In his latest audio, Ayman al-Zawahiri Al-Qaida's number 2, has the gall to call President-elect Barack Obama "dishonorable" and a "house negro." According to the Associated Press:
CAIRO,Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri insulted Barack Obama in the terror group's first reaction to his election, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.
The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies. Al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, that Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.
Al-Zawahri also called Obama-along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice-"house negroes."
Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house negroes."
The message also includes old footage of speeches by Malcolm X in which he explains the term, saying black slaves who worked in their white masters' house were more servile than those who worked in the fields. Malcolm X used the term to criticize black leaders he accused of not standing up to whites.
The 11-minute 23-second video features the audio message by al-Zawahri, who appears only in a still image, along with other images, including one of Obama wearing a Jewish skullcap as he meets with Jewish leaders. In his speech, al-Zawahri refers to a Nov. 5 U.S. airstrike attack in Afghanistan, meaning the video was made after that date.
Children as well as adults experienced instances of very low food security in 323,000 households (0.8 percent of households with children) in 2007, up from 221,000 households (0.6 percent of households with children) in 2006.
I have always liked the 'CNN Heroes' features. If you're not familiar with 'CNN Heroes' they are brief profiles of your everyday citizen of the world who has taken steps to create extraordinary and usually innovative programs that help solve a problem.
Now, there is a contest, to choose the '2008 CNN Hero of the Year.' Everyone can vote for their favorite and the winner will be revealed during a special Thanksgiving night show - 'CNN Heroes an All Star Tribute' and will receive $100,000. So it pays to be a hero too!
Have you been watching most of the news lately?
I have, but now I'm turning the volume way down and focusing on the positive stories out there.
I want my mind to absorb the stories that affirm what's possible and good about the human condition. What I know is that each of us has infinite possibilities even if we aren't aware of what they are at any given moment.
In 2004, President George Bush garnered 44% of the Latino vote and pundits everywhere declared that "Hispanics" were conservative, and might provide a growing base of support for the Republican party going forward. It was a reasonable hypothesis, I guess. But what no one saw coming in 2004 is how sharply a first effort at immigration reform would be excoriated and then vetoed by both members of the Republican party and the right wing electorate.
The call to stop all efforts toward immigration reform "until we secured our borders" left a foul taste in the gut of many who were surprised at how quickly John McCain dropped his rather mavericky effort and lurched as close as one could get to the Minutemen without walking a shift on the border.
I find myself in an unusual position. Following the racial fallout from the Prop 8 win, I am examining myself in terms of my membership in a powerful, privileged majority.
The straight majority. It's funny, being straight, I often don't think about my sexual orientation and all the social benefits I enjoy because of it. It is just as I observe many white folks not examining the privileges of being white.
First I was pissed about the racially loaded reaction to the passage of Prop 8, but lately I've found myself deeply influenced by an incident that occurred during the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. ...
After you finish reading this, I suggest that you head on over to Change.gov, President-elect Barack Obama's official Web site.
As you might expect, its design is clean and easy to navigate. On it you will find information about the Obama administration's agenda, the inauguration, news headlines and all sorts of information related to the transition now in progress.
But most intriguing to me, is that if you would like to work for the Obama administration, Change.gov is where you sign up to begin the process. Go to Change.gov, click on 'Jobs' and then, fill in your information. ...
Last night, I booked my flight to Washington, DC so that I will be in place for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. I don't have tickets to any events yet, but to be present for such a momentous occasion is irresistible. To top it all off, I am from D.C. and my mom still lives there. There is no way I would allow her to have all the fun to herself.
Tickets for the inauguration ARE FREE and are being distributed by each congressional office on a first come first served basis. You must CALL THE OFFICE and request one or two tickets. Please note that many offices around the country have already closed their lists.
There is a whisper of melancholy weighing on my sky high happiness about Obama's victory. California's Proposition 8 passed and it will amend our state constitution to designate that only marriages between a man and women can be legally recognized. As of now it looks like Prop 8 passed by by a few percentage points of only 5 million votes. I am disappointed in my neighbors who would choose to pour discrimination into such a foundational document.
More than a thousand gay-rights activists gathered Thursday afternoon outside the Mormon temple in Westwood to protest the role Mormons played in passing Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.
It was the latest in an escalating campaign directed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its role in marshaling millions of dollars in contributions from its members for the successful campaign to take away same-sex marriage rights.
"And since my Father, Mother & Grandmother couldn't be here in the physical, I took their pictures (and spirits) with me." -- SloeWyne
It feels good to be in love with my country right now. Oh, I always love her. But sometimes we fight and we don't get along as well as I'd like.
Even though divorce is never an option for us, right now we're like newlyweds. I envisioned an Obama win, but I could not have fathomed the breadth of the wind behind him. I did not imagine so many, many, many people would take taxis, wait for hours and practically crawl to get to the voting booth to cast their voice for change. I saw it up close.
