Month: February 2012

Who Was Toussaint?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Black History

Remember a few years back there was this uproar from the radical Right about Hollywood star Danny Glover of Lethal weapon fame for his meeting with that bastard Chavez of Venezuela?  Of course it was painted that he was supporting Chavez and was spitting in the face of America…consorting with our enemies and such…..the truth is the Mr. Glover wanting to do a  movie and could not find financing in the US and found a sympathetic ear in Chavez….the movie was about the life of Toussaint, who according to historians lead the slave revolt in Haiti which culminated in the independence of Haiti from France……..

Now speaking of Toussaint……

February is Black History Month and I like to keep with my tradition of posting on people that may not be recognizable to the American people but nonetheless were important individuals in their own right….

The year is 1791……..after the French revolution of 1789 which did not effect the island nation all that much but in the ensuing years…….

‘Ouverture, Toussaint (c. 1743–1803), Haitian patriot and revolutionary leader. A self-educated former slave, François Dominique Toussaint-L’Ouverture joined the Haitian Revolutionin 1791 and became its foremost general, defeating both French and British forces. In 1802, he was betrayed and captured, and he died imprisoned in France.

A short history of Toussaint is from the website, historywiz.com……..

The remarkable leader of this slave revolt was Toussaint Breda (later called Toussaint L’Ouverture, and sometimes the “black Napoleon”). Slave revolts from this time normally ended in executions and failure – this story is the exception.It began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint Dominique (later Haiti). Though born a slave in Saint Dominique, Toussaint learned of Africa from his father, who had been born a free man there. He learned that he was more than a slave, that he was a man with brains and dignity. He was fortunate in having a liberal master who had him trained as a house servant and allowed him to learn to read and write. Toussaint took full advantage of this, reading every book he could get his hands on. He particularly admired the writings of the French Enlightenment philosophers, who spoke of individual rights and equality.

In 1789 the French Revolution rocked France. The sugar plantations of Saint Dominique, though far away, would never be the same. Spurred on by such Enlightenment thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the early moderate revolutionaries considered seriously the question of slavery. Those moderate revolutionaries were not willing to end slavery but they did apply the “Rights of Man” to all Frenchmen, including free blacks and mulattoes (those of mixed race). Plantation owners in the colonies were furious and fought the measure. Finally the revolutionaries gave in and retracted the measure in 1791.

The news of this betrayal triggered mass slave revolts in Saint Dominique, and Toussaint became the leader of the slave rebellion. He became known as Toussaint L’Ouverture (the one who finds an opening) and brilliantly led his rag-tag slave army. He successfully fought the French (who helped by succumbing to yellow fever in large numbers) as well as invading Spanish and British.

By 1803 Napoleon was ready to get Haiti off his back: he and Toussaint agreed to terms of peace. Napoleon agreed to recognize Haitian independence and Toussaint agreed to retire from public life. A few months later, the French invited Toussaint to come to a negotiating meeting will full safe conduct. When he arrived, the French (at Napoleon’s orders) betrayed the safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship headed for France. Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be placed in a prison dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by means of cold, starvation, and neglect. Toussaint died in prison, but others carried on the fight for freedom.

Years later, in exile at St. Helena, when asked about his dishonorable treatment of Toussaint, Napoleon merely remarked, “What could the death of one wretched Negro mean to me?”

A sad commentary on a brave man that lead his people and his country into the light of freedom….it is equally sad that little is known about this man and his accomplishments…..maybe this post will help people understand how important this man was to Haiti and to the whole civil rights movement…..

Thank You!

Somewhere between yesterday afternoon and early this morning Info ink got its 1000,000th hit……I would like to thank all my readers for help my site reach this milestone.

Thank you!

2012 Anal-Ocity #12

I know that viewers of Info Ink my think that I pick on the GOP and Repubs when I am writing about anal statements……I apologize but 9 out of 10 anal statements are made by people calling themselves Repub……..when a liberal or Dem makes a moronic statement I will include their stupidity along with the ones I have now…..

we have all heard how much a “radical” organization ACORN or Planned parenthood are and how they are leading unsuspecting women down the road……but you know a Repub from Indiana has made what I believe is the most anal crap uttered in the first part of 2012……

Bob Morris, Repub representative from the Fort Wayne area has decided to do something……..he has decided not to support a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts because he feels the group is a “radicalized organization” that “sexualizes” young girls and promotes homosexuality.

