Bennett: Black Abortions Would Lower Crime

"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," said Bennett, author of "The Book of Virtues." Responding later to criticism, Bennett said his comments had been mischaracterized and that his point was that the idea of supporting abortion to reduce crime was "morally reprehensible."

Morally reprehensible but theoretically sound? What sort of twisted logic allows a former ranking government official responsible for creating and implementing policy for education and drug enforcement to even entertain that the eugenic genocide of a population is a potential policy rationale, even as an outlier? It’s the same logic that has governed America since its inception – the rationale that Blacks are no more than chattel, expendable economic units, whose sole purpose for existing is the propagation of white wealth. It’s the same logic and mode of thought, no matter how “tricky,” that was used at Nuremburg. Its not the inaccessibility of education or opportunity nor the proliferation of drugs and cheap guns or the creation of an economy which will eliminate gainful employment for 25- 30 percent of the population (Road to Serfdom) nor the use of market efficiency as a social and ethical determinant or the creation of laws which outlaw the most basic of human strivings which leads to crime but the birth of black babies and through extension the mere existence of Black folk. Must be us couldn’t be the society.

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The Great Migration

Upon my return to America I watch the fallout from Katrina and the plight of Black folk in its aftermath and am reminded of DuBois’ ominous question from the Souls of Black Folk: How does it feel to be a problem? Not since WWII has such a migration occurred. Make no mistake about it this is the next great migration, with the middle passage, the Indian wars, reconstruction, WWII, and the civil rights flight between 1950 and 1980 a massive relocation of populations of African Americans is now taking place. The problem or the challenge for the African American community is to manage the transition. With the prevailing sentiment in America to relocate African Americans to segregated suburbs away from major business centers and affluent communities the challenge will be to manage our relocation in such a way as to create a self sustaining, self protecting community that can withstand the new agenda for the new millennium. In essence we must learn from history and not be relegated to reservations and become the serfs of America once again. If we do not protect the interest, property and constitutional and human rights of the poorest and most dispossessed of our people then we may find ourselves in stadiums, abandoned military bases, land fills, and the most environmentally inhospitable regions in America. If America wants to deny its obligations to the least of its citizens then it is our responsibility to continue the African American legacy of defending the American ideal as we see it – a nation of equality, humanity and justice where all can thrive. Keep the faith Baby!

No country is more than three meals away from a revolution.

Could Katrina damage prompt huge wave of black migration?

Katrina could prompt new black "great migration"

New Orleans Gets a Chance to Do Better

A New Orleans like the old one just won't do

DeLay Indicted in Campaign Finance Probe

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post. DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee. "I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today," DeLay said. The White House, meanwhile, called DeLay a "good ally," and said President Bush still considered DeLay a friend and effective leader in Congress. GOP congressional officials said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will recommend that Rep. David Dreier (news, bio, voting record) of California step into those duties. Some of the duties may go to the GOP whip, Rep. Roy Blunt (news, bio, voting record) of Missouri. The Republican rank and file may meet as early as Wednesday night to act on Hastert's recommendation. Criminal conspiracy is a state felony punishable by six months to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The potential two-year sentence forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules.

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FBI Assassinates Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

Incredibly disturbing from the NY Times:

Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was a legendary figure with a violent past, a clandestine existence and the single-minded goal of independence for Puerto Rico. He was still on the run at 72, a fugitive convicted of a $7 million robbery in 1983 and the founder of a militant group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in the 1970's and 80's. Though Mr. Ojeda Ríos was a controversial figure on the island, his death in a shootout with F.B.I. agents last week in Hormigueros, P.R., has outraged Puerto Ricans of all political stripes - not just the small fraction who support independence, but also those who embrace the island's status as an American commonwealth and even those who want it to be a state. So many have criticized the timing and circumstances of Mr. Ojeda Ríos's death that Robert S. Mueller III, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, took the somewhat unusual step of requesting an independent review of it. Most distressing, Gov. Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá and other Puerto Rican officials say, is the timing of the shooting, on Sept. 23. That date is well known on the island as the anniversary of an unsuccessful 1868 rebellion against Spanish rule. Even those who condemn the violent past of Mr. Ojeda Rios say that cornering him on the anniversary of the uprising was insensitive and foolish.

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Hugo Chávez Speaks

Democracy Now! met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for his first interview in the U.S. Amy Goodman interviewed him in New York City with co-host Juan Gonzalez and Margaret Prescod of Pacifica Radio station KPFK. This is an edited version of the transcript.

Scores of world leaders have come to the United States for the United Nations summit. Among them, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. In a speech before the world body, Chávez accused the U.S. of trying to hijack the U.N. Summit, and described the United States as a terrorist nation because it's harboring televangelist Pat Robertson who recently called for Chávez's assassination. President Chávez also accused the United States of being behind the reported coup against him in 2002. Chávez condemned the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States.

