Ice Cube spoke to the history of unity between Black and Brown peoples in California. He taks about how the Brown man helped the Black man escape slavery..Cube also weighs in on the immigration debate.
Fat Joe, Ice Cube, Immortal Technique & Alex Sanchez Talk about Black & Brown Unity
Former Black Panther chair Elaine Brown Speaks on Cointel-pro, The Panther’s influence on Gangs & Freeing Chip Fitzgerald
We caught up with former Black Panther party chair-Elaine Brown who spoke to us outside of 330 Ritch in San Francisco… She talked to us about political prisoner Chip Fitzgerald a Black Panther who has served 40 years in jail including the last year in solitary confinement. Fitzgerald’s incarceration stems from an incident in which he defended himself from LA police.
Elaine explains the widespread influence of the Black Panthers and how they impacted the early gangs in both New York and LA which sprung up in the wake of the FBI trying to destroy the Panthers using Cointel-Pro tactics. Brown talks to us about how the counter intelligence program set up by the FBI and J Edger Hoover and how it was used to destroy liberation groups.Its been documented and we’ve heard over the years from the gang members how much they influenced by the revolutionary spirit of the Black Panthers were around during the early days of Hip Hop. She explained that those early gangs had a revolutionary outlet that made them targets bby the police who sought to ‘neutralize’ them.
Building an iPod? There’s an app for that-It’s called Apple uses child labor
At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.
The company did not name the offending factories, or say where they were based, but the majority of its goods are assembled in China.
Apple also has factories working for it in Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the Czech Republic and the United States.
Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage. “In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment,” Apple said, in an annual report on its suppliers.
Apple has been repeatedly criticised for using factories that abuse workers and where conditions are poor. Last week, it emerged that 62 workers at a factory that manufactures products for Apple and Nokia had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause muscular degeneration and blur eyesight. Apple has not commented on the problems at the plant, which is run by Wintek, in the Chinese city of Suzhou.
A spokesman for Wintek said that “almost all” of the affected workers were back at work, but that some remained in hospital. Wintek said n-hexane was commonly used in the technology industry, and that problems had arisen because some areas of the factory were not ventilated properly.
Last year, an employee at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, committed suicide after being accused of stealing a prototype for the iPhone.
Sun Danyong, 25, was a university graduate working in the logistics department when the prototype went missing. An investigation revealed that the factory’s security staff had beaten him, and he subsequently jumped to his death from the 12th floor of his apartment building.
Foxconn runs a number of super-factories in the south of China, some of which employ as many as 300,000 workers and form self-contained cities, complete with banks, post offices and basketball courts.
It has been accused, however, of treating its employees extremely harshly. China Labor Watch, a New York-based NGO, accused Foxconn of having an “inhumane and militant” management, which neglects basic human rights. Foxconn’s management were not available for comment.
In its report, Apple revealed the sweatshop conditions inside the factories it uses. Apple admitted that at least 55 of the 102 factories that produce its goods were ignoring Apple’s rule that staff cannot work more than 60 hours a week.
The technology company’s own guidelines are already in breach of China’s widely-ignored labour law, which sets out a maximum 49-hour week for workers.
Apple also said that one of its factories had repeatedly falsified its records in order to conceal the fact that it was using child labour and working its staff endlessly.
“When we investigated, we uncovered records and conducted worker interviews that revealed excessive working hours and seven days of continuous work,” Apple said, adding that it had terminated all contracts with the factory.
Only 65 per cent of the factories were paying their staff the correct wages and benefits, and Apple found 24 factories where workers had not even been paid China’s minimum wage of around 800 yuan (Pounds76) a month.
Meanwhile, only 61 per cent of Apple’s suppliers were following regulations to prevent injuries in the workplace and a mere 57 per cent had the correct environmental permits to operate.
The high environmental cost of Apple’s products was revealed when three factories were discovered to be shipping hazardous waste to unqualified disposal companies.
Apple said it had required the factories to “perform immediate inspections of their wastewater discharge systems” and hire an independent environmental consultant to prevent future violations.
However, Apple has not stopped using the factories.
In 2008, Apple found that a total of 25 child workers had been employed to build iPods, iPhones and its range of computers.
original source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7330986/Apple-admits-using-child-labour.html
Update: Surgery Successful for Legendary Rapper Guru Full Recovery is Expected
Update: according to all Hip Hop as of this morning March 2 2010.. Guru Surgery Successful; Full Recovery Expected- click here for more info..and remeber prayer works http://bit.ly/bT8VeC
It’s hard to take in the news about Guru (Keith Elam) suffering from a heart attack and slipping into a coma while still in his 40s and not have in the backdrop all these other people both public and private who have dropped dead to sudden heart attacks, having seizures, strokes etc at a young age.. Before I get to all that, lemme let folks know whats been passed along from Guru’s former partner DJ Premier…
He noted that yesterday Guru suffered a heart attack and later slipped into a coma and is scheduled to have surgery today. Craig G noted that Guru also had a stroke. In anycase none of this is good.. We wish Guru the best of luck in pulling through. We are keeping him in our prayers. But like I said its hard to simply isolate Guru’s health condition.
