The Black Informant

The anger of today’s youth

REDBY, Minn. Mar 22, 2005 — The suspect in the worst U.S. school shooting since Columbine smiled and waved as he gunned down five students, a teacher and a guard, asking one of his victims whether he believed in God, witnesses said. The teen’s grandfather and his grandfather’s wife also were found dead, and the boy killed himself.

Some of the victims were shot at close range, medical officials said.

Reggie Graves, a student at Red Lake High School, said he was watching a movie about Shakespeare in class Monday when he heard the gunman blast his way past the metal detector at the school’s entrance, where an unarmed guard was killed.

Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard the gunman say something to his friend Ryan. “He asked Ryan if he believed in God,” Graves said. “And then he shot him.” (more…)

My hope is that we do not get so used to hearing about these types of situations that we just get numb to it. All I am going to do with this case is wait and see just how the media is going to portray this student: either as a gun-toting “white guy” (by the way, he was American Indian who may have looked white)–underling their case against “…the right to bear arms”, or are they just going to play it down in about a week because he is non-white.

Weather we want to admit it or not y’all, white people do get a bad rap when cases like this arise. Murders can go on for weeks in da’ hood and we will barely see the local news covering it while one white guy that goes buck-wild gets all the national coverage.

Mark Dean: IBM’s Tech Guru

The director of IBM’s Almaden Research Center is constructing a replica of a 1965 Cobra in his Morgan Hill garage. Dean plans to outfit the hot rod with a video camera and a laptop to record a journey across the country.

While the project may sound ambitious, it’s not a big deal for Dean, who holds nearly 40 patents, including three for the IBM personal computer. (emphasis mine)

…“Until recently, we haven’t had the world’s best storage products, but thanks to some of the work that Mark did in the storage systems area, we now have some of the world’s best products,” says Paul Horn, IBM’s senior vice president of research, who oversees all of IBM’s research. “I am counting on him to continue that leadership.”

…He was equally determined when he decided to attend Stanford University to get a doctorate so he could advance at IBM. “He was a bit of an unusual student,” says David Dill, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford, who was one of Dean’s thesis advisers. “He was already on the fast track at IBM. He had already done quite amazing work there. There was stuff I had read in the newspaper that he had done.”

In 1995, three years after his return to IBM from Stanford, Dean was appointed an IBM Fellow, the first African-American at the company to receive the prestigious honor. IBM fellows are given a broad mandate to identify and pursue projects in their area of expertise. (more…)

No more rhetorical orgies (commentary by Roland S. Martin)

When I attended the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference in Dallas last year, there was all of this talk about getting involved in the political process and providing funding to campaigns. I stood up and said, “Stop saying what should happen and just do it. There are 1,000 folks in this room who have the ability to give $1,000 each to a political campaign or political action committee. That’s $1 million. So, what are you going to do?” Folks looked at me like I was a nut. I guess when you tell folks to put up or shut up, most do the latter instead of the former.

I told the head of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation the same thing. While playing in a golf tournament, I told him that I thought it was nuts that 30,000 attend the CBC legislative conference annually, yet I’ve not gotten a single piece of correspondence or an e-mail on issues of interest between meetings.

Whether it’s Tavis and his gatherings, or the CBC, NAACP or any number of other organizations, what we can learn from our past is that we were able to effect change by establishing an agenda and then ORGANIZING. Having a meeting only to plan another meeting doesn’t create an agenda. That’s a waste of time. (more…)

More from the black hair world

JACKSON - Margaret Burden of Tupelo, who wants to work as a professional hair braider, sees more economic opportunity for black women.

Christina Barnes of Hazlehurst, who’s undergone formal training to become a nail technician, sees more children dropping out of school.

They have vastly different interpretations of the same bill that passed the Mississippi Senate on Wednesday.

The bill would require professional hair braiders to register with the state Board of Health rather than be licensed by the state Board of Cosmetology.

…Current state law says African-style hair braiders must have either a cosmetology license, which required 1,500 hours of education in everything from salon management to cutting and styling; or a wig specialist license, which requires 300 hours of education on how to fit and care for wigs. (more…)

The article goes on to say that if the bill goes through, braiders will only have to pay $50 every two years for licensing.

I don’t know if the government needs to get involved with this issue. As most black women will tell you, the braiding world is a world all to itself that does not need government oversight. If sistah-girl can braid, don’t mind you bringing your kids over to her crib, and the price is right…chile’, tell her what time ya’ll can hook up!!

Very strange that the government would want to regulate “this” world (probably someone’s cuzzin’ got their hair braided up too tight and decided to go legal).

