The South is a Region of our country that can ill afford to support a raging maniac like George W. Bush. Southern elected officials know their area is on the bottom when it comes to education, healthcare and economic growth. The South leads the nation with the poorest Black, White, and Hispanic citizens. It really shocks me to see Southern congressmen speaking to the House of Representatives as if they have all of the answers on Iraq and the economy; while their region is always on the bottom as compared to the rest of the country.

Our country is at war in Iraq because President Bush decided to do a preemptive strike on Iraq and opened up a can of worms that shocked and awed him. The President lied to the public about weapons of mass destruction as the reason to go to war with Iraq. After four years of war, Bush has literally destroyed Iraq and started a civil and religious war that is out of control. It is so pitiful to see him claim that there is a democracy in Iraq while he strips us of our democratic ideals over here such as wiretaps without a court order. The number of American and Iraqi deaths at the hands of this brutal American President should call for war crimes. Even some Republicans are calling for his impeachment but certainly not any of his Southern Republicans. He is desperately trying to salvage Iraq with the help of these Southern congressmen who appear to be isolated from the rest of the country when it comes to Bush and Iraq.  In the November 7, 2006 elections, the Northeast, Midwest, and the West went Democratic but the die-hard South stayed with the Republicans and George Bush.

It is so funny to see Republican Congressmen in the U S House of Representatives trying to uphold the failed policies of Bush while they have become the laughing stock of the Democratic majority. The Democrats will not forget how the Republicans fought to not renew the voting rights bill, especially the Black leadership in the House.

The people of America even gave the Democrats the Senate; where the Southern Senators are struggling to hold on to the Bush sinking ship. We hope the Democrats will not blink first if Bush vetoes the Iraq Funding Bill. The bill called for more money for the troops than Bush requested but the Democrats added a demand for the withdrawal of our troops by 2008. Bush can either delay money for the troops or go along with the Democrat's demand.

The Southern Republicans behave like they despise America and they appear to be defiant and alien to our country. They don't seem to be willing to give up their Confederate roots and be a part of America. The Blacks and Hispanics are growing faster than the Conservative Republicans in the Southern states and it is just a matter of time when the Black and Hispanic numbers will finally put the old Confederacy to rest. They are too stubborn to embrace the progressive Democratic Congress so they will have to just "die hard."

The cost of supporting the Bush disaster will be very evident in Georgia where the state went to the extreme and put Republicans in almost every seat. The cost is great if the Democrats start closing bases in Georgia as a form of punishment. The Governor tried three times to put a voter ID on our citizens which would disenfranchise Blacks and Hispanics.
The entire South is a Republican strong hold that refuses to admit that Bush is the worst President ever and the Republican party in unable to govern.
The real cost is over 3,200 dead American troops, 14,000 injured soldiers and $400 billion spent on the war.
 

When I began this column in December 2005, it was designed to expose the hypocrisy of our enemies. The purpose of the editorials were to give our enemies a taste of their own medicine. I wanted to see if our enemies could swallow seeing their past mistakes and indiscretions published for all to see. A few of them could, but the majority of them could not.

While there are still many stones to be cast, I believe the playing field is at least on its way to being even. Over the last 16 months, I believe the reading public has realized that our local mainstream media is bias. They are so quick to report news on blacks, but reluctant to report the same type of stories on whites. I believe the majority of our readers now understand the double standards of our government leaders. They should see that the Mayor, City Council, County Commission, and School Board doesn’t respond to the needs of its minority citizens.

And I surely believe that now our readers know that some whites in our community have things in their closet that when revealed, proves that they are not perfect individuals. At least the readers know that white children are just as bad, if not worse, than black kids. The only difference has been the way in which the news was reported and the punishment received. I believe everything happens for a reason, a season, and a lifetime. I believe this column has served its purpose for a reason and a season, but not a lifetime. While the struggle must continue and the truth must still be told, I have decided to discontinue Cast the First Stone until further notice.

I have truly enjoyed expressing my thoughts and opinions with our readership and would like to thank the readers for all the positive feedback. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Dr. John Marshall, Publisher of the Americus Sumter Observer, for giving me an outlet to tell the truth and print what others would not be willing to say. In closing, always remember before you go and openly criticize someone, take a look in the mirror, go down memory lane, and remember he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone!
 

Evidence has been presented by the current administration and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to President Bush showing that our environment is being damaged by toxic waste dumping and emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. Although President Bush is aware of the threats posed by pollution and greenhouse gases such as respiratory problems and super-cell storms, he continues to cut funds for clean-up of toxic waste sites.

