I’m sure most readers will recall the incident where passengers on a US Airways plane identified 6 Muslim imams as exhibiting “suspicious behavior” causing the airlines to hold the imams for questioning upon their arrival in Minneapolis, Minnesota last November. See story here.

        Due to this incident the Muslim imams filed a lawsuit against US Airways and “John Does” passengers in which among other issues they demanded that the passengers who had reported them be identified.

         The Democrats have been hyping the incident and the lawsuit as evidence of American Muslims accusations of Islamophobia.

         Thursday Republican Representative Peter T. King, (New York) ranking Republican member on the House Homeland Security Committee offered the motion that all Americans including airline passengers must be protected against lawsuits if they are to be encouraged to report suspicious behavior and possibly prevent a terrorists attack such as the one on the World Trade Centers September 11, 2001.

         One would think this was a no-brainer, but surprisingly there was heated debate and several calls for order before  a procedural vote was taken requiring the Democrat’s  Rail and Public Transportation Security Act of 2007 be sent back to committee with instructions to add the protective language. The vote passed 304 to 121. One wonders what the 121 were thinking!

          Muslim Americans are using our laws to gain concessions for their cultural and religious beliefs and restrictions. Here in North Carolina there have been two incidents : 1) a female Muslim demanded that she be allowed to cover her face for the picture on her driver’s license. She lost that case. However the irony in the whole affair is that in her native country she would be prohibited from driving let alone having a driver’s license face covered or not!

          2) We had the case where a Muslim American wanted to use the Koran upon which to swear his oath in a court of law. His argument was that swearing on the Christian Bible was meaningless to him since he did not believe the Bible was the word of God. That case was laid to rest when it was wisely conceded that the person should be allowed to swear to tell the truth on any book that represented the word of God to him/her.

         In another case: a Muslim woman is suing Judge Paul Paruk who in a Small Claims Court District 31 Detroit dismissed her case because she insisted on testifying in her own behalf while wearing what she called a “veil”, but which was in fact a full body covering called a niqub. A niqab is just one step away from the infamous burqa which obscures the eyes as well.

        Her suit claims that her religious rights were violated. While the Koran does not specifically require that women wear a covering over their face, many do as a sign of piety and modesty.

        In the meantime the Detroit News didn’t seem to have a clue from their headlines which read, “Muslim sues judge who barred veil” “Woman claims her religious rights were violated when asked to remove head scarf.”  Paul Egan / The Detroit News March 29, 2007.     "Veil"?  "Headscarf"?

       The hearing in this case is set for April 18 where the woman’s lawyer is asking another judge to order a stay in the case and to require that Judge Paul Paruk recluse himself from the hearing. Let us all hope the second Judge is as wise as the first.

       Interestingly, this story was also aired on the blog site “Little Green Footballs” where there were at my last count 213 comments most in favor of allowing the lady, if there was indeed a lady under the “veil”? to remove herself to a country where she would be not be permitted by law to testify in any court let alone bring a suit against someone.  

        It has been said that the Muslims claim that if they can not defeat us from without then they will do so from within. They are using our laws against us. Or, perhaps I should be more hopeful and say they are TRYING to use our laws against us.

         I am not hopeful however when we the majority of Americans have had our lives and our beliefs and our desires denied because of a handful of people who disagree with us. Atheists have had pray removed from our schools, the ten commandments upon which our laws are based removed from our court house steps and schools, nativity scenes removed from public parks, and the list goes on. Some say our bill of rights was written to protect the minority from the majority. What then will protect the majority from the minority?

         Will we never learn?

 Immigrants whether legal or illegal are here to stay and it is time for the American people to accept this fact and do what they can to help these people become assimilated into our society and culture. Immigrants all over the world are migrating from poor countries to Europe and North America. Immigrants to the US are mainly Hispanics from South and Central America with the majority from Mexico. Whereas, Europe is being inundated with mainly Muslims from the Middle East and Africa. The immigrants, both legal and illegal, are coming for jobs and to provide a better life for their families. Many send their sons who work and send money home to help the family survive.

