There And Back Again

It's been a while since I graced the pages of my blog, so much has happened since. Went to Michigan, then Charlotte to Haley's graduation, visited New York and became a great uncle. Everything is proceeding at a rapid pace, 2010 is a blur with 2011 fast approaching. There is so much left to do and such little time to do it, but I'm cramming in everything as fast as I can. Change has come in my life and I'm adapting well, thanks President Obama.

In 1998, I want on an interview out of the country to Montreal, Quebec and fell in love with the city. Naturally, I did not get the job, but I always swore I'd get back there one day. Well, twelve years later I'm headed back to a city that captured my soul. I went there in March of that year, with snow drifts up to two feet, but that did not deter me. Playing in the snow was pure joy and I got around the city center very well. This time I'm going in the dead of summer, but the weather will be more forgiving with daytime temps in the mid 70s. That is quite a respite from the 100 degree weather we've been having in Memphis.

It's funny how things happen in one's life. I left there not knowing when I would be coming back, but the fact is that I kept my pledge. I wonder what is going on with that company I interviewed with, just how are they doing? I've been in Memphis for a year now, and it seems like I have done more here in that one year than I did in my 22 years living in Atlanta.

For me Atlanta is fading in the distance with each passing day. The city has imploded since I left. No matter how much "boosterism" the locals banter about the city, it's best days have come and gone. For at least the next decade, Atlanta will be a stagnant city with other regional players catching up with it.

Memphis is primed to be one of those cities. There is more here than Elvis and Dr. King. Slowly, this region is coming into its own and will be a place where people will have to take a serious look as a business destination. I believe Mayor Wharton will take Memphis to new heights.

I've come to the right place at the right time. Little did I realize that a guy with a funny name would have a profound effect with one word - Change. Those who embrace change will prosper, those who don't will be come irrelevant, it's that simple.

Change, thats is taking me to Montreal on Monday.

Do It Again

This week marks another chapter in the long and winding road to success. Tomorrow I'm headed to Michigan for face to face meetings with manufacturer of the main active of the product I developed. Little do they know that I've taken what they have and perfected it to the point where long term implications will surely be felt by our competitors. I still don't understand the chemistry, physics or formulae of what I have developed, but I do know that there is something special about it. To achieve the kind of results seen so far is so put it bluntly - mind boggling. Does the product work everywhere, no, but it sure works in a lot of places. A rewrite or rethink is in store to better understand what is going on, but when you have a product you have to push, dotting all the i's and crossing the all the t's become damn near impossible. And there are those doubters out there who still doubt. Well, I say keep on doubting because I'm moving on. Frankly, we have moved beyond that stage to the next phase which is adding to the gains that have been won.

If the word isn't out, it sure will be very soon. There is a new player in town and the rules of the game are about to change. We're on the threshold of the next level, one where no one has gone before. Twenty years ago these first generation products cost USD $2.50/lb, now the the cost are near USD $1.00/lb with that barrier being eroded daily. What I have achieved is to reduce the cost while keeping the performance, but it hasn't stopped there. I am also able to add less chemicals in the system, thereby making the product more environmentally friendly. I have achieved this in less than 7 months.

In all the euphoria, these benefits have yet to sink in, but given the current situation in the Gulf of Mexico, they can't be ignored. Now is the time to seize the moment. We have a window, a short one to separate ourselves from the competition.

OUR TIME IS NOW!

Better Days Ahead

Among the endless stream o of bad news coming out this week, two positives barely mentioned turned out to be shining examples of our nations recovery. First, the art market seems to be headed towards a record year with the sale of a Picasso painting that was auctioned off for 106 million dollars. Next, the new jobless figures came out with Americans finally going back to work. The numbers, while not huge, signaled that the recession that has gripped and changed so many lives has come to an end.

Closer to home, our company has so much business potential globally that it's scary. The paper industry has come out of it's blue funk and is hitting on all cylinders. Our biggest challenge is not gaining new business, but ensuring the raw materials are there to supply it. Globally, everything is in short supply, from feedstock to finished goods. While this is good news, the bad is that inflation will come back, how however much is any one's guess.

People who are looking for jobs should find them, but be well aware that the things have changed and some jobs lost during the recession will not come back - ever. We are now entrenched in the 21st century and for those who harken back to the "good old days" do so at their own peril.

Immigration is one of those issues that beg for a reality check. Just because someone enacts a law designed to keep people out doesn't mean that people will adhere to it. Immigrants coming to our nations understand the promise and virtue of the American Dream, that is why they risk life and limb to come here. No law is going to stop the flow of immigrants to our country, change is here to stay and the winners are those who adapt to change fastest.

President Obama has given our nation the tools and aid to become prosperous, it is now up to us to seize that day and improve on those areas lacking. Of course the GOP will do all in their power to hinder progress, but those are silly, ill fated moves. Now is the time for individuals who think big to step up to the plate and push their ideas forward. Now is the time to seize the moment, not back away while looking at re-runs of Leave it to Beaver.

Our nation will experience better days if we all put our collective minds. bodies and souls together. We cannot accept nothing short of this because to do so says that we're not ready, willing and able. I know I'm doing my part to make it happen Are you?

President Obama's critics claim he hasn't accomplished a thing. Please Mr. President, do us all a huge favor, keep accomplishing nothing!

