DEATH.

I have a friend who has a friend that is slowly dieing because of Cancer.
Lets call the terminal friend Sue and my friend May.

May has a ministry where she will go and prey for people who are about to have serious surgery or who are terminal.

At night Sue is calling May every 10 or 20 minutes to talk, or ask for her to come buy because Sue’s family has forsaken her.

May is a schoolteacher and this keeps her up all night long because she can’t turn her back on Sue in her last hours.

May asked me what should she do.

Here’s what I said to May.
Sue is not ready. (Like someone can get ready for this). She’s lonely and scared and doesn’t want to be alone, especially at night. She doesn’t want to sleep because in her minds eye she will be sleep forever soon. Sleep to her is like practicing death.
Sue will not talk to May about her real feelings and concerns or fears. I think Sue is not ready.

Life is so precious and you really understand this if you see what someone like Sue is going through. I might sound morbid about what I’m going to say but I’m going to say it.
We need to see at an early age people like Sue. We need to talk to people like Sue. We need to listen to people like Sue. We need to love people like Sue who has the courage to deal with being terminal.

What age is an early age? It’s the age when a child is at the crossroads between trying to find themselves and rebellion. It’s between the time when a child is out of control and is trying to grow up as a weed. It’s between the time a child has all the answers (mostly wrong) and a child is lazy because they just know they have tomorrow.

Life is short but broad.

I feel Sue understands that life is so short, and that she still has so much living she should have done and wants to live. Sue is in here early 70’s but her mind is in the early 30’s now. That’s how the mind works. It will always be young and vibrant. It will never get old.

Folks, Take this lesson from Sue, I’m sure she wants everyone to here.
Be everything you can. Do everything you can. Learn everything you can. Go everywhere you can. Love with all your might and live.

God bless you Sue, You’ve taught us today and forever. We will miss you.
Gaidi

BLACK WALLSTREET
Please pass this on to the Iota Family. It's an important part of history that every Black person should know, if they don't know already.


Ron Wallace: co-author of Black Wallstreet: A Lost Dream Chronicles a little-known chapter of African-American History in Oklahoma as told to Ronald E. Childs. If anyone truly believes that the last April attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was the most tragic bombing ever to take place on United States soil, as the media has been widely reporting, they're wrong-plain and simple. That's because an even deadlier bomb occurred in that same state nearly 75 years ago.

Many people in high places would like to forget that it ever happened. Searching under the heading of "riots," "Oklahoma" and "Tulsa" in current editions of the World Book Encyclopedia, there is conspicuously no mention whatsoever of the Tulsa race riot of 1921, and this omission is by no means a surprise, or a rare case. The fact is, one would also be hard-pressed to find documentation of the incident, let alone an accurate accounting of it, in any other "scholarly" reference or American history book.

That's precisely the point that noted author, publisher and orator Ron Wallace, a Tulsa native, sought to make nearly five years ago when he began researching this riot, one of the worst incidents of violence ever visited upon people of African descent. Ultimately joined on the project by colleague Jay Jay Wilson of Los Angeles, the duo found and compiled indisputable evidence of what they now describe as "A Black Holocaust in America."

The date was June 1, 1921, when "Black Wallstreet," the name fittingly given to one of the most affluent all-black communities in America, was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by mobs of envious whites. In a period spanning fewer than 12 hours, a once thriving 36-black business district in northern Tulsa lay smoldering-A model community destroyed, and a major Africa-American economic movement resoundingly defused.

The night's carnage left some 3,000 African Americans dead, and over 600 successful businesses lost. Among these were 21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores and two movie theaters, plus a hospital, a bank, a post office, libraries, schools, law offices, a half-dozen private airplanes and even a bus system. As could be expected, the impetus behind it all was the infamous Ku Klux Klan, working in consort with ranking city officials, and many other sympathizers. In their self-published book, Black Wallstreet: A lost Dream, and its companion video documentary, Black Wallstreet: A Black Holocaust in America!, the authors have chronicled for the very first time in the words of area historians and elderly survivors what really happened there on that fateful summer day in 1921 and why it happened. Wallace similarly explained to Black Elegance why this bloody event from the turn of the century seems to have had a recurring effect that is being felt in predominately Black neighborhoods even to this day. The best description of Black Wallstreet, or Little Africa as it was also known, would be to liken it to a mini-Beverly Hills. It was the golden door of the Black community during the early 1900s, and it proved that African Americans had successful infrastructure. That's what Black Wallstreet was about.

The dollar circulated 36 to 1000 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community. Now in 1995, a dollar leaves the Black community in 15 minutes. As far as resources, there were Ph.D's residing in Little Africa, Black attorneys and doctors. One doctor was Dr. Berry who also owned the bus system. His average income was $500 a day, a hefty pocket of change in 1910. During that era, physicians owned medical schools. There were also pawn shops everywhere, brothels, jewelry stores, 21 churches, 21 restaurants and two movie theaters. It was a time when the entire state of Oklahoma had only two airports, yet six blacks owned their own planes. It was a very fascinating community. The area encompassed over 600 businesses and 36 square blocks with a population of 15,000 African Americans. And when the lower-economic Europeans looked over and saw what the Black community created, many of them were jealous. When the average student went to school on Black Wallstreet, he wore a suit and tie because of the morals and respect they were taught at a young age.

The mainstay of the community was to educate every child. Nepotism was the one word they believed in. And that's what we need to get back to in 1995. The main thoroughfare was Greenwood Avenue, and it was intersected by Archer and Pine Streets. From the first letters in each of those names, you get G.A.P., and that's where the renowned R&B music group The GAP Band got its name. They're from Tulsa. Black Wallstreet was a prime example of the typical Black community in America that did business, but it was in an unusual location. You see, at the time, Oklahoma was set aside to be a Black and Indian state. There were over 28 Black townships there. One third of the people who traveled in the terrifying "Trail of Tears" along side the Indians between 1830 to 1842 were Black people. The citizens of this proposed Indian and Black state chose a Black governor, a treasurer from Kansas named McDade. But the Ku Klux Klan said that if he assumed office that they would kill him within 48 hours. A lot of Blacks owned farmland, and many of them had gone into the oil business. The community was so tight and wealthy because they traded dollars hand-to-hand, and because they were dependent upon one another as a result of the Jim Crow laws.

