Sunday, December 27, 2009
SNOWBANK REVERIES
By Larry Delano Coleman, Esq.
‘Twas the day after Christmas
With snow on the ground; ice
Underneath, and more coming down.
I drove to my office to pick
Up a fee; but, an unplowed
parking lot greeted me.
Never to fear with my four-wheel
Drive, I revved up the engine,
And in I dived.
When, what to my horror should
Ensue: There was a lurch, then
A thud; and I’m stuck in the “goo!”
I gunned it and rocked it, but did
Nothing but spin. “What,” I lamented,
“a pickle I’m in!”
Then, from up on the Hilltop, a brother
Came down: wearing brown cover-alls,
crunching snowy ground.
Without saying a word, he put his
Shoulder to the hood, and pushed
And pushed, till I was cleared for good.
When I was free, only then
Did he grin. I returned
The favor and gave him a ten!
First day of Kwanzaa:
“Umoja,”-- unity,
http://www.holidays.net/kwanzaa/7days.htm
though it took a snow bank
to bring it to me!
# 30
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Unbanked, unchurched, unlearned
Greetings:
The link below opens an executive summary prepared by the FDIC, pursuant to an act of Congress to document and to develop programs to deal with persons known as "the unbanked" and "the underbanked."
It was just released to the public within the past week.
This timely and informative report may afford an opportunity for the application of Esusu, in conjunction with the extension of the R3 model, reaching also, thereby, "the unchurched," and "the unlearned."
At our December 18, 2009, meeting we must address its application. 'Tis the season!
There's even a listing of a participating Kansas City Bank with whom we may partner.
More broadly, this report may be of value to persons in other cities with similar interests. Please share.
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Luke 11:23
Much Love,
Larry D. Coleman, Esq.
larryslibrary@blogspot.com
http://www.fdic.gov/unbankedsurveys/unbankedstudy/FDICBankSurvey_ExecSummary.pdf
Central Bank of Kansas City, Kansas City, MO (Total assets: $165 million)
Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC) is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that works to develop
products to serve the unbanked and underserved. CBKC is committed to achieving its goal of developing programs that
resonate with and deliver value to the community. As a result, the bank has created more effective approaches, including
its payroll card program for low income employees and participation in wider community events for educational outreach,
informed by past experiences and continued insight into its dynamic market.
EXHIBIT 2
FDIC Activities to Encourage Economic Inclusion
The FDIC’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN) was established by Chairman Sheila C. Bair and
the FDIC Board of Directors in November 2006 pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The mission of the
Committee is to provide the FDIC with advice and recommendations on important initiatives focused on expanding
access to banking services by underserved populations. This may include reviewing basic retail financial services such as
check cashing, money orders, remittances, stored value cards, short-term loans, savings accounts, and other services that
promote asset accumulation by individuals and financial stability.
The FDIC’s Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AEI) is the FDIC’s national initiative to establish broad-based coalitions
of financial institutions, community-based organizations and other partners in ten markets across the country to bring all
unbanked and underserved populations into the financial mainstream. AEI focuses on expanding basic retail financial
services for underserved populations, including savings accounts, affordable remittance products, small-dollar loan
programs, targeted financial education programs, alternative delivery channels and other asset-building programs. To
date, 952 banks and organizations have joined AEI nationwide; more than 65,000 new bank accounts have been opened;
45 banks are in the process of offering or developing small-dollar loans; 33 banks are offering remittance products; and
more than 61,000 consumers have been provided financial education.
The FDIC’s Affordable and Responsible Consumer Credit (ARC) small dollar loan pilot program is a two-year pilot
project to review affordable and responsible small-dollar loan programs in financial institutions. The purpose of the study
is to identify effective and replicable business practices to help banks incorporate affordable small-dollar loans into their
other mainstream banking services. Best practices resulting from the pilot will be identified and become a resource for
other institutions.
The FDIC’s Money Smart financial education curriculum is designed to help individuals outside the financial mainstream
enhance their money skills and create positive banking relationships. The FDIC also oversees the Money Smart
Alliance, which consists of over 1,500 financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, schools, government authorities and
others that partner with the FDIC to provide financial education targeted to LMI households and others.
