Come on News Media! This has to be a record for a Vice President candidate to be nominated and not give an interview for the public.

In fact Sarah Palin has only repeated the lies she told at the Republican Convention because she knows the News media has no backbone and will not call her on it.

It’s well documented she was for the bridge to nowhere until it became politically unpopular. Yet, she still took over 10 millions dollars from the project and spent it on pet projects throughout Alaska. Will someone in the news media please ask her to explain and stop lying?

As Mayor of Wasilla, she left her small town 20 million dollars in debt and as Governor she sold the state’s airplane at a lost and not on ebay. By the way, that plane was used for other state business like transporting Alaskan prisoners to be housed in other states because Alaska is out of jail space.

She also killed a state run program that would provide shelter for abused young women, while knowing that Alaska has the highest level of incest rape cases in the nation.

There was a case last year in the news that talked about a 17 year old promising high school football player that was sent to jail for having oral sex with a 15 year old girl who under oath, testified it was her ideal and she talked him into having consensual sex. In light of this case, is it possible someone broke the law by getting her underage daughter pregnant?

Do what I say and not what I do, that’s the motto of “the hottest vice president candidate from the coolest state.” Hey that’s not my saying, I saw that on a campaign button at the Republican convention.

Now comes the good part. Now comes the time when all political junkies are overdosing on polling stats.

There are more polls than you can shake a stick at and many of them are full of bunk and a lot at them are very effective and active. My main problem with the polling statistics is I refuse to pay for these educational guess.

Being fairly proficient in net surfing I have decided to conduct my own Internet research on polling stats and from time to time present my findings to you in an article. I want to focus on key battle ground states or on hotly contested races at the state level.

My research tells me that the race is as everyone is predicting, very tight. In general Obama is leading McCain 51% to 48%. This roughly equates to elect Oriel votes equal aim 276 for Obama and 260 electoral votes for McCain. However, the race seems to be trending in Obama’s favor. Some red states can now be considered turning blue for Obama. states that have shifted towards the Democrats are Nevada and New Mexico. Also, North Carolina is trending towards Obama.

Recent Nevada State polls place Obama as high as 50% to McCain’s 45%. State polling shows a somewhat mixed review. CNN puts the race at 49% to 44% for Obama. the Mason Dixon poll shows McCain leading with 45% to 39%. Rasmussen shows a statistical tie with Obama hat 44% and McCain at 43%.

State and national polls in New Mexico are both leaning towards Obama. CNN shows 53% to 48% for Obama and Rasmussen shows 48% to 44% for Obama. Overall, Obama is leading by 7-8%

John McCain is currently projected to be leading by 3.9% in North Carolina. However, the race does appear to be tightening. State polls show McCain leading by as much as 46% to 40%. But, the majority of national polls show Obama leading on the average 50% to 45%

Nevada, New Mexico, and North Carolina should have been safe states for McCain. Now with the race tightening, McCain will have to spend time resources defending or taking back the states. If Obama can continue to open a lead in these states, he just may grow some coattails and help local and state level democratic candidates win in the fall.

Rant Alert, do not read this if you are a Conservative. For two nights I have watched loser after loser parade across the TV screen and try to persuade me to vote for another loser.

John McCain is a lost soul. He is not the man he once was and his story is that of thousands of veterans of less fortune and fame. I have three uncles that served, fought, and killed in Vietnam in defense of this nation and not one time have I ever heard them exploit their service for gain. Because of John McCain's family connections, he was given the choice to leave Vietnam, thousands of POWs never received that opportunity and thousands remain unaccounted for. John McCain did his job with honor but his current actions demean that service. How many John McCains sleep on the streets all across America and are just burned-out on life because those cheering McCain supporters step over them and around them and screen back “get a job you bum!’ What a sham of a party. These mindless bunch of sheep screaming “drill baby drill!” They have been getting drilled for the past eight years and pulling the rest of us right along with them. Hello Conservatives, what do you thing Big Oil has been doing? They have been drilling all of us to the tune of record multi billion dollar profits. And now you want Democrats and Independents to support a Vice President candidate that my military service has qualified me more than her to be VP. Governor Palin bragged about firing a chef and selling the state of Alaska’s jet on ebay. I guest it doesn’t matter to her that Alaska is not connected to the continental states. Rude, crude, mocking, and condescending, she spoke down to every person that holds an opposing opinion. Governor Palin didn’t even use Obama’s name and she just reached across the table and slapped every Democrat, Liberal, and Independent in the face. Thanks, but no thanks.

