The Rx that's needed in the black community

Comedian, Bill Cosby

The "Knockout Game" is symptomatic of an even greater issue in the U.S today.  The Black community needs to "man up" and start addressing its own problems. For far too long, blacks have used whites as their scapegoats, choosing to point the finger at 'white racism' or 'racist cops' or a racial imbalance in the prisons and jails. There's a racial imbalance with many more blacks in prison and jails because they're the ones who are committing most of the crimes!

As Bill Cosby has said,

"It's NOT what the white man is doing to us, it's what we're doing to ourselves! Five or six different children, same woman, eight, ten different husbands or whatever, pretty soon you're going to have to have DNA cards so you can tell who you're making love to. You don't know who this is. It might be your grandmother. (Laughter) I'm telling you, they're young enough. Hey, you have a baby when you're twelve. Your baby turns thirteen and has a baby, how old are you? Huh? Grandmother. By the time you're twelve, you could have sex with your grandmother, you keep those numbers coming. I'm just predicting.”

When I look at the black community, I ask myself, where is the church, especially the black church? What

are you doing? Why aren't you speaking out? Why haven't we heard any 'black leaders' speaking out condemning 'the knockout game'? And again, I believe the fact that the black community has to rely on so-called, self-appointed 'black leaders' is itself part of their problem. They don't need any leaders. Each of them needs to start taking responsibility for what is going on in their own households, in their own community, in their schools.

As Bill Cosby has already stated, they've got the wrong priorities and the wrong values. Instead of buying their kid a $200. pair of basketball speakers, they need to be investing in Hooked on Phonics so their kid can read and speak English.

Many in the black community profess a strong faith in Christ but sadly, their faith never seems to make it out of the church sanctuary and into their homes, community, or at the ballot box. Black Christians don't vote for righteousness, they vote on the basis of skin color. Why else would 96% blacks have voted for Obama?

It's time for blacks to stop playing the "race card" and the "victim card" and take responsibility for their own failures as a people. They need stop allowing liberal educators in their schools brainwash them with a "victim mentality". Instead of attacking Bill Cosby and vilifying the messenger, you need to listen to the message that is coming from one who knows you and is speaking the truth.

Instead of marching for justice, or for more food stamps, try marching to the public schools and declaring you're not going to stand for a 60% drop-out rate any longer. You're not going to put up with the fact that you son or daughter can't read or write or even speak English. Start taking back your schools and your community from black gangs and thugs who happen to be your sons and daughters. Start parenting your own children instead of relying on the schools or television to do it.

Instead of marching to end racial profiling, black parents need to spend
more time at home teaching their kids some moral values so the police
don't have to stop and 'frisk' them. 

Society at large needs to take serious action against those who perpetrate violence of any kind, especially in the form of the "knockout game" which is no game, but deadly attacks on innocent people. Punching out some elderly person's lights isn't wrong because its illegal, it's illegal because its WRONG! If we as a society feel no moral revulsion at gangs of black youths pulverizing fellow citizens, then we as a society have lost our moral bearings. As Chuck Colson pronounced 20 yrs ago, we have become the "new barbarians"!

My final thought is that we need to pray for our nation, pray for the black community. We need to pray that the black community will look in the mirror and start taking responsibility for what is going on right under their nose and no longer looking for someone else to blame.

It's time to for blacks to take their faith in God and His
righteousness outside the church sanctuary and into
their homes, community as well as the ballot box. 

At the same time, we all need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves "to what extent am I part of the problem?" What am I doing to turn the tide, or am I just going along to get along? Do I ever speak out? Do I ever correct someone for wrong thinking which comes from believing a lie? Maybe I should be looking for a black child or teen to mentor or tutor, teaching him or her how to read and write. Maybe our churches need to be supporting the Big Brothers and Big Sisters' program. Instead of soup kitchens, we might better spend our time mentoring a young black child and giving him some values and purpose for his life.

We need to stop the political correctness which is de-humanizing us because it provides cover for these hoodlums and their acts of violence. We are so afraid of being called-out as "racists" that we've allowed ourselves to be silenced. Maybe we need to pray for boldness to stand up to the lies of political-correctness and to speak the truth in love to those around us. I'm sure that as you and I pray, God will speak and show us what He'd have us to do and how to do it.

