War Games and Their $250,000,000 Budget

A television show, “The Unit,” has an episode where military units form various countries around the world participate in a global war game. The game mimics a real war, and is seen as the military olympics. It also serves as practice for combat.

Although this scenario played out in the fantasy-world of television, war games are also apparently played out in real life. Read the following book excerpt [SIDEBAR: It’s a bid of a long read. However, if you are in to analyzing situations; you will have a field day reading it...$250,000,000 spent on a “war game”...Smh.]:

“The Pentagon was in the earliest stages of planning for a war game that they were calling Millennium Challenge ‘02. It was the largest and most expensive war game thus far in history. By the time the exercise was finally staged- in July and early August of 2002, two and a half years later- it would end up costing a quarter of a billion dollars, which is more than some countries spend on their entire defense budget. According to the Millennium Challenge scenario, a rogue military commander had broken away from his government somewhere in the Persian Gulf and was threatening to engulf the entire region in war...

The group that runs war games for the U.S. military is called the Joint Forces Command, or, as it is better known, JFCOM. JFCOM occupies two rather nondescript low-slung concrete buildings at the end of a curving driveway in Suffolk, Virginia, a few hours’ drive south and east of Washington, D.C. Just before the entrance to the parking lot, hidden from the street, is a small guard hut. A chain-link fence rings the perimeter. There is a Wal-Mart across the street. Inside, JFCOM looks like a very ordinary office building, with conference rooms and rows of cubicles and long, brightly lit carpetless corridors. The business of JFCOM, however, is anything but ordinary. JFCOM is where the Pentagon tests new ideas about military organization and experiments with new military strategies.

Planning for the war game began in earnest in the summer of 2000. JFCOM brought together hundreds of military analysts and specialists and software experts. In war game parlance, the United States and its allies are always known as Blue Team, and the enemy is always known as Red Team, and JFCOM generated comprehensive portfolios for each team, covering everything they would be expected to know about their own forces and their adversary’s forces. For several weeks leading up to the game, the Red and Blue forces took part in a series of ‘spiral’ exercises that set the stage for the showdown. The rogue commander was getting more and more belligerent, the United States more and more concerned.

In late July, both sides came to Suffolk and set up shop in the huge, windowless rooms known as test bays on the first floor of the main JFCOM building. Marine Corps, air force, army, and navy units at various military bases around the country stood by to enact the commands of Red and Blue Team brass. Sometimes when Blue Team fired a missile or launched a plane, a missile actually fired or a plane actually took off, and whenever it didn’t, one of forty-two separate computer models simulated each of these actions so precisely that the people in the war room often couldn’t tell it wasn’t real. The game lasted for two and a half weeks. For future analysis, a team of JFCOM specialists monitored and recorded every conversation, and a computer kept track of every bullet fired and missile launched and tank deployed. This was more than an experiment. As became clear less than a year later- when the United States invaded a Middle Eastern state with a rogue commander who had a strong ethnic power base and was thought to be harboring terrorists- this was a full dress rehearsal for war.

The stated purpose of Millennium Challenge was for the Pentagon to test a set of new and quite radical ideas about how to go to battle. In Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the United States had routed the forces of Saddam Hussein in Kuwait. But that was an utterly conventional kind of war: two heavily armed and organized forces meeting and fighting in an open battlefield. In the wake of Desert Storm, the Pentagon became convinced that that kind of warfare would soon be an anachronism: no one would be foolish enough to challenge the United States head-to-head in pure military combat. Conflict in the future would be diffuse. It would take place in cities as often as on battlefields, be fueled by ideas as much as by weapons, and engage cultures and economies as much as armies. As one JFCOM analyst puts it: ‘The next war is not just going to be military on military. The deciding factor is not going to be how many tanks you kill, how many ships you sink, and how many planes you shoot down. The decisive factor is how you take apart your adversary’s system. Instead of going after war-fighting capability, we have to go after war-making capability. The military is connected to the economic system, which is connected to their cultural system, to their personal relationships. We have to understand the links between all those systems.’

