anotherlook

Did you see how young the attackers of Mumbai were?  They should have been in school somewhere or planning a family, yet they were armed and deadly.  There are different death totals being broadcasted but you can be sure that it was between 176 and 180 lives that were lost, as well as, the 300 or so injuries, creating an uncertainty as to the total number of deaths that will be attributed to this one act of insanity. 

Hate is a strong motivator and an enthusiastic metaphor for direct and aggressive acts.  Why exactly do people hate?  Hate takes more energy to promote; hate makes you irrational and angry and on some levels, hate is contagious.  Why would you want to walk around daily with that much negativity floating around your essence? 

Life is full of opportunity to hate but it is full of opportunity to love as well and to be positive in your interactions with other people.  When I see all of the violent, irrational, absurd acts that are happening now and have been happening in the Middle East, I can not help but to remember things that happened long ago and are documented in the Bible. 

Ironically, in the days of Jesus, his people did not understand him when he walked the earth; they turned on him, denied affiliations with him and in the end they crucified him because some of them could not truly grasp the concepts he was bringing forth.  After all, they were looking for a savior of a different kind and even with all that they witnessed through Jesus and his acts, some where left with a bad aftertaste in their mouth one of jealousy and judgment. 

Now, all these years later and some still do not see nor do they understand the concepts of Jesus.  Some have even denied the existence of such a being and those are called the antichrist.  I have to ask myself if all of this discontent, violence and hatred could be a direct cause of things that happened all those years ago and the divide that took place then.   

Is it a feeling of due by some; a due that has been too long in the coming or is part of it guilt of things gone before?  I could see where guilt could play a role in the level of the violence and the thought of the great sacrifice of life for the good of the cause being involved in the strapping on of a bomb, to your body or the fight to the death as happened in Mumbai.  Was the creation of chaos the only motivation in a violent demonstration of perceived wrongs committed by Westerners and the People of India the only thing on the agenda of these young people who perpetrated fear and uncertainty in the hearts and the minds of the people attacked?  

There has always been unrest in the Middle East and sometimes I believe there always will be that unrest and it will always be based on things that have gone before.  Even if God himself came down and spoke to the inhabitants of that particular area, there would be those who would misinterpret the words and deeds done by God.  Sometimes, I believe this is the justice that God created for his people for not abiding by his laws and this is why there will never be any rest in the lands in that area. 

Whatever the causes you can be sure that the hate will continue to grow and the recruitment will never end as long as there are dissatisfied, guilt ridden people who follow a speaker who speaks to the evils that lie within the disenfranchised, disenchanted, disillusioned, hate filled minority that are insistently, creatively and with malicious intent, developing new ways to produce chaos whenever they can.   What a shame, for us all, to have to accept this as a way of life and learn to live with the knowledge that this can happen at anytime and anywhere and that there is very little that can actually be done to stop it unless the terrorist themselves slip up in some way during the planning process to alert the authorities that a plan is being hatched.  What a disturbing and distressing outlook for the years to come. 

And that’s the way I see it!!

Finally, they are coming to their senses when it comes to the 8-year old boy, in
Arizona, who killed two people, his own father, 29 year old Vincent Romero and his father’s renter Timothy Romans.  The 8-year old was facing two counts of first degree murder and being tried as an adult.  Asking myself a few questions I came up with this. 

Does an 8-year old boy or girl for that matter, truly have a concept of distance in terms of miles and time (how many have taken an 8-year old on a long road trip and heard the question ‘are we there yet’).  As well, they have no real concept of death, in terms of finality, time, in terms of years, life, in terms of death?   

Also, when you, as a child, do not have the proper guides, in terms of parents, things get a little thrown askew in terms of how you view the world. Furthermore, if children do not have a clear understanding of other simpler concepts such as time, life and death then how can they be held responsible for having a true understanding of the complexities of right and wrong? 

Now without even knowing what had gone before, there were different things that were occurring in the 8-year old boy’s life that can also disrupt a child’s way of thinking, his way of viewing the world – like the family dynamics of the break up of his original family and the remarriage of his father.   

