Pride Soaring

Familicide: the epitome of selfishness

2009-05-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” Oscar Wilde quote.

As the times we are presently living in under the cover of a recession, a recession that was denied for alleged twelve months prior to declaring, this recession has brought about a great deal of suffering. If the truth be told the times we are in today is a depression which will more than likely be announced at a latter date.
In the first months of 2009 we are averaging 600,000 jobs loss a month. Homes are still being foreclosed on and the news daily only reflects opulent spending on perceived waste. Millionaires are controlling the government and millionaires are the government as the regular folk suffer.

During the “Great Depression” wealthy folks committed suicide, by jumping from high rise windows, over the loss of their wealth. Soup lines got longer as homelessness increased and joblessness increased. Verily I say unto you, is this not what we are experiencing today? Still we are told we are only in a recession.
Regarding the suicides that prevailed during the “Great Depression,” how ever you feel regarding the subject, the only lives loss were that of the individual:

Religious

In most forms of Christianity, suicide is considered a sin, based mainly on the writings of influential Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages, such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas; suicide was not considered a sin under the Byzantine Christian code of Justinian, for instance. The argument is based on the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" (made applicable under the New Covenant by Jesus in Matthew 19:18), as well as the idea that life is a gift given by God which should not be spurned, and that suicide is against the "natural order" and thus interferes with God's master plan for the world. However, it is believed that mental illness or grave fear of suffering diminishes the responsibility of the one completing suicide.

Judaism focuses on the importance of valuing this life, and as such, suicide is tantamount to denying God's goodness in the world. Despite this, under extreme circumstances when there has seemed no choice but to either be killed or forced to betray their religion, Jews have committed individual suicide or mass suicide (see Masada, First French persecution of the Jews, and York Castle for examples) and as a grim reminder there is even a prayer in the Jewish liturgy for "when the knife is at the throat", for those dying "to sanctify God's Name". (See: Martyrdom). These acts have received mixed responses by Jewish authorities, regarded both as examples of heroic martyrdom, whilst others state that it was wrong for them to take their own lives in anticipation of martyrdom.

Suicide is not allowed in the religion of Islam; however, martyring oneself for Allah (during combat) is not the same as completing suicide. Suicide in Islam is seen as a sign of disbelief in God. The use of suicide attacks is strictly forbidden in Islam; however it is practiced by Radical groups such as Hamas and Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In Hinduism, suicide is frowned upon and is considered equally sinful as murdering another. Hindu Scriptures state that one who commits suicide will become part of the spirit world, wandering earth until the time one would have otherwise died, had one not committed suicide.

In my humble opinion suicide is the ultimate in Cowardliness. To take your life for fear of personal loss weighed against the value of the people you contact and who depend on you, is only a way to run away in the line of fire. I understand how one can find in their mind justification for such a heinous final escape resolution. I too have suffered such a deep feeling of foreboding and desperation that the thought crossed my mind once. Thanks to my strength and my faith I am here today. I didn’t run away and I didn’t cause any pain to my family or others. I am here today, and my being here has helped others, so many others. It takes courage to stand tall in times of adversity. It takes great courage to stand up against the gigantic odds you might face.

Today the cowardliness of suicide has metastasized into an abdominal act of preeminent selfishness so extreme that finding understanding and sympathy is completely impossible! Familicide: a type of murder or murder-suicide in which at least one spouse and one or more children are killed. I ask myself; just what kind of selfish cowardly scum would have the audacity to put a bullet into the innocence of a child, their own child! Then to continue to kill multiple children, their wife and then themselves, if this does not reach the heights of selfishness, I am at a loss of what does.

This action epitomizes how we are in the predicament we are in today. In my opinion the world has become to me oriented. There are many factors to contribute to this like the excess of wealth as after the “Great Depression” capitalism in full bloom created more millionaires that millions were small change compared to billions and now trillions. The car in every driveway and a chicken in every pot became a car a SUV and an ATV in every driveway and a cow for each and every individual. We went from “I’d do anything to have a job!” to “It’s not my job!” We went for teaching our children that there are winners and loser’s to teaching them that all they have to do is show up and they get a trophy.

People don’t listen to others anymore. People don’t care for anybody else. Love is ever so conditional today that I wonder if there is love. For a parent to think that they are “the everything,” in a child’s world that if the parent thinks they must no longer be here in the world, the child must go too, this is completely selfish.

I say go ahead coward, kill yourself, and as Scrooge stated; “reduce the surplus population,” you coward! I don’t like this taking the lives of innocence. Children have futures with or without you. Children are the future! Your selfishness is being measure in the ninth degree in your thinking your children are better off dead than to be without you! The act to kill the mother of those children, again with the thought that she is better off dead than to live without you is furthering your selfishness and increasing the pain you think you feel ten times ten.

It is this selfishness that permeates the entire society that has brought us to the era of the Greatest Depression. The generations of me, x, and I, have created lower productivity, higher prices, entitlements and opulent desires. Team may not have an “I” in it but we have found a way to manipulate the letters to mean “me”. “A’T ME” or “about me;” Look around at the selfness around you but before you shake your head in discuss, look at your own selfishness!

Some link economy with crime wave At least 8 mass homicides have claimed 57 people over the past month

By Philip Rucker
updated 11:54 a.m. ET, Wed., April 8, 2009
In Binghamton, N.Y., a Vietnamese immigrant upset about losing his job burst into an immigration center and killed 13 people before killing himself. In Pittsburgh, police said a gun enthusiast recently discharged from the Marine Corps opened fire and killed three police officers. And in Graham, Wash., investigators said a man whose wife was leaving him shot and killed five of his children in their mobile home before taking his own life.

The carnage that occurred during less than 48 hours last week capped a recent string of unusually brazen mass killings, which crime experts say have touched more people and occurred in more public settings than in any time in recent memory. Comparative statistics are difficult to come by, but during the past month alone, at least eight mass homicides in this country have claimed the lives of 57 people. Just yesterday, four people were discovered shot to death in a modest wood-frame home in a remote Alabama town.

The factor underlying the violence, some experts think, is the dismal state of the nation's economy. Criminologists theorize that the epidemic of layoffs, the meltdown of storied American corporations and the uncertainty of recovery have stoked fear, anxiety and desperation across society and unnerved its most vulnerable and dangerous.

"I've never seen such a large number [of killings] over such a short period of time involving so many victims," said Jack Levin, a noted criminologist at Northeastern University who has authored or co-authored eight books on mass murder.
The simple fact, criminologist James Alan Fox said, is that more Americans are struggling.

"The American dream to them is a nightmare, and the land of opportunity is but a cruel joke," said Fox, also of Northeastern, who has been dubbed the "dean of death" for his analysis of mass murders. "The economic pie is shrinking to the point where it looks more like a Pop Tart and some feel all they're getting is the crumbs. There's a combination of feeling despair and hopelessness at the same time as a certain degree of anger and blame."

Caution about drawing conclusions

other crime experts caution, however, against drawing such conclusions.
"Because homicides are fairly rare, it is hard to see patterns even when ones exist," said Shawn Bushway, a criminologist at the University of Albany. "It's like reading tea leaves. I don't make much of it. I don't think you can say anything definitively one way or another."

Predictably, the carnage has focused attention on the nation's gun laws. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it is too easy for dangerous people to acquire guns.

"The common denominator in all these is that they're all using a gun," Helmke said of the recent killings. "You don't see police officers in Pittsburgh being killed by people throwing knives at them. . . . We've always had violence, but in the old days you couldn't take out so many people so quickly. Now we make it very easy to do that."

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson called the recent spate of killings "domestic terrorism" and said he hoped the slaughter would be a wake-up call for policymakers.

"You can't grow businesses in war zones," said Jackson, who recently visited cities beset by gun violence. "You can't go to school in war zones. You can't play in the park in war zones."

Experts agree that most mass murderers share one trait: a traumatic event such as a layoff, divorce or separation that sets off an internal rage and a desire for revenge.

"It could be the loss of a job, the loss of a lot of money in the stock market, the loss of a relationship as in a nasty separation or divorce, the loss of a child who is in a child custody battle," Levin said. "There are just simply more catastrophic losses than there were when the economy was in good shape."

Mowing down party guests

Consider the case of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a 45-year-old electrical engineer whose life swiftly turned sour last fall. His wife divorced him and he lost his job and his beloved dog, Saki. On Christmas Eve, Pardo dressed as Santa Claus for a holiday party hosted by his ex-wife's parents at their home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in a Los Angeles suburb.

Pardo rang the bell, swung open the door and opened fire on the party guests with a semiautomatic handgun before dousing the home with gasoline and setting it ablaze, authorities said. He killed nine people, including his ex-wife, before taking his own life.

"He was looking for revenge, which is almost always the motive in these mass killings," Levin said. "It wasn't enough to get her, but he wanted to get everything associated with her, everything she loved, everything he identified with her."

Since then, mass shootings have plagued communities in all corners of the country. Late last month, a gunman barged into a nursing home in Carthage, N.C., looking for his estranged wife. Police say he killed seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. His wife, a nurse's assistant, escaped by hiding in a bathroom.

Five days later in Binghamton, a man wearing body armor burst into a New York state immigration center where he had studied English and opened fire on immigrants taking an exam to become U.S. citizens, authorities said.

"The nursing home in North Carolina and the community center in Binghamton were not randomly chosen locations," Fox said. "It's not just some gunman walking down the street. They're very deliberate choices and reflect the anger and blame that the killer has."

A medical technician executed his wife, five young children and himself Tuesday after claiming in a note to a TV station that he and his wife both had just been fired.

The shocking killings underscored the psychological toll that the down economy may be taking on some unemployed workers, as police urged those facing tough times to seek help rather than resort to violence.

Police identified the man as Ervin Lupoe on Tuesday. They did not release the names of the children because family members have not yet been notified.
Police said the child victims were an 8-year-old girl, twin 5-year-old girls and twin 2-year-old boys.

Lupoe removed three of the children from school about a week and a half ago, saying the family was moving to Kansas, the school principal told KCAL-TV. Crescent Heights Elementary School Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver said nothing seemed to be troubling Lupoe at that time; she did not ask why the family was moving.

"No words can describe this tragedy. There is no way to comprehend this unspeakable act," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters on Tuesday. "I daresay that no one I know could understand what would drive anyone to take matters in to their own hands in such a lethal manner."

Police said they were alerted by KABC-TV that they had received a faxed letter from Lupoe indicating that he and his wife had been fired from their jobs at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center and intended to kill themselves and their children.

The hospital confirmed that Ervin Antonio Lupoe and his wife, Ana, also a medical technician, worked at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles.
"We are deeply saddened to hear of the deaths of the Lupoe family," it said in a statement.

Lupoe also called 911 and told dispatchers that he had found his family dead in their home, police said.

"Today our worst fear was realized," said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."

"He was going through some critical situation at the job, that's what he described in that two-page letter, ongoing problems at the job, and that's what prompted him to take his own life and his family, from what was said in the fax letter," Garner said.

Garner said a note was found in the home, but it was not clear if it was what had been faxed to the TV station.

Officers rushed to the two-story home in Wilmington, near the Port of Los Angeles, shortly before 8:30 a.m., apparently within minutes of the killings. Garner said the officers could still smell the gunshot residue.

The bodies of the girls and the father were in one bedroom. The mother and boys were in another bedroom.

Although the fax asserted that the woman was involved, police Lt. John Romero said, "It is apparent that the suspect in the murder is the male adult."

KABC reported that the man claimed in the fax that a medical center administrator rebuffed them when they showed up to work, told them to file a union grievance and said, "You should have blown your brains out."

The man wrote that they filed a grievance but nothing was done and two days later they were fired, KABC said.

"They did nothing to the manager who started such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years old with no place to go. So here we are," the note said.

At the bottom of the note, the man wrote, "Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?"

"Obviously we're in the midst of an investigation. The police department is working on developing evidence on this and we'll know more about how and why this happens," Villaraigosa said.

"If you need assistance, if you're looking for a helping hand, know that we're ready with open arms and open hearts to guide you through this tough stretch to see that everyone emerges form this crisis with their livelihoods and their lives in tact," he said. "Unfortunately this has become an all too common story in the last few months."

This is the third mass slaying of a family in Southern California since fall.

On Dec. 24, Bruce Pardo, 45, dressed up as Santa Claus and invaded a Christmas Eve party at his ex-wife's parents' home in suburban Covina, opened fire with a gun and set the house ablaze with racing fuel. Ex-wife Sylvia Pardo and eight relatives were fatally shot or burned. Pardo later killed himself.

In October, a 45-year-old unemployed financial manager despairing over extreme money problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and himself in their home in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.

Karthik Rajaram wrote in a suicide letter he felt the honorable choice was to kill himself and his family instead of just himself, police said. Karthik Rajaram, a 45-year-old man, was discovered on Monday to have shot six family members in a murder-suicide.

The Los Angeles man's body was found holding a gun Monday inside the family's home. Rajaram had killed his wife, three sons and mother-in-law. Most of the victims were in their beds.

Police were called to the residence Monday by worried friends. When the police arrived, they discovered the six fatally shot in a murder-suicide committed by an unemployed man in financial crisis.

Rajaram's body was found by officers who followed a trail of carnage through the home in a gated community in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.
The Associated Press and FOXNews.com's Jennifer Lawinski contributed to this report.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo

LOS ANGELES - A distraught man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at a Christmas Eve party and then set the house ablaze, killing at least eight people, police said.

Several hours later, the shooter killed himself.

Three people who attended the party in Covina, a city 22 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, remained unaccounted for yesterday as coroner's officials continued to search the wreckage.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, who had recently been divorced and is believed to have lost his job, knocked on the front door of a home owned by the parents of his former wife in Covina around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Police Chief Kim Raney.

An 8-year-old girl ran to the door to answer Pardo's knock, police said. He shot her in the face, stepped into the house, and fired indiscriminately with a semiautomatic handgun.

MIAMI (AP) -- Pablo Amador was a "regular dad" who made music with his children and shared his

Police: Miami piano teacher kills kids, wife, self

MIAMI (AP) -- Pablo Amador was a "regular dad" who made music with his children and shared his gift teaching kids to play piano, a man known for a friendly wave and lending a hand to jump-start a car. And those who knew him say they can't understand why he apparently shot and killed his two daughters, wife and then himself.

TV satellite trucks surrounded the gray-trimmed, white ranch home Wednesday as authorities carried out the family, whom police identified as Pablo Josue Amador, 53; his 45-year-old wife, Maria; and their youngest daughters, Prescilla and Rosa, 14 and 13.

A teenage son escaped the shootings uninjured, calling 911 at 5:58 a.m. as he fled the home, police said. Those who saw him regularly along the quiet, modest street of homes could only wonder what happened.

Cleveland police say the man wanted for murdering his new wife and four other family members has killed himself while holed up in a house, The Plain Dealer reports.

Davon Crawford, 33, shot himself about 4:20 p.m. ET after being cornered by police. He was wanted for gunning down Lechea Crawford, 30, whom he married Monday; her sister, Rose Stevens, 25; and three of her children, Destiny Woods, 5, and 2-year-old twins Deon and Davion Primm.

A 7-year-old boy remains hospitalized. Crawford's 2-month old daughter was unharmed.

Police said they don't yet know what sparked the killings.

NY family's murder-suicide deaths baffle friends

By BEN NUCKOLS – 2 days ago Apr 23, 2009

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — They seemed like an ideal Long Island family: William Parente was a lawyer, his wife Betty a stay-at-home mom active in the community. Their daughters were well-liked by teachers and classmates.

William, 59, was a tax and estate planning attorney who commuted to his Manhattan office. Betty, 58, volunteered.

They were in Maryland to visit older daughter Stephanie, 19, a sophomore at Loyola College in Baltimore. With them was her sister, Catherine, 11, a sixth-grader at Garden City Middle School.

The Parentes ate breakfast together Sunday morning and an employee of the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel in Towson saw them together Sunday afternoon.

On Monday, after they failed to check out of their room on time, a housekeeper found their bodies.

Baltimore County Police have just told us that William Parente killed his family with blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.

William killed himself in the bathroom of their hotel room. Police say he cut himself.

In Notes Left in Family's Killings, Md. Man Details Debts, Depression By Matt Zapotosky

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The man who killed his wife and three young children and then himself in a tiny town in northwest Maryland last week was at least $460,000 in debt and owned a Florida house that was in foreclosure, according to property records and police.

According to investigators, Francie Billotti-Wood, 33, and the couple's 5-year-old son, Chandler, were each shot twice in the head with a .25-caliber handgun. Chandler's younger brother, 4-year-old Gavin, was shot three times; daughter Fiona, 2, was shot once.

After they were shot, their throats were slashed almost to the point of decapitation, officials said. Wood killed himself with a shotgun.

Wood, a youth soccer coach, was paid $97,000 as a sales accountant for CSX. His wife, who taught liturgy to children at their church, stopped working several years ago to be a stay-at-home mother.

An 81-year-old man shot and killed his wife and middle-aged son yesterday in their Fairfax County home before fatally shooting himself in what police described as an apparent double murder-suicide and "a family tragedy."

The bodies of Thomas K. Appleberry, his wife, Rachel, 81, and son, Thomas Jr., 53, were discovered in their home on Cinnamon Creek Drive, north of Vienna, after police received a call at 9:22 a.m. from the couple's daughter.

Residents of the Cinnamon Creek subdivision said the elder Thomas Appleberry -- known to residents as "Mr. Appleberry" -- was a friendly neighbor who loved to walk his dog in the morning.

Mark Meeks, his wife Jennifer Dallas Meeks and their two children were found dead on January 28, 2009 in their house in Columbus, Ohio. Police believe that Mark shot the family and then killed himself. Police said they found a suicide note that appeared to be written by Mark at the scene.

The York County Coroner said John Goodman, 39, shot and killed his wife, Julia, and their 2-year-old son before killing himself Sunday evening in the family's home in the 1300 block of Clover Lane in Spring Garden Township.
The killings occurred about 12 hours before officers arrived, police said.
Investigators are trying to determine a motive, Spring Garden Township police Chief George Swartz said.

Goodman did not leave a suicide note, police said.

Police and the coroner received information that Goodman might have recently lost his job. They are working to confirm this information.

There's no evidence that the couple was divorcing or that any protective orders were in place regarding the couple, Swartz said.

Neighbors said the family has lived in the home for about five years.

SIGN O' TIMES

2009-04-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Genesis 6 (King James Version)
11The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

With unemployment rising, it's hard to remember that capitalism is a creator of jobs, companies and industries; At least history says it does. Between some of the worst financial panics in history, U.S. capitalism built transcontinental railroads among many other industries such as department stores and manufacturing jobs. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, 2/19/2009, sharply downgraded its projections for the United States' economic performance this year, predicting the economy will actually shrink and unemployment will rise higher. Almost 600,000 U.S. workers lost their jobs in January 2009 alone. Fed officials anticipated that unemployment would remain "substantially" higher than normal at the end of 2011 "even absent further economic shocks."

Millions of workers, those still employed, can expect to see about $13 extra in their weekly paychecks, starting around June, from a new $400 tax credit to be doled out through the rest of the year. This the so called main street stimulus package from this administration. Couples would get up to $800. In 2010, the credit would be about $7.70 a week, if it is spread over the entire year. Those who complained about the small amount of so called stimulus from formal President Bush, and wanted to see that idiot out of office must feel good now, as they now will cash checks for less. where under Bush’s plan individuals who paid income taxes received up to $600, working couples $1,200 and those with children an additional $300 per child under the agreement. Workers who make at least $3,000 but don’t pay taxes got $300 rebates, well what a slap in your face if you thought this administration is giving you more.

So why the reference to Genesis you may be asking yourself; Violence! I hear each and every day, anger from those around me. Those who are not working are violently angry and their anger is focused in directions unrelated to their situations. Those who are still working are violently angry at their situation and are focusing anger in unrelated areas of their situations. People are throwing all their hopes and expectations in the government and diverting their anger at business and accomplishment. There are false idols and these false idols will cause the flesh of the earth to be destroyed. Placing your faith in government will sink you deeper into an abyss. God, Family, Country! That is the order we should place our priorities. Over the centuries, God, family and country have probably been the most important social units governing the strength of a society. It is this order and this order only that works. They provide feelings of cohesion and a sense of belonging. These are positive forces, which in contrast to other stabilizing forces such as a military or a police force, generally cajole rather than compel the citizens of a community to abide by the existing laws, regulations and conventions.

Genesis 7:11 (King James Version)

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

The fountains have broken up with the banking crisis, the windows have open with the numbers of the unemployed, and the ark is afloat. This time it is not an act of God. This time it is an act of greed which comes from man. The ark has been transformed into a yacht. The exclusive club called our federal and local governments is the ones filed on three by three times three. The ark is afloat on the sea of bodies. Bodies of those loosing their homes, loosing their jobs, loosing their life savings, and the flood waters are rising.

The ark loaded with millionaires who line their pockets with ponzi, PAC and pork monies stolen, swindled and out right embezzled from you and me the paycheck earners.

