WHICH SIDE OF THE BIG LINE IN THE SAND? -- Commentary On The Obama Same Sex Controversy

                                                                     THE RAMEY COMMENTARIES

WHICH SIDE OF THE BIG LINE IN THE SAND?

BY MIKE RAMEY

Needless to say, just about everyone has heard about President Obama's stand on Homosexual and Lesbian marriages (aka 'same sex marriage'). Obama's public declaration came on May 9^th, 2012 about 3:10pm EST, courtesy of a clip from an ABC News interview that was released to the mainstream media--which included FOX News. I saw the clip. My wife heard the clip from our kitchen. FOX News anchor Sheppard Smith may have been happy with the Obama announcement. He could afford to be, because he was of the 'lighter hue' and was not up for election--or re-election.

Of course, being African American--and a voter--I couldn't believe it. What made matters worse was the 'tip off' to his 'decision' was helped by his Vice President a few days before, and a member of the Obama cabinet at least 48 hours ahead of the broadcast.

The pundits will be flooding the Internet and the airwaves with their opinions right up to Election day in November.

There will be voices from the pro-gay marriage crowd citing their views. There will be voices from the anti-gay marriage crowd citing their views. This is fine. In a democratic republic with freedom of speech AND freedom of religion held to be sacred in our Constitution, this is only right and fair. However, President Obama has clearly drawn a line in the sand…a BIG line that those of us who claim to be Christian can not ignore, and MUST choose God's side of the line!

In the end analysis, in between all the punditry and speaking, there is only one side that those who believe in Christ can afford to be on, if we are true to our faith--even if there is a price to be paid.

That being God's side.

We knew this from the beginning--BEFORE this line was drawn.

THE SHIFTING OF MORALITY:

A few years back, John Kozy, Jr., a retired professor of Philosophy and Logic wrote an outstanding piece entitled: "The United States of Entertainment". In sum, Kozy noted how America was allowing entertainment--from sports to rappers to movies--to create a standard of mental living that did not emphasize hard work, education, thrift and a host of other items that used to be standards of our society. His last line in the piece was equally prophetic: "Although man may not live by bread alone, more bread and less play yield better lives than more play and less bread. America needs what is called "a paradigm shift." Americans need to rethink their cultural values." This piece first surfaced about 2008. Little did we know how much punch it would have four years later.

MORALITY AND COMMON SENSE:

Same-sex marriage is one of those 'shifting morality' issues, which has been steadily creeping up the bedrock of the American moral foundation. No national or international power since the dawn of time has lasted very long by indulging in a national policy which caters to homosexuality, and/or any other 'agenda item' which goes against morality and good, common sense. Furthermore, attempts to link an 'agenda item' with the Civil Rights Movement is downright insulting. Nevertheless, the feminists, the environmentalists and the homosexual/lesbian lobbies have been so desperate to advance their OWN selfish objectives that they are quite willing to 'hitch' their wagon to a legitimate movement in order to ensnare people of color as pawns to become the poster children for immorality. Clubs, dogs, and bullets are not the same as paper or plastic, a 'choice' or 'Adam and Steve; Mary and Sally' getting a certificate at City Hall.

The deceived think that they are equal.

They are on their side of the big line in the sand.

THE SHIP OF ZION:

Those of us who are firm members on the Ship of Zion KNOW that we are on the righteous side of the line in the sand, as we know that God calls sin, S-I-N! I agree with God, therefore I'm on His side. Yes, I do know that there will be those who 'claim' to be members of their respective 'churches' and will try to invoke their god to tell those of us who are of the faith that the Bible was wrong, and Jesus Christ was gay. Yes, I know that there are folks out there, swilling their 'Hater-aide', and will attempt to justify their sin by trying to talk, shout, or threaten their opposition into silence.

Well, I haven't been silent on this issue before. Why should I be silent now?

Funny thing about this issue. Some of those who were the 'first' to have same-sex marriages have dropped their 'spouses' about 12-18 months after the 'knot' was tied. Still others are embroiled in nasty custody battles involving their 'children'. This hardly seems like the 'utopia' that was promised in the 'bill of sale'? But, we don't get to hear about these stories…at least, not with as much fanfare as those who have showed up with their 'indented' in tow.

But, I digress.

Black folk have been in this country for nearly 400 years. I really doubt that God brought us through Indentured Servitude, Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Segregation, Redlining and Civil Rights JUST to allow ourselves and our churches to be 'connected' to a fraud such as same-sex marriage! NO intelligent Black man or Black woman would dare hoist such a fraud on their people, and expect US to 'let it pass.'

It won't pass with me. It won't pass with a LOT of people!

America now has legalized liquor--thanks to the government-- after the ridicule and eventual defeat of Prohibition. Even though liquor had been researched, studied and shown to be harmful, folk will drink and hang the consequences, even if God is trampled in the process. Abortion became legal, again--thanks to the government. 45-plus million legal abortions later, we wonder why the economy is in tatters, lives ruined and a large segment of our labor force and tax base is gone. Now, our President has just endorsed something that sent a chill throughout the land, and drew a big line in the sand, further showing the nation's back towards the Living God. In the end, it's going to cost him not only the election, but the respect of his fellow citizens.

Especially those of us who know how to pray…and to vote.

THE RAMEY COMMENTARIES appears on fine websites and gracious blogs around the world. To correspond, email manhoodline@yahoo.com. © 2011, 2012 Mike Ramey/Barnstorm Communications.
 
 
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Don't Fall for the Okey-Doke

From the Ramparts

Junious Ricardo Stanton

"U.S. and Yemeni officials have confirmed that the supposed would-be underwear bomber at the heart of an al-Qaeda airliner plot revealed this week was actually an informant working for the CIA and Saudi intelligence all along. Members of the Obama administration spent virtually all of yesterday parading throughout major media outlets claiming their intrepid counterterrorism efforts successfully foiled a terrorist plot to blow up an American airliner. But now officials have anonymously confirmed that the plot, like so many other "successfully foiled" terror attacks, was hatched by the CIA from the start." John Glaser, May 08, 2012 http://news.antiwar.com/2012/05/08/supposed-would-be-underwear-bomber-is-cia-informant/

Earlier this week the US mind control apparatus flooded the airways, Internet and newspapers with stories about how the ever vigilant US security state foiled yet another plot by the omnipresent al-Qaeda bogeymen. This time another "underwear bomber" was planning to blow up an airplane destined for the US. When I first heard it I thought to myself "here we go again, another bogus claim designed to frighten the yahoos and rednecks into going along with even more police state surveillance, monitoring and government spying on them". Even before I discerned there was no details about which airline the bomber targeted, where the plane was supposedly headed or who captured him I knew it was a fake. Now the whole story is unraveling.

