Saturday, February 18, 2006
Why is that cow Condoleeza Rice posturing against the Venezuelan government and trying to overthrow him? I believe Chavez and the Venezuela-Cuba alliance will absolutely be a force to reckon with. Chavez is a popular man with wonderful ideas....this is the reason why the Bush administration hates him as well as the reason why he just might be the sword to pierce their underbelly.
An Outrage
Its absolutely infuriating that in this day and age the power structure still believes it can murder Black people. The death of this fourteen year old in Florida, Martin Anderson, needs to become a rallying cry.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas is enacting legislation to change the laws concerning Bush's secret wiretaps.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
This article at TruthOut talks about the registry of names, including those of U.S. citizens, that the government keeps as "potential terrorists."
Horrifying Stuff
Today, Rev. Randy H. Schmidt gave a talk at the Lunch and learn on developing Nanotechnology studies and what the U.S. government is spending out tax dollars on developing. Nanotechnology is serious and frightening. The government is trying to develop human capacity so that soldiers can go without sleep for days at a time and also manipulate their vision for nighttime warfare. There are some other serious things that aren't being discussed in the National Dialogue that will definitely have major impacts in ever aspect of humanity in the long run.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
The Guardian reports that the Bush administration has asked Congress for a great sum in order to sell their probable war with Iran.
An Outrage Via BitchPhd
BitchPhd reports on her blog that,
An undocumented Mexican immigrant was shot and killed Sunday evening in an apparent hunting accident on a Webb County ranch owned by the family of former U.S. diplomat John G. Hurd.
"The illegals were crouching out in the brush. They said they mistook this guy for a hog," said Webb County Sheriff Juan Garza....
Juan Garza Mendoza, 34, an employee of the ranch, was charged Monday with manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison....
"They mistakenly shot a human being," he said. "It's reckless. It's inexcusable."
An undocumented Mexican immigrant was shot and killed Sunday evening in an apparent hunting accident on a Webb County ranch owned by the family of former U.S. diplomat John G. Hurd.
"The illegals were crouching out in the brush. They said they mistook this guy for a hog," said Webb County Sheriff Juan Garza....
Juan Garza Mendoza, 34, an employee of the ranch, was charged Monday with manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison....
"They mistakenly shot a human being," he said. "It's reckless. It's inexcusable."
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Wake Up Everybody
By Melvin and the BlueNotes
Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so
there is so much hatred war an' poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
when you teach the children teach em the very best you can.
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me.
Wake up all the doctors make the ol' people well
They're the ones who suffer an' who catch all the hell
But they don't have so very long before the Judgement Day
So won'tcha make them happy before they pass away.
Wake up all the builders time to build a new land
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out they do it every time
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me.
Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so
there is so much hatred war an' poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
when you teach the children teach em the very best you can.
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me.
Wake up all the doctors make the ol' people well
They're the ones who suffer an' who catch all the hell
But they don't have so very long before the Judgement Day
So won'tcha make them happy before they pass away.
Wake up all the builders time to build a new land
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out they do it every time
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me.
I read some horrible quote that someone said in the Exponent today about "we are nothing as individuals, we can only act as a community." Indeed, I was quite disheartened that it was someone black who said it. We all need to be Individuals. We all need our own identity. We all need to be PEOPLE and PERSONS as we were created. Until we are ourselves, there can never be anything such as community. A man with his legs missing cannot stand. You have to be individuals and be people before you can fully integrate and interact with other people. To move as a unit that does not allow for people to be and express themselves is against humanity. We can only bring our common humanity to the table in unity when we each have our own measure of common humanity. This is what saddens me a bit about the Afro-american community. We need to find our humanity. Malcolm showed the way. Take it.
At the moment, I am thinking of when we were still living on 73rd in Chicago and my sister would be playing double dutch with the Gordon girls and other neighborhood children. I would always want to play, and try to, but I hated it because I would always get hit with those damned ropes and it hurt like hell.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Very Serious Stuff
The British Police have arrested the man who revealed the tape exposing British abuse of Iraqi civilians. This is a definite case of fascism at work.
Sign this petition to have the U.S. remove its bounty off of the head of Assata Shakur and to have them leave her alone!
So, this weekend I bought the package DVD set of Funny Girl and Funny Lady. I've seen both of these before, but I definitely need them in my Streisand collection, for sure. So, I watched Funny Lady and then I turned to watch Funny Girl today and I must say I came to some new revelations. I can see what an absolutely unprogressive, anti-feminist, heteronormative, Eurocentric message is being sent out from this film. This is not to do with Barbra or any of her fault, but lays all at the hands of Ray Stark and the writers of this film who romanticized and sought to make a profit off of the love life of Stark's mother-in-law, Fanny Brice. Alas, I so realized the irony of myself, in that when I was ten and twelve years old and saw this film(indeed, really up until I was halfway through college) everytime "My Man" came around at the end of Funny Girl, I was bawling, morose, and bemoaning Fanny's having lost her love. Nick Arnstein was a real treat(right). Alas, I have long realized what BS "My Man" is...and I have realized Barbra's realization of this, perhaps right after Elliot Gould.
