If I Could ..

So would a lot of Americans. 42% would can his behind if he were to be found to have lied about his reasons for choosing war with Iraq.

"President Bush’s televised address to the nation produced no noticeable bounce in his approval numbers, with his job approval rating slipping a point from a week ago, to 43%, in the latest Zogby International poll. And, in a sign of continuing polarization, more than two-in-five voters (42%) say they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq.

The Zogby America survey of 905 likely voters, conducted from June 27 through 29, 2005, has a margin of error of /-3.3 percentage points.

Just one week ago, President Bush’s job approval stood at a previous low of 44%—but it has now slipped another point to 43%, despite a speech to the nation intended to build support for the Administration and the ongoing Iraq War effort. The Zogby America survey includes calls made both before and after the President’s address, and the results show no discernible “bump” in his job approval, with voter approval of his job performance at 45% in the final day of polling."

Why do we keep needing to document his own words? Chimpeach him!

Couldn't Believe Her Ears ...

Who do you believe? Bush or an Iraqi citizen living in Baghdad? This is only a part of what she thought of the speech.

Bush said:
“We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping street in Baghdad, including one outside a mosque. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul…”

Yes. And Bush is extremely concerned with the mosques. He might ask the occupation forces in Iraq to quit attacking mosques and detaining the worshipers inside- to stop raiding them and bombing them and using them as shelters for American snipers in places like Falluja and Samarra. And the terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul? Maybe they got their cue from the American troops who attacked the only functioning hospital in Falluja.

“We continued our efforts to help them rebuild their country. Rebuilding a country after three decades of tyranny is hard and rebuilding while a country is at war is even harder.'

Three decades of tyranny isn’t what bombed and burned buildings to the ground. It isn’t three decades of tyranny that destroyed the infrastructure with such things as “Shock and Awe” and various other tactics. Though he fails to mention it, prior to the war, we didn’t have sewage overflowing in the streets like we do now, and water cut off for days and days at a time. We certainly had more than the 8 hours of electricity daily. In several areas they aren’t even getting that much.

“They are doing that by building the institutions of a free society, a society based on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and equal justice under law.”

We’re so free, we often find ourselves prisoners of our homes, with roads cut off indefinitely and complete areas made inaccessible. We are so free to assemble that people now fear having gatherings because a large number of friends or family members may attract too much attention and provoke a raid by American or Iraqi forces.

As to Iraqi forces…There was too much to quote on the new Iraqi forces. He failed to mention that many of their members were formerly part of militias, and that many of them contributed to the looting and burning that swept over Iraq after the war and continued for weeks.

“The new Iraqi security forces are proving their courage every day.”

Indeed they are. The forte of the new Iraqi National Guard? Raids and mass detentions. They have been learning well from the coalition. They sweep into areas, kick down doors, steal money, valuables, harass the females in the household and detain the men. The Iraqi security forces are so effective that a few weeks ago, they managed to kill a high-ranking police major in Falluja when he ran a red light, shooting him in the head as his car drove away.

I really don't understand why people don't get that when we attacked Iraq, we decimated that country. We had no plan to win the peace and no plan on how to exit. We were not prepared for the riots and the looting. We were not prepared to face such heavy resistance. As long as there is violence, we can not repair the destruction we caused and as long as people are suffering from the aftermath of the destruction, there will be no end to the violence.

We aren't stuck between a rock and a hard place. We aren't stuck between the witch and the devil. We are stuck in the midst of hell with no honorable way out! Thank you, again, Mr. Bush. You got rid of their Dorito eating dictator but you also got rid of everything else.

Part Of The Progress

In other words, this stuff is getting old and the Mayor of Baghdad is fed up and ready to quit!.

"Baghdad's mayor decried the capital's crumbling infrastructure and its inability to supply enough clean water to residents, threatening Thursday to resign if the government won't provide more money.

The statement from Mayor Alaa Mahmoud al-Timimi was an indication of the daily misery that Baghdad's 6.45 million people still endure more than two years after the U.S.-led invasion. They are wracked not only by unrelenting bombings and kidnappings, but by serious shortages in water, electricity and fuel.

'It's useless for any official to stay in office without the means to accomplish his job,' al-Timimi told reporters.

Al-Timimi is seeking $1.5 billion for Baghdad in 2005 but so far has received only $85 million, said his spokesman, Ameer Ali Hasson.

Efforts to expand Baghdad's water projects were set back earlier this month when insurgents sabotaged a pipeline near Baghdad. Now, some complain the water they do get smells bad, and Hasson acknowledged in some areas, the water gets mixed with sewage.

