Malcolm X

A historical figure was born today in 1925. Malcolm Little, who became known as Malcolm X later in life, entered the world in Omaha, Nebraska. He packed a lot of living into his short life and had transformed himself two times which makes him a highly interesting person.

The first transformation happened after he was sentenced to ten years in prison for burglary. He had been involved in many nefarious activities such as weapons crimes, grand larceny and drugs. After being sentenced to prison he took a turn away from his former life which was going nowhere toward a life of study. In prison he became a voracious reader with the classics part of his choices. He also was introduced to the Nation of Islam, for better or worse, by his brother, Reginald.

While under the influence of the Nation of Islam and its leader, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X became an advocate for living separately from Caucasian people. This was the solution to the racial difficulties that Americans were having at the time, according to the Nation of Islam and there was to be no talk of integration. But a couple of things happened to rock his world. Malcolm X discovered that his mentor, Elijah Muhammad, was having affairs with several women during which children were produced. This truth was a big blow to him.

After he found out the truth about his mentor he took a pilgrimage to Mecca, as Muslims are required to do. On this trip second transformation began and he saw people of all races interacting civilly with each other and him. It changed his outlook on the possibility of better relations between people of all races. He had already split with the Nation of Islam and started his own ministry, the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and was able to begin spreading his new message when he returned to the United States.

Malcolm X, unfortunately, did not have much time to speak of his new views. Members of the Nation of Islam gunned him down in front of his wife and an entire audience at a talk he was giving on February 21, 1965. Malcolm X died at the age of 39.

SHARRON ANGLE

Nevadans have a chance to do a great service to the entire country; remove Harry Reid from office and place someone in that position who will do what the people want him or her to do. One candidate, Republican Sharron Angle, is one of the people who would like to be the new Senator from Nevada. See if you agree with her philosophy.

A majority of the people of the United States did not want the federal government taking over the entirety of healthcare. Harry Reid is for Obamacare even though people were telling him they did not want it to happen. Sharron Angle does not to believe that Obamacare is a good idea. She has looked to the nationalized healthcare system in Massachusetts and seen that it does not work. She believes that the way to combat the ill-conceived federal law is for it to not be funded.

Because Medicare is truly a broken system Sharron Angle offers solutions to the problems presented by this current healthcare program. She believes seniors should not be thrown to the wayside as they have paid into the system all of their lives and they deserve to have something returned to them in their golden years. But she suggests creating a different system for those who are currently working which will transition into a free market type of healthcare system for younger workers. In this way Medicare will be phased out completely.

As a plan to help lower healthcare costs, which she believes that Obamacare will not do, Sharron Angle proposes tort reform. Other ideas that have been suggested by Republicans as a way to lower costs are also endorsed by Ms. Angle such as the ability to purchase healthcare across state lines and encouraging people to invest in health savings accounts. If this sounds good to you, stay tuned!

NET NEUTRALITY

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) wants to begin regulating the internet. Specifically, the FCC envisions the internet like the phone companies; they are able to regulate these companies currently. The positive side of net neutrality would mean that companies would not be able to give one customer an advantage over other customers by manipulating the traffic that each company receives. With net neutrality, the companies would not be able to block the traffic, which has been done in the past, from any one company.

It sounds like a good idea to some; net neutrality would make the whole internet “neutral” where one company does not benefit from the blocked traffic of another company. The problem I am concerned about is the government taking on more regulation duties. The FCC was regulating television when the Janet Jackson incident happened at the Super Bowl. People were up in arms about this and the FCC began discussing fines for stations that violate decency guidelines. With net neutrality these same types of disputes may begin with the internet as its subject.

Terrestrial radio also had its issues with the FCC. A radio station in San Diego that I was listening to for the Howard Stern Show decided to sabotage its own business after the Super Bowl incident and took Howard’s show off the air when Howard was not even part of the incident. Their rating plunged. They must have panicked and were unwilling to fight for their business so they willingly trashed it. I had no reason to listen to this station after that and a lot of people, apparently, agreed with me.

If you do not think that expanding the FCC’s reach into the internet is a good idea, the website http://americansforprosperity.org can help you contact your Senators to tell them to stop net neutrality legislation.