After You've Been All That You Can Be...

Jesse Wendel of the Group News Blog gives an unvarnished insider's perspective on PTSD. The Army's witless, barbaric treatment of this american soldier suffering from PTSD can be viewed and categorized, by the more forgiving souls, as a casualty of "friendly fire." To those who have more than a superficial knowledge of PTSD, the Army's behavior is nothing less than a blatant disregard for the health and well being of one of it's own. There's a reason the suicide rate among service men and women is on the rise.

Shame on Him.

Lee Bollinger, the President of Columbia University, boldly portrayed himself as an educated fool and the U.S. in general as a nation of uncivilized, knuckle dragging, infidels. How else could we be viewed by the international community when the head of an acclaimed institute of higher learning spewed such hair raising insults about his invited guest, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, when introducing him to the student body. I'm not sure if Mr. Bollinger behaved this way because he believes what has been reported about Ahmadinejad or if he willfully participated in the distribution of misinformation. I do know the remarks revealed more about Bollingers' character than that of President Ahmedinejad.

I was foolish enough to believe the academic setting of Columbia University would induce a somewhat relaxed, less guarded conversation on current issues. Instead, it was a venue to bolster the lies and misconceptions about Iran's president and the Middle East in general. Denying the Holocaust ever happened and the threat to destroy Israel,"wiping it off of the map" are the two lies the media will not miss an opportunity to repeat whenever a variation of the phrase,"Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the President of Iran," is spoken into a microphone. The slightest effort to fact check will show that what the media reports as the truth is undoubtedly false, except the part about Mr. Amedinejad being Iran's President,which by the way, is a position in Iran with very little power. The Ayatollah Khomeini tells Iran's President to jump and Mr. A. will ask,"how high?" In the U.S. our President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces in Iran the Ayatollah controls their Armed Forces. I think these are points worth driving home to the public every once in a while.

I planned on commenting on the reaction to the "dearth of gays" in Iran but it will have to wait until later, there was an article I wanted to link to but can't find it.

Winning Friends and Influencing People, This Is How We Do It.

Chalk up another text book example of our foreign diplomacy skills. The Iranian president's request to place a wreath at ground zero while in New York, has been denied. Supposedly, the city of New York was outraged at this request. I'll just say it's a response from an ignorant mind set. Accept the gesture whether it is sincere or not.

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A Mentor by Example

Steve Gilliard of "The News Blog,"passed away last Saturday June 2, 2007. He had been ill for a few months but I was convinced he would be back to blogging within the year. He was 42 years old, his age made me confident that he would recuperate. Studying maniacally over the past week or so preparing for a State examination my "first thing in the morning" ritual of going to the computer to catch up on the news was put on hold. (This is for the two people who read my blog), I know you didn't know who he was but he truly inspired me. I read his blog first thing in the morning every day and would go back to his blog at least once more, but usually twice, before the day was over.

Clicking a link from some other website four years ago led me to The News Blog. I can't recall the topic now but how he said what he said, and that he said it told me he was Black. It shouldn't have mattered but it did. For me, it was like seeing that first black television show, my first was "Julia" starring Dianne Carroll, except it was a blog, but it had the same effect. Actually, it was better because it was in a voice that was familiar to my ear. Steve would dissect a given news item cutting away all the fat, aka bullshit. He would then hold it up so you could see it through his eyes. Well to make it short, my going straight to his blog every day sort of made him the first person I interacted with most days of the week. This past Monday when I went to his site to see if Jen, his close friend, had an update on his condition, even though a few weeks earlier his family had asked her not give anymore updates, it was like a kick in the stomach to see that he had died two days earlier. He was a brilliant man who made a difference. I'll miss him.

A Passing Thought

So many appalling events have happened recently. Each one triggers the urge to sit down and blog a blue streak but it doesn't happen, well it happens on other blogs but not this one. According to me, a discussion about Don Imus does not include a critique of rap or hip hop music they are separate and not equal. By the way, Imus comfortably fits under the appalling events umbrella. Instead of an umbrella it should be a circus tent so there will be plenty of room for the hoopla that surrounds our Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his seemingly "unremarkable" contributions, unremarkable based on the forty-something times he told the congressional committee "I don't recall," when questioned about the nuts and bolts behind firing the eight federal prosecutors.

