Quote Of The Day

“I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”

— Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913), runaway slave and abolitionist

"Fittie" Cent likes Money!!

"50 Cent"..."Just admit it your interested in making money"

Hatip to http://ulmann.blogspot.com/

50 Cent recently has attacked Oprah Winfrey for "turning white" but mostly because Oprah won't interview enough rappers on her show. 50 Cent's complaints include the fact that Oprah is appealing to much to white middle-aged women.

It must be remembered 50 Cent rose to fame not only by being shot at, but by picking on pop rap acts like Ja Rule. 50 Cent putting out a diss on Oprah is just another example of Fity going after easy pop targets.

GrandMaster Melle Mel points out, on his MySpace blog, that 50 Cent's goal is profit, i.e. Oprah Money:

…Hip-Hop.

Once again, we the true Hip-Hop nation have lost another round in the battle of "True Hip-Hop" vs. "The Modern Day Hip-Hop Image". Let me first say this, I, like most inner city niggaz, can not and have not related to Oprah in many years. This makes me the last person to say that I am a fan of her show. So, with that thought in mind, I have nothing to lose or gain by watching or not watching Oprah. But, the truth is that Oprah has done more for the positive image of black people (black women in particular) than anyone we know. For twenty plus fucking years she's been out there doing her thing and never once had, or asked for, the support of any artist, Hip-Hop or otherwise. Like her or hate her, she's just as black as me, you, Kunta Kinte or any other nigga who came out of Africa. Now, all of the sudden these rap niggaz, who already sell more records than Jesus (to 90% white people) want to use The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote that bullshit that they pass off as Hip-Hop.

Let's keep it real. 50 Cent sells a lot of records. He also writes some of the greatest hooks I've ever heard. For a few years he's been as hot as shit on the street and otherwise. But the reality is, 50 Cent sells dope. His image and everything he stands for says he's a dope dealing thug, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Plain and simple. So for him, Ludacris, Ice Cube or any other mother-fucker in the business who thinks that putting Oprah on blast, and questioning her STREET CREDIBILITY, clearly shows that we as a people have lost our fucking minds. What do you think a person that has over one billion dollars should do? Hang out with Shaquita and them and baby-sit her four kids in the projects? Or better yet, put a couple of million out on the street and double her money on the re-up? Or better yet, I got it, her and Martha Stewart can get together and rob a liquor store at gun point? Would you mother-fuckers rather see her do some stupid shit like that?

The bottom line is, when you have Oprah money, you do what you want to do. When I am in the streets of New York City, and I see the Vitamin Water adds on the buses, with pictures of 50 reading the newspaper and holding a poodle, not a pit-bull, but a fucking poodle, do I think 50 sold out? Noooooooo. I think he's trying to sell Vitamin Water. To who? Anybody that would buy it. So he can do what? Hang out in the projects with Ray Ray drinking beer and holding his balls? Noooooooo. He's trying to get Oprah money, so he can do anything he wants to do, just like Oprah. Let's not get the game twisted. He's trying to force Oprah's hand to make Oprah help him promote some shit that she, and for that matter I, don't give a fuck about. 50 Cent and Oprah live in two separate worlds. It should stay that way. They think two separate ways. And, it should stay that way. So for the media and grimey niggaz to portray Oprah as a person who doesn't like Hip-Hop because she doesn't like negative nigga shit, has to be a low point in Niggadom.

Oprah represents, call it sell out or not, a person who has evolved and elevated herself to the highest point of society's elite. And, 50 Cent, call it what you want to call it, hell of an artist, great business man, but bottom line, it might hurt to hear it, is a dope dealing nigga, who if he wore Oprah's shoes, would do the same thing Oprah does. And, so would me or you. So, in parting, if Oprah's selling out, let her. 'Cause Oprah, one day, could run for President, and 50 Cent, could run from the cops.

Or to paraphrase Melle Mel profit is good. People should not be ashamed of making money and the freedom of opportunity it provides.


Where HipHop and Libertarianism Meet

A look at politics and hip-hop from a libertarian
perspective

http://ulmann.blogspot.com/

The Danger of Terrorist Black Holes in Southern Africa

By John Solomon

Al-Qaeda Operative Fazul Mohammed

On March 13, a South African intelligence official warned that a number of international terrorists may be spending time in South Africa, using the country as a safehaven (South Africa Press Association, March 13). Furthermore, in October 2004, the CIA reportedly identified 29 al-Qaeda leaders serving in management and support positions operating from Pakistan and Iraq to South Africa (South Africa Press Association, October 4, 2004).

Recent evidence suggests that prominent al-Qaeda financiers, facilitators and recruiters continue to operate in the generally underreported region of southern Africa. A brief historical survey of these events seems to reveal a discernible pattern that prominent global jihadis—sometimes serving as conduits between UK- and Pakistan-based networks—have used southern Africa as a possible medium through which to not only stage operations, but also secure refuge, money and recruits; all critical factors for executing attacks in support of the movement.

The new terrorism, epitomized by al-Qaeda and the broader jihadi movement, enjoys a dispersed, decentralized and arguably leaderless structure, instructed and driven more by ideology, doctrine and bottom-up social networks than by any one central figure. Since headless, flat organizations and movements are difficult to destroy in the most open, accessible environments, the task becomes even greater in regions riddled with "black holes" where porous borders, swathes of ungoverned space, lawlessness and easy access to arms and illicit trade converge to create comparative advantages for terrorists seeking refuge and support mechanisms for operations and attacks [1]. These opaque corridors, coupled with information technology, afford ample space for jihadi "hubs" to move, nest and grow their networked infrastructure while retaining a quiet, threatening posture worldwide.

Southern Africa exemplifies one such corridor in which al-Qaeda might utilize comparatively advantageous conditions in order to remain viably intact and active. Al-Qaeda franchises are well-placed across west, north and east Africa, with growing signs that southern Africa may have been or is a key support base. Much of southern Africa contains "terrorist black holes" where lawlessness provides terrorists with the means to develop support structures—safehouses, training opportunities, mobility and funding channels—to advance their objectives. The fact that southern Africa has played host to a number of recent incidents involving prominent al-Qaeda facilitators further indicates its use and value, and warrants a closer look at this generally underreported region. With lawlessness, government corruption and a wide-range of preferred terrorist financing methods available—minerals, gemstones, pirated products and narcotics—al-Qaeda could indeed partake in illicit and unregulated trade in southern Africa to sustain itself.

Madagascar

When Jamal Khalifa was found dead in his gemstone mine in southeastern Madagascar in late January, it was unclear which was more puzzling: the murky circumstances surrounding his death, which his brother Malek emphasized to the press, or the more alarming assertion that he was involved in the African gemstone trade (Asharq al-Awsat, February 1). Jamal Khalifa was a widely-suspected al-Qaeda financier linked to a dizzying array of terrorist operatives, plots and front organizations across the globe. Through fronts established in the Philippines, Khalifa reportedly funded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his nephew Ramzi Youssef to execute Operation Bojinka, a plot to simultaneously destroy 12 transpacific airliners bound for the United States from Asian cities. He is notably also credited with the creation of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines (Manila Times, February 1). Since 9/11, Saudi Arabia reportedly restricted Khalifa, who is also Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, to the kingdom and the seafood restaurant that he co-owned with his brother Malek in Jeddah. The fact that an al-Qaeda suspect of this profile maintained mining interests in Madagascar and elsewhere raises questions regarding al-Qaeda's ability to capitalize on ungoverned spaces in southern Africa and beyond for its financing activities.

Coincidently, less than a week after Khalifa's death, Midi Madagaskira, an Antananarivo-based daily, reported that Fazul Mohammed, a Comoros-born al-Qaeda leader, had not only survived a U.S. air strike that targeted him in Somalia, but also had been seen in Majunga, a seaside town in northwest Madagascar [2]. Mohammed allegedly directed the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. If it is true that he found safe passage from Somalia to Madagascar or the Comoros, it strongly suggests that there was an existing support infrastructure there to facilitate his movements. Another possible scenario is that he was directing fighters in Somalia while based in Madagascar or another African country.

Analysts and media reports often also associate Fazul Mohammed with diamond trading in western Africa in the late 1990s. He allegedly organized and took part in a smuggling scheme in Sierra Leone and Liberia through a Senegalese trader named Ibrahim Bah who was also a close associate of the president, Charles Taylor. Coincidently, it may also be remembered that around the same time these alleged al-Qaeda diamond schemes took place, Yassin al-Qadi, another U.S.-designated terrorist financier, invested US$3 million for a 12% interest in Global Diamond Resources, a California-registered company that mined diamonds in South Africa, and another multinational gemstone operation through New Diamond Corp. Ltd., an offshore company that he controlled.

While the two individuals and their involvement in the gemstone trade may not be linked, the use of diamonds for terrorist financing activities is well-known and would most likely take place in southern Africa or other parts of the continent where precious stones are mined and traded.

South Africa

Madagascar is not the only example of a southern African country playing host to prominent jihadi operatives. While South Africa witnessed a spate of terrorist attacks and extremist activities in the Cape Town area by the Salafi-inspired PAGAD and Iranian-sponsored Qibla organizations in the late 1990s, there is perhaps a more worrying trend that prominent al-Qaeda operatives, with a much more global agenda, are using the state as a base of support operations. In January, the United States and the United Nations moved to freeze the assets of South African-based cousins Junaid and Farhad Dockrat for providing material and financial support to al-Qaeda [3]. The cousins illustrate how jihadi hubs—individuals with extensive social networks within the movement—can become tentacles of support that facilitate the movement of human resources and capital to perpetuate the organization.

