Brother Robert Muhammad Speaks On "What Does SD Mean To Me?"

Southwest Regional Representative of the Honorable Minister Louis Brother Robert Muhammad, "LIGHTS UP" Houston Mosque at Pre-Saviours' Celebration.

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Let’s open our eyes to the reality of death that is constantly taking place around us. There is moral death, spiritual death, death of communities, death of marriages and families. What is the basis of this death? Is there just one thing or are there many? I can speak of my experiences of one aspect of death and that is drug addiction.

As a brother I want to talk to my brothers. I have promoted the death lifestyle surrounded by addiction. I killed many aspects in my own life and wasn't very far from my own physical death. As a black man, a husband, a father and Muslim I need to get to the heart and gut of me to help you. Ask yourself (would you knowingly kill one of Allah (God) prophets or messengers?) WOW!! That’s a heavy question right? Could I be guilty of manslaughter or even MURDER? (That inner voice does the work of a messenger of God).

Every time I didn't come home after getting my paycheck, and that inner voice said you got a family to support, was I guilty of man slaughter or even murder? Every time I stayed out one, two and three days at a time and that voice said goes home, was I guilty of manslaughter or even murder? When I sold our vehicle for $200 and left my wife and children without transportation, and that voice said didn't do that, was I guilty of manslaughter or even murder? Many times I ignored the inner voice, (The god within), I fell victim to the works of Satan of self. As many have.

Addiction to a substance such as crack-cocaine it is very cunning, powerful and elusive. This is to my brother who is still killing himself and (the god within, that prophet that messenger). You have got to stop killing that voice. I understand the pain, the grief, the resentments, the fear, and the disappointments. Feeling like you are worth nothing and will always amount to noting. Selling all you have, being degraded, smelling fowl, no I got to be real, straight up funky as hell from not bathing, because that's going to take away from your get high time. Hungry, yet you smoked up money you could have eaten with. I was scared and embarrassed to go home now knowing you have to face your wife and children. They won’t answer your phone. Oops!! I don't have a phone anymore, I sold that to.

No addiction is of Allah (God), unless the doing of His will is the addiction. Surah 22 verse 5 states being made complete yet in complete. When we were blessed to come forth from our mother’s womb, we were at that time made complete; the 9 month cycle brought forth a child with all physical limbs intact. However the incomplete was internal. From birth our bodies cry out for internal comfort and gratification. As we grow and begin to mature we of times mistake what that is and we take part in and become fascinated with what makes us feel good inside,(Women, sex, food, money and drugs and alcohol), and most time we become addicted. The true gratification our bodies were seeking is God and his eternal, internal comfort. God and God alone were with us in the womb and we remain incomplete until we find him. I was brought back from the dead, that is because Allah, he is the truth and he gives life to the dead and he is the possessor of power over all things (Surah 22:6).

By Gods mercy I am on a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage of redemption. I love me today tremendously, as well as my wife and children, my community, my people, my nation, Islam. However first and foremost I love Allah God, who came in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, and his divine messenger the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Only by Allah Gods mercy has he allowed me to be able to lift my marriage and family from the death I took them to. So from brother to brother and my sisters as well we can all overcome addiction to the death that Satan disguises as pleasure and comfort, seek refuge in Allah.

Written and inspired by: Brother David 12x

EVENING NEWS SETS RECORDS FOR OBAMA COVERAGE

Wed, Apr 29, 2009
EURweb

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur52784.cfm

EVENING NEWS SETS RECORDS FOR OBAMA COVERAGE: Research shows newscasts have covered him more than Bush and Clinton combined.

(April 29, 2009)

*Evening newscasts have spent more time covering our current president than the past two previous presidents combined, according to new findings from the nonpartisan research group Center for Media and Public Affairs.

The group, along with California's Chapman University, released a study that found the nightly newscasts devoted 27 hours, 44 minutes to Pres. Obama's presidency in his first 50 days. That compares to 7 hours, 42 minutes for Pres. George W. Bush and 15 hours, 2 minutes for Pres. Bill Clinton during the first 50 days of their first terms, reports Media Bistro.

Not only has Obama gotten more coverage, but that coverage has been more positive than his predecessors.

On the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts, 58% of all evaluations of the president and his policies have been favorable, while 42% were unfavorable. That compares with 33% positive in the comparable period of Bush's tenure and 44% positive for Pres. Clinton.

CBS led the coverage with 365 stories and 10 hours 46 minutes of airtime, followed by NBC with 327 stories and 9 hours 38 minutes, and ABC with 329 stories and 7 hours 20 minutes.

