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New UDSA houses for working families

Posted in politics on October 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

housessss

President Obama’s UDSA is doing interesting things on the affordable housing front and thanks go to my Albany State University classmate Quinton Robinson for convincing me that working people can have new houses. We argued 30 years ago with our majormates about public policy but today Robinson and I still have healthy battles concerning the common good.

As state director of Rural Development in Georgia, Quinton executes directives on improving rural life from Ag Secretary Thomas Vilsack’s headquarters.  Because I am old school, I feel that low to moderate income people should move into homeownership by first buying an older house, paying it off and then getting a new house.

The housing team at USDA Georgia is supporting innovative energy research in net zero housing with UGA Tifton.  Yes, a family can rent or buy an older house but they must then consider the cost of utilities and those expenses can rival a mortgage payment.

Robinson and I have had heated debates recently with the concept of a low income family buying a $120,000 house.  While that seems like a big number, the terms and conditions under the USDA housing programs actually make good long term sense.  The public really needs to know about these opportunities because families owning homes is like a tree putting down roots.

To learn more about USDA’s homeownership programs contact their south Georgia office at:

Area 5 | Southwest Georgia | Fred Council, Area Director

  • Tifton Area Office | 229-382-0273 | FAX: 855-803-3870 | 2406 North Tift Avenue, Suite 103 | Tifton, GA 31794
  • Camilla Sub-Area Office | 229-336-0371 | FAX: 855-514-3344 | 30 West Broad Street, Room 101 | Camilla, GA 31730

Also, a non-profit organization called Total Free Inc. is working with USDA Rural Development to prepare families for the application process.  Hopefully, a group of co-workers and friends in an area will contact Millicent Hartwell-Cross and her team will come over and do a presentation for them.  What if this blog post leads to a new subdivision of first time homeowners.

Millicent Hartwell-Cross  http://totallyfreeinc.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Totally-Free-Inc-156538314387368/info/?tab=overview

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The Establishment: Power, Control and Money/”Came for”

Posted in politics on September 28, 2015| 1 Comment »

In government and politics, there has always been an establishment that meets privately and decides matters and sets directions.  Said establishment (E) then has their installed elected so-called leaders execute and codify into law and policy their decisions.  It’s like they are puppet masters and the ultimate goal is controlling the area for power and money.  Often times, the leader is a seemingly nice person.

It’s a Wonderful Life:  This classic holiday movie actually is a good way to explain the E to young people.  George Bailey was set to attend college and travel the world but the family’s savings and loan provided homeownership to working people.  Mr. Potter and the E were in a constant battle with the Bailey family because they were helping people come up.  When Potter saw an opportunity he “came for” George Bailey and nearly destroyed him.  An angel showed George how much good he had done for the town by showing him what the area would have been like without him.  When the townspeople realized George was in trouble, the outpouring of support was exceptional.

Obama: Democrats love them some Bill Clinton; he was a great president.  The party establishment decided that it was Hillary Clinton’s turn to be president.  However, the people were feeling the junior senator from Illinois.  Barack Obama had a message of change—a departure from the status quo.  To many voters, the E selecting Hillary Clinton without their input brought thoughts of a plantation mentality—we will decide for you and you will like it.  The people revolted and history was made.

Firestone Plant in Albany: As quiet as it is kept, Firestone had a South Georgia community committee involved in the site selection of their new plant.  This plant brought hundreds of good-paying jobs to the region but the E in most south Georgia towns gave Firestone the cold shoulder.  Why?  The establishment was made of farmers who require labor to pick their crops.  Their response to Firestone was “if you pay poor people this much money, who is going to pick my crops…go away.”

USDA Pickford case: The U.S. Department of Agriculture for decades had a three person county committee that decide who received federal farm loans.  Of course, the E controlled the committees and poor Black farmers couldn’t get ahead without the same support other farmers were experiencing.  Black farmers were losing family farmland while the E smirked all the way to the bank.  In farming, when you need money to plant, fertilize or harvest, you need it now.  After the failure of those farms, E members would buy those farms and hire the original owner to work it for him.  That situation sounds like sharecropping and the USDA paid minority farmers $2.3 billion to right their actions.  But, many  voters continue to blindly support the E.  They must want the crumbs from the table after the E feast.

http://www.agri-pulse.com/Pigford-payouts-to-black-farmers-reach-2-3-billion-will-there-be-more-07092014.asp

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Django Unchained:  While fictional, the movie Django Unchained gives two interesting examples of dealing with the E.  Django learned the bounty hunting business from a fair man but they encounter Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Stephen, on a plantation.  Stephen would spy on other workers and do anything to keep his status with the E.

Understanding/Solutions : What the Establishment doesn’t understand is that a rising tide lifts all boats—it’s not us vs. them.  It’s all of us vs. failure.  The voices and concerns of the Establishment have always been heard and that wouldn’t  change.  However, all voices need to be heard because people aren’t invisible.  People almost make themselves invisible when they don’t vote—the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Keep watchful eyes for those doing the bidding of the E.  The Establishment seems cowardly as they throw rocks and hide their hands.  The E will “come for” anyone they can’t control or anyone who questions their actions.  Evidentially, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Sanford Bishop are all con artists and swindlers.  We know better.

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Fair Questions: Are you cool with Obama? Voted for Rep. Bishop? Ride with Senator Isakson? Down with Speaker Boehner? Deal with Governor Deal?

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 25, 2015| 1 Comment »

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Is it fair to ask a candidate how they voted for another office?  Should you ask them if they are Republican or Democrat if they are running in a non-partisan election?

Personally, I say yes.  Local elected officials are representatives to state and federal governments and officials; they tell other officials what the people are saying.  Unfortunately, the Republican Party has been commandeered by the far Right Tea Party Movement and the first thing they tell their officials is “you don’t need to speak with those who oppose us.”

Wait a second, once candidates become elected officials, they should communicate with everyone to explain their decisions and opinions.  Democrats generally do it.

So, people hate President Obama, say ugly thinks about him and his wife then dare local elected officials to do business with the Obama Administration.  Some mayors and city councilmen don’t want federal grant money because it’s from Obama or was from the Clinton Administration.   They need to get ready for another Clinton Administration.

Folks laugh about questioning Obama’s birthplace and even his religion and local elected officials stand there and smile.  That’s wrong.  I am Democrat but I am quick to walk away from a liberal nut who thinks President Bush had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks.

Check this: former Representative Jack Kingston got cool points for taking questions in forums at Savannah State University from liberal students.  However, Jack playfully laughed when asked if candidate Obama was from the U.S.A.   Later, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed was the Georgia point person for getting federal funds to deepen the Port of Savannah, a project that meant countless jobs to our region.  I think Reed took the lead because Obama staffers didn’t want to hear from Savannah congressman Kingston after the birther mess.

Today, Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation.  Yesterday, he was meeting with the Pope and today he is gone.  Boehner is a real dude and must have been overwhelmed by the love of the Holy See.  Mr. Speaker must have told himself that he wanted no more of the Tea Party’s ugly influence on the Republican Party.

So, Rep. Sanford Bishop has done right by American farmers since day one because agriculture is Georgia’s number one industry.  When the Tea Party came for Bishop with lies and made-up silliness, many local elected officials and ag leaders stood by smirking.  We are talking about the same people who were constantly asking Bishop for this and that.

Speaker Boehner came to Albany, Georgia, and had a private meeting at Doublegate Country Club.  You know Boehner tried to tell those knuckleheads that they could beat Bishop fair and square on fiscal issues but attacking a good man’s character was messed up.  The Republican establishment doesn’t control the Tea Party, Fox News or talk radio.  Those nasty attacks made us circle the wagons around Bishop and he won that election by the thinness of margins.

So, for stake of full disclosure, I have voted for Obama twice, Rep. Bishop every time after he beat Charles Hatcher, and a couple of Republicans in the GOP primary because there are no Dem primaries anymore.

Also, like many Black Democrats in Atlanta, I often vote for Senator Isakson because he is a good Georgian.  Sometimes, we need reasonable members on the other team telling fools to shut up.

When these local candidates come around smiling, asked them if they voted for Obama, Bishop, Scott, Romney, Mccain or whoever.  It’s funny how they get votes from Obama supporters but later hang with people who would like to see the worst happen to the president.  I never wanted anything horrible to happen to a president and those who do are sick.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20.

Matthew 7:15-20

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?  17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit.  18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.

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Look, I am not saying some candidates are evil but they are sometimes around questionable people and say nothing.  Senator John McCain was campaigning for president and an old lady got the mic and said Obama was a Arab.  She didn’t even get the right part of the world.  McCain took the mic back from her and said no madam, no madam…I don’t agree with him on issues but he is a good man.

What about asking candidates how they feel about the Black Lives Matter Movement?  I think that could have been called Black Lives Matter Also.

Questions in general about the confederate flag seem unfair but questions about displaying that flag on city grounds are fair in my opinion.

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Two Albanys, Two Sylvesters, Two Camillas , Two Bulldog Nations/ Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Coming Home”

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on September 23, 2015| 1 Comment »

Carlton Fletcher’s Albany Herald column about two Albanys got me thinking about two Sylvesters, two Camillas, two DCs and two Bulldog nations.  Fletcher is one of Albany State’s first non-minority football players which would actually make him a majority player at a minority school—look the dude came from Ocilla to Albany because he wanted an education and he loved playing sports.

This blog loves Fletcher because he keeps it real.  The guy once wrote about the term “bus left” from our childhood.  He is a bridge-builder and you know this blog has a metaphorical bridge as a logo.  In a recent article, Fletcher talked about the Albany downtown where he works and the northwest Albany/part Lee County where others live and spend.  This situation makes me think about the Police’s song “One World Is Enough For All of Us” in which Sting sang “we can’t sink while others float because we are all in the same big boat.”

