We’re talking about the Stand Your Ground Law; the new personal protection law that’s sweeping the nation.

Not to be confused with the Castle Doctrine…this law is the right to use lethal force to protect your personal space…Stand Your Ground, unlike the Castle Doctrine which provides the right to kill intruders in your domicile, residence or “castle”…goes with you where ever you go…like a right to personal protection bubble.

The law means any shooter is justified in killing, what would normally be called murdering, simply because  the shooter ”feels” threatened or endangered

–There is no need for any actual threat or endangerment–all that is necessary is the  shooter feel, or perceive that they are threatened!

The New Could’ve, Might’ve Law ….sanctions  killing anyone You don’t like in Your neighborhood.

All You have to do is feel afraid.

As well you should–according to the new interpretations.

According to current interpretations of the right to Stand Your Ground Law

Trayvon Martin had the right to:

1)      Stand his ground. (Why has no one mentioned this?”)

2)     “Feel Afraid.” (After all he was being followed by a big white/Hispanic man with a gun.)

3)     Shoot  Zimmerman,…if onlyMartin had had his own gun. (Why has no one mentioned the only defense Martin had was his own body. The very same body perished trying to provide defense.)

4)    Defend himself, by attacking the perceived threat Martin felt from Zimmerman. (Surely we are not claiming the only way you can protect yourself from a perceived threat is with a knife or a gun.)

5)      Beat Zimmerman to death even, to defend himself, because he felt threatened by Zimmerman  following him with a gun and scaring him.

It should be clear:

6)      Martin not only had the right to feel endangered by Zimmerman, Martin was actuallyendangered by Zimmerman, since Martin is now dead, caused by Zimmerman  following him and shooting him with a gun.

7)    Martin not only had the legal right to confront, or attack Zimmerman, because he felt endangered,
Martin really was endangered.

8)     We can only imagine a successful application of the “Stand Your Ground Law” would have been:
Zimmerman followed Martin. Martin felt threatened. Martin shot or killed Zimmerman because of the threat.
Case Closed.

9)     Who could have imagined  the “Predator” who was following and threatening, would have the right to claim they felt threatened, and this feeling could therefore be used to justify their predatory killing?

10)   Rationally it would appear Martin was the only one to have the right to feel threatened,
since Martin was the only one who was being pursued, by a person named Zimmerman, with a gun.

11)      According to current interpretation of the “Stand Your Ground Law”,  Martin  even had the right to attack Zimmerman to take Zimmerman’s gun from him, because the threat of Zimmerman’s gun, was part of Zimmerman’s threat.

12)      The biggest threat to Martin and Zimmerman was Zimmerman’s gun.

13)    Zimmerman  brought the gun

14)     Zimmerman pulled the trigger.

15)    Martin perhaps tried to defend himself.  (As is his right under the “Stand Your Ground” law.)

16)     Zimmerman shot Martin dead.

The only situation that could invalidate Martin’s rights to defend, and even kill, if he felt threatened is
if  the “Stand Your Ground” law is valid for whites only.

Many people are arguing that Zimmerman, after following Martin “might” have “felt” threatened, and therefore whatever the “maybe” reality,  Zimmerman had the right to defend himself with a gun.

Are we now saying if someone approaches or is near you, you have a right to “feel” threatened therefore you have the “right” to “kill” that person?

However that person could also feel threatened… by YOU, and therefore have a right to kill you, since he feels threatened ??

What??

You better get practicing Quick Draw!

If this is the truth of the law, then it has now become much worse than the Old Wild West, and we all need to carry loaded pistols in our holsters.

Whoever feels threatened first has the right to shoot the other dead. (“The Quick and the Dead.”)

That’s reassuring!

Logically, every single person should feel threatened.

Since we now know all the other person has to do is feel threatened to legally shoot us. (I’m afraid to go outdoors.)

Doesn’t even matter if the other person has a gun. Doesn’t matter who drew first. Doesn’t matter that all they did was stick out their tongue. Doesn’t matter that they were walking away and you shot them in the back.  All that matters is You felt they might turn around, and when and if they did, they might  attack you.

If this is the essence of the new law then we can kill anyone and everyone we want.

All we have to do is get near enough to the person or persons we hate, perhaps by following, to shoot them.

Then when we are close enough to feel threatened, to feel they might hurt us, we legally shoot them dead.

Reminds us of the defense:  YOUR face ran into MY fist…Or

YOU scared me while I was following you with my gun, so I Shot YOU.

Come to think of it: Isn’t this the same reasoning our government is trying to use to attack Iran?
They might be dangerous.

It is a widespread water recovery system that has been used by people for many years. But these days the thought to make rain barrel became very actual, as many districts suffer from dry weather and constant lack of water. Any individual living in such location begins to think about the possibility of rain water barrel creation. It is not possible to make a comparison between the past rain barrels and the modern ones as the rain water barrels that are created today are very attractive and developed. You can select any size of it and any color that suits your garden.

The first and main advantage of using rain water barrel is your home development, the improvement of your home water system. One more advantage of using barrel system is the opportunity to supply your garden with the necessary quantity of water. When you have your garden you desire to improve it and make it more beautiful and healthy. Here, rain water is a great help. The last, but not least benefit of rain barrel system is saving of water. Using rain water for watering of your garden and other housekeeping needs you will lower the usage of your local water. That implies that you will use water without toxins for performing all your house needs from the rain barrel and consume water from your local supply only for your personal needs. Such combination will help you lower the water usage bills you are to pay every month. Using rain water for watering of plants and garden you will help the environment much, because it is a well-known thing that rain water does not contain the toxins and various chemicals. If you want to grow your healthy garden and supply your plants with hydration, the thought of rain barrel creation has a good sense. If you have a very big home and roof you may create several rain water barrels in order to collect more clean water. Such improved system will give you the water supply for the whole dry season.

“Pictures in Glass Frames”, by Shawn R. Jones, is a collection of original devotional pieces for the encouragement of those who would,  “honor Christ daily, love unreservedly, and live purposefully.” The renown poet and author of this new devotional has assembled anecdotes to make the readers laugh, cry, and give praises to God as she candidly unfolds her life story.

In this book Jones discloses the intimate details of her tragic family history, and by grace, a restored adult life. The most important fact is “Pictures in Glass Frames” is a celebration of life and a  present generation, all saved by God’s enduring love.

Order your personalized copy today. Order others to give as gifts during this holiday season.

The heart of this package will be the impressive 3D animation program which is loaded with capabilities of which rivals the cutting edge Three-dimensional software like Maya. IllusionMage allows anyone to create 3D graphics very easily, produce animated cartoon video, design 3D games, and develop interactive 3D on real time. There are many 3D toon software packages out there, but the top brands that are used by the experts e.g. Maya, possess very high end 3D laptop or computer graphics as well as a very powerful Three dimensional modelling software package. Illusion Mage tries to give 3D animation in the same vein seeing that Maya without costing the same amount.

Most ideal point of, Illusion Mage 3D animation application provide 100% money-back guarantees should you are certainly not happy with this program. Even though there’s some great 3D animation software out there, the hard work is still down to you. With Illusion Mage, everyone can get state-of-the-art 3D animation software together with full featured real-time 3D sport creation, animation, rendering, and also integrated modelling package. If you might be a die hard fan regarding 3D animation and artwork, and you’ve got always wanted to develop artwork and 3D styles for instance we see in films, then the Illusion Mage 3D animation improvement software is really a best answer to produce 3D animations.

Illusion Mage is usually an all-in-one solution for your 3D animated needs. Illusion Mage offers an amazing degree of instructional material to help the two novices and experts. Illusion Mage is often a 3D animation software that had been created by Seth Avery. Illusion Mage offers modeling, object rendering, game creation, texturing, visual Three dimensional effects, and a host regarding other features.

People that are searching through the web for info about the niche of internet marketing, please make sure to visit the URL which was quoted in this passage.

This article was authored by attorney Sheryl L. Axelrod, of  The Axelrod Firm, PC.
The Axelrod Firm, PC  is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania law firm established for the purpose of assisting individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations with  commercial, real estate and employment issues. 

It frequently happens. A business owner purchases an insurance policy to protect the business. You pay your premiums in a timely manner, year after year. Then one day, your business is at the wrong end of a lawsuit. You quickly submit the claim to your insurance carrier and expecting they’ll cover it. They’ll hire a lawyer at their cost (after you pay any deductible), and the lawyer will defend your company. After all, that’s why you’ve been paying all those premiums, to get that coverage. However, a few weeks later,  you receive a letter s in the mail. Your carrier is rejecting the claim and now you’re the one who must foot the bill to pay for, defend and fight the lawsuit. This is what you should do to effectively fight back.

1. Assess the battleground

Review your  insurance company’s claim rejection letter; review as it compares to your insurance policy. Your policy is your insurance carrier’s contract with you; your carrier must adhere to the terms of the contract. The letter will detail your carrier’s grounds for denying coverage. The letter will typically will refer to specific policy language. When you crosscheck the letter against the policy, don’t just look at the policy provisions your carrier references. Read the entire policy; see how its terms are defined and get an understanding of the scope of coverage — which acts and damages the policy covers, and which it does not.

In Pennsylvania, unless it is absolutely clear that your carrier does not have to provide your enterprise with coverage, your carrier generally has to provide coverage. Courts interpret contracts against their drafters. In the case of insurance policies, the drafters are virtually always the insurance carriers. When courts interpret a policy against the carrier, they interpret ambiguous terms — provisions that can  mean more than one thing — in favor of providing the insured, your business, with coverage. So if the policy could be construed to call for your carrier to defend the lawsuit, your policy will be construed to require your carrier to do so. In short, courts will read the policy in the way most likely to provide your business with coverage.

The carrier will attempt to confuse you claiming  the policy does not demand it to indemnify a claim. We are talking about whether the policy requires the defense of a claim, whether the policy calls for the carrier to hire a lawyer to defend your company. Whether your carrier has to pay a judgment that could be entered against your business (indemnification) is a separate question.

2. Fight back

If you conclude that indeed, your policy could reasonably be construed to require your company’s defense, write your carrier back. Set out why the policy requires your carrier to defend the lawsuit, quoting specific policy provisions which call for coverage.

It can be an act of “bad faith” for a carrier to refuse to defend a claim covered by a policy, and if your business wins a bad faith claim against a carrier, the carrier may have to pay your company not only compensatory damages, but punitive damages. Compensatory damages are the monies your business actually incurs from the having to defend the claim (the legal fees and costs of the suit). Punitive damages may be also imposed to punish a carrier so in the future, it will be more likely to defend such a claim rather than forcing its insured to defend it and have to sue to get reimbursed. If you truly believe your carrier’s refusal to defend your company is being made in bad faith, tell them so in the letter but be prepared to back that up with a claim against your carrier should it refuse to budge.

3. Keep your eye on the clock

Whatever you do, do not let the time your company has to file a response to the lawsuit run out. In Pennsylvania courts, you may be able to file either an Answer to the Complaint or a pleading to have the Complaint stricken. Call the opposing party’s attorney. Do not mention anything about the merit (or lack of merit) of the lawsuit, but say you are trying to get your insurance carrier to hire a lawyer for you.  Ask for a reasonable extension of time to Answer the Complaint or otherwise plead. If the lawyer grants the extension, confirm it in writing. This way, you will retain the ability to have the Complaint stricken while you try to get your carrier to hire a lawyer to represent your company. In the meantime, don’t procrastinate. Seek legal assistance. Find a lawyer to represent your business in the lawsuit — preferably, one who will also help you force your carrier to comply with the  contract to provide coverage for your business.

One of the most commonly misplaced things are wallets. To make things worse, they are one of the most important things that we have to carry around, since they contain IDs, credit cards, bank cards, driver’s licenses, etc. The first technique for avoiding losing your wallet is finding a place where you will always keep the things that you use every day. This place should be close to the door, so that you can pick up the things that you need on your way out, and return them when you come back home. You can use the same technique at your office. If you tend to forget to pick up your wallet on your way out, you can also try keeping it in the bag that you always carry, or in the pocket of your coat or jacket. You should make sure to remember to pick up your wallet if you change your bag or jacket.

Keys are another object that frequently gets misplaced. They are also the most inconvenient thing to lose or misplace, since you cannot leave your house without jeopardizing its safety if you do not find them. A great idea for always knowing where your keys are is attaching your keys to colourful Lanyards that are easily noticeable. You can also order Custom lanyards with your name or a funny message and make this option more personal. One of the most common tips for knowing where your keys are is keeping them on a hook next to or on the door. You can also store them in a different assigned place and make sure to always leave them there when you are at home. If none of these techniques work for you, you can also buy a keychain gadget, such as a sound-activated keychain finder. You should also make sure that a friend of yours, or a member of your family has a spare key just in case.

Have you ever put your phone on silent and then spent hours looking for it? This is another thing that you can prevent. As with your wallet and keys, you can designate a certain spot and always keep your phone there. You can also decide to put your phone on silent mode as rarely as possible and make sure to always turn silent mode off as soon as possible.

These simple tips can make your life much easier, so why not try applying some of them right now? Good luck with avoiding losing things!

For those who are searching through the web for more information about the topic of internet marketing, then visit the link that is mentioned right in this passage.

Nostradamus was born in France in 1503 and has become known for his Visions concerning the future. He was initially a pharmacist and a healer and when he was close to fifty he developed an curiosity about the occult sciences and started publishing almanacs. Even during his life he became renowned for these and many people people used to visit him for astrological readings and requesting psychic help and advice. He then began summarizing his Visions placing them in quatrains which are four lines poetic para in French. He created about a 1000 of these undated quatrains into a book named “The Prophecies” for which he is very famous for to this day. Nostradamus wrote in a cryptic style and his quatrains needed interpretation. Many people have discovered that a lot of of these predictions have been accurate and his prophecies are very respected by astrologers and those in many occult communities.

Nostradamus passed on in 1566 and his prophecies continue to be examined and in particular the 2012 Nostradamus predictions are getting a large amount of interest, firstly because the time is coming nearer and additionally his visions appear to agree with prophecies from other sources like the bible, Mayan and Gnostic scrolls and many others.

You have to keep in mind that Nostradamus visions are in no way obvious and he writes symbolically and therefore different people interpret these symbols in a variety of ways. The following continues to be interpreted as forecasting 9/11.

“In the year of the new century and nine months, From the sky will come a great King of Terror… The sky will burn at forty-five degrees. Fire approaches the great new city… In the city of York there will be a great collapse, two twin brothers torn apart by chaos while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb third big war will begin when the big city is burning.”

The 2012 Nostradamus End of World prophecies depict a dismal picture of enormous destruction and havoc brought about by a comet. It’s not at all obvious if this comet could strike the earth or may move very close to the planet, bringing about widespread earthquakes along with other major events. However all interpreters of his quatrains are agreed on the viewpoint that it’s going to be a comet which will come some time in December 2012. Nostradamus writes in one of his Doomsday 2012 quatrains –

“In the sky will be seen a great fire dragging a trail of sparks”.

This line describes a comet and many are of the opinion that it will be huge in size. A number of interpreters put the size to be slightly less than the planet Jupiter, and if such a comet moves near to the earth the effect of its gravity will result in the oceanic masses to go up as well as bring about earthquakes.

Another idea is that the even though the comet will move near to the world it could lead to an asteroid to shift course and impact the planet earth. This kind of impact would be the size of several atomic bombs and will cause enormous destruction. Some forecast that the superpowers around the globe will send nuclear weapons to destroy this asteroid in space, but still there will be a shower of hail and fire from its pieces.

Nostradamus Doomsday predictions also gives an indication of the fate of certain nations, and how long the comet will be seen in the skies.

“The Great Star will blaze for Seven days” meaning the comet will be very near the earth for seven days and nights.

and

“The Huge dog will howl at night, when the great pontiff will change lands”.

The great dog is assumed to be the united kingdom by many interpreters, and the line suggests its destruction. The pontiff is taken to be the pope thus Rome also will be destroyed. The 2012 Nostradamus prophecies furthermore suggest that as a result of enormous destruction caused by the comet there will be wide-spread anarchy and particular nations can take advantage and plunge the world into a third World War after which a New World Order will be created. The 2012 Enoch Project is one such theory.

