Belly’s Star is a gorgeous album from start to finish, which remains largely unappreciated. Belly was led by ex-Throwing Muses singer-songwriter Tanya Donelly, with Fred Abong (bass) and brothers Chris (drums) & Tom Gorman (guitars).
Note: vinyl had been deleted by 1990, and compact disc was the only format this (or any other) music was commercially available in– therefore the original format of this album is CD.
Belly followed up with King in 1995, then broke up the next year. By this time they had been largely written off anyways, by the Rolling Stone crowd in favor of mediocrities such as the Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Oasis & Matchbox 20– whose CDs now over-populate resale music bins everywhere.
Belly along with Sinead O’Connor, P.J. Harvey, the Breeders (who also included Donelly), Babes in Toyland, Liz Phair and Bikini Kill (pictured above), were female artists who truly made the most riveting rock music of that tumultuous era. Kurt Cobain was a fan of all of the above.
The collapse of the USSR, and it’s fall-back from communal property relations (controlled by a Stalinist bureaucracy) into capitalist Russia (controlled by mafia ‘businessmen’) shook the world. Borders changed, nearly instantly– but not bloodlessly. U.S. led wars-of-aggression (from Yugoslavia to Iraq to Syria) have continued in that part of the world ever since.
The heart of global capitalism is Wall Street & Washington, led by the White House which uses NATO & the UN (diplomatically), the Pentagon (overtly) and the CIA (covertly) to project the interests of the ruling class into the sphere of the former Soviet Union. Wall Street is defined as their stock exchanges (multi-national corporations) & its federal reserve banking system.
These are the richest people in the world and are (not coincidentally) responsible as war criminals. They are the true criminals who must be ruthlessly exposed and brought to justice by the working people of the world.
FYI: It’s mostly about oil, which has been the most precious natural resource under modern capitalism. Washington & Wall Street can no longer control the world’s oil supply economically, so they resort to their greatest strength– militarism. The US has (by far) the largest military budget in the world. Washington’s unholy alliance with Saudi Arabia (world’s leading oil producer) has led to the 9/11 terror attacks and sponsored the phony ‘war on terror’ in its aftermath.
These imperialist crimes have created an environmental & human survival crisis of global proportions, which only-too-recently (to most) seemed laughable, but today is all-too-real. The threat to human existence has never been greater. Capitalist leaders and their ‘intelligentsia’ have no answers, and (honestly) not much of a clue. They can best be described as philistines when it comes to art.
These were the issues artists such as Tanya Donelly (and her fans) intuitively understood back in the early 1990’s. Unfortunately their music was given its moment in the sun, then suppressed and largely forgotten– because no one in political leadership cared about art. Al Gore was VP to U.S. President Bill Clinton, and Gore’s wife Tipper led the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), whose goal was to blacklist and censor music.
Their primary target was rap & hip-hop, but any artistic expression was ultimately put in their cross-hairs. The PMRC was partially successful, as this warning label is now ubiquitous to popular music.
Now, to be carried in any box superstore (Walmart, Best Buy), albums with ‘obscene’ lyrics must be censored– otherwise the CD isn’t on their racks. ‘Obscene’ is defined by a self-appointed body of religious & political fundamentalists.
Corporate & political agendas dovetail, and when the reaction set in (Republican impeachment of Bill Clinton and their theft of the 2000 election), artists were forced underground. After 9/11, it was strictly American Idol culturally speaking, as virtually nothing artistic (in music or film) was allowed on the airwaves or in theaters.
Thus the (dialectical) concurrent rise of the Internet which revolutionized music & film with file-sharing (Napster) and powerful home computers, which now allow artists to produce their own music & film– on a budget without corporate interference. Today, nearly anyone can share their video to the world on YouTube & Facebook.
These vehicles now allow artists to directly distribute their music to fans– old & new. This empowers artists again, allowing what’s best to rise to the top based on merit– which is how it should always be.
Note: the video is not trying to convey the song’s message, it’s simply the band with stop-cut editing, which is a popular ‘alternative’ video style. The official video also has a different song ending, versus the classic album version.
The college radio ‘hit’ from Star was “Feed the Tree,” a paean to childhood & environmentalism, with Donelly’s signature mastery of melody & hookiness.