We certainly can not blame these people for wanting to come to the United States. If you were in their position and could not support your family in your home country and a wealthy country with many jobs was available just by wading across a muddy little stream you to would take any chances necessary to get to that rich country. AND, once there and seeing all that could be had you would want to bring your family to this land of milk and honey to live and prosper and grow.

The sooner we as a country accept this fact and do something to help those who are already here while securing our borders the less problems we will have in the future. Europe should be a lesson to us in how not to treat immigrants. After WWII a great deal of labor was needed to rebuild Europe so cheap immigrant labor was imported. These immigrants then brought their families. The Europeans used these people and isolated them in their own ghettoes. Now they have second and even third generation native born “immigrants” not having known what their parents left behind are not grateful for the low paying jobs and better living conditions. They see the disparity of their life with that of the general population. There are still language and cultural barriers and so the jobs available to these second and third generation “native immigrants” are still low paid menial work. Resentment and a great deal of anger has lead to protest, hate crimes and even terrorist activities. The reason for this is directly related to how their families were treated. Good enough to work your lowest paying menial jobs but not good enough to become one of you.

We in the United States are now making that same mistake and we too will reap the anger and resentment some day because of our neglect. At one time immigration was encouraged and the governments offered help to these newcomers. My grand parents immigrated legally to the United States from Russia in 1910 and my grandfather immediately enrolled in a local night school set up to help immigrants learn the language and laws of their new country. This was done to allow these people to move forward and become a part of our society during the later part of the 19^th. and early 20^th. The efforts were abandoned during the depression of the 1930’s due to the lack of money and never resumed unfortunately. But these people soon began to think of themselves as Americans and they prospered in a limited way but their children went further and the grandchildren and great grand children are also prospering because schooling became a family tradition.

We need to resume education for the adults as well as the children of these immigrants. Guilford County is experimenting with a program for immigrant children with a special school where learning English will be the main objective. This is a great start but we need to go one step further and offer night school classes in the English spoken and written language for the adults.

We recently had our apartment painted by two young men from Costa Rica who have an apartment in the next building in our complex. I saw the sign on their truck. Painting is their evening and week end job that they hope will become their permanent business. They are identical twins. One has been in the country for 9 years and the other for only two years because he has a family still in Costa Rico whom they hope to be able to bring here in the next two years. The one who has been here the longest (9 years) could understand me very well, but I could not understand him because his English is limited. He of course translates for his brother which is bad since the brother then has no motivation to even learn to understand English. I ask him if he would go to night classes to learn to read, write and speak English and he told me he “would want take school”. If we don’t as a nation make this effort for our immigrants who as I have pointed out are here to stay then we are creating a permanent underclass who one day will be “immigrants” in their own home country and then they will revolt as are those in Europe now.

I was motivated to do this post by this news story I read yesterday: “By DAVID DISHNEAU - Associated Press Writer 3/27/2007 FREDERICK, Md. (AP) The search for the missing mother of four dead children could expand to other countries, authorities said, as a portrait emerged Wednesday of an immigrant family struggling to live the American dream.

Pedro Rodriguez and Deysi Benitez had faced language hurdles when they arrived in the far suburbs of Washington seven years ago. They worked menial jobs to pay a townhouse mortgage, took in a boarder and had a few run-ins with the law, including a shoplifting arrest over children's clothing.

The family's dreams ended this week with the four young children dead in their beds of unknown causes and the father hanging from his townhouse banister.”

Will we never learn? BB

 On the evening of January 11, 1944, President Roosevelt was unable to give the annual presidential State of the Union speech before Congress so he instead gave it to the entire nation by way of his famous Fireside Chats. Cass Sunstein, a prominent liberal law professor at the University of Chicago called it “the most important speech of the century”. It’s importance is due to the fact that it is the first and most far reaching speech and endorsement of an American president for the legitimizing of the welfare state. The idea of the welfare state is that government MUST GUARANTEE the social and economic security for all citizens.

