OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 28, 2011
Musings
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| Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. - Andre Gide |
MME's Jam of the Day
This song is taken from St Lucian-born (& former high school classmate) Taj Weekes & Adowa's latest masterpiece, "A Water-logged Soul Kitchen" which I have written about in previous posts (here and here) . Of all the songs on the CD, this one stood out for me as it describes the unimaginable, heart-breaking horror of the south Sudanese people at the hands of the merciless Janjaweed militia. I won't go into the detailed history of this conflict, but here are a few good resources to learn more about it:
Also, check out this interview of one of the Janjaweed commanders who went into hiding as he felt that the Sudanese government was about to scapegoat him because of mounting awareness and pressure from the international communtiy:
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 27, 2011
The Six Mistakes of Man
* The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
* Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
* Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
* Neglecting development and refinement of the mind and not acquiring
the habit of reading and studying.
* Attempting to compel other persons to believe and live as we do.
~Cicero
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 26, 2011
MME's Jam of the Day
This cut, "Stars", taken from Rahsaan Patterson's "Wine & Spirits" CD, is one of my favorites. I consider Rahsaan the most slept-on R&B vocalist of our time. The brother can run circles around the more popular chart-topping vocalists with his distinctive, bittersweet falsetto. "Stars" is a poetic parable about the pitfalls of fame which we seldom hear in song. I was reminded of the late Amy Winehouse when I re-read the lyrics:
Stars
They come and go. They come fast, they come slow
Like the last light of the sun – all in a blaze.
And all you see is glory
But it gets lonely there
When there’s no one here to share.
We can shake it away if you hear a story.
People lust for fame like athletes in a game.
We break our collarbones and come up swinging.
Some of us are downed, some of us are crowned
Lost and never found.
And the ones who gave the crown
Have been let down and
Try to make amends without defending.
Stars
The come and go. Coming fast, coming slow
Like the last light of the sun – all in a blaze.
And all you see is glory.
But most have seen it all.
We live our lives in sad cafe’s and music halls
Always with a story.
Stars
They come and go. Coming fast, coming slow
Like the last light of the sun – all in a blaze.
And all you see is glory.
(RIP Amy-You will be missed).
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 25, 2011
The Great Divide
While the media titillates us with another murder, robbery, celebrity divorce, soft porn music video, 'reality' show, Congressional sex scandal, etc, American families are catching hell, but you probably won't know about this in detail given the mainstream media's proclivities. Here are some disturbing truths:
#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.
#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.
#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.
#4 The average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt.
#5 Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
#6 At this point, American families are approximately 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.
#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
#8 According to one study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010.
#9 Today, there are more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, and nearly half of them are children.
#10 According to Newsweek, close to 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 54 do not have a job at the moment.
Where is our bailout? Oh yeah, I forgot--That would be considered a handout & that just smacks of socialism, When given to Wall Street institutions, it's considered a Troubled Asset Relief Program (fancy term for a bailout) for the purpose of saving the financial system from collapse, right? Riiight. But wait...These bailed out institutions awarded themselves bonuses and posted record profits while laying off workers. Sooooo exactly at what point do we see the benefits of this bailout? Answer: The 12th of Never. We've been hoodwinked. It's socialism for the rich and savage capitalism for the rest of us....
Stay tuned...
:::MME:::
Musings
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| American Genius - James Baldwin |
If a society permits one portion of its citizenry to be menaced or destroyed, then, very soon, no one in that society is safe. The forces thus released in the people can never be held in check, but run their devouring course, destroying the very foundations which it was imagined they would save.
But we are unbelievably ignorant concerning what goes on in our country--to say nothing of what goes on in the rest of the world--and appear to have become too timid to question what we are told. Our failure to trust one another deeply enough to be able to talk to one another has become so great that people with these questions in their hearts do not speak them; our opulence is so pervasive that people who are afraid to lose whatever they think they have persuade themselves of the truth of a lie, and help disseminate it; and God help the innocent here, that man or womn who simply wants to love, and be loved. Unless this would-be lover is able to replace his or her backbone with a steel rod, he or she is doomed. This is no place for love. I know that I am now expected to make a bow in the direction of those millions of unremarked, happy marriages all over America, but I am unable honestly to do so because I find nothing whatever in our moral and social climate--and I am now thinking particularly of the state of our children--to bear witness to their existence. I suspect that when we refer to these happy and so marvelously invisible people, we are simply being nostalgic concerning the happy, simple, God-fearing life which we imagine ourselves once to have lived. In any case, wherever love is found, it unfailingly makes itself felt in the individual, the personal authority of the individual. Judged by this standard, we are a loveless nation. The best that can be said is that some of us are struggling. And what we are struggling against is that death in the heart which leads not only to the shedding of blood, but which reduces human beings to corpses while they live.
