Cindy Allen is managing editor of the Enid News & Eagle. Want to comment? E-mail editor@enidnews.com
Black Friday seems to be on everyone's mind
Black Friday. That’s what seems to be on everyone’s mind. Advertisers are gearing up for it. Shoppers are gearing up for it. The media is gearing up for it. As everyone knows, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when people seem to go completely insane in their quest for some drastically discounted merchandise. Some retailers really mark off a few big items. The quantifying term is “a few.” They’ll have a very limited supply of sought-after items, and people will madly rush to get that item, often knocking each other senseless in the process. Stores are opening up earlier and earlier every year. Ten years ago, stores opened at 6 or 7 a.m. On Friday, some stores will open at 4 a.m. Four a.m.? Now, it takes a lot of dedication for me to get up at 4 a.m. to do anything other than prepare to take a long trip somewhere. But, since Black Friday is what everyone is talking about, its important to point out that being well-prepared may make things go a lot smoother! In Wednesday’s News & Eagle, we published a graphic with some tips and guidelines to making Black Friday more fruitful. Of course, the first step is to make sure you buy Thursday’s (Thanksgiving Day) Enid News & Eagle. We have 21 advertising supplements in that paper alone -- the most we’ve had in a few years. Plus, the regular paper is stocked with advertising for sales and special deals. Even better, many of those merchants are Candy Cane Cash participants, so when you buy from them, you can get your Candy Cane Cash tickets and have a chance to win cash at the Dec. 12 drawing. Even if you don’t get one of those drastically-discounted items, you likely will find some pretty good bargains this weekend. I’ve already started my shopping, and I’ve bought everything on sale so far. It does help make the money go further. Luckily this year, I’m not looking for any of those big-ticket items. But, I’ve seen some pretty good deals on those, even before Black Friday. I got an e-mail alert today that was interesting. It noted the Top 10 most “navigated” stores during last year’s Black Friday. What that means is shoppers are punching store addresses and locations in their GPS devices as they make their rounds on Friday. The typical top contenders are Wal Mart, Best Buy, the local mall, Starbucks, etc. I would have to add No. 11 to that list -- it would have to be the local liquor store! Anyway, it’s the time of year to be thankful for our blessings and to express our love and care for one another. Shopping for Christmas gifts is just a part of that exchange. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Hope to see lots of people downtown Friday night for Lights Up the Plains! Let the festivities begin.
Have you ever been driving down the road listening to talk radio or the news or anything else and just wanted to scream insults at the top of your lungs at the program? It happened to me Monday night as I was driving home from Oklahoma City. I have satellite radio, so I tuned in to the “O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News just in time to hear from one of the lawyers who is working on the defense for some of the masterminds of the 9-11 slaughter of innocent U.S. citizens. The host, Bill O’Reilly, was being cordial to the guy, but he was asking him about the defense strategy and were the attorneys going to take the opportunity to allow Al Quaida propaganda as part of their strategy or testimony. But, then the real question came. O’Reilly asked this attorney if he thought, personally, that what happened on 9-11 was murder. The attorney, being mealy-mouthed, said a “jury’ would decide if what happened on 9-11 was murder. Again, O’Reilly asked him point blank. The attorney said he was not actually going to be a part of the trial, he is just assisting with the defense. So, O’Reilly asked him again, was it murder. The attorney -- an American -- couldn’t or wouldn’t answer. He said he didn’t have an opinion on it. He said a “jury” will decide if it was murder. This kind of nonsense is exactly why this trial should not occur in civil courts. These kinds of legal games and jargon when it comes to this act of terror and act of war just will not stand. Was it murder? How in God’s name can anyone with a conscience, a heart and a soul not determine it was MASS MURDER. The attorney even go to the point of sounding like Bill Clinton in trying to define what “is” is. I was so angry, I was screaming obscenities at the top of my lungs. Its a good thing I was alone with all the windows rolled up. This whole thing just makes my blood boil. I don’t care how liberal or progressive you are, this whole idea of trying these nut jobs in civil court is going to backfire big for the Obama administration, and its going to make people in this country very, very, very angry! What happened on 9-11 is still very raw for most Americans. When they see these courtroom games being played out for the whole world to see, it’s going to be ugly and the damage may be irreparable.
