Kit's Satire: My Night Out At The UFO Party With Jamal & Stephen Hawking

Just when Arizona thought they did the right thing in passing a law to cast a wider net to nab illegal aliens, along comes Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant scientists of our times, and said we need to leave those mofos alone.

I heard it myself when me 'n my buddy, Jamal, hooked up with Stephan at an outdoor UFO party, on a mountain about a three hour drive away to watch for unidentified flying objects. Like me, Jamal enjoys trying different things.

Stephen said, "Aliens might be traveling the cosmos right now - not for exploration's sake but because they've run out of resources at home."

Two guys named George W. and Tony B. overheard the conversation.

"Well that's their damn problem," George replied. "Them Mexicans gotta find a little country or two to invade like we did that has plenty of resources, but they better not come near us."

A blonde fella named Lou D who used to be a news pundit shook his head in agreement. "I used to say that all the time."

Stephen, Jamal and I stared at them, wondering who the heck invited these men with one-track minds.

"Now, now, boys," I interrupted, "don't go hating and promoting war here. That's not nice or humane."

"Yeah, and karma is a bitch," Jamal added, grittin' on them.

Stephen agreed, and said he thought these illegals might want to invade us. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

"That's not true," an self-important guy named O' Riley said. "They have very successful casinos, and frankly, I resent it."

Suddenly, we all heard the sound of a gunshot.

"No need for alarm!", an exuberant Sarah P. exclaimed. "I just a bagged a moose. Practice, ya know, for when I spot my first alien invader!"

I turned to O'Riley, "Better try to get first dibs on an interview with her!"

Got rid of his azz quick.

Jamal turned to me. "Lawd have mercy," he said, "I hope these new aliens don't try to re-start the slave trade."

"You bettah hope they don't try to eat us," I snapped.

Skip Gates joined in. "Well, the last time, Africans sold Africans to white slave traders, but nobody got eaten."

"There ya go again, Skip!", I said. "Stop bringing that up! Only right wingers want to hear about that."

"Yeah," Jamal agreed, "and I think some of them would like to see us eaten up now."

"I can't help doing what I do" Skip replied. "I'm not a historical revisionist. I tell it how it was, not how we wish it was... and I like creating opportunities to hook up with my friend Barack."

"Name dropper," Jamal muttered under his breath.

I eased away, rolling Stephen with me.

Our eyes searched night sky and the stars.

"Nope, I don't see no space aliens tonight," I said. "You really think they are dangerous nomads?"

He said, "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."

Somehow, I'm sure Stephen is right.

Rethinking Our History, And The Future Of A Nation That Produces Nothing

Readers,

I have been thinking about this video (below) for many months, thinking about our history, present, and ramifications for our future.

I'd like you to listen carefully to this 2009 presentation by Glen Ford. You need not agree with every word of it, nor do I expect you to. As one who still has a strong level of confidence in Barack Obama, and to some degree, views him as a hero, I understand that some parts will be hard to listen to or accept. Try to anyway, because in the end, principles are more important than popularity.

He will provide you with the big, broad view of history and implications for the future that should not be missed. Liberals aka progressives, on their blogs, rarely use the word "imperialism" when discussing current or past problems. Why? Makes you look like a "radical". The mainstream media can barely use the word "racism" and rarely does. Well, Glen has no problem calling a spade a spade.

He always has, and I'm glad, even when I disagree with him - which is a lot since Obama came along. But still... So many of us talk around the problems and use words to soften the language - and reality - because we are in fear not only of the present, but of our history, and "getting in trouble" with "the man". Well, that's an indicator of a Police State. Not good.

What would it be like without this fear? What would we learn? And, would the knowledge and discussion free us? What would Rachel, Keith and Anderson's news talk shows be like if they could get Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Jimmy Carter, James Kunstler, (or the late Howard Zinn) as regular guests on their shows? The real progressives are generally not invited and fairly invisible in the mainstream news, even on liberal programming.

In this video, ponder on the thought-provoking parts that resonate with you. Have your lunch or dinner while you watch it, 'cause it's a half hour, but I think you'll find it fascinating.

How Henry Louis Gates May Have Effed Up Black America And Africa

Henry Louis Gates unwittingly has opened the door for the U.S. government to dig it's claws deeper into Africa, insured that Black Americans will nevah evah evah get reparations, and given ammunition to the Far Right, all in one essay of less than 1400 words. This is the kind of genius that places one more chain around our collective souls.

A few days ago, the New York Times published his article, Ending The Slavery Blame Game. In it, he brings up the issue of reparations, i.e., "the idea that the descendants of American slaves should receive compensation for their ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage." He then ties it in with a grim history that few know, and writes:

"While we are all familiar with the role played by the United States and the European colonial powers like Britain, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain, there is very little discussion of the role Africans themselves played. And that role, it turns out, was a considerable one...

"The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred."

