October
**This will help you and millions of other voters about the candidates running for the highest office of government in America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg5tl87rEE4
**T.D. Jakes shares his view on Palin's family crises ... this video will give you insight about family and politics ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/04/16/VI2008041602291.html
**Possible scholarships for African Americans: The following email message contains information on possible scholarship funding sources for African American students:
African American Scholarships Under-utilized - Pass the Word! AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE NOT APPLYING Even if you do not have a college-aged child at home, please share this with someone who does, pass this scholarship information on to anyone and everyone that comes to mind. Though there are a number of companies and organizations that have donated moneys for scholarship use to African Americans, a great deal of the money is being returned because of a lack of interest. No one is going to knock on our doors and ask if we can use a scholarship. Take the initiative to get your children involved. There is no need for money to be returned to donating companies because we fail to apply for it. Please pass this information on to family members, nieces, nephews, friends with children etc. We must get the word out that money is available. If you are a college student or getting ready to become one, you probably already know how useful additional money can be. Our youth really could use the se scholarships. Thanks!! * (If clicking on the link doesn't work, then type in the Web site address manually.) 1) Bell Labs Fellowships for Under Represented Minorities http://www.bell- labs.com/ fellowships/ CRFP/info. html 2) Student Inventors Scholarships http://www.invent. org/collegiate 3) Student Video Scholarships http://www.christop hers.org/ vidcon2k. html 4) Coca-Cola Two Year College Scholarships http://www.coca- colascholars. org/p rograms.html 5) Holocaust Remembrance Scholarships http://holocaust. hklaw.com/ 6) Ayn Rand Essay Scholarships http://www.aynrand. org/contests/ 7) Brand Essay Competition http://www.institut eforbrandleaders hip.org/IBLEssay Contest-2002Rule s.htm 8) Gates Millennium Scholarships (major) http://www.gmsp. org/nominationma terials/read. dbm?ID=12 9) Xerox Scholarships for Students http://www2. xerox.com/ go/xrx/about_ xerox/about_ xerox_detail. jsp 10) Sports Scholarships and Internships http://www.ncaa. org/about/ scholarships. html 11) National Assoc. of Black Journalists Scholarships (NABJ) http://www.nabj. org/html/ studentsvcs. html 12) Saul T. 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Will this revelation help or hurt Barack Obama’s bid for the 2008 presidential nomination? I suspect that the supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin will attempt to connect Rabbi Capers Funnye to the radical Hebrew Israelite Black supremacist movement. Such a tactic would in effect falsely tie both Barack and Michelle Obama to religious groups stigmatized by the American media and most whites in this country. Outright lies have become the hall mark of John McCain’s campaign strategy for the presidency and no opportunity to impugn the reputation and character of Barack Obama will be missed.
Michelle Obama Has a Rabbi in Her Family
Capers Funnye, Leading Black Israelite, Is Aspiring First Lady’s Cousin
By Anthony Weiss
Tue. Sep 02, 2008
While Barack Obama has struggled to capture the Jewish vote, it turns out that one of his wife s cousins is the country’s most prominent black rabbi — a fact that has gone largely unnoticed.
Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed. Funnye’s mother, Verdelle Robinson Funnye (born Verdelle Robinson) and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister.
Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago . He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate, world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites. He has often urged the larger Jewish community to be more accepting of Jews who are not white.
Funnye’s famous relative gives an unexpected twist to the much-analyzed relationship between Barack Obama and Jews in this presidential campaign. On the one hand, Jewish political organizers, voters and donors played an essential role in Obama’s rise to power in Chicago , including some of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent families. But the Illinois senator has struggled to overcome suspicions in some parts of the Jewish community, including skepticism about his stance on Israel and discredited but persistent rumors that he is secretly a Muslim.
Funnye, who described himself as an independent, said he has not been in volved with the Obama campaign but that he has donated money and was cheering it on.
I know that her grandfather and her father and my mom and all of our relatives that are now deceased would be so very, very proud of both of them,” Funnye told the Forward.
Michelle Obama and the Obama campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Funnye told the Forward that he has known Michelle Obama (born Michelle Robinson) all her life. His mother and her father, Frasier Robinson III, enjoyed a close relationship, and Funnye said he saw Michelle several times a year when they were growing up, mostly at family functions and on occasional visits to her house.
“Her father was like the glue of our family,” Funnye said. He always wanted to keep the family very connected and to stay in touch with each other.”
Funnye, 56, said he and Michelle, 44, were not especially close growing up, but he remembers her as “energetic and smart and very caring.”
