The Fire Next Time

Pet peeve: fake folks masquerading as other than what/who they are. I'll take a neo-nazi sympathizer over a gutless, parasitical poseur any day. At least the former, although deluded by an anachronistic/revisionist ethos, has the conviction to stand firm on his/her belief whether you like it or not. The latter stands for nothing--an army of one.

In the sphere of entertainment, it's rare to find those brave, uncompromising souls who take a back-seat to no one or hang their principles out to dry. In the sphere of Hip Hop music, I see a few shining lights beyond the swamp-land of mediocrity and opportunism: Talib Kweli, Mos Def, KRS-One, Common, Ursula Rucker, The Roots, Dead Prez, De La Soul, Little Brother, Outkast, Cee-Lo, Nas, Jay-Z and 2PAC (in their finer moments), Shihan, Master Ace, Wyclef, Chuck D, Kanye and Guru ( there are a few others that don't come to mind right now) lead the way. One artist who is destined to become a member of this elite group of soul rebels is the prophetic Immortal Technique.

Ever since 2PAC emerged on the scene and shook foundation with the seminal "2Pacalypse Now", I have not heard a rapper spit volcanic lava like this. Yes, there is a plethora of fire breathing lyricists out there who can throw it down and get you all twisted ( LL Cool J, 50, Twista, Ghostface, Meth, RZA - damn! the whole Wu Tang Clan!), but after the beat wears thin, it's over as the content seems so banal and forgettable (after ridin' on pimped-out 24's high and blown/wettin' niggas up (i.e glorifying death by killing their own kind) /trampling on women aka bitches, tricks and hoes/partyin' and talking shit to escape the grim realities of hood life--Is there anything much worth remembering?) Immortal Technique engages like a modern day Socrates. He challenges the dominant structures, institutions and (dead-) mind-sets of the body politic against a backdrop of head-bobbing beats that insinuate themselves into your mental landscape razin' the m*f* to the ground!

Critique if you will ( I recommend it), but this brother has a perspective worthy of serious contemplation. Take these lines from his "Poverty of Philosophy" for example:

"Nigga talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely....."

Fire.

Plenty of fools need a double-dose of this verbal penicillin to heal their syphilitic idiocy.

Check out a few of Immortal Technique's verses in this hip hop compilation..

Stay true.

::::MixMasterE::::

Closing Chapters

One of the most prolific and influential writers, Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has retired from public life due to health reasons. He sent the following letter to his friends-- I pass it on to you, with love.

"If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life, possibly I wouldn't say all that I think, but rather I would think of all that I say.

I would value things, not for their worth but for what they mean.

I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we close our eyes

we lose sixty seconds of light.

I would walk when others hold back, I would wake when others sleep. I would listen

when others talk, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream!

If God were to give me a piece of life, I would dress simply, throw myself face first in the sun,baring not only my body but also my soul.

My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice, and wait for the sun to show. Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh, dream a Benedetti poem, and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to the moon.

With my tears I would water roses, to feel the pain of their thorns, and the red kiss of their petals!

My God, if I had a piece of life, I wouldn't let a single day pass without telling people I love that I love them.

I would convince each woman and each man that they are my favorites, and I would live in love with love. I would show men how very wrong they are to think that they cease to be in love when they grow old, not knowing that they grow old when they cease to be in love!

To a child I shall give wings, but I shall let him learn to fly on his own.

I would teach the old that death does not come with old age, but withforgetting. So much have I learned from you, oh men!

I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain, without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled.

I have learned that when a newborn child squeezes for the first time with his tiny fist his father's finger, he has him trapped forever.

I have learned that a man has the right to look down on another only when he has to help the other get to his feet.

From you I have learned so many things, but in truth they won't be of much use, for when I keep them within this suitcase, unhappily shall I be dying."

