Amid anger, a 'regal' presence

Nicole Paultre-Bell (c., in black scarf) leads demonstrators along Fifth Ave. yesterday.

The wedding registry at Tiffany's lists a Sean Bell and reports that he and his bride-to-be hope for a $155 crystal decanter and a $90 pair of Champagne flutes.

But the wedding date for this Sean Bell is listed as 5/26/07 and his fiancée's name is Lori Vialet. The Sean Bell who had demonstrators assembling just up Fifth Ave. yesterday was supposed to have been married on 11/25/06, but was killed early that morning by a hail of police bullets as he and two other unarmed men were leaving his bachelor party.

That Sean Bell's fiancée was Nicole Paultre. She has since legally assumed his surname, and she arrived for yesterday's demonstration as Nicole Paultre-Bell. The wedding ring on her finger was not some $12,000 diamond confection from Tiffany's, but one of a pair of gold bands that her groom-never-to-be shopped for on Jamaica Ave. in Queens hours before he was killed.

The two wedding rings were found by investigators in the bullet-riddled car and the Queens district attorney's office delivered them to the bride-not-to-be at her request. She placed one on Sean Bell's finger as he lay in his open coffin on the morning of his burial.

The twin ring on Nicole Paultre-Bell's finger glinted even in the shadows of the surrounding buildings at noon yesterday. She wore a stylish pale yellow coat, a long black scarf, black pants, black shoes as well as sunglasses that did nothing to hide her continuing sorrow.

Her mother was on her right, the two arm in arm. Farther over, Trent Benefield, who had been in the car with her fiancé, was in a wheelchair being pushed by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The demonstrators had been given just a lane of Fifth Ave., and in the crush that accompanied the start of the march Sharpton was forced from the front along with Benefield. Nicole Paultre-Bell led the way under the giant snowflake hanging over 57th St.

The crush was now such that the police did not stop the marchers from taking all but a narrow corridor of the avenue as they continued past Tiffany's and its registry with that luckier Sean Bell.

Nicole Paultre-Bell continued to lead the way, which was exactly how it should have been because she has proven herself to be as magnificent a young woman as this city has seen.

When the tensions were mounting and passions were rising, this woman who had lost more than anybody went on television with words that leave every peace-loving soul in this city in her lasting debt. She said that her overall view of the police had not changed, that she did not hold every cop responsible, that she still believed justice would prevail.

"I'm really not angry," she said. "I'm more just trying to be strong and we just want justice. ... That's what we're praying for."

Now, she strode at the head of what was conceived as a silent march for justice, her soft slip-on shoes stepping on the white center line of the city's premiere shopping street at the height of the Christmas season. A media mob repeatedly blocked the way and nine cops in light blue jackets joined hands to form a moving line, keeping the way clear.

On she went past St. Patrick's Cathedral and Saks Fifth Avenue, a silent figure of love and loss leading a march whose participants also included Abner Louima and the Rev. Calvin Butts and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem). She was out of the shadows now, the sun on her fiercely tender face, her wedding ring glinting even brighter.

At the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, tourists turned to stare. Sharpton reappeared at the front, still pushing Benefield in the wheelchair as the march passed those lions named Patience and Fortitude outside the New York Public Library.

Sharpton appeared uncharacteristically close to humble in the presence of this intensely alive young woman who is so much stronger than any figure of stone. He seemed to cede her leadership of another kind.

"Regal," he would later say of her.

Nicole Paultre-Bell was indeed, all the way to the final block, when her right hand rose to touch that gold band on her left.

Ghetto Capitalism

Sudhir Venkatesh's new book unravels the mystery of the underground economy
By Patrick Radden Keefe

In his efforts to demonstrate that this shadow economy is anything but the desperate Hobbesian scramble an outsider might assume, Venkatesh can at times sound like Jane Jacobs extolling the civic merits of Manhattan's West Village. "Beneath the closed storefronts, burned-out buildings, potholed boulevards, and empty lots, there is an intricate, fertile web of exchange, tied together by people with tremendous human capital and craftsmanship," he writes. In this view, even Big Cat is a "stakeholder" in the neighborhood, with an interest in seeing norms adhered to and order preserved. "It's not a crack house," as an old Onion headline had it. "It's a crack home."

