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The Roosevelts Knew the People

Posted in politics on September 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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After watching Ken Burns long documentary on the Roosevelts, one key point remained with me.  TR, FDR and ER asked people what they were thinking rather than telling them what to think like current Republicans and Democrats.

One voter remarked that FDR was the first president who realized that my boss is a son of a b-tch.  As President Franklin Roosevelt’s funeral procession past, a man dropped to his knees while crying.  When asked if he knew the president, the man said “no, but he knew me.”  There it is.  How many of the 2014 candidates truly know the people.  Some might argue that Roosevelts, Kennedys, Bushes and even Obamas are fancy Ivy Leaguers who learned the aspects of “regular people’s struggles.”  But, Truman and Clinton were intimately familiar with the grind in the heartland.

I want to add a new twist to the “but he knew me” notion based on our current president and the next person to occupy the office.  Barrack Obama isn’t a regular person because he is such a good guy.  When he speaks, he speaks of the righteous America we should be ideally rather than the rough America we are.  By rough, I mean the America where not everyone is a hero and doing his/her best.  To be honest, some people suck and we can’t move forward until we make a real assessment of our situation.  The folks who won the Second World War might have been the greatest generation but a significant percentage of today’s population is weak and of questionable character.

Who is the 2016 presidential candidate with TR’s guts because a reality check should be priority one.  President Obama and the first lady will have a lot to say “on the real” after leaving office and their future actions will be wonderful.

I am afraid that the day after the November 2014 election, the Democrats will be crestfallen about the weak Black voter turnout….which would cost them the U.S. Senate and facilitate Obama’s impeachment.  If the candidates knew me/us, voter turnout wouldn’t be an issue.  But, they are talking with the wrong people.  We could use Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt in the next 30 days.  When Truman asked her what he could do for her, she replied “is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now.”

The best Eleanor Roosevelt quote is “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent…and the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”  But, you have to love that Teddy Roosevelt.  When a Tammy Hall political boss said he would kill TR and put him in a blanket, TR went up to him and said, “By God! MacManus, I hear you are going to too me in a blanket.  By God! If you try anything like that, I’ll kick you, I’ll bite you, I’ll kick you in the balls, I’ll do anything to you—you’d better leave me alone.”  MacManus backed down.

The ice cold TR quote is about those who choose to get in the arena and fight.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

 

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts

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1 Peter Chapter 2: Respect the Office of the President. GOP and Dem Plantations

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on September 8, 2014| 2 Comments »

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Heston at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C with Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.

My daily devotion today covered 1 Peter 2: 13-14.  “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.  For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”

Would someone kindly explain to me how some southerners ignored federal laws since the end of the Civil War whenever they pleased?  It continues in some form to this day.  Gangbangers and thugs are un-American to me and these southerners are also.  I could put them in the same category as the Klan, the Taliban, ISIS, and the mafia.  Okay, that’s being a little dramatic but I am rightfully ticked off at these folks.

“Charlton Heston is my president” read the bumper sticker in the 1990s.  Really?  Bill Clinton was the president and you fools are pissed because he won the elections fair and square.  Of course, Heston was leader of the NRA at the time and back in the day he earned cool points for being in the civil rights fight with MLK and company.  But, the NRA crowd should play like that; it’s borderline treason while being protected free speech.

George Bush “became” president over Al Gore in a questionable election—the most questionable in history.  But, Bush was still my president because I respect the democratic process.  Barrack Obama wins two elections yet the Right uses every dirty trick in the book to undermine him and his supposedly Kenyan White House.  The cherry on top is the effort the suppress voting by these people who evidently shouldn’t be voting.  Again, we are talking about un-American activities and I think limiting people’s right to vote fits in that category.

So, what’s the best reaction to these actions?  Voting and standing up for yourself.  You know, President Obama is such a nice guy; he might actually be too nice.  As he says, he is a thin guy but he is tough.  Well, the tough guy has some supporters who are rough in a good way.  Without dancing around with floury talk, we need to speak to the regular folks about what the Right does and says when they think no one is watching.  It would be so sweet to see the look on their faces when they realize that “unlikely voters” voted.  President Obama might be bracing for two years of hell if the Republicans take the U.S. Senate but we aren’t going to let that happen.  You don’t get to humiliate his gentleman because those who put him in office didn’t follow-up by voting for the House and Senate.

Not so fast!  The far Left is a zany as the far Right.  Once and for all, the government cannot provide housing and food for everyone forever—that would be socialism, not democracy.  The government should hopefully working toward the fair opportunity for every American to achieve a nice life but (as Prince sang in “Pop Life”) everyone can’t be on top.  The nice life goes to those who put in the work and kept it clean.

In my community, we are always talking about the ongoing plantation in America.  Yet, some people dream about a second Civil War that will get us back to pre-1865—do you really think private ownership of military weapons is for home protection and hunting.  Oh, those weapons for hunting all right but not whitetail deer (I better stop writing here.)

But, the Democratic Party feels like a plantation also in a different way.  How Black is that party in Dixie but the decisions and power rest with the few in the big house.  The old saying goes “who is in the room when the money is counted.”  I love it; not who was on the stage or who holds office.  Mr. Charlie is still running the South at the end of the day so let’s hope he is pleasant.

We should end this blog post by continuing with 1 Peter Chapter 2.

16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.

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Time for a Mighty Blow

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

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On the movie Soul Food, the grandmother made a brilliant point about fingers coming together to form a fist that could strike a mighty blow.  Of course, the five fingers are the members of the family.  As southerners, we should consider five points that could greatly improve our region by changing how all of us “carry ourselves.”

Some of us are living smarter than others but we can’t sink while others float because we are all in the same big boat.  The actions and shortcomings of some prove costly to the taxpaying others.  In the Black community, we are transitioning from the civil rights era “marched with MLK” leaders to new leaders who recognized that personal development and financial planning are as vital as social justice.

The defining image of Project Logic Ga blog is a rural bridge that takes us from one place to a better place.  I think two rural bridges could be Senator Rand Paul and my former boss Sanford D. Bishop.   While Senator Paul’s international isolationism is questionable, he is the conservative/libertarian who is most open to dialoging with everyone about public policy.  I still feel that Republicans treat everyone else like children—making laws and policies without opposition input.

Rep. Bishop has had a nice political career but it has been in many ways too safe.  The guy is a brain and was an eagle scout.  I don’t think Sanford Bishop and President Barrack Obama have don’t enough hard talking to Americans about their personal growth and what young people can learn from their proper development.  I am one moderate/centrist who thinks the government has a limited role in everyday living and that leaders should say that.  As Justice Clarence Thomas’s grandfather said, you don’t need to government coming into your house asking if you fed your children today.

Bishop reads a page of text in 10 to 15 seconds.  So, he should take an afternoon to read this entire blog—all 500 plus post.  He could then singlehandedly craft the knowledge-based message about how we are wrong and what should be done about it.  Of course, he has always known what was wrong but Democrats are about the business of giving poor folks the impression that government can help them.  Liberals helping regular folks by pouring money into problems isn’t helping.  Actually, kids have kids far too early because they feel that the government will provide.  Mark my word, the Obamas post-presidential efforts on personal living of Americans will be as significant as their historic time in the White House.