“Feed the Tree” was featured regularly on MTV’s 120 Minutes, their exclusive early-1990’s ‘alternative’ programming. 120 Minutes aired late-night, when no one was watching, in an era when MTV was rapidly shifting towards reality TV. MTV’s TheReal World was the original reality show, becoming an overnight sensation. By the end of the decade, MTV had mostly stopped playing videos. In 2000, CBS’s Survivor established reality-TV as a force on primetime television, and it’s been with us ever since.
If civilization is allowed to exist & survive, then eventually art will win out over this crassly commercial, philistine banality. For that to happen, people must care enough to fight for it. The dialects of all this is: art is what inspires people to act.
In early 2016, Tanya Donelly and Belly announced that they were working on new material and a limited tour. Catch them if you can. [1]
The theoretical founder of socialism was Karl Marx (1818-1883).
The most brilliant expression of 20th-century Marxism was Leon Trotsky (1879-1940).
True socialists have read & absorbed these books. Pseudo-socialists don’t read anything serious.
Socialists understand the USSR was Stalinism, which is collectivist property relations controlled by a fascist bureaucracy. Trotsky fought ceaselessly against Stalinism, and was historically vindicated in December 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed back into capitalist Russia.
If Russia hadn’t had a workers’ revolution led by Lenin & Trotsky in 1917, it would be completely dismembered (balkanized) today.
Instead, modern Russia retains much of it’s size, and possesses the second-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
A third world war would end human civilization. Today’s thermonuclear devices are orders-of-magnitude greater than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.
Human society can only be preserved (meaning a world war can only be prevented), by a permanent socialist revolution led by the workers & youth of the U.S. The epicentre of global capitalism (culturally, economically & militarily) is the United States; a socialist revolution here leads the way for the rest of the world.
Marxist analysis in the 21st century is found at the World Socialist Web Site— wsws.org. The WSWS is published (6 days a week, since 1998) by the International Committee for the Fourth International (ICFI), the party founded by Trotsky in 1938.
The U.S. branch of the ICFI is the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). The SEP announced its candidates for U.S. president & vice-president on April 22– Earth day. Ric Size officially endorses the Socialist Equality Party’s presidential campaign. [1]
Niles Niemuth & Jerry White SEP: US president & VP candidates
To those interested in actual socialism, this is the only choice. If you would like to be a socialist, you must put in the work. Every other leftist political party, from the Democrats & Greens to the anarchists, are opportunist– meaning they are capitalist to the core. Marxists always spot them quickly, and easily dispatch them when engaged in polemics. That’s why Trotskyists are always blacklisted from ‘official’ discourse.
Those who are politically naive, but well-meaning, need to work through this as quickly as possible. Read the books shown, along with the WSWS on a daily basis to arm yourself politically.
I’ve been told that Mount Dora is a VERY artistic town:
There’s just so much vibrancy, thoughtfulness & creativity here:
Mount Dora has its Art Festival every year (during Super Bowl weekend), and it’s packed with art & aficionados:
And if you’re an artist in town, try their official private affiliate– the Mount Dora Center for the Arts:
They’re very helpful with contacts, to help aspiring artists in the community:
Here’s a screenshot my intro call to the decision-maker:
…their follow up & my response:
Nothing since– this is what Mount Dora typically books…
…all sponsored through he CoC:
Pictured below is Mount Dora’s attempt at art with their ‘Modernism Museum’ which has been open for several years, yet still attracts very few people– even with the ‘audio tour’ included! Puzzling?
I propose this photo (of what was available) is more influential modernist art– in its composition & visual summary:
Artists seem to come & go here…this is what happened to a coffee shop that massively supported a former local American Idol contestant– now a comic book shop:
…located right next to this bookstore…
Conclusion:
Blacklists are unofficial by nature. This artist has lived (& worked) in Mount Dora, FL for 20+ years, and has never been offered a paying venue to perform– while this garbage (shown above) is unlimitedly funded & ceaselessly promoted. Real artists can’t compete against this, and can only expose it for what it is at its bottom– corruption. If people want better, they must start demanding it and making preparations to take charge of it. Until then, the philistines own it and cultural degradation rules the day.
