Blues Talkin

Blues Talkin Commentary Moves to DistortedSoul.com

2008-08-26T23:30:00.005-04:00

But the man say:
Ain't nothin' but the blues doin' the talkin', baby.
Conspiracy's all up inside your mind.
But I find it don't get better for my people.
It's just a theory, but conspiracy
Keeps f^ck!n' with me all the time.

After many years maintaining a music website and a separate blog, I've decided to merge the political commentary from BluesTalkin.com into my music site at DistortedSoul.com.

When I first decided to build a website to publicize and distribute news about my musical endeavors, I knew there would have to be a section devoted to news and political commentary. Part of the function of art is to reflect the world around us. I wanted to have a place to share and discuss information that isn't readily available in the mainstream media.

The idea for Blues Talkin' has taken many forms over the years. First it was just me emailing found news items to my friends several times a day. Later there was an extensive forum with hundreds of posts with dozens of different categories. Finally, in 2005 I started the blog which I've updated regularly (more or less) ever since.

In addition to my musical projects, over the last three years I've been getting more work as a writer and journalist at publications like The Michigan Citizen, LastChocolateCity.com, Detroit Fashion Pages, and finally as a member of MTV's Street Team '08 covering election issues in Michigan. Most of those articles, reports and posts were also published at BluesTalkin.com along side my personal rants and raves about politics, culture and life. Along the way, Blues Talkin' was nominated for best political blog.

But it's become too time consuming to maintain all these schizophrenic sides of my personality. Since - as my wife, Akanke says - all the songs I write are either about women or politics (What else is there to write about?), it only makes since to merge the two sites. The Blues Talkin section has always been one of the most popular portion of the Distorted Soul Newsletter. It just makes sense to bring it all together.

In a few weeks, BluesTalkin.com will go away, but BluesTalkin will live on at DistortedSoul.com. The Blues Talkin' archives have already been moved, so feel free to stroll down memory lane with me. There is some interesting stuff over there. The newly renovated DistortedSoul.com becomes a more well rounded site with music, news, video, politics, sports, women... whatever interesting items we find to share that day.

If you're currently subscribing to the RSS feed at BluesTalkin.com, please click the headline animator below to subscribe to DistortedSoul.com. You can also CLICK HERE to receive DistortedSoul.com updates as an email message. We hope you'll join us there.

As always we welcome your comments and input, but you'll have to register at DistortedSoul.com to comment. Registration is free, of course. Please let us know how you like these changes and what we can do to improve your total funk experience!

Thanks for hanging out with us!

Nadir Covers RNC for MTV

2008-08-26T23:14:00.003-04:00

While the media's attention is focused on Denver this week and the Democratic National Convention, I'm packing my bags and gearing up for next week.

I will be covering the Republican National Convention for MTV/Knight's Street Team '08.

That's right. MTV is sending me to St. Paul to hang out with my good friends John McCain, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and of course, GDub.

I will blog and Twitter all day every day, and I'll submit video at the end of each night. You will be able to catch my Twitter updates at DistortedSoul.com and on MTV's www.chooseorlose.com.

Look for video on my profile at Think.MTV.com/Nadir.

I'll also keep a close eye on the protests that will occur throughout the Twin Cities, and I've got plans to slip over to Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic on Tuesday.

It should be an exciting week! I'm looking forward to it!

VIDEO: Young Black MI Voters on Race

2008-08-18T14:15:00.001-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Race has been a big topic in the election this year, and the racial divisions in the US are center stage.

But are we really having an honest discussion?

Nadir spoke with several young African American voters in Michigan and with Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney about how race is affecting the election debate.

VIDEO: John Sinclair: 21st Century Man

2008-08-18T14:02:00.003-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

For young people in Michigan looking to engage their community and make a difference, there are some perfect home grown examples to follow.

Take John Sinclair for instance. As a young man in his twenties, John Sinclair changed the world as the state's most outspoken leader of the 60s counter culture movement.

Nadir spoke with Sinclair recently about activism in the 21st Century.

Politics vs. Public Service

2008-08-06T08:50:00.003-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Why in the world would anyone want to run for public office? For some young Michiganders, the reason is simple: Someone has to do it. It might as well be a person who cares and has a sincere desire to serve the community.

