"Two Million Minutes" Compare Education: U.S., China, and India

"Two Million Minutes" is the title of a documentary that compares U.S. high school education with their counterparts in China and India. I screened the production when it was first released in 2007 which proved to be scary viewing. We are trouble if American high school education does not immediately improve.

As their website points out, the producers state:

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately -

…Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career…Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off -- will affect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.


How do most American high school students spend this time? What about students in the rest of the world? How do family, friends and society influence a student's choices for time allocation? What implications do their choices have on their future and on a country's economic future?


This film takes a deeper look at how the three superpowers of the 21st Century - China, India and the United States - are preparing their students for the future. As we follow two students - a boy and a girl - from each of these countries, we compose a global snapshot of education, from the viewpoint of kids preparing for their future.


Our goal is to tell the broader story of the universal importance of education today, and address what many are calling a crisis for U.S. schools regarding chronically low scores in math and science indicators.

American Muslims Support Convicted Terrorists

After a jury convicted five Muslim immigrants of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, two Muslim groups claimed the outcome of the trial was unfair.

Mohamad Younes, president of the American Muslim Union, questioned the jury's decision.

"I don't think they actually mean to do anything," he said. "I think they were acting stupid, like they thought the whole thing was a joke."

Jim Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, stated:

"Many people in the Muslim community will see this as a case of entrapment."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and the American Muslim Union, or AMU, are solicited for comment after major news stories involving American Muslims. CAIR bills itself as “the largest and most mainstream Muslim organization in America” but is known to support terror groups. "Any objective assessment of the material ... leads to the conclusion that CAIR, its leaders, and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups," said Steven Pomerantz, former counterterrorism chief of the FBI.

Four current and former senior leaders of the American Muslim Union were associated with a mosque established by the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The Treasury Department designated Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in December 2001. Senior members of the group have expressed support for Hamas.

Taliban Kills Afghan Children

On 28 December, the Taliban conducted a suicide attack in the Afghan province of Khost. A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives outside of a government center just as a group of school children was passing by. A U.S. military surveillance camera captured the bombing, and the Department of Defense released the tape to the Associated Press.

The suicide bomber weaves through the barriers designed to slow down vehicles while the school children are walking against the wall on the right and are in view of the bomber.

The Taliban took credit for the attack, claiming "at least 20 American and puppet terrorists were killed and more than 50 were wounded, and the building was destroyed."

The statement praised the attacker, Afghan Qari Hameedullah, claiming he had rammed a "explosive-laden vehicle into a puppet Afghan government building."

The school children were not puppets.

Jihad Summary: 2008

Pakistan is no more secure than at any time in recent history and it faces a potential war with India. India is front and center in the war on terror which offers immense potential for forging more significant ties to the U.S. The Bush administration has emerged as dealing out major defeats to al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army while the nation, as a whole, is moving towards reconciliation in a development that has surprised, delighted, and confounded pundits respectively. The Afghanistan situation has degenerated by experiencing the most violent year since the U.S. incursion to oust the Taliban in 2001. Most commentators are mixed in their assessment regarding the relative chances of implementing a “surge” strategy in Afghanistan that proved to work so successfully in Iraq. In any case, this strategy will be implemented later this year. General Petraeus has re-deployed to Afghanistan to head up operations. If the General had performed this admirably in any previous war that the U.S. had been involved in, he would have been touted as one of America's greatest war leaders. In this conflict, enthusiasm for his efforts has been muted and largely unrecognized by the American public. Iran is closer than ever to developing a nuclear weapon, and no one in the West has a coordinated plan to deter Iran from developing into the world's next nuclear power. As Iran acquires nuclear war making capability, the region will destabilize. Al Qaeda will likely retake control of Somalia as surviving cadres fled Iraq. Yemen remains an al Qaeda sanctuary.

Outside the main theater of operations battles continue. Imad Mugniyah was assassinated in Damascus. The Philippines made progress against its Islamic insurgency and dealt blows to Abu Sayyaf and the radical Rajah Solaiman Movement. Indonesia has driven Jemaah Islamiyah underground. Algeria fought a low-intensity terror insurgency with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

An overview can summarize the major developments in the most active theaters globally:

Pakistan

Pakistan is the central front in the war against al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied movements such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Pakistani Taliban, led by South Waziristan chieftan Baitullah Mehsud, controls and has expanded in the tribal areas of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province: the districts of Swat, Shangla, Bannu, Tank, Dir, and Malakand are under Taliban control, while the Taliban has a strong presence in every other district.