Another thing that has come to light lately is that there had been abuse by the father of the son.  There is no way of knowing the true extent of the abuse because the abuser is dead and the child can be manipulated – children are highly suggestible.  You can be sure the abuse was severe because even the grandmother commented “That if any 8-year old was capable of the crimes it would be him” or something along those lines; was it because of the abuse that she thought this or was he just born a “bad seed” and if it were the abuse why didn’t the grandmother step in to do something about it.   

Another thing to consider when deciding on how to proceed would be, did the abuse have a sexual overtone or was it just physical abuse?  If it were just physical how often did the abuse happen – the boy had reportedly verbalized to a Child Protective worker that his 1,000^th spanking would be his last.  Usually when someone is physically abusive they have a tendency to be verbally and emotionally abusive as well which would also play into the end result.   

After having watched the videos of the police interrogating the child and listening to his child like answers, the authorities are finally coming to their senses and allowing for mental health evaluations and a plea deal in deciding how to proceed with the case. The plea deal will resolve the case without having to transfer it to adult court.  They site the fact that the system is just not equipped to deal with an 8 year old charged with murder but it seems more plausible that they have understood the limited liability of the mental state of the child.  

Whatever the reason for the plea deal, I for one am glad that the decision was made to get the boy some mental health help!! 

And that’s the way I see it!!

Let’s face a reality; none of us are mind readers.  I have always said that you should always treat people with dignity and respect because you never know what is clicking in someone else’s mind. 

This attack on India is something terrorist thought up, organized and executed.  Just like the serial killer that walks amongst us who is well liked and often very public, you have no way of knowing when or where the next terrorist attack can happen just like you never know when the next serial murder will evolve and strike.  The nature of the surprise attack is more or less the aim of the terrorist – to create chaos through the element of a surprise attack. 

We are all vulnerable to a terrorist attack at any given time and the element of surprise, catching people off guard, is all part of the program, all on the agenda of the basic concepts of terrorism.  What we need to do is figure out the most effective ways of stopping the action once it has gotten started. 

This incident in India dragged on for too many days.  I’m sure that everything that could be done was being done at any given moment and given the lack of knowledge on how many, if any, hostages were involved, but at the same time, it just lasted too long.  These extremist (I call them crazies) monopolized too much time devoted to shear fear and chaos and now they even get extended news coverage. 

These terrorist get everything they want and we get to live in fear and uncertainty on a daily basis with the knowledge that this can happen at any time, in any country and to protest any situation.  That these actions can be perpetrated on masses of people, at will, as a means to draw attention to what they think and feel is very disconcerting.  

While the gay rights activist have not yet taken their mission to murder, as did the demonstrators who are against abortions – I will never understand that outcome where you are protesting the “murder” of a fetus so you kill other human beings – but they have become just as disrespectful and irrational when they can feel totally justified in marching into a church service, talking loud and aggressive during a Sunday service, throwing pamphlets all over the floor and in individual’s faces. 

Is this what happens when there is a break down of communications, or is evil really at work here.  Is this a misunderstanding or are these incidents about someone else’s moral issues that are being force fed to the masses in a hope of bringing us all over to the dark side.   It would seem that terrorist would see, over time that the only thing they are effectively creating is chaos.  Is this the only goal?  Are they so blinded by there visions of grandeur that they do not see the reality of what their actions are doing. 

I am baffled and I know that, truth be told, there is no real way of knowing when or where these people will strike next.  Don’t play the blame game we need to figure out ways to end the madness in a expedition manner, once it begins and stop with the intense news coverage – giving them, if only temporary, the glow of our recognition.   

And that’s the way I see it!!  

After all that has been said about how children bullying other children; about how it affects a child to the point of mass homicide and individual suicide (as seen in the surge of school shootings over the years), a parent steps in to bully a 13-year old girl, which eventually drove the 13-year old girl to commit suicide. 

In short, the 13-year old had shown the grown woman’s daughter some attitude and discomfort.  Now I have worked around children for the last seven years and have raised two children myself, plus I have been a child in this life.  I know for a fact that’s the way of life as a teenager, plus I’m not so sure that the grown woman’s daughter did not cause some of the trouble herself coming from a mother like the grown woman because 9 out of 10 times if the child has issues you can look no further than the parents to find out why. 

