Tag: Memphis

Cowardly Atheists Use a Child to Attack Christianity in New Billboard

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

atheismA man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell. – C.S. Lewis

This past week, a new billboard showed up in my hometown of Memphis. It immediately set tongues wagging in this Buckle of the Bible Belt.

And, not in a good way.

ChristianPost.com reports that

American Atheists President David Silverman has said that his group’s holiday billboards this year, with a message to “skip church” this Christmas, are aimed at atheists who are living with theists in mixed families and are under pressure to participate in religious activities.

“That little girl on the billboard symbolizes the atheists who go along to get along, attending and possibly tithing a church that preaches a religion in which they don’t believe, for no other reason than habit or familial pressure,” Silverman told The Christian Post in an email on Thursday.

“We are using these billboards to spur intra-family communication, because we believe the communication is desperately needed,” he asserted.

The billboards have gone up in Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, and Fort Smith, Arkansas, while a fifth billboard in Milwaukee is co-sponsored by the Southeast Wisconsin Freethinkers. Silverman said the ads were priced at approximately $20,000, which was paid for by donors.

The billboards, which feature a young girl writing a message to Santa Claus reading: “Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is to skip church! I’m too old for fairy tales,” have attracted various media attention.

While previous AA holiday billboards have been erected in notable urban areas, such as at Times Square in New York City, Silverman explained that this year’s ads are the first ones to be placed in residential areas.

“The target market is anyone old enough to read the board, understand the message, and realize that it rings true with them, which we figure is young teens and up,” Silverman told CP.

“Nobody seriously thinks little kids are reading billboards and having religious epiphanies from them, but older kids are statistically the most likely to be atheists, and we hope this billboard spurs them to talk about it with their parents,” he added.

The secular group’s press release on Monday noted that it was denied billboard advertising space in Jackson, Mississippi, because area lessors rejected the content of the ads. The AA president said that the group often experiences such problems, since billboard owners fear repercussions from Christian customers.

“Billboard owners have received death threats, and more often boycott threats, from Christians, just because they put up our ads,” he said. “In Salt Lake City, for example, none of the local billboard companies would do business with us for fear of losing other business. This is legal, but it’s not moral, and it’s a clear symptom of the bigotry atheists face from Christians on a regular basis, further emphasizing the need for communication and activism.”

When asked if there is any way to measure the success of billboard campaigns, Silverman said that, as a result of the media coverage, the group has seen “a huge uptick” in ticket sales for its upcoming national convention, set to take place in 2015 during Easter weekend in Memphis.

As for the number of atheists living in households where they cannot share their beliefs with close ones, Silverman pointed to a 2008 USA Today poll which showed that atheism has been growing across the U.S., including in the Bible Belt states. The survey found that close to 15 percent of Americans say they have no religion, which was up from 8 percent in 1990.

In reality, a 2012 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that just 6% of the US population are atheists even though the number of religiously unaffiliated has grown since the USA Today Survey from 15% to just under 20%.

However, if you listen to radical Atheists, they will tell you that they are the most enlightened and intelligent human beings on this terrestrial ball.

And,, that they have nothing to be worried about from the 76% of Americans, like me, who proclaim Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior.

So, why are they coming out with this national billboard campaign, using a child as their spokesperson, in this Holy Season in which we honor and celebrating the arrival of the Son of God?

It is all a part of a pattern that has been going on for some time now.

For years, School Administrators have been attempting to block Christmas Songs which reference Christianity and the Triune God in any way from school programs.

Retail stores, who, in years past, joyfully wished customers a “Merry Christmas”, now instead, air commercials, which sing “That’s my kind of holiday.” and greet you in their stores with “Happy Holidays!”

So, why this full-blown attack on the Faith which our Founding Fathers wrote so eloquently about, and which has sustained this “shining city on a hill” through times of internal and external strife?

In other words, why are activist Atheists (and Progressives) so intent to either limit or completely eliminate Christianity’s influence on everyday American Life?

Why don’t they attack the political/religious ideology of Islam with the same fervor?

The answer to this question is simple: Cowards will always tell you whom they are afraid of. They will avoid them, like one avoids a child with Chicken Pox.

Additionally, they expect Christians to allow them to take control by “turning the other cheek.” Evidently, they never read the scriptures which describe Jesus running the “money lenders” out of the temple, overturning tables and expressing his righteous indignation in a way in which no one con mistake it for anything else.

Or, perhaps, it’s their overwhelming overestimation in their own intelligence, which results from ignoring the influence of the God of Abraham in their life.

So, what drives them in this “Unholy Crusade”?

Bitterness, emptiness, and an unfulfilled hungering in their soul which they cannot put a finger on, is the only explanation.

Otherwise, why would you fight so hard against the influence of and worship of Someone you don’t personally believe in?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Memphis Flash Mob: How to Raise a Generation of Sociopaths

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

Memphis KrogerFlashMobOn the evening of Saturday, September 6th, over 100 black “yutes” were involved in a“flash mob”, savagely beating 3 Kroger employees, in the store’s parking lot, located not far from an affluent neighborhood.

Eleven of the “little angels” were caught, including an 18 year-old, who was on “diversion” for smoking blunts and assault and a 15 year-old, who was not even registered with the Shelby County School System.

With individuals of such “sterling character”, one might have thought that these thugs would have been locked up, right?

Wrong.

Earlier this week, it was announced that

Eight of the ten teenagers charged in a mob attack at a Memphis Kroger agreed to a plea deal Tuesday morning.

All were charged with aggravated riot, but others faced additional charges as well.

Four girls and four boys pleaded guilty to aggravated riot. They’ll serve 40 hours of community service, must stay in school, follow curfew restrictions and write a letter of apology to the three people who were beaten.

If they follow those rules, all charges will be dropped from their records.

A ninth defendant, charged with possession of marijuana, a weapon, aggravated riot and three counts of assault, was taken away from his mother and put into DCS custody.

A tenth juvenile opted to have a trial where Judge Dan Michael found him guilty of aggravated assault. An attorney for the teen argued throwing a pumpkin at someone’s head was not aggravated assault. Judge Michael disagreed saying, “You beat him into unconsciousness. He could have easily died.”

Judge Michale ordered the teen be taken from his mother and placed in DCS custody.

Both sides were moved to tears at the end of the trial and said they’re ready to move on.

Awwww.

The Kroger Employees who were beaten within an inch of their lives have a right to cry. They still have to live in the former “City of Good Abode”.

Unless, like the rest of us, they get the heck out of Dodge.

