Weekend News

Paul Ryan is Paul Ryan. It is what it is. Yet, nothing will change unless folks address the Federal Reserve and QE period. If folks will not address Wall Street corruption and the inequalities in our current economy system, then poverty will continue to exist in an extraordinary rate. Paul Ryan advocates massive cuts to necessary services (like unemployment benefits) during an economy that is sluggish is disastrous to say the least. Massive, unwarranted austerity during economic uncertainly is pure extremism. There is no other way to describe Ryan's budgetary agenda. If Paul Ryan was serious about fighting poverty, he would call for emergency measures to address this problem like ending the war on terror, establishing sound money, going out and increasing the minimum wage fairly, and issuing a guaranteed annual income for Americans. Other things can be done to by ending corporate welfare and investing in our infrastructure too. U.S. Representative Paul Ryan is the Republican from Wisconsin. His plan is called “Path to Prosperity.” He wants to cut spending by $5.1 trillion over 10 years. He desires a voucher plan in Medicare, which is the government health insurance program for seniors including the disabled. This is a privatization of Medicare. Since Medicare was created in 1965, the ruling elite wanted to privatize it. Both major parties are involved in the economic slump triggered by the 2008 Wall Street crash. The austerity agenda involve cutting vital social programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps. The proposal doesn’t have a real impact on spending during the fiscal year that starts on October 1, 2014. The overall pending for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 was set in a bipartisan agreement last December. Instead, the dueling plans set the tone for the two parties in the upcoming mid-term Congressional elections. Under Ryan’s plan, Americans who turn 65 on or after January 1, 2024 would be provided “premium support” by the government, essentially a voucher, to purchase either private insurance or a traditional Medicare plan. According to analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), those choosing Medicare would find fewer doctor choices and narrower provider networks, and less medical costs would be covered. Beginning in 2024, the age of eligibility for Medicare would also begin to rise, while the fee-for-service structure (aimed at slashing reimbursements to hospitals) would be “modernized.” The reactionary opponents of the ACA are wrong that the ACA is equivalent to socialized medicine. The key provision of the ACA, the “individual mandate,” requires individuals and families who are not insured through their employer or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid to purchase insurance from private insurance companies or pay a penalty. Businesses, on the other hand, have been granted waiver upon waiver to the toothless “employer mandate” under the law. The working class and all people have the right to fight for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. 

The Sister Tukwini Mandela has the right to do this. I wish many blessings on the wine business. Family is an important part of human civilization. Not to mention that there are many South Africans fighting neoliberalism, poverty, and attacks on the rights of workers in South Africa. These South Africans also should be supported. Crony capitalism in South Africa ought to be opposed with vigor. Liberation from IMF domination is needed. Tons of miners in South Africa suffer horrendous working conditions. Some miners don't even visit their relatives of loved ones except during once or twice a year. That situation ought to be addressed. The Freedom Charter decades ago outlined many legitimate concepts that real South Africans love. The memories of Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, and so many other Brothers and Sisters motivate us to carry onward. The Freedom Charter called for the nationalization of South Africa’s resources and reparations sent to people because of the theft of African land by the Europeans. The apartheid system was an abomination. Internationally, it was opposed. When Black Americans say the images of Sharpeville and Soweto, it mobilized Black Americans and others to defeat overt apartheid in South Africa. For a man like Mandela to suffer 27 years of imprisonment under an oppressive regime and come out with a smile is truly inspiring. Now, we still have challenges. South Africa has accepted IMF loans with strings attached. This and neoliberal policies have caused millions to continue to live in poverty. So, we must continue to advance the right of the poor to have a living wage. Workers need great conditions to work. Human beings need to have free health care and education. Society should be fair. People have right to protest evils, and demand justice without the fear of repercussions. South Africa and the United States suffer the same issues of poverty, violation of human rights, etc. We are in the same struggle for human liberation. Our heroes include Brothers and Sisters like Steve Biko, Ella Baker, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, and so many other brave warriors. So, black people have the right to defend our personhood and our dignity. Therefore, I will never back down from my core convictions at all. I will still believe in self-determination, human civil liberties, environmental justice, a fight against poverty (in opposing record, unfair economic inequality), and workers' rights. Nothing will change at all.

