Nearly 18,000 homes faced foreclosure in the Atlanta area during the first quarter of 2008, an almost 40 percent jump from the first quarter of 2007. In Fulton County, which encompasses most of the city’s core and is heavily African-American, one in 122 homes was in foreclosure in the first week of April. A digest of Atlanta’s March 2008 “foreclosure starts” was as thick as the phone book, and the Mitchells’ 30310 ZIP code topped the list.

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Urgent!  Leonard needs a diabetes test kit now!

You may recall that Leonard suffers from diabetes.  To date,
his diabetes has been managed by diet but this is difficult to do
when the prison won’t give Leonard a test kit by which to monitor
his blood glucose level.  Two weeks ago, I wrote to the warden at
Lewisburg asking that Leonard be given a diabetes test kit. I even
offered to purchase an approved kit if the prison cannot provide
one. I haven’t received a response from the warden.

Yesterday, Leonard called–later than the norm. He’s suffering with
a severe headache and other symptoms and is in a bad way. When he
was finally able to get tested at the prison infirmary, his blood
sugar measured 300. The highest blood glucose reading should be
less than 180 mg/dL (and that only one to two hours after eating).

We have to see to it that Leonard gets a diabetes test kit so that
he can control his diabetes.  All supporters are urgently requested
to contact:

Warden
USP Lewisburg
US Penitentiary
2400 Robert F. Miller Drive
Lewisburg, PA  17837
Phone:  570-523-1251
Fax:  570-522-7745
E-mail: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Also contact:

D. Scott Dodrill, Regional Director
Northeast Regional Office
US Custom House
2nd & Chesnut Street
Philadephia, PA  19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
E-mail: NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Harley G. Lappin, Director
Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street., NW
Washington, DC 20534
Telephone: 202-307-3198

Be respectful, but firm.  The situation is life threatening.  After
many years of high blood sugar, Leonard is at serious risk for kidney
failure and the need for dialysis, blood vessel damage in the eyes
that can lead to blindness, and nerve damage in the feet that could
lead to the need for amputation. Supporters should also remember
that Leonard already suffers from a heart condition. Heart disease
is, in fact, the number one cause of death in people with diabetes.

Leonard needs our help.  Act now.  Write or fax a letter.  Make a
call. Send an e-mail.  Keep doing it until Leonard gets a diabetes
test kit.

Thank you.

Betty Ann Peltier Solano
Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND  58106
Phone: 701/235-2206
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Web: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

Time to set him free… Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org

Peltier Statement for the 2008 Oglala Commemoration

June 26, 2008

Greetings my relatives,

I say relatives because you are all my family.  I am honored,
greatly honored today that you would listen to my words and come
together in this way so that our future generations’ will not forget
what happened here in this land.
Read the rest of this entry »

Legendary comedian George Carlin died of heart failure on Sunday evening at the age of seventy-one. Carlin was one of the most well-known comedians of the past fifty years and was widely considered one of the top stand-up comics of all time.

Listen to some of his best social critique at Democracy Now!

In case you’re wondering why we’re remembering George Carlin, check out these exerpts:

America and war….GEORGE CARLIN: It’s the old American double standard, you know, say one thing, do something different. And, of course, the country is founded on the double standard. That’s our history. We were founded on a very basic double standard. This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free. Am I right? A group of a slave owners who wanted to be free, so they killed a lot of white English people in order to continue owning their black African people, so they could wipe out the rest of the red Indian people and move west and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people, giving them a place to take off and drop their nuclear weapons on the yellow Japanese people. You know what the motto of this country ought to be? You give up a color, we’ll wipe it out. You got it.
So, anyway, about eighty years after the Constitution is ratified, eighty years later, the slaves are freed. Not so you’d really notice it, of course. Just sort of on paper. And that was, of course, during the Civil War. Now, there’s another phrase I dearly love. That is a true oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one: civil war. Do you think any country could really have a civil war? “Say, pardon me” [gun shots]—“I’m awfully sorry. I’m awfully sorry.” Now, of course, the Civil War has been over for about 120 years, but not so you’d really notice it, because we still have these people called Civil War buffs, people who thought it was a really keen war, and they study the battles carefully, and they try to improve on the strategies and the tactics to increase the body count, in case we have to go through it again sometime. In fact, some of these people actually get dressed up in uniform once a year and go out and refight these battles. You know what I say? Use live ammunition, [bleep], would you please? You might just raise the intelligence level of the American gene pool.
But what do you expect? Hey, come on, this is a warlike country. We come from that northern European, basically the northern European genes, the blue eyes. Those blue eyes. Boy everybody in the world learned real quick, didn’t they? When those blue eyes sail out of the north, you better nail everything down [bleep]. Nail it down, strap it down, or they’ll grab it. If they can’t take it home, they’ll burn it. If they can’t burn it, they’ll [bleep]. That’s what happened to us. And it’s a warlike country. C’mon, I mean, forget foreign policy. Even the domestic rhetoric is warlike. Everything about our domestic policy invokes the thought of war. We don’t like something in this country, we declare war on it. The war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on crime, the war on AIDS, the war on cancer. We’ve got the only national anthem that mentions [bleep] rockets and bombs in the [bleep] thing. You know what I mean?

