Message From CWA: Verizon Strike

My mother & her fellow CWA workers at Verizon would like me to get this message out.

Who we are and why we're out here

Thanks for taking the time to read about who we are.

We are the unionized workers of Verizon. We install and maintain both the traditional copper services and the fiber optic network based Fios; and it's associated services, such as high speed Internet & television programming.

This strike is not due to "greedy union workers", as some would lead you to believe, his strike is the result of a multi-billion dollar corporation thumbing it's nose at the workers, who have been productive and instrumental in allowing Verizon to reap and maintain BILLIONS of dollars in profit. We do not work for a cash-strapped municipality or in an industry in need of a government bailout. We work for a company who, even in this economy, has made BILLIONS of dollars in profit.

As a unionized workforce, we have been able to negotiate and fight for decent pay and benefits in exchange for our hard work. It is important that you know we were not given these things, we earned them. We have worked in adverse, and often, dangerous conditions and we have been on strike numerous times.

As our contract with Verizon expired, the unions involved attempted to negotiate, in good faith, as partners in a bargaining and negotiation of a new & fair contract. Verizon, however, felt that the time was ripe and the economy was bad enough to force our hands and REFUSE TO EVEN COME TO THE TABLE AND BARGAIN AS THE CONTRACT EXPIRED. We didn't walk out the door, we were pushed.

Verizon has forced us to fight, so that we can raise our families and pay our bills and taxes with the help of a decent paying job. We hope that you can show us some support, with a fist pump or a wish of good luck. Perhaps you could delay that Verizon Wireless visit until our strike is over, but if not - we understand. If you need a Verizon service call, perhaps you could tell them that you want a unionized worker from your community to perform it. If you don't wish to show your support, we are sorry for any convenience our struggle causes you. If you could show your support for us, it would be greatly appreciated.

CWA

He's Either In(sane) or Out (of his mind)!

For a long time (almost eight years), I've been under the impression that President George W. Bush is an idiot. But I've been watching "The Batman" hard and reading back issues of "Batman", and I've decided that President Bush may well be a diabolical madman. See, in the "Batman Universe", the character of the Joker is a "violent sociopath who murders people for his own amusement". The Joker first appeared as a "court-jester" type of villian, a corny criminal that failed at numerous attempts to commit acts of evil. This parallels President Bush, in the way that the President was a failure in college and a horrible excuse for a soldier in the Texas National Guard. But as time went on and the Joker got revamped, to become a central figure in the "Batman Universe", he becomes more of a diabolical sociopath. The Joker begans to put more thought in his schemes while still being seen as a "side-show clown". The gags and jokes become a little more adult, and while still maintaining his facade as a prankster. Yet again, this parallels George W. Bush as a businessman and governor of Texas. He still fails at his dealings and policies in his current positions, yet he still seems to have matured into a child of prestige, a son of royalty, and represents his family ties without too much embarassment. Just like the fictional Joker, Governor George W. Bush is a clown prince, a stratigical dummy, the only difference is their respective sides of the law (even though, in my opinion, both are criminals). In the world of DC Comics, the Joker loses his mind, and becomes a complete lunatic, at this time he is at his most cunning. He decieves the entire world into believing he has lost every marble in his bag or that he has completely fell off his metaphorical rocker. The Joker goes on a rampage, he tries to kill, the then president, Lex Luthor, he tricks the rest of the super villian community into doing his bidding, and he steals Mister Mxyzptlk's reality altering powers and changes the world into a crazy caricature of reality. During this whole time, the Joker is believed to be an insane idiot, but eventually it is revealed that the Joker isn't as crazy or dumb as he appears to be. It is later shown that in actuallity, the Joker is a case of a previously unprecedented form of "super-sanity," a form of ultra-sensory perception. In the world that we exist in, George W. Bush, an self-proclaimed "under-acheiver", wins an election that most would say, he didn't actually win. After being given the key to the kingdom, he starts on a path that makes almost everybody in the world see him as an incompetant idiot. Similar to the Joker, he alters reality to fit his need. The actual reasoning for the war in Iraq, the Fight on Terror, have not been found yet. But, President Bush has given numerous reasons, all that have been some sort of distortion on the actual reality. At every press conference or State of the Union, the President has came off as a illiterate, uneducated, near-insane, idiot. But if you actually delve deeper into his two terms as president, he managed to kill an enemy (sort of) of his father, he managed to make billions of dollars for his friends' businesses, give his coherts positions of power, and aid in the destruction of a major city (in the words of Kanye West "George Bush doesn't like black people). For an incoherent, discordant, ignoramus, he has accomplished a numerous amount of deeds for him and his syndicate. Just like the Joker was found out to be a cunning genious in the guise of a psychotic clown, President Bush may well be a cunning genious in the guise of a moronic clown. President George W. Bush may actually be the most diabolical super-villian outside of a comic book, think about.

