|
|
July 5, 2010
Singapore’s casino resorts are open, but there’s still plenty of work to be done. [...]
May 30, 2010
As we celebrate our veterans in the middle of yet another war, I have a story told to me by a friend who rarely talks about his Vietnam expierience. It is with his permission I pass this on.
PINK ELEPHANT
Henry was sixteen when left home in for no particular reason 1963. It was just what impatient young men did. Henry was black, very black. He was thick and muscular, with a penetrating stare and hair with a mind of its own. His gait and demeanor suggested menace, but he was always delightfully cheerful and easygoing. He was what, mythically, white folks feared; a confidant Black man. His restlessness and the belief that he needed to expand his horizons sent him to South Carolina, near his mother’s relatives. After finishing high school and drifting for a while, He enlisted in the Army and never went home again. Continue reading For Veterans
May 20, 2010
 The year escapes me when I try to remember it but the events never leave my memory for long. It was well past midnight and I was still in grade school when my journalist father came in drunk. It was the only time in my life that I saw him like that. He was brought home by a friend who happened to be one of the first black Atlanta policemen. Together they had traveled to the execution of a black man who had been convicted of raping a white woman in a poor white area called Cabbagetown. The woman said her attacker was a well dressed tall light skinned black man. The man they arrested and eventually executed was short and dark. He was a minister as well. The only thing I knew for many years was that my father came home drunk and ended up crying that he had failed to save this man. I was peeking out of my bedroom door watching and listening as my siblings slept and my mother plied him with coffee. Years later I wanted to write about what happened to make my father drink. It became a novel entitled “No Death by Unknown Hands.” Continue reading The Evolution of “No Death by Unknown Hands”
May 17, 2010
Many Saturdays as a young girl I was given the reward of spending the afternoon with my dad at the paper where he was the city editor. It was more than the joy of getting away from younger siblings and the chores being the oldest brought me. It was a place that I got to get the news before anyone else. Before the national news made the paper it came through on the Associated Press machine, a ticking time-bomb in my dad’s office that printed out the news in a flash. I would go there and sit with a pile of paper in my lap that covered everything that was happening in the world. Sometimes I couldn’t believe all the things that were happening, and weren’t getting reported on in a daily black newspaper. In fact sometimes things weren’t reported in any of the local papers at all. It was as if keeping the public in the dark about some news was the best way to keep the country focused on national issues of importance.
Today we have our own buttons to leaking news with computers, instant news and messaging and cell phones that will alert you when a celebrity has a baby or when a celebrity takes a drink. It is news faster than the old AP machines could peck out. It’s too much news that brings us so much information. And a lot of that information is about war. Continue reading Too Much News, Too Much War
May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Freedom, Governance, Homeland Security, Inspiration & Motivation, Islam, Journalism, Life Experiences, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Republican, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, World Issues
 Amazing how many high government officals (including the Attorney General), political pundits, politicians, school officials and religious leaders comment so harshly on the immigration law in Arizona and publicly admit they haven’t read the ten page document.
The document basically states that when being stopped for a traffic violation or questioned concerning a crime that [...]
May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, Attitude, Business, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Finance, Freedom, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Governance, Homeland Security, Humor, Journalism, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Literature, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Recovery, Republican, Satire, Self-Help, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, Women's Rights, Working Women, World Issues
Pick Your Reason 10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t.
9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the [...]
May 6, 2010
Posted by Antonio de la Vega in: Democracy, Economic Crisis, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Governance, History, Latino & Hispanic, Mexico, Morality, Native American, Opinion, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Uncategorized, World Issues
La ley SB1070 además de polémica debe encerrar otras razones de fondo, para llevar a la reflexión sobre los temas relacionados con el movimiento de personas en el mundo. [...]
March 10, 2010
My family and I just returned from a fantastic holiday. As soon as I got home I started looking for my countless lists of Things To Do. But that inevitably lead to Things to Avoid. So I have decided to compile lists of Things on Vacation. WAY more fun, and, I am sure, very educational. [...]
March 1, 2010
I am the descendant of slaves and white slave owners. I did not melt into the pot that is America. The pot melted into me. Back in the later 50s and early 60s no one I knew wanted to admit to that. To be a descendant of a slave meant you were less than a second class citizen, it meant being someone uncivilized from the jungles of Africa. It often meant being told by white people that you looked like monkeys and apes. Of course none of this is true but back then black baby boomers were taught that our history contained one thing- slavery. We didn’t want it to mean that our lives led no where because of this ancestry. For most of us to move on it meant pretending we had no history. Continue reading Being Black and Proud
February 11, 2010
Complete this sentence – If I did not have the freedom to write I would…………
We welcome your thoughts and comments.
