Property Taxes and NJ

As anyone paying attention knows NJ pays the highest property taxes in the nation. Politics here centers around various politicians lying (except Daggett) about how they will lower property taxes. Nj residents apparently live in a dream world where they think that property taxes are going to drop precipitously by electing a new (or old) governor and it will happen in 4 years. It's truly amusing to hear people in NJ talk about this. One of the biggest mantras, usually trotted out by Republicans is that corruption in NJ is apparently THE cause of the high property taxes. So lets look at this charge.

A quick Google search brought up a page that states the current population of NJ is 8,862,661.

According to a Rutgers article corruption in NJ is a hidden tax on NJ residents that costs them $1 billion each year. Doing simple math, 1,000,000,000/8,862,661 we find that per person that "tax" costs $115.77.

Lets assume that half the population owns homes/property. They don't and I don't know the actual numbers. That corruption tax would be double the $115.77 to $231.54. Monthly that would be 9 bucks.

9 bucks.

Honestly, If that is enough to break someone then I submit that their economic situation is far more problematic than that which would be solved by eliminating this so called "corruption tax." New Jersey residents blow this kind of money on entertainment a week.

I saw a post in the comments section on the NY Times website where an assumed ex-resident of NJ where they claimed a "friend" was paying 19,000+ a quarter in taxes and was glad to have left for Nevada or Florida. First I thought of how given the small amount that corruption "costs" the tax payer that it's elimination particularly on this 19,000+ quarterly bill would not even register much less provide incentive to stay in NJ. The other thing that came to mind was that apparently this person has enough income to pay $80,000 per year in property taxes. Think about that. This person allegedly pays more in property taxes than the median yearly salary of a resident of Essex County. What exactly is this person's problem. The municipality with the highest property tax rate in NJ is Ridgefield Park Village at 2.255% which means that this person's property is worth $3.54 million.

$3.54 million.

Seriously folks in multimillion dollar homes are complaining about property taxes? Can we say: selfish prick?

So really why are property taxes high in NJ? Well a couple of things come to mind:

1) The rich simply are not paying their equitable share. Equitable meaning they can afford to put in more but are protected by various officials (some not elected) to keep from paying what they can afford.

2) NJ does not have a Wall Street that brings in a lot of money but it houses a lot of people who make money in it. It's like the rappers from NY who make it big and move to Englewood, Alpine, Englewood Cliffs, Teaneck, etc. All that business tax is collected by NY but NJ only gets the property and income taxes.

3) NJ has the lowest sales tax in the tri-state area (as far as I can tell). NY taxes everything including clothes and food. NJ does not. Lost revenue. On top of that while NY charges 8.5% (or more), NJ has 7% raised by Corzine last year I believe in order to close the budget.

4) It's largest city, Newark is underemployed. The inattention paid to the residents to Newark in terms of education and employment, costs the state millions in uncollected income tax, unrealized property taxes from depressed property values, high social services costs and of course the costs to jail and police those persons whom neglect turns out.

These are the top reasons why property taxes are so high in NJ. And until the electorate get it, they will continue to be fooled by politicians promising things they simply cannot deliver on and who'll be long gone to bigger and better money making things by the time the population gets a clue.

Tiara: Disneyfied Blackface

So there is this costume based on the entirely made up Tiara character from Disney. Apparently clueless black parents across the US are happy because there is "finally" a black royal character for their daughters to fit in...sorry, identify with. So a twit on my timeline posted the following article:

Princess Tiana products hot for Halloween and beyond

In which we find:

Princess Tiana, Disney’s first new princess in 10 years, is also the brand's first African-American princess. The movie, "The Princess and the Frog," is a musical fairy tale in which Tiana, a girl from New Orleans, voiced by actress Anika Noni Rose, is mistaken for a princess by a frog prince who asks her to kiss him to break the spell. Though the film does not arrive in theaters until Dec. 11, Tiana Halloween costumes are already a hot property. And in an unusual twist, the character is resonating more with adults than with little girls.



When I first heard of this concoction I knew we were in for another Disneyfied Moses story. You know the whitefacing of Khemet. Never mind the whole phoniness of the Moses story as perpetrated in the Old Testament. But that's another blog entry.

But one of the saddest parts is here:

"I am very passionate about this particular Disney character," Willis said. "It has been 100 years in the making. I've been very disturbed because I love the concept of a princess, but they don’t exist for the African-American community."

Excuse me? Ok I'll admit it. I have the urge to cal this person all manner of not child safe words for being so stupid as to allow herself to be quoted in such a manner.



First of all there is no concept of princess in AMERICAN communities because the United States, stolen from native Americans, did not arise out of a monarchy. The monarch concept as known by Europeans is something they brought from Europe. You know, that place those pilgrims were running from. You know, the people the French were keen to behead.



Putting all that aside, There were and are plenty of royalty in Africa, you know that place black folk come from, you know, the "Africa" part of African-American. It is so sad to see black folk in 2009 still aping after white folk. Tiara is simply European fairy tales in blackface. We have plenty of our own stories with which we can teach our children and make costumes about. However; in order to do so, parents need to have a clue.



One other thing of note for our real life African queens is that unlike most of their European counterparts, ours like Yaa Assantewa fought against the slave trade. Imagine that You'd prefer your daughter play blackface Europe than actual Queen who resisted the British. Sad. Even sadder:

[Tiana] is almost a confirmation as a black woman ... that you can be a princess, too."

Oh it's an affirmation all right. It's an affirmation that black people are in such a sad mental state that a black man in a woman's costume is a run away hit and a completely made up Disney character (with "good hair" no doubt) is what black mothers are looking to provide self-esteem for their daughters.



But just when you thought I was done there's more. Even IF we wanted to look at Europe for Royal templates then we would meet people like Queen Phillipa Charlotte of England who was descended from the black royalty of Portugal. Who knows though, they'll probably try to tie Tiara to this person and lineage. Still though, that black women and black people in general feel the need to have a Disneyfied and whitewashed character of a "princess" in order for their daughters to have self-esteem, when there are plenty of real life and living African queens to choose from is a sad state of affairs.



My recommendation: Less Disney more library.

The World Doesn't Care About Palestine

As far as the Palestinians go – and we’re talking regular folk here – is that everyone around pledge help and demand actions. As in pledge, instead of actually encouraging growth and implementing solutions. For example: after Israel’s operation Cast Lead, the Arab states pledged over $1 billion in aid to Gaza – which is good news for Gazans. The bad news is, however, that the money never actually reached the people, due to Fatah and Hamas’ inability to come to terms with each other, and Arab states’ inability to work out a system under which the people would be aided.

The Palestinian Sentinel

Thank You Morehouse

There has been a lot of silly commentary about how the dress code at Morehouse is homophobic. To these fools I say, no it's not. Morehouse's rules a possibly strict but they are not homophobic. What Morehouse is doing is saying how they expect men to dress on it's campus. period. I suppose what these idiots who are writing lame pieces on this issue want us to believe is that all black homosexual men feel compelled to wear women's clothing and they all black homosexual men have a compulsion to flame. No really because if they didn't believe that then there is no way they could go from "no women's clothing" to "Anti-gay". Worse that black homosexual men can't be held to the same standards of dress that the other men on campus are held to because, well they're gay. Talk about double standards and inequity.

Morehouse: Thanks for standing up for black manhood. Somebody needs to do it.

Minority Report

While the so called conservative right tries to upend the constitution by trying to merge church and state, establishing imperial presidencies for those presidents it likes and support for torture, there is an equally troubling threat coming from the left in the shape of the thought police.

This threat was created when so called hate crimes legislation first saw light of day. I suppose the sentiment was in the right place. "Minorities" were the victims of race based direct violence for no other "rational" motive than that they were not white and from some Western European country. Such legislation made "sense" because who would support "racist" thinking? I mean you wouldn't want to be the person arguing FOR racists. Never mind that such legislation then put the government in the position of dictating what is proper (and legal) thought. No one apparently thought of the inherent dangers of such a thing.

To highlight the danger of handing arbitrary power to the state was brought to my attention last night when I was watching the Mentalist. The "good guys" were investigating the murder of some person under witness protection. They came to the house of a woman and they did not have a warrant. When they knocked the woman did not answer the door but did look out of one of her upstairs windows. The officers seeing this decided to make up a situation that would warrant the police to break down her door, guns drawn and enter the premises. There was no protest by any of the three officers regarding the illegality of a made up situation. I was bothered by that. But in reality such illegal acts by police on TV shows is quite normal. The ends justify the means. right?

So in this vein federal hate crime statutes are about to be expanded to include gender and sexual orientation. It will be "amusing" to see how many rapists will now be charged with a hate crime. But the fact that we are enabling the federal government (or any level of govt.) to actually add charges to things that are already crimes simply based on the person's alleged thoughts regarding their victim is bad.