The first half hour of Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier," which the study says most closely resembles the network evening newscasts, devoted 10 hours 24 minutes to the Obama administration, nearly as much airtime as CBS gave him. But Fox News stands apart from its competitors here - only 13% of comments were considered favorable. On ABC, 57% of the comments were favorable, compared to 58% for CBS and 61% for NBC.

Information Researched By: Sister Anonymous

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Indigenous groups find their own voice under Evo Morales: Taipei Times

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/04/27/2003442096 Indigenous groups find their own voice under Evo Morales THE GUARDIAN , LA PAZ AND ACHACACHI, BOLIVIA Monday, Apr 27, 2009, Page 7 For centuries they were shadow people, a defeated underclass banished to the margins of society and forced to work, and obey, in silence. But a largely peaceful revolution has empowered Bolivia’s indigenous majority this year and transformed the country into a 21st-century standard-bearer for South America’s native populations. Under the banner of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president, Aymara, Quechua and other groups have seized political control and uncorked a renaissance in arts, music and traditional institutions. Exploiting victory in a constitutional referendum earlier this year, which “refounded” Bolivia and gave sweeping rights to indigenous groups, the “little Indians,” as they were once known, have placed their language and customs at the heart of the new state and reinvented elements of their culture through modern forms such as hip-hop and rap. “We are recovering our history and identity; we are reclaiming our heroes,” said Eugenio Rojas, mayor of Achacachi, an Aymara stronghold in the highlands above La Paz. The municipality has erected a giant statue of Tupac Katari, an 18th-century rebel who was captured, tortured and executed by the Spanish in 1781. “Katari is a symbol of resistance,” Rojas said. Behind the mayor’s desk hung a wiphala, a brightly colored emblem representing indigenous people that was officially established earlier this year as the dual flag of Bolivia, along with the traditional, colonial-era red, yellow and green one. Meanwhile, civil servants are busy learning Aymara and Quechua, the two main indigenous languages. State media reinforce the message that the Spanish tongue’s dominance is over. “Indigenous communities are having more space on TV and that is a reflection of the country’s reality,” said Leila Cortez, head of the state TV network. Young musicians and hip-hop artists in El Alto, Bolivia’s de facto indigenous capital, have blended ancient Andean folk styles with politically charged rap lyrics espousing “liberation.” Abraham Bojorquez, leader of a group called Ukamau y Ke, said there was no contradiction in his US-style baggy jeans and baseball cap. “Hip-hop is a revolutionary genre, so why not adapt it to what we want to say?” he said. The reinvention extends to highland cholitas — women who wear bowler hats, flouncy skirts and pigtails, and once were either peasants or servants. Amalia Morales Rondo made history by becoming the first cholita to attend law school and become a judge. “People now know that indigenous women are not only useful for carrying potatoes in their ponchos, but are also capable of occupying important jobs,” she said. This story has been viewed 359 times.

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Why Michelle Obama inspires women around the globe

Why Michelle Obama inspires women around the globe

• Story Highlights
• Michelle Obama inspires women of color around the globe
  
• Indian woman: 'She is a new face for India'
  
• First lady's dark skin and modest upbringing gives women hope
  
• German woman: 'She's the perfect blend of power and civility'
  

By John Blake
CNN

(CNN) -- Heather Ferreira works in the slums of Mumbai, India, where she has watched thousands of women live under a "curse."

The Obamas enjoy their new family dog, Bo, at the White House.

more photos »

The women she meets in the squalid streets where "Slumdog Millionaire" was filmed are often treated with contempt, she says. They're considered ugly if their skin and hair are too dark. They are deemed "cursed" if they only have daughters. Many would-be mothers even abort their children if they learn they're female.

Yet lately she says Indian women are getting another message from the emergence of another woman thousands of miles away. This woman has dark skin and hair. She walks next to her husband in public, not behind. And she has two daughters. But no one calls her cursed. They call her Michelle Obama, the first lady.

"She could be a new face for India," says Ferreira, program officer for an HIV-prevention program run by World Vision, an international humanitarian group. "She shows women that it's OK to have dark skin and to not have a son. She's quite real to us."

Those who focus on Michelle Obama's impact on America are underestimating her reach. The first lady is inspiring women of color around the globe to look at themselves, and America, in fresh ways. See photos of past first ladies »

"She might be the first woman of color that females in male-dominated countries have seen as confident, bright, educated, articulate and persuasive," says Barbara Perry, author of "Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier."

A symbol for women around the globe

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The notion of a woman being a first in anything is alien in many parts of the world. Millions of women struggle against sexual violence, discrimination and poverty, several women activists say.