'The problem is escalating,' said al-Timimi, a Shiite who took office in May 2004."

I take it this is the "last throes" of winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis too.

Somewhere In My Lifetime ...

Wow! It's been that long? Just reading this makes me want to go home and get out her "greatest hits" CD and listen to it all night long. Like everyone, I've been sad before, down before and proabably, without knowing it, clinically depressed before. But I've never, ever felt this damn bad. With all the fake singers and raunchy music out there, I sure do miss the sound of Phyllis Hyman's voice.

"When a diva in a fire engine-red dress caressing every curve kicks off the pumps that complete her outfit, you know she’s down to earth. Her simple gesture says, "I’m going to get comfortable, and I want you to join me -- and besides, I still look cute!" For Phyllis Hyman’s fans, it was like an open invitation to curl up on a sofa with her. They knew they were in for a good time.

She’d tell some jokes, whistle the hell out of "Living All Alone," throw out a catty comment about being mistaken for Angela Bofill and maybe even eat off your plate. But mostly, she’d pour out her heart in song: reinventing “Betcha By Golly Wow” or sharing hard-to-believe stuff about how she -- a woman who made brothers drool and shudder -- still couldn’t find a man.

But many missed the message in her music and her musings. They overlooked the serious side of her self-deprecating humor. They didn’t know that she was suffering from more than just some tired toes and weary feet. Her heart really was broken. Her curves had filled out more than she’d liked. Her brand of songstress was hitting sour notes in the mixed-up music business. And this thing called life? Well, it was much too much. So 10 years ago, she left fans waiting for her at the Apollo Theater in Harlem as she moved on to another stage.

Just days shy of her 46th birthday, Phyllis Hyman lay unconscious in her bed, a note and sleeping pills not far from her side. News of Hyman’s passing on June 30, 1995, ruled “an intentional overdose,” cast a pall over the Apollo and far-flung corners of the earth."

If You've Seen One ...

I have no idea if the President-elect of Iran is the same man who was involved in the Iran hostage crisis back in 1979. I was in college and though still recognizable, don't exactly trust that classmates from college would recognize me or that they wouldn't swear on their mother's grave that another short black chick wasn't me.

"The White House said Thursday it is taking seriously the allegations by former hostages that Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran a quarter century ago.

President Bush told foreign reporters he has 'no information, but obviously his involvement raises many questions.'

'As soon as I saw the face, it rang a lot of bells to me,' Don Sharer, who served as the embassy's naval attache at the time, told CNN.

'...Take 20 years off of him. He was there. He was there in the background, more like an adviser.'

Abbas Abdi, the man well-known to be the leader of the 1979 hostage-takers, told CNN that Ahmadinejad, the Tehran mayor, 'absolutely was not' part of the event that involved the captivity of 52 people."

Only five of the 52 captives are claiming that Ahmadinejad was one of their interrogators and, though they would have strong memories, I'm not sure I trust that these old white men can be so positive.

It reminds me of an incident from when I worked in retail about as many years ago. The store was a second job so my shift didn't start until 6pm. I was at my regular cashier booth in housewares/linens when a woman approaches me and begins with how I had waited on her that morning and told her "thus and so" regarding "such and such." I didn't know this woman from the moon so I told her, "Well, no ma'am, I didn't assist you this morning but I can help you now." She went on to inform me "Yes, you did and you told me ..." I politely told her "well, no. I only work evenings but it was probably [insert name] ..." This woman insisted on telling me that she remembered me from earlier that day. I was trying not to argue but I was getting irritated. I showed her my badge and my name and repeated the name of the morning sales clerk. She was still determined to tell me that it was me. After that, I did lose it a bit and rather curtly inform her that I was not the other person and that all black people did not look alike! She finally shut up!

All this to say that if that woman would try to argue me down over mistaking me for someone she'd just seen a few hours earlier, I'm not sure I believe that these old coots can be that positive about someone who must look quite different 26 years later. And, if it is him ... Well, I guess we are headed for some rough times with Iran. Had Bush not been such a bad ass in threatening them over this and that, perhaps the more moderate candidate would have been elected. Instead, this administration's constant rhetoric riled up the masses and thus yahoos there, like here, voted for the extremist.

Oh, Jesus Cristo!

Oh Lawd! Here we go! They smoked Jesse back out with this one.

"U.S. activists called on the Mexican government to withdraw a postage stamp depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pident Vicente Fox.

Mexico defended the series of five stamps released Wednesday, which depicts a child character from a comic book started in the 1940s that is still published in Mexico.

