Posts filed under: ‘Katrina‘
Rev. Bernice King to head SCLC…Haiti…
I have been so busy lately trying to stay warm…that I really haven’t 
thought about much of anything else. But checking through my stats for this blog I did notice that a lot of folk had come on my site looking for information on the Kings.
So, thinking that maybe something new had come up with their legal battles…Bernice and Martin the 3rd against Dexter…I decided to go up onto the internet to find out if there was something new. And to my surprise…I saw nothing new about their court battles…but that the stories were about the baby girl. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr’s 
youngest child was now going to head up the organization which her father had not only headed in the 60’s, but was also one of its founding members… the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
It has not been easy…and my guess is Bernice would say that would be an understatement. What with watching their mother battle illness… then her passing… and then just about on the heels of their mother passing…
Yolanda died too… her only sister and the oldest sibling. And 
on top of all of that… Dexter started acting up and getting crazy. Which forced her and Martin the 3rd to have to go into the courts against him…and thereby thus bring private family matters came out into the open… opening them… a very private family… up to public scrutiny and commentary. That had to be hard decision to make.
No, it could have been easy. But yet she kept on going…and doing. And I have no doubt praying.
It is amazing.
She was just a very young child when her father was so brutally shot down
and killed during the summer of 1968. The summer that saw so many riots around the United States upon the announcement of his death. A man who had stood for non-voilence and peaceful resistance…he 
had been murdered.
Bernice was all of 5 years old only when it happened. 
Hardly able to clearly understand… much less comprehend truly what it all meant…or how even her father’s dying was destined to change a world…and this country for ever. But
I’m sure she heard her mother crying many a night over it.
Now, today she is stepping into her father’s shoes. At age 37 Rev. 
Bernice A. King, who holds both a Divinity degree and a dregree in law has become the first woman to ever hold the top post at SCLC. What a great way to honor the 
memory of Dr. King as we all celebrate his birthday this coming Monday.
Though there has been much controversy 
among the remaining members of Dr. King’s immediate family… his children… Martin the 3rd, Dexter and 
Bernice… this I am sure would make him smile. They both would be.
Poised…confident… well spoken… and a member of the 
New Birth Ministry under Bishop Eddie Long… as well as having been a law clerk under Judge 
Hatchett… and of course having been under the mentorship and leadership of her own mother, Mrs. Coretta Scott King… I see a new era in black leadership rising in this country. It has 
been long over due…a new guard is on the horizon. And it feels like a breath of fresh air.
It gives me great pleasure to write this on the King family… or a member of it. And I look forward to writing many more.
I had seen some of the headlines…but had just not taken the time to read 
anything on it…mostly because it just kept slipping my mind. I would get busy reading or doing 
something else...and then…well, you know… I would forget… that is until my son called me and began speaking to me about it. He told me that an estimated 500,000 people had been killed. For such a small island that has to be nearly a quarter of Haiti’s population.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010787604_haiti14.html
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/americas/HAITI-RECOVERY-81427942.html
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/special-reports/Haiti-Earthquake-81317947.html
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Thousands-Feared-Dead-After-Haitian-Earthquake-81311282.html
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/americas/Scientists-Explain-Haiti-Earthquake-81356387.html
Many many stories of are pouring out of Haiti of untold thousands upon thousands still being trapped. The Richter Scale hit 7.0
with a series of after shocks measuring at 5.9… with the International Red Cross saying that perhaps over 3 million people have been affected by the massive earthquake.
We can all remember still…I am sure… that massive mounting wave that rose up out in midst of the Indian Ocean back in 2004…which hit 11 different countries with so much force that everything near the shorelines for 25 or so miles inland was wiped out into the sea… including families, businesses, homes, belongings etc… perhaps leaving many of them feeling the affects probably still, while additionally trying to recover from it mentally and physically after having lived through such a terrifying and destructive thing.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041226_tsunami.html
I guess before it has all been said and done…we are bound to have much more devastation to come in our lifetime…and beyond if there is a beyond. The forces of nature are reaping havoc upon us in ways we are incapable of fighting. And Kartrina was just another example of it.
It can surely not be argued that we have not been one of Mother Nature’s best friends. And we are starting to see… and feel the a
ffects of it.
Or you can look at this way.
Prophesy coming to pass.
There is no dispute that within the text of the Bible all these things… including wars have been prohesied long before we got to this point , some more than 2,000 years ago. When I think of both Haiti and New Orleans…I 
think of 2 places steeped in the culture of witch craft and voodoo. When I think of those 11 countries hit by the Tsunami…I think of child sex trades and exploitation.
It is not a secret that many people get on airplanes flying out from this country to foreign shores, to indugle in many things illegal here in America…such as having sex with children. Though such laws have not stopped a lot of people from doing so… such as…Roman Polanski. A man who should have been locked away years ago…when he confessed to having sex with a 13 year old girl. Film director or not…the man should have been locked away. And the same for Woody Allen.
I once watched a film produced by some independant filmmakers. The most beautifully shot film visually that I had seen in a while. I was very impressed by it…visually. The lighing…the colors…just everything about it. But…
It was a 
movie about young children…very young children…super young children…some younger than 4 who were put into the sex for hire business. Children standing in shop windows waiting on someone to walk by and pick them out…like they were buying a suit or a pair of shoes. And shop window after shop window with little 
children standing in them…bunches of them…as if they were live little manakins on display.
