Road Kill Road Warrior

This was too bizarre for me not to post. A German man has created a biofuel which contains, of all things, dead cats, giving legions of car owners fed up with high gas prices a new reason to visit their local animal shelter.

Straight, But Not Narrow

Editors of a San Diego paper take up arms against their less evolved heterosexual colleagues on the issue of gay marriage in California.

Poo Poo-ing the Pledge

A federal court in Indiana rules the pledge of allegiance is unconstitutional. Could this end up being a case Judge Roberts will preside over as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

Mass. Legislature Soundly Defeats Bill to Ban Gay Marriage

Recognizing that the political landscape has changed, many legislators who were fearful of supporting gay marriage in the past, change their positions.

Roberts Dodges Gay Rights Question

Septemember 15, 2005 From Advocate.com

During Senate confirmation hearings on Wednesday, U.S. Supreme Court chief justice nominee John Roberts demurred from answering a gay rights question posed by Sen. Russ Feingold. The Wisconsin Democrat asked Roberts whether he thought the Constitution gives Congress the power to ban employment discrimination against gays and lesbians. Roberts replied, as he has many times in this week's confirmation hearings, that he can't express an opinion on matters he might have to rule on. "Personally, I believe that everybody should be treated with dignity in this area, and respect," he said. "But the legal question of Congress's authority to address that, though, is one that could come before the courts."

Feingold also grilled Roberts about a memo he wrote when he was a White House lawyer in 1985, suggesting that a note saying the AIDS virus is not transmitted through casual contact be dropped from briefing materials for President Reagan. Roberts said Wednesday he did not "want the president giving out medical advice if it was a subject of some uncertainty." Feingold retorted that the mode of transmission was fairly well understood in 1985 and that the suggested change represented a lost opportunity for "presidential leadership and reassurance." (Sirius/OutQ)

Zulu King Gets Raked For Homophobic Remarks

King Goodwill is apparently lacking in his namesake's department.

Judge Roberts On Racism

Apparently the future Chief Supreme Court Justice feels It's alright...as long as you don't get caught, and nobody can say that your actions, or lack thereof, had a racist result. Convenient, isn't it?

It's Open Season On Young Black Males In NOLA If You're A Sheriff's Deputy In Katrina's Wake

New England national guardsmen are startled at the racism they observe by law enforcement against blacks in Katrina's wake

The "Broke" Little Movie That Could

Filmed on a shoe string budget in Canada to save money, director Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, a love story between two cowboys spanning 20 years, has become the most celebrated indie film since Hustle And Flow.

Pentagon Seeks Preemptive Use Of Nuclear Weapons

I suppose as the world's only super power, we may need them to bomb the next Katrina.

Halliburton Subsidiary, Bechtel Get Katrina Contracts From FEMA

Surprised? You shouldn't be! Now we know why the Bush administration made it possible for contractors to hire employees below the going wage in areas hit by Katrina. Do these people have even an iota of compunction?

Judge Supports CNN Request To Cover Katrina Death Toll

After some legal rangling, the federal government decides not to enforce its "zero access" policy for reporters covering recovery efforts for the bodies of victims killed in the aftermath of the storm.

Bush Allows Contractors To Pay Below Prevailing Wage In Areas Hit By Katrina

I'm not sure how this is supposed to help the rebuilding effort- would you want to work for less than you know you should be getting, especially if you knew your contractor boss was getting a fat check from the government that would add to their bottom line? Maybe this is part of the trickle- down-voodoo economics the neo-cons love so much, and that benefitted so many poor people in New Orleans so tremendously that they couldn't afford to evacuate before the storm.

Conservatives Place Schwarzenegger Between A Political Rock And A Hard Place

Once the darling of conservatives everywhere, and the brightest star in the Republican Party, the Govenator's patina is wearing off, and the honeymoon appears to be over. Whether he vetoes California's gay marriage bill or not, conservatives in his base aren't going to be happy. If he doesn't veto the bill, he will be accused of supporting the "gay agenda". On the other hand, if he vetoes it and lets the courts decide, he will be accused of encouraging "judicial activism"- a big no no in the conservative camp. With an election year coming up next year, poor Arnie's ass is being baptised by political fire.

FEMA Leaders Lack Disaster Experience

FEMA's incompetence has led to the deaths of untold numbers of people who waited in vain to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast. The Bush administration and its policies have led to more needless, unwarranted American deaths at home and abroad since his 2000 coronation by the Supreme Court than any U.S. President since Nixon. I think its time to start a grassroots Presidential recall effort.

