A Press Release from the Town of Hempstead,

Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Gary Hudes, both proud Levittown residents, joined the Levittown School District and PTA in protesting a question on the New York State Grade 8 Social Studies test, which lumped Levittown in with tenements and ghettos.

"For New York State to administer a test that references Levittown in a derogatory, offensive and historically inaccurate manner is hurtful to our local students and completely unacceptable," said Murray. "Levittown represented the American Dream to our veterans who returned from World War II, and it still is emblematic of the American suburban idyllic lifestyle."

Question 34 of the New York State Grade 8 Social Studies standardized test depicted a "Shantytown During the Depression." The question lumped together the terms "ghettos," "tenements" and "Hoovervilles" with the name "Levittown" as prospective answers relating to 1930 era "shantytowns." Levittown was the only choice that did not relate to the question posed in any manner. Additionally, Levittown is not part of any eighth grade curriculum, making the inclusion of the suburban community inappropriate.

"One has to wonder why the community of Levittown was singled out by the state education department for inclusion in the exam," stated Hudes. "It was the only choice that did not relate to question 34 in any way."

Murray and Hudes said that the inclusion of the name "Levittown" on question 34 evidenced a bias on the part of those who crafted the exam/question. The officials stated that the damage inflicted upon Levittowners, particularly eighth graders who were subjected to the exam, was malicious, gratuitous and unwarranted.

"I am outraged and disgusted at the derogatory, offensive and historically inaccurate reference to Levittown in the state's eighth grade social studies exam," said Murray. "How dare the New York State Commissioner of Education allow this affront to America's first suburb appear in an official state document."

Murray and Hudes have written to New York State Commissioner of Education Richard Mills demanding an immediate accounting for the circumstances surrounding the inclusion of the unacceptable "Levittown" reference in the statewide exam. The officials also asked to be apprised of steps that will be taken to ensure that this type of distasteful, insulting and inappropriate affront does not recur. Finally, Murray and Hudes inquired what steps would be taken to help repair the damage inflicted on all Levittowners, especially the eighth grade students who were subjected to the exam.

"Kate Murray and I love the community of Levittown and will not stand by as Commissioner Mills slanders our hometown," said Hudes. "I think whoever wrote the malicious and biased question should go back and take an eighth grade social studies class," added Murray.

To view question #34 and the Levittown School District's response click here:

http://wantaghnews.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/levittown-school-district-residents-angry-over-nys-exam-question/

The Barnes Review, issue Jan.-Feb. 2001

Far from being the "death camps" as you have heard so often, places like Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald were not in the business of extermination. They were work camps, critical to the German war effort. But did you know that the Jewish workers were compensated for their labor with scrip printed specifically for their use in stores, canteens and even brothels? The prisoner monetary system was conceived in ghettos such as Lodz, carried to camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau and still existed in the displaced persons camps that were established by the Allies after World War II. Here is the story of the money the court historians do not want you to even suspect existed.

Piles of incinerated corpses were indicting images at Nuremberg, used to prove that the German-run concentration camps during World War II were intended for purposes of exterminating the Jews of Europe. However, a plethora of documentary evidence, long suppressed, shows that prisoners were relatively well-treated, compensated for their hard work and allowed to purchase luxuries to which even the German public did not have ready access. This is not the image of abject deprivation that the Holocaust lobby would like you to entertain.

The above collage, taken from the cover of Das Lagergeld der Konzentrations- und D.P.-Lager: 1933-1945 by Albert Pick and Carl Siemsen, shows just a sample of the money printed for camps and ghettos. The predominantly-white note on the right says: "Jewish Money. Only legal as a means of payment for Jewish work within the ghetto Sokolka. City Treasury of Sokolka, The Mayor."

The irrefutable proof is the existence of a means of exchange for goods and services: Money. There were at least 134 separate issues, in different denominations and styles, for such notorious places as Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Oranienburg, Ravensbrück, Westerbork and at least 15 other camps. (See Paper Money of the World Part I: Modern Issues of Europe by Arnold Keller, Ph.D., 1956, pp. 23-25 for a complete listing.)

A monetary system was also in existence in the ghettos, most notably Theresienstadt and Lodz, which produced beautiful notes (veritable works of art) that make U.S. currency look dull.

There are numerous dealers in rare currency and numismatics who specialize in selling "concentration camp money" or "Holocaust money" as it has been sometimes called. But the very fact of its existence does not seem to have raised questions - as it should have - about what really did (and did not) happen inside the so-called "death camps" where the Holocaust scrip was circulating in the first place.

This scrip was not negotiable outside of the camp for which it was issued. This decreased the chance of a successful escape and made it impossible for the general public to purchase some of the rare luxuries available in the camps. According to Albert Pick in Das Lagergeld der Konzentrations- und D.P.-Lager: 1933-1945:

Oranienburg was the first known camp to have Lagergeld for its prisoners. The issues for this particular camp were in 5 Pfg. (green), 10 Pfg. (blue), 50 Pfg. (brown) and 1 Mark denominations. (Printed 1933 - August 1934, when the camp closed.) Unlike Theresienstadt, these notes were fairly plain without multiple colors and watermarks. Yet even these demonstrate the care and attention given to the design of money for the workers.

Inmates were not paid for the work but were given "coupons" now and then to buy things in the "Kantine".... As the war progressed badly and the number of workers declined, the KZ worker potential became important. Offers of "premiums" and other advantages were made to the inmates, tobacco was offered and even visits to bordellos.... In order that these scrips could not be used outside the camps, special money was printed.