… Morris said he found online allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, encourage sex and allow transgender females to join. He also wrote that the fact that first lady Michelle Obama is honorary president should give lawmakers pause before they endorse the Girl Scouts.

Morris goes on to say those considered role models by the Girl Scouts are all “feminists, lesbians, or Communists” and claims that troops are no longer allowed to pray or sing Christmas Carols.

Is there a stupidity test that GOP candidates have to pass to run for office?  My daughter was in the Girl scouts for years and I NEVER saw or heard of anything that this pea brain is talking about…..this is what happens when you let cousins mate….I wish I could be more polite but when people like him are allowed to talk or represent the people of this country then we are in serious trouble.

Would War Really Be The Answer?

Happy Mardi Gras!

Inkwell Institute

Subject:  Middle East

We all have heard the chest thumping from the oversexed gorillas….the Israelis, the GOP, the Neocons…..all the bolster of those hawks in this country about Iran, Syria, et al…..

Before I begin let me point out a couple of factoids……it estimated that Israel has 200-500 nukes and has never signed the the NPT……and that events that are spiraling out of control in the Middle East could have devastating results on your wallet…

Source: RawStory

Oil prices could soar to as high as $160 a barrel if tension over an Iranian oil embargo persists or in the event of conflict, a top Kuwaiti oil executive said in remarks published on Monday.

“If the embargo on Iranian oil persists, or in case of a military move over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices are expected to soar to around $150 to $160,” Kuwait Petroleum Corporation board member Ali al-Hajeri told Al-Seyassah daily.

Hajeri said such a price would not last long, however, and would return to “normal levels” once the reasons for the rise disappear.

The European Union has slapped an embargo on Iranian oil imports, and Tehran has repeatedly threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for Gulf oil exports, if it was not allowed to export its crude.

Hajeri called the current price of between $100-105 “fair and acceptable to producers and consumers,” and said any higher price would be counterproductive to the global economy.

Read More…

With all the chest thumping how can we know what would happen…….Michael Synder of BLN.com has listed what to look for in the near future…….

#1 The United States has just imposed tough new sanctions on Iran.  Some of the new sanctions are specifically targeted at the central bank of Iran.  Stronger sanctions have been a prelude to war in the past, and the Obama administration surely wants to argue that “all other alternatives have been exhausted” before going to war.

#2 The EU has announced that all imports of crude oil from Iran will be bannedstarting in July.

#3 The U.S. embassy in Syria has been shut down and the Obama administration has once again called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign.

#4 The U.S. has also removed all diplomats from Syria.

#5 In speaking of the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Barack Obamais making it very clear what he believes the final result will be….

“This is not going to be a matter of if, it’s going to be a matter of when.”

This is very reminiscent of the language that Obama used to describe the removal of Gadhafi before the U.S. launched airstrikes in Libya.

#6 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling for “an international coalition” to support the opposition fighters in Syria.

#7 Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says that Iran is moving their uranium enrichment facilities into recently constructed underground bunkers and that the point of no return is rapidly approaching….

“The world has no doubt that Iran’s nuclear program is steadily nearing readiness and is about to enter an immunity zone”

#8 There are indications that Israel may consider launching an attack against Iran without even notifying the United States.  Aaron David Miller, a Mideast peace negotiator during the Clinton administration, recently made the following statement….

“There’s a growing concern — more than a concern — that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge”

#9 The Washington Post is reporting that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes that Israel will strike Iran at some point during the months of April, May or June.

#10 Former IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon insists that an attack on Iran could be successful….

“It’s possible to strike all Iran’s facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff”

#11 U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner says that the Obama administration “is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons“.

#12 Barack Obama underscored his policy toward Iran in a speech just the other day….

“I’ve been very clear — we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating a nuclear arms race in a volatile region”

#13 According to Debka, thousands of U.S. troops have been heading to “two strategic islands within reach of Iran”.

#14 Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei is speaking as if the coming war is a foregone conclusion….

“The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the U.S.”

#15 Khamenei also seems to think that the outcome of the coming war is a foregone conclusion as well….

“In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated”

#16 Khamenei also has declared that Israel is a “cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut“.

#17 According to one estimate, there are currently 200,000 missiles aimed at the nation of Israel.

#18 Some Israeli officials claim that Iran is trying to develop a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States.

