California Propositions... what a crying shame.

First off, everyone in California knows that the California Legislature can't get it together to save their lives.
I was recently at a leadership training for mental health directors in Sacramento and one of the Budget Coordinators for the State was talking about effective budgeting in tough economic times. I took the opportunity to ask a question that was off topic, yet, essential to the discussion.
Question: "How come year after year, the California Legislature can't seem to get it together and pass a budget on time?"
Answer: "Good Question. essentially with term limits and special interest, the legislature is primarily focused on getting re-elected, so there is a lot of gridlock seeing as individuals are only focused on there own needs rather than the overall needs of the state. Of course, they've gone for quick fixes in the past to be able to fund all of the "special" projects and the needs of the state. As they've pushed problems further into the future, they've made it increasingly difficult to manage the primary problems of managing the state. And now, that there's a serious, global economic crisis..." (blah, blah, blah).

so, in case you don't understand the answer, basically, the legislature is at a point of total roman-senate dysfunction. For the last 5 years of more, the state has not been able to deliver a balanced budget or a budget on time. They've fought, watched government shut down and have not addressed the core problem of spending more than they have. Even in flush years, there has been a deficit. Instead of setting aside funds, they've spent them, with even rosier predictions for the future from which to pay for the increases.

So essentially, in terms of these propositions, if you read them, they are all of the "rob Peter to pay Paul" variety. and when you really, really look at it, they are essentially taking all of the tough issues they are supposed to solve and passing the responsibility on the taxpayers to institute even more unsound practices and push the problems even further into the future. The only question is, how many dead bodies can the legislature shove into the hideaway before things get, well, ridiculous? the problem is, we passed ridiculous a long time ago... AND, the election hasn't even happened.

Here's a suggestion.
1. The California State Colleges and Universities.
All those positions that don't actually "teach" students or directly support the teachers... GET RID OF 'EM. all we need is educators and janitors. the rest of them, can go to pasture. Now, this is the basic assumption we have to have in order to decrease the glut. Teachers can teach. Students can learn. and if we aren't teaching our students to take leadership roles within the colleges and universities, then we have failed. The college and university administrators have failed miserably. They would have us believe we have to pay these exorbinant salaries because the talent doesn't exist elsewhere. Y'know what? if these guys are so valuabe, then let them go get their money somewhere else. LEAVE! don't let cali get in your way. I'm pretty sure if teachers got to choose their own classes, there would be a lot less discrimination in the racist schools at this point anyway.
California College and University budget $15 Billion

2. State Prisons, Prison Guards, etc.
Stop throwing folks in prison for nothing. close the prisons, take that money, give it to the schools and to pay for healthcare, food, organic farms (and jobs), books, scholarships, travel grants, art grants, small business micro-grants, childcare, beutification, etc, etc, etc, etc.
State Prison Budget $10.1 Billion PLUS $7.4 Billion to build new prisons, medical centers, etc. ($17.5 Billion total).
As of 2007, California spends more on Prisons than Colleges and Universities AND that's saying a lot, because California spends a ton of money on education... well, actually on administrative salaries and payoffs. there are so many foxes in the henhouse at this point that all we have to do is burn down the henhouse and we won't have a problem with foxes!
we spend about 4 times as much on education as Texas (per capita) and 3 times what they spend on prisons.. and Texas has a large, death death row death machine to boot. And don't let anyone tell you the University of Texas can't compete with Berkeley, because they can, despite the fact that intellectuals have a natural aversion to the south... (in fact, Mark Yudof who is the current Chancellor of California State University, JUST CAME FROM TEXAS).

Texas by comparison spends $4.5 billion on higher education and $2 billion on prisons
population of Texas: 24,326,974
population of California: 36,756,666.... uh....

There is however one measure that will pass. the provision to limit an increase in state legislature salaries in years where there is a deficit... well, of course this will pass. I'm sure they were thinking that even though all of the other propositions are total bullshorts, that if the taxpayers had an opportunity to limit legislature salaries, we would hold our noses and pass the other ballot measures... WRONG! that's not how it works, the people will overwhelmingly reject these propositions, and, as they should, force the legislature to resolve the core problems with the state budget that they have ignored for the last 5 years.

The propositions are a real joke. It would be like waking up one day and your kid left a note under your pillow saying, "Dad, I need your house, your car, your clothes and well, everything. I'm not sure when i'll get them back to you, but as soon as I "make it" i'll pay you back three times what it was worth..."
Yeah, that's about what it's like. Read on.

PROPOSITION 1A:
STATE BUDGET. CHANGES CALIFORNIA BUDGET PROCESS.
Rainy Day Fund.
the rainy day fund is really higher taxes which are intended to pay for more things that the government already doesn't money for.
my recommended vote: naww!

PROPOSITION 1B:
EDUCATION FUNDING. PAYMENT PLAN.
Essentially pays for education by creating billions of dollars of liabilities in future, under the guise of "education funding" Education should be funded by the state out of the regular budget, not out of an imaginary fund. Basically, the legislature is agreeing to underfund education because they are banking on the fact that if they put it as a special line item folks will say, "oh my! we must vote yes to save education!" it's the same as a crack head spending all the food and rent money on drugs and then crying in front of a gas station saying, "but my baby is hungry, cold and needs.... "
my recommended vote: uh.. NOPE

PROPOSITION 1C:
LOTTERY MODERNIZATION ACT.
They call it the modernization act, but really it's a loan to the state of $5 billion that makes it even more impossible to balance future budgets and endangers the ability of the lottery to make payments to education as mandated when voters approved state sanctioned gambling.
my recommended vote: NOPE!

PROPOSITION 1D:
PROTECTS CHILDREN’S SERVICES FUNDING.
This proposition steals money out of the tobacco fund to pay for children's programs that should be paid for out of the regular state budget. It also robs the health programs for the millions of folks who will die of tobacco related deaths, and it steals from the education fund to keep new smokers from lighting up!
my recommended vote: NO!

PROPOSITION 1E:
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FUNDING.
TEMPORARY REALLOCATION. HELPS BALANCE STATE BUDGET.
Steals $225 million from the mental health service act to pay for other programs that are the responsibility of the counties and state. Although there is a lot of money that has yet to be tapped by the MHSA, however, there is nothing wrong with money unspent (although it's easy to see why the legislature sees this as a problem). NO! the people JUST voted for the MHSA and, it deserves the opportunity to work as intended and not stolen from by crooked, inept, incompetent, self-serving legislators.
my recommended vote: NO!

PROPOSITION 1F:
ELECTED OFFICIALS’ SALARIES.
PREVENTS PAY INCREASES DURING BUDGET DEFICIT YEARS.
Prevents elected members of the legislature from receiving pay raises in years where the state is running a deficit.. The only thing wrong with this, is that it should be reworded that in the event a new budget isn't passed, the legislators shouldn't be paid strong>AT ALL... AND once they pass the budget they would start to be paid again, with NO OPPORTUNITY TO RECOUP THE MONEY THEY LOST when they couldn't get it together. . unfortunately the measure doesn't go that far, however, we can still pass it.
my recommended vote: YESSSSS!!

