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Computer Club
Kids |
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The Grand Rapids Times
4-4-2008
Computer Club Kids at Campau Elementary show some of the
masks to be put on display at their school. Students won first or
second place for the African masks they designed for the LOOP After-
School Program two-part competition during Black History Month. They
designed and decorated each mask, gave it a name, named, explained
the meaning of the name and why they chose the decorations. The
students also created and made PowerPoint presentations reporting on
famous Black Americans. Shown with them are some of the mentors and
tutors from the General Education Ministry at New Hope Baptist
Church and Mrs. Deanna Tolbert, LOOP Coordinator. Mrs. Cynthia Jones
is the school’s principal. |
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Dean Tells
Families, Learn More About MIChild |
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The Grand Rapids Times
4-4-2008
 Plan
is designed for uninsured children of Michigan’s working families
Lansing - State Representative Robert Dean (DGrand Rapids)
is urging families to learn more about MIChild.
This state initiative provides health care for uninsured children of
Michigan’s working families.
Representative Dean held a free town hall earlier this week. He
encourages families that were unable to attend to seek out more
information.
“I am sure there are many working families who would have loved to
attend last night’s town hall but were unable to find the time,”
Dean said. “We all lead busy lives, which is why I am pleased that
there are online resources available for anyone who wants to learn
more about MIChild and how it can keep our uninsured children
healthy.”
Residents can visit the Michigan Department of Community Health’s
Web site at
www.michigan.gov/mdch to apply online, obtain a traditional
paper application, or see other resources.
The monthly premium for MIChild, which does not have copays or
deductibles, is $10 per family. The initiative covers a wide range
of medical services.
To qualify for MIChild, children under the age of 1 up 18 years old
may qualify if they are a citizen of the United States or a legal
immigrant; have a Social Security number or have applied for one;
live in Michigan, have no health insurance and belong to a family
meeting income requirements.
Children are eligible if they belong to a family of four whose
income is between $38,208 and $41,304; or if they are between 1 and
18 and belong to a family of four that has an income between $30,984
and $41,304.
Children may still qualify for MIChild health insurance based on
other family circumstances. For additional information, call
tollfree (888) 988-6300.
“No one should have to choose between paying for rent or paying for
a visit to the doctor for their child,” Dean said. “By providing
health care to the uninsured children of our working families, we
are ensuring that Michigan continues to be a great place to live,
work and raise a family.” |
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Self-PE |
 Thin
‘N Noun
By Myrna Granderson,
Grand Rapids TimesColumnist
The Grand Rapids Times
4-4-2008
Part II
Dear Readers,
Thank God for his kindness and love and all that he has done for us.
Thank him for waking you this morning because many people are not as
lucky as you. Just be blessed and keep a smile on your face because
living should be a good enough reason to smile. Readers, I now
continue with Self-PE, Part II.
Dear Readers,
just analyze this for a moment. Our bodies are very powerful and can
fight off most infections. Just think of all the picnics we have
been on and we saw the fly land on that big pork rib and we don’t
throw it away. Or we drop a steak on the floor and we say, “we got
to eat dirt before we die anyway.” We pop the food right in our
mouths. Yet we are here for we have a powerful immune system ready
to jump on and eat anything that comes its way that might be harmful
to our bodies.
Last week I left off talking to the females. I would like to touch
on STD (sexual transmitted diseases). Somehow we are concerned with
the young people having these diseases and we say older people know
better and they are too old to be having sex anyway. Can we talk
just a moment. STD will live in anybody. Just like other pathogens
they need a place where they can survive. All microbes need a host,
portal of entry and exit. If given a chance, microbes will live in
young people, not so young people, and older people, who let them
come in.
Here is a letter from a woman named Hula Lavaca Jones. She did not
want to speak for she was just too embarrassed. I told her she could
help others by writing her story. Here is her story. Her name was
changed to protect her identity. Please do not judge this dear
woman, only God has that power. Learn from her good, sound advice!
