Our Health

I know that healthcare is an important thing for everyone out there. Literally, it is a matter of life and death. We only get one chance on this Earth with our journey and our health is key. So, politicians(I won't get into party labels) in the House Of Representatives voted and passed a new Healthcare bill yesterday that affects us all. This bill will drastically limit the coverage that we will have, slashing funds towards Medicare and Medicaid. It will also give a significantly lower amount in funds to coverages people with preexisting conditions. It gives insurance companies the ability to raise rates based on what risk pool you are in(it is not friendly at all to the poor, sick and the elderly). It also will affect the insurance that you get from your job, giving your employer the option not to cover you for healthcare. The thing about it is that the politicians that voted for this bill and didn't even read it. It was drafted up and signed in three days without a review from them(to know what is in the bill). It also was not send out for a review of what effects the bill proposed on the public. Who has ever signed something without reading it? Most of the time, if that happens, it is never a good thing. There has been countless movies and news segments showing the pitfalls of not reading a contract. This affects everyone, except for the rich and the politicians that voted for it. There's a special provision that has the people who voted for it exempt from its coverage. That is never a good sign. They are suppose to represent us and our best interest. As they laughed and smiled like they were at an office Christmas party, representing us is the last thing on their mind. Let us shine and be heard.

Perspective

Perspective

By Chuka McCoy

Hi there

It is nice to meet you

You don’t know me but I have heard a lot about you

The question I have for you is

Is it better?

Is it better for you to spend billions of dollars

On advertisements set to divide this world

This land and the people that live on it

Than to use it to better each of those things

To shine a light throughout the land

Bring peace and treat people

Like people

Well you might say

It’s not my job to do that

I understand but we all do our part

To help people in our own way

The fact is it would be cheaper for you

To increase minimum wage throughout the land

Than to bend people into your way of thinking

You will still be rich

But you would be twice as rich

And your soul will shine from it

We know that you have the basketball

But there are plenty of people on the court

Ready to play

And competition is always a good thing

So is sportsmanship   

An Open Discussion

An Open Discussion

We are people who care

Who feel and can touch others' souls

 We are love

That is a representative of God's love through us

 It reaches from our core to others

 Do not let the injustices

Stop us for connecting

 Growing with

And loving each other

 That will bring a revolutionary change

This world won't believe

From the book The Hero in Us All by Chuka McCoy, which is available on Amazon.com. 

Pointing At Us

Pointing At Us

By Chuka McCoy

This hot air balloon

Shaped like a gun

Is about to blow up your spot

Because you see

The symbol we see

In front of your store

Holds us hostage

Normalizes how much

All around abuse it brings

Your store brings it out to

Attract attention and business

But this neighborhood

This world

Doesn’t need that pain

That anxiety

That reminder

Pointing at them everyday

Pop that balloon

Blow up some hope

Respect

Love

And put that on display

Commercials that are like nails on the chalkboard

I've being holding a grudge at particular company because of their commercials. I was just going to put my TV on mute or fast forward through it(like I always do). With the bad commercials that debuted in the Super Bowl, I felt it was time to discuss that commercial and another one that debuted on Super Bowl.

The first one is the series of commercials put out by Checkers featuring a talking bag. I find this mascot, named Mr. Bag, annoying on so many levels. First,  his voice is straight out of a bad blaxploitation film. The bag is always sounding like he's trying to keep his hustle game strong. His look is very suspicious.He has stubble around his mouth (I call it stubble) that resembles that of a hobo clown and he looks like he's scheming all the time. Why would I buy something from a mascot like that? Even the Hamburgler didn't have that much of a creepy factor. That, among other reasons, is why I won't eat at Checkers anymore.

 Onto the second commercial which is for Mountain Dew Kickstarter. It features a character named Puppymonkeybaby(which picture is on the bottom of this page). It is (wait for it)a creature that has been spliced together the  parts of those three things. It goes around saying"puppymonkeybaby" while walking around like very creepy marionette puppet. At least Mr. Bag kept in the realm of what it's suppose to be selling. Is this commercial suppose to alert us of the acid trip we're about to go on when drinking a Kickstarter? I think I will pass on a drink that its commercial makes me think of the movie The Human Centipede.

American values...

It's been awhile since I wrote on this blog but something has me stirred up. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd (best superhero name for a real person..ever) asked Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson about faith and "Should a president's faith matter?". Carson's answer just floored me.

 "If it's inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter," he said. "If it fits within the realm of America and is consistent with the Constitution, I have no problem."  

He said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution.

"I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that," he said. 


My response is:
         I remember, when growing up, watching a show called Schoolhouse Rock (a show that is sorely missed). There was a song on one of the episodes called "The Great American Melting Pot". This song talked about a different mix of people, coming together, to make this country what it is. It know it is a cartoon but it got down to the simplicity of what America is about. People have come here from all different walks of life with different backgrounds to get to this country. They believe they can make a better life here in this land, without prosecution of who they are and what they believe. I know it's not been perfect but the core beliefs are still there. The Constitution was build for all and not for the few. So, Mr. Carson, if you don't know what is compatible with the Constitution, please take a refresher course before running for President. Schoolhouse Rock is out there on DVD and is good place to start.


Source:
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-muslim-president_55febdf6e4b08820d918faae

My inner thoughts and the outside world

I am a happy go lucky guy. I know that I am a different type of person that doesn't fit into category A, B or C. I treat people with love and respect that they deserve. All my life, I've worked on making people comfortable with me and who I am. Sometimes it definitely helped and sometimes it was to a fault/detriment to myself(as I've found out recently). We all have adjustments to make in life and I'm no exception.

The thing that gets me is that, no matter how careful you are or how cool you are with people, it takes one incident to your situation horrible wrong. You can be in wrong spot at the wrong time. You can get accused of something you didn't do. You can, as of recent events, be on the wrong side of a power struggle.  There have been more and more incidents reported of police violence happening in Black communities. Horrific ordeals happening over and over that should have never taken placed. Each examples representing different scenarios but the results had been eerily the same.

Communities (poor and all different shades of color) have known about this for awhile now but it's now just coming to the light. Things like this would be swept under the rug or there would be no true investigation with cases like you see now.  If cell phones didn't have cameras on them, some would still be believe that this doesn't exist. As much as camera phones catch trivial things, in this case it will start a revolution.

There are good police officers out there but they are being overshadowed by the the corrupted ones right now. It's not fair for them and it makes their jobs harder. People are scared and angry. They put themselves in the victims' shoes (like I have) and say that can easily happen to me. They feel like their voice has not and will not be heard. The thought of hopelessness is a crushing one. It can lead to violence or checking out completely.

We can't give in to the violent thoughts. So many different people that are affected in the same way are having their lives turned upside down by these actions. It's like a scene from a movie/television show when you're upset or hurt and destroy stuff in your home. It gives you a release from those feelings you have but at the end of the day, you have to pick up pieces. We shouldn't check out either. Police brutality affects us all and we shouldn't live in fear of it. We must fight to see that these incidents go punished. We must fight to straighten out this corrupt system and way of thinking. We must have this conversation together because it affects us all. In the end, we are the community and we must look out for each other in this world.