Gore Airlifts Katrina Victims To Safety

Three days into the aftermath of Katrina, the former U.S. Vice President managed to do what the current President couldn't or wouldn't do: organize and execute a successful mission to rescue survivors

I Can't Get This Bush Parody Out Of My Head!

Kanye West, you've really started something...ya little stinker! LOL

Tight Constraints Placed On Pentagon's 9/11 Commemoration

Security will be tight, and those who aren't registered will be arrested if they refuse to leave, according to officials.

Mozilla Adds Another Chink To Microsoft's Armor

Mozilla has announced and released the new (but incomplete) beta version of its Firefox web browser. I gave up using Microsoft's Internet Explorer when I discovered Mozilla's Firefox web browser over a year ago, and haven't looked back since. Aside from the fact that Firefox is incredibly powerful, flexible, customizable, and FREE, there's the fact that Microsoft has gotten way too powerful, takes its customers for granted, and has mediocre products that are WAY too expensive and full of security issues. I've also always been one to root for the under dog.

If you haven't given Mozilla a try, or you're a brainwashed slave to the Microsoft monopoly's blustery chest beating, and you want to break free (at least in part) from the stranglehold this behemoth is placing on the industry, you should definitely give Firefox by Mozilla a look see. It does things that Internet Explorer can't even DREAM of doing, and it's much more secure. Since using it, the amount of spyware, spam and viruses on my pc has fallen to virtually nil, because Firefox doesn't accept scripts from the internet the way Internet Explorer does. Although the completed beta version won't be available until around the end of the year, the current version is still preferrable to Internet Explorer- especially if you want to heighten your pc's internet security. Free downloads are available in my links.

Bush, Advisors Show What They Lack In Effective Desire To Assist Poor Blacks In La., Is Made Up For With Political Savvy

"By elevating Roberts to Chief Justice, Bush now faces only two confirmation hearings rather than the three required if he named an existing justice to the chief post. He avoids a contentious battle, yet assures himself of a conservative heading the court."

The Storm Heard Round The World

How can the Bush administration's policies to spread glittering democracy and capitalism overseas be taken seriously at home or abroad, in light of the administrative incompetence and abject poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina?

O'Connor Quiet On Rhenquist, Roberts

The Associated Press
Friday, September 9, 2005; 8:49 PM

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor steered clear of directly discussing the big issues facing the nation's highest court while visiting the University of Florida's law school Friday.

O'Connor spoke before a crowd of 500 but did not mention the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the nomination of John Roberts to replace him, or her own delayed retirement plans.


What she did address was political influence on the judiciary.

"I am against judicial reform driven by nakedly partisan, result-oriented reasons," O'Connor told the group. "The experience of developing countries, former communist countries and our own political culture teaches us that we must be ever vigilant against those who would strong arm the judiciary into adopting their own preferred policies."

Without naming names, she faulted politicians from both parties for not understanding judicial independence.

"We have the power to make the other branches of government really angry," she said. She spoke at the dedication of a new university law library named for Lawton Chiles, a former Florida governor who died in 1998.

O'Connor, 75, announced her retirement in July but promised to remain on the court until her replacement is confirmed.

Bush initially nominated federal appellate judge John Roberts to succeed O'Connor, but on Monday nominated him to succeed Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Roberts' confirmation hearings are to begin next week.

Black Katrina Refugees Ask If Utah Will Really Accept Them

CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Asked whether he would relocate permanently to Utah after being brought here as a refugee from Hurricane Katrina, Larry Andrew rattled off a series of questions on Friday on the delicate issue of race.

"How do the adults really feel about us moving in?" he asked at Camp Williams, a military base 21 miles (34 km) south of Salt Lake City housing about 400 refugees from last weeks disaster. "What if I find a Caucasian girl and decide to date her?

"Will I have to deal with whispering behind me and eyeballing me?" asked the 36-year-old black man.

For the mostly poor, black refugees evacuated from New Orleans, few places are as geographically remote and culturally alien as this corner of Utah, where 0.2 percent of the population in the nearest town is black.

Still, some refugees, especially younger adults, say they are ready to make a new start in the region even though they did not know they were coming until the doors shut on the airplane evacuating them from New Orleans.

"I'm planning a whole new life," said Phillip Johnson II, 23, who has already arranged an apartment in Salt Lake City. "It's an opportunity knocking for me out here."

