Deadlocked

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton remain virtually deadlocked after Super Tuesday’s 22 state showdown. Senator Clinton was the winner of the biggest state, California, and also had victories in her home state of New York and neighboring New Jersey. She won Arkansas, the state in which she was the first lady in, and its neighbors, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and in another state with a large Hispanic population, Arizona.

Senator Obama struck back by winning at least 12 and possibly 14 of the 22 states up for grabs. He won in all parts of the country, from Connecticut and Delaware in the east to Alabama and Georgia in the south to Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and of course his home state of Illinois in the Midwest to Alaska, Colorado, Idaho and Utah in the west.

The analysts continue to be surprised by Senator Obama progress. They have not gotten their minds wrapped around the fact that he is able to attract people from all walks of life. They still believe that Obama can only win in states with heavy Black populations. Maybe they thought Iowa was just a fluke. I don’t think there are very many Black folks living in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, or North Dakota. Senator Barack Obama is absolutely correct when he says this is not about race, but about the American public wanting a change from the status quo in Washington, D.C. He said in a speech last night, “What began as a whisper has now swelled to a chorus that cannot be ignored.” He also said, “We (the people) are who we have been waiting for to get the job done.”

Both candidates will head to Louisiana, Maine, and Washington this weekend, then Virginia and Maryland next week. Senator Obama raised $32 million in January and can spend heavily in the states to come, while Senator Clinton only raised $13 million.

See www.CNNpolitics.com for complete details of Tuesday’s results. Well not complete details in that they did not print the percentage of Blacks who voted for Obama or Clinton. Which is strange since they detailed everything and else.

Obama - Clinton Neck and Neck on Super Tuesday

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton traded victories in an epic struggle from Connecticut to California.

Democrats played out a historic struggle between Obama, seeking to become the first Black president and Clinton, hoping to become the first female to win the White House.

Obama won Connecticut, Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Utah, Minnesota, North Dakota, Kansas and his home state of Illinois.

Clinton won at home in New York as well as in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas, where she was first lady for more than a decade.

After an early series of low-delegate, single-state contests, Super Tuesday was anything but small — its primaries and caucuses were spread across nearly half the country in the most wide-open presidential campaign in memory.

Polling place interviews with voters suggested subtle shifts in the political landscape, potentially significant as the races push on through the campaign calendar.
Overall, Senator Clinton was winning only a slight edge among women and White voters, groups that she had won handily in earlier contests, according to preliminary results from interviews with voters in 16 states leaving polling places. Senator Obama was collecting the overwhelming majority of votes cast by Blacks.

Clinton was gaining the votes of roughly six in 10 Hispanics, and she hoped the edge would serve her well as the race turned west to Arizona, New Mexico and California, the biggest prize with 370 delegates.

The allocation of delegates lagged the vote count by hours. That was particularly true for the Democrats, who divided theirs roughly in proportion to the popular vote. In other words just because you won a state doesn’t mean you won all the delegates; he delegates will be distributed out according to the number of votes you receive.

Overall, Clinton had 325 delegates to 259 for Obama, out of the 2,025 needed to secure victory at the party convention in Denver. Clinton's advantage is due to her lead among so-called superdelegates, members of Congress and other party leaders who are not selected in primaries and caucuses — and who are also free to change their minds.

Alabama and Georgia gave Obama three straight Southern triumphs. Like last month's win in South Carolina, they were powered by Black votes. However, Senator Obama was also leading in White votes by six percent. The big ticket is California with 370 Democratic delegates where it is close, but Clinton leads in the large Latino and Asian voter blocks.

Democrats and Republicans alike said the economy was their most important issue. Democrats said the war in Iraq ranked second and health care third. Republican primary voters said immigration was second most important after the economy, followed by the war in Iraq.

Both Obama and Clinton conceded in advance that neither was likely to emerge from the busiest day in primary history with anything more than a relatively narrow edge in convention delegates.

"Senator Clinton, I think, has to be the prohibitive favorite going in given her name recognition, but we've been steadily chipping away," said Obama.

Already, both campaigns were looking ahead to February. 9 contests in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state and February 12 primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. And increasingly, it looked like the Democrats' historic race between a Black man and a woman would go into early spring, possibly longer.

Being Black in the Work Place

I received this in an email and thought I would share it with you.

Being Black in the Work Place

They take my kindness for weakness.
They take my silence for speechless.
They consider my uniqueness strange.
They call my language slang.
They see my confidence as conceit.
They see my mistakes as defeat.
They consider my success accidental.
They minimize my intelligence to "potential".
My questions mean "I'm unaware".
My advancement is somehow unfair.
Any praise is preferential treatment.
To voice concern is discontentment.
If I stand up for myself, I'm too defensive.
If I don't trust them, I'm too apprehensive.
I'm defiant if I separate.
I'm fake if I assimilate.
Yet, constantly I am faced with work place hate.
My character is constantly under attack.
Pride for my race makes me, "TOO BLACK".
Yet, I can only be me. And, who am I you might ask?
I am that Strong Black Person...
Who stands on the backs of my ancestor's achievements, with an
Erect spine pointing to the stars with pride, dignity and respect which lets the work place in America know, that I not only possess the ability to play by the rules, but I can make them as well!

