Marian's Blog

United States Social Forum debuts in Georgia, 27 Jun-1 Jul

Hmmm... what's making headlines in the U.S. today? Paris Hilton out of jail and possibly giving an 'interview' to Playboy. Duh. In the UK Tony Blair steps out as prime minister as his Chancellor of the Exchequeur Gordon Brown steps in. And then there's the very first national U.S. Social Forum, opening in Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta and Georgia. Firmly part of the U.S. South; central geography in the original home region of the Cherokee Nation (no, it was not Oklahoma); home of Dr. Martin Luther King and historically Black American "Sweet" Auburn Avenue and Spelman (women's) and Morehouse (men's) colleges. The global social forum movement has been active and building for some time yet I would wager large numbers of Americans who probably consider themselves "informed" have no idea what a 'social forum' is. (In the U.S. staying "informed" seems to have become even more relative and challenging than it always has been - at least for news & info on certain kinds of democracy- and human rights-related topics, domestic as well as international.) The official USSF site reads: "The US Social Forum is more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression. ..." The global Social Forum theme is, "Another world is possible". The U.S. theme takes it a step further. "Another world is possible - Another U.S. is necessary." Amen.

WAR as "tax", only worse, & the U.S. 2006 elections

We're into the countdown to the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections. Tuesday, Nov 7, is election day, and if you're registered, I urge you to vote. On t.v. one of the usual political talking heads tries to "remind" us that "if Democrats win, they'll institute taxes."

What the heck?! Is that supposed to be an argument?

Isn't war a huge, bloody, tax???

No amount of taxes or other money that any of us pays will bring back one life lost in this war. Don't forget to add in billions going to some rather shadowy private corporations to "rebuild" the country where the war is. Then we hear not much really is being built. So we don't even know where the money has gone. "Your tax dollars at work." But in the Washington, DC metro area - mainly suburban Maryland and northern Virginia - you hear from reliable sources that so many of the people with money to buy big homes work (or do contracting) for Defense Department and "Homeland Security". So please don't talk to me about Democrats and "taxes". Let's vote.

September 11th

On Friday, Feb. 26, 1993, I was sitting at my desk in the Washington congressional office of my boss, Central Brooklyn, NY representative Major R. Owens. My office partner, Braden, and I noticed we were unable to reach our New York office by phone. Eventually we heard "a fire" (we thought minor) had broken out at the World Trade Center. We then learned smoke from the WTC could be seen from the office in Brooklyn.

Another Friday, this time August 1998. In Croatia, my friend and work colleague Melinda and I arrive for a few well-deserved days on an island in the Jadranska Mora - the Adriatic. We turn on the t.v. as we walk into the hotel room and become witnesses to bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Somewhere inside I feel that for me there is more to this news, but I don't know what it could be. Ten days later I hear from Andrea in Washington that our friend and mutual colleague Julian Bartley, U.S. consul general at the embassy in Nairobi, has been killed, along with his 20 year old son "Jay" - Julian, Jr. Many, many Kenyans and other innocent people are killed and injured. Julian - a Black American diplomat - and his son are the two Americans who die who are from the same family.

Julian, Sr. and I had met and had a working lunch while he was on loan on the staff of another member of Congress.

Three years on from August 1998 - barely a month after September 11 - our family relocated to Nairobi. There I learn that one of my new friends was Julian's neighbour. Her sons attended school with Jay.

We will continue to do our best to fear no evil; no matter where it comes from, no matter the "logic" claimed by those responsible, regardless of which side.

From the Quran (39:53): "O my servants who exceeded the limits, never despair of God's Mercy. For God forgives all sins. God is the forgiver, most merciful." God forgives. So can we.

A Coming Autumn of Discontent

The summer's been busy. It's not quite over. I don't really want to let it go. Fall won't arrive officially for a while but, in the U.S. anyway, the signs say we're entering a fall of political discontent. Let's hope so. 

Several tens of thousands of mostly Black New Orleanians fairly and justly need our moral support and practical help as they struggle to rebuild their lives and to get home.

