Mayor Menos

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The other day i was reading about

a proposal to remodel our trains

without seats, in order to make room

for the massive inpouring of straphangers

converted from the pump



Took that one day for them
to tap at their ass
and find their wallet gone

I might've mumbled out loud



Then as i lifted the page to turn

slick off my thumb on my tongue

an old headline i remember seeing

tagged across the dailies of Bloomberg's

first mayoral campaign recurred to me



Assuming he's kept his word
by commuting via subway to work,
i wonder how he holds on
the way he keeps his hands in his pockets



-Tone.Are
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YES WE CAN

*
Months back i wrote a blog posting entitled "How Barack Obama's Presidency Will Transform The United States Of America". ((Link below))
http://toneare.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-barak-obamas-presidency-will.html
To sum it up, i basically spoke about how an Obama Presidency would result in a 4 if not 8 year dialogue on race in this country. I did not go out on the limb to state whether it would be for better or worse; that remains to be seen. In terms of dialogue though i've already got a couple of anecdotes relating the issue; some instances which have triggered wonder/assumption for myself or those around me concerning the issue.

--On November 4th my co-worker and i were on our way home from a special election day event with our youth. She always stops into this Indian Food restaurant, and it has been apparent in the past that the woman at the counter carries some kind of chip for my homegirl; rushes her, responds to simple questions rather aggressively, avoids eye contact... you know.. some of the things that would have you ask: is your friend black? (yes she is black). Anywayzzz. So we walk into this place, on election day, and the woman behind the counter was EXTRA nice. I mean like, big smile, what else can i help you with, folding the paper bag over then stretching her humble neck over the glass counter as she handed her change back. (I almost feel like sensationalizing a bit and saying she put her hands together prayer style.. but that didn't happen. Looked like that was where she was going though). So in MY MIND, recognizing this, i thought "Wow, this is strange. They must be finally realizing my friend brings them consistant business. They are coming around." What brewed on my friends mind was different. As we moved on a hot step fwrd she expressed a different read on the situation: "You seen that right? All of a sudden the country is going to have a Black President and she wanna treat black people all nice now." lol. I did laugh because though i hadn't thought that, it kind of made sense. Now remember, this is not a white woman behind the counter; she was Indian. Still, there was a total 180 in her attitude within like 5 days!

--This morning my sister friend and i were traveling to our site in Brooklyn. When we got there (BCAM High School), we approached the security guard with ID's out. The security guard (a Black Woman), told that same friend of mine to go on in, acknowledging "You don't have to sign in, you're here for the workshops". But she takes my card. haha. So my friend responds in my favor: "So does he." I didn't take it any resentful way, i just kind of was struck for a moment because we always enter the building together. The woman has seen me there weekly since the beginning of October. I still believe she had a simple brain fart about it, but i couldn't help flip it on my friend in jest when we got to the top of the stairs: "Oh we elect a Black Man and all of a sudden the light skinded folk gotta wait on the long line." haha



These are just two examples of how having a black president will influence our prejudices. We have never experienced this before. No doubt as he goes on doing as i predicted (making some decent and not so decent decisions/ as any other president would), our preconceived notions will fade and for most, Barack Obama; Black President will become Barack Obama; President. Unfortunatelly there are those whom have no doubt put a block up.. and will resist the healing our society needs. Unfortunatelly there are those whom have the smokes and mirrors up and will keep them up, riding their pride so high, it becomes easy to overlook that which deteriorates beneath our soles. And then there are those whom wish 4 years of hell as some sort of punishment for their peers electing a Black man!


I say God Bless us because right now we are a schizophrenic people, psychologically. Barack's fellow black brothers/sisters of America and the globe will pray he does not slip, and yet changes must be made, if you are Black you know this intuitively, so while you want him to be able to succeed you also have hope that he will go a bit above, a bit beyond towards making a better life more accessible. This becomes tricky and has for as long as this country existed, been a conflict. How to expand and stay close to the people simultaneously. Practically EVERY notable black public figure whom has lived a lifetime taking such risks has (in the eye of the black majority) either gone a bit too far to the left, thus generating a fear of 'backlash' against them all... or in his own interest conformed a bit too much with the right to continue serving in their favor (sell-out). Yea, eventually history vindicates these leaders, but during the time of their prowess they are a source of great insecurity. Though it may be hard to imagine at this point in time, even Martin Luther King while he was doing what he was doing, had many crossing their fingers, and at the height of his dissent, within many a black home, even drew murmurs pleading that he quit making trouble already! Not because they weren't in support of the man's ideas, but because they feared. They struggled with whether to accept what steps they'd made and cut the losses, or to continue on and risk Marshall Law clobbering down on them.

