The Rants & Raves Of Aric Isom

Payday Loans

2010-02-23T14:54:00.001-08:00

A Payday loan is a huge benefit for anyone who has experienced
financial problems and knows what it' like to be caught in the middle of
the month without cash. Many of us live from one pay day to the next,
running out of cash during the month and having no one to turn to until
our next paycheck. Who hasn't experienced an unforeseen financial
emergency such as school fees, an unexpected medical bill or car
repair just when we can least afford it? When this happens the financial
stress of being without funds can be so crushing we just don't know
which way to turn or who to ask for help. That's when the Payday loan
can become a real lifesaver!

How the Payday Loan Works:

Pay day loans are small, short-term loans provided by lenders who
charge a flat, one-time lending fee. The loans granted are typically
around $500 - $1000. Unlike regular long-term credit loans, the length
of the pay day loan is short - usually until your next payday, or around 30
days - although some lending companies are more flexible on this,
depending on their lending policy.

If you are looking for a quick cash solution to your financial problems or
cash-strapped emergency, then this type of short-term loan could be
just the answer you're looking for.

Instant Cash in Your Bank Account

The great benefit of these loans is that they offer INSTANT cash, which
means that whatever your financial crisis, you will have the money you
need in your bank account within 24 hours of applying for the loan.

Another great benefit is that these short loans are quick and easy to
obtain - and almost everything is done online. And the good news is you
can qualify for a short-term pay day loan even if your credit rating is poor.
The loan does not depend on your credit scores. In order to qualify, all
you need is steady employment, and a valid bank account.

These short term loans are specifically designed for financial
emergencies, and involve a simple, painless lending process. There's
no hassle of filling out dozens of forms. The whole loan application is
done easily online - and within minutes!

How do you know whether you qualify for a quick Payday Loan?

You would have an almost 100% chance of being approved for a pay
day Loan if you meet the lending criteria below:

You have a fixed monthly income and are employed by a reputable
company
You have been employed for the last 6 months
You have an active bank account
You are over the age of 18
So the next time you're in a cash crisis, remember there is a way out
with a short-term, quick-cash, no hassle pay day loan.

Are you in Cash Crisis? Do not worry, Apply for a no hassle Payday
Loan Today at http://CashNet.EasyCreditFixer.Info

So what's up with you this year? What are your plains for next year? Feel free to pass this article along to your friends. Keep up on what matters in the I.E. and stay away from the nonsense. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsom.net). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Cancer!!!

2010-02-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

In addition to the other non-profit organizations that I support by giving time and money I am also a team captain and a board member for the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life Planning committee.

Relay For Life is my personal opportunity to fight back against cancer by raising funds and awareness. I fight so one day no one has to ever face cancer.

The fight against cancer goes on and I know we're going to win this thing! Hardly anyone I know can say they DON'T have a friend or relative that has battled this terrible disease. I'm asking for your help in raising funds because I think it's important that we all join together to help win.
http://Cancer.AricIsom.net

The best way to fight against cancer is through the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. I will be dedicating my walk to my friend, Ron McMullen, who is currently battling cancer.

Relay for Life is a team event that celebrates cancer survivors, and raises funds for the American Cancer Society research, education, prevention, advocacy and patient services. It is a fun, outdoor and overnight fundraising event where teams take turns walking or running around a track.
http://Cancer.AricIsom.net

My team, Friends Across The Line, will be joined by hundreds of others on May 1st/2nd at Jurupa Valley High School. You can join our team. Millions of people nationwide take part in Relay for Life events around the country. Relay raises over 40% of the funding for the American Cancer Society.

The Relay starts off with a Survivor's Walk, where cancer survivors walk the initial lap, symbolizing the courage that survivors and their families display and sustain in their lives.
http://Cancer.AricIsom.net

Opening night, there is a beautiful and touching Luminaria Ceremony that pays tribute to cancer survivors and to loved ones who still live on in our hearts.

How can you help?

You can support the fight by making a tax-deductible contribution to the American Cancer Society, or by joining my team for the relay. http://Cancer.AricIsom.net

As little as $1.00 can help me reach my goals... Please visit http://Cancer.AricIsom.net to help. Thank you for your help!!!

So what's up with you this year? What are your plains for next year? Feel free to pass this article along to your friends. Keep up on what matters in the I.E. and stay away from the nonsense. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsom.net). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Year End Rap Up 2009

2009-12-29T17:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess that it's time for my end-of-year rap-up. My blog is a kind of mixture between commentary, current affairs, my worries, and the news. Sometimes I have moments of crystallization on some issues, some concerns, and some observations. A lot of issues are worth the time that I put into writing them, yet some are not.

In the standard news outlets we get politics, healthcare debates, affairs, car crashes, high speed chases, illegal immigration, and other sordid matters, but none of that necessarily brings to mind any issue that I feel compelled to share with you.

This year I wrote about my feelings, my disappointments, racism, local economics, and change. In the coming year I plan on writing about the possibility of Jurupa becoming it's own city, property right infringements, taxes, voluntarism, and crime. Of course in those writing you will see my feelings, fears, joys, and excitement.

It is the end of the year, but it is not yet time to put all matters behind us. We are still dealing with the issue of large, intrusive ugly power lines being erected through an area where the residents simply don't want them. Some believe that it is a public health issue, other just don't like the look, and the FACT that it will bring down property values. Even though it may cost a little more I don't see why they just don't put them underground. After all those line will give no REAL benefit to the people along it's construction path.

It's the end of the year, and a lot of businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizens are struggling to stay afloat. Some cities are even have problems. Obama is trying hard to stimulate our economy while the countries enemies are not only hoping he fails, but actually working towards that end.

It's the end of the year, and the war over seas is still going strong. Drugs are still poring over our border, the teen pregnancy rate is still threw the roof, and partisan politics are ruining our country.

It's the end of the year, not the end of the world. It is not the year 2012, it is not Independence Day, there is no Omen, and we are not having the War of the Worlds. Hollywood predictions of gloom and doom have not come true.

Last year I tried MySpace, it didn't float my boat. This year I tried Facebook and I am hooked. I've always used email, but now I partake in video/web conferencing with Skype. Things change, attitudes change, fashions change, opinions change, and lives change.

Last year I had two dogs, two cats, two son, two grand-children, and two jobs. Some of that has changed. I still have two dogs, but one got hit by a car. I recently rescued a Chiwawa, and added him to the family. Because of outrageous travel rates I've yet to see my youngest grandchild in person. I no longer have two jobs, and boy do I need an extra source of income.

So what's up with you this year? What are your plains for next year? Feel free to pass this article along to your friends. Keep up on what matters in the I.E. and stay away from the nonsense. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Are Scotch-Koreans a Contradiction?

2009-09-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

What is a Scotch-Korean? A Scottish man mates with a Korean woman and a Scotch-Korean is born. Or a Scottish woman mates with a Korean man and a Scotch-Korean is born.

On T.V. there is a Starburst candy commercial in which the Scotch-Korean Contradiction is supposedly shown to us. The commercial went like this (done with a Scottish accent):

Scotch-Korean Father: Look at this! One contradiction eating another.

Scotch-Korean Son: What do you mean?

Scotch-Korean Father: You're Scotch-Korean; you both make a wee bit of sense and neither does Starburst, a solid, yet juicy like a liquid.

Scotch-Korean Son: You're right....

Scotch-Korean Father: EHEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! (laughing)

Why is someone who is Scotch-Korean a contradiction? Do the Scottish hate Koreans (or vice-versa)? Also, is the hate so strong they do not want to mate with each other? In the commercial, it appeared the father was Scotch-Korean with red hair. I thought that looked cool.

What about other races? Is it wrong to mix races? I think not, and here is a statement that may lose me some friends: Anyone that thinks race mixing is wrong is a fool.

Take into consideration Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Tiger Woods, Vin Diesel, Keanu Reeves, Mariah Carey, Sean Lennon, my grandchildren, my cousins, my friends — more and more mixed-race people are turning up in American society.

Today, mixed-race people are perceived as ethnically ambiguous, even exotic, and are being touted as a marketer's dream. Mixed-race people are starting Facebook clubs, activist groups, writing books, plays, poetry. They're doing visual art, documentaries, even standup comedy routines. In addition to exploring their own identities, they're challenging our notions of race, ethnicity and national identity. That has implications for public policy as well as society as a whole.

The Census Bureau is being driven crazy every ten years. Groups of people that didn't exist in previous years are popping up everyday. If we are not now “one people” we soon will be.

Why do we look at someone's face and immediately need to know what is their race, or how they got to look that way? It almost feels as rude as asking someone, 'How much do you weigh?' I'm so much more than my race. The answer to who I am is much more then Indian,White, Black, Asian, or Mixed.

Author Lawrence Hill, whose father was Black and mother was White, wrote about how he deals with the question in his best-selling memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice. He wrote:

“What is wrong with The Question? Nothing at all — when it is asked at the right time, when it results in a genuine interest in you as a person, and when the person asking the question actually accepts the answer. Let's dissect the interrogation process. Imagine me at a party, sipping mineral water. A stranger walks up:

STRANGER: "Do you mind me asking where you're from?" [This is code for "What is your race?"]

ME: "Canada." [This is code for "screw off."]

STRANGER: "Yes, but you know, where are you really from?" [This is code for "You know what I mean, so why are you trying to make me come out and say it?"]

ME: "I come from the foreign and distant metropolis of Newmarket. That's Newmarket, Ontario, my place of birth." [Code for "I'm not letting you off the hook, buster."]

STRANGER: "But your place of origin? Your parents? What are your parents?" [Code for, "I want to know your race but this is making me feel very uncomfortable because somehow I'm not supposed to ask that question."] “

Do we act like this in the Inland Empire? Are we so consumed by race that we close our eyes to what really matters in life.

Hill Concludes, "I suppose the reason many of us mixed-race people find The Question offensive is not just that it makes assumptions, which are often false, about our identity, but because it attempts to hang our identity on one factor: our race."

Let's take a look at Mexico, and Mexicans. A few hundred years ago European Spanish came to the New World and had had beautiful babies. We now call these babies and their descendants Mexicans. Are they a race or are they a culture?

Mexican, Malado, Creole, Eurasians, Hapa, Redbone, and Zambo are some terms for mixed race people, but in my research for this article I came across another term for mixed race people, Race of the Future.

