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Editorials/Columns
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
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Love Is In The Air; It’s Valentine’s Day
re you feeling like you
just wanted to hug somebody? Maybe just love someone? Probably buy some- one some candy or a dozen roses? Get someone a piece of jewelry, how about eating a meal at a plush restaurant.
No you haven’t lost your mind and nor is Christmas coming. It is February 14th; don’t you remember what is so special about this day? It is Valentine’s Day and love is in the air, it is your manly duty to do one or more of the above things and you better know it.
Man, if you don’t, if you
forget this day your name will be mud and you’ll be on your way out.
Out of where, you ask? Man, you’ve really got it bad, if you don’t know what I mean by on your way out. That girl or that lady that you call ‘Baby, Sweetheart and Darling’ will put you out of her house and her life if you forget her on this date.
If you forgot, put this paper down and get busy doing your job. A lady would rather you forget her on Christmas than Valentine’s. What makes this day so special? I am not sure.
Valentine has a screwed up history that was connected to killings, Saints and pernicious women.
Over the years, it has evolved into this fabulous women’s day. Yes, women‘s day. Men don’t get any pres- ents that you can show your friends. I should say not. But, you will say and show signs of the good times you had for Valentine’s Day.
It is typical for the male to start with a Valentine’s card and a box of chocolate candy as a get-away gift. Today, that’s all those items are, get away gifts.
Today, women want more than a box of chocolate. They may not say anything, but they want more. With that in mind I am writing this article to re- mind you absent-minded fel- lows of what day Valentine Day is and what you’ve got to do.
POSTMASTER: Send Address Change To: Florida Sentinel Bulletin,
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
A Billion Dollar Hole In The Health Budget: Why?
ampa General would lose $85.2 million; the Univer-
sity of Florida Gainesville would lose $106.7 million; University of Florida Jacksonville would lose $94.4 mil- lion.
Why?
Because a concept called the “Low Income Pool” (or LIP) is in the balance. It pertains to immense federal monies set aside so that every American (under the aus- pices of Affordable HealthCare or “Obamacare”) will not die because of medical neglect in the hospitals of our na- tion. Most states in our nation have accepted generous federal donations which have allowed poor people to ben- efit from medical assistance, but not Florida.
There’s a reason why U. S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D- Tampa) recently said, “Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature should not block progress any longer and bring our tax dollars home to Florida.”
To his defense, a spokeswoman promised the Governor would speak to the LIP issue at an upcoming news confer- ence.
So, we are left with the stark observation of D-Tampa Rep. Janet Cruz regarding Scott’s ham-fisted disregard of LIP funds. Said she, “It was fiscally irresponsible . . . The governor had the audacity to plug that money in the budget under some sprinkling of pixie dust.”
“Pixie Dust?” Manure is more like it.
A Bad Case Of Paranoia
n 2005 I almost died. At
least, that's how it felt at the time.
Back then I, somehow, con- tracted a serious case of the flu virus that had me so weak I could barely get out of bed. Each fiber of muscle in my body seemed to ache to the point where any movement tested my threshold for agony.
Behind being shot seven times and having a dentist per- form a tooth extraction with- out using the proper amount of anesthetic, it was probably the worse experience with pain I felt in my entire life. And trust me, compared to those other two occasions, that's say- ing something.
I remember mustering up enough strength to make my way to the clinic in hopes of someone being able to offer me some form of relief through medication. Instead, the only things that I received for my troubles, and the 103 degree fever I was registering, were a few aspirins and in- structions to drink plenty of water. The typical amount of minimal medical treatment one learns to expect from a prison infirmary.
Up until that point I wasn't a big fan of lining up for the flu shot when it was offered. To me, that was for the misin- formed lab rats who couldn't see the bigger picture.
After learning, years prior, about the Tuskegee experi- ment where thousands of Black men in Alabama were intentionally injected with the syphilis virus as part of an ex- periment that lasted from the 1940s through the 1960s and reading accounts of how Na- tive Americans were allegedly infected with Small Pox through blankets issued to them by the U. S. Army during the middle of winter in the
1800s, I had zero trust in any- thing being freely adminis- tered by the government.
My thinking was, "why allow these people the oppor- tunity to give me something that, in the long run, may be worse than anything Mother Nature could dish out?" So even after I recovered from that traumatic flu episode, every year I continued the cycle of taking my chances with whatever new strain pre- sented itself. And, like clock- work, I continued to become ill at around the same time. Never as bad as '05. But deal- ing with being totally miser- able at some point during a 12-month span was an ex- pected annual occurrence.
Four months ago, though, I challenged my long held posi- tion on the issue. After observ- ing how the flu virus seemed to become harder and harder to treat every season, and inves- tigating what actually goes into the vaccine, I decided that it may be in my best interest to break the cycle.
Even though I still had reservations about placing something mass produced by the government into my sys- tem, it occurred to me that my conspiracy paranoia was start- ing to get the best of me. It began to make less and less since to continue to put my health at risk when I had no proof that the vaccine that people have been receiving for years without any known ef- fect, would do more harm than good.
SoIdidwhatIonce deemed unimaginable. I took the shot. And, to be completely honest, I'm glad I did.
For the first time ever I've gone through the months of December, January and now half of February without rub- bing my nose raw with toilet
paper or having the bad after- taste of cheap over-the- counter medicine stuck in my mouth. A feeling of prolonged good health that almost makes the microchip they may have implanted in me worth receiv- ing... of course that's just a joke.
I mean, why would they waste time to insert devices into our bodies to track us when most people are doing such a great job of lo-jacking themselves with smart phones already? But, that's a different issue all together.
I decided to share my story after watching the drama un- fold involving the spread of the measles by children whose parents, while home schooling their kids, chose to skip the immunization process. Do not get me wrong. I still get where the parents are coming from because, like I said, the gov- ernment's previous track record makes it hard for any- one to completely trust that they're doing the right thing.
But, even with that being the case, it's hard for me to support people who knowingly place their children in harm's way because they chose to be- lieve in a hazard that's never been proven to exist. And their actions become even more un- forgiveable when you take into account that most of these people, who were probably publically educated as children themselves, were given the same shots 30 years ago and obviously turned out ok.
Personally, I'm just glad that we only had to deal with the measles this go around. With this type of irresponsible parenting taking place all across the country during a critical juncture in health his- tory, if a more devastating ail- ment, like Polio for instance, were to make a similar return, all of our children would be in serious trouble.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: Cbreal- ity1@yahoo.com.
Celebrate Healthy Hearts
id the ancients know something we have forgotten?
Is the heart, in truth, an overall harbinger of health, physically, psychologically, and spiritually?
Consider those questions as we celebrate February, not only as Black History Month, but as National Heart Month.
Then, also consider this is a time when Blacks and all women should pay strict attention to the fact that heart disease is the number one cause of death in America, es- pecially among women, age 55 and under. For, the scourge of heart attacks in women is alarmingly on the rise.
Female readers, do we have your attention? As in most health issues, Black peopleregister a disparity between the general populace and in particular, the population of young Black women, the American Heart Association data reveals, “Almost half of all Black women age 20 and older have some form of heart disease.”
Furthermore, among Black people, risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and dia- betes exist at dangerous rates.
While genetics and access to preventive health care is an issue for Black people, lifestyle plays a significant role in the realm of heart disease.
Therefore, February must not only be a month for Black Awareness, but should also be a month for Heart Awareness as well. Healthy cooking, healthy lifestyles (ex- ercise and rest) and reducing stress must be passwords in our community.
Black women, we love you. But the month of February (National Heart Month), it’s time for you to love your- selves.
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PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015