The extremely flimsy argument put forth by those who advocate for these abominations of law is that we charge people for premeditated murder therefore it is OK to charge someone for racial, religious or gender based motives. There are a number of problems with such reasoning:

Firstly the charge of premeditated murder only distinguishes between the "crime of passion" the type that happened because the perpetrator snapped. And the type that a perp sat down and planned out long in advance. There is no specificity as to what actually motivated the perpetrator, whether it be hate, revenge or whatever. The person charged with premeditated murder is so charged because the planning to commit a crime and how to get away with has been done is also criminal. In other words it is about the process of how the crime is committed and not the motivation that differentiates premeditation from standard homicide. And I'm not going to defend this particular legal situation. I don't think people ought to be charged extra for what planning they did or did not do. I'm only concerned about the final act itself.

Understand that in large measure many of these extra crimes that have been put on the books are there simply as a means of putting people in jail for longer periods of times and has nothing to do with the actual danger that the supposed "crime" poses to members of society.

Secondly and most importantly in terms of hate crimes, a so called hate crime can be premeditated murder. So in essence the so called "hate crime" simply becomes another charge to throw at the perp. This is not much different than the minority report thesis. The state can convict you simply based on what your particular attitude is even though simply having the attitude does not constitute a crime.

Thirdly I believe that such legislation will devolve into what we see in certain countries where certain language or ideas referring to Jews is illegal. Or where one cannot say certain things about Islam or Mohammed. That may sound extreme but there are people out there today who would love to criminalize speech they don't like and they are not all conservative Christians or Muslims.

I was told a long time ago that a person's adherence to the principles of democracy was not how one protected the rights of those whom one agreed with, but how one protected the rights of those whom one does not agree. We don't need to agree with those who hate a particular racial group, religious group or sexual orientation. However; they have the absolute fundamental right to believe whatever they want about said groups. What they do not have the right to do is beat or kill people. And it's always been illegal to do that. Hate crimes legislation are laws looking for a crime. I for one am tired of giving the government bogus reasons to get even more interfere with my rights.

Agent Provocateures

I've long since thought that a lot of the missile launches from Palestinian territories were not the actual work of Palestinians but rather by agents of Israel who were looking to discredit certain Palestinian movements much like the FBI and CIA did (and do) with black folk. And so it seems my thoughts were right on time:

Secret agents disguised as Arabs – known in Hebrew as “mista’aravim” – were used before Israel’s founding. Jews, usually recruited from Arab countries, went undercover in neighbouring states to collect intelligence.

The Haaretz newspaper revealed in 1998 that the secret police, the Shin Bet, also operated a number of mista’aravim inside Israel shortly after the state’s creation, locating them in major Arab communities.

The unit was disbanded in 1959, amid great secrecy, after several agents married local Arab women, and in some cases had children with them, in order to maintain their cover.

But the mista’aravim are better known for their use by the Israeli army on short-term missions inside Arab countries or in the West Bank and Gaza, where they have often been sent to capture or kill local leaders.

Does the above, or the article from which it came prove such an idea, but it does underscore the fact that Israelis do in fact have agents in Palestine.

$400 a gallon?

Costs are out of control, and priorities are skewed in the interest of rich organized interest groups at the expense of the vast majority of citizens. For example, war at all cost, which enriches the armaments industry, the officer corps and the financial firms that handle the war’s financing, takes precedence over the needs of American citizens. There is no money to provide the uninsured with health care, but Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that every gallon of gasoline delivered to US troops in Afghanistan costs American taxpayers $400.

“It is a number that we were not aware of and it is worrisome,” said Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the subcommittee.

According to reports, the US Marines in Afghanistan use 800,000 gallons of gasoline per day. At $400 per gallon, that comes to a $320,000,000 daily fuel bill for the Marines alone. Only a country totally out of control would squander resources in this way.

Counterpunch

Brain in a Supercomputer

Does Obama Shape Black Opinion: A Survey Experiment

An interesting piece by Lester Spence:

So a couple of political scientists tested this with blacks. Would they be more likely to agree with the premise that blacks should rely on themselves if they were exposed to statements from prominent blacks saying they should? They found that not only were they more likely to agree if blacks said it than whites, they were more likely to agree even if the African American were someone like Clarence Thomas (who presumably votes against their interests but is black), compared to someone like Ted Kennedy (who presumably votes FOR their interests but is white).

Now I had a problem with this. I didn’t have a problem about the FINDINGS necessarily. But I had a problem with how the findings were EXTENDED. The political scientists in this case thought that taking the cue in this case automatically meant changing POLICY PREFERENCES. You believe blacks need self-help more than anything else? You support reducing government aid for welfare.

However it doesn’t have to work like this. All sorts of black folk–nationalists particularly–could believe that blacks should rely on themselves while still believing the government should take responsibility and do their part.

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Powerful from the start.

475 + Tax

She was 475
plus tax.
Auctioneers fee? 10 percent.
payment must be made in full
and merchandise removed from the premises
or storage fees will accrue.

Property of southern gentlemen
passed on to kin
for their enrichment.
she was 475
plus tax.

All sales final
no refunds for those found defective
resistant to orders
or prone to escape.


A PYT
Profitable Young Thing
A slave in the state
where secession rose
to keep her a slave.
where Vesey tried to free her.

TV stations and scholars try to clean it up:
"she had a child"

No she was 475
plus tax
and raped
just say it.

Negress of prime breeding age
easily worth more
guaranteed to work hard for you.
a wonderful investment.

News casters aghast at mentioning
that national past time
but it's past time
she was
475
plus tax.

direct from Angola
Impregnate her and she can breast feed your kids
a
perfect handmade for the missus.
she can be an errand girl by day
and concubine by night.

Only in America
said with pride
but how many people act proud about rape?
like maybe she wanted it
like maybe she gave consent
to
be moved from state to state
weighed, felt up,
hips measured for future property progeny.

And like Sally Hemmings
She survived.
Like millions
like the ones Marley sang about
survivor of long treks
dungeons
and floating caskets
seasoning stops
and auction blocks
where she
went from African
to property
worth
475
plus tax
and auction fees.

Obama's Nobel Prize

Some will call me a hater for this. So be it. For the record I know that Obama is an intelligent man. I believe that he is a peaceable man at heart. I don't wish him ill at all; and even in this disagreement with the Nobel committee offer a congratulations.

That said, I must object. I'm not at all clear as to how many different types of Nobel Prizes there are and if there was one for leadership I would probably be in full agreement with the committee for handing one to Obama for that. However I am unable to square away the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama.

Maybe it's my memory of another Peace Prize winner: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a man, who though I disagreed with his stand on non-violence, I had to respect for being true to his pacifist roots in the face of what had to have been serious pressure by others for him to drop that kind of language and action. A man who gets stabbed, beat, jailed, spit upon and simply kept it moving is deserving of a Peace Prize. In my mind I have felt that Dr. King represents the GOLD STANDARD of what a Peace Prize ought to represent. And I'm sorry, Obama does not live up to that standard.

I think in some cases this has to do with the total low standard by which American politics and general leadership has fallen. By the precedent of Bush, Obama is a demi-god. Seriously. But if we are to keep it real, there is no way, in a country that should have had high standards for leadership, that George Bush should have even gotten past the New Hampshire primary, much less a re-election to the highest office of the land. If anything Obama ought not be seen as special or anything, his primary attributes as cited by the Nobel committee ought to have been standard operating procedure for any candidate for high office. Forget that; ANY office.

This is why I'm largely disgusted with US politics and so called leadership. I'll give another example: Mike Bloomberg the current Mayor of NYC made much ado about honoring the term limits passed by referendum by New Yorkers. Then when his time was up, he went and had term limits overturned. A clear back track on a promise a clear ego move (only he's qualified to run the city) and New Yorkers apparently have no problem with this (in general). Low expectations and little follow through. but I digress. Let me get to the point of why I disagree with the Nobel Committee.

I don't think any Peace Prize nominee much less winner ought to be authorizing drones to do extra-judicial killings of so called terrorists who are fighting an occupying power of their country. I have a problem with that. This is in the same category as Dr. King jr., Desmond Tutu, Mandela? Really?

I don't think any Peace Prize nominee much less a winner ought to be authorizing deadly force against Somali pirates whom have never killed anyone in their custody. I have a problem with that. Oh it may have been inconvenient. Oh it may have involved negotiations. But killing over property? Really? Peace Prize material?

I find the Nobel Prize committee's reasoning regarding Obama's supposed wish to "eliminate nuclear arms" to be total bullshit. Total. I'm going to go into this on a different post, but the hypocracy of the US telling Iran or Korea for that matter what they can and cannot produce, while publicly talking about the military options that are on the table, is simply not worthy of a Peace Prize held by Dr. King Jr. Seriously. Can you imagine the Dalai-lama actually discussing how to bomb the Chinese for occupying Tibet?

