Now that Michael Jackson’s body has been laid to rest, let’s focus on his spirit. I watched the public memorial service and couldn’t believe the message that was relayed. In fact, the only person who presented the real Michael Jackson was Brooke Shields. She brought him to life and made him human.
What bothered me the most was the constant theme that Michael Jackson was all about race and empowering African Americans. That wasn’t the impression I got from him, having watched him perform for decades. (MJ and I are the same age.)
Michael Jackson’s message was that race was a non-issue. His concern was with the humanity of every person, regardless of race. He told us that we were all the same no matter our skin color or nationality or religious beliefs. We were people. Michael Jackson focused on our similarities to bring all people together.
So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Michael Jackson did do more for people of color than first meets the eye. But it wasn’t because he preached “black power.” It was because he preached – and lived – “It don’t matter if you’re black or white.”
I know I’ve neglected this blog as well as my others. Shame on me. I’ve had many thoughts on the passing scene and have shared some thoughts here and there around the internet. It’s time to get those thoughts together and put them right here, under my own name.
Sometimes I have very deep, convoluted thoughts and sometimes I have quick snippets of ideas. One problem I face is finding the time to organize my mangled mess of ideas so others can follow. The other problem is that I’m never sure if a one or two sentence post is enough to be of interest to anyone. Or if I’m even capable of condensing my thoughts into one or two sentences.
I am going to try though. This will be an experiment, in a way. We’ll see if anyone bothers to read this blog after being dead for so long, if the long posts or the short ones attract more readers and if I can mix local with national news enough to keep me interested.
I could rant on and on right now but I won’t. Instead, I’ll paraphrase something that I heard Dick Morris say when he visited West Liberty State College last month.
Tonight, I am proud to be an American. I am proud of my country for being one step closer to overcoming our racism.
In January, when Obama is inaugurated, I will be very concerned for the future of my country.
Nothing would make me happier than to find, four years from now, that I was wrong. I just don’t think that will happen.
It’s election day. Whatever will happen, will happen. I’m just so amazed at those who are misinformed. I’m amazed that someone who cares and who is trying to weigh her options, thinks that George W. Bush caused the current banking crisis. I’m amazed that she has not seen this video, in their own words.
And still more:
And for the person who asked, because I know she loves more information rather than less:
From GovTrack Senate Record regarding Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, dated May 25, 2006.
Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]: Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.
I hesitated to use my full name as a domain. Any anonymity that I’d enjoyed with my other domains is completely gone. Yet, here I am. I’m using it because it’s mine and I hate to not use it. Besides, anyone who wants to know who I am from my other sites could find my identity easily enough. I’m really not anonymous.
So now that you know my name, I suppose you want to know what I’m all about and what this blog is about. So here we go.
I’m 48 years old. I’m married and mother to five sons and one daughter. There are 18 years between my oldest and youngest kids. I have a granddaughter. I have an American Pit Bull Terrier, Belle, and I’m an opponent to Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). I’m an advocate for more and better drug rehab facilities for the common folk. I also support the decriminalization of marijuana and other drugs.
Politically, I’m a Libertarian. Both Conservatives and Liberals dislike my views. That makes me happy. And speaking of views, I have many. In fact, the purpose of this blog is to opine about anything that pops into my head. Sometimes I may blog about current events and other times I’ll blog about some mundane notion that occurred to me as I was driving or showering or something. Perhaps someone will actually read this and make some sense of my disjointed thoughts. Won’t that be interesting?
So, bookmark me, add me to your feeds, or link me on your blog. Leave a comment to let me know you wandered by here. And go ahead and disagree with me if you’d like. Just be nice.
I think I like the way my site is looking. Yeah, I do. I like the simplicity of black and white.
But now I have to test to see how this site will look wiht actual posts. huh??? You mean it will eventually have content here? I know it’s been here forever with nothing to read.
so let’s see what happens if we make this post semi-long. Or medium length. Yeah, that’s it.
Okay, so I have the original LiveJournal blog. I have one at http://www.scribbleonthewall.com and http://www.mydandelionpatch.com. And now I have one here. Stay tuned. More to come.
