Piracy on the High Seas

Maybe I have just been out of the loop and uninformed, but I had no idea that pirates still existed. I can’t really say that before this chain of events I even believed pirates ever really existed. For me; pirates were one of those things that you don’t really believe in but you don’t put in the complete fairytale category. When I saw in the news that Somalian pirates had hijacked a US crew ship and had taken the captain hostage I was shocked. How could this have happened? I had no clue that there were modern day pirates and that ships were still being hijacked at sea.

I was amazed when reading these articles

U.S. Crew Ship: Pirates Holding Captain

They outran the pirates for between three and five hours,” Murphy said. “They were finally overtaken, substantial gunfire involved.”   -from CBS News

Pirates Vow to Kill U.S., French Sailors

“We have decided to kill U.S. and French sailors if they happen to be among our future hostages,” said Abdullahi Ahmed, a member of a pirate group based at Harardhere, a coastal town in central Somalia.”      -from CNN.com

New Wave of Somali Pirate Attacks

US President Barack Obama promised on Monday to “halt the rise of piracy” in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.   -from BBC News

 Halt…I didn’t even know it was taking place. I found some very interesting info on this Q&A of Somali Piracy.  It was devastating to hear of Somalia’s extremely poor economy which plays a major part in why some of these young men have become pirates. Read more here —>Young Somalis Lured by Piracy Riches

Now the question arises on how the captured pirates should be punished –> Obama Seeks to Halt Piracy on High Seas

 

Your Credit

I never cared much about my credit; that is until Free Credit Report.com began airing these commercials….

lol. Honestly folks I have always cared about my credit. It may not have been evident when I was a youngin’,  fresh out of high school and being tempted by credit card companies but I did care. I knew better, I just didn’t value my credit enough, back when I was offered credit cards by those companies that prey on newbies. I had heard the “Stay away from the credit cards” story from my mom a million times, but of course I, like many of you accepted these offers and five years later owed them around $4500 for a line of credit of $1000. 

 I along with many other young adults was so tempted by the offers from these credit companies that we couldn’t and didn’t turn them down. Also the minimum payment of $20 a month made the deal even sweeter. I mean seriously, who can’t pay $20 a month?  Well obviously we couldn’t or just didn’t because if so we wouldn’t have received letters that said the following:

This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

The above account has been listed with this office for collection. Our client has referred your account to our professional debt collection agency for collection. Please remit payment in full in the enclosed envelope. If you wish to arrange payment by credit card or bank draft, contact our office at the telephone number listed above.

Don’t those letters piss you off?  Well if you are anything like I used to be, you would promptly tear them up and toss them in the trash once you opened them and realized that it was just those people harassing you about money that you didn’t feel you owed. After all, you were a child (only 18 or 19) when they forced those credit cards on you. You didn’t ask for them, they basically forced you to take them,  knowing that you were fresh out of high school, had no creditable job or income nor the wisdom to realize that these cards were not a good idea.

Almost ten years later you realize that not only were those cards not such a good idea, they were a very bad deal and so were the payday loans. Now, you also realize that you could have done better at paying your other bills that also went into collection. You could have done without that new furniture set that you were taken to court over after you stopped making the payments and you could have got your car fixed and kept up the payments instead of parking it in your grandmothers yard and getting a new one, regardless of the fact that you still owed payments on the one sitting in granny’s yard.

I say all of this to stress the importance of credit. When we are young, many times having good credit isn’t such a big deal to us, but as we get older and want something in life we realize that all of those little things we forgot or neglected to pay really do add up. All of the little things you got on credit along the way and never paid now have your credit shot. No one wants to extend credit to you anymore because you messed it up so bad so many years earlier.

If you haven’t checked your credit please take the time to do so. Don’t just check one, check all three Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.  Why is it important to check all three? One good reason is that there may be different things listed on each report. When I checked my credit at Annual Credit Report.com where they allow you to check all three, I noticed that some things weren’t listed on all three reports. While one report had more in-depth information on each item listed on my report. 

If you haven’t been actively tracking your credit, start now. If your credit isn’t the best, do as much as you can to repair it. Maintaining a good credit rating is very important.

The NY Post defends running racist cartoon by Sean Delonas

 

Civil rights leaders and a multitude of others have come forth speaking out against the cartoon by artist Sean Delonas which was run in the New York Post on February 18, 2009. The cartoon has been called offensive, racist and insensitive.

Mr. Delonas however has stated that these accusations are ridiculous and that the cartoon is about the economic stimulus bill and in no way is indicating that President Barack Obama should be shot. The editor-in-chief of the New York Post, Col Allan had this to say,”The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event.”

However that explanation is not acceptable to those (myself included) who have taken offense to the cartoon which shows two white police officers standing over a dead chimpanzee that that have just shot and killed. The caption states “They will have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.’

How the New York Post or the cartoon artist can rebut the fact that the cartoon is offensive and has racist undertones is beyond belief.  Even with The New York Post adding that the cartoon also plays wit to the woman attacked by a chimpanzee in Connecticut it still does not satisfy those who are not willing to accept any excuses for the cartoon’s insensitivity or the New York Post bad judgment call. First let’s examine the facts:

• President Barack Obama wrote the stimulus bill mentioned in the cartoon caption.
• President Barack Obama is of African descent.
• Throughout history and to present time, monkeys, chimpanzees and other primates of the ape family have been used to downgrade and dehumanize the African American race.
• The cartoon shows a dead chimp, killed by two white officers who are stating that someone else will have to write the next stimulus bill.

There is no way to deny that the cartoon is blatantly racist. I won’t even downplay it by saying it has racial undertones, no it is blatantly racist and in my opinion the New York Post needs to make a public apology to everyone who may have been offended by the cartoon’s offensive artistry and caption. It showed bad judgment on part of The New York Post when the cartoon was okayed to be placed as part of the newspaper’s printing.

Reverend Al Sharpton, Marc Morial (National Urban League President), Barbara Ciara (President of the National Association of Black Journalists) and others are speaking out and demanding that the New York Post clarify what point the cartoon actually makes since the post has denied that it has any racial inferences.

Another note: This is not the first time artist Sean Delonas has had his work called offensive or insensitive. He is the same artist who has been ridiculed for his cartoons on gay marriage licenses and the ex-wife of Paul McCartney who has one leg. Click here to read more about Delonas and his controversial cartoons.

Click here to view CNN Panelists discussing the cartoon.

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If you would like to join the Call 2 Action against the cartoon run by the New York Post here is more information on how you can call, send a letter or email to the New York Post. Also Rev. Al Sharpton will be leading a demonstration today, Feb 19, 2009 at noon if you are in the New York area. Please remember that in all things there must be order. If you choose to email or call The New York Post please be respectful.

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