MEMPHIS (IFS) - Governor Romney's pick of Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wis.), newly announced Republican vice presidential running mate could be Romney's last hope to dislodge Obama from the White house in November. It was said that Ryan was almost a professional skier. I attempted skiing back in the day at Antelope Valley College, in Lancaster, CA. as a kid hanging out with the girls. To be honest, I liked the downhill runs, it was fast and easy getting back to the lodge and the fireplace. Dislodging Obama with a downhill run is not going to do it. Many on the policies that Obama endorsed were written by Ryan. This is going to be a good one. Finally a race to the end with Ryan trying to defend his record and Romney try to maintain Ryan's record that Romney wants to make it his own. Do You get that? You just buy a record that you want, make the guy the VP and you stand on his record and claim it as your record that you are trying to promote. It makes dollars and "scents" to me, I think?
Monday, August 13, 2012
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Memphis 911 - CALL 901-545-2677 for Police Services
Memphis (IFS) - There is no Memphis 911 emergency telephone services. If you call 911 you get an operator about three minutes later, then they ask you "do you need an Ambulance or fire department?" If your answer is none of the above, they hang up.
Memphis 911 - CALL 901-545-2677 for Police Services.
They answer the telephone on the first two rings and where to direct your call. Very fast. On my GPS unit it gives me eight locations for the Memphis police department; all of the telephone numbers are disconnected. It took me over thrity minutes to get a live operator and a police officer to my location. This is very sad.
Memphis 911 - CALL 901-545-2677 for Police Services.
They answer the telephone on the first two rings and where to direct your call. Very fast. On my GPS unit it gives me eight locations for the Memphis police department; all of the telephone numbers are disconnected. It took me over thrity minutes to get a live operator and a police officer to my location. This is very sad.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Decline of American Monuments and Memorials as told by Michael J. Lewis
The Decline of American Monuments and Memorials
as told by
Michael J. Lewis
By Kenny Smith for IFS News Writers
Dr. Lewis further charges forward that the memorial managed
to misquote the great man: Not only did he not say, “ I was a drum major for
justice, peace and righteousness,” but Dr. Lewis’ put his actual words were a
hypothetical statement put in someone’s else’s mouth.
Well, the only thing I might say to that statement by Dr.
Lewis is, the only piles of rocks the average citizen will get is a headstone,
if lucky with a dash in the middle of the day your were born and the day you
died. That dash in the middle is all anyone
with remember of you. Your deeds, your
glory days, your loves, your hates, your dislikes, and even your reputation
will all come down to that dash in the middle of your piece of rock – that is,
if you are lucky to get one.
I am sure that Dr. King where ever he may be does not mine
that he rock was carved in China Georgia
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Memphis Fire Stations: The Next Damsels in Distress?
Memphis
Fire Stations: The Next Damsels in
Distress?
By Lee
Harris, Memphis City Council
North
Memphis, Frayser, Uptown & Mud Island
A few
short weeks ago, l learned about cuts to fire services across the city, cuts
that would have a direct impact on communities in North Memphis and the
Downtown core. Since that time, l have been one of the major critics of these
cuts.
However,
long before I joined the Council, the plan to ''realign'' (as the cuts have
been called) Fire Services was already out of the gate. As l understand it, the
process to realign and cut Fire Services began at least a couple of years ago,
prior to my arrival on the City Council.
Nonetheless,
I have fought hard to try to stop the realignment from affecting our
neighborhoods or at least to slow the process down. I have visited several of
the affected fire stations. I have talked at length with firefighters at Station
28 (1510 Chelsea Avenue), Station 19 (2248 Chelsea Avenue), and Station 11
(1826 Union Avenue).
I called
for a special City Council meeting to discuss the realignment. I also scheduled
time for the Council to discuss restoring funding to the libraries that were
slated to close.
At that
meeting, the Council approved a plan to restore funding to the libraries, When
the discussion turned to Fire Services, the director of Fire Services assured
me and the rest of the Council that public safety would not be compromised by
these changes. As the plan had been in place for a couple of years, no changes
were made by the Council. However, I was still worried about this realignment
process.
My next
move was to try to restore funding for Fire Services in the budget. My hope was
that if I restored money in the budget for Fire Services, we could at least
save the ladder truck at Station 28 on Chelsea.
I talked
with the Mayor's Chief Financial Officer, Roland McElrath, to figure out how
much money we would need to fund that ladder truck. I then worked with
Councilwoman Fullilove, among other members of the Council, on a proposal to
restore $150,000 in funding to Fire Services so that Station 28 could keep its
ladder truck in service.
That
proposal that I drafted to restore $150,000 to Fire Services to maintain that
ladder truck was amended at a Council meeting and, ultimately, it was
unsuccessful.
Again, I
am against the Fire Services cuts that affect North Memphis and the Downtown
core. After pretty extensive investigation, I am not convinced these service
cuts are the right move for the city and I have worked hard to try to slow down
these cuts.
The
communities in these areas have a high number of historic homes that can create
a real fire hazard in the case of an emergency. These communities are dense,
with homes built closer together, which means that a fire can spread quickly
from home to home.
Our
communities also have a high number of elderly residents who rely on fire
services. For these reasons, l think we
need fully equipped fire stations and I will continue to do what I can.
Lee Harris
Memphis
City Council-North Memphis,
Frayser,
Uptown & Mud Island
www.leeharrisformemphis.com
Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur
Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur
Book
Review:
The
Opposing Self:
When
Social Pressures Stand In the Way Of Black Success
By Alec
Solomita of The Weekly Standard Magazine
Ron
Christie book begins with a jolt. The
lawyer, political pundit, and former aide to President George W. Bush tells a
story of his younger self, an eager, star struck - and African – American –
junior legislative assistant -union legislative assistant working for a
Republican congressman from Florida, Craig T. James, who served on the House
Veterans Affairs Committee. At the
committee’s first hearing, the 22-year –old Christie was impressed to see
Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a woman whose work and status (if not
politics) he admired. Waters, he soon
learned, was as impressed by him, but not as favorably.
After the
hearing, she summoned Christie to her office:
“I want to know why you’re working for a Republican. Are you confused?”
“No ma’am,
I’m not confused. I work with
Congressman James because I share his values.
I am a Republican.”
“You are a
sellout to your race! White people work
for Republicans. Not African
Americans! You’re nothing but an Uncle
Tom!”
Christie
reports that he was stunned by the tirade.
But it was not the last time he would find himself facing a liberal’s
fusillade of abuse. Indeed, he seems to
have made a career of refuting such small-minded, hostile accusations. He has gallantly endured the gently expressed
incredulity of Janet Langhart Cohen, who interviewed Christie about his book
and wondered aloud how a black man could possibly be a Republican. And he has repeatedly appeared on MSNBC’s
vituperative Ed Show, attempting civilly, to counter the self-righteous,
perpetually outraged harangues of the host and like-minded guests.
