Friday, December 18, 2009

If..., you live in New England

Forget Rednecks ... here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about New Englanders. I think a lot of this pertains to people that live in upstate New York, too!

*If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in New England.*

*If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in New England.*

*If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in New England.*

*If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend, you live in New England.*

*If you measure distance in hours, you live in New England.*

*If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in New England.*

*If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you live in New England.*

*If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England.*

*If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you live in New England.*

*If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in New England.*

*If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in New England.*

*If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you live in New England.*

*If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in New England.*

*If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you live in New England.*

*If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England.*

*If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly', you live in New England.*

*If there's a Dunkin Donuts on every corner, you live in New England.*

*If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your New England friends & others, you live or have lived in New England.*

Monday, October 05, 2009

Anthony J. "Nic" Morrison obit


ALBANY Anthony J. "Nic" Morrison entered into eternal life on his 47th birthday, October 1, 2009, at the Hospice Inn at St. Peter's Hospital, ten days after suffering a devastating stroke. Nic was employed at the NYS Center for Employment and Economic Support in Albany at the time of his death, a position he held for the past 12 years. Nic previously worked at the Paper Cutter and FantaCo Comics in Albany. Some knew him as Anthony, some as Nic and others even knew him as "The Geek" but all who knew him called him friend. He enjoyed his comics, movies, music and frequent shopping trips to Best Buy. He loved to debate politics and religion but, most of all, he could laugh. An intelligent man, he was quick witted with a dark sense of humor that constantly amused those around him. Nic was a kindhearted man who loved life and, most of all, loved his God. A deeply spiritual man, there is no doubt he is in Heaven now with his Lord. Nic was the beloved godfather of Christian, Keegan and Lily and the companion of Imelda the cat. He leaves a family of dear friends who will cherish his memory and miss him dearly. Words cannot begin to express how thankful we are for the care Nic received from the staff of the St. Peter's ICU, who did all that they could for Nic, and for the comfort and care received from the staff at the St. Peter's Hospice Inn during Nic's final days. Friends may call on Sunday, October 4 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Applebee Funeral Home, 403 Kenwood Avenue, Delmar. A service to remember Nic and celebrate his life will be held on Monday, October 5 at 2 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands. Those who wish may send a remembrance in his name to the Community Hospice of Albany, 445 New Karner Rd., Albany, NY 12205.

Nic Morrison's Obit

ALBANY Anthony J. "Nic" Morrison entered into eternal life on his 47th birthday, October 1, 2009, at the Hospice Inn at St. Peter's Hospital, ten days after suffering a devastating stroke. Nic was employed at the NYS Center for Employ-ment and Economic Support in Albany at the time of his death, a position he held for the past 12 years. Nic previously worked at the Paper Cutter and Fantaco Comics in Albany. Some knew him as Anthony, some as Nic and others even knew him as "The Geek" but all who knew him called him friend. He enjoyed his comics, movies, music and frequent shopping trips to Best Buy. He loved to debate politics and religion but, most of all, he could laugh. An intelligent man, he was quick witted with a dark sense of humor that constantly amused those around him. Nic was a kind hearted man who loved life and, most of all, loved his God. A deeply spiritual man, there is no doubt he is in Heaven now with his Lord. Nic was the beloved godfather of Christian, Keegan and Lily and the companion of Imelda the cat. He leaves a family of dear friends who will cherish his memory and miss him dearly. Words cannot begin to express how thankful we are for the care Nic received from the staff of the St. Peter's ICU, who did all that they could for Nic, and for the comfort and care received from the staff at the St. Peter's Hospice Inn during Nic's final days. Friends may call on Sunday, October 4 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Applebee Funeral Home, 403 Kenwood Avenue, Delmar. A service to remember Nic and celebrate his life will be held on Monday, October 5 at 2 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands. Those who wish may send a remembrance in his name to the Community Hospice of Albany, 445 New Karner Rd., Albany, NY 12205.