The link below opens an executive summary prepared by the FDIC, pursuant to an act of Congress to document and to develop programs to deal with persons known as "the unbanked" and "the underbanked."
It was just released to the public within the past week.
This timely and informative report may afford an opportunity for the application of Esusu, in conjunction with the extension of the R3 model, reaching also, thereby, "the unchurched," and "the unlearned."
At our December 18, 2009, meeting we must address its application. 'Tis the season!
There's even a listing of a participating Kansas City Bank with whom we may partner.
More broadly, this report may be of value to persons in other cities with similar interests. Please share.
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Luke 11:23
Much Love,
Larry D. Coleman, Esq.
larryslibrary@blogspot.com
http://www.fdic.gov/unbankedsurveys/unbankedstudy/FDICBankSurvey_ExecSummary.pdf
Central Bank of Kansas City, Kansas City, MO (Total assets: $165 million)
Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC) is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that works to develop
products to serve the unbanked and underserved. CBKC is committed to achieving its goal of developing programs that
resonate with and deliver value to the community. As a result, the bank has created more effective approaches, including
its payroll card program for low income employees and participation in wider community events for educational outreach,
informed by past experiences and continued insight into its dynamic market.
EXHIBIT 2
FDIC Activities to Encourage Economic Inclusion
The FDIC’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN) was established by Chairman Sheila C. Bair and
the FDIC Board of Directors in November 2006 pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The mission of the
Committee is to provide the FDIC with advice and recommendations on important initiatives focused on expanding
access to banking services by underserved populations. This may include reviewing basic retail financial services such as
check cashing, money orders, remittances, stored value cards, short-term loans, savings accounts, and other services that
promote asset accumulation by individuals and financial stability.
The FDIC’s Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AEI) is the FDIC’s national initiative to establish broad-based coalitions
of financial institutions, community-based organizations and other partners in ten markets across the country to bring all
unbanked and underserved populations into the financial mainstream. AEI focuses on expanding basic retail financial
services for underserved populations, including savings accounts, affordable remittance products, small-dollar loan
programs, targeted financial education programs, alternative delivery channels and other asset-building programs. To
date, 952 banks and organizations have joined AEI nationwide; more than 65,000 new bank accounts have been opened;
45 banks are in the process of offering or developing small-dollar loans; 33 banks are offering remittance products; and
more than 61,000 consumers have been provided financial education.
The FDIC’s Affordable and Responsible Consumer Credit (ARC) small dollar loan pilot program is a two-year pilot
project to review affordable and responsible small-dollar loan programs in financial institutions. The purpose of the study
is to identify effective and replicable business practices to help banks incorporate affordable small-dollar loans into their
other mainstream banking services. Best practices resulting from the pilot will be identified and become a resource for
other institutions.
The FDIC’s Money Smart financial education curriculum is designed to help individuals outside the financial mainstream
enhance their money skills and create positive banking relationships. The FDIC also oversees the Money Smart
Alliance, which consists of over 1,500 financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, schools, government authorities and
others that partner with the FDIC to provide financial education targeted to LMI households and others.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
AFGHANISTAN’S EERIE ECHOES
AFGHANISTAN’S EERIE ECHOES
By Larry Delano Coleman Esq.
Afghanistan is the belly-button of Asia. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_afghanistan.html
It is surrounded by the ancient Persians (Iran), the ancient Slavs (Indo-Europeans), the ancient Mongols (China), and ancient “Indians” (Pakistan). Then, too, “Afghanistan” boasts its own antiquity; it melded all of these forces under the spiritual influence of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and others. http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=ancienthistory&cdn=education&tm=107&gps=106_212_806_357&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kush/hd_kush.htm
This land of 30 million Sunni and Shiite Muslims is known as “the grave yard of empires.” It represents a conundrum for American military might. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4lXzptzWTg.
Afghanistan is not really a “country.” It is a biomass whose improbable life is leeched from its strategic geography along trade routes, inaccessible mountainous redoubts, virulent, recombinant and militant tribalism (Pashto, Afghan Persian (Dari), Uzbek, Turkmen, 30 minor languages) and entrenched opium trade. http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=ancienthistory&cdn=education&tm=26&gps=67_69_806_357&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.fsmitha.com/h1/map13al.htm
It is an impoverished nation whose gross domestic product is approximately $700 per person, whose life expectancy is 46 years, and whose literacy rate is only about 36% of the population. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/maps/map_country_afghanistan.html
“Jinn” -like are the people of Afghanistan, who have repelled all invaders, including Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British, the Russians, and now the Americans and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it would appear. Their warlike tenacity and perseverance is legendary, mythical.
