Whose Eyes Were Opened More By A President Obama?

Just having my coffee and watching a little morning Joe, and they were just talking about how this is a historic day because, among other things, the first black American has become President. They made the point that this changes how every black child or parent looks at what they can do in life now. I would agree on both points, but, I would also add that this changes the way white Americans think as much as black Americans think.

If we look at things only by the numbers, black Americans could not alone vote in a black candidate. So who is the one that didn't think a black American could be President? I would say, President Obama has changed the way white America thinks more than the way black America thinks. He may have made black America more proud and confident then they were a year ago or 10 years ago, but he isn't the first black that woke up one day and said I want to be President of The United States, and he certainly won't be the last. I guarantee, that there were as many white Americans, right or wrong, who woke up one Wednesday morning in November 2008 and said, he actually did it?

So let's forget the color of my skin, your skin and President Obama's skin, and let's worry about the colors that matters in America right now, red, white and blue! We need people of all colors, backgrounds and status to come together and fix the huge issues that are ahead for our Country.

Dare To Dream

That this country has more to offer than George Bush and Sarah Palin. I have grown tired of the 10 word phrases that appeal to people with the mentality of a toad. And today Palin, and I am sure tonight McCain, brought out the standard bearer for the right; "You can spend your money better than the government can". But if you look at the amount of debt Amreicans have, you have to wonder who they are talking to? How someone making $35-50k a year can actually be fooled into believing that tax cuts for them, while restoring tax rates to people who make a minimum of "7x" what they do is unfair, just is mind blowing to me.

Now that we have had eight years of Bush policies, the odds that someone currently making $35-50k ever making $250k a year without winning the lottery are as good as becoming a starting QB in the NFL. Yes, four more years of the same fiscal irresponsibility and a lack of curiosity to fix it, are just what America needs!

I've Only Been Saying This For 5 Years

But it is nice to see that the MSM and not just a nobody like me finally has the courage to say it.

(NYT)Who knows how long it will be before the U.S. disengages in any significant way from Iraq. What you can take to the bank is that this country will not make any major advances in energy policy, in health coverage, in rebuilding its infrastructure, in improving its public schools or in curtailing runaway public and private debt until our open-ended commitment to this catastrophic multitrillion-dollar war comes to an end.

And let's not forget that Iraq has severely limited what our military could do in Afghanistan, where the real terrorists are. Not to mention our response capabilities, say if Russia or China decided to play USA and invade a country full of natural resources.

A little more planning and a little less gut reaction would have done this country well over the last 7 years.

What To Do?

It looks like if Gov Dean and the DNC fold to the Clinton machine and give in to their request to include rule breakers Michigan and Florida, she stands a good chance of winning the popular vote. However, Obama will win more states. Damn, if there was only a fair and proportional way to settle this dilemma?(Yes, tongue is firmly planted in cheek!)

Is A Mohawk Cause For A Suspension From School?

This seems to be a little extreme to do to a kindergartner. I don't understand how hair can disrupt the classroom. Nor how a school can tell someone how to wear their hair.

What's The Return Policy For Florida?

Does the Government have a get-out clause with Florida? Something like, "If Florida passes laws that resemble the Taliban, they void their status as a member of the 21st Century. As such, Congress is entitled to rescind Florida's status as a member of the United States."

Hello Florida, I'm the 21st Century! Feel free to join the rest of us. While you're at it, see if Texas would like to join us too!

Student Arrested For Writing Essay

Here is what we are going to see because of what happened at VT. Just because VT administrators and local authorities blew it, students and people everywhere will be under increased scrutiny.

A student in the far Northwest suburbs of Chicago, was arrested for an essay he wrote for his class. Apparently the teacher was so disturbed that they had the student arrested for disorderly conduct. Ironically the school didn't suspend or expel him, but he can't return there for classes.

(Chi Trib) Disorderly conduct, which carries a penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is filed for pranks such as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911. But it can also apply when someone's writings can disturb an individual, Delelio said.

"The teacher was alarmed and disturbed by the content," he said.

But a civil rights advocate said the teacher's reaction to an essay shouldn't make it a crime.

"One of the elements is that some sort of disorder or disruption is created," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "When something is done in private—when a paper is handed in to a teacher—there isn't a disruption."

I must have missed the part of the First Amendment that said "except for disturbing stuff". And like Ed Yohnka said, there was no disruption because only the teacher had read the essay. It's a fine line when you start arresting people for their thoughts(especially in a creative writing class) and not their actions.

Welcome To 2007

While everyone was caught up in Imus, a Georgia high school had it's "FIRST" prom where white and black students attended together. While it's a good thing this is happening, it is 2007, a it's time for Georgia to join the rest of us.

