I never knew Barbra's mother had alzheimers.

The Kirchners Tell The United States to Go to Hell- From the Latin American News Review

Latin America News Review: The Kirchners tell U.S. to back off

My Favorite Holiday Song

This Christmas
Donnie Hathaway

Hang all the mistletoe
I'm gonna get to know you better
This Christmas
And as we trim the tree
How much fun it's gonna be together
This Christmas

Fireside blazing bright
We're caroling through the night
And this Christmas will be
A very special Christmas for me

Presents and cards are here
My world is filled with cheer, and you
This Christmas
And as I look around
Your eyes outshine the town, they do
This Christmas

Fireside blazing bright
We're caroling through the night
And this Christmas will be
A very special Christmas for me

Shake a hand, shake a hand now

Fireside blazing bright
We're caroling through the night
And this Christmas will be
A very special Christmas for me

Hang all the mistletoe
I'm gonna get to know you better
This Christmas
And as we trim the tree
How much fun it's gonna be together
This Christmas

Fireside blazing bright
We're caroling through the night
And this Christmas will be
A very special Christmas for me

Merry Christmas
Shake a hand, shake a hand now
Wish your brother "Merry Christmas"
All over the land

Word Of The Day

Affirmation

Ledisi

I Hear This Song On The Radio All The TIme and It Is So Beautiful

Alright

by Ledisi

this life can make me so confused but it's alright
living day by day I feel so used that ain't right
I just wanna run and hide
I don't have the time to cry it's alright (it's alright)

alright

many thoughts are running through my head, it's alright
wishing to be somewhere else but here, it's alright
I can't wait to see your face
I need a smile and your embrace, and I'm alright

alright

life can bring us through many changes
just don't give up
it's gonna be alright
people come and they go
it's just the way that it goes

sometime the rain it makes me sad and it's alright
some things in the world make me mad and it's alright
in the morning when I see the sun I know I'm not the only one
its alright

alright

wish I had some money to pay my bills
I can't even buy that dress on sale but it's alright
having money don't mean a thing
loving you is everything
I'm alright

(life can bring us through many changes
just don't give up
it's gonna be alright
people come and they go
that's just the way that it goes)

everything is everything

it's alright

Come In...

Dianne Reeves

When your ship is tossed on the ocean
I will shine you safely to shore
Of all my precious treasures our friendship measure as the golden one
Please don’t make me miss you forever
You’re a diamond shinning brighter than light
And if no one can see you believe that I do
And I need you
I’ll be here when you come in
When you been away to long
I counted the days you were gone
Hoping that you would come in
Come in
Oopen the waiting door
Don’t worry about what you find anymore
Just come on in
All the places that you try to remember and the faces you try to forget
They are older and wiser they’ll still criticize
But you can face them now
If you think they’re ready to hear you
You might tell one or two what you know
Maybe someone will see what the truth really means
Let them find you and welcome you too
Come in
Come in you’ve been away too long
I counted the days you were gone
Hoping that you would come in
Come in
Open the waiting door
Don’t worry about what you find anymore
Just come in
When your ship is tossed on the ocean
I will shine you safely to shore
Of all my precious treasures our friendship measure as the golden one
Please don’t make me miss you forever
You’re a diamond shinning brighter than light
And if no one can see you believe that I do
And I need you
I’ll be here when you come in
I’m like a rock and I just won’t move
I’m like the sun I’ll shine my light on you
Come in break it down
Come on in
Every secrete is safe with me
Every secrete is safe with me
I won’t tell
it’ll be locked away inside of my heart
Just come on in
Oh, and when you feel that the road is too long all you gotta do is lean on me I’ll help you carry on
You know I will I will I will
Just come on in Come on Come on Come on in
Come on

Love For Sale

Dianne Reeves

Love for sale, appetizing young love for sale,
Love that's fresh and still unspoiled, love that's only slightly soiled,
Love for sale.
Who will buy? Who would like to sample my supply?
Who's prepared to pay the price for a trip to paradise
Love for sale.
Let the poets pipe of love in their childish way,
I know every type of love better far than they.
If you want the thrill of love, I've been through the mill of love,
Old love, new love, every love but true love.
Love for sale, appetizing young love for sale.
If you want to buy my wares, follow me and climb the stairs
Love for sale.

