Military junta forces in Bamako, the capital of Mali. (Photo: Stringer / REUTERS )
MEET AMADOU SANOGO, FRUIT OF THE TREE OF UNITED STATES AFRICA COMMAND “TRAINING.”
(Black Agenda Report)
Sanogo was a Captain in the African country of Mali when he led a coup to overthrow the government. As he continues to rule while suppressing a vicious counter-coup, it is noted that Ganogo was one of a myriad of African soldiers educated in an AFRICOM military leadership program whose curriculum includes the teaching about “U.S. professional military organizations and procedures and the manner in which military organizations function under civilian control.” Lesson well taken!
`
OSAMA BIN LADEN IS STILL “ALIVE” A YEAR AFTER HIS (LATEST) DEATH OR YEARS AFTER HIS (FIRST) DEATH.
(Counterpunch)
So notes Patrick Cockburn, who notes the recurring acts of violence throughout the Arab world as in the current turmoil in Syria. Al Queda is described as a creature that is nourished in the heat of battle, and the recurring sectarian and power-grab conflicts throughout the region furnish numerous opportunities for people to obtain the martyrdom which they crave as part of their religious zeal. In Syria, the government blames the opposition for AQ acts of terror, while the oppositions blame the government for fomenting supposed AG terrorist acts to justify their suppressive actions. Both parties could well be right.
`
THE DEVASTATINGLY HIGH COST OF A GOVERNMENT SHUT-DOWN.
(Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
People of Minnesota are learning all about this, as road and other construction work scheduled for last summer was delayed for a year and now state and local governments are finding that they must pay contractors for these projects twice what they would have had to pay a year ago.
`
“WITHOUT THE LOVE OF MY PARENTS, BOYFRIEND AND GOD, I COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT.” TRY SAYING THAT IN NAVAJO.
(Indian Country Today)
The recipient of an award for Miss Teen Navajo “wows” the crowd at the acceptance ceremony by addressing them in fluent Navajo. As with other native American languages, this one is seldom spoken by Navajo people, a situation that organizers of the pageant are trying to change by making Navajo fluency a criterion of “Miss” competition.
`
CRIME IN ORLANDO: IS IT UP OR IS IT DOWN?
(Orlando Sentinel)
This question assumed political significance in the recent election in which Mayor Buddy Dyer was re-elected. A major campaign assertion was that crime had become less prevalent under his leadership, but latest crime statistics report show Orlando as having not only the highest crime rates of any Florida cities, but a rate that rose during 2011. His campaign opponents castigate him for “dishonesty” about the matter, but Dyer responds that that 2011 rates are but an expectable “uptick” from four years of declining rates. The cross-city comparisons are also seen as unfair to Orlando since it has so many tourist visitors who are not counted in the population against which crime rates are compared. Dyer insists that Orlando is a city where you can go anywhere and you don’t ”have to worry, unless you’re involved in drugs or prostitution or up to no good.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Quote of the day…
Election after election, the Democratic Party mobilizes its progressive base by stoking fears of the wacko-right. And like Pavlov’s dogs, the base pulls out all the stops to support well-groomed, corporate-friendly lawyer-candidates who promise, but never deliver. And now—over thirty years after Reagan—the incumbent Democratic Party President is on record as enthusiastically expressing his admiration for Ronald Reagan, the demon who stoked the great fear of the ultra-right. A bitter irony, but an irony lost on a new generation of leftists and progressives who hold their nose and work hard for a Democratic Party victory.
Zoltan Zigedy, on the “silly season” known as a U.S. presidential election.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Do you receive the daily headlines in the form of an early-morning e-mail? If you don’t and you would like to receive them, just send a note to sunstateactivist2@yahoo.com and you’ll be enrolled in the “Progressive breakfast club.”
Uncle Sam just can’t seem to keep his hands to himself. The world’s troubles and tribulations all are stained by America’s bloody fingerprints.
It’s important to remember that we live a life of relative luxury and peace here in the US. Of course, there are scattered events which upset that peace, but for the most part, we are in pretty good shape.
Juxtapose that with the absolute chaos and pain much of the 3rd world faces every sunrise and you can see where we being the worlds police force is a recipe for disaster and even fruther chaos. When the country (or region) in question has been in flux for decades, only our arrogance and financial greed keep us engaged in that region.
We can’t hide our heads in the sand, but we also cannot be so proud as to expect we alone are the worlds arbiters of peace and prosperity.