Friday, August 29, 2014

California town running out of drinking water


Residents of East Porterville, 

California, 

Running Out of Drinking Water

By Sean Breslin Published: Aug 25, 2014, 2:59 PM EDT weather.com
00:02 / 00:58

Entire Town Running Out of Water

 
Few events in a drought are as frightening and helpless as a town beginning to run out of drinking water.
But as California's severe, long-term drought worsens, that's exactly what's happening in East Porterville, a town north of Bakersfield in Tulare County. According to the Porterville Recorder, 182 of 1,400 or so homes in the area have reported no water or some kind of water issue.
Government officials and community groups told the Associated Press it's because most of these homes have individual wells that supply their drinking water, and those wells are drying up because of the drought. Since then, residents have mostly been relying on a county-supplied, 5,000-gallon water tank for their drinking water, the report adds, but that was only designed to be a temporary fix.
"I grew up here, I've never seen this many people out of water," said Supervisor Mike Ennis in a Fresno Bee report.
Residents whose wells haven't run dry have been asked by authorities to limit water usage for fears there might not be much left, and the Fresno Bee report also said emergency crews have been going door-to-door to make water deliveries, 12 gallons at a time.
This is all occurring in a county named the state's "Welfare Capital" by the Los Angeles Times in 2011. Many of the area's residents are poor, which makes it all but impossible for them to spend upwards of $15,000 to drill a new hole for their wells, Think Progress reports.
The solution is likely to come in the form of federal grants to help residents pay for water purchases, the AP also reported. Because so much of East Porterville is living in poverty, and because water contamination has been a problem in the past, a $1 million grant has been approved to provide free bottled water to children, reports OurValleyVoice.com.
But it doesn't solve all of East Porterville's water woes, and if California doesn't get much-needed rainfall soon, other towns could be running dry, too.
All of California remains in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. As of last week's survey, 58 percent of the state is in exceptional drought, the worst level of drought on the U.S. Drought Monitor's scale.
MORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Effect of California's Drought on Waterways

The Green Bridge passes over full water levels at a section of Lake Oroville near the Bidwell Marina on July 20, 2011, in Oroville, California. (Paul Hames/California Department of Water Resources/Getty Images)

Pan African Theatre: Egypt denies it attacked Libya




Egypt denies role in air attacks in Libya

US says it believes Egypt and UAE attacked rebels in Tripoli, a claim Cairo denies saying it respects the will of Libya.

Last updated: 26 Aug 2014 19:10


Egypt has denied any role in air attacks in Libya, as the US said it believed Cairo worked with the UAE to attack rebels in the capital Tripoli.

The US government on Tuesday said it believed the UAE and Egypt carried out raids in Libya, a day after the New York Times quoted unnamed officials as saying the same.

Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said his country was not involved "in any military activity and it does not have any military presence on Libyan territories".

"We respect the Libyan people's will represented by the parliament and all its decisions."
An Emirati official told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that his country had "no reaction" to such reports.

Separately, the US, France, Germany, Italy and the UK gave warning against "outside interference" in Libya, saying it "exacerbates current divisions and undermines Libya's democratic transition".

"France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US strongly condemn the escalation of fighting and violence in and around Tripoli, Benghazi, and across Libya, ... by both land attacks and air strikes."

Bernardino Leon, the newly appointed UN envoy to Libya, said that he opposed foreign intervention as a strategy to halt the crisis in the country. 

But the Spaniard added that Libya needs international support to back "Libyans who want to fight chaos ... through a political proces".

The air raids in Tripoli may have been a bid to prevent the capture of the Tripoli airport, but fighters later seized control.

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011 by rebels backed by US, French and British air power.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Douglas McCain, Black American Jihadist killed in Syria