        The fore fathers and creators of the United States of America promised all citizens the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nothing more! Originally the statement read: life, liberty and happiness. With the word happiness meaning financial well being and security for each individual. It wasn’t long before the delegates realized the mistaken assurance that promise made. No free man or free government could promise happiness (financial security) to it’s citizens. Not all individuals are endowed with the same abilities and talents. Nor are they all desirous of pursuing the same goals. So it follows that in the scheme of things some individuals will be more financially secure than others, and for a wide variety of reasons. One of the founding fathers was a prime example, Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution was a brilliant orator and writer who could have chosen to turn his talent into a source of income and “happiness” (security) for himself and his family. Instead he chose to spend his talent and his time deriding the English Parliament and King George’s treatment of the colonies, and involving himself in other political matters. In that time politics was the realm of the wealthy because there was little pay for holding public office. Because of Adam's choices his family lived on charity. When he was sent to Philadelphia as a delegate to the first Continental Congress the city fathers got together and purchased a suit of clothing for him to wear so his appearance would not embarrass them.

         The Founding Father’s quickly added the words the “PURSUIT of happiness”. All men were guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This belief was accepted by all from July 4, 1776 to the last century when our 32nd. President after being elected in 1932 set about initiating his New Deal with Americans and that New Deal he finally legitimized with his speech on January 11, 1944.

         It is important for all citizens to recall the one thing the founding fathers knew and avoided when creating a new country and new government, a welfare state is in fact Socialism. And Socialism morphs easily into communism as the state takes from those who have to give to those who have not and in so doing reduces the haves to the level where they can not maintain the investments which produce jobs and job security forcing the state to therefore take over and operate these factories and businesses. The state owns all. All people are guaranteed a job for life and healthcare from birth to death. There are in theory no classes or divides, no people getting more than any others. Well anyone who has been paying the least bit of attention to Russia and China the two largest communist (socialist) countries in the world should be cognizant of the fact that there are very definite disparities between peoples and groups. They should also be aware of the standards of living of even what is in this country considered the middle class. Doctors and scientist are happy the state allows them a three room apartment and a salary of $100 per month. The factory worker gets a two room apartment and only $70 per month. People line up for hours at the grocery stores to be able to purchase a limited supply of groceries from the state own stores and the state own factories and the plants and the state own farms. There are shortages of every type consumer goods because production levels are very low. Why are they low? Why should any one work any harder than the laziest worker if all are going to be paid the same amount for their labors?

           As for health care in Russia and China since the Iron Curtain fell we have been treated to the horror stories concerning the conditions in their hospitals. If we ever get to view the conditions of health care in China I am sure we will see the same. The polluting of the rivers in China have made headlines. these same rivers provide the drinking water for millions of people.

        This is the welfare state that Franklin D. Roosevelt started and legitimized with his introduction of Social Security, a promised payment of funds to all elderly upon reaching age 65 based on how much they put into the system. (The dirty little secret of Social Security that most Americans don't realize is that every cent a person has put into the system thru pay roll deductions is returned to that person after 2 to 2 1/2 years and after that it is nothing more than Welfare for the Elderly with the younger workers picking up the tab. I hear all the time” I deserve this because I paid into it". The answer is , "Yes you paid into the fund but certainly you are getting much more back."

         The Social Security Act was quickly followed by several others that would come to be known as “entitlements” 1)a payment to widows and orphans from this same fund called a Survivors Benefit. Having had experience with the Survivors Benefits I can tell you they are generous enough that a widow and her children can live well enough if not extravagantly. In fact it was President Reagan in 1981 who stopped paying the benefits past age 18 to surviving children who went to college.

       2) a Medicaid Bill providing health care to the needy and poor. A bill I fully support and feel should be expanded for the needy children who will be the future workers and supporters of all this largess.

      3) guarantee of funds to those who are disabled and unable to work. The only problem with this program is the large disparity in what is considered a disability.

