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Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Best Interests Initiative: Personal Responsibility-Choices, Decisions and Consequences

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

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This is a little too strong

Personal Responsibility: Choices, Decisions and Consequences; Deliberation; Focus; Family Engineering; Self-analysis

Elected officials and others in the political arena spend too much time giving the public the impression that governmental actions can fix what is wrong most of the time.  If you think about it, most of the solutions start with personal responsibility (PR); people owning what they did, will do and what they should teach children to do.

The conservative movement devoted considerable amounts of attention to PR over the years but some of those guys can be mean with it.  A better approach would be to firmly and positively encourage people to select a different path or course of action.  It’s all about mindset.

We should acknowledge that Speaker Newt Gingrich has had the right idea in the past when he wasn’t being playfully mean himself.  Gingrich use to say that the federal government’s limited role was to create a fair playing field; a climate in which people’s prosperity was determined by their actions.  Of course, we haven’t had that climate in America yet but it’s a better approach than the almost socialist method of having people think that the government should act to correct what’s wrong in their lives.  Newsflash: there will be winners and losers in life.  As Prince sang in Pop Life, “Everybody can’t be on top.”

If your life stinks, you should ask yourself if the stench is the result of what you did or didn’t do.  You went to elementary school with people who ended up at Florida State University and people who ended up at Florida State Penitentiary.  While parenting is a factor, most of us could have done more to be the masters of our fates.

Choices, Decisions and Consequences (CDC): While teaching in a job training program, I luckily turned on ESPN to see a speaker breaking CDC down for NFL rookies.   You have choices in life, you make decisions about those choices and you better be ready to accept the consequences of those decisions.  Since the begining of humankind, it’s has been about the organic/natural CDC process.

However, government involvement (while well-intended) introduces inorganic or unnatural aspects into the process.  Yes, we need a safety net to help during rough periods but some folks feel that the awareness of assistance encourages risky decision-making.  Hell, some people want to argue more with the government about money for raising kids than with the kid’s other parent.  A trip to the assistance office comes before a trip to the hiring fast food business.  People need to own or live in the reality created by their actions—stop the blame game.

Deliberation: I am amazed by the ease with which people make life-altering decisions. Big choices and actions should require a very slow, well-researched decision-making process.  One must be deliberate in his actions.  It’s sad but true that some young people give more consideration to which pictures to post online than when and with whom to have a child.  “I just happen to be in the car with those guys when someone started shooting at them about something.”

Of course, deliberation starts with research and research begins from the knowledge and wisdom of wiser people. Guys taking life skills advice from friends on the corner is the very definition of the blind leading the blind.  General Colin Powell said that you should never take counsel from unproductive people.

Focus: Once good decisions are made, they must be implemented and executed with focus—keep your eyes on the prize.  Smart people design and map out goals and objectives.

Family Engineering: Can people in the public policy arena openly discuss this subject or does that discussion violate the ethics of public policy; this isn’t China.  I broach the subject because poorly engineered or planned families cost the taxpayers billions.  Who had a baby with whom at what time and under what financial conditions?  Time is big because reasonable people know that folks in their late teens to early 20s are still growing into who they will be.  The moms in my job training program often said that life would have been better if they simply had their kids five years later and after better knowing the fathers (they would have selected better guys who were they husbands.)

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The age-old discussion in college social science classes is the debate between nature and nurture.  Is behavior based on DNA, environment or a combination?  Either way, family members often put their faces in their hands when they discover who a family member is having a baby with, for or whatever. Again, where is the deliberation?  Grandmother is going to spend money for the next 18 years; she might be 65 years old with a net worth of less than $6,500 because she kept helping her family members.  Mercy.

Can we get back to the days when you knew who you were and whose you were?  People once functioned with a sense of community; they were mindful of “how you carried yourself” and folks knew that good families required careful cultivation like good crops.

Self-analysis: Quick, name a close friend who isn’t good at self-analysis.  From the good, the bad and the ugly, improvements in any aspect of life start with taking an honest look in the mirror.   Of course, people can’t be critical of themselves if their mindsets are twisted.  Some people never say or think that they are wrong or could have handled something better.

Why are we having a personal responsibility discussion on a public policy forum?  This discussion is needed because people sometimes make horrible life choices and taxpayers directly or indirectly end up with the bill.  That situation simply isn’t fair and we must find a way to reverse it.

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Best Interests Initiative: Public Policy Arena Agenda

Posted in politics on April 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Everyone in the political/public policy arena has an agenda and the agenda usually centers on getting themselves paid and staying paid.  Hey, income is a fundamental part of life.  A problem grows from regular people not developing an eye for detecting agendas and functioning based on that information.  Cloaking agendas is a talent for some and others are just brazen with their goals.

Why was the world surprised when an Atlanta megachurch pastor asked 200,000 followers for $300 apiece to buy a $65 million jet?  He would have put the jet to good use but we should detect his extravagant agenda.  In education, the teachers’ union has an agenda of defending teachers when fingers are pointed regarding low student performance—Johnny can’t read and he is 17 years old.  Is that Johnny’s fault; what about his parents?  Then, attorneys with a “getting paid” agenda get the bright idea of suing the school system for promoting Johnny for years when he couldn’t read.  Johnny should have had a personal agenda as a kid that focused more on learning and growth and less on hip hop gear and X Box.

A classic agenda analysis in Washington could be had about peanuts.  We love those goober peas in Georgia and our agenda in south Georgia is to get rich ending world hunger by growing and selling that edible nut.  Check this, non-farm people in Georgia sometimes grumble about the constant local news coverage of peanuts when peanut farmers are a small segment of the population.  When Johnny goes to school, the school is funded in part by property taxes on that peanut farm land.

Johnny’s parents have the agenda of cutting their food bill and cheaper peanut butter would be helpful.  But, the peanut lobby wants the selling price to be higher for their growers of course.  One of the biggest enemies of the peanut lobby is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Oh yea, your agenda detector is in the red line zone because those candy bar makers want tons and tons of good peanuts at a lower price point.  Again, everyone in the arena has an agenda and hopefully they will arrive at a conclusion that is mutually beneficial and transparent to all involved parties.

Activists:  Citizens should keep a watchful eye on the agendas of activists because hot drama keeps them paid.  The mission of most activists starts off with sincerity but somewhere during the process they realize they can get crazy paid if 20 people in every town in America sent them 20 bucks.  For sake of full disclosure, that formula is the dream of bloggers like me also but it hasn’t happen….yet…keep hope alive.

Governing peacefully is the job of elected officials while activists thrive on conflict.  The National Rifle Association and Handgun Control both benefit from fear of new gun legislation or regulations.  Since the lines have become so confused, citizens need to constantly examine the agendas and motivations of actors in the theater of operation.

The press of old simply reported the news but the current media sources create news that drives drama and ratings.  Also, media sources are often thinly veiled marketing/promotion departments for big money interests and political party bosses…Fox News for the far right and MSNBC for the far left.

Right Wing Media and Hip Hop Culture: In a wild theory, these two forces are unleashing massive amounts of negative energy on certain communities as part of their opportunistic agendas.  This situation brings to mind Psalm 1:1 Bless is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.  Psalm 1:6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish.  I actually like the version where “ungodly” is replaced with “wicked” because those who will say anything to get money must be wicked.

The Right wing media agenda is a classic example of the tail wagging the dog.  The media drive the political party and controls the elected officials.  Most of the people in the American heartland are decent, trusting folks; they believe what’s on the radio and television.  So, the Right wing segment of the conservative movement is a vocal minority that loves getting people ticked off.  They have absolutely zero good to say about anyone who isn’t a sworn member of their group.  Conflict and demonization drives ratings and donations but it doesn’t improve our nation.

An end to hostilities would cost them millions.  Most of the far right presidential candidates from the last few cycles knew they wouldn’t win the nomination.  They were in the race to push an agenda that would build their brand… a lucrative multi-media, multi-revenue stream brand.  Ultimately,  the climate they created cost the GOP nominee the White House because the political center was put off by their shenanigans.

Another section of this project detailed the agendas of the hip hop industry.  Yes, they are worse than the Klan because these young males and females (I refuse to type ladies and gentlemen or brothers and sistas)  will say or do things detrimental to our community to get money.  The silly aspect of this wicked agenda is that the so-called artists and stars are getting a fraction of the money that music executives are receiving and those corporate types only care about wealth.  Kids killing each other over $200 sneakers isn’t their concern.  Little girls won’t do their homework because learning isn’t needed to be a shake dancer, video vixen or reality show star.  Oh, those girls will learn the hard way that easy money in the club culture isn’t usually part of a healthy personal agenda.