The thugs were crying crocodile tears.

Later in the week…

One of the teens involved in the Kroger mob attack may face more trouble.

The District Attorney’s office is investigating a photo circulating on social media of ninth grader Stanley Self. 

The DA’s office said they found out about it yesterday afternoon. 

Self apologized moments after he was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and told by a judge he needed to stay out of trouble. 

Self was part of a group of teens that beat three people, two of them Kroger employees. 

“It’s been a wake up call. I learned today when you are with a group of people fixing to do something bad or fixing to start something or ride or harm some people, I feel like we should go get help,” Self said. 

But a photo posted several days before his sentencing shows him posing with what appears to be a gun on his hip. This is causing many to question whether the punishment was harsh enough.  

“It shows how our criminal justice system doesn’t care it shows how relaxed they are. I think that the criminal justice system put forth more penalties so it would send a message to other kids they shouldn’t do things like that,” concerned Memphian Renee Patterson said. 

Others are wondering if Self is truly sorry for his actions.

But, hey,, don’t worry Memphians, Mayor A.C. Wharton and the rest of your City Leaders have the answer for these sociopaths.

They’re going to give them a “Time Out”.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

The Commercial Appeal reports that

Memphis mayor A C Wharton is proposing the creation of ‘Juvenile Safety Centers’ as holding centers for minors caught breaking the current curfew.

Currently, curfew violators can be taken into custody by police and taken to their home or the Juvenile Court.

Those 16 and under must be home by 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Those between 17 and 18 years old get an extra hour.

Wharton said officers need to have more options and just issuing a summons, “diminishes the seriousness of the event. It also breeds disrespect for the law.” Wharton went on to say, “I am told the current restrictions are severely demoralizing to our law enforcement officers.” Wharton went on to say, “It is my firm belief that removing the handcuffs from our police officers when it comes to making decisions as to transporting juveniles would go a long way.”

Mayor Wharton said he’s worried taking too many minors to Juvenile Court would overwhelm the court system and violate the “States Disproportionate Minority Contact Policy. For those reasons, Wharton wants to designate several community centers where minors could be held for a “reasonable amount of time  while the parent or guardian is contacted.

Mayor Wharton would also like to see the curfew for those 17-18 shortened to 11:30 Sunday nights.

Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael has reportedly met with Mayor Wharton and is said to be putting together a meeting between, “pertinent policymakers and officials to begin working together to make necessary changes in our present laws to ensure juveniles are kept safe and that we do not do anything to encourage disrespect for the law.”

Here’s an idea, you idiots:

How about raising your children in the way in which they should go?

As a 55 year old product of the Former Memphis City Schools and Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis), I can remember a time when the majority of young Memphians, regardless of their race, were raised to be respectful of their elders, and to recognize the fact that there are absolutes in the concepts of right versus wrong, and that wrong behavior has consequences.

We were also raised knowing the concept of personal responsibility for our actions.

And, if we had a problem understanding those concepts, an adult, whether it be a parent, a friend’s parent, a teacher, a principal, a church leader, as policeman, or a judge, would explain those concepts to us in no uncertain terms.

And, you could bet your last Hot Wheels that, if you got in trouble in school or after school while hanging out in the neighborhood, that we would pay for our transgressions when we got home.

Nowadays, we are experiencing the results of LBJ’s “Great Society”, in which the Almighty Federal Government has eliminated both the concept of moral absolutes and individual responsibility.

These “yutes” who are acting like wild animals have been raised as such. literally abandoned by irresponsible parents to fend for themselves and to make up their own rules as they go along.

What we are witnessing, boys and girls, is a Generation of Sociopaths, with no concept of morality, ethics, or personal responsibility.

They are doing what feels good to them…and what popular culture, which has become both their “god” and their “parental authority figure” has told them is cool.

Until Memphis’ Community and Civic leaders show these young savages that they will face SEVERE consequences for their barbaric behavior, these mob attacks will continue…until one of these young people are shot dea, when they pick a victim with a Concealed Carry Permit.

And, then “the community” will have no one to blame, but themselves.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Memphis Mob Violence: Mayor And DOJ “Jail Not the Answer”

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

Memphis KrogerFlashMobEach new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late. – Dr. Thomas Sowell

Friday Night Football. High School students, parents, and teachers rooting from thier team as they line up er stadium lights across the country.

Great memories, made to last a lifetime.

And now, the Administration of my hometown wants to end that tradition, in order to “protect the citizens” from teenage thugs who are beating the snot out of the very citizens he is supposed to be protecting.

Friday Night Football games could end for high schools in Memphis, because of an increase in youth mob violence.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton has asked Superintendent Dorsey Hopson to look into the possibility of ending night games on Friday breaking one of the biggest fall traditions in the Mid-South.

“What I told him today that we would look at it, we certainly want to be good neighbors,” Hopson told WMC.

Hopson added that the problem isn’t what’s happening inside school stadiums where the games are played.

“We are not having incidents at the games. What’s happening is things are happening outside the games after the game issues,” Hopson shared with WMC.

There have been waves of violent attacks by youth in recent weeks, including an attack at a local Kroger store and a high school mob who attacked a mother’s car.

Hopson explained that he thinks poverty and other factors are contributing to the increase in students acting out. He also said that something needs to be done right away about the social conditions people are living under before a change in the behavior of the youth happens.

Congressman Steve Cohen announced Wednesday that more than $800,000 in federal dollars will be spent in the 9th district to fight youth behavior and prevent violence. A portion of the money will be used to target at-risk teenagers and help their families create violence prevention strategies. Anti-violence programs will also be established in schools within the area with the money.

What the heck ever happened to actually punishing these tugs for their crimes?

The Obama/Holder Department of Justice Guidelines happened, that’s what.

WREG.com reports the following…

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — US Attorney Edward Stanton III was in Memphis to talk about something that’s on everyone’s mind: youth violence.

He says court summons instead of jail time aren’t the cause of an uptick in violence, but admits the justice system needs to make serious changes.

“I want to be clear that Smart on Crime is not a hug-a-thug policy or program,” he said.

Stanton says it’s time for a change in the justice system because Memphis, and the rest of Shelby County can’t arrest their way out of violence. He argued mass incarceration has never made our streets safer.

“We need to understand that one size does not fit all. What we may have tried 15, 20 years ago or when I was a youth, those things may not be working,” he said.

Stanton says this is especially true with kids today. He says the Memphis streets he grew up on are much more dangerous, and kids are getting sucked into crime at a much younger age.

