Black History Month

In honor of this blog's inaugural month and Black History Month, why not highlight a notable figure in American history. Though Black History Month has its opponents there is nothing wrong with taking some time out to remember those who paved the way for us. In light of the fact that it is an election year I cannot think of anyone better than the first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress and the first Black American to run for the Democratic nomination in the 1972 Presidential Election, the late Shirley Chisholm.

Born in Brooklyn, NY to immigrant parents from the Caribbean, Chisholm is the embodiment of the American dream. In 1969, she was the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress and was re-elected six times until she retired from political office in 1983. During her first term in Congress, she hired an all-female staff. In Congress, she spoke out for civil rights and women's rights, advocated for the poor and opposed the Vietnam War. She ran for the Democratic Nomination for President in 1972. She was active in the NAACP and co-founder of Unity Democratic Club in Brooklyn (instrumental in mobilizing black and Hispanic voters), the National Women's Political Caucus, the National Political Congress of Black Women and one of the early members of the National Organization for Women. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.
Chisholm wrote the autobiographical works Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).
Shirley Chisholm died in Florida at the age of 80 on January 1, 2005.

Market Revolution

Unless you have been under a rock for the past few months, you have been subjected to all of the dreary news regarding the financial markets. However The Wall Street Journal published an article in today's issue that provided somewhat of a breath of fresh air. While we talk about the stock market, trading and exchanges casually and without much fanfare, one of the world's most ancient nations, is inaguarating its commodities exchange next month. The Ethiopia Commodities Exchange set to open in March 2008 begins Ethiopia's era of modern trading. Though quite behind compared to the U.S. considering the Chicago Board of Trade opened it doors 160 years, my personal approach to investing it it's never too late and this groundbreaking occasion in Ethiopia is sure to change the lives of its millions of citizens forever.
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Free Thought Movement

Just a few words on this blog's namesake:

Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logic and not be influenced by emotion, authority, tradition, or any dogma. The cognitive application of freethought is known as freethinking, and practitioners of freethought are known as freethinkers. Freethought holds that individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. Thus, freethinkers strive to build their beliefs on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of any factual/logical fallacies or intellectually-limiting effects of authority, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend, and all other dogmatic or otherwise fallacious principles.

The aim of this blog is not to promote any particular school of thought thought being rational is always wise. However as an observer of social issues, politics, history, and money I have noticed that only your thoughts are free, so think freely!!