be just

blackagendareport.com - White Privilege, White Progressives and the Audacity of Obama’s Definition of Hope : "Corporate media idiots regularly ask the question: 'Who would America elect first for President, a woman or someone who is Black?' History has already answered. Sixteen white women currently serve in the U.S. Senate, versus one lone Black, and 'thirty white women have served as state governors compared to two Black men since Reconstruction.' Every indicator shows white women are 'the second most privileged category of human in the US.' White America poses questions that history has already resolved, while seeking absolution (through Barack Obama) for past and present injustices that many deny occurred. The real question raised amidst the din of unreality is: 'Are white liberals and progressives truly committed to social and racial justice?'"

blackagendareport.com - The Black Church and the Hollowing Out of Black Politics : "Much of what passes for Black leadership no longer represents African American political interests or opinion, having broken from their progressive mass moorings under the lure of corporate money and “faith-based” government bribes. Black politicians dance to the tunes of Big Business campaign contributors, while many Black preachers “ape the undemocratic and bigoted worst” of their white Christian counterparts. The ambitions of both the secular and religious hustlers converge in Memphis Tennessee, where Black preachers fan the flames of homophobia to elect their chosen candidate, and in Georgia, where an elected Black county executive is poised to run for Cynthia McKinney’s old seat in Congress with the help of real estate interests and money-grubbing mega-preachers, thus threatening to push the Congressional Black Caucus further to the Right. The Black Georgia incumbent congressman’s crime: he’s ...

How the Pentagon Planted a False Story - by Gareth Porter : "The release reported that the Iranian 'small boats' had 'maneuvered aggressively in close proximity of [sic] the Hopper [the lead ship of the three-ship convoy].' But it did not suggest that the Iranian boats had threatened the boats or that it had nearly resulted in firing on the Iranian boats. On the contrary, the release made the U.S. warships handling of the incident sound almost routine. 'Following standard procedures,' the release said, 'Hopper issued warnings, attempted to establish communications with the small boats, and conducted evasive maneuvering.' The release did not refer to a U.S. ship being close to firing on the Iranian boats, or to a call threatening that U.S. ships would 'explode in a few minutes,' as later stories would report, or to the dropping of objects into the path of a U.S. ship as a potential danger. That press release was ignored by the news media, how...

Pollsters and Puppets -- In These Times Imagine what this Democratic presidential primary would look like had Clinton not pandered to public opinion (as misinterpreted by Democracy Corps), and had instead spoken out against Bush’s warmongering. Imagine if Clinton, like then-state senator Barack Obama, had addressed antiwar rallies. While some pundits downplay the war’s role, it is clear Clinton’s hawkishness opened the door for opponents like the senator from Illinois. If Clinton—and Kerry and former Sen.John Edwards and the 26 other Democratic Senators who endorsed Bush’s war—had led rather than followed, the national media would have been forced to view the war as a Republican adventure (rather than a bipartisan crusade for democracy and against weapons of mass destruction). If there had been a meaningful opposition in Washington, rather than a clique of fearful, poll-driven opportunists, it is possible that this entire Iraq catastrophe could have been averted.