Update (9/11): Some readers are under the mistaken impression that I attended the HBCU conference. I didn’t.
The photo below of me and Justice Thomas was taken last October at the Heritage Foundation. Thomas spoke about his experiences and signed copies of his memoir, My Grandfather’s Son.
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At the recent Annual Conference of the White House Initiative on National Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was “not acceptable” that there aren’t more black people in her meetings at the State Department. (Source)
Based on the context of the entire speech, which I read, she wasn’t insinuating “racism” had anything to do with it. It sounded like she was encouraging blacks to become involved in Foreign Service.
There’s nothing wrong with encouraging blacks to consider certain careers, but it sounds too much like pandering to me. If I were giving a speech in front of a black audience (which I hope to do on my book tour), I wouldn’t complain about the paucity of blacks at blog conferences. Who cares?
No matter what the topic, I’d take time to address substantive issues that blacks, not the government, need to fix, like the outrageous levels of illegitimacy and crime among blacks. That is not acceptable. There are more pressing concerns than not seeing other blacks at a conference or in meetings. I wouldn’t waste time, not one second, “lamenting” that there aren’t more people “who look like me.”
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Based on what I’ve been reading on Memeorandum (my main source for finding out what’s going on in the political blogosphere), leftist journalists and bloggers are nervous about new poll numbers.
John McCain’s up; Barack Obama’s down. I rarely blog about polls, because I have no confidence in them. McCain-Palin is up now (which could be a mere post-convention bounce), but might drop next week. You never know.
Regardless, I’ll bet Obama is kicking himself right now for not being nicer to Hillary Clinton and/or not selecting her to be his running mate. Some say Obama should send her out to “attack” Sarah Palin, you know, woman-to-woman, catfight style. Would she, even if asked? Hillary’s got some leverage right now, that’s for sure. How she uses it remains to be seen.
McCain’s Palin stunt is paying off, at least in the short run, and Obama’s got to work fast and smart to regain his hot and heavy mainstream media love. The media aren’t showing Palin much love, but their energy is being funneled away from the Obamessiah into trying to find or create Palin scandals.
I’ll leave you with this: McCain-Palin just might pull it off. I have problems with both of them, and I’ll blog/write about those issues in the next couple of weeks. But I’ll breathe the proverbial sigh of relief if a Republican is still in the White House by year’s end. President Barack Hussein Obama? Good grief. May it never be…
*Scroll down for Biden-related life-begins-at-conception update*
Here’s some good news for readers who didn’t like my first Palin post: I am one voter with an opinion, and I doubt I will influence anyone. Besides, I planned to vote for John McCain, reluctantly, before he selected Palin, and I still plan to vote for him. In a million years I’d never knowingly vote for an infanticide supporter, and McCain is the only viable option.
Based on right-leaning blog posts and mainstream media stories I’ve read, most Republicans and conservatives are satisfied with McCain’s choice. I’m not, but this election season leaves much to be desired anyway. The Republican party, in its current state, has changed the meaning of conservatism.
Anyway, McCain’s numbers are up, and Palin seems to have energized Republican voters. There are a few people here and there who feel otherwise, though I’m probably the most vocal. But hey, this is only a blog, right?
Now that both hyped-up conventions are over, it’s time to focus on the issues. My opinion of how she raises her children aside, here is what I like about Sarah Palin:
- She is pro-life in the extreme. She believes abortion is wrong even if a woman is raped, just as I do.
- She opposes the use of government funds to kill the unborn.
- She opposes embryonic stem cell research.
- She believes marriage is defined as between only a man and a woman.
- She supports teaching Intelligent Design in government schools.
- She supports the constitutional right to bear arms.
- She believes in a market-based approach to health care.
- She is pro-military and believes in strong national defense.
That’s a good place to start. What do you like about Sarah Palin? Don’t like?
More at Memeorandum.
Update: John Kerry and Joe Biden are both fools. Each believes life begins at conception, but supports a woman’s right to snuff out that life.
Also see Kerry Says He Believes Life Starts at Conception from 2004.
