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Backwards Hip Hop: Make It Rain

July 19, 2011 by slyram

Is hip hop taking us backwards?  I loved this art form in my youth but it seems (correct me if I am wrong) that young people are emulating the worst elements of society.  Slaves wanted freedom and that freedom didn’t really come until the 1970s. 

At church Sunday, the pastor, a veteran of the struggle, started his sermon by saying that freedom doesn’t give you the right to do just anything. We are still ticked that someone broke the windows at church. Did he really refer to the culprits as “devils” in a prayer the morning we discovered the vandalism.  Yeap..I like the pastor…he has teeth. 

My definition of “teeth” in the public policy arena is policy that has bite or a consequence element.  For example, healthcare reform might have had a provision stating that if I cross the 50 pounds overweight mark, they aren’t spending money and effort  saving me from me. “We saw you at Golden Corral putting in work.”

Dr. Martin Luther King paraphrased the Biblical prophet Amos when he said, “We are determined here in Montgomery to fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”  A quick glance at hip hop history’s use of water/rain takes me from Oran Juice Jones’ “Standing in the Rain” to Boys To Men “Can You Stand the Rain.”  My brother-in-law in N.C. used that last song as his sermon title the first time I heard him preach. 

Today’s hip hop has a tune by Atlanta rapper Travis Porter called “Make It Rain” and the beat is bumping.  But (oh my goodness), a sista (the fruit that blossomed on the African tree) comes in stating, “You want to see some –ss, I want to see some cash.”  Making It Rain involves rich cats going into the night or strip club, standing in the D.J booth and making it rain money.  You Tube videos show rain events with six figures going in six seconds.  To be honest, we had the Too Live Crew back in the day but that was a novelty.  We were in college or the military to improve our families’ situation…to move forward.

If you walk down a college campus today, the dress and vibe of some of the students would alarm you.  Some college students are making a concerted effort to be as thug-like and stripper-like as possible—including my college classmates’ kids who grew up in nurturing environments.  We are moving backwards on some level and since hip hop involves Black, White, Red and Brown, the drama knows no boundaries.    

If you don’t believe me, you can get shocked on the webpage WorldStarhiphop.com.  Since I gave up on most new rap music a few years ago, I don’t watch the videos introduced on WorldStar but the homemade cellphone videos of people fighting in public are disturbing.  We are talking brawls in Pizza Hut and mothers fighting in the street.  Colin Powell said we need to reinstitute the concept of shame and I agree.   When the fights start, the camera person often says “Worldstarhiphop…this is going on Worldstarhiphop.”

We were radical in college but we could talk with political and community leaders when we broke out the khakis, ties and blazers .  If I were in college today, I would be listening to Oakland rapper KHARI because he has teeth.   He drop one called “Thickness” about curvy women that has the interest of my college classmates who are now in their 40s.  The guy is a poet like L.L. and Chuck D so listen with caution to his track “The Beast” which is about Black men in prison.  He makes some thought-provoking points but the Oakland police must be much worst that the okay rural police in my town.  KHARI is a conspiracy theorist who seems to think that prisons and the justice system are designed to make money locking up “just us.”

Hip hop is an original American art form and the current rappers are worrying my generation like our generations’ rappers must have worried our parents, preachers and professors. I swear art isn’t imitating life—life is imitating art and pulling us down.  Are they reversing past gains?   When I see the current pol sci majors at my HCBU, I am going to recommend that they checkout L.L. Cool J.’s “The Breakthrough.”  We knew that L.L. was different and that he would be having a positive impact on American culture for years.  LL is hard and has teeth but it was well-intended.  What’s the intention of today’s rapper$?

The Breakthrough: LL Cool J

Knuckleheads spreadin’ gossip all over town
Every time I drive by you’re just standin’ around
Hundred-bottles in your pocket, forty-dog in your hand
Don’t you know you’re just a worker and your boss is my man?
L.L. this, L.L. that, soon as I walk in the place
I wanna take my gun and shoot you in your muthaf-ckin’ face
You’re playin’ me too close with the schemin’ and games
I guess the beef and the bullsh-t is the price of fame
Movies, records, goin’ on tour
Twenty-thousand people hip-hoppin’ on the floor
Whole parties body-rockin’, and everything’s chill
Get back to New York, and the suckers act ill
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”
Every day is a chase, every day is a race
and every day you’re being overpowered by my bass
Too much juice to be a deuce, I had to be a ace
It’s like the fire’s in my eyes and the gun’s in my face
I’m stompin’ stupid knuckleheads until they bleed
I’m the leader of the show, so it’s up to me to lead
I’mma lead you away from drugs and petty crime
Lead you away from wack beats and rhyme
Lead you to that ticket line
so you can come in my show and watch the stars shine
Get busy, not dizzy, wanna teach the young
The last man who didn’t listen ended up gettin’ hung
Not that I killed him, it’s just
He didn’t wanna trust
the words of a master that’s why you must
Take heed to the speech, it’s gonna reach your ear
Don’t try to say you can’t hear cuz the words are clear
Throwin’ flurries, punks scurry and I bury the rest
You better hurry up and rock a rhyme and give it your best
Cuz tonight’s the night we gonna see the big fight
Twelve-gauge on the stage in case it don’t go right
E-Love drives a tank, he’s strong like a truck
If you’re cryin’ while you’re dyin’ we ain’t givin’ a f-ck
L.L. Cool J is on the microphone
tellin’ all you punk ducks “Leave me the hell alone”
Cuz I’m rated X, born to snap necks
Straight up and down, no special effects
I’m the professor, the teacher, the hip-hop dean
If Russia bombed the U.S., they’d be scared to touch Queens
Cuz that’s where I live, and this is what I give
Turnin’ top-notch crews into fugitives
They run, they frightened, they hide from King Titan
like a sniper when he’s shootin’ or a viper when he’s bitin’
Here I am, tellin’ the truth
and I’m spreadin’ the word to my fellow youth
It goes man-to-man and jam-to-jam
I got hip-hop, rock, and love song fans
All you petty MC’s in the state of New York
Gettin’ a thousand for a show but you still wanna squawk
Can’t get a decent contract, your beats ain’t workin’
Dogged-out Pumas plus you’re manager’s jerkin’
Your mic sounds weak, remember that skeezer
I’m badder than Napoleon, Hitler or Caesar
I’m a hitman, but I’m not for hire
Fly girl’s desire, the man you admire
Not only on the stage, I rock in the park
and I’m a killer in the daytime, and worse after dark
So don’t never ever mess with the king of the sound
L.L. Cool J, the baddest around.