For President Bush and industry leaders, profit-making is more important than taking care of the environment. The Commander in Chief has the authority not to only sign legislation to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat, he also has the moral authority to stop other industrial nations from releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are direct causes of global warming.

It has become typical for President Bush to tell Americans that he is for or against a certain issue and do the opposite of what he has stated or promised. He has broken campaign promise after campaign promise. One such promise was to regulate the industrial emissions of carbon dioxide to slow down global warming. Instead, his administration has begun relaxing air quality regulations, which applied to older coal-fired power plants. This made his industrial buddy's quite happy. Coal dust is a known cause of "black lung disease," yet these decision makers choose to still allow this poison to infiltrate quietly and legally the air that we all breathe.

The President has spent our hard-earned tax dollars on gathering information on the causes of environmental problems but has rejected reports on global warming from his administration. Some of these reports specifically told the President that if changes were not implemented to slow down or reverse global warming, there would be devastating weather occurrences.

Not only are President Bush and his counterparts driving the wrong way down a one-way street, they would like to convince all of us to join them. They want to change certain textbooks to teach their irrational opinions on global warming to our youth. No matter what his reasons, President Bush has surrendered to the wishes of Industries. Individual state politicians along with environmental organizations and groups must find funds and policies to develop ways to clean up waste sites, and technology to prevent greenhouse gases, which clearly contribute to global warming. We have to take positive action now! To continue to do nothing while industries continue business as usual, is as irrational as stepping into a den of "rattle snakes" and expect not to be bitten.

Robert Frost is one of my favorite American poets. In comparison to other countries and governments, the United States has a relatively short history, but Robert Frost was able to capture the history of the people, and the beauty and simplicity of the country. He also knew something of the conflicts between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, that seem to be inherent in the very formation of this government, this country, and its people.

When I was in high school, we were given the assignment of memorizing 100 lines of poetry. I memorized Robert Frost poems because the rhyme scheme was regular, the rhythm was regular, and they told a story that I could remember. I still have all those poems in my head and in my heart.

After I received my Master's Degree in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, I took a road less traveled and became a full-time volunteer for 15 years. I lived and worked with homeless people in the city of Atlanta. We lived on Ponce de Leon Avenue-one of the busiest streets in town-and over and over again, we heard the taunting shouts from wealthy people who drove into the city on their way to work or play, "You lazy bums! Get a job!" In the eyes of the rich, the homeless folk were the undeserving poor.

Since the tornado here in Americus, I've heard much talk about home repairs and new houses being built for the "deserving poor." I cringe, and then remember a poem by Robert Frost, "The Death of the Hired Man." There are a couple of beautiful lines in the poem about home and about deserving: "'Home is the place where, when you have to go there,/They have to take you in.'/'I should have called it /Something you somehow haven't to deserve.'"

I'm thankful that Robert Frost, in the early part of the last century, already understood that housing is a human right. I'm thankful that the United Nations in the middle part of the last century, declared that housing is a human right. I hope that some day this country will recognize, along with Robert Frost and the United Nations, that housing is a human right, and will no longer provide a home only for someone who is deemed "deserving." Home

-"Something you somehow haven't to deserve."

Oil was the real reason America invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Any doubt you may have had about the motivation behind the so-called “war on terror” should have been dispelled by a report on the oil corporations’ 2006 profits. Exxon Mobil alone reported $39.58 billion last quarter of 2006. This resulted in a record $377.64 billion for the year that topped the $370.68 billion recorded in 2005.

America is already planning to invade Iran. Don’t forget the “axis of evil” included Iraq, Iran and Korea. The major oil pipelines flow out of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israeli-occupied land. Israel is seeking to bypass Syria and Lebanon to acquire Caspian Sea oil and to establish a Trans-Israel pipeline to its port city. Hence, Israel and Turkey wish to control the coastline as America and Israel make plans to attack Syria and Iran. The Bush administration, in a bait and switch sham, are now justifying invading Iran under the guise that Iran is endangering American troops by supporting and supplying arms to the so-called insurgents. Keep in mind, there was no legitimate reason for the invasion; no WMDs. If American troops were not in Iraq they would not be in harms way.