A Shrill And Distant Thunder

My, how the game has changed! Several months ago the GOP was spoiling for a fight, thinking that they had finally broken the back and spirit of President Barak Obama. The Senate lost their majority, the Tea Party was in full swing and Republicans were crowing about "taking back America". Now, the lines have blurred because ever since passage of the health care bill, Republicans have gone into a swoon. President Obama gave them a gift. He gave to green light for letting oil companies drill in areas of our coasts and Alaska. Environmentalists were outraged, but little did anyone realize that our President gave them a gift, a gift that will keep on giving in November and beyond. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be larger than the one off the coast of Alaska in 1989. What's even more shocking is that the technology is not there to clean up this mess. All of a sudden, drill baby drill, doesn't sound so good. The slick is headed towards those conservative Southern states that let out the rebel yell to drill.

On the economic side, while unemployment is still high, people are going out and spending money again because they feel that the tide has turned. People still argue whether or not the stimulus worked, but at this point, who cares? The fact of the matter is that the recession is long over and people are confident to open their wallets again. I look for real job growth to occur towards the end of the year and flow strongly into 2011.

Even the illegal immigration issue, one that Republicans pride themselves on have left them in a quandary. States like Arizona are now taking the lead with disastrous results. While Tea Party people love this, state officials are now bracing for a backlash from foreign countries wanting to set up shop. Do they want to invest in a state where their foreign employees could be targets? What about foreign tourists and investors. The genie bottle has opened, with states not adopting these laws now leading the pack for foreign investment. Republicans sensing this, have now backed off what once looked like a slam dunk.

These are examples of incompetence in the 21st century. Republicans and conservative Democrats think that just because they enact a law or edict that people will have to abide by it. No sir, won't happen! People will adjust, adapt and move on, leaving those who made the laws and wrote the edicts holding the bag. What needs to be understood is that we now living in different times where you either adapt or die. People could give a snot nose about "conservative principles" or what the founding fathers thought they wrote. I have yet to meet in person an original signer of the Declaration of Independence. If you are living your life like it's 1776, 1876, 1976, 1986, 1996 or 2006 then you, my friend, are in big trouble. Republicans and conservatives have yet to learn that this is a new century and the winners of the previous one will be losers in this one if they don't change. For you whiners and complainers I have but one thing to say.....

CHANGE IS HERE SO GET USED TO IT!!

p

Momentum n. pl: impetus of a nonphysical idea or course of events.

In physics, momentum is represented by the symbol in the title, but in the nonphysical world, I'm stealing and making it mine. What we have in the last week is just that - momentum.

Before I left McGehee last week I used that word in talking with the District Manager and Account Rep that we needed to keep things going. I received a blank look from both, they were just trying to get a grip on what was going no at present, not the future. Me, I never let the past. present or future stray far. I knew we had something and I planted a seed based on that fact. I knew mill management we thinking in this direction before any of them had. We ran under their worst conditions and were in the beginning of meeting their targets. They hadn't kicked us out of there so I was getting confident that we might have something. I wanted them to start thinking downstream, "what if" was my line. I know that last week they did not take me seriously, now however, the flood gates have opened.

All of a sudden the question is not when will the trial end, it's when can we get another truckload, we need another truckload ASAP. What they thought was impossible had now become reality, they finally realized that they have a product that can take the business of a competitor, all of it.

We have momentum on our side and we need to get it going. Honestly, the customer does not want to switch because they have gone where they haven't gone before in production. We planted a seed and they momentum too. The bar has risen and now it's up to the competitor to catch up to us. Of course they're not going quietly in the night, in fact, they'll be kicking and screaming as both of us approach the finish line. However, we have the technology and momentum our our side.

The p is ours.

Beginnings

My old building in Atlanta as she was the day after the tornado in March 2008. My condo inside is a tomb, closed by me on 31 July 2009. I miss the place, but not enough to go back. She will be rented, hopefully by the end of June closing another chapter of my life there.

Last week was a slam dunk, the project could not have gone any smoother. Things that I saw on the bench translated out in the field and that is a rarity. But, now comes the dangerous season. As much as I wanted to celebrate I know that we are in a crucial phase because the stakes have gotten higher. We have to scale this product up to an even larger size minimizing the issues we saw in the previous batch. This one will be for all the marbles. If we can achieve anything close to what was done last week, the business is ours. This is why you play the game, having the chance to get it all.

There are so many questions about this product and I surely don't have the answers for them. All I know is that aging and concentration play key roles, other than that I'm clueless. One big accomplishment was getting the team to believe in me and the program. In fact, that was bigger than the product working because these were some skeptical and non-confident folks, but our foot is in the door and it's time to kick it in.

Last week was more stressful than this one, but the notch is being turned up higher because we have to prove ourselves all over again.

No rest for the weary.

Close To The Edge

The past several days in McGehee, AR has been one of reflection, angst, determination and pushing forward. The fact that we are still on and running these two products under extreme conditions gives me satisfaction, but not an end game. We are close to getting this business, but we must keep the momentum going. Frankly, I want them to stay on these products, not switching back to the competitor because I feel are superior in performance. But, I know all too well that performance can only get you so far. In this business, likability is one big factor and with that, we must institute a charm offensive. I did some of that over the past several days, but this is not my account and at the end of the day, the lead account manager and salesperson must deliver. I have gotten them to the one yard line and it's first and ten with 15 seconds left. We can win this thing, but we can also lose it if the right approaches are not taken.

