Se ha dicho que este acto es notablemente similar al vídeo de música de Deep Forest, Sweet Lullaby (nominado por MTV para el vídeo musical del año).

Matt ha continuado hasta convertirse en una sensación internacional y sus vídeos de los más vistos en Internet.

Matt apareció en Buenos Días América (Good Morning America) debido a la cobertura del huracán Katrina. El 31 de mayo de 2006, apareció bailando fuera de los estudios del Times Square frente a una pantalla en la cual se mostraban pequeñas escenas de sus vídeos bailando en algunos lugares del mundo.

Hay dos vídeos en los cuales se le puede ver viajando por muchos lugares, tanto en 2005 como en 2006. El 20 de junio de 2008 publicó su nuevo vídeo el cual ha alcanzado el millón de reproducciones en dos días.

Lugares donde baila en el primer vídeo

• Pekín, China.
• Hanói, Vietnam.
• Delhi, India.
• Moscú, Rusia.
• Bangkok, Tailandia.
• Agra, India.
• Praga, República Checa.
• Angkor Wat, Camboya
• Selva Bengal, India.
• Los Angeles, Estados Unidos.
• Sühbaatar, Mongolia.
• Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
• Siberia, Rusia.
• Monte Albán, México.
• Tsavo, Kenia.
• Bosque impenetrable, Uganda.
• Rangún, Birmania.
• Westport (Connecticut), Estados Unidos.
• Seattle, Estados Unidos.
• Nueva York, Estados Unidos.

Lugares donde baila en el segundo vídeo

• Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.
• Petra, Jordania.
• Machu Picchu, Perú.
• Venecia, Italia.
• Tokio, Japón.
• Islas Galápagos, Ecuador.
• Brisbane, Australia.
• Luang Prabang, Laos.
• Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunéi.
• Área 51, Nevada.
• Tikal, Guatemala.
• Half Moon Caye, Belice.
• Sossusvlei, Namibia.
• Valle Routeburn, Nueva Zelanda.
• Monument Valley, Estados Unidos.
• Shetland.
• Chuuk, Micronesia.
• Londres, Inglaterra.
• Very Large Array, Estados Unidos.
• Abu Simbel, Egipto.
• Isla de Pascua, Chile.
• Picardía, Francia.
• Mutianyu, China.
• Nueva York, Estados Unidos.
• Éfeso, Turquía.
• Guam.
• Reserva Natural Mokolodi, Botsuana.
• Berlín, Alemania.
• Sydney, Australia.
• Dubai, Emiratos Árabes Unidos.
• Islas Roca (Palau).
• Milindi, Ruanda.
• Neko Harbor, Antártida.
• Kjeragbolten, Noruega.
• San Francisco, Estados Unidos.
• Seattle, Estados Unidos.

Tercer viaje, con gente

En 2007 inicia su tercer viaje por el mundo, de nuevo patrocinado por Cadbury, de nuevo promocionando el Stride Gum. En esta ocasión convoca a la gente en las ciudades que visita para que le acompañen en su baile. A todos los participantes les regaló una pulsera de goma con dos textos: "STRIDEGUM.COM" y "JUNE 21, 2008".

• Holanda
• Marruecos
• Mali
• Etiopía
• Zanzibar
• Madagascar
• Sudáfrica
• Zambia
• Reykjavik, Islandia
• Londres, Inglaterra
• Dublín, Irlanda
• Lisboa, Portugal
• Madrid, España. Con la colaboración del blog CPI, logró una convocatoria de más de 180 personas.
• Paris, Francia
• Bruselas, Bélgica
• Colonia, Alemania
• Munich, Alemania
• Ciudad de México
• Rio de Janeiro
• Sao Paulo
• Buenos Aires
• Teotihuacan
• Canal de Panamá

Stephen Harding graduated from the Schools Academy as the leading player with his off-spinners and now features at the T&N Bowling Academy.  He is yet to feature for the Crusaders 2nd XI, but continues to learn his trade and learn from Chris Kotzo.

So it works like this.  You give your life to your country.  You fight in wars, get too fat to fit into a bathtub, drink yourself to death and all kinds of other good stuff.  Then as a final honor, some folks get a couple of tons of butter and carve your face in it.  If you can't remember all of the Ohio Presidents, you can find them here.