It is hard to believe that such places assist…much less that they can so freely exploit their children in such a way. With families making decisions to give out their own children for a few dollars claiming that the hardships in their countries left them no other choice.
It is not hard to believe that God would destroy such places.
Most of these countries trafficing children… or where such practices are openly
allowed… are 3rd World Countries… such as Africa… Indonesia (which less than 2 years ago was hit by its own major and highly devasting earthquake)… China etc.
Even in terms of Haiti…besides the witch craft and practices of voodoo…it is routine to see one tele-evangelist after another showing pictures of children while pleading 
for financial support from viewers… and not only while in Haiti but other countries as well. When I look at those pictures of those little children I feel sorry for them. 
Because I know that many times these children are not only being used as a means to pull upon people’s sympathy. And I have no doubt that once those camera lights go off and their little pictures are taken… most of children fall prey to sexual abuse by the the very ones who claim they are their to help them.
It is sad all the way around. It is sad…very.
We… I have no doubt that we cannot begin to imagine the vastness of the devastation
which has hit Haiti.. .nor its awful after affects now and for years to come. Not to mention the danger that many Haiti’s people have fallen into by criminals and others who seek the exploit this time and Haiti political problems.
Many American artists…and partically all Haitians living in this country still have roots in Haiti…by way of love for their country and family members still there…such as Lauryn 
Hill, Wyclef Jean and others. It is very likely that within the whole of Haiti there is not one family whose lives have not been touched by this earthquake…whose strong and very high magnitude shook that small French speaking island just off the coast of Florida this past Tuesday…with such force that it almost virtuely destroyed Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince.
Those who can please let us all remember them is our prays…and send support to Haiti.
The images and stories flowing out of Haiti since the earthquake are saddening. Limited medical supplies and those who can care for them coupled with criminal elements…make it even harder upon those who somehow managed to survive…barely escaping with just the shirts upon their backs. Little children left orphaned… amputations…shortage of water…and no place to lay for the night or out of the blistering sun during the day. Missing persons…destroyed property…everything gone. Encompassed by the smell of death…while listening to the wailing crys…screams and moans of emotional and physical suffering all aound…while wiping at your own tears at the very same time. How hard it must be to go through such devastation.
If you would like to donate CLICK this LINK…http://cogic.net/cogiccms/default/
It is a little after 4:30 in the morning and I stayed up all night doing this. 
Well, I didn’t really get started until after 1. And now I am hungry…and need I say it…have to go the bathroom.
The bathroom is not going to hold out…but my stomac
h will have to. Because as much as I hate to say it…I desparately need to shed some pounds. My hair is falling out. My nails are getting too long. I think my teeth might be a touch too yellow. My toes are freezing. And…oh, I am a disaster. I truely am.
Will this weather ever break?
My son tells me on Friday…we are scheduled to get into the 50’s. Do you think it might be a bit too soon for me to begin singing ‘Happy days are here again...?’
Do you think?
Well, I just signed up for a blogtalkradio slot. This should be fun.
Perhaps since you have been reading these blogs…you have often thought about what it would be like to talk to me personally. Judging by reading some of the responses to my Juanita Bynum blog…and perhaps my blog on Chastity Bono…some of you may just be dying to get at 
me. Well, soon and very soon…you may just get that chance. Because yes…your girl will soon be coming to you live, baby. Bet you’ve been waiting for that.
Well, have a beautiful day. I hope you got a whole lot of warmth wherever you are. And please let us pray for all these people who are going through hard times right now. There are so many people suffering from all type devastating thing…earthquakes…loosing homes…loosing their jobs…speaking of which. I spent most of day today observing an on-line class on how to make 
ice cream. I actually have had the idea rolling around in my head for a couple of years now. But somehow I fell upon this internet site…and the next thing I know they were emailing me about a ‘free training session.’
Did somebody say ‘free?’
Yes, I did. And you know I took advantage of their offer. 
Today could not come fast enough. Though I over slept and missed the first hour and half. I managed to learn enough in the remainer of the session to more than make up for it…and to let me know that my consideration of the idea was not a bad one…not at all. I tell you this… in this time of unsurety you really have to be looking at your future options too. Look
into the future…. and see where you would like to be. And what you will need to do to get you there.
Now, start working towards that.
I am a believer that everybody should consider going into business for themself. Or perhaps you have aspirations of being a writer. Go for it. Do it…but you can’t if you don’t start somewhere. And I am one of those people who strongly believes that you can’t wait to start something…or hold back talking about ‘waiting on until you get the money to do it.’
You will be waiting forever.
I’ve got to wait… until I get the money…or some money 
to do it…is one of the biggest excuses for never doing anything.
Sometimes as the door closes in your face…because you have lost your job…or can’t find one…or had some other set back… then it just might be because it is time for you to become your own boss… run your own company… do something that you really like to do.
Think outside of the 
box… and don’t despair… there is something special waiting just around the corner for you. And it is that success you have always been looking for… had hoped would come… that real career that you have been putting off.
Just do it. And I would love hearing about it.
I’ll give you more information about when, how and where you can link up to me regarding to my blogradiotalk broadcasts… on both your ipod and by listening in to me right here over the internet. You know… try as best I can… I just cannot seem to get out of radio…and stay out of it. Oh…well..
