Category: Cover Stories
Mayor Alvin Brown – Jacksonville, FL
On May 17, 2011 Jacksonville voters chose Alvin Brown to lead the city. The first Democrat in 20 years to be elected mayor of Jacksonville, Brown is also the first African American to hold the position. He assumed office July 1, 2011. Brown ran on his vision of “taking Jacksonville to the next level” through job creation, Downtown revitalization, and making education and public safety top priorities.
Prior to the election, Brown served as an Executive in Residence at Jacksonville University’s Davis School of Business. He is the past president and CEO of the Willie Gary Classic Foundation, an organization that helps provide scholarships for historic black colleges.
Brown served as the executive director of the Bush/Clinton Katrina Interfaith Fund. He was responsible for overseeing the distribution of more than $20 million to houses of worship throughout the Gulf Coast so that they could begin rebuilding after the disaster resulting from hurricane Katrina. Brown successfully set policy and procedures that enabled more than 1,100 houses of worship to apply for funding by the closing date of July 31, 2006.
Brown also served as chairman of the board of the National Black MBA Association. As chairman of an organization representing more than 100,000 MBA graduates, Brown encouraged young people to pursue higher education and to develop their leadership potential by greatly enhancing the scholarship program of the organization. Brown engaged in significant fundraising that positioned the organization as a premier group in the world of education and business leadership. He fostered relationships with colleges, business schools and with corporations that recognize the value of a diversified portfolio. He has been a champion of restoring public confidence in corporate America and, in the wake of numerous corporate scandals, called on business schools throughout the country to mandate ethics in their curriculum.
In Washington, D.C., Alvin Brown served as a senior member of the Clinton-Gore Administration beginning in 1993. As Vice President Al Gore’s senior advisor for Urban Policy and vice chair of the White House Community Empowerment Board, Brown advised both the vice president and President Clinton on a wide range of domestic issues, including community revitalization, job creation, new business development and expansion of the supply of affordable housing.
Brown led the Clinton-Gore Administration’s $4 billion overall community empowerment initiatives, with a special emphasis on the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community program which included the new market tax credit initiatives. The highly successful programs helped revitalize economically impoverished urban and rural communities and generated unprecedented levels of public-private partnerships resulting in more than $10 billion in private investments to the designated communities.
Brown was also co-chair of the White House Task Force on Livable Communities focusing on urban sprawl and smart growth prior to his work at the White House. He held a number of key positions within the administration, including senior advisor to the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and senior advisor to former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo. While at HUD, Brown was responsible for overseeing the Department’s $100 million disaster recovery initiatives, which included leading an overhaul of the Department’s disaster response effort. Brown first came to Washington, D.C. to work as an intern for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) while Nelson was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. He then served on the Clinton-Gore transition team.
While Brown has spent many years in government service, he also has an extensive background in the private and non-profit sectors.
Brown graduated from Jacksonville University where he earned a B.S. and an MBA. He also completed postgraduate work at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He received an honorary doctorate from Edward Waters College in Jacksonville.
Brown is the recipient of the Frederick Douglass Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Excellence in Community Service Award from 100 Black Men of America, the distinguished Award for Government Services from the National Baptist Convention, and the Chairman’s Award from the Congressional Black Caucus. In addition, the National Black MBA Association honored Brown with the prestigious H. Naylor Fitzhugh Award.
Brown and his wife Santhea have two sons, Joshua and Jordan.
How People Are Making Money Online
TODAY, THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS YOU CAN DO AT HOME and earn extra money from it. Thanks to the internet that made many things possible. Online jobs are now the most popular part time jobs for housewives, employees, students, and retirees while it is also the primary source of income for some businessmen and unemployed individuals. The internet has become an income generating system that is providing lots of opportunities which have greatly benefit people in our societies. People making money online are now capable of venturing to extra jobs largely to cope up with the hardest of times although previously we use the internet for communication purposes only.
