African American Opinion

Most ideas about "race" begin with the assumption that "biological race" exists in the first place. My idea for truly fundamental change is to begin completely weening America off of the concept that biological "races" exist at all. The false and dangerous belief that biological "races" exist twists Americans' minds and arouses ideation, emotion and behavior (like hate crimes) in ways that prepare and compel people to struggle with one another over skin color and ethnicity.

As Brazilian human genetics specialist, Dr. Sergio Pena says in his book "Humanity Without Race", it's time to "disinvent" the the concept of "race" entirely, because there is no basis in human biology or genetics for the belief that there are "different races" among the human species.

America’s military has been off limits to homosexuals for years.  As part of the famed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy highlighted in American policy throughout the years and proposed by Bill Clinton and Colin Powell, gays have been able to serve as long as they do not disclose their sexual orientation.  The chronology of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell shows the onslaught of criticism the program faced both when it was passed and in the immediate years after.

The question, however, remains:  Why shouldn’t gays be able to serve in the military?  Other minorities fought for years to be able to serve alongside their fellow Americans.  Their victory led to the integration of the military.  Yet homosexual service in the military has been frowned upon since the inception of the United States military.  The dismissal of homosexual soldiers is hurting our military.  The SLDN notes that “during every major military mobilization, gay discharges have dropped.”  Clearly, the military needs our…

Barrack Hussein Obama is on fire. I may disagree with his ideas on policy, but I cannot deny that he is receiving enormous amounts of attention. One of the most fascinating aspects about his campaign is his rock star status not just in the United States, but overseas. A friend of mine was in Amsterdam on Thursday and said that many of her colleagues were enthralled with Obama. They asked her endless questions about the new candidate (most of them struggled to pronounce his name). On a side note, when my friend was in Amsterdam no one had heard of Rudi Giuliani and only knew of John McCain. In addition, Australian Prime Minister John Howard blasted Obama’s Iraq plan to withdrawal American soldiers. It is stunning for an American candidate with no executive experience to receive international attention on this scale, especially almost two years before the election.

John Howard’s words did help give the American people an insight into Obama. Obama responded to Howard in a…

Barack Obama has been hit from all sides as of late.  It all started last week with a story by Insight Magazine that discussed Obama’s upbringing.   The article claimed that Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school in Indonesia.  The schools,  frequently referred to as “madrassas,”  were disclosed in Obama’s autobiographies.  Insight Magazine, however, claimed that Obama and his chicago excel classes campaign have “not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage.”  The article continued, claiming that Obama “was a Muslim, but he concealed it…His opponents within the Democrats hope this will become a major issue in the campaign.”  The right wing villified the Clinton campaign and claimed that Hillary was digging for dirt in her opponent’s history.

“The idea is to show Obama as deceptive,” claimed the same source in Insight Magazine.  Fox News continued the smear tactics, showing a story about Obama’s “dirty…

Recently, Nick Gisburne posted a nine minute video on YouTube consisting of nothing but direct quotes from the Koran. The video is straightforward and uses Islam’s own words in implicating it as the violent religion that it is. YouTube in turn removed the video from the web site, and then put it back in the face of criticism.

Of the incident, Jason Miller writes:

At YouTube, you can say pretty much whatever you want, as long as it’s not about Islam. If that’s not true, YouTube user Nick Gisburne begs to differ after his account – his entire account – was deleted for its “inappropriate content.” What exactly did he say? Well, nothing really. He let the Koran speak for itself.

Everywhere in Europe and America even mentioning Islam in any sense that may imply something is inherently wrong or awful with the religion is immediately censored. Why don’t America…

As your kids head back to school, Gainesville Memorial Hospital offers these tips to make this a safe school year.

Riding the bus

A checklist to discuss with your children:

1.         Find a safe place to wait for the bus, away from traffic. If possible, stay in a group while waiting.

2.         Do not approach the bus until it comes to a complete stop.

3.         When getting off the bus, immediately walk away from the vehicle.

4.         Watch out for other vehicles. Not all drivers obey traffic rules concerning buses.

5.         When the bus is moving, stay seated, facing forward.

Walking to school

1.         Map out a route to school. Choose the most direct route (with the fewest intersections). Walk the route with your child at least once.

2.         Teach your child traffic laws and instruct them to obey these laws at all times.

3.         If possible, have your child walk…

First aid is the initial care of anyone who is either injured or sick.  It is care that is given as soon as possible.  This quick treatment can often mean the difference between serious and minor injury and, at times, life and death.

Not everyone is a doctor, nurse or paramedic.  But everyone can provide basic first aid in case of accidents and illness.  There is no doubt by anyone who works in the medical field that first aid saves lives and can change a potentially bad outcome to a much better one.

The most important thing to remember about first aid is to act quickly.  When sick or injured people need help they need it now, not later.  Don't be too timid to act.  Lack of prompt care can often result in unnecessary complications or a bad outcome.  Immediate is the byword in first aid.  The quicker the action taken by the bystander, the better the outcome will likely be.  Never be too timid to get involved quickly.

Some people are afraid that they will hurt…