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We are going to take a trip to New Orleans at the end of the month. I haven’t been back there since I was in high school so I’m very excited to see how the place looks. I went out for the Bayou Classic with and I got to step in the Superdome during the classic’s stepshow. We were a bunch of highschoolers, so we could not compete but just step as an exhibition, but we did good and probably would have placed.

But, I was searching the ‘net for discounts in New Orleans and I came across savings.com. They have coupons for just about every website you can think of and you can rank the online-coupon similar to Digg. It worked out because they had savings at hotels.com and orbitz.com. I always wondered where people got the “promo code” discounts on all those sites. Savings.com. will either give you a code or you will go through their portal but it is really nice to be able to see all the diferent discounts on a trip in one place

So, if you are about to buy something online you might want to check out savings.com first and see if there is a coupon or promo going on. I’m all about getting a discount.

Growing up in Vegas I never actually lived in the “city” of Las Vegas. This means that I never had a chance to vote on the mayor or city council. Also, I just missed out on voting for the president there because I turned 18 right after Clinton’s second term. So now the primary in Nevada is a Caucus and of course I don’t live out there anymore. But, I was able to talk with some friends and family about the experience of going to a caucus. Reading up on the process it seems like it would be pretty interesting but perception and reality are two different things.

So, I emailed two of my “insiders” who went to the Caucus…one Democrat and one Republican (of the ten or so black Republicans in Las Vegas half are in my family or I grew up with them. LOL!). I just asked them general questions about the day. It seems that the Dems had it really organized. On the other side it seems that things didn’t go as smoothly as you would expect.

But, below are the answers to the questions I sent them. This is purely for insight into the process for those in states, as myself, who only have a regular primary:

The Democratic Experience from a Voters POV - Dem.

What were your first impressions when you went to the caucus?

It was very positive. There were volunteers for both Barrack and Hillary with campaign stickers outside the entrance doors. I encountered the Barrack volunteer first, took a sticker, and he directed me to the location were my precinct was meeting. Then I encountered the Hillary volunteer she gave me directions, too.

What were the demographics (in other words…any black folks except yourself)?

There was diversity, but it was majority white. I saw two black Prescient Captains.

What actually happens in the Caucus for those who don’t know?

You register with your prescient, sign in and receive a voter registration card. My caucus was in the gym of Silvertri Middle School. There were campaign signs all along the belchers along with your prescient number. You were to sit with your prescient in the section with the folks who supported your candidate. The registration was set to start at 11am. I arrived about 10:45am and registration had already begun. I sat next to a young black woman with a couple of children. I even called a couple of people to come join me at the caucus. Each prescient had a Captain and it was his/her job to direct folks where to sit and make them feel welcome. The Prescient Captain for my group had called me that morning to remind me of the caucus time and meeting place. I also had a call from the Hillary campaign from Boston informing me of the caucus meeting. By 11:45am registration was over, the doors closed and the process began. A man introduced himself as the temporary Headquarter Captain. The first order of business was to take a vote for someone else who was interested to lead the proceeding. This man said he did receive training on how to run this meeting. As a group we agreed he should keep the position. He had two welcome letters one from Pres. Bush and one from Sen. Harry Reid to read to our group. We voted not to listen to the letters but proceed. We were instructed not to fill out our ballot until the end. We sat close together with the folks that were voting for the same candidate. As we were sitting chanting starting, first someone starts chanting Hillary, then someone starting chanting Obama. Actually I like the one the Obama folks got going, “Obama08, be part of something great!” The atmosphere was very spirited, a lot like a pep rally. Once we were divided in our groups, each Prescient Captain for each candidate took a physical count of the people in attendance. A candidate had to have at least 15 people to receive delegate votes. There were 98 people in attendance and 3 choices. Folks for Edwards had less than 15 votes. They could choose to vote with Hillary or Obama or not be counted at all. Of the five Edwards’ people, one vote went to Hillary, four went to Obama. The votes were taken 3 times before the final number were decided. It ended up being a tie with Hillary and Obama each getting five delegate votes. We then filled out our paper ballots. The next order of business was to choose 10 people to actually cast the votes for our prescient at the State Assembly meeting. Five Hillary people raised their hand, and six Obama people raised their hands. Since there were to be only five Obama representatives, we were asked by the Headquarter Captain to give a 2 minute speech expressing why we wanted to go to the State Assembly. The first volunteer called on to speak changed his mind and now there were just five. But in order to be fair, the Headquarter Captain thought we should still continue with the speeches. A few people said they need to leave; it was now after 12:30pm. An older white man gave a short speech stating he was a lifetime democrat and he belonged to a local political group. I gave my speech next saying I was a librarian with the Clark County School. It would be my privilege to represent my prescient because Obama was a man I believed should be our next President. I wanted to be a part of history. The others didn’t speak, the meeting was dismissed. The volunteers went back to the registration table to fill out a form registering to be at the State Assembly.

