Deviously Evil Madmen or Deceitfully Clever Businessmen

Is the Middle East full of deviously evil madmen or are they rather scheming clever businessmen?

Why does Iran continue its nuclear saber rattling? Why do they foolishly grab and imprison British soldiers, which increases world tensions? Why don’t the governments of other Middle Eastern countries do more to help stomp out terrorist groups? Why do they act so abhorred by the violence in the region, and do so little to stop it? Why do they finance the terrorists?

The answer seems quite simple to me. Just like solving a crime, you must first determine who benefits the most from a destabilized Middle East. Every time a new threat or crisis hits the news, the price of oil jumps. The oil exporting countries get richer. It is not just OPEC countries that benefit; it is also those who depend on the OPEC nations for their finance - Hamas, Al Qaeda, etc.

For every oil pipeline out of a country, there is a green pipeline bringing money back into that country. With out increasing production, a destabilized Middle East makes that green pipeline greener.

High-Stakes Testing

The Friday's edition of The Times contained the story about the 9 Bossier students who will not participate in graduation because of their GEE test results. The online chatter about this was lively, and sometimes unmerciful, as it usually is about any controversial issue.

Much of the opinion seemed to point out, with pride, that nothing is wrong with not allowing these 9 to march with their class. After all, look how many students must have passed the test and surely the problem is with the 9 students and not the test. And of course, rules are rules.

My compassion lies squarely with the 9 who will miss a once in a lifetime event because of the TEST. And it would not matter if it were just 1 child who would not march for that sole reason and 99 passed. That 1 child is just as important as the 99.

Social scientist Donald T. Campbell once wrote, "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."{from an article by Eric Schaps in Education Week}

I suspect that one day the jury will render a failing score to high-stakes testing and local folks can get back to educating and move away from test prepping. However, it will clearly be too late for the 9 Bossier students and countless others across this nation who did not pass the TEST.

Role Reversal

Do you ever wonder, as I do, what would happen if Bush and Clinton had been in each other’s place? Ask yourself the following three questions. Answer yes or no.

Would the people of the right still support the Iraq War and Bush’s actions if he was a Democrat or if Clinton was the President?

Would the Democrats be calling for a pullout from Iraq if Clinton was the President?

Would the Republicans have demanded impeachment if Bush had committed the acts Clinton did?

My answer to each question is, “No!” Everyone I have asked those questions of has responded, “No!” to each. It’s a unanimous vote. If you too answered “no” to those questions, then we are all admitting that Republicans and Democrats are not interested in what is best for the country. We are admitting that they are most interested in what is best for their political party.

Long ago a person wrote a letter to his son that read, “This is not a government of the people by the people, and for the people. Rather it is a government of the party, by the party, and for the party.”

I find that a very sad state of affairs that so many people and politicians have placed the interests of their party ahead of the interests of their country.

On a bright note, Mayor Cedric Glover stated Tuesday that he would not be bound by party lines when it comes to endorsing a candidate for Governor. A tip of the hat to you Mr. Mayor.

Opening Day for Shreveport Professional Baseball

Professional baseball in Shreveport goes back to around 1885. It has had it's highs like the Shreveport Captains of the 1990s and the old Sports of the 1950s. It has had its lows and has even had its interruptions. But baseball in Shreveport has always had a special place here that transcends generations.

Over the 122 years of Shreveport baseball history, the game has remained relatively the same. Baseball is one of the few team sports that does not involve a clock. Perhaps that is one reason the game in many ways is timeliness. While the uniforms have changed, the bats are lighter, and most of the games are played at night, there is a continuity of history and respect of the past that brings us forward on several levels into the future.

If you're not careful you can learn a lot watching Shreveport baseball over time. I've watched with a crowd of around 7,000 go crazy over a guy in a chicken suit. I've watched with a "crowd" of 250 thninking about how it really helped my odds winning a prize with my lucky number (and I did too, an album from Sooto Records). I've watched while sitting with one of the fans that had watched since the 1950's and telling me there was a time when we would not be sitting together because he is black and I am white. I've learned much more than baseball.

None of the players can afford to be prima donas and will pay a price if they try. They play hard and have baseball in their hearts.

It promises to be another historic year of some sort for Shreveport baseball. Opening Day is May 14. I'll be hanging around behind home plate. Come, enjoy, be a part of history, perhaps even learn something while simply watching the timeless game of baseball.

