Just a thought

This will be a momentary diversion. No news of the day just something from my own mind.

Sometimes I've though about going into the arts. What gets me excited is mainly getting involved with photography and film. A couple of developments have caused me to go into the direction of making movies.

See in 2003 a pair of websites became the place to be on the internet. Grassroots journalism and activism at its best. First there was BrainTerminal.com and then there was ProtestWarrior.com. Those two websites have brought things to light that were never touched upon by the mainstream media. There have always been charges that the mainstream media have been biased towards the left but that's not to see these sites aren't biased they are very biased. However, it's safe to say that their angles exposes what the mainstream media won't.

Those two site have different histories. First off BrainTerminal is mainly a writing site. Full of op-eds and informative essays. There is a foray into photojournalism too but it is mainly a editorial site. Evan Coyne Maloney did something different in February of 2003 by deciding to take a camera into a anti war rally in NYC and exposed them for not being the majority opinion of most Americans. Today he now takes a camera to a university near you to expose political correctness on American campuses.

Then there are the Protest Warriors. At about the same time as Evan's breakthrough. Alan Lipton and Kfir Alfia decided to make up satirical signs and march with the anti-war protestors in San Francisco. They even took pictures and made it a point to call as many conservative talk show hosts to discuss their infiltration. Today they continue to needle the anti-war movement or I should call them leftist protestors even as recently as the past inaugural.

Ultimately the next month, just before the war the left was protesting had started, Evan, Alan, and Kfir would make a joint effort and document more leftist/anti-war demonstrations in San Francisco. They both came out with videos about their experience on the left coast. First Evan made a sequel to Protesting the Protestors, then another video about anti-semitism in the peace marches, and then of course one featuring the Protest Warriors. ProtestWarrior made their own film in addition to taking more pictures of their latest infiltration.

To say the least this impressed me but what does this have to do with me. Well I suppose I've thought much about being a conservative Spike Lee and/or a black Michael Moore. All I need is a good camcorder, a powerful computer to edit my footage, and perhaps a little training. Plus this could go with what I have discussed with some of my friends, taking command of the black image.

Black Baptist leaders put demands to Bush

This is from the Chicago Tribune.

A group of Black Baptist leaders put down an opposition agenda against President Bush. They expressed opposition against the war in Iraq and support the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. But they also call for a raise of the minimum wage, the discontiuation of the tax cuts, investment in public education, and reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some provisions of which are up for review in 2007.

These groups also called on President Bush to stop privatization of prison construction, reinvest in children's health insurance and increase global relief for black nations such as Sudan and Haiti. At the same time they passed the plate to endow two historically black colleges, fund care for African AIDS victims and provide tsunami relief in Somalia. The money will be distributed from a newly opened bank account shared by the four groups.

Condoleeza Rice

The Illinois Leader has a column regarding Condoleeza Rice and her treatment by the left wing of the Democratic Party. Here's a quote...

"Condi Rice has garnered the scorn of her Democratic colleagues, not because of what she has accomplished, but because of who and what she is. She is a black American, who is guilty of an unspeakable crime in liberal eyes. Her crime? She does not worship at the altar of the Democratic Party. Condi Rice has committed the unpardonable sin. She has dared to carve out her own political path while black.

And so has any black American sinned who dares to look the Democratic Party in their face and say, “You are wrong. I don’t need you. I don’t want you. I can do better than you”. And so she has."

A few months ago, there was a man who visited my home looking to do some business with us and somehow we got on the subject of Condoleeza Rice, he also mentioned Clarence Thomas in passing. He said two things along the lines of Condoleeza Rice is a white person in a black person's body and they may have our skin color but they are our kind. An outrageous statement for sure.

Barack Obama

Before I left for school earlier this month, Barack Obama was in the news. The hype about his potential was all over the place. There are people talking about him becoming our next president. We'll see about that.

From the Chicago Sun-Times, Barack Obama created a political action committee,

"Obama is calling his PAC the HOPE fund. It's common for ambitious members of Congress to create such funds -- called leadership PACs -- that allow donors to contribute outside the confines of rules governing donations to House and Senate races. The money is often used to pick up chits through donations to the campaigns of other Democrats."

Perhaps this is a first step in any of his future designs whether it is for the Presidency or anything else he wanted. But for now the basic use of this PAC is to help other Democrats around the country.

If you don't know what a chit is hopefully this will help your understanding...

Chit (noun) A Brownie point: earned vital chits with his party by making fundraising speeches. from the American Heritage Dictionary

Rice confirmed Secretary of State

In the Senate Condoleeza Rice was confirmed 85-13 for Secretary of State. This information comes to me via FoxNews.com in an email alert.Despite very contentious hearings last week and charges of lying with regards to the war in Iraq this week, Condoleeza Rice is the second black person to be secretary of state and the second woman but the first black woman for sure.I could post my own feelings on this, but I do think Condoleeza Rice is good for this job. I wish her continued sucess in the next four years. Hopefully the Democrats leading this trouble against will respect her accomplishments and respect her personally too.

Johnny Carson

Over the weekend Johnny Carson passed away.