Now the White Nationalist movement also known as the patriot and militia movements or the take our country backers are putting out the truth, the CIA concocted this scheme to make headlines and make folks afraid so they keep the welfare, warfare police state humming merrily along. For example story after story opinion after opinion are now coming out questioning the whole incident or even mocking the media and government for even trying to run something this bogus on us. An article on the Anti-War Website www.Anti-war.com by John Glaser put it this way, "Instead of showing that the CIA and the counter terrorism policies of the U.S. are keeping Americans safe from harm, or that al-Qaeda is making "inroads," as former director of the National Counter terrorism Center Michael Leiter said, all this lauded incident shows is that the CIA can get weapons from shadowy sources and blow up planes, if it wanted to. Officials say the informant was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb by alleged terrorists. He then turned the device over to authorities." Supposed Would-Be Underwear Bomber Is CIA Informant Obama officials tried to present this as some successfully foiled terror attack, while it was anything but by John Glaser, May 08, 2012 http://news.antiwar.com/2012/05/08/supposed-would-be-underwear-bomber-is-cia-informant/

It has come to light the so called "terrorist" was really on the payroll of the US CIA and their Saudi counterparts. This is consistent with the history of many of the so called "Islamic Jihadists". Western and Middle East intelligence and secret police agencies use the Jihadists to justify their existence and to forward their own nefarious agendas. For example Al-Qaeda the supposedly Islamic global terror network is a largely fictional entity. It was the creation of elements within the US CIA, the Saudis, the Israeli Mossad and the Pakistani ISI as part of the group of provocateurs they've funded over the years to do their dirty work first in Afghanistan, then Kosovo, Chechnya and later in other places around the world like Yemen, Libya and now Syria. "Concurrent to CIA covert action for the Mujahideen was the influx of the Arab militants, including Usama bin Laden. Aside from religion, the key commonality between Arabs and the Afghan Mujahideen was the desire to oust the invading Soviets. The Afghan Mujahideen were the main fighters, numbering approximately 150,000 to 200,000. They were physically trained by the ISI and funded by the CIA and Saudi government, as well as non-governmental sources. The Saudi GID would eventually match the CIA for every dollar it spent on the war. According to Cole, the Mujahideen often complained that the Arabs were a hindrance, poor fighters, and showboats that came for the glory of jihad and promises of paradise. Moreover, there were only a few hundred Arab militants fighting in the jihad at any given point and participation in military operations was 'negligible'. In fact, Anas has stated that in 1984 there were only 'thirteen Arab Mujahideen'. That number increased to around 3,000 to 5,000 by 1989 but only 10% were on the battlefields. Moreover, when al-Qa'ida was formed on 10 September 1988, there were only 15 'brothers'. Their financing came from mosques, non-governmental organizations, charities, and private sponsors from overseas... It should be noted that the CIA was aware of the growth of the Arab jihadists and even 'looked favorably' on the ongoing recruitment, given that the goal was one in the same: to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. According to one State Department official, the Americans should not 'see them as the enemy.' Aside from this favorable view, the CIA did not partake in any operations with the Arab militants. Concomitantly, the CIA and the ISI did not hinder their recruitment activities either. As such, Pakistan was excellent peripheral territory for the Arab militants to freely organize. It was on Pakistani territory that the seeds of al-Qa'ida were planted." Al-Qa'ida's American Connection http://www.global-politics.co.uk/issue6/Stahl/

The same al-Qaeda the US claims brought down the twin towers (a logistical and physical impossibility given their lack of resources, sophistication, skills and connections) was used to destabilize Libya and now to wreck havoc in Syria. "U.S.-backed anti-government forces in Libya are being led by al-Qaeda fighters according to an interview with a Libyan rebel figure in Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian newspaper. So, after ten years of trying to 'disarm and dismantle' al -Qaeda in Afghanistan, the U.S. might be facilitating its rise in Libya. Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi admitted earlier today that he personally recruited 250 Libyans to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of these same fighters are, according to al-Hasidi, 'today on the front lines in Adjabiya' fighting against Moammar Gaddafi's forces. al-Hasidi also made positive comments about al-Qaeda during the interview as the Telegraph reports." U.S. supports Al Qaeda 'freedom fighters' against Gaddafi in Libyan civil war .Michael Hughes Geopolitics Examiner http://www.examiner.com/article/u-s-supports-al-qaeda-freedom-fighters-against-gaddafi-libyan-civil-war

Doesn't it seem strange to you the US would hire the same people who have been fighting US occupation forces in Iraq to be the mercenaries used to attack and kill Moammar Gadhafi and help them topple the Syria government of President Bashar al-Asad? Kinda makes you go hmm, what's up with that? The US is obviously not telling the truth about its activities, motives or goals. Much of what they are doing might even be construed as treasonous. The fact of the matter is, the US government needs us to be afraid of every thing and every one so they can boost spending for the US military-security-warfare police state. That's why they are paying al-Qaeda to be their henchmen to bring down overseas regimes their corporate masters don't like, so they can loot and plunder the natural resources and have a geo-strategic lock on the region.

That's why CIA was behind the latest underwear bomber and the FBI set up some goofy white boys to blow up an Ohio bridge a few weeks ago. "Five men were arrested in the Cleveland area on Monday for charges of conspiracy to an anti-government plot that involved bringing a large bridge down and the use of explosive materials. They were indicted today on three counts each, including a new charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction to destroy property in interstate commerce. The five men, all described as anarchists, were arrested Monday night when they allegedly tried to detonate what turned out to be a dud bomb provided by an FBI undercover informant. But let's take a closer look at the federal complaint against the five men. It reveals that even though the suspects are believed to have expressed anti-government sentiments and despise main financial corporations, the real motivation in the would-be bombing was the urging of undercover agents that had infiltrated a group of friends and encouraged them to consider acts of terrorism." Cleveland bomb "plot" conceived by FBI agents Written by Truth Warrior Thursday, 03 May 2012 12:12 http://coupmedia.org/terror-threats/cleveland-bomb-plot-conceived-by-fbi-agents-0305

Don't fall for the US and corporate media okey-doke on this latest "terror threat". It has already been exposed as a psy-op to dupe us into thinking we need to fear the al-Qaeda bogey man so much we allow the government to ramp up its COINTELPRO police state tactics so everyone one of us is a suspect. Don't allow them to punk you or make you a chump.

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The Ninety-Nine Per Cent

From The Ramparts

by Junious Ricardo Stanton ~

"What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of 'chronically unemployed' is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs. But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart. The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild." The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-here's-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=%5EDJI,%5EGSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA

As the election year rolls on, bet your bottom dollar one of the charges the Republicans will level at the Obama administration and the Democrats is the economy has worsened under his watch and Americans are a lot worse off now than they were four years ago. Sad to say these charges are correct. In fairness to Obama the wheels were falling off the US economy when he went into the White House. But he has continued the very policies that have brought this country to the abyss of total bankruptcy, ruin and default. Obama with his cabinet selections , his unabashed cow towing to the Wall Street Kleptocrats and the military industrial security state has pushed the peddle to the metal sending the US economy over the cliff. Despite the upbeat notices in the media and the nightly stock market reports (the stock market does not reflect the true status of the economy mainly due to stock market manipulation and fruad) the US economy is on life support and sinking fast. The Kleptocrats don't want us to know the real deal for fear we will tar and feather them and take their assets.

