Wednesday, January 30, 2008

JOHN EDWARDS DROPS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE



John Edwards is dropping out of the race for the Democrat nominee for the President of the United States. This will leave the two front runners, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barak Obama to fight it out for the nomination.

It will be interesting to see who John Edwards will throw his support behind. His former running mate, Senator John Kerry is now backing Senator Obama.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.


Arthur Ashe

Monday, January 28, 2008

MR AND MRS BARAK OBAMA



It does not matter who you are supporting in the upcoming election, this is a great picture that is a testament to love and commitment. This picture should make us all feel proud of Senator Obama's bid for the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States.

kENNEDY ENDORSEMENT FOR BARAK OBAMA


The well know Kennedy family has its two most noted members endorsing Senator Barak Obama for the Democratic nominee for president. This will assuredly give Senator Obama's campaign a boost and will help to encourage more Democrats to support his nomination.

Friday, January 25, 2008

DETROIT MAYOR IN TROUBLE OVER TEXT MESSAGES


What in the world was Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit thinking when he and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, sent over 14,000 text messages? According to The Detroit Free Press, they were flirty, explicit messages about numerous trysts. And to make matters worse, she was using a city issued pager. It does not matter that the messages were sent five or six years ago. The mayor was asked under oath if he had an affair with a top aid. He told the jurors NO.

Isn't that what got Bill Clinton in trouble?

ANGELA HUNT AND LINDA KOOP

These two city of Dallas council members attended the January 22, 2008 DART board meeting to insure that Dallas would not be left out of the mix when Irving and Rowlett showed up to make it plain that they did not want the proposed rail lines delayed in their cities.

STAY STRONG !!!!!

MISSING LITTLE GIRL


The family of this little girl needs your help. If you have seen her or know anything about her, please contact the family.

PLEASE HELP THIS FAMILY TO LOCATE THEIR JEWEL.

Racharel Strong (father) - 404-357-1881
Simona Strong (mother) - 404-313-4255
Tiesa Locklear (aunt) - 678-234-4902
Tramesa Locklear (aunt) 678-480-1635
Ursala Williams (aunt) 678-362-5246
GOD FIRST, PEOPLE ALWAYS

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

REAL EDUCATION MEANS TO INSPIRE PEOPLE.

CARTER G. WOODSON

DART


Promises made to keep all light rail build out on schedule without telling where the funding will come from is DART again using smoke and mirrors. The DART boards resolution was a feel good exercise for all the member cities, but when it come to funding the rail, where will they get the money? There are problems with the approach of promising everything to everybody and hoping that all will be well.

The DART board must take control of the situation. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the board and not the staff. There are going to have to be some very hard decisions, but the board should be willing to make those decisions for the agency and the region.

CELEBRATING MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY


While many people see this as a day to have a holiday from work, my day is a day of reflection. It was not many years ago that there was a great divide in this country between blacks and whites. All facilities were separated and people of color did not have the opportunities to reach their full potential.

Today, we would like to believe all is well because a few people have been able to improve their lot, but the race as a whole is still struggling. Many of the people who have moved out of the community say that the civil rights tactics of the 60's are dead, and the people who still believe in protesting and speaking out are radical. They want to ostracise the activist. What are these people doing for our community? From my vantage point they are making money in the name of the community.

I would like to see the ideals of Dr. King materialize and all Gods children, black, white, brown and yellow be able to live THE DREAM.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

HIKE IN FEDERAL GAS TAX FLOATED

I can not believe that a federal commission created by Congress called for a 40-cent increase over five years to the price of gasoline. They want to use the money to pay for highways, bridges and transportation systems.

Citizens can hardly afford the current price of gasoline. Just using very simple math, if your current cost of gas is $3.00 a gallon and you add .40, then the cot is $3.40, and if your car hold 20 gallons of gas and you fill it up, it is $68.00 which is up from $60.00. Also consider that you fill your tank twice a week which would mean that you spend $136.00 a week up from $120.00. To get an overall total from 52 weeks,you are spending $7,072.00 per year up from $6,240.00. What working person can afford these prices?

The Federal government should forget that notion.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

DART/CITY OF DALLAS TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE


The DART staff made a presentation to the City of Dallas Transportation Committee yesterday and continued the push to remove funds from the DART budget for City of Dallas Projects to The Orange Line in Irving. The term of the day was to "Back fill" the funds.

I am thankful that Councilwomen Vonciel Jones Hill, Angela Hunt, Linda Koop, Pauline Medrano and Elba Garcia had some backbone and stood up to DART to say no to taking the money out of the current budget, at anytime, for the City of Dallas projects. They also called for an outside audit and will be forwarding a letter to DART asking for the outside audit,and are now on the same page as State Rep. Linda Harper Brown who also called for an outside audit.


The Dallas City Council should be working with all of the DART board appointees from Dallas to ensure that they have the same goals in mind and that they would not vote to amend the current financial plan. The appointees are on the board to work with and for the City of Dallas.

DART is currently working on an internal audit to make some determination, but that will not be sufficient enough to regain the public trust. There should be an outside audit done of the agency.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

EVERYBODY CAN BE GREAT BECAUSE ANYBODY CAN SERVE.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Friday, January 11, 2008

KERRY SNUBS EX- RUNNING MATE

Politics make strange bed fellows. Senator John Kerry snubbed his ex vice presidential running mate, John Edwards by throwing his backing for Democratic presidential nominee behind Barack Obama.