This is the link to the original story.

But on the other hand, whenever school is brought up, it forces me to remember my first go-around, and more specifically, Harding - which is where most of the mixed feelings come from. On one hand, I have some truly awesome memories from Harding. Most importantly, thanks to Chi Sigs, Regina, and Art Appreciation (as much as I don't want to give credit to the class), Harding is where I met Sarah, and for that I'll always be thankful. I have tons of great memories from Chi Sigs, Concert Choir, the campaigns I went on, and in general, there are so many people that I am thankful that I was able to meet and call friends while I was there.

The not so great feelings stem from reflecting on how I handled all those friendships. I had an awful lot of people at Harding who cared about me and wanted to see me do well. I can't remember how many times I would have a friend in Chi Sigs come up to me and encourage me to get my grades up so that I could be active again in the club. I never realized how much of a support base I had there, and I just brushed it off. To boil it all down, thinking about Harding forces me to look at how immature I was, and despite how many friends I had trying to help support and encourage me, I repaid the favor only by quitting on myself, school, and on them. 

To everyone from Chi Sigs, Regina and all the other clubs, Concert Choir, and everyone else, I want to say thank you for caring, for trying to help and encourage me. I also want to say I'm sorry for not recognizing what I had during my time with you, and that it took so many years for me to figure it out. A lot of you, I have been able to keep up with and hear what's been going on in your life. I sincerely hope everything is well with you and your home.

I am now in the process of trying to right the bad decisions I made years ago. So far, I'm off to a good start. I count myself very blessed with the support group I have now in my wife, both of my families, and our friends at North Atlanta. I am thankful that I have finally found a perspective that drives me to succeed, and that I've learned to listen to those around me, to draw strength and inspiration from them, and to just know to appreciate what I have.

To say it one more time, to everyone and with all sincerity, thank you so much.

If Barack Obama really wanted to be educated about what it takes to be a President, he would take the tour I'm taking now of Republican Presidential Libraries/Museums.  We began today in beautiful Marion, Ohio where we actually sat on the sight of Harding's 4 front porch speeches.  Harding was one of our best and most beloved Presidents before his untimely passing of heart disease.  I truly was inspired by the magic of the estate and though the obnoxious tour guide nearly had a cow when I sat at the President's former desk, I could feel the greatness of the man in his seat.  We took many photos and I will post some when we return. 

I saw a lot of similiarities between McCain and Harding.  Both having married divorced women who were heirs of wealthy families.  Both being very concerned about veterans rights and controlling immigration.  Harding certainly has big shoes for McCain to fill.

Tomorrow, we are off to see the William Taft Library.  I am very curious to see how they deal with the controversy.  I am not sure how I feel about the man and his falling out with Roosevelt.  This tour has truely re-invigorated my love of country and pushes me forward to blog like I never have before.

God had bigger plans for Tony....

Where the Hell is Matt?

 I have over-estimated the capacity of both my academic (Harding University) and my religious (Church of Christ) community to deal with critical thinking or dissent in a public forum.

Well, if one could ACTUALLY dissent on his forum, that might be true but Elrod doesn't allow that.  He has banned me (and others) from his forum for the simple fact that we point out his errors, inconsistencies, and hypocrisy.  He really hates that.  If you disagree with him and do it in a polite, logical way, that really burns him up and he will simply stop letting you post.  I guess that's what Elrod sees as "dissent" or "critical thinking". 

Of course, he will let pseudo intellectuals like GKB spew negative comments towards the right  all day long but if you try to point out errors or things from the left in the same, humours way, he will, again, not post them.  Yep.  THAT is "critical thinking" the Mark Elrod way for ya.

Here is another:

In short, I’d rather have a quiet, private discussion with friends than public arguments with anonymous critics who would rather run to my employer with complaints about something I said than trying to discuss it with me in a reasonable and rational manner.

As mentioned above, we would LOVE to have a discussion with Elrod AND keep that discussion reasonable, the only problem is Elrod.  He doesn't want it.  He only wants to hear his own ideas regurgitated back at him.  He refuses to discuss things with people he disagrees with. 

This is such a joke.  Such BS....but, maybe it is.  Perhaps Elrod is just yanking everyone's chain and will keep his site up.  However, I don't think so.  He's a typical Liberal who would rather complain about something than actually make a stand and do something about it. 