Obama's name was submitted a mere 10 days into his presidency. Before that he was a one term (not even done) Senator. I'm sorry folks but that nomination was based on the historic election of Americas first African-American president. That was a popularity contest and not a real what are you doing and what have you done vote. I know, much of the world, and the US is still riding Obama's penis but seriously folks enough with the celebrity endorsements. I say this because there is one person, well two whom I can list of the top of my head who have done more for world peace and ending wars than Obama. Cindy Sheehan and Cynthia McKinney. I'm going to focus on McKinney here.

Here's someone who braved the Israeli illegal blockade to deliver much needed materials to Palestinians. Here is someone who while in office, worked to expose the underbelly of the Bush regime while people left right and center called her crazy. She has been world wide speaking on peace, environmental issues. etc. Just because the press has been ignoring her work is no excuse for the Nobel committee to overlook them. And I would also fault those who simply decided that she wasn't worthy of nomination.

On the international scene I could mention Hugo Chavez. Seriously. Did he not get in front of the world and speak dead on truth regarding Bush? Did he not attempt to change the world dialog? Has he not taken the oil wealth of his country and provided services to the poor and neglected there? And our tax dollars went where? to whom? What about Chavez' outreach to his neighbors to bring unity among South American states? Is that not worthy of a Peace Prize? Or is the Peace Prize only to go to those of a particular political leaning? or only to those with causes popular with certain European sensibilities and objectives?

Obama's presidency is young. There are a lot of things that will happen in the next 3 years and while I'm sure that a part of the reasoning for awarding the prize is to encourage more "peaceful" actions, I believe that the committee erred and ought to have waited a few years when Obama's full plans bear fruit and there's a good amount of history to back up the nomination and the future work assumed to be in the offering.

Apparently Obama agrees:

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize, men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

Guinea

With her foot in the air,
you da thought this was a dance hall.

With the men surrounding her
you da thought this was a dance hall
and she was that popular chick in the pum pum shorts.

With her panties showing
you da thought this was a dance hall.

But there was no reggae music playing.
No flashing lights and drunk revelers.
Beenie and Siegal were nowhere to be seen man
This was no bashment.

It was a war crime
And Jook Gal takes a new meaning
when AK's meet vagina and that ass is being passed around
instead of a dutchie
this is real.

Low lives in military fatigues
rapists wearing green berets
have no respect for women

So called freedom fighters who only vote on
who goes first?
push
push
pass

And those with E.D.
are quick to use the M16, AK and SIg Sauer

With no shame
this spectacle happens under sunlight
in
full view of cameras
like this was a public porn shoot

Left wondering if these men have mothers
a sister
children
or know any females at all.

Then act surprised when the population demonstrates
wanna disappear opposition
call them tools of colonialism
like some white man was out there
in broad day light
hoisting black thighs to the sky
in broad day light
tearing shirts from backs
in broad day light
on muddy ground
in broad day light
gun cocked in mouth
in broad day light

But they will lay blame
on the same white man
they sell diamonds to
same white man they buy cars from
the same white man who's country they buy villas in for their wives and girlfriends.
Who's doctors they will have care for them.
Who's schools they will send their children to be educated in.

And it makes you wonder who's freedom they're really fighting for?
'cause all I see are
women
broken
carrying a rapists baby
maybe infected with HIV
and dependent on Doctors without borders for care
'cause most of the doctors there been run out the borders.

But for these soldiers security is code word for party
and be careful when they come around
Food clothing and shelter will cost you
but the rape is free.

Capitalism: A Black Story

Didn't need Michael Moore to tell me about Capitalism.
Cause I roll with poets that woulda told ya: America's a corporation.

And we,
we been the supply that sated it's demand
for when cheap labour wouldn't do
and indentured servitude just wasn't economical.

The only people who landed here as property on Native property
like a chair, table, cat or dog.
The only one's who's tax rate was written into the constitution.

And
while people talk about the south, the trade of me and mine
built both new and old England
From stock yards to stock markets
Insurance to investment houses
We were bonded before Barry swung a bat.

And don't think Walmart been the the first to take out policies on employees
this goes way back before super stores and super markets
When you could get paid if someone injured your slave
And I'm sayin'

Didn't need a movie to clue me in
Been known about evictions, tear stained trails
and broken contracts.
back when men in white sheets, nooses and shot guns announced your eviction
and you hoped you made it out with the clothes on your back and neck in tact.

And our encounters with the bio-tech industry goes way before Tuskegee.
Like how 3/5 woman with 1 master race made a lighter shade of slave.

But that's capitalism that a Lowes can get paid to show a white man talk about the evils of Capitalism and gets applause.

Cause George Jackson caught one to the head, and Fred got Diallo practice for speakin' on the same things. Moore gets props and Panthers get jail time and run out the country.

So I didn't need Michael Moore to tell me about Capitalism
I learned what I needed from that Moor Eric Williams.

New Kiva Loan

Josephine Waiyego Irungu

You don't need to be US or Europe rich. You just need to be "third world" rich.

Donate to the Olatunji Foundation or sign up for a Kiva account and join team Olatunji Foundation.

The Only Color That Matters is Green

Hat Tip to Davey D:

Who Will Speak for Albert

Inspired by the murder of Derrion Albert, though not necessarily reflective of his life.

Who will speak for Albert?

He
probably never saw it coming.
maybe too busy thinkin' on what he had to do
and they hit him.
Two by four to the head
boot to the gut
and death came.
Eaten by the spirits of ancestors long neglected and forgotten
abandoned like New Orleans to hell of high water
and who will speak for him?

his killers will have had their names on nightly news, blogs and websites
presidents will have no words
for Albert was not from Princeton, a no one
yes
thats what you are when you're young brainy and black.

If you don't sing or dance TV has no place for you
Albert
If you can't tell a joke, play ball or rock a mic
you are nobody
You
are worthy of ridicule
not worthy of consideration by those
who fight over streets they don't even pay taxes on
Albert
They hate you
Your women hate you for your pants don't sag.

Your draws don't show and you lack swagger
Your English was probably too good and your knowledge too deep.
Deep down,
they envied you.

Albert, you were a king among barbarians
working to be worthy of a queen, not a gangsta bitch.
and who will speak for you?

Probably got up from can't see and worked 'till can't see
Probably passed on pussy to pick up a book
did it so you could pass that test so you could get pass out that hood.
And they probably teased you.
Called you gay
I know, they tried that on me.

Probably spent your time avoiding bathrooms and other unsafe places where hoods lie in wait for victims.

Probably took the long way home sometimes cause you just didn't want to be fucked with.

And no doubt there will be sociologsts, psychologists
Urban professionals and black scholars

They will explain how your killers were deprived of good schools, good homes and fathers.

They will blame Bill Cosby for speaking truth and say I am blaming the victim
but who will speak for you albert?

And we are to blame
Albert
We keep buying music by self called gangsters, drug dealers and pimps
we pay black men who piss on and beat on women and then blame the media for their troubles.

Yes Albert we killed you

And while Beyonce wanted a soldier
but you would have been content with
president
architect
engineer
albert
you may have cured cancer.
And we failed you.

And after 25 years your killers, will show up on TV somewhere and they will say they have found Christ or the local Masjid.
They will claim to have learned their lessons and want a second chance at life.

There will be gang documentaries of their exploits with video of your beat down.


We will nod our heads,
we will nod our heads
we will be proud that yet another black man in jail has found the light
but who
who will speak for you
Albert?

Absolutely Unacceptable

I was about to post on the Iran nuclear bull when this came to my attention. Absolutely unacceptable for this behavior to happen.

Sacrifice

Got quite a bit of feedback regarding my story post about how a date went wrong with a discussion of religion. I thought it would be best to discuss the matter further.

When we look at religious and cultural practices among people it's important to look at them in a historical perspective. Many of us don't think to much about human evolution much less the evolution of cultures and religion. We live in a fantasy world where early humans had a life akin to the Flintstones. Many have been thoroughly confused by Adam and Eve stories as to how people started out. And I don't mean to offend anyone with that statement, it's just that Genesis is, well, fiction. Just as many cultural "how life began" stories are either fictional or allegorical including Ifa's.

The fact of the matter is that humans started out in particularly brutal conditions. Naked, hot (or cold depending), and competing with a lot of other animals for food and struggling for survival against predators, insects and plain bad luck from eating the wrong plant. Indeed the fact of the matter is that for most of humanities existence we have been quite comfortable killing things. Indeed every carnivore and omnivore on the planet is comfortable taking a life to sustain itself. There is absolutely nothing abnormal or immoral with the taking of life in order to survive. Indeed among certain species, if they do not kill to eat, they cannot survive. For example vitamin B12 is contained in meat. Cats cannot synthesize B12 and therefore must eat meat in order to get that vitamin. Now a days we buy Tender Vittles and whatnot that has B12 in it and so our pets do not need to kill to get that particular vitamin. But that is artificial and yes, unnatural.

