Evangelics: Mind Your Business

It never ceases to amaze me when I see perfect strangers to the Shiavo family rallying outside of Terri's hospice (since it's become a popular media frenzy) violently imposing their moral convictions on the world, yet not willing to share in her medical expenses, I'll bet.

Now that Terri's been given a reprieve from 15 years in a vegetative state, will these protest continue to take their fight to Congress or go home to tend to their own families and local community affairs?

I sometimes wonder how on earth does a parent not know when their own children are doing drugs, spreading HIV and other STDs through promiscuous sex to other kids, or ordering rifles with their credit cards on the Internet.

Well, it's very likely that these "concerned" self-appointed moral watchdogs (they're likely the evangelical Christians that the Bush administration is so eager to pander to) are probably busy minding other people's business instead of their own.

Lil Kim and Martha Stewart: A Comparative Analysis

Two public figures, both wealthy, and both haved lied to federal prosecuters under oath.
Any guesses on who will do hard time in a real women's prison?

Martha Stewart does five months in "prison", comes out of prison richer than she ever was from lucrative business deals conducted while she was in prison (a violation of the conditions laid out for her during her conviction), and is currently complaining about her "uncomfortable" house arrest ankle bracelet that she must bear during her confinement within the luxury of her 153-acre home.

Lil Kim, despite her sex vixen mass appeal and successful hip-hop career, is still a BLACK WOMAN convicted of a crime in America. She now faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

I'm curious to see what her sentence turns out to be compared to what Martha, the now celebrated ex-convict (who's now starting up her appeal--cause she can), got.

Ruling class, white corporate America continues to celebrate the obscenely rich white-collar criminal. They overlook their checkered and conditional moral convictions for the sake of power and revenue. If the white-collar criminal continues to generate wads of cash a-la Donald Trump, the public accolades know no limits. Their "trump" card obsolves them from upholding the Christian right moral convictions that currently sweeps the nation--backed by the Bush adminstration. The corporate media-driven collective consciousness methodically eradicates their documented unconventional (and often lawless behavior), then re-writes history to justify their wrong-doing as if their financial success is somehow altruistic by becoming a symbol of America's economic strength. Often, if the white-collar criminal happens to be white, with the inherent character flaw of a false sense of personal entitlement, which I find most endearing, it boosts their plight.

Lil Kim may not be so lucky. Let's hope her road dawgs are as supportive to Lil Kim throughout her sentence as Martha Stewart's employees, business partners (i.e., Donald Trump), and
K-Mart shoppers were to Martha.

2005: The Year of the Gun

Is it me, or is this year off to a poor start with frequent reports of shootings in the US? What is it about the easy access to assault weapons in this country? National Rifle Association and their influential political ties, which successfully continues to prevent the banning of assault weapons to private citizens perhaps?

This past weekend, in Houston, Texas, a 2-year-old toddler remains in critical condition after he is shot in the head by his 4-year-old brother, with a .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol he found in his mother's purse.

In suburban Brookfield, Wisconson, the otherwise friendly, mild-mannered computer technician and churgoer, Terry Ratzmann (44), shoots down fellow worshippers at the Sabbath for the Living Church of God last Saturday with a 9 mm handgun, killing 8.

14-year-old Calil Gross-Mininall is buried last week after being shot in a mall parking lot by a gang-related shooting.

Police are currently investigating this weekend's subway shooting of a 39-year-old man @ the 145th Street A-train stop in NYC.

Overall, this has been a busy month for shootings around the country. Yes, the availability of guns in this country is still an issue that begs the attention of every private citizen whose life is endangers by other unstable citizens, gun manufacturers, sellers and the NRA.

As you may already know, filmmaker, Michael Moore, targets the issue superbly in his Bowling for Columbine documentary and using the medium to promote social reform.
Here's his action link where you can learn more and actively lobby against assault weapon distrubutors.

Tough Life!

Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief that our Martha Stewart has done her "hard time" in prison and can reap all the social and financial benefits that our culture bestowes upon any high-profile white-collar convicted felon.

