Online hate speech is "almost all in the social-networking area," Rabbi Abraham Cooper says.
Internet's unregulated nature has aided proliferation of cyber-hate, report says
Number of hate-affiliated Web pages jumped 20 percent in past year
Personal blogs, mainstream social-networking sites are affected, authors say
New York (CNN) -- The unregulated nature of the Web has aided a proliferation of cyber-hate, according to a report the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance released Monday.
The report, Digital Terrorism and Hate 2010, notes that there are about 11,500 hate-affiliated Web pages, a 20 percent jump from last year's study.
According to the Wiesenthal Center, personal blogs as well as mainstream social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter are easily flooded with racist and terrorist-related content.
"The spike is not in traditional Web sites in the United States," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "It's more global and almost all in the social-networking area."
Mark Weitzman, director of government affairs for the Wiesenthal Center and a co-author of the report, said home-grown terrorism suspects have an active online presence. He cited the case of a Pennsylvania woman who officials say called herself "Jihad Jane."
The woman, Colleen LaRose, has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country. She had been on the radar of the Wiesenthal Center for the past year, Weitzman said.
"We ask, 'Are they just coming out of the woodwork?' and the answer in every single case is the Internet link," Cooper said.
Although these sites are monitored, the report's authors said, they have become increasingly alarmed by the "lone wolf" effect, making it difficult for law enforcement to discern which threats are legitimate and which are simply talk.
For example, the late James W. Von Brunn, the 88-year-old who was charged in the fatal shooting of a security guard at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington in June, kept a Web site called the Holy Western Empire. On it, he blamed a "Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys" and "a Jew judge" for a six-year prison term he served in the 1980s.
However, "there's no equation that says someone who posts a rant ... is going to go on a shooting rampage," said Weitzman, who has testified in front of Congress and the United Nations on the issue of digital hate.
Perhaps even more chilling are the growing numbers of "how to" Web sites in which terror groups routinely post instructional manuals and videos on bombmaking and computer hacking.
The study also explored e-commerce and how it can be used to market hate. In February, an eBay merchant offered "an original Holocaust ring," claiming that it came from his uncle who was posted at the Dachau concentration camp during World War II. EBay pulled the Web page before a sale was made.
Founded in 1977, the Simon Wiesenthal Center was named after a Jew who survived the Holocaust and became famous for his career as a Nazi hunter.
Congressional Black Caucus member discusses meeting with President Obama.
At President Obama's invitation the CBC meet with him on March 11. Hear a statement for CBC chair Barbara Lee and from Yvette Clarke a CBC member that was at the meeting by using the link below:
www.democracynow.org: "The Insight Center for Community Economic Development released a report on the gender wealth gap to mark International Women’s Day. The report found nearly half of all single black and Hispanic women have zero or negative wealth, meaning their debts exceed all of their assets. The median wealth for single black women is only $100; for single Hispanic women, $120. This compares to just over $41,000 for single white women. We speak with the chief author of the report, Mariko Lin Chang and C. Nicole Mason, Executive Director of the Women of Color Policy Network. [includes rush transcript]"
Natalie Randolph, first woman named coach of a high school football team.
Natalie Randolph an African American woman has been named head coach of the varsity football team at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School in Washington DC. She is believed to be the first woman to be named a head coach at the High School level.
People, please read this article and understand that we Blacks are human beings, not animals, not as the "others".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Vile Fascination with the Monkey Image of the Obama's (and African-Americans) by Earl Ofari Hutchingson
The worst thing about the CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association Walt Baker's silly, sick, demeaning depiction of First Lady Michelle Obama as a chimp ironically is not the depiction. It's Baker's clueless defense. The instant the storm broke, and Nashville's mayor, the state's GOP leaders denounced him, and the contract was summarily yanked from his marketing firm, Mercatus Communications, to help promote the city's new convention center, Baker predictably wailed that he's not a bigot, racially insensitive, and the cartoon was nothing but political humor.
He fervently believes that. He just as fervently believes that lampooning Michelle Obama, and President Obama as a monkey, ape, gorilla is just can't you take a joke fun and games. He and the pack of race baiting websites, chat rooms, and of late, college frat parties, and student websites that ridicule the Obama's (and African-Americans) in assorted off beat, crude, vile cartoons and always with the vile depiction as monkeys or apes is by now standard fare. It's no accident that it is.
The long, sordid and savage history of racist stereotyping of African-Americans has been the stock in trade of race baiting and racial ridicule and for more than century. A few grotesque book titles from a century ago, such as The Negro a Beast, The Negro, a Menace to American Civilization, and the Clansman depicted blacks as apes, monkeys, bestial, and animal like. The image stuck in books, magazines, journals, and deeply colored the thinking of many Americans of that day; that day?
In the movie version of Rudyard Kipling children's classic, The Jungle Book, the Disney Studios in 1967 graduated from the other standard animal depiction of African-Americans as black crows to depicting African-Americans as the Monkey like jive, gibberish blathering King Louie. The film was remade in 1994.
Fifteen years later, New York Post Cartoonist Sean Delonas ignited a firestorm with his casual depiction of President Obama as a monkey. He did it precisely because that image didn't die a century, half century, a decade, or even a year ago. In 2007 Penn State researchers conducted six separate studies and found that many Americans still link blacks with apes and monkeys. Many of them were young, and had absolutely no knowledge of the vicious stereotyping of blacks of years past. Their findings with the provocative title "Not Yet Human: Implicit Knowledge, Historical Dehumanization and Contemporary Consequences," in the February 2008 issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, was published by the American Psychological Association.
The overwhelming majority of the participants in the studies bristled at the faintest hint that they had any racial bias. But the animal savagery image and blacks was very much on their minds. The researchers found that participants, and that included even those with no stated prejudices or knowledge of the historical images, were quicker to associate blacks with apes than they were to associate whites with apes.
This was not simply a dry academic exercise. The animal association and blacks has had devastating real life consequences. In hundreds of news stories from 1979 to 1999 the Philadelphia Inquirer was much more likely to describe African Americans than Whites convicted of capital crimes with ape-relevant language, such as "barbaric," "beast," "brute," "savage" and "wild." And jurors in criminal cases were far more likely to judge blacks more harshly than whites, and regard them and their crimes as savage, bestial, and heinous, and slap them with tougher sentences than whites.