In human terms, we are separated from our natural need to kill that which we need to survive, because we have created an artificial food chain. We in essence outsource our hunting and killing to specialized professionals, who do our killing for us and who then offer this material for sale on various forms. An entirely artificial and unnatural state. Most of us who live in "developed" countries have absolutely no clue on how these things get to us and act accordingly. The "developed" countries, tend to waste more food than people in many less "developed" countries even consume. And so we have a situation where people are entirely separated from the process of life and therefore do not appreciate that which they have. If we look at the practice of animal sacrifice then, particularly in Ifa and it's related offshoots, we recognize that it is not about death and killing but about a recognition and appreciation of life.

One of my early experiences in grade school was studying Native Americans. One of the stories we were told was how when a hunter killed an animal, he would thank the spirit of the animal for allowing it's body to be given. It took me a long time to understand the full meaning of that but I do now. The Native American like the African saw that all things have a spirit, that spirit exists for some purpose and inhabits a particular physical form in which that particular purpose is carried out. Furthermore, it was understood that the only way life carries on is with the death of something else. Indeed life and death are partners in the cycle of the universe.

This is a totally logical position to have. If we look at how our own bodies work we would see this play out. We ingest food, be it meat or vegetable. the acids in our stomachs break down the food to smaller parts. The food enters our small intestines, where enzymes further break down these foods to get our amino acids, carbohydrates, etc. into a form that we can transport into our cells. These nutrients, once in our cells allow our bodies to maintain, grow and repair. Even in this process, we produce "waste" which we excrete in various forms and are picked up by plants, insects, bacteria, etc. which use these items for their own maintenance, growth and repair. So our own bodies confirms that death and life are all a part of one big cycle. If one needs any more proof of this, then think, imagine if every human being who ever lived was still alive. How many people would there be on Earth? And would we exist as a species? I don't have to answer that question because you know the answer.

And so one purpose of animal sacrifice within Ifa is the recognition by adherents of the significance of death and life. But there is more to it than that.

Recall in the beginning of this essay, I discussed the fact that humans have been intimate with the process of how they procured food. We also must recognize that for most of human history (and for much of Africa's history) the material wealth of a person was measured in livestock of some kind. This was probably due to the fact that if one had livestock, one had food. And since there wasn't fiat currency, if you needed to pay for someone's services, such as a priest, guess how that person was going to be paid? Sometimes animal sacrifice merely meant taking a goat or whatever and placing them at some holy site where a priest would later collect the sacrifice. I recall as a child, in church hearing "missionary stories" about how so and so missionary used the "Santa Clause" treatment to some unwitting native. The missionary would prove to their next victim that their idol wasn't a real god by showing the "idol worshipper" that the sacrifice or offering they gave never went anywhere. . The idol worshipper of course converted after such a demonstration.

What is lost particularly among persons with a novice level of understanding, is that many times the purpose of the sacrifice/offering is not so much that Ogun for example or the representative statuette, needs the food/money/wine/whatever. It is that the offerer needs to understand that nothing just "shows up" in life. The Yoruba visit a priest before just about everything. Planing a business? See a priest. Planning a family? See the priest. Taking a trip? You get the point. Success is facilitated by doing something. Much like that native American hunter who thanks the spirit of the deceased animal the offerer is made to understand that something must be sacrificed in order for one to get what one wants/needs. In other words, much of what happens in Ifa ceremonies are psychological in nature. The Ifa priest is in some ways a shrink. This is not an unfamiliar idea for many of us. Look at anyone who is successful in what he or she is doing and they will all tell you that they had to sacrifice things to get where they are. Matter of fact they had to sacrifice different things at different stages to get where they are.

So we see the psychology and history behind animal sacrifice as it pertains to the Yoruba (and others). It is not the bloodlusty, put a curse on somebody BS that has been perpetrated by movies people seeking to fatten their wallets.

Update on Caster Semenya

As I suggested in my last post, the blame for this mess lies with the governing body in SA and the doctors and trainers who would have had to have been incompetent to not realize something was amiss with Castor:

Leonard Chuene, the president of Athletics South Africa, today confirmed that world 800m champion Caster Semenya was subjected to gender tests before her victory in Berlin, and admitted lying about the tests in order to protect her privacy.

Accepting that his original denials of such tests ever taking place in South Africa were an "error of judgment", Chuene claimed he had never meant to mislead or deceive the public.

Oh I don't know how do lie to NOT deceive the public?

The Single Payer Benefit

Seelye quotes economist Skinner as claiming that Medicare expansion to cover every American would mean a tripling of the Medicare payroll tax—currently set at 2.9% of wages. But even if we accepted Skinner’s math, it is meaningless without looking at the savings side.

Sure expanding Medicare would mean higher Medicare taxes, but what about the following:

Medicaid, the program that pays for medical care for the poor, and is funded by federal and state taxes, would be eliminated, saving $400 billion a year.

Veterans’ care, currently running at $100 billion a year, would be eliminated.

Perhaps two-thirds of the $300 billion a year spent by federal, state and local governments to reimburse hospitals for so-called “charity care” for treatment of people who have no insurance but don’t qualify for Medicaid, would be eliminated.

Individuals and employers would no longer have to pay for private insurance.

Several hundred billion dollars currently spent on paperwork by private insurers would be eliminated.

Car insurance would be cheaper as there would no longer have to be coverage for medical bills.

Federal, state and local governments would no longer have to pay to insure public employees.

In short, if every person were on Medicare, the overall savings would overwhelm the small increase in the Medicare payroll tax of 5.8%.

The bottom line is that Canadians, who have Medicare for all, devote 10% of GDP to health care. Americans, who have private-insurance-based health care except for the elderly, devote 17% of GDP to health care.

Seelye and the Times have never mentioned any of this. Neither does President Obama or the Democratic Congress.

Dave Lindorff

The Hoftra Men are the Victims here

IN some segments of Black America, the above title apparently does not make sense. Let me say it again:

The five men wrongly accused of rape are the victims.

Perhaps it's the feminist in me, but I've long since come to the understanding that regardless to what a woman is wearing, how much she drinks, smokes, or pops, or with whom she's decided to flirt with, if a man has sex with her without her consent, it's rape. Full stop. Now I may have personal opinions regarding the conduct of a particular victim as it relates to what I consider proper behavior but at the end of the day, the blame is on the perpetrator.

This particular rule MUST apply to men as well. It is irrelevant whether a man likes to have sex in a room full of other men. It doesn't matter if he likes to have sex with a woman who's being "serviced" by some other man or men at the same time. Not only is it irrelevant, it is none of my business. The only thing that I require, and that the law requires is that all parties involved have given their consent.

What would Jesus do? Completely and utterly irrelevant.

There have been commentary loaded with the historic fact that black men have been framed up for rape by white women they have had consensual sex with but who later from embarrassment or fear of community ostracism changed the story. No doubt these things have happened and will continue to happen. However; it is irrelevant to this story because:

The five men are the victims here. Full stop.

While 90+ percent of black folk marry and only have sex with other black people, the fact of the matter is that many of them do in fact have sex with people of other races.I don't have to agree with or like it. It's really not my business. It is our job as conscious people to be of the position that regardless, no black person ought to live in fear of his or her life or liberty due to who he or she decides to lay with. Therefore the only proper response to this attack on the liberty and life of these five men is:

The five men at Hofstra are the victims.

Think on this for a minute. On merely the SAY SO of this liar, the police rolled up and arrested these men. The mere say so had these men put into the system. Finger printed, mug shotted, and possibly in danger of being assaulted in jail or even raped. Yes that stuff happens. And now the prosecutor feels that the liar's life may be put in jeopardy if she is named? Certainly she wasn't all that concerned about these fellow's safety when she told the lie. What she don't know that black folk get shot for small shit like laying on the ground in train stations or accidentally cutting off a off duty police officer on the road? What she don't know that folk been shot in their own homes while holding PlayStation 3 game controllers?

Naw, release the name of the liar. charge her with whatever is on the books for that, and if she feels that her life is in danger, let her do what black men in the South had to do when such lies were told on them: Move.

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On Caster Semenya

And so it appears that Caster Semenya is a hermaphrodite. I fault this entire thing on the Caster's trainers and the SA Atheletic authorities. All that could have and should have been found out before Berlin. There are a lot of people making a lot of fuss over this. On the one hand I agree that the way this got out to the public was very bad. However as an athlete myself, I believe the investigation itself was totally acceptable.

There is a reason why men and women do not compete directly in track and field. Talk all you want about men and women being "the same" but the fact is that there are significant physical differences between men and women and these differences are very much on display when it comes to top sports, in this case track and field.

