Judging Sonia

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard about Presidents Obama’s choice for a place on the highest court in the country. As a country I think we have grown past issues of whether or not a person is good for the job because of gender, and I think we could even say we have reached past the issue of color. Yet, as a country I do not think we have been able to reach past a persons level of pride in ones culture.

President Obama’s choice for a seat on the supreme court is a women, but not just any women, a women that is proud of here Latino heritage. For some it is not a question of her abilities to judge, for many it is a question of whether or not she will be able to look past her heritage and see that it is not birth right that decides the law, it is the law itself. With Statements that would make Thurgood Marshall turn over in his grave, what really drives Judge Sotomayor, what really makes here tick? Now, if anyone has ever meet a person from the Bronx, then you would know, Judge Sotomayor’s prides in her heritage stems from her growing up in the Bronx. People from New York have an energy about them, but people from the Bronx are just Super Novas. I believe that it is safe for me to say that Judge Sotomayor maybe one of the most out spoken judges we have ever had. One that is not fearful of the history of the position, and one that does not take the responsibility lightly.

Yet, I believe that it is her back ground that will set here apart from any justice in history. Yes, Thurgood Marshall was our first justice of color, but Justice Marshall understood that what he did would would pave the way for a Sotomayor. Yet, the question remains, that when one person opens the door, who will come to tare it down. Success for Judge Sotomayor can not be understood by many men, whether or not they are white or black. It can not even be understood my the other women who are great in their own right. Because, know matter how you look at it, Justice Mayor is not just a women, not just a Latino, Justice Mayor is a dreamed completed. Birthed into a world where her father only had a third grade education, and could not speak any English, Judge Mayor’s view of America is far more different than that of a white male, it is far more different than that of a black male. We must not look at her in a manor of her pride in her heritage, but we must look at her in the light that without American, and its Laws, she would not be at this moment in time. No matter your back ground, how you look at the world will be filtered through the glasses of your past. Yet, when it comes to the Law, the prescription of the glasses have already been put into place for you.

Abiding by the rules of Law is not just the what the citizens of this great country have to abide by, but it is the place of the Justices to not only abide by it them themselves, but consume the law to the point that we no longer see the Justices, but we see the human embodiment of the Law. The question for many Americans is that judging from Judge Mayor’s past statements, about here life experiences could lead her to decisions better than a white male. It is understandable, to wonder if her filter is through that of color rather than the law. Yet, her record does not tell us that her heritage has mattered before. Many of here cases have been done by the book. However, we are not only judge her by her past decision, statements, or heritage.

Judging Sonia

Yet, we must understand that the law must judge the justice before there can be a judgment. I believe that Judge Mayor has come to far now, to allow here career to be defined by just her heritage. I believe that Judge Mayor is now ready for the Law to be the final judgment of here career, one that if confirmed will speak more loudly than any past or future statements.

Hark The Raven Never More.

As a football fan, Steve McNair was one of those guys you wanted to win a Superbowl. He was a great leader on the field, and from what I have heard a great leader in the locker room. As a quarterback these are some of the most important things you need to be a hall of framer. Yet, the one thing that would have carried him over, was lost by inches. Each year that Steve played everyone respect the team he played with as a threat to win the Superbowl, just because he was under center. No matter what team he was facing Steve never had to worry about being taken lightly, he was certified a winner. That is why his tragic passing is hard for football fans to stomach.

Hark the Raven Never More.

Just like when Michael Vick went to jail for two years for dog fighting, and now you have Stallworth not going to serve one day for killing a human being. If you are a true fan of the sport and you have cheered for the guys that have the talent, it is a hard pill to swallow when they fall from grace. Yet, Steve did not fall, Steve is not going away to rehab, he is not going to jail as so many black athletes do. Steve McNair has been lost to us, a portrait unfinished, statue still left trapped by the stone.

