The Black Informant

PC strikes again!

(foxnews.com) A Florida lawmaker wants the state to stop using the term “illegal aliens,” saying the second word should be changed to something less … foreign.

“I personally find the word ‘alien’ offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children,” Sen. Frederica Wilson told The News-Press. “An alien to me is someone from out of space.”

“We don’t say ‘alien,’ we say ‘immigrant,’” she said.

[…]

She said she’s not as concerned about the use of the word “illegal” in the expression, but “I like ‘undocumented’ better.” (source)

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In Hollywoodland, the word “Alien” has been mostly associated with visitors from outer space. In the REAL WORLD, the same word is defined and understood as follows:

1. a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization (distinguished from citizen).
2. a foreigner.
3. a person who has been estranged or excluded.

The question for Sen. Wilson here is “Which world does she live in?”

GROW UP AND DO SOMETHING MORE MEANINGFUL FOR YOUR STATE!!

Is the “down low” hype causing more harm than good?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mistaken assumptions about black sexuality are finding their way into scientific research on the spread of HIV, and this could do more to fuel risky behavior than prevent it, authors of a new commentary warn.

Reports on African-American men who identify themselves as straight but secretly have sex with men — dubbed the “down low” lifestyle — first appeared when men who said they were part of this subculture wrote books about it and the media picked up the story, Dr. Chandra L. Ford of Columbia University in New York City, the commentary’s lead author, told Reuters Health.

[…]

Despite the non-scientific source, epidemiologists began doing research based on the idea that black men living the down low lifestyle were driving the spread of HIV, she and her colleagues note in their article in the Annals of Epidemiology.

This assumption was mistaken in many ways, they explain. First of all, the practice of straight men secretly having sex with men is seen across all ethnic groups. (source)

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Media-driven or further proof of “group think”?

Poll: Obama Ahead Of Clinton Among African-American Voters

CHICAGO (CBS 2)  — Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are just beginning their presidential campaigns, but a poll says there has already been a major shift among African-American voters.

A Washington Post poll shows Obama with 44 percent support from black voters, while Clinton had 33 percent.

Last month, another poll said Clinton led Obama by a huge margin among black voters, 80 percent to 20 percent. (source)

Correct me if I am wrong here, but I do not seem to recall ANY real initiative by Sen. Obama to fully discuss his political stances to the Black community exclusively (let alone to the rest of the nation). So far he has not said anything different than the other Democratic candidates yet according to this “poll” Black folks are abandoning Clinton for him.

Black American history still in the making: A new political force

(cqpolitics.com) February is Black History Month, and CQPolitics.com yesterday asked readers to identify the state that has elected more African-Americans in its history. (The correct answer is Illinois, which has had 16 black members of Congress).

As a follow-up, CQPolitics.com today lists all 25 states — half the total in the country — that have elected at least one African-American to Congress. The information was derived from a 2005 report of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and an analysis of the 2006 election results, which produced three new African-American House members.

[…]

African-Americans in Congress, by state

• Illinois: 16

Current members: Sen. Barack Obama and Reps. Bobby L. Rush, Jesse L. Jackson Jr. and Danny K. Davis

• California: 10

Current members: Reps. Maxine Waters, Juanita Millender-McDonald, Barbara Lee and Diane Watson

• New York: 9

Current members: Reps. Charles B. Rangel, Edolphus Towns, Gregory W. Meeks and Yvette D. Clarke

• South Carolina: 9

Current member: Rep. James E. Clyburn

• Georgia: 8

Current members: Reps. John Lewis, Sanford D. Bishop Jr., David Scott and Hank Johnson

• North Carolina: 8

Current members: Reps. Melvin Watt and G.K. Butterfield

• Texas: 6

Current members: Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Al Green

• Alabama: 5

Current member: Rep. Artur Davis

• Florida: 5

Current members: Reps. Alcee L. Hastings, Corrine Brown and Kendrick B. Meek

• Michigan: 5

Current members: Reps. John Conyers Jr. and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick

• Mississippi: 5

Current member: Rep. Bennie Thompson

• Maryland: 4

Current members: Reps. Albert R. Wynn and Elijah E. Cummings

• Missouri: 4

Current members: Reps. William Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver II

