After controversial loss, Ortiz lobbies hard for rematch – USATODAY.com

After controversial loss, Ortiz lobbies hard for rematch – USATODAY.com

LIFE

Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
— Unknown
A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.
— Rita Mae Brown
Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion.
— Mary Manin Morrissey
Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.
— Wayne Dyer
All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
— Chief Seattle
We must be willing to fail and to appreciate the truth that often "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived."
— M. Scott Peck

JoeDub Speaks Sports and Michael Vick 9/27/2011

      So the big news over this past weekend in the NFL was the injuries to Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Micheal Vick and his post game comments on the referees. Many sports outlets who were watching the same game and know the rules made up by the NFL to protect their players agreed with his comments while others still had hate in their hearts for some of Vick's off the field activity. In my opinion I feel referees are a little bit hesitant to hold up the letter of NFL law when it comes to Micheal Vick because in peoples eyes they still want him to suffer a little bit, because they thought that he would not have rehabilitated his life this quickly after dogfighting charges that placed him in prison for 23 months of his life in one of the most notorious penitentiary's in the country Leavenworth,PA. The fact is that Vick's comments had merit because by the rulebook the NFL has in place to protect quarterbacks, replay film shows that players from the New York Giants were targeting Micheal Vick's head and face area acknowledging that he had a severe concussion the previous week in the much anticipated Atlanta game. If players feel that refs are not going to call penalties on them for hitting Vick illegally what do they really have to lose in a contact sport?. Hate Vick or love Vick that man has paid his dues to society and has earned his second 100 million dollar contract when many said he would never again reach stardom in the National Football League and if these latest events involving the refs do nothing, it will have at least brought awareness to this situation and force viewers and NFL executives to stay on high alert so all rules can be applied and the safety of its players are brought to the forefront.

46% percentage of teachers leave before their 5th year

Teachers are tired of the status quo, they are tired of not being appreciated for the daily jobs that they do. Why should teachers have to spend money out of their own pockets to teach our children? Why should teachers constantly be paid as the lowest members on the todem pole; especially when their job empowers our children for the future?

Do we take our teachers for granted? Where is the respect for teachers? These people educate our children on a daily basis and some parents view them as babysitters. Well these babysitters spend the majority of their day with our children, wouldn't you want them to be happy and to have access to the necessary tools to equip our children?

Why aren't parents attending Open Houses and meetings to discuss the future for their children? Why do parents blame teachers for all of the educational woes with their children? Do we expect too much from our teachers, or are they lacking in their achievements? Are today's teachers falling short of educating our children on a competitive level?

Should hispanic teachers be allowed to speak spanish to students who do not comprehend english? There are so many issues facing our teachers today, what can we do to help? Are Public Schools doomed?

In order for our children to be successful in their educational endeavors, we as parents must take an active role and pay attention. It does take a village to raise a child and all shareholders must be account for and ready to work. Our children need all of us and together we can raise awareness for the educational woes and make a difference in the lives of our children.

Live Your Life

We as people must realize that we are only here for a short period of time and we must make the best of our time here on earth.

So many of us take this time for granted and never complete our designated tasks. We are a purposeful people and we must seek out our purpose and live our lives.

Today make it your business to seek out your purpose and work towards your goals. Enjoy your life and be the best you that you can be.

Love life and yourself, like there is no tomorrow. Be You and Love You.

Infant with fractured skull leads to man's arrest

Infant with fractured skull leads to man's arrest

Domestic violence deadly in 2011

Domestic violence deadly in 2011

Conservative Ire with Perry Runs Deep, Reflects Racial Politics – Patriot Update

Conservative Ire with Perry Runs Deep, Reflects Racial Politics – Patriot Update

‘America is MORE racist under Obama’: Morgan Freeman slams President’s Tea Party critics – Patriot Update

‘America is MORE racist under Obama’: Morgan Freeman slams President’s Tea Party critics – Patriot Update

Sad Day for America Troy Davis Gets Terminated Innocent?

The death of Troy Davis should show Americans, Our People, and people across the world how truly valuable African American Lives are in this country. You can throw as many facts and theories in the equation if you want but throw this fact in there first, "The witness who said they saw Mr. Davis was a convicted felon who stated they were under pressure from their attorney to point out Troy Davis and in return get a lesser penalty". In the Dominic Strauss Kahn case that was thrown out in New York after he raped a Hotel Attendant, the D.A. Law office said she wasn't a credible witness as she lied about her income on an application and her legal docs for immigration? "So how can another states legal system kill a man when the witnesses are compromised and almost all the witnesses have recanted their statements?"
This is a sad day in our country that even in 2011 someone who may be innocent gets terminated and the real COP KIller could be living their life Scott free!
If there is a slight doubt that Mr. Davis could be innocent you would think we as a country would exhaust every possibility before taking a man's life considering what we just went through with the events that took place in the CASEY ANTHONY trial.

U.S. Supreme Court grants reprieve for Davis execution - CBS Atlanta 46

U.S. Supreme Court grants reprieve for Davis execution - CBS Atlanta 46

Officials: Burger King employee shot, killed by ex-boyfriend

Officials: Burger King employee shot, killed by ex-boyfriend

Ex-San Ramon cop kept jailed by feds after domestic violence arrest - San Jose Mercury News

Ex-San Ramon cop kept jailed by feds after domestic violence arrest - San Jose Mercury News

Police monitor social networking to fight gangs - St. Petersburg Times

Police monitor social networking to fight gangs - St. Petersburg Times

Authorities: Gunman kills wife, then injures pastors during prayers at Lakeland church - St. Petersburg Times

Authorities: Gunman kills wife, then injures pastors during prayers at Lakeland church - St. Petersburg Times