But the Rev. Jesse Jackson said President Bush should pressure Mexico to withdraw the stamps from the market, saying they 'insult people around the world.'

'The impact of this is worse than what the president said,' Jackson noted, referring to Fox's May 13 comment that Mexican migrants take jobs in the United States that 'not even blacks' want. Fox later met with Jackson and expressed regret but insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.

[...]

Ruben Aguilar, a spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said the comic book has promoted understanding and family values for decades and deserved to be enshrined on a stamp.

'It seems strange to me that this celebration of Mexican culture and Mexico's post office's toast to Mexican cartoonists is misunderstood,' he said.

Aguilar said the comic book was 'not racist. It's exactly the opposite.'

'I respect the reverend Jesse Jackson's opinion, but we think that he is uninformed about the historic role of this series in Mexican culture to combat racism and promote family values,' he said."

I don't know why I am still not "incensed" over this. Perhaps it is because I don't internalize every little racial stereotype I see. If someone makes a racist or ignorant comment to me in a way that impacts my livelihood or safety, we may have to have a chat. But, since I (like others who have taken a good look at a monkey) can see that monkeys have straight hair, fair skin underneath and NO lips (unless they make those weird faces - like our President), I don't know why black folks have ever allowed that stereotype to bother them. Additionally, do we not still see those same stereotypes here? I know it wasn't too long ago that I happened upon a Tom and Jerry cartoon with "Mammy Two Shoes" as a character.

As I said before, given the racist background of the words Aunt and Uncle as they applied to blacks, why aren't we taking this up with the makers of the pancake mix and the rice. What about the Cream of Wheat man? Isn't Rastus (albeit modernized) still grinning and shining on the box?

I'm not saying that I relish the thought of 1940's cartoon characters floating around the world. But you can search E-bay for the same types of items in America and folks are eating them up. As Americans, we are free to express our opinions but we have enough of these caricatures in our own history to get rid of before worrying about those in Mexico. What's next? Boycotting The Netherlands over Black Pete come Christmas time?

Because of imperialism and colonialism, these images permeate the world. The surprise that other places in the world have the same or similar histories with regards to people of color is unfortunate. I guess, like Oprah, a whole bunch of folks are having a "Crash" moment.

Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

This chick was on CNBC's "The Big Idea" last night. Donny Deutsch wasn't all that nice to her. Personally, I just don't get it. I don't understand why you would take pride in being an adulterous groupie. Despite the fact that men can claim fame to "sleeping around" without consequence, I don't think that feminism or women's lib intended for women to seek equal "ho status." To me, along with the men, she is just nasty. But, the clip regarding Bobby Brown is hilarious!

Hip-hop and Hollywood playas are ducking for cover now that everyone's favorite fly girl is telling all. After intensive vetting by lawyers, HarperCollins has gone to press with Karrine Steffans' 'Confessions of a Video Vixen.'

Widely known as 'Superhead' (no doubt because of her large cranium), Steffans doesn't hold back when it comes to dishing about her famous lovers. The video-eye-candy-turned-author claims:

Shaquille O'Neal 'was charmingly self-effacing about his sexual prowess and wanted to reduce my expectations,' she writes. But 'compared to other men,' she assures readers, 'he was nothing to complain about.' She says that Shaq was so impressed with Steffans that, the day after meeting her, he deposited $10,000 into her bank account.
A small part in 'A Man Apart' allowed Steffans to discover that star Vin Diesel was 'a beautiful man ... blessed with an enviable eight-pack and an even more enviable [bleep].'

After hearing so much about Fred Durst's stature, she gushed, 'to actually hold him ... felt like a privilege.'

Sex with 'insatiable' producer Irv Gotti 'became more like a boxing match.' During their affair, Steffans claims, Gotti lent her to his friends as he saw fit.

After inviting her to his home at 4 a.m., Sean (P. Diddy) Combs kicked his manservant Fonzworth Bentley out of a guest bedroom so he and Steffans could spend 15 minutes making love. "You're one of the best," she says P. Diddy told her. Steffans writes: "I said the same to him, when, in actuality, he was average." Ouch.

Steffans says she got around to Whitney Houston's husband, Bobby Brown, in late 2002. Steffans says she never saw him do drugs. But she worried for his mental health during a frantic encounter where "he told me he was a member of Al Qaeda and that President Bush was looking for him."

She made Ja Rule promise to "always come back." But after he slipped out one morning before she woke up, "I looked around for something to take with me, something that would smell like him but wouldn't be missed. On the floor I found a balled-up sock, and I placed it to my face and got the fix I was searching for." Sniff.