However, some people may ask what would be the necessary skills to have a promising online opportunity. In actuality, nothing much. All you need is your computer, your internet connection, your passion to do the things you want to do and according to the companies who hire people online, patience. Online jobs are offered in many varieties of ways and any individual who is aware on what he can do may easily choose which of these opportunities could suit his skills. For example, if you love to write, there are freelance companies that can accept your blogs and web content articles. If you have a higher skill in writing you can even create essays, research papers, and advertisement articles for other companies 
and so on.
For older people who are capable of filling out survey forms and have the luxury of watching movies or TV shows or reading books, there are online paid surveys and paid reviews. Almost everybody who is at the right age and capable to use his or her computer can earn from internet jobs. People making money online can earn as much as $300 up to $1,000 a month if they can work full time. Sometimes even bonuses are given to those who work on monthly base incentives and have good performances.
The most popular prospect which is online selling is still one of the hottest online jobs in the internet market today. People now are not only selling commercial products or selling other people’s products as in affiliate marketing but even homemade accessories, home baked food specialties and personalized items and this kind of personal business is now becoming a lucrative business.
For those who have technical skills in graphic designing, WordPress, webmaster and other technical online skills, they can create good income by offering services to businessmen who have businesses online. Virtual assistance is also another prospective opportunity since businessmen need assistance in managing their sites and online businesses and if you are an employee or a housewife who does know administrative jobs, this job would be great for you to work on while at home.
There are so many projects and opportunities you can actually do online and you don’t have to wonder why people making money online are earning much, much more than other ordinary employees are earning. You just have to Google the words online jobs, online opportunities and so on and you will be presented with so many prospects.
2012: Are You Ready
MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT MAYAN CALENDAR, the world is coming to an end in 2012. The concept has even spurred a blockbuster movie, 2012, in which the world is overtaken by massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. Supporters of this theory believe that the world will end in December of 2012, with the end of the world caused by an earthquake, a solar flare, or some other natural disaster. Whether you believe the hype or not, the recent media surrounding 2012 does bring to light the importance of preparing for every possibility. Even if it isn’t technically the end of the world, a natural disaster can sure seem like it, as your home and belongings are ruined and you are forced to adapt to whatever s left. No matter where you live in the world, natural disasters of some type are a distinct possibility. It may be earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes, but you ll never know exactly when they will strike. The only thing you can do is to be prepared for such eventualities. Making the right preparations ahead of time requires considering the type of disaster most likely to strike your region, as well as your family s unique needs if you were to fend for yourselves for a week or more. Some Practical Precautions Every home should have a disaster kit containing water, food, first aid supplies, and other necessities for every member of the household. Don’t forget medications, blankets, and flashlights. You ll also need duct tape, plastic sheeting, and other simple building materials to build a shelter or make your home inhabitable following the catastrophe. Your emergency kit must be immediately accessible, not buried somewhere on a shelf in the garage where it will likely do you no good in your time of need. Consider placing emergency supplies in the most structurally sound areas of the home, as well as the areas where you re likely to run in the event of an earthquake, tornado, or other natural disaster. In addition to having an adequate stock of emergency supplies, it s also important to know how to care for your house during a natural disaster. Earthquakes, for example, can cause fires, water leaks, and other damage to your home. Every homeowner should know where the main switches to theutilities are located so that they can be turned off if necessary. Families should also practice a disaster plan. In the aftermath of a catastrophe that has ruined your house, what should you do? What if you were not all at home when the disaster struck? Where will you regroup? Every family member must know what to do in this scenario, so that they can do the right thing when panic and confusion set in. Whether you believe it s the end of the world or not, would you be prepared for a cataclysmic event? Whether the predictions turn true or not, we should all be prepared for common natural disasters. You can’t prepare for every possibility, but there is no excuse to not have the basic necessities that you d need in the event of an earthquake or major storm.