----------------------------

It’s 10pm, and Rashida Tlaib (pronounced tah-LIB, as in Kweli) is just getting back to her campaign office after a long day of door knocking. Her voice rings with a tone of self satisfaction. The candidate for state representative in Michigan’s 12th district proudly proclaims that just today she finished visiting every street in her district for the second time. Tlaib has knocked on 7600 doors in the last ten weeks, introducing herself to residents, speaking with them about their concerns and asking for their votes.

“Every time I knocked a door, and I talked to a person,” says Tlaib, “I was completely reminded – and I know this sounds corny, but it’s so true – I was reminded every single time I talked to a resident, why I’m doing this.”

This is the first time Tlaib has run for office. The eldest of 14 children born to immigrant parents, Tlaib was raised to understand the importance of hard work, honesty and commitment to community.

After graduating from Wayne State University in 1998 with a degree in political science, the Detroit native began a career of public service in the non-profit sector providing social and advocacy services to families in the Southwest Detroit neighborhood where she grew up. Work in agencies like Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development (LASED) and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS).

She earned her law degree on the weekends while working fulltime. This later led to a job in the office of Michigan State Representative Steve Tobocman. With Tobocman leaving office this year because of term limits, Tlaib decided to run for his seat.

“I’m more of a social worker than a career politician,” Tlaib explains. “I’m a person that is a true believer helping people through every day kinds of issues needs to go hand in hand with legislation or it doesn’t work at all.”

The corruption in U.S. government is noxious. Its stench hangs over the nation like a dark cloud rising from municipalities to state legislatures all the way to Congress and the White House. What young candidates like Tlaib seem to have in common is a sincere desire to help her community and to change the way government is run.

35 year-old Todd Lajoy is running for State Rep in Michigan’s 21st district just as he is completing his first term as a Trustee in Canton Township. Lajoy believes the skills that he has acquired connecting workers with employers in the staffing company that he and his brother founded will be useful to the state that leads the nation in unemployment.

“I really felt that my personal professional background and my community service and experience really could significantly help in one of the major critical areas in Michigan, which is jobs - job creation, retaining jobs, attracting jobs, growing businesses.”

Lajoy continues, “I’m running because the state is struggling, and I really believe that we have to have the right people in place to help turn the state around.”

The 21st district covers the communities of Canton, Canton Township, Belleville and Van Buren Township, a suburban and rural area nestled about 30 miles west of Detroit, and just east of Ann Arbor. As Lajoy knocks on doors in his district, the number one issue is the economy.

“We had one of the largest foreclosure rates in Wayne County, and it’s one of the highest in the nation also.” When Lajoy asks the residents why they are moving away he finds most often that it is work related.

In Detroit the high number of foreclosures creates other problems. The vacant homes in rich and poor neighborhoods alike have become a magnet for rodents and for rats of another kind – thieves. While jobs may be the top priority in Lajoy’s suburban district, in Detroit, public safety and problems with city services are the major concern.

“The neighborhoods have been decimated by the subprime lending scandal”, Lee Gaddies, a State Rep candidate in Michigan’s 7th District which encompasses several northern Detroit communities. “People are getting put out of their houses, crime is being left unchecked, the police are unresponsive, and people want their politicians to do something about it. They want to know that their cries have not gone unheard.”

Leslie Love, a first-time candidate for State Rep in the 8th District (West Detroit), has experienced these problems first hand. Her home was burglarized in February, and the thieves cleaned her out. Then on July 21st, burglars attempted to enter her home when she was there, but she scared them away.

“Now I have a big dog that I didn’t plan to have in my life at this time,” she laughs. “So I know it’s happening to me. I know it’s happening to my neighbors. There are a lot of foreclosed homes in my community, and people are going in taking copper, taking door knobs, taking chandeliers and fixtures. Their taking everything but the paint off the wall, so safety is very much an issue.”

This prompted Love to go to her Western District community/police relations meeting to discuss the issue with the commander there, and she reports that the police response has improved.

Public service at its core is about becoming involved in the community and helping your neighbors. The reason many young people shy away from politics is because of the corruption that abounds.

For Tlaib an older community activist inspired her to run when she said, “It’s people like us that never consider running for office, and that’s what’s wrong with [the state government in] Lansing. We don’t have enough people like us down there.”