“We didn’t have to worry about drugs or gangs or bullets flying over our heads. I think what we are doing today is a great start,” he said.

He said Thursday’s Justice Reform Conference shows the community wants to help bring change to the streets. And he says this is exactly where change starts.

Stanton brushed off suggestions the Department of Justice mandate that gives most kids court summons instead of jail time is leading to more violent crime. He says this mandate protects kids from a potentially racially biased system.

“We want to be vigilant in holding individuals accountable but the constitution prevails and safeguards must be in place before doing those things,” he said.

These messages of community and coming together to tackle the problem are exactly what everyone else in leadership roles are saying, but Memphians have said time and again, enough with the talk, let’s see, some action.

My beloved hometown of Memphis, Tennessee has been gutted by decades of poor financial stewardship and corrupt Black Democratic Leadership, who never saw a dollar they couldn’t spend, or a relative or friend that they couldn’t give a job with the city to.

And now, Memphis’ chickens have come home… to roost…brought about by a failed school system which turned in its charter in a successful scheme to take over the more affluent county school system, only to see the county municipalities start their own individual systems, Memphis’ black citizens murdering each other every night, and gangs of black teenagers beatomg the snot out of innocent people, simply because they’re bored, they have no parental guidance, and they know, as “juvenile offenders”, that nothing will happen to them.

President Obama will not address Memphis’ problem.

And, Outgoing (Praise the Lord) Attorney General Eric Holder is noticeably silent as well as are the Justice Brothers, Revs. Jackson and Sharpton.

For, boys and girls, the harsh reality of an out-of-control populace of a Democratically-ran city, well on its way to becoming another Detroit, must be ignored at all costs…due to political correctness, political expediencies, and the Liberal naivete that these “misguided lren do not need to be punished for ‘acting out”. They need to be “affirmed”.

Because, for these self-serving Democrat Liberal Politicians, as President Barack Hussein Obama himself has conceded, it is not about those “Black Youth” who break the law, it’s about making up for “past transgressions” that America was supposed to have moved past, with the election of Barack Hussein Obama.

Under the presidency of “The Great Uniter”, America has become more divided.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama Speaks to Black Caucus on Ferguson, Blames Cops, While Memphis Experiences More Youth Mob Violence

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

policeline9292014President Barack Hussein Obama addressed the Congressional Black Caucus this past weekend. And, of course, our National Community Organizer spoke about the Ferguson Riots, from the viewpoint that you would expect a Community Organizer to have…

The widespread mistrust of law enforcement that was exposed by the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in Missouri exists in too many other communities and is having a corrosive effect on the nation, particularly on its children, President Obama says. He blames the feeling of wariness on persistent racial disparities in the administration of justice.

Obama said these misgivings only serve to harm communities that are most in need of effective law enforcement.

“It makes folks who are victimized by crime and need strong policing reluctant to go to the police because they may not trust them,” he said Saturday night in an address at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner.

“And the worst part of it is it scars the hearts of our children,” Obama said, adding that it leads some youngsters to unnecessarily fear people who do not look like them and others to constantly feel under suspicion no matter what they do.

“That is not the society we want,” he said. “It’s not the society that our children deserve.”

Obama addressed the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown carefully but firmly, saying his death and the raw emotion it produced had reawakened the country to the fact that “a gulf of mistrust” exists between residents and police in too many communities.

The shooting sparked days of violent protests and racial unrest in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. The police officer who shot Brown was white.

“Too many young men of color feel targeted by law enforcement – guilty of walking while black or driving while black, judged by stereotypes that fuel fear and resentment and hopelessness,” said Obama, who has spoken of enduring similar treatment as a younger man.

He said significant racial disparities remain in the enforcement of law, from drug sentencing to application of the death penalty, and that a majority of Americans think the justice system treats people of different races unequally.

Now, I realize that, in Obama’s world, it is much more politically expedient to blame those trying to uphold the law, instead of those breaking it.

But, it takes two to tango.

Take my Hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, for example…

TheBlaze.com reports that

Another teenage mob went wild Friday, WREG-TV reported, allegedly flooding streets, damaging cars and beating an elderly man:

Police said a large group of teens flooded the streets near Central High School Friday just before 10:00 p.m.

“Had I had been armed we would have had a lot of kids laying in the Bellevue street that night,” Sharon Mourning said.

Mourning said she would have done whatever she needed to protect herself.

“So we just driving and all of a sudden all of the kids ran into the middle of the street,” Mourning explained.

Mourning and her daughter Princess were driving on Bellevue Friday evening.

“It was like a whole group of kids coming from the game,” Princess Onwibiko said.

“All of a sudden just bout 20 kids are on top of my car with about 40 more kids around my car and they kicking, they stomping, they jumping, you know they hitting the windows,” Mourning said. […]

Police reported another man was attacked in his car after honking his horn at the teenagers to move out of the way.

“They had done bricked his car, stomped his car, did the same thing,” Mourning explained.

Mourning reported seeing the teenagers beat an elderly man and another teenager.

“I actually looked at the child. His face was bleeding. You know they had done beat him,” Mourning said.

Did police lay down the law?

Not exactly; WREG reported that two 17-year-old were given juvenile summons and sent home.

Mourning said law enforcement’s response was insufficient.

“Memphis is going to burn if they don’t control these children,” she said.

Memphis’ sky-high levels of violent crime helped make Tennessee the most dangerous state in America in 2012, and while the city’s schools have improved somewhat since the “dropout factory” days of 2002, Memphis students’ high school graduation rate was barely above 70 percent in 2013 — leaving a depressingly large chunk of the city’s youth with days (and nights) free for mob outings.

So, how does Memphis’ Leadership plan on combating youth violence?

By rewarding it.

Back on September 25th, Mayor A.C Wharton announced his plan to stop these mobs of “poor, impoverished” youth (carrying the latest in cell phones) from vandalizing businesses and attacking innocent people.

Promising more still to come: Thursday night Mayor A C Wharton revealed part of his battle plan to fight youth violence.

For the first time since his youth violence forum three weeks ago, Mayor Wharton told WREG community centers and youth programs may be a part of the answer.

Mayor Wharton said his plan will be ready by the end of the year, so if more money is needed, it can be worked into the budget.

In the meantime, he’s got a few ideas in the works, like keeping community centers open on the weekends.

“We are now keeping those centers open on Friday and Saturday nights for basketball and fun things,” said Wharton

Each of the four centers attracts one hundred kids, and it will cost the city $80,000 to keep them open for the rest of the year.