Domestic violence murders rise as crime falls in Florida - St. Petersburg Times

Domestic violence murders rise as crime falls in Florida - St. Petersburg Times

Trinidad and Tobago Declares Drug War Emergency

Trinidad and Tobago Declares Drug War Emergency

Women Heroes of 9/11

Women Heroes of 9/11

Women Heroes of 9/11

September 8, 2011
Women Heroes of 9/11
Of the 2,753 people who died one decade ago this September 11th, nearly 950 were women. "Watching the coverage, you might not know that women had any role as first line responders," CNN's Soledad O'Brien told PINK after interviewing women for her Beyond Bravery: The Women of 9/11 special airing this week.
Female rescuers want to set the record straight. "Women played a role in every job at ground zero. That they had to sue for the right to have a career that is so dangerous you can lose your life is remarkable," says O'Brien.
Capt. Brenda Berkman of the New York City Fire Department knew 250 of the 342 firefighters who died that day. She was among the first 42 female firefighters hired in NYC after winning a gender discrimination lawsuit. Since retiring in 2006, 

*

Berkman now gives tours of the 9/11 Tribute Center. “I’d like to feel that history is going to be remembered accurately," she says.
Firefighter Regina Wilson says, “It felt like a warzone.” Today, fewer than 5 percent of U.S. firefighters are female. “People want to say we’re part of the brotherhood: we’re not. We’re sisters, we’re women,” she tells CNN.
NYPD Deputy Inspector Terri Tobin was beneath the twin towers on 9/11, sustaining serious injuries to her head and upper body. “All you heard was people screaming,” she says. “I grabbed someone’s hand and said ‘I’m with the NYPD, I’m not going to let go.’” Women currently make up 17 percent of the national police force. Tobin’s department lost 23 officers that day, and nearly 100 retired later due to PTSD. “I don’t think there was any task performed down there that was not performed by women,” Tobin adds.
CNN profiles these and other women heroes in Beyond Bravery: The Women of 9/11, hosted by Soledad O’Brien.  
Bonus PINK Link: These women showed heroic courage on 9/11. Here’s how to find your own courage.
Comment and tell us how you feel about the coverage of women’s roles on 9/11.
By Caroline Cox

"I shall not die of a cold.  I shall die of having lived." Willa Cather

Women Stand Strong

Women Stand Strong

The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source." ~ Lucretia Mott

"I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves." ~ Mary Wollstonecraft

"It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." ~ Susan B. Anthony

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." ~ Maya Angelou

"But life is a battle: may we all be enabled to fight it well!" ~ Charlotte Bronte

"Rise to the occasion which is life!" ~ Virginia Euwer Wolff

"Champions have the courage to keep turning the pages because they know a better chapter lies ahead." ~ Paula White

"It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you." ~ Million Dollar Baby

"Try, reach, want, and you may fall. But even if you do, you might be okay anyway. If you don't try, you save nothing, because you might as well be dead." ~ Ann Brashares (Girls in Pants) as Tibby Tomko-Rollins

Fighting To Keep Your Man or Woman!

Fighting To Keep Your Man or Woman!

By: Sharock P.

Is it Wrong to Fight For Your Man or Woman?

Some Women say yes, while others say hell no, but isn't that what most women do anyway? If you have a man and you monitor his whereabouts, aren't you fighting to keep him? You are trying to make sure that he doesn't get distracted or tempted by outside resources.

We as Women joke around when we say that women do not want a man until he is with another woman and that is true. Most of the time the belief is that another woman would not keep a worthless man. If a man is with another woman the horn begins to toot, because this man must have a job, be a good provider and must be great in bed; because why else would another woman want or keep him?

When you usually see a man that is handsome, working and single, the warning lights begin blinking off and on, something is wrong with this dude. He probably is a player, he cannot commit and he is basically a dog.
So when we as women ask ourselves why these women keep messing with our man, we know the reason.

 Now should women be upset with the Man or the Woman? We should be upset with both of them, because most women know that a man has another woman even if he doesn't admit it. Especially when you cannot reach him during certain times (other than work), he does not spend the holidays with you, he doesn't stay over, you cannot come to his apartment, he always wants to hook up at the hotel or motel, he rushes you off of the phone, he never says love you back on the phone and other obvious signs. We as women tend to ignore the burning sensation in our bellies and the thoughts flowing through our minds.

First of all we think that our stuff is gold and after you put that loving on him, he would not cheat on you because he was full. Second he loves you too much and would never even think of another woman, because what the two of you have is so special.

Ladies Men have been breaking hearts for centuries and our century is no different. Women are finding it harder and harder to trust their men or keep their men, especially with all of these lonely temptress women out there. Women tend to have no regards for marriage and other women in relationships. We are upset with the other woman for sharing our man without our permission, and then we are upset with the man for not standing strong and holding his marriage or relationship as being sacred.

Now if a man is tempted by another woman and he takes her up on her offer, do you take the man back? Can a man that cheats ever be trusted again, or do you just accept his moment of weakness and put handcuffs on your man and continue to monitor his whereabouts? Can you live a happy life if you are always worried about where and with whom your man is with? Do you ignore the cheating to say you have a man and at least he comes home to you and gives you the paycheck. What is right and what is wrong? If you give up on your man and he goes to the other woman, are you upset with him, when you threw him out?

I have a good friend that was cheating on his wife for years, but when he starting observing changes in her behavior, he realized that she might be cheating on him and he was devastated. He realized how much he loved her and wanted to make things right. She had been telling him for years that things were not right, but when he realized that she was desirable to someone else, he got his act together and now they are the happiest couple. He had to face the chance that he could lose his woman and then he cleaned up his act. Is that what it takes to make a marriage work? Why do we behave so reckless in our relationships? Why can't two people that commit there love to one another stay true and faithful? How come some Men stay faithful and others don't?

