Final Destination

Everyone sets goals for themselves, or at least they should, it's a part of growth in a person's life to have milestones and growth. Reaching your goal is like reaching your destination, the final step in the plan that you set out to accomplish. If you never reach your final destination in a plan, you have not totally achieved your goal.
There are many ways to go about reaching your goal or final destination, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. When you have mapped out your route to reach your destination, you may not be able to foresee the pitfalls that you may encounter along the way, and yes, we all experience pitfalls along the way. When encountering those pitfalls or rocky situations, it's easy to look for an alternate route to your destination. As humans we are accustomed to looking for the easiest and quickest route to where we are trying to go. Sometimes those bumpy and rocky periods are exactly what we need and should be used as learning tools in the class of life. The lessons that we learn from overcoming the rocky times strengthen us and give us knowledge and stamina for future goals and destinations.
Taking a detour from our route because we experience tough times may not always be the wisest decision and more than likely may cause more problems than we were originally experiencing. Have you ever encountered an detour as you were driving and tried to follow a different route to get where you were heading? If you are like me, taking the detour has rendered you completely lost on many occasions, causing you to be further away from your destination, if I even made it to the destination at all. The same theory applies to goals we set for ourselves; stick to the route, tolerating the bumps along the way, holding on tight when things get rough, and you will reach your destination.
Happy Monday, let this be the start of a great week!

On A Lighter Note

It's Friday, by far my favorite day of the week! Let's lighten things up and put some music on to get the weekend rolling smoothly. I'm already ahead of you, been to the gym and had a great workout; there is nothing like a good sweat to great music to get the adrenalin flowing. I like a blend of old and new so check out some of my Friday morning playlist below and tell me what's coming through your speakers today?

1. Turnin Me On - Keri Hilson (feat Lil Wayne)
2. Stutter - Joe
3. Chocolate High - India Arie (feat Musiq Soulchild)
4. Just Like Me - Jamie Foxx (feat T.I.)
5. Shake Your Body Down (to the ground) - Michael Jackson
6. Cameo - Freaky Dancing
7. Kraftwerk - Numbers
8. Going Back to Cali - LL Cool J
9. Bonita Applebum - A Tribe Called Quest
10. They Reminisce Over You - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth

Freedom of the Press - Without Common Sense

I'm sure there is no need to explain the title of the blog, if you read blogs, more than likely you read and/or watch the news and have been made aware of the NY Post cartoon that is drawing massive attention.
I've read blog after blog and comment after comment on whether the cartoon was racially motivated or simply political satire, my opinion is that is was a racial slur wrapped in political satire. Many are calling for an apology, from the cartoonist, and from the Post; if they give in and deliver an apology, do you really think it would be sincere?
Looking at this from a journalistic perspective, one could easily argue the Freedom of the Press argument, I'm almost certain that term will be used by the Post. As a writer/blogger, I value my right to speak candidly on any issue that I choose to discuss. I value my right to publicly display my opinions for those that wish to read them. At a granular level, Sean Delonas was exerting his right to Freedom of the Press and and in some form, Freedom of Speech. The dividing line should be coupling common sense with morals, and connecting that to your given freedoms, of which it appears Mr. Delonas did neither.
I foresee a lengthy media circus surrounding this issue which will no doubt make more money for the NY Post owner Rupert Murdoch who just so happens to also own FOX News. The more press this gets, the more airtime Rupert can devote to it, thus providing more viewing of his News channel. Media moguls don't get to be media moguls without having a niche, it appears the niche over at the Post is to spark controversy regardless of the fallout.

WTF Was the NY Post Thinking???

People this has to be the largest WTF I've had since the blog started, comparing President Obama to a rabid chimpanzee, really, WTF were they thinking!?! No, this did not appear in some obscure redneck publication, it's in the New York Post! Cartoonist Sean Delonas is the author of this blatantly racial cartoon and has not been available for comments regarding its publication
The caption beneath the cartoon reads "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill,". It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is aimed at President Obama.
Rev. Al Sharpton spoke out against the cartoon saying "The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this when in the cartoon they have police saying after shooting a chimpanzee that "Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill."
The Post's editor-in-chief Col Allan released the following statement: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
If you believe that statement above, you will believe just about anything! Clearly this has heavy racial overtones to it and the author should have known it would draw controversy... Perhaps that's exactly what they wanted.