(Orlando Sentinel/AP) "The school is making changes — and they're long overdue," said Aniesha Gipson, who became the county's first solo homecoming queen last fall as it abandoned the practice of crowning separate white and black queens.

Still, traditions die hard. Only about two-thirds of the school's 160 upper-class students purchased tickets for the prom, blacks still easily outnumbered whites at the dance, and many whites still attended their own private party a week earlier.
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"Last weekend was more like tradition. It wasn't racist, or prejudice," said Calvin Catom, a white senior who attended both parties. "This weekend is about the whole school getting together and having a party."

It certainly was a tradition, a tradition built on racism.

Guns Back In The News

After today's shooting at V.T., the call for banning guns was bound to happen. One of the blogs I read daily took a firm, but slightly over the top, stance on guns. And the comments to the post are very interesting. The only problem with this approach is that it addresses the end result and not the problem. Instead of addressing why these things happen, we tend to only address the the final point. If people were to look deeper into things, maybe we could address these problems before they lead to a shooting rampage, without new laws while maintaining our rights.

As someone who has owned guns and is liberal, I tend to be in a small group. While I tend to believe that the 2nd Amendment is outdated, since no one is really forming a militia, I am not for changing it. The cost and time wasted in that battle might be okay in a different time, but Congress and the President have their plates full at the moment with more important issues. Plus, the Amendment wouldn't change in the long run. I do tend to lean left when we talk about what kind of guns should be legal. While I find the M-4 quite interesting and would probably enjoy shooting it at the range, it really is a weapon of offense not defense, regardless if it is semi-auto or full auto.

While many anti-gun people hate when pro-gun people say, "Guns don't kill people, people do", there is some truth to it. There is also some truth when anti-gun people say, "less people die of guns in Europe than America". So where is the common ground? Would today's killer still have been able to get a gun if they were banned? Before you say no, think about how easy it is to get illegal drugs. Would he used an ax, knife, crowbar or baseball bat instead? And would we then ban those too?

I am not disputing the fact that guns are dangerous, they are. But trying to capitalize on this killing spree seems vaguely similar to how many Democrats feel that Republicans use 9/11 to take away other rights protected by the Constitution. People need to take a deep breath before they advocate changing the Constitution, for liberal or conservative beliefs.

University of Florida Says No To Jebediah

The University of Florida Senate faculty has voted against giving Jeb Bush an honorary degree.

(AP) "I really don't feel this is a person who has been a supporter of UF," Kathleen Price, associate dean of library and technology at the school's Levin College of Law, told The Gainesville Sun after the vote.

How the mighty have fallen.

A Peak Into The Bush Budget

While our media is focused on Anna Nicole Smith, Brittney Spears and the weather, some people spent a little time dissecting the recent budget that the Bush Administration gave us. Matt Taibbi, with a little help from the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders, gives us a few examples.

Sanders's office came up with some interesting numbers here. If the Estate Tax were to be repealed completely, the estimated savings to just one family -- the Walton family, the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune -- would be about $32.7 billion dollars over the next ten years.

The proposed reductions to Medicaid over the same time frame? $28 billion.

Or how about this: if the Estate Tax goes, the heirs to the Mars candy corporation -- some of the world's evilest scumbags, incidentally, routinely ripped by human rights organizations for trafficking in child labor to work cocoa farms in places like Cote D'Ivoire -- if the estate tax goes, those assholes will receive about $11.7 billion in tax breaks. That's more than three times the amount Bush wants to cut from the VA budget ($3.4 billion) over the same time period.

VA budget? But I thought they were for the troops? I bet Walter Reed Medical Center would like that $3.4 billion. And to pad the pockets of less than one percent of Americans while Medicaid, the VA, education, heating and oil for the poor and whatever else they could get their hands on gets cut, is crazy. Or as Matt says

That's not only bad government, it's bad capitalism. It makes legalized bribery and political connections more important factors than performance and competition in the corporate marketplace.

Well said Mr. Taibbi.

Crazy Parent Has Inconvenient Truth Banned

A parent in a school district in suburban Seattle has stopped the showing of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. I understand the idea of teaching all sides of something, but when your reasoning for not having your child watch the film is "judgment day", you lose all credibility.

"No you will not teach or show that propagandist Al Gore video to my child, blaming our nation -- the greatest nation ever to exist on this planet -- for global warming," Hardiman wrote in an e-mail to the Federal Way School Board. The 43-year-old computer consultant is an evangelical Christian who says he believes that a warming planet is "one of the signs" of Jesus Christ's imminent return for Judgment Day.

I guess his propaganda is okay. So what kind of balance is he looking for? How does he explain balance?