In the summer of 2008, U.S. intelligence estimated that the Taliban and al Qaeda run more than 150 training camps and maintain more than 400 support locations throughout the northwest.

The U.S. countered al Qaeda with 36 recorded airstrikes and cross-border raids in 2008, compared to 10 in 2006 and 2007 combined. Five senior al Qaeda leaders, including Abu Laith al Libi and Abu Khabab al Masri, were killed during the 2008 strikes.

Pakistani military and intelligence services appear to assist Lashkar-e-Taiba, as characterized by the devastating Mumbai attack which killed more than 170 people and the city was shut down for nearly three days in the military-style assault.

On a more positive note, Pervez Musharraf resigned from the office of president and allowed for the successful democratic transition of power after nine years of a military dictatorship. The Pakistan People's Party, whose former leader was the slain Benazir Bhutto, won the election and formed a coalition government.

During 2008, India emerged as front and center in the war after Mumbai. India suffered the greatest losses other than those countries not directly involved in active fighting with the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other terror groups. This development seems to reveal that it is not only those countries currently engaged that are targeted. Terrorists attacked Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Assam, and New Delhi resulted in the deaths of 332 Indians and foreigners and more than 1280 wounded. The Mumbai strike revealed a new and more advanced typed of attack: more severe, and military in nature featuring an assault from the sea.

Al Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been implicated in the attacks, along with the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Indian Mujahideen. These are front groups.

Iraq

In only two years, the Iraqi and the US and Coalition forces have reversed what at one time appeared to be a hopeless situation. In 2006, Iraq seemed like a quagmire and to al Qaeda, Sunni insurgents, the Mahdi Army, Iran, and death squads. Following the surge however, coupled with an expansion of the Anbar Awakening program in 2007, violence was dramatically reduced and the Iraqi government was given the time and space needed to further reconciliation.

Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al Masri fled the country and Abu Qaswarah, the group's second in command was killed in Mosul.

The violence in Iraq is at its lowest since 2003, when the US ousted Saddam Hussein from power. Peace is still fragile yet the Coalition can be guardedly optimistic about positive developments. The status of forces agreement between the US and Iraq stipulates that US combat forces must withdraw from Iraqi cities by the summer of 2009 and will be out of Iraq entirely by the end of 2011. The U.S. must remain to provide guidance and support to ensure the peace.

Afghanistan

Aided by bases, training camps, and a nearly endless supply of recruits across the border in Pakistan, the Taliban has made significant gains in its attempt to retake control of Afghanistan. The resurgent Taliban, along with the allied Hizb-i-Islami and the Haqqani Network, has ramped up operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan, and has expanded its control of provinces around Kabul and in the northwest.

The Taliban essentially controls the provinces of Wardak and Logar just outside Kabul, and has increased its presence in Baglan province in the northwest. Attacks are up in Nimroz, Farah, and Herat provinces in the west. Many of the districts in Kandahar province are under effective Taliban control, while fighting is still heavy in neighboring Helmand province. The Taliban has established shadow governments in many of Afghanistan’s districts and provinces, with courts, checkpoints, security forces, and taxation.

This year, the United States will surge approximately 30,000 additional troops, including four combat brigades and one combat aviation brigade, effectively doubling the amount of US troops in country. NATO has failed again to answer the call for more troops, sparking serious concerns about the alliance's effectiveness. Canada will withdraw all of its forces by the end of 2011.

Somalia

Al Qaeda-backed As Shabaab, or the Somali Youth Movement, and allied Islamist insurgent groups are prepared to retake control of Somalia after a year of gains in central and southern Somalia.

The US conducted several 'over the horizon' airstrikes in an effort to take out senior Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders operating in southern Somalia. Aden Hashi Ayro was killed in one such strike in May of 2008.

The African Union failed to provide the required number of peacekeepers; only one-quarter of the pledged troops arrived.