Gee, Skip, have you ever heard of something called timing? Here we are, a hair lengths away from the Racist Right dying for us to re-do the Civil War, and Arizona bringing back a revised version of the 1950s "Operation Wetback" law so cops can stop anybody they want to if the person could be an illegal immigrant suspect. Any Latino falls in this category, but so do blacks, because he or she "could be" from the Carribean or Africa. Arab-looking people are easy targets. Even whites could be illegal here as Canadians. Stopping (and harassing) people based on legitimate probable cause has been made into a joke. All of this going on, and you hand the haters ammunition?

WTF were you thinking?

Worse, we've got AFRICOM (read about it here, here, here, and here) digging into African nations that don't want them there, setting up military bases, along with numerous mega-corporations and Big Agriculture waiting to slither in to dominate the production of food.

Can't you see what I can see? America making a case that those countries have to pay for reparations, and not in cash, but in exchange for oil and other resources? And that blacks won't get a dime of that money because Uncle Sam will say they'll use it for corporate run, privatized welfare and the prison industrial complex?

On no bro, not even a nickel will black Americans see, unless you count working for foodstamps - which is a form of indentured servitude - and being free labor on the neo-plantations they call prison. Once again, white folks profit off black and brown sweat.

To add insult to injury, Dr. Gates threw this "complex" historical bomb to Barack, like the President ain't got enough problems to worry about.

I swear, I thought I had too much time on my hands without a full time job. I think Gates needs two.

The Hidden Price Of Outrage

"I swear, sentry duty gets tiring. I think it's another one of their strategies to wear us down. Only thing is, they get paid for their attacks, but we don't, so for us, it's like having two jobs."

That's what I said in a comment to one reader in my last post where I was cussing more than usual. I don't usually get nearly as angry as I did this week, but reading and writing about the escalation of hate from some of our elected politicians had me seeing red. Instead of making hate crimes against the law, some are trying to make it the law.

Yeah, I'm talking to you, Arizona.

There's a downside to being reactive to the hostility we encounter in life, whether it's as a spectator to politics, race relations, or anything that pisses us off where we have little control.

Fear or anger are useful when we can quickly resolve it, but otherwise, these primitive emotions quash our creativity and divert our intellect from growing in productive ways.

The reason is we're too busy playing cop, detective or soldier to someone or some group that wants to harm us or rip us off.

This could be happening in your personal life right now. For example, while you're reading or skimming through this post, or being busy in your daily routine, in the back of your mind, you're wondering:

- if the man in your life is only showing up for sex, not because he really gives a damn about you,

- if the latest lady you've been chilling with for two weeks only wants to snag you into a committed relationship leading to marriage because you've got it going on economically;

- if your co-worker has been back stabbing you because you're more popular with the boss.

- if the boss has been sabotaging you because he or she is envious and insecure about your superior competence;

- if a friend or classmate has been trying to turn others against you because they think they look good by making you look bad;

- and you wonder, how the non-stop bigotry by those in the media and politics will directly hurt not only your group, but you and your family.

And so on.

When you are chronically placed on guard duty, on behalf of yourself or for others, where is there time or energy left to think about all the cool things in the world?

Or to try your hand at reading, writing about, or doing some of those things?

Nope, you've been siphoned off no differently than the way a thief drains your gas tank. You might even get in your proverbial car and use the remaining gas to catch him, her or them, and run 'em down.

Well, that's one less thief if you succeed. Bravo.

But most of the time, we're just left furious and with an empty tank. You may even refuel with your anger and continue the search, not noticing that the thief has stolen something even more precious - your time and energy, and with that, your creativity.

What would you be doing differently if the confusing OR hostile actions of XYZ, whom you know personally or only read about in the news, weren't consuming you?

What different road might you take if your tank was safe and full because your gas cap had a lock on it?

In The Neo-Race War, The Fight Against "Operation Wetback" Is Our Fight Too

I'll keep this short and sweet.

There are White Nationalist factions in the Congress and particularly within the GOP who totally lost their minds when Barack Obama became President.

These mostly Viagra'd out old farts serve less as spokespersons for We The People than they do for defense, oil, health insurance companies, Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, Wall Street, and just about anything regarded as "too big to fail." They get paid phat in contributions by aiding those deeply rooted corporate thugs, who in turn make Ray-Ray or Jose's gangbanging look like a bloody nose from a school yard fight.

So who is paying them now to support rewinding the clock to a time when any good 'ole boy hoodlum masquerading as a cop can stop and question people of color in a car without the slightest probable cause?

No one. These bitches are doing it for free.

Their rationale?

Southern drawl: "Dey just checking to make sure dem occupants are here legally."

I call bullshit.

It's a harassment and intimidation bill. Black folks remember when they were (and still are) heavily targeted back those days of racial profiling, and we know that the rebirth of "Operation Wetback" will be used against all non-whites far more than whites will use it with their "own kind". It's so ignorant and hate-based that it's an insult to whites who don't hate.

Yes, Bill 1070, re-born in John McCain's turf has been passed in Arizona state lawmakers. This is really a WTF moment.