Men’s Fashion: 4 Things to Keep in Mind
WE ARE POSSIBLY THE ONLY LIVING BEINGS ON THIS EARTH WHO HAVE THE ability to dress up to the occasion and make ourselves not just a mere bundle of cells, nerves and tissues but also present us as artistic objects from which aesthetic pleasure can be obtained. When we realized that our skin itself can’t afford us all the protection from the harmful rays of the sun, mechanical injuries, shocks of an electrical nature,etc, he wove for himself clothes out of the fabric spun from natural fiber like cotton jute, hemp and flax. As time flew by, he or she eventually got bored of wearing the same old clothes everyday and he started experimenting with different materials for different seasons. Soon festivals took the place of seasons and he ascertained a particular costume for each ritual.
As the human society became socially, politically and culturally more complex, man’s desire to express the artistic bent of his personality increased in leaps and bounds and eventually, he reached the twenty first century. In the present millennium, we are flooded by a range of choices, of choosing from retro, present or futuristic styles and in suchmagnanimous quantities and qualities, that practically no man feel left out. More than even women, men have realized the importance of being fashionable.
Metro Sexuality?
No, not really because, decorating one self up is akin to playing music or painting a picture or just simply writing a blog post. It’s just another means of saying, hey, look this is how I feel and this is how I blend into human society. Narrowing it down to metro sexuality is leaving out a lot of people who possibly do not even know what the term means and shirk from it for the fear of being tabooed.
How can a Man become Fashionable?
First of all, get that silly thought out of your mind that your size or physical deformity acts like hindrance in your way of being a style con. Your mind is your only barrier and who said, you have to be part of the in group to look well and feel well. Remember, fashion is all about wearing what you are comfortable in and what you can carry off in the situation you are faced. You’d obviously not go to work in a factory in a Reid and Taylor suit nor would you attend the dinner at a Posh club dressed in just your underwear. Then again, if you do these and can carry it off, the entire world will bow down to your attitude.
Some Simple Things to Lookout For
Know the colors that look good on but don’t stick to them throughout the year. That way you will turn yourself into just a nobody. Mix and match with the texture, patter, and quality of fabric to bring out the real you. Colors are not just of a contrasting nature, they can be supplementary,complementary, and intermediary to cascade a whole range of emotions. You can be particular about the placement of pockets, the individual stitching of parts and even the additional accessories you carry, like watches, tie pin, cuff links, to make a holistic impression.
Ode to Michael Jackson
AS MY READERS KNOW, MICHAEL JACKSON DIED ON JUNE 25, 2009 AT 5:25 EAST COAST TIME. As I watched the media coverage of this tragedy, all kinds of thoughts began to run through my mind. The attached column is the result of what was going through my mind during this time. This column originally ran July 2, 2009. As the anniversary of his death approaches, I thought re-issuing my original column would be the best way to pay tribute to his legacy. Hope you will find it an appropriate tribute! Like a candle in the wind, Your life came to a sudden end. With “A Child’s Heart,” You began your start. You brought joy to many, But in the end, you didn’t have any. You had money, fortune, and fame, If that’s all we remember, what a shame. Now, they all say, “I Want You Back,” But is that all just an act? They all said, “I’ll Be There,” I am not sure they really care. While you were making your journey home, Sharpton was already in front of the microphone. Trying to bask in your glorious light, Doing that just wasn’t right. Standing in front of the Apollo, This stunt rang really hollow. Grandstanding in front of the press, My goodness, such a pathetic mess. I thought Obama had silenced Jesse Jackson, But, I guess he was just waiting for the next media attraction. Come on Jesse, start being a man, And just stay away from Neverland. Now, Al and Jesse are fighting over the eulogy, Not even death can bring them unity. I am sickened by their behavior, Yet they claim Jesus as their savior. The media is airing all sorts of speculation, None of it proven is my observation. I am embarrassed by their actions, They’re just trying to use Michael Jackson. Airing anyone who claims to have a story, All the while, trying to diminish Michael’s glory. Why in the world is the media so hating? I guess they’re just trying to increase their ratings Some say you lived your life “Off The Wall,” But, who are we to make that call? Yes, you had your eccentricities, But that shouldn’t overshadow what a man believes. You tried to do good with your voice, And became the people’s choice. The choice of a whole generation, And they gave you their total adulation. You saw a world that was not Black or White, Because Healing the World, was worth the fight. You challenged us to look at that “Man In The Mirror,” So your vision of unity could become clearer. You wanted gangs to start uniting, Songs like “Beat It” helped them stop fighting. You didn’t have to prove you were “Bad,” You just talked about the childhood you never had. You were put on this earth to be a blessing to many, Now everyone is going to be fighting for every penny, What will be the true legacy of your life? It’s hard to see in the midst of all this strife. You had the best friends money could buy, Guess that’s why I see no tears in their eye. Other friends were the best you could rent, I pray one day they’ll repent. Catherine Jackson, you are a saint With you, Michael never had a complaint. I hope you are surrounded with those who care, If not, just call my name and “I’ll be there!”
