I usually write about food and health related stuff, but after reading this Francis Holland piece that I found to be insensitive, I stumbled on this truly beautiful piece of spoken word and felt compelled to post it here. It really sums up the way I feel about the whole thing.
Hi Guys.
1/2 c.coconut oil (not the cheap stuff)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. oatmeal
1-3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
12 oz. pkg. chocolate chips
1/2 c. pecans
At least 6256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 - an average of 17 a day - they said, with veterans overall more than twice as likely to take their own lives as the rest of the general population. That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among veterans aged 20 to 24 - almost four times the non-veteran average for the age group.
Of course, this news isn't really being reported in the American press, but you can read about it in Australia. Found the link and excerpt via BartCop.In addition to the $168 mil, Juanita will also get their seven-acre estate in Chicago, as well as custody of their three kids.
…It found that just one in five blacks, or 20 percent, said things were better off for blacks compared with five years ago; that is the smallest percentage since 1983, when 20 percent also made that claim. In-between, the percentage of blacks who said things had gotten better had grown, only to drop back to 20 percent. Another 29 percent of blacks said things had gotten worse as opposed to staying the same, the largest number since 32 percent made that claim in 1990.
In addition, fewer than half of all blacks, or 44 percent, said they expected their prospects to brighten in the future. That’s down from 57 percent in 1986, during the height of the Reagan administration when the Justice Department actively sought to curtail affirmative action in favor of race-neutral policies.
Before anyone starts looking for the nearest bridge to jump off of, wait, because there's an opposing point of view, according to the same survey.Whites have a different view about black progress, according to the survey. Whites were nearly twice as likely as blacks to see black gains in the past five years. A majority of whites polled, or 56 percent, also said they believed prospects for blacks would improve in the future.
Well, this is one time where I have to agree with the majority population. With the benign neglect displayed during Hurricane Katrina, blatant disregard of safety concerns in our cities, inadequate funding for education and any other programs not involving war or prison building, and the unequal justice dispensed upon our communities, I have to believe that things can't help but to get better.
Well, I told y'all a few months ago that we would be bringing more voices into the There... Already mix and here, three months later, my man is finally checking in.I was reminded recently of a comment made by the late Rev. E. V. Hill. Rev. Hill said that he was a Negro not an African-American. He was proud to be a Negro and wanted no part of being an African-American. His thesis was grounded on the fact that Negros were builders and African-Americans were dismantlers, for it was Negros that built schools and African-Americans who were allowing them to close; it was Negros that built banks and African-Americans that allowed them to close and it was Negros that built communities and African-Americans that allowed them to turn into ghettos. It sounds harsh but it sure is the truth.
As I reflect on the glorious and unique road African-Americans have traveled since the African Diaspora, I am somewhat reticent in my jubilation with regard to where we stand in this Information Age. In fact, it seems as though African-Americans are currently experiencing an entirely new Diaspora with a far more devious and devastating goal.
My goal is not to talk about technology for technology sake but to present topics regarding its impact on our communities. Technology is being thrust upon us at a rapid pace. In fact, it is being presented in such a lightning speed manner that most of us are at a point where we now have to decide what technology we need to know. I am convinced that this has caused us to spend more time than necessary on some irrelevant issues. By the way, has bridging the digital divide become the war on poverty? Or is it further evidence that the war on poverty is far from over?
I am a product of the generation of African-American youth who entertained and educated ourselves using little to no technology. However, as I look at our children today, I am concerned about the impact technology has had on their critical thinking abilities. Has technology caused our children to become lazy thinkers and low achievers?
Since surfing the information highway has yielded little result for us, perhaps we should change our mindset from being technology users to using technology to rebuild our communities.
Oh yeah, I forgot building requires Negroes.
@p.buzz
To all you vets out there, Happy Veterans Day.
We’ve talked about it here before, and recently Prometheus 6 and The Field Negro posted about the obesity crisis in this country, particularly among us. Eating too much junk and not eating healthy enough are causes, but I'm not totally convinced that the main reason for this dramatic rise in size was cited. And while obesity is a big enough issue in itself, I’d like to add another reason to watch what we eat, which is the affect the food itself is having on our health.
A couple of years ago when the government first "officially" told us about Mad Cow Disease and the Avian Bird Flu you saw good old Americans running in droves out of the meat sections and into the bean aisles of the super market to find their protein supply.