In the words of one Brain Surgeon (jokingly), I cannot eat at McDonald's everyday, once in awhile I want to try Burger King! If a couple spiced up their relationship, can they view it as a different menu or great buffet? If we kept our relationships fresh and new could we keep our partners happy? Shouldn't that be one of our options?

Also, do know that sometimes when a man tells you that an outfit doesn't look good on you he is lying. He doesn't want you dressed in that outfit without him? Men and their games.

If you want to keep your Man or Woman, you don't have to physically fight for them (some cases-not encouraged), but you need to fight for each other, by listening, communicating and supporting. Don't allow your ego to control your relationship, everybody is wrong once in awhile and sometimes passing on an argument can be a healthy move.

Marianne Mollman: From Condoms to the Pill, Trust, Control and Violence

Marianne Mollman: From Condoms to the Pill, Trust, Control and Violence

As media reports celebrate advances toward new male contraceptive methods, the fact that women currently take the larger responsibility for birth control is held up as somewhat inevitable and sad. In effect, contraceptive use is now so firmly established as a woman's responsibility that data on birth control often are collected from women only. Moreover, pundits regularly question how to get a man to wear a condom -- the main existing form of male contraception, barring vasectomy -- and why men are so uninterested in something that surely pertains to them, too.
Historically, however, the responsibility for birth control has fluctuated.
The use of modern contraceptive methods started at least in part as a male project. George Bernard Shaw called rubber condoms the "greatest invention of the 19th century," and by the early 20th century the U.S. birth rate had fallen significantly, in part because of effective contraceptive use, condoms in particular.
This male control over contraception was seen by some suffrage leaders as immoral, because it made it easier for married men to cheat on their wives. Later feminists saw access to woman-controlled birth control as essential to advancing women as equals, in particular women from the working classes. And in time, a woman's right to decide, alone, about the timing and spacing of her pregnancies has become a key tenet of the women's rights movement, evidenced by the massive improvements in women's status since the approval of the birth control pill over 50 years ago.
Male contraception remains very much in the mix, though, and contraception decisions still are very much a matter of trust and control.
For starters, as some of the suffragettes noted, the use of contraception allows for sexual encounters with a substantially lower risk of both pregnancy and, depending on the method, sexually transmitted infections.
As a result, if a person wants to use contraception, that is sometimes seen as a sign of their desire to "cheat," or even as proof that they already have. In societies where male infidelity is seen as more "normal" than female straying, this can cause problems. In 2004 I spoke with dozens of women in the Dominican Republic who had been beaten by their male partners for daring to ask them to use condoms. Human Rights Watch research from Uganda, the Philippines, Zambia and elsewhere confirms that expectations about female fidelity and submission is a central problem in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS: women can't control their husbands' sexual encounters, and they fear abuse if they ask their husbands to use condoms.
Trust, control and violence are interlinked with use of contraception in other ways, too. In a news report from 2010, 20 percent of women who sought family planning care in northern California reported that their partner had sought to pressure them into having a child, including by sabotaging their contraceptive use. In my own reporting from Argentina, experts told me that a significant number of abusive men deliberately sabotage their wife's or partner's access to contraceptives as part of the control and abuse. One woman I spoke with, who had had 10 pregnancies during her 14-year abusive marriage -- including two miscarriages caused by the abuse -- told me her husband said: "I am going to fill you with children so that you can't leave my side." As a result of this relatively prevalent dynamic, many women in Argentina choose invisible contraceptive methods, such as voluntary sterilization or hormonal injections.
Also for those who have not personally experienced a physically abusive relationship, trust is often central to contraceptive choice. Even the most superficial web search reveals that many men and women are loathe to trust their partners about birth control. The truth of the matter is that unless you can see it or use it yourself, you can never be 100 percent certain that a pill has been taken or a condom is intact.
Of course, putting more contraceptive options on the table, also for men, is a social good. But as I mentally review the testimonies of the hundreds of women I have spoken to about their lack of autonomy in contraceptive use, I find women's responsibility for, and right to, birth control neither inevitable nor sad. Most of the women I speak to are still struggling for choice, and their lack of reproductive autonomy has only brought them grief.

