Sherrill, I am certain, many, many times. The only point I was trying to make is the problem hasn't really gone away and all the media attention never addresses the issue other than provocatively.

Thanks for your observations...each comtributor exhibits how racism has affected their lives.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who enter law enforcement as a profession who do so because of inferiority issues. But to be fair, there are some very decent people who really go into law neforcement to make a difference and to fulfill the ideal of "to protect and to serve."
Most normal people, and normal is a concept that has to taken in context, are decent people struggling with themselves and the people in their lives. On a real level, "the other" really is everybody outside of us. And my hope is to live long enough to see human beings realize that we all struggle, fail and suffer. And of course, the other side of the coin, most of us experience joy, satisfaction and contentment. These are the things that should unite us; but to simply look around the world where we live it is all too easy to ascertain that what divides us seems almost insurmountable! Tragedy and extreme loss seem to be the onky things that unite us, albeit briefly.

Not a self-proclaimed teacher..certified, hired and paid to teach. It might help if you applied your criticism of me to yourself. You are not interested in honest dialogue...You just want to badger or harrass because I don't agree with you or whatever you have read to form your opinions. I am an American, born, raised and educated here and there are at least six generations that proceeded me. I have the right to disagree with you. You may not agree with me but you cannot take away my right to express my ideas. I believe we have nothing more to say to one another. Thanks for the unintended compliment: you can't tell if I'm a him or a her. Now that's equality!
Now, this is said for the both of us - back away from the keyboard and forget that I ruffled your tender feathers. I'm certain your valuable time can be spent reading and sharing your ideas with others who share the same beliefs. Simply write me off as another useless liberal and you'll feel much better. I promise.

Not a self-proclaimed teacher..certified, hired and paid to teach. It might help if you applied your criticism of me to yourself. You are not interested in honest dialogue...You just want to badger or harrass because I don't agree with you or whatever you have read to form your opinions. I am an American, born, raised and educated here and there are at least six generations that proceeded me. I have the right to disagree with you. You may not agree with me but you cannot take away my right to express my ideas. I believe we have nothing more to say to one another. Thanks for the unintended compliment: you can't tell if I'm a him or a her. Now that's equality!
Now, this is said for the both of us - back away from the keyboard and forget that I ruffled your tender feathers. I'm certain your valuable time can be spent reading and sharing your ideas with others who share the same beliefs. Simply write me off as another useless liberal and you'll feel much better. I promise.

Isn't it interesting...you assume that I'm a democrat. Believe it or not there are people mwho don't think that Ronald Reagan was a great president. Please spare me the time-worn argument that he brought the hodtages home. He was pivotal in the fall of the iron curtain. By the way...it's clear that Obama's style doesn't resemble FDR's. I'm certain that I didn't imply that Obama's style resembled FDR's. I have learned over my 61 years of being a student and then a teacher for almost as long becasuse as life changes so do the skills that I must acquire to be the best, a resource for a varied background and needs group.I find it interesting the way people acquire knowledge. Teaching young minds how to logically think, acquire and utilize what was taught. Education is a wonderful, its what people do with it after they acquire it. Young mjinds need ti be exposed to the good and the bad of a situation no cherry picking to be the salvo of any spefic group. When I was a girl we had
reasoned political argumemnts.No name calling, no disrespect just civil discussions. How does that happen when people are either demos or repubs? Tyhe point is were are all Amerucans and it's about time that we realized that we ahould be on the same team> Pwrhaps I am wrong but it seems that you are more interested in making pointed statements rather than trying to a have a reasoned dialogue. You began your post with an insult..."you should read history to get the real story..." It was clear from the moment that I first sawe your post that you weren't interested in an honest dialogue about the Great Depession and qho did what at what time to alleviate the suffering of Grmillions of people. You might read "The Grapes of Wrath." Might give you an different insight about tha time. Good luck on your journey and may you fimd what's necessary to see the value of the people who nhave gone before you?

Ah...history. Perhaps if you have read more history with an open mind rather than cherry pick what supports you agenda, then perhaps you might have a more balanced and accurate idea about what really happened after the Great Depression. Without the New Deal, the economically ravaged America would not have survived long enough to even experience the economic benefits of WW II. The life boats that carried this nation to WWII in 1941, the WPA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the FDIC, the regulation of the investment community that was in large part responsible for the collaspe and of course Social Security. Give credit where it's due...it's far to easy to denigrate and subvert reality but that kind of thinking is counter productive and only casts a negative light on the person who is not open minded enough to admit the truth, as we know it, based on what other people chose to write.

