Happy New Year and fiscal cliff

I'm watching Ryan Seacrest count down the New Year in Time Square in NYC as I read this article. We will head into 2013 with a "fiscal cliff" deal. For most of today it seemed like we weren't going to get there!

The White House said a deal had been reached to avert the “fiscal cliff” and dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to Capitol Hill late Monday, an indication lawmakers were heading toward a possible late-night vote on the proposal to avert sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts.

The major outstanding issue – how to handle the automatic spending cuts that are due to begin on Wednesday – was resolved as the White House and Republicans agreed to a two-month delay, as well as a mix of additional revenues and spending cuts intended to offset the lost savings.

The agreement would give Congress time to try to find a permanent deficit reduction solution.

Biden, walking through the Capitol to meet with Democratic senators behind closed doors, declined to answer questions shouted by reporters, but, smiling broadly, he repeatedly said, "Happy New Year.”

I haven't tuned into to this controversy unfortunately so there a lot of catching up to do on my part. Obviously, there are some fiscal issues our leaders in Washington must do in 2013. Hopefully their up to the challenge.

Finally, I got a chance to see "Lincoln"

On Christmas Eve I finally had a chance to see Skyfall, the lastest James Bond effort. On New Year's Eve I finally had a chance to see Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. This needs to become a recurring tradition!

Lincoln could be a film in the same vein as say The American President - well aside from the romantic comedy aspects it's still a film that involves politics. I also have compared Lincoln to The West Wing TV series. They all did tackle some issues that were important to the eras that they had been set in.

In the case of Lincoln it was slavery and the Civil War. Basically what we saw in this film was President Abraham Lincoln securing the votes in Congress for the 13th Amendment. Not only that he also had to contend with ending the Civil War. In fact news of representatives coming from the Confederate States of America wanting to talk about the end of the war figured in the political machinations of enacting an amendment to the US Constitution to abolish slavery.

We also learned more about the other players involved other than Lincoln. Many members of Congress - Representatives & Senators - played a role in making the 13th Amendment a reality. Just like the effort it took to make many of today's policy objectives a reality. For example look no further than "Obamacare" as one example of many.

Granted it's not the most exciting movie to watch. There's only one scene of the movie that was action packed which is mainly of Black soldiers fighting against the Confederate army. Then there's a scene that shows the bombardment of a Southern city although we didn't see anyone in that scene. It's a movie for the history buffs and President Lincoln (portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis) does come alive for us in this movie as well as the many other players in this drama!

When I came to see this movie again at River East there was a packed theater to see this movie. This movie and Skyfall has been out since November and people are still coming to see it. Spielberg must have done something right for it to have the appeal it does. :)

I need to get like Newsalert...

They just announced having 3 million unique users. Not sure I would want that much attention here, but hey it just shows that you have to know what you're doing to get that many people to put their eyes on your site. He thanked many bloggers for their help in getting his blog to 3 millions viewers. BTW, I could only wish I was like Instapundit one of the most well viewed blogs on the web!

Also I feel like this blog almost resemble the Taxing Tennessee blog. Alas it stopped posting in January of this year, however, it seems to be with the same purpose as this one. I have ideas although perhaps the blogmaster there digs much, much deeper into the issues that I usually do.

So is there going to be a NHL season?

To be honest, I haven't really kept an eye on the current NHL lockout that has already claimed half of the NHL season. It's unfortunate since I consider myself more of a hockey fan than anything else. It's also unfortunate that it almost seems like the NHL could lose another season to labor strife.

In 2005, the NHL cancelled their whole season thanks to another lockout. So far they are the only professional sports league in North America to have cancelled an entire season due to labor strife. In that vein I'm glad that the league and it's players are about to further their talks in order to save the current season.