What
Christie is accused of, by blacks and liberal whites alike, is “acting
white.” That is, abandoning his
heritage, selling out. He shares this
distinction with other admirable cultural warriors, individuals as various as
Condoleezza Rice, Juan Williams, Shelby Steele, John McWhorter, Randall
Kennedy, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams.
And make no mistake, they are various:
Their nuanced views cover a wide spectrum. Their only commonality is an independence of
mind that incites the wrath of an enervated, bitter, and self-pitying black
leadership addicted to the glory days of the civil rights movement and, some of
them, to the Black panther party and its offshoots.
Christie’s
thesis has become familiar in recent decades, particularly after Bill Cosby’s
keynote speech at the NAACP’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of
Brown Vs. Board of Education, in which Cosby advised the black community to
look into its own soul: “We cannot blame
white people. . . We’ve got to take the neighborhood back.” Christie expands the argument. A strong and destructive internal attitude
impedes black accomplishment. And this
attitude is encapsulated, Christie says, in the high-school taunt “acting
white,” aimed by black students at peers who pay attention in class and do
their homework.
When “hard
work, diligent study, and eloquent communication skills” become cause for derision
and abuse, the result is a powerful deterrent to success. It is a phenomenon based on a misguided
notion of group loyalty. Its strength
resides in a fear of ostracism.
Acting
White takes a historical approach, sketching out the contours of not just the
term itself but the operating concept as well, the origins of which he discerns
in the antebellum South. He relies
heavily on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), where the
attitudes of whites toward blacks run a gamut of viciousness: from benign
superiority to amusement to sadism, fear and loathing – all serving the purpose
of unthinkable exploitation. Christie points
to whites’ fear of black literacy: “Blacks were legally denied the opportunity
to become literate in several southern states.
Alabama, Georgia and Virginia joined other states in enacting statues
that prescribed fines, flogging, imprisonment and hanging for those who taught
African Americans how to read and write.”
How blacks
perceived literacy becomes the focus of Christie’s attention. The slave George Harris in Uncle Tom’s Cabin
says, “I know more about business than the master does, and I can read better
than he can; I can write a better hand.”
But Harris’s stance was not, according to Christie, prevalent among
blacks in the slaveholding South:
Apparently, the motion that blacks would apply themselves
to become literate and educated . . . was a foreign concept to someone of Uncle
Tom’s mindset . . . This subservient . . .ideology about education – then and
now holds that African Americans seeking to emancipate their minds from the
chains of illiteracy act as do whites.
Although Acting
White suffers occasionally from awkward prose and unnecessary repetition,
Christie proves a competent guide through some complicated history. He shows, for example, that despite Booker T.
Washington’s promotion of “hard work and economic self-reliance for blacks,” he
blinked when it came to true equality, supporting industrial over academic
education for blacks and assuring whites that they need not fear social
assimilation. Interestingly, Washington
and his rival W.E.B DuBois traded similar charges of kowtowing to white
attitudes. “Acting White” seems to be an
equal opportunity slur.
Discord in
the early 20th century between DuBois and the leader of the nascent
Back to Africa movement, Marcus Garvey, makes earlier disagreements sound
mild. Distrustful of education and
opposed to assimilation, Garvey attacked the Harvard-educated DuBois at first
vigorously, and then viciously. DuBois,
Garvey wrote in 1923, “likes to dance with white people, and dine with them,
and sometimes sleeps with them, because from his way of seeing things all black
is ugly, and all that is white is beautiful.”
Garvey’s accusations would seem quaint, perhaps, if they were not as
current as today’s headlines. Christie
quotes a 2007 item from CNN News; “The Rev. Jesse Jackson criticized then
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama; accusing the Illinois senator
of “acting like he’s white” according to a South Carolina newspaper.” And about a year later, Ralph Nader chimed
in, saying that Obama tries to “talk white.”
This
comprehensive history of the dangerous and self-defeating notion that pursuing
an education, speaking well, dressing well, and working in a profession equals
“selling out” is both sobering and encouraging.
And the failure of many black leaders to relinquish the comforting myth
that all of their community’s woes can be laid at the feet of “institutional
racism” is causing young African Americans enormous harm.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
D-Town Records relocates to Memphis
D-Town Records relocates to Memphis
By Vicky Holt, IFS
Writers
The D-Town Records Imprint division will continue to
repackage its catalog, and release its new products via digital distribution
with D-Town Digital.
D-Town Records relationship with Memphis
dates back to the middle 1960’s with Willie Mitchell’s production of the Prince
of Detroit’s Lee Rogers with hit recordings entitled “Love For A Love”, “The
Same Thing That Make You Laugh (Can Make You Cry)” and several other great
hits.
KDTN Radio One’s Blogtalk radio series and it’s music
affiliate station has been on limited production schedule since 2010 when
operations shifted to the Yolo County farm suburbs where broadband was just
limited and none existence.
D-Town has re-launched its’ sdcog.net website portal to
report on its subsidiaries activities and products.
NBC Throws Ann Curry off the Bus
By Kenneth Howard Smith
MEMPHIS (IFS ) As Savannah
Guthrie officially takes the reins of the co-anchor ship of the Today Show this
morning; I was one of those 303 friends of Ann Curry. I had received rumors of Ann’s leaving as far
back as six months ago from the many of the view ships of the show, twitter
feeds, and other things.
I had flashbacks of Ann hurling herself off of bridges,
bungee jumps, crazy morning stunts that gave me the creeps over the years, but
yet the powers that be had to let dear old Ann go after one year on the job.
Let’s face it, I’m not bleeding for Ann, just hurting that I
will not get a chance to see those hot sexy legs and shoes in the morning over
my hot cup of Joe that helps to pert me up and get me through the day. Am I a sexist pig? Hell yea!
And proud of it. On the other
hand, I am a little jealous that I did not get a $10 Million going away
settlement. On my last days on the job
back in 2001, it was a small $65,000 severance package and a good luck note.
So do not cry for Ann Curry, but my heart does go out for my
morning show. Since ABC’s Good Morning
America has pulled ahead of the Today Show, I believe I will be switching
alliance in the mornings and tuning in to watch and flipping channels to CBS
This Morning. But on these two show,
they show no legs, just lots of arms.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Has The Reno Blues Society Lost their Collective Minds?
HOLLYWOOD / RENO (IFS) - It appears that the Reno Blues Society has decided to "pass" on the endorsement and venue setting for the Bobby Haynes Blues Band and with internationally renown pianoist Ray Johnson.
Reno Blues Society vice president, Bill Nagel was given a practice DVD of the groups rehearsal at Hollywood's famed AF of M Local 47 Hall, ( currently available at youtube.com/scorpiontelevision) of the duo having a quick show rehearsal fr the cameras of HOTRAX Productions' R G Ingersoll who also happened to produce the one and only very successful Cambria / San Simeon tribute concert to Nat "King" Cole.
