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.

FIFA means Fédération Internationale de Football Association. The commencement of the first FIFA world cup was a history in the making. The soccer world cup tournament have been started only after the game met with success in numerous other tournaments across the world. The first FIFA world cup games was kicked off in 1930 in Uruguay.

And this year, the FIFA World Cup will be the 19th fifa 2010 world cup. This events will be held in South Africa which is one of the youngest member of FIFA and this tournament is to be kicked off from June 11th until July 11th. This will be the first time that the event is going to be held by an African nation, after South Africa beat Morocco and Egypt in an all-African bidding process. This decision left the Oceania Football Confederation as the only confederation yet to host the FIFA World Cup. Italy are the defending champions. The selection for the finals is being held on 4th December 2009 in Cape Town.

During the preliminary draw that is held in Durban, some 170 teams have to overcome a numbers of hurdles to participate in the 2010 World Cup. The world team are devided into six zones, namely European Zone, Oceanion Zone, South American Zone, Asian Zone, African Zone, North Central America Zone and Caribbean Zone. Qualifying matches are being organized in every continent in between August 2007 to and November 2009 to select the participating teams.

A total of 32 teams have been finalized for this world cup including the hosts. You will find 5 Asian and Oceania teams, 13 European nations and 8 qualifiers for the American continent will participate in the tournament. South Africa being the host qualifies automatically along with five other African nations. Recently, there are changes in the qualifying system. As per the new changes, Australia has been moved to the Asian qualifying group while New Zealand faces the 6) team from Africa for a berth in World Cup 2010.

A round-robin stage kicks off the competition. This consists of eight groups with four teams in each group. The best two teams from every group moves on to the final knockout rounds, and the knockout round comprise of elimination games. Only the winner will be up to compete for the stage. This worldwide tournament will last for four weeks and there are a total of 64 exciting games will be feature in the event. It is going to be an exciting month that most people is waiting and none of you should miss this biggest event ever. As confirm by FIFA, the total prize of money on offer is $420 million, which is a 60% rise compare to the 2006 World Cup games.

These world cup matches will be held in 9 cities namely Johanesburg which will have 2 venues, will host games along with other cities like Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit,Port Elizabeth, Polokwane and Rustenberg, Pretoria. All of the stadium here are up to the FIFA international qualification standard and all these stadiums have a very well equipped facilities.

So, are you geared up to cheer your favorite team in this FIFA World Cup 2010? Soccer games are perfect for bonding, cheering, hooting, and basically allow you to vent your primeval instincts.

BUT before you scream for your team,

*Do you have all the info from the past to the most recent activities of your all the team

*Do you have all the research and analysis of the teams?

*Do you know what their strategy for their games?

*Do you know what is their strength and weaknesses the teams ?

*Do you know who is the star player of the team

*Do you know who will win the World Cup 2010 ?

*Do you have all the fixtures for each and every match ?

IF your answer is NO to any of these question above, then it’s not too late because I just found something which is the best and very useful information for this 2010 World Cup which I would like to share with all the football fans out there who is just as excited like me.

My name is Ryan. I’m not just a football fan but a real BIG maniac for everything that is related to soccer. I get so excited when it comes to soccer.

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If you want to prepare yourself with the most comprehensive information for the 2010 world cup, then this something you must not miss. Click on the link to equipped yourself with the best soccer information ever that must need for this World Cup.
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Now that he has conquered Panama, can he do the same here in the States? At 33, time is running short for him to leave a mark. Except for the hardcore boxing fans, he is unknown here. Despite a fantastic record, numerous championships, a prospering music career, and an ego as large as the most famous boxers in the sport, he has yet to make a splash stateside. But now the tide may be turning in his favor.

“Pelenchin” recently signed with famed promoter Lou DiBella, ending a very unhappy union with Warrior Boxing. Whereas he was unable to get big matches and publicity with his former handler, DiBella is sure to give him every opportunity to shine. It’s up to him to capitalize on his chance. His upcoming fights will likely all appear on HBO thanks to DiBella’s ties to the channel. This will give him a great chance to showcase his skills for a larger audience. During his recent HBO bout with Indonesia’s Daud Yordan, Pelenchin seized the opportunity with a lopsided 12 round destruction of the young fighter. His performance lit up the message boards as many said it was time for Pelenchin to get his opportunity with more well known foes Yorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez.

Of course those that follow boxing closely know that there is one opponent Caballero covets more than all the rest; Juanma. He has made videos, done interviews, and made internet photos calling out the Puerto Rican. All have gone unanswered. Bob Arum has wisely kept his fighter as far away from Caballero as possible, always ready with an excuse. Until now, Pelenchin was easily dismissed. Poorly represented and fighting in relative obscurity, there was no great outcry forcing Juanma or other top fighters to step up and challenge the lanky Panamanian. With his new representation, it will no longer be as easy to dismiss him. And that is good news for fans of boxing.

Fans outside of Panama have not been exposed to one of the great characters in all of boxing. During his fight with Yordan he started talking to people at ringside. He talked to Yordan. In fact he talks to anyone who will listen. Sometimes when he unleashes one of his effective, yet awkward punches, he lets out a musical yelp. Then of course you have his singing. He trains to the sounds of his own music as well as when he walks to the ring. “El Campion del Ghetto” is as wrapped up in his music as he is with his fighting. But the best thing about Pelenchin is that he is true to himself.

He will fight anybody at any time. If he were offered a chance for the Heavyweight title, I have no doubt he would take it in a moment. And he would have no doubt in his ability to win that fight. He fights for himself, his family, and his country. Petty boxing politics have never got in his way. He always says exactly what he thinks. In this respect, the lack of strong representation he has had previously has been a good thing. He has not been molded into something he is not. Let’s hope that Dibella is able to provide him with greater opportunities while not taking away his individuality.

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Valentino Rossi started his career as a Grand Prix racer in 1996 in the 125 cc category. He won the title in the following year. After that Valentino Rossi slowly moved to the 250cc group and lastly moved to the 500cc during 2001. His career is somewhat a legendary one with having almost all the records of MotoGP in his name

He started racing the 125 cc category through the help of the motorcycle company Aprilla. He won his first World Championship Grand Prix in 1996 at Czech Republic. He got the ninth place that year but got to the first position next year with 11 race wins in 15 races. He started riding with Honda in 2002 and moved to the 500 cc category which brought him nothing but success. In the beginning of his 500cc racing career, Max Biaggi, another Italian racer was thought to be the main rival of Valentino Rossi. But Rossi finished off the rivalry with three consecutive title wins with so many points that there was never any doubt about him winning the title in those seasons.

However Rossi joined the Yamaha team in 2004 and rode the Yamaha YZR-M1 bike. The Yamaha bike was technically inferior to the Honda bike he rode previously and for that reason many people thought that he might struggle with the new bike.But, they were all proved to be wrong as Rossi won the title in 2004 and in 2005 consecutively. He is with Yamaha team since then.

Valentino Rossi is now the face of MotoGP. He is one of the richest sports personalities in the world. He is also acknowledged for possessing various pet names in the career. A few popular pet names of Valentino Rossi are Valentinik, The Doctor, Rossifumi, and so on. He was titled GOAT by his former teammate and racer Colin Edwards that in fact means, Greatest of All Time.

One thing Valentino Rossi changed repeatedly in his career is the helmet. Many designs had been seen on the Valentino Rossi Helmets. Though a lot of the styles have the sun and moon theme, portrait of his career, as Rossi defined.

In a extensive career, Valentino Rossi has won almost all the things which were offered to gain in the MotoGP world. He is one of the biggest stars in the history of MotoGP and the motorcycle racing.

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Cena plays the role of  good guy in WWE.  A man, who never backs down, never gives up. A man, who never regrets, never turns down any challenge. He will never abandon you. People just can’t help liking him. He is wrestling in WWE for more than 8 years. He started his career in Ultimate Pro Wrestling ( UPW ) in 2001 as a novice wrestler and became a champion there.  Soon, he was noticed by the scouts of WWE and was offered a contract; since that time there is no turning back for Cena. He slowly and steadily reached the top of the WWE to become the number one fan favorite among all the stars of wrestling.

Cena fought many epic battles against the big names of WWE. He did not win every match; he was, however, noticed by the fans for his great personality. Today, clothing items worn by Cena like John Cena T shirts, John Cena Shirts or other goods are popular hot items in the market. People just love him and they want to wear John Cena shirts and other accessories.

Cena won the championship title in WWE several times. Two times he had to undergo surgery because of the injuries he received. Each time  Cena, returned with more enthusiasm and more stamina. John Cena’s popularity is increasing day by day.

Cena loves hip-hop. The T shirt he wears shows his love toward this musical culture. He often changes his T shirt designs and wears new ones; each time he does a new model becomes a fan favorite. John Cena T shirts have become the craze for this generation. As John Cena’s popularity continues rising so will be the demand for John Cena T shirts.

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Because fasteners are fairly dangerous to be used, these shorts typically have an elastic waistband which is convenient for fighters. The material of which these shorts are created is soft and silky. Numerous variety of colors, models and other sorts of decorations such as images and signs are available.

The structure, style and even design and material must be specific when we’re considering Muay Thai shorts. Their basis lays in the desires of the fighter. In addition, to the audience, shorts may seem as a part of the fighter’s representation, so these shorts do play an important role. One of the most important things is that a free movement of the legs is required.

Wide leg room is a specially made functionality of Muay Thai boxing shorts, so you will be able to move your legs in all directions. Material as well has a great impact. Muay Thai involves ground wrestling and grappling so it’s necessary for these shorts to be smooth and silky so it would be harder for your opponent to get a hold of you.

Usually, these shorts are pretty similar across brands. Nevertheless, there are couple of choices you have to make when purchasing. Loose fit will allow unobstructed movement of the body. Protection must be provided but with no restriction to the fighter. Secure elastic waistband is also a common feature for most of them.

Today on the market you can bump into vast number of colors and designs, and you’ll certainly find a model you can identify yourself with in the ring. Where quality of the fabric is better, costs are higher, similar to all other products. But once you own it, you will realize that it had been worth every penny.

Muay Thai shorts are more than a fighter’s style feature. Prices can vary from $10-$50, though, as with all other sportswear, it is worth it. Lots of quality shorts can be found in the middle range, but you need to make a decision which do you want and what features are of priority to you.

If MMA or mixed martial arts are becoming necessary part of your day-to-day routine, you have to be in possession of these Muay Thai kickboxing shorts. Besides that, you will be secure and you don’t have to worry about the possible grappling which can stop you from accomplishing the best performance.

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“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.

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.

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.

We just know it was probably an extremely chilly run on the bobsled track…just watch…

Few people are aware of another man’s dream.
In 2007 Tiger Woods, the greatest PGA champion of all time said,
“I had a dream. In my dream I became the first billion dollar sports figure. I dreamed my beautiful wife and two lovely young children, a son and a daughter, were living happily with me in our home in the ritzy gated community in the Orlando, Florida area. I was living a charmed life…in my dream life was great!”

Several months before the single car accident on Thanksgiving evening at his home in Florida; before the shocking revelations which followed that car crash Tiger had a dream, too.

“Then, in my dream, there came an argument with my wife about sex. She was questioning me about sexual affairs she suspected I may have had during the PGA tour. I denied everything, telling her how much I love her and the kids, as I sent text messages to my latest jump-off.

“It all begin late one night during a holiday. I can not recall if it were Thanksgiving or Christmas in my dream. All I know is that my wife was relentless in her questioning and when I did not give the answer she was seeking,  she struck me across the face me with a nine iron. She inflicted some serious damage in my dream. More about that later.

“In my dream I tried to  escape from her fury by driving off in my SUV. Dressed only in  shorts and Tee-shirt, without shoes or sandals I jumped into the vehicle to make my escape, but in my dream Elin smashed the rear window, I hit a fire hydrant and a tree. I never made it out of the driveway.

“In my dream, when I awoke I was in a local hospital trying to answer questions as to how I obtained my injuries. I was pretty messed up. A deep gash across my face and a couple of broken teeth. Whoever said ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ knew what he was talking about. In my dream Elin could swing a mighty mean golf club even though I maintained I’d done nothing to hurt or betray her or our children.

“The next morning, in my dream, by the end of the day, only one or two instances of indiscretions were disclosed. By the end of my dream an astronomical number of sexual liaisons with too many hootchies to count were disclosed to the media;

“I was accused of engaging in sexual manage-a-trois with men, as well as women. Fortunately they did not include animals in their tales of my sex-capades. I was so distraught, in my dream, I was calling other personalities for advice such as Hugh Grant, and Senator David Vitter, since they both have dealt with similar situations and they’re still popular and earning substantial incomes. I even sent a text message to Florida Republican former member of the House Mark Foley, asking for his advice.

“My wholesome family man image was destroyed and the pieces of my life were left like confetti in a media whirlwind. It was worse than a media circus. It was a typhoon of calamity.

“Everyday there were new revelations about me and some other female saying she’d done more than kissed and now she was telling…for cash payment. Actually I can not blame them for getting the money since I never spent a dime on them…in my dream.

“In fact there were so many women one tabloid made a picture calender of all the females I allegedly bedded.

“I even dreamed one of my friends, one of my closest comrades, it may have been Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley or maybe one of the less well known members of my TW inner circle, who had talked to the media telling all he knew about my roguish escapades. He did this after I had spoken to him in confidence. Well you know what we Buddhists say about those who break confidence…it’s the responsibility of he who breaks the confidence to deal with his own conscious.

“Fortunately, I woke up from this dream turned nightmare just as my contracts for commercial endorsements were being canceled because of something called “moral turpitude”. I woke up from that horror relieved knowing I’m Tiger Woods and nothing or nobody can damage my wholesome, cardboard, Cablinasian family man image.

Word on the street is one, as yet, unidentified female has filed a class action lawsuit against PGA legend and sexual Hall ‘O’ Fame playa Tiger Woods.

The law suit is being filed on behalf of all the women who want a chunk of Woods’ one billion dollar worth. The onus is on Woods, the champion professional golfer and married legendary cheater, to prove he did not sleep with *all women.

* The world’s total female population is more than 3 billion. It is estimated there are more than 6 and a half billion people on the planet.

The law suit filed in an unnamed U.S. court jurisdiction asks that  all women  be entitled to a portion of Tiger Woods’ assets unless he can prove he did not sleep with them.

As with the weapons of mass destruction it is hard to prove that what did not happen, did not happen, especially because it could ‘ve.

Some enterprising individuals are now printing slogans on tee shirts in expectation of great sales. The front of the shirt reads “I Slept With Tiger Woods” and on the back it reads, “It’s time to collect, Baby!”

In the media this is being called the ” ‘Ho’ Down Shake Down ”

Stay tuned folks as the thick plottens….

According to a recent report in the New York Times Business section,

“…there are more Americans 65 and older in the job market today than at any time in history, 6.6 million, compared with 4.1 million in 2001.”

That’s about 2 and a half million more than eight years ago. Hmmmm, I bet there’s a correlation between the fact President Dumbya was in office implementing new economic policies and enforcing previously established economic policies during the time the numbers of seniors remaining on the job was growing. You know the policies made by other administrations including, the administrations of his father George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Policies and new legislation that chipped away and successfully removed the safeguards to protect our economy. Safeguards, neo-cons call them restrictions that had been in place for as long as I am old.

Many of those older workers were looking forward to retirement. Now because the economy has underperformed and their 401Ks have decreased in value older parents, other relatives, neighbors and friends are still doing as the children say their “grind”.

At least those folks have gigs. The New York Times reports there are about 500 thousand older workers who wish to have jobs, and like everyone else who wants a job, they can not find work.

It’s interesting to note a goodly number of these older folks have taken on more debt than previous generations of older Americans while their job protections deteriorated.

“…the level of indebtedness among older Americans has risen faster than in any other age group, partly because so many obtained second mortgages to take money out of their homes.”

I guess they got all caught up in the hype; they believe the fantasy that housing prices would continue to skyrocket instead they have plummeted dramatically.

It will be interesting to see more fast food restaurant employees bonding with their grandchildren as they ask , “Would you like fries with that?”