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
Patrick Henry quotes

Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government

Section 5: The Sovereignty of the People
The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, "In free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The ultimate powers in a society, therefore, rest in the people themselves, and they should exercise those powers, either directly or through representatives, in every way they are competent and that is practicable.

"[The people] are in truth the only legitimate proprietors of the soil and government." --Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1813. ME 19:197

"[It is] the people, to whom all authority belongs." --Thomas Jefferson to Spencer Roane, 1821. ME 15:328

Genesis 7:23 (King James Version)
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within"
William James Durant (5 November 1885 – 7 November 1981)

President Obama to nation:

‘Day of reckoning has arrived’ 2/24/2009

“We will rebuild, we will recover and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”

“The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation,” “The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth.”

Genesis 9 (King James Version)

15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
“Well, that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here,” the president said.
Job losses over the last 12 months

Job losses
February 2009 651,000
January 2009 655,000
December 2008 681,000
November 2008 597,000
October 2008 423,000
September 2008 403,000
August 2008 127,000
July 2008 67,000
June 2008 100,000
May 2008 47,000
April 2008 67,000
March 2008 88,000
February 2008 83,000

[Source: U.S. Labor Department statistics]
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 5.1 million jobs, with almost two-thirds of the losses occurring in the last five months.

Socialism here we come!

2009-02-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

“—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

There is a disturbing and true fact in this country. I talk to many a folk in the course of the day each day and the object topic is always the economy and where are we today in this mess. I hear with out exception that the government will fix the mess we are in. I hear Obama will make the changes that we all have been awaiting. The disturbing thing is just that! 100 Total U.S. senators, 2 from each state and today, the number of congressmen is set at 435. That puts 535 people in charge of the welfare of 304 million as per the U.S. population in 2008. Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/> “and that government of the people, by the people, for the people?”

At least 40 of the 100 US senators are millionaires, some many times over, according to financial disclosure filings submitted. Republicans on the list outnumbered Democrats by a narrow margin of 22 to 18. However, Democratic senators hold the top five spots on the list and eight of the top ten, according to an analysis of the forms by CNN. The House of Representatives is staffed with 28% of them being millionaires. Traditionally, the President is the highest-paid public employee. President Obama currently earns $400,000 per year, along with a $50,000 expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment. The most recent raise in salary was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 and went into effect in 2001; prior to the change, the President earned $200,000, plus expense accounts.

The First U.S. Congress voted to pay George Washington a salary of $25,000 a year, about $566,000 in 2008 terms. Washington, already a wealthy man, refused to accept his salary; however, he asked for his living expenses to be covered. Theodore Roosevelt spent his entire $50,000 salary on entertaining guests at the White House. John F. Kennedy donated his salary to charities. Obama, an established millionaire asked the auto makers, as a senator, to take a cut in pay as the senate passed a salary increase form themselves. “and that government of the people, by the people, for the people?”

I am reminded by the quote in the movie “The Matrix:” “The world as you know it is just a mask draped over your face to hide you from the truth.” Yes you must get mad at a bank buying a plane with their money as the government spends your money without your consent or accountability to those who received your money. Yes you must get mad at a company paying bonuses with their money as the government spends your money in fatty pork for special interests of theirs. It is deplorable to spend money on the super bowl with their money as your and our future children’s money is flushed in hidden agendas which will take years to un-flush. As your eyes are covered with the masks of diversion, your anger is also diverted from the source towards a false opponent. Of course get mad at Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff who confessed to running a years-long Ponzi scheme that’s believed to have swindled up to $50 billion in investments while through the years trillions of dollars has been swindled from you via social security. “and that government of the people, by the people, for the people?”

I can’t help but to remember the Great Ronald Regan who in his first speech as president stated:

“The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we're sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truck drivers. They are, in short, "we the people," this breed called Americans. ”

As I go through the surrogation I have no choice but to feel as the pain of my fellow man is suffering and their pain permeates into my being, I wish for everyone to open their eyes. This Great Nation is founded on the premise and the promise that all men are created equal “and that government of the people, by the people, for the people!” Democracy and Capitalism is the founding principles of this great country. I would like everyone and everyone who professes to hate this country, or wish to criticize this country for the principles that has made us all successful, pack up and leave!

The principle of working hard toiling with the sweet of your back, hands or mind to achieve your goals is the true meaning of Democracy and accomplishment. Expectations of the powers to be to take care of you and your needs are the ideology of Monarchy or Socialism. The more you are taken care of the more you are controlled. The more you are controlled the less freedoms you have. The great program of the WPA from the Roosevelt era lead us into welfare and welfare lead to structured laziness, institutionalized illegitimacy and the brake down of family. Government take over of anything will bring dominion and that is truly un-American.

· Obama pay cap puts overdue squeeze on bank CEOs
Posted Feb 04 2009, 02:28 PM by Anthony Mirhaydari

· Throwing down the gauntlet on the villains of this downturn, President Obama has imposed a $500,000 cap on executive pay at financial institutions receiving federal bailout funds. Noting that American taxpayers are angered over "executives being rewarded for failure," he announced the limit ahead of next week's expected announcement on the future of the $700 billion financial rescue package.

Obama's move will help quell political backlash against the bailout after Wall Street paid out more than $18 billion in bonuses last year as the six largest firms mounted losses of $42 billion and received $90 billion from taxpayers. It also comes as traditional arguments for high pay (talent retention and performance encouragement) are ringing hollow in an environment rich with idled financial talent.

The principle of entitlements also betrays the Democracy. How may of you have grown children still living at home or depending on you for financial support? How often do I hear from folks that their thirty year olds, forty year olds and fifty year olds are beseeching for money or charity. The thinking is that their parents owe them something. There are so many that can’t wait for their parents to die to get “their” inheritance. I have even reason to suspect some “adult” children causing the death of their parents for houses or money. There is no guarantee in a Democracy for success. Hell there isn’t even a guarantee of fair equality in a Democracy. There is only opportunity based on your wiliness to strive and achieve in spite of not because of your race, creed or color. We have even forgotten what Lincoln stated:

“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class--neither work for others nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters, while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families--wives, sons, and daughters--work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class.

Again, as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these States a few years back in their lives were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent energy and progress and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which if surrendered will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost.

From the first taking of our national census to the last are seventy years, and we find our population at the end of the period eight times as great as it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things which men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have at one view what the popular principle, applied to Government through the machinery, of the States and the Union, has produced in a given time, and also what if firmly maintained it promises for the future. There are already among us those who if the Union be preserved will live to see it contain 250,000,000. The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day; it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.“

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We are the people of the United States and we the people need to stand up for our rights and power of the constitution to stop the government as it runs us into a socialistic mindset and ultimately way of life. To tell a company how much its CEO can earn will turn into telling you that you must share you home with a family that can’t afford their own home. Dictating the wages of management will trickle down to management passing on the reductions of wages to their employees. “Stimulus” packages that provide jobs of infrastructure will only supply jobs to the working class laborers.

George lost his job as a professional salesman. His entire work life was in sales. Will infrastructure work be something he can do?

Mary lost her job as a H.R. manager in a company that closed because of the economy. She lost her health insurance and now must be a burden on her husbands insurance with a preexisting condition that will also be a burden on the household expenses. Will infrastructure work be something she can do?

Fiona has a home with a mortgage of seven hundred thousand dollars and Fiona is an immigrant from Africa who now finds her home only worth four hundred thousand and is trying to keep up the payments with a job that is laying off folks and is getting more demanding on the ones that stay. She has no time to spend with her children except by phone. Will infrastructure work be something that can help her?

John is a seventy two year old retiree who lost half of his investment in the stock market from his 401 and is unable to access what is remaining of his money. His savings is dwindling from the cost of supporting his grown children who live with him but providing no assistance. His bank provides no interest of any sufficiency yet it takes a service charge from him monthly. He is thinking he could earn more from his money by stuffing it under his mattress rather than paying a storage fee to his bank. Will infrastructure work be something can help him?

We are the people of the United States must stop looking to be bailed out and stop the insanity of bail outs. Is Forrest Gump smarter than us all for “Stupid is as stupid does.” Trust me the government is not the ones who are stupid. We are the stupid ones if we continue to allow them to do un to us as they are doing. Stimulus is only stimulating the bank accounts of the ‘535’ and their friends.

Condoms to the poor, needles to the drug addicts, tarp monies, and infrastructure monies will not stimulate the economy. Kickbacks to agencies, wooden arrows and a partridge in a pare tree will not stimulate the economy. The way to stimulate the economy is to put money into the hands of those of us who earn a paycheck. It is easy to write and talk of the problems and to point fingers. I don’t want to be a naysayer of gloom and doom without providing an answer.

Those of us who earn a paycheck! Those of us who have to put in thirteen hour days each day but the work week is considered forty hours! Those of us, who are forced to work harder, stay longer, have more responsibilities, and earn less! Those of us who if we calculate the pay versus the hours worked would be below poverty! Those of us who work two jobs in order to have one to support rents for our living in non-equity apartments whose rent rival homeowners! Those of us that have a reason to spend but can’t afford to! WE NEED THE MONEY! Tax relief and reasonable tax stimulus checks would be the real bailout that should take place. You wish to control the pay of CEO’s why not control the cost of goods. I have a 1968 mustang and I still have the original window sticker. In 1968 the price of the new mustang was $1,700.00 the price of a new mustang today is $26,000.00, that is a 160% increase. In 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour, why has not the salaries increased in the same manner?

No taxation without representation! A criminal has the right of being judged by jurors of their peers. Paycheck earners need now to stand up and voice their strength to ensure the congress is filled with representatives that too need to earn a paycheck. We the people, we the paycheck earners, need to rise up and voice our rights to ensure this is a government of the people, for the people and by the people! No Taxation Without Representation! As Ronald Reagan stated the government is the problem and he was so very right. The government swindled us all from our social security in a ponzi scam, and now pork lined kickbacks in the name of bailout stimulus. NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! There was a time when America was strong and its leader cared about the people and the strength of the people and the strength of the country. This has never been a perfect country but is has always been the best and greatest country. That is why hundreds of thousands have immigrated to be here. Capitalism and free trade as well as the American Dream of working hard and achieving success is the formula to wealth and accomplishment. Let’s not allow leaders who wish not to put country first run us into a socialistic dependent work camp. NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!

What to do? Make a phone call a day to your Representatives. Write a letter a day a week to your assembly, to congress to the president. Most importantly talk to someone and inspire them to do the same. Don’t just complain but find solutions and voice the solutions not just your frustration and anger. The Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) should be renamed “Troubled Americans Relief Payback.” We need to demand a tax burden relief. We need to demand price roll backs and mortgage adjustments to reflect the present market. We, the income earners, the paycheck population need to have the weight removed from our shoulders and see some TARP monies to truly stimulate the economy and free enterprise.

Let Them All Fail

2008-11-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are controlled by the private sector rather than by government. A capitalist political system protects the exchange and distribution of capital between openly competing profit-seeking legal or private persons and where investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are predominantly determined through the operation of a market economy in which anyone can participate in supply and demand and form contracts with anyone else, rather than by central economic planning. Capitalism is originally defined as a mode of production, where it is characterized by the predominant private ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange in a mainly market economy. Capitalism is usually considered to involve the right of individuals and businesses to trade, incorporate, and employ workers, in goods, services (including finance), labor and land. In modern "capitalist states", legislative action is confined to defining and enforcing the basic rules of the market though the state may provide a few basic public goods and infrastructure.

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society. Modern socialism originated in the late nineteenth-century working class political movement. Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution which represents the transitional stage between capitalism and communism.

According to Wikipedia’s definitions we are moving from a Capitalist society to a Socialist country. I am concerned about all the talk and request to bail out business by the government. I work in an industry that is greatly hurt by the present economic crisis. I am watching the Grim Reaper coming through each day using termination slips as his scythe. Twenty year employees are being cut mealy for there commitment to their company and being long term. The down side to their continued loyalty is that they make too much. Last hired, first fired no longer is the way to reduce the workforce now, its how much do you cost the company. I watch at work and I am reminded of the cloud of death that went through to town in the Ten Commandments. I don’t know if lambs blood would stay the Reapers scythe.

I have fellow coworkers who own homes by which has devalued by more than three hundred thousand dollars and are struggling to maintain payments on homes they no longer want to pay for because of negative equity. As jobs are falling by the ax of this depression those lucky, if luck is a misfortune or a blessing, to still be working has to work more hours and perform more tasks to make up for those who passed on. Of course there in no additional pay for the longer hours and the greater responsibilities. People are thus kept from there overvalued homes for working from sun up to sun down and helplessness grows by the day.

The 700 billion dollar bail out was to buy sub prime loans and free up housing and banking. To date, that money and much more, is going elsewhere. We were told that if the bill wasn’t passed, the world economy would collapse and the whole world would come to an end and Satan himself would rise from the frost of hell. We are looking at 3.5 trillion dollars so far in government bailouts and government control of private businesses. Businesses that failed dew to poor practices and mismanagement of assets and the great government swoop in and create more mismanagement which brings request for more bailout monies. We are looking at government printing money to give entitlements to negligence and laziness in business. Does this not sound like welfare? This too has failed!

Failure is not an option, it’s the only option!

Don't Be Afraid To Fail

You've failed many times,

although you may not remember.

You fell down the first time

you tried to walk.

You almost drowned the first time

you tried to swim, didn't you?

Did you hit the ball the first time

you swung a bat?

Heavy hitters,

the ones who hit the most home runs,

also strike out a lot.

R.H. Macy failed seven times

before his store in New York caught on.

English novelist John Creasy

753 rejection slips

before he published

564 books.

Babe Ruth struck out

1,330 times,

but he also hit

714 home runs.

Don't worry about failure.

Worry about the chances you miss

when you don't even try.

Author unknown

Failure is not an option, it’s the only option! It was jokingly bantered around during the Bailout hearings and subsequent vote, the government should just give every adult American a million dollars and that would stimulate the economy. Now as the government creates trillion of dollars in debt to bailout failing companies and industries, I can’t help to think Stalin, Carl Marx, and even Adolph, are smiling down there as Hell Is Freezing Over watching us turn into that which we fought against.

The idea of giving every American a million dollars turns out not only a great idea but if each American received two million the government would have saved money! American Express, General Motors, Ford, and who knows who ever else are asking for government to bail them out of poor management assessments? I say let them fail. AGI already bailed out and seeking more as they raise millions for end of year bonuses! I say let them fail. The Reaper has been let loose already. The end of this carnage has yet to be realized. Let Them All Fail!

If giving aid to the regular Americans is not the goal. If reducing overpriced homes and adjusting mortgages accordingly is not the goal. If securing jobs in America is not the goal, then I say let them all fail for failure will only allow everyone to be on equal ground. Capitalism will stand strong if that happens. If our number one enemy continues to give aid we will be a Socialist State. Gas prices are high not from the oil companies but by the taxes of gas. Government involvement! National health care is killing folks in Canada for lack of doctors. Government involvement! Canadian trained doctors come to America to practice because here they can make money. Government involvement in health care will halt Capitalism and enterprising. Government aid or bailout is nothing more than welfare and we all know how welfare destroyed the idea of family.

I am afraid of my country becoming the USSA-United Socialist States of America. Our number one enemy is our government. If we continue to allow them to control the private sector, we will see a socialist state. Wal-Mart isn’t failing, Toyota built cars in America are not failing, why? Free enterprising and Capitalism does not fail if we allow it to work. K-Mart didn’t fail after declaring bankruptcy, why? Failure does not mean extinction. K-mart rose up and bought out Sears. I say once again, LET THEM ALL FAIL!

There will be over a million unemployed by years end but the numbers will not be announced. There is a depression and those numbers are being kept from you based on juggling numbers or juggling semantics. People are loosing jobs prior to the holidays. People are loosing their homes prior to the holidays. What does our government want to do! Give welfare to businesses. I assure you this will not save jobs or homes. I am scared and the only answers I see is let them all fail and give no more welfare.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

2008-10-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

How many people have lost their jobs?
According to Barack Obama, 600 thousand Americans have lost their jobs since January. Actually, he's mistken: something like 20 million Americans have lost their jobs since January. It's just that most of them found new jobs. Probably the new jobs generally weren't as good as the ones they lost. And almost certainly, more than 600 thousand of them were unable to find new jobs, because many of the new jobs created were filled by new entrants to the labor force or by people who were already unemployed when the year began.
The rate of joblessness made a 10-percent jump in May - rising from 5 percent unemployment to 5.5 percent unemployment. The half-point increase puts unemployment at one full point higher than it was a year ago.
Another 49,000 jobs were lost - raising the number of jobs lost as of June in 2008 to 324,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report .

There is an old joke among economists that states:
A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.
A depression is when you lose your job.

Definition of Depressions: A depression is a severe downturn in economic activity.

Recession: The Newspaper Definition
The standard newspaper definition of a recession is a decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for two or more consecutive quarters.
This definition is unpopular with most economists for two main reasons. First, this definition does not take into consideration changes in other variables. For example this definition ignores any changes in the unemployment rate or consumer confidence. Second, by using quarterly data this definition makes it difficult to pinpoint when a recession begins or ends. This means that a recession that lasts ten months or less may go undetected.
Recession: The BCDC Definition
The Business Cycle Dating Committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) provides a better way to find out if there is a recession is taking place. This committee determines the amount of business activity in the economy by looking at things like employment, industrial production, real income and wholesale-retail sales. They define a recession as the time when business activity has reached its peak and starts to fall until the time when business activity bottoms out. When the business activity starts to rise again it is called an expansionary period. By this definition, the average recession lasts about a year.

Site Listings - Total: 2,081,313
Foreclosures: 461,710
Pre Foreclosures: 464,052
Auctions: 406,754
Broker Listings: 385,345
Bankruptcy: 363,452
Total: 2,081,313
No matter how you look at it. We are in a depression/recession and there is no joke about it. I would like to see a notional coming together to disregard the politicians bypass the government and allow the great people of the United States to help one another. We don’t need change but we do need for us to change. There is an old saying: “for things to get better, you have to get better!” “For things to change, you have to change!”

There is a conservative America. There is a liberal America. There is an ethnic America but the qualifying word is America. We have stood together for crises in the past from Perl Harbor and WWII to 911, from the San Francisco earthquake to Katrina. Across party lines, across religious lines and across color lines yes we can make a difference. Yes We Can stop regular folks from loosing their homes! Yes We Can help regular folks go to college! Yes We Can put regular folks back to work! Yes We Can do it ourselves and without leadership and government. Yes We Can!
Help me help others. Contact me if you want to join in to the Yes We Can movement.

yeswecan.pridesoaring@gmail.com

VOTE 2008, What are we voting for!

2008-10-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Seven days to go and a monumental historic global event will occur. In the election of 2008 no matter which party is elected, Americans will make a choice that will effect our coming of age in this progressive diverse world. We will cease to appear a nation of antiquated Euro-male dominated stagnation.

If Barack Obama is elected President he will become the First Black Man to achieve the highest office of the free world and of a nation that is not predominant black. I use the word Black Man because there are whites from South Africa born and raised who can come to America and can claim themselves African American. Britain technically abolished slavery in 1807, after the Haiti experience - and replaced slavery with indentured labour. Finally, further rebellions in Barbados (1816), Demerra (1823) and Jamaica (1831-32) forced the British hand. Freedom to British slaves came finally in 1833 after the British Government passed yet another law, to outlaw slavery, Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 - and paid ‘compensation’ to slave owners. An egregious and glaring example was the ‘compensation’ to the Bishop of Exeter and his partners of GBP12,700 to ‘compensate’ them for the ‘loss’ of 665 slaves in 1833. Thirty years before America issued the Emancipation Proclamation by US President Abraham Lincoln, and thirty two years before Ratification of thirteenth amendment completed, and Great Britain has not yet given the Black Man credence by electing a Black Prime Minister.

If John McCain is elected President with Sara Paling on the ticket as Vice President a different wall of the antiquated Euro-male dominated stagnation will fall. It was not until 1928 the United Kingdom with the Representation of the People Act 1928 that women were granted the right to vote on the same terms as men. on August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became law, and women could vote in the fall elections, including in the Presidential election. America was the for runner in this matter and yet Great Britain was first to elect a woman as Prime minister before America, and Sara, contrary to popular belief is not running for President but the second highest position in the land. Still her chance in office will be historically momentous and good ol’ boy ground braking.

Here is my greatest disdain. Which ever turkey will replace the lame duck in office, I feel America will loose and get something fowl. I can’t help to feel as I watch the campaigns and watch the actions of the candidates and the reactions of the constituents, I’m reminded of many ugly comparisons of which I refuse to divulge for not wanting to instigate any more fear. I am bothered by a charismatic motivator that creates blinded devotion of near worship and I am bothered by a condescending aggressor who promotes and inspires blind devotion of rage. For me God is my hero, only God is my better and only God, Yeshua, Yahweh, Buddah, Krishna, Aten, Allah, what ever you find the name of the almighty, only there is where you find answers and reward. There and only there is where you should place honor and praise!