:::MME:::

Musings

~~~~~~humbled...humbled~~~~
~http://www.sistersofunity.com/music/contact.mp3~

At the close of yet another year, I have to be thankful that I am still here, breathing. After all is said and done, the fact of just being alive is a blessing.

In contemplating the things that have really bothered me this year:

-corporate and government corruption & greed ,
-burdensome health care and education costs
-the rich getting richer/the poor catching hell
-the shameful level of homelessness and hunger
-trash T.V/trash celebrities/trash music
-climate change
-Israeli apartheid
-HIV/AIDS in Africa & India & the lack of resources and political will to end this holocaust

I have from time to time felt there was no way out of these and many other plagues of civilization.

Yet, there is hope.

I am a firm believer of the indomitable power of the human spirit to alter the course of the present and craft a better tomorrow( cliched, yes, but powerfully true). Its been done before--think Civil Rights Movement, the anti-apartheid struggle, 17th-19th century slave rebellions, the U.S Labor Movement ( thanks for my great weekends!). So, although I may wrestle with my despair with regards to the state of our world, I do see an opening at the tunnel's end and it is this hope that enacts the stance of the participants (us, We the People) to actively struggle against the evidence in order to change the deadly tides sweeping us from all sides.

Peace and love.

-MixMasterE

Crumbs From The Table by MixMasterE

Sometimes I get baffled by folks who seem so totally "lost". You know the type: class-conscious-highly impressionable consumerists concerned with achieving & maintaining the trappings of the "good life"-- the luxury car, designer clothes, vacations to brag about, over-sized houses filled with stuff that's hardly needed. It doesn't matter if this brazen, rootless search for the "American Dream" has them living in high anxiety from hand to mouth, or increasingly, in bankruptcy. So, when I read this article, I felt a rush of anger, then pity, then unrest....What can one do to correct this injustice? Where do you start? How? Leave it to blind Fate to correct the injustices? Who really knows....There's enough in the world to fufill everyone's need, but hardly enough for everyone's greed.

The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Its one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment's hesitation to crush beauty and life.

-TAGORE

See the details of this very interesting study by the UN, "

Musings

~~~~~ a natural mystic ~~~~

http://spiritual-health.org/

Musings

                                    .......lose...your...self..... 

Love Is God/God is Love...

http://www.interviewwithgod.com/lovemovie/index.htm

..is this love?...

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2006/11/20/gaza-kids-reality-the-reality-of-the-israeli-terrorism/

http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/91301/thumbnails (warning: very graphic images)

..or this?

..http://www.aegistrust.org/filmlinks/titllink.asx

..so much to bear.

See also: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8673781830931066753&hl=en

MixMasterE

Remembering Ed Bradley (1941-2006)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/09/national/main2165871.shtml

Rest In Peace, brother.

-MixMasterE

The Smackdown by MixMasterE

That imbecilic smirk is gone.

That arrogant, callous, combative, ego-maniacal swagger has been wrestled to the ground and fresh dirt awaits its' covering. The epitaph should read, "Pride Goeth Before Destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall".

Yes, the U.S electorate finally awakened from its' slumber and exercised its democratic power to recalibrate the scales and endeavor to recast & uphold the ideal of a government 'for the people, of the people, by the people'.

A staggering 7 million+ more votes were cast in favor of the Democrats giving them more of a 'mandate' than what Bush claimed he had in 2004. The poor wannabe cowboy aint whistlin' Dixie no more--literally. Due to redistricting/regional realignment in which a solid Northeast has replaced the solid South, Democratic control no longer depends on a bloc of Dixiecrats whose ideological sympathies were often with the GOP.

Symbolically, it's a New Day (in Babylon?). Only time will tell if the Democrats will deliver the goods or waste the opportunity to do something tangible and lasting.
(http://www.housedemocrats.gov/issues/issue.cfm?level2id=98&CFID=5946501&CFTOKEN=35803025)

With death, torture, scandal, hypocrisy, inequality, propaganda-as-news and the authoritarian tilt this nation was going in prior to the beat down the GOP took, We the People are Long Overdue a Break from all this shit!

So, in the euphoria of the moment, suspend critical interrogation and prognostication just a sec & raise your glass to the seismic shift.

A Heads Up Before Voting

Hey, Before You Vote!!!!!!!!!!

Check this very useful link:
http://yesmagazine.org/newsletters/vote2006.html




...and in case you missed this disturbing documentary:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=hacking+democracy&hl=en


...being a citizen is essentially a state of mind...sleep-walk at your peril.