He said even though the population of New Orleans was two-thirds black, his appearance with dreadlocks and a goatee still worked against him. "In New Orleans, being a young black man, you get harassed a lot, stereotyped a lot," he said.

Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. said he expected about half of the 600 refugees who arrived here to remain permanently and said they would do just fine.

"It's different perhaps than many would think who rely on the old stereotype of Utah being homogeneous," he told Reuters. "We've evolved so rapidly in recent years."

One of the volunteers at the base, Newton Gborway, who moved to Utah from Liberia in West Africa five years ago, shared his first-hand impression of life in an economically prosperous state with a less than 1 percent black population.

"Don't be shocked and surprised if you meet someone who is mean to you or doesn't want to associate with you because you are black," he told Darisn Evans. "You don't worry about the negative stuff."

JUST A MATTER OF TIME

"Everything is going to be okay, but it is just a matter of time."

Evans said he would remain in Utah, and would like to work either as a handyman or as a highway patrolman.

His ex-wife Tanya Andrews, 44, said race played a part in their escape from flooded New Orleans, an adventure which she said included looting food, a television and a boat to get to higher land. She said rescuers picked them up only after a lighter-skinned black woman waved down a helicopter.

So far the local community has welcomed the refugees with open arms, although they say they face an adjustment to life in Utah, stronghold of the socially conservative Mormon Church.

"Any time you go in where you are in the minority -- and I'm experienced in this -- it's going to be more difficult," said Wayne Mortimer, mayor of Bluffdale next to Camp Williams.

He cited his past missionary work in Canada when he was a relatively rare Mormon. Mortimer said his town of 6,500, a well-to-do bedroom community of Salt Lake City, had 20 low-income housing units available for the refugees.

"When you are an affluent community like we have, the greatest blessing we can have is to lift someone else," he said in an interview.

Larry Andrew's brother Adrian and sister Tanya, despite initial shock about being sent to Utah, say they will remain in Utah. Even Larry, despite his doubts, says the state is offering him a unique chance.

"According to what I see, it will be beneficial to me economically, even socially," he said. "But how would they adapt to me?"

Laura Bush Wants Woman Nominated For Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. first lady Laura Bush said on Friday she hopes her husband will select a woman as the replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"Of course, as a woman myself, I hope it will be a woman," Mrs. Bush said in an interview with American Urban Radio Network.

President George W. Bush in July nominated John Roberts to replace O'Connor. But after the weekend death of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Bush changed his plans and named Roberts as his selection to succeed Rehnquist.

Roberts' confirmation hearing is to begin on Monday. The president has said the field is "wide open" for his pick to succeed O'Connor. Laura Bush said she did not think a nomination for that position will be made until after Roberts is confirmed.

In an interview with the same network on Thursday, Mrs. Bush rejected criticism of her husband's response to the devastating hurricane Katrina, including remarks by rapper Kanye West who said the president does not care about blacks.

"I think all of those remarks were disgusting, to be perfectly frank, because of course President Bush cares about everyone in our country," she said.

But she said the hurricane was a wake-up call that showed how poor people were more vulnerable to natural disasters. "We need to address the effects of poverty," Mrs. Bush said.

Fema Head Removed From Katrina Operations

Is it me or does it seem as though incompetence is a prerequisite for working in this Bush administration?

Bank of America Denies Profiting From Slavery

From the Associated Press:

CHICAGO The Bank of America has filed a report with Chicago city officials that denies its predecessor institutions ever profited from slavery.
But the report submitted yesterday does say some of those institutions did do business with slave owners.

In 2002, Chicago became the first city in the country to pass an ordinance requiring all companies doing business with the city to disclose profits they may have made from slavery.

The Bank of America came under pressure to do more extensive research after one Chicago alderman accused it of lying about ties to slavery.

While the bank's report denies profiting from slavery, it announced it will donate five (M) million dollars to organizations devoted to preserving African-American history.

Black Gay Pride Fights To "Let Liberation Ring"

Activists focus on abusive churches, internalized conflicts

By RYAN LEE
Friday, September 09, 2005

Standing in front of the steps of the Georgia State Capitol on Monday, Montee Evans evoked memories of a previous civil rights leader from this state who used his booming voice and eloquent rhetoric to call his people to the fight for liberation.

“We as black same-gender loving people and transgender individuals don’t realize that it’s our America too, and Atlanta —‑which we claim to be the black Mecca — this is our Atlanta too,” Evans said during a rally following the fifth annual Stand Up & Represent March, one of the final events of Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride held last weekend.