#19 The death toll from the conflict inside of Syria continues to rise.  Accordingto Debka, “a continuous Syrian bombardment beginning early Saturday, Feb. 4, is estimated to have left a record 350 dead and up to 1,300 wounded in the Homs district of Khaldiyeh.”

#20 According to the United Nations, a total of approximately 6,000 peoplehave been killed since the conflict in Syria began.

#21 The city of Homs is one giant war zone at this point.  The following comes from a recent article in the Telegraph….

“We can’t count all the bodies from the streets and the collapsed buildings. Anyone who tries to go on the street might be killed – there are snipers,” said Abu Abdu al-Homsi, spokesman for the Syrian Revolutionary Council, an opposition group, in Homs. “An old woman – her son was shot and killed in the street, she went to get his body and was shot dead too.”

#22 The Russians appear to be very serious about supporting the Assad regime in Syria.  According to Debka, “the Russians backed their hard line against the West by putting Rapid Reaction Force (aka Spetsnaz) units in Black Sea bases on the ready to set out for Syria and defend Damascus.”

#23 It is being reported that a Hezbollah official has indicated that Hezbollah will attack Israel if Syria is attacked.

#24 There are even signs that Saudi Arabia is busy preparing for a coming war.  The following comes from a recent Debka article….

“Our military sources report that the Saudis this week wound up their own intensive preparations for war. Large forces are now deployed around Saudi oil fields, pipelines and export facilities in the eastern provinces opposite the Persian Gulf, backed by anti-missile Patriot PAC-3 batteries. American, British and French fighter-bombers have been landing at Saudi air bases to safeguard the capital, Riyadh.”

Now you have the points to watch….but if it does not matter to you….then may I suggest Mudcats on the history channel…..a show about the morons that hand fish for catfish……this will help you to remain ignore and controllable……peace out!

Do You Know What happened In 2008?

Yes, I am talking about the crash and the ensuing recession, the unemployment, foreclosures and the tune continues…….you may know that your 401k is not worth the paper it is printed on…..but do you know just how the crash happened?

I am guessing that most Americans either do not know or maybe they just do not give a crap……but if you are truly interested in educating yourself on how you were screwed….then by all means read on…….if not then maybe a good episode of “Jersey Shore” that teaches a lot about life is on MTV….if you do not care enough to learn what happen then keep thy mouth shut when it blows up again….and make NO mistake ….IT WILL!

A very good explanation has been written by Zeus Yiamouyiannis……..

Here is how the counterfeit value derivative con works.  It’s a game of “I pretend, you pretend, we all pretend, and the taxpayer will pay in the end”.

1) I’ll create an instrument, say a credit default swap (CDS), an unregulated insurance with no capital requirements, with a certain “notional” value. Notional value is just something I assign. It does not have to be attached to or backed by any real asset or actual money/principal, but I can pretend as if it is. (Notional amount.)

2) As a seller, I will just declare that this swap covers the full value X of this company, contract, etc. if credit event Y happens. I receive lucrative insurance premiums and fees for my unbacked promise. The CDS’s value is based in nothing more than my promise to pay. I don’t have to have adequate capital reserves on hand, but I can pretend as if I do perhaps with some mini-reserves based on objective-seeming risk ratios calculated by my mathematical models. (credit default swap.)

3) As a buyer, you can then buy as many of these CDS’s as you want, even for a single default. If you are really sure something is going to tank you can insure it 30 times over (or a 100 or 1,000) and get 30 (or 100 or 1,000) times the return when it goes bust! In regulated insurance it is unacceptable to insure beyond the full replacement value of the underlying asset. Not so with CDS’s. The seller has gotten 30x the premiums and the buyer gets 30x value in the event of default. As a buyer of this phony “insurance” you don’t have a stake in the affected properties, but you can essentially pretend you do.

4) As buyer and seller of CDS’s either one of us can assign our risks to a third party through another contract, and pretend as if we are covered in case our own game playing blows up in our faces. This allows us to retain even less reserve capital and spend freed-up funds on more high-risk, high-(pseudo) return speculation. (The monster that ate Wall Street.)

5) We can purchase and sell of these derivative contracts to each other at unlimited rates to generate massive volume and huge fees and profits. We can simply hyper-cycle risk and take our chunk each time.

According to the Bank of International Settlements, as of June 2011 total over-the-counter derivatives contracts have an outstanding notional value of 707.57 trillion dollars, ( 32.4 trillion dollars in CDS’s alone). Where does this kind of money come from, and what does it refer to? We don’t really know, because over-the-counter derivatives are not transparent or regulated.

