Manns Medium

With the death toll currently at 313 lives lost and billions of dollars possible, there is very little to be thankful for.   Survivors will be grateful for their lives and the lives of friends and family but may never recover from the death of those closest to them as well as those from neighboring states and communities.   The one thing that we know for sure it that America will recover and as we do in all tragedies, come together as one to help our fellow Americans rebuild better than before.   This is of course who we really are as a nation despite all of the rhetoric and vitriol spewed from a small section of this nation.   We are one and all connected to a much better and higher purpose which binds one to another. As reported by Juan Castro Olivera of the Associated Press in his article titled Sprawling devastation as US storm toll tops 310 “v iolent twisters that famously rip through the US south's "Tornado Alley" are formed when strong jet winds bringing upp...

While channel surfing last night, I stopped by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.   Stewart was interviewing William Cohan about his new book and I heard Mr. Cohan say that Goldman Sachs was a collection of very smart people who were put on Earth to make money.     Sounded like a very strange statement which made me even more interested in how he came to believe such a thing. Mr. Cohan mentioned that many of our former and current leaders of the financial sector of this economy were prior employees or leaders of Goldman Sachs.   He mentioned people like   Robert Rubin   and   Henry Paulson   who served as   United States Secretary of the Treasury   as well as   Mark Carney , the governor of the   Bank of Canada   since 2008.   Research lead me to discover that Stephen Friedman , a former director of Goldman Sachs, was named Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in January 2008 and we are all aware of the con...

Media tells us that there are only two sides to this debate, the Republicans and the President.   The big money donors scramble to decide which one works better for them and then begin to invest millions into making sure that the others never see the light of day.   Each side must now present their take to the public and give them a choice.   This is how Washington is supposed to work.   Every once in a while though, the mold is broken and another voice sneaks through.   This is the case here between the battles of the budgets.   President Obama proposed his budget last week after Republicans revealed theirs and the battle was joined.   Comparing those two led many of us to believe that the best one was the White House plan, we now know better.   In the battle of the budgets there is one and one only which does more and better than any of the others.   It’s the little known U.S. House of Representatives Budget of the Congressional Progressive...

America is facing another Civil War but it’s not the exact same kind of civil war that was fought over slavery.   It’s the kind of civil war which will be fought with words, deeds, actions and at the ballot box.   The civil war that I am speaking of is this declining effort by a few to push this nation back to a time where equal rights were nothing more than just words. I’m talking about a war over money being the catalyst behind every action by those elected to serve the public and not their own interest.   Where are those who claim to love this country so much when a city is changing its name just for a few dollars?   Joe Mandak of the Associated Press reports in his article titled Altoona, Pa., changes name to Spurlock movie title that “b eginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the city of Altoona will change its name to "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," after the latest film by sarcastic documentarian Morgan Spurlock.   The city is changing its...

If you are anything like me, you choose the news agency which brings you the news that is easy to understand all sides and that can be trusted.   If you are anything like me, you are still searching for that source. I wanted on the day when real journalist would pull a “Walter Cronkite” and force those that they are interviewing to prove proof of what they say instead of just allowing them free reign to pontificate.   I thought that surely it would have been the case with experienced journalist but was greatly disappointed.   Donald Trump was invited to speak both in person and on the phone but barely held to standard.   He was not asked about his solutions to the situations we currently face and was let off the hook when he gave stupid answers like “I would tell China that plays time is over” or “I would take over the largest oil field”.   It was never brought to his attention that we had 8 years of that and we all should remember the results. Now the media i...

I was watching The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell last night and he made this point which I had not thought of until after he made it.   NBC Entertainment Division could have easily stopped Donald Trump in his tracks if the media and those with a little spine in Burbank, California had stepped up and spoke out.   They have not and therefore have allowed this country to again become marred in this deep chasm of racism again.   They are not the only ones to blame, the public is just as guilty but NBC took a position that can not only prove worthless in the end but could be quite costly. If African-Americans and those who are grossly offended by the implied comments of Mr. Trump were to say enough and turn the channel from any show on the NBC Network would the NBC Entertainment Division, then is more concern with a conflict between them and Donald Trump?   Would General Electric (GE) be happy that they continue to remain silent while Trump hides behind them instead ...

What the recent development has taught us is some people are allowed freedoms that others are not.   No one asked for the long form or any proof of citizenship from any of the other 43 presidents but from the 44 th it was deemed as a legit request.   What we should learn from this event is be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.   Donald Trump and his media minions played this up until it began to actually affect the average America out there.   Until it became such a conversation piece that many State legislatures was spending more time crafting a bill about this that they forgot why they were elected to serve.   They chased “birther bills” instead of “job creating” ones.   They spent more time concentrating on which side to line up on regarding this document than they did concentrating on the major issues facing those very voters who were crying out for their help.   “ This is why there are quotes in the article written by Rache...