-mixmastere

Amnesia: When You Awake, You Will Be Free by MixMasterE

Seldom a day or week goes by without some revelation of yet another hypocrite facing the funk of his/her own doing, especially those esconced knee-deep in variants of some conservative political ideology and/or static fundamentalist cosmology. A quick recap of the incredible wrecking train that is Bush's GOP:

--The Big Lie that is The Liberation Of Iraq has exploded in their dumb faces
(even a recently retired CIA agent had to admit this sham: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/60minutes/main1527749.shtml)
--Terrorism is a much greater threat now than ever before ( for the doubters:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2006/nie_global-terror-trends_apr2006.htm )
--Katrina showcased for the whole world to see gross incompetence, cronyism & classism/racism at the highest level.
--The Tom Delay-Jack Abramoff-Randy Cunningham-Bob Ney Corruption Tour Bus
( business-as-usual?You decide...
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_'culture_of_corruption
http://www.populistamerica.com/democracy_in_america__corruption
--The shredding of the Constitution with the Patriot and Military Commissions Acts.
(Amnesty International raises a number of concerns regarding the Patriot Act : http://www.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/patriotact , and here's the other shackle to drive Freedom into the dust: http://www.rense.com/general74/mil.htm )
--Mark Foley and Reverend Ted Haggard as poster children for Family Values. Yep. Pump your followers with grandiose, self-righteous facades to keep the coffers full and sooner or later..well..you know the sad tale)

Voters who intend to vote for a GOP candidate in tomorrow's electoral farce, should bear a few points in mind and possibly rethink your stance:

*Real median hourly wages have declined almost 2% under Bush. And this, five years into what they call an economic “recovery”.
*GDP growth is falling rapidly, down from 5.6% in Q1 to 2.6% in Q2 to 1.6% in Q3. Q4 will almost certainly be negative, the onset of a new recession.
*The nation’s savings rate has fallen below zero, the first time since the Great Depression.
*Home prices have just taken their biggest plunge in 35 years.
*Two million more people are in poverty than when Bush took office.
*Forty-eight million people have no health insurance, four million more than when Bush took office.
*Three million high wage manufacturing jobs have been lost under Bush, sent to China so Bush’s wealthy backers can make more profits using Chinese slave labor.
*The trade deficit has exploded to over $800 billion a year, up from $377 billion in the last year of the Clinton administration. Oops.
*With his record budget deficits, Bush has added $3 trillion to the national debt, more than any president in history. By the time his administration leaves office, it will have created more debt than all previous presidents COMBINED.
*As a result of Bush’s record debts, the nation is forced to borrow almost $3 billion a day, most of it from foreigners. Not since before the Civil War has the U.S. been so dependent on foreign capital. Oops.
*A full 70% of Bush’s $1.6 trillion in tax cuts went to the top 20% of income earners, those making an average of $190,000 per year. The bottom 40% of income earners, those making $14,000 a year, got a total of 5%.
*A higher share of national income goes to corporate profits than at any time since 1948.
*A lower share of national income goes to wages than at any time since 1947.

As a result of all of the above, income inequality—an inverse proxy for the vitality of democracy—is the greatest it’s been since the 1920s, just before the Great Depression (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1103-02.htm).

...nuff said.

A Man of the People

I was recently reminded of this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Muhammed Yunus, and was quite impressed with his scope and depth of consciousness with regards to alleviating the dire conditions of the poor not only in his native Bangladesh, but in other developing nations as well. Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work in the use of microcredit. He set up the Grameen Bank in 1976 with just $27 from his own pocket. Thirty years on, the bank has 6.6 million borrowers, of which 97% are poor women who desire to establish their own business.

Dr. Yunus discovered that microcredit can be both commercially viable and an engine for socio-economic change. Grameen Bank has helped millions of Bangladeshis rise above poverty, not through charity, but through hard work and a little faith in their abilities. His success in helping the poor help themselves has been duplicated in many other developing countries. He has proven the value of direct investment from the bottom up in bringing about economic development. Microcredit and its success stands in direct contrast to the billions of dollars in foreign aid that is wasted when the West gives "aid" to Third World tyrants and dictators.

Everyday hundreds of millions of people on our planet struggle to just survive. They struggle not with questions of war and peace, not with decisions to launch bombs or practice diplomacy; but with how to find enough food to feed themselves and their families. Their needs are basic and consume most of their existence. They, our fellow human beings, our fellow brothers and sisters, live on the neglected edge of society. Dr. Yunus, three decades ago, resolved to do his part to help his fellow brothers and sisters step away from the edge. In doing so, Dr. Yunus understood what the current occupant of the White House to this day does not: that peace and stability in this world cannot be achieved until and unless the roots of poverty are addressed.