        I admit these are all worthy causes but they are like that second bathroom, nice to have if you can afford it.  The thing is we the tax payers can not afford them.  We couldn't then because we were in a depression and we surely can not now given whaty has been done to the programs and the funding for the programs.  In the beginning the payment into the Social Security account from a workers pay check was only ½ of 1%. Another fact of life then was that most people did not reach age 65 so it was deemed a "safe” age for retirement and promise of payment of benefits which of course would not need to be paid.  Things have changed considerably over the years. With advances in medical care and then the Medicare Bill which came along in 1965 people began to live much longer. It is not unusual for a person to receive Social Security Benefits for 10 or even 20 years after retirement. And though the payroll deductions into the Social Security Trust Fund is now up to 15% (7 1/2% from each the employee and the employer) the fact of any one person cashing out their contribution in 2+ years is still true.

        World War II came along and the military requirements meant jobs were available for everyone. This prosperity continued into the 1950’s and 1960’s. Everyone was on top of the world and everyone remembered FDR. He was in fact all but a God to my parents and grandparents who had lived during the “Great Depression” and Roosevelt was credited with getting us out of the Great Depression. Well, really he did. He got us into a war and wars mean jobs and jobs mean money.

        The prosperity of the 1950’s and 1960’s was also primarily due to the war. First, there were jobs during the war years and good money being made but no consumer goods being produced to spend it on so people had money in the ‘50’s for homes and appliances and cars and colleges for their kids. The government encountered a problem tho after the troops began returning home from the war that threatened another depression with more workers than jobs. The government solved this problem by offering the soldiers coming home a GI Bill for special schooling or college which ushered in a huge middle class in the United States which further added to the prosperity of the country for decades.  The GI Bill was probably the only outstandingly prosperous and good legislative act of the  government  since the Constitution of the United States of Amrica was written.  Itr made possible the United States as we known it today; a country whose citizens enjoy the highest standard of living in the world.  The only shame is that our elected officials failed to make more of this wave of prosperity we at one time were riding.

        Anyhow, getting back on topic, the second thing the government did which created jobs was to rebuild Europe with what was called the Marshall Plan (the greatest idea ever conceived after a war. Do read about it if you never have. The Marshall Plan did more to insure peace than any thing else ever could.) It wasn't freeas  we were taking back IOU”s from the Europeans for this help. So our factories kept producing and jobs were available into the 1960’s rebuilding Europe and then continuing into the 1980's to supply the restored and gaining in prosperity of the European people with much wanted American products.

          Enter President Lyndon Johnson who in 1965 made another welfare state deal with Americans with his Medicare Bill which guaranteed all elderly Americans health care for a very small monthly fee taken from the Social Security Franklin D. Roosevelt had given them. Johnson also expanded Medicaid which I grant was needed, I have always felt the poor and needy should be cared for. Then Johnson looked around and decided more “poor” kids needed to go to college and since the GI Bill wasn’t getting enough of the population in college now that there were fewer soldiers so he started the ball rolling towards the government stepping in and guaranteeing  student loans. The money for students loans weren't from the government,  but were government backed and the government paid the interest on these loans until the student graduated and began paying back the loans themselves. The banking industry loved this bill! It was a sweetheart deal made in Heaven as far as they were concerned and they couldn't lose because if the student defaulted then the government paid off the principle after paying the interest all those years. Billions of dollars are owed the government on defaulted student loans. (another story for another day).

        The Medicare Bill did set up a separate tax for the so-called Medicare Trust Fund, but it basically operates the same as the Social Security Trust Fund and is stuffed with all but worthless T-Bills. Both extra tax systems are pay as you go schemes where those paying now are carrying the load for the present recipients. When more funds are taken in than are needed then they are to go into these trust funds. The funds are then taken out of the Trust Fund and used for current government expenses while being replaced with Treasury Notes, or promises of payment by the same government( read that: tax payers) from future taxes when the funds are needed. I suggest some of you take a good look at the predicted value of treasury notes in the future when they are “needed”. They ain’t got no value at all! And next year when the first of that huge group of so-called baby boomers (children born to the returning WWII veterans) start to retire and demand their Social Security the only place our government has to turn is to tax you the tax payer more, or to do what it has been doing for years now and that is sell more of our treasury notes and assets to China. We are selling our country to China thru buying far more from them than they are buying from us. Jobs that were once in the United States have now gone to China.  Our government is spending more and more than it is taking in in taxes meaning the government must "borrow" this money from somewhere to pay the defitcit.   Along comes China quite willing to take our governmentss IOU's for its goods.  Thus my title for this rant: China now OWNS the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!   Sincerely, BB