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Lord's Prayer in the Cherokee tradition

Our father, heaven dweller,
My loving will be to Thy name.
Your Lordship: let it make its appearance.
Here upon earth let happen what you think
The same as in heaven is done.
Daily our food give to us this day.
Forgive us our debts, the same as we forgive our debtors.
And do not temptation being lead us into,
Deliver us from evil existing.
For thine your Lordship is,
And the power is,
And the glory is forever.
Amen

Incidentally, the Lord's Prayer in Cherokee (and English) was one of the items that appeared in the first issue—28 February 1828—of the Cherokee Phoenix (Tsalagi Tsulehisanunhi), the first newspaper written by and for Indians as well as being printed in both English and the Cherokee language (using Sequoya's syllabary).

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Beautifully stated insults

There was a time when words were used beautifully. These glorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued.

The exchange between Churchill and Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poison," and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd take it."

Gladstone, a member of Parliament, to Benjamin Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends, sir," said Disraeli, "On whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one!" - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

“He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." - Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." - Thomas Brackett Reed

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."- Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support, rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

Saturday, June 13, 2009

History Test

NO Cheating - don't look at the answers until you take the test!!!!

Everyone over 40 should have a pretty easy time at this exam. If you are under 40 you can claim a handicap.
This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life.

*** Get paper & pencil & number from 1 to 20.
****Write the letter of each answer & score at the end.

1. In the 1940s/50s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches
located?
a. On the floor shift knob.
b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch.
c. Next to the horn.

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what
was it used?
a. Capture lightning bugs.
b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing.
c. Large salt shaker.

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk.
b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled.
c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze,
expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?
a. Blackjack
b. Gin
c. Craps

5.. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing dur ing WW II.
a. Suntan
b. Leg painting
c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
a. Studebaker
b. Nash Metro
c. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
a. Strips of dried peanut butter.
b. Chocolate licorice bars.
c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

8. How was Butch wax used?
a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up.
b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing.
c. On the wheels of roller skates to pre vent rust.

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key.
b. Woven straps that crossed the foot.
c. Long pieces of twine.

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
a. Consider all the facts.
b. Ask Mom.
c. Eeny-meeny-miney-MO.

11. What wa s the most dreaded disease in the 1940s and 1950s?
a. Smallpox
b. AIDS
c. Polio

12. 'I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey'
a. SUV
b. Taxi
c. Streetcar

13. W hat was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pony?
a. Old Blue
b. Paint
c. Macaroni

14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
a. Part of the game of hide and seek.
b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores.
c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an
A-bomb drill.

15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?
a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
b. Princess Sacajawea
c. Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high.
b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window.
c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure.

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum.
b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items.
c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos.

18. Praise the Lord, & pass the _________?
a. Meatballs
b. Dames
c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song 'Cabdriver' a hit?
a. The Ink Spots
b. The Supremes
c. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco ?
a. Tony Bennett
b. Xavier Cugat
c. George Gershwin

***
ANSWERS
1. (b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular
in Europe , took till the late '60's& nbsp;to catch on.
2. (b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?
3. (c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the
bottle top.
4 . (a) Blackjack Gum.
5. (b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the
back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.
6. (a) 1946 Stud ebaker.
7. (c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.
8. (a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.
9. (a) With clamps , tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a
shoestring around your neck.
10. (c) Eeny-mee ny-miney-mo.
11. (c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed,
movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent
spread of the disease.
12. (b) Taxi , Better be ready by half-past eight!
13. (c) Macaroni.
14. (c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in
an A-bomb drill.
15. (a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.
16. (a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.
17. (b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household
items at the Green Stamp store.
18. (c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.
19. (a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.
20. (a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.

SCORING
17- 20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with
mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely
someone who should shar e your wisdom!
12 -16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but you're getting there.
0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your
experiences.


I got 13 right, including 10 out the last 11.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"Holocaust survivors have moral obligation to tell who rescued them"

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

Jun. 10, 2009
Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST. Printed edition

People who were saved from death during the Holocaust have a moral obligation to identify their rescuers, despite the trauma such recollections can cause, the founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation said on Tuesday.

The comments comes amid an eleventh-hour effort by the New York-based non-profit organization to identify more heroes at a time when the number of survivors continues to dwindle.

