Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Black rapes white woman as payback for slavery.
RALEIGH - The 36-year-old woman cried on the witness stand in the Wake County Courthouse on Wednesday, recalling the night more than eight years ago when she said a man broke into her Raleigh apartment and raped her.
The woman testified during the first day of the criminal trial of James Bernard Henderson, a Georgia man who was named as a suspect last year in the September 1999 crime when a DNA match led police to him. She is not being named in line with a News & Observer policy not to identify those who report sexual assaults.
Henderson, 41, is facing felony charges of first-degree forcible rape, first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree forcible sexual offense.
He faces more than 90 years in prison if he is convicted of all those charges, according to court records and Superior Court Judge Henry W. Hight Jr.
His attorney, Gary Presnell, indicated he would argue that the woman was not raped but had a consensual sexual relationship with Henderson.
The woman denied that, telling jurors she had never met Henderson before the attack. That night, she said, a man broke into her apartment, made her cover her face with a blanket and raped her.
She had fallen asleep on her couch after returning from a weekend trip to the mountains with her boyfriend, she said.
"I woke up to a vision of a man coming into my apartment with a gun," she said.
The woman also told jurors Henderson repeatedly said he was attacking her because her forefathers raped and enslaved his ancestors. The woman is white, and Henderson is black.
Henderson was not identified as a suspect until 2007, when the case was reopened and evidence was tested by agents with the State Bureau of Investigation as part of a renewed effort to analyze rape cases where evidence had been collected but not tested for DNA.
After the 1999 rape, the evidence was not initially tested because police had no named suspect and the SBI declined to test the evidence without that, Jeff Cruden, a Wake County assistant district attorney, said in his opening arguments.
Last year, evidence collected that night, including semen, was retested, and Raleigh police learned from SBI agents that the DNA matched that of Henderson, who was living in Georgia. He was arrested there in April and has been held in the Wake County jail since.
The trial is expected to continue today.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The Jena Six........and Other Scams
Patrick Buchanan, American Cause, February 15, 2008
Some Americans do not understand why the sight of a noose causes such a visceral reaction,” declared President Bush to the White House gathering for Black History Month.
As The Washington Post rushed to remind us, President Bush was “responding to news coverage of such episodes as the ‘Jena Six.’”
But if history is about truth, not myth, that news coverage deserves another look, before the Jena Six enter the history books alongside Emmett Till and “the Scottsboro Boys.”
By now, most folks know the media story. White students at Jena High in Louisiana hung nooses on a tree to warn black students not to sit under it. After a fistfight over this racist outrage, black kids in the fight were indicted for attempted murder, while the white racists who hung the nooses walked away with a verbal spanking.
Last September, 20,000 traveled to Jena to march against this prosecutorial outrage. Fortunately, however, there are still a few real journalists around. Among them are Craig Franklin, assistant editor of the Jena Times, whose wife teaches at Jena High, and Charlotte Allen, who wrote an extended piece for The Weekly Standard. According to Allen and Franklin, here are the facts and chronology you have been denied by the Mainstream Media.
There never was a “whites-only” tree at Jena High. Both races sat under it, though whites congregated there. The nooses, or lariats, were the work of three young teens, who got the idea from watching “Lonesome Dove” on TV, where rustlers are hanged.
Franklin says they were a joke aimed at white friends on the rodeo team. As they were painted in Jena High’s gold and black, Allen reports that the kids said the nooses were directed at a rival school’s Western-themed football team.
When school officials confronted them, all were remorseful. All had black friends, and none knew the nooses were offensive to blacks.
Far from being let off, they spent “nine days at an alternative facility, followed by two weeks of in-school suspension, Saturday detentions, attendance at Discipline Court and evaluations by licensed mental-health professionals.”
They were not prosecuted for a hate crime because none of those who investigated the incident believed they committed a hate crime. Hung on Aug. 31, 2006, the nooses had been taken down instantly. Only a few students ever saw them. Case closed.
September, October and November passed at Jena High with no racial conflict emanating from the noose incident of August.
On Dec. 1, however, Robert Bailey Jr. tried to crash a party at the Fair Barn in Jena. One Justin Sloan, 22, not a student, put a fist in his face. So witnesses and Bailey reported to police. And Sloan was prosecuted for battery.
On Dec. 2, Bailey and two friends jumped a white male entering the “Gotta Go” grocery. When the latter ran to get a shotgun out of his car, they wrested it from him and took it. So two witnesses at the “Gotta Go” agreed.
Two days later came the “schoolyard fight.” Only this was no fight. Black students barricaded an exit to the gym and lay in wait for Justin Barker. As Barker went for another exit, he was struck in the head from behind by Mychal Bell. Multiple witnesses say Barker fell unconscious as a gang of eight or 10 blacks stomped and kicked him in the head. The assistant principal who reached Barker thought he was dead. Barker’s emergency room bill ran to more than $5,000.
When the six were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, none of them and none of the witnesses mentioned the noose incident. It had had nothing to do with this vicious racist assault.
After the charges were reduced to battery, Bell, tried as an adult, was indeed convicted by an all-white jury—because no blacks answered the summons to the jury pool. Why was Bell prosecuted as an adult? Because he had four prior convictions for crimes of violence.
After his conviction was overturned, Bell was ordered retried as a juvenile. Rather than face the same 17 witnesses, he pled guilty in December to hitting Barker from behind, slamming his head into a concrete beam and kicking him in the head. Sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention, he agreed to testify against his co-conspirators.
While some $500,000 has been raised for the Jena Six defense, its whereabouts is unknown. Bailey did pose on the Internet grinning, however, with $100 bills in his mouth. Bell’s mom is said to be driving a new Jaguar, and Bailey’s mom a new Beamer. Two other Jena Sixers, Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis, appeared in rapper attire on Black Entertainment Television as presenters of a Hip-Hop Award.
A week ago, 6-foot, 6-inch Purvis, who had transferred to Hebron High in Carrollton, Texas, was charged with assault, choking a student and ramming his head into a bench.
And that’s the Saga of The Jena Six. It belongs right up there with the Rev. Al’s other classics: Tawana Brawley and the Duke rape case.
Some Americans do not understand why the sight of a noose causes such a visceral reaction,” declared President Bush to the White House gathering for Black History Month.
As The Washington Post rushed to remind us, President Bush was “responding to news coverage of such episodes as the ‘Jena Six.’”
But if history is about truth, not myth, that news coverage deserves another look, before the Jena Six enter the history books alongside Emmett Till and “the Scottsboro Boys.”
By now, most folks know the media story. White students at Jena High in Louisiana hung nooses on a tree to warn black students not to sit under it. After a fistfight over this racist outrage, black kids in the fight were indicted for attempted murder, while the white racists who hung the nooses walked away with a verbal spanking.
Last September, 20,000 traveled to Jena to march against this prosecutorial outrage. Fortunately, however, there are still a few real journalists around. Among them are Craig Franklin, assistant editor of the Jena Times, whose wife teaches at Jena High, and Charlotte Allen, who wrote an extended piece for The Weekly Standard. According to Allen and Franklin, here are the facts and chronology you have been denied by the Mainstream Media.
There never was a “whites-only” tree at Jena High. Both races sat under it, though whites congregated there. The nooses, or lariats, were the work of three young teens, who got the idea from watching “Lonesome Dove” on TV, where rustlers are hanged.
Franklin says they were a joke aimed at white friends on the rodeo team. As they were painted in Jena High’s gold and black, Allen reports that the kids said the nooses were directed at a rival school’s Western-themed football team.
When school officials confronted them, all were remorseful. All had black friends, and none knew the nooses were offensive to blacks.
Far from being let off, they spent “nine days at an alternative facility, followed by two weeks of in-school suspension, Saturday detentions, attendance at Discipline Court and evaluations by licensed mental-health professionals.”
They were not prosecuted for a hate crime because none of those who investigated the incident believed they committed a hate crime. Hung on Aug. 31, 2006, the nooses had been taken down instantly. Only a few students ever saw them. Case closed.
