Black Voice News

“Don’t Make the State the ‘Poster Child for Dysfunction’”

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass visited three African-American churches yesterday to drive home the importance of passing the ballot measures—Propositions 1A-1F—on Tuesday’s special election (May 19, 2009). The churches visited were: West Angeles Church of God in Christ (Senior Pastor is Bishop Charles E. Blake), Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles (Senior Pastor is Dr. William S. Epps), and First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Senior Pastor is

Rev. Dr. John J. Hunter.)

A recent poll by Survey U.S.A. shows that African-American support of the propositions is higher than other ethnic groups. Supporters believe this is because African-Americans have the most to lose if massive budget cuts are enacted upon failure of the propositions. The Governor brought home the point by asking voters not to make the state “the poster child for dysfunction” by defeating a the measures.

Assembly Speaker Bass has reminded voters across the state of the need to “maintain the safety net,” especially at a time of increasing need for public services.

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

A new housing development was reduced to rubble last week in San Bernardino County. The housing market in the Inland Empire is not expected to recover for another year, maybe two. Most residents realize we won’t get back to the gung-ho.new developments opening every weekend, frenzy, which took over the area for a few years. Most just want to see home values stabilize, and for inland residents this is an important marker on the success of the Administration’s ambitious agenda to stimulate the economy.

But, for now, builders are making tough decisions, as highlighted in the torn-down development described in this Los Angeles Times article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-demolish5-2009may05,0,4930126.story

The homes were part of a planned 16-unit project in this community 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The Texas bank that owns the failed development decided to demolish the houses, a cheaper alternative to completing and selling them.

The Victorville demolition is one of the most dramatic ends to a bad bet made during the housing boom, but abandoned developments have become an all-too-common sight in California. Nearly 250 residential developments totaling 9,389 homes have been halted across the state, according to one research firm.

Home prices have tanked faster in San Bernardino County than any other Southern California county during the downturn. In March, the median home sale price for the county was $160,000, down 43% in a year, according to the San Diego-based research firm MDA DataQuick.

A dozen of the homes were in various stages of construction. Some had frames erected, and a few others had drywall hung, said Jorge Duran, Victorville’s code enforcement manager. The four finished homes, however, were richly appointed with granite countertops, whirlpool bathtubs and dual-pane windows. Construction halted in the summer of 2008.

Recent signs of life in the housing market have brought HOPE to inland residents and opportunities for first-time buyers. Investors are once again searching for bargains because they know it’s only a matter of time before things will turn around.

The rest of us are just holding on…

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

Traffic in the Inland Empire has eased greatly this past year. Morning and afternoon rush hours aren’t what they used to be. Unfortunately, it is not because of road improvements or car-pooling. It is because so many have lost jobs! Unemployment rates in the Inland Empire are among the highest in the country. The area never was a mecca for jobs, many of the residents moved to the area for lower priced housing, and commuted to Orange or Los Angeles Counties for employment. This caused massive traffic jams, especially on the infamous 91 freeway. Not any more. This east-west thoroughfare is running a lot smoother these days.
So what is the Administration planning to do to help the unemployed? We will not be out of this recession until jobs stop hemorrhaging and people are able to go back to work with decent pay. Here are some answers found on the Department of Labor http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/reports/100days/
Website:
• For those who are on COBRA - private health insurance available at a reduced rate for employees who lose their job and company-sponsored plan— benefits will be extended for up to 18 months. To help pay for the benefits the government is picking up 65% of the cost of the COBRA plan. This is only available to those that lost (or lose) their jobs between Sept 1, 2008 through the end of 2009.
• The Department of Labor has extended the timeframe for which individuals are eligible for unemployment insurance, increased the size of unemployment insurance checks by $25, and has encouraged a number of states to modernize their unemployment insurance systems.
• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has injected $3.5 billion in worker training funds through state worker training programs.
• Workers are finding a few extra dollars in their paychecks by paying fewer taxes each week that will total up to $400 per person or $800 per couple in 2009. That will amount to $13 a week extra money starting in June for the remainder of the year.
• Those who receive SSI will receive an extra one-time stimulus of $250 starting this month. Americans eligible for the payments include people who get retirement, survivor, disability, railroad retirement, disability compensation and other Social Security payments from November 2008 to January 2009. The payments will be sent automatically (no paperwork needed) and the Social Security Administration said it expects everyone who is entitled to a payment to receive it by late May 2009.

It is not easy to determine all of the new benefits available to the unemployed. Much of the funding from the stimulus bill goes to states. There needs to be a ‘one-stop’ location, or website, where workers can get information on what’s available.
However, in the meantime, the job hunt continues, and those with jobs nervously hope their situation won’t change.

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

This President hopes to go where no President has gone before… he hopes to fix our broken healthcare system.

If you’ve ever gone to one medical establishment, and seen one doctor, and subsequently received 40 bills from ten providers… then you know the system is broken.