Weekend Health Clinic: Why are so many African-American Women Suffering with Fibroid Tumors? (commentary by Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu)

Currently I am on the road, so as I mentioned a couple of days ago, blogging will be somewhat brief on this site until Monday or so. In the meantime, I had some extra time on my hands (and a wireless connection ) to do a couple of posts and add some very interesting links to the menu to your right. Take care!!
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It is estimated that 40 percent of African American women, before menopause, suffer with fibroid tumors. This in contrast to less than 20 percent for White women. Why the 100 percent differential? Is it genetics? Do African women on the continent also suffer disproportionately? The answer is no. I believe that the problem and the solution lie in the African American lifestyle.

African American women are suffering with longer menstrual, heavy bleeding, bloating severely, and tremendous pain. Many of these fibroid tumors surpass the size of a grapefruit or a three-month-old fetus. Many women suffer for years under this torment.

…Unfortunately, many African American women never find out the root cause of their problem. They simply adhere to being rushed into surgery because the problem has become life threatening. What caused the tumors? Why is it disproportionally among African Americans? The answer lies in their diet…(more)

Weekend Health Clinic: Is there a link between breast cancer and antiperspirants?

Scientists are now looking at some of the chemicals in underarm hygiene products to see if there’s any basis for these concerns. Parabens are one group of chemicals being studied. These chemicals are used to preserve foods, medicines, and cosmetics, and they’re commonly found in underarm hygiene products.

In past studies done in test tubes and animals, scientists found that parabens behaved like weak forms of the hormone estrogen. Parabens prompted the growth of breast cancer cells in test tubes and the growth of uterine cells in mice.

But does this mean that the parabens in deodorants and antiperspirants can cause breast cancer in women?

This is not a simple question that can be answered by just one study. Many studies are needed to see if there is any connection between parabens in underarm hygiene products and breast cancer in women.

In the study reviewed here, scientists tried to take a first step toward finding an answer by looking at breast cancer cells taken from women to see if they had parabens in them. (Please click here to continue with the article)

If you do a quick search online under this topic, you will see that this claim has largely been dismissed by much of the Internet community as some sort of hoax. What I found pretty interesting is that breastcancer.org (a non-profit for breast cancer education) quietly leaves the door open to the possibility.

As I said in the past, I am not a medical doctor by no stretch of the imagination, but like many of you, I try to exercise my common sense as much as possible. If you read the full article mentioned above, you will see that some recent findings still has the jury out on this issue.

Think about this for a moment: Sweating in of itself is not a bad thing, it is how are bodies are made to cool itself down when it gets too hot. Sweating also rids the body of toxins that could infect your system. Man comes along to develop a chemical to stop that process. What then happens to all of those toxins?

You may be saying to yourself “Yeah, I understand that, but why is it that my underarm without deodorant smells like Sal’s Hoagie shop?” This is very simple–that smell is the direct result of your diet. I can personally attest to this. Years ago when my diet consisted largely of meat (especially beef), not only did I perspire more, but given the right conditions, you would have thought that Subway was right under my arm (can I get that toasted? ). After several years of gradually changing my diet, not only do I perspire less, but there is only a faint smell when I do perspire (I know that is getting a little personal, but Oh Well!).

Much of the meat that we eat today contains loads of toxins that our bodies are longing to get rid of any way possible. If you notice, there is no known study that informs the public what happens to all of those “blocked” toxins.

The following link provides a natural solution to eliminating the smell of sweat from under your arms:

Deodorant or Antiperspirants?

I personally use Crystal body deodorant or some variation of this name brand. This works fine for me, but you may want to check out some other options at your local health food store.

Weaves and slavery (Uh oh!!).

My wife (and avid weave wearer–Don’t tell her I said that) not too long ago came across some information that has caused her to rethink which weaves to purchase. She may provide some commentary here in the near future that will describe her “reformation” in this area. Below are some excerpts of the article, but as always read the whole thing for yourself.

Henan Province Shibalihe and Xuchang labor camps have been buying Falun Gong practitioners for 800 Yuan as slave labor for Henan Rebecca Hair, China’s biggest hair product company. Their products are sold worldwide under brand names such as Shake-N-Go and Royal Imex, Inc. Ms. Zhang Yali, an accountant in her thirties, and at least two other Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death in these camps.
(emphasis mine)

Mr. Wang Jiangping is handicapped and can’t knit as fast as the others. It’s almost 2:00 a.m. and the Division Six prisoners have been working since dawn. They have to meet the deadline. His fellow Falun Gong practitioners nod off only to be wakened by guards stabbing them with scissors. Mr. Wang is exhausted.