This has been an interesting ride because there are so many assumptions going around that reality itself has to a great degree been skewed. There is this fog after the war. And we are still waiting for the dust to settle to see what is really going on. Racism, Sexism, Capitalism, Socialism, terrorism (including state sponsored terrorism: Obama in fact did bring to issue the Right Wing supported assassinations of Union Leaders in Colombia)... these are all issues that have never been thrown on the table with such polarity. The conversation is OPEN folks! And then we have the people or in this case the dog, to those issues: the tale. We are wagging at the fukking senses!
-To my right are people who think Obama is the most liberal man on the face of the planet and will put a hammer and sickle on the red white and blue.
-To my left are people who believe Obama is not only the same old politics, but 10 times more dangerous because if he indeed does carry on the same old agenda, he is capable of garnering support in the blind faith of a newly 'politicized' demographic numbering the millions!
I have had numerous conversations with folks who do not vote for various reasons which all equate to= they do not believe in the system! While i respect their view and at times have wrestled with the idea of voting myself (i mean hey... my first two elections were losses to W!) i contend that in my notion of an ideal political system i would be voting reguardless! Therefore i am committing myself to the culture of democracy as i imagine it in its most effective form. With that i recognize that because we the people do not have the power, and have worked ourselves into a state of dependance on these dreams salesmen, voting must be supplimented with a culture of dialogue around power, rights, and initiative. Along with dialogue must be a commitment to action. To strategy and action around attaining what we need to survive, self-sustain, and even build upon our condition to live comfortably.


As a citizen amongst the common people of this nation i am looking forward to taking it upon myself to do what is in my capacity to contribute to change. I am in solidarity with the struggling Black Masses; i am in solidarity with the struggling Latino Masses; i am in solidarity with the struggling White Masses and Asian Masses. We are at a disadvantage if we do not PRACTICE democracy as a way of living... if we do not PRACTICE service to one another; sharing power and compromising differences, while staying true to our objective: getting things done. Things can only get done if we work together! But more simply, they will only get done if we work! Government may provide some new opportunities to access resources and space, or they may every once in awhile put a check in our pockets, but if we dont organize a voice to serve as a checks and balances, what interest is it to them to serve us? That's me speaking in a very stern, oppressive voice, but i'm just being real with you. Because Barak Obama will have MANY people knocking on his door for this and for that.

-- He will have big companies proposing backroom deals to build stadiums that will replace park land or small businesses in your community... and if you are not there to stand in the way, he is going to take their little kick back and grant them permission.

-- He will have Real Estate Developers knocking on his door asking if he can privatize the projects, and build condos in your neighborhood, while eliminating affordable housing laws, and if you are not standing in the way you will either wind up moving out of state or paying double what you do now for living in a neighborhood you mightve been raised in your whole life, yet has a higher cost of living since wall street moved in with its nannys and bitch ass dogs. Why not take their little kick backs? It's not like you're there to challenge him!

-- He will put education money into vouchers which will allow a select few in each school the funds to transfer to/enroll in a private school, RATHER THAN, using that same money to hire better teachers at the schools your children are already in; and for the benefit of a few, the many will suffer!


I am proud that we are electing Barack Obama and i trust him to a certain degree. He has the roots of a community organizer so while i sit here telling you that in our communities we need to be meeting consistantly to speak about and confront such issues as Domestic Abuse, Police Brutality, Gentrification, Economic Exploitation in zoning policies, etc... while i tell you this is the only way to take it upon ourselves to secure stability and progress in our communities, i have some kind of faith that Obama was more than an opportunist whom simply breezed through the South Side of Chicago for some kind of credibility. At the same time i google everything/ i study... and seeing whom he has surrounded himself with in his cabinet, i know not to depend on him alone to change anything! In fact we may even soon find that he isn't REALLY one of us! Joe Biden was one of the biggest names in the Credit industry; an industry that just lost its arm and the left side of its chest_and he will have some sort of influence over our economy.. Rahm Emmanuel is one of the top Israeli lobbyists in this country, so dont even think you can begin to imagine an end to war in the middle east.