I barely remember the Tonight Show under him. I know it existed but when I was younger I can't say it interested me much. As I recall looking through some old VHS tapes within the last couple of years my dad had recorded an episode of Johnny's Tonight Show perhaps when I get the first opportunity I should digitalize it and keep it archived.

In any case I recall that during the late 90s or so they showed some of the funniest Carson bits from his 30 years as host of the Tonight Show. They made me laugh and I suppose that I wished I had been there to experience them as so many have been able to. It's hard to believe he was host for 30 years no one can have that much staying power today. I mean no one.

Finally last night on Johnny's show the current host Jay Leno paid tribute to him. He had some people who were on during Johnny's era. Mainly Ed McMahon who was Johnny's side kick, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, and Drew Carey who got his first taste of national exposure on Johnny's Tonight Show. It was a good show from Leno for a change because I don't care much for him he didn't have to tell any bad jokes or any other bad gags. I did enjoy the clips of Johnny from his 30 years as host. They were hilarious in many ways.

Well Johnny's gone and I hope what he achieved here will not go unnoticed in the next life.

The 'Disenfranchisement' Canard

I actually found this off of the Best of the Web column from the Wall Street Journal website

The 'Disenfranchisement' Canard

For the first time since 1975, the Georgia House of Representatives has no African-Americans who serve as committee chairmen," reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Members of the Legislative Black Caucus--all Democrats--said Wednesday they had been disenfranchised. Black House members noted that in the Republican-controlled Senate, two African-American Democrats were given committee chairmanships. "Disenfranchisement" actually means being denied the vote, but Democrats of late have started using it as a dysphemism for "losing." There's no disfranchisement in the Georgia House; it is normal in American legislative bodies for the majority party to hold committee chairmanships. The problem here is the political isolation of black Americans, who overwhelmingly vote for the minority party. There's an easy way for members of Georgia's Legislative Black Caucus to have a chance at chairing committees: by changing their party affiliation.

The Black Commentator

The Black Commentator is very strong. In fact I read an article about them last year which called them the Black KKKomentator or something like that. Perhaps if I can find that article I can share it here.

In any case I ran across a couple of good articles from them in the past week. There was one disagreeing with Harold Ford on his possible support on Social Security reform and this week they talk somewhat about the aftermath of the Civil Rights movement in light of Dr. King's death.

Again this looks credible to me. The argument made in the article and how the youth might rise to the occasion and bring about change. This is a good history lesson. I hope that this will come to pass. But I must mention that they have a definite bias against anything that isn't liberal or Democrat but I've yet to look in their archives to see if they condemmed Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for their activities. Though I do remember they went after Condi Rice sometime last year.

In any case read the article or articles as soon as I can find the other I've mentined and I'll let you decide.

Condi Rice

I learned yesterday that Ms. Rice was engaged in an exchange with California Senator Barbara Boxer. When you read this I'll let you conclude what came out of this exchange.

The Inaugural

What a difference four years can make. Almost nine months as President, George W. Bush would probably not have been a shoo-in for reelection. Thanks to his "controversial" victory in 2000 challengers were lining in the Democratic Party for the 2004. To be honest I thought that planning for an election three years away was early. Then the unthinkable happened.

America witness the worst foreign attack in its history when terrorist hijacked four aircraft and used them as missiles against New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The count I head is over 3000 people were killed. 3000!!! This was all the work of Islamic fundamentalists. The hatred that caused this and many other acts of terror is irrational at worst. To be honest I still haven't gotten a handle on why they do this. All I can peace together is they hate our Middle East foreign policy and that we're not Muslim. I've come to the conclusion that this is more political than anything.

Regardless, his response to this tragedy has solidified my support for him in the last election and I have faith that this country will be in good hands as long as he remains President. However thanks to a number of factors, mainly his election in 2000 and the fact that he's a conservative Republican whose party is also in control of both houses of Congress, President Bush has suffered non-stop attacks on him by the Democrats. It especially came to the forefront during the events leading up to, during, and after the events surrounding the Iraqi war. It has given me the conclusion that the Democrats aren't about doing anything constructive and I think the rest of the country has picked up on that. They're not really interested in fixing our economy, our healthcare system, defending our country, etc. They just want to be the party in control again.

In any case President Bush's situation is interesting in American politics or even American history. I could compare him to Abraham Lincoln in some respect though perhaps Bush in not even in Lincoln's ballpark. But there isn't anyone else in American history who have incurred such wrath from his opposition while at the same time has to take on a serious crisis.

Also whether one likes it or not, this administration has appointed blacks to the top positions in the nation. Colin Powell and his replacement Condi Rice for Secretary of State. They have incurred some attacks too because of their association with President Bush from the Democrats. In fact there's a column from the Illinois Leader about the attacks against Ms. Rice during her tenure in the Bush administration.

In any case I hope that the next four years will prove to be interesting times. I hope the second term will be successful. Perhaps the Democrats can get away from their hatred of Bush or anything Republican and get back actually caring about the country they seek to represent once again.

Welcome

This is my new blog. This is my mind. To keep it palatable for anyone who may want to continue reading this blog I will confine my articles to mainly politics or any news of the day that catches my attention. I may also opine about the black experience or at least anything I can convey to you. Perhaps by Black History Month I can really come up with some ideas. For right now, however, what you'll read comes from my own mind.

Thank you.