HATE CRIME

All-White Jury Acquits Teens Of Hate Crime Despite Confession

Written by News One on May 4, 2009 11:31 am Click for More Next Post

View Photos

Prosecutors called the beating death of an illegal immigrant from Mexico a hate crime, and they urged an all-white jury in Pennsylvania coal country to punish two white teenagers for their roles in the attack.
Instead, the jury found the teens not guilty of all serious charges, a decision that elicited cheers and claps from the defendants’ families and friends _ and cries of outrage from the victim’s.
Brandon Piekarsky, 17, was acquitted of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation, while Derrick Donchak, 19, was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault late Friday following a trial in which jurors were left to sort out the facts of an epithet-filled brawl that pitted popular football players against a 25-year-old Hispanic man, Luis Ramirez, who appeared willing to fight.
A representative of Ramirez’s family said the jurors got it wrong.
“There’s been a complete failure of justice,” said Gladys Limon, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, who attended the trial and informed Ramirez’s family of the verdict. “It’s just outrageous and very difficult to understand how any juror could have had reasonable doubt.”
On Saturday the group’s interim president, Henry Solano, called on the Justice Department to “bring justice to the Ramirez family and send a strong message that violence targeting immigrants will not be tolerated.” Piekarsky’s attorney declined comment on the possibility of federal charges against the teens.
Prosecutors had cast Ramirez as the victim of a gang of drunken white teens motivated by a dislike of their small coal town’s growing Hispanic population. They said he was killed by a kick to the head from Piekarsky after he’d been knocked unconscious by another teen.
The jury evidently sided with defense attorneys, who called Ramirez the aggressor and characterized the brawl as a street fight that ended tragically.
Jury foreman Eric Macklin said he sympathized with Ramirez’s loved ones but that the evidence pointed to an acquittal.
“I feel bad for Luis’s friends and family. I know they feel they haven’t gotten justice,” he said.
The simple assault convictions carry possible one- to two-year prison sentences. Donchak was also convicted of corruption of minors and an alcohol charge, both stemming from his purchase of beer and malt liquor that he drank with his underage friends the night of the fight. Sentencing has not been scheduled.
The case exposed ethnic tensions in Shenandoah, a blue-collar town of 5,000 that has lured Hispanic residents drawn by cheap housing and jobs in nearby factories and farm fields. Ramirez moved to the town about seven years ago from Iramuco, Mexico, working in a factory and picking strawberries and cherries.
The 2000 U.S. Census showed that Schuylkill County’s population was 96.6 percent white, with 1.1 percent of the county listed as Hispanic or Latino.
The fight began late July 12 when a half-dozen teens, all Shenandoah residents who played football at Shenandoah Valley High School, were walking home from a block party and came across Ramirez and his 15-year-old girlfriend in a park.
Brian Scully, 18, asked the girl, “Isn’t it a little late for you to be out?” That enraged Ramirez, who began yelling in Spanish and dialing friends on his cell phone. Scully admitted shouting ethnic slurs. The verbal sparring soon turned into a physical altercation as Ramirez and Piekarsky traded blows, though prosecutors and defense attorneys disputed who threw the first punch.
Donchak then entered the fray and wound up on top of Ramirez. Prosecutors said he pummeled Ramirez, holding a small piece of metal in his fist to give his punches more power. Defense attorneys said Donchak tried to break up the fight between Piekarsky and Ramirez and denied he had a weapon.
The two sides eventually went their separate ways. But Scully kept yelling at Ramirez, leading the immigrant to charge after the group.
Colin Walsh, 17, then hit Ramirez, knocking him out.
“Does Mr. Ramirez fit the description of an innocent soul who just happened to get picked on by a group of kids?” Piekarsky defense attorney Fred Fanelli asked jurors in closing arguments. “He’s the only adult, and he makes some bad choices.”
Fanelli accused prosecutors of ignoring exculpatory evidence, including statements by two of Ramirez’s friends shortly after the fight that the kicker wore white sneakers _ the color Scully was wearing.
Fanelli also said prosecutors offered leniency to key witnesses _ including Scully and Walsh, who admitted knocking Ramirez unconscious with a punch to the face _ giving them a strong motive to lie.
Walsh pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Ramirez’s civil rights and could be out of prison in four years. On the witness stand, he identified Piekarsky as the kicker. So did Scully, who told jurors he tried to kick the immigrant but missed. Scully is charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.
Fanelli derided the prosecution testimony as “bought and paid for.”
Robert Franz, the prosecutor, denied any misconduct on the part of the district attorney’s office.
Displaying a candid photo of Ramirez, Franz told the jurors, “He was assaulted and he was beaten, and he was killed for walking the streets of Shenandoah. He didn’t deserve that.”

Cross With Racial Slurs and "Burn In Hell"

Cross With Racial Slurs And “Burn In Hell” Put On Black Man’s Lawn

Written by Associated Press on September 7, 2011 9:16 am Click for More Next Post

NEWARK, Del. — New Castle County police are investigating a hate crime in Newark where a couple found a white cross with a racial slur in the front yard of the home where they have lived for 22 years.

Wayne Parson, who lives at the home with his wife, tells The News Journal  he is trying to figure out why someone would do such a thing. He says his family has lived in the neighborhood for decades with no trouble. For many years, they were the only black family in the neighborhood.
Police responded to a home in the Delaplane Court area Monday where the cross was found. Along with the racial slur, the message “Burn in hell” is also written. Police believe the cross was placed in the yard sometime overnight

Unemployment At an All Time High

Written by Dr. Boyce Watkins on September 7, 2011 2:55 pm Click for More Next Post

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its most recent unemployment data. We knew that Black folks (especially men) would be at the bottom, we just didn’t know how bad. Well, it turns out that the numbers exceed even the most pessimistic predictions.
Black unemployment shot up like a rocket during the month of August, rising from an abysmal 15.9 percent to an even more shocking 16.7 percent. Much of the increase was driven by Black male unemployment, which rose from 17 to 18 percent. Black female unemployment remained steady at 13.4 percent, and Black teen unemployment experienced a dramatic increase from 39.2 percent to an astounding 46.5 percent.
If you were white in America, the month of August was pretty good. White unemployment remained consistent across the board, and went down for white males. Overall white unemployment dropped from 8.1 percent to 8 percent. White males saw a decline from 7.9 to 7.7 percent. White women and teens saw their unemployment rates remain unchanged at 7 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
The Obama Administration has a serious problem. Every time the numbers show that chronic Black unemployment has reached crisis levels, I think back to the Obama Administration’s delusional assertion three years ago that a “rising tide will lift all boats” (that targeted economic policy would not work as well as a general policy that helps everyone – after all, he is “everyone’s president”).  Well, I’m here to report to the Obama Administration: The tide not only missed our boat, but Black folks are sinking to the bottom of the economic ocean.
One of the most telling signs of racial inequality in America is the fact that African Americans are not only subjected to the very worst economic circumstances in the country, but we are also not allowed to be upset about it. Middle class Tea Partiers can gather in Washington to complain about health care, wealthy white folks can get upset about a tiny spike in taxes, and white Americans can remain justifiably outraged over a measly eight percent rate of unemployment. But when African Americans say a word about widespread and virtually unprecedented economic suffering in the presence of a Black president, we are referred to as Uncle Toms or told that we are demanding too much.
Perhaps it’s time to grow up and get a political education. Instead of being pacified by a beautiful statue of Dr. King or appearances by President Obama on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, it’s time that we force all of Washington (including Obama) to have their “Beyonce Moment” : Say my name. Let me know that you are with me in my suffering. Don’t force my people to live in the socioeconomic basement in painful silence so as not to offend a powerful Black man from an Ivy League University. The call to consciousness within Black America is not a matter of attacking or hating President Obama. It’s a matter of getting the Obama Administration to admit that they were wrong.
Like wide-eyed children, we trusted the Obama Administration and their Wall Street-wired economic advisers to incorporate policies that would make life better for our people, in addition to the rest of America. Well, the evidence is clear and the verdict is in: Those policies have not worked. The president would be wise to let go of the charade, admit that mistakes were made and profess that it’s time to take the country in another direction.
Additionally, African American leaders who continue to work to elevate the Obama campaign without demanding true reciprocity in exchange for the Black vote risk being perceived as political slum lords. Again, this is not to say that one does not have the right to aggressively campaign for President Obama. But it’s another thing to present the president as “the really cool brother you should vote for.” Instead, addressing administration policies and gauging their sensitivity to our community’s needs should be mandatory before simply pulling out the “Black man card” for the next election.
One of the most painful challenges of demanding our rights from Washington is that we are forced to confront the possibility that the Black man we loved so much may not have our best interests at heart. Also, with every mention of Black unemployment comes the predatory glance of blood-sucking Republicans, who are waiting with open arms. Finally, there is the uncomfortable reality that we are harming the progress of one of the greatest Black men in American history. To have Obama in the middle of the government that has played a powerful role in building this cesspool of political neglect is like a slave’s best friend guarding the master’s house on the night of the revolt.
In spite of our respect for Obama, there must come a time when our love for Black folks must supersede any quest for personal or political gain. There must be a time when empty excuses  go out the window, and where African Americans engage in individual and collective action that will get us out of this hell hole. Times have gotten too critical for us to worry about protecting Barack Obama or anyone else – I just want to protect our people.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. 