Congressman Raul Grijalva looked like he wondered if he'd stepped into the Twilight Zone as he talked about the lunacy of this bill. He's trying to snap those idiots out of the Redneck Zone by advocating the rest of America to boycott his state of Arizona.

Another congressman, Luis Guiterrez, of Illinois, has called for the Governor of Arizona to veto the legislation, and for the President "to intervene if the Arizona governor signs the legislation into passage."

Count me in, my amigo brothas, and Barack, I fully expect you to jump in on this one.

What the hell is it about the noisy and trouble-making large minority of racist white folks that makes them scared to death they'll be outnumbered? They obsess over how soon America won't look like it used to back in the good 'ole days, you know, the ones after their heroes exterminated damn near all the Native Americans as a form of "land improvement".

In this bill, they mix legit problems with the cost of having too many illegal aliens with old style Southern racist strategies and laws to keep non-white American citizens oppressed.

They hide between the the Flag and the Cross, but ain't really ain't feeling either.

Their idea of patriotism is bombing the eff out of brown countries and killing off as many men and teen boys as possible, and over here, locking up millions unlucky enough to be caught with a joint - something damn near all of these friends of Big Alcohol have tried smoking at least once in their lives.

And God? Only the Christian one counts with them, and His appearance is not even geographically correct. Their idea of Jesus is a European-looking white man; were he conclusively proven to be otherwise, they'd revert back to Paganism in a heartbeat.

I think this is the real reason why so many of them are anti-abortion. It ain't because they're "pro-life Christians". If that was truly was their deal, they wouldn't be keeping quite so silent on all the Planned Parenthood clinics strategically placed in black neighborhoods.

No, they're really "pro white lifers". It's killing them that they will be even slightly outnumbered in majority population one day, and they're doing their damnest in the meantime to limit black and Latino births by locking us up in droves.

Can't make babies if you're locked up, ya know? Tell me that mass incarceration of non-violent potheads and minor, victimless crimes ain't a soft form of genocide, and I'll tell you you're a mah' fuckin' liar.

Oh, these paranoid fools keep inventing - and creating - enemies to maintain white supremacy. They'll beat your azz with the Cross and then use the Flag as your body bag.

This bill is also a form of bigot insurgency on the black man who had the audacity to win the White House:

"The Obama administration's decision to focus on apprehending immigrants involved in trafficking rings and criminal enterprises is a more targeted policy compared with the blanket workplace raids of the Bush era. It also stands in stark contrast with the Arizona bill's attempt to target anyone and everyone that authorities suspect of being undocumented."

Did you catch that? Barack's Administration is targeting real criminals, whereas the good 'ole boy Bush and Arizona haters like the blanket approach, where they get to round up everyone and anyone of color, anytime they feel like it, you know, like the Nazi Party started out.

All humor aside about of joining the nicer folks in the Tea Party to run out the hardcore haters, we have a better grass roots train to catch. Maybe Martin Luther King's niece, Dr. Alveda King and rock musician Ted Nugent, who both had a feel good moment yesterday with Glenn Beck as they talked about government and Wall Street corruption, will come aboard this train instead.

We blacks and Latinos - and let's throw in the Middle East folks who live here too, 'cause you know that Officer Billy Bob in Flagstaff AZ gonna be hitting him upside the head for no reason - need to keep our eyes open for an opportunity to ride together in yet another got-damned fight with these racist bastards who are all too willing to spit out new laws to destroy us.

If we don't, we may one day find ourselves riding on trains to neo- internment and possibly death camps. They're already built, manned, and waiting for someone to fill them up. The question is who will be first?

The Dilemma Of Being Part Of A Giant, Mutant, Parasitically Symbiotic Thing

"How can the US help the world heal and improve its relationships with other citizens of the world?"

This was a question put forth before me by Denmark Vesey, "the blackest man on the Internet." Make yourself a cup of coffee or a drink while I give you a steely-eyed answer that's kind of cold and may not settle well with some of you. The floor, as always, is open for your own ideas about answering this question.

The images that immediately came were:

1) fatally attached Siamese twins, and
2) two species that are parasitically symbiotic in their relationship with one another.

Quick definition of symbiosis:

1. In biology, the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism. 2. In psychiatry, a relationship between two people in which each person is dependent upon and receives reinforcement, whether beneficial or detrimental, from the other. 3. In psychoanalysis, the relationship between an infant and its mother in which the infant is dependent on the mother both physically and emotionally. 4. Any interdependent or mutually beneficial relationship between two persons, groups, etc.


The downside of our symbiotic relationship with other countries is this: centuries of expansionism and decades of technology have led us and much of the world to become parasitically dependent on one another.

Like fatally attached Siamese twins, if we separate them, they go into shock and die.

I think this stage of mankind would happen in any alternative universe, on any planet, where humans are separated by geography and language, because that's our nature. We are territorial, competitive, always looking for the best deal, and will take what we can get when can get it for "free". We see this play out between kids with toys, and nations over resources. The problem is compounded by not every area having the needed resources to make modern life comfortable.

