Project 21: New Visions

People around the world are anxiously watching America for indications about their own future. It is up to the American people to determine how far freedom will spread across the planet. It is America's resolve in the war on terror will determine the outcome. Despite a seemingly constant stream of negative reports on the condition and direction of the transition in Iraq, tremendous positive changes are happening every day. Obviously, the battle isn't over, but there are several reasons to be optimistic. Iraq now has an interim government and elections are planned in a country that had previously been run ...
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There are several passages in the Bible suggesting much is expected from those to whom much is given. Keeping that in mind, there is no shortage of people claiming to hold leadership positions in the black community. Some have moderately reasonable arguments as to how they earned this moniker, but others seem self-ordained. Some exhibit sincere motives, while others appear to be no more than opportunists running a confidence game. Regardless of how they arrived, they now have an obligation of stewardship. Medicare was designed as a health care safety net for America's seniors. Launched in the mid 1960s, around ...
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When commenting on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, many on the left have one thing to say. That one thing is "Bush knew"! If you listen to the likes of Michael Moore (no relation, thank God) and Cynthia McKinney, one would be led to believe that President George W. Bush was in cahoots with Osama Bin Laden and had full knowledge of dates, times and other logistics of what would happen on that morning. While I can't believe that he did not know they would fly planes into those buildings, there are things that he and the administration ...
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Not all blacks are liberal, but liberals nonetheless dominate the black media. So what's a conservative - especially a black conservative - to do about it? For one thing, stop allowing this dominance to occur by default, because it's falsely defining black America as less conservative than it really is. In a October/November 2003 Gallup poll, more blacks identified themselves as conservative (30 percent) than liberal (22 percent). A 1996 Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies poll similarly found a nearly equal distribution among blacks who defined themselves as conservative, liberal and moderate. School choice and gay marriage are ...
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Two-year-old Ryshawn Lamar Bynum died on July 31, 2003. His father, Isaac Bynum, had brought the child to the intensive care unit of Oregon Health and Science University Hospital the previous day. Ryshawn arrived unresponsive, and doctors soon realized why: His neck was broken. So were two of his ribs. He had a severe brain injury (which, an autopsy showed, was the actual cause of his death), retinal hemorrhages and about 70 whip marks on his legs, buttocks, back and chest. Little Ryshawn was pronounced dead at 10:15 a.m. When speaking with the police, Isaac Bynum initially said the injuries ...
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There are many reasons to thank Bill Cosby. First, there is his success as the first black comedian to tap into the creative and educational aspect of animation. His Fat Albert television show (soon to be a live-action movie), where he belted out "hey, hey, hey," conjures up fond memories of a larger-than-life cartoon about life lessons, educational esteem and camaraderie among friends. He also deserves thanks for pioneering America's first intellectual look into the lives of an upwardly mobile and traditional black family. Arguably the most popular sit-com ever, The Cosby Show was a breakthrough in American television. It ...
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One of the most amusing and interesting observations regarding the upcoming presidential election is that it pits the incumbent against the uninteresting. Let's face it. Where is the real groundswell of excitement, adoration and support for John Kerry and John Edwards? I believe Democrats are going to be voting Democratic regardless of the candidate. As uninteresting as Kerry is, it seems that Democrats will be walking lockstep to vote their party ticket whether it is Kerry or anyone else -- as long as the nominee is leftist/liberal. How else can you explain the ho-hum responses of most liberal blacks (a ...
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  When you get behind the wheel of your SUV or minivan, do you automatically become a member of a hate group? According to the radicals now dominating the environmental movement, driving one of these vehicles proves you hate the planet. To the contrary, SUV and minivan owners are often law-abiding American families that are simply obeying the law. While the owners of compact and hybrid cars can smugly believe they are saving the world and saving money at the gas pump, their choice of vehicle is not for everyone. SUV-haters fail to understand the needs of the average American ...
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Last June marked the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Grutter v. Bollinger decision, which upheld the use of racial preferences at the University of Michigan (U-M) but struck down an "admission points" system quantifying those preferences. U-M President Mary Sue Coleman called it a victory for that ever-trusty buzzword "diversity," and speculated that the ruling "will go down in history as among the great landmark decisions of the Supreme Court." Maybe so, but it's not turning out to be the type of landmark President Coleman had in mind. Grutter v. Bollinger is neither a symbol of equality nor ...
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R&B star Usher (no full name for Usher Raymond IV, please, he's a celebrity) used to be a really cute kid. He danced a little, acted a little and projected an overall charming persona. His songs were inoffensive. Most of his music was a hip-hop version of bubblegum pop. Usher's all grown up now, and it's not pretty. His new album, "Confessions," is a commercial success and has received praise from fans and critics alike. The concept is quite simple. It's a sometimes-torrid look into a young man's personal life. It offers moody slow songs and shake-what-you-have-in-the-club songs. It seems ...
