Someone in the area knows the thugs who did this.
Someone in the area should be telling on those criminals who did this.
But, it appears, people are not telling the police.
There needs to be a round up.
This is one of the reasons why I think the No Child Left Behind act is bad policy:
The majority of Maryland's fourth-graders are either reading whizzes or they are stumbling miserably. It all depends on who is doing the testing.
If it's the federal government, only 32 percent of Maryland's fourth-graders are proficient at reading. But if state educators are accurate, 81 percent of fourth-graders have met a passing standard.
A renewed debate over testing erupted across the country after the release of a new round of national assessments in reading and math that showed enormous gaps between the national tests and the state tests required under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Some educators say states might be setting standards that are too low, in essence dumbing-down their tests to meet a federal requirement that says 100 percent of schoolchildren should be able to pass the exams by 2014.
Monday Night Football leaving the "over the air" channels and going to ESPN is the death of an era.
Sad.
This is to the people who write "anti-Kwanzaa" screeds this time of year.
1. Yes, it's made up. Karenga has said that from day one.
2. Other "made up" celebrations include Mardi Gras, Mother's Day, Valentines Day, and St. Patrick's Day.
Karenga never said it was an African celebration. He said he took parts of different African cultures and created a "harvest festival" like celebration.
OH, do you really want to go here?
1. The birth of Christ, Our Savior, did not likely happen on the 25th of December. It was "created" to overtake the pagen rituals that occured during the time.
2. How many Christians celebrate Christmas singing about Santa Claus and Rudoloph?
1. I've been to one Kwanzaa celebration. I attended in Philly and Karenga was a speaker. At this point, I'll mention that there were a fair number of whites in attendence, and it wasn't just news reporters.
2. Many people come from different parts of the country to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Did you know that there are actually 2 separate Mardi Gras parades happening at the same time? One done by whites, the other by Blacks? Did you know that until 2004, I think, they never even "greeted" each other?
1. Most American whites have never been to Ireland but does that stop them from celebrating St. Patrick's Day?
2. Most Americans, period, have never left the country.
No, it doesn't. Some "Black churches" even celebrate both.
Take the Kwanzaa hating and step. Ya'll are just spouting nonsense.
For the record: I don't celebrate it. I'm just sick of the silliness the haters go through on trying to shut it down.
I really don't like what I am about to do, but this is another moment, to me, where something must be said.
Again, off of this post, in the comment section:
But the question I really have for anyone is this:
Muslims in this country are recruiting blacks to come on board their religion of peace train faster than any other ethnic group. We have people like Mumia, Farrahkan, Muhhammed Ali, etc who have all climbed aboard the peace train in what they believe is a retaliation to whitey. Muslims play on black’s notion’s that whitey enslaved me and puts me down. What I find ironic is that Muslims were about 50% responsible for fueuling the TransAltantic Slave trade - Slaves breed in Western Africa were marched to the ports in the Sudan were they were traded for rum, tobacco and cotton. The Muslims were the ones who put Farrahkan’s ancestors on the boats that went to not only the US, but Cuba and South America. On top of that the Muslims were responsible for the death of over 128 African Slaves in their lands during the height of the Africa Slave Trade. The majority of these Africans who died were young girls and women sold as sex slaves throughout the middle east.
So why do blacks so hate America, but join the ranks of a Religion that did more damage (and is still doing damage today) to their ancestors and country than the US ever did.
Cowgirl
I'm sorry, but this is the sort of race baiting, making the Black Boogie Man garbage that I cannot let stand.
My response:
The supposition is wrong.
If Blacks hated America as you so assume, Blacks wouldn’t “disproportionately” join the armed services.
If Blacks hated America, those who did join the service and/or those who have clearances, would have a higer rate of espionage than can account for the general population of those who hold clearances.
The NOI Muslims make up 0.1%, that’s 1/10th of 1% of Black Americans. Black Americans, overwhelmingly, are Christian. The next largest group of Black Muslims are no more than 1% of the Black population.
So, you just created a boogy man of about 1.1% of the Black population.
So tell me why your comments should not be considered race baiting.
OK, now the reply?
Please get my comments straight - It has nothing to do with race baiting - it is factual.
Black Americans are the fast growing segment of the total population jumping on the Muslim bandwagon here in the US. Most of the recruiting is done in US Prison where Blacks make up a disportionately amount of the prison population. ...
Fact 1: After leaving jail, most of the people who joined Islam, don't maintain the adherence to it.
Fact 2: We are STILL talking about a Black Mulsim population of about 1-2% of the Black population.
Again, that's 1-2% of the Black population. Wow.
By the way, please don’t start on the poverty band wagon....
Given, I never mentioned poverty, and I am on record as saying poverty is not an excuse, why would that poster go there?
Farrakan, Ali, Mumia are Black Muslims who make racists statements about America and whitey keeping them down and enslaving them. Yet they belong to a Religion that has done more damage in the past and today to the African nations and Their African ancestors than another other nation, country or group of people that exists today or ever existed. These are all facts and have nothing to do with race baiting.
When a person writes "asks", So why do blacks so hate America, and then goes on to make 1-2% of the population as representative of the entire population, why is that NOT race baiting?
"That flag has always represented, number one, treason and, number two, a separation of white people from Jews, niggers and homosexuals. And you can't change that. You can't tell me I'm never going to be able to look at that flag and think, ‘Ah, it's my heritage, my, you know...’ Never,” says Freeman.
The below are comments I put on LaShawn Barber's blog in response to this post.
I just shake my head and wonder how I see positives and negatives while others seem to see just the negative or just want to focus on that, but not both.