Steffans also tells the whole story of her back-of-the-limo tryst with Usher.

None of the stars' reps we called yesterday responded by deadline. Their handlers can at least take comfort in knowing that, after years of self-destructive star-chasing, Steffans now says, "I am my own woman and look for no one to complete me."

Keep It Movin'

Except for random glances when channel surfing, I just couldn't bring myself to watch the BET Awards last night ... Maybe I'll catch a repeat later as I assume it will be re-broadcast ad naseum. But, according to Ambra at Nykola.com this is how it began.

"Said Jada Pinkett Smith of award acceptance speeches during the opening monologue of tonight's BET Awards:

'Do not thank God if you can't show or perform your work in church. Some of you just need to thank your manager and keep it movin'.'"

I assume it was totally meant as a joke - one people have been making for years in their seats and on their couches - but, ease up, thug rappers need God too - if not more than most. Heck, some unnatural force is propelling them into riches and stardom. If they thank God for the devil's work enough times maybe they'll see the light.

Nixon Unplugged

It was bad enough to hear tapes of Nixon sounding like an anti-semite and bashing scraggly Vietnam vets but this is a wee bit over the top.

"President Nixon referred privately to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as an 'old witch' and national security adviser Henry Kissinger insulted Indians in general, according to transcripts of Oval Office tapes and newly declassified documents released Tuesday.

Nixon and Kissinger met in the Oval Office on the morning of Nov. 5, 1971, to discuss Nixon's conversation with Gandhi the day before.

'We really slobbered over the old witch,' Nixon told Kissinger, according to a transcript of their conversation released as part of a State Department compilation of significant documents involving American foreign policy.

Nixon's remark came as the two men speculated about Gandhi's motives during the White House meeting and discussed India's intentions in the looming conflict with neighboring Pakistan. The United States was allied with Pakistan and saw India as too closely allied with the Soviet Union.

'The Indians are bastards anyway,' Kissinger told the president. 'They are starting a war there.'

Kissinger also told his boss that he had bested Gandhi in their meeting.

'While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too,' Kissinger said. 'She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war.'

So It's A Little Samboesque ...

I'm not saying I am pleased to see these old relics still floating around but, as with other things folks get so steamed up about (particularly when it happens in another country known for having slaves or being colonialists), I'm not sweating this one. We need to stop pretending that these stereotypes and depictions didn't exist. Reminders that people of a lesser hue still, in fact, harbor deep attachments to the old symbols of racism should keep people ever mindful that "we ain't quite there yet."

I don't know anything about this character but it is as familiar as Sambo, unmodified versions of Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima (epiphany: if we want to get mad, ask why those names still being used in 2005), and those ever present mammy salt and pepper shakers. But, I am not taking up arms against Mexico over this.

"The Mexican government has issued a postage stamp depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, just weeks after remarks by President Vicente Fox angered U.S. blacks.

The series of five stamps released for general use Wednesday depicts a child character from a comic book started in the 1940s that is still published in Mexico.

The boy, hapless but lovable, is drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book.

Activists said the stamp was offensive, though officials denied it.

'One would hope the Mexican government would be a little more careful and avoid continually opening wounds,' said Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast.

[...]

Carlos Caballero, assistant marketing director for the Mexican Postal Service, said the stamps are not offensive, nor were they intended to be.

'This is a traditional character that reflects part of Mexico's culture,' Caballero said. 'His mischievous nature is part of that character.'

However, Penalosa said many Mexicans still assume all blacks are foreigners, despite the fact that at one point early in the Spanish colonial era, Africans outnumbered Spanish in Mexico.

'At this point in time, it was probably pretty insensitive' to issue the stamp, said Elisa Velazquez, an anthropologist who studies Mexico's black communities for the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

'This character is a classic, but it's from another era,' Velazquez said. 'It's a stereotype and you don't want to encourage ignorance or prejudices.'

[...]

The stamps are part of a series that pays tribute to Mexican comic books. Memin Pinguin, the second in the series, was apparently chosen for this year's release because it is the 50th anniversary of the company that publishes the comic.

Publisher Manelick De la Parra told the government news agency Notimex that the character would be sort of a goodwill ambassador on Mexican letters and postcards. 'It seems nice if Memin can travel all over the world, spreading good news,' de la Parra said, calling him 'so charming, so affectionate, so wonderful, generous and friendly.'"

I won't be traveling to Mexico to buy any and doubt that I'll see any in circulation. So, I'll leave it to the Mexican people to grapple with.