“I’m gonna be painfully honest with you,” Gaddies confides. “Politics is dirty. That’s why we need regular, ordinary people to hold office. You don’t need a bunch of letters after your name to vote for what’s right for your people. You just need a little bit of common sense.”

Partisan Politics Trump the Constitution?

2008-07-31T13:49:00.009-04:00

I was just checking out Dave Lindorff's report from the House Judiciary hearing on impeachment. Two items stood out to me immediately.

First:

As Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the committee, made clear more than once during the six-hour session, this was “not an impeachment hearing, however much many in the audience might wish it to be” He might well have added that he himself was not the fierce defender of the Constitution and of the authority of Congress that he once was before gaining control of the Judiciary Committee, however much his constituents, his wife, and Americans across the country might wish him to be.

Yep. Conyers is bowing down to Pelosi's pressure on this one. He is more interested in keeping his job as judiciary chair than in defending the Constitution. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

Second:

The basic point, made by Holtzman, by Fein and by many others, including this writer, is that worrying about the political opposition to impeachment, both in the House, and in the Senate, not to mention among the broader public, is completely wrongheaded. Even when impeachment articles were first filed against Nixon, the public and the bulk of the Congress were solidly against the idea (unlike Bush, who has a 19% approval rating, Nixon had just won an epic landslide re-election victory in 1972 against George McGovern). It was during the hearings that the tide turned, as evidence of malfeasance, criminality and abuse of power became evident through hearing testimony.
The same would certainly happen in the case of President Bush and/or Vice President Cheney. Most Americans don’t even know that the president made up evidence to justify the war against Iraq out of whole cloth. They don’t know what the Geneva Conventions are with regard to torture. They don’t know why Congress passed the FISA act, which Bush has been feloniously violating to spy on them (it was passed because Nixon was using the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without judicial warrants--exactly what Bush is now doing!). They don’t know that Bush has been refusing to enact laws passed by the Congress. Public hearings by an impeachment panel would make all these high crimes and misdemeanors clear on national TV to all sentient Americans.
Moreover, as Holtzman pointed out, the president would not be able to use the claim of “executive privilege” to withhold testimony from aides in an impeachment inquiry, the way he has done when they have been subpoenaed by other House and Senate committees. Impeachment would be about violations of the very executive actions he would be claiming privilege on. As well, an impeachment committee, unlike any other committee of the Congress, is specifically sanctioned and empowered in the Constitution, meaning that even strict “constructionist” Federalists on the bench would have a hard time backing presidential obstruction.

As Holtzman noted, “There is no executive privilege in impeachment, because refusing to testify is itself an impeachable offense.”

So what do the punk Democrats (including Barack Obama) have to fear from an impeachment hearing?

According to the Associated Press, "Barack Obama told House Democrats on Tuesday that as president he would order his attorney general to scour White House executive orders and expunge any that 'trample on liberty,' several lawmakers said."

Why wait? What are his Senate staffers doing while the Senator is off jet-setting around the world? Of course,

Obama did not mention executive orders when he addressed reporters who waited for him outside the closed-door meeting. He said only that he would be campaigning alongside members to win the presidency and help expand Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

"I am looking forward to collaborating with everyone here to win the election, but more importantly to collaborate with everybody here and also some like-minded Republicans to actually govern and to deliver on behalf of the American people," Obama said.

Obama and Democrats are following the conventional wisdom that they need to play to conservatives in order to win the White House and maintain their slim majority in Congress. They are ignoring their base which is ready for the war to end and ready for Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for their crimes.

Since when do partisan politics trump the U.S. Constitution? Is this what our troops are fighting and dying for?

Click below to read Dave Lindorff's report:
ThisCantBeHappening.net - Friday's House Judiciary Hearing on Impeachment: A Victory and a Challenge

The Green Party's Hip Hop Power Move: An AUDIO Interview with Green Party Vice-Presidential Nominee Rosa Clemente

2008-07-27T10:52:00.013-04:00

Part 1 - Nadir's Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(13 mins 25 secs; 12.3 MB)
Part 2 - Nadir's Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(15 mins 23secs; 14.1 MB)

Rosa Clemente is a community organizer, journalist and co-founder of the National Hip Hop Political Convention. In July 2008 she makes history again as the vice-presidential nominee for the Green Party of the United States. Clemente joins Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney to become the first US presidential ticket led by two women of color.