I did what I was suppose to do, get them there. It's all up to them now. If anything I've given this once skeptical audience the possibilities of what can be done and accomplished with the right game plan and they must continue to execute that plane if they want to win this business.

The time to seize the moment is now.

Bridge Of Sighs

As I write this from my hotel room in McGehee, Arkansas, I can't but help think how far I've come in less than nine months. This picture of the fountains at Centennial Olympic Park is foreign now, I can't begin to relate to this. This picture looks decades old and in some ways it is because the person who shot it, me, is not the same human being.

Tomorrow marks a new beginning of the chapter. Of all the places I could have ended up for my first major product trial, this is the place chosen. In the middle of nowhere where rice is king, I must prove myself yet again to a doubtful audience. In the end we slogged to the finish line, there are so many questions and challenges ahead, but in this place, a lot of questions will be answered. Overall, I am confident this product will work well, maybe well enough for us to win this business. When I met Bill Horne in Memphis several months ago our nine lives had expired, but I was able to persuade him to give us another chance. Even will all of our efforts it comes down to this. Will this new technology work? I haven't a clue, but I have to convince a skeptical audience that it will.

The day I said goodbye to Atlanta I knew I was going into the void, the unknown. Now as I contemplate where this is headed I realize that I had to be here, to finish this. No matter what happens tomorrow I feel at peace that I have given everything I had to make this happen. It's out of my hands now and is placed into other capable hands - I hope. So, here I am in McGehee, a place I'd never thought I'd be....waiting.

In this place, the bridge of sighs.

Change Is Palin

"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."-Sarah Palin, RNC Speech

I posted this quote by that right wing darlin sweetheart, Sarah Palin, to make a point. The point is don't listen to what someone says, follow what they are doing. As of right now this "siren of the lambs" is the biggest hypocrtie America has ever seen. She rants and mocks about Obama's hopey-change themes, claiming that it's all smoke and mirrors as she laughs her way to the bank, leaving her fans high and dry. It is reported that Palin is now worth more than $12MM USD between her book deals, speaking engagements and who knows what else. Seems like she has done more than well under President Obama. Just two years ago, no one but the most political of junkies knew who she was, until President Obama came along. So how can the media continue to let her get away with such nonsense. Change has helped her, whether she admits it or not. Her rabid fans however are too awe struck, stupid and blind to realize that she has capitalized on change, along with others within the GOP

What her audience needs to learn is to understand that opporunity is there for everyone if they open their minds to it. Sarah Palin however will never, ever tell her fans that because she has to keep the money gravy train flowing. She is using her flock as bait for the hook and switch. But they don't care because as long as an African-American is President they will continue to drink the Jim Jones laced Kool-Aid of loathing and hate. These people would rather be ripped off by Palin Inc. than to see another minority or themselves prosper.

Sarah Palin is not running for President because astute people within the GOP see her as a shill, hollow human being, but with her supposed chrisma, she will continue to use her folksy, gosh darn charm to scam simple minded Americans out of their money and votes.

Sarah Palin is the change suckers believe in.

What It Comes Down To

Today, as Tiger Woods looks to reclaim his dignity and respect a hostile golf course, I can't help but relate because several hours from now I face the same fate. Tonight we scale up my product to run in a field test trial next week. While a version has been scaled up in the pilot plant, we are going where no one in the company has gone before. Either way, this is there will be no turning back at this point, the die has been cast.

Wondering why I'm here matters none, this is it. The journey we're headed on will be full of bumps, bruises and roadblocks, but that is to be expected. What I focus on is the idea, the concept and this product is part of that. Everything I have learned and experienced has lead me to this place, this spot. Sometimes you have to go through hell to get to heaven and believe me I've been through plenty of the former. But, as I write this I realize that I'm still here, plugging away at it because frankly, that is all I know.

I now understand why I had to go from point A to Point Z in order to get to point B. All of this was a test, one where failure was not an option. I had to overcome my fears to understand me. I had to fail in order to persevere. Now, here I am on the cusp, in less than year I have gone where some have never set foot.

I'm ready for this challenge, that is why I'm here. One year ago, I was in another city pondering my future, now here I am again, doing the same thing, only this time, it is on my terms, my turf.

Ladies and gentlemen, let the show begin!

The Things We Fear

If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963.

The surreal experience is one where you put yourself in a place where others have previously been and ask yourself that if you were there, what would your contribution be.

I put myself in that place today and came away with a feeling of knowing and not knowing, feeling and not feeling. To walk the streets of Memphis today was one of the most surreal and intriguing journeys I've ever been on. My recent trip to China is not even close. Around this time forty-two years ago, Dr King was giving his last speech to his flock at Mason Temple COGIC here in Memphis. I was nine years old on that fateful evening, one where Dr. King would cease to be living less than 24 hours later.

For me, a stranger, to have lived in the cities of Dr King's birth and death is surreal in itself. Here I am, a transplant from Charleston, SC setting my feelings on paper where one of our most treasured citizens perished. What am I doing here? Is this a part of my fate? All these questions swirling around in my head. A higher power has summoned me, guiding me to this place where a man, a movement perished almost a half century ago.