There are no actual women who can outrun Usain Bolt. In fact most of the fastest women in the world cannot compete with some of the slowest of the top mens contenders. It is a physical impossibility. And that's OK. It wasn't meant to be that way. When someone says so and so does such and such well for a woman, in certain sports that is a compliment, not a put down. Are there women who can beat men at track events? Certainly. I get beat by women in better physical condition than I am all the time. But I would be a fool to extrapolate that to some social PC statement about females in sports.

The determination that Coster is a hermaphrodite, is good for female athletes. You know, the ones who don't have testicles that have not dropped or Testosterone levels 4X what normal females have. That is like allowing a team that uses steroids to compete.

Lastly, for those that want to see racism in this, please note that in the history of track and field and other sports like gymnastics and weight lifting there is a history of countries passing off men as women. Particularly from Soviet block states. It is unfortunate that Caster is on suicide watch, but as I said earlier the blame lies with her trainers, doctors and yes, family for not dealing with this. With all the anti-doping measures in place, there is no way that her high testosterone levels were not noticed. How could it be that if she had no uterus (as was reported) that anyone missed that she never had a period (assuming that to be the case)? I know that women who are body builders and the like can frequently have their periods missed, but the training for track and field is different and I would suspect that such a thing should have been noticed.

Anyway. I hope that she recoups from this and I wish her the best.

Obama was sold out

Obama was sold out by Terry Moran and co.

In this video:



It is clear that Obama wanted that off the record. Terry "Moron" decided to twit that comment anyway. If I were Obama Mr. Moron would not be allowed to interview me ever again. In fact anyone in the room would be barred from an interview with me.

Congress Needs More Catcalls

As seen on Counterpunch:

Perhaps one of the biggest lies of the night was the president’s claim that while there are “arguments to be made” for single-payer systems like Canada’s, switching to single-payer in the US would require building “an entirely new system from scratch.” The truth: Medicare is already a successful single-payer system and in fact, it is bigger and older than Canada’s own nation-wide system. Expanding it to cover every American would not be starting from scratch at all. It would be expanding something already proven. Where were the shouts of “What about Medicare!” from Rep. John Conyers (and his dozens of cosigners), whose bill, HR 676, to expand Medicare to all has been barred from getting even a hearing by the House leadership with encouragement from the White House?

And a note that I first saw this particular line of thinking from Lester Spence via twitter.

Hat Tip to Carter

I am going to give mad props to Carter for stating the obvious. While I'm still mad at his deal with Papa Doc during his presidency, I have to respect the man for calling Israel's actions for what they are and for opening his mouth and calling what we, sane black folk, have known for a while, These birthers, people calling Obama Communist and Socialist and the oft referred Muslim (as if that's bad) commentary. The calls for death, the guns at appearances. We know what it is. And no amount of blathering from Wilson, his kid or others will make it not true.

Mr. Carter: The Ghost salutes you.

Picking on Black Folk...again

Like a worn old record the press, via Obama is at it talking the proverbial crap about black folk. Reportedly Terry Moran, whom we shall rename "moron" forgot his professional ethics and taking a cue from the Fox "News" network tweeted that President Obama had called Kanye West a "Jackass". Of course this comment was off record and should not have seen the light of day, but like Jesse Jackson's "balls" comments in the age of the internet even professionalism goes out the window for page hits.

This is not to defend the actions of Kanye West (for the record I was watching The Matrix Reloaded) at the MTV VMA awards. The point here is that Obama has been directly smeared by a whole host of white folk. Beck, Palin and Limbaugh all come to mind. Yet I do not recall that Obama has called any of them "jackass" on or off the record or within' earshot of an itchy reporter. There are a few possible reasons for this:

1) Obama has never said such a thing about any of the mentioned people.
2) Obama has said such things but they have not been overheard by reporters.
3) Obama has said such things within earshot of reporters but those reporters had the "integrity" to not report on it since it was said off record.
4) Obama has said such things but the reporters didn't find it amusing enough to report.
5) The media loves to dump on black folk when the opportunity arises.

I'm partial to option 5. Why? Well lets look at Serena's outburst. Yeah, she was mad. She was losing. Anyone in competitive sports knows full well the frustration that can come when you cannot get your game together. But I don't think I've seen Serena on TV that many times in such a short period of time when she's winning much less when she catches diarrhea of the mouth.

Anyone my age knows full well that a certain white, male tennis player who shall go unnamed, was not only known for his antics on the court, but people actually tuned in and showed up to see when, not if, he would go off. This unnamed white male ex-professional tennis player has parodied on many a comedy show and even has of late been featured in commercials. I don't recall EVER having seen this cat been asked to apologize to the public. No one was talking about how his antics were a disappointment to his young fans. No that was just how he was. You shook your head, you laughed, and the game went on.

Oh and this isn't the first pick at Serena. Earlier this year it was bout how "loud" the women were being when they were playing. And of course the lead to that particular "news" segment was Serena loudly serving. Hmmmm...really. So she's not being lady like? Is that the message here?

Anyway, lets not be distracted by the antics of Kanye or the mouth of Serena. And if Obama wants to impress me, he can call Cheney a jackass. He can call Beck, Limbaugh and Palin jackasses. And he can do it on record. But I suppose that would be too much to ask.

The Health Care Sham

While it's appropriate to make fun of those people who are using the health care issue as a cover for unmitigated racism, let us not lose sight of the fact that what is coming down the pipe is by no means an acceptable form of "change." Paul Craig Roberts runs it down yet again:

The private sector is no longer the answer, because the income levels of the vast majority of Americans are insufficient to bear the cost of health insurance today. To provide some perspective, the monthly premium for a 60-year old female for a group policy (employer-provided) with Blue Cross Blue Shield in Florida is about $1,200. That comes to $14,400 per year. Only employees in high productivity jobs that can provide both a livable salary and health care can expect to have employer-provided coverage. If a 60-year old female has to buy a non-group policy as an individual, the premium would be even higher. How, for example, is a Wal-Mart shelf stocker or check out clerk going to be able to pay a private insurance premium?

...What the US needs is a single-payer not-for-profit health system that pays doctors and nurses sufficiently that they will undertake the arduous training and accept the stress and risks of dealing with illness and diseases...

When the "news" doesn't do it's job

Watching these people who had their "tea bag" demonstration in front of the white house just really showed how inept the so called mainstream "news" people are. The NY Times has a report where some woman in the crowd talks about how this was "long in coming" and how it's not "just one thing." Really?

There is only one question that needed to be asked of these people: Where were you when Bush admitted on national TV that he committed treason by directly and purposely violating the 4th Amendment as head of state?

Where were these people with "the constitution is in a grinder" signs when that went down?

I won't even get into torture and how those "pesky" treaties that the US signs are as sovereign as the Constitution. Simply put, when the 4th Amendment was directly attacked by the Executive, where were these people?

Shouting Down The President

Is it of any surprise to any sane black person that the voice that called Obama a liar on international television (and be sure, this was viewed overseas) came from a state that has one of the most brutal records of treatment of the African under slavery? Is it not surprising that it was from the state that first seceded from the Union? The state with perhaps the most brutal of the post-civil war Jim Crow laws?

Not surprising at all.

Update: It has come to my attention that this fool was a protege of the late Stom " I breed negroes in private but segregation now and forever" Thurmond.

George Bush, who lied multiple times, many times directly in front of congress and many times directly in front of TV cameras was never so rudely interrupted by members of congress. Ever. And that fool committed acts of treason. I don't even have to say why this happened. Ya'll know what's up.

Update 2: And from what I saw on the news this evening, Wilson is claiming that it was not his apology but he did it because he was asked by the Republican leadership. See thems, yes thems, the apologies you just don't accept.

Van meet Bus

Warning: This post contains some swear words. Otherwise known as profanity. You've been warned.

It was with a chuckle that I listened to the announcement that "Van" Jones was resigning from his job in the White House for essentially being "too black". The Irony.

I chuckled for a few reasons. First was that from the clips of what "Van" had reportedly said, not a single commentator actually said he was incorrect. For example, on the issue of Columbine, with the exception of the Asian kid at Virginia Tech, we do not have cases of black kids running up into schools, distraught over their treatment as "outsiders" by various cliques and shooting anyone in sight and then blowing off their own heads. Not reported. Ask an FBI profiler and they will tell you the same thing.
Is there violence in some predominantly black schools? Absolutely. But Mr. Jones was discussing a specific phenomenon and in that same clip even mentioned the contrast of black school violence.

Then there was the piece about 9-11. Where Mr. Jones apparently signed a petition where he and many others felt that the government did in fact know that an attack on the US was eminent. Well aside from the interview with Bin-Ladin where he explicitly mentioned the Twin Towers; and aside from certain facts like the CIA knowing a few of the hijackers and such and a whole lotta questions regarding those exercises that were going on that day, at that point in time you'd have to be a damn fool to not start questioning things. And since then the amount of lies and shady dealings that went on in the White House and Pentagon really underscores that even IF there was no government complicity in the attack there was definitely government complicity in the aftermath and that list is extremely long.