(The haterade against Michelle Obama, favorite target of frustrated right-wingers and HBDers)
First Lady Michelle Obama is a woman, a black woman, and a soft target for the frustrations and even scorn of the Obama loathers. During the campaign Obama opponents eagerly latched onto out-of-context statement she made at a campaign rally in which she allegedly questioned her faith in America, and made a supposedly less than reverential reference to the flag. They brutally tarred her as a closet anti-American, race-obsessed, black radical. That made her an instant campaign liability. For weeks she virtually disappeared from the campaign trail.
She has played a relatively low key role in the White House, and has succeeded in pretty much staying out of harm's way from the hits of hubby Obama's avowed enemies. That is all except when it comes to the image assault from the eternal animal mockery of blacks, an image that Baker and legions of other see nothing wrong with. It's an image that the First Lady and the President haven't seen the last of it. It's just too juicy, vile and hurtful to die. It's been that way for a century.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His nationally heard talk show is on KTYM-AM 1460 AM Los Angeles Friday 9:30 AM and KPFK Pacifica Radio 90.7 Los Angeles Saturday Noon PST.
This is the type of nonsense that falls under the radar
An emailed "joke" from an Tennesee CEO comparing the First Lady to a famous movie chimp ended up being no laughing matter.
The CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association issued an apology this weekend for an offensive e-mail he recently sent to several people, including members of the press and a public official, comparing Michelle Obama to Cheetah from the Tarzan movies.
"I deeply apologize to anyone who is offended by this action," Walt Baker said in a statement.
"I hope that those who know me realize that the message was not intended to be malicious or hurtful in any way and can find it in their hearts to forgive me."
However, Baker is apparently confused on why someone would find it offensive, describing the joke as "political humor."
"I did not think or consider its implications, other than that it was political humor," he wrote. "I am saddened that anyone misinterpreted the sentiments behind the e-mail."
Baker's e-mail, which someone had sent him and he forwarded, contained a photo of Michelle Obama along side a photo of Tarzan's chimpanzee sidekick.
"I have never considered myself bigoted, or racially insensitive, or a racist," Baker told News Channel 5.
The president of Nashville's Convention & Visitors Bureau, Butch Spyridon, was one of the people to receive the e-mail, and said he was "embarrassed" by the gag.
"The content is deeply hurtful to all in our city and beyond," he wrote in a statement. "The attitudes expressed in the email are both appalling and unacceptable, and are not shared or condoned in anyway by the NCVB or by me personally."
Spyridon said Baker's marketing firm, Mercatus Communications, has since lost its contract to help promote the city's new convention center.
"The e-mail was extremely offensive," Nashville's Mayor Karl Dean said in a statement. "It does not reflect who we are as a city and our values."
According to WSMV Channel 4 News in Nashville, this isn't the first time an e-mail with racist content has caused a controversy in the southern city.
Back in October, several hundred state workers received an e-mail proclaiming "white pride," and shortly after that, 20 Senate staffers were sent an e-mail from a legislative aide with President Obama seen on a black background as just a pair of eyes.
"I regret having done it," Baker said on News Channel 5. "I wished I had not pushed that button."
LOS ANGELES – Swastikas, nooses, a KKK hood, graffiti, epithets and jeers.
An ugly spate of bias incidents has crossed several University of California campuses over the past month, causing consternation, outcry and fear that bigotry is alive among the young and educated."
Once again, Julian Real is right on the money on this one. Again and again, the needs of WOC, working class women, immigrant women, poor women, disabled women are disregarded by the mainstream feminist movement.
Hi this is George Cook and I wanted to share with everyone this article I read by Taylor Trammell. She is a senior in High school at Detroits Mumford High School. The article deals with how it feels to be told that you "speak white" and what this one remarkable young lady has gone through.
The recent incident in Washington, DC proves the Southern Poverty Law Center report on the rise of extremism in America. With the economic recession, unemployment and perceived fears of racial privilege, many Americans are becoming domestic terrorists.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League has on record nearly 1,000 hate groups. And this disturbing pattern of "lone wolf" gunmen are becoming a new tradition in the movement. John Patrick Bedell, of California was killed by Pentagon officers after he opened fired on them when they asked for identification.
The alleged shooter posted videos on YouTube (note: YouTube may remove the video upon police inquiries):
Writings from the shooter.
“I am determined to see that justice is served in the death of Colonel James Sabow, as a step toward establishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions and institutions such as the coup regime of 1963 that maintains itself in power through the global drug trade, financial corruption, and murder, among other crimes. My work to develop information currency is an effort to create a framework for information management that uses financial markets to create the economic signals (prices) that will effect complex human actions in the real world based on specified information.
“My desire for justice led me to violate what I think is one of the most unjust laws, cannabis prohibition, by growing 16 cannabis plants on my balcony in Irvine, CA from March 2006 to June 2006.
One desired result of my effort is (will be) billions and billions of carefully cultivated, highly valuable cannabis plants growing throughout the United States with complete security of property. I have posted the image to the right in order to illustrate the use of cannabis as a monetary system using digital financial instruments.”
Official: Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell dies after confrontation with police
The Associated Press
Pentagon Police Chief Richard Keevill speaks with reporters about a shooting at the Pentagon, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in Washington. A gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at the teeming subway entrance to the Pentagon complex, wounding two police officers before being shot and critically wounded, officials said. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
WASHINGTON -- The chief of the Pentagon police says the gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers was well armed with two 9 millimeter semiautomatic weapons and several magazines of ammunition.
Chief Richard Keevill said authorities also found more ammunition in the shooter's car, parked in a Washington area parking garage. John Patrick Bedell, 36, of Hollister, Calif., was identified as the shooter. He died Thursday night from head wounds received in the exchange with police.
The two officers injured have been released from the hospital. One suffered a thigh wound and the other was hit in the shoulder. Keeveill said both were superficial injuries.