I stood on main street today chatting with a white man and woman, the latter owing an art shop in the middle of downtown and I could help but pause and revel in how far we've come. Forty-two years ago all three of us would have be targeted for destruction just for communicating with one another. But alas, this was Dr. King's dream that I could go to a Chinese establishment and be served a hot meal, like a regular human being and then commiserate with fellow citizens of another persuasion, culture and race. This was the dream, a dream fulfilled, a dream still in progress, a dream to form a more perfect union.

The picture of my Father also speaks volumes. It was taken a year after Dr. Kings death in his original burial place at South View cemetery in Atlanta, Ga. Ironically, this would be my first visit to Atlanta, one that foreshadowed years later what was to come.

My God brought me here because I was impartial, not to hate or forgive , but to see progress, letting me be the judge. Needless to say a tear came to my eye more than once. Why? Because I wished Dr. King could see, see his dream in progress. I know he's up there pleased, but still prodding that more needs to be done.

What racists tried to kill on April 4, 1968 was the dreamer. But Martin knew all along that this was not about him, this has always been about us, our nation. Forty-two years later the boy from 43 Line Street understands why he's here. My mission is to continue the dream of forming that more perfect union - to the end.

Time Waits For No One

This week I interviewed two women for an open, full time position with my company. Since my employment almost 8 months there we have hired at least a dozen people with more on the way. Our business model is such now that we don't ask if there are opportunities out there, but can we get them all. Today, the Labor Dept reported the largest job growth rate in 3 years. Finally, this economy is moving, giving our hard working President some good news to chew on.

The road is still long, and will be for some time to come. There are regions of our nation that will still suffer, but all is not the gloom and doom Republicans so desperately try to paint. We have come a long way since 2007 and have a long, long way to go. Our President, while euphoric, will not sit on his laurels because he has much more to do.

The news however, is a bad one for the GOP. Their linch pin has been to delay and delay, hoping that the bad news would stretch until November, but it won't. In fact, I detect that things now will accelerate even faster, giving our economy the sea legs it needs to prosper.

What I do find interesting is that the tone of Republicans on various blogs have changed. The same people who ranted about "lazy people" not working are now saying that these jobs aren't real, that most of them were census jobs. Now they are criticizing people for working! Yes, some of these jobs were for the census, about 30,000, but the rest are real jobs, at least at where the company I work.

Our latest yearly report showed that we had a good year, at least by this economy's standards. Sales were down, but profits were up significantly, so much so that my 1Q bonus check is set to arrive in 2 weeks. I met all my goals, even surpassed some of them. Funny my previous employer could never seem to find me that raise or bonus, there always was one excuse or another. Well, I can see why they're still in dire straits and will continue to be.

But for me, their problems are but a distraction. I'm focusing on the future, no looking back for me, and I suggest everyone else should do the same. Republicans keep asking President Obama where the jobs are.

From the looks of things they better start worrying about their own.

Going His Own Way

Yesterday, out in the Nevada desert, a disaffected group of has beens, wipeouts, dingbats and God knows what else descended on the hometown of Harry Reid to vent their anger at him and Obamanation. They were lead by Sarah Palin, in her latest reinvention of whatever she claims to be these days. Theirs, a lost cause from the beginning, is rapidly taking a transformation to irrelevancy, much like the period of the early 20th century when the automobile overtook the horse and buggy.

These 10, 000 stong calling themselves a movement for "taking back America". Funny, last time I looked more than 30 milliom Americans were without health insurance. For some reason the media seems to be fixed on the former, watching and recording every move they move.

President Obama chose to concentrate on the 30 million because those numbers matter most. The cabal protesting yesterday are a throwback to the 20th century, a time when America became a world power and while we continue to hold that status we are not alone on the perch anymore. There are others, like China, who feel more worthy and want to replace America on that mantle. The people protesting our President yesterday are wasting their time. Change has come and people better get use to the new "world order" or get swept away in it.

The GOP felt that they could break President Obama, but he has exposed them as a silly, bratty bunch of whining nincompoops with no ideas, in conclusion, a clueless bunch. When they said NO! Our President said YES WE CAN! When the G no P talked about Federalism and Conservative Principles, our President talked about making all Americans lives better.

The crowd out in the desert yesterday are suckers, still holding out for the America of yesteryear. The woman leading them has profited from Obama's change mantra more than anyone, yet she still is living the illusion that she got her fame and fortune based on her merits, savvy and intellect.

Last week, the GOP got a lesson, one that they need to heed and take seriously. That message is that President Obama is finished with warm ups and the real game has begun. It's time to either work with him, which he wants to do, or risk alienation and irrelevancy, it's just that simple.

Our President has chosen his road, his path to the promise land and those out in the desert? They're driving home in Yugos.

One Year Ago

There is no way to convey or put on paper the previous 365 days of my life. A year ago on a rainy, bleary Friday morning, I was let go by my previous employer. Now there are those who think that me and the 11 others who were let go deserved the pink slip, but my answer to them is that if what they think is true, then why hasn't my present employer come to the same conclusion. I along with the others were let go purely for economic reasons, or that was the story, but some of the people left behind contributed to the company's demise. Now, they may not see it that way, but my old manager, Jim Johnston, sure hasn't done anything to justify his still being there. His luck was that when he fell into the job, he was given the best talent in the building, hence he has been more caretaker than boss. The people he has hired since have not worked out and were let go for one reason or another and these moves are a more realistic example of his non-leadership.

