Manhattan of the Middle East?

Burj Dubai (the word Burj is arabic for Tower), in very beautiful downtown Dubai, shines light on the ever-evolving epicentre of our 21st century world. Now the tallest building (or free-standing structure) in the world, along with the many buildings you see in the background standing off the shores of North America, it gives new definition to the question of who has the most influencial business center today. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is host to the new wealthy world order, including many wealthy Americans (Michael Jackson being one of its most famous citizens today). I wonder if Michael is now a Muslim, as he has close ties to the Nation of Islam, to the Saudi prince, and lives in an Arab nation now. Well, that question can maybe be posed to some other wealthy Westerners who now call Dubai home sweet home, livin' the life of Riley. Considering relocation? Check out Dubai.

So how long does it take em to determine if a crime of hate is actually a hate crime?

The FBI enters this case of ghastly abuse as it appears to struggle with the issue of whether to charge the perpetrators with a hate crime. Are you kidding?? If this isn't a hate crime, then like YO, what the hell is then?

Why is there reluctance to do the right thing when we have such laws just so people don't have
to wrestle with the issue? We don't have to figure it out anymore...if it looks like a hate crime, it probably is. Charge em, arrest em, prosecute them, and if a jury of their peers follow the law and the elements of the statute, it will come to the right conclusion.

But for now, police are looking for two more people in the torture, beating and sexual assault of a Charleston woman, and the Logan County prosecutor said he believes the woman first met one of her abductors over the Internet.

The two people being sought by police are believed to have picked up 23-year-old Megan Williams from Charleston and transported her to Big Creek, where she was held captive in a home for at least a week. Police have arrested six people already. The FBI has entered the case because it is a possible federal hate crime, authorities said.

The victim is black and the alleged assailants are white (duh, who knew?).

Prosecutor Brian Abraham said he heard from one of the arresting officers that Williams met a Logan County man on an Internet site. Abraham could not verify whether that person was already in custody or one of the suspects still sought by police.

"I think she may have met an individual on the Internet and he agreed to pick her up in Kanawha County and take her to Logan County," Abraham said. "That individual may have befriended her and at some point turned her over to these people." Abraham, who has served eight years as prosecutor, said he has never witnessed or imagined a case of this proportion.
"We’re up to our eyeballs in murder cases in Logan County, but nothing quite like this," he said. "We have typical homicides motivated by jealously, passion and theft. This seems like outright malice. It’s something you’d see in a horror movie."

Magistrate Leonard Codispoti told The Logan Banner, "It was the worst case of human abuse I have seen since I have been a magistrate. "Something like this is so horrifying it makes you want to puke. They got this girl out of Charleston and took her to Big Creek, threw her in a shack, raped and stabbed her, put a rope around her neck, made her eat animal feces and did other horrifying things to her."

It's not over. Seems as if there are two more 'alleged' suspects still wandering out there. This poor woman. Seems like it's Open Season on Black folk, doesn't it? Reminds me of that famous Vernon Johns sermon.

Now, if it walks like a hate crime, talks like a hate crime, smells like a hate crime....what is it - oatmeal? They just didn't 'happen' upon this victim, they searched her out. That, for me, is the pure definition of a hate crime. What definition does the FBI use? If it comes to a different conclusion than what I have here, they need a new dictionary. And we need a new FBI.

living (if you can) affordably in america......

By Luke Visconti (the "white guy")

from © DiversityInc 2007 ® All rights reserved.

Question:

My company is on your Top 50 for Diversity list and will soon be celebrating Diversity Week in November. There will be rewards given to nominees who embrace diversity, which is all very good. My question: How do you help a company see that they must also keep a watchful eye on those managers who don't care about receiving an award and think that they can continue to operate as business as usual?

I have been with the company for 15 years. During that time, I have taken advantage of the generous education program and received a bachelor's and soon to be two master's degrees. Last year, my department decided to outsource many jobs, mine included. For those of us who want to stay with the company, we have until this October to find another job.

Since March of this year, I have, on record, 54 job postings [that] I have applied for. Of those postings, I have only been interviewed for six of the jobs. During each interview, the hiring manager finds some area of their business that I am not familiar with to point out that I am not qualified for the position. I know of a few individuals (non-minority) from my department with less qualification who have already found new positions, but I am still looking. I cannot believe that out of 54 postings I [don't] qualify for any of them. I am not writing this question out of bitterness. I am only writing it to find an answer. All I seek is an opportunity.