One woman even came into vote in labor. Many severely disabled came in to vote too. And the very elderly, who could barely see or hold the voting pen, were determined to cast their votes as well. I am not exaggerating and I will write more about all of this later. ...
When I get tired like I am right now, I imagine the fatigue that my ancestors must have felt facing the Poll Tax or the threat of being lynched when they tried to vote in Georgia. But they kept going and I honor their sacrifice by working as hard as I can in this election. I will make more phone calls and make sure the poll that I am supervising on Tuesday runs as smoothly as is humanly possible.
Some time ago conservative pundit and author Pat Buchanan was roundly and correctly criticized for saying that black Americans who are descendants of slaves, should be thankful that their ancestors were sold into a life of bondage, torture and oppression.
Buchanan's belief presumes that the only way that blacks would have found a way to America would have been on a slave ship and that the slave thing was a net benefit to many of us.
Then came Soulja Boy Tell Em. I asked him, "What historical figure do you most hate?" He was stumped. I said, "Others have said Hitler, bin Laden, the slave masters ..." He said, "Oh wait! Hold up! Shout out to the slave masters! Without them we'd still be in Africa."
My jaw, at this point, was on the ground."We wouldn't be here," he continued, having no idea how far in it he'd stepped, "to get this ice and tattoos."
I ignore most of the polls and take nothing for granted. If the supporters of your candidate of choice do not come out and vote in droves next Tuesday, then your candidate WILL NOT WIN. Both McCain and Obama understand this. If you intend to vote, don't bore me with any excuses come Nov. 5 about why you did not get it done.
Mrs. Amanda Jones, who is the 109 year old daughter of a slave, has cast her vote for Barack Obama.
Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee. ...
Even in the 21st Century, slavery exists as a persistent aspect of the human condition. One woman, a citizen of Niger, found the courage and resolve to stand up against her oppression and oppressors. According to International Herald Tribune:
NIAMEY, Niger: A West African court on Monday ordered Niger to pay compensation to a woman who was sold into slavery at age 12 and held for a decade. It ruled the country had failed to implement its anti-slavery laws.
Hadijatou Mani, now 24, was sold in central Niger when she was a child. She has testified that she was forced to work as a domestic servant and as a sexual slave until 2005, when her former master freed her in an apparent bid to legalize his relationship with her as his wife. ...
Subway has removed it's controversial $5 dolla holla ad. You'll recall that it featured a photoshopped Abraham Lincoln and was rife with ungrammatical urban slang references. Is the ad gone because customers called Subway out? Maybe.
Well at least one reader, author Erica Kennedy, stood up and confronted Subway on it's misguided marketing campaign. She got lots of pats on the back on Facebook for reaching out to Subway. Here is her story in her own words.
After reading about this Subway site on Black Voices, I thought I would click the link and wind up just shaking my head at the absurdity of it. But looking at it, I actually became queasy. Then I became angry. Then I felt myself becoming depressed because...what can we really do about these things? ...
Tennessee Tribune Publisher Rosetta Miller-Perry says she doesn't mind embarrassing people if it makes them do the right thing. The right thing to do, she argues, is vote in the upcoming presidential election -- so she's embarrassing hundreds of registered voters who didn't go to the polls in 2004.
In its latest edition, Miller-Perry's black-oriented Nashville weekly published the names and addresses of non-voting registered voters living in largely African-American precincts. A local TV station interviewed several people angry about finding their names and addresses on the list, especially since they believed they had valid reasons they missed the 2004 vote.
"The tactic is dirty," one of those persons, Terrence Alexander, told a reporter in a piece that ran on WTVF NewsChannel 5 in Nashville. "I think they should have had the decency to at least call me." SOURCE
Find out what members are saying about everyone from Barack to Beyonce. There are nearly 100 forums from which to choose. Click on a category below and discover the right board for you.
In his latest audio, Ayman al-Zawahiri Al-Qaida's number 2, has the gall to call President-elect Barack Obama "dishonorable" and a "house negro." According to the Associated Press:
Don't get it twisted, America is one of 
I don't know about you, but I cannot wait until Wednesday. I've been spending all my "free time" 
Some time ago conservative pundit and author 
I ignore most of the polls and take nothing for granted. If the supporters of your candidate of choice do not come out and vote in droves next Tuesday, then your candidate WILL NOT WIN. Both McCain and Obama understand this. If you intend to vote, don't bore me with any excuses come Nov. 5 about why you did not get it done. 
Even in the 21st Century, slavery exists as a persistent aspect of the human condition. One woman, a citizen of Niger, found the courage and resolve to stand up against her oppression and oppressors. According to
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