I have always thought that candidate Obama learned more about rural America from watching Rep. Bishop than he learned from any other member of the Congressional Black Caucus.  The crowning achievement of Bishop’s career, his legacy, should be the bridge he builds to our southern future with his book and speaking tour.  You know Rep. Bishop will mention one of his favorite Bible scriptures, Luke 12: 48, For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.  That passage expresses Bishop’s public service and the best could be yet to come because a mighty blow must be struck first.

I want to outline the mighty blow mentioned earlier in bullet form.  In a discussion, I wonder if I could hit five points with five minutes each.  I bet I could do five points in five minutes total.

  1. Education: learn 24/7; education is formal and informal; informal involves good grammar at home, educational TV channels and life lessons from elders. Hard to unlearn bad habits.  All legal work is good; continue to learn on the job.

 

  1. Faith: You must believe in something or you will fall for anything. Life is God’s gift to you and what you do with your life is your gift to God.  Church kids know how to sit, listen and learn.  Bible is a manual for living.  Respect others’ faith.  Try to faith walk 24/7.

 

  1. Nature: Can’t break the rules of nature. Being free is natural; no jail.  Illegal drugs are unnatural and legal drugs should be limited if possible.  Committed relationships are natural…husband/wife.  Grow old together.  Free milk and the cow.  Avoid the struggle but adversity builds character.  Appreciate natural resources and wonders.

 

  1. Health: Eating right, exercise and rest. Much water.  Burn all of your calories.  Cut “To Die For” Foods.  Adjust soul food: Low fat, fatback.  Don’t self-medicate.  Respect emotional and mental health also. Bullets hurt.

 

  1. Loyalty: Mean what you say and say what you mean. Keep your vows or don’t make them.  Actions honor faith, family, nation, region, race and self.  Surround yourself with positive likeminded people.  Be loyalty to yourself with positive actions; don’t be your own worst enemy.

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Voting: the Best Protest

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on August 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Some Americans actually feel that they are more American than others.  When those other Americans get wind of that notion, they often blow off being productive, engaged members of society and live as part of a sub or counter culture.  In these subcultures, the people are at war with the government and particular the police.  Really?  You hate local, state and federal government as the enemy.  Some of that distrust fuels what we are seeing in Ferguson, Missouri.

First, we must still teach young Black men to “come home to night and wake up in the morning.”  Yes, you have the right to not be attacked unlawful by the police or a Stand Your Ground zealot.  But, you should consider defusing the situation while mentally recording the injustice so big lawsuits can be filed in the future.

I am going to ask a risky question: how does someone who is benefiting from “temporary” government assistance not voting?  They should be the first people to vote. Secondly, voting out the elected officials who make bad laws and oversee the police is one of the best forms of protest—mess with their power and paychecks.

Conservatives have some good points about the limited role of government but they turnoff everyday people by allowing the nuttiest in their ranks to run the show.  The worst method of the far Right involves discouraging elected officials’ dialog with the other side.

While we are in this election season, we should watch the Democrats botch the opportunity to get our community voting and engaged.  If they listened to (and funded) my political friends and me, the face of the electorate would change for the better and more Americans would be at the discussion table.

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Could Lil John “Impeach For What” put a fire under the peach state?

Posted in politics on August 8, 2014| 1 Comment »

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Georgia Senate hopeful David Perdue just announced that his focus will be the policies of the Obama Administration.  Perdue simply could have ran out the clock in our Red state and likely gone home with a win.  But, this decision to make the Senate race more about President Obama than Michelle Nunn could put the peach state on fire in a way not seen since General Sherman’s march to the sea.  To use another military parallel, it’s like Germany in World War II opening an eastern front with giant Russia.  Why wake a sleeping giant?

The sleeping giant in the peach state would be the infrequent voters who almost gave Obama Georgia in 2008.  How do you get them back out in 2014 because their numbers coupled with the fact that Georgia has only sent two women to congress in 50 years could give Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter wins.  Carter and Nunn are running their own races without being on Obama’s coattails but that doesn’t stop Obama supporters from rallying to the defense of our guy.

Lawd, the Republicans want to impeach the president.  For what?!   I need Lil John to remix his club tune “Turn Down For What” to “Impeach For What.”  We should look at recent presidents who weren’t impeach after questionable actions but Clinton and Obama get impeach for what?  Nonsense.

The peach state will be a fire behind im”peach”ment and a dozen other issues that the GOP think we didn’t hear during the primary season.  It’s not about political parties for me because I am a Democrat moderate who just voted in the GOP primary.  I support reasonable member of that party but finding them has become as difficult as finding peaches out of season.

The far right wants to humiliate President Obama for two years or until they impeach him from office.   If people who supported his election stand idly during this mess, they should be shame.  And don’t get me started on Stand Your Ground and free lunch kids cleaning schools.  Oh yea, David Perdue is going to need to respond to Jack Kingston’s comments.  The Democrats have energy but I am afraid the need folks like me to stoke the fire correctly.

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Whatever happened to cool Conservatives?

Posted in politics on August 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Columnist E. J. Dionne recently wrote a nice one about where the Republicans of old have gone.  Yes, conservatives once were decent people with serious opinions about government and American life.  When they entered the political arena, they debated matters fairly and respected the decisions that were made; decisions that often included many of their positions.

In recent years, far right talk radio and a T.V. network that rhymes with lox have juiced regular people up with wild theory after wild theory.  To put the cherry on top, they have convinced their folks to never listen to the other side and have dared elected officials to compromise as statesmen.  Wait, wait,wait…then they decide that their faith (which is also my faith) is the official faith of this nation—a decision that seems to be in direct contradiction to the intent of the framers of the United States Constitution.  Oh yea, and what are all these Native Americans doing here…and why don’t Black folks go back to Africa….how did they get here in the first place.

People are correct when they say that President Reagan couldn’t be a modern conservative. On the other hand, the Democrats have some adjusting to do also.  They spend too much government money on people who mess up over and over again—generation after generation.  You would think that those Americans would take the time to vote.  You know what: if every adult who had free school lunch at any point would vote, Democrats would control every state house in Dixie.

The question is which party will improve first and secure the support of the growing disillusioned political center.  Clearly, the Democrats will because they welcome to the table those with different points of view.

The elections in November will be an effort by Democrats to regain the missing White blue-collar voters.  Conservative Democrats shouldn’t be an oxymoronic term because those White voters bring to the table the sensibility of rural folks before the far Right told them not to speak with anyone else.

 

 

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Can’t Bear It/Properly Channeled Anger

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

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Don’t you hate it when people think they know everything and don’t ask  for anyone’s opinion?  After years of blogging, I am again asking for help in crafting an effective approach to changing how we make  public policy.  I can decide if “Can’t Bear It” or “Properly Channeled Anger” would be better or maybe both.