January 8, 2010
In all fairness (which I slip into sometimes entirely by accident), this piece is not exclusively about Christians; it is about all people who describe themselves as ‘devout’ and then promote hatred and persecution of others. There are some people who describe themselves as ‘devout’ who really are (and who are very special people indeed), but tragically they seem to be outnumbered rather significantly by the ersatz version.
Over the last 2,000 years, self-labelling ‘devout’ Christians, ‘devout’ Muslims, ‘devout’ Jews, devout ‘Hindus’ and ‘devout’ Buddhists (even) have been responsible for most of the world’s suffering.
On an everyday level, and in nearly all cases, the established churches have enthusiastically acted as an insidious secret police network for the state. The Spanish Inquisition is perhaps the most notorious example of this tendency, but it has been true of the established churches in almost every country in the world, including the Vatican. Continue reading Persecuting Christians
January 6, 2010
 The mass of instant information that is the Internet and Mass Media could free each and everyone of us to become more informed and knowledgeable. Then we could all come together as a new smarter, kinder society and deal with all of our problems in wise and wonderful ways.
But that’s not exactly what’s happening is it? Instead, we search the Ether and Net for information and opinions that match our own. We listen to our favorite music, read our favorite writers, and watch our favorite stars. In effect, we’re creating tribes of like minded individuals who do not share truths, but rather, protect their own ideals against the onslaught of “absolute wrongness” being spouted by other tribes.
Conservatives go to the sites and channels that they like, liberals read the blogs and view the videos that they prefer. It’s not as simple as that, just because there are so many variations on each major theme, If you are an angry conservative, small government supporter who likes to shout at the TV from your hard-earned arm chair there are lots of shows, blogs and sites waiting to enthrall you with your own “cosmic rightness.” Continue reading Our own little worlds
January 5, 2010
By Alan Caruba
The failed Christmas bomber attack was yet another wake-up call for Americans who have slipped into a self-induced coma regarding Islam’s constant threat to the nation and the West.
Despite the post-9/11 attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush and now President Obama have both repeatedly asserted the absurd notion that Islam is “a religion of peace.” It is, in fact, a religion of conquest and one in which the religion and the state are one. To live in a Muslim nation is to live under Sharia law in which conversion to another religion is punished by death.
“When Asia Was the World” by Stewart Gordon is an interesting book about life in Asia during the years 500 to 1500 of the Common Era. “Buddhism and Islam arose and spread along Asia’s far-flung trade routes. So did luxury goods, such as silk, pearls, spices, medicines, glass, and simple things like rice and sugar.” Continue reading Islam’s Legacy is Constant War
December 31, 2009
This evening while most of us are preparing to ring in the New Year with a glass of bubbly some in the African American community will spend the hours before the change of years in church. Although people of many faiths spend the last night of the old year praying in the new Night Watch is the historical way to celebrate the new year and new freedom. Continue reading Night Watch
December 11, 2009
Posted by AngelaPoseyArnold in: Biography & Memoir, Education, Faith, Family, Freedom, History, Inspiration & Motivation, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Non-Fiction, Personal Experiences, Relationships, Religion, Short Stories, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Spirituality, Women's Perspective
Christmas 1947-Alabama (Not so much unlike Christmas 2009–Alabama—same heart–same spirit)
By Angela Posey-Arnold
“What are you getting for Christmas this year, Jimmy? I think I’m getting a record player. I picked one out at Elmore’s.” Bonnie said to her friend and classmate at lunch.
Jimmy swallowed the last bite of apple, “A record player? That will be neat. I’m hoping to get the .22 Winchester I asked for. I need it for hunting. I think I will get it”.
“I can’t wait for the class Christmas party tomorrow. The best thing is being out of Haleyville Junior High School for the Christmas Holidays. Mother made some cookies for our eighth grade party. Oh, by the way, we want you to go with us to town this afternoon. And stay with us for the Tree Decorating Downtown tonight. Can you go if my Mom picks you up?” Jimmy asked. Continue reading Christmas 1947
December 2, 2009
This time last year I was swimming in Christmas presents that I had purchased for my family and a few friends. I hadn’t spent that much since I am a careful shopper but I had more funds to do as I pleased. This year there is less money to spend all around and I am not halfway through my list. I am not disturbed by this change, I accept it as a challenge. You see I am eagerly awaiting the new because life moves on even when we don’t want it to. Continue reading Moving Forward with the Fantasy of Life
October 16, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Heroes, History, Homeland Security, Islam, Military, Morality, Opinion, Religion, Terrorism, The Pundit's Corner
War
During America’s brutal and bloody Civil War, General William T. Sherman said, “War is cruel and you cannot refine it” and “war at best is barbarism.” Sherman is also credited with saying “War is hell.”
