Racially-charged Campaigns
October 25, 2006
House of Representatives Democrat Harold Ford, Jr. is running for the Senate in TN. He is one of two Black men who are in close contention for Senate Seats in the South, along with Republican Michael Steele.
Unfortunately, race has played a role in both of these elections. Harold Ford’s opponent, Republican Bob Corker, has run a TV ad with racist undertones against interracial dating and a radio ad with “Tom-Tom, jungle” drums playing during descriptions of Ford.
Steele has also been the subject of racial scrutiny in his election as well by supporters of his opponent.
Why must people resort to racism, racist indifference, or any other kind of evil to win elections? Stuff like this is what turns people off to “politics.” I have read that many think that being upset is a bit of an over-reaction, especially given the subtlety of the ads against Ford. So let me get this straight: it’s cool to send racist messages as long as they are not blatant? I argue that the subliminal approach could be much more sinister and effective than a full-frontal assaulty could be because it can persuade people who may not be aware that they’re being persuaded. The ability to do that is very powerful, and very dangerous. Be aware.
Categories
Politics
Voting
Black Issues
Black Men
What do you do with aborted babies?
October 25, 2006
There have been mixed reactions to this, and that is evidenced pretty clearly in the comments section of the above article. The hospital decided to do this in order to save money, since this is cheaper than what they normally do with children miscarried before 24 weeks, according to the article.
This is an interesting debate. Is it ‘OK’ to do this? One commenter on the article said the following:
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If women opt to have abortions, they ought to take responsibility for the disposal of or payment towards the disposal. It’s about time people started taking responsibility for their actions! The NHS should be about providing healthcare, NOT assisting life-style choices!
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I think that sounds reasonable. Should that be the responsibility of people who have abortions? Would it be wrong for the government to require such payment (effectively an Abortion Tax)?
Categories
Abortion
The New Separate but Equal?
October 25, 2006
The Federal Government is voicing support for more single-sex classrooms and schools. The claim is that some studies have shown that single-sex environments lead to better academic results.
The part from the article that worries me is this (my emphasis added):
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“School districts that go that route must also make coeducational schools and classes of ’substantially equal’ quality available for members of the excluded sex.”
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That sounds a whole hell of a lot like separate but equal to me. That ideology was found to be unconstitutional.
I never attended a single-sex school or class, so I have no first-hand experience with this. Do people that did feel that they were better off because of that experience? Is anyone else as nervous as I am about resurrecting ’separate but equal’ rhetoric?
Categories:
Education
Voting & The Paradox of Choice
October 24, 2006
I read an article today that talked the idea that people will usually choose what’s easiest or most convenient over what’s best (however best is defined). This probably explains why people don’t vote.
I think that most people that do not vote don’t do so because it is easier to not vote and not care. Caring, and in turn voting, means that you have to think about what’s going on, think about what you like and don’t like about your current situation, think about the future. Really thinking critically about the status quo is something people are often afraid to do because not only is it difficult, but because they are afraid that they may like what they see. People often surprise themselves when they analyze what really makes them do the things they do and not do the things they don’t. It’s often easier for people to live in a state of denial.
My challenge to myself in others is to refuse to live in denial. I do not believe that “ignorance is bliss.” I think that’s a lazy-apathetic-cop-out-a$sed way to exist. That’s not even living. It sounds like the Matrix to me.
We need to re-think our concept of ‘relevance.’ If we applied the same ‘how does this effect my situation?’ test to everything that we said/did, things would be a lot different. The question is, why do people so readily apply this to voting and don’t apply it to watching Desperate Housewives?
Do Endorsements Influence Your Vote?
October 24, 2006
During every election cycle, local and national newspapers, news channels, news agencies, local organizations, and national organizations voice their support for a particular candidate. They usually endorse a candidate because they believe that person will best govern their audiences and represent the interests of their group. For example, the Seattle Times recently endorsed Republican Mike McGavick in Washington’s senatorial election, for reasons that they call out in the article.
The only endorsement that matters in an election is your own, and you show that by voting on Election Day, 7 Nov 2006. The Seattle Times endorsing McGavick doesn’t make me like him any better.
Do you care who your newspaper, any part of the media, or any other organization endorses in local or national elections?
What had happened was…
October 23, 2006
This line is usually indicative of someone lying. And what do you know? The Bush administration is backtracking on the fact that “stay the course” actually meant, “stay the course.” According to Press Secretary Tony Snow, what had happened was
is that “What you have is not ’stay the course’ but in fact a study in constant motion by the administration.” In a number of previous posts, I have opened up with a quote by Socrates which states, “The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.” The following presents a perfect example of this principle at work. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Bush said with a straight face, “Listen, we’ve never been stay the course.” What’s so bad is that this line would actually be funny in a Bill Maher kind of way if the implications were not so grim.
