Hapless Sheeple

Comedian, actor, author and activist …

This is the first in a series on “My American Black Heroes.”  As I journey through this list of black leaders over the next few weeks, I will offer the following disclaimer.  As with any leader or celebrated person, we should be careful not to follow after and idolize individuals.  People are human and people fail.  My focus is on the truths and ideals that these individuals stand for and communicate well.  And, while I don’t always agree completely with these individuals, I have found their message extremely important, and their ability to share their message effectively and are great leaders and role models for people of all ages and of all races.

Note, these comments are not biographies or research papers.  They are intended to summarize why I think this person is an American hero.  I hope you will follow-up and research the individuals on your own and come to your own conclusions.

William Henry “Bill” Cosby, Jr.  is a 72 year old actor, comedian, author and activist.  Cosby’s television show, “Cosby,” which ran in the 1990′s provided a vehicle to model an upper-middle class African-American family.  Cosby’s character provided an excellent roll model for a committed family man and father.  Cosby continues to be a highly respected American leader and his humor and personal appeal transcended race.

Cosby has been critical of the African American community for its focus on sports and fashion.  His appeal has been to African American families to educate their children on the many different aspects of American culture.  He has emphasized the importance of  teaching children morals at a younger age.  Cosby continues to speak out (typically in churches) about his frustrations with urban communities, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, high school dropout rates, gangsta rap, vulgarity, thievery, offensive clothing, vanity, parental alienation, single parenting, and failing to live up the ideals of famous black leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr.  By the way, all of these issues transcend race.  Americans, regardless of race or location, should be confronting this issues in all of our communities.

Of course, Cosby has encountered criticized for his comments. Most criticism is focused on the opinion that he has failed to concentrate on the inherent economic and political disadvantages that affect the black community.  However, if you read Cosby’s comments, you will see that he does not ignore those issues, but he hones in on individual responsibility and the responsibility of parents and the community to build on the positives and encourage education and morality and personal commitment.

Bill Cosby has established the “COS Community” an organization to address the issues that have served to destroy community. The organization provids a community style forum to discuss the issues.  The five communities are:

* Get an Education/Skills
* Be a Parent/Caregiver
* Be Healthy
* Stop Violence
* Get a Job

You can visit Bill Cosby’s internet home here.  http://www.billcosby.com/
You can follow Bill Cosby on Twitter here.  http://twitter.com/billcosby

Technorati Tags: black heroes, cosby, hero

Filed under: Conservatism, Reactions on August 29th, 2009 | No Comments »

How to control conservative talk after you shut them off TV and radio …
August 28, 2009 12:34 AM PDT
by Declan McCullagh

Read full story here:  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

Technorati Tags: emergency, internet, socialism

Filed under: Conservatism, Reactions on August 28th, 2009 | No Comments »

“Right-wingers hate him because he is black.”

HAVANA (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday.  Read the full article at Reuters here.

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 26th, 2009 | No Comments »

Are we “transcending” race as promised?
By John Stossel, ABC News
Read full article here.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s supporters promised that his election would allow America to “transcend race.”  Among the headlines:

The Boston Globe: “Obama shows an ability to transcend race”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  “Obama’s success suggests we can transcend race”

But of course that hasn’t happened. Jonah Goldberg writes:

It was Obama’s supporters who hinted, teased, promised, and prophesied that Obama would help America “transcend race.” But now, it is they who shrink from their own promised land…

From Day 1, Obama’s supporters have tirelessly cultivated the idea that anything inconvenient for the first black president just might be terribly, terribly racist.

Goldberg has plenty of examples:

For instance, actress Janeane Garofalo summed up the tea parties thusly: “This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.”

In an ABC News story about how racist white militias are somehow connected to town-hall protests, Mark Potok of the dismayingly left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center insists Obama has “triggered fears among fairly large numbers of white people in this country that they are somehow losing their country.”

Come on. Every president eventually is criticized by the media – even one as “transcendent” as Obama. The President’s supporters should engage his critics with facts, not charges of racism.