People also selectively share, at times, and I think a degree of empathy is inherent in our nature - because this contributes to the continuation of our species. Conditioning kids through violent video games and other forms of entertainment, as well as adults through all things media, has weakened this natural empathy and redirected it toward a perverse form of empathy that includes only "one's kind". The result is nationalism, racism, and other forms of bigotry.

It wouldn't surprise me if the think tanks in Intelligence agencies have come to the same conclusions, but politics and their decision-making aside, one truly pragmatic national security issue is coping with limited resources and anticipating diminishing ones. Ignore that and you do so at your own peril.

This brings us back to the inoperable Siamese twin metaphor. Instead of twins, you could say the U.S. is part of Siamese octuplets (the G8). Add in the EU and China, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Venezuela, and other big players all scrambling to hang onto the good life, with the little countries hanging onto them to get the crumbs, and you have a giant mutant, mutually parasitic thing with no name.

So say you're in charge and you see that this thing is very, very ill. To prolong it's life, (and lifestyle), do you let the stronger continue to feed off the weaker and cannibalize it?

A strong case could be made that this "twin reabsorption" strategy is one that powerful nations are taking by waging endless wars.

The problem is it won't work. It is only a short term fix.

I need not address the human and political problems because we know what those are.

Pragmatically and coldly-speaking, cannibalizing smaller nations compounds our problems by the additional waste of resources. War takes oil and money. The returns have been less, to the point where our system has been thrown into shock, and this is because the law of diminishing returns are in effect.

What's that, some of you ask? It's when you give and get something back, usually more. You keep giving, but you begin to receive less for your investment. When the pain exceeds the gain, it's time to quit. Every disciplined gambler knows this.

This applies also to negative giving, like when you give all you've got to win an unwinnable war, as well to love relationships, when the two of you start off fairly even in give and take, but it becomes lopsided when when one's doing all the giving and the other is doing all the taking, but the two can't seem to break it off because they've fallen into a negative, emotionally symbiotic relationship pattern.

Our dilemma can be further explained by:

1) The exponential function of our needs - that when we keep doing the same thing at the same pace, the cost increases over time and within a certain period, has doubled, like maybe Auntie Carol's weight since she was 16; and,

2) The refusal to accept that we must live with less and figure out how to do this, without one country absorbing and/or feeding off another in unhealthy ways.

The globalists in charge "have the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations", and use both strategies. Here's where they also err.

In a true case of inoperable Siamese twins, the weakest or sickest one will die first, but because they are connected, the stronger one will too, usually within 24 to 72 hours.

On the Doomsday clock of humanity, this geopolitical strategy will buy us some time, and might allow the strongest countries to survive for the rest of the century - especially as they militarily expand further, co-opt and feed off countries that are "under-exploited". I don't know if that term exists, but it's descriptive, and typically, these weaker nations come to depend on the stronger ones by design.

When nations and people ignore the instruction that Nature has set before us, they court disaster.

It's like this: the twin-destined embryo must fully separate into distinct, autonomous, and independent beings in order to survive. Only then can their relationship be healthy, rather than parasitically symbiotic.

The social systems of humanity have so far been a work in progress. These became unbalanced when the first groups developed weaponry more advanced than other groups, and instead of using them for hunting, used them to foster parasitic relationships and/or oppression.

Not being parasites to one another - and the planet - in the future will continue the progress of our species. This goes beyond simple "sustainability". It will require negative growth and use of resources for the fattest countries, and zero for the rest.

The alternative is the endgame. Unless the entire planet goes up in flames, it will also be a new beginning. A few scattered peoples around the world will be the ones lucky enough to be unattached and far away from the damage done by the giant, mutant, parasitically symbiotic Siamese thing.

"And the meek shall inherit the earth."

It is written.

Kit's Satire: My Night Out With The Bloods And The Tea Party

I met up with Mo in the mall parking lot. He was trying to recruit me to join the Tea Party.

"This is quite a switch from your gangsta days with the Bloods," I remarked.

"Nah, not really, Kit," he replied. "They just wear a different color, on their skin, and I even get to carry my gun in public."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at him skeptically.

"Fo' real," he added. "At the rallies. The feds don't even bother me."

"Unbelievable," I replied. "What about getting spit on?"

"The ones who don't know me see this, and they're cool."

He unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, revealing a tee shirt underneath that said, Negroes United with Tea.

"Catchy," I said dryly. "So now you're a NUT."

"Yep," he agreed proudly.

"Uh, what's your goal?", I asked. "I mean, I have an idea what theirs is, but what's yours?"

Mo looked around furtively, and whispered, "You'll have to swear to keep it a secret."

I looked around too, wondering who to look for. Allegiances change so fast nowadays that I hardly know who the designated enemy is anymore.

"Okay," I said, "tell me."

Mo came closer. He said, "The goal is infiltration. We gonna hijack the Tea Party."

"Didn't Michael Steele already try that with the GOP?"

"Hell to the no," he answered. "He was sincere."

"Poor thing," I replied. "I still don't quite quite get it. A lot of them are racist to the bone, so why join them?"