This year I lost two radio colleagues both in their early 50s to sudden heart attacks. Both Andrea Lewis and Gina Hotto were pillars in the activist community here in the Bay Area as well as radio hosts at KPFA. We lost another comrade Javad Jahi who did lots of work around the SF8 case who passed after getting the H1N1 flu which compounded the walking pneumonia he had.. Their deaths came within a couple of months of each others and left us shocked. It also made many of us take long hard looks at our lifestyles and lessen the stresses we constantly endure as people seeking social change in our communities.
This weekend we learned that actor Gary Coleman who is also in his 40s.. suffered a seizure.. Details are still sketchy. But its indicative of what is happening to way too many people. Two years two friends suffered minor strokes and one who completely shut down and was hospitalized over stress.. These were folks who had just hit their 40s.. My point here is that even though folks aren’t eating meat and not obese which I believe was the case with Guru doesn’t mean they are free of these types of health challenges..I have a friend who ran into Guru just two weeks ago and he was commenting on how he was feeling great and was in great health..I guess we can’t take any of this for granted..
Many of the folks I know don’t have health insurance and so they never get a check up and usually wind up going to the hospital when things are dire if they even do that.. And even if they do have health insurance, many of those policies don’t cover things like stress due to financial upheavals.. or stress from being pushed to the limit at your job.. or even just having tremendous insecurities about keeping their jobs.. All this adds up..
Not sure what else one can say except that we all had best start looking at health as a right and not a privilege.. Lets pray for Guru and lets pray for ourselves so that we can stay healthy..
Here’s an update from Guru’s partner Solar
“Guru is struggling with a serious health issue. And We appreciate all your love and well wishes. we continue to hold out hope that Guru will make a full recovery from this. And ask that his privacy on this matter be respected. Again Thank you for all your support through this trying time. (via @solar_7grand)” -Solar is Guru’s production partner
Here’s an interview I did with Guru a couple of years ago
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/25904/ pt1
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/25905/ pt2
Noose Found at Racist UCSD where White Frats had Comptom Cookout
Noose found at Geisel Library, message to Guardian says more are coming
There is much to be said about the last week at UCSD, but for right now it is imperative to know what exactly is going on.
A noose has been found hanging off of a light at Geisel Library. This is connected to the racial tensions of the last few weeks, just the most recent manifestation of a long-standing racism that is deep within every breath we take at UCSD. It is our history; we cannot avoid it. We must look it right in the eyes. Here’s a link to Student Regent Jesse Bernal’s page on the topic, with a picture of the noose for documentation purposes. I don’t want to alienate people by showing the offensive picture here, but I want people to have the relevant visual aid for this post, so they know this is some real shit. Some people need to see it. Others may disagree; our comment box is always open.
Let me state first off that if you think this is funny, you’re probably the kind of person I wouldn’t miss. I can only speak for myself here.
Secondly, there’s a disturbing trend in white activism, including my own, to depersonalize the real pain and suffering of real people in our moral and political judgments. There are plenty of objective political reasons and shining moral reasons to oppose this disgusting display of white power. But what have moved me most in the last few hours are the personal thoughts of a few students of color I’ve been privileged to read from. I will share these on this forum, so that, if only for a moment, we are thinking about the real-life horror that UCSD students are imposing upon one another.
As you read these, if you have the privilege of being emotionally removed from the situation, think about how you would feel as a student, worker or teacher of color walking this campus, knowing you are outnumbered up to 18 times over by people who throw so-called Compton cookouts, drop N-bombs on all-campus TV, push you off of committees if you are perceived as a threat, and hang nooses in the library for kicks. Would you feel safe? Would you feel like the campus you’ve put years of hard work and insomnia into belongs to you like it does to other people? Do you? Students of color, how does this event change your perception of the campus you live, work, teach, study, play and dream on?
We welcome all comments on this matter except that I will try to keep this a safe space for people who are already being ridiculed, dehumanized, and spat upon enough. If you have to ask what that means, chances are you’d be better served by some cheap-thrills message board or morning show.
Disclaimer: the individuals quoted are not affiliated with Forward and did not specifically approve their thoughts being posted; I will delete the relevant quotes if they ask, though.