I am just ticked off and can’t bear being angry about what seems obvious.  Rather than acting like I know everything, I have decided to blog post this rough outline—run it up the flag pole and see who salutes.  The best outcome would be well design initiative that spurs some really improvements.  In the past, we would come up with ideas and dream about sharing them at public gatherings.  Today, the better idea is to create a platform to share thoughts and vent frustrations first.  And to think, it started with a hooded bear.

 

Can’t Bear It/Properly Channeled Anger

Background: We all get angry and upset with injustice and wrongdoing.   Much of that energy is spent purely venting.  What if that energy was directed toward improvement, change and growth?  From voting to self-analysis, growing and improving is the sweetest response to wrong.

Objective: To use unconventional methods to encourage voting by everyone, to encourage constructive analysis of ourselves and our situations and to get heading in a better direction.

Hooded Bear: I am cute bear in a hoodie—a cub at that.  I’m stuffed and therefore not even a real bear.  Does the hoodie change my cuteness?  Fundamentally, I am the same bear with secondary regard for my choice of gear…Burberry if you notice.

So I am a bear on a computer…literally—which is similar to the proverbial fish with a bicycle.  I can’t use this laptop to facilitate change—particularly changing laws and changing lawmakers that would declare open season on those who simply “look” dangerous.  Did I mention that my hoodie is plaid and expensive?

If I were a real cub, I be might related to that cub that President “Teddy” Roosevelt didn’t shoot back in the day.  So being a cute bear in a hoodie (real or stuffed) is safer than being a young person in a hoodie in certain places.  If that makes you angry, join this cub in the club.  But what shall we do with that anger?

Hey,this club could be called Properly Channeled Anger because reasonable people should figure out a way to fix what is broken in our communities, our government and ourselves.  I know the pun is cheesy but “Can’t Bear It” would have worked as well because reasonable people shouldn’t be able to bear seeing inexplicable actions or inactions.   Finally, this bear won’t bare himself; he won’t remove his hoodie to conform to the requires of small-minded people.  He would however rock a tasteful pinned-striped suit during his corporate 9 to 5.

Can’t Bear:

  1. Not Voting: Can you believe the fact that the people most affected by public policy are often the same people who don’t vote. From Candy Crush to Farmville to Madden to reality television, we spend countless hours on questionable activities but can’t take a little time to vote.

 

  1. Invisible People: Make no mistake about it: to many elected officials and policymakers, people who aren’t voting get little consideration—they are essentially invisible or irrelevant.

 

  1. Stand Your Ground: Clearly the nation had a contentious debate about these gun usage laws. It seems that state legislators passed these laws after hearing from one side of the argument and with little thought to how the laws would function.  “If you felt you were in danger…”  Is that declaring open season on people who aren’t like me?

 

  1. Referendum on President Obama: While he isn’t on the ballot in 2012, U.S. Senate races across the country are about the President’s party controlling one of the two houses of Congress and stopping the other major party from attempting to humiliate him for his last two years. So, all of these people put Obama in office twice but ignore the follow-up work.. i.e. giving him a congress and state governments that are about the people’s business.  Remember, the House and Senate impeach and hold impeachment trials.

 

  1. Referendum on Hillary Clinton: Don’t sleep, the elections of 2014 are test for which areas Clinton can target in 2016…what are the new battlegrounds. 2014 candidates are testing messages to see what resonates with voters.

 

  1. Can’t bear the mirror: Surprisingly, Americans need to self-analyze to determine how much of what is right or wrong with our lives is the result of our actions….our choice, decisions and consequences. Hey, elected officials can only do so much; they need to tell the truth about the role of government and convince the people to act accordingly.  To be honest, much of government spending goes to help people out of ditches that they dug.

 

  1. Education: Wow, so many parents think that sending their children to school in nice gear is their part of the learning process. These parents often fail to speak proper grammar at home, allow countless hours of video games rather than reading/homework and don’t establish the discipline/focus foundation that kid’s need to be good students.

 

  1. Communication: It is vitally important that every American listens to the thoughts and concerns of others. Yes, the points of view of the loyal opposition should be respectfully heard if only to be picked apart.

 

  1. Policy War: If public policy is a war, we could prepare ourselves for warfare but also hope that the other side realize how wrong they are and come to the negotiations table. In other words, we should wish for constructive dialog and understanding.

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Leaving Black Votes on the Table: What Jack Kingston should have learned from Thad Cochran

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Rep. Jack Kingston could have won the primary runoff easily in the Black community but the wrong cats must have been in his ear.  We are talking about the same Jack who has frequently visited and represented Savannah State University for years.

Military bases and the agriculture industry are the economic backbones of non-Atlanta parts of Georgia but no one had the idea to get 6,000 or so votes from Democrats who Jack has helped time and time again.  Look, I live in little Worth County and Kingston got 605 votes here but in huge Albany with a Marine base, Jack only received 655 votes.  Say what?

It’s the proverbial two-edged sword.  The consultants around the Kingston campaign knew that he needed  Tea Party support to win the primary and the Tea Party will not vote for anyone who gets any votes from moderates.

Was anyone in the Kingston camp watching the Thad Cochran Senate primary in Mississippi?  Cochran turned to the Black community for enough support to get over the top; he sought his old friends.  Jack Kingston has more old friends on the Democrat side than any House Republican from Georgia.

I just talked with Georgia Secretary of State’s office and they confirmed that people who didn’t vote in the primary election could have voted for either side in the runoff.  The right Black community leaders in Savannah alone could have gotten out 6,000 Black votes on the strength of Jack’s closeness to our community and long history of hiring Black staffers in key position. But, they decided to leave that on the table.

To be honest, Democrats wanted to see Kingston vs. Michelle Nunn because Jack has a long history of statement about President Obama.  Nunn will not say it nor think it but Black folks coming out to vote in November will be as much about helping the Obama administration have a Democrat-controlled Senate as much as it is about her….and that is okay.

When David Perdue’s cousin took the governor’s office from Roy Barnes, some people vote for Sonny Perdue but many people voted against Barnes over the confederate flag and a teachers issue.  You win how you can.  David Perdue shouldn’t say the word “Obama” until Christmas but he will…the far Right will require that he does.  The attacks on Obama will drive Obama supporters to the polls and if Nunn can secure a few percentage points from suburban GOP women, she wins and helps the Dems hold the U.S. Senate.

Mrs. Nunn must know that Get Out the Vote and street operations will be as important as T.V. ads.  Remember, if Jack had half the street operations that Thad Cochran had, he would have won.

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Dr. Martin Luther King and Me: Immigration and America’s debt to Blacks

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on July 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

Immigration reform or what have you should start with a frank and honest discussion about Blacks in America.  While President Obama is still one of my favorite presidents, his push for a path to citizenship for those who came here illegal is perplexing.  We would have a huge influx of new citizens from just south of the border rather than a balance blend of people from all around the world.  Before we bring anyone into the American family we should consider those who toiled to make this great nation; those who were stolen from the land and those whose land was stolen.