According to Wikipedia the Race of the Future theory/idea states that due to the process of miscegenation, the mixing of different ethnicities or races, especially in marriage, cohabitation, or sexual relations, all the races are blending to become one race in the future.

Feel free to pass this article along to your friends. Keep up on what matters in the I.E. and stay away from the nonsense. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Separate, But Equal...

2009-08-17T14:42:00.001-07:00

“Separate, but equal” has proven itself to be a flawed concept yet we still stick to the idea that we can do better apart then we can by working together. It is hard for us to see ourselves as one people. Example: In a recent conversation with a friend we were talking about our families when the term “my people” came up, as in “my people” do things this way, or “my people” do things that way. Well, being me, I said to him, “You are 'my people', right”, and he said back, “yea, I guess our families could have mixed in the past”. Well, I tell you he missed my point completely.

My friend and I live in the same city, shop at the same stores, eat at the same restaurants, go to the same church, and yet he had a slight problem grasping the idea that he was “my people”, because of our differing skin colors, and yes there was more to the conversation.

The Inland Empire has it's share of culture and religious based community action groups. We have the NAACP, the Latino Network, the Inland Empire Indonesian Group of the SDA, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE), American Muslim Task Force, the UU Social Justice Committee, and more. We have opportunities to work together or to stay in our little self contained groups, limiting progress.

It has been over 100 years sense Mahatma Gandhi launched the nonviolent resistance movement, or the "Satyagraha." The date was September 11th, 1906. He spoke in front of over 3,000 Indians that gathered at a theater in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gandhi organized a strategy of nonviolent resistance to oppose racist policies. Satyagraha was born and since then, it has been adopted by different groups around the world to resist social injustice and oppression.

Gandhi again used it in India to win independence from the British. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used it in the United States to oppose segregation, and Nelson Mandela used it in South Africa to help end apartheid. Neither Gandhi, King, nor Mandela worked wholly within one group. I think Hitler worked wholly within one group.

It is important that we educate ourselves on the history of what works, and try to brush off what does not work when it comes to building an amalgamated community and society.

The organization Friends Across The Line (FatL) will be teaming up with the Inland Communities Fellowship of Reconciliation (ICFOR) to co-sponsor the Fourth Annual Interfaith Event of Hope ~ “THE OTHER 9/11”

On that day we will commemorate Gandhi’s first nonviolent action on 9/11/1906, remind ourselves that ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE works, and view a short film about Gandhi’s ideas of Satyagraha.

In the past this is normally done at Riverside’s Gandhi Statue, but it is currently inaccessible due to mall reconstruction and upgrades. So this year we will gather at the Universalist Unitarian Church, 3657 Lemon Street at Mission Inn Avenue on September 11, 2009 between 7-8pm. For more information on this event contact: 951-682-5364, or redwoodgirl@sbcglobal.net.

In accordance with it's goals and beliefs of having groups and individuals of differing backgrounds, races, religions, and cultures come together to cross the line FatL will be hosting a lecture entitled Learning Salaam, Making Peace: Dialogues In Life. This is part of a series on living in peace within a multi-cultural world. The lecture will be conducted by two people who got their start in different countries, different religions, and different upbringing, yet have come to the same conclusions. It will be presented By Dr. Muhamad Ali and Samantha Wilson. It will be held on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 between 6:30 PM &7 :45 PM, at the Riverside Public Library (Main Branch),3581 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501.

Feel free to pass this article along to your friends. Keep up on what matters in the I.E. and stay away from the nonsense. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

What Makes Friends Across The Line Different

2009-06-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Please excuses my long a absence from this blog. I have been in the process of starting a non-profit organization. A peace and justice organization with a difference.

What makes Friends Across The Line different from other peace and justice organizations? First FatL focuses on the individual, not the institution or law. FatL educates the masses on inter-group issues, histories, challenges, and conflicts. We bring people together in order to practice socialization, teamwork, and cooperation.

Notice that I did not say “tolerance” or “tolerate”. We hold to be true that differences are not something to be tolerated, but acknowledged and accepted. Sometimes we even celebrate these differences. Imagine a world without, southern cooking, Asian or Italian restaurants, even great Mexican food.

Hate crime statistics are like a rollercoaster ride. Going up and down as time and history comes and goes. It is true that people hate each other. What is also true is that the reasons that they hate each other make no since. Dose it matter what color someones skin happens to be. Does it matter that we don't practice the same religion. Does it matter to anyone else whom we might love.

At Friends Across The Line we decided to do something about people hating one another without good cause. We believe in real social change, not just on paper and numbers, but change of the heart and mind. We believe that education, knowledge, and social interaction are some of the main keys to achieving this change.

FatL focuses on our commonalities, our strengths, and our common likes and dislikes. We do all of this on a personal level. We stay away from politics, and “institutionalized thought”.

A sample of “institutionalized thought” is when we believe that a person must be a certain way because of an outside indicator such as skin color, or hair style. Institutionalized thought is very similar to stereotyping, with the difference that it is a learned or tought action. Therefore we believe that it can be un-learned or un-tought. That is why FatL exists, and what makes us different from other groups.

Fell free to pass this article along to your friends. The FatL main website can be found at www.FriendsAcrossTheLine.org,, and the Social Network can be found at www.FriendsAcrossTheLine.com. We are also on Twitter and Facebook. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Guess Blogger - Sena Christian

2009-02-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

Sena Christian is a reporter in Northern California that writes a lot about Green Community issues. Leonard Robinson is a friend of mine
[AricIsom], and a local to the I.E. So let's hear from Sena about Enviro Bro, who takes to the radio to push the Green Agenda.

Leonard Robinson has an alter ego. “During the day, I’m a mild-mannered bureaucrat,” Robinson said. “Then when there’s an environmental crisis, I go into a phone booth and come out as Enviro Bro.”

From 9 to 5, this witty, boisterous man works for the state of California, specifically as chief deputy director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Once a week, though, he does something slightly outside the ordinary and gabs all about environmental issues on the radio.

Robinson hosts a weekly one-hour radio program called Going Green With Leonard Robinson, which airs on KDEE 97.7 FM, a volunteer-powered, listener-supported station owned and operated by the California Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The goal of the program is to educate, inform and entertain the community.

He discusses hot-button topics, such as green-collar jobs, pollution prevention, greening businesses, environmental justice, green chemistry and electronic recycling. Although based in Sacramento, the show takes a state-focused approach.

“What California does, the rest of the world wants to pick up,” Robinson explained. He infuses his show with humor and lightheartedness; after all, the program functions not only to supply facts and information, but to do so in a way that resonates. The environmental state of the world may be dire, but Robinson thinks there’s already too much depressing news on television and the radio. He’d rather give people hope. So he tells jokes and laughs and offers listeners a pleasant experience.

“I take issues and life serious, but I don’t take myself very serious,” he said. A while back, Robinson suggested the California Black Chamber of Commerce put environmental issues on its agenda. Eventually, the group agreed, and the first show aired in January.

“From my point of view, the show’s been really good,” he said. “I got nervous [at first], but then my green mojo kicked in and took off from there.” This isn’t his first time on the radio, though. Before he began his state service, he ran a program named The Leonard Robinson Show.

“I called it that so I wouldn’t forget the name,” he said, from his office in Cypress, Calif., located in Orange County.

He travels often for his job. In fact, his day job comes in handy for securing guests for the radio show. Upcoming guests include Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, and a venture capitalist who’ll speak about environmental entrepreneurship. He wants to get Mayor Kevin Johnson, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and, ultimately, President Barack Obama onboard.

Robinson has worked in the environmental field for 35 years, starting out as an environmental safety manager for a steel mill in Southern California. Much later, when Schwarzenegger became governor, Robinson saw an administration that wanted to do things differently and decided he wanted to be part of that change. He experienced some culture shock after moving to Sacramento, but he loves living a walkable one block from his downtown office.

“It’s added years to my life not having to drive in Southern California,” he quipped. The Going Green radio program is more than a hobby for Enviro Bro. It’s the culmination of a life’s passion and work. Robinson wants to give people the tools for making more eco-friendly decisions, like paying bills online or taking canvas bags to the grocery store—little tipping points that add up to a big difference.

On air, he promotes green programs, such as the Take-It-Back Partnership that offers free, local ways for Californians to recycle end-of-life products, such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, electronic waste and batteries. Anyone, he said, should feel free to call in with questions. For instance, a nail-shop owner recently called in seeking advice about greener alternatives to the toxic chemicals used in her salon.

“It’s not just for the business community,” Robinson said. “There’s all this stuff California residents can do to help us protect the environment, and all we have to do is get the information out.”

Fell free to pass this article along to your friends, and tell us what stimulates you. Leonard Robinson gets his “green mojo” on. Going Green With Leonard Robinson airs Thursdays, from 10 to 11 a.m. on KDEE 97.7 FM. Call in during the show at (916) 631-8599 with questions. For more information, visit www.kdeefm.org. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Stimulate Me!?!

2009-02-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

We have a lot of problems here in the Inland Empire. I've been reading up on the shooting case of Annette Garcia. She was killed in Riverside by a Riverside Sheriff Deputy on 1/23/09. She was shot in the back while running away. This stimulated protest, demonstrations, and candlelight viduals.

A group of individuals affiliated with the Food Not Bombs organization will be holding a weekly food service on the grounds of the church of which I'm a member. This stimulated me to get involved by offering to help homeless individuals get their birth certificates. This will enable them to get I.D. And Social Security Cards, which will help them get jobs, and be a stepping stone towards ending their homelessness.

Soon, the Senate will vote on President Obama's economic stimulus plan. This plan has investments in green jobs, health care, and education. It is meant to get our economy back on track.

The big problem is that the plan doesn't have the votes to pass. Some in Washington are teaming up to take out the best parts. They want to remove the college loan assistance, health research, tax cuts for the poor, and more. They favor more tax cuts for corporations. This plan is suppose to be the opposite of the bank bailout.

Our political leaders don't think voters will ever hold them accountable. Senators from both parties think their constituents aren't paying attention, or are mixed-up about what's at stake. They gave money to the banks, they gave money to the car companies, they even threw loose change at us last year. What we need are investments in our future, not another welfare program. We need jobs and roads. We need fresh air and better education.

The plan isn't perfect, but it has a lot of great aspects. It has enough green jobs to double our clean energy out put in as little as three years. The plan has affordable health care for the unemployed, and the biggest investment in education since World War II.

