Vision Circle

Throw Away The Keys

Someone in the area knows the thugs who did this.

Someone in the area should be telling on those criminals who did this.

But, it appears, people are not telling the police.

There needs to be a round up.

One Reason Why NCLB Stinks

This is one of the reasons why I think the No Child Left Behind act is bad policy:

The majority of Maryland's fourth-graders are either reading whizzes or they are stumbling miserably. It all depends on who is doing the testing.

If it's the federal government, only 32 percent of Maryland's fourth-graders are proficient at reading. But if state educators are accurate, 81 percent of fourth-graders have met a passing standard.

A renewed debate over testing erupted across the country after the release of a new round of national assessments in reading and math that showed enormous gaps between the national tests and the state tests required under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Some educators say states might be setting standards that are too low, in essence dumbing-down their tests to meet a federal requirement that says 100 percent of schoolchildren should be able to pass the exams by 2014.

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football leaving the "over the air" channels and going to ESPN is the death of an era.

Sad.

Hatin' On Kwanzaa

This is to the people who write "anti-Kwanzaa" screeds this time of year.

• Kwanzaa is a made up holiday.

  1. Yes, it's made up. Karenga has said that from day one.

  2. Other "made up" celebrations include Mardi Gras, Mother's Day, Valentines Day, and St. Patrick's Day.

• Kwanzaa is not an African celebration.

  Karenga never said it was an African celebration. He said he took parts of different African cultures and created a "harvest festival" like celebration.

• Christians shouldn't celebrate it.

  OH, do you really want to go here?

  1. The birth of Christ, Our Savior, did not likely happen on the 25th of December. It was "created" to overtake the pagen rituals that occured during the time.

  2. How many Christians celebrate Christmas singing about Santa Claus and Rudoloph?

  
  

• It's a separatist event.

  1. I've been to one Kwanzaa celebration. I attended in Philly and Karenga was a speaker. At this point, I'll mention that there were a fair number of whites in attendence, and it wasn't just news reporters.

  2. Many people come from different parts of the country to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Did you know that there are actually 2 separate Mardi Gras parades happening at the same time? One done by whites, the other by Blacks? Did you know that until 2004, I think, they never even "greeted" each other?

• Most American Blacks have never even been to Africa

  1. Most American whites have never been to Ireland but does that stop them from celebrating St. Patrick's Day?

  2. Most Americans, period, have never left the country.

• Kwanzaa replaces Christmas.

  No, it doesn't. Some "Black churches" even celebrate both.

Take the Kwanzaa hating and step. Ya'll are just spouting nonsense.

For the record: I don't celebrate it. I'm just sick of the silliness the haters go through on trying to shut it down.

The Depths of Black Boogie Man Thinking?

I really don't like what I am about to do, but this is another moment, to me, where something must be said.


Again, off of this post, in the comment section:

But the question I really have for anyone is this:

Muslims in this country are recruiting blacks to come on board their religion of peace train faster than any other ethnic group. We have people like Mumia, Farrahkan, Muhhammed Ali, etc who have all climbed aboard the peace train in what they believe is a retaliation to whitey. Muslims play on black’s notion’s that whitey enslaved me and puts me down. What I find ironic is that Muslims were about 50% responsible for fueuling the TransAltantic Slave trade - Slaves breed in Western Africa were marched to the ports in the Sudan were they were traded for rum, tobacco and cotton. The Muslims were the ones who put Farrahkan’s ancestors on the boats that went to not only the US, but Cuba and South America. On top of that the Muslims were responsible for the death of over 128 African Slaves in their lands during the height of the Africa Slave Trade. The majority of these Africans who died were young girls and women sold as sex slaves throughout the middle east.

So why do blacks so hate America, but join the ranks of a Religion that did more damage (and is still doing damage today) to their ancestors and country than the US ever did.

Cowgirl

I'm sorry, but this is the sort of race baiting, making the Black Boogie Man garbage that I cannot let stand.

My response:

The supposition is wrong.

If Blacks hated America as you so assume, Blacks wouldn’t “disproportionately” join the armed services.

If Blacks hated America, those who did join the service and/or those who have clearances, would have a higer rate of espionage than can account for the general population of those who hold clearances.

