I've Heard That Song Before

Curing Aids and Asthma in Africa

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Jammeh says he has a "mandate" to cure Aids and asthma sufferers Welcome to Gambia. Land of sun, sea, sand and a president who cures Aids.

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Aljazeera - 05/13/07
by Andrew Simmons in Banjul, Gambia

Gambia's faith in miracle cures

Yahya Jammeh is commander in chief of the armed forces, secretary of state for defence and chief custodian of the sacred constitution of Gambia. Now he is a self-styled miracle worker.

He claims that he has a "mandate", handed down by his
father, to cure Aids – as long as it is a Thursday. Asthma sufferers can also be cured, but only on a Saturday. He says:

I get rid of the virus from the body of the human being and that's what I do.

I feel a great burden, a big sense of responsibility … There are people that come in a very bad condition. Knowing that they only have their hope in me, is a big burden. Morally, spiritually and psychologically.

Jammeh has ruled Gambia since seizing power in a military coup in 1994. He was 26 years old at the time. He has won a series of elections since, but is slowly tightening his grip on power. The media are restricted and opposition politicians have reported being harassed.

Queues for cure

Until now, this tiny finger of land in West Africa was best known as a tourist destination for Europeans. But Jammeh's 1.3 million subjects are poor. Fishing and subsistence farming keep them employed.

Like other countries on the continent, Aids looms large in Gambia. About 20,000 people here have HIV, the virus which leads to Aids. Since January, when Jammeh revealed his mandate to cure, he has spent every spare minute healing his people.

Outside Statehouse, the president's home, people wait for hours in the heat until he is ready to see them. And the government seems to have swallowed the president's bizarre - and dangerous – claims. Dr Tamsir Mbowe, Gambia's health minister:

We work with the asthma patients and patients infected with HIV and Aids up till three, four o'clock in the morning.

It is very normal for us, we have the energy, the ability, the capability and the strength to manage these patients. And as time goes on we'll be managing thousands of them.

Herbal remedy

Jammeh's treatment programme uses a secret concoction of ointments, herbs, bananas, peanuts and prayer. Before a patient can receive the presidential treatment for HIV/Aids, they must agree not to take conventional anti-retroviral drugs.

The treatment involves a combination of fruit, nuts herbs and prayer During the treatment, Jammeh takes on the role of doctor – sprinkling the conversation with questions about stomach pains and toilet habits.

A greyish liquid made with herbs in an old water bottle is rubbed into the patient before the final stage of the treatment. These are not the sterile surroundings of your average doctor's surgery. Every step is followed by Gambian television and broadcast to the nation.

Jammeh insists that his recipe remain a secret:

Whether African, Asian or somebody from space, an alien, I will not give it to them. Coca-Cola will not give their recipe to anybody, whether American or non-American.

Criticism

The president's claims have been roundly criticised by health professionals.

"For a disease which is so serious and so devastating and the like of which humankind has never seen before, to make these claims is to trade in on the vulnerability of people," says Professor Jerry Coovadia, holder of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in recognition of his work towards understanding the HIV epidemic.

Jammeh, who holds no medical qualifications, says he does not recognise Coovadia's assessment, calling him a "non entity". He also refuses to allow independent medical verification that people under his care have been cured.

Jammeh envisages turning Gambia in to the Hong Kong of Africa - a free-trading, free-enterprise economy that will greatly improve the standard of living of all Gambians. But his claims of a cure for Aids risk turning his country in to an international laughing stock rather than a respected trading centre. And, more dangerously, his "mandate" to treat the condition threatens the very people he needs to transform the economy.

Website: aljazeera.net

from: "The Cult of Lincoln"
by Greg Loren Durand

A Lover of Vulgar Stories

It is beyond comprehension how a professing Christian, such as Lincoln is said
to have been, would have engaged in the vulgar manner of behavior that he did.

According to William Herndon,

Lincoln could never realize the impropriety of telling vulgar yarns in the presence of a minister of the gospel.

Lincoln's highest delight was to get a rowdy crowd in groceries or on street corners and retell vulgar yarns too coarse to put in print.

A.Y. Ellis, who was a friend of Lincoln's, said,

On electioneering trips Mr. Lincoln told stories which drew the boys after him.
I remember them, but modesty forbids me to repeat them.

Ward Lamon likewise stated,

His humor was not of a delicate quality; it was chiefly exercised in telling and hearing stories of the grossest sort. Mr. Lincoln's habit of relating vulgar yarns (not one of which will bear printing) was restrained by no presence and no occasion.