According to an article “The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Market” by William Clark, Iran has developed a plan to compete with New York’s NYMEX and London’s IPE with respect to international oil trades. This is seen as an encroachment on U.S. dollar supremacy in the international oil market. History tells us that European entrepreneurs, who sought riches, hired explorers to travel to the “New World” to acquire resources and establish markets based on the assumption of manifest destiny and the myth of noble conquests. The occupation of the Middle East is another chapter in the legacy of U.S./European expansionism that is ripe with examples of the plundering of natural resources and blatant disregard for human life.

My book, “God Bless America—The Ultimate Conspiracy: An Assault on Democracy, Religion and Reason,” is the third of a series of writings designed to provide an understanding of the role of economics in America and throughout the world. The book warns that we must not misinterpret or underestimate economic motives and intentions of the elite imperialists. Their pretext of Godliness is the ultimate strategy for those who seek power and control. Mankind’s righteous must choose world harmony over war. As men and women of God and citizens of the United States, we have an obligation to educate ourselves, to insure our true participation in the democratic process. Whether real or contrived, 9/11 filled us with so-much anxiety, so much fear that we choose not to challenge America’s real motive for war. Stories of the boogeyman, ghosts and goblins once instilled fear at a very early age. Today, the media, including video games, serve to first open, and then feed, our children’s subconscious. No one has been more traumatized; more terrorized than our children whose minds cannot distinguish the geographic proximities of either alleged terrorism or alleged wars. For them the enemy daily exists in their minds.

Black people and people of color who have been on the receiving end of America’s wickedness must be able to relate to the plight of the common Africans, Palestinians, Middle Easterners and people of color throughout the world. No doubt America has managed to make some good contributions to humanity, but the good deeds are out-weighed on the scales of justice. White Supremacy dictates the thoughts and behaviors of many of the individuals, groups and exploitive governments that are founded on, what President George W. Bush refers to as, shared European principles and values.

America claims to be invincible and wishes to establish and maintain the standards of military engagement, while willfully violating the Geneva Convention, which provides U.S. prisoners their rights. Under economic determinism, all social, political, and international decisions are motivated based on profit. “Fundamental” Islam places restrictions on corporate ownership and America’s desired economic expansion. Under Islamic law, the land and resources belong to God. Under socialism, the land and resources belong to the state. With the backing of the United States, Saddam Hussein, a Baithe Socialist, was placed in control of the government of Iraq. Saddam Hussein, in fact, became the state, and gained the favor of the United States’ oil interest as long as he was willing to play ball. When he chose not to, it was time for a regime change. The U.S., Britain and Israel seek to control enough of the oil reserves in Central Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America in an attempt to undermine the economic strength of OPEC. The goal is to create a totally controlled and predictable economic system. “This form of slavery is essential to maintaining some measure of social order, peace, and tranquility for the ruling upper class.” PROFIT FOR A FEW.

America is not interested in spreading democracy; their mission is not noble. It has become increasingly obvious that “democracy” is a myth and the “Bill Of Rights” and other constitutionally granted liberties are “mythical.” Democracy is a code word for Capitalism. Whereas, humanitarian (women’s rights, etc.) and other concerns have served to justify American’s assaults, the goal of capitalism is strictly and uncompromisingly profit. Blinded by their emotions and void of logical and rational thought, the masses of the American people are manipulated by those “media pimps” who claim to represent their interest. In truth, they serve the interest of those who are in control and in power. The elite powerbrokers are seeking to control America’s educational, economic, religious, social and political institutions. They recognized the effectiveness of war as a means of gaining control over the people’s will of the masses.

Profit is the ultimate desired end and anything else will simply confuse you. Who is ultimately going to control Iraq’s oil? The Kurds are fighting to control the oil in the North and the Shiites are fighting to control the oil in the South. The Sunnis who are the desert dwellers control Central Iraq. There is no oil in the Central area; but they want their cut. America is playing all sides against the middle in an attempt to maintain access to the country’s oil. The desire is to continue to keep the troops in the Middle East until America and Britain are able to strike the best deal, and secure the oil pipelines; and establish military bases, lest the Middle East will fall under the control of the Islamic Fundamentalist and their opposition to corporate control of the resources.

In August 2005, the various Iraqi factions attempted to come together to write Iraq’s constitution. There were major concerns about whether Iraq would become an Islamic Republic similar to Iran, once again under the control of the Baithe Socialists or a Corporate State disguised as a democracy. The constitution that America finally forced on the Iraqi people denationalized the oil reserves (took them out of the states control) and established the right for America, Britain and other European powers to gain corporate control of Iraq’s oil reserves.