Saturday, January 14, 2006

Another Angle 14 - January - 2006



ANOTHER ANGLE
News others would keep from you




NATIONAL:



Should Black People Leave America?
In light of all that has happened to Black people in this country, in addition to what is occurring now in the new millennium, should Black people seriously consider leaving America? We have been here since the beginning, contributed more than anyone else to the foundational wealth of this country, sacrificed more than anyone else for this country, and yet we are still treated like the “three-fifths” they called us when they wrote their Constitution. Should we now walk away?



More Stories Rolling In About Levees Being Blown In New Orleans
More information and stories are rolling in, ignored by the media and scoffed at by conservative radio hosts, suggesting U.S. government operatives purposely detonated and blew the New Orleans levees to racially cleanse the city making way for a huge land grab by rich developers. Since the levees gave-way well after Hurricane Katrina passed over the Crescent City, major media outlets have ignored numerous eye witness accounts.



Standing With Dr. King in Memphis
"You just really can't describe it. He stopped everything, put everything aside to come to Memphis to see about the people on the bottom of the ladder, the sanitation workers. After his death, we marched. You couldn't hear a sound. You couldn't hear nothin' but leather against pavement."



INTERNATIONAL:



U.S. Bombs Pakistan
This incident is yet another evidence that Musharraf has made Pakistan a big loser after September 11 with the misconception that it had no option except bending backwards to the US demands.



Spain defies US on Venezuela
Earlier this week, Venezuela accused Washington of blocking the purchase of training jets from Brazil, because the planes contained protected US technology. The aircraft will be made with more expensive European parts because the US has blocked the use of its technology for Venezuela.


Sudan says Western forces in Darfur unwelcome
Sudan on Friday rejected a suggestion by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the United States and Europe help set up a possible mobile force in Darfur to supplement African troops now on the ground.



A proud nation surrounded by nuclear states
Iran is an ancient and proud nation and reacts badly to being treated as a pariah state. It can see how Pakistan's prestige was enhanced in the Islamic world when a Pakistani scientist developed the first Islamic bomb. Iran could do the same for Shia Islam.

I had an Iranian roomate in college. That was a while back, and much has changed there. But one constant is, they remember what our government did to them. And they will never let it happen again.



China map lays claim to Americas
A map due to be unveiled in Beijing and London next week may lend weight to a theory a Chinese admiral discovered America before Christopher Columbus. The map, which shows North and South America, apparently states that it is a 1763 copy of another map made in 1418. If true, it could imply Chinese mariners discovered and mapped America decades before Columbus' 1492 arrival.

I still see one problem. How could anyone DISCOVER land that already had people living on it?



ECONOMY:



Iran sanctions may cause $100 oil barrels
In response to the looming threat, crude futures soared to three-month highs yesterday after Britain, France and Germany called for Iran to be hauled before the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions for resumption of work at the country's nuclear facilities.

Just a thought here. For the last few days we have been seeing stories about how gas prices would be going up in the near future. Now we have this one.

Let's connect some dots.

We have a situation domestically where "The Family" is under intense scrutiny and pressure. What better way to divert attention for awhile than to artificially create market pressures that will make people look the other way.




REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Melvin Van Peebles: The MVP of Black Cinema
Van Peebles, like hiphop, doesn't know the meaning of stop. He's never stopped working multiple hustles on multiple fronts. Some boomers will recall that after Sweet back he had two Tony-nominated Broadway musicals, that he took screenwriting credit for Richard Pryor's Greased Lightning, that in the '90s he reinvented himself as the first Black floor trader in history at the American Stock Exchange, and that he adapted the script for his son Mario's Panther from his own novel.