Ingersoll stated early, that he believes that this is "just a research error on the part of the Reno Blues Society team" and that he believes it will be "ironed out" in time. These fantastic musicians together have played on over 100 - Number One recordings, when most singers, songwriters and artists just dream of getting one "hit record".
Ingersoll who is no stranger to success as in his former Motown Records days, he helped to create and package many of the labels acts for television, concerts and state fairs. His expertise as a songwriter isn't lost either as his catalog has been purchased from EMI Music by Sony Music.
Ingersoll, has stated that he will still need the Reno Blues Society to help sell tickets and with promotions, as Mr. Nagel pushed the project down the road to Harrah's Show rooms in Tahoe, when in fact, Ingersoll just wanted the Grand Concert Room at the Grand Sierra Hotel.
It's not quite clear where the communications' broke down, or if the endorsement of the "Real Blues" is a little to much to handle. What the heck, what can two eighty year old men do, they have just completed tours wwith the American idol Party and a set at the Kennedy Center Honorrs to boot.
The video uploaded by Ingersoll to youtube.com/scopriontelevision for the engineers in Reno to setup their equipment, but this little video clip has become one of the most requested clips in sdctv history after the Reno Blues Society "dismissed" this duo. The Local Hollywood blues community musicians in Los Angeles consider this as a "back handed slap".
We will never know what RBS were "thinking" as they have broken off all talks with Ingersoll. This is not to say that there is a real battle of the "Blues Guitar Strings" in Reno, as the best act in town for the Blues is Jason King Band who the RBS endorsed and sponsored in the Memphis Blues Concerts Playoffs this past month.
Jason King sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughn for two nights in a row.
Ray Johnson, known as the Nat "King" Cole of Japan, has just finished several recordings with some of American Idol finalists among others. Johnson's last studio CD was in 2000 with his Ray Johnson Country that is still a big seller at his other night gig at the Universal Hilton Piano Bar, as he greets and entertain many of his friends and fans who have come in from Asia on vacation here in California.
It's for sure that what one person calls the Blues and what another's perception of the Blues are two different types of Blues Power. Reno is not ready to hear the real Blues, yet. But don't let two old blues men show what the real blues can prdocue when played live in equal amounts in Reno. For the moment, this little "missunderstanding" could remain as such and the RBS works with HOTRAX to produce the concert. Are will RBS vice president let opportunity slide out of his fingers, when we know that opportunity only knocks once.
Has The Reno Blues Society Lost their Collective Minds?
HOLLYWOOD / RENO (IFS) - It appears that the Reno Blues Society has decided to "pass" on the endorsement and venue setting for the Bobby Haynes Blues Band and with internationally renown pianoist Ray Johnson.
Reno Blues Society vice president, Bill Nagel was given a practice DVD of the groups rehearsal at Hollywood's famed AF of M Local 47 Hall, ( currently available at youtube.com/scorpiontelevision) of the duo having a quick show rehearsal fr the cameras of HOTRAX Productions' R G Ingersoll who also happened to produce the one and only very successful Cambria / San Simeon tribute concert to Nat "King" Cole.
Ingersoll stated early, that he believes that this is "just a research error on the part of the Reno Blues Society team" and that he believes it will be "ironed out" in time. These fantastic musicians together have played on over 100 - Number One recordings, when most singers, songwriters and artists just dream of getting one "hit record".
Ingersoll who is no stranger to success as in his former Motown Records days, he helped to create and package many of the labels acts for television, concerts and state fairs. His expertise as a songwriter isn't lost either as his catalog has been purchased from EMI Music by Sony Music.
Ingersoll, has stated that he will still need the Reno Blues Society to help sell tickets and with promotions, as Mr. Nagel pushed the project down the road to Harrah's Show rooms in Tahoe, when in fact, Ingersoll just wanted the Grand Concert Room at the Grand Sierra Hotel.
It's not quite clear where the communications' broke down, or if the endorsement of the "Real Blues" is a little to much to handle. What the heck, what can two eighty year old men do, they have just completed tours wwith the American idol Party and a set at the Kennedy Center Honorrs to boot.
The video uploaded by Ingersoll to youtube.com/scopriontelevision for the engineers in Reno to setup their equipment, but this little video clip has become one of the most requested clips in sdctv history after the Reno Blues Society "dismissed" this duo. The Local Hollywood blues community musicians in Los Angeles consider this as a "back handed slap".
We will never know what RBS were "thinking" as they have broken off all talks with Ingersoll. This is not to say that there is a real battle of the "Blues Guitar Strings" in Reno, as the best act in town for the Blues is Jason King Band who the RBS endorsed and sponsored in the Memphis Blues Concerts Playoffs this past month.
Jason King sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughn for two nights in a row.
Ray Johnson, known as the Nat "King" Cole of Japan, has just finished several recordings with some of American Idol finalists among others. Johnson's last studio CD was in 2000 with his Ray Johnson Country that is still a big seller at his other night gig at the Universal Hilton Piano Bar, as he greets and entertain many of his friends and fans who have come in from Asia on vacation here in California.
It's for sure that what one person calls the Blues and what another's perception of the Blues are two different types of Blues Power. Reno is not ready to hear the real Blues, yet. But don't let two old blues men show what the real blues can prdocue when played live in equal amounts in Reno. For the moment, this little "missunderstanding" could remain as such and the RBS works with HOTRAX to produce the concert. Are will RBS vice president let opportunity slide out of his fingers, when we know that opportunity only knocks once.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Glenn Beck - I Had A Dream or Did I Have a Night Mare
LIMON CO (IFS) Well Mr. Beck, I guess you had a great meeting and so many of your friends did show-up to give you a wonderful rally and you did change American history for yourself. I hope that you sold a lot of books and t-shirts, and helped your television show gain so many more new viewers.
What's this about a "bullet proof vest" at a prayer meeting? Well, well, you created this night mare and you had the vest on the wrong part of your body, it should have been on your foot, because that's where the bullets did land.
We tried to tell you along time ago, what was going to happen to you. We told you that you had better put on the brakes, and repent and change your direction, but you did not listen to us. You had your television show to rely on, and of course you were the only one listening to your own voice, plus the left overs from the election who were going to take back our country. What I could not understand, where were you going to take our country back too?
Every few years, a person like you comes along and has a vision that the masses are going to follow, and you believed in your own publicity!! Fox News and their organization shows how much influence they have on the American public - not much would you say?
The real Americans are the silent majority. They let the "squeaky wheel" get the grease, they sit back and observe and make up their minds in the most heated battles of the talking heads. They very seldom call into a radio show or even participate in a television show -- but they watch with both eyes and they are all ears. When they make a decision, it's usually a very quick decision and they are usually right. The real Americans are not just sitting on the fence, they have an agenda. And when they vote, they shake up the country.
