The Black Informant

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Why Turn off the TV?

Television cuts into family time, harms our children’s ability to read and succeed in school, and contributes to unhealthy lifestyles and obesity. Here are just a few of the facts:

* On average, children in the US will spend more time in front of the television (1,023 hours) than in school this year (900 hours).

* Forty percent of Americans frequently or always watch television during dinner.

* As US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said at the Kick Off of TV-Turnoff Week 2001, “We are raising the most overweight generation of youngsters in American history…This week is about saving lives.” Read more »

I saw this in a public restroom recently:

“Any employee who does not wash their hands before leaving the restroom will be subject to dismissal.”

I’m afraid to ask, but how would they enforce this?

“I’m a independent.”

This is a familiar statement that I have been hearing for years from individuals on both sides of the political spectrum , but have never really taken the time to address it until now.

I have mentioned on this site many times that I am a Conservative. I have also mentioned that I am registered as an Independent (which means that I do not have any kind of allegiance to ANY party, just a preference on values). I have never felt embarrassed to publicly acknowledge this part of my makeup nor will I ever feel that way. I don’t wear the “Conservative” tag on my sleeve because quite honestly there is a whole lot more to me than that. What I realize is that by standing up for a particular set of values, this makes me vulnerable to criticism when that “system of values” has failed. I have called Conservatives out on many issues where I feel they have failed voters and will continue to do so. Nevertheless, I still tend to agree wholeheartedly with much of the Conservative viewpoint.

Those that Read more »

I just heard about this website last night. We are already thinking about using it to do some consolidatation.

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Introducing America’s First People-to-People Lending Marketplace: Prosper

E-LOAN co-founder and technology entrepreneur unveil the next evolution of consumer lending; an “eBay for credit” for loans up to $25,000

San Francisco – February 21, 2006 – After two years of development, Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-LOAN, and John Witchel, technologist and entrepreneur, today formally announced the public debut of Prosper (http://www.prosper.com), America’s first people-to-people lending marketplace.

“Until now, financial institutions have controlled who is able to obtain credit and the rates people pay,” said Chris Larsen, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Prosper. “Over time, this one-sided control has bred inefficiencies and excessive margins – leading to higher rates for borrowers, and restricting people who have money to lend from entering and generating income from this vital and lucrative market.” Read more »

“Frito-Lay has launched a new “Natural Doritos” product that doesn’t have the usual monosodium glutamate (an excitotoxin) and artificial colors found in its flagship product, but it does contain another offensive ingredient: yeast extract. It’s listed right on the package of the new Natural Doritos products.

Yeast extract is a flavor-enhancing additive that many food manufacturers use in place of MSG. The problem is that yeast extract is a hidden source of MSG (monosodium glutamate), according to my sources (more…).”

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My wife always told me that she was a little scared to see food manufacturers take the “natural” route. They know that most people are too lazy to take the time to understand the ingredients, so they just include the word “natural” in the label and give the packaging some earth tone color to enhance the claim.

“For a very long time, there has been an increased awareness of the positive, constructive interactions between Black male role-models and Black boys. The lack of fathers in the home and the negativity associated with broken families and “dead-beat dads”, has been center stage in the Black community.

While our attention on the father-son, male role-model/Black male child relationship continues to grow, we cannot forget about the strong influences Black fathers have on their pre-teen and teenage daughters - or how the behaviors of Black males impact the lives of girls around them. A well-rounded father, or any positive male figure, is crucial to the psychological and social development of a teenage girl. What girls see and hear can play an important role in how they respond and react to men as they get older (more…).”

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What I hope emerges out of this situation down in Durham is a national dialogue in the black community that addresses WITH AN ACTION PLAN on how to reverse the trend of fatherless homes. Too many folks have been jumping on the “It’s the system’s fault that this young woman had to resort to stripping to support her two kids” bandwagon. Where is the father (or fathers) of these children? Seems to me if someone was paying child support…let me stop right there because to some, I am “beating up” on black folks.

States Help Schools Hide Minority Scores

By FRANK BASS, NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON and BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writers

Monday, April 17, 2006

States are helping public schools escape potential penalties by skirting the No Child Left Behind law’s requirement that students of all races must show annual academic progress.

With the federal government’s permission, schools aren’t counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students when they report progress by racial groups, an Associated Press computer analysis found. Read more »

Believe it or not, there is a significant black population in the state of Colorado. Much of this is due to the military bases located there as well as transplants from California. My family and I lived in both Colorado Springs and in Parker (a small suburban town just outside of Denver). There is just too much city (big city) in us, so we had to move .

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This is part of a nation-wide trend! 

“The number of black-owned businesses in Colorado has risen rapidly in recent years, driven largely by construction projects such as the redevelopment of the former Stapleton Airport and transit initiatives.

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau showed the number of Colorado black-owned businesses rose 43 percent to 7,066 from 1997 to 2002, the most recent period for which figures are available.

Black-owned construction firms in Colorado had the highest revenues of all black-owned businesses - an average of $200,000 for each of the 411 companies in 2002, the report showed. ” (more…)

Dana Owens (b.k.a. Queen Latifah–I’m not big on stage names) continues to add to her resume…

Queen Latifah Inks Deal with Focus Features and Rogue Pictures 

Queen Latifah has inked a first-look deal with Focus Features and its genre arm, Rogue Pictures, to develop low- to medium-sized budget films under her Flavor Unit Entertainment banner.

Flavor Unit, Latifah’s 17-year old Jersey City, N.J. based entertainment company, is run by the rapper-turned-actress and her partner Sha-Kim Compere.  The company’s producing “Bringing Down the House,” “The Cookout”and “Beauty Shop.”  Clients of the company’s management division incude Oscar-nominated actor Terrence Howard and Queen Latifah. (more…)

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As long as she branches out from the “loud black woman with attitude” roles, this should be a good move for her.

This is one of the main arguments that has been floating around a lot for the past few week, but it is not new to this debate. The Center for Immigration Studies (probably my favorite website that covers this issue), who has been addressing the whole illegal immigration issue for years,  published an article back in 2002 that addresses this argument that is constantly being used by the pro-illegal immigration crowd. Here is an excerpt:

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Amnesty for Illegals Who “Pay Taxes”?

Advocates contend that illegal immigrants work hard in jobs Americans will not take, pay taxes, contribute to society, and thus should be able to earn their way to legal status. This concept, euphemistically called “earned regularization,” would create opportunities for illegal aliens to receive lawful permanent resident status by earning “credits” in a number of ways, including by paying taxes. Read more »