The guards throw bricks at his chest. The Changji Labor Camp has to meet Tianshan Wooltex’s quota of Kashmir sweaters, or the guards won’t get their bonus. The Chinese “reform through labor” camps have become privatized. They are small enterprises that sign contracts with big companies and export products to overseas shopping malls.

…According to one testimony, when seeing prisoners fall asleep while working, the guards shock them with electric batons and order the head of the workshop, also an inmate, to hit them with bricks and wooden clubs. If a detainee fails to complete his assigned work, the guard will cuff him to a heating pipe, strip him naked and shock his neck, armpits, abdomen, private areas, mouth and ears with electric batons. His detention terms will also be extended. (more…)

If one company is doing this, chances are there are more.

Black people, what we do with this information is up to us. Either we are going to continue to “rock” the latest weave (women) , or we are going to demand that this practice is brought to an end.

The question then becomes, “will a significant amount of black women (yes I know white women wear ‘em too, but we got them beat) be willing to forgo wearing a weave (if it means we have to go that far) to bring international attention to this issue?

Hmmmmmm.

Castro has been “peeped out”…again!

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — Cuban President Fidel Castro has criticized Forbes magazine for the “infamy” of listing him among the world’s richest people, with a net worth of $550 million.

“Once again, they have committed the infamy of speaking about Castro’s fortune, placing me almost above the queen of England,” Castro said in a speech to top officials of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, military and police.

“Do they think I am (former Zairian President) Mobutu (Sese Seko) or one of the many millionaires, those thieves and plunderers, that the empire has suckled and protected?” he said in reference to his capitalist archenemy, the United States.

“What they should be doing is looking for the money of all those people,” he said.

…The magazine said Castro derived his fortune from a web of state-owned companies that include retail conglomerate CIMEX, pharmaceutical company Medicuba and a convention center near Havana. (more…)

So the crown jewel of the Liberal world is finally being exposed for what it really is: A poor nation ran by a rich dictator.

I have always been amazed how so many people here in the states have smothered this tiny country with compassion–not for its people, but for its dictator ( This is the same country that imprisons AIDS-infected people–how’s that for looking out for the little guy!).

These same people will also overlook the fact that hundreds of people from this tiny country teem our shores every year WHY? To escape oppression (something that many of us here in the US know very little about–we just use their experience to boost our own agenda). Ask many Liberals to explain why so many people are willing to risk their very lives to come to this country and the usual response you will get will almost ALWAYS will somehow suggest that these people are either insane or just not getting with the program in Cuba. How cruel and insensitive! Mind you, many of these same people that share this belief have never seen a day of “real oppression in their lives”.

Hopefully this will cause the “bleeding hearts for Cuba” among us to rethink our view of Cuba and its dictator.

Don’t worry, I’m not holding my breath.

Related blog from someone who once lived in Cuba:

Babalu Blog

Here is just a sampling of what goes on in this “crown jewel” for the Liberal cause:

“Today is the second anniversary of the crackdown on and arrest of the 75 writers, librarians and journalists in Cuba. I’ve written about their plight many times, including last year’s first anniversary post here…” (more…)

The same soft Americans that want to portray Castro as some innocent, defenseless leader of a poor country against the evil American empire would be crying “freedom of speech” under these conditions. One thing–they don’t have freedom of speech!!

Wanna keep blacks “enslaved” to a one-party mindset? Give ‘em a black face to follow.

It never fails, between presidential elections blacks will begin the rattle the cages of the Democratic party threatening some sort of “walk out” if black faces are not seen in more prominent roles within the party. However, after our “fight the power” pow wows, like clock-ward we will line up and as predicted vote for the same party over and over again (the same party that we were threating to leave if changes were not made). Yes, the Democratic party got us pegged! They know that the key is to get virtually anybody that can preach the message of rich versus poor, black versus white, and just plain injustice, and “presto”, here comes the black votes. In fact, the Democratic party got us so duped that we will adopt these mostly rich white men as “one of our own” in the struggle for equality. Even some of the most militant among us found it easy to overlook the fact that Kerry was some “rich white guy” (the embodiment of everything we say we despise as a people) who probably never spent a day of his life in the ‘hood. Simply amazing!

The progressive black population of Maryland (one of my favorite places to visit) see this trend and are making their demands for a “black face” to represent them. DeWayne Wickam for USA Today quotes Kweisi Mfume in his recent editorial:

“It’s time for the Democratic Party to make a bold statement in a blue state where blacks have always been willing to support white Democrats for office,” Mfume told me Sunday. If the party’s Senate and gubernatorial bids go to white candidates next year, Mfume said, “There could be a seismic change in terms of voter loyalty (to the Democratic Party) because the black community will feel betrayed.” (more…)

If the Democratic party is so pro-black America, then why does it find it so hard to throw their weight behind black candidates WHO ARE QUALIFIED TO DO THE JOB?

