Replace Harry Reid?

To the question, Replace Harry Reid? I say, PLEASE! I would not cry if the Democratic Party replaced Nancy Pelosi too. We have had 8 years of the wet noodle spined Democratic Party members cowering from every stupid law and idea that arose from the Republicans which has led us into the heckovamess we are in now. Step up Democrats! Dump the dead weight and move the party and America forward.



The new slogan should be move or get out of the way so other can.
About Rod Blagojevich
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Feinstein: Seat Burris In Senate

Sen. Feinstein, an attorney should be acquainted with the law. First, the Governor of IL has not been indicted. He has not be convicted. In THIS country you are innocent until proven guilty. He is STILL governor and so has all powers of that office which includes but is not limited to appointing people of his choice to open Federal seats.



Next, no Secretary of State can withhold his/her signature certifying state documents approved by the governor that would be a step towards anarchy.



Finally, Sen. Burris will be seated because it is a legal appointment how and when he will be seated is a choice the Democratic members will have to make and go back to their communities and explain to voters why when a man held in high esteem with a clean political record has his rightfully appointed seat withheld.



The governor of IL has a nasty mouth and it seems a larcenous soul and maybe a trickster's heart but the choice he made has slowly but steadily raised the suspicions of black folks across the country about why Burris cannot be seated. That is what the Democratic Senators who have tough battles ahead would not want to wrangle with during this political season. Seat the guy and get on with the People's business.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Happy New Year!
2009 Hope for a Brighter Future for Us All

It is after 5:00 p.m. here in snowy Boston. I am home with Ma and Joel and we are planning to get some early Zzzz in as a celebration of the coming year. I have no plans to cook anything special nor do I intend to go to any parties or even public prayer service. A meaningful end to this year is a private prayer of thanksgiving to God that He is bringing to an end a very, very stressful year.

The great thing is that for 2009 I have high hopes. My hopes are rising each day. The are not placed on our brilliant new President but on the resiliency of the American people and most importantly on my faith and trust in God. I have been delivered from some very scary things, forced homelessness (hurricane Katrina) , sparse resources, no job, no job again, explosive rent, and family illness. Yet, from each thing I have been delivered. I now have a home, a second new job, the family health is improved, more resources, and the blessing of caring friends and strangers. God has been faithful to me even when I have wavered. For Him I am grateful always.

To the people who read my musings I say thank you. To my friends and family who agree and disagree with what I have written at times or in some cases all of the time thank you. God has bestowed his grace and mercy on us all. May God continue to bless us. 2009 is our year to shine!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day in a Louisiana Dungeon

Louisiana, the state I was born in, raised in, and lived in until recently is as backwards a place you would ever want to see. It is still living as if it the 19th century and what it calls justice is an atrocity. If you are black or poor white your life has little value. I grew up with the stories of Woodfox and Wallace. I am stunned that they are still there held down by the system. This is a shame in a shameless state.
About Bobby Jindal
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What Happened to Kwanzaa?

First, Kwanzaa is not a holiday. It is a cultural celebration. I have celebrated Kwanzaa for over 25 years. My family will be celebrating it this year with each of us hosting in our homes a different principle. Kwanzaa was not designed to be a commercial "holiday" because it is not a holiday. It was developed to learn about and celebrate our culture and to use seven principles to guide our lives and strengthen our communities. It is not a separatist celebration just an African centered one.



Most of my friends across the country celebrate Kwanzaa in their homes with the exception of attending large public events on the first and sixth nights (Umoja, unity and Kuumba, creativity). Some cities have large public celebrations each night. Most practitioners have small gatherings at our homes.



Kwanzaa is not a replacement for Christmas. It is not a "black Christmas". It is a ritual developed as a mechanism to learn and to teach about the culture of African Americans.



So, if Hallmark is not making much money from it I am not distressed being a commercial endeavor is not the purpose nor desire of the celebration. Gifts are for children and they are either handmade or books.



To the key to Kwanzaa is its second principle-Kujichagulia, self determination we determine what our cultural celebration will be not Hallmark or American Greetings.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Property Developers Want Bailout Money

Bail out commercial property developers? I think not! Let them go bankrupt and foreclose on their properties like the system is supposed to do. Enough free money. Is no one responsible for their choices?
About The Bailouts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

FBI Forced To Divert Antiterrorism Agents To Help Untangle $50 Billion Madoff Swindle

Now? That cow is so far out of the barn that it headed over to the other farm's pasture. Why couldn't they do this before we went broke?
About Bernard Madoff
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rick Warren And Obama: What Is 'Traditional Marriage' Anyway?

