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Posts Tagged ‘Conservatives’

Town Hall “Party With A Purpose”: Hear from Everyone

Posted in politics, tagged Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, hillary, moderates, republicans, Schools, Trump on September 27, 2016| 1 Comment »

We can disagree without being disagreeable. I swear my friends are all over the place politically and culturally; life would be boring otherwise. It is wise to listen to everyone (even if you know they are dead wrong, lying or trying the wreak havoc.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Atlanta was proud to be the city to busy doing business to hate. It’s my understanding that BMW didn’t want to locate a plant in the Savannah area because they were concerned with racial drama among the workforce. While some are acting silly, others are addressing issues as part of a reasonable community and moving forward financially.

Atlanta is the best Black city in the world and Georgia is the best Black state in the union. We should manufacture everything here and ship it all to the world on the interstate system and the Port of Savannah. Of course, industrial attraction starts with a quality schools and livable communities. Those who like to “wreak havoc” recreationally are killing the golden goose.

If I had a little funding, my blog would host ten or so Town Hall meetups around south Georgia—like a good old fashion political stump. We should create events so all sides can make their points to someone other than those like them, the proverbial preaching to the choir. In modern times, the political stump presentation is beamed around the world instantly with social media.

The key effort here is to get people voting and speaking up. If you don’t vote, decisions don’t reflect a cross-section of the community. Personally, I am a moderate Democrat who doesn’t care for the Opportunity School Board Amendment or the Republican candidate for president. However, I would have a coke and slice of pizza with my friends who feel differently just to fairly hear them out. Actually, you formulate better responses to them when you hear them and at the end of the day, that respectful dialog is what grown folks do.

Now, to get 50 or so trendsetter members of a community into a venue, the “party with a purpose” approach is cool with me. We could pick a café and pack the place with people leaving a high school football game. It would take much to identify a local host or two that everyone follows to the hippest functions…and it’s free too. Finally, we would be creating a network of people linked by social media.

Will this find funding in a few weeks? It would take the right supporters but it’s better than pouring money into those same old, same old T.V. ads.

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Must Vote Total Ballot: Local, State and Federal

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Conservatives, Donald Trump, Georgia, hillary, Obama on August 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I am blown away by people who don’t vote. My friends tell me to be nice but forget that. You can sit in the cold to watch high school football but not vote. You can play Call of Duty the video game but not vote for or against the guys who decide when, where and how long real troops serve.

Let me, oh let me mention Gore vs. Bush. So, the Democrats on Capitol Hill helped President Bill Clinton put the nation in good shape but the working people Dems fight for fail to vote. Al Gore falls to George Bush by a margin that could be one south Florida housing project. Oh, the conservatives would say how dare you give short-term public assistance to poor people who refuse to pick these citrus crops and maybe they have a point but vote and let your concerns be heard. Some say the farm workers’ wages are too low…then vote. Hey, you can protest on the streets but voting and attending city council and school board meetings get stuff changed legally.

Why Vote:

Obama Legacy: If you appreciate the service of President Obama and how First Lady Michelle Obama carries herself, vote to stop Trump from moving into the White House and reversing everything on day one. As President Obama said recently, Hillary Clinton would be the most qualified person to enter the Oval but you know how it is for women in a man’s world. She will put her personal style of diplomacy on the office and that style is similar to Clinton and Obama.

Healthcare: Trump can’t wait to dismantle Obamacare on the federal level but don’t sleep on the governors like Deal in Georgia who won’t expand Medicaid for all. The insured use the emergency room as a doctor’s office and at that point the illness is costly. If everyone had a minimum level of healthcare coverage, early detection of health problems could save trillions but that would be too much like right. Prevention and wellness would be even better; the doctor tells you to get that weight down and if you don’t, you dug your own grave. You can’t save people from themselves. Politicians get campaign donations from hospital, drug and insurance lobbyists so maybe it’s true that they want people to remain sick. Vote!

National Defense: Have mercy, are we going to let hothead Trump have the nuclear codes? Everyone has friends and family who joined the military to serve and because the uniform has job security. They see the world, stay paid and learn valuable leadership skills. We should watch who is in the White House and Congress because our best and brightest shouldn’t die because leaders want to act macho. If the bombing starts, leaders are in that famous “undisclosed location” while my cousin is on the front line. We must vote if we carry about the troops and their families.

We know big business makes billions when America goes to war; some people think corporate interest want war so they can supply the troops. Big business does business in a nasty way around the world and when the people get weary of their leaders allowing this exploitation, Wall Street wants the Pentagon to get the situation back to normal. Our interest in the Middle East is rooted in our thirst for oil. The next president should have a comprehensive plan to make us energy smarter while being more respectful on the global stage….that John Wayne cowboy stuff doesn’t work anymore.

Jobs/Wages: My hourly wage from UPS in 1983 is still a desired wage today but the cost of everything has gone up. Trump-type CEOs are only interested in the bottom line profits. Mr. Trump rightfully says we don’t make anything in America anymore…and he should know because he is a major exporter of jobs. Young people must keep their bills low as they train for high tech careers in the new global economy. Today’s jobs require fewer people so we must elect leaders who create the proper climate for industrial attraction. The future workers must be sober, focus and attentive because the developing world is enthusiastic about doing better and taking out our position on top. America IS great today but we must work hard and smart to keep it that way.

Schools: We must elect local, state and federal officeholders who are committed to a good education for all kids. To be honest, the conservatives seem more interested in providing vouchers so their kids can get into private schools or homeschools…just get them away from poor folks. Georgia has a constitutional amendment on the ballot this year that seems to improve underperforming schools but the real purpose is to close or privatize those schools. You see what they do when you don’t vote.

Better schools start with involved parents who speak proper English 24/7, require reading, reduce T.V. and video games, attend teacher conferences, check homework and vote.

The effort to privatize public schools is an attack on the teaching profession; teaching and the military has traditionally been an opportunity for families to move into the middle class. The next generation of teachers will also serves as role models and cheerleaders for kids. We should elect leaders who recognize this reality.