Black History 365
Good, Better, Best,
Never ever rest until your good is Better and your better best!

Senator Obama Wins Backing of Kansas Governor

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for president means a Super Tuesday boost in a Republican-leaning state that Democrats hope to reclaim in the White House campaign.

"I think he represents the kind of leader that we need for the future of the country," Sebelius told The Associated Press. "I think he brings the hope and optimism that we really need to restore our place in the world, as well as to bring this country together and really tackle the challenges that we have."

Her announcement came hours ahead of Obama's rally in El Dorado, the hometown of his grandfather on his mother's side, last week, one week before the Kansas caucuses, which are part of the multistate contests Feb. 5. Governor Sebelius attended the event and welcomed the senator back to Kansas and joined the campaign.
Democratic presidential candidates long had sought Sebelius' backing in a state that George W. Bush carried by large margins in the 2000 and 2004 elections. No Democratic nominee for the White House has won Kansas' electoral votes since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

But Sebelius, now in her second term, has shown an ability to triumph in GOP territory. She won re-election in 2006 with nearly 58 percent of the vote. In Kansas, less than 27 percent of the voters are registered Democrats.
She said her two "20-something" sons and 86-year-old father, former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan, already were backing Obama, and that the Illinois senator had the ability to bridge generations for the betterment of the country.

Sebelius has taken the governor's office by wooing moderate Republicans and independent voters. Obama hopes to do the same in Kansas. Democrats will have caucuses at 50 sites on Super Tuesday to split up 32 of their 41 delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Denver. Sebelius is one of the remaining nine delegates who will represent the state.

For Obama, it was another in a string of high-profile endorsements in the past week , following on those from Senator Edward Kennedy; his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy; and Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy.

The campaign of Obama's chief rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, sought to play down the impact of Sebelius' endorsement.

Sebelius has impressed Democrats nationally by election success, and party leaders let her give the Democratic response last Monday night to Bush's State of the Union address.

She is coming off a year as head of the Democratic Governors Association, a group that Bill Clinton once led. She is seen as possible Cabinet appointee in a Democratic administration.

Shaq's Tall Spending

Citing an accounting document from Shaquille O'Neal's divorce filing, the Palm Beach Post reported on its Web site that Shaq routinely spends $875,015 per month. Now Shaquille O'Neal can add another name to his already lengthy list of aliases: The Big Spender. The Miami Heat center is in the third year of a 5-year, $100 million contract with the team. Some of the Diesel's most costly monthly expenditures, according to the newspaper, are:

• $156,116 in mortgages on three homes (including his $20 million mansion on Miami Beach's Star Island), plus $31,299 in homeowners insurance;
• $110,505 for vacations;
• $26,500 a month for child care;
• $24,300 for gas;
• $17,220 for clothing;
• $12,775 for food;
• $10,065 for electricity;
• $10,000 for temporary child support;
• $10,000 for alimony;
• $6,730 for dry cleaning;
• $5,000 for car payments;
• $3,345 for phone bills;
• $2,305 for pets;
• $1,610 for lawn and pool maintenance;
• $1,495 for cable TV

Shaq also donates to the running of the U.S government in the form of $5.41 million in federal income taxes, and over $900,000 in property taxes.

I understand when you make a lot you spend a lot, but this is ridicules. The one that really stuck out for me was $26,500 a month for child care. Come on now! I know I can baby sit his children for, say, $20,000. And he is spending $12,775 a month for food. Who is he feeding, the whole neighbor? What is he watching on TV with a cable bill of $1,495? Over $24 grand on gas, well he is in Florida, maybe he has a space shuttle in the back yard.

Really this is just the first financial volley in his divorce proceedings. After all no one would give their earning and spending breakdown to the media. Why does anyone other than Shaq's ex, and both their lawyers really care about where or how he spends his money?
I like Shaq, but I wouldn’t spend that kind of money if I could afford it. He earns about $1.7 million a month, so maybe $875 thousand is not that bad for the lifestyle he leads. All I know is that he would buy truckloads of toys for inner-city kids when he played in Los Angeles. I only wish more of our so-called superstars in the various forms of entertainment would give back as much as he does.

When you have that kind of jack to spend, you really need a spouse that you can trust. After all she left one husband to get with Shaq. Can you say pre-nup? Remember people, its all about sowing and reaping.

Mike Tyson and ANC Leader Share Similar Pasts

African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a charity fundraising banquet honoring former boxer Mike Tyson on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa. However, he withdrew after being criticized by South African women’s groups.