With Millennium Challenge, then, Blue Team was given greater intellectual resources than perhaps any army in history. JFCOM devised something called Operational Net Assessment, which was a formal decision-making tool that broke the enemy down into a series of systems- military, economic, social, political- and created a matrix showing how all those systems were interrelated and which of the links among the systems were the most vulnerable. Blue Team’s commanders were also given a tool called Effects-Based Operations, which directed them to think beyond the conventional military method of targeting and destroying an adversary’s military assets. They were given a comprehensive, real-time map of the combat situation called the Common Relevant Operational Picture (CROP). They were given a tool for joint interactive planning. They were given an unprecedented amount of information and intelligence from every corner of the U.S. government and a methodology that was logical and systematic and rational and rigorous. They had every toy in the Pentagon’s arsenal.

‘We looked at the full array of what we could do to affect our adversary’s environment- political, military, economic, societal, cultural, institutional. All those things we looked at very comprehensively,’ the commander of JFCOM, General William F. Kernan, told reporters in a Pentagon press briefing after the war game was over, ‘There are things that the agencies have right now that can interrupt people’s capabilities. There are things that you can do to disrupt their ability to communicate, to provide power to their people, to influence their national will...to take out power grids.’ Two centuries ago, Napoleon wrote that ‘a general never knows anything with certainty, never sees his enemy clearly, and never knows positively where he is.’ War was shrouded in fog. The point of Millennium Challenge was to show that, with the full benefit of high-powered satellites and sensors and super-computers, that fog could be lifted...

On the opening day of the war game, Blue Team poured tens of thousands of troops into the Persian Gulf. They parked an aircraft carrier battle group just offshore of Red Team’s home country...With the full weight of its military power in evidence.” - From, “Blink” By: Malcolm Gladwell

How Some Of America's Institutions Were Founded...

“For the Browns, wealth led to greater power, and John Brown became a congressman representing Rhode Island; fellow slave trader James De Wolf represented the state as a senator. Profit from the trade brought the trappings of wealth. When former President John Quincy Adams visited the Browns’ home he called it ‘the most magnificent and elegant mansion that I have ever seen on this continent.’ Today the house still stands at Fifty-Two Power Street in Providence, where it is operated by the Rhode Island Historical Society, which would like the family’s slave trading mentioned as little as possible.

The fact that the Brown family fortune was made in the slave trade is a matter of historical record. In August 1797 John Brown became the first American to be tried in federal court for violating the Slave Trade Act. Brown’s legal maneuvers and favors from cohorts did not save him from reaching the court, as his brother Moses was the person pressing charges. Moses had seen firsthand the horrors of the slave ship and subsequently quit the family business and became its greatest opponent. His efforts stopped the importation of slaves into Rhode Island, and he helped enact a federal law against it. A bill freeing children of slaves and completely banning the trade would have succeeded, but William Bradford of Bristol removed the clause on the ban. His rum business depended on the slave trade. The business of his son-in-law, James De Wolf, depended on in more. John Brown died in 1803, before the trade was banned forever.

The profits from the slave trade helped the Brown family reach immortality. Near the Power Street hose stands Brown University. Because the Browns were such great benefactors, the school originally known as Rhode Island College showed the family the ultimate gratitude by changing its name to Brown University. Although Brown University is the great monument to the profits of the Browns’ slave trade, a lesser known monument to John Brown is the Fleet Financial Group of New England. Brown was one of the founders in 1791 when it was called the Providence Bank. It merged with Samuel Colt’s creation, the Industrial Trust, and underwent a name change to Industrial National Bank. In 1982, the Rhode Island bank changed its name again to Fleet Financial. Finally it merged with the Bank of Boston to become the seventh largest financial holding company in the United States.” -From, “Secret Societies of America’s Elite” By: Steven Sora

The Inauguration Speech

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

[SOURCE: The New York Daily News]

It's Official

In what may be the best look for America since its inception, a man who has inspired hope in so many is the 44th President of The United States.