But Michelle Obama offers a personal rebuke to that message. Her personal story -- born into a blue-collar family; overcoming racism and once even making more money than her husband -- makes her a mesmerizing figure to women across the globe, says Susan M. Reverby, a professor of women's studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Reverby says this is the first time many women have seen their class and color reflected in America's first lady. Watch how Michelle Obama has done during her first 100 days »

"This is someone who appeals across the usual divides," Reverby says. "She is a celebrity you can imagine being, not a celebrity you have to watch from afar."

A hint of Michelle Obama's global appeal came recently when she spoke at an all-girls school in London, England. The students came from various backgrounds: Muslim, Christian, black and white. Yet they all surged forward, shrieking and even crying, as they hugged the first lady.

Thu Nguyen, a native of Vietnam, wasn't at the London school, but she experienced a similar sense of elation when Obama became first lady.

In her native country, she says women "are not human beings." But when Obama became the first lady, Nguyen called her niece and told her that any hard-working woman could become the first.

Vietnamese women can identify with Michelle Obama, Nguyen says.

"We have a yellow color because we're Asian, so we felt a bond with [Michelle] Obama when she became the first black first lady," says Nguyen, who works at a nail salon in South Pasadena, California.

Some women's identification with the first lady, however, goes deeper than skin color.

Sue Mbaya of Nairobi, Kenya, says the first lady inspires African woman to assert themselves in their personal and professional lives.

Many African women are conditioned to be subservient, she says. They're prevented from rising to management positions in the workplace, and their families often relegate them to taking care of household tasks while sending their brothers off to school.

But Obama is a high achiever who didn't intimidate her husband, says Mbaya, a native of Zimbabwe who is the advocacy director for World Vision's Africa's region.

"I've always liked knowing that she was Barack Obama's supervisor when they first met," Mbaya says. "He once said that he wouldn't be where he is without his wife. That really appeals to me."

Women in the West also find inspiration in Obama.

Christine Louise Hohlbaum, who lives near Munich, Germany, says the first lady impresses German women because she is a powerful public figure who doesn't seem threatening. German history is marked by charismatic leaders who wielded personal power for malevolent ends, she says.

"She's the perfect blend of power and civility. That's important in German culture," says Hohlbaum, author of "The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World."

How does Michelle Obama define herself?

While other women have defined Obama's appeal, the first lady is refining her role.

She has talked publicly about the pressures military families face. She has encouraged healthy eating by planting a White House garden. She's opened the White House to ordinary people and children. Service to community and family seems to be her theme.

She recently drew the most attention for what she did, not said, during a visit to London. She briefly embraced Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, breaking royal protocol. The Queen, however, according to press accounts, responded warmly to the first lady's embrace.

Obama has often been compared to another regal woman: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. But Autumn Stephens, author of "Feisty First Ladies," says that Obama reminds her more of former first lady Hillary Clinton.

"But Hillary really downplayed the mom part whereas Michelle has really played it up," Stephens says. "She is straddling both worlds."

In a poll of first ladies, certain women are invariably cited by historians as the most noteworthy: Abigail Adams, Lady Bird Johnson and Eleanor Roosevelt, who is widely considered to be the most influential first lady, Stephens says.

Where would Stephens rank Michelle Obama?

"She's got the whole package," Stephens says. "She's in a class by herself."

http://us.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/first.lady/index.html

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Divine Dining 'Table Talks' with The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/health/policy/27care.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Shortage of Doctors Proves Obstacle to Obama Goals

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: April 26, 2009

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the supply of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president.

Multimedia

Graphic

Primary Care Providers in Short Supply

The officials said they were particularly concerned about shortages of primary care providers who are the main source of health care for most Americans.

One proposal — to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists — has touched off a lobbying fight.

Family doctors and internists are pressing Congress for an increase in their Medicare payments. But medical specialists are lobbying against any change that would cut their reimbursements. Congress, the specialists say, should find additional money to pay for primary care and should not redistribute dollars among doctors — a difficult argument at a time of huge budget deficits.

Some of the proposed solutions, while advancing one of President Obama’s goals, could frustrate others. Increasing the supply of doctors, for example, would increase access to care but could make it more difficult to rein in costs.

The need for more doctors comes up at almost every Congressional hearing and White House forum on health care. “We’re not producing enough primary care physicians,” Mr. Obama said at one forum. “The costs of medical education are so high that people feel that they’ve got to specialize.” New doctors typically owe more than $140,000 in loans when they graduate.

Lawmakers from both parties say the shortage of health care professionals is already having serious consequences. “We don’t have enough doctors in primary care or in any specialty,” said Representative Shelley Berkley, Democrat of Nevada.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said, “The work force shortage is reaching crisis proportions.”