Cynthia McKinney Running For President On The Green Party Ticket!

Fire the District Attorney, Reed Walters in Jena, Louisiana-Repost

I think everyone across the country should call in to the office of the Governor of Louisiana and demand the job of Jena District attorney Reed Walters. You can contact the governor's office at


Office of the Governor
Attn: Constituent Services
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004 Facsimile: 225-342-7099 E-mail the Governor

Call
866-366-1121
225-342-0991
225-342-7015

To reach the courthouse in Jena, Louisiana call
1050 Courthouse St, Jena - (318) 992-2158

Demand that District Attorney Reed Walters loose his job over the case of the Jena 6. "With just a stroke of my pen, I can make your lives end."-D.A. Reed Walters to 6 Black Students in Jena, Louisiana.

Kudos to the Lakota People for Breaking Treaties With The US

Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US

December 20, 2007, AFP

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVC1KMTOgwiSoMQyT2LwZc9HyAgA

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Lakota Indians, who gave the world
legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have
withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said
Wednesday.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America
and all those who live in the five-state area that
encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time
Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of
reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy,
gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington
for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the
State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally
withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal
government of the United States, some of them more than 150
years old.

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and
Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic
mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months,
they told the news conference.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska,
South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving
licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided
residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.

The treaties signed with the United States are merely
"worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom
activists say on their website.

The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal
our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of
life," the reborn freedom movement says.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States,
specifically article six of the constitution," which states
that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna
Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the
international community in 1980. We are legally within our
rights to be free and independent," said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when
they drafted a declaration of continuing independence -- an
overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of
Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes
critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make
sure that all our ducks were in a row," Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when the United
Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of
indigenous peoples -- despite opposition from the United
States, which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have
not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our
children," Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first
international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in
1977, told the news conference.

The US "annexation" of native American land has resulted in
once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere
"facsimiles of white people," said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the US government has taken its
toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life
expectancies -- less than 44 years -- in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150 percent above the norm for the
United States; infant mortality is five times higher than the
US average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota
freedom movement's website.

"Our people want to live, not just survive or crawl and be
mascots," said Young.

"We are not trying to embarrass the United States. We are
here to continue the struggle for our children and
grandchildren," she said, predicting that the battle would
not be won in her lifetime.

Eric Volz in Nicauraugua

Do they actually think that Daniel Ortega or anyone in Nicauraugua is going to listen to Condoleeza Rice? They better send Jesse Jackson...

Clash of the Choirs

Patti's Choir is smoking!

Police Beat Citizens in New Orleans

The power structure in New Orleans should be castrated. They beat, tasered, and manhandled the citizens of New Orleans in the effort of pushing out the poor and the minorities who serve as the underclass of that society. We must all demand justice for the victims of Katrina.

Just Fine-MJB

Something To Live For- Ella

Summertime- Ella Fitzgerald

Strangefruit-Billie Holiday

Thoughts

I have written fifty-four pages of my novel....I feel quite proud....one of these days I am going to get around to writing a post about the history of corporations... John Henrik Clarke said something that struck a cord with me. He said corporations made it to this country before white men did....with the London Virginia Company or whatever the name of it was.... and to think of how corporations have become these quasi-human things that affect the lives of soo many people. Oh, that court decision that gave corporations protections and rights as people under the fourteenth amendment.