Role of government/unhealthy liberal agenda: Yea, Blacks and Indians had a horrible time during most of American history.  Blacks caught hell here long before America was America.  It was the federal government that eventually and reluctantly protected us on some level so Blacks will always cringe during discussions of state rights and a weaker federal government.  History can repeat itself.

FDR and LBJ were presidents that used the power of the Oval Office to help struggling families however, people can grow to expect assistance.  It’s called entitlements.  Some Blacks quietly contend that anything received free from the federal, state or local governments is a form of reparations for our force labor in this nation.  Really?

The agenda of the civil rights movement was to give every American a fair opportunity to live and strive without regard to race, creed, gender and national origins.  As quiet as it is kept, many successful members of the Black middle class feel that the liberal agenda of giving assistance to poor people actually limits those people’s drive to do for self.  Also, the liberals from the two coasts (NY to BOS and LA to SEA) have agenda modifications that cause pause for Southern Blacks who are much more conservative.  Hell, Atlanta Blacks might be more like New Yorkers than people in the rest of Georgia.

Every voice should be heard at the table in the public policy process.  Ivy leaguers on the far right and far left are currently creating the agenda in D.C. and sending the talking points out to the rank and file.  Okay, that needs to end because America isn’t improving, the do-nothing Congress is in gridlock and my high school classmates are stockpiling weapons in preparation for civil war…Jesus take the wheel.

I want to add that the most important Georgian we hear from infrequently is perhaps the key…Justice Clarence Thomas.  As Chuck D from Public Enemy sang about Minister Farrakhan “Don’t tell me that you understand until you hear the man.”  I read Justice Thomas’ book about life according to his grandfather Myers Anderson and that hardworking old gentleman should set the personal agenda for every southerner.  Mr. Anderson didn’t like his family member receiving government assistance because he did want to explain what happens in his house to some other person.

I never knew Justice Thomas was a “power to the people” soul brother in college but he was a radical because black self-reliance was a fundamental part of Mr. Anderson’s agenda.  If you think about it, the Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 70s had an agenda that would be ultra-conservative today.

In summary, everyone has an agenda and every group has one as well.  We must develop agenda detection capabilities then determine how others’ agendas compare and contrast with ours.  And, we need to remember that leaders of movements, groups, political parties and everything else have the sub-agenda of getting and staying paid. It’s all about measurable results and how to get to them.

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Best Interests Initiative: Home Economics/Housing-Struggle, Stretch, Strain

Posted in politics, tagged on April 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Everything starts at home…everything.  Many of the biggest issues facing people in our community grow from weak “home training” and no sense of personal economics.  An individual and/or family should operate like a small business.

I personally love the idea or mindset of applying principles from the business, industrial, commerce and corporate worlds to home life..i.e. Risk/reward, cost benefit analysis.  Investing, training, research, development, risk management, savings, financial foundation, marketing and human resources are all aspects of a sound, healthy family. Hey, some families might actually have a business plan or mission statement.

Investing= college cost, homeownership.

Training= etiquette, faith walk, nightly dinner table discussions and family updates.

Research= what are successful families doing, Do it Yourself home improvement, useful television.

Development= building stronger kids, parents who learn from others’ wisdom, family sacrifices for career opportunities.

Risk Management= nipping problems in the bud, surrounding family with positive people in heathy environments, particular about school.

Savings/Financial Foundation= untouchable nest egg, the retirement program at work, struggle-free living (living inside means, paying this month’s bills with money earned four months ago).

Marketing= human marketing is networking, being around positive constructive people who witness your solidness, dating people who enhance your life.

Human Resources= using the utmost care regarding who you bring into the small business (family members are new employees/partners.) New people come in after an exhaustive interview process and detailed research of history and experiences.

Home Ownership:   The American dream is having a piece of God’s green earth; land, they aren’t making any more of it.  Some people go from the cradle to the grave without developing a desire to own a home (well, grave would technically be owning land.)

A house is the second biggest investment for most people (children being the first in my opinion.)  On Capitol Hill, housing was one of my issue areas but more importantly, I taught a first-time home buyers class as part of my duties with a south Georgia community development corporation.   While a HUD-provided video explained the fundamentals to the participants, I knew this stuff from hearing my daddy constantly advocate for home ownership.  He was a good agriculture teacher but his forgotten legacy was selling lots in our subdivision in the early 1970s. In retrospect, this housing development should have been Black-owned but  the Lord knows it was progress for people to own their first house, their second greatest asset.

Daddy’s first rule was “when you rent, you are buying property for someone else.”  His second rule would have been “with a stable income, buying a house is actually cheaper than renting and the place goes up in value.” When I was about 9 years old, my daddy pointed at a new Cadillac parked next to a shack and asked me what was wrong with that picture; talk about your teachable moments.

Many families in my subdivision are living in houses that were paid off 20 years ago.  Others have moved to snazzier communities but the rent money from the “home house” is investment income.  Oh, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies in the “Sub;” we have our “come on now” drama.  Barbecuing in the front yard—come on now.  Pulling a car engine with a tree in the front yard-come on now.

I like the idea of a person buying a duplex, living in one side and the rental money from the other side covers most of the note.  That situation feels financially magical.

Means: We must live within our means because those who bite off more than they can chew will choke.  One of my favorite movies is “It’s A Wonderful Life.”   My man George Bailey was a hero for getting so many people into homes and wanting to see them actually make the final mortgage payment.

The recent housing crisis in America grew out of having fewer George Baileys.  People were buying more house than they could afford.   They were actually factoring in the future appreciation of the properties.  In other words, they were counting their eggs before they hatched.

Struggle, Stretch, Strain: Yes, some people seriously believe that struggle will always be a part of life but that’s hogwash.  You struggle when you put more on your plate than you can comfortably handle.  As a result, these people are constantly stretching their money and that produces a financial and emotional strain.

Conspicuous Consumption/Bling: the slang term “bling” defines the shiny, flashy items that small-minded people want to make them feel better about themselves.  Wiser folks, those less shallow, have spending habits and budgets that reflect a smart financial plan and personal determination.  For example, a person making $10 an hour can purchase a $20 shirt, double their hourly wage.  But, that same person wearing $90 shirts is foolish.  I bet that person doesn’t have $1,000 in a saving account.  Yes, reasonable people have a problem with folks in the public assistance office in Polo and Versace.  We are talking about young parents who would put $3,000 rims on a $2,000 car that smokes like a chimney.

We need to stop making Michael Jeffery Jordan richer.  Your child has Jordans sneakers but isn’t old enough to walk.  Your teenager wears $200 Jordans but isn’t on the varsity; his crew wears them to play video games sports while watching you clean the house and wash the car.  Oh, what about the adult with Jordans and a matching $30 Starter cap at the bus stop.  $1000 cars can still be found but they wouldn’t be caught dead in a struggle buggy.

Lump Sum: First, most people should thank heaven for putting us around role models with knowledge and wisdom.  Then, we should thank ourselves for being smart enough to listen.  Struggling people who work every day might receive the Earned Interest Tax Credit.  President Richard Nixon started the EITC because he felt working people in America shouldn’t be below the poverty line.  So, this credit gives workers the amount taken for taxes during the year and adds enough money to the refund to bring that person or family up to the poverty line.

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Smart families live below their means, avoid bling and put most of that EITC money away.  After a few years of saving, those families have the income history, decent credit report and down payment for a house of their own.  Hey, USDA, HUD and other governmental programs might get them into homes with little or no down payment.

http://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-direct-home-loans/ga

It warms the heart to think about people turning adversity into prosperity.  From a better house in a community with better schools, the next generation of that family (the current kids) can go to college, move up in a job that requires technical school training or see the world in the military.  A family that will hopefully never struggle, stretch and strain again.

Housing video links

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Best Interests Initiative: Law/Freedom

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

Empire

Law/Freedom: Love Freedom; Cost of Prisons; Understanding basic law; Family Law

What is more important to an American than freedom?  Freedom is the cornerstone of our great nation.  Groups came to the new world seeking freedom they weren’t experiencing in Europe.  Of course, we now mention the irony of Native Americans’ freedom vanishing and Africans arriving against their will in the hulls of ships.  Those slaves toiled for years before America was America—long before 1776.

If you are the descendant of slaves and sharecroppers (sharecropper weren’t really free until the 1970s), why would you give up your freedom to the criminal justice system like it is nothing?  The parlor question becomes “would you rather be a slave in 1815 or an inmate in 2015?”  Good question.  The following question is “are current inmates justifying slavery in some way?”