"We figured out that's the same question that the infiltrators of the Party of Lincoln grappled with. They eased on in anyway, hijacked the party, and boom, next thang ya know, they're the GOP of today, hating on civil rights, pretending that slavery didn't exist and wanting to sanitize the already bloodless history books."

"The Tea Party comes across as being even more racist," I said.

"That's 'cause they don't know us," he said. "Hardly any have ever been real friends with a black person in their lives. People fear what they don't know. People kill what they fear."

"Yeah, I get the impression in the news that a lot of them are dying to re-do the Civil War."

"That's where we come in," he said. "Our role to let them know we have a lot in common, that we're all slaves since Wall Street ripped us off. Debt slaves."

"I get the strategy," I said. "Keep them focused on the greedy rich, instead of taking out their anger on us. But still, the haters scare me."

Mo shrugged. "They hate paying for stuff the most, 'cause they some cheap mofos who don't want to pay for jack. That's why they hate taxes so much, way more than black folks. Because of this, they hate the government even more."

"But why join them? They're still a little scary."

"The Tea Party needs strength in numbers. I been networking with Bloods and Crips, and they ain't scared of nothin'. They thinking about signing on, 'cause in exchange for our membership, we'll get our agenda on the table, starting with making weed legal."

My mouth was hanging open. Before I could say a word, two cornfed white folks came over. Mo introduced us.

"Buck and Becky, meet Kit."

"Howdy!", they said in unison, greeting me as friendly as apple pie.

"Uh, 'sup."

Mo said, "Kit's thinking 'bout joining. I can vouch for her."

Before I could say I am?, Buck spoke. "We're on our way to pick up Jamal and Jamika. Wanna ride with us?"

"Um, where y'all going?"

"To a meetup to make signs for tomorrow's rally at the Medicare building."

"Y'all not gonna bomb it, are you?"

"Now Missy," said Becky sternly, "You been watching them nasty liberal news shows. We ain't like that."

"That's what Glenn Beck says all the time," I replied. "But why Medicare, and whatchu gonna do there?"

Mo jumped in and said, "We're gonna protest all that intrusive government spending on old folk's health. All they really need to do is smoke a little weed and they won't feel sick."

Mo done lost his damn mind, I thought.

Buck agreed with him. "You betcha!"

I followed them to their car, and to be perfectly honest, I never rode in a pickup with a Confederate flag before. I was polite and didn't mention it.

A few blocks away, they picked up Jamal and Jamika.

"Jamal The Plumber!", I exclaimed. "I didn't know they was talking about you!"

"Kit, baby!", he said, hugging me, "ain't seen you since the primaries. You know, the O-man is okay, but we need real change. Glad to see you're on board."

Then he winked at me, and I knew in an instant he was an infiltrator too. Jamal don't smoke weed, so I wondered what his agenda was. I asked him.

He said, "Health care reform should have been all or nothing, but Barack made it too easy for the insurance companies. By 2014, Americans will pay $6,000 a year for insurance whether they want it or not. I'm glad for those who truly need it, but I want what the Canadians and the French have, not being forced to decide between food in the fridge or paying $500 per month when I'm healthy as a horse."

"But what if you get sick? One unexpected surgery has caused a lot of people to lose their homes."

"Well earning only minimum wage while working 40 hours per week barely covers rent. How would l look living in cardboard box by the river so I can pay for health insurance that I don't need?"

Becky piped up, "You got a point, Jamal. That's what we've been saying!"

At the meetup, I saw one of Mo's homeboyz who used to drop in at my house back in the day when my boy was gang banging.

"Waz up, Ma?", his familiar deep voice said.

"Kareem!"

The young man who always called me Ma hugged me tight.

"You the last nigga I'd expect to see here," I whispered.

"I done gone from grass, to grass roots," he said. "Strength in numbers, ya know? Ain't like black folks are still mobilizing since Obama won, so we gonna ride with the Tea Party."

"To do what?"

"To stop the government's welfare system from treating those who need it like indentured servants."

"Whatchu mean?"

"If you need food stamps and temporary cash assistance, in a lot of cities, you have to donate your time and work for free at some place to get them."

"Yeah, I know about that and it sucks."

"Further," he said, "It breaks up families. I can't live with my baby's mama no more because I work two part time jobs, but still don't earn quite enough to pay rent and feed of all three of us. Her slick azz employer invented a reason to fire her so he wouldn't have to pay for her unemployment."

"Yeah, they do that," I said.

"Now the government ties up 40 hours each week of her time, making her work like a damned indentured servant to get food stamps and a lousy $400 per month. Work to eat. WTF is that? And that's time she doesn't have to look for another job."

In the background, country music played. Becky wandered over and offered me a Tea brownie.

"It's from my cousin in California," she said. "Baked with top grade Canadian cannabis and Green Tea. It's very healthy."

"How sweet of you," I said politely. "Thanks anyway, but I'm watching my waistline."

"Hard to do these days," she said, nodding.