I am bothered by the feeling government is about to not only be camped on my doorstep but will show up at my dinner table, in my kitchen, bathroom and will infiltrate my work rest and play. I am bothered that at the end of the day the John and Jane Doe’s , the Shawnque’s and Shanana’s, the Rain Clouds and the Red Clouds, or even the Jim Bob’s and Bobby Jean’s will be worse off for the intrusion of more government.

As a strong and proud Conservative but not a devoted party hack I do know where my vote will go. People always talk of the lessor of two evils. Why must we always chose an evil for the lessor of two evils is still evil. That being said, I do whole heartily regret voting in this election and fear what future elections will bring, if there are future elections. My generation of the baby boomers is now getting into office of leadership. Starting with Clinton to Bush Jr., we have such a bleak future with this generation in office and heaven help us for the generation behind us. Capitalism, Democracy, and Freedom is in jeopardy. NAFTA stole American jobs, The Patriot Act steals our freedoms, selling secretes to China has forward their Communist rise to power as we increase their economy and line their pockets and sell away our country. Vendetta wars and approved and condoned torture, this has taken away our creditability and humanity, just what I ask is be loss next?

A fellow coworker, being funny, stated that: “I too can walk on water, . . .just freeze it!” What happens from this statement is one group hears the first part, “I too can walk on water,” and that group chooses to believe that because they need to or are forced to by slanted alliances to the group. Another group hears the first part, “I too can walk on water,” and they are insulted by the blasphemous arrogance of the thought and desire to expire the speaker.

The first group finally hears the second part “just freeze it!’” but refuse to acknowledge the levity of the message and holds true to the notion that he can walk on water. Conversely the second group finally hears the second part, “just freeze it!” but refuse to acknowledge the levity and enforces the belief of heresy and blasphemer deserving Crucifixion.

I bring that analogy up because I feel this election is based on this premise and still we don’t hear we don’t see and we will loose.

Bail Out Provides Only Pork and Pain

2008-10-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more I can say. Hard working Americans who are the bread winners of the country, Hard working Americans who are the back bone of this country, Hard working Americans who are living, struggling and dieing daily don’t deserve the respect and attention of our Federal Government. The house has passed the so called bail out bill with a great deal of unnecessary pork stuffed in it.

It is so disgusting as to how this emergency was so drastic that we had to force the Capital Hill to vote on this bill to save us all. The news stations and the politicians and every day folk were talking as if the sky was falling and the world as we know is was coming to an end. Even the President talk to us as if the depression was coming followed by a meteor the size of England was going to hit us. In the end regular John’s and Jane’s’ get golden showers and business and politicians get golden parachutes.
Just read the following especially the final story!. . . . .

Billions in earmarks in Senate's bailout bill
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, October 3, 2008

(10-03) 04:00 PDT Washington - -- While crafting a bill intended to rescue the U.S. economy this week, lawmakers couldn't stop themselves from adding billions of dollars in tax breaks that have little to do with restoring confidence in financial markets.

Senators quietly tucked a number of earmarks into the tax package of the 451-page bill that was passed Wednesday night and is expected to be put to a vote in the House today: a $2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children; a $100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners; $192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry; $148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers; and a $49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.

Even Hollywood got something out of the Senate bill: renewal of a tax incentive worth nearly $48 million a year for film and TV producers who produce their work in the United States.

Tax breaks in bailout bill

The financial rescue measure passed by the Senate on Wednesday included a series of tax incentives benefiting specific industries or states.

Wooden arrows: This tax break, backed by Oregon's two senators, would benefit an Oregon manufacturer of wooden arrows for children by $2 million over 10 years.

Racetracks: Earmark would allow auto racetrack owners to depreciate their facilities over seven years, saving the industry $100 million over two years.

Rum: Offers rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate on excise taxes worth $192 million over two years.

Wool: Reduces tariffs for U.S. makers of wool fabric that use imported yarn, worth $148 million over five years. The measure was pushed by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Melissa Bean, D-Ill.

Exxon Valdez: Plaintiffs in the suit over the 1989 oil spill could spread their tax payments on punitive damages over three years, cutting their tax bill by $49 million. The measure was backed by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

American Samoa: Allows certain corporations to reduce their tax liability on income earned in American Samoa, at a cost of $33 million over two years.

Hollywood: Extends a tax break for film and TV companies that keep their production in the United States, worth $478 million over 10 years. The provision was originally pushed by Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles.Source:

Taxpayers for Common Sense

They just can’t help themselves when it comes to stuffing pork in any and all bills, with both new waste, and renewals of old waste. Is it any wonder these bozos aren’t trusted, and Congress has single-digit approval ratings? The only bipartisan agreement comes on stuffing pork and earmarks at every opportunity — the one thing both parties agree on. Disgusting — and at 451 pages long, what are the odds any of the Senators actually reading the bill?

New Tax earmarks in Bailout bill

Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)

Tax earmark “extenders” in the bailout bill.

Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
American Samoa (Sec. 309)
Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
Railroads (Sec. 316)
Auto Racing Tracks (317)
District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
Wool Research (Sec. 325)

What does ANY of that have to do with saving the economy? It doesn’t. Of course, this isn’t the final bill, but which is more likely — Congress will do the right thing and strip this pork from the bill, or to guarantee its passage they’ll load it up with even more pork earmarks?

(CNN) -- A 90-year-old Akron, Ohio, woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis Friday.

Fannie Mae foreclosed on the Akron, Ohio, home of Addie Polk, 90, after acquiring the mortgage in 2007.

Addie Polk is being treated at Akron General Medical Center after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon, her city councilman said.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.

"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said after telling her story. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill."

Neighbor Robert Dillon used a ladder to enter a second-story window of Polk's home after he and the deputies heard bangs inside, Dillon told CNN affiliate WEWS-TV in Cleveland, Ohio.

"I just thought she may have fell or couldn't get up or something," he told WEWS. "I didn't know [she had shot herself] until I got in there. And even when I got there, she was breathing, but she wasn't saying anything to me. I knew she needed help then."

Dillon said he saw blood when he put his hand on Polk's shoulder.

"There's a lot of people like Miss Polk right now. That's the sad thing about it," said Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville, who had met Polk before and rushed to the scene when contacted by police. "They might not be as old as her, some could be as old as her. This is just a major problem."

In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for $45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The same day, she also took out an $11,380 line of credit.

Over the next couple of years Polk missed payments on the 101-year-old home and in 2007 Fannie Mae assumed the mortgage and later filed for foreclosure.

Deputies had tried to serve Polk's eviction notice more than 30 times before Wednesday's incident, Sommerville said. She never came to the door, but the notes the deputies left would always disappear, so they knew she was inside and ambulatory, he said.

The city is creating programs to help people keep their homes, Sommerville said.

"But what do you do when there's just so many people out there and the economy is in the shape that it's in?"

Many businesses and individuals have called since Wednesday offering to help Polk, Sommerville said.

"We're going to do an evaluation to see what's best for her," he said. "If she's strong enough and can go home, I think we should work with her to where she goes back home. If not, we need to find another place for her to live where she won't have to worry about this ever again."

He said that by the time people call for help with an impending foreclosure, it's usually too late.

"I'm glad it's not too late for Miss Polk, because she could have taken her life," Sommerville said. "Miss Polk will probably end up on her feet. But I'm not sure if anybody else will."

No on Bail Out but make someone post bail

2008-10-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

In January of 1996 I authored an article reflecting the status of the country as I saw it at the time based on the economic petulant, the growing rage welling up inside of us all and I projected forward to where the country is coursing towards. I will soon recall the article for all to read again but I feel the need to chime in now on the present bailout bill in question.

In my article I explained and predicted the crisis we are now in. The signs were there then in 1996 and even prior, as we over valued the vehicles of equity, first with the Internet stocks sending the first wave of affliction from the law of gravity in finance which simply states: “when you raise an elephant over your head and call it a feather, it will in time come down and crush you.” Housing is another area of over valued vehicles of equity. In many areas of the country from Los Angeles to Virgina the price of homes were inflated to the heights of a mammoth over the head and of course that too fell down and crushed us.

This was the beginning to the fall of an empire. Empires have risen and fallen throughout history from Egyptian to Roman and most recently, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) which was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. Empires will fall! It’s not a matter of if but when. The question now is who are the treasonous miscreants responsible? Will this bring the empire to a historic fall? Yes I mean treasonous! In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or nation. In William Shakespeare's play King Lear (circa 1600), when the King learns that his daughter Regan has publicly dishonoured him, he says They could not, would not do 't; 'tis worse than murder: The abomination of profits over people is the third and most criminal of the overvalued vehicles of equity. Yes this is worse than murder!

This time the equity that is overvalued is the corporate personal bank account. Overvalued because the value of CEO’s personal wealth out weights the value of hardworking Americans. Americans who are working from paycheck to paycheck and finding it hard to make ends meet. Hard working Americans who find their rage increasing for reasons they, themselves can not explain. Hard working Americans who are in search for the dream this empire once promised. “A car in every driveway and and chicken in every pot.” Today the car sits upside down in the driveway draining them and the chicken in the pot is very foul.

In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, the lowest circles of Hell are reserved for traitors; Judas, who betrayed Jesus, suffers the worst torments of all. When you look around at corporate America and our government’s lack of support and see the constant abominations of greed that we find ourselves accepting and allowing, it’s easy to see there are many Judas and they comes in many faces and in diverse professions.

Why oh why would you ever go through a self checkout stand? Just think about what you are doing. You are allowing corporate purses to swell as they reduce cost and make you work for them for free! You check, bag and pay without a discount. Instead you pay them to work. In turn they reduce their work force, increase their profits! Wait, isn’t that the argument our politicians give for tax credits to business because they supply jobs? Jobs are on the decline everywhere, hiring freezes and reduction of work force is business favorite phrases. Tax credited business cloak you into working for free using self check outs, waiting for center isle cashiers appose to department cashiers and as prices rise and salaries stay the same or get lower, business is turning profits. Even prior to the banking crisis and the rising price of gas, we were allowing this atrocity of “convenient” self check outs, drive through, ready tellers, and employment reducing flagitiousness to be perpetrated against us.

Bill Clinton left behind a two-year recession because of his massive tax increase in 1993, retroactive no less, which started the unraveling of what was at the time, the eleven-year economic recovery and boom of Ronald Reagan. He preceded that with the signing of NAFTA which is why not when you call about your cable, hospital bill or Internet you talk to India. Steeling jobs form loyal Americans. Then, on November 12th, 1999, Bill Clinton signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. What that did was allow commercial and investment banks to consolidate. Now, banks began trading and underwriting assets called mortgage backed securities, CDOs, and SIVs, all of the toxic waste that’s coming home to roost today.

It was some genius from Clinton’s regime who came up with the bright idea that everyone was entitled to own a home regardless of whether they could afford it or not. Entitlements! The idea of helping others is a noble idea, but when your interest in others welfare exceeds the interest of those being helped, there will be failure and great loss, and that is just what happened. This idea of Chilton’s regime was the typical pandering of the Clinton regime to minorities to win over votes! Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties. Treasonous bulling by the “first black president” using race cards!

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the United States and included banking reforms, some of which were designed to control speculation. Some provisions such as Regulation that allowed the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates in savings accounts were repealed by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. Provisions that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed on November 12, 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed Congress with 55 Republicans voting for and 44 Democrats voting against the bill in the Senate and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives, before being sent to conference committee and the final bipartisan bill (Senate: 90-8-1, House: 362-57-15) was signed by President Bill Clinton. Treasonous Bill did not act alone nor in a partisan fashion.

The bills, The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), were introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (R-TX) and in the House of Representatives by James Leach (R-IA). The bills were passed by a 54-44 vote along party lines with Republican support in the Senate and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives. Nov 4, 1999: After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. This 'veto proof legislation' was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.

The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority home ownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky sub prime loans that he and his bipartisan now decry as not only greedy but “predatory.” Big business is not our enemy, the folks at capital hill are!

Bill Clinton, a millionaire and George Bush Sr. a millionaire held hands for aid to the victim of Katrina. Where is that money? Hillary Clinton, a millionaire avoided jail time for the exact thing Martha Stewart spent time in jail for. John McCain, a millionaire and Barack Obama, a millionaire seeking our vote to provide change. Change! What change? Bail outs for treasonous gamblers. Gamblers who gambled on our trust funds, homes, and our retirements and not being held accountable.

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.)

"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing." This coming from the major treasonous culprit as he stated a while back before we ended in this crash. Pictured right, his true sense, checking your wallet to see what he can get. Now, Barney Frank — who who insisted Fannie and Freddie had to buy loans made to the unqualified — has had nothing substantial to say, but his hand still felling for our wallets!

So The question is do we bail out traitors. The answer is so obvious that there shouldn’t be a vote or debate. We can’t afford to offer golden parachutes to gamblers and traitors. there are approximately 112 million households in the US (based on census data for 2008). If we assume that the home ownership rate in this country is 75% (the historical average over the last decade is much lower), then there should be about 84,000,000 people who own their home. According to a 2001 study by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), "nearly 40 percent of all residential properties in the United States, owner-occupied and rental units, are not mortgaged but are owned free and clear." This has most likely gone up over the last few years, but if this is anywhere close it leaves approximately 50,400,000 homes with some form of a mortgage on their home. How about taking the $700billion and applying to homeowners that would be about thirteen thousand dollars to each. That would supply stimulus to the economy. Reward the average John Doe and Jane Doe who keep this country going.

Homeowners are not the only folks to suffer in the banking crisis so something needs to be done for the average John and Jane Doe in this regards. Maybe one million dollars to every American will solve the problem. From the last census the population over fifteen is at a number below the $700billion mark if they all received one million dollars, that would be a savings and would stimulate the economy. What ever the band aide is to fix the empire, one thing is for sure, the average person should be the recipients of any golden parachutes.

There could be a good case for bringing up charges on Bill Clinton, Barney Frank, Phil Gramm and James Leach the bipartisan Traitors who started this mess and charge them with treason. Which if I am correct, is punishable by firring squad. I don’t fault them for the mess as they had good intentions in mind along with lining their pockets. The real traitors are those who use the regulations to go forth with making bad loans and making poor decisions regardless of good and sound business sense and not stand up for the population however flawed with the reality that good intentions often lead to failed results.

Many a good intention dies from inattention. If, through carelessness or indolence, or selfishness, a good intention is not put into effect, we have lost an opportunity, demoralized ourselves, and stolen from the pile of possible good. To be born and not fed, is to perish. To launch a ship and neglect it is to lose it. To have a talent and bury it, is to be a "wicked and slothful servant." For in the end we shall be judged, not alone by what we have done, but by what we could have done. - Maltbie Davenport Babcock

The real criminals are the ones who allowed their greed to allow them to produce the sub prime loans to excess. They should be brought on on TREASONOUS CHARGES. I have read the proposal and find no accountability to those who placed us in this bind. I see that the purposed $700billion is for mortgages and here again I have a concern. Bailing out loans that should not have been made is a mistake. I would give back all invested cash as down payments and closing cost. Time spent is just rental cash and allow the mortgagors to default. Gold parachutes and condonation for those truly responsible is not an option! I predict that this is only the beginning and not the fix to the fall of this empire. If we continue to adopt the attitude of bailing out greed and offering entitlements, the empire will surely fall. There is a great deal of reckoning still to come.

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The moment I am writing this the House has rejected the bail out proposal and the Senate has passed the bill with additional pork in it that helps only to increase the amount of the cost to you and I. the House will vote next on this abomination and still there is no accountability towards the traitors. And the $700 billion has given birth to some more piglets and the cost to you and I has grown beyond $700 billion.

Scrambling to revive the $700 billion bailout package rejected by the House, the Senate has added “sweeteners” in an effort to sway reluctant lawmakers. Many specifics of the add-ons have not been made public, but they reportedly include:
— Temporarily increase the limit for federal insurance of bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000.
— Legislation extending tax credits for the solar, wind and biodiesel industries.
— Expansion of the child tax credit.
— Tax relief for victims of recent floods, tornadoes and severe storms.
— A one-year fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax that will exempt millions of Americans from paying higher income taxes.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Here's the text of the legislative proposal sent by the White House overnight to lawmakers:
LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS
Section 1. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as ____________________.
Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:
(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;
(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;
(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;
(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and
(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.
8. Sec. 3. Considerations.
9. In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for--
(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and
(2) protecting the taxpayer.
10. Sec. 4. Reports to Congress.
11. Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.
12. Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Exercise of Rights.--The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.
(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.
(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.
(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.--The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.
13. Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.
14. The Secretary's authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time
15. Sec. 7. Funding.
16. For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.
17. Sec. 8. Review.
18. Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
19. Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.
20. The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.
21. Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.
22. Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.
23. Sec. 11. Credit Reform.
24. The costs of purchases of mortgage-related assets made under section 2(a) of this Act shall be determined as provided under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as applicable.
25. Sec. 12. Definitions.
26. For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Mortgage-Related Assets.--The term "mortgage-related assets" means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008.
(2) Secretary.--The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Treasury.
(3) United States.--The term "United States" means the States, territories, and possessions of the United States and the District of Columbia.
First Published: September 20, 2008: 11:33 AM EDT

MSNBC.com
Bailout bill How the Senate voted
Scroll to see how your senator voted on the Wall Street rescue plan.
Name Party-State Vote
Akaka, Daniel K. D-Hi. Yes
Alexander, Lamar R-Tenn. Yes
Allard, Wayne R-Colo. No
Barrasso, John R-Wyo. No
Baucus, Max D-Mont. Yes
Bayh, Evan D-Ind. Yes
Bennett, Robert F. R-Utah Yes
Biden, Joseph R., Jr. D-Del. Yes
Bingaman, Jeff D-N.M. Yes
Bond, Christopher S. R-Mo. Yes
Boxer, Barbara D-Calif. Yes
Brown, Sherrod D-Ohio Yes
Brownback, Sam R-Kan. No
Bunning, Jim R-Ken. No
Burr, Richard R-N.C. Yes
Byrd, Robert C. D-W.V. Yes
Cantwell, Maria D-Wash. No
Cardin, Benjamin L. D-Md. Yes
Carper, Thomas R. D-Del. Yes
Casey, Robert P., Jr. D-Pa. Yes
Chambliss, Saxby R-Ga. Yes
Clinton, Hillary Rodham D-N.Y. Yes
Coburn, Tom R-Okla. Yes
Cochran, Thad R-Miss. No
Coleman, Norm R-Minn. Yes
Collins, Susan M. R-Maine Yes
Conrad, Kent D-N.D. Yes
Corker, Bob R-Tenn. Yes
Cornyn, John R-Texas Yes
Craig, Larry E. R-Idaho Yes
Crapo, Mike R-Idaho Yes
DeMint, Jim R-S.C. Yes
Dodd, Christopher J. D-Conn. Yes
Dole, Elizabeth R-N.C. No
Domenici, Pete V. R-N.M. Yes
Dorgan, Byron L. D-N.D. No
Durbin, Richard D-Ill. Yes
Ensign, John R-Nev. Yes
Enzi, Michael B. R-Wyo. No
Feingold, Russell D. D-Wis. No
Feinstein, Dianne D-Calif. Yes
Graham, Lindsey R-S.C. Yes
Grassley, Chuck R-Iowa Yes
Gregg, Judd R-N.H. Yes
Hagel, Chuck R-Neb. Yes
Harkin, Tom D-Iowa Yes
Hatch, Orrin G. R-Utah Yes
Hutchison, Kay Bailey R-Texas Yes
Inhofe, James M. R-Okla. No
Inouye, Daniel K. D-Hi. Yes
Isakson, Johnny R-Ga. Yes
Johnson, Tim D-S.D. No
Kennedy, Edward M. D-Mass. NA
Kerry, John F. D-Mass. Yes
Klobuchar, Amy D-Minn. Yes
Kohl, Herb D-Wis. Yes
Kyl, Jon R-Ariz. Yes
Landrieu, Mary L. D-La. No
Lautenberg, Frank R. D-N.J. Yes
Leahy, Patrick J. D-Vt. Yes
Levin, Carl D-Mich. Yes
Lieberman, Joseph I-Conn. Yes
Lincoln, Blanche L. D-Ark. Yes
Lugar, Richard G. R-Ind. Yes
Martinez, Mel R-Fla. Yes
McCain, John R - Ariz. Yes
McCaskill, Claire D - Mo. Yes
McConnell, Mitch R - Ky. Yes
Menendez, Robert D - NJ Yes
Mikulski, Barbara A. D - Md. Yes
Murkowski, Lisa R - Alas. Yes
Murray, Patty D - Wash. Yes
Nelson, Bill D - Fla.L No
Nelson, E. Benjamin D - Neb. Yes
Obama, Barack D - Ill. Yes
Pryor, Mark L. D - Ark Yes
Reed, Jack D - RI Yes
Reid, Harry D - Nev. Yes
Roberts, Pat R - Kan. No
Rockefeller, John D., IV D - WV Yes
Salazar, Ken D - Colo. Yes
Sanders, Bernard I - Vt. No
Schumer, Charles E. D - NY Yes
Sessions, Jeff R - Ala. No
Shelby, Richard C. R - Ala. No
Smith, Gordon H. R - Ore. Yes
Snowe, Olympia J. R - Maine Yes
Specter, Arlen R - Penn. Yes
Stabenow, Debbie D - Mich. No
Stevens, Ted R - Ak. Yes
Sununu, John E. R - NH Yes
Tester, Jon D - Mont. No
Thune, John R - SD Yes
Vitter, David R - La. No
Voinovich, George V. R - Ohio Yes
Warner, John R - Va. Yes
Webb, Jim D - Va. Yes
Whitehouse, Sheldon D - RI Yes
Wicker, Roger F. R - Miss. No
Wyden, Ron D - Ore No

Source: Associated Press
Updated: 3:54 a.m. ET Oct. 2, 2008
© 2008 MSNBC.com

1. Population: 303,824,640 (July 2008 est.)
2. Age structure: 0-14 years: 20.1% (male 31,257,108/female 29,889,645)
3. 15-64 years: 67.1% (male 101,825,901/female 102,161,823)
4. 65 years and over: 12.7% (male 16,263,255/female 22,426,914) (2008 est.)