Another Day, Another Helicopter

I'll just bet they haven't confirmed how many people have injured or killed from yet another helicopter going down. This one is in Afghanistan no less. On the night of the President's big speech on Iraq, violence from the Taliban is on the rise again.

"A U.S. CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, which a military official said may have been carrying 15 to 20 people, crashed Tuesday while ferrying reinforcements to fight insurgents in a mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the aircraft.

The fate of those on board the helicopter, which crashed near Asadabad in Kunar province, was not immediately known, the U.S. military said. A statement said the cause of the crash was unclear.

Other helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were sent to the crash site, the military said. Other details were not available, according to U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara.

In Washington, a U.S. military official said early reports indicated 15 to 20 people were on board. There was no word on their condition, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because it involved initial operational reports.

Provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press that the Taliban downed the aircraft with a rocket. He gave no other details."

Afghanistan. The other Iraq.

Update:They still aren't confirming the deaths of any soldiers but when they do, it will be the "deadliest blow yet to American forces in Afghanistan, already grappling with an insurgency that is widening rather than winding down."

Not Naming Names But ...

In my heart of hearts, I do not believe that this administration can last until 2008 without major policy changes and major behavioral and attitudinal adjustments. NO ONE in the world is buying our rhetoric, our cause or our practices and pretty soon we will end up being held accountable in some form or fashion.

"The George W. Bush administration's policies on indefinite detention and ”extraordinary rendition” are coming under heavy fire from a number of institutions and organizations, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, and members of the U.S. Congress itself.

”The prohibition of torture is non-negotiable,” said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, held annually on Jun. 26.

Without naming the United States, he added: ”That includes an absolute ban on transferring anybody to another jurisdiction where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person is at risk of torture.”

Currently, the U.S. administration is pursuing a policy of what it calls ”extraordinary rendition,” which involves seizing suspects and taking them to a third country without court approval.

Human rights groups have documented a number of cases in which U.S. authorities secretly transferred individuals to countries where they were held without charge and routinely tortured."

...

”Torture does not stop terror,” it said. ”Torture is terror.”

Sybil Grace

I've made a point to say that I don't care for Nancy Grace. It is a little unnerving to watch someone who seems to be perpetually unhinged. Perhaps she needs to talk to Tom Cruise about some of those "vitamins."

"Occasionally, the many friends of Nancy Grace get a glimpse of how tightly wound she is. One day, during a discussion about Jackson, a psychotherapist guest mildly remarks that 'it is possible for children to falsely accuse adults of sexual abuse.'

'What are you doing here?' Grace asks her, her face stony with betrayal. 'Why did you say that?'

Vitriol is safe, it seems, so long as Grace dispenses it or agrees with it. She doesn't object when -- during an on-air discussion about Wilbanks, who's set to make money off her experiences as the runaway bride -- one guest speculates that Wilbanks might be a sociopath, and another labels Wilbanks a 'despicable, pathetic, lousy excuse for a human being.'

In an interview at CNN offices in Washington, Grace at first drips with southern charm. She's just had her makeup done -- her hair is poufed, her eyes are bright. She offers a two-handed shake and chats amiably about her book and her cowboy boots. She twice good-naturedly exclaims, 'Oh, good Lord!' A producer brings her a Diet Coke.

'Just let me know if they find Natalee Holloway,' she tells him.

But she appears to grow impatient for no reason -- when asked, for example, about fan mail, or about her late fiance, whom she often mentions on television and in public appearances. When this happens, she turns curt and even sarcastic, answering in short sentences or single syllables. She is asked if she feels her TV shows allow her to present the nuances of legal cases.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' she says coldly. Then: 'I think the truth is black-and-white.'

She declares she has to go back into makeup. 'I'm over,' she says, and stands up.

Minutes later, you pass by a room with a big mirror and catch a glimpse of Nancy Grace, holding what appears to be a curling iron over her fluffy blond hair.

Good night, friend.

I really thought she was going to set herself on fire after Michael Jackson was acquitted. There's still hope, though. I am sure there are plenty crimes in the pipeline over which she can work herself into a frenzy.

Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada

I'll still be at work when Bush holds his lie-fest this evening. Dr. Condoleezza Rice was on the morning programs acting as a stool softener before he dumps his load this, so it is pretty apparent that we won't be hearing anything new.