Alexander the Great was known to be both a wise philosopher and a fearless conqueror. In the fall of 335 BC, Alexander marched to the gates of Thebes (a Greek city that broke free from his Macedonian empire when Alexander was twenty). He let the people of Thebes know that it was not too late for them to change their minds. The next day, the Macedonians stormed the city killing almost everyone in sight, women and children included. They plundered, sacked, burned and razed Thebes, as an example to the rest of Greece. Alexander did not fight a “refined” war where women and children were spared.
After Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, he ran into trouble in Afghanistan and used the same tactics to quell the rebellious Afghans.
Genghis Khan (1165-1227 AD) was one of history’s more charismatic and dynamic leaders. During his lifetime, he conquered more territory than any other conqueror, and his successors established the largest empire in history. As an organizational and strategic genius, Genghis Khan created one of the most highly disciplined and effective armies known, and this same genius gave birth to the administration that ruled that empire. After he died in 1227, the Mongol armies dominated the battlefield until the empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic Sea. Genghis Khan, like Alexander, spared no one when he met resistance. When people surrendered, he was benevolent. When they resisted, his armies slaughtered everyone like Alexander’s armies did. Continue reading War
October 15, 2009
In 2012, the new rulers of China will “all” have been educated in the West. After Mao died and the gang of four, responsible for the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, went to prison, Deng Xiaoping and his supporters “rebuilt” the government. The party instituted term limits, two five-year terms for any political position and an age limit of sixty-seven, something we don’t have in the United States.
These changes were implemented to avoid having another modern emperor like Mao. Those who spoke out against Mao usually were killed, went to prison or fell out of favor. Deng Xiaoping was one of those people. When his son was dropped from the top of a high rise and was paralyzed for life, the message to Deng was to “shut up or else”.
A high-ranking, retired Communist that fought with Mao during World War II and the revolution told me that the seventy million party members (like America’s Democrats and Republicans) do not always agree on issues. The difference is that the world hears little of what goes on behind the scenes in China. Doing business that way has little to do with the party. That type of behavior is classically Chinese—not to talk about the Elephant in the room or to hang out your dirty laundry for everyone to see as the West does.
In addition, in America, the outcome for a Presidential Election is decided by the Electoral College, card-carrying members from the two major political parties. The popular vote does not elect the American president. The Communist Party acts similar to America’s Electoral College without the hypocrisy of a popular vote. Critics argue the American Electoral College is inherently undemocratic. Continue reading China in Transition, Part 2
October 1, 2009
Posted by AngelaPoseyArnold in: Current Events, Faith, Family, Freedom, General Topics, Inspiration & Motivation, Military, Relationships, Religion, Social Issues, Spirituality
Shield of Faith
By Angela Posey-Arnold
“…….. hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:16 NLT)
The war is on. The nation is attacked by a massive mighty power under the cover of darkness. The morning dawns and destruction meets every eye. The President declares war against the enemy and sends one soldier out alone to fight this battle and expecting him to win. No helmet, no gun, no bullet proof vest, no boots, nothing. Just dressed in duty camos he walks out alone into a barrage of bullets. Alone with no shield, no weapon, no superior officer to give him orders, no medics to save him when he is wounded and no Chaplain to pray for his dying soul.
Why would any President conceive in his mind that one lone man, defenseless, could possibly survive much less fight a mighty power unarmed? He wouldn’t if he wanted to win. Continue reading Shields Locked
September 21, 2009
Posted by AngelaPoseyArnold in: Current Events, Faith, Family, Freedom, Heroes, Inspiration & Motivation, Life Experiences, Military, Poetry, Religion, Spirituality, Terrorism
Since 2004 I have been involved with “Amazing Grace, Ministry to the Troops”. We send packages to Chaplains and soldiers, and individual letters and cards to actively deployed and wounded American troops. [...]
September 16, 2009
In 2003, when President Bush took the U.S. into a war with Iraq, he claimed it was “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” Well, obviously there were no WMDs. It’s questionable how “free” the Iraqi people are today, let alone whether or not we Americans have the right to determine what “freedom” should mean to citizens of another nation. However, it’s clear that terrorism is alive and well, regardless of who may be supporting it.
According to the United States Law Code, the term terrorism means “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents”. By that definition, what the U.S., Britain, et al., did in Iraq was war. Now, of course, the American public knows that war really WAS about oil, not to mention some family vendetta against Saddam Hussein. Now that the Iraq hoax has been exposed, President Obama is shifting our focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, where the “real” jihad-minded, terrorism-inflicting, Muslim fanatics live (and hopefully will soon die).
How many lives, how many trillions of dollars must our country sacrifice for wars against entire countries, when we fully realize that the billions of average Muslims are no more teeth-gnashing fanatics than the garden variety Christian? There are some pretty fanatical Christian groups right here at home, you know. Continue reading Using terrorism against terrorists
September 16, 2009
Guns around the President–gasoline on the fire
by Bill Hazelgrove
Um, is it just me or does anyone else find it strange that fully armed people are popping up outside of venues where the President is speaking? I mean the second amendment is the second amendment but shouldn’t we have a bubble of security [...]
