12.28.2007

Akon's Ghetto & New Year Resolutions

Think about the haunting lyrics and images of Akon's "Ghetto" when making your New Year resolutions. We know in our hearts as Americans and as human beings that we can--and must--do better. Peace.

Ahhh, Ahh, Ahhh, Ahh

Ghetto, Ghetto, Ghetto, Ghetto livin’

[verse one]

These streets remind me of quicksand (quicksand)
When you`re on it, you`ll keep goin’ down (goin’ down)
And there`s no one to hold on to
And there`s no one to pull you out
You keep on fallin’ (fallin’)
And no one can here you callin’
So you end up self destructin’
On the corner with the tuli on the waist line
just got outta the bing doin’ state time
Teeth marks on my back from the K-9
Dark Memories of when there was no sunshine
Cause they said that I wouldn`t make it
I remember like yesterday (day)
Holdin’ on to what God gave me

[Chorus]

Cause that’s the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)
And eating in the (ghetto)
Or sleeping in the (ghetto) (ghetto, ghetto)
Cause that’s the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)
And eating in the (ghetto)
Or sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

[Verse Two]

No need to cherish luxuries (cause everythin` come and go)
Even the life that you have is borrowed
(Cause your not promised tomorrow)
So live your life as if everyday gon’ be your last (be your last)
Once you move forward can`t go back
Best prepare to remove your past

Cause ya gotta be willin to pray
Yea, There gotta be (there gotta be) a better way oh
Yea, Ya gotta be willing to pray
Cause there gotta be (there gotta be) a better day (ay)

Whoever said that the struggle would stop today
A lot of niggas dead or locked away
Teenage Women growing up with aids

[chorus]

Cause thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto) oh
Eating in the (ghetto) or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto)
Thats the life when you`re
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Eating in the (ghetto) or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

[bridge]

Gun shots every night in the (ghetto)
Crooked cops on sight in the (ghetto)
Every day is a fight in the (ghetto)
(oh oh oh oh oh) (ghetto)
Got kids to feed in the (ghetto)
Selling coke and weed in the (ghetto)
Every day somebody bleed in the (ghetto)
(oh oh oh oh oh) (ghetto)

[chorus]

Thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Living by the (ghetto)oh
Eating in the (ghetto, ghetto)
Thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Sleeping in the (ghetto)
Living in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

(wooohhoohh)

12.27.2007

Breast cancer gene puts Latinas at risk

A gene known to give many Jewish women a high risk of cancer also puts many Hispanic women at high risk, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They found that 3.5 percent of Hispanic women entered in a Northern California breast cancer registry had the BRCA1 genetic mutation, compared to 8.3 percent of Ashkenazic Jews and 2.2 percent of non-Ashkenazic white women.

More

Related: NIH: Breast Cancer

12.26.2007

Voto Latino

First Americans for Obama


U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton's Web site includes veterans, children and women among her top issues.

John Edwards' site lists blacks, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinos, the elderly and young people among his concerns.

U.S. Senator Barack Obama talks about all of the above, but of the three front-running Democratic presidential candidates, he's the only one with a permanent place on his Web site for America's indigenous peoples.

''First Americans for Obama is a community of people dedicated to bringing positive change to American politics and breaking the cycle of partisan ideology,'' according to the First Americans for Obama page on his Web site.

''Perhaps more so than any population, American Indians are painfully aware of the need for change. Tribes have experienced firsthand the lack of progress under prior administrations. Please use this Web site to learn about Obama's policy initiatives supporting tribal peoples, to spread the word, and to involve your family, friends and community. Together, we can bring in a new generation of politics - one based on respect, honor and unity.''
More

12.23.2007

Clinton Acolytes' Racist Attacks on Obama

Clinton Acolytes' Racist Attacks - Black Star News Editorial (12.19.07)

Electing Senator Clinton as president would be like rolling the dice twice–not only would we get the Senator but we would also get former president Bill Clinton.

In the last few weeks, Senator Clinton’s campaign has upped the ante on nastiness. We are all for a vigorous contest for the Democratic party’s nomination for presidential candidate. That’s how it should be. The person that occupies the White House is President of the entire world. Look at how George W. Bush has ruined the world.

Two months ago, when Senator Barack Obama was trailing by double digits in Iowa, where the first Caucuses will be held, he was seen as a spent force. Everywhere, Senator Hillary Clinton was being referred to as a “prohibitive” candidate.

Then Senator Clinton started shooting herself on the foot. Before millions of television viewers, she appeared to epitomize double-speak when she was asked whether she supported New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s proposal –now abandoned—to give undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses. She answered in the affirmative and in the negative within a period of minutes.