When I think of our current Commander and Chief, I am reminded of "Enter the Dragon". Remember when Jim Kelly faces Mr. Han on the island, the words still echo in my head, "Man, you come right out of a comic book".

Peace, I mean WAR!

A Modern Day Lynching(Another reason for black people to hate Lousiana!)

I wanted to write a blog entry, but I couldn't find a topic. So today as usual, I was going through the Hip-Hop blogs. I went to AllHipHop.com to check out the rumors of the day. I came across a video about the "Jena Six". I've heard the story breifly on CNN before, but like probably most of America outside of Jena, LA, I wasn't too familiar with the full story. So I decided to dedicate my reentry into blogging with an entry about the "Jena Six". So read the backstory, check out the videos, and if you care, sign the petition, write a letter, call a congressperson. This is 2007, and we still have to deal with things like this. After FEMA's response to the struggling African American's in New Orleans, LA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana solidifies it's hatred for Black people.

In September 2006, a group of African American highschool students in Jena, LA, asked the schoolfor permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shadetree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn'tsit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't carewhere students sat. The next day, students arrived atschool to see three nooses (in school colors) hangingfrom the tree. (Please note, the tree above is not thetree, but a tree at Jena High School.)

click the link below for the rest of the story:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml

This is probably the only nationally televised newsreport on the "Jena Six".CNN coverage

Here's a petition for the review of the events of the"Jena Six".
http://www.petitiononline.com/aZ51CqmR/petition.html

Peace, I mean WAR!(and I really mean that now!)

What Lies Beneath!

So I'm watching television the other day and my show is interrupted for breaking news, a slaughter on the Virginia Tech campus (my prayers go out to the friends and family). I feel sad for the victims in this senseless tragedy, but it also made me question the minds of the American public. What is a life actually worth and who does this person have to be for me to mourn them. We all know that over 30 people died on the Virginia Tech campus, but do we know that at the sames time over 100 people were being slaughtered in Iraq. Are we saying that an American life is worth more than a life anywhere else in the world, aren't we all humans. Before I alienate anymore readers, I'm going to move onto the lying ass American government. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sat in front of congressional panel and stumbled over his words, claiming to remember nothing, and taking responsibility for nothing. Senator John McCain claimed that it was safe to walk outside of the "green zone" in Baghdad (even though he was escorted by 100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunship's overhead). Eleven days later, a suicide bomber killed 8 in the Iraqi Parliament, which is station in Baghdad's heavily guarded "green zone". And the worst of them is President George W. Bush, the idiot who stood on an aircraft carrier in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner, proclaiming that the battle was won. For months before that, he led the country through various made-up reasons for invading and occupying Iraq, all the reasons turned out to be false (except the one about Saddam trying to kill his daddy). And for the past 4 years, American troops have been in danger because this man has continually lied to them and the American public. In one instance he says that Democrats in Congress are keeping troops in Iraq because they won't fund this idiotic war, and in the next instance he extends deployment lengths and keeps troops in Iraq. According to the self described "Bushies", the American public doesn't see the big picture, we don't see that hundreds of years down the road (after we're all dead from Global Warming) this will be seen as the smartest move any president has ever made. How many lives have to be taken for these idiots to see the truth, how much closer to one percent does Bush's approval rating have to be until somebody stops these madmen, what does it take for the American public to stand up and say we're not going to let these assholes drive us off that cliff. President Abraham Lincoln (the guy that freed the slaves so that they could pay taxes, fuck us either way) said at the Gettysburg Address, "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.". At the end of this war (or whatever they want to call it), will we be able to say that these dead did not die in vain, will this nation ever again have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? What will your children's lives be worth, and their children, and so forth?