I won't even touch the "communist revolutionary" statement. When there are people in office, elected multiple times who believe such things as the Earth being about 5 grand years old and that people and dinosaurs were chillin' in Central Park. Who weep blood for single cells residing in a uterus but have absolutely no qualms dropping atomic bombs on various brown people the world over. They don't have much credibility to question the ideology of a college student figuring out his political identity. Ya heard?

But the real deal here is not about all of the above. Seriously. Look, lets lay this out here. This is about niggas in the White House. Full stop. Niggas in the White House who aren't going with the status quo and actually are planning new and innovative shit. Niggas ain't supposed to be doin' all that. Niggas are supposed to be in background fetching coffee and talking about race. Or on TV shakin' they asses. Niggas are supposed to be making failed states while hoarding money in Europe.

All this "hands off my medical insurance", and socialism and Obama as Hitler are proxies for raw, unmitigated race hate. When Garvey, the NAACP, King and others were agitating for a better America and world, Hoover and his fellow crackers threw the Communist book at them. The "thinking" being that Negroes are too stupid to think for themselves and needed communists to tell them what to do. This communism, socialism charge is just what it was back then: bullshit intellectual white sheets to cover up the ugly white supremacist that lurks within.

This has been most evident with the whole non-issue of president Obama giving a 1st day of school speech. These white supremacists are not mad because the president was to speak to their kids. It has always been an "honor" to have the president speak at any place in the country regardless of stripe. Like the president or not. Voted for the president or not. President shows up you show the proper respect afforded the office. Oh no, these people objected to the fact that this "son of a Kenyan" was going to stand up in front of their kids and speak to them and talk "black" to them. Mind you I will lay a thousand bucks right now that a good number of these people's kids are allowed to watch black folks make total asses of themselves on TV and it's OK with those parents.

But back to Van and why he should have seen this coming. If Mr. Jones was paying attention he would have noted that the Obama transition team had a fairly lengthy list of requirements for having a spot on Team Obama. One point was whether one had written or said anything that would be considered controversial. Now here's the rub, either Mr. Jones failed to disclose these "inflamatory" comments or when Team Obama looked them over they didn't think anything was wrong with them. If it was the latter then Mr. Jones was indeed betrayed by Team Obama, but he shouldn't be surprised.

Mr. Jones ought to recall that during the primary when Clinton asked Obama to denounce Min. Farrakhan, Obama's response was to use every D word he could think of. Never mind that the NOI has never burnt a cross on anyone's lawn. That the NOI has never been implicated in any hate crime whatsoever. That no members of the NOI have been implicated in racially motivated rapes, murders, assaults or destruction of property. Never mind all that. When a white person tells a black person whom to associate with, and that black person has "high office" in his or her eyes, you better believe that certain black people will meet the underside of a bus.

After that, we had the next Black-man with no backbone moment when in Philly, Obama had the unmitigated gall to compare the issues of black folk to that of his grandmamma clutching her purse. Like his granny EVER had to worry about being lynched cause she was in the wrong town when the sun went down. Like THAT chick ever had to be worried about being pulled over "just because". That whole speech was a slap in the face to black folk who, unfortunately, ate that shit up. You couldn't say a bad thing about Obama without black folk acting like you said something about their momma's momma. And white folks wept like Jesus in Gethsemane. Rev. Wright, the man who married Obama to his wife (who was by no small part why black women lined up for Obama), and gave Obama political legitimacy in Chicago, met the underside of the Obama bus.

So didn't Mr. Jones know that things come in threes? Did he really think that the president who shot his race wad on, of all people, Skip "I couldn't find negroes to work on Encyclopedia Africanna" Gates, and was thoroughly cuckolded by the press for it, was going to spend any more political capital defending a Negro who had the nerve to talk negatively about white folk in public? And on camera? See what Mr. Jones will come to understand is that there is a class of negroes out there that have absolutely no love for, but plenty of use for folk like us. See we're good to have around when a police officer shows up at the front door demanding ID. Or when they're humiliated by a local police officer for driving the wrong kind of car in the wrong type of neighborhood and get shown the "common man" treatment. Then all us "angry" negroes are called upon to blog about racism and shit like that. We're supposed to fall in line and defend these "bright spots" of our community who are "doing things". But when it's time for these big Negroes and Negresses to give us some backup, to perhaps push back on clear racism from those "high up racists": Meet the underside of the bus.

That's how it is. You can ask Biz.

[edit 11:47 AM EDT: "former" to "latter"]

Why Not Sanctions against Israel

Another on point piece by Paul Craig Roberts

Iran is developing nuclear energy, which is its right as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran’s nuclear energy program is subject to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which consistently reports that its inspections find no diversion of enriched uranium to a weapons program.

The position taken by Israel, and by Israel’s puppet in Washington, is that Iran must not be allowed to have the rights as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that every other signatory has, because Iran might divert enriched uranium to a weapons program.

In other words, Israel and the US claim the right to abrogate Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy. The Israeli/US position has no basis in international law or in anything other than the arrogance of Israel and the United States.

The hypocrisy is extreme. Israel is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and developed its nuclear weapons illegally on the sly, with, as far as we know, US help.

As Israel is an illegal possessor of nuclear weapons and has a fanatical government that is capable of using them, crippling sanctions should be applied to Israel to force it to disarm.

Some Research on Serial Monogamy in Tanzania

when Dr. Borgerhoff Mulder looked at who extracted the greatest reproductive payoff from serial monogamy, as measured by who had the most children survive past the first five hazardous years of life, she found a small but significant advantage female. Women who worked their way through more than two husbands had, on average, higher reproductive success, a greater number of surviving children, than either the more sedately mating women, or than men regardless of wifetime total.

Via NYTimes

The Response Not Given

When the question came, the writing was on the wall.
Been here and heard that. Never goes well.

"So what is your religion?"

Figured I'd make the answer last long enough to finish dinner. I was feelin' the chicken, I was hungry and since I was paying I thought I'd at least get to enjoy the meal. After swallowing I said:

"Ifa." and got to another piece. I knew what the next few questions would be:

What's that?
The who?
Where?

And the inevitable: "Is that voodoo?"

Always find that question the funniest. After all if that was what it was, I would have said so. But all folk know about African religion is what they got from Chucky, Tarzan movies, occasional episodes of Law and Order and sermons from people who don't know of what they speak but who's word is taken at face value. Or the occasional Nigerian priest who odds are goes to see the Ifa priest when HE has issues. Yeah it's been reported.

So I endeavor to explain that Voodun is a combination of Ifa, the religion of the Yoruba, The traditional religion of the Ngola of what we consider modern day Angola and Catholicism. And that's not me. It's taken different forms in different countries where Africans populated with varying levels of mixture. In short there are a number of "Vodoos" (Santeria, Palo, Candomble, Shango Baptists in Trinindad, etc.) and I ascribe to none.

This. This is the point where confused looks abound. Any teacher would be familiar with that look on students. It's the WTF look that students get when first confronted with say, algebra or calculus. So many unknowns. X,Y, N, whaaat?

Ordering dessert, a piece of chocolate cake, your next question came as expected: "So what do you believe?"

"One God. Many messengers. No Devil."

"No what?"

"No Devil. No hell underground. No character behind the scene to blame for 'tempting' you to do anything. You do it 'cause you chose to. It's your responsibility, good or ill."

Trust me; this is not a conversation I was looking to have. Particularly on a first date. For some reason I feel compelled to answer questions and I've yet to master the art of shallow or deceptive conversation. I'd make a bad spy. Get caught, spill beans.

Anyway this would not be the low point of this part of the conversation 'cause out in the parking lot while attempting to dodge light raindrops came the coup de grace:

"So you guys, like, sacrifice animals?"

This was going to be "good."

"It's done."

"That is so barbaric." Slipped from her lips. Easy. Unforced. Almost reflexive.

Wow. I believe I was called a barbarian.

Started having flashes of English missionaries with branding irons passing judgment on Ngolans and breaking promises of not enslaving those who accepted Christ. That was barbaric, but I suppose the evil one does under a "legitimate" religion is somehow more civilized. But I said nothing and just walked you to your vehicle. But what I shoulda said was:

When your momma was pregnant with you did she have a party?
When you were born and came home was there a party of any kind?
When you were presented at church was there a party of any kind?
And when you got baptized did you have any kind of celebration?
When you get engaged will there be a party of any kind?
When you get married will there be a ceremony or party of any kind?
And when you die will there be a ceremony or party of any kind?

Really?

And at this party will there be food? Meat per-chance?

Yeah?

And just how do you think that meat got there? You think the meat fairy just makes the meat show up like a replicator in Star Trek? How, pray tell do you think that meat got to the supermarket?