While we are on the subject of complainers, GKB posted this humours comment:

I wonder how much support a “Give HU Profs Tenure” Facebook group would get. Or perhaps a “Let Academic Freedom Ring” group. I can understand quashing dissent in a church, but for it to happen at an academic institution is just laughable.

Of course, Liberals are all for tenure.  They are the ones who want to force employers to keep you on the job no matter what you say or do.  Liberals, of course, don't think there should be consequences to actions.    I wonder, GKB, what do you think of Elrod "quashing dissent" on his blog AND in his classroom?  He does both.  From my experience, Elrod doesn't let "academic freedom ring" at all. 

That being said, If Harding is forcing this due to Elrod's ideology, I would be disappointed but not surprised in the least.  He is actually the reason for this blog.  I was sick of getting locked out and wanted some good conversation.  It's a shame, really.  I think HU is better with him there (not that he is going anywhere).  It shows students that they don't have to toe the line.  They don't have to believe what their parents do or what the school officials say they should.   He encouraged people to stand up for what they believe in, even if they are the minority.  Now, It may sound contrived but he was a voice in the wilderness for many.  Albeit a voice in error but a voice none the less.  The only problem I had was that he wears his big 'D' jersey a bit too much....But hey, after 20 years, he should know this and is free to leave at any time if he doesn't like it.  I'm sure Berkley would hire him in a heartbeat if he chose to leave (which I don't think he does at all).

BTW, the good people over at Politics and Culture have posted a good blog about this latest development.

We here at the Moratorium site are now on the search for a new resident complainer.  I think we will just go with John Edwards.  He's looking for a job...at least until the next election cycle rolls around.

Tudo começou em 2003. Foi neste ano que Matt Harding resolveu largar seu emprego (na Austrália), e usar suas economias para vagar pelo continente asiático. A idéia de se criar um site (cliquem aqui, para acessá-lo), para manter seus parentes e amigos informados (de onde diabos ele estava), foi dele. Mas a idéia de gravá-lo dançando (uma dancinha idiota) foi de um amigo dele (e companheiro de viagem). E, obviamente, estes vídeos foram parar na internet e propagaram-se como viral. Fazendo com que Matt se transformasse em uma Cyber Celebrity.

Não estão entendendo nada? Vocês não sabem nem de quem eu estou falando? Bom, então deixem-me apresentá-lo a vocês:

Eu, particularmente, acho tudo isso uma idiotice. Sejam sinceros: "Qual a graça em ver um panaca dançando (muito mal, diga-se de passagem) em vários lugares do mundo?". Mas, querendo ou não, estes vídeo fizeram sucesso e renderam até um patrocínio. Como assim? É isso mesmo que vocês entenderam. Em 2006 a empresa Stride Gum decidiu bancar as viagens (do Forest Gump genérico), para que fossem gravados novos vídeos do Matt dançando pelo mundo.

Mas, enfim! Não vim aqui para falar do passado de Matt Harding. Então, vamos ao presente. Em junho (desse ano) foi lançado o novo vídeo (viral) do Where the Hell Is Matt?, confiram:

Sendo que, enquanto eu fazia minha visita diária ao Sedentário & Hiperativo, encontrei o seguinte post: "Enquanto Matt Fica Dançando pelo Mundo, Sua Namorada...". Obviamente (assim espero), se o Matt tem uma namorada, ele deve levá-la junto em suas viagens. Mas, e se ele não levasse (rs)? A equipe do CollegeHumor resolveu nos presentear com a resposta:

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1357670&w=425&h=350&fv=clip_id%3D1821531%26autostart%3Dtrue%26fullscreen%3D1]

Fonte (do vídeo Where the Hell is Matt's Girlfriend?): Sedentário & Hiperativo

Mais putain, où est Matt ? Après avoir plaqué son job en Australie et décidé d'utiliser ses économies à voyager, Matthew Harding est depuis tout simplement en train de se taper un tour du monde. Un tour du monde qui n'en finit plus depuis 2005, année où il a commencé à se filmer en train de danser dans des lieux magnifiques et dépaysants aux quatre coins du globe. Where the hell is Matt ? En ce moment, il est à Miami. Mais où sera t'il demain ? Voici la vidéo 2008 qui illustre son projet "Dancing". Bonne humeur communicative !