His line won't change. His course (hidden as it is) won't change. He'll say to forget about the 1750 dead and 12K+ maimed and injured ... If it takes 10-12 more years to defeat the insurgency, we are up to the sacrifice so that the Iraqi people will be free ... Don't worry about the hundreds of billions we've spent and will spend ... Forget about the price of oil rising again (we'll get control of it from Iraq sooner or later) ... Don't worry about the fact that 1 billion will be cut from veterans benefits (guess the boys will have to pay for their own artificial legs, arms and eyes). He's not peeing on the country, that's rain ...

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a round of morning television interviews that Bush would tell the American people how important it was to stay the course in Iraq.

'This president has always lived by his convictions and his values, not by what he sees in the polls. He is going to go to the American people who elected him just six months ago and tell them again why it is important that we finish the job in Iraq,' she told ABC's 'Good Morning America' show.

In another interview, Rice disputed the view that progress was not being made in Iraq. 'I don't think they are unraveling. Freedom is on the march,' she told NBC's 'Today' show."

... SAME OLD STUFF!

Scared Of Hisself Sometimes!

I'm scared too ... most of the time!

"TV viewers have peeked into the lives of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. Now another celebrity couple is about to take the reality show plunge.

'Being Bobby Brown,' which features Brown and his wife, pop songstress Whitney Houston, premieres on Bravo Thursday (10 p.m. ET).

In an interview on 'Dateline NBC,' Brown said he decided to allow cameras to follow him for six months because 'it's easy for people to just have the freedom to be able to say things about me, and me not say anything. That's the easy part.

'But the hard part is to show them me, because I'm scared of being myself, sometimes.'"

Oh Poor, Poor Alfalfa

Well, it's not like Australia isn't one of the last remaining "coalition" partners so I don't know why any Aussie would be giving American students too much more flak than they give their own government but, gees, unless they are trying to kick your ass, suck it up!

AMERICAN students are quitting Queensland universities in the face of hate attacks by Australians angry at US President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.

One university has launched an investigation into claims an American student returned to the US after suffering six months of abuse at a residential college in Brisbane.
American students have told The Sunday Mail the verbal attacks are unbearable and threatening to escalate into physical violence.

Griffith University student Ian Wanner, 19, from Oregon, said abusive Australian students had repeatedly called him a "sepo" – short for septic tank. "It is so disrespectful. It's not exactly the most welcoming atmosphere here," he said.

The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission has described the abuse as "horrible" and says it could be classed as racial vilification.

The abuse problem is so prevalent that US students are being given formal briefings before leaving home on how to cope with abusive Australians.

Mr Wanner said even female Australian students were verbally abusive. He warned the problem could "escalate into a very large brawl".

"There has already been confrontations between people," he said.

A female American student from Griffith, who wished to remain unnamed, said she had met some "exceptional" people in Australia – but was leaving this month in shock over her treatment.

She said she was desperate to go home after the slurs, which also spilled over at pubs in central Brisbane.

"They basically picked on me," she said. "At first, I thought it was a joke. Then I just had it out with them and told them I came here to be treated respectfully.

"I have had a few incidents in bars. I had a guy and he heard my accent and he said: 'I hate your president. I hate your country.' "

Better yet, if someone were to yell at me that they hated my president, I'd give them a high five and a "so do I!"

Dang! We Old!

I cannot believe how fast time has flown. It seems like its just been a few years since I was driving up to Oakland every other week to a reading/signing at Marcus Books. I was in at least three book clubs and was reading the tons of black fiction being produced by a slew of black female writers. I was somewhat of a snob and basically began to swear of the "dating game" fiction which seemed to be page after page of drama filled relationships with no good men and stupid women.

My favorite authors seemed to disappear for a while. However, the women who "started it all" are a little older, more seasoned and coming up for air with new novels.

"'The black chick-lit books that I've read, it's all about 'gotta find a man' and that's it,' she said. 'These characters just spring up, they don't have a background, they don't have parents, they don't have brother and sisters and concerns.' She has used her novels (the others are 'Good Hair,' 'The Itch' and 'Acting Out') to explore issues like class divisions among blacks, buppie ennui and the juggling acts of even privileged wives and mothers. These issues are a far cry from slavery or the ghetto, which she said she was told in 1989 was what she had to write about to be published.

Ms. McMillan's blockbuster 'Waiting to Exhale' is widely considered the wakeup call to publishers that readers craved stories about the lives of black women.

During the 90's, Mr. Bass said, black women writers like Pearl Cleage, Bebe Moore Campbell, Diane McKinney-Whetstone and Tina McElroy Ansa - all of whom have new or soon-to-be released books - benefited from Ms. McMillan's high profile and staked out their own territory. Their characters, too, reflect more mature lives affected by issues like remarriage and children, career struggles and troubled family members."

