the buffalo bullet

The Entitlement Mentality

2012-01-19T23:57:00.002-08:00

by Alberta Parish

Popular terms like "entitlement mentality", "socialism", and "un-American" have permeated our nation's airwaves. Whenever you turn on your radio or watch your favorite news channel, career race baiters consistently spew terms that are suggestive of not only racial animosity but classism. The dividing line between rich and poor will remain a permanent factor as long as humans exist. The invisible lines drawn in the sand, which divides everyone by social, economic, and religious or non-religious identities will ultimately lead to our ruin.

From the beginning of human history - whenever it began - humans have always possessed the entitlement mentality. Being an avid reader of ancient history, I truly believe that the ancients felt entitled to life, liberty, and happiness. They felt entitled to a fair and decent wage for their honest day's labor. They felt entitled to a free society, and worked endlessly to maintain a civilization in which tyranny would not take root or prevail in their world.

What the ancients knew that us modern humans many times turn a blind eye to, is if one seeks to suppress and oppress one segment of the population through force, cruelty and inequality, one risks jeopardizing the entire population. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., however, didn't turn a blind eye to the inequality happening in his day. In his own words, he said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." The same inequalities facing American Blacks in the 1960's were the same inequalities facing many populations in Asia, Africa, and South America. By the time the Civil Rights Movement came to a halt in the late 1960's, it was no longer an Afro-American issue or Black issue, it was a human rights issue.

Today, I live in a free society called the United States of America. I also live in a globalized society. Through mass media and social media, I am connected to many countries around the world. I see worldwide devastation as it unfolds before my laptop and television screens. I also see beauty in the world, the magnificence of humanity, and how much greater we could become were it not for religion, racism, social injustice, devastating poverty, genocidal programs, and the threat of global tyranny. Within every free society, there always exist the threat to basic human rights and freedom. Therefore, men have always engaged in open revolution and warfare to either obtain, keep or regain their basic human rights, and to ensure that their offspring live out their days as free men and women. The threat to freedom has always come from the government and the "Church" having too much power and control over the masses.

Political and religious race-baiters consistently claim the United States is headed for socialism and tyranny, because there are too many people with an entitlement mentality. Well, wasn't this the plan by the government all along - to foster a culture of entitlement by providing hundreds of government programs? These various programs provide assistance to college students, pregnant mothers, abandoned infants, Americans with disabilities, and so forth. Yet, when the average person hears of someone with an entitlement mentality, their mind quickly conjures up the image of the African-American welfare mother with three or more kids whose daddy is in prison. However, over 90% of all American citizens receive some type of entitlement benefit, because many have received unemployment insurance benefits during their lifetime. Most older Americans receive Social Security Retirement and Survivors benefits. Many retired military veterans are receiving entitlement benefits. Recent cuts in pay/benefits to U.S. military service men and women have put a lot of strain on families who may need government assistance in addition to their paychecks.

Entitlement programs persist because there are far more people living in poverty, who live longer lives in poverty, or they live just above poverty level. With the advancement in medicine, people often live longer. As a result of people living longer and more babies being born by the minute around the world, more food and other natural resources are needed to sustain a world population of over six billion people. With the rise in food pricing and overall inflation along with the massive growth of the human population, governments around the world just simply cannot take care of everybody.

Socialism won't be the demise of America as career race-baiters have manipulated people to believe. Entitlement programs are not at the root cause of America's financial crisis either. It is greed on Wall Street that brought about the 2008 financial crisis in which stocks fell more than 700 points, forcing the nation's two largest mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This one event set off a chain of events in which the U.S. Government now control much of the automobile industry as well as the health care industry. The super-rich and powerful on Wall Street felt entitled to gamble with taxpayer dollars, and, as a result, the U.S. Government now control all of the mortgage industry. One reason why the super-rich remain at the top of the pyramid is because they have an entitlement mentality in which they feel entitled to everybody's money as well as natural resources around the world that can produce great wealth for them. The super-rich and powerful will do whatever it takes to maintain the balance between rich and poor, controlling entire populations, especially in places that are rich in mineral resources. When they can no longer control and maintain populations, they reduce them.

Throughout history, certain groups of humans who, in order to ensure their own survival, have annihilated other human groups for their resources. Entire populations have been destroyed through genocide, warfare, famine, and manufactured diseases. For its great food supply and other resources, Africa came under military attack from foreign nations during the 15th and 16th Century. It was Pope Martin V who authorized the first crusade against Africa in 1418, and in 1441 authorized the Portuguese trade in African slaves. Today, Africa is still controlled by outside nations for its resources.

A few months ago, I was accused of having an entitlement mentality. Erick Erickson, a talk show host and conservative blogger in Atlanta had accused me of having an entitlement mentality. Yet, I've held a job for the past 19 years. I've also published three books, and I'm a contributing writer for the Buffalo Bullet, which is an online news column. The Buffalo Bullet's editor-in-chief is Chris Stevenson. Perhaps, if Mr. Erickson had bothered to do his homework before making public statements about me over the airwaves, he would've realized that I'm not your average welfare recipient, high school dropout, and unwed mother raising three or more kids alone. I've never received public assistance of any kind. However, if I should ever need public assistance, as a taxpaying citizen of this country who has paid taxes every year since I've held a job, then public assistance I'll get.

Race baiters love to use certain terminology to describe liberals, liberal policies, and President Obama whom they see as un-American. In their minds, President Obama is not even an American citizen. When the story first came out about Mr. Obama's birth certificate being a forgery, that was fictionalized media at its best. The media is the Matrix. A perception of truth is reality in the Matrix. Therefore, you cannot believe what you see and hear on CNN, FOX, HLN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, and WSB.

It seems to me that the people who truly possess an entitlement mentality are the super-rich and powerful, which most often comprise Americans who have set up huge firms and corporations in foreign countries in order to exploit entire populations for their economic wealth and resources. American and European colonialism account for the most of the world's exploitation of natural resources, which is how America and Europe became the most prosperous places on earth. If Third World countries require America's financial assistance, it is often because the governments in those countries have been so destabilized by American and European military interference to the point in which the population do not possess the resources nor the skill set to provide basic human necessities and services.

The next time the Newt Gingriches of the world open their mouths to defame Occupy protesters as liberals with an entitlement mentality, they need to also put themselves in the entitlement mentality bracket. The Newt Gingriches of the world are where they are today, because they felt entitled to wealth and power. Therefore, they did what they had to do to obtain their desired goals, even if they came at the expense of the poor and working class citizen of this country. After all, this nation currently faces an economic crisis as a direct result of the greed on Wall Street.

bullet columnist Alberta Parish is best known as a take-no-prisoners Youtube commentator, you can also follow her writings on Myspace and Twitter.

My Thoughts on the State of the Union speech by President Obama (2012)

2012-01-19T23:57:00.001-08:00

by Alberta Parish

Today, we live in a culture, which thrives on mass hysteria. It is this same mass hysteria, which creates political division and produces ideologies that foster a culture of fear as well as religious control. People fear losing their great wealth. People fear losing their advantage and power over others. People fear the unknown or the unexpected. People fear President Barack Obama because they fear change. They fear an America in which the wealthiest 1% of Americans who earn up to $1 million per year will not continue receiving tax breaks under the current tax laws. They fear an America in which everyone will be on equal footing in terms of paying their fair share of taxes. They fear rules and regulations, which prevent them from stealing from the American people. When someone comes along and threatens their way of doing shady business, they want to remove this individual from the equation.

As President Barack Obama delivered his state of the Union speech on January 24, 2012, outlining all his completed reforms and standing tall as a powerful leader of the free world, I saw the faces in the audience. Some had contempt while others had praise for the President, including Warren Buffet's secretary. Debra Bosanek sat quietly nodding in agreement to the President's comments when referring to the tax cuts her boss receives, and that more taxes should be paid by the wealthiest Americans who earn up to $1 million per year.

Although Mr. Buffet's secretary is paying a hefty amount of taxes, she and her husband were able to purchase a second home in Arizona, with a swimming pool and a professional PGA putting green, according to real estate documents. Most Americans can't even purchase one home, let alone a second home. Most Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure. Most Americans are homeless today, because they've lost their homes due to foreclosure. Debra Bosanek should be the last person on national television nodding her head. I should be the one on national television, at the state of the Union, nodding my head!

Today, professional race baiters are busy spinning stories about President Obama's state of the Union speech. They maintain their positions that President Obama wants a tyrannical utopia, which is a socialist regime in America. Many Christian conservatives have accused President Barack Obama of being the Antichrist himself, and they have manipulated others to believe their prophetic fairy tales of doom and destruction to befall America.

The race baiters create fear and panic where there is none. President Obama is not the guy people should fear.

On the other hand, religious fanatics like Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich we should fear.

A socialist regime is not the agenda the President was pushing Tuesday evening as he delivered his state of the Union speech. He reiterated perfectly during the speech what is going through the minds of many Americans, which are jobs and economic security. In my opinion, the reforms he laid out did not suggest a socialist agenda. However, if two religious fanatics end up as President and Vice President, religious tyranny will probably be the new agenda. Under religious tyranny, there will be no American Dream.

President Obama's directness in addressing the agenda that dominates public discussion, which is economic stability, quickly grabbed the attention of his audience and even had members of Congress squirming in their seats.

President Obama said that the basic American promise is that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement. "The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive," said President Obama. "No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What's at stake aren't Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them." President Obama continued, "Banks have made huge bets and bonuses with other people's money. Regulators have looked the other way or didn't have the authority to stop the bad behavior. It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the bag." President Obama continued, "In the last twenty-two months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than two trillion dollars. And we put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable so a crisis like this never happens again. The state of our Union is getting stronger. We've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place."

Which Candidate looks more like a "family values" candidate to you? The incumbent...

Even though I made a video several months ago saying that President Obama will get a second term in office, I believe this speech confirms why I know he'll be a two-term President.

Or the AWD (Ailing Wife Deserter) Candidate?-cs

Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, or Michele Bachmann in a televised national debate against President Barack Obama on his policies - foreign and domestic, and on the reforms he's made since taking office in January of 2009 will make all of them look like inexperienced interns just getting started in the political field.

Not one Republican presidential candidate has what it takes to match President Obama's record. If any Republican candidate becomes President, I doubt if he or she completes at least 15% of his/her campaign promises. After all, Newt Gingrich couldn't even be faithful to his first and second wives. Newt Gingrich asked his second wife to engage in an "open marriage", according to Marianne Gingrich who gave an interview on ABC, accusing her former husband of having a lack of moral character. This is not the kind of man that I'd want as President of the United States.

Coming from a man who tried to get President Bill Clinton impeached for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, Newt Gingrich can't be taken seriously about anything that comes out of his mouth. He's like an imposter, somebody pretending to be one thing but is not.

Conservative bloggers and Republican commentators often describe liberals as having an entitlement mentality, but the same can be said of Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum. I think most Americans have an entitlement mentality, because Americans have been conditioned through the many government programs available to them. In addition, the financiers on Wall Street have benefited from exploiting the markets and gambling with taxpayer dollars, which they obviously felt entitled to do. Subsequently, the entitlement mentality on Wall Street resulted in a financial crisis on Wall Street in September of 2008. The near collapse of our nation's financial institution resulted in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in which banks and other financial institutions were bailed out by the federal government. On the other hand, the average citizen losing his or her home due to foreclosure didn't receive a bail out by the government. The bail out of financial institutions pissed off many Americans.

Who has the greatest entitlement mentality? A retiree receiving Social Security Retirement and food stamps, or the self-righteous CEO of a major corporation who outsourced American jobs overseas, using factory slave labor in order to make huge profits, which is how the late Steve Jobs became a billionaire. Factory slave labor was used to make Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad. Americans could've made these same products. The only difference is: Steve Jobs would've had to pay Americans a fair wage, provide benefits, and be less wealthy. However, this would've required that he not possess an entitlement mentality.

America has become a society dependent upon entitlement programs. The same people who want to cut many entitlement programs are the same people with the greatest entitlement mentality.

By exploiting the poor and working-class citizen of this country, the Newt Gingriches of the world have risen to the top of the financial pyramid. Now, on the eve of the collapse of their pyramid, they want to change the agenda in Washington. Too late! President Obama has already beat you to the punch! The old way of doing things is over! We have a new chief in charge whom you will see a lot more during the next four years. So get ready!

bullet columnist Alberta Parish is best known as a take-no-prisoners Youtube commentator, you can also follow her writings on Myspace and Twitter.

President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address

2012-01-19T23:56:00.001-08:00

Do Blacks Still Need Sacrificial Lambs?©

2012-01-19T23:54:00.000-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

The Ku Klux Klan dynamited the home of Harry and Harriette Moore on Christmas Day 1951. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. These civil rights martyrs were asleep in their home. A .32 caliber pistol was found among their possessions.

Earlier, the KKK had sponsored a barbecue at a nearby lake. The Moores had been activists in Florida before anyone had heard of Rosa Parks, Martin L. King, Jr. or Medgar Evers.

Earlier, the KKK had sponsored a barbecue at a nearby lake. The Moores had been activists in Florida before anyone had heard of Rosa Parks, Martin L. King, Jr. or Medgar Evers. Among others, the hall of fame of the Southern Poverty Law Center had failed to recognize them.

Among their engagements was the "Groveland Four" which followed the Scottsboro Boys and which preceded Emmett Till and the "Central Park 7". The accuser in each case was a white woman. While transporting two of the handcuffed "Groveland Four" to a court hearing, Sheriff Willis V. McCall of Lake County, Florida fatally shot two of them. The Moores would pursue the case.

When Black, male teachers formed the Florida State Teachers Association during the Depression many of them would pay for it with their lives. Moore was principal of the Mims Colored Elementary School and president of FSTA's District 4. The agenda of FSTA was equal education notwithstanding the separation of races.

After the deaths of the Moores, Charles and Medgar Evers would pick up the torch which was now in Mississippi.

As a teacher, Moore had taken correspondence courses from the University of Florida in medieval history, American government, politics, education and history to upgrade his certificate. He was graduated from Florida Memorial College, a high school. This qualified him to teach "colored" children. His curriculum, as principal, included Black history and voter education. His teachings were violating Florida's censorship laws.

After the deaths of the Moores, Charles and Medgar Evers would pick up the torch which was now in Mississippi. This is called connecting the dots and thinking outside the box. We must look for the common thread. This explains a method of conduct. It will reveal a common philosophy.

It can be argued that Gil Noble shared the same philosophy as Marcus Garvey, Hon. Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Cong. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and Kwame Ture. The philosophy of "Like It Is" is exhibited in its graphics. "Like It Is" was taking Blacks in the right direction: self determination.

When most Blacks watched the "Tribute to Gil Noble", they failed to recognize a missing ingredient. I read a book like I watch a television program. This is the same winning formula that I employed in representing unpopular defendants. The process starts with the ending and move to the beginning.

The credits for the most important part of "Like It Is" are at the end of the program. Elombe Brath was the graphics artist. Graphics was the engine for "Like It Is". If WABC-TV did not own the graphics, Elombe Brath did own them. Elombe Brath was the architect. Gil Noble was its engineer. This was a deadly one-two punch. It cost them their lives.

There is a Biblical story of Moses and Aaron. Black people have been indoctrinated to look for and pay attention to Moses. This happens today. The emphasis is on Rosa Parks and not JoAnn Robinson. Similarly, the emphasis is on Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and not on attorney Frederick L. McGhee. The focus of the Birmingham Movement is on Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and not on Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.

If Dean Charles Hamilton Houston had a doctorate in legal education, Medgar Evers had a doctorate in the media with an emphasis in public affairs programming. He died for opposing censorship. Today, it is widely practiced in New York City especially on Black commercial radio on Sundays. Blacks are endorsing their own oppression.

Television started in New York City in honest soon after World War II. It would take a decade for NBC to air a public affairs program about the plight of Blacks in the South. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. received the invitation to discuss this plight on "Meet the Press" in 1957.

Medgar Evers recognized that television would be critical for social change. Among other things, he envisioned Blacks enjoying full citizenship and civil rights. As a veteran of World War II, he vowed to fight for Black rights with the same intensity that he fought for in a foreign land in order for him to return home alive.

After being denied an admission to the law school of Ole Miss in 1954, he would become Mississippi NAACP field secretary in the same year. Television would arrive in Jackson, MS in 1953. Medgar Evers would jump on television like "white on rice". One of the television stations was also the headquarters for the KKK and for the White Citizen's Council which had a bookstore in it.

Medgar Evers started to build a record against WLBT-TV an affiliate of NBC which aired "Meet the Press". The NAACP would argue that many of these stations were working against the public interest. In 1957, NBC would invite Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. as a guest on "Meet the Press". Dr. King would only become the second Black to be a guest on this public affairs program.

Nearly a decade after Medgar Evers embarked on a struggle against apartheid in the media, he finally forced a Jackson television station to air his views against apartheid. This resulted from the record that he had compiled in the FCC. Three weeks, later he had been assassinated by the Klan. This is the price he paid for assaulting censorship and promoting the "fairness doctrine".

Because of Evers' work, the political landscape of television was altered. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided Office of Communications of the United Church of Christ v. Federal Communications Commission, 123 U.S. App. D.C. 328, 359 F.2d 994 (1966).

Prior to this landmark decision, individuals could not appear before the FCC to argue pro se or on behalf of anyone. Evers was simply allowed to file complaints. Only the FCC could make arguments on behalf of individuals or organizations.

As a result of this landmark decision, qualified, competent and zealous grassroots organizations could appear before the FCC and make arguments. These organizations had to enjoy a history and exhibit qualifications. Television stations also have to offer public affairs programming to promote debate on public policy issues.

At present, no organization in the tri-state area would survive a challenge to a claim of lack of standing. Television executives and stations would argue a lack of history in the public records. In the tri-state area, only two Black organizations and a person have ever filed a document regarding "Like It Is".

To build an organization, knowledge must be present throughout the membership. At my own expense, I am doing the necessary research and disseminating knowledge. If Blacks in the tri-state area had enjoyed a knowledge of media law four decades ago, there would already be six public affairs programs on six commercial television stations in the tri-state area.

Ignorance is a costly expense. I asked Rev. Al Sharpton and C. Vernon Mason to refrain from making a comment on Steven Pagones' involvement in the rape and kidnapping of Tawana. All of the cameras on me became overbearing. They had to get some attention for themselves even at the expense of Tawana Brawley.

We had to fight a defamation lawsuit. New York State, the white media and Steven Pagones suspected that none of us had done any homework. They guessed wrong. I had done extensive homework and I won on all counts. Saturday morning is another day to do homework.

Ignorance also breeds fear. This was the purpose of the slave codes and it is the purpose of censorship. "What you don't know can kill you". The Black media feeds on censorship. This is why only Ted Murray, United African Movement and "The Tri-State 'Like It Is' Support Coalition" with anonymous coalition members filed complaints.

No Black selected official in the tri-state area has filed a single support paper or document for "Like It Is". No leading Black including Rev. Al Sharpton has filed a single support note nor letter. Rev. Al Sharpton has a conflict-of-interest. Gil Noble told me that two Black selected officials had met with WABC-TV to demand his job.

Public affairs programming is rooted in politics. If "Meet the Press" were erased from television, white politicians themselves would march on NBC. When voting was a capital offense in Mississippi, Medgar Evers, nonetheless, was an adherent of politics. He had the intelligence to connect the dots between public affairs programming and politics.

If the Ku Klux Klan had planned to lynch a Negro on this Saturday morning but the weather forecast predicted snow, I can guarantee that the Klan would be parading a dead "Negro" through the streets. This would happen because the KKK embraces a philosophy which will not submit to inclement weather.

100 Friends of Like It Is must start forthwith. It is too expensive for me to continue sponsoring seminars at my expense. I know of no other person in the tri-state area who would expose himself or herself to a similar risk especially since the sponsor has been unemployed for the last 21 years. This should be the responsibility of Black selected officials.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

Bills Offseason Update

2012-01-19T23:53:00.001-08:00
& Mock Draft-2

by Pat Freeman

The Buffalo Bills begin their study of their off season roster, and what they need to do to upgrade their personnel to make a run to end the longest pay off drought in the NFL. General Manager Buddy Nix stated that one of the problems they had this year was a lack of quality depth at key positions on the team. When starters were affected by injury the Bills had a tough time of replacing the quality of play, and experienced a huge drop off by back up players. Many of the back up players were inexperienced rookies who on the other hand received vital playing experience which should benefit Chan Gailey’s staff next year.

The list below is my first Mock draft of possible players the Buffalo Bills might select in the upcoming NFL Draft in April. During the next few months I’m going to look at some different draft scenarios that Buddy Nix might take to improve the roster of the Buffalo Bills in the coming weeks.

Buffalo Bills Mock Draft#1

1.Jonathan Martin Offensive Tackle Stanford

2.Ronnell Lewis Defensive End/ Outside Linebacker Oklahoma

3.Tommy Streeter- Wide Receiver University Miami

4.Russell Wilson- Quarterback Wisconsin

4.Shea Mcclellin- Defensive End / Outside Linebacker Boise State

5.Casey Hayward Cornerback Vanderbilt

6.Ladarius Green- Tight End Louisiana -Lafayette

7.Levy Adcock- Offensive Tackle Oklahoma State

If you enjoy talking about the world of sports tune into the number#1 sports show in the nation every Saturday from 12PM-1PM hosted by WUFO Sports Director Patrick Freeman on 1080AM WUFO radio or via the internet at www.wufoam.com. Or catch Sports Update for clbTV (ch.20 Buffalo) and YouTube. Also join us for the number#1 recap show every Monday at 7:25AM with Lee Pettigrew, and The Mighty O’Ba Pat Freeman .

The Inauguration of Portia Simpson Miller

2012-01-19T15:30:00.001-08:00
Prime Minister of Jamaica

by Basil Waine Kong, Ph.D., JD

On January 5, 2012, I was on hand and beaming with unbridled pride as, The Right Honorable Portia Simpson Miller, took the oath of office as the Seventh Prime Minister of Jamaica pledging sovereignty, economic prosperity and social transformation. I believe more than ever that Portia Simpson Miller represents the truth and the way forward.

It was a momentous moment and a dramatic day. Pride mixed with high expectancy was in the air as the 10,000 people filed into the grounds of Kings House, as well as millions more around the globe who watched on line and applauded enthusiastically as PM repeatedly struck the right notes such as when Mr. Andrew Holness was introduced as the “Leader of the Opposition”.

The Right Honorable Portia Simpson Miller, took the oath of office as the Seventh Prime Minister of Jamaica pledging sovereignty, economic prosperity and social transformation.

I am sitting about 20 rows from the platform thinking and marveling: “What’s the difference between a small farmer and a doctor?” What is the difference between one woman from Wood Hall, Trelawney living on modest means, and the Prime Minister of Jamaica? Ladies and Gentlemen, the answer? One generation. I am glad that I live in a country where the Portia Simpson Miller story is not even unusual. No matter how difficult the circumstances, we rise. We rise because the prevailing value in Jamaica is that our children should exceed their parent's achievements. When I was thirteen years old, if you had placed both my mother and father in a police lineup, I could not have recognized either one of them . And yet, this little bare foot boy from country (Woodlands, St. Elizabeth) became a lawyer and traveled to 100 countries AND more importantly produced four children who are all more successful. It was worth pondering.

Three years ago, I sent the following letter that was published in the Gleaner (October 17, 2009) and here on the buffalo bullet (October, 2009) that proved to be prophetic.

A cross section of Jamaican society (the people who elected her, members of parliament from both parties, the judiciary, religious leaders, foreign high commissioners and other diplomats, etc., etc., etc.,) were present when she came up from the shadows, up the stairs into the light to further fire up the crowd with a marvelous message of hope for our troubled economy that is plagued by a high rate of poverty, illiteracy, crime, homelessness and increasing foreign debt.

The set up for her speech was The Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen’s challenge to the country to support the new government now that the people have spoken. He also quoted a Chinese Philosopher who professed that when a great leader retires and hang up his/her spurs, the people will proclaim that, “WE” did it. This is at the core of what our Prime Minister believes. Her practice is to consult and obtain consensus before embarking on new ventures.

It was a magnificent speech. She said she came through the fire and is now a much better person and a much more patient and thoughtful leader for having endured the slings, arrows and everything else that was thrown at her in an attempt to defeat her spirit. It only made the victory that much sweeter and her resolve to advance “Brand Jamaica” as a good place to do business, visit, raise healthy families and where individuals can be all they want to be.

We can and must do better to be civil and uplifting of each other. She is committed to restore the breach in the eyes of the world. This will be achieved by eliminating corruption, increasing transparency and establishing meaningful partnerships with the people. With all hands on deck, focused and determined, we will rise and we will shine. Importantly, to great applause, she pointed out that the time has come for Jamaica to be established as a true republic without supervision from Britannia.