Albany

People now make money in Albany then cross Ledo Road (literally Lee Dougherty line) to eat, shop and sleep away from….you know.  It’s sometimes called White flight but there is a lot of Blacks doing the same.  Hey, you can’t blame someone from running from rough stats about the inter-city but I happen to love downtown areas more than strips of national food chains with little character. The solution for downtown Albany will come when hundreds of college students, Marines and young professionals actually live in lofts downtown….high ceilings, exposed bricks, old wooden floors, walk home after partying.  When I was an intern in the downtown development office, I told them that in 1988 but it never happened.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2015/sep/19/carlton-fletcher-coming-face-to-face-with-two/

Sylvester

Small towns like Sylvester have been traditionally separated by a train track and if you came up on the wrong side of that track, you might want to catch a train heading anywhere else.  In 1981, there was a movie called “The Night the Lights When out in Georgia” and at the end, Kristy McNichol’s character said, “I am not sure where I am going but I am in a hurry to get there.”

I was never in a hurry to get out of Sylvester, the town that turned the swimming pool into a tennis court to keep us from swimming.  I have been playing tennis on those courts for 40 years…so there.  With all the ugliness in the world, the calmness of the hometown sounds pretty good and with high speed internet, many professionals can do their jobs from anywhere.  Forrest Gump brought his money home and so should others.  Donald Trump is right in stating that we don’t make anything in America anymore and the Sylvester of my youth was about making crops and textiles.  To me, current Sylvester is a bedroom community of Tifton and Albany and that’s fine.

The Mayor of Sylvester is Bill Yearta and he sat in my den (under the framed pictures of my daddy and President Obama) and politely listened to every gripe I had about Sylvester dating back to that swimming pool drama.  Yearta took that heat for hours like current congressman Sanford Bishop and former congressman Jack Kingston like taking heat from people who they know aren’t going to vote for them.

I didn’t vote for Yearta but he gain tons of respect for listening to my explanation…hell, he should be a congressman.  Elected officials and public servants execute their official duties but they have unofficial roles that some don’t understand.  Does Bill Yearta do a good job on his official administrative oversight duties?  Yes, he is likely the best mayor in this town’s history in that regard.  Unofficially, you sometimes need a mayor who can encourage the citizens in aspects of life that aren’t directly about government i.e. pull up your pants, get off the corners, congrats on being a clean-cut kid, let’s not refight the Civil War.

Another old friend ran against Yearta twice and I jokingly called him the unofficial mayor of south Sylvester because he was a tireless advocate for this side of the tracks.  I was wrong for that because there is one Sylvester and Bill Yearta is the properly elected mayor.  There is one America and Obama is the president.  Some folks don’t seem to know that.

Camilla

Rufus Davis is running for mayor of Camilla.  Davis and I go back before 8-track and this citizen of the world came home.  Correction, while he has worn out several passports living all over the world, he was always rooted in Camilla and the life lessons of his parents.  I remember a college cookout when someone joked that NAACP stood for “Negroes aint acting like color people” and Davis was like NO, you’ll aren’t allow to play like that because my mother wouldn’t like that after the numerous improvements that organization has made for this nation.  We were like “chill, man….it’s a cookout” but Davis stood strong.

At the time, Rufus Davis and Dr. Carl Gordon were the only Black Republicans this pol sci major knew.  Yes, Davis was a pro-business, pro-growth, do-for-self conservative during the Reagan years but we know that Davis nor Reagan could be a Republican today because the party of Lincoln has been pulled too far right.  While I was partying in grad school, Rufus started a successful magazine in downtown Albany.

The current mayor of Camilla seems like a nice person and reading about him reminds me of Bill Yearta.   Camilla shouldn’t be two Camillas or Camilla vs. Mitchell County.  In many rural Georgia communities, people have moved from the city to the country for homestead living.  However, those same people seek to still control and offer commentary about town.

Rufus Davis might have been born to bridge the divide and to encourage One Camilla.  Rufus’s candidacy seems like a baby Obama situation…overkill.  If a mayor needs to bring jobs from corporations, Rufus has serious experience from working in multimillion dollar operations in New York.  If jobs need to come back from overseas, he knows global business.  How many small cities have an attorney as mayor when it comes to crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s?  If elected, I bet Davis will flip that drama on the news about the block party into a city wide festival series that highlights every culture that makes up their community…from hip hop to blues to bluegrass to Motown.  I look forward to coming to town for some of that.

DC

When I was in DC, delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton pointed out that Washington policemen and firefighters were living in Virginia and Maryland.  While they have a right to live where they want, having public safety personnel on your street is like having a police or fire sub station there.  There are two DCs and the big DC is controlled by Blacks.  One group making decisions without input from everyone is wrong.

Bulldog Nations

While this blog post is too long, I want to finish by remembering the divide created when Hershel Walker left the University of Georgia for the USFL’s New Jersey Generals.  How could Hershel do that to us?  I had my room assignment in Creswell Hall and looked forward to being a junior transfer student about to experience winning a national championship as a sports fan.  But, Bulldog Nation got so ugly when that young man decided that he wanted to secure his family’s financial future by turning pro.  Black folks understood because Stanford stadium seems like a plantation and I looked side-eye when Walker said, “I can carry the ball a bunch of times a game….it ain’t heavy”  Really?

We should remember that Walker’s exit was arranged by Donald Trump, the owner of the New Jersey Generals.  Trump burnt Georgia like Sherman.  While watching a recent PBS documentary on General William Tecumseh Sherman, I learned that the general who burned Atlanta became friends with several Confederate generals.  Southern General Joseph E. Johnston was a pallbearer at Sherman’s funeral.  The UGA family loves Hershel today; he is one of the school’s favorite graduates but can those people vote for Trump after he cost us a second national championship.

Summary: From politics to football back to politics, a house divided cannot stand.  I use to think Abraham Lincoln wrote that before the Civil War but when I started reading the Bible more I learned Mark 3:25 says “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”  Elected officials should seek to bring people together and find reasonable solutions rather than inadvertently dividing us.

Comin’ Home

You know Georgia is open for business—always has been.  Remember, during the roughest parts of the Civil Rights Movement, Black and White leaders in Atlanta would quietly meet and resolved issues with money and economic development in mind.  Refighting the Civil War seems like fun to some until they realize that new industry doesn’t want to locate in a place with social disorder.

Atlanta’s Lewis Grizzard wrote that once he got back to Georgia he was going to nail his feet to the ground.  Brother, I have been there and it usually involved a messed up stomach in the developing world.  You don’t miss ole Georgia until you are somewhere else.  When altitude sickness had my head spinning in Manta, Ecuador, I thought about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Coming Home.”  Yea, those confederate flag-loving southern rockers are my homeboys too. Their “Gold & Platinum” greatest hit cd is one of my all-time favorites behind Thriller, the Police’s Synchronicity and the Gentler Side of John Coltrane.

Problem-solvers listen to all sides of the issue and seek a common ground.  Listen.  Who knew that in Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd sang “in Birmingham, they loved the governor…boo boo boo.”  So this Florida band was booing George Wallace….well, dam.

Anyway south Georgia is open for business and all those classmates who had successful careers elsewhere can retire to the warmth of the southern sun.  Luke Bryan can romanticize in song about south Georgia and we do ride in trucks but the next generation seems a little aimless at times.  Rather than talking about them, let’s talk with them because they could be heading backwards.

At the end of the day, I hope candidates for local, state and national offices read and take something positive from this blog’s Best Interest Initiative.  Those nine blog post are deep.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

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What’s Up: Joe Biden, Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton and Hurricane Farrakhan

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on August 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »

My political predictions for the near future are simple and clear:

Joe Biden: I don’t know if Vice President Biden will run for president but Hillary Clinton needs him to run—hear me out.  Junior Senator Barrack Obama got into a serious fight for the nomination with Clinton.  The battle sharpen the skills of both candidates.  Many voters felt that young Obama wasn’t ready to be leader of the free world; he had not put in the required time on the national stage.  But, the primary battle proved his steel.

Joe Biden could be to Clinton want Clinton was to Obama.  Yes, she is ready and experienced enough to be president but she needs a seasoned sparring partner.

Jeb Bush: The Republicans need to stop playing—stop it, I say…now.  Let me make one thing perfectly clear…read my lips….Jeb Bush is the only Republican with a real chance of defeating Hillary Clinton in the general election.  If you notice, Bush has an “I don’t need this crap” air about him.  He is the grown person in the room and to flirt with Trump and the others leading in the polls today is insulting to a leader of his caliber.

A Jeb Bush/John Kasich ticket is the best case scenario because the former House Budget Committee chair is the governor of swing state Ohio and both men intelligently tell far Right conservatives when their fervor is too much.  Maybe Bush isn’t suited to be the nom from a party increasing dominated by folks who dig Trump-like rhetoric.

Hillary Clinton: The biggest obstacle to Hillary Clinton winning the White House isn’t the Republicans pulling voters from her.  The obstacle or concern is getting out people who normally vote for the Democrat nominee.  If you notice, I didn’t say Democrats because many of the sometimes voters who put President Obama in office aren’t “card carrying, meetings attending” proud members of the Blue Team.  I think of it as how dedicated are University of Georgia football fans compared to UGA basketball fans.

So, Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton reach the people based in part on who they are personally rather than the power of the party as a cohesive operation (like the Republicans.)  Dem leaders think their base will vote for their nom (Hillary) as an only option because to GOP nom is head of a party with a crazy sub-division.  However, there is another option: stay home.  Say what, real Americans like me vote in every election including a run-off for local dog catcher.

But after the high of having Barrack Obama in the Oval, the next move for some people will be to look for non-governmental solutions because even the smoothest president in history couldn’t fixed your jacked-up life.  “….as not what this country can do for you…..”

