Friday, September 3, 2010

MANY COLORS of a W*O*M*A*N FREE Jazz Festival in Hartford, CT - Sept. 11, 2010


"History of female jazz singers? time doesn't permit me to begin to express, but let's just say they were involved every step of the way, but hardly mentioned/recalled - while their male counterparts are. Who knows that in the beginning, Lucile Armstrong played in the band with Louis, and later encouraged him to go out on his own?" - NickI Mathis

MANY COLORS of a W*O*M*A*N FREE Jazz Festival Featuring NICKi MATHIS' Afrikan Amerikan Jazz New Millennium All Stars!!!

Aetna Theater Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Arts, 600 Main St, Hartford CT 06103 860.231-0663, 860.429-6859, 860.657-8094,
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

About the Presidential Address - August 31, 2010

"Last night's speech by President Obama covered all of the areas regarding the way that the war is being "managed". Yet, we were never told who now controls Iraq..."

Dear friends,

Last night's speech by President Obama covered all of the areas regarding the way that the war is being "managed". Yet, we were never told who now controls Iraq. It's certainly not the politicians there, whether interim or otherwise.

Additionally, the suggestion that politicians will run the show once the interim governemnt in Iraq is dissolved, as if elections are like foot races where the fastest person on that particular day will win, ignores, particularly, national elections where, for example, in the US, the whole outcome of any specific national political contest is determined by a stacked deck.

Additionally, other than the military/industrial complex which includes major banks, "contractors"" like Halliburton, as well as the more traditional corporations like Boeing, General Dynamics, IBM, and many more, who really benefited from the invasion of Iraq? Moreover, when wars are initiated by technologically-advanced national governments like ours, what interests do our politicians have in seeking relations with other governments that are based upon mutual respect, much less peace?

Of course all of this is occuring at the expense of life and limb for American soldiers and the many ways of suffering that their families experience. Therefore, it seems, at least to me, that once Americans learn to create genuine communities with horizontally-structured, as opposed to, as they have been throughout human history, vertically-structured cultural institutions (which automatically includes its social, political, and economic components), we will then be able to decide whether or not we should send our young to war, instead of letting federal politicians who are sponsored by the exact same aforementioned corporations that benefit from war decide for us - a practice (i.e., corporate greed) that has now been officially endorsed by the US Supreme Court.

At any rate, on the next post, you will read about "tid-bits" of what's happening in Afghanistan, as more American soldiers are being set up to be killed or maimed in order to assure profits for the national politicians' bosses. Following that is a post that features my longtime friend and colleague Cornel West - a video interview, and another dear friend of mine, Annette John-Hall of the Philadelphia Inquirer - print, as they provide two completely different, but relevant, views that many African Americans hold about El Presidente's performnce thus far. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
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