Stomp Out the Bullying In our Schools.

FIGHT BACK WITH WORDS
Remind youngsters heading back to school that getting picked on is tough– but that words can also heal as much as they can hurt, as one anthology proves. Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (Harper Collins; $18) compiles essays from popular young adult authors like R.L. Stine, Heather Brewer, Mo Willems, Ellen Hopkins, Cecil Castellucci, Eric Luper, Carolyn Mackler, and Alyson Noel, all of whom have come out against bullying. Inspired by last year’s intense media coverage of bully-prompted suicides, the project will donate a portion of the book’s proceeds to the organization STOMP Out Bullying (stompoutbullying.org). Learn more at dearbully.com.

Keeping Children Safe | Stomp out Bullying | Stop the Digital Drama

Keeping Children Safe Stomp out Bullying Stop the Digital Drama

Jamaica's children in crisis

Jamaica's children in crisis

Healthcare can Save Lives

Jobless Man Without Healthcare Dies After Tooth Infection Spreads To Brain

Written by NewsOne Staff on September 6, 2011 7:43 am Click for More Next Post

An unemployed Cincinnati man last week when a minor tooth infection spread all the way to his brain and he had no healthcare to treat it.
Kyle Willis, only 24-years-old and the nephew of the famed Bootsy Collins, became another example of the healthcare problem in America.

Willis was told he needed his wisdom teeth removed to get rid of the infection, but he decided to tough it out because of lack of funds and healthcare.
“The [doctors] gave him antibiotic and pain medication, but he couldn’t afford to pay for the antibiotic, so he chose the pain meds, which was not what he needed,” Willis’ aunt Patti Collins told WLWT-TV.
While Willis’ discomfort subsided, the infection continued to spread, causing lethal swelling in his brain.

How Globalism Has Destroyed Our Jobs, Businesses And National Wealth In 10 Easy Steps :

How Globalism Has Destroyed Our Jobs, Businesses And National Wealth In 10 Easy Steps :

War Zones: As The Economy Dies, Murders, Shootings, Robberies And Looting Erupt All Over America :

War Zones: As The Economy Dies, Murders, Shootings, Robberies And Looting Erupt All Over America :

Chaos On The Streets Of America :

Chaos On The Streets Of America :

Opinion: Violence At Brooklyn Labor Day Parade A Wake Up Call To All of Us

Opinion: Violence At Brooklyn Labor Day Parade A Wake Up Call To All of Us

Carlos Lezama One of the Founders of the Labor Day Parade

Carlos Lezama, 83, Dies; Shaped West Indian Parade

By DENNIS HEVESI

Published: January 27, 2007

Carlos Lezama, who as president of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association transformed a Brooklyn block party into the city’s largest parade, with millions of spectators lining two miles of Eastern Parkway each Labor Day to enjoy throbbing steel-pan bands, ostrich-plumed dancers and fantastical floats, died on Monday. He was 83.

