In Sarah Palin's speech accepting the V-P nomination this week at the Republican Convention, she said the following statement:
"...Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved. I guess -- I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."
Nice.
CNN commentator Roland Martin had a nice rebuttal to that statement:
"At a time when Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure, folks are trying to get by after layoffs, people are struggling with lack of healthcare, and we're facing pressing environmental issues, it's ludicrous to slam the little man and woman who isn't asking the government for handouts, but is doing what they can to make their neighborhood and city better...
... So when Rudy Giuliani and Palin mock community organizers, they don't just toss a barb at Sen. Barack Obama, they demean Reginald and Emelda Martin [Mr. Martin's parents]. They degrade the women who fought for their rights. They disrespect the labor activists and immigrant worker activists like Cesar Chavez.They dismiss those in the civil rights movement -- folks from small town America who were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They thumb their noses at the Nelson Mandelas of the world who want a better life for their children."
Below is a link to his entire article:
Commentary: GOP Shouldn't Knock Community Organizers
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
TODAY, JUNE 20th, IS WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2008
From the heart I hope that these — our brothers and sisters so tried by suffering — are guaranteed asylum and the recognition of their rights, and I invite those responsible for the nations to offer protection to those who are in such delicate situations of need. - Pope Benedict XVI
Everyone must face troubles and sadness in their life. But today, take a few moments to think about all the ways we are truly blessed.
Who is a refugee?
A refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country…"
Article 1, The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees -from www.unhcr.org.au
How many refugees are there today?
There are about 32.9 million people of concern to UNHCR as at January 2007. Of these 9.9 million are refugees as defined by the Refugee Convention or those given prima facie recognition as part of mass influxes.
The remaining 23 million of concern to UNHCR are made up of:
* About 12.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) who flee from their homes for the same reasons as refugees but who remain within their own country. This figure represents only a portion of the estimated 25 million IDPs worldwide who are not specifically covered by the Refugee Convention.
* About 2.6 million returnees – 1.1 million refugees who have voluntarily returned to their countries of origin but who remain of concern to UNHCR because we monitor their reintegration and provide assistance. There are also 519,430 IDP returnees.
* About 740,000 asylum-seekers, people who are seeking to be recognized as refugees but are still in the determination process.
* About 30,500 refugees who are resettled elsewhere.
* About 3.2 million others, including stateless and others.
-from www.unhcr.org.au
Everyone must face troubles and sadness in their life. But today, take a few moments to think about all the ways we are truly blessed.
Who is a refugee?
A refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country…"
Article 1, The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees -from www.unhcr.org.au
How many refugees are there today?
There are about 32.9 million people of concern to UNHCR as at January 2007. Of these 9.9 million are refugees as defined by the Refugee Convention or those given prima facie recognition as part of mass influxes.
The remaining 23 million of concern to UNHCR are made up of:
* About 12.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) who flee from their homes for the same reasons as refugees but who remain within their own country. This figure represents only a portion of the estimated 25 million IDPs worldwide who are not specifically covered by the Refugee Convention.
* About 2.6 million returnees – 1.1 million refugees who have voluntarily returned to their countries of origin but who remain of concern to UNHCR because we monitor their reintegration and provide assistance. There are also 519,430 IDP returnees.
* About 740,000 asylum-seekers, people who are seeking to be recognized as refugees but are still in the determination process.
* About 30,500 refugees who are resettled elsewhere.
* About 3.2 million others, including stateless and others.
-from www.unhcr.org.au
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Brilliance from the Onion
On the fourteenth of March, in towns nationwide,
In every cinema, multiplex, on every barnside,
Gleamed another adapting of one of my books,
CGI-ed and digitized by another sly crook.
Horton, my favorite—look how he's been treated!
Stuffed with tinsels and tassels and promptly excreted!
The puns! And the filler! The script fees you must save!
While I tumble and grum-humble around in my grave.
Did you learn all but squat from The Cat In The Hat?
Please tell me you fired the prick who made that.
I would have stopped writing, maybe sold Goodyear tires.
If I knew one dark day I'd costar with Mike Myers.
And Oh!
Oh, dear! Oh!
My poor Grinch, what they've done!
They crammed in live-action and snuffed out all the fun!
It's icky, it's tacky, it's awkward, it's wrong.
The Whos look like ferrets, it's an hour too long.
What a rotten idea to spend millions destroying
This masterful tale kids spent decades enjoying!
But still you keep making them!
Just how do you dare?
Sell my life's work off piecemeal
To every Tom, Dick, and Har'.