Was everyone given a chance to talk?

Yes.

Was it an open forum or very controlled?

It was very controlled and very organized.

How was your experience?

It was a great experience and I’m glad I was there, Was it what you expected? I didn’t really know what to expect but I was very interested and even changed my personal plans so that I would be there on January 19th. I definitely would attend another caucus.

The Democratic Experience from a Voters POV - Repub.

What were your first impressions when you went to the caucus?

First Impressions: Unorganized, wack and could have been done over the Internet

What were the demographics (in other words…any black folks except yourself)?

There were a few black folks, majority white.

What actually happens in the Caucus for those who don’t know?

You sit on the side of the candidate you want to support. If that candidate doesn’t get at least 15% support they are nixed.

Was everyone given a chance to talk?

Not everyone needed to talk. Only those who wanted to convince others, who were supporting a different candidate, could state their case.

Was it an open forum or very controlled?

The Dem Caucus was very open. The Republican Caucus was more controlled.

How was your experience? Was it what you expected?

On a scale of 1 - 10. I would rate it a 4. It wasn’t what I expected.

I think that we (as Americans) do not understand fully how the world is trying to catch and surpass us. It really hit home for me in grad school because it wasn’t black v white, East v. West, North v. South…it was really American born v. Foreigner. I have a masters in a technical degree (as you can see from my poor writing skills) but it was about a 35/65 (US/Non-US) split there.

This video clip really captures how the world is changing around us…

Since when did tripods become hard to shop for and why are there so many choices? I was looking on Wize.com for different tripods for my camera and I was a little floored. Now, I am in no way a camera professional but I just need something with 3 legs to sit it on so my home movies aren’t shaking all over the place. Really I need one for the classic “Dad gets to excited and all we see of the play is my feet” shot.

But I just recently found this size wize and I like the format because they have it set up similar to Digg where users can rate the products and the highest scored tripods are shown first. I was suprised though the rating between some of the low priced vs. high priced stands…it was all over the place. Some of the expensive ones weren’t rated to much better than the lower priced versions and vice versa. But, I love sites like thiswere I just get a review and not blasted by a million ads and junk.

This is an interesting question and an interesting story that goes along with that question. Cincinnati Bengals linebacker, Odell Thurman, has been suspended by the league for a second consecutive year for substance abuse violations. The only problem is that he hasn’t failed a test in over a year, served all the original stipulations of his first suspension, but yet was still suspended for a second consecutive year by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Adam Pacman Jones (one year suspension), Mike Vick (indefinite suspension), and Tank Johnson (8 game suspension) have all been in the news, and rightfully suspended by Goodell, but many have questioned the broad-ranging power that Goodell has and his one person committee of discipline. Sentencing the previously mentioned three is easy because they all had problems with the law that either resulted in a plea deal or prison time but when your talking about alcohol and substance abuse then everything hasn’t been as consistant or equal.

So you have Odell, who has received the harshest sentence to date, next to Vick, over his problems with alcohol abuse and because of this went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the NFL. His stance is that the NFL is punishing an employee for a disease even though he has complied with all the leagues policies in regards to his problem.

Thurman, 24, is at the center of an unusual case that could challenge the sweeping powers the league has to discipline players with substance-abuse problems.

He has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, asserting that the N.F.L. declined to reinstate him because officials believe he is an alcoholic. That, his complaint says, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, which categorizes people as disabled if they have a record of alcoholism and have received treatment.