(cross posted at my book blog)

Sounds Like A New Novel

I'm sure she's already heard enough snickers and I told you so's. Let's just hope she's able to translate her latest real life drama into another best seller.

"In a tale rich in lost love, closeted secrets and acrimonious divorce, it turns out that famed local writer Terry McMillan -- whose celebrated romance and subsequent marriage to a man 23 years her junior became the subject of her fictionized best-seller 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' -- actually got her groove back with a man who now says he's gay.

The story is spilling out in made-for-Hollywood detail in Contra Costa County Superior Court, where McMillan has filed for divorce from her Jamaican- born husband of six years, Jonathan Plummer.

McMillan, 53, said in court documents that the marriage was based on a 'fraud'' because Plummer lied about his sexual orientation -- and married her only to gain U.S. citizenship.

'It was devastating to discover that a relationship I had publicized to the world as life-affirming and built on mutual love was actually based on deceit,'' she wrote in her declaration. 'I was humiliated.'

Plummer, 30, countered in court papers of his own that McMillan has turned on him with a 'homophobic'' vengeance and is trying to force his return to an uncertain future in Jamaica. He wants to void the couple's prenuptial agreement that would keep from him most of the millions she's earned as a writer.

He also claims he was denied his full share of royalties, as spelled out in the prenup, from 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back,' the fictionalized account of a single mother's torrid relationship with a Jamaican young enough to be her son that very much parallels the lives of McMillan and Plummer."

Oh Freedom Over Me

The thirst for law and order in a weary and war torn Afghanistan is the reason why the Taliban was able to take over and rule with such an iron fist. Ironically, I was just wondering what was going on in Southern Iraq and most of the attention is focused on the central and northern areas. Now I see. They've given up freedom for some semblance of order.

"Physicians have been beaten for treating female patients. Liquor salesmen have been killed. Even barbers have faced threats for giving haircuts judged too short or too fashionable.

Religion rules the streets of this once cosmopolitan city, where women no longer dare go out uncovered.

'We can't sing in public anymore,' said Hussin Nimma, a popular singer from the south. 'It's ironic. We thought that with the change of the regime, people would be more open to singing, art and poetry.'

Unmarked cars cruise the streets, carrying armed, plain-clothed enforcers of Islamic law. Who they are or answer to is unclear, but residents believe they are part of a battle for Basra's soul.

In the spring, Shiite and Sunni Muslim officials were killed in a series of assassinations here, and residents feared their city would fall prey to the kind of sectarian violence ailing the rest of the country.

Instead, conservative Shiite Islamic parties have solidified their grip, fully institutionalizing their power in a city where the Shiite majority had long been persecuted by the Sunni-dominated rule of Saddam Hussein.

Although eager to distance themselves from the militias, Shiite religious parties now control both the streets and the council chambers. And though Basra has not suffered the same level of bombings and assassinations as major cities to the north, the trade-off for law and order appears to be a crackdown on social practices and mores that were permissible under the secular, if repressive, regime of Hussein."

Yeah, we liberated them alright!

Now There's A Thought

Naturally, I cannot promote violence. But, this is certainly one way to skin a rapist.

A Spanish mother has taken revenge on the man who raped her 13-year-old daughter at knifepoint by dousing him in petrol and setting him alight. He died of his injuries in hospital on Friday.

Antonio Cosme Velasco Soriano, 69, had been sent to jail for nine years in 1998, but was let out on a three-day pass and returned to his home town of Benej�zar, 30 miles south of Alicante, on the Costa Blanca.

While there, he passed his victim's mother in the street and allegedly taunted her about the attack. He is said to have called out 'How's your daughter?', before heading into a crowded bar.

Shortly after, the woman walked into the bar, poured a bottle of petrol over Soriano and lit a match. She watched as the flames engulfed him, before walking out.

The woman fled to Alicante, where she was arrested the same evening. When she appeared in court the next day in the town of Orihuela, she was cheered and clapped by a crowd, who shouted 'Bravo!' and 'Well done!'

Whew!

The Symbol Vs. The Freedom It Represents

My problem with the proposed ammendment to the constitution to ban the desecration of the flag is that California Senator, Diane Feinstein, is one of the sponsors. I agree that we definintely have more pressing issues.

