Do not panic we have been here before.

For the past few days I have been quiet about the financial mess in the county and if McCain and Obama should debate. Perhaps this is not a great thing for a writer to admit but I am at a loss for words. Never have a I seen so many people panicked and clueless . Just today I saw Erin Burnett of CNBC practically in tears begging for leadership in DC the other day I saw Susie Orman on Oprah screaming at the audience stating “ The Party is Over”.

I have to admit I am not in panic mode just yet. Yes, I have lost money this week, not a great deal ,but enough to make me re-think some investments . What I realized this week is my history does not dictate me to panic and to be truthful it is not allowed. The blood that runs thru my veins is the blood of Africans who survived a boat voyage too horrendous to imagine, the humiliation of slavery and all of the unmentioned horrors involved. I come from people who lived thru Jim Crow and worked to repeal those laws to make things not only better for themselves but also for generations after them. My ancestors defined a generation during the Civil Rights movement by marching, voting, sitting in and standing up and creating laws to protect all Americans.


I come from a resilient people, a people who had to be strong long before there was a Wall Street. When I look back at what we have been thru I truly understand that we can and will get thru this crisis. Will it be easy? No. We are going to have to change the way we do things, buckle down and work harder than ever before. But more importantly we have to pray like our ancestors before us. I once heard that prayer is not plan and white that is a true statement sometimes all you have is prayer.

So I urge all of us not to panic but reach back and grab some of the backbone and faith our ancestors had. We all may be surprised how far it will go.

Will America do what is best or will racism fail us?

I am not ashamed to admit I am 41 years old and I am proud of it. Although to many I am still very young, I have witnessed a great deal in the ongoing saga of race in this county . My generation is the post civil rights generation, the generation that was supposed to manifest the “Dream of Dr. King” Personally I do not witness overt racism everyday but I have seen it somewhat hidden from time to time. My first introduction to racism was when I was five years old, it had to be on my first or second day in kindergarten and I asked three white girls could I play with them. One of them answered “ no blackies” allowed. “ At the age of five I did not know what a “blackie” was and have never been called such a name in my life but even in my five year old mind I knew the statement was said because I looked different. I bet if I asked one of the three of them about that incident today none of them could recall it, but I remember it like it was yesterday, that is the thing about racism, minorities know it and remember the pain they feel when it happens but I bet some whites can never recall if they have ever spewed racism. Funny one of my aforementioned classmates ended up having a baby by a black man and another is a community organizer in a minority community , strange how life works out.


In my naive mind I thought things would have changed 36 years late.r but after reading the Yahoo AP poll on racehttp://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race;_ylt=AlZbuKtbvLvCm65wld0PXq1p24cA I am not so sure. The poll sites at least 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view towards blacks, that includes many Democrats and independents-voters that Obama can’t win without. The poll also states many in this group are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don’t have such views. The poll also found a one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views towards blacks calling them “lazy” violent and responsible for their own troubles.



Many of my friends who I spoke to were not surprised or shocked by these statistics, in fact one told me “ I thought it would be much worse”. Although most of them are voting and supporting Senator Obama in their hearts they don’t think America is really ready for a Black President. Some of them have already conceded to a McCain victory on November 4, 2008.


Of course we live in America and people have the right to vote and support who they feel is best. However the question has to be asked are Americans voting what we feel or what is in the best interest of the country. In my humble opinion if Obama looses this election this country , all of us ,needs to take a really good look in the mirror and ask ourselves are we really trying to be the best county that we can be without letting our prejudices fail us. Are we leaving our children a country less greater than it can be because we fail to dig deep inside and pull out love, respect and grace that God has granted each of us.



The truth is the greatest failings of this country have been when we treated those who look differently in the worst way, whether it be Americans who were Indians, African, Japanese, Hispanic etc... But this country is at its greatest is when we realize our faults , correct them and work together towards making this country great even greater than it already is. We owe this to those who came before us this much and those who come after us we owe so much more.


"The Americans will always do the right thing.......... after they`ve exhausted all the alternatives". Winston Churchill

Will America vote for a Black man?

Inquiring minds want to know!

It's close so watch what you say.

At this point in the election the polls are close and everything you say and do will be looked at under a microscope so folks as the guy would say on Hill Street Blues " Let's be careful out There".

Now is not the time to say " Our economy is fundamentally strong." It just may be but Monday was not the day to say that. (John McCain)

Now is not the time to say " ...don't vote for a candidate because she is cute" This also may be true but the other candidates wife should not say that (Michelle Obama)

Now is not the time to say " It is your Patriotic Duty to pay taxes" This may also be true but some people lost a bundle this week, let them worry about that on April 15, 2009. (Joe Biden)


With the clock ticking and the November just around the corner these folks need to watch what they say because all of America is.

Oh Mr. President your People are hurting Where are you?

With all this economic mess going on isn't this a good time to address the Nation? Chris Mathews said he is pulling another Katrina. I guess he feels this is not his problem. He and Cheney made their money and their retirement is secure thanks to the American taxpayers.
I usually hold my contempt for this Presidency out of respect but the way he is behaving defines his Presidency. HE JUST DON"T CARE!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe I agree with Karl Rove???????

They say if you live long enough you will see anything. So imagine my shock when I heard Karl Rove state that John McCain’s current ads attacking Barak Obama were not entirely true and that the ads were not 100% accurate:http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/14/campaign.wrap/index.html..

Karl Rove is absolutely right , in one of his latest ads John McCain accuses Barak Obama of supporting a bill which teaches children as young as five
sex education. The truth is the bill would help children identify child predators which is very needed in today’s society. Not only has Karl Rove called out McCain’s ads but so have the Washington Post, Bloomberg news and the New York Times to name a few.