“If there are one hundred boys in a community center on a Friday night, at 8:30 and 9 p.m., they are not getting shot and not shooting anybody,” said Wharton. “Then maybe when the churches will see the city is keeping its community centers open, and then the churches will maybe open their gyms on Friday and Saturday nights.”

He said he got word Thursday that Memphis was accepted to ‘My Brother’s Keeper.’ It’s a federal program for boys and young men of color that offers mentoring and skills to help them succeed.

Wharton applied to the program, and has the next 120 days to create a plan of action.

Wharton said he’s also expanding the Memphis Ambassadors‘ program from 400 kids to 1,000.

Right now, 2,000 kids apply for the program.

“They are required to adopt community service programs, maintain good character, stay in school , stay out of trouble and they get a stipend,” he said.

Wharton said he is also working on creating programs that offer career guidance and character building.

He activated a Youth City Council, which was created in 2007 but never formed.

Wharton said, “by the end of this year,” he will have a concrete plan, so if more money is needed, he can work that into the budget.

Wharton said he talks to Director Toney Armstrong every day, and doesn’t think more cops need to be hired to stop youth violence.

However, he said MPD is creating their own plan like cracking down on hot spots where youth violence is happening.

“For those who for whatever reason are beyond a reach of these programs, we have stepped up enforcement,” Wharton added.

In a related story, posted by local NBC Affiliate, WMC-TV, on September 24th,

With more than a month into the school year, thousands of students have not shown up for class.

Shelby County Schools officials put the number of no shows this year at 9,052. That data comes from the board of education’s Tuesday meeting.

Educators say the report doesn’t necessarily mean that all 9,000 plus kids are truant. Some may have moved away, changed schools, or registered privately.

“In this age and era of kids having multiple options: charter Schools, ASD, municipality districts,” William White with SCS Planning and Accountability said. “It gets a little more complicated trying to get these numbers.”

Superintendent Dorsey Hopson says this is still a big problem. He says one complicating factor is the lack of a shared student data between districts.

School board members offered suggestions. They suggested moving up registration to start the process sooner or being proactive about recruiting. Others suggested working with individuals schools and principals, as well as community leaders to track down students.

“I don’t want the headline to be that the numbers don’t support truancy, because we have a truancy problem here that we need to figured it out,” Hopson said.

Hopson says right now they have no way to cross reference other school districts and figure out whether the no shows are registered at municipal schools.

Whether through truancy or miscalculations, SCS predicted a total number of students around 117,000. At a cost of about $8,000 per student, only having 108,000 could cost the district money to use in the classroom.

My beloved hometown of Memphis, Tennessee has been gutted by decades of poor financial stewardship and corrupt Black Democratic Leadership, who never saw a dollar they couldn’t spend, or a relative or friend that they couldn’t give a job with the city to.

And now, Memphis’ chickens have come home… to roost…brought about by a failed school system which turned in its charter in a successful scheme to take over the more affluent county school system, only to see the county municipalities start their own individual systems, Memphis’ black citizens murdering each other every night, and gangs of black teenagers beatomg the snot out of innocent people, simply because they’re bored, they have no parental guidance, and they know, as “juvenile offenders”, that nothing will happen to them.

There will be very little national news coverage about what happened to this lady and her child, just around the corner from historic Crump Stadium, just as the beat-down at the Kroger Parking Lot has faded from the National Scene .

President Obama will not address Memphis’ problem.

And, Outgoing (Praise the Lord) Attorney General Eric Holder is noticeably silent as well as are the Justice Brothers, Revs. Jackson and Sharpton.

For, boys and girls, the harsh reality of  an out-of-control populace of a Democratically-ran city, well on its way to becoming another Detroit, must be ignored at all costs…due to political expediencies.

Because, for these self-serving Democrat Liberal Politicians, as President Barack Hussein Obama himself has conceded, it is not about the content of the character of those who break the law, but rather, the color of their skin.

Until He Comes,

KJ

It is Not About Your Race, Mr. President. It is About the Content of Your Character.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

martin luther kingToday, a lot of Americans have the day off.  Why?  America is observing a national holiday in observance of a civil rights pioneer:

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin, to honor his grandfather.

On August 28, 1963, he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., climaxed by his delivering of an address titled “l Have a Dream”, to 250,000 Americans, in front of the Lincoln Memorial:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

Also during those years…

He conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On The New Yorker Magazine’s website this weekend, is a nice bit of propaganda titled : “Going the Distance…On and Off the Road With Barack Obama”.  In this fluff piece, you will find the following paragraph:

Obama’s election was one of the great markers in the black freedom struggle. In the electoral realm, ironically, the country may be more racially divided than it has been in a generation. Obama lost among white voters in 2012 by a margin greater than any victor in American history. The popular opposition to the Administration comes largely from older whites who feel threatened, underemployed, overlooked, and disdained in a globalized economy and in an increasingly diverse country. Obama’s drop in the polls in 2013 was especially grave among white voters. “There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President,” Obama said. “Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black President.” The latter group has been less in evidence of late.

It seems to me that President Obama’s philosophy seems to be the anti-thesis of what Dr. King was speaking about in front of the Lincoln Memorial, on that day so long ago.

Whereas Dr. King was envisioning a day where his children would be judged by the content of their character, President Obama, and his fawning sycophants in the Democrat Party and the Main Street Media believe that we should ignore his incompetency and give him high marks for simply being America’s first Black President.

Dr. King sought to be a Uniter. President Obama is a Divider.

On November 4, 2013, another famous American (who just happens to be Black), the distinguished Former Congressman Lt. Col. Allen West, wrote the following in an Op Ed for The Washington Times:

..Could it be that Obama believes he possesses the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card?

As the first African-American president, Obama was supposed to represent a new era in race relations in our nation. America sought this historic moment as a means to cleanse itself of the horrors of its past, and it has provided him a cover that he, the Democratic Party and the mainstream media have all exploited.

When the Democrats introduced Barack Hussein Obama, a young man from Chicago, to America at the DNC convention in 2004, it was part of a grand strategy. The progressive socialists who have commandeered Democrat party knew that only with a carefully crafted image could they advance their ideology and agenda. America fell for it eagerly, electing the most liberal — that is, the most leftist, socialist — man in the Senate to the White House.

The get-out-of-jail-free card then was Obama’s skin color, and it remains so today. How often is criticism of failed policies met with cries of racism? Last week many commentators struggled not to say that Obama lied to the American people, but even the Washington Post couldn’t hide the fact.