Letter from Prisoner No. 11647 Block 28/3 Dachau KIII on September 8, 1940 to his relative in Litzmannstadt (Lodz):

I must write you something about myself. I am very well. In the canteen I buy honey, marmalade, cookies, fruit and other food. If you worry about me, you'll indeed be committing a sin. I have more reason to worry about you.... (Letters from the Doomed: Concentration Camp Correspondence 1940-1945, Richard S. Geehr.)

There was a payment schedule at Theresienstadt utilizing Th. kr. (Theresienstadt kroner) as the unit of exchange. (The Shekel Vol. XVI, No. 2, March-April 1983 p. 29). The breakdown looked like this:

Working men, according to their jobs: 105-205 Th. kr.
Working women, according to their jobs: 95-205 Th. kr.
Part-time workers: 80 Th. kr.
Caretakers: 70 Th. kr.
War-wounded and holders of the Iron Cross, First Class degree or higher: 195 Th. kr.
Prominente (doctors, professors, scientists, well-known cultural artists and politicians): 145 Th. kr.

To put this in perspective, a cup of coffee cost 2 Th. kr. The circulation in Theresienstadt was such that it was necessary to print over 5 million notes. See Papirove Penize Na Uzemi Ceskoslovenska 1762-1975, Second Edition, 1975, Hradek Kralove, trans. by Julius Sem, pp. 134-135.

The first worker's camp to have its own scrip was Oranienburg. Before using the camp scrip they used German currency in nearby towns, but the authorities decided to centralize. Currency was exchanged for camp money, less 30%. (The Shekel, Vol XVI, No. 2, March-April 1983, p. 40: "Concentration Camp Money of the Nazi Holocaust" by Steven Feller.)

Similarly at Buchenwald:

Each prisoner was allowed up to 10 marks per week to be used for the purchase of cigarettes at the camp canteen, other canteen purchases, brothel visits, or credit to a savings account. The regulations went on to specify that a visit to a brothel would cost 2 marks for which 1.5 marks would be kept by the SS and 0.5 marks would be used for "expenses." (Ibid., p. 41.)

Was there a similar situation at all of the other camps - at least those that issued currency? As this includes Auschwitz, it would be shocking indeed to even consider marmalade and cigarettes being purchased in this "death camp." Even the existence of money in camps gives us a look at what life was really like there, yet this information has yet to make it to the History Channel.

Infamous and Intricate Camp Money
Dachau "... [W]e must remember that like most other Concentration Camps, Dachau also functioned as a work camp. This explains the appearance of paper tokens printed in 1944.... Dachau's tokens were of three different values: 1, 2 and 3 marks. The prisoner's identification number is written on the front of this green note, alongside the date when it was issued, January 31, 1945. In fact, all of Dachau's tokens list the prisoner's identification numbers." Stahl, pp. 18- 19.Auschwitz "At a death camp it would seem that there was very little need for money." (The Shekel, Vol. XVI, No. 2, March-April 1983, p. 43.)		A Dachau camp note. An Auschwitz camp note.
Theresienstadt Print runs for Theresienstadt Kroner
Denomination 1 Th. kr. 2 Th. kr. 5 Th. kr. 10 Th. kr. 20 Th. kr. 50 Th. kr. 100 Th. kr.	Size 100 x 50 mm 110 x 55 mm 120 x 58 mm 125 x 63 mm 135 x 66 mm 140 x 77 mm 150 x 77 mm	Color Green Rose Blue Brown Green Dk. Green Red-brown	Qty Printed 2,242,000 1,019,000 530,000 456,000 319,000 159,000 279,000
See: The Shekel Vol. XVI, No. 2, March/April 1983, p. 33.
These beautiful Theresienstadt notes, complete with watermarks, demonstrate the high-quality artwork and printing of the money.
Lodz Colors of the different types of currency in Lodz. In print runs in 1940, 1942 and 1944: 50 Pfg. Violet 1 RM Olive-green 2 RM Light Brown 5 RM Dark Brown		Lodz ghetto money.
Information from Das Lagergeld der Konzentrations- und D.P.-Lager: 1933-1945 by Albert Pick and Carl Siemsen.

Bibliography:

American Israel Numismatic Association (Temarac, Florida).

Pick, Albert. Das Lagergeld der Konzentrations- und D.P.-Lager: 1933-1945, Munich, Battenberg Publishers, 1976.

Schöne, Michael H., Das Papiergeld im besetzten Deutschland 1945-1949, Regenstauf: Gietl, 1994.

Stahl, Zvi, Jewish Ghettos and Concentration Camps' Money, 1933-1945, London: D. Richman Books, 1990.
See also:

Campbell, Lance K., Dachau concentration camp scrip, Margate, Florida: American Israel Numismatic Association, 1992.

The Numismatist, April 1981, by Steven Feller.

Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, 1965, 1996, "POW Money and Medals" by Slabaugh, R. Arlie.

Schultze, Manfred, Unsere Arbeit - unsere Hoffnung: Das Ghetto in Lodz 1940-1945, Schwalmtal: Phil-Creativ, 1995.

Sem, Julius, Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, 1977 (Theresienstadt notes).

Shtarot, Vol. I, No. 2, Oct. 1976. Yasha L. Beresiner.

http://www.wintersonnenwende.com/scriptorium/english/archives/articles/ccmoney.html

Picture and text by Raza Rumi

I took this photo at a Bihari camp in Dhaka. Thousands of 'Pakistanis' are stranded in Bangaldesh since 1971 and both the states refuse to acknowlegde their existence. Hence, a few generations have been born in the refugee ghettos who live in sub-human conditions.

