Missing in Action?......
no, just many things going on here that require attention. I promise I'll catch up in the next day or so.
Coming soon...
More fortune cookies
MELackey's television debut (sort of)
taking on the City Gov't
Free dinners
not so free dinners
Other useless crap.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Interesting trial...
I've e been reading the highlights each evening about the trial of former Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade. If you haven't heard the story, Google her name or look at the Houston Chronicle's website.
It seems that this lady got a quite large salary and a monthly stipend on top of that to maintain a home suitable for the president of a University. It seems that she was last year or so she spent a HUGE amount of money on landscaping for her $1 mil + home and the bill was sent to the University. The University then paid it. She claims she meant to pay it and TSU was billed by mistake. Well, an investigation started and the she ended up being fired. She's now charged with felony crimes and could possible spend some time in prison. Probably as long as Andy Fastow of Enron fame.
OK, here is my beef with the deal...
It shouldn't be this way, but minorities, especially black minorities often start out with some level of disadvantage. In America's history, expectations of blacks were low. As many people tend to live up to what is expected of them, generations under-performed when compared to whites. Limitations were imposed on these folks and opportunities were withheld. Skip forward a few years from the civil rights era, and groups like the NAACP, United Negro College Fund, quotas, etc were instituted, and opportunities started becoming available.
The problem at this point is that many of the people of age to take advantage of these new opportunities had parents that were of another generation, and did not push their children to excel and take advantage of these opportunities (It's still a vicious cycle today - as evidenced by some of the people brought out of the shadows and into the spotlight after Hurricane Katrina)
But, some people did take advantage of what was offered, and worked hard to better themselves. Priscilla Slade was one of these people. I don't know this woman's life story, but She graduated with an undergraduate degree from Mississippi State, a masters from Jackson State, and a PhD in Accounting from University of Texas. I've become an Aggie fan as my wife has a masters in Accounting from Texas A&M, but I can tell you, you gotta be pretty smart to get out of Austin with a Masters in any of the business disciplines (as it is VERY hard to even get in). This lady is nice looking, well educated, and likely worked hard to get where she was. If I remember correctly, she was Dean of the business college at TSU before getting picked to be president.
Where am I going with this? I'll tell you. It really burns me to see so many minorities that use their talents (education, athletic ability, etc) to get ahead, only to get greedy. So many of them take advantage of the position they have attained honestly and just completely screw the pooch for nothing but greed. As a member of the majority race (although a shrinking majority), I have to live with the way previous generations treated minorities (usually blacks). We are reminded about it constantly by certain activists (who would be out of a job if they didn't constantly stir the pot).
Yes, whites fail colossally (the guys at Enron as a perfect example). They also fail often. The difference is that the whites seem to have nothing to prove, and nothing more to really gain. The minorities are still fighting to catch up, and it seems that too many of the ones that make it don't seem to worry much about the ones coming after them.
What a shame.
Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?
I've e been reading the highlights each evening about the trial of former Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade. If you haven't heard the story, Google her name or look at the Houston Chronicle's website.
It seems that this lady got a quite large salary and a monthly stipend on top of that to maintain a home suitable for the president of a University. It seems that she was last year or so she spent a HUGE amount of money on landscaping for her $1 mil + home and the bill was sent to the University. The University then paid it. She claims she meant to pay it and TSU was billed by mistake. Well, an investigation started and the she ended up being fired. She's now charged with felony crimes and could possible spend some time in prison. Probably as long as Andy Fastow of Enron fame.
OK, here is my beef with the deal...
It shouldn't be this way, but minorities, especially black minorities often start out with some level of disadvantage. In America's history, expectations of blacks were low. As many people tend to live up to what is expected of them, generations under-performed when compared to whites. Limitations were imposed on these folks and opportunities were withheld. Skip forward a few years from the civil rights era, and groups like the NAACP, United Negro College Fund, quotas, etc were instituted, and opportunities started becoming available.