Hurricane Farrakhan: Minister Louis Farrakhan is about to return to Washington, D.C., for a rally commemorating the historic Million Man March.  Team Hillary should be concerned….very, very concerned because the platform of the DNC seems to be based on governmental assistance rather than encouraging all Americans to step their personal games up.  If you notice the personal responsibility message to the Black community has always been the core of Farrakhan’s and  Malcolm X’s missions.

These young Blacks today are information savvy and recognize that the Democrats aren’t producing results. They want straight talk and clear solutions.  When Farrakhan finishes his indictment on “Brother Barrack”’s political party,  20% of the Obamacrats might blow off the next presidential election and that would be a mistake.

Team Hillary has countless Ivy League nerds with charts, polls and algorithms.  If those cats join with the bishops from the Black churches and folks who marched with King, they won’t create a message that will sense to regular people.

While the official Hillary campaign can’t address certain issues in certain ways, they better hope that outside operations come up with an approach similar to this blog’s Best Interest Initiative.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

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Hillary Clinton, Judge Willie Lockette and Black Lives Matter: Solutions

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on August 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Secretary Hillary Clinton recommended that Black Lives Matter activists get a more formal plan that involves solutions—good for her; good for them.  One of the biggest question marks about Clinton’s path into the Oval Office is can she get most of the Obama voters back to the polls in November of 2016. If she does, she would be president because she will (in my opinion) receive a surprising percentage of suburban women who voted for McCain and Romney.

Some say bloggers have delusions of grandeur.  Does Obamacare cover the treatment of this condition?  Well, I want to make a few points that will hopefully (unlikely) reach important ears through the six degrees of separation.

Black Lives Matter: While I can appreciate civil disobedience to a certain degree, this bum-rushing the stage stuff would be dangerous in the gun-loving South.  Also, they shouldn’t try that at a Minister Farrakhan speech because there would be more punches than at the last Ronda Rousey fight.

Because Black southerners are more moderate, Black Lives Matter might be surprised that many Blacks here think that equal outrage should be focused on Black on Black violence.

Judge Willie Lockette: Yes, he is grandfather of the football player from the Super Bowl but Lockette’s wisdom in Albany, Georgia, could save more people nationally than the number of fans in that stadium.  I took Administrative Law class from him in grad school so I know his logic is like Thurgood Marshall meets Andy Griffin.   While speaking to a fraternity’s youth group, Lockette broke down his recommendations for encounters with the police.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2015/jun/10/albany-state-university-holds-justice-while-black/

Lockette, who had a meeting with Simmons and some youth earlier this week to discuss the topic, talked about how young blacks should survive an encounter with police officers.

 “We came up with a list of four Do’s and four Don’ts,” Lockette said. Things not to do include don’t react, don’t reach, don’t run and don’t resist. Running is a major no-no, Lockett said.

 

Lockette’s list of things to do:

 

“Do respect the police even if you think they are wrong; do use restraint; do record everything. You have a cell phone, use it; and do report any problems you might have.

“And always remember, you could be right, but you could also be dead right.”

Candidate Clinton: Winning elections involves three things: getting people to vote for you, getting people to vote against the other person/people and who stays home.  Candidates have big egos and want people to vote for them because they are wonderful.  But, consider the people who won office because people were voting against the other person (it’s like rebound kisses.)  For example, Sonny Perdue became governor of Georgia because people were voting against then Governor Roy Barnes’ changes to the state flag and some changes to the educational system.  Hell, some voters couldn’t pick Perdue out of a line up but he rode that wave.

The “stay home” factor is a two-edged sword for Clinton.  The bad edge involves infrequent voters who voted for Obama because he was such a wonderful person (like Bill Clinton and some think Ronald Reagan) but who would blow off the next election.

The good edge for Clinton will be the fact many conservative voters are so particular about their issues and candidates than the might blow off the GOP nominee because that candidate knocked out their guy/gal or isn’t hardcore enough on a few issues.  From the grave, Reagan is saying take the most electable conservative and from Atlanta reasonable Republican Charlie Harper of Peach Pundit is telling his fellow conservatives that Donald Trump will make Hillary Clinton president for sure.

Solutions: While Black Lives Matters is grabbing mics like Run/DMC, the southern effort to help our communities starts with listening to Judge Lockette’s wisdom about being right and dead.

Secondly, since Clinton called for solutions and an organized plan, someone from her camp (and every political camp) should spend an hour reading Project Logic Ga’s Best Interests Initiative.  BII isn’t actually about what elected leaders can do for the people, it’s about the people functioning smarter after acknowledging that we must do for self first and that there isn’t always a governmental solution to every personal and community problem.  Yeah, I must have some serious delusions of grandeur jumping off because I think those nine blog posts could/should heal the divide in this country.

To Democrats, BII is a starting point to secure moderates and maybe restart the conservative section of the Blue Team.  To Republicans, BII is how you’ll should approach others with conservatism but don’t.

Best Interests Initiative

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Best Interests Initiative – Future Candidates, Come and get “Non-Governmental Solutions”

Posted in politics on July 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The Best Interests Initiative seeks to give the public and policymakers the non-governmental solutions to problems that end up requiring governmental responses and taxpayers’ money.  You could say BII is budget neutral if not budget zero because it’s about getting policymakers to acknowledge that not all answers come from them.  Actually, that acknowledgement could lead to a reversal of mindset; a future where governmental involvement is reduced and consequently governmental spending.

Listen to BII: If reading nine blog posts is long for some, the PC and smartphone offer the opportunity to cut and paste the text of the individual post and listen to them.  Cool.

System Speech for computers

http://melvindev.com/apps/system-speech/

@ Voice Reader Aloud for smartphones

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hyperionics.avar

Background:  Destroying the opposition and holding power are the primary missions of political parties.  Improving this nation comes as an afterthought.  During the last few decades, the political arena has become a battlefield and the American people are the ultimate losers.

Mission:  The Best Interest Initiative (BII) was created to add a supplemental discussion/purpose to the public policy debate.  The BII concept is simple: governmental policies do not address many of the problems in the community and the nation but no one admits that fact.  The mission of BII is to educate everyone on non-governmental options and solutions by creating a platform for discussions that include everyone.

For Future Candidates:  It’s clear that the body politics and policy needs some new ideas.  Well, BII could be the I.V. that pumps good medicine.  Those who follow politics know the names being toss around as “who’s next” when current leaders retire or move up to different positions.   Some say the Dem and GOP benches are thin but I say not so because I know prep moves when I see them.

My advice to candidates is to slowly build your network and credentials but also come to the people with something fresh, outside the box and something solutions –based.   Something like the Best Interests Initiative.  I think of the BII as being a middle/centrists version of the TEA Party or the Contract With America….or better, what the Blue Dogs really say after retirement.

For Democrats: BII could open the door to moderates and centrists who think the party has been pulled too far left.

For Republicans:  Aspects of BII grew from talks with my disenchanted Black conservative friends who feel their party has the correct objective but approaches problems with ugly, brutish methods.

For the Sensible Center: BII is an education movement to compassionately outline a fresh approach to living better with less governmental involvement.

Goal: BII has the lofty goal of having 1,000 readers before March 2016.  At some point, someone with some juice is going to read BII and say “this is it…this is hot.”

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/    and the link is a tab at the top of projectlogicga blog.

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Best Interest Initiative – Power point outline

Posted in politics on July 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Best Interests Initiative    Power point show

Best Interests Initiative –Outline

Listen

Solutions

Desired result/build Backwards

B.I.I.- non-governmental solutions to community problems that create governmental actions.

Key Topics

Education/Career Training– Education is the foundation of a nice life.

No bad legal job

24/7 Grammar

Cost of College

Hoop Dreams

Military Education Option

Networking/The Hustle

Straight To Work Option

Hip Hop Music and Culture – Rap is an art form and artist should be free.  Musical sub-culture leads to choices which lead to financial consequences.

Proper Context

Art imitating life

Life imitating art

Hip is a Culture

Dress and Speech (Employability)

“Old men for counsel; young men for war.”

1 Kings 12:8

Music Executives/Klan’s work

Solutions

Music/Cultural Decisions

2nd Thessalonians 3:10-15

Law/Freedom  What’s more important than freedom?

Would you rather be a slave in 1815 or an inmate in 2015?

Put it on the scale.

Bill Badass- no one tells him what to do

Closet living

Cost of Prisons- big governmental budget item

$21,000 for Georgia inmate in 2011

$90,000 for Georgia Juvenile offender

Other freedoms

Reporting to government

Alcohol, drug and food addictions

Financial Freedom

Basic Law 101

Ignorance is not an excuse

Civil, Criminal, Torts, Property And Family Law

Two hour Intro to Law for Youth

Home Economics/Housing Everything starts at home/Home Training

Home = Small Business

Home Business Plan

Investing- college cost, homeownership

Training- etiquette, faith walk, dinner table discussions

Research- Successful families, DIY Home Improvement, Useful T.V.

Development- building stronger kids, parents who learn from other’s wisdom, family sacrifice for career opportunities

Risk Management- Nipping problems in the bud, surrounding family with positive people in healthy environments, particular about schools.

