DarkStar Spouts Off

Love & Life, Life & Love

This has been a great week of love and life on full display.

First, there was Michelle Obama giving the speech at the DNC. You could tell she loves her husband! Or, as I said, (yelled?) to my wife after the speech, "She LOVES herself some Barack!" (Since then I've been teasing Mrs. D.S. by asking, WWMOD (What would Michelle Obama Do) when I want my wife to baby do something for me and she won't do it.

No matter what happens, Barack Obama is a winner. He has a woman who loves him and is there to support him. It cannot be understated that such support makes your life a lot easier.

 

More For Me: Poll on Colin Powell

CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP POLL

August 4-6 [ 2000 ]

Colin Powell's Favorable Rating

Whites  84%

African-Americans 68

Sampling error: +/-6% pts

---

Gallup Poll

A recent Gallup Poll (conducted June 12-18) asked Americans to name "the most important national leader in the black community today." Gallup has twice before asked this question, in 1993 and in 1995.

The results among the sample of 241 blacks included in that survey show a virtual tie for the top position: 18% named Powell and 17% named Jackson. All other names were mentioned by far fewer black respondents: 5% named NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume, 4% named presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton, 2% named National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and 1% named California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Another 18% named a wide variety of leaders, although out of this group, no individual leader was named by 1% or more of black respondents. A third of blacks would not or could not give a name in response to the question.

Comment On Contrast

Obama didn't mention Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech anniversary. Even though I think his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" is more powerful, still that event was historic. For Obama to not mention it was... wrong.

Palin mentioned the anniversary of women getting the right to vote.

Anyway, I like this graphic:

Obama's Speech, Bullet Style

Quickie:

• Historic
• Red meat thrown
• Civil to McCain but still went after him
• Tavis Smiley interviewed Cornell West and Julianne Maulveux (I fix spelling later). They were made he didn't mention Martin Luther King, Jr. by name, on the anniversary of the "I Have A Dream" speech.

It was good, but I wasn't really impressed. Same for Mrs. D.S. Maybe we expected too much.

The Start Of The ISDN Model

This is the start of the ISDN pricing model for residential users of broadband. If you aren't familiar with the model, it is simple. You pay for the amount of data transferred. When you exceed a limit, you are charged more and it is at a higher rate than the average rate if you stay below the limit. (Did that come out right? I'm tired. I've worked A. LOT. OF. HOURS. and I'm exhausted! Mrs. D.S. is going to be happy with the check though).

Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.

On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site.

Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use.

"We've listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive," the company said in a statement on its Web site.

Sure, just leave "excessive" hanging out there at some arbitrary figure, and then when people, rightly, ask what that limit is, you say you have gotten so many requests to define it, so you define it and say the customers requested it! This is why I am looking at homes in areas which have FIOS. COMCAST is a blood sucking leech and I really don't want to give them my business EVER again.

YouTube exists because of the lack of download and upload caps on residential bandwidth. People pay more for the speed of uploads and downloads, not on the amount of data transferred. If the ISDN model was put into play when residential broadband first came out, YouTube may not exist. How many jobs were directly and indirectly created because of YouTube, including jobs at COMCAST?

Blacks Major In Black Studies, NOT!

Blacks Major In Black Studies,

The stereotype held by most people in the U.S. is that African-American college students are rushing into black studies majors. This is totally false. According to new Department of Education statistics, only 960, or 0.7 percent, of all African-American bachelor’s degree recipients in 2004 received their degree in any type of ethnic studies discipline. Therefore, only one out of every 143 bachelor’s degrees awarded to blacks was in ethnic studies. In fact, there are more blacks who majored in the physical sciences — a field in which there are very few African Americans — than African Americans who earned their degree in black studies.

There are more than seven times as many blacks majoring in computer science and more than five times as many blacks majoring in the biological sciences than in black studies.

Blacks make up only 13 percent of the students earning bachelor’s degrees in ethnic studies disciplines. Whites earned 58 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in ethnic studies in the United States in the 2003-04 academic year.

More for me than you.

McCain & Romney?

The attack ads on Biden are out of the window.

I guess the late night/early morning reports were wrong.

Looking at her background, this is a good choice.