Benazir Bhutto “From Prison to Prime Minster”

2007-12-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

Benazir Bhutto “From Prison to Prime Minster”

If you don’t live for something, you die for nothing. Benazir Bhutto lived for something. Women can find strength in here dedication overcoming discrimination, being discredited, being patronized, and her strength of being alone or being killed. Stand for something, don’t lay down for anything! She is not important because of the power she had had. She is not important because of her status of being a woman. When one looks at what she overcame and what she would not put up with, you can understand her importance and you can feel the world’s loss.

If nothing please read each quote and reflect on how it relates to your life. Not as a Pakistani, not as a government politician but as a fellow human and your prominence of which is not appreciated, respected, and revered.

Benazir Bhutto

21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007

On December 2, 1988 Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islamic State.

In the preceding decade of political struggle, Ms. Bhutto was arrested on numerous occasions; in all she spent nearly 6 years either in prison or under detention for her dedicated leadership of the then opposition Pakistan Peoples Party. Throughout the years in opposition, she pledged to transform Pakistani society by focusing attention on programs for health, social welfare and education for the underprivileged.

Benazir Bhutto was born in Karachi in 1953. After completing her early education in Pakistan, she attended Radcliff College and Oxford University. As well as obtaining a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, she also completed a course in International Law and Diplomacy at Oxford.

Ms. Bhutto is the author of "Foreign Policy in Perspective" (1978) and her autobiography, "Daughter of Destiny" (1989). She received the Bruno Kreisky Award for Human Rights in 1988 and the Honorary Phi Beta Kappa Award from Radcliff in 1989.

She has been mentioned as "The world's most popular politician" in the New Guinness Book of Record 1996.

The "Times" and the "Australian Magazine" (May 4, 1996) have drawn up a list of 100 most powerful women and have included Benazir Bhutto as one of them.

She has received many honoury degrees and awards from several countries.

Obituary: Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide bomb attack.

Her two brothers also suffered violent deaths.

Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.

His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics.

She was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996.

On both occasions she was dismissed from office by the president for alleged corruption.

The dismissals typified her volatile political career, which was characterised by numerous peaks and troughs. At the height of her popularity - shortly after her first election - she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world.

Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment.

But after her second fall from power, her name came to be seen by some as synonymous with corruption and bad governance.

The determination and stubbornness for which Ms Bhutto was renowned was first seen after her father was imprisoned by Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1977, following a military coup. Two years later he was executed after a much criticised trial on charges of conspiring to murder a political opponent

Ms Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father's death and spent most of her five-year jail term in solitary confinement. She described the conditions as extremely hard.

During stints out of prison for medical treatment, Ms Bhutto set up a Pakistan People's Party office in London, and began a campaign against General Zia.

She returned to Pakistan in 1986, attracting huge crowds to political rallies.

After Gen Zia died in an explosion on board his aircraft in 1988, she became one of the first democratically elected female prime ministers in an Islamic country

What ever happened to the sense of honor and respect with the principals of the Scout law?

2007-08-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

Boy Scout Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan

Scout Oath (or Promise)

On my honor I will do my best

To do my duty to God and my country

and to obey the Scout Law

To help other people at all times

To keep myself physically strong,

mentally awake, and morally straight

Today’s Oath (or credo)

Yo, It’s my bad if I, you know what I’m saying

squeal on my homies and my dawgs. You know what I’m saying.

and to be down with the credo, you know what I’m saying.

To get rich or die trying, yo.

To keep myself down with the shit,

keep fools of my grill, and a cap in their ass

What ever happened to the sense of honor and respect with the principals of the Scout law?

Scout Law

TRUSTWORTHY

A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him.

LOYAL

A Scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school, and nation.

HELPFUL

A Scout is concerned about other people. He does things willingly for others without pay or reward.

FRIENDLY

A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He seeks to understand others. He respects those with ideas and customs other than his own.

COURTEOUS

A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows good manners make it easier for people to get along together.

KIND

A Scout understands there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. He does not hurt or kill harmless things without reason.

OBEDIENT

A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobey them.

CHEERFUL

A Scout looks for the bright side of things. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.

THRIFTY

A Scout works to pay his way and to help others. He saves for unforeseen needs. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

BRAVE

A Scout can face danger even if he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at or threaten him.

CLEAN

A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He goes around with those who believe in living by these same ideals. He helps keep his home and community clean.

REVERENT

A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

I remember being a young boy growing up and being very much a square peg to those all around me. From Sunday school and singing in the church choir to being a boy scout. I was recently reminded of the quoting of the Boy Scout Oath and remembering the Scout Laws. I couldn’t remember it all but I was able to remember much of it and the beginning to the letter.

As I have matured into an adult I still maintain the same moral structure in my everyday life. I ask myself why and how do I continue to live the life of the light when it seems that everyone else doesn’t? I must admit that the architect of my present structure is me but I must give tribute to and pay honor to the mason contractor of my strong foundation, My Mother!

A single mother of two latch key children, my mother was strict but fair, she was demanding but understanding. After loosing her husband to a factory accident she picked herself off the painful ground of loss and abandonment and with great strength and fortitude she raised her children and elevated herself as an example to follow. She led by example and by strict enforcement of her disregards to mediocrity. She believed in instilling pride in self and value in your own abilities and morals. With her strong foundation built beneath me, no amount of deviation or ill weather can disrupt my structure.

So I ask myself why today’s constitution is so fragile. The easy answer it to say the youth of today just don’t have what we had. It is easy to lay blame on the immoral attitudes of today’s young folk but if the truth be told, we are the contractors of the foundations beneath those we so easily blame.

My mother had very little to give but to give the essentials of living. She may have been an absentee parent but her presence was always with us. The foundation she built beneath us was so strong that we couldn’t ever fail to remember it was there. We today are not only absent physically but we are guilty of being absent morally, spiritual, and fundamentally. We have build such flawed foundations because our selfish needs wants and desires trumps the necessity of placing effort on bestowing unto our youth what was gifted to us and to build equally sound fundamentals.

I decided to stop my judgment of the youth as they are products of what we have contributed. I will carry the light of truth and understanding. It is important to remember the foundation beneath our structures and how it got there. I have a great debt to pay. I owe a debt to those who came before me, who shed blood and died for me. I owe a debt to those who look to the sky and are blinded from the light. I owe a debt to my fellow light bearers who selflessly continue their giving. I owe a debt to those who can see the light but are not suppose to be bearers and finally I owe a debt to the one. That being said I shall go forward in shinning the light. First and foremost I owe a huge debt to my Mother who laid my foundation and deserves better from me to recompense her scarifies and efforts.

Scout Motto

Be Prepared

Scout Slogan

Do a Good Turn Daily!

Predators Uncovered!

2007-07-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

Predators Uncovered!

I will start by explaining the intellectual debate I have within myself on the reasons I am significantly incensed by the NBC show, “To Catch a Predator,” hosted by Chris Hanson. I am single with seemly uncertain hope to find a partner for my life. About 90 percent of the 9,700 bird species pair, mate, and raise chicks together for life. Only about 3 percent of the 4,000 mammal species are monogamous (and Homo sapiens isn’t one of them). Beavers, otters, bats, wolves, some foxes, a few hoofed animals, and some primates live together in social pairs but dally sexually much as birds do. The concept of a partner for life is a dream and constant prayer of mine.

This is where the overwhelming exasperation comes each time I watch the Chris Hanson specials on child predators. I watch and observe as Rabbi’s, Doctors, and other professional men use the internet or other means to prey on young children for sex. Men seeking young boys and men seeking young girls, all very much under age children, for the fulfillment of their perverted and sick fantasies for fornication. Now this sick and demented action is in itself warrants enough to evoke my vehemence and my desire for their punishment.

I must also add I am a firm believer in cruel and unusual punishment. For those who have hemorrhaging hearts and enjoy their glorified rose colored outlook on life as a none judger, understand that I am not trying to pass final judgment on anyone’s soul. That judgment is for God to make. Laws exist as a form of judgment in this life. Rules are a form of judgment in this life and we all abide by many of these judgments if you will. Those Political Correct folks out there with there hemorrhaging hearts are only trying to be refined and seeking acceptance. The truth is we all pass some form of judgment upon our fellow man.

That being said, I would like those men who prey on children for sexual and perverted personal pleasure, to be convicted and suffer in a way that would not only take them out of circulation from the general public, but I would like them to beg to die for Hell would seem better than living. I would like to invoke so-called barbaric punishments by using a blunt ax or a rusty hacksaw in the adjudication of their sentences.

Though I am exceptionally angered by the stories of these male predators and their desire for children, I have come to realized that my enmity comes most from the fact that many of these men are married. These men have partners in their lives and many have children, both of which I do not have, and still they betray their bonds for sick demented perversion to be acted upon an innocent child.

I am often found talking about, photographing, and admiring birds, so much so that I could be called the bird man of here and now. The Idea of a partner for life and having someone who is vital to my existence electrifies me. To see men destroy this gift has always and will always agitate my anger.

From time to time I have worn many hats. Motivational trainer, personnel trainer, and manager to name a few and I have developed many training modules. Most of which involves relationships. Weather it is mother/child, employer/employee, man/woman or same/same relationships are the most common executions among human existence.

One of my modules is a coaching to single women. I ask the question if they ensure their male dating partners use condoms in their intimacy. Most will say yes they do. When I further the questioning by asking if they would insist of condom usage after marriage, I get strange looks and indignant retorts about love and trust. Verily I say unto you that love and trust in today’s world will cause your death! It is better to remain celibate until you KNOW that your partner is someone you love and trust and love and trust completely without trepidation. Unfortunately the history of mankind and I do mean the male grandee of mankind; have throughout history show to have problems sheaving their swords monogamously.

Yes I am a bit jaded and I am extremely aware of why I am so jaded. I hope to find my ladybird for our eternal partnership for life. When that day comes, indisputably I will cherish and value her. I just ask and pray that all who have this blessing now learn to cherish and value what they have.

As for Chris Hanson, Please, PLEASE, PLEASE, continue with the sting operations until you find that you can’t get even one man to show up. Politicians, Judges and legislatures please, PLEASE, PLEASE, make laws strong enough to ensue these men never see the general public ever again otherwise no child is safe and no woman is safe! And good honest monogamist men will forever be alone without hope, and there are quite a few of us out here.

Farewell My Love

2007-01-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

Farewell My Love


     This is not what I wanted to write.  It was my plan to talk about MySpace and what it is and has become.  Instead I am writing in great sadness to the loss of my dearest and closest partner, friend and love.  Iman was with me for seventeen years.  She trekked across the country with me and was my whole world.  They say it is humane to kill someone who important to you and whom you love with every essence of your life-force.   Iman was suffering from canine Lupus and was loosing her hair and her lymph glands were swelling but she and I so much wanted to stay together that she was fighting.
     I myself was in a near fatal car accident in 2003.  I had become so focused on the world and making money that she was neglected.  I use to take her to the beach on Sundays and for a period of time that ended.  Upon having the accident I only remember that the first thing I remembering saying is how sorry I was to be too busy to take her to the beach.  When I came out of my sleep after breaking every bone below my hips and the same bone in my neck as Christopher Reeves, the first thing I remember saying was forgive me Iman.
     As I was recovering I made a promise to Iman that we would see many joyous times if she were to give me five more years.  I realized my baby girl was getting old.  Seventeen years is a long time.  I unfortunately am stuck in a self made prison and thus Iman was too there.  It’s because of this same prison I could not show Iman the joyous years I wanted to and why I had to do this humane thing.  If it is humane then I want to change species.  In the past four years Iman and I have been together more than ever still I wanted her to live free for a while.
     When Iman first came to me she was no bigger than the palm of my hand.  She was the cutest little bundle of joy.  Over the years she and I became as one.  There were people who envied the love we shared.  Often times stating she was a spoiled dog.  This is farther from the fact.  She was loved and loved so deeply that I’m still wondering what I will do without her.  Iman was my heart; she was with me through a horrific marriage and saved my life from that marriage.  Iman wasn’t a spoiled Diva Dog but a loved partner.  There is a saying that goes: “It is easy to find someone to live with but very hard to find the one you can’t live without.”  Iman, I can’t live without you my darling little baby girl.
     I wasn’t there at her birth but I was with her for all her life.  I was there at her last.  As her eyes closed and she took her last breath I was there to speak to her and allow her on her next journey.  This one is without me.  Iman my love, I no not where you are and I really miss you.  I love you my darling and I will always have you with me in my heart.

farewell My Love
I Will Love you Always and Forever

Remember the Past

2006-11-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

Remember the Past

Before Arnold                          After Arnold

Sitting and watching the talking heads on CNN and Fox news before the beginning of the network news started in on their election propaganda, I was getting very angry to hear what I am suppose to be concerned with. Just like everything else they report, they got that wrong as well.
         I am supposed to be concerned with corruption in government. Wrong, I am concerned with the corruption with the price of gas as the CEO’s earn $40,000 a day and I pay through my noise draining my bank account to fill up my vehicle. At lease I have a bank account where most of my fellow Americans can’t keep one open because most of us live from paycheck to paycheck.
         I am supposed to be concerned with the war in Iraq. Wrong, granted I am angry that the President has cause my fellow citizens to go into Iraq to loose arms, eyesight and their lives for a cause that at best was to make Daddy’s vendetta fulfilled.
         I am more concerned that when I have a problem with my cable system or my internet or even my medical bill I have to talk with someone named “Joe,” right, in India. Outsourcing is causing a war in my neighborhood as the poor is poorer because there are no jobs as our country sells off its potential by sending our jobs overseas. It is becoming more dangerous in my neighborhood as crime is increasing.
         I am supposed to be mad at President Bush but it was President Clinton who signed the NAFTA which was the beginning of the end of employment in America for regular folks. So when a Hindu voice named Joe is on the other end of my phone I say Thank you Clinton!

         Results based on a phone survey of 1,014 adult Americans conducted October 27 through October 29, 2006, by Opinion Research Corporation, with a sampling error of +/-3% points. I don’t know which 1,014 of the thirty million illegal aliens in this country they asked the questions to, but their answers obviously does not reflect what concerns most of the legal Americans in this country.
         My major concern is the way I must learn to speak Spanish to continue to live, eat and work within my own country. I must learn to read Spanish as Sa Habla español is written on every sign and every other billboard is in Spanish.
         But that is not the worst of it. My / Our country is up for sale and We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity, have sold our inheritance and our children’s future with the silent response and ill responsible choices.

Remember when Germany was infected with a Austrian who was good at manipulating the minds of the general public and mobilizing people to mindless obedience. Hail mien Fuhrer Schwarzenegger who has come into this country and subtly infected one of the greatest and admired families in this country and I am sure this was not by design. Gained office and with little objection and is working on legislation of becoming President.
         Just look at Maria before Arnold and see her since. You will see California in years to come and the rest of the country. Thirty million illegalness and growing, Japanese holding in the gross national product, Outsourcing and NAFTA draining our job prospects, and foreign domestic government sucking the life out of American recourses.

God Bless America, God Help Us Americans

A Fool and His Money (part two)

2006-09-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

        In the era of the government banning numbers running then turning it into a legal institution called the lottery, we have another form of allowing an illegal business to become a billion dollar legal institution. In part two of my series of “A Fool and His Money,” I will address the legalization of pinping.
        Now a pinp is someone who exploits ladies out of their money with allege protection from Johns as the ladies sell their bodies. So to say internet dating is a form of pinping would be a stretch or would it. It becomes an addiction to folks to seek that someone special but in turn you seem never to find that person. Instead people become professional daters.
        Many women are very good at professional dinner partners who get to eat for free and then move on to the next man. Men become professional masqueraders as they lie and deceive to get another conquest in bed. In either case there is a great loss as this throw away society, throws away people like trash.
        Ultimately the on line dating services get paid as peoples lives become trashed. So in that case there is a great similarity in Pinping. This is another billion dollar industry that prey on your wallet and in return you become an addict whose soul is jeopardized as any addiction causes.

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        I don’t believe in censorship in our lives so I can’t fault anyone for finding a capitalist way of free enterprise. We are the one giving up our hard earned dollars for a service we think is giving us choices. Staring into a computer and discounting someone based on a profile or a photo may be a way of choice but we are not making connections. That person you discounted might have been the one. Most of us make the wrong choices so when use the menu method of dating we are still making the same bad choices.
        In this day and age if a woman still wants to end up in a bed with a man risking her life and if a man want to spend his dollars on dinners for a professional dater, and then I have nothing to say. Still there are some very dangerous games being played out there. People with ailments who wont be honest, people with sex changes who wont be honest, and people who have become proficient at insincerity the it can be too late before you are infected.
        This billion dollar industry is separating millions of people from their money at an alarming rate that more and more of these dating sites are growing expositional.

        There are men out there that think that American women are gold-diggers and don’t know how to treat a man so they tend to look out of the United States for women to satisfy their desires. Of course their desires are to find a subservient sex slave. This will not work in any country Fellows. Still many men are seeking women outside the country.
        Here is where that sex craved mindset will drain your pocket faster than any American woman. A mans desire is said to be of two things and that is food and sex. The problem with that is thatmost men who desire food are lousy in bed and thus the sex they want is for self pleasure and not for the pleasure of their partner. The man who cares about his body in great degree is also lousy in bed because he too only thinks of his pleasures rather than his partner. With those two choices, what do you expect from women out there.
        There are men who only think of sex and the pleasure of the women. These me tend not to be great partners because they know the can please the woman so they feel they don’t have to be nice. That is why you always see women with men that mistreat them. Face is my fellow men: women want sex too. They only want good quality enjoyable sex that pleases them.
        With that in mind there is a way to find women in your own country, just become partners. Take care of yourself and your body and take care of you partner and her body. Be fair warned however, there are great money scams in the overseas dating game.
        These women state they want to come to your country and tell you sob stories of how bad it is in their countries. They exclaim their deep love for you, (not having ever met you,) and they swear that you are the man of their dreams. They claim to want to have you children and please you in way to make you quiver in ecstasy.
        After they feel they have stimulated your loins and affected your heart with their horridly humbling hardship stories, they then strike your wallet by asking for gifts and begging you to send them money to leave the county to come to you. After hundreds of dollars you never here from them again.
        Below are three of those women. The first from Africa and the other two from Russia. Notice the Russian women have sent me the exact same message! Furthermore they gave me a bank account to send the money to and the bank account was the same for both women. I never sent a dime across the waters but I have read of the millions scammed from men from Europe, South Africa and the Americas.

well honey you coming to ghana would be very much good to join my family wowoowow that would be very nice i wish that day will came soon...well love i was thinking about samething before yu send me this mail love i was thinking well honey i was thinking about if you can send me money here so that i could get the phone here and also same brithday gift's sweety honey..make same small party with friend and have fun y on my brithday my love becos i need to talk to you on a phone so much dear and i hope that you do understand what i mean sweety honey and i hope that i am not asking too much my love becos dear i can wait to talk to you on a phone hummmmm i can just wait place try mail me back soon

what elseš I can tell you about me. I feel that you have already know all things about me. I have fillings as ifš I know you for a very long time.
By the way the day before yesterday my friends and I went to the cinema it was "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". You should see it if you still didn't se it, cause its veryš funny movie.
As for me I want to hear your voice very much, but I dont have a phone at home and you can't call me but if you want you can give me your number

Kisses for you!!! From Margarita Plaksina with love!!!
Russia Bashkortostan,

what elsešI can tell you about me. šI feel that you have already know all things about me. I have fillings as ifšI know you for a very long time.
By the way the day before yesterday my friends andšI went to the cinema it was "Mr. and Mrs.Smith". You should see it if you still didn't se it, cause its veryšfunny movie.
As for mešI want to hear your voice very much, butšI dont have a phone at home and you can't call me but if you want you can give me your number (please inlcude country code and zone area)

FromššSvetlanašGilazeva with love!!!
Russiaš Bashkortostan,

        Finding Ms. Wonderful and Mr. Right is not impossible online. Finding a soul mate through the cyber people menu has happened. I am aware of at lease three of my friends who have met and married their partner from internet dating. Two of those friends found mates from different countries, one from China and the other from Canada. The wonder of being able to reach out across the entire world and finding someone that is connected to you spiritually and whom you are attracted to physically and mentally is amazing.
        To some degree the computer is a way to have non intrusive, non threatening communications. In many cases two people connecting over the internet engage in more communication in a short period of time than many couples do in a year who have physical contact.
        That is the exception rather than the rule however. If it were that simple then there would not be so much money in it. The major problem is that menu. Just like at the restaurant, you see so much that tingles you palette that you can never be happy until you taste it all at some point. After spending all your money and never being satisfied you end up feeling empty. Again a fool and his money is soon and very deeply parted.