[read more in the print edition of the Grand Rapids Times or click
here to log in if you have a subscription or want to buy a
subscription] |
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Obama, Rev. Wright And The Conception Of Black Liberation Theology |
The Grand Rapids Times
4-4-2008
Part I
Commentary by Elder James E. Williamson
Grand Rapids Times Columnist
“Every race of people since time began who have attempted to
describe their world by words or by painting, or by carving, have
conveyed the idea that the God who made them and shaped their
destinies was symbolized in themselves,” Bishop Henry McNeal Turner,
“Voice of Missions,” Feb. 1898.
Before there was Rev Jeremiah Wright, pastor emeritus of Trinity
United Church in Chicago, author of “African Who Shaped Our Faith,”
and “Adam Where Are You?: Why Most Black Men Don’t Go to Church,”
(co-authored with Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu) and who was Senator Obama’s
former pastor, Rev Albert Cleage (1911-2000) former pastor of the
Shrine of the Black Madonna church in Detroit and author the book
“Black Messiah” (1968), Dr. James Cone contemporary father of Black
Liberation Theology, author of “God of the Oppressed”(1975) and
“Black Power and Black Theology” (1973), C. Eric Lincoln, author of
“The Development of Black Religion in America” (1973), Marcus Garvey
(1887-1940), first apostle of Black theology, created first Black is
beautiful and back to Africa movement (1920’s),, Dr. DeOtis Roberts,
author of “Black Theology in the Making” (1973) and “Liberation and
Reconciliation: A Black Theology” (1971), Dr. Howard Thurman a
prolific scholar in biblical hermeneutics and author of the classic
book, “Jesus and the Disinherited,” (1949), and Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. (1929-1968) prince of the Civil Rights Movement and the
author of the book, “Where Do We Go From Here,” there was Bishop
Henry McNeal Turner.
Bishop Henry McNeal Turner was a nineteenth century bishop of the
AME church and is credited with the opening statement of this
article. I was introduced to Bishop Turner through a history course
that was taught by Dr. Robert Perry, Chairman of the Ethnic Studies
Department and Dr. Christopher Douglas, political science professor
when I was an undergraduate student in Ohio. I consider Bishop
Turner to be the earliest militant outspoken African American
theologian and politician to help fertilize the conception of but
not the academic discipline of what we label today as Black
Liberation Theology.
The sad discourse of sensational issues concerning Senator Barack
Obamals former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not only the virulent
sound bites of his attacks on historical racism and the alleged
genocidal acts of the American government but the controversy
surrounding Black Liberation Theology and the Fox channel’s ongoing
subliminal attack on Black churches where this theology is ascribed.
Black Liberation Theology has its secondary roots in African
American slave culture and life, not Marxism. African American
slaves were basically illiterate. For religious purposes, they were
preached to, at first, by White circuit preachers. Most these White
circuit preachers as well the Southern and the Eastern seaboard
institutional churches believed that the Negro slave was
three-fifths human, was under the curse of Ham, were not fit to go
to heaven and their enslavement was biblically justified. This was a
common held belief in the Mormon Church until 1995 when they
supposedly had received a revelation from God that African Americans
were no longer cursed?
[read more in the print edition of the Grand Rapids Times or click
here to log in if you have a subscription or want to buy a
subscription] |
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Time For
Hillary Clinton To Quit |
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The Grand Rapids Times
4-4-2008
Commentary by George Curry
NNPA Columnist
If Barack Obama were trailing in popular votes, behind in the
delegate count, widely viewed as a divisive public figure and didn’t
have a mathematical chance of becoming his party’s presidential
nominee, he’d be pressured out of the race quicker than you can say
Monica Lewinsky.
Yet, Hillary Clinton continues to march down a road that leads to
nowhere and claim that she is acting in the best interest of
democracy. She is acting in the best interest of the Republican
Party but the Clinton arrogance and sense of privilege (yes, Hillary
and Bill) won’t let them see beyond their own short-sighted
obsession.
Not only are the Clintons sore losers, Hillary asks to be treated
the same as the “big boys” that have been in the race yet falls back
on the gender card whenever the numbers are not falling her way.