Let's let everybody marry so that we can raise money on marriage licenses and divorce court costs. I believe in EEO and all recognized marriages are recognized by the government and not the church so let's just let everybody marry whomever they please...we need the money.



Also, CA was wrong to allow a majority to vote on limiting the rights of the minority. If this is allowed to continue then we have hearkened back to Plessy v. Ferguson.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Will it take 30 years too before this is investigated, prosecuted and put to rest like the Emmett Till case? Will the justice department continue to allow the lawless live out their lives and then say after they are dead what a shame it is that those men cannot be punished because oops they are dead already? The state of Louisiana and certainly the dysfunctional police department of New Orleans will not do anything about these men because they are white and because their victims are black. Louisiana and New Orleans will never progress as long as it continues to live as if it is the 19th century and black lives are worthless.



Louisiana to be viewed as the backwards banana republic it is.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Harry Shearer, an good advocate for the attention to repairing New Orleans from the damages of the flooding after Katrina was het up about the Algiers Point vigilantes. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/new-orleans-faces-the-nat_b_153163.html

I responded to his post with this:

There was no massive damage until the flooding occurred. Anger still flows at the U.S. Corps of Engineers whose job it is to design, build, and maintain the levee system that prevents off exactly what occurred...massive flooding and a loss of life that exceeded the Oklahoma bombing tragedy. Residents are vulnerable to the weakest of hurricanes coming ashore.

Does it mean that The Nation was wrong in its report about the murder of black men because they were black? I say no. Does it mean that racism is intricately laced in the community where one can kill black people with apparent impunity? I say yes.

Like the Emmett Till case 30 years from now some writer will dig up the the story about men killed by (by then) dead vigilantes pointing out how justice was denied. These men are known and free. There will be no trial and certainly no conviction because a black life in New Orleans, in Louisiana is worthless and that is the ugly truth.

Louisiana operates in a racial atmosphere that still believes that it is the 19th century. New Orleans, the place of my birth, where I was educated and lived for most of my over 50 years is stuck in the 1950's progressive in comparison to the rest of the state. Black life in both eras is valued less than that of whites. The very sad part is that the Algiers Point vigilantes demonstrate how true this remains.

Time Mag Columnist: Obama Is "Very Rational-Sounding Sort Of Bigot"

I am aggravated by the dismissal of the Rev, Lowery , by the gay community of a man who has battle scars from the civil rights movement AND who supports gay marriage . You get all het up over Rick Warren and fail to see the bigger picture of a man who put his life on the line for people and freedom of others, a man who has credibility, who is ON YOUR side as if his stature and influence does not matter. It does. Rick Warren is a bone. Rev. Joseph Lowery is a true example of agape love that we Christians say we seek to exemplify. Listen to his prayer of benediction at the inauguration he will deliver.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rove Will "Help Lead" GOP Fight Against Holder: <i>WaPo</i> Reporter

No, he needs to jailed for leaking information on Valerie Plame. It seems to me that the Obama administration needs to spend a little time on investigating the Bush Administration for every single crooked thing they have done.If that is a not a WPA project for lawyers and accountants I can not think of another one.
About Karl Rove
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Evan Bayh Forming Conservative "Blue Dog" Caucus In Senate

Please, is it not time to dump both Reid and Pelosi? Supporting the DLC folks...again is simply madness. They were wrong before and surely they are wrong now. Both the DLC (Bayh, Ford, Landreau, and a few other lunkheads) and the awful Democratic leadership need to be banished along with the troglodytes southern Republicans from the Congress.
About Evan Bayh
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Democrats Go Down on the Auto Bailout

At this point I am sick of everybody involved including the media. Millions of jobs are at stake and businesses other than the automakers are too. The unions have given up concessions and I am sure could maybe do a little more but not so much that they are destroyed which is the aim of the Republicans. They weak kneed lily livered Democrats astound me have they no backbone? We need to keep manufacturing companies so that like oil we will not be dependent on foreign countries to build and sell us our own weapons (see bullets) so that we can defend ourselves. Some industries are vital to ourself defense and the automakers certainly are one of them.
About Job Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rod Blagojevich Arrested: The Damage He Could Do