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Georgia Congressional Redistricting: Split Tift and Worth Counties

July 11, 2011 by slyram

Congressional redistricting should embrace split counties in some situations as the logical reflection of the divisions between people.  We know the cigar-chomping leaders will make the decisions behind closed doors and spin their maps as “the best interest of all Americans.”  But, a case can be made for putting like-minded people in the same districts because some of us are weary after a lifetime of constant fighting. 

Democrats and Republicans don’t understand each other and rarely communicate peacefully.  Heaven only knows how many people in south Georgia only have friends away from work who are just like them and that’s cool in a free society.  The problem is leaders of one party might make decisions that involved the entire area with limited input or knowledge of others.  From home schooling/private school to church, the only Blacks some people know are on Tyler Perry T.V. shows.  Have mercy.

During Georgia’s redistricting hearings, the usual suspects bounced up to the microphones to declare that this county or that county shouldn’t be divided because of the tremendous amounts of love and happiness inside those county or city lines.  Child, please.  Railroad tracks and highways divide most rural southern areas—east is east and west is west and never say they meet.  Oh, the Chamber of Commerce types will have you think that all is well and bless their hearts, all is well insider their worlds. 

In southwest Georgia, I wouldn’t mind seeing all strong Democrat population pockets placed in the 2nd Congressional district.  Yes, the neighboring 3rd, 8th and 1st districts would be even more GOP and that’s fine because they are “balling” down here or as the kids say, they are like “butter” because you know they are on a roll.

In Worth and Tift counties, U.S. Highway 82 neatly divides the GOP northern section from Blue areas in the south.  Some would also argue that the Red areas of Lee County deserve placement in the conservative 8th.  While I am a cosmopolitan guy with a wide variety of friends and associates across God’s green earth, it sincerely hurt my heart to hear that so many conservatives felt the centrist Democrat congressman in the 2nd didn’t listen to them at all…zero…zilch.  Really?  I know for a fact that said congressman breaks his neck to hear from everyone and while his final votes reflect the majority of his district, he tries to hear from the other side more that 99% of the southern GOP members of Congress try to hear from the Dem side.  When Georgia’s GOP senators dialog with Democrats, instant talk of primary challengers starts.

The fact that Georgia has two GOP senators is a game-changer for me anyway.  Here is the logic: everyone has two senators and one House member representing them in Washington.  Georgia’s senators are legislatively similar and also similar to most GOP House members.  If you are a non-conservative Georgian, you should hope like crazy that you have a Democrat House member to hear your concerns.  For me, that’s representation is more important that being connected with the other half of my county. 

At the redistricting hearing in Albany, Georgia, Brad Hughes, a promising young public servant from Early County, Georgia, stated that having two members of the state house serving his area was like the best of both worlds.  Well, the same logic could apply to congress for the next ten years.  Keith MacCants at Peanut Politics asked recently on his blog who should run against Rep. Bishop in 2012 since Mike Keown has decided to seek other office. Hughes, who ran against Bishop in the past, would be better than most conservatives at bridging the political divide.  Can he win?  No.  But he can position himself to be  appointed congressman by the governor if Bishop is selected by a president to be a cabinet secretary or maybe the historic next ambassador to ag nation Cuba.  You heard it here first and remember that a GOP president also would like a cool Dem or two on his team and despite the noise from last year, Bishop is one of the best peacemakers.   

I am uniquely qualified to write about peace between parties because I am a Democrat who supports Georgia’s GOP U.S. senators but please don’t tell anyone or the guys will get primary opposition.  If conservatives want out of my 2nd congressional district, I say good riddance and I hope you have the time of your life chilling with like-minded people somewhere else.  You should “get” while the getting is good because if Keown couldn’t turn the 2nd red in 2010, it can’t be done anytime soon. Green Day had it right with Good Riddance and Bill Joe was a big Obama support in 2008.

If you ask asked the people south of Hwy. 82 down here if they want to be in a Dem congressional district for the next ten years, they would look at you like you were crazy.  Heck yes, they want into the second congressional district and heck yes, the GOP people north of the Hwy. 82 would like to have a safer conservative in the 8th district for the same period of time.

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Should Democrats Vote In the GOP Presidential Primary?

July 5, 2011 by slyram

What should those who will likely vote for President Obama do between now and when? I am personally watching the GOP nomination contest and thinking about voting in that primary for the candidate I could see in the White House.

Yes, yes, I know that conventional wisdom dictates that Obama supporters should be cheering for the zaniest Republican—someone the president will have an easier chance of beating in November 2012.  But, this situation isn’t a game and it’s no joke.  The economic future of the nation is in the balance and candidate Obama said that he should be fired if the country didn’t improve (I still hope it does and I would have hoped for the same thing if McCain was in White House.) 

If unemployment is over 9% and gas over $4.00 a gallon, my man might be  bounced and he understands that.  At that point, moderates could be saying that we should have paid more attention to the GOP field.

(I am on hold with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to ask if I can pick the R or D ballot in the presidential primary…I think I can.)

In Georgia back in the day, some Republicans in Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s congressional district decided that voting in the Democratic primary was the only way to get her and her really liberal views out of congress.  Denise Majette was elected and while she was no conservative, she was more reasonable on Georgia issues than her predecessor.  Thanks to the Georgia GOP for that example and we should consider doing the same thing.  President Obama is such a good person that he would want the best person in the office if it isn’t him. 

On the other hand, that time and energy could be spent getting out the Democrat vote because a heavy turnout could win Georgia for Obama and we know several states that he won in 2008 need to be replaced.

(I am still on hold with the S of S’s office….must be furlough days.)