Savings/Financial Foundation- untouchable nest egg, retirement program at work, struggle-free living

Marketing- Networking positive constructive people who witness your solidness, dating people who enhance your life

Human Resources- family members are new employees/partners, exhaustive interview process, detailed research of history and experience

Home Ownership

House is 2nd biggest investment

Renting is buying for someone else

Appreciable Asset

Means – Don’t bite off more than you can chew

House Poor/Counting Chickens

Struggle, Stretch, Strain

Struggle is part of life

Constantly Stretching Money

Financial and Emotional Strain

Conspicuous Consumption/Bling

Smart Financial Planning

$3,000 Rims on $2,000 car

Air Jordans at the Bus Stop

Lump Sum / Earned Income Tax Credit

 Public Policy Arena Agenda Everyone has an agenda/staying paid

Eye for detecting agendas

Teachers’ Union – Johnny Can’t Read

Georgia Peanuts

Activists- sincere or love drama

Gun Control

Press as Activists

Right Wing Media and Hip Hop Culture

Negative Energy = Opportunistic Agenda

Psalms 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Psalm 1:6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Tail Wagging the Dog

Conflict and Demonization = ratings and money

Presidential Candidates Building a Brand

Hip Hop Industry – worse than the Klan

Do anything for more money

Music executives get the real money

East money for thugs and dancers isn’t easy

Role of Government/Unhealthy Liberal Agenda

Federal Government should protect everyone’s rights

Temporary Assistance leads to Entitlement Mentality

Does assistance limit doing for self?

Are city liberals’ agenda healthy for rural communities?

Every voice at the table

Far Right and Far Left too vocal

Justice Clarence Thomas’s Grandfather : Keep the government out of your business

Summary:

Everyone has an agenda

Develop Agenda Detection Capabilities

Compare and Contrast

Personal Responsibility  Choices, Decisions and Consequences

Government can’t fix everything

Solutions start with personal responsibility

Own what you did

Conservative Movement P.R. movement failed: Too Mean

Positive Encouragement

Speaker Newt Gingrich’s federal government limited role: fair playing field

Prosperity determined by actions

If your life stinks, what did you do or didn’t you do

Choices, Decisions and Consequences

Does governmental involvement encourage risky decision-making?

Deliberation –  big choices require a slow well-researched decision-making process

Focus – implement and execute decisions

Family Engineering – who had a baby with whom at what time and under what financial conditions

Self-analysis – look in the mirror

Faith and the Moral Compass

Faithless people – costly circumstances

Why God allows suffering?  Earthly Heaven

Moral Compass = Act Right

Matthew 22:35-40 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Randy Pausch: Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.

Thoughts, Words and Deeds

JFK: Ask Not

Governmental Authority:

Romans 13: 1-5 1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 

Rulers do not bear the sword for no reason

Without order, chaos

Shame

Residual Benefit of Church

Understanding – Proverbs 3, 5-6.  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

                Limit life in the streets

                Positive Networking/ Job Search

Money/Worldview

            1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

                Biblical justification for wealth seeking

                People your faith consider wrong

Religious, Spiritual and Righteous

Plenty room in Hell

Peace: respectful and considerate toward others    

 

T.V. and Social Media Influence

T.V. and internet shape lives

Fashion, Cultural and Social Trends

T.V. as an educational tool

                Maury Show, Honey Boo Boo  

                High channels: Law, Food, Home, History, Money

Classic T.V.

Social Media

                Facebook isn’t the devil

                Educational You Tube

Summary- media shouldn’t replace family

 

 

 

Health/Wellness

Life and Death

Personal responsibility for diet and exercise

Foods literally “to die for”

Food choices: low-fat fat back

Drinking calories

First Lady Michelle Obama’s food choices efforts

                Government involvement – public healthcare cost

                Speaker Newt Gingrich: healthcare system should reward fighters

Moderation – portion control

U.S.D.A. My Plate: Fruits, Grains, Veggies, Protein, Dairy

Other Choices: Alcohol, Illegal Drugs, Relations

Healthcare Industry 

                Doctors with pills

                Emergency room = doctor’s office for uninsured

                Annual exams for early detection

                Big Pharma vs. diet/exercise

Mental/Emotional Health

                Emotional Problems – Self-medication

                Counseling Needed

Peace, Rest and Happiness = Good medicine  

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Sandblast Stone Mountain or Read the Best Interests Initiative: Isaiah 1: 17-19

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on July 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The aftermath of the Charleston church tragedy has some Americans flirting with crazy talk.  The killer wanted to spark a race war in this nation and he just might get his oxymoronic civil war.  The central theme of my day is often set by the scripture in my daily devotion and today Isaiah 1: 17-19 hit right on time.

Isaiah 1:17-19 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord…..If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. 

“Let us reason together” has been on my mind since I started this blog with the influence of a Black Republican and a Black Independent.  We were just weary of those who favored fussing and fighting for political gains with little regard for the ultimate objective…a more perfect union.

If we reason together, we would calmly sit down and here from every point of view about the history of this nation as it relates to peaceably moving forward.  It’s silly to think that private citizens shouldn’t be able to displace the stars and bars flag or the red, black and green flag on their private vehicles and shirts when the flags represents themselves only and not the community or state as a whole.  It’s silly to discuss removing the figures from Stone Mountain in Georgia.  Really?  With all the jacked up things happening in the state and nation, this is your focus.  We shouldn’t remove all vestiges of racism because clearly we still have much racism–black and white racism.

During the civil rights movement, Atlanta was called the city too busy to hate.  Leaders in this southern city were about turning the corner faster and reaping the financial benefit of being cool, calm and collected.  You can trip all you want but when tripping starts costing you real money…hold your horses.

A friend pointed out a beautiful building in Savannah that was built to lure BMW to Georgia.  In the end, the German automaker went to South Carolina because in part that state addressed a confederate flag issues before Georgia.  The nation that has Hitler and the holocaust in their recent past was tripping because BMW was concerned about racial problems on their factory floor in the American South.  Again, when tripping cost you real money is time to sit down and come to some reasonable conclusions.

Reasonable people can say that someone fought hard for a cause that I don’t support..i.e. a Nazi combat flying ace or the military maneuvers of General Robert E. Lee.  But, if we insist on refighting the Civil War or addressing the stealing of this land from the Native Americans, we are going to open a big can of worms like the discussion of reparations…let’s not go there.

On my blog, I wrote the Best Interests Initiative to start a discussion about improving the South in a non-governmental way by having governmental leaders openly and honestly outline their limited roles.  It’s in our best interest to work together as brothers or perish as fools.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

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Living Unapologetically–Kenzie’s Jack and Jill Convention Speech

Posted in politics, tagged , on June 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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My niece McKenzie won first place at a Jack and Jill regional Oratorical Contest with good speech about being yourself–nicely done.

Living Unapologetically

I remember the 1960s. Or at I least remember being told about the 1960’s. Peace, flower power, freedom and afros. A time when black became synonymous with beautiful and the afro was a sign of pride. Black people were living unapologetically. As pride grew, so did the afros. And as pride shrank, so did the afros. And as pride died so did the afro, by way of heat and chemicals. Appearance was a person’s livelihood. So if a Jheri curl was acceptable over an afro then curl activators and shower caps were in order. Hair modification once done for employment purposes shifted to social purposes which merged with psychological sanity.

I have experienced my own connection between my hair and social acceptance in a 6th grade camping trip. “Mom please let me wear it straight so it will flow in the breeze with the rest of the girls.” She finally gave in and I was overjoyed. After the first day of camp full of breezes and flowing hair I went to sleep ready for day two. I woke up, stroked my hair only to realize my flowing mane had reverted to my naturally bushy afro. I was devastated. I no longer fit in like a puzzle piece, but I stuck out like a sore thumb.

Everything has changed now. In 2015 being different is the new goal and being basic is the new fear. I’ve grown from a time where my afro was my shame to a time where my natural hair is my pride and fame. But are all differences really accepted? What about the people who are different beyond the superficiality of outward appearance.  A young woman who decides to embrace her body despite society’s mold, and a young Christian man who reveals his pledge of abstinence. Is this the same “different” we praise? Or is this the type of “different” we reject?

Truth is, standing out is not about being different, it’s not about going against the grain, but it’s about being yourself. When God took time to create you, he made you unlike any of the 7 billion people on this earth. And he didn’t make anyone else the way he made you. You’ve already been made differently. Standing out is simply a side-effect.  Why fit in, when you were born to be uniquely yourself.

I wear my hair the way I want now, not to stand out or to fit in, but to be myself. Marcus Garvey taught me not to remove the kinks from my hair, but to remove them from my brain. Whether my hair is kink-less or kink-filled, my mind is kink-free. When I choose to be myself and live life unapologetically I don’t stick out like a sore thumb, but I stand out like a candle amidst darkness. And if any one questions my authenticity, I reply with the words of Chance the Rapper “I don’t wanna be cool. I just wanna be me.”

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Confederate battle flag: Steer Clear and Thanks

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on June 25, 2015| 1 Comment »

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How little people know about people living near them.  As a Black southerner, I am a descendant of people who built America for free against their will.  This land is definitely your land and my land.  The Confederate battle flag is a part of our collective history…as was my “X” hat in college.

Firstly, there should be a difference between a flag in places that represent all citizens of a state and individual recognition of heritage.  Since the beginning of human interaction, you have had winners and losers and winners write history.  How did the southern states imprint parts of the CSA into southern governments after they were defeated in war?  I won’t go into comparisons with Germany, Nazi and swastika but you get the point.

Consider this: why should we remove indicators of our trouble past when our present is also troubled.  If I go into my pantry and remove all the labels on canned goods, it wouldn’t change what’s inside.  For the record, Blacks and Whites can be racist and to some, Black racial mindfulness is somewhat understandable.  My point is change what is inside first.

Malcolm X use to say he had more respect for a man who tells him how he feels (even if he is wrong) than for a man who smiles in his face but who is evil.  During my youth, I read Black nationalist information and came to appreciate the “do for self” mentality.  There was a time when rocking an X hat made certain folks steer clear of you.  Good.

I often steer clear of folks with the Confederate battle flag but I in some way appreciate their display of how they are thinking.  You wanted a group to win a war and if said group won, I might be a slave today.  From a military standpoint, real history buffs can intelligently admire fighting techniques and efforts of the Confederates and the Nazis but haul ass from around me with that “I wish they won stuff.”