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"Values is not part of a political slogan. Values are what's inside you." With that comment, presidential hopeful John Kerry launched into another diatribe about what sets him apart from President George W. Bush. No one's ever accused Kerry of being the brightest bulb in the box, but one would think him politically savvy enough to reconsider his values in the aftermath of his recent Radio City Music Hall fundraiser featuring comedienne Whoopi Goldberg. In that case, it seemed to be hubris before intelligence. In front of an ardently liberal crowd, Goldberg spewed forth vulgar, sexually-explicit comparisons between the President ...
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After hearing Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume trash President George W. Bush and black conservatives, it's painfully apparent what has become of the NAACP. A once-proud organization has been reduced to simple slander and rhetoric. The leadership that once produced American greats like Thurgood Marshall and WEB Dubois now seems diminished to a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party. The NAACP no longer appears focused on the advancement of the African-American community. It now acts as if its chief concern is electing liberals and maintaining its perceived influence. Ideas that founded the organization look to be replaced by the partisan pursuit ...
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Liberal bellies are aching over President George W. Bush's absence from the Philadelphia convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Citing scheduling conflicts, the White House sent the president's regrets. As journalists have explained in grave and slightly damning tones, Bush is the first president since Warren Harding not to address the NAACP. The insinuation is that Bush's no-show before America's oldest and largest civil-rights group reflects his neglect of, if not disdain for, black Americans. No one should be surprised, however, to see Bush toss the NAACP's invitation into the trash. That's exactly where ...
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For years, generic drug manufacturers have been telling us that making more generic drugs available - earlier - is the key to saving consumers money and bringing greater access to prescription drugs. Competition, they said, will benefit millions of Americans because prices for prescription medications will drop if consumers have access to more generic versions of the medicines research pharmaceutical companies discover and develop. But now generic manufacturers are backpedaling on the issue and, like Goldilocks' selfish search for something to suit her "just right," the generic industry is rejecting the very competition they once told us was the Holy ...
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Dr. Huxtable gave an unwelcome second opinion at a recent gala marking the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision. As he rose to address the crowd at Howard University, scarcely anyone expected Bill Cosby to deliver a scathing - albeit comical - rebuke of the state of black America. For speaking his mind, Cosby may have his ghetto pass revoked. He has a target on his back. Complaining about education in black households, Cosby said, "These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids - $500 sneakers, for what? And [they] won't ...
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Is it possible to measure the political benefits and social impacts of winning the Cold War? The War on Terror? President Ronald Reagan was never given due credit by his liberal peers for winning this psychological - and sometimes physical - war. They were against his defiant stances. They suggested disarming. Americans and others worldwide now benefit because of his persistence. It's impossible to estimate the economic, political and social damage the world may have witnessed if he listened to the pessimists. President George W. Bush's challenge now is similar. The overthrow and capture of Saddam Hussein provides yet untold ...
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Is it possible to measure the political benefits and social impacts of winning the Cold War? The War on Terror? President Ronald Reagan was never given due credit by his liberal peers for winning this psychological - and sometimes physical - war. They were against his defiant stances. They suggested disarming. Americans and others worldwide now benefit because of his persistence. It's impossible to estimate the economic, political and social damage the world may have witnessed if he listened to the pessimists. President George W. Bush's challenge now is similar. The overthrow and capture of Saddam Hussein provides yet untold ...
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Earlier this year, Al Sharpton beat up on Howard Dean during a presidential primary debate about the lack of blacks and Hispanics in Dean's cabinet when he was governor of Vermont. More recently, John Kerry has been criticized for not having enough diversity in his campaign. It all gave me the idea for a great new business opportunity. In Dean's case, he had to admit that his administration (like the Clinton White House) had a distinct lack of minorities in its inner circle. This isn't the reason Dean went on to lose every presidential primary (with the exception of the ...
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The Medicare reform legislation passed by Congress last fall brought more affordable prescription medicines to 42 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries, and AARP supported it. Now, it turns out, the aggressive seniors' mar-keting lobby had an ulterior motive. While the ink from the President's signature on the bill is still drying, AARP's leadership has mounted a campaign that can upset long-term access to affordable medicines, not only for Medicare patients but all who depend on prescription drugs to treat disease and illness. AARP is urging Washington's lawmakers to legalize drug re-importation into the United States from Canada as well as ...
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With few exceptions, sequels are never as good as the original. That's true in movies, books and - as Al Sharpton shows us - in politics. When Sharpton first began running for president, no political commentator considered him a serious contender. Many thought Sharpton was really trying to be seen as the second coming of Jesse Jackson, and this was his bid to emerge as the most powerful civil rights figure in America. It didn't work out that way, and now the Sharpton campaign is over and saddled with $600,000 in debt. When Jesse Jackson ran in 1988, he won ...
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