You Think What

We at YouThinkWhat say to  President Barack Obama, “No Sale!” on the idea Big Brother surveillance powers are necessary to keep us safe from terror…both foreign and domestic. (more…)

During a recent YouThinkWhat staff meeting there was a discussion about the controversial health care extremes taken by international film star Angelina Jolie, and the new, incredible disclosure by actor, an admitted sex addict, Michael Douglas. The question was posed:  Are Angelina Jolie and Michael Douglas shills for big pharma? Did each of them get paid..Big Time?

“…without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV (human papillomavirus), which actually comes from cunnilingus.”~ Michael Douglas, actor, admitted sex addict, in an interview with the UK’s Guardian Newspaper/online web site describing the type of throat cancer for which he’d been treated.

After much discussion we have concluded these two Hollyweird pop stars are likely being paid by and working for the big pharmaceutical companies for their own benefit. We suspect there is probably a good deal of money being transacted; financial deals are taking place no one, not even our venerated American free press, is talking about. And as usual John and Jane Q. Public are on the short end of the stick getting fleeced once again. Manipulated by the fear induced when the word CANCER is spoken. (more…)

“Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security” ~ Benjamin Franklin

We recently listed those things about which U.S. citizens are fearful, among them the security process travelers must endure before boarding flights in the United States.

^^"How early do we have to be there for the frisking?"

The following is a recent video of student activist Ashley Jessica, and her mother, recorded as they prepare to board a flight from San Diego to Toronto, to show what more often than not does happen when one of the two non-options is selected in order to travel via air in the United States. (more…)

O.J. Simpson, the former NFL  football  Hall of Fame athlete, pitchman and actor, has returned to court in Nevada to request a new trial for robbery, assault and kidnapping charges.

Simpson has been incarcerated since 2008, when he was found guilty and sentenced to serve 33 years, with a minimum of nine years without parole. He is serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada.

Many of the experts have concluded the chances of his request being granted are very long; in fact they call his appeal the equivalent of a “Hail Mary ” pass. In other words, the football great known as “The Juice” has a snowball in hell chances of winning a new trial. (more…)

The staff of YouThinkWhat is weighing in on the controversy of whom to cast in the film role of one of our legendary musical heroes, the late Nina Simone. In the American Black African Community she is known as the High Priestess of Soul. Nina Simone is internationally renown for her activism, her love of classical music and her innovative American jazz musical stylings; she called jazz music America’s classical music.

As of today no release date for the film has been announced. It is reportedly in post production. We hope it remains on the shelf. This statement is disparaging,  and justifiably so because there was a time in Hollyweird when movie executives did not believe audiences would pay to see blacks on screen…at least not an entire feature length project with blacks, Negroes or coloreds in major roles. In those times the films remained in the can, on the shelf for years awaiting distribution to the public for viewing. How times have changed.

Nina Simone is an American music icon molded from the depths of the artistic joy, the angst, the pain, the struggle to be black, female and bipolar in the United States of America. Our current and future generations must be given the complete story of who she was and what she contended with to become the legendary music royalty she is. (more…)

A recent report in the English language Costa Rican online news site, The Tico Times,  tells us Barefoot Gourmet founder Andreas Schmidt and his team will launch the company’s new Local Food Network, an online service with its goal to change the way Costa Rican residents eat by connecting consumers directly to organic farmers across the country.

Despite Costa Rica’s worldwide image as leader in sustainability and green practices the World Resources Institute, WRI, provides data that sharply contradicts this image. According WRI to Costa Rica uses more pesticides in agriculture than any other country in the world.

“Barefoot Gourmet founder Andreas Schmidt and his team will launch the company’s new Local Food Network, an online service with its goal to improve the quality of foods available to Costa Rican residents.”

Schmidt, former CEO for AOL Europe, was also a co-founder of Napster the online music service. He says after the loss of its legal battles thus causing its demise, he decided to take a break from twenty-five years of working to sail around the world. That was five years ago when he first visited Costa Rica. Two years later he and his wife, who he met when she was the manager of an eco-resort in the jungle, decided to settle in Costa Rica.

The Schmidts found it difficult to find any fresh or organic food in the Nicoya Peninsula; as a result they developed the Barefoot Gourmet concept. It’s  a system designed to help bring change to one of the biggest problems faced by the inhabitants of the country: healthy food, nutritious food that doesn’t destroy the earth.

Stay tuned folks…this looks like a very promising enterprise!

“This is unprecedented and is very dangerous. We must educate ourselves and others about our precious civil liberties to ensure that we never accept demands that we give up our Constitution so that the government can pretend to protect us.” ~  Ron Paul in an op-ed piece titled, ” Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston“

We agree with former Republican Congressman from Texas Ron Paul. He’s an advocate for civil liberties, who likened the federal government’s response to the tragic events which took place during the 117th Boston Marathon earlier in April, and the subsequent manhunt to “a military coup in a far off banana republic.”

“Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down.

