Manns Medium

Having not being able to view the Obama-Romney Debate live and in person, I subjected myself to hearing the recap from pundits, commentators and those experts who seem to have their finger on the pulse of the political events shaping our world.  According to them, I half expected to see Mitt Romney as an aggressive overseer, holding a whip and taming both Barack Obama and the moderator Jim Lehr.  The vision I had was Romney’s complete command from beginning to end and Obama just standing in a corner somewhere refusing to look in Romney’s direction in fear of being lashed for disobedience.  However after watching it in it’s entirety, the debate that I saw was completely different than the one I had heard about.  This made me begin to questioned if I had witnessed a completely different one. The one that I saw, showed me how gracious Obama really is toward someone he disagrees with.  It showed me that he could deliver a devastating and direct hit to his opponen...

When you feel like you have been in a prize fight and could not defend yourself from the massive amounts of blows thrown by your opponent.  When you thought you had a handle on your opposition only to find yourself trying to dodge a flurry of punches.  Some landing and some glancing but each one inflicting a little damage all the same.  During these times, you realize that this is not a title fight nor is it a dream or a figment of your imagination.  This is life, plain and simple and if you are going to play it, buckle up because it will be a long and bumpy ride. Why so gloom you ask, well I have just discovered that there is a very strong possibility that I have two beautiful daughters that I never got a chance to know, watch grow or hold.  Their names are April and Ashley and they lived in my dreams.  They have relocated into my heart and there they have built a mansion to remain for the rest of my days.  You see, I had taken a military doctor’s ...

On November 13, 2008, I received a letter from the Commandant of the Marine Corps.  Now for those who might not know who that is or know that my prior life was served as a United States Marine from 1980 till 1991, the Commandant is the top executive in the Marines.  He is the guy who sets the policies, procedures and standards that all Marines must live by.  Getting that letter, made me first wonder why he was writing me and if the Marines had finally gotten around to issuing my overdue medals or was there another sinister meaning for this letter.  What I discovered after reading that letter would prove more devastating  than I could have known. The letter was actually from Major General E.G. Payne, Assistant Deputy Commandant, thanking me for taking part in a study  that was seeking to see if there was a link between individuals who had lived and worked at Camp LeJeune between 1957 and 1987 and the cancer causing toxins dumped in the drinking water. ...

Since Mitt Romney won the Republican Party nomination for President, we have heard nothing but negative comments on the job being performed by Obama.  There were negative comments before but not as often as they have been lately.  Also present are the assist that the Romney campaign is receiving from outside groups and those who seem to have a burning desire to hate this president. The label “angry black man” is what was expected by those who view this president as less than they are but the more they attack him both professionally and personally, they can not seem to get him to react in that manner.  So many may now be wondering why I say that the GOP has given credence to this label, I ask you to consider this. Many from the minority groups have been demanded an equal playing field and claiming that they are always at a disadvantage.  Image doing and following every rule established to get ahead only after accomplishing them do you find that there have now bee...

My favorite moments was less about speeches and more about, sometimes, missed actions by those who participated.  The little things that makes one heart sing and reinforce your belief in the goodness of people. One of these was the sincere look Michelle Obama had on her face when she spoke about how her husband sat and read those letters, committing and re-committing himself to doing whatever he could to ease their pain.  Another was hearing Joe Biden tell us how his first question was always “How will this effect the lives of everyday people.”  For a person to make this there first priority means that he surely seeks to answer to a much higher power than delegates and donors.  I was touched by Bill Clinton’s real reaction when he turned to see Barack coming toward him on the stage.  The bending at the waist was a real reaction and not a staged one.  The embrace that both man shared and the closing of their eyes to soak in the true meaning of their relat...

In a time when it appears that money is the primary and sometimes sole motivator behind movements we make, it is apparent that this may have been the only true reason for the new anti-Obama documentary as evidenced by The Huffington Post in an article titled 2016: Obama's America' Expands Into More Theaters Amid Accuracy Issues by Kia Makarechi.  I say this because it appears that it’s co-director, Dinesh D’Souza and it’s producer, Gerald Molen, have risked their reputation to present a movie that is supposed to be based on fact while showing severe indifference. The article chronicles the rise of the gross at the box office “this past weekend” as well as the expansion of it’s audience.  It states that “Molen defended the project as “fair and truthful” in a recent interview” but “the Associated Press fact-checked the film, which attempts to trace the roots of Obama's ideology. The newswire service found a number of errors or claims that are not made in good faith”.  Th...

I ask this question after seeing maximum coverage of Paul Ryan entire story because he might be chosen as Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential pick. It got me to thinking of how the coverage from all forms of media from politics to pro athletes, from movie idols to music legends. How we elevate average people because of the job that they have, the amount of money that they control or the amount of influence they wield. They may be movie stars, jetsetters, important people and big business but if you took away all that they have in tangible assets, they would be just average people. They put on their pants the same way each and every person put on their pants, on leg at a time. So why do we chase them, worship them, fear them and hang on their every word? Many of us claim to be Christians and when it is convenient we use our faith to make our point, but we do not hold God in as high esteem as we do those average people. We know that this is one of the most horrendous sins, we can commit, ...