For the last several years, organizers have attempted to hold a Veterans parade, usually the Saturday before the Nov. 11 observance of Veterans Day. This noble effort was started a few years ago; but, it just hasn’t taken off. Every year, a sparse crowd gathers downtown as veterans of all ages and from all wars march through the town. Its actually kind of embarrassing to see the lack of attendance at the event, and I certainly would hate to think the veterans participating might think the community doesn’t care. Because, that’s not the case. This community is a very patriotic community that takes its military seriously and its war veterans seriously. We are the home of an outstanding military training base, and so many members of our community support veterans in many different ways. Perhaps there is a little bit of an over-saturation of veteran-affiliated events, and when people pick and choose what to support, the actual Veterans parade gets the short end of the stick. Look at other veteran-type events that get a lot of support. The Memorial Day remembrance at Woodring Wall of Honor gets a lot of support. Anytime we have a local group deploying, our community comes out to wish them well and Godspeed. When we have the unfortunate loss of life of a military member, our community wraps its arms around the families and friends. Some have complained there isn’t enough publicity about the event. Well, I don’t believe that’s the case because our newspaper writes stories about it and the local radio stations do their part to make the event known. Some have said there needs to be fliers posted around town, and that would help. It might. But, it probably won’t. I can’t really give a reason why this event just hasn’t generated the kind of support other veterans events have; but, perhaps its time to accept that fact. All schools are required by state law to have a Veterans Day program. These programs are always very good and informative, and they give our young people an opportunity to learn what service and sacrifice are all about. Veterans are encouraged to attend these events, and many of them do. Perhaps our local veterans organizations can work more closely with all the schools to make sure local veterans know of the observances and get a good contingent of vets at each one of them. In that way, more veterans could actually be a part of a community program, and they would get to see first-hand that their community supports them and thanks them for their service. I think these programs are a much better representation of how our community feels about our military veterans.
Been gone out of the country for a week, but it seems longer than that! My husband and I made a 25th anniversary trip to Playa del Carmen last week. We managed to sneak some sun and fun into the rain-filled week that ended with Hurricane Ida delaying our flight home! This is the second time in three years we’ve tried to take a Caribbean vacation only to be found by a hurricane! Anyway, the interesting thing about traveling out of the country is getting to meet people from other countries. We spent a lot of time in the “socializing” area of our resort last week, and I was interested in how people from other countries perceive what is going on in the U.S. and with our economy. By far, other than people from Mexico, the other nationality that seemed to be prevalent at the resort were Canadians. So, we talked a lot to folks from Canada about their country and our country. I have to tell you that, by far, the people we met from all nationalities are big President Barack Obama fans. They see his election as something really to be proud of. That was interesting for me to hear because, for the most part, I oppose his agenda and his policies. So, when I queried them about why they like Obama, I didn’t get answers about his health care or energy agenda. They like him because he’s “international.” They see Mr. Obama not as simply an American, but a “world” leader. In the same breath, however, many people said they feared for the U.S. place in the world. People from other countries have expected the United States to be the leader of the free world. Some Canadians I visited were very concerned about the losing power of the U.S. dollar. One couple said, for the first time, they believe the U.S. economy may not come back from this recession as it has come back before. The Canadians I talked to weren’t that upset with their health care system, as some conservative pundits might try to tell you. In fact, it wasn’t the health care issue they wanted to talk about. They wanted to talk about the economy. I think a lot of us in this country take for granted just how much our U.S. economy drives the world economy. European countries are seeing somewhat of an economic comeback, but they are very wary of where the U.S. stands. If the U.S. remains sluggish, the other countries’ recoveries are in jeopardy. I didn’t get a sense of whether these folks I talked to believe Obama can lead the U.S. economy back to recovery. They didn’t really seem to have an opinion on it. All they perceive, apparently, is the U.S. is losing its world status, even though they like its new world leader. I’m not sure what that tells me. Are we all so mired in admiration of personalities that we forget about the details and the actual ability to do the job? Is it more important for our leaders to be “liked” than it is for him or her to actually lead us in the right and prosperous direction? I have no doubt that the U.S. is in the hot seat internationally now more than ever. Without a rigorous economy and job growth in this country, all the health care plans and energy tax plans are just going to pull the U.S. down, down, down. And, my new international friends seem to understand that without a real U.S. economic recovery, their own economic futures are in peril.