Skip to next paragraph

Carlos Lezama

His death, at a Brooklyn hospital, was caused by complications of diabetes, said Jean Alexander, a spokeswoman for the carnival association, which Mr. Lezama led from 1967 until 2002.
When Mr. Lezama was elected president of the association, just a few hundred people joined the celebration on a block near his home on Dean Street in Crown Heights. Two years later, after Mr. Lezama obtained a city permit for a parade along Eastern Parkway, from Utica Avenue to Grand Army Plaza, tens of thousands of people watched or marched.
In 2001, Mr. Lezama’s last year as its chief organizer, the parade drew, by police estimates, two million spectators, as well as 10,000 marchers, 42 bands and 30 floats, including whimsical depictions of ocean life, outer space and flowers of the world. Enticed by the dueling rhythms of reggae, calypso and steel-drum music, marchers — if you could call them that — pranced in grass skirts, leopard-skin warrior costumes and the multihued wings of butterflies.
A turning point for the parade came in 1995, when it was broadcast live on television for the first time. Although the parade had long drawn West Indians from around the city, Mr. Lezama hoped the coverage would attract New Yorkers from other ethnic backgrounds. “I think our day has come, perhaps,” he said then, remembering when 500 was a good turnout.
Although Mr. Lezama helped found the association in 1965, the city’s West Indian carnival had its roots in Harlem in the 1920s, when lavish events were held at the Savoy, Renaissance and Audubon Ballrooms. The carnival left Harlem in 1965, as an increasing number of immigrants from countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada settled in New York, especially in central Brooklyn.
Perhaps surprisingly, Mr. Lezama was not of West Indian ancestry. Born on Sept. 3, 1923, he was a son of Venezuelan parents who moved to Trinidad when he was a small boy. As a teenager, he returned to Venezuela to find odd jobs. Eventually, he got a job on a passenger ship. By then, he had learned to play the melodiously tinny steel-pan drum — first fashioned by hammering dents into the lids of oil drums left by ships that had refueled in Trinidad. With several shipmates, he began entertaining passengers.
Mr. Lezama came to the United States in the early 1950s and found work in a dental laboratory. He had already married Hilary Charles, his childhood sweetheart, in Trinidad; she died in 2000.
Hired by the New York City Transit Authority in the 1960s, Mr. Lezama eventually became a subway machinist. He retired in 1988.
He is survived by a son, Kenwyn, of Flatbush; a daughter, Yolanda Lezama-Clark, of Westbury, N.Y.; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His daughter is now president of the carnival association.
It was a friend, Rufus Goring, a Trinidadian who was then president of carnival association, who asked Mr. Lezama to join the group in 1965. In those days, lavish costumes and the metallic tones of steel drums were already part of the annual block party.
But by the late 1980s, Eastern Parkway was jammed each Labor Day by 100-member steel-drum bands, dozens of other music groups on flatbed trucks blasting calypso or reggae through refrigerator-size speakers, fleets of human sailboats and throngs of dancers in sequined silver and gold foil costumes, some balancing headdresses 10 feet tall. Along the sidewalks, hundreds of vendors hawked everything from commemorative T-shirts to rum to roti, the breadlike Caribbean pastry stuffed with pungently barbecued goat or chicken.
“Carnival is sort of a therapy, a way of forgetting troubles,” Mr. Lezama told a reporter in 1991. “This is exactly how it used to be in the West Indies.”
At his funeral in Brooklyn yesterday, Mr. Lezama’s daughter said, live musicians played the hymn “How Great Thou Art” on steel-pan drums.

2011 Brooklyn Labor Day Carnival Parade, Times & Parade Route, Facts & Photos

2011 Brooklyn Labor Day Carnival Parade, Times & Parade Route, Facts & Photos

Domestic Violence Advocates United

Domestic violence is your business

By rajiv Gopie

Story Created: Jun 10, 2011 at 12:53 AM ECT

Story Updated: Jun 10, 2011 at 12:53 AM ECT

It seems that the murders and other atrocities that are plaguing our land are now being joined in the news by a spate of domestic violence incidents some of which have led to murder, broken families and shattered lives. The issue of domestic violence may now have come to the forefront but it is an issue that has always plagued our nation; it has now reached major proportions. There is a collective shame to be had, from those at the heights of power to the ordinary citizen, when it comes to the issue of domestic violence.
Domestic violence is all around us; it involves all types of abuse in the home and among those we most trust and love. Domestic violence can involve physical abuse, mental and verbal abuse. This is no small issue; this is not a problem that can be ignored. It seems that we as a society have come to silently condone this cancer that is eating away at the sacred family unit which forms the basis of society.
Domestic violence is ingrained in our culture. It is linked to many aspects of our society that are beyond despicable and disheartening. Chief amongst these are alcohol and drug abuse, hyper masculinity, misogynistic music and hyper sexuality.
Whatever the cause, this situation is wholly unacceptable, but even more disgusting is the way that the greater Trinidad and Tobago society does nothing to change things. It is nothing short of cowardice and the utmost selfishness when a man is beating his wife for the neighbours to refuse to call the police or intervene, saying things like, "That is not my business", "Dat between dem, me eh getting involved" or even worse, "she look for that". We have all heard these and many people reading this will realise this is applicable to them.
I am here to say that it is your business, you are supposed to be your neighbour's and fellow citizen's keeper. No good citizen should allow wanton abuse and violence to go on unchallenged. It is indeed a person devoid of humanity and possessing no attributes of a real man who will beat his wife or children; no woman of real substance will abuse her husband or children.
The shame, however, does not only lie with the citizenry. It lies even more with the police who are notorious for letting issues of domestic violence get out of control. The popular refrain is, "Dat is husband and wife business". Too many are the stories that come to light of battered and abused spouses, elders and children who made countless reports at stations only to be ignored or laughed off. The police are also notorious for laughing at men who are beaten by their wives. This is a serious problem in T&T. These men who are seeking help are called all matters of names, from "panty man" to "mama man" and all manner of derogatory terms.
The people we pay to "protect and serve" us abdicate their duty to the most vulnerable and the most marginalised and instead ridicule them. It is only when the situation turns to murder or near murder that the authorities get involved, but by then it is too late.
Yet with everyone knowing that this is going on no one has lost their job, no discipline has been meted out and the corrupt, festering, backward system is allowed to continue, even as members of our society are terrorised, battered and murdered.
There is an immediate need to address this issue and it must start where all good policies start — in the homes and in the schools. Proper education on what is acceptable behaviour and interaction and what is real masculinity and femininity must be encouraged. The children of abuse must also have the facilities and resources to safely report abuse at home to counsellors in school. To this extent it is necessary to place proper guidance counselling resources in all schools.
The state must also strengthen its domestic violence laws to overcome the hurdle of uncooperative witnesses. Many times victims refuse to testify for economic reasons or the fear of retribution. The state must find a way to prosecute these criminals, because they are just that— criminals. The police service also needs to be trained and sensitised to deal with domestic violence issues. The old backward and heartless position that what goes on in the home need not concern the protective services has to be swept away and a more caring and sensitive service equipped to deal and rectify these issues needs to be set up.
Services such as shelters for battered women, elderly care, children and family courts also need to be upgraded and strengthened. It is necessary as a society that we have the safely nets and facilities to help those that are most at risk and in need of help and protection. It is a crying shame that as a country with a female prime minster, women are still being abused and treated badly in their own homes. It is shame that in a land of plenty children are being abused and the elderly are being starved and insulted to the point of tears.
There are no words strong enough to express how loathsome are the people who abuse members of their own families. There are no words to describe the cowardice and heartlessness of those who allow abuse to continue.
I know there are those who help and have stepped in to prevent these wrongs. These heroes however are far and too few. It is time that we begin to care for our fellow citizens as our own. When we realise that we are just all one people who are here on this earth for a short time, maybe then can we live in peace and harmony. We all need to look out for each other.
• Rajiv Gopie won the President's Medal for business studies/modern studies in 2006. He has a degree in International Studies and Anthropology from the University of Toronto and is an MSc. candidate in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.
• rajivgopie@hotmail.com