Does Facebook Own Your A$$

Remember that semi-nude photo you posted on facebook, or how about that “not-so-nice” wall post you put on your ex-girlfriend’s page; Well here’s some news for you, for a brief period, Facebook owned the content the minute you posted the items.
Earlier this month, Facebook decided to give itself the right to all content posted on it’s site, even if you decided to close your facebook account. That’s right, ALL content! Anything you wrote or uploaded to Facebook, belonged to Facebook. Needless to say, tens of thousands of users balked at the notion that their information now belonged to Facebook. As of this morning, Facebook has reverted back to the old terms of use policy that said Facebook could not claim any rights to original content that a user uploaded once the user closed his or her account.
Ponderers this is a heads up, think before you post, think before you upload, just plain ole THINK! The internet is a world within our world and when you put your information into it, it may be up for grabs as to who can see/read/copy/etc your information.
I was not in agreement with the change in the terms of use policy by Facebook and participated in the online petition to have it reverted to its old verbiage. I do think people should be cognizant of the information they share on social networking sites. If it’s something you wouldn’t want the general public to have access to, you shouldn’t post it, simple as that.

Obamanomics - Current Issues

There’s quite a bit to keep up with where Obamanomics is concerned; it’s been a long time since a President took office and immediately took action. Many skeptics are saying he is doing too much too fast, but there are just as many people saying he is doing what long should have been done.
Here are some bullet points to keep the Ponderers up to speed on some of the key initiatives that are taking place within the Obama administration:

• Stimulus Bill – the $787 Billion Stimulus bill was approved in the House on Friday Feb 13, 2009 (with no Republican support) and was also approved in the Senate later that night. President Obama signed the bill on Tuesday Feb 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. More info from For You to Ponder on the bill.
• Housing Relief Program – President Obama is scheduled to unveil his Housing Relief Program at 12:15 PM ET. Stay tuned to For You to Ponder for a full breakdown.
• Afghanistan – President Obama has agreed to increase our presence in Afghanistan. The Pentagon released news that they are sending 17,000 more troops into Afghanistan. The President has stated that he believes there is something more needed there other than troops and will be looking towards diplomacy as a key ingredient.
• The Auto Industry – Obamanomics gave and additional $billion to GM on Wednesday Feb 17, 2009. The bailout continues.
• Buy American – To increase jobs, there is a provision in the Stimulus package requiring the use of U.S.-produced iron, steel, and other manufactured goods in public works projects funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus bill.
• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell – Spokesperson Robert Gibbs responded Yes to the question of whether the President still intended to get rid of this policy within the Military; he later expanded his answer to say that "So not everything will get done in the beginning but he's committed to following through". It looks like it’s coming, just no hard date on when.

These are all issues we should stay on top of, the time has come for us to be aware of the decisions our leaders make, and how those decisions affect our daily lives. Our President has come out of the gate at full speed; we owe it to him to keep up.

Who's Killing Our Soldiers

Whose killing our soldiers? I can hear the answers coming in, “Iraq, Afghanistan”, just about any Middle Eastern country might be blurted out as the answer. Now for the shocking revelation, our soldiers are killing themselves.
The United States Army confirmed seven suicides in the month of January and has 17 suicide cases pending, bringing a possible total of 24 military suicides in a single month. If the numbers prove to be accurate, this will mean that more soldiers killed themselves in January than died in combat last month. Pentagon statistics show that there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.
What’s wrong with this picture? If Soldiers’ emotional states are such that they are killing themselves, are we really doing any good in these countries? I hardly doubt that a person with suicidal thoughts is any shape to be protecting themselves, let alone a country!
I listen to debates on whether we should pull troops out of Iraq or deploy troops to Afghanistan, and most of the debates center around the cost of keeping the troops abroad and the trillions of dollars we are spending on war; maybe it’s time to discuss the cost of a soldiers emotional well-being, and in the end, their life. Yes, I know they signed up on their own and were not forced into the military, I’m not arguing that point, however I do think the length of time abroad in war-torn countries is a point that needs to be discussed.
With suicide rates as they currently are within the military, somebody should be asking the WTF question and making some decisions/modifications. We are bailing out the auto industry, the banks, and the economy as a whole, how about a bailout for the men and women abroad.