Anyway, so the grown woman and two other people created a fake 16-year old male identity, approached the 13-year old on-line and started a relationship with her – this went on for a time and finally the 16-year old pretend boy, dumped the 13-year old girl and told her that “the world would be a better place without you”. 

I will never understand how people can be so cruel to each other.  Now this grown women had nothing better to do with her time than to get involved with her daughter’s life to the point of attempting to totally humiliating a 13-year old.   

First, she made the little girl feel loved and wanted by a pretend older boy and then, acting as the older boy, she breaks up with the girl and tells her that the world would be better off without her.  This was a heartless act committed on an impressionable child just starting out in life and feeling love/infatuation for the first time.  

Sometimes a break-up can be a hard thing to deal with as an adult let alone a 13-year old who thinks the world is a good place and that people, for the most part, can be trusted.  This vindictive, heartless, immature, grown woman should have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and should be put in jail for a period of time, she should be branded a convict and never would that title have a truer meaning.   

Instead, she gets convicted of some cyber crimes which may even bring probation or community service as her only punishment.  This act that she perpetrated against a child, demonstrates a calculated act upon the mind and the spirit of another human being, a child at that.   

I tired to tell myself that maybe her biggest punishment is the thought that she would have to live with the knowledge that she caused the death of a child.  But you know, any “grown women” who would play those kinds of mind games with a 13-year old child knowing that this is the age when girls (her having been a teenage girl once herself) are maturing and just beginning to come into their own sexuality and a sense of themselves as individuals; she did not know somewhere in her bored, unhappy, vengeful mind, the dangerous possibilities of what her actions alone would do to this child, let alone the final words of “the world would be better off without you” – I think she had more than a clue as to the outcome.   

Those words were just the icing on the cake, just the right flavor to push the cake’s rating over the top, or in this case, the words that pushed this child over the top and caused the deed of suicide.   

Manipulation of a person’s mind is a dangerous thing at any age, but the manipulation of a child’s mind is just wrong.  I have to ask myself – where are we headed, how you living and where is the heart of a person who would do this type of thing to a child and be allowed to walk away with a slap on the wrist and a powerful, but negative, lesson to her daughter. 

And that’s the way I see it!!

Can you believe it, the one day I decided not to watch the news, not to get too involved in writing my feelings in a blog not to even feel or think, that’s the day
India is brutally attacked without warning. 

I can not believe I sat around watching the NCSI marathon all day long yesterday while something major was happening in the real world.  I needed NCSI though it was a relaxing respite from the world of politics and news.  However, by 5:00 pm I had gotten my fill on the unreality of their team.  The NCIS team work so well together – that’s why I like to watch them.  All of them are so distinctly different yet so compatible together on a human level.  In all the jobs I have had, I have never worked on a team like that and never saw one function like that one – Hollywood makes everything beautiful.  

So anyway, when I switched to my favorite news channel – which is CNN – I discovered that there were those in the real world who had decided to demonstrate to the world, in one offensive sweep in India, their madness, hatred, dissatisfaction, craziness and their non relenting ability to create chaos at any time, in any place. 

I can never understand what is working inside people who react and relate with so much violence and hatred inside of them.  I remember when 9/11 happened.  I mentally put myself in the cockpit of those planes, as one of the terrorist.  I experienced the visual of flying closer and closer to the twin towers, how large the buildings were getting as we drew closer, I lived the fear of knowing that death was upon me and that I was taking with me, in this glorious sacrifice, a plane full of strangers, as well as those people in the office complex I was about to slam into.   

I snapped myself back to reality knowing, that it takes a demented mind to want to experience these things let alone participate in the violence.  No less the act of suicide bombing – what, do you just wake up one day and decide this is the day, let me strap on my bomb, and go to a busy intersection and blow up myself and anybody who is near, in a glorious sacrificial demonstration of what????? 

How this can be associated with some type of religious belief of sacrificing your body and soul for the good of the masses or the good of a cause, making you a better person in the afterlife – that is just sick to me, insanity personified – is beyond me.  Any way you look at it, whichever way you justify it, you have to be stone, cold crazy to do it. 