Stop The Violence Against Women

A terrifying story of domestic violence in Trinidad and Tobago

January 26, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Stella Says 

The fight against domestic violence is a global struggle – and that includes other parts of the Caribbean. I want to share a story from Trinidad and Tobago that is particularly disturbing in both brutality and the continued terrorism faced by the victim, even after she left her abuser and as she is attempting to build a new life for herself.
Shaliza Ali’s first violent encounter with her abuser came very early in the relationship when he tried to prevent her from coming to Guyana for a singing engagement. The physical altercation terrified her, but her situation left her vulnerable and she returned to him. The physical, verbal and psychological abuse continued.
In her own words from a written statement that will be read today in Trinidad and Tobago, Shaliza said, “I endured several episodes of physical violence. He would often enter into severe mood swings and abuse my teenage daughter and myself. On many occasions, my father would have to rescue me as I would either be thrown out of the house, or left stranded in the middle of the highway. My father counted 27 individual times he had to intervene and rescue me from his violent outburst. I faced several embarrassing public outbursts and humiliation in front of employees, clients, business associates and my lawyer and his staff.”
(Shaliza honoured me with an early copy of her statement to write this column.)
Shaliza was feeling broken and fearful. She said, “The final straw came when he placed his licenced firearm to my head and thumped me in my abdomen; I was recovering from surgery at the time. He locked me inside of the house leaving me trapped inside, wounded and suffering from internal bleeding.”
Shaliza discovered as she was leaving the relationship that the abuser had already transferred their business funds out of their joint account and into his account. The statement said, “I left penniless and flat broke. I walked out on assets which included lands, a fleet of high profile vehicles, a well furnished house in Lange Park, several heavy duty tractors, trucks, excavators, rollers and other earth works equipment.
I left all jewellery, books and personal belongings and walked away with the bare necessities.”
Shaliza went into hiding for a period of time, but when she finally re-emerged, the abuse continued. Her abuser continued to stalk her and make violent confrontations – even in public. Law enforcement offered little or no protection.
She also discovered her abuser was not honouring the contractual obligations with their business clients. “I left all assets to him and I expected that he would have done the honourable thing and complete infrastructure works to the outstanding land development projects,” Shaliza said.
She was wrong and yet when lawsuits were made, only she was held accountable. “I did not enjoy the proceeds of these sales nor did I use any of the funds, they were converted and invested by my abuser and he knows what he did with the funds.”
Even without enjoying the proceeds of the sales, Shaliza maintained, “Nevertheless, I … state that I do not intend to leave my obligations unattended. I have been struggling to get back up on my feet financially and I have promised as soon as [I can] I will honour the commitments to those clients who invested in developments where I was the recipient of proceeds from sales.”
However, her abuser continues to terrorise her and attempts to sabotage all her business ventures. Shaliza’s statement said this concerning a restaurant she started, “On two or more occasions, he placed a chain on the two aluminum doors of the restaurant, claiming that we were not opening the restaurant today unless I returned to him. During preparations for a Valentine Day dinner, he barged into the restaurant and started shouting obscenities at my employees. He took a chafing pan filled with hot water and threw it at my daughter. An employee had to restrain him as he brandished his firearm in the air.”
Shaliza walked away from the restaurant in fear of her life and started working in real estate again, but according to her statement, “This has been an uphill struggle, as I have had to face and endure his continuous stalking and predatory behaviour. He has contacted several of my new clients and discouraged them from doing any business with me, making up stories to produce doubt in the minds of several customers.”
However, Shaliza is a strong woman. She has written a book about her experience with domestic violence entitled, “Built by Brokenness.” It is an inspirational journey that would be particularly encouraging for Christian women who need to escape their abuse, as Shaliza uses biblical scripture throughout the book during each phase of her walk through and out of the abuse. I hope Austin’s Bookstore can get some copies.
In spite of Shaliza’s strength, or perhaps because of it, her abuser will not relent. He has used his connection with a Trinidad and Tobago television host to wage a smear campaign against Shaliza and call for a ban on her book from all the bookstores in her country.
The ironic part of this story is that the “offensive” material being used against her is that she did not live up to the contractual business obligations – the very same ventures for which her abuser took the money and never completed. Not a word is being said about his contractual responsibilities though.
Her abuser has done anything and everything to make her life a living hell. But Shaliza is a fighter and today she will be holding a press conference to respond to the ban on her book and the accusations made against her. Will Trinidad and Tobago continue to allow her abuser to inflict harm on Shaliza or will they finally hold him responsible for his abuse? Time will tell…
Email:  StellaSays@gmail.com

 

Minister Grange condemns violence against women - News - Jamaica Star - March 24, 2011