They Sayers

2006-09-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

They Sayers

     You know they say:  “A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can't do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.”  Well it was not the phantom THEY that said that but Chuck Norris.  Unlike the “they Sayers” in the world I don’t usually quote something or someone without knowing where it can be found.  Also unlike the “they Sayers,” I don’t quote something that would be conflicting or potentially harmful to someone else.  We all know and have “They Sayers” in our lives.  These folks are the ones who like to put a monkey wrench into your life by breaking down your dreams or trying to disrupt your life because you may be doing something beyond the thinking of those around you.  You may be improving your outlook, your health or your career and those around you are feeling inferior, or falling behind you.  These people my only have a concrete vision of who you use to be and refuse to see who you are today.  These people tend to resist change and will tell you that you have changed as if that is something bad.  Their lack of change show lack of growth and their stagnate minds refuses to expand beyond their microcosm of vision.
     These people have such little regards for themselves that it becomes important to reach out as a venomous cobra to inflect their poison into you.  It is often their way of not being accountable for the venom that is spat from their dried up, small minded, self satisfying lips by saying You Know They Say…
     You know they say:  if you read a lot of books your sight will gradually be eradicated by cancer!  Often the word cancer has to come into play as to make is more authentic.  Of course this statement comes from someone who refuses to purchase a book for entertainment but rather vegetate in front of a Television all day.
     You know they say:  too much exercise is bad for your heart.  Why just look at the guy that wrote that running book, he’s dead.  Of course this comes from someone whose hips are spreading beyond their chair and wishes to use the death of one person to allow them to stay sedentary and slumped in a couch somewhere.
     You know they say:  a guy was washing his car and cut himself on the bumper and died of chrome poisoning.  Said to someone who likes to was their car.
     You know they say:  too much pizza will clog you intestines with the cheese and you will die of congestion poisoning.  Said to someone who eats a great deal of pizza.
     These are examples of the many silly and unfounded “They Say” quotes we hear everyday.  Just ask any one of the They Sayers in you life to tell you where it comes from you will hear the completely ridiculous responses like on the news yesterday, but these folks can’t tell you which news.  Or they will tell you they read it somewhere but can’t tell you where it can be found.
Unfortunately They Sayers often are those very close to you.  If some of these negative folks are your family members that you see and interact with regularly, then you probably can’t avoid them completely. So whenever they say to you, “You can’t do that,” or another similar statement, like the They Say quote, affirm to yourself within your mind and don’t contradict them.  In this case a closed mouth gathers no reason for further disgrace.  Don’t allow yourself to be put in the position of defending someone else’s version of the truth. The most draining and damaging obstacles we all must overcome are those people close to us. Many people fail because of the people around them killing their hopes and dreams with venomous and destructive diatribe used as fact.
You know they say: “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”  They Sayers tend to be know is alls as they try to conflict with you and your ideas and dreams.  But to avoid being responsible for their words, they always place the responsibility on the invisible, phantoms known as THEY.  By the way the person who made that last statement is Isaac Asimov a Russian-born American author and biochemist.  As I stated prior when I quote someone I can direct you where it comes from.

Farewell to Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Farewell to Steve Irwin

A few years ago an insanely off the wall man came across my Tele and I thought he needed a shrink. He would jump into the water with wild crocodiles, (as if a croc is anything but wild,) and he would pick up venomous shakes with his bare hands by their tails and hold them up for us to see. Steve Irwin, known as the crocodile hunter came into my household with the flair and insanity of a person who truly cared about the other creatures that we share this earth with. I began to become effected with his love for Australia and the animals of the world. His calmness with viperous, aggressive and dangerous creatures was amazing as he was able to show us the beauty of said creatures without harm to himself or the creature. That calmness and tenderness is something we all should learn from.
Steve Irwin is no longer with us in parson as he was recently killed doing what he loved. I am deeply saddened by his passing but I am not going to weep for him for he showed me that a life should be celebrated. Steve Irwin gave so much to this world in the short 44 years. Terri Irwin, Steve’s wife and their two children, I know will continue with the work that Steve made his destiny. I wish to use this platform to thank Steve Irwin for his dedication and enormous love for the animals of this world. I also wish to give my condolences to Terri and the rest of the Irwin family including his best mate West. Read more

A Fool and His Money

2006-08-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

A Fool and His Money (part one)

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Subject; Every day you loose the sensations of seex!
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     Thomas Tusser, an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557, also is known for the quote: “A fool and his money are soon parted.”  Wiser words have never been spoken.  The above messages come to you from my email.  In 1557 prior to internet and infomercials or even radio, Mr. Tusser warned us of the constant ploys to separate us from our money.   Between 1866 and 1868 the phrase; "There's a sucker born every minute," was coined but it wasn’t P. T. Barnum as most people think.  Over 300 years from Thomas Tusser’s warning the same warning is trumped.  In the 1941 Universal Pictures comedy film starring and scripted by W.C. Fields, “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break,” comes another pennant for us to be watchful of the vultures who wish to separate us from our money.
     I am not an advocate of censorship but if the FCC wants to protect the air ways of harmful vulgar content, and the FDA wish to protect us from physically harmful substances. The government goes to war to protect us from global terrorist threats.  The CIA, FBI, ATF, and the Border Patrol protect us from aliens, illegal drugs, and spies.  With the success of these agencies it is easy to see why policing the internet is going to be impossible.
     I sure you, just as I are tired of getting these emails flooding our service.  I have tried to label them as junk or tired to block them to no end.  Notice that some come from the same source but with different people or addresses.  By trying to block them only generate the flood gates to open.  My sister says that they are searching for an active email account and once you try to eructate them you are advertising that you are reading your mail.
     The awful truth is that these male enhancing, erectile dysfunction, sex promoting industries generate billions of dollars a year.  As in the FCC, FDA, CIA, FBI, ATF and CBP the industries of which these emails are generated proves that nearly five hundred years removed from Thomas Tusser, A FOOL AND HIS MONEY ARE SOON PARTED!

Gas Pricing

2006-06-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

       I happen to drive a full size Ford Bronco which is by definition an extreme gas hog. I don’t love my truck but I do really enjoy having it and have experienced some great moments with it. Lately though I have been observing the amount of visits I make to my local gas station. I am not one to complain about the gas prices or the amount I pay for filling that colossal fuel devourer. The saying: ‘If you want to give a dance, you must pay the band,’ comes to mind.
       As time rolled by I started to realize that twenty dollars of gas would only give me an eighth of a tank of gas when prior I was able to put in a half tank. My mind soared into nostalgia of my first car. I will be dating myself with this but I am very proud of my age. When I was filling up my first car gas prices statewide annual averaged, full-serve unleaded:. 1973, 57.2 cents. 1974, 60.8 cents. 1975, 63.5 cents. 1976, 67.5 cents .. Today we are paying more than five times what I paid with my first car.
       Don’t get me wrong I am not cheep. . . No wait, I am cheep, as a matter of fact my second middle name is cheep and I don’t like the amount of money being dished out for gas! Forget the cost of living figure; the expenditure out going to minimum wage does not match. Minimum wage should be over $8.00 an hour today to keep up with the price of good and service based on 1973 figures.
       Then I heard of the Land of really, really cheap gas. Venezuelans pay 12 cents a gallon -- and not a penny more. (read more). How and why are the richest nations of the world paying such a high per gallon price when Venezuelans pay only snippets for their gas?
       I decided to look into the matter as I noticed that parts of the country pays less for gas than other parts. But the confusing part of the price difference is that the areas that pay a lesser pump price per gallon are states that have their gas shipped in. Areas like Los Angeles which is surrounded by oil rigs destroying the scenery of the coast line and who also have the refineries to turn the crude into gas, have a higher price per gallon at the pumps.
       I got it, tax brakes for the refineries to perform in the state and the people must pick up the slack. Tax brakes for the petroleum companies for digging off the coast, destroying the view and endangering the environment while making the consumer foots the bill for the tax cuts. Oil Profits Soar with Pump Prices. read more
       Oil Company’s CEO’s earn $42,000.00 a week as reported by a CNNMoney.com senior writer while I have been forced to park my wonderful truck as often as I can afford to because I cant afford not to. I was one who if needed to run to the corner store I would just hop into my truck and make that run. Now I consider and reconsider if I really need to go out. If I do need to make a little run I now walk or ride my bicycle. As a matter of fact I now ride my bike to the gym which is six miles round trip rather than driving my fun SUV. When I have to really go out I make long list so I can accomplish all my task in one run.
       I have been able to save only forty dollars a week. For me that is good but I would rather be banking $42,000.00 a week!

Price of gas around the globe

Nation            City             Price in USD Regular/Gallon

Andorra                                  $4.08
Belgium            Brussels            $5.91
Brazil              Brasilia               $3.12
Bulgaria               Sofia            $3.52
Croatia            Zagreb            $4.81
Cuba                Havana            $3.03
Czech Republic         Prague            $4.19
Denmark             Copenhagen             $5.93
Egypt                Cairo            $0.65
Estonia                Tallinn            $3.62
France            Paris            $5.54
Germany            Frankfurt            $5.57
Hungary            Budapest            $4.94
Ireland            Dublin            $4.78
Italy            Milan            $5.96
Japan              Tokyo             $4.24
Kuwait             Kuwait City              $0.78
Lebanon             Beirut             $2.63
Luxembourg                          $4.82
Netherlands             Amsterdam             $6.48
Nicaragua              Managua             $2.61
Nigeria              Lagos              $0.38
Norway              Oslo             $6.27
Panama              Panama City             $2.19
Portugal             Lisbon             $5.35
Puerto Rico              San Juan             $1.74
Romania             Bucharest              $4.09
Russia             Moscow             $2.10
Saudi Arabia             Riyadh             $0.91
South Africa             Johannesburg             $2.62
Spain             Madrid             $4.55
Sweden             Stockholm             $5.80
Switzerland             Geneva             $4.74
Taiwan             Taipei             $2.84
United Kingdom             London             $5.79
Venezuela             Caracas             $0.12

W.M.D.'s Weapons of Mass Destruction

2006-06-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

       On August 6, 1945 the world's first atom was dropped on the Japanese City of Hiroshima. The Atom bomb was dropped by an American B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay. Anyone within a mile of the explosion from atom bomb became a bundle of smoking black charcoal within seconds. Over 60,000 people were killed and those who where still alive were in agony from their burns. The atom bomb obliterated more than four square miles and there was very heavy damage in the outlying areas also. Three days later the USA dropped another atom bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. This bomb killed another 35,000 people and injured even more.
       The first W.M.D. was used and the United States was the terror that unleashed the threat to the rest of the world. America which stands at the goodness to all mankind by attacking those who threaten the world was the initiator of this threat by being the first to use Weapons of Mass Destruction.
       Evil people do exists as terrorism reaches across every continent as innocence are killed and raped and enslaved, however the truly evil people are those who for the sake of economic power and personal glory close their eyes. There is a W.M.D. that is a threat to all mankind and yet it is not addressed. Those in power around the world either by ignorance, alleged moral rationale, and indifference or for the love of money chose to not mention, chose to blame, chose to impede or chose to horde their personal gains and not attack the problem.
       The W.M.D. that is most devastating to the global health and welfare is greed and power. The result of the weapon comes in the deaths of millions of people around the world. 95,000 plus died in the bombs on Japan but thirty million have died from HIV/AIDS. On every continent today, there are millions infected with AIDS to the staggering numbers of forty million plus. Husbands giving to their wives, children receiving from their mothers and still many governments refuse to give aid to those suffering because of their so-called moral stand against prostitution, gay sex and illegal drug use.
      Money is denied to countries if condom use is promoted. Money is denied to countries if prostitution is allowed. Money is denied to countries if needle exchange programs are instituted. Money is denied to countries if safe gay sex is promoted. Governments past their judgments and deny its people life on this so called moral stand.
       35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
       36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
       37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

       Another result of the W.M.D. that is devastating the world is hunger. It’s hard to believe that still today The UN body said more than 2 million children died this year of hunger and diseases in Africa while the world's attention was on a series of natural disasters and the spread of bird flu. In India the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) regarding the suicides of two young girls who had suffered extreme hunger and malnutrition for a prolonged time and could do so no more. Sundari Sardar and Phulan Sardar, from the state of West Bengal, committed suicide after having endured several days without any food whatsoever, and years with only very little. With no hope in sight that this situation would change and that food would come there way, the young girls took their lives. On moral grounds I guess it is ok for our people die, suffer and kill themselves.
       In South Africa De Beers Mining Company Ltd , profited over $4 billion (in 1989) and the profit is growing while its workers and their families are ding from HIV/AIDS and are being denied medicine to prolong their lives. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported (2005) that profit rose 75 percent from a earlier, to $9.92 billion. Revenue rose 31.9 percent, to $100.7 billion. As we spend more on gas and our saving draw only a piddle 3% if we are lucky and millions are starving through the world.
       Power and greed is a weapon of mass destruction that is killing millions. There is a war on drugs. There is a war against terrorist. There are wars for religion. Still the number one killer of people and the planet is greed and power.
       Tony Blair says fighting HIV/Aids is not just a "moral duty" but is in the UK's "national interests". "It is my hope that by working together we can help raise awareness, increase political will and mobilizes the resources necessary to stem the tide of this epidemic." At the start of the HIV/AIDS crisis Margret Thatcher along with the entire British parliament were referenced to the ignoring of the AIDS crisis in Britain, where the authorities didn't really care until heterosexual people started dying, Imagine the lives saved had she adopted Blair’s stand.
       Nelson Mandela achieved the impossible by aiding the ending of the apartheid era. He became the leader of South Africa and the entire time in office, never once addressed HIV/AIDS. Since he stepped down in 1999, Mr. Mandela has campaigned for greater awareness of Aids issues since the passing of his son to the disease. Thabo Mbeki the successor to Mr Mandela also ignored the subject of HIV/AIDS to the point of telling lies about the illness to denying care to those suffering.
       President Ronald Regan was similar to Mr. Mbeki with spewing misinformation about the illness and providing no assistance. George Bush Sr. with his moral stand aided in further dieing and his son G.W. is furthering the legacy of his father.
       To tackle HIV/AIDS, the government of China has pledged to invest 1.75 billion yuan from 2003 to 2007. This after stating earlier on in the crisis of HIV/AIDS that they were a closed society and would not have to be concerned with that problem. After 840,000 cases of the illness in 2003 and 44,000 deaths I guess they are now concerned.
       All of these governments along with the rest of the worlds governments and the people controlling the governments are more concerned about their wallets and their legacies and their power. Allowing the mass destruction of the world’s population through decease and they are equally responsible for the millions dying of hunger. Like the letter in Prince’s song “Dear Mr. Man,” something has to change because,
"We tired a-y'all”

Artist: Prince
Song: Dear mr. man
Album: Musicology

What's wrong with the world 2day?
Things just got 2 get better
Show me what the leaders say
Maybe we should write a letter

Said Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand
Why poor people keep struggling but U don't lend a helping hand
Matthew 5:5 say "The meek shall inherit the earth"
We wanna b down that way
but U been trippin since the day of your birth

Who said that 2 kill is a sin
Then started every single war that Ur people been in?
Who said that water is a precious commodity
Then dropped a big old black oil slick in the deep blue sea?

Who told me, Mr. Man, that working round the clock
would buy me a big housed in the hood
Cigarette ads on every block
Who told me, Mr. Man, that Eye got a right 2 moan?
How about this bog old hole in the ozone?

What's wrong with the world 2day
Things just got 2 get better
Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand
Maybe we should write a letter

Listen, Ain't no sense in voting - same song with a different name
Might not b in the back of the bus but it sure feel just the same
Ain't nothing fair about welfare
Ain't no assistance in AIDS
We ain't that affirmative about your actions until the people get paid

Ur thousand years r up
Now U got 2 share the land
Section 1 - the 14th amendment says "No state shall deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law"
Mr. Man, we want 2 end this letter with 3 words
We tired a-y'all

Bottled Water & Cell Phones

2006-05-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

       A good friend and I would always joke about how the world would be without cell phones and bottle water. It was partly a joke and partly a sarcastic glimpse into the social direction we all are taking. Today I really wonder the answer to that question. Just what would the world be like without cell phones and bottle water?
       I was sitting in the airport waiting to catch my plane when I noticed within thirty minuets I saw and heard ten different phone calls. I found out that Jack was catching a plane to a wrestling competition and decided to call his friend Bob only to find Bob in bed resting a hangover for the prior night. Jack proceeded to tell Bob about how easy it was to have Dorothy become his love salve. It appears that Dorothy is very talented with her mouth.
       There was Jim who made two phone calls to business contacts about real estate deals coming up in San Diego and New Mexico. Jim was planning to see Joe at breakfast for a survey of the deal in San Diego. If they were lucky a round of golf would be on the agenda. While talking to Tom in New Mexico Jim was telling of a possible undercutting of another agent that is making a proposal to the clients there.
       There was a guy talking to his dad on the phone about the family and there was a young lady talking to her friend. I could tell the young lady was very bored with the waiting and needed to talk to anyone rather than sitting quietly waiting alone. In all I saw eight people in the small waiting lounge make ten phone calls.
       Upon arriving home I had to run into a Wal-mart to exchange something and while waiting in line I observed ten people within fifteen minuets walk into the store with a phone attached to their ears. I don’t know what they would do if that technology was not available. Would people stay closer to one another with less distance between them?
       That does not count the multitudes I see while driving who are yakking on the phone while driving their cars. One hand on the phone and the other on the wheel, and their mind on everything but driving. For the months of April - December 2001, the California Highway Patrol attributed at least 4,699 crashes, 2,786 injuries, and 31 deaths to cell phones. Since the stats were only collected for nine months, the LA Times* reports that the number of crashes for the entire year could be well over 6,000.
       Aside form the lack of privacy as I along with the rest of the world hearing your conversations, I hear vulgar words, unconstructive observations of others character and if I were smart enough I could extract insider information from others open diatribes. There is also a safety issue here as we place our minds on something other than what we are doing. At lease sitting in a phone booth or sitting with the phone at home keeps you safer.
       And then there are those millions upon millions of water bottles. “Billions of Plastic Water Bottles Tossed In Trash” “Surge in Bottled Water Popularity Threatens Environment” are quotes from the California Department of Conservation 29may03. Plastic does not degrade and just becomes more trash to stuff into our overfilled landfills.
       Once, most Americans got their water only from the tap. Now, they're often buying their water in a bottle. At work, after a workout, or just about any time, Americans are drinking bottled water in record numbers--a whopping 5 billion gallons in 2001, according to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), an industry trade group. That's about the same amount of water that falls from the American Falls at Niagara Falls in two hours.
       "Generally, over the years, the FDA has adopted EPA standards for tap water as standards for bottled water," according to Henry Kim, Ph.D., a supervisory chemist at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.. As a result, standards for contaminants in tap water and bottled water are very similar. So just what are you getting from bottle water?
       As the prices of gas climbs to the sky and we complain about the cost, we don’t consider just what we are paying for something that we can get from a drinking fountain anywhere for free. And we are paying! We are paying for water which is technically free. We are also paying with the pollution that the plastic bottles are causing. In the week when the House of Commons, home of the British parliament, was shown to be spending over £11,000 (US$20,000) on bottled water last year - water that would have cost only £25 out of the tap - experts have questioned the quality, labeling, advertising and environmental cost of the bottled stuff.
        Where would we be without bottled water and cell phones?

Better Off

"The First Black," Nothing has changed.