OneLove
:::MME:::
Lying to Ourselves Pt 1
I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance who contended that the United States of America is the best place to have the opportunity to make it rich & that compared to places like China, it has a self-correcting market economy (Adam Smith's invisible hand, I assume) that lifts all boats, in general.
Let's be frank: Most Americans are spoon-fed mythologies about their country from an early age & it becomes so ingrained into their psyche that any challenges to what they perceive as indisputable fact, are relegated to the dustbins of "conspiratorial' and 'anti-American'. The depth of their delusions are quite worrisome, to say the least.
Let me quickly dispel two inter-related myths right quick:
America is no longer the land of opportunity & the notion of a sacrosanct market-economy that is self-perpetuating if left alone is intellectual sophistry (utter rubbish),
The facts relating to opportunity (taken from Understanding Mobility in America, a study by economist Tom Hertz from American University):
- Children from low-income families have only a 1 percent chance of reaching the top 5 percent of the income distribution, versus children of the rich who have about a 22 percent chance.
- Education, race, health and state of residence are four key channels by which economic status is transmitted from parent to child.
- African American children who are born in the bottom quartile are nearly twice as likely to remain there as adults than are white children whose parents had identical incomes, and are four times less likely to attain the top quartile.
- The difference in mobility for blacks and whites persists even after controlling for a host of parental background factors, children’s education and health, as well as whether the household was female-headed or receiving public assistance.
- After controlling for a host of parental background variables, upward mobility varied by region of origin, and is highest for those who grew up in the South Atlantic and East South Central regions, and lowest for those raised in the West South Central and Mountain regions.
- Education, race, health and state of residence are four key channels by which economic status is transmitted from parent to child.
- African American children who are born in the bottom quartile are nearly twice as likely to remain there as adults than are white children whose parents had identical incomes, and are four times less likely to attain the top quartile.
- The difference in mobility for blacks and whites persists even after controlling for a host of parental background factors, children’s education and health, as well as whether the household was female-headed or receiving public assistance.
- After controlling for a host of parental background variables, upward mobility varied by region of origin, and is highest for those who grew up in the South Atlantic and East South Central regions, and lowest for those raised in the West South Central and Mountain regions.
- By international standards, the United States has an unusually low level of
inter-generational mobility: Our parents’ income is highly predictive of our incomes
as adults. Inter-generational mobility in the United States is lower than in France,Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among high-income countries for which comparable est iimates are available, only the United Kingdom had a lower rate of mobility than the United States.
Disturbing stats (I encourage you to read the full report), yet folks are still waltzin' around as if all's well with the world, self-satisfied by their miniscule slice of cake & mini-fiefdoms. Their motto: Get yours! Material comforts have a strange way of rendering many to political impotence & anti-intellectualism.
As regards to the myth of the market & its magical powers of unregulated self-correction, you would have to be on drugs to believe that crap. If the market were self-correcting, the global banking system would have collapsed a long time ago. It's all a highly sophisticated form of manipulation & if anyone took the time to follow the money, one would find a cadre of stupendously wealthy pricks rigging the game in their favor. I highly recommend the following books for detoxification purposes (Step 1):
Let's get movin'!
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 23, 2011
Turning on the Charm
Dr Cornel West's critique of President Obama is very interesting. He overlooks a critical component in money politics, however: The President is smart enough to know that you don't hit the political sweet spot by playing to your base (the folks that got him elected!). And he knows that you don't succeed by biting the hands that feed you (big corporate donors). Dr West's anger, though understandable, is misplaced. He of all people should know how the system works. I gather that, like most people who voted for Pres. Obama in 2008, he was hoping that President Obama would carry through on his mandate for change. Then his hopes began to crumble when the President stacked his cabinet with the same insiders he ranted against & to top it off, bailed out the corporate gangsters who awarded themselves bonuses while laying off workers. The President is savvy & brainier than many of his predecessors, but unlike Dr West. I harbor no illusions or false hopes. I would imagine the the pressure of his (Pres. Obama) job is staggering, but I sometimes wish he would take a righteous stand on something and stick to it regardless of what the polls/strategists have to say. Stop pussy-footing with the GOP, for example, and use his constitutional authority to raise the debt ceiling. This is just crazy.