So, big up to Yunus!

To learn more about Dr Yunus & Micro-Credit:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6262679
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/business/14nobelcnd.html?ex=1161662400&en=b0d7ee54b0cea3a4&ei=5070

Directed by Desire

Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan gathers the work from Jordan's ten books of poetry and includes 70 never-before-published poems-a tender, fierce, and innovative series that she wrote before her death.

As Adrienne Rich writes in her "Foreword": "June Jordan . . . wrote from her experience in a woman's body and a dark skin, though never solely 'as' or 'for.' Sharply critical of nationalism, separatism, chauvinism of all kinds, as tendencies toward narrowness and isolation, she was too aware of democracy's failures to embrace false integrations. Her poetic sensibility was kindred to Blake's scrutiny of innocence and experience; to Whitman's vision of sexual and social breadth; to Gwendolyn Brooks' and Romare Bearden's portrayals of ordinary black people's lives; to James Baldwin's expression of the bitter contradictions within the republic."

In short, Directed by Desire is a breathtaking overview and the definitive June Jordan volume.

See: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=3571

Cool audio poetry sample: http://audiopoetry.wordpress.com/tag/poet/june-jordan/

-MixMasterE

Farahos

The mighty nation of the day

May not be mighty tomorrow.

One day they will be
On the pages of history
And the ruins of archeology.

Students and researchers
Will read them:
A history of cruelty and despotism.

This is the history
Of the rise and fall of
The mighty nations.

Farahos of the day
Will be in the museum
And the visitors will curse them.

This is the tragedy of the history
Nobody learns from it.

Oh brothers and sisters
Of this sweet planet
Do you remember Farahos?
What are they doing now?

Musings

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day

Who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.

You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in.

Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is anew day;

begin it well and serenely,

With too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations,

To waste a moment on the yesterdays...

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Letter To The Emperor by MixMasterE

Interesting letter the Iranian President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) wrote to President Bush which was made public on May 8th. Peep this:


http://www.npr.org/documents/2006/may/ahmadinejad_letter.pdf

Amongst some very important points he made are:

"Liberalism and Western-style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the liberal democratic systems."

"Those in power have a specific time in office and do not rule indefinitely, but their names will be recorded in history and will be constantly judged in the immediate and distant futures."

"Why is it that any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime? Is not scientific R&D one of the basic rights of nations?"

"How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people's houses destroyed over their heads? Are you pleased with the current condition of the world? Do you think present policies can continue?"

The Vision of Thoreau

 

 

 

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) had a truly exceptional vision of the world. The facts of Thoreau's life are appropriately spare for one who wrote, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. . . ." . That's enough to get a picture of the man. With that said, here are some of my personal favorites:

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality.

Be not simply good; be good for something.

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

Law never made men a whit more just. Men are born to succeed, not to fail.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

What's the use of a fine house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
What is once well done is done forever.

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

The perception of beauty is a moral test.

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Men have become the tools of their tools.

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion.

What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

Don't Sleep On This White Boy By MixMasterE

When I first read Tim Wise's work, I assumed that he was a person of color. His richly expressive, intellectually honest and fiery expositions are quite refreshing and remind me of the writings of Michael Eric Dyson. That he is a white man impresses me as I am prone to think of white men (in general) as close-minded and reactonary, to say the least ( apersonal prejudice, I know, but I am actively trying to work through it). Tim Wise goes against this perception and I have thus added him to my personal list of the few white men I think are truly visionary /against the grain--Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Tom Paine, amongst others.

His site : http://www.timwise.org/

Excellent speech from his book, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son:

Octavia Butler's Genius

Life is strange.

On 2/25/06, I went into Barnes & Noble to browse for books and magazines with the usual prospect of purchasing the ones that piqued my interest. In a somewhat aimless fashion, I wandered down a book aisle and casually glanced at a few books. One book in particular struck me in a strange way, namely, Octavia Butler's, "Parable Of The Talents". I have read a few articles/books over the past few years which referenced this work. I read the back of the book then flipped through the pages to get a feel for her wrting. I was immediately struck by her power.I purchased that book along with its' sequel, "The Parable Of The Sower". Yesterday I found out that Octavia Butler died in an accident inside her home. She died on the day after I bought her books unbeknownst to me until I read an article yesterday stating that she had passed away ( on 2/26). Truth indeed is stranger than fiction.