LIMON CO (IFS) Well Mr. Beck, I guess you had a great meeting and so many of your friends did show-up to give you a wonderful rally and you did change American history for yourself. I hope that you sold a lot of books and t-shirts, and helped your television show gain so many more new viewers.
What's this about a "bullet proof vest" at a prayer meeting? Well, well, you created this night mare and you had the vest on the wrong part of your body, it should have been on your foot, because that's where the bullets did land.
We tried to tell you along time ago, what was going to happen to you. We told you that you had better put on the brakes, and repent and change your direction, but you did not listen to us. You had your television show to rely on, and of course you were the only one listening to your own voice, plus the left overs from the election who were going to take back our country. What I could not understand, where were you going to take our country back too?
Every few years, a person like you comes along and has a vision that the masses are going to follow, and you believed in your own publicity!! Fox News and their organization shows how much influence they have on the American public - not much would you say?
The real Americans are the silent majority. They let the "squeaky wheel" get the grease, they sit back and observe and make up their minds in the most heated battles of the talking heads. They very seldom call into a radio show or even participate in a television show -- but they watch with both eyes and they are all ears. When they make a decision, it's usually a very quick decision and they are usually right. The real Americans are not just sitting on the fence, they have an agenda. And when they vote, they shake up the country.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Google's GMail to Video
By Kenneth Howard Smith,
(IFS) SDCOG News-Gazette
LIMON CO (IFS) - Skype is going to take a large hit when Google's GMail goes to Video in the next few months. Google's telephone service that has been operating for the past several years teaming with the video conferencing features will put Google over the top and drive Skype to the back seat of the online video/telephone services. What the future will bring for both Google and Skype is only speculation, but the videoing-phone writing is on the wall with Skype being pushed to the side lines.
By Kenneth Howard Smith,
(IFS) SDCOG News-Gazette
LIMON CO (IFS) - Skype is going to take a large hit when Google's GMail goes to Video in the next few months. Google's telephone service that has been operating for the past several years teaming with the video conferencing features will put Google over the top and drive Skype to the back seat of the online video/telephone services. What the future will bring for both Google and Skype is only speculation, but the videoing-phone writing is on the wall with Skype being pushed to the side lines.
MYSPACE IS GREAT RECORDING COMPANY, LITTLE ELSE
By Kenneth Howard Smith,
(IFS) SDCOG News-Gazette
LIMON CO (IFS) - It's just a matter of time that Myspace will only be used by musicians, as it continues to loose 20,000 subscribers a week. The lure of Myspace in the early days was just a social networking site, then came the music industry that really makes Myspace the great digital recording label designed by the earlier poineer J-Bird Records that invented the digital online recording label concept.
When its comes to the art of social networking, Facebook is adding news users and former Myspace members at approximately 1,000,000 new subscribers per week worldwide. This not so suttle expandion by Facebook is causing Rupert Murdock alot of heart burn, as the Fox News subsidairy continues to crash and burn.
One could blame it on the practices of Mr. Murdock's News Corporation's parent company and Fox News producers that has lead to it's loosing ground and causing users to abandon their accounts and go to someone else that is not so political with their hands and fingers in everything from degrading the president - to it's partners with Arabic sheiks.
At the present rate of subscriptions, Mysapce will only be a recording label for new music, other then that, it's useless as a networking site.
By Kenneth Howard Smith,
(IFS) SDCOG News-Gazette
LIMON CO (IFS) - It's just a matter of time that Myspace will only be used by musicians, as it continues to loose 20,000 subscribers a week. The lure of Myspace in the early days was just a social networking site, then came the music industry that really makes Myspace the great digital recording label designed by the earlier poineer J-Bird Records that invented the digital online recording label concept.
When its comes to the art of social networking, Facebook is adding news users and former Myspace members at approximately 1,000,000 new subscribers per week worldwide. This not so suttle expandion by Facebook is causing Rupert Murdock alot of heart burn, as the Fox News subsidairy continues to crash and burn.
One could blame it on the practices of Mr. Murdock's News Corporation's parent company and Fox News producers that has lead to it's loosing ground and causing users to abandon their accounts and go to someone else that is not so political with their hands and fingers in everything from degrading the president - to it's partners with Arabic sheiks.
At the present rate of subscriptions, Mysapce will only be a recording label for new music, other then that, it's useless as a networking site.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Dr. Laura's Rant on Race Begs the Question:
Just Who Needs a Doctor?
by Dr. Mary C. Curtis
National Correspondent
What kind of doctor is this woman, and why is she still on the radio?
After scrubbing her show's website of the foul rant that prompted outrage -- and lives on in audio and transcript form on Media Matters for America -- Laura Schlessinger apologized. "I articulated the N-word all the way out -- more than one time," she said. "And that was wrong."
Show's over; time to move on? I don't think so.
Professional to professional, Dr. Laura, let Dr. Mary explain why, as offensive as it was, saying the N-word is the least of your problems.
A young black woman calls into your show to get some actual advice about a specific problem: her white husband's family and friends insult her using racist terms and epithets. "My husband ignores those comments, and it hurts my feelings," the caller says.
So, of course, Dr. Laura, you start talking about -- President Barack Obama.
Dr. Laura"Without giving much thought, a lot of blacks voted for Obama simply 'cause he was half-black," she said. "Didn't matter what he was gonna do in office, it was a black thing. You gotta know that."
Not only do you ignore the caller and change the subject to get to something that's obviously on your mind and in your heart, Dr. Laura, but you also insist you know the motivation of millions of black voters.
It's not the first time I've heard this ridiculous canard that black people voted for the president based simply on skin color. It assumes that only voters who aren't African-American use logic, reasoning and rational thought before reaching a conclusion. Maybe, just maybe, most African-American voters preferred the policies in the Democratic Party's platform. Did they vote overwhelmingly for Bill Clinton because they liked his smile? Did Al Gore -- another popular candidate with black voters -- wave shiny beads before their faces to mesmerize them? And, of course, Dr. Laura fails to mention that others might have voted against Obama for the same reason.
"We've got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that's hilarious."
Yes, Dr. Laura. A black man is in the White House, so black folks should just stop complaining when people call them names, ridicule them and discriminate against them. Like you, I just can't stop laughing.
Once you get that out of your system, you return to the young woman, who asks what you, as an advice maven, think about the N-word.
"Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is..." And you don't stop there, Dr. Laura. As everyone knows by now, you then launch into an N-word litany, using the word often, leisurely, lovingly, without hesitation. Judging how trippingly it rolls off your tongue, I don't think it's the first time you've said it. Most people I know of every race can't say the word out loud -- it sticks in their throats. You, on the other hand, take a commercial break, come back and say it some more.