In context, there was nothing wrong with what Morgan Freeman said. Those in my circle of the universe who heard the complete comment, in context, agreed with his comment. Most said that when Black history is accurately engrained in American history, then Black History Month, which is just designation, can “go away”. Wasn’t that the intention Dr. Carter G. Woodson creating Black History Week in the first place? Why does that bit of history get removed from the picture? Pun intended.
OK, now a specific comment:
Rarely, if ever, do you hear black people expressing disgust for out-of-control crime rates or lecturing other blacks about their responsibility to stay out of the criminal justice system.
Strange, I hear it on a not infrequent basis. My circle of travel includes poor to well off and I hear it across the boundaries.
But, hey, I’m considered “liberal” by some and thus can be discounted.
BTW, others consider me "conservative", so I think that says A LOT about the definitions.
Honestly, between the negativity coming out of public Black liberals and the comments coming out of public Black conservatives, it’s a wonder more Blacks don’t blow their brains out (drinking, drugging, or literally) in dispair.
Merry Christmas.
I'm really upset about the use of happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas.
This time of year is about Christmas which is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
If you are upset about people saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, I trust:
If not...
*S*M*A*C*K*
That cyber pimp smack was for you to knock some damn sense into your head!!!!
Where are your priorities?
So what if store management tells its employees to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"?
What is Christmas really about anyway?
Merry Christmas.
Going around the 'net, or reading opinion pieces, or listening to talk shows, I often read/hear people say something like, "Despite what Blacks think, racism is NOT the number one problem facing Black America.
OK, for me that's a no brainer; it isn't Black America's number one problem. What I want to know is, what percentage of Blacks believe it IS Blacks number one problem?
I suspect that most Blacks will say that it's not, and if that's the case, it's another issue of critics of the Black community setting up a straw man for them to defeat.
Does anyone want to help me find such a poll of Black folk?
Just some thoughts on "technology":
I worked on a project that had scanning component involved. People scanned items, OCR'ed them, and then software would make it available for searching. If Google wants to take older books and go through the boring, manpower intensive task of scanning them, let them spend their cash. A forward thinking publisher would make a deal with Google that would benefit them both.
Watching football in HD is awesome. The only thing I don't like is that they seem to amplify the crowd sound and minimize the sports casters.
When your bank says that you can pay bills online, make sure that they just aren't cutting checks and mailing them for you.
I don't know why, but yesterday I was thinking about "old school thought".
So, here's what it means to me:
Updates below:
To show what I mean, here are some examples of sayings I grew up hearing:
I'm making it official.
I'm leaving Vision Circle.
Three years ago approximately, Michael Bowen came to me with an idea. He'd just announced that he was a Republican, and he was interested in creating a space that would bring together Ellisonian style ideas....old school ideas...and Republican party politics. Oldschoolrepublicans.net was what he called it.
I was down with the program, for a few reasons.
1. I have come to recognize that however many political parties we have, it is important that they be integrated. The competition makes the country better, and it leaves black people better off. Given the fact that the Republican party has been pretty much hijacked by idiots and ne'erdowells, I figured that we needed more people like Mike IN the GOP making moves. Best case we could use the blog to take black policy platforms and give them market-oriented spins.
2. I've spent most of my adult life collaborating on behalf of black people, beginning with my years at Michigan. In as much as Mike and I had done tag teams before, whether on Salon's Table Talk or on Gravity, or on Cafe Utne, I thought this was a natural segue into bigger and better things.
3. Mike asked me. And while we disagree (often!), I still consider him one of my closest partners on the net.
We changed the name from Oldschoolrepublicans.net to Vision Circle, and sometime later added a trio of brothers. Craig Nulan we knew from the Afrofuturist list. Jamal Young I've known personally for some 15 years. He was part of the Michigan crew that had such a powerful influence on my own intellectual development. And Darkstar I'd known through email circles as long as I'd been on the internet, going all the way back to the SCAA days.
I never thought of myself as a blogger....still don't. But when we were on, I don't think there were many people--bloggers or not-- who could roll with us. We weren't really about taking on other bloggers...we were really on our own search. For better answers...for better questions.
And to a certain extent this search is what caused me to leave. I recognized that my real writing--my book, my academic articles, my commentaries--had to take precendence. That was the only way I could find those answers and those questions that I was looking for.
I want to thank Mike for putting me down. Craig and Jamal for accepting our invitation and making the site fly, and Ed for bringing in new traffic by being a vocal tsetse fly on other blogs. I want to thank those of you who came in day after day and stuck your head in, or linked us (even when we may not have returned the favor). I was truly blessed to have had this opportunity.
Oh. Where to now? Here's where you'll find me if you're looking. I don't imagine I'll be doing anything more than putting up content--my academic papers, my commentaries from Africana.com and Blackvoices.com, my radio commentaries, probably my blog entries from here. But we'll see.
Gametime.
Dr. Lester K. Spence
At work I was listening to a Prince 3 CD set, "The Hits and the B Sides".
All of a sudden, the song hit and I forgot how much I liked this one line in Pope:
"You can be the president,
I'd rather be the pope.
You can be the side effect.
I'd rather be the dope!"
When Clinton was in office, I believed that the Republicans and conservatives who were crowing about the low moral of the war fighters, "because of Bill Clinton", was taking things too far. In the case of Clinton, it was another case of the "opposition" going too far.
Now, we have this statement by Rep. John Murtha:
Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth," Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) told a civic group.
I thought in the past, and I think now, that the enemies of the U.S. read and view our news media. Statements like that quoted, does nothing but give strength to our enemies as well has hurt the moral of our war fighters.
Murtha should know better.