Unemploymnet remains high because few new jobs are being created. Working folks have suffered major setbacks in employment opportunities and the real picture is not being shared with the American people. The problem is you can not rely on government statistics for an accurate picture of US employment. "Just last month, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported finding 243,000 new jobs, they also reported in the same release that an additional 1.2 million workers had dropped out of the work force altogether, giving up hope under Obama. If labor force participation had remained the same in January, 2012 just as it was the month before in December, 2011, the unemployment rate would have risen to 8.7% in January rather than supposedly declining to 8.3% as reported. Some additional facts highlight how misleading the reported unemployment rate, and the political rhetoric around it, can be. One year ago, 99 million Americans were unemployed or otherwise not working, and the unemployment rate was 9.1%. Today, while the reported unemployment rate is 8.3%, over 100 million Americans are unemployed or otherwise not working. In January, 2009, 11.6 million Americans were unemployed, with 23% of those unemployed for more than 6 months. By January, 2012, 12.8 million were unemployed, with 43% of those out of work more than 6 months.At the official end of the recession in June, 2009, America was 12.6 million jobs short of full employment. By January, 2012, we were 15.2 million jobs short, falling behind by another 244,000 in that month alone." Don't Be Fooled, The Obama Unemployment Rate Is 11% http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/02/09/dont-be-fooled-the-obama-unemployment-rate-is-11/

New jobs simply aren't being created at least not the kind folks can enjoy a decent standard of living working. A recent study shows more and more Americans are slipping out of the middle class and economic apartheid is expanding rapidly. " The portion of American families living in middle-income neighborhoods has declined significantly since 1970, according to a new study, as rising income inequality left a growing share of families in neighborhoods that are mostly low-income or mostly affluent.The study, conducted by Stanford University and scheduled for release on Wednesday by the Russell Sage Foundation and Brown University, uses census data to examine family income at the neighborhood level in the country's 117 biggest metropolitan areas. The findings show a changed map of prosperity in the United States over the past four decades, with larger patches of affluence and poverty and a shrinking middle. In 2007, the last year captured by the data, 44 percent of families lived in neighborhoods the study defined as middle-income, down from 65 percent of families in 1970. At the same time, a third of American families lived in areas of either affluence or poverty, up from just 15 percent of families in 1970. The study comes at a time of growing concern about inequality and an ever-louder partisan debate over whether it matters. It raises, but does not answer, the question of whether increased economic inequality, and the resulting income segregation, impedes social mobility. Much of the shift is the result of changing income structure in the United States. Part of the country's middle class has slipped to the lower rungs of the income ladder as manufacturing and other middle-class jobs have dwindled, while the wealthy receive a bigger portion of the income pie. Put simply, there are fewer people in the middle. But the shift is more than just changes in income. The study also found that there is more residential sorting by income, with the rich flocking together in new exurbs and gentrifying pockets where lower- and middle-income families cannot afford to live." Middle-Class Areas Shrink as Income Gap Grows, New Report Finds http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/middle-class-areas-shrink-as-income-gap-grows-report-finds.html

Shrinking incomes mean shrinking standards of living, less consumption and harder times for those of us who are being squeezed by the shrinking US dollar due to inflation, shriveling incomes and public policies designed to steal our wealth and transfer it to the super rich. The fact of the matter is the rich are getting richer setting the stage for widescale economic apartheid in the US and major social unrest. "At the root of this discontent are the extreme inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity that have emerged over the last four decades. The richest 1 percent now owns over 36 percent of all the wealth in the United States. That's more than the net worth of the bottom 95 percent combined. This 1 percent has pocketed almost all of the wealth gains of the last decade. In 2010, the 1 percent earned 21 percent of all income, up from only 8 percent in mid-1970s. The 400 wealthiest individuals on the Forbes 400 list have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans. These trends among the 1 percent are bad for the rest of us. Concentrated wealth translates into political clout — the power to use campaign contributions to rent politicians and tilt the rules of the economy in their favor. Web sites dramatizing the "We are the 99 percent" movement are full of personal stories of young people who are saddled with debt and no futures, and middle class families that have seen the American Dream collapse around them, losing jobs, homes, and hopes for the future." The 99 Per Cent Spring Chuck Collins http://inequality.org/99-percent-spring/

As you think about voting this year make sure you understand the process is a sham, America is a full fleged banana republic. Most politicians are not on our side. The fact is most have sold out to the one per cent because they want to be on the winning side of the ongoing global class war. The war is on. The question is do you know there is a war raging and which side are you on?

[TheBlackList] The Ninety-Nine Per Cent, jrswriter, 04/22/2012

 

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Thank you President Obama for not pardoning The Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Thank you President Obama for not pardoning The Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

A pardon implies guilt.

Mr. Garvey is not a thief.

Mr. Garvey did not defraud the UNIA/ACL and its contributors.

Mr. Garvey did not plead guilty nor admit to any such crime.

Therefore, he can not be pardoned for a crime he did not commit.

By insisting on a pardon for Mr. Garvey, we are in effect calling Mr. Garvey a thief - a crime for which he could be pardoned and forgiven.

Mr. Garvey is a victim of COINTELPRO.

The U.S. Government colluded with emimies of the Pan African Movemnet to frame Mr. Garvey.

Mr. Garvey is innocent.
And, being innocent, he derserve an apology from the Government of the USA.

The Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey deserve and APOLOGY not a pardon.

=========

No pardon for Garvey

US government says no time, resources to waste

Read more: http://m.jamaicaobserver.com/newstest/No-pardon-for-Garvey_9489036#ixzz1hMqJZrwn
==========

You and I also should not waste our time and resourses.
Let's finish the job Mr. Garvey began.
This aught to be our tribute to Mr. Gavey, ourselves and the generation unborn.

*See more comments on my Facebook profile http://facebook.com/kwasia

my facebook page http://facebook.com/KwasiAkyeampong.theblacklist

and on twitter http://twtter.com/theblacklist


~ by Kwasi Akyeampong
As posted on TheBlackList Pub - "Who Am I For Africa And Africans"
http://theblacklistpub.ning.com/group/whoamiforafricaandafricans/forum/topic/show?id=2055350%3ATopic%3A101261

Write Letters to Editor on President Obama's Visit to Indonesia

Sample Letters to Editor on President Obama's Visit to Indonesia

In a few days, President Obama is expected to leave for a trip to Asia, including a several-times postponed visit to Indonesia where he lived as a boy. Letters to the editor are often the most widely-read section of newspapers, especially by decision-makers. Try to keep your letter to about 200 -250 words and be sure to include your full name, address, and telephone number when submitting the letter to the newspaper. If possible, include a local angle or directly respond to an article or opinion published in the paper. The more timely your response, the more likely it is to be published.
Contact us at etan@etan.org or 718-596-7668, if you would like some help with your letter. Please send us copies of your letters, published and unpublished.
Adapt, mix and match the text of the 3 updated sample letters below. Use it in responses to online posting of articles and in blogs. Adapt the letters to your own words. Please check http://etan.org/action/letters/obama2010.htm for additional letters as events develop.

Letter #1
For Publication
To the Editor
The Obama administration says that it supports democratic reform in Indonesia, but increased military assistance will do the opposite.
When Indonesia was a dictatorship, the U.S. was the Indonesian military's chief supplier. Military assistance ended in 1999, during the Indonesian military's rampage in East Timor after it voted for independence.
Most assistance has been restored since then, even though those responsible for human rights crimes in East Timor and elsewhere in the region have yet to face justice. Instead, reform efforts have stalled and many officers responsible for past crimes have been promoted to prominent positions. Recent videos document torture and the destruction of videos in the West Papua region by Indonesian security forces. A U.S. funded and trained police unit Detachment 88 is accused of torturing peaceful protesters. 
Of special concern was last summer's announcement that the U.S. would, for the first time in a dozen years work with Indonesia's Kopassus special forces. Training such notorious human rights violators will undermine the "Leahy law," which prohibits assisting units with unresolved human rights violations. The law is meant to prevent future abuses, as well as encourage an end to impunity for past violations, which has not happened.
On his visit to Indonesia, President Obama may eloquently promote democracy and civilian rule in Indonesia, but by providing military assistance now, he will be endorsing business as usual.
Sincerely,
Your Name, Address, Phone/E-mail