It seems that we have a lot of simulators in this world, such as fear, money, pain, hate, and greed. These are the ones that get all of the attention. These are the ones that make it into the newspapers. These are the ones that cause wars.

Yeah! There is good news. We have other types of simulators. We have charity, religion, friendship, and love. I try my best to stick to these stimulants when trying to reach my goals. Well how can we stick to these simulators, and still live a prosperous life? Simple, we want love, so we should give love. We need to eat, so we can also feed. We need our friends, so we can be a friend.

I am continuing to grow an organization called Friends Across The Line. It is about crossing those invisible lines that keep people apart. When you have time please visit the website at www.FriendsAcrossTheLine.org

Fell free to pass this article along to your friends, and tell us what stimulates you. As always let's make this a two way conversation, and as always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Change Is Here!!!

2009-01-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

January was named for the roman god Janus, the god of doors gates and entry ways Also the god of the new year. Janus has two faces one looking forward one looking back, symbolizing his ability to reflect on failures and successes and make them lessons for the new year to come. Change is here. Now, it is our time to celebrate.

The word “entropy” is a noun that specks to a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration. In other words it is when a societal act hits rock bottom. A group calling themselves the “Our Country Deserves Better PAC” are claiming that media is having a "lovefest" with Obama, and that his policies and appointments are hurting America. They are trying to raise money to run “Anti-Obama” TV ads. Why? He's not even in office yet, and he's already getting attacked. Don't worry, because change is here, now it is our time to celebrate.

Despite these attack ads we in the Inland Empire are calibrating the inauguration of Barack Obama. Even those that did not vote for him understand that change is here, and now it is our time to celebrate.

At the Borders Book Store in Riverside they are having a Kids Inauguration Party Saturday, Jan 17 at 2:00 PM. Your kids will remember this just as you remember other great days, such as the first man to step foot on the moon. They will remember that change is here, now it is our time to celebrate.

There will also be an “All- Day, All-Inclusive, Non-Party Affiliated, Potluck, Inaugural Party”, on January 20th. Yes, in honor of the new President of the United States Lon and Corla Coles are hosting an Open House Inaugural Party starting at 6:30 am, ending when the dancing stops. You can come and go as the mood suits you. It begins early, because President Elect Obama is sworn in by 9:00 AM (PST).

Unlike most other countries we will have the peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another. You can get there at anytime, Lon will set up TV's and computers all over the house to replay the swearing in, and parade, and also have a real time news channel playing.

They hope you will come and celebrate. “Yes the real time ceremony is early, but Hope has no time schedule.” says hosts Corla and Lon Coles. This party starts at 6:30 am and ends when the dancing stops. Place: 610 Orchards, Redlands, CA Phone: 909-798-3240, RSVP Appreciated, but not necessary. All this is because change is here, now it is our time to celebrate.

Another party will be at the San Bernardino Public Employees Association. They are having a gala champagne breakfast on that day. Doors open at 7:30 AM, and a buffet breakfast will be served from
8:00 to 9:00 AM at 433 N. Sierra Way, San Bernardino, 92410 (N. Sierra Way, between 4th and 5th, next to Arrowhead Credit Union). They will have a Huge screen TV. They say it's the next best thing to being there. The inauguration festivities begin with musical entertainment. Vice President Joe Biden will be sworn in at about 8:45 AM, and President Barack Obama will be sworn in shortly before
9:00 AM. This one cost $20 per person, and just $15 per senior/student with ID. Well, not everything has changed, but it is still our time to celebrate.

Later on in the evening there will be a Barack Obama Inauguration Party at the Back To The Grind Coffee Shop, Downtown Riverside at 6:00 PM. I will defiantly be at this one. There are over 3,500 parties happening tomorrow! If this event doesn't work for you, do a Goggle search for another one near you.

Our country does deserve better then we've had the last 8 years, and I think that we have it. We can beat the “entropy”, and embrace the change, because now, it is our time to celebrate. As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Inland Economics Thinking Out of the Box

2009-01-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

One of the sadist days of last year was when I heard the news that Yvette Pierre lost her position in the mayors office, as the Community Relations Director. I was told this was because of cutbacks in the city budget. Not enough tax revenues. How can we collect more taxes without raising taxes. How can we create more living wage jobs, get people off of the freeway, and fill some of these empty office buildings around town.

When it comes to taxes we might need to start thinking out of the box. According to Jay Leno Vice President Dick Cheney thinks out of the box. He says that Vice President Cheney is getting a tax refund of $1.9 million. How do you get a $1.9 million refund when your salary is $205,000 a year? How does that work? ... Apparently, he's writing off the guns and ammo as business expenses.

The cure for what troubles the Inland Empire is the Entrepreneurial Spirit. I believe that with her skill set, and education Yvette would make a great business women. We in the I.E. are a group of people who encourage, support and invest in people of any and all ages, races, or genders who will use their ingenuity, and come up with new ideas. Also Entrepreneurs need office space, staff, equipment, and they pay taxes.

Its always the new idea that re-energizes our region. What can change how we live our lives and stimulate our economy and improve our standard of living? Industry, manufacturing, transportation, technology, digital communications, and Internet marketing that's what. How can we fill some of those empty buildings around town.

Tax policies alone have never done that. The people of the Inland Empire have. These businesses deliver our tax revenues, but entrepreneurs who create something out of nothing don’t care what tax rates are. Lucky for us that Bill Gates didn’t monitor the marginal tax rate when he dropped out of Harvard and started Microsoft. Michael Dell didn’t wonder what the capital gains tax was when he started PC’s Limited, and then grew it into Dell Computer. I doubt that any great business or invention started with a discussion or even a consideration of what the current or projected income or capital gains tax was or would be. We need that mindset here in the I.E.

The impact of tax rates on productivity and development is something economists worry about, entrepreneurs don’t waste their time thinking about it. We have business to do. Entrepreneurs live to be entrepreneurs. I have never had a discussion with anyone about starting a business that included tax rates. We do talk about high rents, insurance, advertising, and employees. We save the tax talk for after we make it big. Entrepreneurs live for the thrill of making their dreams come true. Of having a vision and fighting to see it come true. The joy of mission accomplished and the scoreboard of the financial rewards. That spirit is needed here in the I.E.

According to Cal State San Bernardino's College of Business and Public Administration, “Over the last 30 years, the entrepreneurial spirit has transformed the business world. Entrepreneurs have been the driving force of our economy, creating new ventures, technologies, jobs and wealth. Today, more than ever, pursuing an entrepreneurial venture offers the greatest opportunity for personal fulfillment and career success.”

We are in an economic mess right now. It doesn’t matter who caused it. It’s here. It doesn’t matter what our President and his economic advisors come up with. Its meaningless. We need our county, and city officials to step up to the plate and promote and incurage businesses in the I.E., not L.A., or Orange County. We need to worry about what is happening here. We need to keep good people, businesses, and ideas in the I.E.

A frugal businessman walked into a prestigious bank in the Inland Empire, and asked to see the loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going out of town for two weeks and needed a $5,000 loan. The loan officer told the business man that there had to be some type of collateral on the loan. The businessman said he had a Rolls Royce parked outside that he could offer as collateral. The bank employees checked out the vehicle and parked it in the bank’s guarded underground garage.

The businessman returned two weeks later to pay back the loan and retrieve his car. He paid back the $5,000 and the interest which totaled about $15. While he was away, the bank was able to check his account status. They noticed he had millions of dollars in the bank. One employee asked him why he would need a $5,000 loan. The businessman replied, “Where else can I safely park my car for two weeks for only fifteen dollars? Talk about thinking out of the box.

Regardless of what goes through an entrepreneurs head, do you think that they can bring jobs to the I.E. and improve our tax base. Do you think that we can keep the best people working for us in local government. We need to keep people around like Yvette Pierre. As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

I Just Signed Up!!!

2008-12-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

The CHARACTER COUNTS! approach to character education doesn't exclude anyone. That's why we base our programs and materials on six ethical values that everyone can agree on — values that are not political, religious, or culturally biased. Use the points below to help young people understand the Six Pillars, and use the mnemonic devices at right to help them remember.

Trustworthiness

Be honest • Don't deceive, cheat or steal • Be reliable — do what you say you'll do • Have the courage to do the right thing • Build a good reputation • Be loyal — stand by your family, friends and country.

Respect

Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule • Be tolerant of differences • Use good manners, not bad language • Be considerate of the feelings of others • Don't threaten, hit or hurt anyone • Deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements.

Responsibility

Do what you are supposed to do • Persevere: keep on trying! • Always do your best • Use self-control • Be self-disciplined • Think before you act — consider the consequences • Be accountable for your choices.

Fairness

Play by the rules • Take turns and share • Be open-minded; listen to others • Don't take advantage of others • Don't blame others carelessly.

Caring

Be kind • Be compassionate and show you care • Express gratitude • Forgive others • Help people in need.

Citizenship

Do your share to make your school and community better • Cooperate • Get involved in community affairs • Stay informed; vote • Be a good neighbor • Obey laws and rules • Respect authority • Protect the environment.

As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Well Are We Still Friends?!?

2008-12-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Here in the Inland Empire we are always fighting for great causes, and against great injustices. We need allies, we need each other. The problem is that we all don't hold the same values, or share the same beliefs. Sometimes we fight like cats and dogs. Some of us want emanate domain, others would like to take away civil rights, some would even condone social bigotry. Some of us believe that as long as it makes our own individual lives better our beliefs are justified. Well I don't believe that. I want to leave no doubts about what goes on in my head.

My thoughts, feelings and beliefs are different from most. That is why I write this blog. I guess that I'm trying to recruit people to my point of view. Isn't that funny? “Life is a tragedy for those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” Horace Walpole (English writer, connoisseur, and collector, 1717-1797)

I'm not sure why other people share their personal information. I am sure why I share certain parts of mine. I want to try to drive home to everyone that social standing and material wealth are all fine and wonderful but never at the cost of family, friends, and emotional stability. So I hope after reading this I still have friends left.

I guess what I'm trying to do is stop and smell the roses. There's even a song along those lines possibly you know it, “You got to stop and smell the roses, you got to count your many blessings along the way. You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road, if you don't stop and smell the roses along the way.” That's the chorus. I can't remember who sings it at the moment, but it might be Ringo Starr.