If Africans do not defend Somalia, the country is likely to fall.

Iran

Iran is one of the most important state sponsors of terror, and will likely be nuclear soon. There is no comprehensive plan to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

Iran suffered a strategic defeat in Iraq with the US and Iraq efforts to dismantle the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army and Iran's Ramazan Corps network that moved weapons, money, and fighters into the theater.

In Lebanon, Iran's proxy Hezbollah was able to force the government to include them in the government and give the terror group veto power over government decisions.

Yemen

After Pakistan, Yemen is considered to be one of the largest havens for al Qaeda.

The most high-profile attack took place in the capital after a suicide bomber breached the outer gate of the US Embassy.

A Yemeni appeals court reduced Jaber Elbanah's 10-year jail term to five years. Elbanah is wanted by the US for providing material support to Al Qaeda and is believed to have helped recruit the Lackawanna Six. A Yemeni court released Elbanah on bail in February 2008.

In August 2008, Yemen's new vice and virtue committee elected Sheikh Abdulmajid al Zindani as its president. Zindani was named by the US Treasury as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and a bin Laden loyalist.

Syria

Syria has long supported or looked the other way as al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents used the country as a transit point and safe haven for fighters entering western Iraq. About 90% of the insurgents enter Iraq through Syria.

The US in October 2008 launched the first recorded cross-border strike inside the country since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Nine terrorists were reported killed after US commandos dropped from helicopters conducted a raid in eastern Syria. The target was Abu Ghadiya, a senior al Qaeda leader who had been in charge of the Syrian facilitation network since 2005. Ghadiya and his staff were killed in the attack.

Earlier in 2008, Imad Mugniyah, the leader of Hezbollah’s military wing and a senior officer in Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed in car bombing in the capital of Damascus. It is thought that Israeli intelligence was behind the attack. Mugniyah, a pioneer in modern terrorism, was behind numerous terror attacks throughout the world, including the 1983 Beirut suicide attacks that killed 241 US Marines and 58 French paratroopers.

Philippines

Talks between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government broke down after MILF conducted several terrorist and military attacks against villages in areas adjacent to MILF control.

Indonesia

Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's Southeast Asia affiliate, has largely gone underground in Indonesia after senior leaders in the group have been killed or captured.

Algeria

After conducting multiple high profile attacks against government institutions and international agencies in 2007, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s operations took the form of a terrorist insurgency.

Israel & the Palestinian Territories

Major fighting broke out between Israel and the Hamas-led government in the Gaza strip after the six-month truce between the two expired at the end of December.

Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle Update: January 2009

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

Progress, according to plan, is developing accordingly.

Mutual Admiration Society: Obama, Blagojevich

PRESS RELEASE from the Office of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2007


Statement from Governor Rod R. Blagojevich

“On this historic day, I am pleased to join many Illinoisans who are excited and proud to support Senator Obama in his bid for the Presidency. I know that Senator Obama will fight to make sure that working families have access to health care, good paying jobs, and opportunities to provide for their children. Senator Obama supports the very best of these Democratic values; they are values that he and I share, values I know he will fight for.

“Senator Obama has the vision, skills and dedication necessary to bring people together and make real progress in Washington to help solve our country’s greatest and most pressing problems. Senator Obama offers real hope for the American people and I am proud to give him my support.

“I want to take this opportunity on this historic day to urge the Legislature to immediately send me a bill to move our state’s primary from March 18, 2008 to February 5, 2008. That will give Illinois voters an opportunity to send an early message in support of Senator Obama and send him to victory.”

`Birds of a Feather Flock Together:' 2002 Tape of Obama's Endorsement of Blagojevich

In 2002, Obama endorsed Blagojevich.

BARACK OBAMA: Right now my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as governor. We…

JEFF BERKOWITZ, HOST, "PUBLIC AFFAIRS": You're working hard for Rod?

OBAMA: You betcha.

BERKOWITZ: Hot Rod.

OBAMA: That's exactly right. You know, I think that having a Democratic governor will make a big difference.

BERKOWITZ: So you want to see a Democratic state Senate, a Democratic state House, a Democratic governor.

OBAMA: I'm a Democrat.