A statement from one antiracist organizer, reminding us of why this kind of imagery is considered such a vicious personal threat for black students here:
“We are in a state of emergency my friends. Latest news is that a NOOSE was found hanging on the 7th floor of Geisel Library. People ask whats the big deal? Why is everyone so upset? I’ll tell you why take note of this excerpt in the autobiography of Angelo Herndon titled “Let Me Live”:
“I know many stories about Negroes who were lynched on no more just provocation than this. Sometimes the lynch mobs need neither provocation nor excuse to carry on their bestial orgies. Often I used to read with horror about the lynching of some Negro worker in the South. The most gruesome, the most disgusting lynching story I ever heard was that which concerned Hayes and Mary turner, Negro sharecroppers in Georgia. They were pauperized and their landlord had tried to rob them of everything they had produced on their land with the toil of their hands and the seat of their brows. The share cropper was man enough to stand up for his rights. He demanded that the farm products be divided equally, as had been agreed upon at the beginning of the year. The landlord grew violently abusive. He threatened him and said he would “fix” him. Terrified out of his wits, for he knew that his landlord would not stop at anything to revenge himself, Hayes Turner tried to make a quite getaway. But his landlord had not allowed grass to grow on his track. He quickly organized a posse of hooligans and the most disreputable elements in the community and gave chase to the runaway. The posse, led by the County Sheriff, caught up with Hayes Turner at the fork of the road near Barney. THEY STRUNG HIM UP ON A TREE AT WAYSIDE WHERE HE HUNG FOR TWO DAYS. Hysterical and grief-stricken, Mrs. Turner was heard to remark that she would have the lynchers arrested. When the lynch mob heard of her determination they decided they were going to teach her a lesson for such a presumption. Although she was in the eighth month of her pregnancy, THEY STRUNG HER TO A TREE AND BROKE HER NECK. THEY HANGED HER BY HER FEET AND POURED GASOLINE OVER HER. As she burned, the mob howled with glee. Then one maniac, wielding a hog-splitting knife, RIPPED HER BELLY OPEN AND THE LITTLE INFANT FELL OUT. ONE OF THE LYNCHERS STAMPED THE INFANT WITH HIS HOBNAILED SHOES INTO THE EARTH. Then the mob, driven with wild bestiality, began to howl like wolves and in their criminal sadism fired hundreds of bullets into her lifeless body.”
This my friends is the BIG DEAL. This my friends is what a noose symbolizes and if the individual that put this up or the individuals that agree with that person putting this noose up for everyone to see agrees then they are perpetuating this very act of violence and genocide of a group of human beings. So now it’s time to mobilize MORE THAN EVER before. It is time to come together in solidarity and struggle. Tomorrow 8am library walk WEAR ALL BLACK AND BE READY TO HAVE OUR VOICES HEARD!!!!!!”
Finally, most personally, a text message from a friend, herself a student of color at UCSD:
“I don’t feel good about this. Reading the noose thing just filled me with such fear and now I’m trying to stop crying.”
How would you feel if your sister wrote this? Your cousin? Your mother? Yourself?
Before last night, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to a white Southern college from the 1930s. After this morning, we’ll see what UCSD looks like.
In the meantime, those of you who don’t go to UCSD: Burn down the state’s rotten, racist institutions in solidarity. Let your righteous anger be your guide. The issues of campus climate and academic access deserve your full attention.
February 26th, 2010 | Tags: ucsd; stop racism at ucsd; compton cookout; geisel library; ucsd is racist | Category: Uncategorized
2 comments to Noose found at Geisel Library, message to Guardian says more are coming
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Montana
The noose. So, what exactly will the excuses be for this cowardly act that brings up memories of the confederate KKK of the South in their attempts to keep slavery and the non-whites in fear? Is it that are uneducated, is it that they are live in fear because our President in the white house is not 100% white. This is what the republican party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” have brought you. These kids follow what their dullard leaders say, are you surprise at what they do when you know what they think.
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Chiggs
First off, let me say that it is ridiculous that the recent conflict has escalated to the point where death threats have been made. It is upsetting and unacceptable that people feel “free speech” can be displayed through threatening symbols such as a noose. I am completely outraged at this event.
But with that said, in response to the caption of the noose photo, how can you pin a demeaning and hatful term such as racist on an entire student body. Clearly there are racists people at UCSD, there are racist people at every school. the actions of UCSDs administration have given the white supremacists an excuse to react with hate. But in no way can you slogan UCSD as racist. The majority of the people here are certainly not. If the noose was an isolated issue, i can guarantee there would be thousands of students marching at the protest this morning. But there events are so tied up in a wide array of actions that have taken place over the past few weeks, demeaning all students and faculty at UCSD.