“This is a testament to the Brumos legacy. To put an old guy in the car with hardly any practice time, and to have Joao bring the car home in the dramatic fashion he did, well, that is Brumos. I don’t think anybody thought we could win today – it’s just overwhelming.” ~ Hurley Haywood, 61-year-old, co-driver with Joao Barbosa of #59 Brumos Porsche Prototype

Despite the abrupt vacancy caused by the suspension from the racing team Brumos Porsche for irrational loutish behavior-the “smarter dumbbell” got himself arrested in his hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida just days before the race- by a grandson of NASCAR founder, the late Bill France Sr., son of Jim France, founder of the Grand-Am circuit; and cousin to Brian France, NASCAR CEO and chairman;  Team Brumos won, with skill and determination, the season-ending Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in Miami at Homestead Miami track on Saturday, October 10, 2009!

The leadership displayed in the midst of a disruption by a rich, middle-aged, self-centered, near-do-well is exemplary of these champions’ ability to focus their purpose to win.

CONGRATULATIONS to Joao Barbosa, to legendary champion Hurley Haywood for reliable consistent performance. and to all the members of Team Brumos.

Hurley Haywood, a legend in sports car auto racing, will be filling the spot abruptly left vacant by grandson of NASCAR founder, the late Bill France Sr., son of Jim France, founder of the Grand-Am circuit and cousin to Brian France, NASCAR CEO and chairman; Jamie France.

“As far as we’re concerned, J.C. has been a very loyal teammate for seven years. We’re going to support him throughout this.”

Fortunately for auto racing fans there are people at the top of the company who are infinitely smarter than the smarter dumbbell.

Hurley Haywood, currently the Chief Driving Instructor at the Porsche Sport Driving School in Birmingham, Alabama, is a five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He will be partnering with Joao Barbosa in the No. 59 Porsche-powered Riley prototype. Haywood will qualify and start the car for the Grand Prix of Miami, then let Barbosa finish the race.

We like the compassion expressed by Haywood when speaking to reporters about the previous team member and the status of the team:

“The program is not in jeopardy. Right now, our real concern is J.C. and we will support him as he works through this.” ~Hurley Haywood on driving No. 59 Porsche-powered Riley prototype in the Grand-Am race today, Saturday October 10, 2009

This man sounds like a class act. We wish the team much success.

“France has been with the No. 59 Brumos Porsche since the inception of the Daytona Prototype class in 2003. He was the first overall winner in the history of the class, joining Hurley Haywood in the No. 59 Fabcar for back-to-back victories at Homestead and Phoenix in 2003. He has co-driven the No. 59 Riley for the past two seasons with Joao Barbosa. His best finish since then was third in the 2009 Rolex 24, joined by Haywood, Barbosa and Terry Borcheller. A veteran of three different types of motorcycle racing – flat track, road racing and motocross – France drove in the KONI Challenge in 2002 before joining the Rolex Series.

France and Barbosa are currently eighth in the Daytona Prototype standings, only two points out of sixth. The 2008 winner of the Jim Trueman Award, France holds a 202-point lead over Rob Finlay as he bids to become the first two-time winner of Grand-Am’s  ‘Gentleman Driver’ award.”~ from news item August 2009.

The recent arrest and subsequent charges surrounding the adolescent episode of 44 year-old Jamison C. (Jamie) France, grandson of NASCAR founder,the late Bill France Sr., son of Jim France, founder of the Grand-Am circuit and cousin to Brian France, NASCAR CEO and chairman; reminds us of a scheme that might have been concocted by two characters from the Will Ferrell, John C. Riley film called “Step Brothers”. It’s the 21st Century version of “Dumb and Dumber” starring middle-aged men.

The film comedy is the story of Brennan Huff and Dale Dobeck two middle aged, very spoiled guys, who become competitive step brothers when their formerly single parents marry. We had no idea, in addition to being local ce-lout-brities big deals, a Hollywood film had been made about France and his step brother.

Jamison C. (J.C.) or Jamie France and his step brother, Russell Van Richmond were racing around the streets of Daytona Beach, Florida early Thursday morning in their expensive sports cars.  Both were charged with DUI, speeding and possession of illegal substances.

This story is so bizarre it caused the staff of YouThinkWhat to speculate along with our leader Henry T. Gandolph as to why a rich guy, who owns the Grand-Am car, a Brumos Porsche,  he and the team drove to win at least one victory this racing season; with one more race left, would choose to self sabotage a racing career. What would cause him to make the boneheaded decision to race on the Seabreeze Bridge in Daytona Beach, Florida after a night of partying?

Everyone knows, even tourists, the Daytona Beach Police are very vigilant for drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs late at night or early morning  coming across the bridge to the mainland at a high rate of speed, especially in the days leading up to what amounts to a local racing enthusiast biker “holiday” week of events.

In this part of Florida October means BIKE-tober Fest. It’s the time of year when bikers from everywhere come to Daytona to party. The City Of Daytona calls in law enforcement officers from all over the state just to keep the local residents and the visitors safe during this time.

Considering all the extreme safety consciousness of the authorities and  the Daytona Beach, Florida community why would a member of the town’s allegedly premier family flaunt such reckless behavior?

We’ve kicked this around and come up with what we believe is a plausible answer. Using the perspective of the screen characters, Brennan Huff and Dale Dobeck, mentioned at the beginning of this article. If you’ve seen the film you’ll understand the irrational logic we’re using to reach our unscientific, speculative conclusion.

The grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, the son of Grand-Am founder Jim France; and cousin of Brian France chairman and CEO of NASCAR, is not comfortable being a driver on the Grand-Am circuit. The family has given him this spot in the family business in order to keep it all in the family.

He buys a car. They let him drive and let him think he’s captain of the team. He’s a co-driver with a guy who has trained and really knows and loves his job. We believe at this point, six years into driving and traveling the circuit, France is itching to get back to his decadent lifestyle. The cynosure to the Daytona Beach drunks, druggies and whores was desperate to return to his life before becoming a Grand-Am racing circuit driver.

On the circuit he has to stay morally straight, clean and upright. No booze, no drugs, what a drag. Drunks and druggies are not permitted to drive the circuit. Additionally they are disparaged by Brian France CEO and chairman of NASCAR which owns the Grand-AM.

Despite the fact there is a crew, a team of mechanics, engineers, drivers and man servants who wait on him hand and foot 24/7 who rely on him for a paycheck, France is self absorbed, self centered and conspires with his step brother to go out in a blaze of notoriety by doing some outrageous act that will get him suspended from the circuit for an undetermined amount of time, indefinite period,  forever, perhaps even for life.

In the deranged mind of this infamously shameful local slug-lebrity , thug-lebrity celebrity and his wanna-be step brother, the plan is logical because it serves his main intention which is to get back to all that hard partying and drugging he’s been missing. There’s a lot of catching up to do in that area.  The cost to him of $15K is like jukebox money; that’s the total fee for bail in this incident for him and his stepbrother. it’s the price of doing business to get out of racing. It’s way less than the cost of paying salaries in the off season or even for the last race of the season.

With no regard for those who are depending on him and only one race left the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, the son of Grand-Am founder Jim France; and cousin of Brian France chairman and CEO of NASCAR managed to disgrace himself, bring shame to his associates–his name is toxic to anyone who works worked for him who wishes to be hired by a reputable entity; the family and negative publicity to the family business Grand-Am and NASCAR . There are some who believe, as Henry T. Gandolph does, all publicity is good publicity when you are in business.

Win or lose he could have announced his departure from the circuit for less worthwhile endeavors. The mind mentally disordered by drugs often gives no consideration how his actions will affect, or disrupt the lives of others; and mostly he does not give a care.

Nonetheless this spawn of the France family has won the tri-fecta of stupid self serving decisions; he got what he wanted, screwed up several lives so he is further vilified by more people than already know him as a lout while garnering headlines around the world, the racing world that is, proving once again it doesn’t take a genius to bring the media to ones turf.

And so the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, the son of Grand-Am founder Jim France; and cousin of Brian France chairman and CEO of NASCAR,  will, if fortunate, live to see another day.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the story unfolds. Will the judge favor France, like the bail that was set for $4500 for France and $10K for his step brother? Or will there be disparity of treatment because France is a bigger cheese than most who come to court in Daytona Beach, Florida. Stay tuned….mean while… (see next article)

The bold progressives over at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) are celebrating and promoting a boost/shoutout they recently received from teevee commentator Rachel Maddow.

Last night on her highly viewed and extremely popular cable teevee program Rachel Maddow mentioned a petition begun by and being circulated by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee demanding an “up or down vote” on the strongly debated healthcare legislation.
Maddow showed the petition addressed to Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, (D-Nevada),  on her program last night, which simply states the signers are giving an ultimatum to the Democrat senators. The signers of the petition agree those who support ” a Republican attempt to block a vote on health care reform should be stripped of their leadership titles.”

The PCCC says Reid was instrumental in returning Joe Lieberman to the Democrats’ caucus after he boldly endorsed  Republican John McCain for the presidency. PCCC believes Reid is obligated to lead the senators as his title suggests for the benefit of the voters who put him in office.

Democrats who side with Republicans on basic procedural things like allowing or denying a vote are behaving in a manner unacceptable to the welfare of the people.

Millions of Americans are without proper health care coverage; foot-dragging along with bureaucratic sandbagging is not what is needed when our people are in such desperate need.

The goal is to get 75,000 registered voters to sign the demand for a proper vote on the matter in the senate.
Visit the Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s web site to sign the petition and while you’re there make a donation. These bold progressives do good and important work.

“Allah have mercy on this rich boy who has never done anything in his frickin’ life except drugs and bad deeds. May he spend a long time in jail and have 10 poor families of Holly Hill, Florida and Daytona Beach, Florida inherit his fortune. He does not deserve a penny!

Lesson to all rich parents: Don’t give your kids a penny. Give your fortunes to institutions and poor people and let your children make their own fortunes.”
~ Mahmoud – Ormond Beach, Fl, reader reaction to news of arrest of NASCAR heir.

In the early morning hours of Thursday, October 8, 2009, in Daytona Beach, Volusia County Florida,  reliable sources report the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, the son of Grand-Am founder Jim France; and cousin of Brian France chairman and CEO of NASCAR; 44 year-old Jamie C. (J.C.) France,  was arrested and charged with speeding, DUI and possession of illegal narcotics.

When the story appeared online at the web site of the local newspaper this is the advertisement that briefly accompanied the local news story:

Someone in the newsroom of the Daytona Beach News-Journal Online replaced the scary mugshot of France with the BowFlex ad (wink! wink!). The person responsible for this made a poor, fatal, bad, unfortunate ad placement decision with reference to the news story about a guy who is such a loser he’s known as “son of Grand-Am founder”, “grandson of NASCAR founder” or “J.C. (Brian’s Cousin) France..”.

NASCAR owns the Grand-Am, and France’s father is the founder of the Grand-Am as well as an executive member of the NASCAR board; we believe those facts are the reason France has been suspended for an indefinite period. Word on the street is the suspension is for life. We’re going to make a prediction.

The staff of YouThinkWhat sees an intervention in Jamie C. (J.C. ) France’s future. We predict a drug intervention by the France family and true friends of the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, the son of Grand-Am founder Jim France; and cousin of Brian France chairman and CEO of NASCAR It’s a prediction we’d like to see become a reality.

To the France family and true friends of Jamie C. (J.C. ) France, the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, the son of Grand-Am founder Jim France; and cousin of Brian France chairman and CEO of NASCAR,  we say, “Lots ‘o’ luck with that! Like any American family dealing with addiction, you’ve got your work cut out for you.”  To which we also add:
” We’re very happy and extremely grateful he’s not our relative!”

We are glad our new president had the boldness, the confidence, to go to Denmark to pitch his and the First Lady’s hometown to the IOC,  we were especially moved by Michelle Obama’s impassioned talk including her own personal family experience with sports.

We are proud of the fine presentation given even though many of us at home knew there was very little chance the committee would select the windy city, Chicago, over the exotic location that is Rio de Janiero! Chicago blues, as internationally renowned as it is, is not sufficient to bring the world all at once to Chicago for the Olympics.

The irony of the presentation made by the US Olympic committee is  t during its sales pitch many of the speakers talked of the diversity and the distinct ethnic groups represented in the neighborhoods of Chicago; most of the people who spoke of these things were not diverse at all; in fact the thing that made the presentation so overwhelmingly incongruous was it was being made by our first American president of African descent. To us he seemed to be nearly pleading. He seemed to know as he spoke we are not really the shining exemplar our government wants  the world to see.

When we review and compare the offering made by the Brazilian Olympic Committee we see demonstrated in the Brazilian presentation and the presenters all the ideals the United States purports to be.

Don’t get our point twisted. Like us Americans the Brazilians are flawed. To us at YouThinkWhat they seem more realistic in how they deal with their deficiencies.

When the first Brazilian speaker used a graphic to detail where else in the world modern Olympic games have been held it became even more clear, Chicago has not a shot in this contest.  It was a kind of “When Harry Met Sally” moment. They had us at  “Hello”.

Of the twelve times the games have been held in North America, eight times the U.S. has been host to the games. No country on the continent to our south has ever held the games. That in itself is a compelling reason to choose Rio over Chicago.

The fact the chief economics official for the Brazilians spoke of the “robust economy”; and that there would be no new taxation on the people of the South American country that has rebounded from an economic disaster very similar to the one our nation is currently experiencing gave them extra points on our scorecard. Our guys spoke of how our government is going to provide funding for the international event. The Brazilians said they already have the money saved and allocated. No additional burden for their citizens required to put on the show.

Even without the bottom line budgetary considerations, or the facts of where these international games have been hosted in the past, who would, in their right mind choose Chicago, Illinois–The Windy City, over Rio de Janeiro- The Marvelous City?

Tiger Woods is 33 years old. He is the married father of two children, a daughter and a son.

He is the world’s highest-paid athlete since 2002, even with the loss of the  General Motors’ Buick division endorsement package.  Retired NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan is second. Jordan earns $45 million yearly; the majority of his earnings from endorsements for the Nike shoe and sports apparel company.

Speaking of Nike….Nike, Inc’s Golf brand is a company that loves Tiger Woods. That is why they are happy to share the proceeds from the sales of Nike Golf products with him. Because his presence as an endorser of their golf brand has moved the company from start up to one of the fastest growing brands in the sport; they’ve even named a building after him at their company headquarters’ campus in Beaverton, Oregon.

He makes $3 million in appearances fees outside the United States.
He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour.

Forbes estimates he had earned about $895 million before the 2009 season started.

All of these athletic and financial achievements are commendable. We desire to see, Woods, along with his celebrity counterparts who have so much more than any one person can use, use the surplus they have to help those who are less fortunate–not just especially during these challenging economic times but for all times.

It’s the 21st Century and ain’t has been in the dictionary for sometime defined as nonstandard English “a substitute for am not, is not, and are not in declarative sentences, ain’t is more common in uneducated speech than in educated, but it occurs with some frequency in the informal speech of the educated, especially in the southern and south-central states.”

We’re way past ain’t; we’ve got  Twitter, soz,  as well as that skimpy beach wear for men the mankini.

English our language grows and reflects the digital culture. and other interesting reported events. Here are just a few of our favorites:

Twitterverse: the social-networking site Twitter and its users

Twitter it’s a noun as in “What is all this fuss about Demi Moore’s denial of plastic surgery on Twitter?”;  or it’s a verb as in “Many large corporations have hired personnel to twitter about the company’s activities.”

pseudocide: John Darwin may now be wishing he had never heard of pseudocide as he sits in his prison cell; the canoeist faked his own death to collect a massive insurance payout.

beer o’clock:  We know people who’ve used this term for years. It’s the time of day when it is acceptable or customary to begin drinking your favorite alcoholic beverage.

boomburb:  a large suburb experiencing rapid population growth. Naperville, Illinois qualifies as one. It’s located in two different counties!

Ponzimonium:  financial turmoil in the wake of uncovering Ponzi schemes

frugalista:  a person who tries to stay fashionably dressed on a budget

homo economicus:  a theoretical human being who rationally calculates the costs and benefits of every action before making a decision, used as the basis for a number of economic theories and models

Example of using the terms in a sentence:  “Freda is a frugalista who is dating Herman whose friends describe him as the quintessential homo economicus. They met through a personals ad in the WSJ.”

“the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment situation report for August, which is the 20th month of the economic downturn.  The report showed an additional 216,000 jobs lost in August for a total of 6.9 million jobs lost this recession.

The good news is that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is providing a significant boost to the labor market.  Over the last three months, the labor market has shed an average of 318,000 jobs per month.”

Basically the unemployed are not finding gigs; the speed of job loss has slowed.

