MyTenSense.com

President Barack Obama has tried to reach across the aisle like popular Republican presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, but it has caused his image to suffer.
By trying to compromise with his Republican opponents instead of taking advantage of the Democratic Party’s majority in Congress, Obama is viewed as being ineffective at getting his key initiatives passed, particularly health care reform.
If President Obama took advantage of his majority, he would be viewed as a socialist, which Republicans have already accused him of.
Obama is hosting a health care summit Thursday to get both sides to support his failing health care initiative. Health care reform bills have been passed in the House and the Senate, but a final version has yet to cross Obama’s desk because of uproar from Republicans and their followers and the president’s desire to reach a compromise.
I think Obama should follow the example of another Republican president, George W. Bush. Bush, the last U.S. president, used the Republican’s former edge in Congress to push through his initiatives, including three major tax cuts, and then he tried to reach compromise later in a process called reconciliation.
So Obama should be more like Bush when it comes to getting his way. He would get more done and be more respected than his idiotic predecessor.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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Can you believe killer whales actually do kill?
Seaworld park visitors witnessed it firsthand when veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed during a routine with the whale named Tilikum on Wednesday at the Orlando theme park. An eyewitness said the trainer was jerked underwater by her ponytail while introducing the whale and explaining what the crowd would be observing.
It’s not the first time this whale has killed someone. The whale was involved in two other murders.
But respected celebrity animal expert Jack Hanna, in an interview on CNN, said the whale shouldn’t be blamed for either killing. He said that when an animal kills a trainer, such as Brancheau and murdered crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, it’s because of human error.
But animal rights groups have said that killer whales and other marine mammals have no place in theme parks because they are denied their natural instincts.
Well, this killer whale successfully followed its instincts and sadly killed a well-respected trainer.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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It’s funny how some white people have expressed to me that President Barack Obama isn’t black.
They have told me that he’s half white, which is true considering his deceased mother is Caucasian. A white co-worker even told me that he heard Obama is only an eighth black, which I explained is impossible with the president’s deceased father being a full-blooded, dark-skinned Kenyan from Africa.
Regardless, Obama is considered black by the one-drop standard of our country’s forefathers and the old Jim Crow laws that treated blacks like second-class citizens before the Civil Rights Act was passed in the 1960s.

Now many blacks, especially the elderly who suffered through the Jim Crow segregation, have more reason to celebrate President’s Day because Obama is the first official black president of the United States of America, a feat that many blacks thought they would never witness in their lifetimes. And it doesn’t make blacks racist for wanting to celebrate President Obama’s historical achievement.
Racism is treating another race as an inferior, and Obama has tried to take care of all races of Americans through a half dozen stimulus bills and efforts to pass health care reform to cover the estimated 50 million without insurance.

Any American can be proud to have the Harvard-educated Obama represent the U.S. View a photo tribute to President Obama’s critical first 100 days in the Oval Office.
President’s Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor past presidents, especially George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who have birthdays in February.
And some historians have speculated that Lincoln, who passed the law that freed blacks from slavery, was a black man because of the one-drop of African blood rule and former presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge also have been accused of hiding their African heritage.

But regardless of whether the other presidents were black, Obama deserves the distinction of being the United States’ first black president because he is proud to be a black man and he is an attentive husband to his black wife and their adorable black daughters who they are raising to be proud of their African heritage.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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If you’ve failed at dieting and you’re thinking about going under the knife, let me tell you there’s a safer way to lose weight and be healthy on the inside.
You can drop three dress or pant sizes in 2-3 months with no diet, pills, exercise or surgery.
It works for men and women.

I’ve gone from a size 22 to a size 14/16 while keeping my same eating habits and with no exercise, and my mom has gone from a size 16 to a size 10.
And we look and feel great.
How would you like to get back into your smaller clothes, be healthy and make money at the same time?
The company that enabled my mother and I to drop at least three sizes is offering $500,000 in bonuses to each person who joins and commits to following the easy system.
You’re welcome to contact me about losing the weight and making $500,000. Just send me an email to teneshia@mytensense.com.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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It’s no secret to Michael Jackson fans that he was very generous to the needy and sick children.
In 2000, the King of Pop was crowned King of Charity by the Guiness Book of World Records for donating more money to charity than any pop star. He donated to 39 different organizations, including Camp Ronald McDonald, Juvenile Diabetes Association and Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also had his own charities, such as Heal The World and Heal The World Kids.
And of course, MJ co-wrote the chart-topping, Grammy Award winning charity song “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie in 1986.