"We talk a lot about the Holocaust, but we do not talk enough about those non-Jews who saved Jews during the war," Baruch Tenembaum, founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

The Argentinean-born Tenembaum said Holocaust survivors who were saved by others had a moral obligation to tell their stories before it was too late, despite the suffering it might cause them in reliving tortuous experiences from six and seven decades ago.

"The freedom they have now to speak or not to speak is the freedom granted to them by the person who saved them," he said. "In my opinion, they do not have such an option because it belongs to the person who saved them. They do not have the right to remain silent."

The Wallenberg Foundation, which has located scores of rescuers, recently encountered four survivors - grandmothers now living in Israel, Argentina, Hungary and France - who do not want to recount the story of their rescues because it is too painful for them.

Tenembaum concedes that he can never feel their pain, noting that they have not even told their children about their experiences, but said that these people - and many others like them - need to go public with their stories before time runs out.

"The Jewish nation has a moral obligation to be grateful to those who saved lives," he said.

About 250,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel.

The organization, named after the Swedish diplomat who went missing in January 1945, after saving tens of thousands of Jews and other persecuted by the Nazis, develops educational programs based on the values of solidarity and civic courage, ethical cornerstones of Holocaust rescuers.

Irena Steinfeld, the head of the Righteous Department at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, concurred Tuesday that survivors had a duty to speak out, but cautioned against self-righteousness.

"Certainly it is the moral obligation of survivors to tell the story of their rescuers, but I am very cautious because it is very easy to open old wounds and hard to close them again," she said.

"We can only try to ask them in every way possible."

More than 22,000 people have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

We are coming down to the wire on the issue of Health care reform.

The first part is an excerpt from a letter from an old friend of mine whose been working in the health care field over 50 years.

When the Congress gets these bills in motion in the next few weeks, the health care committees in this nation, who have fought so long and so hard, will be analyzing them and needing us folks to get to our representatives to express our opinions...and we will need to do it RAPIDLY.

Therefore, I have promised my colleagues that I would make a serious attempt to put a "Rapid Response team" together.
I would ask you to contact your representatives as quickly as possible (either phone OR e-mail...or Twitter or Facebook...or any new-fangled way you know about)

Then to call 10 friends, and get them to do the same (if you only have 5 friends..that will do!)

If you click on the following sites, you will get all the contact info you need for your Senators/& Congressional representatives
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml United States House of Reps Member Listing (by State)
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm U.S. Senate: Senators Home

I am enclosing the Principles (see below)that I am supporting, along with Our President....so you know exactly where I stand

If you do not believe that our health care system is broken, please come and visit me...I will take you to the FREE Clinic, where 2 nights a week, the WORKING POOR go for their health care, supplied by VOLUNTEERS and DONATIONS.

This is AMERICA folks...All of our people have a RIGHT to decent health care!
I send you all love and Thanks for your listening!
Praying you will all respond!

Live simply. Love generously
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

President Obama has 3 core principles that will guide health care reform.
They are:
1. To reduce rising healthcare costs for families, business, and government.
• American families and small businesses are being crushed by sky-rocketing health
care costs and they are losing the choices they value most. Every day in America
families are forced to choose a different doctor because their employer can no
longer afford the old plan. No longer should people have to decide to skip a
doctor’s visit or medication that they know they need because they can’t afford
the payment.
2. To allow all patients choice in their own coverage and their own doctor.
• President Obama is committed to health care reform that guarantees Americans
their health care choice. He has consistently said that if a family likes what they
have, they will be able to keep it under health care reform. The president will
support health care reform that builds on the existing employer-based system but
also supports providing Americans with the option for public health insurance
operating alongside private plans. This would provide a better range of choices,
make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies
honest.
3. To ensure that quality, affordable healthcare is available to all Americans.
• Any successful reform will emphasize quality care over quantity. President Obama
has called for reform that would; provide technology to doctors for medical
research boost prevention and wellness so that Americans are healthier and
everyone saves money, rapidly expand computerized medical records with strong
privacy protections, that would reduce needless and costly paperwork, and
provide doctors with the best, most up-to-date information to reduce medical
errors, saving lives and money.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

What did the Romans ever Do For US?