Before the board meeting started Tuesday night, several residents buttonholed Larson and asked him if there should be a "balanced" presentation of the Nazi Holocaust, because there are many who deny that it occurred.

"The Holocaust happened," Larson said. "We have evidence and photos. The difference between the Holocaust and the global warming is we don't have photos of what will happen 50 years from now."

Not for nothing, but where are the photos and evidence of his savior?

"Free" Music Downloads For College Students

Ruckus, a company started by a former Napster executive, is now offering "free" music downloads to any student with an active .edu email. Of course if you want to play it on your iPod or other player, you'll have to pay a fee of $5/month or $19.99 a semester. Still a pretty good deal, but not really free.

Duke Rape Accuser Gives Birth

Almost nine months to the day, the girl who accused some players of Duke's lacrosse team for raping her, has had a baby. Who is the daddy?

(CBS) The person who confirmed the pregnancy to the AP had no information about the father. Defense attorneys have stressed for months that no sex occurred at the party and they have cited DNA testing that found genetic material from several males in the accuser's body and her underwear — but none from any member of the lacrosse team.

This should be interesting.

Extra Million Burning A Hole In Your Pocket?

(Sue's Skull)

Ever felt like adopting? How about a gorilla? Or maybe you would rather adopt the skull from Sue, the T-Rex? Or if times are tough and you only have a few thousand laying around, how does a meteorite sound? Well all this can be yours, kind of, from the Field Museum in Chicago.

UCLA Police Officer Has Shady Past

The UCLA campus cop who tasered a student has past incidents of violence, including shooting a homeless man. He was also recommended for dismissal in connection to an "alleged" assault on fraternity row. But Terrence Duren is still on the job.

UCLA Campus Police Brutality

Campus police at UCLA tasered a student in the library because he refused to show his ID. And after tasering him to the ground, they tasered him several more times. Nearly creating a riot in the UCLA library. Then, the police started to threaten other students with the taser. Luckily a student had his cell phone and got it all on video. Oh yeah, the kid was student after all. (h/t Boing Boing/Alex)

People Suffered For Their Gain

Regardless of your position on Iraq, we all can agree that the course wasn't working. And let's forget the current argument of leave or stay and focus on win or lose. We have heard that President Bush and the Republicans were for winning in Iraq, but did they stay a failed course for political reasons?

All we have heard since President Bush took office was, "You know where he stands" and "He is steadfast in his vision", it won the 2004 election for him. But now, since Tuesday, he has decided to change course? The rock of steadfast has buckled to of all things, public opinion? And it's not just him. The Army is saying it is drawing up NEW plans, and they are "Scrubbing" everything that went right and everything that went wrong. Hmm, am I the only one thinking that this should have been being done already?

So what is the reason? Are we sadly realizing, or confirming for some, that the last 3 years of failure after failure could have prevented if they were not hell bent on "Staying the course"? And instead of calling anyone who questioned their course, cut-n-runners and unpatriotic, or forcing generals into retirement, shouldn't they have done this before now? And the political answer is, of course not. They would have lost the 2004 election. And since then, they have done everything for political reasons. Mark Foley comes to mind. It's never been about America, well not the America most of us live in.

This war has been nothing more than a political tool and a money maker for the element of the Right, led by George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, etc.... And because of it, Iraq and it's citizens, Americans and our TROOPS have been mislead, used and abused to fill the pockets of our leaders and the Haliburton's of the world.

And Kerry's Comments Were Wrong

Regardless if Kerry was calling Bush out or saying that kids with lower grade point averages or that come from low income families turn to the military, no one is arguing the facts of either statement. But let's go with the one that seemed to create the controversy, that uneducated and poor kids are targets of our military.

I'm sure if you looked hard enough, you would be able to find more of these incidents. And for the record, I have no problem with recruiting from certain areas, colleges do it all the time and no one says anything about them. The problem with recruiters is when they out and out lie about joining the military because the people enlisting don't know any different.

"Nobody is going over to Iraq anymore?" one student asks a recruiter.

"No, we're bringing people back," he replies.

"We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says.

We're not at war? How can any military recruiter say that? Much like a used car salesman telling you "That car runs like a dream", only to have it breakdown a week later. No one is saying that the troops are dumb, these guys and these guys definitely prove that, but don't bullshit me with who ends up in the military.

White House Lackey Settles Propaganda Case

While Armstrong Williams admits "no wrongdoing", he is still paying $34,000 in a settlement. In the original contract of $240,000, it was determined that the government paid $34,000 too much for his services. Um, to me it seems that it was $240,000 too much. Should it really be ok for a government agency to pay the media to promote an agenda?