Racial Profiling in not the problem--it's part of the solution.

The race hucksters (you know who they are. But if in doubt, read my previous post) would now like us to believe that racial profiling is racist. In fact, Pres. Obama has suggested that we consider new laws to ban racial profiling. In 2008 after Obama was elected, the FBI and CIA got their orders: No more profiling, no more calling certain Muslims "terrorists" or "jihadists" or "Islamic radicals."

I've always thought that this effort to avoid racial profiling was an idiotic effort with deadly consequences. After 9-11 when we knew that our terrorist attackers were all middle-eastern Muslims, in the name of political correctness, we decided to not racially profile anyone at our airports. Instead, the TSA was told to select "at random" every 10th person in line. Who came up with this idiotic idea? What if the terrorist is the 8th person standing in line? Or the 5th person? Invariably, the person chosen by our brilliant TSA officers is a nun, or an elderly person, or a 6-yr old handicapped child.

If it is true that African-American males are viewed suspiciously, it is probably because statistically, they commit a disproportionate amount of crime. If that were not true, they would probably be given no more attention as supposed suspects that is accorded to white, asian or Latino youths.

Blacks are being told by this president and his attorney general, along with the help of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson that their biggest threat is racial profiling by the police. These so-called back leaders who point the finger at external causes are helping to destroy black america.

Following an incident in Cincinnati in 2001, civil rights leaders organized a boycott of the city and charged the police with abuse of black youth. As a consequence, the police reduced their patrols in black neighborhoods, and arrests declined dramatically, because cops did not want to be accused of racism. During this period of the boycott, a total of 74 shootings occurred in black neighborhoods, leaving 80 people wounded or dead--an 800 percent increase over the previous year's figures of 9 shootings and 11 victims.

In Los Angeles 12 yrs. Ago, gang activity and violence sharply increased after the dismantling of the police gang unit that was accused of racism. In a similar situation in Prince George's County, MD., 61 people were killed in the first seven months of that year, compared with only 71 the entire previous year. Carjackings doubled, and robberies rose 37 percent. The county police reportedly were participating in an informant slowdown, after being accused of racism. Their reported philosophy: "No contact, no complaints."

"If black America continues down this lethal path of self-deception, the protest leaders will not bear the cost arising from the fabricated complaint of racial profiling--no it will be the sons and daughters who live in these

high crime areas which are most in need of protection but will receive none because the police of afraid of being deemed "racists."

All this talk about racial profiling is a diversionary tactic to avoid the real issue of the lack of morality in the black community. 90 percent of black murder victims are killed by other blacks, not white. Today's civil rights' leaders are swatting at gnats and ignoring the elephant in the room. 73 percent of all black children are born without fathers married to their mothers. Today's black leadership is living off of the fumes of racism. It's a cottage industry. They are the race-hustlers who want their people to think that their biggest problem is the white man when in reality, it's other blacks along with a lack of morality. It's time for the black community to look in the mirror and clean up their own backyard.

Get ready....say good-bye to the Internet as we now know it.

For the record, my love affair with computers and the Internet dates back to 1986 when a friend gave me an IBM XT PC with massive 20-meg. hard-drive (yes, 20-meg) and a 5.25 inch floppy drive. It sat in my office for six months because I didn't have a clue how to use it or what to do with it. At the time, I thought it would take me forever to fill-up the 20-meg hard-drive 

One day my friend, Mark (Thank-you Mark Ziminsky for being so persistent) pops in my office, sees the computer sitting there gathering dust and says, "Dale, if you aren't going to use that thing, I'll take it back." I told Mark I didn't know how to use it, and he proceeded to show me and teach me DOS (the basic disc operation system that underlies Windows, even today). With Mark's help, I became quite proficient in the use of DOS, so much so that when Windows 1.0 appeared on the scene, I was resistant to adopting it because I was doing just fine with DOS, thank-you very much!

