Mistakes or Get-Overs?

What is it with public officials that do not pay the taxes they should? Is it really just a mistake on their part? Is it they are trying to get over in hopes that they don't get caught, and if they do, they claim "IT WA JUST A MISTAKE, AN OVERSIGHT!"?

Tom Daschle, President Obama's nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is now facing confirmation by the Senate and he is facing tough questioning about his failure to pay more than $128,000 in taxes in the three years before Obama nominated Daschle. A few weeks ago, it was Federal Reserve Bank nominee Timothy F. Geithner, who claimed it was just an oversight, a mistake, that he did not pay all his taxes due for several years. Time and time again, we have seen in the past public officials plagued by the issue of not paying taxes.

I don't know about you, but when I file my income tax return, I am extremely cautious and even a bit nervous about reporting ALL my income! I don't want to mess with the IRS because I know that can end up in high fines or even jail time. (Remember Al Capone? Wasn't he eventually brought down because of tax issues, not murder or other crimes?).

Is it because the public officials in question are dealing with a lot more money than someone like me? Or is it more like they know exactly what they are doing and hope not to get caught? If caught, claim idiocy?

Barack Obama: A Racial Stepping Stone?

As we all know by now, Tuesday, Inauguration Day, brings with it an historical moment in US history, the first African-American President. Before the election, and since, we have seen African-Americans across this land and even in other countries smile with pride as they await this history-changing event. I too watched the night Obama was elected, and I felt a little bit of that pride. Every time I saw the camera pan to an older African-American person, I would think to myself, "What joy must be coming to that person." When I saw the camera pan to a young African-American child, I thought, "What hope must come to that child. He can now really believe he can be anything he wants to be." I admit, being a White American, I DO NOT understand the true feelings that go on in a person of color's mind and being! I can't! I grew up in a middle class white household, and I realize the advantage I have because of that; not necessarily because of my own doings, but because I just happened to be born in the family I was.

One of the things I have heard time and time again from the African-Americans interviewed on TV is that they never really thought this day would come. Donna Brazile said the other day on CNN that even though her parents told her as a child that she could grow up to be anything she wanted, Brazile said as soon as her parents left the room, she and the other children knew they were lying. They were Black, and could not really be anything they wanted. An African-American coworker and I were discussing the "patriotism" that is pounded into American children from the time they are very young that the US is the best country in the world and that nobody compares to Americans. She stated to me that in her culture that was not the case. She was told first and foremost that she was Black, American second. I hear this quite often.

So, why was Barack Obama, an African-American, not told this? Or, if he was, why did Barack Obama not believe it? What makes Barack Obama different, and why is his time now? Could it be that Barack Obama grew up in a White household? Perhaps, much like my life, Obama was not told he was black first, but he was an American. Maybe Barack Obama, like me, was told he could be anything he wanted, and Obama believed that. What if Barack Obama had been raised by two African-American parents with African-American grandparents? Would he be where he is today?

Is Barack Obama a racial stepping stone? Is the fact that Barack Obama, part African-American, and part White American, what has put him in the position historically he is in? Would America have been ready to elect an "all African-American" President? There have been other African-American individuals try to be elected President, but they never made it very far.

Will Barack Obama pave the way for a future African-American President. I hope so! I hope that by electing Barack Obama, all White Americans will finally realize that color is only skin deep!

Good Luck To You, President Obama

As I watch the Obama Express head from Philadelphia to DC, I can only wish President Obama the best of luck! I am excited and very proud of what this country has done by electing a President that promises change to the American system. I am hopeful that equality will finally come for ALL Americans, not just the privileged.

President Obama is asking for our help. He has created Organizing for America and is asking us to join and fight with him to change America.

GOOD LUCK, PRESIDENT OBAMA!

Bye, Bye George

Every time I come to my blog, I look at the Bush counter to the right. Four days and counting! That's all that's left of George W. & Company's reign! I can hardly believe that day is just about here; it seemed like it would never come!


I've bashed George W. & Company enough over the years, so I'm not going to do so here. I am just going to say with great pleasure:


GOODBYE MR. BUSH!

Is This Really 2009?

Sometimes it's hard to believe we are really living in 2009! Every now and again, stuff happens around the world, or even in the US, that makes me believe we are still in the Middle Ages.

The one picture, I'm sure most of you have already seen, is the hanging of two boys, yes boys, for being gay. This took place in Iraq, and is one of the punishments meated out to gays there. This despite the Iranian President declaring several months ago that there are no gays in Iran.

Just the other day I read about a woman in Papua, New Guinea who was burned for being a witch.

And just yesterday, right here in the good old US of A, Congress passed two bills, one which would help women get equal pay for equal work.

Is it really 2009?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Out with the old and in with the new! HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! May 2009 be a much more prosperous year for us all!