• Pennsylvania: 4

Current member: Rep. Chaka Fattah

• Louisiana: 3

Current member: Rep. William J. Jefferson

• Indiana: 2

Current member: Rep. Julia Carson

• Ohio: 2

Current member: Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones

• Tennessee: 2

• Virginia: 2

Current member: Rep. Robert C. Scott

• Connecticut: 1

• Massachusetts: 1

• Minnesota: 1

Current member: Rep. Keith Ellison

• New Jersey: 1

Current member: Rep. Donald M. Payne

• Oklahoma: 1

• Wisconsin: 1

Current member: Rep. Gwen Moore

The 25 states that have never elected an African-American to Congress are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. (source)

Sounds familiar? In-house terrorism in Haiti

(strategypage.com) “Frustrated at the growing gang violence in Haiti, UN peacekeepers decided to try the gangbusters approach. So for the last two months, the peacekeeping troops have gone after the gangs, in particular the gang leaders. The gangsters responded by finding new hideouts. But the most damaging response by the criminals was to find journalists, and tell the reporters what they wanted to hear. Since the gangsters operate out of the densely populated slums of the capital, peacekeeper visits are accompanied by a great deal of gunfire, and dead civilians. The gangsters told the reporters that the UN was deliberately aiming at civilians, in an attempt to terrorize the civilians who supported the criminals (who, in their own eyes, were legitimate freedom fighters against the foreign occupiers.) The gangs thoughtfully produced some dead women and children for the reporters to examine. One question reporters were reluctant to get answers for was, who actually killed the civilians? Rumors were already in the air that the dead civilians were conveniently shot by gangsters, to provide  the media with  some compelling images for the evening news back home. (more…)

Interesting how folks like Maxine Waters and Randall Robinson have been somewhat quiet regarding the claims that UN peacekeeping forces have been firing on civilians in Haiti. These two individuals and others had no problem  wagging their ashy fingers at the US for “allegedly” kidnapping former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as well as being behind the demise of that small country. And before someone mentions that she is just a US congresswoman, let me remind you that she had no problem making a very public appeal to the UN for them to act as observers in our last Presidential election.

This is definitely a story worth following.

African American ex-computer hacker designs service to fake caller ID (PR)

(LOS ANGELES, CA) Former computer hacker and CEO of LIGATT Security, Gregory D. Evans, has invented and launched a new service to combat call evasion. SPOOFEM.COM is an online program that allows anyone to change the number that appears on another person’s caller ID. It also includes features like voice disguising, call recording, and text messaging from a different number. This program is geared toward collection agencies and law enforcement, but is open to anyone. Want to catch a cheating spouse? Does someone owe you money but won’t accept your calls? Do you value your privacy and don’t want to inadvertently give out your phone number? SPOOFEM.COM is perfect for you.

SPOOFEM.COM is just the latest in a long line of reliable necessary security equipment invented by Evans, an African American former computer hacker. Evans designed SPOOFEM.COM when someone who owed him money and was ignoring his calls.

SPOOFEM.COM callers can change their Caller Identification Number (CID) so that their number will show up differently on another person’s caller ID. Other features include spoofing text messages, which shows a different number or name of the person sending the text. Voice changing does just that, changes your voice. You have the choice of changing your voice to male or female. The conversation can be recorded and then emailed to your personal email address. SPOOFEM.COM lists everything from law enforcement, to collection agencies, to jealous boyfriends and girlfriends as customers of this type of service. “Currently, we have several celebrities and athletes using our service,” Evans confides. It is a perfect fit for anyone who values his or her privacy in this information age. (more…)

This sounds like a really neat idea, but placed in the wrong hands…yikes!

“When you ask for it, you still ain’t happy”

The following two commentaries fall right in line with something I said several times on this site:

“Ask 5 members of the ‘America still owes us’ crowd to define reparations and you will get AT LEAST 10 different responses.”

When I first read this article last week, I decided to ignore it because IMO it is not worth quoting. But after coming across the second article via BookerRising today, I decided to post both of them here and let YOU the reader write the commentary.

Article 1.

Black History is Depressing (Donel Williams)

Sure, you open a history book and see names like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, and (insert any leader here). But, do the same names we learn about still hold the same meaning after all these years?

Depends. Give me some new black history please! It wouldn’t kill you to teach me about people I know of yet know nothing about. Hell, I was watching Sanford and Son, so teach me something about the dude that played Lamont.