“In Islamic theology jinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from 'smokeless fire' by Allah in the same way humans were made of earth.[10] According to the Qur'an, Jinn have free will, and Iblis used this freedom in front of Allah by refusing to bow to Adam when Allah told Iblis to do so. By disobeying Allah, he was thrown out of Paradise and called “Shaitan”. Jinn are frequently mentioned in the Qur'an, Sura 72 of the Qur'an (named Al-Jinn) is entirely about them. Another Sura (Al-Nas) mentions Jinn in the last verse.[11] The Qur’an also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both “humanity and the Djinn”.[12][13]
Similar to humans, jinn have free will allowing them to follow any religion they choose. They are usually invisible to humans and humans do not appear clear to them. However, jinn often harass and even possess humans, for various reasons, such as romantic infatuation, revenge, or because of a deal made with a practitioner of black magic. Jinns have the power to travel large distances extremely quickly and live in remote areas, mountains, seas, trees, and the air, in their own communities. Like humans, jinns will also be judged on the Day of Judgment and will be sent to Heaven or Hell according to their deeds.” [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie
The Muslim holy book, the Quran, provides in Surah 51:56-59:
051.056
YUSUFALI: I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me.
PICKTHAL: I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.
SHAKIR: And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me.
051.057
YUSUFALI: No Sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed Me.
PICKTHAL: I seek no livelihood from them, nor do I ask that they should feed Me.
SHAKIR: I do not desire from them any sustenance and I do not desire that they should feed Me.
051.058
YUSUFALI: For Allah is He Who gives (all) Sustenance,- Lord of Power,- Steadfast (for ever).
PICKTHAL: Lo! Allah! He it is that giveth livelihood, the Lord of unbreakable might.
SHAKIR: Surely Allah is the Bestower of sustenance, the Lord of Power, the Strong.
051.059
YUSUFALI: For the Wrong-doers, their portion is like unto the portion of their fellows (of earlier generations): then let them not ask Me to hasten (that portion)!
PICKTHAL: And lo! for those who (now) do wrong there is an evil day like unto the evil day (which came for) their likes (of old); so let them not ask Me to hasten on (that day).
SHAKIR: So surely those who are unjust shall have a portion like the portion of their companions, therefore let them not ask Me to hasten on.
On December 1, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced an increase of 30,000 additional U.S. troops, for the subjugation of Afghanistan, I marveled that a brilliant black man who ran and was elected on a historic platform of “change we can believe in,” would acquiescence in, and, even raise the stakes upon, a course of conduct so fraught with futility.
How does one battle jinn, much less defeat them? And, supposing that we “win,” whatever that is, what have we won, worth having? Rocks, opium poppies? More important, how do we hold it, the rocks and the opium poppies of Afghanistan, for how long, to what end, and at what cost? Scott Ritter, a foreign policy expert and military intelligence officer, has raised similar concerns, in “McChrystal Doesn‘t Get It--Does Obama?” written in November 2009. http://dprogram.net/2009/11/02/mcchrystal-doesn%E2%80%99t-get-it-does-obama-scott-ritter/
It would appear that our brilliant young black president has been bewitched, if not beguiled, into making such a catastrophic decision in the midst of an economic crisis, diverting additional billions away from a domestic program too long deliberately deferred by domestic demons intent upon dominance.
In that respect, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said regarding the connection between militarism and the alleviation of domestic poverty, in his Riverside Church address in New York on April 4, 1967, entitled “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”:
Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.
Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
What was true for Vietnam is perversely and conversely true for Afghanistan. Dr. King’s prophesy still rings true. Attempts to equate President Barack Obama, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to conflate their legacies are vainly driven by illusionists and t-shirt marketers, being well off the mark. Dr. King was a prophet. President Obama is a “politician,” just like his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, said at his, now infamous, National Press Club appearance:
MODERATOR: What is your motivation for characterizing Senator Obama's response to you as, quote, "what a politician had to say"? What do you mean by that?