Finally, with the arrival of Windows 3.0 in 1990, I slowly transitioned to Windows. A year earlier, I had signed on to Compuserve, the first online service to connect to the web. There wasn't much to connect to other than forums, bulletin boards, etc. There were no fancy websites with streaming music or videos in 1989.

I also remember the introduction of Realplayer in 1995, when I tuned into its initial test broadcast from Seattle. The quality was really bad, but then again, we were dealing with dial-up and really slow speeds at the time. Honestly, I didn't think Realplayer as an idea would last, but now looking back, it was the forerunner of our Pandora,  Spotify, Netflix and Hulu. 

So with that background info, I want to remind you (not that you need reminding) that the Internet has grown and prospered without the help or funding or regulation of governments. The Internet is self-regulating which means that no one has to ask for permission to launch a website, and no government can tell network operators how to do their jobs. The Internet (the world-wide web) is a permissionless society. 

But as I stated in an earlier post last May, the United Nations organization, ITU, wants to take over the Internet. In their 200-page proposal, they want to charge you for sending emails overseas (sort of a tax, so they can make some money off of you). Also, if any internet traffic is routed through countries like Russia, Iran, China, etc., they want the ability to eavesdrop or block internet access. This is the same UN that can't even control nuclear weapons, yet they want to control the Internet. (See article by L. Gordon Crovitz "The U.N.'s Internet Sneak Attack" in the Wall Street Journal for more background info).

The U.N. wants control over the Internet so they can make money off of everyone using it as well as control what information is transmitted. They want to tax firms like Google and Facebook which eventually would mean that you, the user would also be taxed or have to start paying Google or Facebook a user fee. 

My fear (and it is a well-founded one) is that the Obama administration will once again lead from behind and capitulate, giving in to the U.N. and allowing it to control the Internet. Why? Because in the name of multiculturalism, Obama believes that the U.S.'s values of freedom, democracy, and freedom of speech, etc. are no better than any other countries' values, including North Korea, Iran, or Russia. 

Far too many liberals, including Obama himself, believe that government should be able to censor and sanction speech in order to keep people "in line." This is the same political correctness that prevails on most of our university campuses today (just ask someone like Ann Coulter who is banned from a number of university campuses). 

I sadly predict that we are about to see the end of the Internet as we know it. This news will probably be greeted with cheers and cause for celebration by most liberals and leftist professors as well as the Hollywood crowd. 

Are you living in an "information bubble"?

Jason Whitlock

Are you living in an INFORMATION BUBBLE? I was reading Jason Whitlock's column at Fox Sports titled, "Bubble Doesn't Help Black QBs." In a nutshell, Jason's putting forth the argument that the No. 1 hindrance for black quarterbacks is the "information bubble" which insulates them from any real criticism, and creates self-delusion, and a lack of self-awareness. Now fortunately, Jason is black and can say this--if this column had been written by a white sports' writer, he'd be fired on the spot for racism.

This got me to thinking about the rest of us--about you and me. Do we live in an information bubble? An information bubble means you get your information from a limited number of sources and they all affirm rather than challenge your thinking. You may subscribe to 2 newspapers and watch the news every night and go on the internet, and still live in an information bubble if all your news sources present a certain political viewpoint and ideology. 

Democrats and Republicans both live within their respective bubbles. If you are a Democrat or a liberal, you probably get your news from one or more of the following sources: 

• MSNBC
• CNN
• NBC
• CBS
• ABC
• PBS
• NPR
• LA Times
• NY Times
• W. Post
• USA Today
• Jon Stewart
• Boston Globe

If you are a Republican conservative, you most likely get your news from one or more of the following sources:

• Wall Street Journal
• Washington Times
• Talk Radio
• Fox News 
• Drudge Report

Take note that there are many more outlets supporting the liberal-Democrat point-of-view.

If you live in an information bubble, it's unhealthy for your own personal and intellectual growth. It's "group-think." You want to be loved and accepted so you go along with the political mindset and the dogma of those around you that says abortion is an "ok" thing--after all, it's just human tissue, and even in the 3rd tri-mester, it's no big deal. Besides what would your co-workers or friends think if they thought that you were one of those "pro-lifers" who actually believes that life begins at conception? Whether you lean left or right, there is an accepted dogma.