Crime/Freedom: The elected City Council selects a city manager who often selects the police chief who sets the police mentality. The police have always been my friends and if I am wrong, I am wrong. But, I don’t need police who seem to be overseers of the public. President Bill Clinton got Congress to pass a Crime Bill that included an emphasis on community policing—get out of the car, get to know the people, connect with the youth, honor the seniors and people will appreciate enforcement when it happens.

My community is too busy playing Grand Theft Auto to vote; therefore, real GTA is happening on the streets. Yes, friends quietly mention that we are killing each other more than the police are killing us. We must vote for elected officials with compassion; leaders who rightfully encourage all citizens to be cool when dealing with the police and insist that the officers do the same. Prison is like modern day slavery so all Americans should avoid those places. State representatives and senators spent decades with that “lock ‘em and toss the key” mindset before realizing that corrections cost more than college.

While we were voting state officials created junk laws and policies like “stop and frisk” in New York and “stand your ground” in the South. In high crime areas, the police frisk random people but you don’t need to frisk me in Harlem if a crime hasn’t been committed by someone who looks like me.

How, how, how did we let those fools pass Stand Your Ground. Let me understand this mess: if I feel like I am in danger (not real danger, just I feel endanger) I can start shooting rather than walking away. It’s the cowboy mentality and mind you, I think all of those hip hop youth are dangerous thugs. Stand Your Ground is open season on people who don’t look like you. i.e. college students in timberland boots, White guys with tattoos. Wow.

Six reasons to vote but check this: the last six times I voted early, it didn’t take 10 minutes. A football halftime show last longer but this isn’t a game…the stakes are too high. Washington and Atlanta officials whisper that poor people don’t vote and stats say they are right. I say we all should vote in every election for every ballot item.

Finally, there is something to be said about association. The conservatives who openly denounce the farce candidacy of Donald Trump should be commended. The same can be said about the vast majority of Muslims who abhor terrorism and regular citizens who would never advocate gun attacks on the police. Reasonable people who are quietly standing around as the GOP is being hijacked by far right zealots should be ashamed. It wasn’t the Klan doing all the nasty stuff during Jim Crow. State, local and federal elected officials were doing the same things because we weren’t allowed to vote. Vote or we are going back to the future. In the spring, Trump said he was going to “act” presidential after the primary. After winning the White House, I think he would act like himself…like a dangerous tyrant.

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Fair Questions: Are you cool with Obama? Voted for Rep. Bishop? Ride with Senator Isakson? Down with Speaker Boehner? Deal with Governor Deal?

Posted in politics, tagged Boehner, confederate flag, Conservatives, democrats, Fox News, GOP, Jack Kingston, Kasim Reed, Obama, republicans, sanford bishop on September 25, 2015| 1 Comment »

Is it fair to ask a candidate how they voted for another office? Should you ask them if they are Republican or Democrat if they are running in a non-partisan election?

Personally, I say yes. Local elected officials are representatives to state and federal governments and officials; they tell other officials what the people are saying. Unfortunately, the Republican Party has been commandeered by the far Right Tea Party Movement and the first thing they tell their officials is “you don’t need to speak with those who oppose us.”

Wait a second, once candidates become elected officials, they should communicate with everyone to explain their decisions and opinions. Democrats generally do it.

So, people hate President Obama, say ugly thinks about him and his wife then dare local elected officials to do business with the Obama Administration. Some mayors and city councilmen don’t want federal grant money because it’s from Obama or was from the Clinton Administration. They need to get ready for another Clinton Administration.

Folks laugh about questioning Obama’s birthplace and even his religion and local elected officials stand there and smile. That’s wrong. I am Democrat but I am quick to walk away from a liberal nut who thinks President Bush had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks.

Check this: former Representative Jack Kingston got cool points for taking questions in forums at Savannah State University from liberal students. However, Jack playfully laughed when asked if candidate Obama was from the U.S.A. Later, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed was the Georgia point person for getting federal funds to deepen the Port of Savannah, a project that meant countless jobs to our region. I think Reed took the lead because Obama staffers didn’t want to hear from Savannah congressman Kingston after the birther mess.

Today, Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation. Yesterday, he was meeting with the Pope and today he is gone. Boehner is a real dude and must have been overwhelmed by the love of the Holy See. Mr. Speaker must have told himself that he wanted no more of the Tea Party’s ugly influence on the Republican Party.

So, Rep. Sanford Bishop has done right by American farmers since day one because agriculture is Georgia’s number one industry. When the Tea Party came for Bishop with lies and made-up silliness, many local elected officials and ag leaders stood by smirking. We are talking about the same people who were constantly asking Bishop for this and that.

Speaker Boehner came to Albany, Georgia, and had a private meeting at Doublegate Country Club. You know Boehner tried to tell those knuckleheads that they could beat Bishop fair and square on fiscal issues but attacking a good man’s character was messed up. The Republican establishment doesn’t control the Tea Party, Fox News or talk radio. Those nasty attacks made us circle the wagons around Bishop and he won that election by the thinness of margins.

So, for stake of full disclosure, I have voted for Obama twice, Rep. Bishop every time after he beat Charles Hatcher, and a couple of Republicans in the GOP primary because there are no Dem primaries anymore.

Also, like many Black Democrats in Atlanta, I often vote for Senator Isakson because he is a good Georgian. Sometimes, we need reasonable members on the other team telling fools to shut up.

When these local candidates come around smiling, asked them if they voted for Obama, Bishop, Scott, Romney, Mccain or whoever. It’s funny how they get votes from Obama supporters but later hang with people who would like to see the worst happen to the president. I never wanted anything horrible to happen to a president and those who do are sick.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20.

Matthew 7:15-20

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Look, I am not saying some candidates are evil but they are sometimes around questionable people and say nothing. Senator John McCain was campaigning for president and an old lady got the mic and said Obama was a Arab. She didn’t even get the right part of the world. McCain took the mic back from her and said no madam, no madam…I don’t agree with him on issues but he is a good man.

What about asking candidates how they feel about the Black Lives Matter Movement? I think that could have been called Black Lives Matter Also.

Questions in general about the confederate flag seem unfair but questions about displaying that flag on city grounds are fair in my opinion.

