Archive for April, 2009

BLACKS’ INFERIORITY COMPLEX? EUGENE ROBINSON, ETC.

Mr. Eugene Robinson, a Black columnist with “The Washington Post,” seems like all what he writes about are Black issues. There is a Black lady columnist in the newspaper’s Metro section that seems to do the same.

I am not sure whether this is good or bad. But, since my mantra has recently been that “my color doesn’t have anything to do with my identity,” and since, therefore, I am critical of Black Americans who seem to be so pre-occupied with their color, I would frankly call his attitude an “inferiority complex.”

Mr. Robinson, from what I remember, was one of those Black Americans who were not sure Obama represented Black Americans (because of his White mother and Kenyan father). After Obama was nominated by his party, Mr. Robinson wasn’t sure many Whites would vote for him. At least, he applauded his Obama’s victory.

And now, he seems to have mellowed a little. He recently wrote: “Not even three months have passed since President Obama’s historic inauguration, and already it tends to slip the nation’s collective mind that the first black president of the United States is, in fact, black. There may be hope for us after all.”

He added: “Watching him in action, as he shoves out the chief executive of General Motors or exchanges small talk with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, we witness a daily demonstration of the irrelevance of race. And that, potentially, is nothing short of transformative.”

But Mr. Robinson still has a long way to go. Probably he will never be like me and say that his color is not part of his identity.

He seems like Eric Holder, the first African American attorney general, who recently said that Americans are “a nation of cowards,” because they are hesitant to speak frankly about race.

Both men are pre-occupied with:

(A) The past: slavery, segregation and civil right marches.

(B) The present, not because of open discrimination, but because of subtle racial attitudes and social segregation.

Holder said America has become “positively race conscious and yet is voluntarily socially segregated.”

So, what these two men, and mostly other Black Americans, seem to say is that unless all Blacks are equal to all Whites, there will be a race problem, if not “racism.”

But, even God Almighty created people to be different in color, income, status, knowledge, i.e. some are more educated and civilized than others. Unfortunately, Blacks, not only in American, but all over the World, as less educated and less civilized than Whites.

I, a Muslim and an African, have repeatedly said that it took me twenty years in America to reach the conclusion that this American Civilization is, basically, White and Christian.

It is nice to read that Mr. Robinson is mellowing, but he may never be realistic when it comes to Whites-Blacks relations.

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WARS ON MUSLIMS? SOLDIERS EAGER TO KILL IN AFGHANISTAN?

The fight in Afghanistan transforms from a “forgotten war” to the U.S. military’s top priority. President Obama is sending tens of thousands of soldiers and Marines there this year. And, in Fort Bragg, troops are voicing unexpected enthusiasm:
1. “It’s the just war,” said an Army officer. “People are more positive about it.”
2. “For many of us serving there . . . as the sideshow for Iraq, we felt we were the other war and couldn’t understand why,” said Craig Mullaney. “I think a lot of us are encouraged by reallocating resources to Afghanistan.”
3. “The ones in Iraq are saying, ‘Hey sir, when are we going to Afghanistan?’ “Said Joseph F. Dunford Jr.
4. “I had more intense missions this year in Afghanistan than both tours I had in Iraq,” said Peter Rohrs. “It was rewarding to fly in such an intense environment, and it was a good use of our skills,” he said.
5. “Iraq is looked at as the second-string mission now,” said one Army officer. “My buddies are shooting it out in Afghanistan, and I will go to meetings and work on the sewer — that is mission envy.”
6. James Myers said: “I don’t think any soldier is truly excited to go to war … I am there fighting terrorists that invaded this country.”

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ONLY IN AMERICA: DC FIRE TRUCK AND AMBULANCE

Two D.C. Council members are pushing for an independent investigation into Mayor Adrian Fenty’s decision to donate surplus fire equipment to a small beach town in the Dominican Republic.
Mendelson, chairman of the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee, and Cheh, who oversees the Government Operations Committee, wrote the city’s inspector general, asking that he launch a probe.
Mendelson said he wants Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby to investigate. Mendelson said he’s frustrated that the Fenty administration has been slow in explaining the circumstances surrounding the donation.
“The issue here has to do with accountability, transparency,” Mendelson said.
Surplus city equipment is often auctioned off to recoup some value for taxpayers, although it is sometimes given to nonprofit groups.
In this case, the fire equipment was turned over to Peaceoholics, a nonprofit group that targets at-risk youths.
A delegation from Sosua in the Dominican Republican traveled to Washington in late 2007 and requested the city give it a firetruck and an ambulance.
Sosua is impoverished, has no ambulance, and its firetruck is more than 40 years old. The fire equipment, which initially cost the city about $350,000, is now worth far less.

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CORRUPT POLITICIANS/ GREEDY MONEY MECHANTS:LAWRENCE SUMMERS, ETC

Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, was paid about $5.2 million by hedge fund D.E. Shaw in 2008. Summer was a former U.S. Treasury secretary and Harvard University President. He also was paid $2.7 million in speaking fees by a range of organizations and companies, including several troubled Wall Street financial firms.

Summers was a part-time managing director of D.E. Shaw after stepping down as Harvard President. He had speaking fees of $67,500 from JP Morgan, $45,000 from Citigroup, $135,000 from Goldman Sachs and $67,500 from Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt in the mortgage crisis last year.

He also had significant income from Harvard University and from investments, the forms showed.

National Security Adviser James Jones collected more than $1 million for serving as a director for Boeing, Chevron and other companies. He had a salary and bonuses of $900,000 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod reported $896,776 in salary from his consulting firm AKP&D Message and Media as well as $500,000 in partnership income.

Valerie Jarrett, another senior Obama adviser, reported $346,687 in directors’ fees, including from the consulting firm Navigant, a real estate investment trust and the Chicago Stock Exchange. She had $302,000 in salary from a company that develops and manages apartment buildings, plus $550,000 in deferred salary from the same firm.

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