We owe a gold star to whoever arranged for the entertainment. If you think Jamaica’s talent is deep in sprint races, I hope you saw it all. Our talent is even deeper in entertainment. In every instance, I clamored for more. The Glenmuir Choir was great, The Tivoli Dance Troupe was wonderful, Shaggy was bombastic, and the Jamaica Regiment Band was absolutely professional, especially when they accompanied Shaggy when he sang: “Strength of a Woman” pointing directly at our Prime Minister who thoroughly enjoyed the moment. My favorite, however, was the Mona Preparatory School Speech Choir. The Speech Ensemble recited Marcus Garvey’s speech: “No Master But God” in grand style. How do I get to see them perform in a full concert? They looked good, moved good, spoke good and walked good. These boosey boys so reminded me of me when I performed in a similar choir at Springfield All Age School in St. Elizabeth in 1958 under the direction of Ms. Mavis Smith!

The after inaugural reception at the Wyndham Hotel capped off a perfect day, toasting, meeting new friends, reconnecting with the old and making plans with the current. While I was disappointed with the sound system that only half the audience could hear, our Prime Minister graciously accepted the congratulatory comments heaped on her, made informal remarks and I enjoyed one of her famous hugs. It was everyone’s consensus that “The Right Honourable Portia Simpson Miller”, Prime Minister of Jamaica, is an easy person to support! She is now a highly respected Woman for all seasons.

While my MP is Julian Robinson, On Friday evening, I had occasion to attend one of Andre Hylton’s victory celebrations and was most impressed with his people skills. He is well known for his passion for cars and voluntarism driven by his passion to serve. His philosophy is to do as much good as he can to serve the people. This will be a hard working member of parliament. It was very enlightening for me to engage his supporters in a wide range of topics relating to improving the lives of Jamaican citizens.

I am proud to be asked serve the administration as a member of the Prime Minister's “Think Tank” to analyze problems and plan future developments. While the Planning Institute of Jamaica is already charged and committed to leading the process of policy formulation on economic and social issues and external co-operation management to achieve sustainable development, in our two hour meeting with her at Jamaica House on Thursday (January 12), she charged us to develop innovative ideas and review contemplated initiatives (JEEP) for their impact on all the segments of our society. Our group of 12 (disciples) is phenomenally enlightened and accomplished individuals, who, I believe, are up to the task.

As for my personal priority, ever since I read Professor Don Robotham’s dire warnings of the dangers of frustrating the talents and ambitions of our youth that I would even go so far to characterize this as country suicide. Other than the urgency of fixing the economy, we must move quickly to set our youth on a course of achievement and prosperity.

According to the Professor Robotham, the more than 670,000 persons in the 20-29 age group, about 400,000 are either unemployed or not in the labour force. Nearly 60 per cent is jobless. But worse, more than 80 per cent of the unemployed 19-29-year-olds have stopped looking for work. Add to this dismal picture the fact that nearly 90 per cent, or more than 220,000, in the 15-19 age group are neither in school, nor have jobs. This is a crisis of great proportion.

May God Bless our Prime Minister and May God Bless Jamaica. Mi joyous!

Bullet Columnist Basil Waine Kong as written several pieces for this journal and especially likes to expound on his favorite subject: his beloved Jamaica. He is a former Atlien (resident of Atlanta GA), and was the CEO of the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) for 22 years before his retirement in 2008 to return to Jamaica. This article is reprinted with his permission from his blogsite; Coming in From the Cold... Bob Marley

GIVE ME BACK MY YAHOO CLASSIC EMAIL FORMAT NOW!!

2012-01-18T15:25:00.000-08:00
Open Letter to Yahoo - If It Ain't Broke, Don't Mess It Up

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

This is a letter of protest to Yahoo from a long time Yahooligan - Me!

It is amazing to me how you can get the finest, most creative minds in one room, and they can still get things wrong. Yahoo has to be convicted of the most egregious crime of throwing out the baby with the bath water in this latest so called "improvement" of their browser.

It is a class-a disaster. Not only does the stupid new format have glitches on top of glitches; but it's slow as molasses in January.

I WANT MY YAHOO CLASSIC EMAIL FORMAT BACK. I think I - as a human being, and a consumer - am entitled to have a say in this matter. And I have put up with this nonsense long enough. It is my pererogative to choose to use the classic version. Not only is it more efficient and easy to read, it actually is more people friendly.

You may say I'll get used to the new way; but how does one go from quality to mediocrity. Your new format is poorly executed and annoying in the extreme. I was content to put up with it though, as long as you left the rest of my email accounts alone. But now you've invaded my other accounts, and this insipid format is spreading like a bad case of herpes. STOP IT!

Your Classic Email Format was the best of all those online to date. I like being able to look at the "TO" line and actually see who I'm emailing to. I think the fact that I have to select "draft" and then hit an additional button to send my copy to "draft" is stupidly redundant. It's amazing to me how some people never know when they have something good. I do not like the color scheme, nor the tabs that don't close when you click on them.

I WANT MY YAHOO CLASSIC EMAIL FORMAT BACK!!!! NOW!!!

I have also noticed that you no longer offer customer service anymore, either, so an individual who has an actual concern has no way of communicating them to you or any of your staff.

It is for this reason that I am going to the open forum and putting you on blast. Stop messing around with the format. If it ain't broke don't mess it up - of course there was another word that I would have used in this space, but I have a policy about profanity, and I am bound to uphold it.

What I am certain of, is that if I am one person who thinks your new format sucks, there are thousands of others who feel the same way.

We, who by the way are loyal Yahooligans, deserve better treatment than this. We deserve a choice. And I CHOOSE YAHOO CLASSIC - for all my email addresses. I don't know where you did the test market for this stuff; they obviously weren't writers or researchers; probably gamers who wouldn't know the difference anyway.

Give me back my YAHOO CLASSIC EMAIL FORMAT.

Stop messing with it.

We love you just the way you are. Don't do anything except continue to be great.

Thanks,
Sincerely & Vehemently

bullet ColumnistGloria Dulan-Wilson Is a veteran New York City Journalist. Her experiences, perspective & sense of history are an invaluable combination. "check out my blog:" www.gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson says Put Blacks Back on Plantation

2012-01-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

by Alberta Parish

When I first read the story about Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson who agrees with Newt Gingrich’s statement about poor Black kids having no work ethic, and says that he would take all Black people back to the South and put them on the plantation so they would understand the ethic of work, I was taken aback. Right-wing conservative and Christian minister, Reverend Peterson is exactly the kind of man who should never hold any positions of power, not in government or religion. Does he not understand that Black leaders in time’s past have fought against human rights violations (institutionalized slavery)? The plantation represents a system in which Blacks had no legal rights, were the property of another man, and were viewed as less than a human being.

He reminds me of those churchmen who burned people at the stake for not having certain religious and moral views.

To me, Rev. Peterson is another religious nutjob. He reminds me of those churchmen who burned people at the stake for not having certain religious and moral views. Peterson’s entire worldview is between the pages of the Bible, which teaches racism and sexism. He believes in the master/slave relationship. After all, the Bible teaches that slaves ought to obey their masters in the flesh. Abolitionist and Union soldier Harriet Tubman, Minister Nat Turner, and many other Africans as well as White abolitionists fought to end human rights violations in the form of chattel slavery. But Peterson wants to return Blacks to the plantation…where many of his ancestors lived miserable lives working from sun up to sun down for zero wages. It is one thing to teach social justice and equality among all men, but it’s another to divide men and subjugate one group of people for the benefit of another. Institutionalized slavery in America was for the benefit of another.

Quite frankly, I think the motivation behind Rev. Peterson’s remarks was so that he could garner a little attention for himself, because now people are interested in knowing who Mr. Jesse Lee Peterson is. People who’ve never heard of Mr. Peterson is now visiting his websites and listening to his weekly radio broadcast. The negative attention following Peterson’s controversial statements is also building up his church membership. Therefore, more money is being generated.

Reverend Peterson represents the latest brainwashed Christian in a long list of brainwashed Christians who believe that it is normal to be a slave, because his holy books condone slavery.

Even though we live in a free society called the United States of America, you’re only as free as the money you have in your checking account. If you don’t have a lot of money, you don’t have a lot of freedom. Therefore, poor Blacks don’t have to return to the South and work on a physical plantation. Poor Blacks already live and work on the state plantation where there is less opportunity for poor Black children who live in neighborhoods where there are more non-Black-owned businesses than Black-owned businesses, and where there are more under-performing public school systems in which poor children are forced to endure. The state plantation that poor people live and work on often does not produce millionaires and billionaires, but instead it produces government slaves who, in turn, produces religious slaves like Good Ol’ Reverend Peterson. The government slave often copes with his mundane existence through religion.

...for hundreds of years it has taught the Black community to depend on an imaginary friend who sits among the clouds-

Reality dictates that the Black church has a role to play in the downfall of the Black community, because for hundreds of years it has taught the Black community to depend on an imaginary friend who sits among the clouds, and wait for his blessings. To any oppressed population, the hope of blessings in the form of finances sound like good news. However, the Black community has been bamboozled for years by these pimps in the pulpit that teach false hope and imaginary blessings, and not self-reliance and financial freedom. It’s not that Black people don’t understand the ethic of work, we just don’t understand the lack of a decent and fair wage for our honest day’s labor. After a certain amount of years spent working a job, you expect a shot at the American Dream. After all, they told us if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything. Now, Black people are realizing that was bullshit.

In the face of Americans losing pensions and other retirement benefits due to an ailing economy, people are realizing the American Dream is not so easily obtainable anymore. People are tired and fed up with their mundane routines: all work, no play, no pay increase for two or three years. I think poor Blacks are the hardest working people in America. Most are working up to 60 hours a week just to make ends meet. Of course Rev. Peterson lacks enough intelligence to realize that poor Blacks are not his problem. Religion is his problem and everybody else’s.

bullet columnist Alberta Parish is best known as a take-no-prisoners Youtube commentator, you can also follow her writings on Myspace and Twitter.

Bitter Politics of Envy?

2012-01-16T07:51:00.002-08:00

By CHARLES M. BLOW

You’re just jealous. At least that’s how Mitt Romney sees it. The millionaire who posed for a picture with the boys at Bain Capital with the long green clinched between their teeth and poking out of their collars and jackets now says that people who question what he did there, and what rich people do now, are just green with envy.

Mitt Romney; the millionaire who posed for a picture with the boys at Bain Capital with the long green clinched between their teeth (photo Bain Capital/The Boston Globe).

In his New Hampshire victory speech on Tuesday, Romney lambasted his Republican opponents (who have raised real issues about his role at the private equity firm Bain Capital) for following the lead of President Obama, whom he described as a leader who divides us “with the bitter politics of envy.”

The next day on “Today” on NBC, Romney defended the statement, rejecting the notion that there were questions about Wall Street behavior, saying the whole discussion was about class warfare. He even went so far as to suggest that such talk shouldn’t even be openly entertained. When the interviewer asked, “Are there no fair questions about the distribution of wealth without it being seen as envy, though?” Romney responded, “I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like.”

In quiet rooms? That’s the problem. Too many have been too quiet for too long. And, on this point, we must applaud the efforts of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It took income inequality and corporate responsibility out of the shadows and into the streets.

A report released on Wednesday by the Pew Research Center found that about two-thirds of Americans now perceive a strong conflict between the rich and poor in this country. That was up 19 percentage points from 2009.

As The New York Times pointed out in regard to the report, “conflict between rich and poor now eclipses racial strain and friction between immigrants and the native-born as the greatest source of tension in American society.”

And this has nothing to do with envy and everything to do with fairness.

Elizabeth Warren, who is now running for the Senate seat that Romney ran for in 1994 and didn’t get, probably rebuts this myth of class warfare best by reframing the discussion in terms of a “social contract” between the rich and the rest of society. At one of her campaign events, she explained:

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there, good for you. But, I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory and hire someone to protect against this because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea. God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

That is the corporate Contract With America: societal symbiosis. We create a society in which smart, hard-working people can be safe and prosper, and they in turn reinvest a fair share of that prosperity back into society for posterity.

Everyone benefits.

But somewhere along the way this got lost. Greed got good. The rich wanted all of the societal benefits and none of the societal responsibilities. They got addicted to seeing profits go up and taxes go down, by any means necessary, no matter the damage to the individual or the collective. Those Maseratis weren’t going to pay for themselves.

And the resulting income inequality helped to stall economic mobility.

As The New York Times reported last week, “many researchers have reached a conclusion that turns conventional wisdom on its head: Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe.” The Times report speculated that: “One reason for the mobility gap may be the depth of American poverty, which leaves poor children starting especially far behind. Another may be the unusually large premiums that American employers pay for college degrees. Since children generally follow their parents’ educational trajectory, that premium increases the importance of family background and stymies people with less schooling.”

Indeed, a November report by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project pointed out, “In the United States, there is a stronger link between parental education and children’s economic, educational, and socio-emotional outcomes than in any other country investigated.”

Pew has found that most children raised at the top of the income spectrum stay there and most raised at the bottom stay at the bottom.

An equal opportunity to success is central to this country’s optimistic ethos, but income inequality and corporate greed are making a lie of that most basic American truism. The rich and their handmaidens on the political right have consolidated America’s wealth on the ever-narrowing peak of a steep hill and greased the slope. And they want to cast everyone at the bottom as lazy or jealous, without acknowledging the accident of birth and collusion of policies that helped grant them their perch.

Income inequality is a threat to this country and the middle class that made her great. If Romney wants to be president, he needs to understand that.

As Alan Krueger, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said on Thursday, “I think it is clear that we can’t go back to the type of policies that exacerbated the rise in inequality and threatened economic mobility in the first place if we want an economy that builds the middle class.”

Not envy Mr. Romney. Opportunity.

Charles M. Blow is a New York Times Columnist and nationally-known commentator: "I invite you to visit my blog By The Numbers, join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, or e-mail me at chblow@nytimes.com."

"Speaking Truth to Power on MLK"©

2012-01-16T07:51:00.001-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

This article will not be printed in the mainstream Black media. It would have been printed in Freedom's Journal, the North Star, the Negro World, Memphis Free Speech, the People's Voice and my op-ed piece in the New York Amsterdam News before the death of Bill Tatum.

Blacks get sidetracked because Bill Tatum married a white woman. With a white woman by his side, Tatum was more principled than any Black selected official or leading Black in New York despite their marriages to Black females. Reportedly, Elinor Tatum married a Black man.

Different belief systems separate Elinor Tatum from her father, Bill. Elinor practices censorship. Bill, like Medgar Evers, opposed it. I was Exhibit A. The New York Amsterdam News could never afford my writings but Tatum, nonetheless, offered me an unpaid position at the New York Amsterdam News. Bill said, "Your voice must be heard regularly in the Black community".

By asking me to write every week in his newspaper, he was also taking a stance against censorship and in support of free speech. This was a dangerous course of action for a Black newspaper. An example is Walker's Appeal to the Colored People of the World. The Georgia Legislature made it a capital offense to circulate David Walker's writings. David Walker was assassinated in Boston for his political writings.

In 1883 in Cairo, IL, Blacks founded a daily newspaper called the Cairo, Illinois Gazette. It did not practice censorship in any respect. Instead, it was an advocate for Black rights. This was its downfall, however. Within six months of its operation, white arsonists torched it. Blacks are forbidden from "speaking truth to power". The Bill of Rights is a mythical document for Blacks.

Bill Tatum's words were buried with him. Suffice it to say that a "leading Black" and a "leading Black selected official" started "whispering" in Elinor's ear. The New York Legislature had already filed an unprecedented, disciplinary complaint against me in 1988. Elinor's father had refused to be obedient to this bill of attainder. Now, he was gone. The rest is history.

Gil Noble unabashedly admired Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Malcolm X and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Two men had been assassinated and the other man had been booted out of Congress. These men captured the essence of "Like It Is". Gil knew that he had no firm support in the Black community. The public record told him so. He knew that both of us were joined at the hip.

It now appears that Gil only confided in me or others who are now afraid to talk. After two leading Black selected officials in New York City visited the offices of WABC-TV to complain about Gil, he called me. Black selected officials and the "HNIC" wanted his head. Blacks did not need a historical perspective in television programming. They wanted "Here and Now".

We can start by putting two and two together to reach this conclusion. Within the past twenty years, there is not a single letter in the public record from any Black selected official in the tri-state area even though "Like It Is" was supposed to be a public affairs program in the same way that "Meet the Press" is a public affairs program. White elected officials need public affairs programming like a camel who is trekking on the Sahara Desert.

To be sure, Black selected officials have more resources than myself to sponsor a media seminar. It would also be in the interest of Black selected officials to support public affairs programming. I am not in politics. My only interest has to be to further the vision of Medgar Evers.

"Here and Now" is an arts and entertainment program. This is a "bait and switch" from "Like It Is". Black selected officials are comfortable with it. Medgar Evers was not assassinated on June 12, 1963 because he entertained white people. He was assassinated because he was smart enough to invoke the "Fairness Doctrine" and he made a political speech attacking white supremacy on May 20, 1963 on WLBT-TV on Jackson, MS.

Medgar Evers paved the way for both Malcolm X and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. who, in turn, paved the way for me in Pagones v. Maddox et. al. Dr. King's mouth was the motivating factor for New York Times v. Sullivan. The Supreme Court had to nominally sanction "speaking truth to power". Like Dred Scott, every Black person should read it.

Unfortunately, New York Times followed Cong. Adam Clayton Powell's attack on the New York Police Department. Esther James would have had no shot against Cong. Powell after the U.S. Supreme Court had decided the issues raised by Dr. King. The Speech and Debate Clause only protected Cong. Powell on the floor of Congress.

Any Black person who clams to be an activist and has not been sued by law enforcement agencies is suspect. It does not help that the Black activist refused to defend his words in a defamation action. I had to defend my words in Howard Beach and Tawana Brawley. Law enforcement agencies sued me in both cases.

Litigation is personally expensive but I won both cases on the legal issues. In Brawley, the jury found that Pagones was involved in the rape of Tawana Brawley but this judicial finding failed to help me and to hurt Pagones. Something is wrong with this picture.

I want to thank Earl Caldwell and Michael G. Haskins for inviting me on the "Caldwell Chronicle", WBAI-FM (99.5) this Friday, January 13, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. It will be a fitting tribute to Dr. King from a legal and historical perspective. The struggle for Gil's vision of "Like It Is" must continue. This includes lessons learned from Martin, Malcolm, Medgar and Adam.

Black children are an intricate part of this struggle. This is the reason for Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls which was born out of the struggle for Tawana Brawley and the "Central Park 7". Thirteen civil deaths, at the very least, arose out of these struggles. Black selected officials were noticeably absent in each struggle. Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls is a reminder of our children's struggles.

The National Law Journal is a trade journal. Its focus is on the law. A person interested in law should have access to legal literature. I doubt if the Association of American Law Schools would grant accreditation to a law school without a law library. Law books are the tools of the trade. Compare a carpenter without a hammer and a nail.

In its October 31, 2011 edition, the National Law Journal profiles Vinita Gupta of the American Civil Liberties Union in an article entitled "Minority 40 under 40". As a Soros Justice fellow at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, she saw a documentary about the arrest of 38 persons of African ancestry in one day in Tulia, Texas.

Soon, she was on a flight to Texas. Her first step was research at the courthouse. She researched the court files and hit the jackpot. All of the arrests were based on inconsistent testimony from a single, undercover officer. Eventually, she was able to coordinate a legal effort which led Gov. Rick Perry to pardon 35 convicted defendants of African ancestry.

On MLK weekend, no Black selected official in New York should be seen at a MLK celebration. They have failed to introduce any legislation in any legislative body. These officials should also be disqualified for opposing the philosophies of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Among other things, Dr. King said, "an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". Similarly, "if a man has nothing to die for, he has nothing to live for".

Like in Tulia, Texas, racial targeting is running amuck in New York City. A white minority in the New York City Council politically rules a Black, Latin and Asian majority. This group enjoys the benefits of being present in the New York City Council but it refuses to shoulder the responsibility of representing Blacks, Latinos and Asians. This is a breach of the social contract.

The solution for ending racial "targeting" is simple. "He who pays the piper calls the tune". The New York City Council funds the New York Police Department. If the members of a municipal agency consistently violate their oath of office, they have forfeited their right to receive public benefits. This is a basic principle of contract law.

No member of the New York City Council is immune from prosecution for committing a crime. Twenty-three voters in a specific county may convene a grand jury under Article 190 of the Criminal Procedure Law to investigate crimes and indict any suspects. Any person who stops this legitimate, grand jury process is guilty of obstruction of justice.

Unfortunately, Black voters are ignorant of the law. Instead, they choose to follow Judas goats and whine about grievances as though the First Amendment as well as the Second Amendment do not exist. Most Blacks are stupid enough to waive these guardian rights.

In "protecting" the right to vote, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 nullified the presumption that everyone is presumed to know the law. Ignorant people can now endorse their own oppression by voting and, afterwords, be subject to prosecution for endorsing unjust laws.

This presumption is now creating havoc in exercising voting rights. It is also adding to the population of the prison-industrial complex. New York has imported South Africa's apartheid law of prosecuting and imprisoning children. The public miseducation system is also a pipeline to the prison-industrial complex.

Within the past fifty years, the biggest and widely publicized hoax in New York's legal system has been the non-prosecution of Tawana Brawley in a civil action and the disbarment of Alton Maddox despite a five year suspension order based on a bill of attainder which has been outlawed in the United States. This illegal process also violates due process.

A bill of attainder violates " separation of powers" doctrine. The New York Legislature wrote the Judiciary Law. It is prohibited from enforcing the law. The New York Legislature not only wrote the Judiciary Law but it also enforced the law by filing a disciplinary complaint against Maddox. This "separation of powers" doctrine should be understood by any voter.

Tawana Brawley was never sued by Steve Pagones. Yet, the late Justice S. Barrett Hickman claimed that he had issued a monetary judgment against her and in favor of Pagones. This means that New York never acquired personal jurisdiction over Tawana and her legal guardian. Thus, New York lacks the judicial power to issue a judgment.

In other words, there is no summons and complaint filed against her in the Dutchess County Courthouse. This means that New York has never had jurisdiction over her and Hickman had to have filed a false instrument in the Dutchess County Supreme Court. This violates the New York Penal Law. The Black media has embraced and reprinted the lies of the white media.

In that same courthouse, the verdict sheet in Pagones v. Maddox et. al clearly states that a petit jury consisting mostly of whites, found that Pagones was involved in the rape of Tawana Brawley. There is also an autopsy report. It found that Harry Crist, Jr. had been murdered. The last two person admitted to have been with him were his "friends". This investigation has been placed in a cold case file even though the direct evidence is hot.

Blacks have been entitled to public affairs program on each of at least six television stations in the tri-state area since 1966. This right has been honored in the breach. It was fought for and won by Medgar Evers who was assassinated for his effort. Yet, no Black organization in the tri-state area has had the courage to pick up the baton of Medgar Evers.

Blacks in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will not continue to enjoy public affairs programming even though President Barack Obama is up for re-election in 2012 because white racists said so. Blacks will have to prepare for the 2012 political season by watching arts and entertainment on WABC-TV. This is akin to a football team preparing for a rough and tumble, football season by doing ballet.

I recently researched the public record at the Federal Communications Commission. It shows that only United African Movement and Ted Murray, by name, had ever challenged white supremacy at WABC-TV. This means that Gil Noble was the "Lone Ranger" at WABC-TV. The population of the tri-state includes more than three million persons of African ancestry.

If you search the public record for the past 40 years, it will show that I was unquestionably in the vanguard of any movement in New York to challenge white supremacy and I am now marching virtually alone. The public record is beyond dispute. My absence over this period would have been tantamount to Black activism in New York without positive results. Gil Noble and I are similarly situated.

When I walk into a room, virtually everyone gets "hat". Leading Black activists are never present in the same room for an extended period of time. Any effort that I am engaged in for Blacks has to be done with my money including "Like It Is". This modus operandi happened before May 21, 1990 and it still continues to this day.

As is usual, censorship will be in full force this "MLK Weekend". Our children, because of compulsory education, will be falsely told that Dr. King was nonviolent. This was only a tactic in confronting white supremacy. This was not his philosophy. Blacks will listen to Dr. King's speeches this weekend but they will refuse to embrace his philosophy of natural law and social justice.

Gil Noble had to forego his retirement to keep "Like It Is" on the air. This continued fourteen years past his retirement age. He kept one eye on the public record and another eye on his birth certificate. His prognosis and the prognosis of his people are not good. The diagnosis is hypocrisy.

Ignorance and fear is a common thread that connects most Negroes to each other but it is not a quality that ran through the veins of Martin, Malcolm, Medgar, Harry Moore and Adam and their revered ancestors. In this weekend, Blacks should compute where they would be today without the contributions and struggles of our revered ancestors over the past four hundred years.

