Monday, March 24, 2014

Aborted, miscarried babies burned to heat U.K. hospitals!


Aborted, miscarried babies burned to heat U.K. hospitalsMore Sharing Services



The remains of at least 15,500 aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste and even used to heat some hospitals in the United Kingdom, an investigation has revealed.
The Department of Health on Sunday issued an instant ban after 10National Health Service trusts admitted to burning fetal remains alongside garbage and two others used the remains in “waste-to-energy” programs, the U.K. Telegraph reported.
“Dispatches,” an investigative news program on the U.K. television station Channel 4, revealed that at least 15,500 fetal remains were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts over the last two years.
Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge incinerated 797 babies in its “waste to energy program,” while telling mothers the remains had been “cremated,” the Telegraph said.
And Ipswich Hospital incinerated 1,101 fetal remains brought in from another hospital to generate energy between 2011 and 2013.
“This practice is totally unacceptable,” said Health Minister Dr. Dan Poulter. “While the vast majority of hospitals are acting in the appropriate way, that must be the case for all hospitals and the Human Tissue Authority has now been asked to ensure that it acts on this issue without delay.”
The NHS Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh, has written to all NHStrusts to tell them to immediately halt the practice.
The Chief Medical Officer has also written to the Human Tissue Authority to review its policies, the Telegraph reported.

Vaya con Dios, Latinos tell President Obama

It’s over between us, Latinos tell President Obama      

It’s over between us, Latinos tell President Obama

By Albor Ruiz • Published on March 9, 2014
NEW YORK – Their honeymoon was already over, but last week, after the oldest and largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the country made clear it no longer supported him, the Latino divorce from President Obama became oficial.
 
It happened Tuesday at the National Council of La Raza Capital Awards gala, in Washington, when the group’s president, Janet Murguía, called Obama “the deporter-in-chief” in her keynote address.
 
With those words she added her voice — and the considerable weight of the NCLR — for the first time to the increasingly loud chorus demanding that the President use his executive powers to stop deportations, which are about to reach the 2 million mark. Obama has repeatedly said he cannot do so.
 
NCLR and Murguía have close ties to Obama. Cecilia Muñoz, the White House Domestic Policy Council director, was La Raza’s director of research and advocacy before moving to the White House. Apparently so as to not jeopardize its access to the President, NCLR had been the last important immigration reform organization to hold back public criticism of the administration’s record-breaking deportation policy. That all changed last week.
 
“We respectfully disagree with the president on his ability to stop unnecessary deportations,” Murguía said. “He can stop tearing families apart. He can stop throwing communities and businesses into chaos. He can stop turning a blind eye to the harm being done. He does have the power to stop this. Failure to act will be a shameful legacy for his presidency.”
 
Making the split even more significant is the fact that it was at a 2008 NCLR event that then-candidate Obama, vying for Hispanic votes, spoke these moving words: “When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn’t working, and we need to change it.”
 
Six years later, with immigration reform dead in the water and massive deportations continuing unabated, Obama’s words sound like demagoguery — and have come back to haunt him. “I agree that Obama doesn’t need to wait for reform to stop deportations,” said Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, who last Wednesday, along with more than 250 farm workers, day laborers, students, family members and supporters converged on Albany for his group’s 17th Annual Immigrant Day of Action.
 
The NYIC went to Albany to push its Immigrant Equality Agenda, advocating for the Senate to pass the New York Dream Act, for drivers’ licenses for undocumented immigrants, enhanced access to health care and preventing state and local law enforcement agencies from acting as immigration surrogates.
 
“Obama should stop deportations but we need to keep the pressure on Congress to pass immigration reform, both need to happen,” Choi said.
 
As if not to leave any doubt that his policy won’t change, Obama’s budget proposal calls for $2.6 billion for deportations and border security and $5.4 million for the Department of Homeland Security’s disastrous 287(g) program, which trains local law enforcement officers to serve as immigration agents and which most House Democrats voted last year to defund. It also handsomely rewards the despicable private prison industry — companies like Corrections Corp. of America and the Geo Group Inc. — by allocating $1.3 billion to lock up a minimum of 30,359 immigrants each day no matter what.
 
As Sen. Bob Menéndez, who also spoke at the NCLR event on Tuesday said, “The current deportation apparatus is an outrage, and it’s a tragedy.” On Wednesday, two more senators, Dick Durbin (Ill.), the second-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) backed Menéndez. Yes, the divorce is official, bitter and totally justified.

 albor.ruiz@aol.com
(From the Daily News)
[Photo is of President Obama during better times with NCLR's Janet Murguía.]

Saturday, March 22, 2014

An invitation from Angela Davis to join the Celebration of Mumia Abu Jamal's Life.