Did this really happen? Absolutely not.
In fact, American eating habits haven’t changed at all, neither has how what we’re eating is produced. In fact does anyone even know what I'm talking about, or the definition of Mad Cow’s Disease? No? Has anyone ever stopped to think about the number of ground up cows there are in one of your fast food burgers? Well, let’s take a closer look, (and trust me it's worth your read).
Mad Cow disease is caused by infectious proteins, and because of the unique structure, they’re basically invulnerable and can survive temperatures hot enough to melt lead. However the leading theory as to how cows received this disease in the first place is that they were fed diseased sheep infected with a sheep spongiform encephalopathy called scrapie.
This begs the question of, “well aren’t cow’s vegetarians?” The answer is yes, and if left uninterrupted they would consume a primarily vegetarian diet, and the animals would naturally be leaner. They would never consume any animal-by-products, nitrates, antibiotics or be stuffed to the gills in huge feed lots prior to slaughter. But feeding these animals a natural diet costs big business about 30% more, and by packing them together into huge feedlots, they tend to plump up rather quickly, producing more product for the market. The down side with the animals packed so tightly is if one becomes ill or diseased, then it’s extremely easy for the illness to spread, which is one of the reasons why the animals receive antibiotics.
Did you know that animals are often given 8 times the amount of antibiotics that humans are given, and that more than half of the antibiotics in the
"The chief threat is that the use (in cattle) of antibiotics also used in human medicine increases the chance that when that antibiotic is used to treat human infections, it won't work."
Despite the Mad Cow scare, or the fact that Cargill Inc. has recalled 1 million pounds of beef for the second time in a month due to E. coli bacteria contamination, Americans still gobble down about 13 billion hamburgers a year (that’s 3 burgers a week person). And for everybody still wondering, a typical fast food hamburger often contains meat from dozens or even hundreds of cattle. Ewww.
What’s the point? Well, although only a few hundred cases of Mad Cow are officially reported in the U.S. annually, tens of thousands of Americans die from dementia related diseases like Alzeimer’s, every year. Thousands of these deaths may actually be from mad cow disease, caused by eating infected meat because mad cow has several similarities to Alzeimers. The problem is that autopsies are infrequently done, leaving mad cow disease to often go mis- or undiagnosed. Only 10% of Americans receive an autopsy, and the cost for this procedure is an extra $1500 on top of funeral expenses. Draw your own conclusions.
I’m going to end this with a few definitions. I’ll be back with Part II because this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg regarding our food supply, Chicken and pork need their own topics altogether.
Until then (and I'd love to hear your comments)
That Girl Boo
Definitions:
Animal-by-Products are just what they sound like, parts from slaughtered animals. These products “used to” include animals that are found dead on the farm, which were then ground into bone meal and fed to livestock
Nitrates are chemicals used as curing agents, including coloring and flavoring in meats, and according to the Water Environment Federation this substance has been linked to human health problems, including "blue baby" syndrome.
Antibiotics are given to treat illness, however animals are often given 8 times the amount of antibiotics that humans are give, and more than half of the antibiotics in the
Steroids, are synthetic (man-made) substances related to the male sex hormones, it promotes muscle growth and reduce swelling and inflammation quickly. Please note that industries are prohibited from giving their chickens hormones, however antibiotics can be given to the animal everyday, and well, increase the size of the animal.
References:
(1) ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/bse/m04_107_en.pdf
(2 ) http://www.blogger.com/www.ca-nv-awwa.org/Bulletins/nitrates.htm
(3) http://www.blogger.com/www.wef.org/LearnAboutWater/ForThePublic/WaterTerms/#n
(4) http://www.blogger.com/www.commondreams.org/views04/0107-07.htm
(5) http://www.blogger.com/www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001820.htm
(6) Bentor, Yinon. Chemical Element.com - Lead.
(7) http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/pb.html
(8) Journal of Virology 75(21):10073-89 (2001).Publish Post
(9) www.steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2006/11/hamburger-facts-to-chew-on.html
(10) www.mercola.com/display/router.aspx?docid=34870
(11) www.animalsuffering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=72
With so many Blacks locked up for ridiculously long periods of time based simply on the possession of small quantities of crack cocaine, I can't help but welcome this development. 
