Dunbar Village

Open Letter 3/28/2008 Update: A New Underground Railroad is Born

Subject: The Dunbar Village Atrocity

Synopsis:

In the past week, a rapidly-moving viral email campaign was launched, and thousands of concerned black citizens spread the word about a shocking crime against a Black woman and her 12 year old son, in which crimes against nature were committed. (read more details of the crime here)

This email, entitled “Stop Al Sharpton and the NAACP from endangering Black Women,” described a stunning betrayal in which the NAACP and Al Sharpton held a press conference and demanded bail consideration for three suspects in custody for the crime. (source1) (source2)

Concerned Black citizens all around the country were outraged by the actions of the NAACP and Al Sharpton, and many vowed to withdraw volunteering and financial support from these agencies “until they make the safety of Black women and children a priority.”

On March 24, 2008 an NAACP memo that attempted to defend this betrayal was sent to Beverly Neal, who is the Director of the NAACP’s Florida State Conference. The memo claims that the NAACP was brought into this fray by Rev. Al Sharpton. Moreover, the memo was written by Maude Ford Lee, who is President of the West Palm Beach Branch of the NAACP. (read the memo here)

On March 27,2008, activist Al Sharpton went on the air to clarify his position on the treatment of the Dunbar Village Suspects. He invited writer Tonyaa Weathersbee and blogger Arlene Fenton to his show, to discuss the matter. Rev. Sharpton claimed that he never said that the Dunbar Village suspects were being treated unfairly, and that he did not want bail for the suspects in question.

read rest here

Rockets overhead, sprinting for the bunkers again

Rockets Overhead, Sprinting For The Bunker....Again
by Soldier Boy
Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:40:30 AM PDT
It was a quiet winter. Attacks were low, and we'd only been rocketed three times since November. Even the EFP attacks had dropped. We hadn't had a serious casualty in weeks. We were counting down the days to the end of tour. Less than 50 now...can almost taste it.

Then it went straight back to last summer. Then worse. Muqtada al-Sadr and his Jaiysh al Mahdi militia finally lit the fuse on Basra. The JAM Special Groups used Basra and some ambiguity in al-Sadr's statement renewing the cease-fire to kick the war here in Baghdad back into full gear. Soldier Boy here again. Still alive and kicking, if rather more tiredly than last summer. If I can borrow a moment of your time from the candidate wars and the latest revelation of illegal doings in the White House, follow me over the fold for a report from the real war. You remember it, don't you? It was on page 7 last week.
read rest here

The Queer Western Thing

I have very deep resentments when people in developed countries criticize the developing world.

A lot of that has to do with my wariness and the wariness many non-developed world citizens feel when they here the West lecture them on "human rights".

It's just a bit hypocritical I think sometimes when not even 60 years ago colonialism was still in vogue. The developed world loves to pretend that colonialism is a historical footnote and often fail to connect problems in the contemporary developing world as having origins in colonialism. Many of the countries on there that are orange or red are so because they still have colonial era British sodomy laws. Shouldn't that partially implicate Great Britain in the blame for the state of queer rights in developing countries? Why is Great Britain green, even though its centuries of colonization destroyed open societies and imposed Victorian morals throughout the world? And THEY'RE GREEN STILL ON THE MAP.

I also think that The West and many Western activists feel that what works in their countries can be achieved in the same way in every country. I don't think Western activists take developing world cultures into context as often as they should.

I don't approve of the West blasting developing nations for violations of "human rights" when they often refuse to make concessions to make more economically fair institutions. I mean it's kind of hard for activists to fight for LGBT rights when they're more concerned about their and their family's economic security.

Of interest

Globalization:Argentinian Farmers strike, food prices increase


The Spanish Water Crisis:Severe Drought in Spain is leading to political Tensions

German tells sixty minutes Americans tortured him

Terror without medical insurance


Alice Walker endorses Obama


Basra assault exposes fraud of "Nat'L Reconciliation" in Iraq

Science Saturday: Links to Science Stories of the Week

EDIT:Links to Eco-news from all over the world

Foreign Policy

Via Feministe
The Obama Doctrine critiqued from a Liberal Perspective

The Obama Doctrine critiqued from a Conservative Perspective


A Sum Up:DYNAMIC VS. STATIC.

This really seems to be the difference between liberals and neoconservatives on foreign policy, doesn't it? Neocons envision a near-static population of terrorists, and prescribe an aggressive policy of killing them in order to rid the world of terrorism. Liberals see a dynamic population of terrorists and prescribe broad policies meant to blunt their popular appeal and deprive them of public support. Neocons looks at the liberal prescription and say, essentially, "you're not killing enough of them." And liberals look at the Neocons and, aghast, say, "stop making so many more."