September, October and November passed at Jena High with no racial conflict emanating from the noose incident of August.
On Dec. 1, however, Robert Bailey Jr. tried to crash a party at the Fair Barn in Jena. One Justin Sloan, 22, not a student, put a fist in his face. So witnesses and Bailey reported to police. And Sloan was prosecuted for battery.
On Dec. 2, Bailey and two friends jumped a white male entering the “Gotta Go” grocery. When the latter ran to get a shotgun out of his car, they wrested it from him and took it. So two witnesses at the “Gotta Go” agreed.
Two days later came the “schoolyard fight.” Only this was no fight. Black students barricaded an exit to the gym and lay in wait for Justin Barker. As Barker went for another exit, he was struck in the head from behind by Mychal Bell. Multiple witnesses say Barker fell unconscious as a gang of eight or 10 blacks stomped and kicked him in the head. The assistant principal who reached Barker thought he was dead. Barker’s emergency room bill ran to more than $5,000.
When the six were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, none of them and none of the witnesses mentioned the noose incident. It had had nothing to do with this vicious racist assault.
After the charges were reduced to battery, Bell, tried as an adult, was indeed convicted by an all-white jury—because no blacks answered the summons to the jury pool. Why was Bell prosecuted as an adult? Because he had four prior convictions for crimes of violence.
After his conviction was overturned, Bell was ordered retried as a juvenile. Rather than face the same 17 witnesses, he pled guilty in December to hitting Barker from behind, slamming his head into a concrete beam and kicking him in the head. Sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention, he agreed to testify against his co-conspirators.
While some $500,000 has been raised for the Jena Six defense, its whereabouts is unknown. Bailey did pose on the Internet grinning, however, with $100 bills in his mouth. Bell’s mom is said to be driving a new Jaguar, and Bailey’s mom a new Beamer. Two other Jena Sixers, Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis, appeared in rapper attire on Black Entertainment Television as presenters of a Hip-Hop Award.
A week ago, 6-foot, 6-inch Purvis, who had transferred to Hebron High in Carrollton, Texas, was charged with assault, choking a student and ramming his head into a bench.
And that’s the Saga of The Jena Six. It belongs right up there with the Rev. Al’s other classics: Tawana Brawley and the Duke rape case.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Jewish Cartoon: How To Cook A Gentile
That's pretty funny. Here is my recipe for cooking a jew.
1. Find a suitable jew [any jew will do]
2. Tenderize jew [baseball bat]
3. Season jew [gasoline]
4. Begin cooking jew [bic lighter]
5. Extinguish jew [urine]
6. Garnish jew [dog excrement]
7. Serve jew [to a mud]
8. Never consume a jew yourself [food poisoning]
9. Sit back and enjoy watching your jew being eatin by a feral nigger]
10. Final step [shoot nigger]
Writer’s Strike Over! Who Cares?
The media has been covering the story of the Hollywood writer’s strike as though it is something important. The writers of the big network television shows haven’t worked in months and this is supposed to have an effect on the general public? I don’t think so. Their shows are typical garbage re-hashed for the last 30 years. The lemmings that enjoy this crap wouldn’t notice if you just re-ran gilligan’s island or sanford & son for the next 5 years. If anything, the strike has shown how talent-less our media ‘talent’ has become. If late night hosts can’t come up with witty monologues on their own they don’t deserve their high-paying jobs. They are as talentless as Milli Vanilli.
Here’s the mainstream article:
NEW YORK - Now that we’re done celebrating the end of the writers strike, it’s time to cart the empties out to the curb, clear our heads, and take stock of what we learned the past three months
Above all, we learned that writers are important to television.
This is no scoop, but it was never so evident to most of us before.
Maybe that’s because, as viewers, we typically overlook writers. We do it in the same spirit we set aside our knowledge that Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman aren’t really neighbors on Wisteria Lane. Or that all those people on “Lost” aren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere. Or that the droll, British-born Hugh Laurie isn’t a cranky American doctor with a limp.
The same “willing suspension of disbelief” that enables an audience to buy into a comedy or drama also calls for our fooling ourselves into thinking that the action is determined by the on-screen characters.
Even lots of TV series that are labeled "unscripted" or "reality" have writers behind the scenes, as we were also reminded during the strike. The fact that they aren't members of the Writers Guild of America and therefore weren't on strike doesn't mean what they do isn't writing. And the fact that they may toil in total anonymity doesn't make them any less essential to a project that officially denies they exist.
The necessity of writers was brought home during their previous strike, in 1988, when NBC head Brandon Tartikoff struck back by threatening to unearth decades-old TV scripts and shoot them again. "American Revivals," he was going to call them.
It never came to that.
Nor did it this time, of course. The networks had too many other ways to plug the holes.
For instance, all those reality shows. Like "My Dad is Better than Your Dad," which, premiering Monday on NBC, pits dads against one another in idiotic stunts ostensibly to win their kids' approval.
Grown men bobbing for snakes or wallowing in green goo in front of their families, not to mention America — this ill serves the dignity of fatherhood. But fathers are fated to play the fool on TV. We didn't need the strike to tell us that.
The networks have seized on other stopgaps. NBC reclaimed "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," the drama it had previously banished to its cable-network sister, USA.
NBC also announced plans to air episodes of two other USA series, "Psych" and "Monk."
And starting Sunday, CBS will recycle the first season of "Dexter," the drama about a serial murderer that originates on Showtime, CBS' premium cable network.
Hmmmmm. We're talking American Revivals here.
What other wisdom does the strike leave us with?
Well, we know to keep our expectations low for network news.
Last month, "Dateline NBC" took a break from baiting pedophiles for a two-hour infomercial about the Golden Globes. This was part of the network's Golden Globes "coverage" cobbled together after the gala awards ceremony, which NBC had bought the rights to broadcast, fell prey to the strike and was canceled. "Dateline" bounced back with the sprightly titled "Going for Gold," hosted by "Today" anchor Matt Lauer. The result was interviews-and-clips fluff trading on what's left of NBC News' stature.
But those of us who were surprised by such a display had only ourselves to blame. By now we all know (or should) that network news has a fiduciary duty to serve the business interests of the rest of the company. For us to assume otherwise is naive, and, if we did before, the strike-afflicted Golden Globes set us straight.
The strike threw us a curve in late-night. Even without writers, Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" stayed ratings champ against David Letterman's "Late Show," whose writers returned in January thanks to an interim agreement with the guild.
All the more remarkable: Night after night, Leno somehow turned out a monologue written without his staff.
Most remarkable of all: Leno's show, however lousy, was no worse than it had ever been.
What this tells us is hard to say. But the strike has left many questions unanswered.
One of the thorniest: What does TV's future look like amid more and more viewing options?
NBC's strike-spurred acquisitions included "quarterlife," a drama series about attractive singles in their twenties trying to chart their lives and careers. It was created by acclaimed TV veterans Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz ("thirtysomething," "My So-Called Life"), who introduced it online last November on its own eponymous Web site.
Beginning Feb. 26, "quarterlife" migrates to broadcast TV. On NBC it can spread the word that the Internet that spawned it is a breeding ground for worthwhile entertainment — and that, more and more, the Web is an alternative to watching TV.
Yet another lesson in the strike's aftermath.
Here’s the mainstream article:
NEW YORK - Now that we’re done celebrating the end of the writers strike, it’s time to cart the empties out to the curb, clear our heads, and take stock of what we learned the past three months
Above all, we learned that writers are important to television.
This is no scoop, but it was never so evident to most of us before.
Maybe that’s because, as viewers, we typically overlook writers. We do it in the same spirit we set aside our knowledge that Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman aren’t really neighbors on Wisteria Lane. Or that all those people on “Lost” aren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere. Or that the droll, British-born Hugh Laurie isn’t a cranky American doctor with a limp.
The same “willing suspension of disbelief” that enables an audience to buy into a comedy or drama also calls for our fooling ourselves into thinking that the action is determined by the on-screen characters.