I am an independent voter who has been sympathetic to the Green Party since Ralph Nader's presidential run in 2000, but I've never become a member. Where the party has fallen short, in my estimation, has been in its inability to organize among young people, the working class and the people of color who might embrace the party's progressive agenda. By nominating McKinney and Clemente, the Greens seek to erase that perception, and to change the face of the organization from its current image of older white hippies and tree huggers to a young, vibrant multicultual political party with fresh ideas and hip hop swagger.

During our 30 minute interview Mrs. Clemente discusses the difficult obstacles that the Green Party faces in its campaign to secure 5 percent of the vote this November. The hip hop activist also confirms the Green Party's commitment to the progressive values that young people and the hip hop community list as their most important issues - eliminating police brutality, reforming the prison industrial complex and ending the corporate domination of the US political landscape.

Clemente balks at the notion that any political candidate can "transcend race" in America. She offers some frank criticism of Barack Obama for signing the FISA bill, for pushing to transfer troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and for "running his campaign to the right".

Click below to listen, save and share.

Part 1 - Nadir's Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(13 mins 25 secs; 12.3 MB)
Part 2 - Nadir's Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(15 mins 23secs; 14.1 MB)

AUDIO: Another Seat at the Table

2008-07-27T08:22:00.007-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

The Green Party's presidential and vice-presidential nominees Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente are the first presidential ticket led by two women of color. But this is no symbolic or token campaign by a minor party.

The Democrats and Republicans have allowed corporate interests to dominate public policy making, and the interests of the people have been ignored.

The Green Party nominees say their bid to gain five percent of the vote this November isn't an alternative. It's imperative.

Click HERE to listen to the 4 min 5 second audio report

VIDEO: McCain's Straight Talk Economics

2008-07-27T08:11:00.008-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Nadir's Note: Yes, that's a photo of Barack Obama. Yes, this is a video about John McCain. However, this isn't an example of what McCain calls the media's "Obama Love Fest".

Like other video upload sites, Think.MTV.com's system automatically chooses the photo it will add to the story. The website's bots grab a random frame and drops it into the description. The photo of Obama challenging McCain on economic policy just happens to be the random frame that the program chose, and after much back and forth, Think's webmasters tell me they can't change it.

So this is not an example of McCain falling victim to liberal ObamaMania. Unless the Viacom automatons love Obama more than they love McCain...

John McCain is trying to pick up his game on the Economy.

It's tough enough that the Republican nominee is saddled with the failures of "Bushonomics". McCain has also been forced to distance himself from one of his own advisers, a man who says Americans are "whining" about the economy. But at a recent town hall meeting with small business owners in Belleville, Michigan, the Straight Talk Maverick was up for the challenge, telling voters he has a plan too "fix" the economy.

America 2008: Red, Black and Blue

2008-07-04T14:18:00.003-04:00

Originally published at Think.MTV.com

The Fourth of July is and has always been a holiday of confliction for me and for many African Americans. The very first “self-evident truth” of the Declaration of Independence – “That all men are created equal” – was a hypocritical mockery of my enslaved ancestors when that hallowed document was signed in 1776. Here we are 232 years later, and even with Barack Obama’s Democratic primary victory, Black people still wonder, “Are we really free?”

In deciding what I was going to write for my weekly Street Team ’08 report, Frederick Douglass’ immortal speech “The Meaning of July Fourth to the Negro”, delivered in 1852, immediately came to mind…

The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.

But, I hesitated. First of all, white folks get upset when Black people talk about race and discrimination in America. An uncomfortable silence fills the room, and many people just stop listening. We ignore the economic and social disparities that still exist between whites and Blacks because no one wants to talk about the obvious racial origins of these problems.

And I’ll admit, Black folks can get defensive when the discussion turns to the racism that we still feel here. The constant criticism is that Blacks sometimes “play the race card” when no discrimination exists. In the end, many of us are guilty of spending too much time fighting the ghosts of racism and not enough time taking advantage of the real opportunities that do present themselves in this nation.