When Reggie White passed we were left understanding his greater calling. Because Reggie, had much more to live for, Reggie had a calling that reached so far beyound him that it took him. When we lost Sweetness, we did not lose nothing more than the shell of a man, because once he passed, he became apart of each and everyone of us. These men stood for something, on and off the field. These men where held by a level of class that has not been seen since. Well, we all thought in some form or fashion that Steve McNair was one of those men. Men, who we could live our lives by on and off the field. Yes, every man is flawed, everyman loses his way. Yet, like the great Temptation always going back to the mic, we as men must always find our way back to the greater calling in our lives

Steve McNair’s life will be lost to us, because when his name is spoken, there will be something missing. We will always desire to hear more from him. It will feel something like De Vinci not finishing the Monah Lisa, or Bill Gates never developing windows. Steve McNair’s days of playing ball were over, but his life and a model of a man had just begun. We lost him at a time where men being men is needed. We lost him at a time where the legacy of your life is being written. We lost Steve McNair at a time where we needed him most, not in the game of Football, but in the game of life. He was only 36 years old. On the scale of life, he was still just a boy, not yet reaching his twilight.

Hark the Raven Never More.

We may never know what really happened to him in the last moments of his life, but what we do know is that his life was cut short. In the past few weeks, we have lost many that had reached us in some form or fashion, men and women that had left a mark on the world. Yet, these losses pose a question to us, what will our legacy be, what mark will we leave on the earth when our time is up. Will we leave with grace as sweetness did or will we leave covered in mystery

Death of The Auto Tune

A few weeks ago Jay-z released his new single “Death of the Auto tune.” the response on twitter was crazy. Then Just last week, he did the song live on the ‘BET Awards,” which by the way was one of the best performances of the night. I have been a fan of Jay-z for over a decade now, and when I heard this song I feel in love with the dude all over again. With very few rappers left, Jay-z stands alone on the mountain top.

Blueprint 3 Coming in September

Ric Flair use to say “in order to be the man you have to beat the man,” No matter where I turn or what song I listen to, there seems to be no one that is able to do what Jay-z done or what he will do. Well what does the “Death of Auto Tune,” mean. Does it mean that everyone will stop doing it or does it mean that more rappers and singers will start to do it?

I don’t think that Jay-z’s song will stop anyone from doing it, but I think that it will make more rappers develop their skills more. Not to mention the number of rappers that will come after Jay-z for making a record about killing a new from of music. In my personal opinion I believe this is something that Hip-Hop needs, that is we don’t need anymore tune songs. We in hip-hop need more hip-hop. Many true hip-hop fans are now looking forward to Jay-z’s new album “Blueprint 3,” yet Jay-z has turned into more of a rock star, coming out on stage with guitars and having a live band to play for him now. Jay-z has gone past just being a rapper, he is now a super star. So, what does this mean for those younger rappers, those who desire to climb the mountain and be the icon that Jay-z is. The debate still rages, would Jay-z be the rapper we know today if Biggie had not died or if Tupac had not passed. In this case we will never know, yet, we can look at the hustle work Jay-z has done in the years after rap icons Biggie and Tupac left us.

Blueprint 3 Coming in September

Jay-z has done what few in music have done. He is and could be the first Billionaire rapper, and don’t let anyone fool you, no matter how hood they are or how in the streets they claim to be. All rappers aspire to be the new Jay-z, Jay-z is the hip-hops from of the Godfather, Jay-z is Michael from the Godfather. What will Jay-z do next, what mountain is left for him to claim? What star is left for Jay-z to reach for. Because at the end of the day, Jay-z has made it where few have gone, what is left is for the fans to keep listening.

Diaper Mafia: Chapter 1

“Baby, baby, I hear as I am being nudged in the side. Baby, wake up,(pause) get up, it’s your turn,” “turn for what,” “I reply,” “to feed her.” My eyes, crack open at first, I can’t see anything, the red letters of the alarm clock are a little foggy. I blink, I blink again, the third times the charm, 3 a.m. Dam, as I through back the covers and place my bare feet on the cold, hard, wood floors. I wipe my eyes and reach over to turn the lamp on, when for the first time I here the cries of my 6 month old daughter. I try to get a grip on my surroundings even though I have been living in this house for years, the room feels new to me now.

For a brief moment I am upset, Haley Berry was about to step out of the shower, man am I going to try and finish that dream when this is over. I stand to my feet, but they feel like they are not there, and for a moment my legs give way. I feel light headed, and kinda lost to my movements. My legs quickly gain their strength, I proceed to to my daughters room, which is just across the hall from our bedroom. For the second time I here the her cries. It seems as if she has been crying for hours, but it has only been for seconds. As I reach her crib, a sharp pain slowly works its way from my small toe, to my knee, my thigh, my stomach, my chest, my lips, and then my eyes, as water almost trickles down my face. “Son of a,” I have stumped my toe, and now both my daughter and I are crying.