But these very bonds of mutual dependence that hold the neighborhood together can breed severe dysfunction and seriously compromise pillars of the licit establishment. Eunice, who sells soul food for a living, pays a teacher $20 a week to let her grandchildren out of school to make deliveries. Cops take bribes and enforce justice selectively.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Venkatesh's account is the role of neighborhood ministers. Clergy resolve disputes, but they don't do it for free. Numerous ministers accept "contributions" from gangs and drug dealers for their services. They take other forms of payment, as well; Bird, the prostitute, has serviced "most of the preachers in this community." Other ministers have been known to hide guns, drugs, and stolen property for a fee. Nannies rely on preachers for referrals to families but must pay a 10 percent commission. The residents are unshocked by all of this. They conclude that it would be impossible to navigate the community without making certain allowances. "We are poor people. And so are our ministers," one congregant says. "We need [a minister] to be our leader, not perfect or without sin."

full article...

Bad Blood, Blood Diamonds & Why I Disagree with Russell Simmons- by Davey D

I watched Russell Simmons on CNN the other day and saw what many may have considered a strange sight. He was on there basically slamming the new movie 'Blood Diamonds' and demanding that its parent company Warner Brothers be responsible with what they put out there because it could unduly influence the public.

When I heard that, I said to myself, I will forever quote Russell whenever I engage some of these industry types about the type of material they are releasing to the public. After all if a big time music mogul like Simmons is calling for restraint and balance because he see the potential for undue effect, then its time for the industry to clean itself up. After all, who would know better?

But pushing that aside, this is not what that's about. In this CNN interview Russell said its important that all of us know our history. It is with that sentiment in mind, that I found it strange to hear Simmons defending the diamond trade in South Africa and Botswana, which were the two countries he recently visited on a 'fact-finding' mission.

Take Simmons' conclusion that the sale of "conflict diamonds" - used to finance the continent's bloody wars - has dropped to less than 1% since the Kimberley Process was set up in 2003 to stop the vicious trafficking in those gems.

"That's a funky number," Zwick said at his movie's Hollywood premiere. "That number comes from diamonds that are mined in countries that are 'war-declared.' Conflict diamonds are also mined in countries where there is not a 'declared war.' If you want to know about conflict diamonds, you don't go to Botswana and South Africa. You go to Sierra Leone and Angola.

Russell Simmons is being embarrassed."

"Damnit," said Simmons, when we relayed Zwick's dig. "Why did he say that?"

The music and fashion honcho admitted that his observations help to improve the image of DeBeers, which supplies his Simmons Jewelry. "They're smart businesspeople," he said. "But to suggest I'm a sellout is wrong. I'm not here to defend the past of these companies. I'm here to talk about the current reality. Diamonds pay for education and medical treatment in Africa."

Simmons charges that Zwick's movie, set in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, "scares people away from diamonds.

blog article...

Big Business and Science Education

Laurie David, who produced Al Gore's recent film "An Inconvenient Truth," wonders why the National Science Teachers Association rejected 50,000 free DVDs of the documentary for classroom use, yet it accepts millions of dollars in donations from Exxon Mobil, Shell Oil and other corporations seeking to expose students to what she regards as biased material promoting the firms' interests.

It's bad enough when a company tries to sell junk science to a bunch of grown-ups. But, like a tobacco company using cartoons to peddle cigarettes, Exxon Mobil is going after our kids, too.

And it has been doing so for longer than you may think. NSTA says it has received $6 million from the company since 1996, mostly for the association's "Building a Presence for Science" program, an electronic networking initiative intended to "bring standards-based teaching and learning" into schools, according to the NSTA Web site. Exxon Mobil has a representative on the group's corporate advisory board. And in 2003, NSTA gave the company an award for its commitment to science education.

full article...

