Let Freedom Ring!!!

I know we are facing a serious financial environment in the United States. Gas prices our extremely high, the unemployment rate is still very high and home foreclosures are still occurring at an alarming rate. We have areas of our country that have been devastated by tornados leaving hundreds dead and thousands of people homeless.

But with that said, I am amazed at what is happening in the middle-east and its citizens taking to the streets and demanding freedom. There is something blowing the wind and there is a craving for more self determination in a part of the world that just a few years ago we could not even imagine.

The dictatorial leaders are finding their hold on power to be tenuous at best. I have a friend who has lived in that area of the worlds for more than thirty years. He has worked as an instructor in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, working with the Saudi military.

He told me that the young people of the middle-east have become aware of the freedoms that the rest of the world and want the same. The reason for the unrest can be directly contributed to the technological advancements specifically the internet.

No longer can events be kept undercover with the instant access to the World Wide Web. We as a country have a true opportunity to play serious role in a power shift. I know that we must move cautiously and be certain we have a comprehensive approach to these events. But there is a new reality in the world and it’s one that we must play a major role.

Granted we must take care to not give the militants an opportunity to circumvent the process and turn these countries into enemies of the United States. Because these people our screaming for freedom and this is an opportunity to make a difference. We need to be certain that also we help our friends in Israel because this thing could turn into and anti-Israel very quickly should we not be at the table.

But the damn has broken and change is inevitable what the change will look like is the sixy-four thousand dollar question.

Where Have All The flowers Gone?

In less than three days the city of Louisville has experienced the shooting of two children and the death of a fourteen year old. Unfortunately the three year old child has also died as result of being shot in the head while his family was visiting friends. We still have 10 year girl who is recovering for her wounds.

It is only May and this year is becoming the year of the child and not in a good way. We are killing and maiming our children. There is a culture of violence that permeates our society. We have become numb to the senseless death and mayhem that occurs in or city.

There are neighborhoods where crime and illegal activity has become a normal part of everyday life. There was a time when this type of activity was not allowed to be so openly conducted in our communities, but that has changed.

We have become so complacent that now we see our children being sacrificed because we don’t want to get involved. Most of these violent activities occur, because we have become use to the drug dealing and other types of illegal activity. We turn our heads and look the other way, we don’t want to be the one who stands up and take a stand.

But who is looking out for our children if none of us are willing to do the right thing? Who are the role-models? Who do they emulate as the way adult should act?
The late Michael Jackson said best in his iconic song “The Man In The Mirror”:

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)

O.K. Louisville it’s time to make that change, If really want to save our children.

Arizona: The Fourth Reich

By Wayne Shemwell

I once heard a colleague make the comment “there is nothing common about sense.” It was amusing but at the time I thought his comment was a blatant generalization with no real basis in fact.

But time is an amazing thing, because I really wonder if the inmates have taken over at the asylum. What else could be the cause of the insanity that is occurring in the state of Arizona?

How naïve do you have to be to see that in a state that has a large Hispanic population that legislation that gives the police the authority to stop anyone they thing is illegal and demand some type of ID showing that you are a citizen is a really bad idea. Ideas destine to cause a major backlash among a significant portion of the states population. Hell, Stevie Wonder could have seen this controversy coming.

I do know about you but I would have a problem proving my citizenship if stopped and asked for some type of citizenship paper work. Then additionally they pass HB221 which now takes any type of ethnic classes out of schools, can you say “Fahrenheit 451.”

The thought police have taken over in Arizona and declared that history well be taught only from a strictly Caucasian point of view. Tea Party fanatics, racist legislation and a lack of civility in congress, there is a mood beginning to permeate our country and if not addressed it could be dangerous.

Do we need immigration reform? Yes. Do we need to address some serious economic issues? Yes. But do we have to do things in such a divisive manner. Are we going boldly into the future together? Or do we go back to the future and social upheaval?

We killed Michael

Like millions of other’s I was a major Michael Jackson fan. I had the privilege of seeing him on two occasions. It is redundant to say he was the greatest entertainer that ever performed. His death was a shock and a tragedy and it touched millions of people very deeply, yours truly included.

So now the feeding frenzy begins the speculation about Michael and his abuse of prescription drugs. We also have inevitable legal battles over his estate, and the final resting place of his body. Also in addition we have the daily drama over the guardianship of his children.

But what and who killed Michael Jackson will be debating for years and years to come. However in my humble opinion, I know who killed Michael. We killed Michael! Yes, we took his childhood, because of his gift. We took so much from him and when he tried to regain his childhood. We turned him into a sexual predator. Michael was an innocent. He was a real life Peter Pan.