The two fell out of touch when they grew older and went their separate ways but then reconnected years later when Michelle Obama was working for the University of Chicago and Funnye was leading a local social service organization called Blue Gargoyle. Funnye also worked with Barack Obama, then a state senator, who came and spoke at events for the organization. When Barack and Michelle Obama married, Funnye and his family attended the wedding.
Although Funnye’s congregation describes itself as Ethiopian Hebrew, it is not connected to the Ethiopian Jews, commonly called Beta Israel , who have immigrated to Israel en masse in recent decades. It is also separate from the Black Hebrews in Dimona , Israel , and the Hebrew Israelite black supremacist group whose incendiary street harangues have become familiar spectacles in a number of American cities.
Funnye converted to Judaism and was ordained as a rabbi under the supervision of black Israelite rabbis, then went through another conversion supervised by Orthodox and Conservative rabbis. He serves on the Chicago Board of Rabbis.
Funnye’s relationship with the Obama family was reported in the Chicago Jewish News in an article dated August 22. A Wall Street Journal article in April reported that the aspiring first lady had a cousin (whom the paper mistakenly referred to as a second cousin) who is a promine nt black rabbi but did not mention Funnye by name.
The rabbi’s familial connection with the Democratic presidential nominee is also a matter of common knowledge in Funnye’s synagogue.
“He really jumped on everyone’s radar after the 2004 convention,” Funnye said. “That’s when some people said, ‘Isn’t he related to you or somet hing?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he’s married to my cousin, and she’s making him everything that he is.’”
The world's verdict will be harsh if the US rejects the man it yearns for ... An America that disdains Obama for his global support risks turning current anti-Bush feeling into something far worse by Jonathan Freedland
The Guardian, Wednesday September 10 2008
The feeling is familiar. I had it four years ago and four years before that: a sinking feeling in the stomach. It's a kind of physical pessimism which says: "It's happening again. The Democrats are about to lose an election they should win - and it could not matter more." In my head, I'm not as anxious for Barack Obama's chances as I was for John Kerry's in 2004 or Al Gore's in 2000. He is a better candidate than both put together, and all the empirical evidence says this year favours Democrats more than any since 1976. But still, I can't shake off the gloom. Look at yesterday's opinion polls, which have John McCain either in a dead heat with Obama or narrowly ahead. Given the well-documented tendency of African-American candidates to perform better in polls than in elections - thanks to people who say they will vote for a black man but don't - this suggests Obama is now trailing badly. More troubling was the ABC News-Washington Post survey which found McCain ahead among white women by 53% to 41%. Two weeks ago, Obama had a 15% lead among women. There is only one explanation for that turnaround, and it was not McCain's tranquilliser of a convention speech: Obama's lead has been crushed by the Palin bounce. So you can understand my pessimism. But it's now combined with a rising frustration. I watch as the Democrats stumble, uncertain how to take on Sarah Palin. Fight too hard, and the Republican machine, echoed by the ditto-heads in the conservative commentariat on talk radio and cable TV, will brand Democrats sexist, elitist snobs, patronising a small-town woman. Do nothing, and Palin's rise will continue unchecked, her novelty making even Obama look stale, her star power energising and motivating the Republican base. So somehow Palin slips out of reach, no revelation - no matter how jaw-dropping or career-ending were it applied to a normal candidate - doing sufficient damage to slow her apparent march to power, dragging the charisma-deprived McCain behind her. We know one of Palin's first acts as mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska was to ask the librarian the procedure for banning books. Oh, but that was a "rhetorical" question, says the McCain-Palin campaign. We know Palin is not telling the truth when she says she was against the notorious $400m "Bridge to Nowhere" project in Alaska - in fact, she campaigned for it - but she keeps repeating the claim anyway.She denounces the dipping of snouts in the Washington trough - but hired costly lobbyists to make sure Alaska got a bigger helping of federal dollars than any other state. She claims to be a fiscal conservative, but left Wasilla saddled with debts it had never had before. She even seems to have claimed "per diem" allowances - taxpayers' money meant for out-of-town travel - when she was staying in her own house. Yet somehow none of this is yet leaving a dent. The result is that a politician who conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan calls a "Christianist" - seeking to politicise Christianity the way Islamists politicise Islam - could soon be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Remember, this is a woman who once addressed a church congregation, saying of her work as governor - transport, policing and education - "really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God". If Sarah Palin defies the conventional wisdom that says elections are determined by the top of the ticket, and somehow wins this for McCain, what will be the reaction? Yes, blue-state America will go into mourning once again, feeling estranged in its own country. A generation of young Americans - who back Obama in big numbers - will turn cynical, concluding that politics doesn't work after all. And, most depressing, many African-Americans will decide that if even Barack Obama - with all his conspicuous gifts - could not