black…MYstory

Britain’s Science Museum has canceled a talk by Dr. James Watson after it was revealed that Watson made some public statements that indicate his belief that black people are intellectually inferior to whites.

Watson rose to prominence by winning the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his co-discovery of the structure of DNA.

However, 45 years later, he is making news around the world for his blatant racism.

In an interview with London’s Sunday Times, Watson was quoted as saying he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours _ whereas all the testing says not really.”

He went to to say that he hoped people were all equal but “people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true”.

So, I’m just waiting for the right-wing talking heads in this country to use the words of a Nobel scientist to rationalize racism.

Well, here’s a “Middle Finger Award” to you, Dr. Watson. You do so richly deserve it.

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For most Americans, her case shocked and horrified the nation — for about a week until the next news story came along. However, we need to realize that these are real people who are affected by this long after the cameras have turned their attentions elsewhere.

FinalCall.com sat down with Megan and her mother, Carmen, to get their side of the story. I encourage you to read the interview. In addition to hearing a story that will break your heart and anger you at once, I found something Megan said startling.

When no hate crime charges were filed, we were told that it was because Megan and one of the defendents, Bobby Brewster, had a prior relationship, implying they had be romantically involved. According to Megan, they were just friends, nothing more.

I also have to give her a lot of admiration for saying the following when asked what should happen to her attackers:

“I just hope they get what they deserve. I hope they get life. I don’t wish nobody dead, because that’s not my belief, but they should be in prison for the rest of their lives.”

Again, I encourage you to read this interview.

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Check the temperature! Hell must have frozen over — I find myself agreeing with someone in the Bush administration.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had some strong words and dire warnings in relationship to current housing crisis. Paulson warned that the government and the financial industry should provide immediate help for homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure before the rates increase on their adjustable rate mortgages.

However, he also said a couple of things that I found particularly heartening. The first is that he called for tougher laws that prevent lenders from continuing to make the bad loans that created this crisis. The second was that the federal money going to help out homeowners should not be used to bail out lenders or property speculators (hmmm…where have I seen this before?)

Mark this date on your calendar. I have actually agreed with someone from Bush Co.

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Okay, are we noticing a pattern here?

The latest Republican sex scandal comes out of Wisconsin. The chair of the Republican party of Brown County, Donald Fleischman, is facing charges after allegedly fondling a 16-year-old runaway while the boy stayed at his home last year. Also, Fleischman allegedly provided the boy with beer and marijuana.

The 37-year-old Fleischman was charged with “two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child” in a Brown County court last month.

Here are some of the sordid details of the boy’s story:

Green Bay police went to Fleischman’s Goodell Street home Nov. 19, 2006, looking for two runaways from Ethan House, a juvenile facility on nearby Emilie Street, according to the criminal complaint filed Sept. 7.

Fleischman opened the door and allowed officers inside where they found a 16-year-old boy hiding on the floor of a walk-in closet wearing only underwear and a T-shirt, the complaint said.

Officers found a black, purple and blue-swirled glass pipe in the living room, which tested positive for marijuana residue, the complaint said.

Police returned to Fleischman’s home on Dec. 8, 2006, and found the boy there again. He had been a runaway from Ethan House for eight days.

The teen, now 17, told authorities Fleischman took him to a hotel in Appleton during that time and then to a cabin near Florence for several days before returning to Fleischman’s Allouez home. The boy said Fleischman provided him with beer and marijuana, the complaint said.

The boy told police that when he would go to bed, Fleischman would fondle him and that on one occasion he awoke to find Fleischman at the foot of his bed masturbating.

Fleischman recently resigned his post as chair. If convicted, he faces up to 52 years in prison.

Sadly, this appears to be a case of a grown man taking advantage of an already-troubled teenager. So, if this is true, this man deserves to do time.

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This was a fun one. It’s a test of whether or not you’re more prone to think with your right brain or left brain.

If you see it moving clockwise, you are thinking with your right brain (creativity and feeling). If it’s counterclockwise,you’re thinking more with the left brain (logic and facts).

Now, try to make it turn the other way!

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John Tanner strikes again!

A few days back, I shared with you a story about John Tanner, Chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, in which he said that voter ID laws would actually be more advantageous for minorities because these laws disproportionately affect old people and minorities, generally, don’t live to be that old.

Now, he is is using more race-baiting to explain why black people were waiting in line so late into the night during the 2004 presidential elections in Ohio. According to Tanner, it’s because we were on C.P. time.

According to Tanner, black folks just got to the polls late in the afternoon, backing up lines and delaying the vote. Tanner wrote:

“…the principal cause of the difference appears to be the tendency in Franklin County for white voters to cast ballots in the morning (i.e., before work), and for black voters to cast ballots in the afternoon (i.e., after work). We have established this tendency through local contacts and through both political parties, and it accords with our considerable experience in other parts of the United States. Morning voters may wait in line several hours, as happened in white precincts, without keeping the polls open after 7:30 am; this is not the case, however, at sites where voters arrive after 5:30 p.m.”

Interestingly enough, I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life and I remember the 2004 elections quite vividly. I, like a lot of black folks, came quite early to cast our ballots (I got there at 6:45am). I live in a predominately-black suburb and witnessed people waiting 2 1/2 hours to cast their votes. My polling place, which was normally for my community only, was combined with two other polling places (thanks to the scheming of our former secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell). Also, you had Republican challengers there basically intimidated people trying to vote and people casting provisional ballots, many of which, we now know, were never counted. At the time, we were voting on punch-cards and one of the booths was down due to mechanical error. I remind you, this was all before 9am, in a suburban voting area. Could you imagine what was happening in the inner cities around the state.