2006-02-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

The statement “FIRST BLACK” comes into play once again as if being Black is a handicap. When I hear that term today I must admit my
feelings have changed form how I felt in the sixties. In the sixties the term was used as a wiping strap beating me into believing that for Black people being able to brake into certain fields was an impossibility because of some inferior flaw in my genes. So when a Black person broke through it was a exceptional achievement.
Now when I hear this statement I have emotions of antagonism from the fact that today in this day and age we still have to endure the same debasing measuring tool. Instead of feeling inferior, I now understand that braking into certain fields in which we have not shown our prominence, is because we were not given equal opportunity. Shani Davis’s long and hard road to the Olympic top podium, shows that the struggle is still true today as it was in the sixties and scores before. More

Bush/Cheney's Three Branch Circus

2006-02-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

Topping the News today
“Homeboy(Black man), second in command of the local gang, while at the crib(the Vice president while at the ranch), my bad(accidentally), pops a cap(shoots), into the grill of his daug(into the face of his friend), after downing a forty(after drinking one beer), when the cops arrive Homeboy(Black man) tells the cops to take a chill pill and holler latter(tells the cops to call tomorrow) and the cops tell him to chill until latter(the police tells him they will come back tomorrow).  You know what I’m saying.”
     As I once talked about before, I am a card carrying conservative.  Unlike my buddies at FOX News I’m not a blind bovine excrement spewing defender of the wrong.  When wrong is done I don’t care from who or which party I will talk out.
     The present administration is nothing more than a criminal joke.  What is wrong with restraining someone and feeding them only once a day but only if they do what we want them to.  Then we can mistreat them and exercise them only when we feel like it and demand them to love us.  After all that is how we treat our dogs and they love us.
     What is wrong with the entire world knowing for days that the hurricane is coming and will destroy what we know as New Orleans and misplace thousands of families but while on vacation the president is unaware and his horse dung cleaning friend is fully in charge looking at the center fold of horse quarterly.  After all it’s only those Black things and those who have less that will be affected.  Maybe we can flush them out and those who have and have more can take over the community.
     And the Liberty hotel (which doesn’t exist) was saved by terrorist attacks because of our ability to tap (illegally) phones of our free citizens to justify an expensive war that is killing good citizens.  Thousands have lost their homes, freedom, and are not being displaced again as FEMA monies are ending, but we need more money from our tax payers to fund this war while we allow thirty thousand illegal non taxpaying immigrants into the country form the south to work for less and reap the benefits of free medical and education.
     With all this and more we now find that George Jr. is the smarter one.  Dick Cheney history is stunning and profound.  He found out that his first student deferment was so fun that he got a second one, and a third, and a forth. It was such a joyous time that Cheney racked up two convictions for drunk driving.  Alas, all good things come to an end. Cheney found himself about to be ineligible for anymore student deferments, but with the right to bare arms Dick didn’t want to fight for our freedom instead he has the freedom to shoot his friend in the face after drinking One beer, and not report it for twenty four hours.
     Then, suddenly, all of Chicken Dick Cheney's prayers were answered. The government had come out with a new paternity deferment for fathers and expecting fathers. Yep, you guessed it. Cheney put the fat to the fire--the meat in motion-- and shazzam, Cheney quickly found himself eligible for the paternity deferment. It must have been such sweet irony to him that while so many young men felt they had been screwed into going to Viet Nam, Dick Cheney had gotten screwed to stay out.  Now as our men are getting screwed to die in Iraq, Cheney continues to screw us.
     The three branches of the government have become a Three Branch Circus to us and the world.  The bad thing is that We The People are the ones who are reaping the suffering from this Bovine Excrement.  I am proud to be a conservative and Proud to Be an American.

If tomorrow all my things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
just my children and my wife.
     Illegal wire taps and seizures,
     Takes my world away.
     What I thought we had,
     Will be taken from us today
I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.
     Thankful for living here,
     Working hard for our saintdom
     The government comes along,
     And steals our notion of freedom
And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the ones who died,
who gave that right to me.
     And I’m proud to be an American,
     Where at least I thought I’m free.
     And I won’t forget the ones who died,
     lynched for trying to be.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA

More About Fat

2006-01-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

Pathological Placebos©

       When is a diet pill worth $159.00? Well I say NEVER! I am wondering if you have seen the Television commercial that asks that pathetic question. The Pathetic part of that question is that there will be millions who will shuffle hard earned money to buy this expensive ravage. I look at the multibillion dollar industry of diet and fat burning pills and supplements and see only peddlers pandering pathological placebos preying profusely plundering people’s principal promptly.
       The whole diet and health industry is running amok with lies and deceptions. Granted there is a huge problem in America with the waist lines of the country widening but there needs to be truth told about the reasons and cures. Unfortunately money is controlling the bottom line of the entire health and wellness of us.
       Take body mass index or BMI. This is the new toy
in scientific calculation of a person’s state of obesity. I suffer form a mild case of stomachitis, which means that my stomach is bigger than I would like it to be.
I have suffered in the past three years of being overweight. And just what is overweight? I look at someone as Terrell Owens whose Position: is as a Wide Receiver in the NFL his stature measures Height: 6-3 Weight: 226lbs. This would make Terrell having a BMI of 28.2 putting him overweight and 1.8 points away from obesity.
       This proves my point about the industry running amok. I can understand those who want to extort money from our pockets by selling us their latest pathological placebo but I had to understand the reason for the health community to come up with such a thrashing tool that is obviously a façade, and I see that their reason is to extort money from the government, which means us, for grant money to find that elusive FAT GENE. The bottom line comes back to money and not our health.
       To say that Terrell Owens, who can outrun mostly all defensive backs in the NFL, is overweight and near obesity is a laughter at best. To be fair as in everything there is an industry answer to this yarn. Two people can have the same BMI, but a different percent body fat. A bodybuilder with a large muscle mass and a low percent body fat may have the same BMI as a person who has more body fat because BMI is calculated using weight and height only. Just as small as the last print is reflect the hidden truths that we are not told about BMI. As you are being thrashed by your health care professional about being overweight and having a high BMI, they fail to tell you that; Two people can have the same BMI, but a different percent body fat. A bodybuilder with a large muscle mass and a low percent body fat may have the same BMI as a person who has more body fat because BMI is calculated using weight and height only. It’s all in the small print.
       Most of the diet pills and fat burners also come with the same print which is not stated enough or stressed enough. Use in conjunction with a healthy diet plan and plenty of exercise. The disclaimers in the pills are all you really need to follow and stop spending money on the pills. “Use in conjunction with a healthy diet plan and plenty of exercise.”
       I have a program that will take the weight off and keep it off while still eating what you want. In the three years of fighting my weight I too was duped by the claims of the pills and was ruled by the health industries standards. I have developed a program that works without starvation, alienation of favorite foods or killing myself with running my brains off.

Fat Free of Free Fat?

2006-01-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

Obesity is growing in America

            Driving home one day I started to smell something good cooking.  Now I wasn’t hungry prior to having the aroma of some meat cooking on a grill with fresh onions and a hint of garlic sizzling somewhere telegraphing to me to turn that smell into a taste.  My mouth started to water and my mind told me to disregard my safe driving habits and start making like a giraffe and extend my neck to find the place that was cooking that great smell.
            When I was twenty and active in sports I could eat like a sperm whale, devouring up to a ton of food a day and not gain an ounce.  I also could loose five to ten pounds a week if I wanted to by just working out harder while not eating any less.  Oh what I would give to be that way again.  My problem is I really, really, and in case you didn’t get it, I really, really, really like to eat.  I have friends who will attest to the fact that I can eat french fries like a crack head with a five thousand dollar a day habit.  I live for Filet-O-Fish® Fridays.  Chicago pizza is a USDA daily requirement to me.  Golden Corral® for breakfast buffet and Captain George's Seafood Buffet both in Virginia are to die for.
            Unfortunately I am no longer twenty.  I am forced to refocus on driving my car and feeling like a dejected teen when they find out their first crush doesn’t want them, I have to understand I don’t want that tasty smell in my system.  In March of 2003 I suffered a major car accident that had me laid up for quite a long while.  First I lost a great deal of weight but after leaving the hospital and sitting around in a wheel chair for months eating like a twenty year old I began to look like that sperm whale.  The first time I was able to stand up and step on a scale I almost died form the shock.  Today, after three I am only almost back to my pre accident weight and I feel I better loose more because I can no longer loose weight like I do money in Vegas.
            In my anger of not being able to stop at that wonderfully aromatic juicy beef sizzling over onions on a grill place, I started counting the amount of places I could stop and get something to eat while driving home.  On one block between traffic lights I could count ten restaurants, fast food joints, junk food stores, doughnut shops, and candy establishments.  I was driving in Los Angeles, the city of great weather and health food eating, tofu preaching, designer water carrying, health nuts, and two out of every four person I saw was obese.  I live in Virginia where Norfolk was acclaimed as the fattest city in the country.
            If we want to wonder why we are getting fatter just scrutinize at the gauntlet of temptation we have to circumvent in our day.  The average of ten places
per block to fill our bellies with instant gratification is a start.  Also most of us don’t realize how many times a day our hands finds a way to our mouths.  Most obese people will tell you that don’t eat that much, HA!  Also we eat the wrong things.  Haven’t you ever wondered why when you see poor people on the television that tend to be huge?  A study was done and reported on TLC that the fattest group of people on the earth by faction is a poor tribe of Native Americans.
            Despite a boom in the health and fitness industries, drawing in billions of dollars a year, Americans are becoming obese in alarming numbers. With diabetes, heart disease, gout and arthritis on the rise, it is estimated the obesity will be the number one killer in the country over taking HIV/AIDS and cancer.  Doctors are searching for the reasons behind the fat pandemic that is gripping America around the waist and thighs.
            As doctors and researchers receive millions of dollars in grant money to search for fat genes and brain flaws, I request my share of those millions so I can tell you that we eat too much and too much of the wrong things.  As we regulate via the FDA to place blame on those ten establishments per block, we suffer.  I regret that McDonald’s changed the oil in which they cook their fries.  I suffer from theaters not giving that extra dose of butter on my popcorn.  And I don’t care what the ads say, low cal and  fat free does not taste as good in fact it taste like bovine excrement.

Tis the Day Before Christmas

2005-12-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

Tis the day before Christmas and I’m all alone
I’m sad today for I have no one to phone
My dog’s at my side saying all is ok
Still I will be sad all of the day
Many are out buying that last minuet gift
As I sit at home and my mind goes adrift

Diamonds for her and gadgets for him
Toys for the children no one will be grim
Truth be told there’s many like me
Alone with no one to share levity
A bottle of wine a case of bad beer
Seeking within to find their good cheer

Being alone is not the most evil passion
Having no one to love is the greatest devastation
It’s the season of giving of sharing of loving
And so many have voids and will end this day weeping
The good news is this season will end
A new year will come and this feeling suspend

Next year may bring me a person to love
Down on my knees I ask him above
It’s his birthday we celebrate he’s the one to petition
To concede now would disregard his qualification
As I’m alone today I maintain my sanguinity
For he won’t forsake my hearts necessity

You have to kiss a lot of witches

2005-12-09T01:39:00.000-08:00

  Or?

       So much has been said to the belief that men are the evils of the world.  Countless books and daytime talk shows give justification of this truth.  I am talking about the dating world as well as marriage and commitment.  Men are selfless and brash with only one thought on their minds and that being able to bed any and every woman in their paths.  We can’t commit nor can we keep our center of gravity in our pants.  We are abusive and violent thinking that women are subservient toys to do with what we want.  We have no clue of the true meaning of Fatherhood, we enjoy making the child but don’t contribute to the care and upbringing of our children, after all the woman carries and gives birth demonstrating their willingness to endure the pain and suffering thereby giving them entitlement to the title of unsurpassed parent.
        “My ideal match is a man who is self confident, relaxed, who will take the time to get to know me and become a good friend. At the same time, he has that chemistry or spark that lights the fires of romance! Honest, open to new things and ideas, clear on his values, and in touch with his feelings. Someone who accepts people for who they are and who enjoys our differences as well as our common interests.”
        “I'm looking for someone both fun and funny. Smart and curious. Responsible and silly. Someone who is not afraid to give and take. Someone who has a soft interior and a big heart. Someone who is open, honest and kind.”
       These two quotes are actually quotes from an on line personal dating service.  The common theme is a woman looking for a caring, compassionate, honest man who knows how to treat a woman in order to take long walks on the beach with.  Now, we have already set the precedence that men are worthless sex craved brutes, my question is why are there thousands upon thousands of women signing up to these kinds of services.  Based on the precedence we know the men or signing up to find new prey.
       In my two books, “Visa Versa” and “Love Dot Com,” still unpublished because men don’t read and women only read about women who are wronged by men, I explore how the condition, and myth of men being horrific beast in romance and commitment as truly a fallacy.  Decent men who actually desire sincere committed caring honest relationships are with little exception treated as weak, fallible wimpish boors.  Women have to fear men who desire to get between their legs while men have to fear women trying to get between their back pockets.
       Many men are treated as meal tickets.  There are professional daters who only want a free meal at a nice restaurant.  There are women out there who want someone to supply them with the necessities of daily living like gas groceries, and clothing.  There is a top news anchor on morning news who stated that a man with a poor credit report is not someone she would open the opportunity to date her.  The “Nice Guys” are the ones who end up supplying this kind of support and find themselves alone when used up.
       Men also have to fear being treated as if they don’t have feelings or emotions.  There are women who wish to control and dominate men into weak feeble assassinated carcasses whose only thought is that of the woman.  He must condensed to her every whim or suffer her verbal abusive raft, all the time he must continue giving while receiving nothing in return. He must say what she wants to hear in the way she wants to hear it.  He must act and do what she says.  Befriends who she says.   Oh yea, he may get sex once a year.  The “Nice Guy” is often thrown aside or betrayed for the “Bad Boy.”
       Contrary to popular belief, men just want the exactly the same things women want.  Sex is not the driving force in us.  Trust me; the way to my heart is not through my stomach.  We want loving and closeness and trust and understanding.  We are tired of waltzing through midfields of mistrust and condemnation.  We to are tired of being taken for granted as pots of gold or should I say tired of being taken.
       I get tired of the saying; “you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find Prince Charming.”  Remember we have to kiss a lot of witches or . . . to find Cinderella.  Half the problem is that women are hanging around dirty ponds reaching for frogs.

Missing Ingenuity

2005-12-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

       I’m wondering if I am the only one who feel the dumbification of the world is becoming more and more to the forefront. I look at Hollywood and see the creativity is gone as the only movies they can do are movies which have already been written. Do not the authors of today have thoughts and ideas of their own anymore? Is the talent of major studios lacking in aptitude?
       Looking at the upcoming cropping of films form the major studios I find without exception each one is putting money into two or more remakes. As a writer myself I take offence of the idea that there are not writers out there that could come up with ideas that are fresh and new. Also I feel the studios need to eradicate their writers who are guilty of butchery to classics.
       Great Expectations was the movie that caused me to run out and buy my first VCR. The 1946 version of Charles Dickens' classic tale of Pip, a poor orphan who befriends an escaped convict and who grows up in the company of a bitter old woman, Miss Havisham, and her haughty young ward, Estella., and ultimately Pip learns the rewards of both vindictiveness and gratitude as a result of these events, this original version touches me and moves me each time I see it.
       The 1998 version, a story of the love of a man for an unreachable woman, this updated version to modern day New York City, is a complete butchery of the emotions and feel of the original.
       Mr. and Mrs. Smith is another example of butchery of a great classic. In the original, a sophisticated New York couple David and Annie Smith have an unusual marriage with an inordinate number of rules and regulations. One rule entitles them to ask each other one question per month which the other must answer completely honestly. Annie asks David if he would marry her again if he could have the time over again and David confides that he misses his freedom and so probably wouldn't. Later that day, an official from the town where they got married calls to see David, he explains that owing to a state boundary dispute, all couples married between 1936 and 1939 in the county where not legally married. David decides to have fun with this fact, but unbeknown to him, the county official calls to see Annie too and disaster results.
       This movie touched me because of one of the couples’s rules. The movie starts out with them locked into their bedroom because the rule was that if they had a fight, they would not leave the bedroom until the made up. This could have been weeks. I love this rule.
       The 2005 version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith where a married couple are getting bored with their quiet domestic life, unknowing, however, is that they're both assassins, secretly hopping the world and killing for hire. But their separate lives are about to collide when each finds out their next target is their own spouse, is an abomination to the original.
       If it’s not broken, don’t fix it should be the model in Hollywood. The following are the top one hundred remakes showing the lack inventiveness in Hollywood.

1. Wizard of Oz (1939 musical remake of 1925 silent film) 2. The Ring 3. Magnificent Seven (remake of Seven Samurai) 4. War of the Worlds 5. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
6. Cruel Intentions 7. The Children's Hour (remake of "These Three") 8. The Thing
9. Father of the Bride 10. You've Got Mail (remake of Shop Around the Corner)
11. The Mummy 12. Heaven Can Wait 13. The Preacher's Wife (remake of "The Bishop's Wife"... 14. Dawn of the Dead 15. Cape Fear 16. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey 17. Scarface 18. Freaky Friday 19. Doctor Dolittle 20. The Amityville Horror 21. Ocean's Eleven 22. 101 Dalmations 23. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 24. Little Shop of Horrors 25. Red Dragon 26. Gone in Sixty Seconds
27. The Italian Job 28. The Time Machine 29. Assault on Precinct 13 30. Bedazzled
31. House of Wax 32. Payback 33. The Longest Yard 34. Willard 35. Against All Odds (Out of the Past) 36. Body Snatchers 37. D.O.A. 38. Down To Earth
39. Flight of The Phoenix 40. Imitation of Life 41. Kiss of Death 42. Meet Joe Black
43. Point of No Return 44. Shaft 45. The Grudge 46. The Vanishing 47. Three Men and a Baby 48. Night of the Living Dead 49. House on Haunted Hill 50. Born Yesterday 51. Mighty Joe Young 52. Flubber 53. Invaders from Mars 54. Thirteen Ghosts 55. Thomas Crown Affair 56. Sabrina 57. The Haunting 58. Manchurian Candidate 59. Nutty Professor 60. Miracle on 34th Street (suggested by Jamie McBain)
61. The Birdcage (remake of La Cage Aux Folles) 62. The Fly 63. Godzilla
64. Invasion of the Body Snatchers 65. Cat People 66. The Ladykillers
67. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 68. Get Carter 69. The Jackal
70. King Kong 71. The Blob 72. Cheaper by the Dozen 73. Island of Dr. Moreau
74. Stepford Wives 75. Postman Always Rings Twice 76. Gloria 77. How the Grinch Stole Christmas 78. Village of the Damned 79. Planet of the Apes 80. Rollerball
81. Psycho 82. Walking Tall 83. Where the Boys Are
84. Parent Trap 85. The Out of Towners 86. The Wiz 87. Mr. Deeds 88. King Kong 89. Lost Horizon 90. Guess Who (remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) 91. Love Don't Cost a Thing 92. Vanilla Sky 93. A Star Is Born 94. A Star Is Born
95. Herbie the Love Bug 96. Solaris 97. The Bad News Bears 98. The Fog
99. The Getaway

Hmmmmmm

2005-11-09T01:47:00.000-08:00

Reflections

Person in the mirror.


Back in 1994 I was working for a company in Los Angeles, California.  I joined the management team to run one of their store locations.  The first location I was assigned to was in El Monte California which is a city just outside Los Angeles.  For those who are not familiar with El Monte, the city at the time was a city with a predominately Hispanic community.  Also at the time the community was inundated with a great deal of homeless which walked the streets constantly twenty four hours a day.  Many of the homeless I was told were indigents which were discharged for mental institutions and had now place to call home other than the streets.  I don’t know how much truth was in this but many of the homeless were not Hispanic and seemed to have disturbances which lead one to believe they were eccentric at best.

The store in El Monte was in one of those strip malls which accompanies many cities where specialty stores are place together in the name of effortlessness In shopping to the community.  After spending over twenty years with the number one retailer in the country whose dominance was eclipsed by the great Walmart, I left said company after number one became number three.  I soon found myself in a company which suffered the same infirmity as the one I left.  That disease was having upper management who cared more about white shirts and ties and status rather than the changing times.

An example of this is when I wanted to show that the company cared about the community it was in by making subtle changes to the precedence set by the company.  When I first take an assignment I don’t think that my knowledge or experiences is the cure all to affect change in a department, I know that it takes the entire team and surroundings to affect that change.  I first saw that I was the only non Hispanic person in the store.  I also noticed that English was not the spoken language among the patrons and the employees.  I wanted to change the enter/exit signs on the door to read in Spanish and I wanted to change the radio station from the approved radio station to the leading Spanish station in Los Angeles.  When I called my district manager about the changes I met resistance and typical banter about the restrictive rules I must abide by.

Two months later when my district manager made a visit to congratulate me on the huge profit increases.  I got joy in seeing his face turn bright red when he stepped to the door and read the sign on the door and his ruddiness further brighten when he stepped inside and heard the radio station.  He should have fired me for disobedience and insubordination but he couldn’t argue with my results.  This is what I mean about how companies productivity is failing because of stuffy white shirts not bending with the community they serve.  I am often heard stating the companies are in the business of punishing its employees and its customers in order to make a profit.  Just imagine how much profit could be generated if companies stopped the punishment.