God is change.
And in the end,
God prevails.
But meanwhile...
Kindness eases Change.
Love quiets fear.
And a sweet and powerful
Positive obsession
Blunts pain,
Diverts rage,
And engages each of us
In the greatest,
the most intense
Of our chosen struggles.

-Octavia Butler, 'Parable of Talents'

Octavia Butler links:

http://authors.aalbc.com/octavia.htm
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/487/

-MixMastere

Musings

God is With Me

All around me are certain expressions of orderliness,
Of beauty, of wonder and delight. The regularity of sunrise
And sunset, the fragile loveliness of a wisp of cloud fringed
With silver, the wonder of day dawning and
The delight of companionship – all these are His handiwork.
Again and again I am stirred by some experience of tenderness,
Some simple act of gratuitous kindness moving from one person
To another, some quiet deed of courage, wisdom or sacrifice
Or some striking movement of unstudied joy that burst forth
In the contagion of merry laughter.
Always there is the persistent need for some deep inner assurance,
Some whisper in my heart, some stirring of the spirit within me-
That renews, re-creates and steadies.

Then whatever betides of light or shadow....

I can look out on life with quiet eyes.

Musings

Coretta Scott King as Our Lady of Sorrows

Happy Birthday, brother Martin by MixMasterE

Another year has come to reflect upon your legacy and examine the many ways we have progressed and fallen short of your vision of a beloved community. Looking at the world today, it appears as if we have a long way to go, but I still retain the hope that it will become a reality.

'Why I Oppose The War in Vietnam" is by far MLK's most critical and visionary speech (and largely ignored for obvious reasons) in my opinion. although the U.S media mostly derided it as "demagogic slander". Here it is in it's full beauty and power: http://www.wrybread.com/misc/vietnam/martin_luther_king_on_vietnam.mp3

Landmark speeches by MLK: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/mlkpapers/

"Courage is an inner decision to go forward in spite of obstacles and frightening situations...Courage faces fear and thereby masters it...
We must constantly build walls of courage to hold back the flood of fear."

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

So, Who Cares For The Sudanese? Genocide & The Diversions of Perception by MixMasterE

400,000 non-Arabs have been slaughtered and about 2.5 million have been driven out of their villages. 3.5 million are without the food, water and shelter they need to survive. Women/girls are being raped. The Sudanese government is playing lip-service to appease the international community .The Bush cabal has acknowledged that what the Arabs are doing to the indigenous black population is ethnic cleansing or genocide--but no massive humanitarian aid or military
personnel has been deployed in what the UN considers the worst humanitarian crisis in
the world. Strange how one can raid the Treasury to invade another country under false pretenses and utterly ruin it to satisy the lust for resources yet when real people-- innocent people--are being wiped away like useless brush, there is no funding for any type of resistance or large-scale humanitarian effort.

Do you see the utter inhumanity and unrepentent insanity?

There is something though that Sudan has in common with Iraq which may explain the
twisted logic of the ruling class: oil.

Being the 7th largest oil producer in Africa, this oil lies below the killing fields of South Sudan.

Is it not hideously obvious?

But you probably will not see this link in the comfortably back-pocketed U.S media.

The ancient rivalries between the indigenous black Sudanese and the invaders (Arabs), though sadly true, gets overblown so as to cover up the more important aspect of this bloody spectacle: the lust for oil by industrialized nations and their flesh-eating Leviathans
(oil corporations).

Educate yourself and then spread the word via the links below:

http://www.markfiore.com/animation/gentle.html ( great animation)

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0819-26.htm

http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/2005/28032.html

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/sudan2.html

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! 

 

Yep. We have to keep the candle of hope burning in spite of the encroaching darkness. In this vein, I ran across this essay entitled "From Hope To Hopelessness" by Margaret Wheatley  which I thoroughly enjoyed. What an inspiring piece to set off 2006.

Read: From Hope To Hopelessness

I'm the last person who can quote anything from the Bible, but one saying I do remember which is appropo is: "Faith is the evidence of things not seen....." True, some can use this quote to support their fanatical beliefs, but it can also be truly inspiring if one remains open yet critically engaged with his/her surroundings.

Peace