Video source Where the Hell is Matt

Enlace:

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/

"¿Donde demonios esta Matt?" es una serie de 3 videos (hasta ahora) de Matt Harding, donde sale bailando en diferentes lugares del mundo.

Estos videos son muy emotivos, tanto que apuesto a que te sacaran mas de una sonrisilla o una lagrimita a los mas sensibles, sigo sin explicar por que me hace sentir tan lindo ver los videos.

Este es el primer video, realizado del 2003 al 2004 (Pero subido en el 2005)

Este es el segundo video, del 2006

Y este es el nuevo, subido apenas hace 2 dias (20 de Junio del 2008)

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.610194&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Gracias a ALT1040 por el video mas nuevo y acordarme de Matt.

La noticia, en Elperiódico.com

• Los vídeos con los torpes zapateos de Harding por el mundo triunfan en la red
• El estadounidense ha logrado un patrocinador para viajar y tiene una legión de imitadores

MARCELO BERNÁRDEZ / BARCELONA
Instalado plácidamente en el cielo de la desfachatez moderna, bien aposentado en ese extraño olimpo donde las necedades se premian a menudo con fama y dinero, Matt Harding, el bailador, el viajero, el treintañero avispado... ¿qué va a hacer? Pasárselo bien. Un día se le ocurre dar la vuelta al mundo, al día siguiente decide grabarse en todos los lugares donde hace escala, colgar los vídeos en internet y avisar a su familia para que sepan dónde está; finalmente, acaba bailando en cada toma. Resultado: Matt Harding es célebre. Es el tipo del bailecito. El hombre que cada vez que baila frente a la cámara demuestra que casi, con cualquier cosa, puedes ser alguien en la red.
De modo que Harding ya tiene su propia entrada en la Wikipedia. Sus vídeos figuran entre los más vistos en Youtube y cientos de personas le han rendido homenaje colgando en internet sus propios vídeos de imitación (aunque nadie puede imitar el torpe aleteo del original). Otro triunfo patrocinado por la red. ¿Y qué es exactamente lo que ha hecho este joven de Connecticut, programador de videojuegos que un día, en Australia, decidió coger sus ahorros e irse a recorrer mundo? Nada. Aparte de bailar, nada. Pero, a veces, las nadas esconden buenas historias.

El vídeo que le ha lanzado a la fama se puede encontrar en multitud de webs y blogs. Algunos de los enlaces son:

• El original, en Youtube
• En Zapinternet
• La evolución del vídeo, año a año

Y, como todo es aprovechable para hacer negocio, Harding también ha editado un segundo vídeo con las tomas falsas.

La noticia, en otros medios:

• En ABC
  
• En El Mundo
  
• En Tele5
  

RECLAMO
Hay dos momentos fundamentales en la vida pública de Matt Harding: el primero, cuando la gente decide volverse loca con sus bailes. El segundo, cuando una empresa decide pagarle para que siga bailando. Y viajando. Una empresa de chicles. Sus responsables contactaron con él a finales del 2003, cuando ya era famoso por sus vídeos. Con el dinero que había ahorrado de su sueldo había visitado una veintena de países en compañía de un amigo, que sujetaba la cámara delante de cada reclamo turístico para que la familia de Harding pudiera ubicarlo en un lugar concreto. Fue ese amigo el que le dio la idea de bailar.
De vuelta a casa, sin un centavo en los bolsillos, no podía sino decir que sí cuando los responsables de la multinacional Cadbury le propusieron volver a viajar --con todos los gastos pagos-- para promocionar el Stride long-lasting gum. Literalmente, "chicle Stride de larga duración". ¿Realmente dura tanto? "Ridículamente", comenta Harding.
Patrocinado por Cadbury, el ya famoso hombre del bailecito recorrió medio mundo repitiendo su ridículo ritual en cada destino. En las cumbres del Machu Picchu, en los canales de Venecia, en las islas Galápagos, en el sultanato de Brunei, en el desierto de Namibia, en las pirámides de Guatemala, en las ruinas de Petra, en la Gran Muralla china. Fueron seis meses, 36 países y 76 vuelos. Y otra inyección de fama. "Si hay alguien que me acompaña, es él quien sujeta la cámara. Si estoy solo, recluto al primero que esté cerca. Por lo general, asumen que quiero una toma normal. Cuando empiezo a bailar ya es demasiado tarde, así que siguen grabando. Lo habitual es que se rían".