About 150 people took part in the Sept. 5 march, which was sponsored by In The Life Atlanta, the group that organized Pride events throughout Labor Day Weekend.

The march started at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, wound through the Sweet Auburn neighborhood and ended at the state Capitol.

Evans was the final speaker during the rally at the Gold Dome, and implored those attending to work to make the world better for all gay, lesbian and transgender people.

“We must let liberation ring, and free up those brothers, sisters and transgender youth who feel like they have to hide part of themselves in order to proclaim their wholeness to the world,” Evans said.

The early morning march attracted participants from as far away as Alabama, Virginia and Tennessee, as well as several politicians running for office in Atlanta.

Kwanza Hall, a member of the Atlanta School Board and candidate for the Atlanta City Council, courted gay support for his District 2 campaign, as did gay candidate Keisha Sean Waites, who is running for the District 12 seat.

Montrell Walker, a candidate for District 10 on the city council, and council member at-large hopeful Dwanda Farmer also made campaign pitches at the Stand Up & Represent march.

Gay state Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates) and Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta) were the only elected officials to participate in the march, although several politicians made appearances at ITLA events throughout the weekend.

Standing up to churches
For the third time in her tenure, Mayor Shirley Franklin welcomed about 300 people to the city during ITLA’s opening ceremony at the Sheraton Midtown Hotel at Colony Square. Franklin was showered with applause after giving brief remarks about how she was elected to represent all Atlanta residents to the best of her ability.

City Council member at-large H. Lamar Willis participated in a Black Pride luncheon Sept. 3, explaining that his close relationship to gay and lesbian voters and organizations stems from a gay man helping his single mother raise three young children when Willis was younger.

“I feel like the reason I can fight for your issues is because about 90 percent of your issues are identical to mine,” Willis said.

The luncheon touched on a host of issues, including gay Muslims, the HIV rate among black gay and bisexual men, gay inclusion in the Millions More Movement and how to combat the homophobic rhetoric endemic to many black churches.

“It’s not going to end until the LGBT community [stands up] and says, ‘Preacher, enough is enough,’” Rev. Kenneth Samuel, a heterosexual pastor at the gay-friendly Victory Church in Stone Mountain, told those attending the luncheon.

“I tell you what, open the Bible again, and find something in there … about love, and less about homophobia and hatred. Until that time, we’re going elsewhere,” Samuel said.

But during a question-and-answer session following the luncheon, black gay men and lesbians were called to task on the way transgender individuals are treated — including being left off the panel for the luncheon.

“You’re talking about bridging the gaps, you’re talking about communications —‑I just could not understand why there is not one transgender person sitting up there as we’re talking about bridging this gap,” said Earlene Bud, a transgendered woman from Washington, D.C., who was in town to conduct a workshop for ITLA.

ITLA officials did not have attendance estimates for the weekend by press time Wednesday, but said the figure should be similar to the estimated 32,000 people who participated last year.

African Archbishops Fault Church On Gays

By RICHARD N. OSTLING
AP RELIGION WRITER


NEW YORK -- Anglican Christianity's split over homosexuality worsened Thursday as Africa's two most important archbishops joined to criticize a new Church of England policy on gays and lesbians.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola and Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi each assailed a July 25 announcement from England's bishops that said gay priests who register same-sex partnerships under a new civil law will remain in good standing so long as they promise to remain celibate. The English bishops also said that lay Anglicans who register civil unions will not be denied the sacraments.
"If England adopts a new faith, alien to what has been handed to us together, they will walk apart. Simple as that," Akinola said at a Thursday news conference where he reaffirmed his stand on gay issues.

Last month, he accused Anglicanism's mother church of an "outrageous" departure from biblical teaching that is "totally unworkable (and) invites deception and ridicule."
He further suggested that world Anglicanism must now discipline the Church of England along similar lines that Anglican bodies worldwide have taken against liberal actions by the U.S. and Canadian churches.
Orombi said that Akinola "speaks for all of us" who lead the self-governing Anglican branches in Africa. "We see a different direction taking place" in England, Orombi said, and
"we can only pray and hope they do not walk away."

