Marian's Blog

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.

State of the Black Union on CSPAN!

My brother just shared with me that the annual, public, free SOBU conference - the State of the Black Union - sponsored by broadcaster Tavis Smiley, is now being televised on CSPAN. Tavis says there are 5,000 persons attending the conference in Houston, Texas, plus scores more watching nationally and internationally via CSPAN. Thanks bro. Check it.

Bush, Inc: GOPgate - Haven't We Had Enough Already??

Mr. Bush - there's a lot more than 'background noise' going on over your head! Those two words are from yet another "brilliant" (...snicker...) George Bush performance to stonewall a journalist. This one occurred just yesterday in DC. I don't have the original question but Bush replied: "There's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining. But the American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to." Maybe there really are still one or two Americans out there actually waiting for Mr. Bush to start. His job that is. Bush may be meeting certain expectations of his self-described "base" - the "haves and have mores" - but alot of us are sure he is not working on behalf of "the American people." If you happen to be an American - do you consider yourself better off today than you were five years ago? Yesterday I was reading a blog which alleges George and Jeb (Bush) are waiting for Wilma - the latest mega-storm bearing down on the southern US - to strike, presumably in Florida, in order to further distract the American public from the (constitutional?) crisis metastasizing in Washington. I was calling this Whitehousegate but it goes deeper so I'll call it GOP-gate. Much of the so-called 'Republican revolution' was engineered over the past three, even four decades, but it ramped up big time once Newt Gingrich jumped into the saddle with the 1994 Republican Contract with On America. The Grand Old Party doesn't seem to need to speak of that one anymore. Today's citizen anger inside the US is not only about Iraq nor just about the leak of classified information - i.e., the name of a US intelligence agent - and evidently by sources right there inside the White House, no less. This is not just about government-sponsored perversity at Gitmo or Abu Ghraib nor just Commander in Chief Bush's time-delayed response to a storm called Katrina. It's also not just war-making so elegantly combined with massive contracts gifted to political cronies, nor is it just the related hemorraging of the United States budget. It's not even just those fishy outcomes of two - count 'em 1, 2 - US elections. The problem is all these and more. Haven't Americans had enough of the dullard 'press conferences' combined with the lying, smirking, self-serving arrogance? And why has the outrage about this - overall - been far stronger in societies and countries other than our own??? Answer me that one. I'm checking a site, After Downing Street, where someone posted Bernard Weiner's fascinating piece, "Arguments for an Impeachment Resolution." Weiner has a site called The Crisis Papers. And I particularly like Jane Hamsher's quote at Huffington Post from one of her recent articles on investigator Patrick Fitzgerald where she remarks that Fitzgerald "... sees into the ugly, greedy, oozing heart of the NeoCon kleptocracy, its mafia-like structure and the all-too-cozy overlap between the war party and the profiteers..." Like I asked, haven't enough of us had quite enough of all this yet??

Africa: Sudan visit from Black Bush official Rice; how about Niger & Somalia?

Well it's about time someone from the US government actually went to Khartoum. And apparently during Sec. Rice's arrival there was some kind of 'scuffle' between Sudanese security and some of her staff, for which the Sudanese foreign minister is said to have apologised. Next she should go west to Niger where so many people and children are starving to death. And she could then travel back east again to Somalia... But sadly she won't. These people never spend more than a few lousy hours in Africa. The MSM news always seem to be reporting some profiling Bush administration official "popping into" Iraq. So why won't they pop on over to Somalia? The way in which US broadcast news media do not report Africa on a regular basis is embarrassing and frightening - and also irresponsible - not to mention pretty idiotic. And in "mainstream" media in the USA you basically never hear the names or anything about the work in and on Africa of Salih Booker and his organisation, or TransAfrica or most anyone else.

Bush Shamelessly takes Republican "New Southern Strategy" to Indiana Black Expo - and to Latinos

Today George Bush and GOP Chair Ken Mehlman took their 'dog-and-pony' show to Indiana and Indiana's Black Expo. Since I have family ties there Indiana also is a home to me. The Bush-Mehlman junket was part of what I'm naming the New Republican Southern Strategy. The 'strategy' seems pretty much to be an attempt to dilute or neutralise the Black vote while organising dissatisfied Whites. Those too are my own words. The tantalising question of what some White Americans may be or ought to be upset about - and at whom - will be subjects for future posts on this blog. The New Republican Southern Strategy extends well beyond the US South, though Indiana, which borders the state of Kentucky, culturally is not completely "Northern." The Bush-Mehlman Hoosier trip was arrogant and anti-historical in the way it targeted Black Americans. These are the same people who violated the voting rights of thousands of Black Americans before and on Election Day 2000. Now George Bush and Ken Mehlman have the gall to stand before Black Indianans asking for a political blank check. Forget it George. And by the way, since Republicans have yet another "strategy" to woo Hispanics - and try to divide them from Blacks - FYI - Latinos are not monolithic... and just to re-iterate: with most Black Americans THE GOP IS STILL BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE.