You know all I when it comes to labor strife in professional sports is that I rarely know what's going on. It seems whether it's MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL it's always about the collective bargaining agreement. Some will make it about the players thinking their not getting enough money while it does seem the big news in sports is the latest million-dollar offer some athlete signed. At that it seems some athletes are making more money not on their respective fields of play but with outside offers such as endorsement deals. If it's all about the money how much is enough!

Anyway, hopefully the NHL will eventually start their season in the near future. I'm looking forward to some Black Hawks games in the near future! Then by April, it's time for my other favorite sport, baseball!

VIDEO: Spelman College acceptance reaction...

[VIDEO] I wish there were more videos of some young men getting college acceptance letters. That would be very exciting but I recognize young men may not be so willing to show their emotions on camera.

Although what we're looking at is a young lady who discovered that she had been accepted to Spelman College she's even more excited. Why is she excited because this was definitely her dream school.

You know her excitement is contagious as I see that many Spelman women are sharing this which is how I got wind of it. Well one of my Morehouse bros shared it on his wall as well. He may share in her excitement as well.

It makes me wonder what would've happened if I had allowed myself years ago to take some risks and fill out some applications when I was still a senior. My excitement came years later when I found that I had been accepted to Spelman's sister university of Morehouse College. Though thankfully my reaction didn't elicit a YouTube video as they didn't yet exist!

I'm very excited for the young people who are taking one step forward in their futures, but it's also envy. My youth didn't exactly allow me to take life by the horns! Thankfully many youth today are doing the same especially when it comes to college.

Congrats Nia on your acceptance to Spelman. I also hope that you will be able to afford going to school there. Hopefully you'll navigate the intricacies of college finance and then avoid going into serious debt! Meaning hopefully you will be good the day you walk the stage and graduate as a Spelman woman!

Where has James Bond been?

Not sure why exactly but James Bond wasn't even a blip on my radar screen this year. It got squeezed between The Dark Knight Rises and next year's Star Trek into Darkness. And there's more than enough time to watch the Star Trek sequel next May.

I'm big into genre movies especially action and science fiction. In fact if there were any two movie franchises that have been long time favorites over the years it's Bond and Star Trek. It's even more puzzling to me that not a lot of focus on my part was put into the latest Bond effort entitled Skyfall.

I went to see Skyfall recently at River East near Navy Pier. It was pretty good and it almost seemed like a classic bond film with an old school sounding theme song and of course there's the Ashton Martin that was a fixture in the Bond films of the 1960s. It was certainly a nice touch at the end where the offices Bond enters into near the end of the movie simply went retro!

I've been a Bond fan for a long time and it's very regretful that no trailers were shown here on this blog prior to its release. Besides trailers for Star Trek and The A-Team had been shown here in the past on this blog for example. Why was I too slow for Skyfall?

James Bond will return in the near future and I promise to do much better in the future.

Mechanics: Inclusion Wins and Woes

Gay Marriage: A civil right? from Talking Eyes Media on Vimeo.

[VIDEO] In general, I'm not supportive of gay marriage. I do accept civil unions and in this state they've been only legal since 2011. Overtime even though civil unions are legal here, we still see a push in this state for outright gay marriage.

While for the most part you still have to get the votes to make it happen in the General Assembly the blue tilt of this state could make gay marriage a reality in Illinois. Recently at the Capitol Fax we see that coalitions are forming in favor of this policy goal. It's very interesting looking at who is in favor from lawyers to public employees to even labor. Seems like your typical liberal groups.

Then over at Mechanics where I found the video above, we know one other group fighting for gay marriage - Log Cabin Republicans. It seems we never hear about that group until it's about convention time and we find out about all these various groups that are under the tent of the major parties. Log Cabin Republicans are basically a group of gay and lesbian Republicans.

I'm going to go a long way from saying they're a factor in politics. Surely only they can measure their impact in politics wherever they may have a chapter. The fact that they seem to be taking a stand on gay marriage may have an impact in their community who knows.