News / Middle East

Details Emerge About Douglas McCain, American Jihadist Killed in Syria

Douglas McAuthur McCain appears in a 2008 photo provided by the Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff's Office.
Douglas McAuthur McCain appears in a 2008 photo provided by the Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff's Office.
VOA News
Douglas McAuthur McCain, the first known American to be killed while fighting alongside Islamic militants in Syria, was an undistinguished 33-year-old raised in Minnesota who most recently worked as a caregiver in California.
So what compelled him to leave for the Middle East this spring and to take up arms on behalf of religious extremists?
The U.S. National Security Council confirmed McCain's death on Tuesday. The State Department said U.S. officials had been in contact with McCain's family.
The issue of Americans joining radical forces in places like Syria, getting training and even indoctrination in terrorist ideology, has pushed to the forefront concern among U.S. officials, who fear one or more might try to return and commit terrorist acts on American soil.
McCain had reportedly made his way from the United States to Turkey, and then into territory controlled by the Islamic State, the radical organization that has swept through northern Iraq terrorizing many with its brutal version of Islamic law. Over the weekend, McCain took part in an attack on a Syrian opposition checkpoint near Aleppo, according to NBC News, which first reported the story.
Rebels in the Free Syrian Army, one of groups fighting the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, retaliated, killing McCain. They beheaded six other Islamic State fighters, but not McCain, and posted photos on Facebook, NBC reported, attributing the information to the rebel army. The rebels reportedly found McCain with his U.S. passport and $800 in his pocket.
Douglas McCain is shown with an unidentified woman in an undated photo retrieved from his Facebook account.Douglas McCain is shown with an unidentified woman in an undated photo retrieved from his Facebook account.
The FBI also is investigating. The bureau's field office in Minneapolis for almost a decade has looked into the cases of several young Somali-Americans joining the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia.
E.K. Wilson, spokesman for the field office, told The Associated Press: "We have done extensive outreach recently, as we have the last seven years, but we've had a concerted effort ... over the last few months" involving travel to Syria.
On a watch list
U.S. officials said McCain's posts to Facebook, Twitter and other social media had put him on a watch list for international flights.
"We continue to use every tool we possess to disrupt and dissuade individuals from traveling abroad for violent jihad and to track and engage those who return," said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. 
Thousands of foreign fighters have flooded into Syria in recent years, joining rebel groups, of which many are far more radical than the Free Syria Army. Most of the fighters are Europeans. The FBI and other U.S. officials estimate anywhere from several dozen to more than 100 Americans have gone to fight in Syria.
Australian intelligence chief David Irvine said Wednesday that 15 Australians are believed to have died fighting in Syria and Iraq, and that about 60 Australians are fighting with jihadist groups such as IS.  
The U.S. government's "largest concern is the regional and even global aspirations" of the Islamic State," said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby.
"Obviously, we’re concerned about Americans that become attracted," Kirby said. If they join forces with a terrorist group, they become enemies of the state, he said: "They take on those actions at their own peril."
Lost identity
McCain was born in Illinois and raised in the Minneapolis suburb of New Hope, where he attended Robbinsdale Cooper High School. He ran into some trouble with the law, with convictions for theft, drug possession, disorderly conduct and driving after his license had been revoked, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.    
Later, he moved to San Diego, California, as did his mother and a sister. McCain worked for a Somali-operated African Spice market, now closed, and attended a local community college. He also had a daughter, almost 1 year old, family members told the Star Tribune.
According to McCain's social media accounts, which were taken down Tuesday, he converted from Christianity to Islam in 2004.
"I will never look back the best thing that ever happened to me," he tweeted in May. He identified himself on Facebook as "Duale ThaslaveofAllah" and on Twitter as Duale Khalid, "iamthetooth."
selection of Twitter posts, reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, reflect McCain's changing attitudes and circumstances.
A screen grab from Douglas McAuthur McCain's Facebook pageA screen grab from Douglas McAuthur McCain's Facebook page
In December 2012, he tweeted that the film "The Help" – about black maids working for white families in Mississippi in the 1960s – was "starting to make me hate white people."
Along with racist and sexist views, the posts show McCain's enthusiasm for basketball, rap music and, especially, his faith.
"To all my Muslim out there stand strong we will soon be 1... In sha Allah," he tweeted in May.
McCain’s cousin, Kenyata McCain, described him as a "humble, caring man" who "lost his identity" after becoming involved with Somali Muslims in the Minneapolis area. Minnesota has the country's largest community of Somalis, with an estimated 32,000 people of that ancestry. 
"I know that he had strong Muslim beliefs," the cousin told the Star Tribune, "but I didn't know that he was in support of ISIS [an earlier acronym for the Islamic State]. I didn't think he would be." 
Minnesota Public Radio also reported that, from McCain's Facebook page, it appears he knew Abdirahman Muhumed, "a Minneapolis man who went to Syria and joined the Islamic State."
Muhumed had posted a photo of himself holding a rifle and a Qur'an, eliciting negative responses from Facebook "friends," MPR said. But McCain, in a Feb. 19 post, encouraged Muhumed to "continue protecting our brothers and sisters."
Kenyata McCain said she was in regular contact with her cousin and exchanged messages with him as recently as last Friday. "He was telling all of us he was in Turkey," she told the Star Tribune.
Government Responses
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the threat of terrorism by people training with religious extremists is a priority for policymakers in the U.S. and other Western nations.
"The issue of foreign fighters and the concern of individuals with Western passports or passports that would enable them to travel into countries where they can do harm is certainly at the top of our agenda and the top of the agenda of many countries," she said at a briefing Tuesday.
FILE - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
FILE - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder said he was concerned fighters from Europe and the United States were supporting violent insurgents in Syria and joining forces with Yemeni bomb makers.
In July, FBI Director James B. Comey addressed an international law enforcement conference in Miami, saying he was "especially concerned about Syria."
"Syria serves as a breeding ground, a training ground, and a networking ground for thousands of jihadis all over the world," he said. "They have gone there in huge numbers to join the fight with groups like al Nusra or ISIL. The going is very worrisome. It is the coming out that worries me even more.
"We’re trying to build effective relationships with the private sector and our government partners," Comey said. "We are trying to train so we learn to play well. We are engaged in simulations that as best we can are intended to duplicate what we face in real life."
Serious threat
Jonathan Adelman, associate professor at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Relations, said foreign fighters pose a serious threat to Western nations, including the United States.
He estimated roughly 100 Americans, between 400 to 500 British citizens and several hundred French are among the 2,000 Westerners fighting on behalf of the Islamic State.
"I think this is something that really we have to take very seriously," Adelman said. The threat "isn’t as remote as we thought it was after Osama bin Laden was killed."
Many of these foreign fighters are being recruited through social media, he said.
"I think for a lot of these kids ... there's a level of excitement about this. 'We’re going to have foreign adventure. We are going to stand up against all the evils of this world,' " Adelman said. "But, it’s frightening. We’re a country of 315 million people. All it’s going to take is a dozen of these people, with the fighting experience they’re getting in Syria and Iraq, and all the training they’re getting, to be able to come in here quite legally, and we’re fairly vulnerable."
Three types of people are most susceptible to involvement with terrorist organizations, according to Clifford May, a national security specialist and president of the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracy: sociopaths, those searching for meaning, and highly educated people with a misguided sense of mission.
The last category, he said, includes the Islamic State’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He claims to hold a doctorate from Islamic University in Baghdad and degrees in Islamic studies and history. Al-Baghdadi, for whom the U.S. has offered a $10 million bounty, "believes that Americans don’t deserve the power they wield" and is willing to take it by force, May said.
May speculated McCain might be one of "what you might call ‘lost boys’ who are desperate for meaning and a transcendent cause."
Journalist released 