Junaid Dockrat is a dentist in Johannesburg. Professionals—doctors, lawyers, engineers—tend to be involved in terrorist financing activities more so than their non-professional counterparts and often earn enough through legitimate means to fund terrorism, making it difficult to prevent by conventional anti-money laundering measures. Junaid Dockrat allegedly transferred $120,000 to Hamza Rabia, the now deceased al-Qaeda foreign operations chief, in March and April 2004 to facilitate the movement of South Africans to terrorist camps in Pakistan. The U.S. government also listed Dockrat as a majority co-owner of Sniper Africa, a purported hunting goods store that has been designated as a global terrorist entity [4].

Junaid could have acquired these funds through his legitimate employment as a medical professional and business owner. This illustrates a key challenge and distinction for why combating terrorist financing is difficult and different from traditional anti-money laundering measures. Terrorist financing is reverse money laundering. Terrorists dirty clean money, whereas money launderers and other criminals clean dirty money. Junaid's association with his more visible cousin, Farhad, likely caused Western intelligence services to identify him.

Farhad Dockrat is a Pretoria-based cleric also involved in terrorist financing and other support activities. The United States claims that he financed terrorism through a $62,900 gift he gave to the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan to be forwarded to al-Akhtar Trust, an al-Qaeda charity front. In addition, Farhad seems to be active in Salafi proselytizing networks. He heads the "lavish" Darus Salaam Mosque in Laudium, a nearby suburb, which is reportedly frequented by the Pakistani and Malavian communities (Daily Times, January 30). His son, Muaz, lectures in the adjoining Islamic college. In 2005, Farhad, Muaz and a student were detained for a number of weeks in Gambia where they were suspected of al-Qaeda membership. Dockrat claimed that he was unjustly held and insisted that he was on a religious mission across the region to exchange "Islamic educational techniques" [5]. Perhaps indicative of the effectiveness of these techniques, Farhad's former student, Zoubier Ismail, was detained with other South Africans during a raid on an al-Qaeda safehouse in Pakistan in late 2004.

One pattern that emerges is an apparent South African link to jihadi operatives, often of Pakistani descent, in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Haroon Aswat, another prominent jihadi who was active in Pakistan, though born in Gujarat, India, was detained in Zambia traveling from Zimbabwe in late July 2005 after his phone number was found on all four of London's July 7, 2005 suicide bombers. He reportedly exchanged a flurry of phone calls with each of them while he was in South Africa in the days before the attack (The Times [London], July 31, 2005). Although not conclusive, the phone calls suggest an operational relationship between Aswat in South Africa and the suicide cell in London led by Mohammed Saddiq Khan, who undertook terrorist training in Pakistan with a group of other Britons.

Aswat has an extensive history of links and associations with al-Qaeda and the greater jihadi movement in and out of the United Kingdom and Pakistan and, later, the southern African region. In London in the 1990s, he was an assistant to Abu Hamza at the Finsbury Park Mosque. In 2002, the U.S. government prosecuted him for attempting to establish a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon. Apart from his possible involvement in 7/7, the United States recently linked Aswat to Mohammed al-Ghabra, a designated terrorist financier, facilitator and recruiter based in east London. In 2004, Aswat allegedly met al-Ghabra in Pakistan where al-Ghabra was engaged in extensive terrorist training. The United States also accuses al-Ghabra of recruiting and sending Britons to train and fight in Pakistan and Iraq. Aswat, al-Ghabra and al-Qaeda networks in Pakistan seem to have constituted a triangular link among training activities in Pakistan, financing activities in South Africa and operations and attacks in the United Kingdom.

The case of Abd al-Muhsin al-Libi further illustrates this trend of prominent al-Qaeda operatives using South Africa as a base for terrorist support infrastructures. Al-Libi, also known as Ibrahim Tantouche, emerged in South Africa in February 2004 when he was detained for holding a fake South African passport. Later that year, British security agencies found boxes of South African passports at the home of a suspected al-Qaeda member in Britain. The passports were legitimate passports, not fakes, indicating that they were obtained illegally through a South African government official (The Star [South Africa], July 28, 2004). There seems to be a good possibility that al-Libi acquired the fake passport through al-Qaeda support structures in South Africa.

Al-Libi previously directed the al-Qaeda terrorist financing fronts, the Afghan Support Committee and Revival of Islamic Society. Both operated under charity covers and diverted money to al-Qaeda that was raised for orphans who in reality were either dead or non-existent. Although his current whereabouts are not publicly known, as of November 2005 he was in South Africa, free and awaiting the outcome of a political asylum application.

Conclusion

While these terrorist activities give indication that southern Africa could offer sanctuaries for prominent jihadis to support or plot future terrorist attacks, these same events may also suggest that the U.S.-led efforts are resulting in tactical victories. Key sectors of the network seem to be emerging. Khalifa's appearance in Madagascar is worrying because it signifies that important terrorist financing mechanisms such as diamond trading may be available to high-profile al-Qaeda associates. Yet, at the same time, travel bans, asset freezes and the detainment of prominent operatives also suggest in each of the cases cited that important victories are being won.

Identifying and neutralizing terrorist support infrastructures are a critical part of any successful counter-terrorism strategy. The United States' announcement that the Pentagon will create an African Central Command in 2008, while explained at least in part by energy security and balancing China, may also indicate that the United States will continue to monitor and increasingly dismantle these jihadi support hubs and prevent them from proliferating further.

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370277

~Just a note The Boston Globe has done a great series
on oil concerns on the continent of Africa. These articles
explains why in the future the unstable nations of Africa
will become part of the west fight against radical Islam.


GLOBE SERIES: Oil in Africa

PART 1: Burdens of oil weigh on Nigerians

PART 2: In oil-rich nation, charges of skimming

PART 3: Oil wealth helping few of Angola's poor

Mugabe gives police licence to kill

Police officers throughout Zimbabwe have now been authorised to use firearms against civilians whenever violence erupts on the streets.

They have been told that if they shoot a civilian dead they will not face a murder charge. A source at Harare central police headquarters confirmed today that this decision was taken on Monday morning at a regular briefing meeting.

On Monday afternoon the instruction was radioed to police stations throughout the country. Each police officer is to have a daily allocation of five rounds of ammunition, and stocks are sufficient for the entire Zimbabwe force.

"Authorities fear that if the police do not adopt a hard stance against the growing number of violent activities, the situation might get out of hand," said the source.

He referred to the petrol bombing last week of a crowded passenger train from Harare to Bulawayo, when fortunately only five people were injured. "They anticipate further violence after the lifting of bans on political rallies and the impending strike called by the trade unions in early April," he said.

The move to arm all police, even those with no training in weaponry and its use, is thought also to have come after a March 12 memo to the Zimbabwean government from Police Chief Augustine Chihuri. In the memo - reported in this column on March 21 - Chihuri said he needed to spend Z$5 trillion (£125m) to get his force up to strength, re-trained and re-equipped. It is not known whether he has yet sourced all or part of that money. But the Central Bank of Zimbabwe has a simple method to finance projects which are deemed urgent. It just prints the money.

~There will be a news conference very very soon where the following will speak out against the oppression of blacks in Zimbabwe:

Harry Belafonte, John Conyers, Charles Rangel, Sheila Jackson Lee, William J. Jefferson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Barbara Lee, Barack Obama, Maxine Waters, Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. and Alcee L. Hastings.

All will speak out against this horrid civil rights travesty and demand that Mugabe step down and that the US do something about it, including boycotting companies that do business in South Afri...er...Zimbabwe.

Later, pigs will fly.

"Richard Pryor on the N word"

Marcus Skelton becomes statechairman of DC Young Republicans

~HipHopRepublican.com is pleased to announce that our very own Marcus Skelton offically took over as statechairman of the DC Young Republicans today!Marcus from time to times writes articles for this blog and is from Washignton,DC where he ran for city counsil.

"We congratulate Marcus for his appointment and look foward to watching his career soar".

Growing up in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, Marcus believes that playing sports and his parents sending him to a local church to participate in Boy Scouts were major factors that deterred him from the dangers of the neighborhood he lived in. As a son of a former union president Marcus developed a strong work ethic and an understanding that business and labor need balance and communication to exist.

Marcus was a two-sport athlete at Crossland High School lettering in football and track. And as part of his Eagle Scout project Marcus restored his high school stadium, which saved the county thousand of dollars in labor hours. He went on to Bowie State University where he received his B.S. in Communications and his M.A. in Human Resource Development. Academically, he received Bowie State’s Scholar Athlete Award in 2001 and 2002.

On the field he received 1st Team All-CIAA and 2nd Team Daktronics All American honors as a three-year starter on Bowie’s football team. Marcus also volunteered with The Office of External Relations fundraising for athletics and Bowie’s general scholarship fund. As chapter president of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. he raised thousands of dollars for local charities. As a service to on-campus students, Marcus managed the fraternity’s wake-up call program. He coordinated fraternities tutoring program which helped students pass the Maryland Functional Math Test.

Marcus has a strong passion for career development and local politics. He help redesigned the Community College of Baltimore County’s Fellows Leadership Development Program and trained Southern Maryland Tri County Community Action Committee Head Start program staff after they hired a new executive staff. Currently, Marcus resides in Southeast Washington D.C. He enjoys distance running, football, golf, and reading.