September 14, 2009
A Million People Prove NPR Doesn’t Count
by John Armor
How many people still listen to NPR (National “People’s” Radio) and take it seriously? Apparently that list doesn’t include the editors and reporters for NPR. Two cases in point, both having to do with numbers.
As I was driving up to D.C. for the Rally on the Mall on Saturday, I heard NPR gushing over (excuse me, reporting on) the President Obama’s speech to a Joint Meeting of Congress. In that speech, the President said that “there are 30 million uninsured Americans.” Notice that the number dropped from 45 million because that part of the uninsured are not Americans. They are mostly citizens of Mexico.
The polling of the American people on health care reform has made it crystal clear they do not want American tax dollars paying premiums for foreign citizens. Remember that Cong. Joe Wilson called out, “You lie,” when President Obama was claiming that health care “reform” did not include the illegal aliens. Joe should certainly apologize for interrupting the President, with a true statement. Continue reading A Million People Prove NPR Doesn’t Count
September 13, 2009
Posted by Alan Caruba in: Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economic Crisis, Energy, Freedom, Global Warming, Governance, Heroes, Opinion, Politics
 By Alan Caruba
There have been many mass marches on Washington, D.C., so the locals know how to make plans to anticipate the congestion and the police are polite and skillful in the science of crowd control. They can afford to be polite because the crowds, no matter how large, are too.
Oh, sure, they shout a lot, but that’s what a protest march is all about. Back in April 1894 unemployed workers known as “Coxey’s Army” showed up to demand that Congress do something. It was the second year of an economic depression that would last another two years, but it was the worst that had hit the nation barely three decades since the end of the Civil War.
Americans know where to head when they are at odds with their government and most know or suspect that the source of their problems can be found in Washington, D.C. and they are always right.
Bloodshed has been extremely rare at such events. On June 17, 1932 a “Bonus Army”, some 20,000 World War One veterans and their families massed in the Capitol seeking advance payment of bonuses from the Hoover administration. The year is significant. It was four years passed the beginning of the Great Depression that began in 1929. Continue reading The Fine Art of American Protest
September 11, 2009
2nd e-mail from the person that filed the complaint.
Thursday, 2/12/09, 9:49 AM
As parents it is our responsibility to make sure our son is safe and doesn’t do thinks like pull down blinds. As responsible tenants it is our job to make sure that nothing in the apartment is damaged and if something becomes damaged during our tenancy, we of course know we will be financially responsible for all damages we incur. As the landlord of this property I’m sure you would write this financial responsibility in the lease. If you feel that the only reason you would not rent to us, is because of our young child, and the slight possibility that he might pull down your blinds I assure you there are plenty of ways of resolving this issue. One being that we would remove the blinds as we have done at our current residence and will put them back when we vacate the unit. If after reading this email you still feel that you can not risk the liability, I would appreciate and email letting me know that we are denied. Thank you.
Excerpt from wife’s response to May 18, 2009 letter from “2nd Consultant of Fair Employment & Housing”.
As (1st Consultant ) I talked to suggested, I attended and completed the Fair Housing training class (5/18). I was glad that I went. I learned that I don’t have to be afraid of coming forward with the truth regarding why I considered renting to other applicants. While I was showing (complainant) the unit, they allowed their son to play with the dials of the stove, turning on the gas, turning on the dish-washer and pulling on the nine foot-long blinds (not the cord as you wrote in your letter). I witnessed that the ( parents) didn’t discipline their child. (The father) played ball with his son. The ball was either a child-sized basketball, or a football. They threw the ball back and forth over the kitchen counter and the hanging light. I had a hard time keeping my smile up. I couldnt’ help but conclude that the (parents) were not responsible … Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 4
September 11, 2009
On September 9, President Barack Obama addressed Congress to discuss health care. The news media has focused on that speech, giving scant attention to his address to the nation’s school children one day earlier. Despite the dire predictions of the right-wing, the republic is, regardless of that speech, somehow still standing. No doubt the Rush Limbaughs of the world will explain how that is possible. But there is no need to wait! This writer has seen through Mr. Obama’s words. He was crafty: we must read between the lines to understand how he fostered his socialist agenda in his remarks to the United State’s students this week.
Space does not permit a line-by-line translation of the speech, so only some of the most salient points will be covered here.
What Mr. Obama said:
“When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.” Continue reading Education, Health Care and Hypocrisy
September 10, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
As one drove into New York from New Jersey in the years before 9/11, there was an ellipse of roadway that gently curved into the waiting entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel. From there you could see the Twin Towers in the distance, across the river, dominating the lower end of Manhattan.