Even people with insurance have problems finding doctors.

Miriam Harmatz, a lawyer in Miami, said: “My longtime primary care doctor left the practice of medicine five years ago because she could not make ends meet. The same thing happened a year later. Since then, many of the doctors I tried to see would not take my insurance because the payments were so low.”

To cope with the growing shortage, federal officials are considering several proposals. One would increase enrollment in medical schools and residency training programs. Another would encourage greater use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. A third would expand the National Health Service Corps, which deploys doctors and nurses in rural areas and poor neighborhoods.

Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Finance Committee, said Medicare payments were skewed against primary care doctors — the very ones needed to coordinate the care of older people with chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

“Primary care physicians are grossly underpaid compared with many specialists,” said Mr. Baucus, who vowed to increase primary care payments as part of legislation to overhaul the health care system.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent federal panel, has recommended an increase of up to 10 percent in the payment for many primary care services, including office visits. To offset the cost, it said, Congress should reduce payments for other services, an idea that riles many specialists.

Dr. Peter J. Mandell, a spokesman for the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, said: “We have no problem with financial incentives for primary care. We do have a problem with doing it in a budget-neutral way.

“If there’s less money for hip and knee replacements, fewer of them will be done for people who need them.”

The Association of American Medical Colleges is advocating a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollment, which would produce 5,000 additional doctors each year.

“If we expand coverage, we need to make sure we have physicians to take care of a population that is growing and becoming older,” said Dr. Atul Grover, the chief lobbyist for the association. “Let’s say we insure everyone. What next? We won’t be able to take care of all those people overnight.”

The experience of Massachusetts is instructive. Under a far-reaching 2006 law, the state succeeded in reducing the number of uninsured. But many who gained coverage have been struggling to find primary care doctors, and the average waiting time for routine office visits has increased.

“Some of the newly insured patients still rely on hospital emergency rooms for nonemergency care,” said Erica L. Drazen, a health policy analyst at Computer Sciences Corporation.

The ratio of primary care doctors to population is higher in Massachusetts than in other states.

Increasing the supply of doctors could have major implications for health costs.

“It’s completely reasonable to say that adding more physicians to the work force is likely to increase health spending,” Dr. Grover said.

But he said: “We have to increase spending to save money. If you give people better access to preventive and routine care for chronic illnesses, some acute treatments will be less necessary.”

In many parts of the country, specialists are also in short supply.

Linde A. Schuster, 55, of Raton, N.M., said she, her daughter and her mother had all had medical problems that required them to visit doctors in Albuquerque.

“It’s a long, exhausting drive, three hours down and three hours back,” Ms. Schuster said.

The situation is even worse in some rural areas. Dr. Richard F. Paris, a family doctor in Hailey, Idaho, said neighboring Custer County had no doctors, even though it is larger than the state of Rhode Island. So he flies in three times a month, over the Sawtooth Mountains, to see patients.

The Obama administration is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into community health centers.

But Mary K. Wakefield, the new administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, said many clinics were having difficulty finding doctors and nurses to fill vacancies.

Doctors trained in internal medicine have historically been seen as a major source of frontline primary care. But many of them are now going into subspecialties of internal medicine, like cardiology and oncology.

A version of this article appeared in print on April 27, 2009, on page A1 of the New York edition.


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Pentagon to Release Prisoner Abuse Photo

