Page 6 - 4-14-15 Tuesday's Edition

Damaged Goods
Gay Papa, Where Are You?
A 12-year-old girl fights with her teacher over custody of the little girl’s cellphone; two students are arrested for mugging a classmate in a boy’s room because they covet his cellphone; a special education student is caught with a butcher knife in his backpack; another student is caught urinating in the hall while another student on sus-
pension is caught trespassing on school property. Teachers are quitting by the truckloads; Resource Of- ficers are ducking for cover, and parents have simply run out of alibis to explain the barbaric behavior of their re- calcitrant little darlings. In the 11 and 3/4 hours of public school education, who or what can save us? Someone said, “This sounds like a job for GAY PAPA” (better known as
Dr. Chester Miles)!
Come with us to another time and another century, to a
place called Curtis Hixon Hall, a huge auditorium that on certain Fridays and Saturdays would fill to capacity with eager, squealing, Black adolescents and teenagers who clambered to dance to the R &B Top Forties. But though the music roared and legs pounded like pistons, tempers seldom flared and most everyone went home, having had a good time. Why? No doubt, Gay Papa knew why. But to our knowledge, it is a secret he took to his grave.
However, do you think, if Gay Papa was living and work- ing in our public school system, that he could have had a similar positive impact on our children’s behavior as he did in years gone by? No, we don’t want to stereotype our children or make light of the horrific issues they face. But what we do want is to have our children and our schools back, once more. And for a minute, it seemed like Gay Papa had an answer. Come back, Bro. Miles! Lord knows, we miss you.
W ith only a month left in the legislative session, some- one should speak up on the issues simmering in a smoldering pile. For instance, when it comes to doling out favors and money in Tallahassee, Big Business and private interest campaign donors are at the top of the list while low-income uninsured Floridians aren’t even on the radar
screen of the majority of the Republican legislators. Tantamount to the idiom, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” Republican legislators and a “flip-flop” Florida governor have busily-but-quietly enacted policy and intro- duced legislation that benefits the sugar industry, pri- vately-owned charter school companies, the insurance industry conglomerate as well as other for-profit indus- tries, while leaving a million low-income Floridians with-
out health insurance for bogus reasons.
Furthermore, while other states (including 10 Republi-
can-led states) have expanded Medicaid to help their low- income citizens, Florida legislators and turncoat Governor Scott (who states he supported Medicaid expan- sion during the election campaign) are still fiddling amidst the flames. If we, as voters, allow this legislative session to end without Republican legislators developing and passing an alternative Medicaid plan, we can rest as- sured they will assume voters either don’t hear or don’t care to hear.
Therefore, every reader and uninsured voter who does care to hear should call your legislative delegation (813) 757-9110 or contact your individual district representa- tives to express your support of Medicaid expansion. If not for yourself, do it for your family.
The one thing that I’ve never been able to under- stand over the years is the standard of perfection peo- ple often look for in others while turning the blind eye to the flaws within themselves.
A prime example of this often magnifies itself during the conversations I have with guys about women. The dis- cussions typically start off with individuals stating their usual physical preferences (tall, skinny, short, fat, etc.). But, inevitably something I like to call “The Boomerang Effect” (a term derived from the Eddie Murphy movie of the same title), comes into play and those preferences soon evolve into very partic- ular qualities that females “MUST” possess in order to warrant serious considera- tion for courtship.
Things like soft hair tex- ture, a small waist, an ample bra cup size, an apple- shaped bottom and, of course, pretty feet are men- tioned as just some of the preferred attributes women are expected to bring to the table; specifications that only a comic book illustrator would be able to produce in one person.
Every time I hear guys go on and on about the level of “badness” they look for in a female, I can’t help but won- der how long it’s been since they’ve seen a mirror? These
are men who are as average looking as myself, but who, for some reason, honestly feel as though they can afford to be choosy. I can only imagine that, in their mind, receding hair lines, discol- ored teeth, pot bellies and funny shaped heads are all things that the “perfect” fe- male specimen can overlook as well.
While a woman may read this and laugh, the truth is, she’s really not much differ- ent.
Personally, I know a num- ber of ladies who feel as though their ability to simply maintain some kind of em- ployment while keeping a roof over their heads qualify them for extraordinary sta- tus and afford them the right to look down on brothers who may be struggling in those same two depart- ments. Never mind the fact that, in some cases, child support payments and gov- ernment subsidized assis- tance helps to keep them afloat.
As far as they’re con- cerned, being able to make ends meet makes them prime marriage material for any man of substantial means. But, unfortunately, like their funny-looking male counterparts, they’re just as hopelessly delusional.
The reality that a lot of these men and women can’t
seem to accept is that we’re all damaged goods, imper- fect and flawed merchandise that, after a while, loses its original value. And just like those products that have been on the shelf too long, the older we get, the less likely we are to find someone willing to take us home.
Of course, none of this means that people should settle for anything just be- cause they’re not Denzel Washington handsome or Halle Berry beautiful. But it does translate into individ- uals being more realistic about what they should ex- pect from potential mates.
To me, one of the two keys to finding happiness in this world with someone else in- volves one: accepting and loving ourselves for who we really are, and secondly: un- derstanding that the people we meet have similar war wounds from navigating this incredibly complicated thing called life.
Chasing perfection, in any shape or form, is equiva- lent to trying to apprehend a ghost. And when you think about it in those terms, how much sense does it make to continuously try to obtain something that hasn’t been proven to exist?
Rather than waste pre- cious time and years engag- ing in such a futile effort, you’ll probably be much bet- ter off just trying to find someone whose imperfec- tions are equally as tolerable to you as yours are to them.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@yahoo.com.
Time For Voters To Speak Up For Medicaid Expansion
Obamas’ 2014 Federal Tax Payment Tops $93,000
WASHINGTON — Presi- dent Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid more than $93,000 in federal taxes last year on an adjusted gross in- come of more than $477,000, according to tax returns released Friday by the White House.
Their effective tax rate was 19.6%, the returns show. The Obamas lowered their 2014 tax bill by claim- ing nearly $160,000 in item- ized deductions, including $70,712 in charitable dona- tions to 33 different chari- ties. Altogether, they donated nearly 15% of their
income.
The largest was a $22,012
donation to the Fisher House Foundation, which supports military families. They also donated $5,000 to Sidwell Friends School, the exclusive private school where daughters Malia and Sasha are enrolled.
PRESIDENT BARACK AND FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA
The 38-page document, which includes the couple’s Illinois state income tax re- turn, shows the president made nearly $395,000 in wages. The couple also re- ported making $94,889 from the sale of Obama’s best-selling books. That’s down from more than $116,000 the year before.
Pres. Obama received $51,167 from Random House and $43,722 from
Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
The White House released the Obamas’ tax returns ahead of the filing deadline Wednesday.
The Obamas are getting a tax refund of $20,641. They could have received an additional $5,000 but opted to apply that amount to their 2015 tax bill.
The couple reported pay- ing $22,640 in state income tax.
The White House also re- leased the 2014 income tax returns for Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.
The Bidens paid more than $90,000 in federal taxes last year on adjusted gross income of nearly $389,000. They paid an ef- fective federal income tax rate of 23.3%. The Bidens reported $7,380 in dona- tions to charity.
Editorials
PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015