Is Sympathy Reserved for A Certain Group of Crime Victims?

I'll make this short and simple.
Missing white, blonde American girl (18) on vacation, two Black men suspected of her abduction, and the FBI are involved. Do we really need a trial to conclude that these men are as good as dead--trial or not?

How often are FBI agents in this country called in to find missing Black or Latino girls?
Will there ever be a point when mainstream journalists will pick up on the obscene, inequitable reporting standards set up to draw national attention towards white upper-middle-class crime victims, while the same crimes committed against poor people of color fade in comparison when it comes to media attention.

As if somehow justifying that crime should be stay within the limits of the poor working-class.
Although this may not be the intention on a conscious level, but it certainly perpetuates the ugly collective consciousness.

Dumb Asses...You Voted For Him!

Here's a shocker. Bush's approval rating for "handling" our economy has fallen to the lowest levels since his re-election according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallop Poll taken last Friday through Sunday.

Bush's overall approval rating was 46%, down 4 percentage points since early May but higher than the 45% low in March. On specific issues, 40% approved of his handling of Iraq and the economy, 33% of his handling of Social Security.

But don't fret. This will not stop Bush from forging ahead with his personal agenda. Those who got him into office because he "he shares my values," (actual soundbite I heard from a Bush supporter), get to handle to the shit he continues to pile up on our backyards and face the reality of who George W. Bush really looks out for--himself!

Those of you who voted for this goof from behind rose-colored glasses, take 'em off and smell the shit that the rest of us are smelling.

Who Gets To Beat the Runaway Bride?

Okay, who needs her ass beaten right now? Jennifer Wilbanks, infamous runaway bride, who instead of giving her pathetic fiance the proverbial "No," decides to fake her own kidnapping, and was tax-payers' dollars on a police search for the dumb-ass bitch!

Sorry, no sympathy here! Especially since her fiance was in custody (and if he takes her back, he also needs his ass beaten). And what really burns my ass hairs is that her fake kidnapping call accused a fictitious couple, a white woman and a Latino male.

Why does it have to be a person of color who has to be falsely accused? And God forbid, if the accuser is some crazy-ass white woman who can't face her reality and carelessly misdirects her county police and community's anger and racism at innocent people (i.e., Susan Smith-mommy-killer who falsely accused a black man for the death of her children).

Just pisses me off--to no end! This chick needs to do jail time and fined for the cost of her police search. That time could have been better spent trying to find a real missing person.

Theocracy: The Untold Stories

Whenever I see a particularly moving socially conscious film that forces its audience to critically analyze the world around them and do some introspection, I'm compelled to use this forum to promote it.

Director/Writer Todd Solondz's Palindromes is just that kind of film that challenges social conventions and escapist rationale that infests our contemporary theocracy.
the story of 12-year-old Aviva, who's solution to her self-esteem issues is to have a baby of her own to love all the time, as it's told here, transcends race and class barriers.

12-year-old Aviva is played by 7 different actors, of different ages and ethicities, who deliver Aviva's character development with great sensitivity and hard-core realness that forces everyone to weigh in their level of complacency for fundamentalist consciousness--especially the ones that veil inner demons and hypocracy that some people try to extinguish.

If you're looking for politically correct dialogue, squeemish about abortion issues and need your plots neatly resolved, this movie is not for you. So be told.

Haitian Identity in the US

Leave it to the ignorant and arrogant, who are put in positions of authority, to perpetuate racial bias in our "United" States of America. Earlier this week angry parents demonstrated outside a Queens elementary school where Assistant Principal, Nancy Miller, dehumanized a group of Haitian students.

After a scuffle broke out between two students on March 16, Miller apparently forced the all-Haitian class to eat on the floor with their hands. Miller, who has since been reassigned to another school, was heard saying, In Haiti, they treat you like animals, and I will treat you the same way here."

Growing up in this country as a first-generation Haitian-American often made me wonder if Haitians are the most reviled ethnicity in the land. I defer to the well-documented history of the mistreatment and abuse of Haitian immigrants under the "care" of US officials, the Abner Luima police sodomy case, and the initial blaming of Haitians for the AIDS epidemic in the 80s.
Contrast that with the with the huge humanitarian outreach and global attention given to little Elian Gonzalez in the 90s, when the light-skinned Cuban immigrant was found abandoned on a raft headed to Florida.

It's no secret that President Bush despises the poor, combined with the fact the Haiti has no oil resources the US can capitalize on, put Haiti and it's people at a disadvantage when it comes to garnering mass humanitarian sympathizers from Americans.

For now (at least partially), the strength of Haitians lie in self-empowerment through education and spiritual independence. Once we can carry on without depending on US moral support and psychological oppression, Haitians have a fighting chance at renewal and reform.

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!