[…]

Another thing: stop depressing me. It sucks. Life as a black man might go a little easier if I didn’t get all this pressure put on me every February. I always get some old lady telling me stories about Dr. King or Malcolm X and how she used to throw her panties at Sam Cooke back in the day. That last one had nothing to do with the point, but it was very funny to me so, oh well.

Why isn’t George Washington Carver’s name on one jar of peanut butter? For God’s sake, you mean neither he, nor anyone in his family could capitalize on that opportunity? I mean, if Peter Pan can have his own brand of peanut butter, and Donald Duck has his own orange juice, and Popeye has his own chicken joint, why couldn’t Carver get his own brand of peanut butter?

But back to what I was saying. I hate - I mean can’t stand - February. (more…)

Article 2.

Black History Month trivializes black history (Cynthia Tucker)

Thank heaven it’s nearly over. I’m sick of walking into bookstores that have pushed all their books by black authors to the front of the store and lumped them together - no matter their subject. Or worth, for that matter. I’m tired of TV productions that offer a shallow salute to a handful of relatively well-known black inventors or politicians. And I’m disheartened that this annual trek through Disney-fied history has done little to place black Americans at the center of the American story. (source)

I will say this (then I will sit down): I find it very ironic that these two commentaries in many ways reflect the sentiments (sentiments that I have seen around the web) of the same crowd that regularly hammers people like Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell and all Black Conservatives for burying their heritage and not being “Black enough”.

Legacy Bancorp gets a boost

Stewart Title, a real estate information and transaction management company, has made a deposit of $300,000 at Legacy Bank of Milwaukee to help minorities own homes and develop businesses.
Legacy Bank, founded by three African-American women in 1999, is a part of Legacy Bancorp Inc. In eight years of business, Legacy Bank has become one of the fastest-growing community banks in America by building strategic partnerships with businesses such as Stewart Title. (source)

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Congrats!!

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson

Enjoy the moment!!!!! Readers PLEASE stay away from the “…but we still have a looooooooooooong way to go as a people” commentaries as they are over the horizon. This is real progress and it shouldn’t be dampened in any way.

Congrats to two great actors!!

Another one of our babies is missing (2/25/07)

JOSHUA COX
Case Type: Lost, Injured, Missing
DOB: May 8, 1990
Sex: Male
Missing Date: Feb 2, 2007
Race: Black
Age Now: 16
Height:  6′0″ (183 cm)
Missing City: TEXARKANA
Weight:  175 lbs (79 kg)
Missing State : TX
Hair Color: Black
Missing Country: United States
Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1063907
Circumstances: Joshua was last seen near a large body of water on February 2, 2007. He may be in need of medical attention.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Cass County Sheriff’s Office (Texas) 1-903-756-7511

Part 2 of “Taking a closer look at moderatism in religion“

As promised I have just finished my second installment of this series. Instead of posting here, I decided to post it on my work in progress blog entitled “The Mourning Bench“. The key phrase here is WORK IN PROGRESS because I will be tweaking this site for the next month or so. For now, I think it is safe to say that I will be posting to Mourning Bench at least once a week until I say otherwise.

I do not know the truthfulness of this e-mail, but it is worth your attention

I received this comment on this site recently.

my name is mr.philip carter and i am a ex-offender i am in need of some help i have been home scents july of last year and i am having a lot of problems trying to optain a job and a place to live i have been on this conputer for months and going to places trying to see if i can get some one to help me as a ex-offender i am really felling down what do you do after you have try to do all that you can do to try and help your self i have written to congress and mr.brush and the deptement of justic and the deptement of labor and all kinds of peoples if you might be able to help me with my promble pleause e-mail me back at yahoo .com blueboy1960@yahoo.com

While the issue is very real, verifying its legitimacy is up to you. E-mail him directly instead of leaving comments here for him.