The churches led by Akinola and Orombi combined have 26 million members, a third of the world's Anglicans and equal to the Church of England membership. The continent of Africa, whose Anglican council is chaired by Akinola, is home to half of world Anglicans.
Discussion of the Anglican split is expected at Nigeria's national synod starting Saturday, a meeting of Africa's primates - or church leaders - in Tanzania Sept. 19-22 and a special international conference for conservative Anglicans in Cairo, Egypt, beginning Oct. 25.
The Nigerian and Ugandan churches have broken ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church over its 2003 consecration of a gay bishop living with a partner and its toleration of same-sex blessing ceremonies. Same-sex rites are also at issue between Africans and the Anglican Church of Canada.

In a 1998 vote, 82 percent of the world's Anglican bishops opposed homosexual relationships on biblical grounds.
The two archbishops were in New York to receive awards from the online magazine Kairos Journal for "their bold and consistent stand" against the U.S. and Canadian changes. Honored with them were Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of southern South America and Archbishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung of South East Asia.
The magazine's publisher, retired American Standard Companies president Emmanuel Kampouris, said he hoped the awards would encourage Anglicans and others "fighting for orthodoxy."
None of the visitors are meeting with Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, head of the New York-based Episcopal Church. They chuckled when asked about a meeting.

The ‘Blame Black People First’ Crowd

By Victor Tan Cheng

Whenever national calamity strikes, the same group of disloyal Americans starts to sow seeds of disunion in this country. Rather than searching for who is really responsible for the ills afflicting our nation, they blame their fellow Americans. They refuse to show compassion for the suffering of innocent men, women, and children. They point fingers and accuse the very victims of the perpetrated crimes.

Who are these shameless, unpatriotic Americans? I call them the “Blame Black People First” crowd.

New Orleans, ground zero for the government’s belated and botched hurricane relief effort, is predominantly African American. It also has a poverty rate almost twice as high as the national average.

As usual, the subversive element in this country has not stooped from singling out these suffering Americans as the perpetrators of their own misfortune. Somehow, they always blame black people first.

Some examples:


1. Media commentators self-righteously decry the outbreaks of looting in the devastated city — forgetting that some people might like food and clean clothes after being left to fend for themselves in a flood zone for several days. Says Julianne Malveaux of BET.com:
When hungry folks take food from flooded grocery stores, that’s called survival, not looting. When people, who are strapping cardboard to their feet because all of their possessions have been swept away, go into a store and take shoes, that, too, is called survival. The calls for zero tolerance for looting were absurd, and the images of Black people “looting” (along with the more benign images of White people “finding” food) fanned the flames of every racial stereotype there is. Then rabidly conservative talk show hosts — Bill O’Reilly and Tucker Carlson among them — piled it on by foaming at the mouth about looters while ignoring the conditions even George Bush called “unacceptable.”


2. Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly berates the city’s poor for not applying themselves during the disaster. (I agree. Whenever I see people drowning, I tell them to just buck up — there’s no use whining about it, save your breath!) Says Nikki Finke of LA Weekly:
FNC’s Bill O’Reilly, who spent last month verbally abusing the grieving mother of a dead Iraqi war soldier, then whiled away the early days of Katrina’s aftermath giving lip to New Orleans’ looters and shooters and then basically blamed the hurricane’s poorest victims for expecting any government help at all. “First, the huge, bureaucratic government will never be able to protect you. If you rely on government for anything, anything, you’re going to be disappointed, no matter who the president is,” he scolded. And, “If you don’t get educated, if you don’t develop a skill, and force yourself to work hard, you’ll most likely be poor. And sooner or later, you’ll be standing on a symbolic rooftop waiting for help…. Chances are that help will not be quick in coming.”


3. Sen. Rick Santorum suggests that the government fine hurricane victims. In an interview over the weekend about Hurricane Katrina, the Republican from Pennsylvania said: “You have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” (After he was criticized for his remarks, Santorum said that he actually didn’t mean to include people who lacked cars among those who should be fined. They, instead, would get a tax credit on the purchase of a new hybrid car.)


A long time ago, Harry Truman said, “The United States has become great because we, as a people, have been able to work together for great objectives even while differing about details.” How much our country has changed. In this time of national tragedy, how is it possible that these people are resorting to such divisive, un-American rhetoric?

But then, they always blame black people first.

The American people know better. They know that black people built this country with their sweat and blood. They know that African Americans have contributed heroically to America’s art, literature, science, and way of life. They know that it’s dangerous to blame a group of victims for terrible problems that they did not cause.

You would think that the Blame Black People Firsters would be ashamed of what they say. Don’t they know how much these people have suffered? Didn’t they watch “A Concert for Hurricane Relief”?

But then, they always blame black people first.