My wife screams “whats the matter,” I scream back, “my (blanking) toe,” however; what is really going through my mind is. If she had gotten up in the first place, I would not be going through this pain.

As I hold my toe, and hold back the curse words, for the third time I her my daughter’s cries. I push aside my pain, and limp my way to her crib. As I reach down to pick her up, I notice something oozing out of her pampers, and at that exact moment the smell from hell alerts me that it is here. Yet, from my mouth comes the word to explain this foul odor, this damnation to senses, this toxin of destruction, the cures for every father, “SHIT.”

My daughter smiles and cues, I look at her, and then the diaper. I am fully woke now, and Hally is going to have to stay in the shower a bit longer. As I proceed to change my daughter, my wife appears at the door. “What she do,” “you can’t smell that,” I reply. She then’s starts to laugh, while the pain of my toe, and the odor form hell is killing me softly. Finally, I am done with cleaning this poop, I grab the bottle, and began to feed this little monster. She quickly eats and falls back to sleep. By this point my toe is numb and sleep is creeping back upon me. I need to let Halley know she can get ready to come out of the shower now. As I place Jordan’s limp body in her crib. I since a level of pride come over me, a since of man-hood come over me, a since of having a place in this world comes over me. I have pride in myself, I am the man. Halley here I come.

I pull the covers over me and I snuggle into the pillow, when the unthinkable happens, seems like Halley is going to have to wait, because momma has a surprise for daddy now.

Jimmie Fair is the creator of The Fair Response.com, where the saying is “My Opinion is the only one that matters.”

The G.O.A.T

How do you feel about yourself? What makes you get out of bed? Because if your not getting out bed for what it is that you believe you are suppose to be doing then you might need to refocus yourself. I must say it again that your are the greatest, and I will take it a step further. You are the Greatest Of All Time. This term if mostly a Hip-Hop term, but it can be used across the board. In order for you to become the power house you are suppose to be, you need to believe that you are the greatest at what you do. Dr. King once said that “you must do it so well that even the angels in heaven say so.”

Get out of the mind state that you are just another employee or you are just another human being living out your life. Stop trying to be like everyone else and stand on your uniqueness. Even if you are one of many people doing the same thing, You must stand on your ability to be the best at what you do. Let no one tell you other wise. I use to have the problem of thinking lower about myself than I should. This ideology no longer has a place in my vocab or even my thinking. I am the best at what I do, no matter who are what may think they do it better. I am a power, I am a king, and I will not lose, ever. Yes, I am confident, you can even call me cocky, believe it. You must feel a compelling strength, a strength that can not be forgotten by you are anyone ever. As I have said before, your thoughts towards yourself must change. Even if you believe in your abilities, it never hurts to really be confident in your know how.

Being the greatest must flow over how you carry yourself, it must flow over how you speak, it must even flow over how you get in and out of your car. Confidence does not have to be a spoken word, it must be something that can be seen and never heard. When people come close to you they must know it. I believe that when we as humanity realize that we have no reason to stand in the shadows hoping that no one notices us, that we can be and do much more than what we have ever had to deal with. I love myself, I am so in love with me that I believe that there is no one better, I do not say that standing on my own words, but I say that standing on my faith and my belief system. Yea, I am cocky, and I am happy about it. I am not better than anyone else, I am not condemning anyone else. I just believe in me, and I am willing to be what the world needs. Hold your head up, look everyone in the eye, speak with the confidence that commands respect, carry yourself in a manor that no one questions you or even you question you. I believe in your greatness it is time that you do the same.

Jimmie Fair is the creator of The Fair Response.com, “Don’t Just Live Life Respond.”

How To Get Hundreds and Thousands of Followers on Twitter

Getting thousands of followers on Twitter seems to be the new fad. Everyone claims to be an expert on how to do it. There are people out there with their get 30,000 followers in 30 days crap. Then there are those who do nothing but spam all day, telling you about their business of marketing. Just the idea that these tricks would work tells me that you guys have no clue on how t build a brand, well, all you can build is your own.