According to the New York Times, “Mrs. Clinton told aides that she
would not be ‘bullied out’ of the race…She compared the situation to
the ‘big boys’ trying to bully a woman.”
And Bill Clinton, who knows a thing or two about girls, weighed in:
“Apparently it’s OK to say bad things about a girl. It’s OK. The
only thing that matters is what happens to you. That’s all that
matters. If a politician doesn’t want to get beat up, you shouldn’t
run for office.”
He should be saying that to his wife, not Obama.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Clinton said she stands a
better chance of defeating McCain in November, though most polls
give the edge to Obama. Waving the gender card, she said, “You
cannot as a Democrat win the White House without a very big women’s
vote. What I believe is that women will turn out for me.”
Some critics argue that the issue is larger than that.
Appearing Sunday on “Meet the Press,” New York Times columnist David
Brooks said, “I think she should slow down the campaign, run what
Mike Huckabee ran, a dignified campaign, not attacking her
opponents, go through North Carolina and then get out.”
Brooks explained, “She really has very little opportunity to win.
The Jeremiah Wright thing was big, the big scandal, the biggest
thing Barack Obama’s faced really in months. It didn’t hurt him. We
now have the polling results from poll after poll. It’s clear that
it didn’t hurt him. The voters were not shaken off him. Michigan and
Florida are not going to revote, the super delegates are never going
to overrule the pledged delegates, so her chances are really small.”
Her chances of winning are small because voters dislike Hillary
Clinton, the person.
This is the way “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert summed it up:
RUSSERT: Here’s the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Head
to head, Clinton, Obama, 45-45. It’s a pick ‘em. In the general
election, McCain over Clinton, 46- 44. Obama over McCain, 44-42.
Both within the margin of error.
“Here’s the favorable, unfavorable. Hillary Clinton. It is now 37
positive, negative 48. Just two weeks ago, Clinton was at 45-43.
She’s dropped 8 points with her positive rating in two weeks. And
look at the breakdown by party. Republicans, 10 positive, 79
negative; independents, just 24 percent positive, 56 percent
negative; Democrats split 66, 17.
“Obama, his positive is 49-32. Two weeks ago, it was 51-28. A modest
drop in two weeks during the whole Reverend Wright controversy.
Here’s breakdown by party. His positive amongst Republicans is 19.
Remember, Clinton’s was 10. Independents, it’s 49. Clinton’s was 24.
Democrats, it’s 71. Clinton’s was 66. Who can unite the country?
This is all voters, Democrats, Republicans, independents. Obama, 60
to 34; McCain, 58-35; Clinton, 46 to 50.”
RUSSERT: Who do the Republicans want to run against?
BROOKS: I think they still want to run against Hillary.
Not because she is a “girl,” but because she is the weakest of the
two remaining Democratic candidates.
Democratic National Committee Howard Dean’s proposed solution to
this mess is to have super delegates make up their minds by July 1.
Why should the party’s eventual nominee be forced to slug this out
for another three months? If we don’t know Barack Obama and Hillary
Clinton by now, we won’t ever know them. Democrats need to act now.
In even more crushing news for the Clinton camp, weekend caucus
voting in Texas gave Obama a clear victory and possibly a win for
the entire state. In the second phase of what is called the Texas
2-Step – which is actually a three-step process – representatives of
both Obama and Clinton agree that Obama won the balloting on
Saturday and Sunday, giving him a overall lead in the state.
Though Clinton won the popular vote on March 4 over Obama with a
65-61 delegate lead, Obama won 38-29 among at-large delegates over
the weekend, giving him a 5-point total delegate lead. The third and
final step comes June 6 when super delegates vote in Austin.
If Obama escapes with a win in Texas – a state Bill Clinton said
Hillary must win in order to continue in the race – no one expects
Hillary to suddenly withdraw. Neither she nor Bill has demonstrated
that much class.
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the
NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach.
He can be reached through his Web site,
www.georgecurry.com.
...Should Hillary Clinton drop out?