Ah...history..perhaps it would have helped if you hado read all of the history instead of cherry picking what fits your beliefs? The US entered WWII December,1941 and The New Deal stabilized the banks with the FDIC, regulated investments, started the WPA, initiated the dread Social Security..all factors that acted as life boats for Americans. Yes, the war contributed to the economic recovery of the country but without The New Deal, the submerged economy and the people who depended on its government to provide security would have never risen from the economic shambles of the depression.

As my very grown children would say: "no worries!"

As my very grown children would say..."no worries."

I appreciate your observation and I know that change takes time. My piece, although not directly stated, is directed at issues that Obama and his staff had side stepped: the issue of illegal wiretapping, wanting to hold accused terrorists indefinitely, the failure of the senate to pass legislation that would have given power bankruptcy judges the right to cram down mortgages on first mortgages rather than just vacation homes or so-called second homes, the credit card laws that won't go into effect for six more months, the inability of his finance appoointees, all products who either wortked for Goldman Sachs or other Wall Street firms, to re-regulate the industry that created this economic collaspe...these issues have already passed. Your comment "...you are living in a weorld of technology too much..." I'll take that as a compliment because at 61 I struggle to stay on top of what's happening in the very real world around me. The townhall meetings are great but if the reality of Main Street doesn't begin to change because Mr. Obama's advisors are invested in the "have mores" then the change that is necessary to save the backbone of this country just won't happen. By the way, investors are buying up land in Africa for cheap prices to grow food. If the people who own the land don't agree to sell, some investors, like a US conglomerate, flood their property and ruins their crop.
Obama needs time, but I also believe that several issues as stated above could and should have been handled differently.
Again thanks for your comment.

Can I assume that he hasn't produced a son yet?

I liked this article...but I wished that you had contrasted the cost of saving homes versus how much has/will be spent on the wars. NIce detail!

"e-seidel"...my example of the San Diego Union was to show just how unobjective foreces withing and without the media can be.You seem to be under the misapprehension that the job of a journalist is to only report on what's either popular or supportive of or about this administration or any other administration?
My commentary was written based on my feelings that Mr. Obama has not kept his campaign promises regarding "don't ask= don't tell" rendition, the closing og Guantanamo. These are facts and not subjective meanderings. These facts may not match what you choose to believe about how the president is handling these problems, but they are facts nonetheless.
I am certain that before he leaves office that he will affect many policies that will change the world's perspective about our country but the facts are - if we are detaining people indefinitely because someone in the government, long before Obama took office, coerced a confession from them and their guilt cannot be proven - then that path will lead to a very slippery slope.
The vanguard of Americans that came together to elect Barack Obama elected him because he promised "Change!" Change often takes time but some of the very damaging issues that occurred before he took office need to be addressed. Of course there are issues of antional security that need to be addressed but we have managed to hold trials for identified spies without compromising national security.
I'm certain that my at length explanation to you will not change you...I write to hopefully make people think, a rare commodity in a world where access to fact driven news is readily avaiable without the hype. I wonder, have you ever wirtten to George Will or Ann Coulter about their journalistic objectivity?

Perhaps "esedidel" should look at the front page story in the NY Times and read how Human Rights Organizations are appalled by Obama's reversal of his campaign promises? And the idea that J-school would gift their graduates objectivity is almost laughable. As a side note - the police union in San Diego CA wants to influence what appears on the editorial pages of the San Diego Union because the police union are investors in the publications. Now how's that for objectivity?

Thanks to all for your comments....I read a lot almost everyday, but I'd be the first to admit that my knowledge is limited by inadequate access to real news. The traditional media, now largely owned by mega-conglomerates, have failed us all greatly!

Hmmm....the logic dxoesn't work for me. The camp is a reflection of what went terribly wrong with this country. Once upon a time, the world trusted America to be the good guy. Guantanamo, rendition, military tribunals and torture were never the actions of a great nation. Guantanamo represents how venal and arrogant men exercise their fear against other men. Think about how the Middle East and all of those budding terorists would feel about the U.S. if all the money that has been spent to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had been spent to educate, feed and create jobs? A jihad is difficult to pursue when your family is well-cared for and opportunity is a way of life.

Yes, it is v ery, very disheartening. I believe that Abraham Lincoln is Obama's hero, but to date, Obama has not shown the grit that that other guy from Illinois did.

Thank you for you comment Diana. My intution is based on the fact that I was a banker for 17 years. I left before deregulation took hold. As a lender, what was coming for the future of bank lenders would be more perilous with less control. The prospect of lenders earning commissions rather than salaries based on knowledge and performance also gave me great cause for concern.

Thank you for your comment and extending the argument even farther. Your point is an excellent one.

I agree completely and unfortunately, if we examine much in the world around us today, it is clear that common sense was left by the wayside a very long time ago.