The Fight Is Far From Over

Ummm, "Hip-hop is the culture of transformation" That's the first of this I am hearing. I guess it is because I am not hip. However, I agree with the article, the election may be over but the real work begins, and like Barack mentioned he will demand more of everyone of us, perhaps in little ways like the country demanded citizens participation during the world war. But I doubt the hip-hop community have the stomach for anything that altruistic.

I really hope that the hip-hop community that is claiming to contribute to Obama's success will take cue from the future president - he is ever impeccable in his appearance, whether in suit or rolled up sleeves.

Enough of this hip-hop fashion - saggy baggy pants, long white/black t-shirts flowing to the ankles! When I see the pictures and films from the 70s, other than skin, one can hardly tell whites and blacks apart in what the wore. And then came hip-hop and everything and people went out of their ways to look different, separate from the establishment. Granted not all can look the way Obama looks but let's clean up our acts along with other stuff that Mr. Simmons mentioned above.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

South African Music Legend Miriam Makeba Collapses Onstage, Dies

It is quiet sad to learn of the death of Miriam Makeba, however sad, I am glad it happened while she was doing what she loved most - singing. She will surely be missed.

Those of us that grew up in Africa in the 70s wil especially remember her as our first glance of her talent was at the FESTAC, Festival of African Arts and Cluture that was hosted in Lagos, Nigiera in 1977. Then only the elits and most of them resided in Lagos, were able to see her on televison, and of course that period in Nigeria Lagos had the best TV reception. Those of us that lived in the hinterland we re able to see her perform through the grainy B7W tubes.

As a 15 year old or so back then, it was amazing to see her then, her fantastically beautiful back-up singers, agile dancers and her supremely soulful voice evoking the South Africa yearning for freedom in the throes of apartheid.

I am glad Miriam Makeba had a wonderful, accomplished life and may she rest in peace.

If anyone has the chance to see her on VHS, or DVD, it will be well worth it.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why I support Barack Obama

Part of the process of donating for a candidate is to become a member of the candidate's website. So I became a member of the Obama's campaign and receive regular email updates, (numerous, I might add). On October 7th I was asked and I believe hundreds of thousands of people were asked to write to editors of local news saying why they support Barack. Here is what I wrote:

I was an ardent Hilary Clinton supporter and the reason I supported her was because I knew that if she won we will be getting two presidents for one. To me the Clintons are very hard-working and focused and that is the kind of leadership we need. I reserved my support for Obama until he took the lead in the Democratic race back in April. I contributed to Clinton's campaign and didn't think about it much before switching my support to Barack Obama.
In Barack, I believe we are going to have a truly, honest, hard working President. We need to throw our supports fully behind him through the election period and during the presidency if he became the president, which I hope he would. Washington is far, far broken and we need someone like Obama with unmatched ability to bring people together. The selfishness of the politicians in Washington needs to be curtailed. There is too much wistfulness in the country; we spend funds on too many projects that do nothing for the people of this country. The current financial melt-down is a good example of how the government lost sight of what is really going on within the country by focusing on a wasteful war.
The country as a whole needs to be refocused like it was done during the time of JFK. Obama is the only one that would be able to do that, let's elect Obama and bring dignity to all in the country. Let's elect Obama and return the government to its obligation to care for its citizens.

Water Pipeline, Midwest to California

Here is an idea for you but I know it will nver fly...

Every year we have these destructive floods in the Midwest of the country. And evidence has shown that because of the effects of global warming, there will be more disasters of this nature in the coming years.
Why not device a way to harvest the water run-off from the floods and transport them to other parts of the country that is prone to drought? If that is too complex, why not store the excess water in underground tanks or lakes for subsequent transportation to drought areas?
The idea is not actually far fetched. We can transport oil though pipelines across the country and even from Alaska. Therefore transporting water across thousand of miles should not be that difficult. Since the construction of the Alaskan pipeline, there have been better technology and developments that will add to the feasibility of this project. The only stumbling block I see is the lack of will, precisely, lack of political will. The government seems not to want to do anything that is constructive, but only favor destructive projects. If this project cost 200 billion to complete, it would be money well spent. After all statistics indicate that the average cost of the Iraq ware is estimated to be about $12 billion per month which works out to be $100 per month per household. By the time we leave (if we leave in a timely manner) it would have cost is 3 trillion dollars!

Obama for President

I have heard that certain email is going around by about Barack Obama’s background. This email is obviously being circulated by through the grass root, and the way grass root movements spread information, soon the content will take up a life of its own and derail the promising presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. A friend of my wife’s sent this email to her a couple of weeks ago, and I was disappointed but neglected to take it seriously and dismissed it with a wave of my hand that only ignorant people will believe the content of the email. It certainly did not start then; it has been going around since about middle of 2007 as Obama’s candidacy took more serious tone. But it dawned on me that it was these same ignorant people that elected President Bush to a second term in office!

The email focused on Obama’s allegedly Muslim background and upbringing and how we cannot allow a Moslem to lead the great country. This email that I got was from someone that I know, and am certain it was sent not only to me but to a lot of people on the person’s contact list using “BCC” without regard views or respect for their time. However, that is not the point here, it will make another blog entry when I get to around to blog about unsolicited spam from people you know.

I ask people spreading news like this what have they done with their lives? Obama is 46, in the same age group as many of us and his accomplishments are numerous and how courageous is that to be vying for the presidency of the United States?

Another point is that the reasons that such email attacking a public person's upbringing in order to tilt or sways peoples view of them is ignorant and shows lack of capacity for independent or original thought. This is an attempt to innocently sabotage Obama’s credibility and it just might work in this age of the Internet with spreading “word of mouth” or properly termed “viral campaign.” Why don’t people do their own research and make up their minds? And guess what, the same Internet, used to spread this damaging information, is there with wealth of information about public personalities. Therefore it is no coincidence that within the an hour of reading this email about Obama that I saw a full article, on Yahoo’s news front page, comparing Barack Obama's life in serving the public with that of Hillary Clinton. Take a moment to browse the article on Yahoo, Obama's thin, but varied record by CHRISTOPHER WILLS of Associated Press Writer, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/ap_on_el_pr/obama_s_record;_ylt=AkrL6CePlLxmSIthwoyXjnCs0NUE .

Where do I stand in all this? I am an Obama watcher, meaning I support him in principle, and I believe that he is really an agent of change in Washington – neglecting that he does not fully represent my views. I have contributed financially to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, not once but twice for reasons that are irrelevant at this time. But should Barack Obama win the Democratic candidacy I’d seriously consider fully supporting him as well. “Consider” because I may lean towards the likes of Republican’s candidate, John McCain, should he win the party’s primaries. He was afterall a better choice to George W. Bush in 2000 but his time may have passed. There is also Mike Bloomberg (Mayor of New York) to consider if he runs as an Independent candidate.