Montgomery, AL not only became the "Cradle of the Confederacy" on May 1, 1863 but it was upended by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1956. "Jim Crow" died, nominally, without legal fanfare, in Montgomery, AL because Rosa Parks refused to endorse it. Stated differently, she refused to endorse her own oppression.

From that point, Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. had a vision to reinstate and extend the Reconstruction laws. This included the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The Compromise of 1877 would declare the Confederate States of America the victor of the Civil War.

Beginning in 1955 and ending in 1968, Dr. King influenced and contributed to the enactment of four major federal statutes, three major U.S. Supreme Court cases and a constitutional amendment. Although he was not a lawmaker, he emulated the legislative achievements of Cong. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

As we have put more Black faces in public offices our economic, political and social conditions have worsened. Black selected officials are unable to change the name of three blocks of a street named after a white supremacist to honor a revered ancestor. Blacks have also embraced the "white primary" system of governance.

Earl Caldwell is a leading authority on the Civil Rights Movement and he was present in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968. Given the fact that I have been invited to appear on "Caldwell Chronicles" on January 13, it is not a leap to conclude that Earl and I will engage in a serious discussion of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. A discussion of Dr. King's legal contributions is unprecedented.

We must also show our appreciation for the legacy of Gil Noble who would annually have a serious discussion of Dr. King on or about his birthday. WABC-TV must be warned that we expect no less from "Here and Now" this station must be bombarded with e-mails and phone calls. "Power concedes nothing without a demand. The e-mail address is: dave.j.davis.@abc.com. The telephone number for Dave Davis is 212-456-7000.

Dave Davis, general manager of WABC-TV, said that Blacks are only interested in arts and entertainment. He would love to believe that we would "do" in our revered ancestors. This would give him an opportunity to argue that Blacks are "heathens". This definition can be found in slave codes. Circulate this article en masse throughout the tri-state area.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2012-01-16T07:20:00.000-08:00
A Twentieth Century Prophet

by Playthell Benjamin

In 1964, as the Civil Rights Bill was being debated in Congress, the black people of St. Augustine Florida, where I grew up, were waging a bloody struggle against the racial caste system in the nation’s oldest city. And they were joined in their struggle by people of good will from all over the country. There were contingents of clergymen representing Catholics and Protestants, Gentiles and Jews.

There were also members of the American elite like Mrs. Mary Peabody, the mother of Endicott Peabody, the sitting Governor of Massachusetts, and poor righteous teachers and students. The magnet that attracted this broad coalition of conscience to St. Augustine was Dr. Martin Luther King, an extraordinary man of the sort that may appear once in a century.

Some misguided critics on the left and right, black and white, have attempted to deny or minimize his importance in bringing about the radical changes in American society – especially regarding race relations – that occurred during the last half of the twentieth century. While I recognize that the sweeping changes which destroyed the legal basis of the racial caste system was the result of a long arduous struggle that enlisted many soldiers, I also understand that Dr. King’s contribution was unique.

No one else could command the allegiance of the privileged classes and the impoverished masses like King did. In the second volume of his masterwork on the life of Martin Luther King, “Pillars of Fire,” Taylor Branch tells us that the distinguished theologian, philosopher and Orthodox Rabbi Abraham Heschel, called Dr. King a “prophet.”

Rabbi Abraham Herchel-a King supporter-once stated: “You cannot worship God and at the same time look at a man as if he were a horse.”

A European immigrant, Rabbi Heschel had been a famous theologian in Germany until he was forced to flee the Nazi holocaust, and he was a professor at the Jewish Theological seminary in New York when he met Dr. King in Chicago, where both attended a conference on Religion and Race in 1963. For Heschel, Branch points out, racism was heresy and the Rabbi bluntly told the conference: “You cannot worship God and at the same time look at a man as if he were a horse.”

Heschel, who had written a seminal book on the ancient Hebrew Prophets, argued that what marked King as a prophet was not his power to move people with visions of better tomorrows expressed in great oratory, because “Moralist of all ages have been eloquent in singing the praises of virtue.”

Herchel (2nd from R) marches with King, Fred Shuttlesworth, etc. from Selma to Montgomery.

In Heschel’s view “The Distinction of the prophets was in their remorseless unveiling of injustice and oppression.” Furthermore, the prophet avoided lapsing into despair by viewing unwarranted suffering as redemptive – a theme reiterated many times in the speeches of Dr. King. Hence, according to Heschel’s definition, Martin Luther King Jr. was indeed a prophet.

Yet even without Rabbi Heschel’s vast knowledge of the Hebrew prophetic tradition, the masses of southern black people had already concluded that Dr. King was some species of prophet or messiah who, like Moses in the bible, was ordained to lead them to the Promised Land of freedom. Dr. King so embodied this tradition that even as late as June 2003, the Hasidic Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, Oxford Chaplain and author of over a dozen books, told this writer, “Dr. King brought the teachings of the ancient Hebrew prophets to life and made their teachings relevant to the modern world in a way that no rabbi I know of has been able to do.”

The black folk of St. Augustine were all raised on those Old Testament stories about the suffering and deliverance of the Jews, indeed the “Negro Spirituals” they sang were based upon them. So they were well conditioned to receive Dr. King’s message. While sophisticated thinkers may view the scriptures as symbolic or allegorical, to the toiling black masses of the south, where King’s ministry of struggle was born and raised, the stories in the bible were literally true.

As Dr. DuBois points out in the chapter “The Coming of the Lord” in his 1935 masterpiece Black Reconstruction, the freed slaves who flocked to the Union Army felt that God was alive and that they had met and talked with him in the dark of night. This was the tradition in which the black culture of St. Augustine was rooted. Thus their feelings about the divine nature of his mission were real. It was by this faith that they walked unarmed amid the murderous white mobs like Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

The Doctor, as King was affectionately known among friends and colleagues, had something for everybody. He was the good shepherd to his church flock and an intellectual of the first rank – a PhD in systematic theology from Boston University. He was both a child of the black church and a paragon of the “Talented Tenth,” who accepted the ancestral imperative set forth by black men of prophetic moral vision such as: Father Alexander Crummell, Bishop Daniel Payne, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, Dr. Benjamin Mayes, et al, and he used his splendid education to lead the oppressed masses by preaching a gospel of liberation.

He was the ideal son that every black mother wished for, the eloquent orator who did the black middle class proud, and the rousing preacher whose powerful baritone voice and rhythmic cadences could summon the spirit of God for the righteous, and inspire goose pimples and fear in the infidels! Indeed, he could soothe the savage beasts of hopelessness and despair with the sound of his voice.

In Martin Luther King Jr., both traditions of the black preacher – the learned and the vernacular – converge. He could move seamlessly from a learned philosophical discourse, to a sermon based in the religious folkways of the black southern masses. Dr. King could calmly preach to the text, or deliver a free wheeling stem-winder with the best of the great extemporaneous preachers who rely on inspiration rather than education when interpreting biblical texts, those un-tutored clerical bards whom the learned poet and freedom fighter James Weldon Johnson immortalized in “God’s Trombones.”

He was also a splendid example of Black male style as it evolved in the US, his sartorial elegance matching his verbal eloquence; two highly regarded attributes in black male culture. And like his contemporaries Ralph Ellison and Malcolm X, King was also a great dancer, having won the Jitterbug Champion-ship of Atlanta as a teenager.

When all is said and done however, what distinguished Martin Luther King Jr. from the vast majority of preachers and secular intellectuals was his willingness to place his body in harm’s way on behalf of the oppressed. While he could have had an easy life, even in apartheid America, he did this over and over again in the face of opponents with bloody murder on their minds. So, it is altogether fitting and proper that we should pay homage to this twentieth century prophet, who died so that a better America might be born.

Benjamin is a veteran political journalist out of Harlem NY. His essays can be read on his blog site Commentaries on the Times.

Can Blacks Move from King's Integration to Internal Integration?

2012-01-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

by Chris Stevenson

One reason to be thankful of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, taken from the pages of "Orders to Kill" by William Pepper: "Dr. King's new commitment to oppose the war became his priority. He told black trade unionist Cleveland Robinson and longtime adviser Stanley Levinson that he was prepared to break with the Johnson Administration regardless of the financial consequences and even personal peril."

You simply can't beat that priceless attitude with a stick, water-hose or anything else. How much in stark contrast have we experienced many black leaders to be since then? What separates Martin Luther King, from a wave of black Lex Luthor Kings is a notable lack of niggardly behavior. No, King wasn't perfect, he had some drama, but comparatively much less baggage. It all starts with attitude, you couldn't buy Martin, Fred Shuttlesworth, Malcolm X, or Medgar Evers. You can conceivably buy black activists today for less than a wooden nickel (black preachers will hold out for a bit more). The leading proponent for that got his start, embarrassingly-enough during King's day. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was described by both close King confidants Andrew Young and Ralph Abernathy as appearing in public the day after King's assassination wearing a blood-stained shirt, and claiming it to be the same shirt he had been wearing the previous evening when he held Martin. What does that tell you? Even in our darkest hour, somebody gots to niggerize things.

When I was young, what scared me about King was not King, I was afraid he got us much farther than many blacks would ever appreciate or handle. Today I feel it's gotten much worse. Millions of blacks around the country for example, just got finished celebrating Kwanzaa; an Afrocentric alternative to Christmas based on various aspects of black-on-black love, unity, economic independence, and peace all divided into 7 principles. It was founded by a Ronald McKinley Everett, AKA Maulana Karenga, author, former Professor of African Studies, lecturer, co-founder of a black nationalist group called US or US Organization, and an individual with a pretty violent past. US wasn't an acronym or initial, it stood for the phrase "Us as opposed to Them." They were however sarcastically tagged United Slaves by their more well-known contemporary rivals the Black Panthers.

Black groups like these started the Black Liberation Movement as an eventual successor to the Civil Rights Movement. Another US had different ideas, and expended a lot of time, resources, ideas, and manpower to make sure they would fail; the United States Government. The Panthers and US were manipulated to fight each other by a government agency more secretive than Cointelpro. This resulted in a shootout in 1969 at UCLA and the deaths of Panthers Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter, and John Huggins. Soon after the FBI caused some division through letters written by them under the name of either an US member or Panther depending on where it was headed (this of course was in addition to the letters US intelligence distributed between the Panthers that instigated the East Coast/West Coast internal schism). Karenga, for all his high intellect and articulateness always seemed to fall for these divisive tricks with great zeal (he claims he was influenced by the CIA's MK ULTRA program, as opposed to my suspicions of typical black false-importance).

On one occasion Karenga was known to have tortured 2 black females; Deborah Jones and Gail Davis by beating them with an electrical cord and a karate baton while both were naked. This in addition to holding a soldering iron to their skin and beating them with a toaster according to testimony from a co-defendant. Of course Karenga did time, but managed to talk his way into an early release. His prison psychological evaluation considered him delusional and schizophrenic, having been observed talking to his blanket and believing himself to be under constant attack by dive-bombers.

Infiltration into black movements is certainly nothing new, J. Edgar Hoover literally invented this practice from the days of Marcus Garvey, Malcolm's father Earl Little and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Men like these were focused, no-nonsense and lacking in selfish-sadistic-malice. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Karenga today or Kwanzaa and Christmas has an equally or worse suspect beginning if you look into it. But such flaws within some black leaders do nothing but prove to me that being great talkers but poor characters, is putting the cart before the horse. This appointing oneself a legend in one's own mind can lead to narcissism, a complete loss of the original goal and insanity. A latent lingering love of white people and they're "nice things (home, neighborhood, benefits, pension)" seems to be the common thread covertly motivating many of us in spite of outward loud proclamations of pro-blackness. And I do believe that's a major flaw with collective black leadership today.

Black leaders adopting Internal Integration would eventually influence black youths and street gangs to come together.

I would like to declare officially that African Americans no longer need integration. We've integrated as far as we can go, it is no longer an undiscovered country. We marched on Washington, some of us are even marching on Wall Street with whites right now. What blacks need most urgently is an Internal Integration; stop killing each other, stop fighting each other, stop disrespecting each other, stop being jealous of each other, and stop gaming each other. That's right we need a March on Jefferson Avenue. White conservatives and racists need to learn to integrate with us, let them worry about integration.

Part of the problem with integration is the impression long ago that if we begin to look and think more like white people, they would eventually be more accepting of us. That's the basic premise behind it. At some point in history this is what was told to our ancestors, and we lost much time believing it. Even though blacks have done such a great job of integrating so much into white society that our kids and grandkids would prefer shooting one of us, than one of them, the concept is conspicuously outdated. In place of the black activists and religious leaders of yesterday are men of false consciousness and delusion today and a larger group of followers who are mostly good people, but more gullible, less demanding, and too relaxed or distracted to notice the integral, moral disparity between black leaders of Martin's day, and their leaders today.

Chris Stevenson is a regular columnist for blackcommentator, Political Affairs Magazine, and a syndicated columnist. Follow him on Twitter, and Facebook, you don't have to join any of them. Watch his video commentary Policy & Prejudice and The Network for clbTV. Sign his Petition to permanently Abolish the Death Penalty @ Change.org. Respond to him on the link below.

Gloria Takes on Hazing

2012-01-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

First of all, my profound condolences to the Champion family on the loss of their son, Robert, Jr. There is nothing anyone can say or do to take away the loss of a child. But my prayers are with them as they go through this horrific period.

Black in the day, we had no reports of anyone dying or being beaten to within an inch of their lives while going through an initiation process.

When we are confronted with the horrors of "hazing" as some poor student falls prey to the overzealous behavior of fellow students, or peers who are apparently lacking in proper supervision, values, or priorities we are horrified. And each year either a sorority or a fraternity (and in this instance a marching band) comes under scrutiny and fire for the tragedy that ensues such banal activities.

Most of us who pledged a fraternity or sorority have fond memories of having survived "pledge week," and are prepared to regale each other with how "tuff" the dean of pledgees was and how we handled it (or not). Black in the day, we had no reports of anyone dying or being beaten to within an inch of their lives while going through an initiation process.

I have often stated that our Black fraternities and sororities are the last bastions of our lost African "rites of passage" transition from childhood to man or womanhood; and I still maintain that stance. However, given the fact that we, as parents and adults no longer (by law) have the tools to discipline our children during their formative years, so tragedies like these don't happen; and since most of our kids have been exposed to a daily overdose of violence, at least from the age of three, via TV, movies, so-called rap music, etc., I think we need to review and come up with a better plan for initiation and pledging.

Since most of our kids have been exposed to a daily overdose of violence, at least from the age of three, via TV, movies, so-called rap music, etc., I think we need to review and come up with a better plan for initiation and pledging (photo-AP)

You do realize of course, you can't just tell them that "hazing" is bad. And you can't just tell them to stop "hazing" - it's unfortunately hardwired into our primordial Human, DNA, regardless of your race - Black, White, Indian, Asian, or whatever. It is like the proverbial new kid on the block who has to prove him or herself worthy of being a part of the group.

Instead of the tired old m.o. of verbally condemning their actions, or preaching to deaf ears, we need a paradigm shift: Perhaps they should have task oriented initiations in a way that benefits the organization (Fraternity, Sorority, Band(?!!!), or other relevant group) and at the same time forges a bond between the new initiates. It can be fun or it can be serious; or a mix of both. It can exist over a prescribed period of time (3 to 6 weeks). Perhaps the "pledgees" can perform - dance, sing, act, or do something quirky (which is what we had to do in the early days anyway) for their fellow brothers and sisters. Or perhaps be required to perform a series of some sort of community service, for which they will be rated in terms of delivery and impact (which is what is done on the grad chapter level of Delta Sigma Theta).

You can't just be against something, without giving them something positive to replace it with; and without providing the proper mentor ship to make sure it is implemented appropriately. Also, you might want to integrate the conference with some peers so that it does not look as if all we old heads are looking down on our youth. Remember, we did some pretty unorthodox stuff in our day, too.

Again, my condolences to the family.

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

R.B.Holmes, Jr. (850) 545-7427
Dr. Linda Fortenberry (504) 606-8050 LFortenberry@bethaltally.org
Dr. George Copper (803) 536-7013

bullet ColumnistGloria Dulan-Wilson Is a veteran New York City Journalist. Her experiences, perspective & sense of history are an invaluable combination. "check out my blog:" www.gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com

Religious Fanaticism Accounts For Most of the World's Miseries

2012-01-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

by Alberta Parish

When I come across the typical religious person, I wish I could just knock some sense into his or her head so this individual can then realize that his version of God is no more than a mythical anomaly, a figment of his or her imagination gone wild. The fictional God is like the imaginary friend that a child sincerely believes with all of his heart is real. The only problem with the imaginary friend is he's always been invisible. Therefore, blind faith is the only thing the child has to rely upon for his friend's existence. There are too many religious people in the world, which is one reason the world has gone to hell. I often wonder were it not for religion, would the world be a safer place? Would there be strife and warfare between the Muslim, Jew and Christian? Would there be a need for peace talks in the Middle East? Would homophobia exist? Would there be an Anti-Homosexual Bill outlawing same-sex relationships in Uganda?

(photo-"Funny Atheism")

What all religious fanatics fail to realize is same-sex marriage was legal throughout the Roman Empire before the rise of Christianity. The Roman Emperor Constantine banned same-sex marriage shortly after legalizing Christianity as Rome's state religion in the 4th Century. The religious doctrines designed to control the uneducated masses two thousand years ago should be null and void in the minds of today's so-called educated generation. After all, we have a wealth of knowledge and history available at our very finger tips.

The reason I think many people hold on to their religious fairy tales even after they've been exposed to knowledge that their faith in a mythical being is a waste of time and energy is they need something to make themselves feel better about their small existence on this planet. When one faces the fact that we just may be alone in the universe, this forces the individual to contend with his or her minimal existence. Let's face it: all of us can't have the fabulous life of a rock star or Hollywood starlet. Many people are doomed to live an ordinary, small, and poor life. The people who control and shape the religious attitudes of entire generations know that God does not exist. Of course they have to sell us the belief system in order to keep their Matrix of religious control afloat.

(photo-"Funny Atheism")

Religion is for the weak and easily controllable. It is for this same reason that religious people are easily the most dangerous people on the planet, because they can be manipulated into carrying out so-called religious prophecies and feel justified by their imaginary friend who sits among the clouds. Their holy books condone genocide, rape, and terror against those that are deemed as the ungodly. Entire nations have been slaughtered in the name of Allah, Yahweh and Jesus, all of whom have origins in ancient mythology. What is the history and mythology behind YHWH, Jesus and Allah? YHWH is said to have been one of the seventy sons of El, a Canaanite god. Jesus comes from Hesus, a Druid pagan deity. Christ derives from the Greek name Christos, a mythical figure worshipped throughout the ancient world thousands of years before the Christ of the Four Gospels. Allah was one of many deities in the pre-Islamic Arabic pantheon before Muhammad made Allah Islam's supreme being.

As an atheist, I see religion more clearly now than ever before as the enemy to mankind, and is the very reason why there is racism, genocide, war and human inequality. God was created to maintain the balance between rich and poor, between the elite and the mob. God was never created to come to the aid of the poor or to be the savior of humanity. He is the ultimate imaginary friend, and like all imaginary friends they soon disappear from the life of the child.

bullet columnist Alberta Parish is best known as a take-no-prisoners Youtube commentator, you can also follow her writings on Myspace and Twitter.

Pat Freeman Buffalo Bills 2012 Mock Draft

2012-01-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

The Mighty O'Ba's Buffalo Bill Mock Draft 2012 #1

1.Jonathan Martin Offensive Tackle Stanford

2.Ronnell Lewis Defensive End/ Outside Linebacker Oklahoma

3.Tommy Streeter- Wide Receiver University Miami

4. Russell Wilson- Quarterback Wisconsin

4.Shea Mcclellin- Defensive End / Outside Linebacker Boise State

5.Casey Hayward Cornerback Vanderbilt

6.Ladarius Green- Tight End Louisiana -Lafayette

7.Ladarius Green- Offensive Tackle Oklahoma State

If you enjoy talking about the world of sports tune into the number#1 sports show in the nation every Saturday from 12PM-1PM hosted by WUFO Sports Director Patrick Freeman on 1080AM WUFO radio or via the internet at www.wufoam.com. Or catch Sports Update for clbTV (ch.20 Buffalo) and YouTube. Also join us for the number#1 recap show every Monday at 7:25AM with Lee Pettigrew, and The Mighty O’Ba Pat Freeman .

The Power of the "Word"©

2012-01-03T12:31:00.003-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

Twenty-five years ago, during Howard Beach, Gov. Mario Cuomo accused me of having "zero credibility" in the Black community for demanding a special prosecutor. By 1986, Cuomo knew me very well and he knew that his characterization of me as having "zero credibility" in the Black community was also a lie. He knew most Blacks, however. This was his problem

It was at this point that I realized the power of the word "thank you". I had already represented Blacks and legal principles pro bono in a string of legal cases. Some of these cases involved his office. If I had been a European, he knew that a public "thank you" to me would have been deafening from Europeans. Since Blacks were unappreciative, he could attack me with impunity and Blacks would still support him and his son politically.

When I viewed the appearances of Mrs. Jean Griffith Sandiford and Rev. Herbert Daughtry on NY1's "Inside City Hall" on December 20, 2011, I did not expect unabashed praise for Gov. Cuomo and Assistant Attorney General Charles Hynes in 1986-1987. Assuming arguendo that these men had a different take on race than all other white elected officials, they were, nonetheless, doing their jobs; that is, to defend and enforce the U.S. Constitution.

In the first year of law school in contracts, law students are taught the pre-existing duty rule. This is why no police officer could have accepted a reward for finding Tawana Brawley. It was his or her job. On the other hand, law enforcement agents like Steven Pagones are subject to public criticism for breaching a public duty.

When praise is based on a double standard, it should be roundly criticized. I received neither praise nor compensation from the Griffith family and it is wrong to praise Cuomo and Hynes at my expense. I never received a "thank you" from the Griffith family. It is a "badge of slavery" to give thanks to the slavemaster and not to Frederick Douglass.

Unlike Cuomo and Hynes, I did not owe the Griffith family anything. There was no quid pro quo that had passed between the family and me. I saw a legal principle in this racially-motivated murder and New York was practicing a double standard of justice. Today, Blacks are praising Plessy v. Ferguson.

The "right to travel" had been accorded to former enslaved Africans and their descendants during Reconstruction. It was never enacted for the legal protection of the late Yankel Rosenbaum. This is the doctrine of original intent. I assumed the role of a private attorney general in Howard Beach out of necessity and to protect the race. Blacks should at least respect each other.

The family of Rosenbaum did not need an attorney who had to put his own career and life on the line to secure justice for the Rosenbaum family. New York readily indicted Lemrick Nelson. After the jury was unable to connect the dots between Nelson's actions and Rosenbaum's death, the federal government stepped into the void. The rest is history. The prosecutor's office was originally established to protect "whites only".

For my part in Howard Beach, New York illegally issued a disciplinary penalty against me at the behest of the court officers association and Black selected officials. This association had also sued me on behalf of a member of the union for defamation. This penalty was accompanied with a warning: "Two strikes and you are out". It had also initiated a criminal action against me in Manhattan.

I was a dead man walking for demanding civil rights for all Blacks. The cases of Tawana Brawley and Rev. Al Sharpton would push me over the edge. After Howard Beach, New York warned me to leave Blacks alone. Negro affairs was white folks' business. The plantation system, with plantation overseers, is still intact. The new overseers are former slaves.

If Black people were not out of their minds, I would still be practicing law today. This is a legal lynching and Blacks have closed their eyes. The lesson from the Montgomery Bus Boycott is that when Blacks run away from evil, whites get religion. Whites have always played the race card with a poker face. Blacks in New York are running to evil.

When Gov. David Paterson had the power to issue, at the very least, a pardon, in my case, I decided, instead, to put all of my marbles in John White's basket. It was my hope that Gov. Paterson would do the right thing for John White. Instead of doing the right thing, he, instead, commuted John White's unconstitutional sentence.

I have saved my own case for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He and his father were intimately involved in my unlawful disbarment. Gov. Mario Cuomo had immediately terminated a five-year disciplinary penalty against Michael Dowd for humanitarian reasons. New York, according to Gov. Mario Cuomo, was denying to Dowd's family food, clothing and shelter after Dowd had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

I was also hit with a five-year disciplinary penalty after Howard Beach for protecting the civil rights of Blacks. The U.S. Supreme Court denied my petition for writ of certiorari in 2009 even though New York admitted that it had disbarred me without my knowledge since I had insisted on fighting the illegal, five-year suspension. In other words, "no Negro has any rights that whites are bound to respect.

Black people are always asking me what they can do to jumpstarting my petition for reinstatement to practice law. The answer is simple. Without any censorship from the Black media, Blacks, can, en masse, publicly say "thank you". The "thank you" should emanate from religious, political, professional, labor, business, and social organizations. This is the power of "thank you". The Cuomos will get the message.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

Uh huh...