Is It True? Less Is Actually More?

it just doesn't seem to make sense, but the simple truth is, that less is actually more. the less you have, the more satisfied you are with what you have. if you have more, it leads into a game of impossible satiation. and once in that realm, there is a fear that anything less will be insufficient, so it leaves you feeling unable to change and cut back. at that point the battle is completely lost, because psychologically, you've entered the real of learned helplessness.

if there is one thing true about humans, is that they can will themselves to just about anything. between their minds, technology, training, refinement, they can do things that really, they should not be able to do.

it's been a humbling experience, but also, tremendously rewarding to be able to make these, oh so precious realizations at this stage of my life.

there is a lot said about "the now" and "mindfullness" and these are two lessons that are inexhaustible. How to be mindful of all the things you can benefit from being fully mindful about at all times? how to be in the "now" with all of the amazing realizations and experiences and knowledge and levels of awareness that you can plunge into at all times? and then, of course, how to be mindful in the now. of course, it makes no sense to think of being mindful in anything other than the now, and yet, psychologically, by not being "present" consciously, we are able to achieve the seeming impossible, which is to not be in the "now". by thinking of the future, being held back by prior assumptions, being held back by believed limitations, by rigidity of mind, by belief, delusion, by a focus on something that is not present, by fantasy, by imagination.. in all of these ways we are held back and capable of not being in the "present"

the only thing i can liken the ability to be mindful in the now is the idea of driving and reading. once one has mastered driving, you can find yourself at your destination and now really remember how you got there. when you can read really well and focus for long periods of time, you no longer become aware of the words, rather, you are fully within the world of the story, the characters, the events....

to be mindful in the now is like reading in this way. over time, you become better at being present and conscious in your actions. you become adept at being able to make small, small, small, seeming inconsequential choices in the now, that pay off huge dividends as these small choices are built upon others and others.

the list of things that are conducive to mindfulness, are infinite, as well as the list of things that are antithetical to it. not knowing what you want, i would not dare to direct anyone in being mindful. however, the beauty is, that if one makes a commitment to being mindful, then slowly, over time, you will become better and better at it. and one by one, problems and issues will fall to the wayside. you will become better and better at living with intent and moving towards your goals.

when i was young. when i was not yet 20, i sketched out some "goals" i don't think i've reached or attained any of them, however, they can be achieved right now. they can be achieved in a single day. If i were to be able to achieve them in a single day, for a single day, then that would be it. and then, i would need to be able to achieve these goals, everyday, all day and never miss an opportunity to achieve them. then i would have achieved them completely.

they are very simple. they have to do with flexibility, communication, nutrition, awareness, and love.

it's very beautiful to have, at such a young age, chosen such meaningful goals. and yet, incredibly challenging to have chosen goals, that are so supreme and in a very real sense, difficult. and yet, as i've stated before, they are very simple goals. and yet, to achieve them, for a day here or there, is something that can bring a very strong sense of accomplishment, and yet, is accompanied by much sadness. it's sad that something so simple can seem so tortuous and difficult, as we fight ourselves and work at cross purposes with ourselves. it's sad to recount the effort, the battles, the failures, the confusion, rage, anger, sadness that it has to be so difficult. and yet. the sadness is passing, and you will evolve.

and so, less is actually more. in a full circle, you return to where you began, and you have in effect, gone nowhere. and yet, a circle has been made, a journey has taken place and by returning, you have been made whole, and for having gone, you are made complete. in every possible example of life. circles are being made. and yes it is true. less is actually more.

Black Panthers In The News

John Carlos & Tommie Smith honored by NYC Council



Campus activist Richard Masato Aoki dies at 70: San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA
Memorial services will be held in early May for Richard Masato Aoki, an Oakland native who was interned as a boy during World War II and later played a key role in the Black Panther Party and the 1969 Third World Liberation Front strike at UC Berkeley...

'Open Veins' and enduring ills in Latin America: Los Angeles Times - CA, USA
The reading list for my college core course at UC Santa Cruz in the early 1970s included a book by a young Uruguayan author, Eduardo Galeano, called "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent." The book, which excoriated Europe and the United States for their exploitation of the region, was pretty standard fare at a school where Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse was a visiting professor and Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton was a fellow student...

Bay Area Indymedia: In Prison My Whole Life: A Journey towards Freedom
In the documentary In Prison My Whole Life, young William Francome tells us that he was born the night that Mumia Abu-Jamal was jailed for the killing of police officer Daniel Faulkner and that his mother has often reminded him that every year of his life represents another year in prison for Mumia Abu-Jamal. After listening to Rage against the Machine voice their support for Mumia, he sets out on a journey to find out about the man who’s been in prison his whole life...

Black Panther co-founder reminisces: Chabot Spectator - USA
Last Wednesday Chabot College was honored by the presence of Bobby Seale, the man who, along with Huey P. Newton, co-founded the Black Panther Party in he ‘60s, a revolutionary group created to defend the civil rights of all people and end institutionalized racism...

Council salutes Olympian 1968 track runners John Carlos and Tommie Smith: New York Daily News - New York, NY, USA
No one held up their fists at this ceremony.
Scorned four decades ago for their famous Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics, track greats John Carlos and Tommie Smith were applauded this week as they received City Council proclamations hailing their "achievements and their courageous contributions to the civil rights movement."

New York Daily News: Joint project gives Ugandan orphans the tools to excel
Stephen Shames has spent the last five years trying to put his children through school.
There are more than 70 of them - children, not schools.
An award-winning photojournalist who cut his teeth in the late 1960s as the militant Black Panther Party's official photographer, Shames, 62, is founder of Lead, Educate, Achieve, Dream Uganda (LEAD Uganda) a five-year-old educational and leadership program based in Kampala, Uganda...

Bay Area Indymedia: The Black Hole at KPFA- San Francisco, CA, USA
The April 8-14 issue of the East Bay Express features a 5,576-word cover story on Minister of Information JR who has spoken out on the murders of blacks by law enforcement and has had ties with your muslim bakery. It doesn't bother to actually build a case for how he is a provocateur or who he is a supposed agent for; it's just a hit piece from someone who fancies himself of the "mainstream" perspective and doesn't get where JR is coming from on the issues he covers...

High court rejects Mumia Abu Jamal appeal: FinalCall.com - Chicago, IL, USA
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - The Supreme Court dealt a cruel blow to journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, April 6, denying without comment his appeal to overturn his conviction for the 1981 killing of a White police officer. “The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection,” Robert Bryan, his chief defense attorney wrote to supporters recently. The racially tinged trial which sentenced Mr. Abu Jamal to death was held before a predominantly White jury of 10 Whites and only two Blacks in Philadelphia where 43 percent of the population is Black...

Berkeley Continues to Refine Their, "Intellectually Sterile Human Introduction Technique" (iSHIT)

It seems that there are many ways to skin a cat, and at least as many ways to oppress non-elitist and the unentitled. By choosing to pick the mentally lame, the mentally uncreative, those with leisure and a stated non-passion for creativity, empowerment, innovation, and an all too obvious lacking desire, ability, or even awareness that "the people" are to be served by knowledge, then by choosing these individuals to enter the higher institutions of our nation, these institutions are preserving and effectively blocking all access to information and the empowerment that knowledge and information can bring.

It's like, Berkeley and bullshit institutions like Berkeley can not only devise ingenius ways of scientifically justifying the lack of lower socio-economic classes, but also, they can use high tech solutions modeled after biological techniques derived from insect control, namely "SIT" or "Sterile-Insect Technique". Bullshit institutions such as Berkeley now use "Intellectually Sterile-Human Introduction Technique".

Here's how it works.
Intellectually Sterile-Human Introdution Technique (or "iSHIT" for short) helps in the eradication of all helpful efforts in inner-city and communities of high disparity. Instead of choosing qualified minorities and others to enter higher educational institutions as undergraduates or even graduate students, intellectually sterile individuals from overly represented and high socio-economic groups are chosen to fill up these valuable slots.

Once they obtain their degrees, they are released into the larger community whereby mating with equally intellectually infertile males and females while avoiding lower producing, under-represented areas to work, equally infertile progeny are produced. It must be remembered that if individuals from groups of high-disparity were in these valuable educational slots, then not only would the high disparity communites be able to profit from the return of these individuals (and their children and their childrens children exponentially), but the children and offspring of these highly-educated individuals would form an exponential army of high producers, the effects of which would be wholly transformative.

Instead, Universities such as Berkeley shoose to flood the general population with "sterile humans"

Question: How do intellectually sterile humans in higher educational settings suppress intellectual creativity?

Answer: Sterile humans are employed to compete with indigenous humans to reduce the number of intellectually fertile events, and to cause the children of indigenous humans to function without this knowledge. To assure success, sterile humans must be present in much greater numbers than the indigenous humans in order to reduce production of intellectually stimulating events. The method is only effective after the indigenous intellectually stimulating population has been greatly reduced by other means, such as racism, bullshit policies, racist admissions policy, bullshit curriculum, bullshit administration and bullshit in general (big ishit) because it only takes one intellectually fertile indigenous human to intellectually inseminate a number of children and community members in a high disparity region.

But it doesn't start there. The entire rancid nature of these types of institutios turns off many a minority. So they block us from getting in, and when we get in, they teach bullshit.