I was extremely happy to read this report in the NEWS today that is a little ray of hope:

BD court gives stranded Pakistanis citizenship right

DHAKA: Bangladesh's High Court ruled on Sunday that some 200,000 Urdu-speaking refugees have the right to be Bangladeshi citizens, a lawyer and a news report said.

Rafiqul Islam Mian, the counsel of a group of refugees, said the court made it clear that they also have the right to cast their votes in upcoming polls, expected to be held in December. "The refugees who were minors in 1971 or born after the independence of Bangladesh are citizens of Bangladesh," the court said in its ruling.

The ruling does not cover refugees who were adults at independence. The United News of Bangladesh agency reported that a two-member panel of Justice MA Rashid and Justice M Ashfaqul Islam made the decision that also asked the Election Commission to take necessary steps to meet provisions of the ruling.

Some 300,000 refugees now languish in 70 crammed camps across Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 150 million people. Most Bangladeshis speak Bengali, while Urdu is mostly spoken in Pakistan. The lawyer said the rest of the refugees who still dream of Pakistan may take a chance of being Bangladeshi citizens with the ruling in hand.

Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff
My brilliant Associate Khalid Amayreh is literally being held prisoner in his own land for ‘crimes’ not committed. Both the Israeli Government and their counterpart the Palestinian Authority refuse to grant him permission to attend a media conference that will soon be held in Germany.
 
Khalid is a journalist… what he writes is the truth as can be verified by every post he has on this Blog. Both Israel and Abbas fear what he writes… as he exposes both in their true light. A journalist that refuses to whitewash the war crimes that are committed here.

I spoke to Khalid a few weeks ago regarding setting up a Blog of his own. He lives about ten minutes from my home, so I naively suggested he come to my home so we can set it up together… his response was ” I cannot get a permit to enter Jerusalem”…. can you believe those words… right here in the ‘only Democracy in the Middle East’?

You can help make it that by signing the linked petition…. One of the basic freedoms in a democracy is Freedom of the press…. help us achieve that.

PETITION! Lift Travel Restrictions on Palestinian Journalist

SIGN THE PETITION To: Israeli and Palestinian Authorities -Palestinian journalist Khalid Amayreh, who lives in the West Bank, has been invited to attend a media conference in Germany. As required, he set about to request all of the necessary travel documents, including a visa that needs to be granted from the German representative office in Ramallah. After routine questioning regarding his political affiliations, it was not only determined that he was not a member of any party, nor formally associated with any organisation, but it was clear that he had never been arrested or detained by Israeli authorities. Mr Amayreh was granted an entry visa to Germany. However, the Israeli military authorities have refused to give him a permit to leave the West Bank. No Palestinian can travel abroad without receiving such a permit beforehand, otherwise he or she would be turned back once arriving at the Israeli-controlled border terminal at the Allenby Bridge.

Mr Amayreh then went to his local District Coordination Office in Dura, where he was informed that his information was forwarded to the Shin Bet (General Security Services) of the Israeli government. Then two days later, the GSS informed the Palestinian office that Amayreh was “barred from leaving the West Bank for security reasons.” No further explanation was given.

His fortune in obtaining the required travel permission did not change as he applied to the Civil Administration Headquarters in Hebron, a metallic pen holding persons seeking the mandatory permission even to go to East Jerusalem for medical treatment, where it is not unusual to find them huddled and waiting their turn for ten or more hours, under the watchful eye of Israeli military watchtowers.

The Palestinian Civil Affairs Coordination Office in the West Bank was also unable to mediate on his behalf, as they too are entirely dependent upon the decisions, without clarification, evidence or justification, made by the Israeli Security division.

There is indeed no justification for the violation of this man’s civil and human rights, and along with him, the rights of all others who are denied freedom of movement with no justification whatsoever. The Occupation authorities, while they have no sovereignty over citizens of the Palestinian Authority, dictate what must be done with those citizens and the world seems to consider the violation of their rights acceptable and normal praxis. These people are not pawns on a chessboard, but are individuals who seek the basic liberties that all democracies are obligated to provide for their people. The Palestinian Authority does not exercise its duty of guaranteeing civil liberties to its own citizens, and treats them as if they shall be subject to the whims of the Occupier.

We ask for the immediate revision of the decision regarding Mr Amayreh, so that he is granted the documents necessary for him to exercise his freedom of movement allowing him to continue to provide for himself and his family in the work that he is employed in, as well as for the Palestinian Authority to assume a position that sets the freedoms of its citizens as a priority that is greater than the perceived “security” risks declared by the agency of the State of Israel. http://www.petitiononline.com/k1h2a3l4/petition.html

Il y a deux choses qui me semblent importantes de noter aujourd'hui. Tout d'abord, la Gâzette a perdu beaucoup de crédibilité avec ses supposées fuites catastrophiques. Marc-Angré Mongeon y voit de la propagande anti-québécoise, et je rejoins son point de vue:

En orchestrant une fuite dans son édition du samedi le quotidien The Gazette fait preuve d'une déconcertante relecture du rapport Bouchard-Taylor pour des fins ressemblant dangereusement à de la propagande condescendante envers les francophones.

Ensuite, le rapport, du moins d'après le résumé que j'ai lu, ne se concentre pas sur les vrais problèmes.

En effet, je constate qu'on parle beaucoup des détails, comme du crucifix à l'Assemblée nationale, ou du port de la burqa, par exemple. On essaie certes de proposer des solutions plus substantielles, comme par exemple améliorer les programmes de francisation des immigrants, mais c'est insuffisant. Tant et aussi longtemps qu'on n'aura pas le courage de regarder le réel problème, on perdra son temps.