In order to lead you must first follow, and how many people know who to follow in this space, meaning. How many people respond to the millions of blogs out there or the twitter conversions that go on all day long. How many experts really want to help you build your brand, and not help themselves build their brands. This space is about family not who has the most numbers. How many of those who follow you are nothing more than bots, and are you a bot to the people that follow you. Twitter is a community, one that should be based off of southern hospitality not just thank you for following me.

So many people ask, “how do I get more followers,” I ask how do you make friends? Building a community of followers is all about your ability to be yourself, not if a system can help you. Stop worrying about how many people are following you and start worrying about what you are saying. There is no trick to to gaining followers on twitter, only your ability to open up and respond to life. But, if you must know one way to do it is by following those who constantly post. Those who have built a cult following around the ideal of being bigger than twitter. Become apart of their noise, and start making noise of your own, and it is only a matter of time before a circle surrounds you.

If you use these quick follower programs all you are getting is a crowd for a day, why have a crowd for a day, when you can have them for a life time. If you really want to build your brand, build people, find away to teach the things you have learned. Once you have done this, people will always follow you, not because you are to most popular but because you invested into them.

Building followers should not be your goal, conversation should be. People do not want to be looked at as just a number, they want to be looked at as a part of the family. To grow you followers grow yourself, build yourself, people want to follow those at whom they can look up to. Someone they can feel a bond with, cumminites are built off of converstation not silence. Are there ways to build your twitter following, yes, does some of these things work, yes, but at the end of the day, what matters most, is not the numbers you have, but the relationships you build.

How To Market In Social Media

It would be very easy to tell you every step you would need to take to take over social media. However, that would not really tell you anything. You can read for months on how to use social media, to develop your business or your brand, but at the end of the day, all you will have gained is a headache.

About this time last year a friend of mine Vincent Hunt, came to me after cycling, and told me about this thing called social media. He told me about all the new people he was meeting and all the things he had learned. Well at first I paid him no mind, but week after week he kept selling the same song. Finally, I went on line and started looking into social media. After a few weeks, I started blogging, and all of a sudden I started getting responses from people all across the world. Then one day I discovered Youtube. Yes, I had heard of Youtube, but I had never thought about posting to Youtube. Lucky for me, this was during the time of the Presidential Elections. I made a few post, and the next thing I new thousands for people were listing and responding. Thus The Fair Response was born.

Yet, I said all of that to say, I learned social media, by not just reading other peoples post, but by getting out there and getting my feet wet. The ups and downs of social media teach you what spaces to spend your time, and what spaces to get in and get out as quickly as you can. I look at social media through the eyes of building equity, the more time you spend developing your brand, the more equity in your brand you will have.

Marketing in social media is not rocket science, it depends all on whether or not you know yourself and your brand. If you have no clue to who you are, then this space is not for you. Now, what I mean is that you must  not be a clone. Yes, you might have the degrees in marketing, and you might be the greatest at building web pages. Yet, this space does not give a crap about the paper the walls at your house. In this space we care about each other. We build each other, and the louder your voice is about the relevant things we go through the greater you will be in this space. Now I guess I will tell you how to market in social media.

1. Research, Research, Research. Then you need to Research some more.
2. Listen to the web, which means understand what the web is telling you.
3. Follow people that are already on the next big thing, this way you know how to stay relevant in the space.
4. Find out your passion, and how it can dwell in this space.
5. Start micro blogging, using twitter, rejaw, kwippy, friend freed, tumblar and other sites.
6. Start blogging, once you have gotten to a level of confidence in micro blogging then blog.
7. As you blog, respond to others in this space, practice this while you are micro blogging.
8. As you speak about others, others will speak about you, which will in turn boost your hits across the web.
9. After you have learned what works for you, start joining every site you can, and learn how to post to one while posting to others at the same time. (ping fm)
10. Find the best photo of yourself or logo you can and put it on every site you join, Then develop a slogan that is catchy and to the point. My slogan is, “don’t just live life respond.”
11. Keep your message the same or spread your message over different ideals, but keep is consistent.
12. This should have been number one, but google your name or business, and see where you are, just like looking up your credit score except you want as many hits as you can find.
13. If you really want to be successful in the space, this step is key, never stop working, never stop learning, because the moment you do, you are already behind.