“After there is great trouble among mankind, a greater one is prepared. The great mover of the universe will renew time, rain, blood, thirst, famine, steel weapons and disease. In the heavens, a fire seen.”

One of the quatrains says – “King of terror shall come from the sky. He will bring to life the King of Mongols.”

This line continues to be interpreted that after the arrival of the comet China will gain dominance and could possibly commence attacking nations around the world to gain world dominance.
It is also thought that other quatrains of the Nostradamus 2012 topic have been published including the mentioning of both the Antichrist and various theories for the End of the world 2012.

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor,

I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.‘  Please tell me the truth: Is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon
115 W. 95th St.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas 2010 to everyone!

Now she has been forced to promise an inquiry into measures that led to Indian diplomat Meera Shankar being confined to a glass cage before being invasively groped by TSA staff in full public view, after Indian authorities demanded an apology for her treatment. “We obviously are concerned about it,” Clinton told reporters in Washington.

Although the matter had not been raised when she met with Shankar on Tuesday, Clinton said, “Certainly we will be looking into it and not only responding to the Indian foreign minister but also reviewing the policies,” reports CBS News.

Here’s what we think…we think thie result of reports of this controversial this incident will change how diplomats are treated…you and Iwill receive the same bad treatment by TSA agents whether in Mississippi or New Jersey.

According to reports in the Times Of India Online “American security minders on Thursday insisted that US airport personnel went ‘by the book”
in the ‘pat down’ incident involving Indian ambassador Meera Shankar even as administration mandarins reportedly offered a qualified regret and promised a review of the matter.”

The Times also reports: “It was the nearest any US official came to publicly expressing regret much less an apology on a day Washington pushed back against the emotion from New Delhi. Most of the placatory statements came from the state department, which has to worry about diplomatic niceties, in contrast to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has no such obligation.”

As illustrated by this response from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who stated, “It was a pat-down that followed our procedures, and I think it was appropriate under the circumstances.”

Although she may be from the Northeastern U.S., (born in New York City, raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Secretary Napolitano’s remark gives unwitting  support to our feeling about the history and culture of Mississippi.  Perhaps she’s showing solidarity with TSA employees who are accustomed to the culture of the South.  Despite appearing to be a Yankee on the outside, Secretary Napolitano may have some Dixie in her heart.

Watch this video of the late Nina Simone’s very first protest song. It was written and recorded following the murder of four little girls by a well known home grown terrorist group who bombed a church one Sunday morning in 1963.

In this case the lyric, “Yes you lied to me all these years,You told me to wash and clean my ears, And talk real fine just like a lady, And you’d stop calling me Sister Sadie,” is particularly appropriate. It speaks to the regressive culture of disrespect for people of color in Mississippi…that’s what happened in this situation in the 21st Century. Despite Ambassador Shankar presenting her diplomatic papers she was still humiliated, molested,so much so she has vowed never to return to this country. Way to go U.S.A! Doing what we do best on the planet…tearing down fences, insulting friends and making enemies throughout the world.

We are going to give you several suggestions on how to write this kind of fiction.

Actually, the main thing about writing a flash fiction is that you have to accomplish a lot of things right away and you should do this using minimum number of words. It’s important not to forget none of this points: introduce the main character, set the stage and prepare the reader for the story.

When you start planning on how your story is going to look like, first of all, you have to state the main topic of your flash fiction story. Try to draw the picture of what you are going to write about. For sure it’s important to have a clear theme in your mind while you are writing. I’m not talking about the plot of your story, but the message you want the reader to revile in your book.

It’s important to understand that good flash fiction stories often shows us one event or time period in a character’s life. In fact, you don’t have to tell the whole life story of a character. As a whole in short stories you have to depict only one moment of your character’s life and also the consequences it has lead to.

The next thing you should do is to use the minimum characters in your flash fiction. The reason is that every new character adds a new dimension to your tale. And any new dimension will require words to introduce, tell the story and deal with conflict. Try to restrict the number of characters only to those who are really involved in main actions of the story.

Like good non-fiction books like Decision Points George Bush and Jon Stewart presents Earth, you need to try involving the emotional sphere of a reader in your flash fiction story. This may help you to move your plot forward. In fact, often emotions are the hook that can help you to keep the reader involved in what is happening in your story. Additionally, the wide range of emotions will definitely make your story brighter and more remarkable.

The first thing you have to remember is an excellent title is short. As, writing a title you need to address to peoples’ emotions and also intrigue. Another advice is to use terms your audience can relate to in the title of your non-fiction book. It would also be good to use action words and verbs in title. In other words, when writing a title for your non-fiction book, your task is to get your perspective reader interested, make him want to read your book.

These are a few advices on how to make your book title catching.

The first tip is to study from he best in your sphere. It suggests that it would be great to use the best seller list and brainstorm ideas for your non-fiction book title. In such list you may find books like George Bush’s Decision Points and Earth Book Jon Stewart and others which titles can tell you a lot. You have to find out what type of titles can really work well.

Another thing you can do is to look for inspiration on the tabloid cover pages. There you can study how to reach out and grab people’s attention. It’s a true fact that tabloid sell not due to the content they are presenting is great, but because they’ve mastered the titling aspect of their papers. That is why it’s recommended to start examining titles of a cover of the next tabloid newspaper.

There are numerous places for you to seek for inspiration when writing your non-fiction books title. These are: newspapers, magazines, store memes. When concerning newspaper headlines, you can’t but mention that they are designed to capture your attention. Generally, article’s as well as a book’s title should be short and to the point. Moreover, in newspaper articles you can see how to capture the attention of your potential reader.

It’s a true fact electrical wholesalers are those wholesalers who work with the electrical items. Actually this can be either switch or board, fan, light, etc. In order to become successful in a field of electrical wholesale, they should know the markets well and have the best items available in the market.

In case you don’t know what the electricity is, I am going to tell you a few words about it. Actually, electricity is a form of energy usually carried by wires or produced by batteries. Definitely, electricity is an important thing in our life. Now no factory, department store or office can effectively work if having some troubles with electricity. In addition, electricity is used to power machines and computing, communications, lighting, and heating devices, etc. This is wonderful that an electrical wholesaler can sell and handle all the equipment related to electricity.

As it was mentioned, electricity is common in our daily life. Besides it has bring multiple benefits to our everyday life. As an example the electricity helps us to make a laborious work very simple, which leads to the fact that we can do our job faster and with less affords. That’s the reason why the state and the quality of electrical gadgets and supplies is of high importance. Simply think about it, we take it for granted that whenever we plug our gadgets into the wall socket, the power will be there. All the things I was talking about lead us to the conclusion that electricity, electric cable and other types of supplies are very important for our everyday life.

We can conclude that an electrical wholesaler is truly an important person. Additionallym such people can help us dealing our business. In what way this can be done? Surely, electronic wholesalers are a huge advantage to any business because they are providing us with stuff that helps us in our work. What’s more, if dealing with wholesalers one can receive considerable discounts on their products. And lastly, in order to find circuit breaker in the nearest location, you can perform a simple search in the web.

First of all, I want to talk about one of the main advantages of reading. As a matter of fact reading fiction can help you improve your people skills. In accordance with the latest study made by Raymond Mar, people who read more fiction are more empathetic and social acumen. On the other hand, people who read more non-fiction have shown lower results on these two points. The main reason for this may be people have the chance to experience the characters’ social interactions and relationships while reading fiction. As for non-fiction, we can state that there is no such phenomena there.

One more advantage of fiction is that when reading it you can train your imagination. This means that reading fiction books can stimulate the imagination. It’s important to know that most people when reading fiction draw even brighter pictures than the writer had depicted in his/her book. Besides, when reading fiction you often visualize the non-existent people and places of the story basing on your previous experience. This helps you to develop your imagination by making it more sophisticated.

In addition, when a person is reading, he/she relieves stress gained during the day. What’s more, unlike TV and computers, reading does not over stimulate like TV can. It also should be noted that fiction books give us a chance to enter into the narrative, imagine ourselves there. On contrary most non-fiction can’t present us with such benefits.

And finally, us, people simply love stories. As a matter of fact our mind absorbs new information most easily through stories. As a whole, people are a kind of ‘story’ creatures. This means that it’s easier for us, people to learn through experience and metaphor. Reading of fiction and non-fiction books (e.g.: Decision Points George Bush, Earth Book Jon Stewart) not only makes us more educated, it also can make us better speakers and writers. Presently when all of us are living in a society of communication an upgrade to your speaking and reading skills can be really useful.

Let’s have a look at one of the best ways to enliven nonfiction. I mean the techniques that can be usually find in fiction and are sometimes borrowed by non-fiction authors. To talk more precisely these ways are the following: opening with a high-action scene, building suspense. Besides the author can use description to draw an appealing picture inside his/her book. Another method is to include dialogue to break-up the narrative. If using all this ‘fiction’ methods in your non-fiction narration, you need not forget to make the actions and dialogs true. This means that you have to be really accurate when depicting events or people.

One more important fact to remember when writing nonfiction is to be really careful when selecting theme. In fact people love to learn about topics that interest them. That is why non-fiction authors have to be very careful choosing a topic for their book, as it can either make the book well read or leads to it’s frailer. These days it can often be easier to sell nonfiction than fiction. This leads to the fact that many editors are looking for good non-fiction books. On contrary the market of non-fiction becomes more competitive day by day and only the best nonfiction writing will sell. This means that you need to make a huge job in order to make your non-fiction book well read and popular.

In order to catch the attention of readers and keep him/here interested till the end of your book, you need to imply a kind of a hook to your writing. Though this method is normally used in fiction, it can be really well if you can use it in your non-fiction book. in fact some significant event, fascinating fact, high-action event, or unique dialogue can play the role of a hook. Still if you are writing for children, your book has to be well structured, so it would be wiser to bring in the hook in the beginning of a book.

To begin writing a non-fiction book, first of all you have to understand what can you write a non-fiction book about. The best thing would be to write about something you know or have experienced. As a matter of fact it can be quite hard to write an interesting non-fiction book about something you have never experienced or new nothing about. Now people write nonfiction books about all sorts of things starting from, a hobby, their pet, their career, ending up with the history of their local church. Also, there can be non-fiction books depicting history, biographies of the famous people, books in geography, math, etc. You should clearly see that the main thing that drives an author to write a book like George Bush’s Decision Points or Earth Book Jon Stewart is his/her passion about the subject.

Probably, you are willing to write a nonfiction book, and you don’t know what to start from, here are several recommendations that can help you out. First of ll you need to select the topic you are interested in. As soon as, you have selected the topic, ask yourself a question: ‘Who would benefit from reading about this topic?’ As you have answers for these two questions, yo can start producing your book.

It may be nice to write your book by sharing what you know and explain how you learned it. Don’t forget that most readers like real-life stories nicely illustrating the subject. Actually unique stories from everyday life are going to catch the interest of your future reader. Perhaps, you know that the majority of people love stories, especially when they relate their personal interests. For you to make your book liked you need to write it in such a way that it can entertain as well as inform.

Lastly, I want to tell you one thing, try to remember it. When writing a non-fiction book, it’s very important to be interested in the subject you are writing about. You need to keep it in mind if you are reluctant and you don’t like the topic of your non-fiction book, most probably your reader feels it and won’t be interested in it as well.

Actually we all love stories. It’s not that important whether these stories are in a George Bush’s Decision Points, on the big screen at the mall, or heard from the friend of yours, stories get us bewildered. It’s wonderful that they take us outside our comfortable world to places we’ve never been. With the help of stories we get introduced to people we’d never otherwise meet. Moreover, when reading, listening or looking at stories we get thrilled with adventures we’d be terrified to have in person, we may laugh openly at stupidity in high places. Besides, stories helps us to bring out our emotions and it’s the best thing about them.

When reading these lines we can conclude that, actually, fiction is what people like most, cause it brings out stories. And what about non-fiction books? As a matter of fact many nonfiction books are narratives. Moreover, they also tell us stories. Generally, biographies and autobiographies like Jon Stewart presents Earth tell true stories of peoples’ lives. Many history and travel books are above all, narrations. We can come to conclusion that some non-fiction books also tell us stories and in such a way can be interesting to most readers.

I want to admit that there exist various types of non-fiction books. Let’s find out whether they can be as popular as the fiction stories are. To start with, let’s look at such kind of non-fiction as a report. Actually, some business reports contain narratives but I don’t really thing that this kind of non-fiction can be interesting for the majority of readers. The only thing I can add is that most reports usually includes discussions of experiments, tests, procedures, and inspections may also be presented as narratives.

Talking about case studies we can conclude that these are basically stories told by spokespeople for businesses or organizations. Although we can call this type of nonfiction a story, still I doubt that it will be interesting to the wide circle of readers.

It should be said that there exist a number of writing methods for nonfiction writers. One of them is to create a classification system using the various items within your topic. I want to admit by categorizing or grouping individual items, you can write at a more general level for your readers. This suggests that by classifying notions in your book, you make the topic easier to understand for your readers.

What are the means to cope with this task? In fact to classify a group of items that belong to the same general topic, it is important to group them according to some specific trait or principle. And, if you can distinguish several individual items in the topic of your book (these can be ideas, subjects, etc), then you can use the classification method in your writing.

In order to do this, you, first of all, have to decide according to which principle you are going to sort your items. Find one quality that is present in all pieces you are going to classify and make the classification according to this quality. It’s important to fit all items into only one group, in accordance with your central organizing principle. If something goes wrong, you most probably have to change your central principle.
In fact you need to organize at least three groups to create a classification system. And, you can have as many of them as you want.

As soon as all items are organized into the groups, you need to check whether all groups are well organized. The well organized group is the group where all items fit properly in one group.
The next thing you have to do give each group a unique name. The cause for this is simple, you are devising the classification system, so you should find unique and original group names. Moreover, it’s important for each name to signify the contents of the group clearly with only one or two words.

Lastly, as soon as you have grouped your ideas, you can discuss your topic in more general terms, referring to the groups. That can help you to make a more clear narration.

Another important detail is that in order for conflict to exist there should be some action around. What’s more in order for conflict to grow one action has to be changed with another.

Mostly, good conflict may grow from the two parties opposing each other but, at the same time aiming for the same or similar thing. I want to tell you that the conflict, even the most complicated one always depends on offense and counter-offense. In fact, conflict in fiction may be developed in four standard ways: static, rising, jumping, and moving with the character.

Besides there are various kinds of conflict. They are: Man against man, man against himself, man against society,man against fate, nature, or circumstances of life.

First of all, let’s look at the conflict of man against man. In accordance with this type of conflict one person or group is pitted against another usually in a physical way. One more conflict the so called conflict of man against himself. Main characters that are involved in such conflict are constantly work against themselves while they stand up against social norms.

Next we are going to consider another kind of conflict – man against society. Normally the main character of the fiction based on the conflict of man against society rebels against tyranny, racism, segregation, etc. Finally, we are going to talk about conflict known as man against fate, nature, or circumstances of life conflict. Often the stories based on this conflict type are depicting slavery, racism, dehumanizing of women and other sharp social issues.

And finally I want to say that normally there is one principal conflict or one principal conflict with several minor ones inside a story.

When the political road show comes to your town, and according to our sources it will be coming to a public venue near you before November 2010 Election Day, that religious zealot and xenophobe extraordinaire, Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida will be included on the program.

We also hear Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Ann Coulter will be joining the rodeo clown from Fox News Channel and the soon to be retired from radio, (oh we can only hope  it is true) Dr. Laura “I-Don’t-Even-Play-A-Real-Doctor-On-Teevee ” $chlessinger , and that gubernatorial terror from Alaska, the Grizzly Bear’s Momma, Railin’ Palin, promising to do Renditions of all her Greatest hits from her latest  album “Beyond the Pale” starring the “Just Say No Choir” with backup by Illegal Alienation.

If this is true  it promises to be the political event of the year featuring America’s favorite bigots. In some circles they are called moderates. At YouThinkWhat we call’em what they are: bigots.