Mr. Mfume, the last straw has long pass a long time ago. As I pointed out in yesterday’s piece, many of the jurisdictions in our own communities are controlled by Democrats (many of them black I may add), but we still find ourselves with the worse schools, worst health care, highest crime rates, and highest unemployment.
We see that very little has changed with Mr. Mfume as once again he wants to make this into a white versus black issue so that he can find a comfy seat in congress. Blacks have given too much to this party and it is indeed time to see some payoff–BUT NOT WITH JUST ANOTHER BLACK FACE!

It is time for us to see results in our communities TODAY. With all of the political clout of the Congressional Black Caucus, there is no reason why public school teachers in our own communities have to resort to buying supplies for their classrooms with their own money.What ever happened to big poppa George Soros?

If you are anything like me, you will care less about having a black face represent you in Washington and care more to see more real results

The great black hope: Black Metropolises

After the recent mess that took place in Atlanta recently, I was reminded about a piece that I have been wanting to write for a very long time. This may not be “The One”, but this will at least give you some idea of my thoughts on this matter.

As usual, after the smoke clears from any major catastrophe, the finger-pointing will be soon to follow. Michael King (of the blog Ramblings’ Journal) was just recently on the Bill O’Reilly show discussing the whole case about the recent shooting spree in Atlanta as well as the politics in that city in general.

Some quick highlights regarding this case:

*The policeman that was escorting this criminal was an approximate 5. ft. , 50 year old police woman (mind you, this guy was over 6ft tall).

*Instead of scanning local security and traffic cameras, the Atlanta police department decides to lock down the entire city of Atlanta.

Visit King’s site for all the other details

As a former resident of the Atlanta area, I can personally attest that this is not the first time where city officials have dropped the ball for its citizens. Not too long ago, former mayor of Atlanta, Bill Campbell was indited for corruption, the DeKalb county police department was rocked with a huge scandal within its own police department, and the list goes on and on. Both crime and poverty statistics are not very encouraging either. As far as the school system goes, all I will say is the school board made the decision a while ago to build schools with no playgrounds in an effort to get kids to concentrate in school (how ridiculous is that?).

What makes these negative trends somewhat unique is that a vast majority of them take place under black governmental leadership, mostly Democratic.
[For the sensitive among you, I am not suggesting that blacks are incapable of positive leadership]

In this posting, I am using Atlanta as an example, however, if we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that the problems that I mentioned above are sadly very common in cities with a high percentage of black leadership.

Another city under black leadership facing similar problems is Detroit. Under Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick watch, approximately 34 public schools were shut down, city worker wages are being cut, many public school teachers are applying for early retirement, and other bad news that I will not take the time to cover here. Newark, NJ is another example as they were recently voted as the most dangerous city in America.

In the years that I lived in Atlanta, I saw how time and time again blacks were considered over “everybody else” over and over again in highly visible positions in government. This happened a whole lot under Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young, and Bill Campbell. I did not see any signs of this practice slowing down under Shirley Franklin (Atlanta’s existing mayor). This is why Atlanta is considered by many as the cradle of Affirmative Action (where the color of skin is preferred over qualifications).

When I was about to move to Atlanta, I have to admit that I was taken by the idea that I would finally live in a city that was controlled by us. As I was driving down interstate 95, all I kept seeing in my mind was all the nice pictures I always saw in Ebony, Jet and other black publications. In these pictures I saw blacks living in all- black communities with beautiful, well kept homes. To me, it seemed as though it was one big happy family that I wanted to be a part of.

Now please don’t get me wrong, Atlanta is still a very nice place to live with an ever-growing population. For me, after a few years I found the city to have some of the same quirky characteristics that I thought I left behind in my hometown in New Jersey. Instead of the “we are family” attitude that I expected to find in many of the sprouting black communities, I found in many cases outside of church, the most interaction I had with people was the typical suburban wave as one would give as they are pulling into their garage. To me, the black metropolis was not all what it was cracked up to be.

Many of my black friends noticed this as well and soon left the area all together. It was not too long that I was right behind them.

For years, blacks have always envisioned a place where we could control and set the quality of life for us and our families. What I soon discovered was that the very problems that we have been accusing white-controlled governments of not fixing, we ourselves were virtually ignoring in jurisdictions “we” control.

For example, in places where unemployment is very high, instead of building more businesses where we can hire each other and lower the unemployment rate, we blame white people for not bringing in businesses to do that for us. And when they do come, we turn right back around and accuse them of being racist for being a white-owned company in the first place.

