How Come???????

If black girls like Marche Taylor in the post below are going to the prom wearing what amounts to little more than a 'SPRAY ON DRESS', how come black men haven't resurrected the Eldridge Cleaver Pants look?????

Marche Taylor - Here's video Proof why our girls need a role model

I am sadden as I watched this video and see how this child, let me reiterate it.... she's a CHILD and wants to go to her prom dressed like this!

Obama Girls - Can they become the role model for young black American Girls?

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright said an attack on him was an attack on the black church. On a very basic level of that premise, I agree with him. The black church-just like black people-does not represent a monolithic experience. On Sunday, black folks hear a variety of sermons in a variety of ministry styles. We have prosperity ministries, Baptist ministries, sanctified ministries and just like the style of Rev. Wright, we have activist ministries. We have a variety of ministries to choose from to meet our spiritual needs.
In addition to spiritual needs, our community is also in dire need of role models. So when Sen. Barack Obama becomes president (I'm claiming it already), I hope his two young daughters Malia (9) and Sasha (6) will become role models for all young girls all over the country-and especially for young black girls.
I had been watching the news reports of Sen. Obama campaigning in Indiana with his family this past weekend. What I noted most is the manner in which his daughters acted and dressed. They aren't the sassy, smart-mouthed image of black girls, portrayed far too often on TV sit-com shows featuring black families. Instead, in both stature and behavior, they are two little black girls who have been permitted to be young children by parents who are not putting them in outfits with "JUICY" written across their butts.
What caused me to see the need for the Obama girls to be the future role models for our young black girls in particular? Well, it was a news report over the same weekend that told of five young women from the West Side who, even though gas is almost $4 a gallon, drove through Austin, then Oak Park, then River Forest and finally into Maywood to rob a store. The owner of the store was suspicious when two of the girls walked in, so she used an electronic lock to lock them in the store.
According to published reports, those two girls then called their friends who used a bat and a golf club to bust out the door, and they all drove off in the getaway car. They then subsequently crashed the car and, true-to-form, abandoned the vehicle and left behind the 7-month-old baby of one of the robbers-to-be (motherhood sure ain't what it used to be!).
Arrested were Lakenyal Lee, 26, of 1101 N. Springfield Ave.; Devonique Thompson, 20, of 4127 W. Jackson Blvd.; Tyshyra Hines, 17, of 1030 N. Avers Ave.; Tamara Carter, 19, of 3829 W. Wilcox St.; and Britney Davis, 21, of 707 S. Campbell. Now those five individuals, who range in age from just-being-allowed-to-ignore-curfew to one-who-surely-by-now-should-know-better, are becoming the joke of the Internet message boards and blogs.
Those websites not only give people who read the news report a chance to comment on the content of the story, people can also comment on anything they want. The most fun has been about the first names of those girls. Now I don't have a problem with the names. My problem is that if you give your child a unique name, then make sure if that name hits the newspaper, it's for something positive and not negative.
We do a lot of talking in the black community about the power of the black church. I don't know those girls, but I would bet my last dime that each and every one of them has family members-or they themselves-attend or have attended a black church, probably right here on the West Side.
Now if those five females had just done something to contribute to society, graduated with honors from college or done anything positive, I am sure the ministers at their family churches would be singing their praises from the pulpit. Something like: "Sister Lee's granddaughter Lakenyal has just graduated from Spellman. Let the church give her an amen," or an announcement in the church bulletin "that the church congratulates the Hines family on Tyshyra's acceptance into the pre-med training program at Howard University."
But those aren't the reasons these girls got their names in the paper. So if the black church, which is now under intense scrutiny because of Rev. Wright, doesn't begin to speak out in harsh tones when its parishioners' children or grandchildren create havoc in our community, then the black church loses it credibility. Will there be a message from the pulpit that tells the congregation that "Devonique Thompson has brought shame to this church family and the Thompson family in getting arrested for trying to rob a store," for example? How about an announcement in the church bulletin about the arrest of Tamara Carter or Britney Davis?
Rev. Jeremiah Wright represents one aspect of the black church. When you attack him as a reverend, you are attacking the black church experience. The black church is the last of the strong institutions we have in the black community. When it says and does nothing to stem the tide of violence and mayhem that comes from the households of its members, then it is as much to blame as those who wreak the havoc.
As for those Obama girls, I hope they become the model to which all our young girls aspire. Those five would-be robbers have already proven they needed one!

Housing - NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY

I was checking out the real estate for the westside. For the first time since the early part of 2000, the prices have dropped for quite a few houses below $100,000. Now is the time to buy a house if you have been thinking about it. The amount of housing stock is huge and the prices are where they should be or a complete bargin.

I'm spending my tax rebate on products made in the USA!

I am spending my tax rebate check on products made in the USA. Since my SSN ends in the 00-20 category, I've been one of the first few millions of people to get mine.

Now I am sure many of you feel that nothing is made in America anymore. The "made in China" label AKA "they are trying to kill us" label is one that I truly think twice about before buying.