I just want to note the day in history. October 22, 2009. That is the day the American media appeared to awaken from its trance over Barack Obama . A lot of us inside and outside the media have been debating over whether the national media has done a good job in objectively covering President Barack Obama. The national media, in general, has been accused of fawning all over Obama. Conservative talk radio has demonized the “mainstream media” for turning a blind eye to problems with the Obama administration. Fox News -- which is demonized by most liberals because of its strong lineup of conservative opinion shows -- has been attacked in the last two weeks by the Obama administration, who has called it an arm of the Republican Party and also a “perspective” media and not a real news organization. Obama even went on the record saying his administration doesn’t want the “other media” to follow in Fox’s footsteps. I can only hope members of other news outlets took notice of that comment -- a president basically “advising” the other media on how to do their jobs. But, the Obama administration went over the line and out of bounds on Thursday when they said they weren’t going to make the “pay czar” available to Fox News for the pool broadcast interviews. That definitely got the other media outlets’ attention, and CNN, NBC, CBS and the others involved in the long-established pool system cried foul. The Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks decided that none of their reporters would interview the pay czar unless Fox News was included. Media analysts have praised the decision to boycott the Feinberg interview, finally acknowledging the Obama administration has gone too far. The administration relented and made the guy available for all five pool members and Bloomberg TV. It is simply out of bounds for the president of the United States to boycott the media. Its radical and its dangerous. Even those who absolutely hate Fox News’ conservative shows should squirm because -- what if it were a Republican administration that decided to freeze out NBC or CNN? There would be hell to pay and rightly so. The media better wake up and understand this president is not operating in the good will of the First Amendment or the American people by his actions and his arrogant attitude. They came very close to breaking the bounds of the constitution by denying access to a pool member. The media and the lawmakers we cover are supposed to have a somewhat adversarial relationship. It doesn’t have to be confrontational -- but it should always be skeptical. We are tasked with asking questions on behalf of the public., and that includes hard questions about policy. Our politicians only have power because we give it to them. They seem to forget that sometimes, and by golly, these kinds of actions by a sitting president certainly not only get the media’s attention, but they get the American public’s attention as well. I only hope and pray that Oct. 22, 2009 was the day the earth stopped standing still and marks a sea change of real objectivity (and yes, skepticism) when it comes to media coverage of the president and the entire Congress.
Government workers and teachers should put President Barack Obama on their Christmas card lists this year. Why? Because about the only jobs that have been “saved” through the president’s stimulus package have been education jobs and government jobs. The White House report on actual jobs created points out that 250,000 education jobs have been saved through the stimulus package. That happened through the allocation of that stimulus money to the states, which allowed states to shore up their huge revenue holes left by this economic recession. Since most states spend the majority of their budgets on education, it makes sense that education jobs have been saved. The number of other non-government jobs created through the package is calculated to be about 30,000. Wow, that’s impressive, isn’t it? Not. This recent recession has eliminated 7.2 million private-sector jobs from the economy. Some states are experiencing double-digit unemployment numbers. And, this is all the administration can boast about their jobs-saving stimulus package? While we all really HOPE and WISH that an economic recovery is on the horizon, there are too many signs that point to this “recovery” simply being a hallucination. Without jobs, there is no economic recovery. While some economic factors may stabilize, it’s simple -- if people don’t have jobs, they can’t make purchases. Spending makes this economy run. I can’t see anything in the president’s economic plan to encourage me that he is in the mood to create jobs. Because to create jobs, you have to offer incentives. What’s the biggest incentive to a business looking to expand? Tax breaks. This president and administration has no interest at all in providing tax breaks to anybody -- not even their coveted “middle class” masses. The plans put forth by this president will only increase taxes on everyone, including businesses. Unless he does something significant to create private sector jobs in the next six months, the president is setting himself and his administration up to “own” this recession. Don’t think for a minute that little reality won’t be pointed out big time during the 2010 election cycle.