There just seems to be too many cameras focused in on a possible misuse of one of the president's legitimate applications of authority. Maybe my priorities are wrong but didn't this administration lose, misplace, squander 9 billion dollars in Iraq? When asked to account for the money all they come up with is "Don't know, can't say" while shrugging their shoulders. Now the administration is asking Congress for more money, without accountability strings attached. Hasn't a top white house staff member(Mr. I. Scooter Libby) been found guilty of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice? Weren't these crimes committed during an investigation to find out who publicly revealed the identity of a C.I.A. agent? At the risk of sounding a bit melodramatic, isn't exposing an international spy called treason? A camera or two could be focused on that congressional committee investigation. Is there a congressional committee investigating this? This list, of what I see as more important issues could go on but you get the point.

An Update: CBS Radio Minus Imus.

They've decided to let him go and I'm glad about it. I've donned my rose tinted glasses so it will appear to be a significant shift, for the better, in confronting American style sexism and racism.

Imus Minus Simulcast

Well...No more looking at radio host Don Imus while he works. That'll teach him! MSNBC has removed their cameras. No cameras for a radio show. Gee I don't know..well it's a start.

Zip Code Restricted Diet.

Rat poison was found to be the killer ingredient in the nationally distributed pet food. Again, one company creating most of the pet food, under various popular and not so popular brand names, 95 million cans and pouches have been recalled. They are acknowledging 15 deaths because of this contamination and we know they're low balling the number of fatalities. I do remember the e. coli tainted spinach that found it's way to the dinner tables nation wide. Sadly, I just found out this morning that the tainted spinach was from a farm here in California. This too was from one company serving the masses. If I'm not mistaken, Taco Bell had some sort of national bacteria scare because of centralized distribution of ingredients. If you squint your eyes and tilt your head a little to the right you might see a pattern. These types of mishaps are becoming more frequent and I suspect a major loss of human life will have to happen before improved quality control procedures are put in place. Local farmer's markets are looking more appealing. Well, if you don't count the above mentioned "E. coli Farms" in central California.

It's Not About You...

How flattering that Iran thinks Americans have the savviness to recognize the movie "300" as a cultural insult to Iranians. They have accused this film of being an instrument for intentional cultural warfare. Here's the news flash. Overall, we are as sagacious as our President, and we did elect him to serve a second term. That alone should be seen as a red flag. We were the last to discover the weighty significance of the painfully obvious Shia, Sunni and Kurd divisions abruptly brought to our attention by the current civil war, which seems to not have been penciled in on the "things that could happen after we invade" short list.

If we overlooked the civil war possibility do you really think America had the forethought to create a movie to denigrate your history and culture? Please, we aren't that deep. This movie was made without you in mind and you know why? You're brown, you don't speak english and you live waaay over there somewhere, translation: you don't exist and if you did you wouldn't count. Well that's not totally true Iranians developing nuclear capabilities has changed our tune a little. But still. America has a formidable track record with brown skin people but believe me "300" has nothing to do with you. A culturally inaccurate and insensitive film, probably, I haven't seen it yet so I don't know for sure. An intentional attack? We're not that sophisticated but thanks for the compliment.

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O.J. Part Deux

Here it is again. A judge ordering an auction to sell O.J.'s supposedly fictional tell-all, "If I Did It." It truly boggles my mind why this isn't... well I was gonna say why this isn't seen as harassment through the judicial system. What is more mind boggling is how I quickly forget things are not as they seem. All things are not equal through the eyes of man or the law and they haven't been. However, the notion of equality for all, under the law, is given so much lip service so often that after hearing it repeatedly I begin to believe it's true. It isn't. It hasn't been. Ever.



