Written by CHUMA
Here is something to think about:
I have always believed in voting for many imperative reasons. But I have mainly been driven to do my civic duty because it is a privilege that our African American ancestors tirelessly fought for—a legal symbol of equal rights. But disappointingly, the upcoming election of 2008 may find me a no-show at the polls. And I say this with lament. But in light of recent events and facts that I have discovered, I personally feel like the candidacy options are dismal.
I started off cheering on Senator Barack Obama for a plethora of—what I believed to be—good reasons. But recently, he has carved a path of inane decisions and wrong moves that has left the bulk of the same-gender-loving and gay and lesbian community displeased with him—myself included.
That’s when I realized that the Democratic community was in big trouble. But how so? We have Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton running for the presidency, too. She’ll save the day. Perhaps not. After some recent data I just read, honestly I am not so sure.
Many people (especially black people) may be surprised to hear me rethink my vote for Mrs. Clinton considering the longstanding love affair with the Clintons that black people have nurtured over the years; I, too, have been entwined in this romance. You couldn’t convince me that the Clintons would not be our ace in the hole to redeem this political debacle. I mean, when Bill Clinton was President, I loved him. But now in retrospect, I think I loved him solely because he was beloved by other (black) Democrats.
Think about it: When I was growing up, I always heard black people say that they were Democrats because that particular political party was in favor of black people. And sadly that was the only reason they could furnish. But unfortunately, this is not completely true. Yes, the Democrats were for funding social welfare programs to help the poor, but overall they never have been a party that supports race. They support assisting the poor, and it just so happens to be a fact that minorities are the majority when it comes to being poor. So in hindsight we have been bamboozled to believe that the Democratic Party is the Peter Pan of the black race; probably because between the Republicans and the Democrats, the Democrats come out as the better choice. But the question is, Should we be choosing any of them?
I hate to break the news and expose this secret—which really isn’t a secret at all, just only to a large number of black people—but I recently found out from reading an article by Adeeba Folami, a writer to The Atlanta Voice, that the Clintons are affiliated with the Bilderberg Group, which has been described as a “secretive shadow government.” In the international bestseller The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, award-winning investigative journalist Daniel Estulin, who has been researching the Bilderberg’s for over 14 years, makes the case that this shadow government’s top priority is to do away with sovereign nation states and place them under the jurisdiction of “an electronic global police state.” Estulin claims that both Clintons are members of this group.
According to Black Listed News (BLN), Mrs. Clinton has been approached by activists in California, Nevada and New York about her affiliation with the group, but has yet to issue a response. Now what if she really is an agent or cohort of this alleged “shadow government,” how much would she really be in favor of blacks or anyone else for that matter?
And as quoted from Folami’s article, “If she, like her husband, is apparently going to be given a free pass by black voters, can they complain if they get the same, or worse results? Will they stand and applaud for the Democratic front runner if the 2002 words of civil rights organizer Kevin Alexander Gray, about former President Clinton, also ring true for her?: ‘….Black incarceration rates during the Clinton years surpassed Ronald Reagan’s eight years. The incarceration rates for blacks increased from around 3,000 per 100,000 to 3,620 per 100,000 people,’ Gray said in an op-ed titled, Clinton and Black Americans' Soul Brother. ‘[Clinton’s] policies and attitudes on due process, equal protection/treatment, or civil rights were horrible.’”
But black people, including myself, didn’t think so.
Bill Clinton has been referred as “the first black president” by the Congressional Black Caucus in 2001, and he was even made an honorary member of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2002. But now I’m wondering if we all have been hoodwinked in the worse way?
Honestly, I thought Bill Clinton was an excellent president, despite controversy. But perhaps there is so much more that we do not know and understand which is why it’s so important to read more about politics if you’re planning on being proactive at choosing members in office. It’s time to be more involved in these matters of our nation in order to make educated and well-informed choices when voting instead of naively voting based on popular and traditionally ignorant reasons. If we continue this practice of believing everything we hear without researching the validity of the politicians’ intentions, we mine as well be voting for the devil, or just not at all.
Recently, after an intense few days in Washington D.C. to conduct a training on effective service provision and public health access strategies for diverse African Americans, on the day I was scheduled to fly home, I missed the flight and was stranded. I had not accurately assessed the time needed to get to the airport on time, not considering the issue of rush hour D.C. traffic. Already worn out, I had to wait at Reagan National Airport an additional seven hours before another flight would be available.