Tanner attempts to tell people (I contend he’s lying) that black folks were waiting because they got there late. However, this does nothing to explain why there were some folks (those in heavily-Democratic districts) who missed an entire day of work waiting to cast their ballots.

Tanner’s lies might play to the Fox News crowd but, for those of us who saw this firsthand, he’s going to have to come better than that.

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It took an all-white jury just ninety minutes to wipe away all hopes for justice in the death of Martin Lee Anderson.

Anderson died on January 6, 2006, after being taken off life support. The previous day, he was in an altercation with guards a Florida youth boot camp. Over the course of 30 minutes, seven guards piled on him, beat him and forced him to inhale ammonia capsules in what they say were attempts to revive him. A nurse on staff stood by and watched it all occur. An autopsy performed by a local coroner claimed that he died from a undiagnosed (and, normally, not lethal) sickle cell trait. A second autopsy concluded that he died from being suffocated when guards where covering his mouth while making him inhale ammonia tablets.

Today, a jury acquitted all eight on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Reading this article, I couldn’t help but think of Emmit Till’s death, in the respect that it took the jury virtually no time to acquit the accused. It’s hard to believe that any real deliberation went on at all.

But, most telling, was the part about the first coroner’s (the one who attributed his death to sickle cell) reaction to the verdict:

An initial autopsy by Dr. Charles Siebert, the medical examiner for Bay County, found Anderson died of natural causes from sickle cell trait. A second autopsy was ordered and another doctor concluded that the guards suffocated Anderson through their repeated use of ammonia capsules and by covering his mouth.

“I am feeling a little vindicated. People got to see a lot more than what’s been publicized in the media,” said Siebert, who was widely criticized for his autopsy. He said he was going to celebrate with some of the guards. (emphasis mine)

I guess people either lost sight or just didn’t care that a person was killed. However, I want to say that it mattered to me and I hope that we don’t forget that not all is well with race in America and that we have a lot of work to do.

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“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address on Jan. 17, 1961

So, what happens when the war profiteers take over? You get this current mess in Iraq and the drumbeats to war with Iran. War is good money. Ask once-struggling Halliburton or Blackwater how good the “war business” is. It almost seems that good common sense has been abandoned by people who embrace the logic that spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars so their friends can make tens of billions is fiscally-sound policy.

It is against this backdrop that an interesting piece of legislation has been introduced. The House passed a bill, by a vote of 375-3, calling for a prohibition of war profiteering. The bill calls for stiff penalties for companies and individuals who knowingly defraud the government. Individuals can face sentences of up to 20 years in prison for fraud and companies can face fines ranging from $1 million to double the gross profits of the contracts, whichever is greater.

Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, took exception to the bill, worrying that “mere overpricing” would be criminalized. However, to that I respond with what the same refrain I constantly hear from the “conservative” side of the aisle, “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.”

I, for one, hope that this legislation become law. War is supposed to be a last resort, not a business decision.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Riddle me this — if the economy is doing so well, why are home foreclosures going up? I mean, if there is so much money going around, am I left to believe that people, in record numbers, are just choosing not to pay their mortgages?

The real estate information company, RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, CA, has released its foreclosure figures for the time frame of September 2006-September 2007 and the findings are disheartening. For the month of September 2007, alone, 223,538 foreclosures were filed. Then number for September 2006 was 112,210, which just missed doubling last year by a mere 882 filings. RealtyTrac did say, however, that this number was lower that August 2007 — in that month 243,947 foreclosures were filed.

However, the company is also saying that, despite September’s numbers being lower than August’s, this should not be seen as an end in the cycle of foreclosures. With the rates on adjustable rate mortgages increasing, it would be expected that more will lose their homes due to an inability to afford the higher mortgage payments.

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A few months back, I shared with you my outrage over the lineup changes at XM 169 “The Power”, which included the cancellation of one of my favorite shows, “Make it Plain” and the firing of its host, Mark Thompson. For all intents and purposes, during the week, this leaves me with, basically, one show that I care to listen to on XM.

Today, I read a bit of good news that has me considering a move, as well.

Sirius Satellite Radio has announced that it has added “Make it Plain” to its lineup. So, Mark Thompson will be back this fall:

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it has signed Mark Thompson, host of “Make it Plain,” to appear exclusively on SIRIUS. Thompson is a trailblazing African-American talk show pioneer, human rights visionary, and community leader, and he will contribute to SIRIUS’ powerful and diverse programming lineup.

Thompson’s “Make it Plain” launches this fall on SIRIUS. On “Make it Plain,” a daily 3-hour show, Thompson speaks passionately about political, social and economic issues from an African-American perspective, and welcomes listener call-in and a variety of guests.

“‘Make it Plain’ has served as a national talk forum and platform for politicians, newsmakers, and entertainers for many years, and SIRIUS is thrilled to enrich our diverse programming lineup with the addition of this respected show,” said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS’ President, Entertainment and Sports. “We welcome Mark Thompson and his ability to empower listeners.”

“At this hour of increased anxiety amongst America’s diverse cultures, SIRIUS’ thoughtful decision to air ‘Make It Plain’ should leave no doubt about its commitment to informing and empowering all of its listeners,” said Mark Thompson. “‘Make It Plain’ will continue to expose the injustices in places like Jena (Louisiana), to celebrate our joys, and even break some fresh ground in no better home than one so impressively creative and unbound as SIRIUS Satellite Radio.”

I think I’ll be looking into what Sirius has to offer. I’ll keep you posted.

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