Letter #2
Shortly, President Obama will return to Indonesia, his former childhood home. In his memoir, The Audacity of Hope, he wrote about the negative influence that the U.S. had on "the fate" of Indonesia, with policies that included "the tolerance and occasional encouragement of tyranny, corruption, and environmental degradation when it served our interests."
Indonesia has made progress since the overthrow of Suharto, the Indonesian dictator who ruled the country while Obama lived there. If he truly wants to promote further democratic change, he should publicly acknowledge the U.S. role in supporting Suharto's tyranny. During that time, the U.S. was Indonesia's major weapons supplier and gave its approval to the annexations of East Timor and West Papua. This might make some of his domestic critics and Indonesian hosts -- many of whom loyally served President Suharto and consider him a national hero -- uncomfortable. But a forthright and sincere acknowledgement of this history will resonate with Suharto's many victims.
President Obama should not offer military assistance, especially to Indonesia's Kopassus Special Forces. These notorious shock troops of Suharto's repression have not been held accountable for their human rights violations in Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and elsewhere. The Indonesian military remains largely unaccountable for its past and current human rights violations, and efforts at reform have largely stalled in recent years. U.S. law requires that the U.S. not train military units with bad human rights records until there have been real efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice. Training Kopassus violates the law.
Sincerely,
Your Name, Address, Phone and E-mail

Letter #3
To the Editor
A little more than a decade ago, the East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly to end the Indonesian rule in their country. The Indonesian military -- trained and armed by U.S. -- and its paramilitary allies exacted brutal vengeance in a bloody exit to a 24-year invasion and occupation that took up to 180,000 lives.
When President Obama goes to Indonesia, he should acknowledge the U.S. responsibility in this sordid history and press Indonesia to cooperate with credible trials of those who ordered the rapes, torture and killings. He should withhold military assistance until Indonesia has done so.
Past efforts to hold these generals accountable have gone nowhere. Many of them remain powerful in government or retirement. The East Timor government, fearing retaliation, is unwilling to stand up to up to its much larger neighbor.
Last August, during the 10^th anniversary of the 1999 independence referendum, Indonesia pressured East Timor to release a recently-arrested former militia leader  "without charge, trial, or proper court authorization," according to the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report. UN-backed prosecutors had indicted him for his role in a massacre at a church where 30 civilians, including three priests, were slaughtered.
U.N. investigators and others have proposed a UN international tribunal to try those who organized and carried these brutal crimes. While in Indonesia, President Obama should announce his support for a tribunal and work with the Security Council to bring these perpetrators to justice.
Sincerely,
Your Name, Address, Phone/E-mail
see also

WPAT: Torture video reveals "Indonesia's Abu Ghraib" on eve of Obama visit

ETAN/WPAT: Suspend Training and Funding of Indonesian Police Unit Detachment 88

Suharto's No Hero

U.S. Training of Kopassus: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Not Come

ETAN To Obama Administration: U.S. military assistance will harm reform and set back human rights

WPAT Write Obama Ahead of His Trip to Indonesia

Joint Statement between ETAN and Indonesian Human Rights Groups on Martenus Bere and Justice for Timor-Leste

etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
Support ETAN make a contribution here http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm
Thank you for your support.
John M. Miller, National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: +1-718-596-7668  Mobile phone: +1-917-690-4391 
Email john@etan.org Skype: john.m.miller
http://www.etan.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/etan009
Blog: http://etanaction.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/134122?recruiter_id=10193810
Send a blank e-mail message to info@etan.org to find out how to learn more about East Timor and Indonesia on the Internet
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Lessons from Confederate History Month

By Ezrah Aharone:

Next year in April commemorates the 150th anniversary of America’s Civil War. So under the pretext to “encourage tourism” in Virginia, which has over 100 Confederate monuments, GOP Governor Bob McDonnell dusted-off an old proclamation that declares April as “Confederate History Month.” Not only did he revive it, he removed a clause stating “that slavery was one of the causes” of the war.

President Obama called this “an unacceptable omission,” while members of Virginia’s Legislative Black Caucus said the document was “offensive, one-sided, and a revision of history.” GOP Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who declared April as “Confederate Heritage Month” in a similar proclamation which also excluded slavery, said all the fuss “doesn’t amount to diddly.” But McDonnell apologized and amended Virginia’s proclamation to include and condemn slavery.

The real problem here however, supercedes the omissions and one-sidedness of any single proclamation, including Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. American history is largely promoted with slanted, bravado narratives of nationalism, whereby the means are always vindicated by glorifications of the end. And when it comes to the historiography of slavery, a taboo-blame of racism is transferred upon African Americans who veer from sugarcoated viewpoints.

As such, Americans are made to think that the Civil War was fought to end the Confederate immoralities of slavery. But based on unquestioned racism that lasted well into the 1960s, it’s illogical that millions of Whites would actually fight and slaughter 624,000 of themselves over the rights of Blacks way back in the 1860s. If the Emancipation Proclamation was really predicated upon America’s “goodness of democracy,” why would Democrats and Republicans turnaround and willfully legislate a full century of segregation after so much self-bloodshed?

On the surface, this outlook certainly qualifies for a transferred taboo-blame of racism. But to lend historical validation, consider a quote from President Obama himself. As then-senator, he commented to Time Magazine (June 25, 2005) that: “I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator. I am fully aware of his limited views on race. Anyone who actually reads the Emancipation Proclamation knows it was more a Military Document than a clarion call for justice.”

Speaking of “omissions and one-sidedness” in proclamations . . . Instead of mandating a unilateral “Military Document” (signed only by him and his Secretary of State), Lincoln and representatives of our forbearers should have jointly agreed and formally signed a binding “Bilateral Accord” that satisfied the ideals and demands of the 4 million “Emancipated” people in question. That would have been the honorable, non-racist, democratic thing for any offending government to do after nearly 250 years of enslavement.

What’s lasting and telling about this affront and disingenuous nature of the Emancipation Proclamation, is the unspoken but undeniable lack of affinity and familiarity that African Americans hold towards it today. Although it presumably represents our long-awaited “triumph over slavery,” it’s hard to find a Black person who can recite a complete phrase from it. Simply ask around and you’ll find proof yourself.

The unedited truth is that Lincoln ended slavery in the Confederacy for the same reason it was instituted – to make capitalism more functional. By the 1860s the Industrial Revolution was in gear. Northern industrial businesses would outperform Southern agrarian businesses, making it necessary to restructure labor, commerce, and capital investments. Paying low wages to Black industrial laborers therefore made better economic sense and great social policy for a more civilized face of government.

But since Southern states stood to lose billions in property (enslaved) assets and wealth, the Confederates sought secession and war became an unavoidable consequence of this industrial shift. While a Confederate victory would have definitely prolonged slavery, this should not be politically misconstrued into the notion that Lincoln’s fight against secession was thereby a fight for the justice of abolition.

To believe that the principal of the Civil War was to “free” Africans from the Confederates is as inaccurate as thinking the current war in Afghanistan is being fought to free Afghans from the Taliban. Although Afghans may eventually be liberated from Taliban influences as a by-product of the war, the underlying purpose and politics of the conflict are immensely more far-reaching. And likewise were the driving circumstances between the Civil War and the by-product of Emancipation.