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Justice and Crime: Unlikely Allies Project

June 29, 2011 by slyram

What is the real cost of crime in America? 

The departments of the federal government directly and indirectly crossover each other.  Problems for the Justice Department often start with the Department of Education’s poor performance.  As we know, there isn’t necessarily a government answer to every problem.  As hard as it might sound, Americans who are fed-up with violent crime often think that some of the criminals never should have been born in the first place. 

Not to start an abortion debate, we should good farther back.  How can we address the huge cost of the criminal justice system by encouraging (if not forcing) people to be more deliberate about when and with whom they have kids?  Of course, young people later realize that they should have wait to a better position and situation in life before starting a family—the difference between 18 and 26 years old would be wonderful.  It hurts to think about young boys who might be heading for the jail because no one properly prepared them for life.  We spend more funds keeping guys in the State Pen than keeping them in Penn State; what a waste of human and financial resources.

LaDonna from HBO's Treme

If you do a crime, you should do the time but most of that drama and the effects on victims could have been avoided.  The HBO series Treme hit me hard recently with the violent and senseless attacks on the character bar owner LaDonna and later street music Harley Watt.  This young thug shot Harley during a street robbery for calling him “son” and the gang assault on LaDonna was painful to watch.  While that is a T.V. show, crime happens every hour of every day and I am pissed.

The U.S. Justice Department, in my opinion, should invest more in reaching those heading down the wrong path.  Some presidential candidate or the current president should be tough enough to say that we need to discourage people from having children until they are fully prepared to raise a law-abiding citizen.  It cost more to put a thug in prison for a year than many people make in salary in a year.  I shouldn’t get started on the young parents who leave the responsibility of parenthood to their parents.  The economy is rough and grandparents should be planning for retirement rather than spending on grandkids while the baby-makers slide.

Albany Herald columnist Carlton Fletcher wrote a strong one about this subject this week.

http://www.albanyherald.com/opinioncolumns/headlines/Capital_case_causes_ignore_true_victims_124688249.html

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Jon Huntsman: Obama’s Cousin (Not really)

June 21, 2011 by slyram

Jon Huntsman’s candidacy helps the political arena because he serves as foil to the other GOPers in the race for the White House.  If I remember correctly from junior high lit class, foil is a character who contrasts with another character to highlight features of that character’s personality…i.e. Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes…Morris Day to Prince….Dirk to LeBron.

Huntsman, President Obama’s former ambassador to China,  is smart and level-headed has little chance of coming out of the GOP primary.  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels or Huntman could secure a sizeable part of the Center voting bloc but my friends on the far Right don’t want to vote for anyone who the Middle find acceptable.    

To be honest, cool Huntsman puts me in the mind of Barrack Obama–they might be cousins.  If President Obama wins reelection, the GOP should know that they could have had a reasonable, non-pissed candidate that centrists could have supported but they looked elsewhere.  Many Democrats thought it was Hillary’s turn and that she was the type tough leader that the nation needed but we knew that the Clinton legacy was a two-edged sword that might motivate some to support the GOP nominee.  Senator Ted Kennedy often said a half a loaf is better than no loaf.  Well, some folks want the whole loaf or nothing.  Huntsman’s demeanor on the debate stage is welcome by some Democrats and if he happens to win the White House, the nation could have done worst.

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Probation and Farm Labor in Georgia

June 14, 2011 by slyram

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal is talking with our Agriculture commissioner Gary Black about addressing the farm labor problem with people on probation.  That’s what I call thinking outside the box–literally.  Being in a cell is a big fear for me and farm labor can be pivotal to those under or unemployed.

Corrections time goes faster when you are outside looking at the world and I would imagine freedom feels better after one doesn’t have it.  When I was a kid, a county correction work farm was located in Isabella, Georgia, in Worth County and the inmates grew some of the food for the cafeteria.  While current varsity athletes lift weights in the summer, we hit the watermelon fields to earn money, get cut muscles and get tanned (the white dudes since I have a permanent bronze.)   A young person appreciates the value of a dollar that is earned in the blistering south Georgia sun and I studied harder in school in September after discovering how hard some people worked for their pay.  If I had kids to feed, I would hit the fields today if need be— an honesty dollar is an honesty dollar and kids didn’t ask to be born.

Conservatives often draw a fair correlation between public funds for those needing temporary assistance and the availability of work that many people would not do.  True story: when I was an ag staffer on Capitol Hill in the 90s, a group of fellow staffers and I attended a pre-Farm Bill ag tour in Georgia.  We were scheduled to visit a vegetable processing facility in Colquitt County but the I.N.S. raided the place the week before we arrived.  The farmer’s crops were rotting in the fields because he had no one to collect them.  He complained to us that the day labor pickup location was empty while the public assistance office was full. 

The weather in south Georgia today (103 degrees) is hotter than fish grease but I still rather be tending the fields than sitting in the cell the size of a Real Housewife’s closet.  Governor Nathan Deal was surprised by the amount of state funds we waste on corrections; funds that could be better “invested” in education so people can have productive lives and avoid being locked up.   Since no real thugs would have read this long and rambling blog post to this point, I can say one thing that gets on my nerves.  If people fought to break the chains of slavery, why would someone give up their freedom without feeling disrespectful to our ancestors?  Hell, slaves could at least chill with family at night.  

When guys come home from doing “time,” they often say that the learned the pleasure of learning (faith, reading, science, life skills) while “away” and had to wonder how much better and easier life would have been if they listened to those who told them to study and keep their noses clean when they were kids.  Watching the prison shows on MSNBC on the weekends will get a hard-headed kid on the right track.

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Cynthia Tucker on Redistricting

June 4, 2011 by slyram

Cynthia Tucker’s recent column on race and redistricting is so correct.  She wrote:

If black covers think they have made substantial gains simply by having more black representatives in Congress, they’re wrong.  They’d have more influence if they were spread through several legislative districts, forcing more candidates to court them.