John Coltrane - Central Park West

John Coltrane (soprano sax) McCoy Tyner (piano) Steve Davis (bass) Elvin Jones (drums

Absolutely Beautiful

Giving Kids Ghetto Names!

Imagine going to school with a chick that named her child "Lanautica" because in the mid 90's, the hottest clothing line was Nautica. You may think this is funny but in fact these names which I prefer to call "ghetto names" are nothing but forms of child abuse! Some will say that it shows the creativity of our people, I say not. What its shows is a limited vocabulary alongside bad taste and parenting skills.

Those kind of names automatically bring about a stereotype in someones head. I think this line from 'Coach Carter' sum's it up nicely, "Ring, ring the ghetto called it wants its name back". On a job application form you automatically know that it's a black person you're dealing with, some employers will see that and throw the application away without even giving the person a chance. Who knows if they were to meet the applicant they may have been impressed loosed any stereotype they held and employed them.

Tanzania's Politics

Hatip Bookerrisng

http://bookerrising.blogspot.com/

The Economist (Britain) discusses that there have been few changes since a new president took office more than a year ago: "Just over a year ago, Jakaya Kikwete won a landslide victory in the presidential poll, securing more than 80% of the popular vote. Tanzanians were clearly optimistic that the dynamism of Mr Kikwete's campaign would be translated into government, and that the new administration would be capable of pushing ahead with an ambitious reform agenda on multiple fronts.

Unfortunately, the reality is rather different, with the government beset by corruption allegations and bogged down in a seemingly never-ending power crisis. In fact, it has arguably become a mirror image of Benjamin Mkapa's administration, which, while capable, was hardly inspiring. To be fair, many of the problems experienced since Mr Kikwete's election—such as the power crisis in 2006—were inherited from the Mkapa government, while the new president stresses that his tenure should be judged over the full five-year term rather than his first 12 months in office.

"It continues: "Another problem with the Kikwete presidency may be more fundamental. During his first year in office all the major decisions appear to have been made by the president himself. Mr Kikwete and the first lady are clearly the centre of attention and the locus of political power. The vice-president, who was not selected as a running mate by Mr Kikwete, has been sidelined, while the prime minister, Edward Lowassa, appears loyal but not particularly dynamic. This centralisation of power does not necessarily have to be a problem—it is arguably common in many African countries—but it has become one because of the substantial amount of time the president has spent abroad in his first year in office. He claims this is necessary in order to raise the profile of the country and to attract foreign investment, but the rest of the government seems unable to make important decisions in his absence.

There is a flurry of activity whenever the president returns from a foreign visit, but this quickly dies away with his next trip, and on his return the focus of attention has moved on and there is little follow-up with respect to implementation. In one sense this isn't crucially important. The Economist Intelligence Unit expects growth to be robust at around 6-7% in 2007, and inflation relatively low, thanks to the end of the power crisis in early 2007, good rains, high commodity prices, a stable macroeconomic environment and large donor inflows. However, it does mean that the government is unlikely to get to grips with the challenges need to turn Tanzania into an economy with a growth rate of between 7-10% a year—the level required to make sustained inroads into high levels of poverty in the country."

UK Documentary on "The Great Global Warming Swindle"

Harlem Republicans Speak Up

Columbia conservatives and black Republicans from Harlem discussed the implications of being minorities as conservatives on Columbia's campus and Republicans within the black community on Wednesday night.

In honor of Black Heritage Month, the College Republicans and college conservatives invited several black members of the Republican party to speak about the current political scene for African-American Republicans. The event, closed to the press, was also sponsored by the Columbia Political Review and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Speakers included Will Brown, Republican district leader of the 70th assembly district, Stephen King, part-time commissioner of the foreign claims settlement commission, and JoLinda Ruth Cogen, Republican associate district leader of the 70th assembly district and New York state coordinator of Republicans for black empowerment.

The politicians discussed the difficulties of overcoming the stereotype that all African Americans are Democrats. Christopher Lanzillotti, a Republican New York state assembly candidate, recalled Cogen's sentiment that other African Americans often agreed with her views until they discovered her political affiliation.

"It can never be a mistake to engage in intellectual exchange, and given the perception the populous have of Republicans and black Republicans, ... any opportunity to appear on any stage is always advantageous for black Republicans," Brown said. "We welcome the opportunity to make our presence known."

Following the speeches was a discussion between those present, which included both Republicans and Democrats, about the state of the Republican party, and the experience of being a minority as both a conservative at Columbia and Republican within the black community.

Chris Kulawik, CC '08 and president of the College Republicans, said he thought the event was a success because it increased awareness of the diversity within the Republican party. "People are surprised to hear that there are black Republicans," he said. "It shouldn't be a surprise, and the fact that it's a surprise is very telling."

Christopher Tortoriello, CC '08 and director of intergroup relations for the College Republicans, added that he thought the discussion would help to overcome the perception that Republicans on campus have little interaction with cultural groups.

"It links two groups of people-Republicans and African Americans-in a way people wouldn't expect," Tortoriello said. "It provides us a nice setting to talk about political issues the country faces today. Without having them [Harlem Republicans] come here, we would never get a chance to hear them speak and articulate their views."

Yoav Guttman, GS and JTS, said that he found the discussion to be refreshing compared to what he described as a one-sided political exchange that often occurs on campus. "All the guests really emphasized a willingness to dialogue about the issues and talk it out," he said.


The Harlem Republican Club is the official Republican District Club for the 70th Assembly District, covering historic Central Harlem and parts of Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights, and Sugar Hill.

http://www.nycrepublican.org/hrc/index.htm

'I Put A Spell On You'. Nina Simone (1968)

Nina sings the Screamin' Jay Hawkins hit, her way, in London, 1968.

Hip-Hop vs. Bill O'Reilly

This is an interesting video but I'm not sure a principal that uses "conversating" should be a principal.

"AL QAEDA IN AFRICA"

The picture to the side is of brave rescue workers pulling an injured man from the ruins of a neighboring building after a powerful blast detonated next to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1998.

Islamist al-Qaeda members were blamed for the explosion, which killed over 200 people and injured over 1,600.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS.


The Danger of Terrorist Black Holes in Southern Africa

Jamestown.org / Terrorism Monitor ^

On March 13, a South African intelligence official warned that a number of international terrorists may be spending time in South Africa, using the country as a safehaven (South Africa Press Association, March 13).Furthermore, in October 2004, the CIA reportedly identified 29 al-Qaeda leaders serving in management and support positions operating from Pakistan and Iraq to South Africa (South Africa Press Association, October 4, 2004). Recent evidence suggests that prominent

al-Qaeda financiers, facilitators and recruiters continue to operate in the generally underreported region of southern Africa. A brief historical survey of these events seems to reveal a discernible pattern that prominent global jihadis—sometimes serving as conduits between UK- and Pakistan-based networks—have used southern Africa as a possible medium through which to not only stage operations, but also secure refuge, money and recruits; all critical factors for executing attacks in support of the movement.

The new terrorism, epitomized by al-Qaeda and the broader jihadi movement, enjoys a dispersed, decentralized and arguably leaderless structure, instructed and driven more by ideology, doctrine and bottom-up social networks than by any one central figure. Since headless, flat organizations and movements are difficult to destroy in the most open, accessible environments, the task becomes even greater in regions riddled with "black holes" where porous borders, swathes of ungoverned space, lawlessness and easy access to arms and illicit trade converge to create comparative advantages for terrorists seeking refuge and support mechanisms for operations and attacks [1]. These opaque corridors, coupled with information technology, afford ample space for jihadi "hubs" to move, nest and grow their networked infrastructure while retaining a quiet, threatening posture worldwide.

Southern Africa exemplifies one such corridor in which al-Qaeda might utilize comparatively advantageous conditions in order to remain viably intact and active. Al-Qaeda franchises are well-placed across west, north and east Africa, with growing signs that southern Africa may have been or is a key support base. Much of southern Africa contains "terrorist black holes" where lawlessness provides terrorists with the means to develop support structures—safehouses, training opportunities, mobility and funding channels—to advance their objectives. The fact that southern Africa has played host to a number of recent incidents involving prominent al-Qaeda facilitators further indicates its use and value, and warrants a closer look at this generally underreported region. With lawlessness, government corruption and a wide-range of preferred terrorist financing methods available—minerals, gemstones, pirated products and narcotics—al-Qaeda could indeed partake in illicit and unregulated trade in southern Africa to sustain itself.

Madagascar

When Jamal Khalifa was found dead in his gemstone mine in southeastern Madagascar in late January, it was unclear which was more puzzling: the murky circumstances surrounding his death, which his brother Malek emphasized to the press, or the more alarming assertion that he was involved in the African gemstone trade (Asharq al-Awsat, February 1). Jamal Khalifa was a widely-suspected al-Qaeda financier linked to a dizzying array of terrorist operatives, plots and front organizations across the globe. Through fronts established in the Philippines, Khalifa reportedly funded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his nephew Ramzi Youssef to execute Operation Bojinka, a plot to simultaneously destroy 12 transpacific airliners bound for the United States from Asian cities. He is notably also credited with the creation of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines (Manila Times, February 1). Since 9/11, Saudi Arabia reportedly restricted Khalifa, who is also Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, to the kingdom and the seafood restaurant that he co-owned with his brother Malek in Jeddah. The fact that an al-Qaeda suspect of this profile maintained mining interests in Madagascar and elsewhere raises questions regarding al-Qaeda's ability to capitalize on ungoverned spaces in southern Africa and beyond for its financing activities.