Something Is Missing

Something is missing in the coverage of the destruction of Greensburg, Kansas.

Forces of nature, acts of God, (or whatever your preference) caused widespread destruction in Greensburg, New Orleans, and California. Televangelists were quick to pontificate on why God chose to destroy New Orleans and California - widespread sin, abortion and homosexuality.

Surely, Greensburg must have harbored something evil. After all, besides a tornado, a 1000-pound meteorite once hit that town. Surely, the Falwells, Robertsons and their ilk will enlighten us about the moral travesties allowed in that Kansas farm town.

Also missing were TV’s talking heads lecturing us on the irresponsibility and folley of building in tornado alley. Those “experts” were also quite quick to tell us that people should not be allowed to build along the hurricane prone gulf coast and in earthquake zones in California. The repeatedly informed us that people building in disaster prone areas were causing all of us to pay higher insurance premiums.

C'mon guys. Where ya been?

Public Service: Privilege or Perk

A Caddo fire chief regularly using the district’s credit card to make personal purchases; a New Orleans City Council person strong arming the state police to get out of a speeding ticket while traveling 100 m.p.h. down the interstate, and a Louisiana State Senator sending the state police to take football tickets from Shreveport to New Orleans- clear examples of city, parish, and state officials in Louisiana abusing the trust that is placed in them. Why do we continue tolerate such actions from leaders in Louisiana? Are our leaders above the same rules the rest of us must live by? What other indiscretions committed by our purported leaders are just overlooked? Our leaders are expected to serve city, parish, and state government without the expectation of special privilege in return. If this expectation is to great, maybe our leaders should not be allowed to serve.

It’s OK to Break the Law

Nothing tells people it is OK to break the law like the government’s failure to enforce the law. One of the strongest ways to learn a process is to repeatedly observe that process. Upon moving to Shreveport, it didn’t take long for me to learn that it is ok to violate certain laws.

A screech of brakes from the car behind me taught me it is OK to push the limits of the yellow caution light at intersections. To do otherwise caused me to risk getting rear-ended. Take a moment and think about the accidents you see around town. Most of them are rear-end collisions or traffic light violations. How many times do you see someone stopped for running a red light? The city has been “studying’ solutions to this problem for over a year. It’s time to stop studying and get busy enforcing.

Watching drivers on Youree Drive soon taught me that is OK to ignore “No U-Turn” traffic signs. Illegal u-turns are a regular violation, a violation committed without fear or guilt. I have been next to a police car at an intersection when a car going the opposite direction made an illegal u-turn in front of us.

Littering? That’s perfectly OK, no matter the idle threat of the no littering signs. I watch people throw cigarettes out the window all the time. Sheesh, I even saw a cop do it my first day in Shreveport.

Governmental agencies say there is too much crime and they are understaffed. One reason for increased crime may be due to the fact that enforcement of some laws is negligible. Once people are convinced the laws will be enforced, the laws will be obeyed.

Crack-Cocaine and Sentencing

In last Sunday's Times, there was an AP story captioned "Commission suggests lighter sentence for drug conviction." Of course the community was/is focused on the Confederate History Month debate. However, mandatory sentencing guidelines is an interest of mine because of its real impact on the black community.

The story had to do with a recommendation by the U. S. Sentencing Commission to lower the sentencing guidelines for a first time crack-cocaine conviction. The argument is grounded on something called the "100-to-1 disparity: Trafficking in 5 grams of cocaine carries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, but it takes 500 grams of cocaine powder to warrant the same sentence."

The piece goes on the conclude that "...crack is more of an urban and minority drug while cocaine powder is used more often by the affluent, and that harsher penalties for crack cocaine unfairly punish blacks."

My push back in this arena has to with the mandatory nature of sentencing. In my view, the
jury should be granted latitude to evaluate each case based on the evidence presented, and render an appropriate dispensation accordingly. I don't have a problem with guidelines for sentencing, but that is what they should be, guidelines, subject to the facts of an individual case.

Now to be clear. I believe crack-cocaine is a scourge on society in general and the black community in particular. It drives murder and other forms of violent crimes that adversely impact all of us. Society has an obligation to address this problem.

Sentencing guidelines are certainly acceptable in this or any other criminal case. However, mandatory sentencing is not in keeping with the Sixth Amendment. After all, how can we know what is a fair punishment before the jury hears all the facts.