I agreed, and added, "I'm not down with genetically modified foods, the high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil they put in processed foods. Big Agriculture and Big Government in bed together, allowing the poisoning the American people. Is this a Tea Party issue?", I asked.

"I hadn't thought about it," Becky replied. "I guess it could be one. I'll add it to our agenda."

Kareem was standing behind her and winked at me. He mouthed the words, "Powers in numbers."

I began to laugh.

Becky looked at me oddly, then smiled. "I love some of you colored folks. Y'all laugh so easily."

"Um, thank you," I said politely, biting my tongue. This paid off. She ran and got me a free Negros United with Tea shirt.

"Thanks!", I said.

"You betcha!"

Becky smiled and wandered closer to where a speaker was debating whether Sarah Palin is a friend or foe since she paid her taxes.

I asked Jamika what she thought of all this.

"It's a good meetup," she whispered to me, "They ain't drinking beer. That's when they start obsessing over whether Barack was born in Hawaii or Kenya, and looking at me for the answer. I just tell them I hadn't been born then and I wasn't there, so I don't know."

"Sounds like a good answer to me," I said, "since nothing else satisfies them. But why are you in it?"

"I figured out that if one-fourth of the people who show up for Tea Party rallies are black, the really racist ones who are hardcore White Nationalists will quit, and start a new group that's even more fringe. Homeland Security will take care of their evil asses, because they are domestic terrorists."

I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed harder when I noticed that now, Buck was wearing Kareem's do-rag.

Just when I thought the night couldn't get any stranger, everyone pulled out their guns. I didn't have mine, so I watched through the smoky cigarette and cannabis haze while most of them cleaned theirs. Politics and the new Great Depression was an opportunity for marginalized and ordinary people to find common ground, although this would create some very strange alliances. My souvenir tee shirt would remind me of this.

At the end of the evening, Buck and Becky pulled me over to join in for the sing-a-long. I locked arms with the group and we sang We Shall Overcome.

But overcoming Medicare?

I think not.

Barack's Nuclear Genius

Would you still love Barack if he pushed the nuke button?

And as a result, a city of 70 million were incinerated?

This is the size of Tehran, Iran, and in that tragic scenario, it would not be the end. No, that would be the beginning of WWIII. China and Russia would see to that, and for the first time, Americans would see mushroom clouds rising above at least one American city.

Barack Obama knows this.

He also knows we're broker than a mofo and drowning in debt, and that's pretty damn broke. This nation ain't even nigga rich, but like gang-banging hoodrats, we're rich with weapons and ammo. When that's all you've got, sometimes that's enough.

Not this time, though, and he knows that too. This, I think, is why he said that if an American city is attacked with biological or chemical weapons, we will not retaliate.

Now that was a brilliant move.

The reason is that throughout history, one strategy of war and cutthroat business is the divide and conquer philosophy.


A Perfect Example:

A & B are allies or associates because they mutually benefit from one another. A is a little stronger of the the two, and tends to dominate. However, they are also close enough to being equal in strength that they'd do great damage to one another if they were enemies.

Neither get along particularly well with C, who refuses to go be dominated by either. C also has allies or associates but these relationships are not as tight, or close, as the relationship between A & B.

B does something to undermine A, or even attacks A, but makes it look like C did it. Then A gets mad and attacks C.

A & C are fighting and using up their resources.

C's allies are in a bind, because from all appearances, C started it. Unless they have a lot to lose if C loses, they will not interfere.

B benefits by taking little or none of the risks or damages if and when A defeats C.

B will even help out on the sidelines or in the background. For this, A is grateful, and rewards B with the spoils of war from C.

In slavery, this was the house negro vs. field negro manipulation. We see this in middle school and office politics, business, and the way banana republic and puppet governments are controlled.

In war, this is called a false flag operation. Stage an 'event', point a finger, and sit back and enjoy the fireworks.



Obama's genius is that he knows who has attempted this strategy before, and who is most likely to do it again in an attempt to sucker the USA into turning Iran into a 21st century Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

There is no other reasonable explanation for his decision to publicly state we will not retaliate if attacked other than he's not willing to be party to that and getting quite that much innocent blood on his hands.

Barack knows what time it is, and that the madness certain people are screaming for will guarantee the mutually assured destruction of America, Britain, France, Israel, Russia, China, Iran, and host of other countries like India and Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, and Venezuela, in a death fight over who controls the oil, energy, water, weapons, and which monetary currency will be used, for the rest of your lifetime.

***************

Early next week, I'll give you the back story and tell you why despite his brilliant move, it may still fail and the US be less than a minute away from twelve on the Doomsday clock.

Until then, share your thoughts here.

The First Wave Of Collateral Damage

Some of you may like this new four part series by Henry C.K. Liu at Asia Times, The Crisis of Wealth Destruction.

Been thinking about how it ties in with the idea that the people who most need money will spend it immediately, and theoretically, this is enough to keep an economy alive.

In the past, we were a nation that produced tangible and useful items that everyone needed. Then large corporations became multinationals, partly to avoid paying taxes, set up overseas sweatshops and outsourced damn near everything.

