Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Politics of Office
[col. writ. 5/16/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There are many things to be learned by the nation's most recent presidential election; some new; some old.
In some ways, this election marked a new page in history, and as such, has had impacts and influences that were quite unprecedented.
In other ways, this election is an exercise in continuity, as the administration, like the 2006 congressional elections before it, strove mightily to reassure the wealthy and well-to-do that nothing essential would change, and their interests would be protected.
And while President Barack H. Obama ran on the promise of change, he has adopted some of the same policies of the Bush administration.
He will not release photos of U.S. soldiers mistreating, abusing, torturing and/or humiliating foreign prisoners and detainees.
He will continue the military commissions begun under the Bush-Cheney regime, albeit with some procedural changes.
And several of the so-called 'black sites', secret prisons placed around the world and administered by the CIA, will keep right on humming.
And, of course, he will continue to prosecute the wars begun and waged under the previous administration; though it appears Afghanistan will garner the lion's share of White House attention.
Boy, what a difference an election makes.
Or, put quite another way, running for an office is worlds away from getting it.
The fact of the matter is the previous administration comprised perhaps the greatest collection of rogues, scoundrels and corporate criminals since the time of Herbert Hoover, but it matters not.
No matter what crimes were committed, no matter how badly the Constitution was shredded, no matter how many 'black sites' or Guantanamo's, they know that they are immune.
Their impeachment argument was 'off the table' : now, any real prosecutions are. Why? Because that's politics.
There's a French saying: "Plus ca change...." "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
--(c) '-9 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There are many things to be learned by the nation's most recent presidential election; some new; some old.
In some ways, this election marked a new page in history, and as such, has had impacts and influences that were quite unprecedented.
In other ways, this election is an exercise in continuity, as the administration, like the 2006 congressional elections before it, strove mightily to reassure the wealthy and well-to-do that nothing essential would change, and their interests would be protected.
And while President Barack H. Obama ran on the promise of change, he has adopted some of the same policies of the Bush administration.
He will not release photos of U.S. soldiers mistreating, abusing, torturing and/or humiliating foreign prisoners and detainees.
He will continue the military commissions begun under the Bush-Cheney regime, albeit with some procedural changes.
And several of the so-called 'black sites', secret prisons placed around the world and administered by the CIA, will keep right on humming.
And, of course, he will continue to prosecute the wars begun and waged under the previous administration; though it appears Afghanistan will garner the lion's share of White House attention.
Boy, what a difference an election makes.
Or, put quite another way, running for an office is worlds away from getting it.
The fact of the matter is the previous administration comprised perhaps the greatest collection of rogues, scoundrels and corporate criminals since the time of Herbert Hoover, but it matters not.
No matter what crimes were committed, no matter how badly the Constitution was shredded, no matter how many 'black sites' or Guantanamo's, they know that they are immune.
Their impeachment argument was 'off the table' : now, any real prosecutions are. Why? Because that's politics.
There's a French saying: "Plus ca change...." "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
--(c) '-9 Mumia Abu-Jamal
!*Free Mumia Movement Fundraising Appeal
Fundraising is a political task, & so this is an intensely political appeal. We are literally non-profit because we have no "stuff" to sell. All we "sell" is our commitment to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners. But we need money to fulfill the goals we've set to free Mumia.
First, we've been relying on other organizations to lend us their sound systems for rallies & marches, and sometimes we just can't make it happen. Not every activist who has an important story to tell is a street orator, so we are too often stuck in New York or Philly with dynamic speakers but no sound system to make them heard. Convinced that everything is possible, a trio of our most dedicated organizers went forth & actually purchased a portable sound system so we can demonstrate for Mumia anywhere we can travel. This has cost us $350, and it came out of a hard-working activist's rent money. We need your donation right now to put the rent money back in his pocket. Ten donations at only $35 will keep the wolf from the door.
Our big campaign to demand that the Justice Department grant Mumia a civil rights investigation is gathering tremendous momentum, with some really high-profile names, such as Ruby Dee, Cornel West, and Charles Rangel signing on, as well as thousands of folks from the U.S. and abroad. To go forward with lobbying in D.C., we are working to raise $2,000 to charter a bus.
We also want to be sure that folks who take a day off from work and family responsibilities to travel 9 hours and lobby will feel empowered to do it. We'd really like to offer free bus fare and meals to Mumia's lobbyists, who will be educating and raising the consciousness of our elected officials. We're asking for seed money to make sure that no one who is willing to go is excluded. Please give generously to make a real change in our nation and to help free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
You may donate online at www.freemumia.com, clicking on the How to Help link or send checks and money orders (payable to Free Mumia Coalition, NYC/IFCO) to us at our fiscal sponsor, IFCO [Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization]:
IFCO
402 West 145th Street
New York, NY 10031
Call 212-926-5757 with any fiscal questions or 212-330-8029 (Mumia Hotline) with any other questions.
First, we've been relying on other organizations to lend us their sound systems for rallies & marches, and sometimes we just can't make it happen. Not every activist who has an important story to tell is a street orator, so we are too often stuck in New York or Philly with dynamic speakers but no sound system to make them heard. Convinced that everything is possible, a trio of our most dedicated organizers went forth & actually purchased a portable sound system so we can demonstrate for Mumia anywhere we can travel. This has cost us $350, and it came out of a hard-working activist's rent money. We need your donation right now to put the rent money back in his pocket. Ten donations at only $35 will keep the wolf from the door.
Our big campaign to demand that the Justice Department grant Mumia a civil rights investigation is gathering tremendous momentum, with some really high-profile names, such as Ruby Dee, Cornel West, and Charles Rangel signing on, as well as thousands of folks from the U.S. and abroad. To go forward with lobbying in D.C., we are working to raise $2,000 to charter a bus.
We also want to be sure that folks who take a day off from work and family responsibilities to travel 9 hours and lobby will feel empowered to do it. We'd really like to offer free bus fare and meals to Mumia's lobbyists, who will be educating and raising the consciousness of our elected officials. We're asking for seed money to make sure that no one who is willing to go is excluded. Please give generously to make a real change in our nation and to help free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
You may donate online at www.freemumia.com, clicking on the How to Help link or send checks and money orders (payable to Free Mumia Coalition, NYC/IFCO) to us at our fiscal sponsor, IFCO [Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization]:
IFCO
402 West 145th Street
New York, NY 10031
Call 212-926-5757 with any fiscal questions or 212-330-8029 (Mumia Hotline) with any other questions.
Government for Whom?
[col. writ. 5/2/09] (c} '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
As the economy tumbles like weeds in an old western, companies are getting bailouts in the double digit billions, while workers are being asked to "sacrifice."
Those at the top of the corporate wheel have not only lost little, they've not been asked to give anything back. Indeed, they've not even been asked what they're done with over $300 billion bucks!
The only thing certain is they've not done what they promised to do when they first began to beg for public monies!
But when automotive industries tried to get the kind of help that their brothers in banking got, they were kicked in the pills, and the political elites demanded that they use this economic crisis to whip up on the auto unions -- to fire more workers, cut pay, and rifle the pension envelopes of retirees!
And what of Pres. Barack Obama, who received the votes of millions of labor families?
If you listened instead of looked you might've thought Bush was back, judging by the rhetoric: "It will require unions and workers who have already made extraordinarily painful concessions to make even more.*
The UAW (United Automotive, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers Union, Intl.) has given up so much in the last few years that it ain't funny. Several years ago, management pushed for, and got, a two - tiered pay system, where new workers received about 1/2 the pay of other workers -- and temporary worker status.
How is it remotely fair that those who have less are being asked to give up more?
For decades, people have believed that Democrats were more beholden to labor, given their years of voting for that party. But can one still believe this after the debacle of NAFTA?
Is this what labor voted for?
Way back in 1990, a key Republican analyst, Kevin Phillips, described the Democrats as "history's second-most enthusiastic capitalist party." *
If you look at the top pay at the boards of American companies, you'll find dudes like GM's Lyle Wagoner, who pulled down a cool $23 million dollars when he split -- not to mention a $69 thousand annual pension.
If this is what people are voting for -- more betrayal -- why bother?
--(c) '09 maj
[Source: *Zinn, Howard, A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present
(N.Y.: Harpers Perennial [2003 ed. {orig. 1980} ], p. 579.)
As the economy tumbles like weeds in an old western, companies are getting bailouts in the double digit billions, while workers are being asked to "sacrifice."
Those at the top of the corporate wheel have not only lost little, they've not been asked to give anything back. Indeed, they've not even been asked what they're done with over $300 billion bucks!
The only thing certain is they've not done what they promised to do when they first began to beg for public monies!
But when automotive industries tried to get the kind of help that their brothers in banking got, they were kicked in the pills, and the political elites demanded that they use this economic crisis to whip up on the auto unions -- to fire more workers, cut pay, and rifle the pension envelopes of retirees!
And what of Pres. Barack Obama, who received the votes of millions of labor families?
If you listened instead of looked you might've thought Bush was back, judging by the rhetoric: "It will require unions and workers who have already made extraordinarily painful concessions to make even more.*
The UAW (United Automotive, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers Union, Intl.) has given up so much in the last few years that it ain't funny. Several years ago, management pushed for, and got, a two - tiered pay system, where new workers received about 1/2 the pay of other workers -- and temporary worker status.
How is it remotely fair that those who have less are being asked to give up more?
For decades, people have believed that Democrats were more beholden to labor, given their years of voting for that party. But can one still believe this after the debacle of NAFTA?
Is this what labor voted for?
Way back in 1990, a key Republican analyst, Kevin Phillips, described the Democrats as "history's second-most enthusiastic capitalist party." *
If you look at the top pay at the boards of American companies, you'll find dudes like GM's Lyle Wagoner, who pulled down a cool $23 million dollars when he split -- not to mention a $69 thousand annual pension.
If this is what people are voting for -- more betrayal -- why bother?
--(c) '09 maj
[Source: *Zinn, Howard, A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present
(N.Y.: Harpers Perennial [2003 ed. {orig. 1980} ], p. 579.)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
No Cost of Living Increase for Social Security Recipients
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Michigan Man Who Fathered 14 Kids With Different Women Owes $530G in Child Support
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Associated Press
FLINT, Mich. — Authorities in Michigan say a man fathered 14 children with different women and owes more than $530,000 in unpaid child support.
The Flint Journal reports 42-year-old Thomas Frazier was jailed Thursday. Court records say he owes six years of support payments.
The newspaper says the unemployed man could be held for 90 days if he doesn't pay $27,900.
Frazier says he thinks he fathered only three of the children and that it's unrealistic for authorities to expect him to pay child support that was $3,000 a month at one point.
Frazier remains held at the Genesee County Jail. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak for him.
Associated Press
FLINT, Mich. — Authorities in Michigan say a man fathered 14 children with different women and owes more than $530,000 in unpaid child support.
The Flint Journal reports 42-year-old Thomas Frazier was jailed Thursday. Court records say he owes six years of support payments.
The newspaper says the unemployed man could be held for 90 days if he doesn't pay $27,900.
Frazier says he thinks he fathered only three of the children and that it's unrealistic for authorities to expect him to pay child support that was $3,000 a month at one point.
Frazier remains held at the Genesee County Jail. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak for him.
America's Most Dangerous Cities - Top 25
1. New Orleans, LA
2. Camden, NJ
3. Detroit, MI
4. St. Louis, MO
5. Oakland, CA
6. Flint, MI
7. Gary, IN
8. Birmingham, AL
9. Richmond, CA
10. North Charleston, SC
11. Cleveland, OH
12. Baltimore, MD
13. Miami Gardens, FL
14. Memphis, TN
15. Youngstown, OH
16. Atlanta, GA
17. Compton, CA
18. Orlando, FL
19. Little Rock, AR
20. Minneapolis, MN
21. Washington, DC
22. Philadelphia, PA
23. Jackson, MS
24. Newark, NJ
25. Milwaukee, WI
2. Camden, NJ
3. Detroit, MI
4. St. Louis, MO
5. Oakland, CA
6. Flint, MI
7. Gary, IN
8. Birmingham, AL
9. Richmond, CA
10. North Charleston, SC
11. Cleveland, OH
12. Baltimore, MD
13. Miami Gardens, FL
14. Memphis, TN
15. Youngstown, OH
16. Atlanta, GA
17. Compton, CA
18. Orlando, FL
19. Little Rock, AR
20. Minneapolis, MN
21. Washington, DC
22. Philadelphia, PA
23. Jackson, MS
24. Newark, NJ
25. Milwaukee, WI
Friday, April 10, 2009
!*FANTASTIC WBAI Radio Show on Mumia!
The WBAI Show last night gave out so much information that it is something
that everyone should listen to, it clearly spells out exactly how the system has
ignored it's own laws at every turn and has an answer to every question that
the kill-crazy cops and their supporters raise to try and murder our Bro. It's
up to ALL of us to build a movement too big for that to happen!! The
radio show is riveting, not boring, please listen to it and use it for P.E. !
PLEASE HELP TO COVER EVERY CORNER OF THE
INTERNET WITH THESE IMPORTANT UPDATES!!
===============
http://www.phillyim c.org/en/ wbai-mumia-abu- jamal- featuring-pam- africa-linn- washington-and- vincent- southerland
http://www.indybay. org/ newsitems/2009/ 04/10/18587371. php
http://archive. wbai.org/ files/ mp3/090409_200001ww live.MP3
Listen to the April 9, 2009 WBAI Radio show "Where We Live" focusing on the case of death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the April 4 US Supreme Court ruling which rejected Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt phase trial.
The show is hosted by Suzanne Ross, who is Co-Chair of the New York City Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and features as guests:
--Pam Africa, Coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
--Linn Washington Jr,, Philadelphia Tribune columnist and Temple University professor of journalism
--Vincent Southerland, Assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
On Monday, April 4, the US Supreme Court Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt phase trial (in official legal terms, they rejected his petition for a "writ of certiorari").
Abu-Jamal's appeal was based primarily on the US Supreme Court's 1986 "Batson v Kentucky" ruling which stated that a defendant deserves a new trial if it can be shown that the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove otherwise qualified jurors simply because of their race. At Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial, prosecutor Joseph McGill used 10 or 11 of his 15 strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors.
The US Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will further consider the Philadelphia DA's appeal of the 2001/2008 rulings of two lower courts, which ruled that Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing if the death penalty is to be re-instated. Therefore, if the US Supreme Court rules in favor of the DA, Abu-Jamal can then be executed WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing!
For more information on the Supreme Court ruling here.
Please sign the online petition for Mumia here: www.petitiononline.com/supreme
==============================================================
Mumia's New Book On Jailhouse Lawyers
"More Than A Book Party" events to be held around US, marking the March release
Purchase Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A., directly from City Lights Books. Read the foreword by former political prisoner Angela Y. Davis and an interview with Mumia about his new book. In Mumia's words, "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion- dollar endowed universities, but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America."
"More Than A Book Party" events will be held in the US around April 24, to mark Mumia's birthday and the release of Jailhouse Lawyers. Read more about events in: Philadelphia (including a Revolutionary Week of Events), NYC, Oakland, Los Angeles, Boston, Portland, Houston, Washington, DC, and Baltimore.
Read reviews by: Linn Washington, Jr., J. Patrick O'Connor, and Kiilu Nyasha
==========
EMERGENCY STRATEGIZING MEETINGS:
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009 10 am – 12 noon
Where: Abiding Truth Ministries Church, 5701 Washington, Ave. Philly
Contact: 215 476 8812 or ICFFMAJ@aol. com
GET FLYERS FOR UPCOMING EVENTS - E-mail icffmaj@aol.com
NY: Open Meeting in Response to the Outrageous and Racist Ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Where: Solidarity Center, 55 West 17th Street, 5th Floor
(btw. 5th & 6th Avenues)
Directions: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, F, or V to 14th Street
Sponsored by: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
freemumia.com • 212-330-8029
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!
Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org
http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/
Mumia's got a podcast! Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays - Subscribe at the website or on iTunes and get Mumia's radio commentaries online.
Mumia Abu-Jamal's new book -- JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE USA, featuring an introduction by Angela Y. Davis -- will be released soon! It will be available from City Lights Books at a 30% discount weeks before you can get it at any other bookstore, or from Amazon. Sign up for an email alert and when the book becomes available for sale you'll receive an email letting you know: http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100448090
In support of Mumia and the publication of JAILHOUSE LAWYERS, organizations around the country will be holding "More Than a Book Party" events on or around Mumia's birthday, April 24, 2009. If you are planning to organize an event or would like to order in bulk, you can also receive a 45% discount on any bulk orders of 20 copies or more. The book retails for $16.95, for orders of 20 copies or more the discounted price would be $9.32 per book, plus shipping and handling. Prepayment would be required and books are nonreturnable. If you or your organization would like to place a bulk order, please contact Stacey Lewis at 415.362.1901 or stacey@citylights.com
Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant, moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!