Some pics from Hawai’i

Here are just a few of the over 600 pictures I took on our recent vacation. Clicking on the picture will show you a much larger version. As for pics of my family, I’m not quite ready to put my family out there on the net like that :). Some of the pics may appear fuzzy because the program I used to reduce the size of these pics distorted some of the quality in the process. Tomorrow, I’ll try to make some time to give my opinion on the cruise.
Taken with the Nikon D40

Blacks and the automobile industry: an overview

Written by William Reed

*Excerpted* 

“In 1914, Henry Ford paid workers $5 per day and prompted the movement of millions of blacks to the urban north. America’s first major “equal opportunity employer,” Ford reached out to African American communities, churches and newspapers to find factory workers. Automobile industry wages enabled black workers to buy homes, own cars, save money and send their children to college. In metropolitan areas with big auto plants, black auto workers were the most visible leaders of labor organizations, churches, and civil rights groups.

Auto work provided blacks with resources that few other jobs did, in turn they invested their resources back into community organizations and projects. As late as 1970 one in every five Big Three workers was black. By the turn of the 21st Century, auto work became less a source of employment for blacks. As Chrysler, Ford and GM lost market share, the industry workforce has shrunk to drastic lows.

These days America’s car manufacturers, and workers, are experiencing a bumpy ride. Car sales are still at historically high levels; but the Big Three’s share of sales has slumped. Each year in the U.S. more than 16 million new cars (and 40 million used cars) are sold. African Americans buy 1 in every 8 vehicles sold here and factor into the Big Three’s marketplace predicament. The reason Chrysler, Ford and GM are closing factories and cutting jobs is that they are losing U.S. market share to foreign competitors. Last year import car makers: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Saab, Audi, Volvo, Toyota, Volkswagen and Honda commanded 36 percent of the $1.5 trillion US auto market. Nearly half of import buyers were African Americans, who bought luxury models in particular.” (more…)

Man, I would love to have a historical discussion on this (especially during the Henry Ford years). There is a lot of information here I think that had a direct effect on the Black economy for years (and still does to a certain extent). If I come across any related links on this, I will try to link it to this post.

Black American history still in the making

LAS VEGAS, NV (PRWEB) February 22, 2007 — Young African American woman Alexis Levi purchased a professional basketball franchise, and settled her International Basketball League (IBL) Expansion Team - the Las Vegas Stars - in Las Vegas, Nevada. To coach her team to greatness, owner, general manager and CEO Levi hired George Tarkanian, son of former UNLV head basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. Also a Sports Agent Advisor for Sports Management Worldwide, Levi is quite comfortable in professional sports management ― a profession generally populated by men. She is an astute, results-oriented leader with proven successes managing multi-million dollar organizations and business operations.

Levi states, “We are going to work closely with the City of Las Vegas to build a great semi-professional team. We want very much to work with Mayor Oscar Goodman and the Maloof brothers to secure a measurable model confirming audience dedication and corporate support.” She continued, “We hope the NBA and Commissioner Stern will see a viable basketball program, as well as a future opportunity for the NBA. Since taking ownership, we have received calls of interest from the NBA, NBDL, CBA and some international teams.” (source)

An interesting piece on BMI

I heard someone talking about this topic this morning on the radio. I think that there is some truth to it.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that a BMI measurement above 25 indicates that a person is overweight and a BMI measurement over 30 indicates that he is obese.

However, is this calculation accurate? The BMI recommendation by WHO was based on studies done largely on Caucasians. Thus the BMI recommendation by WHO may be an accurate indication of obesity on an average Caucasian. There are now findings to suggest that people of Asian and African origins have a significantly higher percentage of body fat compared to Caucasians although they may look slimmer than their Caucasian counterparts. Therein lays the danger. If you are an Asian or an African, you may look slim but may carry extra body fat of which you are oblivious to.

[…]

As commonly known, BMI calculation is not accurate for muscular people (muscles are heavier than fat) and now, it may also not be accurate across the board for all ethnic groups. For a start, Asians and Africans may want to define their BMI results as being overweight if it is above 23 and obese if above 27. (source)

Also worth the read: “The BMI ( Indicator Of Heart Disease Risk ) is Wrong“

Do you believe in secret societies?

Let’s put it this way, I do not rule out their existance. The whole “global warming” scare really has me revisiting this topic.

Skull & Bones

The Order of Skull and Bones is a secret society based at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. The society is officially organized as the Russell Trust Association.

The group was founded in 1832 by Alphonso Taft and William Russell.The first Skull and Bones class, or “cohort,” was the very next year, 1832-33. The society was all male until 1992. All new members, as in all Yale societies and most fraternal groups, must withstand an initiation.