Obama was not reelected by running on his record but by being “likeable,” and by demonizing his opposition and again. Americans, albeit by a slim majority, decided failed policies didn’t matter; abandoning Americans to die in a terrorist attack didn’t matter; deception and lying didn’t matter.

So, why are we surprised that in the first year of his second term we are getting more of the same?

The media and so many others have expended every effort to provide cover for Obama and his faults, policy failures, unconstitutional actions, and lies. The president is fully aware, and his arrogance and disdain for accountability are rooted in his recognition that America lacks the intestinal fortitude to hold him accountable, because of his skin color — his personal political get-out-of-jail-free card.

Sadly, not enough Americans paid heed to Dr. Martin Luther King’s hope that we would be a nation to judge not by the color of one’s skin, but by the content of one’s character. We are now at the risk of seeing our Republic being fundamentally transformed because we wanted to celebrate a historic moment.

As I wrap up today’s blog, allow me to share a vivid memory, of a life ended way too soon:

It’s the night of April 4, 1968.  A 9 (and almost 1/2) year old boy is watching a program on a black and white television set in his home in the mid-town area of Memphis, Tennessee.  Suddenly, the screen changes to the Civil Defense logo and he hears a voice saying:

Will all members of the National Guard, please report to the Armory and all police and fire personnel please report to their stations.

Normal programming resumed.  Then, all of the sudden, or so it seemed, President Lyndon Baines Johnson came on the television saying:

I come to you tonight with a heavy heart…

And everything changed.

However, some things have not.

It still comes down  to the content of one’s character.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shelby County School Consolidation: A Lesson in Liberal Overestimation

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

children41313I was entering the tenth grade in 1973, when forced busing began in the city of Memphis, TN. To say that it was a time of great upheaval would be an understatement.

In my Middle Class neighborhood, in my typical Memphis City School, our administration tried to make accommodations for the new students. They decided that there would be two Sophomore Commissioners on the Student Council, a White one and a Black one. I was elected as the White Commissioner, and the last I heard of the fellow who became the Black Commissioner, he was a Doctor at Johns Hopkins.

And now, 40 years later, students in the Former Shelby County School System, are beginning to enter their own “Brave New World.”.

You see, a couple of years ago, the then overwhelmingly majority-Black Memphis City School System was swirling down the ol’ porcelain receptacle at an alarming rate. Decades of poor management and fiscal irresponsibility had taken a fatal toll. The City School Board was besieged by parents and city leaders alike, wanting them to actually do their jobs, and turn the struggling school system around. Of course, neither they, nor the school system’s overpaid administration had a clue as to how to actually be fiscally responsible leaders.

So, one of the mountebanks on the school board had an idea: Surrender the System’s Charter to the state, thereby dissolving the System, and forcing a merger with the fiscally sound, White-majority Shelby County School System.

In fact, in the “interest of fairness”, they held a referendum to allow the citizens to vote on whether to merge the school systems or not. The motion overwhelmingly passed.

Of course, the fact that they only allowed Memphis residents, and not the entire county to vote on the measure, probably had something to do with the outcome, don’t ya think?

An Interim School Board was formed, whose make-up just happens to have more representatives from the city system on it than the county’s. (Yeah. I was shocked, too. …Not.)

Then a discussion was started as to which School Superintendent to keep, the City’s or the County’s.

They “compromised” and gave both of them the boot.

But, not so fast. Again, “in the interest of fairness”, an attorney for the City Schools was made the new Superintendent. (Are you catching on, yet?)

Sounds like things were going just as the City School Board’s Professional Politicians planned, huh?

Well, in every life a little rain must fall. The Tennessee State Legislature ruled that the municipalities in the county could form their own separate school systems, if their citizens voted for it.

They did. (Dateline: July 16, 2013)

Voters in six Memphis suburbs decided Tuesday [July  to start public school districts in the municipalities where they live.

Residents of Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington overwhelmingly approved separate school systems in the second vote on the issue in less than a year. A federal judge invalidated the first vote.

More than 90 percent of voters in four of the six suburbs voted to approve new school systems, according to the Shelby County Election Commission. Eighty-seven percent of voters in Lakeland and 74 percent in Millington voted “yes.”

The suburbs want to avoid the massive merger between the struggling Memphis City Schools system and the more successful Shelby County Schools system. Suburban leaders and many parents fear that education quality and academic achievement will suffer if they join the huge merged system — known as the Unified School District — and they want control of their own school systems.

The merger, which has created a school system of 150,000 students, is to begin operating when classes start in August. Experts say the merger represents one of the largest school consolidations in decades.

But the makeup of that system could only last a year — the six new suburban systems could start operating in 2014.

Critics say the suburban separation will hamper the massive consolidation efforts, which have included intense budget battles and layoffs of hundreds of teachers and office employees. Some board members in the unified district worry about losing quality teachers and administrators to the new districts. They also stand to lose valuable tax dollars to the breakaway systems.

But the six suburbs have been galvanized in their efforts, spending hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars in a campaign that has included community meetings, public rallies and a bitter legal fight in federal court. All six municipalities already have voted to raise taxes to pay for schools.

A judge in November ruled that the earlier suburban schools vote in August 2012 violated the Tennessee constitution because it dealt with only one county. Lawmakers in Nashville wrote and passed a new law that applied statewide and allowed Tuesday’s vote.

You know , I saw yesterday where Nancy Pelosi and her Liberal brethren want to have a “National Conversation on Race”, in the wake of George Zimmerman being found not guilty of murder, in the case of Trayvon Martin.

This would not be a conversation, it would be a lecture, given by a bunch of didactic, pompous Liberals, who believe that they are smarter than average Americans.

Just like the Memphis City School Board thought that they were being smart by completely destroying what was once an award-winning school system, instead of taking responsibility for their own actions, or lack thereof.

Do you see the parallel, boys and girls?

Liberals overestimate their own intelligence…and nothing good ever comes from it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

From Detroit to Memphis: A Problem of Stewardship

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

monopoly2The city of Detroit filed bankruptcy this past week. Are they a harbinger of things to come?

Detroit may be alone among the nation’s biggest cities in terms of filing for bankruptcy, but it is far from the only city being crushed by a roiling mountain of long-term debt.

At the heart of Detroit’s problem is a growing unfunded debt on benefits owed to current and future retirees — some $3.5 billion, according to its emergency manager, Kevyn Orr — which mirrors a circumstance being seen across the U.S.

From Baltimore to Los Angeles, and many points in between, municipalities are increasingly confronted with how to pay for these massive promises. The Pew Center for the States, in Washington, estimated states’ public pension plans across the U.S. were underfunded by a whopping $1.4 trillion in 2010.