A wise man (my brother) once said that "America might be the only great power to fall because its citizens weren't educated enough to maintain it." I'm starting to realize the truth in that statement. From the Chronicle and multiple other news outlets today:
AUSTIN — Texas has 185 high schools, including 42 in the eight-county Houston area, that are hemorrhaging students fast enough to be called "dropout factories" in a new national report.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who conducted the study for The Associated Press, applied that label to high schools with an attrition rate of 40 percent or higher — which amounted to one in 10 high schools across America.
The report's release coincides with a Texas study by the San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Association showing a 34 percent statewide attrition rate for the 2006 graduating class.
No matter how you look at it, this is a travesty that exposes policy initiatives like "No Child Left Behind" as just so much empty rhetoric. No child is left behind - by themselves anyway. They've got nearly half of their classmates with them. The schools are applying a different spin to the issue of course.(Spokesman Terry) Abbott echoed the mobility issue, citing a ninth-grader who starts in one school and graduates in another can count as a dropout, and HISD has many transfers within the district.
"Calling them 'dropout factories' is just wrong. It's offensive to the many great men and women who give their lives to teaching children every day," he said.
He's right, there are many excellent teachers in the district who are dedicated to helping their students succeed. I'm sure that there are others just drawing a paycheck. But the issue isn't so much about teachers as it is about the allocation of resources, as evidenced by the "dropout factories" overwhelmingly being located in poor, inner city communities. Of course this issue affects African-Americans and Latinos disproportionately, especially here in Texas.Schools plan for a 30 percent student attrition rate when hiring teachers, developing curriculum and building new schools, she said.
Planning for a 30 percent dropout rate? Like I said earlier, anyway you look at it this is a travesty.
From MSNBC: NEW YORK - The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them....In a move to get a clearer picture of where the U.S. stands, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would develop an annual inventory of existing broadband services — including the types, advertised speeds and actual number of subscribers — available to households and businesses across the nation.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is intended to provide policy makers with improved data so they can better use grants and subsidies to target areas lacking high-speed Internet access. He said in a statement last week that promoting broadband would help spur job growth, access to health care and education and promote innovation among other benefits.It's really not a surprise that the U.S. is lagging behind in both access and quality of service. During the Clinton Administration annual reports entitled "Falling Through The Net" were issued detailing the countries progress towards digital inclusion. In 2001, the name of that report was changed to "A Nation Online".
In other words, politics. From one administration to another the role of the federal government in American broadband policy changed from serving as the catalyst for digital inclusion to that of a bystander.
Efforts at digital inclusion in this country are usually met with suspicion or outright opposition, because they are typically framed as a social program instead of as a necessary part of our economic infrastructure, like rural electrification. In its day, that effort was panned as bringing America one step closer to socialism, but in actuality;
"When farmers did receive electric power their purchase of electric appliances helped to increase sales for local merchants. Farmers required more energy than city dwellers, which helped to offset the extra cost involved in bringing power lines to the country."
In all fairness, there have been many recent efforts to address the issue of broadband access, including through municipal wireless initiatives. It's too early to determine how successful any of these efforts will ultimately be. We do know that some have never got off the drawing board.
You only need to look at the numbers of students who are NOT graduating within our major urban districts to recognize that there is a real problem. From The Disputed Truth Afrosphere Blog:But for one night, at least, winners of the 2007 Intel Schools of Distinction Awards--which recognize K-12 schools for their exceptional use of technology to enhance math and science education--got a taste of what it's like to be treated as royalty.
"We want them to feel like stars, because they are," said Craig R. Barrett, chairman of the board for Intel Corp. "This is the Academy Awards for education."
We need more activities and honors of this sort highlighting innovation and achievement in education. I'd really like to hear in particular about innovations in minority districts and schools. This issue is near and dear to me because these kids are our future, and at this point, we are failing them.
Not that this will come as a surprise or anything but; Bush Wrong at UN on Benefits of Free Trade“In the long run, the best way to lift people out of poverty is through trade and investment,” Bush said. “During the 1990s, developing nations that significantly lowered tariffs saw their per capita income grow about three times faster than other developing countries. Open markets ignite growth, encourage investment, increase transparency, strengthen the rule of law, and help countries help themselves.”
In a little-noticed portion of his speech to the United Nations on September 25, President Bush repeated a favorite hymn of his.