But since the facts of American history are slanted with narratives to glorify American democracy, the Civil War is framed to unduly credit and equate the Union with noble motives. So it’s acceptable to place taboo-blames of racism on supporters of Confederate History Month, since Confederates resided on the opposite side of the war. Yet, the prevailing mischaracterizations surrounding Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, now cause African Americans to reside on the opposite side of the truth.

Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from Civil Rights to Sovereign Rights (2009) and Pawned Sovereignty: Sharpened Black Perspectives on Americanization, Africa, War and Reparations (2003). He is a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org. 

WAVE FOR CHANGE FORUMS & WORKSHOPS - Working Against Violence Everywhere

"We have to realize that our behavior today is our history tomorrow. The question is what history do you want to write for yourself?" Michael Lee Chin

Many black youths are facing a crisis. No Education, No Jobs, No Future. So many feel they are limited by their race many feel hopeless and helpless. A young child is filled with hope and dreams of the future and what they hope to become. Only to face the reality when they reach puberty it is not that easy to grasp. There are many issues facing our young people. Black youths need to demonstrate the seriousness in the pursuit.of education. There is a great need to reduce if not eliminate the extreme high rate of dropout and expulsion within the school system of black youths. Encourage youths to continue their educational growth. Due to the lack of equal job opportunities many find themselves at the very bottom of the career ladder with a lower earning potential. The constant branding of acting black, how else are they suppose to act Black is who they are. There is unacceptable social behavior and that is what needs to change. The continuing saga between police and youth relationship has been a long and ongoing debate that is still not resolved. Black youths are in jail in record numbers. Then there is the internal issues how we treat and respect each other. These are just some of the issues, there are many more we have to save our youths. The killing of black youths has surpass 200 over the last 6 years. This has caused great pain and suffering for the families and members of our community, The present situation is of great concern . We need to stop talking and ACT NOW. As a community we have to speak with ONE VOICE these series of forums will address those issues. The focus will be on Violence,Health, Education, Mental Health and many more issues that youth are facing.

Angela Swain-Thorpe
Project Coordinator
Reachout Committee Inc.
(289) 232-6407
(416) 571-9337
Email http://www.blogger.com/reachout-committee@sympatico.ca
Website http://reachout.jimdo.com/



"It takes a community to raise a child"

If we aren't willing to pay a price for our values, If we aren't willing to make some sacrifices in order to realize them, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all... ...Barack Obama - AUDACITY OF HOPE

Though distances may beckon them, and far away they roam, the concept that will judge their lives are those they learn at home. so teach them love of common things, the keys to inner wealth , and teach them love of fellowman and love of life itself. and though their steps may wander far, they need not walk alone, for surely deep within their hearts they'll carry thought of home.

American Exceptionalism vs. Obama’s Idealism

Ezrah Aharone:

During his European debut, a reporter in Strasbourg, France asked President Obama if he subscribes to the school of “American Exceptionalism” as did his predecessors. Being the first Black president and known as a uniter, the question weighs heavy in irony since America’s self-grandiosity is tied to military aggression and presidential legacies that are littered with unapologetic ethnic and cultural indifference. Although not a common term, African Americans should form long lines like voting to get information whenever the subject of “Exceptionalism” is mentioned.

Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville coined “Exceptionalism” in his 1835 book Democracy in America to describe the notion that America considers itself a superior and trustworthy nation that’s favored by God to play a special political, economic, religious, and military role in the world . . . Therefore, U.S. values and policies are presupposed by Americans as right and best for all nations to follow. Nothing is inherently wrong or unjust with any country espousing “Exceptionalism.” The problem and danger is when such views are pursued or imposed at the human or sovereign expense of others.

America’s brand of “Exceptionalism” took Machiavellian detours along the way for the worst. Yes, it verbally professes “Equality and Justice for All,” but at its core remains a prevailing Manifest Destiny for wealth, resources, and power that’s paved in blood and knows no bounds. Because of this duplicity, “American Exceptionalism” can only stand limited-level scrutiny before depths of contradictions and sensitivities are reached that this establishment prefers not to redress.

But all this is belied by “religious fluff” that cloaks what otherwise is inexcusable historical conduct engaged by both parties. Based on the puritanical overtones associated with its founding history and founding fathers, you would think America is spiritually incapable of human and civil rights violations that legalized enslavement and segregation to contrarily coexist with “democracy” for centuries, with impunity.

Today, the same arrogant nature of “Exceptionalism” allows America to “forgive itself” for the past and become an Evangelical arbiter that places labels of “evil” on nations with comparatively far less guilt. The U.S. government is also quick to holler “war crimes” against other nations, yet conversely doesn’t want U.S. soldiers, officials or mercenaries like Blackwater, subjected to possible prosecution for war crimes at the International Criminal Court – Even though Obama says “America does not torture.”

Politicians popularly say, “God bless America.” But it’s politically unthinkable to ever associate God with “punishment,” as did Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans who then had to apologize after Hurricane Katrina for saying, “God is mad at America . . . and doesn’t approve of Iraq.” “Exceptionalism” was also behind the denunciation of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Black Liberation Theology. (Note how the media bleeps-out the word “damn” where he says “God damn America” in his infamous sermon . . . as though it’s too unbearable to broadcast on airwaves that are already filthied with commercialized vulgarities, violence, and sexual content).

Protestant theologies stem from yearnings within groups to relate and appeal to God to address their specific hardships. The only difference between Black Liberation Theology and any other “Protestant” theology, like Lutheranism or Methodism, is that the “Protest” is directed against flagrances of America as opposed to the Catholic Church or British Crown. So of course, according to “Exceptionalism,” Rev. Wright and Black Liberation Theology must be discredited in the mainstream. This establishment will not sit silent and watch a Black president relate or appeal to God in ways that deem them transgressors. They’ve studied Aristotle well-enough at think tanks and Ivy institutions to know that a government must always give appearances of “uncommon devotion to religion” so that “subjects do less easily move against” it.

All in all, “Exceptionalism” has thrived ever since their formative years when Euro-Americans were considered roving bands of “Rebellious Brits” who defied King George III. Although the Declaration of Independence and Constitution clearly weren’t intended to apply to Black people, the same political elements of “Exceptionalism” that assured our past exclusion are now actively revising history right before our very eyes, by propagating Obama’s presidency as the long-awaited ethnic fulfillment of the founder’s “real” intents of democracy and equality.

Being a great idealist and well-schooled articulator of universal aspirations, Obama admitted America was “imperfect,” but he smoothed-over the question as though “Exceptionalism” only applies to America’s greatness, and as though his predecessors were all as race-neutral as he. Like his predecessors however his job is to defend America; deviances against us included. Even a Black president doesn’t alter the reality that we as Africans have integrated into an already-sovereign European society . . . And because of the hypnotic sways of this thing called “American Exceptionalism” we find ourselves paying tribute to heroes, holidays, and history that otherwise would make no political or logical sense.

This article was culled in part from Ezrah Aharone’s 2009 book, Sovereign Evolution (Chapter 4: “The Cloak of Exceptionalism”). He is also the author of Pawned Sovereignty and a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org.


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Inventing an uncommon conversation about being free
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N’COBRA: Open Letter to First Lady Michelle Obama

Dear Mrs. Obama:

It is with highest homage and admiration to you that I write this letter. I am the Northeast Regional Representative, and Board Member, for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. The Reparations Movement, of which N’COBRA is a member, implores you to start a national dialogue on a reparations accord for Blacks in America. This national dialog must be firmly rooted in the historical context of the “trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the “holocaust” of African enslavement in the United States which is anchored in the destruction of life, culture, and human possibilities.