It was not unusual that if a resident's home accidentally burned down, it could be rebuilt within a few weeks by neighbors. This was the type of scenario that was going on day-to-day on Black Wallstreet. When Blacks intermarried into the Indian culture, some of them received their promised '40 acres and a Mule,' and with that came whatever oil was later found on the properties.

Just to show you how wealthy a lot of Black people were, there was a banker in a neighboring town who had a wife named California Taylor. Her father owned the largest cotton gin west of the Mississippi [River]. When California shopped, she would take a cruise to Paris every three months to have her clothes made. There was also a man named Mason in nearby Wagner County who had the largest potato farm west of the Mississippi. When he harvested, he would fill 100 boxcars a day. Another brother not far away had the same thing with a spinach farm. The typical family then was five children or more, though the typical farm family would have 10 kids or more who made up the nucleus of the labor.

On Black Wallstreet, a lot of global business was conducted. The community flourished from the early 1900s until June 1, 1921. That's when the largest massacre of non-military Americans in the history of this country took place, and it was lead by the Ku Klux Klan. Imagine walking out of your front door and seeing 1,500 homes being burned. It must have been amazing.

Survivors we interviewed think that the whole thing was planned because during the time that all of this was going on, white families with their children stood around on the borders of the community and watched the massacre, the looting and everything---much in the same manner they would watch a lynching.

In my lectures I ask people if they understand where the word "picnic" comes from. It was typical to have a picnic on a Friday evening in Oklahoma. The word was short for "pick a nigger" to lynch. They would lynch a Black male and cut off body parts as souvenirs. This went on every weekend in this country. That's where the term really came from. The riots weren't caused by anything Black or white. It was caused by jealousy. A lot of white folks had come back from World War I and they were poor. When they looked over into the Black communities and realized that Black men who fought in the war had come home heroes that helped trigger the destruction. It cost the Black community everything, and not a single dime of restitution---no insurance claims-has been awarded to the victims to this day.

Nonetheless, they rebuilt. We estimate that 1,500 to 3,000 people were killed, and we know that a lot of them were buried in mass graves all around the city. Some were thrown in the river. As a matter of fact, at 21st Street and Yale Avenue, where there now stands a Sears parking lot, that corner used to be a coal mine. They threw a lot of the bodies into the shafts. Black Americans don't know about this story because we don't apply the word holocaust to our struggle. Jewish people use the word holocaust all the time. White people use the word holocaust. It's politically correct to use it. But when we Black folks use the word, people think we're being cry babies or that we're trying to bring up old issues. No one comes to our support. In 1910, our forefathers and mothers owned 13 million acres of land at the height of racism in this country, so the Black Wallstreet book and videotape prove to the naysayers and revisionists that we had our act together. Our mandate now is to begin to teach our children about our own, ongoing Black holocaust. They have to know when they look at our communities today that we don't come from this.

To order a copy of Black Wallstreet, contact:
Duralon Entertainment, Inc.,
P.O. Box 2702, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74149
or call 1-800-682-7975
Black Wallstreet: A lost Dream $21.95
ISBN 1-882465-00-8
Black Wallstreet: A Black Holocaust in America! video $29.95

Dinky Pluto Loses Its Status As Planet

By WILLIAM J. KOLE (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
August 24, 2006 5:04 PM EDT

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Pluto, beloved by some as a cosmic underdog but scorned by astronomers who considered it too dinky and distant, was unceremoniously stripped of its status as a planet Thursday.

The International Astronomical Union, dramatically reversing course just a week after floating the idea of reaffirming Pluto's planethood and adding three new planets to Earth's neighborhood, downgraded the ninth rock from the sun in historic new galactic guidelines.

The shift will have the world's teachers scrambling to alter lesson plans just as schools open for the fall term.

"It will all take some explanation, but it is really just a reclassification and I can't see that it will cause any problems," said Neil Crumpton, who teaches science at a high school north of London. "Science is an evolving subject and always will be."

Powerful new telescopes, experts said, are changing the way they size up the mysteries of the solar system and beyond. But the scientists at the conference showed a soft side, waving plush toys of the Walt Disney character Pluto the dog - and insisting that Pluto's spirit will live on in the exciting discoveries yet to come.

"The word 'planet' and the idea of planets can be emotional because they're something we learn as children," said Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who helped hammer out the new definition.

"This is really all about science, which is all about getting new facts," he said. "Science has marched on. ... Many more Plutos wait to be discovered."

Pluto, a planet since 1930, got the boot because it didn't meet the new rules, which say a planet not only must orbit the sun and be large enough to assume a nearly round shape, but must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit." That disqualifies Pluto, whose oblong orbit overlaps Neptune's, downsizing the solar system to eight planets from the traditional nine.

Astronomers have labored without a universal definition of a planet since well before the time of Copernicus, who proved that the Earth revolves around the sun, and the experts gathered in Prague burst into applause when the guidelines were passed.

Predictably, Pluto's demotion provoked plenty of wistful nostalgia.

"It's disappointing in a way, and confusing," said Patricia Tombaugh, the 93-year-old widow of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh.

"I don't know just how you handle it. It kind of sounds like I just lost my job," she said from Las Cruces, N.M. "But I understand science is not something that just sits there. It goes on. Clyde finally said before he died, 'It's there. Whatever it is. It is there.'"

The decision by the IAU, the official arbiter of heavenly objects, restricts membership in the elite cosmic club to the eight classical planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Pluto and objects like it will be known as "dwarf planets," which raised some thorny questions about semantics: If a raincoat is still a coat, and a cell phone is still a phone, why isn't a dwarf planet still a planet?