In a rare moment of honesty, Lincoln-worshipper J.G. Holland wrote:

It is useless for Mr. Lincoln's biographers to ignore this habit; the whole West, if not the whole country, is full of these stories, and there is no doubt at all that he indulged in them with the same freedom that he did in those of a less objectionable character.... Men who knew him throughout all his professional and political life... have said that "he was the foulest in his jests and stories of any man in the country.

Following the bloody battle of Antietam in 1862, the Sussex, New Jersey Statesman [newspaper] published the following account:

We see that many papers are referring to the fact that Lincoln ordered a comic song to be sung upon the battlefield. We have known the facts of the transaction for some time, but have refrained from speaking about them. As the newspapers are stating some of the facts, we will give the whole.

Soon after one of the most desperate and sanguinary battles, Mr. Lincoln visited the Commanding General [George McClellan], who, with his staff, took him over the field, and explained to him the plan of the battle, and the particular places where the battle was most fierce.

At one point the Commanding General said: "Here on this side of the road five hundred of our brave fellows were killed, and just on the other side of the road four hundred and fifty more were killed, and right on the other side of that well five hundred rebels were destroyed. We have buried them where they fell."

"I declare," said the President, "this is getting gloomy; let us drive away." After driving a few rods the President said: "Jack," speaking to his companion [Ward Lamon], "can't you give us something to cheer us up? Give us a song, and a lively one." Whereupon, Jack struck up, as loud as he could bawl, a comic negro song, which he continued to sing while they were riding off from the battle ground, and until they approached a regiment drawn up, when the Commanding General said: "Would it not be well for your friend to cease his song till we pass this regiment? The poor fellows have lost more than half their number. They are feeling very badly, and I should be afraid of the effect it would have on them."

The President asked his friend to stop singing until they passed the regiment.

When this story was told to us we said: "It is incredible, it is impossible, that any man could act so over the fresh-made graves of the heroic dead." But the story is told on such authority we know it to be true. We tell the story now that the people may have some idea of the man elected to be President of the United States.

We have read the alleged and undocumented testimony of Lincoln that he "consecrated his life to Christ" on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. However, despite its uncritical endorsement by Charles Stanley's organization, such is merely a myth drawn from one of the many stories that were fabricated about Lincoln as part of his apotheosis ceremony.

Indeed, it does not coincide with the testimonies of eyewitnesses of Lincoln's conduct at Gettysburg while the ground was still wet from the blood of both Union and Confederate soldiers.

General Donn Piatt, who was present as Lincoln toured the battlefield, referred to Gettysburg as "the field that he shamed with a ribald song."

One observer of Lincoln's lack of respect for those who died for their convictions voiced his disgust in verse:

Abe may crack his jolly jokes / Over bloody fields of battle
While yet the ebbing life tide smokes / From men who die like butchered cattle
And even before the guns grow cold / To pimps and pet Abe cracks his jokes.

Lincoln's last public words were a joke told at the expense of the conquered and devastated Southern people.

In fulfillment of the promise of Psalm 7:11-16, the foul tongue of the reprobate President was forever silenced by the assassin's bullet as he sat in the audience
of -- fittingly -- a comedy play at Ford's Theater in the capital of a country he had destroyed.

Website: crownrights.com

"Sunday Morning Coming Down"
recorded by Johnny Cash

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I'd smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I'd been picking.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playing with a can that he was kicking.
Then I walked across the street and
Caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.
And Lord, it took me back to something that I'd lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it echoed through the canyon
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

Albuquerque Tribune - 05/10/07

Iraq drafts bill saying it wants troops out

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A majority of Iraqi lawmakers have endorsed a bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number of foreign troops already in the country, lawmakers said today.

The legislation was being debated even as U.S. lawmakers were locked in a dispute with the White House over their call to start reducing the size of the U.S. force in Iraq in the coming months.

The Iraqi bill, drafted by a parliamentary bloc loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was signed by 144 members of the 275 member house, according to Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc.

Kavkaz Center - 05/09/07

Nasrallah: "Ruling Bloc is Punishing Lebanese"

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said that the ruling bloc headed by Fouad Saniora is punishing the people for their political choice. Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking Sunday during an interview with the Al-Alam television.

Lebanon and reconstruction

The leader of the resistance said that Hezbollah's strategy is to defend south Lebanon and all of Lebanon in case of any attack.

Frankly speaking, we are not waiting for authorization
from anyone. When the government assumes its responsibility to defend the country, we will become its soldiers.

We will celebrate when the [Israeli] occupied Shebaa Farms return to Lebanon, even if they return it with diplomatic means and I doubt this. But let it be known that in case Lebanon gains back the Farms, it will be because there is resistance in this country,
not because of anyone's smiles or tears.

