Cruz Inc Blogs
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Cruz Sherman: Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 7:56 AM
First, our thoughts and prayers for the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombing. Our hearts are heavy and we pray for strenght for everyone...thanks to the many First Responders, Police, Fire, Doctors, Nurses and citizens who risk their lives to save others. As we deal with these and other horrific events, the question will loom large... WHY? Share your thoughts, feelings or comments... |
Current Events, Children, Sports News, Family Matters, Social Events, Community, Health Matters, National News, Legal / Criminal News, Religion, World News
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CRUZ: Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2012 11:12 AM
Date: October 13, 2012 Time: 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Location: Meadowbrook High School Stadium 4901 Cogbill Road Richmond, VA 23234 1 out 3 men will be diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. This is a curable disease, however too many men are waiting too late; mainly because they aren't aware of this disease. Cruz Inc will launch a Prostate Cancer Awareness campaign for Saturday, October 13th. Event Activities · Prostate Cancer Challenge/Dash for Dads 4 Mile Walk and Run · Home Run Softball Challenge · People's Choice "Best Show Car" · People's Choice "Best Show Bike" · Outdoor Zumba Session · Most MC Club Participation Award · Most Car Club Participation Award · Music By DJ Mike "Swagga" Dr. Peter Han, Board Certified Urologist and Southside Urologist Office Staff for informational sessions. David Buckner, Director of ZERO End Prostate Cancer Project, Washington, DC will be in attendance. The main focus will be to encourage every man to take the Prostate Cancer Screening Test. We would like your participation. If you are a Model, Car Owner/Car Club, Bike Rider, Bike Club, Photographer, Vendor, Business Owner. THERE ARE NO VENDOR FEES, WE ARE ASKING FOR DONATIONS ONLY. |
Current Events, Money Matters, Entrepreneurship, World Of Entertainment, Music Industry, Family Matters, Motorcycle Community, Social Events, Community, Health Matters, National News, World News
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Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 2:39 PM
Mitt Romney isn't talking a great deal about his faith...why? Will his Morman faith dictate his decisons if he were elected President? Most people don't care about the Joseph Smith (founder of the Morman Church) era. What do Modern Mormans believe? Does the fact that they believe they will become gods is the reason why Mitt Romney's wife believe he can save the world? Here is a summary of what Modern Mormans believe and practice. Modern times During the early 20th century, Mormons began to reintegrate into the American mainstream. In 1929 the Mormon Tabernacle Choir began broadcasting a weekly performance on national radio, becoming an asset for public relations. Mormons emphasized patriotism and industry, rising in socioeconomic status from the bottom among American religious denominations to middle-class. In the 1920s and 1930s Mormons began migrating out of Utah, a trend hurried by the Great Depression, as Mormons looked for work wherever they could find it. As Mormons spread out, church leaders created programs that would help preserve the tight-knit community feel of Mormon culture. In addition to weekly worship services, Mormons began participating in numerous programs such as Boy Scouting, a Young Women's organization, church-sponsored dances, ward basketball, camping trips, plays, and religious education programs for youth and college students. During the Great Depression the church started a welfare program to meet the needs of poor members, which has since grown to include a humanitarian branch that provides relief to disaster victims. During the latter half of the century, there was a retrenchment movement in Mormonism in which Mormons became more conservative, attempting to regain their status as a "peculiar people". Though the 1960s and 1970s brought positive changes such as Women's Liberation and the Civil Rights Movement, Mormon leaders were alarmed by the erosion of traditional values, the sexual revolution, the widespread use of recreational drugs, moral relativism, and other forces they saw as damaging to the family. Partly to counter this, Mormons put an even greater emphasis on family life, religious education, and missionary work, becoming more conservative in the process. As a result, Mormons today are probably less integrated with mainstream society than they were in the early 1960s. Although black people have been members of Mormon congregations since Joseph Smith's time, before 1978, black membership was small. From 1852 to 1978, the LDS Church had a policy against ordaining men of African descent to the priesthood. The church had previously been criticized for its policy during the civil rights movement, but the change came in 1978 and was prompted primarily by problems facing mixed race converts in Brazil. Mormons greeted the change with joy and relief. Since 1978 black membership has grown, and in 1997 there were approximately 500,000 black members of the church (about 5% of the total membership), mostly in Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean. Black membership has continued to grow substantially, especially in West Africa, where two temples have been built. Many black Mormons are members of the Genesis Group, an organization of black members that predates the priesthood ban, and is endorsed by the