When the jury decided to acquit the defendant I thought that was the end it was over. Well at least on television right? Before O.J. and Blake wrongful death suits were filed against manufacturing companies, police departments and usually before any given summer ends a Six Flags or some other theme park. Those were the ones that were all over the newspapers. It is possible these civil suits against individuals acquitted of a crime have been the norm and I've not noticed but it just doesn't feel right. Being neither a fan, friend or foe of O.J. my reaction comes from the "it's the principle" of the matter.

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FYI

This blog isn't meant to be a just about race relations, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just so happens that the past few weeks, maybe it being Black History month and all, there seemed to be more thought provoking articles worth mentioning. There were so many I didn't post and wanted to and maybe I still will but don't pigeon hole me just yet.

How Many Things are Wrong with this Picture?

Another national tragedy... can't help but wonder how many times this has happened under similar circumstances before it became newsworthy.

Corporate vs. Nature

The exact cause of "colony collapse disorder" may be a mystery but it is certainly no surprise. Let's see, honey bees and plants have been fine tuning their relationship for the past 300 to 400 million years give or take a 100 million or so. To meet corporate needs the honey bees have been bred in a way that diminishes their honey making and increases pollinating behavior. The pollinating season has been extended so now the bees are fed protein supplements along with sucrose and corn syrup. Yet suburban sprawl and lengthy truck rides are listed as possible causative factors for the bee's compromised immune systems.

On This Day in Black History...

Finally, the court has ruled in favor of lifting one foot off the neck of indentured servant, O.J. Simpson. The wrongful death verdict, given more as a consolation prize for white America than a ruling in the name of justice, awarded 33.5 million dollars to Fred Goldman amounted to nothing less than indentured servitude. The white rage has subsided enough to give Mr. Goldman all money generated from O.J.'s previous movies, films and whatnot, the residuals. Future earnings are now out of bounds as it should be. The court's ruling is really saying to Mr. Goldman,"sorry for your loss but you have to let go now." I do hope today's event gives him some peace.

Simpson was acquitted like it or not and that should be that. O.J. reached new unchartered judicial heights, live and in living color in front of everybody. He broke the justice barrier by getting an acquittal the old fashioned way, he paid for it. This is a black "first" how serendipitous that today's ruling should happen while we are celebrating Black History Month, however, this is one that won't go down in the books if you know what I mean.

Somehow it's all related

Barack Obama is already apologizing for telling the truth. This time he tells a crowd that American lives have been wasted in Iraq. Someone is offended and he says he misspoke not only that but he knew he misspoke as it was rolling off of his tongue. Of course I just paraphrased all of that. He told the truth plain and simple. This is a life and death issue, people are dying daily for no justifiable reason, yet we still can't speak honestly about it. When is the time to speak the truth?

And another thing, our soldiers aren't saints, gods or demons. Any critical mention of the war in Iraq and somewhere, somehow, if not actually stating it out right, the idea that you support our troops must be made apparent. The main reason the congress has delayed the passing of a non-binding resolution is because the empty phrase we support our troops was not mentioned or implied clearly enough in resolution. Just like the "required" qualifications when speaking of Saddam Hussein. If you weren't making a clearly negative statement about the man whatever it was you had to say had to start with or end with some variation of at least one of three phrases. "Don't get me wrong Saddam was a horrible man." or, "Saddam did do terrible things." or, "Iraq is better off without him." If you didn't your patriotism was questionable. It's just stupid. I suppose if you had a "God bless our troops" or "Support our troops" magnet on the back of your SUV you were beyond reproach.

This can't be related but I'll bring it up anyway, all this talk of patriotism yet exposing a C.I.A. agent, who gathered intel on the progress of nuclear development of other nations, is treated like a faux pas. The vice president's go to man, Scooter Libbey is on trial for lying to those who were investigating the source of the Plame leak. As time passes more evidence surfaces showing the pre war intelligence was slanted to hasten the occupation of Iraq. As compelling as Colin Powell's testimony before the United Nations, to sell the need for U.S. aggression against Iraq, there was a time when journalists would have double checked Powell's sources and raised a few questions. Newspapers and free lance reporters would be doing all sorts of investigations on their own and undoubtedly new information would turn up just from their efforts alone. This doesn't happen anymore and we're paying the price. Given what we now know and suspect, we still must remain two steps away from the truth. What's the pay off?

