Saturday, January 26, 2008
Where are you?!?!
With the Democratic presidential primary today in South Carolina, has anyone heard from Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Julian Bond, or any other leader of the NAACP on Barack Obama's campaign. I have heard no endorcement or criticism. Are they afraid of lending their support for fear it will turn people off or do they not agree with his politics but are also afraid to state this for fear of turning people away? Anyone know? The NAACP website home page makes no mention of Obama, but does talk about nominees for the NAACP Image Awards (of which only TV, movie and literary people are nominated) and targeting Target, but not one word about Obama. How does Obama feel about this-happy, angry, dissapointed? I just find it interesting that the highest profile African-American has been ignored by the largest African-American organization as well as the 2 most outspoken African-Americans. Do they know something we don't-but should?
Friday, January 25, 2008
Friday's Blogettes
Super Bowl: Anybody else think that Tom Brady is faking the ankle/foot injury to psyche out the Giants?
Baseball: MLB had a don't ask don't tell policy on steroids. It's time to move on and anyone caught doing steroids or other banned substances need to be eliminated from baseball for life. If they could do it to Shoeless Joe Jackson & Pete Rose, why not to those who are doing something that is against the law (betting on baseball is not illegal, it is just banned by MLB. Taking money from the mob to throw games in 1919 was not illegal OR banned by baseball). MLB screwed up and the players took advantage of it. Move on and start over.
NBA: Again, who cares?
NCAA: Some of these rules are ridiculous. Did you see where Sidney Lowe (coach of NC State basketball) violated a rulle when he talked about the abilities of a player who has committed to play at NCSU. Why is it even a rule not to talk about some one who has committed to play for a team? The NCAA rules committee is becoming as bad as the IRS!
Other sports: Bring back roller derby! Better yet, roller derby on ice (ice blade derby?).
Economy: Does anybody really think that a tax refund is going to stimulate the economy or will the money just go to pay down debt? Just give the money to the banks or gas companies and skip the middle man. It's just a ploy in an election year to make everyone think the politicians are on our side. I say, make the politicians pay taxes & pay for their own health insurance, then they will see how the rest of us live! Get them out of their ivory towers and into the work force!!!
BofA: Anybody else notice that Bank of America is getting ready to layoff workers even after they received an EXTRA 6 billion dollars from the sale of two types of securities (depository shares and convertible preferred stock) . They were only expecting 6 billion dollars total and they sold for $12 billion! Don't you think they could afford to keep some of those workers with that money?
Baseball: MLB had a don't ask don't tell policy on steroids. It's time to move on and anyone caught doing steroids or other banned substances need to be eliminated from baseball for life. If they could do it to Shoeless Joe Jackson & Pete Rose, why not to those who are doing something that is against the law (betting on baseball is not illegal, it is just banned by MLB. Taking money from the mob to throw games in 1919 was not illegal OR banned by baseball). MLB screwed up and the players took advantage of it. Move on and start over.
NBA: Again, who cares?
NCAA: Some of these rules are ridiculous. Did you see where Sidney Lowe (coach of NC State basketball) violated a rulle when he talked about the abilities of a player who has committed to play at NCSU. Why is it even a rule not to talk about some one who has committed to play for a team? The NCAA rules committee is becoming as bad as the IRS!
Other sports: Bring back roller derby! Better yet, roller derby on ice (ice blade derby?).
Economy: Does anybody really think that a tax refund is going to stimulate the economy or will the money just go to pay down debt? Just give the money to the banks or gas companies and skip the middle man. It's just a ploy in an election year to make everyone think the politicians are on our side. I say, make the politicians pay taxes & pay for their own health insurance, then they will see how the rest of us live! Get them out of their ivory towers and into the work force!!!
BofA: Anybody else notice that Bank of America is getting ready to layoff workers even after they received an EXTRA 6 billion dollars from the sale of two types of securities (depository shares and convertible preferred stock) . They were only expecting 6 billion dollars total and they sold for $12 billion! Don't you think they could afford to keep some of those workers with that money?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Dissing on Sharpton
Did you hear that Al Sharpton is probably coming to Chalotte to support Nick Mackey (the man "elected" as the sheriff replacement due to voting rules being broken and having a "questionable" record both as a police officer-resigned while under investigation for fraud-and as an attorney-has taken money from clients, not showed up in court, and has been found in contempt) and to try to force the County Commissioners to uphold the election and place Mackey in the position as sheriff. This is the same Al Sharpton who supported the "victim" in Durham, NC in the lacrosse rape case in which it was found that the "victim's" statements were lies and the players were railroaded by a corrupt political agenda by the D.A.'s office. Did he ever apologize to the real victim's-the lacrosse players? No. He just left town quietly and kept a low profile. Now he is coming to Charlotte to support another person (because they are black) who is in the wrong again. When will people learn that if Al Sharpton is on one side of an issue, the other side is the one with a solid foundation. His is always in sinking sand!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Family Values?
Here is a picture from September of the latest family reunion. It looks more like the Addams Family.
It's A Recession Stupid!
The DOW falls 400 points upon opening on Tuesday, the housing market's bottom is dropping out, unemployment is on the rise, bank stocks are falling, gas is over $3.00 per gallon, record deficit, rising healthcare costs, the Fed cuts interest rates, the Fed is trying to figure out how much extra refunds to give people ($800/person?), and the Canadian dollar is worth more than the U.S. dollar. Any questions?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Booker T & Me
"Can you make your intelligence affect us in the same ratio that our ignorance affects you? Let us put a not improbable case, one that involves peace or war, the honor or dishonor of our nation--yea, the very existence of the government. The North and West are divided. There are five million votes to be cast in the South, and of this number one half are ignorant. Not only are one half the voters ignorant, but, because of this ignorant vote, corruption, dishonesty in a dozen forms have crept into the exercise of the political franchise.... The time may not be far off when to this kind of jury we shall have to look for the verdict that is to decide the course of our democratic institutions."