Just because a person doesn’t want to lynch a Muslim,  Mexican, or Negro does not make the person a moderate.

We also have heard the governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, has been asked to participate in this event because of his innovative  racist revisionist history of the Repuglican participation in the Civil Rights Movement and southern politics during that time.

Obviously in his selective memory no recollection of those Democrat southern pols exists; they were known as Dixie-crats. Our history books and testimony from those who witnessed the fervor surrounding the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act into Law saythe disaffection of the Dixiecrats occured almost over night. In fact it was President Lyndon B. Johnson who said the Dems had “lost the South for a generation.”

Megan McCain, our sources tell us, has also been invited because she’s promoting her new book and because she loves the late Arizona senator  Barry Goldwater. Check the senatorial record for the names of those who voted against the civil rights legislation that became law. Barry Goldwater opposed the landmark legislation. He ran against Johnson and lost. Goldwater carried his home state of Arizona, and five other states. History tells us this was the first time  since the Reconstruction era  voters of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina not only voted for a Republican candidate for president; it was the first time Southern voters chose the GOP as the party that could best represent their racial complaints.

Check back here for more information about what may very well be one of the hottest political milestones in the nation’s history.

Tell your friends you read it here first. Plans are in the making for a national road show featuring all of America’s favorite racists. Even former Republican National Committee Chairman, Ken Mehlman will be the special guest bigot featured in the road show tour. We hear he’s been selected because of his talent in flip-flopping on the issue of gay marriage and gay inclusion in the formerly Grand Old Party that is the Repfuglican Party.

The Rethuglican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party, G.O.P. is now known as the Gay Old Party, since Ken Mehlman has come to realize he is in fact a practicing homosexual because of his pronouncement Mehlman is now eligible to join the ranks of those Lincoln Log gay Repuglicans.

Right now, at this moment,  Kenny Mehlman is in favor of, on top of the amendment so to speak, the California Gay Marriage legislation. His position, you should pardon the choice of words, could change at any moment. Talk about a man who is confused about himself….this guy is the poster boy for twink bewilderment.

Keep checking this space for more details as they become available about the Bigot-Palooza coming to your town soon! We’re guessing it’s a party Jesse Helms would not have wanted to miss.

- Search the local newspaper for advertisements that serve cheap three course meals during the week. Sometimes, you can find places that are ordinarily pricey that offer extraordinary weekday bargains. Don’t eat all of it or force yourself to eat all of it, take it away for your lunch or dinner the next day.

- Use free stuff websites to get the latest food freebies and utilize them when they are released. FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specializes that in free samples have some great printable coupons for your favorite restaurants.

- Use kids eat free restaurants. MyKidsEatFree.com is a good resource for finding out which restaurants offer free kids meals with the purchase of an adult meal in your area.

- Consider not ordering a meal for the kids and have them share with you. Don’t be greedy! No need to eat such large portions.

- Order one soda, one salad, and share a main. Try to go to destinations that are known for serving big portions. This will almost halve the bill that you are used to. Given that most places serve extraordinary large portions, you will survive sharing a main.

- Skip the alcohol. Water is still a liquid and is much more nutritious to your body and is generally free.

- Make sure you visit your favorite restaurant’s website. They will often have a social club that you can join which will have great benefits like birthday freebies that are sent out or money saving coupons.

- Consider eating dinner at home and then go out for dessert and coffee. This will again save you significant amounts of money.

Using the above tips are guaranteed to save you money in your hip pocket that you can put towards reducing debt in your household. In this time of great uncertainty, it is important that we build up an attitude of debt reduction and saving for the future.

Several groups will be in Washington for commemoration of this very historic American event. The groups include Celebrate the Dream, an organization whose name comes from a reference made in the King speech given in 1963 about his hope for his native land;

“Celebrate the Dream is sponsored by ONE DC, EmpowerDC, Campaign for America’s Future, New Organizing Institute, National Organizer’s Alliance, Media Matters, Americans for American Values, and Jewish Funds for Justice. Further support is provided by the Arca Foundation, the CrossCurrents Foundation, and the Program on Inequality and Common Good, a project at the Institute for Policy Studies and the fiscal sponsor for this event. All donations are tax-deductible.”~from Celebrate The Dream’s web site 

as well as The Other 98 %. The Other 98 % name refers to what is left after the Elite 2 percent of the tax paying population is subtracted from the 100 percent of the citizens who work and pay taxes to support this nation.

“On Tax Day, 2010, we went head to head with the Tea Party armed with two huge banners, one overlooked fact, and a simple message: yes there’s a reason to be angry, but it’s not because some immigrant is sneaking across the border in search of “entitlements” or some “lazy” inner-city family supposedly cheating on their taxes and leaving you holding the bill. It’s because the Elite 2% have rigged the system and aren’t paying their fair share.”~from The Other 98 % web site History page

We believe it is not by coincidence a self professed rodeo clown will be holding an event purported to be a celebration of the late, highly venerated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.,  the site of Dr. King’s most famous speech.

We’ve been surfing the Internet to read the views of many different people in the United States, some who were alive in 1963, some who attended the event in 1963, and others who weren’t even a gleam in their parents’ eyes during one of the shameful periods in our United States history.

During one of our surfing expeditions we found a chart which shows an interesting comparison, a kind of then and now.  It’s a simplification of the vast differences between the world renowned well-educated philosopher, Baptist preacher, Civil Rights activist, best known for being an advocate of non-violent protests; and the bufoon, who like Bud Schulberg’s creation,  Larry ”Lonesome” Rhodes, a character from the classic 1957 film “A Face In The Crowd” is, in the everyday parlance,  the embodiment of  “ just a lucky bum” with a scheme to fill his personal coffers with lots of cash fleeced from the uninformed and bigoted sheeple who follow him on Fox News – the news network owned in part by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who we know for sure funds terrorist groups in the Middle East via his Kingdom Foundation.

In our opinion Martin Luther King, Jr. was so hugely dynamic and important a figure in the history of our nation even a rodeo clown, and the rodeo owner, are compelled to give him his props.

Since we, as a nation of people of varied races, are not over the subject of race in this country, despite the media telling us we’re living in the “era of Obama” which in some circles is coming to be known as a “ post race era”, we think it’s appropriate  all the hoopla cum nonsense take place prior to and on this the 47th anniversary of Americans sincerely coming together under the leadership of a black man, to demonstrate to our government leaders our desire to make our nation better. We are after all still a nation for, of and by the people, regardless of what the pundits and politicians are telling those of us who still watch, read and listen to them blather on about who deserves to be a citizen of this new way of living

We’re looking forward to a celebration in three years that will exhibit the progress we’ve made toward fulfilling the hopes and desires of all our citizens.

That is why we support Jon Stewart’s suggestion and urge everyone to join us, as a nation, in not watching FoxNews Channel. Take a look at the video from the Daily Show on Monday, August 23, 2010 when the host of the program on Comedy Central made this salient proposal.

Remember Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is to Rupert Murdock is to FoxNewsChannel

Well there are a lot of online coupons you can download and print for free or have them mailed to you. Freebies website FreeStuff4Free.com have many coupons that you can print to help you save money. In any case it’s best to check your mail and look over all of the sales ads in the paper. Make a list of what you want to buy and if you look on a few of the coupon websites they will provide a search box for you. Coupons.com is another fantastic printable coupon site. If you want milk, type in milk in the coupon search box and see what comes up. There are also many BOGO free ads; doing a coupon search for items in the BOGO ads will save you a large amount of money. It’s even better if you find a buy one get one free ad and then get a buy one get one free coupon to match that ad. This is one way you can get free groceries and other free stuff from the store by stacking and combining coupons.

There are many stay at home single moms who cannot afford to work because they cannot afford daycare. Another suggestion for stay at home mothers is to apply for WIC and financial assistance benefits. You will end up saving over $700 a month in groceries if you qualify for both programs and use the free online coupons. A lot of families don’t know that you can use free coupons with your food stamp card. This not only makes your free food last longer but allows you to buy more for your money. Both the Snap and the WIC programs are income based but easy to qualify for. With the way our economy is these days, more and more households qualify for free food and don’t even know it.

There are also places online you can go and get free groceries for a full year. These websites will make you will out a few qualifying offers. Some will ask you to take a survey and complete at least two qualifying offers from their sponsors or affiliates. These offers are either free or offer a free gift in return of filling out the offers. Some will include things like free make up and free samples. Some that require you to apply for a credit card will say that you have to actually get approved for the credit card in order to qualify as part of their stipulations. After you complete all of the qualifiers for these free groceries you will get an email will you will verify your information. Then if a few weeks you should receive a free grocery gift or visa card to go get your groceries. Some will put a full year’s amount on the card and some will send one out each month.

So try out some of these ideas to help save or get free groceries.

According to his very supportive parents, the family relocated from Virginia to North Carolina to fuel his racing desires, Gray Gaulding began racing motor bikes at age three. This young man has his own race track at his home in North Carolina. Watch the video for more details about this NASCAR wunderkind.

As NASCAR fans, and France detractors, may recall last fall 2009 France was arrested, booked, charged, and later absolved by a judge of the crime the local Daytona Beach Police charged him with having committed.

No one is lamenting the end of France’s brief and most unremarkable professional (?) NASCAR driving career. In fact it could be said he was successful in achieving his goal. He’s a world-class wastrel.

We found an  interesting video piece created in 2003 by the  artist  Isao Hashimoto of Japan. We are sure you will be surprised, as were we, to see the number of devices detonated since 1945 up to and including 1998; that’s more than ten years ago. How many more bombs have been tested since 1998? What are our world leaders arming us against?

It is no wonder there is global warming and everyday people around the world are newly diagnosed with a new and more resistant form of cancer and myriad other diseases.

How we wish there were an intergalactic robot police force, as in the storyline of the 1951 classic science fiction movie, The Day The Earth Stood Still, to ensure there would be no more wars. An alien lands on earth, on The Mall in Washington, D.C. He arrives to deliver the message to the people of Earth that they must live in peace or risk being destroyed as their unseemly behavior is a danger to the inhabitants of other planets in our solar system.

As we are hearing of the plans being made by the American government to visit Mars and perhaps other planets beyond our galaxy, we look forward to the time when war is an outdated, old fashioned idea. Just as we look forward to the day race is no longer an issue.

Take a look at what Elizabeth Jacobson, former Wells Fargo Subprime Loan Officer had to say to the interviewers at Democracy Now!:

In remembrance of our declaration of independence from British tyranny, we present a musical treat from our favorite group of  six talented men.. Take 6, their rendition of our National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner…

This time Mr. and Mrs. intellectually brilliant and very cute, can be seen on HGTV’s House Hunters. The program has already aired once and will be repeated on July 23rd for those of us who missed their appearance the first time. Be sure to check your local listings for time and channel.

We are sure Mr. Suggs, being the romantic he is, he has planned a very special celebration for his bride.

Once again, to Darnell and LaDonna Suggs best wishes for continued success in your marriage.

The name of the group is pronounced ‘sOl-fezh; it is derived from the musical term Solfege for the diatonic (“do-re-mi” ) music scale. Soulfege is a musical group, with D.N.A. as its lead singer, representing the diverse sounds of the African Diaspora. Derrick N. Ashong will be in Philadelphia performing with Soulfege at the World Cafe Live on Sunday July 11, 2010 at 7pm .

“Afro-Diasporic Groovalicious Funkadociousness!!!”

The band Solfege is lively, and spirited, founded by two singers and MCs who first met in a choir at Harvard University. The group is a refreshingly different and innovative addition to the  world of Urban Music. It has been described as

“…what you’d get if Bob Marley were jammin’ with The Fugees on a street corner in West Africa…”

They blend Hip Hop, Reggae, Funk and West African High-life. They are a musical act that is  enthusiastically approved by audiences; they have proven themselves to be a very popular Afropolitan fusion band that thrills audiences with its tight harmonies, powerful words, genuine musical artistry and sensitivity.

These musicians, educated at Harvard University, are the creators of “Take Back the Mic™,” a campaign to restore significant meaning to the music of today and to engage a new group of young people to seek and accept the role of leaders in our society.

Tickets are $10 advance; $15 day of show.  Contact World Cafe Live
3025 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104. Telephone 215-222-1400 for details.

LEAP, established in 1997 in partnership with Rutgers University, is a Preschool–12 public charter school in Camden, New Jersey that is dedicated to creating opportunities and improving conditions for the children and families of the city. 

The Rutgers/LEAP program is an esteemed example for  national urban school reform. It is an alliance  between a major  university known for its academic exploration and analysis, a public charter school, parents, business and community partners.  The integration of education into the economic development as well as the community development, creates a mutually beneficial alliance for the university, the charter  school and the  City of Camden, New jersey.

The scholastic agenda of the school targets students efforts on readiness for a college eduactional experience. The point is to increase students’  awareness of  institutions of higher learning, preparation, and attendance.  The school takes a holistic approach to setting a learning curriculum in order to develop classroom excellence  providing support for their students’  needs outside of school through programs for physical and emotional health, as well as nutrition programs, along with comprehensive services; several different opportunities in  servce to the community and experiential opportunities are offered to the students, too.

For the past five years all four of LEAP’s graduating classes have achieved 100% college acceptance. This is an indication of the commitment to providing children and their families with opportunities for advancement.

LEAP has been recognized by local and national organizations  for its pioneering work in education. A recipient of numerous awards the school has been described by The Annie E. Casey Foundation a “Sign of Hope” and one of Camden’s “Recent successes in improving its overall academic environment and expanding civic engagement”.

That is where Miracles Global Inc, originally a Rutgers–Camden student group, now a full-fledged 501(c)(3) with its goal to make a difference in Camden – and eventually the world, comes in to lend support  to the school.

Miracles Global, among its many initiatives, provides weekly tutoring sessions for the students at LEAP Academy.

To honor the students’ success Miracles Global awarded certificates, money, and a laptop computer to two outstanding students. The non-profit organization was in turn, awarded a certificate for its service to the school. And according to Mr. Jones it was a great night, “… and we look forward to working with them even more in the future.”

In the coming weeks we will report on the upcoming school supplies drive to be held by Miracles Global to support the students of LEAP as well as other schools in the Camden community.

We found this unique ad on Craigs’ List. Not only have these homeowners  decided to sell the property themselves, without the typical real estate sales agent to represent them, they’re willing to test the market by selling for an amount indicative of the price ready, willing, and able, qualified buyers will pay for their five year old 3 bedroom, 2 bath home.

We called the phone number to see what other information is available about this home offered to the buyer who really wants to own a good house.
From the information presented in a prerecorded announcement we discovered the home is not a foreclosure sale, nor is it an FHA or VA auction. We left a message and a man called us back to answer any additional questions we had about the house.

Too bad we can not see the property in person. We’d make a bid on it ourselves. It sounds like it will be a good deal and a great buy for the person who bids the highest.

We wish success to these clever creative homeowners. This is one way to solve the housing and the financial crisis.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We sincerely believe if the real President Barack Obama had said these things, he would have been more eloquent than Ms Maddow and equally as substantive in content.

Ms Jones, whose book of poetry is number 61 on FinishingLine Press’ New Women’s Voices, is one of the featured poets for the evening. There will be an open mike segment hosted by Raymond Tyler. A $7 fee is charged for non-featured artists who wish to read their creations.

If you can not attend the evening event you can find Shawn R. Jones’ first collection of poems at amazon. Order your copy today

We recognize how busy everyone is; that despite 24 hour news outlets repeating the same story ad nauseum there may be a couple of people who were out of town since this story of the debacle in the Gulf emerged.

We believe you will find this video provides a clear and well defined telling of how it came to be called a spill. It’s not a spill! It’s a massive leak; in fact some are referring to it as an underwater oil volcanic eruption with the fire and ash and smoke in the air above the water…..

If you love good poetry and you’re in the Philadelphia area on Tuesday evening, June 15, 2010 stop by Tastee D’s Restaurant in the Olde City section of the city, to hear our favorite New Jersey poet Shawn R. Jones as she reads poetic selections during the evening.

