Page 5 - 7-21-15 Tuesday's Edition

Editorials
Stop Robbing Yourself
More Than $11 Million Tax Dollars Spent On Lawsuits
T he fact that Republican legislators and Governor Rick Scott have spent in excess of $11.1 million of taxpayers’ money to hide information from that same taxpaying pub- lic and to defend violating the rights of voters, welfare re- cipients and state workers without much vocal opposition
is more than scary. It’s unbelievable.
Indeed, voters’ attention has been focused on other is-
sues while elected officials have been splurging tax dollars to protect their own pet political interests.
We find ourselves wondering: Do taxpayers care that fellow conservative state legislators spent $8.1. million of taxpayers’ dollars to defend their illegally drawn redis- tricting maps in order to retain Republican majorities in the House and Senate? Furthermore, do they care that Re- publican Governor Rick Scott spent in excess of $2 million in lawsuits to defend his desire to drug test Florida welfare recipients and state workers?
Do they care that Governor Scott spent additional dol- lars to sue the federal government over Medicaid expan- sion and the right to receive Low Income Pool funds?
Finally, how many uninsured Floridians could have re- ceived healthcare for $11 million? How many teachers could we have hired for $11 million? How much less would we have had to pay for our car tags and other fees?
Do you care? If not, answer this question: “What’s in your wallet?”
Les Miller wept. When he and his fellow Hillsborough County Commissioners voted unanimously to remove the flags from the Government Building’s lobby, Miller re-
moved his glasses, bowed his head, lost his usual reserved composure, and dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief. Them who had come to protest or to support the removal of the Confederate flag, which was among the flags in the lobby, they wept, too. No doubt, they all had good reason.
Later, Miller would admit his tears were the result of years of often silent anguish over a symbol that his parents and community elders often told him was a bitter echo of endless years of race hatred and unabated inhumanity that became a way of life throughout an unrepentant South.
Indeed, Miller could join millions who would testify that even though the Confederacy lost the Civil War, it far from lost its bragging rights especially over Americans of a darker skin. But what happened last Wednesday at the Hillsborough County Commission chamber was an unex- pected beginning of the 21st century.
The Past was judged. Its execution was decreed. But it didn’t die quietly. With all the eloquence of a seasoned Southern lawyer, one of the commissioners questioned passionately, if the Confederate Stars and Bars was taken down, where would it end? What would be next: The Stars and Stripes? But his argument was all for naught. In the best of Southern gentility, the commissioner retired gra- ciously.
Now the flags are gone . . . the Confederate flag among them. Was hatred also taken down? Of course not. But, at least in a nation that believes in beginnings, it was a start.
So, to Les Miller and his wise-courageous fellow com- missioners, thank you for reminding us that though we are the products of history, we are not history’s prisoners.
“The price of great- ness is responsibility.”
Winston Churchill
Empowered Greetings
Stop robbing yourself the way Arthur Berry robbed Arthur Berry. Who is Arthur Berry you ask? He was a famous jewel thief that stole from the rich. He dressed like the rich, acted like the rich and spoke like the rich, but his moral compass was poor.
He eventually served 25 years in prison. After being released, a newspaper re- porter interviewed him. He told the reporter of his vari- ous exhilarating adventures.
But the one thing that stuck with me was that he also told the reporter that “when you write the story of my life, when you tell people about all the burglaries,
As time starts to slowly wind down on President Barack Obama’s presi- dency, it’s starting to dawn on me just how much I’m going to miss the idea of him being Commander-In- Chief of the United States. And, even though some of his biggest critics won’t admit it now, when he’s gone, I believe they will also view his time in office as one of the most profound ever recorded.
While some of Presi- dent Obama’s policies may not have been the most popular, there’s no denying that he did more to help people at every level than, arguably, any U. S. Presi- dent in history. And, with his recent push to bring about prison reform, he’s showing those who exist at the lowest rungs of society that he has not forgotten their struggle either.
With his commutation of 46 federal prison sentences last week, and his promise to continue to commute even more sentences until congress moves forward on legislative proposals de-
don’t leave out the biggest one of all... Don’t just tell them I robbed Jesse Liv- ermore, the Wall Street baron or the cousin of the king of England. You tell them Arthur Berry robbed Arthur Berry.”
Arthur realized that while he was robbing the rich, he was also robbing himself. So again I say, stop robbing yourself. Stop rob- bing yourself of your great- ness by not capitalizing on the gifts and talents God has bestowed upon you. Stop robbing yourself of precious time by not making full use of the 86,400 seconds that God grants you with every day.
Stop robbing yourself of your financial freedom by spending large amounts of money on material things, but you haven’t invested any
signed to restore justice to the justice system through resolutions like: The Fair Sentencing Clarification act which makes the 18-1 crack ratio instituted in 2010 retroactive; The Fairness in cocaine Sentencing Act which would eliminate, en- tirely, the disparity between crack and powder cocaine; The Recidivism Clarifica- tion Act of 2015 that fixes the vagueness of the mini- mum mandatory “stacking” of 924c penalties and the Prisoner incentive Act of 2015 which will increase good time from 47 days to 54 days a year for federal prisoners, President Obama is doing something that we rarely see out of our elected officials.
He is actually following his words with action.
Of course, the argument can always be made that President Obama could be doing even more. Limit- ing second chance opportu- nities strictly to non-violent low level drug offenders leaves 54% of the federal prison population out in the cold. But still, it’s hard for
money in your financial fu- ture. Stop robbing yourself of a healthy and productive life by having unprotected sex, smoking, drinking, slip- ping and dipping, scheming and thieving. In life, what- ever you do in the flesh you will also reap in the flesh.
Whatever you sow into your life that is what you will get out of your life. I challenge you today to start sowing a righteous seed. Stop robbing yourself and start robbing the grave of your greatness. Make up in your mind today, that you cannot and will not die, without being and achieving all that God has designed for you to be and do. Until next time be empowered for greatness.
Get connected with Selphenia so she can help you tap into your potential and achieve your greatness. Visit the website success- coachtowomen.com and sign up for free newsletter. Or visit Facebook: Selphinia Nichols Success Coach To Women, or on Instagram: Selphenia or on Twitter: queenofsuccess1.
me to criticize a man for, at least, addressing a portion of an issue that’s been over- looked for far too long.
For me, personally, this is the part of President Obama’s tenure that I’ve been waiting to arrive. The period when he decides to take off his mask of conge- niality and expose his true identity as the new millen- nium version of shaft (cue the soundtrack) ready to free his people. The real life “spook” who traded his seat by the door for the one that wields the ultimate power.
During the next 18 months I expect President Obama to leave his mark so deeply engrained upon the office of the presidency that no amount of white washing will be able to erase his work from the annals of history.
Leaving a legacy so firmly intact and memorable that my only advice, for whoever assumes the position Pres- ident Obama vacates in 2017, is to take good notes because the template he cre- ated will be the one that people will expect their leaders to follow for genera- tions to come.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company. Anyone wish- ing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@yahoo.com
Long Live Obama’s Legacy
Tears Of Change In Hillsborough County
TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5