Answer:

I'm very familiar with your company and it is a long-term leader in diversity management. This doesn't mean that every manager is "on it," but you stand a much better chance of finding a progressive manager at your company than most people do. Since I don't know you, I am forced to give general suggestions. Not all of them may apply to you. Please understand that I am not trying to diminish the reality of your experience when I suggest that you can take action to change your outcome.

Please consider this checklist:

1. Give your next job application your "full game." Study for the interview, understand the person with whom you're interviewing, know the department, try reaching out to that person's friends for insight into what areas give the manager the most pain. Make yourself a walking encyclopedia of solutions.

2. Follow up. Make sure your follow-up correspondence is not a form letter. Make it relevant to the potential new supervisor.

3. Politics. See if you can leverage people you know to apply influence on areas that interest you for a transfer. Find managers who HAVE been active in your company's diversity-management efforts. Utilize your employee-resource-group network.

4. Appearance counts. Make the best of your personal visit. Dress one level up. Use the spellchecker on your correspondence (I'm not sure why people think that misspellings are OK in an e-mail).

5. Be positive. Forget about the 54 jobs you applied for. Focus on the future. You love your company—tell them about it. Tell them how much you care, how proud you are to work there and how satisfying it has been to avail yourself of their generous education benefits. Tell them how you want to use that knowledge to their benefit and work there until you retire. It's hard to resist a positive message like that. Don't include anything negative. Air your opinions with the highest level you can reach by writing letters to executives, and ask for their help!

6. Learn. We have a number of really good career-advice articles on this web site.

Your industry is going through hard times. Despite that, their commitment to diversity has not wavered (again, I'm not discounting your experience, it's just that your experience at your company is likely to be much, much better than at the average company).

By the way, there is opportunity in tough times; a good manager will be much more open to hiring someone they don't know who is well prepared over an "old boy" who is taking it for granted that they'll get the job. My heart goes out to you and I wish you good fortune in finding another position in that company.

"I AM NOT GAY, I NEVER HAVE BEEN GAY" - ANOTHERONE BITES DA DUST

as i watch larry "toe-tap, wide-stance, i'm not gay" craig resign as idaho's u.s. senator, you have to wonder why we're even in a culture war for family values in this country (and many other parts of the world) in the first place? what's to be gained by this political approach?

btw, larry's really glad that you all 'came out' today. and did you notice how he seems to like powder blue shirts? he wore one at every press conference. so does his wife. maybe she's a closet gay too. you cops better start watching the ladies room.

don't misunderstand - i'm all for family values. but those are values that need to go to core values: the need for food, clothing and shelter, being a good person (i would say 'law-abiding', but that approach has a history of bastardization when applied in this multi-ethnic country), a peaceful life, love for family and friend, having good morals. but wait: that last one - morals - is what got us into trouble with this culture war in the first place. most of share common moral values, fortunately, but who of us is to say what morals should be universally applied to all and which ones shouldn't? one universal moral that should apply to all is thou shall not kill, or one should not hate others because they look or are different. but whose moral value applies on the issue of sexuality, or freedom of speech, or who should be an 'american', or even what laws to enact to protect whose interests? what the fuck are these asswipes talking about anyway?

these issues have been befuddled in the myraid sea of the information age, in the political climate of the 21s century which is emerging as a conflict age between civilizations and cultures, as opposed to nation-states like the previous centuries. we don't like muslims, they don't like christian infidels and jews, we don't like arabs and mexicans (like they used to not like blacks and jews - they still then and now don't like gays) and they don't like white people and westerners. we worship god, they worship allah. most of the planet wants to preserve its 'national identity'. i find that so hypocritical when i hear people of many countries talk that shit. but that's another blog story. right now i'm here to talk about larry craig and the homophobic republican party and how their own hypocrisy is taking them down the toilet (where else?).

all of this could be avoided if we just accept the reality that homosexuals are here to stay. they have always been here, and as long as they don't try to spread their morals to me and others who are not homosexual, i say live and let live, and they should be entitled to every single value (or modified a bit for their needs) as any other citizen of this country. all of this will end when these hypocrite politician stop their bullshit and do the people's work, not the people's lynch mob acts. no i don't mean craig, i mean the republicans (or any other politicians of any party) who are still out there trying to tell you and me how we should think, act, and be, while they live by a different, elitist standard that is different from how they want us to live. the bottom line? let's all just get along!

but lastly, for the republicans - stop your culture war. it has now been proven (from mark foley to tom delay to duke cunningham to larry craig) that you have no moral ground to stand on.