My favorite Monty Python, from Life with Brian:


Reg: They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, and not just from us, from our fathers, and from our fathers' fathers.
Loretta: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: Yeah.
Loretta: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?!
Xerxes: The aqueduct?
Reg: What?
Xerxes: The aqueduct.
Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that's true. Yeah.
Commando 3: And the sanitation.
Loretta: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?
Reg: Yeah. All right. I'll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done.
Matthias: And the roads.
Reg: Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying, don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads--
Commando: Irrigation.
Xerxes: Medicine.
Commandos: Huh? Heh? Huh...
Commando 2: Education.
Commandos: Ohh...
Reg: Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.
Commando 1: And the wine.
Commandos: Oh, yes. Yeah...
Francis: Yeah. Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.
Commando: Public baths.
Loretta: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.
Francis: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it. They're the only ones who could in a place like this.
Commandos: Hehh, heh. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.
Reg: But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Xerxes: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace? Shut up!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

THE TWELVE STEPS OF REPUBLICANS ANONYMOUS Hotlist

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Republicans Anonymous is a fellowship of Republican and Ex-Republican men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem of political irrelevancy and ideological bankruptcy. The only requirement for membership is that you have contributed to the destruction of the US economy, our infrastructure, our judical system, and to the US reputation around the world. There are no dues or fees for RA membership; we are supported by contributions from our numerous Fortune 500 donors. RA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution (wink wink); does not wish to engage in any controversy (wink wink wink), neither endorses nor opposes any causes (HA! ooops...). Our primary purpose is to get back to our rightful position as upholders of family values and plunderers of the Treasury and the US Constitution as soon as humanly possible.

The following are our 12 steps of recovery:

THE TWELVE STEPS OF REPUBLICANS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over the decisions we had made the past eight years­but that our pollster has now told us it is probably impossible to get re-elected as a Republican - like, maybe for the next several decades at least.
2. Came to believe that no Power could ever restore the Glenn Beck to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Michael Steele, but, god, this is depressing...
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of everyone else except ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of everyone else’s wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove the 2006 and 2008 election results from our consciousness.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airwaves.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and asked them to apologize to us, or else we would waterboard them.
9. Made direct amends to our biggest Wall Street donors whenever possible, and reminded them we are up for reelection in 2010.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly blamed it on the Jews and George Soros.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with Ronald Reagan, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and his 1986 poll numbers.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message through fair and balanced news outlets such as Fox News and other media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Why We Must Talk About Race Now -- More Than Ever Before

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Just one day after Barack Obama's historic victory, a giddy New York Times declared that his success at the polls was "sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease."

With ease? This statement contradicts the tightrope Obama had to walk throughout the election. If he didn't overtly address race, people of color would have distrusted him and felt he didn't have their best interests at heart. But had he aligned himself too closely with the race issue, he ran the risk of emphasizing his "otherness" and alienating white voters. There was nothing easy about the delicate balancing act Obama had to perform to win the election.

In the wake of President Obama's inauguration, more people are starting to question why we still need to talk about race and diversity. After all, our president is black. Isn't that sufficient proof that racism in America has met its match?

If you find yourself facing this question at work, here are a few talking points you can use to demonstrate that race is not yet an issue we can afford to ignore.

1, There will always be "stand-outs" like Obama who carve a niche for themselves despite institutionalized discrimination.

For example, a black woman named Madame CJ Walker, the daughter of two former slaves, became the first self-made woman millionaire in the United States (black or white) by creating a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women. She accomplished this feat at a time when blacks were subjected to extreme poverty, segregation, violence, and oppression. Her success during the Jim Crow era did not indicate that discrimination against blacks was nonexistent during this time. Instead, she became successful despite the odds.

Obama, too, is an exception to well-entrenched racism, rather than a symbol of the end of it. Thousands of voters told pollsters outright that they would never vote for a black man. (How many other voters felt the same way but would not go on the record and verbalize it?) Obama won the presidency in spite of racism, not because of its absence.

2. Racial disparities still exist in nearly every aspect of American life.

David Thomas, Harvard Business School professor and author of Breaking Through:The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America, recently told Human Resources Executive magazine that "although the glass ceiling is "no longer impenetrable, talent being equal, the probability of making it to the C-suite is still less if you are a person of color than if you are a white male."