And I almost forgot 1 other very important thing about my up and coming blogtalkradio program… You’ll able hear it right here too… right on this blog page…as I plan to add a link to the program. However, if you listen via your ipod or directly over the net to the live broadcast…you will be able to call in and talk with me over the air. It should be interesting. I look forward to chatting with you soon. And yes…there will be guest…perhaps you would like to be one. Send me a note via my comment box.
I
just love these pictures. So, I may just leave them up all winter long.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog 
site with your family, co-workers 
and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2010
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book. You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card. Thank you. 
4 comments January 14, 2010
Roy Blunt and his monkey comments…racism… and the 21st America…
This morning while listening to a morning local talk show the topic centered around Senator Roy 
Blunt calling Obama an monkey.
Roy Blunt, in an address before a group called…Valued Voter’s Summit, began his address by saying-
“…that clearly this is a time when our values are being challenged.”
Just what did he mean by that…I wonder?
That America is no longer an oasis of white supremacy any more… or something…any more since voting a black President?
Was that what he was eluding to?
I thought one used to say that about Europe. Or so many thought…I suppose.
Blunt then went on to talk about a golf course that had been built within the jungle of India. Saying that something happened that they did not anticipate after their golf course was built. 
And that is that when golf balls were hit the monkeys would come running out of the jungle onto the golf course and grab up the balls.
At the end of Blunt’s message he stated that the officials of the golf course put forth a ruling saying-
“You have to play the ball wherever the monkey throws it.”
Where he then stated-
“And that is pretty much what we have to do in Washington.”
Blunt then went on to say that-
“You know the world is turned up-side down when Al Franken and Tom Delay is on dancing with the stars. That’s how you know that the world has changed in ways that you would have never have anticipated.”
Blunt fell just short of saying-
“And a black man is in the White House as President.”
Then…
“That’s how you know that the world has changed in ways that you would have never have anticipated.”
In listening to the talk show, which I of course had to call in to…to offer my own opionion on the subject as the issue centered around whether or not Blunt’s comments had been racist?
Any thinking person would have to say, “Yes.”
But the problem as I pointed out to the host of the program was this…
Many white people say and do things which they simply do not consider to be racist, but they are. Or least ways…they ‘claim’ that they do not take what they said was racist. Though secretly they knew that it was…but they state otherwise.
Then the other side of the coin is this…
When you as a black person…or non-whitle points that whatever was said or done was racist… then the whole thing gets turned around. And you become the racist for having said that they were being racist.
But even if a person said something offensive to another…does not mean that it was any less offensive simply because someone says-
“Oh, I didn’t know.”
Which is really not the case…many of the times. Most people know exactly what they are saying. And say it for the purpose of twisting a knief in you…if their words are cutting or hurtful in nature.
It is kind like playing that ‘liberal card,’ which the Republicans have become not only famous for doing so, but quite well versed at doing also. Whenever someone who the Republicans do not like says or does something positive for the p0or or under-served people of this country…the 
Republicans quickly flash the ‘liberal card’ upon them.
They were quite effective at doing it during the Bush/Kerry run to the White House. Every time Kerry opened his mouth to say something, the Republicans rebuked him by calling him ‘liberal’…which became a dreaded word…and particiularly it seemed for John Kerry. He would start stuttering and get lost…loosing himself in what to say next. Which is why it worked so very well against him. He always backed up from it.
![obama-chimp-cartoon-1[1]](https://bsmith101.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/obama-chimp-cartoon-11.jpg?w=305&h=207 "obama-chimp-cartoon-1[1]")
That was the one thing about Ted Kennedy, being called a ‘liberal’ was something which did not bother him…nor did he let it stop him from speaking up. Because in the end…that is all it came down to. The Republicans using the word ‘liberal’ to scare off Democratic too weak to stand up.
And that is the good thing about Barack Obama too. He is not afraid to be called ‘liberal.’ Which is the tag that Republicans give to anyone who tries to do anything to aid, help or otherwise assist what the Republicans deem as the ‘under class.’
The problem that I see coming for the 21st Century America will not be one of class but one of race. The issue of race has always been and continues to be an issue which most Americans do 
not seriously want to address. But it is an issue which has fluctuated through the years in terms of its intensity…overtly and conversely.
It is an issue which has longed been put on the back burner as America has always tried to hide the fact that she has such a problem…as a race problem. But it got its start drenched in the blood and heartache of slavery, from the point when the first Dutch slave ships hit this country in 1619…then peaked during the 1960’s during the Civil Rights 
movement after years of being surpressed. And now againt it is rearing its ugly head…ever since the day that America elected her first non-white male to 
sit in the Oval Office on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., as President of the United States.
The issue of black vs white in this has had it lows and highs in this country. For periods this issue has seem dormant. But not so at all…not in reality. It is just that during those times there were rushes to calm things down, cover them up, keep them out the eye of the public, or quietly try to erase the events as being racially motivated at all. But they were.
Case in point…it took place in an area of Texas…in Jasper, TX, 1998: 2 white young males took a black man, James Byrd III, who was walking a country road 
on his way back home from wedding, they beat him then chained to the back of their pick-up truck and dragged him to his death tearing apart his body…and this was just a few years ago.
It would have been something you might have expected to hear about happening in some other country but never in America. But no…
It happened here… in America.
And we all sat beside the television trying to get every bit of information on the story…while 
trying to figure out-
“What could have caused or motivated such a thing to happen?”
