5A
OPINIONS/trie Clarlotte $o«t
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Condi Bush:
What’s up with
this sister?
Did she really slip up and refer to Gteorge Bush as “my
husband’7 Say it ain’t so, Condi. This sister seems to be
on a personal mission to take us into war again, this time
with Iran.
Mdth an arrogance only equaled by her “husband,” the
Babe of Birmingham struts her stuff
around the world, wagging her finger at
heads ofstate like they are her children. In •
her latest threat, oops, I mean peace mis
sion, she tells Iran that Ihe U.S. will only
sit down to talk if Iran stops aU production
of nuclear materials. That’s real cute,
^ Condi. Why should the Iranians do exactly
what you told them to do in first place?
And, if ttiey submit to your demand, why
should there be any talks at all?
Then our Secretary of State saj^, in ref
erence to the multi-lateral discussions on Iran, that Iran
has weeks not months to decide, that “we” will not allow
Iran to stretch this issue out; if Iran does not answer
(which really means submit to her demands) “we” wUl act.
I am eager to hear what she will say now that North Korea
has fired off a few Big Ones. Let me get this straight; Iraq
didn’t have “nucular” weapons but we wipe them out; Tran
does not have “nucular” weapons and we are threatening
to wipe them out. North Korea does have “nucular”
weapons and shows them to us by firing a few, and we are
not even threatening to go over there and fight Omon,
Condi. What’s up with that?
I have said it before and just for good measure I wUl say
it again. For a person as intelligent as our Secretary of
State to be infatuated with a dtmce is one thing, but for her
to defend “His Ridiculousness” is something else again. I
don’t know how any moral and righteous person could sup
port this guy
Bush tells Larry King and a nationwide audience that he
thinks about our protection and winning the war on terror
“every day”; in an earlier interview regarding the where
abouts of Bin Laden, the guy who committed the worst sin-
^e act of terror on American soU, Bush said he doesn’t
spend much time thinking about where Osama is. What a
liar! Of course,Larry Kingdidnotchallenge“TheDecider”
for his insincere statement.
We are in a quagmire in Iraq, and that’s puttii^ it mild
ly We are facing a July 12, 2006 deadline for Iran to capit
ulate to the terms set fortii by Condi. And now we have a
Ivmatic named Kim Jong H firing off missiles fix)m a coun
try that can’t even feed its people, provoking its neighbors
and catrsing warmongers hke Rumsfeld, Bolton, and
Cheney to salivate. Seems to me, however, they don't want
to mess with old Kim Joi^ and North Korea. I wonder
why
AU of this craziness rests in the lap of our varmted
Secretary of State, the sister who received the NAACP •
Presidait’s “Medal of Honor,” so to speak, aud the Sister
who claims her Birmingham roots where four little girls
w^lriUed by a bomb dining church service. One of those
girls supposedly was Condi’s fiiend.
Can Condi puU us out of this mess in Iraq, Afghanistan,
Iran, and North Korea, as Israel and the Hamas-led
Palestinians renew their war against each other? Can she
call upon her prowess and acumen to settle these issues?
Can she use her power and influence to move us beyond
the daily threat of “nucular” war and biir^ us back to the
halcyon days prior to her ‘husband’s” arrival on the scene?
WUl she go down in history as one of the most talented
pubhc of&dals who worked for and defended the worst
president we have ever had? VidLl Condi, our sister,
whether she realizes it or not, go down in flames with the
Bushites — and with the rest of us — as this world moves
closer to annihilation? \\hi she preside over our economic
demise, as she smUes in admiration for her ‘husb... ’?
Who knows the answers to those questions? We wUl just -
have to wait and see, but I suggest we prepare ourselves
for even tougher times. We are in the midst of something
we have never before witnessed. The greed among the
Bushites is off the charts, the value of a U.S. soldier’s life
is at an all-time low. We have spent nearly a trillion dollars
in Iran and Af^anistan, much of which cannot be account
ed for, or doled out in no-bid contracts to Halliburton and
other corporate thieves. All of this and we cannot, or wUl
not, provide the armor needed by our troops on the battle
field. Can you imagine having to solicit money from citi
zens to buy ectra padding for our soldiers’ helmets? How
sad is that?