NASA said Pluto's downgrade would not affect its $700 million New Horizons spacecraft mission, which this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.

But mission head Alan Stern said he was "embarrassed" by Pluto's undoing and predicted that Thursday's vote would not end the debate. Although 2,500 astronomers from 75 nations attended the conference, only about 300 showed up to vote.

"It's a sloppy definition. It's bad science," he said. "It ain't over."

Under the new rules, two of the three objects that came tantalizingly close to planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena." The third object, Pluto's largest moon, Charon, isn't in line for any special designation.

Brown, whose Xena find rekindled calls for Pluto's demise because it showed it isn't nearly as unique as it once seemed, waxed philosophical.

"Eight is enough," he said, jokingly adding: "I may go down in history as the guy who killed Pluto."

Demoting the icy orb named for the Roman god of the underworld isn't personal - it's just business - said Jack Horkheimer, director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of the PBS show "Star Gazer."

"It's like an amicable divorce," he said. "The legal status has changed but the person really hasn't. It's just single again."

---

AP Science Writers Alicia Chang in Los Angeles and Seth Borenstein in Washington, and correspondents Sue Leeman in London and Mike Schneider in Cape Canaveral, Fla., contributed to this story.

---

On the Net:

International Astronomical Union, http://www.iau.org

I want to take time to thank the 3700 plus people who visited my web site August 13th,.

On August 12th, I asked a question directed to my white readers. More than 3700 people responded by viewing http://www.onlinebusinesssites.com on the next day.

Thank You.

Now I know you're out there. You may not leave a comment but you're out there.

When you liston to talk radio, the people that call in is not nearly the amount of people who listen.

So, I want to take time to thank everyone who reads this blog also, I want to thank
Online Business Sites for letting me do it.

I hope I can get some of you to respond or add you $0.02 to this growing community.
It will be fun to here from you because I can learn so much from people right or wrong.

I onced told the mother of my children that it is just as important for my daughter to hang out with me one on one as it is for my sons. My daughter needs to see a loving man. A man that will listen to her, share with her, laugh with her, and show her love so she knows that those kind of men are out there when it's her turn to pick one. She needs to know I'm a good guy or a bad guy that she'll never pick to be around her and that she would spot as fast as a New York minute because she's seen it before in her Dad.

So I'm saying to the folks that enjoy this blog, good or bad, thanks for reading and respond is you dare.

But there's one thing I'll never tell you that's wrong and that is to advertise and
"Let Us Mind Your Business"
Gaidi

Ask the Plumber by Gaidi the Master plumber.

In the middle of all my smoke I just wanted to remind you that I am a Master plumber so if you have a plumbing problem tell me and I'll ansewer it for you.

Just don't forget to leave me your email or email Me at
gaidi@onlinebusinesssites.com

Confidence Lost and Restored

The development of savings institutions was a logical outgrowth of fraternal societies. Yet the path from beneficial society to lending institution to chartered bank was not a smooth one. This was partly due to the earlier experience of blacks with the Freedman's bank. In 1865, Congress incorporated the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company as a banking institution for the former slaves "to receive on deposit such sums of money as may be offered . . . and investing the same in the stocks, bonds, treasury notes or other securities of the United States." The bank was a massive failure, as corrupt bureaucrats swindled its depositors out of millions of dollars. This was a devastating loss that set back the movement toward thrift among blacks. Booker T. Washington wrote, "It was years before the Negro people regained sufficient confidence in banks and in themselves to make a Negro bank possible."

Yet eventually that confidence was regained, and blacks came together in towns and cities, determined to create their own private banks. Butler writes, "Because they had been led to believe that the Freedmen's Bank was a government institution, they lost a tremendous amount of confidence in the whole federal apparatus in Washington. Even after the memories faded, they turned to the creation of private banks in attempt to 'seek for themselves.'" This ambitious effort turned out to be one of the most constructive phases of black Americans' history.

Butler continues, "The history of this effort-as with the history of banking in America-was filled with triumphs and failures, but it was this banking industry which provided the seed money for business enterprises in the period following the Civil War." Citing Abram Harris's 1936 study of the black banking tradition, Butler claims, "From 1888 to 1934, no less than 134 banks were founded and organized by Afro-Americans. Under this classification are private banks doing a general banking business and banks operating under state or national charters. It does not include credit unions, industrial loan associations, or building and loan societies," of which there were many.

It was this banking tradition that made possible the impressive growth of black businesses in the United States. Between 1867 and 1917, the number of black businesses increased from 4,000 to 50,000. This could not have occurred without the sources of capital provided through banks and similar lending institutions. In 1907, Booker T. Washington wrote, "Nearly every colored community of any size has a building and loan association, and these organizations have been of the very highest value in teaching the people habits of saving and enabling small wage earners to purchase homes. It is said that one-half of the homes owned by colored people in Virginia were built by the aid of building and loan associations."

In William Kenneth Boyd's 1927 study of Durham, North Carolina, he writes, "The increase in wealth, the rise of institutions for public welfare, and the spirit of cooperation have not been confined to one race. The progress of whites has been accompanied by corresponding progress among the Negroes."

From Church's to Banks (Black owned banks) the wealth of all races grew because of because of us owning our own banks.

Can you see that we as a people must stop the nonsence and stop it now. Only then will we achieve true fredom.

Gaidi

Early Self-Help Institutions

Historian John Sibley Butler, in Black Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans, describes how black-owned businesses prior to the Civil War were augmented by a tradition of self-help institutions. Decades before the war, church relief societies provided for sickness, health care and death benefits. After Emancipation, these church societies would provide funding for dozens of private schools (and help to subsidize underfunded state schools), while often providing loans that capitalized small enterprises. Out of these church societies grew the beneficial societies that eventually spread throughout most black communities.