What the point of this article? Democrats are responsible for Rod Blagojevich? Or is Obama? Or is it just that the governor is responsible for his actions alone? As a Louisianan I can say the IL politicos are second leaguers compared to us in graft, greed, and corruption. Even Louisianans are getting tired of constantly being embarrassed by the people we have elected to office only to have them get themselves tossed into Club Fed. It's Y'all's turn now. My advice: find another Democrat, one with integrity (don't laugh politician and integrity are not an oxymoron) and let that person lead the way out. You do not want to switch to a Republican because there really is no change there simply better finessed graft.
About Rod Blagojevich
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Thankfulness

I am always grateful to God for allowing me to live past what should have been the end of my days in my thirties. Yet, God knows not every morning am I thankful for the bountiful blessings He has bestowed upon me. Sometimes, it seems a secular event such as Thanksgiving even with it focus on food and cheer can make life's blessing clearer for me.

This Thanksgiving, this morning, I am thankful to have my mother at home with me. I am thankful for my sisters and brother. My friends for life, who have provided me with love and encouragement for years, it seems that thanking them is such a small thing for such an important gift. Mostly though, I thank God for showing us that He is still faithful. He has brought us a Joshua in the form of Barack Obama who is human but full of blessings from the Lord and will change this country with us to become better, stronger and more cooperative.

I am also thankful to live in a state that sincerely looks out after its people..." the least of thee" of which we were them. I have lived in several states and I can fairly compare the support services of them to Massachusetts and can say that although the area is expensive in comparison to the other states there are services and even work available for those who seek it. No one state is doing a flawless job of meeting the needs of every citizen in it but, Massachusetts comes pretty close. I am grateful for that.

Thankfulness extends to my birth state for we know how to treat people. While the government there is stingy and sometimes corrupt the people are generous and kind. New Orleans is the greatest city in the country. It has heart and resilience. What it needs is like almost all of the country's cities are good paying jobs. It also needs a serious infusion of money to rebuild its infrastructure. The beautiful WPA parks and buildings are due for repairs, upgrades, or replacement. Also, the city's power-holders need to relinquish enough of their hold on the economy as to encourage and nurture entrepreneurs who create the new jobs that power economic development.

Finally, I am thankful for my health and access to health care. If but only one thing I would want accomplished by the Obama administration it would be the reality of the United States of America having universal health care. We need health care to be considered a right of citizens rather than being forced to purchase insurance products that are less than we need or to have to forgo medical insurance because we simply cannot afford it. We need to focus on preventative care, fair priced drugs, dental heath coverage and making mental health and therapy less of an after thought and instead being a necessary component of good health care.

God, family, friends, health care, food, clothing and shelter are what I am deeply thankful for today on Thanksgiving Day. Why are you thankful?

When did you cry?

I cried the next morning on my way to work as the air seemed different, the people kinder, and the world even with its many problems seem lighter. God Please bless this man Barack Obama. He is our Joshua, You remember the story of Joshua? When it was time for the children of Abraham who had been wandering in the wilderness as punishment for their disobedience and unbelief, there was needed a leader to lead them the way to the promised land. Moses would not be allowed to go to the promised land. There was a need for a new leader. Young Joshua fit the bill. He was brave, level headed and was called to encourage the people and battle their enemies until they arrived in the promised land.

Barack Obama is America's Joshua, brave, level headed, and strong of character. Like the Israelites we have to follow him to lead us out of the mess we are in now. He is not Jesus, he is not infallible. He is though like Joshua with heart and vision. My prayer is that he stays safe, maintains clear vision and stay courageous. We need him. The world needs him.

An Open Letter to the People of Alaska

Dear Wonderful People of one of our most beautiful states in America,

As a part of our nation I just wanted you to know that I am indeed thankful to have you as a part of our union and think that being our largest state land wise is a really cool thing. I have visited your state and have seen for myself how precious and rich it is in natural resources. The people were warm and gracious to me and my traveling companion. It was a trip of a lifetime to be able to see all of the things I had read about in books before my very eyes.

I appreciate the oil and gas you provide although I would prefer to leave Alaska pristine rather than exploit all of your natural resources. I shall always remember the awful look of clear-cutting some of your beautiful and densely packed forests. I remember how the logs bobbed in the water not far from the ship I was traveling like common trash. The places where the trees were removed looked sparse and ugly. I have no qualms using natural products but feel strongly that we must replace what we use.

I would like to see you harness the arctic winds to help produce energy and to be the ones who perfect solar energy since you unlike the other 49 other states have a period of no nightfall each year in which you could experiment with the best solar collectors and distributors for consumer energy needs. The rest of the states could learn a lot from you.