BERKOWITZ: Does that balance? I thought we wanted a fair and balanced approach?

OBAMA: I am a Democrat.

BERKOWITZ: Card-carrying Democrat.

OBAMA: Card-carrying Democrat. I really believe that the core Democratic philosophy is one that is, you know, really helps working people. And hopefully, you know, we'll be able to make sure that we carry out a mandate in this next election in November.

In a current interview, Bill O'Reilly interviewed Jeff Berkowitz, the interviewer from 2002.

O'REILLY: Well, joining us now from Chicago is a man who conducted that interview, Jeff Berkowitz, host of the cable program "Public Affairs".

You know what that tells me? It just tells me that President-elect Obama back then was a very loyal machine player. And you know the machine better than almost anybody, and that he was going to go along to get along. And now all of the associations have haunted him for the past year. And now Blagojevich comes back and he's right in the middle of it, right?

JEFF BERKOWITZ, HOST, "PUBLIC AFFAIRS": Well, Bill, that's a little unfair. In 2002, we didn't know he would be the kind of guy who would be trading seats, trading Senate seats for exchange for Cabinet positions and so forth, that he would be threatening to fire the folks. There are some editorial people at the Chicago Tribune if they didn't, you know, comply with his wishes or — and that is he would benefit. He would give them help with the Illinois finance authority if they would fire. So we didn't know that about Rod Blagojevich.

But on the other hand, it is interesting that he was working hard, in his words for Rod Blagojevich. It'd be interesting to know how hard. Some people said or say that he was working with David Wilhelm and Rahm Emanuel closely on almost a daily basis. So that…

O'REILLY: Well, I don't think there's any doubt about it that Barack Obama comes out of the machine that is Chicago politics. And the machine is not very good. I mean, it's a corrupt machine, has been for quite some time.

Now, the callers on "The Radio Factor" today said to me, look, we don't — nobody, very few, I shouldn't say nobody, but very few people are saying Barack Obama did anything wrong here. I think the tape exonerates him in the Senate seat brouhaha. But the questions remain how could a president of the United States go along with guys like Blagojevich? Obviously a corrupt guy. Been corrupt for years. Investigated for four years. How could you feel comfortable in a Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, Blagojevich world? How could you feel comfortable in that world?

BERKOWITZ: Well, I mean, one thing about Barack, I mean, he's — today at his press conference, he talked about Paul Simon and Paul Douglas wing of the Democratic Party, or at least that history, the reformers. And then he talked about pay to play, that wing of the Democratic Party. And I guess he would put himself with Paul Simon and Paul Douglas.

But you know, if you're being objective, you have to say somewhat an accommodator. And so, he's not pay to play. He's not the kind of guy who would do something illegal. But on other — and he went along with daily. He went — he goes along with Blagojevich. So did most of the Democrats in the Democratic Party in 2006.

O'REILLY: OK, is that — in your opinion, sir, does his accommodation — I think you nailed it. It's an accommodation. And I've said this from the jump that Barack Obama made an accommodation to get power by dealing with people that he knew were dubious. That's the best word, dubious, OK. And to not get involved with them closely, but not to challenge them, not to challenge the machine, not to get away from Reverend Wright, but to just be there to use these people for what he could use them for and then go away.

Now it's a character issue. In this society, some people admire that kind of style. Other people are appalled by it. Where do you come down?

BERKOWITZ: Well, look, I'm not appalled by it, because I think Barack Obama is the best combination of a fluency with public policy and a fluency in politics. He combines that.

As you know, Bill, there are a lot of people in politics who know politics well, but can't speak worth a damn. You know, they're not well spoken at all. Barack Obama knows the issues, he is well spoken, he has a vision. That's what he's told me. That's what he's talked about from 2000.

O'REILLY: So the ends justify the means for Barack Obama?

BERKOWITZ: No. It means that if you want to get to be president of the United States, you have to be somewhat of an accommodator. But I don't think for a minute, Bill, he would have accommodated or let go if he knew what Rod Blagojevich was doing and scheming in terms of this...

O'REILLY: No, I don't either.

BERKOWITZ: So…

O'REILLY: But you know what's going to be interesting?

BERKOWITZ: ...that's the line.