The sad fact is that some people fail to instill a functioning value system, moral compass or simple risk/reward mechanism in their children. “Put it on the scale…put it on the scale.”  A young person commits a crime that at best will only produce $100 but once arrested, that person’s freedom is gone for years.  They could have made that piece of money in a day and they likely sought money to spend on silly items in the first place.  In my day, we said “you seek big money to buy things to impress people who don’t care about you.”

Billy Badass: When you grow up as Billy Badass, no one tells you what to do and when to do it—not parents, teachers, pastors or the police.  Ole Billy has zero regard for community or sense of right and wrong—he pumps the nastiest music at the highest volume from his car and does it while passing old women and kids.

Since going to school daily is too restrictive, he drops out to seek money the fast way—the ski mask way.  When he lands in that penal system, he enjoys less freedom than an eight year old.  The guy who thought working for minimum wage was square now makes a few dollars per day and he would love the freedom of working on a prison work detail on the highway.  The sunlight, wind and rain become golden.   The best people to talk with the youth about freedom are people who gave up theirs.

Closet living: The size of an average jail cell seems unimaginably small to most people.  The Good Lawd knows this writer loves being outside and freaks out in windowless buildings.  “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”  We haven’t mentioned being locked in a room with a person who might be violent in the worst way.

Cost of Prisons: It’s really tough to simply say “lock’em up” and offenders should face consequences for their actions.  However, corrections cost in many states is one of the biggest budget items.  Cost includes security and administration, health care, rehabilitation, food and clothing.  In California, the cost is near $129 per day.  http://www.ehow.com/about_5409377_average-cost-house-inmates-prison.html

In Georgia, the direct cost was $21,000 per year per inmate in 2011.  http://www.vera.org/files/price-of-prisons-georgia-fact-sheet.pdf

The shocker occurred when the Georgia Director of Juvenile Justice announced that juvenile offenders cost the peach state 90K per year.  Say what? http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2013-12-25/georgia-juvenile-justice-changes-take-effect

Oh, hell no. That’s it.  This madness must end because we could almost send three kids to the University of Georgia with that money. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and we would be better off building youth who didn’t want to surrender their freedom.

Other freedoms: You can give up other types of freedom also.  People with a slave mentality see nothing wrong with reporting to other adults.  Of course, we must respect the laws that the government made because God made the government Romans 13:1.  But, public assistance often involves reporting personal business to governmental workers.

I wrote a blog post about lessons Justice Clarence Thomas learned from his grandfather on this subject.  Grandfather could not stand the idea of a social worker asking if he fed his family or having the state inquire about who slept there at night.  We must mention the loss of freedom to alcohol, drug and food addiction.  Yes, food can have a deadly grip on a person.  In another section of this project we will discuss financial freedom from student loan to child support to good old fashion debt.

Basic Law 101: Every American should understand local, state and federal laws.  At an early age, my daddy told us that ignorance was not an excuse under the law.  A teenager innocently gives a friend a ride home from the basketball courts but the friend has drugs in his pocket then drops the drugs on the floor as the cops gets the dog out.  Everyone in the car might be facing hard time.  Civil, criminal, torts, property and family law should be covered in high school or students should be given a useful DVD.

Dealing with the police is the most fundamental part of the justice system and people can learn a lot from TV shows like Cops, Law and Order and programs on Court TV and ID Channel.  We need a program to breakdown the law for young people in a two-hour session so they will know the fundamentals.

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Best Interests Initiative/ Hip Hop Music and Culture–Worst than the Klan?

Posted in politics, tagged , , on February 27, 2015| 1 Comment »

Hip Hop and Rap music are original American art forms and artists should be free to express themselves in any medium.  I am not for censorship of whatever music adults choose to enjoy.  This discussion is important on a political/governance blog because people make choices surrounding musical sub-cultures and the government is left to deal with the financial consequences.

In communities, we should be mindful that music can play a serious role in the development of young minds and establishment of value systems.  Since colonial days, older Americans have been concerned with the messages in music.  It seems that some current artists/entertainers inadvertently lead the youth down a negative path.  But, old people were once young people and our parents had issues with Prince, AC/DC, Rick James etc.

I contend that the situation is much worse today than 30 years ago because technology can pump all kinds of thoughts into Junior’s ears while all we had was Soul Train and Bandstand.

Proper Context: People can listen to any music in its proper context. It’s art; it’s entertainment. If you stand on a strong moral foundation, exposure to ideas from music wouldn’t dramatically change who you are.  We loved Prince and still love him but I never wore eyeliner or a Captain Crunch Pirate coat.  Early rap gave urban youth an opportunity to battle with words and dance.  Later, the gangsta rap of N.W.A. and Tupac explained the problems of some urban youth in a useful way.  Again, the proper context was kids speaking about their circumstances and that’s why the L.A. riots were foretold by N.W.A. and Ice Cube.

N.W.A. was art imitating life.  As middle-aged parents, the living members of N.W.A. (rest in peace Eazy-E) have their children and grandchildren in safe, comfortable environments—gated communities with cul-de-sacs.  They want better for their kids and prisoners generally want better for their families also.

When real money came into the rap culture, the whole game changed.  People would do or say anything to make more cash…with no regard for societal effects.  Kids from good families made hardcore changes to their vibes to get a record deal.  It was life imitating art to the point that many college students (black, white, brown and yellow) can’t be distinguished from common thugs and street walkers.  As Gil Scott Heron said about another matter “it’s the ultimate realization of the inmates running the asylum.”  But, in this case, the asylum is the whole community.  Senior citizens lock themselves inside their modest homes and dare say a word about the kids with no shirts across the street blasting filth that would make the devil blush.

School kids seek to emulate pimps and pushers rather than positive, law-abiding members of the community.  Rap videos actually have some youth ignoring education and training because the millions they plan to make in the hip hop culture will be much easier.  Of course, a person who develops expensive taste without money soon considers illegal money-making options.

Understand, hip hop is a culture—not just music.  It’s a way of life that involves dress and speech.  Lord have mercy on my community because too many kids are spending their formative years ignoring the foundations of a healthy family, career and home.  Instead, they are making themselves less employable if not unemployable—really, these fools are deployable.  Hey, we had wild phases in our youth but most activities didn’t have permanent consequences.  “NowhatI’msayin…Nowhati’msayin..naw meen.”

Of course, I am talking about the negative section of the hip hop culture and the positive section would be my selection if I was young today.  I recently listened to a Breakfast Club radio interview with Kanye West. When Charlemagne told West that he should go where he is “celebrated not tolerated,” I thought about my community and both major political parties but we aren’t going there.  When West said he listens to advice from Jay-Z and musical cues from new rappers, Charlemagne said that the Bible teaches “Old men for counsel; young men for war.”

1 Kings 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him. 

I love thinking about King Rehoboam’s situation and the current hip hop culture. This guy was the son of Solomon and the people asked him to make their yoke lighter.  The old guys told him to speak good words to them and they would be his servants forever.  But, Rehoboam listened to the guys his age and made the yoke heavier.  When I was young, I would hang with the fellows but the real advice for living came from those older gentlemen and ladies.  In college, I was listening to seniors, grad students, professors and young professionals because listening to other young folks primarily would be like the blind leading the blind.

If people don’t have solid elders in their corners, they live aimlessly and take advise from hip hop music.

I have lived in the “hood” a few times in life but I was never ghetto enough to love the struggle.  Like the yoke in the Bible passage, the struggle can be one’s circumstance.  Blacks in the South were generally striving for a better life…what’s the plan….what’s the good news?  To be frank, those who loved being ignorant and those who loved struggling were avoided.

Today, music executives who are only interested in revenue promote ignorant entertainers (I won’t call them artists) who will do or say everything negative to get more money.  As a result, we have a generation of youth influenced by ignorant peers more so than parents, the church or school.  They love the struggle as a way of life and being incarcerated seems like a badge of courage.  We know old prisoners begged the youth not the make the mistakes they made.

At times, it seems that the worst element of hip hop has a more detrimental impact on the community than the Klan.  Chuck D and Public Enemy in 1991 had an interlude after the song “Shut em Down” in which “Bernie Crosshouse” of the Klan thanks negative Blacks for destroying the community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nskZM74NKkc  (at 4:30 mark)

I’d like to express our deepest gratitude at the destruction of the inferior n****r race, and I’m especially pleased to report that it’s destroying itself without our help. To all you gangs, hoodlums, drug pushers and users, and other worthless n-ggers killing each other, we’d like to thank y’all for saving us the time, trouble and legality for the final chapter of ridding y’all off the face of the earth. Your solution to our problem is greatly appreciated. So keep selling us your soul. Thank yuh

It turns out P.E. was correct in creating Crosshouse because certain elements of the community have us on self-destruct mode and hip hop music often glamorizes these elements.  That glamorization isn’t necessarily a problem for the strong, grounded and well-balanced. But, folks who are weaker, people with questionable home training and unfortunately people who raised themselves (the half-raised) will be influenced by the street from these lyrics and hypnotic beats.