WRIGHT: What I mean is what several of my white friends and several of my white, Jewish friends have written me and said to me. They've said, "You're a Christian. You understand forgiveness. We both know that, if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected."
Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls, Huffington, whoever's doing the polls. Preachers say what they say because they're pastors. They have a different person to whom they're accountable.
As I said, whether he gets elected or not, I'm still going to have to be answerable to God November 5th and January 21st. That's what I mean. I do what pastors do. He does what politicians do.
I am not running for office. I am hoping to be vice president.
(LAUGHTER) http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2008/04/28/transcript-rev-wright-at-the-national-press-club/; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2H1dMbkYa4
Being a politician, President Obama has fallen sway to the powers and forces of the military industrial complex of which President Dwight Eisenhower warned as he left office:
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or, indeed, by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual --is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Military-Industrial_Complex_Speech
Unless ancient history reverse its inexorable course, which I doubt, the eerie echoes of Afghanistan will din into us the painful lessons taught former would-be conquerors of this dusty, distant, desiccated and denuded land: Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the United Kingdom, the former Soviet Union: “Welcome to the Graveyard of Empires, United States and NATO!”
Saudi Arabians, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, perhaps, jinn themselves, are smokeless and invisible, except to other jinn in this desolate, mystical non-country now known as Afghanistan. Leave them to the tender mercy of the indigenous Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They, like other non-Pashtun invaders, will sooner or later get the boot from these bellicose, Islamic avatars who abhor literacy, modernity, science and women’s rights.
#30
By Larry Delano Coleman Esq.
Afghanistan is the belly-button of Asia. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_afghanistan.html
It is surrounded by the ancient Persians (Iran), the ancient Slavs (Indo-Europeans), the ancient Mongols (China), and ancient “Indians” (Pakistan). Then, too, “Afghanistan” boasts its own antiquity; it melded all of these forces under the spiritual influence of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and others. http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=ancienthistory&cdn=education&tm=107&gps=106_212_806_357&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kush/hd_kush.htm
This land of 30 million Sunni and Shiite Muslims is known as “the grave yard of empires.” It represents a conundrum for American military might. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4lXzptzWTg.
Afghanistan is not really a “country.” It is a biomass whose improbable life is leeched from its strategic geography along trade routes, inaccessible mountainous redoubts, virulent, recombinant and militant tribalism (Pashto, Afghan Persian (Dari), Uzbek, Turkmen, 30 minor languages) and entrenched opium trade. http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=ancienthistory&cdn=education&tm=26&gps=67_69_806_357&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.fsmitha.com/h1/map13al.htm
It is an impoverished nation whose gross domestic product is approximately $700 per person, whose life expectancy is 46 years, and whose literacy rate is only about 36% of the population. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/maps/map_country_afghanistan.html
“Jinn” -like are the people of Afghanistan, who have repelled all invaders, including Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British, the Russians, and now the Americans and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it would appear. Their warlike tenacity and perseverance is legendary, mythical.
“In Islamic theology jinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from 'smokeless fire' by Allah in the same way humans were made of earth.[10] According to the Qur'an, Jinn have free will, and Iblis used this freedom in front of Allah by refusing to bow to Adam when Allah told Iblis to do so. By disobeying Allah, he was thrown out of Paradise and called “Shaitan”. Jinn are frequently mentioned in the Qur'an, Sura 72 of the Qur'an (named Al-Jinn) is entirely about them. Another Sura (Al-Nas) mentions Jinn in the last verse.[11] The Qur’an also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both “humanity and the Djinn”.[12][13]
Similar to humans, jinn have free will allowing them to follow any religion they choose. They are usually invisible to humans and humans do not appear clear to them. However, jinn often harass and even possess humans, for various reasons, such as romantic infatuation, revenge, or because of a deal made with a practitioner of black magic. Jinns have the power to travel large distances extremely quickly and live in remote areas, mountains, seas, trees, and the air, in their own communities. Like humans, jinns will also be judged on the Day of Judgment and will be sent to Heaven or Hell according to their deeds.” [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie
The Muslim holy book, the Quran, provides in Surah 51:56-59:
051.056
YUSUFALI: I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me.