These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.” ~  Ron Paul
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A public memorial is scheduled for Monday, April 29, 2013 in New York City at the City Winery for the recently deceased Richie Havens.

Havens, 72, an iconic folk musician, composer, singer, and activist passed away in his home in New Jersey, on the morning of April 22, 2013, Earth Day, of a sudden heart attack.  He had retired from touring three years earlier due to kidney surgery from which he never recovered enough to perform concerts as he once did.

In the following video we see Havens during his performance at the 40th anniversary celebration of Woodstock, 2009, and an earlier performance of Van Morrison’s composition “Tupelo Honey” segued with Bob Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman”.

Richie Havens, beloved around the world for his unique interpretations of music of various genres, folk, rock, blues, gospel, was a musician who enthralled a generation with his  improvised performance of “Freedom” as the opening act of the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. He was also cherished for his activism and his humanitarian efforts for which he received numerous commendations.

Richard Pierce “Richie” Havens will be remembered for having  created his foundation for marine study and conservation, composed the remarkable song that sent him on a mission of peace to the Middle East, his work mobilizing schoolchildren as environmental activists…

In 1991 he received The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his continued presence in and advocacy of sociopolitical consciousness by the public. (more…)

“I saw the Village as a place to escape to in order to express yourself.”  ~ Richie Havens in his 2008 biography.

Richie Havens, the very first musician to perform during the 1969 Woodstock music festival held on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the town of Bethel, New York, near White Lake, New York, has died of a sudden heart attack at his home. The beloved American folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist passed away on Earth Day.

“Say not in grief, ‘he is no more’, but live in thankfulness that he was.” ~ Unknown

The event, also known as the Woodstock Music Festival; An Aquarian Exposition: Three Days of Peace and Music, was a turning point in his career.

One of the four festival producers, Michael Lang said in his book  “The Road to Woodstock”, he’d selected Havens to open what would become a historic event, “because of his calm but powerful demeanor.”

Havens sang for several hours due to travel delays affecting the arrival of the next act. He sang for nearly three hours. Basically, Richie Havens had to kill time as the opening act during this seminal event.

“So I’d go back and sing three more. This happened six times. So I sung every song I knew.” ~ Richie Havens in a 2006 interview with NPR.

The most amazing point of his performance was his ability to improvise a song based on the Negro spiritual, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,”; as a consequence the improvisation, known as “Freedom” became an anthem for the times. It is one song for which Havens became famous.

Richie Havens was well known for his versions of tunes made popular by such varied group and artists such as The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun”; the Bee Gees, “I Started A Joke”; 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love”.  He covered tunes like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”;  James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”;  “Tightrope,” written by Leon Russell;  Van Morrison’s  composition”Tupelo Honey”, as well as  Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” and another Dylan creation “Just Like A Woman “.

“I really sing songs that move me. I’m not in show business; I’m in the communications business. That’s what it’s about for me.” ~ Richie Havens, singer, songwriter, activist, humanitarian in an interview with The Denver Post (more…)

On March 5, 2013 the report from Caracas, Venezuela went around the world. President Hugo Chavez is dead. President Chavez died at the age of fifty-eight after a two year battle with cancer, a fight which included four surgeries. Despite his illness Hugo Chavez handily won reelection in October 2012; however the late president was too ill  to be sworn in on January 10, 2013, so the National Assembly of Venezuela agreed to postpone the inauguration to allow him time to recover from medical treatment in Cuba.

Hugo Chavez, considered by some as a left-wing troublemaker was greatly loved by many poor Venezuelans for his humble roots, unaffected language and the welfare policies he implemented financed by the country’s dominant oil industry. Opponents of the late Chavez viewed him as a dictator who ruined the nation’s economy.

There was some skepticism upon receiving reports of the death of Chavez with students demanding proof of life or more medical details. Within twenty-four hours of his death his vice president, Nicolas Maduro, claimed Chavez had been infected with cancer by “imperialist” enemies. (Read that as the United States of America’s covert operatives had a hand in Chavez’s demise.) Maduro, who is a former union activist and bus driver with close ties to Cuban  leaders, constantly alleged Henrique Capriles, his opponent for office, was conspiring with the U.S.  to destabilize Venezuela by overthrowing those in government who were mentored by Chavez.

In the days following the death of Chavez, according to Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, executive-secretary of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition, the lack of precise information was worrisome to Venezuelans and was a contributing factor in the generation of rumors.

Hugo Chavez is succeeded in office by his deputy, the former vice-president of Venezuela, who was acting president during Chavez’s incapacitation, Nicolas Maduro.  President-elect Maduro, the successor hand picked by the late Chavez, won a close election victory on April 14, 2013.  It was a general election wherein he was challenged by the opposition candidate Henrique “Majunche” Capriles who consistently and relentlessly pointed out the failures of the Chavez administration.

“I am Chavez. We are all Chavez.” ~ President-elect Nicolas Maduro, during Venezuelan presidential campaign

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