Not to mention his use of Youtube, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and the list just goes on…

Do yourself a favor, and click play.

Today, while doing my not-so-daily trek from the gym, I was stopped by two bicycle cops. Serious! The problem? Well there were a few … lets take a glance at them:

1. Crossing-over. I was riding in the bike lane. The light was green, but the walk sign was red. As I approached the intersection I swayed into the cross-walk lane (to give myself some distance from the traffic) and went through the green light (red walk sign). Apparently that was bad. According to the cop, I have to be either in the bike lane (following car traffic signals), or in the pedestrian lane (following pedestrian signals). I cannot pick and choose. Sounds a bit picky, but I kind of understand; I guess.
2. No bike helmet. Pretty self-explanatory. I always thought bicycle helmets were an option?
3. Listening to iPod. I only had one headphone in, but according to the good ‘ol police man, that was a no-no. What is strange is that it would have been OK if it was a hands-free set connected to my phone. Sounds a bit unreasonable to me.
4. No reflector lights. I am supposed to have one “white” light on the front of my bike, and one “red” reflector light on the back. This all occurred during the daylight, but they figured they’d mention it anyway.

The end result, a fine of $81 for each offense. Sounds a bit ridiculous to me. I can’t believe each of those carries a fine of $81, so I checked. According to the City of Kent website on Bicycle Safety:

• Always ride on the right side of the road in the same direction as traffic.
• Try to use bicycle lanes.
• If you must ride on a sidewalk for safety-you must be courteous to walkers.
• Watch traffic closely for turning cars or cars pulling out of driveways.
• Stop at all stop signs and obey traffic (red) lights just as cars do.
• Be careful at intersections.
• Always walk your bike across busy intersections using the crosswalk and following traffic signals.
• When riding with friends, always ride single file.
• Never change directions or change lanes without first looking behind you and using the correct hand signals.
• If you ride your bike after dark you must have reflectors on your bike and a working headlight.
• Only one person should be on a bike at a time. DO NOT have a friend sit on the seat behind you or on the handle bars.

And from the City of Kent’s official City Code:

A. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall have committed a traffic infraction punishable by a monetary penalty in the amount of twenty-five dollars ($25).

Hmmm, $81 sure is a long ways away from $25. Easy mistake I guess. And I couldn’t find any information regarding riding with headphones in, but I didn’t really do that thorough of a search. I guess lucky for me I was let off with a warning. It’s sad, but needless to say that will probably be my last trip to the gym via pedal power. I guess that is what I get for trying to be active. Grrr.

Do these bicycle laws sound a bit absurd to anyone else, or is just me?

[Update: 2007.04.08] I got a few questions regarding my ticket, or lack thereof. To be clear, I did not get a ticket, merely a warning. The ticket ‘would’ have been $81 for each offense.

1. [The problem with blacks is they have no good black leaders.]
This comment is offered frequently as the reason why blacks still struggle. It is also typically followed by statements about either Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton as examples of poor black leaders. This is all arguably true, but should not be accepted without first realizing why there are currently no strong black leaders.

Positive black leaders get silenced. There are no influential (aka positive) black leaders in America because so far in history all influential black men have been killed or imprisoned. All of them. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Huey P. Newton, Tupac Shakur, etc, etc. All of them were jailed and/or killed, and all of them were positive black leaders. Now whether or not the previous mentioned is defined as a positive black leader is up for debate, but all of the above mentioned were about mobilizing blacks into doing for self, which in my opinion makes them positive. In addition , they all had the means to speak to masses. They had their individual approaches, but their messages were all fairly similar. And as stated, they have all been silenced.

2. [... well look at how they dress.]
These statements, supported by both blacks and whites, are usually an effort to justify someone (often police) mistreating a perfectly law-abiding black citizen. In essence, the perception is that if the individual didn’t want to be treated like a criminal, then they shouldn’t dress like a criminal. Therefore, the individual is asking for the negative attention and asking to be profiled.

The flaw in this argument is that historically blacks are not discriminated against because of their appearance, they are discriminated against because they are black. The generation prior to the current one did not wear baggy clothes, yet they were still discriminated against just like the generation prior to theirs, who also did not wear baggy clothes. Therefore, to think that if all black men started to wear suits they would be discriminated against less, is to think a bit unrealistic. Instead, the likely outcome of such a mass change would be for a new stereotype to arise in its place.

3. [...one of my good friends is black. He doesn't act like a thug.]
I have found that statements such as these are often the pleas of whites in an attempt to illustrate that they are not racist, and/or separate themselves from the potentially racist. They are typically well-meaning statements, in that they do not serve to do harm or discredit someone’s feelings. Unfortunately, these statements are actually counter-productive to their intentions.

In short, the statement in and of itself has a touch of racism. As an example, a white person stating how their black friend is a great shining example of how blacks should be because he is not like ‘those’ blacks, is the equivalent of old white slave masters decrying all blacks, except for the one that he let live indoors, as lazy and ignorant. Sure the wording may be different, but it still splits blacks into two groups; good ones and bad ones. The good ones being the few who get approval and are befriended by a white male, and the bad ones being the ones who don’t.