Club friends: In homes where youth are trained with deliberation, kids learn the levels of friendship because some people allow kid’s exposure to explicit activities before middle school.  A young adult can kick it on the dance floor with wild friends but coming over to the table and hanging outside the club is a different matter.  To cut to the chase, some folks take sub-cultures created by music (gangster rap, heavy metal, goth) too far.  The artist themselves will admit that much of the image is pure fantasy but some people get wrapped up.

So, parents are teaching one thing and the hipsters on the corner are teaching something else.  Dam, the lyrics said this would happen.  Not a problem…just fire up a phat blunt and tune those haters out.

Solutions: We must have an honest and frank discussion about music and cultural decisions and possible impacts on individuals, the community and the nation. Paul from the Bible wrote a righteous second letter to the church at Thessalonica.  I should have been reading this in my youth rather than listening to the same rap cds over and over but that rap had a message.

2nd Thessalonians 3:10-15 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that any would not work, neither should he eat.  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing.

And if any may obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 

Yes, we still love our wayward brothers and sisters including those of other colors. But if you are recreationally wreaking the community, I don’t too much mess with you—the disorderly need to get on the right path.  When people in old age look back at their lives, they often find that they were their own worst enemy and some of the people they chose to be around brought drama and struggle into their world.  The soundtrack to that drama might have been questionable music.

Since I got a little too preachy, I would finish this writing by saying thank heaven for the positive cool rappers of my youth—Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Brand Nubian, Rakim. I shouldn’t leave out the educational messages from rougher rappers like Tupac, Biggie and N.W.A. because Ice Cube was a poet before he became America’s dad.  See, people grow up and the sooner that happens, the better you will be.  The following are examples of the rap that I loved in the past and you should notice that rap from the 80s and 90s often sampled 60s and 70s R&B music.  That’s called respect.

P.E.- Shut em Down        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wOcOBjB3uU

LL Cool J – The Breakthrough      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0mk_RgA8-0&list=RDN0mk_RgA8-0

See, I fought with the devil, made a promise to God
I have experience in goin’ all the way to the top
It’s harder harder than hard all the suckers are barred
You used to try to talk down now your ego is scarred

See the problem is you want what another man has
His car, his wife, or his razzamatazz
But that’s weak, you gotta do work on your own
‘Cuz when you’re rich you got friends but when you’re poor you’re alone
So get your own on your own, it’ll strengthen your soul
Stop livin’ off your parents like you’re three years old
Instead of walkin’ like you’re limp and talkin’ yang about me
Why don’t you take your monkey-ass and get a college degree?

Or write a rhyme and ride a bike and try to live carefree
Hope my message reaches you before you’re seventy-three
A old man, when people ask you what you did with your life
You’ll say “I hated L.L. and I carried a big knife”
Brand Nubian- Slow Down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAvetlQbrA8

Public Enemy – Brothers Gonna Work It Out  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHxkPNx23Og

Eric B and Rakim – Move the Crowd     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyl_j0g9AwU

Gang Starr – Jazz Thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is5xMd1nT5o

Guru – No Time To Play         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09WzUhMZmFo

Brandy – I Wanna Be Down (Remix) (feat. Mc Lyte, YoYo & Queen Latifah  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LthQLQMilvo

2Pac – Keep Ya Head Up  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXwmDGJAB8

2pac – I Ain’t Mad At Cha       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt1XjVdyJ6o

The Notorious B.I.G. – “Juicy”                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZom_gVfuw

3rd Bass “Pop Goes The Weasel”      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzXI_ApY4dY

MC Hammer – Pray   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xNSgBkum7o

MC Hammer – Turn This Mutha Out  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74OBaLLi3tY

Grandmaster Flash- The Message     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o8TeqKhgY

Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force – Planet Rock  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lDCYjb8RHk

Afrika Bambaataa – Looking for the Perfect Beat  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RJlYzBhLg4

OutKast – Player’s Ball            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFofKGKlWo4

Ludacris ft Field Mob & Jamie Foxx-Georgia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZW_VgFXm_w

Master P “Make’em Say UGH” ‌‌https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ZvzIOO6aU

House Of Pain – “Jump Around”        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZaz7OqyTHQ

RUN DMC HARD TIMES      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO2cakSiqDQ

Self Destruction          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxyYP_bS_6s

NEWCLEUS – JAM ON IT     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEmg5GaAHbk

De La Soul – Me, Myself And I           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEzEDMqXQQ

Pete Rock & CL Smooth – They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONgL61snlM

A Tribe Called Quest – Bonita Applebum       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6oO-1iWc1c

De La Soul “Buddy” ‌‌   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F69dt5clGPo

Black Sheep – The Choice Is Yours   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9F5xcpjDMU

Digable Planets – Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM4kqL13jGM

Arrested Development – Tennessee  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VCdJyOAQYM

PM Dawn – Set A Drift On Memory Bliss      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5lByFc7HiM

Queen Latifah ft. Monie Love – Ladies First   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLB5bUNAesc

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Best Interest Initiative: Education/Career Training

Posted in politics, tagged on January 29, 2015| 1 Comment »

Best Interest Initiative: Education/Career Training

A good education is the foundation of a nice life.  Education should be formal (in class) and informal (everywhere else.)  Learning ends the day you die.

No bad legal Job– Young people should know that all work is a brick in the wall of life and each position serves a stepping stone purpose.  If your first job is tossing watermelons in the Georgia sun, that work should motivate you to study harder in school and tossing melons for money is better than paying gym fees.

When gas stations were filling stations, a hustling attendant would wash the windows and check the tire pressure with such enthusiasm that customers would say, “I could use a man with your drive in my business…come see me Monday morning.”  Today, kids could create similar situations at MacDonald’s, Wal-mart, Starbucks or the local golf course.  The golf course is where the rich guys and connected people hang.  “Yes sir, get that for you right now.”

24/7 Grammar – Education starts with parents speaking proper grammar at home all of the time and encouraging kids to do the same.  It’s a good thing for families to sit down at a table together for one meal daily and that time should include personal updates on what is happening with the parents’ careers and business and the kids’ schools, friends and activities. Amazingly, some 20 year olds can’t speak in complete sentences to other adults—know what I’m say…know what I’m saying.  And they wonder why they didn’t get the clerk job at the mall.  Also, it’s in kids’ best interest to text and email in regular sentences because it’s practice for school and work.

Rough music and T.V. are the enemies of good grammar and kids should be surrounded by well-speaking friends. Of course, reading is fundamental and the internet isn’t as nice as an actual book.

How to attend school/study- Some people can study with a radio or T.V. blasting.  Others can’t; I can’t.  Students must discover a system, plan or ritual that works for them.  I have found it wise to ask academically successful people what worked for them; some of it is good genes but some of it is learning how to “get down for the get down.”  Some people rewrite notes while others read chapters ahead.  Whatever gets the job done best needs to be the program.

Cost of College– The cost of college has gone up considerably in the last 20 years.  Kids need to have a plan to finance higher education as early as 10 years old—the kid’s plan in addition to the parent’s plan.  Starting life off 50K to 100K in debt is the worse.  Many states have joint enrollment programs in which students earn considerable college credit for free before graduating from high school.  Some students actually get their high school and two year college degrees at the same time.

Someone needs to sound the alarm about for-profit colleges.  Some of these schools are saddling students with huge debts and student loans bills will follow you to the grave.

Hoop Dreams- Kids practice sports for countless hours with dreams of getting an athletic scholarship and turning pro.  Yes, many young people stay away from drugs and keep their grades up to play sports.  However, these activities are extracurricular with “extra” being the key.  If these kids spent half of their practice time getting homework and studying, their situations would be more balanced.  Also, great grades and SAT scores expands the number of schools that would be interested in you playing sports.  Playing football at Duke, Davidson or Morehouse puts you in a network of alumni that is more beneficial than playing in the NFL for a few years.

Military Education Option– Many young people join the military to pay for college and we thank them for their service.  Some wild college freshmen would have been better off with a few years of military life first.  18 year olds who spend a few years in uniform get important job training, learn diversity from battle buddies and get to live on the other side of the nation and/or the world.  Today, those military personnel have the opportunity to attend college online from a real university during their down time.

Networking/The Hustle– Let’s be honest, there are many, many holders of advance degrees in the poor house.  One must get an education and turn that paper into a money-making career. Crafty people know how jobs are filled in an area and function accordingly—join the lodge, volunteer next to key community leaders. If the police and firefighters play softball in a certain league, you should dust off your glove and bat if you want to work with them. It’s not fair, but it’s often true.