In Petersburg, Virginia, for example, in 1898, there were 22 beneficial societies. Butler writes, "Membership ranged from 22 to 163 persons. Their annual assessments ranged from 60c to $7.00. They paid sick and death benefits to their members." Black lodges of secret societies, such as the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias provided more formal insurance benefits. In Arkansas, for instance, between 1892 and 1905, a Masonic Temple paid out $125,000 to "widows and orphans." Butler writes, "From the 1700s to 1915, fraternal and beneficial societies served the masses of Afro-Americans and helped to bring a sense of security to a people who were going through one of the most trying times in their history."

Although these societies were not businesses in the true sense, Butler claims that they laid the groundwork for the many successful black-owned insurance companies that would come later. As the result of the millions of dollars collected in these organizations, "thousands of young Afro-American families were helped in getting an education, hundreds of homes were paid for, and mortgages were satisfied." One report tells about the members of a particular fraternal society deciding that "their large collections in endowment premiums could be utilized as a great agency for good." And referred to their lending practices as "intelligent cooperation."

Do you see this. It's the Church. Do you want insurance, a mortgage, a lone for a business, education etc., then go to the Church.

Church's, DO YOUR JOB.

Gaidi

"Let Us Muzzle the Wail and Think Straight"
By Elizabeth Wright


During the early decades of this century,(1900) black-owned newspapers played a special role in the lives of blacks, whether they lived in small towns or large cities. Wherever there was a black population, there was likely to be a weekly newspaper, sometimes several, as in cities like Washington, DC, Chicago and Philadelphia. The Norfolk Journal and Guide, Pittsburgh Courier, Philadelphia Independent, Chicago Defender, the Bee newspaper chain, Memphis Triangle, New York Age, Savannah Tribune, The World, Louisville News, The Freeman, Afro-American, Nashville Globe, Boston Reliance, Black Dispatch-these are names of just a few such publications. Some live on today in reconstituted versions, but most have long since passed into history.


In the pages of these early newspapers, one can follow much of the social history of black life-from the serious problems faced by a restricted group, to the joys of individual successes and triumphs, to the trivial gossip, intrigues and scandals of the day. Although newspapers were founded by people of varied backgrounds, they were frequently initiated by established businessmen. It is not surprising then that, in the pages of so much of the black press during this period, we can learn about the rise, decline, and sometimes resurrection of particular businesses.

Throughout these early decades, the black press was a chief promoter of black enterprise, inspiring and even cheer leading the community on, as it celebrated the initiation of new businesses. Typical of these sentiments is an editorial in the June 1, 1927 edition of the Memphis Triangle: The new Negro is the optimistic Negro. He believes in himself and, therefore, in others of his race. He believes in Negro business and gives it his full support. He believes in Negro institutions and lends his cooperation in building them up. He believes in the future. The old Negro is the pessimistic Negro. He does not believe in himself or any other Negro. He does not believe in Negro business and hence does not trade at Negro stores or put his money in Negro banks. He believes the case of his race is hopeless unless someone else guides its destiny.

Same old story way back then.

I've been pushing for black businesses to network. I've been pushing the need to advertise in a black directory, a black paper and in the 21 first centry, online.

White businesses know this already. Look at Coke. Do you think they need to advertise? Coke spends billions.

Gaidi

Here's another small peace of our History.

Charles Douglass
Resourceful Entrepreneur

Like so many men of his era, Charles Henry Douglass seized opportunities when they came, and created them when they didn't. Confident, enterprising and imaginative, he was perfectly matched for the world of business.

His career as a businessman, in Macon, Georgia, spanned 1898 to 1940, as he successfully weathered even the stock market crash of 1929. In the course of those years, he owned or leased close to 100 properties, along with restaurants, saloons, two movie theaters and a hotel.

He was president of the Middle Georgia Savings & Investment Co. for eight years, afterward serving as a director. Early in his career, he had bought shares in this bank (when it was the Georgia Loan & Savings Co.). It is also the place where he met the bank's cashier, Fannie Appling, who was to become his wife. Respected as one of the black community's most prosperous and influential citizens, he was credited with helping the city of Macon enlarge its business life.

Who was Douglass? He was a man whose mother and father died when he was barely out of his teens, leaving him to figure out how to support his two younger sisters. With only a rural elementary school education, he became an agricultural laborer. He held his next job, as a carriage driver for a doctor, while also working at a candy manufacturing plant. He managed to support the family until the mid-1890s, when both sisters married. Douglass then left Macon for more profitable work in another city. There, he saved money and returned to Macon in 1898, with $24 to spare.

With this, he bought a partnership in a small bicycle repair and rental business. Thus began a brilliant business career, to which he applied his savvy and intelligence. About the bicycle business, he said, "I did fairly well until the automobile craze came, then I sold out and went into the hotel and real estate business, in which I prospered."

And prosper he did. From 1904 to 1915, Douglass acquired substantial holdings of real estate and income-producing properties throughout Macon. During this period, he wrote, "I own thirty tenement houses, ranging from three up to eight rooms; two pressed brick stores with flats overhead on Broadway, which I have leased out for $140 per month; thirty acres of good land just outside of city corporation, for which I paid $10,000 in 1913, to be subdivided in building lots on which I am raising truck, fruits, Duroc and Berkshire pigs and game chickens . . ."

In 1904, Douglas began his career in the theater business by leasing the Ocmulgee Park Theater in Macon. Two years later, he sold the lease in order to buy a building on Broadway, which he renovated and turned into the Colonial Hotel. He then bought the adjacent property, restored it, and opened the Douglass Theater, which was really a complex that included a restaurant, billiard parlor, soda fountain and liquor store.

By 1911, the theater and the hotel (renamed the Douglass Hotel) had become the focal point for black entertainment, which they remained for nearly half a century. The theater showed first run motion pictures, as well as films by independent black film makers. Live entertainment was featured, and performers such as Bessie Smith appeared, along with a host of black stage and screen stars. As profits grew, Douglass and a partner founded a vaudeville group.