We already see analysis that the Republican Party may have trouble in the current political environment they do seek out more "minorities" to either represent the Republicans or at least seek office. That's fine, but it seems that if being more inclusive is the answer perhaps we need to hear more from the Log Cabin Republicans.

This is one step and I recognize that gay marriage isn't popular everywhere. At least they're arguing for some semblance of federalism here. It's not wrong that every state should be able to follow their path on any particular public policy. That's the nature of this republic.

Another nature of this republic is the various groups who are pursuing policy goals. No matter how black and white we attempt to make our two major parties, both of them have minorities of their own fighting for their own policies. Democrats may have a group of conservatives in their ranks who may not differ philosophy wise with the Republicans and then we can point to the Log Cabin Republicans who differ with their party on the issue of gay marriage for example.

I suppose what we have to look at here is how these groups could influence their particular party or their role in helping to shape policy. Perhaps we will never hear more about the Log Cabins beyond this Mechanics article, but hopefully they can help shape the direction the Illinois Republican Party would go.

On this day in 1976, the death of Mayor Daley

Today the man who has been referred to as the "last of the big city bosses", Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley died today. He was visiting the doctor talking about some health issues and was about to go to a hospital when he collapsed. John Schmidt over at WBEZ tells the story as it was back on Dec. 20th, 1976.

Refer to my book list in the sidebar. American Pharoah is a book I read years ago about Daley's rise in Chicago politics. Very interesting and very informative and you get a lesson about Chicago politics as much as you learn about Daley's life and career in politics.

BTW, this Daley was the father or another Mayor Daley - Richard M. who served as Mayor of Chicago from 1989 to 2011. Today Richard M. is enjoying his retirement even if he is involved at a local university.

Instagram will not sell your photos

Whoever decided to write this language should've been fired! It's good that it will be corrected if it hasn't already:

Instagram apologized to its users today, saying it will "remove" language from its legal terms that would have let it sell users' photos or use them in advertisements.

In a blog post this afternoon, Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said it's "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that the company is "working on updated language."

"Since making these changes, we've heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about what the changes mean," he wrote.

Instagram's terms of use agreement announced yesterday sparked a user revolt unprecedented in its history -- and prompted competitors to tout their own services as more user-protective. It came three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing service, which has over 100 million users, and follows recent efforts by the social network to increase revenue.
No other photo-sharing service appears to have had a policy as broad as Instagram's now-abandoned language, which claimed the perpetual right to license users' photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency. A hotel in Hawaii, for instance, could have written a check to Instagram to license photos taken at its resort and then use them for its own purposes.
...
Another pitfall of the now-abandoned policy: If Instagram users continued to upload photos after January 16, 2013, and subsequently deleted their account afterward, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity. There's no obvious language that says deleting an account terminates Facebook's rights, said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. 

I was about to consider myself if I would continue using Instagram. Basically loathe to deactivate any usage of social networking sites, but for the right reason such as this it would be worth it. Enough people revolted where it was known it would be a problem.

New preview "Star Trek into Darkness"

[VIDEO] This the new preview for the upcoming Star Trek into Darkness that will premier next May. We also know more about the characters who will be portrayed in this movie. The only character introduced into this universe from Star Trek canon is Dr. Carol Marcus.

The main villain whom many thought was either Khan or Gary Mitchell well his name isn't very familiar to Trek fans. There's a chance he's brand new or it's possible he may be revealed to be someone from canon. To me the odds are about even and we won't know until the movie is out. The main villain is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

The 2009 Star Trek was very intense, into Darkness appears to be even more intense judging by these previews!

S.C. Gov. Haley appoints Rep. Tim Scott to U.S. Senate

Tim Scott

Tim Scott had been elected back in 2010 and re-elected last month to his US House seat representing South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. Today he will be the 7th Black and the first Black Republican - since Massachusetts' Edward Brooke - sent to the US Senate. Scott would replace Jim DeMint who is leaving the Senate.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced Monday her decision to appoint Rep. Tim Scott to succeed Republican Sen. Jim DeMint—a decision she deemed "historic."