Overtly racist Institutions like Berkeley must be contrasted with truly innovative and welcoming institutions such as Harvard which graduates several of the greatest minds of the Black empowerment fight, such as W.E.B DuBois, Carter G. Woodson..... but this isn't to say Harvard is perfect. They too have fallen prey to the recent tradition of racist admissions. Although 8% of Harvards students are Black, the vast majority of those Blacks are West Indian, African or the children of West Indian and Africans and not those who would truly represent inclusion of historically excluded populations.

The Empire Strikes Back!!! exclusionary Berkeley is at it AGAIN.

Check TheWoozy.com to see the report on Diversity and admissions at Berkeley. Anyone who knows anything about admissions at Berkeley knows that although it's a fact that very, very, very precious few Blacks get in, Berkeley has been commited to doing everything possible to refine admissions policy to make sure that even LESS Blacks get in.

It's a well known fact that Berkeley has been practicing their malevalent craft of racial hocus pocus and honing it and trying desperately to defeat the influx of Asians on campus. Well, they finally have their way. It's no surprise that the method they've chosen to enact isn't expected to raise Black, Latino, or lower socio-economic class levels on UC campuses, rather, the policy's primary researched outcome is to DECREASE Asian enrollment and INCREASE White enrollment. and yet, the highly intelligent, world leading, top notch, nobel laureated, big brained, richly rewarded (with public dollars) brahmin of Berkeley VOTED FOR IT UNANIMOUSLY! but of course!

This is totally consistent with what these academics, administrators (highly paid) and scholars have been doing since time began. racist policies of U.C. and copied throughout this great land of ours results in millions of under-represented groups being marginalized, starving, dying early, being unemployed, uneducated, incarcerated and murdered. That's far worse than the uncouthness of complaining about racism, and that's anyone should care about.

so, congratulations Berkeley, you've shown your true colors again.

New UC admissions policy angers Asian-Americans
By TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press Writer
Friday, April 24, 2009

(04-24) 16:32 PDT San Francisco (AP) --

A new admissions policy set to take effect at the University of California system in three years is raising fears among Asian-Americans that it will reduce their numbers on campus, where they account for 40 percent of all undergraduates.

University officials say the new standards — the biggest change in UC admissions since 1960 — are intended to widen the pool of high school applicants and make the process more fair.

But Asian-American advocates, parents and lawmakers are angrily calling on the university to rescind the policy, which will apply at all nine of the system's undergraduate campuses.

They point to a UC projection that the new standards would sharply reduce Asian-American admissions while resulting in little change for blacks and Hispanics, and a big gain for white students.

"I like to call it affirmative action for whites," said Ling-chi Wang, a retired professor at UC Berkeley. "I think it's extremely unfair to Asian-Americans on the one hand and underrepresented minorities on the other."

Asian-Americans are the single largest ethnic group among UC's 173,000 undergraduates. In 2008, they accounted for 40 percent at UCLA and 43 percent at UC Berkeley — the two most selective campuses in the UC system — as well as 50 percent at UC San Diego and 54 percent at UC Irvine.

Asian-Americans are about 12 percent of California's population and 4 percent of the U.S. population overall.

UC officials adamantly deny the intent is to increase racial diversity, and reject allegations the policy is an attempt to circumvent a 1996 voter-approved ban on affirmative action.

"The primary goal is fairness and eliminating barriers that seem unnecessary," UC President Mark Yudof said. "It means that if you're a parent out there, more of your sons' and daughters' files will be reviewed."

Yudof and other officials disputed the internal study that projected a drop of about 20 percent in Asian-American admissions, saying it is impossible to accurately predict the effects. "This is not Armageddon for Asian-American students," Yudof said.

"If there are Asian-Americans who are qualified and don't get into UC because they're trying to increase diversity, then I think that's unfair," said 16-year-old junior Jessica Peng. "I think that UC is lowering its standards by doing that."

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Chavez to Obama: "Open Veins of Latin America..." Eduardo Galeano

Chavez's gift to Obama swiftly becomes best-seller
Sunday, April 19, 2009
(04-19) 07:30 PDT PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) --

A book by an Uruguayan journalist that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave to President Barack Obama is now the No. 5 seller on Amazon.com. It's an astounding jump for "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," by Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano. The paperback edition was ranked 54,295 on the online retailer before Chavez gave Obama a Spanish-language edition of the 1971 book on Saturday. It had jumped to No. 5 by Sunday. The English hardcover edition is listed as out of print. Galeano's book documents how foreign interests have dominated and afflicted Latin America since the Spanish conquest. It's a favorite among leftists.


The "Banana Republics" of South America were a co-creation of the United States, spurred by the threat of "communism" and the threat to the profits of Agri-businesses such as Dole, United Fruit, Standard Fruit etc. as well as the possibility of higher produce prices for "Americans. When the south american nations (El Salvador, Belize, Grenada, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala) began to institute true self-rule, the U.S. government in tandem with Agri-business began a series of coups and junta's and false fascist governments. Surely the "threat" of communism was also a large part of the motivation in nations such as Cuba, Chile and Argentina. In any event, the horrendous effects of this trend are the subject of Galeano's book.

What follows is a review of Open Veins By Isabel Allende, 1977: She was a friend and peer of Eduardo Galeano. It is somewhat of an essential "Introduction" to the book for those that know nothing of Galeano.

On September 11, 1973, a Military Coup ended a century of democratic tradition in Chile and started the long reign of General Augusto Pinochet. Similar coups followed in other countries, and soon half the continent's population was living in terror. This was a strategy designed in Washington and imposed upon the Latin American people by the economic and political forces of the right. In every instance the military acted as mercenaries to the privileged groups in power. Repression was organized on a large scale; torture, concentration camps, censorship, imprisonment without trial, and summary executions became common practices. Thousands of people "disappeared," masses of exiles and refugees left their countries running for their lives. New wounds were added to the old and recent scars that the continent had endured. In this political context The Open Veins of Latin America was published. This book made Eduardo Galeano famous overnight, although he was already a well known political journalist in Uruguay.

Like all his countrymen, Eduardo wanted to be a soccer player. He also wanted to be a saint, but as it turned out, he ended up committing most of the deadly sins, as he once confessed. "I have never killed anybody, it is true, but it is because I lacked the courage or the time, not because I lacked the desire." He worked for a weekly political magazine Marcha, and at twenty-eight he became the director of the important newspaper Epoca, in Uruguay. He wrote The Open Veins of Latin America in three months, in the last ninety nights of 1970, while he worked during the day in the University, editing books, magazines, and newsletters.

By the middle of 1973 there was a military coup, he was imprisoned, and shortly afterward he went into exile in Argentina, where he created the magazine Crisis. But by 1976 there was a military coup also in Argentina, and the "dirty war" against intellectuals, leftists, journalists, and artists began. Galeano initiated another exile, this time in Spain, with Helena Villagra, his wife. In Spain he wrote Days and Nights of Love and War, a beautiful book about memory, and soon after he began a sort of conversation with the soul of America: Memories of Fire, a massive fresco of Latin American history since the pre-Colombian era to modern times. "I imagined that America was a woman and she was telling in my ear her secrets, the acts of love and violations that had created her." He worked on these three volumes for eight years, writing by hand. "I am not particularly interested in saving time: I prefer to enjoy it." Finally, in 1985, after a plebiscite defeated the military dictatorship in Uruguay, Galeano was able to return to his country. His exile had lasted eleven years, but he had not learned to be invisible or silent; as soon as he set foot in Montevideo he was again working to fortify the fragile democracy that replaced the military junta, and he continued to defy the authorities and risk his life to denounce the crimes of the dictatorship.

Eduardo Galeano has also published several works of fiction and poetry; he is the author of innumerable articles, interviews, and lectures; he has obtained many awards, honorary degrees, and recognition for his literary talent and his political activism. He is one of the most interesting authors ever to come out of Latin America, a region known for its great literary names. His work is a mixture of meticulous detail, political conviction, poetic flair, and good storytelling. He has walked up and down Latin America listening to the voices of the poor and the oppressed, as well as those of the leaders and the intellectuals. He has lived with Indians, peasants, guerrillas, soldiers, artists, and outlaws; he has talked to presidents, tyrants, martyrs, priests, heroes, bandits, desperate mothers, and patient prostitutes. He has been bitten by snakes, suffered tropical fevers, walked in the jungle, and survived a massive heart attack; he has been persecuted by repressive regimes as well as by fanatical terrorists. He has opposed military dictatorships and all forms of brutality and exploitation, taking unthinkable risks in defense of human rights. He has more first-hand knowledge of Latin America than anybody else I can think of, and uses it to tell the world of the dreams and disillusions, the hopes and the failures of its people. He is an adventurer with a talent for writing, a compassionate heart, and a soft sense of humor. "We live in a world that treats the dead better than the living. We, the living, are askers of questions and givers of answers, and we have other grave defects unpardonable by a system that believes death, like, money, improves people."

