Ex-Sectary of Education Bill Bennett made a very strong statement the other day saying:

Well, I don’t think it is either, I don’t think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don’t know. But I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

Yes, this is a pretty harsh thing to say, especially over the air. Although, this may offend many African Americans, as it does offend me, we cannot ignore the truth. And the truth is, blacks are responsible for more crimes than any other race. The Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that Blacks are responsible of more than 50 percent of violent crime and over 36 percent of property crime which is the highest of all other races for these two categories. Violent crimes consist of rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault and property crime consist of household burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft.

Although what he said is harsh, if you erase offense of race, his theory is reasonable. You would probably have to think out side the box to understand this. If you have something that produces the majority of an action, and if you remove that something, then that action will be reduced.

Was what he said harsh? Yes. Was what he said wrong? Not in theory.

Like the March of Dimes’ victory against polio in the U.S., civil rights organizations can claim victory as well. At one time, black Americans did not enjoy the same constitutional guarantees as other Americans. Now we do. Because the civil rights struggle is over and won doesn’t mean that all problems have vanished within the black community. A 70 percent illegitimacy rate, 65 percent of black children raised in female-headed households, high crime rates and fraudulent education are devastating problems, but they’re not civil rights problems. Furthermore, their solutions do not lie in civil rights strategies.

-Walter Williams

I was listening to ” Rush Limbaugh” the other morning and he was discussing on why is it that when non-blacks criticize black political leaders like the black mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, it is racist. On one of his calls, he asks this one black lady a very good question. He ask, “Why is it that many blacks do not look up to people like Thomas Sowell and Clarence Thomas?” The lady on the phone gave a really good answer. She said, referring to blacks, that all of our lives we hear on how the “White Man” keeps us down. After hearing this over and over again and without actually seeing this, we tend to believe this. Especially hearing this since you was a child. Then you hear strong influential political leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton whose job is to bring this idiotic concept home. Therefore, this deters many blacks to look up to people like Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, and may I add, Walter Williams. She also mentions that many blacks do not have much access to learn about people like Thomas Sowell because of where he writes his columns. I agree with this woman 100 percent. I do believe this is one of the main reasons why blacks do not look up to more dominant black political leader.

Also, it is funny how people like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton promote this “White Man” concept, but they had a front seat and spoke at the Democratic National Convention with the “White Man” liberal John Kerry.

(Ranting) To those who believes in this “White Man” keeps me down concept. GET OVER IT!!! The white man is not trying to keep you down. This concept is your excuse for your lack of success. Also, stop looking for handouts. Get up, get out, and get your own success. If you are waiting for the “White Man” to pay you back for all the horrible things they did to our ancestors, like reparations, you will be waiting forever. It is not going to happen! Our true black political leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X lead the path of racism to where it is today, minimum! Today, blacks are as equal to others more than it has ever been. Let us take advantage of this and let us live prosperous. Let us stop making excuses for our own failure. Let us teach our kids about how important education is. Let us reduce separatism from other races. Let us learn from the “White Man” or any other race on how to create success and riches. If each individual black person does this, we will prosper as a race of proud Black Americans.

Yahoo has announced that they will be testing a slicker email interface for their free email. This email interface will be similar to Microsoft Outlook and will give you more of a feeling like a desktop application.

The company plans to invite a “sizable” portion of its current e-mail accountholders to experiment with the retooled service, said Yahoo spokeswoman Karen Mahon, who declined to be more specific.

If the test goes well, all of Yahoo’s e-mail users — an audience that spans tens of millions — eventually will be converted to the new system.

The overhaul, described as the most extensive since Yahoo began offering free e-mail accounts eight years ago, represents the latest salvo in a technological tug-of-war for online traffic.

For the past two years, Yahoo and its main Internet rivals — Google Inc., AOL and Microsoft’s MSN.com — have been unveiling a series of upgrades aimed at attracting and retaining their Web audiences so they remain appealing outlets for advertisers.

More recently, the major e-mail providers have been introducing other bells and whistles to keep their users happy and coming back for more ads. Yahoo’s upgrade follows recent AOL improvements meant to make its e-mail service quicker and easier to use.

Yahoo’s e-mail service is currently leading the pack, with 63.6 million unique U.S. visitors during July, according to the most recent figures from comScore Media Metrix, a research firm. AOL ranked second with 48.7 million visitors followed by MSN’s Hotmail (44.4 million), Comcast Corp.’s Webmail (5.6 million) and Google’s Gmail (5.4 million).

With its changes, Yahoo’s e-mail will look more like a traditional inbox that operates through a software program installed on a computer hard drive instead of being hosted on the Internet. Yet Yahoo’s redesigned service still relies on a Web browser and won’t require its users to install anything on their computers.

Using “dynamic” html, Yahoo’s e-mail accounts will feature an inbox containing all e-mails on the top of the page with a separate pane for reading e-mail below it. The feature is meant to enable users to scroll through an e-mail folder without having to click back and forth between Web pages.

I have been using Yahoo email service for about the eight years it existed and I love it. I believe Yahoo is one of the best free internet services when it comes to email and instant messenger. Yahoo will be making a big jump if and when it pulls this off. I am pretty sure its competitors will soon follow.

Here is clip of police looting Wal-Mart Thanks Lodrick for the clip.

The victims of Hurricane Katrina are being referred to as refugees. What is a refugee?

Refugee:
1) One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.

Refuge:
1) Protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship.
2) A place providing protection or shelter.
3) A source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble.

Although these victims kinda sortof fit the term refugee, I think this term for them is a little harsh. I don’t recall any other disasters (i.e. Hurricane Charley, Ivan, and Frances) where the victims were referred to as refugees.

NEW ORLEANS — The evacuation of the New Orleans Superdome was disrupted Thursday after a gun shot reportedly was fired at a military helicopter as thousands of National Guard troops poured into the Big Easy to boost security in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (search).

Fights and trash fires broke out at the hot and stinking Superdome and anger and unrest mounted across New Orleans as the first of nearly 25,000 refugees being sheltered at the Superdome began to arrive in Houston, Texas. Thousands of people rushed from nearby hotels and other buildings, hoping to climb onto the buses taking evacuees from the arena.

“We are out here like pure animals. We don’t have help,” the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing.

One ambulance official overseeing the airlift rescue operations said a gunshot was fired at a military helicopter over the Superdome before daybreak.

He also said that during the night, when a medical evacuation helicopter tried to land at a hospital in the outlying town of Kenner, the pilot reported that 100 people were on the landing pad, and some of them had guns.

Meanwhile, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (search) ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and stop thieves who were becoming increasingly hostile.

This is pretty sad. I would think in a catastrophe like this, everyone will work together instead of working against each other. Also, what is the purpose of shooting at the military helicopter? I can not think of any reason why these people would be so hostile to help. I understand they are all frustrated and hungry, but being hostile only makes the situation worse.

The 10,000 new National Guard troops deployed to the regions brought the number of troops dedicated to the effort to more than 28,000, in what may be the largest military response to a natural disaster.

This goes to show that the government is putting lots of effort to this devastation. So, why be so hostile? I can understand if it seem like no one is doing anything about it, but that is not the case. I just wish and pray that the people that was affected by Hurricane Katrina work together and get through this horrible situation as best as possible.