“Everyone with pull attends that church.” On the other hand, leaders hire people they know well and if you grew up over the last 20 years as a positive member of a congregation with someone… that means something.  Hey, Marines hire Marines.  In the last 30 years, leadership positions in a local school system were often indirectly related to H.R. directors who were members of two sororities.  At the end of the day, some people know how to hustle up a job better than others and the sad part is that those others might have done a much better job.  It’s a dirty game.

Straight To Work Option– Of course, some successful people went to work right out of high school and staying on the same job until retirement.  These people received on the job training and moved up over time.  School is formal education but working in some ways covers the same material in a hands-on manner.  If given the opportunity, these people should still seek a two-year degree in their spare time because reading and writing well will open the door to mid-level management since no one wants to do the physical jobs at middle age.  Of course, computers are on every job these days and some vocational training helps with technology.

Summary: Education and training could solve many community problems because people at school and work aren’t idled and involved in as much negative behavior.

A wise young man who wants to skip college should go to work at Dollar General or a similar business; be on time and ready to work hard with a smile; learn every aspect of shipping and receiving and move up to a well-paying plant when the opportunity arises.  Oh yeah, he or she should butter-up the current employees of those major plants every chance he or she gets.

Agriculture is the biggest industry in Georgia but everyone doesn’t cotton to farm work.  However, from seed to fork offers many careers for rural citizens—food and fiber processing, distribution, inspection.  Once upon a time, we actually made textiles in this country.

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Best Interests Initiative

Posted in politics on January 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

In the politics/public policy arena, many efforts to improve the quality of life for average Americans have been launched.  After years of blogging about politics and being frustrated with the status quo, Project Logic Ga has decided to take a different approach by thinking outside the box during 2015.  We aim to listen to the people rather than telling them what to think.  Most importantly, we want to do something different; viewing problems and solutions from an entirely new angle.

We should start with the desired result and built backwards.  What is in our community’s best interests and how do we get there?  Of course, everyone currently feels that their actions are the answers.  There is no need to be critical and thanks for your continued efforts.  Considering aspects of our new views doesn’t mean that you are abandoning existing associations.  If you like something, you should incorporate it with your traditional affiliations.

Best Interests Initiative seeks to bring people in our community in south Georgia together to research what works then to implement a grassroot effort to spread the new message.  We are starting with the topics below; they aren’t chiseled in stone.  That’s the cool part.  Some of these topics might be great while others should be discarded.  Feedback will determine what’s beneficial.  We will write a new blog post at the beginning of each month based on these key topics.

 

 

 

Key Topics

  1. Education/Career Training: No bad legal jobs; life-time learning; Be resourceful; 24/7 Grammar; How to Attend School/Study; Cost of College; Military Education Option; Networking/The Hustle

 

  1. Music/Culture: Impact of Hip Hop; Glamorization of Thugs, Strippers and Criminals; Life Imitating Art; Absence of historic strivers mentality

 

  1. Law/Freedom: Love Freedom; Cost of Prisons; Understanding basic law; Family Law

 

  1. Home Economics/Housing: Home Ownership; Conspicuous Consumption/Bling; Living Inside Means; Birds of a Feather; Counsel of the Successful

 

  1. Public Policy Arena Agenda: Eye for Agendas, Watch Big business, activists, the Media talking heads and elected officials; the truth about public spending; role of government/Justice Thomas’s grandfather; “Government isn’t Daddy”

 

  1. Personal Responsibility: Avoid the Struggle Culture, Choices, Decisions and Consequences; Deliberation; Focus; Family Engineering; Self-analysis

 

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

 

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

 

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Real deal on Obamacare from 60 Minutes

Posted in politics on January 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

60 Minutes had a recent segment on Obamacare and the healthcare industry that is a must watch.  It’s a dirt game and the lobbyists have won again while the rest of us better not dare get sick.  The cost of drugs and services must come down but thanks President Obama for trying.

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Folks in Cuba

Posted in politics, tagged on December 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

We should always respectfully question the actions and agendas of our leaders.  Today, President Obama will announce new rules regarding Cuba.  Thank you Mr. President because it should have been done years ago.  I am about to go off with a rant-filled list.

So, Americans could travel to the former U.S.S.R. but could not go to Cuba.  Why were Japanese put in camps during World War II but I never heard of the German and Italian camps.  Why was Jackie Robinson court-marshaled for not going to the back of the bus on Fort Hood, Texas, while Germany POWs were allowed to eat in Whites only sections of the mess hall there?  Why was my brother in the Navy fighting for freedom during Vietnam but I couldn’t drink out of a public water fountain or check out a book in the library?

Why weren’t Blacks involved in the discussion about what would happen with them after the Civil War (yea, half Black Fredrick Douglas was there sometimes..)  Why, oh why, didn’t President U.S. Grant’s plan to buy the island of Hispaniola for former slaves catch on seriously?

Since I am ranting on the U.S. Civil War, you should remember the villain Lovelace’s plans in Will Smith’s movie the Wild Wild West.  Those plans were similar to the Confederacy’s plan if they won the war and the plans of slave owners since they didn’t.  They wanted a warm weather, slave-hold confederacy across the American South, Latin America, the Caribbean and the north of the South America…cotton, bananas, and sugar.

While Fidel Castro is a rough dude, the dudes he tossed out were also dirty.  To be honest, White Spanish (from Spain) oppressed Blacks in Cuba for a long time….since the conquistadors with the metal hats.  They worked those people in the cane fields but didn’t share the wealth and opportunities.   When the Fulgencio Batista regime from the 1950s was toppled in the movie the Godfather and rich people were running for the airport, I always cheered.  Cuba was their playground and Batista allowed seediness similar to early Las Vegas.

In his farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of the power of the defense industrial complex and I am convinced defense private sector interests were behind the killing of JFK, MLK and RFK because those three question our involvement in Vietnam.  Don’t stand between rich cats and more loot.

Often, the leaders of nations hate each other but not the people.  The History Channel is the bomb.  The Japanese people thought U.S. Marines would eat their children.  People behind the Iron Curtain thought we Americans spent all of our time planning their destructions.  We were actually chilling while watching cartoons.  These leaders need to get into a boxing ring and duke it out rather than waging war from their secure locations.

I have had the best time hanging the Eastern Europe.  Rock and hip hop have done more to bridge the divide than the diplomatic corps.  Something told me the Cuba people didn’t hate the America people as much as the leaders did.  I am not saying I discovered this to be the case before President Obama changes the travel ban.  If I travelled to Cuba, it would have been as a brown person who knew that those people were being controlled by the Communist like we were limited north of them.

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What’s Next Politically for Blacks in the South?

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on December 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Blacks and Whites are in a world of trouble politically in the South; I don’t care what the election results say.  We are a house divided and it’s never healthy having political parties of one color. Never.

Steve and Cokie Roberts breakdown some amazing numbers and facts in their column recently but the essence is that Whites have left the Democrat Party in the South for the GOP and therefore the Dems are mostly Black.  The GOP in the South control most governorships and state houses but as of January, there won’t be a White Democrat in the U.S. House or U.S. Senate from the South.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/dec/11/steve-and-cokie-roberts-the-decline-of-the/?opinion

To me, elections could have been won if the people that the Clinton White House and the Obama White House sought to help would have simply voted and if the GOP far right wasn’t a well-oiled fear machine.

But, the reality is this: everyone better figuring out what is in our best interests and function accordingly.  It’s not in our best interests as southerners if GOP leaders win elections and the far right dares them to dialog with the rest of the population.  Perhaps, those people who Dems help who don’t vote will be forced into living differently when they realize that the people winning elections aren’t baby-sitting them. Hey, tough love or tough hate could get things moving.

Let me make it plain: the Black community needs to have a relationship with whoever is sworn into office.  Secondly, we need to have a frank discussion about living better without government being at the center of our universe.  Lastly, it might be time to sub-divide the interests of our community because we are spending too much time, energy and resources on a certain segment— a segment that needs everything but won’t vote.

Hillary Clinton would be a great president but the Dem Team better come up with a plan of substance.  If not, the door could be open for Senator Rand Paul or Governor Jeb Bush to secure the most productive selection of our community by finding something new and by telling the crazies on the Red Team to chill.  I hate to say it but our community might need to show numbers in the GOP primaries to select Republicans who are less nutty because that’s where the decisions are being made.