Black people will never seek a permission slip to defend their security. If they need to invade a neighboring store to advance black people’s interests (i.e. not starving), then this is their right as God-fearing, freedom-loving Americans. If they feel the need to criticize out-of-touch leaders in that far-off land of Washington, then other Americans will stand by them in their struggles to spread democracy.

Let us put an end to the blame games, the blame gaming, and the blaming games. This unpatriotic, treacherous element should not be allowed to spread their false accusations. They must be rooted out of our government, our way of life, and our 24-hour cable news channels.

The “Blame Black People First” crowd is a threat to this country. Americans will not be safe until we rid ourselves of this Red menace.

Pioneering Hip-Hop Duo Black Sheep Is Ba-a-a-ck!

By TYLER GRAY

You don't expect a department store best known for pleated slacks to spark an old-school hip-hop revival. But that's exactly what's happened since J.C. Penney got a hold of Black Sheep's irrepressible 1991 song "The Choice Is Yours" for its back-to-school TV ad campaign.

"That was something that kind of fell out of the sky for us," says Dres (born Andre Titus), half of Black Sheep. With his gift of gab, it's hard to believe he ever hung up his mike and put the group on indefinite hiatus in the late '90s. "At a time when hip hop was underground, Black Sheep had a hit record," says Kim Osorio, former editor in chief of hip-hop bible The Source. "'The Choice Is Yours' still stands out today."

But even at his peak, Dres says he earned only about $150,000 a year — a far cry from the millions that seem to come standard with a hip-hop hit today. Dres released a solo project on the Internet and resurfaced recently on "First…and Then," a song by independent hip-hop project Handsome Boy Modeling School. Ironically though, it was a call from a Chicago ad agency that led to Black Sheep's comeback.

"I've gotten calls from all across the country," says Dres. "Friends of mine are like, 'Damn, you got me wantin' to shop at J.C. Penney now for no reason.'"
He and fellow Black Sheep Mista Lawnge (pronounced "long'; real name, William McLean) insist that they aren't reuniting just to cash in.

"We were never in it for a gold chain or a Bentley," says Dres. "I'd rather buy 30 Hyundais and give them to everybody who's doing something for my life and my family."
Fresh from East Coast shows from Miami to Canada, the Queens-based duo plays Irving Plaza tonight with DJ Z-Trip and DJ Goldenchyld. They'll do some old favorites, plus new songs from their forthcoming release "8WM," says Dres. And they'll play to two generations of fans: the thirtysomethings who knew them as contemporaries of A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul (the Native Tongues posse, collectively) and the kids just discovering them via their single-turned-jingle. To borrow the refrain from that song, "You can get with this. Or you can get with that."

Katrina, Aftermath Galvanize Black America

By JESSE WASHINGTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


NEW YORK -- To African-Americans, Hurricane Katrina has become a generation-defining catastrophe - a disaster with a predominantly black toll, tinged with racism. They've rallied to the cause with an unprecedented outpouring of activism and generosity.
Blacks who have been touched by the disaster are not only donating money but gathering supplies, taking in friends and relatives, even heading south to help shoulder the burden of their people.

"You'd have to go back to slavery, or the burning of black towns, to find a comparable event that has affected black people this way," said Darnell M. Hunt, a sociologist and head of the African American studies department at UCLA.
If the rescue effort had not been so mishandled, and if those who suffered so needlessly had not been so black and so poor, perhaps Hurricane Katrina would have been just another destructive storm, alongside the likes of Charley and Andrew and Hugo. (There is no Keisha or Kwame.)

But Katrina's searing images - linking nature's wrath and the nation's wrongs - have fanned the smoldering resentments of the civil rights, Reaganomics and hip-hop eras all at once.
"Something about this is making people remember their own personal injustices," said author damali ayo, whose book "How to Rent a Negro" takes a satirical look at race relations.
"You don't look at Rodney King and say, 'I remember when I got beat up.' But people remember being neglected, unimportant, overlooked, thought of as 'less than.' That's a very common experience for black people."

Some 71 percent of blacks say the disaster shows that racial inequality remains a major problem in America, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 6-7 among 1,000 Americans; 56 percent of whites feel this was not a particularly important lesson.

And while 66 percent of blacks think the government's response would have been faster if most of the victims had been white, 77 percent of whites disagreed.
On Thursday, first lady Laura Bush said it was "disgusting" that critics blamed her husband's policies for the racial disparities between hurricane survivors. In an interview with American Urban Radio Networks, she said the homes of the poor were more vulnerable to the storm and "that's what we want to address."