The Open Veins of Latin America, as was his genius for story-telling. I know Eduardo Galeano personally: he can produce an endless stream of stories with no apparent effort for an undetermined period of time. Once we were both stranded in a beach hotel in Cuba with no transportation and no air-conditioning. For several days he entertained me with his amazing stories over pina coladas. This almost superhuman talent for storytelling is what makes The Open Veins of Latin America so easy to read - like a pirate's novel, as he once described it - even for those who are not particularly knowledgeable about political or economic matters. The book flows with the grace of a tale; it is impossible to put it down. His arguments, his rage, and his passion would be overwhelming if they were not expressed with such superb style, with such masterful timing and suspense. Galeano denounces exploitation with uncompromising ferocity, yet this book is almost poetic in its description of solidarity and human capacity for survival in the midst of the worst kind of despoliation. There is a mysterious power in Galeano's story-telling. He uses his craft to invade the privacy of the reader's mind, to persuade him or her to read and to continue reading to the very end, to surrender to the charm of his writing and the power of his idealism.

In his Book of Embraces, Eduardo has a story that I love. To me it is a splendid metaphor of writing in general and his writing in particular.

There was an old and solitary man who spent most of his time in bed. There were rumors that he had a treasure hidden in his house. One day some thieves broke in, they searched everywhere and found a chest in the cellar. They went off with it and when they opened it they found that it was filled with letters. They were the love letters the old man had received all over the course of his long life. The thieves were going to burn the letters, but they talked it over and finally decided to return them. One by one. One a week. Since then, every Monday at noon, the old man would be waiting for the postman to appear. As soon as he saw him, the old man would start running and the postman, who knew all about it, held the letter in his hand. And even St. Peter could hear the beating of that heart, crazed with joy at receiving a message from a woman.

Isn't this the playful substance of literature? An event transformed by poetic truth. Writers are like those thieves, they take something that is real, like the letters, and by a trick of magic they transform it into something totally fresh. In Galeano's tale the letters existed and they belonged to the old man in the first place, but they were kept unread in a dark cellar, they were dead. By the simple trick of mailing them back one by one, those good thieves gave new life to the letters and new illusions to the old man. To me this is admirable in Galeano's work: finding the hidden treasures, giving sparkle to worn out events, and invigorating the fired soul with his ferocious passion.

The Open Veins of Latin America is an invitation to explore beyond the appearance of things. Great literary works like this one wake up consciousness, bring people together, interpret, explain, denounce, keep record, and provoke changes. There is one other aspect of Eduardo Galeano that fascinates me. This man who has so much knowledge and who has - by studying the clues and the signs - developed a sense of foretelling, is an optimist. At the end of Century of the Wind, the third volume of Memory of Fire, after 600 pages proving the genocide, the cruelty, the abuse, and exploitation exerted upon the people of Latin America, after a patient recount of everything that has been stolen and continues to be stolen from the continent, he writes:

The tree of life knows that, whatever happens, the warm music spinning around it will never stop. However much death may come, however much blood may flow, the music will dance men and women as long as the air breaths them and the land plows and loves them.

This breath of hope is what moves me the most in Galeano's work. Like thousands of refugees all over the continent, I also had to leave my country after the military coup of 1973. I could not take much with me: some clothes, family pictures, a small bag with dirt from my garden, and two books: an old edition of the Odes by Pablo Neruda, and the book with the yellow cover, Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina. More than twenty years later I still have that same book with me. That is why I could not miss the opportunity to write this introduction and thank Eduardo Galeano publicly for his stupendous love for freedom, and for his contribution to my awareness as a writer and as a citizen of Latin America. As he said once: "it's worthwhile to die for things without which it's not worthwhile to live."
-Isabel Allende

Confusion Breaky-Boney.. LEGBA!!! (Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80)

"Afro-Beat" is the equivalent of a Yoruba Opera. it is always political, poetic, truthful, ironic, iconoclastic, and deeply rooted in the culture and traditions of African Society, while at the same time, derivative of Colonialism and the pomp and pomposity of the Colonizers as exemplified in their dress, their military uniforms, and the way in which the Africans Supplanted and worshiped the colonizers through emulation.

Today's blog, is to guide you through the Yoruban Opera "Confusion Breaks Bones" by Fela Kuti
[my favorite parts and transitions in bold]

Starts out with Drums.
At 00:21 -Baseline, and rhythm guitar.
At 00:32 -Organ melody
At 1:07 -Horns (Fela's bands are famous for having not only 1, but 2 bass saxophones).
At 2:00 -Back to just drums, rhythm guitar and bas
At 2:11 -Organ comes back
At 2:42 -Horns start up again (they all phase in just as they had in the beginning).

The background, the environment of the song is being established. the other elements come in like seasons, times of the day, morning, noon, evening, moon phases, cycles of birth, death....

At 3:32 -First bridge of horns (this chorus isn't done again until the end)
At 4:00 -Singers come in with, the "residents" or "community" of the song singing, "confusion breaky-boney" chorus for first time.
The singing, the drums, the different rhythms, melodies... creating a beautiful melody and reconstruction of the aural "confusion" of the big city. The horns are reminiscent of both car horns, traffic, european marches (how apropos considering colonialism and the age of colonialism)

At 4:38, Fela does his first call and response, ordering in the drum solo. The drums are aggressive, but not as aggressive as later. in the beginning solo, the drums sound like work, struggle, as if soil is being toiled, buildings being hammered, music being played, or as if in lieu of a town square and bells for high noon, the drums are signaling to the community that all is well, life is proceeding as normal.
At 5:27 -The chorus "deady-body accident" traffic, disaster, violence, in response to protest, as a form of repression. "confusion breaky-boney" chorus.
At 6:20 -Saxophone solo. very beautiful and contemplative, like it's looking out over some beautiful African hill looking down on the beauty of Africa on one side, and confusion on the other. Part of the beauty of this solo is the calmness of it considering the theme of the song. The sax seems almost disconnected from the song in a vital way and this contrast brings an awareness of how life is "supposed to be" at it's finest. Perhaps a commentary on the goal of the modern government in terms of GNP vs. GNH (gross national happiness).

The sax solo turns into call and response with horns and sax solo, almost as if the "confusion" (horns) of the city is calling back to the prior life (sax solo) and is singing reminiscently of an idealized, surely romanticized history of African simplicity. Sax continues to 9:41
At 9:41 -Fela tells the chorus to say, "U-Low-Ya" when he says, "Ban-Bala". and when he says "Ban-Bala, they are supposed to say, "U-Low-Ya." And that's what they do. You gotta love the history and beauty of African call and response which is in virtually every form of African singing.
At 10:27 -Fela says, "the underground spiritual game" which is what he called his band and music. "Moo-Kele, Moo-Kele, Moo-Kele, Moo-Kele......"
At 10:47 -Fela says that he's been singing the song for a while and how the government began burning down his house.
Between 11:00-13:00 he begins talking about his country has become westernized and in love with money and all the wrong things he sees in Nigeria continuing with more call and response with his chorus.

At 12:55 -Call and response between fela and his horn section. talking about how traffic comes from all directions (East West North South) to a meeting place without any police to direct.
Between 13:50-15:20 -Fela begins talking about all of the things how the police burned all his stuff ( "police and army come burn my house" ) and how the police are supposed to help people, not burn their stuff around "'75 and '77". and how the government should be helping people.
beautiful call and response between fela and his horn section and his chorus. "everything that cost money they bon-bon dem"
MY FAVORITE PART! Between 16:02-17:07 -A beautiful chorus/bridge, with call and response with chorus.

"..... FELA: I Come Singy-Say Insulation
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Come Singy-Say Corruption
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Come Singy-Say Mismanagement
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Come Singy Say Stealing By Government
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: Na Old, Old, Old, Old News Beda-Too
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: De Problem Still De Ba-Bara-Ba
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Say De Problem Still De Ba-Bara-Ba
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!...."