When people meet me a lot of them form opinions about my personality, beliefs, political views, sexuality, and financial capabilities. Well I'm going to let you know that you're all wrong. I guess I can’t really talk about this without at least giving my views on key issues. Well here goes...

Abortion: This is tough. I do believe a man should have some kind of say on the issue. It seems patently unfair that a man’s rights/choice ends with the decision whether or not to use a condom or believe the woman is on the pill. In a fair world the man would have equal say, but biologically that’s not possible, yet. Judges have laughed men out of court when they have challenged with the “we agreed not to have children- now she’s pregnant- we’re not together- and you’ll force me to pay child support soon even though we agreed to have an abortion if this ever happened” defense. In essence their take is they had unprotected sex based on an oral agreement (nice pun) that a child would not be born even if the seed took. So that aside, it is hard for me to legally force women to engage in an activity that can bring death. Remember for the record I am against abortion because I don't think murder is a good form of birth control.

What would happen if it was illegal? Would women use unsanctioned doctors/back alley butchers? Is it worth that? So I am in the “safe, legal and very rare” camp. I believe abortion is a medical issue and should be deliberated in the doctor’s and pastor’s office, not the halls of congress that is mostly filled with lawyers. Not to mention, it goes against my principal of wanting government out of my personal life. It's simply not their decision to make- nor is it yours or mine. It is solely the decision of the couple or woman to make. These women know that the religious right believes they are going to hell, so spare me that argument. Well are we still friends?

Free Speech: It’s damn near absolute. Conservatives often pick on the ACLU for defending opposite interests. But that’s the point of free speech. To truly be a backer of the first amendment you have to defend both the Nazis and their right to talk their nonsense, and the Jewish Defense Organization who say things like “death to Nazis”. I know the whole “fire in a theater” concept, but the bar to arrest someone for something they say must be set very, very high and the evidence must be overwhelming, anything short of that invites a chipping away of this right. Well are we still friends?

Religion: We have the right to freely worship just about anything or nothing at all. No tax payer money should be spent on religious activity. Churches must be free to perform same sex marriages or not perform them. Well are we still friends?

Guns: I am pro-gun rights. I have owned guns in my life time. I don't believe in hunting for sport or killing anything for fun, but I have no problem dispatching someone trying to break into my home. It’s the sanctuary for Diane, my son Ronald, and myself. Anyone trying to disturb that should first think about the cost. Sometimes ignorance can be painful. Well are we still friends?

Education: I support free education for all citizens. We keep hearing that America is falling behind other countries in science and math. Well maybe the government should start a scholarship fund for those things. Let people that major in math and science get free education up through their PhD. It makes sense. Some people claim that education isn’t a right and should not be funded by the government, but think our world would be like without it. You know how it makes you upset when a cashier cannot count your change back to you without using a machine? Imagine if they couldn’t count at all! We’re a first world country because of education and for us to discontinue that would be disastrous for our countries morale, micro and macro-economies and our competitiveness in the world in just about everything. If anything we should increase spending on academia and decrease spending on sports in our collage system. Well are we still friends?

Immigration: First we must make it easier to immigrate to the U.S.A. I do want better public services for our citizens, but we cannot achieve that if we continue to allow people to come across the border at will. Just sign in, take a test, let a doctor check you out, and pass a felony background check. My main concern with them is their lack of paying taxes while soaking up benefits like health care, education and jobs, passing illnesses that we are not use to. People who have gone through the gauntlet of legally immigrating here deserve those things. If I ran across the border into any country on earth I would not expect that country to take me in and give me and my child all the services provided to their citizens all the while not paying taxes. If you want the benefits of citizenry in our country then you have to become a member by paying the dues. Membership has its privileges. Well are we still friends?

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” - by Emma Lazarus (on the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty)

The liberal part of my personality believes that the world doesn't revolve around me. I believe that if my community does well then I will do well. I believe that there is enough for everyone. Some believe that if others have something there might not be any left for them. That said, I don't believe in forcing charity.

What do you believe? What will you fight for? Well are we still friends? As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, opinion polls, outside links, and Java games.

Now What?!?

2008-11-16T23:52:00.000-08:00

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin and yang is used to describe how apparently opposing forces are bound together, intertwined, and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn. This past election both moved us forwards towards acceptance, and sent us falling back into a time of prejudice, intolerance, and self righteous bigotry. Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, or was he? Proposition 8 passed, or did it? Elections in general aren't over until it’s really, finally, absolutely over.

Even though most Americans love peace and prosperity, hate taxes and care about the environment, when it comes to how we express those values, we drive each other crazy. To conservatives, liberals are tree-hugging, peacenik, tax-and-spend elitists. To liberals, conservatives are anti-environment, war-mongering, deficit-spending imperialists. Neither depiction is precisely true but somehow most of us hold those opinions.

A few thousand civil rights activist expressed anger, dissatisfaction, and disappointment as they marched across California last week in a peaceful protests against California's passage of a hateful initiative designed to bane marriage between loving couples that happen to be of the same sex. Some of them were met with violence from those that disagree.

All of the different Constitutions in this country, both federal and those of each state, are meant to protect the minority from the majority. Sometimes it takes time, money, protests, and I hate to say this, but lawyers to make things right.

Now that the voting is over what do we do? What should we expect? How can we help? First we must make sure the process happens the way that it is suppose to happen. We should follow the news, blogs, and talk radio shows. We should speak up when we see an injustice, a mis-step by an elected official, or a bad process.

Before December 15th the states must certify their election results. When each state declares its final results its governor must sign and send it to the National Archives listing the names of its electors and the number of votes cast for Senator Barack Obama and for Senator John McCain.

On December 15th the Electoral College meets. The results are then sent to the vice president in his role as president of the Senate, to each state’s secretary of state and to the judge of the district in which the electors meet as well as some others The problem is that Electors are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, they don't have to vote for Barack. They can ignore the will of the people. To bad we can't ignore Proposition 8.

The 2008 election was the first time in U.S. history that an African American was elected President by the people. This seems to be a sign that we are moving forwards in our racist beliefs. Since the opposing party's nominee for vice-president was a woman, Governor Sarah Palin, the eventual winning ticket was bound to be historic. This is another sign that we are heading in the right direction. That is if the vote holds up. Why can't we have a perfect system? Simple, we are human, and we sometimes forget that we are not the only humans on earth, and our beliefs are not the only ideas out there.

Yin and Yang are technically equal in every way, humans tend to favor one side over the other. Examples would be the active, masculine yang principle over the passive, feminine yin principle. The dark opposing the light, the voters relationship to the candidate. This is especially true in modern society.

How can we be so open about equality on one hand, and on the other hand still pass an illegal proposition, yes illegal. In California a two-thirds majority is needed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment. That did not happen. Let's hope that the Presidential Election holds up, and the stripping away of human rights gets over turned.

When it comes to politics I'm all mixed up, and I believe that they're a lot of others like me. I can’t be a member of any political party. When it comes to money, and our taxes I’m definitely conservative. I favor efficiency. I also believe in charity, but it has to be the choice of the giver to give. I prefer small government, and I hate government interfering in my life. I think people should be free to be who they are as long as they don’t harm others. Governments job is to care for those that can't care for themselves, not take care of people that don't want to care for themselves. Government should provide a police department, a fire department, roads, infrastructure, and health care. I believe that people should help each other, but that help can not be forced. When I think of politics, and my belief in balance (Yin and Yang) I can see why our current system seems so messed up. So, what now?!?

Remember my blog page has a new address: www.AricIsomsBlog.com (Aric Isom's Blog). As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Does it Matter Who is President

2008-11-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

On National Public Radio's December 18, 2006 airing of All Things Considered it was stated that while a majority of U.S. voters say they would vote for a black presidential candidate, many people say the United States is still not likely to put an African-American in the Oval Office quite yet. This made me wonder if it matters who is in the White House at this time.

About 95 years ago Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt went to lunch with Henry Adams, a famous historian and intellectual. The setting was Adams' home right across the park from the White House. Adam's blurted out one of the biggest falsities in history, "Young man, I have lived in this house many years and seen the occupants of that White House come and go, and nothing that you minor officials or the occupant of that house can do will affect the history of the world for long!"

It is easy to prove Adams wrong. Bob Woodward and others have shown that it was President Bush's single minded take on Iraq that prompted the United States to push the war on terrorism across Iraq's borders. It was President. Bush's belief's about the role of taxes in the economy that fueled the tax cuts to big business that have become an issue in the current presidential elections.

How about Bill Clinton's Welfare Reform. Clinton also signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. All of this still in effect today.

How about the way Ronald Reagan bent Washington to his will, or the way an actor altered the assumptions of Washington. I don't see how you can argue that nothing that the occupant of the White House does can affect the history of the world for long. We live with Reagan's ideas of government still. “Reaganomics” and the “Trickle Down Theory” are still a big influence in America today.

Someone asked me, “Why do we have such a racially divided nation?" I believe that we're such a racially divided nation because of our recent history of government sanctioned racism. Something that the person siting in the oval office can change. But that person must be willing to do so.

The thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery didn't end racism. The fourteenth amendment established citizenship for blacks, yet we were still denied the right to vote. The fifteenth amendment prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, or previous status as a slave, but even that didn't work. Southern states just rewrote their state constitutions to make sure blacks weren't allowed to vote. Sound familiar? Do we currently have people trying to rewrite California's Constitution in order to deny rights to others?

It's hard for some people to admit, but the United States has a long record of institutionalized racism. Until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, blacks were routinely discriminated against and denied the right to register and vote. Even after passage of the Voting Rights Act, black citizens in many areas were subject to bullying and in many cases prevented from voting until the federal government stepped in. We needed someone in the White House to enforce the laws, and once they started enforcing these laws they couldn't easily turn back, even if they wanted.

Starting with the Civil War and well past 1960's many parts of the country were thoroughly divided and blacks were treated as second class citizens. The battle to end Jim Crow laws and segregation was long and bloody. Today some feel that we are still treated that way or not taken as serious as we deserve. If we had a Black President change would have been much faster. I am glad that we had the presidents that we had during those times.

Throughout the 1960s, the FBI illegally wiretapped, infiltrated and sabotaged the leadership of the civil rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The COINTELPRO program was used to suppress the black power movement. Many people believe the killing of Chicago Black Panther Fred Hampton was a government assassination. Imagine how bad it would have been if the Kennedy brothers were not around.