So keep all this (& more) in mind as you walk or drive though quaint & ‘historic’ Mount Dora, while remembering that Segways (instead of pedestrians) ALWAYS have the right-of-way:
The 2016 Olympics are to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August. They will be held up to the world as a beacon of peace & camaraderie, in of a backdrop of poverty & squalor. These should be considered the ‘Last Olympics’– and here is why. Nothing in human civilization will ever be the same after this year. These obscene levels of social inequality will soon come to a head and violently burst onto everyone’s lives. It will appear on television screens broadcasting these Olympic games (and political conventions) which pretend that reality isn’t real, and that this grand charade can continue indefinitely. It can’t and won’t, because it’s now too real and too in-your-face to ignore. The levels of corruption (which are killing all of us) are willfully ignored– so a tiny few can be billionaires & play god. Capitalism is now a system which can no longer sustain itself.
The politicking involved in keeping Russian athletes out of international competition– through targeted doping testing, has reached a new level of corruption with the Maria Sharapova ‘provisional suspension’; which denies her (and other athletes like her) basic rights such as a fair & speedy trial. [1] The institution of the Olympics is now entirely in question, from those who organize, run, and profit from the games; to all those who compete in them. From bribery & favoritism among its officials, to rampant PED use among its competitors (from all nations); the Olympic games now reek of dirty money, corruption and cheating– even to the most casual sports fan. [2]
Speaking of Russia, the first great socialist revolution in human history happened there in November 1917. The infant U.S.S.R. was still a poor and backwards nation, bled white by a World War and then a cruel civil war. Its leadership died (Lenin), and then was purged (Trotsky); ossifying into Stalinism by the late 1920’s. This historical stillbirth existed for 74 years, until it collapsed back into capitalism (to the complete surprise of every bourgeois intellectual), in December of 1991. Trotsky (the last classical Marxist) had predicted & discussed this eventuality in 1936, in The Revolution Betrayed.
The next great socialist revolution will happen in our lifetimes. It will start in the U.S., and then spread globally in permanence. Capitalism will collapse with a sudden cardiac arrest of it’s leadership, as the working people (and the soldiers that make up all the military forces) will march en mass on the final bunkers of Langley, NORAD, the Pentagon & White House… They will seize Wall Street, the Fed, and all the banks & corporations… The media will be overrun and reprogrammed to tell the truth and expose the real class enemies of the working people, so they can be mercilessly hunted down and brought to justice in chains– if they don’t kill themselves first. This is the only endgame for humanity’s survival.
As this is the last U.S. election before a certain civil war (and possible world war), preparations must be made by the working people– in the form of education & militancy. A reliable revolutionary organization must be built. The Republican party will not stand idly by, if defeated on November 8. They will simply regather themselves and whip up their base in preparation for a military brass/ CIA-led right-wing coup. If the Republicans do manage to win (or steal) the November election, fascism becomes a near certainty.
Any political party that unleashes Donald Trump on the people, then begs their electorate to save them from themselves, needs to be forever removed (by the working people) from the arena of political leadership. Trump & his right-wing fascist base must be ruthlessly exposed and physically confronted when necessary, as they will never back down to reasonable words alone.
The greater challenge to revolutionary socialism in the U.S. will be the Democratic party, which still deceives too many who have some (but not nearly enough) brains. They are now the party of business-as-usual, represented by Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders is nothing more than a figment of limited imagination & ability. His purpose to the Democrats is to provide left-wing cover to a party that controls the workers through mafia-enforced unions & identity politics; both of which are thoroughly corrupt and beyond any reform.
When liberalism collapses, it collaborates with the jackboot of fascism for its own protection, forever remaining the historical class enemy of working people. History & human civilization won’t escape the writings of Karl Marx & Leon Trotsky; we will either socialize or annihilate ourselves.
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Extra credit reading on the subject– published 3-31-16 @ wsws.org
War: The great unmentionable in the 2016 US elections [3]
Republican Party crisis deepens as candidates renege on “loyalty” pledge [4]
On March 7, 2016 Maria Sharapova hastily assembled a press conference in Los Angeles, announcing her failed drug test after the 2016 Australian Open.