You also buy into the idea that the oil companies are bad for America because that's what you hear coming from the President and all the news programs you watch. You never entertain the idea that maybe, just maybe, oil is a good thing--after all, we need it to power our cars (even electric cars), fuel our airplanes and jets (when's the last time your flew cross country on a wind or solar-powered jumbo jet?).

Have you ever thought that those big evil oil companies that MSNBC keeps telling you are making obscene profits have a much smaller (like 1/5) of the profit-margin of Apple. You never hear anyone complaining about all the big profits that Apple's making off of consumers. And while we're at it, your computer (be it a Mac or PC or tablet) is made from OIL--try buying a MAC or PC or tablet made from wind or solar energy? There's NO such thing available. Try buying a flat-screen TV made from solar energy? There's no such thing. I think I've made my point.

For the record, I refuse to fall lock-step into group-think. Sad to say, many that I went to school with in high-school and college are still part of the "group-think" crowd. They haven't grown intellectually in 30-40 yrs. If you have a conversation with them, it's as though they are living in a time warp back in the 70s during the final days of the Vietnam War. At that time, they were anti-government, now, they believe government is the answer to every problem, which is why they support Obama.

I was raised to be a good liberal, and I marched for peace and protested the war in Vietnam, voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976. But then I walked away from the group-think crowd. I realized that I no longer needed their love and acceptance, which is really phony anyway, because they only love you when you think like them and espouse their accepted viewpoints. Walk away from liberalism or the LEFT and they'll turn on you like a rabid dog.

Even to this day, I try not to get caught in the "information bubble" and I try to exercise my critical thinking skills. I'm always asking why this network or news program is ignoring certain stories.

I'll guarantee you that you are living in an "information bubble" if you haven't read or heard about the Benghazi emails which reveal that the White House and the State Dept. knew almost immediately that the attack on the Libyan embassy was not the result of some YouTube video. You also live in an information bubble if you haven't heard or read that those CIA operatives a mile away from the Libyan embassy asked for permission to go and provide back-up during the attack on the Libyan embassy and three times they were told to "stand down" or in laymen's terms, "NO!" If you haven't heard about this breaking story, you live in an information bubble and need to get out more. 

Our Failed Efforts in Iraq & Afghanistan: "This Ain't No Video Game" or 10 Reasons Why We Should Never Have Gone to War.

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." –Vice President Dick Cheney, March 16, 2003, Meet the Press

First off, let me say that I love our military and believe that we have some of the finest young men fighting for us in Afghanistan and Iraq. I doubt that most Americans realize the caliber of people they have fighting for them. I am saddened because I feel that we have misused our finest and now we have very little to show for it.

Joshua Yancy, Iraq 2003

They say that hindsight is 20/20, but I questioned our reasons for going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq from the beginning. 

My son, Josh, who was 19 at the time, was about to be sent in with our troops to liberate Iraq (The 2003 invasion of Iraq (March 19–May 1, 2003). In the days leading up to the initial invasion, I remember sending an email to Tony Snow who at that time was a USA Today columnist and talk show host (he later became George Bush's press secretary).

In my email, I expressed my concerns about this being a "politically-correct" war. I was fearful of having another failed effort like the Battle of Mogadishu where 19 of our soldiers were killed (Blackhawk Down,1993). Tony Snow shot back an email assuring me that from what he was hearing, if we did go into Iraq, it would be an all-out assault sans political correctness. Sorry to say, but the late Tony Snow (a true gentleman and patriot) was wrong. 

I am thankful that both of my sons have returned home from duty in Iraq, but sadly several thousand other young men and women have not, and many thousand more have come home with broken bodies and spirits.

Here are my ten reasons why we should not have invaded Iraq or Afghanistan. 


1. Four of the five hijackers on 9-11 were from Saudi Arabia. Our supposed ally. They were trained in Afghanistan, but why was Saudi Arabia given a pass? Was it because of our dependence upon Saudi oil?


2. In our efforts to get the blessing of the UN, we basically telegraphed our plans to Saddam Hussein, announcing to the world that we would be invading on March 23, 2003. What armies in world history have ever gone to war by letting their enemy in on the date and time of their invasion? Is that insane or what?