In our cynical world, we have no room for true innocence. Love which something pure and God given has become equated to sex. In other words, it is abnormal for a grown man to love children. It is wrong or suspect for a man who never had a childhood to reach back and try to recapture a piece of that lost childhood.

You and I had a childhood, we played with friend went to the mall. We played in the park and went to school. But Michael had none of these. He truly believed in love, pure love. A Godly love for the least of these, just as Jesus did. No I am not comparing Michael to Jesus. I am just saying that he thought of children in the same way.

So after taking so much from him, we then took his innocence. We put him on trial and put him through an ordeal that caused him to withdraw and I believe this killed his spirit. He became aloof and tried to self medicate his pain.

Yes he could have taken a different path, but his world and his pure love for children had become a spectacle. It became material for the late night TV host. It broke him and I just hope that we as a people can learn something from this sad, sad situation.

We made Michael a star of global magnitude, and then we took away his view of the world. Yes, we you and I killed Michael Jackson.

March Madness

Aw yes, it’s that time of year, the time when the nations fancy turns to that magnificent distraction. The time when from main street to wall street, from the water cooler to the White House we all descend into that sweet annual insanity commonly called “March Madness.”

Now being from Kentucky and specifically Louisville, this year’s strain of madness is unusually potent due to the Louisville Cardinals being ranked number one overall in the tournament, a first for the two-time national champs, another first in this season of first.

So, we can all be distracted, however briefly from the monumental issues we face as a nation. Because, lets face it we as Americans have very short attention spans. We have developed what I like to call microwave mentalities, in other words we want what we want when we want it or we become board very quickly.

So the NCAA annual bash is a timely respite for a nation weary from a torrent of ever increasingly bad news and bi-partisan politics. Thank you God for the “Big Dance” and all its delightful distractions brought to us through the activities of our children. Yes I know these are young men and women but as I look at this through eyes that scene more than fifty years, I take the liberty of calling them children. Thank you God for an opportunity to have a national time-out or even better a national Calgone moment however brief the timing could not have been better.

The Audacity of Hope

I am just fifty-one, so I haven’t experienced the kind of economic strife the likes of what we as a nation endured in the great depression of the nineteen thirties. However we are facing just such an ordeal after the lack of leadership on the domestic front of the past eight years.

So now what is there to do? How do we recover from this economic nightmare? President Obama has created a wave of hope and has inspired many to have hope in the future. We have witnessed the passing of the largest economic package in the history of the country in less than thirty days.

Of course it was passed basically down party lines. This doesn’t seem to lend itself to the kind of bipartisanship we so desperately need. The political pundits have had a field day with this fact. But polls show that the America people still have hope and confidence in the new administration.

But the president seems undeterred by the lack of support from across the aisle. The status quo in Washington wasn’t an over night development and change will take time. But the press conference I saw today was a real sign of encouragement. The president held a meeting with leaders from both parties and took question from them as well as sought input. The most dramatic moment in my opinion came at the beginning of the conference. The president called first on his opponent in the presidential election senator John McCain.

How audacious of him, to think that we could come together and work as one people to solve our problems. In every challenge we have faced, it has been a leader that saw the best in the American people. Yes hope is audacious by its very nature. Because hope flies in the face of convention and as Robert Kennedy said” some people see things and say why, I see things that never where and say why not.”

No More Excuses

I have been somewhat remiss in writing and for that I apologize. But I have had to deal with some personal issues, which have now been resolved.

So now I finally address the most historic event in the long history of the American presidency. The election of Barrack Obama as the first African American president does mark a pivotal point in the long struggle for equality in this country.

I think of all the images of the sixties when so many marched and suffered and in some cases died that this day might come true. It is amazing the overwhelming response the American public has had to the message of hope from president Obama.

He has struck a cord, touched a nerve with people of all races and economic backgrounds. In my life time I have never seen such hope and optimism from so many placed in a candidate for president. But president Obama does have a remarkable story.

It is that story I feel resonates with the American public. Barrack's story is the story of many American‘s who endure the hardship of a broken home. But with Obama’s ascension to the most powerful position on the planet, we must reexamine the traditional mindset.

I didn’t come to this revelation on my own, I must admit. I was out at a local mall when I heard a black woman tell her son “Obama was raised by a single mother, that’ no excuse.” That statement shot through me like a hot knife through butter. There has been this long held stigma placed on and believed by many that the child raised by a single mom was destine for a life of crime or serious under achievement.

But as that woman said we no longer have any excuses, a wonderful by-product of this historic event is the outlook for so many children has changed. I read somewhere that one little boy said that Michael Jordan was his hero, but now it’s Barrack Obama. As Timbuk3 said back in the eighties “the futures so bright we gotta wear shades.