As a result, it's been decades since we've been a productive nation that makes a variety of things that other nations might actually want.





In a deep recession, the low wage worker wouldn't be saving a dime. They'd be producing needed goods, and in turn, spend their earnings immediately. This would stimulate the economy. Worked in the past, right?

Not so much now. Since we produce little of value, restoring easy credit and creating more "jobs", (like services, food, and shuffling paperwork in a cubicle) is a poor investment for the rest of the world.

"We'll give you our paper dollars in exchange
for oil, steel, designer clothes, and other tangible goods."

That's become laughable. Even as we devolved further into a Service Nation, we continued to dominate other nations via war or coercion masked as diplomacy. We have the nukes, most of them don't, so the multinationals are hitting us where our wallets are to stop us. We've hit the crossroads where we need them more for their tangible goods than they need us for our "services". They got their own service people.

On the home front, stimulating the economy would at least keep it crawling, and at best, restore it - so we can continue with our Super Power status by flipping burgers, ringing up cash registers, and chatting by the office water cooler.

It's going to take the unspeakable to pull the economy out of its coma, and being a Service Nation ain't impressing nobody. Those days are long gone.

This is one reason why the problems of the unemployed, the new poor and old poor have been written off. Along with other upcoming victims of this Great Depression II, this group of Americans are clearly viewed as collateral damage. Our increasing supply far exceeds our demand, and both the GOP and the Dems know this.

Not good, considering that we're broke, and all that's left to get will be gotten from the spoils of war.

Can you hear the softly beating sound of the war drums?

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Addendum, late 4/14/ 2010

I posted this originally at Jay Midnight's a new blog, Thought Swirl on yesterday morning. In case you missed it there, I'm adding it here.

Being Killed Slowly By The New Ignorance

This 1st Grade Class
Doesn't Recognize A Tomato or Potato


This video clip is from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution new Friday night series. Incredible, isn't it?

Now let's jump into what some hot new research elsewhere shows:

Fatty Foods May Cause A Cocaine-like Addiction

"A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction."

Well, doesn't that explain a lot, and why so many behinds hang over the seats at every eatery and theater in every mall in the country.

And no, it won't explain jack if you're a bigot, and if you categorize all white West Virginians (as seen in the film) as being stupid, which is as bad as thinking of all black folks as dumb. If you have that hater mentality, maybe you'll like this far-fetched futuristic scenario I thought of:

"Oh, they're crackheads?"

"No, fatheads."

"Lock their azzes up anyway, for the children's sake."


Well, there ain't enough jails or rehabs to hold 'em all.

Politics aside, people are people first. All of us are in this ride together, and like a sinking ship, we'll go down together if we can't repair it and set a new course. The problem is not with the passengers, but the design of everything we absorb, from all things media, to the foods we consume.


Now I'm going to view this clip from one African American perspective - mine - and give you yet another reason to laugh at me.

The first thing I thought was thank goodness are hardly any of those kids are black. This is because we can't enjoy watching a fellow black person's shortcomings or for him or her to screw up on YouTube and laughing about it without reading 180 comments about how it applies to all of us. Well, we all have some area of not knowing something.

When I went to a far away, predominantly white university long ago, at not quite 18 years of age, I was 5'6 and weighed all of 115 pounds. Sounds skinny by today's standards, but back then I was considered "slender". Anything over 140 at that height was considered "fat" on a girl. My oh my, but how times have changed...

Next to the dorm was a really nice cafeteria. The food was free, and you could eat anything and as much of it as you wanted, including the soft custard style ice cream cones. They had a wonderful variety of what would now be described as 'home cooked' because the foods were fresh. I couldn't understand why the sistas at my table often bitched about the food; they didn't think it had that home cooked feel to it, but they came from rural areas or their folks did and probably used different seasonings.

My mom, on the other hand, was a born and bred DC gal, just like her mother, and she worked 8 to 5. What she cooked was all I ever knew, so it tasted good to me. Her menu was very limited, and salt, pepper, and hot sauce was the extent of her seasoning.

So one evening, I'm pushing my tray through the cafeteria line, and I see a really funny looking vegetable.

"What's dat?", I ask the black cafeteria worker.

"Dat? You don't know?"

"No ma'am," I replied politely, shaking my head.

"It's broccoli."

I let the word roll around in my mouth to get a feel for it, while she was trying to figure out if I was pulling her leg.

"Hmmm, broccoli," I repeated. "Never heard of that vegetable. How's it taste?"

"You'd have to try it, you little retard to decide for yourself."

I loved it. The next time I talked with my parents, I asked them why they never bought any.

My mother did what she usually did when something involved race and class: she played stupid. It was her way of protecting me.

"Uh, I don't know," she lied. "Never thought about it."

My parents had been long divorced, so later I asked my dad. He seemed a little uncomfortable too. What the hell could be so complicated about broccoli? I nudged him gently.

"I like it," he said, "but, well, it's white folks food."

"Oooh," I said. "Like salad!"