Ms Jones, a graduate of Rutgers University, is the author of Womb Rain, a chapbook collection of poetry published by FinishingLine Press of Georgetown, Kentucky.

The program begins at 7p.  there is a fee at the door for unscheduled non-featured artists.

Tastee D’s African Cuisine is located 526 South 4th Street, Philadelphia, PA- Telephone (215) 454-2875 for details

“Dappled, smart and fluent, Tessa Kale’s poems make a lasting first impression. The Hudson Line is a bright window on the landscapes of the heart.”
~ J.D. McClatchy

First, it’s news of the Book of the Month featuring Yonkers, New York resident,  poet Tessa Kale. Ms Kale’s latest effort is her chapbook collection of poems in the title The Hudson Line.
You can pre-order this item, it’s the Finishing Line Press 2009 Winner of the Press Prize in Poetry Open Chapbook Competition. This is a limited edition that ships August 23, 2010.  Reserve your copy soon.

The publishers want to remind everyone time is running out if you wish to enter the 2010 OPEN CHAPBOOK COMPETITION.  June 30th is the deadline for your entry.

This contest is open to all.

There is a prize of $1,000. Plus publication will be awarded by Finishing Line Press for a chapbook-length poetry collection.

All entries will be considered for publication.

The top-ten finalists will be offered publication.

Submit up to 26 pages of poetry (one poem per page),  along with biography, acknowledgments; include a self addressed stamped envelope and a cover letter with a $15 entry fee.  Do this by the deadline postmarked
June 30, 2010

Final judging will be by  renown poet and essayist Ned Balbo.  He is the author of The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems which received the Donald Justice Poetry Prize.  In 2009 Mr. Balbo’s Something Must Happen, a poetry chapbook, was published by Finishing Line Press.

Interested parties must send entries to:
Open Chapbook Competition
Finishing Line Press
P.O. Box 1626
Georgetown, KY 40324
USA

Or follow instructions to  pay by credit card

“Regulators have, for the most part, tiptoed around these larger institutions [big banks]. Despite the damage they did, failing big banks were allowed to lumber on, with government support. It should come as no surprise that the industry is unfortunately evolving toward larger and larger bank size with financial resources concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.” ~Richard Fisher

The words of Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Texas Federal Reserve Bank, confirm what we have believed since the beginning of this debacle in banking in the United States.

The fact is our government has helped the banking scoundrels to perpetrate their fraud on the tax payers. We get to share the losses that result from the poor decisions made by the so-called experts; however when the crisis ends and prosperity reigns, We, the People, will only share or benefit in a very minuscule amount compared to the debt we, our children, their children and their children’s children will carry for years far into the future.

And now Richard Fisher tells us if we do not finally crack down now on this industry, as it is behaving as a wayward child, the industry will be even more unwieldy as it grows larger and bigger banks.

“Based on these considerations, coupled with studies suggesting severe limits to economies of scale in banking, it seems that mostly as a result of public policy—and not the competitive marketplace—ever larger banks have come to dominate the financial landscape. And, absent fundamental reform, they will continue to do so. As a result of public policy, big banks have become indestructible. And as a result of public policy, the industrial organization of banking is slanted toward bigness.”

We must demand the Obama administration get tough with the bankers. The POTUS comes from a family of bankers. His grandmother and his mother both were involved on different levels with the industry. In his formal and familial education we are certain he knows of, and follows in his personal life, good banking practices.

President Obama must join Richard Fisher in his call for strong, tough regulation of the bankers.

“It is my view that, by propping up deeply troubled big banks, authorities have eroded market discipline in the financial system.”

Why isn’t this guy Treasury Secretary? He’s certainly got the background.
Moreover he’ sensible in his pronouncements.

“…the financial regulatory reform bill has left regulators (specifically, the Board of Governors and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) with the authority to impose greater restrictions on firms whose living wills are not credible. That authority, as I mentioned previously, could include “[divesting] certain assets or operations … to facilitate an orderly resolution.”

We agree. The regulators have the power to bring the bankers into proper regulatory compliance. We urge the officials to agree and act on Richard Fisher’s suggestions decisively.

Read more about Rutgers University’s six featured graduates from the Class of 2010.

Be sure to read about our favorite young male grad Jeffrey Jones, founder and president of Miracles Global, a non-profit company dedicated to educating and creating opportunities for the less fortunate.

With campuses located in Camden, New Brunswick,  and Newark, New Jersey, the prestigious university’s  myriad resources have allowed these young people to create a personalized education, customized just for them. They have made important discoveries about themselves and the world as they pursued their interests while expanding their imagination.

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey is a 244 year-old institution for higher learning; it is the eighth oldest of its kind in the United States.

A Canadian man says his pet disappeared after he checked the animal with Delta Airlines for a flight from Mexico City to Detroit.

Josiah Allen, a Canadian man from Ontario, told a popular consumer web site, Delta Airlines offered him an apology and a $200 credit for any future travel with the airline.

Allen said he and his girlfriend rescued the stray dog while on vacation last month in Puerto Vallarta.

“We took him to the vet’s, got him all of his shots, an eye infection treated, two baths to clean him from hundreds of dog ticks that were covering his whole body, and gave him the name Paco,” Allen said.

According to Allen, the nightmare began when the couple attempted to check Paco with Delta for their connecting flight to Detroit. Allen said a Delta agent, Althea Around, told them the pet carrier they purchased for Paco was not big enough. He added that the airline only accepted the carrier after he and his girlfriend signed a waiver releasing Delta of any liability if Paco was injured.

Allen said he and his girlfriend arrived in Detroit where they waited for Paco at the pet claim for about twenty minutes. Eventually, according to Allen, a Delta employee, Dawn Boddame, informed the couple that the dog was not at the airport and in fact had never been boarded on the plane in Mexico City.

Allen said the worker assured him that Paco “would be cared for by Delta employees and walked, fed, watered, and would be sent on the next flight to Detroit, and then get delivered to my house in Ontario, Canada.” But the next day, Allen said he called Delta to see if Paco had been flown to Detroit yet and couldn’t find anyone who knew. “No one seemed to have any answers or have any idea about the location of my dog,” Allen said. He said his host in Mexico spent hours on the phone trying to solve the mystery and eventually was told that Paco had escaped from his carrier and disappeared.

Delta spokeswoman Bea Esser addressed the incident in the following statement to the international news media :

“Our staff have conducted exhaustive searches to locate the dog’s owner. The beloved pet escaped from its kennel on May 3 in Mexico City. In the meantime, we have questioned the dog about the situation in attempts to ascertain the name of the dog’s owner. When asked the dog said nothing. We offer our sincere apologies that until recently we have only been able to recover name and contact information for the owner of the dog by searching the nearby round files where the original transaction took place. We have provided compensation and additionally we have offered to reimburse the animal’s owner for all of the expenses associated with the dog.”

Don B. Zonozi another airline representative  said the dog, one of several gangs of grifter canines who regularly get picked up or rescued by tourists as a means to escaping from Mexico or receiving baths and veterinarian services, broke out of its kennel, using sophisticated tools hidden in its collar, while on the tarmac and ran away. According to this account, ramp agents chased Paco however the animal escaped through a fence. The source said employees then drove for several hours through a neighborhood near the airport they located the dog. According to airline security executive Turner Luce, Paco, was taken into custody by airline animal control security officers as it screamed rude ethnic epithets while being taken to the airline’s airport office for detainment and questioning.

The dog’s owner rejects Delta’s explanation saying “I do not believe for a second that Paco escaped from his carrier. It was a very secure hard plastic pet carrier with two locks and a metal wire door, and there is no way a small dog, (he looked like a mix of a wiener dog and a Jack Russell), could use sophisticated tools to break his way out of it. He has no hands.”

And now for the true story….

#1 After they signed the waiver releasing the airline from liability the Mexicans threw Paco out of the jet and had him for dinner (in case you don’t know Mexicans do eat dogs. We were once given a taste before we knew better in Acapulco.)

If you do not believe this story then you’ll have to believe this:
#2 Paco could talk and told the airline freight staff he’d give them one hundred dollars if they’d let him out. (How else could a dog break the locks and escape “a very secure hard plastic pet carrier with two locks and a metal wire door”?)

We hear next year Josh plans to travel to Egypt so he can bring back a cute little camel.

UPDATE: Delta Airlines sends Joshua Allen a free six pack of PacoBuugers so he can taste the dinner he missed….

In defense the Mexicans say they thought the dog’s name was Taco.

*A Mexican Dog Story is kind of like a Mexican Fish Story only it’s about a dog.

“* Workingmen to Arms!
* War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage, and Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS.
* The wage system is the only cause of the World’s misery. It is supported by the rich classes, and to destroy it, they must be either made to work or DIE.
* One pound of DYNAMITE is better than a bushel of BALLOTS!
* MAKE YOUR DEMAND FOR EIGHT HOURS with weapons in your hands to meet the capitalistic bloodhounds, police, and militia in proper manner.” ~Printed a few days prior to May 1, 1886, a publisher’s appeal to working people.”

“….whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave.” ~ Samuel Fielden pointed out in the anarchist newspaper, The Alarm 1886

One hundred twenty-four years ago, on   May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day demonstration in history.

Chicago was the focal point for the 8-hour work day advocates. Workers numbered to be 40, 000 went out on strike and the anarchists were in the forefront of the public’s eye. Their enthusiastic oratory and revolutionary ideology of direct action,  the anarchists and anarchism became at once respected, admired and accepted by the workers and derided by the business owners, the capitalists.

Tens of thousands of  worker demonstrators took to the streets as a show of  the workers’ unity and power. Despite predictions by the authorities and the newspapers to the contrary the gatherings, parades with bands did not become violent .

As more of the working class continued to walk away from their jobs.The number of striking workers rose to almost 100,000and still there was a peaceful showing of solidarity. Two days later, May 3, 1886,  violence  between police and strikers broke out at the McCormick Reaper Works.

We can, if we care to,  learn much from our history. There are many today who wish to see us return to those horrendous days where the proposal of an eight hour day was considered a radical idea. It is important to remember the thousands of people who sacrificed their lives in order for us to have the 8-hour day.  We must acknowledge that homes with families in them were torched and totally destroyed so we could have Saturday as part of the weekend. There were brave children as young as 8-years old,  survivors of industrial accidents who marched protesting unsafe working conditions and shameful child labor. They were beaten down by  police and company thugs.

It is important to understand our current condition cannot be taken for granted – people fought for the rights and dignities we enjoy today. it would be an indignity to their memory and their courage to return to those awful times. The sacrifices made by so many people must be remembered. We must know and remember our history or we are doomed to repeat it.  This is why May Day, May 1st, is an important day in our American history. It is as important as July 4th, our national independence day. It deserves to be more widely commemorated.

By  the 1860′s, working people called to attention their demand for a shortened workday while sustaining the same pay. Not until the end of the  1880′s was it possible for organized labor gather enough power to announce the 8-hour workday. The announcement was delivered without  employers’ concord; it was a demand made by the majority of the working class.

It was in this period that people were attracted to socialism. It was a new idea presented to working people; workers were drawn to its philosophy of the workers having control over all aspects of  goods and services,  including  production and distribution. Previously workers had experienced first-hand how Capitalism was beneficial only to  their bosses. Workers realized their lives were being traded for profit. With thousands of men, women and children dying needlessly every year in the workplace, and workers’ life expectancy as low as their early twenties in some industries, there was little hope.  Only death would result from their destitution. The new idea offered another option. It was Socialism.

Various socialist organizations quickly developed throughout the last half of the 1800s They ranged from political parties to singing groups. Some socialists were elected into governmental office by the people in their communities. However many of these socialists were limited by the political process so obviously controlled by big business and the two party political machine. Anarchist groups were created throughout the country as tens of thousands of socialists broke ranks from their parties, rejecting the whole political process,because they believed it was only  providing protection for the wealthy.

It is incorrect to say labor unions and the labor movement were “taken over” by anarchists and socialists; it is anarchists and socialist who made up the labor unions. Working people eagerly adopted the concepts  of anarchism. These were ideals which sought to put an end to all hierarchical structures (including government), with emphasis on workers controlling the industry, and highly favored immediate action over the official administrative  procedure.

Iin Chicago, in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), held  its national convention where it was publically proclaimed that “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labor from and after May 1, 1886.” The next year, the FOTLU, supported by the Knights of Labor locals, reiterated their proclamation stating the announcement would be supported by strikes and demonstrations. Initially, most radicals and anarchists regarded this demand as too reformist, failing to strike “at the root of the evil.” A year before the Haymarket Massacre, Samuel Fielden pointed out in the anarchist newspaper, The Alarm, that “whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave.”

It is estimated a quarter million workers in the Chicago area became directly involved in the crusade to implement the eight hour work day. The Trades and Labor Assembly, the Socialistic Labor Party and local Knights of Labor mobilized workers to enforce the eight hour work day because  “the tide of opinion and determination of most wage-workers was set in this direction. It was a direction opposed by most employers.” When the anarchists became involved other larger issues were featured; issues greater than the 8-hour day. There was a sense of social revolution beyond the more immediate gains of shortened hours; it was a dramatic change in the  structure of the economy of capitalism. Continued next post

who will cry for the little boy?
Lost and all alone.
Who will cry for the little boy?
Abandoned without his own?

Who will cry for the little boy?
He cried himself to sleep.
Who will cry for the little boy?
He never had for keeps.

Who will cry for the little boy?
He walked the burning sand
Who will cry for the little boy?
The boy inside the man.

Who will cry for the little boy?
Who knows well hurt and pain
Who will cry for the little boy?
He died again and again.

Who will cry for the little boy?
A good boy he tried to be
Who will cry for the little boy?
Who cries inside of me

*Antwone Fisher is an acclaimed best selling author, poet, producer and screenwriter. Fisher is also a survivor of child abuse.

April is the month of springtime renewal. It is also the time when we celebrate the earth and make commitments to saving our planet and preserving it for the next generation of humans, plants and other animals on the land, in the sea and in the air.

April is also  Child Abuse Awareness Month. As we are working to preserve our planet,  wouldn’t it be wonderful to develop humans who are kind and loving to other humans? Wouldn’t it be great if the parents who are nurturing the young ones insure they provide protection and love to help the children develop into well adjusted balanced, caring adults by confronting their own issues of past incidents of abuse?

The best way to do this is to become educated about dealing with child abuse. We can learn about preventing today’s abuse and how to resolve past incidents of abuse in the lives of the adult caretakers. Often people who have been abused themselves grow up to become abusers.

The purpose of this month of abuse awareness is to advocate the practice of healing the child–the one inside the adult, as well as nurturing the growing child. This is not just a 30 day exercise; it is a commitment to awareness every month–365 days a year every waking moment.

Heal The Child. Prevent child abuse. Protect the youngsters from being harmed. Heal the child you once were. Heal The Child.

“A young black man can’t understand what it means to have something he’s never been denied. I can’t make them understand the mental relief I feel at the rights we have. It almost infuriates me that people don’t understand what integration has done for this country.”
~ the late Benjamin Hooks in an interview with
U.S. News & World Report~

Benjamin Lawson Hooks was a son of the American South. He was born in 1925 in Memphis, Tennessee. During his college years at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, he became acutely aware of the fact he was forced by law to use segregated public accommodations–water fountains, lunch counters and rest rooms.

In 1944 following his graduation from Howard University in Washington, D.C. he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Assigned to the job of guarding Italian prisoners of war Hooks soon found his service to the nation while wearing the U.S. Army uniform garnered him more humiliation than respect. The P.O.W.s were permitted to eat in the very same restaurants where his presence was not allowed.

Upon receiving an honorable discharge from the service, he began his studies at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago to study the law. At the time there was no law school in the state of Tennessee would grant admission to Hooks to attend law school. In 1948 the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago to study law. No law school in his native Tennessee would admit him. In 1948 he graduated from DePaul with his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.

Benjamin Hooks returned to his hometown of Memphis to change the practices of segregation upheld by law in the U.S. He passed the bar exam after which he established his own law practice.

By the end of the 1940s Benjamin Hooks had built a reputation as a black attorney, one of very few, in Memphis.

