I’m not a fan of Barack Obama’s. I haven’t made any secret of that. That doesn’t mean I don’t realize the cultural and historical significance that his inauguration as President of the United States brings with it. While I am ideologically opposed to his political agenda, I understand that the symbolic nature of his election is truly an awesome and significant step forward for minorities in our country, and I hope they can gain from it the hope and understanding that this is not the America of yesterday. Actor Will Smith superbly imparted his thoughts on how President Obama’s election impacted him personally. Of the hundreds of such opinions I have heard of the last couple of months, his, I think, are the most astute.

Here are his reflections, as he related them to USA Today, when he was asked : “What does Barack Obama’s election mean to you?”

Photo by Sergio Perez, Reuters

Will Smith

Academy Award-nominee Will Smith’s latest movie is Seven Pounds.

For me, it was something that I’ve always believed. I’ve read the Declaration of Independence. I’ve read the Constitution. I have the preamble memorized. It’s something I’ve always believed in, and when Barack Obama won, it validated a piece of me that I wasn’t allowed to say out loud – that America is not a racist nation.

I love that all of our excuses have been removed. African-American excuses have been removed. There’s no white man trying to keep you down, because if he were really trying to keep you down, he would have done everything he could to keep Obama down. Yes, there are racist people who live here, absolutely. But they’re not the majority anymore.

I’m an African American, and I was able to climb to a certain point in Hollywood. On that journey, I realized people weren’t trying to stop me. Most people were trying to help me. Before Obama won the presidency, it was like, I’m the exception. Tiger is the exception. Michael Jordan is the exception. Bill Cosby is the exception. But there’s something about being the leader of the free world, with every other position on earth below that. You can’t argue with that. If Barack Obama can win the presidency of the United States, you can absolutely be the manager at Saks.

Come on. It was such a fantastic experience for me to be able to say out loud that I love America and not be called an Uncle Tom. That I can stand out, and I can say out loud that I love this country and not get funny looks.

I don’t think we are African Americans, Irish Americans or Japanese Americans anymore. I think Americans are a new race of people. We are Americans of African descent. We are Americans of Irish descent.

It’s a whole new world.

Good for him.

Rick, that was pretty close to the most ignorant, self-serving, and arrogant commentary I have ever heard. You are supposed to be a journalist, but that doesn’t mean I can’t call you out, so let me talk directly to you.

First of all, who are you to tell someone what name they should use? My son uses his middle name too, does that mean his opinion doesn’t count? How about my brother? He uses his middle name, too. Should his opinions be ignored? How condescending can you get?

Second, If you’re going to attack someone for what they say, attack them for what they mean, not for how you parse their words. You know what he meant. He meant that real time reporting of tactics and locations is dangerous, and that the currently entrenched media are biased. Try addressing it honestly instead of for the sake of protecting your “craft”.

Third, it is clear that the mainstream press, which means you, is feeling very threatened by the intrusion of the average joe — like Joe the Plumber, Matt Drudge, and every blogger out there, me included — into your beloved “craft”. If it was your choice, we’d all be silenced so the truth, as you and you alone tell it, can be heard.

Finally, Senator McCain and Governor Palin didn’t make “Joe the Plumber” famous. You did. You, and all of the pathetic, sound bite chasing, ratings mongering, “journalists” who dared to think that an honest question posed to “The One” by an average, random guy on the street could possibly count as news. Oh wait. It wasn’t news, was it. It was reality, and the press stopped dealing in reality a long time ago.

Joe reminded people that the truth isn’t contained only in press releases and on CNN. The truth is in honest questions, asked by honest people, and if the “real” reporters won’t ask them, somebody else has to.

So Now You’re A Correspondent? Really, “Sam”?

Posted: 03:56 PM ET

Guess Who’s Taking A Crack At International Journalism…

Something to take note of today. I want to share with you the thoughts of Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher…you know, “Joe the War Correspondent”.

Yes, he’s in Israel filing reports, and here’s his analysis: (you can find his reports on the web, YouTube, etc. I don’t want to link to them here)

“I don’t think journalists should be anywhere around war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at, you report what’s happening day to day, you make a big deal out of it, I think it’s asinine.

I think media should be abolished from, you know, reporting. War is hell.” (Samuel J. Wurzelbacher)

Samuel, let me talk to you directly.