win, then no black man can ever be elected president. But what of the rest of the world? This is the reaction I fear most. For Obama has stirred an excitement around the globe unmatched by any American politician in living memory. Polling in Germany, France, Britain and Russia shows that Obama would win by whopping majorities, with the pattern repeated in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. If November 4 were a global ballot, Obama would win it handsomely. If the free world could choose its leader, it would be Barack Obama. The crowd of 200,000 that rallied to hear him in Berlin in July did so not only because of his charisma, but also because they know he, like the majority of the world's population, opposed the Iraq war. McCain supported it, peddling the lie that Saddam was linked to 9/11. Non-Americans sense that Obama will not ride roughshod over the international system but will treat alliances and global institutions seriously: McCain wants to bypass the United Nations in favour of a US-friendly League of Democracies. McCain might talk a good game on climate change, but a repeated floor chant at the Republican convention was "Drill, baby, drill!", as if the solution to global warming were not a radical rethink of the US's entire energy system but more offshore oil rigs. If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger. And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift. Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start - a fresh start the world is yearning for. And the manner of that decision will matter, too. If it is deemed to have been about race - that Obama was rejected because of his colour - the world's verdict will be harsh. In that circumstance, Slate's Jacob Weisberg wrote recently, international opinion would conclude that "the United States had its day, but in the end couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race". Even if it's not ethnic prejudice, but some other aspect of the culture wars, that proves decisive, the point still holds. For America to make a decision as grave as this one - while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars - on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, "historical decline". Let's not forget, McCain's campaign manager boasts that this election is "not about the issues." Of course I know that even to mention Obama's support around the world is to hurt him. Incredibly, that large Berlin crowd damaged Obama at home, branding him the "candidate of Europe" and making him seem less of a patriotic American. But what does that say about today's America, that the world's esteem is now unwanted? If Americans reject Obama, they will be sending the clearest possible message to the rest of us - and, make no mistake, we shall hear it. ·
The Scream Machine
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, September 12, 2008; A15
There was a time when Republicans campaigned on their ideas, programs and values. This year -- lacking ideas, programs or values -- John McCain and Sarah Palin are running for the White House on an elaborate fictional narrative of victimhood. Their supposed persecutors are Democrats and the news media, and the aim of this whole charade is to keep Americans from talking about ideas, programs and values.
Every day, the McCain campaign brays anew with over-the-top indignation at "the outrageous attacks" on Palin's family. The McCain people don't cite specifics, because there are no specifics to cite. What newsworthy Democrat has ventured any personal criticism of Palin or any member of her family? What serious news outlet has done any such thing?
I hear McCain's amen chorus screaming, "Lipstick on a pig! Lipstick on a pig!" But they're well aware that Barack Obama was unambiguously talking about McCain's economic ideas, not his running mate. It seems incomprehensible that the McCain campaign would make so much noise about an allegation that clearly doesn't hold a drop of water -- until you realize that the noise is the whole point.
As long as people are talking about barnyard beauty tips, they're not talking about substance. Any day spent arguing about meaningless ephemera is a small but significant victory for a campaign that has nothing to say.
It's not in McCain's interest to talk about the 46 million Americans who don't have medical insurance; Obama has a plan to get most of them covered, while McCain promises a modest tax credit and his best wishes for good health. It's not in McCain's interest to talk about the economy; Obama wants to renew our sense of shared enterprise and responsibility, while McCain is happy to stick with the Republican philosophy of "I've got mine, suckers." It's not in McCain's interest to talk seriously about the occupation of Iraq; Obama was prescient in calling for a withdrawal date, while McCain outdoes even George W. Bush in insisting that our troops stay where they are no longer even wanted.
The most important fact about the political landscape this year is that 80 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. It doesn't take a genius to realize that McCain's only chance of winning is to obscure the fact that on the issues voters most care about, he essentially proposes to stay the course.
So McCain stopped talking about experience and started echoing Obama's mantra of change, change, change. No one is supposed to remember that when he was courting his party's conservative base he bragged that in his Senate votes he supported Bush 90 percent of the time. Only the party faithful are supposed to be mindful of the fact that McCain is, like Bush, an actual Republican.
Running for and against one's party at the same time is not an easy trick to pull off, however. The contradiction is too big to hide -- it's like a huge, lipstick-smeared Yorkshire boar wallowing in the middle of the room. At some point, people are going to notice it unless you draw their attention elsewhere.