On reconstruction, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the Waed institution has been commissioned to repair and rebuild residential units, based on a legal accreditation from the owners of these units. He added that this was done away from the media. His eminence assured that the owners will have their homes in a much better condition according to the adopted specifications:

According to the law, if I have a destroyed home, and my house is in fact destroyed, I can authorize someone to go to the Ministry of Displaced, fill the needed application and receive the compensation money.

However this illegal government disabled this law and therefore I have to personally go to the Ministry, fill the application and collect the money. Even though this is not in line with the law, they took this measure just to cause obstruction.

Regardless of the legitimacy of Saniora's government, he will explain this issue on Monday. I hope that he would explain it using figures and I also hope that the people would follow these figures up. For example, let him tell us how many homes need reparation [repair] and how many are totally destroyed. Then let him tell us how he helped, as a government which has money, eight months after the end of the war.

Worth mentioning that all Arab states which said they wanted to help Lebanon have fulfilled their promises and paid money to the Lebanese government. However they [government] are keeping this money while dealing with the reconstruction file on political basis.

The US, Iraq and Iran

There is no doubt that the US administration is facing a deadlock. Any standing in Bush's shoes would know that he has a problem. Moving forward represents a problem and retreating back constitutes another problem.

As to striking Iran, I cannot anticipate a strike because this is unknown. There is an atmosphere of intimidation and its true that there is a psychological war. Even if a strike is being set for Iran, I believe that it would be either a delayed or a frozen step. Bush has no other option but to go back to the Baker-Hamilton report and start talking to Damascus and Tehran.

If he were able to escape scheduling the American withdrawal from Iraq, then let it be. However this does not mean that Bush would not have anything else to do. I believe that the most dangerous thing the American administration will be focusing on in the next stage is sectarian sedition inside and outside Iraq.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that the United States had ordered the Zionist regime to invade Lebanon last summer. The war killed over 1,000 Lebanese civilians and destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure in 34 days.

The Lebanese resistance leader told Alalam in an exclusive interview that Israel went into war with Hezbollah to serve the US ambitions in the Middle East.

Nasrallah said the main challenge facing the Zionist regime is the lack of an intelligent leadership, stressing that Israel is unable to resolve its fundamental problems. He said the recent war report by the Winograd Commission clearly indicates the failure of the Zionist regime in the Lebanon war.
He also said that the US will fail to realize its objectives in the Middle East.

The Palestinian and Lebanese resistance groups as well as Syria and Iran
have foiled the US plots in the region.

Nasrallah said the US has failed to isolate Syria and had to withdraw its plans for a military showdown with Iran from its Middle East agenda. He said that Washington is now working to fuel tension among various Lebanese groups.

Read Article

The Milwaukee Channel - 05/04/07

Talk Show Host Says He's Glad Radio Rival's Mother Is Dead

Milwaukee -- A former alderman and controversial radio talk show host said he's happy the mother of his radio rival is dead.

Michael McGee Sr. made the comments during his radio show on WNOV-AM Thursday morning. Charlie Sykes is a radio talk show host on WTMJ-AM. Sykes' mother, Katherine B. Sykes, died in a house fire Tuesday. The Ozaukee County Coroner said Thursday that Sykes died of smoke inhalation.

McGee's words quickly spread on the Internet as bloggers picked up the story. At least one radio host talked about it on his show Thursday afternoon.

McGee and Sykes have been publicly battling for years, but even in the world of talk radio, some are saying the comments made are extreme.

McGee said on his radio show:

Mother Sykes, she dead. To me it's the vengeance of God. I ain't got no tears. Matter of fact a woman that would have a fool like that deserve whatever is coming her. She raised a sure enough idiot.

My instincts say Charlie Sykes killed his momma, cuz she live out in this big palace in Mequon all isolated. He got tired of waiting for her money.

McGee's comments came about 15 minutes into his show. He went on for about five minutes and then moved on to a different topic, but later in the show a caller asked about it.

"Mike McGee Senior," the caller began, "You really don't mean that, about your enemies families members being dead -- killed."

"Man, you don't think I mean that, man, you out of your mind," McGee replied.

WISN 12 News tried to contact McGee, management from WNOV-AM, and Charlie Sykes' radio station, WTMJ-AM, for comment, but no one returned the station's calls or messages.

An employee at WNOV-AM said they've received a lot of phone calls about McGee's comments and that most listeners are not happy about what was said.

McGee was previously suspended by WNOV-AM in 2004 after using an expletive on the air.

