2010

Every year in New York city, on Dec. 31 I am told, event organizers include John Lennon's "Imagine. This morning on the SCI-FI channel I watched as a average American family was invaded by aliens. The aliens were on a mission to destroy the earth's people in order to use the land for their own growing population; justifiable they believed, because earthlings were lacking love, compassion and brotherhood.

I ask you to either recall the words of Lennon's imagine, or listen to it. As you do pick one of the following affirmations to use sometimes in this new glorious decade we've all been fortunate enough to begin.


1. The next person I met isn't going to feel contempt towards me.

2. I am a loving being worthy of love, and love is in my reach and comes easily.

3. I am not my wealth or my possessions.

4. The next gay person I meet isn't out to destroy the sanctity of marriage.

5. The next straight person I meet isn't homophobic.

6. The next white person I meet isn't a racist.

7. The next Muslim I meet isn't plotting a terrorist act.

8. The next black person I encounter doesn't have a victim's mentality.

9. I don't have to project my fears, doubts, anger, or my insecurities on difficult situations.

10. Progressives aren't out to destroy America.

11. All Conservative are not filled hate.

These are just few, and I hope you'll create your own as the year progresses. I love everyone that has taken the time to read this. Happy New Years to you all!


 

Inmate 210717- Bernie Kerik

Every now and again in Amerikan jurisprudence a dog does have its day. Such is the day for the former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik.
The former New York city Mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed Kerik to his prior top cop position. Kerik also became a hero after 9/11. The former Commissioner was also considered for Homeland Security Officer before scandal of corruption thwarted his nomination.


 Since that time he has been embroiled in litigation that erupted into bail revocation being ordered by the Hon. Stephen C Robinson. According to the New York Daily News, Judge Robinson became furious and threw Kerik in the clink after prosecutors said the former top cop and the head of his legal defense fund engaged in a subversive campaign to sway potential jurors. Read the charges and the Judges summation here


Photos Courtesy of the New York Daily News and Google Images.

I Would Be Angry Too: Music Stars Make Freedom of Information Demand

Sidebar: As fate would have it I caught the C-Span broadcast of the "Keeper of The Flame Award Ceremony."

The awards are presented by the Neo-Con cabal founded by Frank Gaffney, Jr. This years recipients of the awards was Dick Cheney! Also, practically Cheney's entire former staff received lesser awards described by Gaffney as the "flamettes." Considering the groups interest in furthering nuclear weapons, I say "flamettes" indeed! However, they aren't the story and perhaps I'll pursue a discussion about them at a later date. Suffice it to say that the convicted felon  Lewis "Scooter" Libby also received the "Service Before Self Award", plus a standing ovation.

My current beef though,  is that I agree with the group of musicians, including the "Roots," (currently night show host, Jimmy Fallon's band) and their demand to know if their music was played as part of the torture practices at Guantanamo Bay. If I were a socially conscious artist, I'd be disturbed to think that those detainees will associate my music with those really, really bad experiences.

The list of other musicians and the full story is here.

The Daily Show : Nobody Leaves it There More Than CNN!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Mr. Obama Goes to Oslo, Norway: Recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize!

As you know, the Nobel Peace Prize is on of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

The Peace Prize is presented annually in Oslo, Norway, on December 10th (the anniversary of Nobel's death,) and is the only Nobel Prize not presented in Stockholm, Sweden.

In the title I've linked to the Nobel Prize web-page where they convey stories of phone calls they've made to other prize winners.

The Magic Call

"Minutes just before the announcement, the Prize Awarding institution calls the Nobel Laureates to inform them that they have been awarded the Nobel Prize. These call can come at unexpected times and reach Nobel Laureates in unexpected places. Hear are some recollections of those special moments when the "magic call "came through": Click title link.

Excuse me, Copenhagen who?

See that seal over my right shoulder? That's the seal of one of the most powerful democracies in modern history. That "U," above my left is the first letter of the name of one of the most prosperous democracies in the world; the United States of America. See that portal from which I've cast my gaze and my stride? That's the Presidential Air Craft, Air Force One. I'm Mrs. Barack Obama, the FLOTUS and the mapping of my place in history has just begun!

Timely Update Hat-tip to Shay Riley's Bookerrising Blog: In First Lady's Roots, A Complex Path From Slavery

Heule a Esperanza: It smells like Hope

The Devil is right at home. The Devil, the Devil himself, is right in the house. And the Devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here. [crosses himself] And it smells of sulphur still today.
Thanks to the BBC for this excerpt above which I've linked in the title:

As fiery as his rhetoric was during that appearance in 2006, and even though he chided him, he expressed concerns for his safety,  and was much more conciliatory towards our current President, Obama, yesterday at the UN.

Chavez recalled his infamous 2006 remarks at the UNabout smelling "sulfur" after then-President George Bush spoke - a suggestion that Bush was the devil. Yesterday, he sniffed around the green, marble rostrum and declared, "I don't smell sulfur anymore - it's gone." "Now, it's the smell of something else - it's the smell of hope," he said, referring to Obama. "You have to have hope in your heart.

"I think President Obama is an intelligent man," he added. "And I hope God will protect Obama from the bullets that killed [President John F.] Kennedy." But Chavez also complained there are "two Obamas" - including a bad one who supports military bases in Colombia and maintains economic sanctions against Cuba."

Read more:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/09/25/2009-09-5_venezuela_president_hugo_chavez_keeps_it_light_at_un_general_assembly.html#ixzz0S7hacNOl