My thoughts on Kim Jong-il & the future of North Korea:

The recent death of one of the most controversial leaders of the 20th century has been confirmed. Kim Jong-il, the 40-year iron-hand ruler of North Korea has left a legacy of criticism which will long out last most of our lifetimes. He has been often ridiculed as being one of the leaders of the "Axis of Evil", he's been the brunt of many entertainment political spoofs on both T.V. & in movies.

However, when you look at this man's life in context, you can somewhat appreciate his drive to be the sole influence of his nation, ruling by his own rules, something that most world-leaders have not been able to do, nor had the balls to even attempt to do within the last century. Even though North Korea's greatest political and financial ally, China, had very frequently tried to place its reins upon Kim's administration, for "rockin'-the-boat" sort-of-speak on the international stage, pertaining to Kim's insatiable quest for an established nuclear arsenal, you must admit, he's nobody's puppet. The aid that China has & is still currently giving North Korea has in no way convinced North Korea to back down from its staunch position to acquire nuclear equal-footing with other nuclear-nations.

He definitely knew how to play the great-game, and he always came out as a winner. As far back as the Clinton years, Kim was a master political chess-player, buying time to stall & manipulate diplomatic visits from the U.S. in particular, with concerns about his provocative nuclear weapons programs, which would obviously translate as trouble for the rest of America's Asian interests & allies.

Even when Bush, Jr. was in office as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S., he managed to play with the Bush administration like a Tonka toy. In light of the recently-ended Iraq-War, Kim used this opportunity to go to the highest gear & stepped on the gas, to intensify the pursuit of nuclear establishment, with virually no definitive international opposition, other than trade & aid sanctions, which did not hurt Kim but rather the people of North Korea.

Even at the brink of his nation being starved-out, as a result of famines, financial-failure, as a result of no economic-growth, and the whole world demonizing him & his policies, Kim still managed to come out on-top, with his nuclear program in-tact, along with six confirmed nuclear war-heads, and still, the fifth largest military in the world, at 1 Million strong to-boot.

The death of Kim has placed a lot of suspicions in the air, as to whether North Korea can still sustain itself, without it's most dynamic, powerful leader to date. Kim's son, Kim Jong-un is the most likely to take the reins of leadership. However, even so, does his son, if he were to succeed him, have what it takes to withstand the onslaught of political & economic isolation, along with constant fear of potential attack both militarily by his Asian neighbors and/or international opponents? none of this is known to us.

All & all, Kim Jong-il was, in fact, a political giant-For better or worse, love him or hate him, he was a dominant presence as well as a prolific figure in the modern-politics of our times.

What “Change” has there really been in America?!!!

Since we are approaching the last official year of the 1st. presidential term of Barack Obama, one has to honestly reflect upon how his presidency has affected this country & the world. We cannot just get caught up in the nostalgia of “He’s the first Black President, woo hoo!!!”. We must critically think about what policies that he’s supported & carried out as the Chief Executive of the United States, during his nearly four-year tenure of what could potentially be his only term as the leader of the “Free-World”.

No, it’s not time to break out the worn out Obama hats, shirts, bumper stickers, etc. labelled “Yes, We Can”, or “Change We Can Believe In”. It is truly time for reflection as to whether the U.S. is truly a better country since this man’s been a President. For this reflection, I’ll be taking the liberty of mentioning several happenings throughout the current tenure of this U.S. President & I’ll let you decide has “Change” that this man had promised for this country truly come.

Hate crimes:

Dec. 10th, 2010:

A twenty-seven year old Black man, by the name of Frederick Jermaine Carter, was found hanging to a tree, in Greenwood, Miss. The Obama administration has yet to even acknowledge the event taking place, and there was no mention of a Federal investigation of this case (ironically enough, Greenwood is a mere 10 miles away from Money, Miss., where Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black youth, was tortured and murdered by racist whites, exactly 50 years after the Emmet Til tragedy)-This case was just swept under the rug, by Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks, along with the county coroner, declaring Carter’s death a “Suicide”, as a result of him having a history of “Mental-Illness”.