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Cousin Pookie and Cousin Ray Ray: Presidential Difference-makers

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Blacks, Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, hillary, LaDavia Drane, moderates, Obama, tea party on June 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Will the Black vote baton be passed from Obama to Hillary, will it be intercepted by an innovative elephant like Rand Paul (unlikely) or will it fall to the dirt? With so much time before the presidential primaries, candidates have time to test and research new projects to reach all voters—run it up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Of course, all campaigns should be reading Project Logic Ga’s Best Interest Initiate because I have personally crafted a unique budget-friendly approach to many southern concerns.

https://projectlogicga.com/best-interests-initiative/

Recently, the Hillary Clinton campaign announced the hiring of LaDavia Drane, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, as outreach director and point person for the Black community. Ms. Drane seems really bright and hopefully she will acknowledge the diversity of the Black community across this great nation. To me, the CBC and BET has a thing about being “urban” this and “urban” than; like the Black community in Georgia is only the A-T-L.

Well, a quick look at last year’s elections would indicate that Atlanta Blacks didn’t care for Democrat candidates for governor and U.S. Senate who spent more time bragging about connections to old Dixiecrats and current Republicans than embracing the Democrat in the Oval Office. Some of the time and energy spent trying to get the Atlanta vote out should have been spent on the rest of Georgia where Black voters are more moderate to conservative. But, people sitting in strategy rooms in the DNC see Atlanta as a big juicy peach and the rest of Georgia as a pit.

Hillary Clinton could win Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia with ease if the suburban soccer moms support her. It could be a national landslide for Clinton if that demographic was paired with most of the Obama voters but the uncertain segment of the Obama coalition is called Cousin Pookie.

President Obama coined the term Cousin Pookie for inconsistent voters. Pookie would be the guy who voted for Obama during the presidential elections but didn’t vote for any other candidates on the ballot (i.e. the Congress that Obama needed). Pookie doesn’t vote in midterm elections that often.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Starting tomorrow, you can vote too. You’ve got to grab your friends. You’ve got to grab your co-workers. You know, don’t just get the folks you know are going to vote. You’ve got to find Cousin Pookie, he’s sitting on the couch right now watching football, hasn’t voted in the last 5 elections, you’ve got to grab him and tell him to go vote.

That Leader of the Free World Obama really cracks me up; he was so right. But peep this: Democrats and Republicans should sit down on the couch with Cousin Pookie and ask him why he doesn’t feel the need to vote. Wait a second, Pookie is over his mom’s house; a house purchased under a USDA first time homebuyers program. He has countless friends who used military service as a ticket to a secure and better life. Of course, Pok should be watching CNN during half-time of the football game because the wrong President could send those homeboys and homegirls in uniform into harm’s way for questionable reasons.

What would happen if Pookie was looking for CNN and came across Sen. Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate with some interesting views on prison cost and weed. Paul is making a real effort at outreach.

In Georgia, Cousin Pookie might live in Hotlanta but he has folks from rural areas and the five or six smaller cities. That would be Cousin Ray Ray. Ray Ray served in the military after graduating from high school; he has never been in trouble with the law in his life. When Ray watches the Democrats on T.V., he see a bunch of liberals who are breaking their necks to give free stuff to folks who have never show any personal initiative. Actually, Ray Ray and his co-workers at the plant are pissed that their tax dollars are being used for more handouts than handups.

Cousin Ray Ray agrees with some of the conservative messages from talk radio in his F-150 or Ram with a Hemi but the next thing you know the talk about the President turns ugly and mean-spirited.

With so much time before next year’s election, the Dems and GOPers have time to listen to Pookie and Ray Ray. Someone needs to come up with a fresh approach; something that’s about solutions and answers. In the South, many Whites who voted for Bill Clinton are deep, deep into the conservative movement. They are going, going, gone like a Braves home run. To win, Hillary must replace them with suburban voters and rural Obamacrats.

I personally think the conservative movement has been hijacked by the most radical element but the Republican presidential nominee won’t need to say “they are sitting on their tailgates…listening to NASCAR.” Oh, conservatives vote without encouragement and one voting conservative carries more weight than 1,000 non-voting Cousin Pookies.

There are those who think that listening to positive Cousin Ray Ray’s personal history and opinions will get Ray Ray voting and that Cousin Pookie should be listening to Fox News’ coverage of the GOP primary season. If Fox doesn’t scare him off the couch, he isn’t coming off and Dems should let him feel the wrath of the Tea Party.

Naw, that wouldn’t be right. I was reading about Esther in the Bible today and she said in Esther 8:6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? While the GOP isn’t exactly evil, some of them can be quite naughty.

Zora Neale-Hurston said “All my skinfolks ain’t my kinfolks.” At some point, my community might need to spend more time and energy on the positive segments and less on Cousin Pookie. In time, Pookie will get the message and decide to become Paul, Jr., an American voter.

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Voting: the Best Protest

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Blacks, Conservatives, democrats, Ferguson, republicans, youth on August 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Conservatives, David Perdue, Jack Kingston, moderates, Obama, republicans, tea party, Thad Cochran on July 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Questions before the Georgia Senate Runoff

Posted in politics, tagged Conservatives, David Perdue, democrats, Georgia, GOP, Jack Kingston, saxby on June 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted in politics, tagged agriculture, Blacks, Congress, Conservatives, David Perdue, democrats, Georgia, GOP, Jack Kingston, Michelle Obama, Newt Gingrich, Obama, politics on May 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Vivian Childs and Sanford Bishop: Saving Children

Posted in politics, tagged Blacks, Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, GOP, Obama, sanford bishop, Vivan Childs on May 11, 2014| 2 Comments »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Georgia Election Summit: Put It On the Table

Posted in politics, tagged agriculture, colin powell, Conservatives, David Perdue, democrats, GOP, Jack Kingston, Karen Handel, nathan deal, Obama, republicans, sanford bishop, tea party on April 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Everyone has agendas this election year and there is much to sort out. My agenda is based on the best interest of Georgia and the South but the word trump has always been a cornerstone of this blog.