The Civil Rights Movement in America has been a GIANT influence on my political and social views. I left Journalism school to study African and Puerto Rican Studies with a minor in Urban Studies. Students of Black History in America criticize the theory of a 'Black Messiah', one person whom will come along to save us all. There was Martin Luther King whom was murdered, and since, the people have looked for 'the next'. This has been counter progressive. No ONE individual can truelly make change! Even Martin Luther King himself didn't put himself on some national pedestal. Hidden is the history of GREAT organizing that took place in churches and community centers, and living rooms, before MLK was anybody. Planning protests, planning newsletters and radio addresses, good samaritan car rides for the bus strike. There were children, women and men, and elders.(watch the documentary "Eyes on the Prize") All MLK did at first was wait for call to come and speak at events. Eventually though he did rise up to become the leader of the movement because noone else could get the message across better. Still, it was a movement. So it will depend on US to, YES, support this man by willing to vote him in. But it is on us to now stay together. He organized us for the vote. We must now remain one, in order to see him through his 4 years, that he serves our interests. That he signs the blank check. And everytime he fronts he needs to be checked on that. THAT IS.. if it is more important that he ACTUALLY help change things, than it is that he sit there for four years so that they can paint him onto the back cover of our childrens hard cover history books.
If there are two things i can say that go hand in hand in moving us forward it is
1) that Barack Obama has made us promises, and been clear on where he stands with us and where he compromises us/ stands against us.
2) that he has contunually reminded us that it is UP TO US! that it is ABOUT US!


Let's hold him to his word and make sure
that he is willing to *help see this change through!
That we are apart of the decision making processes...
That we assess our problems, get them out in the open,
and create some demands so that OUR TAXES go towards
fixing OUR PROBLEMS!



YES WE CAN!

My Pride Has Hosted the Liberty Dash

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Triumph, touched my gut i conceive
it was gritting it's teeth
as my feet began picking up speed

Guess i'd describe it as liberating

being the humble thief whom split
from work with the chords in my wrists
secure on my fists as hampster cheeks

hustling to beat a tear to the subway
where i could relieve the garbage
bags of abandoned gear

to sell at the flea market sunday
for pampers and beer

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ToneAre
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Back*Lash

Scenerios you may_or_may not have imagined
on November 5th, 2008:

Possible result of an Obama victory:
- Hundreds/ possibly thousands of military personel (conservative and/or white) refuse to serve under him.
- Thousands/ possibly millions of citizens (conservative and/or white)refuse to ENLIST
- (On the flip side perhaps) Thousands/ possibly millions of citizens decide TO enlist with a restored faith in the system *especially young Black men and women

- Small angry mobs in the 'deep south' and isolated pockets in northern suburbs take to the streets to taunt, terrorize, assault, and in cases even murder Blacks.
- A select breed of sore civil servants in public agencies including hospitals, schools, etc. react by invalidating the victory; surpressing the high spirits of the people they serve. (we call these haters)
- Obama Victory celebrations light up homes across the nation.
- Millions come to tears over this moment in history (*especially folks whove lived through the civil rights era)
- Obama is assassinated

- A wave of disinvestment brings the stock market down even more
- (on the flip side perhaps) A wave of INvestments, from fresh progressive capitalists -nationally and internationally- creates a surge
- Al Quida releases a video saying they don't give a shit about who we've elected!
- World Leaders voice their satisfaction and congrats to Obama

- The Republican Party makes its last pitches, contesting the election before disappearing into obscurity for some time.
- (Or on the flip side) John McCain refuses to contest, immediately vowing to continue serving in govnt under Obama respectfully, and is disowned by the rest of the Republican party.


Possible results of a McCain victory:
- Protesters take to the streets suspecting a stolen election.
- lawsuits commence against states where voter disenfranchisement is charged.
- Small pockets of violence and destruction of property in cities.
- Universities hold intense demonstrations (may even result in the closing of some schools for the days that follow)

- Stock market falls all the more because of disinvestment by native as well as international capitalists whom have lost trust in the prevailing system under McCain.
- World Leaders release statments urging a McCain administration to be more open to diplomacy than was the reality under Bush.