Over the years Benjamin Hooks granted interviews to many publications to chronicle his experience of the the Jim Crow era Southern United States. In an interview with Jet Magazine he described what it was like to practice law in segregated Memphis at the time:

“At that time you were insulted by law clerks, excluded from white bar associations and when I was in court, I was lucky to be called Ben. Usually it was just ‘boy.’ [But] the judges were always fair. The discrimination of those days has changed and, today, the South is ahead of the North in many respects in civil rights progress.”

He met Frances Dancy who became his wife in 1952. in 1956 because he believe he was called to the ministry he became an ordained Baptist minister. Earlier in his life as a younger man he wanted to study theology; his father dissuaded him from doing so.

Rev. Hooks became a close friend and an associate of another southern leader Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, M.D. Dr. T.R.M. Howard was a surgeon as well as the head of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), a leading civil rights organization in Mississippi.

As he continued with his busy law practice as he began preaching in Memphis and increased his civil rights activism by joining the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as well as his participation in the boycotts of consumer goods and services along with his pioneering participation in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, (NAACP), sponsored restaurant sit-ins.

Rev. Hooks ran for public office in Tennessee in 1954, 1959 and 1963. By 1965 because of his winning personality and determination he had the support of white liberals as well as blacks statewide. In fact he was appointed by the governor of Tennessee to fill an open position on the judicial bench in the Shelby County criminal court.
Governor Frank G. Clement’s selection and appointment of Hooks made history. Benjamin Hooks became the first black criminal court judge in Tennessee. Although this position was temporary expiring in 1966, Benjamin Hooks went on to successfully campaign for a full term in the same judicial post.

By the end of the 1960s Benjamin Hooks was renown as businessman, judge, lawyer and minister. He asked his wife of then thirty years to be hands close advisor, assistant and traveling companion. Hooks was regularly a speaker at the Greater New Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan as well as an active participant in the protests and marches for the NAACP.

Benjamin Hooks was the television host and producer of several programs seen on Memphis’ local television. In 1972 because of his strong support for Republican candidates President Richard M. Nixon selected Hooks to be a member of the five member Federal Communications Commission (FCC). After confirmation by the U.S. Senate Benjamin Hooks and his wife Frances moved to Washington, D.C.

As a member of the FCC Hooks addressed the scarcity of minority ownership of television and radio outlets as well as, the minority employment statistics for the broadcasting industry, and the manner in which black African Americans are portrayed in the mass media. Hooks continued to work for black involvement in the media and entertainment industries even after he completed his five-year term on the board of the FCC.

Benjamin Hooks was elected, by the 64-member board of directors of the NAACP, to become the executive director of the association. He held this leadership position until 1992 when he tendered his resignation.

In 1980 Benjamin Hooks gave the justification for the NAACP’s support for non-violent action saying:

“There are a lot of ways an oppressed people can rise. One way to rise is to study, to be smarter than your oppressor. The concept of rising against oppression through physical contact is stupid and self-defeating. It exalts brawn over brain. And the most enduring contributions made to civilization have not been made by brawn, they have been made by brain.”

In his remarks acknowledging the death at age 85, of Benjamin Hooks, a man who is one of an incredible generation of Americans who changed the world, President Barack Obama said,

“Our national life is richer for the time Dr. Hooks spent on this earth. And our union is more perfect for the way he spent it: Giving a voice to the voiceless.”

“Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.”

“In their sties with all their backing
They don’t care what goes on around
In their eyes there’s something lacking
What they need’s a damn good whacking.
“Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Living piggy lives…” ~ George Harrison

All this talk about Goldman Sachs– the fraud, greed and malfeasance associated with the so-called financial experts at the world’s largest global investment banking and securities management company has brought to mind a tune written by the late George Harrison a member of the Beatles and recorded by the the Fab Four many years ago, 1968, for the White Album. How prescient those mop-headed Brits were.

The decision makers at Goldman Sachs, have been since 1869, dealing primarily with institutional clients such as national governments, state and provincial governing authorities as well as municipal government entities around the world.

When they make a decision based on what is best for the corporation, rather than what is best for the client, their errors bring down national economies; and the Goldman Sachs executives rake in the cash.

“Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in.

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.

In their sties with all their backing
They don’t care what goes on around
In their eyes there’s something lacking
What they need’s a damn good whacking.

Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.” ~ George Harrison

Dorothy Height was born in Virginia and at a young age moved to Pennsylvania with her family. When she was 17 years-old she was admitted to Barnard College; however upon her arrival she was denied admission due to the school’s informal policy of admitting only two black students per year.

Height was not deterred for she was determined to pursue an education and she did so at New York University where in 1932 she received her undergraduate degree. She returned to the university and the following year received a master’s degree in educational psychology.

Dorothy Height’s entrance into the world of social activism began while she was employed by the New York City Welfare Department as a case worker. It was during this time she became a member of the National Council of Negro Women, a non-profit organization established in 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune, to expand opportunities and the quality of life for black African American females, their families and their communities.

Always well dressed, wearing her signature hat, Dorothy Height is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious congressional Medal of Honor.

Dorothy Height, a lifelong Delta Sigma Theta sorer,  was a valiant advocate for the rights of blacks and women to be educated and  gainfully employed. She will be missed.

In 1975 Henry Edward Roberts, called “Ed” by friends, family and associates, through his company Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems or MITS; brought his computer to the public with the help of Bill Gates and Paul Allen who developed the language, BASIC, and wrote the program to operate the machine.

Ultimately  Roberts’ machine would become the PC we’re all using today. The BASIC language of the machine’s operating system (OS) has become the Microsoft Windows operating system we all know and some love to hate.
In a released joint statement from Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the two remember their colleague:

“Ed was willing to take a chance on us — two young guys interested in computers long before they were commonplace — and we have always been grateful to him… The day our first untested software worked on his Altair was the start of a lot of great things. We will always have many fond memories of working with Ed in Albuquerque, in the MITS office right on Route 66 — where so many exciting things happened that none of us could have imagined back then.”~Paul Allen Bill Gates on the death of their associate Dr. Henry Edward Roberts.

Another interesting fact about Ed Roberts is, after selling the company in 1977 he returned to Wheeler County, Georgia, where he’d spent summers as a youngster with his grandparents. He purchased a farm and became a gentleman farmer. As fate would have it he was presented with an opportunity to fulfill his dream of becoming a medical doctor.

Mercer University, located near Roberts’ home,  began a medical school training program in 1982. Ed Roberts was among the first to enroll and graduate. In 1986 he received his M.D.. He completed his residency as an internist and established his practice in Cochran, Georgia, a small town near Macon.

Dr. Roberts died of pneumonia in a hospital in Macon, Georgia. He was 68 years-old.

Click on image to view full page ad for Altair 8080 from August 1975.

“Jessye Norman said not long ago that she simply “would like it to be that it made a difference to some people that I came and went, that I was here.” She has made a difference to anyone who loves music, and indeed it matters quite a lot that she is here: Jessye Norman, a great American singer.”~ from Kennedy Center: Biographical Information for Jessye Norman

We echo those sentiments. Ms Jessye Norman, is the youngest recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors

Norman’s vocal range is uncommonly wide, encompassing all female voice registers from contralto to high dramatic soprano.

When she was 16 years-old, Norman was entered in to the Marian Anderson Vocal Competition in Philadelphia. Although she did not win, she was offered a full scholarship to Howard University, in Washington, D.C. While attending Howard University, Norman sang in the university chorus, and she also sang as a professional soloist at the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ.She studied voice with Carolyn Grant.

In 1965, Jessye Norman in collaboration with 33 female students and 4 female faculty, became a founding member of the Delta Nu Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. In 1966, she was the National Society of Arts and Letters singing competition winner.

She graduated in 1967 with an undergraduate degree in music. Norman began graduate level studies first at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and later at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It was from the University of Michcagn she earned a Masters Degree in 1968. During her time in graduate school Norman studied voice with Elizabeth Mannion and Pierre Bernac.

Jessye Norman a true American opera diva….and we mean that in a good way, loved and appreciated by fans worldwide.

Starbucks announced today, through its VP of Volume, the introduction of two new beverage sizes in stores in the U. S. and Canada this Fall.

Plenta™ (128 fl oz) and Micra™ (2 fl oz) cups arrive in Starbucks stores this Fall. Derived from Italian word for plentiful or small, the Plenta™ delivers coffee lovers record amounts of the world’s finest coffee beverages while the Micra™ delivers a quick and satisfying morsel of goodness.

Dr. Robinson earned a master’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis in healthcare management, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, during a two-year leave of absence from medical school. During his studies at Wharton, Dr. Robinson traveled as a member of a team of students and alumni to South Africa to make an assessment of state-sponsored, community clinic operations for the Director of Health Services for the Cape Town Metropolitan Region.

Dr. Robinson graduated from Wharton with honors in 2002. He completed his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, in 1997. His research interest involves the development of indicators to measure the value and quality of health care delivery to special populations. One can readily see Dr. Robinson’s credentials make him eminently qualified to be a member of the medical profession’s newest specialty. Dr. Robinson is a hospitalist. His practice is near Delaware’s Christiana Care Health System.

One of Robinson’s responsibilities is to ensure patients are not unnecessarily readmitted because of gaps in care between release from the hospital and care from the patient’s primary physician.

“I get a sense that the patients are relieved because somebody is actively following them.”~ Dr. Edmondo Robinson, Hospitalist

The new federal health care reform legislation contains a provision to withhold funding for readmissions believed to be avoidable. Hospitals, health care systems, are realizing the rates of readmission must be improved. Federal statistics show one in five Medicare patients repeatedly end up in the hospital requiring care for major health issues.

That is why hospitals, such as the Christiana Care Health System in Delaware, like many other institutions, are making use of the expertise of medical specialist practitioners known as hospitalists.

The term “hospitalist”describes a new specialty. The term was first coined by Drs. Robert Wachter and Lee Goldman in an article, The Emerging Role of “Hospitalists” in the American Health Care System, appearing in 1996 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Often, according to Wikipedia, the Hospitalist duties may include patient care, teaching, research, and leadership related to hospital care.

Last year in 2009 the Society of Hospital Medicine updated the definition of this new area of specialized medicine to state  Hospital medicine, like emergency medicine, is a specialty organized around a site of care, the hospital; unlike a specialty such as cardiology, it is not organized around an organ, nor a disease like oncology, nor a patient’s age like gerontology.

Reports from the Society of Hospital Medicine, a national membership organization for hospitalists indicates the ranks of this specialty is increasing at a rate higher than any other medical specialty. The federal government’s expressed intention to reduce payments of Medicare is the reason hospitals are expanding hospitalist staff numbers.

In a recent interview with Delaware Online, Dr. Robinson said patients are more sick when they enter the hospital, and they are still often sick when they leave the hospital. That is why

“…it’s very important to continue the treatment as an outpatient. You have to plan around that and not just rely on their first follow-up with their own doctor in two or three weeks.”~Dr. Edmondo Robinson, M.D., MBA, Hospitalist

Robinson started the discharge clinic near Christiana Hospital in order to address the issue.

Patients with serious illnesses, who are recently released from the hospital, sometimes are unable to be seen by their primary care doctor in a well timed way. In those instances they receive an appointment scheduled at the clinic within a week.

Patients who receive the interim care report they are satisfied with the time saved from return trips to the emergency room. They additionally report the care they receive from a hospitalist provides confidence the risk of having to return to be admitted to the hospital is smaller as well.

That is why Dr. Edmondo Robinson has the expectation the readmission rates will decline at the Delaware hospital. He is among one of approximately 50 hospital medicine specialists with privileges at or employed by Christiana Care.

With the use of electronic medical records hospitalists say the rate of readmission will be reduced. Primary care physicians will received up-to-date case information on their patients when they leave the hospital.

Hospital medicine practitioners agree, with the government’s emphasis on readmission rates the place to save money is by making the discharge process efficient and beneficial to the patient’s care.

The documentary film by Ana Sophia Joanes takes on as its subject the inferior quality of our food, and the promising features of our national food system.

The event is planned to be a week long celebration of the film, farm fresh foods, various chefs’ culinary skills, all efforts geared toward making the public aware of how we can change our food system to save our lives and the planet.

The festivities begin promptly at 6:15 PM with a B.Y.O.G (Bring Your Own Glass-$2 for a glass if you don’t bring one) event  at the The Invisible Dog an art gallery on Bergen Street in Brooklyn. It’s a wine and cheese reception featuring eco-friendly cheese and carbon-neutral wines. Be on time, because Ana Sofia Joanes, the director of FRESH will be there along with live music.  This event will conclude at 9:30 PM.

The Food Studies Program at The New School in conjunction with Just Food, and several other organizations associated with the food movement, will be celebrating the release of  a new book Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It by Anna Lappé.

In this book the author explains the connection between the global food system and climate change. Author Anna Lappé provides inspiring, thought provoking suggestions for making food choices that will support the precipitating action for changing the planetary environment for the better.

And of course there will be screenings of the movie brought to you by the people who produced Food, Inc.  Be there for the film’s premiere on Wednesday, April 7 2010 at Tribeca Cinemas. That is when you’ll be able to see the documentary film that people who care about the quality of the foods they consume, as well as the future of the planet, are talking about and are encouraged to take action for change.

April 9 through  April 15, 2010 the film will be shown at the Quad Cinema.

Save the planet, get better nutrition. Get Fresh!

Raymond Pace Alexander born in Philadelphia in October 1898 into a working class family, the grandson of slaves was destined to beat the odds to become a distinguished Philadelphia lawyer, who later was to serve as a judge as well as advisor to other lawyers including the future federal Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Raymond Pace Alexander with his talented wife, Sadie T. M. Alexander, worked to transform a segregated society in order to afford opportunity for those who had been denied.

Early on in his education Alexander, influenced by historian Carter G. Woodson, chose to study black history and use it as a tool to vigorously oppose racism and develop better relations between the races. Having heard Woodson’s speech “Stranger in the House” Raymond Alexander was motivated to work for equality rights. As a result Alexander and Woodson remained professional friends. Raymond Alexander became a life member of Woodson’s organization established for the study of black history, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH).
The Philadelphia local chapter of the ASALH was founded by Raymond P. Alexander.

Alexander, himself, had personally experienced racial discrimination;   he was excluded from a Chestnut Street theater showing The Ten Commandments in 1924.  He was so successful in taking the theater owners to court, he was able to win their assurance never to discriminate again. That experience is the reason Raymond Pace Alexander was determined to see the implementation of such racist policies end.

After the death of his mother in childbirth, Raymond went to work to help his father provide for himself and his four siblings. By the time he was the age of twelve Alexander was earning money from his own shoe shine stand.

He received a scholarship in order to attend the best secondary high school in Philadelphia. At the time Central High School, the second oldest high school in the United States, was an all male academic high school, and Raymond Alexander graduated with honors in the top percentile of his class.

He later received a scholarship to attend the University of  Pennsylvania. Upon completion of his course work in three years he graduated with honors while having worked evenings and weekends as a waiter. Raymond Alexander was  the first black graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. In 1920 Alexander began studying law at Harvard Law School; in 1923 he earned the Juris Doctorate.

When he returned to Philadelphia, in 1923,  Raymond Alexander married Sadie Tanner Mossell;  together they founded the premier black law firm in Philadelphia.

Raymond Alexander became president of the National Bar Association in 1929.  As the president of the newly formed organization Alexander exerted his considerable influence on every black attorney in the nation to become an advocate for civil rights. This action supplied the legal guidance to  finally force the courts to move toward handing down more reasonable and equal rulings concerning blacks.  Alexander was elected president of the National Bar Association again in 1933 until 1935.

When a Civil Rights Bill was passed in Pennsylvania, in 1935, Raymond Alexander was involved in getting the measure approved. He was counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP ).

In the early 1930s Alexander sued two Chester County school districts to court when  they tried to establish racially segregated school systems. The legal victory achieved in that case was the demise of de jure segregation in Pennsylvania schools.