Our ancestors were terrorized by injustices codified in the Constitution of the United States by America’s founding fathers and carried out by religious organizations, corporations, and units of government. Left unchanged, This collaborative will continue in perpetuity impacting African-Americans’ capacity to develop all of their human possibilities if reparations are not paid for the damage done.

Chattel enslavement, and the de facto and de jure racism that have grown from it, was not that long ago as opponents of truth and justice would lead the voting public to believe. As a distinct people in America, African-Americans, with a pre-determined social, economic and political status, have been “free” for only 144 years (1865-2009). This also means that 100 years of our so-called freedom (1865-1965) were spent trying to repair ourselves and seeking recognition as humans.

Our ancestors were “freed” dead broke, without brick, bread, or thread, despite, the promises made, while the enslavers were compensated for the lost of their chattel. Still, today, 44 years later, even with the election of your husband as the President of the United States of America, African-Americans are still not fully recognized.

Therefore, a true national dialogue on a reparations accord for Blacks in America is appropriate within this founding context of America. Reparations are the cross-road solution to these historical injustices and our current undeveloped human capital. This past due debt, left unpaid, will forever contradict the U.S. Constitution you know so well, as well as the Holy Bible you held and where your husband placed his hand to take the Presidential Oath of Office.

Congress passed, and President Obama signed, a stimulus bill to save large financial institutions and corporate America, of which significant amounts were used to pay bonuses to the very corporate executives under whose watch the current economic crisis has deteriorated. Now is the time for Congress and the President to come up with a stimulus check to pay for the damage done to Blacks in America.

There is no statute of limitations for this moral and economic debt owed. This is why America should participate in the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Durban Review being held in Geneva Switzerland next month.

I ask that you remind the President, in the ways only you can, that he has the wherewithal to make real the God-given words of our beloved servant-leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, spoken boldly in 1963, on the steps of our nation’s Capitol, in his “I Have a Dream” speech,

“So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Dr. King’s 1963 speech is indelible as truth is,

“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”

So I write this letter openly to remind the First Family that a reparations accord would stimulate America’s economy and give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. And I close this letter with the reminder of the “fierce urgency of now.” Dr. King said it this way,

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism...Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.”

Thank you for your fidelity. It is with my fervent faith that I trust you will realize that God brought you to the White House, as First Lady, for such a time as this, to help with, amongst other things, the dialogue on a reparations accord and support for House Bill H.R. 40, sponsored by the Honorable Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

For our ancestors and our descendents,

Minister Ari S. Merretazon, M.S.CED
Northeast Regional Representative
Board Member, N’COBRA
www.ncobraphiladelphia.org
215-850-1699

NO MORE SAGGING! Brothers, pull up your pants.

COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS LEAD NATIONAL IMAGE CAMPAIGN THROUGH "NO MORE SAGGING" POSTERS AND WORKSHOP SERIES

Atlanta, GA - (BlackNews.com) - President Barack Obama made an adverse national appeal for “brothers” to “pull up their pants” during a MTV program in November. In support of the President's plea, community, business, education, and faith based leaders have launched the ‘No More Sagging' campaign led by bestselling author, activist and television talk show host JL King. The campaign encourages young men to dress with a positive purpose and relay favorable messaging through a classic public image.

The ‘No More Sagging' campaign mirrors the lifestyle and elegant portrayal of President Obama through a series of full color 18 x 24 artwork reproductions. The first phase of the series blends American imagery – President Obama, Air Force One and the White House - compared with graphics of men 'sagging.'

The second phase features an action oriented workshop facilitated by Alvin Ferguson, renowned clothing designer, buyer, model and celebrity stylist. The workshop teaches young men and registrants the fundamentals of fashion, trends of the Hip Hop era, clothing messaging and education.

To see if young urban Black males realized how they looked when sagging, King conducted a focus group of 10 young men ranging in age from 17 to 25 years old. Based on the discussion and survey results, most of the young men wore their pants below the waist because it was popular, trendy and it made them feel cool. According to them, sagging is a style and fashion statement. As a result of this focus group, being a father to two sons, a uncle to nephews and a mentor, King created the ‘No More Sagging' campaign to serve as a catalyst to change the fad.

“One interesting thing I learned was that many of the [heterosexual] young men didn't realize that there are gay men who love looking at them with their butts showing,” says King. “They serve as eye candy to gay men even though they think they're being cool and hard core.”

The mission of the 'No More Sagging' campaign is to promote progression rather than prison and individuality with integrity. The ‘No More Sagging' posters are a must have for community outreach groups, schools, churches, detention centers, employment offices and associations. To place artwork reproduction orders ($10.00 USD) and for additional information on the ‘No More Sagging' workshop, visit Atlanta, GA - (BlackNews.com) - President Barack Obama made an adverse national appeal for “brothers” to “pull up their pants” during a MTV program in November. In support of the President's plea, community, business, education, and faith based leaders have launched the ‘No More Sagging' campaign led by bestselling author, activist and television talk show host JL King. The campaign encourages young men to dress with a positive purpose and relay favorable messaging through a classic public image.

The ‘No More Sagging' campaign mirrors the lifestyle and elegant portrayal of President Obama through a series of full color 18 x 24 artwork reproductions. The first phase of the series blends American imagery – President Obama, Air Force One and the White House - compared with graphics of men 'sagging.'

The second phase features an action oriented workshop facilitated by Alvin Ferguson, renowned clothing designer, buyer, model and celebrity stylist. The workshop teaches young men and registrants the fundamentals of fashion, trends of the Hip Hop era, clothing messaging and education.

To see if young urban Black males realized how they looked when sagging, King conducted a focus group of 10 young men ranging in age from 17 to 25 years old. Based on the discussion and survey results, most of the young men wore their pants below the waist because it was popular, trendy and it made them feel cool. According to them, sagging is a style and fashion statement. As a result of this focus group, being a father to two sons, a uncle to nephews and a mentor, King created the ‘No More Sagging' campaign to serve as a catalyst to change the fad.

“One interesting thing I learned was that many of the [heterosexual] young men didn't realize that there are gay men who love looking at them with their butts showing,” says King. “They serve as eye candy to gay men even though they think they're being cool and hard core.”

The mission of the 'No More Sagging' campaign is to promote progression rather than prison and individuality with integrity. The ‘No More Sagging' posters are a must have for community outreach groups, schools, churches, detention centers, employment offices and associations. To place artwork reproduction orders ($10.00 USD) and for additional information on the ‘No More Sagging' workshop, visit www.nomoresagging.com

CONTACT:
Shed Jackson, Media Relations
(866) 205-9228
pullthemup@gmail.com

Cynthia McKinney: President Obama,Don't Become Complicit in Their Crimes!

On Thursday, January 29th, I sent President Obama this message:

"Mr. President: The Bush Administration lied to the people in pursuit of war. As a result, at least one million Iraqis and thousands of U.S. soldiers are dead. Thousands more are maimed. The stature of the U.S. is severely damaged. The U.S. Constitution is in shreds after signing statements, wiretaps, and torture. Your obligation is to investigate and bring to justice those who violated U.S. and international law, such as the torture treaty. Failure to do so makes you complicit in their crimes."