My county is divided between Congressmen Sanford Bishop and Austin Scott and both are likable and intelligent men fully prepare to serve a cross-section of Georgians.  But, as Ms. Tucker wrote, corralling most Blacks into a few districts make the contiguous districts areas ultra White.  Voters in ultra White districts equate congressional time spent with Blacks to time spent with liberals because they don’t understand that most rural southern Blacks are actually moderate to conservative in their mindsets on issues.  If not for the vitriol created by ultra conservative media, Michael Steele could have drawn 25% of the Black vote into a moderate section of the Right–even Bishop would have likely switched. 

Thoughts of brother Steele brings me to another Tucker point: hyper Black districts and therefore hyper White districts discourage moderation. For more on the importance of moderate, one can read almost every previous post on this blog.  

 I started work at the U.S. Congress when Rep. John Lewis was the only Black member of the Georgia delegation and most southern congress members spent a third of their time in the Black community.  Oh, Bishop and the Blue Dogs will serve conservatives on a fair level but will conservatives give an equal ear to the center and the left.  An interesting but forgotten fact is that Newt Gingrich had a Black female chief of staff in his personal office back in the day.  Ms. Tucker should have an intern count the number of Black staffers in White southern congressional offices and the number of White staffers in Black members’ offices.  As they say in sports, we can’t win for losing.

http://www.albanyherald.com/opinion/headlines/Black_house_districts_work_for_GOP_123141908.html?storySection=comments

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Agriculture and Food: Unlikely Allies Project

May 31, 2011 by slyram

Should USDA programs be deeply cut?

Some budget crunchers want to put agriculture spending on the table with other discretionary spending.  While there is fat at USDA, I say we must remember that everyone eats food.  We all need a safe and affordable food supply and the Obama campaign promise to use ag research and technology as “soft power”–bread rather than bullets around the world. 

Richard Hass with the Council on Foreign Relations recently said that one million dollars is the cost of having one soldier in Afghanistan for one year.  But, farm and nutrition programs are about to get the ax.  Less than 2% of the American population is involved in farming but that 2% feeds the nation.  In Georgia, we have ag research colleges at UGA, ABAC and Fort Valley State.  The ground-breaking techniques from these institutions are amazing.  Farming is hard work and hard financially.  Without USDA programs, family farms would be endangered and huge corporation farms would be the future.

High schools, vocational schools and four-year colleges should help students prepare for careers in food and fiber production that doesn’t require tilling the soil.  Food is big business and kids could prep for jobs like Wal-mart distribution managers, meat inspectors and Whole Foods managers.

Federal food programs are win-win because farmers get to produce more crops and kids shouldn’t be hungry.  Yes, it’s the parents’ job to feed their children but hungry kids are too much while we spend trillions on other things. We know that people who have healthier diets cost less in medical expense (bad eaters are digging  their own graves.)  

Former House Ag Committee chairman Kika de la Garza often told the story about touring a nuclear submarine and asking the officers what forces the vessel to come up from the bottom of the sea.  The officers said that could desalinated water and the boat produces its own energy but they come up for food.  We all eat.

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Politics: Season to Taste

May 24, 2011 by slyram

Politics and public policy are like Thai food.  For years, I wouldn’t consider eating Thai because spicy food is too much for my system (let’s not go there.)  In Tifton, Georgia, I got brave and decided to try Thai food at Coconuts Asian Bistro.  My neighbor, who is a food and fitness guy, told me that the people at Coconuts can make Thai dishes without the famous “heat.”  He was right and I am developing a tolerance for bolder dishes. 

Officials are elected to serve all of the people in their area; not just those who voted for them.  My conservative friends are as spicy as Thai food with their ideas about governing and the same can be said about the liberals I know.  Of course, moderates can see the wisdom in taking elements and concerns from everyone.

Follow me on this one: GOP congressional candidate Ray McKinney called me minutes after Obama won the presidency and I asked if he wanted me to help him grasp moderation so he could improve his chances of winning in a swing district.  Ray and real conservatives will discuss issues with others but see policy flexibility as weakness.  Anyone who flexes his positions is a professional politician.  Yes, there are professional politicians or public servants who gauge the views of the whole area and serve with secondary regard for their personal views.   

The mentality is “I know what’s best for me and also know what’s best for you.”  What happen to “all men are created equal.”  It’s an insult when some people consider themselves more American than others.  President Obama is in Ireland this week.  We know when  his father came here and his mother was a descendant of an Irishman who arrived in America 160 years ago–which would likely be 160 years after my folks were brought here against their will in the hulls of ships.  But, some people feel for whatever reasons that they have the right to make policy without input from those who pay fewer taxes or create fewer jobs.  At the same time, knuckleheads in my area have little regard for community and have developed an entitlement mentality but that is another subject for another day.

In my personal opinion, Georgia two senators and my congressman try to serve public policy that is mindful of most Georgians.  You would never know that Senator Isakson’s record is so conservative because he plates up his dishes in a cool manner.  We all know that Sanford Bishop ran for congress while his personal views were left of center but SDB has a good comfort level with most people and quickly developed the ability to serve those who voted for him and surprisingly the regional interests of those who didn’t.  A public servant in a swing district must have that ability. 

If conservatives would produce candidates who could dial down the spiciness initially, they could secure more of the center.  If you think about it, many current conservatives made the transition over time by developing a palate for the Right (former Georgia governor Sonny Purdue and current Georgian governor Nathan Deal were both Dems in the 90s.)  That hot, nasty style of politics runs people off.  I would have a better life if I was a vegan or raw foods guy but that is not happening overnight—let’s start with some carrots.  If redistricting changes the composition of a congressional district, the temperament of the congress person from that area should also change.  Some folks don’t get that and they might be the same people who spice all the food while cooking for others.  The recipe says “season to taste.”    

http://www.coconutasianbistro.com/index.htm

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Redistricting: Consider Yourselves Warned

May 23, 2011 by slyram

I am here to tell you…mark my word: the conservative movement is about to out hustle the left and the middle again.  My friends can’t stop giving me a hard time about being on the local news for attending a meeting on redistricting with three people. 

http://www.walb.com/story/14699961/albany-hosts-redistricting-meeting?redirected=tru

Oh, but the real hard time is coming when they wake up one day to find that a focused, determined percent of the population is running everything.  We can’t find time to get involved with redistricting but we can watch all of the NBA playoffs—you know the Hawks have gone fishing already. 