Rice in Russia: a Black official who probably won't even mention Russia's racist violence

We hope secretary Rice will surprise us and do the right thing in her meeting with Vladimir Putin. Bush secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is in Russia and tomorrow she meets with Vladimir Putin. But after reading Glenn Kessler's Washington Post article "Trends in Russia 'Very Worrying' to Rice" - in which none of this ever comes up - I have a bad feeling she does not know or maybe does not care about Russia's growing epidemic of white supremacist, anti-Semitic violence. We blogged this awhile back, citing the same (pre-Condi) U.S. State Department's issuance of an American passport to Louisiana ex-KKK leader David Duke, thus allowing his repeated trips to Russia where he has incited racist sentiment - and action - throughout what he calls "white mother Russia." At least one of Duke's racist, anti-Jewish, & truly anti-Caucasian (i.e., against people from the Caucasus) tracts he's had translated into Russian has been on sale inside the Russian Duma (parliament). Are Russia's elected officials still selling them?? In view of all this Rice's scheduled meeting tomorrow with Putin is more than slightly ludicrous. She's a Black human being who fits the racial/ethnic profile of women and men (previous victims both alive and dead including U.S. government staff and African students and diplomats) who've been attacked - and some killed - and the profile of those who daily face the terrifying possibility - even likelihood - of physical attack in Russia. But apparently no one in Rice's entourage nor elsewhere in Bushworld has brought this to Rice's attention - let alone the American public - or perhaps in Bushworld white supremacist violence is not 'important enough' to address directly and publicly with Vladimir Putin. What do facts like these convey to the world about the presence or absence of any respect (& self-respect) for this official's most basic humanity in the course of her pursuit of "international relations"??

It's Ratzinger... oh gawd

This is some kind of joke on the universe. I so do not feel this. Et vous??

The other day on BBC radio I heard a GERMAN guy saying what a sheer disaster it would be if the catholic power elite made Ratzinger pope. Well, they've done it. This here's gonna be a 'most interesting' tenure inside the Catholic cosmos and for the rest of us. Somebody break out the smelling salts for the folks in Catholics for A Free Choice and the Women's Ordination Conference. The rest of us are just going to have to handle this. I really wanna read the analyses and commentaries on this... Sure wish my German/deutsch were better... It's time to break out my Hermann Hesse reading!

Condi On "Charm Offensive" in Europe

Oh please. (Click for the article.)

 

Bush envoy with French prime minister J. Chirac. (Click to enlarge photo. But just slightly.)

Congressman Major Owens warns Democrats; Fred. K.C. Price & Republicans target some Issues + Black Conservative Churches.

"I am frightened by what is happening," said Rep. Major R. Owens, an 11-term Democratic congressman from New York who has been conferring with colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus [of the U.S. Congress]. "Our party is in grave danger. This Republican movement is going to expand exponentially unless we do something." Major - Congressman Owens - (photo here) is talking about what I am now naming the BCCA - "Black Conservative Contract on America."

Democrat Major Owens, Brooklyn, New York

"The "Black Contract With America on Moral Values," "...unveiled... in Los Angeles... designed to help African American churches gain influence in the Republican Party and promote socially conservative legislation." "... In addition to such conservative GOP priorities as allowing workers to create private Social Security accounts and banning same-sex marriage, the Jackson contract deals with some potentially dicey issues for Republicans — such as restoring rights to former felons. The contract, Jackson said, combines the Bible-based elements of the traditionally Republican and Democratic platforms.

"... Even if it rises 5 percentage points, [Democrat Major] Owens said, "the Democratic Party will be paralyzed."

"Highlights" of what I, Marian, shall call the Black Conservative Contract On America include (according to L.A. Times):

"Marriage: Focus on prohibiting same-sex marriage; Wealth creation: private Social Security investment accounts and encouraging homeownership; Education: School vouchers, charter schools and boosting black enrollment in higher education; Prison reform: a "Second Chance Act," reentry programs and laws restoring the rights of felons; Africa: Intervention in Sudan and penalties against corporations that explore for oil in the region; Healthcare: Including programs to cover the poor." Read the entire article: "GOP Sees A Future in Black Churches" by Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten in the L.A. Times.

The TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/1782129