For years, watchdog groups and public-sector analysts have warned of the threat posed by unfunded liabilities. Much like the legacy pension costs that weighed on Detroit’s automakers before the Chrysler and General Motors restructurings of 2009, the worry is that revenues can’t keep up with growing debt and that rosy predictions for market returns downplay the actual financial risk.

As examples of the results: Chicago recently saw its credit rating downgraded because of a $19-billion unfunded pension liability that the ratings service Moody’s puts closer to $36 billion. And Los Angeles could be facing a liability of more than $30 billion, by some estimates.

It’s no surprise — given the pressure public pensions are putting on municipal budgets — that any move to ease those liabilities, especially through a bankruptcy court order like what’s happening in Detroit, is being watched carefully nationwide by state and municipal officials, union leaders, bond traders and retirees.

“We’re just at the front of the line here,” Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon said Friday. “It could be a landmark case.”

One of those cities who are having money problems is my hometown of Memphis, TN. However, just like the Egyptian city it’s named after, Memphis’s Leadership is in denial (Get it? That’s a pun, son.)

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. is rejecting comparisons between his financially challenged city and Detroit, the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy.

Wharton told reporters Friday he reluctantly called a news conference to address questions about Memphis ending up like Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy this week. He said Memphis is not in denial about its financial challenges, but stressed that they are not as bad as the Michigan city.

“I’ve gotten a number of questions and they just get straight to the bottom line of, ‘Well, is Memphis like Detroit?” Wharton said. “My initial reaction was to say ‘I’m not going to dignify it by starting to try to make that kind of comparison.'”

He added: “I do hurt for what has happened in Detroit. This is not a time for piling on and saying how bad they are. After all, it’s not a government that will suffer. It will be citizens that will suffer.”

In June, Memphis received a letter from the state comptroller that warned the city about its practice of delaying debt payments year after year. Comptroller Justin Wilson said failure to address long-term debt could lead to state action.

Wilson also said the city needed to deal with low fund reserves, a shrinking tax base and budgetary imbalance.

The City Council passed a budget in June that addressed long-term debt payments, fund reserves and other concerns. Still, the state continues to keep a close eye on Memphis’ finances.

Wharton said it is frustrating to be compared with Detroit, whose situation has been blamed on a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing. He said Memphis $2.2 billion city pension plan is adequately funded, and recent changes in the pension systems will make them more manageable.

Wharton said Detroit was “basically a one-industry town.”

“When the auto industry went down, Detroit went down,” he said. “Fortunately, we have a diverse economy” that includes manufacturing, tourism and the health care industry, he said.

Wharton said Memphis is doing a good job of attracting new businesses. Large companies such as Electrolux and Mitsubishi Electric agreed to build factories in Memphis, though they were lured to the area by large tax incentives.

Memphis, a city of about 650,000, has seen population decline by about 3,000 since the 2000 Census. Its unemployment rate in April was 10.3 percent, compared with 16 percent in Detroit, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Memphis also has been beset by home foreclosures and a relatively high poverty rate that have caused blight in several parts of the city. Crime also has been a problem.

Wharton says Memphis is the only city facing financial and social challenges.

“What makes a difference between this city, Memphis, and others, is that we recognize it, we’re straight up-front about it,” Wharton said.

Uh huh.

Several years ago, Former Mayor W.W. Herenton , during a push to raise taxes, injected race into the matter, as he always did, and told Memphis’ White Citizens that, if they did not like the absurdly high tax rate, that they should leave town.

And, sure enough, we did.

Both Detroit, and my beloved hometown of Memphis, have been gutted by decades of poor financial stewardship, brought about by Democratic Leadership, who never saw a dollar they couldn’t spend, or a relative or friend that they couldn’t give a job with the city to.

And now, Detroit has filed for Bankruptcy, and Memphis is struggling with its budget, and sparring with the police and fire unions, who are justifiably concerned about the future of their pension plans.

And, what is amazing to me, the Mayor and City Council act like they don’t know why this is happening.

Let’s see, you raised taxes on the people who pay your “public servant” salaries, you then tell them to leave town, and you expand your municipal government to the size of a small city.

Gosh, Memphis, Detroit..where did all that money go?

Until He Comes,

KJ

It’s That “Content of Their Character” Thingy…Again

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

iron man 3Yesterday Afternoon, my bride and I decided to go see Iron Man 3 at our local multiple-screen movie house. The movie itself was great. Robert Downey, Jr. IS Tony Stark and the digital effects were outstanding.

As is our custom, we took our seats at the end of the row. In the seat beside me was a young high school aged, or a little bit older, young woman, who happened to be black. Her boyfriend and one of their mothers were sitting beside her.

As we went to sit down, my wife noticed the young woman frowning and glaring at us, as if we were wearing white sheets and pillow cases, or something. She continued to talk during the previews , both on her  Android cell phone, and to her boyfriend. I didn’t think much of it, since it was only the previews that were playing.

However, when the movie started, she didn’t shut up, as any polite person would do. Oh, no. She kept on yapping during the movie. And, when this heifer wasn’t running her mouth, she was sighing or yawning loudly. Heck, she even started talking on her phone during the movie.

It was quite evident that this youngster was intentionally trying to run us out of our seats. Just when I was about to give her the use of our popcorn bucket as a hat, it struck me: she wasn’t worth it.

Pookie and her family left right at the end of the movie. Too bad. If they had seen the first two Iron Man Movies they would have known that there was an additional scene of the movie at the end of the credits. And, this time, the scene was quite hilarious.

In a related story, earlier this week, I had stopped at the Dodge Store (a gas station/fried chicken, etc. place), on the way to work, to pick up a Diet Coke. As I stood in line, another register opened up. There was already a big fella over there, who appeared to be in line, but, surprisingly, he motioned me to come over there, saying that I had been in line, first.

As I made the move to go over to the other register, a young fellow, again, who happened to be black, and in a Coca-Cola uniform, by the way, just sauntered on up to the register, while the other fellow, who was  trying to be mannerly, and I, looked on in disbelief. Deciding not to make a scene, we just watched him pay the cashier and traipse on out the door.

Now, I’m 54 years old, and a mannerly person, raised by a gentle, loving Christian man. My mother, however, had a temper, being Irish-American. Friends and family have described me as having a long fuse which leads to a keg of gun powder.

That’s one reason I have written almost 1,200 Blogs. It gives me the opportunity to vent.

Anyway, back to my train of thought. As I have related before, I’m a Memphian by birth, resident of DeSoto County, Mississippi, by choice.