But then I thought about it… There’s a Black guy running for president, and race has been a constant issue throughout the campaign. I’m also the only Black male working on MTV’s Street Team this year. Now is DEFINITELY the time for me to talk about racism in America!

The first African slaves were brought to these shores in the year 1619. The U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1787. Slavery ended in 1865. The fact that it’s 2008 and we are just now seeing an African American candidate with a serious shot at winning the White House shows both how much and how little progress America has made over the past 400 years.

There’s a lot of history that we could talk about here. Most of our high school and college history classes glossed over Reconstruction, the period between 1866 and 1877 when Blacks in America were freed from slavery, gained considerable political power and were then betrayed by the government and thrown back into the virtual bondage of the Jim Crow/segregation era.

But who wants to talk about history? Ours is the first generation to experience racial integration in the United States. We all went to school together. We grew up seeing Black artists’ and white artists’ videos on MTV. Most of us don’t know and don’t care about the legend that then CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff threatened to boycott MTV if they didn’t play Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video in 1983 at a time when the young network just didn’t air videos by Black artists. MTV founder Les Garland denies this story, but that’s beside the point.

The point is we’re living in a 21^st century America where all citizens legally enjoy the same rights. In this environment we can have Oprah Winfrey AND Ellen Degeneres. We can have T.I. AND Justin Timberlake. We can have Barack Obama AND John McCain.

So why do the subjects of color, race, ethnicity and equality still cause such a stir? How can Bill Clinton go from being called “America’s first Black president” to being called a racist for his comments about Obama during the Democratic primary season? Why would a vendor at the Texas GOP convention sell buttons that say, “If Obama is president, will we still call it the White House?”

Because this is politics, baby, and race still divides America. Young people can claim that it’s just the old folks who have these issues, but a lot of white kids still wonder whether the Black person they hang out with is “a nigger” or “my nigga”. High school students in Jena, Louisiana still get into fights over the right to sit under a tree and the right to hang a noose from one of its branches.

Race is on the ballot in three states in 2008 as Arizona, Nebraska and Missouri vote on whether to ban affirmative action programs or not. Michigan voters banned affirmative action in the state in 2006 after two high profile Supreme Court rulings involving the University of Michigan. Michigan’s history, it should be noted, is that it had the highest membership of the Ku Klux Klan outside the South during the height of that organization. My town of Westland is the headquarters of the American Nazi Party.

Opponents of affirmative action point to Obama’s success as evidence that the initiatives are no longer needed. Obama and others are proof that all minorities are finally considered equal by all Americans.

But if this is the case, why are there disproportionately more Blacks in prison than whites based on percentage of population? Why are there so few Black CEOs of major corporations? Why are Black test scores so much lower than the scores for white students? Why is there so much inequality?

The answer to most of these questions lies in the history of racial discrimination in the country. After 232 years, African Americans are still working to unchain ourselves from the shackles of slavery and segregation. All of us, no matter the race, are still struggling to shed our own racial prejudices.

When it comes down to it, America has made a lot of progress, but we still haven’t overcome our history. On this conflicted Fourth of July I can honestly say that all men – and women – are created equal. When will we learn to treat each other that way?

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” – Dr. Martin Luther King

VIDEO: Young, American and Arab

2008-07-04T13:20:00.002-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Since 9-11 anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discrimination is on the rise. In an act that was contrary to his message of change, campaign volunteers for Barack Obama refused to allow two Muslim American women to sit behind the candidate during a June rally at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.

Michigan is home to the largest population of Arabs outside the Middle East. Several young Arab Americans spoke with Nadir about this incident and the tensions they endure every day.

Nader, Obama and 'White Guilt'

2008-06-25T17:21:00.004-04:00

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit that I was a staunch supporter of Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign. In fact a pro-Nader piece I wrote called, "The Lesser of Two Evils or The Greatest Common Good" found its way onto listservs and blogs across the Internet in October of that year.

However, I have become disappointed in Ralph Nader, his decision to abandon the Green Party, and the fight to create a viable option to the nation's oppressive two party system. His actions since 2003 seem self-serving and divisive to me.

So I had to weigh in when I saw that Nader is catching flack for some comments he made to Colorado's Rocky Mountain News recently:

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader said.

"Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards."

And...

"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a Black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law," Nader said. "Haven't heard a thing."