Please make a contribution to help free Mumia. Donations to the grassroots work will go to both INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and the FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC).
WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM
Please mail donations/ checks to:
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL COALITION
PO BOX 16, NEW YORK,
NY 10030
(CHECKS FOR BOTH ORGANIZATIONS PAYABLE TO: FMAJC/IFCO)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
215 476-8812
212-330-8029
Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!
Subscribe: mumiacolumns- subscribe@ topica.com
Read: http://topica. com/lists/ mumiacolumns/ read
Subscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailing
icffmaj@aol. com!
that everyone should listen to, it clearly spells out exactly how the system has
ignored it's own laws at every turn and has an answer to every question that
the kill-crazy cops and their supporters raise to try and murder our Bro. It's
up to ALL of us to build a movement too big for that to happen!! The
radio show is riveting, not boring, please listen to it and use it for P.E. !
PLEASE HELP TO COVER EVERY CORNER OF THE
INTERNET WITH THESE IMPORTANT UPDATES!!
===============
http://www.phillyim c.org/en/ wbai-mumia-abu- jamal- featuring-pam- africa-linn- washington-and- vincent- southerland
http://www.indybay. org/ newsitems/2009/ 04/10/18587371. php
http://archive. wbai.org/ files/ mp3/090409_200001ww live.MP3
Listen to the April 9, 2009 WBAI Radio show "Where We Live" focusing on the case of death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the April 4 US Supreme Court ruling which rejected Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt phase trial.
The show is hosted by Suzanne Ross, who is Co-Chair of the New York City Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and features as guests:
--Pam Africa, Coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
--Linn Washington Jr,, Philadelphia Tribune columnist and Temple University professor of journalism
--Vincent Southerland, Assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
On Monday, April 4, the US Supreme Court Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt phase trial (in official legal terms, they rejected his petition for a "writ of certiorari").
Abu-Jamal's appeal was based primarily on the US Supreme Court's 1986 "Batson v Kentucky" ruling which stated that a defendant deserves a new trial if it can be shown that the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove otherwise qualified jurors simply because of their race. At Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial, prosecutor Joseph McGill used 10 or 11 of his 15 strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors.
The US Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will further consider the Philadelphia DA's appeal of the 2001/2008 rulings of two lower courts, which ruled that Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing if the death penalty is to be re-instated. Therefore, if the US Supreme Court rules in favor of the DA, Abu-Jamal can then be executed WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing!
For more information on the Supreme Court ruling here.
Please sign the online petition for Mumia here: www.petitiononline.com/supreme
==============================================================
Mumia's New Book On Jailhouse Lawyers
"More Than A Book Party" events to be held around US, marking the March release
Purchase Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A., directly from City Lights Books. Read the foreword by former political prisoner Angela Y. Davis and an interview with Mumia about his new book. In Mumia's words, "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion- dollar endowed universities, but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America."
"More Than A Book Party" events will be held in the US around April 24, to mark Mumia's birthday and the release of Jailhouse Lawyers. Read more about events in: Philadelphia (including a Revolutionary Week of Events), NYC, Oakland, Los Angeles, Boston, Portland, Houston, Washington, DC, and Baltimore.
Read reviews by: Linn Washington, Jr., J. Patrick O'Connor, and Kiilu Nyasha
==========
EMERGENCY STRATEGIZING MEETINGS:
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009 10 am – 12 noon
Where: Abiding Truth Ministries Church, 5701 Washington, Ave. Philly
Contact: 215 476 8812 or ICFFMAJ@aol. com
GET FLYERS FOR UPCOMING EVENTS - E-mail icffmaj@aol.com
NY: Open Meeting in Response to the Outrageous and Racist Ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Where: Solidarity Center, 55 West 17th Street, 5th Floor
(btw. 5th & 6th Avenues)
Directions: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, F, or V to 14th Street
Sponsored by: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
freemumia.com • 212-330-8029
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!
Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org
http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/
Mumia's got a podcast! Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays - Subscribe at the website or on iTunes and get Mumia's radio commentaries online.
Mumia Abu-Jamal's new book -- JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE USA, featuring an introduction by Angela Y. Davis -- will be released soon! It will be available from City Lights Books at a 30% discount weeks before you can get it at any other bookstore, or from Amazon. Sign up for an email alert and when the book becomes available for sale you'll receive an email letting you know: http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100448090
In support of Mumia and the publication of JAILHOUSE LAWYERS, organizations around the country will be holding "More Than a Book Party" events on or around Mumia's birthday, April 24, 2009. If you are planning to organize an event or would like to order in bulk, you can also receive a 45% discount on any bulk orders of 20 copies or more. The book retails for $16.95, for orders of 20 copies or more the discounted price would be $9.32 per book, plus shipping and handling. Prepayment would be required and books are nonreturnable. If you or your organization would like to place a bulk order, please contact Stacey Lewis at 415.362.1901 or stacey@citylights.com
Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant, moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!
Please make a contribution to help free Mumia. Donations to the grassroots work will go to both INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and the FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC).
WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM
Please mail donations/ checks to:
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL COALITION
PO BOX 16, NEW YORK,
NY 10030
(CHECKS FOR BOTH ORGANIZATIONS PAYABLE TO: FMAJC/IFCO)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
215 476-8812
212-330-8029
Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!
Subscribe: mumiacolumns- subscribe@ topica.com
Read: http://topica. com/lists/ mumiacolumns/ read
Subscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailing
icffmaj@aol. com!
!*"May Day '09" by Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Speech writ. 3/23/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
While May Day has historically been a day of worker's solidarity and a celebration of labor power, this is not a day or year like any other.
That's because many nations are in the midst of economic recession and financial failure, and it is workers worldwide who are suffering from layoffs and mass firings in almost every sector of the global economy.
While labor is depressed, capital is aggregating to itself bigger and larger shares of national and global wealth, as governments rush to bail out banks and investment firms, but only if they are "too big to fail."
Under the newly amended rules of capitalism, corporations (especially in the financial sector) can scam, steal, and hustle virtually everyone, and when the economy falls, the government sails in and bails them out with public money!
Under a system such as this, capitalism can never lose. It's like a gambling casino, where the house rules change every half hour (or depending on who's winning and who's losing!)
But workers are losing.
Around the world, workers are facing lost jobs, vanished careers, foreclosed homes, and families broken and shattered against the grinding wheel of Capital.
This will be one hell of a May Day -- but it's the one that globalized capital has fashioned for us all.
Only if labor is truly globalized can it fight for and demand its fair share from the ravages of capitalism.
Let that be our mission for May Day -- and for tomorrow.
--(c) '09 maj
While May Day has historically been a day of worker's solidarity and a celebration of labor power, this is not a day or year like any other.
That's because many nations are in the midst of economic recession and financial failure, and it is workers worldwide who are suffering from layoffs and mass firings in almost every sector of the global economy.
While labor is depressed, capital is aggregating to itself bigger and larger shares of national and global wealth, as governments rush to bail out banks and investment firms, but only if they are "too big to fail."
Under the newly amended rules of capitalism, corporations (especially in the financial sector) can scam, steal, and hustle virtually everyone, and when the economy falls, the government sails in and bails them out with public money!
Under a system such as this, capitalism can never lose. It's like a gambling casino, where the house rules change every half hour (or depending on who's winning and who's losing!)
But workers are losing.
Around the world, workers are facing lost jobs, vanished careers, foreclosed homes, and families broken and shattered against the grinding wheel of Capital.
This will be one hell of a May Day -- but it's the one that globalized capital has fashioned for us all.
Only if labor is truly globalized can it fight for and demand its fair share from the ravages of capitalism.
Let that be our mission for May Day -- and for tomorrow.
--(c) '09 maj
!*April 11 NY/Philly Emergency Mtgs. for Mumia!
Flag this message!*April 11 NY/Philly Emergency Mtgs. for Mumia!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 8:24 PM
From: "MUMIA ABU-JAMAL"
Add sender to ContactsTo: nattyreb@gmail.com
PAM AFRICA IS ASKING FOR ORGANIZERS EVERYWHERE TO HELP STRATEGIZE
TO SUPPORT MUMIA DURING THIS URGENT TIME, WE HAVE TO BUILD AND
STRENGTHEN THIS MOVEMENT IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE!!
via: nycjericho@gmail.com
======================
Emergency Meeting in Response to the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt-phase trial. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to consider the Philadelphia DA's separate appeal, which is attempting to execute Abu-Jamal WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing. In response to yesterday's rejection, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, will be filing a "petition for re-hearing" in the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., there will be an open strategy session to determine our next steps forward.
This isn’t the first time the Supreme Court chose not to look into this case. It’s quite obvious that they don’t want to look into the case because of its political implications. They clearly are holding fast to the rule that “the Black man has no rights which the white man is bound to respect.” We must not let them get away with it.
Since the highest court in the land didn’t even bother to explain why they turned down the case, it’s our job to analyze the situation and respond strategically and forcefully.
After the strategy meeting, we will watch the recently released documentary, "In Prison My Whole Life", shown at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and in the British Parliament this year. The film provides a comprehensive overview of the case and includes the recently released photos showing how Philadelphia police tampered with crime scene evidence. Dinner will be available for $5, and it will be served promptly at 6:00 p.m.
What: Open Meeting in Response to the Outrageous and Racist Ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Where: Solidarity Center, 55 West 17th Street, 5th Floor
(btw. 5th & 6th Avenues)
Directions: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, F, or V to 14th Street
Sponsored by: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
freemumia.com • 212-330-8029
--
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org
=======================
via: icffmaj@aol.com
EMERGENCY STRATEGIZING MEETING:
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009
10 am – 12 noon
Where: Abiding Truth Ministries Church, 5701 Washington, Ave. Philly
Contact: 215-476-8812 or ICFFMAJ@aol.com
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 8:24 PM
From: "MUMIA ABU-JAMAL"
Add sender to ContactsTo: nattyreb@gmail.com
PAM AFRICA IS ASKING FOR ORGANIZERS EVERYWHERE TO HELP STRATEGIZE
TO SUPPORT MUMIA DURING THIS URGENT TIME, WE HAVE TO BUILD AND
STRENGTHEN THIS MOVEMENT IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE!!
via: nycjericho@gmail.com
======================
Emergency Meeting in Response to the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt-phase trial. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to consider the Philadelphia DA's separate appeal, which is attempting to execute Abu-Jamal WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing. In response to yesterday's rejection, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, will be filing a "petition for re-hearing" in the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., there will be an open strategy session to determine our next steps forward.
This isn’t the first time the Supreme Court chose not to look into this case. It’s quite obvious that they don’t want to look into the case because of its political implications. They clearly are holding fast to the rule that “the Black man has no rights which the white man is bound to respect.” We must not let them get away with it.
Since the highest court in the land didn’t even bother to explain why they turned down the case, it’s our job to analyze the situation and respond strategically and forcefully.
After the strategy meeting, we will watch the recently released documentary, "In Prison My Whole Life", shown at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and in the British Parliament this year. The film provides a comprehensive overview of the case and includes the recently released photos showing how Philadelphia police tampered with crime scene evidence. Dinner will be available for $5, and it will be served promptly at 6:00 p.m.
What: Open Meeting in Response to the Outrageous and Racist Ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Where: Solidarity Center, 55 West 17th Street, 5th Floor
(btw. 5th & 6th Avenues)
Directions: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, F, or V to 14th Street
Sponsored by: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
freemumia.com • 212-330-8029
--
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org
=======================
via: icffmaj@aol.com
EMERGENCY STRATEGIZING MEETING:
When: Saturday, April 11, 2009
10 am – 12 noon
Where: Abiding Truth Ministries Church, 5701 Washington, Ave. Philly
Contact: 215-476-8812 or ICFFMAJ@aol.com
!*LA / Houston / Baltimore Programs for Mumia!
The Abolition Movement is sponsoring a "More Than Just a Book Party" to celebrate Mumia's birthday as well as his new book. It will be at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, 3815 Live Oak in Houston's Third Ward from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Activists Ester King and Ray Hill will read from the new book and we will honor Texas writ writers Prince Imari Obadele, Bobby Mudd and Salvador Gonzales. There will be an update on Mumai's case as well as spoken word and cake and ice cream. For information, Abolition.Movement@hotmail.com or 713-503-2633.
In struggle,
Gloria
BALTIMORE
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL BIRTHDAY PARTY & BOOK RELEASE
"MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY"
Mumia writes: "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion-dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America ... It is law learned in a stew of bitterness, under the constant threat of violence, in places where millions of people live, buy millions of others wish to ignore or forget"
Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant and moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!
In the spirit of Mumia's book, we dedicate these "More Than a Book Party" events to the thousands and thousands of jailhouse lawyers who practice their craft in their own and their brothers' (and sisters') struggle for justice, against all odds and with the high risk of being subjected to the venom, punishment, and brutality of the prison system that is directed against them more than to any other sector of the prison population.
Featured Artists: Labtekwon, Chris
Speakers: Doc Cheatam -Baltimore Branch NAACP
Shanell Bryant -Baltimore Chapter INPDUM
Mike Stark -Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Max Obuszewski
Wendy Hess -Public Justice Center….AND MORE
$5 Donation---No one turned away for lack of funds
$10 for a copy of the new book “Jailhouse Lawyers”
April 24, 2009
7pm-11pm
Cork Factory Building
Cork Gallery
4th Floor Doorbell #9
302 E. Federal St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Sponsored by: International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Baltimore Friends of MOVE, Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP, Baltimore Chapter of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, Soilciarity Center, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Pulbic Justice Center
For More Information: (443) 850-2840 ameejill@hotmail.com
In struggle,
Gloria
BALTIMORE
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL BIRTHDAY PARTY & BOOK RELEASE
"MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY"
Mumia writes: "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion-dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America ... It is law learned in a stew of bitterness, under the constant threat of violence, in places where millions of people live, buy millions of others wish to ignore or forget"
Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant and moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!
In the spirit of Mumia's book, we dedicate these "More Than a Book Party" events to the thousands and thousands of jailhouse lawyers who practice their craft in their own and their brothers' (and sisters') struggle for justice, against all odds and with the high risk of being subjected to the venom, punishment, and brutality of the prison system that is directed against them more than to any other sector of the prison population.
Featured Artists: Labtekwon, Chris
Speakers: Doc Cheatam -Baltimore Branch NAACP
Shanell Bryant -Baltimore Chapter INPDUM
Mike Stark -Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Max Obuszewski
Wendy Hess -Public Justice Center….AND MORE
$5 Donation---No one turned away for lack of funds
$10 for a copy of the new book “Jailhouse Lawyers”
April 24, 2009
7pm-11pm
Cork Factory Building
Cork Gallery
4th Floor Doorbell #9
302 E. Federal St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Sponsored by: International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Baltimore Friends of MOVE, Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP, Baltimore Chapter of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, Soilciarity Center, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Pulbic Justice Center
For More Information: (443) 850-2840 ameejill@hotmail.com
!*4/18 Ramona Africa at Hamline Law School!
The NLG midwest regional conference & Hamline Law School's PRISON REFORM PROJECT present:
RAMONA AFRICA AT HAMLINE LAW SCHOOL: Speaking on the legal battle of the MOVE 9, the upcoming MOVE 9 parole hearings, the MOVE organization, Political Prisoners in America and the American Prison System.
LOCATION:
St. Paul, Minnesota – Saturday, April 18, 2009 – 1536 Hewitt Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55104 (Hamline Law Building Rm. 105; Located off Pascal St, which intersects Hewitt Ave)
SOME BACKGROUND:
In 1978, when the police raided the MOVE home, the family fled into the basement of their home to avoid the attack, police attempted to flood them out with high-pressure hoses. During the attack, police officer James Ramp was killed by a single gunshot. Nine members of the MOVE family were charged with Ramp´s murder, and received 30-to-100-year sentences.
There is ample evidence that none of the nine was responsible for Ramp´s death. Even television and radio stations initially reported that Ramp was killed by “friendly fire’ from officers firing at the MOVE house. Police--clearly intent on killing MOVE members, including children, trapped inside--had fired over 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
But any evidence that could have supported the defense in the case was destroyed by Philadelphia police following orders from Mayor Frank Rizzo to bulldoze the house, leveling it within hours of the assault. Noted Philadelphia journalist Linn Washington described it as “the fastest destruction of a crime-scene site in history.’