We've just seen Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, on HBO. Nuestro vecino Mexico seems to be playing its own version of the US's Election 2000 debacle. Elected opposition politicians just blocked president Vicente Fox from giving his farewell speech in the national parliament. War in and against Lebanon and Hizbollah rocket attacks on Israel's north. Now gli italiani have stepped up to be first to send major numbers of peacekeeping troops. In a heartbeat the international community has pledged 950 million dollars U.S. to rebuild Lebanon (again). And what of Africa a few short miles away? How much funding's been pledged and how much delivered -- for Darfur? What of southern Sudan? What's going on there with foreign oil extraction and post-war development? In South Sudan we're talking basic development. Not recovery. Many of us are not yet paying attention to Africa, and the U.S. public is not getting this news in 'mainstream' media. What a waste. For in-depth detail go to AllAfrica.com, BBC online, and several other places. Shining a non-federal spotlight on local Washington, DC: the gutting and selling-out of our city and her people continues, wholescale and unabated. DC's traditional low-rise human-scale skyline, dominated up to now by lots of gracious trees and the tops of monuments, is being obliterated by massive condo-concrete construction. None of this "growth" is coordinated. There is no public planning of my city in the public interest. Corporate interests and ownership dominate, led by a "developer" called Douglas Jamal. As you check his site don't be fooled by the "down-homey" country-style guitar music. I wonder why he named his company Douglas Development Corporation rather than Jamal Development Corporation. Who is Douglas Jamal? Is he from some place, and who sold my hometown to him and his Douglas Development Corporation?

Washington - capital of the Upper South - is the new Wild West. Transformed into a frontier for and of outside settlers. Exiling DC's Black American majority as though we were never here. Which of course is a blatant, bald-faced lie that we will never, ever, tolerate. Then, a few days from now the U.S. and the world mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11/2001. I was in Hawaii, barely out of Kosovo/Kosova and Skopje (Makedonija). Then, September 12th will feature primary elections across the U.S. In heavily Democratic cities like the District of Columbia (Washington) and New York, whoever wins the primary in effect wins November's general election. In Washington's mayoral race, two Black city council members face off -- veteran Linda Cropp and relative newcomer Adrian Fenty. More later on that contest. So it's been busy this summer. Swam more, went to two writers' events, celebrated cousin Mary Belle's 90th birthday, joined a 6AM fitness group... and much more.

Britain reports plot to blow up transatlantic flights from London

BBC and other media are reporting an alleged terror plot to blow up planes on transatlantic flights out of London. In the UK more than 20 persons have been arrested with searches continuing. Three U.S. airlines are said to have been targeted: United, Continental and American. London's Heathrow Airport appears virtually closed for the time being, with an international 'knock-on' or domino effect. UK authorities advise travelers to stay away from Heathrow as much as possible today. At present no hand luggage or liquids may be carried onto UK flights. Exceedingly long queues are reported along with flight cancellations and/or serious delays. A steady stream of news conferences is occurring in London, Washington and elsewhere.

Gaza, Haifa, Somalia, Colombia, Srebrenica: Nurit Elhanan's "Women" at the Euro Parliament

"Why does that streak of blood rip the petal of your cheek?"

Correction: Nine years have passed since I worked in eastern Bosnia in 1997. In July 1995 the mass killings took place there, in the town of Srebrenica. I also remember the quiet and private sheroism of two women whom I met there in early '97 in the course of my work. I want to thank those ladies. The first rushed up to us just outside Srebrenica's municipal building. She had the grace and courage to walk right over and personally welcome home the Bosnian Muslim man with us on his first return. I do not recall his name but he was the first Muslim member of Srebrenica's post-war municipal elections commission. Another member of our staff, a woman, had driven him over from Tuzla - across the IEBL. The IEBL is a boundary: the Inter-Entity Boundary Line, a border separating mostly Muslim parts of Bosnia from the eastern region's self-styled Bosnian Serb Republic - Republika Srpska. The second lady I met just before Orthodox Easter. I was walking in the center of Srebrenica when she intently crossed the main street to meet me. This wasn't far from the Dom Kultura (Cultural Center) building. She handed me a beautiful, hand-painted Easter egg, a real, edible egg, and I accepted it from her with a thank-you in her language and a smile. Srebrenica's a very small town. Yet even the whole world is small in many ways, especially once people begin to know each other. I was deeply touched by and will not forget the kindness at the root of these small yet expansive acts of willingness and courage shown by two women whose names I do not know; women I've yet to meet again.