Now, for you & I, who possess basic-intelligence, here’s some serious questions for us to sincerely ask ourselves: When is the last time that a legitimately mentally-ill person used a tree to assist them in a “Suicide”?!!! (Never); when is the the last time that Black man used a tree to assist him in a “Suicide”?!!! (Never!!!); also, how is the man going to “hang himself”, when he was found tied/bounded to the actual tree that he “hanged himself” from?!!! (Impossible!!!).

Now, just by virtue of the fact that there’s a Black man in the White House is justification enough to have had this case world-wide news; however, sadly, it was just another important issue that was kept under cover, for fear that people would truly realize that having a Black man as a President doesn’t secure shit for Black people, those who came out in droves to vote for this man, really believing that he was their savior-If a White man, or any group of Non-Black individuals would’ve done the same to one of them, this case would’ve been treated the same exact way, especially if they weren’t of any type of known, significant status in our society.

The economy:

It’s not that the Federal bailouts given to the Wall Street titans were bad enough, but to add insult-to-injury, they’ve grown more wealthy & powerful during the Obama years, thus far-According to a report, by Zachary Goldfarb, of the Washington Post:

• Wall Street firms — independent companies and the securities-trading arms of banks — are doing even better. They earned more in the first 2 1/2 years of the Obama administration than they did during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, industry data show. [...]

• The largest banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, earned $34 billion in profit in the first half of the year, nearly matching what they earned in the same period in 2007 and more than in the same period of any other year.
• Securities firms — the trading arms of big banks and hundreds of other independent firms — have fared even better. They’ve generated at least $83 billion in profit during the past 2 1/2 years, compared with $77 billion during the entire Bush administration, according to data from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

#Enough said!!!

International relations:

As recent as this year, Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Muslim, as well as a U.S.-citizen, was violently blown to bits, by a CIA-controlled drone-missile attack in Yemen. What still puzzles me, till this very day, is the simple fact that none of the actual charges of “terrorist-activity” against this man was even established, until after he conveniently out of the country, relocated to Yemen, even though he was continually probed by the Feds for at least 5 years before he even left the U.S. to spend the rest of his life in Yemen-Ironically the charges that he had actually gotten arrested for & then released while in the U.S. had absolutely nothing to do with “terrorist-activity”. This is something really difficult to wrap my head around: Anwar Al-Awlaki was accused of being the chief recruitment figure for Al-Qaeda in America, yet you wait until the man leaves the U.S. to go to Yemen to do something about it?!!! What sense does this all make?!!! (None).

He was denied his right as a Human being & a U.S.-citizen to have his day in court/any court, via due-process, even though his historical counterpart, Oliver North, the most corrupt U.S. Military official on record, who aided known terrorist-groups, by supplying them with money gins, in exchanges for drugs to be smuggled into the U.S. during the 1980′s, infamously known as the Iran-Contra Affair, did more than Al-Awlaki was even accused of. Yet, North was eventually acquitted of all 16 counts of Federal felonies thrown at him, received an official Presidential-Pardon, and retired with full rank & pension as a Lt. Colonel of the U.S. Marines (check out my article on www.garethbryant.wordpress.com titled, “If Anwar Al-Awlaki were Oliver North, he’d still be alive & chillin’” for more info. about the Iran-Contra Affair). Then, there’s Somalia, the mythical land of African Al-Qaeda & pirates, even though, unlike the Taliban, Saddam, and Qaddafi, As-Shabab have not been ousted (check out my article on my blog, www.garethbryant.wordpress.com titled, “Somalia [The Anatomy of a Tragedy]” to find out why).

