ISM'S Food for The Dome.

Time is a good healer but, a bad beautician.
play first, make rules later quench, your curiosities.
Drink and think positive.
here I am what are your other two wishes.
Failure, is not an opinion it is bundle with your software.
If at first you don't succeed redefine success.
Confession is good for the soul, but bad for your career.

Capricorn Horoscope July 28 2009

Dear Capricorn, money is tight and that makes your journey more difficult. The planets motions do not reveal financial gain in your immediate future although personal aspects seem to be in place. Your health is good, but the planets warn anything can happen on the road of life.

Quote of the Day:
Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love - and to put its trust in life.
Joseph Conrad

Thought Of the Days 7-28-09

Red meat is not bad for you fuzzy green meat is.

The following statement is true the previous statement was false.

Owning your burdens is half the battle look around people go though tougher times..

Racism is American like apple pie it will be here forever.

If life is a bitch which things bring you down.

We all need things that we are passionate about to thrive.

Capricorn Horoscope July 24 2009

Dear Capricorn, you are once again sure footed and heading upward. Today you might reflect on how far you have already come and what an amazing journey of life you are on. Through your journey, you know things now you did not even know existed yesterday.


Daily Planet Overview:
The Moon square Mars showcases an energy that could initiate conflicted feelings and actions. We may not feel that our hearts and actions are aligned today and could find ourselves taking steps in a wrong direction. Patience and persistence will help us to resolve this dilemma.

grow up

People will not show their identity. They are scared that is sick, if we are not open no one will change. I guess it starts with myself but personally i have changed and nothing is changing. It my just be me or it seems that we are all fine with their place in life. If that is so why do the massive force growth on us, it seems life that the whole pressure on growing up is in our own heads. We all grow up at different times,but their are some people that will never grow up. It is on us to find our own personally reason to grow up we must all come face to face with our problems. It may seem hard but, that is what the haters want, so if we learn from our miscues life will go on.

Thought Of the Day 7-22-09

He who fights with monsters
might take lest there by
become a monster
and if you gaze
for long into an
abyss the abyss
gazes also into you

Capricorn Horoscope July 21- 2009

Dear Capricorn, the planets work in mysterious ways. They have brought up the possibility of bringing your love along on your adventure. You don't have to do this alone, just because you started alone. Usually the journey is much more pleasant if you can share it with someone.

Quote of the Day:
More look up and admire the stars. A champion climbs a mountain and grabs one.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Abstract Rapper vs. Average Rapper freestyle vol. 1

Abstract Rapper Verse

Now day’s rappers are acting like actors
Saying lies to get a deal
What happen to the good old days?
When you needed skills to get a deal
The proof is all around you
If you isn’t spitting the truth
We pulling you out the booth
Go back to the drawing board
Acting hard is not going hard

Average Rapper Verse
I'm going full throttle
With my hands on a bottle patron
You know it’s going down
Bow down if you aren’t making moves
I’m in a groove watch me
Show and prove I ‘m xxl
You still trying to find a source
So you can vibe
Bite me you weak minded rapper
Taking bait so you can get a date

China doubles Down in Africa

"Obama to Africa: Drop Dead," echoing the famous admonition of president Gerald Ford to a cash-strapped New York City in the 1970s, was, for all practical purposes, the message the American president delivered to the African continent in Ghana on Saturday.
Barack Obama, mindful of the shaky United States domestic constituency even for the bailout of the American economy, and loath to display favoritism to his father's home continent, decided against investing any political capital in a call to provide significant amounts of assistance to sub-Saharan Africa during the current global recession.

His rather empty declaration, "We must start from the simple



premise that Africa's future is up to Africans," provided little consolation or inspiration for the poorer nations of Africa, which are reeling from the balance-of-payments, aid, investment and developmental consequences of the West's catastrophic exploration of the extremes of sophisticated financial leverage.

Obama's speech was also a remarkably cynical piece of diplomatic triage, given what is widely recognized to be the genuine state of economic affairs on the African continent.

However, China appears to have made a strategic decision to funnel in more aid and investment, as the West struggles with the consequences of the global recession and fights a losing battle to focus on Africa's needs for aid, trade and investment.

For Africa, it couldn't come at a better time.

Even before the current crisis, with optimistic pre-crash assumptions about exports, inward remittances, financial reform and reduced capital flight, the United Nations estimated that sub-Saharan Africa would need tens of billions of dollars per annum in external funding if it were to make any headway in its struggle to alleviate widespread poverty.

