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Judicial Watch’s Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politician List

Watchdog group Judicial Watch recently released their Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politician list for 2007. Though I’m a bit perturbed that George Bush and Dick Cheney aren’t included (presumably because they are in the all-time hall of infamy), you may be surprised to see who made the list.

Take special note of how many presidential candidates made the cut. Here they are in alphabetical order:

1. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): In addition to her long and sordid ethics record, Senator Hillary Clinton took a lot of heat in 2007 – and rightly so – for blocking the release of her official White House records. Many suspect these records contain a treasure trove of information related to her role in a number of serious Clinton-era scandals. Moreover, in March 2007, Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint against Senator Clinton for filing false financial disclosure forms with the U.S. Senate (again). And Hillary’s top campaign contributor, Norman Hsu, was exposed as a felon and a fugitive from justice in 2007. Hsu pleaded guilt to one count of grand theft for defrauding investors as part of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.

2. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI): House Judiciary Chairman Conyers of Detroit reportedly repeatedly violated the law and House ethics rules, forcing his staff to serve as his personal servants, babysitters, valets and campaign workers while on the government payroll. While the House Ethics Committee investigated these allegations in 2006, and substantiated a number of the accusations against Conyers, the committee blamed the staff and required additional administrative record-keeping and employee training. Judicial Watch obtained documentation in 2007 from a former Conyers staffer that sheds new light on the activities and conduct on the part of the Michigan congressman, which appear to be at a minimum inappropriate and likely unlawful. Judicial Watch called on the Attorney General in 2007 to investigate the matter. [Is it possible that Conyers’ failure to press for the impeachment of Cheney and Bush has something to do with the skeletons in his own closet?] Continue reading

Nadir Named Michigan Correspondent for MTV’s 2008 Choose or Lose Campaign

On December 20, 2007, MTV announced their collaboration with AP Online Video Network for coverage of the 2008 Elections. As you will see below, they have selected a citizen journalist from each state to file weekly stories from a youth perspective throughout the year. The MTV Michigan correspondent will be funk/soul artist Nadir Omowale.

MTV TAPS 51 STATE-BASED CITIZEN JOURNALISTS FOR
“CHOOSE OR LOSE ’08”

AP Online Video Network & Top Mobile Carriers to Distribute
Weekly “Street Team ’08” Reports

Knight Foundation Grant Helps Power
Mobile Media Election Coverage Experiment

December 20, 2007 – New York, NY – MTV, as part of its Emmy-winning “Choose or Lose” campaign (www.ChooseorLose.com), today unveiled “Street Team ’08”: a specially recruited group of 51 citizen journalists – one from every state and Washington, D.C. – who will cover the 2008 elections from a youth perspective and tailor their reports for mobile devices. The members will contribute weekly, multi-media reports (short form videos, blogs, animation, photos, podcasts) that will be distributed via a soon-to-launch WAP site, MTV Mobile, Think.MTV.com and to the more than 1,800 sites in the Associated Press Online Video Network. Carefully selected by MTV after an extensive nationwide search, the one-of-a-kind press corps will be armed with mobile media like laptops, video cameras and cell phones, and charged with uncovering the untold political stories that matter most to young people in their respective states. Continue reading

Is That What You Wanted?! – New Music from Nadir

Montage by Christopher Land

New music by Nadir
Click HERE to Listen, Download and Share

Is That What You Wanted?!
(c) 2007 (Mitchell, Omowale)

Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!

Iraqi oil underneath the sand…
An endless search for weapons has began.
NeoConservatives are on the take,
And I’m still waiting on my yellowcake.

Call 9-11 there’s some fishy shit
Goin’ on, goin’ on, goin’ on.
All our surpluses turned to deficits
And all the money’s gone over there and here at home, yeah.

Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!

The flood is rising from the hurricane…
These muthafuckas were vacationing.
NeoImperialist hypocrites
Stole the election and the government.

Call 9-11 there’s some fishy shit
Goin’ down, goin’ down, goin’ down.
Who is the enemy combatant here?
They just take more and more while the world is at war, yeah.

Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!

Well, the family business is oil, spies and war.
Shoulda known all along who you been workin’ for.
Mission accomplished. The nation’s disgraced.
That Dick just shot a muthafucka in the face!

Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!
Is That What You Wanted?!

Did you wanna start a civil war?
Did you want the cash? Did you want the oil?
Did you crash the planes? I wanna know.
What about the war games that very morning?

Is That What You Wanted?!

Les Nubians: Nubian Voyagers

Originally published at DetroitFashionPages.com
I first encountered Les Nubians in 1998 at a listening station in the now defunct Tower Records store in Nashville, Tennessee. I pressed the play button while examining the cover art of the Afropean soul duo’s debut album, Princesses Nubiennes.

As the first track, “Demain”, faded from African rhythms into a jazzy hip hop groove, a sultry female voice sang to me in French, “Tu crois que le monde est a toi/ il appartient.” Suddenly, I was the mirror image of the RCA/Victor dalmatian, head cocked to one side in disbelief. I had never heard anything like this before.

I listened to one verse and one chorus, and then pressed stop. I didn’t want to hear any more. I immediately walked to the counter, and bought the album. I have been a Les Nubians devotee ever since.

I’m sure this experience was not a unique one. Over the years, Les Nubians have been embraced by listeners around the world as they have released three albums, and garnered a long list of accomplishments. Continue reading

Holiday Hustle

December is looking to be a very busy month for Nadir, as he tours the Midwest playing with a few of the area’s top bands, does a few solo performances, and gets with Distorted Soul for another hot show.