church. Global distribution of LDS Church members in 2009 The LDS Church grew rapidly after World War II and became a world-wide organization as missionaries were sent across the globe. The church doubled in size every 15–20 years, and by 1996, there were more Mormons outside the United States than inside. In 2010 there were an estimated 14.1 million Mormons, with roughly 57% living outside the United States. A majority of U.S. Mormons are white and non-Hispanic (84%). Most Mormons are distributed in North and South America, the South Pacific, and Western Europe. The global distribution of Mormons resembles a contact diffusion model, radiating out from the organization's headquarters in Utah. The church enforces general doctrinal uniformity, and congregations on all continents teach the same doctrines, and international Mormons tend to absorb a good deal of Mormon culture, possibly because of the church's top-down hierarchy and a missionary presence. However, international Mormons often bring pieces of their own heritage into the church, adapting church practices to local cultures. Chile, Uruguay, and several areas in the South Pacific have a higher percentage of Mormons than the United States (which is at about 2%). South Pacific countries and dependencies that are more than 10% Mormon include American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga. No country currently has a Mormon majority, although Tonga is expected to be the first within the next few years. Can Mitt Romney be a President for all Americans? If you are wealthy...he can be your best friend....if you are low to middle income...you are up the creek without a paddle! His strong Morman faith will be the foundation on which he will base his decisions that will impact you and I...no sincere Christian Pastor or members of Christian chruches can vote for Mitt Romney with a clear conscience! Don't let your Hatred for President Obama, blind you to the point of cutting off your nose to smite your face!!! |
Current Events, Money Matters, Children, World Of Entertainment, Politics, World of Religion, Family Matters, Social Events, Community, National News, Religion, World News
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Cruz: Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2012 10:02 AM
Do you hate it when people complain? It turns out there's a good reason: Listening to too much complaining is bad for your brain in multiple ways, according to Trevor Blake, a serial entrepreneur and author of Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life. In the book, he describes how neuroscientists have learned to measure brain activity when faced with various stimuli, including a long gripe session. "The brain works more like a muscle than we thought," Blake says. "So if you're pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you're more likely to behave that way as well." Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity--including viewing such material on TV--actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. "That's the part of your brain you need for problem solving," he says. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush." But if you're running a company, don't you need to hear about anything that may have gone wrong? "There's a big difference between bringing your attention to something that's awry and a complaint," Blake says. "Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, 'Isn't it terrible?' This will damage your brain even if you're just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you'll become the target of the complaint." So, how do you defend yourself and your brain from all the negativity? Blake recommends the following tactics: 1. Get some distance "My father was a chain smoker," Blake confides. "I tried to change his habit, but it's not easy to do that." Blake knew secondhand smoke could damage his own lungs as well. "My only recourse was to distance myself." You should look at complaining the same way, he says. "The approach I've always taken with complaining is to think of it as the same as passive smoking." Your brain will thank you if you get yourself away from the complainer, if you can. 2. Ask the complainer to fix the problem Sometimes getting distance isn't an option. If you can't easily walk away, a second strategy is to ask the complainer to fix the problem. Recommended Videos What a Serial Entrepreneur Can't ResistHow a Disaster on Everest Inspired an EntrepreneurLeader in Motion: How Choreographer Bill T. Jones Collaborates "Try to get the person who's complaining to take responsibility for a solution," Blake says. "I typically respond to a complaint with, 'What are you going to do about it?'" Many complainers walk away huffily at that point, because he hasn't given them what they wanted, Blake reports. But some may actually try to solve the problem. 3. Shields up! When you're trapped listening to a complaint, you can use mental techniques to block out the griping and save your neurons. Blake favors one used by the late Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros during a match against Jack Nicklaus--a match the crowd wanted Ballesteros to lose. "He was having difficulty handling the hostility of the crowd," Blake says. "So he imagined a bell jar that no one could see descending from the sky to protect him." Major League Baseball pitchers can sometimes be seen mouthing "Shields on!" as they stride to the mound, he says. He adds that his own imaginary defense is "more like a Harry Potter invisibility cloak." A related strategy is to mentally retreat to your imagined favorite spot, someplace you'd go if you could wave a magic wand. "For me, it was a ribbon of beautiful white sugary sand that extended out in a horseshoe shape from a private island," Blake says. "I would take myself to my private retreat while people were ranting and raving. I could smile at them and nod in all the right places and meanwhile take myself for a walk on my private beach." Blake first saw the picture of the island in a magazine, and the image stuck with him. Eventually, he got a chance to try it for real. "It turned out the island was for rent, and it was the same one I'd seen," he says. "So I rented it for a week. And I got to take that walk." |