We are now in the election cycle for next year's presidential elections so go out and get your boots for the massive snow job coming your way.
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 21, 2011
Poet's Nook: Rumi's "Be Like.."
Be like the sun for grace and mercy.
Be like the night to cover others' faults.
Be like running water for generosity.
Be like death for rage and anger.
Be like the Earth for modesty.
Appear as you are. Be as you appear.
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 20, 2011
Capitalism Hits The Fan
This is a broad, historical breakdown of what is happening in the US economy which should not be ignored.
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 19, 2011
MME's Jam of the Day
Musiq Soulchild is still one of the most underrated R&B artist on the scene today. This particular cut, "Millionaire", is pure butter, and it's amazing that it was never released as a single or got any airplay (like many of his songs). With 11 Grammy nominations & comparisons to Stevie Wonder, this brother is what soul music is all about. Also check out this killer, "Say I Do", from his current CD which is blazin'. Enjoy!
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 17, 2011
Poet's Nook: Wendell Berry's "No Going Back"
 |
| (a path) |
No, no, there is no going back.
Less and less you are
that possibility you were.
More and more you have become
those lives and deaths
that have belonged to you.
You have become a sort of grave
containing much that was
and is no more in time, beloved
then, now, and always.
And so you have become a sort of tree
standing over a grave.
Now more than ever you can be
generous toward each day
that comes, young, to disappear
forever, and yet remain
unaging in the mind.
Every day you have less reason
not to give yourself away.
Wendell Berry's writing reminds me of Walt Whitman's in that it is Earth-bound, pragmatic & deeply (albeit implicitly) spiritual . I have only scratched the surface of this literary genius & look forward to reading much more of his work. Please check out his thought-provoking essay, "Why I Am Not Going To Buy a Computer". Equally as interesting as this essay is his response to the letters he received critiquing this piece--Great stuff!
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 15, 2011
The Rich vs The Majority
It never fails to amaze me why the vast majority of Americans are so eerily quiet when they are brazenly getting pick-pocketed & shoved to the side by plutocrats & their paid servants in Congress. This short clip gives a quick overview of what has happened, but I encourage you to do your own research into this sad tale. Robert Reich also did another quick outline of the military-industrial-congressional complex which provides some detail of where our money is going.
Neil Postman once said that we are amusing ourselves to death. By this he meant that we are being distracted/manipulated against our own interests. It's systematic & it has worked remarkably well in the United States, but people don't remain ignorant forever. Folks like Robert Reich, Julianne Malveux, Joseph Stiglitz, Sheldon Wolin & Paul Krugman (to name a few) are doing a tremendous job of presenting their well-researched work for our critical reflection & hopefully, meaningful action/resistance.
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 14, 2011
Poet's Nook: "Look What It's Come To" by Johnathan Lowe
I wanted things once. Was told to.
Now that I've retired from waiting on people wanting things
I see the illusion, the delusion.
It is the clearest thing left to see in the world.
You can't own anything. Not land, not piles of brick
Nor the woman next to you.
Everyone at the mall will learn this too one day
Some know now. On occasion these meet my eyes passing...
Former paper pushers, ledge keepers. We exchange secret knowledge
without a smile. Or with a wry one!
Before walking past a bin of B-movies piled high at Wal-Mart,
an old man gave me such a smile by which he meant:
look what it's come to.
I know. I know.