I have been following Ron Paul for quite some time now and much of what he says I can agree with.   I do not agree with how he wants to get there but I can clearly understand why he wants to go.   Imagine my confusion when I heard that he had launched an exploratory committee again.   After watching Donald Trump play the media for every dime that he could get, I then began to question the motives of Ron Paul. He captured a lot of young votes and I am sure made quite a bit of money for his war chest but hearing his take on topics beginning to sound like those of Donald Trump and Pat Buchanan, I began to get a little frightened that he had drank some of the strange tea brew.   I began to think that he had made so much money running, but never winning that he had begun to believe that he found a gold mine.   I think that now he has shared that with his son who is now looking to take over the family business some day. The Bible says, “judge not and ye shall not be...

The idea that this country can not deal with the price of gas and how constricting it is to our way of life is a complete joke.   History tells us that this trend comes about this time every year and goes for a few months here and there.   The spin offered by those who believe this is a hot issue is astounding and therefore made to appear so complex that many Americans just throw up their hands and look for anyone who will promise to find the answer. I allowed myself to be drawn into this discussion by Laura Conaway ’s feed on the Maddowblog article titled Your Democratic president on GOP ideas .   In it she quotes Ezra Klien, whom I have great respect for and love to listen to.   While I do agree with what was reported as Ezra writing “t he shift toward Republican thinking hasn't gained President Obama support from Republicans, and it leaves a lot of empty space on the left,” I do not totally agree with his premise and find myself agreeing with the comment by April...

I had often wondered about the statement made at the healthcare town halls of those who decried that “they wanted their country back”.   I think now the actions of some governors and state house may provide us with a clue of what they meant.   Very few have reported on the recent invasion of Benton Harbor by the new governor of Michigan but mainstream media has been all over the uprising in Wisconsin.   I could not help but see how these and all of the other things happening around this nation was linked and nothing made it even more cleared than this Jennifer Page article titled Martial Law Now a Reality in Michigan which reported that “t he Michigan   AFL-CIO   released a   press release   in response to Benton Harbor: "This is sad news for democracy in Michigan. It comes after the announcement of Robert Bobb in Detroit ordering layoff of every single public school teacher in the Detroit Public School system," says Mark Gaffney, President of Michig...

For the past few weeks since the protests have been going on in Syria, I had withheld my opinion until I heard Senator Joe Lieberman speak on State of the Union with Candy Crowley.   What was most disturbing about the rhetoric spewed by Mr. Lieberman was asking President Obama for the same type of action that led us into the Iraq War.   The same “go-it-alone” thinking that has so far cost more in lives than it was ever worth. Based on this article written by Bassem Mrque of the Associated Press titled Syria Targets Activists in Pinpoint Raids in which he reports that “e arlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Assad to say he was "greatly disturbed" by the reports of violence. Many Western leaders, including President Barack Obama, have condemned Syria's harsh tactics to quell dissident.   Britain's Foreign Office advised against all travel to Syria because of the violence. It added that "in light of the deteriorating security situation, Br...

From the tip-off of game 4 between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers, it was like seeing a well rehearsed play falling apart scene by scene.   For dire-hard Heat supporters like me, it was very painful to watch and the only solace was when Dwayne Wade and LeBron James finally decided to take over the game.   That feeling soon died and even though they had the lead, it never again felt like the Heat was in control. Dan Gelston, AP Sports Writer said it best in his article titled 76ers rally to beat Heat 86-82 in Game 4 , “The sweep for the Heat was 95 seconds away. Miami held a six-point lead, had The Big Three on the court and a bevy of clutch plays behind them.   All the 76ers had was their unwavering belief.   When they told Doug Collins in the huddle late in the game, “We’re going back to Miami,” his reply was a simple one.   “I’ll be there with you,” said Collins, the Sixers coach.”   The Heat appeared to be mired in mud and completely disorientated...

My dream ended on the day I had to shut the doors of my business because a one-man shop could not compete with well established businesses especially with the economy crashing as it had.   That day was December 12, 2009. Since that time I have lost everything that I had worked so hard to obtain and took a serious hit to my manhood.   Seeing the look in the eyes of my children when they learned our fate, did little to make things any better.   There was no unemployment compensation for me because of being self-employed and even after surviving a family of 10 with a single mother, this sequence of events seemed insurmountable.   The only place left to turn besides family was my faith in God that things would get better. April 22, 2011 my prayers were answered and a new job was mine.   It’s funny that it is exactly the same job that I had been doing so I attribute acquiring this position to my experience.   It’s also strange that other agencies that I had co...