Even lots of TV series that are labeled "unscripted" or "reality" have writers behind the scenes, as we were also reminded during the strike. The fact that they aren't members of the Writers Guild of America and therefore weren't on strike doesn't mean what they do isn't writing. And the fact that they may toil in total anonymity doesn't make them any less essential to a project that officially denies they exist.
The necessity of writers was brought home during their previous strike, in 1988, when NBC head Brandon Tartikoff struck back by threatening to unearth decades-old TV scripts and shoot them again. "American Revivals," he was going to call them.
It never came to that.
Nor did it this time, of course. The networks had too many other ways to plug the holes.
For instance, all those reality shows. Like "My Dad is Better than Your Dad," which, premiering Monday on NBC, pits dads against one another in idiotic stunts ostensibly to win their kids' approval.
Grown men bobbing for snakes or wallowing in green goo in front of their families, not to mention America — this ill serves the dignity of fatherhood. But fathers are fated to play the fool on TV. We didn't need the strike to tell us that.
The networks have seized on other stopgaps. NBC reclaimed "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," the drama it had previously banished to its cable-network sister, USA.
NBC also announced plans to air episodes of two other USA series, "Psych" and "Monk."
And starting Sunday, CBS will recycle the first season of "Dexter," the drama about a serial murderer that originates on Showtime, CBS' premium cable network.
Hmmmmm. We're talking American Revivals here.
What other wisdom does the strike leave us with?
Well, we know to keep our expectations low for network news.
Last month, "Dateline NBC" took a break from baiting pedophiles for a two-hour infomercial about the Golden Globes. This was part of the network's Golden Globes "coverage" cobbled together after the gala awards ceremony, which NBC had bought the rights to broadcast, fell prey to the strike and was canceled. "Dateline" bounced back with the sprightly titled "Going for Gold," hosted by "Today" anchor Matt Lauer. The result was interviews-and-clips fluff trading on what's left of NBC News' stature.
But those of us who were surprised by such a display had only ourselves to blame. By now we all know (or should) that network news has a fiduciary duty to serve the business interests of the rest of the company. For us to assume otherwise is naive, and, if we did before, the strike-afflicted Golden Globes set us straight.
The strike threw us a curve in late-night. Even without writers, Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" stayed ratings champ against David Letterman's "Late Show," whose writers returned in January thanks to an interim agreement with the guild.
All the more remarkable: Night after night, Leno somehow turned out a monologue written without his staff.
Most remarkable of all: Leno's show, however lousy, was no worse than it had ever been.
What this tells us is hard to say. But the strike has left many questions unanswered.
One of the thorniest: What does TV's future look like amid more and more viewing options?
NBC's strike-spurred acquisitions included "quarterlife," a drama series about attractive singles in their twenties trying to chart their lives and careers. It was created by acclaimed TV veterans Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz ("thirtysomething," "My So-Called Life"), who introduced it online last November on its own eponymous Web site.
Beginning Feb. 26, "quarterlife" migrates to broadcast TV. On NBC it can spread the word that the Internet that spawned it is a breeding ground for worthwhile entertainment — and that, more and more, the Web is an alternative to watching TV.
Yet another lesson in the strike's aftermath.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Racism....makes you sad
I never bothered listening to Nikki Nichols defending non-white trash against the evils of racism until a couple of weeks ago. Give her show a listen.....I promise you won't regret it.
It's bullshit anti-racist COMEDY at it's best.
Fucking asshole bitch.
Whites to become minority in U.S. by 2050(And the White news commentator said it with a smile!)
Recent studies have shown what most of us who don’t have our heads in the sand know all too well. Whites will be a minority in their own country by 2050. Immigration will drive the population of the United States sharply upward between now and 2050, and will push whites into minority status, projections by the Pew Research Center showed Monday. This will make it impossible to vote our way out of this situation, or hope for legislation that we prefer. With the hope for a peaceful political solution to the problem facing Whites today dwindling, it appears our nation is pointing head long into the abyss with no hope of a u-turn. It is important that you share this with your friends and family, we need to start thinking about racial politics now, and what is right for our family, and our extended racial family. Someday it will come to a head, and we need to be mentally prepared for it. Your children are counting on any small action you take right now to help spread the word.
Friday, February 8, 2008
He mapped out his strategy for war and executed it.”
I guess this was "systematic racism" and "black rage".
KIRKWOOD, Mo. | A brother of the man who killed five people at a Kirkwood City Council meeting defended the shooter’s actions this morning.
Standing across the street from the site of the killings, Gerald Thornton told reporters that his brother, Charles “Cookie” Thornton, had become “a country of himself” and was forced to “go to war” after the judicial system denied his claims of mistreatment.
“He didn’t go out shooting random people,” Gerald Thornton said. “He mapped out his strategy for war and executed it.”
Gerald Thornton said his brother’s problems with the city stemmed from disagreements over building permits. Charles Thornton owned a construction company, Cook Co., that was frequently cited for performing work without the proper permits.
Charles Thornton was cited for more than 126 violations totaling around $64,000, Gerald Thornton said.
The city’s arguments were wrong, his brother said, but when Thornton challenged them in court, his arguments were overruled. It was those failures to find justice in the courts that led him to act last night.
“I understand why he did it,” he said. “He declared war because of the actions done by the court.”
Gerald Thornton said he last saw his brother last night, but said he had no idea what he was about to do.
He had never known Charles Thornton to own or carry a gun, he said.
Still, Thornton said he did believe his brother’s actions were planned.
“Those people he went after were the people listed in his problems with the city,” Thornton said. “Once he was abused by the people in that hall over there he stood up and tried to rectify it.”
Surrounded by a crush of reporters, Gerald Thornton, two years Charles’ senior and one of nine siblings, verged on obstinate in his defense of his brother’s actions.
When asked if he felt for his brother’s victims, Thornton said: “No one wants to see loss of life over issues that should’ve been solved. We have educated people over there and they should’ve been able to see the things they were doing should’ve came to an end sooner.”
Thornton also raised the issue of race, suggesting that African Americans have a more difficult time exerting their rights and that his brother’s race was a factor in his difficulties with the city and in the courts.
KIRKWOOD, Mo. | A brother of the man who killed five people at a Kirkwood City Council meeting defended the shooter’s actions this morning.
Standing across the street from the site of the killings, Gerald Thornton told reporters that his brother, Charles “Cookie” Thornton, had become “a country of himself” and was forced to “go to war” after the judicial system denied his claims of mistreatment.
“He didn’t go out shooting random people,” Gerald Thornton said. “He mapped out his strategy for war and executed it.”
Gerald Thornton said his brother’s problems with the city stemmed from disagreements over building permits. Charles Thornton owned a construction company, Cook Co., that was frequently cited for performing work without the proper permits.
Charles Thornton was cited for more than 126 violations totaling around $64,000, Gerald Thornton said.
The city’s arguments were wrong, his brother said, but when Thornton challenged them in court, his arguments were overruled. It was those failures to find justice in the courts that led him to act last night.
“I understand why he did it,” he said. “He declared war because of the actions done by the court.”
Gerald Thornton said he last saw his brother last night, but said he had no idea what he was about to do.
He had never known Charles Thornton to own or carry a gun, he said.
Still, Thornton said he did believe his brother’s actions were planned.
“Those people he went after were the people listed in his problems with the city,” Thornton said. “Once he was abused by the people in that hall over there he stood up and tried to rectify it.”
Surrounded by a crush of reporters, Gerald Thornton, two years Charles’ senior and one of nine siblings, verged on obstinate in his defense of his brother’s actions.
When asked if he felt for his brother’s victims, Thornton said: “No one wants to see loss of life over issues that should’ve been solved. We have educated people over there and they should’ve been able to see the things they were doing should’ve came to an end sooner.”
Thornton also raised the issue of race, suggesting that African Americans have a more difficult time exerting their rights and that his brother’s race was a factor in his difficulties with the city and in the courts.
