Seven Days, the alternative weekly of Vermont, published my letter to the editor, which I wrote in response to an article on Barack Obama's fundraising efforts out there. This is what I wrote and Seven Days posted:
THE NOVEL PRIZE
I’m responding to your article on Senator Barack Obama’s fundraiser [“Obama’s Vermont Appearance Raises Hopes — and More Than $250,000,” August 15] . . . and the idea that some of your readers express of the “novelty of a minority candidate.”
First: Being President of the United States means understanding that, at times, the military is an option that must be employed, but only intelligently. Senator Obama knows this. Second: Senator Obama is running to be President of the United States, which means he’s working for all of us.
Some people are so fixated on skin color they can’t see logic or fact. Logic tells us to vote for the best candidate, period. And the fact is that Senator Obama comes from a black father and a white mother. Big deal! The reason why Barack Obama is so popular is for reasons unique to who he is as an individual. Intelligent Americans know this, and there are a lot of us.
Zennie Abraham, Jr.
OAKLAND, CA
Abraham recently visited Vermont on business.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Brady Quinn's Private Big Bus
Apparently you can always tell when Brady Quinn comes to town because he's got this huge-ass bus. Have you ever seen a player with wheels like this? I haven't.
Google Acquires Jaiku, But What Are They Gonna Do With It?
Jaiku's like Twitter but a bit more flexible, they say. Still what's Google doing to do with a less popular version of Twitter? We'll see. To me, the idea is not to take over, but what you do after the take over that matters.
Hillary Clinton Is "Two-Faced" To National Black Chamber Of Commerce - Clinton Voted Against Bill To Help Blacks With AIDS
Is Hillary Clinton Flip-Flopping Blacks?
Hillary Clinton's painted as two-faced to African Americans.
In a letter that was totally ignored by the mainstream media, Harry Alford, President of The National Black Chamber of Commerce, wrote directly to Senator Hillary Clinton that he was "stunned" that she appeared at Howard University for a debate before an African American audience acting as the champion of approving funding for HIV / AIDS treatment in low income Black communities, when she herself voted against a bill that would have improved monies and help for HIV / AIDS treatment in those same communities.
This is the letter Mr. Alford wrote below. It's a hell of a damning read:
July 11, 2007
The Honorable Hillary Clinton
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Clinton:
I watched the June 28th Democratic presidential candidates’ debate at Howard University with great interest, and in particular I wanted to address your comments about HIV/AIDS.
I found it interesting that you chose a presidential debate, held before a largely African American audience, to speak out on the fact that HIV/AIDS funding does not fairly reach African Americans with HIV. I only wish you had voted the same way last year in the United States Senate, when we really needed you.
In fact, as was reported in the Washington Post on August 23, 2006, you led the effort to gut provisions in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 (S. 2823) which would have fixed the increasingly unfair and outdated formulas that hurt African Americans, particularly in the rural South. The bipartisan remedy to this problem, which would have ensured funding would follow the caseload instead of short-changing African Americans, had been supported by 19 of the 20 Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee – and you were the lone “no” vote.
I was stunned to see you, less than a year later, performing before a black audience as if you had led the fight for these changes instead of being the lone warrior against them. Indeed, due to your efforts, these desperately needed remedies had to be cut from the bill or you would not have allowed the Ryan White program to be renewed.
African Americans have overtaken every other ethnic group to become the face of HIV/AIDS in America, and we all have a duty to ensure that every black American living with HIV/AIDS has equal access to the care and support services needed from the federal Ryan White CARE Act to stay healthy and stay alive.
I am glad that at least now, unlike last year, you recognize that women of color in the South are 26 times more likely to be HIV-positive than white females. But thanks to your determined fight against reforms last year, a large portion of Ryan White CARE Act funding is still set aside for large metropolitan areas, and most of the states in the South will never qualify for it. African Americans make up 19% of the South’s population, but accounted for over 60% of all new AIDS cases in 2003. Eight southern states have had to treat the same number of people with HIV/AIDS as other states which have gotten more funding under the outdated formulas. You blocked the changes we needed to fix that.
In fact, as Congressional action dragged on without resolution last year, three people died in South Carolina among some 300 HIV/AIDS patients sitting on an AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list at the time because the state’s Ryan White funding had once again run out too early.
It is distressing to see the person who single-handedly defeated the most recent effort to get equitable HIV/AIDS funding formulas for African Americans appear today as if she is their greatest champion. Sadly, our community has seen far too much pandering in presidential campaigns and far too little getting delivered that will make a difference for all of us, no matter where we live.
African Americans with HIV/AIDS need visionary leaders with innovative ideas. We need someone who will finally win the fight to make health care funding follow the need in this country, instead of leaving entire communities out in the cold. We don’t need ever-changing candidates who know how to pander, but don’t know how to lead.