After reading this article by The CNN Wire Staff titled Suspect in Colorado bomb case had been recently released from prison , I was quite disturbed that this suspect may have been released too early.   I had thoughts of the penal system was constructed to rehabilitate but this person must have fallen through the cracks.   I wondered why someone would commit a crime especially as reported “t he suspect in the attempted bombing of a Colorado mall was released from a federal prison exactly one week before, a federal law enforcement source told CNN Sunday.   The FBI Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force identified the subject of a nationwide manhunt as Earl Albert Moore, 65.” After thinking about it for some time, I had another thought.   Earl Albert Moore is 65 years old and maybe there was no one left on the outside for him.   Being a former law enforcement official, I have learned that some people find it much easier to cope in prison or jail than they do out and I...

When peeling back the layers of an onion, you have got to be very careful for fear that the adage is proven true that it will make you cry.   After doing a little bit more research on Donald John Trump, I began to get the same feeling about him.   Which one do we believe in or which one can we trust.   No one will be able to honestly begrudge the man his enormous success in business but to pledge my loyalty behind him present a different dilemma.   If he is as great as he makes himself sound and can do as well as he would have us all believe, then why are there still major questions about that which he feels most passionate about, Donald Trump? The first layer that needs to be addressed is the certainty of really which party he belongs to or what philosophy he will ascribe.   “Was   Donald Trump   toying with the idea of a presidential run as far back as 2009?   That's when   New York City Board of Elections   filings show The Donald sw...

Of all of the studies, I have ever heard conducted, this is one which should have never seen the light of day.   Not only was it done in a manner much unlike any that I have ever heard of but the premise was as flawed as the results.   According to an article written by Rachael Rettner a MyHealthNewsDaily Staff Writer titled Mothers Who Breast-Feed Are Viewed as Incompetent , “ Although breast-feeding provides proven health benefits for both mother and baby, women who choose to breast-feed are perceived as less competent than women who do not breast-feed, a new study suggests.   In one of their experiments, for instance, researchers found that the participants were less likely to hire a woman for a hypothetical job position once they learned she was breast-feeding.   Given the known  benefits of breast feeding , the study researchers were surprised by the results. "I would have had the opposite prediction, that breast-feeding would make somebody seem really com...

I had always thought that our current president was more than just another world leader and that our faith in his ability to handle stressful and tough situations would be rewarded.   I had no idea that it would be shown true in this manner. According to an article written by Julie Pace of the Associated Press titled Obama says new task force will examine gas prices , President Barack Obama showed me and those who care to look just how cool, calm and collected he really was.   First he did something that I had prayed he would do by allowing the Justice Department to begin checking into this sudden rise in gas prices.   This article stated that he “ said Thursday that the Justice Department will try to "root out" cases of fraud or manipulation in oil markets.   "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno, Nev.   The ta...

According to an article written by Sarah Brumfield of the Associated Press titled Police: Body found in Md. river is missing NC teen , “ A tattoo on a body found in a Maryland river was the first indication it might be a North Carolina teen who went missing while visiting relatives over the Christmas holidays, police said Thursday.   Phylicia Barnes, from the small North Carolina city of Monroe, about 25 miles southeast of Charlotte, disappeared Dec. 28 while visiting her older half-siblings in Baltimore. “While this is not the type of information that you wish to tell any parent with missing children, it was the task of law enforcement still. While this article did cover this story well, it took a turn that proves there are decent people in this world and bad things do happen to good people.   I say that because the article mentioned that when “Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi began describing it as "Baltimore's Natalee Holloway case." And even though “the Barnes case...

I can’t help but think that soon, Libya will be free from Gadhafi and his crew and those rebels who stood up to take back their country will be forever engrained in the history of that country for years and years to come.   They started off as a group of common folks but may end as the movement that truly changed a nation. I think this because of the article written by Karin Laub and Maggie Michael of the Associated Press titled Libyan rebels report gains in Misrata fighting in which they detailed a strategy of “t he rebels taking over several buildings along parts of the street, enabling them to cut off supplies — ammunition, food and water — for days to a Gadhafi unit and dozens of rooftop snipers.”   This seemed way beyond their capabilities when this conflict first started.   It appears that these rebels have come a very long way in a short period of time.   If they can secure Misrata, bring back those civilians that were chased from their homes and return this...