**John Marini, Professor of political science at The University of Nevada spoke at Hillsdale College and his speech was later printed in Hillsdale’s Imprimis Newsletter. This particular newsletter is what got inspired this post. For you not familiar with Imprimis Newsletter it has a monthly readership of 1,250,000. Hillsdale College's motto is Educating for Liberty since 1844. Their roll call of speakers are some of the foremost experts in their fields. They have a web site if you too would like to receive their newsletter

 Democrats are tacking several billion dollars for earmarks on the Iraq Funding Bill to BUY the votes they can not get otherwise for the bill. The Iraq Funding Bill as written will force all the troops to be brought home next year. I wrote on this previously on March 8^th, Will They Never Learn?. This bill in itself is a death warrant for our troops still in Iraq. NEVER tell the enemy when you are planning on withdrawing from the field. NEVER! Armies thru out history have recognized this truth, but our intellectually challenged Democrats in the House of Representatives think they were given control of the house and Senate in the last election with a mandate to bring the troops home and end our involvement in Iraq. ONE VOTE can not be considered a mandate by any but the brain dead. The majority of the population are still behind the President on the Middle East. His low ratings are due to the bungling that resulted from the erroneous expectations of being met as liberators in Iraq rather than invaders. The Iraqi people are not yet ready to govern themselves. In point of fact there is no such thing as an Iraqi national identity. There are three tribes of people with five hundred years of differences and animosity towards each of the other two tribes. THIS was the first mistake made by the Bush administration and it lead to the bungling of the effort to set up a democratic state in the Middle East from even before the first troops set foot in Iraq. Now it is a cauldron of diverse terrorist groups gathering from all over the Muslim world to fight Americans with a side dish of civil war between the three tribes in the area known as Iraq. This is what the American public is upset about. Not the war in Iraq, but the bungling and poor judgment and planning. However the majority of Americans see the need to clean up the mess we have made for the common people in Iraq before we can honorably leave. The Democrats did not get a go ahead from the public to end the involvement in Iraq. And they certainly did not get a mandate to get American troops killed!

           The Democrats in the House are determined to get the votes so they are offering billions of deficit spending pork to buy the votes they can not get any other way. This is despicable behavior and regardless whether it is done all the time in this time of huge deficits it is totally irresponsible.

        The Democrats are of course claiming there are needs for domestic spending that have not been met . If this is the case then produce a separate Domestic Spending Bill where all of these needs can be debated and decided upon in a bipartisan way. If the needs are legitimate the American people will back the bill and encourage the tax increases to pay for them.

         I urge you all to contact your Congressmen and tell them how you feel about this underhanded ploy by a group of legislators who know their bill will not pass without BUYING the votes with the tax payers money.

        And by the way, I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I am for voting purposes registered as an Independent. I try to look at each person running for office on his or her own merits regardless of party affiliation , and I look at each proposed law or bill on it’s merits and feasibility. BB

 Stupidity From Those Who Know No Better is Bad,; Unforgivable is Stupidity From Those Who Do.
Posted in Commentary


EVERY child born in the United States has a birth certificate registered in their name in the county and State of their birth. The cost to get a copy of this birth certificate is minimal, in some cases the first one is even free. These birth certificates are needed to get a Social Security card which is necessary for any type of welfare assistance. They are also required to register for school. Now they are required to apply for or reapply for Medicaid.