The people that placed the noose and promised more to come are cowardly, hateful, and yes, racist. Their threatening message should and does call for action. It sickens me that people like this are still around in the 21st century.
No Sellout-The Secret Malcolm X Tape w/ The FBI
Bay Area journalist Adisa Banjoko aka The Bishop who heads up the Hip Hop Chess Federation came to our SF State class yesterday and laced our students up with the important role Islam has played in Hip Hop culture. One of the main topics he touched upon was the strong presence of Malcolm X and what he meant to Hip Hop.. We discussed the songs he was sampled in. We talked about the rappers who referenced him.. Adisa definitely went in..
He closed out the discussion by talking about Cointel-pro and Black Pro– the government program that proceeded it. Adisa talked about how the government had gotten over 3000 people throughout the country to spy on Black organizations and report their activities back to the FBI. Many people wavered and sold us out. others stood strong. We talked integrity and never selling out. He brought forth this ‘secret recording’ that was made by the FBI when they approached Malcolm after he was suspended by Elijah Muhammad for mis-speaking after President Kennedy was assassinated.What we heard was absolutely riveting on a number of levels.
To start it was crazy to hear how bold and upfront our tax payer supported government agencies were in terms of going out and destroying our leaders and undermining the Black Liberation struggle. These guys were over the top bold in asking Malcolm to spy and sell out the Nation of Islam then known as the Black Muslims.
What was impressive was Malcolm’s resolve and his intelligence… he shut these FBI agents down.. This is definitely a MUST listen..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8CSQopxEf8
Here’s another link just in case
Questlove of the Roots Speaks on the Importance of Fela Kuti
?uestlove from The Roots, now an associate producer on the hit musical Fela! on Broadway, talks about when he first discovered Fela Kuti’s music, and walks us through Fela’s influence in yesterday and today’s hip-hop — including works by Mos Def, Macy Gray, D’Angelo, X-Clan, and Leader of the New School.
OPINION: Ron Paul Is A White Supremacist
OPINION: Ron Paul Is A White Supremacist
By Casey Gane-McCalla
http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/opinion-ron-paul-is-a-white-supremacist/
Originally, when I began reporting on the Neo-Nazis and conspiracy theory driven right wing extremists and their associations with Ron Paul, I assumed they were a fringe group who jumped on to the Ron Paul bandwagon. Then after doing extensive research, I realized that not only did the Neo-Nazis and the John Birch/Timothy McVeigh based conspiracy theorists support Ron Paul, but Ron Paul supports the views of the Neo-Nazis and the conspiracy theorists.
There are several pieces of evidence tying Paul to both white supremacists and right wing conspiracy theorists. One connection that ties Paul to both Neo-Nazis and conspiracy theorists, is his close connection to the John Birch society. The John Birch Society is a group that has been called, paranoid, radical, racist, and extremist, and believes in a Jewish/Freemason conspiracy to transform the world into a communist “New World Order.”
The John Birch Society
The John Birch society holds McCarthy as a hero and believes that “liberal” politicians and are part of a “communist” conspiracy known as “Insiders”. They opposed the Civil Rights movement and Civil Rights legislation (and still do), called Martin Luther King a radical socialist threat (and still do), praised apartheid and believe that Nelson Mandela was “a communist terrorist thug” and campaigned for segregationist Presidential candidate George Wallace.
What is most scary about the John Birch Society, is that it seems to be a breeding ground for Neo-Nazis. Several members of the intellectual wing of the White Nationalist Neo-Nazi movement come directly from the John Birch society.
One of the founders of the John Birch Society was Revilo P. Oliver, who went on to found the white nationalist Neo-Nazi organization, The National Alliance which named Hitler “the greatest man of our era.”
Another member of the John Birch society was William Pierce, also a founder of the National Alliance, who also wrote “The Turner Diaries.” “The Turner Diaries” is credited with inspiring Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, Killing 168 people.
Other prominent members of the John Birch society, who played large roles in the Neo-Nazi movement, include Tom Metzger, who was a Grand Dragon of the KKK and Kevin Strom, the former managing director of National Vanguard, (another prominent white supremacist organization) who was convicted for child pornography.
The Southern Poverty Leadership Committee claims the John Birch society is responsible for a lot of the Patriot movement “New World Order,” anti-government ideologies that spread to militias and Neo-Nazis.
Ron Paul was the keynote speaker for the John Birch Society’s 50th Anniversary and spoke about the strong connection he had to the society and their ideologies.