You don't seem to understand why people are shocked and disgusted by your behavior. Perhaps it's time for a history lesson.
This is the word that people with ropes used as they lynched men and women for an afternoon's entertainment. This is the word craven politicians shouted to stoke racial fear. This word has been used as background music to terror, which someone of your age and education must know.
Yet, you, Dr. Laura, are upset that this is one word that you cannot utter. For more reasons why, I recommend you listen to the anti-racist writer and activist Tim Wise, who says in response to that very question that "as a white person I will not bear the consequences of whatever decision black folks make about when, if and how to use the word."
"The history of that word in the mouths of white people is not a mixed history." Wise asks, is there a double standard, before answering yes. "History has been a double standard," he says, so you better get over it.
Most black people I know hate the word and never use it. The NAACP, which you managed to turn into a derogatory verb during your rant (nice trick, that) symbolically buried the N-word several years ago, so corrosive is its power. The late, great Richard Pryor, an early practitioner in his comedy routines, stopped using it after a trip to Africa. "To this day I wish I'd never said the word," he said. "I felt its lameness. It was misunderstood by people. They didn't get what I was talking about. Neither did I. . . . So I vowed never to say it again."
In the face of all this evidence, I wonder, Dr. Laura, how you've come to the conclusion that comedians on R-rated cable television shows set the tone for polite interaction between the races. How many doctors and lawyers -- of any color -- grocery clerks, teachers and nurses have you heard using the words you just used on the radio? Just who are you hanging out with? On second thought, Dr. Laura, I don't think I want to know.
By this time, the young woman who called you must be pretty sorry she turned to Dr. Laura for advice. (Remind me never to come to you when I have a problem.)
When you get back to her and her specific issue of dealing with her husband's white friends and family members' use of racial insults in her presence, your solution is -- to make it her fault.
"You know what? If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race. If you're going to marry out of your race, people are going to say, 'OK, what do blacks think? What do whites think? What do Jews think? What do Catholics think?'"
Now Dr. Laura, I am an African-American woman married to an American of Norwegian, English and Irish descent. When our large and diverse families get together on, for example, Thanksgiving, we eat turkey, watch football and tell jokes, though never the ones that ridicule or single out blacks, whites, Italians, Jews, Catholics, Poles, homosexuals or any other group. And you know what, Dr. Laura? We have a lot of fun.
But then, that's just us.
Just Who Needs a Doctor?
by Dr. Mary C. Curtis
National Correspondent
What kind of doctor is this woman, and why is she still on the radio?
After scrubbing her show's website of the foul rant that prompted outrage -- and lives on in audio and transcript form on Media Matters for America -- Laura Schlessinger apologized. "I articulated the N-word all the way out -- more than one time," she said. "And that was wrong."
Show's over; time to move on? I don't think so.
Professional to professional, Dr. Laura, let Dr. Mary explain why, as offensive as it was, saying the N-word is the least of your problems.
A young black woman calls into your show to get some actual advice about a specific problem: her white husband's family and friends insult her using racist terms and epithets. "My husband ignores those comments, and it hurts my feelings," the caller says.
So, of course, Dr. Laura, you start talking about -- President Barack Obama.
Dr. Laura"Without giving much thought, a lot of blacks voted for Obama simply 'cause he was half-black," she said. "Didn't matter what he was gonna do in office, it was a black thing. You gotta know that."
Not only do you ignore the caller and change the subject to get to something that's obviously on your mind and in your heart, Dr. Laura, but you also insist you know the motivation of millions of black voters.
It's not the first time I've heard this ridiculous canard that black people voted for the president based simply on skin color. It assumes that only voters who aren't African-American use logic, reasoning and rational thought before reaching a conclusion. Maybe, just maybe, most African-American voters preferred the policies in the Democratic Party's platform. Did they vote overwhelmingly for Bill Clinton because they liked his smile? Did Al Gore -- another popular candidate with black voters -- wave shiny beads before their faces to mesmerize them? And, of course, Dr. Laura fails to mention that others might have voted against Obama for the same reason.
"We've got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that's hilarious."
Yes, Dr. Laura. A black man is in the White House, so black folks should just stop complaining when people call them names, ridicule them and discriminate against them. Like you, I just can't stop laughing.
Once you get that out of your system, you return to the young woman, who asks what you, as an advice maven, think about the N-word.
"Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is..." And you don't stop there, Dr. Laura. As everyone knows by now, you then launch into an N-word litany, using the word often, leisurely, lovingly, without hesitation. Judging how trippingly it rolls off your tongue, I don't think it's the first time you've said it. Most people I know of every race can't say the word out loud -- it sticks in their throats. You, on the other hand, take a commercial break, come back and say it some more.
You don't seem to understand why people are shocked and disgusted by your behavior. Perhaps it's time for a history lesson.
This is the word that people with ropes used as they lynched men and women for an afternoon's entertainment. This is the word craven politicians shouted to stoke racial fear. This word has been used as background music to terror, which someone of your age and education must know.
Yet, you, Dr. Laura, are upset that this is one word that you cannot utter. For more reasons why, I recommend you listen to the anti-racist writer and activist Tim Wise, who says in response to that very question that "as a white person I will not bear the consequences of whatever decision black folks make about when, if and how to use the word."
"The history of that word in the mouths of white people is not a mixed history." Wise asks, is there a double standard, before answering yes. "History has been a double standard," he says, so you better get over it.
Most black people I know hate the word and never use it. The NAACP, which you managed to turn into a derogatory verb during your rant (nice trick, that) symbolically buried the N-word several years ago, so corrosive is its power. The late, great Richard Pryor, an early practitioner in his comedy routines, stopped using it after a trip to Africa. "To this day I wish I'd never said the word," he said. "I felt its lameness. It was misunderstood by people. They didn't get what I was talking about. Neither did I. . . . So I vowed never to say it again."
In the face of all this evidence, I wonder, Dr. Laura, how you've come to the conclusion that comedians on R-rated cable television shows set the tone for polite interaction between the races. How many doctors and lawyers -- of any color -- grocery clerks, teachers and nurses have you heard using the words you just used on the radio? Just who are you hanging out with? On second thought, Dr. Laura, I don't think I want to know.
By this time, the young woman who called you must be pretty sorry she turned to Dr. Laura for advice. (Remind me never to come to you when I have a problem.)
When you get back to her and her specific issue of dealing with her husband's white friends and family members' use of racial insults in her presence, your solution is -- to make it her fault.
"You know what? If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race. If you're going to marry out of your race, people are going to say, 'OK, what do blacks think? What do whites think? What do Jews think? What do Catholics think?'"
Now Dr. Laura, I am an African-American woman married to an American of Norwegian, English and Irish descent. When our large and diverse families get together on, for example, Thanksgiving, we eat turkey, watch football and tell jokes, though never the ones that ridicule or single out blacks, whites, Italians, Jews, Catholics, Poles, homosexuals or any other group. And you know what, Dr. Laura? We have a lot of fun.