To me, some factors “trump” other factors and the factors of race, faith, region, country, money, and gender can be prioritized 100 different ways by 100 different people. For example, a local congressional candidate from a different party knows person X’s interest better than a candidate from X’s party from the other side of the area. At the end of the day, Colin Powell and Condi Rice care more about Black people than the Red party. Actually, they joined the Red party because in their hearts they felt they were helping every American.

If I won the sweepstakes, I would use some of that money to convene a summit on the Black agenda for this election year in middle Georgia. The meeting would include folks from both major political parties and of every racial background. While the “Changing Mindset” outline found as a tab at the top of this blog would be the central theme, some other matters need to be put on the table.

https://projectlogicga.com/changing-mindsets/

Voter Suppression: It’s clear that some leaders of the GOP plan to counterbalance changing demographics by making it hard for certain people to vote. President Obama recent comments on this topic should be heard.

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/obama-takes-on-assaults-to-voting-rights-223929923741

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-the-real-voter-fraud-is-people-who-try-to-deny-our-rights/

Georgia 2^nd Congressional District race: As quiet as it is kept, many Black Republicans know that the voter suppression efforts from their party is hogwash. These good Americans believe that the conservative agenda is in the best interest of everyone and that silly tricks and shady methods drive reasonable people away from their party.

GOP primary voters have the opportunity to select a candidate, Vivian Childs, who might plant the seeds that change the whole political arena. Let’s be honest, the GOP often pushes Black candidates who seem a little bland on the Black hand side. With the trump matter in mind, Vivian Childs, Andrew and Deborah Honeycutt, Karen Bogans in Savannah and Michael Murphy are Black Georgians who are conservative but they lived in the Black world, attend Black churches, and likely have Black gold fish. I personally saw Mrs. Childs in fellowship with her sorority sister, the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta.

Fraternity and sorority trumps political party in my community and you can best believe that the Childs campaign will never function in a way that dishonors her bond. Okay, I worked for Rep. Sanford Bishop and I was dumfounded by the ugliness of some previous campaigns—hell, if they kept the debate civic they would have won. Childs vs. Bishop would have a residual benefit of showing how to disagree without being disagreeable.

President Obama On the Ballot: Oh yea, the primary this spring and the general election in the fall are referendums on the president in some way. The Republicans want control of the U.S. Senate because with both houses of Congress they can make the rest of his hair gray. If the Senate candidates are constantly attacking Obamacare, their election is a vote on Obamacare. To me, the people who elected Obama in the first place should vote this year also.

Senate Candidate Breakdown: I want to put a few points about these candidates on the table…as I see it.

Michelle Nunn– Don’t sleep….she can win. While she will be running from Obama, she can’t win without a massive pro-Obama turnout. Her father wasn’t big on being a political party person and hopefully is the same way. She might do well with suburb Atlanta GOP soccer moms.

Paul Broun– The Democrats so so so very much want him to be the GOP nom because he has a record of being ugly to candidate and President Obama. He would drive large numbers of ify voters to the polls for the dems and the national fundraising for Nunn would be huge courtesy of his youtube videos.

Jack Kingston– If region trumps party with me, Kingston is the people’s champ from south Georgia. Georgia political power is now centered in north Georgia and that is scary because you can count the Black folks up there. Jack served Black Savannah and Savannah State University for years and dude has lived in part-time in D.C. Because he likes to play that Andy Griffin role, Kingston knows Black and White rural Georgia inside and out. The economic engines of our state outside of Atlanta are agriculture and military. Those Tea Party people would cut both of those areas to the bone but Jack knows what’s up. He should come to our summit and explain that statement about free lunch kids cleaning the schools.

Karen Handel– She would hold the GOP women vote against Nunn. She should play up her hard knock life story. Who knew that she attended Fredrick Douglas High School in suburban D.C. The lady was chair of the Fulton County Commission. Her campaign clearly doesn’t want to tap her potential support in our community. Did I mention that she went to Doug?

David Perdue– this political newcomer is was balling in the private sector. Perdue was CEO at Reebok and at Dollar General. DG sure brings revitalization to some rough areas and heaven knows the jobs are needed. His campaign website contains a list of companies he has helped: Rockport, Hanes, Levi’s, Polo, Coach, and Greg Norman. I kid you not; I can get dress in a Polo shirt, a pair of Levis, Hanes drawers, old Rockport Dressports, and Greg Norman footies. Look for forward to Dems asking if these companies gave back to our communities.

Governor race: This race will be a referendum on Governor Nathan Deal and the GOP in the state houses refusal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. We need to hear the GOP alternative to Obamacare because current the uninsured are using the emergency room as a doctor’s office and that’s costly.

State House and State Senate: With secondary regard for party, stay on your state legislators’ behinds because voter suppression and stand your ground start with them.

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Democrats Who Wisely Vote In Republican Primaries

Posted in politics, tagged Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, moderates, Newt Gingrich, Obama, sanford bishop on March 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The only Democrat state or federal elected official who represents me is President Obama. I don’t think Georgia is overwhelmingly Republican as much as I think Dems help people who don’t take the time to vote. With that being said, you can understand why I am a moderate Dem who often votes in the Republican primary.

In states like Michigan, voters register as member of a party and can only vote in the primary for that party. I view the Georgia process as members of two major parties listing their candidates and voters choosing from those candidates more so than people self-identifying as R or D. Oh, Republicans clearly function like GOP is second only to their church but Southern Dems aren’t about half that interested party politics.

If the selection of leaders take place in the GOP primary, that’s where the action is. Michelle Nunn will be the Dem nominee for Senate and Jason Carter will be the nom for governor. In most places, there is nothing popping for Dems in the primary except local elections (those locals need to be non-partisan but save that fight for another day.)

I voted for Newt Gingrich in the presidential primary before voting for Obama again in the general election. Because some GOP candidates are board line zealots, I will vote for the most reasonable one. Also, cooler candidates from the other side are the ones I want to see in constructive debates before the general election.

In the state Senate race in my area, I will be voting in the GOP primary for a decent guy who attended my high school and there will be no Dem in the general election.

