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Pennsylvania Pool Controversy: Where you fit in

July 10, 2009 by slyram

The Pennsylvania Pool Controversy should be examined from all angles because what is often labeled as racism could be a combination of racism and/or factors involved cultural, socioeconomic and diversity factors.  Private swim club members had issues with “certain” children groups using the pool.  While color seem to be the big issue, we should remember (real talk) that parents of all colors are “particular” about whom their children are around.

The kid who was crying on the news report seem like a nice young person but parents pick schools, churches, activities and neighborhoods all the time with the intent of protection the development of their children—of course, there are times when your kid is the one to avoid.  I think it rarely crosses some people’s minds that Blacks guard whom their kids are around; seeking to avoid rough non-Blacks, rough Blacks or those with a superiority complex.  Welcome to the New South. 

I played the uncle role while my sister and her husband were in Australia on business this week and celebrating their 20th Wedding Anniversary.  Did a Black guy from south Georgia write that statement and a better question is do non-Blacks in the South really know Blacks living like: international business, two decades of marriage.  I spent the last week in south Georgia trying to guard and monitor who my three young family members were exposed to and it was hard.  We were up at Lake Blackshear and some of the kids at the swimming area and playground seem seem seem (how can I put this delicately) seem like my brother and me as kids.  Remember, we grew up during the last part of Jim Crow so we were not soft but my sister then and her kids now.  Soft. 

So, the kids are from diverse Charlotte and attend Montessori school (vouchers needed) with a range of kids but Uncle Me is not letting them speak to any kids who don’t look like them to avoid an elitist incident like the P.A. pool drama.  The question is whether some kids who don’t look like them will try to bring them down or if they will say something pretentious that will get them grounded up—did I mention they are kind of soft.  They say stuff like, “When will you be able to afford marriage and a new truck.”

Families work hard to insulate members from the roughness of the real world or to expose members at deliberate stages but like good bacteria, life is life and if you guard them to much the kids might be weak.  These kids today don’t have seasoning we had from growing up battling real racism and battling inside the Black.

Don’t sleep: there are people who join certain institutions to avoid people who don’t look or think like them.  I do some of that and remember being at a Little League game a few years ago when my childhood friend pardon himself for a second to yell over to his son that he should “get in where he fit in” —then he looked back at me and smiled. 

To be honest, I am confidence that people join a certain political party in the South to get away from most people of a particular race and to design public policy based on what they believe everyone should be doing—without consultation with anyone.  Let me stop beating around the bush, I am taking about the GOP and I will give them credit for one thing: they stand by their guns (literally) and have no intentions on discussing if they are, were or ever will be wrong about anything.  Let’s hope President Obama learns from the GOP’s recent past.   How in the world could the GOP act in a way that repels my sister and her family because on paper they are so conservative?  Yes, they love the vouchers and dislike the Obama tax increase but the GOP operatives techniques are questionable.

About the kids in the P.A. pool drama, they will be fine because it is better to be around people who want to be around you.  We don’t want you exposed to those type people and adults should remember the same thing.

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Michael Jackson and Robert McNamara

July 7, 2009 by slyram

225px-RobertMcNamara55

Robert McNamara

While we are spending so much time on Michael Jackson this week, I wonder if the Nam Era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara actually had as big an impact on our world.  McNamara was a whiz kid for real: Eagle Scout, Berkeley Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard B_School professor, president of Ford Motor Company. 

We are all familiar with his role in the escalation of the Vietnam Conflict but few remember that McNamara was for the father of Zero Based Budgeting.  That tripped me out in grad school; McNamara takes ZBB to the Department of Defense and Jimmy Carter takes notice and implements it in Georgia then later the federal government.

Before ZBB, agency would assume their new fiscal year amount would be a continuation of last year.  With ZBB, the budget process starts with zero.  Later, performance-based budgeting emerged and the rest is history.

Michael Jackson was the King of Pop but Robert McNamara changed the game also.  I am no expert and I might be wrong but I think Halliburton came from Vietnam and if you believe Oliver Stone JFK, RFK and MLK were assassinated by the Defense Industrial Complex because these leaders had doubts about our involvement in southeast Asia.  I don’t know but next time someone crosses us. let’s light that tail up from high in the sky and enough of this nation building, regime change stuff.  It is hard to tell struggling towns and cities they can’t get some stimulus cheese after spending like Iraq was the 51st state and Afghanistan is being the 52nd. 

I am going to miss Michael but then again I have been missing him for years.  Can we do that; can we stop the clock on someone when we choose.  The music was great and we try not to speak ill of the dead but my Michael Jackson still looks like me, my hair, my nose.  The world can have post Triller MJ. 

McNamara is gone without a elaborate function at Staples Center—maybe, Veterans Memorial Stadium would be more fitting.  Let me get this right: my oldest brother in the military during Nam to free the people in southeast Asia while our mother could not drink out of a water cooler in Georgia..could not swim in a pool and my father could not get a PHD in ag from UGA because he was Black.  Check the stats on the number of Nam combat troops who look like me….without a doubt “this land is your land, this land is my land.”

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Palin–got me off the Grill

July 3, 2009 by slyram

I said I was not going to blog during the holiday weekend and need to significantly reduce the time and energy I spend on the political junkie stuff but Governor Palin made me take a break from marinating chicken. 

Let this marinate: if Palin is leaving the governorship to fully focus on connecting with the people in the lower 48 and running for president, be concerned…be very concerned.  The soon-to-be former governor and I were born in the same (as was First Lady Obama) so I kind of support her achievements on some level.  But, I thought Palin was going to study policy and issues in preparation for a presidential bid—IN ADDITION to being governor.  The first thing out of the mouths of Palin supporters will be Obama…part of a senate term…president. 