I'm certain that all her supporters--those who rejected any notion that Stewart's morally bankrupt or "innocently" perpetrated a federal fraud and consistantly purchased her products--will share in her lucrative ex-con business deals with Donald Trump, her two upcoming television shows plus her $900,000 annual salary.
Or at least invite her many fans to tea at her $16 million 153-acre Katonah estate, where she'll be under "house-arrest."

Here is a fine example of where our culture can closely examine the blatant hypocracy that exists for high-profile criminals who are glorified simply for their economic status and not their questionable morals. Yet it's the same culture that demonizes women who choose to abort children they cannot support or gay couples who choose to marry, as if their moral convictions and personal choices will be the definitive end of an "upstanding and righteous society" as we know it.

Wake-up Call: American democratic culture is already riddled with corruption, social inequity, and hypocracy--among the ruling class of social elites, in addition to the rest of the population.

Bush Reviled At All Ends of the Earth

These are just a few of the demonstrators in Mainz, western Germany, opposing George W. Bush's visit yesterday. The Good Ole Boy is trying to smooth over European relations, grovelling for military support, upon his realization that there may not be any American troops left alive to finish his imperialistic initiative.

As if the massive avoidable loss of life in Iraq isn't enough, now Iran is on the drawing board of the Bush administration. Bush says spoke to the irrationality of the popular speculation that the US has designs on going to war with Iran, yet also says, "all options are on the table."
It's not Bush's outright lies that infuses his speeches that annoy me the most, it's his assumption that the entire free thinking public is dumber than he is.

Whether he really plans to or not, Bush's mixed sentiments about forcefully getting Iran to dissolve its nuclear weapon-making capabilities, as expected, does nothing other than spark further hostility on Iran's part.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Wednesday that Tehran was determined to press ahead with uranium enrichment.
He also states that (the United States), "cannot do anything with bullying, threats, and pressure."

Is it possible that Bush could piss off any more international communities?
Therein, my friends, is where I have great faith in our snakish leader.

The Future for People of Color in the Arts

The sequence of moving eulogies for the late and great actor/activist Ossie Davis this past weekend were all very eloquent and moving. Among the most memorable was that of his daughter, Hasna Muhammad, who spoke of how her mom and dad, Ossie and Ruby, would bring the current events and harsh realities of the world to them at the dinner table.

She spoke of how they would challenge the children to come up with viable solutions to problems like how they could use their resources to hire more film and television crew and stage hands of color, and how they could make the Black and Latino billion dollar spending potential work for them and improve the world. Also, how Ossie and Ruby didn't buy their children a television set until there were enough people of color in the entertainment industry to watch.

I thought it was an extremely valuable statement that really needed a public platform to be voiced.
Yes, hiring talented writers and production staff who are of color as opposed to the Hollywood default of "cedar circles" (see Jon Stewart blog entry), is rare because they are not actively recruited--at least I haven't gotten the word, and not for lack of reasearch on my part.
If any of you can find a mainstream production company that does that, please enter a post with the info, and I will stand corrected.

That's Entertainment

No, Condoleeza Rice did not finally do something different with her hair.

While many of us continue to put on a happy face at work to make next month's rent, others in Rio de Janeiro are donning real smiles as they kick off Carnival celebrations.

I guess some Americans would call yesterday's very sanitized pseudo-puritanical Super Bowl entertainment, celebratory, but I call it pathetic and conformist.

The reactionary outcry to last year's Super Bowl reveal of Janet Jackson's left breast during a half time performance is alarming to say the least. While the portion of conservative, religious right American's continue to successfully capitalize on their influence over advertisers, others are still licking wounded egos from the very dated George Bush presidential win.

Let's face it folks, old money talks and carries a lot of weight over merit in this country (i.e., heiress Paris Hilton's huge pop culture appeal) .
The viral spread of conservativism is a constitutional right, but not when it silences those who don't conform or offer challenges to the norm.