Indeed, the Working Group on Extreme Inequality has confirmed that the racial economic divide between whites and blacks is a quantifiable reality:

* In 2006, black individuals made 54% less annually than their white counterparts.
* In the same year, black families made 58% less than whites.
* In 2004, the median household wealth for whites was $118,300 as compared to just $11,800 for black families.
* In 2006, 75.8% of whites owned a home; only 47.9% of blacks did,
* And when it comes to unemployment, in 2007 4.1% of whites were without work as compared to 8.3% of blacks.
* In 2006, 91% of white students graduated from high school, while just 81% of blacks did. And in college, the disparity is even greater: in 2004, 31% of whites graduated, against just 10% of blacks.

3. The civil right movement began just 50 years ago.

There are hundreds of years of oppression to undo, thousands of laws and unspoken hiring biases to uncover and bring into the light. Fifty years is just the beginning of a protracted struggle to level the playing field.

While no one can deny that progress is being made (pat yourselves on the back for that!), until people of all backgrounds are allowed the opportunity to make a decent living, to buy a home, to send children to college, to receive adequate health care, and to live as equals among all others, we must continue to challenge the powers-that-be which still block equal opportunity.

While it's wonderful to breathe a sigh of relief as a new administration takes office - one that "gets it" - this is no time to let up.

© 2004-2009 New Demographic.

Carmen Van Kerckhove, president of the diversity education firm New Demographic, specializes in working with corporations to facilitate relaxed, authentic, and productive conversations about race. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and has visited as a guest lecturer at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, among many other colleges and universities across the country. If you want to learn how to boost your career by mastering the changing dynamics of race in today's workplace, get your FREE TIPS now at www.NewDemographic.com.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Reflections on a True Democracy

from United We Stand: Reflections on a True Democracy, copyright 2000,
by Sue Kidd Shipe, Ph.D.

In a true democracy all people listen.
all people care.
all people's needs are important.
all people feel cared for.
all people experience respect.
all people serve.
all people are equal.
all people are free.

In a true democracy there are no demagogues.
there is no violence.
all people are entitled to equal representation.
all systems serve people.
all people are responsible for their actions.
all systems are adequate to meet people's needs.
there are no judgments based upon characteristics.
all people are free.

In a true democracy all people are open to learning.
religion is spiritual, not political.
minds are not controlled by fear and guilt.
all minds are open to explore.
paradigms can be challenged.
children learn by example.
adults model the behavior they want from their children.
all children and adults are free.

In a true democracy all elected officials serve from a position of caring.
all elected officials lead by following.
all people may trust their leadership.
all people are in control of their lives.
all people are free of self-limiting beliefs.
all people contribute that which they are uniquely designed to contribute.
all people give their lives in service to the principles of democracy.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all wisdom is preserved.
all people are known by their true motives.
motives are that which allow relationship.
motives are for the highest good.
there is trust.
there is no fear.
all people can trust their leaders.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all people know their purpose and calling.
all people contribute their calling.
all needs are met through people.
all who take also give.
giving and taking are an unbroken circle.
all people believe.
all people are empowered.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all people are free to heal.
healing is a birthright.
people know how to access healing power.
power is free.
power is in the people.
power is used only for the highest good.
power flows from the top.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all people return to their Source.
the Source is free.
the Source is available to all.
one is not assessed for access to the Source.
all races, genders, ethnicities, and spiritual expressions are equal.
all people value their heritage and that of all others.
differences are regarded as enriching.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy our acceptance creates unity.
our unity is our strength.
our unity is our power.
all people are empowered.
all people are empowered to serve.
all people also receive.
all people care and are cared for.
all people are truly free.

Sue Kidd Shipe, Ph.D.
Executive Director

The entire book, United We Stand: Reflections on a True Democracy, by Sue Kidd Shipe, Ph.D., can be purchased on www.amazon.com, or through the website: www.humanempowerment.org.

The International Institute For Human Empowerment, Inc., a 501C3 charity registered in New York State, is not a member of any religion in order that it may serve all.