Is The U.S. Ready?

Is the U.S. ready to fight a cyber-war with Russia considering what the Russian Mafia has done to Best Western?

The Best Western Hotel Group had more than bathroom towels ripped off over the past year. According to reports over 8 million guest records were nabbed by hackers and, according to authorities, many of the hotel patrons personal information, including home addresses, phone numbers, place of employment and credit card details, are now for sale by the Russian Mafia.

I'm just askin'...

Bullet Point Spouting Off On: Wondering About The Price Of Gas

Quick comments, bullet point style and done as scheduled posting to make it seem like I have something to say every day. I do, but my time is limited so...

• The price of gas was at $4.00+/gallon.
• At that point, people started changing driving habits, getting rid of the SUVs, buying small cars, taking public transportation, and other gas conservation methods.
• President Bush made a statement saying off shore drilling should be allowed and called on congress to make it happen.
• The dollar started to rise in value.
• Then, gas prices started a dramatic fall.

Was it the result of one, all, a combination or something else?

Michelle Loves Her Husband

She brought it with the speech. I don't care if she wrote not one damn word of the speech, she delivered it with passion. She believed it. Ladies and gentleman, Obama is set for life no matter what happens, assuming he doesn't cheat, because that woman is by his side.

Love. Plain. And. Simple.

Bullet Point Spouting Off On: Auto Companies and Gub'mint Loans

Quick comments, bullet point style and done as scheduled posting to make it seem like I have something to say every day. I do, but my time is limited so...

• I don't understand how any politician in the congress can consider giving auto companies loans to retool their plants that build cars for American consumers so they can be more competative. OK, I do understand it; it's votes.
• Ford and GM went for big trucks for the American market and got caught behind out when the market changed because of $4.00/gallon gas. So, like any business that made a business decision that turned out to be bad in the long run, let them dig themselves out.
• Ford and GM build "world cars" that are gas sippers so why will t take 1 or 2 years to "bring" those cars to the American market? I understand the differences in regulation. I understand the plants have to be reconfigured for the new vehicles. (In high school I visited the GM Broening Highway plant and was told by a plant engineer that they start working almost a year in advance to "design" the plant to handle the cars/trucks being built there the next car season). But that long for design to build when the cars are already built for the other markets? Is it THAT hard to re-engineer a car for left-hand drive from right-hand drive? (Yes, I know that the left-hand drive cars have different stresses than the right-hand drive cars and must be factored in, but come on!)
• Ford/Lincoln/Mercury? No, it should be Ford and Lincoln. The Mercury line is a waste of money.
• Chevrolet/Pontiac/Buick/Cadillac? Pontiac or Buick has to go. I'd ax Pontiac and make some of their versions of the Chevrolet cars, "GT" or "GTS" editions. In fact, GM cars are number one in China and do well in the rest of the world. Why do they need a loan?
• When Chrysler got a loan from the U.S., Iacocca made a big deal about "paying the loan back early." What wasn't said was the fleet of government cars changed to Chrysler. And, honestly, I still don't understand how the K-car saved Chrysler because the car, to me, was crap. It was better crap than what they made until then, but it was still crap.

Contradictions Galore

This is nothing but contradictions galore, with enough peeks into the lives of Black folk to make you me sit in amazement. How often do you see this type of nuance in the press?

Obama's Bid Turns Focus On Class Split Among Blacks

ELGIN, S.C. -- Briana Parker, a 17-year-old African-American, drives her Honda every Wednesday from her suburban home here to the local Barack Obama headquarters to work the phone banks. Already accepted at six colleges, the high-school senior finds Mr. Obama an inspiration. "He reminds me that I can go and do things that others said I couldn't do," says Ms. Parker, who plans to double major at college and become a physical therapist.

Seventeen miles and a world away, Malcolm Davis, 25, waits outside his parole office in Columbia, S.C. Like 13% of all black men -- 1.4 million in total -- he can't vote because he lives in a state that disenfranchises people convicted of certain felonies. He scoffs at Mr. Obama's message of hope and change. "He didn't grow up the way I grew up -- Mom smoking crack, Daddy smoking crack. It doesn't matter what I think. Just because a black man is running for president doesn't mean it's going to change things."