Et ce problème est clair et a été maintes fois défini: nous accueillons trop d'immigrants pour notre capacité à les intégrer. Il y a deux solutions possibles: augmenter notre capacité à les intégrer ou accueillir moins d'immigrants.

Dans le premier cas, pour améliorer notre capacité d'intégration, il faudrait pouvoir se débarrasser de nos complexes de colonisés, qui nous poussent à ignorer ce que nous sommes pour nous plier aux diktats de « l'autre ». Il nous faudrait cesser de valoriser l'apprentissage et l'utilisation d'une langue étrangère pour communiquer avec l'immigrant. Il nous faudrait être assez fiers et conscients de l'importance de l'intégration des immigrants pour refuser de leur parler autrement qu'en français, afin de les obliger à apprendre notre langue.

Sinon, on se retrouve avec des situations loufoques comme celle décrite par Josée Legault (merci à Renart pour la citation):

Je vous avouerai aussi qu'en voyant la plupart des audiences publiques, mes craintes demeurent. Prenez ce moment, à Montréal. Un homme ayant immigré ici il y a plus de 30 ans s'est levé pour se plaindre, en anglais, qu'il avait parfois eu des difficultés à trouver du travail parce qu'il ne parlait pas français. M. Taylor est resté muet. Quant à M. Bouchard, j'aurais cru qu'après avoir sermonné plusieurs francophones et accusé certains de racisme ou d'antisémitisme, il aurait au moins posé une question. Du genre: "Pourriez-vous nous éclairer quant aux raisons qui ont fait qu'en plus de 30 ans, vous avez appris l'anglais mais pas le français? Était-ce par manque de ressources, de volonté ou les deux?" Mais non. M. Bouchard l'a écouté patiemment et l'a remercié sans dire un mot.

Mais trop souvent, les Québécois ont peur. C'est facile pour Bouchard ou Taylor de donner la leçon à un Québécois raciste, car on sait qu'il va se la fermer et baisser les yeux dans la honte. Mais c'est plus difficile de s'opposer au racisme des anglophones et de nombreux immigrants.

Pourtant, tous les grands voyageurs vous le diront: nous sommes le peuple le plus ouvert de la planète. Tellement ouvert qu'on en perd notre identité. Et pourtant, nous sommes sensibles à cette petite voix (celle que nos élites anglophones nous ont inculqué pendant des siècles) qui nous traite de xénophobes ou de racistes simplement parce que nous désirons vivre dans notre langue dans notre pays. Cette petite voix est celle du mépris et il faut l'éliminer. Nous avons le droit d'exiger le français et c'est même la seule et unique façon d'obliger les immigrants à s'intégrer.

Car ce n'est pas par plaisir intellectuel que les immigrants apprendront le français, ni même en les convaincant par des arguments logiques de le faire. Ils l'apprendront parce qu'ils n'auront pas le choix de l'apprendre, parce que partout où ils vont les Québécois sont assez fiers pour refuser de les servir en anglais.

Si nous n'arrivons pas à nous respecter, c'est-à-dire si la petite voix qui nous méprise est trop forte, la seule autre solution consiste à réduire l'immigration. Nous accueillons présentement trop d'immigrants pour ce que nous pouvons absorber, et à défaut d'améliorer notre capacité d'accueil, il nous faut réduire ce qui s'apparente de plus en plus, dans de nombreux quartiers, à un fléau culturel et linguistique.

Mais malheureusement, de nombreux Québécois, surtout à l'extérieur de Montréal, ne sont pas en contact avec cette réalité et ignorent ce que c'est que de marcher dans sa rue, dans sa ville, dans son pays et de ne voir que des immigrants non-intégrés, dans leurs ghettos, ne sachant à peu près pas parler français, même après des années ici. La situation est catastrophique dans Ville Saint-Laurent, par exemple, où 49% de la population n'est pas née au pays (ce qui n'inclut même pas les immigrants de deuxième génération, qui ne sont souvent pas plus intégrés que leurs parents), mais elle est sérieuse dans de nombreux autres arrondissements.

Ainsi, de par son incapacité ou son manque de volonté à s'attarder à ce problème, la commission Bouchard-Taylor, dirigée par le frère du plus grand néoconservateur de droite de l'histoire moderne du Québec et par un anglophone trudeauiste convaincu, est passée à côté des seules solutions pouvant permettre à la langue française de demeurer le ciment d'intégration des immigrants afin d'en faire de nouveaux Québécois bien intégrés.

Pierre J.C. Allard résume très bien ce que la commission lance comme message aux Québécois: « Bouchard-Taylor nous propose de disparaître sans faire de vagues... » Mais il ajoute, avec justesse: « Il faut, au contraire, mettre le Québec en français. Totalement. Sans concessions. »

Les concessions, c'est pour ceux qui écoutent la petite voix méprisante. Une voix qui ramollit le cerveau et conduit à l'assimilation.

So that's why we've got all the, er, certain kinds of people we've got, then. They're brought here to vote Labour, that's all. No Statist dictocrat cares a stuff for them, or what becomes of them, apart from that thing...Libertarian Party, get your act together soon please! Then they can be released form their Marxist chains.

