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Showing posts from June, 2009

Reparations

Reparations 1) I do like the idea of punishing governments for their actions, but the problem with this example is that the people who were in charge of the government when slavery was legal aren't around to be punished. Hanging would be too good for them. 2) There are a few children of slaves alive, but there really are some more pressing issues today that could actually help people. 3) Blacks would be more likely to get reparations if advocates said that they wanted reparations in exchange for ending affirmative action. 4) People deserve punishment for slavery, let's round them up. 5) If my 38+ million black brothers and sisters ever get reparations, I'm buying Nike stock. 6) If a reparations check comes to me, I'm cashing it. I cash any and all checks made out to me. 7) Instead of reparations, I'd prefer to live tax-free for 20 years. 8) Instead of reparations, I'd prefer to be able to opt-out of the government's Social Security program and put my retirem

A Better Way to Honor Sen. Kennedy

Some members of Congress apparently want to honor Sen. Kennedy by passing major health care legislation. Couldn't the nation just give him a gold watch and a handshake? That's the way corporations did it in the past for valued employees who were retiring. It would even be worth giving him a gold watch for each year he has served in Congress. It would be much cheaper than coming up with a plan that would involve NINETEEN percent of the U.S. economy. I'm not a Kennedy supporter but it I would support giving him a parade at taxpayer expense all the way from D.C. to Boston. I know gold might not seem appropriate to some. After all, Kennedy and his colleagues have done so much to devalue and debase the American currency that it might be more appropriate to give him a paper watch (perhaps even one that is water resistant). CJL

Destroying some cities to save them...

"It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." An American major after the destruction of the Vietnamese Village Ben Tre * * * I heard on Rush Limbaugh that there is chatter about bulldozing Flint, Michigan . The talk was started by a UK Telegraph piece . If some lousy cities are going to be bulldozed then I would like to add all or parts of Newark, Baltimore, D.C., and Detroit to the list... If the area s don't officially get leveled then you can probably get some great real estate deals: "According to the Michigan Association of Realtors and Detroit Board of Realtors ( data here ), the average sales price of a Detroit home fell to $11,533 in March (Year-to-Date), a -43.8% decline from the $20,514 average home price during the same period last year (see chart below)." I guess it shouldn't be surprising that there aren't any major chain stores operating there, according to the Wall Street Journal . It is also noted in the article: &qu

Dead ex-felon on the lam

You would hope that someone in Mayor Fenty's office saw the article and called off the search. A DC agency has been hunting for a dead man. His death has allegedly been confirmed. Still, the agency is searching for him. There may be a perfectly reasonable bureaucratic explanation for the search, I do realize that... many priceless quotes in the article, the family is horrified... But things could always be worse: * He could cast a vote in the 2010 and 2012 elections. I always hear that an election could come down to a single vote...would be terrible if the dead man decided who would be in office. * He could be on the payroll in Maryland (" Another state audit this week found significant financial troubles in the Baltimore City public school system -- including wage overpayments in some cases to deceased employees ."). If I were feeling really mean then I would set up a blog with posts from the guy talking about his success in evading the agency reps chasing him... But

Hitting-n-running...

Another war we've lost First, we lost (or tied) Vietnam. NYT op-ed now declares: " Drugs won the war ." I wonder how many people who predicted the war on drugs would be a disaster were dismissed as crackpots who just wanted to get high? Has anyone with the NYT admitted yet that we've also lost the War on Poverty? And will it take 40 years to admit most of Obama's plans have failed? * * * An Obama plan to be derided in 40 years or less About Obama's health plan: "The government competes in the private sector the way an alligator competes with a duck." --Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) High-Stakes Tests, for real NYT has the latest " those Asian kids study real hard " story. I taught English in Asia for six years, I learned that those stories are true! When I came back to America, I had a tough time taking Americans seriously when they complained about "high-stakes tests." Studying for 15 hours a day, sleeping just four or five hours, and

Living (and dying) in America!

Living in America! Michael Kinsley says it is time to scrap the Star-Spangled Banner. I'm on board with this. Doesn't sound bad, great historical references and all that, but it is even tough to lip- synch it... Kinsley makes a couple of tepid recommendations. My choice? Living in America by James Brown! Can you get more American than James Brown? Drugs. Women. Jail time. Illegitimate children. Car chases. Mixed race. More women. Battle over his estate. Not only should the song be the National Anthem, but the video should also be the National Video... Whistling Past the Graveyard Last night I picked up the June 6-12, 2009 issue of the Washington Afro-American. A page one article in the paper as well as an opinion piece by George Curry document the recent case of the white woman who claimed she was kidnapped by two black men. As I recently asked: Why in the world would anyone believe that such a thing could happen? Why didn't she blame Native American Indians? Looking t