2012-01-03T12:31:00.001-08:00
The G.O.P.’s ‘Black People’ Platform

by CHARLES M. BLOW

As we’ve gotten around to casting votes to select a Republican presidential nominee, the antiblack rhetoric has taken center stage.

You just have to love (and despise) this kind of predictability.

On Sunday, Rick “The Rooster” Santorum, campaigning in Iowa, said what sounded like “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.” At first, he offered a nondenial that suggested that the comment might have been out of context. Now he’s saying that he didn’t say “black people” at all but that he “started to say a word” and then “sort of mumbled it and changed my thought.”

(Pause as I look askance and hum an incredulous, “Uh huh.”)

Newton Leroy Gingrich has been calling President Obama “the best food stamp president” for months, but after plummeting in the polls and finishing fourth in Iowa, he must have decided that this approach was too subtle. So, on Thursday in New Hampshire, he sharpened the shiv and dug it in deeper, saying, “I’m prepared, if the N.A.A.C.P. invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.” On Friday, Gingrich defended himself, as usual, by insisting that exactly what he said wasn’t exactly what he said. He was advocating for African-Americans, not disparaging them.

“Uh huh.”

The comments from Santorum and Gingrich came after a renewed exploration of Ron Paul’s controversial newsletters, one of which said in June 1992 about the Los Angeles riots: “Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began.”

Paul has, of course, insisted that he didn’t write or review the newsletters, although they were written under his name, he made money from them and he used to brag about them.

“Uh huh.”

First, some facts. Take the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. PolitiFact has rated Gingrich’s “food stamp president” charge as only half-true. Yes, participation in the program is at a record high, but Bush-era efforts to increase participation and broaden the program “produced consistent increases in the number of average monthly beneficiaries. The number rose in seven out of the eight years of Bush’s presidency — most of which were years not considered recessionary. All told, the number of recipients rose by a cumulative 63 percent during Bush’s eight-year presidency.”

Now to the singling out of blacks. The largest group of SNAP beneficiaries is by far non-Hispanic whites. However, it is true that the rate of participation is much higher among blacks than whites. Put the emphasis where you wish.

Finally, as to the false dichotomy of “food stamps” versus “paychecks.” First, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, most SNAP participants are either too old or too young to work. Forty-seven percent were under age 18, and 8 percent were 60 or older. Second, “nearly 30 percent of SNAP households had earnings in 2010, and 41 percent of all SNAP participants lived in a household with earnings.”

But race is usually less about facts than historical mythology, which evokes the black bogyman, who saps the money from the whites who earn it. Ever since blacks first arrived on these shores in chains, they have been perceived as lazy and dependent on whites — first as slaves, and then as “entitled” citizens.

It is the Shackles-to-Bootstraps Doctrine of Self-Defeat that disavows any and all structural inhibitors to success.

The preface of the “Encyclopedia of Black Folklore and Humor” tells a story about the first black captives arriving in the New World and one slave “muttering angrily to himself.” The captain of the boat says to him, “What’s the matter with you? You’ve been in this country for only five minutes and already you’re complaining!”

Folklore or fact, this is the way many have viewed blacks in this country throughout history and even now: with scolding disdain and shocking blindness.

In 1935, W.E.B. DuBois’s “Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880” pointed out that one of the major themes that American children were being taught in textbooks about that period was that “all Negroes were lazy, dishonest and extravagant.”

The themes are eerily resonant of today’s Republican talking points on welfare.

One textbook theme excerpted by DuBois stated that “legislatures were often at the mercy of Negroes, childishly ignorant, who sold their votes openly, and whose ‘loyalty’ was gained by allowing them to eat, drink and clothe themselves at the state’s expense.”

Another stated that “assistance led many freed men to believe that they need no longer work.”

This tired trope was reprised in 1976. After losing the Iowa caucus to Gerald Ford and heading into the New Hampshire primary, Ronald Reagan glommed onto the idea of the “welfare queen.”

Reagan explained at nearly every stop that there was a woman in Chicago who “has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran’s benefits on four nonexisting deceased husbands. And she is collecting Social Security on her cards. She’s got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income is over $150,000.”

Coincidence? “Uh huh.”

Racial politics play well for Republicans. Santorum and Paul finished second and third in Iowa. Time will tell if Gingrich rebounds. Playing to racial anxiety and fear isn’t a fluke; it’s a strategy that energizes the Republican base.

Kevin Phillips, who popularized the right’s “Southern Strategy,” was quoted in The New York Times Magazine in May 1970 as saying that “the more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans.”

“Uh huh.”

Charles M. Blow is a New York Times Columnist and nationally-known commentator: "I invite you to visit my blog By The Numbers, join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, or e-mail me at chblow@nytimes.com."

On the GOP, Obama and the Class War

2012-01-03T12:30:00.005-08:00

by playthell benjamin

President Obama’s recess appointment of former Ohio Attorney General, Richard Cordray, to fill the long vacant post as Director of the newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, forces the Republicans to take a stand for or against the interests of the majority of working Americans.

The President was forced to make this appointment when the Senate was in only partially in recess because the minority in the Grand Obstructionist Party has relentlessly employed the Filibuster to block the appointment of a Director for this agency. They are viscerally opposed to its regulatory function; which is to protect American consumers from predatory financial institutions that are not regulated under banking laws. Hence they are determined to cripple the bureau’s ability to function.

Yet there is a mountain of evidence showing that many Americans – especially the elderly – have come to financial ruin due to the unethical but entirely legal practices of these usurious businesses. The new laws passed by the Democrats and signed by President Obama makes these practices illegal and the CFPB is tasked with enforcing these new regulations.

This is walking the walk, not just talking the talk about protecting the American consumer from financial fraud that could prove ruinous. One need only listen to the denunciations of the president’s appointment from the leading candidates for the Republican nomination, as well as congressional leaders, in order to clearly determine where each party stands.

John Boehner, “The House Weeper,” cried “”This is an extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab by President Obama.” And he despaired that the President’s appointment “would have a devastating effect on the checks and balances of the Constitution.” Mitch McConnell, a shameless hypocrite and unreconstructed southern redneck, whines: “This is an extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab by the President.”

The fact is that President Obama has less than half the number of recess appointments as George Bush at this point in his presidency, and FDR made 160 appointments in a day! Since the Republicans are blocking over 200 of the President’s appointments some observers, this writer included, think he should have appointed them all!

The comments of Republicans seeking to become their party’s presidential nominee are just as silly and hypocritical as the Congressional leaders and need not be reiterated here! There is no shame in their game, after all Mitch has been leading the effort to block the President’s appointments to critical agencies – especially those that protect the interests of working people like the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The GOP has used the pretense of being in session to prevent the President from making recess appointments, but Barack has outfoxed them.

The President beat the Republicans down and appointed his people to both institutions. Aside from Richard Cordray he appointed three pro-labor people to the National Labor Relations board, reversing the Republican trend of stacking the board with anti-labor people. “When Congress refuses to act, and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk,” he told a cheering crowd in Cleveland Ohio, Cordray’s home state, ”then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them. I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of people that we were elected to serve.”

The President layed out the role of the new Director in no uncertain terms, and they are so clearly in the interests of the overwhelming majority of the American people that opposing them will be like coming out against mothers milk! “His job will be to make sure you’ve got all the information you need to make important financial decisions.” the President said of Mr. Cordray. “Right away, he’ll start working to make sure millions of Americans are treated fairly by mortgage brokers, payday lenders and debt collectors. In fact, just this week, his agency is opening up a simple, 1-800 number you can call to make sure you’re getting a fair deal on your mortgage, and hold banks and brokers accountable if you’re not.”

After this beat down the Republicans are whining and crying foul like all bullies when you smack them in the face. President Obama welcomes Republican efforts to obstruct the business of the CFPB, because it will make it clear to everyone who is not hobbled by ignorance, jaded by financial interests, or blinded by ideology, which party stands with the people and protects the public interests, and which party is a shill for the plutocrats and other special financial interests.

The present struggle will answer this question so clearly that even the OWS militants who, if we are to believe their rhetoric, apparently believe the Democrats and Republicans are the same, can recognize the difference. A difference they must concede and take sides in this raging class war, if the anti-Wall Street movement is to amount to anything more than a series of boisterous protests where people huff and puff… but fail to blow down any walls!

Benjamin is a veteran political journalist out of Harlem NY. His essays can be read on his blog site Commentaries on the Times.

What Mt. Vernon Mayor Ernie Davis' Swearing In Means to Black Americans

2012-01-03T12:30:00.003-08:00

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Mayor Ernie Davis' swearing in as Mount Vernon's 21st mayor, and as the first New York mayor to go back and successfully win his old seat (at least in Mt. Vernon's history), is a sign that this year is going to be absolutely fantastic - that is if we do what we're supposed to do individually and collectively.

Generally speaking, the day after New Years Eve is primarily relegated to recuperating from the partying you did the night before; and watching a succession of football games on TV. For some of us, it's also a series of open house hospitality events where we roll from party to party (yes, the die hard New Yorkers still do this), extending the New Year festivities throughout the day.

But for the people of Mount Vernon, the January 1, 2012 marked the beginning of a new regime. The beginning of the return to quality of life and conscientious government. It was the day Ernest D. Davis was sworn in as their 21st Mayor. The ceremonies were held at the beautiful Macedonia Baptist Church, a masterpiece in architecture and design. And despite the rain, the place was packed, as they watch him pledge to not just bring Mount Vernon back, but to take her further forward than ever before.

The residents had practically begged him to run, stating that they had made a terrible error in allowing rumors and innuendos to sway their trust in him (or words to that effect). However, Davis stated that it was when the youth of Mount Vernon personally came and asked him to run in order to save the city, that he decided to throw his hat in the ring again. It was then he knew it was time; and that he could not lose.

His speech, and his pledge to the community, to put "people over politics", is something we all need to hear echoed all over the US, in every city, great or small. And then we need to make sure that we are part of the process that keeps that mandate in place and the forefront of the policies that are set forth in the weeks, months and years following.

Congratulations to the people of Mount Vernon for having had the conscious and the courage to get out and vote for yourselves, your lives, and not for political expediency.

Far too often, we've elected our officials because they were the friend of someone else; or they were popular; or "it was their turn;" or they had money, which seemed to indicate that we couldn't defeat them, no matter how stupid and inhumane they were. Somehow, having a lot of money obviates the fact that votes are counted individually, and dollars don't vote, people do.

Those bad old days have to end right now. Such lock step mentalities have marginalized whole communities throughout the US in general; and here in New York City it's gone completely out of control. Instead of a democratic system, we have an ersatz dictatorship. Instead of government for, by, of and to benefit We, the People, we have a bulldozer effect where our needs are flattened out, while those of the special interests are give cart blanche.

We need to take a page from Mt. Vernon!! They have a great track record when it comes to electing Black men to key positions. And no, not all of them are perfect. Having a Black mayor may not be the end all, be all solution to our problems - but it certainly a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, Clinton, the mayor prior to Ernie Davis's re-election was African American; and a Democrat. However, he may have suffered from amnesia, which can happen with some of our brothers once they step into office (the kids call it "getting the vapors"). In this case, his concern centered around special interests and political expediency, not the needs of the city.

As a result the City of Mount Vernon found itself teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, with massive cutbacks in practically every area. But they woke up one day and realized they had made a horrible mistake, and moved to correct it by returning Ernest Davis to the rightful role a mayor.

Mount Vernon, like Philadelphia, has consistently managed to elect good Black mayors for the past two or more decades. And the people have thrived. There is something we in New York City need to learn from them!! Maybe we need to go to Mount Vernon and ask them to teach us. We can't seem to get it right. And we keep losing for all the wrong reasons. And as a result, we continue to schlep along trying to stay in the city we all love so dearly, trying to grimace and bear it, while also realizing that these last few mayors have had us in their gun sights from the moment they take their oath. They see us as the soon to be extinct populace of NYC. Oh, they'll allow a few of us to remain. Those who have supported their agenda. But the rest of us are being edged out daily. Look around you, and see if that's not the case in your community.

The monuments to our planned demise in Brooklyn are 66 vacant condominium high rise buildings, that tower over the communities and that were so overpriced not even the Wall-Streeters they were built for could afford them after the economic downturn. And it was clear that none of those properties (many of which sit on once viable Black communities) were not meant for us. And, though former Governor David Paterson passed a law that these buildings could be make into affordable homes for the use of the surrounding community, to date nothing has been done. Why is that?

Look at Coney Island, which was sleighted to become an exclusive gated, waterfront community - never mind the fact that it's a largely Black population, and half of New York went there for summers in the sun; or that it should have been landmarked decades ago for so many of the sites people all over the world came to visit. No! The developers had a strangle hold on Coney Island. The merchants and residents were basically told to take a hike - or jump in the ocean that bordered its shores.

In both cases, had it not been for the incompetence and greed of the Bush Administration and those who walk lock step behind him, we would have been pushed out of there and other New York neighborhoods. Additionally, the properties that have been confiscated have yet to be returned to the people who reside in the Coney Island communities. Why is that?

The answer is because the mayor of our NYC puts dollars and politics before the people. We come somewhere waaaaaaaay down the line, near the bottom of the Totem Pole.

The people of Occupy Wall Street get it! When Bloomberg said they would be bad for tourism, wasn't that a signal that he neither grasped nor cared about our concerns. When he got a judge to co-sign his callous unconcern for our angst, it was patently clear whose mayor he is. I hope we get it as well.

It's really up to us to be part of the greater strategy that says "never again" will we be the victims of lack of voting and blurred vision; lack of vigilance, and lack of cohesiveness. We can't be armchair revolutionaries; or gripers - you know the ones you hear on the bus complaining about the transit system, or the educational system, but never show up to really get things done?

WE have put ourselves on top of the agenda as well; which is exactly what the people of Mount Vernon did. If Black is beautiful - and it is - we had better be about it. Where ever there are those of us trying to do something positive; something forward moving, we have to make it our business be a visible (or invisible, but viable) part of the process.

The history made on January 1, 2012, was just as important to us as it was to those brothers and sisters in Mount Vernon. We should have been part of the population that packed the church when Ernie Davis made his pledge to the people of Mount Vernon (which by the way has a healthy mix of people of all races and ethnicities), if for no other reason than the vicarious thrill of feeling that finally someone really is there for us, We, the people. For the pride in knowing that this Black man is yet another in the long line of unsung heroes who overcame some real serious odds to make it. *He overcame lies, negative headlines, bogus federal investigations, humiliation. He maintained his dignity, and he triumphed by being re-elected to lead his people once again.

*(It should be a lesson to us as well, that when the mean stream press goes after a Black elected official, think twice before you repeat it or accept it as true - they have hidden agendas and are political tools of a much larger operation. Most of the white counterparts who really are committing egregious acts, never ever come under their scrutiny).

And mark my words, Ernest D. Davis is a leader, not just another "elected official" as so many have become. He is a hands-on leader, who has been an integral part of his community for quite some time. He maintains a love and an interest in what is important to the people of Mount Vernon, Black people and people in general.

I do confess to a slight bit of "mayor envy", as I watched this dynamic Black man move through the crowd and receive the love and congratulations of his constituency. In fact,the immortal lyrics of the of the Pussy Cat Dolls kept running through my mind:
"Don't you wish your mayor was Black like me?"
"Don't you wish your mayor was smart like me?"
"Don't you! Don't you?"
"Don't you wish your mayor was human like me?"
"Don't you wish your mayor cared like me?
"Don't you? Don't you!

We got to be about producing more Ernie Davises in our communities. And mark my words, they are already here - not waiting for some far off youth to evolve into manhood, or womanhood, or wisdom. He have them amongst us right now. They're not glamorous. They're clear, soft spoken, well thought out, and consistently and integrally involved in the daily affairs of our communities. It's time we recognized them, and stop looking for the limelighters; the glamor guys and gals -who have the form, but no substance.

We have to produce more and greater elected Black leaders who will take principled stands for their communities. And we also have to make ourselves committees of one to make sure we are doing our part to make our communities viable as well. A leader should not have to struggle to overcome the negativity of his own people in order to make things happen. Something, I don't think Mayor Davis will have to worry about this time around.

In the days and months to come we've got a lot on our plate. Not only do we have to re-elect President Barack Obama, we also have to make sure we give him a majority in Congress, so that he can get the job done that he pledge to do for us and has worked diligently to fulfill over these past 4 years. He has done so despite the fact that nationally we dropped the ball and allowed the Rep-ugh-blicans to gain a margin that put his programs at risk.

We have to watch and be a part of each and every election that comes up in each and every state from now own. Whether it's dog catcher or congressman. Nebraska is losing their Senator to retirement. We have to be about it. We need to look around and find places where we can expand our Black political base. Notice, I said expand, not replace. If we have an incumbent and he or she is working for us, please don't replace them just for the sake of replacing them. We have too much at stake to play those games. However if you see a seat you or someone viable can fill that expands our political efficacy, go for it.

Give your kids voter registration cards for their 18th birthdays, already filled out and stamped. Make sure your own registration is up to date, and start following the campaigns that are happening in your or other communities. We need more Ernie Davis - as mayors, congressmen, assemblymembers, free holders, state senators, city council members. We need more elected officials who put people before politics and dollars. We need people with Black bone, who understand the name of the game and how to play it to win for us.

We need to be going to so many swearing ins that we complain that they're taking place too close together. If we don't we will find ourselves part of some history marker on the corner of a high rise stating that we used to live here back in the day, but are now extinct. And yes, it could happen.

Stay blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

PS: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

bullet ColumnistGloria Dulan-Wilson Is a veteran New York City Journalist. Her experiences, perspective & sense of history are an invaluable combination. "check out my blog:" www.gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com

Can We Reproduce a Medgar Evers Today?

2012-01-03T12:30:00.001-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

I wish that Black people would respect their revered ancestors. I hope it is the 2012 New Year's Resolution of my people. White people have more respect for our ancestors than any respect we are currently harboring for them. We respect the living. We will not step in the shoes of our revered ancestors.

They respect the dead. This is why young people voted for Ron Paul in Iowa. He is a staunch advocate for the "Founding Fathers". They will follow their "Founding Fathers to the end of the world and they will defend their ancestors' contributions. We also owe it to Medgar Evers.

The "Black Heritage Stamp" is another example. You will not find the photograph of an outright Uncle Tom or Aunt Jemima in the U. S. stamp collection. Many living Blacks would reject the presence of Malcolm X in the stamp collection. Too many Black Christians and also Muslims rejected him when he died.

Although whites may respect a Black person for his courage and ethics they will readily assassinate him not because they hate him but because these attributes for a Black person are a threat and they do not fit with white supremacy. These people adhere to a philosophy. We do not. "We sick boss?"

If Blacks had any influence over the "Black Heritage Stamp collection", living persons like Snoop Dogg, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would already have a stamp. Their contributions to any racial achievement would be of no moment in determining any entitlement to a stamp. Rhetoric would be elevated over results.

Philosophy, logic (critical thinking) and ethics are never taught to Black children in any form or fashion. Black history is subject to censorship. You may never learn about Nat Turner even though his rebellion prompted the Virginia General Assembly to convene, in an emergency, and come within four votes of emancipating all enslaved Africans in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The assassination of Medgar Evers is highlighted in public schools but the motive for the assassination is beyond the purview of Black history. Evers was opposed to censorship and he sought to connect politics with media. This was the business of white folks.

On June 12, 1963, Blacks in Mississippi were disenfranchised and also not able to engage in political speech amid his assassination. Prior to his assassination, Evers had insisted on free speech and was opposed to disenfranchisement. This stance disturbed the Ku Klux Klan.

While WABC-TV is passing on "Here and Now" as public affairs programming, Medgar Evers must be turning over in his grave. If Evers had insisted on a Jackson, MS television station airing the cooking of "soul food" instead of his attacking white supremacy, he would be alive today. The emphasis today, amid Blacks, is on entertainment and not on politics.

Entertainment and arts are the backdrop to plantation politics. Blacks will emphasize the Presidential primary in September 2012 and the general election in November 2012. Otherwise, they will be silent. In the meantime, whites will employ numerous political maneuvers to insure that they get most if not all of goods and services. Politics is daily warfare.

White politicians like Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney would have a fit if "Meet the Press" and "Face the Nation", for example, would change their formats from political debate to arts and entertainment. On the other hand, Black selected officials have shown no interest in saving public affairs programs for Blacks. For example, the demise of "Like It Is" is of no moment to them.

The absence of political knowledge leads to poverty. This is the reason that Medgar Evers gave his life in order to raise the political conscience of Blacks. Like whites, Blacks should be able to reproduce politically. Somebody has tampered with our reproductive organs. Nobody is willing to sustain the spirit of Medgar Evers.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

"Negro" Plight in 2012

2012-01-03T12:21:00.003-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

I had the opportunity to travel with John Beatty to Japan. Mr. Beatty owns the Cotton Club in Harlem. Japanese businessmen had worked out a legal arrangement with Mr. Beatty to establish a "Cotton Club" in a high rent district in Tokyo. It was a lucrative deal for both parties.

The Japanese and Mr. Beatty revere Black history and culture. In fact, the Japanese have a profound knowledge and appreciation of Black history and culture as was evidenced by a video presentation made by them. This is one of the best presentations of the contributions of our revered ancestors in "arts and entertainment" (Connect the dots to "Here and Now").

The Japanese had at least a motive for establishing a "Cotton Club" in Japan.

The Japanese had at least a motive for establishing a "Cotton Club" in Japan. Paris and New York City are recognized as "world class cities". A world class city not only has a large population but it must also have evidence of Black history and culture. Both New York City and Paris fit the bill.

The emerging powers in the world are in Asia. Tokyo is fighting for the top spot in the world. Beijing is also making its move. Culture plays a key role in attracting business. There will be another Harlem Renaissance. Although whites are in a minority on the New York City Council, they control all municipal functions in New York City.

Blacks have been disenfranchised in New York but whites refuse to confess that they have returned to 1821. This date has no meaning to Blacks. There can be no appreciation of Black voting rights without a knowledge of history of New York and especially in 1821.

If Blacks were capable of connecting dots, it would be unnecessary for whites to make a public confession. Sen. Barack Obama was unable to attract Black votes in Brooklyn and Harlem in September 2008. According to the New York Police Department, the Freedom Party was unable to attract 50,000 votes in November 2010 after it had secured 45,000 signatures in August 2010 from registered voters.

Koreans are following Blacks en masse to the South. "Koreagate" opened the door to Koreans in the United States. Cong. Charles Rangel was its sponsor backed up by the "Gang of Four". After Blacks made David N. Dinkins the first Black mayor of New York City, he criminalized the use of the boycott against Koreans who were exploiting Blacks.

Although Rangel has been an influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee, he has failed to sponsor any meaningful legislation to spawn Black business. With Rangel as chairman or ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, gentrification should have never knocked on Harlem's doors. It did.

Mr. Beatty owns the Cotton Club in Harlem.

It does not stop with Rangel, however. With over a million Blacks in the United States with advanced academic degrees and Blacks enjoying $1 trillion dollars in purchasing power, there are few Black businesses. This means that Blacks have no clout in economics and politics.

If one million Blacks held advanced degrees in law and business, it would have no import on the living standards of Blacks. For whites, a knowledge of business and law presupposes a knowledge of European history and culture. It means zero for Blacks to be enrolled in Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School. They have no knowledge of their history or culture.

The Slave Theater was ahead of its time. Minoo Southgate and Curtis Sliwa viewed it as their slave quarter. On the other hand, Blacks viewed UAM forums as an entertainment center. They refused to employ pens, pads and clipboards. This is the reason for WABC-TV supplanting "Like It Is" with "Here and Now". WABC-TV view Blacks as only having an interest in entertainment and plantation politics.

Hopefully, Blacks will not knock on the wrong door, talk to the wrong people and ask the wrong questions in public affairs programming. The main issue is about media policy and not medial personnel. Philosophy is about asking the big question. The significance of asking the right question can be found in the preface to Black Power by Kwame Ture and Dr. Charles Hamilton.

When UAM designed a new mission statement for the Slave Theater in 1991, its purpose was to provide a comprehensive knowledge of the sciences to secure political and economic control of the Black community. Unfortunately, only the Giuliani administration and the Anti-Defamation League had the insight to see the true design and mission of the Slave Theater.

Blacks are still clueless. This can be gleaned from the ignorance they harbor towards Black persons out of favor with the white media and white leaders. On the other hand, they cherish the work of Rev. Floyd Flake and Bishop Eddie Long. Both still enjoy full support from the Black community despite their evil designs. The more you do for Blacks the more they hate you. See Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

The Iowa Caucus:

2012-01-03T12:21:00.001-08:00
This Republican Show is About to be On

by Dr. Anthony Samad

We’ve watched the Republicans dropkick President Obama for months now… the ones in Congress, the pundits on FOX, the wannabee candidates (Palin and Trump), and the gonna be candidates for the Republican nomination in the 2012 election. The race to get beat by Obama has been a funny one. Mean, but funny. It’s funny to watch eight people try to dropkick the President while trying to dropkick each other. Their party hasn’t done anything to help them as Republican obstructionism has become the failing mark of American politics lately. It’s about to be on though, as the American public get their turn to dropkick somebody. We’ll see what kinda impression they make in Iowa.