These are just a few of the countless examples of how the mythos of Barack Obama has continually become a political epic-fail, and has been able to keep the American people deaf, dumb & blind. It’s very obvious to me, and should be just as obvious to you all, that Obama being a President, the first Black President, or what ever posthumous title that you’d wish to refer to him by, has not changed any of the business-as-usual policies well-established in this nation.

In short, “Ain’t shit change, except da number after da dot, on da Range (Rover).”

(Notorious B.I.G. voice)

#I’m just sayin’!!!

Washington's plight (The dilema that is the National-Debt):

This whole mad scramble for cash, by the U.S. government should make the American people ponder deeply about the severe condition of our national economy, as well as how we're being viewed in the world right now, as a sinking ship. However, one thing that has not been pondered over is this: have any of these blue-chip companies (like Goldman Sachs, or Citigroup, for example), who've received billions of dollars from Washington, to keep their businesses afloat, ever volunteered to help get the U.S. out of her estimated $14Trillion debt to other countries, businesses, private investors, etc.?

The answer should'nt surprise any of us, the answer is hell no!!! To be honest, why should they bail the U.S. out? I mean, it's not their fault that the U.S. Congress is so enthralled to the whims of big-business, via campaign, and lobbyists monetary purse-strings, that keep them in Congressional positions for so many years, while they allow Wall Street to screw Main Street, with no vaseline.

Washington very graciously, based upon the power of fear that our economy would surely collapse had these big companies not received bailout money, gave Wall Street the keys to the vault of the U.S. Treasury, and allowed Wall Street to rob the American people out of $700Billion that they didn't deserve anyway, because they're supposed to be able to get themselves out of the mess that they made. And, come to find out, these companies gave their top executives annual bonuses, purchased private jets, sponsored lavish events, all in the name of getting away with highway robbery, at the expense of the American people, as well as the current expense of our national economy. But, the incredible irony is the following: our national economy is still out of wack & on the brink of failure-So what good did all of these Federal bailouts, to all of these companies do anyway?

We could really use that extra $700Billion, which was shelled-out to Wall Street, right about now. But, where do you think this is going to come from? Not the blue-chip conglomerates, not from the Fortune 500 companies, not even from the banking & investment sectors, which owe their current survival to U.S. bailouts. No.....it's all goin' to be comin' from the pockets of the American people.....again.....as usual.....as always.

The U.S. Congress has recently managed to pass a bill, which was signed by President Obama, to raise the U.S. debt-ceiling higher, in order to prevent a national financial default, which would officially make the U.S. bankrupt. But, still, how is Washington supposed to solve their ever-evolving problem, of spending what they don't have to spend?!!! Also, how is Washington planning to diminish its trillion-dollar debt, providing that this debt-ceiling can even be raised any further? Now that our government is on the brink of national bankruptcy, where should Washington go, to get its share of bailout funds? Who is going to bailout the U.S.?!!! Will it be all of these private institutions, whose base of operations are in the U.S.? Or, will it be all of those third-world countries, who receive billions of U.S. monetary foreign aid? Or, could it be the IMF? Hey.....at the rate that things are going in the U.S. right now, it's not a bad option, if the opportunity presents itself!!!

That is, in fact, the $14Trillion question: who's gonna take on this massive task of ensuring that our national economy doesn't go belly-up?!!! The entire world still has Washington under a microscope right now-From Obama trying to get re-elected as President, while still having to deal a shabby American economy & two war fronts (which did not end with the announcement of Bin-Ladin's death, which is the whole reason why thousands of U.S. troops & billions of dollars worth of weaponry were used in both Afghanistan & Iraq, to seek out terrorists-cells & WMD's, right?), the stalemate decisions about raising the debt-ceiling in the first place (which had initially gone nowhere fast in both the chambers of the House of Representatives & the House of the Senate, previous to this very recent bill that has been passed to raise it), to the walk-out by Rep. Boehner & his personal tug-of-war/cat-fight between himself & President Obama about the whole debt-ceiling issue-This whole financial mess has been just like a typical cheesy soap opera, but with trillions of cash on the line.