My Person of the Week

Mary J Blige

PUBLIC HOUSING ACTIVISTS STOP THE BULLDOZERS IN NEW ORLEANS; 3 ARRESTED - From SDS

NEW ORLEANS – A day of demolition for the B.W. Cooper housing complex
here was stopped today by three local housing activists who chained
themselves to the facilities as the bulldozers were getting ready to
continue tearing down the 1,000-unit complex. After attempting to start
work for an hour, bulldozer operators gave up for the day when the three
activists – Jamie "Bork" Loughner, Elizabeth Cook, and Joy Kohler –
refused to leave.

The three were subsequently arrested and are still in police custody at
this hour. Loughner has been charged with possessing a false explosive
device, terrorizing, resisting an officer, and criminal trespass. Allies
in the activist community here suspect that the authorities intend to
keep the three jailed through tomorrow's scheduled meeting of the City
Council, at which a final vote to approve the demolition of B.W. Cooper
and three other public housing complexes is expected to be taken.

"We won't be stopped in our fight to secure public housing for all
citizens of New Orleans of any ethnicity," Loughner and Cook said in a
statement. "The government's attempts to sweep us aside and suppress our
voices will not be successful, and even from jail, we won't be silenced."

The day of civil resistance against demolitions in a city that is still
desperately short of affordable housing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
was endorsed by three local activist groups: MayDay NOLA, C3 Hands Off
Iberville, and Friends and Residents of B.W. Cooper

The planned destruction of New Orleans public housing, part of a wider
plan to dissolve poorer communities and gentrify the city post-Katrina,
has sparked unprecedented resistance in New Orleans and solidarity
across the country. In today's New York Times, architecture critic
Nicolas Ouroussoff calls the demolitions "one of the greatest crimes in
American urban planning."

Congratulations to Barbra on being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame!

Impeachment Resolution Passed in House-From Barbra/s Website

In The Dark
This week, a landmark House Resolution (H RES 799) calling for the investigation by the House Judiciary Committee of the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney for High Crimes and Misdemeanors passed in the House of Representatives. In an unexpected move, House Democrats along with some Republicans, voted to move the Resolution forward. H RES 799 is the first major step by Congress to hold members of the Bush Administration accountable. The Resolution, introduced by Congressman Kucinich, states that the Vice President of the United States has purposely manipulated intelligence to deceive the citizens and the congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction to justify the war in Iraq.

When 218 members of congress show a level of support to pursue the consideration of impeachment of a sitting Vice President, every major newspaper and news program in the country should be leading with this story. But that has not been the case. Not only did they not lead with this story, in nearly all cases they ignored it. Thus, Americans are probably still in the dark about these proceedings.

The last time someone in the executive branch of government was threatened with impeachment was in 1998 and this resulted from personal indiscretions. The press obsessively covered every sensational detail of the Clinton impeachment process. Clearly, we must come to the conclusion that the press does not consider major issues of national security, such as the lead up to war based on false premises, manipulating intelligence and lying to the American public as important.

In a democracy, we count on the press to be a counter check to the branches of government; we count on the press to keep the public informed. The need for an independent and strong press comes from the peoples’ right to know what our government officials are doing. So how can it be that a major issue that potentially raises concerns about high crimes and misdemeanors in the executive branch of government is not reported? Is it that corporations have such a tight strangle hold on our media that journalists no longer feel free to cover important stories in order to enlighten and educate the public? Are these corporate media moguls sacrificing a strong press in order maintain cozy relationships with high level government officials and protect their ever widening consolidation of media outlets? If so, where does that leave the American public? Sadly, I think it leaves us in the dark.

Huffington Post Article On the So-Called Violent Radicalization Bill

Alice Walker's Papers Going to Emory

Emory University has just secured the rights to Alice Walker's papers, including all correspondence, notebooks, and notes dating back to her teenage years. Alice says that Emory is "a place where my archive can rest with joy in the company it keeps." What a wonderful, joyous occassion!

I think everyone should keep their eye on the Indiana Voter ID case that is going before the Supreme Court next month. We should be vigilant about preserving fair and free elections in this country.