Senator Obama and candidate John Edwards were as astonished as the national audience and attacked Senator Clinton’s performance. It was thereafter that Senator Clinton's campaign took off the gloves. To begin with, Obama was not as unambitious, as he makes out to be and has always had an eye on the White House. The proof? The good senator from New York's campaign referred to an “essay” Obama wrote before he was even in grade school—while he was in kindergarten.

Predictably, Senator Clinton became the object of jokes and ridicule. So the Clinton campaign decided to use the race card. A senior campaign official, Billy Shaheen, the co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in New Hampshire, warned voters that Obama might not be the suitable candidate because were he to win the Democratic nomination, those nasty Republicans could bring up the fact that Obama has admitted to using marijuana and cocaine in his youth. Might the Republicans not even ask whether Obama had also been a drug dealer?

This was clearly playing to the deep seated stereotype that some white people harbor—of Blacks as natural born criminals and drug dealers. Notwithstanding the fact that most of the means of shipping drugs into this country –the private and official planes, the air strips and airports, and the foreign connections, and officials approving entry into the United States— are not controlled by Black people.

Although Senator Clinton apologized for Shaheen’s comments, and the official resigned, it is hard to believe that his comments could have been pulled from thin air. We wonder what else is in the playbook.

The racist onslaught continued this past Sunday when former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, pretending that he was praising Obama said he hoped Obama would play a role in a Clinton Administration by reaching out to Black youth and Muslims around the world. Kerrey added: "It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim," Kerrey, who is currently president of the New School in New York City, said. "There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal."

As in the earlier case, Kerrey also issued an apology to Obama. Yet, in reading his comments, does anyone really believe this was not pre-meditated and malicious and in fact, racist by suggesting, in essence, that Obama is only sufficient in reaching out to Black youth and Muslims?

Obama is a decent man. That is why he now leads Clinton in Iowa. And if the Clinton acolytes continue with such racist attacks, the lead should increase.

If he was a dirty player, one of his officials might have responded in kind that those “nasty” Republicans might also ask Senator Clinton some embarrassing questions. If elected president, what assurances would voters have that there would be no more Monica Lewinskys in the White House? After all, these “nasty” Republicans are always talking about “family values” and what not.

Bill Clinton in a television interview last Friday said electing Obama would be like rolling a dice. If Obama was nasty he could have said electing Senator Clinton would be like rolling the dice twice.

Senator Clinton and Senator Obama may both be equally prepared to be President of the United States. Both are intelligent enough. Voters will judge each by their temperament and favor the one who conducts the better campaign.

Message to the Clintons: Warn campaign officials not to play with fire. Sometimes it is impossible to control or direct the flames.

12.22.2007

The Lakota Declare Free Nation


Freedom! Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation Status

Threaten Land Liens, Contested Real Estate Over Five State Area in U.S. West

Lakota Satisfies Treaty Council Mandate of 33 Years, Drafted by 97 Indigenous Nations

Dakota Territory Reverts back to Lakota Control According to U.S., International Law


Washington D.C. – Lakota Sioux Indian representatives declared sovereign nation status today (December 19, 2007) in Washington D.C. following Monday’s withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government. The withdrawal, hand delivered to Daniel Turner, Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the State Department, immediately and irrevocably ends all agreements between the Lakota Sioux Nation of Indians and the United States Government outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties at Fort Laramie Wyoming.

“This is an historic day for our Lakota people,” declared Russell Means, Itacan of Lakota. “United States colonial rule is at its end!”

“Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit,” shared Garry Rowland from Wounded Knee. “They never honored the treaties, that’s the reason we are here today.”

The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.

“In order to stop the continuous taking of our resources – people, land, water and children- we have no choice but to claim our own destiny,” said Phyllis Young, a former Indigenous representative to the United Nations and representative from Standing Rock.

Property ownership in the five state area of Lakota now takes center stage. Parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana have been illegally homesteaded for years despite knowledge of Lakota as predecessor sovereign [historic owner]. Lakota representatives say if the United States does not enter into immediate diplomatic negotiations, liens will be filed on real estate transactions in the five state region, clouding title over literally thousands of square miles of land and property.

Young added, “The actions of Lakota are not intended to embarrass the United States but to simply save the lives of our people”.

Following Monday’s withdrawal at the State Department, the four Lakota Itacan representatives have been meeting with foreign embassy officials in order to hasten their official return to the Family of Nations.