In the sixteen years since his graduation from Harvard Law he’d built a  legal reputation so strong attorney Thurgood Marshall presented a brief for Raymond Alexander’s review. It was this 1939 brief that provided the framework for the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

Raymond Alexander was named Honorary Consul of Haiti in Philadelphia in 1946; during that time he also functioned as representative for Haiti in the settlement of its war debt as well as in other litigation.

After some time, in 1948, in the case of the Trenton Six, he was finally able to have the black defendants cleared who’d been falsely accused of killing a white storeowner.  This was a case Alexander won on appeal with assistance from attorney Thurgood Marshall who would become the first black appointed as a justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.

When he ran for election to Philadelphia’s City Council he won.  He was a member of the Council from 1951 to 1958.

It was 1951 when RPA solely began the legal maneuvers to bring to an end the exclusion of blacks from Girard College.  More than 15 years later his efforts reached a successful conclusion when the United States Supreme Court ruled blacks be admitted to the college.

Raymond Pace Alexander was appointed in January 1959 by Governor George M. Leader to fill a vacancy in the Court of Common Pleas  of Philadelphia, thus becoming the first black judge in this court.

“As a judge I have seen at first hand the helplessness and bewilderment of the poor when faced with the legalities of our complex society.”~Judge Raymond Pace Alexander, decision in favor of the Philadelphia Community Legal Services Case 1966

In 1966 several local attorneys opposed the Philadelphia Bar Association’s proposal to organize Community Legal Service, Inc., a nonprofit corporation funded by money from the federal Office of Economic Opportunity.

The proposed service, part of the War On Poverty, was to open twelve law offices in neighborhoods around the city, under a 20-man board of directors, which included four leading lawyers and seven representatives from the local communities.

The dispute was turned over to then 67 year-old Judge Raymond Pace Alexander of the Court of Common Pleas to decide. Long hearings ensued. Judge Alexander gave a detailed decision which upheld the service as  lawful and completely beneficial to the community.

“It is in the public interest that this program go forward. Let it begin—now.”~Judge Raymond Pace Alexander, in his decision upholding the Philadelphia Community Legal Services Case 1966

Judge Raymond Alexander remained on the judicial bench, as Senior Judge until his death in 1974.

Judge Raymond Pace Alexander challenged numerous segregated institutions in the Philadelphia area. He will be remembered for the indelible impression he made on the city and on the legal profession.

For more information visit:
MySpace.com/BoilingFrogs101
FlexYourRights.org
Police Abuse.com~ Good Cops
RateMyCop.com
Google: Cop Watch

“Realistically, the only way to solve our problems at this point in our history is by planning our future, clearly and objectively, and then working to make that plan a reality.” Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, author Alternatives to Despair 1972

Back in 1972 the late Leon H. Sullivan, author and innovator of Philadelphia’s  Opportunities Industrialization Center, (OIC), was sounding the call to make definitive plans for our future.

“Strangely enough in Philadelphia, the big metropolitan city, you think people had work, but discrimination was still very strong . . . I decided to confront discrimination, again, because businesses were not employing blacks in Philadelphia, blacks couldn’t even get jobs as waiters in the good hotels.”~Rev. Leon Sullivan

Choosing to confront the racial discrimination he witnessed in hiring practices in Philadelphia, he organized 400 other ministers to implement a successful boycott of companies that did not support equal employment opportunity. This demonstration of  “selective patronage” resulted in more than 4000 jobs open to dark skinned African Americans. However many still lacked the necessary training to perform the jobs now available.

That is when in 1964 founded in an abandoned jailhouse, the OIC was born.
OIC provides job training and life skills and then couples the graduates with the needs of Philadelphia businesses. So successful was the first endeavor OIC was duplicated in cities around the nation.

Five years later Rev. Leon H. Sullivan’s efforts were replicated on a global scale with the creation of OIC International to supply training and employment for individuals on the African continent.

“I believe not only in milk and honey in heaven but in ham and eggs on earth besides.”~Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, Build Brother Build

Sullivan, who began his ministerial career at age eighteen in his hometown Charleston, West Virginia had a personal experience with bigotry. At age twelve he tried to purchase a Coca Cola at the local drugstore in his town. What happened then inspired his lifelong dedication to opposing racial prejudice. The owner of the store refused to sell the beverage to him saying, “Stand on your feet, boy. You can’t sit here.”

Leon Sullivan went on to graduate West Virginia State University. It was during a visit to West Virginia by Adam Clayton Powell, prominent black minister, noted author and  the father of the congressman, that he encouraged Sullivan to come to New York to study theology at the Union Theological Seminary.  Sullivan became an assistant minister at the activist Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City’s Harlem following his studies at Columbia University for a Masters Degree in religion in 1947. While living in New York Leon met Grace whom he married and lovingly called “Amazing Grace”. Together they had three children, Hope, Julie and Howard.

Eventually the family relocated first to Northern New Jersey where Rev. Sullivan was selected to lead the First Baptist Church in Orange, New Jersey.

In 1950 Leon, Grace and their children all moved to Philadelphia because Leon was taking on the leadership role of pastor at the Zion Baptist Church. From 1950 until 1988 Sullivan , known as “the Lion of Zion” served the congregation and community. During this time he increased the membership of 600 to 6,000 making it one of  the largest congregations in the U.S.

Rev. Sullivan became the first black man appointed to the board of directors of the world’s largest corporation, General Motors (GM), a Fortune 500 company. At the time General Motors was the largest business entity in the world and Sullivan used this prestigious position with GM to influence decisions particularly in South Africa.

Sullivan  launched an international campaign to transform apartheid in South Africa; he created a code of conduct for human rights and equal opportunity for companies operating in South Africa.  This code became known as the Sullivan Principles. They Principles were later expanded by Rev. Sullivan and former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan “to support economic, social and political justice by companies where they do business,” including respect for human rights and equal work opportunities for all peoples.

The most important fact to remember about the late Rev. Leon H. Sullivan is he advocated self-help. He strongly supported empowerment of individuals, institutions and communities through education. Job training and life skills are the foundation for individuals to build successful communities.

Today the organizations that are his legacy, The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation headed by his daughter Hope Masters, Esquire; Opportunities Industrialization Centers Of America, (OIC-America) led by his son Howard H. Sullivan, along with OIC International  and the International Foundation For Education and  Self Help, (IFESH) guided by his daughter Dr. Julie H. Sullivan;  all continue to promote sustainable projects around the world because access to education for vulnerable populations is still extremely important.

We hear they will be installing plastic brake pedals made from really hard plastic. You remember-flashback to forty or fifty years ago like the toys made in Japan were of a hard plastic substance so hard it would splinter and shatter into a gazillion pieces. Today in the 21st Century modern technology brings you brakes guaranteed to break when you step on the pedal to apply them.

We can only hope in the future we don’t have terrorist airplanes such as Erratic Airbus; or sabotage of our own airliners from Boeing to Boing! Even now there are rumors of the existence of a terrorist web site supporting Boing-boing! Has anybody ever thought of this? What do we do if all the machines and all the computers from China turn into terrorist tools?! You know Trojan Horse style? “Dude we’re screwed!”

The Japanese auto manufacturers have gone to elaborate lengths to hide the fact killing Americans who purchased Japanese made cars instead of American made cars like GM and Ford, or Hummer. Goodness knows those U.S. vehicles have never been built in a manner to endanger the lives of fellow Americans. These cars are made by the hands of proud Americans,; people you know. They could be your neighbor or the man or woman in line with you at the supermarket.

It’s a worldwide plot to infiltrate our machines. As the “thick plotens” we can say never mind to germ warfare, or the WMDs. The mastermind of this nefarious  scheme says “We can get’em through the imports!”

The only solution we  offer is to boycott everything. Get rid of the plasma teevee; toss away the iPod, iPad, iphone.  No more household appliances, computers, stereos, DVD players, shoes clothing or phones; and please relieve yourself of that foreign car made in Japan. Everything we use is comes from some other place- usually in Asia. In the end it’s not our fault the foreign terrorists have chosen to take advantage of the fact we no longer make anything.

” I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, ‘They’re looting.’ You see a white family, it says, ‘They’re looking for food.’ And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help — with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way — and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us!”

“George Bush doesn’t care about black people!”

~Kanye West, musical artist, during fund raising event in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane Katrina on NBC live telecast Friday, September 2, 2005

We assembled the smartest people on our staff to view and discuss the following controversial 39 second video clip:

George W. Bush appears to have wiped his hand on Bill Clinton’s shirt after shaking hands with a crowd of Haitians.
The conclusion of our gathered collective brain trust is Kanye West was right.

If seeing is believing we think the preceding video is proof positive George H.W. and Barbara’s first born is a racist. Not that right thinking people needed any additional proof of his bigoted ways.

Kanye’s statements on the evening of September 2, 2005, when NBC’s levees broke, seem to have been very accurate. Five years later when NBC is an acronym for “Nothing But Controversy”; and the whole world can watch via YouTube or on any blogger’s site, including this one, how in lieu of hand sanitizer the former president GWB, aka “President Dumbya”, could not resist wiping his hand on the shirt of another former president, who erroneously is called by some “America’s first black president” we have evidence of how George W. Bush really feels about dark skinned people of African descent.

We saw how well George related to President and Mrs. Obama when he greeted them at the White House during the administration transition.

We’ve been allowed to see him interact with President Obama and the other past presidents, Carter and Clinton at a luncheon last year at the White House.

We were shocked when it was announced George and Bill would be working together to raise money for the people of Haiti. We realize Bill is a closet Republican, better known as a Dixie-crat. George knows he is in competition with Bill for G.H.W. Bush’s attentions. As if it isn’t enough to have to compete with JEB for Daddy Bush’s love-
” ’cause everybody knows JEB is the smart one”.

We’re just saying with all the lies being perpetrated by the die-hard members of the G.O.P about how caring the former president is for poor people and some black people who aren’t even poor for us the video makes all their claims null and void.

We want to thank our cleverly comic friends at The Onion for providing this wonderful, and on some level salient, video piece spoofing the news. They’re telling it like it T-I-S!

DISCLAIMER: Be advised the language may be offensive to some, so turn down the volume, or pop in those ear buds/headphones for privacy if your grandma, or your boss is within earshot. This piece is hilarious. Enjoy!

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

The Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years, 85 year old Father Gabriele Amorth says:

“When one speaks of ‘the smoke of Satan’ [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia.”

As the president of honour of the Association of Exorcists, Father Amorth attributes  70,000 cases of demonic possession to the consequences of satanic infiltration. This includes power struggles at the Vatican along with  “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon”.

No doubt it’s the devil in the details as to why so many Roman Catholics do not practice their beliefs nor regularly attend weekly services or confession.

And there you have it.  The Vatican’s version of unsolved mysteries; only this time the mystery has been solved.
The devil made them do it!

Gabourey Sidibe is  young, vivacious and beautiful. Let’s commend her fine award winning, Golden Globe and Oscar nominated performance. Her portrayal of an abused, emotionally challenged urban female youth brought attention to the issues of child abuse, mental illness and poor nutrition, features of home life for too many American families.

While we applaud her success can we just give the lady a break on the assessment of her appearance? There is no doubt Ms Sidibe is aware she is fat. There I said it. Just like she knows she’s intelligent, witty, clever, acclaimed for her work on film, she knows she is a dark skinned African American female who is overweight. She disclosed in an interview with Oprah she was on her first diet to lose weight at age six years old.

“It’s something I’ve had to work at. My first diet started when I was six years old. I’ve never been a small girl. One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body.”~ Gabourey (Gabby) Sidibe in an interview with Oprah Winfrey November 2009

How could she not know these things about herself? These are facts she has lived with for all of her 24 years. Nearly a quarter of a century of knowing who she is and what she looks like. Gabourey says when she was 21 or 22  she finally became comfortable in her own skin.

“I got tired of feeling bad all the time. I got tired of hating myself.”~ Gabourey (Gabby) Sidibe in an interview with Oprah Winfrey November 2009

It’s because she is self aware she is confident to successfully perform the work she does.

Gabourey Sidibe, like many American black people, knows she is black; and like many overweight Americans, black,  white or any other race, she knows she is fat.

What Ms Sidibe has done in addition to providing a stellar film performance, and showing the world her lovely personality and her spunky youth as she promotes the movie and other projects, she has brought to our attention two important issues. One issue is child abuse and the other our poor eating habits.

Whether the abuse is mental, sexual or physical, child abuse can be prevented. Remember hurt people hurt people. There are means to helping those who have been hurt by helping them to understand themselves, helping them to heal so they stop abusing themselves and those they love.

Yes, Gabourey Sidibe is fat. There are many actors who are fat who are taking some kind of drug to suppress their appetites to keep their poundage low with no guarantee this will insure they are hired for the next big teevee or blockbuster movie role.

I am equally concerned for those anorexic, bulimic looking actresses and models who every week, every month grace the covers of popular magazines. I believe they are as unhealthy as the ones we call obese.

I say let’s have a national conversation about changing the way our foods are preserved and processed. I say let us have a national conversation that leads us to demand the food supply is clean and free of fat inducing sugars and chemicals. We can do this if we are really as concerned about the matter of childhood obesity, and adult obesity along with other preventable health issues.

As for Gabourey Sidibe, and the equally unhealthy skinny dolls in the entertainment industry they have been sufficiently told about their appearance, as if they did not already know. Let them choose of their own accord to lose the weight,  gain weight or do nothing about their weight. They are all grown ups. Let these people be who they wish to be.

They’re adults and this is after all America–land of the free, home of the brave, anorexic or fat if we choose to be.

However, when we viewed what happened we could not believe our eyes. Of all the reports we found we liked this one video report because of the fairness of the presentation–both sides were told and we liked the frumpy looking anchor’s closing remarks. Watch and you’ll see what we mean…

There is no doubt this is a family who put the D-I-S in disrespect,  or the D-Y-S and the  F-U-N in dysfunction.

Our favorite quote from the shop owner,

“They don’t know how to deal with things in the United States. They think they in Fallujah or the mountains of Iraq or somewhere.”

His comments not only give us a hint as to the ethnicity of the people who attacked his store; it tells of the cultural difference between the bride, her family and the businessman and his family.

This statement also reminds us it’s one thing to come to the United States to be free; we must be mindful of the many strange customs to be learned that make assimilation a real challenge , too.

For example asking to have a gown valued at more than one thousand dollars on credit or even using a credit card that is not your own–it’s in the name of someone who is not present at the shop with you–these are unacceptable practices  in the U.S. Throwing a hissy-fit, making threats assaulting the shop owners  and tearing up their place of business is an even less than acceptable behavior in these United States. If they do not know they certainly need to ask somebody. Hot ghetto mess demeanor is not the way to go.

We suggest a suitable punishment for the perpetrators would be for the groom (??) and his boyz to be confined to the local jail on the day of the wedding; the nuptials will have to be held at the jail house for all the trouble they caused. The bride should be made to wear the government issued orange or blue incarceration jumpsuit to match her groom and his groomsmen, for her part in instigating the melee. In fact the traditional black and white broad horizontal striped garb would be suitable for the occasion- a wedding behind bars. Black and white is a very chic fashion statement!

Remember, if you want to clown in public you may receive your fleeting fifteen minutes of fame notoriety on the Internet as a featured YouTube video.

“People wish to be poets more than they wish to write poetry, and that’s a mistake. One should wish to celebrate more than one wishes to be celebrated.”~Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton, (nee Sayles), acknowledged as one of the most accomplished women in the world of literature, died February 13, 2010.

Clifton, an artist known for her affable demeanor, common sense approach to poetry and writing, served as the Poet Laureate of the state of Maryland for six years from 1979 to 1985.

She was born and raised in upstate New York. Upon graduation from high school at age sixteen she received a scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she was introduced to dramatist and poet Amiri Bakara, formerly known as LeRoi Jones and poet, Sterling Brown. However, Lucille returned to New York state to receive her undergraduate degree from Fredonia State Teachers College.

During her lifetime she held several teaching positions including in Baltimore, Maryland’s Coppin State College, from 1974 to 1979; she was professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1985 to 1989.