That's the function of the McCain campaign's daily screams of feigned outrage. Creating the false impression that Democrats and journalists are unfairly attacking Palin serves another purpose as well: It helps create the impression that legitimate and necessary questions about her record -- such as her one-time support for the Bridge to Nowhere or her history of seeking the congressional earmarks she now claims to reject -- are somehow out of bounds.
To mix things up, sometimes the campaign pretends that McCain is the one being persecuted -- for his age, usually. It's all just noise, intended to drown out meaningful debate.
If you scream bloody murder every day, however, people eventually stop taking you seriously. News stories about the lipstick remark stated forthrightly that the McCain people were misrepresenting what Obama had said. At some point, these tactical lamentations become not worth reporting at all.
And there will be at least four key moments when the McCain-Palin campaign will be unable to avoid the issues. Obama and McCain will hold three debates; Palin and Joe Biden will hold one. The television audience for these encounters is expected to be enormous, perhaps the biggest ever.
Americans will be presented with a straightforward question. Do they want a Republican in the White House for four more years, continuing to take the country in the same direction? Or not?
eugenerobinson@washpost.com
This is absolutely wonderful ... peering inside Obama and his family ... pictures are worth a thousand words - http://www.obamascrapebook.com/index.htm
Bringing humor into the presidential race ... however it is something to ponder
http://www.theinformationparadox.com/2008/09/jon-stewart-obliterates-mccains.html
I have never heard of Blackbottom.com and I am not sure if this video is joke or what young blackman complains to be father of Palin's daughter baby ... what if this was true. This internet is something check it out at
Father of Bristol Palin's baby speaks www.blackbottom.com/watch.php?v=igXB8UyBnf9
Description: Heart filled speech of young father makes a stand for young, black fathers in America. Speaks to Bristol Palin (daughter of Sarah Palin - female vice presidential nominee for the republican ticket) about their sexual relationship and future child.
CNN Quick Vote
How do you rate Sen. John McCain's acceptance speech?
Thumbs up 39% 8410
Thumbs down 44% 9476
Didn't watch 18% 3796
Total Votes: 21682
This is not a scientific poll
http://www.cnn.com/
________________________________________________________________________July-August .....
Finishing high school called key to reducing violent crime Monday, August 25, 2008
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A 10 percent boost in graduation rates at Pennsylvania high schools could lead to the prevention of as many as 150 murders in the state every year, claims a report released today. The report comes from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a Harrisburg-based advocacy group that is calling for a huge investment in pre-kindergarten programs that prepare young children for school and, according to statistics, increase their chances of reaching graduation. "If we don't pay now, we'll pay later with increased crime," Allegheny County Sheriff William P. Mullen said this morning during a press conference in front of Westinghouse High School in Homewood. He was joined by Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt, Superior Court Judge Robert E. Colville and Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Larry Ross. The Fight Crime report bases its numbers on a 2004 study from two University of California at Berkeley economists, who looked at the relationship between graduation rates and crime. They found that a 10 percent increase in graduation rates corresponded with a 20 percent reduction in murder and assault rates. Those percentages, if applied to Pennsylvania's 2006 crime statistics from the FBI, predict 150 fewer murders statewide, including 75 fewer for Philadelphia and 13 for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh would also see 320 fewer assaults, while the state as a whole would see a decline of 5,900 assaults. High school dropouts are more than eight times more likely than graduates to end up in jail, the Fight Crime report says. "The results from not finishing high school are profound," said Bruce R. Clash, Fight Crime's state director. Pennsylvania's current budget includes $86 million for Pre-K Counts, which will serve 12,000 3- and 4-year-olds. Mr. Clash praised the program, now in its second year. But he said the state would have to double its spending on pre-kindergarten education to meet demand from school districts and other providers. Pittsburgh already serves 2,500 students in 101 early childhood programs, Mr. Roosevelt said. More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. First published on August 25, 2008 at 12:15 pmLOOKING FOR A JOB: This is a great website to look for non government jobs. It is www.idealist.org. This site has alot of information so look very carefully and choose jobs in the United States and then DC not unless you are looking for a job in another city or state.