The renewed concern over foreign fighters came as American journalist Peter Theo Curtis returned to the United States late Tuesday, just two days after being freed from nearly two years captivity at the hands of the Islamist Jabhat al-Nusrah group in Syria. 
In a statement, Curtis thanked U.S. officials and the Qatari government for intervening on his behalf.

The Gullah Sentinel Newspaper

TheGullahSentinelNewspaper -weblogo
 
 
Dear valued client,

Our telephone contact numbers have recently changed. We expect the most professional business phone service that is currently available from the major carriers.  To reflect this expectation, we have changed carriers and upgraded our services in order to meet our technological goals.

We ask that you update your records with the following ‘phone numbers’ (Included are full mailing address details, which will remain the same).

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

 
(1)   The Gullah Sentinel Newspaper
909 Bladen Street
Beaufort, SC  29902
Phone:   (843) 379-0004
 
 
(2)  “ Gullah Peoples Radio “
       WKWQ  100.7 FM Radio
69 Robert Smalls Parkway, #2-T
Beaufort, SC  29902
Phone:   (843) 379-1010
 
 
Benita
LowcountryGullahRadio-facebook
 
Classifiedwebsite - LOGO
 
 

Marvin X poem: Apology to my Higher Self and Miles Davis - Time After Time (Live 1985)