Yesterday I heard on the news about an assassination plot to kill Obama and 87 others. If we are a racially divided country, it isn't because someone merely points out these things, it's because they actually happened.

Many people disregard all the above as just history. Their deep and abiding love for our great country blinds them to aspects of our history that make them uneasy. Some people think it is more horrible for someone to bring these things up than for the things to have happened in the first place. They equate any admission of past evils as an indictment of modern-day society.

It will matter, too, whether Barack Obama or John McCain is president, despite their common chants of reform, despite their shared sense of impatience with politics as usual. The irony is that in this Age of Cynicism, no one is arguing, as Henry Adam stated 95 year ago, that nothing the occupant of that house can do will affect the history of the world for long.

Remember my blog page has a new address: www.AricIsomsBlog.com (Aric Isom's Blog). As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

What about Prop. 8?

2008-10-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

If we go back in history traditional marriage was a great way of owning a slave, that is if you consider owning a slave great. Back then wives were considered property. They had no rights, no vote, could not own property, or even speak for themselves in court. It was left up to the husband to take care of the things that a woman had no right to participate in. With the Suffrage Movement women began the journey towards equality.

This November you can get involved in the fight for human rights, the birthright of every American – black, white, gay or straight. Whenever the human rights of any person are cast-off, weakened or denied by the government, the human rights of all are at risk. You can make a enormous difference by helping to enforce human rights.

When it comes to same sex marriage, we find a major disconnect in opinions and belief from both sides of the issue. People who are against same sex marriage base their arguments on the definition of marriage being a religious act that should be defended only as a union between a man and a woman, even though by law and throughout history marriage is considered a contractual issue. Those who are in support of same sex marriage argue that people in same sex relationships are humans also, and deserve the same right to marriage as anyone.

You wouldn't have picked up on it during the debates, but John McCain and Barack Obama actually concur on some issues. One of them is same sex marriage. Both candidates oppose the idea, preferring instead the non-equal alternative of civil unions. In my opinion anything that consenting adults choose to do for pleasure and not bring harm to anyone is nobodies business. People try to hide their prejudices, and insecurities about their own temptations.

According to the L.A. Times supporters of the constitutional amendment, under which marriage would be defined as only between a man and a woman, contend that if Proposition 8 does not pass, same sex marriage will be taught in public schools. "We are already seeing that happen," said Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Yes on 8. All of this is based on fear, lies, and self loathing.

The opposing side insists that this is fear-mongering and notes that there is no mention of schools or curriculum in the language of the proposition.

To support their case, Proposition 8 supporters point to a legal decision out of Massachusetts, where same-sex couples have been able to wed for a number of years now. After a teacher in Lexington read a book to her second grade students that was about two princes marrying, the parents of a child in the class sued the school district.

The parents who oppose same sex marriage, claim that the teacher had read the book to her class "for the express purpose of indoctrinating them into the concept that homosexuality and marriage between same-sex partners is moral." This, they said, intruded on their "right to direct the moral upbringing of their own children."

A federal court through out the case, finding it “without merit”. Later the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the dismissal, letting the lower court's ruling stand. Note the “without merit”, just as the fears, and reasons of those in favor of Proposition 8.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) conducted a survey in 1999 of 496 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gendered (LGBT) students from 32 states. This survey found that more than 90 percent of LGBT youth reported that they sometimes or frequently heard homophobic comments in their schools. That is what is being tought in our schools.

I hope that we don't get to the point were the LGBT community are forced to drink from different water fountains, or made to sit at the back of the bus. History has proven that separate but equal does not work.

Among straight adults who have been married, a study by the Barna Group discovered that one-third (33%) have experienced at least one divorce. Does this show where the threat to marriage lies?

The study showed that the percentage of straight adults who have been married and divorced varies from segment to segment. For instance, the groups with the most prolific experience of marriage ending in divorce are downscale adults (39%), Baby Boomers (38%), those aligned with a non-Christian faith (38%), African-Americans (36%), and people who consider themselves to be liberal on social and political matters (37%).

Other groups with high divorce rates are Catholics (28%), evangelicals (26%), upscale adults (22%), Asians (20%) and those who deem themselves to be conservative on social and political matters (28%).

Remember my blog page has a new address: www.AricIsomsBlog.com (Aric Isom's Blog). As always let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Promises

2008-10-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Most of my writings deal with local political and social issues, but because of my recent health issues I've been bed ridden, and have had the chance to see all of the televised debates, commentaries, specials, and most of all the comedy skits dealing with the presidential election. Because of this I've done a lot of thinking about what I really believe and stand for in these hectic times. I'm not going to waist your time repeating what they are promising, but you will get my “Rants & Raves”.

At the beginning of this presidential campaign I held myself out to be a Clinton supporter, but now she's nowhere to be found. I know that most of what most politicians promise are lies, exaggerations, and stupidity, but I like what she promised us.

A lot of what Obama says he will do is against what I believe. I don't like his stand on illegal aliens, but I can stand behind his health plan, tax plan, and his environmental stance, but his idea's on equal rights are insane. Everyone of us should have the same rights as anyone else. A persons race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion should never be an excuse to take anyones rights away. I know that he is for equal rights based on race, but what about other differences that might exists? What is his real message? Should he promise us all the same justice?

McCain makes statements that seem as if they are designed to make him loose the election, yet we have people out there thinking that he has our well being on his mind, but it is as if he were working for the oil, and munition companies. He seems to care about our solders, the war, gun owners, and the wealthy. What is he really trying to tell us? What is his real message? Should he promise us the same economic opportunities as he does the big corporations?

The purpose of a modern-day campaign is to put forth an idea or set of ideas in a way which is easily communicated, and to put forwards the best possible face. This is often done through the use of sound bites and slogans and may be distinct from the detailed policy proposals of the candidates. The problem, they make a lot of noise but say little.

Political messages are carefully crafted before they are disseminated. Campaigns in this country may spend large sums of money on polls and surveys in order to figure out what message is needed to reach a majority on Election Day.

The local issues that mater most to me deal with poverty, health care, eminent domain, race relations and equal rights. These are the issues that I want to hear McCain and Obama speak about. No one has ever stopped me on the street or in the mall to ask my views. Do they want to know what I really care about? What are they going to promise me?

My sister recently e-mailed me an interesting, and funny tale about the candidates. It goes like this:

John McCain and Barrack Obama somehow ended up at the same Senatorial barbershop in the basement of the Sam Rayburn Building. As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken.
The barbers were even afraid to start a conversation, for fear it would turn to politics.

As the barbers finished their shaves, the one who had McCain in his chair reached for the aftershave. McCain was quick to stop him saying, 'No thanks, my wife will smell that and think I've been in a
whorehouse.'

The second barber turned to Obama and said, 'How about you?'

Obama replied, 'you can go ahead, MY wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like.'

A lot of us would somehow take this story seriously, and use it in their decision making process when they cast their vote. Is it funny? Yes. Does it matter? No. Just like what the candidates promise.

My blog page has a new address: www.AricIsomsBlog.com (Aric Isom's Blog). I promise that I will continue to rant and rave with more frequency. Let's make this a two way conversation. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.AricIsomsBlog.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the added features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Sparks!

2008-04-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back. In my mind is the theme song from the TV show Welcome Back Kotter. Like Kotter, I am motivated by improving the lives of those that follow me. In Kotter's case it was his students, in my case it is my children, my grand-children, my community, and my city.

Sometimes to get me moving in the right direction it takes a spark of motivation. That spark can come in the form of a person, an action, a strong emotional response, a profound event, or being recognized for a job well done.

For a few months I was sparkless. I was dis-satisfied with my job, my mood of transportation, my dogs (one ate my leather saddle bags that were on my motorcycle), and most of all, what seemed like a lack of results for the effort that I put forth.

Recently I gained a second grand-child witch happens to share his name with me, Aric Joseph Isom, III, I got a new job with-in the same company, my Juneteenth Committee activities are moving at full throttle, my minister is back in the pulpit now more then in the past, and other exciting happenings.

Two weeks ago I and others relieved recognition from the city for our work with the Human Relations Committee, and other city groups. I am now being asked to be apart of many great projects and organizations. I will sort threw them and chose were I can fit in and help the most.

Some sparks that might start a fire under my but are event like the Annual Continuum of Care Homeless Conference being held on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at California Baptist University in Riverside from 8:30am to 3:30pm.

They will be having an exciting conference and an in-depth presentation on
the County's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness. The Key Note Speaker,
is Debra Stein, President of GCA Strategies from San Francisco, CA with
the topic: "Community Relations and Homelessness: “Turning N.I.M.B.Y.
(Not in My Backyard) to Y.I.M.B.Y. (Yes In My Backyard!)" plus more....

We also celebrate Juneteenth on June 7th, I've been working with the committee on this one for a few years now, so all of you are invited to come celebrate the end of slavery in the western United States, enjoy great free entertainment, excellent vendor booths, and a verity of foods. This is also a great community builder, and will be a great place for family gatherings, reunions with old friend, and general reconciliation.

I think that the I.E. can use a few sparks now and then. Something that will keep it moving forwards. People can also be sparks.

A possible spark for the Inland Empire may be . Paul has run for State Assembly in the past. I know Paul from around town, different events we both attended, news articles, and he has visited my church on a number of accessions. People in the know tell me that he deserves my endorsement. Everyone that knows me knows that I don't vote based on political party affiliations, but rather qualification, intent, trustworthiness, and shared values.

Paul Rasso filed to run for State Assembly again this year. He filed his paper work with his nomination signatures only to find that he was short one valid signature and did not qualify for the June 3rd Ballot.

He has now decided to file as a write-in-candidate for the June 3rd primary, otherwise his opponent will automatically win the seat. He will need to garner 1% of the total Democratic voters to write his name on the ballot, which amount to 1089 votes, so he can win the democratic nomination and become the candidate on the November ballot. I believe this to be in the 64th District.

Biographical highlights gathered from the Internet.

Party: Democratic
Occupation: School District Employee
Elected Member, Riverside County Democratic Central Committee
President, Moreno Valley Democratic Club
Past President, California School Employees Association Local 244
Past President, Dad's in Action Wilsonnette Drill and Drum Team
Member of Native American Caucus
Degree in Business Administration
Top priorities if elected as fond on the Internet.
Health Care - He supports affordable, quality heath care for all Californian's.
Environment - He believes that our tax dollars should be used to improve our air and water quality in the Inland Empire.
Transportation – He believes that we must stop politicians from invading our tax dollars.

