Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Healthcare Debate: Misinformation

June 10, 2009 by slyram

Here we go again, advocates on both sides of the healthcare system reform debate are posturing with untruths and misinformation.  To be clear, there is a difference between being mistaken and knowingly lying to protect your personal financial interests.  It’s a dirty game. 

Despite the talking points, there is no way in Hades that people with real money will be forced to have second rate insurance coverage.  Period.  If the White House or congressional Democrats push a system that removes an individual’s right to select their doctor, count me out.  I want to hear some tough talk and action on those who have income and choose to buy everything under the sun (jewelry, bass boats, rims, giant T.Vs) but run to the hospital hoping the Hippocratic Oath can save them on a technicality.  A system is badly broken if a working poor person should become unemployed to qualify for better coverage.

At the risk of oversimplifying the discussion, we should aim toward a minimum coverage similar to mandatory car insurance and the penalty for opting out is…rest in peace.

I was excited to read President Obama second book because good old common sense tells us that regular doctor visits and checkups detect problems early before the need for expensive and serious procedures.  When Newt Gingrich was speaker, he wanted a system that rewarded fitness, cleaner living and better diet.  Under that proposal, a person without a major healthcare cost in five years would not pay premiums or was on some level vested. 

How many people take better care of their cars than their bodies?  In a free society if you decided to eat, smoke, and drink whatever you want, you went out as you wanted with clogged arteries and a smile on your greasy face.

Posted in politics | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Joe Scarborough and the GOP: Start with Temperament

June 9, 2009 by slyram

Former GOP congressman, turned author and T.V. guy Joe Scarborough has the formula for fixing his party and “hateorade” is not in the mix.  In his new book, The Last Best Hope outlines a technique for debating issues in a substantive matter without the bitter temperament that helped drive America into President Obama loving arms.  Is Obama the nicest person ever?

Scarborough always points out that President Reagan did not walk around with a heart full of hate like many leaders today.  My personal list of cool temperament politicians from Georgia would include Senator Sam Nunn, Senator Johnny Isakson, and Rep. Sanford Bishop.  The next group of Georgia GOP congressional leaders could include a woman or two with the same vibe if they were smart enough to look in the correct places.

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

Disney Princess and Black Royalty

June 8, 2009 by slyram

The fact that I am seriously thinking about the new Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog” is indication that I really need to get a life.  My sister is one of the Black parents who wrote Disney for years looking for a Black princess.  This sister took me to see “Tales of the South” which came from the stories of Joel Chandler Harris of Eatonton, Georgia. 

Eatonton, Georgia, has the historic significance of having an ancient Native American Rock Eagle.  The monument is surrounded by a 4-H camp and the tower overlooking the giant rock eagle is where I had one of my first real kiss.  No, the girl did not turn into a frog.  

We now know that Harris’s Uncle Remus cloaked racism designed to plant seeds of continued subjugation in our little Black heads under our big afros—not real; I just felt like being radical.  That movie was cool with me at the time.  Eatonton’s other famous author is Alice Walker gave the world The Color Purple.   When I was young, we wondered why Walker “had to” marry a white guy until we learned that her husband was one of the attorneys who would get civil rights workers out of jail in Mississippi at great risk to himself.  Later, we wondered why Walker “was kicking it” with singer Tracy Chapman.  Like most people, if I spent more time minding my business and staying out of other people’s business, I would be better off.  

Okay, I had a crush on Walker with her sexy dreads back in the day.  You know the Street Committee says “Black don’t crack” and the list of famous Black women my friends and I still wonder about being “too old to date” is long…how old are Lena Horne and Diane Carroll again.

I was told a coworker that a sister in the office did not need to be a peanut, watermelon, or cotton princess because she was an African queen before we arrived in America.  But, my biological sister and many other professional Black mothers are deep into this Disney princess stuff for their daughters like fathers wanting their sons to play for the Gators, Bulldogs, or Irish rather than Howard or FAMU.  Are they living vicariously through their children? 

In college, I heard that Walt Disney had race issues and the witches and villains in some of those movies seem to have anti-Semitic undertones.  Anyway, I have to tell my niece her name Maddy will not be the name for the new Disney princess as earlier planned;  It has been changed to Tiana.  Blame President Barrack Hussein Obama for that since he leads the liberal media and the Hollywood elite.

Maybe I am being overly sensitive but I never really like referring to the Kennedy era as Camelot or to the Obama era as New Camelot.  We are in a democracy with no kings, queens and royalty.  While there were and are African kings and queens, some of the those leaders were as psychotic as the detested colonialists.  If that movie was correct, the great Shaka Zulu buried many people alive with his dead mother Nandi so she would have servants in the next life.  

