Fareed Zakaria: A class act…..

as usual. I note his reactions to the ADLs’ reactions to a Mosque to be built near Ground Zero in New York City:

"Five years ago, the ADL honored me with its Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize," Zakaria writes in next week's Newsweek. "I was thrilled to get the award from an organization that I had long admired. But I cannot in good conscience keep it anymore. I have returned both the handsome plaque and the $10,000 honorarium that came with it. I urge the ADL to reverse its decision. Admitting an error is a small price to pay to regain a reputation."

Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/06/fareed-zakaria-returns-an_n_674099.html

As always,
BB
P.S. My understanding is the Mosque was where it is before 9/11.
P.P.S. I am having trouble with Cut & Paste. I have no idea why/how it worked this time. (Fingers crossed)

Microsoft Works and Cut & Paste

On my spankin’ new HP Pavilion Slimline computer, I can not Cut & Paste.

I found a lot of web sites with computer owners registering the identical complaints with no answers. There were a lot of “try this” and “try that” but the reply was always, “It did not work!”

I called Microsoft Works who identified the problem as an old copy of FoxFire and I upgraded to the newest edition to no avail; Cut & Paste still does not work and has made it difficult to provide sources for my blogs.

Microsoft Works gave a follow-up call and I told them their solution did not work. I told them I have learned the problem is pervasive amongst computer owners who bought Windows 7. I told them I was surprised they were not aware of the problem and if they were, why something has not been done about it in the form of a patch or something. I was asked, “Can we try to fix the problem again?” I replied “No” and was asked permission to close out the complaint. I gave my pissed off consent.

Since Cut & Paste has something to do with the clipboard, I suspect that to be a large part of the problem and do not know how to begin to trouble shoot.

This is the message I get:

“Microsoft Works Word Processor has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working.”

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More bad news today…
The letter from The Board of Elections read, “ (since) you have been registered with a political party that no longer meets the legal qualifications for party status under Maryland Election Law,” you have to choose another party affiliation i.e., (mark one) Democratic, Republican, Unaffiliated, Constitution, Green or Libertarian.

I was briefly a registered “Independent” and Republicans are doing this to me just ’cause I stopped listening to anything they have to say. They are out to get me! I turn them off everytime they come on television and the latest was this afternoon when Andrea Mitchell had one of those critters on her show.

I can not find any reason to listen to anything anyone of them has to say due to the fact I feel they are not participating in the democratic process in any meaningful way and since I am a political junkie, what on earth can they say to me? That’s why I know they are out to get me and they got me good this time! However, I am of the “He who laughs last..” school and I am right up there with the defiant Liza Dolittle, “Just you wait, ‘Enry ‘Iggins, just you wait!” (Smile)

As always,
BB

This is confronting racism??

Have you noticed asking yourself lately, “How in the hell did they get racism out of that?” So have I.

It appears to me just as “they” are calling everything our President does and say “Socialism”, so do they stuff racism into every conceivable corner of a situation containing an air pocket; “If it’s not my xenophobic sheep, it’s my bigoted cow” they ponder. “All I know is, it's a Black thing!”

There is a reason for this behavior and it is called “Distractions!” Everybody and their Mama now know the close relationships between American Black racism and anti-Semitism. They go together like peaches and cream, apples and pie dough. Contrary to beliefs, anti-Semitism is not confined to intellectual ivory towers in the world of academia as the words attempt to suggest.

If true dialogs regarding racism in America were seriously exploited, there is no way in hell strong feelings regarding the Jewish community would be absent from energies released in the torrents of ensuing rhetoric. And so it appears to me conscious decisions have been made confining American racism to Black communities, lamenting the shame of it all and how much we poor Blacks are to be pitted.

I am constantly mindful when “they” point out racism, it is good and prop-puh and appropriate. When a Black man identifies racism, he is considered disorientated, delusional and lacking certain milestones in intellectual nuances. In other words, he is crazy!

“We’re with you, Black man, yes we are! And we are going to expose those people who hate you so much, yes we are! You poor dear. We’re on your side! We’ve got your back, (nigger)!”

As always,
BB

Light at the end of the “Middle class” tunnel

At the end of the tunnel something which makes you believe that a difficult or unpleasant situation will end. We're halfway through our exams now, so we can see light at the end of the tunnel . Unemployment is still rising but analysts assure us there is light at the end of the tunnel. See also: end, light, tunnel

On my television, I saw the modestly dressed and well spoken man seated at his stall on a street corner somewhere in Cuba. Scattered on the short and narrow table before him were residing four or five cigarette lighters of various shapes and size co-hosting a large can of butane lighter fluid. This modestly dressed and well spoken man had a job to do. Mr. Lopez (made up name) was at work.

In order for Mr. Lopez to receive benefits from the state, he has to re-fill cigarette lighters with butane lighter fluid. That’s all he has to do. I learned the job was given to him by the Cuban government. “All the money I get is mine,” he smiled. “I can keep it.”

It is my understanding everybody in Cuba has to work at a job provided by the state to qualify for free health care, a place to live and free education up to and including graduation from college. I do not know how this applies to persons working in the private sectors. It was not disclosed.

So it is, a smaller government has less and more efficient moving parts to keep up with. There are those in America with loud cries for a smaller government and, in my opinion, overlooking the fact there is the system of relativity accompanying such a desire. Whether in a country, state, town or tiny village, a small government has minimum requirements for its citizens; in its basic form, citizens have to work, stay healthy and take advantage of the educational system.

If the American middle class were truly “Gone with the wind” due in part to globalization, and if there were no longer enough money for home ownership, high rent apartments, exorbitant health care prices and educational advantages, we here in America have to start planning and preparing plan “B”; a smaller government, if you will.

Once the realities of jobs being indefinitely gone from our shores and we realize our American oligarchy will not help us survive due to the fact it is not in its nature, let us bow our heads and pray:

"God, Give us the grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed, Courage
to change the things which should be changed,
And the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."
(From "The Serenity Prayer" by Elisabeth Sifton)

Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
P.S. God bless our President, Barack Obama.