Again I say that we have lots of very special people out there doing things that I don’t have time to do, don’t know how to do, or don’t want to do. I am very thankful to all of them. Do you know of someone that shows that they care? Let us know about them. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.aricisom.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the new features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Apathy?!?

2007-12-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

Dame Edna once said, “ If you can't laugh at yourself, you may be missing the colossal joke of the century.” The thing is that I can laugh at myself; it’s others laughing at me that I can’t stand. I think this is because I care what people think of me. Recently someone approached asking for help with a project. I had to decline because I just didn’t have the time to commit to that project.

I was accused of not caring about the issue, which hurt me very much, because I did care. I know of people that really don’t care for issues that I care about, and I know how hard it is to get support for particular projects.

It’s hard to strive for societal justices in a place were nobody cares what happens around them. In a place were it’s everyone for themselves. Is that what we have in the Inland Empire? I vote. I support issues that I agree in. I volunteer.

According to the Instant Riverside website California’s population is increasing, and Riverside County is on the increase faster than any other county in California. Recently the California Department of Finance released its latest figures, estimating that the state’s population is approaching 38 million, up 11.5 percent from the 2000 census.

They say that both in number of new residents and the percentage of increase Riverside County is growing the most, but what this all means is that we have a hell of a lot of people [Please excuses the language]. Maybe it’s just a matter of resources. I believe that we can get over this problem by focusing on the individual. The I.E. has a lot of caring, talented, and resourceful people that can’t/don’t join groups that make positive contributions/changes to the community, but they do contribute as individuals.

A 10-year-old from Riverside named Wes Crary donated the blond locks that were sheared from his head to “Locks of Love”, a nonprofit agency that provides natural hair wigs to ill children who lose their hair mostly due to cancer treatments. I am lucky in that I know Wes. He is the son of the minister of my church, Matthew Crary. Some of you may remember Matthew; he was the guest commentator of the previous posting of this blog.

A famous football couch said in a story he was telling, "I told him, 'Son, what is it with you. Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"

In Riverside we have lots of people that not only are knowledgeable about the issues, but they care. I am lucky enough to know a few. One of my favorites is a man named Dave Mowry. He is a social activist that focuses on environmental issues around the world and in our city. He has engaged in activities such as educating us on ecological concerns, distributing low energy light bulbs for FREE, and promoting recycling. He is a great supporter of the Sustainable Riverside Initiative, and has spoken in front of the city council in favor of it.

Dave Barry said, “If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base.” Well, I hope so. I know a woman by the name of Ofelia Sanchez; she runs a program called Arlington Temporary Assistance, an organization that distributes free groceries and clothing to the needy residing in Riverside, Jurupa, Mira Loma, Rubidoux, and Woodcrest. They also provide information and referrals for utility bill assistance. When I speak with her I know that she cares about what she does and she deserves all the help that people can muster.

Do we have apathy in the Inland Empire? Is this a place where we have an absence of interest or concern in certain aspects of emotional, social, or physical life. Maybe we are just lacking in time. Maybe we are always on the freeways going to work or trying to get home. Maybe we need to sleep sometimes. What can we do in that case.

I’ve Got It! Maybe we can get employment doing something that we love that helps people, like the job that Don Smith has. He is an employee of the City of Riverside, he works as the Homeless Services Coordinator in the Development Department, Housing and Neighborhoods for the city of Riverside. He truly goes beyond his appointed duties in the performance of his job. He has ideas that are designed to solve the problems that he is presented with, not just create “busy work” that keeps him in a job. That is a dream of mine, to get paid to do what I love and help people, maybe even fight for an issue that I believe in.

I learned that apathy can be object-specific — toward a person, activity or environment. It is a common reaction to stress where it manifests as "learned helplessness" and is commonly associated with depression. But sometimes I may apear apathetic when it’s just a lack of time, energy, or resources. You know, to be truthful, sometimes I don’t care. Hey, no one can care for everything, and everyone, can they? You know I don’t have to care about everyone or everything. We have people in our community such as Woodie Rucker-Hughes, the CWA Manager, Homeless Liaison for the Riverside Unified School District and president of the Riverside Branch of the NAACP; Jody White, who works with the Department of Public Social Services; Riverside City Council Members Andy Melendrez, and Mike Gardner; Luz Negron, head of the Multicultural Council working out of the Riverside Municipal Museum. I love the Family Village Festival that she helps put on every year.

We have lots of very special people out there doing things that I don’t have time to do, don’t know how to do, or don’t want to do. I am very thankful to all of them. Do you know of someone that shows that they care? Let us know about them. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.aricisom.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the new features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Guest Commentator - Rev. Matthew Crary

2007-12-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

Nobody Knows…

Around Thanksgiving, the whole start of the winter holiday season, I feel called to listen to the Blues. I yearn to hear the sentimental sounds of John Coltrane, the sad siren song of Miles Davis, and solitary but tougher than nails voice of Billie Holiday. While I hear all their individual tunes, their distinctive harmonies, their individual pain, what I hear is the echo of the African American Spiritual, “Nobody Knows…”

Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen…
Nobody knows my sorrow…
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen…
Glory Hallelujah!

In my faith tradition, we strive to take on the big issues and injustices we face in our society and the world today; we are a faith of “deeds not creeds.” Here in Riverside we are active in addressing homelessness, global warming, and marriage equality. Together we seek not only to right the wrongs of our community, but also to face those covert oppressions, racism, classism, genderism and consumerism, which lie in our own hearts supporting these injustices. It’s not easy or pleasant, but it’s the mission to which we are called.

Certainly these injustices and oppressions are named in the Blues. Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” is haunting in its acknowledgment of the fruit individual and institutional racism is the murder of our youth. Emerging out of the reality of freed African Americans (freed from slavery into extreme poverty, exploitation, and institutionalized racism) the Blues were social commentary in rhyme and rhythm. They expressed the reality of life and living in both the big and small ways.

Indeed, what seems best to me about the Blues is that they name the pains and sorrows, which come with the life we possess. The heartbreak and suffering that we endure in our relationships and the personal failures, mistakes, and frailties of our bodies are all named in a deeply personal way in the Blues. Most of all the Blues name without flinching or turning away the feeling of being alone.

Know body knows the trouble I’ve seen…
Nobody knows my sorrow…
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen…
Glory Hallelujah!

Feeling alone is just about the worst place anyone can be. We are social creatures, needing recognition and connection and support from other human beings. To feel alone, even in a crowd, is to be isolated, set apart, and alienated from others. It is an unnatural condition for us, which amplifies the agony all of our other pains and sorrows, of all the injustices and oppressions.

And yet… the Blues express genuine gratitude despite all the pain and injustice and feeling alone. They express a thanks and a hope in the place of resignation. They hold up life in the face of darkness. In this way the Blues remind me that in the face of the darkness I see in the world, that in spite of the oppressions and injustices around me, and in the face of the fear and hopelessness with me, gratitude can remain.

In this time of great celebration and renew, which carries a feeling of alone for so many, many people, I hope that you will find your Blues to sing. Sing for the pain and sorrow in our world. Sing to for the hope and love and light for which we live.
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Reverend Matthew Crary, senior minister of the Universalist Unitarian Church of Riverside has graciously agreed to be a guest commentator for this week’s blog. I thank him for the great job he has performed. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page (http://www.aricisom.com/). You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the new features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

An Inland Empire Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

During the rest of the year I can use this column to complain, and point out the ills of the Inland Empire, but not this time. We have a lot to be thankful for here in the I.E. and I want to point a few out.

What am I thankful for here in the Inland Empire? I will try answering that question in my own unique way. Like most of you I am thankful for my wonderful family, and the fact that it is growing. I am thankful for my friendships, my health, and the fact that I have a job, a great church, and the freedom of expression that I enjoy. Here I will give you a little news, a little comedy, and a lot of personal opinion. So lets start with this…

Why did the turkey cross the road?
It was the chicken's day off.

I am thankful that Mike Gardner defeated incumbent Dom Betro for the Ward One City Council Seat. Although there may be a recount I’m going to enjoy the bliss of a victory of a candidate that I supported, and believe to be the best for the city. I am thankful for the right to chose my government leadership based on what I like and believe.

I also like the fact that we are a big enough influence on state and national politics that we attract candidates that are running for the higher offices on a regular bases.

Why do turkeys always go, "gobble, gobble"?
Because they never learned good table manners!

In the Los Angeles Times there was an article earlier this year written by Lisa Giron that started that the five county regions including Riverside added 152,700 jobs which is 53,600 more than employers anticipated. Most of the increase was in Southern California, which was 55.7% in 2006, and in the previous year, L.A., Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties generated 46.7% of all jobs created in the state. Most of the increase was due to global trade, tourism and professional services, many of them high paying jobs. I love when jobs come to the I.E. I can be thankful of this. I am thankful for the efforts of people like Don Smith for trying to end homelessness, and in doing this putting himself out of a job.

What sound does a space turkey make?
Hubble, Hubble, Hubble.

I am thankful for great places in the I.E. such as the Back to the Grind Coffee House in Downtown Riverside, Mario’s Place Restaurant also in Downtown, and a new Downtown restaurant that took the place of the Downtown Supper Club called Back Stage.

I also like the Metropolitan Museum, the Photographic Museum, and The Peoples Gallery that lends itself to the monthly Downtown Art Walks.

I am thankful that Frank’s Bar & Grill holds Karaoke Night four times a week, and that I can go miniature golfing at Castle Park with my son when he visits. I am thankful for Boardwell Park, and the differing activities that are held there such as the Juneteenth Celebration.

Why did the police arrest the turkey?
They suspected it of fowl play.

I am thankful for our people. I am thankful to the service workers in our two counties. We could not exist without the police; the fire fighters; Park and Recreation workers that work beyond their paid hours just so the kids playing basketball can finish their game.

I am thankful for the city commissioners that advise our city council on day-to-day matters such as human relations, youth activities, the aging, airport matters, and parking problems.

Let us not forget the people that volunteer their time with KRCB (Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful), Friends of Mt. Rubidoux, and the Volunteers for America, located in San Bernardino.

Why did the Indian chief wear so many feathers?
He wanted to keep his wigwam (wig warm).

I am thankful for Indian casinos because of the jobs they create, the entertainment that they provide, and philanthropic endeavors that they support.