it’s an old cliche, but life is truly full of tragedy. It is ironic and very tragic that so many people today only recognize Isaac Hayes as the voice of Chef on South Park or for his recent conversion to Scientology.

Isaac Hayes has been known as many things besides his role on South Park. When I was growing up, he was known as Black Moses. His voice was one of a kind, soulful, and Kerry the essence of his talent. “Hot Buttered Soul” and “Black Moses” got plenty of air time in the house in which I grew up in. Isaac Hayes was an original and he was sporting gold chain’s, big sunglasses, and a ball head long before any of today’s rappers were born.

He was born in the deep South; Covington Tennessee and orphaned at a young age. His grandparents took over the role of parenting, but in his teens he dropped out of school completely. This type of start on life infused him with a painful kind of soul. This hurt and longing is clearly her in many of his hit songs.

In a time of racial injustice and social upturn within the Black communities, Isaac Hayes became a champion for equality and respect of Black musical artists. It can be argued that his album “Hot Buttered Soul” saved Stax Records and help usher in a new genre of music called Southern soul. He took his music to the next level when he wrote and scored the soundtrack to the movie Shaft. To this day, the theme song of Shaft is one of the most recognizable theme songs of any movie. What makes the shaft soundtrack so amazing is that he infused an entire orchestra with his funk.

If you would like to hear some old school rap, check out his versions of the songs “Walk on By”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, and one of my favorites, “I Stand Accused”. You will not find profanity, rhyming, or beat boxing in these songs. What you will hear our mesmerizing stories being told by a master. I hope when all is said and done, in the end the world will remember Isaac Hayes not at Chef, but the bald head, gold chain and dark sunglasses wearing Black Moses.

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Can you guest who is the MC on the Mic? Yelp, he use to be cool too.

Watch the master work ================================================================

I have to admit that I had a bit of a flashback while standing in line to get my new iPhone. The feel was kind of like standing in the line to get into an exclusive nightclub. There were bouncers at the doors and a long waiting line. In fact there were two lines. One line was for the normal customers who just wanted to buy something or had an appointment to have their Mac looked at and the other line was for the masses that wanted to buy the iPhone.

The feel was much the same, the club was so exclusive that fact, that the Marquise doesn’t show a name, just the Apple symbol. The only thing missing was the fact that the bouncers were not selecting individuals to go into the store that was being handled by guys in orange shirts. The crowd also felt like a typical crowd you would see standing in line to get into a nightclub. There were quite a few odd people in the line. Some had spiky hair, others were dressed to impress, and others looked rather eccentric. The line moved fairly swiftly though, and soon I found myself half way to the door. I had my iPod with me and was enjoying listening to an audible book or just watching the people pass by. As people exited the store with their new iPhone, the waiting crowd would applaud and those lucky few would grace us with a smile. I saw one guy leave the Apple store, and entered into a very exclusive boutique which sold handbags. It was obvious that this guy could not go home with just one iPhone, he had to take something for his wife. He walked with a bit of a swagger from the Apple store into the boutique and up to the front counter. Placing his newly bought iPhone on the countertop, he leaned in close to flirt with the cashier. She started to show him a variety of handbags, all that were very expensive and probably costs just as much as his iPhone. He showed little interest in the handbags and a lot more interest in the salesclerk. In his attempt to be cool, he accidentally knocked his brand-new iPhone to the floor! All the coolness drained out of his face as he watched his brand-new toy bounce on the floor. He quickly retrieved it and to his luck, it was not damaged. He didn’t buy the handbag and quickly left with is prized possession. A guy two people in front of me, had to abandon his position in the line because his toddler decided that she had had enough and wanted to do something more interesting. Several people standing in the line wanted to show how special they were by playing with their old iPhones. I thought to myself, “ Come on do you really need a new phone?” I guess some people have money to burn. After an hour and a half, it was finally my turn to enter Club Apple. I was informed of the limited selection that they had left, which was fine with me because I wanted a white iPhone anyway. Besides, all the cool kids have white iPhones. the sales rep called in to AT&T and deactivated my old phone and activated it my new phone. After waiting for a few minutes, he was puzzled that the iPhone had not activated. He called AT&T again and as suspected, AT&T had dropped the ball and not activated the iPhone. They corrected the problem and in a few minutes I was heading out the door to a much smaller fanfare and home with my new iPhone.