UN AMERICANO SENCILLO
La imagen de Harding no se corresponde ni de lejos con la del viajero que recorre el mundo con una mochila al hombro, tres juegos de calcetines malolientes y el dinero justo, o menos del justo, en los bolsillos. Más próximo al estereotipo del estadounidense medio, en los vídeos aparece casi siempre con camiseta y pantalón corto --salvo en los vídeos submarinos, que los hay-- y calcetines casi hasta las rodillas --incluso en pleno trópico--, exhibiendo una humanidad agradecida y bien alimentada. Cuando alguien le pregunta cuál es el mensaje que intenta transmitir responde que él solo baila, y cuando le preguntan si baila para viajar o viaja para bailar, dice que viajar es lo que le chifla y bailar es el pasaporte para conseguirlo, de modo que se aplica mucho para que los vídeos queden bien.
¿Qué hace Matt Harding cuando no está dando la vuelta al mundo? Al parecer permanece en Seattle, su ciudad natal, donde trabaja --sí, trabaja-- programando videojuegos. Si en unos años será un don nadie o si por el contrario se habrá convertido en el Gran Viajero del Baile es algo que no le importa, pues lo que de verdad le interesa es aprovechar hasta donde sea posible su inaudita suerte. Como si fuera una estrella y sus acciones dignas de ser imitadas, un grupo de internautas viajeros españoles decidieron hacer un vídeo similar pegando fragmentos grabados durante sus respectivos viajes. Así funciona la fama en la red.

New York Times: Will Americans vote for a black president? If the notorious historian William Estabrook Chancellor was right, we already did. In the early 1920s, Chancellor helped assemble a controversial biographical portrait accusing President Warren Harding of covering up his family’s “colored” past. According to the family tree Chancellor created, Harding was actually the great-grandson of a black woman. Under the one-drop rule of American race relations, Chancellor claimed, the country had inadvertently elected its “first Negro president.”

In today’s presidential landscape, many Americans view the prospect of a black man in the Oval Office as a sign of progress — evidence of a “postracial” national consciousness. In the white-supremacist heyday of the 1920s (the Ku Klux Klan had a major revival during the Harding years), the taint of “Negro blood” was political death. The Harding forces hit back hard against Chancellor, driving him out of his job and destroying all but a handful of published copies of his book.

In the decades since, many biographers have dismissed the rumors of Harding’s mixed-race family as little more than a political scandal and Chancellor himself as a Democratic mudslinger and racist ideologue. But as with the long-denied and now all-but-proved allegations of Thomas Jefferson’s affair with his slave Sally Hemings, there is reason to question the denials. From the perspective of 2008, when interracial sex is seen as a historical fact of life instead of an abomination, the circumstantial case for Harding’s mixed-race ancestry is intriguing though not definitive.

To anyone who tracks it down today, Chancellor’s book comes across as a laughable partisan screed, an amalgam of bizarre racial theories, outlandish stereotypes and cheap political insults. But it also contains a remarkable trove of social knowledge — the kind of community gossip and oral tradition that rarely appears in official records but often provides clues to richer truths. When he toured Ohio in 1920, Chancellor claimed to find dozens of acquaintances and neighbors willing to swear that the Hardings had been considered black for generations. Among the persuaded, according to rumor, was Harding’s father-in-law, Amos Kling, one of the richest men in Harding’s adopted hometown of Marion. When Harding married his daughter, Florence, in 1891, Kling supposedly denounced her for polluting the family line.

There were rumors of other family scandals as well: the 1849 case in which “one David Butler killed Amos Smith” after Smith claimed that Butler’s wife, a Harding, was black; the suggestion that Harding’s father’s second wife divorced him because he was too much Negro “for her to endure.” In Chancellor’s book, such stories are relayed with a bitter, racist glee — ample reason not to accept them out of hand. But if none of this had any resemblance to the truth, how did all of these rumors get started?