Language in Amerca…GEORGE CARLIN: When I was a little kid, if I got sick, they wanted me to go to the hospital and see the doctor. Now they want me to go to a health maintenance organization or a wellness center to consult a healthcare delivery processional. Poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities. And they’re broke! They’re broke. They don’t have a “negative cash flow position.” They’re [bleep] broke! ‘Cause a lot of them were fired. You know, fired? Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the work force.
Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It’s as simple as that. The CIA doesn’t kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people. Or they de-populate the area. The government doesn’t lie, it engages in disinformation. The Pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call “sunshine units.” Israeli murderers are called commandos. Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime, and firefighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part of it to us, do they? Never mention that part of it.

Any other white men that can talk sh*t like George Carlin, please stand up.
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Comedian George Carlin, died Sunday night in Los Angeles. Carlin’s social commentary and truth-telling will be greatly missed.

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Right now, Fox News is trying to paint Barack Obama as foreign, un-American, suspicious, and scary. They’re trying to send Americans the message that our country’s first viable Black candidate for President is not “one of us.”

We’ve seen this before from Fox. They won’t stop until it becomes too painful to continue–until the public calls them out and advertisers start getting worried.

Now is the time to draw a line in the sand by putting Fox on notice that their behavior won’t be tolerated. In less than a minute, you can help us do that. Then invite your friends and family to do the same. Just click here:

http://colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=1829-173305

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From Black Agenda Report

Having expressed deep and sincere remorse for the acts he was convicted of so long ago, and posing no threat to anyone, Chip Fitzgerald now awaits a July 2 parole hearing.
We respectfully request that our readers sign the petition at the end of the article which will be presented to the parole board prior to the hearing.

Sign online petition. For more information: www.freechip.org

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Forty-five years ago, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi.


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CHICAGO - R. Kelly was acquitted of all charges Friday after less than a day of deliberations in his child pornography trial, ending a six-year ordeal for the R&B superstar.

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We speak to Ohio Congress member and former Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich about his impeachment effort against President Bush. On Wednesday, Congress voted to send Kucinich
’s bill to the House Judiciary Committee, where it’s unlikely to be considered before Bush leaves office.

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper publicly apologized to native Canadians on Wednesday for the longtime government policy of taking aboriginal children away from their families and cultures.

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Clint Eastwood has advised rival film director Spike Lee to “shut his face” after the African-American complained about the racial make-up of Eastwood’s films.

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When Academy Award-nominated and legendary actress Ruby Dee witnessed Daniel Beaty perform “Emergency” - his one-man show with more than 40 characters - she described it as “a performance that jolts the senses to attention.” But Ruby Dee also told this incredibly talented writer, poet, humorist and actor something else: He was the artist, she said, who was continuing her legacy and the legacy of her late husband Ossie Davis.

“It’s been such an incredible honor, “ said Beaty, a Yale University graduate and 2007 Obie Award for Excellence winner for his writing and performing in Off-Broadway Theater. “I’ve had a series of angels, the grace of God and a really blessed journey,” he told the L.A. Sentinel in an exclusive interview.

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We got a Black Presidential nominee y’all. Where do we go from here?

watch the video

Victory speech:

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Final Primary Night
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota

As Prepared for Delivery

Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end.

Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said - because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

When men such as Kelly commit, or are charged with sexual assaults, they leave a long trail of victims, cast shame and disgrace on themselves and, worst of all, reinforce the notion that young black males are indeed menaces to society.

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