Read More…

The answer to your questions are not as difficult to understand as the msm and the economists want you to believe……..once you learn the facts then you can keep your bank and brokers in check….that is if you really give a crap……and Dodd-Frank is a blowjob….it does little to keep the financial sector from gaming the system again and causing another meltdown….personally, I want to see someone go to prison because of what has been done to the economy and beyond that I want to make sure these con men cannot either game the system again so that we, the taxpayer, give them an out…..let them ROT in their own deceitfulness!

Cyborg–2012

Can the brain be repaired?  For say a stroke victim that has lost use of an arm and a leg….is there a way to repair the damage?

There is lots of research going on and there is a possibility that the brain could be repaired…….according to the Daily Mail/BBC……..

Source:Daily Mail/BBC

Faulty parts of living brains have been replaced by electronic chips, in an astonishing and controversial scientific breakthrough.

It’s a move that has been anticipated many times in science fiction, with creatures such as The Terminator, a ‘cyborg’ hybrid of flesh and machinery.

But now, researchers at Tel Aviv University have successfully created circuits that can replace motor functions – such as blinking – and implanted them into brains.

They hope the technology could in the future help people suffering from brain malfunctions such as Parkinson’s disease – by replacing damaged or malfunctioning tissue with chips that perform the same function.

‘Imagine there’s a small area in the brain that is malfunctioning, and imagine that we understand the architecture of this damaged area,’ said Professor Matti Mintz, a psychobiologist, speaking to the BBC.

‘So we try to replicate this part of the brain with electronics.’

Mintz has already successfully implanted a robotic cerebellum into the skull of a rodent with brain damage, restoring its capacity for movement.

However, anti-vivisection campaigners have described the experiments as ‘grotesque’.

‘Imagine there’s a small area in the brain that is malfunctioning, and imagine that we understand how it works. We try to replicate this part of the brain with electronics,’ said Professor Mintz

The cerebellum is responsible for co-ordinating movement, says Mintz.

When wired to the brain, his ‘robo-cerebellum’ receives, interprets, and transmits sensory information from the brain stem, facilitating communication between the brain and the body.

To test this robotic interface between body and brain, the researchers taught a brain-damaged rat to blink whenever they sounded a particular tone.

The rat could only perform the behavior when its robotic cerebellum was functional.

According to the researcher, the chip is designed to mimic natural neuronal activity.

‘It’s a proof of the concept that we can record information from the brain, analyze it in a way similar to the biological network, and then return it to the brain,’ says Prof. Mintz, who recently presented his research at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence meeting in Cambridge, UK.

In the future, this robo-cerebellum could lead to electronic implants that replace damaged tissues in the human brain.

Yes, this is good news for people with brain damage…….but……..(wait for it)……..once again I ask what will be done to prevent the technology from being abused?  Who will decide who gets the implant?

If there is a way for it to be abused to turn a profit…..humans will find it……and USE IT!

So Outta Touch!

Yes, I do enjoy a good bitch out…….and since this is my weekend and a couple of days of Zen….I will get with it!

I will bet that you think since I am a politics nerd that I am writing on the GOP candidate known as Mitt Romney, when I say outta touch…..in this case you would be mistaken…….this post is about the media pundits that jump on some bandwagon and in this case I am speaking of Mika of the Morning Joe show on MSNBC……..

Mika is on her kick about obesity and the food our children eat……she is down on sugar, fats and salt and she is to the thinking that taxing these things and banning them from schools will solve all the problems of childhood obesity…….she is what I like to call….WRONG!

Her ideas on school snacks has been proven to be erroneous, that taking snack machines and sodas out of the schools has been showed to have NO effect on curbing child obesity…..and her taxing thing will hurt only the poor……here is an idea….since air pollution has been linked to many respiratory diseases…..why not tax gas consumption more?  I would bet that this woman would be all over that with her disdain……

Unfortunately, she has overlooked the fact that most people do not have a job with 7 figures, they do not have nannys, they do not have the time to run every morning because there are kids to get ready for school, we mere mortals do not have flexible schedules or book deals and we definitely do not live in Manhattan….she overlooks the fact that many poor people are obese….why?  Because they have only so much money for food and they have to stretch it to cover all meals and that cheaper food are the ones higher in fats, sugars and salts…..