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Cruz Sherman: Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2012 11:49 AM
Most people would admit that they have done somethings they wish they had never did. I would be in that number myself; however what went on inside of Club Elements in South East Memphis would make Hugh Hefner close his eyes. I am originally from Memphis and what happened at this club is not indicative of the "Bluff City". A video has gone viral on the Internet and on Worldstar Hip Hop and has over 1.2 million hits. After one of my relatives from Memphis contacted me and asked had I heard about or seen the video...my response was no to both. since I author a blog and host a talk show, I generally don't miss many breaking news events or hot topics. Well, after viewing the video, this is one I wish I hadn't heard about or seen. I have witness a number of things in my lifetime; however this one ranks in the top if not number one of the most disturbing things. Action News 5 in Memphis broke this news...see their report on this public display of Romanesque behavior that would make Roman orgies of earlier times seem tame! MEMPHIS, TN - (WMC-TV) – An obscene video made in Memphis is going viral. In less than 24 hours, it caught the attention of angry residents, the mayor, and district attorney general. The video, which was shot at a Memphis club, is very graphic. It is so graphic that we cannot show all of it. The graphic nature of what is going on inside the club prompted the district attorney to investigate. "That video is horrible. It really is. I mean young girls," stated Samantha Brown, who was shocked by the video. The video shows sex acts shot in Club Elements on Winchester. The video is making its way all over the Internet and Twitter. "I have watched the video. We are well aware of it and we are looking into it," said District Attorney Amy Weirich. Weirich said the video shows lewd behavior that falls under the nuisance statute. The party was organized by Team Taboo, who rented Club Elements. Action News 5 learned the parties are held in different locations around Memphis. Club Elements is in a strip mall on Winchester. It shares the lot with Big Lots and other businesses. And it is just east of the World Overcomers Church. No one who works in the strip mall wanted to talk with Action News 5 on camera, however, one man came up to our crew and said the next party is this weekend down the street. He also said if we gave him $60, he would tell us where. We did not give him the $60. No one came to the locked door when our crews knocked. We called Team Taboo's CEO Datrin Delaney. He said he had some engagements and would call back. Memphis Films shot the video. Toria Davidson who owns that company said he shoots club and music videos. The Club Elements party was his first encounter with Team Taboo. "We were just shocked," Davidson said. He also said he is done with Team Taboo. "I just think I'm just going to stick with music videos and stay away from this point blank period." Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton knows about the video. He said it will be investigated. The CEO of Team Taboo never returned our calls. Editorial Continued: In addition to viewing the video, I read through the comments posted on www.worldstarhiphop.com , it was surprising at the number comments that supported this type of OPEN behavior. Many people were giving "kudos" to the City of Memphis for being a source of inspiration for the activity that went on inside Club Elements. What is NOT surprising is why STD's among African American between the age of 16-30 is so high and increasing daily. With total disregard for safety for themselves as well as others, youth and young adults are increasing their changes of receiving the "special package" (HIV/AIDS). While sexual freedom is one thing, sexual stupidity is another. This is the most clear case of sexual stupidity I have ever heard about or seen. WAKE UP YOUNG PEOPLE...YOU ARE PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH YOUR LIVES...THE NEXT PULL OF THE SEXUAL TRIGGER COULD BE THE ONE THAT ENDS YOUR LIFE!! This is my thoughts on this event, what's yours...please response with your thoughts and views. |
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Cruz: Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 12:29 PM