14.9 million workers are  unemployed with about 5 million having been without employment for more than six months. That is more than the record set in 1983.

In July 2009 there was a slight decline in the unemployment rate. An unusually large number of workers dropped out of the labor force causing the numbers to ratchet back up during August.

EPI reports:

” …unemployment reestablished its steady upward climb in August, rising from 9.4% to 9.7%.  Unemployment has more than doubled since its pre-recession low of 4.4% in March 2007, and has nearly doubled from 4.9% at the start of the recession in December 2007.  While the unemployment rate has not reached its post-WWII peak of 10.8% at the end of 1982, the increase in unemployment over this recession — 4.8 percentage points — has far surpassed the overall increase of 3.6 percentage points in the recession of 1981.”

What they’re saying is we’re going for the record in this installment of capitalism it’s an adventure.

And as usual we can count on our government to tell us their version of the truth.  EPI found this fact:

“… the official unemployment count understates the slack in the labor market by counting neither those who want a job but have given up looking for work (‘marginally attached’), nor workers who are working but can’t get the full-time hours they want (‘involuntary part-time workers’).

There are currently 14.9 million unemployed workers in the United States, but if the marginally attached and involuntary part-time workers are included, the number swells to 26.4 million.  Currently one in six U.S. workers (16.8%) is either un- or underemployed.”

Always during these times as in the past certain groups are typically more affected than others. Those groups are racial and ethnic minorities, men, workers with lower levels of schooling, and younger workers.

Last month, August 2009 among Blacks and Hispanics the jobless rate was
about 28 %–15% and 13% respectively; while the rate among whites was 8.9%

More men were unemployed than women; and workers with high school education was more than twice that of those with college degrees.

For workers 16 to 24 the rate of joblessness was more than 18% and for those 25 to 54 the rate was about half; in the 55 plus age group the rate of unemployment was nearly 7%.

But wait…that’s not all…6.9 million jobs lost since December 2007, which is when the government says this recession officially began. Let’s not forget the population continues to grow.  To keep pace with population growth the economy requires two and a half million jobs for the period December 2007 through August 2009, 20 months of economic decline; that would be about 127,000 jobs each month.

The bottom line here is that when the Congress meets again next week the first order of business should be to extend the benefits for about 500,000 unemployed workers whose benefits will end September 30, 2009

Goodell personally met with Vick for about an hour in New Jersey. The news of Michael Vick being clearedto be fully reinstated came prior to the Eagles losing 38-27 to the New York Jets in their final pre-season game.

Goodell who originally said he might hold off on reinstating the former Atlanta Falcons star until Week 6 of the current NFL season, publicly announced the good news on Thursday, September 3, 2009 from the league’s New York City headquarters after meeting with Vick.

Eligibility to play in Week 3 required Vick be one of 53 players on the final team roster in order to practice before the game set in Philadelphia. That roster is finalized today.

According to Commissioner Goodell his decision to fully reinstate Vick, who is on probation after serving a 20 month sentence for his part in abusing dogs in a dogfighting ring, was based, in part, on input from Eagles’ coach Andy Reid regarding the quarter back’s progress with the team.

The Mid-Atlantic Dachshund Phest is an annual event, originally known as Bark in the Park, featuring wiener dog races, dancing dogs, photo opps with Santa, a special Halloween costume contest and doggie parades.

There is no admission charge; nor is there registration required for your dachshund pooch to compete in the two weiner dog races.

Dog owners, dog lovers, or if you just want to have a fun filled day with this breed of man’s best friend, visit the 8th Mid-Atlantic Dachshund Phest. All are welcome. It’s indoors.The event will be held rain or shine, and it’s free.

Edward Kennedy will be remembered as the protector of the dream. This is a reference to the dream of the founding fathers of this nation as well as to the dream of equality spoken of by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Senator Kennedy was the legislative champion in the senate for the millions who are less fortunate in this country. He was the kind of senate representative who worked for the interests of the people he represented.

We are reminded of his frailty, his shortcomings by those who would discount the fact he did not have to work as diligently as he did for the people of Massachusetts or the people of the United States.

We have also been reminded by his loving family of the strength, the love and compassion he exhibited when faced with the challenge of being the patriarch–he almiost never missed a family event, including those for the children of his brothers, as well as his own.

Ted, as he was known by his colleagues and friends in the senate, was a tireless worker; even through his terminal illness he continued to promote the universal health care legislation which he advocated for nearly fifty years of his political career.

The name of Edward M. Kennedy can be found on hundreds of pieces of legislation from immigration, to education, to labor issues such as minimum wage and family medical leave laws; from legislation to protect citizens with disabilities to the much debated and still not yet passed law to provide universal health care for 47 million Americans who are at risk because they lack health insurance.

To members of the loyal opposition, Kennedy, who was a fiercely loyal Democrat,was admired and respected his work. He was passionate in his quests.  Edward Kennedy never made his attacks personal when debating laws. He was respectful, playful– an all  ’round affable guy to his associates in the senate.

Your job is well done Edward M. Kennedy. Rest In peace, Senator.

In Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Spike Lee has invited fans of the King Of Pop to attend a celebration of his birth and his life. More than 10,000 guests are expected.

We invite you to remember Michael Jackson here in this video.

All right people! Get it over it! I’m hearing all this fuss over Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s decision, with his wife, to send his children to a so-called “good” public school; one that is better than his neighborhood school.

Will someone explain to me why this is a problem?!

The man has kept his campaign promise to send his youngsters to a public school. Fine! Let’s give him an atta-boy for keeping his promise. He’s the mayor. There are certain privileges that come with leadership positions. Why else would anyone run for public office? Satisfying personal ego demands are part of what makes Adrian, or Mike or Barack or Nancy or Hillary,  anyone run.

I see this camflamma as simply another distraction from the issue of health care for citizens who are at risk without it. Lack of health care for 47 million citizens is disgraceful. The mayor of Washington D.C. sending his children to  the best public school to meet their educational needs is not in the same category as the great nation we say we are leaving the people who make it great without access to proper medical care.

So local D.C. folks get over the moral outrage about the mayor’s kids issue, and direct some indignation toward this health care legislation.

DEMAND health care reform NOW!

We’re wondering why a venerable institution like Bank Skank of America would require its customers to sign off on such an agreement.

In what is it the bank is doing to expose them to a possible class action lawsuit? Could their lawyers be paranoid about being sued? Does legal counsel for Bank Of America believe something illegal is being done to cause outraged consumers to sue?  Geez! It wouldn’t be the first time; and furthermore some would consider it is the price of doing business in today’s litigious market place.

We believe such an agreement would not be necessary if banks would do they job they were originally intended to do. That job is to protect the consumers’ deposits with integrity rather than the standard of today, greed and avarice.

If you wish to hear the call go to Forty Days For Health Reform.

40 Minutes for Health Reform is sponsored by:
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.; Progressive National Baptist Convention; Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby; United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society; The Episcopal Church; Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Gamaliel Foundation; Faithful Reform in Health Care; Unitarian Universalist Association; African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME); The New Evangelicals; National Council of Churches in Christ; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; United Church of Christ; The Latino Leadership Circle; Christian Community Development Association; Islamic Society of North America; Washington Office of Women’s Divisions, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church; Jewish Women International; Islamic Medical Association of North America; Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington Office; Disciples Center for Public Witness; Disciples Justice Action Network; Catholics United; Faith in Public Life; Faithful America; PICO National Network; Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good; Sojourners

If you are a person of faith who wishes to be active in supporting comprehensive health care reform,  Sign The Petition.

Walk the walk that goes with the faith based language  you’ve been talking.

Get the word out to our leaders. Health care reform will benefit our entire nation. Our people must be strong and healthy to keep our nation strong. We must have proper health care reform and we must have it NOW!

Senator Kennedy, the youngest of the Kennedy brothers, died peacefully at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He succumbed to brain cancer. He was 77 years-old.

Millions of citizens are without insurance. Living without health insurance is detrimental to anyone’s health.

This fact is a moral disgrace! It reeks of the kind of moral depravity we’ve read about in ancient times.

Late last night one of the most influential men  in the U.S. Senate, a man who has spent the last forty years of his life working to secure the rights–economic, health care and civil, for minorities and the less fortunate, died.

Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts always a passionate advocate for universal health care in this country declared last summer in Denver Colorado at the meeting of the Democratic National Convention, the issue of universal health care is the “cause of his life”.  He worked tirelessly for the passage of the legislation that will provide coverage for an estimated 46 million people for are now at health risk.

We urge all the congressional representatives, Democrat and Republican alike to do whatever is necessary to pass this important bill with the single payer option. Honor Ted Kennedy’s dedication to helping the less fortunate. We want coverage and we want it NOW!

Your tenure  in the United States Senate or the House of Representatives will definitely depend on how you vote on the universal health care bill. Make no mistake about that!

Where you stand on this matter, how you vote will be a major consideration as to whether or not you remain a player in the nation’s capital.

Take action to insure you are not among the future unemployed–we’ve heard this economic downturn may continue for a couple more years.

Our lives and the lives of our children depend on the passage of this bill. The future of our nation is dependent on  strong, healthy citizens.

Give Us Universal  Health Coverage NOW!

Watch his 1980 presentation, at the Democratic National Convention held in New York City, wherein he fully commits to continuing to fight for economic, health and civil rights for everyone.

Garret Keizer is now joined by Larry Flynt. That’s right, Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler has written an article in support of a general strike.

Many Americans  are beginning to feel similar frustrations expressed by the man, Joe Ferraro, aka The Nerd, who  said so when calling in a question to a Philadelphia radio talk show on which the president was appearing to answer questions about the health care issue.

We’re not just frustrated and upset about health care in this country, though it is an important issue. The heath care crisis  affects our elderly citizens and our youngest most vulnerable citizens. The children are our hope for the future. As well documented in recent news reports this is a great source of concern as well as frustration.

We’re getting batted around like a party pinata because of the inequality in the justice system; banks continuing predatory policies despite using our money to keep their failed enterprises afloat. The continuing housing crisis; or the uncontrolled use of tasers by police to exert their authorityl whether necessary  or not.   The crisis we face in employment with jobs being sent overseas. And we’re all fed up with politicians. Even the divinely eloqient Mr. Obama and crew.

Interestingly, Flynt has titled his piece “Common Sense 2009″. We have always thought it makes good common sense to hold a general strike to get the American public’s point of view across.

The last time this was attempted the momentum was built online by bloggers. There was support for a general strike from sites such as the Daily Kos.

There were different dates October 17th or November 6th or Black Friday…have a general strike once a month until the powers that be capitulate. It does not have to be a one time  event to be effective.

A series of protests to let the government know they must heed what we, the people, have to say.

People from every part of the country. Military veterans, school teachers, doctors, lawyers, blue collar workers, sanitation personnel, mothers, fathers. Everybody who has a stake in keeping this ship of state afloat should be in the streets to demonstrate we want meaningful change. Not rhetoric.

We can do something about this. We can organize peaceful, sensible, non-violent demonstrations. People around the world have organized in this way. Mexicans for more than six months following a presidential election they did not like. Ukrainians and others have carried on to get the attention of the oligarchs who control their country.

We, Americans, are capable. We can set a strategy to send a message to our government we will not be doormats any longer! We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore!

When Vick suits up with the Philadelphia Eagles he’ll be wearing the number 7, as he did when he played for the Falcons in Atlanta before serving time in a federal prison for killing and abusing dogs.
Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid reports Vick is focused and eager to get his career on track.

Starting quarter back Donovan McNabb endorses Vick coming to the Eagles. “I pretty much lobbied to get him here, because everybody deserves a second chance.” What part Michael Vick will play on the team’s offense is not yet clear.

Eleven year-old Damon Weaver of Canal Point, Florida
is a student reporter at the Katherine E. Cunningham Elementary School in Canal Point, Palm Beach County, Florida. Damon Weaver has conducted an interview at the White House with President Barack Obama. Watch it here:

After interviewing Vice President Joe Biden when the then senator-candidate visited Palm Beach County last fall during the presidential election campaign, Damon Weaver began his quest to get the scoop of his lifetime by winning an exclusive interview with the man who would be America’s first black president.

We’ve always supported Damon’s desires to be the ace number one cub reporter. We championed Damon’s request for credentials to be at President Obama’s historical inauguration. We reported when Damon was successful and received those highly prized press credentials.

We are proud and pleased to announce he’s captured an interview with the President Of The United States. Congratulations to Damon Weaver. We wish you much success in the future.

We agree with the “Birthers”. Barack Obama was not born in the United States of America; in fact he wasn’t even born on this planet.

The current occupant of the White House was born on the planet Mongo, located in another universe. He was delivered here to this planet in the same manner as the so-called “Man of Steel”. That’s right an alien space ship dropped him off as the passengers and crew were on their way to catch the party train to Mars.

Here’s a video by Lee Camp to provide a moment of clarity on the subject of President Obama’s birth and Professor Gates’ recent arrest.

Certain opponents to the health care reform proposals are counting on the fact the public will not read the proposed bill. Their stock and trade is in fear. “If we can scare the people we’ve got control”.

As a public service YouThinkWhat presents the controversial Page 425 of the current proposed legislation. Read it for yourself. Do not let some tired old tee vee actor, former Republican politician with a talk-radio program tell you what it says. Read it for yourself.

Here is the actual full section in question taken from the Library of Congress Thomas legislative website.
SEC. 1233. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION.

(a) Medicare-

(1) IN GENERAL- Section 1861 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended–

(A) in subsection (s)(2)–

(i) by striking `and’ at the end of subparagraph (DD);

(ii) by adding `and’ at the end of subparagraph (EE); and

(iii) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

`(FF) advance care planning consultation (as defined in subsection (hhh)(1));’; and

(B) by adding at the end the following new subsection:

Advance Care Planning Consultation

`(hhh)(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the term `advance care planning consultation’ means a consultation between the individual and a practitioner described in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning, if, subject to paragraph (3), the individual involved has not had such a consultation within the last 5 years. Such consultation shall include the following:

`(A) An explanation by the practitioner of advance care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to.

`(B) An explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses.

`(C) An explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy.

`(D) The provision by the practitioner of a list of national and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families with advance care planning, including the national toll-free hotline, the advance care planning clearinghouses, and State legal service organizations (including those funded through the Older Americans Act of 1965).

`(E) An explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title.

`(F)(i) Subject to clause (ii), an explanation of orders regarding life sustaining treatment or similar orders, which shall include–

`(I) the reasons why the development of such an order is beneficial to the individual and the individual’s family and the reasons why such an order should be updated periodically as the health of the individual changes;

`(II) the information needed for an individual or legal surrogate to make informed decisions regarding the completion of such an order; and

`(III) the identification of resources that an individual may use to determine the requirements of the State in which such individual resides so that the treatment wishes of that individual will be carried out if the individual is unable to communicate those wishes, including requirements regarding the designation of a surrogate decisionmaker (also known as a health care proxy).

`(ii) The Secretary shall limit the requirement for explanations under clause (i) to consultations furnished in a State–

`(I) in which all legal barriers have been addressed for enabling orders for life sustaining treatment to constitute a set of medical orders respected across all care settings; and

`(II) that has in effect a program for orders for life sustaining treatment described in clause (iii).

`(iii) A program for orders for life sustaining treatment for a States described in this clause is a program that–

`(I) ensures such orders are standardized and uniquely identifiable throughout the State;

`(II) distributes or makes accessible such orders to physicians and other health professionals that (acting within the scope of the professional’s authority under State law) may sign orders for life sustaining treatment;

`(III) provides training for health care professionals across the continuum of care about the goals and use of orders for life sustaining treatment; and

`(IV) is guided by a coalition of stakeholders includes representatives from emergency medical services, emergency department physicians or nurses, state long-term care association, state medical association, state surveyors, agency responsible for senior services, state department of health, state hospital association, home health association, state bar association, and state hospice association.

`(2) A practitioner described in this paragraph is–

`(A) a physician (as defined in subsection (r )(1)); and

`(B) a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant who has the authority under State law to sign orders for life sustaining treatments.

`(3)(A) An initial preventive physical examination under subsection (WW), including any related discussion during such examination, shall not be considered an advance care planning consultation for purposes of applying the 5-year limitation under paragraph (1).