The Republicans finally played themselves last week when the House tried to dictate to the Senate after the upper house left for Christmas vacation. The House threatened not to pass the bi-partisan Payroll Tax extension passed by the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said “Go for it. We ain’t comin back in session.” With the eyes of the world on the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner, who had been walked out on a plank several times by the Tea Party activists—Particularly Rep. Eric Kantor (whom he can’t control)—finally grabbed his nuts and came on in the house and told his party to “Shut da f*#k up,” while he announced the House was signing the bill. The Republican Party is on the verge of imploding in Congress, and they want to lead the country? Not even the Republican candidates for President can figure out this Congress, so what signal could they be sending to the American public?

What makes the Republican primary candidates interesting to watch is waiting to see which one says the most outlandish comments, knowing someone else is going to try to top it. I must say that the campaign has been a lot less entertaining since Herman Cain left. Cain was good for at least two five star dumb gaffes a week, followed by Rick Perry’s one, Mitt Romney’s “me too,” Ron Paul’s “what for,” Newt’s “It wasn’t me,” and Michelle Bachmann’s “Partridge in a pear tree” stare. Without Cain to “set it off” we now see the candidates turning on each other and ideas about solving problems falling by the wayside. Funny how they can ignore the foolishness going on in Congress (for the most part) but can focus on President Obama for not providing leadership in Washington. What would they do with a Tea Party led Congress? Well, we’d know what Newt would do, but the rest would have no solution for legislative obstructionism. So stop frontin.

If I was in Iowa, I would ask the Republicans what are they going to do with the Tea Party? I know Democrats and Independents will…just wait. But to pretend that the Tea Party speaks for the frustrated masses just doesn’t work anymore. All the Tea Party has done is frustrate the political process. That’s not governing. That’s filibustering Congress in a different way that we’re used to seeing. Between anti-tax pledges and protect the rich proclamations…excuse me, “job-creators” is the Republican’s new name for the rich. Sounds like more shenanigans to me—and much of the American public.

The good thing about the Iowa Caucuses is some of these clowns will drop out after they finish out of the running. This show is about to come to an end. At least for most of them. The one that’s left Obama will handle. But we’re all ready for the dumbsh#t to be over. Let’s get it on in Iowa. Let the goofy show begin…

Sorry. No offense to Goofy.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad, is a national columnist, managing director of the Urban Issues Forum and author of Saving The Race: Empowerment Through Wisdom. His Website is AnthonySamad.com.

They Made a List, But Who Checked it Twice?

2012-01-03T12:20:00.001-08:00
No Blacks, Latinos on Forbes Under-30 Media List

by Richard Prince

Forbes magazine Monday unveiled its list of "30 Under 30" — "These are the people who aren't waiting to reinvent the world. FORBES, leaning on the wisdom of its readers and the greatest minds in business, presents the 30 disrupters under 30, in each of 12 fields, making a difference right now."

One field was the media, and Yvonne Latty, who teaches journalism at New York University, was proud to see former student Mary Pilon on that list. "She was a superstar in a year long honors class I taught 3 years ago...loved her!" Latty said in an email.

Then Latty looked for the people of color. There was Maneet Ahuja, a hedge fund specialist at CNBC who is of South Asian Indian background. That was it (read more in Journal-isms).

How the Libyan & Egyptian Coups were Ostensibly inspired by the Ghana/Nkrumah Coup

2012-01-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

by Chris Stevenson

After the outright assassination of Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, US intelligence at some point rationalized that it would do well to be less conspicuous about it's feelings of personal outrage toward black African leaders who want black Africans to control minerals and resources growing under their own dirt. This was bad PR to the rest of the world, they must have felt, better to master the art of throwing the rock quickly and then hide your hands behind your back; i.e. the coup d' etat.

They were well practiced in this towards non-black foreign leaders, blacks who were effective in organizing segments or whole populations of blacks usually made white capitalists nations see red on many different levels. The usual starting point for information gathering against any movement viewed as a threat was always literature; who's publishing them, and who's reading them. Back in the 1920s an organization was formed called the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Karl Evanzz book "The Judas Factor" summarizes the early influence of UNIA: "The UNIA also attracted members throughout Africa. By 1923 there were at least ten UNIA chapters, including among their members two men who would emerge as leaders in Africa; Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. The impact of UNIA literature, particularly Negro World, the organization's newspaper, was so widespread in Africa that it was banned in 1923 by white colonial rulers who considered it 'subversive."

On 8/8/60 he (Nkrumah-R) and Patrice Lumumba signed an agreement supporting a United States of Africa.

Nkrumah at that time had his whole future in front of him; he was elected Premier on 5/60, with Ghana having won her independence on 6/60. On 8/8/60 he and Patrice Lumumba signed an agreement supporting a United States of Africa. He had already attended Lincoln University for graduate studies (one of his classmates was future groundbreaking attorney and Supreme Court Judge Thurgood Marshall). But he had to have been observing the ordeal of Lumumba, only 12 weeks after the Congo won it's independence, their government was overthrown. Lurking in the shadows was the divisive CIA. Suddenly Nkrumah's future was getting shorter.

Lumumba was badly beaten on a plane headed toward Elisabethville

Soon the agency began looking for inside facilitators who would make a deal with them to replace the troublesome Lumumba, they found one and before long they began to finance, and train their own force. Lumumba was badly beaten on a plane headed toward Elisabethville, and bayoneted and shot pointblank in the head upon arrival. His body dropped in a vat of acid. The CIA propped-up his former office worker Mobutu as ruler of the Congo. It would take 6 years and more outside help for the agency to orchestrate Nkrumah's ouster.

What led up to what happened to Nkrumah on 2/24/66 pretty much repeated itself 45 years later. The CIA, Britain, and France united for the coup that ousted President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Wikileaks has now confirmed details of this other than what was already suspected by some. Using a deceptive pro-populist name like "The Glorious Revolution" would prove to be a formula to take a celebatory people's mind off the fact that the coup was foriegn-born. Today Ghana's airport is named after the leader of the '66 takeover; General Kotoka. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah was the 6th African independance leader removed from power (He made out better than the previous 5, they were assassinated, including of course Lumumba, Felix Moumie of Cameroon, Sylvanus Olympia of Togo, and Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco).

Decades later in 1984 a group known as the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL) began radio broadcasts against Libyan President Moammar Qaddafi, proclaiming themselves the voice for the Libyan people or voice for the NFSL. Like print media this was a tool of psychological warfare, an attempted coup was previously crushed. Soon the NFSL began an association with the CIA, who armed and trained them. In 2005 the NFSL subsidiary group the National Front for the Libyan Opposition was formed in London. Qaddafi, like Nkrumah and Lumumba had a strong support from his people.

You'll generally find any African or Middle-Eastern nation of people living simple, stable, and without chaos to soon have their leaders framed by the US, Europe, and/or Israel to be communist or oppressive. What the US knows is how to find the hard-to-please. Why? 1-It's human nature. 2-Groups like the CIA reason that 'we have them here in droves, therefore so must other countries.' Essentially the bone-heads. The Muslim Brotherhood that led the ouster of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is not a new group. They are believed to have had links to the British Secret Service since the '40's, and the CIA since the '50's. Oftentimes fronting behind grassroots people's rights groups. a quote from the AANGIRFAN site says "People power, if it is to be successful, always has to be organized by the spooks."

Chris Stevenson is a regular columnist for blackcommentator, Political Affairs Magazine, and a syndicated columnist. Follow him on Twitter, and Facebook, you don't have to join any of them. Watch his video commentary Policy & Prejudice and The Network for clbTV. Sign his Petition to permanently Abolish the Death Penalty @ Change.org. Respond to him on the link below.

The Poor Does Not Have to be With Us Always

2012-01-01T22:27:00.000-08:00
Can We End Poverty in Jamaica?

by Basil Waine Kong

I was amused to learn recently that the winners of the US$250,000,000 Powerball lottery were three millionaires (asset managers) in Connecticut. It started me thinking about how and why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I am also thinking of the gentleman who prayed fervently but futilely every day for God to bless him so he could win the lottery. Finally God had to speak directly to the gentleman: “If I am going to help you win the lottery you should at least buy a ticket. I can only help those who help themselves.”

My fervent prayer is for the poor to get richer. But my wise friend and golfing buddy insist the rich have all the luck. I tell him that that the harder I practice and work at my game, the luckier I get. While it is a common occurrence for rich children to turn out to be worthless bums and a few children from poor families become accomplished heroes and stars. In the absence of people with extraordinary talent and discipline, as a rule it doesn’t happen often. Babies of the rich are fed delicious and nutritious meals with silver spoons, exposed to the movers and shakers of society as they grow up, go to the best schools, have access to effective healthcare, get tutors to help them learn how to handle their knife and folk, play a musical instrument and to excel in sports, travel, learn to speak eloquently, dress to impress, have their choice of employment from their extensive network of family connections and then they win the lottery.

On the other hand, the poor child face daily struggles to get a plate of food each day in single parent households, crime, may or may not go to school, survive by catering to the rich, sleep on the hand ground with a rock stone for their pillow, hustle to make a living and die ten years before his rich counterpart only because he was born at the wrong address.

Will the poor always be with us? Several countries including several the size of Jamaica (Singapore, Botswana, Bermuda, Kuwait, and Oman) have now wiped out poverty. That’s right---no poor people. Everyone has a floor they can comfortably live with. What do these countries have in common?

Two Harvard professors (Acemoglu and Robinson) did an analysis of two cities and wrote: “In Nogales, a city cut in half by the Mexican-American border fence. There is no difference in geography between the two halves of Nogales. The weather is the same. The winds are the same, as are the soils. The types of diseases prevalent in the area given its geography and climate are the same, as is the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic background of the residents. By logic, both sides of the city should be identical economically.

And yet they are far from the same.

On one side of the border fence, in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, the median household income is $30,000. A few feet away, it's $10,000. On one side, most of the teenagers are in public high school, and the majority of the adults are high school graduates. On the other side, few of the residents have gone to high school, let alone college. Those in Arizona enjoy relatively good health and Medicare for those over sixty-five, not to mention an efficient road network, electricity, telephone service, and a dependable sewage and public-health system. None of those things are a given across the border. There, the roads are bad, the infant-mortality rate high, electricity and phone service expensive and spotty.”

The key difference is that those on the north side of the border enjoy law and order and dependable government services — they can go about their daily activities and jobs without fear for their life or safety or property rights. On the other side, the inhabitants have institutions that perpetuate crime, graft, and insecurity.”

Jamaica has fourth-highest poverty rate at 43.1 per cent compared with our 23 regional neighbours and according to the IMF over one million Jamaicans live on less than US$2.50 per day. Is it possible for our politicians to accept the fact that what we have been doing is not working and our government and bureaucracy is causing poverty? Can we join together and establish a national mandate to reverse it?

Bullet Columnist Basil Waine Kong as written several pieces for this journal and especially likes to expound on his favorite subject: his beloved Jamaica. He is a former Atlien (resident of Atlanta GA), and was the CEO of the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) for 22 years before his retirement in 2008 to return to Jamaica. This article is reprinted with his permission from his blogsite; Coming in From the Cold... Bob Marley

"Kirkland's Korner" Retires Tuesday on WUFO

2012-01-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

"Kirkland's Korner" has been the meeting place for political activism in Buffalo for the past two decades. It is aired over the historic WUFO-AM (1080). Call-in No. is 716-837-1112 and it can also be heard over the Internet at www.wufo.com this Tuesday at noontime.

I have known Ted for three decades.

The host is Theodore Kirkland. I have known Ted for three decades. Every year, Blacks would hold a political convention on the campus of City College in Harlem. There would be position papers on every facet of Black life. Ted and I would work with others on criminal justice issues. Ted was a militant commissioner on the New York State Parole Board.

These conventions spawned the establishment of specific organizations. Along with others, Ted and I organized "Concerned Minorities in Criminal Justice", a criminal justice organization. This was a statewide organization. It was composed of Blacks in executive positions and judges involved in various aspects of criminal justice in New York.

When Blacks had few if any elected officials, they would hold annual, political conventions. These Black political conventions also surfaced in the 1830's before the Fifteenth Amendment. When Blacks started to put a respectable number of "selected officials" in public office, the political conventions came to a screeching halt. Something is wrong with this picture.

It was not surprising when United African Movement was contemplating a second gubernatorial campaign for the Freedom Party that I would go to Buffalo in 2010 to seek a lieutenant gubernatorial candidate. Ted suggested Eva Doyle, a noted educator. Our initial gubernatorial candidate was Michael Greys.

Buffalo played a critical role in the Freedom Party securing 45,000 valid signatures while New York only required 15,000 valid signatures. Only the Green Party and the Freedom Party were able to garner more than 45,000 signatures in August. This threshold of 15,000 valid signatures in August has always been a cinch to guarantee automatic ballot status for a political party in November.

The Green Party acquired over 50,000 votes in New York in November 2010 but, according to the count of the NYPD, the Freedom Party only attracted 20,000 votes in November 2010 despite the 45,000 signatures in August 2010. This meant that at least 25,000 registered voters inexplicably lost interest in the Freedom Party.

This reversal has never happened before in New York politricks. The New York State Board of Elections also lost 190,000 votes without explanation. There were also admitted flaws in the design of the ballot. If Blacks were not ensnared in plantation politics to the benefit of the Democratic Party, these violations of law would be of great concern to the Obama Administration.

Given these odious, voting irregularities, it is glaringly suspicious for the gubernatorial candidate, Democratic Councilman Charles Barron, who touts himself as a civil rights activist, not to challenge the obvious police misconduct in the miscount of votes.

When there was a minor irregularity that affected his success in the Democratic Party, he readily filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn Federal Court to redress a perceived grievance. See e.g. Barron v. New York City Board of Elections 2008 WL4809540 (E.D.N.Y. 2008). Barron chose a white lawyer for the Freedom Party and rejected two Black lawyers.

The Freedom Party is thankful to our supporters in Western New York and to Ted Kirkland and WUFO for giving it a forum. Since the Freedom Party had to collect required signatures in 16 of 31 congressional districts, its success would have been impossible without support from Western New York.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

The Rise of the Matriarch in 2012

2012-01-01T21:45:00.000-08:00

Written by Alberta Parish

Before the rise of the patriarchy in Africa, the matriarchs controlled the ancient motherland. The Egyptian creation story talks about the god Amun (his female counterpart was Amaunet) having created children - both male and female created as equals. There is no historical record of creation which details the woman having been created from man or taken out of man. The mythical story of Adam and Eve - possibly invented by William Shakespeare - is only a plagiarized tale, a corruption of the original creation stories which detail both male and female having been created as equals. Under the matriarch rulers, women were equal to their male counterparts and had the divine right to rule. In ancient Kemet, the brother married his sister and they both shared the throne as co-rulers. In addition, the king was chosen not by his father but according to who his mother was. Yet, we live in a male-dominated culture that miseducates men to believe they are better and greater than women. The Bible reinforces that belief, and unfortunately, this is a predominantly Judeo-Christian culture, which fosters a patriarchal mindset.

However, black women were not originally acclimated to a patriarchal society. Instinctively and internally, black women know that a patriarchal society is a corrupt and unnatural state of being. Therefore, most black women fight against this corrupt and unnatural system whether they fight against it advertently or inadvertently. Even when I was a Christian, I always felt indifferent to biblical verses which I knew fostered a culture of control over women. The Bible is full of racism, sexism and homophobic views, which clearly tells me that the book was not inspired by God but by men. Who is God? How do we not know that the original God was actually female and not male?

In ancient Africa, the matriarchs were worshipped as divine deities. It was African female deities that permeated ancient Greek and Roman religious beliefs. Black women have more power than what they think. Because black women have been conditioned by this patriarchal society to believe they are less than the man, many women have willingly given up their power and have accepted a lesser role in society when we were meant to be on equal footing with our male counterparts. It is not natural for our male counterparts to be in control of everything. When Africa became a patriarchy society, that was the beginning of the end of balance in rulership between both male and female. Subsequently, the nations became weak and vulnerable to attack from outside forces. The beginning of the patriarchy in Africa happened at a time when the kingdom in Egypt became weak. The pharaoh had invited the Greeks to come into Egypt and fight alongside the Egyptians against an enemy nation. However, the Greeks later conquered Egypt and subjugated the entire culture, including its religious system.

The ways that our male counterparts have kept women under their thumb continues to plague our way of life. There is no way Christianity can be a religion that promotes equality among men and women, because Christianity's holy books promote violence and aggression toward women and children. The Book of Genesis detailing how the nations on earth came from the seed of Shem, Ham, and Japheth is a prime example of male chauvinism at its best. If you are an adult in 2012 who still believe that all nations on earth came from Shem, Ham and Japheth, then you are a brainwashed fool. Scientific evidence has proven that all human DNA can be traced back to a black woman. If it were not for black women carrying the seed in our womb, there would be no human life on this planet. Science dictates that the black woman is God and is the giver of life on this planet. Therefore, women cannot remain second-class citizens forever. The biblical God cannot be the giver of life on this planet. God cannot be a man from Galilee called Jesus who is a non-historical figure, a Roman invention based on the Egyptian savior-god Heru or Horus. Religion is the reason the patriarchy continue to exist. Get rid of religion, and the patriarchy will self-destruct.

bullet columnist Alberta Parish is best known as a take-no-prisoners Youtube commentator, you can also follow her writings on Myspace and Twitter.

Freeman's final-game Analysis

2012-01-01T13:06:00.000-08:00
Bills Blow 1st Quarter Lead, Lose Final game to Pats.

by Pat Freeman

The Buffalo Bills started their final game of the 2011 season the way we hoped they would play for the entire season. The Bills absolutely dominated the Patriots in the first quarter of this game jumping out to a 21-0 nothing lead, but the inconsistent Buffalo Bills would begin to show their heads allowing the Patriots to score to unanswered touchdowns going into halftime with a 21-14 lead.

If only Brady decided not to play during this game. Maybe Bills would of had a chance-cs (photo- AP/New England Patriots).

The first half for the Bills could not end without Steve Johnson making a case for himself as being our best and most childish receiver. After making a great end zone touchdown catch Steve once again caused an unsportsmanlike conduct flag to thrown for excessive celebration. This time Johnson had something written under his shirt similarly to what he did in Cincinnati . This time his ill advised message was Happy New Year which he had written under his shirt caused Chan Gailey to send his star receiver to the bench because of being warned previously about his actions on the field that have hurt the Buffalo Bills previously. Unfortunately this act by Steve Johnson could be his last as a Buffalo Bill because his contract will expire on February 1, 2012.

The second half started with the Patriots continuing to claw back into this game by scoring three points on their opening drive, and stopping the Bills offense on their initial possession. The Patriots continued to capitalize on the Bills failure to stop the short passing game of the Patriots by scoring two quick field goal making the score Bills 21- Patriots 20 3rd. quarter.

No one, falls off the wagon, like the Buffalo Bills! Wilfork sticks a fork in Fitz and he's done-cs (photo- AP/New England Patriots).

After another Ryan Fitzpatrick interception the Patriots scored and converted the two point conversion making the score Patriots 28- Bills -21. Now many will try to point to Steve Johnson as the reason for the Bills collapse in this game, but I point to the same things I’ve cited this entire season. The first is the inconsistent play of a talented defense that is being led by George Edward who I believe should be coaching his last game in Buffalo . The second I point the finger at our quarterback, and the pass happy offense of Chan Gailey who seems to forget the best way to beat a Hall of Fame quarterback is to keep the ball out of his hands.

In closing the Buffalo Bills close out their season with one of their most embarrassing losses of the year for this once storied franchise. The last twelve years have moved this team into the indisputable position of being one of the NFL’ worse, by once again failing to qualify for the play offs. With all of that said I still believe with the proper changes this team should bounce back ready to make a challenge next year.

If you enjoy talking about the world of sports tune into the number#1 sports show in the nation every Saturday from 12PM-1PM hosted by WUFO Sports Director Patrick Freeman on 1080AM WUFO radio or via the internet at www.wufoam.com. Or catch Sports Update for clbTV (ch.20 Buffalo) and YouTube. Also join us for the number#1 recap show every Monday at 7:25AM with Lee Pettigrew, and The Mighty O’Ba Pat Freeman .

Ernest D. Davis Triumphantly Re-Elected as Mayor of Mt. Vernon

2011-12-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

First of all kudos and congratulations to Ernest D. Davis upon his victory as Mayor of Mount Vernon. Talk about a come back! To have been re-elected as Mayor of Mount Vernon, after having lost the election in 2007, following a succession of successful service for three terms, shows not only fortitude and determination, but a love for his city and its residents!

It also bespeaks the fact that that love is equally returned by the constituents, who returned him to his rightful place as mayor -- a role which suits him to a T!!

If it sounds like I'm a fan and a supporter of Mayor Ernest ("Ernie") Davis, you are absolutely, 100% correct. And have been for quite some time. I had the great fortune of having covered his initial campaign for mayor while I was a feature writer for the Daily Challenge. Though his predecessor was an African American, Davis came up against some formidable foes who spent a great deal of time and money trying to split the community, divide supporters against each other, and undermine his election. I actually spent so much time in Mt. Vernon covering the campaign, that many thought I lived there. Needless to say Mayor Davis' election was a victory of sorts for the Daily Challenge, as well, because they totally endorsed his candidacy from the onset.

Over the 12 years that followed, Davis as mayor proved to be one of the best things Mount Vernon could have done for itself. And as of Sunday, January 1, 2012, when Ernest D. Davis becomes the 21st Mayor of Mount Vernon, they can once again breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that he is once again at the helm.

According to Friends of Ernie Davis and the Ernie Davis Inaugural Committee, the official Swearing In Ceremony on Sunday, January 1, 2012, from 4:00 p.m. thru 6:00 p.m. at the Macedonia Baptist Church, 141 South Ninth Avenue, Mount Vernon, New York. A reception will immediately follow in the Rotunda of Mount Vernon City Hall located at One Roosevelt Square.

Now, I could easily end this article right here, and everyone would agree that this is one great accolade. But you know me better than that. There are so many important things to glean from this major coup, and I'm not about to leave it to someone else to point out:

First of all, Ernest Davis has always been a visionary. With his cool, soft spoken manner, and his way with words he has accomplished more than all the bombastic activists put together.

Second, his vision for Mount Vernon has been crystal clear and forward moving from day one, and he's never faltered in trying to bring them to fruition. Mayor Davis' philosophy is based on the philosophy and understanding that if Mount Vernon fails, then all will fail.

Third, he has always been integrally tied in with the community, establishing both his family and his business there. Though he started his career as an architect, he began to observe severe discrepancies in the way things were done in Mount Vernon, as compared to the rest of Westchester County. Rather than gripe about it, he decided to be a part of the process for change instead of being on the sidelines.

I first met him when I served as Minority Business Liaison for Nissho Iwai American Corporation (a big four Japanese Trading firm) that was looking to contract with minority contractors in conjunction with a subway fabrication plant that was being constructed in Yonkers at a former Otis Elevator Plant. The Westchester Minority Contractors Association was an organization with many highly skilled African American and Latino businesses that banded together to bid for major construction projects. He was a member of the organization, and had recently been elected as Westchester County Leader. He was making strides in bringing about much needed change in Westchester. He had a distinguished easy going style that put the different factions at ease, making it possible to make headway in providing contract opportunities to heretofore overlooked African American and minority businesses in the area.

He initially served twelve years (six consecutive two-year terms) as Westchester County Legislator, and made a great deal of headway in bringing about quality of life changes that were implemented throughout the county. During his past tenure as County Legislator, Davis understood the problems facing the Mount Vernon community and fought for solutions, including recycling to help maintain the environment, cutting the cost of garbage disposal; pushed for the registration of hand guns; led the fight against the legalization of assault weapons; helped to create the legislation that established the African-American Advisory Board, and supported funding for day care and health centers.

Fourth, Davis was a master at multitasking, without spreading himself too thin. In addition to serving as County Legislator, Davis also served as Commissioner of Assessment, Chairman of the Real Estate Board, Chairman of the Planning Board and Commissioner of Buildings in the City of Mount Vernon, New York. Indeed, he has always maintained an integral involvement in programs that were of importance to Mount Vernon.

As former principle architect of the E. Daniel Davis Architects, he designed many residential housing, churches, day care centers and government projects. Many residents and businesses point with pride at the buildings that have benefited from his creativity and expertise.