Remember also, Whites in the North weren’t fight for equal rights for Blacks.  Many of them just wanted to stop the expansion of slavery because slave did work for free that Whites wanted to be paid to do.

In D.C., I saw a bumper sticker that said “If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have picked my own dam cotton.”  A friend once said life is too short to argue with fools.  A fool believes America would have been a great power again Spain, England and France without years of the economic boost of free labor.

I also steer clear from certain Blacks with their own indicators but that’s a topic for another day.  Project Logic Ga continues it’s Best Interests Initiative and hopefully reasonable folks will get to know the opinions of others.

My Congressman Austin Scott was courageously interested in changing the Georgia flag when he was in the state legislature.  I bet he is singing a different tune today…he isn’t whistling Dixie because the Tea Party is a beast.

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Hillary Clinton’s Concerns: Rachel Dolezal and Louis Farrakhan

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on June 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Secretary Hillary Clinton becoming president could come down to getting out the Democrat base in November 2016 and that won’t be easy because something fresh and different must be crafted.  Yes, she is a thousand times better for our community than most of the GOP candidates but that isn’t enough.  Democrats must frame their approach to our community post-Obama.

History will remember Barrack as a great president—one of my three favorites of all times.  We remember that candidate Obama said he wasn’t running to be the president of Black America and he was correct; he is the president of the all of America.  With that said, Blacks can finally see that who is in high office is secondary to what we do for self.  John F. Kennedy said “ask not what this country can do for you….ask what you can do for this country.”  What you can do is stop messing up and stop waiting for the government to fix your life.

At church yesterday, the head of the Stewards Board made a brief speech that centered on our community now being free but stated that with freedom has come a freedom to rob, kill, steal and do other detrimental things.

I have been saying for years that we are our own worst enemies.  In the post-Obama era, we need an honest and frank discussion about how we carry ourselves.   Hillary Clinton’s campaign could go the way of Al Gore’s if the Black community doesn’t feel that voting is important.  After everything the Clinton/Gore White House did for regular people, these same people didn’t feel the need to vote for Al Gore…unbelievable.

So, the zillions of dollars that will be in the elect Hillary movement should be used in part to explain to our community that Democrats are about us more than the GOP.  No, Blacks won’t vote for the Republican nominee because the crazy part of their party keeps us away but Blacks might stay home.

Surprisingly, Rachel Dolezal and Louis Farrakhan could tilt the balance of power in a way similar to Elian Gonzalez and Al Gore.  Remember, the Cuban boy who was sent back to Cuba by the Clinton Administration.  I knew right then that this issue would determine who would be president and the election came down to south Florida, pregnant chads and all that drama.

Rachel Dolezal is a White civil rights activist who decided at some point to self-identify as Black.  There have always been White Americans doing serious work for the advancement of racial equality; their efforts and achievements exceed those of most Black people.  But, she should have said I am White technically but Black culturally.

The presidential campaign problem is this: Dolezal felt the need to become Black because she likely knew that Blacks are weary of non-Blacks telling us how to feel, think and action.  You know we all loved Bill Clinton as the first socially Black president until we actually had a Black presidential candidate.  Remember, all hell broke loose when the Clintons tried to tell their long-time Black friends that being with Hillary was the thing to do.  But, we (yes, me included) said Obama is special…not because he is Black but because he is just special….Washington, Lincoln, JFK, special.  Oh, Bill Clinton is one of my favorite presidents of all-time but he couldn’t get me away from Barack.

In the South, Blacks now make up most of the Democrat Party because most rural Whites (former Dixiecrats) bounced for the GOP.  However, the leadership of the Dem Party is still rich White people.  In Georgia, I call them the Buckhead crew.  The old saying goes “real power is who is at the table when the money is counted….not who is on the stage during the speeches.”  The Buckhead crew eats and Blacks get the crumbs afterwards…just like the plantations of old.  It’s based on color and that color is money green.

The Buckhead crew and the national DNC try to win in Georgia by getting out the vote in Atlanta.  But Atlanta Blacks are too liberal to vote for moderate Dems like the recent U.S. Senate and governor candidates.  That energy should have been spent getting out moderate to conservative Black voters in areas that support Rep. Sanford Bishop and former Rep. John Barrow.  Hillary could win Georgia with non-Atlanta Blacks, White suburban moms and the ATL base.  Rachel Dolezal has us thinking about who is at the top and that’s thinking that Hillary doesn’t need.

Minister Louis Farrakhan drives the Buckhead crew crazy because he could plant a seed of doubt with Blacks about Democrat leadership.  First, Farrakhan’s views on Middle East and religion aren’t on the table in this blog post.  Peace to all three Abrahamic faiths from this Black Methodist.  I will say that Psalms 82 makes the Dems seem more in tune with Biblical teachings regarding the needy than the GOP.

Psalms 82

82 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

 

In the post Obama era, we remember that Farrakhan and Black nationalists have been encouraging Blacks to do for self, eschew governmental assistance and getting ourselves together for over half a century.  Psalms 82 could play out today like this: help those who might become poor not become poor in the first place.  Paul wrote that those who don’t work shouldn’t eat.  Some feel that Democrats handouts since LBJ have limited Black growth. Farrakhan recently did a radio interview in preparation for another massive Washington rally and everyone on Hillary’s team should listen to the whole thing.

In the future, the conservative movement will realize that Farrakhan’s message to our community is similar to their message.  Hillary Clinton has time to craft the next phase of our community’s relationship with the Democrat Party.  The approach should be more about self-determination than assistance.

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Shame and Babies Having Babies: Jeb Bush, Colin Powell and me

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Governor Jeb Bush is catching heat for a statement he made about out of wedlock births.  In his 1995 book Profiles of Character, a chapter called “The Restoration of Shame” includes the following:

“One of the reasons more young women are giving birth out of wedlock and more young men are walking away from their paternal obligations is that there is no longer a stigma attached to this behavior, no reason to feel shame.”

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/10/413431225/jeb-bush-and-floridas-scarlet-letter-law-explained

It might be hard hearing a presidential candidate talking about shame because it seems that the government is telling people to be ashamed.  However, candidates are people too and have opinions.  We often vote for them based on their ethical opinions on non-governmental matters.

Look, people’s personal behavior ultimately leads to governmental action at times. For example, a young woman has a baby but isn’t prepared to care for the child.  When she turns to the government (taxpayer’s dollars) for hopefully temporary assistance, all taxpayers then become involved.  To me, having other people offering commentary on my decisions and conduct is the worst of the worst.  I feel like a child….hey, I would feel shame.

Of course, I have personally made some decisions that were wrong…again, shame on some level or to some degree.  My personal problem isn’t so much with the out of wedlock births (because we know plenty people with two crappy parents at home) as it is with children being born without the mean to care for them.  The government nor grandparents shouldn’t be factored in financially for 18 years.  Oprah can have all the single lady children she wants because she has money.

What Bush wrote is similar to what my man General/Secretary Colin Powell wrote in his first book.   Powell often says people should have a sense of shame but he is smooth with it.  He said the following in an interview:

Powell said he often tells kids, “Have a sense of shame.”

“We gotta put a lot of this burden not just on the schools and on the family but on the kids themselves,” he said. “We just can’t have them sit in front of the television set watching Jerry Springer as a way of solving problems. We have got to make sure that we give our youngsters a sense of the need for excellence, the need for hard work. And we believe in you. We have expectations for you. Don’t disappoint us.”

See, Colin Powell is encouraging people to have a personal sense of shame.  He talks about getting back to that vibe in the our community.  My A.M.E. pastor says that being free shouldn’t give you the right to be foolish.

This blog’s Best Interests Initiative includes a section on personal responsibility.  It’s an interesting topic and I don’t have all the answers.  I do feel that parents should be on the grind all day every day to care for kids who didn’t ask to come here.  Wait, it is a dam shame for a guy to feel he is too good to work for 10 bucks an hour but plays Madden all day while a female works to care the child and while her parents reenter the workforce after retiring to help.  “Did she have a baby with a guy who has six kids already and has done anything for them….that’s a shame.”

Finally, I am not a Republican but vote sometimes in their wild primaries.  General Powell should have been president and Jeb Bush happens to be the most reasonable of their candidates at this point.

https://projectlogicga.com/2015/04/28/best-interests-initiative-personal-responsibility-choices-decisions-and-consequences/

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Respect Authority? Texas Pool Party and Mr. Jesse Walker

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on June 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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An incident between the police and kids at a pool party in Texas recently is going to spark another debate about authorities and the Black community.  As part of the ongoing Best Interest Initiative of this blog, I write this post with the freedom and law section in mind.

At first glance, it appears that kids were having a pool party and likely over-invited too many friends.  The police might have been called after a fight.  To me, the neighbors called the police when so many dark faces showed up in their enclave.  Those who grew up Black in the American South were constantly mindful of risk from being us down here.  Kids today seem to think racism and bigotry are over in part because we reach the point of having a Black president.  But, if you asked President Obama if racism was over, he would smile that smile that really says “Negro, please…if you knew half of the ugliness I face for having a brown face.”

So, there might have been too many kids in the area at the pool party and the police decided to take control of the situation.  Of course, I think they would have been smoother if all the kids were White and to be fair I think kids (Black and White) in groups can have smart mouths around their friends….we were the same way at times back in the day.

If I had a son at that party and the police said go home, he needs to start home and call me if he feels his rights were being violated.  I have respect for parents who would say their child doesn’t need to follow a police command that seems unfair or unlawful.  I wanted my Black child to come home every night.  I don’t want him or her in the morgue, the jail or the hospital.   If that requires flexing your rights on some level, we will take that up with our attorney.  The ensuing lawsuit might pay for your college education.