Saturday, December 1 is Noel Night, and Nadir has two solo singer/songwriter performances on tap. His first show is at Goodwell’s Market on Willis at 6:15p, and the second at Barnes & Noble on Warren at 8:15p.

Monday, December 3 kicks off a weekly funk night at Black Lotus Brewing Company in Clawson. Nadir is a member of Boombox Hero, an all-star quartet made up of some of Detroit’s best musicians. The band features Swami Harper of the Black Bottom Collective on keyboard, Emily Rogers from Lola Valley and Clear Gray on bass, Djallo Djakate, who plays with Spencer Barefield and many others, on the drums, and Nadir is supplying the guitar and vocals. Boombox Hero will reach into their bag of eclectic funk every Monday from 9:00 to midnight at Black Lotus.

Friday, December 7, Nadir is playing bass for Funkeestation, a band known for their jazzy funk, Motown and soul classics. Nadir and Funkeestation will be at Andiamo Lakerfront Bistro in St. Clair Shores at 9:00p.

Saturday, December 8, Nadir is back with Distorted Soul for their monthly soul experience at The Village Idiot in Maumee, Ohio. Make sure to mark your calenders because beginning in 2008, Nadir and Distorted Soul will be at the Village Idiot the second Friday of each month.

Tuesday, December 11 at 8:30p, Nadir makes his much awaited return to The Elbo Room in Chicago for a solo singer/songwriter performance. Also appearing on the bill will be Agents of Change, Tristan James, and avery r. young.

For details on these and others upcoming dates, visit our Events page.

Change::The Music – Detroit Rallies for Impeachment on Oct. 6

On Oct. 6, 2007 artists and activists in Detroit held an event called Change::The Music. Proceeds from the event will be used to fund a billboard in downtown Detroit asking House Judiciary Chair John Conyers to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney. For more information visit www.changethemusic.net.

Click HERE and listen as Nadir discusses the October 6 Change::The Music event and impeachment on WDET-FM’s Detroit Today program.

Takes Money to Make Money

My interview with Hot Lava Records recording artist, Detroit rapper Stretch Money has been posted at DetroitFashionPages.com.

In it the 22 year-old Eastsider talks about his regional hit “Take Money to Make Money”, the rumors of legal action by Maze and Frankie Beverly over the use of their music and the stretch that Hot Lava CEO Crane Novacane is taking for the next 18 months.

Click HERE to check it out

State Dept. Institutes “The Draft” in Iraq

My uncle, a retired diplomat, sends a link to this CNN.com report: “Uncle Sam drafts diplomats for embassy in Iraq”.

The US embassy in Baghdad is the nation’s largest, and the State Department is having trouble staffing it. Of course, this human resource issue has nothing to do with the size of the work force or the lack of qualified personnel, and everything to do with the security situation in the war torn country.

So to rectify the problem, the State Department has announced that it will draft current employees, forcing them to serve in the Central Asian hellhole that the US has created. Anyone who refuses will face disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Incidentally, State has instituted this policy twice before. In 1969, an entire class of entry-level diplomats was forced to serve during another US imperial quagmire, this one in a country called Vietnam. The second was when the US was destabilizing the newly independent nations of West Africa during the 1970s and 80s.

This should remind us all of the sacrifices that US military personnel are suffering with multiple extended tours of duty in Iraq. But, at least our soldiers can shoot back if fired upon. Diplomats are not permitted to carry weapons. They can only travel around Iraq with heavily armed security teams manned by lawless mercenaries from companies like Blackwater USA.

Working in a duty station like Iraq is a diplomat’s nightmare. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be in that situation? It will be interesting to see how many career diplomats will give up their pensions and their jobs because of this policy.

Shea Howell: Open Letter to Rep. John Conyers

Nadir’s Note:  I’m the “young artist” Shea Howell refers to in this editorial from The Michigan Citizen.”

By Shea Howell
Special to The Michigan Ctiizen

I first met Congressmen John Conyers in the early 1970s at a convention of the National Committee to End Racism and Political Repression. Representative Conyers welcomed Angela Davis, recently acquitted of murder charges, to Detroit. He praised her courage and brilliance in the struggle for liberation.

Since that long ago day, I have always been proud to have John Conyers as my Congressman. I knew he could be counted on to be on the right side of any issue. Until now.

Last Saturday Representative Conyers decided to attend the Gathering for Justice, City of Hope event at Youthville. He walked into the room quietly just as a young local artist was announcing Change the Music: “an art festival and political forum for local organizers working to keep pressure on Congress to hold the Bush administration accountable for its crimes.” As the young artist spoke passionately about the importance of pressuring Congressmen Conyers to impeach Bush, Conyers entered and took a seat directly across from him. Continue reading

US Senate Fails Us Again

Habeas Corpus, the legal action that gives a person the right to challenge an unlawful detention, is no more. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 revoked this right that has been a cornerstone of Western democracies since the 12th Century.

The Democratic-led US Senate again failed to pass a measure that would return this fundamental right to US citizens.

Said US Presidential candidate Senator Chris Dodd, “Each of us in the Senate faced a decision either to cast a vote in favor of helping to restore America’s reputation in the world, or to help dig deeper the hole of utter disrespect for the rule of law that the Bush Administration has created. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues chose the latter.”

Yahoo News/The Nation

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© Nadir Omowale