“…..people in North Carolina who have applied or reapplied for Medicaid must present an official birth certificate or other “satisfactory documentary evidence” of their birthplace and citizenship status.”. according to the new federal Deficit Reduction Act that went into effect in September. Now we are hearing sob stories that over a thousand North Carolinians are being denied Medicaid due to this requirement. Well that’s just too damned bad!! If the parents of these children haven’t the intelligence to get and hang onto a birth certificate for their child I feel so sorry for these dear children. Unfortunately an intelligence test is not required to create a baby. I am also pretty sure that these people are, or rather have been, on welfare and given ample warning that they would need these documents and to apply for a birth certificate or some other form of documentation to prove citizenship if they have lost them. In fact, they most probably were even given the forms and could have gotten help filling them out if need be. So there is no excuse. None whatsoever.

The stories I read stated that a small boy was denied heart surgery which he desperately needed because of this lack of proof of citizenship. I also seriously doubt that it was so “desperately” needed that there wouldn’t be time to get a copy of the birth certificate from the county and state in which the child was born If the child had been “desperately in need” of medical care he would have be given emergency care at most hospitals. (Note: I did say “most” but certainly not ALL hospitals as some unfortunately closely watch the bottom line.)



My rant therefore is two fold: 1) against the stupidity of the child’s parents, and 2) against the news media for making a sensational story out of one that should have been informational rather that accusatory as the stories I have read have been. Why didn’t the news media simply explain what was required by the new law and tell people what needed to be done. But that I suppose wouldn’t sell newspapers so a big deal had to be made against the “nasty” state that was depriving this poor child of the health care he needs. BAH HUM-BUG!



*****************************************************

Medicaid for Immigrants a No Brainer

Study: Basic medical care for immigrants more frugal
Use of emergency rooms costs more for Medicaid
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 13, 2007
Raleigh, North Carolina


Dr. E. Richard Brown, the director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and a professor of the UCLA School of Public Health said, "The question is should we let them stay?" he continued "Either you enforce the law and cause the illegals to go home or you stop complaining about the cost." That is it in a nut shell! Not two ways about it. If the state wants to deny the illegals Medicaid then they will continue to use the emergency rooms at a much, much greater cost. Much of this cost due to complications that could have be alleviated with earlier care and treatment, or Medicaid.

“ data for 317,090 paid Medicaid claims in North Carolina during the four-year study period. They found that 99 percent of the 48,391 people who got emergency Medicaid were illegal immigrants, 95 percent were female and 93 percent were Hispanic.” “ the study found that the cost of treating the emergency health-care needs of recent and illegal immigrants made up less than 1 percent of the overall spending on Medicaid in North Carolina each year studied”.

These people are here to stay, there is no denying that. They are setting up communities and working to bring relatives. It would quite simply be impossible to round them all up and send them back below the Rio Grade River where they came from.

And, I ask you, if your future were bleak and your family was starving would you not challenge Heaven and Hell to get them to a better place to live? That of course is a no brainier so why don’t we just start accepting these new immigrants and accepting them as a part of our communities and a part of our lives and developing programs to help them to become Americans. Basic health care is a start. English language classes in the evening for adults much as they did in the early part of the 20th. century would be a second step in the right direction. Both of these steps would lead then to better jobs and getting off of the welfare rolls.

It is not as if the immigrants come to this country to sit on their buns and live on welfare. They are hard workers. It is just that the jobs they can get don’t have medical benefits. I recently had my apartment painted. It took two brothers three evenings (they have day jobs) and they did a simply beautiful job. Moved the furniture, painted the walls and put everything including hanging the pictures back. And, their bid was 1/3 lower than the next lowest.

I don’t know if my painters are illegal because I didn’t ask. They are neighbors. One has been in the states for nine years. His brother has been her two years. They are hoping to bring his brothers wife and two children to the states in the next few months. Good neighbors, good workers, honest businessmen. They are certainly welcome as far as I am concerned.