In turn I ask that you keep one export at home for yourselves...your governor. I think that her brand of populism (I hail from a state that grew one of history's most flamboyant populist... Huey Long) is divisive. It seems that you are able to handle that. The rest of the 48 have enough trouble without adding such angry, condescension, and animosity to their already stressed lives. Now that the middle class will have to bear the burden of Wall Street's excess it is important that we lower the rising stress level by removing the possibility that we will have a right wing Bush knock off administration going even further into abyss that G.W. Bush's administration did and look how that turned out.

And so, this open letter to you is a plea to keep the one thing unenviable that you have...your governor in Alaska with you. Please.

Sincerely,

A Fellow American

Tim Wise and his very wise words...

Please follow this link to view this honest man's words:

http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/WhitenessShowing.html

Then link on to this to me an even better post:

http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nat ion-white-privilege

Ma Broke Her Hip

On Friday morning around 2 a.m. Ma snuck out of the house and got as far as the green mailbox across the street before she fell and broke her hip. My next door neighbor knew where she lived so she rang the doorbell. A woman I had never seen before scooped Ma up and brought her into the house. I realized how much damage she had done to herself and called the EMS. As usual they loved her and promised to take good care of her. I had to stay behind because under Massachusetts Law Joel was too young to stay home alone. So I packed him up and off we went to my sister's house. I woke her and sent Joel in while telling her about Ma. She said that she would relieve me at the hospital after she got dressed. I drove off wondering how bad her hip was this time.

I loathe hospitals. I am nervous and agitated whenever I am in one. Sick people scare me and I am a terrible nurse. So, I arrived at the hospital only to find out that she just got there and they were assessing her. That meant I had to sit out among the sick and the angry. My sister arrived and thankfully, I was able to go home. I had just started work and would not be able to take the day off.

Ma had to have surgery. This is the first time she had ever had to have surgery in her life. We were very concerned about the anesthesia. Ma has an extremely low tolerance for drugs. The strongest thing she can have is maybe Tylenol extra strength and that can make her sleepy. We were concerned that the anesthesia would kill her. Surgery went well now it is time for her to heal. One of the nurses had an old cantankerous mother at his home and was very supportive. Ma hits everybody. The sad and funny thing is that there is nothing we can do about it. Her fighting to me though means that she is going to be alright. It's that Narcisse blood. That stuff should be bottled.

Two hellish months later:

It helps that she is a Narcisse. They live a long time and "can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'".
She is now home being Ma. Thanks for the prayers and well wishes!

In God's Hands

Man plans and God laughs. HE did say, "Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it will be opened unto you," so it seems that as Americans we need to be about the business of praying for Senator Obama. Then we need to get busy checking our friends and relatives to see if the are registered to vote and if not then registering to vote. We also need to be sure not to be discouraged. Do not let the lions in the way discourage you from voting. Make sure that regardless as to what the journalists say go out and do God's will and vote for Senator Obama.

After eight years we have a chance to come out of the wilderness. Senator Obama is our Joshua. He has the intelligence and skill to lead us like President Bill Clinton did to a more prosperous eight years where our country is respected and is a beacon to those who suffer under the yoke of dictatorships and totalitarian governments. WE have a chance to turn this country around and make a better path for future generations to follow.

If we fail to act then we will have sentenced ourselves to at least four more years of economic pain for everyone but the "haves" and "have mores" the true base of the Republican Party. Do not let them fool you about what they intend to do. They intend to keep things as the are at best and to make other things like the economy worse. Do we need to go to war with everyone? Can we afford the wars we are in now? Starving the treasury will not help end our borrowing craze from the Chinese. We need to boost our econonmy first , by repairing our infrastructure. We need to make education part of our security defense because an educated populace is a great defense against tyrany which requires ingorance and inaction. Finally, we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and use our American know how to develop green and renewable energy. It measns no more wars for oil!

Senator Obama is not perfect but he is qualified and ready to be President of this country. Senator Obama needs all thinking Americans to support him by voting for him on November 4th. We cannot live like we do any longer. If you don't want to vote for him then vote for you and your economic interest by voting for him. In an Obama Aministration we will get a better law abiding government that serves all of the people and a chance at a more prosperous one too.

We have a once in four years chance to make a dramatic change. Pray. Talk to family and friends about voting or becoming a registered voter and then on November 4th...VOTE! After you do then it will truly be in God's Hands. God willing Barack Obama will be our President.

1-866-MYVOTE1 or 1-866-698-6831
Register yourself or someone else today!