"Yes."

"Well, since you like it, why didn't you buy it or get Mom to buy it?"

"I don't know if they sell it in our stores," he explained, "and she was kind of touchy about me bringing home leftovers from any of the white parties I used to work at to pick up extra money."

He need not explain any further. Like him, she was a child during the Great Depression. Leftover food from others, even if it didn't come off someone's plate, reminded her of poverty and her widowed mother's struggle to survive, especially between her two marriages.

*****************

From Land of Milk & Honey To The Land of French Fries, Fast Food & Tears

This is only one way how food habits take root in a family, and continue from one generation to the next regarding clear food preferences.

To this day, I don't see white folks elbowing me out of the way at the kale bin at the grocery store, and even fifteen years ago only one of my white coworkers knew about it, but otherwise the world changed in the blink of an eye, cutting through race and class.

Grocery stores expanded into huge chains. Fast food restaurants became the norm, and they fried up everything, even those pre-made "hot apple pocket pies". Cheese became very big. Fry anything and load some cheese on it, and wa-laa! Even better, you could wash it down with a thick milkshake, or a diet soda if you were "watching your waistline."

We used to be 'customers'. Just as slaves got renamed when they hit this country, now our new name was 'consumers'. Ain't that revealing? The ad companies symbolically painted a target on every American's back and made us targets for selling processed foods.

When that trend first began, my mama and I were watching a food commercial. It looked so good, whatever it was.

"Mama, we should get some of that!"

She replied, "How come they never advertise carrots?"

Dang she could be funny, even in those teaching moments.

Microwave ovens, pre-packaged frozen foods, and more abundant, mass-produced foods invaded the culture. We can thank or curse technology, insecticides, hormone growth chemicals and genetically modified foods.

For the first time, all races and classes could buy anything in any grocery store, no matter what the neighborhood racial demographics were in your zip code, and, thanks to desegregation and an influx of immigrants, people could shop everywhere.

Sadly, for the first time, an awful lot of people lost the art of eating well... we now have white kids who don't recognize broccoli and black kids who don't recognize kale, and neither who knows what a potato looks like. I'd venture a guess that this ability was killed in The Land of French Fries.

What we're seeing in the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution clip is a second or third generation of kids whose grandparents undoubtably knew all about vegetables and healthy eating, because healthy eating was all they had.

I'm won't speak about the kids in that video per se since I don't know their folks, but I will of the next generation of millions of Americans. We have way more food options, and processed foods are tasty and addictive, and have trumped out the healthy foods.

Like killing and plucking a chicken, or milking a cow, the art of consistently choosing wholesome foods has become obsolete among many adults, possibly including a well known black blogger we lost several days ago, Undercover Black Man, who in real life was David Mills, writer for The Wire and co-producer for an upcoming series, 'Treme.

UBM once said to one of his favorite verbal sparring bloggers, "Yo DV, go eat your veg-gies while I grub on some scrapple and head cheese. Yeah, I might get cardiovascular disease, but when I die they'll still be talkin' 'bout me...", to which DV, a food purist, replied, "When you die, I keep living..."

Now, I love me some wild debates where bloggers challenge one another (with the exception of trolls), but that conversation haunts me because it was prophetic. I get the impression that it's killing DV that UBM is gone, only at 48 years old with so much life, and so much fun to fight with.

I think of the many friends I know who have weight-related health problems, some quite serious. The thing is, I worry about them, more than I do myself, and that makes me nice, but a bit of an idiot.

You see, it's easy for me to do double-think when it comes to my own health, i.e., "I can be more vigilant tomorrow, next week, next month, if I get sick... oh, eff it, I probably won't get sick and I'm not really fat... just need to lose 20 pounds, and my blood pressure only gets high when I'm really stressed, and yada yada yada."

It's all bullshit, the same you hear from any addict.

Not eating healthy has hit a new low and apparently become The New Ignorance among many of our children. How can they not be ignorant, when adults somehow forgot to mention what real food looks like?

How can they, or we, "recover" when high calorie, fatty foods cause a cocaine-like addiction?

And that, my friends, is not gender, race or class-based. Truth be told, alcohol and drugs aren't either. All that mess hijacks parts of the brain, the part that says more, more, more!

Finally, here is a non-partisan, race and class free area that affects us and our kids on a biological level. Can't get any more basic than that. Here's were we can find common ground, and maybe, a way for us to repair that sinking ship together. What an opportunity.


Addendum:

Here are three bloggers I like whom specialize in delicious recipes, which happen to be healthy. Check them out:

Flavor Diva

Traveling Tastebuds

Dragon's Kitchen


Honorable Mention To Coolio:

Ya know, sometimes the only way to start is to start where someone is. For that 'hood brotha or sista in your life whose eyes glaze over their Big Macs when you mention the phrase, "healthy eating", send them to Cookin With Coolio. While his style and humor ain't for everyone, he most definitely knows his veggies and his way around the kitchen. Aside from a few artery-clogging recipes (especially his garlic cheese bread), his stuff looks good.