Vick-torious

Vick-tomized

As a person that has watched Michael Vick since college, and when he arrived in Atlanta to play for the Falcons, almost changed allegiances to teams. Yet, it still broke my heart to see him fall from grace. During the years I lived in Atlanta attending Morehouse College, watching Vick on Sundays was the greatest. Michael Vick singled handily made the Falcons a team to be feared.

Yet, what goes up must come down, and my how Vick came down. He broke the hearts of millions of fans and none fans of football in Atlanta, not to mention killing dogs. Some say he has paid his debt to society, others say he should be banned from the game for life. Well, I say he should have never gone to jail for killing dogs anyway. As a lover, and owner of dogs, what he did was wrong, but as a human being and a fan of football, hell, fine the man and lets go on with life. Not only was he fined, but he lost two years of his life to jail, was if really worth all that. I believe that if he was white, we would not be having this conversation. But oh, how the media loves pulling down black men that have power and grace.

However, this is the past, what must Vick do to change his future. I think he should do a press conference stating his plans and is vision for righting the wrong he has done. Then I think he should spend the summer visiting schools, vet clinic and charity organization. He must rebuild his character. Then he needs to go to the Commissioners office and cry his eyes out, about everything he has learned. He needs to find a mentor, key word “men,” and spend as much time with them  as he can for the rest of his career. He also needs to seek out consul from a minister, and he must stay low key for at least 3 years or the end of his career. Yet, all of this is on the field, what does Vick need to do on the field to rebuild his brand.

Well, the first thing he must do is get reinstated to the league, then he needs to find a team that will take him and all his baggage. Then he needs to work bis butt off to stay on the team and be a starter or second string. If by some form of luck, he is a starter some where, he needs to stay health throughout the season. He then needs to allow his talent to take control of him and become better than he ever was.

Now, there will be so many people that will not like Vick being back as a productive citizen, and they will not like him playing football. Well, it is to bad, sorry, let the man live his life, and those of use who love football, sit back and watch this gift we know as Michael Vick, and I hope at the end of the day he is Vick-torious.

How To Grow Your Brand

One of the keys to growing your brand is first knowing what it is.  Yet, your brand needs to be 100% your brand. It can not be something someone has told you you should do. It must be totally you, and about you. I am not saying be selfish, but what I am saying is that you must discover who you are, in order to be who you desire to be. Branding has been around for a long time; yet, since the advent of “Social Media,” branding is no longer limited to big business. Branding now is in the hand of each and every person who desires to find, and define their greatness.

Take Wal-Mart for instance, a customer can get almost anything they want at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart makes its money by buying as much merchandise as it can at a cheap cost, and then selling it at a cheaper cost than its competitors. While at the same time corralling as many people as the store can hold, and allowing them the choice of buying what they want and need. Have you noticed that at the lines of most shopping centers, that when you get in line, there are racks of things you can buy on your way out. How many of us have gone into the store for one thing, and have come out with much more than you wanted  to buy. This is the key to really developing a great brand, you need to offer more than the customers needs or think they need.

Now does this mean that you need to be a know it all, no, what it means if that you must understand you and your brand to the point that you can offer complementary items to consume by the consumer. Back to Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart does not just sale radios without selling the cords, boxes, amps, and installation items you will need to install the radio, they even sale music for when you are done. and want to try out the sound. This is the mentality for success, give the consumer everything they need to get the job done. Your brand should be able to meet people where they are, it should be able to be diverse while at the same time staying focused on the causes you are focused on.

STAYING A HEAD OF TRENDS

One of the great things about Wal-Mart is that they are ahead of trends, they seem to know what is the new hotness. Why do I say this? When flat screens where just coming out, Wal-Mart Started to sale them cheaper so their consumers to afford them. When everyone else was selling the name brand ones, Wal-Mart was selling after market ones for the low. What happened was the the name brand companies noticed that Wal-Mart put their competitors product in front of thousand so eyes a day. While their product was limited to just a few hundred eyes. So now you can see that Wal-Mart has almost all the name brand screen in its stores, and they are still selling the after market ones. Branding and product placement are very important items.