Dozens of legendary singers lent their voices to “We Are The World” to provide hope and to encourage everyone to “start giving” to charity and make the world a better place for every human being because “we are all part of God’s great big family” and by giving “we’re saving our own lives”.

There’s no doubt that Michael Jackson would be helping out in Haiti, where a massive earthquake left at least 100,000 dead and millions homeless last week, if he had not died from a doctor-induced drug overdose in June.
Michael and his pop star little sister Janet Jackson were reportedly supposed to perform in Haiti in 2008, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton praised Michael during a summer trip to Haiti following the King of Pop’s death.
Janet Jackson is actively seeking donations for the victims in Haiti through her Twitter page. She tweeted “$8 can feed a child for a whole month” and gave three options for giving.
- Call 1-800-HELP-NOW
- Text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross
- Text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 to Haitian American hip hop star Wyclef’s Yele Haiti non-profit organization.

Michael Jackson would be proud to know that his sister is stepping up in his place along with many other celebrities, such as George Clooney, Diddy, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and supermodel Gisele Bundchen. U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged $100 million toward Haiti relief.
But Michael Jackson would say that it shouldn’t just be left up to celebrities to help in the Haiti crisis. This is a world issue and everybody should chip in whatever they can, even $5, $8 or $10.
In MJ’s This Is It movie, he stated, “Everybody says, ‘Oh they’ll take care of it. The government will intervene.’ But it starts with us.”
Say what you want about his personal life, but Michael Jackson would be right there in Haiti lending a hand because he believed in loving each other and doing what you can to help your fellow man, even if the person is in another land.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream has mostly come true.
Not only are white children and black children holding hands, but they are hugging, kissing, marrying and creating babies together. In fact, our new U.S. president Barack Obama is the product of a black man and a white woman.
But black and white harmony was just part of Dr. King’s dream.
In his “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in August of 1963, the civil rights leaders mainly shared his hope that all races of people, not just blacks and whites, would share the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that our country’s forefathers outlined in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
But Dr. King thought it would be impossible for minorities to live the American dream when, at the time, they had been kept from staying in hotels, being served inside restaurants, restricted from voting and faced with “Whites Only” signs.
Thanks to Dr. King’s efforts The Civil Rights and the Voters Rights Acts were passed, and he would be happy to see that all of the aforementioned barriers have been removed so that minorities now have the liberty to pursue whatever kind of lifestyle will make them happy.
Now that’s not to say that racism no longer exists, but again, that was just part of Dr. King’s dream. For the most part, the dream is alive and the opportunity is now there for a person of any race or gender to be successful in life.
However, King’s quest to end poverty, which he didn’t mention in his famous speech, is still an issue. Dr. King was in the midst of a campaign focusing on poverty in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 when he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, now The National Civil Rights Museum which has preserved the room where Dr. King was shot.
Poverty is back in the forefront with daily coverage of the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that have left millions without shelter or food in a country in which 80% of the population were already living in poverty.
So while poverty still hasn’t been resolved, at least Dr. King’s dream has come true.
Click here to read Dr. King’s “I Had a Dream” speech.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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Multi-talented rapper and producer Wyclef Jean is using his influence to raise money for victims of this week’s devastating earthquake in his native Haiti, which has left an estimated 100,000 either dead or missing.
Through his Twitter page, Wyclef is asking his more than 1 million followers to donate $5 via cell phone by texting “YELE” to 501501. Wyclef organized the charity, Yele Haiti, in 2005 as a movement to give Haitians hope. Haiti has a population of nearly 10 million people and 80% live in poverty.
Wyclef grew up in poverty in Haiti and says no one has an excuse to fail. The 37-year-old millionaire rose out of his environment and became an American citizen through his musical career in which he has sold 50 million records.
And Wyclef is often reaching back to help his people and is now asking for others to step up and help.
Some people are saying let the celebrities take care of this. They have all of that money. But that’s not realistic.
Wyclef and hot Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are giving their time and money to the victims in Haiti. But even if they each gave $1 million for a total of $3 million, that would amount to 30 cents per Haitian, which couldn’t even buy a bag of chips.
So chip in $5 to help Wyclef’s efforts by texting “YELE” to 501501 or send $10 to the Red Cross by texting “HAITI” to 90999. The donation will be added to the charges on your cell phone bill.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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Let’s be real.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid didn’t say anything different than what many blacks said to each other when Barack Obama announced he was running for President of the United States. And the senator should not be labeled a racist and compared to ousted former majority leader Trent Lott.
Prior to Obama’s 2008 run for president, Reid privately said that the junior U.S. Senator’s light skin and lack of Negro dialect gave him a viable chance to be our country’s first African-American president. And of course, he was right.