Marvin X on Mumia Abu Jamal

Never before in history has a man done so much from death row to liberate his people. Mumia shows what can be done while shackled and deep down in the dungeon of the devil. What is our excuse for not  being politically involved out here in the big yard of the prison house called Amerikkka! Thank you Pam Africa, Ramona Africa, Angela Davis, Cornel West and all those around the world who have fought to keep Mumia alive and work to bring him home!--Marvin X

Marvin X in St. Louis MO with Akbar Muhammad of the NOI


Marvin X will be in Philly for Mumia's 60th B day Celebration

C U There! In sha Allah!

The Black Arts Movement and the Cultural Revolution

Do not play with the Black Arts Movement and the cultural revolution. BAM is needed and so must be injected into the culture of North American Africans.

I wish I could be gentle with you, Miller Lite, but I cannot, I must come full strength, Old English 800, no Miller Lite up in here. Your problem is severe, not moderate or mild, so let us not play around.


Manhood and womanhood training is the priority, so let us go there. The African woman knows she is entering womanhood on her first cycle, but when do you know you are entering manhood? She knows she has entered womanhood when she sees blood,  but when do you know you have entered manhood?

We must take you into the manhood ritual training, into the jungle so you can slay the lion, spend the night in the forest, build a house for your wife, no, you don't buy her a house, you build her a house. It is not  about your money but your skills as a man. Please do miss the concept.

After learning all the herbs in the forest, you must walk to town and back, thus is your manhood training. And your woman has a similar task.  She must know the duties of womanhood, wifehood, motherhood.

Her most difficult task is mother of the next generation. Mother spreads culture. She is the one who gives values to the next generation.

Amina Baraka is the Shaman Woman, seek her out to see if she is not the Shaman Woman,
she will tell you all because she knows all and tells  no lies but only gives up truth. No amount of money can divert Amina from telling the truth. Truth is in her face!

Marvin X with poet Nancy Mercado


 I am trying to deal with the transition of my very dear friend, AB. If you can help, reach out and touch me. Truly, AB was a friend like no other friend, beyond the beyond!


 Oh, we await the narrative of North American African warrior woman, Amina Baraka--we should not expect to hear from Amina until after the election of her son as Mayor of Newark, NJ Please, do not say anything that the enemies of Ras can use against him.
 Sonia, my favorite poet of all times. Sonia asks a simple question, will your book free us?


Living legend Henry Grimes will perform with Marvin X while he is on the East Coast. Henry is a living legend of the Black Arts Movement. 

We must know Marvin X is a disciple of Amiri Baraka and Sun Ra. So let us flow with the flow of Amiri and Sun Ra, there is no other way to appreciate Amiri, Sun Ra and Marvin X, they are one and the same in the BAM tradition. Marvin X says, "Only when I appreciated Amiri and Sun Ra could I understand the BAM tradition. Amiri provided some of the linguistics but Sun Ra gave us the mythology, ritual and philosophy, lights, sound, costume, make up, dance, music, poetry--yes, Sun Ra gave us the whole enchilada. Sun Ra gave us the narrative for the myth/ritual drama of the Black Arts Movement. Marvin, armies march to music! he told Marvin X. Marvin, he said, stop teaching that freedom to your actors and dancers, they are already free so teach them discipline, that's what I teach to my musicians!

Marvin listened to his Master Teacher Sun Ra, "You so right you wrong! Yes, Marvin, so right ya wrong! Teach discipline, put them in your jail, yes, the Marvin X prison--and they will love you because they know you love them and want only the best of them."

Friday, March 21, 2014

BAM tour update: National support grows for BAM 27 city tour to advance the cultural revolution with the United Front of cultural workers




ASE, Baba Marvin !! Your daughter is the tru business



In white attire: Alase Oba Adefunmi Adejiuyigbe, King of Yoruba African Village, Sheldon, SC
Photo from Black Power Babies, produced by Muhammida el Muhammida,-- Black Power Babies intergenerational discussion, Brooklyn, NY, later Philadelphia PA




Marvin X replies to Alase Oba Adefunmi Adejuyigbe, King of Yoruba African Village

Nefertiti is in Houston, you met my other daughter, Muhammida, producer of the Black Power Babies Conference in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. We must all come together for the cultural revolution. Amiri talked about the United Front. Let us finish our work that your father ignited along with Amiri and so many others. But you, Alase, must step to the front of the line, especially as per manhood and womanhood training, along with the mighty Yoruba mythology and rituals.