If Skull and Bones is mentioned today, it is often in light of elite political conspiracy theories concerning use of federal power in the United States of America. The nature of the society system at Yale lends itself to such speculation.

Traditionally, the Yale Daily News published the names of newly “tapped” members of all major secret societies at Yale, but this practice was abandoned during the “student rebellion” of the sixties. It has since been reinstated informally by the campus tabloid The Rumpus. Hence, although the society’s current membership rosters and activities are not officially disclosed, the membership is in fact a matter of knowledge among the incoming and outgoing Yale senior class, University administration, active alumni from other societies, and underclassmen. This may be said of the other societies, as well, particularly Wolf’s Head and Scroll and Key. University archives has documents, provided by the societies, that would confirm membership.

The society inducts only rising seniors during the late junior year prior to their graduation. By reputation, “Bonesmen” tapped the current football and heavyweight rowing captains as well as notables from the Yale Daily News and Yale Lit before the 1970s. However, the group’s decision, after much dispute, to admit women eventually diversified the membership. Numerous undergraduate constituencies are better represented among the recently-tapped membership compared to the cohorts, or delegations, that included the 27th, 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States. (source)

The Bilderberg Group

The Bilderberg Group or Bilderberg conference is an unofficial annual invitation-only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are persons of influence in the fields of business, media, and politics.

Due to discussions by public officials and powerful business leaders (and others) being off the record, these annual meetings are the subject of much criticism (for circumventing the democratic process of discussing issues openly and publicly) and numerous conspiracy theories.

The elite group meets annually at exclusive, four or five-star resorts throughout the world, normally in Europe, although sometimes in the United States or Canada. It has an office in Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands. (source)

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I just saw “Daddy’s Little Girls”

My wife and I just came back from the theater just moments ago. Now I have to go back out to pick up our kids

I’ll give my take on it tonight!

Bottom line: Thank You Tyler Perry!

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Okay, I’m back! (link to movie website)

I’ll make this quick and brief as I do not want to give away the movie for those who have not seen it.

-I barely saw the comercials for this movie, so I really did not know what to expect. While this film had its comedic moments, I thought that it was a little more serious than “Madea’s Family Reunion”.

-Perry portrayed Atlanta TO THE “T” except for Auburn Ave. AT NIGHT!! I let that one slide.

-Before I was married, I know I have met Gabrielle Union’s character several times (brothas that have seen this film will know what I am talking about). Corporate America is full of them (Oops! Did I say that out loud? Yep!)

-I really felt Idris Elda’s  (the father) frustration. He and his situation reminded me so much of a good friend of mine who also lives in Atlanta–and he too is a mechanic! (hmmm, I may give him a call tonight)

-Most of the reviews on this film I thought were garbage. Let me pause on this one for a minute:

When I went to this movie, I wasn’t looking to judge it based on the Oscar scale. Instead, I wanted A) A good storyline that was somewhat believable, B) Something that would make me holla, and C) Something that had a good message to it–and that is what I got from this film.

Overall, I thought that this was a very good film. I thought the idea to have the song “Family First” (sung by Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston and Dionne Warwick) was a nice touch for the ending of this film. Definitely worth checking out!

Currently watching- “Hip Hop: Art or Poison”

***UPDATED*** 

As I am writing this, it is 5:16pm PST (8:15pm EST) and I am watching Paula Zahn special on Hip Hop.

If you are watching this program, share your thoughts if you like.

5:22pm - Okay, let me get this in before I eat dinner. So far Chuck D as expected put ALL THE BLAME on White corporate executives who use these poor and innocent kids who apparently are in the same predicament as the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz - No brain to reason - to make them a ton of money. Michael Dyson (who IMO is impressive only to the extent that he can cram a bunch of statistics and big words within a minute) continued this tune by saying that Hip Hop is only a reflection of a violent society. To an extent I do agree with him, but where he looses me is his assertion that the participants in this culture are innocent victims of America with being a gangster or video ho as the only way out of poverty.

5:39pm - Dyson said this: “If you go to the average church…they are hearing a gospel that says ‘women should be subordinate to men’. Now, they are not is violent, as vicious or as vocal as hip hop but they are saying the same thing”. Again, here is another great example of how Dyson will go to the nth degree to push blame on someone else. The nonsense of this comment is obvious and as a Reverend I would think he would know that–or is Rev. just a title?

