To Obama,Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America . Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to. This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these: First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known. Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.Second, no people anywhere have done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks--with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas--to advance black applicants over white applicants. Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated their time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude???Barack talks about new 'ladders of opportunity' for blacks. Let him go to Altoona? And Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for 'deserving' white kids? Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America's fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70% and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50%?Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And they all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.We are a Christian Nation even if Mr. Obama says we are not.

There was a time that unions were useful. There may have been a time that in order to get a fair wage and fair hours unionizing was a good way to go. However, unions have out lived their purpose. Unions have strayed away from their original purpose. Unions no longer care about their members. Nowadays, unions are only out for themselves. Unions only care about their power and their control. Unions are the modern form of legal social communism, restricting what members can earn and by telling them what political stance they can have. They dictate to their members what they will earn. They dictate to their members what their political views must be. Freedom of choice is no longer valid when you are in a union. Unions only raise the cost of services and products that companies provide which in turn raises everyone's cost of living. Unions require businesses to pay employees based solely on seniority and not performance creating a socialist environment. Unions punish those that are motivated to work and reward those that are lazy. When people are paid based only on seniority, the quality of their work will falter every time because there is no longer any incentive for someone to excel in their trade. The result is always poorer quality and service. As quality in products and service declines, customers go elsewhere. As customers go elsewhere, the company goes out of business stranding the workers. Every year union members give a portion of their hard earned money to labor unions. What do they get in return? Nothing, except medical and dental benefits. Unions take the money from their members and spend it on politics. They spend the money endorsing political ideas that may or may not reflect the values, ideas or political parties of their members. They do it without asking, polling or voting on what the members want or would like. The unions only care about advancing their power and control over their members, business and politicians. If you feel that your employer is not giving you a fair wage, fair hours or fair working environment then go work somewhere else. Either the business will get the message as more employees leave for better paying jobs, better hours and better working environments and give better wages, better salaries and improve the environment or they will go out of business.