Coincidently, less than a week after Khalifa's death, Midi Madagaskira, an Antananarivo-based daily, reported that Fazul Mohammed, a Comoros-born al-Qaeda leader, had not only survived a U.S. air strike that targeted him in Somalia, but also had been seen in Majunga, a seaside town in northwest Madagascar [2]. Mohammed allegedly directed the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. If it is true that he found safe passage from Somalia to Madagascar or the Comoros, it strongly suggests that there was an existing support infrastructure there to facilitate his movements. Another possible scenario is that he was directing fighters in Somalia while based in Madagascar or another African country.

Analysts and media reports often also associate Fazul Mohammed with diamond trading in western Africa in the late 1990s. He allegedly organized and took part in a smuggling scheme in Sierra Leone and Liberia through a Senegalese trader named Ibrahim Bah who was also a close associate of the president, Charles Taylor. Coincidently, it may also be remembered that around the same time these alleged al-Qaeda diamond schemes took place, Yassin al-Qadi, another U.S.-designated terrorist financier, invested US$3 million for a 12% interest in Global Diamond Resources, a California-registered company that mined diamonds in South Africa, and another multinational gemstone operation through New Diamond Corp. Ltd., an offshore company that he controlled. While the two individuals and their involvement in the gemstone trade may not be linked, the use of diamonds for terrorist financing activities is well-known and would most likely take place in southern Africa or other parts of the continent where precious stones are mined and traded.

South Africa

Madagascar is not the only example of a southern African country playing host to prominent jihadi operatives. While South Africa witnessed a spate of terrorist attacks and extremist activities in the Cape Town area by the Salafi-inspired PAGAD and Iranian-sponsored Qibla organizations in the late 1990s, there is perhaps a more worrying trend that prominent al-Qaeda operatives, with a much more global agenda, are using the state as a base of support operations. In January, the United States and the United Nations moved to freeze the assets of South African-based cousins Junaid and Farhad Dockrat for providing material and financial support to al-Qaeda [3]. The cousins illustrate how jihadi hubs—individuals with extensive social networks within the movement—can become tentacles of support that facilitate the movement of human resources and capital to perpetuate the organization.

Junaid Dockrat is a dentist in Johannesburg. Professionals—doctors, lawyers, engineers—tend to be involved in terrorist financing activities more so than their non-professional counterparts and often earn enough through legitimate means to fund terrorism, making it difficult to prevent by conventional anti-money laundering measures. Junaid Dockrat allegedly transferred $120,000 to Hamza Rabia, the now deceased al-Qaeda foreign operations chief, in March and April 2004 to facilitate the movement of South Africans to terrorist camps in Pakistan. The U.S. government also listed Dockrat as a majority co-owner of Sniper Africa, a purported hunting goods store that has been designated as a global terrorist entity [4]. Junaid could have acquired these funds through his legitimate employment as a medical professional and business owner. This illustrates a key challenge and distinction for why combating terrorist financing is difficult and different from traditional anti-money laundering measures. Terrorist financing is reverse money laundering. Terrorists dirty clean money, whereas money launderers and other criminals clean dirty money. Junaid's association with his more visible cousin, Farhad, likely caused Western intelligence services to identify him.

Farhad Dockrat is a Pretoria-based cleric also involved in terrorist financing and other support activities. The United States claims that he financed terrorism through a $62,900 gift he gave to the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan to be forwarded to al-Akhtar Trust, an al-Qaeda charity front. In addition, Farhad seems to be active in Salafi proselytizing networks. He heads the "lavish" Darus Salaam Mosque in Laudium, a nearby suburb, which is reportedly frequented by the Pakistani and Malavian communities (Daily Times, January 30). His son, Muaz, lectures in the adjoining Islamic college. In 2005, Farhad, Muaz and a student were detained for a number of weeks in Gambia where they were suspected of al-Qaeda membership. Dockrat claimed that he was unjustly held and insisted that he was on a religious mission across the region to exchange "Islamic educational techniques" [5]. Perhaps indicative of the effectiveness of these techniques, Farhad's former student, Zoubier Ismail, was detained with other South Africans during a raid on an al-Qaeda safehouse in Pakistan in late 2004.

One pattern that emerges is an apparent South African link to jihadi operatives, often of Pakistani descent, in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Haroon Aswat, another prominent jihadi who was active in Pakistan, though born in Gujarat, India, was detained in Zambia traveling from Zimbabwe in late July 2005 after his phone number was found on all four of London's July 7, 2005 suicide bombers. He reportedly exchanged a flurry of phone calls with each of them while he was in South Africa in the days before the attack (The Times [London], July 31, 2005). Although not conclusive, the phone calls suggest an operational relationship between Aswat in South Africa and the suicide cell in London led by Mohammed Saddiq Khan, who undertook terrorist training in Pakistan with a group of other Britons.

Aswat has an extensive history of links and associations with al-Qaeda and the greater jihadi movement in and out of the United Kingdom and Pakistan and, later, the southern African region. In London in the 1990s, he was an assistant to Abu Hamza at the Finsbury Park Mosque. In 2002, the U.S. government prosecuted him for attempting to establish a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon. Apart from his possible involvement in 7/7, the United States recently linked Aswat to Mohammed al-Ghabra, a designated terrorist financier, facilitator and recruiter based in east London. In 2004, Aswat allegedly met al-Ghabra in Pakistan where al-Ghabra was engaged in extensive terrorist training. The United States also accuses al-Ghabra of recruiting and sending Britons to train and fight in Pakistan and Iraq. Aswat, al-Ghabra and al-Qaeda networks in Pakistan seem to have constituted a triangular link among training activities in Pakistan, financing activities in South Africa and operations and attacks in the United Kingdom.

The case of Abd al-Muhsin al-Libi further illustrates this trend of prominent al-Qaeda operatives using South Africa as a base for terrorist support infrastructures. Al-Libi, also known as Ibrahim Tantouche, emerged in South Africa in February 2004 when he was detained for holding a fake South African passport. Later that year, British security agencies found boxes of South African passports at the home of a suspected al-Qaeda member in Britain. The passports were legitimate passports, not fakes, indicating that they were obtained illegally through a South African government official (The Star [South Africa], July 28, 2004). There seems to be a good possibility that al-Libi acquired the fake passport through al-Qaeda support structures in South Africa.

Al-Libi previously directed the al-Qaeda terrorist financing fronts, the Afghan Support Committee and Revival of Islamic Society. Both operated under charity covers and diverted money to al-Qaeda that was raised for orphans who in reality were either dead or non-existent. Although his current whereabouts are not publicly known, as of November 2005 he was in South Africa, free and awaiting the outcome of a political asylum application.

Conclusion

While these terrorist activities give indication that southern Africa could offer sanctuaries for prominent jihadis to support or plot future terrorist attacks, these same events may also suggest that the U.S.-led efforts are resulting in tactical victories. Key sectors of the network seem to be emerging. Khalifa's appearance in Madagascar is worrying because it signifies that important terrorist financing mechanisms such as diamond trading may be available to high-profile al-Qaeda associates. Yet, at the same time, travel bans, asset freezes and the detainment of prominent operatives also suggest in each of the cases cited that important victories are being won.

Identifying and neutralizing terrorist support infrastructures are a critical part of any successful counter-terrorism strategy. The United States' announcement that the Pentagon will create an African Central Command in 2008, while explained at least in part by energy security and balancing China, may also indicate that the United States will continue to monitor and increasingly dismantle these jihadi support hubs and prevent them from proliferating further.

The Disastrous Mr. Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has spent much of his 26-plus years in power suppressing all opposition, persecuting defenseless minorities and destroying a once

-promising economy. He has shamelessly tried to deflect all blame for the disastrous consequences — including a man-made famine and a catastrophically mishandled

H.I.V./AIDS epidemic — onto international scapegoats, chiefly Britain and the

United States.

Now, the 83-year-old Mr. Mugabe seems to have descended into total power-madness.

He has barred opponents from leaving the country, ordered his thugs to literally crack the

skulls of opposition leaders, accused his own party’s youth group of plotting against him,

and told Western critics to “go hang.” Last week, he threatened to run again in 2008 for

another six-year term.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

~Why is the NYT upset?

After all, he's a socialist who liberated his country, didnt he?
I guess maybe theyre worried the impending holocaust over there will make them look
bad for all their previous years of cheerleading this despot. Only when things go to hell
in a handbasket do they "find religion". I guess timing is everything.The sad thing about this is Mugabe's rule is more proof that Africa's greatest curse is her own leaders.

Funny Quotes

"If you don't believe in trickle down economics - then how do you explain John Kerry's lifestyle after he married Tereza Heinz Kerry?"

"Liberal intentions always have the opposite affect! California is the most liberal of places and yet it is the most unaffordable of places!"

"Howard Dean (a millionaire) boasted during his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention that he accepted a contribution from a disabled woman that scraped together $50.00. Is this something to boast about?"

"During the 2000 Presidential election, Democrats were trying to disqualify U.S. Military votes while welcoming the votes of convicted felons. That tells me all I need to know."

Do you know what the definition of spin is? When Democrats call Republicans "absolutely unconsciencable!"

"Clinton created millions of jobs? The Internet created millions of jobs. Clinton squandered those jobs when he used the Justice Department to break up Microsoft."

"Liberals are worried about what the rest of the world thinks of America. The rest of the world should be worried about what America thinks of them."