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Does Bush Finally See Poor People?

Apparently, it took divine intervention in the form of Hurricane Katrina to make George W. Bush, the compassionate conservative, aware of the existence of poor people in our midst. "As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality," said a president who has not only overseen a nearly 9 percent income decline for the poorest fifth of the nation's population but won the job boasting of his record as governor of a state that census figures show has the fifth-highest poverty level and highest percentage of citizens lacking medical insurance. Unfortunately, the president still seems to believe that the severe poverty of New Orleans is an anomaly exposed by the storm, rather than a disturbing national reality he should have long since confronted. One wishes he would take to heart the words Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas offered before Bush spoke at the National Cathedral on Friday: "Katrina, perhaps she has done something to this nation that we needed to have done. She has made us think, and look, and reach beyond the breach." He also noted: "We can no longer be a nation that overlooks the poor and the suffering and continue past the ghetto on our way to the Mardi Gras, or past Harlem for Manhattan, or past Compton for Rodeo Drive."

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Random Thoughts

OK very few Thai really speak english. Enough so you can order a drink or a massage but they have pretty much the basic tourist vocabulary you, buy, and every number combination necessary to transact buisness. Oddly this numeracy begins to break down when strong haggling breaks in.

Germans are every fucking place.

Arab Oil Brats are asshoooooles.

The US and MTV have really fucked the world for Black folk. Without fail, every foreign teenager with or near cable or satellite television believes that the universal "Black" folk greeting is "Wassup".

American means white.

No the color doesn't rub off.

Johnny Walker and Marlboro rule the world.

Johnny Walker owns entire clubs.

No one in Asia can pour a drink.

The DJs are fucking astonishing.

The clubbers can't dance worth shit (it mighthelp if they put down the damn digicams for a minute)

You can't smoke anywhere but you refuse to develop emission standards so the only safe place is inside a bubble or a fume hood . . . why bother?

I can only dance with four women at a time.

Asians love to gamble.

They still believe numbers are mystical.

Bellboys still shoot the best craps. They can't play poker worth shit.

Cockfights are the shit.

Whatever the fuck we were drinking also removes most stains.

They request that you check your gun before entering the mall.

They still haven't recovered from synchronized dancing. (Painful)

They fucking love Mariah Carey.

Its hard to get a decent bottle of hot sauce.

They think the whole Katrina thing is shady too. (Isn't New Orleans Closer than Phuket (tsunami))

They have no idea why we haven't kicked the shit out of white people.

They have way too many ads for whitening cream.

They still think Jordan is GOD!

And no I don't know him!!

Finally, its offically a universal rule -- Bitches choose.

Bush Nominates Judge John Roberts to be Next Chief Justice

That's game if roberts makes it to chief and another Federalist makes it onto the court. That's it totalitarianism full on. She was made for this court. We'll see if she gets there, better sart training now.
President Bush has moved quickly to nominate a new chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He has asked appellate court Judge John Roberts, named earlier to fill another vacancy on the Supreme Court, to take the job left vacant by Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death.
John Roberts was originally chosen by the president in July to fill the slot left by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Now, he is the president's choice for chief justice.

Peace, I'm off to Wat Arun

UN to interview Muslims who fled

Kuala Lumpur _ The UN refugee agency said yesterday that its officers will interview 131 Thai Muslims detained in Malaysia last week after they entered the country illegally to flee the violence in southern Thailand. The Muslims, including 43 children, were taken into custody on Wednesday by Malaysian police in the border state of Kelantan. They said they feared persecution by Thai security forces, who have been accused of targeting Muslims in their bid to quell an insurgency in the deep South.Volker Turk, the Malaysian representative with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in a statement that officers will be sent to Kelantan this week to meet with the Thais in cooperation with local authorities.
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Shoot to Kill in N.O.

ABC news Australia:
US troops with shoot-to-kill orders have been deployed in New Orleans to restore law and order after days of chaos and looting in the hurricane-devastated city.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says the 300 troopers from the Arkansas National Guard has been authorised to open fire on "hoodlums" who have been terrorising the flooded city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Their deployment came amid intense criticism of the government for a tardy response to the disaster, which is feared to have killed thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands more stranded and homeless.

"These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets," the governor said.

"They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded.

"These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will."
Posted by Niccolo

Nagin Interview

Listen here Audio

Posted by Niccolo

'Katrina' and America's Race Problems

The horror in New Orleans has exposed the United State's dirty secrets of race and poverty. Coverage of the disaster, argues American journalist Joan Walsh, at times portrays New Orleans' African-Americans as victims and at others as barbarians. Americans are ready to help their poorer neighbors, she says, but is the country ready to take up a national debate about racial inequity and poverty?

more>>

Posted by Niccolo

Photo Controvery and Lying ass media!