Dr. Martin Luther King was an icon. As with many people, as I have gotten older, I have gained much more respect for his economic views. He not only expressed great intellectual clarity on issues ranging from religion to international affairs. He always tied issues together in the overall themes of equality and human justice. His great “Mountaintop” speech outlines his vision in full display. Dr. King wanted the poor to receive just wages when human beings (back in Memphis during 1968) were starving to death because of starvation wages. He wanted an end to the unjust war in Vietnam War that contributed to the economic problems domestically. He desired anti-colonialism efforts to spread in the Third World including Africa as a means for imperialism including other forms of obscene oppression to be obliterated from the face of the Earth. Today, we have very high unemployment, imperialism, military conflicts, and other ills that must be opposed. One problem now is that our government is not our GOVERNMENT FOR real. It is a government infiltrated by corporate interests and central banking power structures now (central banking grows inflation and harms true public wealth). I reject massive austerity during the time of economic recession. So, if we want a real revolution of values, then we have to allow more self-determination (and allow the people to rule the government not the FED or oligarchical power structures). Dr. King’s proposals of an economic Bill of Rights, the establishment of a guaranteed annual income (as supported by late Henry George. I have studied Henry George for a while), and a redistribution of economic plus political power are things that I have no issues with at all. There have been talks about cooperatives too, which are great things as well. Wealth now has been unfairly redistributed from the poor to the rich (it is like as Dr. Martin Luther King has classified capitalism for the poor and socialism for the rich). The 1% has stolen the wealth of the people for centuries and thousands of years. Our heroic Brothers and Sisters from Dr. King to Patrice Lumumba believed in justice and freedom. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for years established great connections with African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah. Back in 1957, Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King visited Ghana to witness the historic Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah’s celebrations. Malcolm X is the human being that we all know visited Africa and wanted social and political ties between black people of the Western Hemisphere (which millions and upon millions of human beings) and the Africans who resided in Africa. The book that you have shown definitely outlined the apparent genius of Dr. Martin Luther King. By the late 1960's, he wanted a GLOBAL effort to eradicate poverty and create social justice for all of humanity. This has been fundamentally shown in Dr. King's Massey lectures. Now, as black people we are still fighting the nefarious agenda of the OPPRESSOR. We are in solidarity with any oppressed people's right to adhere to revolutionary change. That means that we advocate universal health care, strong education, jobs, a living wage, and other blessings that others take for granted. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was definitely in favor of the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial movements of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and other locations globally. It is obvious that another link between Malcolm X, Dr. King, and so many other Brothers and Sisters were their INTERNATIONAL philosophical mindsets (In other words, we are not totally free unless oppressed peoples globally are free. When we have concern for those globally, we express the exquisite concern for our own well-being. We promote common values and we respect our common humanity as Brothers and Sisters). Making the 1% accountable for its evils is just about advancing righteousness. 