But, I'm not here to rehash the past, if my previous employer wants to revel in stagnation and incompetence, then the owner, Charles Koch, has every right to lead his company into atrophy.

Me, the new lease on life given last year signaled a rebirth, one that I'm harnessing to carry me into the next decade and beyond.

What I was given last year was a gift, a gift to start anew, fresh and unfettered of all the trials and drama of where I used to be. The new position, venue and environment has taken me to a level where I've never been before. All through the years I was passed over for one reason or another. Not anymore because now I'm in a pipeline that will measure me for who and what I am, not what piece of paper and status I possess.

Companies complain and whine about the economy and how tough it is. While some of that is justified, the real story is that these entities strangle themselves by making bad after bad decision, keeping the incompetent and non-performing while releasing those who contribute the most value.

Another example of who I speak is Joseph Komen. Joseph is a brilliant individual who could have made his previous employer a lot of money. His services ended a month after mine. Now he's in Memphis with me and from the initial results I've seen, he has the potential to make our present employer a lot of money.

Last year, a jerk named Robert Wolff, gave me my walking papers. This individual is one of the biggest jerks I've ever come in contact with. He relishes firing and eliminating people. All I have to say to this idiot, Jim Johnston and Charles Koch is - THANK YOU! Why? Because to your own detriment you freed me, freed me to come back and spit in your faces. GP will not succeed at anything other than mediocrity.

Incompetent people breeds mediocrity. Sorry Charles Koch, you forgot to add that to the Ten Guiding Principles.

Broken

If were able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.

Jim DeMint R-SC

As the final showdown for health care draws near, one side has momentum on their side while the other is doing all it can to stay afloat and relevant. When Jim DeMint made this comment last year who would have thought that it's him and his party that is broken. President Obama used every conceivable tool at his disposal to get this done and if present thinking holds true, health care will be one more accomplishment for a President who has accomplished nothing.

The GOP at this moment stands in quicksand. It's leaders clueless and the party in complete disarray. Only several weeks ago was this same party, one hijacked by conservative Tea Party hopefuls basking in the glow of a second revolution. Now, the only thing the GOP and Tea Partier's have to show for it are a mid-seventies year old white male and a woman who scribbles notes on her hand with the goal of becoming a late night comedian.

The first national Tea Party convention, held in Nashville, the capital of the state where the KKK was founded. The next convention(if there is one)will be held in Las Vegas, founded by Bugsy Seigel et al.

This was not suppose to happen, surely the righteous right was going to defeat President Obama, controlling him and in minions, keeping them in check. What they forgot was one thing, Barak Obama. Our President has proven time and again why he, not John McCain, was best suited to run our nation at this moment in history. For all the obstacles and debris thrown in our President's lap,he is standing tall, kicking ass and taking names. He's blown away all the so-called competition who now have to go back to the drawing board, wondering what went wrong.

Michael Steele, who was all over the place when President Obama was in trouble is nowhere to be found, either being muzzled by his own party, Rush Limbaugh or both. Even the faithful flock has become desperate, with mobs doing all they can to enforce their will on anyone who wants to vote for the other side, but the more desperate the become, the more futile the effort. Why? Because "real Americans', the ones who previously stood on the sidelines are now stating their cases. It is them, not the others who are the majority and will pave the way for this bill to get done.

What the Tea Party and the GOP fail to realize that it was these people who really and truly mattered. They sat back listened and waited for our President to take complete ownership and responsibility. When he did in the end, these people jumped in right behind him, helping to bridge the divide.

Weeks ago a GOP takeover seemed to be a sure thing, now this same party are worried about their status and previous iron clad districts are now venerable, ripe for the taking.

Jim Demint's quote last year had nothing to do with health care, it had all to do will controlling a black man, putting him back in his place. Jim, sorry buddy, those days are over! What you need to worry about is your own political future.

Waterloo has come to breakfast.

The Noose Is Tightening(On All Of You)

I think Barak Obama is a one-term President - Dick Cheney


Today marks yet another example why the right choice was made on 4 November 2008. Adam Ghadhn, the American al-Qaeda, was captured in Pakistan. We knew he and the other 9-11 henchmen were there all along, but Bush-Cheney would come up with every excuse for not finding them. Well, our President has been using every resource at his disposal to find them at a rapid pace. Ever since President Obama's speech on sending more troops into Afghanistan several months ago, the rats are either being exterminated or flushed out in the open at a rapid pace.

For reasons still not known, the last administration was inept at this but the chorus from their quarter has grown louder about the inertia of the present one. However, with each passing day that shrill is falling deaf on America citizens who are beginning to see why our President took this approach. Have there been setbacks, sure have, the recent decision to try terrorists in military instead of civilian courts is a big set back, but one that was done as it became clear that nobody wanted these trials on their turf. Our President tried and was not successful, but I'm not going to quibble about that, at least he tried.

