A very good 4 part series on race, class and opportunity done by the Real News Network.   Part 1 is below.

The Central Intelligence Agency is refusing to release a series of key documents about its secret prison and torture program. The announcement came in response to a court-imposed deadline in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The CIA says releasing information on its so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” would jeopardize national security by exposing classified intelligence sources and methods. The refusal comes one week after the Justice Department released a previously classified CIA report on torture at overseas prisons and launched a probe into the conduct of CIA interrogators. The investigation has been criticized for focusing on low-level operatives and not the Bush administration officials who authorized the practices the operatives carried out.

The documents that the CIA wants kept under wraps could provide a wealth of information on the Bush administration’s role. The documents include President George W. Bush’s September 2001 authorization for jailing CIA prisoners abroad, cables between CIA officials in the secret prisons and their superiors in Washington, and memos by CIA lawyers on the operations’ legality. Alex Abdo of ACLU’s National Security Project said, “The Obama administration must…release all crucial documents that would shed further light on the origins and scope of the Bush administration’s torture program. The American public has a right to know the full truth about the torture that was committed in its name.”

OK, one thing is for sure, I won’t be visiting Moscow anytime soon.  This is crazy.  I had no clue Moscow was a hot bed for racism.  I had a roommate that was from Russia, he never mentioned this, always said things like Moscow would be a great place to visit.  Sorry Russia, you guys need to get your act together before I visit there.  If I can’t walk the street no chance in hell you’ll see me.

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Many African students in Moscow are afraid to go outside

BBC reported that nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia’s capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.

Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack, according to the report by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy.

A quarter of 200 people surveyed said they had been assaulted more than once. Some 80% had been verbally abused.

But the number of assaults was down from the MPC’s last survey in 2002.

The report’s clear conclusion was that Africans living in Russia exist in a state of virtual siege, says the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Moscow.

Extreme violence

Many of the African respondents said they:

• Avoided using the Moscow metro
• Were also careful to avoid crowded public places
• Did not go out on Russian national holidays or on days when there were football matches

Many of the attacks on Africans were pre-meditated and extremely violent, the report found.

One Nigerian migrant interviewed by the BBC had been repeatedly stabbed in the back and then shot.

Another man said his attacker had attempted to remove his scalp.

Officially there are some 10,000 Africans living in Moscow, but far more are believed to live there illegally – many as economic migrants.

The Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy is an English-speaking interdenominational Christian congregation that has ministered to Moscow’s foreign community since 1962.

What should we do about this in the world of sports for this type of situation?  I’m not sure what the technical term for this type of situation if she is not 100% a female.  I mean Lady Gaga is a hermaphrodite.  Is Caster Semenya one too??  Ohh I’m so confused.  I found some information online trying to educate myself, but I’m not even sure if hermaphrodite is the right term.  Maybe she just took drugs to increase her hormones…who the hell knows??

I found the below online…but I’m not sure if this applies to Caster or not…

There are 3 labels of Hermaphrodites: True, Male pseudo and Female Pseudo. All are equally genuine.

TRUE

A person born with both ovary and testicular tissue, this could be 2 separate gonads ( one of each) or a combination of both in one (an ovotestes). The genitalia can vary from completely male or female, to a combination of both or even ambiguous looking. The chromosome (karotype) compliment can be XX (female), XY (male), XX/XY (mosiac) or even XO (extremely rare). Those XX with female genitalia are raised female ( some have even given birth). Those XY with male genitalia are raised male ( a few have fathered children). The children born XX/XY or XO (with genitalia male or female are raised in the sex they look most like) ,Those born with ambiguous genitalia have many medical tests for the doctors to determine which sex they should be assigned. Doctors then recommend early surgery to make the child look physically like the sex assigned to them.

CAUSES
The causes are not known, The medical community does know this is a very rare condition but do not have accurate figures to how many people have this condition (depending on the literature between 350-450 known cases).

FEMALE PSEUDO

A person born XX with normal female internal organs but with “masculanized” genitalia. They can appear more male then female or a combination of each.

CAUSES
The most common is Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) it occurs approximately 1:14,000 births.This is when the adrenal glands overproduce testosterone. It also has been recorded that some persons with this disorder had been exposed to progesterone-like drugs before they were born.

MALE PSEUDO

A person born XY with testes (usually in the abdominal cavity). The external genitalia are usually female but can be ambiguous.

CAUSES
The most common cause is Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). This is when the body doesn’t respond to the androgen being produced. There are different variations: Complete (CAIS) , and Partial (PAIS). This condition has a variety of names and occurrence rates..

Go home and cut the grass??  Did you hear that one one guy say that?  I don’t know what to call these people, Nationalists?  Racists?  White supremacist?  Humm I think I would prefer to call them white supremacist.

White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance of whites. White supremacy, as with racial supremacism in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony. It is associated with varying degrees of racism and a desire for racial separation. White supremacy has often resulted in anti-black racism and antisemitism. Different forms of white supremacy have different conceptions of who is considered white, and not all white supremacist organizations agree on who is their greatest enemy.

The FBI has agreed to investigate the beating of an African American man by Minneapolis police officers earlier this year. Derryl Jenkins was arrested in February after he was pulled over for speeding. Video of the arrest show a group of officers kicking and punching Jenkins while he was being held face down in the snow. A taser is used at one point during the arrest. Charges have since been dropped against Jenkins, but no disciplinary action has been taken against the officers involved.

Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi reacted angrily to her conviction

World leaders have reacted with anger and disappointment at the conviction of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating security laws.

The UN called for her immediate release after she was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest – where she has spent 14 of the past 20 years.

The US, the European Union, Britain and France were among those who condemned the verdict.

However, trading partners China and India have made no public comment.

Ms Suu Kyi was on trial for allowing a US national, John Yettaw, into her lakeside home after he swam there uninvited. Mr Yettaw was jailed for seven years, including four years of hard labour.

Keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under arrest… does not serve the proclaimed national interest Ton van Lierop EU spokesman Burmese reaction International reaction Profile: John Yettaw Putting pressure on Burma

Critics of Burma’s military regime say the verdict is designed to prevent Ms Suu Kyi from taking part in elections scheduled for 2010.

‘Sham trial’

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said he “strongly deplores” the verdict and called for Ms Suu Kyi to be freed.

“Unless she and all other political prisoners in Myanmar [Burma] are released and allowed to participate in free and fair elections, the credibility of the political process will remain in doubt,” he said.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the verdict.

The UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, said Ms Suu Kyi was “absolutely indispensable to the resumption of a political process that can lead to national reconciliation”.

A must watch about Healthcare companies, Republicans and Democrats trying to destroy the Public Option of Healthcare.  Don’t believe them!

PBS pointed out that the health and insurance industries are spending more than a million, 400 thousand dollars a day, just to destroy the “public option” – the truly non-profit, wieldy, round-up and not round-down, government, from helping you pay your medical bills with about a billionth of the recklessness with which it is still paying Halliburton and its spinoffs to kill your kids. And much of this money is going to, and through, Republicans.  But that’s the real point tonight.
Not all of it is going through Republicans…