Sharapova statement of admission:“For the past 10 years I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago after I received the ITF (International Tennis Federation) letter I found out that it also has another name of meldonium which I did not know. It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) banned list, and I had legally been taking the medicine for the past 10 years. But on 1 January the rules had changed, and meldonium became a prohibited substance which I had not known. I failed the test and I take full responsibility for it. I made a huge mistake.”
Speculation beforehand was that the 28-year old tennis superstar was announcing her retirement, after a series of injuries & disappointing tournament finishes. Sharapova responded, “If I was ever going to announce my retirement, it would probably not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet.” For the record, it was ugly carpet at the hotel, as seen at the beginning of the press conference in the video above.
Sharapova says she did not look at the new banned substances list, linked in a WADA email she received. She claims she deleted it without clicking the link, and was thus unaware the prescription drug she had legally used for 10 years, was about to be banned. WADA rules mandate a 2-year ban for ‘unintentional’ doping, and a 4-year ban for ‘intentional’ doping for first-time offenders.
Sharapova cited her meldonium use as necessary for “a deficiency in magnesium, irregular EKG results, and a family history of diabetes with one of the first signs of diabetes… and [meldonium] was one of the medications, along with others I received.”
Maria Sharapova is undoubtedly a rock star. As one can see by her Facebook post, she still has fans– over 112K ‘Likes’ in less than 8 hours. Sharapova is stunningly beautiful, along with being smart enough to get ahead of the press & her fans. That’s how to handle them.
She’s now fighting to protect her brand, which is exactly what top athletes do in competition– in order to win at the highest levels of professional sports.
No one should be surprised by this anymore. Professional athletes are all pushed, one way or another, into this taint. Maria Sharapova is only the latest sports icon turned into scapegoat, in order to distract fans from the true sources of corruption. Ironically, her announcement came the same day NFL quarterback Peyton Manning delivered his long-anticipated retirement speech, in which he broke down and cried repeatedly before finishing with a nauseating “God bless football.”
If Manning can shake the HGH & sexual harassment allegations which still persist, many lucrative business opportunities await him. If not, he will become the next Lance Armstrong. Carefully compare their simultaneous press conferences (and circumstances), and you’ll see that Peyton Manning doesn’t have Sharapova’s composure or brains– so anticipate the latter scenario.
Lance Armstrong on sports doping:“I don’t know what the number is, whether it’s 10 or 20 or 50%, I don’t know. That tells you that that system is broken, too. It’s probably the reason that Travis [Tygart] and the USADA [U.S.Anti-Doping Agency] needed something. They needed a case, they needed a story. I was that story, I was that case, it is what it is, and we’re here. But they needed something to show that they were effective. And they did, and it worked.” [1]
Anti-doping advocate Greg LeMond:“When I speak out about doping people could translate it and think it was about the riders. Actually I feel like I am an advocate for the riders. I look at them as being treated like lab rats that are test vehicles for the doctors. The doctors, the management, the officials, they’re the ones that have corrupted riders. The riders are the only ones that pay the price.” [2]
WADA was created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1999 to “promote, coordinate and monitor the fight against drugs in sports.” Its presidents Dick Pound (1999-2007), John Fahey (2008-13), and now Craig Reedie (below) have been continuously rocked by corruption & doping scandals. The closed systems used by all the official anti-doping agencies do not allow independent statistical validation of their tests. IOC/WADA testing identifies <1% of all PED (performance-enhancing drug) users.
Taking a hard-line stance in high profile cases such as Maria Sharapova, obfuscates their overall ineffectiveness in the eyes of most sports fans. Image is everything. WADA president Craig Reedie has warned that it will step in if it believes that the ITF’s ban for Sharapova is too lenient: “We always have that right. In most cases we exercise that right when we think there is a really serious case to answer,” he said. “There will clearly be a great deal of interest after the last 48 hours in what the ITF do. My guess is we will watch this one very carefully.”
For comparison, men’s tennis star Marin Cilic (Croatia) was suspended for nine months in 2013-14, after testing positive for a banned stimulant, nikethamide. After returning to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, Cilic won the U.S. Open in 2014.