But then, that's just us.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
LIMON CO (IFS)- Gee Dr. Laura, I used to listen to you every night, and I did like your short lived television show. What has happened to you? Forgot your meds, did we? Well, I'm not going to beat you up or anything like that, but it is time that you hang up your radio microphone and call it a career.
Dr. Laura and the N-Word: No, It's Not Okay for You to Say It!
By Jam Donaldson on Aug 13th 2010 12:52PM
I'm starting to believe there is a condition called the "N-word meltdown," where white folks just go crazy and start repeating it over and over for no reason.
Well-known conservative talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger (pictured) went all Michael Richards on a caller who reached out to her for help regarding her interracial marriage.
The caller wanted the good doctor's advice on whether to confront her husband's friends, whom she believed were making racist comments about her.
During the exchange on Tuesday's show, Schlessinger said the woman, who called herself Jade, was being too sensitive for complaining about her husband's friends. When the woman asked if the N-word was offensive, Schlessinger said, "Black guys say it all the time," then went on to repeat it several times.
"I articulated the N-word all the way out -- more than one time," Schlessinger said in comments from the opening of her radio show that she posted on her site.
Translation: she put the dreaded "er" on the end instead of the "ga."
When will white people just accept the fact that black folks can use the N-word, but they cannot. Why is this such a complicated life rule for them?
It's actually quite simple. Jews can say things about other Jews that non-Jews can't say. Gays can say things about gays that straights can't say. Latinos can say things about Latinos that non-Latinos can't say. I have an Asian friend who referred to new Asian immigrants as FOBs (fresh-off-the-boats). But she probably would have kicked my ass if I had referred to them that way. And I respect that. You can talk about your own mama, but no one else can. It's really easy, white people.
Schlessinger said on her Website on Wednesday that she was wrong in using the word for what she called an attempt to make a philosophical point.
Why are white folks so intent on rationalizing their use of the word? You can't use it, period. Get over it.
When the caller objected, Schlessinger replied:
"Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians."
I don't know what black comedians Dr. Laura listens to but I can't remember any using "nigger" in their acts. Moreover, should a woman tolerate a bunch of people in her house using the N-word in a way she finds offensive because they do it on 'Def Comedy Jam'?
Look, white folks, I'll break it down for you: Black folks don't call each other "nigger"; we say "nigga." And whether you accept it or not, there is a huge distinction.
As an African American woman, I can't ever remember using "nigger" in my life in referring to another black person. Though, on a bad day at my DMV, I may say "nigga" in my head several times.
Dr. Laura and other white folks who put forth this "well, black people use it, why can't I" argument seem so tied to their own supremacy that they just can't accept that there are things we can do that they can't -- and it bugs the hell out of them.
In all fairness, Schlessinger did not direct the epithet at the woman but said she used it to suggest how often she hears it, and that it should not automatically be a cause for offense, which is also the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's about context, Dr. Laura. Who's saying it, why, how and in what environment? Who are you to say what should offend this woman?
This is not a debate on the infamous N-word. Some people say no one should use it; others say it's fine. Frankly, I couldn't care less. Either way, this is not about that.
It's about respecting a culture's right to its own intracultural norms. If your use of the word offends me, that's really all you need to know.
We don't have to explain why you can't say it, we don't have to defend our use of it and we don't have to tolerate you saying it. You just can't. It's like family. You can talk about each other, but no one else can. And as long as everyone remembers that, we should get along just fine.
Dr. Laura and the N-Word: No, It's Not Okay for You to Say It!
By Jam Donaldson on Aug 13th 2010 12:52PM
I'm starting to believe there is a condition called the "N-word meltdown," where white folks just go crazy and start repeating it over and over for no reason.
Well-known conservative talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger (pictured) went all Michael Richards on a caller who reached out to her for help regarding her interracial marriage.
The caller wanted the good doctor's advice on whether to confront her husband's friends, whom she believed were making racist comments about her.
During the exchange on Tuesday's show, Schlessinger said the woman, who called herself Jade, was being too sensitive for complaining about her husband's friends. When the woman asked if the N-word was offensive, Schlessinger said, "Black guys say it all the time," then went on to repeat it several times.
"I articulated the N-word all the way out -- more than one time," Schlessinger said in comments from the opening of her radio show that she posted on her site.
Translation: she put the dreaded "er" on the end instead of the "ga."
When will white people just accept the fact that black folks can use the N-word, but they cannot. Why is this such a complicated life rule for them?
It's actually quite simple. Jews can say things about other Jews that non-Jews can't say. Gays can say things about gays that straights can't say. Latinos can say things about Latinos that non-Latinos can't say. I have an Asian friend who referred to new Asian immigrants as FOBs (fresh-off-the-boats). But she probably would have kicked my ass if I had referred to them that way. And I respect that. You can talk about your own mama, but no one else can. It's really easy, white people.
Schlessinger said on her Website on Wednesday that she was wrong in using the word for what she called an attempt to make a philosophical point.
Why are white folks so intent on rationalizing their use of the word? You can't use it, period. Get over it.
When the caller objected, Schlessinger replied:
"Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians."
I don't know what black comedians Dr. Laura listens to but I can't remember any using "nigger" in their acts. Moreover, should a woman tolerate a bunch of people in her house using the N-word in a way she finds offensive because they do it on 'Def Comedy Jam'?
Look, white folks, I'll break it down for you: Black folks don't call each other "nigger"; we say "nigga." And whether you accept it or not, there is a huge distinction.
As an African American woman, I can't ever remember using "nigger" in my life in referring to another black person. Though, on a bad day at my DMV, I may say "nigga" in my head several times.
Dr. Laura and other white folks who put forth this "well, black people use it, why can't I" argument seem so tied to their own supremacy that they just can't accept that there are things we can do that they can't -- and it bugs the hell out of them.
In all fairness, Schlessinger did not direct the epithet at the woman but said she used it to suggest how often she hears it, and that it should not automatically be a cause for offense, which is also the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's about context, Dr. Laura. Who's saying it, why, how and in what environment? Who are you to say what should offend this woman?
This is not a debate on the infamous N-word. Some people say no one should use it; others say it's fine. Frankly, I couldn't care less. Either way, this is not about that.
It's about respecting a culture's right to its own intracultural norms. If your use of the word offends me, that's really all you need to know.
We don't have to explain why you can't say it, we don't have to defend our use of it and we don't have to tolerate you saying it. You just can't. It's like family. You can talk about each other, but no one else can. And as long as everyone remembers that, we should get along just fine.
How Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel Played Themselves
by R.L. Nave Posted Aug 16th 2010 1:00PM
With all of the problems facing America, congressional Democrats need a couple of high-profile ethics probes like Rihanna needs another misspelled -- or not? -- tattoo. But U.S. Representatives Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel are still sitting in ethical hot water and here's why.