Last March 8 (International Women's Day) in her speech to the European Parliament, Israeli educator Nurit Peled-Elhanan - mother of a 5 - correction: 13 year old daughter killed by a suicide bomber - posed a question made eternal by the writing of the late Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966; real name Anna Andreyevna Gorenko). "Why does that streak of blood rip the petal of your cheek?"

Nurit Elhanan's comments here about motherhood and the womb draw attention to this masculinist idea of 'womb as political demographic enemy', the verbal expression of which, sadly, I've witnessed in my international human rights work, often or usually expressed by men from their exclusively male positions of political and/or religious authority.

The "Muslim womb" is hardly the only perceived enemy. On a personal tip, the same attitude's been in the U.S. and the Americas since Columbus arrived in 1492, followed by his son's arrival a short time later with his first cargo to the Americas of captured Africans. In recent United States' experience the hostility toward "other wombs" and the fertility of "others" - both female and male - has included forced sterilisation and sterilisation under vastly uninformed consent. A nurse in Pennsylvania once asked whether I wished to be sterilised. At that moment I was in active labour no less, and thank goodness with no drugs by choice. My immediate, unfiltered and exact reply was "HELL NO."

I received Elhanan's remarks as forwarded by Paola Manduca from Sami Ramadani of London. Paola shared them on an email list in preparation for last spring's Women's assembly of the 2006 European Social Forum in Atena (Athens, Greece). In the same vein we ask your support and signature on this online petition for the Kampala Resolution on Women, Peace and Conflict. Thank you. Peace.

                                                 Women

                             Nurit Peled-Elhanan

"Thank you for inviting me to this today. It is always
an honour and a pleasure to be here, among you (at the
European Parliament).

However, I must admit I believe you should have
invited a Palestinian woman at my stead, because the
women who suffer most from violence in my country are
the Palestinian women. And I would like to dedicate
my speech to Miriam Raban and her husband Kamal,
from Bet Lahiya in the Gaza strip, whose five small children
were killed by Israeli soldiers while picking strawberries
at the family's strawberry field. No one will ever stand
trial for this murder. [continued below]

Iraq: Civil war and Nir Rosen's Green Bird; long live Zarqawi?

Thursday, 8 June 2006. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi no longer walks the earth and CNN has interviewed a 'less well-known' (to some of us) freelance journalist called Nir Rosen. Today Rosen became the first person I've heard in the mainstream media (MSM) to speak openly, and like he were making sense, about Iraq being in a state of civil war. Digest that. Most other media folk are still using that "sectarian violence" euphemism. This includes Wolf Blitzer who thankfully, unlike many of his CNN colleagues, I am not forced to endure or imagine discussing "Brangelina" with a straight face. Besides Nir Rosen has anyone in US mainstream media officially called the current state of Iraq a civil war? Rosen specifically says it's been a civil war since 2005. He is also author of a book I'd never heard of before today - In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq - briefly reviewed here. The book's subtitle seems appropriate on this day when some in "the West" are cheering and instant-replaying news of al-Zarqawi's death. May he, like all of us, have an opportunity to talk to G*d about who he was and the acts he committed in this life.

"The Israel Lobby" in London Review of Books

I've been told by those "in the know" that this piece by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt is a seminal article. It's about US foreign and domestic policy toward Israel, and its other effects in the Mideast. Also in Africa which seemingly often is caught somewhere in between. US Mideast policy always keeps Israel at its center. What are the effects? And for Americans when is it ever ok to question, examine and even to change the current "terms" of US-Israeli politics? The LRB article even quotes Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. He was born David Gryn in 1886 in a place called Plonsk which then was Russia and became Poland. Gryn/Ben Gurion "told Nahum Goldmann, the president of the World Jewish Congress: If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country . . . We come from Israel, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"

John Mearsheimer is author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics and professor of poli sci at Univ. of Chicago. Stephen Walt is an international affairs prof at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and author of Taming American Power: The Global Response to US Primacy, among other titles.

Somalia - Peaceful protesters tell Islamic fighters: "Leave Mogadishu"

The Guardian reports "hundreds of protesters" (we also hear it was thousands) marched the streets of Mogadishu today asking self-styled Islamic sharia court militias to leave town peacefully. On the U.S. diplomatic side, a (San Jose) Mercury News article today reports former State Department official Princeton Lyman is advising the Bush administration to "begin working urgently with regional governments and Somaliland, an unrecognized self-declared independent nation in northern Somalia, to contain Islamist militias." That quote is from the paper, not directly from Lyman. And I added the emphasis. We hope "official Washington" 1) will not bring any more of its "shock and awe" into traumatised Somalia; and 2) that it also will not simply turn its back. I will try adding a link for info on Somaliland - a region once colonised by Britain. This is also where I first drank camel's milk, and I must say: not bad! My prayers are with all of our colleagues and friends.

