black…MYstory

You’ve likely noticed that I haven’t had a blog post on black…MYstory in over two months.  Believe me, it’s not that I don’t have things to say.  It’s just that, sometimes, you need a change and have to take on new challenges to keep things fresh.

I launched blackmystory.com back in April 2001, just a few days after the uprising (”riots”) in Cincinnati. At the time, it was a news/opinion site.  I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on the news of the day and got into more than a few heated debates for my opinions.  I took a brief break in 2006 but, 6 months later, re-launched black…MYstory as a blog.

It’s funny.  But, when George Bush was gone, though our country was in shambles, I just didn’t feel the need to vent as much.  I didn’t see the election of Barack Obama as America’s salvation.  Instead, I saw the departure of Bush and Co. as giving the country a fighting chance.   We talked about “change” a lot in the last election and, for me, it was time for a change, too.  I wanted to branch off to other online endeavors so, I began to feel that it was time to close this chapter in my life.

I thought my heart would be heavier but, in the end, I can leave feeling good about having been willing to be the same person online that I am offline (well, actually I’m probably a little nicer online).  If I was able to offer a positive thought or encouragement to even one person then, it’s all been worth it.

As far as the my online life goes, I am not going away by any means.  In fact, I just launched a technology site to show that people of color are greatly interested  in and are actively involved in the world of technology.  If you get a chance, come check me out at WeKnowTech.com.

Finally, it’s been real.  Thanks to all who ever visited black…MYstory.

Peace and blessings…

JP Smith

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Africa may hold the hope for a vaccine to combat HIV/AIDS and this hope may lie with the Ugandan people.

Researchers there are saying that they may have encountered some Ugandans who actually show a resistance to HIV.

Though the research is still in its early stages, here’s what they are seeing:

“They have special white blood cells that can only be produced when the virus attacks the body. However, even with the most sophisticated tests, HIV could not be found in these individuals, implying that the virus had tried to infect them but the immune system kicked it out.

…

At the AIDS Information Centre in Kampala, the UVRI scientists are studying 70 discordant couples to see if some of them are indeed resistant to HIV. These are couples that have had unprotected sex for more than a year, one partner has had HIV for long while the other has not become infected.”

Again, this is all too early to tell.  However, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that this research leads to a discovery of, at last, an HIV vaccine.

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No, that’s not my hypothesis though, given the makeup of Wall Street, I have to say that this is a mostly-accurate description of the suspects.

Instead, these are the words of the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, as he railed against the greed and incompetence of the West’s heads of finance for their incompetence and blinding greed.

More specifically, President Lula stated the following:

‘This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of people that are white, blue-eyed, that before the crisis looked like they knew everything about economics,’ he declared.

‘Now they have demonstrated that they don’t know anything about economics.’

President Lula, head of Brazil’s main left-wing party, said that ‘no black man or woman, no indigenous person, no poor person’ had been in any way culpable for the global banking crisis.

‘I’m not acquainted with any black banker,’ he said. ‘The part of humanity that’s responsible should pay for the crisis.’

President Lula were part of a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is touring several countries in the run-up to this year’s G20 summit in London.

The Brazilian President indicated that, in this year’s G20, the tone may not be as polite because, in his words, ‘ it has to be a little bit spicy, a little bit of heat.’  In other words, he plans on making his issue with Western bankers known on the world stage.

Well, if President Lula’s words are any indication, it could be a hot time at this year’s G20.

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A little over 2 years ago, I first read about the death of Pfc. Lavena Johnson.  Since that time, I have posted several times about her case and how there are too many questions about how she died and the condition in which she was found to dismiss her death as simply a suicide.  Given what her parents say (one of whom is a medical doctor), the condition of her body gave them reason to believe that their daughter was raped and murdered.

It’s no secret that there is a huge issue of sexual assault as it pertains to female soldiers.  However, until very recently, something had not been disclosed — military policy itself has been putting female soldiers at risk.

A while back, I posted about the military allowing moral waivers to get more bodies to Iraq.  In a nutshell, it allowed people with dubious, criminal backgrounds to be enlisted into the armed services.  At the time, I was just looking at the fact that, because of these moral waivers, the military had an emerging gang problem, as you had recruits from groups like the Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples,neo-nazis and the Klan knowingly being admitted to the ranks.

But, it also appears that there were other criminal types being allowed to serve - people with “felony convictions for crimes like rape and sexual assault”.  That’s right — the U.S. military is allowing convicted rapists to serve alongside female soldiers and to be deployed into civilian populations in Iraq.