The next five elections might be decided in the redrawing of the district maps but folks are sleeping. In the future, they might be seeing red…a sea of red with a blue island called Atlanta.  At the official redistricting hearing, the GOP dam near took over Albany State University. Oh, the usual Dem leaders were there but the masses need to get off their (you know.)   It’s time for some good old fashion rallies about these maps (old school D.J.s and hot fish grease) because after all the fancy nerds did their things last November, GOTV buses saved the day.

As Chuck D and Flava said, “Consider Yourselves Warned.”

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Gwyneth Paltrow Shouldn’t Go To the White House Either

May 21, 2011 by slyram

I love me some old school hip hop and understand that rappers are artists who are (right or wrong) reflecting their opinions of their surroundings—like Edgar Degas, David Allan Coe, Picasso, Toby Keith, Richard Wagner and D.W. Griffith.  Griffith’s pro-Klan film Birth of a Nation was the first movie shown in the White House (Woodrow Wilson of Augusta, Georgia was the president.)

Common, the softest rapper in the world, shouldn’t go to the White House because of his usual views but actress Gwyneth Paltrow recently rapped from the Straight Out of Compton album.    In her movie Country Strong, Paltrow sang, “swinging on some wild cat..bumpin old school rap,” on the track “Shake That Thing.”  Did old girl just say “bumpin.”  You must be rather hood-knowledgeable to say bumpin in its proper context.  I submit that Gwyneth is actually harder than poetry-read, vegan Common.  Come on, we know that Common tried to rap hard to no avail.  He is like the son of De La Soul.

Paltrow was actually doing the song Gangsta Gangsta, which is one of the  hardest hits in rap history.  Two other hard songs are N.W.A’s “F the Police” from the same cd “When I finish there is going to be a blood bath of cops dying in L.A.” and N.W.A. alum Ice Cube’s “Really Doe” which had the spine-chilling lyric “Just like Waco, I can take four ATF to they death.”  Gangsta, Gangsta even has a Nancy Reagan reference with the line “We don’t just say no…we’re too busy saying yeahhh.”

In the 90s, I met Cube at the 100th anniversary of the National Medical Association gala and he is my generation’s poet laureate but some of these lines are too much.  At the same time, Ice Cube predicted an uprising because the police in their part of L.A. were different from the nice officers in my hometown.  In Gangsta, Ice Cube rapped “Do I look like a m.f. role model.”  At the time he didn’t and I appreciated his frankness but now Cube is an example of going from the hood to fatherhood.  Have you notice that old rappers move their kids to the suburbs because the thug life is nothing to glorify.

People change and grow over time.  Today, Ice Cube is one of America’s dads with his movies and T.V. production.  If Common shouldn’t be at the White House, Gwyneth Paltrow should never go and I should never go again because I have broken bread with the late Senator Stom Thurmond; he said he like my tie.  This is all six degrees of silliness; artists will be artists and I personally hang with more police officers than rappers.      

NWA: Gangsta (strongest warning)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyHj_5DaX-s&feature=related

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Political Opponents: Stack the Deck or What the Heck

May 21, 2011 by slyram

I am a good American who wants the best people governing.  While I support candidates I find competent of any party, a quagmire results from deciding if I should hope for an opponent who is easier for my guy to beat or hope for a quality person who would serve well if elected.

Obama is my guy in 2012 but I have issues with friends who gleefully want the worst GOP candidate in November.  What if that zany person actually wins?  Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Mitch Daniels and Jon Huntsman are presidential material and if the economy doesn’t improve Obama himself might see the logic in letting someone else have at it.   Newt, Newt, my homeboy Newt is clearly an ideas guy whose intelligence and vision would be helpful to the nation but he likes to toss fire and that’s not cool.

In Georgia congressional politics, moderates must face the reality that Democrats help people who don’t bother voting—oh, they can go to every freaking high school football and basketball game but can’t find 10 minutes to vote.  If elections are to be decided in the primaries, we should support reasonable GOP candidates running against out of touch candidates or help out of touch candidates better understand all of the electorate.  If not, we might have elected officials who developed their points of view in a bubble…a strange angry bubble where everyone is like everyone else.   Cain vs. Obama would be cool with me because Cain would say what needs to be said to regular folks. 

I think Democrats and Black folks should spend some time listening to Herman Cain and the rest of the GOP field.  Their concerns are valid and solutions are often sensible—their methods and disposition need some work.  In a strange twist, listening to the conservative side helps President Obama because moderates better understand why he is seeking common ground with them.  I am a positive guy and if any conservative wants to talk about why their temperament is often off-putting, I am right here and eager to teach and learn.  Bottomline: constantly angry is no way to go through life. 

Columnist Cynthia Tucker wrote a nice one this week about Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss catching heat for negotiating in the Gang of Six group.  Why in the world would someone dislike an elected official for doing his job?  Tucker is correct: the ultra conservatives and the ultra liberals need to stop tripping.  We should remember that these two groups are a fraction of the American people but they are vocally involved and we all know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  

http://www.albanyherald.com/opinioncolumns/headlines/GOP_hostage_to_cranks_on_fringe_122363899.html

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Georgia Congressional Redistricting: Get Involved

May 4, 2011 by slyram

Every southerner should be mapmaking during the redistricting process because our representation for the next ten years is on the table.  We shouldn’t leave it to the state legislators alone because they work for us.  There should be a smart phone app for redistricting. 

Because I am watching The Borgias on Showtime, ice-cold Niccolo Machiavelli, Pope Alexander VI and Amerigo Vespucci come to mind when think about our mapmaking.  I read in Machiavelli’s The Prince that one should kiss his enemy on the left cheek then the right cheek—no wondering why Tupac liked his writings. Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) stopped at nothing to get the territorial arrangements he wanted and so should we.   

How could Christopher Columbus “discover” a land with millions of inhabitants?  Columbus didn’t know where he was or what he had but Vespucci came back from current South America and reported to the d’Medici family that the land was larger than anticipated and not the Asia described by Ptolemy or Marco Polo.  It must be a New World or new continent.  In 1507, mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller produced a world map and named the new continent America after Vespucci’s first name.