I understand that many Mexicans feel free to ignore the southern border because they think that Texas, Arizona, parts of California and of course New Mexico was stolen from them.  Native Americans can say that two continents were inexplicably taken from them.  Historians will tell you that America jumped passed older nations from the Old World economically in part because of the cheap and free labor provided by African slaves.  And folks have the nerve to say “go back to Africa” like we wanted to come here in the first place.  Heaven knows that resources-rich Africa would have done well if respected and if her nations were considered normal members of the global community.

I love the fact that President U.S. Grant wanted to buy the island of Hispaniola (current Haiti and the Dominican Republic) to create a nation in this region for former slaves.  The web is buzzing with a rare video of Dr. Martin Luther King going off about the land that was given to Europeans who arrived after the Civil War but no land for those former slaves who worked by force for over 150 years before 1776.

To be honest, the use of Mexican labor over the last few decades was based on replacing the recently freed African Americans—yes, we were freed around 1970.  Dr. Hollis at my Black college had the vision to tell her pol sci majors that America’s relationship with African Americans wasn’t based on our being minorities because in time we wouldn’t be the top minority group.  It was based on our labor and oppression in the making of this great nation.

The Japanese Americans were placed  in internment camps during World II and that was wrong (where were the Italian and Germany internment camps.)  In the 1990s, the U.S. Congress compensated them for this wrong but if they were owed an inch, Black America would be owed a freaking mile.  It will never happen but keep that in the back of your mind, Mr. Go Back To Africa.  And we shouldn’t act as if current people and companies are still benefiting from the cheap labor that continue with Jim Crow and sharecropping until the 1970s.

Moderates shouldn’t be lumped together with liberals on immigration reform because we often feel that the country should slow it’s roll on this matter.  The decisions about what to do with African and Native Americans usually didn’t include those two groups.  So, we should address some lingering issues before opening the doors any wider.

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Julian Bond: Cultivating White Democrats

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 23, 2014| 1 Comment »

The Democrat Party can’t be mostly Black nor should the GOP be all White.  This blog has been saying that for years.  First, I really don’t care too much for political parties because they are about power and control over good governing.  If we must have parties, the best ones look like America—they are comprised of a cross-section of peoples and groups or the leaders communicate with everyone.

The “All In With Chris Hayes” show on MSNBC is starting a new segment on race.  The promo for the segment features Georgian Julian Bond telling Hayes that Black elected officials need to give up some Black areas to neighboring districts to get White Democrats elected.  I love it because you don’t necessarily need Black politicians to serve Black folks (and a few Black Republicans might not be bad for understanding and informative purposes.)

If you take race off the table, congressional districts should be draw in a way where candidates from either major party can win—that keeps them on their toes.  The scary fact is that the GOP turned in the early 1990s into a party that often demands that its elected officials not listen to those with other points of view.  Look here, officials are paid by all taxpayers—not just the people that voted for them.  If you listen to a constant diet of vitriol from left or right zealots, you too would swear that the other side is the devil.

Let’s look that two congressional districts that makeup southwest Georgia.  For most of his time in the Georgia state house and the U.S. Congress, Sanford Bishop didn’t have a majority Black district.  He won by serving a cross section of people well.  Former Rep. Jim Marshall was one of the last southern White Democrats and his seat was important until he started slamming Obama and Speaker Pelosi to keep rural voters.  He had to go and he was replaced with a reasonable GOP candidate, Austin Scott.  Who knew that Scott would be one of the most conservative members of the House?

In theory during redistricting, members of congress don’t own districts but the General Assembly had no problem lumping more and more Blacks into Bishop’s district because that action made the three contiguous districts more and more GOP.  Bishop is a fighter and a true representative; he could represent anyone.  But, the Tea Party, Fox News and the far right talk radio has rural Georgia White twisted and negatively brainwashed so can you blame him for accepting more safety.  In southeast Georgia, Rep. Jack Kingston took all of Black Savannah to increase the GOP chances of taking Rep. John Barrow’s seat—Barrow is the last White Democrat in the U.S. House from the deep South.

Hey, Democrats would be fine if the people they helped legislatively would simply vote.  A surprisingly large number of GOP members of the state legislature have 25% or more Blacks in their districts but folks don’t vote.  The deciding factor for the elections in November might be the effectiveness of the Get Out the Voter efforts and that requires money—more cash should be put on the streets than on the airwaves.

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/all-in-america-behind-the-color-line-285576771633

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Boondocks: Rejected Stone and Genetically Engineered Folks

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on June 17, 2014| 1 Comment »

keep-calm-and-love-boondocks

The Boondocks T.V. show theme song starts with a righteous Bible quote.  Who knew?  People who paid better attention in church knew. Psalm 118:22 says “The stone that the builder refused (rejected) has become the corner stone.”   In Matthew 21:42 “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Of course, Jesus was referring to the world’s coming rejection of him.  The Boondocks rapper is referring to  Blacks treatment in America.  I love these verses because we all have people in our families who favor some and reject others.  I would be sitting in a glass corner office of an Atlanta law firm today if college money was divided fairly among kids in my family but why cry over spilled milk.

We still have family members who turn their noses up at blood…at kids mind you.  In Matthew 20:16, Christ said “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called but few chosen.”  Of course, you need to cut family and old friends off when they are bringing everyone around them down and they refuse to hear and act on wise counsel.  I want to live long enough to see which kids will be wildly successful.  It might be the ones whose characters was tempered by adversity like the “niggers’  of old and not like the modern day “niggas.”

I am 50 years old and the America of my youth isn’t the America of today.  The N-word is used constantly on Boondocks but liberals on MSNBC can’t tell me what to say and hear.  The lovely actress Regina King voices both kids on the show and if she is cool with the context I am too because she has a gold-plated hood pass from being on 227 and Boyz In the Hood.

Boondocks Theme Song – Asheru

I am the stone that builder refused

I am the visual

The inspiration

That made lady sing the blues

 

I’m the spark that makes your idea bright

The same spark

that lights the dark

So that you can know your left from your right

 

I am the ballot in your box

The bullet in your gun

The inner glow that lets you know

To call your brother son

The story that just begun

 

The promise of what’s to come

And I’m ‘a remain a soldier till the war is won

 

Wow, this educated lyricist hit hard with “I am the ballot in your box…the bullet in your gun.”  On some level, Black youth seem like the rejected stone that could be the cornerstone.  In politics and policy, leaders make decision with little consideration of large segments of the population.  We can’t grow as a nation if the troubled 20% continue to be a drain of resources and counterproductive.  In reality, everyone can’t be on top—someone has to lose.  But, the playing field must be fair so every kid has an equal shot.

The geniuses behind Boondocks design the show to provoke thoughts about the Black man in America.  The grandfather is a veteran of the civil rights movement who moved his grandsons to the Boondocks for a better quality of life.  Of course, suburbia has problems also.  It’s the same old story about Blacks struggling to get our slice of the American pie.

So, I am watching a documentary on corn on the History Channel and I couldn’t stop thinking about the development of this crop compared to the development of people.  Corn is genetically engineered to improve; it’s a hybrid.  Heterosis, hybrid vigor or outbreeding enhancement is the improved or increased function of any biological quality in a hybrid offspring.  An offspring exhibits heterosis if its traits are enhanced as a result of mixing the genetic contributions of its parents.