This quote was taken from The Great Accommodater-Booker T. Washington.
With the Republican Primary of South Carolina behind us and the Democratic Primary of South Carolina on the doorstep this week, I was struck by this comment made over 100 years ago (30 September 1896) at how it still applies today. Are not most of us ignorant on the issues and of the people running for President (and for that matter already running our country)? Who actually takes the time to study a persons record of what he/she HAS done and not what they claim they are GOING to do? With all the resources available to each individual today, rarely does a person use them to make a well-informed rational decision on who they are voting for or why. A lot of people vote along party lines because that's what their families have been doing for generations. They are parties different in name only in this day and age. It used to be that the Democrats were for welfare programs and a large central government, but now the Republicans are in favor of welfare programs (mostly for other countries) and have created the largest centralized bureaucracy this country has ever seen. They are all one and the same. No difference, yet the individuals may be different and state their "ideal" promises for the next term, but all become corrupt once in power. They all speak the "language" that they think will get them elected--the language of the ignorant and non-caring. Of course this rhetoric is set6 in motion by the big "Political Machines" (money-the rich), and therefore the rich in control stay in control by controlling the ignorant masses.
I too have been guilty of this, but I vowed to use my privilege of voting to better understand the person I am voting for-or the person I am voting against. This is a duty we should all strive to accomplish. I know this a Utopian thought and will never happen & the ignorant will still vote in the will of the rich and powerful, but at least in my mind I will have done the best that I can with the mind that God gave me the Right attributed to me in The Constitution.
This quote was taken from The Great Accommodater-Booker T. Washington.
With the Republican Primary of South Carolina behind us and the Democratic Primary of South Carolina on the doorstep this week, I was struck by this comment made over 100 years ago (30 September 1896) at how it still applies today. Are not most of us ignorant on the issues and of the people running for President (and for that matter already running our country)? Who actually takes the time to study a persons record of what he/she HAS done and not what they claim they are GOING to do? With all the resources available to each individual today, rarely does a person use them to make a well-informed rational decision on who they are voting for or why. A lot of people vote along party lines because that's what their families have been doing for generations. They are parties different in name only in this day and age. It used to be that the Democrats were for welfare programs and a large central government, but now the Republicans are in favor of welfare programs (mostly for other countries) and have created the largest centralized bureaucracy this country has ever seen. They are all one and the same. No difference, yet the individuals may be different and state their "ideal" promises for the next term, but all become corrupt once in power. They all speak the "language" that they think will get them elected--the language of the ignorant and non-caring. Of course this rhetoric is set6 in motion by the big "Political Machines" (money-the rich), and therefore the rich in control stay in control by controlling the ignorant masses.
I too have been guilty of this, but I vowed to use my privilege of voting to better understand the person I am voting for-or the person I am voting against. This is a duty we should all strive to accomplish. I know this a Utopian thought and will never happen & the ignorant will still vote in the will of the rich and powerful, but at least in my mind I will have done the best that I can with the mind that God gave me the Right attributed to me in The Constitution.
Got MLK?
On this national holiday celebrating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, I would be remiss if I did not remind all not only of the words of this great orator, but also those of The Great Accomodator, Booker T. Washington. The "I Have a Dream" speech is one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century, but Dr. King only addresses one aspect of racial equality and not the entire scope needed to attain true equality. He states "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Since the civil rights era of the 1960's this has been attained with a few exceptions (racial bias will never be truly eliminated from any peoples as individuals are prone to shortcomings in themselves).
However, in society today, there is still a wide gap economically between races. Why? Mr. Washington addresses this when he states, "No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house." Mr. Washington spoke many times on two aspects of equality-racial and economic- and that it was the duty of the "Negro" to prepare himself to be economically equal as well as socially. He was afraid that his race would not aspire to become educated and able to do the duties and works equal to that of a white man, and that still holds true. Why are their a disproportionate number of African-Americans on welfare? The educational opportunities are there but a person has to take the initiative and want that education so that they may better themselves. This does take effort and hard work and time! This is what Booker T. Washington feared most of his people and in my opinion, he would turn in his grace over a holiday given in honor of an African-American in which his children stay home from school instead of taking education to its hight and pinnacle!
Let us not forget on this great holiday that it is up to every individual to do something with their lives and to change the past. To become educated, to become productive, and to become an essential part of society. Only then will true equality be achieved and mankind can move forward toward a true world peace.
However, in society today, there is still a wide gap economically between races. Why? Mr. Washington addresses this when he states, "No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house." Mr. Washington spoke many times on two aspects of equality-racial and economic- and that it was the duty of the "Negro" to prepare himself to be economically equal as well as socially. He was afraid that his race would not aspire to become educated and able to do the duties and works equal to that of a white man, and that still holds true. Why are their a disproportionate number of African-Americans on welfare? The educational opportunities are there but a person has to take the initiative and want that education so that they may better themselves. This does take effort and hard work and time! This is what Booker T. Washington feared most of his people and in my opinion, he would turn in his grace over a holiday given in honor of an African-American in which his children stay home from school instead of taking education to its hight and pinnacle!
Let us not forget on this great holiday that it is up to every individual to do something with their lives and to change the past. To become educated, to become productive, and to become an essential part of society. Only then will true equality be achieved and mankind can move forward toward a true world peace.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)