Face it Condi, contrary to “Fitty Cent’s” claim that
George Bush is a gangsta, ya boy is a punk, a spoiled brat,
a scared bully who sacrifices the fives of young soldiers to
strut his stuff on the world st^, and then hide behind the
skirts of a sister. Maybe you should consider a divorce,
Condi.
JAMES E. CUNGMAN, an adjunct professor at the University of
Cincinnati, is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald newspaper and
founder of the Greater Cincinnati AJtican American Chamber of
What should U.S.
do for Darfur, Sudan
Many of us who have been outraged by the documented genocide
in the western region of the Sudan known as Darfur have been
confix)nted with a major dilemma: what do we ask of the U.S. gov
ernment in such a situation?
If, fike me, you sat in horrified silence watching the film Hotel
Rwanda, you asked yourself how could the world have remained
quiet in the face of such an historic atrocity (close to 1 milliori mur
dered in 90 days)? Yet, here we are again, facing mass atrocities
carried out against the people of Darfur by the
Khartoum government of Al-Bashir and their
notorious allies known as the Janjaweed and so
little has been done.
Many people of good will have turned to the
Bush administration and demanded some form of
action. Surprise and excitement was voiced when
former Secretary of State Cofin Powdl visited
Darfur and enunciated the word “genocide” in
describing what was unfolding. Surprise turned to
cynicism when this pronouncement was followed
by little action.
Herein lies the dilemma. What does one ask of an administration
that lied us into a war and occupation of Iraq; threatens Cuba,
Venezuela, Iran, Syria and North Korea with possible military
action; works to humiliate and undermine Ihe United Nations;
ignored Somalia’s hellish dan-based dvil wars until it was
revealed that an Islamist movement was becomir^ influential; ha^
spoken out of both sides of its mouth with regard to fiflly funding
mV/AIDS treatment and research; and mocks the entire notion of
^obal warming? It’s not as if the word of this administration is
worth much, except, perhaps, to its corporate allies.
I am not trying to be cynical. Rather, I am su^esting that the
attitude of Black America toward what we ask of this administra
tion must be coldly focused in fight of their real world mischief
Therefore, I cannot in good consdence suggest that U.S. troops
should be deployed in the Sudan. Not only would this give great
ammunition to the Khartoum govemmait to rally against “US
imperialism,” but when one looks at the record one must ask what
would result fix>m such a deployment?
There are some things that the Bush administration can do; the
only question is whether they are prepared to actually do them.
The Darfur crisis must be resolved by Afiicans. Any su^estion of
NATO troops or U. S. troops entering in and fordi^ a solution will
simply not work. Leadership for the resolution of the crisis must
come fiom the Afiican Union. Admittedly, the Afiican Union is
weak, indeed, in many respects it is just getting off the ground.
Predsdy for that reason, its on-going efforts need to be supported.
If the Bush administration wishes to help, then let them support
the Afiican Union finandally and diplomatically Provide the AU
with sufficient logistical support to deploy more peacekeepers.
Provide assistance for Ihe refugees currently living in ne^hboring
Chad, and those internally displaced within the Sudan.
I wish that I had confidaice that Ihe Bush administration could
play a positive role in international affairs. All evidence points to
the contrary Thus, my conclusion tends to be that which is the
fii’st insti uction to physicians; do no harm!
BILL FLETCHER, is a Washington, DC-hased writer and activist involved
with labor and international issues. A former president of TransAfrica
Forum, he is now a Visiting Professor in Political Science at Brooklyn
College-CUNY. He can be reached at papaq54@hotmailcom.
EDITORIALS
African American concerns
about immigration are valid
Since North Carolina has become a Mecca for illegal aliens, the
black community has valid complaints, as does the white commu
nity
The CMS graduation rate was only 56 percent this year, and
most of the dropouts were black students. Dropouts used to be able
to get entry-level jobs that are now taken by the illegal aliens,
which, leaves them to seek out peers, and join gangs! After aU is
said and done, illegals are lawbreakers - and set a very bad sam
ple for Charlotte’s youth, who know our jails have revolving doors.