Lauren Lake: I hear ya sis, but please sit down! You disqualified yourself by admitting that you sing along with 50 cent in your car.

I’ll return to this post after I eat and finish watching the program. Forget it!

6:01pm - (At this point I am looking at what I recorded) In the section regarding homophobia in hip hop, Dyson once again excuses it by claiming that these artist act out this way because their regular masculinity has been beat up upon by society.

Why did I know he was going to go there? :~

6:05pm - Based on what I have seen tonight with John Mc Whorter should stick to witting. He had a very weak showing tonight

Okay, based on what I have seen tonight–nothing new. While I do agree with the assertion that hip hop is being scapegoated to a certain extent, it still does not take away the burden on us–Black folks– to deal with the crap that is being put out there in the world of music. (added 2/22: One thing is for certain, while many of us love to take credit for the global influence of hip hop music, we find it very easy to excuse ourselves from any negative aspects of the genre–and the panel personified this point. Many of these artists rap about a ghetto they have never lived in or experienced. Yet to this panel, songs that degrade women or glorify violence is a DIRECT reflection of poor people in America who supposedly do not have the personal choice to live on the “straight and narrow”. What an insult!!!! This is uppity-ism being masked as compassion and fairness). What both Dyson and Roland Martin may not have realized in their persistency to hold record company execs EQUALLY responsible for the content, they were portraying the Black community at large as bunch of weak and helpless folks who are incapable to act on our own defense unless “Whitey” does some of the work. Here are the two cents I would offer to this panel:

From achildswaiting.com

“We are thankful to our families and appreciate their commitment. Unfortunately, the placement statistic do not accurately reflect the children still waiting. There are currently 150,000 children waiting for a home in the United States alone. Of those children, 85% are African American, 60% are boys, many are over the age of 8 yrs, and most have siblings.”

Question: Do we need White record executives to deal with this problem or….

nevermind!

If you are looking to move to SLR, check out this camera

For the past eight or so years, I have been a huge fan of digital photography. While I always loved film cameras, the cost for picture development was the key reason why decided to move my creative talents to video. As the cost for digital cameras became more affordable for me, I decided to take the plunge and invest in the Kodak DC290. This is was 3 megapixel camera that, unlike its counterparts back then gave users the ability to manual adjust things like aperture and shutter speed.  This was a great intro camera for me (and I still own it to this day). Since then, I bought a more compact-sized  5 megapixel digital camera made by Olympus. The picture quality from this camera was just great, however I knew that sooner or later I wanted to move on to something more sophisticated.

About a week or so before our trip to Hawai’i, I decided to do some research on an entry-level SLR camera. After spending several days and long nights on the web, I came across the Nikon D40 (Current price range $500-$599). While this camera is only 6 megapixels, when it comes to SLR (Single-lens reflex) technology, the quality of your pictures will far exceed any standard 6 megapixel digital point-and-shoot camera.

In short, many of the over 600 pictures I took on our vacation came out beautifully (quiet a few look downright professional, IMO ). The standard package for this camera comes with a 18-55mm lens that is great for people like me who are just starting out shooting with a digital SLR. Perhaps one of the best features of this camera is that you can do basic photo editing right inside this device. With the D40, you can adjust the color levels, crop and other features normally reserved for PC software such as Photoshop. This camera makes picture-taking fun for me.

Most of the reviews I have read on this camera have been on the money based on my experience. If you want to learn more about this camera, check out Ken Rockwell’s website (the information he provided on his site helped me to make up my mind on this camera).  Also, check out Nikon’s D40 product page here.

Where to buy

I would check out a few places online. J&R is probably one of the best out there when it comes down to reliability. If you find this camera being sold by someone online with the lens kit for about $100-plus below retail, DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT. Oftentimes it is a grey market product that is not warrantied here in the US. Unfortunately, I fell for one of these deals at first, but was able to get out of it without it hitting my credit card. Instead, I went to a camera shop down in Hollywood and bought it at their cash price for $535. Camera shops tend to be a lot more knowledgeable and understanding of their product than if you were to buy it from a big chain store. They also (in many cases) have better prices than the chain stores as well.

If I have the time today, I will post a few of the pictures I took in Hawai’i with this camera.