3. We titled the war, "Operation Iraqi Freedom." I thought we were going after terrrorists, not freeing the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein? George Bush campaigned under the premise that he was opposed to nation-building, and what are we doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? "Nation building." Our focus was wrong from day one. Saddam Hussein didn't attack us on 9-11. It was Bin Laden, and it was also Saudi Arabian homegrown terrorists. 

4. I knew we had no business going to war when during the first days of the invasion, our troops were being fired upon by Iraqi forces from mosques, and our soldiers were given orders not to return fire. Why? Because the mosque is a religious site and it would anger the Muslims in Iraq. Too bad! Bush should have immediately gone on the offensive and informed the Iraqi forces that the moment they start using a mosque to store weapons or to fire upon our troops, it ceases to be a religious site and will be blown to smithereens! When I saw this, I realized that we were NOW engaged in the FIRST POLITICALLY-CORRECT WAR in U.S. history. At that moment, we should have withdrawn our forces and headed home because we did not have the stomach or proper mindset for going to war.


5. Iraq has been a hotbed of tribal warfare being the Sunnis and Shiite Muslims for centuries. What makes us think that we can go in there and turn things around in a week, month, or even a few years? We inserted ourselves in an ongoing conflict which showed the stupidity of our State Department and our President. 


We are attempting to bring Democracy to a region which is rooted in Islam. Alexis de Tocqueville on his famous trip to America from France in 1831, observed that democracy in America was rooted in our Judeo-Christian background, and if we were to lose that, we would lose our democracy. We can't impose democracy on any nation. They have to want it and be willing to fight for it as we did during the Revolutionary War.

The Operation Red Wing Seal Team (Lone Survivor)

6. Our military leaders said that we would go to war using conventional warfare. This is George Bush's way of "playing nice." We want to be "FAIR" and we chose NOT to use all of our weaponry including nuclear capability. Unfortunately, our enemies never got the message because they have used nothing but UNCONVENTIONAL weaponry against us: IUDs, roadside bombs, suicide bombers. They have taken advantage of our stupid Rules of Engagement to lead us into death traps like the botched effort described in Lone Survivor where 19 Navy Seals lost their lives.


7. Speaking of Rules of Engagement. In Afghanistan and Iraq, our soldiers have been fighting a war with one hand tied behind their back, specifically our "rules of engagement" which is MORE political correctness descending from the Pentagon where Colonels sit in their comfortable offices and make decisions which inevitably put the lives of our soldiers in danger. ROE means that our soldiers cannot fire on the enemy unless the enemy is about to fire upon them. Our troops cannot fire on the enemy if civilians are present. Villagers are to be warned prior to searches. No night or surprise searches.

Often, rules of engagement require varying levels of approvals before action can be taken. In one case, villagers had tipped off U.S. forces of the presence of a Taliban commander who was threatening village elders.

To get permission to go after him, U.S. troops had to get 11 separate Afghan, U.S. and international forces' approval to the plan. The approval, however, did not come until well into the next day. By then, the Taliban commander had moved on, to the consternation of the villagers who had provided the tip. Observers have claimed that it can take some 96 hours to acquire all the permissions to act.

Pat Tillman (Nov. 6, 1976 - April 22, 2004)

8. Cover-ups like the death of Pat Tillman which was due to friendly fire  but was covered up by the Pentagon and commanders in the field like Gen. Stanley McChrystal. How many more cover-ups have occurred? We'll never know. But what it tells me is that our military leaders just like our government leaders will lie to us whenever it serves their purpose. Where is the integrity and righteousness that we assume our leaders to have?

9. Dick Cheney (I'm currently reading his autobiography) said on Meet the Press on March 16, 2003 that when we arrived in Baghdad, we would be greeted as liberators. Yeah, well that didn't happen. The Iraqi people were not dancing in the streets upon our arrival. We were met with mixed reactions. 

To this very day, there are many in Iraq that don't appreciate the sacrifice we have made and don't want us there. They could thank us for all that we've done by giving the U.S. a portion of their oil profits to help pay back the billions spent on their behalf. But that's not happening. There is no real gratitude. They want us out of there, and we should have left sooner rather than later.