The first thing that caught my attention at the El Monte location was an employee named Ralph.  Often times we become jaded to expectations when dealing with youth today.  Ralph surprised the paradigm in my mind with his attitude.  The first thing that impressed me was he called me sir which was unheard of from a teenager in Los Angeles.  The second thing was when I asked him to do something; it was done with my having to ask him over and over again.  Finally I found his acceptance of new task and projects refreshing.  Ralph was a gem, one of those employees that managers dream of.  Also and the most important thing was that Ralph was a credit to his parents.

After observing Ralph for a few months I knew he had great potential and would be a great asset for the company.  I chose to pull him off to the side and offer him a chance to move up the ladder by entering the management training program.  I pulled Ralph off to the side and told him of my impressions of his talent and work ethic.  I told him that he was a credit to the company and to his parents and that I wanted to offer him the chance to advance with the company by joining the management team via the management training program.

My eyes bugged out of my head and I had to do a double take when Ralph told me; “Thank you sir, but I’m not interested.”  I was shocked at Ralph’s’ response.  The first thing I thought of was maybe he was nervous that the position was too much responsibility and that caused the apprehension.  The truth was far more impressive than what was going through my surprised mind.  After asking Ralph why he was turning down this great opportunity: He went on to state he was accepted to go to a college which taught aviation and he was going to be the first in his family to go to college.  After hearing this I felt ashamed of my initial thoughts and was proud that he was choosing to follow his goals.

It was about three months later and Ralph came to me and asked if he could still be put into the management training program.  I looked at Ralph and without hesitation I told him absolutely not.  This time it was Ralph whose eyes were bugging out of his face and after he did a double take he asked me why.  I told Ralph that he was going to be the first in his family to go to college and that was more important than the management program.

Ralph then proceeded to tell me that the college had over accepted the amount to students for the year and had no room to let him in.  Ralph further stated that he was willing to work another year and try again the following year.  After hearing this I reiterated to Ralph that the offer of the management training was still not extended to him.  Again Ralph took a double take with bugged eyes and asked why.

I then escorted Ralph outside the store and pointed to the plethora of homeless walking the street and told Ralph that he will be like them in ten years.  Ralph looked at the strange and dirty homeless folks walking the street and looked at me and started to laugh.  His laugh was extinguished real fast when I further told him that if I were talking to one of those homeless people when they were eighteen they too would have laughed.  I continued to explain to Ralph that each of them had at sometime allowed a dream of theirs to be deferred.  With each dream deferred they found themselves making a slight turn form the mirror of their lives.

I told Ralph that I didn’t want him to start making those same concessions.  To make a long story short I made sure that I did everything within my powers to ensure that Ralph demanded and was allowed in to the school that had accepted his application.  Ralph did go off to college and I don’t know what became of him but I do know he didn’t allow his initial dream to be deferred.

Another incident which comes to mind is of a young man I met in the management training program.  James was a Mormon who was a transplant from Utah.  His church had transferred his wife to teach in Los Angeles.  James himself had just finished a stint in Central America with his brothers in the church as a missionary.  He was a bit naïve in the talking to.  James neither smoked nor drank, he didn’t even curse on have a bad word to say about anyone.  To think of him as a husband and father of two young boys was extremely hard.  I guess I was a tad bit jaded to the world and someone like James only refreshed my hopes for my fellow man.

It was three months into James’s training that I decided to visit him to see how he was coming along.  He was stationed at a location very close to my house and I thought I’d drop in on him on my way home.  Upon arriving at the location I was in complete shock as to what I saw.  I was so stunned that rather than confronting James at the job sight I asked him to meet me at my house when he was finished at work.

When James came over the first thing I asked him after sitting him down was for a cigarette.  James reached into his pocket and pulled out two packs and asked me if I wanted menthol or no menthol.  That is when I let into him.  I said to James:  When was the last time you looked into the mirror.  You have a earring in you ear at work and to add insult to injury it is a dangling one.  You were drink alcohol on the job when I showed up and cursing with the other guys and not to mention smoking and you are so confused that you carry both kinds of cigarettes.   The man I met a few mouths back who was a proud family man and a proud Mormon who had unrelenting values is not the same man sitting before me now.

I went on to tell him that he must have stopped looking at himself in the mirror to the point of turning his back to that mirror, because if he even took a peek at himself he would be disgusted in what he had become. James started crying, which was not the effect I was looking for and then he started to explain why he had changed, which didn’t really make sense.

I don’t like telling this story because if I didn’t experience it for myself I would think of this story as complete fallacy.  James became a walking and breathing case study of personality digression.  The story of Ralph and the homeless along with the story of James and the metamorphosis caused me to believe in having a full length mirror.

Do you know who is in Your Mirror?

There is the person you see form time to time that always tells of the five pounds they
have lost even though you see them getting fatter.  There is the person who stepped outside wearing something that makes you say “Oh no you didn’t think that looked good!”  There are the folks who to follow a crowd or a fashion trend put on something that is something they would have gawked at before it became fashion.  I often see people performing their work out in public because of the fashion statement they want to make.  Men and boy working out their biceps with every third step because they chose to walk out of the house without a belt and having their pants hanging down halfway on their thighs.  Their biceps are working pulling up their pants.  And women and young ladies working out their triceps pulling down their short and very tight skirts and dresses every third step. The bottom line is YOU LOOK STUPID!!

I like to ask that everyone keeps a full length mirror in their home.  Every day you must strip down completely exposed and stand before that mirror.  The first thing that comes to mind is of course the physical person standing there.  Many of us think that the mirror lies but it’s not the mirror that is lying but the eyes staring into it.  Yes you should start with the physical self that stands before that mirror but then look deeper into the self and begin to realize who is in that self.  The truth of the matter is that the first person we lie to is ourselves.  The first person we deceive is ourselves and the first person we hurt is ourselves.

I don’t ask for you to get that mirror and stand before it completely exposed because I care about your self esteem.  I am purely selfish in my request because I’m thinking of me.  For if you stop lying, deceiving and hurting yourself, I know you will not lie, deceive or hurt me.

My Poetry Chronicles

2005-10-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our Love
Like a baby living contained by its mother, two hearts beating together within one
Our love is very much the same; our two hearts are pulsating within one love
Anticipation of its health and perfection abrade us as our emergent love enlarges
Discomfort, change, and pain organize as the loves grows and develops
We wait and wait for the blessed day which seems at times to be an eternity
While we wait the discomfort is eased by a movement of existence
The changing is as if the body of love is being protected and nourished
Nine months is the time for a child to bring joy to the mother
Time, discomfort, change, and pain all precedes the most wonderful joy
For us that most wonderful joy will come bringing us a lifetime of loving ecstasy
By Christopher Darrick Odom

The ocean of my life
The ocean is vast, immense and majestic. It envelopes our sphere
The immensity of your soul splendidly swathed my essence
The ocean is deep, cavernous and profound. Its depth seem endless
Your love, my love, our love together will challenge its infiniteness
The ocean is power, dominance and supremacy. So soft and yet so perilous
The danger would be to live without your affectionate and intoxicating sprit
The ocean cresses rejuvenate and refreshes. It’s the basics of all life
You conveyed life into me, revitalized my sprit and invigorated my soul
You my dearest, You truly have become my ocean and I wish to swim in the vast, majestic, endless supreme cresses of your love till eternity.
by Christopner Darrick Odom

My life
I am like the seed of a dandelion who is taken by the breeze
At the whim of the breeze I am lofted far from home across the land
My future is uncertain and I am frighten and full of quandaries
The breeze whisk me higher above the clouds into temperatures I can’t withstand
I think there for I am, or am I … I breath therefore I live, or do I
All of my senses are working but I find that breeze controls me thus I’m on standby

The breeze eventually releases me and delicately lay me upon a lake
At the caprice of the lake I am driven even farther by its strong connotation
The current seize me and my prospect is bleak and again I forsake
From the lake I go to a river to a stream soaked beyond my aspiration
I think there for I am, or am I … I breath therefore I live, or do I
All of my senses are working but I find that current controls me thus I’m on standby

The stream introduces me to a stone, sopping I stick and the sun begins its roasting
At the whim of the sun I am ripened my voyage seemingly terminates
I an held to the stone I’m unable to move and fear my destiny is composting
My mind now travels to where I’ve been and what I’ve seen as my time negates
I think there for I am, or am I … I breath therefore I live, or do I
All of my senses are working but I find that sun controls me thus I’m on standby

I’d thought therefore I’d subsisted, or did I… I’d breathed therefore I’d existed, or did I
I’ve seen, I’ve tasted, I’ve heard, I’ve smelled and I’ve touched yet never managed
I never reached my budding or purpose I fear I have done nothing, or did I
Great distances and heights I’ve attained, powerful forces drove me yet was it bondage
I no longer think there for I was, or was I … I no longer breathe therefore I lived or did I
All of my senses stopped working and I find that death controls me thus I’m on standby

by Christopher D. Odom

THE REWARD OF SINCERITY

     I was sincere in love. I was honest, devoted, and I invested all of my time and energy to make the union work. You in spite of my favor saw me as feeble and week. What breed of man is kind, honest, and devoted, unless he is week, You would state just prior to letting me go.
     Why is it you complain they you can't ever find a man. You always say, " all the good ones are married". You declare you want a man who is sensitive, caring, and honest, a man who can show his true feelings. When I come along, you can't deal with my sincerity, and you leave me all alone.
     I often wonder what it is you truly want. I see you with men that beat you, lie to you, cheat on you, and you never leave, yet
my reward for sincerity is loneliness and pain.

by Christopher Darrick Odom

THE PLEAD OF A CLOWN

     People laugh at me, make fun of me, push me around, kick me when I'm down.  They like to see me cry, nobody takes me seriously.  My pain is their pleasure, they find humor in my humility, they laugh at my love.
     I am not hurt by the actions of the people, for I am a clown.  It's my job to have the masses laugh at me.  What really hurts me is that people no longer feel the need t seek me out to relieve their frustrations.  They now laugh at real pain.
     When humility is true, they laugh.  When love is real, they laugh.  When someone is truly down, they kick as hard as they can.  The laughter now heard in generated from genuine pain.  The laughter now heard is generated from genuine pain.  This laughter is causing much more grieve to the person that is hurting.
     Why must we make clowns of those who suffer?  WHAT AM I FOR?

by Christopher Darrick Odom

GOD WORKS FROM SUNUP TO SUNDOWN

We have one hell of a time when the sun is shinning and everything is going right.
  We have no respect for life and limb.
    Life is just one big reckless party.
      God, why he is someone suckers and fools believe in.

When the sun goes down and we find everything is looking dark with no way out,
    we go running to him for help.
  God works from sunup to sun down.
      ONLY WHEN WE NEED HIM, WE CALL.
          GOD DAMN I FEEL GOOD
          GOD HELP I FEEL BAD

by Christopher Darrick Odom

POETRY KIT WEBRING

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Let's Kill the Babies

2005-10-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

     I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

      It is statements like this that not only chaps my hide but also lends me to befall assault.  Conservative commentator William J. Bennett made this statement on his national radio talk show.  I tend to have and maintain a great poker face when talking with people because of my conservative views.  This poker face caused me great pain when I first heard of Heir Bennett’s’ statement.  The first I heard of this statement came from my mother.  Upon telling me of Heir Bennett’s’ statement she looked at me and asked what I think about it.  Thus appeared my poker face.  She then stated that I believed his statement.  My poker face came from my disbelief that someone would state something like this and not retract is.  "We are not going to back down from our views, and I'm not going to apologize," a combative Bennett said.  The other reason for my poker face was that I didn’t know about it.   I being an information junkie and one who listens to talk radio in the car rather than booming my radio to annoy the other drivers with loud music, I haven’t been feeding my info habit for a long time because the news has been so detrimental to my mental health since the hurricanes and the Iraq war.  The last reason for my poker face was that I wanted to say things that would cause a gang banging, hard drinking, Hells Angel to blush.  It is extremely hard for me to write this with using derogatory verbage.  Most people how know me intimately knows I don’t use such language.
     A conservative by definition is one who preserves an principle.  I am not a conservative to conserve the principles of idiotic men or a certain political party.  I want to preserve the Idea of the Constitution that all men are created equal.  I want to preserve the Idea that working hard and not seeking hand outs to get what you want.  I want to preserve the Ten Commandments and the moral basic truths of this world.  Liberal by definition is one who thinks that everything is permissible or appropriate for a person of free birth,
thus sitting on fences to follow the sway of the populist.  I was just recently asked to lower my standards as if having high expectations is too much for people today.  I have been saying what Bill Cosby said years before he came out and stated: "People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. ... The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting.  "Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. ... They are standing on the corner and they can't speak English.," he said, addressing an audience of Washington VIPs
Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
Ambrose Bierce
      I am a card carrying conservative because I do have basic moral values.  I am not a card carrying Idiot.  What is a political party?  The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln, the man who freed the slaves.  It is also the party of George Bush Jr. who has us in a war because of weapons of mass destruction, so he says.  The Democratic Party is the party of Kennedy a wealthy man and the party of Clinton who now is seen holding hands with Bush Sr. making more money than he did as president..  It is also the party of Truman who dropped the WMD on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, speaking of WMD’s.  Speaking of alliances look at Prime Minister Blair friend of Clinton went to bed with Bush Jr. and found himself in difficulty.  Go to sleep with leeches and wake up drained.  If it is true that we are a government of the people and by the people, I say parties be damn and we should vote the incumbents out until they realize we are suppose to be in control.  Political Conservatives are liberally defending Heir Bennett’s statement by trying to qualify them.  Bill O’Reilly stated “I feel sorry for Bennett”  I am a card carrying conservative to preserve the values of this planet not to stride a fence to graze in the yard that has the greener grass today.
      I’m not writing about me however, I’m writing to say if I believe what Heir Fuhrer Bennett has stated and will not retract.  Of the men and women behind bars 2003, 910,200 were black; 777,500 were white and 395,400 were Hispanic, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  Maybe Heir Fuhrer is correct in his statement but just like all history that which is fact can be customized to suite the writer of history.  Given these numbers, aborting all black babies, however "morally reprehensible" to suggest, could bring about the biggest reduction in the number of crimes that are committed in this country.  The Bureau of Justice Statistics' figures represent only those who were jailed for a crime. But according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, more than twice as many whites as blacks (6.7 million to 2.6 million) were arrested in 2003 for committing a crime. Whites made up 70.6% of all people arrested that year and 60.5% of those arrested for violent crime. Blacks totaled 27.0% of all arrests and accounted for 37.2% of the people arrested for committing a violent crime.  Truth, reality and history are something that rarely are combined.
     Heir Fuhrer Bennett is
correct if history was incorrect because Hitler was a black person.  Heir Fuhrer Bennett is correct if history was incorrect because Jim Jones was a black person.  Heir Fuhrer Bennett is correct if history was incorrect because the Son of Sam, Charles Manson, Mark O. Barton, Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck.-- The Lonely Hearts Killers,  David Berkowitz, Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka , Kenneth Bianchi & Angelo Buono, Ted Bundy and the list goes on, are all black.  Heir Fuhrer Bennett is correct if history was incorrect because the corporate raiders who have stolen millions form the public are all black. Three percent of the population will be able to retire when they want, with who they want and how they want while ninety seven percent will retire depending on family, friends and the government to survive.  For the majority the prospects are bleak.  The politicians and those like Heir Fuhrer Bennett are among the three percent!

"It severely hurt people mentally as well as physically.... The real issue is not what happened, but what we should do for the future..."

                 Mr. Takashi Hiraoka, the Mayor of Hiroshima City

What's Next?

2005-09-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

     Our grandmothers and our grandmothers’ grandmothers have warned us of the end of the world as we know it. Thoughts of fire and brimstone and the second coming has been drilled into our heads until we now think the idea is foolish as we have become numb to the belief. Prince the artist known as Prince wrote in his song 1999, “two thousand zero zero party over oops out of time.” Y2K was the last strike of fear as the visions of Armageddon came back into our thoughts
      Global warming is a theory that constantly comes into play when weather strikes a unique blow to the welfare of the human population. If global warming is a reality or not the truth is that the earth has gone through many metamorphoses in the past from a single continent to three known extinctions to floods and ice ages. One definition for insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I say there is another definition for insanity which is expecting the world to stay the same and continue to be depleted and expecting it not to change.
     "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." This is the passage from the bible which has all in fear of the end of days. The Mayan people who build great pyramids along the same time of the Egyptian pyramids along with other pyramids on the planet, ended their calendar in the year of 2012. The date December 21st, 2012 A.D., represents an extremely close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun), what that ancient Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree. This is an event that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years. It will come to resolution at exactly 11:11 am GMT. Many feel this is their way of saying it’s the end of the world while other feel the Mayan people were reflecting the change of life as we know it.
     Insanity is to think of the end when we are having so much fun? There are some basic truths we must come to terms with. Natural disasters will happen as we have been surprised with the tsunami in Asia and the twin hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico we will see more events to challenge our thinking. Growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens continued during 14-19 September 2005, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash. There were no significant changes in seismicity or deformation during the report period. Camera images showed that the northern part of the lava dome continued to move westward. St Helens remained at Volcano Advisory (Alert Level 2); aviation color code Orange. Not if but when it goes again we will be surprised. Mount Rainer in Washington State a beautiful snowcap wonder has a rage below its surface. Super Volcano Will Challenge Civilization, Geologists Warn about Yellowstone. Scattered across the world’s oceans are a handful of rare geological time-bombs. Once unleashed they create an extraordinary phenomenon, a gigantic tidal wave, far bigger than any normal tsunami, able to cross oceans and ravage countries on the other side of the world. Only recently have scientists realized the next episode is likely to begin at the Canary Islands, off North Africa, where a wall of water will one day be created which will race across the entire Atlantic ocean at the speed of a jet airliner to devastate the east coast of the United States. America will have been struck by a mega-tsunami. What happened in Asia was small in comparison to what will happen from a mega-tsunami. The numbers of earthquakes worldwide from 200-2005 are increasing based on the study by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center. Politicians state we have hundreds maybe thousands of years before the earth strikes back?
     Insanity to believe we are facing global changes when we have so much. Incurable diseases are on the rise. We once had the plague which was brought to us by rats or as lease the fleas on the rats. Our great scientist found the cure. We had Yellow fever brought to us by the mosquitoes and our great scientist found a cure for that. We have injected many foreign chemicals into our delicate systems that we are metamorphous zing our chemistry to reject diseases. In Indonesia scientist says bird flu outbreak an epidemic. Officials warn of catastrophic flu pandemic Estimates of 'tens of millions' dead if virus mutates as feared. The USDA finds one thousand violations of mad cow rules as we through another ton of beef on the barbe. According to an update by the SiChuan Ministry of, as of 12pm 26th July 2005, 117 cases have been reported in the Pigs-to-Human "Streptococcus" outbreak. This is a cumulative figure. Of these, 5 have been confirmed via laboratory tests, 71 clinically diagnosed and 41 suspected. Of these 117 cases, 5 have been discharged, 21 still remain in critical condition and 24 have died. We have been feeding our cattle and chicken waste from the leftovers from the slaughter house. How many people contracted SARS worldwide during the 2003 outbreak? How many people died of SARS worldwide? During November 2002 through July 2003, a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick with severe acute respiratory syndrome that was accompanied by either pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome (probable cases), according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Of these, 774 died. By late July 2003, no new cases were being reported, and WHO declared the global outbreak to be over? Our great minds will find a cure to inject into our bodies to cure the continued new and deadly diseases. Experts: Tuberculosis poses global threat. More than 9 million people worldwide will contract tuberculosis this year in 2005 and 2 million will die from the bacteria-caused disease. To raise awareness, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a special theme issue on the disease this week We can’t forget HIV-AIDS, the gay disease as the religious right would have you believe. Funny how a Catholic Priest in Africa passed on the theory that to rid ones self of aids one has to have sex with a virgin. Thus many of little girls are being raped with the thinking that is the cure. Also those religious divinities on the right must think that lesbians are the chosen people because they are the lowest groups contracting the disease. I won’t get into conspiracy theories and there are many dealing with all that I have discussed to this point.
     Insanity to fear diseases when we have the greatest minds working on the cure. Genetic Armageddon by Stephen Quayle talks of the great minds and their great scientific gains. In the movie Jurassic Park the statement: “because we can doesn’t mean we should,” is a valuable lesson tool. BRITISH scientists have been given permission to create human embryos that will have three genetic parents. Dr. Stuart A. Newman, a professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College, applied for a patent on a humanzee, a hypothetical creature that would be half-human and half-chimpanzee. After much delay, his application was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In truth, Newman now says, he was only trying to make the point that we have not thought long enough — or well enough — about the biotech future that quickly is becoming our present reality. Scientist called “synthetic biologists'' and they boldly claim the ability to make never-before-seen living things, one genetic molecule at a time. The inability to keep a secret is human nature as well as being careless with our waste is also human nature. Just look at the streets as you walk and see the cigarette butts, the cans and the oceans of trash. What are these great minds releasing into our existence?
     ROAD rage is a growing menace in central Victoria, Australia with many motorists trying to defend their often dangerous outbursts. Forty-six per cent of central Victorian drivers admit they have gestured rudely or yelled at another motorist, and of those 89 per cent believe their response was justified. Published in Australia news September 2005. October 31, 1999, Valley is becoming home for 'road rage' Threat of violence getting worse on local highways. Published in Las Vegas Sun. As if we hadn't heard enough about road rage, we now face a new hazard from operators who lose their cool -- boat rage and desk rage and checkout rage. Teacher complaining of 'parent rage' at schools also cases of reported air rage are increasing at astonishing rate in frequency and in violence. In several recent incidents passengers have done everything from defecating on food carts, hitting crew members. Where is all this rage stemming from? Is it from the realization that the idea of middle class is an oxymoron as those who are not poor finds that they are working from paycheck to paycheck treading water and barely staying afloat from the inevitable drowning? As reality TV and court TV and talk shows parade a plethora of fringe sociopaths who entertain us with their rage and sorrow so we can feel superior to them. We have traded in the Circus Clown in for this form of entertainment. The governments of the world rage war for reasons hidden to the people they serve and hidden to the soldiers dieing. Nuclear rage isn’t far behind?
     Is the end upon us? I remember in the early seventies I looked at the world and thought it could not get any worse and it did. I look at us today with the knowing that it is going to get worse. When talking of social injustice and creature dilapidation we are excelling in this area. When considering global change and calamity there surely is evidence of this as well. With clock-like regularity, sudden reversals and pole shifts are natural to the Earth. The result is worldwide destruction, and is supported by paleo-magnetic evidence and early manuscripts. The finding of flash frozen mastodons with undigested grass in their stomachs gives cause of instant change. Polar reversals can be calculated precisely on the basis of the sunspot cycle theory or the magnetic field theory, which the Maya and the Old Egyptians were privy to. It is well know that the dinosaur was laid extinct but we have to realize there has been other extinction as well. In other forms mankind has become extinct. Weather the Mayan disappearance to the extinction of the Neanderthal, Homo habilis: The first human species gone, Homo erectus: The first large-brained humans gone, human extinction will happen again. But every now and then, the magnetic field fades, and flips over. North becomes south, and south becomes north. Such magnetic flip-overs are probably just as common as Ice Ages. On average, they occur once every 250,000. But the last time it happened, it was 780,000 years ago -- so you could say it’s time for the planet to flip again because it is a known fact that the earths magnetic field is fading.
     The second coming would be the best thing that could happen. Based on a diseased population or earth changing catastrophes or nuclear fallout, Jesus coming and lifting us up to heaven for everlasting peace while those who will fall will cease to exist, I’ll take the biblical version. Still the sign of the other happening is something that can be constantly documented today. The only question is when. The Mayan people illustrate the time to be 2012 based on the planetary and natural signals. I once wrote the time would be 2017 based on social economic signals which will be the time the so-called middle class wakes up and see they are working slaves. When you look at the poor who were taken from their homes in New Orleans from the Katrina Hurricane, you can see that the considered poor are people who have ownership and have jobs. The thought of renter scum taking social welfare was unmasked with Katrina. When you see the poor defined as working people within townships of Asia from the tsunami disaster it’s easy to see the poor are us. When this becomes globally understood riots and rage will be escalated to new heights in human history. When the world richest men like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who are in the act of changing their currency from U.S. dollars to foreign dollars, they see the end of the worlds richest country. In a book by author Joel Kochan, he states in the twenty first century there are five groups of people prepared to survive. These five are Jews, Japanese, Chinese, British [was Britains], and Hindu Indians. Black and white Americans are missing from the equation. 2017 is twenty five years from the last riots in Los Angeles which was felt across the glob. The last riots in Los Angeles are ironically twenty five years from the Watts riots.