As a side note, I am watching a long interview with Minister Louis Farrakhan in which he said that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani wasn’t wrong in stating that 93% of Blacks are killing by other Blacks and that 75% of crime in New York City takes place in Black areas.  Of course, the minister and mayor disagree on the root causes of those problems but there are Black people who wonder why there is such uproar when the police kill someone while we kill each other in the same area all the time for silly reasons.  Yea, but the police still should know better.

At the Texas pool party, a policeman was using really inappropriate language when the confused kids didn’t move fast enough for him.  He later put a girl in a swimsuit on the ground in such a violent manner that most fathers would have pulled up swinging on him.  The police ended up pulling this firearm on the upset crowd.

Both sides of the incident will come out this week but kids need to know when to dial down or defuse situation when dealing with authority.  When I was in junior high school, our band director was Mr. Jesse Walker, a brilliant man of music.  At the time I didn’t know that Mr. Walker was teaching life lessons as well as music.  He was a Black man preparing the Black kids for life in a White world and preparing White students to acknowledge a cool relationship with someone from a different part of time.

Well, I got too much of that life stuff at home and I was simply there to play trumpet.  But, Mr. Walker, a military veteran, knew it wasn’t about the destination as much as the journey.   We were taking yearbook photos in uniform after school one day and all the Black guys changed gear in one classroom.  At band practice the next day, Eric informed Mr. Walker that his watch was misplaced and asked that the band keep an eye out for it—he never said anything about stealing.  Mr. Walker said something about stealing being wrong and said he wanted everyone who was in that room to stand up.  I will never forget that he then said “Band, you are looking at thieves.”  Say, what?  He was talking about future advance degree holders, military leaders and a couple millionaires (I wish I was one of those.)

At the second he said thieves, I sat down because I was certainly wasn’t a thief and knew those other fellows weren’t.  Eric had a look of disbelief because he never wanted to put us in that situation.  The real issue here was authority and Mr. Walker needed us to respect authority but I wasn’t hearing that.   Today, I know that authority needs to be respect at the point of conflict and the incident can be taken up with a higher authority later—when cooler heads prevail.

Of course, my school teacher daddy was doing the same kinds of things in the agriculture building than Mr. Walker was doing at the band building.  To me, both of them were wrong.  Mr. Walker told me to stand up and I said I wasn’t standing up if those standing were thieves.  He took me into a back room and paddled but I refused to stand.  I got my stuff and walked out of that place crying but my dignity was intact.

I had to hear at home that Mr. Walker knew what he was doing and that countless kids had learned so much from being in his band but what he was teaching I didn’t want to know.  There is a fine line between tough love and humiliation.  Machiavelli and Malcolm X would say that the end justifies the means but no.  Eric discovered a hole in his band blazer a few days later; the watch was in the lining of the jacket the whole time.  I would return to the band if Mr. Walker apologized to me and the fellows in front of the whole band but that wasn’t happening.

Check this, guys who join the Army Rangers, Navy Seals, attend a service academy like West Point or who pledge a Black frat old school style learn about their personal steel and fortitude.  Anything that comes up after that in life is a piece of cake.  I would have been a better person if I learned to submit and trust the brethren.  I should have gone straight to a black college and join one of the elite Black fraternities as a sophomore.  My attempt to join one as a senior didn’t work because I don’t like people barking in my face.  I never married for the same reason.

1,000 words later, I end this post by referring to the Best Interest Initiative section on Faith.  I wrote there about Romans 13:1 in which Paul wrote about governing authorities.  Kids should develop the ability to determine when to confront and when to go home.  Senator Robert Kennedy said life isn’t worth living if you don’t have something worth dying for and Farrakhan likes to point out that the Boston Tea Party was a criminal act that led to the founding of this great nation.  In the end, pick your battles.  Telling the police that they are wrong might get you ended.  As we said in the 80s, they will put your head out.

Romans 13, 1-5.

1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 

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Hillary Clinton Seeking The “Cousin Pookie n nem” Vote

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on June 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I missed President Obama talking about getting Cousin Pookie off the couch to go vote last winter.  The election results indicate that “Pookie n nem” stayed right there on that sofa, futon or whatever.  As Secretary/Senator/former FLOTUS Hillary Clinton ramps up her campaign, she must know that the actions of Pookie, Ray Ray and n nem in the fall of 2016 could tip the balance of the presidential election.

First, I declare my continued admiration for cool presidents Barrack Obama, Bill Clinton, JFK and Teddy Roosevelt.  However, Obama is all kinds of special with his coolness.  He is so cool that I support him in general when I would have personally preferred different positions on matters.  But, that’s cool because the American people selected him and I respect the process.  I even respected the Office of the Presidency during the Bush Administrations—something many of my Republican friends can’t current say.  I would like to add that not respecting  the process and ignoring laws that you don’t like is in my opinion un-American.

I keep hearing that President Obama will be on the “right side of history” about this and that.  He is that bold kind of guy but sometimes he is doing what he knows is right as opposite to what the nation in general wants….like Lincoln.   In college pol sci class, we called that a trustee elected official.  That trustee puts the information on the table and makes a wise decision.  Of course, we didn’t have the freaking internet information/new media machine in college and everyone wasn’t an expert on everything.

I know Pookie and Ray Ray n nem more and better than 95% of the politicos and staffers in Washington because I am part of nem (corruption of them.)  Since I was sent to political and financial exile in the “kountry,” I have been listening and learning like Napoleon.  I watch football on that same couch with Pookie before I went to vote but getting him to go is hard because the “Right side of history” Democrats seem to have less interest in the rural “we can’t win there” areas and more interest in needs of the Latino and gay communities….that’s what the homeboys are saying.

If the first Black president can’t get them to vote when he isn’t on the ballot, can the Dems count on that block in 2016?  If there is hope, it starts with listening to their concerns and explaining clearly and plainly what alternatives would be.  Scary them with the truth then take it back to the future.

Black moderates should be talking about a less government- involved community similar to the 1950s and 1960s.  Of course, the government is need to protect basic civil rights for all Americans but Ray Ray is starting to see kids coming up (not growing up) expecting the governmental safety net and that expectation thwarts personal development and achievement.   While we were under constant fear of domestic terrorism before 1970, we were grinding hard to improve ourselves—we were mindful about how we carried ourselves.

Democrats seriously having that conversation might get a few of those departed conservatives back.   But, efforts like the Best Interest Initiative never get  support and funding.  It will be “go find the preachers and tell them to tell Black folks to vote.”  Church folks will vote anyway but Pookie and Ray Ray n nem are going to needs something new and real.

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Cousin Pookie and Cousin Ray Ray: Presidential Difference-makers

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Will the Black vote baton be passed from Obama to Hillary, will it be intercepted by an innovative elephant like Rand Paul (unlikely) or will it fall to the dirt?  With so much time before the presidential primaries, candidates have time to test and research new projects to reach all voters—run it up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Of course, all campaigns should be reading Project Logic Ga’s Best Interest Initiate because I have personally crafted a unique budget-friendly approach to many southern concerns.

Best Interests Initiative

Recently, the Hillary Clinton campaign announced the hiring of LaDavia Drane, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, as outreach director and point person for the Black community.  Ms. Drane seems really bright and hopefully she will acknowledge the diversity of the Black community across this great nation.  To me, the CBC and BET has a thing about being “urban” this and “urban” than; like the Black community in Georgia is only the A-T-L.

Well, a quick look at last year’s elections would indicate that Atlanta Blacks didn’t care for Democrat candidates for governor and U.S. Senate who spent more time bragging about connections to old Dixiecrats and current Republicans than embracing the Democrat in the Oval Office.  Some of the time and energy spent trying to get the Atlanta vote out should have been spent on the rest of Georgia where Black voters are more moderate to conservative.  But, people sitting in strategy rooms in the DNC see Atlanta as a big juicy peach and the rest of Georgia as a pit.

Hillary Clinton could win Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia with ease if the suburban soccer moms support her.  It could be a national landslide for Clinton if that demographic was paired with most of the Obama voters but the uncertain segment of the Obama coalition is called Cousin Pookie.

President Obama coined the term Cousin Pookie for inconsistent voters.  Pookie would be the guy who voted for Obama during the presidential elections but didn’t vote for any other candidates on the ballot (i.e. the Congress that Obama needed).  Pookie doesn’t vote in midterm elections that often.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Starting tomorrow, you can vote too. You’ve got to grab your friends. You’ve got to grab your co-workers. You know, don’t just get the folks you know are going to vote. You’ve got to find Cousin Pookie, he’s sitting on the couch right now watching football, hasn’t voted in the last 5 elections, you’ve got to grab him and tell him to go vote.        

 

That Leader of the Free World Obama really cracks me up; he was so right.  But peep this: Democrats and Republicans should sit down on the couch with Cousin Pookie and ask him why he doesn’t feel the need to vote.  Wait a second, Pookie is over his mom’s house; a house purchased under a USDA first time homebuyers program.   He has countless friends who used military service as a ticket to a secure and better life.  Of course, Pok should be watching CNN during half-time of the football game because the wrong President could send those homeboys and homegirls in uniform into harm’s way for questionable reasons.

What would happen if Pookie was looking for CNN and came across Sen. Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate with some interesting views on prison cost and weed.  Paul is making a real effort at outreach.

In Georgia, Cousin Pookie might live in Hotlanta but he has folks from rural areas and the five or six smaller cities.  That would be Cousin Ray Ray.  Ray Ray served in the military after graduating from high school; he has never been in trouble with the law in his life.  When Ray watches the Democrats on T.V., he see a bunch of liberals who are breaking their necks to give free stuff to folks who have never show any personal initiative.  Actually, Ray Ray and his co-workers at the plant are pissed that their tax dollars are being used for more handouts than handups.