 CNN) -- If Joseph Kony wasn't the most wanted man in the world, he may be now.In the past week, a documentary detailing accusations of vile acts committed by the Ugandan warlord has spread like wildfire on social media (at the time of writing it has had more than 50 million views), prompting international outrage and a groundswell of support for his capture. In the documentary, "Kony 2012," which was posted online by the U.S.-based group Invisible Children, the tales of atrocities are horrifying: armed supporters force abducted children to kill their own parents, brutal mutilations include the hacking off of lips and limbs, and the sexual slavery of young girls stolen from their families. The group says its aim is to raise awareness and bring Kony to justice. While some critics question whether the film captures the full scope of the conflict, one matter is without debate: Kony now ranks as one of the International Criminal Court's most wanted men, facing arrest on charges of crimes against humanity after a 26-year campaign of brutality in his failed bid to overthrow the Ugandan government. How did Kony rise to power? Kony, a former altar boy, was a young man in his early 20s when he was caught in the storm of violence that marked the final years of Milton Obote's presidency. Obote was deposed in a military coup in 1985, and soon after Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA) seized power. Kony's Lord's Resistance Army was among those who rose up against Museveni's NRA. Kony was a spiritual leader, known as a healer among the Acholi people. He inherited a powerful support base from Alice Lakwena, a spirit-medium. Lakwena's followers would "daub themselves in shea butter crosses which they believed would protect them from bullets and they believed that stones would explode like grenades," explains Matthew Green, author of "The Wizard of the Nile - The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted," about Kony. "It was a mystical rebellion," Green says, adding that Kony "was very much an inheritor of her mantle." Lakwena fled to Kenya after Museveni's forces launched a brutal attack on her and her followers. Staying in northern Uganda, Kony rallied Lakwena's remaining supporters and recruited more with a powerful mix of mythical claims, charisma and unconscionable violence. What is Kony like? Green describes being one of the few journalists to ever meet Kony when the rebel leader briefly emerged from his jungle hideout in 2006. "Although he was surrounded by phalanxes of child soldiers with Kalashnikov rifles and bayonets fixed to them, he actually looked terrified of meeting strangers," Green said. Despite Kony's apparent fear and paranoia, Green says the rebel leader was charismatic and clearly a "very powerful orator" when speaking to his people. "He had an almost musical voice as he spoke in his Acholi language and you could see that the people listening were completely captivated." What are Kony's tactics? If Kony attracted supporters through his "mystical powers" and charisma, he kept them through fear. "Certainly the violence is what made his movement so terrifying," Green says. "These attacks were carried out often with machetes or clubs and the violence was designed with a very clear political purpose. It was designed to illustrate to the people in northern Uganda that the government of President Museveni could not protect them." Kony's forces are believed to have abducted thousands of children to join his cause -- however the exact number is unconfirmed. At the height of the violence during the mid-2000s, parents tried to protect their children from harm by sending them to sleep in towns, away from Kony's ruthless kidnappers. Brutal punishments were inflicted on those who were accused of disloyalty by an increasingly paranoid leader, Green says. "Kony once gave an order that anyone caught riding a bicycle should have their legs cut off. Bicycles were a very common means of transport in rural areas and he was worried that informers, if they saw the rebels, would rapidly pedal away and alert the nearest army post." And similarly he would cut off people's hands as a kind of warning not to raise any hands against the rebels," Green adds. How organized is the Lord's Resistance Army? Kony created the Lord's Resistance Army with the intention to lead, based on his version of the Ten Commandments. Since then it has grown into a "disciplined fighting force," says Green, explaining that its members occupy a rank and are rewarded for loyalty. Kony has been able to maintain his hold over them with his mix of self-proclaimed spiritual powers and military strategy, Ned Dalby, Central Africa researcher with the International Crisis Group, said in a 2011 interview with CNN. "He cultivates this image of himself as a medium for the power of the spirit and at other times, he presents himself as a ruthless military leader. So he's able to maintain cohesion as a group and maintain the loyalty of his fighters," Dalby said. He noted that some former LRA fighters from northern Uganda have given clues as to why some outside the group stayed loyal to Kony. "They expressed the feeling that because they were given a rank, they were given a certain purpose, and respect and authority," Dalby says. "And then, once they're outside the LRA, they find they've become just another poor person, trying to survive." Where is Kony now? "Kony fled back into Sudan probably in late 2005, 2006 and he has not been back into Uganda since, as far as we know," Green said. He is believed to be accompanied by a small band of supporters, though his followers are still said to be terrorizing people elsewhere on the continent. "The mass abduction of Ugandan children and the terrible atrocities, the massacres that Kony committed have not occurred for some years now," added Green. "However, his forces are still on the loose in places like Central African Republic and Eastern Congo, and they still retain the capacity to kill large numbers of civilians. So although they're not a threat to Uganda now, they certainly are a threat to the region." The U.S. has listed the LRA as a terrorist group and in October, Washington authorized up to 100 U.S. Special Operations trainers and military advisers to assist African forces searching for Kony and other leaders of the LRA. The activities of the group are tracked on a website that uses information from the Invisible Children's Early Warning Radio Network, U.N. agencies and local NGOs to map and document recent crimes. Here is a real question; do blacks here in America even care that other people of color are being subjected to this type of Warlord? What about the Joseph Kony's here in America...the Drug Dealers, some of the Rappers that depict and promote black or black violence in their songs and videos? Maybe this is why we are so numb to this type of story outside of the US, simply because we see Joseph Kony and his homies everyday in ours, in our communities, on TV. To borrow a line from "Boyz n da Hood", 'it is just another day in the hood"; both here in America and in Africa...what do you think? |