O'REILLY: You know what's going to be interesting, Mr. Berkowitz? If Blagojevich is charged and indicted by a grand jury, which I believe he will be, and faces 30 years in a penitentiary in Joliet, he's going to flip. He's going to name every name.

BERKOWITZ: Absolutely.

O'REILLY: And he knows where all the bodies are buried in Chicago. Does he not?

BERKOWITZ: I'm sure he does. And if he had something on Barack Obama, I'm sure…

O'REILLY: He'll sell it.

BERKOWITZ: ...he should be concerned.

O'REILLY: He'll sell it.

BERKOWITZ: But as I sit here today, I don't know that he has and I don't think that he has anything on Barack Obama.

O'REILLY: OK. And I would come down on your side. I think Barack Obama is a very smart guy and wouldn't get involved with a slug like Blagojevich. He tried to get him elected, but he knew he was a slug from the jump.

All right. Mr. Berkowitz, thanks very much. We appreciate it. Very interesting.

Portugal To Accept Gitmo Detainees

Portugal is the only nation that has said it is willing to take in freed prisoners from Guantanamo camp. "The time has come for the European Union to step forward," stated Luise Amado, Portugal's minister of state and foreign affairs. "As a matter of principle and coherence, we should send a clear signal of our willingness to help the U.S. government in that regard, namely through the resettlement of detainees." Amado urged fellow EU member nations to accept inmates not considered security risks as a way to help close Guantanamo. Bush has asked numerous nations for years to assist the U.S. but none, other than, Portugal, has accepted the request.

Obama Repeats Himself Ad Infinitum

In his weekly radio and video address describing what he called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, Obama reiterated the same essential plan which will not spur the economy. It seems as if it is high time for economists to break the news to the American people. This plan is not going to accomplish much; it will not challenge fast-moving economies such as China and India. The plan only has five main goals which are ridiculously absent of challenging, bold, and growth-inducing:

* double renewable energy production and make public buildings more energy efficient;
* rebuild crumbling roads, bridges and schools;
* computerize the health care system
* modernize classrooms, labs and libraries;
* and provide tax breaks to American workers.

If this is the best that the brain trust can commit to, it will be a long four years. If there were any original ideas in the plan it would include investments in the creation, innovation, and research in technology and science.

Ft. Dix Five Convicted

Five Muslim immigrants were convicted of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix. The terrorist plot was in the planning stages.

Obama Signature: Claims Natural Born Citizenship

In filing to run, Obama stated that he was a natural born citizen. The Secretary of State should have vetted him but this process was not performed. If false, Obama would be committing perjury.

Jay on the Commander: Natural Born Citizen

Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise & seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Command in chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.

John Jay, New York 25 July 1787

Statesman, diplomat, first Chief Justice of the U.S., President of Continental Congress, minister to Spain, secretary of foreign affairs, and author of the Federalist Papers along with Madison and Hamilton.

Obama Home Museum in Kenya: Grandma Banned From Press

The First Grandmother has been muzzled by the Kenyan government at Obama's birth home. The extended family will be required to receive permission from the government before making any public statements about their famous relative, according to the Nairobi Star. Athman Said, an under-secretary in the Ministry of Heritage, spoke on the record. Under-secretary Said, announced the Obama Cultural Home project, which will include a museum, a gallery, and a leadership center in the family's town of Kogelo. A video featuring Mama Sarah Obama, the president-elect's step-grandmother, will relate the Obamas' family history.

Christmas in Baghdad

It almost seems surreal but the picture is real: Christmas Jesus in Baghdad. A hot-air balloon was floated over Baghdad featuring a large poster of Jesus Christ and below it, an Iraqi flag. The event was sponsored by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The celebration also included a Santa Claus with a military band playing stirring martial music, not Christmas carols.

African Americans Against Obama

Several prominent African Americans are presenting arguments against Obama including: Dr. Marimba Ani, author, educator; Dr. James Turner, educator; Dr. Donald Smith, educator; and Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report.

GLEN FORD

"When Black folks start imagining an Obama that does not exist, we are in deep trouble."