In what may be deemed the most realistic, get down-to-business victory speech ever, Obama mapped out what we as Americans have to work towards in order to enhance the betterment of this country. He stressed that this election win was not about him solely, but about we the people.

To the people, Obama proclaimed, "I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you."

Here's to the reverberating optimism that says, "Yes, we can!"

Will The Constitution Survive 2008?

We are in an era where we are constantly seeing our protective civil laws being obliterated. As imperfect and treacherous as the founding of this country was, there has always been hope lying in the words of our founding documents. The hope has been that one day we would live up to the ideals written in some of our original laws. How can we make a valiant attempt of achieving this goal, when the basic liberties that would protect us and encourage us to perform such a herculean task are being snatched away from us by the "people in power."

The human rights that were written into the Constitution are being steadily plucked off with the passage of bills like the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act of 2008.

Infringing on someone's human rights is equivalent to attempting to damage an individual's God-given rights.

There is power in the Constitution (With the exception of the “Three Fifths Compromise” travesty- but that's another blog post for another day). It is our legal protection as American citizens. Yet the supposed "leaders of American citizens," are the very ones who are killing off our protective shield in a sinister act of friendly fire.

It seems like the role that the Constitution was supposed to play on our world's stage has been preempted by a greedy grab for power that is detrimental to ALL (including the people who are provoking this demise of civil rights).

Here is a precise and informative overview of the intended function of the constitution: “Constitutional law doesn’t address relations among individuals the way property, contract, and tort law do. Instead, it defines the structure and function of the government and the relationships between the government and individual citizens. It also defines the relative powers of the national government and the state governments and prohibits the government from taking certain actions, such as those that infringe on freedom of religion. In defining the limiting government powers, constitutional law is superior to every other body of law. The Constitution proclaims itself to be “the supreme Law of the Land.” Any state or federal law on any topic- contracts, criminal punishment, election contributions, or public schools- that conflicts with the Constitution is invalid.” -From: Law 101 By: Jay M. Feinman

Circular Logic- This Doesn't Fly!

The new American Passport is comprised of an electronic chip and a wireless antennae. The American Government has reasoned that in the shadow of the 9/11 tragedy, tracking devices should be inserted into all passports in order to avoid counterfeiting by terrorists who hail from overseas. The irony is that the American Government Printing Office (The GPO), has hired foreign companies to manufacture these sensitive devices and place them into passport sleeves. The sleeves are then shipped to America where data is added. Some deem this to be a threat to national security.

Certain members of congress are opposed to this outsourcing, stating that it makes America extremely vulnerable to terrorists abroad (the very problem that the passport chips are supposed to alleviate). The Government's rebuttal is that the companies they have hired, have all been inspected. The GPO feels that these companies are safe. However, the Washington Times reports that one of the contracted companies has already fell victim to Chinese espionage. Still, the GPO further justifies its position by saying that America doesn't have the technology to produce the new passports on their homeland.

In conjunction with the safety risks, outsourcing such a lucrative job during an economic downturn seems to be perilous to American Citizens. The easy solution to this simmering debate, would be to train American workers to manufacture these passports. This would increase safety, and infuse revenue into the American economy- a simple win-win.

Being #2 Is Never Any Fun

Hillary Clinton announced that she would be happy to have Barack Obama run on her ticket with her as a Vice President. How gracious of her. The only glitch in her plan is that Mr. Obama is the forerunner in their current competition for the democratic nomination. This ploy may be a tactic to try to confuse voters into thinking that they can get a 2 for 1 democratic deal.

According to the BBC website, Barack Obama rebuffed Mrs. Clinton's assertions by stating: "I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to somebody who is first place...I don't want anybody thinking that somehow 'well, you know know, maybe I can get both.' Don't think that way. You have to make a choice in this election...I'm not running for vice president. I am running for president of the United States of America."