Who Gets to Legitimize Iraq's election?

If one can tear themselves away from the sweeping corporate media concensus of successful democratization of Iraq, on behalf of the US government, let's try to get a true sense of the big picture here.

Yes, much like the U.S.'s recent re-election of George W. Bush, a "democratic" election process was successfully imposed upon Iraq. However, outside of selected depictions of Iraqi citizens celebrating in the streets singing the praises of America's democracy, American media outlets are, yet again, not examining the relevent consequences of this latest instance of US inculcation.

How exactly is the voter turnout being calculated and by whom? Yesterday, an NPR reporter stated that there's really no way to determine who exactly are voting. The Sunni (who make up about 40% of the Iraqi population) turnout are exceptionally low. Additionally, the only way government officials are identifying voters are by regional turnout.

Much like the US, election boycotts in Iraq are predictably under-reported. According to
Al-Jazzera.net, "Most citizens interviewed by the journalist said the elections reflected nothing but the will of the United States and was for its own interests."

Other questions not being examined:

• Who exactly are the candidates up for elections?
• Under who's constitution are the elections being conducted, if at all?
• What is the long-term constitutional framework for Iraq and who finalizes it?
• Why hasn't the US clearly defined their idea of sovereignty for Iraq?
• Does the US really believe that free-thing citizens of this world believe that the US's goal is to leave Iraq and its natural resources to Iraq to govern without the US?

If the US government and its corporate media are already claiming a victory over an election that has not yet been legitimized by the world community, we are a long way from getting answers to these crucial fundamental questions. The United States is the last country to be claiming victory over officiating a legitimate electoral process.

Not Right Enough Blacks in America

To this day, I can never convince myself to believe that people of African descent, living in America, could ever really fit the glove of Republican conservatism.
Someway or another token African-American right-wing pundits fall short of white conservative standards. In the same breath, they tend to betray their own historical legacy, while satisfying their own socio-economic power structure on the surface level.

Some examples that immediately come to mind are Alan Keyes, Condolezza Rice, Colin Powel and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The most recent example is conservative columnist Armstrong Williams who's recently come under fire, particularly from fellow right-wingers, for acknowledging that his company accepted $240,000 from the Bush administration to promote his No Child Left Behind law to Black audiences and giving the education secretary air time.

The repercussions of Williams's failure to promote the notion of media neutrality from the government interests, is the suspension of his weekly newspaper column by Tribune Media Services. The recent instance of mainstream media's conflict of interest speaks to the argument for the masses to challenge the popular tendency to blindly ingest corporate media's without critically examining its reporting sources.

Another issue that begs for examination is the proverbial pink elephant standing in our living room-the Black Republican.

How exactly do Black Republicans come to terms with the notion that right-wing conservatives serve their best interests? I welcome any Republicans of color to chime in of course.
I just don't see how a people with such an extensive American history of political, psychological, and socio-economic oppression from Puritanical Anglo-Saxon conservatives, can detach that history from every other oppressed group in modern day America.

American Image

As George Bush, Jr. prepares for his 2nd term presidential appointment in Washington, DC this afternoon, it's important for the remaining free-thinking individuals on this planet to remember that many people will meet today's elaborate proceedings with organized resistance, despite the heavy smog of oppression that seems to have smothered those on this planet who do not wish to be molded into the Bushs' idealogical value system.

While this nation's Inauguration Day polls welcomes George Bush with an almost 50% approval rating, a poll of 21 countries (reflecting Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe), commissioned by the BBC World Service, showed that 58% of the 22,000 participants (18 of the 21 countries) are expecting Bush to have a negative impact on peace and security during his final term.

The Bush marketers have proven that a fear-based campaign to be an overwhelming success for Bush's agenda and policy-making--at least in the US. I can only hope that the free-thinking world community can successfully impart and popularize non-imperialistic and progressive policy initiatives, enough to move out nation to impeach the seemingly un-impeachable Bush dynasty.