Over the last several weeks more of us in America have become tone deaf from the rantings of the GOP and Tea Party activists. Our nation is coming to light at the end of the tunnel, albeit slowly, but lest we forget where we were 18 months ago, teetering on the brink of financial collapse. President Obama has done a Herculean job under the circumstances and things will only get better with time. The GOP on the other hand has shown themselves to be devoid of ideas, heck, they never had any, just the same old worn out themes of yesteryear, and the Tea Party? Just let's say Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave listening to others trying to hijack his message 30 years later.

We are at the stage where the wheat and chaff are being separated with the culmination being some eight months from now. What was a sure thing weeks ago now seems a lot less certain because that guy with the funny name decided to keep on keeping on.

Azzam, the American had more of a chance surviving under another Republican administration than this one. The day President Obama took the oath of office sealed the fate of many who praised 9-11 as the dawn of a new era. For eight years we were told that these guys would never be caught. Our President shrugged that off and has been catching big fish ever since. There are only three big ones left and I surmise they're right where Azzam the American was caught. Its time to catch the rest and bring these vermin to justice.

It time for Dick Cheney to shut the hell up.

Reality Bites

Several weeks ago the GOP, giddy in their recent successes, we brimming in confidence that they would take America back from Obamanation. Well, sometimes it's not good to get what you wish because all of a sudden, trench warfare has arrived. A series of missteps and misfires have let the GOP reeling in such a way that it will be difficult for them to recover.

Just like the Democrats, they misread the mood of the people, putting too much stock in the Tea Party masses and forgetting that there is more to our country than angry, white males. Now they have become exposed, with President Obama outflanking them at every turn. The GOP has just now awaken to the fact that President Obama has put them in a box. He exposed the House leadership weeks ago, making them look completely clueless at what was suppose to be their coronation. Last week, GOP senators got their turn in the whipping shed, and the nation saw it all, a party and group so out of touch with the average American. Couple that with Jim Bunning's hold up of the Jobs benefit program and you see where this is going.

The GOP forgot that more than 10 per cent of our nation is unemployed and while the Tea Party may have some "loud voices" out there, they need to be reminded that their voices are few. The real masses haven't spoken - yet. They're waiting until the fa;l elections for that and whatever the GOP thought they could get, is slipping away fast. The neurotic behavior of Sarah Palin isn't helping their cause, she's to smitten with Hollywood and could care less, and besides, no one is going to vote for a person who uses their hand for a post-it note.

Democrats aren't out of the woodshed yet, but some light is shining at the end of their tunnel. The real winner is our President because he has shown great leadership in the toughest of times. Most sensible people are not going to heap blame on him because he is doing all he can to get our nation back on track. And if he gets HC to pass by early April, he will have scored a major victory, snatching victory out of the jaws of certain defeat.

The tide has turned folks, and for those who don't think just ask Michael Steele. Seen him lately?

That Hopey, Changey Thing Works For Me!

Last week at the first Teabegger's convention, Sarah Palin asked people if that hopey, changey thing was working for them. Naturally, like lemmings headed out to sea the rabid crowd laughed and said no. Well, if the people in the audience thought about it, they should have reversed the question and asked Sarah if it worked for her. Of course she would have have laughed and said no, but that answer is just a small part of her hypocrisy.

Of course it worked for her! Look where she is, standing in front of a podium of adoring, loving fans who didn't have a clue of who she was 18 months ago. And that is the crux of my blog, there are people who have succeeded, like it or not because of President Obama. His mantra of hope and change for better or worse has transformed people from relative obscurity to overnight celebrity and stardom.

Sarah Palin was a complete unknown until John McCain, who was losing badly to then candidate Barak Obama pulled the trigger, putting Palin on the ticket as Veep. Ever since he star has risen, appearances on SNL, Fox News, written a book that has made her millions, hell, she's everywhere, and now, she has become an spokesperson for Fox News, as well as talk as a 2012 GOP Presidential hopeful. So, how can she stand in front of a crowd and say that the hopey changey thing hasn't helped her, that's what she said and she's lying. Maybe instead of bashing our President, she needs to thank him daily for taking her out of Alaska.

The hopey, changey thing sure has helped me. Last year I was in Atlanta, Ga not knowing that my services would be terminated in a month. I was there doing well, but looking to do better. Yes, I was let go and out of work for 4 months, but it could have been a lot worse. Now, here I am in Memphis, TN and look what has happened in the 6 months since I moved here - everything! In this picture I'm standing in the middle of Nanjing Row in Shanghai. If you told me last year I'd be doing this or that my salary would increase almost 50 per cent then you would think me to be nuts, but sure enough this happened. Hopey and changey did me well, I surely not complaining.

The point is that hope and change is here, you, the individual have to recognize and take advantage when your turn comes. Don't believe people like Sarah Palin because the last thing she wants is for hope and change to come to you, Why? Because not believing in hope or change keeps her employed, that's why. Ask any Senate or House GOP member if they want hope or change, of course not, they want to keep people afraid of hope and change while benefiting from it at the same time. For all their ranting and raving about the "Spendulus Package" who's the first in line claiming credit when the first shovel is turned on a new project from the Stimulus? You guessed it, GOP senators whose districts and states are benefiting from the same program they tried to kill.