Keevill said they'd found no immediate connection to domestic or foreign terrorism. He said it appeared he had acted alone.
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Kentucky man has been charged with posting a poem threatening President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on a white supremacist Web site.
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Stephan M. Pazenzia said Johnny Logan Spencer Jr., 27, of Louisville wrote and posted the poem, titled "The Sniper," on a page called NewSaxon.org. The site is described as an "Online Community for Whites by Whites." The poem was posted in August 2007, according to an arrest affidavit.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Dave Whalin on Friday ordered Spencer released on $25,000 bond, but kept under house arrest at a family member's home. He's charged with making threats against the president and threatening to kill or injure a major candidate for the office of the president.
The poem describes a gunman shooting and killing a "tyrant" later identified as the president, setting off panic in the wake of the fatal shot being fired.
"The bullet that he has chambered is one of the purest pride, And the inspiration on the casing reads DIE negro DIE," the poem states.
Spencer used the online moniker "Pain1488," a reference to a phrase used by white nationalists as well as an homage to Adolf Hitler.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Chance told Whalin that, even though investigators linked no weapons to Spencer, the poem doesn't qualify as protected political speech.
"This is a threat by an individual against an individual simply because of who he is," Chance said. "He is the president and he is black."
Federal public defender Laura Wyrosdick said no one took action to harm Obama in the two years the poem has been publicly available.
"We're here today because Mr. Spencer allegedly wrote a poem, a work of art," Wyrosdick said.
After the hearing, Spencer's cousin, Paula McGill of Louisville, said family members were shocked by Spencer's arrest.
"I don't think he thought it was going to catch up with him," McGill said. "He's not a harmful guy at all."
The Secret Service became aware of the poem just after the 2008 election that made Obama the first black president in the country's history. An arrest affidavit says the Secret Service referenced the writing in a report on the white supremacist National Socialist movement. But at the time, the affadavit says, "Spencer was never identified, located, or interviewed."
The investigation started a week ago when an informant faxed a copy of the writings and Spencer's identity to the FBI, Pazenzia said.
Pazenzia said Spencer acknowledged writing the poem but gave multiple addresses to investigators, none of which appeared to be his actual residence. Searches of the homes were fruitless, Pazenzia said.
Spencer is currently on probation from a state drug conviction in Louisville.
If convicted of the new charges, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
(This version CORRECTS to say Spencer was not identified as the author of the poem in November 2008.))
, Fla., March 3 (UPI) -- A Florida city worker was suspended for 30 days after leaving a noose in the mechanics shop where he worked.
Leslie Vargas, 64, a 22-year employee of the city of Fort Lauderdale who worked most recently as a utilities mechanic, left the noose in the area where tools are kept at the Central Maintenance Shop, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday.
His suspension began March 1, the newspaper reported.
Vargas wrote an apology to his fellow employees that read: "It was (not my intention) to cause any problem, I was only practicing knots in general as I always do … If I offended anyone I am sorry in the future I will be more sensitive."
Vargas is required to attend a six-hour course in ethnic studies and signed a "last chance agreement," stating he must resign if there is reason for any further disciplinary action against him, said city spokesman Chaz Adams.
Zachary Tucker, left, and Sean Fitzgerald were arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of second-degree tampering.¦ Courtesy of MU police
BY Missourian Staff
COLUMBIA — An anonymous tip led to the arrest Tuesday night of two MU students in connection with last Friday's scattering of cotton balls in front of the MU's Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center.
Sean D. Fitzgerald, 19, and Zachary E. Tucker, 21, were arrested on suspicion of second-degree tampering. Police are pursuing the charge as a hate crime, making it a felony.
Statement by MU Chancellor Brady Deaton released Wednesday regarding the arrests:
Based on the information available to me, and in accordance with the University of Missouri’s Student Conduct Code (as outlined in the Collected Rules and Regulations, Chapter 200), I have determined it is in the best interest of the university community to temporarily suspend those students, Sean D. Fitzgerald and Zachary E. Tucker, who have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident that occurred on Feb. 26 at the front entrance of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, pending the outcome of the formal student conduct process. The Boone County Prosecutor will make a determination related to any criminal prosecution.
I commend MUPD Chief Jack Watring and his officers for their rapid and effective response during this difficult time. I also wish to thank the Legion of Black Collegians for the leadership they have demonstrated and to all those who attended and spoke out at LBC’s town hall meeting. My colleagues and I in the MU administration have listened carefully to all that was expressed and join all of you as we work together in support of our Mizzou family.
International Middle East Media Center:At around 7:00 am on Thursday people gathered, at the town then marched towered the lands were Israeli planning to build a new section of the wall. The new section of the wall will surround a nearby settler only road to protect it and destroy around 75 acres of land owned by residents. The wall will pass right by their front doors. Metrei Ighneem, from Beit Jala decriped they what it means for the army to cut down his olive trees: “They uprooted 15 olive trees that I own. They also destroyed my land. Those trees date back to the Roman Era. Olive trees for me means life. It give me food and oil.” He added, “ which law allows the cutting of trees that is thousands of years old? This is a crime.”
Must I have the media to tell me to date outside my race? Or within? No, I don't need the media to tell me when and when not to date/marry anybody. I'm not a child or a teenager. I'm an adult. Those type of media articles insult my intelligence.
Hi my name is George Cook. I am happy to announce the release of my second children's book for the Kindle, NAPPY. NAPPY is just 99 cents. There is more great news! You know longer need a Kindle to read Kindle Books. You can now read them on your computer, BlackBerry, iPhone, or iPod with a free download from Amazon.
NAPPY is a short picture book letting young black girls know how beautiful both they and their hair is.
Review of Nappy.
Karen of The Peace & Beauty Project http://www.sakile.org/ ( a peaceful and beautiful revolution that encourages girls to honor their natural beauty and make health conscious choices while doing so. )
....the message is needed whether simply put or complex. Our girls are at critical mass and these messages, particularly from men, are potent and powerful. Please continue with this work. Blessings.
Forget Joseph Stack. remember the man he killed, Vernon Hunter. Anyone making Joseph Stack a hero should remember the man Stack killed. Vernon Hunter a true American. A man who served his country and helped those who couldn't make their payments to the IRS.