Post-crisis, the African Development Bank projects that the continent's exports will drop a staggering 40% by 2010 compared to pre-crisis projections. This shortfall, a loss of a quarter trillion dollars in revenues, will throw the aggregate current account into deficit, create a dire food and fuel import crisis for cash-strapped countries and put paid to the idea of servicing any normal external debt for infrastructure construction.

Therefore, much of the perhaps US$50 billion in infrastructure investment needed per annum to sustain Africa's economic growth will have to come from outside in the form of investment or aid.

However, the message in the alphabet soup of international finance is not encouraging: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Aid (ODA), at least from the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, will not be forthcoming in significant amounts.

ODA to SSA (sub-Saharan Africa) peaked at $22.5 billion in 2008 and is expected to drop by 15-20% in 2009; forget about achieving the growth targets announced at the Group of Eight summit at Gleneagles in 2005.

FDI to SSA looks like it's DOA; it reached $30.6 billion in 2008 but is going way down and nobody knows how far; a recent estimate pegs the decline in FDI to all emerging markets at a colossal 60% as commercial banks pull in their horns.

Foreign remittances to the continent - a staple of many African economies - are expected to drop by a third from pre-crisis levels of roughly $10 billion per annum.

If billions in desperately needed investment and aid for Africa is going to materialize in the next two years, it looks like it will have to come from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

And China is ready to step up.

Since the crisis began, China has announced its intentions to maintain its existing levels of aid to Africa, promoted its $1 billion mini development bank, the China-Africa Development Fund, and sent the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - its designated investment bank for Africa and the 20% partner (at the tune of US$6 billion) in South Africa's Standard Bank - on the road to look for investable projects.

More notable, China has undertaken significant post-recession initiatives to advance its interests on the continent through government-to-government resources, infrastructure and financial mega-deals.

In recent months, Beijing has taken major steps to secure its relationships with Zimbabwe, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Angola and Botswana.

Its only conspicuous setback to date appears to be a train wreck of a deal in Nigeria - a $3 billion modernization of the Lagos-Kano railroad line that mysteriously acquired a price tag of $8.5 billion under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo and attracted the unfavorable scrutiny of the incoming administration this year ... and that deal may even go ahead in a truncated form.

China's willingness to finance resource and infrastructure projects without the nagging conditions demanded by the West is well known - and often derided as a willingness to "deal with dictators".
The German government decided to make that point to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during his recent state visit.

In what might be a sign of changing times, Museveni decided not only to make his disagreement known during the visit; he publicized his views in a press release on June 17.

In the follow-up entitled "China is not a threat to Africa - Museveni", the Ugandan media painted an amusing picture of the Chinese bankers doing everything short of joining the Ugandan president on the plane to Berlin to demonstrate their eagerness to cooperate:

[Germany's President Horst] Kohler observed that Africa had opened its doors wide for Chinese investments because the Beijing authorities do not put conditions in terms of democracy or human rights.

Museveni, accompanied by the First Lady, Janet, said unlike in colonial times, African leaders have identified their priorities and are capable of protecting the continent's interests.

"Therefore, no power can exploit Africa," a press release from the State House quoted him.

Kohler's remarks come two days after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China expressed interest in building an oil refinery and pipeline in Uganda. Meeting Museveni at Entebbe Airport just before his departure for Germany, the Chinese bank's chairperson also said they were keen on constructing hydro-power stations and transmission lines.

On July 6, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the target of Western outrage for his inflationary, power-grabbing ways, was gratified by China's unconditional extension of a $950 million credit tranche, even as the United States was seeking to embarrass and isolate his regime and channel economic aid directly to [non-governmental organizations] NGOs:

The Chinese package, the president said, was well meant as it was coming to the government not NGOs, to assist in national development and economic revival.

"That is the kind of help we would want to get, and not the Western dictates," he said.

The president said Western countries never give the developing world development funds that promote economic growth and prosperity as that would put them at par with the West and negate grounds for dominance.

"There is no funding with an investment capacity from the West that will enable us to move from primary agriculture to secondary stages of development. They do not want us, the West, to be that. They do not want us to be their equals, they enjoy being masters over us and this is what Zimbabwe rejects," he added.

What is striking about the Chinese experience in Africa is that it is beginning to look like engagement, and not simply exploitation.
To a significant extent, it is driven by Beijing's need to deal both with the fallout of the global recession, and the political and economic consequences of its push into Africa.