David Davis

Au moment où Israël, soutenu par les gouvernements occidentaux, s'apprête à célébrer avec faste le soixantième anniversaire de sa création (*), et alors que les Palestiniens, bouclés dans des ghettos, n'ont jamais été aussi opprimés, nous rediffusons un article, écrit en août 2003, qui conserve, malheureusement, toute son actualité.
L'Etat d'Israël a été fondé, en 1948, sur un crime que les victimes palestiniennes ont appelé "Nakba", "catastrophe". Cela s'est traduit par l'expulsion brutale de près de 90% des natifs palestiniens hors de chez eux. Nous pensons qu'il n'y aura aucune paix possible aussi longtemps qu'Israël ne reconnaîtra pas ses torts et ne rendra pas aux Palestiniens ce qu'il leur a extorqué par la force durant ces soixante années.
Alors que la situation des Palestiniens s'est dangereusement aggravée, du fait de l'étranglement maintenu par l'occupant israélien, nos gouvernements devraient avoir la décence de refuser de participer à ces célébrations. Et les journalistes devraient avoir enfin l'honnêteté de dire la vérité sur l'apartheid pratiqué par Israël vis-à-vis des Palestiniens, et de la répéter jusqu'à ce qu'une solution conforme au droit international soit apportée à cette tragédie.

About the film:
Ni Wakati places the destiny of the future in the youth’s hands. It’s a passing of the revolutionary torch to the youth from the fore fathers. It shows how the revolutionary youth of Africa, utilizing Hip-hop have turned the Ghetto’s into breeding ground of explosive talent in the art’s and the political sphere. Hip Hop also becomes a universal ingredient that can voice oppression and fight it where it exists as it also becomes a unique channel to dispense the beauty and complexities of Africa. On this unique excursion we journey with M1 from Dead Prez and Umi from POW from the states. We see them interact with their fellow Africans where they not only eat, but they also get to trade verses in make shift studios at various artists home, even the ghettos.

They use the platform presented by the British (WAPI) to dispel their colonial ways as they empower crowds, around East Africa. In Kenya the inner city and underclass group Kalamashaka, which reigns from the slams of Dandora that reinvented Kenya’s vocabulary through a thriving cultural underworld with energy, innovation and controversy. What began in the Bronx of New York, found it’s way into the Ghetto’s of a slam dwelling area in Kenya, while still retaining it’s authentic raw essence. It proceeded to furnish fertile ground for the young slum dwellers in crafting new identities through the different explosive art forms within hip hop. In a country where the slams are largely neglected by the government. Hip Hop provided a voice and vehicle for these youth to empower themselves while airing their grievances.

They collectively continue to push for Hop hop’s essence in fighting for people to realize the freedom’s they already have. They work in reuniting Africans and African Americans through the strongest bond that exists between the two today, hip hop. As they all journey to revitalize their essence and purpose from the existing leaders of the Black Panther Pete and Charlotte O’neal, based in Arusha, Tanzania.

Whether it’s the ghetto’s of Africa or the States, these reformists prove that Hip Hop can be revolutionary. The Black Panther’s that stemmed from cultural under class bravely fought for equalities and rights that blacks were deprived. They set up structures to better the people while in the middle of surging for these reforms, their purpose was constantly being undermined and monitored. Almost thirty years later, we find them in Tanzania, where, they still champion their causes of bettering the community with vivid results. They integrate with the Ukoofulani Mau Mau chapter to head community based programmes. While they Unite to present a message to do away with a colonial mentality, to embrace the freedoms that readily exist to better the people. M1 brings the American text, Ukoofulani, the African text as they come together to set a new chapter in the revolution mentored by the Black Panther.

COMING SOON
www.wakatimovement.com

Get-Away-Hookups for all your travel needs.

Words can't express a mother's pain when her child is lost. Lost to the senseless violence and killings that are frequent amongst young black men today in America. Today I asked myself, why, and if not why how. How can we help, how can I help, is it worth the energy, will people listen? I am sure that it is worth the energy, to save what many are calling an endangered species; the young black male in America. A close friend asked me yesterday, why do you write, what is at your core? I didn't know how soon I would be able to show her my answer rather than tell her. Why you ask, because that picture above us, that young man's soul prayerfully resting in heaven could have been me. It can be any one of us who walk this earth searching for a better way. And because it could be us, might be us, this is even more reason why we must stand against the death of our people.

Where black people meet the law?
by Ma'at

Where black people meet the law?
Where a single mother gets evicted from her apartment…
Because Bill, Bob and Dick moved in upstairs
Mary, Jane, and Sue moved in downstairs
And now her property value rises too high for her meager earning

Where the long are of the law shoves a hollow gun against the temple of a black man while shouting
“YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT”
Right?

Where basketball player signs a contract that gives his lawyer 40% when Mr. Esq. knows he should only get 10%
Where a 6 year old boy watches his mother sue his father for child support
He stares into a strangers brown eyes and wonders how that face could look just like his
Where a PO meets the guilty till proven innocent…..
Until innocent become guilty
Filthy
Right-less
Less than
Three fifths of a person
3/5ths of the men in prison
Yall though when slavery ended we became more than 3/5ths?

I’ll tell you where we don’t meet
We don’t meet in Law School
In a world where knowledge of the law provide the tools through the confines of this so called “JUSTICE SYSTEM”
SYSTEM yes
JUSTICE…it depends
Depends on who defends the rights you though you had
You don’t have shit…
Pause
You have what your lawyer knows (minus) your ignorance (minus) his ignorance (times) each previous charge
(Equals)… it depends

I walk into class my first day of class
The room filled with pink faces
Folks who see the world in black and white without the black
Issues in black and white, without the black
My blood pressure rises as a privileged woman raises her hand and implies that all black men who are not in suits are thugs
My brother is a thug…
My nephew is a thug……..
Where black people meet the law………

Where do black people meet the law?
In Us.. Law Students
Us… the privileged few with the knowledge to change
Educate
Inform
Inspire to rebuild that which has been done

Also, shouldn't Church and State be separate?

Some Americans might think so, others not.  There was a time when religious views were a private matter for people.