Gallup:In a recent Gallup poll a surprising result emerged. Asked about their feelings toward divers economic systems, a stunning 53% of Democrats and 61% of liberals indicated a favorable view of socialism.1 That explains much about the intentions behind the programs the administration and Congress have been trying to foist on the American people. Fortunately, the same poll confirmed 58% of all Americans have a negative view of socialism, which undergirds the sudden and visceral rise in populist resistance to those very programs. Do they teach socialism in school anymore? It was only 20 years ago that the Soviet Union and communism, an extreme form of socialism, collapsed. If we take for granted that during that time educators assumed socialism was dead forever, today’s young voters could not have lived through its abject failure, even vicariously, and the most susceptible among them might be subject to seduction by its false promise. There is scant debate today on the causes of the collapse of the auto or mortgage industries, for example, as a function of the industries' deviation from pure capitalism in contrast to an analysis built on the unproven assumption that capitalism failed. Is it un-American to conclude that GM just wasn’t making products that the market valued, or that government interference in mortgages, through Fannie and Freddie, skewed prudent management of financial risk?
KAOSENLARED.NET:La realidad se impuso. Ya sea como resultado de un virus generado en un laboratorio, traído del África o de una invención genética, fuimos perdiendo a nuestros mejores y más lúcidos activistas. Uno a uno fueron sucumbiendo víctimas del VIH SIDA, en ese momento no había medicamentos antirretrovirales, ni tratamiento. Vimos morir a nuestros compañeros, nuestros hermanos, delirando de fiebre, consumidos pesando 30 o40 kilos de peso, en fin, de la manera más espantosa. Que montaje ni que mierda: El SIDA existía. La autocrítica no se hizo esperar, habíamos equivocado el mensaje a la comunidad gay. Y este error había costado al menos cientos de vidas. Esa experiencia me marcó profundamente, no solo a mí, sino a varias de las personas con quienes militaba y dimos un fuerte giro a nuestra estrategia y nuestra acción. Independientemente del origen del retrovirus, si laboratorio genético o exportado del África y sabiendo que su existencia determinaba desde luego una fuerte estigmatización de las personas homosexuales, nos pusimos a trabajar en las campañas de prevención y asistencia a las víctimas. Sri Lanka Guardian: Culture of self-exclusion
(February 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) To a segment of Tamils in Sri Lanka, alienation from mainstream life has become a habit of thought.It has now got embedded in sentiment and inertia. Perhaps to a people habituated to fatalistic propensities, this mode of action came a bit too easily. So, for
eighty years have we cherished this ‘gift’, without ever looking it in the mouth. Whatever the vicissitudes in the nation’s political life, we stayed put. The no-change stance was given an aura of principled politics, both consistent and continuous. The time is now to veer completely and absolutely.
May 2009 has cleaved the course of the nation’s history. The upheaval has altered the political contours drastically and irretrievably. It will be unwise for both North and South not to recognize it. A sea change has already taken place. Cataclysmic may be a more apt description. Never will the country be the same again, either post 1931 or post 1948 or post 1983. North South relations are destined to follow a new course. In appreciation of the changes, Tamils can opt for a new beginning or let slip an opportunity that comes but rarely.
Special Report by IIN Investigative Blog-correspondent John John:-Vancouver Sun: VANCOUVER -- There were some tense moments but the march by thousands of anti-Olympic protesters to B.C. Place stadium Thursday was a mostly peaceful affair that did not disrupt the arrival of spectators to the 2010 Olympic opening ceremony. The police allowed the protest march of about 2,000 people to proceed unimpeded from the Vancouver Art Gallery to the corner of Beatty and Robson in front of the stadium. A nearly two-hour standoff between two phalanxes of police and protesters followed with the anarchist black flag waving about 40 meters in front of the Terry Fox monument and beside the Alberta House where people drank beer and watched the opening ceremony on television. At one point there was pushing and shoving between police and protesters when a small group of demonstrators surged toward the police with a banner made of bamboo. The police grabbed the bamboo banner, linked arms and briefly pushed back against the crowd. -- An Olympic Failure: At least 137 Native women missing and murdered in BC since 1980 | The Dominion
The epidemic of missing and murdered women in Canada has not improved since the inaugural march 18 years ago. In fact, it appears to have worsened, particularly for Indigenous women and girls. Of 521 known cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada since roughly 1980, half have occurred in the last decade. BC has seen the worst, where, as of 2008, approximately 137 of those cases had occurred. According to Walk4Justice activists, (a group made up largely of Indigenous women who hold annual walks demanding justice for their missing and murdered friends and loved ones), and the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), the actual number of missing and murdered Indigenous women is much higher, and likely in the thousands. Underestimation, they say, is due to insufficient research funding, which is also a phenomenon of the last decade.
My name is George Cook. I have written three books f or the Amazon Kindle that may be of interest to African American readers and to other interested in black opinion or what black american's think. The books touch on a variety of issues in the Black Community and there is even a book for children.
I am an active member of my community as a member of my local Board of Education, a boy scout leader, a volunteer coach, and as a community activist. I have also served in the US Army. These experiences have shaped me and my writing.
My three books are:
Let's Talk Honestly: One Black Man's Thoughts $1.50
This book is a book of poetry about what I see as problems or issues in the Black Community. I hope that these poems will make you think and hopefully talk to others.
Why Republicans Can't Get Black Voters 99 cents.
Satiric look at why republicans can't make in roads into the Black Community. While humorous the short book does give common sense tips on how the RNC can reach out to black voters. The book touches on conservative talk radio, black political beliefs, and the failure of the RNC to reach out to black voters.
The Hillsiders: What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up. $1.50
The Hillsiders new childrens book about a fourth grade class at Barack Obama Elementary. On this day the class discusses what they want to be when they grow up with their teacher Mr. Reeves. Join along and see if you want to be the same things too.