With the collapse in commodity prices, many Chinese investors who are either fly-by-night or profit-driven, depending on your point of view - and helped power the Chinese investment push into Africa in flush times - have literally disappeared, as the Financial Times reported in February 2009:

More than 40 Chinese-run copper smelters are standing idle in the Democratic Republic of Congo after their owners fled the country without paying taxes or compensating staff at the end of the commodity boom…

The abrupt downturn has released resentment over the conduct of some Chinese businesses in Africa, where hard bargaining and a lack of warmth towards local people won them few friends.

"Some serious companies remain with metallurgical plants. I don't have any problem with them. But they are 10% of the Chinese who were here. Ninety percent have gone," [Governor of Katanga Province] Mr Katumbi said, dismissing them as "speculators".

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (previously Zaire), the Chinese government is not counting on Chinese speculators to manage its relationship with the DRC's copper industry.

Instead it has pinned its hopes on perhaps its biggest strategic investment on the continent: a $9 billion project designed both to produce copper and rebuild the DRC's war-shattered infrastructure.

The International Monetary Fund, egged on by the United States, is demanding a renegotiation of the project on the grounds (which the Chinese deny) that the financing increases the DRC's sovereign debt. Fortunately for China, the DRC - which currently has only enough foreign exchange on hand for a few weeks of import cover - is maintaining its enthusiasm for the proposed megadeal.

However, neighboring Zambia, which shares in the immense bounty of copper ore crossing the southern Congo, presents a greater challenge for the traditional Chinese way of doing things in Africa.

The wake-up call for China probably came in 2007, during the flush years of the commodity boom, when China's President Hu Jintao was met by protesters in Zambia's capital of Lusaka, and the government cancelled a trip to a China-run copper mine at

The Rise of China

A bit like Malcom X, author Minqi Li used prison time to read widely. The latter studied radical political economy for two years when Chinese leaders locked him up for a critical public speech after the Tiananmen upsurge in 1989. That was then. He is an author and assistant professor of economics at the University of Utah now. Li's "The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy" is a must-read for all concerned with the future of the earth and its people.

Throughout the book, Li employs a term from world-system theorist Immanuel Wallerstein, the "endless accumulation of capital." That process has spread outward from Western Europe over the past four-plus centuries. Formed by distinct historical conditions, this social system encompasses the entire globe now with the entry of China and India, the two most populous nations on earth. Together, they function as "strategic reserves" of land, labor and resources, Li argues. Crucially, this phase of growth places potentially fatal strains on "the requirements of ecological sustainability." That is the case due to the links between industrial production and environmental degradation. To drill down on these points, Li devotes no small effort to an accounting of the "hard facts" around modern industry and ecology.

To improve our understanding of the present conjuncture, Li details China's rise in the modern era. For US readers especially, the sections on the Chinese revolution are quite useful. To this end, he lays out how and why that revolution under Mao and the Chinese Communist Party paved the path for the transition to capitalist industrialization. His is not the conventional wisdom. In this way, the book in part helps to deconstruct the anti-Chinese ideology that has shaped the US's political culture from the post-Civil War era through the cold war and to the present.

Global capitalism, as its backers and detractors maintain, must expand to continue. Within this context, Li holds that the rapid growth of the Chinese economy has stabilized a world system sunk into slow growth since the US-led post-World War II period of prosperity and stability ended in the early 1970s. The rub is that China's development provides a short-term solution only. There is a looming possibility of reversal to world instability, ecologically and economically. An example of the latter is the fragility of US borrowing from China. Its currency surplus helps to fund US deficits. The American penchant for borrowing could well spark a fall in the value of the dollar, the leading reserve currency in the world. Li marshals figures and tables from China, the OECD, US and the World Bank on exchange rates, growth, income, prices, profits and wages to make clear the constraints of each nation in world capitalism for the short and long term.

Li argues that the rise of China heralds the "autumn" of the current global system. He draws on Wallerstein's framework of core, semi-peripheral and peripheral nations locked in competition. The stabilizing role of a core, imperial power such as the US since the end of World War II and Great Britain before it, is to maintain that competitive forward motion. This trend requires nations of the core, periphery and semi-periphery to strike a delicate balance to continue the accumulation of capital for investors. That balancing act is due to the built-in creation and destruction of market relations among and between nations, whose internal class structures are thus in constant flux. By definition, this clash and conflict paves the way for instability. Look no further than the US wage stagnation for the past 35 years. That process propelled the widening gap in income between Main Street and Wall Street and set off repeated asset bubbles, harming working people with job losses state side and abroad.