In the 1970s, a prophet of soul music, Curtis Mayfield chronicled the Black experience in urban America. His songs are revolutionary, filled with hope, unity, and togetherness. One song titled “We People Who Are Darker Than Blue” addresses the fact that regardless of our skin tones, all Americans are the same. Curtis Mayfield is a storyteller and if you really want to get a feel for what being Black in urban America in the 70s was like, listen to his music. He points out many events in America in which few Americans were proud.

Fast forward to the now and many of these social afflictions still exists. I believe many of these social afflictions are what Michel Obama was referring to when she implied this was the first time, in a long time, she was proud to be an American. I think you can add the recent New Yorker cover to her list (and mine) of things not to be proud of.
Satire is supposed to carry and air of truth to it and Webster defines satire as “ a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn.” How could the New Yorker ever think that their current cover would be received by Black Americans as satire? Which “vices and follies” of Barack and Michelle Obama were they highlighting? For me the cover is shameful and offensive.
There is no enjoyment to be gained by listening to someone recite how hard life has been for them. Therefore, it is quite easy to understand the reactions to Michelle Obama’s comment on being proud of America for the first time in her adulthood.
Reflecting on my own life’s journey, I feel certain many of hers and my experiences run parallel. There is no way for me or anyone else to know what was running through her mind when she made her comments, but I can highlight some events that may have been on her mind at the time.
Before I start, let me state for the record, I am a proud American and I am proud of my country. That being said, there have been times when I was not proud of my country. I was not proud of America while being forced to stand on the bus and enter Woolworth through the back door in the 1960s.
I was not proud of America in 1971 because Norfolk Virginia Public Schools were still segregated and my school had too few books for the students and most of them were missing pages. Every school day I pledged a legions to America but America did not keep it’s pledge to provide equality to me.
I was not proud of America in 1985 when the Philadelphia Police department firebomb 62 row houses in a Black neighborhood to end a standoff with a small group of “Move” radicals. Eleven people died, including 5 children and an entire block was left in ashes. I was not proud of America in 1986 when Ronald Reagan supported the apartheid government in South Africa and labeled Nelson Mandella’s African National Congress a notorious terrorist organization.
I was not proud of America in the 1990s when President Clinton stood silently and let over 400,000 Rwandans' be murdered within a 30 day period.
I was not proud in 2000 when the longest running democracy in modern day history failed and for the first time in our great history, the US Supreme Court “inadvertently” selected our President.
I recently read the book titled “The Appeal” by John Grisham. In it, the bad guys win. No one comes to save the day, no wrongs are righted, the innocent suffer and in no way does it paint a proud picture of our current justice system. What it does, is force the reader to self examine this small part of our way of life and ask oneself how it makes you feel to watch good hard working Americans be squashed under the heel of corruption. Most of the characters in this book are not proud of the American judicial system.
I truly hope as a nation, we have matured enough to handle a bit of self criticism while searching for equality and recognize life in America differs for many; and we have to take the good with the bad. We are not a nation of Zealots and everyone still has the right to criticize events that they find shameful because often times that criticism becomes the catalyst for change.
Side note: Curtis Mayfield made history with his soundtrack to the movie Super Fly. For the first time in history, the soundtrack for a movie generated more money and sales than the movie itself. The album is considered one of the most influential works in R&B history. It ranks 69 on the Rolling Stones top 500 greatest albums. After stage accident, he was paralyzed from the neck down. He recorded his last album “New World Order” from his bed, one line at a time. Curtis Mayfield is ranked 99 on the Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list. Curtis Mayfield - Super Fly Curtis Mayfield - We People Who Are Darker Than Blue Other Darker Than Blue People Babe Ruth - We People Darker Than Blue (Live 1975) Sinead O’Connor - We People Darker Than Blue Curtis Mayfield YouTube Fan - playing Bass