The real question is will the American people fall for this gutter style politics or have we risen above that?

The truth is McCain is hitting hard and Obama needs to hit back even harder without getting into the gutter. As much as people say they don’t like mean politics, mean politics wins. In this post 9/11 era Americans want they their politicians tough and ready to fight for them. If Obama shows that he is not ready to defend himself how can he defend the U.S? It is a question that he must answer and he must answer quickly. As Chris Matthews says “Let’s play Harball”

Check me out on NPR today: News and Notes.

Issues vs. Lies

It seems that the country is in love with Sarah Palin, that makes sense the May-December romance with Barak Obama had to end sometime and now we are at the meat and potatoes of the campaign and well we should be. I do not have to give a long list of what is wrong with this country you can check out any major newspaper or pundit show to do that.

The question really is who is is capable of getting us out of this mess? And is their walk to the White House built on honesty and character that will help lead the American people. Gov. Palin gave an excellent speech at the RNC last week, however it was full of lies, no real solutions on helping the American people (especially the middle class) and demeaning remarks to those who are the heart and soul of the communities that I and many people grew up in.

The last two elections we voted for someone who we said we could have a beer with, and that person did not even drink anymore (as far as I know).

Now the polls show that women are going to vote with someone who goes to Walmart like they do. Believe me Sarah Palin's Walmart days are over, with the book deals coming to her and her husband if you see her in Walmart I will pay for your next Costco membership.

Take a real close look at this woman and of course John McCain and you tell me is this what your Walmart budget afford.

But more importantly is this what the American people can afford?

http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2008/09/lies-told-by-sarah-palin.html

McCain I know you are a war hero but what are you going to do for me!!!!!!!!!!

Because I am a blogger and a political junkie I watched the speech that McCain gave last night. I happened to be staying at a friend's house who came home in the middle of the speech. " Why are you watching this?" she said. I told her he might be my President and of course I have to blog about it.

After watching the speech for about a half an hour I asked myself the same question. That speech did not address any of my concerns of health care, medicare, social security and problems of the middle class.

At times I have often wondered was I participating in the right party (Democratic) and if I should open my mind to the Republican party, after last night's speech from John McCain I got my answer.

He mentioned helping a family who had a child with special needs, however John McCain has voted against giving tax cuts to families such as these several times and just last year voted against mandatory health care for all children. If you speak to people who have children with special needs they will tell you about the high costs of health care. So my question is how was John McCain going to help them?

Mr. McCain also mentioned our troops overseas yet he has voted against a G.I. Bill to help those troops when they return from harms way. So how is John McCain going to help them?

He talked about helping families who are having a hard time in this economy yet he has voted against raising the minimum wage thirteen times. Who does this help? ( He did not mention the middle class at all last night)

It was a strong speech and very powerful but it was all talk John McCain is really going to be another Bush term and that is something this country and its citizens cannot afford.

Good Speech Sarah now talk to the media!!!

I have to admit I was impressed by Ms. Palin's speech, not as much as the rest of the media but she gave a good speech. It did not deal with a great deal of substance but how can it she has only been on the National stage for a week and her foreign policy credentials are limited if any. So when will the McCain folks release her to the media pit bulls?

Tonight Mr. Obama goes into dangerous territory and will be interviewed by Bill O'Reiley, besides the debates this will be his toughest forum. He has to do well, one slip and you will see it all over you tube and the news.

So both novice candidates have something to prove the question is who will do it better.

Check out my photos from the DNC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sistagirlspeaks/show/

Palin not on board Straight Talk Express

I really wanted to blog about this but I could not say this better than one of my favorite writers Mary Mitchell.

Mary Mitchell :: printer friendly »



MARY MITCHELL marym@suntimes.com
ST. PAUL -- Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.
Those are the last words a 44-year-old woman with an infant wants to hear from a teenage daughter.
Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell
Not many of us can truly say we want to become a granny before we qualify for our AARP discount membership card.
But Palin, John McCain's surprise pick for VP, is a real trouper.
"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news, that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in a statement released Monday.
Malarkey.
When an unmarried 17-year-old girl comes up pregnant on the South Side of Chicago, Republicans don't make it sound like a beautiful thing.
They call it tragic and a moral failure, and they often blame the teen's parents.
There's no way to put a positive spin on a teen in this kind of trouble.
Indeed, teenage pregnancies rose by 3 percent between 2005 and 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Unfortunately, leaders like Palin are part of the problem.
When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she would fund abstinence-only programs and that "explicit sex-ed programs" would not get her support.
But studies have proven that abstinence-only programs alone don't work.
Given her daughter's predicament, Palin might want to rethink her position.
Although it sounds nice that Bristol will be marrying the "young man" who fathered her child, the fact of the matter is marriage is hard work for adults, let alone a teenager.
And when 17-year-old girls decide to throw caution to the wind and risk their sexual health by having unprotected sex, then they haven't been paying attention to the messages adults have been sending.
But Palin, who is being touted as the down-to-earth candidate who can appeal to the working class, sounded like any other politician when she talked about her daughter's "news."
"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," Palin said.
More malarkey.
This is not good news, nor is it something the average woman wants to deal with, especially in the public arena.
Palin should have acknowledged the disappointment and pain any mother feels when she learns her teenage daughter has stumbled onto this tough road.
But Palin hid behind scripted words and blew the chance to have an honest dialogue about a problem that affects Republicans and Democrats alike.
Still, some good can come from all of this after all.
Conservatives like Palin have been hard on young, unwed, pregnant women in urban areas.
Maybe now that she is in the same boat, they'll show a little