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Cruz Inc Staff: Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 11:58 AM
After 20 plus years of terror and abuse by Joseph Kony, his terrible deeds come to the eyes of the world!! Why did it take so long for this black bastard's acts go under the radar for so long? This shouldn't surprise anyone; the plight of people of color is always by-passed or over-looked. People of Color are not priority, until thousands are affected. But now that his reign of terror and abuse has come to light, what should the UN or the United States do? Should we send Special Forces and cut the head of this snake off? Should he be arrested and brought up on charges? What do you think should happen? Why does it take so long for people to react to the issues of "people of color"? Joseph Kony- A terrorist...it is time to include him in our war on terroism???? |
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Cruz Inc Staff: Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 10:16 AM
 Newswise — A national team of AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere say they are surprised and dismayed by results of their new study showing that the yearly number of new cases of HIV infection among black women in Baltimore and other cities is five times higher than previously thought. The data show that infection rates for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among this population are much higher than the overall incidence rates in the United States for African-American adolescents and African-American women.
The data come from an ongoing, larger series of studies supported by the HIV Prevention Trials Network, and reflect testing and analysis of at-risk women in six urban areas in the northeastern and southeastern United States hardest hit by the global AIDS epidemic. The so-called “hotspots” are Baltimore; Atlanta; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; Newark, N.J.; and New York City. Researchers plan to present their findings March 8 at the 19th annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle.
Specifically, the team found that among 2,099 women ages 18 to 44, 88 percent of whom were black, 1.5 percent (32 women) tested positive at the outset of the study and were not enrolled, while among those who remained, 0.24 percent tested positive for HIV within a year after joining the study. All study participants were HIV negative, including more than 200 from Baltimore, when they volunteered for the study.
Experts say this rate of infection, or seroconversion, is five times previous estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for urban African-American women.
“This study clearly shows that the HIV epidemic is not over, especially in urban areas of the United States, like Baltimore, where HIV and poverty are more common, and sexually active African-American men and women are especially susceptible to infection,” says principal investigator for the Baltimore portion of the study, Charles Flexner, M.D., a clinical pharmacologist and infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins.
“We, as care providers and policy makers, have our job cut out for us in devising HIV prevention programs targeted to sexually active men and women in Baltimore and other cities,” says Flexner. He says prevention tactics should include more counseling about sexually transmitted infections, distribution of condoms, and intensive education about safer sex practices. Flexner is a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.
In Baltimore, the study conducted from May 2009 to July 2010 asked participating women who about their safe sex practices and other health issues, then asked them to come to The Johns Hopkins Hospital for HIV testing at no cost. Those who tested positive were offered counseling and treatment.
“While we have always known that African-Americans had a higher risk of HIV infection than other American racial groups, this study confirms it and underscores the severity of the national and local problem, especially in cities,” says Flexner.
Flexner says women of all races account for a quarter of the 50,000 new HIV infections each year in the United States, which adds to the more than 1 million men and women already known to have tested positive. Sixty-six percent of the women newly infected each year are black, even though African-American women represent only 14 percent of the U.S. female population. The national age-adjusted death rate for black women in the United States is nearly 15 times higher than that observed for HIV-infected white women.
The new study, formally known as HPTN 064 Women’s Seroincidence Study, was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The study site leader was co-investigator Anne Rompalo, M.D., Sc.M., an infectious disease specialist and professor at Johns Hopkins.
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