Li's critique of "sustainable capitalism" is devastating in its breadth and depth. He argues, persuasively, against that notion with proof that requires no more than high school math. His clear prose lays out the costs and benefits for the planet and people under the current social system with respect to nonrenewable and renewable energy, minerals, water, food and climate change. Li reveals, layer by layer, the "laws of motion" of an extractive system of producing and exchanging commodities that is fast careening towards an unsafe future.

To be clear, this book is much more than a compendium of dire analysis, data and statistics. Li analyzes the current crises as the outcomes of history that women and men make under conditions they do not choose. Thus, he offers no hard and fast blueprint for a post-capitalist tomorrow. Li does favor labor internationalism and a shorter working day. Both developments, in his view, are basic to a more rational way of organizing people to sustain themselves and the natural world.

A brief look at Malthusian economics that blames the victims of the system for their poverty would have strengthened the book. That quibble aside, I recommend "The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy" as a vital work of radical political economy. Li furthers our understanding of the vast challenges before us in these troubled and troubling times. Be aware.

D.O.T. Death of Timberlands

Timberlands are dead, dunny. The style, the brand, the product, the image, and what have you. Dead. You heard me correctly.

I’m well aware that the acclaimed wheat-colored construction Timbo hooves have been considered the official hip hop rugged winter-in-New York joints since at least 1986. Therein lies the problem. You see, rappers used to not only endorse fly kicks but also provide public service messages in the form of well-written disses directed towards brands that failed to come correct.

In the late ‘80s, Chill Rob G astutely noted the sharp decline of quality of the previously disparaged, MC Shan-endorsed Pumas on his single “Chillin’”. Doug E. Fresh bravely reenacted a shootout between a pair of Bally’s and a representative of the obnoxiously over-exposed Adidas empire. While Bally’s may not have been victorious in the long run, figuratively bucking down the classic line of All Day Indonesians Die Assembling Sneakers was just so necessary by the time Run-DMC, well on their way to self-inflicted obsolescence, premiered their ugly-ass signature shoe line.

Timberlands, to my knowledge, have rarely been subjected to negative criticism by rappers. The brand’s acclaim is almost scarily universal, surviving not only an obscenely long passage of time since its first rise to prominence among hip-hoppers but also Hilfiger-like rumors purporting that Timberland’s corporate overlords, though publicly committed to “social responsibility,” were in fact unabashedly racist.

On Show & AG’s Goodfellas LP from 1995, AG repeatedly insists that he is finished messing with Timbs and now prefers Northface, though he never gives a specific reason for making the switch. One might assume that AG was either sick of the Boston-originated, New Hampshire-headquartered brand’s stranglehold on tri-state ghetto fashion or that he simply wanted to be an innovator. Perhaps he simply had the good sense to abandon ship just before the product’s quality began to rapidly deteriorate.

In any event, the construction Timbs of the 21st Century are a shadow of their former greatness. They are less durable, less water-resistant, and their lack of flavor and relevance should be obvious enough to anyone who hasn’t recently co-starred in a vintage Das Efx video.

The uber-white Young Black Teenagers once randomly declared in Cypress Hill-paraphrasing unison “Here is Something You Can’t Understand – We Can’t Afford Timberlands!” It rings true even today. Shoddily designed, poorly crafted, leaky, clichéd boots that have largely been re-co-opted by the white hipster elite and returned to their redneck origins just aren’t worth $100.

Capricorn Horoscope July 17 2009

The stars are leading Capricorn back to your journey. The journey has become the heart of your experience and now you experience everything from the heart. Dearest Capricorn, you see the world in an entirely different way and your journey has more meaning then ever.

Daily Planet Overview:
Lots of planetary activity today brings a stop-start energy to the day. Try not to get impatient if you can’t move forward as quickly as you would like. This is a good day to keep your schedule light.

Capricorn Horoscope July 16 2009

Capricorn should feel liberated today. You've realized that your greatest strengths are also your greatest weakness. By doing so, you have removed the blockage and now the stars and their meaning becomes clear to you. Capricorn was lost, but you have found yourself.


Quote of the Day:
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
Henri B. Stendhal

Capricorn Horoscope July 10- 2009

Practicality and stubbornness go hand in hand when it comes to you dear Capricorn. There is blockage between your planets and you are feeling it. You will have to loosen up a bit to maneuver around this one. Embrace the change, so you will always be open to learn.