Lakota’s efforts are gaining traction as Bolivia, home to Indigenous President Evo Morales, shared they are “very, very interested in the Lakota case” while Venezuela received the Lakota delegation with “respect and solidarity.”

“Our meetings have been fruitful and we hope to work with these countries for better relations,” explained Garry Rowland. “As a nation, we have equal status within the national community.”

Education, energy and justice now take top priority in emerging Lakota. “Cultural immersion education is crucial as a next step to protect our language, culture and sovereignty,” said Means. “Energy independence using solar, wind, geothermal, and sugar beets enables Lakota to protect our freedom and provide electricity and heating to our people.”

The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average . 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.

“After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative,” emphasized Duane Martin Sr. “The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway.”

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have suffered from cultural and physical genocide in the colonial apartheid system we have been forced to live under. We are in Washington DC to withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at http://www.lakotafreedom.com/.

###

Related Documents:

Lakota Withdrawal Letter, December 17, 2007
Treaties of Fort Laramie, 1851 and 1868
United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights 2007
Russell Means

Merry Christmas from Huck & Barry

Christmas--I mean, "Holiday"--greetings from the two surging "heartland" presidential candidates:

U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill)



Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR)



(Huck is what beltway Republicans condescendingly call Governor Huckabee, and Barry was Senator Obama's childhood nickname.)

12.15.2007

Boston Globe Picks Obama and McCain

This is huge!

Boston.com reports that the Boston Globe editorial board will endorse
Senators Barack Obama and John McCain in tomorrow's paper.

The board wrote that Obama, the Illinois Democrat, fulfills America's need for "a president with an intuitive sense of the wider world,'' and that McCain, the Arizona Republican, ''has done more than his share to transcend partisanship and
promote an honest discussion of the problems facing the United States.''
This spells bad news for Hillary and Romney. Bad for Romney because his state's most prominent newspaper is giving him a thumbs down. And horrific news for Hillary because a major liberal newspaper from the bluest part of the country prefers her opponent.

Related: Globe endorses McCain, Obama

12.09.2007

Univision's GOP Debate: A View from the Coconut Caucus

I missed today's Univision Republican Debate, so no post-debate commentary from me.

Instead, I offer La bloguera's take as posted on the South Florida-based Adventures of the Coconut Caucus weblog, a site which proudly claims to put "the PANIC in Hispanic."

La Bloguera's comments are hilarious.

Liveblogging the Republican Spanglish debate

By La bloguera

Yes it is that time again another Univision Spanglish debate!!!!!

AND just like last time, the questions are asked in Spanish, translated to English, then the candidates speak English and are translated into Spanish by anonymous male voices.

We start out with Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas introducing the candidates… so far John McCain, our possibly first Hispanic republican presidente, has received the most applause…

Where is Tank???? how can we bash immigrants without him…

AND now our first audio glitch… with Giuliani…. and he has the voice of a a gay puertorrican!!!!

Romney gets a deep male voice and doesn´t answer the question…

Yo quiero tu voto

McCain has a nondescript voice to translate for him and says he saw some Hispanics on Thanksgiving

Thompson gets a high pitched Argentinian voice…

Duncan Hunter says something about Reagan and El Salvador and gets a bunch of applause

Now Ron Paul, with his usual the bridges are falling here while we are fighting in Irak (his translator dude can barely keep up with him)

Back to Giuliani and that hilarious gay guys voice who seems very happy to translate for him…

Finally!!!!! a question about immigration!!!! it only took less than 20 minutes

The candidates answers to the immigration question (why do you hate us?), is so convolute, the translators can barely find the right words in Spanish and keep making mistakes…

So now Jorge Ramos asks Romney about his relations with that landscaping immigrant…. he says his relationship with that immigrant IS OVER

Thompson, in that high pitched male voice he got, says we can´t have ALL of our relatives applying for immigration status…just wife and kids (first wife, second wife?)

OK, people i am completely bilingual, and I can´t understand WTF they are saying!!!! they are all saying they love immigrants and want to deport them at the same time, and we are a country of laws, and protect the border and let immigrants in…… NO ENTIENDO un carajo!!!!!

Yipee, finally a commercial!!!

the first one is for toilet paper, excellent

OK everybody we are in MIAMI so we have to ask about Hugo Chávez…. and the audience totally boooos Ron Paul says we should talk to Chávez and then all travel to Cuba!!!!, most fun so far!!!!

All the rest say Chávez is an evil dictator and get much applause…

IN CASE YOU FORGOT we are in Miami, so now they are talking about Cuban and how evil Fidel Castro is…

Bikini TV does politics

Finally Irak, and so far according to all the candidates we are winning!!!!