Given this contemporary scholarship though, I think Al Gore is just the man to unpack it for everyone.  And, like so many others in America, we are really looking for some leadership right now.  I don't want Hillary Clinton to drop out and I'm sick of the press trying to force that by their headlines.

After the big rift last week about the Wright sermons, after the code of ethics that Obama's church follows -- isn't further scholarship in order?  Yes.

First a good read from US News & World Report On "Obama's Double Standard on Reverend Wright"  

Last night there was a great documentary on PBS with Bill Moyers discussing Race Poverty and the Inner City 40 years later. 

One of the things that really saddened me was the effect of the Reagan years on all the progress made post the riot years of the late '60s.  (read Kerner Commission's findings)

Could it be that all those social programs have died?  Or not?

If they have?

Do we then get scholarship that looks like this?

Is this the theory behind Jeremiah Wright's sermons?

This is an op-ed from 1992 that ran in the NYT called "Black Demagogues and Pseudo- Scholars"

It should be required reading for anyone trying to make sense of Wright's sermons.  The fact that it was written in 1992 -- 16 years ago -- might lead us to some interesting conclusions about contemporary scholarship on racism vis-à-vis this whole Trinity racism/religious dilemma.

Frankly though, Al Gore is damn good with ice.

This "Ice Peoples" theory in article?  Interesting, no...

The whole matter bears DEEP scholarship, by scholars having a big fat talk.

Soon.

Seems to me that Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards all remember 1968.

Hmmm, come to think of it?  Maybe Maureen Dowd has something to say about this after bashing Hillary Clinton as she has.  Or maybe those ladies of "The View" could tackle it, since America appears to get its news that way.  Wouldn't that be fab?

Distrust of outsiders was common then and, wherever the exiled Israelites went, they were ostracized by the local population. European Jews were not permitted to own land, or to work in any agriculture-related field, or to hold any job that required membership in a trade guild. Well into the 19th century, they were forced by law to live in ghettos, and throughout the 19th century, they were victims of pogroms. In the 20th century, they were rounded up and sent to death camps by the Nazis, with the goal of ultimately exterminating the entire Jewish race.

But the Ashkenazi Jews were neither destroyed nor defeated. The ordeals they endured strengthened their resolve to not only survive, but to overcome and rise above their circumstances. They reacted to persecution and oppression by developing a culture of determined self-reliance and dedication to personal achievement, along with helping and encouraging each other. When Jewish children were prohibited from attending public schools, the Jews formed their own schools in the ghettos and tutored their children themselves. Being barred from trades and agriculture, the few professions open to them required skills in math and business, so education was a high priority.

After six million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust, many of the survivors left Europe never to return. The land that is now Israel was an arid desert then, undeveloped, and thought by many to be undevelopable. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, that entire area was divided up by the United Nations to establish the current Arab states. The area called the Palestinian Territory was set up as a British Mandate, as it was not a part of any nation, and had no government of its own. Because this area was sparsely populated, and because of the historical connection, it was determined to be the most viable place to establish a homeland for the displaced Jews. The founders of the new Israeli nation offered automatic citizenship to any who were living there who desired to stay, and cautioned that those who left would not be permitted to return and claim citizenship later. Many Arabs did stay and became full Israeli citizens, but many fled out of fear and ignorance, believing the propaganda spread by the neighboring Arab states.

The surrounding Arab states vehemently objected to having a Jewish state in their midst. They swore that "Israel will be wiped off the map" and "every Jew will be driven into the sea." They immediately set about attacking Israel, bombarding it from every border, forcing the Israelis to defend their existence from the very start, even as they struggled to build a new nation. But the Jews had learned a hard lesson in Europe, and they understood what it meant to either fight or die. This time, they were prepared to fight back. They were already accustomed to hardship, and brought with them a culture of diligent perseverance. They relentlessly pursued their dream of establishing a land of freedom and Democracy in the middle of the unforgiving desert. Though continually beset with wars and terrorism, against seemingly insurmountable odds, they managed to build a new nation, with modern cities and a thriving agricultural and high tech-economy, where previously there was nothing but poverty and sand. But still, they're surrounded by enemies on all sides, who seek the destruction of their nation, and they live in constant vigilance against terrorist attacks.

Not all the Jews who fled Europe went to Israel. A great many came to the United States. Though many had lost everything in the Holocaust, and came here with little or no possessions, they brought with them their culture of survival and self-sufficiency, their strong work ethic and belief in education as the road to progress. Those values served them well in this land of freedom and opportunity. Like every other immigrant group, they started out huddling together in ghettos. But the Jews had had enough of ghettos in Europe, and were quick to realize the value of assimilation. They had no sense of entitlement to anything from anybody, but were grateful for the opportunity to earn an honest living in whatever way they could, and to educate their children, and reap the rewards of their own efforts. They fit right in with the American ideal, eager to leverage every opportunity. They made sure their children got the best educations they could, and with each successive generation, they worked their way higher up the socio-economic ladder.

But still there are people who, out of envy or ignorance, resent the Jews for the very successes they fought so hard to achieve, and find excuses to dismiss their accomplishments or accuse them of having "unfair advantages." Such is human nature.