I respectfully ask that you bolster your newfound enthusiasm for correcting the growing disparities in HIV/AIDS funding by actively working to undo the damage of your efforts last year. If you’re truly seeking to lead, please introduce new legislation that would ensure that the Title I funding formulas in the Ryan White CARE Act follow the HIV/AIDS caseload with no more unfair set-asides and end the injustice that has cost lives and harmed the nation’s integrity.
Sincerely,
Harry Alford
President/CEO
cc: The Honorable Barack Obama
With all of this, one wonders why Senator Clinton gets as much support from the Black community as she does. Perhaps it's because people -- in general -- just don't know what's going on.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Barack Obama - The Journal Of Blacks In Higher Education Endorses Obama For President
The Journal Of Blacks In Higher Education Endorses Obama For President and in so doing Theodore Cross, representing The Journal, wrote an article that calls into question Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's genuine commitment to African Americans.
If you read it, it's damning of Clinton, for example..
In her campaign to lock up black support, there are no qualms about playing the race card. Senator Clinton scored with black voters when she declared in a June debate at Howard University that the country would be more worried about HIV/AIDS if the disease were disproportionately affecting whites instead of blacks. The powerful political impact of her statement was not diminished by the circumstance that her facts were incorrect. The annual federal budget for HIV research is $3 billion. This is more than the nation’s entire appropriation for research on either heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or breast cancer. But Clinton’s assertion that racism drives white-controlled government decisions on the allocations of disease research stoked anti-white anger and won her acclaim among black voters.
And if that's not enough, there's this....
Probably no one at the Howard University event, black or white, was aware of the fact that in August 2006 Hillary Clinton was the only one of 20 senators of the Republican-controlled Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee to vote to gut a plan that would have redirected more AIDS funds to heavily black communities in the South. Her vote prompted the National Black Chamber of Commerce to publish full-page newspaper advertisements denouncing Clinton as being “two-faced” on the issue.
And Cross points to Senator Obama's more clearly defined set of urban policies:
Here in more detail are the Obama proposals as outlined in his campaign position paper:
• Increased funding for the Community Development Block Grant program which provides housing, job training, and other services to impoverished urban areas.
• A $1 billion, five-year expansion in job and career training programs for low-income Americans.
• The creation of a series of “Promise Neighborhoods” across America patterned after the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City. Low-income families in these promise neighborhoods will be offered parent counseling, childcare, job training, healthcare, financial advice, afterschool programs, technology training and other services to help them escape the cycle of poverty.
• An expansion of the Head Start program for preschool children in high-poverty areas.
• An increase in the maximum Pell Grant award for low-income college students.
• Expansion of the Nurse-Family Partnership where nurses visit low-income expectant mothers at home to ensure that they receive proper prenatal care.
• An increase in the earned income tax credit which will allow low-income working families to keep more of the money they earn.
• A proposal to increase funding for the Jobs Access and Reverse Commute program so that low-income workers can get to their jobs at a reduced cost and the children of these workers can receive free public transportation to childcare facilities.
• The establishment of an affordable housing trust fund that will produce 14,000 new units of affordable housing for low-income families each year.
• Increased access to capital for blacks and other minorities through Small Business Administration programs.
• Job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and employment opportunities for people who have been incarcerated. Since blacks are five times as likely as whites to have been in prison, these programs will disproportionately benefit African Americans.
• To further raise the minimum wage rate and the child tax credit.
Makes one wonder why Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums endorsed Clinton over Obama! Oh, I forgot, Clinton made a promise to Dellums! Excuse me!
Geez!
I could go on, but you should read what Cross has put together. It's a doozy!
If you read it, it's damning of Clinton, for example..
In her campaign to lock up black support, there are no qualms about playing the race card. Senator Clinton scored with black voters when she declared in a June debate at Howard University that the country would be more worried about HIV/AIDS if the disease were disproportionately affecting whites instead of blacks. The powerful political impact of her statement was not diminished by the circumstance that her facts were incorrect. The annual federal budget for HIV research is $3 billion. This is more than the nation’s entire appropriation for research on either heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or breast cancer. But Clinton’s assertion that racism drives white-controlled government decisions on the allocations of disease research stoked anti-white anger and won her acclaim among black voters.
And if that's not enough, there's this....
Probably no one at the Howard University event, black or white, was aware of the fact that in August 2006 Hillary Clinton was the only one of 20 senators of the Republican-controlled Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee to vote to gut a plan that would have redirected more AIDS funds to heavily black communities in the South. Her vote prompted the National Black Chamber of Commerce to publish full-page newspaper advertisements denouncing Clinton as being “two-faced” on the issue.
