Pray for a Great Christmas Present: Equality of Opportunity

One of the first prayers that I learned as a child ended with the statement, "If I should die  before I wake, God bless mother, father, my brother, my sisters", and whoever else I loved. Today we need to pray for equality, as a unique Christmas present.

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Because He/She Looks Like Me!

When I heard that some South Africans were protesting Jennifer Hudson playing the part of Winnie Mandela in a movie about the Mandela and South Africa, I was initially puzzled. I couldn't figure out why they didn't want Hudson to play the part. She has proven that she is talent in winning an Oscar nomination for her performance in Dream Girls. She is beautiful. She still maintains her dignity, unlike others such as those in the so-called Hip Hop generation, including Beyonce, who have demonstrated they will and do gyrate and grind their rear end to get paid.

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Accent on Self Help in Hard Times

In the midst of the hard times produced by the actions of the Bush administration, the accent is on self help, in order to survive. Today we are living in an economy that doesn't produce anything. The products we buy to drive and wear are produced in other countries where the labor is cheaper.  Ironically, our schools are not teaching us to save money by making or repairing our own clothes or fixing our own cars, as our parents did.

We are just surviving on loans from China and shifting paper around. Your bank is charging more and more for maintaining your money. For example, it costs $35 dollars for a bounced check at most banks, even if the check is only for $15 or $20 dollars. The service charges are out of sight you even get a charge for money maintenance. The credit card you signed up for at ten percent is now thirty percent or more and rises without a warning. The problem, of course, is that we are all addicted to credit cards and our young people are now preparing for a world that is not like it used to be. We used to pay cash as you go.

I am still excited by entrepreneurship and self help because, in the end, that is what makes the world go around. We all hear that small businesses make up a large part of the American employment picture. That means that the small mom and pop operations are very important. Even with that knowledge we don't prepare our children for self employment. They are taught to just get a job. We know that a job is a great thing but it is still just a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Look at how many are currently out of a job.

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Stop Voting for Bonds That Don’t Benefit Us

In April of this year The Journal wrote about the State Of Black Pasadena. We focused in part on Education and Economics. We wrote about the mistake the Board of Trustees made in hiring the then School President. Since then the problem has been alleviated and the clock is running on the hiring of a new President by a new Board. We wrote about problems in the elementary school level and the new Superintendent's penchant for hiring outsiders from Glendale and Gilroy to run the school district. Now, based on a series of meetings going on in the community, the problem has taken on a new dimension with the spending of Measure T Bond money.

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