I mean, you DO know that at some cattle farm somewhere a cow was lead to a stall where a metal shank was thrust between his or her eyes resulting in immediate brain death? You do know that that cow dropped to the ground far less clean than anything you'd accept on your kitchen counter top. Oh yeah and someone, likely an underpaid immigrant from south of the border, strung up that cow and then slit it's throat so the blood could drain out...all over the floor. Guts cut open to remove the intestines, etc.

And don't think that if you eat chicken that it's much better. wrung necks, chickens floating through the air on conveyor belts like clothes at a laundry drained and plucked, gutted and sliced.

All that before it got to your plate after your "religious event" where long after the killing is done, you complete the "animal sacrifice" by 'blessing" your food. Never thought of it like that did you? You think because you weren't there for the killing that you're not "barbaric"? You pass off the killing to other people and now got your nose in the air tryin' to belittle me?

See it's easy to pass such judgments when you live in a metropolis and food is magically delivered to your supermarket. But think of places, even in the US, where dinner is literally walking around outside. The taking of life is not a big deal, whether it be for dinner or for some ceremony.

Look, unless you're a vegetarian, you really have nothing to say on the subject.

That's what I should have said. Right there and right then. Probably would have gone in one ear and exited the other or been retained in memory long enough to be the subject of "Do you know what he said" conversations with friends and family who will no doubt comfort you by telling you that you dodged a bullet by unhooking this "devil worshiper" who'll probably try to work some "root"on you. or whatever the type of ignorance passes for informed opinion these days.

Instead though I told you to drive carefully and let me know when you got home safely.

On Hiatus

If you haven't noticed the Ghost has been silent. It's OK. I'll be back in form or extra form in a few days. Don't unlink or anything like that. Just sometimes a Ghost needs to do other things, speak on other forums and not be "on" (some of ya'll know about that being 'on' stuff). So don't worry I'll be back to my old self soon meanwhile enjoy the official end of summer. Special shouts of appreciation to whomever it is from Belgium who keeps checking in. The person from Hammond LA., The person who apparently works at or goes through Delta Airlines. The Cali people. The Indiana people. And the NY/NJ people. And a shout to the students who apparently link to my stuff for classwork. I am honored.

Garvey Day 2009

And Shall Always Be...

Scott held up a sheet of paper to Watson that had a picture of President Obama on it, his face made to look like the joker in Batman, a swastika on his forehead. Then he read what it said.

"They address it to n----- David Scott, 'You were, you are, and you shall forever be, a n-----'," Scott said, reading from the letter.

11Alive.com

RE: Why Men Need to Get Over Their Femiphobia

I admit it. I haven't read any of Dyson's work. I rarely catch him when he's on CNN or whatever other media he finds himself. In fact I only really know him for his shots at Bill Cosby. Anyway. His piece, apparently an excerpt from his book, that appeared in Alternet yesterday begged to be responded to.

The piece spends a lot of time discussing how black men, in essence need to straighten up in their attitudes towards black women. Something I generally don't have an issue with. though it is an interesting angle given a recent study found in the Psychology of Women Quarterly (vol.33. No.2) that found that:

African American women and men have been found to be more supportive of feminist principles than white women and men.

So perhaps this charge of "femiphobia" by Dyson, at least as it relates to black folks may well be overblown.

In any case his discussion about African-American "femiphobia" took a turn to religion where Dyson says:

A new understanding of black male and female relationships that can truly help our communities should flow from our churches. I believe that the black church is still the greatest institution black folk have, and we’ve got to work hard to keep it that way. That means we’ve got to move beyond the spiritual apartheid we practice. Seventy-five percent of the black church is made up of women, and yet they rarely have access to the central symbol of power — the pulpit. We’ve got to stop dragging our feet and begin to acknowledge just how important black women are to our churches — and to our mosques, temples, ashrams, and sanctuaries of all sorts. We must also realize just how important black women are to our success and survival as a people.

I would say that if Mr. Dyson is really interested in dealing with religious equity within the black religious sphere, that he advocate mass exoduses from the "white mans' religions(tm) (and perhaps the Arab man's religion as well). While Dyson points out the principle of mutual submission as Biblical we can point out the clear teaching that women ought not have authority over men and other ideas such as a man is head of house as Christ is the head of the church (his wife). But I don't want to belabor that point but go back to my exodus suggestion.

If Dyson is concerned about female representation in black religion he ought to advocate that black folk change to a religion such as Ifa. I know, I know, clear boosterism on my part. But really though, the whole male domination thing really doesn't apply among us (not to say that gender issues are absent). In our religion, which I'll call the "Old time religion" just to get under some people's skin, we have both male and female priests. They are referred to as Babalawos and Iya's (Iyanifas). They are both accorded the same level of respect, though there are some significant differences between the two that are based on gender. Initiates will have either God Mothers, and God Fathers who essentially shepherd their children (Omo-Orisa) through initiating and higher levels of Iwa-Pele (Good character). And since a Babalawo or Iya cannot give what he or she does not have, members are referred to different priests to receive whatever initiation is required for them. Furthermore throughout our "pantheon" are both male and female gendered Orisha (angels being the easiest translation). And each are accorded their due respect as well as their manifestations in our personality or character (long explanation). Most importantly, God, Olodumare, is not gendered in it's representation. Yes, there are many who speak of Olodumare as "he" but I, and others see no support for this in how Olodumare is to be thought of. In fact, while one will often see carvings of different Orisa (Esu, Ogun etc.) along with certain sacred groves, one will not find such carvings for Olodumare because in general Ifa is seen as an intercessionist (possibly not a word) religion in which access to Olodumare is negotiated via Orisa and therefore one must be on "good terms" with all Orisa, male and female, in order to have proper communication to Olodumare (consider this the very short discussion).

Hence, unlike Christianity, Islam and Judaism (the religions of interest to Dyson) Ifa is more structurally egalitarian. Such egalitarianism does not need to be "translated into" the religion, it doesn't need to be "re-worked" or wait for some Pope. Imam or Rabbi council to declare..oh God didn't really mean for women to be kicked to the curb.

It should strike any thinking person that the rise of the "West" as well as monotheistic and expansionist religions also coincided with the destruction of more egalitarian bi-gendered traditional religions and their replacement with highly authoritative and often angry God heads.

That black churches are purportedly 75% female ought not shock Dyson. As it is generally natural for men to not want to submit to such an overwhelmingly male power being, not to mention one that does not look like them in the least. I would also suggest that it is entirely possible that the submission of black women to a white male imagined god head is not healthy for black male-female relationships.

Lastly to deal with the issue of sexuality, it should be noted that Oya, is the Ifa representation of Femininity. She is married to Shango (so called God of thunder). She is wife, but she is also a warrior. So it could be said that in our original state, we respected women who were warriors and these women, even being warriors, still respected their men. Many (and this does not imply a majority) women have difficulty not being a warrior to their own men, hence the many references of "niggas ain't shit." "I can do for myself" etc. So let us not be surprised when black women have been yanked from their previous positions as part of that which we call the spiritual universe, made to look to a white god head as an object of "perfect love" to then have issues relating to black men, who have also been trained to see a white male as the height of perfection and godliness and black women as having nothing to do with matters of religion other than deaconesses and choir members (I'm speaking broadly here). Imagine the deep psychological significance to being in a relationship in which if and when the male messes up, his wife will point out that he's not living up to the standard of this invisible white male whom she sees as the paramount symbol of manliness.

So in essence to address Dyson's concern in the quoted paragraph, there are authentic African religions out there that address his concern of the place of black women at a deep level. It's too bad he chooses not to acknowledge them place them in front of his reader.

Proving Welsing?

Recall that Dr. Welsing and Neely Fuller Jr. posited that the overall reasoning for the White Supremacy System is to protect whites from Genetic Anhiliation since they are the overwhelming minority of the people on the planet. When we see these protesters who are nearly universally white, bring up the spectre of "Obama-care" leading to the rationing of health care, the euthanization of the elderly and the killing of babies, one has to wonder if subconsciously they are playing out that deep seated fear, alluded to in my post yesterday of being overrun by non-white people? In other words, are these rank and file people giving voice to that which those farther up the chain have understood? Mind you, I was around for Hillary-care and the tone, while certainly loud, did not have the clear racial overtones and what I perceive to be genuine (if not unfounded) fear of this black man having power over white people's lives (via health reform).

Just as we have seen the glossing over of the fitness center shooters racial commentary by the news I think there is an ignored side to this that goes further than simply labeling these people racist. I think that we ought to revisit Welsing, Fuller and Bobby Wright and compare notes.

More Irony

Read at Alternet:

[Obama] and his socilist party are ruining this country ... I know that if I was a black man right now, I would be able to get help from the government with my construction business and household bills.

Lets think about this claim for a minute. This particular non-black person (I'll assume to be a white male) thinks that because there is a black president, that black folk are systematically getting black privileges.