At 18:55 very passionate call and response with the chorus. Continuing with all kinds of funky bridges, Political lyrics, Horns, Choruses', drum solo's, etc.
At 21:43 -The main "confusion" singing/chorus/bridge. very beautiful.
CHORUS:
"...Deady-Body Get De Accident Yeah-Pa!
Deady-Body Get De Accident Yeah-Pa!
Confusion Breaky-Boney, Yeah-Pa!
Confusion Breaky-Boney, Yeah-Pa!..."
At 22:18 -Then Deady-Body Chorus repeated While Fela Enters into a grieving trance singing of passionate "Deady-Body" folks getting broken and killed by government. very passionate singing by Fela. "Deady-body yooooo!!!" and then the horns come in at 23:16 continuing until at 25:04 when Fela Cuts it off: ..."An-Lee! En-Chee! Eg-Ba! Eonree!!"

At 26:13 -Beautiful horn bridge. Once again, it's almost as if the horns are playing in such a way to harken back to British occupation, British Marches and colonialism, yet with an African twist... and this brings up one of the most beautiful aspects of African culture, which is the ability to be exposed to something "foreign" and through adaptation, elucidation and using that thing to voice the African voice, it's almost as if there is no ability to discern the foreigness of that thing. It has been wholly subsumed into that which is African. Be it American Jazz, Dance, Music, Organ, Fashion, Acting, Sports, the African has been able to subsume that thing into something that appears wholly African.
At 27:05 -Fela orders the last drum solo.
At 27:30 -Funky piano introduces the final chorus/horn brige of "confusion breaky-boney!" and "deady-body"

Seems to end at 28:33 -But then drum solo. now, instead of signaling a normal part of the day, the drumming is aggressive, as if gun shots and rifle shots. Anger, work, machinery, or a police force breaking down on the human body. call and response by fela and drums at 28:42. final horn blast at 29:00.

At the end, an entire village, a situation, an entire story has been told, musically to the point that you hardly realize you've been educated for the education has been so fully/beautifully incorporated into the song. It really shows a shared lineage with "rap" and other African-based creations such as Gospel, Blues, R&B, Pop, Jazz, etc and how the music, the drums the lyrics tell an entire story.
The Song is everything a song can be, and is supposed to be, but truly transcends "music" to become record, a testimony and fully complete piece of life and a celebration of life while also serving as a pointed critique of post-colonialism, fascist/democracies in the mold of colonialism. political oppression and the loss of the African self.

The Single Bullet Theory... I Believe in Oswald's Ghost!

On December 4 , 1963 Malcolm X was so absolutely right on when he said that the chickens had come home to roost. All of the dirty tricks, bullshit, half promises and failures to reign in rampant racism as Mississippi and the rest of the south burned and seethed with racial bloodshed. Truly, when Kennedy had been shot, the violence spawned by him, in viet-nam, the bay of pigs, the bannana wars, seemed to tumble out of his control. Did the U.S. government kill Kennedy? if it was their job to protect him, they failed miserably. so yes, they killed him. Or more to the point, they buttered him, cooked him and stuck an apple in his mouth for Lee Harvey Oswald.

If anyone saw the Oliver Stone JFK movie, then they've been exposed to every single conspiracy theory ever unearthed about the Kennedy assassination. Many people don't know it, but Stone purposely put in every paranoid delusion to make his movie seem plausible. It certainly had me sold, but then again, when it came out, I was a bit younger and more impressionable.

There were so many strange things about the Kennedy assassination. It's almost as if God wanted it to happen. Not since the crucifixion of Jesus has a leader been executed in such a convoluted, enormous seeming conspiracy of ineptitude, strange personalities, corrupt systems and happenstance.

Indeed the Kennedy assassination was grand beyond measure. There were several things about it that were hard to figure out. Just to name a few:

1. Why did Kennedy's head snap backward when he was shot from behind?
2. How did Oswald get a job in such a perfect location and get those shots so accurately?
3. If Kennedy was indeed assassinated by way of conspiracy how come not a single Kennedy stepped forward to say that it was a conspiracy?
4. How odd, in the age of hardly any camera's, that that freaking guy, named "zapruder" of all names, capture a perfect god-damned film of the assassination? amazing right?
5. Of all people to kill Kennedy, why did it have to be a guy who defected to Russia, gave up his citizenship and then, came back and campaigned for and against Cuba as a "Marxist/Leninist" and who was also closely associated with the OSS (the 60's version of the CIA)?
6. Why did so many folks who were eye witnesses, government workers and at the periphery of the assasination die within several years of various conditions, accidents and illness? such a strange coincidence.
7. How did a night club owner choose to assasinate Oswald? thus ending any chance anyone had for a full confession or book to clarify what exactly happened and to articulate a motive, however twisted?

as it turns out, Oswald was an excellent shot. having gone through army rifle qualification, I've hit targets representing humans from 300 yards consistently without anything other than the basic army issue m-16 sights. from 50 yards, even as a semi-above average marksman, I could hit someone square in the back of the head at least 9 times out of 10. moving target's are more difficult, but at 15 miles an hour at that close range, from a downward angle, it'd be a turkey shoot for the average person with a few days practice.

so, the shooting wasn't that remarkable.

As far as the "magic bullet" it didn't have to be that magical. the reality is that Kennedy and Connolly were lined up such that the bullet could have traveled easily through them numerous times. The Nazi's used to line up folks for execution 6-8 deep and fire a bullet through the front individual and kill all 6-8. That's why they call it a "high powered" rifle.

As far as the bullet being pristine, several bullets were test fired through hard wood, and almost all of them looked almost exactly like the "pristine" bullet. In this age of "talon" and mushrooming bullets' made to distort and rip/shred/kill on impact, it's hard to understand bullets made to penetrate deeply and kill 3-4 layers deep, through vehicles, radio packs, mud, wood, etc.

Why did Kennedy's head snap backward? For folks that have shot guns, you know the bullet can land anywhere. When I was at boy scout camp, I shot a .22. Once, after 10 shots, I looked next to me to see a "pristine" bullet laying next to me. It was a ricochet! It had gone forward 25 yards and bounced back to land next to me! There are bullets designed such that you could shoot a man in the back, and the bullet may come out his big toe. In the Kennedy film, what happened is that the angle of the show was from so high above that when the bullet struck his head, it virtually exploded, forcing his head backward as the bullet drove down into his brain. I'm sure 9 times out of 10, Kennedy's head hit similarly would jump forward. it's just another strange aspect of the assasination, that his head snapped backward, as if he was shot from the grassy knoll.

It was hard for the U.S. public to swallow the assassination. but it was true. it was so weird and the government, through it's efforts to control information and make the information "secret" created the illusion that they had much to hide. In truth, they were trying to hide the depth of their ineptitude in protecting the president. They were trying to hide their embarrassment and humiliation at a lone gunmen, a freaking communist defector, killing the U.S. president single handed.

It was amazing to see it happen in my mind, but I watched as I went from a staunch believer in the conspiracy to kill Kennedy, to the lone gunman theory. I never, ever, ever, thought I would believe it... and the fact that I do, after believing otherwise for 30 years of so, makes this whole freaking thing, even more weird!

Watch "Oswald's Ghost". what makes this film so great, is that if it's bullshit, it's the best bullshit I've ever seen, because in the space of an hour or so, it was able to erase entrenched views and belief's I've held and dismiss them one by one, leading to a singular, inexorable conclusion.

OAKLAND CELEBRATES BOBBY HUTTON DAY

ALL POWER TO THE (YOUNG) PEOPLE!!!!

It was a beautiful day and a GREAT DAY, and also profoundly sad for supporters of Bobby Hutton Day today in West Oakland. Melvin Dixson of The Commemorator Newspaper was there, along with Artist/Photographer Billy X, World renowned Artist, Emory Douglas, Bobby Hutton's Sister, cousin, and the Heart and Soul of Bobby Hutton Day and the Bobby Hutton Memorial, Joyce Hutton, as well as many other grass roots luminaries and volunteers who kept the participants well stocked with food, refreshments, treats, information, love, brotherhood, respect and solidarity.