If your health insurance premium is more than half your mortgage or rent, then you know the system is broken.

If you have to decide between medicine and food.then you know the system is broken.

Guess what? Our healthcare system is broken!

One of the primary causes of bankruptcy in this country is huge medical expenses, and most Americans are only a slip and fall, or car accident, away from financial insolvency.even if they HAVE medical insurance. Let’s hope this Administration can tackle this behemoth once and for all and allow many Americans to rest better at night.

So what is the Obama-Biden plan in a nutshell?

1. Americans can keep there current insurance if they are happy with it. Nothing will change and premiums may drop about $2500 according to the Administration’s site www. whitehouse.gov. However, new options will be available.
2. For Americans that lack insurance, there will be a National Health Insurance Exchange with affordable private insurance options, as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress.
3. Providers will be required to cover pre-existing conditions when you sign up for new coverage.
4. Small Businesses (which provide most of the employee-sponsored coverage in this country) will receive a Tax Credit to help provide affordable health insurance to their employees.
5. There will be caps on malpractice insurance fees charged to doctors.
6. The cost of medicines will be lowered by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries.
7. Catastrophic illness costs will be reduced for employers and their employees.
8. There will be lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health fees they pay. In return, they must lower premiums for employees.

There’s more (visit the site)  including making use of technology to streamline medical record keeping and supporting preventative illness measures. (The Administration hopes these measures will help defray the cost of healthcare reform.

The bottom line is WE ALL need affordable healthcare and we can no longer bury our head in the sand. Everyone has a vested interest in making this work. Providers want to make a profit, employers want to stay in business, and we the people want affordable coverage for our families and ourselves.

The question is-given the aging of the boomer population, and increasing healthcare costs-can the country afford to not go forward with Obama’s healthcare reform?

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

This week we join journalists, pundits, leaders, and citizens who are reflecting on the first one hundred days of the Obama Presidency. This week’s blogs will discuss how the Administration’s policies will affect everyday Americans in the following areas: Healthcare, Education, Jobs, and Housing.

However, today we address the criticisms so often hurled against Obama supporters by those who oppose the Administration. These oft-repeated barbs include “kool-aid drinkers” “sheep” and, the most frequent, which says supporters believe Obama is the second coming! The venom espoused by some of the President’s critics leads one to think if he did walk on water they would complain about his shoes!

As a person of faith, I can assure you that true believers KNOW who their Savior is, and it is not a mortal man. What Obama does offer is a return to the hope for a better tomorrow, and a unity in purpose, that has been the cornerstone of America for many years. It is a sentiment expressed by many of the nation’s Presidents:

George Washington - “The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”

Abraham Lincoln - “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt - “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

Harry S. Truman - “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”

John F. Kennedy - “The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.”

Ronald Reagan - “There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.”

William J. Clinton - “Big things are expected of us, and nothing big ever came of being small.”

Barack Obama -“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

One hundred days of HOPE—patriotism at home, respect from abroad, intelligence and truth in action, ambition and forward movement to meet our challenges, not a bad start for a mere man.

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

The messages generally start like this: “I saw your picture and profile and would like to get to know you better.” Or, they say: “Hello pretty lady, let’s be friends!” Some just get straight to the point and say “I’m looking for a relationship, are you?” The senders generally have names like “BigJohn9000” or “LadiesMan10000” or “LonelyGuy20000.” I call these posts “looking-for-love” messages. I hear they are prevalent on all the Social Media sites, but for me Christian and ethnic sites seem to produce more. (I’m just saying..)

A few hours later, or the next day, I get a follow-up message from “looking-for-love” which says, “Please forgive me for my prior message, I didn’t realize you were married.” Now, the first few times it happened I thought it was an honest mistake, even though most of these sites prominently display my marital status. I gave “looking-for-love” the benefit of a doubt until I noticed how frequently this happens in my online world. Moreover, after speaking with other online friends, I see this is a common tactic. This is an online “pickup routine!”

One of my male friends (okay, my husband) tells me it’s a matter of numbers-guys figure that if they send out enough of these pick-up posts, someone will respond and they don’t care if the woman is married or not because most of them are. Ughhh! (And, how does my husband know so much about this?)

I have some friends who swear by online dating, and I know there are people who enjoy the anonymity of online pick-ups and create personas and profiles just for that purpose.

The good thing is, online pick-up lines are much easier to ignore than in person ones. “Looking-for-love” will just move on to the next hundred women he finds while trolling the sites.

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

What if folks told the truth on their online posts? We would read things like: “Can’t pay my mortgage this month. My wife left me for a younger guy… My kid can barely tie his shoes and probably won’t be going to college. I haven’t had a date in three years… I’ve gained fifty pounds since you last saw me..That beach vacation photo was really just sand in my backyard.”

The truth hurts and who wants to be depressed with real life? We get enough doom and gloom from the media. So, instead we get people painting the best possible light on their activities, which isn’t a bad thing , except it seems to become a competition to show who has the best life..the best activities, the best connections, the best family… you name it.