Apology to My Higher Self

Oh, Higher Self
I apologize to you
Greater Self
Holy Self
Righteous Self
I  seek to harm no one
but to glorify You always and forever
Have mercy on me
have mercy on myself
Oh, Higher Self
pleae forgive me for allowing my lower self to rule
Please have mercy on me Higher Self, Divine Self
If I will only flow in the flow of You
pick me up Higher Self
when my lower self comes to call
the whispering devil whispers into the hearts of men
and women and children

to take us all  down under
to the thrashing floor
the road where wise men fear to tread
down in the dungeon
rat hole
I become the rat
associating with the rats
dwelling in the dungeon
of my mind

Lift me up Highter Power
let me dwell with You forever

in the Upper Room

surely I know truth from lies
surely I know fire from water
yet I walk into the fire
I am burned again again again
easy to lead in the wrong direction
hard to lead in the right direction,
the Elijah lesson teach  us

And why do we love the devil
because he gives us nothing!
Take me Higher Power
into your loving hands
save me from the fire
whose fuel is men and stones,
Qur'an.



let not the weakness of my lower self
ontrol me
let me cast away illusions
a donkey is not a stalion



Oh Higher Power
catch me if I fall
take me forward faster
time after time
time after time.

--Marvin X

9/28/14


Bob Holman says Marvin X is the USA's Rumi. The humor of Pietri, politics of Baraka, the wisdom of Saadi, the ecstasy of Hafiz.....

Ishmael Reed says Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland. His play One Day in the Life is the most powerful drama I've seen. 

Dr. Nathan Hare says Marvin X is still the undisputed champion of Black Consciousness.


On Monday, September 1, Marvin X will receive the Elders Award from the Pan African festival, at Oakland's Mosswood Park.

On Septemer 13, he will receive the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Black Books Expo.

Earlier this year, Feb/March, 2014, Marvin X (with Kim McMillan) produced a conference on the Black Arts Movement at the University of California, Merced. He is now planning a Bay Area Celebration of the Black Arts Movement, tentatively for February 2015. Paul Cobb, Publisher of the Post Newspaper Group is a co-planner, along with Eastside Arts and the City of Oakland. Stanford University African American Studies  and Laney College want to be sponsors also. We have the support of Dr. Ayodele Nizinga's Lower Bottom Players, Geoffery Grier's San Francisco Recovery Theatre. If you or your organization would like to participate on any level, especially as possible funders, sponsors, participants. Contact Marvin X: 510-2004154


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Mark your calendars, friends!  (See the attached flyer ) 
The long-awaited Fred Ho West Coast Tribute Memorial is only two weeks away!

Struggle for a New World: Fred Ho Memorial Tribute
Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, 2:00-4:30 p.m.
Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, CA. 2 p.m.

This remarkable landmark gathering of Fred Ho's artistic collaborators, ranging from composers, musicians, poets, singers, storytellers and activists, have come together to pay homage to this great baritone saxophone-composer, cultural activist, teacher, author, pioneer and legend.

The event is open and free to the public with a suggested donation of $10 or more to help defray the cost of the event.

Hope to see many of you there!
Genny

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Dr. Anthony Montiero teaching Liberation and Ownership Course










Date: Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 4:10 PM
Subject: Fwd: LIBERATION & OWNERSHIP course with Dr. Anthony Montiero
To: mstanfrd@temple.edu





-----Original Message-----
From: Aissia Richardson <aissia.richardson@gmail.com>
To: barbaracoxeasley <barbaracoxeasley@aol.com>; Black Love
<prodeternal@hotmail.com>; Linda Richardson
<lrichardson.uptown@gmail.com>; Andrea Brown <suni44andi@yahoo.com>;
Yumy Odom <yumyodom@thefratorheruinstitute.org>
Sent: Sat, Aug 23, 2014 3:37 pm
Subject: LIBERATION & OWNERSHIP course with Dr. Anthony Montiero