Why it's simply an outrage—a crime, you must judge!—
To crap on my books with this big-budget sludge.
My books are for children to learn ones and twos in,
Not commercialous slop for Jim Carrey to ruin.
Have you no respect for the gems of your youth?
To pervert them on screen from Taiwan to Duluth.
Even after you drag my last word through the dirt,
I know you, you pirates,
You'd cut out my heart for a "Thing 1" T-shirt.
For eighty-some years I held you vultures at bay,
knowing just how you'd franchise my good name some day.
Not yet cold in my grave before you starting shooting
the first of my classics you'd acquired for looting.
Mrs. Seuss, that old stoofus, began selling more rights
to Dreamworks, Universal—any hack in her sights.
First The Cat In The Hat and then this, that and Seussical
without a thought to be picky, selectish, or choosical.
So to Audrey, you whore, you sad sack of a wife:
Listen close. Pay attention, for once in your life.
You give Fox In Sox to those sharks who made Elf
And so help me, I'll rise up and kill you myself.
No Sneetches by Sony—
No One Fish: On Ice—
Burn that Hop On Pop II script not one time but twice.
Don't sex up my prose with Alyssa Milano…
And no Green Eggs And Ham with that one-note Romano!
This must stop! This must end! Don't you see what you're doing?
You're defiling the work I spent ages accruing.
And when it's dried up and you've sucked out your pay
There'll be no going back to a simpler day,
When your mom would give Horton a voice extra deep,
And turn the last page as you drifted to sleep.
Instead you'll have boxed sets, shit movies, and… well,
You'll have plenty to watch while you're burning in hell.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Mugabe Out?!!
So I am shocked and thrilled to see that Mugabe may actually be ousted from power after 28 years in control. This is big, big news. However, my happiness is tempered by the fact that lots of people will likely die before this thing resolves itself. It'll be amazing if Zimbabwe doesn't collapse in the turmoil that is probably right around the corner. Sad but true. Just watch.
Still, I do hope the old bugger is gone.
Still, I do hope the old bugger is gone.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Hello! I'm Here! Really!
Oh, this blog! I love having it, yet I cannot for the life of me feel compelled to actually post on it.
Dear Readers, I have been busy. And sick. And tired. And sick and tired of being busy. But life is pretty good. So, from the last few weeks, some observations and updates, in no particular order, and certainly not all-inclusive.
1. Happy birthday to Mom (Feb 4th) and Fuzzy (Feb 3rd)!
To Mom- I know the days an be hard, but I think you are handling things with the utmost grace and strength. I love you.
To Fuzzy, I love you, too, man. Due to sickness and being out-of-town (always a fun combination), I didn’t call you. But we hope your b-day was great. And hopefully soon, you will get your present (if it hasn’t arrived already).
2. Yeah, so the whole sick thing. Katie has been really sick for a few days, an I thought I was managing to stay healthy, but alas, the Dread Mahocus has me in its grip now, as well. Missed several blocks of work-related stuff, but did manage to make it to all my classes. Hopefully we are on the mend.
3. Because of the day and because I am Catholic, I have ashes all over my head right now. Gonna try to stop cussing for Lent, but that’s gonna be pretty f%@#ing hard for me. I’ll try, though.
4. Thanks to Erica and Fuzzy for the new computer. I have over half my CD’s now loaded up on iTunes. And my lip gloss be poppin.’
5. So our dear priest at St. Tomas More, Father Tim, was transferred. And our new priest, Father Marcin Zahura, has been here since Feb. 1st. And, man, what a difference. I like him, I do. Liked him pretty quickly, actually, but he is different. He is…uhh, stricter, shall we say. Which is not necessarily a bad change. It will be interesting to see how the congregations take to him. I’ll leave it at that for now. Gonna study this new fella a while.
That’s it for this post. But I’ll post more soon. I’ll try harder, folks. I really will!
Dear Readers, I have been busy. And sick. And tired. And sick and tired of being busy. But life is pretty good. So, from the last few weeks, some observations and updates, in no particular order, and certainly not all-inclusive.
1. Happy birthday to Mom (Feb 4th) and Fuzzy (Feb 3rd)!
To Mom- I know the days an be hard, but I think you are handling things with the utmost grace and strength. I love you.
To Fuzzy, I love you, too, man. Due to sickness and being out-of-town (always a fun combination), I didn’t call you. But we hope your b-day was great. And hopefully soon, you will get your present (if it hasn’t arrived already).
2. Yeah, so the whole sick thing. Katie has been really sick for a few days, an I thought I was managing to stay healthy, but alas, the Dread Mahocus has me in its grip now, as well. Missed several blocks of work-related stuff, but did manage to make it to all my classes. Hopefully we are on the mend.