Washington's latest political drama involves U.S. Reps. Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel Democrats representing Los Angeles and Harlem, respectively. To put their situation in cinematic terms (and give a shameless BVX link, sue us), like Ice Cube's character Craig in the classic 'Friday,' longtime legislators must go up against a powerful thug (Debo = the U.S. House Office of Congressional Ethics) and risk losing their street cred (manhood x a shot at Nia Long = Democratic control of the House).
In July, a U.S. House investigative committee filed 13 charges of wrongdoing against Harlem's Rangel. The most serious accusations were that Rangel, a 20-term congressman, failed to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republican, neglected to report hundreds of thousands of dollars of income, got several apartments in New York City for far less than market rate, and used official letterhead to solicit money for a school that bears his name.
The Office of Congressional Ethics also charged U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles in August with three counts of unfairly using her influence, including helping a bank where her husband held stock get a $12 million government bailout.
Both lawmakers have denied doing anything wrong -- Rangel during an ill-advised 30-minute soliloquy on the House floor. They have both also asked that their hearings take place before the November election despite reports that high-ranking House Democrats are more than happy to put them off until later this year.
Their punishments could range from censure, which is essentially a very public slap on the wrist, which is all that happened to Bill Clinton for his ethical abuses of Monica Lewinsky's blue dress, to removal from office, in which case each of their seats will wind up going to another African American.
From looking at the facts, it seems less a clear-cut case of shady politicians run amok than a pair of lawmakers -- with 60 years of public service between them -- who got careless and broke the rules at a time when the public's sensitivity to anything with so much as a whiff of corruption is heightened.
Take Rangel's situation: Does anybody really think that at 80 years old, he sits down every April with all his receipts and a copy of the House Rules for Conduct and does his own taxes? Waters' case gets even fuzzier. Yes, it's true that she and her husband owned stock in the minority-owned bank that received bailout funds, but as chairwoman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, it could be argued that she was simply doing her job. After all, how many black banks could there be?
But we might not even be here had Rangel not himself asked the the House Ethics Committee in 2008 to determine whether his use of congressional stationary for a fundraiser was improper or if public outrage over bank bailouts hadn't prompted such close scrutiny of Waters' involvement with OneUnited.
Even if we chalk Waters and Rangel's faux pas up to political senility, there's a real danger in letting ethics violations slide. All public officials, at some point in their careers, will feel themselves crossing a line that they never intended to cross. When they do, to paraphrase a line, that line vanishes and then they're nothing but another dirty politician joke.
This is the very moment that people start to grown distrustful, or even worse, apathetic, about the idea of a government that works for its citizens.
by R.L. Nave Posted Aug 16th 2010 1:00PM
With all of the problems facing America, congressional Democrats need a couple of high-profile ethics probes like Rihanna needs another misspelled -- or not? -- tattoo. But U.S. Representatives Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel are still sitting in ethical hot water and here's why.
Washington's latest political drama involves U.S. Reps. Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel Democrats representing Los Angeles and Harlem, respectively. To put their situation in cinematic terms (and give a shameless BVX link, sue us), like Ice Cube's character Craig in the classic 'Friday,' longtime legislators must go up against a powerful thug (Debo = the U.S. House Office of Congressional Ethics) and risk losing their street cred (manhood x a shot at Nia Long = Democratic control of the House).
In July, a U.S. House investigative committee filed 13 charges of wrongdoing against Harlem's Rangel. The most serious accusations were that Rangel, a 20-term congressman, failed to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republican, neglected to report hundreds of thousands of dollars of income, got several apartments in New York City for far less than market rate, and used official letterhead to solicit money for a school that bears his name.
The Office of Congressional Ethics also charged U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles in August with three counts of unfairly using her influence, including helping a bank where her husband held stock get a $12 million government bailout.
Both lawmakers have denied doing anything wrong -- Rangel during an ill-advised 30-minute soliloquy on the House floor. They have both also asked that their hearings take place before the November election despite reports that high-ranking House Democrats are more than happy to put them off until later this year.
Their punishments could range from censure, which is essentially a very public slap on the wrist, which is all that happened to Bill Clinton for his ethical abuses of Monica Lewinsky's blue dress, to removal from office, in which case each of their seats will wind up going to another African American.
From looking at the facts, it seems less a clear-cut case of shady politicians run amok than a pair of lawmakers -- with 60 years of public service between them -- who got careless and broke the rules at a time when the public's sensitivity to anything with so much as a whiff of corruption is heightened.
Take Rangel's situation: Does anybody really think that at 80 years old, he sits down every April with all his receipts and a copy of the House Rules for Conduct and does his own taxes? Waters' case gets even fuzzier. Yes, it's true that she and her husband owned stock in the minority-owned bank that received bailout funds, but as chairwoman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, it could be argued that she was simply doing her job. After all, how many black banks could there be?
But we might not even be here had Rangel not himself asked the the House Ethics Committee in 2008 to determine whether his use of congressional stationary for a fundraiser was improper or if public outrage over bank bailouts hadn't prompted such close scrutiny of Waters' involvement with OneUnited.
Even if we chalk Waters and Rangel's faux pas up to political senility, there's a real danger in letting ethics violations slide. All public officials, at some point in their careers, will feel themselves crossing a line that they never intended to cross. When they do, to paraphrase a line, that line vanishes and then they're nothing but another dirty politician joke.
This is the very moment that people start to grown distrustful, or even worse, apathetic, about the idea of a government that works for its citizens.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sarah Palin Confronted By Alaskan: “When Cash Was Waved In Front Of Your Face You Quit”
Sarah Palin was taping her television special for TLC, the one she’s doing with Kate Gosselin, where she was “thousands of miles away from DC out on a commercial fishing boat, working my butt off for my own business, merely asking the Democrat politicos and their liberal friends in the media: ‘What’s the plan, man’?” according to Shannyn Moore who reported on the incident.
…one Homer woman made a sign in her shed. She then took the 30-foot-by-3-foot banner out to the boat harbor. It said “WORST GOVERNOR EVER”. Kathleen Gustafson is a teacher married to a local commercial fisherman. She felt like Sarah Palin had let the state down by becoming a dollar-chasing celebrity and ignoring the oath of office she’d sworn on a Bible.
Billy Sullivan, who has a business there, helped Kathleen put up the sign, and used his phone to photograph what ensued. Gustafson didn’t anticipate an actual conversation with the former governor.
At one point, a Palin daughter chanted, “You’re just jealous.” Kathleen told Sarah she was disappointed that she dropped her responsibility to the state to became a celebrity. Palin said incredulously, “I’m honored. No, she thinks I’m a celebrity!”…
[Sullivan] was even told by one of the Palin daughters, “You’re an A-hole”. Charming family values.