"Democrats believe that if it feels good - do it. Republican's believe that if it is good - do it!"




"Here is a question to ask liberals that blame President Bush for a loss of jobs in America. What was worse for the economy and the loss of jobs- the attacks on 9/11 or George W. Bush being elected President? Their answer will tell you everything that you need to know!"


"Liberals blame George Bush for American jobs going overseas, when it is actually caused by the over-regulation and higher taxes enacted by them!"

Throughout the course of history and still today- conservatives have sacrificed their party for the good of the country- liberals have sacrificed the good of the country for the sake of their party."


"Liberals believe that the only way to reduce the federal deficit is to raise taxes or cut spending. This shows their ignorance and lack of understanding of how the economy works. If tomorrow 20 million new jobs are created- the federal deficit reduces because 20 million more people are paying taxes and yet taxes weren't raised and spending wasn't cut."

"Liberals say Republicans are pro-business and anti-environment. Yet- in the same breath liberals will say that they are better for the economy!"

"Why must the United States remain strong? It has been proven throughout history that the most evil in society pick on the weakest in society!"


"To understand the difference in thinking between conservatives and liberals - a conservative sees a murder and sees a murderer, a liberal sees a murder and sees a victim."

Self-Help Website Of The Week

Mothers In Charge was founded by Dorothy Johnson-Speight as a community advocacy and support organization for families affected by violence. Her 24-year-old son was murdered over a parking space in December 2001. Mothers In Charge's mission is violence prevention, education and intervention for youth, young adults, families and community organizations. In addition, Mothers In Charge works with elected officials on legislation to support safe neighborhoods and communities for children and families and collaborates with community and faith based organizations.

(hat tip: DarkStar Spouts Off)

Another American Babie is missing (3/18/07)

JASMINE RUMPH

Case Type: Endangered Missing
DOB: Jul 16, 1988
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Feb 3, 2007
Race: Black
Age Now: 18
Height: 5′11″ (180 cm)
Missing City: SEAT PLEASANT
Weight: 210 lbs (95 kg)
Missing State : MD
Hair Color: Black
Missing Country: United States
Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMA1063825
Circumstances: Jasmine was last seen on February 3, 2007. She may still be in the local area.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children - 1-800-843-5678

SPECIAL NOTE: This case was initiated pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 5779. The individual pictured on this poster was reported missing when he or she was between the ages of 18 and 20. Law enforcement has entered this case in the FBI National Crime Information Center database and has asked NCMEC to disseminate this poster.

Prince Georges County Police Department (Maryland) 1-301-333-4000

Child slavery in Haiti

by Duane

This is a piece that I found in the BBC this morning. While it shines a light on a little known problem in Haiti, IMO, the author goes way out of his way to make a case that poverty causes people to enslave one another. This says a lot about how he really thinks about Haitian people in general.

Jeanette is walking up a hill in Petionville, a district in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. She is carrying a huge blue drum full of water on her head. Jeanette is only six, but has to walk 4km (2.4 miles) every day to get the water from the public standpipe.Jeanette was born in the countryside outside the small town of Hinche in the north of the country.

Her parents are among the poorest of the poor in this country where more than half the population of 9m lives on less than 50 US cents (£0.25) a day.Her father one day told her she was going to stay with (French: rester avec) distant relatives in the Haitian capital. Ever since, Jeanette has become one of the estimated 250,000 children used as near-slave labour in Haiti.

(more…)

Dr. Robin Armstrong elected Vice Chairman of Texas Republican Party

Born in Texas City and raised next door in La Marque, Texas, the thirty seven year old physician has a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and a Medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. After completing his residency in Internal Medicine, Dr. Armstrong now serves on the staff at Mainland Medical Center in Texas City where he was born, just down the street from his boyhood home.

Dr. Armstrong was a wide receiver on the La Marque Cougars high school football team that played in the 5A state championship in 1987; he also ran the 800 meters and the two-mile relay in track and field.

Raised in a political household, Dr. Armstrong’s father Robert was a long time La Marque ISD School Board Trustee. Dr. Armstrong is a born again Christian who accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior while a sophomore at Texas A & M. Dr. Armstrong also became a Republican that year because his strong pro-life beliefs would not allow him to abide the Democratic party’s immoral position on abortion.

Dr. Armstrong is involved in politics because he loves this country that has given him opportunity after opportunity. He sees our nation drifting away from the values that made her great. It is his desire to do everything within his power to promote and defend our conservative principles all throughout our land.

Dr. Armstrong agrees with Chairman Benkiser that the Republican Party of Texas must expand our conservative base to maintain our Party’s success in the future. It is not enough to preach to the choir; we must continue to grow by reaching out to people of faith, professional groups, and minorities who have been abandoned by liberalism; he is committed to working with Chairman Benkiser to win the cultural war and secure our Republican majority far into the future.

Dr. Armstrong has been married to his wife Martha for eight years; Martha is also a medical doctor and the Armstrong’s have two sons: Daniel and Gabriel.

The Armstrong’s are active in the Abundant Life Christian Center in La Marque, where Dr. Armstrong is a Men’s Bible Study Group Leader. Dr. Armstrong is also a member of the Galveston Pachyderm Club, the Texas Eagle Forum, and an associate member of the following Republican Women’s Clubs: Clear Creek, Sandpiper, Galveston, and Midland County.

http://www.texasgop.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Armstrong_Bio

NBRA At CPAC 2007

So the National Black Republican Association which supposedly represents
black Republicans emailed me pics from there CPAC meeting. For the record
I have not joined and do not plan on it I think I am way to moderate for the group.
The group has allot of work in front of it before I join, like condemning Ann Coulters
"our blacks are smarter" joke at CPAC!


The NBRA Annual Meeting was held Friday morning, March 2, 2007 in the Palladian Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, the same hotel as the 2007 CPAC Conference. The newly elected NBRA officers were installed for their 2007-2009 terms and provided with the NBRA annual report and financial statement.










http://www.nationalblackrepublicans.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.NBRAnewsAnnualMeeting&tp_preview=true

The meeting continued with the NBRA Pioneer Award Ceremony with the theme: Celebrating Black Republicans - From Frederick Douglass to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Dr. Condoleezza Rice. The keynote speaker was The Honorable Alphonso Jackson, Secretary, US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 2007 Pioneer honorees were: Ms. Angela McGowan, Pioneer of the Year; The Honorable Alphonso Jackson; Florida Representative Jennifer Carroll; The Honorable J.C. Watts; Dr. Thomas Sowell; Dr. Shelby Steele; Mr. Charles McLeod; Ms. Barbara Howard; and Mr. Reginal Bohannon.

more pics
http://www.nationalblackrepublicans.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.NBRA%20At%20CPAC%202007&x=8648222

Disney Films Go From Snow White To A Black Princess

Walt Disney will soon have a new heroine — a black princess. After years of criticism for alleged white bias and stereotyping black Americans, the company responsible for Snow White will release a film in 2009 entitled "The Frog Princess", starring a black animated princess (pictured) called Maddy.

Like her white Disney sisters — Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, the Little Mermaid, and the beauty from "Beauty and the Beast" — Maddy will get her own product line of toys, books, clothing, DVDs, furniture and other merchandise, sold under the Disney Princess brand. Aimed at girls aged 3 to 8, Disney Princess toys have generated $3 billion in sales. Disney hopes that by creating a character who appeals to blacks, sales will increase even further.

Election Watch: Is President Obasanjo Another Sit-Tight African Leader?

Hatip to Bookerising

Asks Godwin Nanna about Nigeria's president (pictured), observing that many African leaders see themselves as maximum rulers fully capable of reigning over their beleaguered people for as long as they desire:

"These sit-tight leaders are to be found in every corner of Africa from Tripoli to Libreville, Cairo to Harare. They apply every trick in the book from bribery to intimidation, to perpetuate themselves in office. They stay so long in office that mis-governance even when not intended, becomes an inescapable side effect of their unending tenure. Thus we see on the African continent a terrible tale of ignorance, hunger and disease.

Where the rest of the world is moving forward, we see among the African nations retardation into greater squalor and wretchedness at the same time as their rulers and their friends pillory the resources of citizens in distress for fattened bank accounts abroad."Mr. Nanna continues his commentary about Nigerian politics: "While I am not a die-hard proponent of western style democracy, I believe that Africa must evolve its own style of representative governance that is people-oriented and that seeks to project a common goal. By whatever name such government is called, it should be such that ensures that the will of the majority prevails.

Some are already accusing Obasanjo of deliberating heightening tensions in Nigeria so that he can perpetuate himself in office much longer. I do not think that is the intention of the president but I am worried that Obasanjo is yet to know that in a multi-ethnic and highly diverse country like Nigeria, opposition is good for governance.....Obasanjo should allow the people to decide who rules them instead of trying to usurp the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission or manipulating it to fulfil personal desires. Nigerians have seen a lot of crises in the history of the country and are not willing to be subjected to another such ordeal. Let’s build more houses for Nigerians rather than refugee camps."

Radical Islam at Concordia Univeristy

This is a documntory of leftist antisemitism on a Univeristy
campus, the video is shocking and a glimpse at what liberal
thug's mean when they seek "freedom of speech".












In September 2002, we covered the story of the violent demonstrations at Montreal’s Concordia University that forced the cancellation of a speech by former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Today IDF Dave emailed a link to a documentary on this event; and it’s absolutely shocking. This shows the thuggish, extreme nature of the Saudi-funded Muslim Student Association in a way that hasn’t been exposed before; they believed they had the upper hand, and they had utter contempt for the Canadian authorities. It was a little intifada, right in the middle of Montreal.