Obama has a lot to live up to with Nobel Prize honor
I think it’s safe to say that President Barack Obama’s selection as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize has come as a shock -- even to his most ardent supporters. According to Associated Press reports, Obama’s aides work him up about an hour after the announcement and had to scramble to put together some kind of statement. Meanwhile, national pundits -- including Obama’s supporters and opponents -- are crafting their own analyses of the reason for his selection. An Associated Press analysis accurately, I think, says the prize awarded to the president is more for promise than what he’s actually accomplished. After all, the nominations for the honor deadlined just two weeks after the president’s inauguration. So, whoever nominated him was doing it based on the campaign and the sweeping changes the president “promised.” The president hasn’t even been in office for a year, and his accomplishments as president are very slim. That’s not a slam on the president, it’s just fact. It’s hard to get a lot done in the first year. Also, he has proposed some very sweeping societal agendas that will have a huge impact on our nation, and those kinds of changes should not be engaged in lightly. So, is this Nobel Peace Prize simply a swipe at the former president, George W. Bush, who was reviled by much of the world because he acted decisively and quickly in regard to combating our foreign enemies? Or is it an award based on the promises our new president has made, and perhaps even the apologies he’s made, for our nation? Obama is being lauded for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” That’s certainly vague, and it remains to be seen if his diplomatic efforts and belief make the world safer or more dangerous. Whatever the reason, it is a great honor. The president certainly should be humbled by this international honor that only two other sitting presidents have received, the latest one being bestowed on President Woodrow Wilson some 90 years ago! Wilson won for founding the League of Nations. Before that, Theodore Roosevelt won for drawing up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Former President Jimmy Carter won in 2002 for his peace missions after his presidency. So, Obama really has a lot to live up to in the company of the other presidents. It would likely be best for him to low-key this honor and see if he can actually deliver on Nobel Peace Prize expectations.
Hamas leader's son offers glimpse of struggles to come
Some of the reader reaction I’ve seen to the story the Enid News & Eagle published on the former Hamas terrorist Masab Hassan Yousef’s talk to Emmanuel Baptist Church Sunday has been fascinating. Yousef is the son of one of the founding leaders of Hamas, which has a wing considered to be an international terrorist organization. The man said he was formerly involved in terrorist activities until arrested and sent to an Israeli prison. He said it was there he discovered the Bible and its teachings. He later converted to Christianity, keeping it a secret until just a few years ago, when he came out publicly. Yousef has been on national TV a few times, and he’s been denounced by the Muslim world. He speaks about his experiences and his reasons for converting to Christianity, and that is why he was at Emmanuel on Sunday. Yet, the shadow of Sept. 11, 2001 and the mistrust many Christians have regarding the Muslim faith have made many skeptical about Yousef’s conversion. Others have embraced Yousef enthusiastically as a testament to the power of God’s love. The comments reveal much about where many American Christians stand regarding the Muslim faith and their lack of understanding of it. Yousef says the same thing about Muslims and their lack of understanding of their own faith, as well as Christianity. According to Yousef, Muslims have been isolated for a thousand years. He claims their leaders have built a wall -- both religious and political -- around their followers. Yet, he said the technology of the Internet and mass communications and media is helping bring that wall down. That works both ways. While Muslims may have been isolated from the Western world, westerners have also been isolated from the Muslim ideology. Don’t think the radical factions of Islam are not tech savvy. They are using the Internet to recruit others into their way of thinking and to promote an anti-American and anti-Western ideology. It’s interesting to me to hear from people like Yousef and to try to understand the culture he came from and to get a glimpse of his decision to change his own personal culture. It also offers some context to religious struggles to come. His testimony to the Christian faithful is powerful and a validation of their beliefs. His remarks regarding the United State’s position in the world to stop the spread of terrorism also is a validation of most Americans’ beliefs. Is Yousef the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing as some readers seem to believe? No one can really know for sure. However, if he is just pretending, he’s taking a very high risk in what he’s doing. He gave up everything -- his family, his inheritance, his security -- to move away and declare his Christian faith. From his remarks Sunday and previous interviews, he seems to believe that as more is learned about Islam, the more chance it will not survive for more than another 25 years. From what I’ve read about him in the last few days, I’m willing to give him the benefit of believing in his conversion. He seems to have made enough sacrifices for it.