You can check out my books and read free previews by using the link below:
kvia.com:By MATT LEINGANG-Associated Press Writer-COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-typejobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday. Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission. Ohio is not only a destination place for foreign-born trafficking victims, but it's also a recruitment place," said Celia Williamson, an associate professor at the University of Toledo who led the research. Formed last year by Ohio Attorney General Richard Condray, the commission also found that hundreds more in the state are at risk of being forced into sex trafficking or to work against their will in fields, restaurants, sweatshops or constructions sites.
Assata Shakur Speaks: It is surmised that this modern method of control was implemented in 1968 in the face of widespread violence that ensued after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King’s brutal assassination led to many demonstrations of unrest and rioting disturbances; that of which were reported in more than 100 cities across the nation. This violence resulted in the loss of lives and property that cost the nation and taxpayers millions of dollars and increasingly placed the peace and stability of the nation in dire jeopardy. America’s brutal racial mistreatment of African Americans had appeared to have reached its boiling point creating much unrest and discord. These factors, combined with the rapidly tarnishing American global image, led the U.S. Government’s agents of White supremacy to quickly reform their techniques of institutionalized racism. The problem led to the then president, Lyndon B Johnson, ordering that a commission be formed, later known as the Kerner Commission, to investigate and prescribe a cure or recommendations for the problem. The Commission concluded that blatant White racism was the single aggravating factor for the collective problems.
The Kerner report’s findings required that the U.S. Government abandon it’s condoning of open, blatant forms of racism to control and maintain White dominance. This abandoning of dated tactics led to the need for developing an improved method of controlling and suppressing its Black population. Changing times made it necessary for the U.S. government to change its methods to a much more subtle and socially acceptable means of continuing its racial suppression of Blacks and to maintain its White dominance. Clearly, the sophisticated method of psychological warfare met such a need. It was the logical choice, perfect for the changing times. Unlike the blatantly brutal forms of racism used in the past, which Blacks were able to identify easily and therefore unify and form counter strategies, this modern method of racism works from a psychological perspective. This provided the U.S. government a more socially acceptable method of continuing the White racial hierarchy for dominance and control given that it is not as easily recognized. This new method exists in the space between overt racism and racial respect. Its methods include the ability to both influence the national climate and engender personal psychological feelings among Americans that meet the U.S government objective.
January 21, 2010 – Spokesmen for the so-called “Somali pirates” have expressed
willingness to transfer part of their loot captured from transnational boats
and send it to Haiti. Leaders of these groups have declared they have links in various places around the world to help them ensure the delivery of aid without being detected by
the armed forces of enemy governments.
The “pirates” typically redistribute a significant portion of their profits
among relatives and the local population. In their operations, the “pirates”
urge transnational corporations that own the cargo confiscated to pay back in
cash as banks can not operate in Somalia. ”The humanitarian aid to Haiti can not be controlled by the United States and European countries; they have no moral authority to do so. They are the ones pirating mankind for many years,” said the Somali spokesman.
Are sports stressed too much in the Black Community? George Cook of www.letstalkhonestly.com discusses how he feels that sports and not education is stressed enough in the Black Community.
guardian.co.uk: Oversized neon Olympic rings illuminate Vancouver harbour while a giant mural of a snowboarder mid-trick welcomes visitors to the airport. In the city centre, a sleek steel-and-glass Olympic clock is counting down to next month's winter games.
But for 51-year-old Wayne, a homeless drug addict, looking up at the snowcapped mountains where the downhill competition runs will be fills him with dread.
"We're all going to be cleared out of here before the Olympics," he said, wrapped in a flimsy sleeping bag and clutching a bag of bottles plucked from street bins which he will exchange for money. "The clean-up will happen – they all want to hide the city's black eye, right?"
That black eye is the Downtown Eastside (DTES), one of the most highly visible and divisive parts of the Canadian city's involvement with the Olympics. The area is both ghetto and historic community. It boasts a high concentration of single-room accommodation and cardboard-and-shopping-trolley "homes" for Wayne and many of the region's other 2,660 homeless people.
Little Green Footbals: An activist organization that monitors hate groups has produced a photo of O’Keefe at a 2006 conference on “Race and Conservatism” that featured leading white nationalists. The photo, first published Jan. 30 on the Web site of the anti-racism group One People’s Project, shows O’Keefe at the gathering, which was so controversial even the ultra-right Leadership Institute, which employed O’Keefe at the time, withdrew its backing. But O’Keefe and fellow young conservative provocateur Marcus Epstein soldiered on to give anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism an opportunity to share their grievances and plans to make inroads in the GOP.
According to One People’s Project founder Daryle Jenkins, O’Keefe was manning the literature table at the gathering that brought together anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism. OPP covered the event at the time, sending a freelance photographer to document the gathering. Jenkins told me the table was filled with tracts from the white supremacist right, including two pseudo-academic publications that have called blacks and Latinos genetically inferior to whites: American Renaissance and the Occidental Quarterly. The leading speaker was Jared Taylor, founder of the white nationalist group American Renaissance.
On Feb. 1, 2010 Brigadier General Mary J. Kight was named as the first female adjutant African-American female National Guard adjutant general in the nation. She will be in charge of the California National Gaurd. Read more here:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." --13th Amendment, 1865.
An 18,000-acre former slave plantation in rural Louisiana, the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is the largest prison in the U.S. Today, with African Americans composing over 75% of Angola's 5,108 prisoners, prison guards known as "free men," a forced 40-hour workweek, and four cents an hour as minimum wage, the resemblance to antebellum U.S. slavery is striking. In the early 1970s, it was even worse, as prisoners were forced to work 96-hour weeks (16 hours a day/six days a week) with two cents an hour as minimum wage. Officially considered (according to its own website) the "Bloodiest Prison in the South" at this time, violence from guards and between prisoners was endemic. Prison authorities sanctioned prisoner rape, and according to former Prison Warden Murray Henderson, the prison guards actually helped facilitate a brutal system of sexual slavery where the younger and physically weaker prisoners were bought and sold into submission. As part of the notorious "inmate trusty guard" system, responsible for killing 40 prisoners and seriously maiming 350 between 1972-75, some prisoners were given state-issued weapons and ordered to enforce this sexual slavery, as well as the prison's many other injustices. Life at Angola was living hell -- a 20th century slave plantation.