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 26th, 2009 | No Comments »

“We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms …”

From the Washington Times (washingtontimes.com), column by Jennifer Harper published August 21, 2009.  Read the original column here.

“… Academy Award  winner [Jon Voight] will join Sean Hannity in Cincinnati and Atlanta this weekend to honor fallen soldiers and present college scholarships to surviving children. Mr. Voight — a warrior himself in many ways — has been cogitating about the state of America, meanwhile.”

“There’s a real question at stake now. Is President Obama creating a civil war in our own country?” Mr. Voight tells Inside the Beltway.

“We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can’t see this is probably hoping it isn’t true. If we permit Mr. Obama to take over all our industries, if we permit him to raise our taxes to support unconstitutional causes, then we will be in default. This great America will become a paralyzed nation.”

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst David Kreutzer comments on the notion that only four months remain in which to save the earth.

Read the full column here. 

EXCERPT:  ” … So that will be great,” he comments. “By Christmas we won’t have to listen to them anymore because then, by their timetable, it will be too late to do anything — so we can turn our attention to other stuff.”

Technorati Tags: Global Warming

Filed under: Conservatism, Reactions on August 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

Why shouldn’t socialized medicine prompt comparisons to National Socialism?

This is the best article identifying the hypocrisy of the left (and the Beltway prognosticators)  and a call for fairness in comparing the two sides of this debate to the National Socialist party in Germany.  Don’t miss the comments from the NYT writer casting a positive light on Germany’s stimulus program in the 1930’s and the theory that perhaps Hitler had solved unemployment.

Read this column in National Review by Andrew McCarthy linked here.

EXCERPT:  ” … there is a trajectory of socialism, regardless of the intentions of many socialists. As he framed it, you take things such as health care, things that are traditionally understood as within the ambit of individual liberty and free choice; you move such things into the ambit of state responsibility as the welfare state emerges and grows, on the theory that it is government’s responsibility to provide for everyone’s needs (by redistributing resources); as more things are moved from private to public control, the state by definition becomes totalitarian; and, inexorably, the totalitarian state gets bad leaders and the society comes to reflect the policy choices of those leaders.

Now, we can argue until the end of time about whether that trajectory really exists and whether it is inevitable. But however you come out, it is an argument very much worth having. It goes to what kind of society we are going to be, to what the proper relationship between the citizen and the state is.”

Technorati Tags: hypocrisy, nationalized medicine, nazi, socialism, universal healthcare

Filed under: Conservatism, Reactions on August 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

Great story.  Very appropriate in today’s time.

From a friend’s email today:

A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. 

 The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government. 

 In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, ‘Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’ 

 The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. 

 Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity. 

 The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to  America  . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms — just a little at a time. 

 One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. 

 Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government ‘help’ is a problem confronting the future of democracy in  America  , you might want to share this with your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut! 

 Keep your eyes on the newly elected politicians who are about to slam the gate on  America  . 

 “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have” - Thomas Jefferson

Technorati Tags: socialism

Filed under: Conservatism, Global Government, Reactions on August 12th, 2009 | No Comments »

Are you ready for government intrusion into the family? 

Check out this column by Chuck Norris at Townhall.com.  Read the full article here. 

EXCERPT:  ” … under the heading “home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children.” The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills.    The bill says that the government agents, “well-trained and competent staff,” would “provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains … modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices,” and “skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development.”

Why is no one reporting this?  Is this what we want of our government?

Technorati Tags: socialism

Filed under: Conservatism, Reactions on August 12th, 2009 | No Comments »

Great article by Jonah Goldberg at Townhall.com
http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2009/08/07/democrats_fear_is_showing_on_health_care

“… this administration believes it knows best. It feels it is the only legitimate beneficiary of “people power.” It thinks it has a monopoly on democratic organizing. And it is terrified that it will be hobbled if it loses this fight.   So, it just stands to reason that anyone who stands in the way must be a fraud, a puppet, a goon — or even a Nazi …”

My concern is what will they do next to keep this thing alive?

Technorati Tags: Healthcare, universal healthcare

Filed under: Conservatism, Reactions on August 9th, 2009 | No Comments »