Michelle Malkin gets to the point: “Slick Joe Biden admits: Yes, I’m a cold-blooded murderer.”
by La Shawn on September 4, 2008
in General
9/8: Your kind words mean a lot to me. Thanks for commenting. 
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In July, I lost my biggest client. It wasn’t the economy; it was technical problems.
Panic Room
What are you doing, God?
Most of my monthly income was gone, just like that. I needed to act fast. I did what I should have been doing over the years. I began looking for new clients in earnest. I signed up at “creative” temporary employment agencies. I scanned the classifieds and applied for full and part time jobs. Nothing panned out. Strangely, I wasn’t too disappointed. After working at home for three years, the very thought of returning to a drafty office with harsh fluorescent lights and working on stuff I couldn’t care less about was unpleasant.
I was fondly accustomed to sliding out of bed, showering if I felt like it, going to the corner Starbucks, and leisurely walking back home as I watched people hustling to the Metro station and cars madly rushing across the intersection to beat the light. I’d grown attached to working in spurts, then breaking up the day to walk to the post office or store, or working in Love Café (with free wireless and good cupcakes). Sometimes I planned my schedule so I’d be finished by noon, and I hardly ever worked past 3 o’ clock.
I don’t want to go back!
But I was willing to do what I had to do. I could get by through July and August. After that, oh man. Not being able to pay your bills is uncool. I was paying the price for not diversifying my income, for putting all my proverbial eggs in one teetering basket, and for not planning for such an event financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
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It warmed by heart to read about the federal government doing the job it’s charged with: executing immigration laws. Heartwarming is a strange way to describe it, but there you go.
You probably remember reading about a raid at Howard Industries, a transformer plant in Laurel, Mississippi, last week. Close to 600 illegal aliens were arrested in what’s being called “the largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history.”
I’ve blogged reams about this issue. While I sympathize with people trying to feed their kids and seek a better life, breaking the law is not the way to do it. There are rules and requirements, and it’s patently unfair to people waiting in line, so to speak, to enter and work in this country within the bounds of the law.
There was tension between legal and illegal workers, naturally, and some watching the raid applauded while others were being carted off. Legal workers were peeved that illegal aliens were being promoted to supervisory positions.
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[sarcasm]
Let’s see how many comments this controversial post generates. So exciting.
[/sarcasm]
After burning out on he-said-she-said politics last year, I started blogging about digital technology, digital music technology, to be exact. I’m not a music or tech blogger, but it was an oddly satisfying distraction. A reporter quoted from one of my tech posts, and I picked up a few readers genuinely interested in the new stuff.
But I returned to political blogging because…hmmm.
Anyway, I blogged about the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) case against a man who illegally shared music files, Atlantic Recording Corporation v. Pamela and Jeffrey Howell. The RIAA is a trade organization that represents major record labels. For those who care about the outcome of the case, here’s an update:
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Update (7 p.m.): Well said, Dr. Laura.
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I’ll go against the conservative blogosphere grain and state my confusion over and disappointment in John McCain’s choice of running mate. I think Sarah Palin, a relatively unknown female governor from Alaska, is a bad choice.
I came to this conclusion before I found out Palin has a five-month-old infant (I believe mothers [and fathers, OK?] should raise their children) and a knocked up teenage age daughter (who ought to give up the baby for adoption to an older, married, two-parent family) or that she’s under investigation for ethics violations.
[Commenters are complaining about my using the term "knocked up." I don't remember anyone complaining about how ungracious or unloving the term was when I used it to describe non-conservative unmarried pregnant women, namely, Crystal Mangum, false "Duke lacrosse" rape accuser. Anyway, I'm glad the kids are getting married, but I won't apologize for using the term. Some of you are disagreeing with me for the first time. You have plenty of company! I manage to offend liberals and conservatives, believers and unbelievers. I blog about my views, popular or unpopular. I describe things in politically incorrect ways. I've been deleted from plenty of blogrolls, RSS feed readers, and bookmarks, and I imagine this post will tick off even more readers and bloggers. "Knocked up" is vulgar, I agree, but I use it to make a point.]
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