The John Birch Society is a great patriotic organization featuring an educational program solidly based on constitutional principles. I congratulate the Society in this, its 50th year. I wish them continued success and endorse their untiring efforts to foster ‘less government, more responsibility … and with God’s help … a better world.’”
I am delighted to help celebrate this birthday.” “I’m sure there are people in this room who probably helped me in that campaign, because I know that so many of you have over the years.”
continue what you have been doing…..I come with a positive message and congratulations to you for all you have done. Congratulations and thank you very much for having me tonight.
The John Birch society had a big role in Paul’s “Rally For The Republic” in where their leader spoke and they distributed anti “New World Order” materials.
Aside from his involvement in the John Birch society, Ron Paul has an extensive history of writing and promoting racist literature that would seem to come from one of the many John Birch Neo-Nazi offshoots. Ron Paul’s, Ron Paul newsletter contained articles attacking African-Americans, for being unintelligent, lazy and prone to crime, and Jews for being part of Zionist conspiracies. The newsletters also contained pro-militia articles that advised militia armed groups to “Leave no clues…Avoid the phone as much as possible,”…. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here” three months before McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma.
Here are some of the many racist quotes that can be found in Paul’s newsletter from 1978 till 1995
On the L.A. Riots
“Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began,”
‘civil rights,’ quotas, mandated hiring preferences, set-asides for government contracts, gerrymandered voting districts, black bureaucracies, black mayors, black curricula in schools, black tv shows, black tv anchors, hate crime laws, and public humiliation for anyone who dares question the black agenda
On African-American Political Opinion
Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action
On African-Americans and Crime
Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal,
America’s number one need is an unlimited white checking account for underclass blacks.
mostly black welfare recipients will feel justified in stealing from mostly white ‘haves.’
Paul also used the newsletter to refer to call the end of apartheid in South Africa, the “destruction of civilization” and warned of a South African Holocaust after Nelson Mandela was elected.
Paul’s newsletter also included several attacks on Martin Luther King. After Martin Luther King Day was named a national holiday, this was written in his newsletter, “What an infamy Ronald Reagan approved it!…..We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day”
While the newsletter criticized Martin Luther King, it praised former KKK Grand Wizard, David Duke, “Is David Duke’s new prominence, despite his losing the gubernatorial election, good for anti-big government forces? our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom.”
In This Quote, Paul Exhibits The Paranoid Conspiracy Driven Anti-Semitic, Homophobic, Racist View From The John Birch Society
I’ve been told not to talk, but these stooges don’t scare me. Threats or no threats, I’ve laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.) The Bohemian Grove–perverted, pagan playground of the powerful. Skull & Bones: the demonic fraternity that includes George Bush and leftist Senator John Kerry, Congress’s Mr. New Money. The Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica
While Paul has abandoned writing and distributing racist literature, he is still strongly connected to the Neo-Nazi movement.
It seems as if people in the white supremacist, Neo-Nazi community believe that Paul is one of them. Paul is usually somewhere between David Duke, who refers to Paul as “Our King,” and Hitler on the Neo-Nazi hero list.
Ron Paul accepted a donation from the founder of white supremacist site, Stormfront, Don Black and even took a picture with him and his son Derek. Ron Paul has been endorsed by David Duke and Sean Hannity’s Nazi cohort, Hal Turner
Several prominent Ron Paul Internet organizers are also notorious Neo-Nazis. Will Williams, also known as white will was a prominent internet organizer for the Paul campaign. He also the Southern Coordinator for Turner Diaries’ author, William Pierce’s National Alliance.
Another one is Ron Doggett. Doggett, a David Duke underling posts Ron Paul propaganda on various Neo-Nazi website, such as Stormfront and Vanguard News. Another KKK member who organized for Paul was Randy Grey,the Midland County, Michigan coordinator for the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential campaign who was also a leader for the Michigan KKK.
Ron Paul Believes In The John Birch “New World Order” Conspiracy Theory
Asides from the racism, Paul has inherited other ideologies from the John Birch society. Ron Paul has several times alluded that he believes in the John Birch conspiracy theory, that a communist secret society conspiracy is seeking to bring the world into “New World Order” one world government and destroy America.
Another one of Ron Paul’s supporters is Alex Jones. Jones is a radio host who has extensively promoted the John Birch “New World Order” conspiracy of an Illuminati secret society trying to bring the world into a socialist one world government .
Jones has enthusiastically endorsed Ron Paul for President and has even has Paul on his radio show several times. Rather than discourage Jones conspiracy theories, Paul encourages them. On Jones show, Paul said.
A world central bank, worldwide regulation and world control of the whole system, of all the commodities and all the natural resources, what else can you call it other than world government?