For Zamzam: Arab slave trade and my Unpublished Letter to the Gulf News

Thanks to Zamzam and everyone reading Marian's Blog and sharing such thought-provoking feedback. Often I'm frustrated at finding relatively little first-person news and ideas, or even "first-person composite" news and ideas from African and African descendant women and women's groups - whether we are from Somalia, Colombia, Haiti, Sudan, or the diaspora of the displaced from New Orleans. We need more exchange between and from women's voices in our communities.

A comment from Zamzam asks me about addressing the Arab enslavement of Africans. So here's the text of an email I sent back in February to Ms. Sheeba Hasan (a woman) editor of Gulf News in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). As far as I know my letter has not been published. Thanks for asking.

February 2006

Dear Ms. Hasan:

I made my first trip through Dubai in 2004. I am writing to thank Gulf News for publishing news of France's recent decision to establish a national day recognising its role in the global trade in African people. I know firsthand that this decision results from French Parliament member Mme Christiane Taubira's work which resulted in the 10 May 2001 French law (the Taubira Law) declaring the slave trade a crime against humanity. In sincerity, I write to say that Africa, especially we Africa's scattered descendants, awaits the first actions of our Arab brothers and sisters to do the same.

Terrorism, Armed conflict, & "Women Living Under Muslim Laws" - WLUML

As far as I'm concerned - and from my own work in post-conflict situations - terrorism is a part of 'armed conflict.' Sadly, people who carry out violent attacks today make "innocent civilians" the target. The same in London as Darfur. Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) is an international organisation addressing some of the underlying issues of some types of instigated intolerance that breeds violence. Their International Coordination Office is based in London. Here's a link to WLUML's explicit Plan of Action against violence and collective intolerance. Let's read it, and - even for those of us who are not Muslim - let's support it. Let's support women's collective efforts for peace - including the Kampala Resolution on women, peace and conflict. Below is WLUML's statement on militarization/armed conflict and their impact on women in Muslim societies.

Predicting the Future??

I did not watch or hear George Bush's latest attempts at oratory (set on a military base, of course). (There are plenty of other Americans you could speak before, Mr. Bush, or are we 'unworthy'?) In any case the MSM's morning news shows are summing it up, complete with just a dash of muted, almost invisible criticism (possibly that does not include Fox?). In the US there seems to be either a widespread inability to deconstruct discourse (i.e., criticize speeches such as Bush's and our own and others' ideas [if we have some]) - or maybe it's unwillingness or inability to effectively express what a lot of us think. Of course I'm not talking about everyone; what some of us think is as clear as a just-washed window. CNN has managed to mention that post-speech emails they've received are running 90 to 10 against Mr Bush's "message." I'll go back and take a closer look at some of his quotes but Bush appears to have been crystal-ball gazing while at the same time  congratulating himself. It must be nice to feel (overly?) confident one knows exactly how history (allegedly) will judge one's behaviour. Gung ho, George Bush ...

Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni freed in Afghanistan

After 24 days in captivity Clementina Cantoni has been freed in Afghanistan. She spent last night (Afghan time) in the Italian embassy residence in Kabul and will be back in Italia today. It's reported she was released with no ransom paid. Cantoni, 32, works with a CARE International program to help widows. She was grabbed by gunmen 16 May in downtown Kabul. -- *It may sound cruel but in memory of Nicola Calipari (the experienced Italian govt agent who lost his life after making the successful unarmed rescue of journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Iraq), this time no U.S. shooters were around who might manage to kill any members of Cantoni's rescue team. Doesn't this give anyone the idea maybe someone could give Americans some lessons in how to do a rescue without using guns? Or are we too proud to ask?