(At this point, a wiser person would stop writing and go clean the grill.) 

President Obama, the community organizer, was president or editor of the Harvard Law Review and spent much time down state in Springfield in the legislature.  Before I walk away from regular blogging altogether let me say one thing I feel in my gut: Obama and Hillary ended the primary battle last year when he said he would make her Secretary of State, push for real change and if it doesn’t work, he would gracefully admitted failure and be a one termer—greenlighting Clinton 2012. 

I have always said that stacking the deck is important and I was cool after the presidential field got down to McCain, Romney, Obama, Clinton and Huckabee.  If the economic doesn’t recover, I don’t want to see Obama beat up for four more years but Romney would be the logical one at that point because he has a strong finance and business background and Newt would be a close second.  To seriously put Palin, in the same conversation with Clinton, Obama, Gingrich and Romney is tripping if she doesn’t step her game up. 

On the other hand, she could be the next Oprah…..okay Hasselbeck.

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Obama, Denzel and Matthew

July 1, 2009 by slyram

You know how we like to call a film star by a character’s name for the rest of his life.  Matthew Broderick is Ferris Bueller to me forever. If I see him in a mall, I will say, “Ferris, what up.”  In that movie, Ferris got away with any and everything while his dumbfounded sister watched with amazement. 

Politics and policy is like than sometimes and we the public fail to understand the smooth Ferris-types of the world.  Are you Ferris, his right-seeking sister or a gullible member of the supporting cast?  Here’s a spoiler: at the end of the day more often than not, Ferris comes out smelling like a rose. 

Broderick also starred as a Union officer Colonel Robert Shaw in Glory.  I am still ticked that Denzel’s character got whipped for getting shoes.  “Ferris, why Denzel can have a pair of shoes.  That’s plain nasty.”  A guy name Keith from Albany played a freed slave in the movie; I knew him from escorting debutantes in high school.  I would have made a much better slave that curly-haired Keith but they would have been whipping me next to Denzel because I would have gotten some shoes and a coat.   Kidding aside, General Sherman hated freed slaves following his army and did not like Blacks in general. 

I just rewatched that whipping part of Glory and remembered that a Black man is the current president of these United States– only in America.  Denzel in movie after movie can have that look on this face that says, “One day.”  The rapper Jadakiss had a song with Anthony Hamilton called “Why” in which he walked around saying out loud whatever came to his mind.  That was a big mistake in my opinion because you don’t pick public fights with powerful people are you will end up with a FBI file, IRS audit or toe tag.  I was grooving to Jadakiss’s flow until I heard “Why Bush knock down the towers…Why Hallie Berry had to let _____ to get an Oscar…why Denzel had to be crooked before he took it.”  To be honest, Denzel’s Training Day Oscar was really for his collective body of film work and Russell Crowe’s performance in A Beautiful Mind was better.  Yes, I said it—the White dude got robbed like everyone in the Color Purple got robbed on Oscar night. 

Jadakiss, rappers and bloggers are free to write what they want but it is silly and wrong to think a modern American president would be involved in an attack or repulsive action.  (I said “modern” because, you know, slavery, Trail of Tears.)   In the better part of that song, Jadakiss said, “Why it’s a brother up North better than Jordan, didn’t get that break.”  I could teach a youth group for an hour off that one line…what happens to a dream deferred…

A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Do you remember when Andrew Young as an elected leader was expected to attend a traditional dress-up Civil War era ball and he decided to wear a Union uniform rather than the Grey of most attendees.  That was a classic smooth move.  While writing here, I have sought to make a smooth move by supporting the centrist idea that southerners could come together to improve opportunities for our region.  But like Ferris’s sister I was naïve because bickering and conflict is in our DNA.  Political parties and race are secondary to the mother’s milk of politics and policy—money.  My high school econ teacher told us that he read a book in grad school that traced every major historic event back to money. 

People can talk a good game but I for one will publicly state here (like anyone actually reads this stuff) that blogging or political ideas for me boils down to professional opportunities–money–who moved my cheese.  Rich fancy folks are going to be rich fancy folks and the rest of us will eat the leftovers or the crumbs if any.  Bitterly blogging or seeking the big payback is a toxic way to function in life.  Some folks are not in the game because they were not effective when the opportunity presented itself in the past—so goes life.

Last night, I was thinking about the unpleasant nature of my blog writing and for some strange reason my mind turned to Ferris Buller…Matthew Broderick…Matthew, the book in the Bible.  While I am relatively weak in my faith, I read Matthew on my cellphone Bible. 

 Mat 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them.  Wow, talk about your timely stuff.  I really should have been more attentive in church for the last 40 years.  I even backed up and read the Beatitudes because while the Democrats are too free with the checkbook, President Barrack Obama is such good person and I hope he is successful—like I hoped the same for all U.S. presidents.  He really needs to hear more moderate/conservatism in his ear.  That could come from reasonable Republicans, moderate Democrats or surging third parties.  We will see but I plan to change my vibe….and read my cellphone more.

 Mat 6:2 When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.  Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.     

 Mat 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you. 

 Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 

 

You don’t need to have all the votes to affect an election—go ask Ross Perot and Ralph Nader.  Hopefully, the sensible center will use our ability to sway elections to encourage the bitter partisans on both political ends to peacefully come to the table with constructive intentions.  I am back sounding like Ferris’s sister because if you are watching for some folks to “change” you will be awaiting a while.

