Vision Circle

Vision Circle On Hiatus

As of today, the Vision Circle is now closed. This is not forever. It will return in some other form in the future. I think it has been a good run.

As a final post I would like to leave you with the Antoinette Pole research paper on blacks and blogging. Feel free to read it. When I come up with another good idea for the blogosphere that merits all kinds of attention, I'll certainly speak up. In the meantime I refer you all to the places where our primary authors have dispersed.

Dr. Lester Kenyatta Spence Will continue at Blacksmythe, a portal to all his work.

Ed Brown
Will be spouting stuff at his new blog.

Craig Nulan
Can generally be found over at Prometheus Six.

Me, I'm at Cobb as usual..

Thanks for your Patronage.

Thanks For Letting Me Play

This is a sign off from Vision Circle for me.

The "Cobb Father" has decided to move on with Vision Circle since its original intent was not turning out like he wanted it to be.

Mike opened up Vision Circle to me because I was spouting off in email to the members of the Conservative Brotherhood and a few were tired off it. I believe Ambra "called me out" to blog and others backed her up.

Mike said do it and offered me a spot on the blog team of Vision Circle. And since a girl called me out, I had to do it. ;-)

It's been fun and I thank Mike for allowing me to mentally masturbate spout off on Vision Circle.

So, I move on. If you think I'm worth reading at times, check out my new home at DarkStarSpoutsOff.

Thanks Mike.

College Graduates and Affirmative Action

If you listen to some people, Blacks don't graduate at the same rate from college as white students because of affirmative action.

Right now, overall, the percentage of Blacks in college is around 14%.

The number of Blacks with a college degree is around 12% while, for whites, it's about 28%.

I bring this up for one reason:

Study: Most College Students Lack Skills
Jan 19 2:43 PM US/Eastern
By BEN FELLER

Nearing a diploma, most college students cannot handle many complex but common tasks, from understanding credit card offers to comparing the cost per ounce of food.

Those are the sobering findings of a study of literacy on college campuses, the first to target the skills of students as they approach the start of their careers.

More than 50 percent of students at four-year schools and more than 75 percent at two-year colleges lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks.

More than 50%?
That can't be mainly Black students, can it?

Wading Into Lunacy

This is why Blacks can't afford to get hung up in the conservative vs. liberal crap.

I challenge any Black conservative with intellectual honesty who is upset about Hillary Clinton's remarks to tell me why these remarks are different:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Sep-25-Sat-2004/news/24847387.html

Boggs McDonald, a former Democrat who has held local offices as a Republican since 1999, was quoted in Thursday's Las Vegas Sun as saying she regrets having been a Democrat.

"From my perspective, there is one last plantation in America, and it's called the Democratic Party," Boggs McDonald said.

http://w114.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21357

Bush could do these things, but he won't. His goal is not to take charge of the liberal plantation run by the Democrats, but to free blacks from it.

http://66.201.46.115/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14124

For the first time, they saw the power and fury of white liberal racism. For the first time, they saw how white liberals try to act like plantation owners. For the first time, they saw why most Americans of color cannot stand bleeding heart white liberals.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/david/limbaugh081202.asp

Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (B.O.N.D.) is one of the latest to come under fire for daring to "stray from the plantation." One of Peterson's most recent infractions has been his outspoken opposition to proposals that blacks receive reparations for the slavery of their ancestors.

http://www.nationalcenter.org/2004/07/just-that-ole-plantation-thinking.html

Just That Ole Plantation Thinking

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/calthomas/2005/11/07/174711.html

Michael Steele should be elected to the United States Senate from Maryland, not only because he is qualified, but because he would provide a sharp contrast to the Democratic Party and its plantation mentality. Currently, the only African American in the Senate is Barack Obama of Illinois, a Democrat.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/25/cf.01.html

NOVAK: This afternoon, President George W. Bush met with 24 prominent African-Americans, 14 members of the clergy and 10 leaders in business and nonprofit agencies. Tomorrow, the president meets with the Congressional Black Caucus, 43 members, Democrats all.