The problem at this point is that many of the people of age to take advantage of these new opportunities had parents that were of another generation, and did not push their children to excel and take advantage of these opportunities (It's still a vicious cycle today - as evidenced by some of the people brought out of the shadows and into the spotlight after Hurricane Katrina)
But, some people did take advantage of what was offered, and worked hard to better themselves. Priscilla Slade was one of these people. I don't know this woman's life story, but She graduated with an undergraduate degree from Mississippi State, a masters from Jackson State, and a PhD in Accounting from University of Texas. I've become an Aggie fan as my wife has a masters in Accounting from Texas A&M, but I can tell you, you gotta be pretty smart to get out of Austin with a Masters in any of the business disciplines (as it is VERY hard to even get in). This lady is nice looking, well educated, and likely worked hard to get where she was. If I remember correctly, she was Dean of the business college at TSU before getting picked to be president.
Where am I going with this? I'll tell you. It really burns me to see so many minorities that use their talents (education, athletic ability, etc) to get ahead, only to get greedy. So many of them take advantage of the position they have attained honestly and just completely screw the pooch for nothing but greed. As a member of the majority race (although a shrinking majority), I have to live with the way previous generations treated minorities (usually blacks). We are reminded about it constantly by certain activists (who would be out of a job if they didn't constantly stir the pot).
Yes, whites fail colossally (the guys at Enron as a perfect example). They also fail often. The difference is that the whites seem to have nothing to prove, and nothing more to really gain. The minorities are still fighting to catch up, and it seems that too many of the ones that make it don't seem to worry much about the ones coming after them.
What a shame.
Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Jury Duty...
After rescheduling 2 times, I had no more mulligans left, so I reported this morning for jury duty. The bad thing about jury duty here is at the courthouse is downtown, and I live 25 miles away. I live in one suburb and work in another. That means I don't have to go downtown and fight traffic. This morning I fought that traffic. I hate traffic.
So, an hour commute to report for jury duty at 8am. I was picked as number 37 in a 48 person panel, of which 12 would be picked. Yippie, a civil deal. One guy suing another for injuries from a car accident. What's worse, the plaintiff is a former cop. He is now a hairdresser. Heh, heh. What a change...
The funny thing about juries is how bad everyone tries to get out of them. One guy did the math and figured out that he was close enough to the front to get picked, so he went for broke. The plaintiff was a quite large guy. This potential juror claimed to have an eating disorder and would find it impossible to be impartial to a guy of that size. Pretty original. He didn't get picked, so I guess it worked.
In the end, I was finally released around 1:00 or so. In Houston, that means walking a couple of blocks from the courthouse to the building that the jury pool assembles to pay for parking. The kicker, jury duty pays $6 per day and parking is $5.50. What's even better? Effective tomorrow, the juror pay is $40 per day. I wonder what they will increase parking to?
After rescheduling 2 times, I had no more mulligans left, so I reported this morning for jury duty. The bad thing about jury duty here is at the courthouse is downtown, and I live 25 miles away. I live in one suburb and work in another. That means I don't have to go downtown and fight traffic. This morning I fought that traffic. I hate traffic.
So, an hour commute to report for jury duty at 8am. I was picked as number 37 in a 48 person panel, of which 12 would be picked. Yippie, a civil deal. One guy suing another for injuries from a car accident. What's worse, the plaintiff is a former cop. He is now a hairdresser. Heh, heh. What a change...
The funny thing about juries is how bad everyone tries to get out of them. One guy did the math and figured out that he was close enough to the front to get picked, so he went for broke. The plaintiff was a quite large guy. This potential juror claimed to have an eating disorder and would find it impossible to be impartial to a guy of that size. Pretty original. He didn't get picked, so I guess it worked.
In the end, I was finally released around 1:00 or so. In Houston, that means walking a couple of blocks from the courthouse to the building that the jury pool assembles to pay for parking. The kicker, jury duty pays $6 per day and parking is $5.50. What's even better? Effective tomorrow, the juror pay is $40 per day. I wonder what they will increase parking to?
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