Gender Differences: Men want sex and women want to talk.
by Hara Estroff Marano
WHAT BEWILDERS ME, AND MAYBE OTHERS, IS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN. It seems to me, that most often men’s driving force (conscious or unconscious) is sex but a woman’s driving force is emotional exchange. Women want to receive things like recognition, validation, feeling needed and wanted and of course, to be loved. When do a man’s emotions come into play beyond sexual desire? What makes the crossover from sexual desire to something more?
Sad but true, some men don’t know how to emotionally connect with anyone, including women. Unfortunately, some also were raised according to such a double standard that they can’t countenance sex and affection in the same package. Many men want to emotionally connect with a woman, and to connect with their own children, but it’s also true that many don’t know how to be vulnerable, which is what intimacy demands. They’re often caught in a bind, wanting more emotional depth to their lives but not knowing how to get it because boys are taught from a young age that emotional stuff is girls’ stuff. Truth is, emotional stuff is human being stuff. What’s a poor woman to do?
First and most important— choose the right guy. Someone with whom you establish a conversation and rapport before you jump into bed. And then recognize that men often do express affection through sex. Further, the closeness they feel after sex presents a great opportunity for conversation that contains the “emotional exchange” so satisfying to women (and to men, too). But women sometimes demand too much emotional talk from men. Women need to recognize that men often express affection best through actions (changing a light bulb, fixing the VCR) rather than words.
How To Stop Aging: A Surprising Remedy
By : Carol McMahon
Are you aging unnecessarily?
Answer these questions and find out:
Do you see gray hair as loss of youth (as opposed to loss of pigmentation)? Do you describe how you feel as “young” or “old,” rather than “energetic” or “tired” for instance? Do you see an “age spot” on your hand or face where you once saw a “freckle?”
If you answered “Yes,” take warning! You are aging unnecessarily. The culprit here isn’t passing years. It is thoughts that arise from deeply engrained concepts of “age” and “aging.” Our “age” concept is a set of beliefs and expectations that dictate thoughts and actions. In a sense, we run an age program the way computers run programs. More than half of what we experience as aging is due to this concept. Let me explain the problem, then the solution.
“Gradual Deterioration:” Running The “Age” Program
I once heard a sixty-year old man describe his life as “gradual deterioration.” That was two decades ago. For twenty years he’s run a “gradual deterioration” program. That program is his concept of age. Our concepts decide what we think and do, and even what we see and feel. To see how this works, consider another concept. “I need to lose weight” is the concept dominant in anorexia. This concept defines reality for the anorexic. Where others see thin and emaciated, she sees a body that needs to lose weight. The concept (not reality) is in charge here. In the same way, “age” has us under its spell. The age concept sets us up for gradual deterioration. It determines our thoughts and actions and even what we see in the mirror (“aging” in grey hair; “age spots” in freckles). The concept exerts control unknowingly and automatically, deciding even sensations we feel. Aches and pains taken in stride at eighteen, meet with: “Just as I thought, old age!” Doctors tell us no one dies of old age. Our concept, however, dictates what’s real, and we see otherwise. Some dentists suggest duller yellow teeth for elderly patients. Under the spell of the concept we accept them. “Own up” to age and age owns us, but the problem goes far beyond negative thinking. The program tells us what to do. It tells us: “act your age,” and we obey with grave consequences for health.