In 1968, the Harding biographer Francis Russell offered an explanation: Harding’s great-great-grandfather Amos told his descendants that he once caught a man killing his neighbor’s apple trees and that the man started the rumor in retaliation — a rather weak story that Russell declined to endorse and that did not silence the mixed-blood rumors. Well into the 1930s, African-Americans claiming a family link continued to pop up in the press. (One decidedly dark-skinned Oliver Harding, supposedly the president’s great-uncle, appeared in Abbott’s Monthly, a black-owned Chicago magazine, in 1932.) As recently as 2005, a Michigan schoolteacher named Marsha Stewart issued her own claim to Harding ancestry. “While growing up,” she wrote, “we were never allowed to talk about the relationship to a U.S. president outside family gatherings because we were ‘colored’ and Warren was ‘passing.’ ”

Genetic testing and genealogical research may one day prove the truth or falsity of such claims. In the meantime, as the campaign season plunges us headlong into a “national conversation” about race, it’s worth thinking about why that truth has been so hard to come by for so long — about what makes it into our official history and what we choose to excise along the way.

Harding’s hometown, Marion, Ohio, provides a case in point. The town gained national fame in 1920 as the site of Harding’s “front-porch campaign”; for weeks, he delivered stump speeches from his well-tended home. Far less well known, as the historian Phillip Payne has noted, is what happened the year before, when a mob of armed white Marion residents drove more than 200 black families out of town, one of a wave of postwar race riots that served to segregate the industrialized north.

As he campaigns to become the nation’s first (openly) black president, Barack Obama likes to say that we’ve begun to put that divisive history behind us. The truth may be that we don’t yet know the half of it.

Dorothy Counts - Douglas Martin, de The Associated Press

Deberíamos usar el pasado como trampolín y no como sofá.

Harold MacMillan (1894-1986) Político inglés.

El 4 de septiembre de 1957 Dorothy Counts se despertó muy temprano. No quería llegar tarde a su primer día de clase. Como haría cualquier niña, un día de tantos. Y sin embargo, a sus 15 años estaba escribiendo una línea imprescindible en la historia de los Estados Unidos. En la historia de la Humanidad. Porque era negra. Simplemente…

¿Simplemente? No fue tan sencillo...

Hasta entonces, los estudiantes negros no tenían la oportunidad de acceder a las mejores escuelas. Vivían segregados. Dorothy y otros tres chicos, en otras tantas poblaciones del país, tenían aquel día una misma misión, eran los elegidos. Un peso abrumador para sus juveniles espaldas. No es cómodo ser pionero, abrir nuevos caminos. Debían renovar la mentalidad de unos cabeza-buques, de un solo martillazo. Y rompieron barreras…

¿A qué precio?

Dorothy Counts acudió caminando a la Harry Harding High School en Charlotte, Carolina del Norte. Una escuela sólo para blancos, que ahora era una escuela interracial. Interracial, porque habían admitido a una negra. A Dorothy…

Esta acción desafió la segregación, la práctica de mantener a las personas separadas de acuerdo a su raza. Fue un día insoportable para la niña, muy desagradable, Dorothy tuvo que templar sus nervios para no reaccionar. Para no salir corriendo o para no dar una merecida bofetada a más de uno…

Los alumnos blancos le tiraban piedras que caían furiosas rozando sus pies. Y la insultaban, esos oídos escucharon frases que no podemos ni imaginar. Las chicas, sus nuevas compañeras, la escupían en la espalda, y puede que lo más grave, los profesores la ignoraban…

¿Qué debía hacer? ¿Cómo debía comportarse? ¿Por qué la trataban así? ¿Cuál era su pecado? ¿Qué delito había cometido? ¿Sólo por ser negra?

Volvió a casa destrozada. Recelosa. A pesar de su envidiable fortaleza. Una entereza que puede apreciarse nítidamente en la fotografía de Douglas. Pero no era un Dios como Hércules, no era todopoderosa, aunque fuese una heroína, era una adolescente que necesitaba cariño. Aquella noche debió ser interminable para ella. El fin del mundo…

¿Cuántas adolescentes han creído que llegaba el fin del mundo por mucho menos? ¿Por un grano inesperado o por una mirada indiferente?