It’s my turn to produce a congressional district of Georgia (actually, software programs for this purpose are online.)

It’s my turn to produce a congressional district of Georgia (actually, software programs for this purpose are online.)

My map would feature:

  • Going back to the 1992 map for the second congressional district (my area) with parts of Bibb County joining Albany and Columbus again.  The Republicans in the 8th District clearly don’t want that Macon concentration of Democrat voters and we would take then gladly.
  • Thomas, Brooks and maybe the rest of Lowndes County should be put into the 1st congressional district because they hate being in a moderate district.  Congressional candidate Mike Keown ran strong last year and he would be the heir apparent when Jack Kingston leaves for bigger things or returns to lovely costal Georgia.  Yes, Keown is congressional material but not in a swing district.  
  • Because I want to see a congressional district that can elect an African American GOPer member of congress, I would make the new 14th District a collection of moderate Democrats that give headaches to current GOP members but just enough Republicans to win the seat—Hall, Clarke, etc.  I want a brother or sister who would say once and for all, “stick to the issues and enough with the nonsense.”  Blacks would vote a candidate like that.

Of course, the U.S. Justice Department must review the congressional maps and I am hearing that all of Chatham County might go from the 1st District into the 12th District in an effort to improve the chances for a GOPer the 12th.  All of this is wild speculations but every Georgian should have at it.  If we have learned anything from the actions of the Tea Party Movement, it would be that elected officials work for us and we have a say.

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Obama, McNaughton’s The Forgotten Man and the Georgia Congressional Delegation

May 4, 2011 by slyram

 

There is a controversial painting of all American presidents that includes President Obama standing on the U.S. Constitution.  The guy was president of the Harvard Law Review and a University of Chicago constitutional law professor but he doesn’t respect the Constitution.  Really?

I saw the painting hanging in the district office of U.S. Rep. Austin Scott.  Readers of this blog know I appreciated GOPer Scott removing Rep. Jim Marshall because Marshall, a law scholar himself, decided that Speaker Pelosi and the White House wasn’t his cup of tea.  The two Georgia U.S. Senators, Scott and Rep. Jack Kingston are the most bearable Republicans in Georgia because they are good guys in person.  But, the ultra conservatives are busy and seemingly require that the GOP leaders limit input from Democrats.  Kingston has a well-earned reputation for going to policy-hostile events and breaking down his voting record.  That’s how you do it and Bishop, Barrow and even Marshall did the same.

If the picture is in Scott’s office, it is there because Scott feels that the White House’s policy contradict the framers intend; Scott is on a fiscal correction mission.  When Rep. Sanford Bishop was a freshman, his Washington office initially didn’t have Georgia flag outside the front door.  In an interesting twist, Bishop got the old flag (stars and bars included) but state legislator Austin Scott was (I think) the only GOPer who support changing that flag and he caught hell for it.

The artist who created “The Forgotten Man” said he knew the work was a little strong and I personally think it is too strong.  I always respect President George W. Bush and argued with those who thought he wasn’t bright—dumb people rarely graduate from Yale.  The birther junk and whatever comes next are insults and thank you to those of the other side who want to stick to the issues.  I saw the facebook video statement of Rep. Scott regarding the killing of Bin Laden and yes, he was of the few conservatives who gave President Obama credit. 

Democrats have always allowed Bishop, Barrow, Marshall and other Blue Dogs flexibility to included conservative elements in their actions because conservatives are Georgians too.  I am concerned that the far Right will not allow the same leeway to any GOP members of congress.  Of course, the views of real liberals fall on death’s ear but even moderates and centrists should keep an eye on redistricting and hope that they end up in moderate districts.   

When Jon Stewart said that Bill O’Reilly was the “thinnest kid at fat camp,” he meant that O’Reilly was the best person at Fox News and one might say the same about Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Gang of Six) and Austin Scott.    

Jon McNaughton’s The Forgotten Man is art and art is designed (like Spike Lee’s and Tyler Perry’s work) to provoke thought.  You be the judge.

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Defense and Foreign Affairs: Unlikely Allies Project

May 2, 2011 by slyram

As a superpower, what is America’s role in the complicated world?

Ted Sadler: President Obama announced his Bin Laden news during the Celebrity Apprentice Sunday night to get back at Donald Trump and because he didn’t want the nation seeing NeNe Leakes and Star Jones having a Black women catfight; Obama must be cheering “Hope” Dworaczyk because he is all about hope and her kid with basketball player Jason Kidd is like baby Obama.  There are those who would believe that nonsense but U.S. Defense actions and Foreign Affairs are serious business.  In another joking moment, Seth Myers said in front of the president at the Correspondents’ Dinner that he knew who could beat Obama in 2012…the answer was 2008 Obama. 

2008 Obama was no joke and he promise foreign policy based on respect for others around the world and soft power (when bread and butter win goodwill rather than bullets.)  In South Georgia, we make peanut butter and I can smell the roasters 24 hours a day.  The cost of one missile could buy a lot of peanut butter and goodwill between the developing world and U.S. rural ag community.  

Why does our military sometimes seem like nation builders rather than warriors?  We must allow warriors to be warriors and leave nation building to H.U.D. or U.S.D.A’s Rural Development.  From Vietnam, we learned that the Pentagon should have freedom to kick –ss and take names.  But, Republican President Eisenhower warned about the growth of the Defense Industrial Complex, those who want to make war to make money.   Our troops should have the best equipment and the mission to handle their business and get home ASAP.

Thanks to President Obama for using the CIA or a real version of “The Unit” to do what needed to be done.  Come on now…let’s be honest…we know that Black Ops can handle some business that the politically liberal think is wrong and unfair.  We don’t need to talk about unfair.  Unfair is spending billions to build communities around the world while America’s infrastructure crumbles.  Unfair is having thousands of troops in harm’s way for extended tours when a Seal Team could have….you know. 

