Turned Away from Precious

Yesterday, I was one of the over 1,000 people who got turned away from Loews AMC Boston Common for an Advance Screening of the new hit film, Precious. I was disappointed and so were so many others. The screening was to start at 7:00pm, I got there at 5:45pm and there were already hundreds waiting. Turns out, the folks who arrived at 3:00pm were the lucky ones to get in!

I'm betting that this week the film breaks some Box Office Records with its wide release. The film is based on a 16 year old, overweight dark skinned teenage girl, who is also mother of two children fathered by her own father.

The film is getting some amazing reviews and even Oscar buzz. The film stars my idol, Mo'nique and newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe.

I received this via e-mail and can't agree more. Racism is alive and well in the USA. White people get annoyed when blacks complain about racism. Yet, they continue to judge people by the color or their skin. Right now, there is such an increase of negative rhetoric against President Barack Obama, it's scary. Those children calling for the assasination of our President are definitely getting that idea from theire parents and other grown-ups that they are around. READ ON....
And yes, Andrew M. Manis is white.
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Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of history at Macon State College in
Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph.

Andrew M. Manis: When Are WE Going to Get Over It?

For much of the last forty years, ever since America "fixed" its race
problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have
been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their
difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, "When are African Americans
finally going to get over it? Now I want to ask: "When are we White
Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?
Recent reports that "Election Spurs Hundreds' of Race Threats, Crimes"
should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in
"Bombingham," Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of
comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to
John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Eventually, as you may
recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than "talk the talk."

Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once
again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.
We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and
United States for some 400 years on this continent. Conservative whites have
been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years,
conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the
right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that
anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan,
or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes. Call for their impeachment,
perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone
did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator was non-political mental case
who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.

But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we're back in the sixties
again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we've proven
what conservatives are always saying -- that in America anything is
possible, EVEN electing a black man as president. But instead we now hear
that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to
"assassinate Obama."

Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, "How long?" How long before
we white people realize we can't make our nation, much less the whole world,
look like us? How long until we white people can - once and for all - get
over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color? How long until we
white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us
superior? How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments
about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?

How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head
of the line merely because of our white skin? How long until we white people
end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist
jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?

I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making
racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners? How long
until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal
responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the
Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United
States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do?

How long before we starting "living out the true meaning" of our creeds,
both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that
"red and yellow, black and white" all are precious in God's sight?

Until this past November 4, I didn't believe this country would ever elect
an African American to the presidency. I still don't believe I'll live long
enough to see us white people get over our racism problem.

But here's my three-point plan:

First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House
that Black Slaves Built, I'm going to pray that God (and the Secret Service)
will protect him and his family from us white people.

Second, I'm going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying,
in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President
Obama.

Third, I'm going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise
the world once again, when white people can "in spirit and in truth" sing of
our damnable color prejudice, "We HAVE overcome."
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It takes a Village to protect our President.

Tanzania's Radar Scandal

The money eaten in this scandal could have used to improve Tanzania's School, Hospitals and Water Supply! SAD!

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BAE: The Tanzanian connection
Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Europe's biggest defence company, manufactures the Typhoon fighter By Andrew Hosken The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says it will begin what promises to be the biggest corporate corruption prosecution in British legal history.

It is asking the Attorney General for the go-ahead to prosecute BAE for bribery under the 2001 Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act.

One of the four countries involved in the alleged corrupt deals is Tanzania. Though far from the largest deal, it looks certain to cause the biggest heartache in Downing Street.

In 2001, Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries, decided to purchase a military air traffic control system from BAE.

Clare Short, then secretary of state for international development, says she was horrified by the move and was convinced it was a corrupt deal. "I was really shocked by the behaviour of British Aerospace and the collusion of all these government departments in such a gross and disgraceful project," she told me.

"Even when I got all the information and took it to the highest levels of the government, I still couldn't stop it."
'Grubby'Ms Short says that a number of factors convinced her that this was a corrupt deal. She says that the deal had been proposed 10 years earlier but had been blocked by intervention by the World Bank and the UK's Overseas Development Administration, the precursor to the Department for International Development.