And note that all of this occurred at the time of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks.





This is crazy

Condi - Wonder Woman

Deserting Darfur

By Steven Emerson

As the genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan continues unabated -- the United Nations conservatively estimates more than 200,000 dead and 2 million displaced in the conflict between the government-backed janjaweed militias and the mainly Muslim African tribespeople[1] -- the reaction of Western powers has been shamefully timid. But it seems downright heroic next to the disgraceful response of many self-proclaimed Muslim civil rights groups.

Although foreign military intervention seems highly unlikely given the current political climate, many individuals and governments are taking steps to pressure Khartoum to end the slaughter. One such step, taken by the Virginia State General Assembly, is the introduction of legislation to divest the state’s pension fund from companies conducting business with Sudan – a courageous, if only symbolic step that sends a clear signal to Sudan: no longer will genocide be tolerated, in Africa or anywhere else. Six other states have already passed similar legislation; twenty-five more are slated to introduce bills this year.

One might think that all Americans could support such a strategy. But one would be very wrong. A group calling itself the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee (VMPAC) has already issued a press release opposing the divestment legislation on the grounds that such divestment campaigns are “exclusively use[ing] economic sanctions and military interventions against Muslim countries." Never mind the fact that similar tactics have been used to fight repression in such non-Muslim countries as Cuba and North Korea. The real irony here is that the targets of the Sudanese genocide are in the main innocent Muslims.

Politicians rarely publicly stand up to Islamist pressure groups like the VMPAC. Doing so, they fear, may cause such organizations to mobilize their constituencies with a combination of fear-mongering and disinformation. One who refuses to be browbeaten is Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia. In response to the VMPAC’s opposition to the divestment legislation, the congressman has courageously called on the group to defend its position. In a letter to VMPAC, Wolf writes:

Your plea to the Virginia General Assembly to ask Congress and the State Department to pursue a peaceful, diplomatic response to a situation like that in Darfur is misguided … While people bicker over numbers and definitions and diplomatic strategies, families die in Darfur. … It is time for other methods of getting at this regime to halt the unspeakable violence it is exacting on the Muslim African population in Darfur. … We need to send a signal to Khartoum that America and the West will not stand silent in the face of genocide. It is your undisputable responsibility to stand up for the people of Darfur and not the Government of Sudan.

It should come as no surprise that Congressman Wolf champions the cause of Darfur. He has a long history of standing up against violence towards Muslims around the world. As he further writes to VMPAC:

In Sudan, Chechnya, China, Bosnia and Kosovo, I have spoken out in defense of poeple of the Muslim Faith .. I have been to Sudan five times, including leading the first congressional delgation to visit Darfur. I was the only Member of Congress to visit Chechnya during the fighting in 1995. When I returned, I condemed the violence against the Chechen people and called for a ceasefire ... I was one of the only Members to visit Muslim men in a Serb-run prisoner-of-war camp in Bosnia where I saw evidence of a modern-day holocaust taking place. Very early on, I began speaking out against the ethnic cleansing and cultureal genocide against the Bosnian people.

Taking the lead on ending the genocide in Darfur, where Muslims are being slaughtered is a "no brainer" for Congressman Wolf. Curiously, his position finds its most vocal opposition in self-styled Islamic "civil rights" and political organizations like the VMPAC. Which raises the question: Why would the VMPAC and its officials oppose a move by the Virginia legislature to aid Sudanese Muslims? A look at the activists behind the organization provides an answer.

VMPAC is headed by a man named Mukit Hossain. Hossain is the founder of an organization called Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help (FAITH). In January 2006, Wachovia bank closed the accounts of FAITH,[2] stating that certain account activity "was significantly different from that which Wachovia would expect to see in an account established for a charity."[3] FAITH’s offices are located in an office complex in Herndon, Virginia,[4] which housed a series of organizations and charities linked to radical causes, including International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) – the chief American sponsor of convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian’s Tampa think tank - as well as the “Safa Group” and the SAAR Foundation, currently under federal investigation.[5] M. Yaqub Mirza of IIIT, Safa and SAAR bankrolled FAITH to the tune of $150,000 in April, 2005.[6]

In 2004, another Hossain-led organization, the Muslim American Political Action Committee (MAPAC), received nearly $10,000 from Ahmad Totonji, also of IIIT, and his wife, Susanna. The Muslim Brotherhood-linked Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation, who once lamented the death of Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin and referred to him merely as “a quadriplegic Palestinian religious leader,”[7] honored Hossain as the “Herndon Citizen Of The Year” in 2004.[8]

Bearing this background in mind, the fact that the VMPAC is attempting to stymie efforts to end the genocide in Darfur should come as no surprise. Radical Islamic groups and Islamist apologists have long tried to distract from the carnage in Sudan both by minimizing the deadly nature of the conflict and blaming the situation on their traditional bogeyman: the Zionists.

For example, influential Muslim Brotherhood cleric Yusef Al-Qaradawi told a newspaper in Qatar, “Look for the Zionists behind every disaster. We have found their fingers in Darfur.”[9]

The Khartoum regime itself has tried to spread such ideas throughout the Muslim world in an effort to shield itself from criticism and allow its vicious campaign against Darfuris to continue uninterrupted. The Washington Post reported on Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s efforts, writing[10]:

Bashir blamed unnamed Zionist Jewish organizations for stoking public opposition in the United States against his government, through the organizing of nationwide protests against the violence in Darfur.

"I'm not talking about Jews," he said. "I'm talking about Zionist organizations that have motives in Sudan. They have objectives in Sudan. They want to weaken Sudan. They want to dismember Sudan."

Taking their cues from Qaradawi and Bashir, Islamist organizations in the United States are doing what they can to protect Khartoum, which endorses continued violence and genocide.

Another Islamist group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), also has a lengthy history of opposing action against Sudan’s atrocities. In particular, CAIR has sought to shift attention away from the core issue of the conflict -- namely, that the janjaweed militia and government forces themselves have conducted a brutal and bloody ethnic-cleansing campaign, burning villages and raping and murdering inhabitants along the way -- and focus instead on conspiracy theories.

Reacting to similar Congressional legislation in response to a bloody civil war and widespread slavery in Sudan, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad commented, “American Muslims have grown increasingly concerned that the issue of Sudan is being used by those with anti-Islamic political or religious agendas to stereotype Islam and Muslims worldwide.”[11] Similarly, after a large rally in April 2006 on the National Mall in Washington D.C. organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, Awad remarked in a press release, “It is unfortunate that the Save Darfur Coalition chose not to list any mainstream American Muslim groups in the rally program … This disturbing omission calls into question the coalition's true agenda at the rally.”[12]

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper had previously questioned the motives of the coalition seeking to end the genocide in Darfur, “cautioning” the coalition against “allowing exploitation of the suffering to promote political or religious agendas.”[13] Both Awad and Hooper were sending a message: the Zionists are exploiting the Darfur issue to harm Muslims, while ignoring the fact that activists are obviously seeking to stop the slaughter of Muslims in Sudan by the Janjaweed and the Khartoum government.

In public statements, U.S.-based Islamist groups often go to great pains to minimize the nature of the devastation in Darfur. In a joint press release, CAIR, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) stated that while the U.S. government has referred to the situation in Darfur as a genocide, the United Nations and Amnesty International "disagree on this point," and they warned against the "politicizing" the conflict.[14] Never mind the fact that two years earlier, United Nations Sudan coordinator Mukesh Kapila had called Darfur "the world's greatest humanitarian crisis and possibly the world's greatest humanitarian catastrophe. There has been systematic burning of villages and displacement of the population.'' The New York Times reported that, "[I]n one attack, on Feb. 27, more than 100 women were raped in the northern town of Tawilaa, Mr. Kapila said," and that Kapila "accused Arab militia of systematically attacking villages and raping women."[15]

Unfortunately, the self-appointed leaders of the American Muslim community opt to expend their efforts minimizing the tragedy and accusing others of "politicizing" the crisis as people are raped, exterminated and displaced in astonishing numbers. It is both sad and unsurprising, given their track record and ties to extremists, that VMPAC, CAIR and other organized political leaders of the Muslim community in the United States cannot agree with the common-sense positions of Congressman Wolf and work towards ending the tragedy in Darfur once and for all.

Quote Of The Day

"Capitalism does not promote high prices, the exploitation of anyone or corruption. On the contrary, it is capitalism that exposes and eliminates corrupt and inefficient businesses. This is unlike socialism in which malinvestment survives by virtue of the power of governments to perpetuate wealth-consuming follies by transferring taxed wealth from productive citizens to state industries."

— Ayanda Khumalo, deputy chairman of the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa (South Africa) and libertarian

A Girl Like Me

A Girl Like Me is a documentory of how color is more than skin deep for young African-American women who are struggling to define themselves



In an illuminating series of interviews with black girls in her high school, Kiri Davis (age 16) explores how American standards of beauty affect self-image. She also reconducts the “doll test” initially conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark, which was used in the historic desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education, with heart-rending results. (HT: Your Daily Awesome)

Let them eat Chavez!

by Richie

So Señor Bush goes to Latin America trying to counter the real Señor "Fascist" located
in Venezuela while the left is going wild in the streets. It is amazing how these leftist
regimes pop up always under the umbrella of the poor and the poor never learn from
history.