By Dana Gabriel for countercurrents.org/: The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will be the largest security operation in Canadian history. It will include more than 15,000 Canadian Forces, private security personnel, along with the RCMP and other police agencies. The U.S. will also provide security and support for the Games. With the Olympics fast approaching, the fear of terrorism is back in the public’s psyche. Although there has been no specific threats to the Games, more than anything, it is the danger of terrorism which is used to justify the huge security operation. This is further advancing the militarization of North America and U.S.-Canada military and security integration. The Olympics will take bi-national security cooperation to a whole new level. Unmanned drones are patrolling the U.S.-Canada border as part of the war on terrorism and to curb smuggling, along with drug trafficking. It is unclear if they will be used for surveillance during the Games, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, Juan Munoz-Torres has stated that, “If the RCMP or Canadian government believes they can make use of the aircraft for support during the Olympics, we will be more than willing to provide it.” In Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world, armed American drones continue to carry out strikes against suspected terrorists and insurgents. It is interesting that many of the weapons used in the war on terrorism overseas are later deployed for domestic purposes. The use of unmanned drones on the northern border will only add to the further militarization of North America.
Submitted by Sina Brown-Davis via:Fourth World Eye » The World Trade Organization is essentially the world’s “chamber of commerce” sanctioned by states’ governments to regulate public policy. It is now quite commonly accepted in the assemblies of government that when public policies (health, education, economic, human rights, indigenous rights, etc) prevent profit or reduce profits for a corporation (read trans-state corporation) the policy is twisted to favor profit and reject benefits to the public. Big corporations often supported by BINGOs (big international non-governmental organizations) seek to maintain monopolies–rejecting and defeating free enterprise competition. Protecting monopolies has become the norm instead of the exception. Free enterprise competition is given lip service but little else.States’ governments fail to regulate corporations. (Since the US President Jimmy Carter Administration states’ governments led by the US have stripped themselves of all regulatory powers with the help of corporations.) Since the 2008 collapse of international financial institutions and the consequent breakdown of domestic economies few political leaders have strained to push for reregulation. For those trying their efforts have largely been obstructed by overwhelming corporate, political party brethren, ngos and public information media [owned by major corporations] opposition and propaganda.
Womanist Musings: "Thursday, January 28, 2010
Blogger Paul Shirley To Haitians: Please Use A Condom Once In A While
I wish that I could say that the tragedy in Haiti has caused people to recognize Western culpability in the state of that country. I wish I could say that now that eyes have been opened, that the worldview of Haiti will change but such thoughts are utopian at best. Even in the worst of circumstances there are always going to be those that hold onto their privilege with a death grip because to do otherwise would mean recognizing that they are not entitled to the life of ease to which they have become accustomed." Read more at Womanist Musings regarding this pathetic POS views on Haitians.
Conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles poised as a "pimp" and "prostitute" in an attempt to uncover wrongdoing at community housing group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). They generated mainstream coverage after they filmed several workers talking about illegal activities.
The roller coaster of stupidity in the name of conservatism. James O'Keefe, 25 along with three other men were arrested for attempting "bug" Louisiana Democratic senator Mary Landrieu's main office in New Orleans.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing in the media, investigative journalism. Andrew Breitbart, a conservative blogger with ties to Matt Drudge was promoting videos by O'Keefe and his former girlfriend Hannah Giles. The pair were convinced that the community organization group ACORN was responsible for Barack Obama's victory in 2008 through "voter fraud" and "illicit activities". They traveled to ten ACORN locations and managed to videotape a few of the workers talking about "how to created fake voter registrations", "smuggling El Salvadoran children for prostitution" and convinced a woman to "admit that she murdered her husband". They wanted to expose the liberal lies and shame the group.
The CEO of the community group Bertha Lewis slammed the pair, Fox News (which heavily promoted the pair) and the Republican Party for creating a "witch hunt" and slander of an organization that helps low income families find housing. ACORN is currently in the process of suing Breitbart, O'Keefe and Giles for restitution and unauthorized filming in a private business.
The impact of the videos affected the lawmakers and many broke ties to the group. The House of Representatives and Senate have voted unanimously to sever funding to the organization group. The U.S. Justice Department is fighting the repeal the decision made by Congress.
Since the videos were posted on YouTube, O'Keefe and Giles became internet sensations. Unfortunately, Ms. Giles image was tarnished in the matter and hasn't been featured in many of the filming by O'Keefe.
To make matters worse, this arrest has been buzzing across the internet. Many liberals are thrilled to see this person arrest, and conservative voice despair and anger to the actions. One prominent conservative activist, Michelle Malkin dismissed him and severed ties to O'Keefe. In one of her postings, Malkin stated:
"Let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism: Know your limits! "Know the law. Don’t get carried away. And don’t become what you are targeting."
Details on the matter: Associated Press
Conservative ties bind 4 La. phone plot suspects
New Orleans (AP) - Four men accused of trying to tamper with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office phones shared a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications.
Federal authorities said two of the men posed as telephone workers with hard hats, tool belts and fluorescent vests and walked into Landrieu's office in a New Orleans federal building Monday. The others are accused of helping to organize the plan.
The most well-known suspect is James O'Keefe, 25, who posed as a pimp for a hidden-camera expose that damaged the reputation of the liberal community-organizing group ACORN and made him a conservative darling.
O'Keefe and suspect Joseph Basel, 24, formed their own conservative publications on their college campuses. A third suspect, Stan Dai, 24, was editor of his university's conservative paper and directed a program aimed at getting college students interested in the intelligence field after 9/11.
The fourth suspect, Robert Flanagan, 24, wrote for the New Orleans-based conservative Pelican Institute and had recently criticized Landrieu for voting in favor of health care legislation after securing a Medicaid provision helpful to her state.
O'Keefe was a featured speaker at a Pelican Institute luncheon days before his arrest, though institute president Kevin Kane said Wednesday that he had no idea what happened at Landrieu's office or what the four were doing there. Flanagan, son of the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, was a contract worker for the institute, mostly writing for its blog.
"Robert has done terrific work and I think very highly of him, and am very sorry to see him in this difficult situation," Kane said.
