Saturday, February 01, 2003
Columbia Disaster
I remember the day vividly back on January 28th, 1986. I was in my 8th grade social studies class at Washington Junior High in Jamestown, New York. All day long most teachers keep their classes in the auditorium watching television coverage of the Challenger tragedy. To this day I hate watching the video of the Challenger exploding. Feeling the fear then as I do now is horrible and the pain of the families of the astronauts is unimaginable. Those feelings must be respected and the reason for the loss of Columbia must be investigated fully. However, now that another shuttle has been lost, I have but one thought. Space flight must continue. NASA went 3 years without launching a shuttle. That cannot happen again. The United States must continue with manned space flights, and must work towards new and brilliant goals. We must take this horrible event and the grief it will and has brought to the world and use it to build a new effort to go back to the Moon and on to Mars. Fear cannot be let to rule space exploration. The reaction after the Challenger disaster held back space exploration in an untold number of ways. We must not recoil into the shell of hyper-caution, and instead honor the 7 astronauts and all past space explorers by living the dreams of pushing the envelope and breaking out of confines of our planet and our star system. As a society we must understand the risks of exploration and not let the knee-jerk culture of fear to hold back the progress of knowledge. Humans must strive to better themselves. We must go where no one has gone before.
I remember the day vividly back on January 28th, 1986. I was in my 8th grade social studies class at Washington Junior High in Jamestown, New York. All day long most teachers keep their classes in the auditorium watching television coverage of the Challenger tragedy. To this day I hate watching the video of the Challenger exploding. Feeling the fear then as I do now is horrible and the pain of the families of the astronauts is unimaginable. Those feelings must be respected and the reason for the loss of Columbia must be investigated fully. However, now that another shuttle has been lost, I have but one thought. Space flight must continue. NASA went 3 years without launching a shuttle. That cannot happen again. The United States must continue with manned space flights, and must work towards new and brilliant goals. We must take this horrible event and the grief it will and has brought to the world and use it to build a new effort to go back to the Moon and on to Mars. Fear cannot be let to rule space exploration. The reaction after the Challenger disaster held back space exploration in an untold number of ways. We must not recoil into the shell of hyper-caution, and instead honor the 7 astronauts and all past space explorers by living the dreams of pushing the envelope and breaking out of confines of our planet and our star system. As a society we must understand the risks of exploration and not let the knee-jerk culture of fear to hold back the progress of knowledge. Humans must strive to better themselves. We must go where no one has gone before.
Seeking informationIf you have any connection to the space shuttle or if you have friends or relatives who live in the area where debris from the shuttle Columbia is falling in north Texas, please call the Enquirer's Metro desk at 768-8600 or send an e-mail to dfrench@enquirer.com.Did the Editor(s) actually approve this as a front page link? This rubs me as a bit crass.
Friday, January 31, 2003
John Schlagetter has posted emails from Nate and Amanda illustrating the bigotry and racism of the CJC. Here the CJC is attacking Greg Flannery of City Beat, one of the biggest boycott friendly members of the local media. Shooting one's self in the foot could not have a better example than the CJC's rantings. The highlight is the threat of violence implied in this quote:
He ain't nobody. He ain't done shit for us and never will. All he wants to do us school us on how he would like to see it done. And, of course, the method that he prescribes involves "persuading" the white man to "change his mind and his behavior". To hell with that. These muthafuckas can either be reasoned with or they can feel the pain. Fuck persuading anybody. And it goes without saying that this persuasion is naturally going to come with all kinds of personal sacrifice (financial, emotional, and physical) from us colored folk.That quote was from Amanda. Yes, it shocked me too, but when you walk around with an anti-Semitic sign like this, anything could come out of your mouth.
Activists call for talks to resolve boycott
How can Luken talk to anyone with any boycott leaders when there is no clear director or group leading the boycott? The CBUF claims they lead the boycott and have defined the boycott as one covering the area of downtown below Central Parkway. The CJC, or rather what is left of it, claims the boycott includes the same area, plus a ban on all outsiders from coming into Cincinnati, but they also have enacted an "Artists of Conscious Campaign" trying to keep all artists/musicians/performers out of the entire Cincinnati region.
On Today’s (Friday’s) Sister Speak radio program on 1230 the Buzz the battle of dueling boycott groups occurred with the likes of Dwight Patton and Juleana Frierson calling in from the CBUF while Amanda Mayes, Monica Williams, and William Kirkland called in from the new and unimproved CJC. The two separate boycotts were declared in the statements from both groups. The fracture of the boycott is official. Luken has no way to negotiate with anyone. He can’t deal with two groups; the egos of the two groups are far too large for even Jimmy Carter to cope. Expecting Luken to do anything with these unfocused groups with hidden agendas is foolhardy and ill-conceived. Moving forward disregarding the boycott is the only path Luken can take. Extortion cannot be reward. An boycott as the means of a political power grab is a never ending process. The boycott will continue forever. To defeat its irrational goals we must make it irrelevant.
How can Luken talk to anyone with any boycott leaders when there is no clear director or group leading the boycott? The CBUF claims they lead the boycott and have defined the boycott as one covering the area of downtown below Central Parkway. The CJC, or rather what is left of it, claims the boycott includes the same area, plus a ban on all outsiders from coming into Cincinnati, but they also have enacted an "Artists of Conscious Campaign" trying to keep all artists/musicians/performers out of the entire Cincinnati region.
On Today’s (Friday’s) Sister Speak radio program on 1230 the Buzz the battle of dueling boycott groups occurred with the likes of Dwight Patton and Juleana Frierson calling in from the CBUF while Amanda Mayes, Monica Williams, and William Kirkland called in from the new and unimproved CJC. The two separate boycotts were declared in the statements from both groups. The fracture of the boycott is official. Luken has no way to negotiate with anyone. He can’t deal with two groups; the egos of the two groups are far too large for even Jimmy Carter to cope. Expecting Luken to do anything with these unfocused groups with hidden agendas is foolhardy and ill-conceived. Moving forward disregarding the boycott is the only path Luken can take. Extortion cannot be reward. An boycott as the means of a political power grab is a never ending process. The boycott will continue forever. To defeat its irrational goals we must make it irrelevant.
Double Standards
If a white person were to have a web page like this with the same type of rhetoric about blacks and race, then on a scale of 1 to 10, how racist would that person be? Is 11 to low?
If a white person were to have a web page like this with the same type of rhetoric about blacks and race, then on a scale of 1 to 10, how racist would that person be? Is 11 to low?
Director Spike Lee Criticizes BET
Would this have anything to do with Ed Gordon of BET replacing Spike Lee as a lecturer at UC?
Would this have anything to do with Ed Gordon of BET replacing Spike Lee as a lecturer at UC?
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