We have to continue to do what we are doing, you are in the business of passing on and spreading information, that, to me, is most crucial, getting more people engaged, more people understanding what the issues are, nothing else is more important than that. Then when you see an opportunity we have to turn this into political action.
Ron Paul even used the phrase “New World Order” in a rally in Nashville, equating it with the UN, World Bank and IMF.
When asked “Is there a plan for a New World Order and how do we stop it,” Paul stayed to his John Birch philosophy and ranted against the U.N.
The first President Bush said the New World Order was in tune– and that’s what they were working for. The U.N. is part of that government. They’re working right now very significantly towards a North American Union. That’s why there’s a lot of people in Washington right now who don’t care too much about our borders. They have a philosophical belief that national sovereignty is not important. It’s also the reason I’ve made the very strong suggestion the U.S. need not be in the U.N. for national security reasons.
Ron Paul has denied he is racist and said that he didn’t write the many racist statements in the newsletter that was distributed in his name under his byline. The Magazine that originally uncovered the racist newsletters responded with.
To believe that Ron Paul had no knowledge of what was being written in his own name, in his own office, for 20 years — and that he didn’t even read his own monthly publication — not only “stretches credulity to the breaking point,” it actually requires believing bald-faced lies.
In the statement about the coming race war and the homosexual AIDS plot, Paul clearly identified himself as a “physician” making it seem clear that Paul had the same racist, anti-Semitic, conspiratorial views of his fellow John Birch Society members.
A now incarcerated Neo-Nazi by the name of Bill White put out a statement that Ron Paul was a man with Neo-Nazi views, but he hid them because of his political position.
I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn’t see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul’s extensive involvement in white nationalism.
Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.
I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy.
For his spokesman to call white racialism a “small ideology” and claim white activists are “wasting their money” trying to influence Paul is ridiculous. Paul is a white nationalist of the Stormfront type who has always kept his racial views and his views about world Judaism quiet because of his political position.
I don’t know that it is necessarily good for Paul to “expose” this. However, he really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism and for him to deny that in the belief he will be more respectable by denying it is outrageous — and I hate seeing people in the press who denounce racialism merely because they think it is not fashionable.
Bill White, Commander
Source
There are far to many connections between Ron Paul and white supremacists to be overlooked. From his close affiliation to the Neo-Nazi breeding ground, The John Birch society, to the large number of Neo-Nazis who support and organize for him, to the racist literature he wrote and or distributed for almost 20 years between 1978 and 1995.
Ron Paul is clearly a right wing extremist from the John Birch Society school of thought. Most of his policies and views come from their conspiracy theory, from his opposition to the U.N. and Civil Rights legislation, to his homophobia and anti-Semitism. He clearly believes in or chooses to spread the paranoia based New World Order, Illuminati theory that the John Birch society has spreading to militias and Neo-Nazis for so many years.
Given all the evidence it is very easy to believe Bill White’s claim that Paul has been keeping his racist views quiet in order to infiltrate mainstream politics. While it may seem that Ron Paul is a good decent man with strong political ideals, that isn’t racist, who is being supported by Neo-Nazis and Patriot movement militia people who wrongly believe that he is one of them, the opposite is true. Ron Paul is a man with Neo-Nazi, Patriot movement militia views who is being supported by good decent people with strong political ideals who wrongly believe he is one of them.
Alternet: We’re in a Recession & President Obama is Putting More Money Into Prisons
On February 1, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the administration would request $2.9 billion for the Department of Justice 2011 budget — “a 5.4 percent increase in budget authority,” according to the DOJ. Approximately $527.5 million would go to the federal Bureau of Prisons, a chunk of which would provide “bed space” to house prisoners currently at Guantanamo Bay (and ostensibly slated for transfer to the supermax prison in Thomson, IL).
“We have an obligation to protect our country in smart, reliable ways at every level,” Holder said, invoking both the “fight against global terrorism” as well as the need to enforce “civil rights and the rule of law.”
Smart and reliable, however, aren’t words many Americans would use to describe our existing prison system, which has grown so rapidly and reached such epic proportions that serious efforts are underway across U.S. states to slash their prison populations out of sheer necessity. Once seen as too politically risky, prison reform is catching on, with more and more local politicians recognizing that locking people up at a rampant pace is untenable and counterproductive. (After all, as James Ridgeway points out at MotherJones: “Keep in mind that federal spending on prisons is dwarfed by state spending. While the BOP’s budget is over $6 billion, the United States as a whole currently spends about $68 billion a year on corrections, mostly at the state
Yet, the Obama administration appears committed to continuing the very same policies that have fueled the prison crisis, and which states are attempting to reform. Last week the D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute issued a fact sheet describing its new DOJ budget in bleak terms. The report, “More Policing, Prisons, and Punitive Policies,” warns that the “funding pattern” represented by Obama’s budget “will likely result in increased costs to states for incarceration that will outweigh the increased revenue for law enforcement, with marginal public safety benefits.”