Ever since Barack Obama became a candidate for president, many of his unquestioning supporters have labeled his critics on the Left as conscious or unconscious allies of, first, Hillary Clinton and, later, John McCain. As a result, Obama was left free to gravitate as far to the Right as he felt convenient - and he took every advantage of that freedom.

What we wound up with is a president-elect whose Cabinet to-date is mostly a Clinton Cabinet - and worse.

Obama's military portfolio is in the hands of a Reagan/Bush-One/Bush-Two war criminal, Robert Gates, whose crimes go back to Iran Contra and the mining of Nicaragua's harbors.

Obama's economic mechanisms will be in the hands of the very same robber baron bankers that set the stage for catastrophic meltdown through their actions under both Bill Clinton and George Bush.

Nobody forced Obama to put together an administration that even the New York Times describes as "center-right." (I think it's much more Right than Center.)

Nobody forced Obama to break into a sprint to join Bush in bailing out the bankers.

Nobody forced Obama to browbeat the Congressional Black Caucus to reverse itself and support the bailout the second time around.

Nobody forced Obama to elevate Susan Rice - a fanatical advocate of so-called "humanitarian" military intervention - to UN Ambassador, a woman who wholeheartedly supports George Bush's war against Somalia, which created what the UN has called Africa's "worst humanitarian crisis."

We don't have to wait any longer to know what kind of president Barack Obama will be. His presidential appointments are presidential deeds - and by those deeds we know him!

Barack Obama has chosen of his own free will to put his face at the head of an administration whose most powerful portfolios - War and the Economy - are manned by the worst thieves and warmongers available.

Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton looks like a relative moderate in this Obama configuration. And that is bad news for Black people, and the entire planet.

I maintain that this outcome - this "center-right" government in-the-making - became all but inevitable early in the process, when many Black progressives failed to challenge Obama even once on any important political point, before or during the primaries, when it would have made a difference.

This blind-faith, unquestioning Obamism abdicated all leadership responsibility, allowing Obama to play to the Right to his heart's content.

Obama faced no organized Black opposition to his call for an expanded military - one hundred thousand additional soldiers and Marines - as if that would not inevitably lead to more and bigger wars and less resources for human needs.

When the effects of the subprime meltdown began to be felt in earnest, Obama refused to endorse any kind of moratorium on foreclosures or freeze on interest rates. His position was to the Right of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. But he paid no penalty, because there was no organized Black criticism.

Meanwhile, those of us who warned of Obama's constant rightward drift were damn near called traitors to the race.

The Obamites demanded that everyone withhold judgment until after the election. Of course, by then it would be too late. It has been too late for a very long time.

At any rate, Judgment Day has finally arrived. And we see Obama taking great leaps and bounds to the Right. Farther Right than I ever anticipated.

But, you know what? I'm not mad at Obama. He's just another cynical center-right politician, doing whatever he can get away with.

The people I'm mad at are the ones who let him get away with it - the people who still see their primary job as protecting him!

He's the president-elect of the United States. He's in bed with billionaire bankers and war criminals, and folks want to protect him. He doesn't need our protection. WE need protection from HIM!

But this seems to be very difficult for some many of our folks to understand because, this entire experience has been...damaging.

It's one thing to get carried away on the strength of hundred of years of pent up aspirations.

It's to be expected that wishful thinking might temporarily get the better of us.

But when Black folks start imagining an Obama that does not exist - an Obama who has made some kind of Covenant with us, the evidence of which is nowhere to be found - then we are talking about a people who are in trouble.

I've got to admit that I sometimes get totally lost in the ill-logic that makes Obama good for Black people AND good for thieving bankers AND good for war criminals - all at the same time!

But, Dr. Smith has passed on to me the latest writings of Amiri Baraka, whose thought processes are believed by some to be a kind of Rosetta Stone on all things Obama.

Baraka explains how Obama's choice of arch-Zionist and former hedge-funder Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff - the gate keeper to the White House - was a "very smart choice" and, by the way, good for Black people.

The logic goes like this: Rahm Emanuel will keep the other Zionists with bad intentions at bay, off of Obama's back.

Amiri Baraka puts Obama's political choices in a whole new light. Rahm Emanuel is not a dangerous Zionist. Oh no. He is the anti-Zionist, who wards off the really bad Zionists. Like garlic.