Hopey and changey are here and for anyone to tell you the opposite is a fool, so don't get fooled by a fool whose only hope for change is controlling you. The people in the audience in Nashville last week hung on every word Sarah Palin spoke or wrote on her hand. Hope and change came for her as she continues to fleece her flock.

Resilience

Resilience(n): an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

Last night our nation witnessed something few of us who follow the NFL would have thought possible. The New Orleans Saints, after more than forty years of utter futility, won the Super Bowl. Now, I'm not disrespecting the Saints or it's fans, just stating the facts. Ever since it's inception in 1966, this team had been that laughing stock of the NFL, with Tom Dempsey's field goal being the signature "win" of the franchise. Things go so bad that fans would come to games with bags over their heads calling themselves the "Aint's".

All of that disappeared last night because in one game all the futility and ineptness were swept away forever.

This victory should be a wake up call for our nation. Four and a half years ago, the city of New Orleans was hit with one of the worst hurricanes ever. People sleeping in the streets and the Superdome. A city underwater, wondering if it would ever come back. A people turned desperate had become demoralized by their misfortune. A franchise, wondering where games would be held, playing almost anywhere not knowing if this was their last game. For a while, the Saints had become gypsies, drifting from town to city, trying to hold on.

The people however were resilient in their resolve to rebuild and get this tragedy righted. All is still not perfect, but it will be, with The Big Easy coming back stronger than ever. Te Saints asked for no quarter and gave none. They dealt the cards given to them the best they could, stumbling and fumbling along the way, but they got there, never losing sight on the prize.

Last night was a testament to a people, a citizenry who never, ever gave up. The rest of our nation should take the lessons learned and heed their call. We can get through our seemingly endless number of problems if we stick together and work for the common good. Our goal should be like those people on Bourbon Street. These people never wanted to die or fade away, they wanted to live, live to see this victory last night.

I am proud of them,
I am a Saint!!

Over Before It Started (RIP Wendell Wilkie)

Tonight, three hours north east of here, there's a party going on, a Tea Party. Seems like the people gave themselves this name had no problem in revisionist history of the original two and a half centuries ago. It is also very interesting that the first Tea Party convention had a sold out crowd of 600 which everyone is now calling a movement. Just goes to show you how much America has down-sized itself in the last five years.

The participants, mostly middle to old age white males and females are the same cast of characters we saw during the 2008 presidential election. They are a mean ornery bunch who are dead certain their views are right and that it is only they who can bring our nation out of wilderness and back to prosperity.

Naturally, this collection of odd balls, nutcases, revisionists and whatever think that they hold the keys to the kingdom while everyone else in our nation is chicken fodder. They're anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-multiculturalism, in other words just plain anti.

Tonight, they have found a leader to whip them into shape to take on the Obamanation in 2012. Her name is Sarah Palin. The last time we saw Sarah, she had resigned her post as Alaska's head of state, claiming that the pressure of her celebrity, the fame of heading SNL and the media wanting her scalp was too much and she had to resign for the good of the state. Funny, the people of Alaska could have cared less and were happy to see the circus called Palin Inc. leave.

So here we are in Nashville, the birthplace of country music and in the state where the KKK was born giving birth to new form of delusion. These people see it all slipping away, their America slipping away down a rough slope called change. What these Tea Partiers fail to realize is that no matter what new or revisionist plan they hatch to "take back" America, our nation for the most part has moved on. A recent CNN poll showed that at least 40 per cent of those polled don't know who or what the Tea Party is. Not a good sign for a group that has put itself front and center as an antidote to Obamanation.

There have already been cracks in the "tea bags" with differing factions already splintering into more shadowy groups as well the the GOP trying to ride on their coattails. Add Sarah Palin into the mix and you have a powder keg, ready to explode and last but not least, the same factions who put President Obama in office waiting, just waiting to have their voices heard.

Tom Candero fired the first salvo at the convention, saying the those who voted for the socialist Obama couldn't spell the word vote. Funny, there were a lot of people who couldn't spell that word and there will be even more in fall of 2010 and 2012.

The picture posted here is one of me and my counterpart, Frank Zuo, taken at the Bund in downtown Shanghai. This picture represents the future of our country, not the past Tea Partiers are so beholden too. Our communication with other countries who don't look like us are critical to our nations over all survival. Tea Partiers nor Sarah Palin are going to stop this, they will be steamrolled if try too because the world is interconnected more than ever before.

In the mid 1930s, Wendell Wilkie was a populist candidate who ranted and raved against the New Deal put forth by FDR. That election came and went with Wilkie getting his clocked clean and fading into the netherworld of American history. Wilkie however, did side with FDR later on the issue of isolationism. People change has started, there is no going back.

The original Tea Party was one of great change and was another breeze that fanned the flames revolution years later. Those Tea Partiers were visionaries, the ones sadly parodying themselves as the original are cartoon characters, just like their anointed leader.

My Chinese Is Worse

There are few experiences one faces which are life altering in positive or negative ways. My trip to China has changed me forever. Never have I met and seen such a wonderful glorious people who are in tune with self. My trip to Shanghai exposed me to a city and country our nation can well learn from right now. To see and hear the sneering, bickering, ranting, raving and anger from another continent sickened and disgusted me. For all of the opportunities America offers, we have become a nation of enablers and glad handlers.