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Lamas <atlamas@sas.upenn.edu>
Date: Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: Andy Lamas -- important
To: "lamarphil4@aol.com" <lamarphil4@aol.com>, Gregory Johns-Miller
<g.johns21@yahoo.com>, Seongho An <anseong@sp2.upenn.edu>, Rapheal
Randall <raphealrandall1@gmail.com>, Penny Jennewein
<pennycjennewein@gmail.com>, Sara Schwartz <schwartz.sl@gmail.com>,
Sara Blazevic <sara.blazevic@gmail.com>, Brendan Sculley
<sculleyb@gmail.com>, ANNAMARIE MARQUET <marqueta@sas.upenn.edu>,
Wanda Bailey <wandabailey28@gmail.com>, Madeleine Wattenbarger
<madeleine.wattenbarger@gmail.com>, JULIA GRABER
<becamebird@gmail.com>, Daniel Cooper <dcooper2408@gmail.com>, JAVIER
GARCIA HERNANDEZ <javg@sas.upenn.edu>, Kate Aronoff
<karonoff18@gmail.com>, Sachie Hopkins Hayakawa <sachiehh@gmail.com>,
Will Lawrence <lawrence.will@gmail.com>, Chloe Wayne
<chloewayne@gmail.com>, Mahfuz Sultan <mahfuz.sultan@gmail.com>,
Caroline Cohn <caroline.p.cohn@gmail.com>, "Athanasia (Nantina)
Vgontzas" <nvgontzas@gmail.com>, Meghna Chandra
<chandra.meg@gmail.com>, Nicole Griffin Ward
<nicogriffinward@gmail.com>, Luna Nguyen <lunanguyen3@gmail.com>,
Fabricio Rodriguez <frodriguez@powerphiladelphia.org>, John Gilmore
<johngilmore@dswellness.com>, Eliana Machefsky <emachefsky@gmail.com>,
Katera Moore <katera.moore@gmail.com>, Yuyuan Liu
<liuyuyuan1988@gmail.com>, Aissia Richardson
<aissia.richardson@gmail.com>, "양준호 Dr. Jun-Ho Yang"
<junho@incheo>


FYI:

We will make the focus of the course issues at the intersection of
race and class in the context of capitalism.  We will study Hegel,
Marx, Du Bois, Marcuse, Angela Davis, Critical Theory, Critical Race
Theory and other significant theoretical positions (including feminist
theory, queer theory, subaltern studies) ... along with specific
anticapitalist material.

The course will be lively, nonconformist, counter-conventional,
critical, and deeply intellectual in both pedagogy and content.  It
will be grounded in the realities and struggles of our time. A
Syllabus will be sent out before the course begins (but the Syllabus
will be modified as we proceed through the course ... based on the
needs and interests of the those assembled in the class).

Warmly,
Andy

___________________________


On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 2:05 PM, Andrew Lamas <atlamas@sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> Hey, folks.
>
> Dr. Anthony Monteiro, one of the most important scholar-activists on the Black Left and one of the world's leading scholars on W.E.B. Du Bois, was recently fired -- for political reasons -- from Temple University.  He has accepted my invitation to co-teach with me this Fall Term in the Monday evening LIBERATION & OWNERSHIP course (5-8pm / McNeil Building, Room 167-68) beginning September 8th and ending December 8th).  Because of Dr. Monteiro's presence (and that of a number of his friends, colleagues, and comrades who will be sitting in on the class), this is going to be an incredibly exciting course.
>
> I want to invite each of you to join the class as well and to share your own important insights, analysis, and contributions.  As always, I am very open to arranging classes around your own presentations and interventions; so, if you have ideas please let me know. In the hopes that you will be attending, I will be sending you an initial set of emails later today ... in case you decide you would like to begin preparing for our course.
>
> Please seriously consider attending. You will be warmly welcomed.  Nothing would make me happier than to see you again ... and to continue to learn with you! It is through these extended interactions and dialogues that our intellectual community is made wiser, more loving, more powerful (and more dangerous).
>
> Warmly,
> Andy
>


--
Prof. Andrew T. Lamas
Faculty / Urban Studies Program
University of Pennsylvania
3718 Locust Walk / McNeil Building 130
Philadelphia, PA 19104
cell-tel: 215-565-5850  /  h-tel: 215-242-0523
email: atlamas@sas.upenn.edu
Penn Faculty Bio
Academia.edu Postings
Wordpress: Refusals Critiques Alternatives
Tumblr: Critical Refusals, Creative Praxis, Cooperative Alternatives





--
Aissia Richardson
2227 N. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19132-4502
215-236-1878
215-454-2583

SUMMER Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Upcoming Events:

Fri., Sept 12-Sun., Sept. 14 - Philadelphia HomeGrown Music Festival,
various Phila. locations
http://philadelphiahomegrownmusicfestival.com/

Fri., NOV. 7, Uptown Youth Got Talent Show. Call 215-236-1878 for
audition schedule.