Back to the Supreme Court: racial balance in schools

On Monday, the court takes up cases from Seattle and Louisville on the role of race in school enrollment. By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor


WASHINGTON – America is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse countries in the world. Yet 52 years after Brown v. Board of Education - the landmark Supreme Court decision that struck down segregation - US classrooms are growing increasingly segregated.

In part, the racial divide reflects the persistence of segregated housing patterns and the stifling grip of poverty. But it also reflects national disagreement and confusion over how best to address the issue of race.

Monday, the US Supreme Court takes up two cases that confront the heated debate over race. On one side are those who believe affirmative action and other race-conscious programs are necessary to fight the effects of discrimination and inequality. On the other side are those who believe the Constitution mandates a colorblind approach to race relations - that government programs granting benefits based on a person's race are just as illegal as withholding benefits because of a person's skin color.

complete article...

Product Placement in the Pews? Microtargeting Meets Megachurches

Church pastors last year had a chance to win a free trip to London and $1,000 cash -- if they mentioned Disney's film "The Chronicles of Narnia" in their sermons.

Chrysler, hoping to target affluent African Americans with its new luxury SUV, is currently sponsoring a Patti LaBelle gospel music tour through African-American megachurches nationwide.

LaBelle's tour, which features both her November-release gospel album and Chyrsler's 2007 "Aspen" SUV, is passing through 14 of the largest predominantly African-American megachurches in the country. Some participating churches are also organizing "ride and drive" events, where church members and others can test-drive Chrysler vehicles.

"If we are going to target the African-American consumer, we have to go where they go, rather than ask them to come to us, and the church is a major institution for that community," says James Kenyon, Chrysler Group brand marketing senior manager.


Complete Article...

Genetically Engineered Rice Wins USDA Approval

Grain Tainted U.S. Supply This Summer

By Christopher Lee

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 25, 2006; Page A03

The Department of Agriculture declared safe for human consumption yesterday an experimental variety of genetically engineered rice found to have contaminated the U.S. rice supply this summer.

The move by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to deregulate the special long-grain rice, LL601, was seen as a legal boon to its creator, Bayer CropScience of Research Triangle Park, N.C. The company applied for approval shortly after the widespread contamination was disclosed in August and now faces a class-action lawsuit filed by hundreds of farmers in Arkansas and Missouri.

The experimental rice, designed to resist Bayer's Liberty weedkiller, escaped from Bayer's test plots after the company dropped the project in 2001. The resulting contamination, once it became public, prompted countries around the world to block rice imports from the United States, sending rice futures plummeting and farmers into fits.

full article...

GOP Fliers designed to trick black voters into voting for two Republican candidates.

GOP Fliers Apparently Were Part Of Strategy

Md. Tactics Similar To Ones in 2002

The six Trailways motorcoaches draped in Ehrlich and Steele campaign banners rumbled down Interstate 95 just before dawn on Election Day.

On board, 300 mostly poor African Americans from Philadelphia ate doughnuts, sipped coffee and prepared to spend the day at the Maryland polls. After an early morning greeting from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s wife, Kendel, they would fan out in white vans across Prince George's County and inner-city Baltimore, armed with thousands of fliers that appeared to be designed to trick black Democrats into voting for the two Republican candidates.

The glossy fliers bore photos of black Democratic leaders on the front. Under the headline "Democratic Sample Ballot" were boxes checked in red for Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele, who were not identified as Republicans. Their names were followed by a long list of local Democratic candidates.

The glossy fliers in red, black and green -- colors that represent black empowerment -- featured pictures of County Executive Jack B. Johnson, former county executive Wayne K. Curry and former U.S. Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume, all Democrats, under the caption: "These are OUR Choices." In fact, none of the three endorsed Ehrlich, and only one, Curry, endorsed Steele. Some political analysts believe that disappointment over the fliers, part of a strategy to pull in critical black voters, cost both Ehrlich and Steele precious votes instead of adding to their support.


"They said we'd be passing out fliers and talking to some people," Preston said. The workers were not told, he said, that they would be helping Republicans.

read more...

Should Death Row inmates be allowed to have MySPace pages?