I was taken out to dinner by two young gentleman and afterward we retired to my hotel room for more than two hours of discussion. Everything was on the table, politics, religion, beliefs and how we felt about each other. These two men did not see me as a black or African-American, they saw me as a human being and I saw them the same. The frank discussion we had could not have taken place in previous years, in fact, all of us would have been hauled off to jail, with me being thrown out of the country.

But this is a testament to the fact of how far China has come as a nation and a people. Yes, the nation is not entirely free and yes it still is a communist country, but the people have not let that deter them from living their lives. The people I met this week are far from the meek, weak or desperate for freedom souls our media portrays and others perpetuate for political gain. What these two gentlemen made me understand was that most Chinese don't want the kind of freedom we have in America. Self control is built into their DNA and having the kind of freedom we have here would scare them to death. That does not mean however that they want their government pushing them around. What they want from their government is to let them live their lives in peace, prosperity and harmony.

I saw no armed guards with tanks, hoses or dogs. I saw no protesters or dissents marching in the streets wanting anarchy. What I saw was a prosperous people living out their dreams, just like us. They care about friends and family, just like us and they are intrigued with us as much as we are intrigued with them. Police and security? Yes, they were around, but from what I saw, we're much more armed and hunkered down as a society as they are.

We Americans need to grow up. The China I saw now isn't the militant one of decades ago. The government has figured out a way to let the average Chinese citizen live their lives and will continue to let them do so. The China we need to worry about is the economic giant that has awaken, not the militaristic one portrayed by the media in America.

The China of today has come to terms with it's past and moved on. This version of China wants to become the economic power of the 21st century, like America became in the 20th century.

China, like America had an economic downturn around the same time and initiated a stimulus package to shore up it's economy. The stimulus worked and now the nation is implementing steps to control inflation through more conservative monetary policies. Economic for the nation last year was +5% GDP, which disappointed them. America also had a stimulus program, but bickering and back fighting has all but rendered the positive effects of our stimulus program moot.

The people of China backed the stimulus and did everything to make it work while we're still stuck on stupid. Maybe it's time we start listening to that communist, socialist nation.

And So It Begins...

I have posted this picture before, but had to do so again. Here I am in the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee in the summer of 1969. Me, always the explorer, looking for adventure, the next new thing.

Tomorrow, I embark on a new journey, one that if someone told me last year I would be taking I would have looked at them like they were nuts. But here I am getting ready to head to Shanghai, China on the first of many more trips to the far east and beyond.

History has always been my first love, with Marco Polo being one of my favorite people to read about. His trip to China, Cathay as it was called then, changed the world at that time forever. One day I plan to go to Venice, a city, like Paris, that has always captured my soul.

But tomorrow it will be Shanghai, and with it a little kid from 43 Line Street in Charleston, SC will embark on a journey few or any in his former neighborhood has ever taken. I carry people like Mrs. Jackson. Aunt Bee, Mr. Charlie Moore, the Maxwells, Mrs. Duke, Ms. Eloise, the Venning family, Dr. Olasov. Dr. Fish, Ms. Cannon and Ms. Campbell and most of all, my parents. I carry them all with me tomorrow because this journey is really about them, not me. I am but a messenger, they are the message that even though they did not make it, someone from Line Street did.

Too much can't be made about this trip tomorrow because a culmination, of work, luck, perseverance, determination and fate made this so. I have no say in this, God, Allah....whoever is up there guiding me has the say. Many people have made the trip to China, so many haven't. The country is still a mystery and for most in this nation it always will be.

Tomorrow is the end, but yet the beginning of a new period in my life. What that is I have no earthly idea, but I now understand the preparation a power, much higher than myself put me through. This is the moment of truth for a young boy who always wanted to know what was out....there.

Still A Mystery

In late February 1972 Richard Nixon made history as the first POTUS to visit the Peoples Republic of China(PRC). Within three years of the visit he would leave office in disgrace, but his momuentmental trip was one that has left a lasting legacy on both nations. Before his historic trip, both the US and China exhibited frosty relations, the result of more that a quarter century of distrust between the two nations. However, both had a common enemy, the USSR, whom both distrusted equally, so this was a "shotgun" marriage from the start. But both nations saw the need to thaw relations because for political and economic purposes.

On this trip Nixon visited Beijing, Hangzhou, The Great Wall and Shanghai. In meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Chou Enlai, political and economic accords were signed. While the "One China" policy, stipulating the reaffirmation of PRC as the de facto nation for it's citizens, including Taiwan, it's the economic accords that has left an everlasting impact on both nations.

The China today is much different than the one Nixon visited forty years ago. The country is seen as a economic and political power, one which our nation must do business with to survive. Beijing, while still the seat of Chinese political will has been usurped by Shanghai which is the economic driver for the nation.

The China I'm visiting next week is a forward thinking nation, much like America was at the beginning of the 20th century. Myself and other Americans are still intrigued by this nation, it culture and people. While there are stresses in the relationship, as the latest trip by President Obama attested to, we are both in the "getting to know" one another stage. Nixon's '72 trip was that catalyst for change.

On my first trip in the new decade I'm headed to a nation I know little about. Time to begin my education.

Music producer charged with murder | ajc.com

Music producer charged with murder  | ajc.com

Posted using ShareThis