`(B) An advance care planning consultation with respect to an individual may be conducted more frequently than provided under paragraph (1) if there is a significant change in the health condition of the individual, including diagnosis of a chronic, progressive, life-limiting disease, a life-threatening or terminal diagnosis or life-threatening injury, or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a long-term care facility (as defined by the Secretary), or a hospice program.

`(4) A consultation under this subsection may include the formulation of an order regarding life sustaining treatment or a similar order.

`(5)(A) For purposes of this section, the term `order regarding life sustaining treatment’ means, with respect to an individual, an actionable medical order relating to the treatment of that individual that–

`(i) is signed and dated by a physician (as defined in subsection (r )(1)) or another health care professional (as specified by the Secretary and who is acting within the scope of the professional’s authority under State law in signing such an order, including a nurse practitioner or physician assistant) and is in a form that permits it to stay with the individual and be followed by health care professionals and providers across the continuum of care;

`(ii) effectively communicates the individual’s preferences regarding life sustaining treatment, including an indication of the treatment and care desired by the individual;

`(iii) is uniquely identifiable and standardized within a given locality, region, or State (as identified by the Secretary); and

`(iv) may incorporate any advance directive (as defined in section 1866(f)(3)) if executed by the individual.

`(B) The level of treatment indicated under subparagraph (A)(ii) may range from an indication for full treatment to an indication to limit some or all or specified interventions. Such indicated levels of treatment may include indications respecting, among other items–

`(i) the intensity of medical intervention if the patient is pulse less, apneic, or has serious cardiac or pulmonary problems;

`(ii) the individual’s desire regarding transfer to a hospital or remaining at the current care setting;

`(iii) the use of antibiotics; and

`(iv) the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration.’.

(2) PAYMENT- Section 1848(j)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(j)(3)) is amended by inserting `(2)(FF),’ after `(2)(EE),’.

(3) FREQUENCY LIMITATION- Section 1862(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395y(a)) is amended–

(A) in paragraph (1)–

(i) in subparagraph (N), by striking `and’ at the end;

(ii) in subparagraph (O) by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting `, and’; and

(iii) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

`(P) in the case of advance care planning consultations (as defined in section 1861(hhh)(1)), which are performed more frequently than is covered under such section;’; and

(B) in paragraph (7), by striking `or (K)’ and inserting `(K), or (P)’.

(4) EFFECTIVE DATE- The amendments made by this subsection shall apply to consultations furnished on or after January 1, 2011.

(b) Expansion of Physician Quality Reporting Initiative for End of Life Care-

(1) Physician’S QUALITY REPORTING INITIATIVE- Section 1848(k)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(k)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:

`(3) Physician’S QUALITY REPORTING INITIATIVE-

`(A) IN GENERAL- For purposes of reporting data on quality measures for covered professional services furnished during 2011 and any subsequent year, to the extent that measures are available, the Secretary shall include quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that have been adopted or endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if appropriate. Such measures shall measure both the creation of and adherence to orders for life-sustaining treatment.

`(B) PROPOSED SET OF MEASURES- The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register proposed quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that the Secretary determines are described in subparagraph (A) and would be appropriate for eligible professionals to use to submit data to the Secretary. The Secretary shall provide for a period of public comment on such set of measures before finalizing such proposed measures.’.

(c) Inclusion of Information in Medicare & You Handbook-

(1) MEDICARE & YOU HANDBOOK-

(A) IN GENERAL- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall update the online version of the Medicare & You Handbook to include the following:

(i) An explanation of advance care planning and advance directives, including–

(I) living wills;

(II) durable power of attorney;

(III) orders of life-sustaining treatment; and

(IV) health care proxies.

(ii) A description of Federal and State resources available to assist individuals and their families with advance care planning and advance directives, including–

(I) available State legal service organizations to assist individuals with advance care planning, including those organizations that receive funding pursuant to the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 93001 et seq.);

(II) website links or addresses for State-specific advance directive forms; and

(III) any additional information, as determined by the Secretary.

(B) UPDATE OF PAPER AND SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS- The Secretary shall include the information described in subparagraph (A) in all paper and electronic versions of the Medicare & You Handbook that are published on or after the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Here’s Merle Hazard singing his latest release, “Bail Out”. Enjoy!

We have been thinking about this accusation. Just like Bernie Madoff, R. Allen Stanford is accused of doing that ponzi scheme thing. Often described as “any fraudulent investment scheme that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned”, this definition brings us to conclude, banks do the same thing.

We ask the question: Why is R. Allen Stanford’s business different than Bank Of America, or as we like to call the company Skank Of America. What separates R. Allen Stanford’s operation from say Citi, or as we have named the huge financial conglomerate Sniti. How is R. Allen Stanford’s banking empire different than Wachovia, or as we say Wacky-skank?

Other than the fact the head man is a criminally indicted person we do not see much difference.

Requests for assistance, i.e. loan modification, from consumers facing foreclosure or those who have received notice of foreclosure from the lender(s) who hold the mortgage(s) on their house, have increased.

The lenders do not find it profitable to help save your home. Even with the government money for the banks as incentive to help consumers, the banks skanks do not find it is profitable to help save families and communities. Glori-osky what a revelation! We are wondering how those bankers sleep at night.

Just as in the past, so it is today, the banks will be preserved at all costs.

The economic experts from the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston conducted research with results that state it would have worked better if the money given to the banks skanks–$75 Billion earlier this year had been given to the home owners to pay off those non-performing assets.

Fact is, if that $75 Billion had been given to John Q. and/or Madeline Homeowner-In-Default to pay off the debt, the bank would have no assets, non-performing or otherwise.

Let us waste no further time discussing what “should have happened”. Let’s talk about what is happening. Let’s find a solution to the situation.

It is important for the banks to have assets. It is important at all costs; even if it means keeping a class of financially indentured slaves so encumbered far into the future. How else will the banking class live the extravagant lifestyle they believe they are entitled to have?

Utilizing this measure in full would insure every  one of the banks goes out of business, NSF, overdrawn.

Why should the very people who have bailed out the banks repeatedly with billions of dollars, then trillions of dollars, be mercilessly hounded and ruthlessly attacked when the banks, the so-called money experts, cannot balance their own books. They have resorted to the same public they prey upon to rescue them.

For an investment of about six million dollars you can start a bank of your own. Think of all the benefits to be derived from owning a bank. It’s  a very exclusive club. You can mismanage funds and receive more money from the government when you do.

All you have to do to get the free funding is promise to make money available to consumers. When you get the cash renege on your agreement to make loans. Invest the money received to make a profit for at least six months, then begin to repay the government with a penalty applied. It’s simply seen as the price of doing business because you’ve made a very large profit from money that was never yours to invest. This is a great example of using other people’s money. It is a business model to be taught, learned and followed.

We’ve been resisting the demand to write about her. Many members of our staff believe she does not deserve one iota of publicity. This time the minority has won because we’re publishing an article about La Palin and we are using her name. (See this article. It does not mention her by name.)

We want to know what is the fascination with her? We believe David Letterman, late night tee vee comic was correct, in his description of La Palin as having the “slutty airline hostess” look. Some other comedian, during the presidential campaign when John McCain was often seen with his vice-presidential running mate, described La Palin, her spouse and brood as a gang of grifters with either La Palin herself, or the youngsters, as the bait for the mark. The mark being John McCain.

Others say she needs to update her look from the 1980s when she was young. Some say she should update her intellect and read a book as well as “all the newspapers that are out there.”

Who else do we know who is a former governor, a national candidate who has the vocabulary and the communications skills of an inarticulate 18 year-old? One clue: He was president of the United States and he lives in the second largest state in the nation.

We’re glad she’s resigning from office for whatever reason. We do not really care about the reason. As long as she goes away. The electorate of Alaska deserve better.

We hope she doesn’t pull a Richard Nixon on us. We want this Repuglican to go away….far, far, away and never return to the front pages of our blogs and newspapers; we want never again to have her face darken our tee vee news programs. Adios to La Palin et al.

Neither man was considered a likely candidate to become world famous; nor did it seem Davis or Jackson was destined to be successful in life at all. They were born poor, male and black in America at a time when many thought those characteristics a distinct disadvantage.

These men began their entertainment careers at about the same age. What made them different was the innate talent possessed by both. Music, rhythm, song, dance and intelligence resonated with them both. All of those elements converged at just the right moment in time to give the world two of the greatest entertainers ever known.

Davis was a show biz veteran by the age of ten; He had previously traveled and appeared on stage with both his parents. When his mother retired from the stage little Sammy, Jr. joined with his father Sam, Sr. and his uncles. They were the Will Maston Trio. Three experienced dancers and Sam, “the kid”.

Michael Jackson came to prominence when he and his four brothers were discovered by Gladys Knight. Berry Gordy, president and founder of Motown Records, who signed the group to a recording contract, thought it would be a better legend if his favorite Supreme, Diana Ross, was attributed with discovering the five young men, and the rest of their talented family. Later When Michael and his brothers left the company, they were prohibited from using their name, The Jackson 5, by Berry Gordy Motown founder.

All has been forgiven. There appears to be no bad feelings on the part of the Jackson family as indicated by Gordy’s presence at Tuesday’s dignified memorial service in Los Angeles, California. Berry Gordy, a recording executive of mega-influence made this profound pronouncement when he spoke, calling Michael Jackson the greatest entertainer of all time. Many agree.

We always heard about Jackson paying money to someone else. We rarely heard of Jackson getting paid, and keeping or holding on to the money. Stories of his generosity are legendary.

There are tales, too, of his excessive spending, for example bidding approximately a million dollars on the bones of John Merrick, aka the Elephant Man, in 1987. Some of those stories of outrageous expenditures are said to have been planted by the ultimate showman, Jackson, himself.

We know he paid millions to get free by divorce from the daughter of The King, Lisa Marie Presley. Michael Jackson even had to use his earnings as collateral for loans with our favorite banking institution, Bank Skank Of America. Everyone should know by now a loan with those vultures will bankrupt all but the richest of the rich. If your name is de Rothschild you can afford to be a customer at Bank Skank of America

We heard ad nauseum of the money spent to settle cases wherein Jackson was alleged to have molested a minor; or daily reports of the millions spent to launch a legal defense when charged with child molestation. He was acquitted of all charges in the case. Michael Jackson’s finances were slowly draining away as he got older.

It was the same with Sammy. We always saw him with lots of flashy jewelry. We’d heard of his extravagance and excesses. Davis, too, was well known for his generosity. We almost never heard of anyone paying him. In fact when he died he was heavily indebted. His widow was left nearly penniless.

Sammy Davis, Jr. grew up during the era of segregation in the United States. To get a sense of what his life was like read his autobiographies, “Yes, I Can!”, “Why Me?” and “Sammy” all written with Burt and Jane Boyar.

Jackson became successful during the end of the non-violent civil rights era and the beginnings of the more militant black movement in America. He was faced with those who wished to place limits on where he would take his talent. His loving determined attitude and awesome showmanship took him to heights of acclaim never achieved by any other human. Michael Jackson changed the world, and he asked us to join him in making that change.

Both Davis and Jackson, with their families, experienced the pain of not being accepted in the real world. Both men used their artistic ability to break down racial barriers. They used their skills to unify diverse people. Both men were admired, adored, almost loved to death, by their fans; both suffered excruciating loneliness away from their work.

No matter what they looked like, Michael going from a cute little black boy, to attractive young black man to strange looking white woman to some kind of other being whose skin was so white it was whiter than any Caucasian skin because of the skin disorder vitiligo; or Sammy Davis Jr. who also began as a cute little black boy; who later matured into an attractive young dancer. musician- he played several musical instruments, and impressionist, who later ended up with a broken nose, eye patch, or glass eye as trophies from a staged auto accident intended to take his life; the celebrated controversial conversion to Judaism and serial marriages.

No matter what their political affiliation, who they married or socialized with both men always knew they could find much loving acceptance in the black community.They came from us, and they belonged to the world.

We say this to point out the fact in America, as in many nations, it is challenging to be a successful child star and transition into a show business path as an adult with an equally successful, possibly fulfilling entertainment career. It is even more difficult when you are a sensitive, creative genius who just happens to be a black male presenting your art.

We are grateful to have been able to enjoy their talent, they shared their genius with the world. We are grateful for the time they were on this planet

Watch as Sammy Davis, Jr. sings his version of Michael Jackson’s “Bad”.

From 1989 all star birthday tribute to the late Sammy Davis Jr. Michael Jackson pays homage to his progenitor.

We’re glad to say we had the opportunity to spend some time on the planet during their era. What a fantastic experience! Two great entertainers..Sammy Davis, Jr. and now the man who will forever be known as the greatest entertainer of them all, Michael Jackson.

To say he influenced many aspects of our society is no exaggeration. To speak of Michael Jackson as a musical genius is not hyperbole.

This is for you Bill O’Reilly, and those of your ilk who can not understand why black Americans and people all over the world have such admiration for Michael Jackson.You will never achieve the same level of success, popularity, respect and renown. You will never understand “the face thing” as you call it because in America you are on the correct side of the color line.

It was because of Michael’s universal perspective and the skin disorder vitiligo from which he suffered that he was able to transcend much of the clatter and the noise to create wonderful music and choreography.

Watch as author Michael Eric Dyson explains the magic, the attraction the special gifts of Michael Jackson and how he changed the world for the better.

Then watch this report’s speculation of how Michael Jackson will be seen in history.

Serena has won three of the past four Grand Slam titles.

Richard Williams, father and coach of the tennis champs, has said his youngest daughter, Serena, would be the better of the two. We’ve checked the stats and found Serena leads in Grand Slam titles (11-7), in head-to-head matches (11-10), and in all-Williams major finals (6-2).

This was the 14th Grand Slam final for each of the Williams sisters; no other active woman participated in more than four. Serena is 11-3 in such matches; Venus fell to 7-7, with all but one defeat coming against her sister.

Some in tennis circles are critical saying their dominance of the sport is boring. The game lacks excitement because they’re always playing each other.

We say the Champion Williams Sisters are the athletes who make the game exciting. We love Venus and Serena. Congratulations to them both for their athletic achievements.

On that auspicious occasion the stakes were raised, the ante was upped and our nation’s leaders declared our independence from the British crown.

It was the beginning of a history that continues to unfold.

Farrah Fawcett born and raised in Texas, came to Hollywood as a young woman and made her mark. At the height of her popularity women everywhere copied her hair style and men purchased her poster making record sales.

Although her fame came through acting in a formulaic series tee vee show Fawcett showed her authentic acting skills performing in dramas on the off-Broadway stage, in feature length films and teevee movies.

For her portrayals of a potential rape victim, a battered wife, the renown photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, and Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton  Fawcett received high critical acclaim.

There were several Golden Globe nominations. We loved her performance as Robert Duvall’s wife in his independent film “The Apostle”.

Beneath the veneer of a pop icon we discovered a great actress whose groundbreaking performances will long be remembered.

The family requests, in lieu of flowers, donations to support cancer research be made to The Farrah Fawcett Foundation, P.O. Box 6478, Beverly Hills, California 90212.

 As a West Point cadet Dan Choi was trained to  forego cheating, lying and stealing. As a commissioned officer Dan Choi is sworn to practice integrity everyday. The powers that be in the Department of the Army, and the Pentagon have taken steps to court martial and dishonorably discharge Dan Choi for doing what he has sworn to do as an officer in the United States military.

On Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 8 a.m., Lt. Dan Choi of the U.S. Army will stand trial for announcing: “I am gay.”
 
On Tuesday, he will be facing a panel of colonels who will decide whether or not to fire Lt. Dan Choi.– They will consider discharging Lt. Choi for “moral and professional dereliction” under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Dan wishes to remain in the military. Help him to stay. Sign the petition.
We don’t understand why anyone would want to go into military service in the first place.  We especially do not unerstand why a gay, lesbian, transgender or bi-secual person would want to present himself for the obvious ridicule and abuse by others in the service.  Apparently it is because they have no other alternative.

We do believe someone who is in the army, who has served the nation well, who wishes to remain in service to his country, should be allowed to stay. Dan Choi does not deserve to be disgraced because of a bad law.

We are told by those who know, there are those who remain in all branches of the armed forces who have more serious social issues than simple sexual preference. Horror stories of child and wife beaters, drug and alcohol addicts who were in charge of fixing or flying airplanes, mentally ill officers in charge of many men and women, adulterers, and even a military doctor who was sexually abusing patients, including the widow of a downed pilot. Military officials didn’t throw them out of the service.  There is no justice in a gay person being discharged from the military for no good reason.