The message that the filmmaker's send out through Funny Girl is absolutely awful (and that is contrasted against the aura which Barbra gives it, which is absolutely wonderful and truly makes the film. Firstly, Barbra's not supposed to really get this man, of course because she isn't blond and she is a Jewish girl with an ethnic look, and not Sandra Dee. So, there in lies the delight of seeing this poor sloven thing actually get this man, for a time. Absolutely Eurocentric views....alas, I have written and thought about before Barbra's positioning as the first ethnic-looking Jewish star of the modern era (Fanny herself was the one of the bygone era). She never changed her look, she wasn't a "classic" eurocentric beauty, where as Lauren Bacall quips about her experience of how she overheard a director saying to someone about her that she was beautiful and she "didn't even look Jewish." Barbra was an absolute groundbreaker. Absolutely unique.
Alas, this film is absolutely saved, torn from the grips of heteronormativity, and turned into the mantra of the Other, the ultimate other (Barbra) and "Don't Rain on My Parade," ceases to become a song about a woman going to chase after a man and becomes the mantra of those who refuse to be put down and held back, and the portrait of Fanny is not that of the kooky Jewish girl who lands a ruffled shirt, but becomes the Kooky, Jewish girl who becomes the most power woman in Hollywood.....and there in lies the rub.
The message that the filmmaker's send out through Funny Girl is absolutely awful (and that is contrasted against the aura which Barbra gives it, which is absolutely wonderful and truly makes the film. Firstly, Barbra's not supposed to really get this man, of course because she isn't blond and she is a Jewish girl with an ethnic look, and not Sandra Dee. So, there in lies the delight of seeing this poor sloven thing actually get this man, for a time. Absolutely Eurocentric views....alas, I have written and thought about before Barbra's positioning as the first ethnic-looking Jewish star of the modern era (Fanny herself was the one of the bygone era). She never changed her look, she wasn't a "classic" eurocentric beauty, where as Lauren Bacall quips about her experience of how she overheard a director saying to someone about her that she was beautiful and she "didn't even look Jewish." Barbra was an absolute groundbreaker. Absolutely unique.
Alas, this film is absolutely saved, torn from the grips of heteronormativity, and turned into the mantra of the Other, the ultimate other (Barbra) and "Don't Rain on My Parade," ceases to become a song about a woman going to chase after a man and becomes the mantra of those who refuse to be put down and held back, and the portrait of Fanny is not that of the kooky Jewish girl who lands a ruffled shirt, but becomes the Kooky, Jewish girl who becomes the most power woman in Hollywood.....and there in lies the rub.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
I Love This Song
Great Day
by Barbra
When you're down and out
Lift up your head and shout
There's gonna be a great day
Angels in the sky
Promise that be by and by
There's gonna be a great day
Gabriel will warn you
Some early morn
You will hear his horn
It's not far away
Lift up your head and say
There's gonna be a great day
Great day
When you're down and out
Lift up your head and shout
There's gonna be a great day
Angels in the sky
Promise that by and by
We're gonna see a great day
Gabriel will warn you
Some early morn'
You will hear his horn, his horn
It's not far away
Lift up your head and say
There's gonna be a great day
When the skies went darker, oh lord!
Came noah's ark, oh lord!
Amen and amen!
Amen and amen!
He came in january, february, march, april, may, june
July, and august, september october, november,
De de december
It was a great day
It was a great day
The Lord helps those who pray
And on judgment day
If you believe he will receive you Amen
Gabriel will warn you
Some early morn
You will his horn, his horn
It's not far away
Lift up your head and say
There's gonna be a great
We're gonna see a great
There's gonna be,
Be a great day!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Barbra
When you're down and out
Lift up your head and shout
There's gonna be a great day
Angels in the sky
Promise that be by and by
There's gonna be a great day
Gabriel will warn you
Some early morn
You will hear his horn
It's not far away
Lift up your head and say
There's gonna be a great day
Great day
When you're down and out
Lift up your head and shout
There's gonna be a great day
Angels in the sky
Promise that by and by
We're gonna see a great day
Gabriel will warn you
Some early morn'
You will hear his horn, his horn
It's not far away
Lift up your head and say
There's gonna be a great day
When the skies went darker, oh lord!
Came noah's ark, oh lord!
Amen and amen!
Amen and amen!
He came in january, february, march, april, may, june
July, and august, september october, november,
De de december
It was a great day
It was a great day
The Lord helps those who pray
And on judgment day
If you believe he will receive you Amen
Gabriel will warn you
Some early morn
You will his horn, his horn
It's not far away
Lift up your head and say
There's gonna be a great
We're gonna see a great
There's gonna be,
Be a great day!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Spanish newspapers are carrying the story of the former CIA agent who is coming forward and stating that Bush new that the excuses he used to go to war were faulty.
Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
According to the Guardian, Tony Blair will from now on be one of Two Prime Ministers in England, effectively running the state with Chancellor Gordon Brown. This is all apart of a scheme that will be introduced tommorow in a speech where Blair will argue for identity cardsin Great Britain. Very scary indeed.
I've been watching Funny Lady a lot, which I just bought recently. I love the numbers "Great Day," and "Let's Hear it For Me." Alas, I also came to the realization that I have for a long time been romanticizing and glorifying the story of Fanny Brice and Nick Arnstein, looking at it through the lense of a fairy tale. How awful really that she spent so much time running after him--and belittling herself before him in the process. Alas, I have for a long time been aware of the irony of "My Man," and of how Barbra probably was laughing and cringing her way through the notes of the song after a while....like Nina Simone's very telling "Hmmmm," in the middle of "Wild is the Wind." That let you know that that song was bullshit and no man was ever gonna be her life. Thank you lord. God Bless Nina and Barbra!
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