If this nation's democrats couldn't polish their agenda enough to pull it off, why couldn't other nations step up to the plate to take the lead?

Legacy of American Injustice

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday yesterday, me and some friends attended a free screening of Keith Beauchamp's documentary, "The Untold Story of Emmitt Louis Till," at The Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAM Rose Theaters.
This is a remarkable filmmaking achievement because it prompted the re-opening of this remarkably brutal murder case of 14 year-old Emmett Till in 1955 Mississippi, when viewed by federal prosecutors in 1994.

Unfortunately, Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobely, died in 1993 and never saw justice for her son's murder. The two white men, who kidnapped and brutalized the young teen who was visiting relatives in Mississippi from Chicago for whistling at the white wife of a local shopkeeper, were acquitted by an all white jury who deliberated for 67 minutes. After their acquittal, the men later sold their story for $4,000 to Look magazine in January 1956, knowing they could not be tried twice for the murder and speaking freely about how they killed Till.
However, there is still an ongoing investigation of others who were allegedly involved in helping the two murderers kidnap and restrain Till while he was being tortured.

This case sparked the Civil Rights Movement and continues to speak to the the inequities of the American justice system when it comes to trying and convicting people of color and the financially disadvantaged, i.e., New York State's Rockerfeller Drug Laws.

Mainstream Digest

Question: Why is Bill O'Reilly ever given the time of day to spew his right-wing madness on national television?
Answer: Because he's white, rich and he can.

As I mentioned in my Jan. 01 blog entry, there will always be some grand-standing opportunistic fool, with the right media backing, who will use the tsunami tragedy to further personal agendas.
The latest instance is FOX News's, Bill O'Reilly's criticising the legitimacy of the George Clooney's upcoming televised celebrity fund-raising efforts for the tsunami victims.

You don't have to be a George Clooney fan (which I'm not) to recognize the importance of all people banning together for a humanitarian cause. It does not surprise that O'Reilly would want to use his show to rekindle an old feud between him and Clooney--or any public figure who hasn't pledged to be a life-long Bush administration devotee.

I see how the pro-Bush agenda works for O'Reilly and his career. You only have to refer to the recent fallout domino-effect of CBS execs who followed Dan Rathers scathing (and poorly researched) 60 Minutes report on George W. Bush's checkered National Guard service.
O'Reilly is still working, while Dan Rather has "given up" his evening news seat.

But Bill, not all of us have stomaches strong enough to withstand so much Bush-ass-kissing in one lifetime. Can't you at least wait until the man's inauguration?
It'll be interesting to monitor the major network coverage and commentaries on Bush's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2005--Black Thursday.

Patriot Act and the White Man

It's not the title for a new reality series.

David Banach of suburban Parsippany, NJ could be facing 25 years in prison under the Patriot Act for "foolhardedly and negligently" pointing his laser beam at a jet and helicopter then falsely accusing his 7-year-old daughter. This fool needs to be given the max for his stupidity.

Now you know if he had a Muslim name his ass would already be held at Guantanamo Bay for a couple of years even before the case went to trial.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not he'll be given a slap on the wrist.
Does anyone know what the white:non-white ratio is of people convicted under the Patriot Act?
I'm betting Banach's a minority.

New Year and New Priorities

We start the new year off on the sad note of remembering the thousands of lives lost in the December 2004 tsunami in Asia. As the phenomenal death toll soars past 123,000, it is unfortunate that it takes a catastrophic natural event like this one to humble millions to really internalize the earth's awesome potential to regain the respect it already deserves.

While man has no control over such natural events, despite the rantings of some opportunistic doom-sayers currently using this disaster and fear-based discourse to scare the vulnerable to submit to personal agendas, I am hopeful that this natural disaster will provide a platform for world leaders to look less towards war solutions and imperialistic initiatives. Thus re-directing their resources towards ending world pandemics like hunger, disease, and institutionalized racism, classism while promoting a fairer distribution of wealth.