During the mourning period Shaka ordered that no crops should be planted during the following year, no milk (the basis of the Zulu diet at the time) was to be used, and any woman who became pregnant was to be killed along with her husband. Massacres were carried out of those deemed insufficiently grief-stricken, though it wasn’t restricted to them, and cows were slaughtered so that their calves would know what losing a mother felt like.  You can keep your royalty. 

Who Needs a Black Princess Anyway? We All Do – BV Black Spin

Black Don’t Crack: Fabulous Celebs Over 50 | News | BET.com

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

The Art of War

June 7, 2009 by slyram

In politics and business, the high points of The Art of War can be useful if not essential.

The Art of War

By Sun Tzu

18. All warfare is based on deception.

19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.

22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

11. What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

12. Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage.

13. He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.

14. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

15. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

29. Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.

30. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

31. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.

32. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.

33. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.

21. Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.

28. Now a soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp.

29. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.

32. To refrain from intercepting an enemy whose banners are in perfect order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident array:–this is the art of studying circumstances.

33. It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.

34. Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen.

35. Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

36. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.

11. The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

41. He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.

31. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

15. Those who were called skillful leaders of old knew how to drive a wedge between the enemy’s front and rear; to prevent co-operation between his large and small divisions; to hinder the good troops from rescuing the bad, the officers from rallying their men.

60. Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose.

4. Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.

5. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation.

6. Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only be obtained from other men.

Posted in politics | Tagged | 19 Comments »

Congressional Courtesy and Georgia Women in Congress

June 7, 2009 by slyram

Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush’s personal history includes being born in Albany, Georgia and time in the Black Panther Party.  While working for Albany State University, I bumped into Rush coming out of the old Broad Street Bistro downtown.  When I called him congressman, he was surprised to be recognized in south Georgia. Unfortunately, he was in town for the burial of his father and said that Rep. Sanford Bishop made the customary congressional courtesy offer of putting his local office at Rush’s disposal during his visit to the district. 

Congressional courtesy is a classy gesture that is quickly vanishing.  Traditionally, the same consideration applies on the staff level.  Recently, I bumped into Bishop’s District Director at a function and he listened to my laundry list of policy concerns in the parking lot because that is what staff does for former staffer or those who are “informed constituents.”  This director’s counterpart to the east makes it a hobby to not humor this particular former colleague—alright then. 

Bobby Rush has the distinction of being the last opponent to defeat President Barrack Obama.  After the 2000 congressional race, Obama regrouped and did well for himself.  Rush spoke to our Black congressional staff organization once and told us that he was late for a Panther meeting that ended up in a conflict with the authorities; he might have been dead or in prison if he was on time that day.

Rush said that the Panthers felt that Blacks in America were similar to a trained elephant in the circus.  A baby elephant is tethered to a steel rod in the ground and taught to walk in a circle.  After the animal grows into a massive giant, the trainers can push the rod into the ground with their hands only because the trained mind of the elephant does not realized it could simple free itself by recognizing it’s powerful potential.  

Rep. Rush also told the sad story of baby elephant being found next to their mothers’ bodies after ivory hunter killed the mother.  Babies elephants have been discovered dying of dehydration while standing in the river.  The mother was slaughter before teaching the young one to reach down and drink.  Rush’s parallels between the Black community and elephants were classics.  

This blog’s foundation is political diversity because different voices and histories at the table create better discussions and better solutions.  Judge Sonia Sotomayor needs to stop back peddling on her statement that her Latina experiences brings different judicial perspective to the table or bench. 

To use a worn term, she is uniquely qualified and I will be smiling when the next election brings a less bitter GOP House member or maybe a woman into the Georgia delegation.  Georgia has only had six women in congresss and three of them serve less than a year.  If Bobby Rush can go from Black Panther to congress then Georgia should have more than three females in Congress since World War II.   It’s not affirmative action to think that the Georgia delegation’s vibe is a little testosterone-driven.   

http://womenincongress.house.gov/data/wic-by-state.html

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

President Obama’s Islam Speech and the Two-State Solution

June 4, 2009 by slyram

obamacairo

Muhammad Ali once said the problem with Atlanta is that it is surrounded by Georgia but the Two-State Solution is not about our state and the “Cairo” President Obama is visiting is not in syrup-making Grady County. 

The comprehensive speech President Obama made today outlines the history of Islam that was not covered in my comprehensive high school.  Obama’s personal history uniquely qualifies him to mend the damaged relationship between America and the Muslim World.  But, he did not blink regarding our support for Israel’s right to peaceful exist.  What Obama did today was less John Wayne cowboy mentality and more Sidney Poitier 60s smooth.

I wonder how many southerners recognize that Abraham had two sons –Isaac and Ishmael—and that Ishmael is a prophet in Islam.   