We’ve said it before, we will say it again,”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a bad law! it should be repealed, but until it is, do not fire any more gay military personnel for simply being themselves.

When it comes to repealing bad laws the Congress of the United States of America and the President should work together to take this very bad law off the books as quickly as possible..

For example both Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett have died. As did Billy Mays a teevee pitchman for organic cleaners who also began his career just like Johnny Carson’s sidekick McMahon, on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

We know there is trouble in Iran, The Honduran president has been overthrown in a military coup.

We know the governor of South Carolina is having some marital troubles along with a lack of support from his fellow Republicans. His actions sure take the heat off another Republican named Ensign.

Silvio Berlusconi’s, “I-Did-Not-Pay-For-Sex” scandal has made headlines around the world, too.

To those who are critical of the attention being paid to the passing of international super-star Michael Jackson we say consider the mourning that took place when Ronald Reagan died. He certainly deserved the media attention not because of his exceptional talent; he was after all an actor in low budget, “B” movies. it was only because he was president of our nation he received overwhelming, some would say excessive, media recognition upon his death.

We think it is only fitting for a man as generous, as talented, as dedicated and hardworking, who touched the lives of so many and influenced the people of the planet for so many years receive our well deserved love and attention.

Now, in other news……

Michael Jackson fans, fans who love the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, and fans of Briney Spears look at these performances.

Michael Jackson died on Thursday, June 25, 2009. He was 50 years old. Jackson, who began his music career at the age of 9 with his brothers in a group known as the Jackson 5, is an influential international super-star performer whose contributions have come to revolutionize the entire entertainment industry.

Michael Jackson, the international super-star who began his career at age nine singing with his brothers, died yesterday at age 50. He will be remembered for his contributions to music, dance, charity, performance, world peace, celebrity and fashion for years to come.

Jackson’s compositions crossed music genre’s and generations. For the past forty years he has been a renown household name around the planet.

We extend our most sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Michael Jackson.

Our video tribute to Michael Jackson follows:
It began like this in Gary, Indiana.

We never can say good-bye to you Michael. Like that other entertainment genius, Sammy Davis, Jr, you, too, never had a childhood. You never were understood. All your millions of fans around the world love you and miss you. Rest in peace.

Happy Father’s Day to everyone who nurtures a child!

This story comes to us from New Mexico where the state, one of 30 other states, is using banks and credit card companies to disburse unemployment benefits by way of debit cards and direct deposits. State officials, and bankers say debit cards help reduce costs such as postage, paper and “processing”.

According to a Citi-bank spokesperson such programs are designed to supply a savings for the state while providing “added convenience without added expense” for the unemployed. Citi is the facilitator of unemployment benefits on pre-paid cards in Kansas and Maryland. The state of New Mexico reportedly realizes a savings of about $1.5 million annually using this procedure.

Sounds really great, right? Anytime a banking product is proclaimed to be good for the consumer, hold on to your wallets, and your underwear. Get ready for the scam…

Good old Skank-of-America is charging 50 cents for  an inquiry about the bank balance, plus another $1.50 for making two withdrawals in one day. On the face of it this does not sound like very much. When one considers the number of unemployed people around the nation, the fact the banks have made out like the bandits they are; the fact it costs about zero dollars for a balance inquiry call or to make a withdrawal, we cry foul!

The Skank -of -America justifies this excessive fee charge by saying  its fee schedule is consistent with what other banks charge for such cards. Apparently the way the program is set up in New Mexico you can apply for direct deposit payment of these benefits, but you most likely will be unsuccessful in receiving your benefit in that way. You will be probably be getting paid by debit card. Because such programs are designed to supply a savings for the state while providing “added convenience without added expense” for the unemployed. Obviously the design and purpose of such programs is different than the reality of how they function. Reality indicates a savings for the state which is in collusion with the financial institution to fill its coffers with cash from those who can least afford to pay.

Way to go Bank Of America and your royal skanky sisters whose fees are consistent with BOA! And we’re giving the back of our hand to the government officials in New Mexico too. Way to care for the citizenry!

This time it’s American dairy farmers. That’s right folks banks across the country are cutting off farmers’ access to credit and at least two dairy farmers have committed suicide in California.
The most recent speculation is the drop in domestic milk prices could result in a loss of  30 percent of the remaining dairy farmers by December 2009. That would be about 20,000 family dairy farmers off the land–out of the dairy farming business by the end of 2009.

Losing so many family farmers around the nation will have a further devastating economic effect on American farmers;  the loss will wipe out more than $52 billion of economic development in less than one year.

Some experts say a critical gap in U.S. food safety will be created as foreign milk protein concentrate (MPC) imports from countries such as Mexico, India and China  will increase dramatically. It is said these countries have lower food safety standards than the U.S.

We ask you to write to the Secretary of the Agriculture, Tom Vilsack , to request he use his authority set forth under Section 608c (18) of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 to adjust the price of milk paid to farmers to “reflect the price” of production. This legally mandated “floor price” should be at least $17.50 cwt.

Once again, we are in a crisis situation. It demands immediate and decisive action.

We, all of us, are friends to family farmers and as the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack  is responsible to alleviate this situation.

YOU must act quickly. Encourage the Secretary ot institute reforms in dairy pricing to ensure a disaster like this  is averted in the future. Our American dairy farmers are counting on you. Contact the USDA today!

Letterman told a joke about Alaska’s governor and her family; he told a specific bad joke about one of her female children. He made a joke about the governor’s appearance, too.

We agree his jokes were not funny. A couple of them were in bad taste. Unlike radio personality Don Imus, David Letterman does not have a history of making coarse, off color remarks about young girls.
All you feminists, both male and female, who are outraged by the poor choice made by a late night teevee comedian to tell a joke that disparages  and exploits females, just hold on for one moment.

Other comedians have told similar jokes about the Alaskan first family. Maybe the governor’s hormones were slightly out of balance last week when some Republican agitator told her about the jokes.  Maybe some people in the GOP encouraged her to gin up the news to make an issue out of nothing. This is a move guaranteed to get her more face time in the press, the blogosphere and the electronic media.

The subject of the jokes has used her feminine attractiveness to obtain the political office she holds. If you remember she was the so-called “hot one” in position number two on the GOP’s 2008 presidential campaign ticket. We remember a comedian, not Letterman, said the governor and her family in the company of Senator John McCain reminded him of a family of grifters.

The governor of Alaska is,  a former beauty queen who knows very well how to use, shall we say exploit, her female comeliness to its best advantage.  she was also for a brief time in a small market a teevee personality.

David Letterman did not invent the culture we have today where women and girls are frequently demeaned. He is not the reason those types of jokes are taken as no big deal.

David Letterman is not responsible for the fact the female of our species is exploited for commercial gain, with or without her knowledge or permission in music, film, and every commercial form of enterprise one can name.

We like Letterman. No amount of bashing Dave, or calls for his ouster will change the fact we have a culture that heavily relies upon sex to persuade and influence decisions from which politico we elect to what car or shampoo or dog food we purchase. We say David Letterman is not the source of our society’s problems in respecting females.

To the governor of Alaska we say you can not have it both ways. One day you have your daughters promoting your candidacy; on another day you have the older of the three working as the public spokesman advocating for abstinence among young people. You heavily publicized your son’s military tour of duty during the presidential campaign last fall. You brought your youngest son to nearly every photo opportunity to show how you are a concerned mother with a child with special needs. Then the next time we hear from you, you are saying leave my children out of the limelight.

You can not have it both ways. If you wish your family to be private then do not parade them about in front of the media.

Now let’s compose ourselves and focus on why President Barack Obama is backing off of the corporations, the banks, the doctors and the health insurance companies. This Letterman-Alaska thing is just a distraction. Let’s get down to the real business at hand.

“Today and every day, we have an opportunity as well as an obligation to confront these scourges…  we have the opportunity to make a habit of empathy, to recognize ourselves in each other, to commit ourselves to resisting injustice and intolerance and indifference, in whatever forms they may take…” President Barack Obama-April 2009 Holocaust Museum Remembrance Day Event.

Stephen T. Johns was a security guard who worked at the Washington, D.C. Holocaust Museum.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Johns was murdered by a very old, very desperate, hate-filled deranged man who has extremely harmful out-dated ideas about people who are Jewish or Black. The man who committed this devastating crime is a menace to our society.

Stephen Johns was a husband. He was a caring father to twelve year-old son, Stephen T. Johns, Jr. and a loving son to his mother. We send our sincere condolences to Mrs. Johns, his wife of just one year; Mrs. Jacqueline Carter, the mother of the deceased Wackenhut security guard; his son, and the entire Johns family and all of Stephen Johns’ friends.

We hope this incident will develop in n Mr. Johns’ young son him a determination courageously chooses to help peacefully rid this society of people like the man who murdered his father. We know it will be challenging to express love. We understand it is not an easy thing to do when all around you are remarking about the coward who committed this heinous crime.

Stephen T. Johns will always be remembered as a hero who saved the lives of many on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus the Christ~ New Testament John 15:13 ]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/stephen-t-johns-holocaust-museum-hero-1970-2009.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/dhs-forewarned-dhs-ignored.html http://youthinkwhat.com/dhs-forewarned-dhs-ignored.html#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:40:49 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1411 In recent weeks the Department of Homeland Security gave warning of the possibility of violent right wing activity increasing because of the down economy.

Just as the warning of an attack in September of 2001 was ignored by our government, so this one, too, was ignored. Fortunately the loss of life was not in great numbers. We believe the loss of one life is one death too many. It is unacceptable to allow a violent wrong wing extremist to attack.

We’ve experienced all levels and colors of the rainbow terror alerts for people who have no viable means to come here to harm us.

When there is legitimate reason to believe terrorists, domestic or foreign will do harm to Americans we is our government asleep at the wheel? Are they taking direction from the Joe Scarboroughs of the cable news network world? Scarborough in our estimation is no Fulbright or Rhodes Scholar and he, along with that cry-baby Beck person should be relegated to a program on Public Access tee vee or better yet CCTV.

See how the mainstream media responded to the news from Homeland Security.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/dhs-forewarned-dhs-ignored.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/laurie-moran-confronting-preventing-abuse-and-addiction-to-heal-the-child.html http://youthinkwhat.com/laurie-moran-confronting-preventing-abuse-and-addiction-to-heal-the-child.html#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:02:36 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1401 Laurie Moran Working To Heal The Child

We recently met an interesting and sensitive lady named Laurie Moran. She modestly introduced herself as a music teacher. Laurie is so much more. She is a former rock and roll band member who now plays music to heal the broken souls of children and adults who have been the objects of addiction and abuse. Laurie Moran is  healer.

“There is a circle of love evident in the workshops…people are very present in telling and the healing takes place for them and for me.”~Laurie Moran

Laurie Moran is the creator and director of Heal the Child Program. More than ten years ago she and local therapist Dolores Schafer began delivering the spirit of hope from addiction and abuse through music. They put together an effective child abuse prevention and education project, along with formulating a music therapy program to instruct guidance counselors, parent groups, child development students, churches and community organizations how to help children and adults who are in pain.

Laurie Moran is a generous person who presents her original songs along with sharing her personal story of abuse to audiences across the country to increase awareness for the prevention of child abuse. In doing so she delivers a spirit of hope and healing through music.

Heal The Child, a child abuse prevention and education project as well as a training program for health care professionals, has at its heart the original music written and performed by Laurie Moran. Laurie accompanies herself on guitar and shares her personal experience, inviting audience participation. The musical program consists of songs about the pain of abuse but more importantly songs about the hope of healing and recovery.

Another important feature of the workshops is the prominence of talking. Abuse depends on silence. All around our nation problems such as juvenile crime, teen pregnancy and drug or alcohol dependency can be traced to a troubled child in a family where the children are instructed not to talk about family problems. There is it an inappropriate sense of loyalty associated with the “don’t talk” rule. By talking, the child is presumed to be breaking a trust, somehow betraying the family’s secret.

Heal The Child project teaches parents, teachers and all those adults who have an influence upon the lives of the children, the significance of establishing a safe culture for all of our children to talk, to verbalize, to speak to someone when they believe they are being mistreated.

An added extra is that Laurie’s sharing offers hope, support and a vision of healing that begins with breaking the silence.

Children who come from dysfunctional abusive families often as they grow into adulthood exhibit low self esteem, difficulty establishing healthy boundaries, inability to express feelings, shame and confusion about family loyalties, and ignorance about what a healthy family life is.

One of the great benefits derived from the Heal The Child Project workshops is that parents, adult survivors of child abuse discover they are not alone in their suffering. They reveal they can find acceptance guidance and a genuine hope for change with support.

The Heal the Child program creates an opportunity for dialog for a variety of audiences including teens, parents, teachers, child care advocates, counselors, graduate students and adult survivors.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/laurie-moran-confronting-preventing-abuse-and-addiction-to-heal-the-child.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/gm-files-bankruptcy-while-chrysler-reinvents-itself-as-new.html http://youthinkwhat.com/gm-files-bankruptcy-while-chrysler-reinvents-itself-as-new.html#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:53:30 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1393 General Motors has filed for bankruptcy. Chrysler has renamed and reformulated itself to be the New Chrysler Company.

Here’s how Mark Fiore one of our favorite political animated cartoonists, described back in April of this year just what we have going on in our automotive industry today. He calls it Barry’s Auto Emporium.Watch. We think this is funny and very true.(scroll down the page)..

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/gm-files-bankruptcy-while-chrysler-reinvents-itself-as-new.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/dr-george-tiller-memorial-to-be-held-today-in-kansas.html http://youthinkwhat.com/dr-george-tiller-memorial-to-be-held-today-in-kansas.html#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:18:01 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1397 Family and friends will gather to honor the life and contributions to society of the recently slain Dr. George Tiller. Funeral services will be held at College Hill United Methodist Church.

Dr. Tiller was murdered last Sunday as he stood in the foyer at the Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was serving as an usher.

Security is expected to be tight because of the circumstances surrounding the murder of the controversial abortion doctor.

Signatures are being gathered at a web site commemorating more than twenty years of service during which Dr. Tiller and others provided care to women and their families.

Join the thousands who have already sign. Go to Remember Dr. Tiller .
Sign the memorial card. Honor his courage and compassion.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/dr-george-tiller-memorial-to-be-held-today-in-kansas.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/mark-fiore-oppositeland.html http://youthinkwhat.com/mark-fiore-oppositeland.html#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:20:06 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1390 Mark Fiore is another of our favorite political cartoonists. In this animated piece from May 20, 2009 Fiore gives a recap of what is happening since the Obama administration has come into power. Take a look. This pretty scary stuff.(Scroll down to see animation.)

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/mark-fiore-oppositeland.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/demetricia-c-patterson-foundation-provides-prescription-meds-for-central-florida-seniors.html http://youthinkwhat.com/demetricia-c-patterson-foundation-provides-prescription-meds-for-central-florida-seniors.html#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:16:50 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1383 Three months ago, under the guidance of Demetricia Patterson, Consignment Furniture Etc. opened its doors with its mission to provide one half of the profits toward funding a foundation which gives drug assistance to senior citizens.

Demetricia Patterson is the owner of the consignment store and the creator of the Demetricia C. Patterson Foundation, a non-profit drug assistance program for people age fifty plus.

Ms Patterson says she established the foundation because she has witnessed  people in her community who must choose between purchasing necessary medication or buying food.

Ms Patterson says she is dedicated to this cause because many of the people who have to choose between food or medicine are those who helped her in her youth growing up in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. “My heart is full. I have so much gratitude,” says Patterson who helps her older friends with rides, meals and companionship

The Patterson Foundation provides prescription medications for seniors who are afflicted with medical conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, HIV/AIDS, diabetes or cancer.

Donations can be sent by USPS to P.O. Box 1323, New Smyrna Beach, Florida 32170. All donations are tax exempt.

You may call 386-428-8222 for the hours of operation of the store, Consignment Furniture Etc, located 628 N. Dixie Freeway .

To receive an application for assistance visit the Patterson Foundation web site.