Many events have transfixed African-Americans: the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson cases, the killings of icons from Martin Luther King Jr. to Tupac Shakur, the crack cocaine epidemic, the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.
But Katrina is different. It has opened people's eyes - "The face, the cover has been pulled off the invisible poor," said Rev. Ronald E. Braxton of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. - and it has created a rare opportunity for people of all backgrounds to make a tangible, immediate difference.
Braxton spoke as his congregation loaded a 50-foot tractor-trailer with antacid, diapers, food, water and other supplies destined for AME churches in Jackson, Miss. and Baton Rouge, La.

Before Independence Air volunteered to fly the supplies to the hurricane zone, Braxton turned away volunteers willing to drive 22 hours to Baton Rouge. In addition, he said, his church raised $20,000 last Sunday alone to send to the national AME relief effort.
Individuals have also stepped up. Kimberly Lowe of Philadelphia signed up on that city's Web site to host an evacuee in a spare bedroom.
"They just probably want to talk to regular folks and be in a real home," Lowe said. "There's nothing like being home."

Katrina has spurred other blacks to take crucial roles in relief efforts - and they're in a better position to help than they were even a decade ago, when rap still scared people and being paid $30 million per year to play basketball was beyond imagination.
Now billionaire Mississippi native Oprah Winfrey is bringing her top-rated show to the Katrina zone, famed attorney Willie Gary is planning to transport victims in his 737 jet, and rapper Kanye West can excoriate President Bush's response to the hurricane in front of a nationwide audience.

Tavis Smiley has devoted much of his television talk show to Katrina.
"I've seen black folk come together around any number of issues. It's usually either a head or a heart issue," he said. "For example, we came together after the election of 2000, when Bush essentially stole the election. That was a head issue. People were mad. Other issues hit our hearts; O.J. Simpson comes to mind."
With Katrina, "our head is saying we know that what happened here is wrong ... and our hearts at the same time go out to these people because we know, we feel their pain."
Many want to share it.

Hip-hop hitmaker Timbaland said that he is renting trucks, buying clothes and toys and heading "to the trenches" - first stop, the Houston Astrodome. He challenged peers who splurge on jewelry and cars to do the same, because "these people in the dome listen to our music."
"Don't give to no Red Cross, that's the easy way. Not to say anything bad about the Red Cross, but who knows where that money's going," the producer said. "Take your money and do your own thing."

Timbaland estimated he was spending several hundred thousand dollars, up there with Diddy and Jay-Z's half-million each. The donation of time, money and free performances by hip-hoppers is a watershed for what had become a largely apolitical genre.
"This is the most devastating thing to their community they've seen in their lifetime," said the original hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons. "I've never seen a bigger outpouring of love and giving. I've never seen anything like it."

There is another reason Katrina resonates. Most blacks have family from "down South," a sort of symbolic womb from which black America slowly went its separate ways.
"We are a population in this country of black people, but do we feel like a community?" said ayo, the author. "What really makes a community?"
Shared experiences, perhaps?
"I think this is one," Ayo said. Katrina "is at the central core of black culture and American culture ... I hope this is a turning point of some kind, a turning point for creating a larger community."

Gay-rights backers, foes alike slam posting of names on Web

Talk about strange bedfellows: Leading gay activists and those fiercely opposed to same-sex marriage formed an alliance yesterday, calling on a North Shore couple to remove a Web site listing the names and home addresses of people who sign a petition backing a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

``If they really wanted to be helpful in protecting equal marriage rights, they can show their support by talking to people and sharing stories, not by putting up this silly, mean-spirited Web site,'' said Marty Rouse, campaign director for MassEquality, a coalition of gay rights groups.

``. . . I appreciate the professionalism of the colleagues across the aisle that this is not in the best interests of the type of campaign we would like to run,'' said Kristian Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, leaders of the petition drive.

The Herald reported yesterday that Tom Lang, 42, and his partner, Alex Westerhoff, 36, both of Manchester-by-the-Sea, created the Web site KnowthyNeighbor.org.

They plan to use the site to post the names and home addresses of those signing the petition – information that is available at the Secretary of State's office. Some 65,825 signatures of registered voters are needed to get the measure on the ballot.

Attorney General Tom Reilly certified the petition Wednesday. If enough valid signatures are collected, the amendment to ban gay marriage will be put to the state's voters in the 2008 election.