Website: themilwaukeechannel.com

Play: Midi
"The Long Hill"
by Sarah Teasdale, 1884-1933

I must have passed the crest a while ago
And now I am going down --
Strange to have crossed the crest and not to know,
But the brambles were always catching the hem of my gown.

All the morning I thought how proud I should be
To stand there straight as a queen,
Wrapped in the wind and the sun with the world under me --
But the air was dull, there was little I could have seen.

It was nearly level along the beaten track
And the brambles caught in my gown --
But it's no use now to think of turning back,
The rest of the way will be only going down.

Right From The Beginning - 05/01/07

"The Dark Side of Diversity"
by Patrick J. Buchanan

Since the massacre of 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech, the mainstream media have obsessed over the fact the crazed gunman was able to buy a Glock in the state of Virginia.

Little attention has been paid to the Richmond legislators who voted to make “Hokie Nation,” a Middle American campus of 26,000 kids, a gun-free zone where only the madman had a semi-automatic.

Almost no attention has been paid to the fact that Cho Seung-Hui was not an American at all, but an immigrant, an alien. Had this deranged young man who secretly hated us never come here, 32 people would be heading home from Blacksburg for summer vacation.

What was Cho doing here? How did he get in?

Cho was among the 864,000 Koreans here as a result of the Immigration Act of 1965, which threw the nation’s doors open to the greatest invasion in history, an invasion opposed by a majority of our people. Thirty-six million, almost all from countries whose peoples have never fully assimilated in any Western country, now live in our midst. Cho was one of them.

In stories about him, we learn he had no friends, rarely spoke and was a loner, isolated from classmates and roommates. Cho was the alien in Hokie Nation. And to vent his rage at those with whom he could not communicate, he decided to kill in cold blood dozens of us.

What happened in Blacksburg cannot be divorced from what’s been happening to America since the immigration act brought tens of millions of strangers to these shores, even as the old bonds of national community began to disintegrate and dissolve in the social revolutions of the 1960s.

To intellectuals, what makes America a nation is ideas – ideas in the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Gettysburg Address and Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

But documents no matter how eloquent and words no matter how lovely do not a nation make. Before 1970, we were a people, a community, a country. Students would have said aloud of Cho: “Who is this guy? What’s the matter with him?”

Teachers would have taken action to get him help – or get him out.

Since the 1960s, we have become alienated from one another even as millions of strangers arrive every year. And as Americans no longer share the old ties of history, heritage, faith, language, tradition, culture, music, myth or morality, how can immigrants share those ties?

Many immigrants do not assimilate. Many do not wish to. They seek community in their separate subdivisions of our multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual mammoth mall of a nation. And in numbers higher than our native born, some are going berserk here.

The 1993 bombers of the World Trade Center and the killers of 9-11 were all immigrants or illegals. Colin Ferguson, the Jamaican who massacred six and wounded 19 in an anti-white shooting spree on the Long Island Railroad, was an illegal. John Lee Malvo, the Beltway Sniper, was flotsam from the Caribbean.

Angel Resendez, the border-jumping rapist who killed at least nine women, was an illegal alien. Julio Gonzalez, who burned down the Happy Land social club in New York, killing 87, arrived in the Mariel boatlift.

Ali Hassan Abu Kama, who wounded seven, killing one, in a rampage on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, was a Palestinian. As was Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert Kennedy.

The rifleman who murdered two CIA employees at the McLean, Va., headquarters was a Pakistani. When Chai Vang, a Hmong, was told by a party of Wisconsin hunters to vacate their deer stand, he shot six to death. Peter Odighizuwa, the gunman who killed the dean, a teacher and a student at the Appalachian School of Law, was a Nigerian.

Hesham Hadayet, who shot up the El Al counter at LAX, killing two and wounding four, was an Egyptian immigrant. Gamil al-Batouti, the copilot who yelled, “I put my faith in Allah’s hands,” as he crashed his plane into the Atlantic after departing JFK Airport, killing 217, was an Egyptian.

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, the UNC graduate who ran his SUV over nine people on Chapel Hill campus and said he was “thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah,” was an Iranian.

Juan Corona, who murdered 25 people in California to be ranked with the likes of Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, was a Mexican.

Where does one find such facts? On VDARE.com, a website that covers the dark side of diversity covered up by a politically correct media, which seem to believe it is socially unhealthy for us Americans to see any correlation at all between mass migrations and mass murder.

“In our diversity is our strength!” So we are endlessly lectured.

But are we really a better, safer, freer, happier, more united and caring country than we were before, against our will, we became what Theodore Roosevelt called “a polyglot boarding house for the world”?

Website: buchanan.org