Manns Medium

Rockford, IL-Starting yesterday 3/29/2012, the Rockford School District Teacher voted to picket to bring attention to the need for a new contract with the Rockford School District.   There are many on both sides who can clearly explain why this walk-off may be necessary but none seem that convincing.   It did cause me to look deeper to try and understand just who may benefit.   I kept coming back to the kids.   Nothing, it appeared, was of benefit to those who should matter more than anything else.   While those teachers, who walked out, stroll the picket line, the kids are left to their own devices or the hasty implementations of working parents plan for them being home instead of in school.   It also occurred to me that the School District really do not appear to have a valid interest in doing all that they can to keep the teachers in the classroom because they are not risking anything at all. Think about the funds that school districts rece...

This article is strictly speculation even though it is taken from numerous news accounts, the 911 tapes and reported eyewitness testimony.   It is my account of the final hours in the life of Trayvon Martin.   A young black male takes a few minutes away from watching television and decides to make a quick trip to the local convenience store to pick up his favorite candy and his favorite drink.   He leaves the store and as he made his way back home to his gated community, he makes a phone call to his girlfriend.   As he enters the community he slows his gait to give him more time to speak to the lady in his life.   While walking he looks up and notices an unknown vehicle parked on the street with a man sitting behind the wheel.   He then dons his hood which is attached to his shirt and continues his journey.   As his vision of the driver becomes clearer, he does not recognize the person and decides to change his direction to avoid him. ...

As an African-American male, I know firsthand how it feels to be eyed more than others as you enter shop and leave any store.   I know how it feels to hear others remark about your style of dress as if they can tell what type of person you are by the way you dress.   I have dressed in suits and been told that I look like a preacher or dressed causal only to be asked if I had any drugs to sell.   It’s the same as recently being told that my facial expressions and manner of speaking makes me appear angry while the guy sitting next to me who were as animated as I was seemed more passionate.   It did not go unnoticed that the guy sitting next to me was white.   These and so many more instances makes anyone wonder why I can be assumed to be angry, a preacher or a drug dealer while others dressed as I am are passionate and looks like a business man or lawyer. Still the use of the word racism bothers me when it is used.   It, like the “n” word is not an an...

Any person properly trained in the art of law enforcement knows that there is at least five stages of force.   The first is presence, second is verbal, third is physical, fourth is chemical and five is deadly.   Each of these stages should be given ample time to work and depending on the situation will determine how much time is ample.   According to the article by Matt Gutman, Olivia Katrandjian and Seni Tienabeso of ABC News it is reported that George Zimmerman was not a trained police officer so he might not have known but those who later responded should have and if nothing else took Mr. Zimmerman into custody until they could have properly explored the progression of force used by Zimmerman.   At least then it would have appeared that Zimmerman was arrested in the eyes of the witnesses.   But according to the above mentioned journalist’s and their article titled “ Neighborhood Watchman Who Allegedly Shot Trayvon Martin Wanted to Be a Cop ” responding San...

I ask this question because I am hearing and seeing women voting for those who support this recent rash of an assault on women.   Politicians who have signed bills to make rape legal as long as it is done by her doctor and refuse to step up and stand out by publically calling for an end to this assault.   They voted because it is said that they are not a single issue voter and while I can respect that, I cannot understand how one can justify voting for or supporting someone who do not see them as intelligent enough to know what to do with their own body. I have a mother and sisters, daughters and a loving girlfriend.   I would like to think that as a former US Marine, I fought and was willing to lay down my life so that they would be free to choose what life they wanted for themselves.   Where they would be free to choose their own destiny without governmental involvement from state or federal.       A life where the final decision is theirs wh...

There has been hours and hours of coverage about the US soldier who went on a killing spree in Afghanistan and there has been a few willing to offer their reasoning for his actions.   Out of all of the noise, I have not heard one person propose that the actions may have been guided by an even more compelling force than Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The actions may have been fueled by a condition called “battle fatigue” combined with the enormous drive to get out of Afghanistan and away from the war zone for good.   I say that because understanding that the breaks you receive from war is never enough time to allow any military member to deal with what they witnessed or took part in before being sent right back to the front lines.   It may have been as simple as getting tired of dodging bullets and wanting to be home to rest. According to an article written by Heidi Vogt and Pauline Jelinek of the Associated Press titled Accused US soldier flown out o...

I was again surprised to find that the top political news of the past few days were the new poll taken which showed Republicans voters still thinking that President Obama was a Muslim or didn’t know either way.   I wasn’t surprised by the numbers but more surprised by the cable news bunch thinking that this was really news.   I mean, what did they expect those numbers to show?   Breaking news would have been had those Republicans interviewed had changed their minds and voted to say that President Obama was a Christian.   This is not news. If you have an elect rid that will whole-heartedly accept the word of other people when they say that they are Christian but refuse to accept the word of Obama, you cannot expect for any other result.   When you have an elect ride that supports the abuse and denial women and their rights to deciding what happens to their own bodies, you cannot expect any other result.   When you have an elect rid that believes the ...

Sometimes our news agencies fail to report things that affect many of us directly and because the information is not shared, many more are taken advantage of.   This has certainly been the case during this economic turn-down and with so many struggling to make ends meet.   A few that I thought would be of good use to know are taken from the alert email received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3. The IC3 continues to receive reports of counterfeit check schemes targeting U.S. law firms. The scammers contact lawyers via e-mail, claiming to be overseas and requesting legal representation in collecting a debt from third parties located in the U.S. The law firms receive a retainer agreement and a check payable to the law firm. The firms are instructed to deposit the check, take out retainer fees, and wire the remaining funds to banks in China, Korea, Ireland, or Canada. After the funds are wired overseas, the checks are determined ...

Being trapped in a life of poverty for so long, I am quite aware of how disappointing it is to believe in something or someone and have that faith shattered.   This is probably what many in the Tea Party is now feeling after starting off with such great promise only to now be seen as a meager figment of its former self.   Confused as to my announcement so far, let me explain. The Tea Party first formed to hold officials accountable, lessen the role of government in our everyday lives, curb the spending and bring in leaders who will create jobs.   They have failed on 3 of the 4.   I give them a pass on the curbing spending mainly because without government involvement, this economy would not be seeing any type of recovery but the other 3 I cannot help but ask each and every remaining person who claims the label of Tea Partier, what happened?   You were given an opportunity to demonstrate what you said that you could do but right now that which you are eat...

Where do we find these politicians who say that they are about things that the majority of us would like to see in our political leaders only to then speak senseless in the next breathe.   When are we going to demand that they have at least a clue about what it is they would do about the issues facing this nation and have answers to the simple questions that arises when they open their mouths? I’m reminded about this when I listened to Mr. Samuel Wurzelbacher interview on The Last Word with Lawrence O Donnell last night.   He was asked about his tax plan and mentioned the old Herman Caine refrain of 999 but did not seem to know the unjust result that plan would have on the majority of those he claim to want to serve.   He was asked about the Grover Norquist pledge of never raising taxes for any reason and his take on the signing of this pledge by those who are now reneging was that those who renege was not men and women of their word.   He was asked what he t...

                                                                   Introduction       In the days following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the South would endure a change that was welcomed by some but despised by many.   Many former masters or plantation owners were left in a quandary when the backbone of what made their fields profitable and their status elevated was free to now leave and search out a place in the world for them and their families.   Some owners decided that they would make former slaves an offer that they could not refuse.   They offered them a share of what they grew on the farm and along with mo...