[SIDEBAR: Mrs. Clinton might have tried a more potent trick by resurrecting Bill Clinton; suggesting him as her possible 2nd in command...just an idea...after all turnabout is fair play...lol. Then again, maybe he's holding steady for a possible cabinet position. I guess we'll have to wait and see.]

Does Barack Obama = David Palmer?

I'm not an avid TV watcher (In fact I don't even currently own one), so I'm about 7 years late on this whole 24 Series featuring Kiefer Sutherland. My friend from high school constantly raves about this show, so I finally picked up the first two seasons on DVD.

[MY CAVEAT: Because I'm only two seasons in, my analysis may be a little premature, but...here it goes...]

David Palmer, the U.S. Presidential character on the show is my idea of a perfect president. He has unwavering integrity, he is decisive, he exhibits grace under fire, he's knowledgeable and intellectual, and he's an independent thinker who considers all the options. Bottom line: This character has character. Even though he's fictionalized, I would like to have a commander-in-chief this great. [SIDEBAR: Don't spoil it for me if this character somehow takes a wayward turn- like I said, I'm only 2 seasons in].

Watching the 24 DVDs this weekend, led me to ponder: "Can the popular, likely democratic candidate (He won Wyoming this weekend) Barack Obama be as great a president as the fictionalized David Palmer? If the answer is affirmative, I really look forward to the next four years.

We're Going To Pay For This In More Ways Than One

According to a new book written by a Nobel Prize winning economist, a conservative estimate of the cost of America's war for 2008 will be $12 Billion (yes that's billion with a "B") per month (multiply that by 12 for all you math fanatics). Once again, this is a conservative estimate.

As an American citizen, I fear the repercussions of such treachery and waste. This doesn't even count the lives lost and the families affected.

[Source: www.cnn.com. Click here for full article.]

I Thought Water Was Supposed To Be Synonymous With Purity

CNN's website is reporting that U.S. drinking water contains some surprising elements. Water sources in many major U.S. cities is made up of more than just your average H2O.

An associated press study found a diverse group of pharmaceuticals in the American water system. Drugs and medicines including: antibiotics, mood stabilizers, codeine, and caffeine were found. Also, various types of hormones were proven to be present.

In Philadelphia, 56 different types of drugs and pharmaceuticals were discovered in the city's drinking water.

Scientists claim that the traces of the cocktails of drugs that are being found in the American water supply are small. However, the long term effects of drinking, and being exposed, to such contamination has yet to be reported.

According to www.cnn.com, "The federal government doesn't require testing, and hasn't set safety limits for drugs in water." Just a thought, maybe the government should take a small fraction of their war budget to ensure that our "8 glasses a day" isn't killing us softly.

Lockdown America Part 1

Last week, the Pew Foundation released a report regarding their findings on the rate of incarceration in America. According to the report, the U.S. incarceration rate is at an all time high. The numbers are staggering. The statistics are as follows:

• At the start of 2008, 2.32 million adults were in prison.
• 1 out of every 99 adults are currently incarcerated.
• 1 out of 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 are in prison.
• 1 out of 9 Black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are incarcerated.
• 1 out of 15 Hispanic men between the ages of 20 and 34 are incarcerated.

South African Apartheid vs. American Racism

Wikipedia defines apartheid as: "A system of legalized racial segregation enforced by the National Party (NP) South African government between 1948 and 1994. It arose from a longer history of settler rule and Dutch and British colonialism." America's social ideals have also not been exempt from the effects of colonialism. Hence, the prevalence of racism throughout American History. Although we can optimistically hope that the irrationality of racial hatred has been diagnosed and is being cured, recent shocking events on the continents of Africa and America sadly shows otherwise.
Yesterday, a video which was recorded at the University of Free State in South Africa surfaced. In this disturbing video, several White students from the university allegedly forced five Black elderly university employees to perform humiliating acts; this included forcing the Black elders to eat food that was urinated on. The supposed motivation for this criminal abuse was a protest by the White students to oppose the university's integrating Black and White students in residential dorms.