Cynthia posted an entry on the difference in language between two photographs of individuals finding food in NO in the midst of Katrina. While the caption for the photograph of two white people indicated that they had merely “found” food, the caption of the photo of the Black person described the act of “finding” food as looting.

Some time later the photo of the white people finding food has been removed while the photo and caption of the Black person “finding” (read looting) food has remained. Thus, furthering the impression that people who have not had food or water in three days are looting when they acquire food from abandoned grocery stores.

see flicker for original
note: policy statement by yahoo

OK.

On to Old Mexico

There were once three men at a table in an old Mission, playing a game of Fan Tan.

A Prophet comes running, yelling "The end of the world has come! The end of the world has come!"

The first man playing the game says to the others "My God, I got to get down to the church and pray for forgiveness!"

The second man says "I need to find all the whiskey and whores I can find, and have a final good time!"

The third man says "Well I shall finish the game! I shall finish the game!"

Bimini

It has been a long ass year. Devastating failures, morale crushing betrayals, heart rending losses and educational disappointments. On the upside its been a banner year for accomplishments, personal growth and ugh, character building. Fate has seen fit to keep me in the company of good friends – those who believe in my dreams when my faith is on the wane and struggle with me on the path when I lose my way. In their remembrance I have found my self once more. Time for some R&R and to let some of the symposium have the run of the manor for a while.

Serving All Your Phobia Needs

By Molly Ivins

At the mythical Fearmonger's Shoppe ("Serving all your phobia needs") in Lake Wobegon last week, there was a special on ways to prevent your early death from the frightful menace of bad handwriting by doctors. A puzzled pharmacist studies an impenetrable prescription and mutters: "Hmm, hmm, looks like 50 milligrams arsenic ... odd. ... Oh well") and you go home. In eight hours, you're lying in a huge refrigerator and your family is planning the memorial service.

Poor penmanship among doctors is estimated to cause as many as 198,000 deaths a year. I bring this up because my reaction to this wonderful whimsy was, "I bet it's happened." And that brings us to the most useful paranoia in our public life: growing concerns about privacy.

Paranoia has its uses, and the good news is that our well-justified paranoia about people collecting information about us is finally beginning to make the politicians stir. Unfortunately, it will have to get a lot worse before it moves the pols beyond their gratitude for big campaign contributions from the high-tech industry. The dirty little secret of the information age is that what it sells is information, and information about us is where much of its profit will come.

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White People's Burden

By Robert Jensen

The United States is a white country. By that I don't just mean that the majority of its citizens are white, though they are (for now but not forever). What makes the United States white is not the fact that most Americans are white but the assumption -- especially by people with power -- that American equals white. Those people don't say it outright. It comes out in subtle ways. Or, sometimes, in ways not so subtle.

Here's an example: I'm in line at a store, unavoidably eavesdropping on two white men in front of me, as one tells the other about a construction job he was on. He says: "There was this guy and three Mexicans standing next to the truck." From other things he said, it was clear that "this guy" was Anglo, white, American. It also was clear from the conversation that this man had not spoken to the "three Mexicans" and had no way of knowing whether they were Mexicans or U.S. citizens of Mexican heritage.

It didn't matter. The "guy" was the default setting for American: Anglo, white. The "three Mexicans" were not Anglo, not white, and therefore not American. It wasn't "four guys standing by a truck." It was "a guy and three Mexicans." The race and/or ethnicity of the four men were irrelevant to the story he was telling. But the storyteller had to mark it. It was important that "the guy" not be confused with "the three Mexicans."

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Estate's Rites

As early as next month, some Democrats seem ready to go along with most Republicans and implement a permanent repeal to the estate tax, a change that would reward the wealthy and drag down the economy by increasing the deficit. But it doesn't have to be this way. The estate tax represents a profoundly American idea: Although parents should be able to pass on wealth to their children, great concentrations of personal wealth should not grow unchecked from generation to generation. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt put it, “Inherited economic power is as inconsistent with the ideals of this generation as inherited political power was inconsistent with the ideals of the generation which established our government.” Today, only about the wealthiest 1 percent of those who die in a given year pay the estate tax. With estate planning, married couples can leave at least $3 million to their children completely tax-free. In 2001, President Bush's first tax bill phased out the estate tax by 2010, but because the tax changes expire after that year, the tax returns in 2011. Now, the president, Senator Jon Kyl, and other members of Congress are pushing to make the phaseout permanent. That would eventually cost about $75 billion per year, and another $23 billion a year in interest expenses.

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