Italian woman aid worker Missing in Afghanistan

Today I received a copy of an email emergency advisory sent to NGO and other aid workers in Afghanistan. The warning -- which looks like it was sent by a western government or NGO -- was directed to people working with projects for women. Basically this means it was sent mainly or exclusively to women aid workers and others who work with them. I just found out a woman colleague and friend who's working in Afghanistan is paying a personal safety insurance premium that costs in the (oops...) mid-five-four-figures ($US) for one month. Today's sobering email advised workers to be cautious and vigilant and not take risks in their movements and activities. It said they should have a prepared escape plan in case of emergency such as an attack. Then this evening we learned of the abduction of Clementina Cantoni, an Italian working with international aid agency CARE. A CNN article reads, " "CARE International is deeply concerned and calls for her immediate release," the aid agency said in a statement." In the past several years work in international *civilian* initiatives - neither military nor armed - has become more and more precarious. Our prayers are with Clementina Cantoni and our other friends and colleagues working in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

From CNN: "An Italian aid worker was abducted Monday night in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to the Italian Embassy. The woman was identified as Clementina Cantoni, 32, who works for the international aid agency CARE, embassy and CARE officials said. Cantoni was believed to have been abducted around 8:30 p.m. (noon ET) when her unmarked car was stopped as she drove home in Kabul. It was not immediately clear who kidnapped her.

"Cantoni, an aid worker for the last 10 years, has been in Afghanistan since March 2002 and runs a program called "Humanitarian Assistance for the Women of Afghanistan," which provides food assistance and other help to 11,000 widows and their children, according to CARE. ..."

Bush on a Bike: Read more about it in washington post

Don't believe me? Here's Dana Milbank in the Washington Post :

"On a Bicycle in Beltsville, Blissfully Unaware" [that would be Bush]

Thursday, May 12, 2005; Page A13: "When the state of red alert was declared yesterday, the vice president was evacuated from the White House and the first lady was whisked to a secure location. But no precautions were needed for President Bush. He was out at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Beltsville, riding his bicycle -- at noon on a Wednesday -- blissfully unaware. "The decision was made to inform the president upon conclusion of his bike ride," Bush press secretary Scott McClellan said later. ..."

GEORGE BUSH WAS OUT ON HIS BIKE

Stuff starts coming out. Again.

George Bush was away - somewhere outside - riding his bicycle. This was in the middle of the workday this past week when in the skies over the District of Columbia a small plane veered off a permitted flight course. This, in turn, caused 35-thousand people (including members of Congress and everyone in the White House) to be evacuated, pouring from their workplaces into the streets of Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington, DC. And what's the usual drill about notifying family in cases of emergency? Bush's wife, Laura, was among those evacuated yet it seems Bush had no clue. I mean like, what could George have done anyway - being the putative "HWGICW"(R) ["head white guy in charge of the world"]? He was out riding his bike for goshsake. Equally sobering is the fact that besides his "absence" during office hours in the middle of the week, no one immediately told Bush what was going on. Not to worry... Bushworld is in process of rationalising that fact away too even as I and others blog it. Need we say more? Do we need to say more? And who truly is in charge at 1600 Pa Ave, anyway?

TV Now: Book TV, CSPAN 2- "The New American Militarism," Andrew Bacevich

I've got to read this book. This guy is talking about a "technology-hyped mood" toward war.

Some Balkan American guy named Andrew Bacevich (bah cheh vitch) is on C-Span 2's Book TV at this moment, telling "too much truth." [Now they're discussing what he said.] His new book is, The New American Militarism. He's using words & phrases like, the old view of war was "barbarism, brutality, ugliness, and waste" ... while today we have hi-tech warfare - "smart weapons, new vision of war new lexicon" - war was becoming "surgical, frictionless post-modern abstract, virtual," ... 'cost-effective', 'humane', even 'thrilling' ...we're in the midst of a "technology-hyped mood" toward war.

Three Mile Island March 1979 - Those TMI Nuclear Accident Memories

March 28 will be the 26th anniversary of the partial meltdown of Reactor # 2 at TMI - Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. The accident started about 4 in the morning. I remember in 1972 when they "brought TMI online." I see its cooling towers in the not-far distance each time I drive over the hill going home. When the thing - the accident - started, no one - like the power plant owners or U.S. government - told anyone in the area or nationally or internationally what was going on. Sounds like things today. The morning of 28/3/79 my father (an electrical engineer) took his usual route on the back road right past TMI on his way to teach at Penn State Capitol Campus. He told me that at the time he thought the presence of dozens of extra cars parked along both sides of the road was an anti-nuclear demonstration. Meanwhile when this thing happened I was not very far away in Washington proofreading a text on nuclear power plant cooling systems. More on this in a couple of days. I need some time with those TMI memories. The sadness, panic, desperation, and an enormous helplessness were much like a precursor to the same feelings on 11 Sept. 2001.