Genesis 21:17-21 (New International Version)

 17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

President Obama is correct in supporting the Two-State Solution for Israel and Palestine because that conflict needs resolution.  At the risk of hyperbole, Obama speech on Islam and the Muslim world is one of the top ten presidential speeches of all time to me and could “simmer down” our conflict with the followers of that faith.   I particularly liked the way our president used passages from the Quran and Holy Bible to illustrate that terror was wrong.   

 Peace

Posted in politics | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

A Debate in Cyberspace on SPLOST VI

June 4, 2009 by hba1

Seems I’ve been on the frontlines of politics lately. Umm.. Wednesday night,  I was on the air with Herman Cain and this coming Monday afternoon, it will be a cyberspace online debate with a local Liberterian on an important Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST VI)upcoming vote. See article below from the Augusta Chronicle. http://www.augustachronicle.com

P.S. By the way, that photo was from my 2005 Mayoral race in Augusta…

Coming Monday: online SPLOST debate

Posted by Johnny Edwards on June 03, 2009 – 5:18 PM

SPLOST VI – a mean, lean infrastructure package, or chock full of pork?

A good way to keep property taxes down, or yet another government mechanism for fleecing the people?

Back on track now that the Augusta Commission has made progress on the TEE center, or doomed because commissioners did too little too late?

So far, about 400 people have cast early ballots on the city’s proposed $184.7 million special-purpose sales tax package, which goes to the polls citywide on July 16. For the benefit of the remaining registered voters – about 10 to 15 percent of whom are expected to take part in the referendum – The Augusta Chronicle will hold an online debate on the merits of SPLOST VI on Monday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., moderated by yours truly.

In one corner, representing the “No SPLOST” crowd, will be Libertarian Party of the CSRA Chairman Rocky Eades. This will be the first time any Libertarian anywhere has been permitted to take part in a debate in the United States. Not really, but I do believe it’s high-time the nation’s third-largest party had a voice in national and local political forums.

In the other corner, from the “yes to SPLOST” viewpoint, will be Helen Blocker-Adams, former mayoral candidate, host of “People and Issues with Helen” on NewsRadio WNRR-AM (1230) and one of the Garden’s City’s sharpest pundits. Far from a tax-and-spend liberal, Ms. Blocker-Adams was a speaker at the Augusta Tax Day Tea Party at at Riverwalk Augusta’s Jessye Norman Amphitheater in April.

The debate will unfold on our Web site in a live chat format. To follow along or take part, go to http://augustachronicle.com/metro.

So long as you’re logged on to our site, you can submit questions as we go which I will selectively pose to the participants. (Stick to the subject matter, be civil and no profanity.) Questions can also be submitted in advance though a link already up on the Metro page.

I’ll also take early questions at my e-mail address, johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com. To preserve the integrity of the debate, please don’t post your questions on this blog. At least not if you want me to use them.

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments »

Helen Blocker Adams on Herman Cain Radio Show tonight

June 3, 2009 by slyram

Project Logic Ga Contributor Helen Blocker Adams will be on the Herman Cain Radio show tonight at 8p.m. on wsb radio.  I first met Helen when we were trying to push political diversity by get our community to consider Cain for Senate.  Where have the years gone?

 

Helen Blocker-Adams will be a guest on the Herman Cain Show.

Topic: Independent Politics

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

8 p.m. EST

www.wsbradio.com

Posted in politics | Tagged | 4 Comments »

Israel/Arab States Origins: Pre-Obama Trip

June 2, 2009 by slyram

(Okay this actually an old post from January that covers what we should know about the three religions that grew from Abraham.)

I would have paid better attention in Sunday School and junior high if I knew that Israel and the Arab States would always be in the center of world news.  Two different historical views are found below. 

I can’t call it but someone needs to figure out a way to peacefully solve this situation because other parts of the world have.  But, I can respect that three major religions started in that region and none of them should completely leave. 

On a lighter related note, it’s cool when people say that the indigenous people of America should have had a better illegal immigration policy—they got robbed royally of two continents and we got stolen from a third stolen continent to toil….. (Don’t get me started)

Peace   

http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.asp

 Brief History of Israel and the Jewish People

 http://mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm

 Brief History of of Palestine, Israel and the Israeli Palestinian Conflict (Arab-Israeli conflict, Middle East Conflict)

 

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Travel Key chains

May 31, 2009 by slyram

keychains

I like key chains from travel so I can be reminded of important stuff.  My current key chain is a melting clock from the Salvador Dali museum in Barcelona.  From Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory,” those clocks represent how fast time goes if we are not careful.  Mr. Phillips, my Albany Junior College/Darton College art teacher, really helped me understand the art around us and the concept of form fitting function.  I saw him at the Shoe Station store in Albany days before that trip to Europe (I had to get some Rockports for those cobblestone cities,) and told him was I going to see the museums of Western Europe from north to south.  He told me to really enjoy Amsterdam. 