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Abayomi Ariyo is my name. I reside in Agbado A.I.T Road Lagos. As a motivational writer who understand the value of human heart I have written over 1000 life changing quote and lot of inspirational write ups that could heal the heart of the world as a whole. somehow the world could start living without violating the peace of mankind. Below are some of my Quotes and motivational write ups.

It will be my joy if you can put me into consideration as i will need your support such as to puch things out of shell. I promise to map out my best such as to keep reflecting the glorious image of the world at large.

QUOTES:

1. No matter how handsome or beautiful you think you are without wisdom and focus you are equal to ugly. By Yommy Ary

2.The money you give to reduce someone’s mountain is the sacrifice that will promote you and build up the future of your children. By Yommy Ary

3. In the race of life those who trade by luck can never maintain success because hard work with all desire to make positive mark is the secret of success. By Yommy Ary

4. Heroes are those who construct the road of greatness for someone somewhere to become great. By Yommy Ary

5. A man is not normal until he discover the reason why heaven sent him to a world this big. By Yommy Ary

6. Until a man see the picture of his future he can never face his challenges with joy. By Yommy Ary

7. You can’t live to change the world if you don’t dare what it takes to be the dance of positivity.

8.Any fighter can fail but is not a failure if the courage to fight again is swimming in his blood.

9.Don’t look too far for a hero. You are but a great hero if you can do what it takes to be the road to someone’s solution.

10.When trust is not in two, two tangles in war.

“Until a man see the picture of his future he can never face his challenges with joy”

Its obvious that most creature can highly be motivated through the picture they see in the hollow of their mind. You can’t compare the action of a man who has the idea of what he can do to turn his shame to fame to a man that didn’t understand the meaning fame, the value of fame nor glory, the state of their convenience will be different to each other. If an eagle should grow up with fowl surly it will act like mere fowl but if it met herself in the flocks eagle no one will explain to her before it will see herself as a kind of bird that is far beyond the standard of fowl. In the race of life most people are living below there standard because they lack vision. Instead of fighting for a better dream they blindly risking a race that lead to nowhere. Instead of investing words that could open their eyes to great dream and ideas into their mind, they keep searching for money through zero mind, they fail to understand that the original picture of their future is better than mere money that could link to no better end. It good to comb the world in need of opportunity but the truth is that If opportunity didn’t meet better dream, ideas and good preparation with you, you will not fly higher with it, even your destiny will not open up for you to live the good side of life but when opportunity meet great dream and ideal in you, automatically your life will have a great meaning as you will become a place of opportunity where someone somewhere can go to hunt for deal, riches, wealth and opportunity.

The world is becoming worse. It as become a place of tragedy all because children keep growing to see negative people with negative idea, negative speech, negative and negative mission. The irony is that despite their negative role in life still people are celebrating then in the society. If a child that grow to know a negative parent did not encounter spiritual word that could give birth to his positive life style he or she will believe that achievement is measure with the standard of negative action a person could perpetrate in life. Such children will grow up with the believe that life is all about trading with the devil before they can make their ends meet in life. The fact is that you don’t need to shed blood, steal or engage in any deadly adventure before you can make it.

As you grow let the power of positive imagination take you to the picture of your awesome future. Despite all frustration and rejection imagine how joyful Mandela will be in the prison , he was so joyful because he could see the picture of his future, he could see himself becoming the distinguish president of South Africa and he achieve the dream because there is power in what you can see and believe about yourself.

See yourself becoming a great star that could make a great impact on the land of the living. It is the law of life that what you see you can become. A person that see nothing greater than greed will never fly beyond the class of the devil on earth.

You can become great without violating the law of peace and love. Dare to see beyond today, see yourself becoming great tomorrow and start working and praying that the invisible greatness you see should come to reality. Am show you can become better than the man in the mirror. You are beyond the frustrated man you see when you look at your visible mirror, dare to turn to the invisible mirror, which is the word of God, and behold the wonderful picture of your future. You are greater than a man who should betray God in the race of life. God loves you he as made you with a great destiny, all he want you to do is to build the wall of your heart, be bold be honest with all faith keep seeking the face of your creator if you want the great picture of your future to materialize. If you could dare to see the picture of your future, am sure that no adversity in life will be tough enough to break your joy, your precious joy that could surly help you to find the sunshine.