So as you sit down to your Thanksgiving Dinner today or just go about your day, be thankful that this insanity has not touched you on this day, as it is affecting the people in India in these moments of time.  Be thankful that your mindset has not taken you around the dark corners of life that these terrorist have taken.  Be thankful that at this moment your life is not taking you down the road of intense fear and uncertainty that is being felt by those in the area of destruction and murder in India and pray that in the coming year, some hearts will cease the relentless surge of hate and chaos. 

And that’s the way I see it!!

Can the news commentators please make up their minds?  One minute, Obama is not talking strongly enough on this issue or that issue.  The next minute he is acting like he is the president and there is only one president at a time.  What is the problem and why are you questioning his every move.  Yes, he spoke of change but you say he is not changing the people involved.  The answer to this is that he is choosing those people with the most experience and how did they get the experience but by being in this place at a different time.  Just because the faces are the same does not mean that change will not come. 

My confidence in Obama’s ability to run this country is growing on a daily basis.  The more I hear him speak the more I know he is a thoughtful, wise and sincere person.  He may not be experienced but he knows how to pull in the most experienced people for the jobs that need the most methodological attention.  I’m sorry, I just do not have any bad words to say about this man and I hope I never will.  Yesterday when I heard him speaking, he again took me on a journey of hope and inspiration as he talked about his plans directly after his swearing in ceremony. He spoke of effective communications through active listening when it comes to economic growth possibilities for each individual state, city and county.  In the spirit of the bi-partisan concept, he stated that wisdom is not the mindset of only one party but a combination of the thought process of democrats, as well as republicans. 

He addressed the issues of finding long term solutions to the problems facing American’s and the American economy, as opposed to temporary fixes. While again proposing the idea of going down the list of current programs to evaluate them individually and cutting those that are not being effective but are instead draining money from an already stressed budget.  Without giving exact details, he again spoke on the need for an economic stimulus and a solution to providing 2 ½ million jobs, overtime.   He acknowledged the fact that he felt the American people where at a point that they needed and deserved truth, in dealing with the issues we are facing. All of these things he spoke of and insisted that once in office, these things would be dealt with swiftly decisively, as well as effectively and he is assembling the right people to handle these situations in the most effective manner. Say what you will about Obama, but he is moving in the right direction and I am, so very, very proud of him as a human being, as a man and as an African American since this seems to be his biggest claim to fame right now – that he is an African American entering the White House.

And that’s the way I see it!!

Well in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just listened to President Bush give his thank you to the United States troops at Fort Campbell Kentucky in which he emphasized how capturing and killing Suddam Hussein was the right decision both then and now.  It felt like he needed confirmation of this through the people who had served and fought for this/his cause. 

He went on to say that because of this, proposals were on the table being discussed at this very moment, with the government of Iraq, to bring this war to an end and to embrace democracy in that country; allowing for a United States victory in Iraq, as well as bringing a strong democratic mindset to the Iraq area; this democratic mindset being, in Bush’s eyes, an important ingredient to inhibit terrorist attacks in the world, among other things. 

While I am not so sure of that hype, I do believe it is time to wrap that war up and can only hope that the discussions in Iraq will bring about this end.  However, I do realize that only time will tell, on the real truth of those words. 

Bush ended his brief speech with the fact that for him it had been an honor to have served as Commander in Chief.  Well, I’m sure it has been an honor to have had that much control over every situation.  To be able to lie his way into achieving his pre-planned agenda of bringing Suddam Hussein down, to have ignored every suggestion so that he could, in the end, say I did it my way. 

I hope, President Bush, that after all is said and done you will be able to sleep, uninhibited, at night and that your conscience is clear because like you said in one conversation with a news reporter, when you do what you feel in your soul is right, then there are no regrets.  While those may not have been your exact words – that was the feeling your words invoked in me – that you did what you felt was right in every situation in your term of office and that you truly have no regrets.  To that end, I have to applaud your courage even if I don’t agree with your methods. 

And that’s the way I see it!!