What Soldiers Are Reading These Days
As many books as I've read, The Devil's Guard may be my all-time favorite. It's interesting seeing the popularity of this book surge after being written so long ago.
The Telegraph U.K.
The top 10 novels supplied to American fighting men by Abe were: The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling; Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry; Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams; The Collector, John Fowles; Devil's Guard, George Robert Elford; The Unwanted, John Saul; The Alchemist, Ken Goddard; Apollyon: The Destroyer Unleashed, Tim LaHaye; Master of Dragons, Margaret Weis; The Illuminati, Larry Burkett.
There is a strong whiff of the high school curriculum (Salinger, notably) and a lot of fantasy. The presence of LaHaye's vision of Armageddon (and the Second Coming) happening in the Middle East in the first years of the 21st century is slightly troubling. But what is striking is the near-complete absence of male-action, war stories. The descendants of Lee's Miserables obviously get enough of that at work.
Well, most of them do. There is one example of war fiction in this top 10: Elford's Devil's Guard. It's not a work, nor is Elford an author, with wide name-recognition in what used to be called Civvy Street. But it evidently appeals where the bullets fly and the IEDs thump.
First published in 1971, Devil's Guard purports to be the true confessions of a German SS officer, Hans Josef Wagemueller. Presented as fact, the book is generally categorised by merchandisers (Abe, for example) as fiction and by military historians as balderdash.
Elford's hero recounts his exploits - bloody and genocidal - as a soldier in the Waffen SS, fighting on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The tone is savage and unapologetic. Nazi atrocities are, the narrative asserts (with multiple examples), wholly justified by the inhumanity of the Communist foe.
After the (much lamented) defeat of the Reich, Wagemueller escapes to be recruited into the French Foreign Legion. Under his new flag he fights for France in the Indo-Chinese war against the Communist Viet Minh. More abominable sub-humans, deserving only of extermination.
In the Legion with other former Nazis (some 900 of them) he leads the 'battalion of the damned' in daring, ruthless, guerrilla fighting behind enemy lines. Two sequels followed, in which Wagemueller ends up fighting under the American flag.
Elford is an elusive figure, scarcely more substantial in terms of popular image than his alleged warrior source, Wagemueller. Devil's Guard was, for a long time, an underground bestseller - most reading copies passing from hand to hand. No self-respecting imprint was keen to be associated with what was generally regarded as sickening neo-Nazi pornography.
Costs of pre-owned copies are, consequently, sky high. Any British soldier ordering Devil's Guard from amazon.co.uk could pay as much as £320 a copy.
If Iraq goes on another five years, a mass-market reprint would seem to be in order. But who would be foolhardy enough to write the introduction I wonder?
The Telegraph U.K.
The top 10 novels supplied to American fighting men by Abe were: The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling; Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry; Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams; The Collector, John Fowles; Devil's Guard, George Robert Elford; The Unwanted, John Saul; The Alchemist, Ken Goddard; Apollyon: The Destroyer Unleashed, Tim LaHaye; Master of Dragons, Margaret Weis; The Illuminati, Larry Burkett.
There is a strong whiff of the high school curriculum (Salinger, notably) and a lot of fantasy. The presence of LaHaye's vision of Armageddon (and the Second Coming) happening in the Middle East in the first years of the 21st century is slightly troubling. But what is striking is the near-complete absence of male-action, war stories. The descendants of Lee's Miserables obviously get enough of that at work.
Well, most of them do. There is one example of war fiction in this top 10: Elford's Devil's Guard. It's not a work, nor is Elford an author, with wide name-recognition in what used to be called Civvy Street. But it evidently appeals where the bullets fly and the IEDs thump.
First published in 1971, Devil's Guard purports to be the true confessions of a German SS officer, Hans Josef Wagemueller. Presented as fact, the book is generally categorised by merchandisers (Abe, for example) as fiction and by military historians as balderdash.
Elford's hero recounts his exploits - bloody and genocidal - as a soldier in the Waffen SS, fighting on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The tone is savage and unapologetic. Nazi atrocities are, the narrative asserts (with multiple examples), wholly justified by the inhumanity of the Communist foe.
After the (much lamented) defeat of the Reich, Wagemueller escapes to be recruited into the French Foreign Legion. Under his new flag he fights for France in the Indo-Chinese war against the Communist Viet Minh. More abominable sub-humans, deserving only of extermination.
In the Legion with other former Nazis (some 900 of them) he leads the 'battalion of the damned' in daring, ruthless, guerrilla fighting behind enemy lines. Two sequels followed, in which Wagemueller ends up fighting under the American flag.
Elford is an elusive figure, scarcely more substantial in terms of popular image than his alleged warrior source, Wagemueller. Devil's Guard was, for a long time, an underground bestseller - most reading copies passing from hand to hand. No self-respecting imprint was keen to be associated with what was generally regarded as sickening neo-Nazi pornography.
Costs of pre-owned copies are, consequently, sky high. Any British soldier ordering Devil's Guard from amazon.co.uk could pay as much as £320 a copy.
If Iraq goes on another five years, a mass-market reprint would seem to be in order. But who would be foolhardy enough to write the introduction I wonder?
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Before You Write That Article On Racial Injustice, Profiling and The Jena 6......
You might want to check and and see if one of those little niggers isn't being arrested and charged with committing yet another crime.
ALEESA MANN
2/7/08
The Hilltop
Howard University
Racial profiling was the topic at hand as members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Howard students met on Capitol Hill in "An Evening with the CBC," an event held as part of the "I Am a Vote Week."
"This is a very important issue. It's not imaginary. It's real. If you look at the history of this country there has been selective enforcement since its inception," said U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams of Maryland. "When you contrast who's being pulled over and who's in court with the percentage of African Americans in this nation you know there is disproportionality of the criminal system hitting our people."
Panelists and students discussed issues of being singled out based on race and cited incidents of racial injustice including Shawn Williams, the Jena Six and Don Imus.
"Lives have been taken, people lost, families broken because of misinterpretation [base don race], so this is an epidemic," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. "We are long overdue for trying to find a legislative fix to this question."
"The words of Imus can be seen as racial profiling, because of his characterization of African-American women, then [we ask] is that the interpretation of law enforcement of someone who is driving a car? Same thing I would argue on the Jena '6' case," Lee said. "I think there is wide reaching opportunity to addressing the problem of racial profiling. Your support, your advocacy is going to be most important in this effort. I'm hoping that out of this will come some provocative legislation."
The audience listened attentively as the panelists discussed their experiences being accosted simply because of their race.
Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois expressed his astonishment at being pulled over. Howard professor of African-American studies, Gregory Carr, shared his experiences as well, and Judge Williams talked about the cases of racial injustice he had presided over.
"[Their experiences] show you that cops don't care if you're a member of Congress or a Howard University student. It shows that cops just discriminate," said Tashon Thomas, HUSA recording secretary and sophomore political science major.
The panelists also discussed recently proposed legislation slated to help put an end to racial profiling. The End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) of 2007 prohibits law enforcement from employing techniques of racial profiling in their practice. By requiring law enforcement to maintain adequate procedures, eliminate existing racial profiling procedures and having an appropriate system for filing complaints of racial profiling, the act aims to put an end to the unjust practice.
"As we think about this question of law enforcement we have to think about the question of racial profiling in a larger context," Carr said. He also proposed solutions to addressing the problem enforcing laws, punishing violators and providing sensitivity training for law enforcement as viable measures to combat racial profiling.
Students at the discussion found the discourse to be provoking and productive.
"[The discussion] brought forth a sense of the issue and how we need to confront it," said said Corey Briscoe, a freshman political science major. "I think we had the issue, and I think that it was reiterated again, but what we didn't have was a comprehensive solution, and now we understand what racial profiling is and what we as the black community need to do to endeavor over and beyond it. We're saying this is the issue, and this is how we're going to address it."