It bespoke the nation’s economic strength, its international outreach, its capacity to build two such impressive skyscrapers, made more so by their architectural simplicity. They gleamed in the rays of the Sun. They mirrored the silver Moon.
I had occasion to dine in Windows on the World restaurant several times, high atop one of the towers. A wall of windows ringed the restaurant and one could look at New Jersey on one side and Brooklyn on the other. A walk around that restaurant took in all the boroughs from that great height and there, down in the vast harbor, one could see the Statue of Liberty. So high up were you that it seemed a small thing from that distance.
If I wanted to strike at America’s confidence, America’s bravado, America’s dominance, I would have destroyed the Twin Towers and, of course, that is exactly what Osama bin Laden did. Continue reading Surrender is Not an Option
September 9, 2009
Terror does not always live in a vacuum. Ask any woman who lives in Harlem these days since the Hamilton Heights Rapist struck for the fourth time in less than six weeks. This time to add to the consternation this brazen criminal raped a woman on the seventh floor of an apartment building. That means someone had to let him in. This means he was roaming around a building free anticipating the arrival of his next victim. I do not know if the woman raped stepped out of the safety of her apartment to throw out the trash or she was coming in and happy that she had made it to her floor when he struck. But this means someone knows him and probably knows what he is doing. Why won’t they speak up and put an end to all the suffering that women, families , and the local communities are going through? Continue reading Someone Knows The Hamilton Heights Rapist
September 8, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
The most troubling aspect of President Obama’s insistence on so-called healthcare reform is the way the proposed changes will harm the interests of those on Medicare or Medicaid, all 65 years and older.
In the interest of “reform” it is clear that healthcare for the elderly will be rationed in terms of what will be covered with age a factor in whether one’s life will be saved or not through medical procedures.
Americans are now living to an average age of 78 and, of course, many are living much longer. My Mother lived to 98 and my Father to 93. Both required medical procedures towards the end of their lives and, good Democrats that they were, both appreciated the protection and benefits offered by Medicare.
I am just shy of age 72 and quite healthy. Given the genes passed onto me by both parents, I expect to live at least another twenty years, but more importantly, I expect to be writing that long as well.
I got to thinking that many now officially considered “old” at 65 made considerable contributions, often based on the fact that age had equipped them with invaluable experience. Continue reading Old is not “Dead”
September 5, 2009
Posted by AngelaPoseyArnold in: Attitude, Family, Freedom, General Topics, Inspiration & Motivation, Lifestyle, Morality, Recovery, Relationships, Religion, Self-Help, Spirituality
Wounded in battle and weathered by storms [...]
September 2, 2009
Posted by AngelaPoseyArnold in: Advice, Attitude, Biography & Memoir, Family, Freedom, General Topics, Healthcare, Inspiration & Motivation, Marriage, Recovery, Relationships, Religion, Short Stories, Social Issues, Spirituality, Uncategorized
On the Other Side of the Storm
By Angela Posey-Arnold RN BSN
We could not hear the deafening tornado siren as golf ball size hail pounded our metal roof during the vociferous storm upon us. The house shook, my heart beating so fast I forgot to breathe. The air thick as though it was being sucked out of the house. I thought our house would explode. Howling winds encircled and the hail continued the barrage on our usually peaceful quiet farm. Crouched in the safe room I held my two dogs with one hand and my hard hat with the other. Covered in pillows and a comforter I remember thinking, ‘when will it end?’ In six minutes it was over. I breathed.
Emerging outside to survey possible damage, the sun actually started to shine. The storm was gone. My adrenalin and heart rate returned to normal. We were on the other side of the storm, we survived.
Looking at the green leaves scattered on the porch they appeared to have been through a shredder. The hood of our truck dented and dinged, it took me back, reminiscent of the life storms we endured and survived. Continue reading On The Other Side of the Storm
August 26, 2009
 Mao’s Western Media Ghost
by Lloyd Lofthouse
Mao Zedong died in 1976. Yet, the Western Media often treats China as if Mao were still alive. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there were examples of this. I am going to use a few in this post to make a point.
My sister-in-law was born in Shanghai. Her husband was born in Singapore. My wife grew up in China and suffered during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. All three are now United States citizens. My wife is a published American author whose books are banned in mainland China, which doesn’t bother her. She is satisfied that her books have been translated into more than thirty languages, just not Chinese (there is an underground version and my wife doesn’t know who translated it).