Another point to consider is the poverty rates in the jurisdictions “we” control . If we are so concerned about taking care of the poor in the inner-cities, then why in 2003, the city of Atlanta was ranked #8 in the amount of poverty cases in the US (39% of its children live in poverty)? The truth is, instead of fixing our own problems, we want “white money” to continue to flow into our communities while local government leaders (who in many cases are unqualified) continue to mis-manage city funds. This has nothing to do with them being black, just not ready for “prime-time” leadership.

Again, please do not misunderstand me here, I have known quite a few black city officials who are trying their very best to make a difference and are in fact qualified to do the work. Unfortunately, the work of these brave soldiers is usually overshadowed by the black “powers that be” who won’t admit that they are either not qualified, or just don’t have the heart to face the awful truths concerning their city.

If you find a true “black mecca”, please let me know, because I have not found it yet. And if many of you are honest, you have not found it either.

Our genealogical tree is made up of many roots.

Don ‘Little Cloud’ Davenport - Founder of the Black Native American Association

I am a Seminole with Muskogee Creek/Chickasaw, and African (Nubian/Sudan) Ancestry and of the Bird Clan. I was born in Jackson, Michigan which was on one of the routes of the Underground Railroad where slaves fled to Canada.

My mother is Decilla Ann Davenport, Seminole/Creek/Chickasaw and African-American. Her mother Estella Eastman was born at the Crow Creek (Brighton) Reservation in Florida and was given permission to marry my grandfather Ganer Proudman Knight, Chickasaw/African-American (Sudanese). My Grandfather was accepted by the Tribal leaders to live among the Seminoles where he sired two sets of children born by two sisters Lulu Eastman and my grandmother, Estell Eastman. Together there were three daughters: Rose, Mary, Decilla and three Sons: Anderson, George, and Charles(Columbus).

My grandfather was born on Christmas Day, December 25, 1896 and was a medicine person among the indigenous people. Part of his spiritual teaching was African and Seminole and it was through his teachings that I learned to respect nature and the ways of my people, both Indian and African. My Grandfather’s grand father was an African from Lower-Sudan (Sudanese) and was a direct descendant of the Ancient Nubian Empire.

According to stories told by my grandfather’s grandfather who had been captured by the Arabs, sold into slavery and was taken to the Coast of West Africa to be brought to the New World for the Slave Trade. He escaped from a slaveship and stowed-away aboard a British vessel to the Bahamas Islands where he lived underground in Nassau. In 1818 he immigrated to lower Florida, along the shores of Lake Okeechobee at what is known today as “Indiantown,” and lived among the friendly Black Muscogulges until he met and fell in love with a Creek/Chickasaw women named Koot. They married and had sixteen children.

I learned from my grandfather that some of his uncles left Florida for the Caribbean Islands and Brazil with one brother living as a doctor passing as white. His sisters were all married into various tribes.

I inherited a Walking Stick that maps out my family history with symbols and markings, which explain my ancestry from the Nubians-Sudanese to settling in Florida. The Stick is several hundred years old.”

Mi Takuye Oyahsi,
All My Relations

What Up, Gangsta? (commentary by Brandon M. Terry)

“In gangsta rap, battles for authenticity can take dangerous turns. As the genre moved from stories of petty crime into super-gangster fables, rappers’ real lives simply could not keep up. What passes for authenticity is really a fragile character developed for public consumption. Record labels, rappers, and even (mostly white) consumers to some extent know this—and act accordingly.

Labels and rappers seize every opportunity to reaffirm their “gangsta” credentials to an unforgiving public. Curtis Jackson must be 50 Cent, twenty-four/seven. The problem is that 50 Cent is made up. He is nearly a cartoon—a hulking black superman who performs thug love to hundreds of women, parties incessantly while not drug dealing or murdering; and who, most importantly, is bulletproof. He cannot live up to that image, because it is impossible. Yet he and the public will continue to feed into it, until he is either exposed as fake or sadly forced to live up to his image and die in a hail of bullets.” (more…)

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I think that the industry is trying too hard to make “50″ into the next Tupac (including the tradgic ending). In the end, it is all about sales where the profits are once again absent from the community. The lives of these bright young men mean nothing to those that want to pimp them for profit (whites and blacks).

Weekend Health Clinic: My 2 minute personal testimony

At the beginning of this week, I began to suffer from seasonal allergies (hay fever, itchy eyes, congestion, etc. etc.), then I remembered something that I read a while ago–take plenty of vitamin C.