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You Better Court the Black Vote/Hate TV campaign ads

Posted in politics, tagged , on November 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Southern Blacks shouldn’t be a presidential lock for anyone in 2016.  Secretary Hillary Clinton is one nice candidate and she is better prepared to be potus than most were at the time of their election.  But, the times they are a changing and we need more than good campaigning; we need a comprehensive plan and approach for living better.   That P and A might involve the government finally admitting that its role in our personal well-being should be limited.  They should tell the people the truth so we are function accordingly.

Politics and campaigning are the arts of getting people elected (often times, by saying bad stuff about the other side.)  Governing is about the proper running of public enterprises.  In the midterm elections, fancy Ivy League types in D.C. planned how to get regular folks thinking to produce their desired results.  Their desired results weren’t better governing and better personal living; it was making money for them and keeping power.

They spent a zillion dollars on campaign ads with candidates wearing denim shirts while walking on farms with dogs.  If the Democrats spent 15% of their ad money hosting events to meet and listen to voters, they would have done much better.  The old Get Out The Vote model of having teams in every area gives regular people the opportunity to make a few bucks while helping the campaign process.   In the basement of the DNC and the RNC on Capitol Hill, low level congressional staffers attend workshops on how to get campaign volunteers to work for nothing while stacks of cash are spent on TV ads that turn off the voters.

Carlton Fletcher of the Albany Herald recently wrote an instant classic about campaign ads.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/nov/04/carlton-fletcher-please-god-no-more-political/?opinion

After a chill holiday season, those in the political arena should spend 2015 listening to regular people.  Elections are often decided by who secures the sensible center.  The GOP presidential primary will likely pull their nominee so far right than the party turns off the center in the November election again.  They need to go get Michael Steele’s old plans for growth—plans that start with telling crazies to relax and end with embracing the minority version conservatism.

Southern Blacks outside big cities aren’t really liberal.  Oh, we won’t be hooking up with the GOP because the nuttiest on that team are running the show.  But, we might grow disillusion and stay home.  There is an emerging segment of my community that feels that a return to non-government solutions is the answer; solutions that center on personal responsibility and how we carry ourselves.  That opens the door to GOP mavericks like Rand Paul and Jeb Bush.  Is the GOP so far gone that Jeb Bush’s level-headiness makes him an outlier.  Yes.

In 2014 in the South, the Democrats assume they had the Black vote and therefore spent their time courting the Whites who bounced for the GOP.  They better court our Black “blanks” are we might bounce also.

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Going Off: Post 2014 Election Analysis

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 5, 2014| 23 Comments »

The Democrats failed in the mid-term elections for reasons that were clear to most—except them.  I knew a year ago (no five years ago) that I would be writing these points today.

Money: Dems in Georgia raised and spent enough money for Nunn and Carter to win but they spent it in the wrong places.  Most voters are unaware of the cottage industry surrounding elections, an industry that centers on Buckhead in Atlanta.  First, you find a candidate who can raise tons of dollars with our friends then you hire our other friends to run the campaigns and still other friends to produce and do media buys for a zillion TV ads. How many people didn’t vote because they were weary from campaign ads?

The people inside this cottage industry won the election a year ago when they secured legacy candidates like Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter, rich fellows like David Perdue and sitting congressmen like Jack Kingston and a few others.  They had the money makers.

Better Money: If Nunn and Carter listened to seasoned cats like Sanford Bishop, they would have cut the media buy money by a third and put that money on old school street teams outside of Atlanta.  When the original Carter and Nunn were winning in the 1970s, the Dems knew to secure the support of old ball coaches, funeral directors, barbers, pastors and other community leaders.  These community leaders would put together teams of workers who made a few dollars.  Grandmothers would be so proud that their family members were involved and leading rallies.

I knew Michelle Nunn would make a great senator but her work history involving volunteerism concerned me from the start.  Black folks aren’t volunteering when they can see that you spent millions on T.V. ads.  They should have spent those millions on rally D.J.s and those free hot dog trucks.  Food and old school music will get the crowd out and that’s when you hook them with warmth.

Learning from Florida: There are two important lessons we can learn this election season from our neighbors to the south.  First, Gwen Graham won a U.S. House in North Florida by striking a correct balance between T.V. ads and community events.  Of course, she is from a famous political family but she rolled up her sleeves and pressed pressed pressed the flesh at dozens of free food events.  Hey, we like free food and Frankie Beverly music.  Graham took it home last week with a free Jimmy Buffet show…nice.

Secondly, Governor Rick Scott narrowly won reelection by running up the numbers in rural areas to counterbalance big Dem numbers in the Florida cities.  In Georgia, we have city Blacks in Atlanta, Blacks in the next five cities (Columbus, Albany, Macon, Savannah and Augusta) and rural Blacks.  Obviously, the plan was to get metro Atlanta to balance the GOP’s rural base.  But, those Blacks in Atlanta are real liberals who weren’t going to get pumped up to help Michelle Nunn while she ran from President Obama and ran to Governor/Senator Zell Miller.  Yes, Miller was a great Georgian back when but he spoke at the GOP national convention for Obama’s opponent. Black folks have memories.  On the other hand, rural Blacks are more conservative and more likely to support moderates like Sanford Bishop.  The Democrat efforts should have started by listening to Bishop.

Second guessing: The Democrat Party in Georgia spent the last year trying to get White Republicans to switch back…newsflash “They are gone.”  The party spent less energy getting the Obama base out.

Future: Michelle Nunn is still a big winner because she is position to be the Dem Senate candidate when Senator Isakson retires.  Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed would be the natural candidate but you know the cottage industry mentioned above must eat and they eat exceptionally well.  Again, getting money is more important than winning.

Black diversity: This blog started years ago as an effort to convince our community to take a better look at the details of politics and policymaking.  Both major political parties have incorrect approaches to us.  We need to take a hard look at the role political hope plans in how we carry ourselves because the parties and the government are indirectly hurting us.

Hillary 2016: Not so fast, we need to talk.

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The Impeachments of Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama

Posted in politics, tagged , , on October 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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With one week before the 2014 mid-term elections, we should think about three presidential impeachments and the impact on our community.  The good news is that one of them can still be avoided.  Of course, impeachment is a need process in our democracy—Nixon.  But, like many other things, people in Washington use it to play dirty games.

First, I can’t stand people who don’t respect the “fair and square” American election process or those who choose to IGNORE the law.  The latter would be un-American to me.  For example, the law says Blacks are citizens with the right to not be killed but that didn’t stop others from blowing off those laws since 1864.

Andrew Johnson: Johnson was a Tennessean who became Abraham Lincoln’s vice president.  Upon Lincoln’s assassination, this southerner became president and this moderate clashed with Radical Republicans who wanted to give former slaves more rights as citizens.  His “high crimes and misdemeanors” involved ignoring a law that stopped him from removing Radical Republican and Lincoln appointee William Stanton as Secretary of War, a position that oversaw the readmitted South at the time.

Johnson escaped removal from office by the U.S. Senate by one vote and it is generally understood the compromise on the rights of Blacks got him the needed votes.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-impeachment/

Bill Clinton: Dam, he was a good president and that drove Republicans crazy.  The man was fair, he listened to every side and he left office with a budget surplus.  Because they couldn’t get him in the polling place, they tried to get him for lying about creeping.  The biggest crime was that his wife was a much better women than the chicks he was chasing but we don’t need to list all of the presidents who wouldn’t keep it in their pants.  That list would include some of the greatest.

The rough aspect of the Clinton impeachment/witch-hunt is that it took away from the real business of governing…being the leader of the free world.  If my memory serves me correctly, Zaire/Congo was in the middle of a near genocide in 1998 but the White House was busy dealing with impeachment.  Countless deaths could have been avoided but President Clinton had to spend his political capital addressing the GOP nonsense on the Capitol.  If you asking them about that today, they grin as if to say “part of the game.”

Barrack Obama: The far right wing of the conservative movement can’t wait until the day after the election.  They are discipline enough to stop talking publicly about impeachment from the after the primary election until the day after the general election.  They don’t want to wake the sleeping giant known as the Obamacrats.   With Republican control of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, President Obama will likely be impeached and could be removed from office for the offense of doing what he was elected to do rather than what the sour minority of the American people want him to do.  They want him to leave.

In addition to impeachment, the House and Senate will be constantly bringing the Obama cabinet members and administrators to Capitol Hill to explaining every action since they came to office—oh, you haven’t seen gridlock yet.

In summary, you can love or hate the policies of a White House but you should respect the rights, duties and authority given a president by the American people.  Democrats gave that respect to the second President Bush despite his questionable election.

Anyone who seeks to weasel around the democracy process is unconstitutional and, in my book, un-American.  Oh, nothing is new under the south sun, son.  We are talking about the people who laughed at federal court orders and U.S. Supreme Court rulings for years…..fire hoses, cattle prods, matches.

