Saturday, June 25, 2011

More Jobs And Less War


CNN reported:

On Wednesday night, President Obama announced plans to bring home 33,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by fall 2012. In a prime-time speech, President Obama outlined a plan for what is being called the 'beginning of the end' of the longest war in U.S. history.

Reviewing our multi-war engagement and global troop deployment - Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya (and who knows where else) - it's hard not to think what is the cost and whose interest are we fighting for or against.

Clearly, if we are fighting the never ending war on terrorism our approach is very flawed and problematic.

First, terrorism is a moving target thus, we need to utilize special opps - Deltas, Rangers, Navy Seals etc - to combat this element.

They are highly trained, strategically flexible and specifically calibrated for these types of missions. A conventional military presence appears to be (after 10 years in Afghanistan) ineffective and antiquated.

Second, what are or what were the mission objectives in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya?

Humanitarian or peace keeping missions? (talk about oxymoron)
Over throw the tyrant mission?
Nation building?
Terrorist hunting?
Let's grab the oil mission?

I don't have a clue (but I have my suspicions).

But I do know this: they cost a grip and we ain't got the same grip we used to have. Matter of fact, we are overdrawn (rich folks and corporations decided they don't want to chip in anymore).

I also know, we can't afford to support a corporate imperial America (the real mission objective) - and ain't that about blip, not only do they skip out on their tab, they want us to fight and pay while they (Haliburton) profit.

Talk about a mack move!

One other thing, notice how nations with tyrants but without oil rarely need our peace keeping troops.

All this brings to mind the warning issued by former WWII general Dwight D Eisenhower in his presidential farewell address:
Beware of the Military Industrial Complex.


How crystal ball right he was because instead of jobs we get war - one after another.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Boycott Lil Wayne?


Blogger and scholar of Thyblackman.com, Dr. Boyce Watkins has announced his boycott of rapper Lil Wayne. Watkins writes:

I love hip-hop. I want to support it. I try to understand those who are a few years behind me and support their efforts to become empowered and thoughtful individuals. But after hearing the lyrics from a Lil Wayne song (an artist who’d already pushed me to the edge), I had to take a moment of pause and make a quick comment regarding how he has firmly positioned himself as an enemy of the black community. In the song, “We Be Steady Mobbin,” Lil Wayne says this:

But I can fuck your girl and make her nut for me
Then slut for me, then kill for me, then steal for me
And of course it’ll be your cash
And I’ll murder that bitch and send her body back to your ass”




To be fair, Biggie and NWA - during the golden era of hip hop- lyrics were consistently more profane than Wayne's.

The problem is more acute now because, once upon a time, for every Biggie, there was a KRS 1; for every NWA, there was a Public Enemy; and for every Lil Kim, there was a Queen Latifah.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Wayne can be witty, funny and insightful at times. Wayne is vastly more talented and creative than most of his competition.

Couple years back, I worked part-time at a hip hop club and although I have never purchased nor downloaded Lil Wayne's music, I found some of his stuff a guilty pleasure (just being honest).

I just wish there were more alternatives for hip hop heads - ya know, rappers that can both bless the mic and educate the mind by dropping a lil science in their rhymes.

But each generation has to select its cultural and artistic (or not) icons for self-definition. And as the ever quotable Charles Barkley might say,
Lil Wayne ain't no damn role model.


My issue with Lil Wayne is somewhat rooted in his lyrics but mainly based on the way he continues to diss our beautiful ebony hued sisters in song and off stage.

But at the end of the day, Lil Wayne is an epitome of his era - across all USA cultures, economic classes, races and demographics. This era believes, if you can laugh all the way to the bank - the hell with integrity - you are winning (thanks Charlie Sheen).

Africa: Investment Opportunities




I have been steady posting articles regarding the remarkable emergence of the African market. Currently, many well renown economic experts from around the world - inspite of the many daunting challenges Africa still faces - are singing the praise of high yield investment opportunities. To be precise, investors can expect a higher return on their African investment than other world markets.

Why?

Standard Bank Africa, the parent bank of Stanbic IBTC in Nigeria, belongs to the latter group. “Africa is on the rise”, says Terry Moodley, the bank’s Chief Executive, Personal and Business Banking Africa.

Using a series of data and charts which indicate a continent with rising economic growth rates, rising middle class, increased urbanisation, rapid growth of mobile phones and huge size of uncultivated arable land, he explained to a group of journalists from different African countries why the Standard Bank Group believes that the continent is the best place to invest and do business.


Despite global economic crisis, African countries have been growing at 5 per cent on the average since 2002. Six African countries, having economic growth rates ranging from 7.6 to 11.1 per cent, are among the ten high growth countries in the world from 2001 to 2010. Similarly, seven African countries, having growth rates ranging from 6.8 to 8.1 per cent, have been predicted by the Economist Magazine to be among the 10 high growth economies from 2011 to 2015.

Also the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that 19 African countries would enjoy economic growth rates ranging from 6.0 to 8.5 per cent over the next two years. With these growth rates, the collective gross domestic product (GDP) of African countries is expected to rise to $2.6 trillion by 2020, from $1.6 trillion in 2008.
read more

Monday, June 20, 2011

Obama Impersonator Kicked Off Stage


Reggie Brown’s act was cut short this weekend at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans after he made a number of racially tinged jokes about Obama and proceeded to make fun of a few Republican presidential contenders, reports the Washington Post.

“My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian,” Brown said. He also made a joke about how First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated all of Black History Month but he only celebrated half the month. In addition, Brown showed a picture of Fred Sanford and his sister-in-law Ethel from the show Sanford and Son and said that’s what the Obamas will look like when the president leaves office.


Seems ole Reg received huge applauds and laughs when delivering racial jokes about Obama however, when he poked fun at GOP presidential nomination candidates his mic was cut off, the music kicked in and he was shown the door by an escort.

Typical GOP behavior, they can dish it out but can not take the heat (think Trump, Palin and Bachman) when the joke is on them.

Here is the GOP's explanation for giving our boy Reg the boot...

Brown was eventually escorted off the stage when he was setting up a joke about Michele Bachmann. “I just thought he had gone too far,” said RLC President and CEO Charlie Davis. “He was funny the first 10 or 15 minutes, but it was inappropriate, it was getting ridiculous.”

Translation:

The coon act was very funny and tasteful but, when Toby err I mean - what's that Negro's name - yeah Reggie had the audacity to make fun of good, honest and authentic Americans well that is down right disrespectful and inappropriate.