We commend Demetricia Patterson for the community service she is providing.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/demetricia-c-patterson-foundation-provides-prescription-meds-for-central-florida-seniors.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/bethune-cookman-university-explorer-program-preps-young-males-for-college.html http://youthinkwhat.com/bethune-cookman-university-explorer-program-preps-young-males-for-college.html#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:44:46 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1380 Where can a young male between the ages of eleven years-old and 18 years-old, in the Daytona Beach, Florida area go this summer for interesting educational field trips, tutoring in science, math, reading and writing? Where can a youngster who is considered “at risk” go to remove the stigma of that label as he improves himself and prepares himself for his later life at a college or university? What other year-round program offers trips to the Jacksonville Zoo, Epcot and Universal theme parks, the state legislature in Tallahassee with an opportunity to meet the legislators or the Kennedy Space Center?

The answer is Bethune-Cookman University’s Explorer program. On June 8, 2009, from 9am until 1pm orientation for young males who wish to improve themselves as they prepare for a better future will participate in this beneficial program which promotes education and career exploration along with social fun.

It was sixteen years ago when  Daytona Beach educator, Frederick T. Milton, heard about a program offered by Florida A&M University designed specifically for young males to prepare them for the challenges of attending and graduating college.

Mr. Milton took action. He wrote a grant proposal and received funding from the state of Florida for what is now known as the Bethune-Cookman University Explorer Program. It’s a mentoring program where the university students provide guidance to younger males to help them add polish to their abilities.

This college preparatory program developed by Mr. Milton provides young males in grades six through 12, a supportive system and an environment filled with the encouragement young males need to progress to adulthood.

The Explorer program is held year-round during weekends; however this year it is being offered as a summer session with the orientation scheduled in the University’s Fine Arts Building, Room 218. There is a fee of $50 for registration and there are scholarships available for applicants who qualify.

For more information call Frederick Milton 386-481-2143 or 386-252-2425

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/bethune-cookman-university-explorer-program-preps-young-males-for-college.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/president-barack-obama-proposes-prolonged-detention-for-everyone.html http://youthinkwhat.com/president-barack-obama-proposes-prolonged-detention-for-everyone.html#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 11:54:56 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1369 Blanche Africa Reilly Dark, mother of our own ace investigative reporter Clark Dark, is our contributing writer today with a few words about her displeasure with America’s first African-American president.

Everyone knows I am as proud of President Barack Obama as if he were one of my children. He elicits the same feeling among older females as does Eldridge Tiger Woods. He’s everyone’s son; or what every mother hopes her son will be. They are both wonderful role models, and our young people can never have enough of those with or without the obvious role models, moms and dads, in the home.

Over the last few days we’ve been all a twitter about Judge Sotomayor, the female jurist who will become the first Latina on The Supreme Court, President Obama’s first judicial appointment since taking office. It’s all very historic. It’s simply wonderful!It has also been a distraction from the latest proposal concerning the rights of humans everywhere as proposed by the leader of the free world.

This latest proposal made by President Obama in his speech at the National Archives in front of the authentic, original Constitution of The United States of America has got me really angry. I’m disappointed, confused and very upset.

After eight years of the Bush administration with an assist from the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney, John Yoo, Alberto “The Torturer” Gonzales and a host of other malevolent academic thinkers and doers in conservative business clothing…these guys are a dominatrix dream; our first president of color suggests detaining people for an indefinite period of time for the harm they may- could-possibly-we’re -not-sure-if-they-might-could-have the potential-to-we-suspect-they-may based on, not even their past behaviors, based on nothing more than,  our government thinks they could be a threat to harm Americans. What??!!

It’s hard to reconcile a constitutional law professor proposing bad legislation, the kind that can be harmful to many, many people…oh I forgot about John Yoo wrote the so-called torture memos.  Yoo is not only a constitutional law professor, but expert in international law as well as a leading academic.

If I used this logic when I was bringing up my children their shoes would have been nailed to the kitchen floor. They would not have left the house-ever!  if I had used the Bush and the Obama administrations’ logic for keeping Americans safe my children would not have gone to school; not to the circus, nor Sunday School; not even when they were getting on my nerves I would not have allowed the little darlings to be away from home because of fear of the harm that may come to them from some nefarious person.

I wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King would think about this terrible turn of events? It’s like a Clarence Thomas moment where the colored guy, the formerly poor guy turns his back on people of color and people who are poor. You have to know this proposal is bad if Republican neo-cons support it saying things like, “See we Republicans had the right idea all along. We simply executed poorly by not having the paperwork to back up/justify our malicious actions.This African Obama guy isn’t so bad after all.”

Vague terms like “prolonged detention” sounds to me like “extraordinary rendition”. Non-specific in defining how long, the president did hint at five or ten years of detaining those suspected of maybe possibly committing a crime. Oh gracious, future crime, arrested not for what is done but for what might be done as in the sci-fi story “Minority Report” of Philip K. Dick !!

It also looks like President Obama is true to historic form. Once power is acceded to government authorities they are not willing to give it back to the people. In most places that means a fight. As the children say, “It’s on!”

Hmmph!  I guess the next thing President Barack Obama will do is rescind the Emancipation Proclamation! That’s when we’ll know for certain his white side will be showing.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/president-barack-obama-proposes-prolonged-detention-for-everyone.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/memorial-day-may-25-2009.html http://youthinkwhat.com/memorial-day-may-25-2009.html#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 00:03:23 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1345 We honor those who currently serve in the armed forces, as well as those who have served in defense of our nation in the past.

We appreciate the courage shown by the men and women of the military, and we are grateful for the  sacrifices made by their families.
We the people thank you.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/memorial-day-may-25-2009.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/a-banking-faerie-tale-the-royal-skanks.html http://youthinkwhat.com/a-banking-faerie-tale-the-royal-skanks.html#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 13:54:48 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1275 As a  public service YouThinkWhat presents another article to inform and edify banking consumers. We suspect while we’re all focusing on Gitmo, the auto industry and John Yoo, et al, the bankers, taking full advantage of  our attention being diverted from them, are planning their next scheme.

We present A Banking Faerie Tale.

Once upon a time there was a very rich king named Sam Daddy-dearest, who had many daughters. The princesses had names like Skank of America, Sniti Skank, and Wacky Skank.

They were all very rich. Each princess owning her very own kingdom, a domain for which they were in charge with lots of money. Their domain was to collect money from others; just like the aristocracy of old, the counts, the dukes, and the landed gentry who collected taxes, grain, food, livestock and gold from the serfs, except these princesses collected money. But they were not satisfied to have lots of money, and besides they had extravagant habits. They wanted to play skanky banky.

So they met financiers who told them they could multiply their money. They went to these financiers. They followed their advice. They had money for gigolos, gamblers, exotic toilets and all sorts of other useless toys. And because they had more money than brains they multiplied and multiplied, and multiplied their finances until there was nothing left.

They went to their Sam Daddy-dearest, the king crying, “We’ve lost all our money.”

“Oh we can’t have that”, said Sam Daddy-dearest, the king.

And he looked around his kingdom to see where there was some money. He saw all the people with their little bits of money and he said, “There’s some money.” As the king snatched what was left of already meager wages, he declared,  “We’ll take that!” He knew individually their funds did not amount to much, but collectively they could support the princesses in the extravagantly excessive manner to which they had, sadly, become accustomed.

So they did. They took money from the people in their father’s kingdom as well as from the people in their kingdoms. The people resisted, but the king said it would be good for them and their children and their children’s children’s children to work two or three jobs. “Your hard work is very rewarding for my daughters. After all they are princesses; they are too regal, too big to fail.”

Someone suggested the money that was taken from the people for use by the Skanks be used to pay off all the people’s debts to the Skanks; so that the people in rescuing the Skanks would have no more debts to them at all.

But the Skanks said, “We can’t have that. If the money we take from the people is used to pay off the people’s debts then we will have no more income at all because there will be no more debt.”

“We need the people to give us this money for free,” said one Skank.

“Yes,” said another, “then we can loan it back to them at a high interest rate…”

“Because,” another Skank reasoned, ” we took all their money. They don’t have any money left and then they can owe us forever!”

This idea was quickly accepted.

They took money from the people in their father’s kingdom as well as from the people in their own kingdoms. The people tried once more to resist, but the king said “It’s good for you. It’s for your own benefit.”

When someone else remarked plaintively, “But our children and their children’s children’s children will still be working at two or three jobs to pay off this debt.”

The king replied, “It is good for them too. Hard work is a character builder. And besides, it’s for the good of your country.”

“Your hard work is very rewarding for my daughters. After all they are princesses . They are too regal, too beautiful, and too big to fail.”

Tugging at her fathers robes one of the daughters said, “But Sam Daddy-dearest the people will hate us.”

“Who cares?” said the king, who should be re-named Dick Cheney in this tale for his callous attitude toward the people.

Another daughter cried as though she were genuinely concerned, “But their children’s children’s children will still be trying to pay off this debt.”

And the king said, “Either you have a problem with that or I don’t see the problem.”

Finally another of the daughters, the one most like her father, chimed in, “It’s not like it won’t get paid off sooner or later.”

“Or,” said another skanky princess daughter, “like they will be working forever or something.”

“Yes, that’s it. We’re providing for future generations,” suggested another Skank.  All the Skanks agreed,“Their great- great grandchildren have something to look forward to.”

“Now daughters,”  cautioned their Daddy-dearest. “Do not be careless princesses and get caught playing skanky banky. Remember, I am the only one between you and the people with the torches and the pitch forks! Now off with you  and good fortune doing what Skank princesses have always done.”

So the royal Skanks continued to live their high life.

The people continued to pay.

And there was a story that went amongst the people that some day ……..

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/a-banking-faerie-tale-the-royal-skanks.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/colbert-discusses-oped-columnist-yoo-and-the-philadelphia-inquirer.html http://youthinkwhat.com/colbert-discusses-oped-columnist-yoo-and-the-philadelphia-inquirer.html#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 14:47:54 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1328 Watch this video of Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report”, pronounced Col-bear Ree-poorh, as he takes comedic umbrage with the decision of the venerable newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer for its decision to hire  John Yoo, the architect of the Bush administration’s torture policy, to write a monthly column.

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Extra! Extra! Bleed All About It!
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage

Yes, John Yoo. He is the man who justifies torture. During his 2001 to 2003 tenure in the Office of Legal Counsel as an assistant deputy attorney general, Yoo worked under Jay Bybee in the U.S. Department of Justice. It has bee widely reported Yoo was the author or co-author of the so-called torture memos. These memos provided the Bush White House with the legal advice, read that justification, to use enhanced interrogation techniques.

In one memo John Yoo says:

“The victim must experience intense pain or suffering of the kind that is equivalent to the pain that would be associated with serious physical injury, so severe that death, organ failure, or permanent damage resulting in a loss of significant body function will likely result.”

We agree with Colbert and a legion of other right thinking individuals including  Spanish National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon who is spearheading an investigation of  what is now known as “The Bush Six”. They are William J. Haynes II, then general counsel to the Department of Defense;  Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy, John Yoo, Jay Bybee,   David Addington, the chief of staff under former Vice President Dick Cheney and our favorite,  former Attorney General Alberto “The Torturer” Gonzales. Sadly Dick Cheney former Vice President is not included.

Although these six could possibly face criminal charges in Spain
for enabling torture at Guantanamo and elsewher, (we suggest “The Bush Six” take Madrid off the European itinerary); we are not in favor of seeing them imprisoned or tried.  We look forward to see them publicly humiliated, shamed and disgraced for their part in the devastation and disruption of lives around the world.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/colbert-discusses-oped-columnist-yoo-and-the-philadelphia-inquirer.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/floridas-public-education-crisis-50th-isnt-good-enough.html http://youthinkwhat.com/floridas-public-education-crisis-50th-isnt-good-enough.html#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 11:40:37 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1290 You Think Duh!

According to a flier paid for by Volusia County Florida Council of PTAs, Volusia County Schools, like many public schools in the state of Florida, are facing a funding crisis.

We’ve read and reviewed the information. Our proposals for solution of the situation are as nonsensical as the ones being presented by the
Volusia County Council and the state legislators in Tallahassee.
If we were writing this material here’s how we’d say it:

We agree 50th out of 50 states is not good enough. We’re in danger of becoming number 49. We must take every available step to insure no other state including, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia, can push us out of the bottom slot.

Maximize flexibility and increase local control. Leave it to the local geniuses to reduce school hours to begin at 1100am and end at 2pm with an hour for lunch.

Enact no new K-12 mandates; in fact delay the 2009-2010 school year to begin in autumn 2011, possibly, to be determined.Class size amendment requirements by continuing school wide average. If school wide average must be 25 students per class, and we currently have 100 students per class, then it is necessary to add hundreds of classes with nobody in them until the average is reduced to less than 25. Great savings are to be found here, because there is no teacher, there are no students and there are no classrooms to be heated or cooled. These are virtual classrooms that exist only on paper or the legislature’s imagination, whichever you prefer.

Implement new high school grading and graduation requirements. If you actually get to high school, you automatically graduate.

Implementation of virtual k-8 virtual education. Stay home and learn how to play video games, and when you’re really good at it, we’ll enroll you for a day in high school; you will automatically graduate because you got there!

Expansion of middle school physical education requirements. Having dispensed with any book learning from k to grade 6  learning will be focused on physical education. Reading, writing and arithmetic who needs it?

Potential sources of increased revenue: Elimination of certain sales tax exemptions. Tax every mother-smucker for everything and do not pass it on.

Expanded collection of Internet sales tax revenue. Tax all those children who are no longer going to school and now spend their day ordering things on line.

Raising general sales tax by one percent. These kids are going to be too dumb to work we need to get our income from somewhere.

Repeal reductions in intangible taxes. Intangible taxes are taxes that don’t exist, non-tangible. Repeal their imaginary reductions.

Designation of existing gaming revenue primarily to public education, while tightening the gaming laws and educating the public about the dangers of gambling. This should ensure reduced income.

Increased tobacco and alcohol sales tax by media blitzing the children and adults that they should neither drink nor smoke. Raise the drinking age to 35;  raise the smoking age to 40.

The education of the young in Florida is general speaking a complete write off! Forget it they’re too stupid. We propose more bang for the buck. Make the computer smarter. No need to read or write. Teach the computers to understand “you all” ” youse” and other colloquialisms. Teach the computer to read to the students.

Smarter computers are the solution to everything. For example look at how successful our computers have been in the voting industry. This is a growth, meaning win-win,  opportunity if you are in the computer distribution industry. As everyone knows computers have to be replaced every four years because they are outdated.

Now that we have computers in the voting industry,  in the virtual education, in reading and writing for our children, computer is the industry to be. Like plastics in the movie the “Graduate”.

By insuring our position of 50th out of 50 states we guarantee we will be at the vanguard of popular illiteracy and the computer expansion and distribution industries.

Our children can learn to speak from answering the phones ringing from the telemarketing industry. “Hello. My name is Ravjee and I like would make to you the offer special today….”

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/floridas-public-education-crisis-50th-isnt-good-enough.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/james-baldwin-what-societies-really-want.html http://youthinkwhat.com/james-baldwin-what-societies-really-want.html#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 00:30:50 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1304 We came across an interesting quote by the late American novelist, writer, playwright, poet, essayist and civil rights activist James Baldwin.

“What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society.

If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish.”

James Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers,” 1963

According to data found at Wikipedia

…..” most of Baldwin’s work deals with racial and sexual issues in the mid-20th century in the United States. His novels are notable for the personal way in which they explore questions of identity as well as the way in which they mine complex social and psychological pressures related to being black and homosexual well before the social, cultural or political equality of these groups was improved.”

We thought we’d share it with our readers. It’s thought provoking. It is one man’s opinion.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/james-baldwin-what-societies-really-want.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/introducing-fantasy-banking.html http://youthinkwhat.com/introducing-fantasy-banking.html#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 20:15:51 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1277 Say consumers get in on the latest craze sweeping the nation that’s fun for the whole entire family. It’s called Fantasy Banking! That’s right! Join in on this exciting new way to play like the aristocracy. You can “own” a financial institution.

Just like when you “own” a fantasy sports team you don’t really own a team like the Major League Baseball World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. You are pretending with your friends who are also pretending they “own” teams like Hal Steinbrenner’s  New York Yankees; or if you  play in a football fantasy league your friend might pretend to “own” the reigning National Football League (NFL) SuperBowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers while you might pretend to “own” the Philadelphia Eagles; or you may have the misfortune to “own” the Detroit Lions, who have the dubious distinction of having the worst record, ever, in the NFL . When you “own” fantasy sports teams you can make decisions just like the real life millionaires and billionaires who have real ownership of real  major league sports teams.