MOVE “9” members Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Merle, Mike and Phil Africa were given the excessive sentences on May 4, 1980 by Judge Edward Malmed. When Malmed was a guest on a radio show a few days after the sentencing, journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal called in to ask him who killed Ramp. Malmed replied, “I haven´t the faintest idea.’ He said that since “they call themselves a family, I sentenced them as a family.’
In 1985, the police once again laid siege to the MOVE household. This time they dropped a C4 explosive on the building killing 11 MOVE members. Ramona Africa survived this assault. After surviving the bombing, she was charged with conspiracy, riot, and multiple counts of simple and aggravated assault. Subsequently Ramona served 7 years in prison. Since her release from prison, Ramona has tirelessly worked as the MOVE Minister of Communication on behalf of the MOVE 9, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all political prisoners and prisoners of war.
WWW.ONAMOVE.COM
For more info on MOVE and to sign a petition calling for the MOVE 9's immediate parole visit:www.onamove.com
For info on this event or info on the PRISON REFORM PROJECT contact:
pmurphy06@hamline.edu
RAMONA AFRICA AT HAMLINE LAW SCHOOL: Speaking on the legal battle of the MOVE 9, the upcoming MOVE 9 parole hearings, the MOVE organization, Political Prisoners in America and the American Prison System.
LOCATION:
St. Paul, Minnesota – Saturday, April 18, 2009 – 1536 Hewitt Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55104 (Hamline Law Building Rm. 105; Located off Pascal St, which intersects Hewitt Ave)
SOME BACKGROUND:
In 1978, when the police raided the MOVE home, the family fled into the basement of their home to avoid the attack, police attempted to flood them out with high-pressure hoses. During the attack, police officer James Ramp was killed by a single gunshot. Nine members of the MOVE family were charged with Ramp´s murder, and received 30-to-100-year sentences.
There is ample evidence that none of the nine was responsible for Ramp´s death. Even television and radio stations initially reported that Ramp was killed by “friendly fire’ from officers firing at the MOVE house. Police--clearly intent on killing MOVE members, including children, trapped inside--had fired over 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
But any evidence that could have supported the defense in the case was destroyed by Philadelphia police following orders from Mayor Frank Rizzo to bulldoze the house, leveling it within hours of the assault. Noted Philadelphia journalist Linn Washington described it as “the fastest destruction of a crime-scene site in history.’
MOVE “9” members Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Merle, Mike and Phil Africa were given the excessive sentences on May 4, 1980 by Judge Edward Malmed. When Malmed was a guest on a radio show a few days after the sentencing, journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal called in to ask him who killed Ramp. Malmed replied, “I haven´t the faintest idea.’ He said that since “they call themselves a family, I sentenced them as a family.’
In 1985, the police once again laid siege to the MOVE household. This time they dropped a C4 explosive on the building killing 11 MOVE members. Ramona Africa survived this assault. After surviving the bombing, she was charged with conspiracy, riot, and multiple counts of simple and aggravated assault. Subsequently Ramona served 7 years in prison. Since her release from prison, Ramona has tirelessly worked as the MOVE Minister of Communication on behalf of the MOVE 9, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all political prisoners and prisoners of war.
WWW.ONAMOVE.COM
For more info on MOVE and to sign a petition calling for the MOVE 9's immediate parole visit:www.onamove.com
For info on this event or info on the PRISON REFORM PROJECT contact:
pmurphy06@hamline.edu
Beating Back Batson by Mumia Abu-Jamal
NOTE from Sis. Marpessa: Here's a link to excerpts of Ass't DA McMahon's training video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv9SJPa_dF8
Check that short piece out (57 secs), and then please re-read this piece Bro. Mumia wrote last year:
Beating Back Batson
[col. writ. 9/6/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal
For those who read court opinions, few can ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's 1986 Batson v. Kentucky decision.
Essentially, it prohibited the State from removing Black jurors for racial reasons. It re-wrote the rules from the Swain v. Alabama ( 1965) case, where the court required systematic discrimination over a number of cases, over a period of years. Needless to say, such a challenge was clearly beyond the resources of most people, and relatively few were made, and even fewer successful. It is hard to resist the suspicion that this was merely judicial lip service to a principle that was easily ignored, in the breach.
For, it took over a generation, over 20 years, for Swain to be overruled by Batson, and now, Batson is beginning to bear an eerie resemblance to its unworkable parentage, because courts have been loathe to grant relief, and have either created new rules, or simply ignored its dictates.
We see this at work recently in a number of cases, among them Com. v. (Robert) Cook, WL 284060 (July 24, 2008). In this case, the DA used 74% of his strikes to remove 14 Black jurors. Incredibly, the Phila. Court of Common Pleas initially found that even this didn't constitute a prima facie case of discrimination. Later, it found a prima facie case, but ruled that the DA put forth sufficient race-neutral reasons for exclusion, and therefore not a violation of Batson.
Recently, the PA Supreme Court agreed, even though the DA couldn't recall why he removed 2 Black jurors -- or, in other words, couldn't articulate a justification.
Now remember -- Batson states that the improper removal of one juror violates the constitution. One -- not 14.
But here's the kicker. The DA in Mr. Cook's case made a video training tape, where he taught his fellow prosecutors how to violateBatson - and how to lie about it to judges.
But perhaps the then prosecutor, Jack McMahon, didn't need to work that hard, for courts would take up the slack. For where the DA can't remember a reason, the court will invent one.
This is especially egregious in this case, for the man who wrote the opinion was the DA when McMahon made the tapes, but now sits as Chief Justice of the court. Can you spell 'conflict of interest?' Did he recuse himself? (What do you think?)
For over a decade, Pennsylvania courts have painted McMahon as the bad guy, a kind of rogue prosecutor, and most of his convictions have been reversed (except Cook's), but McMahon wasn't, and never should've been, the issue. For he was simply describing the pattern and practice of the office, and training his colleagues in techniques used over years of trials.
Mr. McMahon was putting into words what DAs did to get convictions. Does that mean his office sought a fair and impartial jury? In McMahon's words, " Well, that's ridiculous. You're not trying to get that." In fact, McMahon explained, their jobs were to get the most "unfair" jury possible. And, in many cases, that meant getting as few Blacks to serve on the jury as possible.
Batson is as empty as Swain was, for if they don't want to give it up, any reason will do.
They proclaim ideals of fairness that bear no relationship to the real process happening daily in courtrooms all across America.
That would be, to quote McMahon, "ridiculous."
-- (c) '08 maj
Supreme Court lets Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction stand
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/ 04/06/mumia.supreme.court/
By Bill MearsCNN Supreme Court Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has let stand the conviction of former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was sent to death row for gunning down a Philadelphia police officer 28 years ago.
He contends blacks were unfairly excluded from the jury, and has been an outspoken activist from behind bars.
The justices made their announcement Monday. A separate appeal over whether Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing has not been taken up by the high court. Prosecutors are appealing a federal appeals court ruling in Abu-Jamal's favor last year on the sentencing issue.
The case has attracted international attention amid charges of prosecutorial misconduct and the inmate's outspoken personality. Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter and cab driver has been a divisive figure, with many prominent supporters arguing that racism pervaded his trial. Others countered Abu-Jamal is using his skin color to escape responsibility for his actions. They say he has divided the community for years with his provocative writing and activism.
He was convicted for the December 9, 1981, murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner, 25, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Faulkner had pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in a late-night traffic stop. Witnesses said Abu-Jamal, who was nearby, ran over and shot the policeman in the back and in the head.
Abu-Jamal, once known as Wesley Cook, was also wounded in the encounter and later confessed to the killing, according to other witnesses testimony.
Abu-Jamal is black and the police officer was white.Incarcerated for nearly three decades, Abu-Jamal has been an active critic of the criminal justice system.
On a Web site created by friends to promote the release this month of his new book, the prisoner-turned-author writes about his fight. "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America."
His chief defense attorney, Robert Bryan, had urged the justices to grant a new criminal trial, but the high court offered no explanation for its refusal to intervene.
"The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection," Bryan wrote to supporters last month. Ten whites and two blacks made up the original jury panel that sentenced Abu-Jamal to death.
A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a year ago kept the murder conviction in place, but ordered a new capital sentencing hearing. That court ultimately concluded the jury was improperly instructed on how to weigh "mitigating factors" offered by the defense that might have kept Abu-Jamal off death row. Pennsylvania law at the time said jurors did not have to unanimously agree on a mitigating circumstance, such as the fact that Abu-Jamal had no prior criminal record.
Months before that ruling, oral arguments on the issue were contentious. Faulkner's widow and Abu-Jamal's brother attended, and demonstrations on both sides were held outside the courtroom in downtown Philadelphia.
Many prominent groups and individuals, including singer Harry Belafonte, the NAACP and the European Parliament, are cited on his Web site as supporters. Prosecutors have insisted Abu-Jamal pay the price for his crimes, and have aggressively resisted efforts to take him of death row for Faulkner's murder.
"This assassination has been made a circus by those people in the world and this city who believe falsely that Mumia Abu-Jamal is some kind of a folk hero," said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham last year, when the federal appeals court upheld the conviction. "He is nothing short of an assassin."
By Bill MearsCNN Supreme Court Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has let stand the conviction of former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was sent to death row for gunning down a Philadelphia police officer 28 years ago.
He contends blacks were unfairly excluded from the jury, and has been an outspoken activist from behind bars.
The justices made their announcement Monday. A separate appeal over whether Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing has not been taken up by the high court. Prosecutors are appealing a federal appeals court ruling in Abu-Jamal's favor last year on the sentencing issue.
The case has attracted international attention amid charges of prosecutorial misconduct and the inmate's outspoken personality. Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter and cab driver has been a divisive figure, with many prominent supporters arguing that racism pervaded his trial. Others countered Abu-Jamal is using his skin color to escape responsibility for his actions. They say he has divided the community for years with his provocative writing and activism.
He was convicted for the December 9, 1981, murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner, 25, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Faulkner had pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in a late-night traffic stop. Witnesses said Abu-Jamal, who was nearby, ran over and shot the policeman in the back and in the head.
Abu-Jamal, once known as Wesley Cook, was also wounded in the encounter and later confessed to the killing, according to other witnesses testimony.
Abu-Jamal is black and the police officer was white.Incarcerated for nearly three decades, Abu-Jamal has been an active critic of the criminal justice system.
On a Web site created by friends to promote the release this month of his new book, the prisoner-turned-author writes about his fight. "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America."
His chief defense attorney, Robert Bryan, had urged the justices to grant a new criminal trial, but the high court offered no explanation for its refusal to intervene.
"The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection," Bryan wrote to supporters last month. Ten whites and two blacks made up the original jury panel that sentenced Abu-Jamal to death.
A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a year ago kept the murder conviction in place, but ordered a new capital sentencing hearing. That court ultimately concluded the jury was improperly instructed on how to weigh "mitigating factors" offered by the defense that might have kept Abu-Jamal off death row. Pennsylvania law at the time said jurors did not have to unanimously agree on a mitigating circumstance, such as the fact that Abu-Jamal had no prior criminal record.
Months before that ruling, oral arguments on the issue were contentious. Faulkner's widow and Abu-Jamal's brother attended, and demonstrations on both sides were held outside the courtroom in downtown Philadelphia.
Many prominent groups and individuals, including singer Harry Belafonte, the NAACP and the European Parliament, are cited on his Web site as supporters. Prosecutors have insisted Abu-Jamal pay the price for his crimes, and have aggressively resisted efforts to take him of death row for Faulkner's murder.
"This assassination has been made a circus by those people in the world and this city who believe falsely that Mumia Abu-Jamal is some kind of a folk hero," said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham last year, when the federal appeals court upheld the conviction. "He is nothing short of an assassin."
!*Mumia in Danger!...Hold April 29th!
On Wednesday Evening, April 29th2009
Come and Participate in an Emergency Community Forum and Book Party!
RACE MATTERS-THE DEATH PENALTY
& THE INCREDIBLE CASE
OF
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
And the Release of his latest book
“JAILHOUSE LAWYERS”
This event comes just after the US Supreme Court denies his attorneys’ appeal
while acknowledging the right of the prosecution to be heard on the reinstatement of his death sentence!
This event is a part of Int’l Freedom Week for Mumia
where actions are taking place around the world in support of Mumia
Investigative Reporter Hans Bennett who uncovered photos revealing
Philadelphia Police tampering with the crime scene
calls the Supreme Court decision a “terribly dark day for justice in the U.S.”
This special event will feature
Pam Africa-Intl Con. Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Lawrence Hayes-Black Panther Party formerly on Death Row in New York State
Dr. Matthew Johnson-New Jerseyans For A Moratorium on The Death Penalty
& The Peoples Organization for Progress
Delacy Davis-Black Cops Against Police Brutality
DON’T MISS THIS EVENT!
Newark Public Library-4thFloor Auditorium
5 Washington Street, Newark
6-8pm/Free Admission
For more information, please call 201-602-0780
Sponsor-Frontline Artists
Other endorsing and cosponsoring organizations include
The Peoples Organization for Progress and The New Black Panther Partywith mumia's vicious kaptors putting out a rumor that mumia had been found dead in his cell, please treat this announcement annexed and below with the utmost seriousness...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Ode to the Lions
Detroit is where they built that car named Christine
Despite that the Lions went 0 and 16
Before the season started, they ran out of steam
They weren’t good enough to beat a college team
The ’76 Buccaneers no longer dwell on the bottom
A much worse team, the ’08 Lions got-‘em
The Lions really stink and we all know
Can they go winless two seasons in a row?
The Detroit Lions, that team is dead
At Ford Field with paper bags on your heads
The Detroit Lions, the shame of the city
The NFL’s top loser, so have no pity
The Detroit Lions, they’re such an easy score
The other 31 teams, they pimp that whore
Let’s bash that team from Fawnskin to Scranton
On the first ballot send them losers to Canton.
-Aquil Aziz
Copyright © 2009
Despite that the Lions went 0 and 16
Before the season started, they ran out of steam
They weren’t good enough to beat a college team
The ’76 Buccaneers no longer dwell on the bottom
A much worse team, the ’08 Lions got-‘em
The Lions really stink and we all know
Can they go winless two seasons in a row?
The Detroit Lions, that team is dead
At Ford Field with paper bags on your heads
The Detroit Lions, the shame of the city
The NFL’s top loser, so have no pity
The Detroit Lions, they’re such an easy score
The other 31 teams, they pimp that whore
Let’s bash that team from Fawnskin to Scranton
On the first ballot send them losers to Canton.
-Aquil Aziz
Copyright © 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Monday, April 06, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Congratulations, America … Children are Being Tortured in Your Name
George Washington’s Blog
May 21, 2008
Over the last 24 hours, news about U.S. torture has been leaking out:
• A former prisoner testified to Congress that he was beaten, hung by his arms for five days, subjected to electrical shocks and, "They stuck my head into a bucket of water and punched me in the stomach," he said. "I inhaled the water. … It was a strong punch."
• The FBI was so disturbed at what they saw at Guantanamo that FBI staff created a "war crimes file" to document accusations against American military personnel at Guantanamo. For example, the head of the FBI’s national security law unit wrote in July 2003: "Beyond any doubt, what they are doing (and I don’t know the extent of it) would be unlawful were these enemy prisoners of war"
• The U.S. military not only tortured prisoners for themselves, but also did the "dirty work" of "softening up" prisoners for Chinese interrogators
The U.S. has also tortured prisoners to death in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
Not bad enough for you?
Well, the U.S. has imprisoned 2,500 children since 9/11 as "enemy combatants", in violation of the Geneva Convention against classifying children as POWs.
Still not disgusted?
Okay . . . Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh says that the U.S. Government has videotapes of boys being raped at Abu Ghraib prison (see also this and this).
This doesn’t come as a complete surprise, given that assistant deputy Attorney General John Yoo has publicly argued that the president can order the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.
Congratulations, America. This is being done in your name.
If you’re not sick to your stomach by learning that your government has been killing and torturing people - including children - then you are a psychopath or a pervert.
Don’t try to tell me that torture is a necessary evil. It is well-known by professional interrogators that torture doesn’t work. Experts on interrogation say that torture actually interferes with the ability to gather useful information.
May 21, 2008
Over the last 24 hours, news about U.S. torture has been leaking out:
• A former prisoner testified to Congress that he was beaten, hung by his arms for five days, subjected to electrical shocks and, "They stuck my head into a bucket of water and punched me in the stomach," he said. "I inhaled the water. … It was a strong punch."