If I lived in Georgia’s 2^nd congressional district, I would vote for Vivian Childs in the GOP primary because she has a demeanor similar to Senator Johnny Isakson, Senator Saxby Chambliss and Rep. Austin Scott—less Tea Party, more sweet Iced Tea. A contest between Rep. Sanford Bishop and Childs would actually help to explain how they are alike rather than what divides them…what divides us. If both political parties hate cross-party voting, that makes me want to see more of it.

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The Blacklist: Rep. Allen West, Mrs. Vivian Childs, Rep. Sanford Bishop and You

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Allen West, Blacks, Conservatives, Georgia, GOP, Herman Cain, Michael Steele, My Brother's Keeper, Obama, sanford bishop, Vivan Childs, youth on February 27, 2014| 1 Comment »

220px-Allen_West%2C_Official_Portrait%2C_112th_Congress

former U.S. Rep. Allen West

NBC’s The Blacklist was sneaky to have doctored photos of former GOP Rep. Allen West and current Senator Ted Cruz on this week’s episode. They were implying that an international spy/criminal was involved with them. That was dirty.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2014/02/25/nbcs-blacklist-photoshops-fictional-criminal-socializing-tea-party-rep

If you never heard of West, you need to google the brother with a quickness because he will be in the Albany, Georgia area tonight and in Columbus on February, 28. Yes, the guy who seems to dislike President Obama more than anyone has, is and will always be my from Georgia Black brother and nobody tells me not to talk with other Blacks in the political/policy arena. (Cue Willie Hutch’s “Brothers Gonna Work It Work” from the 1972 film The Mack.)

West’s current job seems to be slamming everything Obama to the delight of the far Right. Goldie in the Mack told his brother (Walter Mosley/T.C. from Magnum P.I.) that no one was closing him out of his business and the far Right seem to feel the same way about their grind.

http://allenbwest.com/

Some Blacks will listen to the far left Dems say that West, Herman Cain, Condi Rice, Michael Steele, Colin Powell, JC Watts and all Black Republicans should be avoided—putting them on a blacklist. That’s not going to happen and I think that brother Clarence Thomas is the most misunderstood Georgia brother of all time—read my blog post on Thomas’s book about his grandfather before you open your Black mouth. (That’s how we talk down here…no harm.)

https://projectlogicga.com/2012/01/23/clarence-thomas-good-brother/

I bet West gets a packed house in south Georgia this week. When I went to hear then RNC chair Michael Steele at congressional candidate Austin Scott’s headquarters, the GOP crowd was thin. Oh, they didn’t want to hear that smooth, less rage style. And I will always remember that the GOP bus didn’t come to Albany until someone other than Steele was on it. Rep. Sanford Bishop barely defeated his GOP opponent that year and heaven knows that Steele might have tipped the balance. The opponent was smart but he didn’t dare risk upsetting the Tea Party because obviously most Blacks are naturally liberal—including the RNC chair. Geez

There shouldn’t been a blacklist when anyone is trying to solve the problems facing this state and this nation. Allen West needs to be at the table and sitting between Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. Al Sharpton. I have always believed that Team Obama sent a “stay away for now” message to Sharpton, Minster Farrakhan and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Well it’s time for everyone to come together because it seems like open season on our youth. A smart sista tried to tell me last week (in her West Indian accent) that we shouldn’t teach our youth to adjust to those with a Stand Your Ground mentality. Well, I have been a Black male for fifty years and being right on the side of a 7-11 store sometimes means that wrong people will end you.

President Obama launches an effort today called “My Brother’s Keeper” aimed at helping young men get the skills to attend college and get good jobs. Who can be against that?

I hope GOP primary voters in Georgia’s second congressional district will select Vivian Childs as their nominee because she and Rep. Sanford Bishop would have a healthy and helpful six months dialog about building bridges. I am sure we would learned that most southern Blacks really want the same things. It’s going to be the summer and fall of Changing Mindsets and everyone should be there. Helen Blocker Adams, mayoral candidate in Augusta, always promotes having everyone together; get to know every street, corner, country club, church and teen center. Helen is wants right about our lovely state.

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Rep. Sanford Bishop vs. Vivian Childs: Childs, Please

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, blue dogs, Congress, Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, GOP, Obama, sanford bishop, tea party on January 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

A conservative named Vivian Childs is running for the U.S. House seat held by Rep. Sanford D. Bishop and I say great. Her candidacy seems like that ant with the rubber tree plant but sometimes it’s about the journey.

The people of Georgia have received over three decades of quality service from SDB and I, for one, wish he would have been selfish and left a few years to bring his golf score down and his personal wealth up.. think 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Bishop and the Blue Dogs are important targets to the GOP because without them the Dem Team would be as liberal as the far Right pretends they current are. If their silly behinds listened to me, they would have push for SDB to be Agriculture Secretary to get the seat but they wanted to play hardball.

Mrs. Childs’ candidacy seems like the type candidacies that Michael Steele wanted to create to gently approach certain areas but the Tea Party’s brassiness happened to that. Oh, candidate Obama was so fortunate to be in the Congressional Black Caucus with Bishop because he had to model some of his moderation after him.

Childs and her family seem like wonderful, successful people and her conservatism is rooted in the Black communities of our past—when you knew who you were and whose you were. In those days, shame still existed and you admired how someone “carried themselves.”

Here is the real talk: we need some candidates who spend their time listening to and talking with everyone rather than preaching to the choir; candidates who put a positive spin on the limited role of government and fiscal realities. A Bishop vs. Childs race would have a healthy impact on our state and introduce conservative ideals to a new segment of the population. Some people would discover that they are actually more conservative than liberal and that Bishop was moderate to conservative all along.

I am sure the other candidate in the GOP primary in the 2^nd District is a decent fellow but Childs opens doors of possibilities than would normally be closed. Ultimately, giving the people choices and options is so beneficial. The first Black GOP member of Congress from Georgia since reconstruction might very well be someone who was introduced to a different way of governing by VC’s running for congress….plant the seed.

On a sly note, Bishop having a solid opponent forces him to fully engage his campaign apparatus and that move helps the Dem ticket statewide. Wink

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GOP: Skinning A Black Cat

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Blacks, blue dogs, Congress, Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, GOP, moderates, Paul ryan, politics, tea party on December 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

There is more than one way to skin a cat and the Republicans have recently taken the worst ways to address outreach. First, their outreach reeks because policy, techniques and branding is being driven by their most vocal and most angry.