MySpace has triggered a lot of complaints in the company's brief existence. Schools have complained when students use pages to post about their teachers; parents have complained that pedophiles troll the site for victims; even a prosecutor in California complained when a defendant's mother, Laura Rangle, created a page on behalf of her 23-year-old daughter, Laura Medina, taking her side of the story to the Web.

Now, a city official in Houston is griping that family and friends of death row inmates have created MySpace pages on their behalf. Andy Kahan, director of the city's crime victims office, has written to MySpace, arguing that pages devoted to death row inmates glorify them, according to recent news accounts.

"Is it within your policy to allow the glorification of killers by giving them a platform to influence young minds?" Kahan wrote, according to the Associated Press. "Are there specific guidelines within MySpace that would prohibit giving convicted felons a platform for all the world to see?"

The pages, written and maintained by people who know the inmates, include information about their hobbies, interests, favorites songs and the like. In other words, they seek to humanize the inmates.

There doesn't seem to be anything illegal about that; in fact, lawyers defending death row inmates try desperately to humanize their clients. But a lawyer in a courtroom speaks to a very limited audience; MySpace offers people a way to persuade millions. That a group is complaining about the pages speaks to the power of MySpace and user-created media in general.

Presumably the group wants News Corp. to start censoring profiles--an unworkable idea on every level. Who would decide which profiles are deserving of MySpace pages? Surely, Kahan isn't the only person out there who would like to see a few profiles taken down.

And if News Corp did come up with some sort of censorship policy, it wouldn't take long before people found another way to publish their Web pages. And it certainly wouldn't take long before users fled the site in favor of other, less controlling platforms.

China manages to increase trade surplus by 50% to $1 Trillion, while Bush wastes money on war

China Exports Expected to Push $1 Trillion

Source - AP

China manages to increase trade surplus by 50% while Bush wastes money on war

BEIJING (Nov. 10) - The Commerce Ministry said Friday that China's exports are expected to reach $960 billion this year, boosting its politically sensitive trade surplus to about $150 billion, a state news agency reported.

Imports should rise to $810 billion, raising total trade by 20 percent to $1.7 trillion, the ministry said in figures reported by the Xinhua News Agency.

The explosive growth of Chinese exports, already among the world's largest, have strained relations with Washington and other trading partners.

They are demanding that China open its market further to imports and ease controls that they say keep its currency, the yuan, artificially weak, adding to the trade surplus.

China's trade surplus last year was $102 billion.

Rwanda nun jailed over genocide

A Roman Catholic nun has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for her role in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Theophister Mukakibibi was jailed by a traditional Rwandan court for helping ethnic Hutu militiamen kill Tutsis hiding in a hospital where she worked.

Mukakibibi is the first nun sentenced by a Rwandan court for crimes committed during the genocide.

Two other Catholic nuns were found guilty by a Belgian court in 2001, and male priests have also faced trial.

Theophister Mukakibibi worked at the National University Hospital in the town of Butare during the genocide.

Protection

According to Jean Baptiste Ndahumba, president of the local gacaca court in Butare, the nun selected Tutsis sheltering in the hospital and threw them out for the militias to kill.

He said she did not spare pregnant women, and was also accused of dumping a baby in a latrine, the Reuters news agency reports.

"She used to hold meetings with militiamen and had an army officer as her escort during the killings," Mr Ndahumba said.

Gacaca courts have been used in Rwanda to speed up the process of bringing those responsible for the genocide to justice.

Last year a Belgian male priest became the first foreigner to go before a gacaca court accused of genocide crimes.

Some members of the Catholic hierarchy in Rwanda had close ties to extremist politicians and aided Hutu militias in the run-up to the killings.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in the 1994 genocide and thousands of people were killed after seeking sanctuary in churches.

Insulting Our Troops, and Our Intelligence

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: November 3, 2006

George Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld think you’re stupid. Yes, they do.

They think they can take a mangled quip about President Bush and Iraq by John Kerry — a man who is not even running for office but who, unlike Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, never ran away from combat service — and get you to vote against all Democrats in this election.

Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, “They must think I’m stupid.” Because they surely do.

Full article...

Voter Suppression in Midterm Elections: Robocalls, ID Confusion, Voter Roll Purges

In Virginia, Democratic Senatorial candidate James Webb's last name does not appear on the voting summary sheet.

In Indiana, African American congresswoman Julia Carson was told her congressional ID was not sufficient to vote.

In Broward County, Florida early voting, a vote for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate registered as a vote for the Republican candidate.

Complete Story...

An AXIS of Stupid - Britons more wary of Bush more than Kim Jong-il

Britain's Guardian newspaper said it carried out the survey along with Israel's Haaretz, La Presse and Toronto Star in Canada and Mexico's Reforma.

In Britain, which alongside Israel is traditionally a close Washington ally, 69 percent of those questioned said they felt U.S. policy had made the world less safe since 2001.

A majority of Canadians and Mexicans agreed, with 62 percent of those polled in Canada and 57 percent in Mexico saying their neighbor's policy had made the world more dangerous.

Full Article...

Barack Obama: 'I Inhaled — That Was The Point'

"I inhaled — that was the point."

That was what Illinois Senator Barack Obama, currently on a book tour that may or may not segue into a run for the 2008 presidency, said to New Yorker editor David Remnick this afternoon at the American Magazine Conference, after Remnick asked Obama whether or not his admission of drug use in the book would become problematic if he does, if fact, run for president.

The softspoken Obama, who during an appearance on Meet The Press yesterday admitted he would consider a run for the White House, openly criticized the Bush administration in front of 500 or so magazine executives during a wide-ranging, 45-minute discussion, occasionally with Remnick's prodding. "This is the most ideologically driven administration in my memory, so obstinate in resisting facts, dissenting opinions ... [They entered the White House] with a set of preconcieved notions." Obama said. "I think this administration has done great damage to this country."

"I wouldn't fit in with this administration [because I think] actually being informed is a good basis for policy," Obama said to laughter. "OK, that's a low-blow."

Obama was particularly critical of the war in Iraq. "We've used up so much political capital [in Iraq]," adding that it is "going to take the current military the same amount of time it took the military to recover from Vietnam."

After some lighthearted grilling, Obama said Remnick "sounds nicer in his columns, but turns out to be somewhat of a prickly guy."

Remnick, who at this point could be considered the President of the United States of Magazines, forced Obama to address the topic of religion. "It's not 'faith' if you are absolutely certain," Obama said, noting that he didn't believe his lack of "faith" would hurt him a national election. "Evolution is more grounded in my experience than angels."

Throughout the interview, Obama expressed doubt about his willingness to put his family through the scrutiny of a presidential race. "My wife would be leading the bandwagon for me to be running for president ... if I was married to someone else."

When asked if the White House would be a plac e worth inheriting in 2009, Obama said, "There are a lot of problems to clean up, and nopt a lot of resources to work with." He added that the first agenda of a new president should be to "stabilize and extricate ourselves" from Iraq.

New Jesus film puts race into religion

"Color of the Cross" is the first cinematic interpretation of the Gospel story to feature a black Jesus.

A new film covering the last two days of Jesus' life is aiming to stir up a new debate about popular representations of Christ by depicting him as black. Furthermore, the film suggests that the persecution suffered by Jesus may have been racially motivated.

"Universally in American film up until now Jesus has been a white male," Humphries-Brooks told CNN. "For the first time you have a depiction of Jesus in the hands of an African American director and an African American cast that says what their particular community's understanding of Jesus is."

read more...

GAO Chief Warns Economic Disaster Looms

David M. Walker is the head of the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress that audits and evaluates the performance of the federal government.

Basically, that makes Walker the nation's accountant-in-chief. And the accountant-in-chief's professional opinion is that the American public needs to tell Washington it's time to steer the nation off the path to financial ruin.

Democrats and Republicans talk of cutting taxes to make life easier for the American people.

What they don't talk about is a dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows, or at least should. The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree: The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.

There's a good reason politicians don't like to talk about the nation's long-term fiscal prospects

read more....