Comment from Maurice Henderson, Philadelphia

I just wanted to know if we are going to be working together for Marvin X's  27 city tour for BAM.  I am asking because i want to use my influence and personal contacts for Black Colleges, African-American Studies Programs, Black Librarians and the Association of Black Culture Centers to book engagements of the BAM tour and also develop a Curriculum, Reading List and Outcome Asset Based Measurements for Historical purposes.

Marvin X replies to Maurice Henderson, Philadelphia

We worked with Maurice in Philly when we produced the concert at Warm Daddies: we performed with members of Sun Ra's Arkestra (Marshall Allen, Danny Thompson, Elo, along with Rufus Harley on Bagpipes, Alexander El on drums, Ancestor Goldsky on djembe, Elliot Bey on keyboards. 37 Minutes of Jazz History, album title.

We welcome the support of Maurice Henderson, a Philadelphia cultural worker in the BAM tradition, along with Oakland's Eastside Arts workers Elena Serano and Greg Murozumi, Greg Bridges, Berkeley, Mwalimu of Los Angeles, Geoffery Grier of San Francisco, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga of Oakland, Nefertiti Jackmon, Houston, TX, Bernard Stringer, Atlanta GA, Muhammida El Muhajir, Philly, Eugene Redman, East St. Louis, Umar Bin Hassan, Baltimore. We want to hear from cultural workers in other cities. Send us your thoughts and comments, planning and promotional ideas, possible funding sources, especially from independent North American African persons and institutions.--Marvin X, Planner



The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, after a performance at the BAM Conference, University of California, Merced, Feb 20 thru March 2, 2014


The BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra is now booking nationwide. Call 510-200-4164 for fees and dates available

Marvin X gets drivers license--according to DMV, 1964 was last time he had a license

Marvin X renewed his driver's license today. Yes, this so called Negro has been driving without a license since 1964. Now let's see if he can regain his US citizenship he renounced in 1967 while exiled in Toronto, Canada, protesting the Vietnam war, along with other brothers from the US, including Toronto journalist Norman Richmond.

 Marvin X organized Bay Area Black Writers to celebrate the life of slain journalist Chauncey Bailey
photo Adam Turner/Gene Hazzard




 Marvin X will be in Philadelphia to celebrate the 60th birthday of Mumia Abu Jamal



 Syrian poet/activist Dr. Mohja Kahf and Marvin X when he visited the University of Arkansas
on a speaking tour







 Jah Amiel, Marvin X's grandson, said, "Grandpa, you can't save the world, but I can!"



The Next Mayor of Newark, NJ: Ras Baraka, vote May 13, 2014



Ras Baraka Speaks:

I thank God with everything I have that I was raised by Amina and Amiri Baraka. Im even more grateful that my mother introduced me to the life of Paul Robeson, as we share a common birthday. I began to understand at an early age what it meant to be on the right side of history.


I knew that our culture, our art, our ideas, our institutions, our politics, our voice must be designed to push us forward and to stand in the gap! To create beauty and expose ugly to protect our communities and defend our families. I understood that no matter what they said about you, did to you, or organize against you you had to stay steadfast. Right will always be triumphant. Most importantly I am so grateful that I got to see what a free man looked like! How he wrote and sung and spoke..what he read and listened to...and by the grace of God I dont have to do things against my will. I don't bow to money or position. I can support who I want and vote the way I want. I can speak the way I want and believe in what gives me life and not death....


East 14th drama is back!



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Thursday, March 20, 2014

US Foreign Policy Blowback: How US disregard for Intl Law set stage for Crimean Crisis


Did Putin invade Iraq and destroy that society?
Did Putin lie to the American people about the reasons for that invasion?
Did Putin kill one million Iraqis?
Did Putin spend $1 trillion of the American public’s money on the Iraq invasion?
Did Putin invade Afghanistan?
Did he spend $700 billion on the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan?
Does Putin have a “kill list” to murder suspected terrorists without due process and outside any field of battle?

'US Foreign Policy Blowback': How US Disregard for Intl Law Set Stage for Crimean Crisis

Critics charge that US history of cherry-picking international rules gives license for other powers to do the same