 

Guantánamo: US finally Releases Zambian-Brit Mubanga & 3 other Brits; UK, US Taxpayers will pay?

Maybe somebody can please explain to me the legal & political basis for a U.S. military base in Cuba. Guantánamo is in Cuba. I thought elements of the U.S. gov't didn't like Cuba. I thought Americans couldn't go to Cuba. Apparently it's ok in U.S. law if you go to Cuba to go to the U.S. military base in Guantánamo.

I wonder what Cubans [in Cuba] say about this.

Cuba is our Caribbean neighbour that certain interests in the U.S. hate ever since about 50 years ago when said interests lost control of and access to their gambling casinos and 'exotic prostitution' rings [read Afro-mixed females]. I hear nowadays maybe Europeans run the same operations. False or true?

Plus ça change. Some things just-don't-seem to change. I found the following in Guardian Unlimited, Special Reports: Guantanamo Bay; "Profiles: the British Guantánamo detainees."

"[Martin] Mubanga, a 30-year old, has dual British and Zambian nationality, having come with his family to the UK from Africa in the 70s. The former motorcycle courier from Wembley, north London, was arrested in Zambia in March 2002, having previously spent time studying Islam in Afghanistan. Local agents handed him over to the US authorities, who transferred him to Guantánamo Bay. In July 2004, Mr Mubanga made two specific allegations of ill treatment by the Americans during an hour-long visit from a [British] foreign office official, although the UK government has refused to provide details, citing the Data Protection Act. Mr Mubanga added that he had lost 20kg in weight during his incarceration, and his family say letters he has written home have also contained coded references to abuse in patois and cockney."

Uncle Bud - Dr. Reuben R. Nichols, MD, 1927-2005, New Jersey USA

Dr. Reuben R. Nichols (Jr.) joined our ancestors in the morning of Thursday, 13 January 2005.

Services were held Monday, 17 January in Rahway, New Jersey. An expanded memorial is planned pending arrangements by the family.

In Newark Dr. Nichols was known with love and respect as the Ghetto Doctor because of his dedication to the people & communities he served. His medical specialty was thoracic (chest) surgery.

His family and friends mostly called him "Bud" or "Nick".

Reuben Richard Nichols, Jr. was born 8 January 1927 in Knoxville, Tennessee, southern Appalachia USA. He was the baby brother of Edna and only son of the late Maude Gudger Nichols and Reuben R. ("Sarge") Nichols, Sr. (the late Sergeant & Mrs. Reuben R. Nichols of Washington, DC).

In addition to his sister, Dr. Nichols is survived by his wife, and by his children: 2 daughters and 2 sons as well as his beloved grand and great grandchildren.

Dr. Nichols was preceded in death by his parents and later by his beloved first wife, the late Louise Massingale Nichols, a native of St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Nichols is also survived by family in Leavenworth, Kansas City and Chanute, Kansas; Washington, DC; Pennsylvania; Greeneville, Tennessee and western North Carolina; Muncie and Indianapolis, Indiana; Los Angeles and Sacramento, California; Ohio; Arizona; New Mexico; Anchorage, Alaska and elsewhere in the United States and abroad, including Tokyo, Japan, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Rome, Italy.

Dr. Nichols grew up with his family in Washington, DC where he graduated from historically Black Dunbar High School and Howard University.

While studying at Howard Medical School Dr. Nichols taught anatomy there and completed his medical education at age 21.

He began his medical career in the American South - Tuskegee, Alabama and Cedartown, Georgia before establishing his practice in New Jersey. Uncle Bud was in love with life.

BBC: Global poll slams Bush leadership; people in 21 countries

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation - BBC - "a survey of people in 21 nations finds most believe the world is less safe with the re-election of US President Bush." Are so many people in the rest of the world clueless compared to Americans who supported Bush? Do Americans feel like we're part of the world?

By the way, nearly half the money for the official inauguration comes from corporations and other firms. That doesn't even count the scores of private Bush inaugural events this week. So who's working for whom?

CIA "Mapping the Global Future" - White House calls it 'speculative'

The CIA has released a new report for the public, Mapping the Global Future. The report looks at how situations in the world may develop in the next 15 years. (At this point those are the only words I find to use.)