Although my ideological rants sound unrealistic and pie-in-the-sky, I do believe they are attainable if people exorcise their tendancy to adhere to socially engrained stereotypes and perceptions guided by the ruling class and religious institutions who thrive on total submission of the masses for identity, social norms, and spiritual dependence.

We can go on for days about this (and I welcome your thoughts via postings or alternate public forums), but I want to call your attention to links where you can donate your resources to help out tsunami victims as well as other needy people--remember there are still flood victims, extreme poverty and hunger in Haiti, earthquake victims in Iran, etc.

You choose your cause by starting here:
Tsunami relief efforts
Haiti Relief Fund
Relief International
UNICEF
Red Cross

One Torso with A Side of Emotional Detachment

At a loss as to what to give a loved one for the holidays? How 'bout a torso pillow?
That's right a styrofoam torso mock up of a bed buddy is all the rage in Japan and quickly sweeping neighboring nations. The manufactureres, Kameo Corporation, can't seem to keep their signature Girlfriend's Lap pillows and Boyfriend's Arm pillows in stock.

If you or your gift recipients can acknowledge and not take offense to this product's not-so-subtle misogynistic, objectifying themes, this just might fill the holiday lonelies void that some may be feeling at this particular time of the year.

After the holiday season blows over you can force them to critically examine the implications of how this product is a model example of how technologically advanced cultures increasingly seeks to replace real human contact with technological gadgets. Consequently, it promotes growing detachments to human emotions, self-identity (as it is constantly defined by consumer products) and increases cultural insensitivity, inactivity, attention deficit, and obesity.

Happy Holidays!

Uh...Keep the Faith Troops

As civilian resentment grows exponentially with the mass destruction and death brought to Palestinians by US-led forces, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tries to give US troops a pep talk.

At Camp Buehring, Kuwait yesterday (12/7/04), disgruntled soldiers gave Rumsfeld an ear-full as they openly voiced complaints about inadequate armor and lengthy deployments.
Rumsfeld retorted with an unsettling "win the test of wills"-themed speech aiming to butch-up the troops.

It's no surprise that US troops would be frustrated with the constant fear of losing their lives to hostile occupants in a war zone--especially during the holiday season.
While I am sympathetic to troops longing to return to their families, or even quit altogether, their plight should in no be given greater importance than those of the civilians that occupy
war-torn areas. They did not choose to be entangled in combat zones, or to see their families, friends and homes destroyed.

Voluntarily enlisting in the armed forces (no matter how limited one's options might be) is ultimately a choice with inherent risks.

And let's not kid ourselves about Rumsfeld's empathy for the plight of US troops in war zones.
It's very easy for him to dole out cursory remedy monologues to troops with the comfort of knowing that he's got a guaranteed private plane ride back home in time for the holidays.
None of his children have been deployed and sentenced to unpredictable life-threatening combat zones.

Seeing Is Believing

This is a typical scene at a Baghdad refugee camp populated by Fallujans. Not surprisingly, the very selective "embedded" war-time journalists, particularly Americans, who report on this war and war casualities often omit daily accounts of civilian suffering. If you're at all familiar with mainstream Western journalism norms, you know that credible reporting is often defined by a fusion of (or confused) with obligatory patriotic subtexts that conforms to corporate reporting, or administration-approved, standards. Opposing takes on current events, that radically steers away from and challenge such norms, are often dismissed as liberal babble, i.e., the downfall of Dan Rather.

What struck me the most this past week was the story of how Palestinian violinist, Wissam Tayem, was stopped by Israeli officers at a checkpoint near Nablus, and ordered to "play something sad." According to the Guardian, the dehumanizing incident was videotaped by Jewish women peace activists and struck a chord with the Israeli community.
The incident was reminiscent of when Jewish musicians were forced to play background music to the mass murders that took place at concentration camps.

Of course, now that this, among other documented accounts of "insensitivity" towards the Palestinians, have gained international attention, the Israeli officers deny that the Tayem was forced to play for them, and that he did it voluntarily.

