Daily Street Sheet

Why Affirmative Action Should Be Upheld | Indypendent Reader

You got scammed By Jeffery McNeil I’m approaching middle age. Most of my relatives are senior citizens, ready for retirement. But a few bad decisions could ruin everything for them. Because of the age and deterioration of their mental and physical capacity due to age, seniors become prime targets for con artists. Many scams go under the radar and never get publicity, many go unreported due to embarrassment. According to the Investor Protection Trust ‘s Elder Investor Fraud Survey, one out of every five citizens over the age of 65 has been a victim of financial fraud. According to the Pew Research Center, seniors are better off than younger people. In 2009 the typical household headed by the older adult had $170,494 in net worth, compared with just $3,662 for the typical household headed by the younger adult. Folks usually accumulate wealth as they age, so it makes sense that there would be large gaps in wealth based on age. But this concentration of...

 The Unholy Alliance The saying goes, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” However, the Republican Party has tried for decades to fuse the two. This alliance of capitalists, neo-cons and Christian evangelicals make strange bedfellows, but they have common agendas: creating unregulated free markets, spreading democracy around the globe, limiting the role of government, and restoring Christianity. This years Republican primary is a case history of the struggle to hold these interests together. Ronald Reagan began this strategy by speaking about a “morning in America”, spinning stories about welfare queens in Cadillacs and mourning the breakdown of the family. This would change, he promised, if you gave up your union membership, went to church and turned to capitalism. Preaching this good news throughout the Deep South and the Rust Belt, with the aid of neo-cons and Wall Street, Reagan built a doctrine of Jesus and capitalism that manipulated evangelicals and white blue-collar...

TRAYVON OR TAWANA? by Jeffery McNeil Although Trayvon Martin’s tragic death and the accompanying circumstances should cause Americans to question how far we have come on racial issues in the past few generations, I am cynical about the motivations of some of those who have shown up in Sanford, Fla. to lead the protests and call attention to this atrocity. I want to see justice done in this case, as do the people picketing the police stations and city council meetings. I am upset about Trayvon’s murder and that nothing seems to have been done about it yet; however, I am also upset at those people who always seem to use these tragedies to further their brand and get themselves up on the stage. As a black man, I have attended many marches and protests over the years believing that I was participating in a movement promoting the advancement of civil rights. I have often left these rallies early in disgust when I realized that the cause for which we were marching was being ...

The New Left Left Out By Jeffery McNeil Vendor James Madison warned of the dangers of the factions and special interests that would subvert democracy in his Federalist Papers. He was no big fan of partisan politics in general, or of using money and power to influence elections. This same sentiment is often what spawns third party movements. Those movements are nothing new. They are as American as the flag waving on the flagpole outside the White House. There have been both good third-party movements, like the labor movement and the civil rights, and bad movements like the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan. But whether you sympathize or disagree with their cause, third parties can have an impact on society. The approval rating of Congress is at 9 percent, the Republican Party is to the right of planet Pluto, and disappointment with Obama is pretty high. It is no accident that people are protesting in the streets. They are red-hot with anger at the establishment a...

Tea Pot Withdrawal With the debt ceiling debate behind us, the global economy is the predominant issue. This is like going through withdrawal for me because I had such a rich resource of material to write about. The debt fight was like manna from heaven. This saga had all the intrigue of a Shakespearean comedy--or, for some, a Greek tragedy. The debt debate will be remembered for generations. The all-star cast of tea pots, evangelicals, Wall Street capitalists and angry liberals created a windfall for those who blog , write and do stand-up. There was so much raw material that for the first time I have writer's cramp. Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.) was a gold mine, whether dancing with her husband at a tea pot rally or praying for the “troubled” souls of gay Americans. Without her I wouldn’t have a blog or have completed my book. Nevertheless, I do get a little disgusted with the left when it reports accurate information. One day I decided to watch Lawrence O ...

American Democracy (1776 - 2011) I would like to talk about the blessings I have received this August. Today, on August 3, I celebrate two years of sobriety and I have published my first book. I went to my family reunion and got a chance to see my ninety-five year old grandfather. Further, my father’s health is improving and I hope to go to the Jersey shore to see my brother to do some offshore fishing. The blessings God has given me should be a reason, for joy. Unfortunately, there is a feeling of rage that is boiling deep in my soul. Seeing the obstructionism and vindictiveness of a group of jackasses, who are trying to stage a coup d’état to overthrow our president and torpedo our government infuriates me to the point I see red. I've been taught by good writers that before you write a letter laced with profanity and insults to wait a couple of days before you print it. I have waited two months and cannot wait any longer. This rag...