When you see great future, life may take the admixture challenges but you won’t misbehave because you have see what makes a true man of power. Instead to commit suicide you will think more brighter because your focus will be to see your great end. When you see a great future it will be your ultimate joy to see your dream coming true. God loves you, his greatest joy is to see your dream coming true, his greatest joy is to see you establishing the reason why he spent his precious time to create you. Dare to think positive, talk positive, see positive things about yourself . Don’t you know that you are the beauty of God in existence? You are beautiful, you are great, you are wonderfully made. Its time for you to see the treasure that is waiting for you after the raging storm that is design to test your strength and faith.

This is and excerpt from an article by John Ziegler on Big Hollywood with a link to a YouTube video of his interview with Governor Palin. It is a great read and a fascinating interview. Good job, John, and great job Governor! Go on over, read, and watch!

Video Exclusive: A Revealing Morning With Sarah Palin

by John Ziegler

If someone told me five months ago that in early January I would pay over $1,400 for an incredibly inconvenient plane ticket and $120 for a 3 a.m. cab fare to get from sunny Los Angeles to Wasilla, Alaska, I would have told them there was a better chance the Dow Jones would be below 9,000 and a gallon of gas less than two dollars.

If they would have told me I’d be glad to have made the journey (even with a seven-hour, weather-aided stop in Seattle), I would have told them Sarah Palin had a better chance to be John McCain’s running-mate. Of course, as we all now know this turned out to be true. And even though I still have the flu I got just before the trip, I’m thrilled to have experienced minus-eleven degrees in Alaska.

Obviously, I was there to interview Governor Palin for my forthcoming documentary about the media coverage of election 2008. My understanding is that the only reason Governor Palin did this interview (while rejecting hundreds of other requests) is because of her sincere devotion to setting the record straight on what really happened during the campaign and to determine why the news coverage was as dangerously slanted as it so clearly was.
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March 24, 1981. It was in the early morning hours, not long after midnight, and the young boy was wandering around the store looking for a warm spot. He seldomly got to see his dad, who ran the family business, and had decided to spend the night keeping his dad company while he worked the graveyard shift. He was impatient, as ten year olds are, and spent much of the night exploring the old convenience store, looking for both hiding spots and warm spots. He had found a few such places, the best of which was the unfinished attic. There was no floor, just dusty rafters filled with fluffy pink insulation, and the walls were just the plywood skin of the pitched roof, complete with roofing nails stabbing through, threatening to scalp you if you accidentally got too close. There was no door, no ladder, just a hole in the insulation at the top of a stack of grey metal shelves in the back storage room. Better yet, it was nice and toasty up there where the dry warm air from the gas furnace accumulated, making it the perfect place to give the boy a little respite from the boredom of watching his dad work, and the bitter cold that blew through the building every time the door opened. For a ten year old, it was Heaven.

A choice. No more. No less.

That’s why he had gone back to the front of the store, in search of his dad, to tell him about the little piece of Heaven he had found. He wasn’t in a hurry, though. He walked slowly, with his hands in his pockets, quietly staring at his shuffling feet, as he meandered first through the back storage rooms and then into the open store.

He was halfway to the front when he took his eyes off his feet and looked up to where his dad stood facing him behind the counter. Another man stood on the near side of the counter with his back turned to the boy. His dad was putting cash into a brown paper sack, and at first the boy didn’t understand what was happening. Then his dad gave the man the sack full of money, and the man wave a small nickle plated revolver and yelled at the boy’s dad to get on the floor and stay there.

Moments later, it seemed like hours, the boy’s dad yelled up into the attic, telling him to stay where he was. As soon as the boy had realized what was happening, he had turned around and ran, as quietly and quickly as he could, into the back storage room, climbed up the grey shelves, and into his newly discovered attic retreat.

His dad made sure it was safe and that the robber was gone, then called the police, before coming back and telling the boy that is was safe to come down out of the attic. Then, together, they called the boy’s mom. It was her birthday.