President George H.W. Bush told the truth about the first Gulf War: we were there because limiting our access to that region’s oil would cripple America.  The average American does care about those people in the sand but they love cheaper fuel.  I am about to contradict myself: as the only superpower we must be involved in everyone’s business or they will form alliances that we can’t control and it could be checkmate for us.  The plantation nor the cowboy mentality works when part of the world has the oil and part holds our debt. They have the drop on us and they insist on being treated like adults rather than kids.  Funny, that’s similar to our founding fathers’ attitude about the British crown. 

While I appreciate my fiscally conservative friends concerned with the mounting debt of their unborn grandchildren’s financial burden, I know that a more pressing concern was Bin Laden and his ilk’s effort to acquire on the Black market a weapon that would erase an American city off the map.  Our foreign policy needs military might, respectable right and broad sight because I am weary of our involvement and assistance to people who dislike us.

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Spike Lee vs. Tyler Perry/Thug Life vs. Conservatism: A House Divided

April 25, 2011 by slyram

During a Q and A forum at the Albany, GA Black Expo, I asked actor Allen Payne to speak about the ongoing drama between Spike Lee and Tyler Perry.  Spike feels that his work is positive art that uplifts the community while Perry’s productions are modern-day buffoonery to some degree.  Tyler recently recommended a fiery place where Spike can go.

I loved Spike Lee’s work from the second I saw Tracy Camilla Johns’ Nola Darling character in “She’s Gotta Have It” and yes, Tyler Perry has some characters that I could live without.  But, intelligent people know that a few theatrical characters don’t represent all of a group and Perry used Seinfeld and the Sopranos as examples of other ethnic groups doing the same.   In the companion book for Lee’s “Do The Right Thing,” I learned that film is a medium of art that–like of other art forms—provokes thought and leaves the viewers asking “was that right or wrong.”

Robert Townsend’s “Hollywood Shuffle” was based on the ethical dilemmas Black actors face: Wait for quality parts in the poor house or do negative reflections of our community while getting crazy paid.  A line from that movie stated, “There’s always work at the Post Office.”—not anymore. 

As children, we were taught to never let anyone divide the Black; we can’t sink while others float because we are all in the same big boat.  Today, I think there is room for different schools of thought: from Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois to Spike Lee vs. Tyler Perry.  Conflict might actually be a form of diversification and we should not put all of our eggs in one basket.

In politics and policy, the rural South takes cues from urban leaders but their agendas are different from our agendas.  Atlanta is the best Black city on earth; however, the Democrat leadership there can’t fully comprehend our rural vibe (pro-military, pro-agriculture, pro-gun.) 

Allen Payne, who works on Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne,” answered my question by saying that guys like Perry and Payne himself didn’t grow up in the Black elite, college-educated world of Spike Lee.  They make movies and T.V. that reflects the world they know and people like it.  From his statement, I decided to ask several friends if they would make a movie with false depiction of Black America if the producers gave them $5 million walking in the door.  I was surprised (disappointed) by those who would take the money first and later consider charitable ways to sanitize their ill-gotten gains. 

I am starting to think the same concept applies to politics: get your money because that is what the next guy is doing.  Public Enemy had that pun lyric, “I know you got sold.”  We can’t discuss art imitating life vs. life imitating art with looking at the current vibe of hip hop.  For me, blues, jazz and then hip hop were some of the only American-born art forms (yes, the roots are in Africa.)  In my part of the rural South, the harder parts of hip hop are leading youth to embrace a thug life over education and achievement.  They glorify aspects of street life that could reverse our gains of the last 50 years.  Yes, we are going backwards.

Check this out: Dr. Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X was likely a well planned effort at juxtaposition: deal with peace-loving MLK or deal with Malcolm and those who felt it was time for self-defense with rifles.  I would have supported the rifle crew.  Today, it will take brothers talking with brothers to refocus our community and if hip hop isn’t careful they will alienate large segments of our community–sometimes we need to be divided.   If they can get paid make that music, we should give the Black conservatives a break as they add range to our options.           

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Jobs and Economic Recovery Topic: Unlikely Allies Project

April 4, 2011 by slyram

What should the average American know about the job market and the government’s role in job creation?

Ted Sadler: Employment/recovery was the obvious first monthly topic for our new discussion series because so much pivots off jobs.  We should admit a painful fact: many of the jobs that America lost during the economic downturn won’t be coming back.  Companies are functioning leaner with more automation so the unemployed and underemployed should plan carefully.  We must work hard and work smart because the traditional 40 years with one employer and a solid pension is becoming the exception rather than the norm.  The government can’t guarantee a job that produces funds to meet your financial needs and wants.  As President Kennedy might have said, what you can do for your country is limit your obligations, training hard and pinch pennies until they scream. 

The government should provide quality schools for K-12 kids and educational options for adults while creating a business environment conducive to job creation.  We must keep a watchful eye on politicians and their relationships with special interest groups because at times it seems that the paychecks elected officials are most concerned with protecting are their own.  Candidate Obama was a master at straight talk and I need him to speak honestly about the possibility of emerging nations out hustling us with their “hungry for opportunities” workforce.  We better get on the ball.  Finally, I was alarmed by a CBS Sunday Morning cover story about 50 plus years old unemployed people.  Surprisingly, many employers pass on experience applicants because they are concerned with retirement while young workers are cheaper to employ.  Look here: the job market is a rough game and must be worked from every angle….half the process is crafty networking. If you find yourself unemployed, the time could be right to build your own house or spend precious time with young family members—raise them or the streets will.  

CBS Sunday Morning story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI1qy1Iwzl8&feature=player_embedded

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Unlikely Allies Project

March 23, 2011 by slyram

Project Logic GA is starting a year long, monthly effort design to broaden our discussion of major issues, cultivate the next group of policy leaders and create a web-based/actual meetup network of results-oriented voters.  We believe, the major political parties, the media and special interest groups often execute their agenda while the people seem like pawns on a chessboard.    

In Georgia, the current 12th, 8th and 2nd congressional districts join the likely new north Georgia congressional districts as the competitive districts during election season.  With the importance of issues and policies, we will select one major topic per month and “put it on the table” for our panel of contributors.  We are inviting contributors to chime in with a brief paragraph or two on the monthly topic with the hope that a dozen issues will be discussed by this time next year—an ebook of non-Atlanta Georgia issues because the ATL gets enough ink all ready.