Maria Sharapova is the highest-paid female athlete in the world, according to Forbes magazine. [3] She has/had endorsement deals with Nike, Avon, Evian, TAG Heuer, Canon, Cole Haan, Ericsson, Gatorade, Head, Land Rover, Motorola, Porsche, Prince, Samsung, Sony, Tiffany’s and Tropicana. So far– Porsche, Nike & TAG Heuer have suspended ties with Sharapova.
WADA has focused on Russia ever since the German state news station ARD broadcast the documentary Secret Doping Dossier: How Russia Produces Its Winners, in December 2014. WADA used the evidence in the film to target the widespread use of meldonium by Russian athletes. Numerous Russian athletes describe their experiences in state-sponsored programs, where over 99% of competitors are compelled by coaches & higher authorities to use PEDs.
Compulsion towards PED use in American sports begins with pharmaceutical & Madison Avenue bombardment, in the form of ceaseless commercials for new drugs. The U.S. is the primary market for pharmaceutical companies, accounting for one-third of the global market. Lack of regulation means there are few barriers in marketing & distribution, once FDA approval has been secured.
‘Selling sickness’ to a healthy population is now considered standard pharmaceutical industry practice in the U.S. [4] The Affordable Care Act has made chemically refined prescription drugs more the form of treatment for physicians, while increasing their cost to consumers, with no controls over the prices that insurance & pharmaceutical corporations can charge under Obamacare. [5] The side-effects portions of prescription drug commercials are often more than half their running length, with a professional voice-over mono-toning at breakneck speed.
Combined with skyrocketing salaries for top athletes, the current model for illicit PED use is private-sector chemists & physicians (with questionable ethics) developing new drugs for athletes, keeping them ahead of the testers. PEDs can only be detected if there is a test for that particular drug– or class of drugs. Testing for every banned substance is prohibitively expensive for most organizations, especially at the youth & high-school levels.
‘New’ PEDs are often previously developed pharmaceuticals, originally intended for medicinal uses in elderly & sickly populations. For example, Sharapova’s meldonium (Mildronate) is an anti-ischemic drug developed in Latvia to treat angina and prevent heart attacks. In athletes it demonstrates increased endurance, improved rehabilitation after exercise, protection against stress, and enhanced activation of the central nervous system. [6]
Telmisartan (Micardis) is a prescription drug for high blood pressure, manufactured by Roxane in Columbus, OH. It is also frequently abused by top athletes, but it is accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and is not on the WADA banned substances list– nor is the class of drugs to which it belongs.
Cytomel (T3) is a thyroid hormone, developed, patented & manufactured by U.S pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, to treat hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is defined as a deficiency of thyroid hormones– which can disrupt heart rate, body temperature, and all aspects of metabolism. Hypothyroidism is most prevalent in older women. Treatment typically consists of thyroid hormone replacement.
Cytomel, has been popular among bodybuilders for decades for its ability to promote rapid fat & weight loss. It is used by wrestlers & boxers, to come in under weight. One of the most important determinants of success in cycling is power to weight ratio, particularly in the mountains. Any substance which can help riders lose body fat provides a competitive advantage in cycling.
Track athletes have also used thyroid hormones for perceived performance-enhancing effects beyond those associated with weight loss. Victor Conte, the architect of the infamous BALCO steroid program, included T3 as an important drug in his recipe for success in his athletes back in the early 2000’s. WADA has refused to include thyroid hormones on its 2016 Prohibited Substances List. [7]
For clean athletes, ethical doctors and real fans who actually care about sports itself; milodium and other Western-EU and North American PED equivalents must be banned, as their misuse crosses too many ethical & safety boundaries. Banning only meldonium is a politically motivated act by the WADA (and the western political interests behind them), meant to discredit Russian athletes, while ignoring widespread doping throughout professional sports. [8]
In 2015, a whistle-blower leaked International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) blood test records from major competitions. The IAAF is the oldest international sports governing institution, in existence since 1912. Records revealed that between 2001 and 2012, athletes with suspicious drug test results won a third of the medals in endurance events at the Olympics and World Championships— a total of 146 medals including 55 golds—but the IAAF caught none of them. Adidas announced in January that it was ending its sponsorship deal with the IAAF four years early, costing them $33 million in revenue. [9]
The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) new president is Dmitry Shlyakhtin, as of January 2016. Russia has been banned from international competition by WADA, over a massive doping scandal that goes all the way up to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Mikhail Butov had been federation general secretary since 2008, occupying a senior post during the time when WADA alleges doping was rife. Butov remains general secretary “temporarily,” while the new management settles in. Butov told Russia’s Tass agency he intended to stay until December.