• The FBI was so disturbed at what they saw at Guantanamo that FBI staff created a "war crimes file" to document accusations against American military personnel at Guantanamo. For example, the head of the FBI’s national security law unit wrote in July 2003: "Beyond any doubt, what they are doing (and I don’t know the extent of it) would be unlawful were these enemy prisoners of war"
• The U.S. military not only tortured prisoners for themselves, but also did the "dirty work" of "softening up" prisoners for Chinese interrogators
The U.S. has also tortured prisoners to death in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
Not bad enough for you?
Well, the U.S. has imprisoned 2,500 children since 9/11 as "enemy combatants", in violation of the Geneva Convention against classifying children as POWs.
Still not disgusted?
Okay . . . Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh says that the U.S. Government has videotapes of boys being raped at Abu Ghraib prison (see also this and this).
This doesn’t come as a complete surprise, given that assistant deputy Attorney General John Yoo has publicly argued that the president can order the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.
Congratulations, America. This is being done in your name.
If you’re not sick to your stomach by learning that your government has been killing and torturing people - including children - then you are a psychopath or a pervert.
Don’t try to tell me that torture is a necessary evil. It is well-known by professional interrogators that torture doesn’t work. Experts on interrogation say that torture actually interferes with the ability to gather useful information.
Monday, March 16, 2009
'Moneychangers in the Temple'
[col. writ. 3/7/09]
(c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
For readers of the Bible's New Testament, few stories illustrate the anger of Jesus of Nazareth better than that of his expulsion of the moneychangers from the Temple, for they had, in his words, turned it into a "den of thieves." *
This event is memorable for it shows him not speaking in anger, but acting. Some artists have depicted him actually whipping moneychangers out of the Temple as they flee amidst chaos.
That imagery was borrowed several millennia later when American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his famous "Fear Itself" inaugural address. As the country fell under the deep freeze of depression, Roosevelt spoke words that were recognized by many of that age when he said, "....[T]he rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous moneychangers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men."
Roosevelt continued: "The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit."
Those words were spoken on Jan. 20, 1933.
That was 76 years ago, and once again, the 'rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods' have failed, and the nation is ripped by the icy chains of depression. Yeah -- I said depression, for just six months ago the president assured the country that the state of the economy was 'sound', even as the nation was locked in a recession for the better part of the year.
If it ain't a depression, it's a dime's distance away from it.
But this ain't '33.
The money changers who steered the economy onto the rocks haven't admitted defeat. They are making more money -- indeed, they are given taxpayer's money -- as they burn through more.
The more they lose, the more they want.
These moneychangers aren't being whipped out of the temple -- they're given bigger tables!
Look at AIG, Goldman-Sachs, Citigroup --not just mo' money, but mo', mo' and even mo' money!
Because, in the eyes of Washington and the Federal Reserve, they're 'too big to fail.'
Under that illogic, they will swallow the moon -- and get bigger, while the nation's economy worsens by the hour.
This ain't a 'den of thieves', it's a Temple of thieves, where the banks have stolen the wealth of millions on the front end, only to loot the treasury on the back end. They are getting paid for sacking the economy -- and the only thing these politicians can say is, "want more?"
--(c) '09 maj
[Sources: *Bible, New Testament chapters: St. Matt. 21:12-13; St. Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46 {KJV) ].
(c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
For readers of the Bible's New Testament, few stories illustrate the anger of Jesus of Nazareth better than that of his expulsion of the moneychangers from the Temple, for they had, in his words, turned it into a "den of thieves." *
This event is memorable for it shows him not speaking in anger, but acting. Some artists have depicted him actually whipping moneychangers out of the Temple as they flee amidst chaos.
That imagery was borrowed several millennia later when American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his famous "Fear Itself" inaugural address. As the country fell under the deep freeze of depression, Roosevelt spoke words that were recognized by many of that age when he said, "....[T]he rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous moneychangers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men."
Roosevelt continued: "The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit."
Those words were spoken on Jan. 20, 1933.
That was 76 years ago, and once again, the 'rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods' have failed, and the nation is ripped by the icy chains of depression. Yeah -- I said depression, for just six months ago the president assured the country that the state of the economy was 'sound', even as the nation was locked in a recession for the better part of the year.
If it ain't a depression, it's a dime's distance away from it.
But this ain't '33.
The money changers who steered the economy onto the rocks haven't admitted defeat. They are making more money -- indeed, they are given taxpayer's money -- as they burn through more.
The more they lose, the more they want.
These moneychangers aren't being whipped out of the temple -- they're given bigger tables!
Look at AIG, Goldman-Sachs, Citigroup --not just mo' money, but mo', mo' and even mo' money!
Because, in the eyes of Washington and the Federal Reserve, they're 'too big to fail.'
Under that illogic, they will swallow the moon -- and get bigger, while the nation's economy worsens by the hour.
This ain't a 'den of thieves', it's a Temple of thieves, where the banks have stolen the wealth of millions on the front end, only to loot the treasury on the back end. They are getting paid for sacking the economy -- and the only thing these politicians can say is, "want more?"
--(c) '09 maj
[Sources: *Bible, New Testament chapters: St. Matt. 21:12-13; St. Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46 {KJV) ].
NAACP Legal Defense Fund Files Brief in Supreme Court in Mumia Abu-Jamal Case
March 5, 2009
(New York, NY)- Today the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) filed a friend of the court brief in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal's claim of racial discrimination in the selection of the jury for his 1981 death penalty trial. LDF's brief supports Mr. Abu-Jamal's request for United States Supreme Court review of his appeal urging enforcement of the laws that require courts to promptly investigate evidence of discrimination against African American prospective jurors.
Specifically, LDF objects to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit's use of a restrictive interpretation of Batson v. Kentucky, a Supreme Court decision prohibiting prosecutors from excluding prospective jurors on the basis of race, to conclude that Mr. Abu-Jamal failed to present sufficient evidence to support his claim of racial discrimination in jury selection. LDF's brief explains that the Third Circuit's conclusion that the only way to prove that racial discrimination infected the jury selection process is to document the race of all members from the panel of prospective jurors and the race of all stricken jurors ignores other significant indicators of discrimination in jury selection and contradicts the Supreme Court's command that courts examine a wide array of evidence to properly ferret out discrimination in jury selection.
As applied to Mr. Abu-Jamal's case, the Third Circuit decision means that the trial prosecutor's pattern of strikes against African-American prospective jurors, a culture of discrimination in the prosecutor's office (including a videotaped training advocating the exclusion of prospective jurors of color), a comprehensive statistical study documenting a pattern of exclusion of prospective jurors of color by the prosecutor's office and other such evidence is insufficient to suggest discrimination. LDF's brief explains that turning a blind eye to such credible evidence of discrimination not only conflicts with the law but also undermines public confidence in integrity of the courts.
"We believe that the Third Circuit's interpretation of the law will have the effect of shielding discrimination and undermining the rights of criminal and capital defendants to a fair trial. It is our hope that the Supreme Court will accept and review Mr. Abu-Jamal's case to make sure that courts respond promptly and appropriately when confronted with real questions about the existence of racial discrimination in jury selection," said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
# # #
ABOUT LDFThe NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America's legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.
(New York, NY)- Today the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) filed a friend of the court brief in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal's claim of racial discrimination in the selection of the jury for his 1981 death penalty trial. LDF's brief supports Mr. Abu-Jamal's request for United States Supreme Court review of his appeal urging enforcement of the laws that require courts to promptly investigate evidence of discrimination against African American prospective jurors.
Specifically, LDF objects to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit's use of a restrictive interpretation of Batson v. Kentucky, a Supreme Court decision prohibiting prosecutors from excluding prospective jurors on the basis of race, to conclude that Mr. Abu-Jamal failed to present sufficient evidence to support his claim of racial discrimination in jury selection. LDF's brief explains that the Third Circuit's conclusion that the only way to prove that racial discrimination infected the jury selection process is to document the race of all members from the panel of prospective jurors and the race of all stricken jurors ignores other significant indicators of discrimination in jury selection and contradicts the Supreme Court's command that courts examine a wide array of evidence to properly ferret out discrimination in jury selection.
As applied to Mr. Abu-Jamal's case, the Third Circuit decision means that the trial prosecutor's pattern of strikes against African-American prospective jurors, a culture of discrimination in the prosecutor's office (including a videotaped training advocating the exclusion of prospective jurors of color), a comprehensive statistical study documenting a pattern of exclusion of prospective jurors of color by the prosecutor's office and other such evidence is insufficient to suggest discrimination. LDF's brief explains that turning a blind eye to such credible evidence of discrimination not only conflicts with the law but also undermines public confidence in integrity of the courts.
"We believe that the Third Circuit's interpretation of the law will have the effect of shielding discrimination and undermining the rights of criminal and capital defendants to a fair trial. It is our hope that the Supreme Court will accept and review Mr. Abu-Jamal's case to make sure that courts respond promptly and appropriately when confronted with real questions about the existence of racial discrimination in jury selection," said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
# # #
ABOUT LDFThe NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America's legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.
MORE LESSONS FROM LUZERN COUNTY (PA)
[col. writ. 3/2/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
Recently, a piece was produced on the scandal in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, where 2 judges pleaded guilty for playing their parts in a kickback scheme that netted them over 2 and 1/2 million bucks.
The beneficiaries of their hustle were private juvenile prison builders, owners and investors (oh -- and themselves, of course).
The losers were hundreds of Luzerne County's children, kids who were treated like cattle, as they were shuffled through so-called 'courts' -- without counsel --, where so-called 'judges' sent them away from their parents, their siblings, and their fellow students, for acts as benign as passing notes, or sending fresh emails -- to private prisons for profit!
While the judges pleaded guilty to relatively minor charges, some other officials at the court, from county clerk to deputy court administrator have followed the judges in plea agreements.
What is utterly remarkable is how easily and effortlessly these judges did their thing, in stark violation of the state's Juvenile Act, * with virtual impunity, for almost a decade!
One must wonder, where were the lawyers looking out for the interests of these kids? Or were they so cowed, so shocked, so shaken by a 'long train of abuses' that they were silenced by the ugliness of corruption, and the aura of fear?
Pennsylvania law allegedly provides protections for children, including the right to counsel (even if they couldn't afford it), and a legal presumption that all kids should remain with their families. As a general rule, a child shouldn't have been detained unless she posed a danger to others, their property, or herself. There are exceptions to this rule, and they were whether the child was charged with committing major felonies, like robbery, rape or murder.
There was apparently another exception -- whether or not President Judge Mark Ciavarella or Senior Judge Michael Conahan wanted to make some quick bucks.
They were subject to a higher law -- get money!
What the Luzerne County scandal has shown us is that what happens in many courts is both a business and a mystery. For millions of Americans, the law is a puzzle written in Latin, one unable to decode.
It also shows us that sometimes the criminal is sitting on the bench, wearing a black robe.
--(c) '09 maj
[* See various PA statutes, like Tit. 42 Pa. C. S. 6301 et seq. (Re: Purposes of "Juvenile Act": To preserve the unity of the family whenever possible or to provide another alternative permanent family when the unity of the family cannot be maintained.) ; Tit. 42 Pa. C. S 6337: (Re: 'Right to Counsel': (....{A} party is entitled to representation by legal counsel at all stages of any proceedings under this chapter and if he is without financial resources or otherwise unable to employ counsel, to have the court provide counsel for him. If a party appears without counsel the court shall ascertain whether he knows of his right thereto and be provided with counsel by the court if applicable. Counsel must be provided for a child unless his parent, guardian, or custodian is present in court and affirmatively waive it....)]
Recently, a piece was produced on the scandal in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, where 2 judges pleaded guilty for playing their parts in a kickback scheme that netted them over 2 and 1/2 million bucks.
The beneficiaries of their hustle were private juvenile prison builders, owners and investors (oh -- and themselves, of course).
The losers were hundreds of Luzerne County's children, kids who were treated like cattle, as they were shuffled through so-called 'courts' -- without counsel --, where so-called 'judges' sent them away from their parents, their siblings, and their fellow students, for acts as benign as passing notes, or sending fresh emails -- to private prisons for profit!
While the judges pleaded guilty to relatively minor charges, some other officials at the court, from county clerk to deputy court administrator have followed the judges in plea agreements.
What is utterly remarkable is how easily and effortlessly these judges did their thing, in stark violation of the state's Juvenile Act, * with virtual impunity, for almost a decade!
One must wonder, where were the lawyers looking out for the interests of these kids? Or were they so cowed, so shocked, so shaken by a 'long train of abuses' that they were silenced by the ugliness of corruption, and the aura of fear?
Pennsylvania law allegedly provides protections for children, including the right to counsel (even if they couldn't afford it), and a legal presumption that all kids should remain with their families. As a general rule, a child shouldn't have been detained unless she posed a danger to others, their property, or herself. There are exceptions to this rule, and they were whether the child was charged with committing major felonies, like robbery, rape or murder.
There was apparently another exception -- whether or not President Judge Mark Ciavarella or Senior Judge Michael Conahan wanted to make some quick bucks.
They were subject to a higher law -- get money!
What the Luzerne County scandal has shown us is that what happens in many courts is both a business and a mystery. For millions of Americans, the law is a puzzle written in Latin, one unable to decode.
It also shows us that sometimes the criminal is sitting on the bench, wearing a black robe.
--(c) '09 maj
[* See various PA statutes, like Tit. 42 Pa. C. S. 6301 et seq. (Re: Purposes of "Juvenile Act": To preserve the unity of the family whenever possible or to provide another alternative permanent family when the unity of the family cannot be maintained.) ; Tit. 42 Pa. C. S 6337: (Re: 'Right to Counsel': (....{A} party is entitled to representation by legal counsel at all stages of any proceedings under this chapter and if he is without financial resources or otherwise unable to employ counsel, to have the court provide counsel for him. If a party appears without counsel the court shall ascertain whether he knows of his right thereto and be provided with counsel by the court if applicable. Counsel must be provided for a child unless his parent, guardian, or custodian is present in court and affirmatively waive it....)]
The Passing of the Papers
[col. writ. 3/1/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
For American newspapers, some that have been giants for generations, this is the age of Ragnarok. In Norse mythology, Ragnarok marked the destruction of the universe, when even the gods fell from their heaven. (Asgard).
For ages, newspapers have been the seedbeds of the information garden. Although seemingly threatened by the new technologies of radio and TV, this proved more appearance than actuality, for both mediums relied on the data uncovered by intrepid, although little-know newspaper reporters.
But we are now in the age of the Internet, a medium that only one newspaper (the Wall St. Journal) has successfully exploited.
That, added to lower circulation, and the flight of advertisers to the 'net, has spelled doom for newspapers.
In recent days, both the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer have been forced to face the dilemma of bankruptcy.
Just a week ago, the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, Colorado closed its doors after a century and 1/2 of operation. As of Sept. 2006, the Rocky Mountain News had a reported circulation of over 250,000. But the key isn't circulation, it's advertising -- and advertising is fleeing.
Indeed, about 2 years ago, a media research firm executive said some papers didn't want bigger circulation -- they wanted a smaller, but more wealthy circulation base.
Colby Atwood, head of Borrell Associates, told a New York Times reporter that a "quality circulation" is more preferable "than quantity", and it was a "rational business decision" to "shed" the subscribers who cost more and generate less revenue." *
When newspapers intentionally "shed" some subscribers they are cutting their own throats in pursuit of fool's gold.
And although most articles don't mention it, I remain convinced that newspapers are dying for quite another reason. In a time of war, when readers needed their services most, many papers simply took a dive, and served the interests of power, rather than the needs of the people. Most papers sold the president's line because they feared that they would be seen as disloyal in wartime, and lose subscribers.
Instead, they lost readers anyway, because people couldn't believe what they read in black and white.
In fact, even before the Iraq war some news execs sent memos to their staffs warning them NOT to show wire photos of civilian casualties in the Afghanistan war. One memo told reporters to "play down" such stories.*
Is there any wonder that such a product is in decline?
--(c) '09 maj
[Sources: *Perez-Pena, Richard, "Why Big Newspapers Applaud Some Declines in Circulation," New York Times, Mon., Oct. 1, 2007, p. c1.:
*Johnson, Chalmers, NEMESIS: The Last Days of the American Empire (Metropolitan Books: New York, 2006), p.30.]
For American newspapers, some that have been giants for generations, this is the age of Ragnarok. In Norse mythology, Ragnarok marked the destruction of the universe, when even the gods fell from their heaven. (Asgard).