The event was organized by the College Democrats, College Republicans and HUSA organizations to help inspire students to become proactive in their local and national politics.
"I hope students take from the event what I initially took from my first visit to the Hill. I initially came to the hill for a class assignment. I knew nothing about politics, and like any other students I didn't really much care about politics," said Lauren Campbell, fundraising chair of the Howard College Democrats. "But then I just fell in love with the whole atmosphere. I was very interested after meeting my local representative. So basically if students can take away a passion for politics or just wanting to know more, that's very important."
ALEESA MANN
2/7/08
The Hilltop
Howard University
Racial profiling was the topic at hand as members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Howard students met on Capitol Hill in "An Evening with the CBC," an event held as part of the "I Am a Vote Week."
"This is a very important issue. It's not imaginary. It's real. If you look at the history of this country there has been selective enforcement since its inception," said U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams of Maryland. "When you contrast who's being pulled over and who's in court with the percentage of African Americans in this nation you know there is disproportionality of the criminal system hitting our people."
Panelists and students discussed issues of being singled out based on race and cited incidents of racial injustice including Shawn Williams, the Jena Six and Don Imus.
"Lives have been taken, people lost, families broken because of misinterpretation [base don race], so this is an epidemic," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. "We are long overdue for trying to find a legislative fix to this question."
"The words of Imus can be seen as racial profiling, because of his characterization of African-American women, then [we ask] is that the interpretation of law enforcement of someone who is driving a car? Same thing I would argue on the Jena '6' case," Lee said. "I think there is wide reaching opportunity to addressing the problem of racial profiling. Your support, your advocacy is going to be most important in this effort. I'm hoping that out of this will come some provocative legislation."
The audience listened attentively as the panelists discussed their experiences being accosted simply because of their race.
Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois expressed his astonishment at being pulled over. Howard professor of African-American studies, Gregory Carr, shared his experiences as well, and Judge Williams talked about the cases of racial injustice he had presided over.
"[Their experiences] show you that cops don't care if you're a member of Congress or a Howard University student. It shows that cops just discriminate," said Tashon Thomas, HUSA recording secretary and sophomore political science major.
The panelists also discussed recently proposed legislation slated to help put an end to racial profiling. The End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) of 2007 prohibits law enforcement from employing techniques of racial profiling in their practice. By requiring law enforcement to maintain adequate procedures, eliminate existing racial profiling procedures and having an appropriate system for filing complaints of racial profiling, the act aims to put an end to the unjust practice.
"As we think about this question of law enforcement we have to think about the question of racial profiling in a larger context," Carr said. He also proposed solutions to addressing the problem enforcing laws, punishing violators and providing sensitivity training for law enforcement as viable measures to combat racial profiling.
Students at the discussion found the discourse to be provoking and productive.
"[The discussion] brought forth a sense of the issue and how we need to confront it," said said Corey Briscoe, a freshman political science major. "I think we had the issue, and I think that it was reiterated again, but what we didn't have was a comprehensive solution, and now we understand what racial profiling is and what we as the black community need to do to endeavor over and beyond it. We're saying this is the issue, and this is how we're going to address it."
The event was organized by the College Democrats, College Republicans and HUSA organizations to help inspire students to become proactive in their local and national politics.
"I hope students take from the event what I initially took from my first visit to the Hill. I initially came to the hill for a class assignment. I knew nothing about politics, and like any other students I didn't really much care about politics," said Lauren Campbell, fundraising chair of the Howard College Democrats. "But then I just fell in love with the whole atmosphere. I was very interested after meeting my local representative. So basically if students can take away a passion for politics or just wanting to know more, that's very important."
I Hate Febuary!
Here we go again. The humiliating month of February devoted to a species who can’t spell or even pronounce the name of the month let alone contribute anything real to justify it. Television breaks will show nigger cubs reciting bullshit stories of phony pretend nigger heroes and all their made up accomplishments. Peanut butter muh fugga. Maccum Exx. Martin Luder Kang. Mumia. Tookie.
February is long enough with all this nigger ass kissing. but in a leap year, we get 24 more tortuous hours of it. So here is my tribute to Stupid Nigger History Mumf. Maybe I’ll post some of my own nigger history stories throughout the mumf to celebrate the real nigger. If it weren’t so infuriating, it would be funny. But it’s not.It’s pathetic we recognize niggers for anything given the amount of violent crime and disgusting behavior they inflict on society. How about we recognize that?
February is long enough with all this nigger ass kissing. but in a leap year, we get 24 more tortuous hours of it. So here is my tribute to Stupid Nigger History Mumf. Maybe I’ll post some of my own nigger history stories throughout the mumf to celebrate the real nigger. If it weren’t so infuriating, it would be funny. But it’s not.It’s pathetic we recognize niggers for anything given the amount of violent crime and disgusting behavior they inflict on society. How about we recognize that?
Jena 6 defendant charged in Texas assault
Six blacks beating and kicking a white kid in the head was a schoolyard "scuffle".
Now when a black person pins another person's head down, choking him, and causing an injury to his eye is a "minor shoving incident."
Now 19 Years old is juvenile as well.
HOUSTON - A defendant in the racially-charged Jena 6 case in Louisiana has been arrested for assault after an altercation at the suburban Dallas high school he is now attending, potentially complicating his legal defense in Jena and dispiriting some of his supporters.
Bryant Purvis, 19, was arrested Wednesday in Carrollton, Texas, and charged with misdemeanor assault after an incident with another student at Hebron High School, Carrollton police said. Purvis was released in lieu of $1,000 bond on Thursday and suspended for three days from the school, where he enrolled as a senior after moving to the area to live with a relative.
Purvis' attorney, Darrell Hickman, characterized the assault as a "minor shoving incident" and said it involved a student whom Purvis believed had vandalized his car a few days before. A police affidavit accompanying an arrest warrant alleged that Purvis choked the student and pushed his head into a bench, injuring the victim's eye.
The new arrest could complicate ongoing plea bargain negotiations over the Jena case with LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, Hickman said. Purvis is one of six black defendants Walters initially charged with attempted murder for beating a white student at Jena High School in December 2006, in a fight that capped months of racial tensions in the town.
The charges were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery after the Jena case drew criticism from national civil rights leaders, who contended that the justice system in the small town was biased against blacks. More than 20,000 demonstrators marched through Jena last September in support of the Jena 6 defendants and their case was one of several last year that launched what activists regarded as a new civil rights movement.
The first Jena defendant to face trial, Mychal Bell, pleaded guilty in December to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery and received a sentence of 18 months in juvenile detention. Purvis' case is set for trial in late March.
The Texas arrest "doesn't help his case in Jena, that's obvious," Hickman said. "From what [Purvis] told me, I can understand him losing his temper. We all lose our temper every now and then. But we're in the process of negotiations with Reed Walters. And what we've been asking for, probably Reed will be less inclined to give it to me now."
Purvis' arrest is the latest in a series public embarrassments for the Jena defendants, who last summer attracted the sympathies of more than 300,000 petition signers and donations of more than $500,000 to their legal defense fund.
Purvis and another Jena defendant, Carwin Jones, posed like rap stars at the Black Entertainment Television Hip Hop Awards in October, where they presented a music award and received an ovation from the audience. Jena defendant Robert Bailey Jr. posted pictures of himself on a Myspace page with a wad of $100 bills stuffed in his mouth. And questions arose over the accounting for some of the donated legal funds controlled by the Jena 6 families after they declined to say how they were spending the money.
Nevertheless, the Jena case remains important, said Mervyn Marcano, spokesman for Color of Change, an Internet-based civil rights group of nearly 400,000 members that raised more than $200,000 for the Jena defendants.
"It's sort of a pop culture touchstone of 2007 for a lot of black people," Marcano said, adding that he hoped that Purvis' latest arrest would not detract from the larger issues of equal justice raised by the Jena case.
"These kids are still juveniles, so I'm not surprised that they will get into scuffles and things of that nature," Marcano said. "These kids are not supposed to be angels. They are supposed to have equal access to fair treatment from the criminal justice system, and they will continue to be teenagers while we continue to fight for that."