I am thankful for the many movie theaters around the I.E. I am thankful for the educational opportunities that the colleges and trade schools have to offer. I really want that med school to be built.

Why did they let the turkey join the band?
Because he had the drumsticks.

Things that I am not thankful for are the air quality [when we have very few large industrial polluter in the I.E.], gang activity, Smart Park, being stopped by the police for DWB (driving while black), the lack of equal marriage rights, racism, the illegal immigration that keeps people in virtual slavery, and all of the street widening that will one day ease traffic around the city [I wish that it was already complete].

What I will be thankful for in the Inland Empire are things like the completion of the 60/91/215 freeway project, Smart Riverside (the program giving free wireless internet access to the whole city), a new city council, the University Corridor Project coming to an end, but most of all I will be thankful that these bad jokes will end.

What are you thankful for? As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of the article on the blog page, http://www.aricisom.com/. You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the new features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Interview - Mike Gardner

2007-10-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Recently I met with Mike Gardner, the candidate running against incumbent Dom Betro for the Ward One City Council seat. His website at www.MikeForWard1.com boosts of experience, dedication, and integrity. I don’t agree with him on all issues, but I think that he is best for our city. We met at the Back to the Grind Coffee Shop for a one-hour interview where the environmentally friendly Mike rode to on his Segway Personal Transporter. [He let me test it out.] Mike is the candidate that I support for this office. I hope that this condensed interview will bring most of you around to my point of view. A recording of the complete interview can be found on the left side of this page.

Mike Gardner came to Riverside 36 years ago to finish his education at UCR. He has lived in the same house in the Grand Avenue – Wood Streets area of Ward 1 for 32 years. He and his wife Joyce have raised three children whom have graduated from Riverside pubic schools.

Most recently, Mike led the fight to block the sale of Tequesquite Park and the Market Street Frontage of Fairmount Park. Without a concerted community effort, the Council would have sold or leased this property to developers.

He has been an active volunteer with the Riverside Fire Department for over ten years helping with public education programs and sitting on the Department’s Disaster Preparedness Committee where he served as Vice Chair from 2000 to 2006 when the committee was dissolved. He served on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee and was Vice Chair of the Quality of Life Subcommittee. He is an active responder for the Riverside Fire Buffs, a volunteer organization that on request brings refreshments to firefighters at major incidents. He is an active member of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce and served on a Division Board. In 2000, he was recognized by the City of Riverside as the Municipal Volunteer of the year.

Aric Isom: OK, Mike let’s get some basics out of the way. Although this is not supposed to matter in city government, are you Demarcate or Republican? Conservative or Liberal?

Mike Gardner: Well, I’m registered as a Republican, but I find that I support candidates and issues on both sides of the line. The label is not as important as the issues. I’m a fiscal conservative, and a social moderate.

Aric: In federal law we have what are called “protected groups”, which in terms of employment laws are groups of people that are distinguished by special characteristics such as their race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, age (over 40), disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Some of your critics feel that you may not be able to relate to these groups. Have you heard of the term “angry white male”?

Mike: Other than my age it is true that I am not a member of any minority group, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t relate or haven’t any feelings for these groups. One example, back when I was in Berkley, attending Merritt College, during the start up period of the Black Panther movement, on a very segregated campus, I walked into a local café’ that was considered Panther territory. As I walked through the group of mostly Black people I got stares and attitude that made it clear that I wasn’t welcome. This is in spite of the fact that I had no ill thoughts or feelings towards anyone in that room. I just wanted something to eat. Not a good feeling. It is true that I’m White and not gay, but that should not be held against me. [No such thing as reverse discrimination, just discrimination.]

Aric: As for your personal life, what type of games do you play? Do you play Poker?

Mike: In the past I’ve played Poker, Chess, Cribbage, and Go, but not so much any more. My main hobby is the Riverside Live Steamers at Hunter Park. [These are narrow gauge (4 ¾" & 7 ½") trains which enthusiasts and hobbyists employ for the purpose of educating people in railroad history and lore and to further the avocation of live steam railroad technology.]

Aric: What are your views on equal marriage rights?

Mike: I have no problem with civil unions that have “all” of the rights of a full marriage, but I have a problem with the word “Marriage”, I guess it has to do with the way that I was taught growing up.

Aric: Do you feel that you would be able to work well with others with differing views than yourself?

Mike: I work well with others; I have friends and acquaintances of every stripe.

Aric: Do you support the Arts and cultural endeavors of the city?

Mike: I support the city’s efforts to make Riverside a “City of the Arts”, but I think that the results are hit and miss. I like the idea of the newly created city position that will boost the city’s efforts.

Aric: What about the city’s efforts to help get the homeless off of the street, and end homelessness within 10 years?

Mike: It’s a good program, but it is too small [We need a bigger budget].

Aric: What changes need to be made to our city government?

Mike: We need to get the citizens to take a look at the way City Council works. I believe our Council members are there to listen to what citizens have to say. Council members owe citizens an opportunity to speak their piece. They don’t have to agree, but they do have to listen – respectfully and attentively. This has not been happening. Right now the people like going to their elected officials when they have a problem, but the system is set up for the citizens to go to each individual department to deal with problems. It is set up in the City Charter that way.

Aric: We are almost eight years into the 21st century, how has the leap from the 20th century affected your life and views?

Mike: Growing up, when I was in school being tardy was unheard of, we would rather miss school all together than be late. Getting sent to the principles office was like a felony. We had more respect back when I was younger. We need that today. [We also have cooler technology today.]

Aric: Have you ever been actively involved in any type of protest movement?

Mike: During college I started out protesting the Vietnam War, but I left that group when it started being more about doing damage, breaking windows, and doing more harm then good.

Mike had a lot of interesting things to say, he spoke of other issue not printed here, such as the suicide of his son, how to help the homeless, the downtown parking problem, eminent domain, and other city issues, but don’t worry it was all recorded. For the complete unedited audio recording of this interview go to the Audio Posts section on the left side of the blog page. As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of each article on the blog page, http://www.aricisom.com/. You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the new features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Connecting With The Homeless

2007-10-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

Did you ever live under a park bench? I have. Have you ever-collected cans for a living? I have. Was your warmest/safest nights spent in a mission bunk bed surrounded by bad smells, drunks, and thieves? Mine were. Now I’m a member of the Homeless Care Network.

For a short time in 1983 I was homeless. How I got there is not important for this conversation, but why I stayed is very important. I had too much pride. I had family, friends, and services that I could have turned to, but didn’t. I didn’t want anyone that I knew to know about my shame. In order to correct my problem I had to get over this mindset. I had to reach out to my network of friends, family, and other contacts.

Riverside’s Mayor Ron Loveridge likes to quote Robert Putnam on his views on networking; they tend to share the same ideas about the value of social capital. Putnam says, "…that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver or a college education can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups."

The City of Riverside has done a lot in dealing with the problem of homelessness. A few of their efforts center around direct outreach to those in need of more then just a place to lay their heads.

In forming partnerships with an eclectic group of government agencies, non-profit organizations, social service providers and faith-based organizations the City of Riverside has taken a practical move toward dealing with homelessness in our city. These groups are forming into a type of social network. Now let’s find a way of bringing the homeless into that network.

According to their website (http://www.riversideca.gov/devdept/housing/homelesshighlights.asp) “In June of 2003, the City of Riverside adopted the ‘Riverside Community Broad-Based Homeless Action Plan.’ Since its adoption, the City has aggressively pursued implementation of 30 action-based strategies within the plan including hiring a Homeless Services Coordinator, opening a new Emergency Shelter and Access Center program, expanding funding for community-based service agencies, allocating new funding for homeless prevention and rental assistance activities, and strengthening collaboration with faith-based service providers.“

That new Homeless Services Coordinator, Don Smith says, “The City of Riverside is taking an aggressive, pro-active approach to addressing the issue of homelessness. Through our Homeless Street Outreach Team and the Riverside Homeless Care Network, we are implementing an assertive intervention strategy in coordination with a wide range of community partners to engage people on the streets, assess their service needs and identify solutions to help people exit life on the streets.”

I think that his words are more then just lip service. In my outreach to the homeless I’ve discovered that we have so many resources, programs, and caring groups of individuals that no one has to be homeless. The main problems that we face are connecting the homeless to the resources, and overcoming the problems of drug addiction and mental illness.

In 1983 I made a friend, I will call him John (not his reel name), well John and I were/are about the same age, he being older by just a few years. We were among the youngest around at that time, which may have been our chief bond, that and the fact that we had attitudes about not reaching out for help, and we are both 6’5”.

John was a star forward for a big time college Basketball team. He hurt his ankle in a game, got hooked on painkillers, lost his scholarship, went into a downward spiral, and eventually ended up on the streets.

Together we signed into a youth program (18-21) at the Union Rescue Mission. They helped us get I.D. cards, Social Security Cards, jobs, and a direction in life. That particular program was heavy in memorizing Bible verses, which may be the reason that I became a missionary for a short time down in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Despite his joking, fun-loving personality, John had a problem doing what he considered work that was beneath him. I did my best to counsel him on this; I mainly lent an ear, and stroked his ego. Being a big time rising basketball star had gone to his head. I tried to lead by example, I worked in the kitchen, cleaning urine stained sidewalks, help check people into the overnight program, and a little bit more. Soon John started to get into the program and the work, but one day John disappeared from the program with no explanation.

About a month later John showed up in a crisp black suit and a long black limo. He had gotten a job as a limo driver from a contact that he made through one of the mission’s benefactors/volunteers. That volunteer was a big college basketball fan and knew who John was. He told John’s story to someone who gave John a job as a driver.

John had come back to tell me what had happened. We didn’t have cellphones back then. He thanked me for being there, and took me out to the best restaurant that I’d ever been to at that time in my young life. Now, in 2007, John owns a limo service and hires as many people as he can, many off the streets. He credits the people that he met along the way. The social capital that he had built eventually paid off.

I believe that we can build super networks that can do great good. In the nine months that the Street Outreach Team been around they have encountered over 500 homeless individuals on the streets and other locations not meant for human habitation in the City of Riverside. Outreach staff works with community partners to get people connected to shelter, housing, employment, benefits assistance, behavioral health services, transportation back to their hometown and other assistance they need. Some of the outcomes of these engagements include:

484 clients engaged for potential service provision;
239 clients assisted with entering into either emergency, transitional, service-based or permanent housing;
104 clients assisted with employment placement;
22 clients assisted with transportation home to family or service-providers;
44 clients assisted with enrollment into mental health services;
32/245 clients assisted with enrollment in residential treatment for substance abuse.