Lang said he was not advocating that supporters of gay marriage use the Web site to harass signers, but to be informed about their foes in the same-sex marriage fight.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin said there is nothing illegal about posting the names on the Internet.

Fire Destroys 3 Buildings At New Orleans HBCU Dillard

Fire destroys three Dillard University buildings

Thursday, September 8, 2:45 p.m.

Three multi-story buildings burned Wednesday at Dillard University.

New Orleans Fire Superintendent Charles Parent said Thursday that the buildings are probably destroyed, but firefighters have been unable to get close enough to survey the damage or determine the cause of the blaze.

The university has several multi-story dormitories on campus, but Parent did not know which buildings burned.

"From what I understand they were destroyed,'' he said. "It doesn't look like they were salvageable.''

The university closed Aug. 27 and students were evacuated to Centenary College in Shreveport. The university announced last week that its students had returned to their families.

from Nola.com

Catholic Priest Arrested For Role In Genocide

A Belgian Catholic priest has been arrested at the airport in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide.

The Winds of Change in Hip Hop: Beyond Kanye West

This revolutionary form of musical expression is experiencing its own revolution. Has the sleeping giant finally awakened?

Racism And Sexism Are At The Core Of John Roberts' Judicial Activism

September 8, 2005
Leo Walsh
PoliticalAffairs.net

In a weak effort to shift searing public critique of the Republican and Bush administration's inadequate, incompetent, and racist response to the Katrina disaster, President Bush announced over the weekend that he was amending his nomination of John G. Roberts to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

This announcement shocked much of the civil rights and democratic rights community as revelations about Roberts' views on women, civil rights, and the Bill of Rights have shown him to be a hard line conservative whose judicial activist career aims to roll back some of the most advanced and democratic laws, decisions, and practices won over the last 40 years.

Hearings that were scheduled to begin before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday (Sept. 6th) were postponed until next week.

Of Roberts' proposed elevation to the powerful Chief Justice position, Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition of labor unions and civil rights organizations, said, "We need to ask ourselves whether John Roberts is the right person for this influential post. What we know of Roberts' record raises warning flags on a number of important issues, including disturbing efforts to reshape civil rights policies such as court-ordered desegregation of public schools, as well as voting rights and Title IX implementation."

Bid To See Roberts Memos Renewed

With two Supreme Court slots now open, Democrats begin pushing the envelope.

After Katrina Pat Robertson says John Roberts can "be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good."

Somebody please assassinate this man!

New Orleans Starts To Remove Dead

As water is pumped out of New Orleans, the diminishing flood reveals dead bodies, raw sewage, fuel and rusting vehicles.

Mass. Gay Couple Plays Hardball Against Marriage Foes

A pair of gay activists are raising the stakes in the fight over same-sex marriage, vowing to post on the Internet the name and address of anyone who signs a petition to ban gay marriage and civil unions in Massachusetts.

``I have the fight in me now, and if people I know, or that I support, or that I do business with are on that list, I might not support them or their philanthropies or their businesses,'' said Tom Lang, who launched knowthyneighbor.org with his spouse, Alex Westerhoff.

Lang, 42, said he and Westerhoff, 36, are only providing via the Internet public information that any citizen could obtain at the secretary of state's office. But anti-gay marriage activists are outraged.

``We think that it is intimidation by no other name,'' said Kristian Mineau, whose name was listed as one of the first 30 signers of the petition. Mineau said he will explore the rights of people who have signed or plan to sign the petition.

``Certainly it raises my concerns. This is the first I have heard of it,'' said Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.

Mineau and his wife are listed on the site, along with their address. Also listed: former Mayor Raymond L. Flynn; Dover Selectwoman Kathleen W. Weld and her husband, Walter Weld; and Richard W. Richardson, spokesman for the Black Ministerial Alliance.

Yesterday, the anti-gay marriage ballot measure passed another key legal hurdle when it was certified by Attorney General Tom Reilly.

Galvin said posting the names of the signatories on the Web is legal. ``That is fine. That is the American way if they want to do it,'' he said.

Lang said he was not advocating that gay marriage backers use the Web site as a method of intimidating the signers, but rather as a way to ``open up communication'' on both sides of the debate. ``We are not telling people what to do. We are letting people become their own armchair activists,'' he said.

Campaign To End Gay Marriage In Mass. Makes Large Step Forward

On the heels of the blow delt by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to gay marriage in that state, the Massachusetts Attorney General gives the green light to a ballot initiative that seeks to end gay marriage in the only state in the union that legally allows it.