The event was held in the community room of the West Oakland Library at DeFremery (Little Bobby Hutton) Park. Featured prominently on the stage was an empty wicker chair for the spirit of Bobby (made world famous by Huey P. Newton, and reduxe by Funkadelic), and a Panther adorned with flowers. There was a bounty of food and articles for sale, from button's, t-shirts ("Don't Hate! Educate!"), posters, newspapers, articles, photographs, etc.

There were many children present, including my own, Joyce Hutton's and other future leaders of the struggle. It was very profound to think that even some of the youngest children in attendance were less than 10 years younger than Lil' Bobby Hutton was when he was the first member of The Panther's and treasurer.

EMORY DOUGLAS EDUCATED THE CROWD
After the inspirational words of the tireless Joyce Hutton, Billy X jumped on the mike and brought a deep realism to the days events, recounting Bobby's life, his energy and the importance of maintaining and in particular to extend his legacy as an example to all young Black men as an example of the value one can find in their life through a worthy cause. Bobby was 16 when he became the 1st member and youngest member of The Black Panthers. Once again, only in an organization that truly recognizes the importance of passion and where value is placed upon the individual and especially youth, could a 16 year old be a major part of an internationally recognized liberation movement

Emory Douglas' speech took us far and wide, beginning with the youthful vigor and seriousness of Bobby Hutton, and the fact that he still maintained his youth, while being able to be "deathly" serious in the execution of his duties. It's a wonderful thing that the heavyweights of the party are still out, still vigorous, youthful and as committed as ever to extending the important message of Bobby Hutton's life and his murder by The Oakland Police.

Emory also talked about his travels through Europe, the current day relevance of The Panthers and the worldwide fascination with Bobby Hutton, who at such a young age, sat at the crossroads of history, arm and arm with Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Kathleen Cleaver, Stokeley Carmichael and other Black Luminaries and liberationists. Emory gave an excellent and very generous talk and shared his time beautifully.

The remarks made by blackpantherblvd.com reflected on the fact that The Panther's did more for the Black Community than the entire U.S. government and set a world wide example of peaceful revolution which was unprecedented at the time, and has also served as a blueprint for thousands of grassroots actions for oppressed peoples throughout the world.

The bottom line is The Panthers are the "real" what's happening. Barack Obama, Barbara Lee, Ron Dellums, Al Sharpton and all those other guys wouldn't be possible if The Panther's hadn't sacrificed themselves and fought this government to a draw. That is not to say The Panther's are the "be all end all". What I'm saying is, that beginning with the first group of slaves brought to Jamestown in 1619, to this present day, there has been an unbroken string of unbroken brother's and sisters who have stepped forward to continue the legacy of Black Liberation and world liberation from oppression. To a large extent, The Black Panthers are holding the torch. Barack has grabbed it and hundreds of thousands of Blacks are continually grabbing it, to keep the dream alive.

"The Dream" wasn't just Martin's, it was the dream of the very first African who became conscious in Africa, to give birth to children who would forever remain free. It was "The Dream" of the first enslaved Africans who bore children into slavery, to one day see their children, arm in arm and free with the children of the oppressor.

The "Dream" will never change and forever and always be The Dream. Can there be any other?

It's a tremendous privilege to be a part of Blackpantherblvd.com and to have the opportunity to share the same air, water, food and sun as Oakland's original Black Panthers. May Bobby Hutton and all The Panther's who died in the struggle, never be forgotten!!

THE RELEVANCE OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY CAN NEVER BE LOST IN THIS DAY AND AGE.

1. JUST THIS WEEK, former Black Panther member MUMIA ABU JAMAL'S case went before The Supreme Court.
Democracy Now, files A REPORT ON MUMIA ABU JAMAL: The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by Mumia Abu Jamal and his lawyers for a new trial. The former member of the Black Panther Party and award winning radio journalist has remained on Pennsylvaniaês death row ever since his conviction in 1982 for the murder of a white Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner. In letting the conviction stand, the High Court dismissed without comment Abu-Jamalês claim that the composition of his jury improperly excluded African-Americans.

2. There's an APRIL 12th article citing The Panther's in WORKERS WORLD ONLINE.

3. Just last month, former Japanese, Black Panther Party member Richard Aoki passed away. May he Rest In Peace.

4. The New York Times book review, "THE ROCK AND THE RIVER" BY Kekla Magoon. A story about two son's of a civil rights leader are drawn into the working of The Black Panthers:

5. KENT FORD, founder of the Portland Chapter of the Black Panther Party will be speaking at Pacific University, Oregon at the Taylor Auditorium, April 14th, 7-8:30pm. He will be talking about his experience with the party and the plight of his son, PATRICE LUMUMBA FORD, one of the Portland 7.

6. last, but not least, ANGELA DAVIS spoke at Missouri University about the difference between human and civil rights:

7.One love, Peace Be Unto You!
-BLACKPANTHERBLVD.COM

Magnepan MG-1C's fully repaired and refurbished.

Magnepan before picture [beige with pecan panels] and after picture [black covers with red oak panels].

I Bought a pair of Magnepan MG-1C's on craigslist for $350. I'd read that Stereophile Magazine surveyed their readers and more of them had chosen Magnepan speakers than any other brand. Well, of course I had to go for it.

So I drove out to Danville and bought a pair from an unemployed venture capitalist, serial-dot-com-creator. His claim to fame was that he used to own a winery and took guitar lessons from Jerry Garcia. In fact, Garcia played at his Middle School Graduation due to the connection.

Of course I had to mention that I had come into possession of Garcia's original pedal steel guitar. This guy was able to confirm that Garcia did in fact used to hang out in Santa Cruz and that he played the pedal steel. In fact, this guy who I bought the Magnepans from had picked up a little pedal steel from his association with Garcia.

(time to move the narrative) anyway, we talked a bit, I met his kid, a girl scout dropped off about 30 boxes of cookies and then we made the exchange. I got the puppies home and fired them up. They were incredible. They sounded good at this guys house (Scott), but he was playing them through a guitar amp and his Ipod. I had my playing through my Marantz DVD/CD player and Mcintosh C28/2105 combination.

All superlatives for speakers have already been used, and often, folks who listen to speakers and say they were incredible, have been listening to mostly mediocre speakers. If they have been listening to "great" speakers, individual tastes are such that there's no way to find the one, "best" speaker. so there's no way to tell how to "relativize" the commentary. But let me put it to you this way. A few months back, all I had were Bose 301's. Then I picked up the Mcintosh and got a pair of Boston Acoustic T830's. They were and are incredible. Then i got a pair of Polk RT12's, even better. they originally retailed for over $1000. Then i got a hold of a pair of Klipsch 5.5's. waaaay better. a great product. Then i found out that Vandersteen model 2c's, were rated the #3 audio product of "all-tie" by Stereophile magazine. So I got a pair, and boy, they were incredible, soft, velvety, clear, full. Then I read about the Magnepan's, and put simply, they blew away the Vandersteen's in every possible way.

In short, as mentioned above, the use of superlatives in describing stereo equipment is almost useless when you get to high end products. The one way I would like to describe how these speakers sounded to me is that while listening to a cut of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong made me feel like they were 50 ft. high giants and i was a mere few inches. The same great sound, but BIG. Full, detailed 3 Dimensional, etc.

But, when I played Sgt. Pepper's, I noticed that the treble wasn't playing properly out of one speaker. i switched sides, tweaked, checked connections and sure enough, they were busted. What to do?

I researched and found some loose leaf answers that gave me an idea that the main company would repair them for around $175. But when I called, they said the repair cold be $520 plus shipping (another $175). I was heartened to hear that they sent out repair kits. That meant that they were repairable by the average schmoe.

So, I ordered some new covers (at $31.50), went to home depot and bought some 3M #77 spray, some dap contact cement, a quart of acetone, some wooden dowels, a some brushes, Minwax stain, sandpaper, satin finish polyurethane, two sturdy clamps and cut the covers off the Magnepans to see what was wrong.

Sure enough, the voice coils had separated on both ends of both sets of speakers. But the reason the treble was out on one, was that the voice coil had also separated from one of the magnets in the mid range section.

not to bore you with the details, but i became frustrated with the repairs on three separate occasions and repacked and unpacked the speakers thinking that I would send them in to Magnepan one day for repair. Then one day a few days ago, I got my confidence and passion back and repaired them, step by step. That entailed putting on new covers, refinished the wood, testing the repairs.