So I went to my local health food store and bought chewable acerola-C (500 mg) {Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids}–brand-name does not matter. I took on average 10 tablets a day (about 5000 mg). In all my research (for whatever that is worth to you, I have not been able to find a definitive “cut off” amount for taking vitamin c, so do your own research and do what is comfortable to you [this is a good link to get you started on your search]

I also drank about a half gallon of organic apple juice combined with ginger that I added myself. Both of these items are excellent for cleansing your liver. Again, I encourage you to read the following link (http://www.sensiblehealth.com/liver.html) as it encourages you to drink apple juice at room temperature.

In less than a week, all of my allergy symptoms have disappeared! This is the fastest recovery time that I have ever experienced. Mind you, I also stayed away from any white sugar and white flour during this time (I usually do, I just took extra precautions).

Something to consider if you are an allergy sufferer.

Weekend Health Clinic: The Liver

I found the following article to be very informative concerning the liver. There are several parts to this particular series, but today I will just focus on just two of them. The first excerpt will just give you an overview of the various functions of the liver:

The liver is the most important organ after the heart. It performs hundreds of functions including:

1. Circulation: transfer of blood from portal to systemic circulation, activity of the liver’s reticulo-endothelial system (kupffer cells) in the immune system. The liver stores and regulates the blood and is responsible for nourishing every cell in our body. Every part of the body depends on blood from the liver for nourishment and sustenance.

2. Excretion: formation and secretion of bile for digestion and cleansing of blood; removal of ammonia from blood; excretion of substances filtered from the blood by the liver such as heavy metals or dyes.

3. Metabolism: carbohydrate, protein, lipid (fat), mineral and vitamin metabolism; manufacturing and storage of many nutrients such as glucose and vitamins; production of heat through metabolism.

4. Protection and detoxification: removal of foreign bodies from the blood (phagocytosis); detoxification by conjugation, methylation, oxidation and reduction.

5. Production; formation of urea, serum albumin, glycogen and blood coagulating proteins such as prothrombin, fibrinogen and heparin; erythrocyte (red blood cells) destruction.

6. Regulation of hormones: inactivation and elimination of hormones through the bile or urine. Since estrogen and androgen are both growth hormones which stimulate cell division, elevation of their levels in the blood due to the liver’s failure to remove them efficiently can cause their accumulation in tissue. This in turn may lead to abnormal growths such as uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, breast cysts and breast cancer, prostate enlargement or prostate cancer. Excessive estrogen is also the most common cause of painful menstruations.

(When you get the time, please click here to read the rest of this article [highly recommended!!])

Now this excerpt deals with some specific liver-related problems that can be resolved through natural medicine:

I have suffered from allergies throughout my life. Starting at a very young age, hives and allergies to dust were constant problems. I had sinus problems in my mid-twenties and hay fever both in the fall and spring. I tried allergy shots for many years. They helped but I still had problems breathing during the hay fever season. When my liver became healthy in 1989, all of my allergy problems went away. As we all know, allergy and auto-immune problems (eg, arthritis) are caused by over-active immune systems. They are over-active because they are weak. Our body’s natural reaction to weak organs is to make them work harder in order to compensate for the weakness. (…more)

Here are the other topics this piece covers briefly:

Thyroid disease and liver health
Skin problems
Men’s prostate problems
Hypertension, cholesterol, and high blood pressure

…all related to the liver!!!

Why diet anymore?

It seems like the more fad diets come on the scene, the more of us get bigger.

Overweight women outnumber underweight or underfed women worldwide, even in developing countries and rural areas, according to a new study.

Researchers found overweight women exceeded underweight women in well over half of the 36 developing countries studied. Overall, 32 percent of urban women in the developing countries were classified as overweight compared with less than 10 percent of urban or rural women who were underweight.

Although poor countries still lag behind developed ones in the obesity epidemic, researchers say growing numbers of overweight women present a new health concern for countries where the main health threat used to be underfed and underweight women. (more…)

Is this a good time for me to do a plug for my blackinformant.com fat free bbq chicken wings???

Naw, but seriously, this is not good news for the state of global health. At this rate, those “Feed the Children” comercials will feature fat kids!

Children sold into slavery found (Black Looks)

67 children between the ages of 14 and 1 have been found by police in Lagos. A suspected trafficker claims the children, who are believed to be from Niger State in the north of the country, their parents consented to them being used as servants. According to the report, the police are checking to see if the parents did actually consent to them being used as servants (domestic slaves) and would receive a fee after one years work.
(continue reading this piece from the excellent blog, Black Looks)

What Would Schools Be Like? (commentary by Marshall Fritz)

Marshall Fritz, intrepid founder of the Alliance for the Separation of School & State, speculates on how American schools might function once they are out of the clutches of government.

After liberating schools from the government, what will they be like? Schools will reflect the variety in American society, just like restaurants and groceries do today.

*Schools will be smaller and more numerous. Parents will choose from variety; this will necessitate parents thinking about just what is important to them.