For ages, newspapers have been the seedbeds of the information garden. Although seemingly threatened by the new technologies of radio and TV, this proved more appearance than actuality, for both mediums relied on the data uncovered by intrepid, although little-know newspaper reporters.
But we are now in the age of the Internet, a medium that only one newspaper (the Wall St. Journal) has successfully exploited.
That, added to lower circulation, and the flight of advertisers to the 'net, has spelled doom for newspapers.
In recent days, both the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer have been forced to face the dilemma of bankruptcy.
Just a week ago, the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, Colorado closed its doors after a century and 1/2 of operation. As of Sept. 2006, the Rocky Mountain News had a reported circulation of over 250,000. But the key isn't circulation, it's advertising -- and advertising is fleeing.
Indeed, about 2 years ago, a media research firm executive said some papers didn't want bigger circulation -- they wanted a smaller, but more wealthy circulation base.
Colby Atwood, head of Borrell Associates, told a New York Times reporter that a "quality circulation" is more preferable "than quantity", and it was a "rational business decision" to "shed" the subscribers who cost more and generate less revenue." *
When newspapers intentionally "shed" some subscribers they are cutting their own throats in pursuit of fool's gold.
And although most articles don't mention it, I remain convinced that newspapers are dying for quite another reason. In a time of war, when readers needed their services most, many papers simply took a dive, and served the interests of power, rather than the needs of the people. Most papers sold the president's line because they feared that they would be seen as disloyal in wartime, and lose subscribers.
Instead, they lost readers anyway, because people couldn't believe what they read in black and white.
In fact, even before the Iraq war some news execs sent memos to their staffs warning them NOT to show wire photos of civilian casualties in the Afghanistan war. One memo told reporters to "play down" such stories.*
Is there any wonder that such a product is in decline?
--(c) '09 maj
[Sources: *Perez-Pena, Richard, "Why Big Newspapers Applaud Some Declines in Circulation," New York Times, Mon., Oct. 1, 2007, p. c1.:
*Johnson, Chalmers, NEMESIS: The Last Days of the American Empire (Metropolitan Books: New York, 2006), p.30.]
Friday, March 13, 2009
America faces new Depression misery as financial crisis worsens
Mike Harvey in Sacramento
By the wide stretch of the American River in Sacramento, history is repeating itself. Here, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, men and women who had lost everything and despaired of finding work built rough shelters and huddled around fires.
Now the spiral of job losses and house repossessions has left another wave of Americans homeless, and a new tent city is growing rapidly on lumpy, derelict land between the river and the railway tracks here in the capital of California.
There are more than 300 people living in scattered encampments stretching a couple of miles along the river bank. As many as 50 more arrive each week. Unemployment in Sacramento reached 10.4 per cent in January and California is suffering some of the worst repossession rates in the country, with as many as 500 people losing their homes every day last year.
Charity workers in the city can no longer cope with the number of people coming to them for help. The shelters are full, with one home that caters for women and children turning away 200 people a night.
Joan Burke, director of advocacy for the homeless charity Loaves and Fishes, said: “The folks we deal with typically are the working poor. But right now the economy is in such turmoil that it is affecting a new layer of middle-class earners - construction workers, farm labourers, retail workers, restaurant staff.
“People who have earned good money but have not got any savings are finding out about the reality of being just one or two pay cheques away from becoming homeless.”
Jim Gibson, 50, arrived at the tent city four months ago. A construction worker, he had been employed in the Bay Area around San Francisco for 32 years without ever giving any thought to finding the next job.
Most recently he had a job on a site in Sacramento and found a rented apartment to live in. When he lost the job six months ago he quickly went through the little savings that he had. He moved into a motel room, but with no jobs to be found he was forced to begin selling his possessions - including his tools.
In the end he spent his last $30 on a one-man tent and headed for the burgeoning tent city. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would end up here,” he said.
Inside his tent is a neatly folded set of spare clothes, a sleeping bag and blankets. He has nothing else: all his family photos, the possessions of a lifetime, have gone. “I sold them or gave them away. Where could I keep them?”
A widower, Jim has five adult children living locally - but he will not tell them where he is. “They don't know, and I am not going to burden them. In part it is my pride, but they are also just one pay cheque from joining me here.”
Yesterday Jim joined his new friends, Genaddiy Tomashov, 57, and Anthony, 32 in a makeshift communal tent. They sat on plastic chairs around a fire, with a cooking pot suspended above it. In a corner of the structure, which lost its roof in high winds and torrential rain last week, were piles of tin cans and bottles of water donated by the local food bank. They keep each other company and, when they have money for a bus pass, they go off in search of work. From time to time a local business pays $35 for a five-hour stint holding a sign on the street.
They see four or five new tents springing up each day. Yesterday Ronn Harrison, 46, turned up with a sleeping bag, and $8 in his pocket. A carpenter who had come out of a state alcohol rehabilitation programme last year, he had moved in with his father in Fresno, but could not stay there. He has worked two days since last August. “I have had to downsize my way, all the way out here. There was nothing left for me to do,” he said.
There is no sanitation and no running water in the tent city and, while Jim's area is as neat as possible, elsewhere among the blue Tarpaulins there are growing piles of rubbish and rotting food. Although Sacramento has a Mediterranean climate, days of heavy rain recently turned much of the site into a quagmire.
On the other side of the railway tracks, towards the city centre, Loaves and Fishes provides showers and a midday meal for 650 homeless people a day. The charity is campaigning for the city to provide a “safe haven” for the homeless, with proper facilities and garbage disposal.
Sister Libby Fernandez, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, has seen the tent city grow from a few individuals a year ago into a big problem for city officials. The dome of the State Capitol, where the California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger conducts his daily business, is visible from the levee by the river where she parks her golf cart whenever she visits.
Sister Libby estimates that out of a population of 500,000 in Sacramento, there are 2,000 homeless in shelters across the city and another 2,000 living on the streets or in tent cities, either hidden or out in the open. “Camping outside is illegal but the authorities cannot move on so many people. In any case, they have nowhere else to go.”
Jim said that, while he was confident he would get out of the tent city, he was not sure when. “California has been living in the fast lane all these years. I took my job for granted and all of the sudden the recession hit. I never thought building would stop, but it has. People weren't ready for it.
“This is the bottom of the barrel.”
Depression déjà -vu
— The Great Depression was triggered by the New York stock market crash of 1929. It was the longest and harshest depression yet experienced by the industrialised Western world
— By late 1932 US stock values had dropped to 20 per cent of their previous worth. By 1933 11,000 of the US's 25,000 banks had failed and unemployment was at 25 per cent. Industrial production declined by 47 per cent and GDP by 30 per cent. The effects were felt around the world
— The recovery began with President Roosevelt’s New Deal programme in 1933, which ushered in a government-regulated economy, as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour and housing
— The British decline stopped soon after the gold standard was abandoned in 1931, but recovery did not begin until the end of 1932
Source: www.britannica.com
By the wide stretch of the American River in Sacramento, history is repeating itself. Here, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, men and women who had lost everything and despaired of finding work built rough shelters and huddled around fires.
Now the spiral of job losses and house repossessions has left another wave of Americans homeless, and a new tent city is growing rapidly on lumpy, derelict land between the river and the railway tracks here in the capital of California.
There are more than 300 people living in scattered encampments stretching a couple of miles along the river bank. As many as 50 more arrive each week. Unemployment in Sacramento reached 10.4 per cent in January and California is suffering some of the worst repossession rates in the country, with as many as 500 people losing their homes every day last year.
Charity workers in the city can no longer cope with the number of people coming to them for help. The shelters are full, with one home that caters for women and children turning away 200 people a night.
Joan Burke, director of advocacy for the homeless charity Loaves and Fishes, said: “The folks we deal with typically are the working poor. But right now the economy is in such turmoil that it is affecting a new layer of middle-class earners - construction workers, farm labourers, retail workers, restaurant staff.
“People who have earned good money but have not got any savings are finding out about the reality of being just one or two pay cheques away from becoming homeless.”
Jim Gibson, 50, arrived at the tent city four months ago. A construction worker, he had been employed in the Bay Area around San Francisco for 32 years without ever giving any thought to finding the next job.
Most recently he had a job on a site in Sacramento and found a rented apartment to live in. When he lost the job six months ago he quickly went through the little savings that he had. He moved into a motel room, but with no jobs to be found he was forced to begin selling his possessions - including his tools.
In the end he spent his last $30 on a one-man tent and headed for the burgeoning tent city. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would end up here,” he said.
Inside his tent is a neatly folded set of spare clothes, a sleeping bag and blankets. He has nothing else: all his family photos, the possessions of a lifetime, have gone. “I sold them or gave them away. Where could I keep them?”
A widower, Jim has five adult children living locally - but he will not tell them where he is. “They don't know, and I am not going to burden them. In part it is my pride, but they are also just one pay cheque from joining me here.”
Yesterday Jim joined his new friends, Genaddiy Tomashov, 57, and Anthony, 32 in a makeshift communal tent. They sat on plastic chairs around a fire, with a cooking pot suspended above it. In a corner of the structure, which lost its roof in high winds and torrential rain last week, were piles of tin cans and bottles of water donated by the local food bank. They keep each other company and, when they have money for a bus pass, they go off in search of work. From time to time a local business pays $35 for a five-hour stint holding a sign on the street.
They see four or five new tents springing up each day. Yesterday Ronn Harrison, 46, turned up with a sleeping bag, and $8 in his pocket. A carpenter who had come out of a state alcohol rehabilitation programme last year, he had moved in with his father in Fresno, but could not stay there. He has worked two days since last August. “I have had to downsize my way, all the way out here. There was nothing left for me to do,” he said.
There is no sanitation and no running water in the tent city and, while Jim's area is as neat as possible, elsewhere among the blue Tarpaulins there are growing piles of rubbish and rotting food. Although Sacramento has a Mediterranean climate, days of heavy rain recently turned much of the site into a quagmire.
On the other side of the railway tracks, towards the city centre, Loaves and Fishes provides showers and a midday meal for 650 homeless people a day. The charity is campaigning for the city to provide a “safe haven” for the homeless, with proper facilities and garbage disposal.
Sister Libby Fernandez, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, has seen the tent city grow from a few individuals a year ago into a big problem for city officials. The dome of the State Capitol, where the California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger conducts his daily business, is visible from the levee by the river where she parks her golf cart whenever she visits.
Sister Libby estimates that out of a population of 500,000 in Sacramento, there are 2,000 homeless in shelters across the city and another 2,000 living on the streets or in tent cities, either hidden or out in the open. “Camping outside is illegal but the authorities cannot move on so many people. In any case, they have nowhere else to go.”
Jim said that, while he was confident he would get out of the tent city, he was not sure when. “California has been living in the fast lane all these years. I took my job for granted and all of the sudden the recession hit. I never thought building would stop, but it has. People weren't ready for it.
“This is the bottom of the barrel.”
Depression déjà -vu
— The Great Depression was triggered by the New York stock market crash of 1929. It was the longest and harshest depression yet experienced by the industrialised Western world
— By late 1932 US stock values had dropped to 20 per cent of their previous worth. By 1933 11,000 of the US's 25,000 banks had failed and unemployment was at 25 per cent. Industrial production declined by 47 per cent and GDP by 30 per cent. The effects were felt around the world
— The recovery began with President Roosevelt’s New Deal programme in 1933, which ushered in a government-regulated economy, as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour and housing
— The British decline stopped soon after the gold standard was abandoned in 1931, but recovery did not begin until the end of 1932
Source: www.britannica.com
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Running Backwards
[col. writ. 2/26/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
Few sciences are more complex than economics, for despite the plethora of formulas claiming to define its workings, economics remains a bedeviling mystery that confuses and confounds the best minds time and time again.
That's often because our economic ideas are formed not only by our experiences but by our beliefs, and as such, we defend our ideas based not on evidence, but on our theoretical constructs -- again, what we believe.
We are free marketeers, or Keynesians; we follow the theories of Adam Smith, Henry George, David Ricardo or Karl Marx the way we follow our favorite basketball team, win or lose.
Sometimes those theories blind us to the bigger game of life outside our doors.
Much of the current economic crisis is the direct result of the economic theory of deregulation, made, not under George Bush alone, but in the waning days of the Clinton administration. For it was in 1999 that Clinton's treasury secretaries, first Robert Rubin, and later Larry Summers, advocated the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a 1933 law which prohibited commercial banks and investment banks from functioning in the same house.
The reason? None other than ole FDR. President Franklin D. Roosevelt explained as much in his famous "Fear Itself" inaugural speech of 1933, when the nation was reeling in the grips of the Great Depression. Roosevelt said,"...there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money..."*
In November 1999 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, essentially repealing Glass-Steagall, by tearing down the brick wall between commercial and investment banks. The securities industries went on a tear, making millions, billions and then tens of billions on speculation with other people's money-- until the house of cards came crumbling down in November 2008.
The speculation business didn't just become toxic. It was poison in the 1930's, and came back to life in the late '90's more poisonous than ever.
By then, both political parties were parties of deregulation, for both were instruments of corporate power, and both were the authors of today's Great Recession, if not the Depression to come.
--(c) '09 maj
[*Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1st Inaugural Address, 1933 ("The Only Thing to Fear Is Fear Itself" speech), repr. in Labour & Trade Union Review (No. 194: Feb. '04), p.6]
Few sciences are more complex than economics, for despite the plethora of formulas claiming to define its workings, economics remains a bedeviling mystery that confuses and confounds the best minds time and time again.
That's often because our economic ideas are formed not only by our experiences but by our beliefs, and as such, we defend our ideas based not on evidence, but on our theoretical constructs -- again, what we believe.
We are free marketeers, or Keynesians; we follow the theories of Adam Smith, Henry George, David Ricardo or Karl Marx the way we follow our favorite basketball team, win or lose.
Sometimes those theories blind us to the bigger game of life outside our doors.
Much of the current economic crisis is the direct result of the economic theory of deregulation, made, not under George Bush alone, but in the waning days of the Clinton administration. For it was in 1999 that Clinton's treasury secretaries, first Robert Rubin, and later Larry Summers, advocated the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a 1933 law which prohibited commercial banks and investment banks from functioning in the same house.
The reason? None other than ole FDR. President Franklin D. Roosevelt explained as much in his famous "Fear Itself" inaugural speech of 1933, when the nation was reeling in the grips of the Great Depression. Roosevelt said,"...there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money..."*
In November 1999 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, essentially repealing Glass-Steagall, by tearing down the brick wall between commercial and investment banks. The securities industries went on a tear, making millions, billions and then tens of billions on speculation with other people's money-- until the house of cards came crumbling down in November 2008.
The speculation business didn't just become toxic. It was poison in the 1930's, and came back to life in the late '90's more poisonous than ever.
By then, both political parties were parties of deregulation, for both were instruments of corporate power, and both were the authors of today's Great Recession, if not the Depression to come.
--(c) '09 maj
[*Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1st Inaugural Address, 1933 ("The Only Thing to Fear Is Fear Itself" speech), repr. in Labour & Trade Union Review (No. 194: Feb. '04), p.6]
Wildin' On Wall Street
[col. writ. 2/23/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
For years now, banks, investment houses and brokerage firms have engaged in a feverish dance of hustling from home-owners, using devices like ARM's (adjustable rate mortgages), offering loans at low or no interest which balloon into traps, forcing foreclosures that insured new properties could be sold, with the hustle being hustled anew.
You know what these hustlers think of the economy that they've brought to the brink of disaster? You needn't look far, for cable systems were ablast with the video of a 'reporter' on the trading floor of the stock exchange going full tilt over the alleged misdirection of monies going to homeowners struggling to make their mortgages.
It looked like a pig fighting for more slop in his trough -- upset that he couldn't get it all. They were angry that the other pigs of Wall Street couldn't get more, while standing amidst the economic wreckage.
The nation's economy is falling not only because of the epic greed on Wall Street -- the long Iraq debacle, with its 'lost' billions certainly didn't help -- but these princes of capital certainly played a pivotal role.
And the irony isn't that they want more; it's that these pigs will probably get it!
For if capital is anything, it is hopelessly amoral.
Its only interest is gain.
If any people in America know this, it's African Americans, whose grandparents were capitalist - owned chattel like horses or swine.
Except for a tiny band of radicals called abolitionists, many of whom were driven by deep religious fervor, few in American life considered slavery wrong, for many considered it as natural as grass growing on the lawn in spring.
The reason the economy is still stuck in idle isn't because of a lack of stimulus; it's the tremendous distrust on both sides.