“The crux of the complaint is that they have a disability and they are not being reinstated because of that disability,” said Paul M. Secunda, a labor and employment law expert who edits the Workplace Prof Blog. “What we’re talking about is the disability of the player and the rights of the employer to run the N.F.L. as they see fit. It’s, where does the D.U.I. fit it? Does the league have the right to take further action beyond what the criminal court system does?”

This is a big deal because it can set a precedent for not only the NFL but for everyone. What if I had a couple of DUI’s and my job suspended me for 2 years because of it?

Article link

I don’t know let’s see…

1. I sign up for the Atlanta Falcons season ticket list about 2 years ago. The tickets were a hot item at that time and it was fun going to the games at the Georgia Dome. Truth is I’m not even a Falcons fan but I went to school in Atlanta and love NFL football. I finally get through this season and I purchase my Atlanta Falcons season tickets about 3 days before the entire Vick dogfighting case drops. At this time I’m not really worried about it because I could never imagine that 6 months later he would actually be facing 23 months in prison.

2. Last night, Mr Home Depot himself, aka Arthur Blank, goes on Monday Night Football (were a primetime game would have went for double or triple face value last year and I sold mine for half price) and says that Mike Vick has a chance to play if he doesn’t get out of shape eating..as he likes to say “Fried Chicken and French Fries“. You know, the staple of all brothers. I’m not saying anything about his comments but in a metropolis of 5 million people, and about 40% of them black, I bet someone will not like that comment.

3. Today, Bobby Petrino, head coach of the Falcons who took the job in 2007, tells Mr Home Depot..”Peace up, A down” and resigns for the University of Arkansas job.

So, let me tell you how I really feel:

I think that this entire Mike Vick drama has been the biggest waste of talent, resources, prestige, money, and personal freedom ever. I love the saying that “the truth is somewhere in the middle”. Vick probably gave his cousin the money for the house and went to a couple of dog fights. But, when you have 5 people (including a family member) ready to testify against you there is nothing to do but settle this case out of court. So, I don’t fully believe he did everything he pled guilty to but he is probably guilty of a good portion of the charges.

The real travistry in this is that Mike Vick can not stop making bad decisions. Why would you buy a house for your cousin if he deals in drugs? This case started as a drug sting but they stumbled (please feel free to stumble this post..no pun intended) upon the dogs. Mike Vick became the prize to the feds and were willing to drop all the more serious drug charges on everyone if they would rat on him in the dogfighting case. But, he should never have been in this situation because the house should never have been in his name.

That is just one of the dumb decisions he has made. Then, he goes and gets caught with weed in his system while awaiting sentencing. It is just like last year when he was caught at an airport with some “unknown” substance in a water bottle. The time he flipped off the Atlanta crowd for booing him. The time stood up Airtran airlines for a commercial shoot. Vick had a pattern of making bad choices that easily could have not been made.

This all gets me so mad because he brought it all on himself. I can’t cry racism, I can’t say it is the system trying to bring him down because he gave them all the ammo they needed. So, now I have to explain to my son why Vick (who he has 2 #7 jerseys) is not playing anymore. Men not being men and making bad decisions, that is the problem with the black community. It is why we have a generation of no fathers because of jail and fear of responsibility. It is why we have so many single mothers. Let me just quit there because I can go on about this forever….AHHHHH!!!! (whew, I feel a little better now)

(I added this 12/17) I think my words are a little strong there and let me rephrase a little. I think we have an issue with some black men between 18-30. I don’t know if enough of us are not maturing or what but we have young black men killing young black men. We are losing our young men to crimes that are petty and unnecessary. So many from this age group are leaving their kids behind to let Grandma, Grandpa, and Mom raise them.

Don’t get me wrong, racism and the effect of slavery still has long lasting issues but black men need to take the lead, and the responsibility to see that we overcome. But, when you have a large portion of the men not wanting to do what they have to until later in life the kids and the community suffer. My friend made me feel like I was beating on black men…that isn’t the case or I’m not trying to. I’m critical because I fall into this group (18-30 black male). We are letting everyone else be that father figure, which can be good or bad, when that positive, successful man should first be seen at home. And when I say success it has nothing to do with money or position but a success by being the leader and provider that is expected.