*Schools will be safe.

One more thing: Unlike today, teachers will engage children with the questions that challenge our species, e.g., Where did I come from? Is there any purpose to life? What is happiness? Why are some things “right” and others “wrong?” How do we know?

Under the banner of “separation of church and state,” today’s “public school” teachers are pretty much forbidden from this, resulting in demeaning education to mere schooling and turning children into test-taking robots. It would be like Wendy’s offering to “smally” your burger by taking the meat out.

I believe within two years of the Moment of Liberation, teachers will be saying to each other, “Why did we ever fight this for so long?”

(more…)

Related Link:

Alliance for the Separation of School & State

Voting machines finally work for blacks in Florida

Slot machine gambling is on its way to Broward County thanks to overwhelming support in Tuesday’s election from senior condo leaders, predominantly black neighborhoods and the communities with the most at stake in helping the pari-mutuel industry.

Campaign strategists for the gambling industry heavily concentrated on those areas and held onto them despite a last-minute onslaught by Gov. Jeb Bush and local opponents. That anti-gambling coalition, though, succeeded in turning Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Republican-leaning areas against slots, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis of voting data from the county’s Supervisor of Elections office.

…Slot supporters credited a focused get-out-the-vote effort with pulling off Tuesday’s 57 percent victory. Gulfstream Park, Dania Jai-Alai, Hollywood Greyhound Track and Pompano Park Harness Track can add slot machines after state legislators draw up regulations this spring and decide how to direct taxes to help public education as promised.

The pro-slots campaign pushed hard for supporters to vote early by absentee ballot or at early voting sites, and flooded key neighborhoods with mailers and phone calls. Almost 42,000 of the 188,000 people who voted on the referendum in Broward cast ballots before on election day, and two-thirds of them favored slots.

…”For the minority community, it was an economic development issue,” said Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Joe Gibbons, who worked hard to secure the black vote in his area. (more…)

The article speaks VOLUMES to those during the presidential election that suggested that blacks would be too confused in trying to interpret the ballot sheet. I could go on with this, but I think you get the idea.

Releated link: The game that should be called “Pover-opoly”

Welcome to the dark side of the force

Alright, alright, put your light sabers down. Yoda, Jabba, have a seat. The force that I am talking about is the ever-growing blogsphere. My reference to “dark” describes the increasing amount of blacks that are getting on the blogsphere.

I can remember back in the day when the Internet was just catching on, I was immediately captivated by what could be considered as the pre-blogsphere: Newsgroups. The fact that I could have an almost instant conversation with someone half-way around the world was just overwhelming to me. At the time, I was living in South Jersey, but I worked as an engineer in North Jersey (my commute was about 50-54 miles one way). A buddy of mine in the software group in the company I was with at the time “hooked a brotha up” by configuring my Sun Workstation to get on the Internet. The web at that time was not fully developed, but the Newsgroup world was alive and kicking. Now that I am no longer employed with that company, I think it is now safe for me to admit that I would spend hours of my free time on the job conversing with people of various backgrounds and ideologies. At one point, I even took a Saturday (my day off) to drive the 50+ miles to my job just to access these newsgroups (pretty pathetic, huh?).

But on second though, maybe I wasn’t that crazy (okay, maybe a little). What I realized at that time was that the Internet was going to be revolutionary–and I wanted to be a part of it. I see the blogsphere almost in the same fashion.

Blogs have already proven themselves to be an invaluable tool in the world of political thought. Arguably, it was the blogsphere that played a crucial role in the outcome of this recent election. For the first time in many years, the voice of the people (not big media) was once again making the difference in the future direction of this country. This is why the blogsphere holds such great potential for the black community.

The New Black Press?

When I started this blog (www.blackinformant.com) back in August of last year, I was very hard-pressed to find many black blogs. Today, I am beginning to see the landscape begin to look more like the ‘hood in a good way. Now don’t get me wrong, we are still the minority (even here in cyberspace), but to see this kind of growth in such a short period of time is quite impressive as far as I am concerned.

Just as the blogsphere in general has rocked big news organizations like CBS, Reuters, etc., I truly believe that we will begin to see the same thing happening to many black publications. No, I am not just talking about some witch-hunt on what black newscaster is “coloring” the news that he/she is reporting. Instead, what I have noticed is that unlike many online black news publications, the blogsphere in general is updated daily where black news sites like blackpressusa.com appear to have a longer lag-time refreshing their content.