Lucille Clifton was also Distinguished Professor of Literature and Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary’s College, Maryland, from 1989 to 1991, and professor of creative writing at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, beginning in 1998;

The recipient of many prestigious literary awards Clifton is also known for her intelligent and practical sense of humor as exhibited in her poetry and her prose. An excerpt from her poem Admonitions:

“…children when they ask you why your mama so funny say she is a poet she don’t have no sense.”~Lucille Clifton

Clifton was married to Fred Clifton until the time of his passing in 1984. They met when Lucille was attending Fredonia State College, and at the time Fred Clifton, her future husband, was a professor of philosophy at the University of Buffalo. Together Lucille and Fred had six children.

Lucille Clifton was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, once in 1980, 1987–the first poet to have two books competing in the finals for the Pulitzer, and again in 1991; additionally she received the Lannan Literary Award for poetry in 1997; the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 1997; the Los Angeles Times Poetry Award in 1997; the Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Award in 1999.

Clifton won the National Book Award for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 (2000) as well as winning in 2007, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize; the $100,000 prize honors a living U.S. poet whose “lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition.”

She has been recognized with honorary degrees from Colby College, the University of Maryland, Towson State University, Washington College, and Albright College.

Lucille Clifton is rightfully celebrated for her work which demonstrates her sincere passion for the everyday things we often take for granted. As she so eloquently expressed:

“Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.”

Ebenezer D. Bassett was a teacher in New Haven, Connecticut where he met and became friends with Frederick Douglass a leading abolitionist.  Bassett was the principal of Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth (ICY).

For eight years, Bassett in his role as the American Minister Resident dealt with cases of citizen commercial claims, diplomatic immunity for his consular and commercial agents, hurricanes, fires, and numerous tropical diseases.

As the Resident Minister in Haiti representing the United States, Ebenezer D. Bassett, managed diplomatic bilateral relations through gory civil warfare and coups d’état on the island of Hispaniola.

He died in November 1908 in Philadelphia.

Ebenezer D. Bassett served with meritorious courage, and integrity in post considered to be very important during that period of world history.

“We must teach our children to dream with their eyes open. The chances of your becoming a Jerry Rice or a Magic Johnson are so slim as to be negligible. Black kids must learn to distribute their energies in a way that’s going to make them productive, contributing citizens in an increasingly high-technology society.”
~ Harry Edwards, author and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley as quoted in Time Magazine March 6, 1989.

Sociologist, scholar and author Harry Edwards, born 1942, is from East St. Louis, Illinois; he received his doctorate in sociology from Cornell University.

Harry Edwards stated desire is to be a role model of “the promising athlete who gave up the possibility of a career in professional sports to become a scholar instead.”

Harry Edwards is the founder of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, (OPHR) which led to the Black Power Salute protest by Black African-American athletes at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

The author of “The Revolt of the Black Athlete” Edwards has been described by a writer for the New York Times Magazine in May 1988 as a man who sees ” himself as one who provokes and incites others to action, a reformer, not a revolutionary. And indeed, no other single figure in sports has done as much to make the country aware that the problems of the larger culture are recapitulated in sports, that the arena is no sanctuary from drugs, racism and corruption.”

Edwards is known as a vigorous advocate for black  managers in professional sports. Harry Edwards, in addition to having been a sociology professor at the University of California at Berkley, has taken the academic theory from the college campus to the real world board room; from
serving as a staff consultant to the San Francisco 49ers football team and to the Golden State Warriors basketball team, Edwards has also been actively involved in recruiting black talent for front-office positions in major league baseball.

Articles and essays by Professor Edwards have been published in leading sports journals and magazines such as  Sports Illustrated and Psychology Today.

There is no doubt the result of his influence in the world of professional sports can be seen throughout the professional sport teams leagues.

“If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.” Tommie Smith U.S. Track and Field Olympian Mexico City, 1968

It was October 16, 1968 at the Olympic Games in Mexico City where John Carlos and Tommie Smith, along with white Australian Silver medalist Peter Norman, who wore a human rights badge on the podium in solidarity of the Americans’ protest, made headlines around the world.

Read more about these two former Olympic athletes who were suspended from the games for silently protesting their opposition to ongoing U.S. human rights violations in 1968.

“…As an active worker for civil rights, she has been a steady and forceful advocate on the national, state, and municipal scene, reminding people everywhere that freedoms are won not only by idealism but by persistence and will over a long time…”
~Excerpt from citation the University Of Pennsylvania honorary degree of Doctor of Laws conferred in 1974 upon Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, a Philadelphian born in 1898 was a trailblazing female scholar and lawyer. Named Sarah at birth she was known as Sadie throughout her life.

She was born into a family of accomplished individuals. Her maternal grandfather, Benjamin Tucker Tanner, was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Sadie’s father, Aaron Albert Mossell, was a graduate of Lincoln University and the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1888. One of her uncles, Nathan Francis Mossell, was the first Black African American physician to graduate from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania. Other members of her family include her uncle the artist Henry O. Tanner and her aunt Hallie Tanner Johnson Dillon who also became a medical doctor and founded the Nurses’ School and Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute- now University, in Alabama.

When Sadie Alexander was to attend high school she was relocated to live with her uncle, Lewis Baxter Moore, the dean of Howard University in Washington , D.C. and the first Black African American to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Upon graduation from the “M” Street high school, the first high school for black students, enrolled, attended and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Education. She then entered the graduate school at Penn to study economics.

In 1921 Sadie T. Mossell became the first Black African American female in the United States to received a doctorate degree as well as the first Black African American to obtain a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Sadie was proud of her scholastic achievement.

“I can well remember marching down Broad Street from Mercantile Hall to the Academy of Music where there were photographers from all over the world taking my picture.”

Following completion of her graduate work she went to work as an actuary for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham, North Carolina a black owned and operated insurance company.

In 1923 after her fiance Raymond Pace Alexander was admitted to the Bar and established his law practice Sadie returned to Philadelphia to be married in November of that year.

Autumn of 1924 found Sadie T.M. Alexander a student again at the University of Pennsylvania. This time she was enrolled to study the law.

When she successfully completed her law studies Sadie T.M. Alexander, obtaining an L.L.B., became the first Black African American woman to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.  During that same year 1927 she was also the first African American woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.

Sadie teamed with her husband to practice law; her particular specialty being estate and family law. Together, Sadie and her husband Raymond they championed removing the barriers of discrimination; they fought to desegregate Philadelphia restaurants, hotels, and theaters.

From 1928 to 1930 and from 1934 to 1938 she was appointed and served as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia.

In 1943 Sadie Alexander was elected the first woman to hold a national office in the  National Bar Association.

Four years later Alexander was appointed by President Harry S. Truman to serve on the President’s Committee on Civil Rights.  During her appointment the report issued, entitled To Secure These Rights, became the foundation for  civil rights policy decisions and legislation implemented in the future.

Finally in 1959 Sadie Alexander opened her own law office where she practiced law for 17 years before joining the firm of Atkinson, Myers and Archie. While practicing law Sadie Alexander found time to be active in more than 30 national and local civic organizations.

1974, Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander was honored with a fifth degree from the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania. This time she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to celebrate and commend her tenacious work for equal public accommodation. When she was eighty-one years old, in 1978 she received another presidential appointment as chair of the White House Conference On Aging.

Sadie Alexander retired from an active practice and public life in 1981. Seven years later, in 1989 she died.

It is very fitting that the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School, is named for her; it is a public school located in West Philadelphia developed in partnership with the University, which provides  academic and financial support to the school.

Every year Black African American law students from the University of Pennsylvania Law school  and legal professionals meet at a conference to commemorate Dr. Alexander’s vast scholastic and professional achievements; they gather to honor the many firsts in her career as well as to commend those who are following her academic example in the study of law and outstanding accomplishments in the legal profession.

We’re still trying to figure out why after all this time we are still hearing from, people are talking about,and we are seeing almost everywhere reports about Sarah “The Quitter” Palin. Take a look at
this video excerpt from a recent episode of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central…..

Which brings us to Palin’s use of the word “satire”. She says the big fat guy on the radio was using satire when he referred to liberals as being retarded. She says it wasn’t an insult. She says President Obama’s Chief Of Staff should be fired for his use of the same word in a private conversation because she’s offended by his use of the word. Was he talking to her? About her?

We are pleased to accept Stephen Colbert’s invitation to say Sarah “The Terrah” Palin-the former Alaska governor is an effin’ retard!

“Failure is not a word I accept”~ John H. Johnson, Publisher

John H. Johnson was an American businessman, founder of the Johnson Publishing Company. He was the chairman of Johnson Publishing Company and he also chaired the Fashion Fair Cosmetics Company, a company created by his wife Eunice Walker Johnson.

Under his leadership both Jet and Ebony Magazines flourished. Readership and circulation grew every year from 1945 the year in which they were first published.

The magazines were named by his wife Eunice and the start-up money came from a $500 loan  from his mother. She allowed Johnson to use her furniture as collateral for the loan.

His business success is nothing short of meteoric. He rose from the depths of poverty, spending a short time on the welfare rolls to becoming the first Black African American to be included in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

“Indomitable spirit”, that is how many describe Johnson’ secret to success. He was creative and innovative. He always found a solution. when faced with blatant racial discrimination when he was denied approval to buy a lot in downtown Chicago, Johnson hired a white attorney to buy the property in trust for him.  By this action he became the first black to construct a major structure in Chicago’s bustling downtown business area.

From President Bill Clinton, John H. Johnson received the nation’s highest  civilian award  the Presidential Medal Of Freedom.

During his business career because of his business expertise Johnson was chosen to serve as director of several important American corporations including Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Continental Banks and Dillard’s Department Stores. He was also a trustee of United Negro College Fund and the Conference of Christians And Jews.

John H. Johnson  is recognized as the first entrepreneur to acknowledge the
awesome buying power of the Black African American consumer.

The word of warning is DON’T! Do Not share everything about your life on the Internet…as fascinating as you may find it, or you believe others may find it so, some nefarious individuals may find it even more so…

We advise what is private must remain private.

It is said a word to the wise is sufficient and if you happen to be unwise then a picture is worth at least a thousand words…

Celebrate Black History Month 2010

Eunice Walker Johnson had been since 1961 the producer and director of America’s most well known fashion show The Ebony Fashion Fair. An interview with Eunice Walker Johnson.

This trailblazer and fashion icon died last month. Mrs. Johnson was the widow of John H. Johnson a prominent Black American businessman, noted for being the first Black American to be featured in Forbes 400; publisher and founder of Johnson Publishing Company–publisher of jet and Ebony Magazines.

Eunice Walker Johnson was a daughter of the American South, born in Selma, Alabama. She received a bachelor degree in Sociology from Talladega College, and late earned a master’s degree from Loyola University in Chicago. Several years later Talladega College conferred its famous graduate with an honorary doctorate degree. It was during the time of  her graduate studies she met her future husband. They married the year after she completed graduate school.

Together Eunice Johnson,  and her husband John created several magazines, Jet–a weekly publication, and Ebony a monthly magazine, being the most popular. It was Eunice Johnson, who became secretary-treasurer of Johnson Publications and columnist for Ebony magazine, who named the magazine for the dark wood. Last month readership for Ebony had reached more than one million while circulation for the weekly Jet was reported to be 900,000.

Mrs. Johnson began the Ebony Fashion Tour in 1958 in order to raise money for a hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Johnson’s idea pioneered using models of black African descent on the runway. In fact when certain European design houses refused to provide clothing for the show tours in the U.S. Johnson purchased all that she needed to make her idea a reality. Until that time the American general public had not seen or known of high fashion couture designs except on film or in magazines.

The Ebony Fashion Fair helped highlight the works and careers of African-American designers and models. The fashion event also raised more than 50 million dollars for education in over 200 cities around the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean during the last fifty years of its tour.

Turning adversity into a successful resolution, Johnson had her difficulties in finding cosmetics suited to the skin tones of her models; she created Fashion Fair Cosmetics in 1973 as a line of makeup to be sold in leading department stores.

Among the numerous awards and prestigious memberships presented to Eunice Walker Johnson most notable is a Golden Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a membership of Harvard Graduate School of Business.

“We use the ability to lower the armrests as the gauge, as the armrests are truly the definitive boundary between each seat.”

Blanche Africa Reilly Dark has her say about Southwest Airlines and movie director Kevin Smith.

Over the past weekend the Internet was all a buzz with news a young fat movie director was ejected in a manner he considers inappropriate whether he is a well known fat dude flying the people’s airline or just one of the unknown people who fly affordable air transportation. I should add right here I agree with Smith. The disrespect and humiliation demonstrated toward him was absolutely unacceptable! It’s unsatisfactory to be rude to any paying customer in any industry.

According to Southwest Airlines own web site this policy for “customers of size”–read that phrase as a euphemism for fat, overweight or obese,  has been followed “for 29 of our 38 years of operation, but only became more vigilant regarding the additional purchase when we began seeing an increase in the number of valid complaints from passengers who traveled without full access to the seat purchased because a large Customer infringed upon the adjacent seating space.”

Many Americans are overweight. Many airline seats are too small and uncomfortable to accommodate regular size, “normal” size, American travelers. Seventeen inches wide indeed!  My office desk chair is an inch wider. It does not mean I wish to sit in it for a two hour flight!

I believe Smith and his wife when they say he’s got the body of a stout fellow; that he’s not a  portly man whose body can be accurately described as one encroaching into another passenger’s territory .

“.Purchasing two seats on Southwest Airlines is significantly less expensive than purchasing one first class seat on another airline..” from the Southwest Airlines web site Customer Of Size Q & A page

I believe Smith when he says he buys two seats on the regular because he can afford to do so to insure his traveling privacy and comfort given the seats are really small.

To end this controversy I suggest there be a scale to weight passengers, just like the luggage is weighed, before the board the aircraft.

A tip to the heavyweights who choose air travel over car, bus or train, make sure you’re not the last fat chick or fat dude to board the plane.

I say this because as I listened to Kevin Smith’s description of his experience of Southwest Airlines poor customer service it became quite clear he was, as a passenger flying on stand-by status, the last fat man to board the plane. This by no means justifies the maltreatment he received.

In fact it is a call for larger seats, and more respect for the not so skinny average American traveler. Shame on you Gary Kelly and your band of corporate associates. All your platitudes and lofty musings have not trickled down to the rank and file as courteous action. Tsk! Tsk!

Blanche predicts more passengers will begin to ditch Southwest and book flights with the competition.

Unless Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, Greg Crum, VP Operations, who I understand is responsible for those who interact with the public, as well as Matt Hafner, (Ground Operations executive) and Mike Hafner, (Inflight Services); –I wonder are those two brothers?… and company can reinvigorate in their personnel with some of that Southwest Airlines culture– the “warrior spirit”, “a servant’s heart” and that well promoted “fun-LUVing attitude” along with some real love toward the flying public whether they are Kate Moss skinny, Moni’que big or chubby like comedian Earthquake or hefty like Ralphie May.

If you ignore this matter Southwest Airlines could go the way of Pan Am.

“We are the world, we are the children…”
Lionel Richie

In March of 1985 forty-five American singing stars gathered at the A&M music studio to record a song composed by the late Michael Jackson and lyricist Lionel Richie. The featured singers from several genres of music joined to make a record that would be sold to raise money for the charity USA For Africa. They raised over $30 million to help the less fortunate overseas.

On February 1, 2010 a new generation of celebrities, count’em 80, singers, actors, and the like–joined by some old school participants from the first recording, have gathered to do a remake of the original song We Are The World. This time money raised will go the benefit the survivors of last month’s devastating earthquake in Haiti. The organization is We Are The World 25 For Haiti.

“There’s a choice we’re making.
We’re saving our own lives…”-Lionel Richie

Nearly twenty-five years after the initial recording of the song created by the late Michael Jackson with lyrics by Lionel Richie, a new generation of Hollywood celebrities, singers, actors, models and people just known for being known, gathered to record a remake of the song that raised in 1985 more than $30 million for the charity USA For Africa.

This new crop of celebrities met on February 1, 2010, almost 25 years after the first gathering headed by music producer Quincy Jones, to record the cover to raise money for the survivors of the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti.