In the same interview, Bush went on to say, “We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting the tactics. Constantly.” And before we get caught up in semantics, the fact remains that I (and I think many others share this concern) don’t have a clear understanding of what the goal is Mr. President. For surely if you can’t clearly define the goal, then it certainly won’t matter whether or not tactics have changed.
Getting back to Tony Snow’s comment about the Iraq strategy being a study in constant motion, it seems to me that this war has for the most part put into motion three things, lies, arrogance and stupidity. But just pause and think about how the world would be better if American military and foreign policy were guided by truth, humility, and wisdom.
Categories:
Bush
So called “war on terror”
politics
2 Companies, 2 Stories, 1 Opportunity
October 23, 2006
Ford had a bad day, announcing their worst loss in 10+ years. GM had a good day, as their stock hit a 52-week high.
Ford’s losses are bad news for a bunch of obvious reasons. What’s the worst? I think it’s the fact that after all of these plants close/move and people take their buyouts, there will be a tremendous influx of similarly qualified individuals all competing for jobs in the Detroit area that is already strapped for jobs to begin with.
Conversely, GM’s seemingly promising performance may mean that it’s not quite time to turn the lights off domestic car companies. The problem is, these companies will not be able to cut their way to profitability, and right now it seems like that’s mostly what they are trying to do.
There is a tremendous opportunity for individuals that will be taking buyouts or victims of plant closures/movements to begin to create their own businesses to service the needs of their peers (e.g. health services, technology training, etc.).
Perhaps the governor or the mayor could provide special tax credits/incentives for these individuals?
Categories
Automotive
Ford
GM
Entrepreneurship
Taxes
No Child Left Behind Cheats to Get Ahead
October 23, 2006
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a joke. BushCo’s flagship education policy has done little except add even more beuracracy to our educational system while doing little to improve student performance in math and reading, which was its goal.
It’s been in the news twice in recent days, but not for good things:
G. W. Bush’s brother Neil is set to make fat profits from NCLB single-bid contracts Bush’s brother and parents are lined up to make money off this.
Armstrong Williams, who was paid to endorse NCLB on his TV show in 2004, has agreed to pay back $34,000 of the money that he took
This guy was paid to get Black people to think that NCLB was a good thing. Note that in his settlement, he has admitted no wrong doing, since misleading Black people is cool. Why would one need to pay someone off to talk about a good program?
So add corruption to the beuracracy and lack of results to what NCLB has given us since its inception. Improving student performance is a great idea, but it doesn’t have to be done in shady ways.
Categories
Education
No Child Left Behind
Politics
Hurricane Depression
October 23, 2006
This is a story about a reporter in New Orleans and his bout with clinical depression following last year’s Gulf Coast Hurricanes.
Beyond the challenges of rebuilding people’s lives, homes, city infrastructure, government, and business, how are we addressing the mental health challenges brought about by these storms? Is this yet another piece of the recovery that has been overlooked?
The [lack of a] response or recovery effort from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is often framed in terms of race. However, mental health effects everyone of all races. Also, there are mental health challenges that befall volunteers and first-responders as well.
I think that these mental health challenges are more important to address than issues of rebuilding businesses and governments. Why is it then that the focus of the [alleged] recovery effort is on business and government?
Categories
New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina
Depression
Health
Mental Health
The Soldiers Die Young
October 23, 2006
I watch most of the “Sunday Morning Political Talk Shows.” The ones I watch are: Meet the Press, The McGlaughlin Group, and Face the Nation. Another show I watch, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, does a weekly segment called In Memoriam, where they list the names of soldiers that died in Iraq over the past week, as released by the Pentagon.
I watch this list every Sunday, and it upsets me for a whole lot of reasons, but here are a few:
We shouldn’t be there in the first d@mn place
For more on this, read these.
October is quickly becoming the deadliest month since we’ve been in Iraq
There have been more deaths this month than any month in the past 2 years.
The people who are dying are so young
Of the 29 names released this past week, 20 were under 25, including 2 18 year olds. That’s only one year older than me! It is absolutely criminal to make cannon fodder out of these young people by placing them into another country’s civil war.
It’s the same every week. A significant percentage of the military deaths have been men and women under the age of 25. I will not even get into the number of Iraqi people that have died.
What does this tell you about our leadership?
Given what we know now about our leadership, would you encourage anyone, young or old, to go fight in Iraq?
Categories
Iraq
So called “War on Terror”