It's good for the Republican president to sit down with the black lawmakers, though I'll doubt he'll make much progress with them. But today's meeting with black nonpoliticians may be another matter. The black reverend clergy are particularly attracted to the Bush faith- based aid programs. That terrifies Democratic politicians.

Where would the Democrats be if they're not picking up around 90 percent of the black vote? What if black voters started moving off the Democratic plantation?

Show consistancy or shut the hell up.

Random Edness

• This happened during business travel.

  I'm late leaving the office because of administrative issues. I get to the airport one hour before the flight is scheduled to leave. I grab a salad and eat it for lunch.

  My stomach was already.... Uhhh.... Bubbly. So, no cheese.

  I'm on the plane and lower the window shade after it takes off and I fall asleep. Two hours later, the plane is descending and I wake up.

  *Snif*

  OK.... Someone cut a good one.

  *OH DAMN*

  I cut a good one.

  "Oh well, I'm the only one on the row."

  The plane lands, and is at the terminal. I get up to get my bag out of overhead and this Asian woman cuts me a look. The man next to her also gives me a look.

  OH. Well.
  You should have moved.
  

• Hillary Clinton used the term "plantation" in a speech and, of course, set the political opposition off. Well, you can't say jack until you say something about this.

  I find this type of political games to be childish, illogical, and appealing to hard core partisans who are irrational, IMO, any way.
  

• 24 is one of the best shows on television. Overall, I'm enjoying this season, even if it has some major holes.
  
• The implementation of "work ethic" is dying in this country. All you have to do is do a job to meet standards, and you will be seen as a shining star.
  
• The Venus and Serena Williams have lost their competative fire. It's a shame. I hate McEnroe and his comments are turning out to be right.
  
• If Black politicans, on both sides, become adults for 1 year, I wonder what would happen. That's why I think a race between Mfume and Steele would be a good thing for Blacks in Maryland.

  One, they both say they are friends.

  Two, I've seen evidence to support what they both say.

  Three, it would force them, even if not their supporters, to hit on all issues without the race baiting. If Blacks are evenly split, it's a win because Steele should then be looked at as a model. I think he should anyway because he actually talks TO people instead of AT them. If Steele wins the Black vote by a large margin, then he would definitely be a model. If Mfume wins, then you can look at Steele's performance and try to find out why he has done so bad.
  

• Ray Nagin cracked under pressure, real-time. And his melt down is continuing under stress of attempting to rebuild New Orleans on what is now (actually, has been for some time), a toxic waste dump.
  

P.S.

Payton Manning is a punk.

Television

24: Jack. Is. BACK!!!!!!

Whoa....

Boondocks (The Television Show):

I heard excerpts of it on a talk station this morning.

All I have to say is:

1. Thank goodness I have TIVO.

2. DAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAYYY
YYYYYYYYY
YYYYYUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM

CBC Foundation, Katrina, Giving Money

I heard about the CBC raising money for the victims of Katrina.

Lately I've been hearing that the CBC has yet to give out any of the funds. For example, read this

According to Marc Morano it would appear at the time bodies (the allegations being black bodies) were floating in the waters of Hurricane Katrina, the Congressional Black Caucus was floating tax-free charitable donation dollars. (See: "Bush-Bashing Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash," CNS News, Marc Morano, Dec. 22, 2005).

Morano's investigation found the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation not only has not distributed any of the estimated $400,000 it raised for the black victims of hurricane Katrina, but as Patty Rice, spokesman for the CBCF told Morano, "The distribution of the money would not begin until January or February at the earliest." My guess is that unless shamed into doing so, they will not have dispersed one dollar toward the stated urgent need this time next year, but I digress.

This is quite a haul for CBCF, and if one were inclined to question the integrity of a group that proudly comport itself as what could be construed as available to the highest bidder, it could also be seen as quite a con game – one that should be looked into.

I was ready to slam them.

But I went to the CBCF website and read this:

On December 9, 2005, CBCF issued a $290,000 grant to the New Orleans-based Community of Faith for Economic Empowerment (COFFEE). COFFEE is right on the front lines providing crisis assistance to supplement rental payments for dislocated families and emergency food and clothing assistance. They also offer construction and rehabilitation assistance and loss mitigation counseling among other vital services such as, insurance claim filing assistance and foreclosure abatement assistance for those who have been unable to meet their mortgage payments. For more information on COFFEE, visit their website at www.coffee-neworleans.org.