Even as Mr. Obama is promising to bring America together, his candidacy is casting new light on the mounting class divide in the black community -- and the debate among blacks about how to get ahead. The expanding black middle class -- accounting for about 40% of the black population -- see in Mr. Obama a validation of the choices they have made: attending largely white colleges, working in predominantly white companies and government offices, climbing up the ladder of American success.

For African-Americans living in the inner city -- where most children are being raised by single mothers, male unemployment in some cities tops 50% and 40% of young black men are either in jail, awaiting trial or on probation -- the view of Mr. Obama is much more skeptical. Black teenagers mock Mr. Obama as a "Halfrican" and a "50-percenter" for his biracial background; his mother is white, his Kenyan-born father was black. A recent special on Mr. Obama on Black Entertainment Television, the most popular station among inner-city blacks, was titled, "Obama: What's in It for Us?

So, uhhhh.... Weren't they complaining about a 98% vote for Obama?

Bullet Point Spouting Off On: Music

Quick comments, bullet point style and done as scheduled posting to make it seem like I have something to say every day. I do, but my time is limited so...

• I was driving into work and I heard Donnie Simpson doing an interview of Ice Cube. In response to a comment Donnie said about Ice Cube going from NWA to "Are We There Yet," Cube said, NWA was then when he was younger, now that he's older, it's different. He does movies like "Are We There Yet" to get the next generation to being open to him and what he does in the future. He also said his new release will be more about what he sees vs. being about him. I may get the CD on G.P. because of the interview and what he had to say, plus the fact that the song I heard, I liked.
• Overall I like the Estelle CD. I don't like the joint with Kanye, but I'm feeling much of the CD. "No Substitute Love" and "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)" I liked from the first play. I can't see how she can make money on the CD with all of the big names on it. Her tour is going to have to get her over.
• Al Green, "Lay It Down", get it.

[ Update ]

Ok, I heard samples of the CD and forget what I wrote about getting the CD on the G.P. The CD is garbage.

The Dark Knight

I just saw "The Dark Knight" and forget about all of the fuss over The Joker. The best character in the movie is Harvey Grant Dent.

[ Updated for name change ]

Bullet Point Spouting Off On: Michael Steele

Quick comments, bullet point style and done as scheduled posting to make it seem like I have something to say every day. I do, but my time is limited so...

• Michael Steele is getting time to speak at the Republican convention. This is the second convention where he is going to be a speaker.  On WOLB morning talk radio, he was criticized as being a hack. Well, he is, but so are all of the Dems who will be speaking at the Dem convention.
• Michael Steele has never run, and won, an individual political race. When he obtained the Lt. Governor position, it was not a position where people elect the position separately, it is a ticket election.
• As Lt. Governor, Steele had a decent public profile. Compare that to  the current Lt. Governor, a Democrat, who most people could not name or point out.

That is all.

If I Were In Obama's Camp

If I were in Obama's camp, I would:

• Say that the campaign needs to break out quotes from Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, and other conservatives who trashed McCain
• Say that the campaign needs to break out quotes from George Bush, "Sr" against Ronald Reagan
• More strongly point out the incoherence of McCain.

But that's just me.

Bullet Point Spouting Off On: The Olympics

Quick comments, bullet point style and done as scheduled posting to make it seem like I have something to say every day. I do, but my time is limited so...

• I've heard talk by the Olympic track commentators and on 2 sports show saying the Olympic U.S. track and field authorities heads should be rolling. I don't understand why people would say this.
  *EVERY* sprinter knows you have to practice hand-offs. These are grown men and women who KNOW they have to practice hand-offs or else risk the DQ.
  Well….
  *THEY*, the athletes, are at fault. (The passer’s only job is to put the baton in the receiver’s hand and release it *ONLY* when that person has it. The receiver's job is to keep their hand as steady as possible when the baton is either called for or when the mark is hit that indicates your hand goes back. Then it is to keep the hand steady, while watching the zones to make sure you don't receive the baton before the zone or out of the zone. It's not hard but it DOES require practice!
• In women's gymnastics, the U.S. team was upset by some of the judging. I understand that but the home country ALWAYS gets home field advantage.
• Again in women's gymnastics, why would you complain that the Chinese team has under-aged team members? Why would you admit that you just got your behind whupped by, say, a 12 year-old when you're, say, 18 or 20?