Former Memphis Mayor W.W. Herenton told all of us …ummm…”taxpayers”…that he neither wanted nor needed us in his city, several years ago. So, I snuck under the barbed wire, and escaped to the Magnolia State.

I wasn’t alone.

During Herenton’s reign as Mayor (1991-2009), Memphis went from being “The City of Good Abode” to Detroit South.

Since 1997, when I moved out of Memphis, the city has rapidly gone downhill, and along with it, the city school system. So much so, in fact, that recently,  in a power-grabbing effort to get away from the blame for their horrible stewardship of the school system, the City School Board surrendered their charter to the state, held an election among city voters only, seeking to merge with the better-run, financially stable County School System.

Of course, the city voters backed the board up, and an interim school board was formed, which is presently heavily stacked with the politicians from the soon-to-be-defunct City Schools.

The merger is set to be final in 2014. However, the towns in Shelby County have been given the right by a ruling from the Tennessee Court System, and the signing of a bill into law by Gov. Haslam, to form their own individual school systems in any town which can afford to do so.

Needless, to say, that isn’t sitting too well with the self-promoting former City School Board members. Oh, what a tangled web we weave…

Also, during this time, the Memphis City Council, out of the blue, in the dead of night, decided to take away the names of three historic parks. These parks were named Confederate Park, Forrest Park, and Jefferson Davis Park.

The council claimed that Memphians were offended by the names of the historic parks. Funny, though. Memphis’ CBS Affiliate, WREG, ran a poll whose results showed that the majority of citizens wanted the names to remain the same.

By now, you’ve probably said to yourself, “KJ’s gone off on a tangent…again”.

Actually, I haven’t.

Did you know, that in the Mid-South area of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, the illegitimate birth rate of Black Americans is right at 75%? I heard that stat on the Ben Ferguson Show the other afternoon as I was driving home from work. Think about that: 3 out of every 4 black children, will start out at a disadvantage in this life.

Studies have shown that children are more well-adjusted when they are raised in traditional two-parent families, with two strong role models to teach them right from wrong, good manners from bad, and respect for others.

Now, I realize that I’m just an ol’ cracka, but, it seems to me that, at least in the Memphis area, it’s not some sort of government slight of the city schools, nor parks, which were named decades ago after a moment in history that cannot be erased, nor should it be, that is keeping Black Americans in Memphis and surrounding areas from prospering.

The Black community, as does our nation in general, needs to return to our Christian heritage, which made us a strong and united people, who together, are capable of defeating any foe,removing any obstacle, and trimphing over any adversity.

I believe, if Black Leaders would start devoting their attention to the problems of their community: illegitimate births, abortions, single parent homes, unemployment, and out-of-control crime, including gang violence, instead of throwing out excuses, things would begin to turn around.

Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a woman of Faith and a tireless Pro-life Advocate, working within the Black Community (who happens to be a Facebook friend), is a great example of someone who is making a difference.

And others, like Dr. Thomas Sowell, Dr. Ben Carson, Lt. Col. Allen West, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are outstanding role models for all of America’s youth.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Our nation needs a “Come to Jesus” meeting. And, we need it right now, before Dr. King’s prophecy comes to fruition.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Requiem for a Bad Dog: John McCormack 1955-2011 (2nd Anniversary Edition)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment1 Comment

Prologue: Today marks the two year anniversary of the death of a Mid-South legend, larger-than-life Radio Personality John “Bad Dog” McCormack.  Here is a tribute which I wrote, upon hearing of his passing.  One man CAN make a difference. He is truly missed.

If, when we’re standing before God, the amount of good we do with our lives, and the amount of joy and happiness that we are able to bring to this world of pain is brought up, then, Thursday afternoon, the Pearly Gates shook with the infectious laughter of one giant of a man.

John “Bad Dog” McCormack lost his long battle with AML late Thursday Afternoon at Methodist University Hospital in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.  Bad Dog was an on-air personality for 22 years at WEGR Rock 103, a Classic Rock Station.

Bad Dog began as a part of the Wake-up Crew with Tim Spencer and Bev Hart.  Dog was basically a 14-year-old kid in a man’s body.  He was a natural-born prankster, and became known for his creation of “The Twilight Phone”, an anonymous prank call he would make to unsuspecting citizens.

In one memorable call, he impersonated an Apartment Manager, calling a guy who dumped his fiance’s dead pet Piranhas into the apartment lake, claiming that they came back to life and the poor sap had to reimburse the apartment $2,8000 for draining and restocking the lake.  And then, there was Bad Dog”s possibly most famous call, where he talked to an older gentleman named Mr. Lannum, impersonating a collector attempting to collect on a  past-due cable bill.  Mr. Lannum went ballistic, cussing a blue streak that is still talked of in hushed tones to this day, 20 tears later:

When he finally clued the individuals in to whom they had been talking to, each one of them eventually forgave him, because, after all, it was Bad Dog.

Another routine that Bad Dog came up with, was remarkable.  In a city known for racial polarization, he came up with the idea of numbering their show’s Black listeners, thinking that actual black listeners would be few and far between.  Well, Bad Dog received a big surprise.

The routine became very popular among Memphis’  Black Community, as people called in to talk to Bad Dog.  He would make up a hilarious “oath” for the listener to say, and from then on, whenever this individual would call in to talk about the subject of the day, they would self-identify as Black Listener Number So-and-So.  Everyone loved Bad Dog.

However, the most incredible thing that this man accomplished during his time with us started when he, Spencer, and Hart decided to begin a yearly Radiothon in support of St. Jude Hospital’s Ronald McDonald House.

Over the last 20 years, Bad Dog and his co-workers have raised over $7 million dollars to help build and maintain the refuge for cancer-stricken kids and their families, so they could have some semblance of normal life while they undergo treatment at St. Jude.

Bad Dog McCormack was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in late October 2009.  He was still working mornings, though his new partner was Ric Chetter.  Clear Channel Communications, in their infinite wisdom, had split up the popular Wake Up Crew in November of 2006, firing Newsperson Bev Hart, and, eventually moving Rock 103 Program Director Tim Spencer to mid-days.

Bad Dog continued to work as he underwent treatment, as he felt that this was the best medicine for him and was what God had called him to do.  His courage in the face of his own mortality was an inspiration to the entire Mid-South, as his barrel-house laugh continued to reverberate through the car speakers of the Mid-South every morning.  He also continued to work the annual Rock103 Radiothon, letting nothing stand in his way of helping the kids.