I'm as pleased as I can possibly be with these speakers, which is the ultimate superlative. They look and sound magnificent.
so yeah, I'm a freaking expert.

Donald Crowhurst: Portrait of an Intrepid Explorer

When God calls us forward, we come, never knowing if God's intentions are to choose us for some critical mission for humanity in anonymity, humility and anonymity or to exalt us and set us upon a path gilt with gold, or, (hopefully not) to make an example of us through revealing our faults, our infirmities, our foolishness, unworthiness and folly so that we can serve as a cautionary tale. Sometimes, oftentimes we are humiliated and exposed so that we can be tested and hardened for a future pursuit where the vital and critical lessons we learned, can be applied anew in a successful venture... but in other cases, God's intention is simply to destroy us either for the amusement of others, or to serve as a cautionary tale for all who considereth following and wallowing in our path.

The case of Donald Crowhurst provides an interesting example from which we can construct a psychological portrait of the prototypical explorer, not just of modern times, but for all humans of all times.

For the explorer, there is the notion that something can be done, and that with good fortune and some preparation, the self-selected explorer feels that they are the one that can do it.

As with the 17 NASA astronauts who lost their lives, certainly the risks were well known. Yet, what would push an individual to play with and risk their lives for a highly dangerous exploit? and yet, haven't we all? haven't we all, at some point been in a situation where we wondered if we were playing with our lives? from riding an elevator, to standing atop a tall building, to diving into a pool, we all, real or imagined, know what it feels like to face impending doom and then, take the plunge.

The NASA astronauts died in what amounted to an explosion. The force needed to launch a ship into space has the destructive force larger than any non-nuclear bomb created. One must move at 25,000 miles an hour, or 7 miles a second to escape the earth's gravitational pull. Clearly, it is something we are not "designed" to do, and yet we do it.

Could Mr. Crowhurst's dream have been any more unreasonable than that of Magellan, Hitler, Columbus, Nixon, Polo, Cortez, Shakelton, Piszaro, and even Quixote? There are several elements all of the above, share:

1. Mental Instability: Elements of Grandiosity, Brilliance, Delusion, Lability, Selective Factor Consideration and the employment of virtually every psychological defense mechanism (displacement, projection, rationalization, undoing, projective identification, undoing, intellectualiztion... but mostly, Denial, Sublimation, Withdrawel and Identification). This seems to be the Psychological make up of the Explorer.
2. Precocious and Auspicious incidents: demonstrating an inability to follow commands, and impetuous actions that take the individual to unusual, destinations or occupations/experiences.
3. A great need to unearth a "great" destiny, which will reveal the individuals inner, greatness for all to know and acknowledge.
4. Narcissistic Injury. A desperate sense that something must be done with someone's life, and soon, or risk slipping into oblivion along with every other non-descript, anonymous human, thus, never revealing ones greatness. Yes, there is fame, fortune, but most of all, the explorer seeks acknowledge and validation as a unique, special, chosen and great individual.
5. Financial Desperation/Financial Bonanza: a pending financial ruin if some other bold action is not undertaken to right previous wrongs. Or, a huge financial bonanza if one is successful In this sense, the "great exploration" is in essense, the grand undoing of ones previous unsuccesful past, an "erasing" of previous failures, and a gathering of all previous skills and experiences, which are then parlayed into a grand gambit/grab for greatness.

And yet, when we look at that the truly great presonalities of our past, which did not stare oblivion and destruction in the eyes? Did Columbus not risk life, limb, fortune? Did Washington not face the Potomoc? Did Mao Zedung not face death on the great march? Did Castro not risk his very life on a daily basis? Did Harriet Tubman always take the safe route? Didn't Frederick Douglas escape from slavery?

These individuals took opportunities that others dared not take. They were all embued with the greatest of qualities of the human explorer.

6. Je Ne Sais Quoi. A certain something. A " I know not what", A quality of being that exemplifies the beauty of human irrationality and the demon seed of both creation and destruction from which anything, everything, all things and all potential is unleased. Whether mundane, or earth shattering, all human action which is new and untested, and involves a certain set of inherent risks, are undertaken due to a certain "je ne sais quoi", found in virtually in all humans to some degree.

Donald Crowhurst entered a contest sponsored by the London Sunday Times to circumnambulate the globe, solo, in a sailboat for a 5,000 pound prize. Mr. Crowhurst had very little sailing experience. he was trained as an airplane mechanic after a 5 year apprenticeship entered after his father died of a heart attack after financial ruin. Due to Crowhurst bullheaded-ness and feeling that he was "right", he was asked to leave the airforce.

he then entered the army and was again asked to leave after a disciplinary incident. Having been born in India, his return to England was a re-entry to virtual poverty. He struck out on his own and founded his own high-tech business. He saw the race, and the possibility of winning it, as his salvation and also, his ability to assume his rightful place as a great human. Obviously, he was also pregnant with the idea that he was a great man, just waiting his opportunity for God to choose, annoit and protect him as the Gods protected Jason and the Argonauts, shielding them, not from near death, or hardship, or destruction, but from death and failure. Everything else would remain on the table, and as his journey played out, his mettle would be revealed, and the obligatory hurdles would be crossed one by one.

As Mr. Crowhurst set out on his journey, he soon realized he was not equipped to finish the journey and to continue would be at the expense of his life. What to do? turn back and lose his business, his home and doom his wife and 5 children to poverty? Should he continue and surely perish, yet, hold the slim, sliver of a possibility that against all odds and reason, he could not only survive but complete his journey?

As stated so eloquently by one of the experts on Mr. Crowhurst, there was a third option. Fake his journey, pretend he was still in the race and meander around the south atlantic until the real participants came back around, and then pretend that he had finished. Of course, he would not and could not "win". for then his records would be scrutinized. He needed to come in 2nd.

Yet, of the 9 original challengers, by the bitter end, one finished, but having set out months before Crowhurst, if Crowhurst maintained the pace he had faked, he would have won. So Crowhurst awaited the 2nd place finisher so that he could come in and finish 2nd. However, pushed by the idea that Crowhurst was hard on his heels, Tetley, the sure 1st place finisher, pushed his boat to the very brink and ended up sinking, out of and into the blue and being rescued.

The other skipper who was ahead of Crowhurst, was a Frenchman. Unexpectedly, he decided he did not care to finish the race. He turned his boat south and began to head for the cape and another trip around the world. He had "found" himself on his long journey, and no longer cared about the race.

This was a hard blow for Crowhurst. What to do? he was already near insanity at the beginning of his journey, and after 8 months of being a long, foundering on the sea, with the pressures of his leaky boat, his pending financial ruin, and the sure scrutiny his logs would get if her were to come in 1st, he was stuck between the literal rock (the ocean) and the hard place (returning home).

In his journals, he records drifting in the weed tangled sargasso sea, as his writings became more erratic.

Interesting to me, were Crowhurst's writings on God. Surely embittered and feeling that he had been let down and utterly defeated and forlorn by God, he questioned God's existence and went so far as to elucidate a deep, hidden and unspoken truth of Religion.

God did not create man. Man created God.

soon after his realization and crumbling mental state, he jumped into the sea and commited suicide. His boat and journals and deception was found 10 days later. The headlines spread the humiliation and shame across the world. His wife and children were crushed.

The "winner", the only man to finish, donated the 5,000 pound prize to the widow of Crowhurst.

Crowhurst was mistaken. he was not forsaken by God. He was now one of the most rare and unusual of human specimens, A grand, almost untouchable failure. Perhaps one of the greatest failures in history, right along with George Bush (both of 'em), Napolean, Hitler, Nixon, Cesar, Goliath...

The rarest and perhaps grandest of humans. A colossal and renowned failure remembered and memorialized due the grandeur and immensity of their folly

Ideas are a Dime a Dozen

As I sit, it occurs to me decidedly true, that within the realm of ideas, ideas themselves are a dime a dozen. some folks have no ideas, others, plenty. In fact, one of the reasons I love audio books so much, is because of the profusion of seemingly unrelated ideas that spring forth from contemplating the thousands of ideas one hears in an audio book of any subject.