 Jadakiss: Why

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIcQR66PYCg

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Status Quo

June 30, 2009 by slyram

I am starting to feel like that guy on Tin Cup or 35 years old in the minor leagues in baseball. At some point, you need to realize that there is no future for you in a certain field and it’s time to start selling aluminum siding. Anyone want to buy some aluminum sliding?

I have seen blogger blog with various motives but I have always tried to be clear that I blogged to bounce some political or policy ideas around in hope of getting called back up to the big leagues in the form of a field position with a congressional office. Part enthusiasm and part revenge, it would have been cool to change the game for the better.

At the end of the day, status quo rules and the road to hell is paved with good intentions but if not Cain, Bogans or Blocker-Adams our community will have some representation in the other major party because political diversity is important. And I will end my stating honesty that my problem with the old boys club is that I did not get an invite.

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Real Obama Change and Black Professionals

June 29, 2009 by slyram

Be careful what you wish for because real problems and real solutions might cause a dramatic change in your professional and financial life.  But, good Americans want what is best for the nation—right.  President Obama is a great guy but you know he really is balancing hard solutions with the grim reality that some core supporter won’t like what needs to be done. 

Teachers give a sound effort but the public school system needs fundamental improvements.  Those improvements actually start with people having kids when they are prepared to raise properly developed, responsible children but politicians can’t say that or they will be accused of genocide or something.  So, teachers who were trained to teach subject matter find themselves as surrogate parents, social workers and role models (the same can be said about police officers.) 

What if we embrace that concept and train teachers for the roles need to be play in young lives.  I am thinking supplements similar to coaches for more men in lower graders and retired military in upper graders.  How many kids in certain areas grow up without a strong male in their lives and preacher are not doing it because people are half going to church.  One strong male in a boy’s or girl’s life could plant that positive seed and I included girls because too many are only exposed to the shady, weak guys their mothers dated—if you can call that dating.  We need male and female teachers who are firm yet fair and who can consistently get students to buy into the importance of developing their minds.  If teachers can’t do that, they should seek other employment.

Healthcare professionals (doctors, administrators, nurses) should stop defending their wallets and realize that big changes are need in their field.  The health care debate should include their input as much as the government and insurance companies but like teachers the first thing out of their mouth is don’t reduce their incomes.  It alls comes down to cost effective performance and results

We often forget about the avenue into the Black middle class provided by the military.  The armed services gave many a son and daughter of the South the opportunity to secure their financial futures and see the world.  We need to hear from them more about what works and doesn’t work with the Pentagon’s use of defense contractors and when nation-building and regime change crosses the line.  We care about people in Iraq and Afghanistan but should not forget about Idaho and Alabama public works projects.  With net base education and distance learning, down time in the war zone might be a good time to earn degrees and credentials for post-military careers in law enforcement and teaching.  Little Johnny won’t “bow-up” so fast on a no-nonsense teacher with combat experience and the girls in the community could learn a lot from a vet who is deliberate in her actions and fully-focus.  Luckily, these troops to teachers and troops to cops programs currently exist and should be expanded.

I am confident fair people will accept changes or “corrections” for the common good in the same matter that people in the auto-making and banking industries were forced to grasp rough realities.  As President Obama has repeatedly stated, now it is time for the hard part to being.

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Come On People: the Cosby Book

June 26, 2009 by slyram

As we consider the next steps in improving the community, the book Come On People by Dr. Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint is a must read. Here are my highlights from this firm and real book.

cosby

Come On People: Notes

p. 36             Although few acknowledge it-who would?- the doctrine of white supremacy has sunk deeply into the minds of too many Americans, black people included.  It has slithered its way into the psyches of poor black youth with low self-esteem, who equate academic success with whiteness.  And if success is “white” then are we saying that to “act black” is to fail?

p. 103 Dr. George McKenna Now when we underachieve, we compare ourselves to some other underachievers and celebrate being the best of the pitiful.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is a definition of insanity.  When you create an alternative reality and believe that where you are is normal, you’re insane.

We see a lot of alternative reality in Compton, kids who pride themselves on saying, “I will walk like this.  It won’t get me anywhere, but I’m a big man in a mall square and I will kill my fellow brothers over land I neither lease, own, rent or pay taxes on, and call in my turf.”

p. 108-109 We are all worried sick about the high school drop-out rate of greater than 50 percent in many of our cities- with higher rates for black males than females.  In Baltimore, for example, about 75 percent of black males do not graduate from high school.

As a result of such stupid decision, our jails overflow with your black male high school dropouts.  A year of college at a state school costs the state about ten thousand dollars; a year in jail costs about twenty-five thousand dollars.

p. 110 We have to copy the methods of successful schools in low-income black communities.  Positive examples exist in cities around the country.  It is not enough simply to add tougher courses or more homework.  Schools succeed best when the entire “school culture” is changed to support success instead of failure.

Education reformers report that the core components of effective schools are: a sense of purpose, clear standards, high expectations of all, a belief that all students can be educated, safe and orderly environments, strong partnership with parents and caregivers, and a commitment to solving problems.

p. 195 FACE THE FACTS HEAD-ON   Here are some unfortunate facts: Black youths are six times more likely to die from homicide than white youths and seven times more likely to commit a homicide.  During the last thirty years, close to 50 percent of the homicides in the United States have been committed by black people, mostly black men, and 94 percent of the victims of black killers were black.  Is this crazy or what?  Homicide, in fact, is the leading cause of death among black males between the ages of fifteen and twenty-nine and has been of decades.

p. 211 In 1954, the year of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, about ninety-eight thousand African-Americans were in prison.  Today, there are nearly ten times as many black people in prison.  According to the Sentencing Project, 32 percent of the black men born today will go to prison at some point on their lifetime.  In 2005, 4.7 percent of all black men were in prison, compared to 1.9 percent of Hispanic males and .7 percent of white males.

p. 218 Charles Ramsey, former chief of police in Washington D.C.    Let me just give you a picture of some of the issues that we’re confronted with.  First of all, let me start by saying that we’ve got more decent kids than we have bad kids.