Shlyakhtin’s ‘anti-crisis’ presidency could last as little as eight months, since new elections are scheduled for September 2016, after the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dmitry Shlyakhtin succeeds Valentin Balakhnichev, who was banned for life by the IAAF over the alleged extortion of 450,000 euros from suspended Russian marathon runner, Yulia Stepanov.
Balakhnichev had stepped down from his federation role in February 2015 following a doping scandal. [10]
These suits mentioned & pictured above are just a few of the people (you’ve likely never heard of), who are mostly responsible for professional sports doping. A problem never gets solved without addressing its root causes.
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[3-13-16] Notes:
Maria Sharapova has been witch-hunted, it’s that simple. She has been caught up in a Western political vendetta against Russian athletics, and is being used as a pawn. She maintains certain medical privacy rights, no matter what. Her fans know the truth (as much as they need to hear), and overwhelmingly support her– as her Facebook page speaks for itself. Sharapova has handled this unfair situation brilliantly, so she will be hated even more by the media establishment & WADA. Meldonium has been used widely in Russian athletics as a stimulant and is relatively safe & non-toxic; as compared to EPO, of which 100+ forms exist, and are untested for. The issue is– was Maria Sharapova fairly informed of the changes in the banned substances list? Athletes under WADA jurisdiction are allowed to use any substances not on that list.
3-17-16 Notes:
Still no word on when or where the ITF hearing on her case will be held. After two perfect smashes on Facebook, explaining her situation to her fans & the media, there has been no response from the ITF. Here’s Sharapova’s 2nd serve on 3-11-16 on Facebook:
To My Fans:
I want to reach out to you to share some information, discuss the latest news, and let you know that there have been things that have been reported wrong in the media, and I am determined to fight back. You have shown me a tremendous outpouring of support, and I’m so grateful for it. But I have also been aware that some, not all, but some in the media distort, exaggerate and fail to accurately report the facts about what happened.
A report said that I had been warned five times about the upcoming ban on the medicine I was taking. That is not true and it never happened.
That’s a distortion of the actual “communications,” which were provided or simply posted onto a webpage.
I make no excuses for not knowing about the ban. I already told you about the December 22, 2015 email I received. Its subject line was “Main Changes to the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme for 2016.” I should have paid more attention to it.
But the other “communications?” They were buried in newsletters, websites, or handouts.
On December 18, I received an email with the subject line “Player News” on it. It contained a newsletter on a website that contained tons of information about travel, upcoming tournaments, rankings, statistics, bulletin board notices, happy birthday wishes, and yes, anti-doping information. On that email, if a player wanted to find the specific facts about medicine added to the anti-doping list, it was necessary to open the “Player News” email, read through about a dozen unrelated links, find the “Player Zone” link, enter a password, enter a username, read a home screen with more than three dozen different links covering multiple topics, find the “2016 Changes to Tennis Anti-Doping Program and Information” link, click on it and then read a page with approximately three dozen more links covering multiple anti-doping matters. Then you had to click the correct link, open it up, scroll down to page two and that’s where you would find a different name for the medication I was taking.
In other words, in order to be aware of this “warning,” you had to open an email with a subject line having nothing to do with anti-doping, click on a webpage, enter a password, enter a username, hunt, click, hunt, click, hunt, click, scroll and read. I guess some in the media can call that a warning. I think most people would call it too hard to find.
There was also a “wallet card” distributed at various tournaments at the beginning of 2016, after the ban went into effect. This document had thousands of words on it, many of them technical, in small print. Should I have studied it? Yes. But if you saw this document (attached), you would know what I mean. Again, no excuses, but it’s wrong to say I was warned five times.