Fifth, Mayor Davis' continued involvement in community and civic organizations included being a Life Member of the NAACP; member of Progressive Lodge #64; The Westchester Arts Council; The Institute for Student Achievement. Davis is also a lifetime member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, where he was voted Omega Man of the Year (we Deltas are most proud of him as well). In addition, he is a member of the African-American Men of Westchester and a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women. He is also the recipient of more than sixty awards, including the Nelson Mandela High School "Man of the Year" award, and the Westchester Philharmonic "Lifetime Achievement Award."

Sixth, Mount Vernon, also known as "Money Earnin' Mount Vernon" is home to many greats, including the late rap artist Heavy D., Denzel Washington, State Senator Ruth Thompson, among other. It is a predominantly Black Westchester County Community, directly north of New York City, and shares borders with the Bronx. The community has consistently elected African American mayors for nearly 20 years, something New York City has not managed to accomplish (that's conversation for another article, though). With that comes a great deal of responsibility and opportunity, and Davis, who graduated from North Carolina A&T, an HBCU, in 1960 (in Greensboro, North Carolina, where the first sit-ins took place) with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering, is keenly aware of what that means.

His re-election was endorsed by all sectors of Mount Vernon, but is an example to the up and coming Black youth that no defeat is ever final; that when you operate with quality, care and concern, people are not willing to settle for less. But what many may have overlooked was this: while Ernest Davis may have changed his role, in becoming mayor, he is perhaps one of the few to have taken office and maintained his Afrocentricity - his locks were intact, his style was intact, and his consciousness is intact. A lot greyer than when he started out, he maintains that quiet dignity, laced with the right amount of colloquialism to put you at ease.

Seven, the four year hiatus he endured between 2007 and 2011 was, perhaps, just the contrast Mt. Vernon needed to really drive home the point that Davis' administration represented integrity and prosperity. Mount Vernon had been hit (like so many others) with the economic down turn, and then had the problem exacerbated by an administration that further reduced the surplus, undoing a great deal that had been accomplished under Davis' tenure. Clearly, there will be a great deal for him to undertake as he steps back into the leadership role. However, he can be confident that he will have plenty of hands on support and assistance from the residents themselves, who have been known to roll up their sleeves and pull together under the right leader.

Eighth, as he rebuilds his transition team, he is also maintaining communication with the incumbent (who is trying to sneak in as many of his cronies as possible - not going to work though). Davis rolled his sleeves up the day after the election, and pulled out the proverbial drawing board to chart a new course for Mount Vernon. He has called for the City Council, the Comptroller, as well as the lame duck mayor to put the people of Mount Vernon first in their future proceedings, and discontinue practices that will likely do more harm than good to the community.

Now, as in the beginning, his vision for Mount Vernon remains crystal clear and focused. With so much to do to reverse the reversals, look for the news to be filled with innovative concepts and actions over the coming weeks, months and days.

Like President Barack Obama, Davis has a "Yes We Can" spirit that will be instrumental in establishing Mount Vernon's primacy in New York State.

Congratulations also to Mt. Vernon's First Lady Bettye Davis, and first daughters, Rene and Lisa. Ernie Davis is proof positive that you can't keep a good man down.

On Saturday, January 14, 2012, Davis will host a formal Inaugural Ball at the Surf Club, 280 Davenport Avenue in New Rochelle, New York. Tickets are $200 per person and reserved tables for ten are priced at $2,000.
Tix can be purchased online:

www.inaugural2012.com
or by calling 914.363.7869, or by mail with checks payable to:
Friends of Ernie Davis
Post Office Box 2197
Mount Vernon, New York 10550-2197

Proceeds of this event will help defray costs associated with the Ernie Davis for Mayor Campaign.

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
KWANZAA KIZURI AND HAPPY NEW YEAR from GDW!!
TTBOD

bullet ColumnistGloria Dulan-Wilson Is a veteran New York City Journalist. Her experiences, perspective & sense of history are an invaluable combination. "check out my blog:" www.gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com

Remembering Ed Brown:

2011-12-29T07:21:00.000-08:00
Pan-African Soldier

by Professor Michael Thelwell (via Playthell Benjamin's blogsite)

“His devotion, eloquence and generosity of spirit has ennobled and adorned the movement in our time. Because of his quiet self-confidence and humility he never sought publicity but thousands, especially poor folk, here and on the Continent have had their lives vastly improved by Ed’s effectiveness and compassion. He is truly one of the great un-sung heroes of our generation. We shall not soon see his like again.”[Ekwueme Michael Thelwell]

Ed was respected for his enduring commitment to our people

Eddie Charles Brown, Jr., a great-souled human being committed to fighting the oppression of all people from Mississippi to South Africa, died at his home on November 23, 2011. In political circles, Ed was respected for his enduring commitment to our people. As a consequence of his tireless devotion to, and success in advancing the culture and economic progress of poor black folk, Ed Brown was widely recognized as among the most incorruptible, responsible, resourceful and effective of the activist leaders of the Movement. As his SNCC colleagues said of him, “More than most, Ed’s life embodies and exemplifies to a remarkable degree, the principle of undying love for our people both here and in the Motherland.”

Although the consummate organizer and political activist, in matters of the aesthetics of black musical culture and the southern oral tradition, Ed had the soul of a poet and the eloquence of a griot. Similarly, his great sensitivity to African cultures is reflected in the quality of the extraordinary collection of traditional African religious art, which he and his wife Valinda have painstakingly gathered over many years.

Ed's younger brother Imam Jamil Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown).

A year prior to his passing Ed gave his Shahada (acceptance of Islam) to his younger brother the Imam Jamil Al-Amin (formerly known as H. Rap Brown) to whom Ed’s observable devotion, loyalty and commitment was widely seen as an unconditional and admirable example of brotherly love. The janaza (last rites) for Ed were held November 24, 2011 at the West End Community Mosque in Atlanta, Georgia.

A native of Louisiana, Ed was born, on August 19, 1941 to Thelma Warren and Eddie Charles Brown, Sr. in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge. Ed’s historical efforts to fight segregation and all forms of oppression as well as to empower Black people started in 1960 as young student at Louisiana’s Southern University. He and 16 other classmates confronted the University and staged a sit-in protesting the racial segregation prevalent in Louisiana at the time.

After he and the others were arrested, expelled and banned from enrolling in any university in Louisiana, Ed began the ongoing struggle for justice, which would define his entire life. This expulsion led Ed to Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1961, where he landed on the front line of the Civil Rights Movement. As a leader and organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) he fought to win constitutional rights for Blacks and all disenfranchised people.

During SNCC’s historic Mississippi Summer project of 1964 he was project director in embattled Holmes County, the heart of the Delta. Ed always proclaimed that he was “fighting fire with a feather,” but he knew he would prevail because he often ironically said, he was protected by “asbestos gloves.”
SNCC attracted the best and brighest

As will be seen from the details which follow, in a busy and active life, Ed never held a job not directly concerned with human advancement. Highly regarded for a selfless incorruptibility in white political and philanthropic circles, Ed bridged the gap between both communities and was able to direct very significant financial resources into poor black communities.

The three abiding concerns guiding his professional life here and in Africa can be seen to have been: democratic political liberation, economic empowerment and the celebration and enhancement of our peoples’ cultures. By virtue of Ed’s efforts in these areas a great many thousands of people have had their lives significantly improved.

Among fellow workers, he is remembered for his uncommon diplomatic skill, personal charm and political tact. Kalamu Ya Salaam who served with him on the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Commission recalls, “What I most remember is that the respect he commanded coupled with a delightful sense of humor and tact enabled him to soothe the most outrageous egos, resolve conflicts and bring apparently irreconcilable warring factions harmoniously back together.”

As a staffer at the Citizen’s Crusade Against Poverty in Washington, D.C., in 1965, Ed developed information networks among community-based organizations to support anti-poverty legislation. In 1967, he organized efforts to improve the political and economic conditions of Blacks in the Mississippi Delta as the Executive Director and founder of the Mississippi Action for Community Education (MACE) and The Delta Foundation in Greenville, Mississippi.

At MACE, he developed community-based enterprises producing Fine Vines blue jeans and establishing catfish farms in the Delta. In 1974, Ed raised funds and helped organize the Sixth Pan African Congress held at the University of Tanzania at Dar-es-Salaam’s Nkrumah Hall with delegates representing 52 independent states and/or liberation movements in Africa, the Caribbean and other people of African descent.

As Executive Director of the New Orleans Area Development Project in 1976, Ed organized advocacy groups to work for reform by organizing communities to fight police brutality and creating parent-teacher committees for education reform. Ed went on to serve as President and CEO of the Southern Agriculture Corporation in the 1980s where

he worked to organize and gain capital funding for small Black southern farmers. In the 1990s as Executive Director of the Voter Education Project in Atlanta, Ed continued his tireless efforts to register Blacks and poor people to vote and to fight legislation restricting poor and disenfranchised people of all color from voting.

From the 1990s through 2006, Ed took his “asbestos gloves” to nations outside the United States. As a senior consultant to the National Democratic Institute, Ed designed and implemented civic and voter education programs to prepare for national elections in Ethiopia, Namibia, Zambia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. He was especially involved in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa which resulted in the freeing of Nelson Mandela. As an international election observer for The Jimmy Carter Center, Ed worked in Ghana, Zambia and The Dominican Republic.

As a human rights activist in corporate board rooms, Ed served on the World Council of Churches and Emergency Fund for Southern Africa raising funds for humanitarian relief; at the Center for National Security Studies monitoring American defense policies and budgets; and with the American Friends Service Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture Citizens Advisory Committee Equal Opportunity and Atlanta Council for International Cooperation. He also consulted with the Asian Council of Churches and participated in the Consultation of Minority Peoples of Japan in Tokyo.

In addition to his international work during this time, from 1994 until 2003, Ed moved into the arena of municipal and city planning as southeastern marketing director for Sidney B. Bowne Engineering. He served as the strategic planner developing relationships between the company and city and state officials in the company’s negotiation and establishment of Geography Information Systems. He worked on transition teams for the mayors of Macon and Albany, Georgia, in 2003 as a consultant with ABC Management where he evaluated and recommended management of staff for city departments and developed strategic plans for incoming mayoral administrations.

Ed developed an early appreciation and love of art while studying at Howard University under Professor Sterling Brown. He became especially interested in the history of African art and cultures. During his later journeys throughout the continent, he began collecting African sculptures and masks which he and his wife, Valinda, expanded with African and African-American art. Ed became a co-owner of Boston’s Harris/Brown Art Gallery, which exhibited major African-American artists. He is widely known for furthering dialogue regarding the importance of nurturing artists of African-American and African descent.

As a board member of the High Museum of Art, he was especially proud of being instrumental in helping to establish the annual David Driskell Young Artist Award. He also served on the board of the Atlanta Photography Group where he chaired the Youth Education Program and as chairman of the Funding Committee of the Academy Theater. Ed’s many years of advocating the ascension of African-American artists has resulted in their inclusion in successful exhibitions at various art venues.

Ed’s love and dedication to Black culture embraced music of all kind. He established and promoted the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival while at MACE. He especially enjoyed jazz and gospel and he and his wife made annual pilgrimages to New Orleans for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. But Ed’s most enjoyable times at his home with Valinda were preparing deliciously wonderful New Orleans cuisines and sharing those absolutely satisfying meals with friends and family who prized the opportunity to get a cup of Ed’s Gumbo.

Ed was a master New Orleans Chef, who was admired deliciously for his seafood, duck, or pheasant gumbos, and quail in rich brown sauce, and turtle soup with sherry and crawfish bisque and fried catfish and spinach shrimp dressing and sweet potato pone. His demonstrations of affection for food and sharing led to his wife’s publication of a loving cookbook. Ed was an elaborate storyteller, so with each meal came colorful adventures with Ed Brown.

Ed was a passionate historian of African culture and he accumulated a large library of African history. He spent many rewarding years studying Yoruba culture. During the 1970s with an extended stay in Nigeria, following an elaborate ritual that included him running alongside camels with a net over his head, Ed was initiated into the ruling Ogboni Society of Yoruba manhood.

Ed Brown is survived by his loving wife, Valinda; three sons, Michael Johnson, Kevin George and Keith George; two sisters, Pat Brown Leak (Alex) and Cheryl Brown Hill (Donald); brothers Jamil Al-Amin (Karima) and Lance Brown (Pat); grandchildren Alexis Johnson, Aliyah Johnson, Tyler Johnson, Kristin George, Christopher George, Brandon George and nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of other family and friends.

Benjamin is a veteran political journalist out of Harlem NY. His essays can be read on his blog site Commentaries on the Times.

Watchtower Society being Investigated for Illegal Toxic Dumping in Hudson Valley Watershed

2011-12-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

by Barbara Anderson

I was told some years back by a knowledgeable person, a former JW, that barrels containing inks and other waste by-products from WT printing operations in Brooklyn were taken in Society trucks to WT owned property in Wallkill for disposal by burying this hazardous waste in unpermitted dump cells. Some of these old barrels were unearthed and damaged during construction activities which produced a lot of contaminated soil as a result. Instead of disposing of the contaminated soil it was spread on a field so as to reduce the amount of contamination reported to the authorities (a couple of barrels instead of a couple of dump trucks).

This waste disposal went on for an unspecified period in Watchtower's past. Many areas where these old (antiquated) barrels are buried are now broken due to decay and the spilled contents have been contaminating the soil and streams. There are old dump sites, I was told, all over the WT's Wallkill property. I believe the present investigation is due to whistle-blowing by this man.

Oh, by the way, this property (WT Farms) is in a major watershed area, Hudson Valley Watershed, where millions of people get their drinking, etc., water from.

On a related note, for as many years as they could get away with it, Watchtower had been “cooking” or making the material that the printing ink was diluted with. It’s some sort of a compound like varnish or shellac and it was illegal for years to make this as it is a major air polluter. At Brooklyn it was processed in the Ink Room and the cooker was given a phony name called “Ink Vehicle Processor” or something like that, to fool inspectors. It was thought that this material also was dumped at WT Farms in the past because they couldn’t make it legally, so they had to get rid of the waste illegally.

It is doubtful that WT is still doing this now, but definitely they did it in the 60s through late 70s when my informant was at Bethel. He left Bethel in 1978 but had no reason, he said, to believe that they stopped this procedure in the 80s.

The Ink Department overseer for many, many years was none other than Lyman Swingle, a director of the WTBTS of PA who we all know became one of the Governing Body when that "Body" came into existence in the early 1970s.

Without a doubt, Max Larson, WT factory overseer, and Swingle, GB member, took many foul, harmful, secret facts of illegal activities with them to their graves!

Barbara Anderson was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1954 to 1997. She worked at Watchtower's headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, from 1982 to 1992 where during her last three years there, she researched the movement's official history (published in 1993) and did research as well as wrote a number of articles for their "Awake!" magazine. She has done extensive research on issues related to child sexual abuse in the religion leading to interviews on major TV and radio programs as an outspoken critic of Jehovah's Witnesses sexual abuse policies. WatchtowerDocuments.com features the research and discoveries of Anderson. As a Bethel insider for nearly eleven years - and member of the Watchtower’s Writing Department - Mrs. Anderson provides remarkable insight into the workings of the organization.

Bills, Butts & Balls!

2011-12-25T11:14:00.001-08:00

by Chris Stevenson

If your last name is Obama and you live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., then you have been the subject of a barrage of off-handed remarks that were tragically well-intentioned. The latest attack on First Lady Michelle's physique comes from republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (WI). He was overheard on the 21st saying "she lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself."

Sensenbrenner; a white male who seems even more bloated than Rush Limbaugh (yes the same Rush who last February claimed her figure does not compare to those of "Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue" models) is the latest in a long line of Michele-hatas. The height of this absurdity you'll recall, had to do with actual criticism of tops that she wears that expose her well-toned bare arms. Yet the real kicker is more than just her right to bare arms, it's what those two obese men chose to compare her with. I have yet in my lifetime ever chosen to recall a First Lady that motivated me to compare her the women that have graced the cover or pages of SI's most famous wintertime pullout.

In hindsight there is of course nothing wrong with Michelle's shape. Since I have never required Laura, Hillary, Barbara, Nancy, or Pat to take the SI photo-shoot, then why would any man make this comparison regarding Michelle? Unless of course there are other factors at play here, and by that I don't mean healthy foods.

Sad to say that was the good news. A few days earlier a former Tea Party candidate and libertarian in California named Manson went to his Facebook page and called for the outright assassination of the President: "Assassinate the f-----g n----r and his monkey children." It's believed Jules Manson was upset over one of Obama's military policy matters. Though he or Facebook later deleted the not-so-veiled threat, the hateful words remained on his wall long enough to attract hundreds of comments against him. Once again the MAO Syndrome rears it's ugly head, once again the President is smoking out the racists without even trying. Is it possible some of these people didn't even know they were racist prior to his getting elected?

You would think this particular guy knows he has a last name that works against him (not to mention he is said to live in a trailer). Mason posted a weak apology that seems to also reprimand people who judged him over his vile words that he says were "careless emotionally driven remarks" (that's right folks, we're the problem, not Jules). As expected he got a visit from the Secret Service the following Monday and they spoke with him and searched his home and computer. While he claims the matter is over, the New York Daily News quotes a source that says "it's an open investigation." Let's hope that's not the only thing opening for Mr. Manson, prison doors should be opening for him before too long also. He deserves to be made an example of regardless of whatever risks there are of making him into a martyr.

Just before the Christmas weekend Hollywood actor Matt Damon-a well-known Obama supporter seems to have fallen for the same trick more than a few others have, breaking with Obama over 2nd-hand information: "I've talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them told me 'never again, I will never be fooled by a politician.'" Damon went on, "you know, a one term President with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better." Barack can't seem to get a break with some of these people. The Rev. Jesse Jackson once wanted to cut his balls off (you don't hear about him murmuring his desire to cut Rod Blagojevich's balls off, whose illegal antics kept his son Jesse Jr. from being the IL Senator) and Damon wants him to have balls. Must be Christmas. LOL! Damon has been critical of Obama before, last April Obama shot back "well Matt, I saw 'The Adjustment Bureau'... right back atcha buddy.'"

Damon's latest salvo at the President came just prior to the signing of the $858 billion payroll tax cut bill.

Still young and gullible like a huge majority of Obama's liberal/democratic critics are, Damon's latest salvo at the President came just prior to the signing of the $858 billion payroll tax cut bill that extends the Bush-era tax cuts while extending unemployment benefits for 13 months, and a one year social security tax cut that should save workers $1,000. The same signing that GOP pundits accused republicans of having no balls. Hmmm. So it is, a President who has kept over 80% of his campaign promises, having to serve a country of hard-to-please extremist to Bourne-loser-voters obsessed with his and his family's anatomy. Who needs a vacation?

Chris Stevenson is a regular columnist for blackcommentator, Political Affairs Magazine, and a syndicated columnist. Follow him on Twitter, and Facebook, you don't have to join any of them. Watch his video commentary Policy & Prejudice and The Network for clbTV. Sign his Petition to permanently Abolish the Death Penalty @ Change.org. Respond to him on the link below.

Lessons from Howard Beach: 25 Years Later©

2011-12-19T13:07:00.002-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

If it had not been for Chris Griffith and the late Sonny Carson, I would not be writing about Howard Beach twenty-five years later. Chris called me early on December 19, 1986. His brother, Michael Griffith, had just been murdered by a white lynch mob in Howard Beach and I was the only person in New York who, according to him, could secure any semblance of justice for the Griffith family.

I recognize that many persons in New York could have secured media attention for the family but the family was seeking retributive justice and not simply distributive justice and media attention. Retributive justice requires that you put your own career on the line. My career had been on the line ever since I landed in New York. It had been a bumpy ride with no co-pilot in militaristic struggle and no parachute. I had to put Chris on hold.

The following Monday morning I received a wake-up call from Sonny Carson. I had received a diplomatic call from him on the previous Sunday. Sonny's modus operandi was to let a civil call precede an implied threat. Cedric Sandiford had been with Michael Griffith. His face had undergone a makeover. He was unable to see through the bandages over his eyes.

Members of the NYPD had unconstitutionally seized Cedric to view line-ups of suspects at a local police precinct in Queens. District Attorney John Santucci had hoped to conduct constitutionally-flawed line-ups to the benefit of the white suspects and to the detriment of Blacks.

Time was of the essence. There would be consequences, however. I rushed to the precinct and stopped the line-up. This was "obstruction of justice" according to white elected officials. A conviction for obstruction of justice means automatic disbarment and a prison term. This is the price that you must pay for demanding retributive justice.

Later, New York would conduct a preliminary hearing. This is rare in New York. It was designed to be a public spectacle. Sandiford had limited vision. I went to the Queens courthouse and announced during the hearing that Cedric would not be participating in a kangaroo hearing. I would also demand a special prosecutor. The "Fourth Estate" went nuts.

This was the final nail in my coffin. New York would snatch its meal ticket from any Black lawyer who would elevate his client over a racist criminal justice system. This has been the case since about 1850. Stated differently, whites will never finance our liberation. During the Civil War, Black soldiers had to put their own lives on the line to save the Union.

When any client has been harmed or is in legal trouble, all lawyers, under English jurisprudence, are required to cite the "Founding Fathers" as authorities. This reliance on white authorities to support a proposition shortchanges Blacks in the judicial system. The leading authority against Blacks is Chief Justice Roger Taney.

For me, this misplaced reliance on a racist would amount to legal malpractice. If a descendant of enslaved Africans were a "person" within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, any search for justice would land an attorney in deep trouble with a disciplinary committee. It is safer for Blacks to see each other as three-fifths of a person. Compare Judge Evelyn Laporte's bail decision in People v. Lamont Pride.

My only decision in a courtroom was to choose a citation of authorities. In Howard Beach, my citation of authorities included, but was not limited to, Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass, Irene Morgan, Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali. In other words, I would not be cooperating with evil. For any Black attorney, this is a ground for disbarment.

New York responded. Gov. Mario Cuomo attacked me publicly. This attack was followed by attacks from Mayor Ed Koch, Police Commissioner Ben Ward and Black selected officials. There would also be a defamation lawsuit by the court officers association and a disciplinary investigation which resulted in a disciplinary penalty. This penalty laid the groundwork for my disbarment three years later. Two strikes and you are out.

Black people act strangely when you are attacked by whites. Virtually, no Black activist in the Black community will touch me with a ten-foot pole. Every Black-oriented commercial radio station has banned me from its airwaves. I seldom appeared on "Like It Is" and when I did, the subject of Tawana Brawley was a no-no. Blacks will punish you for following your revered ancestors.

If you head an organization or is the architect of a political party not controlled by whites, Blacks will make sure that you remain in a financial hole. Malcolm X knew Blacks in New York very well. New York City was his frame of reference. "We sick boss?" New York's slave code still continues to manufacture "Negroes".

Important lessons were learned from Howard Beach; that is, the power of critical thinking combined with black activism. This combination does yield some positive results. Another example is "Bensonhurst". The common thread is that whites had to submit to protracted bargaining preceded by a positive demand and a valid argument. These elements were missing in Patrick Dorismond, Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell.

A drawback in Black thinking is the inability to appreciate concepts. This follows from the "Mis-education of the Negro". Three fundamental subjects are not taught in public schools: philosophy, logic (critical thinking) and ethics. Whites adhere to a philosophy. Marcus Garvey was imprisoned and deported because he also practiced a philosophy.

In Howard Beach, for example, Blacks described an event as a racially-motivated murder. This was simply a description of an event. No one raised the applicable concept: "the right to travel". The inability to travel freely is not only a "badge of slavery" but it also violates the civil rights statutes enacted during Reconstruction.

The focus should have never been on Michael Griffith or Cedric Sandiford. Three years later, the focus was on Yusuf Hawkins and, again, not on the "right to travel". Nonetheless, this inability to travel freely would gradually go into submission after Bensonhurst. The right to travel had been questioned in New York before Howard Beach. This explains the Black stance in Howard Beach.

The failure of Blacks to understand concepts has resurfaced in the demise of "Like It Is". Black activists have mislabeled the issue as the hiring of a host for "Here and Now". Blacks have lost public affairs programming and not simply "Like It Is". The first step is to revive public affairs programming. Everyone can agree to a host. We should refrain from putting the cart before the horse.

The demand for a special prosecutor was appropriate in Howard Beach. John Santucci was carrying too much baggage. My demand for a special prosecutor in Howard Beach also set the stage for "two strikes and you are out". This was in the suspension order dated May 21, 1990. The second offense was my refusal to violate the attorney-client privileges of Tawana Brawley and Al Sharpton. This is worse than double jeopardy. See Dred Scott.

To make matters worse, the second offense arose out of a bill of attainder. In other words, members of the New York Legislature and not any private person was the complainant. A bill of attainder or a bill of pains and penalties is specifically outlawed under the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, Blacks have no interest in understanding the "Supreme Law".

