Go to the page, here.

To celebrate this very special day here at Blackinformant.com, I have listed some of the best singers in the business performing patriotic songs on the Blackinformant.com Facebook page. Which one turned it out? Which one needs to just sit down? You decide.

In any event, I hope that at some point today you take the time to reflect upon the good things about our country and how at the end of the day we are fortunate to be in such a great country. To all that sacrificed so that I could have a better life both living and beyond, thank you!

Duane

Posting may be a bit slow today as I am spending a bulk of today editing my upcoming podcast. I also am working on two other stories for the next show.

Things are really picking up, so again thanks for both your readership and listenership.

SUCKA

…and complain that companies do not pay top dollar to Black media outlets and ad agencies.

Case in point: “Maybach Music 2″ (Warning: rough lyrics)

Lexus was happy
Cristal was happy
Mercedes was happy
Rolex was happy
Gucci was happy
Nike was happy

Singing about what we don’t own. This has got to stop.

A look at foreign quake aid for Haiti

Based on the article, foreign governments have given close to a billion dollars towards Haiti.

Until they get some of this mess right, I think folks need to chill with this cash dump-fest.

Haiti cries for not only supplies, but security
Medical Care for Haitians Falls Short, Group Warns
Haitians die at hospital for lack of supplies

Now I know that all of this money is not being handed over to the government in a “Get Well Soon” card (as it will primarily be used for supplies, fuel, food, clean water, etc.). But it is inevitable that this historically corrupt government that tolerated child slavery up until the earthquake will in fact get a significant amount of it.

Despite all the mishaps of this recovery process, guess who comes out looking like Superman?

Poll: Obama Wins High Marks for Haiti Earthquake Response

I found this on craigslist.org this evening.

From Salon.com

“Is there any truth to what Pat Robertson is saying?

Of course not! Haitians are Christians. Pat Robertson’s language is the reductio ad absurdum of the Christian right. It’s so absurd it’s almost funny. ( Andrew Apter, professor of history and anthopology at UCLA)”

There are many Haitians today who are followers of Jesus Christ and have abandoned the occultic practices that has blended itself with Haitian culture for decades. But unfortunately, Voodoo still remains a prominent religion in that country.

Port-AU-Prince – The government of Haiti has recognised Voodoo as a religion, President Jean-Bertrand Aristede announced Monday in celebration of a Haitian independence fighter.

This video was uploaded back in May of last year.

Pat Robertson (the televangelist that everyone says they never take seriously, but are quick to broadcast his comments when they don’t agree with him–go figure) has been taking a lot of flack from both the media and the online community for PART of his comments regarding Haiti.

CBN’s Operation Blessing (an organization that has had a presence in Haiti for years while Washington has been piddling around with the whole issue of Haiti and the immigration issue for decades) has had boots on the ground for some time in Haiti addressing the issue of poverty in that country.

As Robertson mentioned, Haiti is one of two counties on the same island. On one side you have the Dominican Republic, a country that, despite having issues like poverty still has managed to maintain a steady government and thriving tourism industry for years. On the other side we have Haiti–a country that has seen nothing but decades of instability, chaos, child slavery, and great sadness. As you can see, this has nothing to do with race. Instead, it has everything to do with the fact that there are certain things in this life that cannot be addressed unless prayer unto God is sown first. We simply do not have all the answers.

We here in the West have known about Haiti’s deteriorating condition for years and at best all we have done is bomb them with food, helped to stabilize their government (only to see it tumble again years later), and on occasion show a little compassion by allowing them to stay in our country after floating for days on a makeshift raft. After the earthquake rocked that country, we anxiously looked for someone to focus all of our fake anger –even though most of us knew we never gave that tiny country the time of day. Pat Robertson became the perfect lighting rod for fair-weather champions of the poor everywhere.

