The Tribune Online, 21

The Future...Self-Reliance (Compiled from Home-data Research, 1988)

This is part of a larger report on trends in America that are changing the way we live. This portion of the report has to do with three powerful trends that are enabling more and more Americans to work at home and earn a living there.

1. America is in the midst of a major shift from the industrial society to an information society.

2. At the same we are shifting from a centralized society to a decentralized society.

3. We are also turning away from institutional help to self help; a re-emergence of self-reliance.

To understand the "why" of these trends we must understand that America is a bottoms up society...meaning trends do not start in New York or Washington (fads do). Trends start in the local communities of this country.

In 1950 65% of the people worked in the industrial sector. Today 27% do.

In 1950 17% worked in the information sector. Today 60% do.

This means most Americans today spend their time creating, processing, and distributing information. In 1970 we created almost 20 million new jobs. Almost 90% were in the information-knowledge-service sector and  most of them in young companies. At the same time total employment in corporations declined and is continuing to do so.  http://infobuck.com

Realize Your Potential

Independent business people represent the true spirit of "free enterprise" at its best and are the very essence of the American democratic society. Their message is clear and resounding: "Don't just settle for finding employment but learn the skills needed to create employment."

With their desire, drive, and determination they set a pace that most other people can only follow in being one's own boss; therefore, they are a welcomed asset and a winning team in any society.

Independent business people are not simply hard workers but more importantly work providers, rendering needed products and services. This allows them to prosper in their endeavors. Tomorrow is a result of today, with time waiting for no one; hence, the realization of your potential will be the deciding factor in securing a successful future.

Fo' shizzle, my nizzle?

Headline reads "DEA seeks Ebonics experts to help with cases." It was all I could do before breaking down in an uproar of riotous laughter. And of all places they are looking for them in the southeastern part of the US...Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

The early running of "Ebonics" may have been called "pig latin" whereby, the words would be broken down with an "i-z" following the consonants preceding the vowels, e.g. "land" would be "li-zand," "plant" would be "pli-zant," etc., etc. All and all "ebonics" was no more than a lazy person's excuse for not wanting to speak in a grammatically correct diction. It sounded as though it was being or acting "white" by otherwise young black ignoramuses.

Now, the DEA wants to spend our tax dollars to hire educated, I assume black folks, to monitor the conversational exchange among drug dealers, when you can get "snitches" by the hand full to be more efficient...for little or nothing. This kind of reality makes me wonder about security and logic in the law enforcement branch of the Federal Gov't...not to mention the unfair prison sentences for crack users versus cocaine suppliers.

I'm not sure if "Huggie Lowdown" of the TJMS is reading this, but I submit the DEA as "yo' Bama" for the week.

The Unions...America's albatross on a stranded ship

I have said before and I repeat,  the Unions are taking advantage of America's economic distress by trying to extract that from an industrial nation that's long past its heyday, but just will not compromise meaningfully for future survival.

Our nation that once strived on the baby boomers' growth and production has seen that dwindle to a less than healthy spurt with this ever-changing, global economy. Industry abroad can outproduce because they don't have to bear the burden of unions that have grandfathered their way into our very existence. Again, granted there was a need for unions because of unchecked robber-baron capitalism, a small group of individuals that profited ruthlessly at anybody's expense...primarily that of the unprotected workers.

Those days have since passed, and the unions today are doing no more than allowing mediocrity to replace being outstanding in all fields of which we as a nation must compete in order to survive. I find this especially with those unions in the field of education protecting incompetents in preparing our children to compete with their intellectual ability.

My latest peeve arose when I read a piece about the "Union for the Unemployed"...say what??!! Yes, there is such a union www.unionofunemployed.com In the past, this may have been called an association of "welfare whiners." Not long ago, I challenged a bunch of cry babies called "I need a freakin' job" http://inafj.org  in their blaming President Obama for their situation. I told them to challenge my business in providing a source of income, so far no takers. http://infobuck.com 

My likewise advice to the "Union for the Unemployed,"... your solution is not a union but entrepreneurship. Scroll up a few articles and read about "self-reliance"...it beats sitting on your butt and whining.

Islam: The new "red scare"

Quite a few years back, I wrote an article for the "Inner City News" in Mobile, AL entitled the "Communist/Christian Clamor" just before Gorbachev in conjunction with President Reagan moved to normalize relations between the eastern and western nations. Reagan asked that Gorbachev tear down the wall between East and West Germany, as well as issuing a caveat, "trust but verify." This seemed like a reasonable request between formerly bitter political adversaries.

However, left to the wild-eyed right wing Christian conservatives, under the banner of the "Moral Majority" lead by Jerry Falwell, you would think the godless communists were trying to lull us into a pit of hell...which did have some effect on numb skulls and sundry religious lunatics. Of course, this has never come to pass, and for what I know "trust but verify" is still in effect with friends and foe alike.  

It appears that in order for religiosity to survive intelligent reasoning, it has to have an ongoing "boogey man" and superstition...Tag!! Islam you are it!! We all know that the cave dwellers in the east still consider the US the "great Satan." Antiquated thinking on both sides of the fence or "wall" is still yearning and burning; lately stoked by this mosque to be built in New York on "holy gound" surrounded by joints and dives.  But as Gorbachev succeeded in tearing down the wall between East and West Germany, time will do the same between these east and west philosophies. But...know that "trust but verify" is still in effect...a reasonable request in this very dangerous world of religious terrorism.