Dr. Khallid Muhammad was also the victim of a bill of attainder and I am probably the only Black person who recognized the constitutional issue. Gov. David Paterson failed to see it. No one could have criticized him if he had pardoned me. Even a guilty person is entitled to a pardon. I am innocent, however. The ball is now in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's court. His father caused these injustices. These injustices should be corrected on December 25, 2011 (Christmas) or December 26, 2011 (Kwanzaa).

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

Bills Beat Tebow & the Broncos 40-14!

2011-12-19T13:07:00.001-08:00

by Pat Freeman (the Mighty OB'a)

The Buffalo Bills begin their final home game at Ralph Wilson against Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. Once again our offense has continued to struggle to close out drives. The Bills first two scoring opportunities ended with two missed field goals of 45, and 31 yards. You begin to wonder what else can go wrong for a team that showed so much early season promise. Broncos 7- Bills 0 1st.

Tebowmania invades Buffalo like Santa Claus to many fans (Photos- Luc Leclerc and Kevin Hoffman-US PRESSWIRE).

Once again Ryan Fitzpatrick has continued to struggle completing basic NFL passes, and I believe that the Bills have to be considering whether or not they made a mistake in giving him a contract extension. Now according to sources the Bills have an option not to give Ryan Fitzpatrick a $10 million dollar signing bonus on March 1st, 2012? I would believe that based on his performance they have to be considering exercising their option to back out of this deal. The Bills finally scored with 6:06 left in the second quarter but once again they failed to score a touchdown in the red zone and had to settle for another field, but this time the Bills were successful in their field goal attempt. Broncos 7- Bills 3.

Leodis Mckelvin has been making a case with his outstanding special teams play by returning a punt for a touchdown which gave the Bills their first lead of the game with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Bills 10- Broncos 7. During this game the Bills are definitely challenging Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow to beat them with his passing arm. The second quarter finally saw the Bills offense score a touchdown in the red zone as they took a lead into half-time. Bills 17- Broncos -7

The second half started with the Broncos primed for another Tim Tebow second half miracle but our beloved hometown team has vowed to end the despair of their faithful fan base with a miraculous effort of their own. Denver started the scoring in the second half, and cut into the Bills lead by scoring their second touchdown on a Tim Tebow pass to Daniel Phels that cut the score to Bills 17- Broncos 14. The Bills once again moved the ball well on the ground but again failed to get the ball in the end zone, and had to settle for a field goal again. Bills 20- Broncos 14. Most of the media is questioning some of the offensive packages of Chan Gailey inside of the red zone it seems he feels that his best red zone offense is without his best offensive players CJ Spiller, and Steve Johnson.

Tim Tebow hands off to former Bill Willis McGahee to no avail Saturday (Photos courtesy: Luc Leclerc and Kevin Hoffman-US PRESSWIRE).

So far today the Bills have been in the red zone six times, and have only come away with one touchdown, and a field goal. Though they lead this game in the third quarter I think there is reason to question the rational of not having your best players on the field in the red zone. Bills 23- Broncos 14 end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter started with the Buffalo Bills continuing to fail in the red zone keeping the Denver Broncos in the game. Bills 26- Broncos 14.

The Bills defense however exposed the weakness of the national sensation Tim Tebow’s inability as a NFL passer by intercepting him three times, with two returned for touchdowns. Bills 40- Broncos 14 Final.

In closing I still feel the Bills offense failed again to find a successful rhythm especially in the red zone today seven times, and coming away with only one touchdown.

If you enjoy talking about the world of sports tune into the number#1 sports show in the nation every Saturday from 12PM-1PM hosted by WUFO Sports Director Patrick Freeman on 1080AM WUFO radio or via the internet at www.wufoam.com. Or catch Sports Update for clbTV (ch.20 Buffalo) and YouTube. Also join us for the number#1 recap show every Monday at 7:25AM with Lee Pettigrew, and The Mighty O’Ba Pat Freeman .

Inconvenient Income Inequality

2011-12-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

by CHARLES M. BLOW

Is income inequality becoming the new global warming? In other words, is this another case where the facts of an existential threat lose traction among a weary American public as deniers attempt to reduce them to partisan opinions?

It’s beginning to seem so.

A Gallup poll released on Thursday found that, after rising rather steadily for the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who said that the country is divided into “haves” and “have-nots” took the largest drop since the question was asked.

This happened even as the percentage of Americans who grouped themselves under either label stayed relatively constant. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans still see themselves as the haves, while only about a third see themselves as the have-nots. The numbers have been in that range for a decade.

This is the new American delusion. The facts point to a very different reality.

An Associated Press report this week on census data found that “a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.” The report said that the data “depict a middle class that’s shrinking.”

An October report from the Congressional Budget Office found that, from 1979 to 2007, the average real after-tax household income for the 1 percent of the population with the highest incomes rose 275 percent. For the rest of the top 20 percent of earners, it rose 65 percent. But it rose just 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent.

And a report released in May by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that “the gap between rich and poor in O.E.C.D. countries has reached its highest level for over 30 years.” In the United States, the average income of the richest 10 percent of the population had risen to around 14 times that of the poorest 10 percent.

Our growing income inequality is a fact. So is the possibility that it could prove economically disastrous.

An April report from the International Monetary Fund found that growing income inequality has a negative effect on economic expansion. The report said that long periods of high growth, which were called “growth spells,” were “much more likely to end in countries with less equal income distributions. The effect is large.” It continued: “Inequality seemed to make a big difference almost no matter what other variables were in the model or exactly how we defined a ‘growth spell.’ ”

Our income inequality could jeopardize our recovery.

Yet another Gallup report issued last Friday found that most Americans now say that the fact that some people in the U.S. are rich and others are poor does not represent a problem but is an acceptable part of our economic system.

If denial is a river, it runs through doomed societies.

Charles M. Blow is a New York Times Columnist and nationally-known commentator: "I invite you to visit my blog By The Numbers, join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, or e-mail me at chblow@nytimes.com."

Christmas in Woodlands District in the Fifties

2011-12-19T12:39:00.000-08:00
(It was Really sinting!)

by Basil Waine Kong

Growing up in St. Elizabeth is fraught with wonderful memories, especially of Christmas. As I look back, I see manicured lawns,(freshly chopped with a sharp machete or a donkey, horse or even goats). Any of these animals can eat down the grass. I remember gleaming white washed stones about six feet apart lining the walkways right up to the house steps and white washed trunks of trees in the yard. Christmas also coincides with the advent of winter when there is a precipitious drop in daily temperatures from the eighties to the seventies. We call it "Christmas Breeze", which is one step above "Cool Breeze"!

I have traveled the world and no where can make you feel more welcome as rural St. Elizabeth. There is no welcome more sublime. I imagine Jamaicans living foreign flock home for Christmas just for that feeling of welcome, familiarity and belongingness from “femi people”. It's nice that these “Been-to” people bring money, presents and food to show off what a success they have made of themselves!. We can be a loving, jocular, generous but slightly contentious people.

The children were always on stage when I was a child. Not only did we perform regularly in school and church plays and concerts, we were always being coached in poetry, singing and dancing by Ms. Mavis Smith for “Festival” that was held in Santa Cruz each year. Whenever relatives and friends visited, we were asked to recite poems, tell a joke, spell words, sing or dance. One of the important jobs that adults joyfully accepted was to encourage and big up the youths with a heap of praise. Those of us who grew up in the country have great egos because we didn’t know we were poor or we even thought we were bulby (bright). Children were front and center of the community. The adults regularly beat the hell out of us to keep us in line but we felt loved nevertheless. I started working in Mass Claudie’s shop at about ten years old and at our Saturday night dances, the older people enjoyed putting me up on the counter to dance and then give me money. The popular dances back then were: “Back to back, belly to belly”, “Banana, banana, banana” and "Ramadin and Valentine".

Many unfamiliar foods and dry goods came to us by way of vans and visiting relatives and friends. We are a mountain community but we were able to enjoy lobsters, fish and even clams brought to us by vans. We got bread, buns and bullahs from Harry Chen See’s bread truck. When you bought a whole loaf of unsliced hard dough bread, we got a brata of two bullahs. We would watch out for the passing of the truck, run to the roadside to hale the driver, bought the bread (unwrapped) and put it into the bread basket that hung by a hook close to the ceiling. Our usual breakfast was a “hunk of bread with butter”, a boiled egg and hot fresh cow’s milk. I liked my bread with sweet condensed milk! We ate whatever fruits were in season throughout the day from anyone's property. Children had a free run of the place with no concern about property lines.

I am not sure that this is true for all families in Jamaica but for our family, we took food to everyone we visited and also brought food back home from whatever was left over especially at Christmas, funerals and weddings. In other words, we are always bringing and taking food. We don't like anyone to be hungry. If someone is going to America, a roast breadfruit, ache, corn pone and gizadas were in tow. When they returned, packed away in their luggage were hams, canned pears and peaches packed in syrup.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, every household prepared sorrel with and without rum but with lots of ginger. I loved the beautiful red colour and tart taste. A roast (beef) and fruitcake would also be prepared to serve to all who visited. Aunt Myra’s roast was the best! The fruits (raisins, currants, plums) for the Christmas fruit cake would be soaked in rum and port wine for several months before baking day. I usually couldn’t wait for the cake so I would eat the batter while I helped to rub the ingredients together. Those who really wanted to show off would also have a Christmas ham from 'merica that was sliced as thin as a razor blade and treated like gold. The ham bone was used later for soup. If you greet someone with "Happy Christmas" or "Merry Christmas" before Christmas day, the receiver of the greeting predictably add: "When it comes".

On Christmas Day, we woke up as soon as the first cock crowed. We got dressed and greeted each other with “Happy Christmas” and a smile. While we did not send Christmas cards or exchange presents, on Christmas mornings, the first thing we looked forward to was Granny's egg punch. She put on the milk to scold (heat up), break a dozen eggs and carefully separated the red (yolk) from the white. She handed the bowl with the yolk and brown sugar to Uncle Elton to grind and the whites with a few drops of water to Uncle Ronnie to whip with a fork. When the yolk was nice and creamy and the white was nice and fluffy, she combined them, added hot milk, a Guinness stout and a Red Stripe Beer, nutmeg, vanilla extract, mixed it all up and served it for breakfast. wow! But you must remember to take out the eye (germinal cell) or the punch will taste "raw". After breakfast, we blew off steam by blowing up fire crackers that was answered by the other people in the community. I prided myself on being able to hold the fire crackers in my fingers without getting hurt. Other boys were not so lucky and lost fingers.

Some of the people from Springfield Church walked to the houses of those who were sick and shut in to sing Christmas Carols with them.

Busha Price (Granny's friend) would be at our house by 8:00 am all dressed up with suit, tie, handkerchief in his breast pocket, felt hat, black and white shoes, his walking stick tipped with brass and always had some small change, maybe a sixpence for the children. After drinking some of Granny's egg punch, he would say: "Ms. Rosie, it mak mi cranium crawl" which I interpreted to be a good thing. We asked if he wasn't going to wipe the egg punch from his fluffy mouth stash. He delighted in telling us that that is his way to save some for later.

After breakfast, Granny would give us our Christmas money and we headed out to the community picnic at Shield’s Pon where vendors sold ice cream and fresco, grater cake, pound cake, jerk pork, fried fish, cane juice, peppermint sticks, and all the treats of Christmas. It was a show when the old soldiers would march with wooden rifles. Herbie Arnold’s rumba band would play all day. I loved the colourful Maypole and the Merry-go-round. Two strong men could turn four swingers. While we never had an elaborate “Jankonoo”, someone would put on a horse head mask and dance around on stilts. The next week, all the Pickney dem built stilts and try to dance around on them like the Jankonoo man.

It was a day when everyone shared what they had and indulged: “Eat, drink and be merry” were the orders of the day. The women and children mostly drank the sorrel and ginger beer, but all the men got drunk and everybody danced. The rule was that all the men had to dance with all the women regardless of age or relationship, so the old people and the smallest pickney would get into the act as well. But mostly, the old people would sit against the wall and watch the young people wind up dem waist. Everyone was in a festive mood and buying waters (rum) and Red Stripe Beer for each other.

While no one ever dressed up like “Father Christmas”, all the children received balloons, fifi that curled up like a snake and other noise makers that amused us for several days. And we didn’t have Christmas trees either; but our houses were decorated with poinsettias that grew wild in our community.

Every Jack man shaved holding a two edge razor blade very gingerly, got their hair cut, their pants creased and their shoes shined. The ladies got their hair done, dressed up in fancy crinoline dresses and were awash with kuss kuss perfume. The girls put coconut oil on their legs and they looked amazing!

The Sunday closest to Christmas, we not only read the wonderful Christmas story but sang all the Christmas Carols at Springfield Moravian Church. As service lasted more than two hours, there was no hurry. My favorite Christmas Carol was “I saw three ships come sailing in” by Ms. Maude. We were also treated to a Christmas play on Sunday night directed by Mrs. Joyce Chang in which I always participated. For atmosphere, we put candles in oranges and lit up the place. The boys also burned each other with the wax. I am surprised that the church never caught fire except that the Grannies were never far away to keep control.

Our festivities did not end with Christmas day as we had a cricket match as well as a horse race with lots of betting on “Boxing Day”(day after Christmas).
Christmas comes but once a year and when it comes, it brings good cheer! Happy Christmas to all! (When it comes)

Note. After all the young people migrated to England in the late fifties and early sixties, there was no more festivities and no more joy in our district! Our community became a community of Grannies raising grand children.

Bullet Columnist Basil Waine Kong as written several pieces for this journal and especially likes to expound on his favorite subject: his beloved Jamaica. He is a former Atlien (resident of Atlanta GA), and was the CEO of the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) for 22 years before his retirement in 2008 to return to Jamaica. This article is reprinted with his permission from his blogsite; Coming in From the Cold... Bob Marley

Bills Trounced by the Fish (again)

2011-12-18T13:47:00.000-08:00
this game was not as close as the score indicates

by Patrick Freeman

The Buffalo Bills once again take on their AFC East Rival the Miami Dolphins in cold western New York . The only problem with game that it has lost its glamour since the mid 1990’s. Many of the current Bills Players don’t even regard this as a so called rivalry any more. The only rivalry that exists with this game is stuck in the mind of Ralph Wilson who should have had the Bills realigned in the AFC central with Cleveland , Pittsburgh , and Cincinnati but once again this organization has failed to make the right decisions that would make this franchise a perennial winner. To let the truth be told Ralph Wilson has done everything in his power to assist this franchise into becoming the laughing stock of the NFL the last 12 years. Just a simple geographical decision like this would have benefited a team that struggles to sell out in December because of weather. These problems start at the top of this organization, and that is Ralph Wilson or whoever is advising him.

Brian Hartline (82) catches one on the Bills' Aaron Williams (23). (photo-Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Well let’s get to the game which started with the Bills benefiting from an early Reggie Bush fumble which led to a rushing touchdown by CJ Spiller. During this drive Spiller showed some pretty good speed and elusiveness against one of the better run defenses in the NFL this year. Bills 7- Miami 0.

This lead did not last long because once again the Bills defense has continued to miss assignments which have given opposing teams instant touchdowns. Tight End Anthony Fasano literally walked into end zone after the Bills defense forgot to cover him. Bills 7- Miami-7.

The second quarter continued to see Ryan Fitzpatrick struggling to complete passes and the offense making mental errors which included newly resigned Eric Pears who decided to celebrate his new contract by drawing two costly penalties which led to stalled drives, and more opportunities for the Dolphins offense. These extra opportunities led to a second quarter field goal Dolphins 10- Bills 7. The Bills continued to struggle on both sides of the ball and went into halftime losing Dolphins -13- Bills 7.

During this game I was asked by a respected media person how could I suggest that Chan Gailey’s job performance be looked at? Well look at his coaching performance over the second half of this season. The Bills have lost six straight games, and during this stretch the head coach should have found a way during this period to win a game. Chan Gailey has failed to adjust to how other coaches are stopping his steam and thus the Bills not only have lost six games in a row they were blown out of three of those contest.

The third quarter started by once again seeing our defense give up another big play to Miami ’s Brandon Marshal for another touchdown. Miami 20- Bills -7. The Bills just has been a very inconsistent group during this stretch in which Ryan Fitzpatrick has regressed to the point where you must begin to ask when you start looking at Tyler Thigpen. The other puzzling factor of this horrific stretch has been the bad offensive game plan of the Bills, and this issue lies at the feet of head coach Chan Gailey.

In closing this was one of the worst games I’ve covered in my seventeen years of covering the Buffalo Bills. Miami -30- Bills 23. Believe me this game was not as close as the score indicates.

If you enjoy talking about the world of sports tune into the number#1 sports show in the nation every Saturday from 12PM-1PM hosted by WUFO Sports Director Patrick Freeman on 1080AM WUFO radio or via the internet at www.wufoam.com. Or catch Sports Update for clbTV (ch.20 Buffalo) and YouTube. Also join us for the number#1 recap show every Monday at 7:25AM with Lee Pettigrew, and The Mighty O’Ba Pat Freeman .

Do Blacks Prefer Entertainment over Struggle?

2011-12-13T05:12:00.002-08:00

by Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

I wonder if "Meet the Press" would have allowed a Black woman, with a skirt up to her hips, to come on the program and speak about her organization being formed so that white children could have pajamas. It was not public affairs programming and it was not news. Nonetheless, "Here and Now" clearly violated the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission and its program amounted to a "badge of slavery".

Watching "Here and Now" is as bad as my high school principal allowing a white woman to speak to students at my high school about "JOY". These were specific instructions on obedience and tailor-made to subdue Black children. I had to confront the principal. My classmates had to restrain me. I was suspended from high school for the rest of the school year. My insult level would not allow me to be quiet. I had a level of political and racial consciousness.

In high school, I had never heard of Dr. John Henrik Clarke or Dr. Yosef ben Jochannan. Gov. Eugene Talmadge, a white supremacist, had banned the teaching of Black history in Georgia in 1941. This ban on Black history continued in many Georgia school districts throughout the 1960's. Nonetheless, I knew a racial insult when I heard it on "Here and Now".

Later, I also attended the University of Georgia Law School in the 1960's. I had to confront white racists who sought to demean Blacks. My resistance to white supremacy in law school led to the white professors assembling to conspire about my demise. In the words of the dean, "I was a disgrace to the Negro race". Professional Blacks are supposed to be submissive.

There is a tremendous fear of whites in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. This is evident in the lack of Black activism in the area. Blacks refuse to respect their revered ancestors. They refuse to walk in their footsteps. Whites respect the philosophy of Chief Justice Roger Taney. On the other hand, we have turned our backs on Medgar Evers, among other revered ancestors.

Since I arrived in New York, I have found Blacks terrified of my advocacy of Blackness which is no different than that of Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X. When Dr. Khallid Muhammad was under attack, he could only find reliable friends in myself and Steve Cokely. Some Blacks may join a struggle but they vanish as they approach the goal line.

Today, Gil Noble who has no friends if you define a "friend" as someone who will openly and vigorously take the bull by the horns and defend the contributions of Medgar Evers and Gil Noble. Blacks were comfortable with a blue-eyed blond trashing them this Sunday on "Here and Now". It was not the goal of Medgar Evers, in Mississippi, to elevate racist whites. Gil Noble would not have permitted it on "Like It is".

UAM will be sponsoring or co-sponsoring events for the first three Saturdays in January 2012 at the Cotton Club. On January 7 at 9:00 a.m., there will be the Kwanzaa Breakfast. This is a tribute for our children. The UAM Membership Dinner-Dance is scheduled for January 14, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. "Friends of Like It Is" will hold its final seminar on January, 21, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. The first and second Saturdays are fund-raisers for Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls.

Too honest for the White Press and too black for much of today's Black Press; bullet columnist Alton Maddox upsets the same people and status quo as he did as an uncompromising Defense Attorney. He is also a founding member of the Freedom Party. Please sign his Petition to save "Like It Is." Contact him at c/o UAM P.O. BOX 35 BRONX, NY 10471

Kenmore's Batty Behavior

2011-12-13T05:12:00.001-08:00

by Chris Stevenson

There are some things you should know about my city. Buffalo NY doesn't really like being considered racist, but it likes the fringe benefits. Most Blacks in Buffalo don't like acknowledging or fighting racism, they just somehow want it to go away. You might find them trying to pray it away. Two sides praying to God, God only answering one of them. Buffalo Blacks are left holding the Bible, the most we get is that it makes national news. This is once again the case this week, this time the culprits are some white female students of a girl's high school basketball team. Once again Buffalo makes the national news over something negative be it racism or bullying. This story has elements of both, a majority white girls basketball team representing a majority white school in a mostly-white suburb outside of Buffalo NY called Kenmore.

You see, these girls, they have this ritual. They hold hands after practice or before a game, and they pray. They then scream in unison "1-2-3 Nigger!" LOL! You can't make this up. I guess they've been known to do this for several years now. This year things are just a little bit different (shhhhh... there's a black girl on the squad). Well when the little sister-sophomore Tyra Batts-learned of this she was of course offended. She asked them to stop using this chant. This is now known through the sheer steel will of 11 or 12 white teenage girls who no-doubt had they're replies and justification mapped-out according to the times. First came the conservative-born disclaimer "we're not racists," and then "it's just a word." Arguments ensued with even more racial epithets being hurled at Batts, until it reached the point where she gave one or two of her teammates what they had so sorely been missing at home; a whuppin'.

I take it they mistook her for Herman Cain or that black college student-Byron Thomas-displaying and defending the Confederate Flag and was just going to find some twisted rationale to this under the banner of "freedom of expression" or some BS, and go along with it. No siree, Ms. Batts refused to "play ball" with these poor diluted narcissists-in-training. Give her a trophy I say.

In Buffalo the black females take a stand against racism & marginalization quicker than black men-cs

As expected in these situations, the school tried to punish just her, until she made some noise about it. Batts got a 5-day suspension, while the name-calling-non-fighting white girls (you ever get the feeling the entertainment industry is preventing youths from knowing and acting on their limitations?) on the team received only a 2-day suspension. It's a proven fact, once the N-word gets good to a white girl, she can't let go.

Bullying to the breaking point isn't new to Buffalo, the last two known incidents come by way of nearby Williamsville North High School and ended much more tragically. That school used to send it's students to the local TV quiz show "It's Academic," now they can send them to 'It's Suicide.' Just a few short months ago they lost a 14-year-old student named Jamie Rodemeyer to mostly-persistent online and social network Gay-bashing. In February of 2010 junior Joe Chearmonte committed suicide. What this era has produced in the case of Williamsville North, is a group of bullies who would be too cowardly to confront you in person, so they simply found a safe outlet and safety in numbers. According to the BBC Online, half the victims of Gay-bashing attempt suicide "and 4in 10 actually harm themselves at least once. Almost a third harm themselves on more than one occasion, 17% display symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder later in life."

Now in my opinion, if you are devastated by "Jamie is stupid, Gay, fat, and ugly. He must die!" Then you haven't gone through anything. In fact today "bullying" seems to be a pretty loose classification. What many of us are raising is a generation of divas, both male and female. Try growing up in my era, around Eagle or Oneida Streets downtown near the projects. Now you'll meet some bullies (sorry, cyber-bullies don't count) Try getting a gun pointed at your skull by a couple of members of a gang called the Pythons, as they interrupt your pickup game at JFK Park. Try being chased by several Pythons until you cross over into the territory of another storied street-gang called the Manhattan Lovers. Try getting jumped in front of your own house by just some average clucks on the block. How does your laughable milksops of Kenmore East or Williamsville North stack up? And you want to commit suicide? I know I don't have to make Tyra Batts understand this, but those of you suburban social-network-assassins out there would be standing on a window-ledge next to Tyra's stubborn teammates were you made to grow up in East Buffalo during the '60's and '70's. Worse yet try being black and growing up in the old south.

The only thing these particular young white offenders of today have convinced me of, is what a weak continence they have. 14 to 17-year-old school kids are no more racial experts than they are Gay barometers. Most of them find themselves wrestling with both their hormones and whatever behavioral, sexual, and societal standards pop-culture, and Reality TV (now intentionally training young women to act difficult, confrontational, and slow to listen) is currently pushing.

Tyra's teammates would probably insist they are not bullies, in spite of the obvious use of the N-word (understand they didn't even bother to make into a catchy rhyme) they can convince themselves that it's some form of camaraderie or tradition among themselves. They can just play naive white girls and claim to not have a basic understanding of the word. The reasoning of; "if I offend you, then I don't get to say 'it's not offensive,'" seems lost on them.

It's not the suburban white kids that are the real trouble spot here. It's the response of the so-called adults; school staff and parents, that has me wondering where their heads are at. With Kenmore East High School both the girls basketball coach and Tonawanda Superintendent are feigning ignorance more or less to Tyra's issue. The coach says she "heard the girls make the occasional comment that Ms. Batts was black, but had no idea about the chant." Such colorblindness is refreshing, were it really true. The district super says he was unaware of it.