On Boondocks, Riley and Huey are brothers but they are heading in different life directions—one intellectual progressive and one thug.   Inside Black America, am I the only person concerned that we are breeding the worst elements with each other and therefore creating a hybrid screw-up?  How many Black professionals have only one child or none and how many troublemakers have a house full of future troublemakers.  In a free society, we can’t stop people from breeding with whomever they chose but still…dam.

Republicans can say this and Democrats can say that but improving Black America starts with listening to people like Colin Powell as he softy pushes the West Indian sensibility of his upbringing.  Yea, many of the Blacks from the Caribbean are more success than other Black Americans because they don’t play with education, family association and generational development. You just don’t come into their families and get teens pregnant with careless disregard.

On the documentary about corn, they state that heterosis creates hybrids that are better than they parents.  With people, I call that moving forward.  Are we looking at a generation of Black Americans who are inferior to their parents?    As the last line in the Boondocks theme says, I am going to remain a soldier until the war is won.  The question is where the battlefield is and who the real enemy is.

 

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Questions before the Georgia Senate Runoff

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on June 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

David Perdue, Jack Kingston

Georgia primary voters should think long and hard before next month’s runoff election.  I give myself credit for being a moderate Democrat who voted in the Republican primary because that’s where the action was in this generally red state.  So, I get to vote in the runoff and important questions must be addressed.  For the record, my interests focus on improving our state more that supporting either major political party because parties are mostly interested in power and control.

  1. Will Jack Kingston explain his comments about school kids working for free lunch?  Readers of this blog know I like Jack but that was some dirty dirty design to secure the nut vote.  Shall we humiliates children who were born into families of modest means?   Does the same apply to summer lunch programs?  Is that for high school and middle school only are will 7 year olds be mopping also?  I will say that Democrat leaders on the national level want Kingston in November because that one comment could tip the election by driving young voters to the polls.  “He wants my little sister to clean food trays!?”

 

  1. Are Michelle Nunn and David Perdue Obama-like in their newness?  I am about to hit you with a new angle on the Senate race: because Nunn and Perdue are new to the political arena they don’t have a record of statements and actions like Jack Kingston now and the Clintons in 2008.  Hillary Clinton might have made a better president (to some) in 2008 but we would have never known because the conservatives would have rallied behind Romney to keep the Clintons out of the White House.  Smart Republicans know that Perdue would be safer.

 

  1. How do we want the world to see our state?  I have a problem with President Obama.  While he is still my guy, he speaks of the USA that should be rather than the USA that is.  He see a fair, positive colorfree nation and that simply isn’t reality.  Ole Jack Kingston is similar to the average Georgian and me but doesn’t attract new industry.  David Perdue is a corporate baller who can represent an international city like Atlanta.  Chambliss and Isakson are balanced gentleman and Perdue seems senatorial like them.  Kingston has done a fine job representing southeast Georgia but we should remember that Port of Savannah funding might have been delayed because Jack couldn’t or wouldn’t get the crazies on the far Right to dial down the anti-Obama vitriol.  Perdue’s handlers are messing up because they should be spinning his time at Dollar General as a job creator in my community.  Oh, we love those baby Wal-marts on every corner in forgotten neigborhoods.

 

  1. Is Hillary Clinton reading Nunn’s putt?  In golf, players watch their playing partner’s putts to judge the greens and the line.  I think Team Hillary is watching the 2014 performance of moderate Democrat women candidates to craft their 2016 approach to the South and to gauge which states are winnable.  A Michelle Nunn win puts Georgia on the table for Hillary because some GOP women put gender over party—that’s why they should have selected Karen Handel.

 

  1.  Would the Democrats prefer Kingston or Perdue in November?  I think Dems want Kingston for the school lunch thing and the southern drawl.  Yes, I am country my dam self but Jack pours that southern twang on like Karo syrup to the delight of rural voters.  But, when Dem voters in Georgia six biggest cities pay attention in the fall,  it will be on and popping because he sounds like an overseer on Roots.

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Memorial Day: Devotion

Posted in politics on May 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

dam

My worst day of work on Capitol Hill occurred when at intern said the Pentagon was on the phone.  The military told me that I need to tell Congressman Charles Hatcher that Spec. James Worthy of Albany, Georgia, was killed in the Gulf War.  Words can’t describe the look on Hatcher’s face that day.

But, I had that same look this morning when the front of my newspaper included a picture of a defaced monument of Worthy.  I had to write this before church and before Memorial Day because what I am about to say isn’t cool.  Hell has a special hot pit for those who would do such a despicable thing—ask for forgiveness.

At Gettysburg, Lincoln said “..that from these honored dead we talk increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

So that brother Worthy didn’t die in vain, I hope young people in Albany will pause on Memorial Day to remember that freedom isn’t free and that people gave the last full measure of devotion so they could live in the best country ever.  If President Obama wants a special appointee to clear up the mess at the V.A. hospitals, he should go get former Rep. Hatcher.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/may/24/vandals-spray-black-paint-over-veterans-park/

 

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U.S Senate Race and Public Assistance: Help the Needy vs. Help the Seedy

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

You can’t think about public policy for the needy in the South without coming across several related Bible verses.  2 Thessalonians 3:10 says “For even when we were with you, this is what we commanded you: that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”

But, we should also consider Psalm 82:2-4 “How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?  Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.  Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.”

Look, no one thinks of themselves as wicked and I am not calling anyone wicked.  However, some good people in politics and policy will do some somewhat devious things to win the battle and hopefully the war.

Everyone hates seeing hungry people and particularly hungry children.  Reasonable folks fairly state that those people got themselves into their circumstances with questionable life choices and personal responsibility.  It burns a taxpayer up to get into an old truck to leave a shift at a plant after standing 12 hours in steel-toed shoes then past grown fathers standing on the corner—guys who are too proud or crazy to do manual labor, pick crops or flip burgers.

The radio in that old pickup is blasting far Right talk radio in that worker’s ear.  “Your tax dollars provided those assistance checks, food stamps and free school lunches…you are sweating over a drill press while that bum plays video games all day in government assisted housing and sips malt liquor that was purchased with money intended for hungry kids.”  Dam, I am writing this stuff too easily…have I been watching Fox News.

We live in a free society; this isn’t North Korea or China.  Dictating better living isn’t legal.  So, children are born into struggling situations but Jesus wouldn’t want us to let them starve because their parents made bad choices.

The Farm Bill is the law that directs USDA programs and therefore seriously impacts the South.  Back when members of congress talked across the aisle, the farm bill supported commodity programs (which helped farm families) and provide food assistance programs (which helped farm families by creating  additional markets.)  Today, the far Right wanted to end most food assistance to force needy people to work and stop having kids they can’t afford.  Social media was a buzzed this week with the story of a seedy woman with 15 kids who upset that the government wasn’t doing more to help her.  Say what? I watch the news video about this family but paused it to say a little pray for those kids.

http://nation.foxnews.com/homelessness/2011/12/01/homeless-lady-15-kids-somebody-needs-pay-all-my-children

 

The school lunch/breakfast program ensures that needy kids have two meals a day five days a week during the school year.  Without those meals, the hospitals would be packed with malnourished kids and that cost would be astronomical.  Of course, hungry kids can’t focus on classwork so the labor force would be untrained and looking for ways to make fast money.  Fast money leads to prison at a cost of $35,000 a year.