Following in the footsteps of other black realtors of the Jim Crow period, Douglass was determined to provide blacks with quality accommodations. He was responsible for the construction of several housing tracts and individual residences throughout the city, as well as a number of office and commercial buildings along Broadway.

He was proud of his theater and the contribution it made to the city. He said, "My theater is kept sanitary, clean, [and with] plenty of oscillating fans and two exhaust fans take away the impure air . . . I have the only Negro Picture Operator that is allowed in the State of Georgia and I believe that I am doing my people good by giving them nice, clean and wholesome entertainment."

A contemporary said of him, "Mr. Douglass does not hoard his money in banks. He spends it and makes employment for our people . . . He has placed his money in circulation in business where it can bless the people . . ." Douglass was well known for his interest in business development among blacks, and gave much of his time to organizations like the National Business Men's League and the Chamber of Commerce.

His skill as a businessman was matched by his concern for the welfare of blacks. He supported several educational institutions and was described as giving "liberally" to many worthy causes.

His 70th birthday celebration (just three months before he died in 1940) was a festive affair attended by his large family, many friends, and business associates. At this event, Douglass asked his two sons, Charles and Peter, to promise that they would carry on his businesses "in an admirable manner."

Both the Douglass Theater and the hotel are now landmarks in Macon. Prior to restoration, a large number of papers were removed from the theater offices for historical assessment and preservation. The Douglass Theater Collection has proven to be a highly significant record of over 800 pieces of advertising memorabilia, correspondence, ledgers, and playbills. These offer insights into operation of the theater, and the early history of the entertainment industry and the vaudeville stage. Also, the collection offers unique information about many of the early independent black film makers, actors and production companies.

Don't tell me it can't be done.

Gaidi

I got myself upset for a moment. Our people and thier slave mentality. Our civic and political leaders with excuses for this behavier. Our city's exceptance of this ever growing sud-culture. The hip-hop, the movers and shakers that push this distructive lifestyle. The mothers and fathers and families too lazy and too into themselves to demand better from thier own.
Let me stop.

I hope to post some positiveness about black men for a few days in order to calm myself down. So here it goes.

Long before it was decided that America's former slaves were cripples in need of the state's largesse, black men proved their mettle. They developed capital, created banks, thousands of businesses, owned property worth millions of dollars, established schools, and uplifted communities. They did all this during the period now looked back on as "the worst of times."

Philip Payton
Harlem Realtor

Philip Payton, whose father was a barber and mother a hairdresser, was born in 1876, in Westfield, Massachusetts. After learning the barber trade, and after an unsuccessful year of study at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, Payton headed for New York City, without any certain plans. In New York, he worked as a barber and at various menial jobs, saving what he could. In 1900, he got a job in a real estate office, which paid more than his barbering. It was there that he decided what he wanted to do with his life.

With a partner, he rented a very small, very modest office in Manhattan and opened his first real estate business. It proved a colossal failure, but failure only seemed to whet Payton's appetite to succeed. He tells his story:

The hardships that my wife and I went through before things broke for us would fill a book. If I have gained any success, to my wife belongs the major portion of the credit . . . My customary amount of cash to leave the house with was fifteen cents; five cents to ride downtown, five cents for luncheon and five cents to ride back up town at night . . . I just simply was not making any money. My wife was doing sewing, a day's work or anything else she could get to do to help me along . . . All of my friends discouraged me. All of them told me how I couldn't make it, but none of them, how I could. They tried to convince me that there was no show for a colored man in such a business in New York . . .

I managed to secure charge of another house after a while, and we moved in there. Seemingly, this was the turning point in my business career. Things began to pick up. I began to get charge of more houses. One fine day I made a deal that netted me nearly $1,150. I could hardly believe it true. My wife refused to credit it, until I showed her the checks. From that time things grew better . . . I bought the flat house in which I was living. I bought two more flats and kept them five months when I sold them at a profit of $5,000. I bought another, kept it a month, and made $2,750, another and made $1,500, another and made $2,600, and so on. In all I have owned from time to time nine five-story flats and five private houses, or, in other words, I have had title to $250,000 worth of New York realty.

His story goes on. We're talking about a black man in the 1900's folks. It ain't that hard to do this today my people. All you got to do is know how to read, write, count, speak and get off your sorry a_s.

Gaidi

Don’t answer yesterday’s question. I spoke too soon.

I was upset yesterday because I was pre judged about something I’m not.
But you know something; I’m not everybody.

A friend of mind just opened a clothing store. I’m sad to say his store has been broken into three times in one week. He’s fixed that problem but yesterday THEY STOLE THE GRASS IN FRONT OF HIS BUSINESS!!!

I give. I’ll talk on this later.

Gaidi

I've got a question for white people.

What do you teach each other at home about black people?
Is it the same things you know about black people in you work place?
Is it a secrete? Or, is it just plain races?

Here's why I ask.

I have another business. I place vending machines in offices and service them.
I'm also a Master Plumber (40yrs.), so if you have a question about plumbing I'll answer it for you. Anyway back to the question.

I was on my way to service one of my vending machines in a high-income business district.
I was about two miles away from where the vending machine is placed, (Raymond James & Associates).
I guess I was driving behind a white women who saw me in her rear view mirror that I was a black man.
I guess she wanted to get out of my way.
I guess when she turned I turned.
I guess this happen for the two miles I had left to travel.
I didn't notice her car until I was less then 500ft. from where I had to go but. I had to make a left, right and right to go in the driveway parking lot in the rear of the building.
I guess because she was trying to get away from me she made a left, right and right into the same driveway.
I thought she was going where I was going.
She pulled into a parking spot and I moved to the area where I park all the time, which is not in a parking spot because they're reserved but it was behind her.
I got out of my truck and open the doors to where my candy and sodas were staged.
This woman just sat in her car.
I've got my candy out and I saw this woman was trying to back up.
She almost runs over my candy and hit my truck. So I say STOP!!!
I ask her if she's trying to leave? She says yes and could I pull up a little.
I saw she had plenty of room if she took her time so I said, look here, do what I tell you to do and I'll back you out safely.
I said pull up, look at me and turn your wheels the way and when I tell you to.
She pulled up but she almost ran me over, my candy and hit my truck anyway as she backed up, and she DID NOT CARE. She just got out of Dodge as fast as she could.
Then it hit me. She didn't have any business here; it was a coincidence it got this far. She thought I was following her. I'm glad she didn't scream when I tried to help her. I'd be in jail trying to prove that was not following her but only going to work.