On Wednesday, January 28th, I sat in front of the television and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Exactly what I've been saying, myself. But it was coming from an unexpected source: the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak. I wrote down every word. He said that the United Nations has proof that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld knowingly approved of torture as a policy for the United States. He said that President Barack Obama has a responsibility to investigate and prosecute those who condoned, conducted, or approved of torture.

Further, Jonathan Turley, in an MSNBC interview stated that if Obama fails to investigate or prosecute that he would be an "accessory."

This is significant. It means that all of us, sadly, were right to pursue impeachment of the key figures in the Bush Administration. Impeachment was the Constitutional imperative; but the Constitution didn't mean anything to either the Republican or Democratic national leadership.

And to think, on this day filled with impeachment news, Nancy Pelosi took impeachment "off the table" for this cast of villainous characters. I never will forget watching Rocky Anderson, former Mayor of Salt Lake City, say on national television that Nancy Pelosi should be impeached for impeding impeachment. But Nancy Pelosi isn't the only one who obstructed justice.

In fact, how could Dick Durbin and Harry Reid, so voluble in standing up to Roland Burris because he was Governor Blagojevich's pick for Obama's vacated Senate seat, sit as quiet as church mice in the face of repeated calls for impeachment because of the reckless criminality of the Bush Administration?

And now, we have the United Nations tell us the equivalent of "Houston, we have a problem."

Some of us knew all along, from the very beginning, that the Bush Administration was the quintessence of election theft, graft, corruption, and war criminality. Some of us recognized early on that our struggle was "against principalities, against powers, . . . against spiritual wickedness in high places." It is impossible to "go along and get along" with illegal and immoral acts. But that is exactly what the national leadership of this country asked us all to do, and that is exactly what they did.

Dr. King was confronted with the expediency of staying on the civil rights track, remaining with his friends in the civil rights movement, or doing what his conscience impelled him to do. That's when he made his famous statement, that popular chroniclers of Dr. King seem to have forgotten:

"When I first decided to take a firm stand against the war in Vietnam, I was subjected to the most bitter criticism, by the press, by individuals, and even by some fellow civil rights leaders. There were those who said that I should stay in my place, that these two issues did not mix and I should stick with civil rights. Well I had only one answer for that and it was simply the fact that I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns."

Dr. King had to leave behind some of his best friends in the movement when he decided to speak out against the Vietnam War. Dr. King could have bowed to the pressure and stayed in his "civil rights" lane. But he knew that the war was wrong and he had to use every fiber in his being to stop it. Even his life, itself.

One of the first underreported acts of President Obama was to sign an order continuing the drone airstrikes, resulting in at least 22 killed so far. For the dead children of Afghanistan or Pakistan or Gaza, it doesn't matter to their parents if the bomb was dropped by Bush or Obama or the client state they support. And President Obama has made it clear that the bombs will continue to drop; it is up to us--the people of the United States--to stop them. That's why it was on my birthday, in front of the Pentagon in 2007, that I declared my independence from every bomb dropped, every child killed, every veteran maimed in the name of U.S. wars. I said it, and I meant it, and I knew I was going to have to do something I'd never done before if I was ever going to have something I'd never had before. So I left the Democratic Party.

I don't regret my decision one minute. I draw my strength from Dr. King, who in his own way, did the same thing when he refused to segregate his moral concerns.

My neighborhood in Los Angeles, Watts and South Central, is already a police state. Tonight, 25 to 30 young black men, standing handcuffed, outside the barber shop. Every night, routine dehumanization is carried out in black and brown neighborhoods by LAPD. I see it. I never miss it. It's all around me.

Oscar Grant murdered in cold blood by law enforcement. Robert Tolan, murdered in cold blood by law enforcement, for driving his father's car, mistaken for stolen.

Filiberto Ojeda Rios assassinated by the U.S. government; I met his wife and heard the entire story of what happened as he was shot by the FBI and then bled to death.

Innocent black and brown and poor white men on death row. How many Troy Davises and Mumia Abu Jamals will we allow to exist in our country?

Native Americans trying to survive despite genocide and ethnic cleansing, struggle against drug and alcohol abuse and poverty, and try to keep their culture alive.

And yet the likes of Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, and now Barack Obama say nothing about the pain I see on the mean streets and reservations across our country, and the miscarriages of justice that are its regular feature, but they allow Bush and company to get away with the highest of crimes, involving millions of deaths.

In each of these writings, I ask you, too, to write to the White House and let them know that you exist. We didn't recruit President Obama to run, so I am clear on the limitations of a White House letter writing campaign. But trust me, our collective efforts will congeal into the movement for dignity, real peace, and true justice that we so desperately need for ourselves and the rest of the world.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Spanish parliament admit to discus on apologize Black slavery

Federación Panafricanista

The Partido Popular (PP) is preparing a non-legislative proposal (PNL) with the intention that Spain "is solidarity and recognize the rights of blacks in history," the spokesman explained yesterday Foreign PP, Gustavo de Arístegui. With the proposal, seeking a formula to recognize the historical grievances of black communities in Africa and America for slavery. " Izquierda Unida (Comunist) in the mouth of the federal secretary of Solidarity and Human Rights, Fran Pérez, labeled the initiative "opportunist", after the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama. "The PP has a ality Bush and the new position of the party now wants to close because of the Democrats in power," he added. While sharing the general line of the proposal, believes that there should also be an international financial compensation. For its part, the socialist group in Congress refused to make assessments until the present popular NLP.

Fringes Outstanding

MP says people who have had "more than a dozen meetings with the black community to prepare the report. However, fringes are still pending before giving the nod to the text. There is no official estimate on the number of descendants of Africans in the country, The government rejected the compensation, but accepted a formal apology for slavery, which do not pose the PSOE (socilademocrat in government). The black community for the initiative is very courageous, but if anything will not include an apology for the years of slavery. Without this minimum, the proposal does not make sense, "claimed. Assure that political parties can not apologize" for what they did previous generations. " we are studying the precedents that exist, however, it is still early to define the main lines that have the text, whose wording is responsible member of the PP by Sevilla Luis González Adolfo Rodriguez Platform repair and non-violence, Pan-African federation, Foundation Group ecologico life .

DIVIDE AND RULE

The SEGIB are using some Negroes group and so called educated people to made a simulacro of Durban reweu conference .This conference stablist that Spain is not responsible of racist post World Conference Against Racism (CMCR) in Durban in 2001 in the same day Durban reweu take place in Geneva Suiza . But the reality is that Spain didn't implementad any Durban recommendation. Other way this group are using conceptual separation what they call afrodescendientes from Africans as two different categories (Jenny de la Torre and Gillermo Ponce).This is the reason that Black Spanish leaders who born in Africa was excluded from the official delegation in last Panama SEGIB Afro conference (even thous who wanted to pay they own hotel and tiket ) . If we are Pan-Africanist this is a very dangerous reactionary position. They say that the victory of Obama is the demonstration that we must stop fighting because our situation will change just with PHD and glamorous hypocrite manner and separate from tha masses of African people who suffer racist everyday of their life .This divide the struggle for reparation in "elite " and Field Negro. Epsy Campbell is member of SEGIB and official Spanish advice government on Black people and when she was here in Madrid we try to talk with her but she didn't has time to meet has. We invite her husband to press conference with the occasions of the Verene Shephard conference Colombus day .He spoke with the Spanish media and he said that he is not militant and even he is not envolved en this"kind of things", but he traveled to Spain in the official delegation with her wife because black people demand responds and we made symposium, rallies and other protest. Recently the Spanish government created the organ antidiscriminador against racism and deliberately excluded the Black Community with the silence of Epsy Campbell that advises the Spanish government on Durban and Ignacio Sola Blackman and deputy director of Ministry of equality of Spain.