There tactics are to first always blame someone America,secondly take power and
third remain in office until they die. The people of Venezuela get what they deserve
because they voted for a nutcase and that is exactly what they will get.

If I hear another CNN reporter say the Chavez came to power because we ignored
Latin America I will scream. The position America finds herself in is a "Damned If
You Do, Damned If You Don't" framework. If America gets to involved we are
imperialist and if we stay out we are ignoring these nations.

This pretty much sums up the foreign policy experts of Latin America. To there policy
I say "let them eat Chavez until they choke".They mere fact they view Bush as a bigger
threat than Chavez shows how sick headed some of these people are.

They have had there head stuck in Karl Marx books and thinking about the return of Che Guevara that they can't move there economies.They sit and blame America for there problems much like Democrat's. To them it is America which is the plague of the world and if it were just to change the world would be more peaceful.What they fail to appreciate is that just the opposite would happen.

For now Señor Chávez is not going to freely give up power I suspect he is there to stay.
This is how Castro did it and now Hugo wants in on the fun he feels that it is his turn to
take the mantle.I do however find it odd that the idiotic left is protesting Bush who is leaving office because his Nation's constitution demand it while Chavez is rewriting his constitution, seizing private property and creating a one party system while ignoring a potential dictator
right in there midst.

In truth the left in American and Latin America work together to undermine this nation.
There's is a coalition of that prefers lies over truth and protectionism over competition.

For a great book that explains this madness please purchase Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot. If you look on the sidebar of my blog the book is there and you
can purchase it!

Ghana's 50th Anniversary Of Independence

From Britain, was recently marked in the West African countrt, Martin Henry of Jamaica Gleaner comments:

"Ghana's 1957 break with colonial rule, a little Reuters report tucked away on page C6 of Monday's Gleaner [March 5] reminds us, triggered a wave of independence movements and liberation struggles. There are 53 independent states on the African continent today, very few of them really prosperous or stable. Founding Father Kwame Nkrumah's dream of a New Africa, strong, free, and prosperous, was soon derailed in Ghana as his autocratic rule led to persecution of opponents and his profligate spending brought the country's economy to the brink of collapse. Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup in 1966, the first of many. Some years ago we had coup leader and head of state Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings here as guest of honour at our own Independence celebrations.

I thought it most inappropriate. Rawlings, who led two 'booms' but restored democratic elections in 1992 and has been the longest serving head of state with 19 of the 50 years, has publicly shunned the 50th anniversary celebrations in protest over the state of the country."He continues: "A BBC report for the 50th anniversary says, "[Nkrumah] had ambitious plans for his small, freshly-liberated country. His aim was to develop Ghana as an industrialised, unitary socialist state - and to do it fast. Sounding very much like our Michael Manley of the 1970s.....As the country celebrates 50 years of independence this year, it ranks No. 136 out of 177 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index but is ahead of all but five sub-Saharan African states. Not the worst; but the Nkrumah dream and the promise of first independence await a fuller fulfilment.


Booker Rising's response: "the socialist focus is what has hurt Ghana in the years since independence, from which it is now only starting to climb up. Less government and freer trade will help Ghana grow into the powerhouse that this historic nation deserves to be".

http://bookerrising.blogspot.com/

Quote Of The Day

"Colonisation and slavery have created a sentiment of culpability in the West that leads people to adulate foreign traditions. This is a lazy, even racist attitude."

– Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch moderate-conservative feminist and vocal critic of Islam

Video: UK Imam Justifies Beheading of Ken Bigley

Republican Justices dissented from the Dred Scott decision

Republican Justices dissented from the Dred Scott decision

In his inauguration address, Democrat President James Buchanan hinted that he had been tipped off that the Supreme Court would soon render a decision that he believed would settle the question of slavery in the territories. Two days later, on this day in 1857, the Supreme Court did indeed announce its infamous Dred Scott v. Sanford decision. The slave, Dred Scott, having travelled in northern states, where he was free, was suing for his freedom after returning to Missouri. The Justices had been wrestling with how a person could be a slave, then free, then a slave again depending where he was.

The solution for the seven Democrats on the Supreme Court (the two Republicans dissented) was that blacks could not be citizens anywhere, North or South, so they had no standing to sue in court for anything. This was despite the fact that free blacks had fought in the Revolution and the War of 1812, voted for five of the state conventions that ratified the Constitution, and could vote in several northern states. Chief Justice Roger Taney, who had been Andrew Jackson's Attorney General, wrote: "A black man has no rights a white man is bound to respect."
Atrocious as that was, the really explosive part of Dred Scott decision was striking down of a federal law for the first time since Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

The majority opinion declared unconstitutional the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery in the territories north of Arkansas. Congress, Taney wrote, did not have the authority to ban slavery anywhere because to do so would violate the Bill of Rights, specifically the 5th Amendment's safeguard against being deprived of one's property without due process.

Justice John McLean, one of the two dissenters in the 7-2 decision, had sought the 1856 Republican presidential nomination and would vie for the 1860 Republican nomination.

Every Republican could see that the Democrat Justices were violating the Constitution in order to impose their pro-slavery agenda. If the weak Congress under the Articles of Confederation could ban slavery in the territories and the first session of Congress after ratification could ban slavery in the territories, then surely such a measure was constitutional.

Still worse, the Supreme Court went far beyond the Constitution in asserting that slaves were property, hence not fully human; though the Constitution mentioned "Person held to Service or Labor," it nowhere said that masters actually owned their slaves as property.

Republicans believed that President Buchanan and the Democrat Justices were in league to destroy their principal opposition party by declaring unconstitutional its central tenet:

NO SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES. By the Democrats' logic, if a constitutional ban on slavery violated the 5th Amendment, then Republicans had reason to fear that the Supreme Court was just one step away from declaring slavery legal in every state from Maine and California. A vote by no more than five Justices transforming the entire country into a slave society could come at any time. And, if the Supreme Court could revoke the citizenship of free blacks, why not naturalized citizens, or any citizen at all?

For the infuriated Republican across the nation, the stretching and twitching of the Constitution by the Democrats had gone too far. Less than three years later, pledging to block the Democrats' pro-slavery agenda, Republican candidates would win the presidency and a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This article is based on Back to Basics for the Republican Party, Michael Zak's history of the GOP from the civil rights perspective.

See http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/ and http://www.republicanbasics.com/ for more information about the heritage of the GOP.

Kanye West gets $3,900 meal

LONDON, England (AP) -- If Kanye West were to walk into the British Raj's dining room and order dinner, it would cost the rapper about $17.50. But since the restaurant is delivering -- from Wales to New York -- it's going to cost a bit more.

For a feast of onion bhajees, chapati breads, biryanis, pappadums, a specially prepared fish dish and vegetables on the side, the bill will top $3,900, plus travel and accommodation for the restaurant's head chef.

The meal was requested for West and seven guests by a music promotion company, the restaurant said Sunday. The company had previously ordered food from the restaurant near Cardiff, Wales, for an after-show party for a Snoop Dogg concert in London.

But this is different. Normally, they don't deliver outside a 3-mile radius of the restaurant, which is about 150 miles west of London.

"I was horrified when I heard about this request because of the distance involved," said the restaurant's head waiter, Tarik Mohammed. "It's a long way, and our reputation is on the line. We are doing every thing to make sure the food gets there safely and every thing is aboveboard."

The meal will be prepared, cooled, shrink-wrapped and packed in dry ice in the British Raj's kitchens and -- along with head chef Kaysor Ahmed -- will be helicoptered from Wales to London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.

From there, the chef is to hop a flight to New York -- monitoring the food's temperature all the way -- clear customs, and head for Manhattan, where the meal is to be served during a meeting Wednesday.

The fee was arrived at by estimating the restaurant's takings for two evenings, the time Ahmed will be away, Mohammed said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

-In a splended education on "how to throw money down the drain".. Kanye West AKA Professor from the School of Money Wasting teaches young black kids what to do when you get some benjamin's.Mr. West is a poor role model. The money he wasted on a non-asset like Food, he could have bought a share of Berkshire Hathaway class-B stock.

"Regarding Ann Coulter'

Ann Coulter Conservatism treats humans as they are, as moral creatures possessing rational minds and capable of discerning right from wrong. There comes a time when we must speak out in the defense of the conservative movement, and make a stand for political civility. This is one of those times.

Ann Coulter used to serve the movement well. She was telegenic, intelligent, and witty. She was also fearless: saying provocative things to inspire deeper thought and cutting through the haze of competing information has its uses. But Coulter’s fearlessness has become an addiction to shock value. She draws attention to herself, rather than placing the spotlight on conservative ideas.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2006, Coulter referred to Iranians as “ragheads.” She is one of the most prominent women in the conservative movement; for her to employ such reckless language reinforces the stereotype that conservatives are racists.

At CPAC 2007 Coulter decided to turn up the volume by referring to John Edwards, a former U.S. Senator and current Presidential candidate, as a “faggot.” Such offensive language–and the cavalier attitude that lies behind it–is intolerable to us. It may be tolerated on liberal websites but not at the nation’s premier conservative gathering.

The legendary conservative thinker Richard Weaver wrote a book entitled Ideas Have Consequences. Rush Limbaugh has said again and again that “words mean things.” Both phrases apply to Coulter’s awful remarks.

Coulter’s vicious word choice tells the world she care little about the feelings of a large group that often feels marginalized and despised. Her word choice forces conservatives to waste time defending themselves against charges of homophobia rather than advancing conservative ideas.