Minister Grange condemns violence against women - News - Jamaica Star - March 24, 2011

Trinidad is in turmoil

Trinidad and Tobago Declares Drug War Emergency

Trinidad and Tobago Declares Drug War Emergency

Previous
Tea Party Group Plans To Protest Mitt Romney, Labels Him A ‘Political Opportunist’

Next
Palin’s Saturday Speech Still On, Tea Party Founder Says

By Amy Bingham

Aug 31, 2011 10:51am

Rep. Andre Carson: Tea Party Wants To See Blacks ‘Hanging On A Tree’

  Email 127 Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print

ABC News’ Amy Bingham reports:
While Republican presidential candidates arrange and re-arrange their schedules in an attempt to court Tea Partiers, one House Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus is blasting the conservative group for trying to take America back to the days of Jim Crow.
In a video circulated Tuesday by conservative commentator Glen Beck’s website The Blaze, Indiana Rep. Andre Carson said the Tea Party was preventing African Americans from making progress toward equality.
“This is the effort that we are seeing of Jim Crow. Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me… hanging on a tree,” Carson said at a Aug. 22 Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour even in Miami.
“Some of them right now in Congress right now are comfortable with where we were fifty or sixty years ago,” Carson added. “But it’s a new day with a black president and a Congressional Black Caucus.”
Carson’s office confirmed that he made the remarks, which were caught on video. His spokesman Jason Tomsci told the Washington Post that the Congressman’s remarks were in response to many of his constituents’ frustration over “Congress’ inability to bolster the economy.”
The tea party is protecting its millionaire and oil company friends while gutting critical services that they know protect the livelihood of African-Americans, as well as Latinos and other disadvantaged minorities,” Tomcsi said, according to the Post. “We are talking about child nutrition, job creation, job training, housing assistance, and Head Start, and that is just the beginning. A child without basic nutrition, secure housing, and quality education has no real chance at a meaningful and productive life.”
“So, yes, the congressman used strong language because the Tea Party agenda jeopardizes our most vulnerable and leaves them without the ability to improve their economic standing,” Tomcsi added.
Another Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also had harsh words for the Tea Party last week when she said members of the movement could “go straight to hell.”
“I’m not afraid of anybody. This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. As far as I’m concerned the Tea Party can go straight to hell,” Waters said at an Aug. 20 “Kitchen Table Summit” which she hosted with her fellow California Democrats Rep. Karen Bass and Rep. Laura Richardson.

  Email 127 Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print

Related Videos

Election 2012: God's Role in Politics?

Job Crisis in America: Searching for a Solution

Previous
Tea Party Group Plans To Protest Mitt Romney, Labels Him A ‘Political Opportunist’

Next
Palin’s Saturday Speech Still On, Tea Party Founder Says

Posted by: Cryos | August 31, 2011, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm

Republicans nowadays are so far to the right that their party just a few decades ago would not recognize them today.
Posted by: Tom
=======
Things have been moving to the left for decades. Put down the pipe.

Posted by: Cryos | August 31, 2011, 5:54 pm 5:54 pm

What he said is true and if he backs off one word, then I’ll consider him a coward.

Posted by: Sandra Dortdhe | August 31, 2011, 6:05 pm 6:05 pm

What he said is true and if he backs off one word, then I’ll consider him a coward.
Posted by: Sandra Dortdhe
===============
Remember your hateful rhetoric when you wonder why people just stop listening to liberals and could care less what they think.

Posted by: Cryos | August 31, 2011, 6:10 pm 6:10 pm

Obama Rules your hyperbole and lies are worn out You would be better suited to take your time you spend stewing in anger and get educated or get a job trade so you are not completely worthless.
Then maybe you can stop waiting around for a free ride and actually pull your own weight in the world.

Posted by: Cryos | August 31, 2011, 6:17 pm 6:17 pm

Speaking of weight CYROS the angry tea bagger will sit on us if we don’t stop picking on him.

Posted by: Obaba Rules | August 31, 2011, 6:22 pm 6:22 pm

Am I missing something? Tea party republicans trash the president non stop with racist remarks and jokes. But demand an apology when someone tells them they can rot in hell. I don’t get it. America is aware and strongly nopposed to tea party racism. If anyone shoiuld be apologetic it is them.

Posted by: Obaba Rules | August 31, 2011, 6:26 pm 6:26 pm

So the “conversation” is being censored? My post was deleted. Re-posting it again: FOCUS AND LEARN: “Horrified by the race riots in Saint Louis and East Saint Louis in 1917 and the high rate of reported lynchings in the South, in 1918 Dyer was notable for proposing the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. In 1920 the Republican Party supported such legislation in its platform from the National Convention. In January 1922, Dyer’s bill was passed by the House, which approved it by a wide margin due to “insistent countrywide demand”.[2] The bill was defeated by the white Democratic voting bloc of the South in filibusters in the Senate in December 1922, in 1923 and 1924

Posted by: Average Citizen | August 31, 2011, 6:29 pm 6:29 pm

Obaba Rules
Speaking of weight CYROS the angry tea bagger will sit on us if we don’t stop picking on him.
===========
You should tell a mom joke next. Lol at double digit IQs.

Posted by: Cryos | August 31, 2011, 6:30 pm 6:30 pm

I am African American, I support the Teaparty. The Democrats are afraid of something they do not understand. You do not have to be white to be a racist. What this man said was racist. This type of rhetoric is going to destroy the Democratic party. Democrats love to act like what the Party offers is help. To receive their help, you have to continue to not want better for yourself or your family. As long as you follow this model we will support you. Republicans believe that if you work hard you can achieve anything in the world. In America EVERYONE is given and opportunity to be all you be, it starts with EDUCATION. Stop listening to this Democratic crap and educate yourselves politically my brothers and sisters.

Wow...wow...wow...