Scott, a tea party star, will become the first black Southern senator since the late 1800s. He first won election to the U.S. House in 2010 by beating out Paul Thurmond, son of former segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond, in the Republican primary for South Carolina's 1st District. Upon his appointment, Scott will serve in the seat the elder Thurmond once occupied.

"It's a great day in South Carolina. It's an historic day in South Carolina," Haley said, standing beside Scott and DeMint at a statehouse press conference.

Haley, who is Indian-American, added that it was important to her "as a minority female that Congressman Scott earned this seat for the person that he is" and the results that he has achieved.

Haley cited Scott's knowledge of the "value of a dollar" and what America's working families face in today's economy as some of the things that played into her decision.

OK so leaving party aside, we now have a Black in the US Senate which has been derided as an "old boys' club" of sorts. And yes read that as "white old boys" club. And at least he was highly recommended apparently by Sen. DeMint.

I wonder how the Democrats or even the Congressional Black Caucus would find a way to dismiss Sen. Scott.

Shooting at a Connecticut school on Friday

[VIDEO] This incident occurred on my birthday. A man decided on Friday to go to an elementary school and shoot it up and killed adults and children alike. What has been learned of the suspect other than the fact that he killed himself and his mother is that his brother claimed he had some type of personality disorder.

Many people around the nation are very sad about this incident and wishes to send prayers to this town in Connecticut where this occurred. If this happened at my old elementary school I'd certainly be extremely upset. Too shoot up an elementary school for any reason is unfathomable.

Since the suspect killed himself at the scene perhaps we may never know what drove him to do this. He snapped and wasn't aware of what he was doing or maybe he did. Who knows?

The thing is, whatever happened in this man's head it changed a number of lives forever. Now we're left with two questions. Do we need more gun control? What can we do about the mentally ill?

Capitol Fax: Alvarez complains about “60 Minutes” story

Anita Alvarez

Alvarez, Cook County State's Attorney is attempting to punch back after the interview she had on CBS' 60 Minutes. As a matter of fact you can watch the story she was interviewed in right here on this blog.

Rich Miller on his blog does a round up of all stories related to Alvarez' defense. He doesn't seem to think that she did a good job defending herself. Indeed he further states that she could've advanced legislation that could've prevented false conviction such as what was chronicled in that 60 Minutes edition:

If she’s really so interested in preventing more of these horrific cases of false juvenile imprisonment, she’d help come up with a solution. So far, nothing.

Then opens her up to another charge, she's not interested in making big changes and only maintain the status quo.

Russ Stewart: Republicans on the March to Evolution or Extinction?

Reading this column from local columnist Russ Stewart, Republicans don't have a prayer in either Cook County or Chicago. If you believe this column even voting Green Party in this part of the state is more palatable than voting Republican. By proxy, if you're running statewide as a Republican you need a good chunk of the electorate up here in Cook in order to win statewide.

We can look towards the 2010 gubernatorial election to see this at work. Although the Governor's race was very close so was the US Senate race where Republican Mark Kirk won. Both were close but the Republican - Bill Brady - failed to win the governorship against a vulnerable incumbent and the Republican won the US Senate race against a vulnerable challenger.

Two questions:

• How did it come to pass that Republicans no longer had a prayer in Cook County or Chicago?
• What's the difference in the candidacies of Bill Brady vs. Mark Kirk in their respective races? That is why did one lose win and the other victorious?

Marathon Pundit wants to save President Reagan's former Chicago home

832 E. 57th St.

John Ruberry wants his post to be shared and so I shall share. It's safe to say Obama's Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park was briefly home to another president almost 100 years ago. In fact a year ago I wrote a post about that apartment building where a young Ronald Reagan once lived.

A year ago there were some activists who wanted to preserve this residence, and today it's in the shadow of the University of Chicago hospital and they're looking for room to expand. This building is also owned by UChicago according to Ruberry.