Now we can understand why Obama needs George Bush's war criminal, Robert Gates, as his Secretary of Defense. Gates is there to guard Obama's far-Right flank against even worse war criminals who might be out there, laying in wait.

The same thing goes for the Robert Rubin clones at Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisors. There are actually even worse Wall Street thieves lurking around, trying to create trouble for Obama and - by extension - Black folks. Obama's bankers will keep the really bad bankers off balance - or so the logic goes. And by this logic, Obama can and should surround himself with all manner of villains, to guard his far-Right flanks against an even worse class of villains.

The worst thing about Amiri Baraka's logic is that I sense some of you actually agree with it.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com

DR. DONALD SMITH

"For Mr. Obama to continue to attempt to convince black people not to think about race is a deadly mistake."

Brothers and Sisters, I want you to know that the first thing I did when I came into this church today, was to give my semi-annual check to Black Agenda Report, to Glen Ford. If you're not reading Black Agenda Report you're missing the most important political analysis about our people.

In memory of Professor Melvin Tolson: Resolved, that the election of President-Elect Obama is not good for Black people.

President-Elect Obama is a man of many talents. He is brilliant, with critical thinking skills, an amazing orator, able to inspire and bring hope to millions in the United States and abroad. And he plays ball. He was vastly superior to his opposition, and I voted for him. However, I am not convinced that his election is good for Black people. My contention is based on three major issues.

First, his personnel appointments. Second, the danger of a post-racial philosophy. And third, cultural incompatibility.

Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, has been a strong opponent of African liberation. He is closely allied to Zionist movements. Right wing Israelis with the help of the U.S. government were major suppliers of the munitions which the Afrikaner government used to murder and oppress Black south Africans.

Emanuel also played a major role in unseating congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Now, you have to keep that in mind. The presidential chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel is the eyes and ears of the president, and he can influence policy decisions.

The next critical appointment is Lawrence Summers, a person with great disdain for African people. Summers, the disgraced president of Harvard, is the new director of the economic advisory committee which, by the way, does not require confirmation by the Senate. At Harvard, Summers announced that women were not as capable as men to be scientists; that African studies is not a legitimate academic discipline; and that the work of Cornel West was not sufficiently scholarly.

Yet his most egregious act took place when he was the chief economist for the World Bank. Summers signed off on a memo that urged the United States to send dirty industries, that is, toxic industries, to countries where, according to Summers, people don't value clean air, where salaries are low, and life is not as valuable. And which countries do you suppose these are? - Black and brown countries.

There are other appointments that are questionable, even objectionable, such as that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who sat as First Lady as Rwanda was being ravaged. Who as Senator from New York has introduced no measures to cease the slaughter in Darfur and in the Congo We are not likely to see the new secretary of state reverse the establishment of AFRICOM bases in Africa.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been referred to as a kinder and gentler "shock and awe." It will be imperialism and capitalistic interests as usual as people in the First World suffer and die.

The appointments that a leader makes, communicate profoundly, where his head, if not his heart, is.

The second major issue is that of the post-racial philosophy as espoused by President-Elect Obama and so-called liberal Democrats and independents. Our African culture is the cement that has been responsible for and has held our political and economic interests together. These were the words and wisdom of Malcolm X and of Harold Cruse in his book, The Crisis of the Black Intellectual.

Any socio-political philosophy that weakens the cultural cement that has held us together threatens our very existence as a people.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made it possible for Black people to elect local and national politicians of African ancestry.

It is Black solidarity that turned many states from red to blue and that enabled Senator Obama to become President-Elect Obama.

For Mr. Obama to continue to attempt to convince black people not to think about race is a deadly mistake. It is black solidarity and the black vote that has given us the strength to affect our lives positively. As Mahalia Jackson sang, it is How We Got Over.

Cultural incompatibility. Mr. Obama, the prophet of the Joshua generation, has read our history, and learned what the white institutions have taught him. But he does not know our history. He does not feel our pain. It is not in his genes.

Worse, in order to assure oppressors in America and throughout the world that he can be trusted to protect their preferential, unearned privileges, the president-elect generally ignores or deprecates the great liberators of African people.