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston is the best House Republican from the Georgia but as a Senate candidate even Jack started tripping.  Kingston has represented chocolate city Savannah for 20 years, he was worked in chocolate city D.C. for the same 20 years and he has served during that time on the House Ag Committee and/or the Appropriations Sub-Committee on Agriculture.  Jack is UDSA food programs like the back of his hand.

If Kingston really said that needy kids should work at the school to pay off their free lunch, he was saying that to get Senate primary votes.  He knows that would never happen nor would he want that to happen.  So, poor people, people who grew up poor (Black, White and Brown) and those of us with compassion for the poor make up a bloc of voters who some in the GOP are simple writing off.

I watched the GOP Senate primary like a hawk and waited to see how much campaign would be done in the Black community.  Karen Handel had a wealth of supporters in the ATL and Jack has always shown the flag in every community in his district.  I never heard these two candidates making overtures to the Black community because there are few primary voters there.   For the record, I am a moderate Dem who voted in the GOP primary because that was where the action was.

Surprisingly, former Dollar General executive David Perdue was the only GOP senate candidate that my Black GOP friends said reached out to the non GOP Black community; he supposedly met with 32 Black pastors in the Albany area.  I like that right there.

I told those same GOP friends that they can mark my word:  the school lunch comment by Kingston would drive out thousands of occasional voters—it’s a hornet’s nest.  Voters sometimes vote for candidates and sometimes vote against candidates.  Remember, the confederate flag drama drove some people to vote against then Governor Roy Barnes….hell, some of them didn’t know David Perdue’s cousin Sonny at the time.

People who live off checks provide to assist kids are seedy.  Blue Dog Democrats supported Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich’s welfare reform that included work or training requirements.  As Justice Clarence grandfather taught him, public assistance makes people weak and dependent.

However, Democrat blood will boil when the T.V. ads run next fall featuring kids mopping schools as their friends laugh.  I think control of the U.S. Senate for the last two years of Obama presidency hang on that school lunch comment.  Oh, it’s going to be on and popping when child nutrition supporter Michelle Obama and Orpah see that YouTube video.   School lunch programs also teach kids about healthy food choice and that education leads to better eating as adults.

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Nunns, Carters, Obamas and Clintons: The formula

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

demotivation.us_Scientists-Discovered-the-Formula-to-understand-women

As President Nixon would say, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: Nunns and Carters can’t win in Georgia in 2014 without Obamas and Clintons.  Jason Carter is running for governor and Michelle Nunn seeks an open U.S. Senate seat.

The exodus of the Georgia Whites from the Democrats to the Republicans was completed when Congressman Jim Marshall was defeated by Austin Scott.  Marshall tried to paint himself as a non-Democrat Democrat by running from Barrack Obama and then Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  He basically tried to become Sam Nunn.  Sir, I staffed in the Georgia congressional delegation that was led by Sam Nunn…I met Sam Nunn during my high school years…we went to countless Hill receptions with Senator Nunn.. you, Jim Marshall, was no Sam Nunn.  You don’t run from Obama and expect my communities support.

Like it or hate it, the formula for November 2014 Dem success in Georgia is:

(n + ca)/(o x cl)=w         or (Nunns + Carters) / (Obamas x Clintons) = wins

 

First, Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn are good and decent candidates on their own.  However, Georgia is a Red State because the Democrat base is so very shaky.  The four pillars of strength that support the Dem foundation nationally are two Obamas and two Clintons.  To be honest, Michelle needs to be a flying Nunn crisscrossing the peach state with Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama or both.  As Bernie Mack would say, “you don’t understand”…. Michelle Obama still has rock star status with Dem voters; she could pack a college football stadium with only three days notice.

The reality is this: rural Whites are a lock for the GOP but suburban voters of all colors are on the table if the Dems come out with a moderate agenda focused on job creation.  Who can deny that Bill Clinton’s economy plan left the nation in great shape.  On Meet The Press this past weekend, the question was “would Hillary run as a continuation of the Obama years or restart of the Clinton years?”  I say it would be the beginning of the Hillary years.

The far Right should stop tripping on Hillary Clinton’s age because she would take office at the same age as President Reagan and a few years younger than John McCain would have been if he won.

Michelle Nunn is on that chill style like her father and that won’t get out the bloc of voters that almost won Georgia for Obama.  That’s okay because unlikely voters have a lot to think about this year….the motivation is there.  They just need a little knowledge and wisdom from the blogosphere; we call it “that fire.”  Don’t sleep: Nunn’s senate race will be studied by Team Hillary as they plan to take parts of suburbia back from the GOP.

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Crazy Cool: White Democrats and Black Republicans

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on May 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This election year promises to be crazy and we should list some of the craziest aspects.   The two major political parties would be crazy not to seek two groups in the South.  Democrats need rural Whites and Republicans need a 5 to 10% of the Black vote.

The GOP seems more like an elitist club than a national party but changing demographics indicate that they should seek some minority support.  It’s crazy if the GOP future plans center around suppressing Black votes or hoping people of color stay home on election day.

Democrats would be crazy to think anything is happening in the South without considerable White involvement.  Georgia Senate candidate Michelle Nunn is the great White hope for the Dems and congressional candidate Vivian Childs should be the great Black hope for the GOP.

I don’t think southern legislatures fully realize how crazy upset people are with “Stand Your Ground’ laws.  Poor people would be crazy not to realize that Dems are trying to give healthcare to everyone.  You know that people without any health insurance simply use the emergency room as a doctor’s office and that is more expensive in the long run.

I am a southern gentleman and politics should never compromise southern gentility.  The way the GOP is starting to attack Hillary Clinton makes me cringe.  While I don’t care for the politics of Sarah Palin, I never said crazy things about her.  Can my friends on the right say the same thing about the Obamas and Clintons.

Georgia is one of the best place in the world for Blacks.  Only crazy politicians run for office here without seek support from Blacks and Whites.  The statements candidates make in the primary could serve as motivation for the other side in November.  If you don’t think Hillary Clinton can get enough women voters to win several Southern states, you must be crazy.  If you don’t think that Blacks won’t vote when Obama isn’t on the ballot, crazy should be your middle name.

Finally, you must be crazy to think that I am a Republican because I am voting in the GOP primary tomorrow.  I vote every time and want my vote to have the maximum impact.  In my area, the primary action is on the GOP side.  Plus,  Blacks shouldn’t pull all of our eggs in one basket or allow anyone to take us for granted.

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Vivian Childs and Sanford Bishop: Saving Children

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , on May 11, 2014| 2 Comments »

On Mother’s Day, I acknowledge that being a mom to successful children is the best aspect of Vivian Childs’ campaign.  Rep. Sanford Bishop is as polished and urbane as President Barrack Obama but not being a parent left him with a third person view a parenting (can you believe all the idiots who breed like rabbits but quality DNA like Bishop, Oprah and me doesn’t continue.)