"One would think members of Congress might have more pressing things to do -- the war in Iraq, for instance, could stand the government's undivided attention -- but the Senate is set once again to take up an amendment to the Constitution that would ban the desecration of the U.S. flag. The last time this legislation went to the Senate, it received 63 votes, four short of the 67 it needed to pass on to the states for approval. But there are more Republicans in the Senate this time around, and Orrin Hatch is gunning for a fight. "

I informed Senator Feinstein of my views and this is what she said in reply:

Thank you for writing to express your opposition to a constitutional amendment prohibiting the physical desecration of the American flag. I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

Unfortunately, we will have to disagree about this issue. I srongly believe that the American flag holds a unique position in our ociety as the most important and universally recognized symbol that nites us as a nation. The flag -- as a symbol of our nationhood -- can nd should be respected and protected from attack. Beyond my personal onvictions, many Californians have told me of their desire for such rotection for our flag. Indeed, California had a flag protection statute rom 1929 until 1989, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the flag protection statutes of 47 states and the Federal government.

The authority for a nation to protect its central symbol of unity was considered constitutional for two centuries. It was only a decade ago that a narrow majority of the U.S. Supreme Court said otherwise. At this point, it seems clear that the only way to protect the American flag is to amend the Constitution to authorize Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag. In the 108th Congress I was an original cosponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 4 (S. J. Res. 4) which would have done just that. I will continue to pursue the topic in the 109th Congress.

Please know that I value your opinion, but on this issue I am afraid we will remain in disagreement. However, I greatly appreciate your input and hope that you will continue to share your views with me. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call my Washington, DC staff at (202) 224-3841.

Sincerely yours,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

http://feinstein.senate.gov

Well ... whatever! I'll remember this come election time. I'm sure I can find a candidate that has more to worry about than someone burning a flag that they purchased with their own thin dimes. I am sure that, as the flag flies today, someone would be more concerned that we have a President who used the symbol of the flag and our freedom to manipulate our nation into attacking a sovereign country without provocation. I'd rather see efforts put towards exposing the lies of this administration and finding away to bring our surviving troops home in an expiditious fashion.

As a former Girl Scout who participated in many flag ceremony who knows how to raise the flag as well as how to properly fold it, I think I know, quite well, the importance of the symbol. To me it represents freedom. But the item itself is just that - an item.

Missing Saddam

Two years after the statue of Saddam came down in Baghdad, this is how the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people are being won.

"She coped with her terror of the bombs, drive-by shootings and kidnappings by deciding, at the start of this year, to venture no further than her garden gate.

But the final straw for the 42-year-old housewife from the middle-class New Baghdad district in the Iraqi capital came when a rebel attack on a water plant cut off supplies to two million people.

With the temperature above 50C, this brought Mrs Ali 'the true knowledge of despair'.

'I didn't think it could get worse - and then it did,' she said, her kitchen filled with dirty plates and the lavatories unflushed. 'The children are crying. All we want is to pour some water on our bodies.

'I now wish we could go back to Saddam's time. We suffered then, but not like the suffering nowadays. There is no water or electricity. I can't sleep because of the heat. How are we to live these lives of misery?'"

Who Would Look In The Trunk?

This is just horrible. But, I believe that the kids were playing, climbed into the trunk and got trapped. We know it doesn't take long for a car to heat up and for kids to die. I think the trunk of a car would be the last place I'd look - as was apparently the case here.

"Three boys whose bodies were found in the trunk of a car following a massive, two-day search died from accidental suffocation, not foul play, authorities said Saturday.

The bodies were discovered Friday when David Agosto lifted the trunk of a banged-up maroon Toyota Camry in the yard where the boys were last seen. There, he found the bodies of his 6-year-old son Daniel Agosto; 5-year-old Jesstin Pagan and 11-year-old Anibal Cruz.

Officials said no foul play was suspected, but it was not clear why searchers - who combed the yard next to Cruz family home - did not find the boys sooner."

A Necessary Lesson

I'm sure I've mentioned my issue with the need to have black history month or African American studies courses that are separate from regular history lessons, and invariably, only end up being presented to black students. However, statements like the ones from this gentleman prove that too many people still don't get it.

In the letter, the Northeast Philadelphia Republican called the new African American history requirement 'unnecessary' and asked the commission to reconsider its mandate. Perzel wrote that he was concerned the mandate would 'divide, rather than unite, the district's student body.'

In an interview, Perzel went on to say, 'Most of these kids will never go to Africa. They have no affinity toward Africa.'

WTH? Black/African American history classes aren't about studying Africa. Generally, they are about making sure that black kids understand that they are just more than blips - about slavery and the 60's - on the timeline of this nation's history.

'We want to make it clear that we are very much in support of the teaching of African Ameri