OneLove
:::MME:::
MME's Jam of the Day
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| Al Green |
Al Green is The Man! Most folks aren't aware of the fact that this legendary soul man wrote most of the classics we've grown to love--"Love & Happiness", "Let's Stay Together", "Simply Beautiful", "I'm Still In Love With You", amongst many others--and this is why his music still sounds so damn relevant--he lived it. This particular cut, "Look What You Done For Me", is a mature, light-hearted jam that reveals a deep truth about love: To really love somebody, you have to set 'em free. Like Kahlil Gibran states, "Love possesses not nor would it be possessed..", Al offers a similar aphorism:"Now that you're here with me, I want to keep you free, to do the things that you want to do...". How refreshing to hear these poignant lines when every other song on the charts today is some unpoetic & tiresome hype aimed at possessing (& obsessing over) another. Al Green shows us where it's at!
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 12, 2011
An Animated Global Odyssey
"All People are Equal but Some are More Equal than Others."
-George Orwell
This is quite an informative animation & it's ideal for introducing your kids to what has happened to our society. They will, sadly, reap a bitter harvest if our policies & priorities aren't drastically changed. There are a few murky areas towards the end of the video that can be construed as conspiratorial & to some degree it is, but this should not detract from the massive fraud & theft that has occurred in the United States & beyond.
Stay tuned...
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 9, 2011
George Carlin 's Take on Economic Realities
The late great comedic genius George Carlin expresses in 3 minutes what's really going on in the spheres of politics & economics. Although his acts were indelicately laced with profanity, his deeply philosophical & trenchant observations were always on point & wickedly funny! This is not the time for us to sit back & be entertained--the walls are caving in if you haven't noticed. George Carlin unapologetically puts his foot in that ass to awaken us from sleep--What a life well spent!
I also liked his skits on motivation and ugly singers.
One Love
:::MME:::
A Question of Being
I think everyone who is living (or has lived) wonders from time to time the nature of existence--Why are we here?What are we here for? It seems like an eternal thought process when one tries to venture back into time to imagine the infinite web of circumstances that has led to this point in time. If we are all the stuff of stars as the late great Carl Sagan once stated, what led to the fantastically unimaginable combination of forces that brought life itself into existence? If it happened here (Earth), then quite logically it has happened in other galaxies & universes--the whole cosmos itself must be teeming with life forms beyond our imaginations. Is it all random? Or is there an intelligent life force ("God") orchestrating the symphony? How did love come out of the stars if there wasn't some force infusing the elements with it? Thoughts like these have coursed through the minds of many, but to date, nothing is conclusive. Nonetheless, we will forever have these questions arising from our depths 'til we meet our strangely incomprehensible God.
Existence is paradoxical; paradox is its very core. It exists through opposites, it is a balance in the opposites. And one who learns how to balance becomes capable of knowing what life is, what existence is, what God is. The secret key is balance~~Osho.
OneLove
:::MME:::
Jul 6, 2011
MME's Jam of the Day
 |
Brother can you see?
Brother do you see the children dying?
Brother do you try to understand
All of the horrors behind their crying?
Why do we do these things to each other?
Too blind to see and too far to help them...
All I know we’ve got to understand
Brother I feel we've got to let love rule....
Sister can you see?
Sister do you see the children dying?
Sister do you try to understand
All of the horrors behind their crying?
Why do we do these things to each other?
Too blind to see and too far to help them...
All I know we’ve go to understand
Sister, I feel we’ve got to let love rule
This song is an Outro on Color Me Badd's "Time & Chance" album which was their best product, in my estimation. This is one of countless songs that never make it to prime time for one reason or another. Like Cassandra Wilson's "Solitary Dancer", Vinx's "Captain's Song" or Oba's "Fairytale Man", this rare diamond in the rough which most have never heard, shines through brilliantly...
(Take a look at this..)
OneLove
:::MME:::
Reasons to Worry
I scanned through a United Nations report which was published today by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. It states that we're (humanity) close to breaching the sustainability of Earth, and in dire need of a technological revolution (& a prayer) if we are to avoid a "major planetary catastrophe”. This is some heavy stuff..
OneLove
:::MME:::
Poet's Nook: "The Term" by William Carlos Williams
A rumpled sheet
Of brown paper
About the length
And apparent bulk
Of a man was
Rolling with the
Wind slowly over
And over in
The street as
A car drove down
Upon it and
Crushed it to
The ground. Unlike
A man it rose
Again rolling
With the wind over
And over to be as
It was before.