***Dr. Annette DuBard of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the lead author of a study that appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Posted in Politics The 2007 Pig Book listed 2,658 projects at a cost of $13.2 billion which is the smallest since 1999. The Pork might very well have been larger but Congress had only two appropriation bills to hijack while the other eleven had a moratorium against earmarks. Earmarks is the official name for pork. The moratorium was the result of last years scandal where the Tea Pot Museum in Sparta, NC made the biggest stink. This years restraint might have been due to the Republicans losing the House and Senate in the 2006 election and a presidential election in 2008. Congressmen deciding to show a bit more moderation in their thievery for what ever reason is refreshing.                Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is the group that keeps tabs on Federal pork spending and puts out an annual Pig Book. The individual state Piglet Books aren’t available yet, but reading thru the projects lists and according the Carolina Journal it seems our North Carolina Congressmen took so much razzing over the Tea Pot Museum Oinker last year that they restrained themselves this year. They asked for only three projects that were considered pork; $5 million for a Citizen Soldier Support Program, $1.35 million for a Navy “development, test and evaluation” and $1million for the Army “visualization for training and simulation in urban terrains”.             Only one of these I feel does not totally fit the criteria to be called pork, and I do feel is a necessary expenditure for the military as a whole not just Fort Bragg. The ARMY “VISUALIZATION FOR TRAINING AND SIMULATION IN URBAN TERRAINS” Future wars will not be fought on battle fields with tanks going at each other and soldiers in fox holes. Future wars will be fought as we are seeing in Iraq; in cities from door to door and roof top snipers among the citizens with the enemy not dressed in uniform and readily identifiable as such. This type of warfare has become more and more the norm in the past fifty years and has been found to be most effective by small groups to defeat large groups. Our troops must be prepared for this type of warfare. And even more disheartening, I believe they will need this training to fight the enemy on American soil. The terrorists will be coming to our shores I promise you.            The other two, well, yes they are pork. But the good thing is that it is down from last year and last year was down from the year before not only in North Carolina but all over the nation.           The criteria used by the CAGW to determine if an appropriation is pork is : 1) if the money is requested by only one chamber of Congress, 2) if it is not specifically authorized, 3) if it is not competitively awarded, 4) if it is not requested by the president, 5) if it greatly exceeds the president’s budget request or the previous year’s funding for the same project or department 6) is not the subject of congressional hearings 7) if it serves only a local or special interest. THEN IT IS PORK!            A Pork Project is a line item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose so as to circumvent the proper budgetary procedures. They often are slipped in the day before the bill is voted on and most Congressmen are not even aware of their existence. This of course is fin e with most Congressmen since they don’t want their bacon bits noticed either.          If you want to check out some of the oinkers go to another interesting site with info on earmarks is you might also check out   http://porkopolis.blogspot.com/ it has cute little flying piglets for your entertainment. http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/ sorry no flying piglets. http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2007

 

           Back in September (see below for dates and excepts) I did two blogs that pointed out a problem with race relations that we as a people MUST overcome if we are to move forward. As it is we are only looking back and fighting the same old battles that have already been won. That’s why Clarence Pages’ commentary in Friday’s News and Record disappointed and hurt so bad when I read it.

          I have watched the NAACP over the years and supported them and their initiatives in the early civil rights struggles. Then I began to become disappointed and then just plain disgusted with their activities along about the early1980’s when they seemed to have lost sight of their purpose of advancing the Black population. The leadership was still stuck in the old issues of the 1960’s and refusing to recognize there were new issues that needed attention that were not being addressed. The issue of equality had been won and cemented with laws. Blacks were free to go to any school they desired, free to live anywhere they could afford to live, free to eat in any eatery , just plain free at last. There was no longer a need to address these issues. The Black middle class was growing by leaps and bounds. Black poverty was down about 30+% . The goals set in the 1960’s had been reached. But, even the Black politicians were stuck and not seeing, or at least not addressing the growing problems within the Black communities that had nothing at all to do with the old white racism and everything to do with the Black lower class culture itself. 70% of Black babies are born to unwed mothers s opposed to 26% in the 1960’s. Educational levels and drop out rates among Black young people both girls and boys was up from the 1960’s level. Drug use among the young Blacks was out of sight; diseases like AIDS was much more prominent in the Black community per capital than any other group. Unemployment naturally is higher for Blacks than any other group and will continue to be a problem as long as the underachievement in school is the norm for lower class Blacks. All these problems not being addressed; not even being acknowledged except to blame White racism. HOW? HOW COULD WHITE RACISM BE THE CAUSE OF BLACK CHILDREN FAILING TO ACHIEVE WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO THE SAME SCHOOLS AND IN THE SAME CLASS WITH THE SAME TEACHERS AS WHITE CHILDREN?