Everyone that doesn’t vote will forfeit their right to be surprised by the impeachment of the sitting American president for no good reason.

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Told You So: Nunn and Carter need Bishop vs. Childs

Posted in politics, tagged , , on October 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Why are Democrats constantly out foxed by Republicans and why do Republicans insist on scaring the daylights out of voters?  When Senator Saxby Chambliss first ran for the Senate, Ralph Reed was in charge of the Georgia GOP.
Reed figured out that Democrat congressmen like Sanford Bishop shouldn’t have opponents if the GOP didn’t really have a chance of winning the seats.  Just running someone would compel Bishop to fully engage his campaign apparatus which is a Death Star to most Republicans in that district.  However, Bishop in blast mode also brings out unlikely voters who don’t care about political parties but do care about defending “our guy.”
As Daniel Boone studied the Indians, I have watched and learned from the GOP for decades.  They are as hasty as they wanted to be and as smart as they want to be.  The wizards behind theGOP  curtain know that southern Democrats aren’t real liberals but they play that card time and time again.  Smart…ugly, but smart.
The plan for victory for Jason Carter for governor and Michelle Nunn for senate should have involved Sanford Bishop having an interesting GOP opponent.  Quick, name Bishop’s ‘no campaign ads on tv’ opponent.   He is a dude named Duke and no Democrats know of him.  Bishop will be declared victor two minutes after the poll close.
Mrs. Vivian Childs, a wise and nice Black professional, was defeated by Duke in the GOP primary.  Democrats who wanted Carter and Nunn to win should have voted in the GOP primary for Childs because she would have raised real money from fellow Black Republicans nationally.  Actually, Bishop and Childs debating issues in a pleasant manner would have been refreshing because they are cool like that.
Most importantly, Bishop would have pulled out the full power of the Death Star and much better turnout would have happened in Macon, Columbus and Albany.  Those better numbers might have been the deciding factors for governor and senator.
When will the conservatives realize that their efforts to reach Black voters starts with understanding successful sections of our community.  For example, they love to play the fear factor card with Malcolm X, Rev. Jeremiah Wright  and other Black nationalists. But, Black nationalism is black conservatism.  The GOP should be in love with the “do for self” movement and the “government isn’t your savior” mindset.   But, they never listen to me.

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“A Woman’s Place Is In The House…or Senate” vs. “Pale, Yale and Male”

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2014| 6 Comments »

In the last fifty years, there have been only two women in the Georgia congressional delegation..Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Rep. Denise Majette.  When national decisions are made, various voices need to be heard at the table.

Michelle Nunn is running for the U.S. Senate against super-rich David Perdue and I simply have a problem with sending another dude into the world most exclusive fraternity.   Oh, both candidates have produced bios that highlight humbleness but Perdue is a scary combination of older and richer—$20 million a year richer.  When you have stacks like Perdue, the average guy is cog in your huge money-making machine.

Why don’t you see liberal women’s political group pounding the pavement in their Birkenstocks for Michelle Nunn?  They aren’t pumped because she is a moderate/centrist like Rep. Sanford Bishop and Rep. John Barrow rather than a real liberal as the GOP claims.  The Democrats are a bigger tent than the Republicans because the discussion should involve everyone.  You know macho dudes in Congress are quick to send our daughters and sons in uniform to foreign battlefields (which are now house to house) while women will demand a rationale, mission statement and exit strategy.

I was watching a PBS documentary on Women’s Lib and they said that the State Department was once Pale, Male and Yale.  Yale was the Ivy League school of choice for rich southerners.  We have come a long way to have Secretaries of State named Madilyn, Colin, Condoleezza and Hillary.  I am a tennis player and in that PBS doc Billie Jean King said that when she played Bobby Riggs in the Astrodome, a woman couldn’t have a credit card in her own name.  However, the struggle continues.

To be honest, Georgia political bloggers should admit that Michelle Nunn’s campaign is, to some limited degree, about Hillary Clinton for president.  If Michelle Nunn for Senate and Jason Carter for Governor do well, Georgia will be on the table for 2016.   The Clinton campaign will model their southern efforts after what worked or didn’t work here.

The biggest Democrat problem during this mid-term election is lack of Black voter interest.  Some watchers feel the Dem Team has spent more money, time and energy trying to get Republicans back to the Blue Team than securing the loyal Black and Blue base.  They need to get their stuff together with a quickness because presidential hopeful Senator Rand Paul is saying some things that are starting to resonate in my community.

I was tailgating at the FSU-Norte Dame game last weekend and the Gwen Graham for Congress people were out in full force.  Senator Bob Graham was in our tent and he taught his daughter how to work a crowd.  Michelle Nunn has a different nature than Gwen Graham and that is cool.  Senator Saxby Chambliss is a southern gentleman who respectfully dialoged with Democrats and the Obama White House as part of his duties.  Michelle Nunn would do the same with a motherly vibe.   A woman’s place is in the House…and Senate….and State Department…..and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Wow, Senate candidate David Perdue blasted Jack Kingston on Kids Working for School Lunches and Michelle Nunn Isn’t Really a Liberal Democrat

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on October 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Last winter, Senate candidate Jack Kingston said kids should pay a little something or work for school lunches to build character.  I didn’t notice that fellow candidate David Perdue put him on blast for that statement.

http://zpolitics.com/perdue-fires-a-shot-at-kingstons-free-lunch/

 

The play callers on the Dem Team must be out of touch with the average Americans because that statement in a statewide discussion would bring many unlikely voters to the polls.  The statement could divide the GOP voters who supported Kingston in the primary if they felt Perdue was tossing Jack under the bus.  Do we see Jack campaigning with Perdue in southeast Georgia?  In the next two debates, the reporters should ask Perdue how he feels about the school lunch issue today because if he vacillates, the far Right wing of their party might bounce on him.

 

Would my Black Republican friends please screen the TV ads before they air?  Geez.  We know the Dems need unlikely voters to turnout but the energy is weak so far.  Obama supporters weren’t making the connection between Michelle Nunn winning and Obama avoiding a Republican controlled U.S. Senate that might impeach him.  Then, these GOP geniuses starting these out of context pictures of Nunn and Obama smiling together…”Michelle Nunn will work for Obama’s liberal agenda.” Thanks to those one zillion ads, unlikely voters now get the importance of voting and for the record, the picture was taken at a President Bush event.

These are the same fools who might have beaten Rep. Sanford Bishop a few years back in they stayed on the fiscal issues but instead they started saying constructed character crap and that’s when my community got busy in defense of the homie.

 

“Michelle Nunn is a liberal.”  Let’s see, how many liberals would “I love conservatives” Zell Miller appear with in an ad.  Hell, she is Sam Nunn’s daughter.  Senator Sam Nunn was one of the last Dixiecrats; he did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it because he wanted to do it.  I was on the Hill as a staffer in the Georgia delegation at the time and Senate Nunn was in a party of one; he was a moderate between the two parties.   The peach doesn’t fall to far from the tree.

 

Barrack Obama went into the White House with the hope of working across party lines or even erasing said lines altogether.  It didn’t happen and both parties basically suck today.  Nunn and Perdue are both refreshing outsiders but Nunn wants to build bridges and find solutions.  Perdue seems like a pleasant fellow but he is bring zany Sen. Ted Cruz, the biggest Obama hater in Congress, to the peach state to campaign for him….birds of a feather.

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/10/16/ted-cruz-to-rally-for-nathan-deal-david-perdue/

 

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Scandal: Not Voting Early To Stop Impeachment

Posted in politics, tagged , , on October 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

voted

Early voting wasn’t an hour old and I was done…finished…over.  To my surprise, many other voters were doing the same thing.  Word on the street is that the Dems are sleeping on Black turnout and that could be the difference.  Yet, they are making the same old traditional efforts but again said efforts aren’t energizing the masses.

Low Black turnout is scandalous but many of those same people tune in weekly to ABC’s Scandal.  Really?  That fact is a dam shame because the TV show is fake political drama while voting puts you in the middle of real drama that affects your daily life.

First, the Republicans were drama queens last winter when they continued to scare the daylights out of people regarding Democrats and their plot to take over the universe.  Even more dramatic were plans and proposals they would implement if given more power.  For example, they “out conservative” each other with promises to impeach President Obama.

Until like the impeachment of Bill Clinton, they might actually remove Obama from office if they control the U.S. Senate.  But, the sistas are busy watching Scandal and the bros are deep into professional, college, high school and pee wee football.  I watching 13 hours of college football on Saturday but my black behind was there to vote this morning…so I can watch 13 more this coming weekend.