“Act Your Age!” Health Damage Caused By The Age Concept
Not long ago a finding that people in their nineties can build muscle made front page news. Why did the finding surprise us? It surprised us because it violates our concept of aging. “Gradual deterioration” sets up expectations of irreversible loss in muscle mass, bone density, lung capacity, balance, flexibility, etc. Obedient to the concept, we “act our age,” sitting sedentary, deteriorating according to plan. Inactivity precipitates decline in a vicious circle, but no matter how limiting and self-destructive, we conform and age to the letter. We succumb more to the concept than to age itself, even though all the while, the concept is mistaken.
The Error In “Aging”
Age as gradual deterioration is a self-fulfilling prophesy. The concept itself however, is mistaken. Ancient wisdom offers a more realistic view. It maintains that disuse, not “age,” is the cause of deterioration. In this view: “that which is used thrives. That which is not used wastes away.”This more enlightened view sets up different expectations. Attribute muscle loss to disuse (instead of age) and the news about building muscle at ninety isn’t news at all. “Gradual deterioration” becomes a matter of “letting yourself go” – something you need not necessarily do. You might trade workouts for sitting helplessly, acting your age. Just knowing a concept is in error however, doesn’t free us from its grip. We can’t expect to snap out of aging any more than the anorexic out of the need to lose weight. Getting free of age takes something more. It requires awareness – more awareness than we’re used to. Here’s how awareness sets you free.
How Awareness Frees You From “Aging”
Spiritual teacher Ram Dass helped an elderly Quaker woman who’d been terminally ill a long while. She told him she wasn’t afraid to die but was bothered by the boredom of slowly dying. He suggested: “Couldn’t you die, say, twenty minutes per hour?” With these words she saw through the concept she was stuck in. In reality, she was living. All the “dying” she’d experienced was born of concept, an invention of the thinking mind. Dying was a program she’d been running. Getting free of the concept was like waking from delusion; coming out from under its spell. In anorexia, aging, and dying we see problems caused by the thinking mind in the absence of awareness. Awareness simple contact with reality sets us free. Contact with reality shuts programs down. Then thoughts and actions emerge, not from preset beliefs and expectations, but from awareness itself. How do you build awareness? The trusted tool is meditation.
Meditation And Liberation From Age
Meditation quiets thinking; concepts lose their solid grip. Present moment awareness replaces toxic thoughts like “I am old.” A burden lifts from shoulders bent by auto-suggestions of aging. The more you quiet thinking the more awareness is restored. With enough awareness you clear your slate completely. Tibetan Buddhist tradition expresses what happens then. Coming to awareness “is like taking a hood off your head. What boundless spaciousness and relief! This is seeing what was not seen before… everything opens, expands, and becomes crisp, clear, brimming with life. All limitations dissolve and fall away.” Go deep enough into awareness and you’ll be free of age limitations. You’ll discover your essence is timeless, ageless and eternal. Then for you, even death holds no threat.
Learn more about freedom from aging in STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION: HOW TO RESTORE AWARENESS AND WHY YOU NEED TO by Carol E. McMahon, Ph.D.
Top US Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death
Posted by EU Times on Jan 4th, 2011
A SHOCKING REPORT PREPARED FOR PRIME MINISTER PUTIN BY THE FOREIGN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE (GRU) states that one of the United States top experts in biological and chemical weapons was brutally murdered after he threatened to expose a US Military test of poison gas that killed hundreds of thousands of animals in Arkansas this past week.
According to this report, John P. Wheeler III, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. from 2005-2008, when he became the Special Assistant to the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics and environment, was found brutally murdered and dumped in a landfill, and as we can read as reported by Fox News: “Delaware Police are investigating the apparent murder of a former Bush official who also championed the fund-raising effort to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Wheeler’s body was found in Wilmington on Friday.