How about me? My grandfather came from Britain and was born inside America’s three-mile limit. My mother said her side of the family arrived with the Pilgrims in 1686 or soon after. Other than native-born American Indians, who arrived from Asia ten thousand years ago, we are all immigrants or descended from immigrants.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Americans supporting the Dalai Lama yelled at Chinese Americans that disagreed with the claims made by Tibetans. Those Chinese Americans were expressing what they believed was the truth. They were told to go home. Continue reading Mao’s Western Media Ghost
August 26, 2009
By any human measure, Natalya Estemirova is a hero. Long a human rights activist, she spoke out against government corruption, the harassment and mistreatment of the powerless and dissident, and sought legal representation for those whose relatives were “disappeared”. The single mother of a teenage daughter, she knew she was taking risks. But [...]
August 25, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: Accountability, African-American, China, Democracy, Freedom, Legal, Minorities, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues, Uncategorized
My wife grew up in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution (it is estimated that thirty-eight million died because of Mao’s policies). When she was a teenager, she was sent to a labor camp. She arrived in the United States in 1984 at twenty-eight. At the time, she did not speak English. She learned enough to survive after several months.
Her first language is Mandarin. If someone speaks English fast, she gets lost. Under pressure, her ability to translate breaks down. She translates (in her head) every word she hears. While attending college in Chicago and working several jobs over the years, she saved enough to invest for her retirement and bought one four-unit apartment building and one condominium. Today, she is an American citizen and she loved capitalism until recently. Now she has a bitter taste in her memory.
Soon after escrow closed on the condominium, an incident took place when my wife first listed the unit so she could rent it. An African American couple came along with many other couples to see the condominium. When my wife didn’t rent to the African American couple, they sent her an e-mail wanting to know the reason why. Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 2
August 18, 2009
Bela Kiraly, 1912 – 2009
Long considered a folk hero in Hungary, Bela Kiraly is the kind of man I admire. A general in the Hungarian army, he was sentenced to death four different times for sedition, spending 4 years on death row. Paroled in 1956, he led Hungarian freedom fighters against the Soviet invasion, escaping into exile with some of his forces when they were overwhelmed.
Aside from all of his accomplishments, which include earning a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, here is what I like about the man, and what makes him a hero to me.
He was a man of honor who stood for the honorable treatment of people. During World War II his unit was assigned several hundred Jewish slave laborers. With the Nazis in power, rather than hand them over for transportation, he put them in uniform and made them part of his troops, saving them from certain death in the camps. He was later honored by Israel for it. Arrested by the Soviets at the war’s end and sent to Siberia with his men, he and a number of them escaped the train and hiked back into Hungary.
During Hungary’s attempted break-away from the Soviet bloc in 1956, he was made commanding general of the rebels while still in the hospital recovering from 5 years of prison for “sedition”.
In 2006, learning that one of the Russian generals who led the 1956 invasion was still alive, he invited him to Budapest to join the 50th anniversary celebrations. When the general declined the invitation, fearing that he might be arrested, 94 year old Kiraly flew to Moscow and spent a weekend reminiscing with his former enemy. Continue reading Bela Kiraly, My Kind of Hero
August 18, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Democracy, Education, Freedom, Governance, Latino & Hispanic, Minorities, Morality, Opinion, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues
Each post will be less than 700 words.
This is the first entry—an introduction.
There will be several more on this topic.
By Lloyd Lofthouse
During America’s Civil Rights era, laws were enacted with the intent to correct wrongs in America. I strongly agree that it was wrong to segregate schools and provide an education for people of color inferior to the education offered to whites. It was wrong to make people walk in the gutters because the sidewalks were reserved for whites. It was wrong to have one bathroom for people of color and another for whites. It was wrong to deny someone the right to a job due to color or religion. It was wrong to deny someone the right to rent or buy a house or apartment because of race or religion. It is still wrong for violent, racist groups like the KKK and white supremacists to terrorize and victimize anyone they do not approve of. To fix those wrongs, government organizations were created to enforce these new laws.
Today, most people are terrified to publicly express honest opinions about topics that fall under political correctness and what has gone wrong with the complex system designed to correct those inequalities. Since this column is going to cross that line, there is a strong chance I will be criticized for what I write. There may be incidences where what I write will be taken out of context.
Because I am white, I may be the wrong person to write this column. After all, to many, I’m already guilty due to my skin color. It doesn’t matter that my father was a second generation American and my grandfather was born on the boat inside the three-mile limit. It does not matter that my mother’s ancestors arrived with the Pilgrims and started out in the New England states as indentured servants. Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 1
August 12, 2009
Posted by AngelaPoseyArnold in: Advice, Current Events, Family, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, General Topics, Inspiration & Motivation, Lifestyle, Marriage, Relationships, Religion, Self-Help, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Spirituality, Uncategorized, Wellness
A Letter from Your Guardian Angel
Greetings to you, my charge, in the name of The Lord our God and Creator Who lovingly assigned me to you. I am always happy when God sends me to do something really important in your life. Great joy filled my soul last week when I intervened in the car accident you almost had. You knew it was me, didn’t you? You felt the brush of my wings.