Kanye West or 50 Cent, Who is Safer?

50 Cent Takes Shots At Kanye, Again
Monday - April 17, 2006

— by Shaun "Scheme" Redwood

Less I remind you, Fiddy, that you're the very same individual that deliberately and admittedly removed any possible revolutionary potential out of your crew, label and clothing company name by changing it from "Guerrilla Unit" to "Gorilla Unit."

Besides the offensive connotations that this name change has in relating yourself and your completely African-American crew to apes (a ridiculous correlation white supremacists have made regarding blacks on a whole historically), it also unmistakably exposes the profound levels of cowardice that inhabits your persona and your disturbing aversion to openly bucking a system that has a vested interest in keeping the masses, but most particularly, black people, ignorant.

read more...

Ras Kass Letter To The Sydney Morning Herald

An Open Letter To The Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday - October 24, 2006

— by Ras Kass


Ras Kass recently released a diss track to The Game, called "Gayme Over," where he references Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter), who recently died after a being stung by a stringray. The death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is already being used as material in gangsta rap music.

In the track Ras spits the line:

"You're the waste of L.A. / get blast up in L.A. / face down, ass up in L.A. / you the Crocodile Hunter, I am the stingray."

Steve Irwin's manager, John Stainton, responded to Ras' line, mentioning Irwin, calling it disrespectful and wrong (see "Gangsta rap feud goes from shock to Irwin croc tactics"). Ras wrote the following open letter in response.

Ras Kass' Words

Every person should be treated with an equal brush stroke, or no one should, and everything must be considered in context. I am a hip-hop artist. Hip-hop is like any other art form; nothing is sacred, nothing is off limits. As such, I have used historical events and current events as metaphors to express a greater perspective to certain ideas and points. At other times, I myself, have been referenced -- be it in a positive or negative light. That is part of the creative process and the nature of what rap music is. I in no way have, or have had any ill will towards the late Steve Irwin. Sadly, I think this has been unreasonably blown out of proportion.

Steve Irwin who loved nature and had a pioneering spirit, knowing the dangers of nature, put himself in harms way consistently, understanding the risks involved in his passion/ job. He even requested that in the event of his demise that the show being recorded be aired in its entirety.

What strikes me as hypocritical is that in a six minute song (that literally starts out with gun shots), the only thing that stood out in Mr. Stainton's mind was a one-bar reference to a current event. Actually, a reference where there is no trace of malediction; I specifically used the metaphor neither making a positive or negative judgment or connotation about the late Mr. Irwin. Mr. Stainton doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned with other references that one could (mis)construe as homophobic or misogynistic, let alone is he concerned with the potential violence in hip-hop or black-on-black violence. He only seems to be bothered by one line. I am just saying that consistency would be nice.

If you aren't from the hip-hop culture and are not familiar with it then you are not qualified to judge it. Whether American or Australian, every human life is valuable; otherwise it makes it appear that Mr. Stainton thinks that only one man's is.

Sincerely,
Ras Kass
ReUp Ent.

NYOIL - “Y’All Should All Get Lynched” video

After getting over 5,000 views in one day, YouTube removed this “anti-cooning” video from Staten Island’s NYOIL.

The video on BOLT.com can be seen here “Lynched” Video Banned By YouTube

An interview with the artist can be found here....Not For Sale - NYOIL Interview

Smart Conversations was able to access to embedding codes to show this video on our blog.

WARNING! CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT



Get music video codes at Bolt.

RNC attack ads against Harold Ford play on prejudice

The RNC is at it again, after calling Black women "Ho's", they are now playing on the old white fear of Black men and White women.

Even the local republican candidate was forced to denounce it!

America's Next Top Pundit - What does it take to be a talking head?

Ever wonder where they get these people?

Every morning, Tammy Haddad, executive producer of MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," hears from more than 100 aspiring commentators. They each explain why they'd be the perfect guest to spout off on the issues of the day. "We call them 'street meat,' " says Ms. Haddad. "They're always available, walking the streets, waiting for your call on their cellphones."