Bankers are afraid to lend lest they won't be repaid; lenders are afraid they'll be trapped and tricked by slick language hidden in loan agreements.
Meanwhile, the House of Capital crumbles from within and without.
--(c) '09 maj
For years now, banks, investment houses and brokerage firms have engaged in a feverish dance of hustling from home-owners, using devices like ARM's (adjustable rate mortgages), offering loans at low or no interest which balloon into traps, forcing foreclosures that insured new properties could be sold, with the hustle being hustled anew.
You know what these hustlers think of the economy that they've brought to the brink of disaster? You needn't look far, for cable systems were ablast with the video of a 'reporter' on the trading floor of the stock exchange going full tilt over the alleged misdirection of monies going to homeowners struggling to make their mortgages.
It looked like a pig fighting for more slop in his trough -- upset that he couldn't get it all. They were angry that the other pigs of Wall Street couldn't get more, while standing amidst the economic wreckage.
The nation's economy is falling not only because of the epic greed on Wall Street -- the long Iraq debacle, with its 'lost' billions certainly didn't help -- but these princes of capital certainly played a pivotal role.
And the irony isn't that they want more; it's that these pigs will probably get it!
For if capital is anything, it is hopelessly amoral.
Its only interest is gain.
If any people in America know this, it's African Americans, whose grandparents were capitalist - owned chattel like horses or swine.
Except for a tiny band of radicals called abolitionists, many of whom were driven by deep religious fervor, few in American life considered slavery wrong, for many considered it as natural as grass growing on the lawn in spring.
The reason the economy is still stuck in idle isn't because of a lack of stimulus; it's the tremendous distrust on both sides.
Bankers are afraid to lend lest they won't be repaid; lenders are afraid they'll be trapped and tricked by slick language hidden in loan agreements.
Meanwhile, the House of Capital crumbles from within and without.
--(c) '09 maj
Inheriting an Empire
[col. writ. 2/21/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
Of all the myriad things to inherit, perhaps the worst is an empire, for such a transmission brings with it the duty of defense, which, in time, invariably becomes defending the indefensible.
For empires are constructed of crimes, and similarly so maintained.
They are birthed in invasion, nursed on occupation and raised on the cruel gruel of repression, torture and brutality.
That is their intrinsic nature as shown by the abundant examples of history. This was shown best by Rome, which ravaged the then-known world to enrich the 'eternal city'. Nations were invaded, their nobles either slain or enslaved, puppets were installed, and the natural resources extracted to feed the ever-hungry maw of Rome.
For millions of Blacks, the Obama election has sparked a new way of thinking and speaking of an America that has, heretofore, been a subject of considerable ambivalence. For perhaps the first time in U.S. history (certainly since Reconstruction), millions speak of the U.S. as "we", instead of "they."
This may well be a turning point in American history.
But is the American Empire "ours" simply because a Black man is the nation's chief executive?
Did we vote it into being, or did we merely inherit it?
Most who voted for Obama certainly didn't vote for the Iraq War, one of the most overt imperial projects in modern U.S. history. They supported a quick and decisive end of the war - not its continuation nor its expansion.
Indeed, of all Americans, Blacks opposed the war the most vehemently, according to national polls.
Perhaps it was the deep memory of national oppression that made it so unseemly to support such an oppressive occupation against the Iraqi people; perhaps it was the clumsiness of the government's lies used to 'sell' the invasion.
But empires begotten by violence and exploitation are poisonous things that damage both sides of this deadly duo.
The British Empire toiled for generations to conquer and exploit over 1/2 of Africa, most of Asia and two-thirds of the Americas. But all of that crumbled when the nation was almost broken under the weight of the Germans, and she was too weak to hold her colonies. Indeed America, as the strongest to emerge from the war, inherited much of Britain's loss, as well as other European powers.
It inherited the Vietnam War when the French could no longer sustain it, and paid a heavy price of death and defeat.
Empires shouldn't be inherited lightly, like knick-knacks from an elderly grandma.
This is especially so in democracies, where the people allegedly determine public policy, for what public policy could be more dire than imperial war?
--(c) '09 maj
Of all the myriad things to inherit, perhaps the worst is an empire, for such a transmission brings with it the duty of defense, which, in time, invariably becomes defending the indefensible.
For empires are constructed of crimes, and similarly so maintained.
They are birthed in invasion, nursed on occupation and raised on the cruel gruel of repression, torture and brutality.
That is their intrinsic nature as shown by the abundant examples of history. This was shown best by Rome, which ravaged the then-known world to enrich the 'eternal city'. Nations were invaded, their nobles either slain or enslaved, puppets were installed, and the natural resources extracted to feed the ever-hungry maw of Rome.
For millions of Blacks, the Obama election has sparked a new way of thinking and speaking of an America that has, heretofore, been a subject of considerable ambivalence. For perhaps the first time in U.S. history (certainly since Reconstruction), millions speak of the U.S. as "we", instead of "they."
This may well be a turning point in American history.
But is the American Empire "ours" simply because a Black man is the nation's chief executive?
Did we vote it into being, or did we merely inherit it?
Most who voted for Obama certainly didn't vote for the Iraq War, one of the most overt imperial projects in modern U.S. history. They supported a quick and decisive end of the war - not its continuation nor its expansion.
Indeed, of all Americans, Blacks opposed the war the most vehemently, according to national polls.
Perhaps it was the deep memory of national oppression that made it so unseemly to support such an oppressive occupation against the Iraqi people; perhaps it was the clumsiness of the government's lies used to 'sell' the invasion.
But empires begotten by violence and exploitation are poisonous things that damage both sides of this deadly duo.
The British Empire toiled for generations to conquer and exploit over 1/2 of Africa, most of Asia and two-thirds of the Americas. But all of that crumbled when the nation was almost broken under the weight of the Germans, and she was too weak to hold her colonies. Indeed America, as the strongest to emerge from the war, inherited much of Britain's loss, as well as other European powers.
It inherited the Vietnam War when the French could no longer sustain it, and paid a heavy price of death and defeat.
Empires shouldn't be inherited lightly, like knick-knacks from an elderly grandma.
This is especially so in democracies, where the people allegedly determine public policy, for what public policy could be more dire than imperial war?
--(c) '09 maj
Monday, February 23, 2009
!*Mumia's Life Death Struggle/Legal Update 2/8
via; Freedom Archives
==================
Date: February 8, 2009
From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
Subject: Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row - U.S. Supreme Court
Download the document HERE
<http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/febupdate.pdf>
New case filing in Supreme Court On February 4, 2009, the U.S. SupremeCourt docketed and accepted for filing the Petition for Writ ofCertiorari, with supporting Appendix, that I had submitted December 19,2008 on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal. (AbuJamal v. Beard, U.S. Sup. Ct. No.08-8483.) A copy of the petition is attached. The central issue in thiscase is racism in jury selection. The prosecution systematically removedpeople from sitting on the trial jury purely because of the color oftheir skin, that is, being black. The bigotry that killed Martin LutherKing, Jr., so many years ago, has been rampant in the case of my clientand is a central part of the state's quest to murder him in the name ofthe law.
Prosecution's separate Supreme Court petition In an entirely separatecase (Beard v. Abu-Jamal, Sup. Ct. No. 08-652), the prosecution isseeking to overturn the victory we achieved last year in the U.S. Courtof Appeals for the Third Circuit. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) In that ruling the court ordered a new jury trial on the question of thedeath penalty. Our Brief In Opposition will be filed in the SupremeCourt on February 13, 2009.
Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense -- The legal defense for Mumia needshelp. The costs for our litigation in two case before the Supreme Courtare substantial. To help, please make your checks payable to the"National Lawyers Guild Foundation" (indicate "Mumia" on thebottom left). The donations are tax deductible, and should be mailed to:
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
Conclusion -- Mumia remains on Pennsylvania's death row. We are in an epic struggle in which his life hangs in the balance. What occurs now in the Supreme Court will determine whether Mumia will have a new jury trial,or die at the hands of the executioner.
As I have previously pointed out, Mumia is in greater danger than at anytime since his 1981 arrest. Your support and activism is needed. Thisgreat journalist and author does not belong on death row or in prison. We must not rest until he is free.
Yours very truly,
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal[E-mail: RobertRBryan@aol.com
==================
Date: February 8, 2009
From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
Subject: Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row - U.S. Supreme Court
Download the document HERE
<http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/febupdate.pdf>
New case filing in Supreme Court On February 4, 2009, the U.S. SupremeCourt docketed and accepted for filing the Petition for Writ ofCertiorari, with supporting Appendix, that I had submitted December 19,2008 on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal. (AbuJamal v. Beard, U.S. Sup. Ct. No.08-8483.) A copy of the petition is attached. The central issue in thiscase is racism in jury selection. The prosecution systematically removedpeople from sitting on the trial jury purely because of the color oftheir skin, that is, being black. The bigotry that killed Martin LutherKing, Jr., so many years ago, has been rampant in the case of my clientand is a central part of the state's quest to murder him in the name ofthe law.
Prosecution's separate Supreme Court petition In an entirely separatecase (Beard v. Abu-Jamal, Sup. Ct. No. 08-652), the prosecution isseeking to overturn the victory we achieved last year in the U.S. Courtof Appeals for the Third Circuit. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) In that ruling the court ordered a new jury trial on the question of thedeath penalty. Our Brief In Opposition will be filed in the SupremeCourt on February 13, 2009.
Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense -- The legal defense for Mumia needshelp. The costs for our litigation in two case before the Supreme Courtare substantial. To help, please make your checks payable to the"National Lawyers Guild Foundation" (indicate "Mumia" on thebottom left). The donations are tax deductible, and should be mailed to:
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
Conclusion -- Mumia remains on Pennsylvania's death row. We are in an epic struggle in which his life hangs in the balance. What occurs now in the Supreme Court will determine whether Mumia will have a new jury trial,or die at the hands of the executioner.
As I have previously pointed out, Mumia is in greater danger than at anytime since his 1981 arrest. Your support and activism is needed. Thisgreat journalist and author does not belong on death row or in prison. We must not rest until he is free.
Yours very truly,
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal[E-mail: RobertRBryan@aol.com
Economy of Ashes
[col. writ. 2/4/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
What we are seeing in the economy is something not seen in this country since the 1930's -- the time of the Great Depression.
If we think of the companies shedding jobs like trees shedding leaves, they are so numerous that it may prove easier to name companies that haven't -- (if we could find any!)
In January alone, some 1/2 million workers got pink slips.
And this economic crisis is global. Europe is locked in a financial vise, and big countries, like England and France, have announced ambitious stimulus packages. England has openly nationalized prominent banks facing default. Iceland has, for all intents and purposes, declared bankruptcy -- with not just banks, but government itself is failing.
And while China, the site of the world's most robust economy is still growing, its rate of growth has fallen so fast that some 20 million people -- 20 million! -- have lost their jobs, a direct result of the U.S. economic recession.
Over a year ago, American economist Nouriel Roubini, speaking at a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, said the U.S. economy looked "like an emerging market."
Roubini predicted that the U.S. would enter a recession which would last at least a year. he added, "The debate is not whether we're going to have a soft or hard landing. The question is only how hard the hard landing will be." *
A Chinese economist echoed that sentiment. Yu Yongding, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences described the Chinese economy as at "quite a delicate stage." The problem, he concluded, was the "very bad situation" in the U.S.
Globalization was sold as the next best thing to the industrial age, when Americans would live in the warm glow of the information age, lit by computer screens, and the rest of the world would do scut work.
How's that working out, as the economy crumbles?
--(c) '09 maj
[*Source: Landler, Mark, "U.S. Policies Evoke Scorn at Davos: Fed Caved In to the Markets (or Maybe It Dawdled), Critics Say, New York Times, Thurs., Jan. 24, 2008, p. C9.]
What we are seeing in the economy is something not seen in this country since the 1930's -- the time of the Great Depression.
If we think of the companies shedding jobs like trees shedding leaves, they are so numerous that it may prove easier to name companies that haven't -- (if we could find any!)
In January alone, some 1/2 million workers got pink slips.
And this economic crisis is global. Europe is locked in a financial vise, and big countries, like England and France, have announced ambitious stimulus packages. England has openly nationalized prominent banks facing default. Iceland has, for all intents and purposes, declared bankruptcy -- with not just banks, but government itself is failing.
And while China, the site of the world's most robust economy is still growing, its rate of growth has fallen so fast that some 20 million people -- 20 million! -- have lost their jobs, a direct result of the U.S. economic recession.
Over a year ago, American economist Nouriel Roubini, speaking at a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, said the U.S. economy looked "like an emerging market."
Roubini predicted that the U.S. would enter a recession which would last at least a year. he added, "The debate is not whether we're going to have a soft or hard landing. The question is only how hard the hard landing will be." *
A Chinese economist echoed that sentiment. Yu Yongding, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences described the Chinese economy as at "quite a delicate stage." The problem, he concluded, was the "very bad situation" in the U.S.
Globalization was sold as the next best thing to the industrial age, when Americans would live in the warm glow of the information age, lit by computer screens, and the rest of the world would do scut work.
How's that working out, as the economy crumbles?
--(c) '09 maj
[*Source: Landler, Mark, "U.S. Policies Evoke Scorn at Davos: Fed Caved In to the Markets (or Maybe It Dawdled), Critics Say, New York Times, Thurs., Jan. 24, 2008, p. C9.]
Music Over the Mall
[col. writ. 1/28/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
As a student of history, of politics and of music I viewed the recent presidential inauguration with considerable interest.
And while it was obviously a moment of historic proportions, it can't be said that it held surprise.
That's usually because politics tends to flatten highs, and lop off lows, as politicians attempt to appeal to the broadest base.
That's also because political systems strive for the safety and security of protocol; the safe refuge of precedent, to give the image that all is well, that the U.S. endures,and the empire is essential unchanged, and still regnant.
I therefore beheld it from a distance; interested, yes, but not engaged.
If anything was utterly remarkable, it was the vast throng, standing for hours in the biting cold for as far as the eye could see.
Yet, for all the glitter and spectacle, what moved most was something quite unexpected.
John Williams' composition (he of "Star Wars" and "Jaws" fame), "Heirs..." performed by violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo- Ma, clarinet player Anthony McGill and pianist Gabriela Montero, was a breathtaking piece of musical mastery. Perlman began the piece, his violin sounding a mournful dirge that was almost funereal. He was joined shortly thereafter by Yo-Yo Ma's deeper cello, which echoed this theme, painting a picture of wintry mourning, of emotional heaviness. This mood was shattered by McGill's light, airy clarinet, which was as triumphant as the coming of spring. By the time Montero graced the keys, the theme had wholly changed. From winter, to the bright warmth of spring, from dissonance to ebullient unity.
To say this was a composition of beauty and brilliance would be understatement.
It was a work finely tuned to its time. It was a music nicely pitched to the passing of a political era.
It teaches us that music. at its best, can be magical.
It was so wondrous that I wept.
--(c) '09 maj
As a student of history, of politics and of music I viewed the recent presidential inauguration with considerable interest.
And while it was obviously a moment of historic proportions, it can't be said that it held surprise.
That's usually because politics tends to flatten highs, and lop off lows, as politicians attempt to appeal to the broadest base.
That's also because political systems strive for the safety and security of protocol; the safe refuge of precedent, to give the image that all is well, that the U.S. endures,and the empire is essential unchanged, and still regnant.
I therefore beheld it from a distance; interested, yes, but not engaged.
If anything was utterly remarkable, it was the vast throng, standing for hours in the biting cold for as far as the eye could see.
Yet, for all the glitter and spectacle, what moved most was something quite unexpected.
John Williams' composition (he of "Star Wars" and "Jaws" fame), "Heirs..." performed by violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo- Ma, clarinet player Anthony McGill and pianist Gabriela Montero, was a breathtaking piece of musical mastery. Perlman began the piece, his violin sounding a mournful dirge that was almost funereal. He was joined shortly thereafter by Yo-Yo Ma's deeper cello, which echoed this theme, painting a picture of wintry mourning, of emotional heaviness. This mood was shattered by McGill's light, airy clarinet, which was as triumphant as the coming of spring. By the time Montero graced the keys, the theme had wholly changed. From winter, to the bright warmth of spring, from dissonance to ebullient unity.
To say this was a composition of beauty and brilliance would be understatement.
It was a work finely tuned to its time. It was a music nicely pitched to the passing of a political era.
It teaches us that music. at its best, can be magical.
It was so wondrous that I wept.