Now when a black person pins another person's head down, choking him, and causing an injury to his eye is a "minor shoving incident."
Now 19 Years old is juvenile as well.
HOUSTON - A defendant in the racially-charged Jena 6 case in Louisiana has been arrested for assault after an altercation at the suburban Dallas high school he is now attending, potentially complicating his legal defense in Jena and dispiriting some of his supporters.
Bryant Purvis, 19, was arrested Wednesday in Carrollton, Texas, and charged with misdemeanor assault after an incident with another student at Hebron High School, Carrollton police said. Purvis was released in lieu of $1,000 bond on Thursday and suspended for three days from the school, where he enrolled as a senior after moving to the area to live with a relative.
Purvis' attorney, Darrell Hickman, characterized the assault as a "minor shoving incident" and said it involved a student whom Purvis believed had vandalized his car a few days before. A police affidavit accompanying an arrest warrant alleged that Purvis choked the student and pushed his head into a bench, injuring the victim's eye.
The new arrest could complicate ongoing plea bargain negotiations over the Jena case with LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, Hickman said. Purvis is one of six black defendants Walters initially charged with attempted murder for beating a white student at Jena High School in December 2006, in a fight that capped months of racial tensions in the town.
The charges were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery after the Jena case drew criticism from national civil rights leaders, who contended that the justice system in the small town was biased against blacks. More than 20,000 demonstrators marched through Jena last September in support of the Jena 6 defendants and their case was one of several last year that launched what activists regarded as a new civil rights movement.
The first Jena defendant to face trial, Mychal Bell, pleaded guilty in December to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery and received a sentence of 18 months in juvenile detention. Purvis' case is set for trial in late March.
The Texas arrest "doesn't help his case in Jena, that's obvious," Hickman said. "From what [Purvis] told me, I can understand him losing his temper. We all lose our temper every now and then. But we're in the process of negotiations with Reed Walters. And what we've been asking for, probably Reed will be less inclined to give it to me now."
Purvis' arrest is the latest in a series public embarrassments for the Jena defendants, who last summer attracted the sympathies of more than 300,000 petition signers and donations of more than $500,000 to their legal defense fund.
Purvis and another Jena defendant, Carwin Jones, posed like rap stars at the Black Entertainment Television Hip Hop Awards in October, where they presented a music award and received an ovation from the audience. Jena defendant Robert Bailey Jr. posted pictures of himself on a Myspace page with a wad of $100 bills stuffed in his mouth. And questions arose over the accounting for some of the donated legal funds controlled by the Jena 6 families after they declined to say how they were spending the money.
Nevertheless, the Jena case remains important, said Mervyn Marcano, spokesman for Color of Change, an Internet-based civil rights group of nearly 400,000 members that raised more than $200,000 for the Jena defendants.
"It's sort of a pop culture touchstone of 2007 for a lot of black people," Marcano said, adding that he hoped that Purvis' latest arrest would not detract from the larger issues of equal justice raised by the Jena case.
"These kids are still juveniles, so I'm not surprised that they will get into scuffles and things of that nature," Marcano said. "These kids are not supposed to be angels. They are supposed to have equal access to fair treatment from the criminal justice system, and they will continue to be teenagers while we continue to fight for that."
The Rise and Fall Of the National Front
During the turbulent 1970's, England's National Front marched in the streets by the thousands.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
JUST IN: Jena 6 Member Arrested
Blacks will be blacks!
A member of the “Jena Six” was arrested and charged with assault today, according to an official at a Carrollton, Texas, jail.
Bryant R. Purvis, 19, now living in the Dallas area, was charged with assault causing bodily injury and is being held in the city jail with no bail pending a Thursday morning bond hearing, the jail official said.
Broadcast media have reported his arrest was in connection to an assault on a fellow Hebron High School student after vandalism to Purvis’ car.
Calls to Tina Jones’, Purvis’ mother, went unanswered today. Information about the arrest wasn’t immediately available, and messages left for a public information officer for the Carrollton Police Department were unreturned.
Purvis and five other black teens were arrested and initially charged with attempted murder in connection with a Dec. 4, 2006, assault on a fellow Jena High School student, Justin Barker, who is white.
Soon after Purvis’ arrest, his mother said she sent him to live with his uncle, Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman Jason Hatcher, so he could stay out of trouble and out of the limelight.
Purvis had stayed out of the limelight for most of last year following the high-profile case, but he did appear on Black Entertainment Television’s Hip-Hop Awards. Purvis and fellow Jena Six defendant Carwin Jones helped present the video of the year award during the October awards show.
A message left for Darrell Hickman, Purvis’ attorney, went unreturned. But during a December interview, the Alexandria attorney said he was hopeful that LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters would drop the charges against Purvis.
“I still feel that Bryant is totally innocent in this case," Hickman said. "Only one person out of a number of witnesses indicated they saw Bryant involved. I don't think they have a strong case against him at all."
The case of the Jena Six has caught attention worldwide and led to what many have called the biggest civil rights demonstration of the new millennium on Sept. 20, 2007, when more than 20,000 marched through Jena.
A member of the “Jena Six” was arrested and charged with assault today, according to an official at a Carrollton, Texas, jail.
Bryant R. Purvis, 19, now living in the Dallas area, was charged with assault causing bodily injury and is being held in the city jail with no bail pending a Thursday morning bond hearing, the jail official said.
Broadcast media have reported his arrest was in connection to an assault on a fellow Hebron High School student after vandalism to Purvis’ car.
Calls to Tina Jones’, Purvis’ mother, went unanswered today. Information about the arrest wasn’t immediately available, and messages left for a public information officer for the Carrollton Police Department were unreturned.
Purvis and five other black teens were arrested and initially charged with attempted murder in connection with a Dec. 4, 2006, assault on a fellow Jena High School student, Justin Barker, who is white.
Soon after Purvis’ arrest, his mother said she sent him to live with his uncle, Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman Jason Hatcher, so he could stay out of trouble and out of the limelight.
Purvis had stayed out of the limelight for most of last year following the high-profile case, but he did appear on Black Entertainment Television’s Hip-Hop Awards. Purvis and fellow Jena Six defendant Carwin Jones helped present the video of the year award during the October awards show.
A message left for Darrell Hickman, Purvis’ attorney, went unreturned. But during a December interview, the Alexandria attorney said he was hopeful that LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters would drop the charges against Purvis.
“I still feel that Bryant is totally innocent in this case," Hickman said. "Only one person out of a number of witnesses indicated they saw Bryant involved. I don't think they have a strong case against him at all."
The case of the Jena Six has caught attention worldwide and led to what many have called the biggest civil rights demonstration of the new millennium on Sept. 20, 2007, when more than 20,000 marched through Jena.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Another Protestant church shuns Israel
Tensions are re-emerging between Jewish organizations and some mainline Protestant churches in the wake of a renewed drive for churches to divest from companies doing business with Israel.
The United Methodist Church opened discussions last Friday on a resolution calling for divestment from Caterpillar, the tractor manufacturer, because the company supplies Israel with bulldozers used in building the separation barrier and in demolishing Palestinian homes. The divestment resolution comes only months after the publication of a church-sponsored report referring to the creation of the State of Israel as the "original sin."
Relations with the Presbyterian Church (USA) are also strained, following remarks by church officials criticizing Israel because of the Gaza closure. A recent study by an affiliate of the Presbyterian Church called on American Jews to "get a life" instead of focusing on defending Israeli policies.
"This reflects a very disturbing trend in these churches," said Ethan Felson, assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. "These developments are a result of work of several very wicked forces that play in the church."
The divestment campaign, thought by many in the Jewish community to be dormant, is still active among mainline Protestant churches and is re-emerging as a main issue on the agenda of Jewish groups. Attempts to block the divestment drive, which began four years ago, have proved only partially successful. Interreligious dialogue efforts and public pressure managed to mute some churchwide calls for divestment, but other initiatives are still gaining support.