That's my comments for the day.

Light Posting

Fastest Man

"Lightening" Bolt.
9.69
He. Shut. It. Down. Early.
He may be capable of 9.55.

Obama-tics: Contrast This

OK, contrast these two political maneuvers with the thought in mind that the Obama camp CONTROLS the Democrat convention:

1. Jesse Jackson, Sr, for the first time since 1984, has NOT been given speaking time at the convention. Al Sharpton has not been given speaking time at the convention. Personally, I don't have a problem with this, but it has to be noted and it lit up the Black airwaves yesterday.
2. The Clintons are getting what they want for the convention. Bill gets to speak and Hillary gets a roll call vote for nomination. I understand that Hillary has to get speaking time. I'm not that sure about Bill Clinton, however, especially given he won't even say Obama is qualified to be president beyond the Constitutional requirements.

Just contrast those two things. Some people are wondering if the end of Black politics is hear. For me, this can seem like a continuation of Black politics as normal. Black politicians have power but constantly don't use it within their own party. I think bullet #2 backs that up.

But that's just me.

Quickie: Quote Of The Week

Quote Of The Week!

Never one to mince words, Torvalds also lobbed a verbal charge at the OpenBSD community: "I think the OpenBSD crowd is a bunch of masturbating monkeys, in that they make such a big deal about concentrating on security to the point where they pretty much admit that nothing else matters to them."

I don't know how true it is, but dang if the line isn't funny!

Quickie On Leaked Memos

So, there are "leaked" memos that detail the "chaos" in the Clinton campaign. Some of these memos detail Obama's weaknesses.

Right.

You can't tell me that this isn't a power play to:

• Get Hillary as the VP.
• Detail strategy to the Republicans to take Obama out in the general election. Or;
• Put enough out there to make a real fight of the Dem convention. She hasn't released her delegates, right?

Is This An Attack Against The U.S. By Russia?

Is this an attack against the U.S.?

The Web site of the president of Georgia, the small nation that is battling Russian forces over a breakaway enclave, was moved to a U.S. hosting facility this weekend after allegedly being attacked by Russian hackers. The original servers located in the country of Georgia were "flooded and blocked by Russians" over the weekend, Nino Doijashvili, chief executive of Atlanta-based hosting company Tulip Systems Inc., said Monday.

The Georgian-born Doijashvili happened to be on vacation in Georgia when fighting broke out on Friday. She cold-called the government to offer her help and transferred president.gov.ge and rustavi2.com, the Web site of a prominent Georgian TV station, to her company's servers Saturday.

Speaking via cell phone from Georgia, Doijashvili said the attacks, traced to Moscow and St. Petersburg, are continuing on the U.S. servers. The president's site was intermittently available midday Monday. Route-tracing performed by the AP confirmed that the sites were hosted at Tulip.

What Did He See?

When G. W. Bush looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul, did he see THIS?

[ UPDATE ]

Link fixed. Thanks.

All Skin Folk Ain't...

Tenn. Defies Cliches on Race and Politics
Black Lawyer's Loss Was Not a Surprise

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 10, 2008; Page A08

For Nikki Tinker, Tennessee's 9th Congressional District hung as sweetly as a plum in the state's Democratic primary. It has a black majority, is full of churchgoing African American women like herself, and includes the hallowed ground where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white man.

But in an election season in which racial appeals may be losing their power, Tinker discovered that looks can be deceiving. On Election Day, she was crushed by her white opponent, Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, whom Tinker labeled as anti-prayer in one campaign ad and tried to link to the Ku Klux Klan in another.

"It was the first time in a state election where race could have been a factor and wasn't," said Larry Moore, an associate professor at the University of Memphis. "She fit the demographic perfectly. She was active in the churches. The majority of voters are female. And she got blown out."

Some critics said Obama needed to get involved in this race to say Tinker should be denounced by him. Well, the people spoke.

[ update ]

Brownbrown states: According to this article in the Memphis Commerical Appeal Obama did condemn Tinker's negative campaigning.