It's not yet clear whether the plan was a prank intended to be captured on camera or a more serious attempt at political espionage, as claimed by state Democrats who dubbed it "LouisianaWatergate."
Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan said Republicans once praised O'Keefe as an American hero, "yet today, in light of these deplorable and illegal attacks on the office of a United States senator by their champion, Republicans have not offered a single iota of disgust, a whisper of indignation or even a hint of outrage."
In October, Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, sponsored a resolution praising O'Keefe and the woman who posed as a prostitute, Hannah Giles, for their investigation of "fraudulent and illegal practices and misuse of taxpayer dollars" by ACORN. Thirty-one Republican congressmen signed on as co-sponsors.
In response to the arrests, Olson said that "if recent events conclude that any laws were broken in the incident in Sen. Landrieu's office — that is not something I condone."
A witness told authorities O'Keefe was sitting in the waiting area of Landrieu's office and appeared to record Basel and Flanagan on his cell phone when they arrived posing as phone workers. Landrieu, who was in Washington at the time, said in a statement that the plot was "unsettling" for her and her staff.
A federal law enforcement official said one of the suspects was picked up in a car a couple of blocks away with a listening device that could pick up transmissions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not part of the FBI affidavit. Another official said Dai was the suspect arrested outside.
All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
"It was poor judgment," Flanagan's lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."
O'Keefe, Basel and Dai returned to the courthouse carrying suitcases Wednesday morning for private appointments with the department that handles arrangements with defendants before trial. None would comment as they entered and exited the courthouse.
Flanagan, who was not with them, is the only suspect who lives in Louisiana. Basel is from Minnesota; O'Keefe, New Jersey; and Dai, the D.C.-Virginia area.
As O'Keefe left jail Tuesday with Dai and Basel, he said only "Veritas," Latin for truth.
As he got into a cab outside, O'Keefe said, "The truth shall set me free." His father, James O'Keefe, Jr., of Westwood, N.J., said he had not spoken to his son in several days and did not know he had traveled to New Orleans, let alone why he went to Landrieu's office.
"That would not be something that I can even imagine him doing," he said. "I think this is going to be blown out of proportion."
The allegations were quickly condemned by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Its political affiliates have registered hundreds of thousands of voters in urban and other poor areas of the country.
O'Keefe's arrest "is further evidence of his disregard for the law in pursuit of his extremist agenda," ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said in a statement. The organization's Twitter feed commented on the news: "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving soul."
Last year, O'Keefe used a hidden camera to record ACORN staffers who appeared to offer illegal tax advice and support the misuse of public funds and illegal trafficking in children.
The videos were first posted on biggovernment.com, a site run by conservative Andrew Breitbart. In the past, Breitbart has said O'Keefe — now a paid contributor to BigGovernment.com — is an independent filmmaker, not an employee.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Breitbart said: "We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O'Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu's office."
Dai is a former assistant director of a program at Trinity Washington University that taught students about careers in intelligence, university president Patricia McGuire said. It was part of a national effort to interest students at liberal arts colleges in careers in intelligence but did not teach spy craft, she said.
He was listed as a "freelance consultant" in a Junior Statesmen program at the Central Intelligence Agency where he appeared as a speaker.
O'Keefe and Basel were also active in conservative publications at their respective colleges, Rutgers University and the University of Minnesota-Morris. They gave a joint interview Jan. 14 to CampusReform.org, a Web site that supports college conservatives on student publications.
"I happen to call what I do shoe leather journalism and not advocacy journalism," O'Keefe was quoted as saying. "So, I would consider it just journalism."
___
Associated Press Writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Pete Yost in Washington, Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles and Ben Nuckols in Baltimore contributed to this report.
By KATE ZERNIKE The New York Times, Published: January 25, 2010
A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”
The convention’s difficulties highlight the fractiousness of the Tea Party groups, and the considerable suspicions among their members of anything that suggests the establishment.
The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.
Tea Party events exploded last winter, as increasingly large gatherings protested the federal stimulus bill, government bailouts and proposed health care legislation. While they vary by name, specific tenets and relative embrace of anarchy, such groups tend to unite around fiscal conservatism and a belief that the federal government — whether led by Republicans or Democrats — has overstepped its constitutional powers.
Tea Party Nation, the convention organizer, started as a social networking site for the groups last year, a kind of Facebook for conservatives to “form bonds, network and make plans for action.” But its founders, former sponsors and participants are now trading accusations.
Philip Glass, the national director of the National Precinct Alliance, announced late Sunday that “amid growing controversy” around the convention, his organization would no longer participate. His group seeks to take over the Republican Party from the bottom by filling the ranks of local and state parties with grass-roots conservatives, and Mr. Glass had been scheduled to lead workshops on its strategy.
“We are very concerned about the appearance of T.P.N. profiteering and exploitation of the grass-roots movement,” he said in a statement. “We were under the impression that T.P.N. was a nonprofit organization like N.P.A., interested only in uniting and educating Tea Party activists on how to make a real difference in the political arena.”
Mr. Glass said he was also concerned about the role in the convention of groups like Tea Party Express, which has held rallies across the country through two bus tours, and FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella. He called them “Republican National Committee-related groups,” and added, “At best, it creates the appearance of an R.N.C. hijacking; at worst, it is one.”
Erick Erickson, the editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com, wrote this month that something seemed “scammy” about the convention. And the American Liberty Alliance withdrew as a sponsor after its members expressed concerns about the convention’s finances being channeled through private bank accounts and its organizer being “for profit.”
“When we look at the $500 price tag for the event and the fact that many of the original leaders in the group left over similar issues, it’s hard for us not to assume the worst,” Eric Odom, the executive director of the American Liberty Alliance and an organizer of the tax day rallies last April, wrote on the group’s Web site.
Sherry Phillips, who founded and runs Tea Party Nation with her husband, Judson, said Monday that it is not a nonprofit group.
Ms. Phillips said the American Liberty Alliance was “a for-profit company that takes donations.” The National Precinct Alliance, she said, demanded compensation of around $3,000. “Our budget on this convention is very tight and we could not afford them,” she wrote in an e-mail message.