I'm so sick of this stuff.

Look, NO white woman has ever used the elevator if I'm going to use it, and I got a dolly full of candy.
Some of these women have on high heels but will choose the stairs too walk up or down three floors rather than use the elevator with me.
Folks, I've been told that I'm not a bad looking man and that I look very handsome with my gray temples. Plus I'm clean and look business. I’m so tired of this fight. But I'll fight it if you make me. Hey, you make the call.
Gaidi.

Here is an important treat. I got this letter from in my opinion, the best internet marketer on the web. Read what he sent me.

Maximize Your Sales by Offering
a Number of Payment Options...
And Discover New Technology That Your Competitors Don't Know About!

One of the most common questions I'm asked buy customers and subscribers like you who are interested in starting online businesses is "How do I start accepting payments from my customers over the Internet?"

The logistics of setting up your web site to accept online payments can seem like a big hurdle for new business owners. But the fact is, if you want your business to be successful, you MUST offer convenient and easy ways for your customers to pay.

Credit cards are currently the 900 lb. gorilla of the online payment world. In fact, over 90% of all the orders I receive are placed with credit cards, and no online business can survive without offering this payment option.The good news is that setting yourself up to accept credit cards on your web site is way easier than you think, and in this letter I’ll show you how to do it in as little as 48 hours.

However, just because credit cards are the most popular way to pay for goods and services online, it doesn’t mean that you can sit back and relax just because you’re already accepting them.

If you’re serious about maximizing your sales, you’ve got to think about offering other online payment methods, including:

PayPal, which has recently improved its service -- making it even easier for your customers to use, and


Debit cards, which are poised to become the online fundraising vehicle of the future.

Plus, it’s still important to provide traditional offline payment techniques such as 1-800 numbers, and order forms that can be printed out and faxed or mailed.

It’s all about giving your customers choices -- and about capturing every sale you can. Web-based businesses that don’t offer payment alternatives to credit cards are shutting out millions of consumers who either don’t own credit cards or are nervous about using them online.

According to a study by CyberSource Corp., web sites providing four or more payment methods other than credit cards have a sales conversion rate that is 12% higher than those offering just one payment option in addition to credit cards.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a step back and let me tell you how accepting credit cards will dramatically increase your sales.

Capture 85% more sales by accepting credit cards online

The simple truth is that you must accept credit cards on your web site if you expect to stay in business. It’s been repeatedly proven that if you do NOT accept credit cards on your site, you will capture only about 15% of your potential sales.

You have to make it easy for visitors to your web site to buy your products. Internet users expect instant access to information, goods, or services, and online customers can be very impatient.

If dial-up users have to log off of the Internet to clear up the phone line in order to call in their order, you can forget about doing a large volume of sales. This is too much work for most of your customers, who would be far more likely to find one of your competitors that accepts credit cards online.

Accepting credit cards will also...

Give your business a degree of credibility,

Allow you to capture the sales of impulse buyers, and

Provide you with a fully-automated payment and tracking system.

But before you can start accepting credit cards at your web site, there are two important things you’ll have to do:

Establish a secure server to process credit card transactions, and

Set up a merchant account.

At this point you may be thinking, "How I am I going to do this? I don’t even know what secure servers or merchant accounts are!" Don’t worry -- the concepts are really simple. With just a little effort and patience, you’ll soon be accepting credit card payments on your web site and reaping huge rewards.

1) Online ordering via a secure server

For your site to be as professional as your customers expect it to be, it must feature a secure server that protects your customers’ confidential information and gives them the confidence to safely enter their credit card numbers.

A secure server is simply a computer server that can accept and transmit confidential information such as credit card numbers without the risk of someone intercepting the transmission and "stealing" the information. The data is kept secure through encryption, which only the oldest web browsers don’t support.

You can find out more about secure servers by contacting merchant account providers, which is the next step in getting your site ready to accept credit card payments.

2) Setting up your merchant account

You have a few different options when getting a merchant account. You can...

Get your own merchant credit card accounts with a local bank

If you have a good relationship with your bank -- and they don’t require a large security deposit -- it’s best to get your merchant credit card accounts through them.

You may, however, have to go through two different banks to process the major cards -- Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover -- because some banks deal with only two out of the four.

Another problem with local banks is that they often charge a very high "discount rate" or require a very large security deposit (between $5,000 and $10,000).

For those of you who don’t know what a discount rate is, it’s not really a "discount" at all! It’s the percentage you pay on each transaction for the privilege of using credit card services, and it varies according to your credit rating, business history, and the amount of business your site is doing.

For example, if you have a discount rate of 2.5% and you make a credit card sale for $100, you’ll only receive $97.50. The remaining $2.50 goes to the credit card company.


Get merchant credit card accounts through a broker

Getting your merchant credit card accounts through a broker is my personal preference for a number of reasons:

a) They are web-based specialists in getting credit card accounts for online businesses, and, as should be expected, you can apply over the Internet.

b) They have a higher approval rate than banks and should be able to get you a discount rate of 2% to 3% -- even if you’ve been bankrupt.

c) They are affordable and can often have you accepting credit card payments on your web site in as little as 48 hours.

Finding a broker is not difficult. Besides searching online, you can find plenty of brokers in the back of DM (Direct Mail) magazine. But do some research, and make sure that the broker you choose has a good track record.