Barack Obama's response to this statement was:

"What's clear is, Ralph Nader hasn't been paying attention to my speeches," he said. "Ralph Nader's trying to get attention. He's become a perennial political candidate. I think it's a shame, because if you look at his legacy ... it's an extraordinary one. ... At this point, he's somebody who's trying to get attention, whose campaign hasn't gotten any traction."

Well, I have two comments to make about that. First of all, I've been to three Obama events in the past six weeks covering election issues for MTV's Street Team '08, and I can say, I haven't heard him talk about these issues either. With the exception of criticizing John McCain's economic stance and his pretty general talking points about improving education for everyone, Obama doesn't say a lot about the conditions of Black folks. If anything, it is most evident that he DOESN'T talk about Blacks much at all. More on that in a minute.

My second comment to Obama's reaction is that he is right. Nader talking about criticizing Obama and the Democrats will get him more press than he'll receive talking about his stance on the issues. The same was true in 2000 when he outlined the differences between him and Al Gore stating that Gore was no different than Bush. This attitude has proven to be horribly false, but the point remains... no one is listening to Ralph Nader's good ideas. They only listen to his controversial statements

Nader said he is not impressed with Obama and that he does not see him campaigning often enough in low-income, predominantly minority communities where there is a "shocking" amount of economic exploitation.

He pointed to issues like predatory lending, shortages of health care and municipal resources, environmental issues and others.

"He wants to show that he is not a threatening . . . another politically threatening African-American politician," Nader said. "He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as Black is beautiful, Black is powerful. Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up."

This may be true, but I've talked to several of my Black friends who like the fact that Obama doesn't speak like a Black politician. He speaks like a winning politician. The absence of race in his rhetoric is calculated, and it is working.

Nader's comments are also calculated. He will raise questions about Obama in an attempt to get some of those votes to swing his way.

What Nader doesn't have this year as he did in 2000 is a national party that is standing behind him. In fact, Cynthia McKinney, a Black woman, is the likely Green Party nominee. McKinney doesn't shy away from discussions of race, and that has gotten her into trouble in the past.

Lebanese-American Nader, on the other hand, was accused of avoiding the issue of race by his supporters during his own 2000 campaign, ignoring racial disparities and couching the debate in terms of class. He hasn't discussed the plight of Arab Americans, and he hasn't talked about the problem of Islamophobia. This is a problem Obama will be forced to address in 2008. What about Nader?

So while I don't agree with the substance of Nader's criticisms, I do disagree with his own hypocrisy. Frankly, this a case of the pot calling the kettle Black?

Is The Surge Working?

2008-06-25T16:27:00.005-04:00

From Huffington Post:

The statement is made in the U.S. media, over and over again, as if it is as factual as the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening: "The surge is working."

But just because the media has parroted the talking points of the Bush administration and John McCain's campaign in making such an assertion, it does not make it true. And a report released by the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) yesterday does something that McCain and the White House probably wish would not be done: actually evaluating progress in Iraq against the goals the administration laid out in January 2007 when undertaking the surge.

Guess what? In many material ways, the surge isn't working. Sorry to rain on the parade of CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, etc. with the facts.

Click HERE to read more

Juneteenth, the Media & History in the Making

2008-06-19T14:08:00.002-04:00

Originally published at Think.MTV.com

The founders of the United States included freedom of the press in the first amendment because they understood that a people cannot truly be free if they don’t have accurate information about what’s going on in their world.

With no access to accurate news and information, 19^th Century African Americans in Galveston, Texas thought they were still slaves, though legally they had been freed. In the 21^st Century we have unprecedented access to tell our own stories, connect and learn from each other, and the ability to change the present and record history as it happens.

The 1^st Annual Juneteenth celebration at The Woodward restaurant on June 18 and the 10^th Annual Allied Media Conference on June 20-22 at Wayne State University, both in Detroit, illustrate the connection between history and the recording of “history in the making”.

THIS Is Why They Want to Attack Iran

2008-06-17T23:36:00.003-04:00

From Reuters via Yahoo News:

The market is full of oil and the rising price trend is "fake and imposed," Iran's president said on Tuesday, partly blaming a weak U.S. dollar which he said was being pushed lower on purpose.
"At a time when the growth of consumption is lower than the growth of production and the market is full of oil, prices are rising and this trend is completely fake and imposed," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech.