Racism did.
Hatred did.
And though that small Texas town that had a history of racial incidents…many sited as ‘isolated incidents’…something that had never happened before. But the truth of the matter is…is that America these ‘isolated little incidents’ for years…and not only the south.
These so-called ‘isolated incidents’ have continued 
throughout the history of America, such evil that many of them are hard to imagine. Events whose roots got started back during the slavery of black folks in this country…or perhaps even as early as the early settlers and Native Indian relationships. But slavery was a time when black people in this country were considered to be cattle…when white slave owners routinely killed and made examples of them…by chopping off a hand or foot…or beating slavagely for the benefit of the other slaves who might try to run away or whateverl else have you.
http://www.texasnaacp.org/archive/jasper.htm
Not to mention that following slavery in this country, black men and a few women were often found hanging from trees in the south after having first been beaten by mobs of white men, who then tarred and feathered black folks, and then set them on fire and hung them. Whom they left hanging…also as examples to other blacks that lived in their communities as to what they could do to them also. And this they did at will…and without fear of retribution.
So, yes the treatment of President Obama, the first black man, out 43 white men prior to him…and never having suffer the blatent and tireless attacks and disrespect shown to the first African American President of this country. Yes, treatment of him is a concern to most black folks. And yes…it certainly brings back a lot of old past memories of the ill and segregrated…Jim Crow treatment that black people lived under…and the lack of full acceptance or respect of Black people throughout the history of America.
Just the other day, I happened to called a older senior woman who I occasional call once in a 
while just to see how she is doing. Before our conversation even got going the woman said to me-
“And you see how they are treating Obama?”
I never even knew the woman payed attention to politics. 
But I could hear the rage in her voice as she asked me question.
I knew quite well what she was talking about. She was highly enraged over it…and insulted that anyone had dared to call him a liar…being the President of the United States. And she clearly understand…90 something woman that she was in age…that the only reason that anyone had dared to do that was because he was a black man…as she well pointed that out me in her anger. And she didn’t like it…and I have to say neither did I…nor any of the other black folk that know either.
We don’t like it.
If you have lived through certain things…you never forget them. Just as the Holocust victims will never ever forget the Holocaust. Because they survived it…but that time…what they saw…felt…and the loses that they incurred left indeliable images and memories in their minds and hearts. So, too…our history in this country….which is as much ours as anyone else’s. Particularly since we played a major role in building this country…and most of the inventions that have come out of it.
An attack on Obama is an attack against us. And that is how we view it.
It is like how we viewed what the officials of the Miss America contest did some years ago to 
Vannessa Williams, in 1984. When she became the first black woman ever be chosen in the history of Miss American to become Miss America. Then some days later…maybe 2…there was a big scadal in which the Miss America people took the crown from Vanessa. And black folks just were not having that. There was outrage all across the black communities everywhere in America. I personally have never ever really watched that show since. It climaxed and ended for me with Vanessa Williams.
The scadal came about over some pictures, and black people decared that the Miss America had 
taken Vanessa’s crown based solely upon racism, as they had never at that point taken a crown from any other woman whom they had crown. Not only did black folk get enraged over the matter…they also went out and bought up every magazine that had those crazy pictures in them off every bookstore shelf. Because that is what black people do. Whenever someone gives us reason to be proud…and others try to destroy that pride…we back our people.
It is not something that we do often…but when we do…we do. And we all felt about Vanessa as well feel about Barack Obama and his family.
Today, Vanessa Williams has gone on to become the most famous and most beautiful…as well as,
most recognized winner that the Miss America contest ever had…for which they can take no credit unfortunately for them. Vanessa managed to raise above that event…like Obama, I have no doubt, will continue to raise against the name-calling, veiled threats and statements, ladent bigotry and racist jokes etc… of all those who seek to characterize him as a monkey, critize his judgement, education and birth-right to be President of this country.
Love the show Vanessa. You have got that diva stuff down pact. You can catch her on “Ugly Betty” weeknights…if you don’t know. And my…can she work a red carpet.
Going back to that radio talk show and Blunt’s remarks…the issue is…is that everything someone 
white begins to talk about monkeys…fried chicken…or watermelon…they are usually referring to African Americans. And whenever they begin to talk about black people tossing in something about monkeys…or fried chicken…or watermelons…it is their intent to insult black folks. Though most of the time they will deny it. But the use of referring to black people as monkeys…or as chicken eating…or watermelon eating whatevers comes through history as things white people have used…besides…the “N” word…to degrade and demean them.
So, yes…Blunt’s remarks about monkeys then referring back to Washington clearly was an intent on his part to directly call Barack Obama a monkey. Therefore, yes…his remarks were quite 
racist. And judging by the amount of applause and laughter in the room they all got the joke and were in agreement with him. Which clearly shows that racism is very much alive and well in America…and that it is okay to continue to insult and defame black folks no matter who they are or whatever their accomplishments.
So, America is very much in trouble. And folks like the ex-President Jimmy Carter clearly see this.
As Carter points out above, the attacks upon President Obama are rooted in racism. It is a clear 
signals that this country is in deep trouble. And this thing can become exceedingly dangerous. A time boom…in fact.
Therein lays the problem. They can’t see it. Though they continue in their racist ways…acting out at will…and refuse to call their actions what they truly are. But are quick to call you racist for pointing it out to them. Then go into the back rooms slapping each other on the back and laughing over it. It is what racist do.