I am in awe of Obama.  For the last week or so the news has it that Hilary Clinton will be the next Secretary of State.  Now I know she comes with some skills but… 

Without remembering exact words only initial feelings, I watched a playback on all of the negative things she has said about Obama during her campaign and some of the things she said even seemed like they could have come after she was dropped from the race, at any rate, I remember thinking that her remarks were scalding, and coming from an intense place of anger or dislike.   

People adopt words that have the most love or sting, and all the feelings in between, when attempting to make a point.  Consequently, when those words are coming from love they have a tendency to be very loving and when they are coming from a hurt, ugly place inside, they have a tendency to have the most sting or ugliness to them.   Because of this, I always notice the word chose of those who are speaking – call me hypersensitive and I will agree that’s why on some levels I am exhausted with the world.   

Some of the things I heard on this news playback of insults from Hilary to Obama, I did not even know she had said because I did not really start watching the ‘race for the White House’ until the last debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.  This is the day that I was inspired to feel again because Barack Obama spoke to my spirit in words and action.  I was impressed with his style, his calm and inspired by his words. 

Now because I do not remember exact words only feelings of these attacks on Obama by Hilary, I have to call attention to the news reporters of late commenting, every time the mention of Barack Obama’s choice for the Secretary of State being Hilary Clinton, that it must be the old adage of keeping your enemies close, this is some indication of what they themselves feel about some of the things that have gone on previously with Obama and Hilary, maybe even based solely on things she has said.  

I guess now that I have taken it upon myself to be a living, writing witness to the things that happen in the world, I better start being a little more exact word conscious and start writing down the things I hear and the way I hear them.  That way I will be able to have exact words and the feelings they evoked in me for a better rounded story. 

At any rate, this is why I am in awe of Obama.  It takes a strong person to pick a person who has been so vocal against you to stand besides you.  While I know Hilary campaigned for his cause in the end, if I were in Obama’s shoes, I don’t think I would really be able to trust her 100% because of her previous words and the certain sting they had to them.  Obama is a better man that me – or should I say a better man than I am woman!! 

When in the last days, before the final election, the tape of Hilary putting down Obama by saying that John McCain had more experience, whereas, Obama only had a speech he had perfected since 2000, I had a hard time answering the question of “why now”; why in the last stretch of the election process was this tape released into the hands of the enemy.  This is the tape that was being directed to homes of people living in certain states that McCain needed to win for the purpose of distraction.  I don’t believe much in coincidence but I felt that was awfully coincidental. 

Because of this, I am in awe of Obama.  It is almost like he asked himself – What Would Jesus Do - and acted accordingly.  We could all take a page from that chapter. 

And that’s the way I see it!!

I feel I have to get something out of my system because it is truly bugging me; more on a ‘can you believe this is real’ level than an ‘I want to hurt somebody’ level.  Please let me rant for a few. 

I must have been out of my mind or seriously desperate to think I could really find a job on the internet.  Trust me I tried.  I signed up with Global Information Services – a nice, clean, professional site.  They had me typing these “assignments” for a month and a half and you know what, they never paid me.  Yet, since that time, I go to their website every now and then just to see the list of names they claim they have paid and every month they have between 200 and 500 names listed under the job I was doing for them – what a joke!! 

They boast they have over 50,000 workers all doing various jobs but very few of them try to answer all of the scam remarks that are posted on different forums I have visited.  Because these are desperate times in the US as well as globally, I am sure this site is making plenty of money off of people looking to supplement their unemployment benefits.  Just out of curiosity, has anyone here ever worked for 365jobs4u and gotten paid?  

What is with this internet and the way people scam you with the concept of working from home?  What laws govern the world of internet marketing?  What governs the hearts of man is more to the point.  Every site I even think of joining to make a little money, I look them up – well I do now after I got scammed myself.  All the sites have scam reports on them and if they do not have scam reports they have a page where you must leave your name and e-mail address to get further information and then they spam you to death.  I thought spamming was against the law. 

I have become thoroughly disgusted with the internet yet, I am amazed and appreciative at how it can bring family and friends close, in real time.  Even if you have a website, you submit your website to search engines but the only way you truly get noticed is if you pay to get noticed, pay for adwords, pay per click advertising.  I even tried those Survey sites and what they end up being about is affiliate marketing.   