The paradox that exists between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is something that we are all too familiar with here in the United States. In the same town you can have one side that continues to be prosperous and the other side seem stuck in the grips of poverty, crime, broken homes, etc. We spend decade after decade arguing and debating one another over solutions and yet still the problems persist. We spend millions and millions of dollars and we still have not figured out how to make a person want to pick up a book. What is it?

While generous Americans everywhere are contributing millions and millions of dollars to help the people of Haiti during this time, do we really believe that ultimately it will help this nation to truly build itself into a better Haiti? Or are we just hoping that Haiti can return back to its prior state of perpetual hopelessness that has been widely ignored by the mainstream public for years?

As a Christian, not only do I believe in Jesus Christ, I also believe that there is a real devil that seeks to “…steal, kill and destroy.” I am a follower of Jesus Christ because it is through Him and Him only, I can have the victory of Satan and his desire to see me and the rest of God’s creation destroyed. The same devil that hates Haiti also hates you.

I have seen the power of prayer and what it can do to a person who has been through every program, every conference, read every book and listened to every self-help lesson. As it pertains to Black history, it was the power of prayer to a living God that kept our forefathers from giving up. It was also the power of prayer that moved upon the hearts of evil men to change their ways and to eventually let go of their hate towards Blacks.

What the nation of Haiti needs more than our temporary compassion that will eventually fade away just as it did with the survivors of hurricane Katrina is a move of God that will break the power of poverty and oppression in that country. Our handouts have not done it. The United Nations haven’t figured it out. We need God’s intervention in Haiti.

“We need to pray for them a great retuning to God. And out of this tragedy I am optimistic that something good may come…” (Pat Robertson)

To be continued…

Why talk about anything else right now when untold thousands just lost their lives? I mean, really. And frankly, listening to people talk about Haiti and they are sitting on their couch here in the US just ain’t hittin’ it for me.

Y’all know the links and how to get the latest information on what’s going on down there. Like many of you I will be watching and praying for the nation of Haiti.

Posting will resume tomorrow.

American Idol, Tyler Perry Draw Largest African-American TV Audiences

Since the recollection of history of some these days is more like a buffet line, allow me to spoon up a side item from the past.

2006
From the Democratic Policy Committee (link)

President Bush’s Budget Would Harm African American Families

On February 6, 2006, the President submitted his Fiscal Year 2007 budget request. Rather than presenting the American people with a morally and fiscally responsible vision for the country that expands opportunities for all Americans, the President has proposed an irresponsible and misleading budget that favors powerful special interests over ordinary African American families.

Senate Democrats will fight for a budget that honors opportunity, responsibility, community and security. We believe it is immoral to force the middle class and those in greatest need to pay for budget-busting tax breaks for special interests and multi-millionaires. We believe it is reckless to burden our children with trillions of dollars of additional debt. We believe it is misleading to tell the American people that the President’s budget cuts the deficit in half by cloaking its true costs.

When Bush was taking care of special interest groups and pork projects, Black families and little children (they should have just threw the mentally-challenged in there as well since we tend to be portrayed as the most vulnerable in society) were at risk.

Obama’s Omnibus spending bill with its over 9,000 earmarks (here’s a partial list)? No big deal. Talk about something else, like Michelle O’s shoes or how her Black skin validates Black women everywhere.

We believe it is reckless to burden our children with trillions of dollars of additional debt.

This is funny. The right raised this same issue during the Bush administration. When they raised it during these recent “tea parties”, they were called “racists” for not going along with our Black President. When you don’t have an argument, pull out the race card–even though it has NOTHING to do with the issue at hand.

And speaking of cloaking the “true costs” of a bill…

The left kept flashing $787 billion out there as if that was the total cost. The actual cost? Try $3.27 trillion.

And the beat goes on.

From a blogger for sfgate.com

Burris brings up a point that I noticed but given the weight of the matter, put on the back-burner of my mind because I didn’t want to think the unthinkable: that not only was the Mayor of Oakland not allowed to speak but Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who was in attendance, was not even acknowledged by the presenters.