And Cross points to Senator Obama's more clearly defined set of urban policies:
Here in more detail are the Obama proposals as outlined in his campaign position paper:
• Increased funding for the Community Development Block Grant program which provides housing, job training, and other services to impoverished urban areas.
• A $1 billion, five-year expansion in job and career training programs for low-income Americans.
• The creation of a series of “Promise Neighborhoods” across America patterned after the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City. Low-income families in these promise neighborhoods will be offered parent counseling, childcare, job training, healthcare, financial advice, afterschool programs, technology training and other services to help them escape the cycle of poverty.
• An expansion of the Head Start program for preschool children in high-poverty areas.
• An increase in the maximum Pell Grant award for low-income college students.
• Expansion of the Nurse-Family Partnership where nurses visit low-income expectant mothers at home to ensure that they receive proper prenatal care.
• An increase in the earned income tax credit which will allow low-income working families to keep more of the money they earn.
• A proposal to increase funding for the Jobs Access and Reverse Commute program so that low-income workers can get to their jobs at a reduced cost and the children of these workers can receive free public transportation to childcare facilities.
• The establishment of an affordable housing trust fund that will produce 14,000 new units of affordable housing for low-income families each year.
• Increased access to capital for blacks and other minorities through Small Business Administration programs.
• Job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and employment opportunities for people who have been incarcerated. Since blacks are five times as likely as whites to have been in prison, these programs will disproportionately benefit African Americans.
• To further raise the minimum wage rate and the child tax credit.
Makes one wonder why Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums endorsed Clinton over Obama! Oh, I forgot, Clinton made a promise to Dellums! Excuse me!
Geez!
I could go on, but you should read what Cross has put together. It's a doozy!
Bauer's SF Limo's Green Initiative - Blog Action Day
On Blog Action Day, we are all concerned about the environment. But the real heroes are those people and organizations that have actually made and effort to "Go Green."
Bauer's Transportation is one of those heroes.
On it's website, Bauer's explains...
What is Bauer's iCars division? -- As Limousine Digest "Operator of the Year", Bauer's has continually addressed the need to be an industry leader in looking to the future. Because of it's large fleet of over 120 vehicles, Bauer's takes its environmental impact very seriously and has always been conscientious in working with corporate America to provide solutions.
The Hybrid sedans are only one of many vehicles in the fleet that are environmentally friendly:
Bauer's has been in the clean air business since 1999 with its airport shuttle fleet of electric buses.
Bauer's partnered in 2005 with Google to add an additional 33 bio-diesel shuttles to the fleet to service Google employees.
Bauer's is the first limousine company to team up with community partners to address clean air issues with it's park enhancement initiative. A portion of every dollar goes back into local community park efforts to continue the Bauer's legacy of corporate responsibility.
The RX 400H SUV is the third generation of Lexus hybrids, which works by seamlessly integrating a gas engine, an electric motor and a high-powered battery. The battery provides power for the electric motor and is recharged by recapturing energy that would normally be lost when decelerating or coasting. This recapturing of energy is called regenerative braking. If needed, power from the hybrid's gas engine can be diverted to recharge the battery as well. Because of these charging strategies, hybrid cars never need to be plugged in.
But Bauer's is so serious about this initiative, it's President even owns a Lexus Hyrbid!
Nice work for the environment. To learn more, call Bauer's at 1-800-LIMO-OUT
Bauer's Transportation is one of those heroes.
On it's website, Bauer's explains...
What is Bauer's iCars division? -- As Limousine Digest "Operator of the Year", Bauer's has continually addressed the need to be an industry leader in looking to the future. Because of it's large fleet of over 120 vehicles, Bauer's takes its environmental impact very seriously and has always been conscientious in working with corporate America to provide solutions.
The Hybrid sedans are only one of many vehicles in the fleet that are environmentally friendly:
Bauer's has been in the clean air business since 1999 with its airport shuttle fleet of electric buses.
Bauer's partnered in 2005 with Google to add an additional 33 bio-diesel shuttles to the fleet to service Google employees.
Bauer's is the first limousine company to team up with community partners to address clean air issues with it's park enhancement initiative. A portion of every dollar goes back into local community park efforts to continue the Bauer's legacy of corporate responsibility.
The RX 400H SUV is the third generation of Lexus hybrids, which works by seamlessly integrating a gas engine, an electric motor and a high-powered battery. The battery provides power for the electric motor and is recharged by recapturing energy that would normally be lost when decelerating or coasting. This recapturing of energy is called regenerative braking. If needed, power from the hybrid's gas engine can be diverted to recharge the battery as well. Because of these charging strategies, hybrid cars never need to be plugged in.
But Bauer's is so serious about this initiative, it's President even owns a Lexus Hyrbid!
Nice work for the environment. To learn more, call Bauer's at 1-800-LIMO-OUT
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