For years, I have been telling conservative friends that 20% of the Black vote was prime for the taking and that those 20% were actually the head of the snake (the political, economic, faith and social leadership of my community.) Without the deep thinking 20% of the body, the rest would be aimless. But, talk radio and the Fox News types get paid not for creating good policy and solving problems but for keeping up drama and mess. I am starting to believe that MSNBC does the same thing on the left.

If the GOP conservatives listened to me years ago, they would have allowed a moderate, centrist segment of their team– a segment that would outnumber the far right and would counterbalance the centrists on the Dem Team. I wanted to call them Red Dogs like the Dems’ Blue Dogs. Basically, the Red Dogs would be the traditional conservatives who deliberate and compromise with others.

When I staffed on the Hill, Rep. Paul Ryan staffed and was a waiter a Tortilla Coast. The guy is old school like me and we remember the days when lawmakers knew each other; when state delegations had a weekly meal together and the dean of the delegation was respected by both sides of the aisle.

During this holiday season, there are minorities and women sitting down with family and discussing the possibility of running for office as a member of the GOP. Of course, many conservatives don’t realize that people other than those who look like them are also moderate to conservative.

You don’t need to skin a black cat because old superstitions are silly. Cats are cats and if the GOP spent a little more time getting to know Blakc cats and less time being ticked off, they would have a new segment of their team. That segment would be just right to approach my community about the sensibleness of personal responsibility and life choices.

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Open Primaries: Change The Game

Posted in politics, tagged Blacks, Congress, Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, GOP, Herman Cain, Obama, republicans on October 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We need open primaries in Georgia because the elected officials are entrenched while Atlanta and D.C. could use some new blood. Evidently, protecting jobs (their jobs) is their main concern and both major political parties support the current funky system.

So, a candidate who has support from various sections of the community must first win his or her primary before advancing to the general election in November. Well, they draw this district lines in a way that favors their team—Democrats and Republicans both do it. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires preclearance of congressional and state legislature district lines in some states to improve the representation of minority voters. A strange twist is that packing Black voters into a few districts makes adjacent districts so Republican that Black voters (often Democrats) are ignored. Yes, we could have a sizeable number of Black Republicans if the crazy part of the GOP didn’t run them off.

Ask yourself: Is race, political party or regional interests most important to you when voting. Do you necessarily need a Black politician to serve your needs? Is green (money) the most important color while voting? Hey, the homeboy Bill Clinton gets a lifetime hood pass but he dam near got it revoked for taking trash about Obama during the Obama/Hillary primary battle. While I love the Obamas, Bill will always be my dude.. without regard for race, creed or national origin.

When Herman Cain was running for the U.S. Senate, everyone knew that he could have gotten a sizeable part of the Black vote in an open primary process. In an open primary, candidates run together and the top two vote-getters face off in the general election. That is similar to local elections when everyone runs for office together and a candidate wins with over 50% of the vote. If no 50%, the two top candidates meet in a runoff.

Many believe that Karen Handel would have face Nathan Deal in November if Georgia had an open primary during the last govenor’s race. She would have likely won because she would have received support from some Democrat woman. Look, the South is GOP and I get that but if given a chance, I would and have voted for the GOP candidate whose views are most similar to my moderate positions.

Bottomline: we should push for open primaries so we can vote for the best person for the job rather than the person who survives a partisan primary.

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All Elections: Think Pink

Posted in politics, tagged cancer, Conservatives, democrats, Georgia, GOP, healthcare, hillary, Michelle Nunn, Obama, sanford bishop on October 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

While pink wristbands on football players are great, voting now would be cool also. Yea, local elections have an effect on the healthcare and all cancer. Local politicians are the building blocks to state and national elections. On those two levels, the big business in the healthy industry fought Hillary Clinton in the 90s and Barrack Obama recently on healthcare reform because the status quo keeps them paid.

In the Audacity of Hope, President Obama wrote of universal healthcare so everyone would have at least some coverage. We know that uncovered people often use the emergency room as a doctor’s office—reacting to sickness rather than implementing wellness. We are praying for the recovery of Rep. Sanford Bishop from throat cancer. Early detection located it in time. If everyone had an annual doctor’s exam, we would have more early detection rather than cancer growing; once cancer grows, we then spend billions often fight a losing battle. Understand, a little money up front would have saved more people and more money. We should thank Rep. Bishop for supporting rural healthcare for decades.

To be fair, my current local officials do a decent job on municipal matters but they also serve as sounding boards for the state legislature and U.S. Congress. I think of that old gospel song about “he never said a mumbling word” and think of those whose tried to help poor people get basic health coverage being attacked on all fronts. Where were the local leaders (who we know privately to be reasonable people) during those vicious attacks? They never said a word. We had a pastor who was nice with her logic. She said people say “Lord they need you over here and they need you over there….but the Lord is likely saying ‘why do you think I put you there…get to work.'”

Oh, they attack Bill and Hillary Clinton in the nastiest ways. How can you call yourself a southern gentleman or lady and attack a woman the way Hillary was attacked in the 90s and the way First Lady Michelle Obama was assailed on the campaign trail and every second of husband’s presidency….while supposedly good people stood by silently.

The local elections of the next two weeks are also about two other elections down the road. In the U.S. Senate race next year in Georgia, Michelle Nunn might face former candidate for governor Karen Handel. After losing the governor race, Handel went to work for one of the biggest women cancer fighting organizations but left in a controversy about funding or defunding places that provide women reproduction services. Bill, Hillary and Obama always say that you reduce the number of abortions by reducing the number of unplanned pregnancy in the first place but that logic is lost on some people.

Sam Nunn was a great conservative Democrat in the Senate and his daughter would add a woman’s view to the Georgia congressional delegation. But, she can’t win without local officials getting out the vote. So, we need to put local leaders in office this year that will stand with Nunn in 2014 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. The silly drama in Washington today could be reduced in the future if the old boys club had some more reasonable women.

I got to get me some pink gear for my tennis bag but I also need some local, state and federal officeholders who will make healthcare coverage (and therefore early detection) commonplace.