The fact often gets overshadowed because we focus on the negative, and rightfully so, because we do have a serious problem out here.   But we have to continue to support those youngsters who are trying to do the right thing.  We also have the reality that we have a significant population of young people that is totally lost.

p. 224 TAKE ANY LEGITMATE JOB       Parents and caregivers, have you heard a kid say, “Well, I can either flip burgers or go out here and make real money selling drugs”?  When you hear that, do you stop that child and say, “Wait a minute, fool.  You don’t flip burgers for the rest of your life.  You flip them to become the manager of the place.  You flip burgers to move from manager to owner of the damn franchise”?

You have to say this to your kids more than once.  So do their teachers.  If the kids give you lip, ask them to identify a middle-aged, home-owning drug-dealing grandpa with a family that loves him.  That will keep them quiet-and busy.

Please remind your young people that there is no shame in hard work.  All work is honorable and makes a contribution to society whether that work is as a janitor or an astronaut.  An unpleasant job usually leads to a better job as young people develop working skills that are useful on any job, including the ability to work with others and be punctual.  The unemployment rate for black people is twice that of white people- this has to change.

The truth is that if we all showed more respect to blue-collar workers, there would be less rejection of so-called menial jobs by our youth.  If there was less rejection, kids would see that one job leads to another as the worker gains experience and basic workplace skills such as cooperating with others, taking orders, and keeping regular work hours.  By not giving up hope and persevering against the odds, many succeed.

p. 226 The high cost of childhood poverty is tragic.  It is estimated that children who grow up poor cost the country five hundred billion dollars a year.  Poor people do not contribute sufficiently to the economy, and the health and criminal costs that grow out of poverty are enormous.  Experts argue that we can counter poverty levels by extending the earned income tax credit to more low-income workers.   But don’t overlook the word earned.  If you don’t earn it, you don’t get it.  Our children are in great need, and we cannot afford to squander any opportunities.

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R.J. Hadley Runs for Senate Against Isakson

June 25, 2009 by slyram

Keith at Peanut Politics blog emailed me that R.J. Hadley is running for Senate against Senator Isakson.  I personally like Isakson and wonder why candidates bypass the House and target the Senate on the first run.  We will see but watch the Democrat power establishment produce their candidate despite Hadley credentials.

 Does anyone read my blog because I tried to tell the Dem Team to blow off the Isakson race and therefore leave his war chest and machine on the sidelines—the way Ralph Reed as head of the Georgia GOP did not run anyone against Rep. Sanford Bishop when Saxby Chambliss won his Senate seat the first time.   

 Peanut Politics: RJ Hadley to challenge Johnny Isakson for U.S. Senate.

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Former Senator Sam Nunn on Results

June 23, 2009 by slyram

Former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn made a lot of sense on NBC’s Meet the Press this weekend.  I have always considered him the standard for southern moderates who must balance the interests of vastly different groups inside the same political area. 

Regarding President Obama’s position on Iran, Senator Nunn said:

FMR. SEN. SAM NUNN (D-GA):  Well, he said that the regime has been unjust and he has condemned the repression, and he has basically expressed over and over again, including long before the election in the Cairo speech, that the people had the right to be heard and their voice should be heard.  And certainly, I don’t think there’s any mistake whatsoever in the Middle East or anywhere else that President Obama is basically supporting the right of the people to vote and to make their influence known and not to be repressed.

You know, Winston Churchill said a long time ago that no matter how beautiful the strategy, occasionally you have to look at the result.  The result here is that we are not the story.  We have been the great Satan over there for the last 30 years.  We’re not the story.  Freedom, liberty is the story, the repression of the regime is the story.  So I think we’re positioned about right. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31463249/ns/meet_the_press/page/2/

I am feeling that Churchill quote about looking at the results because at the end of the day it is all about results.  The U.S. foreign policy cowboy mentality of telling most of the world what to do as if they are children was wrong and cloaking our corporate greed in foreign policy based on exploitation was also wrong.  Nunn has Obama’s ear and we are lucky for that because Nunn is going to call it like he see it with patience and deliberation.

Party politics was no big thing to Sam Nunn because his dedication was to the people of Georgia first.  The Black community in Georgia should look for the next Sam Nunn type.  Of course, we need to do it like we do it with our own version of conservatism that grows from churches and stable Black homes and businesses because the GOP establishment really doesn’t have a clue about the average Black person. 

Improving Black America starts with real talk about the decisions we make—what you put on your proverbial plate.   After years of having a sizeable Congressional Black Caucus avoid saying publicly that really needs to be said, our community should look into some conservative and moderate options that would get at what ails us.  It is about results and getting the results we voted for last November will require electing some Republicans who will fairly debate policy and spending with the White House. 

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Father’s Day with a Twist: Salute Intentional Childless Men

June 20, 2009 by slyram

father day

This weekend we will hear everything that can be said fondly about America’s fathers.  I wanted to take this opportunity to salute an often forgotten group, intentional childless men.  Some men take parenthood so seriously that they wait for the optimal time and conditions to bring a child into this world. 

If those conditions never occur, some deliberate guys choose to enjoy their wives, extended family and/or the sweet single life.  My wise cousin who grew up in Philly tells me to go where you want and do what you want when you want because you have neither “chick nor child.”  That statement must be her way of saying thank heaven that your selfish behind realized your selfishness and skipped parenthood. 