Ben Carson is honest in his delusion. I will give him that. He is brilliant in medical subjects and neurosurgery, which should inspire others to strive for excellence in their lives. Yet, people have the right to express dissent with many of his political views. As I am getting older, I see more of the truth now. He should not compare Trayvon Martin with Condoleezza Rice involving their controversies. Trayvon Martin was killed at an early age before reaching his total human potential. Condoleezza Rice is still alive and she has great intelligence mixed with her errors from a political standpoint. Rice has extremely thick skin to handle protests while Trayvon can never live his life at all now. Condoleezza Rice should be treated with dignity and with respect, but she has allied with the interests of U.S./Western imperialism (which deals with torture, terrorism, class exploitation, etc.) on many fronts, especially during the duration of the Bush/Cheney regime. Imperialism is a key white supremacy doctrine. Ben Carson has the right to his views. His weakness is that he refuses to advocate revolutionary solutions to deal with poverty outside of the same limited political paradigm. I disagree with him on issues on economics and health care. Carson refuses to call for an increase of the minimum wage, an establishment of a national jobs creation program, an ending of unfair corporate loopholes, and end to imperialism as a means to counteract poverty. Folks have issued cogent rebuttals to Carson's words. Carson is wrong to classify the ACA (which is corporate, private insurance controlled. I prefer universal health care instead of just the ACA) as a government run health care system. For him to compare the ACA as equivalent to the Maafa or slavery is extreme. It is bigger than Carson since we are fighting a nefarious system that permits imperialism, unfair economic inequality, and violations to our human rights. I have no hatred of the Brother Ben Carson at all. I wish for the Brother Ben Carson to wake up. At the end of the day, there should be individual and collective power as a means for all of us to witness liberation and true freedom in the globe. Also, I found this out some time ago. See, in July of 1798, Congress passed "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seaman," which was signed by President Adams. That law authorized the creation of a government operated system of marine hospitals and mandated that laboring merchant marine sailors pay a tax to support it. This fact means that some Founding Fathers wanted universal health care for many people while numerous reactionaries today reject any public health care system for anyone. Obviously, just because something is not mentioned in the Constitution doesn't disqualify it as a human right. Humans have the right to self-preservation (which is a human right), but that is not literally mentioned in the Constitution at all explicitly. So, we realize the double standard. The super-rich can receive record bailouts and privileges, but the poor and suffering asking for meager assistance are demonized as lazy or leeches. It is a shame. Yes, health care is a human right.

One of the most disappointing events now is the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign donations. The decision makes the government of, by, and for the rich. The Supreme Court ruled on 5-4 Wednesday to remove the cap on the total amount of money individuals can contribute to political campaigns, eliminating yet another constraint on the direct domination of the financial oligarchy over political life. The ruling is called McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. It overturns the 1976 Supreme Court decision that upheld the limit currently at $123,000 on total campaign contributions during each two-year election cycle. While the ruling leaves in place the limit on contributions to individual candidates, currently set at $2,600 per candidate per election, it is only a matter of time before this too is struck on the basis of the same logic. In a dissent from the bench, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer noted that the ruling increases the maximum amount of political contributions to “the number infinity.” He added that “today’s decision may well open a floodgate” to campaign contributions by the rich. Instead of being limited to donating $48,600 to federal candidates and $74,600 to state and local political party committees per election cycle, the decision means that a wealthy donor who wanted to give the maximum legal contribution to every local and national candidate in their party could donate up to $6 million per election, according to Reuters. The ruling was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts. He offers an oligarchic and anti-democratic reinterpretation of First Amendment. Roberts writes that “we have made clear that Congress may not regulate contributions simply to reduce the amount of money in politics, or to restrict the political participation of some in order to enhance the relative influence of others.” It adds, “Money in politics may at times seem repugnant to some, but so too does much of what the First Amendment vigorously protects.” The ruling is part of many anti-democratic decisions that relates to election law. It is an extension of the reactionary 2010 ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (that said that for profit corporations are people and no be restricted in independent political expenditures). There are more Super PACs funded by the ultra-rich, which now have the ability to spend unlimited funds to manipulate elections. The Supreme Court harmed the law enforcement mechanism of the 1965 Voting Rights Act during June of 2013. We see the continuation of the spying of the population, torture, assassination of even U.S. citizens without due process, and the breakdown of constitutional protections now. We have bourgeois support of this system. You have to find as accurate information possible on the black family as a means to find ways to improve the black family. That is just the right thing to do. The Ebony Magazine survey showed what most of us already know. We face huge economic problems, but many in our people possess great optimism. It is a fact when black Americans improve, and then the world improves in general. The issues of poverty and education are complex. One great point that the panel made is the linkage of nutrition, family, and children in the realm of education. There are structural issues involving poverty including the War on Drugs (including mass incarceration) that must be addressed beyond just individual responsibility (which should be advanced too). So, we should both have individual responsibility in our lives and we need to address institutional problems harming the community for years. Not all poor parents are monolithic and most poor parents are not lazy at all. Most poor parents want to do what is right, but many poor parents lack the resources to create revolutionary solutions. We ought to address class and race oppression in the world.

 By Timothy