One survey site sent me an e-mail saying I could make $75.00 by taking “a” survey.  I followed the link to see what it was about.  There were maybe 20 surveys that I would have to take to make the $75.00.  Each survey was a product I would have to purchase.  I started adding up what I would have to put out to “earn” this $75.00 and I stopped adding when it got to $45.00.  Not only would I have to pay $45.00 + but I would have to take the time to cancel my order before 30 days passed just so that my credit card would not be charged again or else that $75.00 would have cost me more than $75.00. 

Call me naïve, but I did not know that there were so many devious people in the world that were out to intentionally scam people out of their hard earned money, well yes I did, but now they have the perfect cover on the internet.  However, that is not the only madness I have run into.  I joined a few social network sites.  More times than I have felt comfortable with I end up getting e-mails from females flashing their stuff or males being rude because I don’t want to sit and talk about sex with them.  

Now I know I am old school, but there is something uniquely positive about class, decorum, morality, modesty and respect for yourself and for those around you.  What makes these chicks think everybody wants to see what’s between their legs.  Well let me put that another way – what makes them think I want to see what’s between their legs.  It’s a sad place where the world is headed and truth be told, I’m glad I have more years behind me than I do in front of me. 

And that’s the way I see it!!

This argument on the American automakers bailout has been debated to no end over the last few weeks and quite frankly, it is time to move on to other topics.  The truth of the matter is unless you are able to replace these car manufactures with something that is going to provide jobs for the people in the affected areas then, based on the economy in this time and space, it would be disastrous to allow them to fold. 

Having lived in areas where the threat of base closure has been an issue, I have seen first hand how the total elimination of a major income source is a scary thing for a city. 
Flint Michigan has already been hit hard by the effects of downsizing or outsourcing caused by lack of money in the car industry.  Ohio, Michigan and Illinois all would be affected if the car industry collapsed.  

With this in mind, what are the alternatives?  This morning the Governor of Michigan was on TV claiming that for the automakers to file Chapter 11 would be like cutting a life line.  She is adamant in her belief that no one wants to invest in a car when the makers are having a hard time keeping their heads above water.  This belief is based on polls that have been taken.  Consumers feel parts would be harder to come by if their car would break down on them, if the carmaker was to fold.  There is a possibility that Government would be able to guarantee parts and services for a time if this were to happen but why chance it when there are other cars out there that are ecologically better. 

The question then becomes, what are these carmakers doing to improve the ecological issues in building cars? What are they doing to increase sales?  What are they doing to cut unnecessary cost?  In light of all the things that have gotten them to this point, it is time for them to look at ways they can help themselves, as well as change the direction of their business. 

Economically speaking, the total failure of the Big 3, as they are being called, would have, most definitely, a negative impact on the economy.  From small businesses (restaurants, corner stores, suppliers in the affected areas) to the housing industry, to retirement plans, to the medical field could all be affected by the complete failure of the carmakers.  All of this on top of the unemployment payments, the retraining costs, the cost of foreclosures and the cost of lost pensions, that could possibly occur during this transition period.  Is our economy ready to take on this additional burden?  

This situation has gotten out of hand.  There have been some heated, as well as thoughtful debates on this subject in the last couple of weeks.  Regardless of what you really feel about the carmakers in general, that is their arrogance in taking separate, private planes to the congressional hearings, not being willing to sell their private planes in an effort to be able to funnel those funds back into their respective companies - not that this would make a huge difference just show a sign that they were willing to help themselves, is this the time to shut them out with no replacement.   

All of these things, coupled with their inability or refusal to make the appropriate adjustments in management styles with fresh new people that could maybe lead them in a different direction, we all need to ask ourselves, how, overall, would the negative impact be if they were to cease to be in existence.  Yes, we would all survive this but on another level there would be those (quite a few) who would be devastated by this in the end.  The question you really have to ask is what will benefit the economy more. 

So it seems like the only way around this at this economically challenged time would be to bail them out but not without conditions and timelines in place to be assured they are moving in the right direction along with a system to monitor the progress.  This is not a free ride because they would have to pay this money back within a certain time period.  Most important is that they show a plan of action to be taken to achieve these goals.

And that’s the way I see it!!