That’s a huge no-no. Congresswoman Lee is the head of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Both are African American. All of the elected officials who were allowed to speak were white. (more…)

For Mayor Dellums, here is the rest of the story not included (BTW, this next excerpt comes from the same dang newspaper).

It’s no secret that Dellums – who is often long on rhetoric and short on action – is not held in high regard among some members of the Oakland PD.

It didn’t help that after the March 21 killings Dellums was a no-show for several hours, before finally holding a short press conference – while others, including state Attorney General and ex-Mayor Jerry Brown and East Oakland City Council members Larry Reid and Desley Brooks, spent hours with shell-shocked cops at police union headquarters.

Reid even went to the family wakes of each of the four slain officers in the days that followed. (source).

Thx Sean for reminding me about this.

From LA Times

Barack Obama was elected commander in chief promising to run the most transparent presidential administration in American history.

This achievement and the overall promise of his historic administration caused the National Newspaper Publishers Assn. to name him “Newsmaker of the Year.”

The president is to receive the award from the federation of black community newspapers in a White House ceremony this afternoon.

The Obama White House has closed the press award ceremony to the press. (more…)

I quite sure no teleprompter was needed on this occasion.

Pink Friday Protest Against Teacher Layoffs

BURLINGAME, Calif. (KCBS) — As many as 26,000 teachers in California will be getting pink slips in the mail, and that has prompted teachers to organize a huge protest this Friday.

The California Teachers Association has scheduled a “Pink Friday” day of action to protest mass layoffs and drastic cuts to public education, said CTA President David Sanchez.

“I’m asking all Californians to wear pink this Friday to show their support for our public schools,” said Sanchez. “These cuts are going to hurt an entire generation of children and damage California’s public education system for years to come.” (more…)

Now I want you to take some time to absorb that last comment. While you’re doing that, allow me to hit you with this.

1 in 4 California high school students drop out, state says
latimes.com
July 17, 2008

Deploying a long-promised tool to track high school dropouts, the state released numbers Wednesday estimating that 1 in 4 California students — and 1 in 3 in Los Angeles — quit school. The rates are considerably higher than previously acknowledged but lower than some independent estimates.

The figures are based on a new statewide tracking system that relies on identification numbers that were issued to California public school students beginning in fall 2006. (more…)

If California school districts like LAUSD were public traded entities, they would have been shut down ages ago for this performance. Yes, teachers are not solely responsible for student performance, but they do play a major role in the process. And its about time taxpayers stop paying for a failing institution.

We pay some of the highest taxes in the nation yet our middle schools rank 46th in the nation (as of 2007 and according to data collected from PSK12.com)

Morgan Quitno Press back in 2006-07 also ranked California #46 on their “Smartest State Award” list.

All over this nation there are many good people who are losing their jobs. Why? Because in this economy, companies simply cannot afford to pay their salaries. Why then are we as taxpayers on the hook to pay for a system that is failing our kids?

The following is from a former LAUSD teacher~

Lacking tenure, I spoke up. The path of self-preservation would have been to button my lip, work hard for two years, get tenured, then start writing opinion pieces about how California’s educational system needed change. But rather than hypocritically accepting what I saw around me, I spoke up, and paid the price.

It seems like every teacher who disagrees with me speaks the same mantra: They aver that I should not be allowed tell a veteran how to teach. But, lo and behold, if these folks were ambitious and new to a company in the “real world” or an enterprise such as the military, they would be the first to tell their superiors to stop doing things the old-fashioned way and come up to speed in the 21st century. Only when their jobs are being critiqued do they rely on the conservative notion that veterans of an organization always know best.

It would be different if their organization were Microsoft or a similar success story. But this is the education system they’re defending, which is obviously a failed system by any indicator of evidence on international tests, or by simply speaking to 90 percent of today’s recent high school graduates.