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The New Political Center: oh yeah

Posted in politics, tagged Conservatives, democrats, moderates on October 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Esquire Magazine and NBC News have produced a study that states what this blog has known for years. Americans don’t neatly fit into two political parties and the new political center outweighs a combination of the far left liberals and far right conservatives.

They also discovered that over a million more people voted for Democrats for congress but the gerrymandering of congressional districts gives elections to the GOP. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, someone said that politicians are selecting their voters (with redistricting) rather than voters selecting their politicians. Congress’s approval rating is below 10% but 90% of incumbents get reelected.

This blog has always supported groups and candidates who are about dialog and solutions rather than those who wanted to divide people for their own personal gains. The videos and articles relating to this new study will surprise you and are worth watching.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/morning-joe/53283365 (skip to the 2:00 mark)

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/15/20960588-the-new-american-center-why-our-nation-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think?lite

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ABC’s Scandal and OWN’s The Haves and the Have Nots: Our Plantation Mentality

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Blacks, Congress, Conservatives, Georgia, Haves and Have Nots, oprah, Scandal, youth on October 4, 2013| 3 Comments »

From ABC’s Scandal to OWN’s The Haves and the Have Nots, I see two lovely and brilliant characters who look like me chasing weak men who don’t look like me. So, it’s time for a blog post full of wild theories. A post designed to stimulate healthy and interesting discussions more so than to offer solid facts.

We have a plantation mentality (PM) and by we, I mean all of the sons and daughters on the South. Scandal takes place in D.C. and that is a southern city. I could see General Robert E. Lee’s beloved Lee/Custis Mansion from my southwest D.C. balcony; a house that became Arlington National Cemetery.

A plantation mentality occurs when people, longer after the Civil War ended in 1865 and after Jim Crow ended in 1975, still think and function with the mindset that one group is better by nature than the other. Under that mindset, some older Blacks did vote for Barack Obama for president because deep in their minds we can’t do what others can do. The oppression continues but it’s not others doing it. No, we are on oppression/self-hate autopilot.

Joe Morton plays Olivia’s father on Scandal and I still remember this gentleman from playing the candidate with whom Whitley was involved on A Different World. While Sonya Rhimes generally avoids racial references in her shows, she started this season of Scandal with Olivia’s father reminding her that we must always be twice as good at everything we do. It isn’t fair but it is true and if he had a son, he would have told him the life sessions that would have saved Trayvon on that rainy Florida night. Oh, you might be right and you might have rights but know how to be a Black man in America—from sea to shining sea because the South doesn’t have a monopoly on racial drama. National PM

All high school kids should pay attention in psychology class because that Electra complex stuff about girls with daddy issues is too true. They trying to find a guy like dad or striking at men because their pops wasn’t around. Olivia and Candace could fill a season of Iyanla Fix My Life. So a girl grows up loving her father as a rock but then watches the world treat him as less than a man…a boy. That must be rough. PM

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-electra-complex.htm

The same girls are excited in college, on a cruise or in Vegas when a guy from another side (a guy from the plantation big house) finds her attractive. It has always been my theory that southern White men of means had a thing for sistas because many of them were raised by loving maternal sistas and held them in the highest regard until they got to the frat house in Athens or Auburn and began racial reprogramming. PM

PM is not only a Black thing. Oh, no. The plantation mentality tells a below average White dude that he can holla at the sweetest sista in the world because everyone in one group is automatically better than everyone in another group. It is in the Bible…bla bla cursed people…bla bla obey your masters… waterbearers. Lawd have mercy. Jesus died for all previous everything so let’s move forward.

And Black people need to stop lumping all White folks together. Some of the sweet people I have ever known are White southerners and some of the meanest look just like me—I can be pretty rough my dam self. The coolest Americans might be those in the Midwest of Scandinavian descent—think the people on the movie Fargo and Rose from the Golden Girls. While southerners evidentially coming from places where they wanted someone to do their work for them, the Scan mentality is salt of the Earth.

At the U.S. Congress, many Midwestern members did like USDA farm support programs because these people functioned with the simple notion that you put the crop in the ground then take it to market with no help from anyone. If you couldn’t do that, you should find other work. Barrack Obama was raised by sweet folks like that and I know that he is actually a conservative in his heart. If you think about it, Obama did it the hard way, the old fashion way, and that is why it hurts me to see people attack his character and that of his lovely wife.

That old plantation mentality had people thinking that this shady negro has conned his way into the White House with a desire to ruin this country in his Black head. PM has some Blacks thinking that Obama isn’t one of us because he never really interacted with us until he got to Chicago.

Can we give it a rest? If the sista on T.V. or in actuality wants to love someone who doesn’t look like us, I am happy for them because there needs to be more love in this world. The kids (and by kids I mean anyone who can remember life before T.V. remote controls) have the right idea. Oh, they will hang, kick it or chill with their buddies with no consideration of race. But, parents on both sides still have their heritage deep in their minds.

So, Candace “be” kissing on Bo Duke. Boss Hogg must be rolling over in his grave. On the Dukes of Hazzard, Roscoe P. Coltrane and Boss Hogg ran that southern town into the ground. The plantation mentality subjugates poor Whites also. But, old Bo married a sista with tens of millions, has a strikingly beautiful sista as his side thing, has a bro doing his dirt work and is about to be governor. Modern PM..some things never change.

Here is a fun social exercise. When the Haves and the Have Nots is on the box and Candace is on with her roommate, ask an old Black person which woman looks better. Nine times out of ten they will say the lighter sista when Candace is clearly one of the most beautiful women on earth. But, old heads don’t like that brown skin…even brown old heads. When Mrs. Cryer is on with her lady lawyer friend, an old head would say the same thing again when the lawyer is much better looking. PM

That old plantation mentality is also the reason we hold our candidates to crazy high standards during election season. We simply don’t believe in us as much as we believe in others. Sad PM

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Local Elections: Good Political Party Perplexity

Posted in politics, tagged austin scott, Blacks, Conservatives, Georgia, GOP, moderates, Obama, Terrell Carter on October 1, 2013| 3 Comments »

National and state Democrats should be watching and helping in the local elections in Sylvester, Georgia, because their hope for the future starts here. Elections on three levels are won by securing the political center and the local mayor’s contest should be the proving grounds for the 2014 U.S. Senate race and the 2016 presidential race.