Peace, I mean WAR!

If you claiming gangsta, bang on the system!

This morning I was feeling adventurous in my usual research and I stumbled upon Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber (check the pic). I was browsing through articles and sites about "terrorist" (anybody banging on the system), and it led me to Ted K.. For anybody that is not familiar with Teddy K., he sent I.E.D.'s (Improvised Explosive Devices) through the mail from 1978 to 1996 (his brother snitched on him, Sean don't fail my revolution). Now I don't agree with what Teddy K. did (if he actually was the only one responsible), his killings had no actual reasoning (most killings don't anyway). But I did take a deeper look into his manifesto, and he made a couple of valid points on the downfall of society. The manifesto went over various topics, including leftism, inferiority complexes, human suffering, race relations, the correlation of technological advances and the regression of society, revolution versus reform, etc. I read the manifest of a so-called psycho and a lot of it made sense to me. It reminded me of debates I used to have with people about the Palestinians, Lebanese, and other Arab states that are fighting for some reason that is obviously beyond "patriotic" Americans understanding. In the Air Force, they used to call me un-American because I'm a Muslim (kind of), I disagree with most of America's policies and I empathize with people outside of the borders of America. I ask, is it unpatriotic of me to understand why slaves want freedom, or poor people want money, or famished people want food, or homeless people want shelter. Does that make me unpatriotic or human? Because I can understand what Theodore Kaczynski was trying to express in his manifesto, does that make me a terrorist? Nelson Mandela was a terrorist to the government of South Africa, Malcolm X was a terrorist to the FBI in America, as was Huey, Martin, Bunchy, John F. Kennedy, etc, but now they are seen as freedom fighters and revolutionaries. I wonder in the future, who will be seen as a terrorist and who a revolutionary? Will George W. Bush be forever remembered in the same way as that drag queen J. Edgar Hoover, with a tarnished image? What will history say about the people in this war on "terrorism"? What will history say about me, or YOU? What mark will I leave on society? In closing, even if you do it the wrong way like Teddy K., make sure you make your point before you leave this place. Don't regret a minute that you spent on this Earth, go all out!

Peace, I mean WAR!

30's the new 20, I'm so hot still!

So, I was listening to Hov today, specifically "30 Something". It is a great premise for a song and it also adds to my disdain for niglets. Jay-Z said "I'm from the era where niggas don't snitch / ya'll from the era where snitching is the shit", a well stated point. These niglets don't have respect for the "G Code". Not to romanticize the street life or the hustle, but in the words of Charlie Murphy as Gusto in CB4, "I'm three generations deep in gangster-dom, three generations". A brief history of my lineage is needed at this point, my father was a hustler, my uncle, my aunt's husband (not a good one), my grandmother's husband and numerous other kin. As a youth, I observed the game and learned the parameters and rules of engagement. The eighties and early nineties had rules, those were the years of the "Ten Crack Commandments". But these "Timberland Hustlers", that do it to buy Air Force Ones, they don't live by the same rules. When did going to jail make you a good hustler, staying out of jail means your games on point. Why do these niglets respect the niggas that get shot, that means somebody got the drop on them (again, game not on point). Why are you walking up to me telling me you have weed for sale, learn the rules of supply and demand, the hypes come to you (what are you trying to get indicted?). I know that currently I am breaking one of the rules, "the game is to be sold, not told", but in the words of KRS-One, "you must learn". So if anybody reading this is trying to get their hustle on, respect the game and the game will respect you.

Peace, I mean WAR!