According to police, somebody initially reported that the body was dumped out of a refuse truck, which would have been coming from Newark, onto the landfill. Newark Police spokesman Lt. Mark Farrall told Fox News that nobody had reported Wheeler missing before he was found.
The Wilmington News Journal reported that Wheeler was last seen riding an Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington, Del., last Tuesday.” Seen On CNN, NBC, Fox & CBS Chemtrail airplane.
Wheeler’s military career included writing one of the most important manuals on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons which led to his being hired in 2009 as a consultant to the Mitre Corporation, whose aviation system development department, the GRU reports, is at the forefront of creating the computer command and control systems used by the US Air Force in their fleet of aerial spraying planes.
These aerial spraying planes, this report continues, are based at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas that over the past few months have been involved with ‘test dispersants’ of poisonous gasses in the Afghanistan War Theater using chemical weapons stocks obtained from Iraq and held at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, also located in Arkansas.
Important to note about the Pine Bluff Arsenal, which calls itself “America’s Arsenal”, is that it is one of the World’s most specialized munitions and chemical-biological defense products and services bases which Russia had previously accused of not fully reporting the chemical agents removed from Iraq, between 2003 and 2008, and taken to the US for testing and subsequent destruction.
According to this report, the US relocated from Iraq to the Pine Bluff Arsenal an estimated 63,000 metric tonnes of the poisonous gas Phosgene that is described as one of the most feared chemical weapons ever used due to its ability to literally cause the lungs and respiratory system to explode.
Nearly immediately after Russia accused the US this past summer of not fully destroying Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stockpile the Pine Bluff Arsenal began an ‘accelerated’ disposal programme injecting it deep into the ground in central Arkansas, but which, unfortunately, since this past September, has caused over 500 minor earthquakes to occur raising the concerns of their local population.
More frightening, however, is the claim made in this report that the Americans have also begun shipping ‘massive quantities’ of Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stocks to Afghanistan where when used they will be able to say they had nothing to do with it, and believe no one will be able to prove it either.
Important to note about Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stocks are that they are no longer able to be made by any Western country, including the United States, which makes its value as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) incalculable, especially in a war situation like Afghanistan where the enemy forces are firmlyentrenched in hostile terrain.
To the direct reason for Wheeler’s murder, this report says, was this past week’s transport of Iraqi Phosgene poisonous gas aboard a US Air Force KC-767 tanker aircraft from Little Rock Air Force Base enroute to Afghanistan that shortly after takeoff had a ‘critical malfunction’ of its aerial spraying computer directed command and control system over central Arkansas causing the deaths of thousands of red-wing blackbirds.
According to US reports an estimated 4,000 of these birds were killed outright and were quickly removed by US Environmental Services workers wearing hazmat suits and gas masks. Another US report states that cause of death to these thousands of birds was “trauma in the breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and a lot of internal bleeding” which this GRU report states is consistent with Phosgene exposure.
Even more chilling than this incident is this GRU report stating that it was the second “accidental” release of Phosgene poisonous gas in as many days, as the day before, this same US Air Force KC-767 tanker aircraft also had a “critical malfunction” causing a release over the Arkansas River that killed over 100,000 fish.
Upon Wheeler discovering what was happening with Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stockpiles, this report continues, he traveled from his home in Delaware to Washington D.C. where he openly confronted and threatened to expose the Pentagon and White House Officials responsible. Being a Vietnam Veteran who was responsible for having the famous memorial to that war erected, Wheeler was more than knowledgeable about the United States massive chemical and biological attacks in that conflict and had vowed to not let happen again.
Sadly, but all too common in the United States these days, when Wheeler threatened to go public with what was happening he was targeted for death, and as a “sign” to anyone else thinking of going against the regime, had his body dumped in a garbage pit for all the World to see.
Today, another great American was murdered in an effort to save hiscountry from destruction. Sadly, his death will go barely noticed; the American people seem no longer to care as they continue to seek their solace in their propaganda media lies rather than confronting the brutal truth about the monsters they have let rule over them.
The great American Revolutionary leader Noah Webster once said, “Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.”