Fatherhood in the Black community is the toughest job you will ever love.  But, it is a roll of the dice.  My deer hunting friends (code for White guys) put that little red and black Georgia Bulldog football in the crib with their sons and look forward to gameday at Sanford Stadium in twenty years.  Of course, their sons will likely be sitting in the stands next to them rather than on the field.  What about the brothers who think that their sons practicing basketball 6 hours a day will get them into the N.B.A.  If Junior would get his homework with that much determination he could be in the N.B.A., the National Bankers Association and own a basketball team.  Wait a second; non-parents have no rights to offer commentary on parenting.

If I had to work as hard as my daddy did—that man loved working- to provide for some kids who might turnout to be crappy people, I will pass and by the looks of things a considerable percentage of those who produced children should have passed also.  If the kids are here, it is time to step up because the human infant is likely more dependant than any other mammal.  “Did he just refer to my precious buddle of joy as a mammal?” 

In high school, I worked at a little radio station and next to the microphone the station owner placed a Winston Churchill quote.  Basically, the quote stated that it was not expected of you to do your best; it was expected of you to do what was expected of you. That statement has Father’s Day written all over it. 

In politics and policy, the officeholders from my community are reluctant in asking young people to refrain from starting families until they are prepared.  Of course, parenthood and marriage (not in that order) actually seasons and matures some fellows—who knows.  Successful guys my age can always get involved with Big Brothers, be good uncles or adopt a nice teenager. 

The public assistance and abortion debate should include targeting teens with real options and information so they will hopefully understand that parenthood is different from having a puppy and I have seen some folks with babies who I would not trust with a puppy. 

How in the world has the conservative movement failed to capitalize on the common sense mindset of reasonable African Americans?  I like President Obama as head of the executive branch of government and the residual benefit of a strong young family in the White House is priceless to Americans of any color.  If the Georgia GOP wants to pick up a congressional seat in say Macon, a genteel Black Republican with say a strong intellectual husband would appeal to our community like southern Obamas—giving Black fatherhood examples is better than still another grant.  

Girls with “daddy issues” might have messy relationships with men. Boys with absent fathers might ended being raised by the streets and fellow inmates.  The women who were mother and father to their children should enjoy their second holiday in two months.

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Common English Errors

June 18, 2009 by slyram

While teaching an academic refresher class in a welfare to work program, a student asked me to make a list of the common English errors she should avoid.  The list because the first day icebreaker for new groups and the standard for speaking at the facility—in and out of class.  Former students still thank me for “the list” because it helped them with interviews, work and parenting.  From 600 plus students, a surprising number have kept the list handy for years to improve the English of their families.

ENGLISH ERRORS

 1.     fittin’ = fixing

2.     gull    = girl

3.     baze   =bath

4.     bout   =about

 5.     –in     =ing

6.     dat     =that

7.     doze   =those or doors

8.     dez     =these

9.     nem    =them

10. wit     =with

 11. menz  =men

12. y’all   =you all

13. chew  =you

14. showl =sure is

15. betcha =bet you

 16. nann   =none

17. sometin’=something

18. wartor   =water          

19. flow =floor

 20. foe =four

21. ax =ask

22. lawd =lord

23. lil =little

 24. bitness =business

25. stoe =store

26. lunt =loan

27. wuz =was

28. hur=her 

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Education of Our Youth

June 18, 2009 by slyram

Kids who think that they are not suppose to learn in the summer are simply wrong.  School is formal education and everything else is informal education or other components in the learning process.  What about the family that plans summer vacation trips to hit historical sites and science centers or the families who would send the city kids to the country and vice versa?  Listening to grandparents’ wisdom and knowledge helps complete the well-rounded child.

The teens of south Georgia should spend a few weeks working in the infamous “fields.” When I harvested watermelon, cantaloupes, and tomatoes, my muscles ached but I learn that the slaves and sharecroppers had in rough and this was not the work for me.  I was on the honor roll the next year because I was trying to have educational and career options to keep me out of those fields…unless I was the farm owner. 

Some of the kids today don’t know how to learn.  The information covered in class should be used everyday for the rest of their lives.  Kids walk out of English class speaking the worst English you ever heard.  Parents should be mindful of the English spoken around kids at home and correct mistakes.  I was a “community organizer” with a community development program at my alma mater and my duties included teaching job skills and academic refresher classes in a welfare to work program.  My students would complain about not getting jobs in retail at the local mall and I would tell them the real reasons—they couldn’t speak or listen properly. 

The first thing I noticed was their fast manner of speaking.  One student would repeat everything three times to get the listener to understand. “WhatagotoBurgerKing, WhatagotoBurgerKing, WhatagotoBurgerKing.” I pointed out that it would have been easier to say it one time a little slower and speaking slowly was the considerate thing to do..like an attorney during court cases on Law and Order.  With the addition time, a speaker could construct grammatically correct sentences and be that much closer to the coveted job selling chinos at the Gap.  Of course, working in the mall might introduce them to a man who was more focused than the kuckleheads from some of their pasts. 

I tried to teach them to be resourceful by watching the more educational channels and news discussions rather than a constant diet of music videos and “he is not this child’s father” shows.  To me, Maury Povich and BET can damage America as much as Kim Jong-il. 

What Obama does for or to our community cannot compare to what we could do by being more resourceful and deliberate in our formal and informal educations and President Obama will quickly tell you that.  During the July 4th cookouts, we should look for two groups at the same party.  One group will feature “uncle in and out of jail” telling glorious stories about his sordid past.  The other groups will feature “uncle the military gave me options” who will be emphasizing personal responsibility and consequences.  The first uncle talks fast and you can hardily understand what he is saying while puffing on a Newport.  The second uncle speaks clearly and composes his statements around a central theme…while puffing on a Newport. 