One can detect several shades of meaning in this poem. In light of the very troubling times we're living in presently, with more and more people becoming destitute, homeless, hungry & bereft of hope, our lives, like wind-tossed, rumpled sheets of paper, can be viewed as forever shadowed by material & mortal annihilation; but unlike paper that can be crushed to the ground & still rise as before, we 're constituted differently. Our physical annihilation is final--there is no returning, hence the title of the poem--"The term"(our mortal existence is for an unspecified term). What is pretty remarkable to me is the fact that when William Carlos Williams wrote this piece in the 1930's, he coined the expression The Term to describe a literary movement in poetry where poems could be stretched out in any given way & anyone can take from them what they will. There are no boundaries. So, this poem can also be about the nature of poetry itself! It's a beautiful thing!
OneLove
:::MME:::
.
Jul 4, 2011
The Flag
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| Frederick Douglass |
I’ve always had a problem with nationalism. From my childhood to the present day, pledges of allegiance, corny anthems & an implied notion that one’s nation is singled out for the blessings of God, seem(s/ed) a little foolish. As a child, I often defied the norm of putting my hand to my chest to face the flag in a display of devotion. I did not understand the reason for it, especially when I saw first-hand the poverty and squalor of communities not too far from where I grew up. As an adult, this same defiance still blazes within; only now it is more informed.
Granted, many hearts are filled with the contradictions of nationalism even while openly displaying a devotion to a flag or singing a goofy anthem. If one were to take the time to face these contradictions & seriously consider the socially-conditioned posturings, one will realize the chilling darkness - mass murder along with racism & religious intolerance – that has always undergirded nationalistic pride in powerful countries. These socially and politically-crafted ways of thinking - quite simply an indoctrination from childhood to adulthood- has always been a useful device for the powerful.
I’ve always maintained that human beings do not handle power nobly. We tend to cave into our shadow that sways us to & fro (there are exceptions, of course). This is especially the case for inhabitants in powerful nations like the United States. National pride has become national arrogance that has already steam-rolled countless not only domestically, but internationally as well. As Chris Matthews stated in an editorial segment on his show the other night, American exceptionalism is real & should be respected. This exception in the world - uniquely moral and steam-rolling on other nations in the name of humanitarianism, liberty, democracy…and…EGAD!...civilization, is swallowed whole by a huge segment of the population. It was/is always supposedly for benign purposes that we invade other lands (boldly stating that it’s other peoples resources which we desire is a PR no-no) .
Deception and self-deception start early. Our deep-seated myths about ourselves & our world deserve more scrutiny. Here are a few historical mythologies that are part of the American experience:
- When the first English settlers moved into Native American land in Massachusetts Bay and were resisted, the violence escalated into war with the Pequot Indians. The killing of Indians was seen as approved by God, the taking of land as commanded by the Bible. The Puritans cited one of the Psalms, which says: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession."
- On the eve of the Mexican War, an American journalist declared it our "Manifest Destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence." After the invasion of Mexico began, The New York Herald announced: "We believe it is a part of our destiny to civilize that beautiful country."
- The US invaded Cuba in 1898 to liberate the Cubans, and went to war in the Philippines shortly after, as President McKinley put it, "to civilize and Christianize" the Filipino people.
- As US forces were committing massacres in the Philippines (at least 600,000 Filipinos died in a few years of conflict), Elihu Root, our Secretary of War, stated: "The American soldier is different from all other soldiers of all other countries since the war began. He is the advance guard of liberty and justice, of law and order, and of peace and happiness."
I can go on and on, but you get the point. One of the saddest effects of nationalist thinking is a loss of a sense of reality & proportion. The killing of 2,300 people at Pearl Harbor becomes the justification for killing 240,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The killing of 3,000 people on Sept. 11 becomes the justification for killing tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq. One report has the estimate at 132,000 deaths.
The United States is a beautiful nation without a doubt, and there are excellent, momentous chapters in her history (Declaration of Independence from the savagery of British rule, the Civil Rights struggles, the fight for trade unionism and recently the fight of Wisconsin workers), however, we need to abandon the notion that it is uniquely blessed by God and therefore superior to other countries. The Romans & British thought that way and now they’re in the dustbins of history.
On this 4th of July, we need to assert our allegiance to the human family and to our dying planet, and not to any one nation. To do otherwise is hazardous, and if you look around, we’re already suffering from the high cost of our foolishness.
OneLove
:::MME:::
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