The Methodist meeting, held on January 25 in Fort Worth, Texas, was an initial orientation meeting for delegation heads who will lead their groups at the church's quadrennial conference in April. Delegation leaders were presented with speakers both supportive and opposed to the draft divestment resolution, which calls for removing all Methodist pension fund holdings from Caterpillar.
"The United Methodist Church holds $141 million of pension funds in companies that sustain the occupation," said Susan Hoder, a member of the church's Interfaith Peace Initiative. "This has to stop. We have to cut our ties to the occupation."
Hoder, who strongly favors passage of divestment measures, went on to claim that American taxpayer dollars are used to fund Israeli military. "A lot of this money goes into the pockets of Israeli military leaders and politicians who get rich while the population of Israel suffers," she said.
With 11 million members, The United Methodist Church is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the U.S. The upcoming April general conference, the church's main forum for making policy decisions, will first discuss the divestment resolution in a subcommittee. Afterward, the panel's recommendations will be put to a general vote to make them official policy.
A spokesman for the United Methodist Church did not return calls from the Forward seeking comments on the divestment drive.
Arrangers of the pre-conference meeting last Friday in Fort Worth allowed a representative of the organized Jewish community to speak on the issue. Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, the American Jewish Committee's director of interreligious affairs, told the Methodist delegates that the Jewish community was concerned about the resolution. "I told them that while they may think it is not anti-Israel and not anti-Jewish, for us it feels anti-Israel and feels anti-Jewish," Greenebaum told the Forward after the meeting.
At the same time, Greenebaum warned the Jewish community against overreacting to anti-Israel sentiments in the church. Protestant churches, he said, "care very deeply about their relations with the Jewish community."
What prompted Jewish activists to take action was not only the renewed divestment drive but also a report from the women's division of the Methodist church, which addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The 225-page report, compiled by the Rev. Stephen Goldstein, attempts to outline the historical and current contours of the conflict, but according to Felson, the report amounts to "the most egregious thing that has crossed my desk that was not put out by an overt hate group."
Among the statements in the report that irked Jewish community activists are a reference to the founding of the State of Israel as "the original sin," a passage calling Israeli founding father David Ben-Gurion an "extremist" and a passage defining Israeli actions as acts of "terror." Discussing the impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society, the Methodist report claims it has been the cause for "hysteria" and "paranoiac sense" among Israelis.
"Are we not called to testify when oppressors use their identity as the
oppressed with stories of sixty years ago but through some failure of perception cannot see what transpires now in the shadow of the Holocaust?" the report goes on to ask.
After letting four months pass without a formal response, last week four Jewish women's groups sent a letter to heads of the Methodist church, calling the report "inflammatory, inaccurate, and polemical." Hadassah and women's groups affiliated with Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism and United Jewish Communities signed the letter.
Another expected step by Jewish organizations is the launching of a new Web site that will call for a "return to civility" and condemn anti-Israeli voices among Protestant churches.
The Presbyterian Church, the first to come up with resolutions calling for divestment, has so far avoided taking action on this issue, but it still supports a line seen by Jewish activists as anti-Israel. In recent weeks, a heated exchange of letters took place between Jewish community leaders and heads of the Presbyterian Church, following the church?s criticism of Israel over the situation in Gaza. In a letter to the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, head of the church's general assembly, 12 Jewish organizational leaders complained that "the anti-Israel tone of your statement calls into serious question whether the season of mutual understanding we welcomed in July 2006 has yet arrived."
The United Methodist Church opened discussions last Friday on a resolution calling for divestment from Caterpillar, the tractor manufacturer, because the company supplies Israel with bulldozers used in building the separation barrier and in demolishing Palestinian homes. The divestment resolution comes only months after the publication of a church-sponsored report referring to the creation of the State of Israel as the "original sin."
Relations with the Presbyterian Church (USA) are also strained, following remarks by church officials criticizing Israel because of the Gaza closure. A recent study by an affiliate of the Presbyterian Church called on American Jews to "get a life" instead of focusing on defending Israeli policies.
"This reflects a very disturbing trend in these churches," said Ethan Felson, assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. "These developments are a result of work of several very wicked forces that play in the church."
The divestment campaign, thought by many in the Jewish community to be dormant, is still active among mainline Protestant churches and is re-emerging as a main issue on the agenda of Jewish groups. Attempts to block the divestment drive, which began four years ago, have proved only partially successful. Interreligious dialogue efforts and public pressure managed to mute some churchwide calls for divestment, but other initiatives are still gaining support.
The Methodist meeting, held on January 25 in Fort Worth, Texas, was an initial orientation meeting for delegation heads who will lead their groups at the church's quadrennial conference in April. Delegation leaders were presented with speakers both supportive and opposed to the draft divestment resolution, which calls for removing all Methodist pension fund holdings from Caterpillar.
"The United Methodist Church holds $141 million of pension funds in companies that sustain the occupation," said Susan Hoder, a member of the church's Interfaith Peace Initiative. "This has to stop. We have to cut our ties to the occupation."
Hoder, who strongly favors passage of divestment measures, went on to claim that American taxpayer dollars are used to fund Israeli military. "A lot of this money goes into the pockets of Israeli military leaders and politicians who get rich while the population of Israel suffers," she said.
With 11 million members, The United Methodist Church is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the U.S. The upcoming April general conference, the church's main forum for making policy decisions, will first discuss the divestment resolution in a subcommittee. Afterward, the panel's recommendations will be put to a general vote to make them official policy.
A spokesman for the United Methodist Church did not return calls from the Forward seeking comments on the divestment drive.
Arrangers of the pre-conference meeting last Friday in Fort Worth allowed a representative of the organized Jewish community to speak on the issue. Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, the American Jewish Committee's director of interreligious affairs, told the Methodist delegates that the Jewish community was concerned about the resolution. "I told them that while they may think it is not anti-Israel and not anti-Jewish, for us it feels anti-Israel and feels anti-Jewish," Greenebaum told the Forward after the meeting.
At the same time, Greenebaum warned the Jewish community against overreacting to anti-Israel sentiments in the church. Protestant churches, he said, "care very deeply about their relations with the Jewish community."
What prompted Jewish activists to take action was not only the renewed divestment drive but also a report from the women's division of the Methodist church, which addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The 225-page report, compiled by the Rev. Stephen Goldstein, attempts to outline the historical and current contours of the conflict, but according to Felson, the report amounts to "the most egregious thing that has crossed my desk that was not put out by an overt hate group."
Among the statements in the report that irked Jewish community activists are a reference to the founding of the State of Israel as "the original sin," a passage calling Israeli founding father David Ben-Gurion an "extremist" and a passage defining Israeli actions as acts of "terror." Discussing the impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society, the Methodist report claims it has been the cause for "hysteria" and "paranoiac sense" among Israelis.
"Are we not called to testify when oppressors use their identity as the
oppressed with stories of sixty years ago but through some failure of perception cannot see what transpires now in the shadow of the Holocaust?" the report goes on to ask.
After letting four months pass without a formal response, last week four Jewish women's groups sent a letter to heads of the Methodist church, calling the report "inflammatory, inaccurate, and polemical." Hadassah and women's groups affiliated with Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism and United Jewish Communities signed the letter.
Another expected step by Jewish organizations is the launching of a new Web site that will call for a "return to civility" and condemn anti-Israeli voices among Protestant churches.
The Presbyterian Church, the first to come up with resolutions calling for divestment, has so far avoided taking action on this issue, but it still supports a line seen by Jewish activists as anti-Israel. In recent weeks, a heated exchange of letters took place between Jewish community leaders and heads of the Presbyterian Church, following the church?s criticism of Israel over the situation in Gaza. In a letter to the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, head of the church's general assembly, 12 Jewish organizational leaders complained that "the anti-Israel tone of your statement calls into serious question whether the season of mutual understanding we welcomed in July 2006 has yet arrived."