Mr. Phillips was right about form and function. If it serves no real purpose, get rid of it.  An ugly Volvo is better in a crash than a pretty Pontiac is—I have had six Volvos since his class and my view of public policy reflect this logic.

I have a key chain from Lisbon, Portugal, because people from the Cape Verde Island were nice to me there and would speak initially to me in their native tongue.  Yesterday, my sister gave me a bowl and key chain from South Africa, and I won’t “front” like I have been there.  I almost went to Northern African to see the pyramids and chill in Casablanca and Fez but I knew some loud month was going to slam America or the office of the President and it would have been on and popping.  To be honest, I can beat an egg but that would have be one whupping I would have to take.

When I am standing in the Dairy Queen in south Georgia and thinking about the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days, I look at my key chain and remember that I can live anywhere in this great nation and chill almost anywhere in is world.  If people are constantly “tripping” in your current location, you should leave because time is melting away and life is too short to argue with fools.  If you don’t get this notion, you might be the fool people are leaving.

 On a political blog, this discussion is important because southerners (Black, White, Red And Brown) who enjoy “fussing” are inadvertently limiting our regions economic growth.  If division and confusion are synonymous with your area, more peaceful regions are more attractive to new industry.  Think about it; who wants to put a multi-million dollar operation in a place that is still fighting a war that was over 140 years ago.  The same can be said about young men who look like me who are mad at the world for spinning.    

Posted in politics | Tagged , , | 5 Comments »

What’s Gnu: Democrats and Republicans

May 31, 2009 by slyram

My sister just got back from business in South Africa and is heading back next week.  While looking at her African safari pictures, I see that her truck was near a Gnu or wildebeest.  I can not stand the sight of those things because I was chased by a goat coming from midget football practice.  I was coming from practice; not the goat but I am a Worth County and Albany State Ram…talk about your irony.  Also, I am not a midget and as a moderate Democrat I should refrain from using un-P.C. terms like that one. Forget P.C. unless you are talking about Panama City Beach; Little League was called midget football in my day.

So, I don’t like Gnus (if that is the plural) because that goat chased me and wildebeest look like those pictures of the devil from church while we were growing up.  You see the devil on his throne of evil looking like those ugly things the big cats of Africa chase.  One night I when to sleep and woke to hear on one of the smart people TV channels that the largest migration in history is the annual movement of wildebeests.  There is no away I am stepping foot on an African safari and I am careful at Wild Adventures in Valdosta and Chehaw Park in Albany.

The hypocritical part is that I like snakes, another biblical icon of the devil.  Tom from Thomasville use to worked with me in Rep. Bishop’s office and I remember him from his time as a campus leader at Fort Valley State.  In college, we could listen to stories Tom got from old wise people all night long.  When we would ask what’s up in the Valley, Tom would say that a little boy ran on the porch to tell his grandmother that there was a snake behind the barn in the high grass.  The grandmother told the boy that there was no problem if the snake was behind the barn and the boy was there on the porch.  Grandmother said, “Don’t be concerned with the snake in the grass, you need to be worried about your own Black ___.” 

When you think about it, the boy might have been right because the snake behind the barn today could be in the house tonight.  People function under the mindset to trust and fear certain things and groups.  Candidate for Governor Eric Johnson wrote a detailed essay a few years ago about the history of the relationship between Blacks and the two major political parties.  Yes, the GOP was started to stop the expansion of slavery because slaves would do jobs without pay in new territories that new immigrants from Europe wanted to be paid to do and the Democrats (or Dixiecrats) fought for most of the last century to keep the Black restrictive laws in place.

At the end of the day, political parties change for the better, for the worst, and then back again—the same can be said about individuals, groups and races.  What’s Gnu is that our fears and concerns of the past might have been unfounded or no longer relevant (the defense mechanism of the wildebeest must be being ugly and running scared in large groups.)  I should leave this along before I write that the same can be said about the extreme elements of both ends of the political range.

But, when you thing about it the Gnu GOP just wants survival in the jungle just like the cool snakes on the Democrat Team.  I hope President Obama’s African and American DNA helps him sort out what’s what.

History of GOP according to State Sen. Eric Johnson http://www.pickensgop.org/gagop_history.html

Posted in African Americans, Conservative, Georgia, politics, Republican | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Senator Isakson in Africa

May 27, 2009 by slyram

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson, a member of the Senate subcommittee on Africa, is visiting the troubled Dafur region of Sudan.  I am still surprised that Isakson is one of the most conservative members of the Senate yet serves with a cool listening ear and compassion mindset rather than the vibe of some of his colleagues.  And people wonder which leader the GOP should model the next generation of policy makers after.