Blackpressusa.com serves as the sole web portal to the vast majority of black-owned newspapers that are still in existence today. Due to reasons such as staffing, finances, and other much needed resources, most of our nation’s black-owned newspapers are only able to function as a weekly or monthly (unfortunately, to compete in today’s rapid pace of the information superhighway, information need to be dispensed at a much faster rate if you are to survive in the newspaper sector). For more current and up to date news, many black Americans have turned to their local daily news sources such as radio, tv, newspapers, and most importantly, the Internet. This is where the usefulness of blogs comes in.

As you know, in the blogsphere you will find sites that will provide news and commentary on a daily basis. In addition, on many blogs the readers are able to interact with the source of the posted material as well as with other readers. No longer will black Americans who want to stay up-to-date on current events from a black perspective have to wait a week or so to hear the thoughts and opinions from others in our community. As you can imagine, this capability alone places great pressure on the current black newspaper industry.

So do you believe that black newspapers will become obsolete?

Without becoming a daily operation, I just cannot see how black newspapers can gain any additional ground in the media industry (and as you know, in the world of media, if you are not gaining ground, you are loosing it). Perhaps a wise move would be to consolidate resources so that the best possible product is made available to their readers.

The reason why I specifically call out newspapers is because typically magazines have built their readership on a monthly basis. So magazines like Ebony, Jet, Savoy, Black Enterprise, Source, Vibe, etc. although not immune to the ever-changing current of the Internet, I believe have established themselves as permanent fixtures on the black media landscape. I will add, however, that black-oriented magazines need to continue to develop their web presence. It is simply not enough to have a website. Based on my observations, these publications are definitely on the right track with this point.

Blogs: More than just news

Up to this point, I have pretty much been talking about blogs as it relates to current event news. More and more, I believe that we are going to see blogs that have very little to do with politics and more about everyday lifestyles. Even now, you can find blogs that deal with travel, hobbies, sports, technology, personal growth and support, religion, music, and so much more. This “diversity” in the blogsphere is already beginning to happen amongst black-oriented blogs (Black history: Black History Quiz, Technology: Blackhacker, Travel: ugogurl.com, Sports: CoachSpeak, News: BookerRising, Literature: African-American Literature. Also check out the Black Bloggers Association for a much larger snapshot of the growing black blogsphere )

The road ahead for the black blogsphere

I personally believe that as this growth continues amongst blacks making the decision to establish “residence” in the blogsphere, we will begin to see more of us begin to experiment with such innovative trends such as podcasting (podcasting simply refers to the ability to record audio content and make it available for users to download this same content into their portable mp3 players).

So think about this for a moment, you as the end-user now have the ability to download audio content such as interviews, news and sports updates, commentary, sermons, etc. to your personal mp3 player. Combine that data with your own unique style of music and you have just about eliminated the need for that radio station you normally listen to on your drive to work. With the right software (prices falling everyday) you as the owner of your blog now have the ability to compose 5, 10, 20, 60+ minute audio programming for your readers. This is a way that the blogsphere is making itself “mobile” for its readers. Could you imagine being able to go to websites like Vibe.com, Blackenterprise.com, Ebony.com, etc. and downloading their audio content (be it interviews, short stories, commentaries, etc.)? Again, why would you need radio. Think of it as radio-on-demand that you customize. The only thing that would be missing would be traffic updates, but the technology is already in place for cell phone owners to get real-time GPS information right at the palm of their hands.

So as you can see, the road ahead for the black blogsphere look very promising and exciting. Who would have ever thought that the vision of Frederick Douglass to keep black folks informed with his newspaper The North Star would evolve into something like this?
It was his newspaper along with all the other black periodicals that followed that laid the groundwork for black-oriented information to be distributed on a wide scale. Now it is up to us to take their dreams to keep blacks informed to the next level.

Welcome to the black blogsphere!!!

Shameless Hypocrisy

Although I do not agree with everything in the Bush budget, this story was too crazy for me to pass up:

Calling economic injustice among the “gravest of sins,” leaders of five mainline Protestant denominations known for left-leaning political activism called President Bush’s new federal budget “unjust.”

Leaders of the Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church presented a joint statement that said, “In telling this story, Jesus makes clear that perpetrating economic injustice is among the gravest of sins.”

“Like many Americans, we read our daily newspaper through the lens of faith, and when we see injustice, it is our duty to say so,” the leaders added. “The 2006 federal budget that President Bush has sent to Capitol Hill is unjust. It has much for the rich man and little for Lazarus.” (more…)

Mind you, this same group hides behind a tax-exempt status that grants them the privilage of not having to disclose THEIR OWN budgets.

Tell the people dollar for dollar what is done with all of that tithe and offering money first before you blast the government on its budget. YES, they do have freedom of speech, but this hypocrisy is just simply madness.

Time to remove the tax-exempt status for all religous organizations. If they are worth their salt, they will survive, not on dime of the government.