--(c) '09 maj
!*3/10 NY Live From Death Row! w/ Pam Africa + DR Prisoners
via: info@freemumia.com
================
LIVE FROM DEATH ROW! with PAM AFRICA, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
City College - 137th St. & Amsterdam, NY - NAC Ballroom
Tuesday, March 10 - 7 PM
These are America's condemned, who bear a stigma far worse than "prisoner." These are America's death row residents: men and women who walk the razor's edge between half-life and certain death.--Mumia Abu-Jamal, Pennsylvania death row prisoner, from his book 'Live from Death Row'
Over 3,500 men and women sit on death row across this country. This national tour will bring you their voices and their struggles.
The tour features death row prisoners speaking live via speakerphone. Including:
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Pennsylvania death row prisoner, author of Live from Death Row, We Want Freedom and numerous other books
KEVIN COOPER
California death row prisoner who came within 3 1/2 hours of being executed before he won a stay of execution
TROY DAVIS
On death row in Georgia and came within hours of execution in 2008 before he won a stay
STANLEY HOWARD
Former death row prisoner and torture victim still imprisoned in Illinois; contributing writer to the New Abolitionist...and more!
Also speaking at City College:
Lawrence Hayes, former NYS death row prisoner
Yusef Salaam, exonerated in the Central Park jogger case
LIVE FROM DEATH ROW!
City College - 137th St. & Amsterdam - NAC Ballroom
Tuesday, March 10 - 7 PM
www.nodeathpenalty.org
nyc@nodeathpenalty.orgSponsored by: Campaign to End the Death Penalty & the Free Mumia Coalition-NYC
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org
PLEASE CONTACT:International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJP.O. Box 19709Philadelphia, PA 19143Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180E-mail - icffmaj@aol.comWeb - www.freemumia.com
AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-JamalAM 8335
SCI-Greene175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!
Subscribe: mumiacolumns-subscribe@topica.comRead: http://topica.com/lists/mumiacolumns/readSubscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailingicffmaj@aol.com!
[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM:A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from SouthEnd Press (http://www.southendpress.org); Ph.#1-800-533-8478.]
================
LIVE FROM DEATH ROW! with PAM AFRICA, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
City College - 137th St. & Amsterdam, NY - NAC Ballroom
Tuesday, March 10 - 7 PM
These are America's condemned, who bear a stigma far worse than "prisoner." These are America's death row residents: men and women who walk the razor's edge between half-life and certain death.--Mumia Abu-Jamal, Pennsylvania death row prisoner, from his book 'Live from Death Row'
Over 3,500 men and women sit on death row across this country. This national tour will bring you their voices and their struggles.
The tour features death row prisoners speaking live via speakerphone. Including:
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Pennsylvania death row prisoner, author of Live from Death Row, We Want Freedom and numerous other books
KEVIN COOPER
California death row prisoner who came within 3 1/2 hours of being executed before he won a stay of execution
TROY DAVIS
On death row in Georgia and came within hours of execution in 2008 before he won a stay
STANLEY HOWARD
Former death row prisoner and torture victim still imprisoned in Illinois; contributing writer to the New Abolitionist...and more!
Also speaking at City College:
Lawrence Hayes, former NYS death row prisoner
Yusef Salaam, exonerated in the Central Park jogger case
LIVE FROM DEATH ROW!
City College - 137th St. & Amsterdam - NAC Ballroom
Tuesday, March 10 - 7 PM
www.nodeathpenalty.org
nyc@nodeathpenalty.orgSponsored by: Campaign to End the Death Penalty & the Free Mumia Coalition-NYC
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org
PLEASE CONTACT:International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJP.O. Box 19709Philadelphia, PA 19143Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180E-mail - icffmaj@aol.comWeb - www.freemumia.com
AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-JamalAM 8335
SCI-Greene175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!
Subscribe: mumiacolumns-subscribe@topica.comRead: http://topica.com/lists/mumiacolumns/readSubscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailingicffmaj@aol.com!
[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM:A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from SouthEnd Press (http://www.southendpress.org); Ph.#1-800-533-8478.]
!*MUMIA Releases NEW BOOK!/Events Planned Nationally on his Birthday!
YOUR SUPPORT IS GREATLY NEEDED,
ATTEND AND/OR HOST YOUR OWN EVENTS!
===============================
via: info@freemumia.com
NEW BOOK! (View Book at http://www.freemumia.com/april242009.html)
JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE U.S.A.
Authored by MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Foreword by Angela Y. Davis
--------
APRIL 24 MUMIA'S BIRTHDAY NATIONALLY COORDINATED "MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY" EVENTS
Mumia writes:
"This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion-dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America .. It is law learned in a stew of bitterness, under the constant threat of violence, in places where millions of people live, buy millions of others wish to ignore or forget"
Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant and moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!
In the spirit of Mumia's book, we dedicate these "More Than a Book Party" events to the thousands and thousands of jailhouse lawyers who practice their craft in their own and their brothers' (and sisters') struggle for justice, against all odds and with the high risk of being subjected to the venom, punishment, and brutality of the prison system that is directed against them more than to any other sector of the prison population. THESE ARE THE HEROES AND SHEROES WE WILL HONOR. INVITE SOME OF THEM WHO ARE FORMER PRISONERS TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR "MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY EVENTS!!!
MUMIA BIRTHDAY "MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY" APRIL 24TH EVENTS ALREADY SCHEDULED IN:
-PHILADELPHIA
-NEW YORK (NOTE: SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY APRIL 25TH BY THE FREE MUMIA COALITION TO AVOID CONFLICT WITH OTHER EVENTS)
-SAN FRANCISCO
-PITTSBURGH
-PORTLAND
-BOSTON
-WOODSTOCK
AND OTHERS !
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
215 476-8812
212 330-8029
TO ORDER BOOKS CONTACT: STACEY@CITYLIGHTS.COM
OR CALL
FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GRASSROOTS WORK: (FUNDS WILL GO TO BOTH INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL AND THE FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC)) ONLINE GO TO:
WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM
OR MAIL CHECKS TO:
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL COALITION, PO BOX 16, NEW YORK, NY 10030
(CHECKS FOR BOTH ORGANIZATIONS PAYABLE TO: FMAJC/IFCO)
ATTEND AND/OR HOST YOUR OWN EVENTS!
===============================
via: info@freemumia.com
NEW BOOK! (View Book at http://www.freemumia.com/april242009.html)
JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE U.S.A.
Authored by MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Foreword by Angela Y. Davis
--------
APRIL 24 MUMIA'S BIRTHDAY NATIONALLY COORDINATED "MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY" EVENTS
Mumia writes:
"This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion-dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America .. It is law learned in a stew of bitterness, under the constant threat of violence, in places where millions of people live, buy millions of others wish to ignore or forget"
Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant and moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!
In the spirit of Mumia's book, we dedicate these "More Than a Book Party" events to the thousands and thousands of jailhouse lawyers who practice their craft in their own and their brothers' (and sisters') struggle for justice, against all odds and with the high risk of being subjected to the venom, punishment, and brutality of the prison system that is directed against them more than to any other sector of the prison population. THESE ARE THE HEROES AND SHEROES WE WILL HONOR. INVITE SOME OF THEM WHO ARE FORMER PRISONERS TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR "MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY EVENTS!!!
MUMIA BIRTHDAY "MORE THAN A BOOK PARTY" APRIL 24TH EVENTS ALREADY SCHEDULED IN:
-PHILADELPHIA
-NEW YORK (NOTE: SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY APRIL 25TH BY THE FREE MUMIA COALITION TO AVOID CONFLICT WITH OTHER EVENTS)
-SAN FRANCISCO
-PITTSBURGH
-PORTLAND
-BOSTON
-WOODSTOCK
AND OTHERS !
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
215 476-8812
212 330-8029
TO ORDER BOOKS CONTACT: STACEY@CITYLIGHTS.COM
OR CALL
FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GRASSROOTS WORK: (FUNDS WILL GO TO BOTH INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL AND THE FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC)) ONLINE GO TO:
WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM
OR MAIL CHECKS TO:
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL COALITION, PO BOX 16, NEW YORK, NY 10030
(CHECKS FOR BOTH ORGANIZATIONS PAYABLE TO: FMAJC/IFCO)
The Fallen
[col. writ. 2/12/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
A nation's economy is always a work of complexity, which accounts for the divergent opinions of economists, who often come down on different sides of the big issues, as in what works, and what doesn't.
Broadly speaking, the conflict is between classic and Keynesian economics, with the former of the view that the market is self-regulating, and the latter of the view that the market isn't self-regulating, but must be massaged and managed by government fiscal policies.
The latest stimulus package is Keynesian (after British economist John Maynard Keynes [1883-1946], as was the bailout of the banks and financial institutions.
It seeks to influence events by an aggressive expansionist fiscal policy.
But it seems like this is less stimulus than stopgap, for it seeks to stimulate something that is in almost deadly shape.
Look at it this way; if your heart stops, and you are given a powerful jolt of electricity, your heart may resume beating, but the problem is hardly solved.
You don't need a defibrillator unless the body (the system) is in an advanced state of collapse. And it's that state of serious illness that isn't being seriously addressed, for the American economy has been ill for quite some time.
Much can be traced to the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) era, which sought to emphatically transform the economy to one run on information and financial services, with the manufacturing to be exported to foreign markets where labor was cheaper.
Unfortunately, no serious educational efforts were undertaken to adjust to this dramatic economic shift, and instead, a decade was wasted on largely irrelevant battles over No Child Left Behind, when millions of children experienced school as a test-taking prison, instead of a site of substantive learning.
With manufacturing hollowed out, and real wages falling annually, how could the economy not have a massive seizure?
For, of all the money roaring through the U.S. economy, over 70% is from personal consumption of goods and services, which means the economy is consumer-driven.
Let us illustrate; the U.S. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for 2006 was over $13 trillion. Personal consumption of goods and services came to over $9 trillion.
The net effect of joblessness and lowered wages is a hit at the heart of the economy, that $750 billion could hardly touch.
Until the fundamentals can be recognized and corrected, these problems will continue, and the economy will sputter along, until the next heart attack.
--(c) '09 maj
A nation's economy is always a work of complexity, which accounts for the divergent opinions of economists, who often come down on different sides of the big issues, as in what works, and what doesn't.
Broadly speaking, the conflict is between classic and Keynesian economics, with the former of the view that the market is self-regulating, and the latter of the view that the market isn't self-regulating, but must be massaged and managed by government fiscal policies.
The latest stimulus package is Keynesian (after British economist John Maynard Keynes [1883-1946], as was the bailout of the banks and financial institutions.
It seeks to influence events by an aggressive expansionist fiscal policy.
But it seems like this is less stimulus than stopgap, for it seeks to stimulate something that is in almost deadly shape.
Look at it this way; if your heart stops, and you are given a powerful jolt of electricity, your heart may resume beating, but the problem is hardly solved.
You don't need a defibrillator unless the body (the system) is in an advanced state of collapse. And it's that state of serious illness that isn't being seriously addressed, for the American economy has been ill for quite some time.
Much can be traced to the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) era, which sought to emphatically transform the economy to one run on information and financial services, with the manufacturing to be exported to foreign markets where labor was cheaper.
Unfortunately, no serious educational efforts were undertaken to adjust to this dramatic economic shift, and instead, a decade was wasted on largely irrelevant battles over No Child Left Behind, when millions of children experienced school as a test-taking prison, instead of a site of substantive learning.
With manufacturing hollowed out, and real wages falling annually, how could the economy not have a massive seizure?
For, of all the money roaring through the U.S. economy, over 70% is from personal consumption of goods and services, which means the economy is consumer-driven.
Let us illustrate; the U.S. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for 2006 was over $13 trillion. Personal consumption of goods and services came to over $9 trillion.
The net effect of joblessness and lowered wages is a hit at the heart of the economy, that $750 billion could hardly touch.
Until the fundamentals can be recognized and corrected, these problems will continue, and the economy will sputter along, until the next heart attack.
--(c) '09 maj
With 'Judges' Like These....
[col. writ. 2/7/09] (c) '09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
In Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, there are 9 judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Two of them just pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to convict and sentence juveniles to a private prison, so that they could get kickbacks from the prison's builders and owners.
According to published accounts, Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan sent hundreds of boys and girls to the private facility, and pocketed some $2.5 million in kickbacks.
This was accomplished not merely because of the venal greed of the judges, but because virtually none of the children were provided with legal representation.
When the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center filed a petition in the PA Supreme Court calling the county's practice of adjudicating and sentencing some 250 kids to jail without legal representation unconstitutional, the state's highest court denied the petition on Jan. 8, 2009. To make matters even worse, recently filed criminal information states that the 2 judges used their power and influence in the county to de-fund the county juvenile facility, precisely as they were steering kids to the private jail (boy -- talk about privatization!).
Nearly a month later, the state's highest court changed their minds, vacating the denial.
What transpired in the interim?
Well, for one thing, the 2 judges provisionally pleaded guilty to federal charges of honest wire service fraud.
Hundreds of children get socked into jail, after demonstrably unconstitutional proceedings with no legal representation, and the state's highest court doesn't even raise an eyebrow.
The media reports on this outrage, and the PA Supreme Court expresses little interest.
This is the nature of judging these days, when even kids are expendable fodder for the prison industrial complex.
Luzerne County is the state's 10th largest county, with just over 300,000 souls.
At least 22% of their judges have admitted being corrupt, in the sordid business of selling the freedom and well-being of poor children for profit.
--(c) '09 maj
{Sources: Legal Intelligencer, 2/3/09; 2/4/09.}
In Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, there are 9 judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Two of them just pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to convict and sentence juveniles to a private prison, so that they could get kickbacks from the prison's builders and owners.
According to published accounts, Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan sent hundreds of boys and girls to the private facility, and pocketed some $2.5 million in kickbacks.
This was accomplished not merely because of the venal greed of the judges, but because virtually none of the children were provided with legal representation.
When the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center filed a petition in the PA Supreme Court calling the county's practice of adjudicating and sentencing some 250 kids to jail without legal representation unconstitutional, the state's highest court denied the petition on Jan. 8, 2009. To make matters even worse, recently filed criminal information states that the 2 judges used their power and influence in the county to de-fund the county juvenile facility, precisely as they were steering kids to the private jail (boy -- talk about privatization!).
Nearly a month later, the state's highest court changed their minds, vacating the denial.
What transpired in the interim?
Well, for one thing, the 2 judges provisionally pleaded guilty to federal charges of honest wire service fraud.
Hundreds of children get socked into jail, after demonstrably unconstitutional proceedings with no legal representation, and the state's highest court doesn't even raise an eyebrow.
The media reports on this outrage, and the PA Supreme Court expresses little interest.
This is the nature of judging these days, when even kids are expendable fodder for the prison industrial complex.
Luzerne County is the state's 10th largest county, with just over 300,000 souls.
At least 22% of their judges have admitted being corrupt, in the sordid business of selling the freedom and well-being of poor children for profit.
--(c) '09 maj
{Sources: Legal Intelligencer, 2/3/09; 2/4/09.}
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Ship Of Fools
Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars
February 9, 2009
Is there intelligent life in Washington, DC? Not a speck of it.
The US economy is imploding, and Obama is being led by his government of neconservatives and Israeli agents into a quagmire in Afghanistan that will bring the US into confrontation with Russia, and possibly China, American’s largest creditor.
The January payroll job figures reveal that last month 20,000 Americans lost their jobs every day.
In addition, December’s job losses were revised up by 53,000 jobs from 524,000 to 577,000. The revision brings the two-month job loss to 1,175,000. If this keeps up, Obama’s promised three million new jobs will be wiped out by job losses.
Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com/) reports that this huge number is an understatement. Williams notes that built-in biases in seasonal adjustment factors caused a 118,000 understatement of January job losses, bringing the actual January job loss to 716,000 jobs.
The payroll survey counts the number of jobs, not the number of employed as some people have more than one job. The Household Survey counts the number of people who have jobs. The Household Survey shows that 832,000 people lost their jobs in January and 806,000 in December, for a two month reduction of Americans with jobs of 1,638,000.
The unemployment rate reported in the US media is a fabrication. Williams reports that
"during the Clinton Administration, ‘discouraged workers’ those who had given up looking for a job because there were no jobs to be had–were redefined so as to be counted only if they had been ‘discouraged’ for less than a year. This time qualification defined away the bulk of the discouraged workers. Adding them back into the total unemployed, actual unemployment, [according to the unemployment rate methodology used in 1980] rose to 18% in January, from 17.5% in December."
In other words, without all the manipulations of the data from a government that lies to us every time it opens its mouth, the US unemployment rate is already at depression levels.