I hope he comes back with the idea of getting more peanut-based food paste from Georgia and dry pasta to help than staving region in the short-term while get a market opportunity for our farmers and producers.  In the long-term, exporting farming techniques and equipment developed at Fort Valley State and U.G.A. to that suffering part of the world could assist in our antiterrorism efforts—bread rather than bullets.  But, we still have the bullets—don’t sleep on the eagle with the olive branch in one talon and the arrows in the other.

Isakson should be briefing Agriculture Secretary Sanford Bishop about the opportunities for southern agriculture to help heal the world while creating jobs here but the Obama White House passed on Georgia.  (For those who thing the current president won’t be criticized by moderates or African American would not condemn African genocide and support of terrorism.)   

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/05/27/isakson0527.html

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Memorial Day: Last Full Measure of Devotion

May 24, 2009 by slyram

fa28f80d2ee2ca46

The number of Americans who don’t know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day is inexplicable.  In D.C., Memorial Day for me came to mean more when I realized that fellow Georgia congressional delegation staffer U.A. lost his father in Vietnam before he was born or shortly thereafter.  U.A. worn the uniform of an Army officer and his father would have been so proud of the man he became. 

Two weeks ago, I rode down to Florida with Captain R.A. to pickup a pickup truck his wife let him get to pull his motorcycle trailer.  R.A. was my intern in Rep. Charles Hatcher’s office and he teaches history at an Albany high school.  Since he is on active duty, we ask him if Iraq was less dangerous that teaching.  That was cute until his convoy got ambushed, bullets went insider this truck like on the movies and he had to write those letters to family in America that no officer wants to ride.  R.A.’s family loves him so much that they constantly called him during our road trip; I am glad I wished him a good Veterans Day rather than…

On February 23, 1991, the Pentagon called me in Rep. Hatcher’s office to say that Army Specialist James Worthy of Albany was killed SCUD missile attack on his barracks during Operation Desert Storm.  My short walk to tell the congressman was rough and I will never forget the look on his face when he told me to get Worthy’s family’s contact numbers.

A friend with the 101st Airborne was traveling on a military charter from a peacekeeping mission in Egypt on December 12, 1985, and the plane crash in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.  Today, we know that Libya brought the plane down because the troops were coming from enforcing the terms of the 1978 Camp David Accords.  B. was an alter boy with me for years at the A.M.E. church and was the third Black quarterback in our high school’s post integration history.  For the 10th year memorial of the crash, I went out to Arlington Memorial Cemetery for a brief ceremony to remember him.

I could see the Lee-Custis Mansion at Arlington from my 8th floor D.C. apartment by looking south; looking north at the Capitol and Washington Monument cost $100 a month more like facing the beach in Panama City.  People need to remember that the house belonged to General Robert E. Lee’s wife, who was a family with George Washington. Union Georgian General Montogomery Meigs made the decision to bury Union soldiers at Lee’s House.

The bloodiest day in American history was September 17, 1862 when 26,000 Americans fell during the Battle of Antietam.  Yes, I consider both sides as Americans.

President Lincoln said it best at Gettysburg when he proclaimed that Americans fallen heroes gave the last full measure of devotion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_House,_The_Robert_E._Lee_Memorial

By 1864, the military cemeteries of Washington and Alexandria were filled with Union dead, and Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs quickly selected Arlington as the site for a new cemetery. Meigs, a Georgian who had served under Lee in the U.S. Army and who hated his fellow Southerners who were fighting against the Union, ordered that graves be placed just outside the front door of the mansion, to prevent the Lees from ever returning. Meigs himself supervised the burial of 26 Union soldiers in Mrs. Lee’s rose garden. In October, Meigs’ own son was killed in the war, and he too was buried at Arlington.

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

Formula for Black Georgia: C and D after A and B

May 23, 2009 by slyram

If one more conservative Georgian asks me how do they make inroads into the Black community, I am going to freaking scream because any adult who doesn’t realize that much of the Black community is conservative or moderate already is not fit to be in the discussion or public policy arena. 

Watch the Blue Dog Democrat congressional field staffers because they go everywhere since everything is governmentally related these days.  Republican field staff go to meetings directly related to the federal government or meetings involving industries and enterprises that generally support their bosses.  That is like preaching to the choir.  An old friend and former GOP Black staffer almost ran for congress from Savannah last year and she was about to shake up the world and create the formula for improving their party’s posture in our community.