It is kind of a game to them. The kind of game that they play in law…since most politicans were lawyers before entering into politics. And that game goes like this…you make the guilty party seem like the injured party.
Thus, you flip the script. And that is what the racists politicans in this country are doing…they flip the script on whoever turns around to call their statements or remarks racist. Saying that “they”…the people…or whoever… calling them out for their remarks… that “they” are the racist ones.
Or they say it was a ‘miss statement’…not intended the way it sounded.
It is all a game. But a highly dangerous game.
This country is just a stone’s throw from another outbreak of race riots. There have been many events that have already started to ignite the same kind of fire that took place in the 1960’s which brought about several riots and burnings of many large cities around America.
One major event has taken place was Katrina, and the way the government under Bush and Fema failed to act in any way for several days to save the lives and property of the people of New Orleans. Then the treated of the mostly black victims of Hurricane Katrin has left a bad taste in many black people mouths. Where many people died un-necessarily. And those who managed to survive the hurrican lost their homes and everything that they owned otherwise…many children torn from their parents…and so many people were displaced and still are today.
Another major event in this country to have taken place which has also impacted a lot of black people and other group of poor people in this country, as well…and this is the economy, foreclosures…and a sense of helplessness and for many hopelessness they are feeling. Upon which…when Obama was voted in as President of this country…presented a ray of hope for them all that they all were in dire need of…both black and white over their current set circumstances which had been brought the Republicans under the poor economics of George Bush. And compounded by the Iraqi War.
But the continued belittling and underminding of President Obama may very well give license to 
someone to attempt to take Obama’s life…and there have been calls for it.
But if that were to happen…those politicians laughing and joking now…slapping each other on the back now and thinking that they are 
smart…would soon find themselves in something that they had not considered. And it would and will be bigger than anything that happened when Martin L. King, Jr. was killed.
The times have changed drastically. And they are far more deadly.
Fire hose and police dogs won’t be able to contain what will be unleased if race war were to start in this country. And clearly these ignorant Republican politicians have no idea the type of fir
e that they are playing with.
It is definitely not a joke. And those stupid politicians who think this thing is a joke really shouldconsider their actions…because this country has years of pent up hatred just waiting to spill over.
And they are pushing the envelop…and messing with flood gates.
Oh…and by the way before it gets mis-understood I do not think the above video is funny. But it goes to prove that the people in this country do not respect our President the rest of the world won’t either. Which would really be rather hard to do…since Obama is controll of what other countries want. But many want other countries to not respect Obama…it all part of their game of trying to under-mind him.
http://www.manolith.com/2009/02/20/ny-post-apologizes-for-monkey-obama-cartoon/
Well, hope that you had a beautiful day. Finally, got some rain last night…and they said maybe some more tonight. But today was pretty mild…and fall is definitely in the air.
Well, God bless…
Thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009
THE BISHOP’S WIFE is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book. You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card. Thank you.
Just ignore the text that comes up in the BELOW monitor…just CLICK it few times.
<
2 comments September 28, 2009
McCain… Republican Convention… Lies
Reform…Ch
ange …McCain????
The real agents of change…McCain…or Obama?
It was interesting hearing the Republicans talk about change during their convention as though they were the first to conceptualized that idea of change…or that America was in need of a change.
And man do we need a change.
And that change is by way…of removing the Republicans out of office…getting their hands off of regulating the business of the United States of America. Under Bush this country has hit rock 
bottom. It has gone to places where it hadn’t been since the stock market crash of the 1930’s bringing about the Great American Depression, which lasted into 1940’s.
How could one group of people do so much damage?
From a huge surplus left by Bill Clinton to a massive deficeit that continues growing moment by moment as another bullet is shot or a war tank is moved through the dessert sands of Iraq.
Under Bush has come war, attacks on American soil, home foreclosures, U.S. takeovers of huge companies with the hope of trying to stablize a highly flautering economy. Companies like Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae…who ever thought anything would happen to her…or them?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21cong.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/20/AR2008092000883.html?hpid=topnews
And they say that Bush was an Economics Major.
Well, that is one degree that Yale should go back and reclaim quick before everybody starts wondering just what is Yale teaching its Economic Majors?
It is easy to preach change…but without it being actually in your heart…or having the heart to actually implement it….change just becomes a catch phrase…a means of merely trying to get elected without the hope of making any change. And that is exactly what ‘change’ means to the Republicans. It is a catch phrase…a practical joke that everytime they said it…they almost choke trying not to laugh.
Those Republicans…they have no real desire to change anything. And why would they want to?
From what I heard at the Republican Convention….they’re all happy with the way things are. And why not…they have reaped the benefits from this mess that the Bush Administration has sunken us into.
Who ever heard of paying $4.00/per gallon for gas in America before George Bush got into office?
Even under Bush senior…this country still was under 90 cents per gallon for gasoline.
But whe
n you go into office and the first thing you do is increase your own salary that really should speak volumes to everybody in the country. Bill Clinton as President of the United States only received $200,000 a year…but George Bush felt that wasn’t enough. So, the President’s salary went up to $400,000 a year. That meant that within the first 4 years of Bush’s term he was paid all of what Bill Clinton got for the whole of 8 years Bill was in office. And Bill Clinton never took any 4 week vacations at any time while he was in the office of President of this country…a thing George Bush really loves to do (that’s that party boy attitude he’s had all his life)…and he started taking them shortly after he stole his way into the Oval Office.