The report zeroes in on two areas that have been earmarked for more funds: the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants and the cleverly named Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). The former, a creation of the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act (and referred to as JAG grants), are federal dollars that are awarded to state governments, ostensibly for various possible initiatives, but which, according to the JPI, usually go “to law enforcement rather than prevention, drug treatment, or community services.” The latter, a Clinton-era initiative more broadly referred to as community policing, also provides grants to local jurisdictions to “hire and train community policing professionals, acquire and deploy cutting-edge crime-fighting technologies, and develop and test innovative policing strategies,” according to the official COPS Web site, which boasts that “by the end of FY 2008, the COPS Office had funded approximately 117,000 additional officers to more than 13,000 of the nation’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country in small and large jurisdictions alike.”
The problem is that neither program seems to be particularly effective beyond putting more cops on the street — and both appear to contribute to the already racist nature of the American prison system. In a letter to U.S. representatives last year, which sought to discourage Congress from inserting more law enforcement spending into the stimulus in the absence of measures focusing on prevention, treatment and re-entry, organizations including the ACLU, the Sentencing Project and the National Black Police Association warned that “past Byrnes and COPS grants have had the unintended consequence of perpetuating racial disparities and civil rights abuses.”
What’s more, “Byrne Grants and COPS programs have not been shown to have a significant positive impact on public safety.” Instead, “these programs have often resulted in increased arrests and incarceration of nonviolent drug users.”
Nonviolent drug users are the very prisoners now being slated for early release in states like California, where prison overcrowding is an all too destructive — and costly — reality. In this sense, the Obama administration’s plan and that of U.S. states attempting to reform their local prison systems seem to be working at cross-purposes. As one report in USA Today pointed out earlier this month, “The federal spending plan contrasts with the criminal justice strategies pursued in many cash-strapped states, including California, Kansas and Kentucky, where officials have closed prisons or allowed for the early release of some non-violent offenders.”
Nonetheless, the Obama administration has already provided funding to these programs; $4 billion went to the DOJ via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last year. If the $29 billion for 2011 is a pretty good indication of the administration’s priorities going forward, it looks like we’ll be seeing a recycling of some of the misguided criminal justice policies of the Clinton years.
According to the JPI, “In the 1990s, COPS grants were part of the reason for the growth in the prison population by 45 percent over 7 years and state corrections spending by 76 percent.”
Re-invigorating this program is likely to further increase the prison population, without a significant drop in crime. It will also likely increase the disproportionate contact communities of color have with the criminal justice system due to concentrated policing in neighborhoods with a high Latino and/or African American composition.
In the meantime, one area where the Obama administration has decided to provide less funding is in programming for juvenile prisoners — bad news for the estimated 100,000 youth behind bars in this country who make up the country’s most vulnerable prison population.
“Juvenile justice programs received $546.9 million in FY 2002,” according to the JPI. “Funding has been dropping almost consistently since then, and the Administration has proposed another $133 million decline in the proposed FY2011 budget, down to $290 million.”
original source:http://www.alternet.org/rights/145791/the_last_thing_we_need_is_more_money_for_prisons,_but_that_is_what_obama_wants/?page=entire
Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty In Hurricane Katrina Killing-Massacre on Danziger Bridge
In 2007 there was a International Tribunal that was held in New Orleans that looked into all the allegations about negligence, vigilantism and police brutality that took place in the aftermath of the levees being broken.. The most riveting testimonies came around the areas of police brutality and killings.. The massacre on the Danzinger Bridge was especially troubling… Here is the testimony from the brother of a mentally challenged man Ronald Madison who was shot and killed when people fleeing the floods attempted to cross the Danzinger bridge and were met by police.. Another man James Brissette was also killed and 4 other people wounded.. Romell Madison a local dentist gives heart wrenching accounts of what happened. King Downing of the ACLU is the lawyer questioning Romell
Below is a link to that testimony:
http://odeo.com/episodes/25663229-Katrina-tribunal-Danzinger-bridge-Testimony-pt1
Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty In Hurricane Katrina Killing Probe: 2 Shot, Killed On Danziger Bridge
NEW ORLEANS— In Hurricane Katrina’s chaotic aftermath, police shot six people – killing two – as they crossed a bridge in search of food. For years the case was a shocking symbol of the confusion and violence that swept through the flooded city. On Wednesday it became a mark of shame for the police department.