South Africa is a country with one of the highest rates of rape. About 50,000 rape cases are reported each year in South Africa, almost 150 per day. Women's rights groups estimate that only one in nine rapes are reported to police. Zuma himself was found not guilty of raping a family friend two years ago. Tyson served a three-year sentence for the 1991 rape of an 18-year-old beauty queen in Indiana.

Women’s groups had called on the ANC leader to withdraw from the event. Earlier Wednesday, the One in Nine Campaign, a group of women’s rights organizations, had called “the pairing of ANC leader Zuma and Tyson…particularly distasteful and abhorrent.” Carrie Shelver, of People Opposing Women Abuse, called Zuma's withdrawal a good step. "It may be, and it seems to us, that pressure placed on him in the media may have swayed him," Shelver said. Reporters arriving at the event were handed a statement from organizers saying Zuma "had been called away on urgent ANC business."

Organizers promised Tyson would make a statement at the banquet denouncing violence against women. However, Tyson did not address the issue. He took to the stage and made a brief statement about how pleased he was to be in South Africa and thanked the organizers for their hospitality. He then returned to his seat next to the ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who he befriended some years ago in New York. The master of ceremonies, Carol Manana, did make comments supporting women's rights and the eradication of violence against women. Manana is a television sports presenter and survivor of domestic abuse. An auction of Tyson items was to benefit children's organizations.

Both Zuma and Tyson are seen as fighters who have survived harsh upbringings to become powerful popular figures. Both have had run-ins with the law, and have poor records when it comes to women's rights. The 41-year-old boxer, who infamously took a bite out of rival Evander Holyfield's ear, also was accused of abusing his former wife, actress Robin Givens.

Zuma, who is facing corruption charges, said during his rape trial that the woman had been wearing a skirt, which he interpreted as inviting his sexual advances. Zuma has apologized for his statements during his trial, but recently earned more criticism from women's groups when he took a second wife. Polygamy is in line with some South African traditions. Zuma's "statements prior, during and post rape trial reveal his patriarchal beliefs on men and women's roles and rights in South Africa," the statement from the One in Nine Campaign said.

Tyson, once called the "baddest man on the planet," will tour Soweto on Thursday and be a celebrity commentator at a boxing event on Saturday.

Australia to Apologize to Aborigines

Australia will issue its first formal apology to the country's Black indigenous people, better known as Aborigines, next month, in a milestone that could ease tensions with a minority once subjected to policies including the removal of mixed-blood children from families on the premise that their race was doomed.

The literal translation of the word Aborigine is: the people who were here from the beginning. Aborigines lived in areas that were being settled by the Europeans, and were forced off their land as towns and farms were developed. Thousands were massacred to make way for farms and settlements.

The Feb. 13 apology will be the first item of business for the new Parliament. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose Labor Party won November elections, had promised to push for an apology, which has been debated in Australia for years. The government hopes the apology will signal the beginning of a new relationship between Australia and its original people.

The apology will be made on behalf of the Australian government and does not attribute guilt to the current generation of Australian people. The government has previously ruled out financial compensation for the impoverished Aborigines. "Once we establish this respect, the government can work with indigenous communities to improve services aimed at closing the 17-year life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians," said one cabinet official.

A national inquiry in 1997 found that many children taken from their families suffered long-term psychological effects stemming from the loss of family and culture. Ya think! The inquiry recommended that state and federal authorities apologize and compensate those removed from their families. But then-Prime Minister John Howard steadfastly refused to do either, saying his government should not be held responsible for the policies of former officials. Sound all too familiar? That’s the same lame line of reasoning followed when the subject of reparations to Blacks (for slavery) in the U.S is broached. We were taught that actions speak louder than words, but it appears that doesn’t apply when money is involved.

From 1910 until the 1970s, around 100,000 mixed-blood Aboriginal children were taken from their parents and placed into institutions under state and federal laws based on a premise that Aborigines were a doomed race and saving the children was a humane alternative. Sounds like massa was doing the same thing to Black women in the outback that he was doing in the slave quarters.

From the late 1830s the remnants of the tribes in the settled areas were moved onto Reserves and Missions where they were 'managed' by White men and were forbidden from teaching their children their language and customs. Separation was an official government policy which lasted for many decades and today, many Aboriginal people do not know their origins. They have no idea which tribe they are descended or the names of their parents and/or grandparents. Australia's original inhabitants, Aborigines number about 450,000 among a population of 21 million. Aborigines are the poorest ethnic group in Australia and are most likely to be jailed, unemployed and illiterate.

Recent scientific studies have concluded that the Australian Aborigines were the original Americans! In other words, the theory is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were adventurers who arrived in the North American continent before the Vikings or Columbus. This theory states that the ancestors of the American Indians are Australians Aborigines. Separate studies by both Brazilian and US scholars are revealing that the first humans to enter the New World more than 14,000 years ago were not Mongoloid peoples as has always been thought - but were instead people of the same race as Australian Aborigines.