Honestly, when you look at the American Economy…Bush has really been on vacation for his entire 8 years that he has been in the White House. Well, maybe if he had…then maybe we wouldn’t be here where we are right now.
What a mess!
So, yes…drinking champagne and watching their stocks vested in fuel, food goods etc. go soaring through the roof those Republicans loved that.
Why shouldn’t they?
They’re making money. That’s why they are against better health packages for employees, more taxes for the richer Americans, help to the poor, disabled, sick and disenfranchised
When you get right down to it….those…those…those REPUBLICANS are a selfish bunch!
They could care less about anybody but themselves.
So, for the most part they enjoy their standing in America…they are vested. Vested in things remaining just as they are.
When you looked out upon the people who filled the coliseum where the Republican National Convention took place…it looked more like a meeting of the Wall Street Klan. They for the most part looked like a bunch of stuff shirt business people (who all by the way looked sad to be at their own convention). The Republican Convention certainly didn’t seem to have a cross section of people from all sectors of America as were the people that attended the Democratic National Convention. And besides that…the Republican Convention didn’t have one person who was just an ordinary Joe or Jane who came up to tell their story…like the Democratic Convention did. And all of those stories were quite moving and compelling…as to what the Republicans have done to the American Economy and how people…everyday people are truly suffering.
Not only did there seem to be a deep difference between the 2 types of crowds attending the various Political Conventions…but also…the Republican National Convention was geared towards personality and had nothing to do with what the maverick McCain would do differently for America. In fact, the whole Republican Convention was one big war hero story. It would have been great for Memorial Day or something…but it didn’t speak to what McCain plans to do for America.
The Republicans attacked Obama…his eloquence and ability to rally the crowds. But they 
failed to offer up any meat on a Republican agenda. They talked ‘change’…and spoke about ‘reform’…but never said ‘how’…or what differently they were going to do. Because the reality is…it is all talk as it has always been when it comes to the Republicans.
The Republican make promises…but only continue to enrich the rich and could care less about those who are struggling to keep above the water…as the Republicans steadily watch their bank accounts grow having invested in energy, oil and whatever else that is bleeding us into nothingness…we who don’t have their deep pockets…and have to work hard at trying to make every dollar stretch as far as we can get it.
McCain may well have been a hero…but having served in the military and making the decision to stay with his troops is not something that many others also did not decide to do when they had the option of doing something else. I have watched stories of such people all the time on PBS. And no one has said of them-
“This qualifies you to become the next President of the United States.”
If so, then we would see more military people running for political office along with mostly lawyers and other professional types who choose to become Senators, Governors, Mayors etc… But no, you don’t see them…those just plain military people…and if they were to stand up and say-
“I can do a better job than of those guys.”
Somebody would tell them to sit down….and that they just did not have the experience or whatever else it takes to be in politics.
So, therefore, military service is no prerequisite to be President of the United States…nor can it be a substitute for qualifications or experience. When your military record is all that can stand on or all that can be said about you…one really has to wonder about John McCain. And believe me that Republican Convention was all about John McCain’s military record. Not once did I hear about some bill or anything else he managed to push through.
I say, give me a person who knows what it is to serve people though he may have not have been Governor or a corporation executive…but a honest caring person who has made it his life work to serve the everyday woman and man. And that is the history of Barack Obama.
“Drill, baby…drill.”
Sounds like the Republicans don’t mind destroying what little lands this country has set aside in order to protect certain eco-systems and various species of wildlife, foliage etc. As long as they can make money the Republicans could care less about anything else.
Is this not the very reason that the investigators laid claim to about Hurrican Katrina?
Did they not say that that if the wet lands had not been removed that perhaps New Orleans might have had the flooding it suffered?
It was the eco-system that had been destoryed in order to increase the city limits…and in the end nature dealt New Orleans a death defying blow by the name of Katrina.
But destorying the eco-systems mean nothing to the Republicans. Because they reap all the benefits and none of the fall-out from such decisions.
Money is the only thing most Republicans put first.
That sign being waved by many at the Republicans at their National Convention which said ‘Prosperity’ looked so much like a Hersey’s Chocolate wrapping…to me that I started craving a Hersey’s bar for the remainder of the night. And finally got one just this week.
Prosperity…not change is what the Republicans want. Its their same old game…they’re just trying to repackage it and give it a new name. And during their own convention those Republicans were bold enough to display large signs reading just that…”Prosperity.”
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761584403/great_depression_in_the_united_states.html
Remember to get registered if you are not…the clock is ticking. And be sure if you are registered to go down to the Voter Registration Office in your city or town and double check on your registration…just to make sure you won’t run into any problems on election day. You vote counts.
Well, God bless…and enjoy the rest of your day. And thanks for reading…and please remember to share this blog address with your friends….‘…pass it on…’ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com
God bless…and thanks for reading ©2008
Add a comment September 20, 2008
Leaking tanks and FEMA… more FEMA problems
What is it with 
FEMA?
For FEMA to be a government agency it seems to be littered with such managerial problems.
First the contaminated Katrina trailers…now over 270 fuel tanks with thousands of gallons of fuel which are stored both underground and some above…could be leaking fuel both into the soil and water…causing yet more FEMA contamination problems…but this around the country.