Some try to break out of the blogs by repeating particular phrases in their written rants, designed to pop their sites up when TV bookers search for keywords online. Others are buying air time on AM and Internet radio stations to practice their punditry. And many are turning to media advisers or partisan training programs, where they learn new rules of engagement, such as how to use food to bribe producers.

This year, more than 1,000 people paid between $760 and $1,995 to buy ads in the Washington-based "Yearbook of Experts," which TV bookers turn to for guests. In New York, the Learning Annex, an adult-education program, hired a former producer from CNN and a BET Radio Network producer to teach would-be pundits such skills as "how to design an irresistible hook" and "how to build up your profile."

Complete article...

Controversial ad links MLK and Republicans

Assertion about civil rights leader angers liberals — and conservatives
By Darryl Fears
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - When a black conservative group ran a radio ad proclaiming that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican, reaction was swift. "We've gotten some e-mails and telephone calls filled with vitriol," said Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association. "They've called me Aunt Jemima, a sellout, a traitor to my race."

Fierce backlash
The backlash was so fierce that Rice stopped answering telephone calls. "We anticipated some controversy, but my goodness, we struck a nerve," she said in an interview from Sarasota, Fla.

In 1960, King was arrested for trespassing during a sit-in and held in Georgia's Reidsville prison. Fearing for his son's life, Martin Luther King Sr. appealed to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to secure his release.

When King was freed, his father vowed to deliver 10 million votes to the Democrat, even though Kennedy was only a reluctant supporter of civil rights. That began four decades of black people voting for liberals.

The younger King voted for Kennedy, and for Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson four years later. In that election, King publicly denounced the Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater.

"I absolutely do not regret the ads," said Rice, 62, a native of Atlanta, King's hometown. He "absolutely was a Republican," she insisted. "We were all Republicans in those days. The Democrats were training fire hoses on us, siccing dogs on us."

"It was a 'my way or the highway' sort of thing," Scoggins said. "I was crushed when this thing happened because it turned out to be completely the opposite of what I thought it would be."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15329761/

The Secret Government and the impact on relations with Iran

It aired on PBS in 1987 and is as good as anything on the tape (must see). Moyers is a very respected TV journalist who also worked for Lyndon B. Johnson ...
PBS - 22 min - Feb 10, 2006

About 5 minutes into this piece, Moyers addresses the CIA's overthrow of the Iranian government back in the 1950's.

'Beginning of the end of America'

Contributed by NH from Iraq:

Olbermann addresses the Military Commissions Act in a special comment

"A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from"...

LINK TO MSNBC article...

Why Black and Latino Actors Don't Get Love Scenes

CONTRIBUTED BY EVH:

Actors of color do not have love scenes in blockbuster films. Don't believe it? Check out IMDB.com—National Public Radio commentator Steven Barnes did.

Barnes found that of the films that have earned more than $100 million (nearly 350), approximately 50 have love scenes and all of them have white actors as leads. Meanwhile, check out the films with actors of color in leading roles that have reached the coveted sales mark and you will find that not a single one has a love scene. "I'm convinced that the problem is not just Hollywood executives. They're no better or worse than the rest of us," says Barnes. "They simply try to keep track of what the audience wants and rejects, as measured by box office receipts … And I don't believe there's something especially twisted or limited about the white majority. I think this little statistical blip has to do with human perception itself, and most specifically, male territorial behavior."

While looking for these statistics on films, Barnes did not include movies such as the successful 2005 Will Smith film "Hitch" because although it featured non-white actors, it did not have a love scene. Barnes says that the only Latino to break the $100-million mark was Antonio Banderas in the family film "Spy Kids 2."

"I suspect that it's the depiction of specific reproductive behavior, even at a genteel 'When Harry Met Sally' level, that triggers the most powerful negative response, especially in male alpha-warrior types," says Barnes. "Unless you're white, you're not doing the nasty. Not with a black woman; not with an Asian woman; not with anyone." While Hollywood does make films that have popular non-white actors in love scenes, they do not do as well in box-office sales. For the trailer to the Denzel Washington film "Mo Better Blues," Barnes recalls seeing something telling. "A slow sensual love scene began between Denzel and a black woman. Instead of watching the screen, I turned around and examined the audience. All of the other movie goers were white. All of the women leaned in toward the screen. All of the men pressed away, back in their seats as if totally repulsed."