Quote of the Day:
And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
Confucius

Michael Jackson and the number 7

TMZ brings up some interesting points in regard to Michael Jackson and the number 7. They report:

Get ready to have your mind blown. Ready? Here we go ...

-- Michael Jackson signed his will on 7/7/02.
-- Michael Jackson's memorial was on 7/7/09 ... exactly 7 years after the will was signed.
-- Michael Jackson's two biggest hits -- "Black & White" and "Billie Jean" -- were each #1 for 7 weeks.
-- Michael Jackson's three biggest albums -- "Thriller," "Bad" and "Dangerous" -- each produced 7 top 40 hits.
-- Michael Jackson was the 7th of 9 children.
-- Michael Jackson was born in 1958 ... 19 + 58 = 77
-- Michael Jackson died on the 25th ... 2 + 5 = 7
-- Michael Jackson has 7 letters in his first and last name.


What do you think? Purely coincidental or something more?

Capricorn Horoscope July 7 2009

Dear Capricorn is so organized you sometimes think you could run a more effective universe. Don't be fooled, it's a lot harder then it seems. Playing god always gets you in trouble because you are acting like you are in control as opposed to actually being in control.

Daily Planet Overview:
Today brings a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn. We may be especially alert now to our long term goals and ambitions. If things seem to be shifting direction or our plans appear to be changing, flexibility and an ability to go with the flow can help us stay grounded.

Capricorn Horoscope July 5-2009

Capricorn, sometimes you have tunnel vision and can only see what is right in front of you. Still, you continue to enjoy romance in spite of yourself. Broaden your horizons on this day Capricorn. Maybe, you should let some one talk you into doing something you normally don't.

Quote of the Day:
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
François de La Rochefoucauld

My Bike

When I ride my bike I feel so lite
When I ride my bike I have so much might
When I ride my bike I can see the light.
When I ride my bike I feel like a bird in the sky
When I ride my bike I feel high
When I ride my bike my fears are gone
When I ride my bike I soar
When I ride my bike I am a tree
When I ride my bike I am free
My bike is life
My bike is me.

The Bus

I rode the bus today when I took my seat I was sat next to a homeless man. We began to talk and he said take a look around people are scared, they are afraid of everything now wants to grow up. I rode the bus today when I took my seat I was sat next to a drunken man. We began to talk and he we are living life like it is our final hour, why can’t my hour be happy. As he got up he gave me a beer from his bag. I saw young gangster from the corner of my eye bragging to a girl about his swag. He couldn’t get her digits I guess on the bus it is a must that your game is legit. I rode the bus today when I took my seat I sat next to a fast food worker. We began to talk he said it is back to cage, I need no pity that would be silly it is only money we are acting like dummies for some paper that is worthless. It’s more than he said then he pulled the cord for his stop, however, my ride is still going. I rode the bus today I sat down no one was next to me so I pulled out my notebook. I took a look up then there was a teacher setting next to me and he shook my hand and he said stay the course and enjoy the ride. The good times will come same with the bad times. Positive energy stays strong all the time.

Need to End the Anger

It is time to turn up the heat stop taking the back seat. If you don’t you will never have your slice of the pie, some people say that they are willing to die, but that is all lies. If your wired mind is on the bull shit that you hear, I can see your fear but, you try to chase it away with beers. So the tears start to flow so you go and hide. Now anger is setting in, with pen upped aggression will not let you progress in life. Live and let go it may seem like a cheap saying on a t-shirt but it is the best advice some give any one. Is it now or never that is something that we only know deep inside of us. Don’t hold up walls break down all of your walls like Jericho and watch the sea of your life part. Let the desire in your heart manifest no one can put out the fire because they are not wired liked warriors. As I close let the meek seek out our destiny so we can ride out.

The Stakes are High

We are all trying to succeed, indeed we do 100 deeds. However, times may seem rough but we have seen rougher. Be easy all the rushing gets you no where, take it on day at a time, and keep your eye on the prize. If you don’t have a prize or a goal you keep the negative outlook on life, so I keep my eyes on the prize because I know I can rise above. Life is crazy mazes remove all of the unnecessary haze from your mind and watch the glaze come back to your eyes. No body can revoke your pride but, don’t just glide because you think you are the man we all can slide. The last thing is to check your ego at the door or you may end up on the floor. It is nice to have an ego but remember it is our actions that people remember. Your words can go so far what you are going to do. Stay down or rise above stop making excuses’ is not welcomed keep on the grind so no time is never wasted. Lets all create something that we can believe something that is true, pure and real.