The NOI Muslims make up 0.1%, that’s 1/10th of 1% of Black Americans. Black Americans, overwhelmingly, are Christian. The next largest group of Black Muslims are no more than 1% of the Black population.

So, you just created a boogy man of about 1.1% of the Black population.

So tell me why your comments should not be considered race baiting.

What Morgan Freeman Said

"That flag has always represented, number one, treason and, number two, a separation of white people from Jews, niggers and homosexuals. And you can't change that. You can't tell me I'm never going to be able to look at that flag and think, ‘Ah, it's my heritage, my, you know...’ Never,” says Freeman.

This Just Needs to be Said

The below are comments I put on LaShawn Barber's blog in response to this post.

I just shake my head and wonder how I see positives and negatives while others seem to see just the negative or just want to focus on that, but not both.

In context, there was nothing wrong with what Morgan Freeman said. Those in my circle of the universe who heard the complete comment, in context, agreed with his comment. Most said that when Black history is accurately engrained in American history, then Black History Month, which is just designation, can “go away”. Wasn’t that the intention Dr. Carter G. Woodson creating Black History Week in the first place? Why does that bit of history get removed from the picture? Pun intended.

OK, now a specific comment:

Rarely, if ever, do you hear black people expressing disgust for out-of-control crime rates or lecturing other blacks about their responsibility to stay out of the criminal justice system.

Strange, I hear it on a not infrequent basis. My circle of travel includes poor to well off and I hear it across the boundaries.

But, hey, I’m considered “liberal” by some and thus can be discounted.

BTW, others consider me "conservative", so I think that says A LOT about the definitions.

Honestly, between the negativity coming out of public Black liberals and the comments coming out of public Black conservatives, it’s a wonder more Blacks don’t blow their brains out (drinking, drugging, or literally) in dispair.

Merry Christmas.

Upset About Happy Holidays

I'm really upset about the use of happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

This time of year is about Christmas which is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

If you are upset about people saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, I trust:

• that you are upset that the commercialization of Christmas has led to some stores advertising Christmas before Thanksgiving.
• that you are upset about the fights and mayhem that happens on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving.
• that you are upset that many stores need the consumerism of Christmas to stay in business.
• that you are upset of the near deity status of Santa Claus.
• that a mall Santa, coming late from lunch break, can cause a near riot. (I would not have believed it would be possible).
• that you are saddened by the rise in suicide attempts and successes this time of year.
• that you are saddened by the level of stress that results from people running around trying to buy gifts.
• that you are saddened by the debt that families find themselves in after Christmas?

If not...

Blacks Number One Problem: Racism?

Going around the 'net, or reading opinion pieces, or listening to talk shows, I often read/hear people say something like, "Despite what Blacks think, racism is NOT the number one problem facing Black America.

OK, for me that's a no brainer; it isn't Black America's number one problem. What I want to know is, what percentage of Blacks believe it IS Blacks number one problem?

I suspect that most Blacks will say that it's not, and if that's the case, it's another issue of critics of the Black community setting up a straw man for them to defeat.

Does anyone want to help me find such a poll of Black folk?

Tech Notes

Just some thoughts on "technology":

• Techie "Device" of 2005 - The techie "device" of the year, for me, has to be Google Desktop. I've "found" so many "lost" web pages and PDF files that I saved it's not funny. Yes, it's my fault for not putting them in a directory scheme that I remember, but with so much space, available, it was bound to happen. When I get my "server" back online, I'm going to index that sucka.
• Google Book Search -- While I'm on Google, I have to say that Google's idea of scanning books and making excerpts available for searching should be embraced by publishers.

  I worked on a project that had scanning component involved. People scanned items, OCR'ed them, and then software would make it available for searching. If Google wants to take older books and go through the boring, manpower intensive task of scanning them, let them spend their cash. A forward thinking publisher would make a deal with Google that would benefit them both.
  

• HDTV - I brought an HDTV recently. Other than researching what I thought I wanted, and what was the "best HDTV" for me, I thought that HD programming would just be the same television programming in better resolution. Little did I know that after programming the over the air HD channels, that not only would I see normal programming in great quality, but I would also see weather radar, a CNN type of local broadcast, and a "video channel" type of local channel.

  Watching football in HD is awesome. The only thing I don't like is that they seem to amplify the crowd sound and minimize the sports casters.