This is human nature and we all do it, however, with Social Media (SM) sites we have more of a chance to “put our best foot forward” than we would with the annual Christmas Newsletter. We can put our own “spin” on our lives no matter how inaccurate, misleading, or nauseating our posts become.

I am as guilty of this as anyone.. I once posted and shared pictures of a “wonderful” family vacation. I didn’t mention the numerous times I threatened to throw my kids out of the car, or that I didn’t speak to my husband for 200 miles because of his refusal to get gas before the low fuel light comes on.

Still, I would rather read positive posts, than negative ones. And, there is always the option to filter out “silliness.” Problems arise when people start comparing their lives to others based on posts. If someone inspires you, that’s one thing, but if you decide to do something based on what others are posting, it may be a mistake.

Many times, you have to take things with a grain of salt. Strip off some of the accolades and exaggerations. Know that everyone has challenges, but be thankful that most choose not to write about them!

By Linnie Frank Bailey
http://www.linniebailey.com/

Can a person really have too many friends? I mean come on now, why only have a hundred friends when you can have a thousand or ten thousand. And, if friends aren’t good enough for you, how about fans? Your own private fan club!

Social Media (SM) sites have taken the meaning of “friend” to a different level. “Friending” someone on one of these sites means they have the opportunity to know more about your daily life than people you have been close to for years.

Sometimes I wish there was a different term used for these online connections. I worry that some people-the gullible and the young-might confuse their online contacts with real-life friends.

This is a quandary because most of us do converse with our “real” friends online and have also met people on the sites who became real-life friends.normally because of shared interests. However, there comes a point where there has to be some filtering of what we say and whom we say it to.

I’m sure there are sociologists studying online “friending” (at least I hope so). I remember my parents cautioning long ago: “You may not want to be friends with everyone who wants to be your friend.” The same applies on the Internet and it works both ways.not everyone wants to be friends with us!

I think we have reached a point with today’s technology where we have to assume that any post, blog, email, phone conversation, location, or picture-is available to the public. A public that consists of friends, foes, acquaintances, and strangers.

There is no hiding. Even if you are at a far away locale, sitting on a beach alone, someone can take your picture and post it for the world to see. And, what about those hundreds of people you “friend” on various sites that read your posts and know everything about you-from where you went to elementary school to your brand of toothpaste?

Celebrities aren’t the only ones who lose privacy these days: Everybody is a star!

I have friends who refuse to use Facebook or any of the so-called Social Media (SM) sites. They don’t twitter or tweet, and could care less about being linked in. If they “dig” something, they don’t feel compelled to tell the world about it.

I have other friends who spend hours each day posting to the SM sites. They share EVERYTHING with their SM “friends.” If they are at an amusement park with their kids, they give hourly updates..they share pictures of their root canal.they let us know when they are about to go to bed..it goes on and on to the point I wonder when do these folk LIVE?

I guess like most people I am somewhere in between when it comes to posting - however, I do wonder where we as a society are going with all of this?

Don’t get me wrong.I LOVE reading the posts of family members and friends I don’t talk to on a regular basis. Even those “friends” who post every thirty minutes, often have something informative to say the question is do I have time to read it?

Here’s the deal — who has the time to keep up with the daily activities of over 10 people (Octomom included)! I can barely keep up with the activities of my own household!

I sometimes don’t know how to respond to posts or what to think..if a “friend” who has been married for years posts that they are single, does it mean they are separated, divorced, or in the middle of a nasty fight with their spouse? Or are they just looking for a new love? (More on this in a later post this week.) And, if an unmarried friend says they are no longer single, does it mean they got hitched in Vegas over the weekend, or they got a cat? (Yes, some of my “friends” are that strange.)

How often do you use SM sites?

The next few blogs I’m going to explore this phenomenon. Some of my upcoming posts:

“Friends and Other Strangers”

“My Life’s Better Than Your Life”

“What Part of ‘married and not looking’ Don’t You Understand?

And …

“If I Reply to This Post You Will Never Speak to Me Again!”

Stay tuned and send comments…

In a major economic address, held at Georgetown University, President Obama—quoting from the Sermon on the Mount—told Americans we must build our financial foundation as the man who built his house “on the rock,” not on shifting sand. The President began by saying, “I want to step back for a moment and explain our strategy as clearly as I can. This is going to be prose, not hope.” He continued by describing his actions to date while cautioning that the
road ahead may still contain pitfalls.
President Obama concluded: “I want every American to know that each action we take and each policy we pursue is driven by a larger vision of America’s future – a future where sustained economic growth creates good jobs and rising incomes; a future where prosperity is fueled not by excessive debt, or reckless speculation, or fleeting profit, but is instead built by skilled, productive workers; by sound investments that will spread opportunity at home and allow
this nation to lead the world in the technologies, innovations, and discoveries that will shape the 21st century. That is the America I see.”