People are suffering & starving in the Congo. Somalia has one of the worst humanitarian crisis going with piracy increasing at an alarming rate there. The United Nations has a whole lot of issues that are calling for their immediate attention. So, where is their focus at this moment in time? Well, it's on this magnificent work of art that cost $23 million dollars of course! C'mon,people!!! Let's prioritize & not have any misappropriation of funds!Here's more from the Associated Press: "In Spain there's a controversy because they took money out of the foreign aid budget, took money from starving children in Africa, and spent it on colourful stalactites," FOX News quoted Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, as saying.
Spanish taxpayers paid for most of the sprawling sculpture, which has been compared to the Sistine Chapel, but around 633,000 dollar came from Spain's budget for overseas development aid.
Spain's conservative opposition party blasted the government for diverting money from projects to alleviate poverty in poorer countries, though the government insisted the funding for Barcelo's work was kept separate." (END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here:http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081119/888/twl-unhrc-faces-charge-of-misusing-forei.html
Well, the "sand negroes" are doing some name-calling. They claim that Obama has rebuffed his Muslim roots by becoming a Christian. Then, they go on to say that Colin Powell,Condoleezza Rice,& Barack Obama have verified Malcolm X's assertion that there are still "house negroes" in America. Now, keep in mind that the speaker is, Ayman al-Zawahiri,an Egyptian. He's a "sand negro." So, he has just insulted himself as well. If you are not a black Muslim,I guess you must not be one of those "honorable black-americans" that he was talking about. I'm so sorry to tell you,but I would find that to be insulting if I were a black Muslim. Both Christianity & Islam has a history that is mired in slavery. So,I take great offense at this ignorant negro's ramblings. Yes,I said negro because if he's Egyptian he has black blood flowing through his veins.This just let's you know how convoluted their ideology really is.Here's an excerpt from BBC:
"Zawahiri also criticised Mr Obama - whose father is Muslim - for betraying the Islamic world.
"You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," he said.
Mr Obama was not an "honourable black American" like Malcolm X, he said, but an "abeed al-beit" - a word that translates as house slave but was rendered "house negro" in the message's English subtitles.
The audio was accompanied by footage of a speech by Malcolm X in which he distinguished between "field negroes" who hated their white masters and "house negroes" who, he said, were loyal to them." (END OF EXCERPT)Read the whole article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7737710.stm
The horrific conditions that California prison inmates have to endure are being addressed in a trial. Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged before that the overcrowded prisons are a hazard.He shipped inmates to other states to try to reduce the prison population. Here's an excerpt from SF Gate:
"The state has about 172,000 inmates, including 156,000 in its 33 prisons, which were designed for just over half that number. Schwarzenegger and the Legislature agreed in April 2007 on a $7.3 billion bond measure that would add 53,000 prison and county jail beds. The governor has also transferred several thousand inmates to prisons in other states.
In the current lawsuits, however, inmates suffering from physical and mental illnesses argue that expansion won't bring the prison health system up to constitutional standards. They want the court to limit population of the 33 prisons to 104,000, which would require the release of 52,000 inmates - to county jails, treatment centers or parole - over two years."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the whole article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/19/BAAV147D2S.DTL
My opinion is that they need to figure out how to get the real drug offenders.If we were really doing that,the drugs would never get smuggled in to the country in the first place.Why are there so many drug users in prison & petty dope dealers? I think it's because this is a booming business for America. There is no real interest in securing our borders & stopping the flow of illegal goods.The war on drugs has been ongoing for over 30 years now & it has only gotten worse. Are we really that inept at tackling the drug issue in America or is something more sinister at work?
In the video I posted, you have various hip-hop artists giving their opinion on the Rockefeller Drug Laws a.k.a. New York drug laws.We need to amend the drug laws in America & the "three strikes law." Doing that would go a long way in eliminating an ongoing problem with prison overcrowding. Here's an excerpt from speakout.com:
"Nation-wide attention was focused on so-called three-strikes laws in 1994 when California voters approved an initiative mandating prison terms of 25-years-to-life for defendants convicted of a third felony. The California law also doubles minimum terms for second time offenders. The vote came in the wake of the widely publicized 1993 murder of 12-year old Polly Klaas, whose killer was a paroled felon. Washington State adopted a three-strikes law in 1993, and 22 other states have followed suit. Congress passed a federal version in 1994.
In March 1999 the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to California's three-strikes law brought by a man sentenced to 25 years to life under the law for stealing a bottle of vitamins. The justices ruled that lower courts should rule on the controversial law before it is brought before the Supreme Court.
While some politicians hailed the three-strikes laws as the ultimate get-tough-on-crime measure, others criticized the laws for contributing to prison overcrowding. If a defendant is convicted of a third felony, judges in three-strikes states are required to issue a 25-year plus sentence, even if the third felony was a minor offense such as shoplifting. Also, studies of three-strikes laws have shown that African-Americans are disproportionately affected by the policy."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here: http://speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1290b-1.html