4. [Slavery ended over a hundred years ago, when are they going to get over it?]
This argument is used to silence the black communities voice about current day struggles. It is often followed by the “race-card” and “reverse-racism” labels that everyone loves these days.

The problem, is that slavery is not the only issue. If discussing things such as reparations, then yes, slavery can be the only issue. For things such as equality, employment, and education however, racism and segregation play a much larger part than slavery in and of itself. So yes, slavery ended over a hundred years ago. The blacks struggle however, did not end with slavery.

In fact, government sanctioned racism (aka Segregation), was only outlawed in 1964. 1964! That means that a good portion of the people reading this have parents or grandparents who were born into segregation and are still alive today. In addition, the segregation generation is also the one currently holding the majority of the CEO titles at top companies. And remember, it was outlawed at the federal level in 1964. That means that de -segregation didn’t really hit the local communities and start to be OK until late 60s early 70s. That’s a big BIG difference from a hundred years.

5. [...racism doesn't exist like it used too.]
You hear this frequently when someone is attempting to highlight how things are drastically better today than they were yesterday. The thought, therefore, is that blacks should be quiet, not complain, and feel lucky that they live in America. In essence, they should ignore any wrong doings because hey, things are better than they were. I have heard this numerous times, and it is an absolutely absurd thought.

In short, Racism is Racism. What racism was 50 years ago, racism is today. Just like murder 50 years ago is still murder today. The definitions have not changed. Maybe it is dressed up differently, and maybe it is called something different (profiling, stereotypes, insecurities, etc.), but racism is still racism and it is still prevalent in todays society. It could be argued that crimes based on racism do not happen as frequently as they used to, but that argument would prove that race based crimes do still occur, which therefore would prove that the blacks continued struggle/uproar is not only justified, but necessary.

Thoughts?

He [President Bush] called on opponents to explain why they opposed a Middle Eastern firm taking over when they did not oppose a British company being in control.

I would have to agree. Of course, there is always the argument that:

Critics fear an increased risk of terrorist attacks, pointing out that the UAE was the home of two of the hijackers involved in the 11 September 2001 attacks.

And while that is an argument, I would say it is a very weak and unnecessary one. After all, have we (The United States) not been subjected to terrorist attacks from our own citizens? I think we have.

Also, I just think it is unfair to punish an entire country of millions based on the actions of … two. I mean maybe if the two were the President and Vice-President, but they weren’t. It was just Bill and Jeff (I just picked two random names) from down the street. They weren’t anybody special or important.

What do you guys think? Am I missing a key point in this argument?

I did however change the layout of the page a bit. I got tired of a few new stories taking up an insane amount of space on the front page, so I added the “Read More” option to every story. It basically cuts off the story at a pre-defined length and hides the rest of it. That way, it gives you enough of the story to decide if it interest you and will hopefully shave some of the load time since less data has to be transferred.

I also have a little news for you. Well, it’s not really news. It’s actually a small video clip of our wonderful Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld trying to cover his ass about the claims that Iraq was an immediate threat. It’s funny and amazing at just how unbelievable this government is. Even when quoted with his own words, he still wants to try and act like he didn’t use the phrase immediate threat.

BLACKS DON’T READ THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES. We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery. Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS.

Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once said, “The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book.” We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read.

There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.

GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly. Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it. Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing.

They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU. And they still think that having a Mercedes and a big house gives them “Status” or that they have achieved the American Dream. They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities. With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has even jeered them, saying he doesn’t want their money, and look at how the fools spend more with him than ever before!). They’ll continue to show off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits from our businesses that we market to them.

SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois said that there was an innate division in their culture. A “Talented Tenth” he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are segments of their culture that has achieved some “form” of success. However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn’t read that the “Talented Tenth” was then responsible to aid the Non-Talented Ninety-Percent in achieving a better life.

Instead, that segment has created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal. Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community. They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best speakers, not the best doers. Is there no end to their selfishness?

They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM)! They do not understand that they are no better than each other because of what they own. In fact, most of those Yuppies are but one or two paychecks away from poverty. All of which is under the control of our pens in our offices and our rooms. Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to read, continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are “helping” their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels.

By the way, don’t worry about any of them reading this letter, remember… “THEY DON’T READ!!!!”

… Well, like I said, it’s a little over-the-top, but I think it’s fairly correct in the fact that blacks just do not read as much as they could, or should. I say this from observing my friends, as well as from first hand experience. I’m pretty adamant about reading nowadays, but I can easily recall a time when I thought of reading as a complete waste of time. After all, I had important things like sports and video games to tend to. I must say though, one of the biggest factors contributing to my dislike for reading was the lack of interesting material I was presented with as a youngster. I just was not, and still to this day am not, very interested in European culture and history.

My views on reading are different nowadays though, mostly due to my interest in black history and things affecting black people today and at various times throughout history. Unfortunately, I had to build my own interest and passion for literature, seeing as how I was never presented with anything that appealed to me personally. It’s great to learn about the accomplishments of various European societies throughout history, but, at some point I need to learn that my people also had accomplishments and achieved greatness, which, are simply not taught in schools. However, I don’t want to go into another rant about the flaws in the public education system, so on that note, I digress.