"Then it came back as half a project. The thing was so grubby from beginning to end and, of course, it was so old that the technology was overtaken. Tanzania didn't have military aircraft. It needed civil air traffic control improvement in order to improve its tourist industry."
But Clare Short was far from alone in expressing deep concern about the BAE-Tanzania deal. In October 2001, a report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a part of the United Nations, said:

"The system as contracted is primarily a military system and can provide limited support to civil air traffic control purposes. The purchase of additional equipment… would be required to render it useful for civil air traffic control.

However, if it is to be used primarily for civil air traffic control purposes, the proposed system is not adequate and too expensive."
Clare Short says tha Tanzanian deal was "a disgraceful project" At the same time in 2001, Clare Short had agreed a £35m aid package for Tanzania to help provide more children with education but saw virtually the whole sum being effectively gobbled up in the air traffic control system deal.

She opposed the deal in cabinet, a row which soon became public, but claims that in December 2001 one person above all insisted the necessary export licence be given: Tony Blair. "Tony was absolutely dedicated to all arms sales proposals," she says.

"Whenever British Aerospace wanted anything, he supported them 100%. He didn't seem to understand that there are matters of principle concerned. He had also been duped and bought the argument that it's always good for the British economy, which is absolutely not so."
In 2006 Tony Blair made one of the most controversial decisions of his premiership, helping to force the closure of an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office into allegations that British Aerospace had paid bribes to win a lucrative arms contract with Saudi Arabia.

"I stick by that," he said six months later, "and the idea frankly that such an investigation could be conducted without doing damage to our relationship is cloud cuckoo land."

Cow on a Motorcycle

Cow riding motorcyles! Now I've seen everything. This photo was taken in Tanzania, East Africa.

Maasai Warriors in 1918

Found this interesting photo of Maasai Warriors taken in 1918, in German East Africa (now Tanzania). Look at what is on those ears. (Photo by Walther Dobbertin)

How to Talk About Race

Many white people would like to believe that race is not an issue in 2009. After Gatesgate, its pretty obvious that it still is even though we have a black President. President Barack Obama was even reminded that he was still an n-word even though he is President (Gatesgate backlash). A white congressman, Joe Wilson was rude to him in an act unheard of in U.S. history! And more..... Couldn't help but post this article as it speaks the truth.

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Analysis: Wrestling with how to talk about race

By LIZ SIDOTI

WASHINGTON (AP) - For a while, it almost seemed as if President Barack Obama had soothed the angst over race in this country simply by taking office. The focus was on big issues facing a new president - one who just happened to be black.

If only it were so simple. This summer, Obama stepped into the dustup between a black college professor and a white police officer, and the race debate erupted anew. Then vitriolic attacks on Obama over his health care proposals spawned rippling allegations that his critics were motivated by racism.

And now passions over skin color are flaring red-hot again.
Obama's election nearly a year ago - a monumental stride toward bridging the racial divide - turned the politics of race on its head.
But it didn't end the matter by any means.

It turns out that Obama was right when he said in his much-watched race speech in March 2008 that there are "complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect."

Americans still are figuring out how to hold that conversation as the country navigates uncharted territory under its first nonwhite president.

One conundrum is how to hold Obama accountable for his words and actions - or even talk about his policies - without risk of being called racist.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain both wrestled with that question during the presidential campaign. Both found it tricky to maneuver. Both were frustrated by it. Each handled it differently.

In the Democratic primary, Clinton acted so cautiously that some insiders questioned whether she was afraid to throw a punch.
Come the general election, McCain early on accused Obama of playing the race card, hoping to send a message that he would not brook being called a racist.

Obama had triggered the reaction with a warning that Republicans would try to scare voters by saying he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

A year later and now as president, Obama is the one working to tamp down race in the political dialogue.

"Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are," Obama says matter-of-factly. But he rejects the notion that racism is even partly behind his critics' attacks, as a growing chorus of Democrats have claimed.

Trying to turn down the heat, Obama adds: "We can have a strong disagreement, passionate disagreements about issues without resorting to name-calling."

But the "racist" label is as old as the country itself. And, in a nation founded by slaveholders, people aren't about to stop using it just because a black president is pleading for civility.
Certainly, Obama's election healed some racial wounds. But change takes time, and understanding the ramifications of change takes even longer.