Conceal carry ban overturned...

I was slow on this story in fact had no idea this was even pending in federal court. On Tuesday, a federal appellate court strikes down Illinois' ban on concealed carry.

Even though the General Assembly is majority Democrat a bill allowing for concealed carry had passed unfortunately it was vetoed by Governor Quinn. Quinn really believed that having concealed carry was more dangerous for this state. He's not alone btw, Chicago and Cook County are full of politicians who believe in gun control.

Here's a case in point in fact and I linked to this video earlier this week [VIDEO]

Over at The Sixth Ward yesterday, I had posted about a Chicago alderman's - Howard Brookins - response to this ruling. He ran against the woman in the above video four years ago and on that same program indicated that he didn't mind if responsible people owned handguns. His ward isn't a high crime ward, however, many Black alderman in the city do. It also might help that he is the chairman of the Chicago City Council's Black Caucus.

In any event I do wonder if there will be any action on conceal carry in this state in 180 days as was ruled in this judgement. It makes sense to me to allow individual counties or municipalities to have their own restrictions or at least to opt-in or out. The state itself has to decide whether they want to appeal or craft some reasonable concealed carry legislation.

VIDEO: Union assault on camera

[VIDEO] This video was aired on Hannity last night, Steven Crowder was in Lansing, Michigan and he was assaulted and the tent he was in torn to the ground by union thugs. This is unbelievable footage.

This is in relation to Michigan passing and ultimately enacting into law "right-to-work" legislation which simply means that no one is forced to join a union when they take a job. Michigan is said to be struggling as a state perhaps even before the economic downturn that started in the last decade.

Perhaps right-to-work will enable companies to reinvest in Michigan and hire more personnel, time will tell. We do see an example of who doesn't support this policy in the people who attacked Crowder. This is how passionate a lot of people take this issue.

Another battle to fight in Michigan is revitalizing Detroit. The city is teetering towards bankruptcy and I recently showed the video of a city councilwoman wanting more money for the city from President Obama. Although perhaps right-to-work may not be what puts that beleaguered city back on the map.

Via Newsalert!

Sun-Times: State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s once-rising star on the wane

Anita Alvarez

In relation to the video I posted yesterday about Anita Alvarez's not very impressive appearance on CBS 60 Minutes. Here in Cook County, now we're debating her political future and it's evidenced in this recent Sun-Times article. If you want to read the whole article registration will be required:

She won re-election with ease in November and was said not long ago to be in line for a judgeship.

But in the past two weeks, Alvarez has suffered two major embarrassments.

Last week, a special prosecutor announced an indictment against Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, for involuntary manslaughter in the 2004 death of David Koschman — a case in which Alvarez had declined to file charges, saying there wasn’t enough evidence. Alvarez also argued that an outside prosecutor wasn’t needed. Now, the grand jury led by special prosecutor Dan K. Webb, a former U.S. attorney appointed by a judge, continues to investigate whether criminal charges should be filed against anyone from Alvarez’s office or the Chicago Police Department over their handling of the case.

The second embarrassment for Alvarez came Sunday on national television. A CBS “60 Minutes” segment, recorded six months ago, put a spotlight on Cook County as the capital of documented false confessions. The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an inquiry into the interrogation practices in Cook County.

At one point in the program, Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project in New York, said that in one case, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office suggested in court that necrophilia was a possible reason why the DNA of a convicted rapist was found inside the victim.

A group of kids were charged with the crime after confessing.

The “60 Minutes” interviewer asked Alvarez: “It’s possible that this convicted rapist wandered past an open field and had sex with a 14-year-old girl who was dead?”

Alvarez: “Well, there’s all kinds of possibilities out there, and what I’m saying is we don’t know what happened.”

Reached by phone Monday, Neufeld said though the interrogations happened under a different regime, Alvarez’s remarks showed she is unwilling to change practices.