Saturday, February 2, 2008
I Have A Nightmare
As America prepares to celebrate Martin Luther King Day next week, black presidential candidate Barack Obama stands in a strong position to become the country’s 44th president. Some view Obama’s remarkable popularity as the realisation of King’s dream, the final victory of the civil rights movement. Others view it, their respect for Obama notwithstanding, as a testament to its remarkable failure.
Both the aims and the character of the civil rights movement were flawed. One aim was clearly desegregration. But the movement should never have been about integration. It should have been about demanding the respect that is due to free human beings; about ending the physical, spiritual and economic violence that had been perpetrated against African-Americans since the end of the American civil war. What’s the value in begging for the right to spend money in a store owned by a racist who would rather kill you than serve you?
Lest we forget, integration was the death knell for black teachers and principals. Thousands lost their jobs. “The movement” moved us from the back of the bus into the unemployment line.
Almost 40 years after King’s death, we still haven’t reached the promised land. King lamented that, in 1963, only 9% of black students attended integrated schools. But, to give just one example, Atlanta’s Grove Park elementary school is now 99.99% black.
King complains in Why We Can’t Wait that “there were two and one-half times as many jobless Negroes as whites in 1963, and their median income was half that of the white man”. Black median income in 2003 was 62% that of whites, and the black unemployment rate in 2004 was 10.8%, 2.3 times the white rate. The numbers have barely changed.
Following Mahatma Gandhi, the chief characteristic of the civil rights movement was non-violence. In order to combat violent racists, King speaks of meeting “physical force with soul force”. One wonders how well it would work against, say, Hitler’s Panzer divisions. Civil rights marchers had to pledge to “observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy”, promising to “refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart”. Said King: “Remember always that the non-violent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation—not victory.” Not victory? Whose side was King on?
The riots that occurred in a hundred cities after King’s death were the ultimate testament to his failure. Black people never believed in non-violence after all. Despite our love affair with King, African-Americans are not a non-violent people. Black Americans kill 5,000 other black people every year. (Instead of urging us to love our enemies, King should have taught us to love ourselves.)
And despite our absolute hatred and fear of groups such as the Black Panther party because they refused to espouse non-violence, we have no problem honouring “heroes” such as General Colin Powell, who may have killed as many as 100,000 Iraqis during the Gulf war. Apparently it is evil to take up arms in defence of black people, as the Panthers did, but perfectly Christian behaviour to take up arms in defence of oil companies’ profits.
King’s many worshippers are fond of Gandhian quotes such as “If blood be shed, let it be our blood”. Which is fine if you are merely sacrificing yourself. But King was sending out women, children and old people to be beaten and blown up. Even at the time, as King notes, there were many who viewed this as monstrous. When those little girls were murdered in Birmingham, why should black people not have booted King out and hunted the killers down, like al-Qaida? As King himself said: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”
King also needs a history lesson. He writes, in The Sword That Heals, that “non-violence in the form of boycotts and protests had confounded the British monarchy and laid the basis for freeing the colonies from unjust domination”. Yes, that, and colonial minutemen with rifles.
Which brings us to Obama, a black candidate who refuses even to say whether he supports reparations for slavery. One of the worst aspects of the King legacy is that, thanks to him, no African-American today is allowed to bring up racism, even in the most objective fashion, without severe repercussions. You will be instantly labelled a radical, a Black Panther (a bad thing), or a Mau Mau (a very bad thing) who wants to kill the white man. King has eliminated the possibility of other black people speaking out, people with other philosophies, who do not necessarily want to hug racists. Obama can succeed only insofar as he makes it plain that, like the British trade unionist Bill Morris, he is “not the black candidate”, that he can be counted on neither to be a champion for, nor to defend the rights of, black people.
Our love for King notwithstanding, if we are honest we will concede that King built nothing, and taught us only how to take a beating. As Gandhi said: “I have admitted my mistake. I thought our struggle was based on non-violence, whereas in reality it was no more than passive resistance, which is essentially a weapon of the weak.”
It is time we all admitted our mistake. A black King did not redeem us. And neither will a black president.
Both the aims and the character of the civil rights movement were flawed. One aim was clearly desegregration. But the movement should never have been about integration. It should have been about demanding the respect that is due to free human beings; about ending the physical, spiritual and economic violence that had been perpetrated against African-Americans since the end of the American civil war. What’s the value in begging for the right to spend money in a store owned by a racist who would rather kill you than serve you?
Lest we forget, integration was the death knell for black teachers and principals. Thousands lost their jobs. “The movement” moved us from the back of the bus into the unemployment line.
Almost 40 years after King’s death, we still haven’t reached the promised land. King lamented that, in 1963, only 9% of black students attended integrated schools. But, to give just one example, Atlanta’s Grove Park elementary school is now 99.99% black.
King complains in Why We Can’t Wait that “there were two and one-half times as many jobless Negroes as whites in 1963, and their median income was half that of the white man”. Black median income in 2003 was 62% that of whites, and the black unemployment rate in 2004 was 10.8%, 2.3 times the white rate. The numbers have barely changed.
Following Mahatma Gandhi, the chief characteristic of the civil rights movement was non-violence. In order to combat violent racists, King speaks of meeting “physical force with soul force”. One wonders how well it would work against, say, Hitler’s Panzer divisions. Civil rights marchers had to pledge to “observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy”, promising to “refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart”. Said King: “Remember always that the non-violent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation—not victory.” Not victory? Whose side was King on?
The riots that occurred in a hundred cities after King’s death were the ultimate testament to his failure. Black people never believed in non-violence after all. Despite our love affair with King, African-Americans are not a non-violent people. Black Americans kill 5,000 other black people every year. (Instead of urging us to love our enemies, King should have taught us to love ourselves.)
And despite our absolute hatred and fear of groups such as the Black Panther party because they refused to espouse non-violence, we have no problem honouring “heroes” such as General Colin Powell, who may have killed as many as 100,000 Iraqis during the Gulf war. Apparently it is evil to take up arms in defence of black people, as the Panthers did, but perfectly Christian behaviour to take up arms in defence of oil companies’ profits.
King’s many worshippers are fond of Gandhian quotes such as “If blood be shed, let it be our blood”. Which is fine if you are merely sacrificing yourself. But King was sending out women, children and old people to be beaten and blown up. Even at the time, as King notes, there were many who viewed this as monstrous. When those little girls were murdered in Birmingham, why should black people not have booted King out and hunted the killers down, like al-Qaida? As King himself said: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”
King also needs a history lesson. He writes, in The Sword That Heals, that “non-violence in the form of boycotts and protests had confounded the British monarchy and laid the basis for freeing the colonies from unjust domination”. Yes, that, and colonial minutemen with rifles.
Which brings us to Obama, a black candidate who refuses even to say whether he supports reparations for slavery. One of the worst aspects of the King legacy is that, thanks to him, no African-American today is allowed to bring up racism, even in the most objective fashion, without severe repercussions. You will be instantly labelled a radical, a Black Panther (a bad thing), or a Mau Mau (a very bad thing) who wants to kill the white man. King has eliminated the possibility of other black people speaking out, people with other philosophies, who do not necessarily want to hug racists. Obama can succeed only insofar as he makes it plain that, like the British trade unionist Bill Morris, he is “not the black candidate”, that he can be counted on neither to be a champion for, nor to defend the rights of, black people.
Our love for King notwithstanding, if we are honest we will concede that King built nothing, and taught us only how to take a beating. As Gandhi said: “I have admitted my mistake. I thought our struggle was based on non-violence, whereas in reality it was no more than passive resistance, which is essentially a weapon of the weak.”
It is time we all admitted our mistake. A black King did not redeem us. And neither will a black president.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Black History Month: A Salute To A Black Revolutionaries
While there's nothing revolutionary about a nigger sitting around, refusing to get off of it's ass or breaking the law, Please remember Rosa Parks managed to do both at one time. Revolutionary indeed.
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