Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is under fire big time for saying that Barack Obama could be president because he is light-skinned and doesn't speak with a Negro dialect unless he has to. Those comments were made in either 2006 or 2007; the timeline is in dispute and that's not really important in this situation. What is clear is that Reid unwisely voiced points that were thought by many. Except for that antiquated 'Negro' terminology, Senator Reid made the same assessment a lot of whites probably made and some blacks also; let's not kid ourselves.
To be politically attractive, candidates are advised to look and speak a certain way. Candidate Barack Obama fit that mold and his Ivy League education sealed the deal. Am I a Harry Reid fan? No but I'm not hating on him either. I also don't think his comments were nearly as racially-charged as Trent Lott's 'Dixiecrat' comment, that 'Barack the Magic Negro' song and controversial comments by others.
The GOP is attempting to keep this topic in the media by claiming 'double standard' in the treatment of Republicans who have made racial comments compared to Democrats who do the same. Should Harry Reid resign? No. Is Harry Reid a racist? I don't know. Is he out-of-touch? Absolutely --- as are the folks over at the Census Bureau.
Remarks of President Barack Obama -- As Prepared for Delivery United States Military Academy at West Point December 1, 2009
Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan – the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my Administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It is an honor for me to do so here – at West Point – where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our country.
To address these issues, it is important to recall why America and our allies were compelled to fight a war in Afghanistan in the first place. We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, nineteen men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of the passengers on board one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more.
Today is December1, World AIDS Day. It's estimated that 33 million people are living with AIDS. Some have not been tested and don't know know they are infected while others, especially in developing countries, don't have access to life-saving treatment.
Far too many people around the world are still dying from HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS can be treated and prevented. Know your HIV/AIDS status. Get tested.
HIV is a virus that damages human immune cells. It weakens the immune system and, without treatment, leads most infected people to develop AIDS.
Like all viruses, HIV infects the cells of a living organism in order to make new copies of itself. HIV can only be transmitted in certain ways and the purpose of this page is to explain how you can and can’t become infected.
HIV is found in blood and other body fluids such as semen and vaginal fluids. It cannot live for long outside the body, so to be infected with HIV you need to allow some body fluid from an infected person to get inside your body. The virus can enter the body via contact with the bloodstream or by passing through delicate mucous membranes, such as inside the vagina, rectum or urethra.
The most common ways that people become infected with HIV are:
having sexual intercourse with an infected partner.
injecting drugs using a needle or syringe that has been used by someone who is infected.
as a baby of an infected mother, during pregnancy, labour or delivery, or through breastfeeding.
Treatment costs around 40 cents a day.
The results are nothing short of miraculous.
Someone on death's door can be brought back to life. In as little as 90 days.
This transformation is called the Lazarus Effect.
A new documentary called The Lazarus Effect, will be coming this Spring to HBO. Click here to find out more.
WORLD AIDS DAY
Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day theme for 2009 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.
According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.
The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.
The truth about Tiger Woods’ early morning automobile crash is still elusive as public curiosity escalates. It seems that Tiger Woods and his team (including his wife) are set on keeping the real story about his accident private. Unfortunately, that’s not the reality when you are a public figure.
Inarguably, the circumstances surrounding this incident are questionable at best. Woods’ rumored infidelity with Rachel Uchitel and the expected confirmation and denial by those involved add fuel to the gossip fire.
Tiger Woods is one of those squeaky-clean celebs that one does not expect to hear anything negative about. He has managed to avoid that spotlight until now. No matter what is known publicly and the speculation by insiders, Woods, and his wife know what happened. Once the incident occurred outside their home and public property damage resulted, that was all she wrote, the media would certainly grab it and yeast it up as if it was a major international incident.
If Woods wanted to do damage control, he should have spoken to the public on Saturday instead of allowing Paris Hilton, TMZ and media outlets to make this situation a major story. Now that Tiger has refused to meet with police a third time, it really doesn’t look good for him in his desire for privacy.
Could Tiger have had an affair? Sure, he’s no different from anyone else. His celebrity status makes him even more desirable and folks don’t care that he’s married with children. If we just think about our lives and people that we know, it’s easy to imagine the challenges Woods and his wife have to endure. I see how women push up on men without Woods' wealth and status; his marriage has to be super strong to last.
Then there is the business aspect to this situation. Tiger has made gazillions from endorsements. In addition to his supernatural golfing talent, there’s his image --- and it’s not of a philanderer. Sponsors will drop him like a hot potato is his image is tainted. Ask Kobe Bryant.
My unsolicited advice to Tiger: come clean and do it now. While you may want to control this situation, you can’t. Talking now is much better than feeding the media frenzy later.
On Friday, November 20, 2009, the Senate Ethics Committee issued a formal public admonition to Senator Roland W. Burris (D., IL). The sternly worded admonition is peppered with phrases that basically call Burris a liar.
He seemed less than genuine from the moment he was injected in to the Blagojevich drama and the charges of racism should he not be seated just added to the seemliness of Burris’ appointment and contributed to the then circus-like atmosphere.
Burris was tainted by his appointment process and his tenure in the U.S. Senate will be the same. All of the people involved in the Blago drama and appointment of Burris will have to answer for their actions regardless of the weak punishment by the Senate panel.
The energy folks put into trying to scam folks out of personal information is amazing. The e-mail below was sent to me with the expectation that I would send my personal information, including the password to my e-mail account.
Be very careful if you receive this e-mail message and don't disclose any personal information. We are fast approaching the holiday season and the crooks willbe out in force soon. Be careful on the internet and in person. Just be careful.
This is a really cool experiment set in Odenplan, Stockholm. How do you think people would react in let’s say…New York City? Are folks in the U.S. too jaded to see the fun in simple things like walking?
Today’s posts from most bloggers throughout the United States will likely be about the passage of the health care reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. I’d planned to write about that also and then I opened an e-mail about the kidnapping and assault of a blogger, Yoani Sánchez, in Cuba.
Sanchez, a brilliant and well-educated woman, is a thorn in the side of the Cuban government. She received tremendous media coverage recently as she and a friend were abducted and assaulted. Of course, Sanchez took to the blogosphere after the horrendous encounter.
Yoani Sánchez is also incredibly courageous. Here, in the United States, many of us probably take for granted access to the many methods of communicating with others and also the right to free speech we so quickly choose to use when we are angry about an issue or situation.
Check out her blog, Generacion Y, and her network of fellow bloggers in Cuba. Those folks go through a whole lot of trouble just to have access to the internet and share their opinion with others.
It is more than a stretch to proclaim the Democrats’ health care bill a greater threat to Americans than terrorists. Has it gotten that bad for the GOP that injecting such fear is perceived as a viable means of persuading the public to support opposition to the Dems' bill? This is a new low in partisan politics.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
You Are Humor
You love to laugh at life, and if possible, get others to laugh along with you.
You believe there's always a humorous side to everything. And your sense of humor ranges from upbeat to very dark.
You are outrageous and very honest. You're often the only one willing to say what everyone else is thinking.
You are witty and verbally talented. You like to play with words and say things in interesting ways.
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