The party bosses and major political players in the Atlanta enjoy battling the other side in a blood sport.  Some feel that the rest of Georgia is more genteel and would prefer a civil approach to moving our state, our South and our nation forward.  Which some folks love “fussing and beefing,” moderates and centrists generally acknowledge good points from both sides.  Who really wants to go through life with a constant vibe of loathing, hate and conflict?  

In an interesting twist, we recognize the success of the Tea Party Movement in mobilizing those who feel they are Taxed Enough Already.  While their methods and techniques are “interesting,” their passion and networking savvy should be respected and emulated.  To borrow from boxing great Ali, “they shook up the world” with motivated voters while greater numbers of voters stood idly by.    

We hope that this project will generate a facebook-based network of Georgians who will be informed and focused because a relatively small number of voters on both political ends shouldn’t select leadership and drive policy. 

 Helen Blocker Adams, Augusta talk radio host, Project Logic GA blogger and serious optimist, recently wrote the book “Unlikely Allies: 8 Steps to Bridging Divides that Impact Leadership” about people coming together to address community problems.  We love books and blogs better when they serve as the catalyst for understanding and growth. 

The Unlikely Allies Project of Project Logic GA endeavors to:

  • Hear from contributors over time on major issues; cultivating the next generation of leadership.
  • Gather a collection of facebook friends from Georgia’s competitive congressional districts who are interested in policy discussions among unlikely allies.
  • Bring Georgians together in various social settings to humanize everyone in the political discussions.

During a trip across Georgia last week, the Eagles’ song “The Long Run” came on the radio and hearing it was timely.  In Georgia, we need to think about the long run or long term development of our human resources.  When Don Henley sang, “Well I don’t understand why you don’t treat yourself better…do the crazy things that you do,” my mind turned to starting this needed effort.

Eagles’ “Long Run”

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/ixKUu3lZrmY/

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President Obama and Fear Factor

March 12, 2011 by slyram

Cokie and Steve Roberts wrote a must-read column recently about President Obama events in Florida with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.  The Roberts pointed out that the president knows that moderates are vital to his success and that he feels that he leads a nation and not just a political party.

The following congressional stats in the article will surprise anyone.     

Thirty years ago, when the National Journal started keeping these records, 58 senators occupied the middle ground between the polar extremes. Last year, there were none. As Trent Lott, the former Republican leader of the Senate, told the Journal: “Over the years, there is no question that the middle in the Senate has shrunk considerably.” 

If anything, the House has seen an even more dramatic shift toward ideological purity. In 1982, 334 House members posted ratings somewhere between the most liberal Republican and most conservative Democrat. By last year, the number had shriveled to seven, and today all but one of them — Republican Walter Jones of North Carolina — has left Congress.

http://www.albanyherald.com/opinioncolumns/headlines/Power_to_the_moderate_people_117841738.html

Certain forces in politics get their bread and butter from promoting division among Americans but we need more bridge builders who seek to acknowledge the real battle of the United States vs. The World.  Haters on both sides push the fear factor but at the end of the day your coworkers or the people on the other side of town are likely decent folks.  I came across a prank video from a Spanish language  T.V. show that humorously use the image of the kid from the horror movie “the Ring” to scare people in a real hotel hallway.  As FDR said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  The national debt and unemployment numbers are scary but real folks generally aren’t.   This blog is preparing a project that will be all about cultivating the next group of reasonable leaders.    

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Black Elite: HistoryMakers and Who’s Next

March 7, 2011 by slyram

The HistoryMakers oral history videos on Rep. Sanford Bishop and Howard University Medical School professor Dr. LaSalle Leffall reminded me of the road Black America has travelled.  This history series, which chronicles the “struggle,” provides useful insight on those shoulders we are standing.  A young person watching these stories should feel guilt-ridden if they aren’t striving for great things.

http://www.idvl.org/thehistorymakers/iCoreClient.html#/&s=6&args=2218

The leaders of the past often came from Black elite families that stress education and achievement.  Dr. LaSalle’s librarian mother in Quincy, Florida, encouraged a kid to become a doctor and that kid is currently Dr. Willie Adams, the mayor of Albany, Georgia. 

Where do we go next in Black leadership?  I personally want to see more leaders with less than perfect upbrings like Barrack Obama because the traditional Black elite might actually be detached from the average American working families.  While former congressman Harold Ford, Jr. is a glaring exception, we need an emergence of Black and White leaders with hardscrabble pasts like Senator Scott Brown or Speaker John Boehner or entrepreneurial skills like Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed.  Reed is confronting the city’s budget situation in a manner rarely seen in Democrat politicians during the past few decades.  President Obama met with Reed and other mayors to tell them that federal money for cities would be less and Reed went to work on budgetary hard choices. 

Some people can’t understand that the Black community in America turned to the federal government when state and local governments treated us anyway they wanted…badly.  We must now realize that the next step in the struggle starts with simply remembering the drive, purpose, determination and achievement of the history makers.  It always seemed that Dr. King wanted each individual to stride individually rather than waiting for a leader who could be cut down—one way or another.

I was always taught to respect my elders and those who have done so much in the past; I put their many good deeds on the scale.   With that in mind, we transitioning from Zell Miller and Sanford Bishop to the next phase of southern leadership.  In his oral statements for HistoryMakers, Bishop said that Miller often talked about a turtle being on a fence post and that one thing was certain—he didn’t get there on his own.  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a history professor, pushed for an America where every child has an opportunity to achieve.  If that child squandered that opportunity, that’s life and the government can’t ensure a certain quality of life for everyone.  We are in a democratic and not a socialist state.  Dr. Bill Cosby says the same thing.

Every American community would be better if leaders talked plain and told regular folks what the real deal is.  The next generation of history makers will contain polished children of the Black elite but also regular folks who are sick and tired of being sick and tired; folks who have always known that your success or failure ultimately being and ends with you.   At the same time, we must have compassion for suffering children.  The 60 Minutes segment on homeless kids broke my heart.

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