"What we're dealing with is the foundational racial problems that we have had and still have. We're making progress, but we haven't come as far as people would like to believe we have," says Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., the senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., and an outspoken conservative who is black. He says society is going through "a learning curve" on how to criticize Obama - and how to criticize the president's critics.

It's an issue that goes to the very heart of democracy. Free speech, including holding leaders accountable, is at this country's core.
Could the risk of being called a racist end up muzzling healthy debate if people don't dare voice their concerns?

Perhaps for some. But on the whole, criticism hasn't stopped.
Animosity toward the president and his policies has boiled over in recent weeks, most notably with South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" retort to the president.
Democrats from Jimmy Carter on down have blamed the increasingly harsh criticism of Obama on racism.
House Republican leader John Boehner countered that "the outrage that we see in America has nothing to do with race."

Reality likely falls somewhere in the middle.

"I hear it as anger, but anger masking fear," says Robin Lakoff, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley whose books include "The Language War." She says people are afraid of just about everything these days - the economy, the government, private business included. And she says: "There's this racial element. It isn't exactly racism but otherness."
Obama, for his part, has tried to shift the subject from the powder keg of race. It's been a distraction from his agenda, from his efforts to overhaul the health care system.

"It's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," the president said this week.

It was a gentle joke from the leader of a country still wrestling with the new dynamics that came when the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas took charge of the White House.
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EDITOR'S NOTE - Liz Sidoti has covered national politics for The Associated Press since 2003.

President Obama Disrespected by Rep. Joe Wilson

56 Graymoor Lane
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
September 10, 2009

Joe Wilson, Member
United States Congress
212 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D. C 20515-4002

903 Port Republic Street
Beaufort, South Carolina 29902

Mr. Wilson:
I am an 80 year old mother and my older child is 51 years old; but, if ever I were to hear him call anyone a liar or rudely and obstreperously tell someone they were telling a lie, I would slap his face. My two children, 41 and 51 respectively, are very well reared as was I. I can remember as a little innocent child calling someone a liar. I only did it one time because the lecture in the form of a lesson in proper decorum sank in, and to this day, I have never called anyone a liar. My mother considered this the ultimate in rudeness and disrespect, not only for the person I called a liar, but for me, myself.

Having learned that lesson at such an early age, it made me cringe when you, at age 62, and a former military man, yelled to the President of the United States of America, “You lie.” As a military man, you know the chain of command; and, you were addressing the Commander in Chief of the United States of America. Of course, President Obama who is a very refined gentleman did not respond and he kept right on target delivering the most brilliant speech I have ever heard. I can say this with a degree of authority because I have been witness to every presidency since Herbert Hoover. Never in the hallowed halls of Congress have I witnessed such coarse, gross, despicable behavior.

I don’t know if your mother is alive or not, but if she is, I’m certain that she hung her head in shame knowing that all over the world you have disgraced her, yourself, your wife, your four sons, your office, your constituency and your country. Children of good breeding, who are properly reared carry the teachings of their parents throughout their lives. At 80 everything I do is tested against, “what would my mother think of that?” I would never defame her precious memory by demonstrating lack of self control and a knowledge of the social graces that separate women from ladies and men from gentlemen.

My mother was a proper Southern genteel lady who commanded respect because of the way she carried herself. I would think that your being from the South, you would have gotten some of that good ole Southern hospitality and gentility that seems to be characteristic of intelligent people of the South.

I do so hope you will listen to the foreign media as I did late last night. You are an international disgrace because from Ireland to China and England, your crudity was the main topic of conversation.

I note that you have a law degree. I wonder how proud your alma mater, University of South Carolina Law School , was of you tonight as you showed to the world that education without character is vacuous and meaningless. There is a popular expression of people with degrees who lack common sense, they are referred to as “educated fools.”

If you were playing to the media and to the camera for attention, you succeeded because your worldwide legacy will be that you were the ill-suited and ill-placed person who demeaned himself in the halls of Congress for the first time in U S history.

Written with embarrassment for my country,



Helen L. Burleson, Doctor of Public Administration