We could all come face to face with this FEMA problem…as it could become a national problem. Because those tanks have been placed all around the United States.
How is it that this organization…FEMA could go all these years with a nonchalant attitude concerning these tanks and their possible hazards to us all?
How can it be that they were so irresponsible in the maintainance and c
are of these tanks?
These tankers store up to 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel or as much as 10,000 gallons in gasoline…and they were placed around the country in various locations during the Cold War.
Can you remember when that was?
It was during the 60’s and we are now nearing the end of 2008. So, if you do the math that is…huh?
Huh?
Nearly 50 years ago…depending upon when in the 60’s these tanks were either laid in the grou
nd or stored otherwise.
A statement released said that FEMA needed to inspect these tanks for possible leaks of hazardous substances that make local drinking water undrinkable.
Unbelieveable. And it has been a problem long seen by the FEMA people and other government officials as a looming potential problem. Yet no attention as been paid to it.
It is the same “I could care less” attitude that FEMA had when it knew that it was giving out contaminated housing to the Katrina victims…but they could have cared less. FEMA gave them those highly formaldehyde poisoned trailers knowingly and never looked back.
And we pay these people with our tax dollars?????
This problem can create mammouth and irreversible health issues. Leaks can lead to higher risk of cancer, kidney damage and nervous system disorders…which they will, of course, claim that the illness could not be tied to the leaks…because maybe your family was predisposed to the illness based upon your family history.
Yeah, and I guess so…since nobody every told you that there were FEMA fuel tanks buried somewhere near your family home for nearly 50 years. And you were wondering why everybody was coming down with cancer or some type of serious disorder.
A single gallon of fuel can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.
This is serious business…and we all need to be made aware…and stay on top of this story.
CLICK BELOW to read more on this story.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/leaking_fuel_tanks
God bless… www.bsmith101.wordpress.com pass it on… ©2008
Add a comment August 13, 2008
Katrina…FEMA… responsibility…
FEMA says they should be f
ree of prosecution regarding the Katrina trailers…because they were responding to a catastrophe.
And what about the catastrophe and exceeding grief beyond all relief that FEMA knowingly produced by supplying the Hurricane Katrina victims with trailers laced with toxic poison?
The government more so than others should always be held to the utmost standards of responsibility and the law.
A government should protect its people…not throw them to the wolves and then turn its backs on the people it claims to represent.
That is exactly what FEMA did. FEMA threw the Katrina victims to the trailer manufacturing wolves knowing that the housing by way of highly contaminated trailers given to them would be hazardous and toxic to each and every person and family that entered 
them.
The FEMA trailers used to housed hundreds of thousands of Katrina victims were cheaply made…and made out the cheapest and most dangerous and deadly building materials money could buy…manufactured using formaldehyde a poisonous cancerous contaminant. By having done so…FEMA managed to get more trailers for their dollars…but at what cost to the Katrina victims?
Their lives…the life of every man, woman and child…that spent a night or even a few hours in one of the Katrina trailers given to them as temporary replacement housing my their government.
The cheap hazardous housing sanctioned by FEMA…the Federal Emergency Managment Agency, an arm of Homeland Security of the United States of America…those FEMA trailers given to those who had lost everything during a raging hurricane which hit the Gulf Coast with vast davastation everywhere…they were given trailers which failed to meet federal safety standards of this country…and that the U.S. government, FEMA and the trailer manufacturers knew to be highly hazardorous, toxic and would be very deadly to the people who would inhabit them.
Yes, the U.S. government was negligent…very much so…and should be held accountable, as well as, all of the manufacturers, who supplied trailers to FEMA for the purpose of housing Katrina 
victims…because they knowingly signed the death warrant…they did it knowingly…they knowingly signed the death warrant of hundred of thousands of people who had already lost everything…but their lives during Katrina. And no amount of money is ever going to give that back to them.
And they did it all…for thirty pieces of silver…FEMA and those trailer manufacturers.
For FEMA to seek to take the owness off of themselves simply by saying…they did it because they were dealing with a catastrophe is more than irresponsible…but proaches upon callousness.
Gulfstream one of the manufacturers who got a heffy chuck of the FEMA money for suppling trailers to Hurricane Katrina victims…is a huge company with lots of luxury trailers.
How can a company that makes trailers like this want to provide such cheap and harmful housing to anyone?
How can you do that to people who have already lost everything?
It was like feeding them poison.
And that is exactly what this government’s agency, FEMA along with Gulfstream and everyone else involved and aided in helping it to happen…it is what they did. They fed the Katrina victims poison…they eat poison, slept in poison, drank poison, watched televison in poison…their children played in it and slept in it etc…and they all sucked in that poison with each and every breath that they took.
And FEMA, Gulfstream and every other manufacturer involved knew of the extremely high elevated levels of formaldehyde in the Katrina trailers. FEMA and its manufacturers chose to use those matterials and to give them to the Katrina victims…who have suffered all types of victimization since Katrina…that has made their survival through the hurricane look like child’s play. Having survived Katrina…Katrina’s victims have come to find that man’s greed has proven to be more deadly and dangerous than a hurricane.
Hurricane Katrina victims are now slowly dying from the formaldehyde contamination of their FEMA trailers…them and their children. You can read more on this by clicking on the Links below.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1645312,00.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080723/ap_on_re_us/toxic_trailers
http://www.pbase.com/septembermorn/katrina_was_no_lady
Well, we have finally gotten a break in the weather. I should be running around and trying to get as much done as I can…but… ….well, I’m on vacation.