There are lots of shady operators out there, so be careful of who you choose. Check out the broker we currently recommend at http://www.marketingtips.com/creditcards


Hire a fulfillment house and use their credit card accounts

If your company is doing only a few thousand dollars of business each month, a fulfillment house may be a good option for you.

A fulfillment house is a company that will...

a) Take your orders through a 1-800 number with live operators,

b) Process credit cards,

c) Provide some customer service,

d) Ship orders, and

e) Maintain your customer database.

These companies will also let you use their merchant credit card accounts to process your orders for a fee. The downside is that the fee is usually a 5% discount rate instead of the 2% or 3% you would pay if you had your own accounts.

Because of the high discount rate charged by fulfillment houses, I’d recommend that once your business grows larger, you get your own merchant accounts and save some money.

A great place to find nearly 100 fulfillment houses is is Yahoo!’s Fulfillment Services Directory. To get there, just click on "Directory" at Yahoo!'s homepage and then search for "fulfillment houses."


Use a "third party" merchant account provider

Like fulfillment houses, companies such as iBill let you use their merchant accounts. The upside of third party providers is that they can get you up and running quickly, set up your order forms, and process your orders.

The downside is that they charge you a processing fee of 11% to 15% of the selling price -- depending on the volume of business you are doing.

While the discount rate offered by these companies is substantially higher than the other options I’ve been talking about, most do not require any setup fees, software, or security deposits, which make them a simple and convenient option for some.

In addition to iBill, you could also check out:

a) CC Bill,

b) Authorize.Net, or

c) CyberSource.

How using PayPal can expand your customer base and increase your sales

PayPal is an increasingly popular way to accept payments online. Founded in 1998, it enables any individual or business with an e-mail address to send and receive payments over the Internet affordably, securely, and quickly.

First of all, I’d like you to know that PayPal has recently improved its service -- making it an even better payment alternative for your online business. One of PayPal’s biggest limitations used to be that customers needed to set up a PayPal account before making payments...but not anymore!

For new users, signing up for a PayPal account is now optional. This means your customers can complete their payments and then decide whether or not to create an account.

The need for an account used to drive people away, but by eliminating that requirement, PayPal has dramatically increased your potential customer base and made buying your product easier -- which always translates into higher sales and growth for your business.

And in addition to reaching an already established network of over 64 million accounts in 45 countries, PayPal has tons of other benefits for you:

It’s secure. After setting up an account, customers don’t have to give out credit card details to each individual company. And you know you’re dealing with verified buyers.

There is no need for a merchant account to accept credit card orders, which is convenient and cheap if you’re just starting out.

Your customers can choose to pay by credit card, bank account, or PayPal balance.

It supports payments in US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euros, Pounds Sterling, and Japanese Yen, making cross-border sales easier than ever.

It’s FREE for customers and affordable for small businesses.

Set-up is fast, and you can get started in minutes.

PayPal charges you 1.9% to 2.9% of the transaction plus 30 cents per order, depending on your company’s sales volume. The best part is that fees are only applied when you accept a payment, and there are no setup or monthly charges.

To get started using PayPal, just go to their web site and click the "Sign Up Now" button. The
rest is easy.

How debit cards are poised to take the world of online payments by storm

If you want to get the edge on your competitors, you may want to look into setting up your web site to accept debit card payments online. Here’s why:

Debit card use is becoming hugely popular. In fact, according to AllBusiness.com, credit card purchases have been expanding by about 15% for the last five years, but debit card purchases have been growing even faster at more than 50% per year.

And by the end of 2005, credit and debit cards are expected to account for 43% of all purchases in North America -- proving that you can no longer ignore customers who want to pay by debit card over the Internet.

But before I tell you how accepting debit cards online will help your business grow, it’s important that you understand how debit cards work, as well as the different types that are currently in use.

When a payment is made using a debit card, the funds are immediately withdrawn from the purchaser’s bank account. There’s no "pay later" option with a debit card. With a debit card, you pay now.

There are basically two types of debit cards:

The first is a signature-based debit card that has a Visa or MasterCard logo on it. You can use these cards anywhere VISA and MasterCard are accepted. If you’re already accepting credit card payments online, you should be able to accept this form of payment as well. Just check with your merchant account provider.

The second type is a personal identification number (PIN-based) debit card. I’m sure that most of you have at least seen this type of card used at offline stores -- you swipe your card through a small reader and enter your PIN number, making this type of debit card impossible to use over the Internet... until now.

A company called UseMyBank has developed software that allows purchasers to access their own bank accounts and pay for goods and services in real time. The process is nearly identical to paying bills online with your bank, and the money is immediately taken from your account -- just like when using a debit card.

Here’s how it works. If your customer decides to use this service to purchase a product, they will be asked to select their bank, as well as which account they want to pay from. You are then immediately notified of their payment and can start your delivery process.

One of the best features of this service is that your customers don’t have to give up any of their credit or banking information to you, making this one of the most secure options available.

And in addition to providing another payment option for people who don’t like to use credit cards for online purchases, this method also targets teens, who represent a huge market, but who often don’t have access to credit cards.

UseMyBank is currently available only in Canada, but the company is launching its service internationally in the second quarter of this year. That’s why I’m giving you this information now -- so you can stay ahead of your competitors by providing your customers with the newest and easiest ways to pay online.

For more information about how you can offer your customers this payment option, just go to UseMyBank’s web site and have a look around. Signing up is straightforward, and the site should be able to answer all of your questions.

Don’t forget to include offline payment options

In addition to providing the online payment alternatives I've been talking about, it's still very important that you give your customers the option of ordering and paying offline to ensure you capture the maximim number of sales.

Many people are still nervous about giving out their credit card information over the Internet, despite secure servers, and some customers will always want to speak with a live person. Giving your customers the option of speaking with a "real" person adds credibility AND a human element to your online business.

Another benefit is that the person taking the call can answer customers’ questions as well as help "close" the sale by encouraging customers and giving them the final "push" to buy.