The formula is simple: show the flag everywhere.  Democrat and Republican congressmen and women should have a Black staffer or two who rocks business attire well and who, like Hemingway and Brad Pitt, goes everywhere to listen, learn and inform the people.  The information from a moderate or conservative standpoint centers on the message that we are responsible for ourselves, you can’t expect the government to ensure your quality of life, and we are duty-bound to be deliberate in our actions because those who went before us fought for us to have the opportunities that we are squandering.  We should feel guilty-ridden on some level. 

These actions, speeches and talks are grassroots fiscal conservatism.  Real talk: the taxpayers’ money shouldn’t be wasted to address folks messing up in school, fooling with drugs/crime or slacking on their parental duties—if you don’t want to be a parent and work 40 hours a week, it is apparent that you should not be a parent.

My friends and I call it the policy formula of C and D after A and B.  Liberals wanted to address C and D problems with programs and funding without reading the riot act about how the problems were created to ensure that the crisis conditions end.  Conservatives simply say stop doing what you are doing or let them suffer.  Moderates take a more non-linear and comprehensive approach by saying temporarily the response is C and D with the understanding that A and B created this situation and it stops now.  This formula also works when understanding that pass government actions or systematic oppression drove A and B while leading to C and D.  But some of those victim arguments when out of the door when Obama walked into the White House; if a Black guy with a funny name can be president, you can get yourself together.  While racism and discrimination will continue for the decades to come, many community problems are FUBU. 

President Obama is surrounded by liberals but he is about to show his moderate if not conservative Kansas roots.  His vision for improving America includes a national discussion that is basically taking some folks to the proverbial woodshed.  Waterboarding can’t compare to what Mr. Niceguy is about to do and for all the ultra-liberals he would lose, Obama will get four moderates to replace them.  It will be a thing of beauty that actually changes to the mindsets of millions.  I strongly suggest the Right beat him to the punch (which is what conservatives were supposed to be doing instead of kissing up to corporate America only.)

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments »

The Great Debaters or Madea Goes To Jail

May 23, 2009 by slyram

The_Great_Debaters_DVD-Denzel_Washington-Forest_Whitaker

I just watched the movie The Great Debaters on Showtime on Demand and I must say that anyone who saw “Madea Goes To Jail” before this film should be kicked out of Black Folks.  Tyler Perry has a right to make his buffoon brand of movies and TV shows and yes I watch them.  But, I can watch that mess and BET videos occasionally in its proper context after reading the newspapers, books and substantive materials online.

 We should be appalled and disgusted that Blacks before us went through hell and high waters for the opportunity to be men, women and families.  Think about the few Blacks who found scholastic sanctuary on college campus like Wiley College in Texas or my father at North Carolina A & T and Tuskegee during the same time frame as this movie.  Like the current Lexus motto, they had a relentless pursuit of excellence against unimaginable obstacles.

Fast forward to today and the fact that I break my neck every chance I get to tell the positive young Black tennis players from my high school that I am so proud of them and dam near teary-eyed about their playing a character-building, non-glamorous lifetime sport.  More importantly, I am proud that they excel in the classroom and carry themselves as gentleman and gentlewomen—when no one is watching.  Hell, I can’t stop the college age young men formerly of the team from saying “yes sir” and “no sir” when we are on court but then again I do the same thing to my elders out of respect and so they will impart their wisdom on me.  As a sidenote, a former member of the Rams tennis team won a conference championship ring at Tuskagee; and the top sister from this year’s team is heading to HBCU Fort Valley State while a brother from the team will be playing at Alabama State and a continue his scholarly academic performance. 

In the 80s, there were Black people who thought the Cosby Show was pure fiction.  “No Black folks live like that…Black folks not ‘pose to be doctors and lawyers… N’s need to know our place.”  There but for the grace of God goes me.

Longtime President of Morehouse College Dr. Benjamin Mays famously informed a slacker student that he would be on the next bus back home.  Dr. Mays refused to hear the student’s pleas and told the young man that we as a people had been through so much; we came from so far and had so far still to go; we simply can afford to have him holding us back.  

Privately among ourselves, we discuss those among us who are intentionally or inadvertently holding us back—at time, this writer might have been on that list.  The White House is occupied by a Black President with a Black First Lady and great Black children with a Black dog but many Blacks continue to live in terror in America.  That terror isn’t from White nightriders or the local police (hell, the local police chief, who happens to be Black, emails me personally regarding community improvement efforts and I appreciate that;) the terror is from young thugs and drug addicts who look like us.  Half-raised thugs and want-to-be thugs who learned gangster life from watching videos on a channel started by Robert Johnson, one of America’s first Black billionaires who this time last year was questioning Obama fitness to be president.  What profits a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or as Public Enemy rapped “I know you got sold.”  Pun intended.