Drawing such parallels that challenge the ideologies of the US-led war against the "axis of evil," the increasing popularity of animilizating Muslims in the media, and projected images of US soldiers coming back in coffins, are topical underlying war-time themes that typically will not be given a national platform in US airwaves, or be given the same importance as topics that are less critical of the right wing agendas.
I don't expect that the FOX network (know for its pro-Bush sentiments) would have reported on how Palestinians are degraded by Israeli or US soldiers for that matter.

Holiday Shopping:Civilian Deaths

While many Americans took their annual dose of social anesthesia called Black Friday--the post-Thanksgiving day shopping frenzy that US retailers capitalize on to launch their Christmas sales--week three of the US-led assault on Fallujah commenced.

Shopping and waiting out long lines at shoppping malls were not focal points of contention for civilians in war-torn Iraq.

Samir Hijazi, a 38-year-old physician, and 18-year-old Abd Allah al-Rahawi died from wounds sustained when Israeli tanks stormed the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza strip, firing volleys of shells and automatic gunfire.

According to Palestinian medical sources, as of Sunday (11/29/04), the death tolls since the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, stand at 3555 Palestinians and 961 Israelis.

While the accuracy of these figures are subject to debate, the point should not be overlooked that the consistency of bystander deaths are constant and any false sense of US economic growth projected by the American news sources to mask the obvious cannot alter war casualties.

Say Goodbye Dan

It was only a matter of time until Dan Rather called it quits after going up against the Bush administration by interrogating the checkered history of George W. Bush's service as a National Guard.

The 73 year-old veteran CBS anchor announced that he will be stepping down from the league of the noteables on March 9--the 24th anniversary of his starting as the CBS Evening News anchor.

I think this story is huge because of its implications for journalist and the limitations of free speech. Yes, Rather was lacking when it came to checking his resources and is accountable for his credibility as a journalist. But we should also, consider how Rather's resignation will influence future watchdog reporting in the mainstream media--especially stories that oppose the conservation right-wing agenda.

It's already a pandemic that is being taken way to lightly be captive audiences who too often swallow the bitter pill of pre-digested current events.

Back From The War and Buying A Ford!

At the risk of promoting NBC on this forum, I must mention the shameless war-time propaganda campaign skillfully executed in NBC's prime time slot last Sunday night (11/21/04).

Ford motor company poured millions of advertising dollars to peddle their vehicles to--yes, our American war heros. The thickness with which they poured their syrupy advertising, you'd think they were giving away the damn cars or offering them at a reduced price to "our troops."

Last night's special commercial-free episode of American Dreams was sponsored by Ford.
In it, JJ Pryor, a US Marine fighting in Vietnam had been missing in action and finally comes home for Christmas.

The timely episode strategically conforms to current events and the predominant American social discourse where the war protestors in that episode were criminalized as they set fire to a military recruiting center, critically injuring an unsuspecting maintanence worker in the process.
Just as the Pryor family (a white middle-class family living in a picturesque suburb in Philadelpha, PA) gets out of midnight Christmas mass, they get word of JJ's miraculous return.
Upon his injured son's arrival, JJ's proud father rewards him with a brand new Ford.

Of course the cost of the viewers' commercial-free, special Christmas miracle episode geared for the upright Christian right citizens brigade, was a three-minute Ford commerical following the same theme of Sunday night's family episode. A white middle-class serviceman comes back from the service to his picturesque suburban American home, to be greeted by his dad with brand new Ford.

While this is all very gripping stuff, I appeal to critical thinkers out there to pluck this television propaganda event apart and recognize it for what it is--not an altruistic effort by the Ford motor company to "honor our American troops," but a calculated marketing strategy to get viewers to associate nationalism with a Ford motor vehicle purchase.
As if somehow by purchasing a Ford motor, the viewer would be fulfilling their patriotic duty.

I'll venture to submit that a more substantial way to honor our troops is to see to it that our current administration has sufficient healthcare in place for surviving US troops who will be needing costly physical and psychological therapy from this war.