Since I last worked for Bishop, he has become a grandparent by marriage and a radiance comes over him when he speaks of his granddaughter—he sincerely wants a better nation for her.

Al Gore ran for president in 1988 to focus national attention on climate change.  In 2008, Rep. Tom Tancredo sought the Republican nomination for president primarily to put illegal immigration on the national stage.  I think that Vivian Childs should use her campaign to emphasis issue regarding America’s children and it should start with school choice.

For most of my life, I personally felt that private schools in the South were created so White kids could avoid attending school with Black kids.  You know, I might have preferred a properly funded all Black school in the 1970s during a transition phase but that didn’t happen.  In the last few years, I have been following a young man from our summer program as he play private school sports all around south Georgia.  Surprisingly, many of the current private schools are based on faith and class size rather than race.

Parents should have the option of using a school voucher to select the best learning environment for their kids.  However, I do draw the line with vouchers for home schooling because I still think that attending school is a chance to monitor the home treatment of young people.

Actually, most public schools are nice places with well-prepared teachers and staff.  I will say what elected officials won’t: the problem is poor parenting.  Some people are having kids before they are prepared for that awesome responsibility.  I see babies pushing baby carriages—children who should be somewhere playing with an Easy-bake oven.  Why do people put Air Jordans on babies who can’t walk yet?  Really?  And you need public assistance?  Child please.  (I bet you want hear Vivian Childs or Sanford Bishop pumping up a crowd with that type real talk and getting the crowd to respond “child please.”)  Today, teachers are also parental figures.  Secondly, education starts at home: speak proper English 24/7, turnoff the video games, engage in intelligent discussions nightly at the dinner table and push reading.

There is too much testosterone in the Georgia congressional delegation.  In the last 50 years, only two women have represented Georgia in congress—Cynthia McKinney and Denise Majette.  Vivian Childs’ candidacy will encourage more women to seek high office and future public policy will have more motherly sensibility.

You can’t seek to replace Rep. Sanford Bishop if you aren’t prepared to fight with your party when they are wrong.  Bishop doesn’t get enough credit for those battles.  Case in point: the GOP needs to provide a real alternative to Obamacare and that plan should address pregnancy prevention (which is different from abortion.)  Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama emphasis that a way to reduce abortion is to reduce unwanted pregnancies in the first place.  Conservatives feel that providing birth control encouraging premarital sex.  While I don’t have all the answers, I do know that half-raised kids are messing up the community, messing up the schools and filling the jails.  Do you know that it cost more to put a person in federal prison for a year than it cost to pay a teacher?

Democrats say that Republicans aren’t pro-life; they are pro-birth.  Once a child is born into poverty, GOP cuts in the nutrition programs in the Farm Bill would have kids go hungry.  Correction, they can eat at school if they clean the cafeteria later.  Child Please.  You know Bishop isn’t sweating this election because he welcomes the opportunity to debate anybody on his legislative decisions.   The debate this summer and fall is going to be good and if the GOP voters in the second congressional district fail to select Childs as the nominee, it would just another reason for Hillary Clinton to court moderate women voters in Georgia.

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2014 Primary Big Picture: Golden Opportunities About To Be Squandered

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on May 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The primary elections next month will place the foundation for what kind of Georgia we want to have.  With secondary consideration for party politics, I want to point out a different view of a few candidates.

Helen Blocker Adams, Augusta Mayor: Helen has a heart of gold and I have never ever known a person so committed to a place.  Augusta is an old boys city but Helen is about bridging the divide between regular folks and that is a good thing.

Aaron Johnson, Dougherty County School Board: We hear too much about elected officials who aren’t smart or those who don’t spend time explaining policy and budgets to the people.  Well, Aaron Johnson can break macroeconomics down so smoothly that I can understand it.  Look, one of the biggest problems with personal responsibility is that regular folks don’t get the limited role of government or grasp governmental fiscal constraints.  Well, you have an econ professor who has sat on a dozen citizen boards running for school board and he is neck and neck with a nice Country Club type lady who attended private school.  Really?   Actually, Johnson’s opponent did a fine job in the candidate forum at Darton College but she would be a better city commissioner than school board member.

The big picture about Aaron Johnson tossing his hat into the ring is that his hat should be in another ring in a few  years.  He likely doesn’t like the speculation but I don’t care.  His students emailed this blog years ago to say that he should be considered for Congress when Rep. Sanford Bishop retires.  Dude clearly loves his wife, baby, college, and church too much to start that fly to DC every Sunday night stuff.  But, I hate the Georgia congressional map because I want Albany to have a congressman, Macon to have and congressman and Columbus to have a congresswoman.  We don’t need to share.  To me, the election of Aaron Johnson to school board would give  him years to work in K-12 education and preps him to be one of our best shots at having congressman from our part of Georgia.

Vivian Childs, U.S. Congress:  The GOP is giving lip service to wanting to dialog with the minority community.  Who better to do that than someone from said minority community?  During the primary season, I have personally seen Mrs. Childs warmly discussing issues with Black voters who welcomed her to the discussion table.  Okay, they didn’t know she was a Republican because they never met one who wasn’t angry or ticked off.  Oh, she is just as ticked off as the rest of them but as a Black woman she knows how to channel that energy into productive action.  Why is Vivian Childs a member of Delta Sigma Theta who hasn’t use that bond as a campaign opportunity?  I think she is too nice to play the soror card but that niceness is her best tool at breaking Rep. Sanford Bishop’s lock on the second district. Well, she has gotten her foot into doors that never would have opened for other GOP candidates.

 

U.S. Senate Race:  First of all, the race for U.S. Senator from Georgia is really a midterm referendum on the Obama White House.  Control of the Senate by the Dems or the GOP will likely come down to this one seat.  I have choice words for people who help put President Obama in office but aren’t wise enough to know that he needs Dem control of the Senate to finish his presidency properly.

If this Senate seat stays with the GOP, I hope it will be a Republican who doesn’t ignore Blacks folks because so many of us are with the Blue team.  Yea, I will be a Democrat voting in the GOP primary to select a quality person if Michelle Nunn doesn’t win in November.

Karen Handel, U.S. Senate: GOP candidates seem to be running away from Blacks who know them and who have supported them in the past.  Karen Handel graduated from Frederick Douglas High in Maryland but you don’t hear about that from her team.  Plus, she was chairwoman of the Fulton County Commission.  Black folks know her but her handlers must equate Black with liberal and are trying not to alienate the far Right.  Check this out right here, if she had some of those Black friends a few years ago, she would be governor today.

Jack Kingston, U.S. Senate: Savannah is a chocolate city and Jack has had a functioning relationship with the Black community on the coast for over 20 years.  His knowledge of agriculture and the military makes him the GOP candidate best suited to serve the interests of Georgia south of Atlanta.  But, Jack is alienating Black voters in the process of impressing the far right with his level fiscal conservatism.  Jack is still a good dude.