Beating A Dead Horse

2005-09-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

      Just say you are a conservative and you open yourself up to much attacks on your ideas and views.  I am contrary to most of my family and friends on the subject of political standings.  Standing on the right and not on a fence or in the yard of the left I am constant brought to task.
      Standing on the right I feel it is only right to stand for the ideas we all believe in but won’t verbalize because of fear of ostracizing someone else.  I also believe that it is only right to speak the truth even if it is not right for others.  I am not a card carrying hack that only speaks the party line in defense of my party or my party leaders.
      President Bush stated he will take responsibility but did not state he was wrong in the lack of proactive response to the people in the line of fire of Katrina.  This is not right.  If it is true that he is a simple figure head that never watches television and only relays on his people to inform him on coming events and situations then as a puppet he was not wrong just the wrong string was pulled.
      The woman governor of Louisiana whose her people that were most affected was the poor women of her state was not right in blaming the government and playing power struggles rather than getting her people out of danger.  The Black Mayor of New Orleans whose poor Black people were plastered on the televisions around the world as looters and pathetic poor was not right in not being proactive in getting his people out of the way.
      Maybe I am guilty of beating the dead horse of blame.  I now think the right thing to do is to have us follow the money.  This, the greatest and richest country in the world continues to be divisive in regards to economics now rather than race.  A book by Martin Gilens, “Why Americans Hate Welfare,” argues that news organizations have racialized poverty (65% of poor Americans shown on TV are black, while only 29% of poor actually are black).  Furthermore a CBS poll revealed that 55% of Americans believe most welfare recipients are black when in reality most poor people and welfare recipients are white.

   vs.

       In 1982, Von Bülow stood trial for the attempted murder of his wife Sunny at their estate, Clarendon Court, in Newport, Rhode Island. At the trial in Newport, Von Bülow was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Claus appealed, hiring famous Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz to represent him. Dershowitz and his team of attorneys managed to cast serious doubts on some of the most damning evidence and witness testimony presented in the first trial, and the conviction was reversed in 1984. At a second trial in 1985, a jury found Claus not guilty on all charges. OJ Simpson a man who became the most famous criminal defendant in American history and so easily recognizable that people referred to him by his initials only. It went on for nine months. There were 11 lawyers including Dershowitz, representing the man in the dock and 25 working around the clock for the largest prosecutor's office in the country.  It became the most publicized case in US history. It was the longest trial ever held in California, costing over $20 million to fight and defend, running up 50,000 pages of trial transcript in the process. There were 150 witnesses called to give evidence before a jury that was sequestered at the Hotel Intercontinental in downtown L.A. from January until October.  Money found both not guilty.  Whether guilty or innocent we may never know but one thing is clear you and I would be in jail because we haven’t the monies these men have.

   vs.



      Two men, both who denied a woman the right to say no.  Two men who had money to back their trials and two men whose trial captured the view of the world.  Money was the key factor to us being interested in the cases however all to money in the world would not take the place of a proper defense.  Kennedy Smith came to court and portrayed himself as an innocent soul while Tyson stood before a woman judge and declared he was a known sex pervert.  Dershowitz magic didn’t work in this case but he did get paid.


      vs.



      Millions were spent to defend four men and the result was that only one served time in jail.  Our priorities are in the wrong place.  Starbucks has made a $5 billion annual business by transforming coffee from a 50-cent daily staple into a $3 treat.  A gallon of Café de boue would cost twenty eight dollars and yet we complain about how much a gallon of gas cost.

      We the people of the United States should think it is right to prioritize the use of our monies.  We should look carefully where the money goes.  We had a tax surplus and President Bush and our government turned that surplus into trillions of dollars of a deficit from a war we still don’t know why we are fighting.  From an attack on our land from someone we still know not who and now from a hurricane which we knew was coming.  It’s only right to question where is the money going and why?

       “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  The preamble to the Constitution of the United States starts out as we the people.  Not the president of the United States.  Not the government of the United States.  Not the leaders of the United States.  We the people must ensure that we all have the same dignity and the same opportunities for safety and welfare.

      As a Black Conservative I must think it is right to also take on the political incorrect look at the Black community.  Notice I use the term as Black community and not African American community.  Recent years have seen many regions of Africa involved in war and internal or external conflict, from the seven or so countries directly involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the Sierra Leone crisis and the war in Ethiopia/Eritrea and the various other civil wars.  Where is the outcry from the Black American Community about this injustice?  There have been over 9.5 million refugees and hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered. If this scale of destruction and fighting was in Europe, then people would be calling it World War III with the entire world rushing to report, provide aid, mediate and otherwise try to diffuse the situation.
      As of July 1, 2003, there were an estimated 38.7 million U.S. residents who were either black or black and at least one other race. This race group then made up 13.3% of the total U.S. population.  Black Americans spent $645.9 billion in 2002, an increase of 104 percent from 1990, according to Target Market News, a black consumer market research and information company (www.targetmarketnews.com) However, how much of those billions was spent within the community.  Maybe the disenfranchised in New Orleans would have income to have left the city.  Maybe those suffering in Africa could have their suffering eased.  African Americans have turned their backs on Africa as well as their own in America.

      I award myself the dead horse award for believing in conserving the Constitution and the belief of we the people.  I am aware that the Constitution was written by white men who didn’t consider Blacks or women as part of their thought processes.  The Constitution was written when there were no women Governors or Black Mayors.  Thinking that this is the reason not to adhere to the words of the constitution is the same as thinking that Moses only brought the Ten Commandments down from the mount to give to only the Jews that escaped the oppression of the Pharaoh.  I give myself the dead horse award for thinking it right for we the people to ensure that there is no disenfranchisements.   I give myself the dead horse award for showing that the poor is a sum total of all of us not just the Black community.  I give myself the dead horse award for pointing out that the
Black community in whole has wealth that can uplift those of our community that is not living in comfort.  I give myself the dead horse award for betting it with the expectations that we the people can make the difference.  President doesn’t have the word “we” in it.  Government does not have the word “we’ in it.  Leader does not have the word ‘we’ in it.  Am I just beating a dead horse or can we the people promote general welfare?

Out of Sight Out of Mind

2005-09-06T01:44:00.000-07:00

Ex presidents unite for our money

“I should say that nothing we do can be an adequate response to the agony we’ve seen,” Clinton said. “I am grateful to all the folks who have given.” The millions collected in our tax money did nothing but these two are helping Jr. to collect money for the public.
Bush Sr. decided to head this new fund not because there was a fear the federal government has not been doing its part to help victims even though it is obvious it hasn’t , but to fill in the gaps in government assistance and “help people who would otherwise be overlooked.” I ask why people are being over looked.
Millions of dollars were collected by the people from the 911 relief fund and has there been an accounting for all those monies? Where is it and what happened to it? Who received it? Out of sight out of mind.
“I think there should be an analysis of what happened. The time to do that is after some time passes,” Clinton said regarding where to place blame about the delay in aid, and further stated that there was a 911 commission and maybe there will be a Katrina commission.

A real leader in action

     General Roars into Action in New Orleans
When the cavalry finally arrived in New Orleans to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, this after people were abandoned and after days

of seeing people ding, ravaging for food and water leading to mass looting, a cigar-chomping three-star raging caging general led the way. That was Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of the 1st Army, based at Fort Gillem in Atlanta. Normally he oversees training for all deploying troops on the East Coast. For the time being, the Louisiana native is the man in charge on the front line in New Orleans. He is also coordinating military relief efforts for all storm-ravaged areas along the Gulf Coast. Honore is winning over even some of the government's harshest critics, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who blasted the Bush administration's initial response to his city's disaster. "He came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing, and people started moving,” Mayor Nagin told a radio station. "I give the president some credit on this. He sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done." Honore and thousands of National Guard troops rolled in Friday and Saturday, bringing food, water and a sense of safety.

Who played the race card first?

     Rapper West piles on with the race card
Rapper Kanye West, a participant in Hurricane Relief benefit on five of the NBC Universal networks (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo & PAX), decided that it was the right time to make a political statement of his own -- while in the middle of soliciting funds for disaster relief.
"George W. Bush doesn't care about black people," West said.

NBC, quickly cut away from West, but his statement had gone out to millions and was already in the living room.
West was on screen with Mike Myers as he remarked about the perceptions of white versus black looters. When West dropped his bombshell, Myers looked mortified and embarrassed.
The race card was played long before West made his statement. The AFP vs the AP report below shows white people finding bread and soda while a black person in the same condition is said to have looted. Furthermore when you see the masses of people who were left behind and not receiving any from of assistance, and most of them are black, the government played the race card by not being proactive to evacuate or instantaneously reactive.

We can see where it comes from

      One can only wonder what Barbara Bush thinking when she said on National Public Radio's "Marketplace" Of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston." Then she added: "What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this – this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."
If by "working very well" she meant It’s a good thing that the president allowed us to displaced and homeless. Barbara. Making light of the victims being underprivileged while also making light of the fact they're displaced largely because of your incompetent son's criminal negligence: That is overwhelming hospitality. It's important to note, further, that Barbara Bush is also the one who said this about the Iraq war in 2003:
"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

Barbara Bush just wants to hear about the relocated poor, Texas hospitality and stranded dolphins. We wouldn't want 10,000 fatalities in New Orleans alone to trouble her, would we? That is why our President is the man he is and showing contempt towards the poor and explains why vacations are more important than organizing buses to remove people before the hurricane hits.

How can you help?

      Right now in Niger, West Africa, an estimated 3.6 million people are in critical need of food, including 800,000 children under the age of five who are at risk of starvation. In the past year, drought and locust swarms have devastated crops throughout Niger and other parts of West Africa. Nearly 4 Million Ethiopians Are in Desperate Need of Food. 1985: Live Aid makes millions for Africa. Million more made from the album “We Are The World” and still millions are still hungry. George sr. and Bills’ request for our money is made out to be a wonderful thing to see the charity we have towards our fellow man. Out of sight out of mind is the reality. We all sang along with the song and gave our money. Where did that money go and who received it. What happened to our fabulous charity if still twenty years later the same starvation exists in Ethiopia and the situation is far worse along with many other regions of Africa? Where is Michael Jackson and other Black leaders who claim to care about the Black cause. Out of sight out of mind.

TORONTO -- The Ontario Hockey League today announced that $135,000.00 was raised to help the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, through a league-wide program with each of the 20 OHL Member Teams. Detroit, MI -- In response to the events of September 11th in New York City and Washington, D.C., the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) established a relief fund through the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan. The original goal of the DADA 911 Relief Fund was to raise $200,000 in financial aid. The DADA today announced that employees and owners of the DADA member dealerships in southeastern Michigan had risen over $225,000. In the first days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an unprecedented number of Americans contributed over $2.2 billion (some estimates run as high as $2.7 billion) in donations to assist in the relief of victims. (Two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon, and a fourth went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.) According to the New York State Attorney General’s office, over 250 new charitable funds were created in the weeks following the 9/11 crisis. This come from the Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds Updated March 27, 2003 Billions of dollars collected from the charity of others to go towards what? Where did the money go and who got the money? Out of sight out of mind.

      In December 2004, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami hit Asia and Africa, devastating many coastal areas. Almost 200,000 people in eight countries perished in a few hours, and over 100,000 are still missing. Many more had their homes and livelihoods swept away. The coastal areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka and two Indian island chains bore the brunt of the calamity. They will require significant repair and reconstruction. President Bush has pledged $950 million in long-term U.S. support to help the tsunami victims rebuild their lives. To date, approximately $1.2 billion has been given or pledged by donors to Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies around the world. Due to the generous financial contributions from public, foundation and corporate supporters billions of dollars collected and again I ask where the money is? Who received the money? Out of sight out of mind.

      When the Pulitzer Prize seeking journalist decide this crisis has run its usefulness to them. After we endure another costly probing revue sucking investigation to determine who will be the fall guy other than the President. After we give billions of dollars to ease our conscious. Out of sight out of mind again…..

Mayor Ray Nagin's speaks out

2005-09-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's speaks out after the fact. Culpability belongs to him because he could have been more proactive, but he did speak from the heart after seeing the carnage developing from the lack of aid from the federal government to hear his comments and find out more (click here)

Social Injustice—Airing Our Dirty Laundry

2005-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have to say something. I have to say something in response to all I have seen this week. I have to say something about what was initially missed by local government officials in New Orleans to help create the pictures I saw this week. I have to say something about the injustice served against the people—the Black people, the poor people, the sick and infirmed citizens of New Orleans—by those who never once considered their plight. But for local government’s failure to act, we probably would not have seen devastation the likes of what we saw this week. [Read More]

by: Angela D. Odom

The Have's and the Have More

2005-09-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

to view slide show click here

      For many years we knew that a class five hurricane would devastate the city of New Orleans as well as destroy the Gulf Coast area. New Orleans being a city that sits below sea level was bound to be drowned out. As we know “The Big One” will devastate California, Mount Rainer will reactivate and the volcano will devastate Washington State and Yellowstone Park has a active caldera that will devastate many lives. Those events that will happen will happen without the notice we had for Katrina.
      For days while Katrina was making her way to the Gulf coast showing winds and pressures to rival the largest hurricane on record, President Bush was on vacation in Texas. I guess he deserves his vacation so he can oversee his oil empire as the threat of a major disaster slowly makes it way to its consummation of death. Planning the increase of gas prices and not mobilizing trucks, buses and helicopters to bring food, water and dry clothing to the people known to be in trouble was more important. Like stated before this tragedy is something that was known to be coming.
      "Truckloads of water, ice, meals, medical supplies, generators, tents and tarpaulins" are loaded aboard 1,700 trailer trucks in an initial emergency response, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said after the fact, but people were dieing as he spoke. Planning the relief days before the disaster hit was not prevalent.
      The great leader of the richest country in the world chose to fly over the area safe and secure in Air Force One while his people ware drenched and starving and dehydrating and dying. Thought of President Bush in a classroom of children while the twin towers were falling during 911 comes to mind.
      The question comes up as to why those didn’t people leave. Well those of us that have two cars in the driveway and have family and friends all over. Those of us that have credit cards and bank accounts fail to remember that there are far too many who don’t have such luxuries. Remember that the poorest part of this wealthy country live in this region. The wealth they have exist in their family and friends that surround them. Thus they had nowhere to go or the means to go.
      My question is why weren’t their transports for those people prior to Katrina’s arrival. Like Scrooge who stated his contempt for the poor by verbalizing to reduce the surplus population. Ebenezer Bush with his lack of proactive support helped to reduce the so called “surplus population.”
      Lawlessness and looting sprung up from the disaster area and was the top of every story. When talking of the tsunami in Asia the top stories were not of looting. In Sri Lanka some 30,000 people were killed by the tsunami and nearly a million had been made homeless. In neighboring India more than 15,000 people were killed, but the worst hit was Indonesia where more than 94,000 people have lost their lives. Here people far shoddier than those in the United States have very little incidence of looting. There is no excuse for looting yet when disenfranchised people of a rich nation are misplaced by their government and are drenched to their bones. When they are in dire need of food and clean fresh water, what do we think they would do?
      “They’re on the way!” They’re on the way is the answer from the administration when talking about food water and troops. Why is it that on the third day after the disaster President Bush was now mobilizing? Again I state this catastrophe is something that was expected for years and for days meteorologist and weather experts said Katrina was coming and was going to be a category five.
      They’re on the way is not acceptable because relieve should have been ready to go before Katrina hit. My next question is so obvious and extremely dishearten if the truth is as obvious. Mr. Bush is it that the people who were left in the cities were predominantly Black and poor thusly were considered collateral damage and expendable? Ebenezer Bush were they surplus population? They are not part of your “The Have's and The Have More Clan."
      As you stated in a prior speach, your constituency is the Have's and the Have more. Ebenezer Bush will the Carlyle Group get the contracts for the rebuilding of New Orleans? Will there be a plan for urban renewal to keep certain people form returning?

Meet the Carlyle Group (click here)
learn more on the Carlyle Group (here)

Chasing Waterfalls

2005-08-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

click here to view slidshow

My first intentions were to take a trip up the coast ot California and visit Sequoia National part to see and photograph the Giant Redwoods. During the planning process I decided to travel all the way up the coast to Canada. I had a wonderful time. The people were friendly and accommodating. The country side was beautiful and breathtaking. The ultimate beauty of Canada was the people and how they welcomed me.

Along the way up California I saw Mount Shasta which almost sits on the freeway. The splendor of the Mountain in the middle of July still with snow on the top of its 14,000 foot peek was breathtaking. Driving though the state of Oregon and seeing Mount Hood wiped out the splendor of Mount Shasta and diminished it ten fold. Yet I was not done. Next came Mount St. Helen which while I was there a small smoke puff caressed from inside its cavern. Then I saw Mount Rainer standing as a monument to the creator. I now know why men and women risk life and limb to climb mountains like Everest. Not because it’s there but because you can then know God is.

I had a wonderful trip and will certainly do it again. Pictures will never do justice in showing the wonders of the earth. You have to go and see for yourself. For every mountain there is a lease one great waterfall.

Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and lakes that
You're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way
Or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast

Dreams are hopeless aspirations
In hopes of comin' true
Believe in yourself
The rest is up to me and you

TLC- WATERFALLS

My visit to the rodeo

2005-08-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

From the Bill Pickett Rodeo

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