Cousin Ray Ray agrees with some of the conservative messages from talk radio in his F-150 or Ram with a Hemi but the next thing you know the talk about the President turns ugly and mean-spirited.

With so much time before next year’s election, the Dems and GOPers have time to listen to Pookie and Ray Ray.  Someone needs to come up with a fresh approach; something that’s about solutions and answers.  In the South, many Whites who voted for Bill Clinton are deep, deep into the conservative movement.  They are going, going, gone like a Braves home run.  To win, Hillary must replace them with suburban voters and rural Obamacrats.

I personally think the conservative movement has been hijacked by the most radical element but the Republican presidential nominee won’t need to say “they are sitting on their tailgates…listening to NASCAR.”  Oh, conservatives vote without encouragement and one voting conservative carries more weight than 1,000 non-voting Cousin Pookies.

There are those who think that listening to positive Cousin Ray Ray’s personal history and opinions will get Ray Ray voting and that Cousin Pookie should be listening to Fox News’ coverage of the GOP primary season.  If Fox doesn’t scare him off the couch, he isn’t coming off and Dems should let him feel the wrath of the Tea Party.

Naw, that wouldn’t be right.  I was reading about Esther in the Bible today and she said in Esther 8:6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction  of my kindred?   While the GOP isn’t exactly evil, some of them can be quite naughty.

Zora Neale-Hurston said “All my skinfolks ain’t my kinfolks.”  At some point, my community might need to spend more time and energy on the positive segments and less on Cousin Pookie.  In time, Pookie will get the message and decide to become Paul, Jr., an American voter.

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I’m Your Puppet: The Best Interest Initiative

Posted in politics on May 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The Best Interest Initiative is my baby and I am going to think my baby is wonderful if no one else does.  I wrote those non-political blog posts as a whistleblower of sorts to alarm the rural southern public to the fact that fancy people in the political and policy arena use us as minions or pawns to achieve their power and wealth goals.  On the oldies radio station today, a blast from the past better communicates the long-time situation, “I’m Your Puppet.”

Look, I wish I had a 1000 people read these post this year to start a needed conversation.   Of course, most people would disagree with much of the content but from that disagree we can learn what others are thinking and move toward non-political solutions to costly problems.  It starts with people telling the leaders what is on our minds instead of the other way around—like a puppet.  We should shake things up because what’s happening today simply isn’t working.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

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Best Interests Initiative: Health/Wellness

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on May 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Health/Wellness: Diet and Exercise; Wise Food Choices, Moderation; “Own Grave”, Understanding Wellness/Health Care Industry

Health/Wellness is an area of public policy that really hits home because we are talking life and death.  Would someone in the government or a recently retired congressman just drink some truth serum and tell the God’s honest truth.   The average American is personally responsible for their health problems due to bad diet and infrequent exercise.  While some ailments occur naturally, fast food and sugary drinks are the roots of too many issues.

If Beretta don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time, a similar saying should be “don’t eat everything and anything if you don’t want to do hospital and early grave time.”  Are some foods literally “to die for?”  I had a chubby buddy who was told he was a diabetic but he simply said no…maybe later but for now no.  He learned everything about diabetes and dropped most of his body fat in six months by exercising and eating right.  While he is still a diabetic technically, he doesn’t take medication because he fought the good fight.

The good fight makes me think about Paul’s biblical statement in 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.   So, you have all these obese church folks up in the buffet spot on Sunday afternoon polluting the temple of the Lord.

Wise food choices are so easy for Americans because the stores are plentiful with variety and T.V. shows tell us what to prepare and why.  We jokingly say that modern-day soul brothers are using low-fat fatback.  Right On.  I decided to walk away from pork and beef until I get my 230 pounds weight under 210.  That was two years ago and I really miss hamburger but pork is likely gone for good.

People drink a surprisingly large number of calories.  Is Mountain Dew worth the health trouble…it’s basically syrup.   High fructose corn syrup and salt kill more people than bullets.  I want to declare my respect for the First Lady Michelle Obama and really all first ladies of my lifetime.  Even Betty Ford turned pill issues into a noble cause.

I have friends who have issues with (hate) Flotus Obama for championing the food choice issues.  From the public policy standpoint, it seems Orwellian that the government and the non-elected first lady would tell (advise)  kids on eating habits or work to remove unhealthful foods from schools.  The eating habits of kids led to a lifetime (sometimes a shorten lifetime) of medical problems.  Oh, health concerns are no problems…give ‘em pills for this and pills for that.

Yes, some people actually take the cholesterol drug Lipitor in Golden Corral before eating a fried chicken…not some fried chicken… a whole fried chicken.  Too often, that person with long-term bad eating habits is the same uninsured person that cost the government over $200,000 as doctors try to save them…from themselves.

There is a difference between what Mrs. Obama wants us to eat and what the government can force or compel us to eat.  At the same time, should medical ethics draw treatment lines when someone dug their own grave?

When Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, he considered changes to the health care system that would reward those who ate right and exercised.  His plan was similar to the auto insurance plans with vanishing deductibles today.   If a person didn’t have a major health care expense in say five years, that person’s premium would be zero until there was a big expense.

Another aspect to consider would be the food kids receive free and reduced as part of the school lunch program.  Should the government have a right to dictate the healthfulness of that food because the taxpayers are buying it?  What about food stamps for veggies only?  Of course, the beef, corn and pork lobbyists aren’t having it.

Moderation: The motto of the great state of Georgia is “justice, wisdom and moderation.”  Friends in the health care profession tell me that I didn’t need to abandon beef and pork totally; I should have moderated my consumption of all foods.   The smart First Lady Obama promotes the USDA change from the food pyramid of old to the new food plate which calls for wise amounts of fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains and dairy.   Like Columbus discovering a place with millions of inhabitants, Americans are discovering what the Greeks and Japanese have known for centuries.  You put a lot of veggies on the plate and add a little protein for seasoning.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/about.html

As we get older, we apply moderation to many parts of life: one glass of wine, an occasional cigar, ribs on the Fourth of July only.   The workout process starts with moderation because you have to crawl before you ball….it starts with walking.

Healthy choices also involve “relations.”   Like with food, alcohol and drugs, don’t do it if you aren’t prepared to live with the possible consequences.   Relations are likely better for most people without latex but I don’t want to hear a dam word of complaining if the worst results happen.  You knew the risk factors and you made your choice.

Healthcare Industry: Again, everyone has an agenda and it usually involves staying paid.  When I was a kid, you went to the doctor and he tried to figure out what was wrong with you.   Today, the doctors want to give you medications to stop your body from sending pain messages to your brain.  You don’t need pills long-term; you need to correct what is wrong.

The whole Obamacare debate was a political football being kicked around by two political parties with donors from all sides of the private sector.  The reality is this: uninsured people use the emergency room as a doctor’s office and go to the doctor far too late.

If I had my own island nation, we would have universal health care coverage with an annual doctor’s examination.  My doctors would catch a little bump that was going to be cancerous and remove it for a few bucks.  In America, that person would receive half a million dollars in government-funded indigent care before dying.  Dam.  The annual exam on my island would give doctors the opportunity to say “you are 100 pounds overweight from poor eating habits and zero exercise.  If you don’t get those 100 pounds off you in two years, the state will not pay for fat-related treatments.  We will, however, pay your gym fees.”

While the last paragraph was mostly humor, there is nothing funny about the insurance industry making decisions about coverage for insured people.   I didn’t say doctors making decisions.  We are talking about insurance company employees in call centers somewhere.  So, do you want to know why I eat wiser and limit Budweiser?   It’s because I don’t like those people making life decisions about me.  Yes, illness is part of life but it’s a part I avoid by fighting the good fight.

Big Pharma is the nickname for the pharmaceutical industry and they sell drugs.  To me, helpful drugs are gifts from heaven but we shouldn’t seek a big pharma solution to a problem that can be addressed naturally..ie. diet and exercise.

Mrs. Obama must be dumbfounded when she thinks that we give bad free foods to poor kids and those kids become adults with horrible eating habits who again cost 500k for healthcare coverage.  We are the greatest nation in human history because the best third of the population makes things happen but the worst third needs to step their game up …with no more excuses.   And yes, the first lady and the government should discuss eating habits carefully because the taxpayers often fund medical care resulting from bad choices.

Mental/Emotional Health: People with emotional and mental health issues often self-medicate with alcohol, illegal drugs and wrongful usage of legal drugs.  We should be mindful that emotional eating leads to health problems.  Chris Rock says Black folks only go to counseling when it’s court ordered but with all kidding aside, all people need to check their mental health with the care they give their precious cars.

Peace, rest and happiness are good medicines; the soul needs wellness.  Some people go from childhood to the grave stuck on angry – mad at the world for spinning.  You don’t need experts to tell you that constantly boiling blood isn’t good for the mind, body or soul.

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Best Interest Initiative: T.V. and Social Media Influence

Posted in politics, tagged , , on May 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Best Interest Initiative: T.V. and Social Media Influence

Media: T.V.’s high channels; Net and TV as educational tools; Classic TV as a model for family life; positive usage of social media

We must acknowledge the profound effect television, the internet and other forms of new media have on the shaping of our lives.  Gone are the days when country folks raised their rural children based on home, church and school alone.   As a boy, we looked forward to annual visits from our cousins from Philly because they knew the “latest.”  Today, fashion, cultural and social trends are beamed around the globe instantaneously and often without parents’ knowledge.

Educational T.V.: Television is a very powerful educational tool—for good and bad.  I cringe at the notion that people in the American heartland formulate their views on Blacks and Hispanics from watching the Maury Show and music videos.   The same could be said about non-southerners learning about rural Whites from that Honey Boo Boo reality mess.