Think on that. When people like myself bring up issues of white power structures run by white people for the benefit of white people first and foremost, people say "You're being anti-white."

To even suggest that there is white privilege will lead many a white person to talk about how they worked hard and whatever. But now with a black president white folks are imagining a so called black supremacy system that works to benefit black people first and foremost. Is this not a clear example of projection? Aren't these people stating what they know at least on an unconscious level to be true; that white people give special favors and breaks to other whites simply because they are white?

Marriage down among educated black women

Does the following make sense to anyone?

Brueckner said the growing divide may be due to a lack of acceptable partners for highly educated black women.

"They are less likely than black men to marry outside their race, and, compared to whites and black men, they are least likely to marry a college-educated spouse," he suggested.

I read the above as: Highly educated black women are least likely to marry a college-educated spouse.

Does that make sense? If true why would educated black women not be more likely to marry educated black men? Hit me on e-mail if you have insight into this.

The Irony

How many people remember when MoveOn.org had a web video competition in which a few videos featured Bush characterized as Hitler? Republicans went nuts and MoveOn.org removed the videos. Now We have Rush and company comparing Pelosi et al. as Nazis and some Republicans walking around with posters featuring Obama in Hitler drag. The Irony.

Not only is it the height of hypocrisy but it shows a complete lack of understanding what the National Socialist Party of Germany was about.

The last thing that is stupid, is that you'll see all these old(er) white Americans literally foaming at the mouth talking about "take your hands off my healthcare" when many of these people are covered (or soon will be) under government healthcare called Medicaid and Medicare.

See, stuff like that makes me daydream about the reinstatement of literacy tests at voting places as was done during Jim Crow. Except this time we have those white folk talkin' that nonsense prove they actually can read and understand on a high school senior level before they can vote.

That's only a daydream.

Jefferson Convicted of Bribery

NY Times

Prosecutors wanted Mr. Jefferson, 62, detained immediately after the verdict on grounds that his ties to Africa made him a flight risk, but Judge T. S. Ellis III allowed him to remain free on bond, citing his local ties.

Fear that Jefferson would go to Africa to stay? That's funny. Not many African-Americans do that. A lot of we talk a lot about Africa but few are looking to actually live there pending jail time or no.

Ignorance is a Shameful Thing

From the NY Times

A senior member of the group, Abdulmuni Ibrahim Mohammed, told Reuters after his arrest in Kano state Monday: “We do not believe in Western education. It corrupts our ideas and beliefs. That is why we are standing up to defend our religion.”

Too bad their supposedly superior education model hasn't quite informed them that Islam is not "their" religion either. But I suppose it's easier to get people to burn and kill then to actually, you know, build something.

911 tapes from the Gates incident

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/us/28cambridge.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss


First we have Whalen's 911 call. She never claimed that there were two black men at the door. She did say that there was one large male and that she did not see the other male. Also it wasn't her that noticed the alleged B&E but rather another woman who alerted her. She indicated that she saw suitcases and not backpacks and that the men may live or work at the residence. We do not know the ID of the woman who initially saw Gates "Break into" his home but it appears from Whalen's call that the woman was there for some time observing the possible B&E.

When we listen to the recording of dispatchers and Crowley we hear Gates in the background clearly annoyed and at one point saying "I want..!" His full statements cannot be heard because they only can be heard when Crowley is radioing in. It is clear from the tape though that whatever transpired in the house started early into the incident. From the time Crowley radios that he is coming to the time they are calling in "The Wagon." is 4 min 38 Seconds. That's not a long time. In fact Crowley does not get to the residence until a minute in.

From the radio call, Gates was clearly making noise prior to Crowley having asked the dispatch to verify a "Henry Louis Gates." Not 30 seconds into the arrival at the home of Gates and he's apparently laying into officer Crowley. 30 seconds (2:50 left) and Crowley has already radioed that "the gentleman" is being uncooperative. Note that he clearly has not had the time to get or confirm the ID of Gates. 15 seconds later Crowley asks for Harvard police. 30 Seconds later we can hear Gates still going at it and it's the first time we hear the officer ask to confirm Gates ID (time 2:15).

Gates may have had "bronchitis" but he clearly had no problem raising his voice. In the last minute after asking for confirmation of Gates ID, we have radio silence from Crowley. This must be where He and Gates get into whatever verbal altercation. This also confirms Crowley's report where he claimed to try to leave the residence because he was having difficulty communicating over the radio due to Gates behavior and the "acoustics" of the hallway.

I think these tapes resuscitates the reputation of Whalen while casting doubt on the motives of the unnamed woman whom initially saw Gates.

Oh and apparently what police call a man with a PhD (at least in this instance) is "gentleman."

[update]

Various news outlets are trying to get the Cambridge police to comment on why the police report says that the caller identified 2 black men when the 911 call clearly shows that she made no such claim. If you go back to the police report you'll note that Crowley reports that the witness called to him as he walked up the steps to the home. He states:

She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch of [redacted] Ware street

So that would explain why on the 911 call why we don't hear Whalen describing the race of the men as "black." So either Whalen (or her unidentified co-witness) made up their minds that the "burglar" was black or Crowley having possibly seen into the house (he reported that he could see clearly into the foyer) made the "black males" up. If it was the latter, then claims of profiling can possibly be leveled at Crowley at this point since Gates could "easily" be "mistook" for "Hispanic" which was what Whalen guessed and what we hear between dispatch and Crowley.

Ishmael Reed Gives Gates Yet another Proper Dress Down

This man is my frackin' hero. I wish upon 10 stars I could write as well as he does. I have my occasional disagreement with Mr. Reed, but Dammit I respect his steez.

Getting others to do his work. Mother Jones magazine accused him of exploiting those writers who helped to assemble his Encarta Africana, of running an academic sweat shop and even avoiding affirmative action goals by not hiring blacks. Julian Brookes of Mother Jones wrote:

“Henry Louis Gates Jr. has never been shy about speaking up for affirmative action. Indeed, the prominent Harvard professor insists that he wouldn't be where he is today without it. Odd, then, that when it came to assembling a staff to compile an encyclopedia of black history, Gates hired a group that was almost exclusively white. Of the up to 40 full-time writers and editors who worked to produce Encarta Africana only three were black. What's more, Gates and co-editor K. Anthony Appiah rejected several requests from white staffers to hire more black writers. Mother Jones turned to Gates for an explanation of this apparent inconsistency.

“Did the staff members who expressed concern that the Africana team was too white have a point?”

Gates responded:

“It's a disgusting notion that white people can't write on black history--some of the best scholars of Africa are white. People should feel free to criticize the quality of the encyclopedia, but I will not yield one millimeter[to people who criticize the makeup of the staff]. It's wrongheaded. Would I have liked there to be more African Americans in the pool? Sure. But we did the best we could given the time limits and budget.”

D'oh. Busted.

Skip Gates: The Ivy League Is Not Real Life

This Week in Blackness nails Gates proper:

He didn’t resent being identitified as Black; he resented being identified as that kind of Black, the kind of Black that can be hassled and pushed around by simpleton cops. How dare you hassle me? I’m Skip Gates: Harvard professor!

Skip has fallen victim to the Ivy League Effect. Check out his articles–you can definitely go to The Root–the website he is Editor-in-Chief of–if you want to see a repository for the whole masturbatory display. He all but says, “Do I look like that type of (Black) person? I was wearing a blazer and a polo shirt!” Gates is Ivy League pissed with a dash of Black anger. Not the other way around. Is this to say the police weren’t in the wrong? Hardly. As a person is familiar with the Cambridge/Boston PD, the prospect of some procedural malfeasance on their part is entirely believable if not an abject certainty.

Yes, I called Gates on that early on when he made the remark about not being some militant nationalist. A sentiment he's repeated. Then we have his "He should watch my PBS special and the comment about what he can teach Crowley. Him Him Him. Sounds like Agent Smith from the Matrix. I bet Gates has no clue who Wise Intelligent is and certainly has no clue what happened to him. Yeah. This Week in Blackness nails Gates proper.

Lyrics to "Whip It Like a Slave"

via metrolyrics.com

hook:
See i wake up in the mornin take a shit shower shave stand
over the stove and whip it like a slave

Okay new day new yay bet i whip it like kutac kentay im
talkin sugar talkin dough like a benyay i take a brick karate
chop it like a sensai i does it the YM way a bunch of drugs
bunch of money bunch of templates bunch of ice bunch of guns bunch of switchblades fuck with my bunch of bunch of
niggas up in his face
check my pockets more money then lint check my kitchen
every spoon in there bent check my dishes residue like a
bitch big boy weight my residue like half a brick

hook

I;m talkin 36 ounces buildin snow mountains more bricks than 24 houses

hook

Well I've lived long enough to see Hip Hop go from 'My Philosophy", "You Must Learn" and "T'cha T'cha" to "Whip it like a slave." clearly showing that there's a Market 4 Niggas