I know one thing that will make my blood actually boil, and that is if I see my president ever appear on the David Letterman show ever again. President Barack Obama thought one way to reach the public on his health care proposals would be to go on Letterman. I found the ploy ridiculous to begin with because I don’t believe the president of the United States should appear on comedy talk shows. However, following Letterman’s recent admission to sleeping with his female employees and other “creepy” behavior due to the fact he’s the victim of extortion, any more presidential visits to this show would be just too much to bear. I know most Hollywood types have no morals and have no care in the world about sleeping around with whomever they see fit. In the normal corporate world and business world, however, it’s looked on very severely for the “boss” to be sleeping around with any of his or her subordinates. In fact, most of us in the business world have had to take training on sexual harassment and hostile work environment training to avoid the complications of such action. And, yes, in many corporate organizations, people would be fired for such activity. Of course, I don’t expect CBS to fire Letterman. He’s just too popular, and in a TV world where some people don’t consider rape of a 13-year-old minor “rape-rape,” I’m sure this doesn’t even raise an eyebrow with his superiors. But, even though he found himself in a position to have to “confess” to his audience his indiscretions with female staff members, I’m curious about his own assertions that his behavior was “creepy.” What does that mean? Did he stalk his employees? Did he ask them to do perverted things? The term “creepy” brings on some connotations that might need further explaining. But, the White House better take notice. By giving Letterman the kind of attention by coming on to his show, they would be endorsing his “creepy” behavior. That doesn’t sit well with me, and it shouldn’t sit well with any woman in the business world today.
I just can’t get that little chant out of my head. Catchy little ditty isn’t it?
Mmm... mmm... mmm... Barack Hussein Obama.
Of course most of you by now know about this little video of school children chanting praises to the president that has hit the rounds of YouTube and has been featured on Fox News and is the talk of the conservative media and blogosphere. This was filmed at a grade school in New Jersey back in February when the school was doing recognition for black history month. So, it’s not really anything that’s new, it’s about seven months old. I don’t know why its taken so long for it to hit the airwaves, other than whoever filmed it and released it perhaps did so in conjunction with the controversy over President Obama’s speech to school children on Sept. 8. Of course, the conservatives are calling it a case of “indoctrination” of school children. That’s another new conservative code word. It’s one that tends to be overused, just like the word “socialism.” In the case of the president’s speech on Sept. 8, that is NOT a case of indoctrination. In the case of this little video and the exercise it represents -- most definitely YES, it is indoctrination. Yet, you can’t blame the president for this little New Jersey effort. Neither he nor his staff contacted schools during black history month and requested they include chants or songs about him during black history month. I’m sure the National Education Association or the U.S. Department of Education did not send out class lessons on praises to Obama as part of black history month curriculum. In fact, I feel pretty certain the president is probably embarrassed about this ridiculous exercise. No, it’s not the president doing this “indoctrination.” It is the overzealous and misguided teacher and administration at this public school district we can blame for this nonsense. Even after this video has come out, the school district is unapologetic, and the teacher (who is now retired, but is a friend of Obama) has said she would do it again. Mr. Obama may be feeding the apparent media worship of him; but, he is not creating it. The worship is being created by people who for some reason have tagged many unrealistic expectations on this president. When people really and truly pin all their hopes and dreams on an elected politician, they’re setting themselves up for a very, very big letdown.
Mmm. . . mmm. . . mmm. . . (said while shaking head in disbelief)
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