I love what I heard once. An enemy is a person whose story we have not yet heard.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year, The Gorgeous Vladimir Putin

Patti's A New Day

Barbra Walter's Beautiful Interview With Hugo Chavez

International Community Asked To Scrutinize Racism in U.S. Census Practices- From Hungry Blues

The U.S. Census in essence collaborates with the Prison Industrial Complex to revive the Three-fifths clause by which Blacks(this time Blacks who are in prison--for whom the constitution says slavery is still a legal punishment) are added to the census count of majority white populations--the towns in which these prisons are conveniently located, instead of counting these people of color in the communities where they came from. This advantages white communities in their voting power and the resources they recieve. This does make me think quite a bit...They don't put prisons in ghetto areas...because they know....black and brown peoples (and other people too) would be jumping out of windows left and right...and there would be nowhere to find them.

We need to get rid of corporate Democrats, as I shall term them, who are no better than republicans and who are just as dedicated to patriarchy and the current system that we have. It is these very people who oblige themselves(and the rest of us with them) to George Bush and who have allowed for torture, the resurgence of COINTELPRO(this time with a judicial and legislative stamp), and other abuses. I am talking about people such as Nancy Pelosi(I don;t know what her problem is, perhaps she is actually trying to do something, but I am not convinced), and especially Jane Hartman of California who instead of trying to castrate patriarchy and deliver a new and better world has sponsored such bullshit as the so-called Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Act--where are you trying to feed hungry children you bitch? I am sure there are a multitude of others. People who go along with the game. The game is changing and you WILL ultimately lose, but in the meantime we need to clean house.

Until You Come Back to Me

Luther Vandross

I wanna tell you, baby
The changes I've been goin' through
Missin' you, missin' you, oh...oh...
Till you come back to me
I don't know what I'm gonna do
N-n-n-no, n-n-no

Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby
You said you'd be comin' back this way again, baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby
I love you
Yeah...I really do

Long ago
And oh, so far away
I fell in love with you
Before the second show

And your guitar
And you sound so sweet and clear
But you're not really here
It's just the radio

Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby
You said you'd be comin' back this way again, baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby, yeah
I love you
I really do

(To belong) Yeah...hey...eah...yeah...hey...hey
(To belong) Whoa...ho...oh...whoa...ho...ho...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah

You looked for me to be yours
You want my love, but you're on the road
Don't you remember me anymore

Loneliness
Is such a sad affair
A sad affair
And I can hardly wait
To be with you again

And what to say, to say
To make you come again
Oh, honey
Come on back to me again, yeah, hey
I wanna be, I wanna be anywhere you are

Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby
You said you'd be comin' back this way again, baby
Baby, baby, baby, woo, baby, oh, baby
Yes, I love you
I really do

Yeah, hey...
Yeah, yeah...eah...yeah...ooh...
Play it easy, play it easy
Keep it right there, keep it right there, keep it right there
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When are you gonna say
It's alright, it's alright
Ooh, baby, it's alright, it's alright
Alright now
Keep it right there, keep it right there
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
It's alright, it's alright
Ooh, baby, it's alright, it's alright
Say it's alright, it's alright
Say, ooh, baby, it's alright, it's alright
Alright now
Eah...
L-l-l-l-love
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Eah...ooh...ooh...yeah...hea...
Say it's alright, it's alright
Ooh, baby, it's alright, it's alright
Alright now
Alright now
I used to be sad
But now it's alright, it's alright
Ooh, baby, it's alright, it's alright
Alright now
I wonder, I wonder
Where are you again tonight
Are you holdin' someone else real tight
I wonder, I wonder, I wonder

Wait For Love

Luther Vandross

Knowing love the way I do
I can say for certain that its true
Theres a chance for me and you.
I surely feel like the time is near
The picture in my mind is very clear
I think love has brought us here

I remember not too long ago
I was just a lonely person
With a lonely heart, yeah
And I was hoping there could one day be,
Be a chance