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042401516.html?hpid=topnews

Pentagon to Release Prisoner Abuse Photos

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Pentagon, in response to a lawsuit, will end a Bush administration legal battle and release "hundreds" of photos showing abuse or alleged abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. personnel, according to defense officials and civil liberties advocates.
The photographs, to be released by May 28, include 21 images depicting detainee abuse in facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan other than the Abu Ghraib prison, as well as 23 other detainee abuse photos, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and a letter from the Justice Department sent to a federal court in New York yesterday.
In addition, the Justice Department letter said "the government is also processing for release a substantial number of other images" contained in dozens of Army Criminal Investigation Division reports on the abuse.
"This shows that the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was not aberrational but was systemic and widespread," said Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney involved with the 2004 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that led to the promise to release the photographs. "This will underscore calls for accountability for that abuse."
Singh called for an independent investigation into torture and prisoner abuse and said it should be followed, if warranted, by criminal prosecutions.
Pentagon officials disputed the charge that the photographs proved abuse was "systemic" in prisons run by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying the images came from 60 of the military's own investigations of abuse allegations.
"What it demonstrates is that when we find credible allegations of abuse, we investigate them," said a senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The Pentagon has not stated when or how it will release the detainee photos, but defense officials said the initial 44 and possibly hundreds more are likely to be made public close to the May 28 deadline.
The Pentagon has noted that it investigates all allegations of detainee abuse and since 2001 has taken more than 400 disciplinary actions against U.S. military personnel found to have been involved in such abuse.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday said it was "unrealistic" for the government to try to keep photos of detainee abuse a secret, noting that the ACLU lawsuit and others like it have made public release practically unavoidable.
"There is a certain inevitability, I believe, that much of this will eventually come out," Gates said. "Much has already come out."
The Bush administration had argued that public disclosure of the photographs would unleash outrage and violate a section of the Geneva Conventions that is widely interpreted to mean that photos of prisoners should not be shown to the public.
But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit rejected such arguments in September 2008 and required disclosure of the photos because of a "significant public interest" in potential government misconduct.
A Bush administration request that the full appeals court rehear the case was denied March 11.
Facing a deadline to either produce the photographs or take the appeal to the Supreme Court, where they believed chances of success were not high, Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers consulted last week and decided to comply with the lower-court ruling.
"This case had pretty much run its course. Legal options at this point had become pretty limited," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
At the same time, however, Gates voiced concern that the release of photos, along with disclosures of interrogation memos and other materials, could cause unrest and create further problems for U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
"I also was quite concerned, as you might expect, with the potential backlash in the Middle East and in the theaters where we're involved in conflict, and that it might have a negative impact on our troops," he said.



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What Is COURTSHIP?

Have you ever wondered why all of your relationships have gone down the drain?

This is a manual to prepare anyone for a healthy and long lasting relationship.

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http://issuu.com/brotherjesse/docs/courtship_manual_draft04_20060730_1_

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Report: Post-Katrina levees not strong enough

Experts also recommend elevating more homes, abandoning neighborhoods

	Water whipped up by Hurricane Gustav sloshes over the side of a levee on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans on Sept. 1. View related photos
Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images file

updated 6:37 p.m. ET April 24, 2009

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans should increase the strength of new levees being built to protect against catastrophic hurricanes, elevate more houses and abandon neighborhoods that rest below sea level, an independent research panel said Friday.

Levees under construction by the Army Corps of Engineers aren't being built to a high-enough flood protection standard, said the report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.

The independent panel of experts was asked by the federal government to review the corps' investigation of levee failures during Hurricane Katrina and its work to avoid such a catastrophe again. The corps is spending about $14 billion to raise levees and build floodgates able to withstand a "100-year" storm, or a moderately dangerous hurricane with a 1-in-100 chance of hitting any given year. The corps plans to finish by 2011.

"For heavily populated urban areas, where the failure of protective structures would be catastrophic — such as New Orleans — this standard is inadequate," the report said.

Instead, New Orleans should be protected by a "500-year or maybe 1,000-year protection," the type of engineering standards used in earthquake zones or along major rivers, said Richard Luettich Jr., the director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina and a member of the committee.

Living with risk
Friday's report was the final review of work done by a team of engineers hired by the corps to investigate levee failures and develop solutions. The leader of that team, which is called the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, said the levee system being built by the corps was a good starting point.

"The current system being built is a very good baseline," said Ed Link, a civil engineer with the University of Maryland who led IPET. "It has a lot of resilience built into it, so the potential for catastrophic loss is much less."

The corps is considering construction of a system that would offer protection against a 500-year storm, but its studies are still in their early phases.

Friday's report also said the city should discourage people from moving into areas vulnerable to storm-surge flooding, in particular those that are below sea-level.

"If there is one thing we've all learned from this, living in New Orleans entails risk," Luettich said. "Smart decisions have to be made about where people live."

The issue of whether to abandon certain areas has come up several times as the city's continued rebuilding and has drawn sharp responses, particularly from those who believe they should be allowed to rebuild where they'd lived before the storm. Mayor Ray Nagin has said the government shouldn't dictate where people can live.

LaToya Cantrell, president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association, said she generally agrees with the report but rejects any suggestion that areas below sea level should be avoided.

Lawsuit settled
Meanwhile, a Virginia company has agreed to pay $4 million to settle claims it breached a contract to set up a base camp for relief workers in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced.

Lighthouse Disaster Relief and two of its partners, Gary Heldreth and Kerry Farmer, were accused of billing the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work they never performed after the August 2005 storm.

The settlement resolves a civil lawsuit that accused the contractor of violating the False Claims Act.

The government said the contractor agreed to shelter and feed 1,000 relief workers in St. Bernard Parish, but the camp never supported more than 400 people.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30391989

Information Researched By: Sister Anonymous