While the cookout does not take place in a farmer’s field, both uncles will plant seeds with the youth.  In twenty years, the kids from that cookout might reflect lessons learned that day from the uncles.

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The People Have Spoken: SPLOST VI passes in Augusta

June 17, 2009 by hba1

Although it was less than 10,000 of the Richmond County, Ga. voters that took the time to go and vote, there was mandate of 70% of them that said ‘yes’ to SPLOST VI. This issue was one of the first that I was publicly vocal because it impacts so many people. Local, state and federal government are not the perfect models. Especially in this day and time. But it’s what we’ve got. And for a local municipality to have a revenue stream to fund infrastructure, roads, capital projects and quality of life projects without having to put the total burden on property owners, SPLOST VI is the way to go. My prediction was 68% yes and 32% no. Seems I was pretty close and I’m pleased about that. Vocal supporters had a victory party at one of the local night spots and the media took notice. Check out the front page photo of today’s Augusta Chronicle. http://www.augustachronicle.com. By the way, I’m the one in the middle holding my Blackberry that showed the election results.

hbatax

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/06/17/met_527947.shtml

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Some of These Teens Out Here Today: Part 1

June 16, 2009 by slyram

When I hear those heart-warming songs on the fourth of July, my national pride is strong.  But, great nations aren’t born; they are built brick by brick and person by person with determination, resolve, respect, fortitude, shame, focus and responsibility.  My friends and I jokingly say that they don’t make Black folks like they use to when referring the character of our parents’ generation compare to our generation.  Is it just me getting old and cranky or are the school kids today considerably more disrespectful and unfocused. 

The disclaimer: there are great teens who say “yes sir” and “no sir” like the young people who work at the local Harvey’s grocery store.  They don’t know where any items are actually located but they are nice.  That’s it; even the nice kids are not resourceful enough the look at the items as they walk the store a hundred times a day.  In my day, a kid employed at McDonalds or at a golf course would impress a business person who would offer them a job just for working with enthusiasm and drive.  Today, a kid will cuss you out for recommending a low paying job that would take them away from texting their friends, surfing the web or playing video games.  If the video games, giant HDTVs and the web are so visually stimulating, how can teachers and pastors keep young people’s attention?

Don’t you dare say go high tech because I want to go low tech or no tech.  Let’s start a charter school like the one on Little House of the Prairie with water pump outside.  Children sit down and learn..period.  If the students don’t like it, who cares because that was the point; learn to do something you don’t want to do.  I would take 20K a year to work at that school over 45K in a regular public school.  If you hear that I am teaching school, tell the local news van to back up to the school and leave the motor running…story coming soon about new teacher putting a little monster in a headlock; parents planning lawsuit.  

People need to have the ability to do what they don’t want to do.  Time for a non-P.C. racial stereotype: many Asian kids are very obedient, respectful and focused before they hanging out with other kids.  Isn’t it amazing that the last five years of being a teen shapes the next five decades.

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Some of These Teens Out Here Today: Part 2

June 16, 2009 by slyram

Mortgaging our kids’ fiscal futures is a concern but a bigger issue should be the drive of the kids in the developing world (Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe) compared to the average American teen if you read Thomas L. Friedman’s The World Is Flat.  While there are excepts, many teens in our community have the entitlement mentality that First Lady Michelle Obama and her mother refuse to allow the Obama girls to develop.  Our children have funky dispositions and I can’t stand them as far as I can throw them.  Can I throw them?

So, I am playing tennis with a former basketball coach at the high school yesterday and the football team is going through drills.  Evidently, the coaches worked with the younger players first, then took the underclassmen pass the tennis courts to the practice field.  For the next hour, I heard about a dozen players who appeared to be around ninth grade used the worst language in front of the gym as loudly as they could—s, a, mf, b, d, p and n-gger.  Not my business, don’t speak to other people’s children, my name is West, I am not in that mess.  Then I started to place the blame for this unacceptable behavior: the kids themselves, parents, lower grade teachers, church, family, DNA, lack of oxygen in the birth canal, was not whipped like we were.  Spare the rob…spare the rob.

While I was no angel at that age, I respected women, children and older people during public conversations.  We would change the language or say salty things quietly.  Since I can’t give up on the youth because they are my classmates’ kids or sometimes grandkids, I employed the glare technique to no avail.  For all the years I was respectful, I intend on enjoy the same reverence.  As coaches’ wives and children walked past them, the ugliness continued without pause.  I had enough after hearing part of the talk that would make a drunken sailor blush and said, “Fellows, would you please watch your language.”  The ringleaders laughed and I decided that I would be at their games in the fall so I can watch decent kids put them on their behinds every time the ball is snapped. 

In recent years, our high school sports teams have looked good on paper but lacked the character and focus to win state championships.  Champions are made between the ears and coaches can’t be blame if they start with youth without strong moral fiber and will.  I really don’t think I was upset at the kids as much as the parents who failed to prepare them for life—they are being raised by music videos.  It pains me to say that those kids had the mentality and social skills of fourth graders and the okay kids were being negatively influenced by the worst ones.  Here’s the fun part.  As the coach walked back to the gym, the loudmouths got nervous when thinking that we were going to rat them out.  Of course, I sung like a jaybird, which might have been a mistake because the little homies could be “connected.”  

I don’t have the answer but someone needs to figure something out soon because today’s kuckleheads or tomorrow’s inmates/fathers—talk about your vicious circle.  But, those coaches are well-intended professionals and you don’t measure an operation by who comes into the program; you notice the quality of the products who finish.  Of those loudmouths, only a few will be with the team in the fall.  Some folks can’t take discipline. 