Public consensus on the need for “change” in education could not be higher, nor could education’s aversion to it. If history is a guide though, I’d bet the establishment’s position will never waver. That doesn’t seem very consistent or open-minded to me.
(more…)

Also, back in 2005…

Half of Calif. Blacks and Latinos Drop Out of School, a New Harvard Study Finds
Black and Hispanic kids are hit the hardest with this mess, but…look the other way and talk about something else.

The following  article was printed last year in the LA Daily News.

The tower is the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District – home to more than 3,400 employees. They are the core of a massive bureaucracy that has surged in recent years even as the number of students and teachers has dropped.

And 3,200 more administrators and support staff are scattered throughout the city, as top officials acknowledge that the number of highly paid managers has swollen beyond what is needed to run the nation’s second-largest school district.

“There are assistants to assistants,” says Senior Deputy Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who was hired in May to oversee the district’s day-to-day operations.

Managing almost 900 schools and more than 650,000 students is a huge task. But a Daily News review of salaries and staffing shows LAUSD’s bureaucracy ballooned by nearly 20 percent from 2001 to 2007. Over the same period, 500 teaching positions were cut and enrollment dropped by 6 percent. (more…)

Also check out “LA Times Blogs Fall Short on LAUSD”

I think we are long overdue for a real tax revolt.

Obama Gives Brown DVD Swag, British Tabloids Fume
By Erik Gruenwedel
homemediamagazine.com

President Barack Obama caused an uproar in the British press when it was reported March 6 that visiting Prime Minister Gordon Brown received a set of classic DVD movies on his official visit to the White House during the week.

Visiting dignitaries often are fetted with state dinners and typically come bearing unique gifts, which in Brown’s case included an ornamental penholder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet, the first edition of the seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert and presents for Obama’s children.

No state dinner was given for Brown. However, the DVDs he was given — based on the American Film Institute’s 2007 top 25 movies — included Citizen Kane, Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, The Godfather, Casablanca, Psycho and The Wizard of Oz, among others. (more…)

I remember how both our end of the blogosphere and the media was just so tickled pink about the Obama girls going to a big, famous and mostly White private school.

Ohh! Let’s talk about what they are going to wear on their first day.
Awww! Look at them. They are sooooo cute.
Now before you go into that big, White school, let me give you some non-solicited advice.

Obama Girls: Snow Day in the White House

Too bad for their classmates.

wsj.com

Dick Durbin has a nasty surprise for two of Sasha and Malia Obama’s new schoolmates. And it puts the president in an awkward position.

The children are Sarah and James Parker. Like the Obama girls, Sarah and James attend the Sidwell Friends School in our nation’s capital. Unlike the Obama girls, they could not afford the school without the $7,500 voucher they receive from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. Unfortunately, a spending bill the Senate takes up this week includes a poison pill that would kill this program — and with it perhaps the Parker children’s hopes for a Sidwell diploma.

Known as the “Durbin language” after the Illinois Democrat who came up with it last year, the provision mandates that the scholarship program ends after the next school year unless Congress reauthorizes it and the District of Columbia approves. The beauty of this language is that it allows opponents to kill the program simply by doing nothing. Just the sort of sneaky maneuver that’s so handy when you don’t want inner-city moms and dads to catch on that you are cutting one of their lifelines. (more…)

Related: The Kidz

If this article was in the back of the latest edition of Creative Loafing, I could understand.

This article comes to us via the New York Times. It was written by desperate columnist, Judith Warner

Many women — not too surprisingly — were dreaming about sex with the president. In these dreams, the women replaced Michelle with greater or lesser guilt or, in the case of a 62-year-old woman in North Florida, whose dream was reported to me by her daughter, found a fully above-board solution: “Michelle had divorced Barack because he had become ‘too much of a star.’ He then married my mother, who was oh so proud to be the first lady,” the daughter wrote me.

There was some daydreaming too, much of it a collective fantasy about the still-hot Obama marriage. “Barack and Michelle Obama look like they have sex. They look like they like having sex,” a Los Angeles woman wrote to me, summing up the comments of many. “Often. With each other.

[...]

There was a dream, sent from Minneapolis, about buying Barack the perfect sandwich, and a dream from Westport, Conn., about inviting Michelle and the girls over for lunch and a play date: “I told her I’d make tuna fish sandwiches and cupcakes, and told her that she didn’t need to worry about the kids, no need to hire a sitter or extra secret service, that I had a nice basement/playroom for them. I explained how hard it was to move to a new home, and to take her time if she needed to unpack or run to Costco or something. She asked me about other supermarkets, and I told her that Stop & Shop had a sale on tuna fish and paper towels.” And one woman in Wisconsin had frequent daydreams about having the Obamas over for a glass of wine.

[...]

One woman wrote that when she couldn’t get to sleep at night, she “lay in bed and thought about the Obama girls in their rooms at the White House. I thought about Marian Robinson up on the third floor. And about Barack and Michelle, a couple who clearly have a ‘thing’ for each other, spooning together in bed. It helped me relax.” (more…)

If you think this writer and the people she mentions in her piece are off of their rockers, you should check out some of the comments.

great column. I too had a dream about Barack Obama. We were at some sort of luncheon together. He was very friendly and a bit provocative . I may have sat in his lap. It was a little surprising, but he seemed very real and approachable. I guess I’m not alone in my dreaming.

=

It doesn’t surprise me that people dream about the Obamas. Just the other day I dreamt they wanted me to be their nanny. Clearly, this family has opened the pandora’s box of all my hopes, dreams and good intentions.

[...]

What has really struck me is how my husband has responded to the love he witnesses between the first couple. He looked me in the eye the other day and said, “I want to be your Barack Obama.”

=

Eeew, I find many of these comments creepy in the extreme, and I count myself a member of the Obama cult. I am an Obamaniac in the hope that he will improve the tenor of American political discourse and honor the rule of law, As for the bedroom stuff and the lost opportunities, all I can say is; folks, get a life.

Now try having a conversation with these people about the enormity of the stimulus bill and how it is going to affect their bottom line.

In one ear, out the other.

Yeah, my Eagles didn’t win. Oh well .

Why Castro regime fears Obama administration
BY CARLOS MOORE
miamiherald.com

Since Nov. 4, Cuba has been experiencing a bad case of the Obama Blues. The election of the United States’ first African-American president was conspicuously downplayed by the Cuban media. President-elect Barack Obama’s victory went unheralded in Granma, the official mouthpiece of both the government and the ruling Communist party; it was relegated to the back pages.

On the streets, however, ordinary Cubans were reported to be exultant. All of a sudden the Cuban people no longer hated the “enemy.”

This shunning of an event of such global impact may surprise people accustomed to Havana’s outspokenness regarding American leaders. In my view, Havana’s silence betrays more than uncertainty about Obama’s future policies. Cuba, I am inclined to believe, is nervous about the impact that a black president in the White House could have upon its own black population.

[...]

…reports from inside Cuba have reinforced my suspicion that, contrary to the sentiments of the streets, the Cuban regime is experiencing great discomfort with the turn of events in the United States. Anthropologist Maria Ileana Faguagua Iglesias reports a racist outburst toward Obama by a Communist Party official and former military officer: ”He will be the worst ever American president,” said this apparatchik, “because he is a Negro, and they are worse than the whites!” (more…)

=====

I have covered the unequal treatment of Blacks in Cuba on this site many times. Here are some of those links:

Unequal treatment in Cuba
The great Cuban health care system: So great, folks are swimming from it
Awww, come one! Black Cubans just don’t know how good they have it
You think they could have made their lips any bigger?

‘Health’ Foods Often Higher in Sodium