The older I get, the more I realize my mom and grandma are really smart in areas that, even still, just escape my "notice" filter. You can't replace life experience with book experience when it comes to people. This post can best be summed up as a lesson Grandma Ruby taught me a few days ago. She said her brother Melroy once told her, "Ruby, when a pastor harps on a particular "sin", watch out ... you better watch out." This whole Eddie Long scandal is making me realize that the other old … [Read more...]
At What Point Does Your Life Stop Being Mommy and Daddy’s Fault?
September 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Over at the Investing for Beginners site, I just published a blog explaining that the best investment is in yourself, as I have repeatedly said. This came as a result of a Wall Street Journal article that explained unemployment levels for college graduates, which is only 25% of the population, is still incredibly low. In fact, the unemployment level for college graduates is half that of the general population. What angers me is the guy who didn't go to college, when asked about his reason, … [Read more...]
Educational Crisis In Black Male Population Resulting in Staggering 25% to 40% Unemployment Rate
September 8, 2010 By 2 Comments
The Good News: African American women are gaining in net worth, income, high school graduation rates, college graduation rates, and seats in boardrooms at powerful companies throughout the world. They are going from glory to glory, success to success. The Bad News: African American men have unemployment rates as high as 40% in some areas, have incredibly low graduation rates, which results in lower income and lifetime achievement. The Question: Why? How do we figure this growing … [Read more...]
Major Court Ruling on Race and Patient Hospital Rights Today
August 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Remember the ground breaking, massive generational study the Pew Research Center released? The one that showed that despite all of their good qualities, a vast majority of the so-called "silent generation" (those born prior to 1928) and, to a somewhat lesser degree the "greatest generation" (those born from 1928 through 1945) were, on many issues such as interracial relationships and gay marriage, unrepentant irrational bigots? Yeah, that one. The real world implications of that study were … [Read more...]
My Analysis of Judge Walker’s Proposition 8 Ruling, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, Legalizing Gay Marriage in California (and Possibly the Entire United States)
August 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I finally got through the ruling from Judge Vaughn Walker in Perry v. Schwarzenegger which overturned Proposition 8 as unconstitutional and it is scathing. I have never read anything worded this strongly other than Scalia's dissent in Lawrence v. Texas where you could virtually hear the man shrieking with fists flying (and I say that having tremendous, enormous respect for Justice Scalia's intellect, which at times, soars to the level of an apostle preaching legal gospel). Perry v. … [Read more...]
Pornography Study Failed After Researchers Couldn’t Find a Single Man Who Hadn’t Viewed X-Rated Material
August 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Human behavior fascinates me to no end. Today, I was reading through yet another batch of research papers and studies and one of them made me do a double-take. Scientists in the United Kingdom wanted to research whether or not pornography degraded women by changing how men viewed them or treated them. The first task was to create a control group of men who had never looked at porn - and the scientists could not find a single man in his 20s that qualified. As Professor Simon Louis … [Read more...]
Something to Think About in Our Celebrity Driven Culture
July 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Lindsay Lohan, 24, gets her name and face all over the news because she went to jail. Justin Allen, 23, Brett Linley, 29, Matthew Weikert, 29, Justus Bartett, 27, Dave Santos, 21, Chase Stanley, 21, Jesse Reed, 26, Matthew Johnson, 21, Zachary Fisher, 24, Brandon King, 23, Christopher Goeke, 23, and Sheldon Tate, 27, all gave their lives for you this week. - Courtesy of Devon Thorne Kariker … [Read more...]
Elizabeth Warren Makes Timmy Geithner Squirm …
July 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I love and adore this woman. Even though I completely understand why AIG was bailed out at 100 cents on the dollars, I'm glad she is asking questions that need to be posed for the sake of accountability. (Regarding AIG: Even though it wasn't morally right that Goldman and other counterparties used Federal money to turn worthless credit default swaps into full value investments, had the Treasury not done that, the entire system would have collapsed instantly. I remember sitting in my office … [Read more...]
One Very, Very Good Thing About the Financial Reform Bill That Just Passed Congress
July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I don't care what anyone tells you, I want you to listen to me very, very carefully: Although I cannot give an opinion on the financial reform act that just passed Congress because I haven't read it yet, I can say that the provision that requires all derivatives other than those used for "commercial purposes" to be traded on a regulated exchange is absolutely, positively, 100% required if we have any hope of avoiding a collapse like we had following the failure of Lehman Brothers. I realize, … [Read more...]
My Reflections on Christian Legal Society Chapter of University of California Hastings College of Law v. Martinez Supreme Court Ruling
June 28, 2010 By 1 Comment
Back in college, when I was the student body treasurer and chairman of the finance board, a Christian group known as Campus Crusade for Christ threatened to sue the university because they wanted to be officially recognized. The problem was they required that their elected leaders leaders sign a personal "Statement of Beliefs" pledge that included a provision affirming that homosexuality was a sin and the leader did not engage in immoral sexual conduct. This went against the university's … [Read more...]
I'm a private investor who loves architecture, furniture, clothes, history, philosophy, books, cooking, and music as much as I do finance. 