No “committee” will find a solution to our open borders, while
North Carolina gives away driver’s license to aliens with no IDs.
Does any other citizen qualify for a driver’s license with no ID?
Charlotte-Mecklenbuig and North Carolina are responsible for
coming chaos, we are boimd to have scxtn.
Suzanne Stallings
Charlotte
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Want highest
caliber grads?
Improve the
middle schools
A June 26, 2006 article, “Push grows for higher
graduation standards” in the News Journal newq^a-
per in Wilmir^ton, Del., was disquiet-
ii^.
I feel that Ihe state’s apparent effort
to make a major stride to improve the
caliber of Delaware high school grad
uates is merdy addressing a symp
tom and not solving the real problem.
“A state committee last week rec
ommended the state require an extra
credit of math, two credits of foreign
language, a tourer senior year and
specific courses students must take, such as biology
chemistry and algebra H.
“The changes, which would take effect with the
graduating class of 2011, would increase the number
of required credits fixjm 22 to 24. Currently, only four
states require 24 credits to graduate.” Initially you
may feel good at the committee’s tough recommenda
tion, but then you start asking yourself if this is a
groupthink charade or a real paradigm shift in giving
our students a high caliber education.
As a person who specializes fii developing teaching
techniques to teach remecfial mathematics courses at
the college level, especially to students coming from
inner city backgrounds, I think the Delaware state
committee might want to rethink their recommenda
tion.
My ejqjerience suggests that the real problem exists
at the middle schcx)l level because I find many stu
dents in the remedial mathematics classes do not
know multiplication, division, firactions, percentages,
and the times tables nor how to read their matiie-
matics textbook. Many students are enchanted with
failure or their goal may be to merely get by with a
‘D” which may be insufficient academic background
to pass the next level course.
Some students come with a gang-banger attitude
that they may have exploited to intimidate high
school teachers to exploit social promotion or send
discipline problem students to special education to
get these hellions out of their class. Finally many stu
dents lack academic tenacity so they will readily drop
courses thus making traditional college graduation
dates merely a pipe dream.
The late Dr. Edward H. Kemer would focus on
understanding when I was a graduate student in
physics at the University of Delaware in the early
1970s. Professor Kemer b^eved that student under
standing is where an excellent teacher ou^t to focus
his or her time. In teaching background deficient and
fi:eshman level college students to understand the
mathematical concepts and where one might use
them I find that students often become passionate
about understandir^ the mathematics.
I also find that some students who once did not
believe they could handle the mathematics are now
ejqaressing a desire to take more advanced mathe
matics courses. I share names of promising students
to mathematics department management as poten
tial candidates for mathematics majors.
The state of Delaware might take the timp to value
that many would-be good students may get enchant
ed by the power associated with imderstanding the
course material and being able to show off their
knowledge to their peers. Furthermore, the real edu
cational improvement needs to be made at the middle
school level for it maybe a pipedream to believe that
the high schools may someday kindle a passion for
education in children who really may need remedial
middle school help.
SHERMAN MILLER is a syndicated columnist.
Many students are
enchanted with failure or
their goal may be to
merely get by with a “D”
which may be insufficient
academic bacground to
pass the next level course.
I'W SERIOUS. MAN'S NEED TO CONQUER
ANP CHANGE HiS ENVIRONMENT OFTIN
LEAPS TO THE creation OF POWERFUL
ANP PANGEROUS TECHNOLOGY. I
SOMETIMES QUESTION IF MAN IS
RESPONSIPLE ENOUGH TO WiELP SUCH
TECHNOLOGY WITHOUT POSING A
SERIOUS THREAT TO H|S OWN WELFARE
OR THAT OF HiS FELLOW MAN.
f POINT IS. I WASN'T APLE^
TO FINISH THE LAWN
PECAUSE RILEY IS TRYING
TO CUT QNPY'S HA|R
E WEEPWACICER.