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.....But not all real estate disaster areas are created equal: This week RealtyTrac released new foreclosure numbers about cities that were hit the hardest in February. Stockton, with nearly 5 percent of all households at some stage of foreclosure, got the honor of ringing up the second highest foreclosure rate nationwide, after Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. Other sprawling California regions dominated the list: Modesto at No. 3, Merced at No. 4, Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 5, Bakersfield at No. 7, Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 8, and Sacramento at No. 9. Last fall, Leinberger published "The Option of Urbanism," a book about the changing sociology of the built environment. Like Florida, he sees the growing attraction to urban living as a matter of critical importance. This month, his essay in the Atlantic magazine provocatively asserts that McMansion developments would deteriorate into crime ridden, impoverished slums. In the piece he mentions several instances of suburban neighborhoods getting hit so hard by the recent downturn that they already exhibit the tell-tale signs of deep decline: Looters stealing copper pipe and siding from new homes, gunshots puncturing picture-perfect facades, squatters taking up residence in abandoned houses. But mostly Leinberger is predicting the future rather than describing the present, arguing that the pendulum has swung too far toward isolated, car-dependent single-family-home neighborhoods to be sustainable. (In his description of the city, he's not including older inner suburbs like Berkeley or Palo Alto that have walkable urban neighborhoods and public transit; he's talking about the hillsides of homes detached from urbanized towns.) Now with high gas prices, long commutes, a bad job market and a new attraction to walkable urban living, it's just a matter of time before suburban fringes begin to absorb the people that can't make it in the city. This inherent fragility springs from some of the same regulations that make suburbs easier to build and therefore better bets for developers. By definition, suburbs are zoned for residential single family or maybe residential low density multifamily. They don't require the complex planning or infrastructure building essential for commercial, industrial and high density housing. In many parts of the country — whether through state law or local ordinances — single family housing is the only new development that can be legally built. And because Fannie Mae will not finance rental developments that predict that more than 25 percent of the rent will come from nonresidential income, mixed use developments — like old fashioned main streets where apartments are built above the bakery and the butcher shop — are often perceived as more risky. To accelerate this trend, Leinberger is trying to work with cities that don't have revived downtowns to help pave the way for the kind of walkable redevelopment that will attract jobs and residents. Building walkable urban developments won't guarantee a city's success, says Leinberger, but it is an essential first step.....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/03/14/carollloyd.DTL

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http://tiny.cc/ADVro

Ingleside's $6.9 million library project is being funded by the Branch Library Improvement Program, approved by voters in 2000, which authorized $106 million in bonds to rebuild and renovate the city's 26 branch libraries, and to build a new facility in Mission Bay, which was opened last month.

The Ingleside project's improvement bond funding is being supplemented by $3.7 million in state bond money, as well as about $500,000 for furnishings and fixtures that is being raised by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

6,100-square-foot facility that will offer more books, albums, movies, computers and meeting space than this neighborhood has ever seen.

Want to spend the night with a man who was responsible for slaughtering millions of innocent people? All you need to do is head over to the Mr. President Hotel in Belgrade and pay $200 for a night with Hitler. OK, in a Hitler-themed room (full story).

Dusan Zabunovic, the owner of the hotel, claims the "Hitler Junior Suite" is the most popular room in his hotel. The Mr. President's rooms are all named after a current or past world leader. You can also spend the night with Margaret Thatcher, the Bushes, Fidel Castro, and Joseph Stalin among others.

I don't know about you, but when I'm traveling I don't want to spend the night with any strangers, especially world leaders...especially Hitler. I mean, how can you get a good night's rest with that big portrait of Hitler looming over you? Despite the fact that Hitler and some of these other guys are famous, that doesn't mean they should be "glorified" by having a room named after them. The only thing Hitler and those like him should be remembered for is their cruelty. We must never forget.

Instead, maybe this man should have opened a hotel and named rooms after those who perished in the ovens at Auschwitz, died in the death marches across the country, or starved to death in the Jewish ghettos. They are the ones who deserve to be honored. I'd spent the night on a cold, hard bench in Auschwitz before I would ever enter the steps of the Mr. President Hotel.

Wonderful New Orleans with it's rich history and culture, decimated by a natural disaster.  Billion's from the federal government lost, a disgraced democrat Governor and an even worse democrat Mayor who it's citizen's, for some reason, decided to put back in office.  I know there are going to be many out there who blame President Bush for the Katrina ever happening, it was all a Haliburton scheme to generate revenue.  Nothing logical is going to come from your mealy mouth's anyway.  A natural disaster is a state problem, not a federal problem.  Not to mention the insurance money that should have been pouring into the area, or any other area afflicted with a fire, tornado, et...  But enough about that.

Enter private investors who are tearing down uninhabitable, condemned "projects" to build new middle and low income housing.  Sounds great right?  Well to any of us who are logical, yes it's a wonderful idea and will only serve to better New Orleans, its citizens and economy.  But there are those who think its a very bad idea, they would have you see it as "their" homes being torn down for the benefit of "rich white people."  Fact is, the city and state owns those buildings and not those who are all too happy to continue the trend of crime, drugs, poverty and hopelessness in the projects.  Why so happy?  It was free.  Threaten the free ride and for lack of better common sense they resort to dramatics, racist remarks, violence and law suits.  Imagine what could get done if the same energy, passion and enthusiasm went into finding work and paying for their own way in life, instead of standing on the steps demanding more, more, more handouts, what a better life they would all have.

Please view the following three video's and when finished, find the nearest democrat and thank them.  If you construe any of my words here as racist, then you have missed the message.  #19: The welfare entitlement culture is destroying large swaths of America.  Thanks socialist(D)!

The lovely Michelle Malkin has provided additional insight into the "circus" that is New Orleans.

