In the "era of colorblindness" there's a nearly fanatical desire to cling to the myth that we as a nation have "moved beyond" race. We haven't.
Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race."
Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.
Obama's mere presence in the Oval Office is offered as proof that "the land of the free" has finally made good on its promise of equality. There's an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this is what freedom looks like; this is what democracy can do for you. If you are poor, marginalized, or relegated to an inferior caste, there is hope for you. Trust us. Trust our rules, laws, customs, and wars. You, too, can get to the promised land.
Perhaps greater lies have been told in the past century, but they can be counted on one hand. Racial caste is alive and well in America.
Most people don't like it when I say this. It makes them angry. In the "era of colorblindness" there's a nearly fanatical desire to cling to the myth that we as a nation have "moved beyond" race. Here are a few facts that run counter to that triumphant racial narrative:
*There are more African Americans under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.
A proposal to remove donor organs from patients who are dying before they are actually dead, published today in the Dutch medical journal Medisch Contact, has met with fierce criticism.
Dutch Protestant daily Trouw reports that many doctors and the Dutch Kidney Foundation both find the idea "terrible".
"My name is Hector, I got Agent Orange. " said the homeless Viet Nam veteran to the intake clerk.
There are intake clerks at the Service Centers at the local VA Facilities. One of the jobs of these clerks do is to handle any homeless Veterans claims. The weather was getting colder, so all day, the homeless vets had crowded into the reception room and waited impatiently for their turn.
The Sheet in front of the clerk indicated that the Veteran sitting before him was the 25th veteran he had to interview that day. Crowded as it was, the room was noisy and smelled of urine, and other offensive smells.
"I'm sorry Hector" the clerk answered, I didn't get that. Could you lean closer so I can hear you, and say that again?"
Hector did just that much to the sensitivity of the clerk's nostrils.
The clerk looked down at the intake form in front of him. They had gotten through about half the intake questions. The clerk had established that Hector was a combat Viet Nam veteran, 1967-1968, a survivor of the bloody TET offensive. The clerk had also established that Hector indeed was registered for Veterans Administration Services, because Hector had shown the clerk his ID card.
Edi2or: Might I add, consider the source.............
Iran's firebrand President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on Saturday dismissed the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a "big lie," state media reported.
Ahmadinejad has on several occasions questioned the accepted version of the terror strikes on New York and Washington carried out by Al-Qaeda militants which killed nearly 3,000 people.
"September 11 was a big lie paving the way for the invasion of Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism," he was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster.
Ahmadinejad also described the airborne attacks on the World Trade Center twin towers as a "scenario and a complex act of intelligence" services.
A livestock drug banned in 160 nations and responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown and 10 percent mortality in pigs has been approved by the FDA.
The beta agonist ractopamine, a repartitioning agent that increases protein synthesis, was recruited for livestock use when researchers found the drug, used in asthma, made mice more muscular.
Ractopamine is started as the animal nears slaughter.
How does a drug marked, "Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask" become "safe" in human food? With no washout period?
The drug is banned in Europe, Taiwan and China, and more than 1,700 people have been "poisoned" from eating pigs fed the drug since 1998, but ractopamine is used in 45 percent of U.S. pigs and 30 percent of ration-fed cattle.
Some folks will publish anything on Facebook.................
Soldier updates his friends on social network that a force from his battalion scheduled to arrive in Palestinian village. Judea and Samaria Division commander decides to call off detention operation.
An Israel Defense Forces detention operation in the Binyamin region was called off recently, after a soldier updated his friends on the Facebook social network that a force from his battalion was expected to arrive in a Palestinian village.The decision was made by Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon, who feared that the leaked information may put the force in danger.
The operation was held several days later and deemed successful, while the soldier was judged and incarcerated.
What would you say if you were told that airplanes were regularly spraying toxic aerosols in the skies above every major region of the world?
That is exactly what a group of protestors were claiming outside of the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting that was held in San Diego from February 18-22. However, inside the convention center was a different story. The scientists gathered to discuss the "plausibility" of implementing various Geo-engineering campaigns throughout the world, all under the guise that the Earth has a man-made global warming problem that can be solved in-part by spraying aerosol aluminum and other particles into the sky to block the sun. When these scientists were asked about the possibility of existing aerosol programs; they stated that no aerosol spraying programs have been implemented to date. A little confused? Why would protestors gather outside of a meeting making claims that world-wide aerosol programs were under way if scientist were only now discussing the possibility of implementing these programs? Could it be that one of these groups is being deceived?