Within a day of Coulter’s remark John Edwards sent out a fundraising email that used Coulter’s words to raise money for his faltering campaign. She is helping those she claims to oppose. How does that advance any of the causes we hold dear?

Denouncing Coulter is not enough. After her “raghead” remark in 2006 she took some heat. Yet she did not grow and learn. We should have been more forceful. This year she used a gay slur. What is next? If Senator Barack Obama is the de facto Democratic Presidential nominee next year will Coulter feel free to use a racial slur? How does that help conservatism?

One of the points of CPAC is the opportunity it gives college students to meet other young conservatives and learn from our leaders. Unlike on their campuses—where they often feel alone—at CPAC they know they are part of a vibrant political movement. What example is set when one highlight of the conference is finding out what shocking phrase will emerge from Ann Coulter’s mouth? How can we teach young conservatives to fight for their principles with civility and respect when Ann Coulter is allowed to address the conference? Coulter’s invective is a sign of weak thinking and unprincipled politicking.

CPAC sponsors, the Age of Ann has passed. We, the undersigned, request that CPAC speaking invitations no longer be extended to Ann Coulter. Her words and attitude simply do too much damage.

http://gaypatriot.net/2007/03/05/gaypatriot-joins-open-letter-to-cpac

"NAACP Head Resigns After 19 Months"

Barely a year and a half into the job, Bruce Gordon is out as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People due to "management differences". Robert A. George, a black moderate-conservative Republican blogger, comments on the situation:

"When selected in 2005, former Verizon executive Gordon was a surprise choice, coming out of the business community rather than the civil rights and political worlds that previously had produced NAACP leaders.....Gordon's singular 'achievement' -- if it can be called that -- in his tenure was managing to convince President Bush to address the NAACP's annual meeting in 2006 after the White House boycotted -- rightly, in my opinion -- the conference during the previous five years of Bush's term. Perhaps Gordon was too thin-skinned to run a non-corporate entity. The comment above that he was ready to quit six weeks into his tenure might suggest that. But given the leadership problems that the NAACP has had since Benjamin Hooks ended a 15-year run, it seems that the onus has to be on the organization.

Pardon the bluntness, but the NAACP ain't going to change while Julian Bond still runs the board. He is too dogmatic, too ideologically-fixed, in a 1960s political mindset to allow growth for the group in the 21st century. It was Bond that created much of the conflict between the group and the Bush White House, personalizing policy differences with the Republican Party, not once, but repeatedly. This tended to put the NAACP president -- whether Gordon or his predecessor Kweisi Mfume -- in the position of trying to smooth things over. And don't think that Bond doesn't have considerable sway over the other board members.

Thus, it's not surprising that the organization president and the board would be out of step. Now, with Gordon's early departure, the NAACP still -- as Earl Graves, Jr. said -- needs to figure out how to make itself relevant to a younger generation. Bond certainly isn't helping any."

Collie Buddz "Come Around"

Quote Of The Day

"Is rap music dead?

No, but it's certainly on life support thanks to the mainstreaming of a small selection of its themes: drugs, strip clubs and violence peppered with a healthy dose of the n-word.We can't fault radio or TV video shows for rap's impending extinction, though it's tempting. Instead, the blame can be spread evenly among label executives, greedy artists and, oh yes, the fans who prefer the simplistic sounds of Young Jeezy, 50 Cent and the tiresome Ying Yang Twins to music featuring actual lyricism and subject matter that goes beyond street-level.

I'm not suggesting that all rap music be about cotton candy, trips to the grocery store or hanging out with your best friend, but surely songs boasting about drug dealing, beating up bouncers, hanging chains and spinning rims are not the only alternative. Other musical genres—alternative, country and jazz—have had to evolve to fit trends or risk extinction. Rap is no exception."

— Kyra Kyles, columnist for Chicago RedEye

“African Americans for Rudy Guliani”

"RUN RUDY, RUN"










Rudy Guliani may be the most urban freindly Republlican candidate in the
feild of his urban roots may be the closest candidate in the Republican field
to understand the needs of African American’s nationwide.

Yet at the same time he may be the image that black folks see when they think about police brutality. Rudy has often had an up and down relationship with the black community inNew York City. First I will start with the problems I think he will have to overcome to reach out to black America.

Rudy Guliani became Mayor in a city run by Democrat's and alive with racial tensions infact the most known cases were the riots in Crown Heights and the Al Sharpton black boycott of Korean businesses. Rudy's candicay for mayor against David Dinkins the cities first black mayor was an appeal for "law and order".

Most African American's including know Rudy nationwide because of the TV saturated scandals of Abner Louima a Haïtian immigrant who was assaulted and tortured by New York City police officers after being arrested outside a Brooklyn nightclub in 1997.Louima's civil suit against the city resulted in a settlement of $8.75 million it became the largest police brutality settlement in New York City history.

The other case was Amadou Diallo a 23 year old immigrant to the United States from Guinea, who was shot and killed by four white New York Police Department plain-clothed officers. Diallo was unarmed at the time of the shooting and a firestorm of controversy erupted subsequent to the event as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and outside New York City.

Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and shootings were central to the ensuing controversy. It could be said that these two cases and in a pursuit of law and order Guliani became an tagged with an image to many black folks of police brutality. Giuliani's independence was questioned after he staunchly supported the New York City Police Department.

It should be noted that under such distress Rudy’s own Deputy Mayor, Rudy Washington was African American and a loyal supporter.These are issues that Rudy can not hide from and Democrats will make use of these cases in a pursuit to label him racist.Rudy championed many causes as Mayor many that helped African American's in the long run.

With gun violence being a problem in so many black urban area's it must have shocked many black New Yorkers when the Republican Giuliani filed one of the largest lawsuit's ever against two dozen major gun manufacturers and distributors.

Guliani elected the first black Muslim Police Chief Howard Safir and was
endorsed by the popular minister Rev. Floyd Flake

Long before it was popular Giuliani advocated in favor of giving black children who were failing in bad schools education vouchers. He offerd to give million of dollars to allow poor urban black acces to private schools.His advocasy for vocuhers will be popular with African Americans since 57% it.

When it comes to safe streets when asked to African American's wanted most to get illegal drugs out of there communities. the polls show that 35% say law enforcement crackdowns were the solution while 28% saw more drug treatment programs.

After September 11th when asked 71% African American's said that they favored requiring Arabs, including U.S.citizens, to undergo security checks before boarding airplanes.

Another point was Rudy went after his own Italian community penetrating indicting eleven organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's so-called "Five Families"


In his first term as mayor, Giuliani, in conjunction with New York City Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, adopted an aggressive enforcement-deterrent strategy based on James Q. Wilson's Broken Windows research. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, and aggressive "squeegeemen", on the principle that this would send a message that order would be maintained, and that the city would be "cleaned up".

Giuliani directed the New York City Police Department to aggressively pursue enterprises linked to organized crime, such as the Fulton Fish Market and the Javits Center on the West Side (Gambino crime family). In the breaking up of mob control of solid waste removal, the city was able to save city businesses over $600 million.

It may be that Rudy's campaign of realism may appeal to many black voters, but the scandals may in the end outweigh the successes.New York City which has the largest number of African Americans in the nation may give Guliani ago at the precidency.

The fact that he did clean the city up may give help him many black voters but if Rudy does indeed run which it looks like he will he'll be a formidable candidate.

Go Rudy!

Go debate this at the Myspace groups for Black Republican's

http://groups.myspace.com/blackminds

THOMPSON AYODELE OP-ED: Free Markets Give Options To The Poor

Asserts the director of the Institute of Public Policy Analysis, a libertarian think tank based in Lagos, Nigeria: "A widely erroneous held view is that poverty is as a result of a market economy that thrives on, and in turn generates inequality and injustice.

In this view, markets are seen as inimical to the interests of the poor who need in some way to be protected or insulated from them. Nevertheless, several evidences from China and India, which have reduced the number of poor people within the last decade, suggest that the only long term and durable solution to poverty lies in the well functioning of the market.

Africa is not alien to the institution of free market. A study of African traditional system reveals that there were free markets, free trade and of course free enterprise before the advent of colonial institutions. However, shortly after independence many postcolonial African leaders imported a development pattern that favored central planning."Mr Ayodele adds: "Private entrepreneurship is necessary for economic development. This is because it is the discovery of new resources, wants, knowledge and means of production to meet human wants.

Central government entrepreneurship has rarely been very successful in development and has left many countries in Africa with a legacy of white elephant project and huge foreign debt. Politicians and civil servants lack knowledge and incentives to discover the right knowledge. Instead of meeting people’s demands and informing them of what is possible, they tend to employ their energies to finding opportunities to line their pockets. Profit chasing individuals, on the other hand, tend to do what market demands and adjust to evolving circumstances in the course of economic change."

Mr Ayodele adds: "Private entrepreneurship is necessary for economic development. This is because it is the discovery of new resources, wants, knowledge and means of production to meet human wants. Central government entrepreneurship has rarely been very successful in development and has left many countries in Africa with a legacy of white elephant project and huge foreign debt. Politicians and civil servants lack knowledge and incentives to discover the right knowledge. Instead of meeting people’s demands and informing them of what is possible, they tend to employ their energies to finding opportunities to line their pockets. Profit chasing individuals, on the other hand, tend to do what market demands and adjust to evolving circumstances in the course of economic change."