We’ve decided to revisit the original recording from 1985:

We’ve posted the lyrics indicating which artist is singing what part.

Lionel Richie
There comes a time when we heed a certain call

We are the world….

See if you can recognize who is present for the historic session from twenty-five years ago. In the next article we will take a look at the 2010 version We Are The World 25 for Haiti.

The first person of black African descent to travel in space was the Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, who is also the first Hispanic in space.

Guion “Guy” Bluford, now retired from NASA and the Air Force since 1993, currently serves as vice president and general manager of the Science and Engineering Group,  Aerospace Sector of Federal Data Corporation in Maryland. Dr. Bluford has received  many honors not the least of which was his 1997 induction into the International Space Hall of Fame .

This Pennsylvania State University grad
holds degrees in aerospace engineering, including a doctorate with a minor in laser physics, is the veteran of four shuttle flights where he performed the tasks of mission specialist and flight engineer.

Guion Bluford is an Eagle Scout, and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, who is also a member of Omega Si Phi fraternity with more than 600 hours logged in outer space.

Congratulations to the advertisers who reached a television audience unofficially estimated to be 100 million viewers.

Congratulations to David Letterman who invited Oprah and Leno to join him in a promotional ad for his late night television program.  We think the ad ranked high for being clever;  not only did Dave display professionalism by inviting Leno, his soon-to-be late night rival again, to be in the ad which gives both their programs a boost, he also exhibited his comedy genius on which there is no off switch.

“You have to think about yourself, because no one wakes up in the moring with you on their mind.”~Attorney Allie Latimer

Allie Latimer is a living American shero who counts among her many educational, civic and professional  achievements, the fact she is the founder of the national organization Federally Employed Women (FEW).

FEW is an advocacy group established in 1968 to improve the status of women employed by the Federal government and by the District of Columbia government.Membership in this group has never been limited to simply females executives working in government. In fact the first National Treasurer was a male Lieutenant Colonel who could identify with the plight of women because of the situations he faced as a southerner. He worked with FEW until he was reassigned.

Attorney Latimer, a graduate of  Hampton Institute, now Hampton University;  with a law degree from Howard University School of Law, also holds an advanced research law degree, LL.M, from Catholic University. Allie Latimer earned  both a Master of Divinity (M. Div.) degree and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) from Howard University.

Allie Latimer had attended college in North Carolina for a time before transferring to Virginia’s historic Hampton Institute. She returned to the state to practice law for a time.

Following her work in private practice in North Carolina Allie Latimer  joined the federal GSA  during the early 1970s as an Assistant General Counsel. In 2005 the State Of North Carolina recognized her legal work there and elsewhere

Ms Latimer organized the initially grassroots organization, along with June Chewning and Florence Perman. After convincing several of those with whom she worked the first chapter of the advocacy group was established in Washington, D.C.  Today there are more than 200 FEW chapters. when she, herself was employed by the General Services Administration (GSA).

In 1976 she left the General Services Administration in order to serve in the position of an Assistant General Counsel.

It was in 1977 Attorney Allie Latimer returned to the  GSA as the first African American female to serve in the post of General Counsel of a major agency. Ms Latimer worked in that post until 1987 when she moved on to serve as Special Counsel for Ethics and Civil Rights at GSA. She was Special Counsel for eight years leaving the position in 1995.

Allie Latimer has received numerous awards for her humanitarian contributions and her legal achievements.

First up international entertainment leader with six Grammys wins in one night, Beyonce Knowles.

It’s February in the United States and that means it’s time to celebrate the myriad contributions made by so many little known and well known people of black African descent.

It’s time to honor those who made it possible to change this country from the inside to a nation closer to living up to its creed of equality for all.

This time of year is the source of inspiration for young and old alike. It is a season to inspire black, white, yellow and brown to the highest ideals and levels of achievement despite overwhelming odds and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

The most obvious history maker to be honored is our current president, Barack H. Obama, number 44 in the line up of presidents. Some say he is not the first black man to head our nation; they make reference to the Moors who ran the country in its early days.

Whether or not he is the first, we believe he will not be the last. Kind of like the winners of the Miss America pageant. There have been about a half dozen winners of black African descent to wear the coveted Miss America crown since Vanessa L. Williams became the first back in 1983, including the newly crowned 2010 winner Caressa Cameron.

Mostly it happens without much fanfare. Could it be we’re gaining some real progress toward making the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream a reality by judging individuals by the content of their character and quality of their intent? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if an event as important as our presidential election were as enlightened as a beauty pageant seems to be?

Celebrate, honor and respect the tenacity, intelligence, creativity and strength of a people who have more than survived the harsh history of the past to thrive, participate in and witness the history being made in modern times.

We want you to know and remember Martin Luther King, Jr was substantive, not just a dreamer. He was a strategist and a man of action who used the same principles as India’s Gandhi, to lead the greatest movement for equality and freedom the world has ever seen. There is a difference between non-resistance and non-violent resistance to evil acts.

The late Dr. King, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace, inspired a national movement and a worldwide following.

This landmark presentation delivered by the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr describes the conditions that brought about the public demonstration by thousands of Americans, of all races and religions, to change the policy of the times. He implores the government to remove the barriers that limit freedom for anyone who is not white.

He expresses the purpose for the gathering. He eloquently explains what is desired by the national black community.

Note how he predicts continued unrest if the demand for equal rights is not adequately addressed and soon. The philosopher reminds those who protest the racist policies to remain peaceful but steadfast. King also speaks of the interconnectedness of both blacks and whites.

And in the end he describes his dream and his hope the nation will live up to its full promise allowing freedom to ring from every mountain, village, hamlet, city, and state.

Mostly this bad behavior is from the so-called “loyal opposition”. From what we’d previously observed the Republicans in the Congress know the rules and the policies. That’s how they always manage to best the Dems at the game.

This lapse in socially acceptable, good behavior, gives us reason to believe the Democrats may have a shot at growing a spine or having one implanted if the official GOP reps continue to act out.

Last week during President Obama’s very first State Of The Union Address a federal Supreme Court justice was seen mouthing an opposing reaction. Traditionally the justices of the court are to remain impartial. That means no public demonstration of support or opposition to anything the president says during the SOTUA.

Of course the lack of impartiality became very apparent during the selection of George W. Bush in 2000 when the court took sides and chose Bush over Al Gore; we think this happened because the decision was based on who arrived at the courthouse door first. In this case it was BushCo.

Last year during a speech to the Congress some representative could not control himself and blurted out from the audience calling the president a liar. He later apologized. No apology would be necessary if he did not demonstrate such blatant disrespect

Where do these people think they are? The UK? The Parliament or the House of Lords? Shouting and calling out at the administrative leader is what is done across the pond. It is not good form in the U.S. of A.

We’ve noted many have expressed their rudeness and disrespect for our current president. Jimmy Carter says the maltreatment Barack Obama is receiving is because he’s black. Perhaps. It may also be a sign of the frustration of the times. Our country is in a mess. It isn’t his fault. It was like this when he came into office.

Mark Fiore, political cartoonist gives his version of the president giving a speech….

Miss Cameron, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, displayed her singing talent by performing the song “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”.

In the Q & A portion of the pageant Caressa Cameron advised children to get outside more often.

Here’s unedited video of Mario Lopez, pageant host, as he announces the winner:

This piece which uses some outstanding trick photography, is by Joezjny a comic filmmaker on the Dutch Comedy Central…remember it’s only a joke.

Rather than dismiss Larry Platt as just some old guy who received a benevolent 15 minutes of stardom, we found him interesting enough to conduct some research.

We found he is an American treasure. He is a part of living American History. General Larry Platt is an activist who survived the Civil Rights Era to bring us this lively tune; it is the foundation on which so many others have built a creative tower.

Just watch as Jimmy Fallon, who we believe was the first to pick up the tune, performs it as Neil Young.

See Jimmy Fallon, as his television persona, when he plays Larry Platt’s song with one of the American Idol judges, bassist Randy Jackson in a jam session with musical group The ROOTS. BTW we are fans of The ROOTS.

Now watch, comic actor, comedienne and writer/producer, Wanda Sykes, as character “General Mamma Gram”, do her parody of Larry Platt’s song, “Boobs Outcha Blouse”.

Interestingly enough this is what Bill Cosby, President Barack Obama, Shiela Johnson owner of three professional sports franchises, are speaking of when they discuss the style of dress of young people.

We know everyone who dresses inappropriately won’t get the hint.
We hope many will be successful in beautifying America.

There has been much buzz about the new iPad, which looks to us like a big-A phone for old people.

We found this video produced about three years ago by MadTV around the time the first murmurs of an iPad product were heard. We concur with the opinion expressed by the off the wall writers at MadTV.

Watch an enjoy…

We found this piece called “How To Report The News” by British journalist and writer of satire Charlie Brooker to be comical as well as  informative.

Fellow bloggers–especially those who produce online videos, please take note…

Bachmann was rude and disrespectful to Senator Specter. She continuously interrupted him, and when he requested she allow him to speak she continued to talk over him.

We understand she was ecstatic about the victory of Scott “I’m-Pimping-My-Daughters-Worldwide” Brown, that Republican male model guy who won the Massachusetts senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for forty years. Brown won election  over the Princess of Entitlement Martha “I-Don’t-Know-Nuthin’-About-Nuthin’-Not-Even-The Law- And-I’m-The-Head-Lawyer-For Massachusetts” Coakley.

We will also add the defeat of Coakley by Brown is really nothing to brag about. Brown’s victory over Coakley is like stuntman Steve-O beating out Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen USA from a few years ago in a speech contest. It’d be real easy for Steve-O to win. There only competition is who is the least inarticulate.

We understand there is a difference of opinion considering Specter left Bachmann’s party to return to his roots in the Democrat party. However Bachmann, junk yard bulldog in lipstick and heavy make-up, that she is could give a shot at being civil. Tone down the hyperbole and the histrionics to

However there is no excuse for behaving in an unseemly manner.  There is something to be said for the many years the 80 year-old Senator has been in politics, the years in the Senate and the roles he has played in major historic events

Bachmann badgered Specter until the elder statesman had to remind her to behave like a lady.

If this newest of the female Republican firebrand isn’t careful she could end up like the late, great for 15 minutes, former congresswoman Katherine Harris of Florida..tossed away like a used Kleenex.

At 9pm Eastern Time the president’s vision for the future of the country will be televised live from the capitol in the capital city Washington, D.C..
He will be describing his plan to deal with unemployment, health care, and the  wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the topics to be presented the budget, has already been previewed by the White House Press officials. We believe the term “limited spending” would have been a better choice to describe the new budgetary spending restrictions rather than the word “FREEZE”. Whether we agree with the decision to do this or not is not the point.  We’re talking saleability of an idea.

“Limited spending” would have been a more accurate term and would given less of an opportunity to the simpleminded among the opposition; the opposition of questionable loyalty and those in the public who support them,  to seize on any phrase or word to help them  paint a negative picture of this current administration’s competence. Why wittingly or unwittingly provide ammunition for their criticism?

We found this delightful parody of America The Beautiful written by the Salty Droid. The original lyrics written by Katharine Lee Bates were penned more than one hundred years ago in 1893.

Today, ten years into the 21st Century, we believe the parody may be more fitting for the current State of Our Union

….it’s certainly funny enough and we believe we could use a few laughs right about now…

America Doh Beautiful (sing to the tune “America The Beautiful”)

Doh beautiful, in our narrow minds,
Big waves of subsidy corn,
For massive sprawl, and fat behinds,
And our “secret” love of PORN!

America! America! All ignorant in glee,
We crown ourselves … and call it good,
singing ME ME ME ME ME.

Doh beautiful, are the uninsured
Their fear, and pain, and stress
A “lesson” for the working poor
and their worthless worthlessness!

America! America! Let’s deny our ev’ry flaw;
We’ll sing dumb songs, and move along,
protecting rich men from the law!

Doh beautiful, gold credit cards,
Because I can’t quite buy this yet.
Oh what the fluck, I got some “needs”
and someday YOU will pay for it!

America! America! Sham wealth is all we need,
More fake tits, and more fake lips,
from $EA to FAKE-Shining $EA.

He offers his ideas for a game show that could become popular with television viewers all across the United States….are you listening NBC?

With marriage under attack in states all over the nation from California to Massachusetts we think Mark’s cartoon idea could bring the country together….it may even help conservative Republicans see the error of their ways. It could be insightful for those Christian Rightists who demand strictly by the book adherence to the spiritual laws so often touted by conservatives.

If that non-event had not taken place–after all no one was seriously injured, nonetheless the American flying public is afraid because of what did not happen; then we would not have heard Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey complain about the weak punishment for Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway, NJ who “breached” a lame security area at Newark Airport. Haisong Jiang, a graduate student at Rutgers University, only wanted to kiss his beloved good-bye as she was on her way to California after a holiday visit with him. We wish him success in defending himself against the charge. We hope his community will provide the best legal mind available to insure his bright future.

Too bad the TSA and the airport security video recording system did not capture the man’s infraction. It was only after a person who witnessed the breach reported it to a TSA security person Ruben Hernandez of Newark, NJ that the airport officials found their video system was streaming live pictures only. They had to hope they could retrieve pictures from another source.

And for reporting the alleged breach, now called defiant trespass, Ruben Hernandez, a TSA employee for the past two and a half years, who received a commendation for his performance of his duties and responsibilities is rewarded by being made the scapegoat for this episode of “Illusion Of Security”. We like this term better than the “Security Theater” because theater is entertaining. Illusion is deceptive. We believe the whole Transportation Security Administration is another example of the government’s successful “Illusion Of Security” plan.

If Ruben Hernandez, a man considered to be a good and reliable TSA employee, had not responded to being called away from his post, upper management TSA officials say it’s likely Haisong Jian would not have successfully been able to bid his love farewell in the designated restricted” area of the terminal.

We believe in personal responsibility. We believe in accountability. That is why we say if the Transportation Security Administration under the control of the Homeland Security Department had been more vigilant and cooperative with the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) neither Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway, NJ, nor Ruben Hernandez of Newark, NJ and Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab of Nigeria would probably been associated in this way.

It would be hilarious if it not for the possibility our future may be policed in every aspect. Our lives could be over turned and disrupted for the sake of providing security. Our privacy destroyed.

Imagine driving across town and being stopped several times en route to have your vehicle searched and your person patted down. Routine security checks would be the norm when traveling by train in the city, from one city to another, from state to state, not because the authorities are searching for a fugitive, because this is how your safety is manifested as the priority of law enforcement.

It begins with complying with the request for personal information when it isn’t necessary to provide it. Once we, the public, are trained to be accepting of such requests, and we’re almost there–why does Wal-Mart need your identification when returning an item for refund? They did not require it when you made the purchase either cash or credit card…we will be totally under the control of whatever power that rules for whatever purpose they choose.

The winner of the contest will go on to play in SuperBowl XLIV on February 7, 2010 with the Indianapolis Colts or the New York Jets as their opponents.

Last week following the amazing blow out win over the Dallas Cowboys, the musical icon for Minnesota his purpleness, PRINCE, demonstrated his support of this year’s incredible team by writing a fight song for the organization. We do not know if he was commissioned to write the tune or if he was simply inspired by their outstanding athletic performance.

We’re not sure if it’ll make the BillBoard Top charts but it may inspire the QB for the Vikings to get on with a win in New Orleans today and perhaps go all the way to the SuperBowl.

Here’s an excerpt from an episode of Bravo Channel’s Inside the Actors Studio featuring Conan O’Brien as guest.

This interview took place in 2009 prior to O’Brien taking over as host of the Tonight Show.

Tune was selected because O’Brien admired the late comedian and actor Bob Hope. It was also chosen because Lipton who worked with Hope on several of his birthday specials also crafted customized lyrics for those televised celebrations.

The sentiment expressed is for the sadness of having O’Brien leave the 1230 late night time slot for the alleged greener pastures of the 1135 time period.

Watch this video showing how these creatures use their intelligence to create a clever way to capture their food.

We love Sea World and
all the places where humans can interact with these seemingly docile animals…and no they are not fish. They are mammals like us humans.