In response to the horrendous video, Black students and university employees have handed over a list of demands to university administrators. According to the BBC website: "The university says it has begun procedures to suspend the students allegedly implicated in the video, and says the alleged victims have received psychological support." This is a weak response to such an inhumane act.

On the homefront, the Megan Williams case is slowly winding its way through the American court system. This case involves a 20 year old African American woman who was kidnapped in the Summer of 2007, tortured, raped, and forced to eat animal feces- while being called racial slurs. While sexual abuse victims usually exercise their right to remain anonymous, Ms. Williams and her family decided to reveal her identity in order to put a human face on this unconscionable crime. However, the lack of media attention involving this situation begs to ask where the concern is on the journalistic front. There is also a question of fairness in the arena of justice. Megan Williams' family feels slighted that the prosecutor is not demanding harsher penalties.

We'll see what happens as the repercussions from these two heinous events evolve. The manner in which these two events are resolved will be telling about how far we have advanced when it comes to racial ethics.

Obama vs. Clinton: Foreign Policy

The '08 presidential campaign is hot and heavy, and it has been for some time now. Thanks to the quest for the democratic ticket, this has to be one of the most compelling elections ever. It's definitely a historic event- with the possibility of America seeing either its first Black president or its first woman president. Although the race/gender factor is groundbreaking, in my eyes it plays the back burner to the other factors that make this race exciting.

For one, everybody loves a good cliffhanger. It's enticing to watch the democratic race unfold when the media is announcing that there is no clear forerunner. Also, neither candidate is debate-shy. The verbal jousting is becoming more and more frequent as we come closer to the wire. Yesterday, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton held their second debate in less than a week.

During these debates, Hillary Clinton seems to be oft mentioning her opinion that Obama lacks experience when it comes to foreign policy. She feels that her tenure as first lady and New York Senator makes her the more experienced candidate in this area. I for one find this a weak argument.

How can one exactly be "experienced" in foreign policy. In a rapidly changing international political climate, "experience" seems to be close to impossible to grasp. To me, foreign policy is a change-by-the-minute, no rules apply type of arena. Only a great thinker with the most sincere game face will even be able to correspond with foreign leaders (If you haven't heard, America's not too popular with the international crowd). I think that Barack Obama holds the trump card with this.

Also, we can look back on the track record of America's past Presidents when it comes to foreign policies. Even the Presidents who touted themselves to be great international diplomats failed miserably. Eisenhower and Russia, Truman and China, Kennedy and Cuba (Oy vey...lol)- the list goes on.

Who can possibly navigate the quagmire that is international politics? My best bet is on a leader who is willing to sit down and talk with other leaders, to at the very least get a "lay of the land." Due to the fact that this is Obama's very plan, he most definitely has my vote (for this and other reasons as well).

SIDEBAR: "Charity starts at home." Can America please deal with America first!

CURRENTLY READING: "Command Of Office: How War, Secrecy, and Deception Transformed the Presidency from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush" By: Stephen Graubard

Is It America vs. China In A Tug Of War For Africa's Oil?

Throughout history, natural-resource rich Africa has been pillaged for her goods. The most recent international discussion concerning Africa's oil resources, involves the intentions of two nations who are often considered to be rivals- America and China.

When it comes to the mad dash grab for African oil, the question has arisen whether or not it is a venture in which the U.S. and China are "partners or rivals." If they are in fact partners, then the question emerges of whether or not Africa will be able to survive the tag team efforts of two of the wealthiest, militaristic nations on the globe to obtain their "liquid gold."

The BBC website recently reported U.S. President George Bush's take on the Africa, China, U.S. oil triumvirate. On what is noted to likely be President Bush's last tour of Africa during his final term in office, he addressed the African oil situation during a news conference. According to the BBC website, George Bush stated that: "He believed there was room for both countries to invest in Africa 'without creating a great sense of competition.' "

The aftermath of the effects of this "investment" on the African social climate remains to be seen. However with the current state of war in the Sudan, we can begin to draw the parallels. Stay tuned for more...