- Jon Queally, staff writer
In his speech earlier this weak, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his actions by explicitly citing the US disregard for international in recent decades. "They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right," he said. "They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle ‘If you are not with us, you are against us.’” (Photo: the Presidential Press and Information Office/ Kremlin)Eleven years ago this week, the U.S. decided to sidestep international law in its rush to invade the sovereign nation of Iraq. In doing so, charge critics, it has helped open a pandora's box of imperial lawlessness that is now rearing its head in Ukraine.
Amid warnings that what's taking place as Russia battles the U.S. and European nations over a new government in Kiev and Crimea's vote to officially secede from Ukraine is the beginning of a new 'Cold War,' many observers have called out western hypocrisy when it comes to the White House and Downing Street pointing fingers at the Kremlin.
"In an era in which exceptionalism has become the norm, where the cavalier disregard of domestic and/or global objections is considered politically acceptable, and where powerful nations can exercise a free hand in determining the future of less powerful ones when strategic interests are involved." —Randall Amster, Georgetown University
Taking that point further on Thursday, Randall Amster, director of the Program on Justice and Peace at Georgetown University,  argues in a pieceat Common Dreams that despite all the rhetoric, sanctions, and threats of further "punishment" coming from Washington, the missing analysis about Ukraine is how it represents a kind of "foreign policy blowback" resulting from "the US-led wars and interventions of recent years" in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Amster points out that by ignoring international law when it suited their own interests, the U.S. and U.K. set the stage for others (at least those with the requisite military and political might) to follow suit:
As many pointed out at the time, the invasion of Iraq in particular foretold a world wracked by disregard for international norms and defined by the mercenary pursuits of national self-interest. In setting a template for the policy engagements to follow, this archetype of adventurism ushered in an era in which exceptionalism has become the norm, where the cavalier disregard of domestic and/or global objections is considered politically acceptable, and where powerful nations can exercise a free hand in determining the future of less powerful ones when strategic interests are involved. It would be hard to conceive of a more pointed version of realpolitik, and the term is doubly poignant in light of the outcomes we are seeing today.
Russia’s rhetorical reliance on misguided Western policies does little more than render concrete that which has already been known and deployed by powerful interests for decades, if not longer. But the invocation of recent US-led forays and the specific use of the word “exceptionalism” in Russian discourse add a dimension that is deeply troubling for the future prospects of peace. By making realpolitik more, well, real, the annexation of Crimea is less likely to draw a military response from the West than it is to elicit wider forms of emulation. In abdicating their already-tenuous hold on moral legitimacy in international affairs, the US and its allies have eroded one of the last potential bastions against the imminent realization of a world dominated by strategic resource acquisition as a function of security.
In an editorial by The Nation posted Wednesday, the magazine's editors also invoke US transgressions in the context of Ukraine. "Yes, Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea trespasses on international law," they write, but it's "difficult to bear US officials’ invocation of a principle that Washington itself has often violated (see, most recently, Kosovo and Iraq, the latter now marking the eleventh anniversary of an illegal US invasion and occupation)."
And author and historian Howard Friel, also at Common Dreams, defies the western media's dominant anti-Putin line not to defend Russian motives or actions, but to cast a light on U.S. violations that now make it impossible for Washington to stand as a moral authority on issues of international law. In a string of rhetorical questions, Friel asks:
Did Putin invade Iraq and destroy that society?
Did Putin lie to the American people about the reasons for that invasion?
Did Putin kill one million Iraqis?
Did Putin spend $1 trillion of the American public’s money on the Iraq invasion?
Did Putin invade Afghanistan?
Did he spend $700 billion on the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan?
Does Putin have a “kill list” to murder suspected terrorists without due process and outside any field of battle?
According to The Nation editors, the only thing that can now resolve the crisis in Ukraine and the brewing 'Cold War' redux between Russia and the western powers is a true and meaningful focus on diplomacy. Threats of military escalation must be averted, they say, and the "war parties" on all sides must be pushed aside in the name of a peaceful agreement going forward.
And while Amster agrees that a negotiated settlement should also be the focus, he argues strongly that time should be spent reflecting on how previous examples of cast-off international obligations—now the "modus operandi of powerful interests across the globe"—have brought us to this point.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Bob Marley - Get Up Stand Up Live In Dortmund, Germany

Bob Marley - Get Up Stand Up Live In Dortmund, Germany

Black Bird Press News & Review: Support the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour: purchase the 13x19 poster of BAM poets choir and arkestra, $19.95 each


Black Bird Press News & Review: Support the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour: purchase the 13x19 poster of BAM poets choir and arkestra, and the DVD of our performance at the BAM Conference, University of California, Merced, Feb 28 thru March 2, 2014. $19.95 each. Send money order to Black Bird Press, 2222 Dwight Way, Berkeley, 94702.



The Black Arts Movement must be economically independent, like the churches, able to sustain ourselves without white supremacy money. The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra is ready to visit your city as part of the 27 cities Amiri Baraka told us to visit and establish BAM venues no matter how big or small. So this is our mission. If you would like to book BAM in your city, contact me ASAP, 510-200-4164. We will be in Philly to celebrate the 60th b day of Mumia Abu Jamal. We will perform in the concert with the Last Poets, Cornel West, Ewuare Osayande and Marvin X, et al.



Sincerely,

Marvin X/Abu El Muhajir