In education, teachers who can’t reach the youth should admit failure and allow someone else the opportunity to get the job done because the consequences of failure are bigger threats to America’s future than the Taliban. 

While I won’t say it, some friends think the answer starts with encouraging less than bright people to refrain from populating the nation with idiots.  We have all been riding in a car and saw rough-looking teens courting and someone said, “let’s hope they don’t have a child because that gene pool is polluted.”  I can see it in their eyes; a disconnect from a functioning value system and the inability to determine appropriate social behavior.  What’s sad is that many will ended up in shackles like the ones we worked hard to throw off.  I can’t watch that happen. 

To end on a positive note, it feels good when a young adult stops me and say thanks for trying to talk some sense into his head during his teen years.  I say no problem, it is the least I can do since folks talked to me during my teen years and if you get really rich buy me a pontoon boat.

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Young Cons rapping on Huckabee Show

June 15, 2009 by slyram

Blog contributor HBA said she saw Young Cons on the Fox channel.  Megan Fox or Vivica Fox has her own channel and Huckabee has a show there.  Kidding aside, it’s is cool that rapping as a medium grown from the streets of New York to every corner of the nation and globe. 

I have been in the developing world and some lovely woman says in broken English that hip hop and the urban struggle is similar to their struggle with their oppressors.  While I am from the rural area, who am I to argue with a local.  I might as well claim to assisting with the creation of hip hop the same summer I helped Al Gore create the internet.

But, I still won’t turn my baseball cap to the side (that’s un-American and disrespectful to Jackie Roosevelt Robinson from Cairo, Georgia, and the Negro Leagues.)  And I only turn my cap backwards when I am nailing something in a confined place—HGTV that’s the channel. 

Back to the point, the Young Cons have their message down but should work on their mic skills—rent 8 Mile and watch M flow or better yet check Eric B and Rakim; 3rd Base and Wu Tang Clan.  I am still amazed my Wu Tang Clan’s extensive vocabulary and knowledge so pay attention in school budding rappers.    

Young Con are going to be okay and serve their purpose for them team- peace to them.  Ice-T was wrong to say that Will Smith can’t rap if he is not from ghetto; rap what you know and the children of Black professionals don’t know the struggle…thank heaven. 

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The Libertarian Affect

June 15, 2009 by slyram

Incumbents general cruise to victory in Georgia congressional politics but recently Libertarian candidates forced several elections into runoffs where two candidates duke it out without the coattails of their party’s heap in their corners.

How many Democrats voted for Rep. Jim Marshall during the Obama wave last November but could not pick him out of a lineup?  Actually, I am wrong about that because TV viewers saw the 1.3 zillion political ads he ran that never connected him to my guy Obama.  About Obama, while the president is quick to kiss and make nice we will live in this South while he is planning his presidential library on the side of an Hawaiian mountain or in a Kansas cornfield.  President Obama doesn’t have the right to tell me not to be upset that Rep. Jim Marshall never help us get Hillary or him into the White House.

I have been listening to the Libertarians and other “third” parties lately and came to realize that they are often about creating better government and deeper discussions rather than winning elections.  A non-Democrat or non-Republican candidate gets into the debates and asks the real questions about what’s what and if the people are feeling that whole truth thing a runoff is needed and all bets are off.

So Rs and Ds are forcing to make better policy and be fiscally sound now because the people will remember in November after the third party candidate constantly reminds them.  In the past, Rs and Ds could do whatever they wanted because the only other choice was other considerably different.  The Libertarian candidates I have seen in the past, who get their debates suits at Jacque C. Penne, actually thought they were going to win and it turns out they were right because their objective was to improve the accountability of officeholders.       

If a few of those Tea Party guys run for congress next year, things will be interesting for the Blue Dogs and GOPers because those cats have a double barrel shotgun of fact checking.  If you have a Blue Dog in a runoff with a decent GOP candidate because a third party candidate ran well, history has proven that the Democrat base doesn’t come back out. 

On the other hand, the GOP should be concerned about losing supporters who are discovering that our current national crisis is due in large part to Chaney, Rove and congressional Republicans leading W down the wrong path and misleading the people as they planned their cushy post-government careers with elite private sector companies and firms.  What if GOP voters start think, “Wait a second, Bush did do all of this alone..where was the congressional oversight from the Blue Dogs and the GOP.”

For sake of full disclosure, my personal problem with the establishment is that I did get my corner office….yet.  As  rapper Biggie Smalls said, “Call the crib…same number..same hood…it’s all good…and if you don’t know…now you know.”  That’s the unsettling thing about third party movements; they can’t be bought.

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Can Michael Steele and John Boehner Stop GOP Self Destruction?

June 14, 2009 by slyram

I keeping hearing the hook from rap anthem “Self Destruction” when I think about Obama’s concerns for our community.  With elements of Kennedy’s “Ask not what this country can do for you” classic speech, President Obama and his lovely family will outline the formula for better living for those who care about themselves and how we carry ourselves.  However, that same rap hook applies to the self-destruction of the GOP.  

The GOP is working hard to marginalize themselves and doing a fine job.  Alienate Blacks with attacks on Obama, Steele and Powell…check…alienate Hispanics and women with attacks on Sotomayor….check…alienate centrists by pushing Specter away and preparing to attack McCain and the few remaining moderate GOP senators if they voted for Sotomajor’s confirmation….check and checkmate.  You just guaranteed defeat in the midterm elections.  