That’s how it is when you and your friends play Fantasy Banking.

When you play Fantasy Banking you have a choice to be in the U.S. Banking markets, the South American Banking markets, the Asian Banking markets or the European Banking markets.

Gosh! Golly kids you and your friends can pretend to have more money than you do as you make financial trades around the globe. You can make boneheaded decisions just like the ones Ken Lewis made when he was Chairman and the CEO of Bank Of America. Like Lewis, you, too, can be forced to relinquish your position by irate shareholders.

You can make purchases with cash you don’t have just like real banks do. You’ll approve high risk loans to individuals and companies that will never in a million years qualify to  meet conventional credit criteria for granting loans to individual borrowers or corporate entities.

Approve mortgages for overpriced houses. Sell mortgages in a securitized bundle of other toxic assets and see the disaster that ensues.

You’ll be charging excessive fees for nearly any service and everything you can think of while you spend the money in fantastic unrestrained creative ways unheard of by bankers from earlier times.  You’ll make so much money from ATM fees alone, you will have to set up a separate corporation just to handle the profits!

And what’s more you can even cause a global monetary meltdown then go to the government and taxpayers for a bailout of more money to stay afloat to either spend recklessly or hoard as you make promises to begin making loans to students, educational institutions, moms and dads for cars and small businesses.

You can drag your feet, cause unnecessary delays on making decisions to help thousands of families in jeopardy of losing their homes. Waste more money by going to foreclosure. Watch the children as they are traumatized by the prospect of not having a home. Decimate communities. See the housing prices plummet because You are the banker.

Or use the newest strategy. When you play Fantasy Banking  as a pretend banker you can pretend to help, like real bankers do; every time your bank accepts an application for loan modification you make more money, even if the loan is unsuccessful You still get paid.

Sign up today for Fantasy Banking! Don’t be the last on your street to join in the fleecing of future generations.

It’s a game you can’t lose!

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/introducing-fantasy-banking.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/health-care-reform-energy-reform-president-obamas-address.html http://youthinkwhat.com/health-care-reform-energy-reform-president-obamas-address.html#comments Sat, 16 May 2009 17:10:08 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1286 A new foundation is the theme presented by President Barack Obama in his weekly address on health care reform and energy reform

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/health-care-reform-energy-reform-president-obamas-address.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/hoax-cell-phone-numbers-go-public-dismiss-as-seasonal-rumor.html http://youthinkwhat.com/hoax-cell-phone-numbers-go-public-dismiss-as-seasonal-rumor.html#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 14:27:00 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1270 It’s that time of year friends. It’s the season when some one begins an interplanetary hoax about cell phone numbers going public. We received an email this morning from one of our fans suggesting we pass this faulty bit of information to our friends.

This baseless rumor has been around for at least four years. The email which sends cell phone subscribers to the panic button has language like:

“Cell phone numbers are being released to the telemarketing companies. “

Or,

“You will be billed for these calls”

and

“You must call from the telephone number you wish to have blocked.”

It’s all a bunch of hooey! Read what the Federal Trade Commission, (FTC), said about this subject more than two years ago. Or check out the article by “The Gadget Hound” Ben Patterson who wrote in January of this year. In it Patterson says:

“Snopes.com—the exhaustive Web-based index of urban legends—has a thorough entry on this particular rumor, which it quickly busts like a piñata. “

As urban legends, rumors and hoaxes go, this one is resilient and seemingly will not die.

Besides after the camflamma over the proposed Food Safety Act of 2009 we’re not likely to publish anything without at least spending sometime conducting the most superficial research.

This one was easy. A quick query into the major search engines using the phrase “Cell Phone Number Go Public” provides enough fodder from the results returned to easily prove this announcement about cell phones to be erroneous. We believe Snopes is a credible source.

We’re dismissing this one for the fake alert it is proven to be….again.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/hoax-cell-phone-numbers-go-public-dismiss-as-seasonal-rumor.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/drmdigital-rights-management-and-cory-doctorows-law.html http://youthinkwhat.com/drmdigital-rights-management-and-cory-doctorows-law.html#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 15:37:57 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1220 DOCTOROW’s LAW:

“Any time someone puts a lock on something you own, against your wishes, and doesn’t give you the key, it’s not being done to your benefit.”

Cory Doctorow, an activist for technology issues, is also a science fiction novelist of renown, and a blogger.

We recently discovered video of a presentation he made earlier this year, during the O’Reilly Tools for Change for Publishing Conference, on the subject of Digital Rights Management or DRM.

We liked what he had to say. In fact, much of what he said with regard to copyright, and the recording industry in particular ,are sentiments we have expressed in the past. We fully support sharing music files.

It’s sort of like buying an article of clothing. Once you’ve made the purchase it belongs to you to do as you wish with it. The same applies to books and recordings of music.

Publishing houses, recording companies and their distributors would have you believe different.

Not only do they want control of the creator of the art form, the author of the work, be it music composer, lyricist or novelist, by wresting ownership of the creation and paying a small amount of the proceeds from the sale of that creation to the originator; they also want to and have begun to have control over the consumer as to how much we pay, how much and how long we have access to the material once we have purchased it. It’s just another example of the world of economic predators. We know a woman who speaks of them as economic terrorists.

Watch the video. It runs about 20 minutes; we believe it is worth your time.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/drmdigital-rights-management-and-cory-doctorows-law.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/florence-nightingale-happy-birthday-to-the-founder-of-nursing.html http://youthinkwhat.com/florence-nightingale-happy-birthday-to-the-founder-of-nursing.html#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 13:49:27 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1261 Today is the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the woman credited with founding modern nursing, the reformation of the hospital system and the mathematician.

Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in her time. Women of her upper economic class did not generally attend university nor embark on professional careers.

Her father believed women should be educated, so his daughters learned Italian, Latin, Greek, history, and mathematics. Florence in particular received excellent early preparation in mathematics from her father and aunt. Later she was also tutored in mathematics.

Florence Nightingale is acknowledged for her work in the Crimean War. It is there she conducted statistical research later used for reform of the British military health-care system. While caring for the wounded and dying she noted, by utilizing techniques of statistical analysis,  the incidence of preventable deaths in the military. She made the connection between sanitary conditions and healing, an association that became an established standard.

Her insistence on adequate lighting, diet, hygiene, and activity shows she understood the mind and body work together. She promoted cleanliness, a predecessor to the clean and sterile techniques of today. In doing so Nightingale gave proof sanitary conditions are a major barrier to infection, which is also condusive to healing.

During the American Civil War, Florence Nightingale was called upon by the Union government as a consultant in organizing field medicine. Despite being a published author, and a well known expert for her work in nursing in combat conditions, her suggestions to the government officials were met with resistance. Once again Nightingale’s work  inspired the creation of a volunteer group,  the United States Sanitary Commission which became an official agency of the government through legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861. 

Florence Nighingale is renown for her two crowning achievements –establishing nursing as a highly respected profession, not an easy task in the Victorian era; and hospital reform a no less daunting project at the time. Nighingale is also the inventor of the polar-area diagram which she used to prove social phenomena could be measured objectively and subjected to mathematical analysis. Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp, is hailed as an innovator in the collection, tabulation, interpretation, and graphical display of descriptive statistics as well as her  contributions to healthcare and the field of nursing.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/florence-nightingale-happy-birthday-to-the-founder-of-nursing.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/food-safety-act-of-2009-revisited.html http://youthinkwhat.com/food-safety-act-of-2009-revisited.html#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 16:33:22 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1258 In March 2009 we got emails which hammered us for repeating information we’d received from some activists who submit information to us from time to time about topics of concern to them.

We were roundly criticized by some folks who actually read our articles. These folks are activists who had done their homework and tried to pull our coat to tell us what was going on with this interesting piece of legislation.

We read, as promised, the proposed bill. We did not see anything that looked like a red flag. So we went to one of the places we always go to check our facts. It’s the same place we would have gone if we’d had time back in March.
We stand corrected. We thank all of you for your interest in YouThinkWhat. We hope you will continue to tell us what you think and that you will let us know when you think we are wrong. There’s a good chance you could be right.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/food-safety-act-of-2009-revisited.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/wanda-sykes-was-she-too-much-for-the-room.html http://youthinkwhat.com/wanda-sykes-was-she-too-much-for-the-room.html#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 15:27:04 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1252 Over the past weekend the White House Correspondents held their annual dinner.  Only 14 presidents, beginning with President Calvin Coolidge in 1924, have attended this grand affair.

The White House Correspondents Association is in charge of the planning of the event. After all it is their dinner where reporters receive awards for journalism and students receive scholarships. They choose the hotel venue, the menu and the evening’s comedy host. It is a tradition since the 1940s for the correspondents and their guests-usually actors and other  entertainers along with politicians to be entertained by the witty observations of the evening’s featured hired speaker.

This year their choice was Emmy Award winning writer, actor, comedian and author Wanda Sykes. Mostly known for her stand-up comedy Sykes is a talented graduate of Hampton University who has been lauded for smart comedic delivery by her peers. In fact she’s rank among the Top 25 Funniest People in America by Entertainment Weekly.

Some media types are saying Wanda crossed an imaginary line of good taste when she made some barbed remarks about Rush “I hope the Obama administration fails” Limbaugh.

We think Wanda Sykes gave the White House Correspondents their money’s worth. If you are the President or the First Lady you may have been a bit uncomfortable in response to some comments she made about the loud mouth fat guy on the radio who resembles, and we believe,  is often confused with, the mascot for the Grand Old Part (GOP)–the  pachyderm.

Watch the video. You decide if Wanda was out of line. Then make your comments here. We’d love to know what you think.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/wanda-sykes-was-she-too-much-for-the-room.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/lt-dan-choi-gay-us-army-arabic-linguist-you-didnt-ask-he-told-hes-fired.html http://youthinkwhat.com/lt-dan-choi-gay-us-army-arabic-linguist-you-didnt-ask-he-told-hes-fired.html#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 12:26:13 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1232 Just imagine you are a West Point graduate who is also an officer in the Army National Guard.  You are fluent in Arabic and you  recently came back from a tour of duty in Iraq. Then you received notice  the military is about to fire you. You’re going to be getting a pink slip because  you disclosed your sexual preference. You announced you are gay.

That’s what happened to Lt.  Dan Choi. He is one of the founding members of Knights Out, an organization of 35 gay and lesbian military officers , graduates of West Point, America’s prestigious military academy for Army officers, who say they refuse to live a lie. The incongruity is astounding when you consider they’ve been trained as West Point cadets to not lie, to not cheat and to not steal.

These GLBT officers say the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law is illegal, immoral and unethical. They say it’s just plain bad law.

President Barack Obama agrees. The president has stated he “intends to fulfill my commitment by repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  He says it will take some time because the congress is involved in changing the law.

We think that is a too convenient cop out. If over the past eight years the office of the president used its powers to harm people and disrupt lives by using written presidential directives, we believe this administration is compelled to use the same powers to restore lives.

The military officers and troops, more than 1100 dismissed so far this year alone for disclosing their sexual orientation, each deserve to receive an honorable discharge and associated benefits for service to their country.

Are we so top heavy in Arabic linguists we can afford to be firing any of them who can best demonstrate our sincerity to re-establish good will in the Middle East?

A law that forces men and women to live a lie in order to express love of their country is wrong and should be repealed.

]]> http://youthinkwhat.com/lt-dan-choi-gay-us-army-arabic-linguist-you-didnt-ask-he-told-hes-fired.html/feed 0 http://youthinkwhat.com/happy-mothers-day-2009.html http://youthinkwhat.com/happy-mothers-day-2009.html#comments Sun, 10 May 2009 21:50:59 +0000 admin http://youthinkwhat.com/?p=1234

“A baseball manager has learned a lot about his job from having played the game, but a parent has not learned a thing from having once been a child.”~ Bill Cosby

Happy Mother’s Day to all who are parenting, and those have parented and continue to parent.

It does not matter if you’ve given birth to the child or children you guide, you provide the consistency in their life;  you are the reliable adult your young humans require for their development.

It does not matter if you are a mother who has given birth or a father who is acting as both mother and father to some youngsters, we honor you all. You males are very special mothers, and that’s one word, not two.

Raising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made.~ Bill Cosby

On this day we offer wisdom from comedian and philosopher and teevee dad extraordinaire,  Dr.William H. Cosby, Jr.,  who holds the Ed.D. degree, better known to those who follow and admire him as Bill Cosby.

“In spite of the six thousand manuals on child raising in the bookstores, child raising is still a dark continent and no one really knows anything. You just need a lot of love and luck — and, of course, courage.”~ Bill Cosby

Last month we told you about the proposed bill in the Florida State House and the Florida State Senate known as SB 956 / HB 7149. It was described as having the potential to be “the most repressive voter bill in the nation.” Here’s an update on that important piece of legislation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, (ACLU Florida) in cooperation with the efforts of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People); American Association of Retired Persons,(AARP); Progress Florida,  Florida Public Interest Research Groups,
(PIRG); along with the League of Women Voters and about forty other public interest activist groups, was able to defeat the endeavors of the sponsors and supporters of SB 956 / HB 7149 in both the Florida House and the Florida Senate which would have been, if passed, the most repressive voter regulations in the country.

Fortunately, for all voters the largest coalition ever assembled in Florida for this purpose, mobilized their members to stop bad laws that would have further limited the number of IDs that voters could use at the polls, without offering a reasonable alternative.

Also defeated was the further disfranchisement of disabled voters by adding a four-year extension to the date when paper ballots were to be available for voters with disabilities.

The coalition’s action stopped laws that would restrict voter registration efforts and impose unnecessary restrictions on petition-gatherers.

As a result of this incredible union of civil rights, voting rights and civil  liberties organizations they were able to halt a proposal to force more voters to vote unnecessarily on provisional ballots, which have a high rejection rate.

This is a monumental achievement. Anyone who has ever cast a ballot in an election in Florida knows how meaningful, how important this winning action is to bringing a halt to this latest attempt to repress our voting rights.

Success in defeating bad laws came from the grassroots up. Community organizers working with ACLU lobbying personnel in the state capital, Tallahassee, who also worked with the ACLU’s Miami based  Voting Rights Project along with the more than 40 organizations and You. Your phone calls and emails to your circle of influence helped to bring about this astounding change for the better. You struck another blow for freedom.

As Courtaney Strickland, Director of Public Policy for the ACLU of Florida says,

“We wouldn’t have been able to defeat this legislation without you.”

We are glad we all know where the power base is.

The news piece you are about to view deals with one North Carolina suburban teen and his  family’s encounter with law enforcement.
The first part of this story shown in the preceding video deals with the Patriot Act, the fact it was sold to Americans as the panacea for all things pertaining to terrorist acts…especially acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists; or so we thought. The way the law was composed it never specified foreigners, we assumed it was a law to protect us from “them”. It was easy to sell the legislation to the American people at a time following the tragic events of September 11, 2001. It was the time of red, yellow, magenta and other rainbow pastel color alerts to keep us in a heightened state of fear. Fearful people are easiest to control than defiant people. We did not realize the “them” we were being protected from is really “us”….you and me.  Regular John Q. and Jane Q. Public and all the little Publics, too are the targets of this very bad legislation..

The second point in this news story is that it is apparent the government investigators, FBI, Homeland Security, are not up to speed on the latest technology used by criminal types in the 21st Century.

It does not come as a surprise to us a federal agency or two tasked with keeping us safe knows nothing about a technological advance known as spoofing currently in use by nearly every business enterprise from corporate collection agencies to the little genius down the block with entirely too much time on his hands.

Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican celebration of independence from Spain. Mexican Independence Day is September 16th.

In 1862, in the city of Puebla, the outnumbered Mexican Army defeated the French who had invaded Mexico late in the previous year to force payment of an outstanding debt. The victory by the Mexican Army, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín, is noted because they not only conquered the larger, better trained and better equipped armed forces from France, they vanquished an army that had not been defeated in fifty years.

The Mexican defeat of the French attack at Puebla was a short lived success. In 1863 France invaded and occupied Mexico City, installed Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, an Austrian, Maximilian I as Emperor of Mexico.

May 5th, however, is commemorated for its historical significance, though not a federal holiday in Mexico, it is proudly celebrated in the City of Puebla, as well as cities across the United States and a few locations around the world.