I can remember when I first met Kevin E. Taylor. It was 1994. I was temping at Sony Music in Manhattan, and the late Luther Vandross was there for an interview, arrogantly strutting around the office with that certain “here I am” air about him. He was proudly perusing the platinum albums adorned on the walls, many of them his own. An upbeat man with an attractive luminescence appeared from one of the tucked away offices to greet Luther. He looked at me and grinned coyly, and instantly I felt something intriguing about him. Swiftly, I looked away for a moment. But when I decided to steal a second look from askance, he was escorting Luther away into a private conference room. That man was Kevin. 
The Reverend Ken Hutcherson, a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, heads the Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, home of Microsoft. 
Fear is the polar opposite of love. It constricts. It hides. It shuts down. It suffocates. It silences. Eventually, all that is possible is seemingly bleak, resulting in the feeling to give up. It feels safer to live inside of the box that we’ve fooled ourselves into believing is our rescuer. But in actuality, we’ve been abandoned by our own selves, because we haven’t allowed who we really are to manifest. Instead, we remain who we are not, and completely betray ourselves.
If you're serious about losing weight, here are two important tools you shouldn't do without: a food scale and measuring cups. 
The most important African explorer of America was Estevanico (also known as Little Stephen), the first foreigner to discover New Mexico. Born in Morocco around 1500, Estevanico left Spain on June 17, 1527, as the slave of Andrés Dorantes, a Spanish explorer. Dorantes and Estevanico had joined a disastrous Spanish expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez, the Spanish governor of Florida, to explore his new territory. Soon after their arrival in Tampa Bay in 1528, the party fell victim to disease, animal attacks, and Indians vigorously defending their land. When the army of two hundred Spaniards tried to sail from Florida to Mexico, they shipwrecked in Texas. Eventually the party of two hundred was reduced to only four: Dorantes, Stephen, and two other Spaniards. Of these, Stephen was the most important to the success of their eight-year search for the Spanish settlement in Mexico City. Because of his facility for learning new languages quickly, Estevanico became thee spokesperson and negotiated for food, shelter, and directions from the Indians. Once the group reached Mexico City, Estevanico was rewarded by appointment to another expedition, led by Father Marcos Niza, to travel northward and locate the legendary “Seven Cities,” later called the Seven Cities of Cíbola (or God). Although Marcos later claimed to be the first to discover New Mexico, he had in fact sent Estevanico ahead of him as a scout. Disobeying Marco’s orders, Estevanico did not wait for his slower compatriot, but pushed on to become the first non-native American to cross what today is the international border and explore Arizona and New Mexico. In May 1539 Estevanico reached the ridge of the Hauchuca Mountains and surveyed much of southern Arizona. But upon reaching his destination, the city of Cíbola, Estevanico was murdered by the Zuni Indians in 1539, seeking to protect their land from further incursions. Although his death allowed others to claim they had discovered Cíbola, Estevanico remains the first foreign explorer of the southwestern United States.
If you're like many people, one of your arms (or legs) is stronger than the other. To reduce the discrepancy, use dumbbells and choose exercises that allow you to work one limb at a time. This way, you can work your weaker side just a little harder than your predominant side. Here's how: 
As I grapple and dance with my ever becoming womanhood, I am sure that Zimbabwe is simply laying in wait within me for my beckoning. My singing voice clearly springs ancient from the “sacred house” intoning the irrepressible richness of where I come from. My face and feet, my hips and buttocks, my inflection and mannerism are sights of archaeological evidence conclusively establishing my lineage. From the depths of my psychic records, I am claimed by history and geography. 
But have you often felt that others haven’t recognized this offering as a gift? Do you feel as if there have been instances whereas your vulnerability has been unappreciated? You may have gone out of your way to do someone a favor you normally would not have done, and they weren’t grateful. You may have shared a secret with someone, and they betrayed your trust. You may have written someone an emotional letter sharing your inner most private feelings about them, and they didn’t acknowledge it or respond. You may have simply decided to be the best friend and family member or the most loving lover to someone, and unfortunately they used you, deceived you, stole from you, and, even worse, abused you and broke your heart—all examples of when vulnerability is taken for granted. 
Africans, along with the Spaniard Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, were the first to settle what is today Jamestown, Virginia. Ayllón explored the eastern coast of Virginia in the early 1500s and was the first to bring Africans into what is now the United States. Ayllón found San Miguel de Guadalupe, a colony that flourished until 1527, when Ayllón died and was replaced by a more repressive ruler. Eventually the African rebelled, burning the settlement and forcing the Spanish to retreat to Haiti. Many of the Africans who fled the Spanish settlement established their own colony in the area. One cold say, then, that this community of Africans was, after those of the Native Americans, the first permanent colony in Virginia.
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