As victims’ relatives watched from the courtroom gallery, a retired lieutenant who supervised the department’s probe of the shootings pleaded guilty to orchestrating a cover-up to conceal that police gunned down unarmed civilians.
Michael Lohman, a 21-year veteran of the force, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors said Lohman and other unidentified officers conspired to fabricate witness statements, falsify reports of the incident and plant a gun in an attempt to make it appear the killings were justified.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said the investigation is continuing and would not say whether higher-ranking officials of the police department might be involved.
Lohman’s plea brought at least some closure to families of victims in the best-known of several violent incidents that raised questions about police conduct immediately after Katrina. The shootings happened on Sept. 4, 2005, six days after the storm smashed levees and flooded 80 percent of the city.
Survivors have said the officers fired at unarmed people who were crossing to get food at a grocery store. The officers claimed they opened fire only after being shot at. Ronald Madison, 40 and mentally disabled, and James Brissette, 19, were killed and four others were wounded.
“We are very, very happy about the progress that the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department have made,” said Romell Madison, Ronald’s brother. “The people of New Orleans should be relieved that there is still justice for everybody here.”
Lohman’s plea marked the first conviction in the case. Seven officers were charged with murder or attempted murder but a state judge threw out all the charges. Federal authorities then stepped in to investigate.
The federal prosecutor said Lohman is cooperating with investigators who want to know more about the police department’s actions.
Dylan Utley, Lohman’s lawyer, said his client “did what’s right for him and what’s right for his situation” and hopes to “make amends.”
During Wednesday’s hearing, Lohman, 42, answered U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle’s questions in a soft voice but didn’t interact with the victims’ relatives. He is free on $50,000 bond and the maximum sentence he faces is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled May 26.
Described by fellow officers as a straight-shooter and hardworking, by-the-book cop, Lohman’s cooperation is expected to be helpful as authorities examine a wide range of problems in the police department after Katrina.
The department’s reputation – never sterling in a city where violent crime is a daily fact of life – was hammered after Katrina with charges that officers were involved with shootings, deserted their posts, looted shops and made off with cars from a Cadillac dealership.
“It looks like the blue code has been broken,” former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg said. “Remember, those officers stood shoulder to shoulder when it was in state court. Nobody said anything.”
The “blue code” is likely to face further tests with Lohman’s cooperation as federal prosecutors probe the fatal shooting by police of Danny Brumfield Sr. outside the New Orleans convention center; the death of Henry Glover, whom witnesses claim died in police custody; and the fatal police shooting of a Connecticut man, Matthew McDonald.
Police have pointed to the extreme conditions they were operating under after Katrina. Communications failed, hundreds of police vehicles were destroyed, 80 percent of the force lost their homes to the storm and there were several reports of rescuers being fired upon. Most of those reports were later discounted.
“The constitution applies 365 days a year,” said Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “There are no grace periods from the constitution. The rule of law does not get suspended.”
In unsealing the case against Lohman, prosecutors drew a picture of how the shootings at the Danziger bridge immediately spawned a cover-up.
Lohman went to the scene and saw no weapons near or with the victims of the shooting, federal officials said, and concluded the shootings were not justified.
The documents allege Lohman and an unidentified investigator he supervised drafted different versions of false reports. Among the claims was a fabricated statement by one of the victims that she had seen her nephew and others firing guns on the bridge.
Federal officials say Lohman drafted his own 17-page false report after becoming dissatisfied that another investigator’s false account was not logical.
“On several occasions in or about October 2005, defendant Lohman reviewed drafts of the false report written by the investigator and counseled the investigator on ways to make the story in the report sound more plausible,” according to court documents.
When another investigator planned to plant a gun at the scene, Lohman just asked him if it was “clean,” meaning it couldn’t be traced, according to the documents.
The documents said Lohman also told the investigator to speak with each of the shooting officers to ensure they were “OK with” the false report and were willing to give statements consistent with it.
“It’s pretty incredible stuff,” said Gary Bizal, attorney for Jose Holmes, Jr., who was shot several times as he lay on the ground. “It’s like a script from Hollywood.”
As the investigation continues with Lohman’s cooperation, officers for at least two other officers have identified their clients as targets.
“Now the government has a cooperating witness and it causes those officers to wonder if they should be running to the U.S. Attorney to look for a deal,” Rosenberg said.
Both Letten and Perez refused to say how widespread or high-up the investigation could reach in the department, but both reiterated that the investigation would not be bound.
“The investigation is going to attempt to bring all perpetrators to justice,” Perez said.