The exchange included one of the Palin daughters.
Gustafson: You swore on your precious Bible that you would uphold the interest of this state, and then when cash was waved in front of your face, you quit.
Palin: Oh you wanted me to be your governor! I’m honored!
Gustafson: I wanted you to honor your responsibilities. That is what I wanted, and to be part of the political process instead of becoming a celebrity.
Palin: That’s what I’m out there fightin’ for America to be able to have a Constitution protectin’ us so we can have free speech…
Gustafson: In what way are you fighting for that? In what way?
Palin: Oh my goodness! To elect candidates who understand the Constitution to protect our military interests so that we can keep on fightin’ for our Constitution that will protect your freedoms…
Gustafson: By using your celebrity status.
Palin: How am I a celebrity? I’m honored that you think I’m a celebrity.
Gustafson: You’re certainly not representing the state of Alaska any longer.
Palin daughter: She’s representing the United States.
Gustafson: Yes, I know, you belong to America now, and that suits you just fine.
Palin: What do you do?
Gustafson: I’m a teacher…
Palin: (eye roll)
Gustafson:…married to a commercial fisherman.
Palin: So am I. We probably have a lot in common…I’m honored to meet you, I really am, and we both agree on the freedom of speech
Gustafson: Yes we do.
Shortly after that Gustafson’s sign was ripped down by someone in the Palin party.
Sarah Palin was taping her television special for TLC, the one she’s doing with Kate Gosselin, where she was “thousands of miles away from DC out on a commercial fishing boat, working my butt off for my own business, merely asking the Democrat politicos and their liberal friends in the media: ‘What’s the plan, man’?” according to Shannyn Moore who reported on the incident.
…one Homer woman made a sign in her shed. She then took the 30-foot-by-3-foot banner out to the boat harbor. It said “WORST GOVERNOR EVER”. Kathleen Gustafson is a teacher married to a local commercial fisherman. She felt like Sarah Palin had let the state down by becoming a dollar-chasing celebrity and ignoring the oath of office she’d sworn on a Bible.
Billy Sullivan, who has a business there, helped Kathleen put up the sign, and used his phone to photograph what ensued. Gustafson didn’t anticipate an actual conversation with the former governor.
At one point, a Palin daughter chanted, “You’re just jealous.” Kathleen told Sarah she was disappointed that she dropped her responsibility to the state to became a celebrity. Palin said incredulously, “I’m honored. No, she thinks I’m a celebrity!”…
[Sullivan] was even told by one of the Palin daughters, “You’re an A-hole”. Charming family values.
The exchange included one of the Palin daughters.
Gustafson: You swore on your precious Bible that you would uphold the interest of this state, and then when cash was waved in front of your face, you quit.
Palin: Oh you wanted me to be your governor! I’m honored!
Gustafson: I wanted you to honor your responsibilities. That is what I wanted, and to be part of the political process instead of becoming a celebrity.
Palin: That’s what I’m out there fightin’ for America to be able to have a Constitution protectin’ us so we can have free speech…
Gustafson: In what way are you fighting for that? In what way?
Palin: Oh my goodness! To elect candidates who understand the Constitution to protect our military interests so that we can keep on fightin’ for our Constitution that will protect your freedoms…
Gustafson: By using your celebrity status.
Palin: How am I a celebrity? I’m honored that you think I’m a celebrity.
Gustafson: You’re certainly not representing the state of Alaska any longer.
Palin daughter: She’s representing the United States.
Gustafson: Yes, I know, you belong to America now, and that suits you just fine.
Palin: What do you do?
Gustafson: I’m a teacher…
Palin: (eye roll)
Gustafson:…married to a commercial fisherman.
Palin: So am I. We probably have a lot in common…I’m honored to meet you, I really am, and we both agree on the freedom of speech
Gustafson: Yes we do.
Shortly after that Gustafson’s sign was ripped down by someone in the Palin party.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
LIMON CO (IFS) - It was only this month in 1992, that American History rings out like a shot in the dark. Remembering the "Siege at Ruby Ridge" where the Government went crazy and very wrong. But it didn't stop there, it went on to Waco, TX and to Miami, FL with the Gonzales issue. It's not that I think or believe that these acts of violence against American Citizens are justified with use of extremely deadly force, but these examples of the government going after people with a hammer attempting to kill a fly on a window glass pane was a little over the top and very extreme.
RANDY WEAVER: SIEGE AT RUBY RIDGE
Government Gone Wrong
Ruby Ridge cabin, aerial view (AP)
In August of 1992 Americans tensely watched as events began to unfold on a remote ridge in Northern Idaho, involving a white separatist family and the FBI. Eleven days after it had begun, a 14-year-old boy, a 42-year-old mother, a federal marshal, and one yellow Labrador retriever had all been shot dead.
The incident ultimately led to one of the most intensive and controversial investigations in recent history. The FBI faced widespread resentment and Attorney General Janet Reno established a Justice Department task force to investigate what had happened. National debates on the case were said to have fueled anti-government sentiments, which eventually played a role in the Waco, Oklahoma City, and the Freemen conflict. Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the government building in Oklahoma City is said to be at least partially motivated by revenge for what happened at Ruby Ridge.
Prior to the incident, the Weaver family had moved to the remote mountaintop to escape what they viewed as a sinful world. Randy Weaver lived with his wife and four children in a cabin he himself built on Ruby Ridge, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border. The cabin had no electricity or running water. According to friends, the Weavers simply wanted to be left alone as they awaited Armageddon. While many may have viewed their intent as unusual, it appeared to be quite harmless to most who knew them.
Almost a decade later many questions remain: What went wrong at Ruby Ridge? Why did over 400 members of the FBI, military and local law enforcement converge on the mountain? Why did so many have to die? These and similar such questions are not easily answered, however; some answers may lay hidden within the details provided.
Friday, August 06, 2010
KIT CARSON CO (IFS) - If you were really hungry and wanted something to eat while you traveled in the Kit Carson area, the "Trading Post Restaurant" was the place to go. The food was great and the service exciting and quick. As we made another stop there as we have for many months while researching our subject matter for publication, August 5, 2010, was a very sad day in the short history of the eating establishment.
The place was just in chaos.
The food which we loved was terrible and the kitchen help just stopped preparing food. The food that did come out to the customers was over cooked, no seasonings, the food was cold, and the service just fell in the toilet.
As for me, this will be my last stop there. I'll drive the extra 50 miles to Hugo or Limon. It's not worth your time or money to stop at this place anymore.
The place was just in chaos.
The food which we loved was terrible and the kitchen help just stopped preparing food. The food that did come out to the customers was over cooked, no seasonings, the food was cold, and the service just fell in the toilet.
As for me, this will be my last stop there. I'll drive the extra 50 miles to Hugo or Limon. It's not worth your time or money to stop at this place anymore.
Monday, July 12, 2010
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