BEST BLACK HISTORY WEBSITE: Best Black History website I have ever visited. Down load the PDF version of each article. http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=134
Mixed Race Children... You may want to check-out a recently released book “Slavery by another Name” by Douglas Blackman. This book chronicles how blacks in many areas of the Deep South were routinely prohibited from quitting jobs without their employer’s permission during the post Civil War era right-up to WW II. Author Blackman documents the fact that legislative bodies throughout the South passed legislation during this period classifying any unemployed black as a vagrant. Douglas Blackman’s research of county records across the South for this book indicates that county sheriffs, judges and court clerks in this geographical area routinely imposed excessive fines and administrative fines upon hapless blacks knowing full well that they couldn’t pay these fines. The salaries of these law enforcement and judicial officials were derived from monies paid to them by plantation and factory owners utilizing the cheap labor of these black prisoners.
When visiting Atlanta , GA and admiring the brickwork in many of the historic mansions and sidewalks in certain areas of this city one should be mindful that black prisoners held on bogus criminal charges provided the labor for this construction. James English, a former Confederate officer was the owner of the Chattahoochee Brick Factory which supplied the bricks for much of the reconstruction of Atlanta after the Civil War and became fabulously wealthy by utilizing the services of black prisoners leased to him by Georgia county sheriffs. This book also documents the participation of U.S. Steel in Birmingham , AL in similar nefarious schemes that used cheap black prison labor in their factory supplied by Alabama sheriffs.According to Blackman the advent of WW II prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to encourage Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the aforementioned practices to avoid a Japanese propaganda campaign that his senior advisors feared would negatively impact the war effort. This book also documents the fact that the Department of Justicehad refused to investigate ongoing allegations that blacks were being held in bondage in the Deep Southuntil the passage of this legislation.
This book seriously questions assertions by some whites and misguided blacks that the descendants of African slaves in the U.S. are solely responsible for the problems they are currently experiencing. Unfortunately, it has recently become fashionable for some black politicians, media pundits and religious leaders to ignore America ’s racist past and current discriminatory practices against blacks and solely blame the victims of these practices for their problems. Anyone who harbors such feelings or may have the occasion to argue the opposite viewpoint about the causes of the current black dilemma should consider reading “Slavery by another Name.”
Obama talks tough to NAACP By Kelly Brewington, Sun Reporter Sen. Barack Obama vowed today to fight for civil rights if elected president, but he also told a gathering of the NAACP he stands by his statements that personal responsibility is a key to solving problems in black communities. "NAACP, I'm here to report: I'm not going to stop talking about it," Obama told a crowd of 3,000 members of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, gathered here for its annual convention. "Yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Washington. And yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Wall Street. But we also have to demand more from ourselves," Obama said, to thunderous applause. Baltimore Sun
NEO-SLAVERY ... You may want to check-out a recently released book “Slavery by another Name” by Douglas Blackman. This book chronicles how blacks in many areas of the Deep South were routinely prohibited from quitting jobs without their employer’s permission during the post Civil War era right-up to WW II. Author Blackman documents the fact that legislative bodies throughout the South passed legislation during this period classifying any unemployed black as a vagrant. Douglas Blackman’s research of county records across the South for this book indicates that county sheriffs, judges and court clerks in this geographical area routinely imposed excessive fines and administrative fines upon hapless blacks knowing full well that they couldn’t pay these fines. The salaries of these law enforcement and judicial officials were derived from monies paid to them by plantation and factory owners utilizing the cheap labor of these black prisoners.
When visiting Atlanta , GA and admiring the brickwork in many of the historic mansions and sidewalks in certain areas of this city one should be mindful that black prisoners held on bogus criminal charges provided the labor for this construction. James English, a former Confederate officer was the owner of the Chattahoochee Brick Factory which supplied the bricks for much of the reconstruction of Atlanta after the Civil War and became fabulously wealthy by utilizing the services of black prisoners leased to him by Georgia county sheriffs. This book also documents the participation of U.S. Steel in Birmingham , AL in similar nefarious schemes that used cheap black prison labor in their factory supplied by Alabama sheriffs.
According to Blackman the advent of WW II prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to encourage Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the aforementioned practices to avoid a Japanese propaganda campaign that his senior advisors feared would negatively impact the war effort. This book also documents the fact that the Department of Justice had refused to investigate ongoing allegations that blacks were being held in bondage in the Deep South until the passage of this legislation.
This book seriously questions assertions by some whites and misguided blacks that the descendants of African slaves in the U.S. are solely responsible for the problems they are currently experiencing. Unfortunately, it has recently become fashionable for some black politicians, media pundits and religious leaders to ignore America ’s racist past and current discriminatory practices against blacks and solely blame the victims of these practices for their problems. Anyone who harbors such feelings or may have the occasion to argue the opposite viewpoint about the causes of the current black dilemma should consider reading “Slavery by another Name.”