F
inally, yesterday started buying some food for my rib business…but I quickly ran out of money. So, I am still in need of a few things before I can get started. I am, however, watching the clock and calendar…since I have the grill…everyday I’m not up and running…the way I see it is this…I’m loosing money. It is just the way it is.
So, I’m hoping that before the weekend is out I’ll be up and going. And I have already set my goal to sell 50 sandwiches, 50 lemonades…would be a good start. Then I would want to double it next week. My goal is low because we’re not advertising…and looking to only start off with one or two days from the yard. You would be surprised just how much traffic goes pass my parent’s house.
Hey…you’ve got to start right where you are. Sometimes it is the only way to go.
Well, God bless…. and have a beautiful day.
ps…there has been some flap over what the City of Denver plans to do with homeless people during the 2008 Democratic National Convention on the 25th of August.
- They plan on allowing the homeless to stay longer during th
e day in the shelters - They will be issuing movie tickets to them
- They will give them tickets to the museum
- They plan to give them bus tickets to get around town to various events for which they are giving them tickets to go
To the homeless it will seem like Christmas in August.
Obviously, it is an effort to keep the homeless away from the convention and the many people who will be invading Denver…and some say to make the homeless invisible. But to a group of people who usually find themselves being chased out of every place like they are vipers…it will be a welcomed treat.
Oh, yes…I almost forgot to give you your second Chinese word…or saying. xie xie… it means thank you. It is pronounced cher shay… don’t go by the way it looks…not all Chinese words sound as you would think. Some do but they are very few…far and in between.
Now, I have taught you 2 things in Chinese. So, if you are going to the Olympics you will find that these words will come in handy.
And since I am teaching you…let me teach you this too. Bu dong….it means I don’t understand.
This pronounced as it looks ….boo dung …is how it is pronounced.
Also, in China their negative ….is “bu” …there is no “no” in Chinese as in other languages.
Well, enjoy China if you go to the Olympics. ©2008
2 comments July 24, 2008
Government Responsibility/Corporate Culpability
Just finished reading a very distrubing story about the FEMA trailers used to housed many…I don’t know…maybe thousands…possibly hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims. Seems that the trails were highly toxic and found to have extremely high levels of formaldehyde in them.
Currently there is a mass group law suit againts the manufacturers of those trailers, of which Gulf Stream Coach was a primary contracted provider. Now, Gulf Stream is a pretty big trailer manufacturer in this country, of which many of their products can be seen whizzing by you on the highway as many people own Gulf Stream mobile trailer units in this country.
The problem with the story is that the manufacturers, all of them…not just Gulf Stream…they all knew about these very high levels of formaldehyde in their trailers, and said nothing about it. They gave their contaminated trailers to those people who had already lost much of what they owned, if not everything…and didn’t think twice about it.
The Katrina victims who finally got a trailer later found themselves coming down with nose bleeds, dizziness, shortness of breath and blood running out of their ears etc…etc… After having survived Katrina now to find themselves bombarded with mysterious health symptoms…which they probably thought were a side affect to the horrible conditions they had to endure following Katrina…such as stagnant water, decaying bodies, human waste and death all around them etc. Only to find out that their latest series of woes are due to high levels of contamination which are attributed to egregious levels of formaldehyde (poision) all through their newfound living quarters which this government had given them.
The second part of this story which is equally distrubing is that these trailers typically are manufacturered with materials that commonly use formaldehyde as a preservative. Which means the whole structure is laden with poison.
I don’t understand that.
If you have to go through your house and remove lead poisoning…how in the world can companies be allowed to manufacturer products for unsuspecting consumers that are laden with contaminates which can cause cancer, poision their system and kill them?
And we are not talking about small ticketed items here.
Trailer homes and mobile units are very expensive.
Since there was such a back-order on the FEMA trailers one can only surmise that the products that the manufacturers used in mass producing the Katrina trailers were made of even cheaper and more heavily laden contaminates then usual.
What a shame.
Some of the Katrina victims waited months while others waited more than a year for their trailers. They slept in rotted out cars, filty water washed houses and anywhere they could lay their heads with the hope of one day getting back on their feet…only to find blood streaming out of their noses, pouring out of their ears and trying to fight bouts of dizzness.
They survived Katrina…but not man’s greed.
Now, the fat cats sit in Washington, DC trying to determine who is to blame…while the Bush Administration trys to keep the fire off the manufacturers, which they hired and contracted…and probably divvied up the money with.
Frist came Bush, then came 9/11, then the bombing of Iraq…and then Katrina hit. FEMA and fraud, 
inflated resume’s, multi-billion dollar contracts and scam artists from all over…including from Texas and the White House. Everybody was getting theirs…except the people who really needed it.
Made homeless by a storm now the poor Katrina victims are faced with yet another blow…toxicants in their body.
They may have survived Katrina but the formaldehyde in their system is a battle they won’t be able to overcome. We just pray it won’t be painful…and all the money in the world can’t give them back their health.
Now, they have truly been robbed of everything.
This should not go un-addressed…not at all.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080709/ap_on_go_co/toxic_trailers_6
…God bless… ©2008
Add a comment July 10, 2008
Bsmith101's Weblog 