“Frankly, there’s not a lot of difference between her saying necrophilia is a possibility in this case and saying the earth is flat,” Neufeld said. “For the state’s attorney to simply get up there and say, no, we have more confidence in the aggressive interrogations of teenage boys than to DNA hits to these offenders with known MOs — it indicates a lack of fitness to the job.”

OK, I excerpted a lot more than I intended to here. 

Anyway, Alvarez's supposed star isn't shining so brightly these days. Neufeld might as well have said that she represents the status quo!

BTW over at the Capitol Fax in light of a surprising federal appelate court ruling regarding firearms in Illinois he pointed out Alvarez's position on guns from 2008. She sounded as if anyone caught with a gun will be prosecuted because in her words, no one should ever own a gun! Of course he noted this in light of the fact that Trotter will face felony charges in his arrest last week for posessing a handgun at O'Hare. Interesting times we're seeing right now!

Capitol Fax: Alvarez defends “false confession capital”

[VIDEO] I missed this edition of 60 Minutes last night and it's making splash currently over at the Capitol Fax today and also Tribune columnist Eric Zorn criticized Anita Alvarez who as State's Attorney is the chief prosecutor in Cook County, IL. Since this story came out this hasn't looked very good for her. Zorn outright said she humiliated herself! Rich Miller thinks this interview is akin to political suicide.

The issue chronicled in this episode was the large number of false - well wouldn't forced be more accurate -  confessions that has taken place in Chicago over the years. Alvarez was first elected to as State's Attorney in 2008 and in some circles is well known for her stance on guns chronicled in her election year appearance on Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz [VIDEO].

Zorn even mentioned a recent grand jury indictment against a nephew of former Mayor Daley. He said it embarrassed Alvarez and perhaps it was embarrassing because she couldn't control that. The nephew who was recently arraigned had plead not guilty in a death that was a result of a bar fight. BTW, the hits keep coming as the case would be heard by a Daley ally!

I aired some dirty laundry here so let me stop. I wonder if any day now we're either going to hear called for Alvarez's resignation. Not sure that we will, but perhaps it should be put out there. Let's not forget she was also re-elected last month to her current job!

The former Williams Clinic

Crossposted at The Sixth Ward

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What you see above is a Google Streetview of the former Williams Clinic located at 408 E. Marquette Road. It was operated by a family of Black doctors and it seemed they offered a number of services at this clinic including a dentist and a pharmacy. In fact here's an obituary for one of the Williams brothers who originally founded the clinic.

Recently I drove by and it hits me that the clinic is close the motel near Marquette Road & King Drive that had been recently demolished thanks to the activism of a local minster Corey Brooks - who incidentally was interested in succeeding Jesse Jackson Jr. for the 2nd congressional district seat. In driving by, on that motel property was a rendition of how the new community center Brooks hope to build would look.

Then it also hit me, I wonder if Brooks might find a way to thrown in some health care services at his future community center. Indeed perhaps he could find a way to take over the Williams Clinic property which is currently a church.

I do wish to know what happened to Williams Clinic. My dad used to patronize their practice back in the day and continued to do so until it appears that the Williams family were no longer involved in that business. I'm not entirely certain when they closed but surely someone could fill in some details.

BTW, this post is going into some unfamiliar territory as far as a particular issue such as health care. Medical services are necessary no matter your income level and this area around the former clinic is considered a low-income area. The question to ask here is whether or not it's possible for an independent clinic such as this could exist today. Would the economics of health care today keep independent medical professionals from operating?

Reason: LP Candidate Bruce Majors vs. D.C.'s One-Party System

[VIDEO] So there are Libertarians in our nation's capital and at that some of them may well be Black. Well a man named Bruce Majors ran against longtime DC Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Anyway, this is an interesting conversation Majors has with Nick Gillespie. To start Majors was able to garner enough votes for the DC Libertarian Party to become a major party in the nations capitols effectively joining at least the Republicans and the Democrats through 2016.