Hmmm

John Edward's presidential campaign has received the first of a thousand cuts. The fuss over Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister being recently hired by Edward's camp will undoubtedly alter the blogosphere. I could be wrong... but I'm not. We'll see who sanitizes their blogging entries during the next year or so. Of course these two brilliant women will have to tone it down, which is understandable they have a candidate to sell. But still, knowing the U.S. porn industry makes several billion dollars from domestic sales annually, the idea of words like "fuck" and "slut" being offensive to american eyes is just a little hard to swallow. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Democracy at Work

Just so I'm clear. The spineless non-binding resolution meant to voice opposition to the troop surge, proposed by the democrats, was rejected by the republicans. The republicans propose their own non-binding resolution, not only toothless but spineless as well, to hint at the possibility that they too have opposing views regarding the troop surge. The democrats, eager to make a statement, agreed to the weaker (republican) non-binding resolution. Next came the time to debate the resolution and after the votes were counted the republicans voted against debating the resolution. Included in the republican "nay" column were the very republicans who drafted the resolution. The republicans blocked the resolution, preventing it from even being discussed. Without discussion it can't be voted on. Okay. Now the republicans, many of the same who voted against the non-binding resolution, are saying they will do what is necessary to open debate about the resolution/Iraq war. I don't understand. What did I just say?

Something Old and Something New...

Senator Joseph Biden's "articulate" statement falls under the something old category and although it is worthy of a long winded comment I'm not going to, well not now. Why? Because it's sooo old it takes a full night of sleep and a bowl of Wheaties to muster up the necessary energy to discuss it.

The something new is Boston's "LiteBrite fright." Not just the local reaction but the national response and the media coverage. Turner has apologized. Some how marketing campaign and bomb hoax have become synonymous when referring to this cartoon ad. It's a post 9-11 world, don'cha know?

Lightening a Dark Truth

From the title of this article ,"Study says skin tone affects earnings," I wondered, are they saying if I spend a few more pennies in the Health and Beauty Aids aisle for a product upgrade, like say from Dial soap to Neutrogena, I could boost my annual income up to a higher tax bracket? But no, the title is an attempt to water down the empirical evidence supporting what some of us already knew. Other conclusions from this study may not be so well known, definitely worth reading.

From Faggot to Gay as Simple as ABC

Isaiah Washington has been encouraged to enter rehabilitation to extinguish the word, "Faggot" from his vocabulary. No doubt the word faggot will be replaced with the word gay. Queer might be a bit edgy to be the primary replacement besides, learning all the nuances necessary to determine when it is appropriate to use queer could easily extend his stay. What's the prognosis for in-patients cursed with this affliction? Which accredited facility has taken on the task of healing Mr. Washington and what will cured look and sound like?

If T. R. Knight responded by calling Mr. Washington "Nigger" would he have been encouraged to go to rehab too? Would they be on the same unit/ward or is the "Nigger Cure" at another facility? Just curious.

It's kind of backwards though, TMZ.com by way of You Tube.com show Michael Richards doing his nigger tirade, (the extended version) yet out patient treatment was suggested. Seems like he would have been encouraged to take advantage of the in-patient treatment program. It wasn't like Mr. Richards was busy working on a weekly television series like Isaiah Washington. Oh, you know it just came to me, Mr. Washington has to work in close proximity to homosexuals, well at least one that we know of, so it makes sense that he would require a more intensive treatment protocol. The show must go on.

Why I Scream.

Truthdig.com has this short piece created by Barry Lando. Take a look at this report on the impact of 13 years of U.S. sanctions on Iraq. Even when taking the information with a grain of salt words like tragic, atrocity, and inhumane still come to mind.

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