David Perdue, U.S. Senate:  First, Perdue is an outsider who made me laugh with his ad about the congress being made up of babies and his opponents being babies.  The Karen Handel baby was wearing her signature pearls.  Funny.  But on a serious note, a Black GOP friend, yes I have those, told me that Perdue came to Albany and sat down with 32 local pastors.  So, he seems to be the only GOP Senate candidate who is talking with my community during the primary process.

Summary: Voters should consider the big picture next month because politics as usual simply isn’t working.

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Building Sons and Daughters Unapologetically Soft

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

The construction of us in the past and our youth in the future is a combination process.  It involves nature (DNA material) and nurture (environment) with considerable influence from family, church, school and the community.  We pray that everyone has a functioning value system and/or moral compass.  There…we have it….how modern southerners should be built.

I was built back in the day during the end of Jim Crow.  Not being killed by a mob, the police or a mob that included the police was the simple goal.  Oh, our parents were built as tough as nails; I swear my father was made from iron and leather.  We are noticeably softer than they were unapologetically.  They didn’t want their kids to be “fetching water, tin tub bathing, step off the sidewalk for White folks” tough.  We were air conditioned, water in the door Negroes.

The heart-break of my life was not being a member of a Black fraternity.  But, it turns out that I was never built to take the abuse of hell week….hell naw.  Don’t get it twisted, military training like Ranger School in Columbus, SEAL School in San Diego or basic training of Marines on Parris Island is a good character building.  While that training is tough, it is doable.  Some of the pledge process for Black frats is worst is than CIA alleged “enhanced interrogation.”  Oh, I would have been on Fox News in I attemped to join certain groups back when.  My father loved his membership but he was going from a sharecroppers’ life into the middle class.  That fraternity was a big part of his polishing and development.  While I would have enjoyed the brotherly bond and community service, they would have “made” me.

This discussion is needed on a public policy/politics blog because how kids are built directly relates to what they take on in life.  In my community, kids often have a struggle mentality—struggling, it’s what we do.  Parents actually built their kids to be strong for the struggle rather than smart to avoid the struggle.  A sista in college told me that her mother raised her ready to fight well with a man about cheating.  I asked why she wasn’t raised to detect and avoid the cheating type.

Yea, I am unapologetically soft and conduct myself accordingly.  I have a “hood” theory about jail.  Lawd knows I can’t do real time behind bars.  My unfounded theory is that some kids must have grown up in small space and therefore can live in an iron closet without problems.  I love the sun, the light, the night time sky and freedom.  What are you doing that is worth jeopardizing your outside freedom?  Would you give up freedom for a few dollars?  These fools have turned the word jail into an accomplishment word.  “Man, I know how to jail.”

Another hood theory involves people being outside.  It’s funny what some people can’t see.  In some communities, people always seem to be on the porch or outside because there is limited room and privacy inside.  Again, I wasn’t built to be in small spaces and my future house might only be 1100 square feet but you can best believe that it is one big room with only the bathroom separate—windows everywhere.

So, if you aren’t built for the struggle, it’s fine.  But, you need to be very careful what situations and drama enter into your life.  My friends who grew up rough are surprisingly the ones with smooth lives today.  They wanted the rest of their lives and their kids’ lives to be worry free.

Some of those who didn’t grow up in the struggle are struggling now because they are too soft or weak.  The conservative movement doesn’t know that this point is the key to their inroads in my community.  Government assistance might have inadvertently created a segment of the population whose main interest is seeking the infamous “check.”

I don’t like struggling and wasn’t built to have the government or anyone else tell me to care for my family.  One last point: what is up with grown folks who are too cool to work an entry level job but aren’t too cool to ask someone to feed their kids.  That’s some bull.

While I am ranting, let’s talk about DNA from the first paragraph.  Young people should be careful regarding the people with whom they have children.  All of the love and nurturing in the world can’t counterbalance a bad seed.  Some of these girls can’t pick husband material men because they have never been around healthy marriages.  They are built to fail from the beginning like their brothers who don’t know how to be law-abiding, job-holding men.  Uncle Teddy wants to give some loving advice: go to the family reunion on both side of a person’s family and study how they carry themselves long before you consider MARRYING this person and later having children.

Old Uncle Teddy was raised to move the Black family forward and we simply can’t afford to have you holding us back or turning us around.  A friend says “we are one generation from poverty.”  Get it—that’s a cute way of saying we recently came from poverty and we can easily return if we are careful.

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Hip Hop and Corporations: All About the Benjamins

Posted in politics, tagged , on April 15, 2014| 2 Comments »

Greed+WEB

Big Business (BB) runs America and the politicians are really their public servants.   The agenda of BB is making money and they don’t care who gets trampled in the process.  For example, the hip hop/bling bling culture seems natural or organic but BB is the wizard behind the curtain.

So, kids will kill each other over sneakers but these youth aren’t on the varsity.  They play sports on video games while kids in other parts of the world are preparing for the changing global economy.  We are not talking about the greatest generation that won the second World War or their children who pushed social justice in the 60s and 70s.  The kids today often seem like rebels without causes.  They will die defeating blocks and neighborhoods they don’t own.

$200 Gym Shoes

$300 Handbags with $10 cash inside

$2000 Rims on $900 cars

$100 Plain White T-shirt

And corporate executives laugh all the way to the bank.  The so-called ballers in music rarely own a recording company; they simply own record labels that are subdivisions of companies.  If the real money is in branding and merchandising, the hip hop guys (Jay-Z, Kanye, 50 Cent) are designers who make some good money but they don’t own factories that manufacture clothes in their old neighborhoods.  Master P from New Orleans is the main hip hop mogul who owned a record company and envisioned actually pressed the cds in his own plant.  Most of the others still have a plantation mentality and they aren’t the ones in the really big house.  I have never worn a chain—wrought iron, silver or gold.

The central theme of this blog post is that companies push a hip hop culture in which youth want to be hard, street and thuggish.  The youth are then untrained, unemployable (face tattoos) and unaware.  So, kids who want the most expensive items are least prepared to legally afford said items.  Some (not all) of these young people ended up wasting their lives away but they turn to the government for help in providing for their families.  The corporate agenda becomes a costly governmental expense.

“They are hiring at the fast food joints and those farmers need help harvesting their produce.”  Are you kidding me?  The kids from the hip hop culture don’t do work like that – it’s beneath them.  You can’t pop bottles of $300 champagne in the club with those wages.  Unfortunately, some youth turn to getting paid the fast way—ski mask way as Biggie rapped.

Now, those youth are in the prison system at an annual cost that is more than teachers, soldiers and policemen earn.  Oh, there are corporations running those facilities also.

 

In summary, we need elected officials who spend time explaining the limited role government to the people.  And yes, the liberals don’t seem to understand that there isn’t some big never-ending pot of money.   “The government should make sure everyone has a good house, a good car and a well-stocked frig”  That life would be socialism in theory.  We live in a democracy—your standard of living should be directly related to your actions.  Current lawmakers need to spend half of their time as law/budget explainers.  Oh, the corporations are the produce the campaign contributions that keep politicians in office.

I might be wrong but this is the beginning of debate we should have.

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