Quantum Physics, Cosmology, Theorist, are all fascinating. The pure mental power of performing these complex speculations, based on reality, is awe inspiring, exhilarating and numbing. I am prone to levels of enthusiasm and excitement at any particular time and oftentimes with seemingly nothing to attribute this feeling to; however, maturity has made me aware that it is an idea, that has the greatest power to elucidate feelings of euphoria and impressions of omniscience as well as a penetrating concept of prescience in the ability to see clearly, positive and fruitful directions for either further contemplations, or ways to implement these same ideas.

Yes, while listening to lectures on Quantum Physics, or Moliere, I've had realizations having absolutely nothing to do with these subjects. It's as if, to plunge into a refreshing pool of great ideas, regardless of what they may consist of, seemingly has the power to provide a template for one to trace those very same ideas back to the very genesis of the wellspring of ones own creative powers.

I was at city hall today for a few short moments while experiencing an all-out sinus attack, i realized the immense power it takes to implement any idea. And so it seems true that whereas ideas themselves are the most valuable of intellectual capital, to implement great ideas takes a cataclysmic event.

It is such a gift to have a clarity of vision to motivate and drive you forward. When others doubt, hesitate, clarity of thought can bring you to the promised land. This ability to "see" and "know" that which others do not comprehend and are not aware of, is a pale shadow, of the power inherent in translating and implementing those ideas.

It's been a great blessing to be able to be in a position where the wellspring of ideas is frequently and consistently, quickly realized and implemented. Many of the mysteries of power, leadership, dynamic growth, change and multi-level management and captainship have been revealed to me through consciousness of the power of ideas, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and knowledge's which are in themselves further reinforcing of the pursuit of further ideas and knowledge.

yes, it seems clear that the implementation of ideas, and specifically great ideas, is the most cataclysmic of intellectual events due to their power to change life itself, and impact culture, sociology and serve as a tangible, operating object of transformative power.

A Dream.

this morning after waking up ill, i went back to sleep and began to dream.
i was at an old house. a house that frequently is a dreamscape.
stepping outside this lady was touching the front window and looking inside.
i thought it was my ex-wife, but it wasn't.
she said, "oh" and then looked at me.
it seemed that she thought the house was for sale, but it wasn't.
looking northward, the sky was brilliant and beautiful and the rays of the sun and clouds made for a "beautious" scene.
then looking north, i saw a beautiful building that looked like a classic semi-modern English Castle, from the 17th Century. it was ornate and beautiful.
it was constructed in such a way that it appeared to be laying on it's side, with several magnificent spires protruding, parallel to the ground with windows for the inhabitants.
what a novel idea.

looking at the clock on the spires, it was running backwards rapidly. i looked around and saw three huge, prominent public clocks and they were all running backwards rapidly such that a "minus" hour passed in 2-3 seconds.
as i tried to make sense of this, "call me" by fleetwood mac began to play loud and clear (i had fallen asleep with music). it was nice that the music made it's way into my dream.

I didn't think too hard about the dream, why it was so vivid, why the buildings were lying on their side, why the clocks were moving backwards.... I didn't think about it too hard, because early in the dream, as i was looking at the beautiful sky, and felt the crisp clean air on my skin, and looked upon the peaceful clouds and the comfort of a home I lived in for years and have had literally hundreds of dreams in, and around, a strong feeling and idea came into my mind, "god damn, it feel so great to be alive."

Penetrating Deeply into the Peculiar Relationship between The Techonological age and the African Diaspora

what has happened to the African in the new world is not a new or unusual occurrence in the history of mankind. in fact, it is but one of the latest events in a continual cultural convection of domination, desperation, genocide, exploitation and overall human survival.

Conditions and Privations have inexorably lead groups of man in violent opposition and conflict with other groups of hominids. Conditions of necessity, time, place, environmental conditions, culture, tradition, ways of life, and a myriad of other factors have, as stated above, lead groups of man in violent opposition and conflict with other hominids.

What is unusual about Africans, and their experience is essentially the same foundational factors which have dictated the uniqueness of all other similar experiences throughout the course of man.

In this treatise, i will look at several of these factors and take some snapshot looks at them individually and how they contribute overall to the overall theme of this exposition.

Temporal Considerations:
No full explanation of the meaning and condition of the African in today's society, in contrast to their recent history, can be complete without a consideration of the intimacy of this Disaporic experience with the dawn of man. It has been said that if the age of the dinosaur was on a timeline the length of the United States, from Point Reyes to the Empire State Building, from the first dinosaur to the last would be a line stretching from the California coast to deep into the mid west. The age of humans, would start just across the Hudson River in New Jersey and from the time man began to use the first written language to the present would be the space of a block and a half from the Empire State Building.

And so, what we have here in a sense, is that the great age of man, an age I am dubbing, the age of enamorment, is intimately related to the age of the Africans entry into their worldly diaspora.

What to make of this? Certainly the African played a great role in the entire production of the intense agricultural, and then industrial upheaval and cataclysm throughout the world. In sum, regardless of how it is summarized, the inescapable conclusion is that the African was needed, taken and brought to the new world as an essential element in this worldly upheaval. The Age of the African Diaspora, is one and the same with the great dawn of the age of enamorment.


History of the African:
The history of the African, is the longest of all the peoples of the world. It is at once, the cradle of man, where the dawn of man first shone, where man became, noble in reason, and where first the apprehension, thought to be God-like in complex perplexity and resolution. In short, the African carries within his very veins, the dawn of man and civilization itself. This history, which has produced in genesis, all of the world's great human cultures, is embodied as a seed within the African.

In this sense, the visitation, of the group of Africans that went north, became white and returned to take Africans against their will to a new land to reach their current position, were in effect, returning as the prodigal sons is always wont to do.

Culture:
At first glance, from the eyes of an "other" who had been enamored and completely smitten by "thingness" the African indigenous culture in west, mid and south African, may have appeared to have been no culture at all. The Culture of the African had developed in truth, to the highest possible state on Earth. Here, man lived in harmony with their world and their environment. Here, in Africa, a rich, diverse culture of trade and cultivation had taken place. Here, in Africa, man learned to live in a manner which would allow for man to continue in life until the unforeseen end of time.

In truth, now, in America, 500 years later, we see the malleability and yet indelible persistence of a culture which has adapted, morphed, learned, mastered, strove and attained the highest of positions and knowledge's and has also, in the most important remained intact as a culture despite hundreds of years of assimilation. This is what i refer to as "Seeming Malleability in the face of 'Deep' Time." Surely, that which may seem to be indelibly Black and African in culture, was in truth facilitated thorough the process of rejection, discrimination and segregation, which allowed the most important part of the African culture to be inculcated, nurtured and preserved throughout the hardest and most tempting of times.

It is my hope that that which is most important in the African, can become a priority for the modern world, and serve as a primary influence in the final closing of the age of enamorment.

Climate:
Quickly, the African was not in struggle with their climate. They found bountiful food, bountiful game, bountiful plant and animal resources, bountiful earthly resources, such as raw materials, metals, stones, fuels, etc. the Euro was not so well-appointed within their environment, or in the least, not appointed in the same way.

For this reason, one of the central tenets of my overall euro-African distinction, is the psychology and feeling of intimacy borne of these two disparate climes as year by year, age by age an overall relationship with the world is established and made a cultural aspect.

The European, in many ways had a much more intimate, thankful and humble relationship with the world than the African. The African could be thought of as, in a sense, taking their environment for granted, in terms of the seeming plenitude in comparison with a long hard, cold, infertile European winter.

That notwithstanding, having endured and accepted the rhythm of plenitude followed by the forced fallow season and winter, once the European began to gain full mastery of their environment through mastery of precious earthly products such as gold, silver, spices, materials, domestication and the vast intellectual and cultural resources afforded by this bounty, their relationship with the world slowly transitioned from animism, and harvest type religions of paganism to a relationship of "thingness". once again, Christianity played a vital role in this, thorough stamping out all religions and orientations which gave thanks to anything other than god and Christ. In this way, the Earth, the cycle of life, the game, the food, the metals, etc, were man's by birthright. These things became man's because God had given the Earth to man to lord over and do with as they pleased, with the sole caveat that they worship god and do his bidding on earth and accept his son as their one true savior.


Serendipitous Novelism:
And so the stage was in a sense, set when the African came to America. Upon arrival to the present, serendipitous novelism, as it always does, reaches it's own conclusions and new combinations which lead to a whole host of (genetically, culturally, historical) intended as well as unintended consequences.