As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of each article on the blog page, http://www.aricisom.com/. You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback. Please take note of the new features, such as the daily news feed, video clips, visitor polls, outside links, and Java games.

Spanish Class

2007-09-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

I like eating at those little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants, but a lot of the time they get my orders wrong. Yes, it’s a language problem. The thing is, I even have trouble going to the corner McDonald's, Jack in the Box, or Taco Bell.

I want to learn Spanish. I believe that I need to speak and understand Spanish. Circumstances dictate it. I have tried to learn Spanish on more than one occasion. I’ve tried to learn Spanish in High School, College, and on the Internet. I even tried to learn Spanish in Mexico; I lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for nine months. I still know less then a hundred phrases.

How did Spanish get so popular in the U.S. in the first place? It is not the native tongue. I did a little research on the subject. I read newspapers, and looked online, a place where my English is still king.

According to Sharon McNary and Steve Fetbrandt of the Press-Enterprise a recent study showed that 61 percent of Inland Empire residents speak only English, that’s about 2.27 million people. I fit into that group, despite my efforts to learn another language. I can’t seem to even learn Pig Latin.

According to the Press Enterprise, “The children of Mexican and other Latin American immigrants represent one of the fastest-growing components of California's population. So while immigration influences the language situation, it does not tell the entire story, because many U.S.-born Latinos speak Spanish at home.”

Over 1.57 million people in the Inland Empire communicate at home in a language other then English. About 121,000 Inland residents live in a household where no member speaks English; about 85 percent of those are Spanish speakers.

I have lots of friends that speak Spanish. I believe that to live in California without the ability to speak the Spanish language can be a detriment to self-progress, job performance, and societal integration. Note the same can be said for not speaking English.

Some believe that Spanish was the first language of our country. They would be wrong. Mainly separatist and racist stick to that view. Spanish originated as a dialect of Latin. It was later taken to the Americas and other parts of the world in the last five centuries by Spanish explorers and colonists. At the same time the English language was being spread by other European explorers and colonists.

Although the language is spoken most extensively in the Americas, Spain and to a lessor extent in Africa and the Asian Pacific, it is not the most widely spoken language in the world, but it is by far the most popular studied foreign language in U.S. schools. We teach it almost as much as we teach English.

How did it get so popular here in the first place? Immigration, commerce with our southern neighbors, and our school system. What keeps me from absorbing it into my skill set? I think I may know the answer. Spite.

I hate the fact that I “have to” learn a new language just to order a taco or hamburger prepared the way I like. I don’t hate the people speaking the language, just the fact that we can’t communicate at a level where I can let them know to leave off the onions, and light on the ice in my soda. Oh well, back to Spanish class.

As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of each article on the blog page, http://www.aricisom.com/. You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback

Not My Baby!

2007-09-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

A group of community members questioned Police Chief Russ Leach about an injunction against a Riverside street gang this week at the Cesar Chavez Community Center on University. They want to know how Riverside District Attorney Rod Pacheco selected the names for his injunction list, how names can be removed from the list and why neighborhood leaders were not more involved in the creation of the injunction.

The Press Enterprise states that, “Pacheco is seeking an injunction against the East Riverside gang, which his office described as a criminal enterprise that sells drugs and threatens neighbors. The injunction would make it a crime for gang members to associate with each other in public, stay out past 10 p.m. and wear gang apparel.“

I agree that Pacheco needs to understand what the concerns are in the community, but we also need to find ways of supporting any effort that stops gang violence.

I conducted a search of the Press Enterprise’s online news site. I looked up the terms “Riverside, Gang, and 2007”. I received over 6000 hits. WOW!!! That’s over 6000 within nine months. What’s happening here? Better yet, whom are they writing about? Not me, not my kids, not my family. Isn’t that what we all say?

Now in the spirit of total disclosure there is a P.E. writer by the name of Duane W. Gang. When I did a search of his name I got 638 hits. That’s not removing a lot from the stack.

Who are joining these gangs? Not my babies! No one out there is doing those drive-by shootings that we read about. In a recent article I read the most outrageous statement by a mother of a gang member. Part of what she said was “…he is out of prison, living in a halfway house, and plans to stay away from gangs when he is free again.” Well, I guess everything is O.K. now! For Pete’s sake he needs time to change his life around, and a short time in a halfway house won’t do it.

You can see that complete article at:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_D_gangs01.38b501b.html

In the above-mentioned article we have well-meaning citizens complaining about a law enforcement process that started over a year ago. Solving these problems takes time and not only can’t be stopped on a dime, but should not be stopped until the problem is solved. I remember going to local meetings where the community pleaded for official help in stopping gangs.

Closing our eyes to such a large problem by denying that our loved ones are involved only exasperates the problems that we face. In my younger days I had gang contacts, as well as others in my family. I had friends die due to gang violence. I got away with a lot because no one believed that I could possibly do such things. I know people that are in jail for crimes that they freely admit committing. They get monthly visits from their mothers who come home praising how “good their babies are doing.” Answer me this, how can you do “good” in jail? That is one way of thinking that I can’t wrap my mind around.

We have alternatives to gangs. We have ways of preventing our loved ones from joining gangs. Former Secretary of Education, Drug Czar, and radio talk show host, William “Bill” Bennett believes that all boys join gangs, we must make sure that they join the right gangs. They must join football teams, labor unions, or car clubs.

It is our responsibility, the parents, the mothers, fathers, and friends to show character and “Tough Love.” We must let the government do their jobs, but also do our part. Bennett says, “It is our character that supports the promise of our future - far more than particular government programs or policies.” In the end we can’t always rely on the government alone. Bennett also says, “Government, obviously, cannot fill a child's emotional needs. Nor can it fill his spiritual and moral needs. Government is not a father or mother. Government has never raised a child, and it never will.”

We must not think small. We must use the tools that are available to us in order to solve our communities’ problems. I like using the analogy of going to the doctor’s office to get a shot, it hurts, but we know that it is for our own good.

In one of my favorite quotes Marianne Williamson says, “… It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world…”

Gang members not only think small, they are small, and we should not encourage, enable, or condone their actions. We need to bring out the light, and quash the darkness. We need to teach our children to get along, and that if they don’t consequences will follow. We can’t get in the way of those trying to do the right thing. If I am dying of thirst I don’t care where the water comes from.

As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of each article on the blog page, http://www.aricisom.com/. You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback.

Who Are Really The Racist?

2007-08-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

A lot of people begin sentences about race with the disclaimer, “I’m not a racist, but …” What follows is more often than not an overtly racist statement, or just facts that sound racist.

In the Inland Empire we have to many racist groups and organizations. It may not seem like it, but that is just because some disguise themselves as civil rights groups. We have skinheads causing riots at concerts in San Bernardino, the KKK renting space in Lake Elsinore to hold a rally. La Raza marching down our streets shouting “Viva La Raza”(Long Live The Race), carrying Mexican flags, and waving signs stating gringo go back to Europe. Let us not forget the mad ravings of Lewis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam holding a video-conference at the Riverside Convention Center spewing his deceptive mixture of racial pride, separatism, and hate.

What they don’t understand is that equal rights mean equal responsibility, equal respect, and equal consequences. Indeed, every group has racists. Some white people are still racist (Michael Richards’ rant). And even some black people are even racist to ourselves, like 50 Cent accusing Oprah of being an “Oreo”.

"We've specifically seen a rise in (skinhead) activity in the Inland Empire; in San Bernardino; Riverside; Ontario; Menifee; Murietta; and the High Desert," said Joanna Mendelson, an investigative researcher for the Anti Defamation League's civil rights department. Why are so many neighborhoods broken down within our cities by Race? Almost every street gang groups according to Race. Clicks are formed within our high school according to Race. Political groups feel they have to separate themselves according to race: The Black Republicans, Mexican American Caucus, and the Irish American Unity Conference. Just to name a few.

The days of ignoring illegal immigration are vanishing fast. I think if the government starts enforcing Social Security Number enforcement they (the people that aren’t suppose to be working in the U.S.A) will have no alternative but to leave.

A member of the House of Representatives recently demanded a hearing based on recent reports that Islamic terrorists embedded in the United States are teaming with Mexican drug cartels to fund terrorism networks overseas.

Rep. Ed Royce, ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs terrorism and nonproliferation subcommittee, said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) document highlights how vulnerable the nation is when fighting the war on terrorism.

"I'll be asking the terrorism subcommittee to hold a hearing on the DEA report's disturbing findings," said Royce of California. "A flood of name changes from Arabic to Hispanic and the reported linking of drug cartels on the Texas border with Middle East terrorism needs to be thoroughly investigated."

Likewise, Rep. John Culberson, Texas Republican, said the DEA document revealed startling evidence that Islamic radicals are camouflaging themselves as Hispanics while conducting business with violent drug-trafficking organizations.

The threat of violence is very real, thus the threat of illegal border crossing is real. It is my belief that it is a disservice to the USA, and a disingenuous stance to hold when stating otherwise. I believe these people may be the true racist. This includes those that deny that Islam has anything to do with terrorism, even though followers of Islam have committed ninety percent of all terrorist acts in my lifetime. Yes, I know not all Muslims are terrorist, but most terrorists are Muslim. Racism is based on lies so lets keep the hold conversation on the up-and-up, not just the parts that suit our goals.

I read an article on Townhall.com called “Illegal Aliens Declare War on the US”. It details how, in the wake of the anti-illegal immigration stance adopted by Prince Williams County, the local Hispanic criminal aliens and their handlers are threatening all sorts of havoc, some of which does not sound very pleasant.

You can find this article at: http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/DouglasMacKinnon/2007/08/01/illegal_aliens_declare_war_on_the_united_states I’m not racist but… I believe that all races have a right to fight for equal rights, but criminals don’t. We can lobby for lawful change, but not pretend one problem is another problem just to get our way. Bank robbers can’t pretend that they steel just to feed their families, nor should other criminals.

As always please post your comments and opinions in the comment section at the bottom of each article on the blog page, http://www.aricisom.com/. You can also post to past articles in there proper location at the bottom of each. I look forwards to your feedback.