There was also a headline that said, “4-6 Weeks Normal Treatment for Drug in Maria Sharapova Case.” That headline has been repeated by many reporters who fail to tell their viewers and readers what the rest of the story says. The story quotes the manufacturer of my medicine as saying: “Treatment course can be repeated twice or thrice a year. Only physicians can follow and evaluate patient’s health condition and state whether the patient should use meldonium for a longer period of time.”
That’s exactly what I did. I didn’t take the medicine every day. I took it the way my doctor recommended I take it and I took it in the low doses recommended.
I’m proud of how I have played the game. I have been honest and upfront. I won’t pretend to be injured so I can hide the truth about my testing.
I look forward to the ITF hearing at which time they will receive my detailed medical records. I hope I will be allowed to play again. But no matter what, I want you, my fans, to know the truth and have the facts.
First set to Miss Sharapova.Speculation has her suspension pegged down from a mandatory maximum of 4 years– to 1 year. This still seems all-too-unfair to too many, who are correct in their feelings, if not their understanding. Her UN ambassadorship has been revoked, once again underscoring the political nature of this sordid affair.
3-24-16 Update: Dated March 7th, 2016 ITF press statement on their site:
Following the statement made by Maria Sharapova in a press conference today, the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) can confirm the following:
– On 26 January 2016, Ms Sharapova provided an anti-doping sample to the TADP in association with her participation in the 2016 Australian Open.
– That sample was analysed by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory, which returned a positive for meldonium, which is a prohibited substance under the WADA Code and, therefore also the TADP.
– In accordance with Article 8.1.1 of the TADP, Ms Sharapova was charged on 2 March with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
– Ms Sharapova has accepted the finding of meldonium in her sample collected on 26 January.
– As meldonium is a non-specified substance under the WADA (and, therefore, TADP) list of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods, Ms Sharapova will be provisionally suspended with effect from 12 March, pending determination of the case. [12]
As of this update, there is still no update or mention of the upcoming Sharapova hearing on the ITF site or in the press. On 3-12-16, the London Telegraph reported that Maria Sharapova would have an ITF hearing “later this month.” [13]
Meanwhile, Grindex is the Latvian pharmaceutical company that manufactures meldonium, and they have strongly criticized WADA for adding it to their banned substances list. Grindex representatives claim they gave WADA strong evidence proving meldonium has legitimate therapeutic uses in athletes, and isn’t performance enhancing; but WADA ignored it. [14]
4-3-16 Update: The Russian Tennis Federation just announced that Sharapova’s hearing won’t be until “mid-June,” meaning she will miss the French Open (her best surface), and possibly Wimbledon– if she isn’t cleared by June 29. Until then she is still “provisionally suspended.” The hearing is expected to only take a few days, which begs the question: why such a long wait for her– when she’s ready now? [15]
Also now in question is her Summer Olympics eligibility. The 2016 games are being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To say all this is political, is a massive over-simplification. This whole case could have been handled in a week or two, but WADA & the ITF won’t allow it. Therefore Maria Sharapova is punished, even if proven innocent.
The players on tour dislike her [16], and have shown it by not standing with her in her right to a timely hearing as an international workers-rights grievance. This speaks more on their shame, than Sharapova’s; as any professional athlete is deserving of a timely & fair hearing in any PED suspension case.
It is obvious (with the political players involved) that backroom deals are being made left-and-right, and Sharapova’s career is the bargaining tool. It would be helpful to Maria Sharapova’s cause if her fans started speaking up & pointing out all this hypocrisy. She needs it because she is too big of a rock star, and thus has few real friends among her (jealous) peers. She has even less in the (hateful) media.
Does this look like a threat to the American ‘way of life?’
Asaad Al-Zoubi & George Sabra (pictured below) head the ‘Syrian opposition delegation,’ which represents the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in recent ‘peace talks‘ at the United Nations in Geneva.
The FSA is a CIA-organized coalition of spies, terrorists, defectors, al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra Front, and ISIS jihadist militants. Here is their Wikipedia page– [1]
The FSA has ravished Syria since 2011.
This is a large part of the current refugee crisis in Europe.
The White House & Pentagon have been conducting airstrikes in FSA support for several years, despite the fact that al-Qaeda has been the official U.S. enemy (in its phony ‘war on terror‘) since 9/11.
The governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar & Turkey have lent financial & military support to the US-led war in Syria.
In September 2015, the Russian government began airstrikes against the FSA, in defense of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, their political ally.
In U.S. ruling circles, nobody believes that Bashar al-Assad is any kind of threat to national security, but he is an ally of Russia and that’s enough for the warheads in Washington & Langley.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany and European Union whip, insists that all of Europe’s external borders must be ‘secured.’
‘Fortress Europe’ will cut off Syrian refugees in Turkey, Greece and the Aegean Sea.
€3 billion has been made available for the building of mass internment camps for refugees on the Turkey/Syria border.
This is the foreign policy reality that is being ignored during ‘Election 2016.’
This political madness which sets mankind course for nuclear war, is Democratic White House policy. A Republican oval office will only insist on further escalation with Russia & China.
Working people need their own candidates– as this garbage just won’t do.
This is a cross section of U.S political polling in this ongoing election year. The numbers provided below are at the time of this publication, and will change over time. Only eligible and ‘likely’ voters are seriously polled.
Question that never gets asked:
“Do you approve of government secret services being able to unlock your cell phone and search all your data, at will?”
U.S. citizens are supposed to have constitutional rights, and it is the president’s sworn oath to defend the Constitution.
Question that gets asked instead:
“Should Apple unlock the iPhones of suspected terrorists for the FBI?”
Most voters don’t approve of new U.S. wars of aggression, despite the constant barrage of propaganda– but there remains a hardcore militarist/fascist element.
Question that never gets asked:
“Global warming– are we going to do anything about it, because it’s only getting worse?”
Capitalism has no serious answer to this fundamental question of human survival.
Question that gets asked instead:
“Should the government increase environmental regulations to prevent global warming?”
The truth is the U.S government is a plutocracy, so no fundamental class truths are allowed to be spoken officially, hence the confusion among many voters.
The political side-show circus, funded by an unlimited supply of super PAC money, stops in South Carolina on Saturday, February 13– with only the Republicans on prime-time TV this time. Anyone tuning in, hopeful of gaining a clearer sense of the serious political issues our world is facing today, will only be repulsed & disgusted by what they see & hear.
President Obama just submitted his last budget to congress. Two-thirds of discretionary spending is for military & policing, with huge increases in their budgets. Virtually nothing is left for education, environmental, infrastructure, or any other social service. [1]
“There is no money” is the lie that pours out of the mouths of pleading liberal Democrats & foul-mouthed Republicans, over & over. The corporate media ‘moderators’ and party supporter-packed audiences put on a show for their viewers, dazzling them with insults & sensationalism– no serious discussion is allowed on any topic.
The mainstream media pretends it has no clue as to why Donald Trump is leading the Republican nomination process; as if they never considered the effect of allowing a reactionary bigot to openly propose building a wall between the US & Mexico, or denying religious freedom to Muslims, or condoning known forms of torture (and worse), with audiences that enthusiastically applaud every misanthropic statement. Every hardcore racist, socio-path, and brain-dead narcissist loves the guy.
Trump has been aided-and-abetted the whole way by a vested corporate media, which never criticizes him for what he actually is– a fascist. He & his supporters may look silly & harmless on the surface, but underneath they are the toxic elements of fear, hatred and ignorance. Youth & working people everywhere need to rise up and meet this dangerous tendency with merciless opposition. Supporters of this filth need to be exposed, shouted down, and when necessary– beaten down. This tendency can not be allowed to seize power.
A Marxist understanding of the current political situation is that this is war, with survival for humanity at stake. Fake socialist Bernie Sanders will insist fascism can be tempered and restrained– with soothing language and a spirit of compromise. He is a fool who knows better, the latest in a long line of political dead-ends for those still willing to cling to the liberal illusions of the Democratic party.
It’s up to youth & working people to now organize themselves and take action towards building an independent political voice that listens to and serves their interests. Democrats & Republicans are both bribed by the super-rich, the class enemy of the workers. The only viable solution is throwing off the straitjacket of the two -party system, and building a revolutionary socialist party that unites the workers of the world in the fight against capitalism. The alternative is the fascist jackboot.