There are just a few things we need to clear up. I suppose it is odd for you to get a letter from me, your Guardian Angel, but I can’t wait any longer to serve this message to you.
I bring glorious good tidings of great joy. I know you can’t see me but you know I am there. Remember when your grandmother passed away and you felt my presence? Yes, that was me, sent by God to comfort and protect you. I am always with you. I am in the cool breeze on a hot day, the glint of light in the dark night and the comfort you feel while you praise Him.
I want you to know I am not in the little golden pin you see on lapels throughout your culture. I am surely not a trumpet toting porcelain figurine on the coffee table. I am a messenger and a protector for
you. Everything I do is by command of God. Continue reading A Letter From Your Guardian Angel
August 11, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
The mainstream media is focused, as always, on the more dramatic aspects of the “town hall” meetings during which astonished members of Congress discover how total the disconnect between the machinations of Washington, D.C. and the rest of America is.
If the Democrat politicians could recall anything from the past they might draw some lessons from it, but they are fixated on expanding the federal government’s control over our lives while, at the same time, abandoning anything that passes for common sense.
In the July issue of Healthcare News, a publication of The Heartland Institute, a non-profit, free market think tank headquartered in Chicago, Greg Scandlen, Heartland’s Director of Consumer Care Choices, recalled the reaction of Americans in 1988 when Congress passed the Medicare Catastrophic law. Like Obamacare, it was supported by the AARP, essentially a large insurance company, was passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress, and signed into law by Ronald Reagan.
“Except when the elderly found out they were about to be required to buy something they didn’t need, they were furious,” said Scandlen. “In a famous scene, a group of elderly people chased House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski down the streets of Chicago and beat on his car with their canes and picket signs when he tried to escape. Eighteen months after it was passed, the law was repealed.” Continue reading A Very American Protest
August 11, 2009
Asha Hagi, Amy Goodman, Krishnammal Jagannathan and Monika Hauser
I admire these four women, people who through sacrifice and risk do good for others. I think they deserve to be recognized as heroes. All too often people like them are pushed aside, given little-to-no attention in the media and dismissed as do-gooders and busy-bodies. To me these four women, and the others I will be writing about, are the real heroes. To have the kind of world where all of us can live together, they and others like them are the kind of heroes that will help us create it. You’ll meet a lot of them in this column over the next number of weeks.
How did I discover them? They were winners of the 2008 “Right Livelihood Award”, thought of as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”. They’re my kind of hero.
With her husband, Krishnammal Jagannathan founded an organization called “Land for the Tillers Freedom” that has redistributed land to some 13,000 Dalit women. Known as “India’s soul”, at age 82, she is still active. Her husband, Sankaralingam who is co-founder of Land for the Tillers Freedom was co-recipient, but was at age 95,unable to attend the awards ceremony in Stockholm. Continue reading Four Heroes
August 2, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Attitude, Communications, Current Events, Democracy, Freedom, Journalism, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Politics, Republican
Last Friday, I drove to the airport and on that drive, I listened to a discussion on this topic. After I heard all the “facts” in detail, clearly, this issue is racial and driven by a political agenda from the idealistic, far right that cannot stand anybody that does not believe as they do.
It was mentioned that Obama provided a copy of his birth certificate to CNN before the election, and experts verified it was real. Another search found birth notices in the archives of two newspapers in Hawaii. In addition, the governor of Hawaii, a Republican, said that there is no doubt that Obama was born in Hawaii. Yet, this issue will not die just like the “Swift boat Veterans for Truth”, or whatever they called themselves, didn’t die as they took facts about Kerry’s life and smeared them all over the place casting doubt on his honesty and courage.
Just because Kerry received minor flesh wounds does not make him a coward. It sounds like I have changed topic, but both are related because both show how political agendas turn lies into truth in the public arena of misinformation designed to influence opinions and votes.
Even if Obama printed a hundred million copies of the original birth certificate and mailed them out, those that want to believe he is not a citizen and shouldn’t be in the White House will still believe. Nothing will change their minds. Even if someone took those people by the ear and led them to the evidence, they would claim it was forged. Even if nonbiased experts said they examined the birth notices in newspapers, the records in the hospital and the birth certificates and found all to be valid (which they have), there would be doubts because that is the goal as another election looms. There are racist, far right conservative idealists out there that would not admit the truth if they were in that operating room the day Obama was born. In addition, even if Obama was born in another country, his mother was an American citizen and at that time, that automatically made him an American citizen because that was the law. Continue reading Where’s Obama’s Birth Certificate
July 12, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: China, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economics, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Military, Morality, Motivation, Politics, Republican, Social Issues, Uncategorized
Is China a danger to the world? This is a topic I have wanted to write about for some time. I suspect my motivation for writing this comes from being sent to Vietnam [...]