DC is not unlike Illinois in that primary voters have a closed system meaning that you must register or ask for the ballot of a specific party before casting a ballot. In fact at my other blog - The Sixth Ward - I had posted an editorial which calls for an open primary in this state. To be sure, it seems unlikely to come to pass but one idea who's time has come.

Anyway this is one way those fabled Black Libertarians can answer the call to let the world know that they exist! Hopefully Mr. Majors is able to pursue and gain such supporters.

VIDEO: "Star Trek into Darkness" teaser preview

[VIDEO] Just got wind of this today, it seems to wet the appetite at least until the movie is released next year. I am only more curious who the new villian is. My gut tells me it isn't Khan but it's possible that we may see another villain from Star Trek canon. Although judging by the trailer is got to be a character who really does have an axe to grind with Earth.

Also I've heard Gary Mitchell, he's the villain from the 2nd original Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before". In that episode the USS Enterprise under Capt. Kirk reaches the outer galactic barrier after finding a marker from a long lost starship and some of their crew including Mitchell recieved ESP powers. Mitchell begins to really feel the power and becomes a threat to the Enterprise crew.

Anyway, TrekMovie.com has seen the trailer even has bonus footage provided in a Japanese preview for the film. Also, a scene-by-scene analysis of this preview seen there as well.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day

I feel like I wrote about Doris "Dorie" Miller here years ago, but this feels like an appropriate way to remember Pearl Harbor day. He was the first Black to be awarded the Navy Cross and it was for his activities on that very day. Alas he didn't survive the second world war as he was presumed dead after a torpedo attack on the ship he served on USS Lipscombe Bay November 24, 1944.

Anyway the attack on Pearl Harbor took place on this day December 7, 1941 and helped to bring the USA into the second world war in both the Pacific and European theaters.'

Miller is seen on the right in a recruitment advertisement during the war. After being awarded the Navy Cross, he had been on a war bond tour and gave speeches in Oakland, CA, his hometown of Waco, TX, and even spoke to Black recruits at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in IL.

Today I honor the heroics of Mr. Doris Miller and all who died in the Japanese Attack on this day back in 1941.

Marathon Pundit:Detroit city council member to Obama: We voted for you--now bail us out

[VIDEO] Marathon Pundit:

There is so much wrong with what Detroit City Council member JoAnn Watson said yesterday.

"Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that," she declared on the floor of the City Council. "Of course, not just that, but why not?"

"After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. and came home with some bacon," said Watson. "That's what you do."

Ruberry made sure to note that Mayor Young helped to accelerate the decline of Detroit during his time in office during the 1970s & 1980s.

The video above was the speech from Ms. Watson. I wonder what she hopes to accomplish with more money from Washington.

Illinois state senator arrested for gun possession at airport

D'OH!

Well Donne Trotter is a State Senator in my state and he wants to succeed Jesse Jackson Jr. to the 2nd congressional district seat. Who knows, this may put a dampener into his plans to be a future US Congressman. Although if you want a constituency who may well have a tendency to overlook mistakes and indiscretions, the 2nd congressional district has that constituency.

Also it's interesting how many people are now curious about Trotter's day job. Is he a security guard or is he simply just an employee of this agency for which he is employed? Also is he working in a capacity where he's carrying a weapon?

I mean wow!

GOP support helps move immigrant driver's licenses

A friend of mine might be interested in this AP report. This is has been big news in Illinois politics.

Illinois legislative Republican leaders' support of allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses should help move the issue.

Advocates expect the Senate to take up the matter on the floor Tuesday.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno announced at a morning Capitol news conference that they'll back the proposal.

The plan awaiting a Senate floor vote would allow the 250,000 illegal immigrants who are already driving the chance to be tested, licensed and buy insurance.

Well, I suppose they should be licensed and then subject to the rules of the road yes. They're already out there driving, but should we encourage illegals to follow the legal process for immigrants?