DWAINE(DWAYNE,DEWAYNE) CARAWAY

I read the article in the Dallas Morning News twice and I am still trying to figure out what it said. It must be a slow news day. Dwaine(Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway is a joke and you have it right he does have a lot of critics. It is a shame that he is allowed to serve on the council when he borrowed money from the city of Dallas and DID NOT PAY IT BACK. That is crazy. We do not need leaders who know how to fast talk, and beat the system. We need real men and women in the community who can show the people how to be leaders by following the law.

All of this stuff about getting along at city hall is a joke. There is so much of an undercurrent that is just below the surface. Why do you think Dwaine(Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway jumped on the other side of the fence when he, Mayor Leppert and Elba Garcia returned the Cotton Bowl Tickets without talking to other council members. What you see in him is what you get and that is certainly not a leader.

DALLAS CITY COUNCIL REACTS TO DART'S PLAN

Who would have thought that the Dallas City Council could move so fast. The trial balloon that was floated out there by DART board Chairwoman and DART staff of removing from the financial plan 350 million dollars from the second downtown alignment and the UNT line, hit with a big thud on yesterday. The entire council had to take a stand and tell DART to look again. Before any item is put on the agenda at DART, it is approved by the Chairperson.

I can not imagine how DART and the Chairwoman believed they would ever get the votes for such a crazy idea. You must remember that the DART operation budget is based on sales tax and that Dallas alone puts in about 55% of all sales tax revenue. Why in the world would Dallas give up the contractual agreement for the second downtown alignment?

Mayor Leppert has been in Southern Dallas talking about how he will deliver on economic development in the area and if he sits by and see the alignment to the UNT campus and Inland Port be rescheduled the Negroes who have been promoting him to the region will be in a world of trouble. We all know that the catalyst to job creation in the area is the Inland Port and that the UNT campus will help with revitalization.

The Dallas City Council should keep their eyes and ears open because their could be other tricks from DART.

DHA AUDIT/PROGRESS

The most recent audit of the DHA shows significant progress from the agency's 2005 annual audit. The previous audit found inaccurate financial statements, accounting errors and inadequate documentation for requests for federal reimbursements, but the 2006 audit showed the agency has corrected several accounting problems that were in the previous audit.

The DHA has worked to improve its accounting practices by hiring four certified public accountants and upgrading accounting software. They have also created a finance committee at the board level to help with oversight.

It is apparent that Ms. Ann Lott has continued to make the corrections that she promised for accountability of the agency, but what is most surprising is you can not see Mayor Tom Leppert anywhere with the latest good news, but he was all over the camera giving her a hard time with the bad news. What is up with this mayor? Is he a media hog?

I hope that Ann Lott will keep working hard to insure that she restores the public trust and that Tom Leppert would stop the madness.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL/DART'S ANSWER ON SHORTFALL

Can you believe that the DART board is considering delaying projects in Dallas to be able to deliver the Rowlett and Irving Line (Orange Line) on time? It is beyond belief that the chairman of the DART Board,Lynn Flint Shaw, is a Dallas appointee and is the leader of the agency that is promoting such an effort. Before staff presents anything to the board, the chairman is briefed on the content.

There are 15 Board members and 8 of them are from Dallas, and to think that they are allowing the staff to make such a recommendation without a challenge is unbelievable. Dallas has waited for the extensions and the second Downtown alignment just as the suburbs have waited and now that does not seem to make a difference. Thank God that Pamela Gates(Dallas) had enough savey to atleast make mention that Dallas should not be robbed.

Remember that the city of Dallas is in a box because Mayor Tom Leppert pressured DART board members to vote for her as the chairman and he along with Dwaine(Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway and Tennell Adkins lead the charge for her on the Dallas City Council. What is amazing is the real truth is that Dallas has a contract with DART for the second alignment downtown and there is a possibility that contract will not be fulfilled. Then What?

I am not upset with Irving or Rowlett for pushing forward. It is their responsibility to make sure that the promises that have been made to them are kept, but with over 55% of the sales tax revenue coming from the city of Dallas, I would expect the representation on the DART board from the city of Dallas to represent Dallas.

Just for the record the shortfall is in the current contracts not the future contracts.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Why So Much Hate?

In James Ragland's column today, he revisits the attack on a black couple who moved into an Arlington, Texas neighborhood in the summer of 2005 and 2 days after they moved in their house burned. Mr. Broderick Gamble and his fiancee, Silk Littlejohn were rebuilding the house and on Dec.19 Ms. Littlejohn was hit in the face with a two-by-four by an elderly white woman (Grace Snowden Head) who lived several streets over from them. Two days later the new house that the couple was building had words like Nigger and Kill written on the garage.

Why would someone have so much hate in their heart for a race of people? I did not understand it when I was growing up in Dallas and I still do not understand it. It takes so much energy to continue the hate game and while you are concentrating on that, you miss out on a lot. There are good and bad people in all races. There are some African Americans that I do not trust even when I am looking at them.

Rev. Peter Johnson of The SCLC believes that the investigation into how the fire started in 2005 should be reopened and I agree. With this much hate in that neighborhood, there is really no telling what happened.

One good thing is that Mayor Cluck is not wavering about how his city can not afford hate crimes, and that is to his and the city's benefit.

STOP THE HATE!!!