Dorothy sabía lo que era el racismo, no era tan inocente, pero aquello era demasiado…

El segundo día recibió los mismos regalos. Las mismas miradas acusatorias y desalmadas. Sin embargo, dos de las chicas se acercaron. Y la trataron como a una persona, no como a un animal. ¿Un rayo de esperanza?

Nada de eso. Recibieron advertencias del resto de alumnos, las intimidaron como si hubiesen recibido clases del mismísimo Vito Corleone, y las crías decidieron callar y alejarse de Dorothy. Normal. Tampoco eran dioses…

Ni heroínas…

¿Y qué tal iban las cosas en casa? Pues veamos, decide tú, su familia empezó a recibir llamadas telefónicas amenazadoras. Incluso aporrearon el coche familiar...

Unos bárbaros saquearon la taquilla de la niña el tercer día. Nada cambiaba. O si acaso, a peor. Los ánimos se encrespaban…

Alguien debía tomar una decisión. Y la famila de Dorothy dio un paso al frente. Demostraron su sensatez. No soportaron el acoso. El cuarto día, el padre dio una conferencia de prensa. Iba a sacar a su hija de ese infierno…

“It is with compassion for our native land and love for our daughter Dorothy that we withdraw her as a student at Harding High School. As long as we felt she could be protected from bodily injury and insults within the school’s walls and upon the school premises, we were willing to grant her desire to study at Harding”

Se mudaron a Pennsylvania, donde Dorothy asistió en Philadelphia a una escuela integrada y luego se graduó en una escuela en Asheville.

Hoy en día, Dorothy sigue viviendo en Charlotte. Ahora es Dot Counts-Scoggins. Es consejera de Child Care Resources. Hace un año Steve Crump realizó un documental sobre aquel día. "9/4/57”. Y Dot volvió a la escuela 50 años después…

Para ver el documental. Le entregaron un diploma honorífico, pero eso no hizo que su corazón palpitara más fuerte. Fue mucho más importante lo que experimentó. Se sintió aceptada, según sus propias palabras. Se respiraba aire limpio. Incluso Marty Wilson unos de los chicos que la insultaron, estuvo allí.
"Yo era muy joven y un muchacho muy tonto", dijo. Y entonces le pidió disculpas a Dorothy por lo que hizo.

¿Qué debía hacer? ¿Cómo debía reaccionar, Dorothy?

Le miró y contestó:

"Gracias por ser mi amigo."

Ella se puso de pie. Él caminó hacia ella…

Se abrazaron y la multitud los vitoreó…

Dorothy había vencido…

Esta fotografía ganó el World Press Photo Award del año 1957.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=OrzjTjxqRbg

I’ve always wondered why Americans forget so much important history.  I’ve wondered why we’ve forgotten what Americans had accomplished before income tax, Social Security and class basketball. 

And I wonder why (if the following is actually true), we’ve forgotten that probably five, perhaps six, and maybe even more of our USA Presidents …were part black.

I confess that I haven't personally checked out all the facts.  But according to at least a few historians (one of whom is himself black), Warren Harding had black ancestors on both sides of his family tree.  Thomas Jefferson was called a “… son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father.”  Some say that Abraham Lincoln was almost as black as is Barack Obama.  And Andrew Jackson’s brother was sold as a slave!

Sure, some such racial trivia is equivocal.  Only Harding didn’t deny his black ancestry.  Jefferson did his best to hide all records of his ancestry while doing his best to maintain all records of himself; so maybe we'll never be sure about him. 

Still, it’s embarrassing that most of us are convinced that Obama is something new when, actually, his ideology, his “phenomenon,” and his lineage are no “change” at all. 

Sorry, Barack.  You're nothing new.

But then, our black presidential history isn’t as important as other, less equivocal and more critical history.

We were warned about voting away our rights.  We were warned about trading liberty for security.  We were warned that as government grows, liberty and prosperity recede. 

We have forgotten all of this.  And that may just kill us.

All major party presidential candidates excepting Ron Paul, and almost all major party candidates for any public office all across the nation, reflect and even amplify this destructive ignorance.  History demonstrates very well what comes after the bread and circuses of our modern Rome.  It’s nuts to keep going in this direction. 

So with my candidacy for Indiana Governor I offer the following platform:

To simply honor the oath of office and be an Indiana Governor as mandated by the contracts that authorize the office. 

In other words, my platform is to enforce federalism, Rule of Law as written, and, literally, liberty and justice for all.