[click here to give us your opinion on the Real Deal Community
Forum] |
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Talking
Strategy As Obama Gets Closer |
The Grand Rapids Times
4-4-2008
Commentary By Ron Walters
NNPA Columnist
With the Obama Campaign so close to winning the Democratic
nomination, strategy means virtually everything when the course is
peppered with thorny problems that must be handled correctly.
So, let me throw a few ideas out that might smooth the way.
First, I want to acknowledge the fact that Barack Obama’s campaign
played a masterful hand in confronting the problem of the re-vote in
Florida and Michigan by doing absolutely nothing.
My fear was that it would yield to the proposal in Florida for an
election re-vote or a mail-in balloting scenario just to appear to
be fair to the delegates.
Similarly in Michigan, the proposal to re-schedule a vote found
Hillary Clinton in the state criticizing the Obama campaign for
duplicity in not joining with them, in effect, to cut it’s own
throat.
In the end, the Obama campaign did not come to the table; and both
proposals crashed and burned, leaving only the option of seating
both delegations, but dividing them equally so as not to affect the
existing distribution of delegates.
Second, assume that the video showing Rev. Jeremiah Wright preaching
will continue, since it not be eliminated by the marvelous speech
that Obama made in his defense, because the media obsession will
remain and it will be regurgitated by either Hillary Clinton or John
McCain.
Just check the snide reference of Bill Clinton that it would be
wonderful to have “two people who love the country” like Hillary and
John McCain running, as an example.
So, there must be an offensive move found to take the venom from
Rev. Wright by elevating his life in a manner that exposes a
positive parallel narrative that competes with it. This cannot be
done, however, by the Obama campaign, in my judgment, but by those
in the religious community who understand Rev. Wright’s contribution
better than others.
Third, the Obama campaign desperately needs to craft a powerful
populist message to accompany the speech on race, showing that poor
blacks and poor whites have more in common in practical terms than
they do differences. That would enrich the substance of the
challenge to move beyond race (racism) that was contained in his
speech to achieve higher economic common ground.
So, Obama should go into the Pennsylvania blue-collar ghettos, but
also into North Carolina and beyond with a theory and a program to
challenge age-old cross-racial resentments part of which is founded
on economic disadvantage.
Fourth, the campaign should refer repeated to the double standard in
the media that does not repeatedly air the fact Sen. John Mc Cain
sought the endorsement of Rev. John Hagee of Texas who has called
the Catholic Church “the great whore” and “a false cult system.”
Video clips of his sermons exist at (http://www.jhm.org/ME2/Default.asp)
but none of these statements have been shown.
Neither has the major media shown the video of Rev. Rod Parsely of
Ohio, who McCain once referred to as a “spiritual guide” and who
referred to Islam as an “anti-Christ religion” and Europe as a
“Godless pit” on video clips distributed on You Tube.
McCain has not been dogged by the media to separate himself from or
to repudiate these individuals or to explain his relationships.
Fifth, the campaign should project to the Super delegates the notion
that moving forward into the general election campaign, one of the
most salient facts in their selection of a nominee should be the
viability of each campaign’s capacity to raise and utilize money.
As of the last quarter, the Clinton campaign has raised 30 million,
but has only $3 million on hand and $8 million in debts. By
comparison, the Obama campaign raised $50 million and has $31
million on hand and virtually no debt.
This means that Obama is in a better position to compete the rest of
the way and to raise funds rather easily for a general election
contest, while the difficulty the Clinton campaign has had with both
raising money and spending it wisely should be alarming. Which one
would you choose?
The recent news that Obama’s passport file has been breached by
contract workers tells us that someone is using every means at their
disposal to craft an opposition strategy against him, so his must be
top notch. More about that later.
Dr. Ron Walters is the Distinguished Leadership Scholar, Director of
the African American Leadership Center and Professor of Government
and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park. One of his
most recent books is: Freedom Is Not Enough: Black Voters, Black
Candidates and American Presidential Politics (Rowman and
Littlefield Press)....Is the press being fair
to Obama?
[click here to give us your opinion on the Real Deal Community
Forum] |
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