If Mika wants to jump on a bandwagon then jump on the one that makes healthier foods cheaper without taxing the pants off the poor…..if she thinks that her ideas are valid for everyone, then let her try feed, clothing and sheltering herself and kids on $35,000 a year…..I keep waiting for her to mention the study that said that the banning of sodas and junk food in schools has had NO effect on lessening child obesity……..or this piece of work by the Congress……

DesJarlais’s bill is called the “Protecting Foods and Beverages from Government Attack Act of 2012,” and its purpose is summed up as follows:

To prohibit the use of Federal money for print, radio, television or any other media advertisement, campaign, or  form of publicity against the use of a food or beverage  that is lawfully marketed under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The effective consequence of this bill would be to ban the government from advising the public against, for example, consuming too many fatty foods or sugary drinks. It is unlikely that most Americans are so offended by government advertising about unhealthy diets — nutrition guidelines have been published by the federal government since 1916 — that they would demand a ban like DesJarlais is proposing.

But so far Mika, dear Mika is silent on these developments…….

It is a fine calling to have a cause….but maybe it would be a good idea to know what people are going through to keep their family going….I think that someone in a privileged life should just keep their mouths shut and get in touch with reality….

Obesity will ALWAYS be a problem as long as poverty rules the country………..cure poverty and the obesity problem will be not so much the extensive problem it is today……a problem that will not be cured as long as we have this tacky  system……

2012 Anal-Ocity #11

This whole contraception thingy is getting way out of control……none of these stupid deliberations is putting anyone to work…..and that should be a priority and not what I do in my bedroom…..today’s edition is from the Detroit News….one opinion writer named Nolan Finley in his piece wrote…

Since the national attention is on birth control, here’s my idea: If we want to fight poverty, reduce violent crime and bring down our embarrassing drop-out rate, we should swap contraceptives for fluoride in Michigan’s drinking water.

But please read the rest of his op-ed…….
Read More…

This guy would fit well in my state of Mississippi….he would be welcomed by the bigoted masses….so if Michigan ever feels the need to throw this bigot out of the state….just tell him there is a place for him….just head South until he reaches the area of the country that is still in the 1860’s…..this guy makes my racist father look like a leftist!

How About A National Primary?

Does the presidential primary season seem to go on forever?

As promised in a previous post…..there is an answer……..  A National primary!

A national primary is a proposed system for conducting the US presidential primaries and caucuses, in which all of the primaries and caucuses would occur on the same day…….my thought is to get more participation make it a national holiday (just a thought)……

Today the system of staggered primaries means that voters in later primaries may find that the nominee has already been selected before they vote.  (For instance, New York, the third-largest state, voted after the nominees had been selected in both parties in both 2000 and 2004.)   Disproportionate power is given to the earliest primaries, with candidates who lose them being considered non-viable, even if they may have a lot of support in larger states.

Personally, I think that there ought to be 4 separate regional primaries….One for the Northeast, Southern, Midwest and West….this would make all equal and one state would not have an advantage over another in this process…..plus the media would still have their profit and their place in driving the election….

One of the criticisms of such a move is that it would take a butt load of money….but SCOTUS has made that a moot point…..campaigns now have an almost unlimited supply of cash especially from corporations and other special interests…so this objection is just plain silly……

The national primary or the regional primaries would make the whole system more tolerable for us mere mortals and would probably increase the voters in participation…….

2012 Anal-Ocity #10

That time again….the time to call out those mental midgets that cannot keep their mouths shut….

In recent weeks the political conversation has gone from Obama sucks to contraception sucks (that is one way to prevent pregnancy)…..let me say….I do not understand the fascination with what goes on in my bedroom, because i really could care less about theirs……..

Now the conversation from Rick Santorum is that contraception is no good and under his Victorian way of thinking it is NOT good for the country that it is destroying society and the family……But the best quote about the contraception issue was uttered by Santorum’s sugar daddy…..Foster Friess……His statement was….

“This contraception thing, my gosh it’s so inexpensive. Back in my day they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”

Now there are so many things to say…..but I cannot stop laughing long enough to say them……(pause here for raucous laughter to reside)……where does the GOP find these people?  Is there a lab somewhere that breeds them?

Okay this is the most moronic thing I have ever heard…..why?  Well if the “gal” holds that aspirin tightly between her legs and is then bent over a table….problem is NOT solved.  I know crude….but you get my point!