Today Marks 30-Year Anniversary of Jonestown Mass Suicide

CitizenSugar — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:30:12 -0800

On Nov. 18, 1978, more than 900 people living in the intentional community (a polite way of saying commune) Jonestown committed suicide. Their weapon of choice? A grape-flavored drink mixed with cyanide. While it wasn't Kool-Aid (generic - they were socialists!), it is where the phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid" originated.

Before Jonestown became a full-blown commune in the jungle, it was a church called the Peoples Temple. Jim Jones was its founder and powerful leader, though he also went by "Dad." Not a sign at all! With a congregation heavily dominated by African-Americans from poor communities in San Francisco, his goal was to care for parishioners. And in many ways, he did. Social programs were created; sexism was preached against; and racial integration was supported.

Nobody saw it as a cult, though. Nobody wanted to. To find out why, read more.

Jim Jones, who was head of San Francisco's Housing Authority, was active in San Francisco politics and, unlike other cult leaders, in touch with the outside world. But when reports of sexual abuse, public beatings, and staged healings emerged, Jones moved the group to Guyana, a former British Colony in South America.

California congressman Leo Ryan visited the commune with reporters after concern from family members at home arose. It was a tense trip. Dozens of members pleaded to leave with him and several did. Jones's men followed them to the airport and shot at their plane. The congressman was killed along with several reporters and escapees.

Later that day Jones told the 900 remaining members that they had no choice but to commit "revolutionary suicide." And all but a few, who pretended to be dead, did. Until 9/11, it was the greatest single, non-natural disaster loss of American life.

The Jonestown Report

Check This: Bush a Hero in Africa

LibertySugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:00:14 -0800

President Bush is enjoying a hero's welcome as he tours Africa. This week he will visit Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, and Uganda during a mission to address the continent's economic, health, and security concerns. Programs that will fight AIDS and malaria, as well as aid plans that promote self-reliance instead of unqualified assistance, make President Bush much more popular in Africa than he is in other parts of the world.

The AIDS programs focus on preventing new infections in dozens of African nations, Haiti, and Guyana. The plans will provide medication to 2 million people already living with the disease.

On Monday, in Tanzania, Bush also unveiled a plan that will have a practical impact on people's lives - The US plans to fund millions of bed-nets that will protect every Tanzanian child aged one to five from mosquitoes that spread deadly malaria.

Of course, Bush's ceaseless critics have hesitations about his plans. For more on the critics, read more.

Activists worry that Bush's relief program will require that the medication funding be spent on high-cost patent-protected drugs, rather than on the cheapest possible generic antiviral medication. In addition, the plan requires that substantial funding go to faith-based organizations with the requirement that one-third of AIDS prevention dollars go to abstinence-only programs.

Do you think the critics raise fair concerns? Or, are you just excited to see Bush offering money and attention to Africa's dire needs?

Source

TresSugar

Today Marks 30-Year Anniversary of Jonestown Mass Suicide

Check This: Bush a Hero in Africa