Until of course Ron Paul, bring the troops home!!! and he actually gets some of his applause back.

On to health care…. over an hour, how long is this thing anyway????

Well they all seem to be in favor of health care for everybody and for money for everybody to pay for it without raising taxes…

8:10 PM another commercial… calling cards…and then one about a clairvoyant or something that can tell you if your significant other is being unfaithful…

now unto education…. they are all in favor….

Duncan Hunter says the solution to public education is inspiration and Hispanic astronauts…

So finally the last question: How will Hispanics shape the future of America, i.e. Please pander to us about how great we Hispanics are forever and ever amen…

Ron Paul: Read the Constitution…

McCain: Something about freedom and back to Chávez

Giuliani: Viva Cuban americans, oh and those in NYC too

Romney: Please stop having children without getting married

and it is over!!!! Al fin!!!!

I will get to my post debate hangover later, for now the best moment of the debate was Ron Paul telling an auditorium full of Cubans in Miami that we should all travel to Cuba

AND in case you are wondering what the old media types are saying about the debate, here goes that too

And since once is not enough you can watch the whole thing again here

12.08.2007

M.B.O! (Michelle, Barack & Oprah!)

Michelle, Barack & Oprah! took their Hope for America Tour to Des Moines, Iowa today.

Tomorrow, South Carolina.

Bravo!

It still amazes that the media and political elites still don't get what a huge story this is. They continue dismissing Barack as a novelty. Oprah's entry has gotten their attention with her added star power, but again, it seems to me that they're seeing the tour as a short-lived act. Nothing to worry about.

Meanwhile, the elites are weary that their candidates--Romney/Clinton/Giuliani--may be upended by The People.

The people seem to prefer Obama and Huckabee.

I say, Power to the People!

Related:

Oprah Dazzles Crowds for Obama in Iowa
Oprah: Obama will be 'a force for peace'

12.07.2007

Picataway Chief: Indigenous Immigrants Fulfill Indian Prophesy

Check out this video from PERUANISTA in which Picataway Chief Billy Gregory Tayac welcomes indigenous immigrants as brothers. Illegals? The real "illegal aliens" first arrived 350 years ago from across Atlantic. The Chief also says that the arrival of indigenous Central and South Americans fulfills a native American prophesy. Provocative.

12.05.2007

Benicio, Evo y Che

Benicio del Toro recently met with Bolivian President Evo Morales to talk about his new films that deal with Che Guevara: Guerrilla and The Argentine.

Benecio is a Puerto Rican born actor best known for his Oscar winning performance in the movie Traffic.

Related:

Benicio del Toro Meets With Bolivian President
Bolivian President Evo Morales: The Daily Show Video
With 17 Nominations, Latinos Win 4 Oscars
Latinos Raid The Oscars
Latino Films Take Top Prizes at Sundance

12.02.2007

Hope Runs in the Streets of Iowa

U.S. Senator Barack Obama has pulled ahead in the race for Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses, while the party's national frontrunner Hillary Clinton has slipped to second in the leadoff nominating state, according to The Des Moines Register's new Iowa Poll.

Related:

Obama pulls ahead in Iowa
Clinton Booed
Obama Upset In NH Possible

12.01.2007

Obama and Bloomberg: Eggs and Toast?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg had breakfast with Democratic Presidential hopeful U.S. Senator Barack Obama today.

Nothing unusual except that the private meeting was very public, the media was alerted, Hillary's camp was kept in the dark, and it took place just a few blocks from Hillary's campaign HQ.

Wow! The Clintonistas have got to be concerned.

It's one thing worrying about a possible 3rd party presidential bid by the liberal NYC mayor, but it's quite another to have Bloomberg working in cahoots with your main primary opponent.

Of course, it could have just been two pols having breakfast. NOT!!! Or Bloomberg just being friendly to a competitor he's about crush as he powers up the Independent Bloomberg for President battle fleet. May be. Or Bloomberg and Obama feeling each other out for the VP slots in their respective campaigns. Who knows.

Bottom line? It ain't good news for Madam Hillary.

Obama Stars at the Apollo

Barack Obama was in Harlem--turf which the pundits ridiculously tag as Hillary's.

But politics 101 dictates that you invade a competitor's turf only when there's a very high chance of winning there. Polls showing lots of Black love for Hillary, and Charlie Rangel's preferences aside, my money is on Barack to win in Harlem. And believe you me, it's not a racial thing.

Here's a short video by VideoDog/Salon of Obama's sold-out visit to Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.