When I was watching The Great Debaters, my best fear was that the positive Black women in the film would be raped or beaten—American domestic terror that Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics know too well.  After 911, White friends told me that for the first time in their lives their families were not safe in their own beds and on American streets.  I had to say join the club in which my folks has had membership since 1619.  Technically, those streets weren’t American until 1776.  

In politics and policy, conservatives miss the opportunity to capitalize on the fact that most Black voters and productive citizens believe that the next step in our development/struggle is not governmental but societal.  Hell, 80% of our community spends 80% of our time and effort addressing problems created by 20%.  What to do with and about that 20%?  That 20% has created a Black energy crisis because they have worn “us” out and drain the community behind foolishness. 

People talking about what would have happened if we ended our dependence on foreign oil at President Carter urging in the 1970s.  What would have happen if Newt and Bill Clinton pushed welfare reform so hard that people of any color would know that they shouldn’t have children until they are fully prepared to raise productive citizens.  But, this argument is theoretical at best because those who should not have kids at a certain time are often not logical enough to realize it.  Checkout the Great Debaters with your family.  Don’t get me started on Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns.”

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

Rep. Paul Broun and the Year of the Bible

May 22, 2009 by slyram

Georgia Rep. Paul Broun is a bright guy and physician who for some unbeknownst reason insist on being somewhat nutty on the Hill.  I met Dr. Broun a few years ago when he was running to replace the late Rep. Charlie Norwood.  I thought his runoff opponent Jim Whitehead was a quintessential southern political leader; Whitehead put you in the mind of an aging, wise coach.  

Some Republican political operatives in Georgia should have their heads examined because Whitehead played football at the University of Georgia yet wrote off Athens—“dog gone,” literally.  He had Black managers in his tire company who worked themselves up in the operation but the Whitehead campaign never used them in ads or had them working the community—in other words, win without Black support so you won’t need to listen to their liberal agenda for the next two years.   Newsflash: Not all Blacks are liberals and those people whispering in your ear are not helping.

So, Broun keeps coming up with a constant diet of far-right conspiracy theories or faith-related legislation that feeds a certain element but does not help his party with moderates nor help address the economy recovery.  He is better than this because his father was a well-represented Georgia legislative leader.  His father’s legacy is so strong that the Black community in Athens backed Paul over reasonable Whitehead.  How you like me now? 

 

Of course, Broun is safe from a Democrat challenger but his latest legislative idea of making 2010 the year of the Bible might bring out a GOP candidate who is about the business of governing rather than stirring conflict and division.  Would 2011 be the year of the Quran and 2012 the year of the Torah?  I am a moderate and I will be at church on Sunday but a resolution like Broun’s can’t pass until there is a constitutional amendment to declare one faith the official faith of America and Broun knows that.   

Our community needs reasonable Republicans more than just another Democrat.  

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22832.html 

Posted in Conservative, Georgia, politics | Tagged , | 4 Comments »

Michael Vick and Joe Scarborough: Must Love Dogs

May 20, 2009 by slyram

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe at 6:17a.m., I just realized that former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough is a logical possibility for president in 2012 and his coming book will outline why.  

I watch Joe and his crew every weekday but today he went off about Michael Vick doing a real amount of time in prison for a real offense but child rapist get a few weeks or a month.  Joe said Vick was done in by PETA’s political correctness and I said amen.  I also say people who were offend by Vick’s dog fighting should be equally offended by Darfur, the collateral death toll in Iraq and America’s blood history with slavery.

img_menu_filet

 I love that dog Eddie on the T.V. show Frazier; he is a Jack Russell Terrier I think.  But I love humans more.  Those who love dogs like their children are entitled to their opinions and feelings but also stop wearing leather into steakhouse for a bloody filet.  You seem like a contradiction or a hypocrite.  We all love dogs on some level because their offer unconditional love and some people are hard for other people to love.  Michael Vick was stupid and he has company.

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments »

Michael Steele and Red Dogs

May 19, 2009 by slyram

While speaking at the Georgia GOP State Convention recently, RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s statements included:  

The chairman said he had inherited leadership of a party that was “stuck in a 1980s philosophy, using a 1990s strategy to win campaigns.”

The Republican demand for orthodoxy and purity, Steele said, risks making the party irrelevant to “the changing heartbeat of this nation.”

“We can no longer be afraid that to open up, to invite someone in, diminishes us. I don’t know how that works,” Steele said. “If you are true to your convictions, to your core, why are you so afraid to share that?” 

Before he when to Savannah, Steele should have swung by southwest Georgia so we could sit on the porch, sip some sweet tea, eat a few locally produced Nether’s Pork Skins (made by a guy from my church) and I could have hooked a brother up with what’s what. 

I would have explained to Steele that the South dominates his party now and those southerners are accustom to have things their way most of the time.  If we are talking about 10 political points, they want their ranks in line on 9 points and the missing point can’t be the pro-life issue.  The faith aspect makes abortion non-negotiable. 

