Haiti

Haitians have caught hell from the international community in the West for two hundred years for having the audacity to be free from first Spainish, then French tyranny. Haiti was forced into debt (servitude) under terms established with France after winning their war for independence. Afterward they suffered through a prolonged embargo by France's allies, including the United States. Like Cuba today, the country's people suffered economic embargoes intended to choke them financially and encourage civil insurrections. Ultimately the vestiges of racism among the citizenry on the island overcame the unity of the revolution. The Island slowly funneled into a brutish form of prolonged class warfare and military dictatorship...much to the delight of her true foes.

Haiti is still catching hell by these same means.

I Repent

August 6, 2009. I repent from my selfish and reckless actions.

Bismillah...

God Almighty. Master of the Universe and Lord of All Creation.
I recognize my blessings, for I am truly blessed.
I recognize my blessing that I might continue to be blessed.
Continue to watch over me...guide me.
Keep me strong and moving in the right direction.
These things I say in humble recognition of all that is good righteous and merciful in the world.

Amin.

Hey, Fatso?

Watch out America. All the signs are there (if you open your eyes) that people will soon be charged for being obese. That is right, I said charged. Watch the evening news and you will find that bureaucrats claim to have found a way to assign a dollar figure to how much you are (potentially) costing the health care system for being at risk (overweight) of care commonly associated with obesity: diabetes, heart disease, hip replacement surgery, etc. Yeah, amid this frenzy over national health care will come the intense pressure for preventative health, so that you will not overburden the service line and drive up costs [for everyone]. Now image being charged a few dollars extra on your premium because some pencil pusher thinks that you are overweight for your height. Or some insurance company denies a full death benefit to your family since, after all, your caregiver did gain 35lbs since he first took out that life insurance policy 11 years ago. And do you still take that dream job when your employer tells you that you must join the company gym at your own expense?

Push away from that banana sundae, girl!... Your Big Brother is counting your calories.

An Education That Matters

What For Darfur

What for Darfur? I don't have a Clooney.
Genocide? Who is to decide -- Say, what you know about the Congo?

What for Darfur? I don't have a Clooney.

The Western Sudan has a problem man -- It's all those diamonds in the sand!
Now rape and more we must deplore, but what for Darfur? I don't have a Clooney.

Along the spine of the Nile, a brilliant black land. Dafur, what lies beneath your dusty floors?
iron and oil, gold and diamonds they are minin' --
In precious sands
First they gotta tame those Arab tribesman

What for Darfur? I don't have a Clooney.

Genocide, fratricide, infanticide -- Sir Lanka, Burma and Eastern Chad makes me mad!
so, what for Darfur, I don't have a Clooney

(Note: Bismillah -- The above no way intends to minimize human suffering anywhere in our world)

- Darren W. Palmer.

Update

Just a note to update my blog:

I recently finished the book, Real Education by Charles Murray. I plan on reviewing it here when I find time. The book was a breath of fresh air for me as a school administrator because it is a candid discussion on contemporary issues in public education. So rarely are we candid about what works or doesn't... In short, the author debunks 'romantic' ideals motivating the course of public education today.

I am also half way through the sobering history of imperialism that has defined Latin America since the coming of Christopher Columbus. The book is The Open Viens of Latin America. More to come...

And how about that Obama speech in Cairo!

Pirates, Bandits or Desperadoes?

The situation in Somalia has been desperate for decades now. Civil war is common in that part of the world. The forces behind it are mostly man-made -- gun runners, political manipulators, religious insurgents, etc. As a result, there has been famine for years . However, in the news today is the manifestation of that story. And it is being mistaken for the story itself.

The media conveniently uses the term "pirates" because of the sensational images it evokes of seafaring naves doing battle with maritime vessels; only now the buccaneers are black teens and not long-haired outlaws from Europe. They carry AK-47s, not sabres. They are still desperate and lawless. Image if gangs from Oakland to Los Angeles were to go unchecked for years...The Bloods and Crips, or some other gang, could likewise turn the southern coast of California into a playground for boat-cruising stick up men...Because someone will always be there to provide the guns, if nothing else.

Image the international tourist trade possible by maximizing this coast line...

War torn Somali soldiers... They have been fighting for decades now.

When the conflicts were mostly on land, this band of desperadoes on pick-up trucks were known in the media as "technicals." They have traded in their trucks for motor boats, so now they are "pirates."
Women in traditional dress. Possibilities for a better future are based on treatment of the women..."The hand the rocks the cradle rules the world."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nro-jzD7Bwk&feature=rec-HM-rn