She declined to comment on Ms. Palin’s speaking fee.
“If there is any profit,” Ms. Phillips said, “the money will go toward furthering the cause of conservatism.”
Mr. Glass denied that his group had requested money and said convention organizers had asked his group to pay $2,200 to speak.
As for FreedomWorks, it is not a convention sponsor. Tea Party leaders in training sessions at the group’s headquarters on Monday said their members, for the most part, could not afford the convention or were not interested.
An earlier version of this article erroneously said that Sherry Phillips called the Tea Party a "nonprofit" group.
January 25th, 2010 By Daniel Tencer, reporter The Raw Story
Fox News is staying silent after bloggers and commentators criticized the news network for a January 13 report on its Web site that stated Cuba was "absent" from global aid efforts in Haiti.
Observers note that the communist country was, in fact, one of the first to arrive after the earthquake that is now estimated to have taken the lives of 200,000 people. That has led some bloggers to accuse Fox of using the devastation in Haiti to propagandize against Cuba.
In an online news story entitled "US Spearheads Global Response to Haiti Earthquake," Fox reported that "one geographically close country is conspicuously absent from the roster of helping hands. Cuba, which had evacuated some of its residents as a precaution in case the earthquake triggered a tsunami, has so far not offered any assistance publicly to its devastated island neighbor."
"The opposite is the case," reports Tony Iltis at Green Left Online. "At the time the earthquake struck, Cuba already had 344 doctors and paramedics working in Haiti. Also, in the past 12 years 450 young Haitians have graduated as doctors from Cuban colleges, free of charge."
Iltis reported:
From January 13, more teams of Cuban health workers, accompanied by Haitian medical students studying in Cuba, began arriving in Haiti with medical supplies.
A January 12 Granma article said that, within a week of the earthquake: “Cuban doctors in the Haitian capital [had held] 13,418 consultancies, with 1,078 operations, more than 550 of them considered major surgery. The Cuban doctors have also assisted 38 births.”
Notably, on the same day that Fox published its report, the network also ran an article from the Associated Press that stated, "Cuba, which already had hundreds of doctors in Haiti, treated injured in field hospitals."
Fox doesn't appear to have corrected the error. As of press time, the network had not responded to Raw Story's repeated requests for comment.
For nearly two weeks media watchdogs have been complaining that Fox News has been minimizing its coverage of the Haiti earthquake. MediaMatters reported that, in the first full day after the earthquake -- Jan. 13 -- MSNBC devoted 20 times as much time to Haiti as Fox News, and on January 14, the ratio was roughly five to one.
But other observers say the lack of coverage is more widespread than Fox News. Freelance journalist Dave Lindorff reported last week that Cuba was commonly overlooked when US news outlets reported on international aid efforts.
Far from “doing nothing” about the disaster as the right-wing propagandists at Fox-TV were charging, Cuba has been one of the most effective and critical responders to the crisis, because it had set up a medical infrastructure before the quake, which was able to mobilize quickly and start treating the victims.
If Cuba is to share any blame for the misconception that it's doing nothing, it may be that the government in Havana simply didn't put out a press release fast enough. A Jan. 13 article in Granma, the Cuban state-run publication, didn't mention Cuban relief efforts. That led bloggers to post the article as proof Cuba was absent from the rescue effort.
But news of the country's efforts is slowly beginning to trickle into the United States. On Monday, NPR reported that "the day after the earthquake struck the Cuban doctors reopened two hospitals. Since the Cubans live in the poorest neighborhoods amongst the most disadvantaged Haitians they were actually the first responders."
An Adopt-A-Highway sign for the National Socialist Movement.
An unusual group has adopted a portion of one of Colorado's highways. The National Socialist Movement, who also calls itself America's Nazi Party, applied to participate in the Colorado Department of Transportation's Adopt-A-Highway program.
The group will be responsible for picking up trash along a one-mile stretch of Highway 85 south of Bromley Lane in Brighton.
A sign is already up in the area with the group's name on it. There's a Baptist church along the stretch of roadway.
The National Socialist Movement will be out picking up trash for the first time next Saturday.
guardian.co.uk: The horrifying aftermath of Haiti's earthquake has claimed another victim in the form of a 15-year-old girl, an apparent looter, shot dead by police. Fabienne Cherisma was killed with a bullet to the head after taking paintings from a wrecked shop in downtown Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. Pictures of the teenager show her slumped face down over one of the paintings and a trail of blood seeping from the wound. Witnesses said it was unclear if she was deliberately targeted or accidentally hit while police fired in the air to disperse a crowd which was carrying goods from Rue Grand Rice. A conflicting account gave her name as Fabienne Geismar and said she was killed in Rue Marthely Seiee.Police armed with rifles shot over the heads of the people and kicked a man, part of a delayed effort to regain control of a capital which has been lawless – but largely calm – since the 12 January earthquake.
globalresearch.ca: Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua say the US is using the international relief operation in Haiti as a cover-up for a military takeover. Bolivian President Evo Morales said that he will request an emergency UN meeting to reject what he calls the US military occupation of Haiti. "It's not right that the United States should use this natural disaster to invade and militarily occupy Haiti," Morales told a press conference on Wednesday. "If you have all these problems with the injured and the dead from the earthquake, you have to go there to save lives, and you don't do that from a military standpoint," he added. An outspoken critic of US policies, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez also had accused Washington of occupying Haiti "under the guise of the natural disaster." Nicaragua also has taken a similar stance toward US with respect to the situation in Haiti. The United States is deploying up to 20,000 troops to Haiti. US servicemen have taken control of the country's international airport. The Pentagon has sent one of its biggest aircraft carriers to Haiti, along with other navy and coast guard vessels. On Friday, Arturo Valenzuela, the US assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs rejected that the US was occupying Haiti."Haiti is a sovereign country, everybody respects Haiti's sovereign country, the United States respects Haiti's sovereignty," said Arturo Valenzuela.
An emailed "joke" from an Tennesee CEO comparing the First Lady to a famous movie chimp ended up being no laughing matter.
Gallup
Little Green Footbals
guardian.co.uk