- Democratic party contests the election with Obama at its forefront.
- (Or on the flip side) Obama vows to sponsor an investigation, yet cedes the election to McCain.

How to Survive

.
still showing the them-we how to survive
imperials bringing a language
weaved in the picture
that tells of how we-them
aquainted with bogus scripture
shaking on beads like orishas
how i'm still alive...

Now Iraq consumes a turkey november


still showing the them-we how to survive
imperials bringing a language
weaved in the big picture
that tells of how we-them
rooted in seminoles skins
playing to get a head on the wall
how i'm still alive...

appropriated dreams of a turban'd mascot
cheer The Sadr City Shiia for an Iraqi boy


Soldiers are going to feast holidays
and toss the ball around
protesters'll show up to the square
in a shemagh's new reichous celebrity


still showing them-we how to survive
imperials bringing a language
weaved in the picture
that tells of how we-them
learned on the tongue coded white with
which, we whip ourselves just as well


how i'm still alive...

May they never let a nose down
on their calligraphic thank you's
.
-ToneAre

Rolling Stone interview with RFK Jr. about possibility of a Stolen Election!!!

ROLLING STONE: IT'S ALREADY STOLEN


Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast released today



Don't worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an
investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program
of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale.

- Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged
one in six names from their voter rolls.

Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by
Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average
state's rate of removal.

- While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more
then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures
signed into law by George Bush.

Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow'
tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters.

- A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party,
Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as
"fraudulent."

- Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that,
in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging" ultimately took away the rights of 1.1
million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be
far worse. There's more:

- Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management'
rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls."

Among those was Paul Maez of Las Vegas, New Mexico - a victim of an unreported
but devastating purge of voters in that state that left as many as one in nine
Democrats without a vote. For Maez, the state's purging his registration was
particularly shocking - he's the county elections supervisor.

The Kennedy-Palast revelations go far beyond the sum of questionably purged
voters recently reported by the NYTimes.

"Republican operatives - the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics,"
under the cover of fighting fraudulent voting, are "systematically
disenfranchis[ing] Democrats."

"If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat McCain at
the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote
tampering."

Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast in the current issue
(#1064) of Rolling Stone. [Media enquiries - Dave Falkenstein, Sunshine Sachs &
Assoc, via interviews@gregpalast.com.]

Note - Kennedy and Palast are releasing, simultaneously with the Rolling Stone
investigative report what they call, the vote-theft 'antidote': a 24-page
full-color comic book, Steal Back Your Vote, which can be downloaded or
obtained in print from their non-partisan website, StealBackYourVote.org







Interview about Vote Theft


BuzzFlash: You have been investigating the coordinated and vigorous GOP effort
to suppress and steal votes since the theft of the election in 2000. You and
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just did a BBC Documentary on what nefarious voter
suppression tactics the Republicans have in store for us in 2008. Can you
summarize some of the methods that the GOP are using to disenfranchise
non-Republican voters prior to the election, to prevent them from voting during
the election, and to keep their votes from being counted after the polls close?


Greg Palast: It's ugly. Consider: - In the swing state of Colorado, we found
that the Republican Secretary of State wiped out 19.4% - one in five - voter
names in an unnoticed mass purge. - In swing-state New Mexico, in the February
caucus, one in nine Democrats found their names missing from the voter rolls
supplied by the State. The elections supervisor of San Miguel County - whose
own name was missing from the rolls - has no confidence the state contractors
will fix it. Our statistical analysis showed there was a direct relationship
between your name and your race and income. The poor and the dark were
disappeared. - In Indiana, you heard about 10 nuns who lost their vote because
their ID - drivers' licenses - had expired (they were all over eighty). But
what about the others? We've calculated that 143,000 others were turned away -
disproportionately Blacks and new voters. And so on and so on.

BuzzFlash: BuzzFlash has been covering one public relations effort by the
Republican National Committee to create a false context for claiming voter
fraud. In short, they have been attacking a national community organizing group
called ACORN with news releases, lawsuits, surrogate assaults, etc., falsely
claiming (as they did in 2004 and 2006) that ACORN is engaged in the massive
illegal registration of primarily minority voters. Can you explain the
significance of the ACORN slander by the RNC?