These homes have been destroyed  because of the decision by the bankers. That’s right… bankers. The decision was made by the bankers,  encouraged by avaricious politicians to destroy new homes. You may wonder why the bankers and the politicians are demolishing homes when so many are being dispossessed of their homes, but students of U.S history and especially the history of the Great Depression will understand that while people were starving in the Great Depression large oversupplies of food grown were being dumped into the ocean.

There are more than 100,000 people who are homeless in the City of Los Angeles alone. It is very strange that all this talk of surplus and excess homes seems to result in more and more people dispossessed.

If you believed the hype there should be two homes for everyone, at least that would make more sense than knocking them down, but not when you have bankers to rescue.

Here’s the story as reported by Patrick Thatcher of VVDailyPress.com

“Victorville-The housing collapse is taking a literal form for one bankrupt housing development.
Four model homes and 12 nearly finished spec homes at Bear Valley Road and Highway 395 are being demolished.
The developer filed bankruptcy about 18 months ago and the foreclosed property went to Guaranty Bank in Irvine.”

Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc is a holding company of Guaranty Bank which received a portion of the $750 Billion taxpayer bail out money last fall.

We did not support the bail out then. Sadly we are seeing the result of throwing more and more good money into the sewers, as if money could rescue money if only the pile is high enough.

The executives at Guaranty Bank led by Kenneth R. Dubuque, President and Chief Executive Officer in association with Chief Financial Officer Ronald D. Murff and Mark A. Crawford, Chief Risk Officer have as their core values conducting business “with the highest degree of integrity, honesty and efficiency.”

Watch the video you’ll see some of those core values being demonstrated as new homes are demolished because the decision makers at Guaranty Bank decided their “only option is to tear new buildings down.” If you think like a Guaranty banker you’ll conclude there’s no good reason why a good property should be sold at a loss allowing someone else to benefit, when it can be reduced to rubble allowing no one to benefit.

Tear it down they say. It’s their way of having a “significantly positive impact on the community….”.

It’s part of their strategy to show mutual respect, be passionate about business, playing to win, scorched earth style “Take no Prisoners”!

Rapunzel Rapunzel throw down your hair. The prince climbed up to the top of the tall tower, but when he got to the window he was met by a greedy banker who pushed him backwards down into the thorns where he was blinded.

The greedy bankers and politicians only hope we will be blinded, wandering confused, without memory or direction.

Great Kids Explorer Club, a not-for-profit 501(C)(3) organization is partners with Volusia County schools, churches and civic organizations in order to provide no charge after school programs for elementary school youngsters who are considered at-risk and economically disadvantaged.

The Great Kids Explorer Club programs are designed to  inspire children of elementary school age to improve their lives through building a better self image,  improved behaviors, more productive attitudes toward learning,  developing the ability to handle life’s challenges and strengthen their academic skills. Important qualities  such as self-respect, respect of others, and a desire to do their best are instilled in these youngsters through interaction with teams of dedicated, passionate volunteers.

In the free  program the youngsters learn skills useful for a lifetime. Among those skills the ability to deal positively and effectively  with difficult issues they are confronted with now and those they will face in the future. The great kids who participate in the club have shown impressive improvement. They earn better grades, and they are more confident. These students are better equipped to make healthy decisions. We are hoping  with this training they’ll be able to make better decisions that will determine their income and lifestyle as adults.

Through positive reinforcement and acknowledgment of good behavior, interesting group activities and tutoring at no charge, provided by a team of reliable volunteers from across Volusia County, these children receive the tools they need to be successful productive adult citizens.

We hear the Great Kids organization has given hundreds of low-income children tutoring in reading and math. These are essential skills  many adults do not have. We think there ought to be a Great Grown-ups Literacy Club for adults who lack these basic abilities.

We’ve been told how the club’s volunteers teach life skills, and supply social skills training to these elementary school children. It’s all done at no cost to the schools or the families served.

Friends of the organization tell us that in 2008, in the  “Bridges for Success” education project of the Great Kids organization, there were 187 children enrolled in tutoring and enrichment Great Kids programs across Volusia County, including programs in Ormond Beach and Port Orange.

We’ve heard that because funding is a problem there is no program for schools in Daytona Beach at this time. If you are a teacher, parent or otherwise interested adult who knows students in elementary school who may qualify to be in the Great Kids Explorer Club program and you can provide transportation for their participation contact the club.

Funding is always an issue for an all volunteer program. That is why this Sunday afternoon, May 3, 2009 at 1pm at the Pirate’s Island Miniature Golf Course,  located 3420 S Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach, Florida 32118; there will be a fund raising event for this  organization which fulfills an important need. Tickets are $10 and include snacks and soft drinks.  We think that’s a minuscule amount to pay for an investment in the children,  our future.

For more details contact Great Kids Explorer Club Volusia County. Telephone 386.676.0276 and ask for Sandy Rakes, the Executive Director. She’ll give you information about this event and the Cinco de Mayo fundraiser on Tuesday, May 5, 2009.

By the way, we think all kids are great kids. They just need access to opportunity, guidance and a reliable, consistent support system to reach their full potential.

Last fall it was announced, among other proclamations pertaining to the economic crisis and the banking industry, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-FDIC, would increase by double the amount of money covered in the event a bank defaulted. Everyone cheered. Bankers, government officials and the banking public were delighted and relieved.

Every week, since last October, banks continue to default .

We have been told up to $250,000 U.S.  in our accounts would be protected. This change in policy was received as wonderful news, and the general public is confident without knowing it is a temporary condition. It is a false confidence.The fact is this fantastic insurance benefit is not perpetual. It is a limited time offer good only through the end of 2009.

We’ve been convinced it’s a pretty good deal, and  it is at first glance a unique selling proposition designed to lure customers into making deposits into those greedy, sleazy banks that continue to mishandle our tax dollars and our personal money.

And the U.S. government is in on the campaign that is only “good until December 31, 2009.” It’s something not many bankers nor government officials are talking about.

This is how we imagine it might have taken place:
GOP National Committee Receptionist: “Hello it’s a great time to be a Republican. The party of Lincoln. My name is Cheryl. I can help you.”
Senator Arlen Spector, former Republican, now Democrat from Pennsylvania: “Uh-hello. This is Arlen Spector.  Is Michael Steel available? I must speak to him.”

GOP National Committee Receptionist: “No, Senator. Mike’s not able to take a phone call right now. He’s out parking Rush’s car. I can help you.”

Senator Spector:“Just take a message for me. Tell Chairman Steel I’m switching parties. I’m announcing as soon as possible. Tell him it’s too bad he has to hear about it from a phone message. I’ve tried to arrange an appointment with him, to tell him in person of my intention to leave the GOP. But he’s always busy doing some minimum wage task for some wealthy Republican like Lady Lynn de Rothschild.”
That’s the way we imagine things are happening over on the dark side of town in D.C  That’s the way we think  it happened behind the scenes of this historic event.

There are, no doubt, some who believe Spector’s recent cancer battle may have affected his decision to change parties. We suspect it may be the wrong thinking backward moving strategies of the party of Lincoln that brought on his change of political heart. Spector has bumped heads with the party leadership on several issues in the long ago past and the very recent past. Spector’s actions should come as no surprise to the GOP leadership

Arlen Spector has always been for many of us an admired public servant.  He is a bright,  skillful and clever politician. From his early days as a registered Democrat who ran on a Republican ticket to win the election over his form boss; to his terms as District Attorney in Philadelphia to his chairmanship of such senate committees as the Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Veterans Affairs, and the Senate Judiciary Committee ,Arlen Spector has consistently proven himself to be dedicated to the task of representing his constituency. As a result he enjoys great popularity among them. In 2006 Time Magazine selected Spector as one of the ten best senators in the country.

We like the guy. We’re happy to see he’s fully engaged in the game.

We said this move by Spector is a wake up call for the Grand Old Party. It’s another wake up call signalling the party is over. New game. New rules. Get into the game or you will be extinct.

After we seeing the reports of the amazing profits made by the likes of major surviving banking institutions Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and, our very special favorite, Bank of America we wondered why the banks have not used the same enchanting number manipulation on the mortgage, credit card or checking accounts of John and Jane Q. Public.Wouldn’t it be just swell to know the entire month of say, December, with all the regular bills for necessities like food, shelter, utilities and clothing that came due, plus all the money that was spent for the children’s holiday presents, and associated celebration activities, when those bills came due in January they were simply  Poof! disappeared!?

That’s what Goldman Sachs did. Goldman Sachs changed its reporting calendar thereby, obliterating a huge,  what would be considered a really big loss, in the minds of mere mortal beings, of a $1.5 billion during that thirty-one day period.

We know a man who is a sleight of hand artist. His name is Mystical Mel. I bet he’d give anything to be able to perform a feat of that magnitude of amazement.

Our favorite financial skank establishment, Skank of America sold its shares in China Construction Bank. That’s perfectly legal we are told by experts in the matter. To have the esteemed banking executive Ken Lewis say the profit from the transaction isas “a testament to the value and breadth of the franchise” is just os much hooey!

According to Sydney Finkelstein,  professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Bank of America booked a $2.2 billion gain by increasing the value of Merrill Lynch’s assets  acquired last fall to prices consderably higher than Merrill had rated them.

Professor Finkelstein, says this strategy is legal but he believes it is also,
“perfectly delusional, because some day soon these assets will be written down to their fair value, and it won’t be pretty.”

That’s why we ask, “Why should the banks be the only ones to benefit from all this fancy mathematical cipherin’?” Let the common man and woman derive some of the perks of this convoluted arithmetic.

We realize it’s this kind of record keeping that got us in this economic banking crisis predicament, but why should the bankers be allowed to have all of the fun? if we’re going to hell in a hand basket let’s make the most of it and happily boogie our way to the final financial disaster.

We believe it is right because we can take a stand to make amends for the many times in history where it seemed expedient to allow the perpetrators of the most heinous crimes to not only go free, but continue with their liberty and dignity intact without criticism of their acts; no public fault finding of their behavior as shameful. They were not humiliated,  nor made to feel remorse; They were not given any indication how extremely  offensive their behavior was to the population of the planet. Their crimes against humanity were totally unacceptable and repulsive.There are several examples of this so called “free-pass” from social/political leaders. The result of turning a blind eye to bad behavior remain with us today in the crimes of the Turks against the Armenians; the crimes of the British Empire,  all the nations of Europe against every sovereign nation ever invaded especially in Africa and Asia. There are the crimes of the Americans with their unique form of slavery along with all the countries that pursued slavery, and all those sovereign places that still continue to enslave human beings.

There are few in this world who have the courage to take a stand for what is right. We must do what is right. We must, for the sake of those who gave their lives, stand up to say, “Torture is wrong. America does not do it!” Those who did must be publicly shamed.

We can only think of one instance where a nation was roundly criticized and the perpetrators of horrendous inhumanity were brought to justice by trial with tremendous publicity. The judgment at Nuremberg at the end of World War II is the only time we know of when an  entire nation was made to feel shame for the horrific acts of its leaders.

If the same kind of judgment had been rendered by the nations of the world toward the U.S. after its war in the 1860s over slavery, there probably would not be any extended discordant discussion about race in America; there would probably be fewer instances of racist incidents because of the shame associated with slavery’s inhumanity. We’d probably be having our
tenth elected black president.  The issue of race would possibly be of minimal concern.

Torture is an inhuman act with its purpose to psychologically humiliate, demean and physically harm the victim. It’s control and power over another human for vicious reasons.

The government of the United States, under the recent Bush administration approved torture. The agents of the United States of America performed torture at the behest of the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the head of the CIA, and certain Justice Department officials. Many are called upon, even compelled to be accountable for the pain, suffering and disruption of millions of lives around the world.

We believe the world public should know who they are. We believe they should be publicly reviled for their actions.

According to sources such as the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, the proposed law set for a vote in the Florida State legislature today, Friday, April 24, 2009, the new law will make it harder for citizens  to exercise their constitutional right to vote.The bill known as SB 956 / HB 7149 covers every aspect of voting in Florida from soup to nuts. We’ve looked over it and it simply means more hoops to jump through for the citizens who wish to express their political opinion in Florida at the polls. This is more bureaucratic red tape for Florida voters.

We urge you to contact your Florida State Representative or your Florida State Senator today. Tell him or her you are a constituent and that you’d like  the Representative/Senator to vote “NO” for bill SB 956 / HB 7149. You may want to remind the staff person as a constituent you’ll be watching the performance of the elected official who is to represent your interests in the state legislature. Remind him/her if they perform well, do a good job, they’ll get to return to Tallahassee following the next election; if not they will join the millions of Americans seeking other employment.

In the United States and all over the world people are creating ways to conserve the planet’s natural resources. Nearly forty years after the first Earth Day commemoration we are still trying to save the planet.

Over the years since the very first Earth Day we’ve managed to develop more gas guzzling vehicles, more dangerous pesticides harmful to people as well as to insects and other pests,  more non bio-degradable products and an entire economy that is petroleum based from fertilizers to milk containers, carpets and clothing. We’re just been plain old disrespectful to Mother Earth.

Here’s hoping we can restore what has been lost and that everyday will be celebrated as Earth Day.

Camp is struck by the fact that nearly every article about Boyle names her an “unlikely star”.

Our society has developed many undesireable qualities. Superficiality and insincerity rank as the top offensive behaviors along with being predatory and coldhearted.

Watch Camp’s video. See if you agree….

Could it be this quality is a distinct disadvantage when people so frustrated by the candidate’s efforts begin to throw eggs at him?
Good people who deserve proper representation are being denied their rights. This is no longer about you, Norm. Give it up, will ya?

Al Franken is the new senator from Minnesota. Accept it. The voters are just not that into you, Norm.

We advise Mr. Coleman to choose one of several suggested options:

Lay it down! Give up the ghost. Fagedd-aboud-it! Move on.

We encourage the last option…moving on. You can write a book about your many legal and procedural defeats. Many people love war stories, especially political war stories. Your book could become a movie of the week; maybe even a right-wing political documentary.

If you agree with us that Norm should stop campaigning for a seat he’s lost repeatedly in the courts, sign the petition to tell Norm Coleman it’s over and that he must concede for the sake of being a great patriot and to save what’s left of his face.

Wave your little hand and whisper, “So long,” Norman. Norman should have said so long so long ago!

“Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast”

wrote the popular late 17th Century English poet and playwright William Congreve.

A friend to, and a contemporary of Jonathan Swift,  William Congreve’s words have not been more true since they were first written and first spoken on stage in his tragic play The Mourning Bride in 1697.

With all the drama, trauma, wars, rumors of wars, natural weather disasters and the economic hell some predatory humans put other humans through; making it unnecessary to experience punishment in an afterlife when there is hell on earth as reality. The existence of an organization known as Playing For Change which offers welcome musical relief is a soothing balm for our world weary souls.

Watch this beautiful video from a group of artists and inspired people who have come together to connect the world through music. It illustrates the power of music and it soothing, joyful, communicative effect on human beings.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World “Stand By Me” from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

The tune is “Stand By Me” written by Ben E. King who originally recorded the tune in 1961. In this version it is performed by musicians from around the world.

Join the movement to provide resources to musicians and their communities around the world Playing For Change.

Article based on an email from Mystical Mel

The word is out about how Time Warner that mega entertainment communications conglomerate wants you to pay more for usage of the Internet. This plan to squeeze more money from your already tight budget comes from the Cable Division of the Time Warner company.According to reports  from Free Press Time Warner has already announced plans to impose unfair Internet metering fee as a penalty in parts of Texas, North Carolina and upstate New York.

Reportedly the plan would cost customers $15 per month for one gigabyte — the equivalent of one 30-minute HD television show — with a penalty fee of $2 for every additional gigabyte over the limit. This fee would be added to whatever Time Warner Cable charges as your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for access to the Internet.

It is believed this plan is devised to make customers reconsider canceling cable TV service and finding the shows they want online to view at their  convenience.

We encourage you to contact your congressional representative to  urge him/her to join other representatives in a call for an investigation of Time Warner Cable’s plans to impose an unfair penalty against Internet users.

By congressional mandate the Internet has been made available for widespread use, an  affordable and free-flowing means of communication for our economic recovery. Free Press says “Time Warner Cable’s price-gouging scheme limits consumers at a time when we need Internet access the most. ”

We agree. We, the people, through a congressional investigation into Time Warner Cable’s anti-competitive practices should be pro-active in this issue. Let’s find out about this price increase before it becomes an industry-wide, nationwide problem.