           That is why when Bruce Gordon, a former Verizon executive and a brilliant BLACK man with the ideas and energy and grasp of the real issues took over as President of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) I had renewed hope for the first time in years. Well, that was nineteen months ago and now he is gone. The old guard and old ideas won out and now I wonder when the problems that are rampant in the Black community will be addressed before another generation of young Black men bleed their lives on the streets or spend them behind bars. This while the young Black women raise their babies alone without father’s thus almost assuring their sons and daughters will follow in the path of the parents.

Though I wrote about Greensboro in my two September posts, the issues are nationwide. It is a new day with new issues and the Black communities need new leaders! Think about that the next time you go to the polls to vote, the next time one of the Black leaders tosses out the race card the next time the test scores are posted for schools like Dudley and Smith. And ask yourself how your White neighbor is to blame. THEN maybe when the real issues are recognized all Americans Black, White Red and Brown can come together with solutions. This will not happen however until the old guard is gone and the enlightenment of a new leadership is allowed to grow. So many lives have been lost because of the old guard in the NAACP were allowed to push Bruce Gordon out.  Dear Lord I ask again, Will we never learn?

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These posts are to be found at http://triadblogs.com/BrendaFayBowers


Sept. 6, 2006 - A Plan to Talk Sanely About Racism in Greensboro

       “We need a new set of rules to govern how we deal with racism. But first we need to define just what racism is. ( And do not have a useless "sensitivity” class to do it because the Blacks just complained and the Whites feel guilty.)”

        “…..when setting up a new group to define racism a great deal of care has to be given not to have any of the old guard or anyone who has shown a tendency towards a position on the panel. The panel after it is formed must also have the right to remove by consensus any member whom they find to be biased. This group of arbiters are going to have to accept that some aspects of racism can not be defined, but they need to try to get concrete examples of what not to do or to do just as the women's movement defined certain measurable actions in the business places.

      Next and very important: we who went thru the battles and changes, say from 40 years old and over both Black and White need to step back and let the younger people set the definitions. We older soldiers have been hurt by, and are still remembering how it was, so we can not see clearly how it is NOW. And now is what we are to be concerned with. Let the past go; it's over, so get on with life. With the GTRC thing half the population of Greensboro either wasn't here or was too young to be aware of what happened so it was just rehashing and old tale. No, it is time to move on and we oldsters just can't seem to let go or move on. Young leaders need to step up and push us aside.

         I am ready to step down, but I don’t feel that I can as long as untrue and unjust accusations are flying around that need to be rebutted. I am also in a position to speak because my speaking out will not harm my business or my children or my career. Many people hold back and remain uninvolved due to these considerations. Being retired the most that can be done to me is the verbal shots that may hurt but never shut me up in the past and won’t now either. But yes, my career and my reputation suffered then. Now it is just my reputation. Actually since I started right in to the political scene in Greensboro when I started blogging, the reputation was doomed from the beginning. You can not call a spade a spade with no embellishment without angering those who feel differently from you.

        But people, it is a new era and one thing is certain, we can not go on as we have been. These last few months of turmoil have shown us that.

                  Most sincerely, Brenda Bowers “

 Sept. 8, 2006 - New Political Voices in Greensboro/Guilford Ct.--Thank Goodness!  With high hopes for the next election