Greg Palast: As RFK and I report, there are only about SIX voters found guilty
of federal voting fraud in a year. SiX! Out of 178 million registered voters.
So the GOP (and Fox and CNN) are running stories about ACORN signing up
zillions of illegal voters. Yep, there are a handful of phony names - but 'Mary
Poppins' has never shown up to vote. However, the Republican cry of 'Vote
Fraud!' has become the cover for purges and challenges to legal voters by the
millions. I even tracked down and filmed some of these so-called fraudulent
voters handed me from a GOP list. Every one was a legal voter. Tell us a bit
about the site and downloadable comic book that you launched with Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. on how to prevent the theft of millions of votes by the
Republicans, yet again in 2008. The website is:
http://www.stealbackyourvote.org.

Greg Palast: Our Rolling Stone report that's out this week is all about how
they've stolen so many legitimate votes. The comic book, which includes the
Rolling Stone findings also includes the SEVEN WAYS TO STEAL IT BACK. And the
whole thing is illustrated brilliantly by comic crazies Ted Rall, Lukas Ketner
and Troubletown's Lloyd Dangle. I loved doing it. You can download the whole
comic book for a penny or more (donate more please) at StealBackYourVote.org.
And better yet, you can order bunches of the comic book there as well (and see
the short movies). Cool eh?

BuzzFlash: Can you briefly explain the role of ProsecutorGate at the DOJ in
efforts to suppress the Democratic vote in 2006? How did this fit in with Karl
Rove's grand voter suppression and theft plan?

Greg Palast: You betcha! Fired prosecutor David Iglesias told us something
astonishing: He said that he was fired because he refused to arrest innocent
citizens for voter fraud that didn't happen. That's obstruction of justice. It
was all about creating a hysteria over fraudulent voters that didn't exist.
This is what Iglesias basically said: "They wanted some splashy pre-election
indictments [Rove and the RNC] that would scare these alleged hordes of illegal
voters away." Only the voters were legal.

BuzzFlash: Isn't there one bright spot? You cut your teeth on GOP voter
disenfranchisement with brilliant reporting on how the Bush campaign team, Jeb
Bush, and Katherine Harris prevented tens of thousands of valid minority voters
from voting through a scheme to use an outside vendor, ChoicePoint, to create
an inaccurate list of felons who could not vote in 2000 in Florida. Hasn't the
current GOP governor, Charlie Crist, had the right to vote of ex-felons
restored?

Greg Palast: Crist is a duplicitous phony. On the one hand, he pretends they'll
let ex-cons vote as in almost every state. On the other hand less than a
handful of the half million ex-cons in the state have been able to get through
the insane rigamarole required to actually register. In most states ex-cons can
vote like anyone else.

BuzzFlash: As a follow up, from a practical matter, don't the Republicans have
to be within a certain striking distance to steal the election. If Obama keeps
trending up, or ends up with a double-digit popular vote victory, how could the
GOP steal the election? After all, if Nader weren't on the ballot in Florida
– despite all the nefarious Republican voter suppression and theft – Al
Gore would be president, right?

Greg Palast: That's what RFK and I say: you can't steal ALL the votes ALL the
time.

BuzzFlash: What can anyone do to halt another theft of the White House?

Greg Palast: Go to STEALBACKYOURVOTE.ORG. Get the comic book. Now was that so
difficult?*

BuzzFlash: For 8 years, you've been covering this issue. Some others have
joined you over time and it's a bit of a movement, albeit still relatively
small. But, as in 2000, not much has changed with the corporate media. They are
still pretty much ignoring the clear evidence of a coordinated GOP effort to
keep non-Republicans from voting and to steal votes wherever they can. Is there
any reason to think that they might awaken to their journalistic responsibility
to report on the mugging of democracy?

Greg Palast: Zero. That's why we have BuzzFlash. Bless you. [*In brief, Palast
advises voters to vote early; do not mail in your ballot; check on your
registration in advance to make sure there is not a glitch; don't vote a
provisional ballot; volunteer on election day; go to the polls with someone for
mutual support; and use the resources that you can get at
stealbackyourvote.org.]

The War Report

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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,273,378"

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

===

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq 4,186

http://icasualties.org/oif/

===

The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$564,120,535,129

See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

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