clipped from news.cnet.com RIAA sues 261 file swappers The long-awaited barrage of lawsuits marks a turning point in the industry's three-year fight against online song-trading services like Kazaa and the now-defunct Napster, and one of the most controversial moments in the recording industry's digital history. After long years avoiding direct conflict with file swappers who might also be record buyers, industry executives said they have lost patience. Monday's lawsuits are just the first wave of what the group said ultimately could be "thousands more" lawsuits filed over the next few months. "Our goal is not to be vindictive or punitive," said RIAA President Cary Sherman. "It is simply to get peer-to-peer users to stop offering music that does not belong to them." The lawsuits mark the first time that copyright laws have been used on a mass scale against individual Internet users. Legal actions have been taken on a sporadic basis against operators of

clipped from www.foxnews.com 12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downloading NEW YORK —  The music industry has turned its big legal guns on Internet music-swappers — including a 12-year-old New York City girl who thought downloading songs was fun. Brianna LaHara said she was frightened to learn she was among the hundreds of people sued yesterday by giant music companies in federal courts around the country. "I got really scared. My stomach is all turning," Brianna said last night at the city Housing Authority apartment where she lives with her mom and her 9-year-old brother. "I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?" The Recording Industry Association of America (search) — a music-industry lobbying group behind the lawsuits — couldn't answer that question. "We are taking each individual on a case-by-case basis," said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss.

clipped from news.slashdot.org RIAA Sues Homeless Man Posted by kdawson on Fri Apr 18, 2008 09:02 AM from the just-leave-the-summons-on-the-heating-grate dept. NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a Manhattan case, Warner v. Berry, the RIAA sued a man who lives in a homeless shelter, leaving a copy of the summons and complaint not at the homeless shelter, but at an apartment the man had occupied in better times, and had long since vacated. The RIAA's lawyers were threatened with sanctions by the Magistrate Judge in the case, for making misleading representations to the Court which the Magistrate felt were intentional. The District Judge, however, disagreed with imposing sanctions, giving the RIAA's lawyers 'as officers of the Court the benefit of the doubt,' and instead concluded — in his 6-page opinion (PDF) — that the RIAA's lawyers were just being 'sloppy' and had not made the misstatements for an improper purpose.'"

Listening to Obama’s speech on Race in America today took me back to a time of my childhood. As he spoke of the environment in which his Pastor came into manhood, I started to replace his influential people with my own.

I remembered my Grandmother and how loving and kind she was. How many people in our old Virginian neighborhood would come to her in the evening after a hard day’s work, just to have her work sore muscles loose in hands and shoulders. My Grandmother and her friends would gather on those evenings and mend clothes, collecting the pieces of discarded fabric and later collectively sewing them into a quilt. They watched over each others work, and in the end the product they produced was priceless.

So here I stand again, watching America gather its collective pieces of fabric. Are we as a nation prepared to commit to the task at hand? Can we work together like the matriarchs of our past, watch over each other, and collectively mend this nation?

I’m a realist and I deal in numbers daily. I’ve sent most of my adult life in service to protecting America. I see the threats outside and within our nation. Yet, there is a part of me that is still based in faith, hope, and dreams. And it is that part of me that Obama speaks to, that part of me that understands and sees the potential in him and the possibility of what we can become.

Obama is a crystal clear vessel in which many have poured in their hopes and dreams. We are vested in him now and have come too far to not see this thing through. He has reignited the movement of equality and America’s chance to lead with the strength of kindness. By faith or by chance, we are a world leader and collectively, the world is waiting to see which direction we will take.