You Think What?

As Yogi Bera would say, “It’s deja vu all over again.” Florida legislators are poised to enact what many are calling “the most horrific voter suppression legislation seen in many years”.

According to sources such as the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, the proposed law set for a vote in the Florida State legislature today, Friday, April 24, 2009, the new law will make it harder for citizens  to exercise their constitutional right to vote. (more…)

“Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast”

wrote the popular late 17th Century English poet and playwright William Congreve.

A friend to, and a contemporary of Jonathan Swift,  William Congreve’s words have not been more true since they were first written and first spoken on stage in his tragic play The Mourning Bride in 1697.

With all the drama, trauma, wars, rumors of wars, natural weather disasters and the economic hell some predatory humans put other humans through; making it unnecessary to experience punishment in an afterlife when there is hell on earth as reality. The existence of an organization known as Playing For Change which offers welcome musical relief is a soothing balm for our world weary souls. (more…)

Over the weekend we heard the reporter/blog writer who alerted the public to the possibility of organic farming being outlawed is now retracting his statement. We hear Connecticut congresswoman Democrat Rose De Lauro (more…)

In the previous post we told you about Monday night’s F.A.I.T.H. Action Assembly meeting in Daytona Beach.

In that post we encouraged you to contact the representatives who were not present to ask them what their position is on issues of county community concern such as employment, affordable housing, childcare, crime illegal use of drugs and the incarceration of the mentally ill in the county prison facility.

It occurred to us we should give out a few “at-a-boys” to the members of the Volusia County Council  and to the mayors from the cities in Volusia County who took the time to be present at that important assembly on Monday evening. (more…)

On Monday evening in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida the local interfaith group known as F.A.I.T.H. , (Fighting Against Injustice Towards Harmony), held its annual Action Assembly hosted by First Baptist Church. (more…)

“To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from
intentional contamination, and for other purposes.”

H. R. 875 proposed February 4, 2009 to be enacted by the United States House of Representatives and the Senate.

Read the proposed “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009” here.

This seemingly innocuous proposed bill, also known as the  “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009”, has started a firestorm of controversy among many American citizens who are proponents of organic gardening.

The federal legislative bodies are in a rush to get this bill passed. It is has the support by major chemical companies such as ADM, Monsanto and about thirty other companies with a vested interest in making sure the nation continues to use the petroleum based fertilizers and growth chemicals already in use. Chemicals that have over a period of years have contributed to the erosion of the public health. (more…)

THIS IS NO APRIL FOOL’s DAY PRANK

Another insanely Orwellian titled piece of legislation will soon be presented to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate for a vote. It is a bill to ban organic farming.

Organic farming produces fruits and vegetables without pesticides or other harmful chemicals.

The House the proposal, known by the innocuous title “Food Safety and Modernization Act” (Bill HR 875), not surprisingly has the support of Monsanto, a giant American chemical and engineering corporation.

More on this potentially dangerous law in another post.

We treasure the wisdom of the elders. We hold in high esteem their life experience; that is why we celebrate the life of the late John Hope Franklin who departed this existence on March 25, 2009. He was 94 years old.

The late John Hope Franklin was a chronicler of American history and a civil rights activist.

He was president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. He was Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University.

Franklin is probably best known for his work “From Slavery to Freedom”, first published in 1947, and regularly updated. This historic writing has sold an more than three million copies have been. In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. (more…)

Recently John Hope Franklin the American historian and activist died at the age of 94. His life and times are a reminder to all of the complete history of the United States of America.

John Hope Franklin recorded the American experience from the black perspective in order to give the world and its future generations the full story of this incredible nation.

“My specialty is the history of the south. That means I teach the history of blacks and whites.”~  in a 1990 interview, John Hope Franklin , historian

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John Hope Franklin a revered American academic, teacher and historian died last week at the age of 94.

Among his academic achievements and scholarly awards:

The first black man to deliver a paper to  Southern Historical Association. In 1970 he was elected president of the previously segregated organization.

The first black president of the American Historical Association.

He was instrumental in the opening of the first chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa “honor society” – a national organization which inspires academic excellence – at  historically black university, Fisk University, where Franklin began his own higher education.

In Britain, he held the Pitt professorship of American history and institutions at Cambridge University.

Franklin taught all over the world – in China, the Soviet Union, Australia and Zimbabwe. (more…)