10. Our troops are trained to break things and kill people. We are using them for this social experiment called "nation building" or in other countries, "meals on wheels." We have no business expecting trained soldiers to shift gears and become social workers. We have no clear mission, no clear goals, no clear definition of victory. And therefore, we have no business being in Iraq or Afghanistan. 

As a nation, until we throw off the shackles of political correctness and realize that we really are at war with an enemy that is deeply rooted in Islam which considers us the Great Satan, then we have no business sending our troops to fight any where, or in any way.

                                                        Video trailer from "Restrepo"

                                            

Disbelief: "You wanna run that by me again?"

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:7 “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” What does it mean to “believe all things”? I think that in context, it means that love sees the best in others or gives the other person the benefit of the doubt, choosing to believe the best about them not the worst! 

However, the Apostle Paul is not saying that love is gullible and believes everything and does not exercise qualities such as wisdom and discernment. What he is saying is that love will believe well of others unless convinced otherwise. It seeks to put the best possible construction on another's words, actions, etc.

At the risk of sounding “uncharitable,” here is a list of things (or people) I don’t believe:

• Evolution. (Where’s the missing link?)
• Global Warming (I know that experts like Al Gore, Brad Pitt & Britany Spears will disagree with me, but there are several thousand scientists who haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid, and they are not following the money).
• Attorney General Eric Holder. (I never believe him when he is testifying before Congress, and I don’t believe he is concerned about justice for ALL Americans. In fact, he’s evidence enough for eliminating the Justice Dept. which is an oxymoron.)
• Pres. Obama. (He said he won’t rest until every American has a job--Except for his weekly golf. And all vacations. And trips to the burger joint with Joe. And campaign stops and TV interviews.)
• Ministers at conferences when they tell you how many are attending their church or how many were saved at some rally. They always inflate the numbers (This is referred to as “evangelistically-speaking”). This same thing happens when denominations list their overall numbers for worldwide growth, conversions, baptisms, etc. Inflated numbers every time.
• The published numbers for poor people in America (We are told that 1 in 6 Americans is fighting hunger). We have redefined poor. They  have 2 flat-screen TVs, own one or more cars, eat out at McDonalds, have an Xbox system, Sony Playstation 3, etc. Do I really believe there are poor people in America. Yes, but not the high numbers published in news stories by advocates (who make their living by inflating the numbers). A better understanding of real poverty is a visit to India or Ethiopia, Africa.
• Politicians when they say they want to “help you.” It’s usually the other way around, they want to “help themselves” at our expense,
• Affirmative action. Instead of taking race into consideration when one is considered for a job or entrance to a university, we need to look for the one who is best qualified, be they male, female, black, white, Indian, Asian, etc. AA leads to preferential hiring and reverse discrimination.
• Political Correctness. This is a tyranny against the freedom of speech so that no one is ever offended. This is an attempt to limit our thoughts, words and actions.

Here’s what I DO believe:

• The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Bible. He created this earth, all that is seen and unseen. He created man to have dominion over this earth.
• Yeshua (Jesus Christ). He is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Chosen One. He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega. Apart from Him, nothing was made that has been made. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father except by Him. He is full of righteousness, grace and mercy.
• The Bible is God’s revealed word to us. We need to devour it. The Bible contains the words of life itself. God’s Word of instruction gives us understanding, wisdom, hope, strength, direction, happiness, integrity, and ultimately leads us to eternal life.
• Israel. God chose Israel to be His people and His land. His steadfast love toward Israel and its people endures forever. He has given Israel to His people the Jews, who have descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because of His great love toward His people, the Jews, He brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, to the land we now call Israel and gave them this land (their Promised Land) as an inheritance to them. God calls Himself the God of Israel, the Holy One of Israel.
• In God’s plan and purpose for my life this day. My life does have purpose. He is ordering my steps and leading me in the paths of righteousness and goodness for His name’s sake. Even when bad things happen, my Lord is still at work and He never drops the ball, never forgets about me, never stops loving me. He is worthy of my praise and my life.
• In the end, God wins. 

How about you? What do you believe?