Help me out here? Are people talking out of their behind or did they give up the money is response to critics?

Well, read this

Bush-Bashing Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
December 22, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which slammed the Bush administration for its allegedly slow and racially insensitive response to Hurricane Katrina, has yet to spend any of the estimated $400,000 that it raised for the victims of the Aug. 29 storm.

"We are collecting all the way up through the very end of the year and then our board has set aside a committee who is going to administer the funds," Patty Rice, spokeswoman for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday. The Foundation is an offshoot of the Congressional Black Caucus and was founded in 1976.

...

Ken Boehm, chairman of the conservative National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a group that monitors charitable giving, was quick to criticize the CBCF.

"It sounds like the CBCF has been stressing the immediacy of the [victims'] needs when they raised the money and yet for some reason when it comes time to dishing it out they can't seem to get organized," Boehm told Cybercast News Service.

:

The author wrote an article near Dec. 22 saying the funds haven't been given. Funds were given on the 9th.

Interesting.

Marion Barry: I Told You So

I told you so:

Barry Tested Positive for Cocaine Use In the Fall
Drug Check Ordered After Tax Case Plea

By Yolanda Woodlee and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 11, 2006; A01

D.C. Council member Marion Barry tested positive for cocaine use in the fall in a drug test ordered by a court after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax charges, according to two sources familiar with Barry's case.

Barry, who served four terms as mayor and was elected to the Ward 8 council seat in 2004, has since begun treatment for drug use, the sources said, but Barry's failure to pass the mandatory drug test puts him in legal jeopardy.

Because he violated the terms of his release, Barry, 69, faces an increased risk of serving the maximum 18 months behind bars -- rather than probation -- for his failure to file tax returns for six years. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8, but a federal judge could jail him or sanction him at any time.

"Mind, body and soul" that!

That reminds me.

If anyone remembers Barry saying that at the press conference, they may have overlooked his surprised reaction when people really responded to that phrase. He KNEW then he had a winning theme and his "come back" started at that moment.

Marion Barry

Marion Barry got mugged.

He says he got out of his car and some teens helped him with his bags to his apartment.

They talked for awhile, he gave them candy and cash and then they left.

They came back and he let them in. They then put a gun to Barry's face and robbed him.

Barry doesn't want the people prosecuted if found

1. They knew who he was and still robbed him. Obviously they have no respect, which is obvious because they are out robbing people. To rob Barry takes balls.
2. Chances are this is not the first time.
3. If it were someone unknown, chances seem high to me that they would have killed the person they robbed.
4. Since those criminals are out making his neighborhood unsafe, it would seem he would want them off of the street.

Barry is on crack again:

Or maybe it's meth. As Whitney said, everyone knows "Crack is whack!"

The Media: 01/04/2006

I go to bed last night and the news is reporting that one miner is dead with the fate of the others unknown.

I wake up and I hear that all miners except for one is dead. Then I hear a woman saying that orginally, they were all lived except for one and that they found out the truth hours later. This woman is now saying she's going to sue someone.

WTF?!?!?!?!??!?!

Your "loved one" has just been confirmed to have been killed in a mine accident and the first thing you think of is to sue someone?

Then I get home and my wife is livid because it's being reported that they were all in church praying when an "outsider" came in and said they were all alive except for one person. The people in the church start cheering. Then the pastor of the church asks people to pray for the family of the dead person, and very few people came up to pray for that family. The, later....

Right now I'm doing something dangerous, and that's writing when I don't have all of the facts. That's the blame being put on the media by the standard media critics, but I have to say if a rumor that the people are alive is going around, it's not a surprise that the media will report it, especially in this age of media competition. But they should have tried to fact check.

The media screwed up.

In the Baltimore area, a columnist for The Baltimore Sun resigned because "he had used sentences and paragraphs from other newspapers in some of his columns without attribution."

So another white newspaper person resigns because of suspect reporting/sourcing. What does this say about white newspaper writers?

I guess affirmative action is to blame.