This belies the history of the town of Kenmore in itself, the book "Hooded Knights on the Niagara: The Ku Klux Klan in Buffalo New York" by author Shawn Lay dates the KKK in Kenmore all the way back to 1920, and flatly states that in July of 1924 the Klan's official files showed membership up to 1,910 individuals. Of these 1.747 lived in Buffalo, and 33 lived in Kenmore. Even though Kenmore didn't officially have a branch, they had more members than the rest of the suburbs, which dispersed 99 throughout the rest of the outlying towns. I'm not saying the girls on the team or any of the teachers or employees of Kenmore East are KKK, I'm saying that with such a long history of racism, some feelings can be and evidently have been normalized.

Chris Stevenson is a regular columnist for blackcommentator, Political Affairs Magazine, and a syndicated columnist. Follow him on Twitter, and Facebook, you don't have to join any of them. Watch his video commentary Policy & Prejudice and The Network for clbTV. Sign his Petition to permanently Abolish the Death Penalty @ Change.org. Respond to him on the link below.

The Brutal Side of Hazing

2011-12-13T04:47:00.001-08:00

by CHARLES M. BLOW

The tragic loss of Robert Champion may be another sad case of a college student literally dying to belong.

Champion, a drum major for Florida A&M University’s famous marching band, died on a bus a few weeks ago after a performance. The suspected culprit: physical hazing, a behavior that’s proving remarkably resistant to being scrubbed from our culture.

His death refocuses attention on college hazing and illustrates just how pervasive and intractable the problem can be, how rooted it is into some organizations, how far some will go to belong and feel bonded and how some officials can seem to turn a blind eye — publicly disavowing and condemning while silently condoning.

I know this behavior well because I was once a willing participant. I was first paddled when I pledged a fraternity in college. It was one of our first meetings as a pledge group and the brothers were working their way through a line of us from shortest to tallest. Eventually they got to me. No. 13.

I moved to the center of the room and assumed the position. I stared straight ahead. I tried to brace myself for the blow, but nothing could have prepared me.

Swat!

The force of the impact nearly knocked me over. I rose on my toes to keep from falling forward. The pain of it crackled through my thin body. My vision blurred. The sound in the room grew muted as if I was listening from underwater. My temples throbbed. My nostrils flared. My nose ran and my eyes watered despite my best efforts to prevent it. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I was on fire. My body demanded that I scream, run, cry, do something. But I knew that I could do nothing. I stood firm.

“Thanks — may I have another?”

That is the way it is often portrayed in movies and literature. Orderly. But that was only an introduction, a test. The hazing sessions quickly accelerated to dangerous affairs beyond imagination or comprehension.

We would experience nearly two months of bleeding and bruises, harassment and terror, dehydration and nausea.

Virtually every connection with the outside world was severed. The beatings became more frequent and more severe. Some pledges broke and cried, others flinched and cowered. Others stepped up and stood tall, toeing the line for those who couldn’t.

The point was to test our mettle, to lay bare the depths of our character and commitment, to break the individuals so that the group could be built — amalgamated from the debris of our former selves.

All the language surrounding hazing was couched in that kind of grandiosity and nobility. The dangers involved were never discussed. No one gave voice to the fact that it was against the rules and possibly against the law. No one stopped and thought. We simply drifted forward, moved along by the momentum of a thing done because it had always been done.

One of the most brutal sessions was dedicated to breaking the breakable, to forcing anyone who couldn’t withstand the beatings to leave the pledge group. It was called “Turn Back Night.”

That session took place in a secluded, mudhole-pocked oil field. As the pump-jacks bobbed and creaked, we were subjected to an unfettered, gladiator-style hazing session so brutal it almost defies description.

The night air was punctuated by the swats of paddles, boards and even two-by-fours, by slaps of hands on flesh, by groans of pain from pledges, and by shouts of profanity from brothers who’d lost themselves in the frenzy and were caught in a chaotic feedback loop of alcohol and adrenaline.

And we weren’t Animal House-like alcoholics and louses. We were campus leaders. The fraternity prided itself on receiving the high-G.P.A. award, and I was the freshman class president.

Still, legends were to be made by the brothers who were most inventive, brutal or relentless, or by pledges who never flinched or cried aloud.

The rules were simple but unwritten: no facial marks or serious injuries. Of course, there is no real way of enforcing such rules when boys are swinging two-by-fours at other boys by the light of the moon. Luckily, my group survived without serious injury. But that’s unfortunately not always the case. Hazing is inherently dangerous and sometimes deadly.

And it runs deep. It lives in legacy.

The band director at Florida A&M warned two decades ago in a letter about hazing that “it would be very difficult for the university and the band should someone become killed or hurt.”

Yet here we are with the school’s president, James Ammons, having to release the following statement on Nov. 29: “It is becoming increasingly clear that hazing continues to exist — at FAMU and across the country at other universities, colleges and other elements — because hazing survives and thrives in a culture of secrecy and a conspiracy of silence.”

The silence is the challenge. A 2008 study by researchers at the University of Maine found that most college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing, but 95 percent never report it. I certainly didn’t.

This is compounded by the fact that many members of these groups see the tactic as flawed but effective. It separates the weak from the strong. It’s a forced group trauma for the pledges, and that has a bonding effect. And those hazed often see it as a test of toughness, taking a perverse pride in their perseverance.

But that’s not worth the price paid. Any perceived good will always be outweighed by injuries and measured against dead bodies. There are other ways to provide bonding experiences without barbaric physical and psychological trauma.

When I view what we did with a mature mind and enlightened eyes, it seems insane. But, in the moment, as a young man, it seemed to be a perfectly reasonable rite of passage. And that is the attitude that must be changed. It’s not reasonable. It’s ridiculous.

We must end the “conspiracy of silence.”

Charles M. Blow is a New York Times Columnist and nationally-known commentator: "I invite you to visit my blog By The Numbers, join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, or e-mail me at chblow@nytimes.com."

I Celebrate Dr. Muriel Petioni:

2011-12-12T17:09:00.000-08:00
A Lady of Grace, Elegance and Style

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

I was sad to learn of the passing of a living Legend into the realm of the Ancestors. Dr. Muriel Petioni, whom I considered a friend, and an inspiration, made her transition, recently, at the tender age of 97. And if I had not learned so much from her, and enjoyed being around her so much, I guess I would actually be in mourning.

But I have to admit, I had so many fond memories of Dr. Petioni that I think of her and I smile. Whenever and where ever she was, you knew you were in good company; you were at the right place, and you were definitely walking in high cotton.

Dr. Petioni always gracefully entered a room with that beautiful smile of hers, dressed as though she had just stepped out of Vogue; or had a wardrobe detail that followed her around making sure that she was dressed in the most elegant fashions - tailored for her tiny figure.

Her face was always framed with that beautiful silvery short french cut. (Photo- NY Times)

Her face was always framed with that beautiful silvery short french cut, and she breezed around the room greeting everyone, having small conversations, or involving in deep political or socially relevant issues.

As with her son Mal (a/k/a Charles), Woolfolk - who no doubt got that faculty from his mom -I could (and would) sit and talk with her for hours. We never covered the same subject twice. And it didn't matter if we hadn't seen each other for weeks or months, we always seemed to be able to pick up right where we left off from the previous conversation.

I totally adored that lady, because she let nothing get her down, and kept her hand in everything relevant; with that sharp mind of hers always turning its attention to something new to benefit the community and mankind. There was nothing that she was not interested in; and a great many programs and protocols she was instrumental in getting off the ground, just because we would not stop half way.

She kept up with the times, and was often very much ahead of them, as well. For example, we had a great ongoing conversation about autologus adult stem cells (self-donated stem cells, not embryonic) and the next wave in curing such ills as arthritic knees, diabetes, kidney disfunctions. Her pet peeve is (oh, I mean, "was") how the Black community tended to always be the last to know about medical breakthroughs; or would be afraid to try new protocols unless it appeared to be approved by whites. We discussed the future of medicine as it pertained to Black doctors, many of whom were also mired in the past; with some continuing to dispense outmoded medical treatments, as opposed to bringing innovations into the Black community.

Then we would move to our favorite ethnic (Black) designers - M-Sin (Marvin Sin) who makes wonderful Africentric designer handbags; or Moshood, the African designer. Dr. Petioni never went in for muted colors. She would show up in burnt orange silk, or electric blue, or deep burgandy reds. She was always elegant. 97??? Most folks think that when you're 97 you have blue hair, have a walking cane, orthotics, false teeth, and are doddering around with the considerable help of several people.

Not Dr. Muriel Petioni. You'd see her at the Schomburg Library one day, at Aaron Davis Hall the next, and at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building the next. You might catch her at a jazz session, or at a play. Most definitely at a reception or an awards benefit. She was out and about, all the time.

It was invigorating talking to that beautiful lady who had matured, not aged; who had, at 97, continued to make contributions to the world, and make the world sit up and take notice. Who would not be shunted aside into some dark corner as though she had outlived her usefulness; who was just as sharp at 97 as she was at 17. Who proved that age is just a number, life is a mindset, and being that beacon of light and blessing was not an option, but to her mandatory.

Harlem Hospital, people of Harlem, 100 Black Women, Black people of New York, and Black People the world over, have much to thank this beautiful little giant of a woman. She has joined the other goddesses who are now looking at us and saying - what are you going to do to keep this legacy going? Little feet with huge footprints that have been left behind for us to walk in, and we'd better get to stepping, because Dr. Petioni did not allow any half measures (I was going to say no "Half stepping", but that would have been redundant, wouldn't it?)

Anyway, since I want to be like Dr. Petioni when I grow up, I have decided to start now being the me she always thought I was. And that means that I got a lot to do to make that happen. I certainly want to see 97 this side of the earth and making a contribution to my brothers and sisters as well. So I humbly pledge to be a better me so that I can get my big feet on the path of those tiny gigantic foot steps. I really celebrate the fact that I had the privilege of knowing Dr. Muriel Petioni.

My Blessings to Mal, Carol, and the rest of the family; as well as my condolences and love.

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK

bullet ColumnistGloria Dulan-Wilson Is a veteran New York City Journalist. Her experiences, perspective & sense of history are an invaluable combination. "check out my blog:" www.gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com

Politics Make Strange Bedfellows!

2011-12-12T11:19:00.000-08:00
Evangelical Christianity Vs. Free Market Theology

by DR. BASIL WILSON (edited by Playthell Benjamin)

The Republicans held a Family Forum on recent Saturday, in Iowa, the state where a current poll identified 37% as born-again Christians. Romney and Huntsman did not accept the invitation to discuss the social value concerns of conservatives in Iowa. The new frontrunner, Gingrich, participated, along with Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, Perry and Paul.

Candy Cain is now pimpin' Newt-cs

In a time when the official unemployment rate is 9 percent, homes are being foreclosed in the millions and the economy is growing at a snail’s pace, the pre-occupation of the electorate is not on social issues but on jobs. But there is the intersection of family, morality and economic policy. In the closing stages of the discourse, the moderator raised the question what is the moral justification for war. As the presidential candidates spoke, the moderator kept repeating the question as no one was willing to wrestle with the moral question of war.

The Republican Party prides itself with having an evangelical base. During the Bush/Rove years of conservative ascendancy at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the mobilization of the evangelical vote was critical to the electoral strategy. It is not surprising that Mitt Romney despite the unpreparedness and moral baggage of his opponents has not been able to increase his percentage of support in the Party above 25 percent. Romney’s baggage is his born-again transformation on abortion. And there is also the hanging question about evangelicals and whether they are willing to accept someone of the Mormon faith as a Christian.

Ron Paul was a presidential candidate in the previous cycle and as is the case this time around. He has argued that the United States is a world trouble- maker and the troops should return home and the multitude of bases around the world closed. Such a position does not sit well with conservatives or neo-conservatives that support the notion that America must be the policeman of the world and must continue to spend handsomely on national security.

The retort given to the moral justification of war was the moral imperative to protect America’s national interest. Candidates like Santorum, Gingrich, Bachmann and Cain expressed a willingness to order a pre-emptive strike against Iran to halt that country’s development of nuclear weapons.

The Family Forum failed to deal adequately with family or with moral issues. There is a line of march which every Republican candidate is expected to drink from the communal cup. All the candidates are expected to be pro-life although the discussion did not get into the controversial ballot issue that went down in defeat in Mississippi that presumably conception began with the release of the egg.
A for real Madman but……

The sanest Republican on Foreign Policy and the Military

All candidates are vehemently opposed to same sex marriage and favor a constitutional amendment that specifies that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman. Ron Paul accepted the creed but was opposed to “federalizing” the issue as he felt that is a matter for the church and the states. Family is an important issue in American presidential politics.

Herman Cain’s campaign has been damaged by the unproven charges of sexual harassment.

Traditionally, America would not elect or select a Party nominee who was divorced. Reagan shattered that tradition. Americans want some family togetherness in the White House. Herman Cain’s campaign has been damaged by the unproven charges of sexual harassment. Newt Gingrich’s divorces will make his candidacy less palatable to those in the evangelical movement.

The question of family goes beyond that of abortion, divorce or same sex marriage. A family is an economic entity and is assisted or affected by public policy. Most advanced European countries offer benefits to a mother after giving birth. The United States in terms of legislation, offers family leave but not a certain amount of financial support after the birth of the child as it is in the case in Canada.

There is a concern for the child until the child leaves the womb. Justification is made for the state to protect life in the womb but once that child has entered the world screaming, the conservative values suffer the same fate as the umbilical cord. In debate after debate, the line of march is that the market is the moral force. When asked about the foreclosure crisis, the candidates invariably bellowed that the market should be allowed to resolve the situation.

The social gospel of Christianity does not synchronize with economic gospel of the market economy. In many respects, this is a peculiarity of American politics. In Brazil and other Latin American countries, liberation theology emerged as a social movement that had its origins in the Catholic Church in the 1970s. The Vatican hierarchy moved decisively to stamp out the social gospel of liberation theology, which took the position that the equitable distribution of wealth and the predicament of the poor were matters that were germane to the mission of the church.

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was comfortable connecting the social gospel with the need to fight against the “banality of evil”, using non-violence and mass mobilization throughout the South and elsewhere where Martin Luther King, Jr. fought racism and Jim Crow. The civil rights movement was integrally linked to the black church.

The Family Forum never raised the issue of poverty in America. The Census Bureau has redefined poverty in America and has discovered that over fifty million Americans are in the category of near poor. In a nation of over three hundred million, over a third of the populace are in the precarious position of being poor or near poor yet that is not a burning issue to evangelicals or those concerned with family values.

There is this great disjuncture between the values of Christianity and the market economy. In the 2008 presidential election, there had emerged cracks in the evangelical movement as the younger generation became concerned with issues of poverty and the environment. If the market economy is allowed to be the mechanism for solving all our social problems, there will be a tremendous upsurge of unrest all over the country. People will demand some kind of redress of grievances and demand that the market economy be modified to serve the needs of people who have long since left the womb.

Benjamin is a veteran political journalist out of Harlem NY. His essays can be read on his blog site Commentaries on the Times.

Death of a Salesman!

2011-12-12T11:08:00.000-08:00
Black Walnut really was Just the Flavor of the Month

by Playthell Benjamin

When Herman Cain announced his withdrawal from the Republican presidential race it came as no surprise to most sane Americans; the guy was actually dumber than Sarah Palin on political matters! And the principal contribution of the Alaskan Barbarian to American discourse is to make ignorance fashionable. A Cain presidency was always an impossible dream even in his own eyes; that’s why he had no contingency plans to deflect or counteract charges that were sure to surface from the train of injured and aggrieved white women he had buried in his skeleton closet. What could this colored dude have been thinking?

He is imbued with what sociologist call “the eternal optimism of the hustler.”

I believe that Herman Cain is basically a salesman, and evidently a good one too, who is convinced that he can sell ice cubes to Eskimos. As such he is imbued with what sociologist call “the eternal optimism of the hustler.” That’s why he continued to seem upbeat to the end. A close reading of the lyrics to his swan song will reveal that he plans to continue to influence Republican presidential politics from his political grave. Hence it seems that we have not seen the end of Herm, even though everybody now knows he is a worm.

While wiser heads in the Grand Obstructionist Party would rather “Sugar Cain” just disappear – after all he is an embarrassment to a party which continually scolds the rest of us with pious prattle about moral rectitude – Newt ‘The Poot” Gingrich is already assumed a lips to posterior position in the hope that the Atlanta Lothario will endorse him and urge his acolytes to follow his example…which could be curtains for Mitt, who really thought he was da shit!
Odd Man Out?

Newt is a straight up ho: ain’t no shame in that peckerwood’s game! It may very well turn out that, whatever his virtues, and despite the fact that he has been running non-stop for president for eight years, Mitt the Stiff might get steam rolled and obliterated by Newt’s momentum if he gets a ringing endorsement from his fellow Georgia boy. However there is danger here for Newt; as too close identification with Sugar Cain will surely conjure up “The Poot’s” own foul history of adultery, betrayal and unlawful carnal knowledge of his female staff.

Once that conversation starts it won’t be long before enterprising reporters and malicious dirty tricksters began pointing to the testimony of a male staffer who swears he saw Newt getting some head from a female staffer parked in her driveway, while her children was walking past the car.

This was at the same time that Newt was calling for the impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about getting a Lewinsky in the Oval office! Seems the good ol southern boys can’t keep their peckers in their pants! It’s all so ludicrous, especially when we consider that Anthony Weiner, a stalwart Democratic warrior for the liberal agenda and powerful ally of the President, was driven from office just for flashing his weenie in cyberspace…and he never even got his weenie wet!

If it were not for the aggrieved women who spoke out about Cain’s voluptuous and sinful carnal life, he might have continued to fly under the radar and maintain his self-righteous pose as a saved Christian. But once it became clear that that Bro-man was living double…his ebony ass was in a world of trouble! Especially when it came out that the objects of his lust were alabaster blonds of the type that populate the wet dreams of NAZI’s.

However I continue to marvel at the fact that so many southern whites continued to support “Herm The worm” even after a posse of white women made scandalous charges of sexual harassment against him. And this was the real deal; not just the verbal abuse Uncle Clarence Thomas was charged with; this joker was grabbing hands full of vanilla nookie without permission and trying to force women to polish his pipe in exchange for a job! When Sugar Cain was growing up in Georgia, that kind of charge would have gotten him an invitation to a neck tie party which he would not have survived!

The way those Southern peckerwoods rallied around the Sugar Cain, while calling these blond “White Ladies” a bunch of lying whores is almost as amazing to me – a black male who grew up in the apartheid south and was the same age and weight as Emmett Till, and well remember his gruesome crucifixion for merely whistling at a white woman – as the election of Barack Obama to the presidency! If you had asked me about the probability of either event four years ago I would have called it even Steven!

Even though he is an ignorant sleaze ball Cain, who didn’t know squat about politics, could still have gone a long way in this race. He may be a good businessman capable of running a successful pizza parlor, but he constantly exposed himself as a political ignoramus who is definitely not ready for prime time.

Listening to him in interviews, I heard nothing that convinced me this political ignoramus could be a successful Mayor of Atlanta; hence the assumption that this fuzzy headed fool could be President of the United States is ludicrous on its face. In fact, Rachel Maddow’s research staff showed that his major slogans including “999” came from cartoons! But even so, this shameless charlatan took the signature quotation in his farewell speech from the "Pokémon" movie!

That such an incompetent poseur – who is a bit of a real life cartoon – could ever have been a leading candidate in the presidential campaign of a major American political party is a sad commentary on the shameful ignorance of the American electorate. And the fact that big time Republican money men like the billionaire Koch brothers supported him shows how debased our political culture has become, as well as how little they care about the public interests. All rich Republicans care about is keeping the money they have and making more!

Left to their own devices I am convinced these people would privatize much of the public sector and create a caste society based on economic status that would be as effective as the old caste society based on race that characterizes all but the last 57 years of American history – it was finally dismantled in law, if not in practice, by the Omnibus 1964 Civil Rights Act. Herman Cain is a shill for the most avaricious and socially backward segment of the plutocracy. He even called himself “A Koch brother from another mother!” One would be hard put to find a more despicable intellectual quisling than this soulless charlatan who is a traitor to both the race and class from which he hails.

There are many reasons why the American electorate should kick such a man to the curb, and stomp him if he falls to be sure he does not rise again. But I see no credible evidence that race was a major factor in his demise. In fact, I think Cain’s experience as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination proves Dr. Basil Wilson’s thesis that class has trumped race in American politics for the first time in our history.

One could have made that argument with the election of Barack Obama, except that the rise of the “Tea Party Patriots” that changed the complexion of Congress and arrested the progress of President Obama’s agenda, was based on blatant racist appeals that were so virulent and shameless they reminded me of the racist white backlash that followed the election of the first black Americans to congress following the Civil War. But since many of the people who were frothing at the mouth in their passionate opposition to Barack ended up supporting Herman Cain, it is reasonable to assume that ideology had as much to do with this as race.

It’s not just that Barack is black – old “Black Walnut” is of a much deeper dye – but he was an ‘uppity” black who was always the smartest guy in the room and he knew it!!! Plus he doesn’t even have a proper nigger name that we can recognize they agonized. Southern whites figured if we got to have a nigger in the White House, then by God let’s put one of our boys in there who knows his place and does our bidding. Let’s git us a real white folks nigger who will tell the world how good we been to him, and if the rest of them lazy trifilin coons aint got a job or ain’t rich “They should blame themself!” Herm the Worm was tailor made for the role.

Yet in the end he turned out to embody the worst stereotypes about black men – they are stupid, oversexed and cannot be trusted around white women. It is safe to conclude here was a prince who turned out to be a frog; a ding dong daddy who sacrificed his political potential to his passion for vanilla poon. In the end Sugar Cain proved just another sleazy salesman who thought his pitch could fool all the people all the time, but only a handful of clueless fanatics and his silly wife were willing to buy what he is selling. This goose is cooked! The jig is up; that’s why he is getting out the game.

Benjamin is a veteran political journalist out of Harlem NY. His essays can be read on his blog site Commentaries on the Times.

Chargers Unplug Bills

2011-12-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

The Mighty O”Ba Sports Report

The Buffalo Bills make their only west coast trip against the San Diego Chargers, and this game has started like most others with the Buffalo Bills starting from behind. San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers lead his team on an opening game drive putting the Bills in their familiar hole in the 1st. quarter. Chargers 7- Bills 0.

The second quarter saw the Chargers take a 13-0 lead after Ryan Fitzpatrick under threw a pass to David Nelson resulting in an interception. Once again George Edwards' defense failed to stop the Chargers from getting into the end zone. The offense of the Bills just has no identity so far in this game, and since the halfway point of the season has failed to finish drives.. Chargers 16- Bills 0 2nd quarter.

The second quarter saw one of the poorest team efforts of the Buffalo Bills this season on both sides of the ball we are seeing the same players who made plays at the beginning of the season are now way out of position.. I’m sorry but this team has a very lethargic body language, and it seems they have no confidence any more if they can win a football game.. The player to me that just has no confidence in his ability right now is quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who in the second half of the season has failed miserably. He has under thrown many passes and continues to throw untimely interceptions which have helped this team continue their free fall as one of the worst football teams in the NFL.
Halftime – Chargers 16- Bills -0

The third quarter started with a spirited opening drive by the Bills but they once again failed to get the ball in the end zone, and had to settle for three points. Chargers 16- Bills 3 3rd. quarter.

Finally the Bills defense forced a turnover which resulted in a Bryan Scott fumble recovery in the end zone. Chargers 16- Bills 10.

This play was set up by the Bills defensive line getting better pressure on Phillip Rivers at the beginning of the third quarter. Unfortunately a good effort on defense went to waste when the Bills special teams were not prepared for a fake punt which resulted in a first down by the Chargers, and the end result was a rivers to gates Touchdown pass. Chargers 23- Bills 10 3rd, quarter.

The second interception of the day by Ryan Fitzpatrick has resulted in a pick six and gave the Chargers a 30-10 lead in the 3rd quarter. I once again must continue to point to the inconsistent play of Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second half of this season. He has not played In the same manner that he did in the first half of the season and has failed to make critical plays to help this team win very winnable games.

The fourth quarter of this game has proven to me that if Chan Gailey is brought back as coach of this team he will have to make a serious shake up on the defensive side of the ball. First he will have to terminate the services of defensive coordinator George Edwards. Then not far behind him has to be defensive line coach Gaff Smith who I think has done a pitiful job with the young talent on the defensive line of this team. I don’t want hear the excuse of the company liners who are going to point to injuries. Yes the Bills have had some devastating injuries but let me remind you of something there are about 250,000 free agents which have excelled in football all of their lives, and there is only 1500 NFL player jobs. You do the math, if your organization is functioning properly this excuse become null in void.

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