Oh, those Republicans wrote the book on crafty because after the primary elections were over they stop talking about impeach.  The orders to curtail impeachment talk came from bigwigs because they didn’t want to pump up the Obamacrats.

You could pump up dam near everyone I know if they talked about the Republican proposal from last winter to make school kids who eat free lunch clean the school.  Everyone I know in my rural Georgia town ate free lunch back in the day or had family members who did.   Hell, free lunch to me was nothing because most Black parents were limited in educational and employment opportunities based on color.  Their money was low because the cash in the hood was the money left over after others got paid.

My favorite Republican friend on Capitol Hill was surprised that her former boss was pushing this working kids notion on the Senate campaign trail.  If the Democrat outside groups don’t push impeachment and the school lunch drama in the final weeks of the campaign season, they aren’t truly interested in the Black vote.

Yea, I watch Scandal on Thursday night and the lovely Kerry Washington is a big Obamacrat.  She would tell you in a minute that Olivia Pope would figure out a way to get the base out…. I know Liz is creeping with a Republican president on the show.

Finally, it felt good voting for some of those intelligent women running statewide as Democrats.  For the record, I voted for a few Republicans and those freedom-loving Libertarians also.

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Really?: Senate candidate David Perdue vs. President Barrack Obama

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on October 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Those who voted President Obama into office allow people to treat him like a punk (I thought punk was softer than “little something that rhymes with switch”).  It’s like we set this gentleman up.

The election next month to the Republicans is a referendum on the Obama White House.  The governor race in Georgia is about jobs, the port of Savannah, education reform and Obamacare.  Remember, the Republicans talked about Obama, his wife, his dead parents and his dog then wanted the White House to support funding for the deepening of the Savannah Port, which means thousands of jobs in this region.  Hint: when you are going to need something from someone, you should be somewhat respectful.

Oh, the U.S. Senate race in Georgia is even better.  GOP candidate David Perdue has declared that he is running against Barrack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  If Perdue wins, he could be the deciding seat to control of the Senate and if the Republicans control the Senate and House, Obama will be impeached and could be removed from office.  But, all you people who were crying tears of joy when Obama was elected are too busy to early vote.

In the recent Senate candidate debate in Perry, David Perdue and Michelle Nunn both showed that they are senatorial.  After Herman Cain and Donald Trump, I get a little leery of confidant private sector guys seeking glory in government.  Governing isn’t as easy as it looks.  Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson get the same leeriness from the liberal activist side.  Hey, any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a carpenter to build one.

When I was a kid, I was impressed with Sam Nunn’s bumper sticker “a workhorse..not a show horse.”  David Perdue should be playing a senator in the movies.  He is a tall guy who knows how to wear a denim jacket like a cowboy….collar up, cowboy up.  Can he relate to regular people?

Michelle Nunn seems professorial and puts me in the mind of Eleanor Roosevelt. We should remember that she is Sam Nunn’s daughter and when I worked on the Hill, Sam Nunn was a party of one—he had icon status in the game.  The idea that she will be a puppet for the White House is silly political theater.

She seems to understand that both parties need adjusting and improvements can only come from Senators working together with their “dear colleagues.”   Look, the House of Representatives has always been a rough bunch by design but the Senate is elegant and smooth.   There will be nothing smooth about a junior Senator who thinks he is the Marlboro Man and who plans to constantly attack the sitting American president in a disrespectful manner.  The next time I disrespect the office of the President will be the first time and I remember Nixon’s last days.

Oh, Mr. Perdue is a smart fellow and if I were he I would be doing just what he is doing.  He can’t run against Michelle Nunn in the current climate because the Senate really needs a compassionate mother’s voice from Georgia to balance a delegation full of Dem and GOP dudes with too much macho testosterone coursing in their veins.  Actually, Perdue could be a Trojan House.  He seems friendly and nice but he just needs the keys to the gate.  Nothing is new because I never thought that my congressman Austin Scott would be ghost to my community.  But, his visits to certain areas is limited because the GOP doesn’t like it’s folks listening to others.

Bottomline:  The Republicans are playing possum with Obama impeachment because they are discipline like that but they want to humiliate this president and his so-called supporters are standing idly around as the drama goes down.  Obamacrats might be the real punks but it’s not too late to spoil the haters’ plans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/08/michelle-nunn-nailed-it-on-the-obama-question/

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If I Wrote a Political Sermon Outline: Psalms, Clinton, Psalms, Obama

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on October 3, 2014| 1 Comment »

I wish I had the ear of a bunch of preachers.  I would make a you tube video or radio spot that was basically a sermon outline about politics.

Faithless/Same Bible-

Narrator: To hear some people tell it, half of Americans are faithless heathens.  The same people seems to think that they are God’s only children and that fighting with fellow Americans is the answer.  That doesn’t seem Christ like to me—where is the compassion?

President Bush 43 went Washington with compassion as the center of his moral compass; he funded more African development projects than any previous president.  Surprisingly, President Nixon created the Earned Income Tax Credit. But, those who like to be angry have taken over the Republican Party and push good people into the corner or out altogether.

During this election year, you have prominent GOP leaders talking about forcing children that receive free lunch to clean the school.  Is humiliating needy kids Christ-like?

The attacks on President Clinton and now on President Obama draw you to Psalms over and over.

Psalms 9:18: For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectations of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Psalms 34:6  This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his trouble.

Psalms 41: 1,7 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

Psalms 54:3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul.

Psalms 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty; then I restored that which I took not away.

Psalms 82: 3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Psalms 109: 1 Hold not the peace, O God of my praise; For the mouth of the wicked dand the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

 

President Obama and Democrats welcome the opportunity to address the nation’s problems in a constructive way with the Republicans.  Psalms 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.  But, the other side think they alone own America—they want their country back? Who took your country and when was it given solely to you?

Psalms 118:22-23 The stone that the builders refused has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  That stone was Jesus and what could be more Christ-like than for the people who have been rejected by the elite and powerful to become the cornerstone of our nation.

Leaders on both sides can say what they will to each other but we won’t improve as a nation until the concept of better living reaches the most rejected among us—the cornerstones of the future.

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October Surprise 2014: Get People Voting

Posted in politics on October 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

government_amhis_election

With almost a month before the 2014 General Election, those who politically blog on the Democrat side find the same results about to occur.  The Republicans in Georgia will win again because the Dem base isn’t motivated to come out as they were when President Obama was on the ballot.

But, Obama’s White House is basically on the line.  A fact Democrats fail to mention as they break their necks to get certain former Democrats back.  Hey, take care of home first or nothing else is relevant.  While the traditional campaigns and party operations are doing what they do, someone like bloggers and activists should be firing up the base with pure bullet points about what is on the table with this election…Senate control, impeachment, stand your ground laws, minimum wage, voter suppression, job creation, education reform.

The bloggers at Peanut Politics blog and Projectlogiaga blog have the same discussions about using new media in an edgy way every election year. “Oh, what we could not do with a nominal budget.”  What about radio ads like the following:

It’s Fall 2014 but let me tell you about last Spring.  When they thought no one was listening, Republican leaders plotted impeaching President Obama or at least humiliating him for his last two years in office because the president and Democrats put working families and jobs before corporations and fat cats.  We can’t let them control Congress.  

The despicable Republicans were even discussing forcing kids who receive free lunch to clean the schools for their meals.  These are the people who created the “Stand Your Ground” laws and fight increasing the minimum wage.  We stop them by voting and making sure that everyone we know votes early—that’s the best protest.  For more on turning anger into action google _______ and join our facebook page.

“Should have, would have, could have” makes for a rough Thanksgiving every other year.  But hope springs eternal and I still think that it will occur to someone that the “unlikely” voters who came out for Obama twice can still tip the scales this year if they are motivated properly and quickly.   I think the traditional efforts have the organization, scheduled events and volunteers.  But, their message and approached wasn’t design by people who know these streets and rural roads like us.  They don’t know what hits home hard and fast or what resonates with regular folks.

It’s like too late for anything except radio spots and that’s rough because 10K in meetup events with t-shirts could have produced earned media and might have been the need sparkplug or catalyst.

Below are a few of the blog post from this summer which outline possible bullet points.

https://projectlogicga.com/2014/08/03/cant-bear-itproperly-channeled-anger/

If I Wrote a Political Sermon Outline: Psalms, Clinton, Psalms, Obama

https://projectlogicga.com/2014/08/08/could-lil-john-impeach-for-what-put-a-fire-under-the-peach-state/

https://projectlogicga.com/2014/09/08/1-peter-chapter-2-respect-the-office-of-the-president-gop-and-dem-plantations/

https://projectlogicga.com/2014/06/07/questions-before-the-georgia-senate-runoff/

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