The Democratic Party of Georgia and of most southern states is struggling with the lost of rural conservative voters. The current mayor of Sylvester has had support from a cross-section of the community in a manner that is similar to Congressman Austin Scott. If the mayor is a Dem and if he does not win reelection, he should get a visit from the new head of the DPG, Dubose Porter. That would be a meeting of two of the last rural White Democrats and they could plan and plot how to bring people like them back to the party.

If the mayor is GOP, he should help his fellow Republicans learn to respect the office of the president as much as Democrats respected the Bushes and President Reagan. How many folks still can’t bring themselves to say “President Obama” or “President Clinton?” Those “Charlton Heston Is My President” bumper stickers in the 90s were downright un-American and no, it wasn’t a NRA reference.

They better get use to saying President Clinton because Hillary has a date with destiny that begins with our local elections. One of the mayoral candidates is more conservative than me and seems more conservative than the other candidate. But here is the kicker: it’s the Black Democrat pastor.

Oh my goodness, I went to one of his political events and it was textbook what rural southern voters have been craving for decades without the hate speak. We are talking faith-based common sense solutions for problems with every community. See, reasonable people know that improving the South starts with addressing issues with the worst segment of the community—let’s be honest. We can’t ignore them because eventually they will bring down the whole community like cancer in the body. Georgia’s governor knows we spend too much money on these jokers in failing schools then more money locking them up.

The current mayor and city council provide basic public services; they do their official jobs well. But, this new candidate in the political arena is a pastor who isn’t just preaching to the choir. Like me, he is familiar with the streets and regular folks trust his tough love style in the pulpit. Does that translate to the political arena? If it does, we should watch out because like Oprah and T.D. Jakes, the whole rural community has been waiting for some political leaders who can tell the people what they must do to improve their lives with secondary consideration for governmental involvement.

But, Pastor Terrell Carter has friends in the faith community from all over rural south Georgia. In other words, the approach he is using to reach the politically sleeping should serve as a model for U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In areas with no Dem state and congressional leadership, the local leaders are the foundations of party structure.

So, someone with the state Dem party should be helping Carter now since he has a message that might actually appeal to more southerners. I guess the GOP should be doing the same with the current mayor because he enjoys considerable support in my community. You know what, these two fellows are running clean races and the one who does not win has a bright future in politics on the next level. Come to think of it, I really couldn’t tell you which party either is in and that is a wonderful thing.

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Elections and Football Cheerleading

Posted in politics, tagged African Americans, Blacks, cheerleading, Conservatives, football, Georgia, Huntsman, Obama, politics, tea party on September 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We are in the middle of local elections and my thoughts turn to the days when preachers, barbers and funeral directors were the community leaders because “the man” couldn’t quiet them since their money came for us. Today, retirees should be added to that list because those on pensions are free to speak their minds and have plenty of free time to do it.

A friend from high school who is a vocal leader of the Tea Party Movement gave me the Beatles greatest hits cd a few years ago. While listening to the lads sing “get back to where you once belonged” the other day, I thought about getting back to what my community was the 60s and before the mean-spirited approach of the ultra conservatives.

My community before the 1970s was a place of proud, deliberate people. While we need the federal government to enforce basic human rights and to end Jim Crow, the well-intended assistance of the government when from temporary help to something debilitating. The next crop of leaders, whose who come after the “I marched with MLK” ones, should be more life coaches than cheerleading politicians. After elected leaders ensure that essential governmental services are functioning, they should get about the business of explaining to the people what the people should do to help themselves. It starts with personal responsibility because “the man” and the Klan aren’t damaging my block as much as the people in the mirror.

Stats in the Albany Georgia newspaper blew me away the other day. The president of the local technical college says that only 62% of people in my region are functionally literate. Huh? We spend millions on schools and teachers’ salaries but the folks can’t read. Wait a dam minute! We aren’t talking about advance subjects from high school like trig, chemistry and Lit. We are talking about reading, writing and arithmetic; stuff that was supposed to be taught in the first few grades. Of course, educators will say that home isn’t supporting the learning process and I agree on some level. Once and for all: you can’t be the parents of K-12 kids speaking poor English around them all day. Double negatives, ending sentences with prepositions and leaving the “g” off of “ing” are simply the tip of the iceberg.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/sep/17/parker-says-adult-literacy-is-key-to-area8217s/

The governor should fund a program I designed while working with a welfare to work project. The program refreshed grammar skills for adults in a few days because education is a lifelong endeavor. Oh, there is no money for such programs but get ready for the second alarming statistic. The new head of the Georgia department of juvenile justice says that a youth offender cost the state $91,000 a year. What the blank! We are spending money on the wrong people at the wrong times.

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/sep/17/new-law-to-alter-juvenile-justice/

I took my nieces to a Black college football game last week. One of the girls is a high school cheerleader who doesn’t understand football. Let me get this right: you are cheering for an activity you don’t understand. By the end of the game, she understood first downs, passing, rushing and the fundamentals of the sport. We have all attended games when the cheer was “defense” while we had the ball.

Some of these elected officials are like those confused cheerleaders; they are cheering without fully understanding the situation and goals. To me, President Obama never had a stomach for the older members of the Congressional Black Caucus for this reason. If conservatives spent time getting to know Obama rather than tripping about Kenya, they would have learned that his conservative roots are in the Midwest. Obama is a moderate with equal distain for the far left and the far right but most importantly, he feels that leaders should tell the people that change begins with them.

So, local elections should be the selection of those who would help Barrack Obama, Jon Huntsman, Colin Powell and Cory Booker turn the nation around with positive energy. You hear the saying “speak truth to power” use frequently these days. Well, the people are the power and someone need to tell them the truth about why their situation isn’t what it should be and what can be done to address it—again, the mirror.

Since football and cheering are themes in this blog post, I want to end with them. If you can sit in a stadium for hours watching football, you can take ten minutes to go vote—vote for whomever but vote.

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