If the GOP purifies their rank and file, those voters pushed away will natural hang in the center or join the Blue Dog division of the Democrats.  The Blue Dog selection of the Democrat team could therefore grow large enough to counterbalance the far-left urban ultra-liberals and give President Obama the opportunity to be more corn-fed Kansas populist than Chicago rural liberal.  We must remember that Obama created his statewide appeal in Illinois by connecting with the country folks down state. 

While the GOP is counting on the big spending from the White House helping them during the mid-term elections, America might actually like Obama and the Democrats more as the White House slides toward the center.  Cover the children’s eyes because the sight of a dying elephant could traumatize them for life.     

Michael Steele has some elephant-sized EKG paddles in his hands but I don’t think he can get pass those who are in denial about what when wrong in the past or those who don’t want new congressional candidates to be more Sen. Isakson smooth and less Fox News bitter. They could pick up three House seats in Georgia just by reading this blog. 

The House Minority Leader John Boehner recently said what…I can’t believe it…no he didn’t…he told the truth.    

Boehner: ‘Digging Ourselves Out of a Deep Hole’ – George’s Bottom Line

“We’re digging ourselves out of a deep hole,” he admitted.  “We took it in the shorts with Bush-Cheney, the Iraq War, and by sacrificing fiscal responsibility to hold power.”  Boehner also acknowledged that the GOP hasn’t done a good enough to job shaking the “party of no” label. 

Rep. Boehner outlined his positive strategy turning things around but I think he needs some fresh face with encouraging vibes.  Michael Steele should consider the following a personal gift from me: in Georgia, getting Austin Scott,  Deborah Honeycutt into the correct congressional races would be your best spot at picking up seats by pulling voters from Blue Dogs.

As the Republicans taught the Democrats in the 90s, voters are reluctant to vote out incumbents from the party controlling the power in Washington.  The GOP can’t win any congressional races in Georgia without producing Obama and dare I say Palin like popular, fresh candidates.

We know that traditionally Organized Labor and the Trial Lawyers controlled the Democrats with money and the Faith community and big business did the same for the Republicans.  Obama got most of his money from the people so after all this bailout stuff he should do what the people want if he wants a second term.  (And I am not sure he actually does.  Maybe he wants to change the whole game with sweeping reforms without concern for reelection..walking away on top of the game like Jim Brown.  Is that the secret deal he cut with Hillary?)

What would happen if the faith community created a third party?  Who would be left in the GOP?  Hear me: embrace some less bitter GOP candidates now or suffer the consequences.

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Shep Smith in Wolf Blitzer clothing

June 12, 2009 by slyram

shep1sept25

I am watching MSNBC and wishing that they don’t be come the left version of Fox News.  Keith Olberman and Bill O’Reilly are both journalists to me but Rachel Maddow is starting to smirk in a way that is as negative as those people on Fox in the morning—two wrong does not make….

Shep Smith, currently of Fox News, is going through some things with the far right because he has evidently grown weary of twisting the truth and pushing propaganda—good for you Shep.  It had to be Smith who announced that Obama was president on Fox News that night because anyone else’s head would have exploded.  I am no expert but there is a line between reporting the news and facts as a journalist and some form of news entertainment that doesn’t follow the appropriate code of reporting ethics.  (i.e. MSNBC’s the Ed Show.)

The one that gets me most of all is Michelle Malkin, blogger turn Fox News talking head.  She is clearly a bright woman who at some point decided she would write or say whatever took her to fame and fortune.  She puts me in the mind of southern political leaders from the last century who were raised loving their family housekeepers (who look like me) but would say the ugliest things about all members of my community who get ahead politically and get rich.  The type who made a tennis court out of the local swimming pool the day the order came that Blacks citizens had a right to dive-in.  That would be the same day I decide be a tennis player so thanks.  If they turn the court into a polo field, I give up.  

Like George Wallace, many of those so-called leaders would have a change of heart as their death approached; don’t want to explain that stuff before the pearly gates.  To be fair, the hate speakers who look like me often have their change of heart also.  A date with hell is a natural laxative.

Here something interesting: what is the first institution of higher education in America to admit Black students in 1835?  Michelle Malkin’s alma mater Oberlin College of Ohio.  But, they welcome her on-campus speaking dates because decent people like dialog and discourse.  

When you are pitifully poor (old school Black college term), some decision must be made and people weight their personal integrity against pending financial doom; what profits a man to gain the whole world…. 

This blog acknowledged John McCain’s efforts to dial down the rhetoric last year; rhetoric that would compel the sickest minds to get on a rooftop and turn their baseball caps backwards…you know the rest.  It’s good to be a moderate because the extremists on the far-left and far-right take recreational “hate speak” as a call to arms.  

Wolf, is there room in CNN’s Situation Room for a Shepard? 

Conservatives Attack Fox’s Shep Smith — Politics Daily

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Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Karen Handel on Helen Blocker Adams Radio Show Friday at Noon

June 11, 2009 by slyram

Handel and Helen at GOP State Convention

Handel and Helen at GOP State Convention

Helen Block Adams (HBA) sits down with Georgia Secretary of State and Candidate for Governor Karen Handel at high noon on Friday.  I bet HBA will have all the candidates for governor before the end of the year. 

In my opinion, a party that seems stagnate could use some fresh blood with a woman perspective for governor and/or congress (stay tune for something big…hopefully.)  You have the Nathan Deal crew, the Eric Johnson crew, the Ox crew, and the Austin Scott youth crew before you get to the drama on the Democratic side. We will see.  The GOP should learn that you get more people with honey than cutting them down and the Dems need to learn that our community won’t always be marshalled around.

Listen online

http://www.newsradio1230.com/

Posted in Georgia, politics, Republican | Tagged | 2 Comments »

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