It was more than a quarter century ago that I was that ten year old little boy, scared to death, and hiding in that dusty, hot, nail lined attic. I don’t think that the trauma I faced that night had any lasting negative effect on me, but I’m sure that it has had a lot to do with many of the decisions I’ve made and how I’ve shaped myself as an adult. I don’t believe that we are shaped by our past, but I do believe that our past is the clay with which we mold our future. I just got a lot of clay to work with that night.

That experience has a lot to do with the number of surveillance cameras that I have in my stores, but it also has a lot to do with my decision to pretty much always have a sidearm with me. I have been asked several times over the years — by friends, family, employees, and other acquaintances who have, by chance, noticed the handgun that is usually concealed inside my waistband — why I carry it. Why do I think I need it? Do I think I’ll ever have to use it? Recently, one of my children asked me these questions, and it made me realize that I should really think about it, and give an honest and thorough answer.

I know what you are thinking, but you are wrong. I don’t carry a sideearm because I’m afraid. I don’t carry a sidearm because of some subconscious fear of being robbed or victimized. I don’t carry a sidearm out of fear at all. I know that would be the most obvious reason, and if it was the real reason, I would be more than justified. The fear of being victimized, especially after facing that kind of trauma, can be a powerful motivator. If being armed allayed that fear, then that would be more than enough reason for me to carry a gun. The reason I choose to be armed though, is a little more complicated than that.

On the night that Dad was robbed, the man who robbed him made a choice to become a criminal. He made the choice to put on a mask, come into the store, and point his gun at an innocent man. It was his choice to commit armed robbery and take money that didn’t belong to him. What he never realized though, was that surviving that night wasn’t his choice at all.

What the man didn’t realize was that at one point during the robbery my dad was holding his own pistol, under the counter, and in the process of pulling the trigger, when he saw me walk into the store from the back storage rooms. It was my dad who made the choice to let go of the trigger, put his gun down, and give the man the money he demanded. It was my dad who made the choice to give up his hard earned money, and to let the armed robber slip away into the night, rather than shoot and kill him in front of his ten year old son. It was my dad who made the choice to allow that man to live.

Someday, God forbid, I could be faced with a situation in which I have to make a similar choice. It is the nature of my business that puts me at a constant risk of armed robbery, and let’s face it, every family is at risk to become the target of any number of random violent crimes. If something like that ever happens, I want the choice of the outcome to be mine. If someone ever comes into one of my stores and points a gun at me, I want it to be my choice whether to take the money out of the cash register and give it to him, or send him away in a body bag.  If someone ever attempts to carjack me, I want it to be my choice whether I step out of my vehicle and let the carjacker take it, or send him away in a body bag. If someone ever invades my home, I want it to be my choice whether I stay barricaded in a safe room while they take what they want, or send them away in a body bag. I want it to be my choice.

Without my sidearm, concealed discreetly in my belt, I don’t have a choice. Without my sidearm, if someone ever comes into one of my stores and points a gun at me, all I can do is hope he doesn’t care if he leaves a witness. Without my sidearm, if someone ever tries to take my car, all I can do is hope that the carjacker doesn’t put a bullet in me if I don’t get out of it fast enough. Without my sidearm, if someone ever invades my home, all I can do is hope that they don’t injure or kill my family. Without my sidearm, I don’t have a choice.

As long as I am armed, the outcome is my choice. As long as I am armed, I can give him the money out of my cash register and let him walk away, because I choose to. As long as I am armed, I can calmly step out of my vehicle and let him drive away in it, because I choose to. As long as I am armed, I can make sure my family is safe, then let him leave my home with his loot, because I choose to. As long as I am armed, I can choose.

I have surveillance cameras all over my stores because their silent presence has deterred similar events in the many years since that night. While almost every other store in town has been robbed since, ours have not. I believe that it’s because when the likely thieves come in to look around, they see all the cameras and choose to find victims elsewhere. I also use the cameras to help me take care of my stores, and protect myself from dishonest customers and employees. They are a tool that gives me a choice in how I manage my business. And like those surveillance cameras that quietly watch over my stores and give me discreet control of them, my sidearm is merely a tool that I use to make sure that I have control over my own life. It is a tool that gives me a choice. No more, no less.

What I really learned that night, so many years ago, was to not be afraid, to not live in fear. What I learned from Dad that night is that you can always be in control of your own life, no matter what, if you choose to be.