I am not saying that this is why or how Lavena Johnson died but, this is a point to consider.  The military already has a pretty shabby record of protecting female troops from sexual assaults by soldiers with no known criminal records.  However, by adding known rapists to the ranks, this is a recipe for disaster.

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Every month, we read about how several hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost.  We are at an 8.1% unemployment rate that the Fed Chief, Ben Bernanke, says may only rise.  So, when I hear people imply that the unemployed are just too lazy to look for work, it makes my blood boil. Certainly, among any group, there are lazy folks.  Hell, I work with some.  But, to imply that people aren’t looking for work because the unemployment benefits are so good is ludicrous.

Enter CNBC.

This network was recently skewered by Jon Stewart (of the Daily Show) over it cheerleading of Wall Street to the detriment of investors.

As a result, this network is now getting a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons.  Now, one of its host, Erin Burnett (appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe), is showing America why we don’t care for Wall Street types much these days.  In a time when the heads of industry are receiving bailouts after tanking their companies and bonuses to reward failure, what is Burnett’s question:  should America do away with unemployment benefits?  But, it get’s better. Morning Joe host, Joe Scarborough weighs in, comparing the elimnation of unemployment benefits to welfare reform, as if the circumstances of the two are equivalent.

Video below (the madness starts at the 2:40 mark):

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Just like the polar bear, another species is facing near-extinction…the black stock owner.

After reaching a high of 34% in 2001, stock ownership among black folks dropped to 22% in the years between 2001-2004.  The rate of white ownership remained steady, dropping less than a percentage point from a high of 57.5%.

I can’t lie…seeing the mess on Wall Street play out and knowing the irresponsibility of some who run these companies, I am hesitant to trust them with my hard-earned bucks.  However, I also know that building wealth is important for us, as a people, and we need to be in the game in order to benefit from it.

Hopefully, faith can be restored and we can get back to the wealth-creation in which we, as black people, so desperately need to involve ourselves.

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Oh, I guess those on the right have found religion on “fiscal responsibility” and are now taking their anger to the streets.

Yesterday, I watched (and shook my head) as I see swarms of disaffected (mostly conservative) folks fill downtown Cincinnati to protest the stimulus.

Dubbing themselves the “Cincinnati Tea Party”, the “movement” is calling on the U.S. government to stop bailing out banks and corporations.

Question: Where have you been?

When George Bush was in office, spending money like a drunken sailor, where where you?  When he doubled our foreign debt and borrowed to finance unnecessary war (causing us to double our national debt, as well), where was your concern for fiscal responsibility.  You were making noise but, at the time, it was cheerleading because your guy was in charge and you shouted down anyone who questioned the wisdom of borrowing money we didn’t have to fund a war that we didn’t need to fight.

Furthermore, you complained when people talked of regulation, saying that the “free market” should rule the day, not realizing that, when you take out the rules, it stops being a free market and becomes a free-for-all, where anything goes.

So, you fed this beast, helped it grow and now, when it comes back to bite you in the a$$, you want someone else to put it down for you?

There’s a old saying, “pay me now or pay me later”.  Well, it’s now “later” and the price is going to be high as a mutha.

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Okay, I am not a big Saturday Night Live fan but this was funny!

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On Real Time last night, Bill Maher handily shoots down the Republican assertions that there is no role for government in the lives of Americans.

Video below:

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Wow, the brother has had the job for a month and there is already a call from a high-ranking Republican official that Michael Steele step down as chair of the Republican National Committee.

Granted, it’s been a rough month for Steele.  I don’t think his “hip hop makeover” strategy for the Republican party has been well-received by the establishment of the party.  To be fair, I clowned it too but, for different reasons, I suspect.

And, we saw how he got punked after crticizing Rush Limbaugh and felt compelled, for some reason, to apologize for not worshipping at the altar of Rush.

However, like I said, it’s only been a month, people.  Can the man get some time to find his footing?

Apparently not.

The Hill is reporting that North Carolina’s Republican national committeewoman, Dr. Ada Fisher, has sent out an email to fellow RNC members claiming that he is “eroding confidence”  in the GOP and asks that his transistion team encourage him to step down.  Fisher goes on to say:

“I don’t want to hear anymore [sic] language trying to be cool about the bling in the stimulus package or appealing to D.L. Hughley and blacks in a way that isn’t going to win us any votes and makes us frankly appear to many blacks as quite foolish.”

Even worse, the email includes Michael Steele’s personal email address.  I presume that this would allow those that co-sign to email him to directly to express their dissatisfaction.

The Republicans continue to eat their own.  I’ll guess I grab my bucket of popcorn and continue to watch this horror movie play out.

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