"It is very clear that visible and invisible hands are controlling prices in a fake way with political and economic aims," he said when opening a meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, has repeatedly said the market is well-supplied with crude and blames rising prices on speculation, a weak U.S. currency and geopolitical factors.

"As you know the decrease in the dollar's value and the increase in energy prices are two sides of the same coin which are being introduced as factors behind the recent instability," Ahmadinejad said.

With record oil company profits and a sinking world economy, do we need any more proof than Ahmadinejad's statement to know that we are being manipulated by the oil men?

Bush and Cheney created the instability in the Middle East with their illegal invasion of Iraq. They keep it going with their threats against Iran.

Iran's nuclear program isn't a threat. It is this:

Ahmadinejad reiterated his view that oil should be sold in a basket of currencies rather than U.S. dollars, an idea which has failed to win over other OPEC members, except Venezuela.

"The ever-increasing decrease in the dollar's value is one of the world's major problems," he said.

"A combination of the world's valid currencies should become a basis for oil transactions or (OPEC) member countries should determine a new currency for oil transactions," he said.

Iran, embroiled in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program, has for more than two years been increasing its sales of oil for currencies other than the dollar, saying the weak U.S. currency is eroding its purchasing power.

Ahmadinejad, who in the past has called the dollar a "worthless piece of paper," suggested "some big powers" were driving it lower on purpose:

"The planners for some big powers are acting to decrease the dollar's value," he said. "For years they imposed inflation and their own economic problems to other nations by injecting the dollar without any support to the global economy."

Now the dollar is sinking, and Ahmadinejad's advice is logical, but except for Venezuela, OPEC nations have resisted the change. As the U.S. economy edges closer to free fall, how long will those countries keep propping up the greenback?

Click HERE to Read the Full Article

Negotiating With Terrorists

2008-06-17T22:29:00.002-04:00

From George Washington's Blog:

...both Ralph Nader

and attorney, longtime activist and 24-year public defender Bob Fueur

say Congressman John Olver disclosed that Congress is terrified that -- if Bush or Cheney are impeached -- they might bomb Iran, declare martial law and suspend the 2008 elections.

Indeed, leading neocon Daniel Pipes said in a recent interview posted at National Review Online, that if Obama is elected in November, Bush will attack Iran in the remaining ten weeks of his term.

If what Olver or Pipes say is true, then Bush and Cheney are literally terrorists. And Congress is literally negotiating with them by saying - in essence - "please don't bomb Iran or declare martial law and suspend the elections, and we won't impeach you".

I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists.

Read the whole post HERE

AUDIO: Putting Impeachment Back On The Table

2008-06-17T12:16:00.004-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Click HERE to listen to the 3 min 59 second audio report.

Former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich defied Democratic Party leaders when he filed 35 Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush on June 10. A day later members of Veterans for Peace visited the office of Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI) asking him to hold an inquiry.

The Dems say impeachment would be a distraction from the upcoming election, but thousands of Americans believe the Bush Administration should be held accountable for its crimes against humanity.

What do you think?

IMPEACH BUSH: Kucinich Files Articles

2008-06-11T06:51:00.009-04:00

Former presidential candidate Congressman Dennis Kucinich defied Democratic Party leadership by filing Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush on June 9. Despite arguments from constitutional scholars and activists that Bush should be charged with many crimes, the Democrats have consistently ruled that impeachment is "off the table".

View the 48 minute video of the proceedings here.

In November, House leaders killed Kucinich's resolution to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney. Now Kucinich returns with 35 articles that outline the litany of crimes committed by the Bush/Cheney administration. They are expected to do the same this time.

Failure to hold Bush and Cheney accountable for their many crimes is a HUGE mistake, by both the Democrats and the Republicans. It demonstrates to the world that there is no respect for the rule of law in the United States. It demonstrates the Democratic Party's complicity in government policies that have brought the world to the brink of financial chaos and endless war. It sets a dangerous precedent and leaves any new president with the dictatorial powers that Bush and Cheney now possess.

During his campaign this year Barack Obama will tie John McCain to "the failed policies of George W. Bush". If Bush is so bad, why won't Obama put his support behind impeachment when the crimes of the president are so egregious?