Chorus
For me to get the love
That Id been missing
Sometimes love takes a long time
Wait for love
And youre gonna to get the chance to love
Wait for love, wait for love oh, my

When you take the chance on love youll see
Its not a waste of time if you truly believe
The impossible can be
So hold on tight if you think youre right
Cuz nothing hurts as bad as when you see
You gave up too easily

Now I remember spending all my time
On a dream that kept me wishing that you could be mine, yeah
And I was hoping there could one day be, be a chance, whoa

Chorus

I never stopped believing there could one day be, be a chance

For me to get the love that Id been missing
Sometimes love takes a long time
Wait for love, and youre going to get your
Chance to love
Wait for love, wait for love
And youll get the love that youve been missing
Sometimes love takes a long time
But wait for love
And youre going to get your chance to love

A Rose is Still a Rose

Aretha

Doo doo doo doo doo doo mmm
Dooby dooby doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo mmm

There was a rose I knew, I met her once or twice before
She was a pretty sweet thing, not the least bit insecure
Then you came with your slick game and played with her youth
Ashamed of the way you lied, played with the truth, hey, hey

Mmm, she never knew what hit her
Steal her honey, then forget her
A rose
She wears a flower
Tryin’ to forget about you

‘Cause a rose is still a rose
Baby, girl, you’re still a flower
He can’t lead you and then take you
Make you and then break you
Darlin’, you hold the power

Now believe me when I tell you that I’ve been hurt myself
When he tells you that he loves you and sees nobody else
And now you’re so tough tryin’ to wear tight clothes and things
Tossin’ and flossin’, tryin’ to fill the void heartbreak brings

Oh…oh…yeah
When she faces the mirror, yeah
She’s cryin’, you can’t hear her
Now the rose is still a rose
She wears a flower, tryin’ to forget about you

‘Cause a rose is still a rose
Baby, girl, you’re still a flower
He can’t lead you and then take you
Make you and then break you
Baby, girl, you hold the power

See a rose is still a rose
Baby, girl, you’re still a flower
He can’t lead you and then take you
Make you and then break you
Darlin’, you hold the power

Let your life be in the sunshine
Not the darkness of your sorrow
You may see your all today
When you know it’ll come tomorrow

Tough to be, but life ain’t over
Just because your man is gone
Girl, love yourself and love to love
‘Cause without him your life goes on
Without him your life goes on
Without him your life goes on

‘Cause a rose is still a rose
Baby, girl, you’re still a flower
He can’t lead you and then take you
Make you and then break you
Baby, girl, you hold the power

See a rose is still a rose
Baby, girl, you’re still a flower
He can’t lead you and then take you
Make you and then break you
Darlin’, you hold the power

I'm Crying Real Tears

What a shock that was delivered to me just moments ago when I heard that Julia Carson, Democrat representing Indianapolis in the House of Representatives, was dead. Rep. Carson was a beautiful person through and through. I met her briefly a couple of times, but even more so than that--she appeared at every single anti-war rally that was held in Indianapolis during my time there--or at least made her support known when she couldnt attend. She was a lady of style and flare for sure,from what I can tell. I will never forget how she showed up at a rally in a fabulous fur coat to deliver a powerful tirade against the Bush administration. We have had no stronger representation in the U.S. bodies of government than the late Mrs. Carson. Why are all the good people dying off? We must all sing this incredible lady's praises.

74-year-old Beaten By Miami Police

Please read this news story concerning the beating of 74-year-old community activist, Bernard Dyer, in Miami, Florida by Miami police. This man, a war veteran who has suffered severe mental disabilities due to military service , has been beaten nearly to death after a call was made to the police reporting that he was rambling through the hallway of his apartment building. He had earlier that week spoken at a major news conference called by several civil rights organizations around Miami. Something must be done and I urge everyone to be on the phone to the Miami Police Department lodging complaints.

Joe Madison on CSPAN

I just saw Joe Madison being interviewed by Brian Lamb on CSPAN. What a lovely man.

Target is by far my favorite chain store.