On the next March 21th the spanish parliament will make declaration on apoligez us , perhaps they dont will use the term apology because mean money but they will say something that wil afect the 151 million of africans who speak spanish . As Scientific Chairman of The commission we want to thank for the great advice from Esther Ekwa, prof Verene Sephard, Yonas Endrias, Prof. Hourance Campbell, Akinyele Umoja, Runoko Rashidi, Jorge Medina, KWASI Akyeampong, Omali Yeshitela and NCOBRA, and remember brother Tcham Bissa a Field Nigger who came from Bissau and died fighting for this cause. After Obama the coronation spanish goverment is promoting some black faces (and that's very good) but the first thing they do is condemn reparation as a racist and activists who make it possible. So garveyist reparation movement in Spain we still need your advice and suport .

Abuy Nfubea
Spanish offical Committee for the drafting of the Draft no Law Project for condemnation African slavery and HISTORIC RECOGNITION OF BLACK COMMUNITY IN SPAIN

President Barack Obama

Raynard Jackson
January 22, 2009

Now that we had inauguration day
I have something I want to say
Let’s take a look back at history
And try to unravel a wonderful mystery

Now that Obama is President
I know he will represent
The great red, white and Blue
That includes me and that includes you

They said it could not be done
Why in the hell would he run
Is this boy crazy or lost his mind
He just knew that now was the time

To put a new agenda on the table
Then to make it happen because he was able
To create a new vision and give people hope
Even when people said he must be on dope

Rush, Sean, and Laura called him an elite
They said he would surely face defeat
They even called him the Messiah
Even as his poll numbers climbed higher

The Clinton machine, he could never beat
But he proved to be quick on his feet
Never, ever raising his voice
Because he knew he was the people’s choice

The choice of a new generation
To create a spirit of inspiration
Not just because he wanted to win this race
But to tell all Americans you have a place

In getting us back to our original glory
And his victory would only be the beginning of the story
A story of the growth of a nation
Whose worst moment was symbolized by the plantation

We moved from the plantation
To a nation of appreciation
For the determination of a race
Who constantly struggled to find it’s place

Then came a man who said Yes We Can
But first, there must be a plan
So people could see the vision
He became the vessel to end the division

Now that he is President, the job is not done
This work has only just begun
We can all be part of the dream
By making our contribution to the team.

He is only one man
But was the voice of the plan
But we all must understand
That only together “YES WE CAN!”

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-based political consulting/government affairs firm. You can reach him at: Raynard@raynardjackson.com and website at: www.raynardjackson.com

A Message to Our Fellow 'Whites' upon the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

Hope and the Central Contradiction

A Message to Our Fellow 'Whites' upon the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

From the Executive Board of Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation

People of all races, ages, ethnicities and nationalities are celebrating today with high hopes for the Obama Administration. They look for their own best selves within the Illinois Senator, asking him to change what is wrong with America and rescue a way of life they believe was founded upon worthy ideals.

In our own lifetimes, we've seen that those who work for a more just future do sometimes experience a step forward. When we come together, resolute in putting our lives on the line to effect change, change has been possible. Many now see the election of Barack Obama as one of those successes. It is a bold step, one that many of us did not imagine we would live to see.

However bold, it's not the arrival of the 'post-racial world' as our TVs would have us believe. The ideology of white supremacy -- the idea that white people are 'more human' than others -- was built into our Constitution, and continues to be part of our lives. It is as blatant as the untimely deaths of African-Americans years before their white counterparts, and as insidious as subtle images in the media. It is as powerful as the tenfold difference in wealth between black families and white ones.

Yet many of us 'whites' cannot imagine what step we could take to end this legacy -- just as once most of us could not imagine an end to Jim Crow, or even an end to slavery, that did not seem to invite chaos and social disorder.

As we have in the past, we can look to the black community for an idea of how to proceed. When no one could see an end to slavery, enslaved Africans found their own ways to undermine it and bring it to crisis. When Jim Crow seemed like a permanent fixture, the black-led Freedom Movement brought it down.

The long-standing movement for slavery reparations, deeply rooted in Black America, is a next step that directly reflects the noble ideals of liberty and equality. Reparations can bring the change that so many hunger for to complete our unfinished American Revolution.

The financial institutions that today clamor for $700+ billion bailouts are heirs of those that financed slaving ships and plantations and insured the human 'property'. The desire of the landed to increase their family wealth framed the desire of children of peasants to enslave Africans and 'settle' Native people from their land. It seems that every issue we face today, if we do so honestly, returns us to the central contradiction: a country that values freedom and liberty has been built on stolen land by enslaved peoples.

The reality is that we cannot save ourselves by saving only our family or 'our kind.' Facing global risks, we must learn we are one humanity sharing one planet, and act with the morality and mutual respect that requires.

The good feeling that many enjoy as we watch Barack Obama take office is only a taste of what we could know if we worked to transform not just today's changing of the guard, but the underlying direction of the nation over which he now presides.

The righteous demand for reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans is key to this re-direction. It deserves our support, not our dismissal. Indeed, it would be far better to dismiss the propaganda of those made fat by exploitation, and seek instead a path for redeeming the soul of our nation.

We call on young people, particularly, to make this the challenge of your generation. Just as generations before you ended Jim Crow and the war on the Vietnamese people, now you can end this nation's war on people of color, both at home and abroad. Real repair of the damage done by the system of white supremacy would inaugurate not just one man, but a transformed world.

---------

Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation is an organization of white Americans and their allies, which supports and advocates reparations proposals put forward by Black leaders. In the organization's Statement of Beliefs, the group calls "upon the families of the white American aristocracy that directly benefited from slavery to voluntarily pay their fair share of the reparations debt with wealth gained from slavery, the slave trade, and slavery related enterprises." Your comments are welcome at http://www.reparationsthecure.org

The folly of the "Color of Change" Campaign*

* About The "Color of Change" Campaign
The ColorOfChange.org
http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=2306-240407


Here goes another deflection people's energy, intention and attention.
What ever happened happend before. Fox News is a serial offender.
And, they will continue to be offensive to those who listen and watch because both Fox and the offended are is a cohabitating relatonship.
Junkies. That's who they are. It feel good when they are getting fixed. After the rubberband high the swear never again. But never agan never comes.
People you have a Jones for Fox News.
You who are offend have a JONES for punishment and for being insulted.

The freedom of the press is a right.
However, being Jonesed on what offends you is not a right.
You don't have to listen.
Turning on Fox News is not a right - you have no right to listen.

It is an addiction.

People wake up and break the addiction.
Let the question be asked, is it possible for Fox News to offend you when you are not watching or listening?

What you are listening and what you hear is the future you are living into - it is your world.
Time for a change.
Yes we can.
Yes we can turn the dial.

Have you not listened to Frederick Douglass: "Power concedes nothing with out a demand"
Take Fox News advertisers hands out your pockets and your eyes off their network and all will be well.

This is not different from the so-called Sean Bell protests.
Has anyone proposed a Bill to change the Law or create new Laws Sanctioning the Police.
NO.
People are addicted to abuse.
Got a Jones for punishments!

It is time we stand up and be responsible for who we are being and its impact.
Time to exercise real power - yes, we are addicted to the things we rail against.

KWASI Akyeampong
TheBlacklist