3. Because of the day and because I am Catholic, I have ashes all over my head right now. Gonna try to stop cussing for Lent, but that’s gonna be pretty f%@#ing hard for me. I’ll try, though.
4. Thanks to Erica and Fuzzy for the new computer. I have over half my CD’s now loaded up on iTunes. And my lip gloss be poppin.’
5. So our dear priest at St. Tomas More, Father Tim, was transferred. And our new priest, Father Marcin Zahura, has been here since Feb. 1st. And, man, what a difference. I like him, I do. Liked him pretty quickly, actually, but he is different. He is…uhh, stricter, shall we say. Which is not necessarily a bad change. It will be interesting to see how the congregations take to him. I’ll leave it at that for now. Gonna study this new fella a while.
That’s it for this post. But I’ll post more soon. I’ll try harder, folks. I really will!
Monday, January 21, 2008
King Day at the Dome
Today is MLK Day, and to commemorate the day the NAACP held the King Day at the Dome Rally. It was cold, first off, but I was happy to see a substantial turnout of young and old, black and white. We heard songs from the Claflin University Gospel Choir, speeches from both the state and national presidents of the NAACP, a lot of talk about taking down the Confederate flag, and- the biggie- the three front runners of the Democratic presidential race all spoke.
Our friend Melissa was visiting from NYC.
I tell you, I am thoroughly undecided on who to vote for at this point. I am also fairly uninformed. I've followed the race, but with everything going on lately, the race kinda hit the back burner. I have one week to make a decision. That being said, I really like all three. Obama gave the first speech. His was inspiring and the crowd was all about him.
Edwards followed, and his speech was more of a stump speech with very little fine tuning from his other campaign ralliy we attended on the January 9th. This is not necessarely a bad thing, as he has focused on domestic issues that mesh easily with MLK's legacy. Given his substantial third place standing, he was nonetheless well-received .
Clinton was last, and she was also well received (hell, it was an NAACP rally- let's be real, it was a crowd of Democrats). Clinton spoke in a fairly laid back manner that sent the aura of "Y'all know who I am, I don't need to stump. Let's talk about MLK." She had the most first-person-ish experiences involving civil rights (and MLK, whom she saw when younger), and I think the crowd recognized that fact.
I have no idea who will win between Clinton and Obama. The crowd went nuts for Obama, but there were a LOT of Clinton signs in the audience.
The best line of the day, IMHO, came from the opening prayer. The pastor stressed how divisive race relations and the neglect of the most needy in our country has led America down the wrong path. He stressed the need to unite as one people, and he made the following statement: "We may have come here [to America] on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now." It went over very well. It may not sound so great on this blog, but it's rare in my experience for a prayer to get applause.
And finally, it seems THIS guy is often spotted around political events...is a political junkie? An intrepid reporter? Or perhaps, a lunatic?!! (Perhaps all three...)
Our friend Melissa was visiting from NYC.
I tell you, I am thoroughly undecided on who to vote for at this point. I am also fairly uninformed. I've followed the race, but with everything going on lately, the race kinda hit the back burner. I have one week to make a decision. That being said, I really like all three. Obama gave the first speech. His was inspiring and the crowd was all about him.
Edwards followed, and his speech was more of a stump speech with very little fine tuning from his other campaign ralliy we attended on the January 9th. This is not necessarely a bad thing, as he has focused on domestic issues that mesh easily with MLK's legacy. Given his substantial third place standing, he was nonetheless well-received .
Clinton was last, and she was also well received (hell, it was an NAACP rally- let's be real, it was a crowd of Democrats). Clinton spoke in a fairly laid back manner that sent the aura of "Y'all know who I am, I don't need to stump. Let's talk about MLK." She had the most first-person-ish experiences involving civil rights (and MLK, whom she saw when younger), and I think the crowd recognized that fact.
I have no idea who will win between Clinton and Obama. The crowd went nuts for Obama, but there were a LOT of Clinton signs in the audience.
The best line of the day, IMHO, came from the opening prayer. The pastor stressed how divisive race relations and the neglect of the most needy in our country has led America down the wrong path. He stressed the need to unite as one people, and he made the following statement: "We may have come here [to America] on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now." It went over very well. It may not sound so great on this blog, but it's rare in my experience for a prayer to get applause.
And finally, it seems THIS guy is often spotted around political events...is a political junkie? An intrepid reporter? Or perhaps, a lunatic?!! (Perhaps all three...)
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