In fact, many of the same propaganda tactics that were used to start the Iraq war are being used by Democrats, Republicans and the media to incite a war against Iran, another nation that has not attacked anyone. There is no evidence that Iran's nuclear program is being used for weapons, and there is no evidence that Iran is supplying insurgents in Iraq. Still Obama says Iran is "a threat to us all." John McCain has consistently attempted to tie Iran to Al-Qaeda even though the Shiite Iran and Sunni Al-Qaeda would never work together.

We're being set up again. If the Democrats allow Bush and Cheney to get away with the many crimes listed below they are guilty of aiding and abetting the criminal regime. They will push forward with their plans for war against Iran.

Congressman Kucinich has laid out an extensive indictment of the president. Here is the index of article titles:

Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq

Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of
Aggression

Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War

Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States

Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression

Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114

Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter

Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources

Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX
Imprisoning Children

Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

Bush and Cheney should be impeached, indicted, tried and convicted for high crimes and misdemeanors. If the Democrats refuse to defend the Constitution and do their duty by following through with impeachment, the entire lot should be tarred and feathered.

VIDEO: Obama Brings Message of Change to Troy, Michigan

2008-06-06T18:05:00.002-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Two days after Michigan's delegates were reinstated, and a day before he clinched the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Troy. Nadir asked several first time voters what they thought about Obama's message. Does he speak to the issues they face as young adults in Michigan?

Where is the Presidential Leadership on Gas Prices?

2008-05-29T14:59:00.002-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.com

Everyone is complaining about high gas prices, and after my Memorial Day weekend trip down south, I’m no different. My question is: Why aren’t we seeing any real leadership from the presidential candidates on this issue?

VIDEO: Healthcare Reality Check - Breaking Your Arm and The Bank

2008-05-24T00:08:00.002-04:00

Originally Posted at Think.MTV.com

Healthcare is a huge issue in this year's election (as it is every election). The US is the only industrialized nation that doesn't have universal healthcare.

What happens if you need surgery and you don't have insurance? What are the economic consequences? With rising healthcare costs, insurance is more expensive than ever. What do the candidates have to say about all this? We'll hear from them and from a couple of Michiganders whose lives are affected by the US healthcare system.

Obama's Full Court Press in Michigan

2008-05-15T18:30:00.004-04:00

Originally published at Think.MTV.com

Just one day after the Detroit Pistons advanced to the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals for the sixth season in a row, another basketball playing Mid-Westerner executed a full-court press to defend against accusations that he can’t put his opponent away, and can’t win the big one. After suffering a 41 percentage point pounding by Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary, Barack Obama turned up the heat on his rival with a fast break to Michigan capped by a slam dunk both contenders had prized – the endorsement of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

VIDEO: The Case of the DPS IMac Dump

2008-05-08T22:54:00.001-04:00

Originally Posted at Think.MTV.Com

With a 25% graduation rate and a severe budget deficit, the last thing we should expect to find in our city dumpster is seven working computers with Property of Detroit Public Schools labels on them, but...

Cynthia McKinney & The Green Party: A Viable Option

2008-05-08T22:43:00.001-04:00

Originally Published at Think.MTV.Com

Two U.S. presidential candidates campaigned in Michigan this week. John McCain’s brief return to the state was greeted with great fanfare by an audience of several hundred people at a town hall meeting in suburban Detroit. By contrast, Cynthia McKinney spent a long weekend listening to the grievances of struggling Detroiters, engaging small crowds of local activists, courting independent media and raising money for her presidential campaign.

Cynthia who? In case you haven’t heard, former U.S. Congress member Cynthia McKinney is the front runner for the Green Party’s U.S. presidential nomination. Ms. McKinney would like you to consider the Greens as a viable option to win in 2008.

Read More HERE

VIDEO: Young Detroit for State Rep

2008-05-01T18:04:00.002-04:00

Change is a key buzzword in national politics these days, and young people in Michigan are taking that message to heart. At a time when state politics are in turmoil, several young Detroit natives are proactively taking steps necessary to politically engage and take control of their communities by running for the Michigan state legislature. 23 year-old Coleman Young II is running for his second term in the legislature. Leslie Love and Lee Gaddies are also heeding the call of public service.