Today U.S. and international press are saying this report issues a caution on what is happening in Iraq, warning Iraq is now a magnet for certain groups and individuals.

CNN reports the White House is calling the CIA view 'speculative'.

CIA writes: "[T]he third unclassified report prepared by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in the past seven years that takes a long-term view of the future. The National Intelligence Council, as a center of strategic thinking and over-the-horizon analysis for the US Government, takes this as one of its key challenges."

Last evening George Bush on TV news saying something inarticulate as usual; referring to Iraq he said something to the effect that he thought everyone wants to be free in their soul. If I've misquoted him I'm sorry, and sure the exact words can be found.

It's not easy stringing words together the way George W. Bush does.

Powell Quits: 1st Caribbean Amer Sec of State Joins "CLUB CLIFTON WHARTON"

I guess Alma Powell's message finally sunk in.

Caribbean American Colin Powell says he's quitting as Bush's sec of state. TV news beat everybody to the punch (again) announcing this. Even the BBC World website's only Powell story was about him going to the Mideast next week. You go Alma (who actually IS Black American).

They say Powell wasn't always treated well, but it had to be lightyears better than the way Clifton Wharton was treated.

Dr. Wharton is Black American just like Alma. He's the man who turned TIAA-CREF into a serious $$ pension fund (for univ & college profs). He's a son of the late Clifton Wharton, Sr. - the first Black American to serve as a career foreign service officer.

Cliff Wharton, Jr. made it as far as DEPUTY Sec of State- under poor Warren Christopher who must have been incredibly jealous of Dr. Wharton's grace, intelligence and charm. (And language skills.) Due to the backbiting & undermining ("is it because I'm Black [American]?) Dr. Wharton lasted @ 8 months in that job... then said SEE YA around November 1993.

More on this later. Same time same station.

IT'S ELECTION DAY!!! GO VOTE!

It's ELECTION DAY, folks. Early this morning on CSPAN (TV) I caught a replay of Molly Ivins' "live performance" in early October at the Philly Public Library (16th & Vine branch).

Just before the Election 2000 debacle of 4 years ago Molly and her colleague published that wonderful book, "SHRUB". Now perhaps she will be vindicated.

Are you an American? Are you in the USA? If you're an American and in the USA, get up NOW and GO VOTE!!! I'm now in Washington (DC) and it's 8AM eastern time and I have to do the same -- go vote. In the meantime you can keep posted on today's progress (or otherwise) via www.ZOGBY.com - the political pollster's website.

More of my blogisms (Marian's word) later!!! Peace. GO VOTE!!!!!!!!! And only once, thanks.

Where Were All of Us on 9/11? (Pt. 2 of 2)

... Sometimes I wonder if Sunday, 9 September 2001 may have been the last ‘normal’ Sunday for the rest of my life. That afternoon on Kauai, Michael, a jazz composer/pianist, and his group – including neoRican percussionist Jorge – played Princeville Hotel’s open air lounge & bar while Michael’s 9(?) yr old daughter sat to one side fidgeting & mouthing the lyrics she knew from memorizing all her Dad’s songs. Those who know me know I'm the type of person who usually would prefer a carrot juice or a fruit smoothie, but that day I arrived at Princeville Hotel armed with a drink voucher so I ordered rum punch. Then I had a pina colada, and another rum punch. From the terrace that evening the sunset in the tropics seemed the most stunning I’d experienced in years. And so passed my first evening in Princeville – colourful, peaceful, harmonious and good.

Early Monday I awoke sick as a dog. To this day I have no idea WHAT BRAND of (apparently cheeeeep) rum was used but whatever I saved on tall tropical drinks - mixed with their house rum - a few hours later I paid full price .

I'd planned to go windsurfing first thing Monday morning; I'd also brought my (roller)blades, but that Monday on Kauai was a wash. Early that morning and most of the day my only goal became to stand long enough to take myself to the Princeville grocery market for buy Tylenol or aspirin. I don’t remember what time I finally got them. Being in the store is a blur, but I bought them, went back to my condo, took some with plenty of H2O and fell back asleep.

I woke Monday evening, 10 Sept, too late to go anywhere for dinner. Earlier at the supermarket I’d gotten a few things for the fridge and made do with that. I watched TV and a