To make sure you are able to capture the orders of these customers, you should also...

Have a 1-800 number available 24/7, and

Offer an order form customers can print out and fax or mail.

Final thoughts

If you’re not already accepting credit cards directly from a secure order form on your web site, you are missing out on a HUGE number of sales. With 90% of all online purchases being made with credit cards, you literally can’t afford not to offer this payment option on your website.

However, even if you are set up to process credit cards online, you can’t leave your site off limits to the millions of people who do not have or want to use credit cards.To tap into this lucrative market, you’ve got to provide some of the alternative payment methods I have been talking about.

But don't forget that in addition to PayPal and debit cards, there are still lots of other online payment methods, including e-checks, e-wallets, person-to-person e-mail payments, etc., that you may want to explore.

Making it easy for your potential customers to do business with you is essential to your online success. That doesn’t mean you need to provide all of the payment methods available, but if you’re serious about maximizing your sales, it’s good to know what’s out there so you can make sure you're taking advantage of the options that best suit your type of business and customers.
---
So there it is. What a treat. I'm so proud of people with knowlege. People who know and are past the begining stage of thier businesses. People who's businesses are running well. People who market and advertise well. And people who "Let Us Mind Your Business"
Gaidi

If anyone can see the tv show, please do. I want a good evaluation on how it flowed. I'll be nervous and of course I'll try to be a pro. But most of all I want to be able to cover four topics on the fly not knowing the question in advance as if I've done it before in a short amount of time without falling on my face so maybe someone will want to do business with me or have me do something like that again because they think I have a story to tell and a message to give. Whew!!! I'm out of breath.
Gaidi

Say everyone,
I,m going to be on T.V.
I'm going to be on the Joann Watson show called, "Wake up Detroit".
If you have Comcast Cable in Detroit the program will air 7:00 P.M. Sunday August 6, 2006 on chanel 71 & 20.
If you have UHF in the Detroit area you wil be able to view the program on chanel 33.
Lets make this fancy.

EXTRA---EXTRA---READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

GAIDI IS GOING TO BE ON T.V. SUNDAY AUGUST 6, 2006 AT 7:OO P.M. ON THE JOANN WATSON SHOW, CALLED "WAKE YP DETROIT"

EXTRA---EXTRA---READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

Think about this.
I listen to all advertising and there's a lot of poor commercials on the airways these days, but there was one today that was very interesting.
It talked about global economics and by the year 2025 that the U.S. will not be the number one economic power in the world anymore. They say it will be China. I wonder why? Then it came to me.
Over the years the U.S. has sold everything under the sun to every Nation in the world. These nations have caught up with the U.S. in so many ways. One of the ways is economics. I wont mention math and science.
In China, education is a must. Not being educated, productive, loyal to you family and ancestors is a disgrace. Pushing to strive for excellence is part of being alive.
No Chinaman will dishonor the family name without paying dearly.
Everyone knows and understands these unwritten laws because everyone is a Chinaman. China is not where you go to exploit everyone not like themselves, that's done here. We here about the sweat factories and cheap labor in the Nation with over a billion people. That's trying to be done here. (Look at the fight for fare wages) But there's something different.
Here, there is a consciousness to hold back from some because the non power group being equal is a frightening thought. Being equal to the power group means the power group has LOST power. The power group has declared this already and will always pass it down. The power group already has all the answers and will work as hard as possible to keep it that way. (Compuware lost a large contract for the Board of Ed. in Detroit and immediately started the name calling and personal attacks of Board members and the companies that got the contract even thought Compuware was $35,000,000 higher then the next bidder.)
Economic power will fail this way. If the power group bent over backwards for everyone equally then the Nation will be forever strong.
We know State education is not equal. Look what the power group has in its schools and look what the group not in power has in its school under the banner of State education. So, you want the nation to be good in math, science, technology etc. I don't think so. I think the Nation wants the power group to be good in math, science, technology etc.
If this Nation can't believe that everyone in it is equal and has a part in its’ greatness, (and they are not) then it is on the same path as Rome.
Everyone must fill the same about this Nation and believe this Nation and its freedom is unquestionably for all. But I'm sorry to say we are 400yrs. behind. We still have to renew a law in order to have the right to vote in this Nation. What a shame. This Nation doesn't get it. Its people don't get it. Each group must make it on its own. That’s too bad.
2025 that sounds about right.
Start your businesses people in order to survive and always remember to advertise and “Let Us Mind Your Business”
Gaidi

"Find out how this accountant grew a $268,000 business — by selling dead flowers on the Internet!"

C. Benjamin Wong of PoppyStore.com

A certified accountant with an MBA, C. Benjamin ("Ben") Wong came to the realization one day that all his education and training had simply set him up to be someone else's employee.

But Ben wanted to be his OWN boss... so when he heard from a coworker that dried poppies for crafting purposes were almost impossible to find, a lightbulb went on in his head — and he knew he might have a good idea for a possible online business.

Turns out, it was a GREAT idea!

Ben launched his "side business," http://www.PoppyStore.com, in 2003 — and just two years later, he was able to cultivate an incredible $268,000 in annual sales. This year, he's on track to harvest more than $400,000 — and he only works three hours a week!

Find out how Ben grew his dried flower business into the Web's premier poppy supplier...

Owner: C. Benjamin Wong
Launched: November 2003
Traffic: 9,000 hits per month
Revenue: $263,000 in 2005
Target Market: Crafters, hobbyists, flower arrangers, artists
Product/Services Offered: Dried poppies, poppy heads, poppy pods, other dried flowers
Top 3 Marketing Strategies:
1. Opt-in list

2. Search engine optimization and incoming links

3. Pay-per-click advertising

I wanted to let you read adout some success and see that Ben said his education only taught him to work for someone else. He went into business and look at Ben now. Also look at the three ways he marketed his site.

I love it. If you want to know more about how Ben made his site work, email me
gaidi@onlinebusinesssites.com