Bad Dog underwent a bone marrow transplant in November of 2010.  He seemed to be doing better, and, in December, an online poll of Memphians voted him The Most Noteworthy Memphian of the Year.

On February 10-11th, Bad Dog was at the mic, around the clock, for the 20th Annual Rock103 Radiothon.  When it was over, he announced that more Leukemia had been found.  He remained upbeat, and said that this was just par for the course.

Meanwhile, Clear Channel Communications, again in its infinite wisdom, fired Ric Chetter, and moved Bad Dog and Tim Spencer to afternoons, while bringing in a morning show named Free Beer and Hot Wings, 5 guys syndicated out of the Great White North, whose humor about hockey games is about as relevant to the Mid-South as hunting moose. (They have since been pulled from the Memphis Market. Quel suprise!)

Bad Dog took this change in his usual good-natured stride, happy to be back with his old partner-in-crime, Tim.

Then, last Thursday, Bad Dog took a turn for the worse.  He was rushed to Methodist University Hospital in Downtown Memphis, where he passed away from an aneurysm, brought about by his Leukemia.

In an interview with the Commercial Appeal, Bad Dog made this comment about his battle against Leukemia and his love for the kids at St. Jude:

When I see what they are going through, I have no reason to complain. They are so young and have so much pain. I’ve lived a blessed life. If I died tomorrow, I’d go with a smile on my face.

He also, in his usual big-hearted, gentle way, left a statement to be released after his death:

I have gone to be with God and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald’s House kids. Do not say you have lost a friend… One is only lost when you don’t know where they are… you know where I am. I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away. When you are having a bad day… think of my laugh or a Twilight phone or the time we met. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spiritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog.

John”Bad Dog” McCormack, 55,  leaves behind his two sons, Buck and Tucker, a huge family, and thousands of fans.

As one of those fans, please allow me to say thank you, Bad Dog, for brightening up a lot of dreary mornings.

A sign currently on display outside  a local jewelry store says it all:

BAD DOG MADE MEMPHIS A BETTER PLACE.

Memphis Changes Parks’ Names. Rewrites History.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics21 Comments

forrestpark

In the former “City of Good Abode”, a bunch of Liberal dimwits have sacrificed heritage and history on the foul-smelling altar of Political Correctness.

I was born December 3, 1958 in St. Joseph Hospital in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. St. Joseph’s is no longer standing, having been torn down in the name of “progress”.

I moved across Stateline Road to DeSoto County, Mississippi from Memphis, Tennessee in November of 1997 for a very good reason: I was no longer wanted there.

Allow me to present some evidence…

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Fearful that legislators in Nashville might intervene in the controversy surrounding Memphis park names, the City Council hurriedly voted Tuesday night to rename three Confederate-themed parks in the Downtown area.

By a 9-0 vote with three abstentions, the council approved changing Forrest Park’s name to “Health Sciences Park,” because of its proximity to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Confederate Park will become “Memphis Park,” and Jefferson Davis Park will be “Mississippi River Park.”

Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal City Council members William Boyd and Wanda Halbert are two of the nine who voted in favor of changing the park names. Three others abstained and one was absent.

Council members Jim Strickland, Kemp Conrad and Bill Morrison abstained from voting while Reid Hedgepeth did not attend the meeting.

The council also approved creating a committee to further study the naming issue. That committee will include two council members, two university professors, a representative from the NAACP, a member of the Shelby County Historical Commission and the city parks director.

All three parks have stirred repeated controversy because of their Confederate themes, particularly the one at Union and Manassas that contains the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest. In addition to being a Confederate cavalry leader, Forrest was a slave trader before the Civil War and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan after it.

“The parks are changed. It’s done,” said Councilman Lee Harris, who initially proposed renaming the parks after nearby streets. “We removed controversial names and named them something that is less controversial.”

The decision angered some who came to the meeting.

“I’m very upset. They’re trying to get rid of history. They’re trying to rewrite it,” Katherine Blalock said.

Added Becky Muska: “We continue to fight, whatever it takes. If it takes taking it into court, that’s a decision the historical groups will make at the appropriate time.”

The park names have stirred controversy for years, but the commotion erupted anew in early January after the city removed a marker at Forrest Park. The Sons of Confederate Veterans paid for and installed the half-ton granite marker at a cost of about $10,400.

Still, it’s likely the council wouldn’t have acted so fast Tuesday if two Nashville legislators hadn’t hurriedly introduced a bill that, if passed, would have removed the city’s ability to rename such parks. In fact, the council originally considered passing an ordinance that would have required three readings, but switched to a resolution on the issue because its effect is immediate.

The council also voted to approve its minutes Tuesday, which will prevent the measure from being reconsidered at the next meeting.

The “Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of 2013,” sponsored by Rep. Steve McDaniel (R-Lexington) and Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), passed its first reading Monday. If approved, the measure would prevent cities from altering any “statue, monument, memorial, nameplate or plaque” erected for a number of military events, including the “War Between the States,” in the bill’s language.

“I’m not going to accuse them of being … meddlers, but you get the picture,” Councilman Harold Collins said. “There is no reason for these people in Nashville and East Tennessee to be in our business.”

Added Councilwoman Janis Fullilove: “We cannot allow Republicans in Nashville to sit up and dictate to us in the city of Memphis what we should do.”

It’s possible Health Sciences, Memphis and Mississippi River won’t be the final names of the parks, though. Even Harris called the names “bland,” and other council members agreed. Future names would likely come out of the committee that was established Tuesday night.

Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

According to 2010 U.S. Concensus Figures, Memphis is over 63% Black American. 6 Black city councilmen and 2 Whites voted for the name change.

But, you know what’s funny? No one asked them to change the names of those historic parks.

Driving home yesterday, I was listening to Ben Ferguson’s local radio program. Black caller after black caller said that they thought the name changes were “silly” and “unnecessary” .

One black caller actually brought up the historical fact that almost 100,000 Black Southerners fought on the side of the Confederacy.

The changing of park names is something that the Black Liberal Leadership in Memphis have been wanting to do for a long time.

It was a purely political move, designed to show the nation what an enlightened bunch of Liberal Leaders that they are.

Never mind that they are revising history.

To paraphrase God’s Word: “If thy city’s history offends thee, pluck it out.”

Or, pretend as if it never happened.

And, the City Administrators wonder why all the taxpayers have fled Memphis, like the Hebrews’ Exodus from Egypt. (Memphis, Egypt. Get the reference?)

Will the last taxpayer in Memphis, please turn off the lights.

Until He Comes,

KJ