But this is not the first time he has seen this kind of behavior.

"It is difficult for us to change our basic natures, or the social programming established in childhood, especially if one was born before the civil rights movements of the 1950s and '60s," says Barnes . "I can live with that. In fact, my guess is that this issue will have resolved itself by the time, say, 75 percent of the white males born before 1950 have gone to that great multiplex in the sky."

Compiled by the DiversityInc Staff
© 2006 DiversityInc.com®
October 19, 2006

Republican Ad Calls Black Women "Ho's"

READ MORE: THE HUFFINGTON POST

No one can criticize the GOP for failing to produce sophisticated propaganda that successfully exploits the hopes and fears of white middle Americans. But can the right-wing distraction factory woo minorities with the same techniques? Check out the following transcript of a new Republican ad targeting black voters in 10 battleground states this year and you be the judge:

BLACK MAN #1: "If you make a little mistake with one of your 'hos,' you'll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked."

BLACK MAN #2: "That's too cold. I don't snuff my own seed."

BLACK MAN #1: "Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican."

This ad was financed by J. Patrick Rooney, a white billionaire notorious for funding several misleading anti-Kerry ads that ran on urban radio stations in 2004. The money for Rooney's newest ad flowed through a little-known group called America's PAC, which was founded by Richard Nadler, a veteran Republican consultant who pushed Intelligent Design in Kansas public schools, declaring, "Darwin is bunk."

Nadler has an apparently dim view of the minorities he hopes to court. In 2000, he produced an ad in 2000 for school vouchers in which a white parent declared that his child's public school "was a bit more diversity than he could handle." The Republican National Committee flatly denounced that ad as "racist."

But about Rooney and Nadler's latest creation, which portrays black men as promiscuous misogynists and black women as submissive "ho's," the RNC is silent.

The price of past US threats against North Korea

American policies dating from the 1950s might have contributed to Kim Jong Il's obsession with developing nuclear weapons.'

"It may be that the challenge this United States administration faces in building a coalition against North Korea is just the price we have to pay for our own threats of nuclear force more than 50 years ago."

read the article...Christian Science Monitor

by By Daniel Schorr, senior news analyst for National Public Radio

Father angry at Madonna's critics

"Where were these people when David was struggling in the orphanage?" Yohane Banda told the AP news agency.

"These so-called human rights groups should leave my baby alone," he added.

read more...

Jordan bullish on Europe

It could take a decade or more for European teams to join the NBA, but Michael Jordan likes the idea.

"It's obvious that European players master the fundamentals better"...

"They have taken this aspect of the game to a higher level," said the former Chicago Bulls superstar who retired in 2003.

read more...

Countdown: 9/11 Special Comment

"Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you."

Olberman utterly eviscerates Rumsfelds idiocy

Heirs of Former Slave Form Limited Liability Corporation to Keep Land in South Carolina

Matthew Jones paid $225 for this parcel a pittance now, but a fortune for a former slave in the 1880s. And through the years, through the generations, the land only grew in value, until Jones' descendants were sitting on a gold mine.

But it appears this will not happen to the Jones parcel. With the help of a South Carolina corporation, Matthew Jones' 180 heirs have formed a limited liability corporation to develop their property on this upscale resort island. Gateway Development plans to help them build a 26-unit condominium complex with tennis courts on the land their forefather bought.

The Hilton Head property, if sold outright, could fetch $4.5 million.

read more...

Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil

Alternet: Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil. Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known...as "the prize."

The next major U.S. security threat?

Reuters: Disaffected people living in the United States may develop radical ideologies and potentially violent skills over the Internet and that could present the next major U.S. security threat, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

WELCOME

Welcome to the first installment of the "Smart Conversations Don't Care Who Start Them" blog, where the conscious have a voice.