How could it be otherwise given the enormous job loss from offshored jobs. It is impossible for a country to create jobs when its corporations are moving production for the American consumer market offshore. When they move the production offshore, they
shift US GDP to other countries. The US trade deficit over the past decade has reduced US GDP by $1.5 trillion dollars. That is a lot of jobs.
I have been reporting for years that American university graduates have had to take jobs as waitresses and bartenders. As over-indebted American consumers lose their jobs, they will visit restaurants and bars less frequently. Consequently, Americans with university degrees will not even have jobs waiting on tables and mixing drinks.
US policymakers have ignored the fact that consumer demand in the 21st century has been driven, not by increases in real income, but by increased consumer indebtedness. This fact makes it pointless to try to stimulate the economy by bailing out banks so that they can lend more to consumers. The American consumers have no more capacity to borrow.
With the decline in the values of their principal assets–their homes–with the destruction of half of their pension assets, and with joblessness facing them, Americans cannot and will not spend.
Why bail out GM and Citibank when the firms are moving as many operations offshore as they possibly can?
Much of US infrastructure is in poor shape and needs renewing. However, infrastructure jobs do not produce goods and services that can be sold abroad. The massive commitment to infrastructure does nothing to help the US reduce its massive trade deficit, the financing of which is becoming a major problem. Moreover, when the infrastructure projects are completed, so are the jobs.
At best, assuming Mexicans do not get most of the construction jobs, all Obama’s stimulus program can do is to reduce the number of unemployed temporarily.
Unless US corporations can be required to use American labor to produce the goods and services that they sell in American markets, there is no hope for the US economy. No one in the Obama administration has the wits to address this problem. Thus, the economy will continue to implode.
Adding to the brewing disaster, Obama has been deceived by his military and neoconservative advisers into expanding the war in Afghanistan, a large mountainous country. Obama intends to use the draw-down of US soldiers in Iraq to send 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. This would bring the US forces to 60,000–600,000 fewer than US Marine Corps and US Army counterinsurgency guidelines define as the minimum number of soldiers necessary to bring success in Afghanistan–and less than half as many as the army that was unable to occupy Iraq.
The Iranians had to bail out the Bush regime by restraining its Shi’ite allies and encouraging them to use the ballot box to attain power and push out the Americans. In Iraq the US troops only had to fight a small Sunni insurgency drawn from a minority of the population. Even so, the US "prevailed" by putting the insurgents on the US payroll and paying them not to fight. The withdrawal agreement was dictated by the Shi’ites. It was not what the Bush regime wanted.
One would think that the experience with the "cakewalk" in Iraq would make the US hesitant to attempt to occupy Afghanistan, an undertaking that would require the US to occupy parts of Pakistan. The US was hard pressed to maintain 150,000 troops in Iraq. Where is Obama going to get another half million soldiers to add to the 150,000 to pacify Afghanistan?
One answer is the rapidly growing massive US unemployment. Americans will sign up to go kill abroad rather than be homeless and hungry at home.
But this solves only half of the problem. Where does the money come from to support an army in the field of 650,000, an army 4.3 times larger than US forces in Iraq, a war that has cost us $3 trillion in out-of-pocket and already incurred future costs. This money would have to be raised in addition to the $3 trillion US budget deficit that is the result of Bush’s financial sector bailout, Obama’s stimulus package, and the rapidly failing economy. When economies tank, as the American one is doing, tax revenues collapse. The millions of unemployed Americans are not paying Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes. The stores and businesses that are closing are not paying federal and state income taxes. Consumers with no money or credit to spend are not paying sales taxes.
The Washington Morons, and morons they are, have given no thought as to how they are going to finance a fiscal year 2009 budget deficit of some two to three trillion dollars.
The practically nonexistent US saving rate cannot finance it.
The trade surpluses of our trading partners, such as China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, cannot finance it.
The US government really has only two possibilities for financing its budget deficit. One is a second collapse in the stock market, which would drive the surviving investors with what they have left into "safe" US Treasury bonds. The other is for the Federal Reserve to monetize the Treasury debt.
Monetizing the debt means that when no one is willing or able to purchase the Treasury’s bonds, the Federal Reserve buys them by creating bank deposits for the Treasury’s account.
In other words, the Fed "prints money" with which to buy the Treasury’s bonds.
Once this happens, the US dollar will cease to be the reserve currency.
In addition, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia, countries that hold enormous quantities of US Treasury debt in addition to other US dollar assets, will sell, hoping to get out before others.
The US dollar will become worthless, the currency of a banana republic.
The US will not be able to pay for its imports, a serious problem for a country dependent on imports for its energy, manufactured goods, and advanced technology products.
Obama’s Keynesian advisers have learned with a vengeance Milton Friedman’s lesson that the Great Depression resulted from the Federal Reserve permitting a contraction of the supply of money and credit. In the Great Depression good debts were destroyed by monetary contraction. Today bad debts are being preserved by the expansion of money and credit, and the US Treasury is jeopardizing its credit standing and the dollar’s reserve currency status with enormous quarterly bond auctions as far as the eye can see.
Meanwhile, the Russians, overflowing with energy and mineral resources, and not in debt, have learned that the US government is not to be trusted. Russia has watched Reagan’s successors attempt to turn former constituent parts of the Soviet Union into US puppet states with US military bases. The US is trying to ring Russia with missiles that neutralize Russia’s strategic deterrent.
Putin has caught on to "comrade wolf." He has succeeded in having the president of Kyrgyzstan, a former part of the Soviet Union, evict the US from its military base. This base is essential to America’s ability to supply its soldiers in Afghanistan.
To stop America’s meddling in Russia’s sphere of influence, the Russian government has created a collective security treaty organization comprised of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan is a partial participant.
In other words, Russia has organized central Asia against US penetration.
To whose agenda is President Obama being hitched? Writing in the English language version of the Swiss newspaper, Zeit-Fragen, Stephen J. Sniegoski reports that leading figures of the neocon conspiracy–Richard Perle, Max Boot, David Brooks, and Mona Charen–are ecstatic over Obama’s appointments. They don’t see any difference between Obama and Bush/Cheney.
Not only are Obama’s appointments moving him into an expanded war in Afghanistan, but the powerful Israel Lobby is pushing Obama toward a war with Iran.
The unreality in which he US government operates is beyond belief. A bankrupt government that cannot pay its bills without printing money is rushing headlong into wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. According to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis, the cost to the US taxpayers of sending a single soldier to fight in Afghanistan or Iraq is $775,000 per year!
The world has never seen such total mindlessness. Napoleon’s and Hitler’s march into Russia were rational acts compared to the mindless idiocy of the United States government.
Obama’s war in Afghanistan is the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. After seven years of conflict, there is still no defined mission or endgame scenario for US forces in Afghanistan. When asked about the mission, a US military official told NBC News, "Frankly, we don’t have one." NBC reports: "they’re working on it."
Speaking to House Democrats on February 5, President Obama admitted that the US government does not know what its mission is in Afghanistan and that to avoid "mission creep without clear parameters," the US "needs a clear mission."
How would you like to be sent to a war, the point of which no one knows, including the commander-in-chief who sent you to kill or be killed? How, fellow taxpayers, do you like paying the enormous cost of sending soldiers on an undefined mission while the economy collapses?
Research related articles:
Canada firm on quitting Afghanistan by 2011
Russia to ship equipment to finish Iranian nuclear plant
Irish Times Lisbon poll fools public - Deception has set in for referendum 2
Woman fools Japan’s airport security fingerprint system
Hezbollah says US ship is threat
Russia sinks Georgian ship trying to attack Russian navy ships
Another Russian Bomber Intercepted Near U.S. Navy Ship
Who’s going to Finance the rising US National Debt?
‘US ship nearly fired at Iranians’
Iranian aid ship to break Israeli siege of Gaza
Army Officials Say Many More Active-Duty Troops Are Needed
‘Iran aid ship nears Gaza’
Infowars
February 9, 2009
Is there intelligent life in Washington, DC? Not a speck of it.
The US economy is imploding, and Obama is being led by his government of neconservatives and Israeli agents into a quagmire in Afghanistan that will bring the US into confrontation with Russia, and possibly China, American’s largest creditor.
The January payroll job figures reveal that last month 20,000 Americans lost their jobs every day.
In addition, December’s job losses were revised up by 53,000 jobs from 524,000 to 577,000. The revision brings the two-month job loss to 1,175,000. If this keeps up, Obama’s promised three million new jobs will be wiped out by job losses.
Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com/) reports that this huge number is an understatement. Williams notes that built-in biases in seasonal adjustment factors caused a 118,000 understatement of January job losses, bringing the actual January job loss to 716,000 jobs.
The payroll survey counts the number of jobs, not the number of employed as some people have more than one job. The Household Survey counts the number of people who have jobs. The Household Survey shows that 832,000 people lost their jobs in January and 806,000 in December, for a two month reduction of Americans with jobs of 1,638,000.
The unemployment rate reported in the US media is a fabrication. Williams reports that
"during the Clinton Administration, ‘discouraged workers’ those who had given up looking for a job because there were no jobs to be had–were redefined so as to be counted only if they had been ‘discouraged’ for less than a year. This time qualification defined away the bulk of the discouraged workers. Adding them back into the total unemployed, actual unemployment, [according to the unemployment rate methodology used in 1980] rose to 18% in January, from 17.5% in December."
In other words, without all the manipulations of the data from a government that lies to us every time it opens its mouth, the US unemployment rate is already at depression levels.
How could it be otherwise given the enormous job loss from offshored jobs. It is impossible for a country to create jobs when its corporations are moving production for the American consumer market offshore. When they move the production offshore, they
shift US GDP to other countries. The US trade deficit over the past decade has reduced US GDP by $1.5 trillion dollars. That is a lot of jobs.
I have been reporting for years that American university graduates have had to take jobs as waitresses and bartenders. As over-indebted American consumers lose their jobs, they will visit restaurants and bars less frequently. Consequently, Americans with university degrees will not even have jobs waiting on tables and mixing drinks.
US policymakers have ignored the fact that consumer demand in the 21st century has been driven, not by increases in real income, but by increased consumer indebtedness. This fact makes it pointless to try to stimulate the economy by bailing out banks so that they can lend more to consumers. The American consumers have no more capacity to borrow.
With the decline in the values of their principal assets–their homes–with the destruction of half of their pension assets, and with joblessness facing them, Americans cannot and will not spend.
Why bail out GM and Citibank when the firms are moving as many operations offshore as they possibly can?
Much of US infrastructure is in poor shape and needs renewing. However, infrastructure jobs do not produce goods and services that can be sold abroad. The massive commitment to infrastructure does nothing to help the US reduce its massive trade deficit, the financing of which is becoming a major problem. Moreover, when the infrastructure projects are completed, so are the jobs.
At best, assuming Mexicans do not get most of the construction jobs, all Obama’s stimulus program can do is to reduce the number of unemployed temporarily.
Unless US corporations can be required to use American labor to produce the goods and services that they sell in American markets, there is no hope for the US economy. No one in the Obama administration has the wits to address this problem. Thus, the economy will continue to implode.
Adding to the brewing disaster, Obama has been deceived by his military and neoconservative advisers into expanding the war in Afghanistan, a large mountainous country. Obama intends to use the draw-down of US soldiers in Iraq to send 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. This would bring the US forces to 60,000–600,000 fewer than US Marine Corps and US Army counterinsurgency guidelines define as the minimum number of soldiers necessary to bring success in Afghanistan–and less than half as many as the army that was unable to occupy Iraq.
The Iranians had to bail out the Bush regime by restraining its Shi’ite allies and encouraging them to use the ballot box to attain power and push out the Americans. In Iraq the US troops only had to fight a small Sunni insurgency drawn from a minority of the population. Even so, the US "prevailed" by putting the insurgents on the US payroll and paying them not to fight. The withdrawal agreement was dictated by the Shi’ites. It was not what the Bush regime wanted.
One would think that the experience with the "cakewalk" in Iraq would make the US hesitant to attempt to occupy Afghanistan, an undertaking that would require the US to occupy parts of Pakistan. The US was hard pressed to maintain 150,000 troops in Iraq. Where is Obama going to get another half million soldiers to add to the 150,000 to pacify Afghanistan?
One answer is the rapidly growing massive US unemployment. Americans will sign up to go kill abroad rather than be homeless and hungry at home.
But this solves only half of the problem. Where does the money come from to support an army in the field of 650,000, an army 4.3 times larger than US forces in Iraq, a war that has cost us $3 trillion in out-of-pocket and already incurred future costs. This money would have to be raised in addition to the $3 trillion US budget deficit that is the result of Bush’s financial sector bailout, Obama’s stimulus package, and the rapidly failing economy. When economies tank, as the American one is doing, tax revenues collapse. The millions of unemployed Americans are not paying Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes. The stores and businesses that are closing are not paying federal and state income taxes. Consumers with no money or credit to spend are not paying sales taxes.
The Washington Morons, and morons they are, have given no thought as to how they are going to finance a fiscal year 2009 budget deficit of some two to three trillion dollars.
The practically nonexistent US saving rate cannot finance it.
The trade surpluses of our trading partners, such as China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, cannot finance it.
The US government really has only two possibilities for financing its budget deficit. One is a second collapse in the stock market, which would drive the surviving investors with what they have left into "safe" US Treasury bonds. The other is for the Federal Reserve to monetize the Treasury debt.
Monetizing the debt means that when no one is willing or able to purchase the Treasury’s bonds, the Federal Reserve buys them by creating bank deposits for the Treasury’s account.
In other words, the Fed "prints money" with which to buy the Treasury’s bonds.
Once this happens, the US dollar will cease to be the reserve currency.
In addition, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia, countries that hold enormous quantities of US Treasury debt in addition to other US dollar assets, will sell, hoping to get out before others.
The US dollar will become worthless, the currency of a banana republic.
The US will not be able to pay for its imports, a serious problem for a country dependent on imports for its energy, manufactured goods, and advanced technology products.
Obama’s Keynesian advisers have learned with a vengeance Milton Friedman’s lesson that the Great Depression resulted from the Federal Reserve permitting a contraction of the supply of money and credit. In the Great Depression good debts were destroyed by monetary contraction. Today bad debts are being preserved by the expansion of money and credit, and the US Treasury is jeopardizing its credit standing and the dollar’s reserve currency status with enormous quarterly bond auctions as far as the eye can see.
Meanwhile, the Russians, overflowing with energy and mineral resources, and not in debt, have learned that the US government is not to be trusted. Russia has watched Reagan’s successors attempt to turn former constituent parts of the Soviet Union into US puppet states with US military bases. The US is trying to ring Russia with missiles that neutralize Russia’s strategic deterrent.
Putin has caught on to "comrade wolf." He has succeeded in having the president of Kyrgyzstan, a former part of the Soviet Union, evict the US from its military base. This base is essential to America’s ability to supply its soldiers in Afghanistan.
To stop America’s meddling in Russia’s sphere of influence, the Russian government has created a collective security treaty organization comprised of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan is a partial participant.
In other words, Russia has organized central Asia against US penetration.
To whose agenda is President Obama being hitched? Writing in the English language version of the Swiss newspaper, Zeit-Fragen, Stephen J. Sniegoski reports that leading figures of the neocon conspiracy–Richard Perle, Max Boot, David Brooks, and Mona Charen–are ecstatic over Obama’s appointments. They don’t see any difference between Obama and Bush/Cheney.
Not only are Obama’s appointments moving him into an expanded war in Afghanistan, but the powerful Israel Lobby is pushing Obama toward a war with Iran.
The unreality in which he US government operates is beyond belief. A bankrupt government that cannot pay its bills without printing money is rushing headlong into wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. According to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis, the cost to the US taxpayers of sending a single soldier to fight in Afghanistan or Iraq is $775,000 per year!
The world has never seen such total mindlessness. Napoleon’s and Hitler’s march into Russia were rational acts compared to the mindless idiocy of the United States government.
Obama’s war in Afghanistan is the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. After seven years of conflict, there is still no defined mission or endgame scenario for US forces in Afghanistan. When asked about the mission, a US military official told NBC News, "Frankly, we don’t have one." NBC reports: "they’re working on it."
Speaking to House Democrats on February 5, President Obama admitted that the US government does not know what its mission is in Afghanistan and that to avoid "mission creep without clear parameters," the US "needs a clear mission."
How would you like to be sent to a war, the point of which no one knows, including the commander-in-chief who sent you to kill or be killed? How, fellow taxpayers, do you like paying the enormous cost of sending soldiers on an undefined mission while the economy collapses?
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