What makes this situation worse, on an international scale, is that other countries who are in competition with the U.S. (like China or India for example), could not only loose confidence in investing in the U.S. economy, but, could also use this potential tragedy for the U.S. as an opportunity, to make themselves the next top-dog economic superpower, which would obviously change the entire global economic & political landscape of the world. These are truly trying times for Washington, and the U.S. Congress had better get things together, before things get a lot worse.

#I'm just sayin'!!!

The revolution is being televised as we speak:

All across this nation, from New York to Oakland, and the world, from London to Rome, the media has been paying much more attention to these recent "Occupy Wall Street" protests, which are becoming more and more popular, as they spread across the U.S. & the world-The people have realized that their governments have sacrificed their well-being, at the behest of these major money-making conglomerates which control our law-makers in our respective countries. And, quite frankly, the people are very tired of being screwed with no vaseline. It's truly time for an era of real change, not the bullshit change as promised by President Obama, but something real, which will really be of substantial benefit to all people, all around the world.

These huge companies, who really pull the strings in this world, hold politicians by the balls & by purse-strings, enacting the real policies which affect us from the shadows, while these yellow-bellied politicians perpetrate the fraud, as if they're truly representing the people; rather, in fact, they're loyalties only lie with those who are responsible for them attaining & keeping the illusion of power. These covert king-makers, some of whom are known, while the rest are unknown, are the true source of power in this world, which they give to whomever will gladly follow thier blueprint to manipulation of the masses.

However, there are people who've decided to say enough is enough. These are persons who've decided to participate & support the world-wide phenomenon known as the "Occupy Wall St." campaigns all across the planet. In major cities everywhere, this movement has been catching ground, as well as significant media attention. The 1%, who control everything, want to further tighten their grip on control of the 99% who have either a lot less than they do or nothing at all. But, in spite of the importance of this movement, the 1% has also released its back-up plan, in a monstrous effort to quell the peaceful protests all around the world: Law-Enforcement & Media, the double-edged sword of the 1% that's dangerously ever-sharp.

Both of Law-Enforcement & Media have been unleashed, like a hyena & a lion, that have not eaten in a week, to attack the efforts of these "Occupy Wall St." protesters, as if their a bunch of miscreant, derelict, unproductive nobody's, who are too lazy to find jobs, and are causing more harm than good. Well, what about all of the bailout monies which were distributed to all of these blue-chip companies, whom were allowed to spend the money of hard-working tax-payers anyway that the deemed fit, without governmental oversight accountability, or even regulation?!!! How has those bailouts helped to stabilize the economies of the world? Simple answer: It has not!!! In fact, the world economy is still fucked up & on life-support, barely holding on.

These protesters are being unfairly portrayed as troubble-makers. But, in fact they are well-aware of what's really going on and how the rest of us are pathetically third-eye blind. We, as Human beings, as people, as citizens of the world, seeing the bravery of those on the front-lines, risking life & limb, getting arrested, getting their asses whipped, need to really analyze what's happening, and open our eyes to the realities right in front of our faces. These protests are not just some out-of-work College-kids, or people on welfare, or unemplotment-These protesters out there are just like you & I, citizens, who just want to be treated as we all deserved to be treated, as Human beings with dignity & rights to life, liberty & property.

What these people are being brutalized & sent to jail for are some of the many similar things that people in the 50's, 60' & even 70's were fighting for-They're fighting for our humanity, that we not be treated as a stock-option or derivative, on the world market, that it be respected & honored. In short, if you happen to read this, you owe it to Allah, your Creator, yourself, your humanity, and your fellow man, to support these Occupy Wall St. protests, to the best of your ability. Don't allow the Media to entertain you for the rest of your life, keeping you hooked on TV, the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Cable, etc. while avoiding our Divine obligation to one another, to help make this world a better place for us, as well as those who will live on after us.

#I'm just sayin'!!!