Many blacks expressed the same opinion although we described Obama as intelligent, well-spoken and black, not just “light-skinned” and “Negro”, a politically correct term for African-Americans four decades ago.
But Senator Reid, who has championed for the rights of minorities on Capitol Hill, understands that for centuries light skinned, well-spoken blacks have gotten further ahead than those who have dark skin and use slang because of the continued prejudice in this country.
It’s ironic that the Republican Party that freed blacks from slavery is now causing racial disharmony in the U.S., and has labeled Senator Reid, a Democrat, as a racist and pushed for his resignation.
Senator Reid is not a racist as is reflected in his decades-old record of legislation that helps minorities. His words were meant as a compliment to President Obama and justification for the historical presidential run.
Now former Senator Trent Lott is a different story. Lott, a Republican, was forced to resign as Senate Majority Leader in 2002 after he celebrated former Senator Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party by saying the country would have been better off if Thurmond had been victorious in his 1940s segregationist run for president. Thurmond ran on a platform that pushed for separation of the races.
Now that’s racist.
Racism is when one race feels superior than another race and uses its position to hold down another race from opportunity. That is what Strom Thurmond advocated and Trent Lott celebrated.
Senator Reid is in no way a racist. It’s not racist to talk about other races, especially in the complimentary manner in which he did.
Besides, there’s nothing wrong with whites talking about blacks. Blacks talking about whites. Hispanics talking about whites. Whites talking about Asians. Asians talking about whites.
However, it is racist to say one race doesn’t have the right to talk about another race. And of course, it’s wrong to use derogatory words to describe another race.
I’ll be glad when the day comes when we can stop labeling each other and look beyond skin color to commend or criticize regardless of race. At the end of the day, race really doesn’t matter because when we die there is no Native American Heaven, Asian Heaven, Hispanic Heaven, Black Heaven or White Heaven. There’s only one Heaven, and all believers will be there.
The good news, or maybe bad news for racists is that they will be judged some day, and they won’t be in Heaven mixing with all the different races.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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No wonder hip hop superstar Beyonce is equally grounded and successful.
At an early age, she understood the importance of putting God first, staying focused on your goals, ignoring the haters and suppressing her ego to get everything she wanted.
See for yourself in this home video of Houston-born Beyonce at age 16, just before her former girls group Destiny’s Child smashing success that launched her solo singing career.

A few years after that video, Beyonce was embroiled in a big lawsuit from two former group members and was labeled an egotistical diva. But B ignored the haters and pressed on.
Now 28, she’s a multi-millionaire, a multiple Grammy-Award winning singer and the wife of Jay-Z, a multi-millionaire business man and one of the most successful rappers of all time.
Beyonce is proof of what an individual can achieve by speaking positive words, believing in them and putting action behind them.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry has been asked how she remains so sexy and vibrant with menopause around the corner.
Two words. Gabriel Aubry.
Halle, 43, has said Gabriel, who is 10 years younger, has made her so happy in their four-year relationship. They are parents of a 22-month-old daughter, Nahla, who blends the best of her gorgeous parents’ features.

It’s become trendy for older women, which are nicknamed Cougars, to date and marry younger men. TV Land’s The Cougar is a popular reality dating show based on single young men competing for an older woman. Actors Ashton Kutcher, 31, and Demi Moore, 47, are going strong after four and a half years of marriage.
But Berry, the first black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for her affair with a racist white man in Monster’s Ball, doesn’t want to ruin a good thing by marrying Aubry. The couple recently was chastized by Canadians when Gabriel had Montreal airport security whisk him and Halle past the long line in U.S. Customs.
Gabriel, a 33-year-old French-Canadian model, has been with Halle longer than her ex-husbands, former Major League Baseball player David Justice and R&B singer Eric Benet. Both men cheated on the beautiful Berry during brief marriages.

So far Gabriel, an object of lust for many women, has remained true to Halle to outlast the men in her past and treat her like the lady she is.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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