July 3, 2009
Posted by Antonio de la Vega in: Attitude, Congress, Democracy, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Governance, Latino & Hispanic, Legal, Mexico, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology
¿Será el voto nulo como el futuro termidor (cuya etimología alude al hecho de dar calor) de la democracia mexicana? Así definen algunos al fenómeno, en franca y preocupada alusión al undécimo mes del calendario republicano francés, que empezaba el 19 de julio y terminaba el 17 de agosto, y durante el cual (“9 de termidor”) se suscitó el episodio del golpe de Estado con que la Revolución Francesa dio fin al Terror e instauró en su lugar la reacción de la Convención (27 de julio de 1794). [...]
June 28, 2009
By Alan Caruba
In the more than four decades of the Cold War following World War Two, a cadre of specialists called “Kremlinologists”, academics, diplomats, and military, developed for the purpose of figuring out what the Soviet Union was doing and how best to counteract it. As often as not, they were wrong. The fall of the Berlin War came as a surprise to them, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Now we are watching the same thing occur as various “experts” struggle to tell us what is happening in Iran and why.
What I really want to know is why the President of the United States thought it best not to “meddle” with a nation that had taken American diplomats hostage for 444 days, was funding two Middle East terrorists organizations, Hezbollah and Hamas, and striving mightily to become a nuclear power with which to threaten their region and the world.
President Obama’s muted and belated response to the protests in the streets of Tehran by thousands of Iranians was a national and international disgrace. If America will not speak out boldly for liberty and support a popular uprising for democracy, who will?
Continue reading Iran’s Mullahs Threaten the World
June 19, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
It sometimes seems like we have been reading and hearing about turmoil in the Middle East for our entire lives, but the facts are otherwise. For most of the last century and earlier, the Middle East was a backwater of age-old Islamic repression.
Things began to change with the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War One. They had backed the Germans and, already in decay, it didn’t take much of a push to end it. The winners of the war, primarily England and France, met in Versailles where they took out their maps of the region and divided it between them. Nations were created, some with ancient names like Syria and Lebanon, some with new ones like Trans-Jordan. A nation called Iraq was created.
The Saudis got very little for having cast their lot with the English. They would never trust them again and when Americans came knocking with a request to search for oil, they got the nod, not the British.
It was World War Two and its aftermath that really got the pot boiling. The Middle East had not played much of a role. Initially the war had been fought in North Africa with an eye on Libya’s oil reserves and the need to protect the Suez Canal from the Germans. Continue reading The Turmoil in the Middle East
June 16, 2009
When it comes to my flag “these colors don’t run”. The banksters (gangsters) and private corporate interests are in control ( aren’t monopolies against the law?) They rob us to the brink of financial disaster, and then instead of bringing them to justice, Obama lends them money to pay back what they stole. War is big business, and these fat cats are enriching our enemies. China, (remember Tienanmen Square?) and Russia ( remember the invasion of Hungary and the recent take over of Georgia?) are among the lowest in the human rights scale. Over 57000 young American soldiers fought communism in Korea, and about another 52000 died in Viet Nam. Now we have a Marxist Muslim presiding over us. How could this happen? I will leave this answer to you.
Practically everything sold in the USA is made in China ( our money is financing one of the largest and most sophisticated navel fleets in the world.( Let us not forget the bloody lesson learned at Pearl Harbor!) The Japanese bought scrap iron from us and gave it back the hard way. When we try to intervene in the human rights issue in Tibet, we are told to mind our own business, and its business as usual. Countries like China and Russia know only one method, Blitzkrieg. By allowing commerce in such countries, we undermined our economic strength and allowed the development of the demise of our currency and economic system It was a policy of buy and sell America. It has been an economic war to break our backs and they are doing a splendid job of it. Continue reading WHAT PRICE FREEDOM?
|
Books by SWI Contributors
|
River separates life from death
River separates life from death
by Tyree Harris
The following is part two of a three-part series. See part one here.
With faint screams and smoke coming from the forests and villages surrounding, Simon Mudahogora, his sister, and his friend’s family all loaded up into a canoe, which had to be sunk to hide from the Hutu. They were heading to a refugee camp in Burundi, where many other Tutsi fled.
The border between Burundi and Rwanda was marked by a river — a river so dirtied with death that they had to move carcasses out of the canoe’s way to get across the river.
Simon knew he had to stay tough: “There was no crying.”
Crossing into Burundi, however, didn’t mean safety. The group then had to travel through two hours of swamplands, where the Hutu were often hiding and killing fleeing Tutsi. The thick vegetation and knee-high mud trenched and brushed across their fear-riddled bodies. Continue reading River separates life from death