PICKTHAL: I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.
SHAKIR: And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me.
051.057
YUSUFALI: No Sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed Me.
PICKTHAL: I seek no livelihood from them, nor do I ask that they should feed Me.
SHAKIR: I do not desire from them any sustenance and I do not desire that they should feed Me.
051.058
YUSUFALI: For Allah is He Who gives (all) Sustenance,- Lord of Power,- Steadfast (for ever).
PICKTHAL: Lo! Allah! He it is that giveth livelihood, the Lord of unbreakable might.
SHAKIR: Surely Allah is the Bestower of sustenance, the Lord of Power, the Strong.
051.059
YUSUFALI: For the Wrong-doers, their portion is like unto the portion of their fellows (of earlier generations): then let them not ask Me to hasten (that portion)!
PICKTHAL: And lo! for those who (now) do wrong there is an evil day like unto the evil day (which came for) their likes (of old); so let them not ask Me to hasten on (that day).
SHAKIR: So surely those who are unjust shall have a portion like the portion of their companions, therefore let them not ask Me to hasten on.
On December 1, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced an increase of 30,000 additional U.S. troops, for the subjugation of Afghanistan, I marveled that a brilliant black man who ran and was elected on a historic platform of “change we can believe in,” would acquiescence in, and, even raise the stakes upon, a course of conduct so fraught with futility.
How does one battle jinn, much less defeat them? And, supposing that we “win,” whatever that is, what have we won, worth having? Rocks, opium poppies? More important, how do we hold it, the rocks and the opium poppies of Afghanistan, for how long, to what end, and at what cost? Scott Ritter, a foreign policy expert and military intelligence officer, has raised similar concerns, in “McChrystal Doesn‘t Get It--Does Obama?” written in November 2009. http://dprogram.net/2009/11/02/mcchrystal-doesn%E2%80%99t-get-it-does-obama-scott-ritter/
It would appear that our brilliant young black president has been bewitched, if not beguiled, into making such a catastrophic decision in the midst of an economic crisis, diverting additional billions away from a domestic program too long deliberately deferred by domestic demons intent upon dominance.
In that respect, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said regarding the connection between militarism and the alleviation of domestic poverty, in his Riverside Church address in New York on April 4, 1967, entitled “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”:
Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.
Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
What was true for Vietnam is perversely and conversely true for Afghanistan. Dr. King’s prophesy still rings true. Attempts to equate President Barack Obama, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to conflate their legacies are vainly driven by illusionists and t-shirt marketers, being well off the mark. Dr. King was a prophet. President Obama is a “politician,” just like his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, said at his, now infamous, National Press Club appearance:
MODERATOR: What is your motivation for characterizing Senator Obama's response to you as, quote, "what a politician had to say"? What do you mean by that?
WRIGHT: What I mean is what several of my white friends and several of my white, Jewish friends have written me and said to me. They've said, "You're a Christian. You understand forgiveness. We both know that, if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected."
Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls, Huffington, whoever's doing the polls. Preachers say what they say because they're pastors. They have a different person to whom they're accountable.
As I said, whether he gets elected or not, I'm still going to have to be answerable to God November 5th and January 21st. That's what I mean. I do what pastors do. He does what politicians do.
I am not running for office. I am hoping to be vice president.
(LAUGHTER) http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2008/04/28/transcript-rev-wright-at-the-national-press-club/; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2H1dMbkYa4
Being a politician, President Obama has fallen sway to the powers and forces of the military industrial complex of which President Dwight Eisenhower warned as he left office:
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or, indeed, by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual --is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Military-Industrial_Complex_Speech
Unless ancient history reverse its inexorable course, which I doubt, the eerie echoes of Afghanistan will din into us the painful lessons taught former would-be conquerors of this dusty, distant, desiccated and denuded land: Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the United Kingdom, the former Soviet Union: “Welcome to the Graveyard of Empires, United States and NATO!”
Saudi Arabians, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, perhaps, jinn themselves, are smokeless and invisible, except to other jinn in this desolate, mystical non-country now known as Afghanistan. Leave them to the tender mercy of the indigenous Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They, like other non-Pashtun invaders, will sooner or later get the boot from these bellicose, Islamic avatars who abhor literacy, modernity, science and women’s rights.
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