I had many plans for today.  Both the girls are in school and it’s just me, The Lone Ranger and shorty boy Tonto this morning.  I have to get Tilly a Christmas present.  I have to go to the post office sorting depot and pick up some parcels.  I have to buy Oxo cubes.  I need to think wistful thoughts about panettone.  How will I do that in this weather?  I know I’m just going to sit around with the heating turned up to melting point playing cars with Oscar and pretending to be busy.  It’s exhausting.  I know the kind of pressure Kofi Annan must live with.  Thank God nobody has asked me to join the UN as a good will ambassador.  I can’t even take the kids to school without having a lie down.  It’s just so demanding, all this responsibility.  It makes you long for the simple life. NOT! 

I love watching all these programmes where world weary accountants and advertising executives pack up their loved ones and cart them off to Tuscany to live in a haystack, while they pursue their idea of a golden age rural idyll after having burned out in their jet set city life styles.  Invariably they have names like Tarquin and Jeremy and the one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that the most research they’ve done on this wonderful plan is to read Peter Mayle’s ‘A Year in Provence,’ and think: ‘how hard can it be?’ 

It is of course all bollocks.  Anyone who has ever lived in the country and done anything vaguely rural will tell you that getting tired from earning too much money and snorting coke from a lap dancers navel is nothing compared to lambing five hundred sheep at three a.m. in a howling gale with water pouring down the back of your parka.  It doesn’t matter whether you do it in a rusticated backwater of the unspoilt Dordogne, or Herefordshire, it’s still going to be hideous in large parts, and will smell quite bad a lot of the time. 

The other thing they neglect to think about is the fact that the words ‘rustic’, ‘quaint’ and ‘unspoiled’ are all brilliant when you’re visiting for a two week holiday, but not when you’re trying to rewire your entire house in a thunderstorm using a blueprint from 1933, and the only electrician in the entire area has gone on holiday for the entire month of August to escape his stressful lifestyle (he’s sitting in The Spearmint Rhino drinking champagne out of a stripper’s shoe, thinking he’s died and gone to heaven). 

Jason’s parents moved from the city to run a strawberry farm in Cornwall when he was a teenager, in pursuit of a quiet country life.  What they don’t tell you while you’re blissfully dreaming of agas and plaiting your own corn dollies is that even strawberries need twenty four hour, round the clock attention, let alone any form of livestock.  You become hostage to a bunch of weeds and a perambulating pork chop.   

You can’t ever go on holiday again and you spend your whole life doing such joyous jobs as rotivating; spraying; mulching; weeding and other back breaking chores.  You spend the next twenty years of your life cultivating calluses the size of Denmark and spending all your hard earned cash supporting the local osteopath who plays golf and jet skis round the globe while you remain tethered to your rural lifestyle. 

Jason can’t even look a strawberry in the eye any more without hyperventilating, and he’s got a whole raft of stories prepared for the Kevin and Perry days of the kids’ wild teenage cries of: ‘It’s not fair!’ that are going to drive them absolutely bonkers!  Because the other thing that these programmes don’t tell you is that the children never ask to be set free into the country to roam wild.  It’s all about the parents. 

They say that they’re doing it for the children, and that they want to give their kids either a) the kind of idyllic childhood they remember or b) the kind of childhood they would like to have had instead of being a latchkey kid on a run down housing estate/ghetto surrounded by burning cars and pre-Asbo teenagers.   

Rubbish.  They’re doing it because they imagine themselves sitting in a giant farmhouse kitchen swimming in terracotta tiles and Emma Bridgewater crockery, being interviewed by someone from the Guardian weekend supplement about their ‘simple’ lifestyle, which in actuality has only been made possible by their vast trust fund and mummy’s largesse.  There is nobody in the world who can sleep in Cath Kidston sheets, surrounded by hand woven kilims and treasures from Paul Smith’s antiqueorama from the proceeds of a run down olive farm, unless you’re Terence Conran or a drug smuggler on the side. 

The kids meanwhile, who are supposed to be enjoying getting back to nature and running wild and free like Brooke Shields in that dreadful film (the one where they had to superglue her hair to her nipples to stop people getting over-excited!), are going mad with boredom.  They’ve spent three months whinging about the fact that the home made bread is breaking their teeth, and are praying that their dad will get the solar panels fixed in the next twenty minutes so they can immerse themselves in Gran Turismo III on the X-Box and pretend they live in a mean ‘hood stylie ghetto with some car jacking pimps and crack whores. 

The reality gets as exciting as Pound Stretcher, early closing on Wednesdays come hell or high water, a burned out telephone box miles from anywhere and a bus shelter where the buses go once a week if you’re lucky, but don’t come back, if you’re even luckier. 

There speaks the voice of bitter experience!  I lived in the country when I was little, and although there are parts of it I really loved, I confess to being more than ready to move on by the time I hit my teenage years.  Thankfully my parents had their ‘let’s pretend we live in The Good Life’ moment, early on (that Felicity Kendall has a lot to answer for), and by the time I was old enough to crave the delights of ‘yoof culture’, they had had enough of weaving their own vests out of vegetable matter and brewing parsnip wine. 

Despite what your parents tell you, travelling forty minutes each way to school by bus is not a ‘fantastic adventure’.  It’s a pain in the arse.  Living ten miles from the nearest Chinese takeaway is not character building either, especially when your mother’s cooking is as erratic as mine. 

Having the only jobs available to you to supplement your meagre pocket money being potato picking or a paper round is also a bit soul destroying.  My mother wouldn’t let me do potato picking because she was having a vendetta with the local farmer, so paper round it was.  To add insult to injury (paper rounds were crap pay, four pounds a week for seven morning’s graft.  Spuds were positively lucrative in comparison), the paper round in our village was taken by the 75 year old father of our eccentric cleaning lady/girl, who resolutely refused to drop dead of old age or heart failure so that I could have an e