cartoonist Khalil Bendib didn't set out to draw
a holiday greeting card, but his November 28 creation was just so
damn good, readers couldn't help but treat it like one. We've
been informed that readers have been emailing Feast of the Parasites
(one of our informal titles for the cartoon, not Khalil's) to friends
and colleagues, during this lean and dangerous season. It appears
that Hallmark has been totally outclassed.
Bob
Beattie sends his compliments to Khalil, from Oregon:
Right
on the target! Says it all and bluntly enough to make a difference.
Fred
Jakobcic, of Marquette, Michigan, stepped back, cocked his head
awhile in thought, and offered an interpretation.
It
is sad to say that this is a great cartoon, and very reflective
of our times and the politics that have been taking place, far
too long, under the reign of the duopoly, a.k.a. democrats and
republicans. What's the difference between the two? This could
be reflective of either party, most especially since the infamous
days of r.r.(nancy's hubby).
And,
Dale Banks gives Mr. Bendib his props.
I
couldn't have done it better myself. Sometimes, a picture says
a thousand words. Keep up the good work.
What
the Pilgrims wished on the bone
Conquest
and profit are, of course, the real roots of America's unique national
holiday. We decided to wait until after the festivities to share
with you a concise history of Thanksgiving:
In
1620, English Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. We are told they
were searching for religious freedom. The truth is they had all
the freedom they could stand in Holland. So did other religious
outcasts. What they really wanted was a land they could absolutely
rule and control with their own ideas of religion, morality, and
law.
When
the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, the starving Pilgrims raided
Indian storehouses, and even the bags of ceremonial grain buried
in Native graves. Aware of their extreme misery, the Wampanoags
under Massasoit forgave the capital crime of grave robbing. They
taught the English how to farm, how to hunt and harvest the foods
of the area, and the following year brought 20 deer to a feast
that was supposed to be a treaty.
Within
a few years, the English had repaid the hospitality of their Wampanoag
hosts by launching hostilities against them, which would culminate
in 1676 with the execution and dismemberment of Massasoit's son
Metacomet.
Relations
with neighboring nations deteriorated as well. In the autumn of
1637, their neighbors the Pequots were gathered for their annual
harvest festival near modern Groton [CT]. A detachment of English
soldiers and Dutch mercenaries surrounded the village, and shot
the Indians as they came out of the longhouse. At the end, they
sealed exits and burned the village, killing some 700 men, women,
and children.
The
surviving Pequots were split into three groups: one-third were
exiled to the Narragansett territory in Rhode Island (today's
Paucatuck Pequots), one-third to the Mohegan territory in Connecticut
(today's Mashantucket Pequots), and the remaining were shipped
into slavery in the British West Indies colony of Barbados.
The
next day, the English governor William Bradford declared "a
day of Thanksgiving," thanking God that they had eliminated
the Indians, opening Pequot land for white settlement. That proclamation
was repeated each year for the next century.
We
found this glimpse of genocide under the heading, Thanksgiving for
Indians, at
http://www.angelfire.com/in3/CherokeeHeritage/thanks.html.
Two
years before the Wampanoag made their fatal mistake of feeding the
Massachusetts newcomers, the English at the Jamestown, Virginia
colony had begun trading in Black flesh. Little is known other than
that, in 1619, a Dutch vessel unloaded "20 and odd" Africans
in the land of the Powhatan. In 1622, the Powhatan tried to oust
the English, killing 349 of them, but lost the war and their status
as free men and women. Africans and Indians have been entwined ever
since.
LaVerne
Arther knows her roots in some detail, and welcomed our November
28 Guest Commentary, Trail of Heritage and Tears, by Eleanor
"Gypsy" Wyatt.
I
was quite excited to read this, among many interviews and articles
by Ms. Wyatt. She is a very powerful voice in the struggle of
the so-called "Freedmen" Indians. I too have attempted
to receive the elusive C.D.I.B. (Certificate of Degree of Indian
Blood) for my family. In fact, I am in the process of appealing
a denial by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Hopefully, the public
will recognize that we are indeed descendents of Native American
Indians and not the "Made for television Indian" that
society has so erroneously portrayed.
Thank you for publishing this article.
As
normal people draw up their holiday gift lists, the Bush regime
is exhorting its minions to lengthen the lists of citizens to be
neutralized in a future national emergency. Paul Wolf took time
to read our commentary, Bush's Domestic Enemies List - November
28, while studying for the bar, in Washington. Wolf hopes to
spoil Bush's big surprise party.
Excellent
article - "preventive" measures will definitely be taken,
the whole direction the FBI is going is to try to prevent terrorist
attacks before they occur. Cointelpro had the same idea, that
there were dangerous subversive people out there, and what you
had to do was draw them out by provoking them so you could neutralize
them before they got too far in their plans.
When
you assign thousands of agents to do this, and there are no real
terrorists, or perhaps a few dozen, then what the thousands of
agents do is come up with the most dangerous people they can find,
in their opinion. According to William Sullivan (Asst. FBI Director
and author of the CPUSA cointelpro) it's a very small step from
intelligence to counterintelligence. According to his autobiography,
once you find out what these groups are up to, you can't just
sit there and watch, you have to do something about it.
The
other factor that is very important is careerism. I understand
the environment at the FBI is very competitive. So if you are
assigned to an eco-terrorist investigation, or nuns from El Salvador,
then you do your best to come up with something. The biggest problem
I see is that so many people are working on domestic terrorism
investigations, and there are no actual terrorists to investigate.
Maybe there are a few dozen, but there is no terrorist invasion.
I'm
in law school and have been reading about federal torts claims.