Not just for Wal-Mart, but also for your brand, your business, and your social media presence.  You must learn as much as you can about your brand and your subject matter. Then you need to know as much as your can about the things that complements you ideals. Lets say you love basketball, then you need to know about sneakers, the teams history or about the teams cap space, things like this. You need to become an expert at your passion in all areas of your passion, and the things your passion affects.

HOW WAL-MART FAILS IN THIS NEW AGE

How Wal-Mart fails and many other companies, it that they have yet to adopt this new ideal called Social Media. Wal-Mart would tell you that they sale what their consumers buy the most, and a few other things. Yet, with the growing numbers of consumers using the web for everyday life, it might be smarter for Wal-Mart to use social media as away to impact a broader base for their company. Buy offering social media a web site where their consumers and tell Wal-Mart what works for them and what does not work for them, Wal-Mart and other companies could find out ways to place items in places their consumers would like to seen them rather than just a floor plan they change from time to time.

Many major companies will tell you, “we have a web site,” but who cares about seeing what they can buy or what you have sales on. Why not allow your consumers the ability to connect together, find friends, and build communities around recipes, and other items they use.

What would be the cost for Wal-Mart allow the down loading of movies, games, and other tec items. Social Media if much more than blogs, facebook or myspaces. Social Media is about putting the power into the hands of consumers. The consumers now wants to feel that they are apart of this society and not just a consumer of goods. We desire to have a voice into what we consume.

The American Deception

The last couple of days I have been doing research on a secrete organization, one that’s roots stem back for decades. This organization seems to be at the very root of the economics of not only this nation but the world. The organization I am talking about is the Builderberg Group. Who are they, and why do they seem to come up when a turn of power is at hand. Is there more welling and dealing going on behind the scenes than normal.

Have our last 8 Presidents been nothing but fronts for the real leadership of America. Even if you don’t believe in conspiracy one must look deeper into this organization and seek to understand their claim to power. Americas Federal Reserve is not lead by a person that is voted in, hell, the reserve is not even an acting body of the Government. The Federal Reserve, is an independent body that only answers to itself, while many Americans try to understand politics the reserve is busy deciding on the rates they will be paying back on the loan for the home they just bought. I have known for years that Presidents are nothing but front men, not real leaders. However, I never thought they would allow a man of color to be the poster child for the true power system of the world.

Yet, as in the movie “The Obama Deception,” we can see a well placed directive, dramatized to make conspiracy look very real. However, is there truth in it, yes, yet one must look deeper to understand its truth. One must seek to understand the wider deception that is fed to us each day by 24 hour news cycles. I believe that Obama means well, but I believe that there are great powers at hand working to deceive this nation with more propaganda. Even the hateful “Fox News,” is being used in the deception of this nation. Seeking to bring balance to a more leftest media cycle. Has the sheets been pulled over the eyes of Americans, I believe so.

Well, the sheet had been pulled over mine, until now. Yet, this deception has gone back long before Obama, this deception more than likely begins with FDR. In order to create the dependent systems we have now, an American President had to sell something to the powers that be, when capitalism failed us with the stock market crash. Now if you are looking for proof, then you need not look in the history books, that our children bring home. That is more of the propaganda brain washing us. However, look more at those who could not survive without Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security. These people were ransomed off like cattle and never even knew it. Anyway, back to the future, who is really running America? That is a question that really no one can give a straight answer to. We must look at a global equation now, and not focus so much on America. Whoever sets the global markets or interest rates through out the world, which here in America would be the Federal Reserve, then the power is not in the hands of voters, power is in the hands of the Wall Street talented tenth. If one would look more closely at President Obama’s Cabinet, one would see a make up of nothing but the people that have driven us into this craziness anyway.

Uncover Your Eyes

Now, I love Obama, as a black man, he brings me pride. Just like Kennedy did for the Irish, back in the day. However, at the rate he is spending money, hell, I don’t know if he will be elected to a second term. Being that most pollutions are fronts, I don’t blame him for getting his nor do I blame him for what he is doing. I believe that some of the strings are being pulled by more powerful people than he. Yet, I also believe, that there are some choices he makes that are truthfully his. Americans need a leader to feel like America belongs to some thing greater, he is that leader. However, great leaders sometimes have great flaws, and President Obama seems to have very few.