Reasonable people should be intelligent enough to know that T.V. characters and reality show exaggerations are not accurate reflections of real life.  On a positive side, the high channels on T.V. provide detail knowledge of every academic field and much much more.  A kid who wants to be a lawyer can a develop pretty good understanding of the law from watching Court T.V., Cops, Law and Order and C-Span.  The Food Channel teaches people how to prepare restaurant quality meals at home for pennies on the dollar.  Car nuts and grease monkeys can watch automobile programming to their hearts content.   Of course, the internet and You tube is like the best interactive learning resource ever.

Classic T.V.: From a public policy standpoint, we must admit that many people grow up in less than ideal environments.  Prisons are filled by people who no one showed the path to peaceful, positive living.  If use wisely, certain t.v. shows can assist parents in child-rearing.

As a kid, I loved watching the life lessons on old shows like Leave It To Beaver and Bonanza but those people didn’t look like me.  The game changed when the Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Family Matters hit the box.  The Huxtables showed all of America that Blacks could be high level professionals and Family Matters did the same on a middle class style.  Actually, Good Times was as helpful as Cosby.  While the character of J.J. was silly, James and Florida Evans raised great kids in a rough environment.   Because prime time T.V. today is messy junk, kids should sit down and watch the classics with their families as a model for wholesome family life.

Social Media: Facebook isn’t necessarily the devil and You Tube can be educational.   Like any tools, social media can be used for positive or negative reasons.  Another section of this project went into details about youth wanting to emulate thugs, pimps, dealers and strippers from music videos.  Well, those influences are injected into impressionable minds by T.V. and the internet.  Again, people with jacked-up lives soon turn to the government for assistance.

At the end of the day, no medium should have a stronger role in child development than family.

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Best Interests Initiative: Faith and The Moral Compass

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on May 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Faith/Righteous Living:  Moral Compass; Residual Benefit of Church; Psalm 133:1

We must talk about faith during public policy discussions because people who don’t believe in something will fall for anything.  In America, the state can’t compel a person to develop a faith walk but the government ends up “assisting” when faithless people find themselves in messy and costly circumstances.

Black Americans often ask why would a loving God allow us to suffer so much. (The rest of the post is simply this writer’s opinion and everyone has their own opinion…please share yours)  To me, life on earth is a test for eternity in heaven and long-suffering creates humbleness and humbleness focuses us on the other side rather than this side.

Actually, this Christian heard Minister Louis Farrakhan, a man with a detailed knowledge of the three major faiths related to Abraham, answer the suffering question at the Million Man March.  As a congressional staffer, I was behind the speakers on the west portico of the U.S. Capitol Building with my boss Rep. Sanford Bishop but I was trying to hang with Ice Cube and Will Smith.  Farrakhan said wouldn’t you like to have a little hell on earth that forces you to humble yourself, embrace God and make it to heaven rather than having riches and a little heaven on earth, become arrogant, turn from God and find yourself spending eternity in hell.

We must have a moral compass, a device in our heads that leads us to “act right.”  As a Methodist, the foundation of my compass is Jesus’s response to a lawyer.

Matthew 22:35-40

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Game over, good night, turn out the lights.  There it is right there.  The old moral compass is pointing directly toward a heavenly home when your actions are those of someone who truly loves God and someone who  loves his neighbor as much as he loves himself.

If it was only that simple, life in Georgia would be a peach but there are people who clearly don’t love themselves more less their neighbors.  The great philosopher Oprah of Winfrey says that love is an action verb more than a feeling-based noun—show love in your actions.  The cool professor Randy Pausch wrote the book “The Last Lecture” to give directions on life to his children because cancer would take him before they grew up.  He said that his one message to his daughter is “When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.”

Pausch’s comment reminds me of the Prayer of Humiliation during communion at my A.M.E. Church that says “we are sorry for these our misgivings which we have committed against your divine majesty in thoughts, words and deeds.”  Deeds, deeds, deeds.  You can talk a good talk but what are your deeds….what did you do to back up the words from your mouth… let the works I have done speak for me.

People run around all day talking about their love for God, America, their race and themselves but do their actions support their professed love.  Yea, they love their neighbor as themselves because they don’t love themselves (eating the wrong foods, falling for the wrong person, playing in school, committing crimes, spending too much money.)

President John Kennedy said “ask not what this country can do for you…ask what you can do for this country.”  I shouldn’t get started on government/public policy related parts of the Bible.  We would be here all day debating “servant, obey your master.”  The passage most related to government is Romans 13, 1-5.

1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 

Without order, we have chaos.  People must have a sense of right and wrong.  General Colin Powell wrote that we need to restore “shame” in America.  You have a new car but paid zero child support.  You should be shame (not ashame…good old fashion shame.)

Residual Benefit of Church: People have too much “understanding” these days but remember Proverbs 3, 5-6.  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  As a kid, church was often a boring discussion of some ancient dudes fighting each other; you could have the non-Jesus parts.  But, the lightbulb came on for other kids (mostly girls).  They could hear the life lessons in Proverbs and Psalms….oh, don’t let Paul start writing letters to distant churches…what he could have done with a laptop and wifi.

When you go to church, you experience many residual benefits.  The homeboy told me that attending Sunday School every Sunday made him feel better in general but I knew that getting up early on Sunday reduced his hard partying on Saturday night… the Lord moves in mysterious ways.  If a kid can sit still to listen to the history part of the Bible, that ability to focus is vital in school and the workplace.  Of course, confidence in public speaking grows from years of church involvement.  Hearing a pastor craft a message helps with communication skills but pray for the kids who attend church where people butcher proper English.  Where you go to church at?   Have mercy.

For people with questionable family members, church is a place to expose your family to positive, productive folks…most of the time.  My church has so many retired successful people; the fellowship in the parking lot is a bright point of my week.  It is like having dozens of cool aunts and uncles; thoughts of their encouragement might make me teary-eyed over this keyboard and you know I don’t have the extended warranty if the computer shorts out.

We can’t sleep on the networking aspects of regular church attendance.  I am not promoting cronyism in the workplace but you hire people with whom you are familiar.  If Bob has done an excellent job as a church official for years, I have seen the quality of his work product and organizational skills.

Money/World View: This discussion can be controversial but it needs to occur because many of the conflicts involving our nation started about gold/money/treasures.  1 Timothy 6:10 says

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

My high school econ teacher wisely said that every major event in world history was directly or indirectly about money.  When groups and nations start hunting wealth around the world, they often seek a biblical justification for their actions….manifest destiny and divine intervention.

People sometimes wonder why Black Americans would embrace Christianity, the faith of those who enslaved us.  The biblical justification for slavery was said to be based on Africans being the descendants of  Cain, whose descendants were to be cursed, or Noah’s son Ham, who whose descendants were curse because he laughed at his father in a drunken state.  My brother-in-law Pastor Norman E. Kerry says that the simple answer for this question was cover on day one in seminary.  Jesus cleaned the slate for anything in the past so slave traders and Klan were wrong.

We should talk about people your faith considers to be wrong.  Jesus mentioned my sheep not of this flock.  John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.  That passage could be debated by people smarter than me because some people think that means Jesus talked to people away from the current Middle East.  We know he talked to crooks and prostitutes.  On the cross, he even said “forgive them father for they know not what they do.”

Religious, Spiritual and Righteous:  To me, there is a faith difference involving being religious, being spiritual and being righteous—I try to be all three.  A religious person might be deeply involved in the  organizational aspects of church but is that person practicing what was preached on Sunday during the rest of the week.  A spiritual person is at peace in their spirit; they know who they are and why we are here.  A righteous person might not be in church every Sunday but he tries to never do wrong; he endeavors to be a fair dealer in every aspect of life.

Plenty Room In Hell– While heaven wants believers to spread the good news and bring souls into the light, this writer thinks that we must acknowledge that the business of religion creates drama for financial reasons at times.  Some churches seem to have a preoccupation with the “fighting the enemy” part of faith and they can go right ahead because I just don’t have energy for that battle.  If you want to save those who are wrong from their doom, you are such a good person but I say there is plenty room in hell for those hell-bent on going there.

Religion has made world affairs a big mess.  The conflict in the Middle East could be the spark that starts the next world war.  Abraham was the father of three major faiths and why won’t people remember that his first son with Hagar is Ismael, who some consider to be the father of Islam.   I enjoyed my visit to Jerusalem and was awestruck to touch a place where Jesus actually sat.  However, I am one American who is fatigued by the constant conflict in that region and the exportation of that drama into every corner of the globe.

The solution begins with respect.  While I don’t want to point fingers, Europeans didn’t respect the history and culture of others when they started their golden age of global greed.   While religion is at the center of the conflict in the Middle East, American interest in the region comes from our dependency on their oil.

When imperialists from Europe saw they could get wealth and resources from the Middle East, they didn’t start by acknowledging the cultural history of Mesopotamia and Babylon.  Hammurabi who? Which Europeans came down to Egypt to construct those pyramids and that Sphinx because clearly these brown people didn’t do it alone?  Oh, the Chinese and the Japanese were more advanced in many ways but the British gave that little consideration when they forced them to trade.  The same arrogant mindset invaded Africa, South America, North America and Australia…all with Biblical justification.   The so-called American Indians are elegant and proud but they were treated as salvages.  Is that the approach Jesus would have employed?  I think not.

Peace: While there is no official religion in America (many folks don’t know that), I prefer leaders who have a moral compass, people who practice daily what is taught on Sunday morning.  If we want to have world peace, we must be respectful and considerate in our posture toward others.  At the end of the day, Ismael and Isaac came together to bury Abraham.

Genesis 25:8-9

Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;

We should end this faith discussion with the idea that everyone on the earth should be considered brothers and sisters and we should learn to live together.

Psalm 133:1

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

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