I have always had a hard time saying NO. This is a problem that has carried over into many aspects of my life and it is rooted in a character trait that i have…i hate to disappoint people. Call it what you want but it is the way I am. Learning your skills and discovering who you are is not just about finding your strengths but also your weaknesses. And for me not being able to say ‘no’ sometimes is a weakness.

But, this is a common problem

“The disease to please” as it has been called is very common. I pulled an interesting article googling “saying no” and they broke it down the main reasons people can’t say NO:

Why is it that men and women can’t say no — whether to onerous tasks or to enjoyable activities they just don’t have time for? Townsend says the reasons fall into a few categories of fears:

• A fear that we will lose a relationship with the person who is asking us for something if we don’t say yes. “As humans, we are relational creatures, so this can be difficult for us,” Townsend says.

• A fear of someone’s anger. “Most of us want to avoid conflict, so we will give in, not realizing that we are training the person to treat us this way in the future, by them threatening to get mad at us,” he says.

• A fear of hurting people. “This causes more damage than you would think, because we are not treating the person like an adult,” Townsend says. So we end up getting angry or resentful, or show by our attitude that we really didn’t want to say yes.

I ran into a situation at work where I’m caught between two of my managers on a task…a specific task of me traveling from around now until sometime into early December. Just to fully describe the seen my office is kind of like the office in the movie “Office Space”. There are about as many managers as workers and on a given day you can get tasked 3 or 4 times to do the same thing. But, you still have only one “main” manager who you answer to so in most cases you just ignore what everyone tells you and listen to your one main manager. The only problem I have, and where I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, was that my direct manager is leaving in a month and the guy trying to get me to travel will probably be the person I report to once he leaves.
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A commentor in the original thread posted an interesting rebutal of the research conducted by a University of Arizona professor on the role Haiti played in the spread of HIV. This has been an interesting topic to read about. I never knew that the CDC labeled Haitians (and Haiti) as high risk for HIV and how it effected the Haitian economy by carrying a stigma of being linked to aids.

Article Link:

October 30, 2007
Empire State Medical Association Denounces Incomplete Research Claims made by Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Worobey on “HIV Coming from Haiti”

Empire State Medical Association Denounces Incomplete Research Claims made by Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Worobey on “HIV Coming from Haiti” (www.nyesma.org) The Empire State Medical Association is highly concerned about the claims by Michael Worobey that “AIDS virus invaded the United States in about 1969 from Haiti, carried most likely by a single infected immigrant who set the stage for it to sweep the world in a tragic epidemic”. We reject the comments that “researchers think an unknown single infected Haitian immigrant arrived in a large city like Miami or New York, and the virus circulated for years — first in the U.S. population and then to other nations.” Gilbert and Worobey, analyzed samples from only five of these Haitian immigrants dating from 1982 and 1983. They also looked at genetic data from 117 more early AIDS patients from around the world. This genetic analysis allowed them to calibrate the molecular clock of the strain of HIV that has spread most widely, and calculated when it arrived first in Haiti from Africa and then in the United States. The researchers virtually ruled out the possibility that HIV had come directly to the United States from Africa, setting a 99.8 percent probability that Haiti was the steppingstone. For Haiti, the history of HIV/AIDS represents stigma, discrimination, and racism. In 1982, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) incorrectly inferred that Haitians were at increased for acquiring HIV as a racial group (1). HIV/AIDS therefore became known as the “4H Disease”, affecting homosexuals, heroin addicts, hemophiliacs, and Haitians.

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Take a look at these 2 commercials and what sticks out the most?

Old School:

New School:

Anything catch your attention about the commercials. Of course the old commercial is corny but did you notice the difference in the families? Where is the father in the new family?

When I saw this on TV I got a little mad and said to myself. “Is it just the norm now to depict the black family as a single mother household?” “Have you ever seen an advertisement with any family sitting at the dinner table and it is not a traditional family unit?” But, I guess this is the new reality of how the black family is perceived. The statistics also don’t lie because we have so many children born out of wedlock. It is a subtle message but sometimes the truth hurts…