Wright gave his interview today because it just gives journalists another opportunity to tear Obama down with his comments, another opportunity to remind white voters that Obama is black (and angry and will kill them if he got the chance) - which is not true at all. I am disappointed in TV news and cannot trust them for information. I have stopped watching CNN completely because their treatment of the election. In the beginning they were my main source, but now I have turned to MSNBC. I know all of the cable news channels are vying for ratings, but MSNBC seems to have a milder approach to it. As opposed to CNN, which gathers commentators together just for the sake of creating angst. They truly responded to Hillary's call that the media was too easy on Obama so now they are revving up their "tear down" engines and running over Obama. But he is tough just as Clinton is tough, so we will see how he handles this.