Of course, we’ve been lied to about everything significant for so long that almost nobody has any idea what that the preceding actually entails, so I’ll explain.

Article 15, Section 4 of the Indiana Constitution says, “Every person elected or appointed to any office under this Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath or affirmation, to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States, and also an oath of office.”

We make our politicians swear such an oath to the constitutions (note: both state and federal) because constitutions protect citizens from politicians ...that’s important!

That importance is underlined by Indiana Code 5-4-1-1: “every officer and every deputy, before entering on the officer’s or deputy’s official duties, shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Indiana, and that the officer or deputy will faithfully discharge the duties of such office.”

This protects us from the “police state,”  or Rule of Tyrants, by leashing all political power to written constitutions, and not to any politician.

Article 1, Section 25 of the Indiana Constitution says, “No law shall be passed, the taking effect of which shall be made to depend upon any authority, except as provided in this Constitution.”

So the Indiana Constitution is THE LAW in Indiana.  Nothing can contravene it.  No “authority” can say otherwise.  No law, written or spoken, can violate the limitations on power imposed by the Indiana Constitution.  The General Assembly can change it.  They can even suspend all laws, including the constitution (God forbid!) under Article 1 Section 26.  But so long as we’re a republic that claims to operate under written constitutions and Rule of Law (instead of Rule of Tyrants), the Indiana Constitution is to be obeyed as written.  That’s the law.

And who is to enforce it?

Article 5, Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution says, “The executive power of the State shall be vested in a Governor.”  And Article 5, Section 12 says, “The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and may call out such forces, to execute the laws, or to suppress insurrection, or to repel invasion.” 

The preceding, plus Article 5, Section 14’s assignment to the Governor the power to sign bills into law, makes something very clear: The Governor is the “the Cop of the Constitution;” the protector of citizen rights…the armed authority of the State of Indiana. 

Politics is violence, of course.  The whole point of constitutions is to restrain violence, not unleash it upon citizens.  And the Governor’s role is to restrain this violence to only what’s allowed by law.

This has been proven to work through thousands of years of human history.  It is also the legal, right thing to do.

So, here is your choice: Vote for a Democrat/Republican and get more of what you’ve been getting good and hard, or vote for me and get what’s both right, and proven to promote peace, security, liberty and prosperity.

SEARCY, Ark. — Harding University and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro have signed an agreement to develop pharmaceutical research opportunities. The agreement provides a collaborative working arrangement for Harding's College of Pharmacy and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at ASU.

Dr. Carole Cramer, executive director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at ASU, and Dr. Julie Hixson-Wallace, dean of the College of Pharmacy, announced the agreement jointly.

The agreement will allow faculty and students in the College of Pharmacy to conduct pharmaceutical research in collaboration with ASU faculty members. The agreement also will provide opportunities for the submission of joint grant proposals.

The agreement between the two schools became effective at the beginning of the spring semester. Previously Harding's College of Pharmacy had signed a cooperative research agreement with the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Harding's College of Pharmacy will seat its inaugural class in the fall, enrolling 60 students in August. A total of 56 students — representing 19 states — have been interviewed and accepted for enrollment in the fall. More than 350 applications were submitted for consideration for the inaugural class.

ASU's Biosciences Institute has state-of-the-art facilities in plant genetic engineering, DNA and protein analyses, mammalian cell culture, microscopy, and analytical support that provide significant resources to faculty, students and industry.

The institute's facilities enable a broad spectrum of research activities that range from direct manipulations at the DNA and single-cell level to large-scale bioproduction and assessment of medically active compounds.

In the wake of the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s, President Harding remarked: "I have no trouble with my enemies ... [it's] my ... friends ... that keep me walking the floors at night."

Warren G. Harding, President of the United States 1921-1923.
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Today's presidential candidates likely feel the same way at times, facing a certain guilt by association, as their personal connections dovetail with their political ambitions. The media are watching — beware your past.
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Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois faced down his own relationship with his controversial Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in a speech yesterday that sought to distance himself from Mr. Wright's anti-American and seemingly anti-white teachings and to bridge a gap on racial understanding, particularly his own views.
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Although Mr. Obama's speech generated much attention....

Read the rest:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/NATION/62946736/1001