Tough call but right now, Illinois is moving forward with allowing illegal immigrants the opportunity to get driver's licenses.

VIDEO: Wide new Lincoln Park rowhomes under $1M

[VIDEO] I post the vid above for one main reason. Sometimes I wish I was an architect and most importantly wish I was a builder. If only these homes could be built in communities that needs them.

The design from the outside looks great, however, they're built in Lincoln Park for a reason. These homes are expensive, thus for a builder on the the south side depending on the neighborhood they have to find a way to scale down the price. It makes me wonder if the construction of the home ultimately helps determines the price when it's built and available for sale.

This only shows that I have an interest in real estate mainly the purchase of property and it's leasing. Of course the next step is to learn the economics of construction.

"Star Trek into Darkness" poster

Hmmmm, a poster is nice. And you can tell somewhat it's Star Trek. Too bad I'm in the mode of wanting to find out more about the movie before it's released. All the same for every Star Trek movie that is to be released I'm always optimistic. Very much looking forward to seeing the finished product and hopefully we will see this poster in a cinema near you.

BTW, according to TrekMovie this evokes the initial poster for The Dark Night Rises. Basically the bat symbol carved amongst some skyscrapers. In this case the Star Trek symbol carved into a building or a bulkhead with a man standing on some of the wreckage. Hopefully we'll find out what this all symbolizes although I recognize that this imagery we won't likely see in the movie.

ALSO, check out the official website for the new movie @ http://www.startrekmovie.com/

Capitalism, Part 3

I've been talking a lot about capitalism lately, but to be honest I haven't spent a lot of time reading up on the subject. There's one book that anyone should read up and that's Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and if you're lucky you can read that book for free thanks to the public domain! :P

Anyway it's one thing to philosophize about capitalism with all of it's benefits and faults, but it's absolutely another to actually practice it. That realization came to a eureka moment!

When I was in high school all the way through my college years there was one thing I failed to do, take a business course. In high school my counselor seemed interested in having me take another social studies my mistake was in rolling with it. It might have been in my best interest to take a bookkeeping/accounting class and it was something of interest, but it never happened for me for some reason.

I've spend a number of years in college starting off at a local community college and then of course attending Morehouse. During my time in college I never considered taking any business courses as my career goals still hadn't been determined and business struck me as very intimidating. When I was at Morehouse the least I did as far as a basic business course was in business law. It would've done me good to take an accounting course or two but I never did.

Now here's my eureka moment, would it do our young people a great service to require them to take some type of business class before they graduate high school. Just give them an intro course to business that teaches them all aspects of business especially accounting. That way, they will still have learned some business skills and hopefully it will serve them well when they start looking for a job which they will have to do at some point.

Perhaps there ought to be other classes before they leave high school if they want to take it further. Then of course there is college and they can take some basic courses electives permitting or they may choose to major in a business discipline. Hopefully if they excel in these endeavors the young people won't have a problem in their future careers.

Besides no matter where you go in your career - such as academia, church, science, government, politics, etc. - business skills are necessary. You must know where the money is going and how to manage resources. Also operations have to be able to continue operating and business skills could help that.

What's the deal with the Illinois GOP, part 2?

[VIDEO] And also Jeff Berkowitz is interviewing the Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party Pat Brady. They also talk about the implications of the last election. And yes Brady is right they did gain two executive offices and the US Senate seat. Alas they lost more members of the General Assembly and the Democrats have supermajorities and also they couldn't win the Governor's office in 2010. Also the gains made in Congressional seats in 2010 undone in addition to not being able to really have some say in the redistricting in district lines statewide and congressional throughout the state.

Too bad this program didn't air around the time the state Republican Party website went down!

BTW, Brady offered to resign after the losses suffered by this state's Republican party in 2012 but somehow he remains on the job. Who knows perhaps they realize this is a rebuilding period, but perhaps there's no one else ready to step up in the interim.