On the night of his election. Mr. Obama disrespected Dr. Marlin Luther King Jr. by referring to him simply as "the Atlanta preacher." Speaking at the funeral of the Queen of the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks, President-Elect Obama showed no feeling. How could he not have been moved?

When he first became a senator, addressing the Washington Press Club, Mr. Obama declared that his hero was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Surely a professor of law at the University of Chicago would have been aware that Roosevelt cared nothing for black people, turned his back on the lynchings pervasive in the South, and made no provisions for black land in his land policy.

Mr. Obama delivered a harsh attack against Black men, without addressing any of the social factors which leave our brothers jobless, mis-educated, incarcerated and in poor health. There is little evidence of cultural compatibility.

These are among the key reasons why I contend the election of President-elect Barack Obama is not good for Black people.

Dr. Donald Smith can be contacted at Dohugh@aol.com

Obama 1980 Smoking a Doobie

Pictures of Obama smoking a joint were taken in 1980 by then-aspiring photographer Lisa Jack who recently dug the negatives out from her basement. She secreted them away until Time magazine obtained the pictures.

Since then, Obama has continued to smoke as he was photographed while visiting his birthplace in Kenya.

House of Obama, or, Iraqi Swindler, or Chicago Felon

Nadhmi Auchi, the British Iraqi billionaire banned from France and implicated in the U.N. oil for food scheme loaned money to convicted felon, Tony Rezko. Rezko loaned money to Obama so he could buy his mansion in Chicago. The house, of course, violates the loan limits according to Freddie Mac. The Obama Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac home mortgage is $903,000 over the legal limit.

In addition, the home is actually owned by Rezko‘s lawyer, William Miceli, and Obama formerly worked for him. The house ownership is included in a public record.

McKiernan: 30,000 Troops Needed

General David McKiernan, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, called for more troops to be deployed to Afghanistan in October. An additional 10,000 are likely to be support personnel. McKiernan requested the additional 20,000 troops be sent to fight the increasing violence by the resurgent Taliban forces in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

Egermakation 4ur 'merka

All of 17% of 8th graders overseen by Obama Education Secretary-designee can read at their grade level according to a poll taken by CNS News. In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001. Obama tagged him to become secretary of education. Lord help us all.

Duncan, hailed by Obama, said he would like to take the lessons he learned in Chicago with him when he moves to Washington. Geez, I hope not, we have enough problems without him.

Obamas Against the First Amendment: Threaten Prosecution

Missouri top prosecutors announced in September that they would threaten and prosecute critics of Obama. St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, threatened to bring libel charges against those who spoke out falsely about Obama.

The tape of the September Missouri report described the Obama truth squads.

A transcript of a report from station KMOW in St. Louis was collected by the Gateway Pundit.

Missouri's News 4 reporter John Mills appeared at the County Election Board in Maplewood, Missouri.

John Mills, reporter: Russell, good evening. Prosecutors and sheriffs from across Missouri are joining something called the "Barack Obama Truth Squad." Two high-profile prosecutors are part of the team. We met them this afternoon in the Central West this afternoon. They are Jennifer Joyce of the city (and) Bob McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney. They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian, who wants to cut taxes for anyone making less than $250,000 a year. They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws.

Jennifer Joyce: We want to keep this campaign focused on issues. We don't want people to get distracted, and Missourians don't want to be distracted, by these divisive character attacks. So we're here to respond to any character attacks, to set the record straight.

Bob McCulloch: Whether it is directly attributable to the campaign, or to one of the soft-money operations, if they're not going to tell the truth, then somebody's got to step up and say "Wait a minute, that's not true. This is the truth."

Mills: Now the Obama campaign tells News 4 that others, prosecutors and sheriffs, are also part of the team, including some from the Kansas City area, and from rural parts of Missouri. We're also told the truth squad is expected to include Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyle. Live in Maplewood John Mills, News 4.

In his report, Mills said the prosecutors "also say that they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate violate Missouri ethics laws."

The prosecutors threatened Americans from expressing their First Amendment rights. Most reasonable viewers would have concluded that they were planning to act against "offenders" in their official capacities.

The First Amendment is in trouble.