When I went on my journey to the stores, it was hard to find products made in America. But since I am a huge advocate of people having a hobby, one of my projects demanded that I buy some craft paint.

Guess what? The paint is made in America! YEAH!

Illegal Immigration - The Real Agenda

I was watching some of the news report from the marches that happened today. One of the things that struck me is when one of the marchers was interviewed and he said that they too want the American Dream.

Perhaps someone needs to tell him a key component in the American Dream is the paying of fair taxes for services that help my fellow American. I am taxed by the US goverment to give foreign aide to almost every country. What America has done can be emulated by other countries if those here illegally are willing to fight in their native countries. But it is not my job to give to them the American Dream simply because they have snuck across a border and want to demand it from me.

What is it with the signs that ask to legalize everyone? No regards to their criminal histories. That says alot about what those marching think about this country.

Next;
Margot Veranes, a volunteer organizer in Tucson, Ariz., - where 12,000 took to the streets last year but early estimates Thursday put the crowd at about 500 - blamed the turnout on aggressive enforcement by Border Patrol and police.
"People have been stopped and deported in the last week. This is a community living in fear," said Veranes, a researcher for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. "You never know when you're going to be stopped by Border Patrol and now the police."
But she said that's also why people were marching.
"We're marching to end the raids and the deportations, but we're also marching for health care and education and good jobs," she said.

Wait a second! First they claimed they do the jobs Americans won't do and now they want Health Care, Education and GOOD JOBS?????????

Can they please ask their home countries about that before standing on American soil and insulting us ?

WE NEED AN HONEST DISCUSSION ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

May 1 is expected to bring the third annual round of marches by those who want immigration reform. Many of those marching are here illegally and rather than work to bring about economic and social changes in their native countries, they are marching in the USA to demand we change our immigration policies to meet their wants.
I am not an advocate or in favor of illegal immigration. Every country has its borders and has the right to determine who that country wants to admit to it (just ask Snoop Dogg who had to battle to get a visa to tour in Britain). Currently if you are an individual like myself who doesn't go with the flow by supporting illegal immigration, you are called harsh names like "racist" or "xenophobic."
Many of the arguments against illegal immigration have been stated. Our government has gone to the time and trouble to create all sorts of laws regarding immigration and yet we currently have the largest number of foreign nationals in this country without permission in our history. By far the greatest numbers who have crossed illegally into this country have done so via our southern border. But a huge number came into this country legally and when the time came for them to leave, they chose to stay.
It is very easy to make the immigration issue about individuals or certain ethnic groups. The "Push 1 for English" option is a sore point with many people. Yet rather than blame Latinos, I blame our gutless and spineless politicians in Washington. They have had two years since the first march to address the issue-a march, I might add, in response to a bill in Congress that would have made being in this country illegally a felony. Our politicians have had 22 years since the 1986 amnesty to resolve the ongoing immigration crisis and all they have done is pander to themselves, to big businesses and to the perceived fear of a voting backlash by those in favor of illegal immigration without consideration of those who oppose it.
Why is it that individual states (Oklahoma and Arizona) have had to pass tough laws against illegal immigration while our federal government does nothing? And contrary to what many predicted would be a disaster for a state like Oklahoma, which implemented one of the toughest immigration laws in the country (House Bill 1804), a place where an estimated 25,000 illegals left, Oklahoma's unemployment figures dropped a full percentage point over a one-year period. Time will truly tell if Americans will do the jobs illegals used to do, but so far indications are that they will.
One of the least talked about aspects of illegal immigration is the human smuggling involved. Almost akin to the slave trade, human smuggling involved hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to people to smuggle foreign nationals into this country. The more smuggled at one time, the more money made. And all of those being smuggled are not individuals who are trying to "feed their families" or suffering under some sort of persecution. Just last month, an aspiring reggaeton (Spanish hip-hop) artist by the name of Elvis Manuel was lost at sea in a failed attempt to try to get to this country from Cuba. He was lured into making the dangerous trip by promises of million-dollar recording contracts. Had his journey been successful, the smuggling operation could have earned as much as a half-million dollars for the smugglers.
The immigration debate will not be fair to the American public until we are presented with news reports that take an honest and hard look at all sides of the story. How is illegal immigration truly affecting America? When identities are stolen and used by others to work, what is it like for the individual who has had their ID stolen? At what point should immigration status come into play when it involves the police? What about those who are criminals in their home countries? Do we absorb them as well? What is it truly costing taxpayers to educate children who should not be in this country? Is the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment accurate when most people ignore the "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause in claiming American citizenship for children born to parents who are citizens of another country? Can American taxpayers continue to pay the hospital bills for those here illegally who can use the services of a hospital like Stroger while American citizens have been forced to lose their homes due to huge hospital bills? Is it the responsibility of American taxpayers to teach English to children born in this country whose parents choose to only have them speak their native tongue, abdicating their responsibility to the school system?
There will be a loser in the immigration debate. The only question remaining is who wins and who loses what!