One thing these victims can do is sue the government for violating
their rights. It may sound farfetched but I am putting together
a list of people who have gotten good sized settlements from the
government, hundreds of thousands or in the case of Earth First!,
millions of dollars. As the government takes harsher and harsher
measures against innocent people, there will be more cases popping
up that would really offend a jury. I wouldn't waste my time lobbying
Congress, I would go directly to a jury with the most offensive
cases.
Keep
up the good work. It's amazing to me that every day there is some
new repressive idea that turns into a law and the whole country
is still terrified and believes we are under attack, more than
a year after 9/11. And even if Henry Kissinger could prove that
we knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance and allowed them to
occur, people would still think we are under attack.
Mr.
Wolf's letter was moving along just fine - until he said "we"
might have known about 9/11. As Tonto replied to the Lone Ranger,
What you mean we...?
Brooklyn's
Melissa Ennen has joined the brilliant ranks of
readers.
A
friend just alerted me to your site. The survey analysis and the
war for private profit articles are two of the best I've read
in some time. Re the latter, it's the first time I've read someone
emphasizing the "cyclonic speed" of recent events. This
"blizzard" is terrifying, and I sense that the worst
is yet to come. I'm glad you're going weekly.
Yes,
Ms. Ennen, we must get as many issues out as possible in the time
we have left to us. However, that has always been the case, in one
sense or another.
Kurt
Nimmo contributes to the indispensable publication, Counterpunch.org.
We are pleased that he is also a
reader.
Excellent
commentary. But what is truly scary is the fact so few in the
media see these trends, or are they aware of history or how the
people in power react to opposition, especially when that opposition
is comprised of people of color (e.g., Fed Hampton, whom you mentioned).
As you say, white liberals may hear the wake up call when they
end up on the list of political enemies, or somebody they know
who may be a bit more "radical" than they are ends up
on it. The Bush administration is so rightwing, so paranoid, dare
I say so vicious, that eventually even moderate critics will face
censor or possible detainment. It is the dynamics of fascism -
and it is fascism we face.
Keep
up the good work.
Shannon
Scott from Savannah, Georgia, marks the return of Henry Kissinger,
The Great Intriguer, now entrusted to unravel the secrets of September
11. (See Secret Bomber to Probe Secrets of Bombing, November
28.)
Although
a used copy of "The Unauthorized Biography of George Bush
[Sr.]" will set any buyer back over $200, I cannot emphasize
the worthwhileness of its purchase (or free download for that
matter), to anyone seeking to understand the greater historical
particulars that have lead up to the Bush family's rise to power
and Kissinger as its mastermind.
I
mean, our whole country's proverbial eyebrow must've raised when
suddenly out of the political nowhere, Kissinger's name has made
it to the top of the A-list??? Is anyone else out there kind of
saying to themselves, "W-H-A-T?" Perhaps some were also
asking the same question when Donald Rumsfeld made the top dog
list also? Surely some then smelled Kissinger's return around
the corner?
Kissinger
was right there behind the smoke and mirrors of the now dated
New World Order, but has jumped from behind the cloak to defend
the more dumbed down and ambiguously termed War On Terrorism.
This has been the moment he and his gang have been banking on
with the Bushs, the IMF and World Bank for over 30 years.
I
realize I'm poking somewhat generically at certain editorial and
readership sentiments within the Black Commentator itself, and
am the last to want to express an alarmist view, but considering
that the majority of us (I hope...), are leading basic, peaceful
and neighborly lives, how much longer are WE going to let another
set of failed wannabees lead us into the open mouth of Hell.
We
hesitate to quibble with Mr. Scott, but Henry Kissinger is no wannabe.
He is the most experienced mass murderer on Earth - yet still tormented
by unfulfilled passions. If J.R.R. Tolkien were alive, he would
recognize Kissinger as his creature Gollum, lusting for The Ring.
A
Ford in our future?
The
re-ascension of the genocidal Kissinger has served to diminish by
comparison the smaller players of international crime. We had hoped
to pass a week without mentioning any of the Black congressional
members of Bush's supporting cast, the Four Eunuchs who voted to
give The Sneerer kinglike war powers. However, in response to our
November 21 commentary, The Harold
Ford Show vs Serious Democratic Business, reader Aubrey J. Howard
has forced the issue. Mr. Howard, aware that the 32 year-old lawmaker
has his eyes on a U.S. Senate seat, believes there's hope for Rep.
Ford, yet.
The
commentary was quite interesting. I was chastised, at one point
in my life, for sticking to principles and leaving a potentially
very rewarding position which could have opened many doors for
Blacks. The person who succeeded me had no interest in advancing
our cause. I could have eaten a little crow and helped our folk.
Even at the face of criticism, to advance our cause we sometimes
have to take difficult and not popular stands! Harold Ford, Jr.
recognizes he is Black but he also realizes that unless he can
attract white votes he cannot become senator in our great state
of Tennessee. However he achieves that goal, I worry not that
he will lead Black folk down the wrong path! Continue the battle
as it is most important to have divergent views no matter how
distasteful.
We
welcome and respect the opinions of Mr. Howard, who describes himself
as a "conservative democrat." As students of opinion surveys,
we have found that Black self-described "conservative democrats"
tend to be as progressive as whites who call themselves "liberal."
In any event, great changes loom in our nation and the world, which
will occasion a reshuffling of many self-evaluations.
We
hope Anita Johnson doesn't change a thing. Clearly, she is a decisive
woman of quick intelligence.
I
just discovered this site through a Buzzflash link. Very good!
It is now on my list of favorites and I will revisit.
Keep
writing.
Kurt
Nimmo, Counterpunch, The Son of COINTELPRO
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo0819.html