The GOP doesn’t need to let anyone “in;” that is not necessary.  Steele needs to help them understand that elections are won with coalitions i.e. Reagan Democrats.  Those coalitions are built on situations and circumstances of mutual benefit. 

The GOP took power in Washington in the 90s because large numbers of faith-oriented, patriotic heartland Americans (Rs and Ds) supported them on faith issues, strong defense and what seemed like their commitment to fiscal restraint.  The Democrats seem sincerely committed to addressing the kitchen table issues that current families are handling—Rs and Ds.   

I would have told brother Steele that he could win some contested races in the congress next year if the grassroots of his party understood that sometimes non-Republicans support GOP candidates who are experts or advocates for the major issue in those voters’ lives.  It is that simple.

For example, Georgia farmers agree with most of the Georgia congressional delegation on agriculture issues and USDA programs.  In southwest Georgia, Republican farmers reluctantly vote for Rep. Sanford Bishop while southeast Georgia Democrat farmers support Republican Jack Kingston.  It is all about the wallet in Georgia on agriculture, military bases, veterans, and transportation spending.

While the Democrats welcome “outside” support, Georgia GOPers are don’t understand that outsiders are there for different yet important reasons.  Could the allied forces have won World War II without Stalin and the Russians? 

I would have told Steele that my friends and I were cheering for him when he ran for the Senate in Maryland and that he will always have a home in the community if his party decides he should be elsewhere.  That’s how we roll.  Finally, I would have said that like private schools and churches, some of the grassroots people in his party join with the understand that most of the people there were….well, you know.  Hey, is that the reason I when to a Black college?  That Kumbaya Obama stuff is a sweet concept but in the meantime, you get in where you fit in down here and some of his party members join….you know..and they know too.

If moderate and centrist Democrats can coexist in a big party with the San Fran crew, then Steele’s party can do likewise or send the centrists right over.  We can call them the Red Dogs.

“Red Rover, Red Rover, send Condi, Colin and Maine’s senators over.”

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics, Republican | Tagged , , | 5 Comments »

Obama and Republicans: Circle of Friends or Enough Already

May 18, 2009 by slyram

It’s nice to have friends from across the political and social spectrums because discussions and debates bear fruit and we mutually grow.  Some people have a hard time putting their minds around the idea that what you knew as “this” has changed to “that” and what you thought about your group has changed also.

In politics, some Republican officials and operatives don’t seem to realize that their divisive techniques of the past has turned off the sensible center and changes are needed are they will become an anachronism.  If your numbers are falling at an alarming rate, don’t stand around waiting for the masses to come back around or for the other guys to fail.  In the South, we prefer conservative and moderate politics to liberal politics but the extreme elements on the right are abrasive and unjustifiably arrogant.  Pelsoi, Reid and congressional Democrats have similar traits on the left but not to the offensive level.  

In the middle of all the drama, we have President Obama and his wide-eyed collection or hodgepodge of supporters who simply wanted public officials to confer and arrive at logical conclusions to move the nation forward.   There are Republicans who swear that all Democrats are ultra liberals yet the Georgia congressional Republicans work with their Democrat colleagues.  If the Democrats of Georgia allowed the Blue Dogs to consider and support President Bush’s policies then the Republicans of Georgia should do the same with Obama initiatives. 

From childhood playgrounds to the halls of Congress, southerners have a long history of being friends with people who are different when it is convenient then getting amnesia when it is convenient.  The D.C. axiom goes “we have no permanent friends or permanent enemies; just permanent interests.” 

The interests of my community are better served if we diverse our political portfolio while certain stock is low.  Mark my word: that stock won’t stay low. To my Republican friends, I will caution you one last time to make a comfortable place for moderate thought inside your party as the Democrats did with the Blue Dogs or you will have a party of extremists who the public in general find off-putting.

Posted in African Americans, Georgia | Tagged , , | 5 Comments »

Georgia Republican Convention in Savannah

May 15, 2009 by hba1

Thunderstorms are immiment, but I’m still headed to the beautiful city of Savannah for the Georgia Republican Convention.                                  

I’ve got my mini digital tape recorder, my note pad and plenty of business cards in an effort to meet and greet each of the Gubernatorial candidates, the Honorable J.C. Watts, Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, and Herman Cain. I’m expecting to hear and see a different tone that exudes diversity and open mindedness with an emphasis on re-energizing their core values. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned for further updates throughout the weekend.

If you’re my Facebook friend, you can get the information much quicker.

Oh, and I intend to count the number of ‘people of color’ in attendance.

Peace.

Helen

Posted in African Americans, Conservative, Convention, Georgia, politics, Republican | 10 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »