BLOG ***** Claudette's Thoughts
01/26/2010
Tomorrow I will complete my 21 day fast. This is the important time of each year for me. It is the time that I receive insight from my God. It is the time that I set my priorities for the new year and allow the holy spirit to speak to me. The last few months have been focused on family, friends, and work. As I write I am waiting on an answer regarding a new position that will change the course of my life. For the first time I will be in a new city with no family. I will be away from both my girls and my grandchildren. It is a little scary but I know I need to make this move in order to focus on the gift that God has given me. The gift of writing. My goal as I move to the next season of my life will be to excell in my new position and to finish my series of books and to put God first and formost in my life.
05/17/2009
As I read about the protest at Notre Dame I wonder if the protesters saved one child’s life through their protest.
When I was young I spent a lot of time protesting against civil rights issues. As I matured I began to redirect my energy toward supporting victims of domestic violence and rape, by walking and raising money for diabetic research and March of dimes. I am a woman of faith. I believe that life starts at conception. I do not believe in abortion for myself. I felt so strongly that I had a tubal ligation after having twins at the age of 25. I did not want more children and birth control did not work for me and I did not want to be confronted with the decision to bring children into the world that I could not afford or did not want. The most important thing was that I made the decision. No one made it for me.
When a woman becomes pregnant it is a major event and I don’t believe that the decision women make is made without much thought and deliberation and I don’t think that the pain is ever lifted from their heart. It follows them throughout their lives. Unfortunately there are many teenage mothers. Most of these children are trying to feel an empty hole in them, seeking love in all the wrong places.
I believe that protest open dialogue and I hope President Obama is willing to sit down and discuss this issue with individuals that do not support abortion and supporters of a women’s right to choose. However I also wonder how much time these individuals have spent time talking to teenagers that have become pregnant. I wonder how many visit schools and open forums for discussions. I wonder how many churches in the area reach out and accept these individuals in their church, but most importantly how many through their actions show unwed mothers the forgiveness and love of God because I am certain if the church reaches out to teenagers, mentors them, supports them, leads them to Christ so that they will see the amazing love of God that we will reduce teenage pregnancy, that we will reach and touch lives and we will decrease the abortion rate in this country.
My thoughts: Exercise your right to protest but spend time understanding the issue because it is not black and white. We would all like to dig our heads in the dirt and just say you must choose life but there must be early intervention, support systems, programs set up by the church and other groups. Groups that make millions of dollars on abortion offer more support to pregnant women than those of us that believe in the preservation of life. The church cannot ignore the issue. We cannot afford to sit and judge instead of reaching out. When we stand up in love and not judgment and each of us begins to support and mentor our young then we will begin to decrease the rate of abortion in this country and around the world.
Claudette Milner is the author of “Children of Plains Estates” and “Unheard Voices”: Children of Plains Estates
www.claudettemilner.com
05/13/2009
For decades compensation packages have rewarded failure, now the top banks want to continue on the same path that caused the collapse of Wall Street. My question to the proponents of this failed strategy what are we teaching our children about obtaining the American dream?
As I have listened to the government side which wants to limit CEO compensation and reward CEO’s based on merit and not reputation I consider my own career. I have never been a CEO, I have never had the option to get fired and be rewarded millions and sometimes billions of dollars although after I left the company owed the government billions of dollars because I mismanaged the company causing thousands of employees to be out of work, many losing their homes and without health insurance struggling to maintain a living and feed their families. Most Americans are in my boat because there are a limited number of CEO’s and they seem to migrate from one position to another. Some fail at one company then are paid millions to fail again.
The banks and Wall Street argue that if compensation is limited then the top talent will go to other companies due to a global market. I say let them leave but take the million dollar compensation packages and pay back Americans for the money that has been used to bail out the mess they left behind. Some CEO’s seemed shrewder than the rest. They came into a mess and demanded millions of compensation for taking the job. Some only lasted a couple of months and yet they took home a tidy sum. I don’t blame them because they were only taking care of business however I do blame W all Street for conducting business as usual with no thought to the huge liability they would be placing on the taxpayers.
Do I expect corporate American to feel guilty? No, I am not naïve. Nor do I expect them to cut off large compensation packages. What I do expect is the government to impose strict regulations on CEO compensation and for Wall Street to pay off every dime they owe to the taxpayers before they use our money to finance the old boy network of incompetents.
.The ideal solution would be for Wall Street to recognize that there are talented men and women that have run smaller companies and have been successful. They need to tap into this talent and award these individuals with a competitive salary and bonuses based on merit and success. It would show our children that hard work is the road to success and when a company makes money everyone should be successful not just a few but it is morally wrong when a CEO walks away with millions after failing the company, the stockholders, the employees and the public that only the employees lose everything.
05/03/2009
Republicans Victory Crushes the American Dream for Millions of Americans
McConnell's quote in the Sunday Courier Journal reminds us that although Americans are losing their homes,jobs and healthcare the Republican party has one concern and that is protecting Wall Street. Working Americans had only this bill to try and keep their home once they filed bankruptcy. Now they are not only struggling to feed their families on reduced incomes the republicans have united to protect the interest of banks and Wall Street. While they are touting their victory the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans are being shattered. Republicans do not have a clue about the needs of main street and a tour of the country will not give them a new perspective. Despite the massive donations from Wall Street it will be main street Americans that will flock to the polls against the party of no health insurance for the poor, no protection of women's rights, no assistance for the unemployed, no breaks for struggling homeowners and no empathy for the plight that Americans are facing.
The republicans are not blameless for the defeat of the bill. 12 Democrats voted against the needs of the American people to protect their campaign contributions from the banks.
Note to the Republicans. We as Americans are a resilient group and our memory is not short term. We will bookmark this stab in the back by Republicans and their desire to crush the American dream to protect the republican brand, be the party of no new ideas, protect entry into the party by excluding those of different thoughts and vote to derail the properity of all Americans in order to secure campaign contributions from the extreme right. The republicans are on a self destructive path but Americans will not join them. I predict that this victory they are smiling about will be one of the votes that crushes them in 2010.
Claudette Milner is the author of "Unheard Voices" Children of Plains Estates and Children of Plains Estates.
Address to The Village of Louisville held at the Holiday Inn in Louisville, Ky
The Village of Louisville is a community based organizations whose goal is to mentor teens not only through athletics but through educational tutoring and SAT and ACT prep. Last nights benefit included speakers from Health and Education as well as United Way and the Assistant School Superintendent. Most importantly it featured students that had excelled in the program and had gone on to complete a college education.
As I walked to the podium to deliver my address I was humbled to be asked to speak.
On Inauguration day President Obama challenged Americans to a call to service. That call to service included each of us in this room regardless of race, gender, religion, economic status or educational level. He challenged each individual to contribute to their community, to be a mentor, to visit the elderly, and to make a difference in someone’s life. This is the mission of the Village of Louisville, to impact the lives of young adults and to make positive changes in their lives. The mission is admirable but it can only be accomplished through a commitment from its founder Mr. Dewalt, the board members and Volunteers and the students and parents, and the community that participate in the program.
I have taught my children and grand children that each person has a commitment first to God to fulfill his destiny for their lives, to themselves to educate themselves in order to be successful, to their family as a support system and a role model, to their community to unite and to give back, to their race to know their history and help create their destiny. We all wish that we could wake up and have the skills of Michael Jordan or be able to swim like Michael Phelps or invent great things like Alexander Graham Bell but the reality is that all of these men worked diligently educating themselves and developing their crafts. Let me ask you a question. If I gave you a swim suit and sent you to the pool and the pool had no water in it could you swim to the other side?
If I picked two teams and you took to the court but you didn’t have a basketball could you play?
Would you think of going to the basketball court without someone having a ball?
Would you go to a swimming pool without water?
Then why would you go to school unprepared for success. Why would you just not show up to the game.
When a basketball team fails to show up for the game they have to forfeit. The players that don’t show up let the team down and their peers. They set the team up for failure.
When you don’t show up for school you set yourself up for failure. You defeat yourself. The more you miss the less prepared you are until finally you give up on your dreams your goals and yourself.
The average graduation rate in the country is 51%. That means that a minimum of 49% of your peers will not graduate your senior year. It means that 49% of your peers will not be prepared for the 21st century. It means that a minimum of 49% of your peers will be working minimum wage jobs, homeless, undereducated, in prison, or living in a cycle of dependency on welfare.
It used to be that the undereducated of our society could work in manual labor, work in a factory, do blue collar jobs and make a decent living but those jobs are gone. One needs a high school diploma to be a janitor during a recession.
My question to you is what are your dreams? How are you going to accomplish your goals? Are you preparing yourself to meet the challenges of the 21st century or you looking for a short cut to success?
There are no shortcuts. Success takes hard work. Many times it takes working two or three jobs. It means cultivating your skills, It means turning off the television,, limiting the video games, going to the library, separating yourself from the crowd. It means standing alone.
If I believed in statistics I would not spend time traveling across the United States speaking to youth. I believe that our youth have replaced the priority of education with reality television and gang banging. Our parents have given up our children to the streets. Our community and churches would rather praise God every Sunday and ignore the needs of our children Monday – Saturday.
First we as adults must begin to be role models for our children. We must stress education in our home and create an environment for learning. There is no excuse for not attending meetings at school or not checking homework or not making education a priority and when parents are undereducated there must be community organizations that will step in the gap with tutoring and mentorship programs for our youth. Our teachers must step up to the plate and expect excellence from our students instead of mediocrity, our principles and the school board must fire teachers that no longer have an enthusiasm for learning, our principles must create an environment of excitement for learning off the sports fields.
The school board must reorganize its systems and be innovative in teaching our children.
Even if we accomplish these goals the bottom line is that each of you must make a commitment to success by graduating from high school and continuing your education rather it be a junior college or technical college or a four year college. Then you must heed your call to service back in your community through volunteerism, teaching, mentoring, assisting the elderly, making an impact on someone’s life, then you must build your own family stressing educational values and being a strong role model for your children. We all have a destiny within ourselves. God has given all of us gifts and talents. Don’t get it twisted. God did not give Michael Jordan a gift to be a millionaire. If you remember he was not a great player until later in his high school years. He had to work hard to be a super star. God blessed the works of his hands to give himself glory. He blessed him so that he could be a role model, so that he could set up a foundation that would mentor other children. He proved that with hard work each of us can be great. That is our mission to glorify God in our deeds. My mission is to minister to youth. What is your mission?
I challenge you to a call to be a success in fulfilling God’s destiny for your life. I believe in each of you.
02/25/2009
Straight Talk for the Democrats
I am a major supporter of health care and education reform, reeling in Medicare cost and stimulating job creation. What I am against is earmarks in the latest bill approved in the house.
As a conservative Democrat I will do everything in my power to support the President in helping get this country back on track. I am now calling for national outcry against any earmarks in any new legislation. We are tired of politics as usual. Every American has been called on to act responsibly and make personal sacrifices. It must also include all elected officials. Our eyes are watching every dime that is allocated and no matter if you are Democrat or Republican if our money is wasted on earmarks we will act swiftly in 2010.
I am asking Senate Democrats to clean up this bill before it goes to President Obama. The time to act is now but if you fail then this bill must be vetoed if our top priority is rebuilding this country.
02/17/2009
When the Republican Party united to vote No to the Stimulus package they voted NO to helping the American people rebuild this great Country for all Americans instead of the top 1%.
Republicans have clogged up the airways trying to justify to the country why they voted against the stimulus bill. They have wined on every morning and evening talk show that they were not included, that nobody stroked their ego, that they didn’t get to the plan and that it was needless spending. The ironic thing is that they expected the American people to believe that they did what was best for the country.
The Republican Party expects Wall Street and a bank to get it, when they don’t have a clue, other than tax cuts how to tackle the economic problems that this country faces.
Millions of Americans are unemployed or in jeopardy of losing their jobs.
Republican answer: tax cuts.
Millions of the unemployed have no health care: Republican answer: Health insurance is a privilege only for those that are working and can afford it.
Our children are undereducated:
Republican Answer: Let’s give 2% of our children vouchers to go to better schools and the rest will just have to educate them.
The schools need new construction:
Republican answer: As long as the school is still standing a child should be able to learn. We only want to create jobs for the educated and the wealthy not laborers and blue collar workers.
We need better teachers.
Republicans- This is wasteful spending. Quality education is not a priority.
Money for Education Grants: Wasted spending. Only the rich should have the opportunity to go to school.
Money to extend unemployment insurance and food stamps: Let Americans that have no jobs starve and lose their homes. There is no place in the bill to help the homeless and unemployed.
Republicans want tax cuts only and their refusal to support the bill was strictly for political gain.
Americans are hurting and struggling to meet their basic needs. We don’t care about your political strategy to reclaim the majority. The only thing we care about is working together to rebuild this country and if you refuse to ride the train with us in our struggle in 2010 you will be riding the train alone.
02/05/2009
Controversial Author Claudette Milner reveals her thoughts on what Must Be Included in the Stimulus.
While talking with fellow Democrats and Republicans regarding the stimulus package some Democrats were disappointed in my views and thoughts regarding the stimulus package. I am one of many conservative Democrats that were not happy with the original stimulus bill and I counted on the Republicans to help fine tune the bill so that it would include relief for homeowners and corporate tax cuts.
I am also counting on the Democrats to make sure that there are middle class tax cuts, investments in infrastructure, education, and health care while also providing relief to the states so they can stop massive cut backs that are affecting the safety and protection of our states and the livelihood of its citizens.
The most important element of the stimulus package is the creation of jobs, and the re-education of workers that jobs are being eliminated. We have to invest in education so that our children are prepared for the jobs created for the 21 century. We must distribute funds to the state to help with unemployment insurance, food stamps and healthcare because high unemployment combined with lack of housing and food contributes not only to depression and other emotional disorders but the crime rates rise, the drop out rate increases and the number of homeless in America increases while the division between the haves and haves not increases.
We as a community must come to together. Americans have no tolerance for the partisan politics on capital hill. All Americans are hurting, not just the corporations but main street.
The stimulus package must stimulate growth across all economic lines. The Republicans have forgotten we are only as strong as our weakest link.
It is time for all elected officials to stand up and do what is right for all Americans and unless they do it is time to retire them to pasture and rebuild America with elected officials that believe that all Americans are created equal and everyone should be given an equal opportunity.
Pardon me for my thoughts but I believe in an America that can only survive if there is an equal opportunity for all it’s citizens.
01/21/2009
Our Call to Service
I believe that as Americans and children of God that we have a commitment to God first, our family, our community and to our race.
I have tried to instill in my children a call to service since they were young by participating with them on community service projects and kid’s voting. My call to service began when I joined VISTA in 1981.
My assignment was in Topeka, Kansas working with the Battered Women’s Shelter and Legal Aid. My initial training was spent conducting intake with the clients and learning about the cycle of abuse. During my second quarter I traveled throughout NE Kansas speaking to victims of domestic abuse, speaking at schools, and criminal justice officials, sheriffs, judges, and policemen and being on a radio station answering call- in questions regarding domestic violence. My next quarter was spent as a court advocate for victims of domestic violence. My work with these remarkable men and women formulated my philosophy on my commitment to a call to service.
During the years I have started tutorial programs in my church, volunteered with community neighborhood groups and tutored reading and math and yet there is still so much work to do in order to reach our children. We must begin by instilling pride in our children and a thirst for learning. We must spend time with our children reading and going to library programs. We have got to turn off the television to reality TV that serves only to portray an unrealistic view of real life. While 2% of the shows may be family based 97% are denigrating to women and men. They have no positive impact on our community. One would argue that they are simply entertainment. My question would be is there any responsibility to provide quality television for children with the exception of PBS kids, Nickelodeon, and Nick Jr. If the answer is a resounding no then we as parents and grandparents must choose to turn off the television and provide our children with books and computers to open their minds to new adventures and technology that will prepare them for the 21 century.
We as parents, educators, churches, and community groups are failing our children. They are unprepared to meet the challenges of the new millennium. They are unprepared to get a job in a new technological system. Our graduation rates are at best 50%. Several systems graduation rates are as low as 25%. Government can provide structural repair, better teachers and a learning environment but it is up to each of us to begin in our home to insure that our children know the importance of education and service. It does not matter what economic level you are or what race; there is no excuse for complicity. Our children are suffering and it is time for this country to heed this president’s call to service.
Claudette Milner is the author of “Children of Plains Estates”, and “Unheard Voices”: Children of Plains Estates
Website: www.claudettemilner.com
12-30-2008
As the New Year begins I am embarking on a 21 day spiritual fast. What I have realized is that I can live without meat and my drinks of choice coffee and coke. On a more serious level I I have been able to spend quiet time with my creator and receive his will for my life. As America prepares to embrace an African American president I am preparing to complete my next book. Classism, racism, and diversity have always been the theme throughout my storylines but with the third book new territory will be explored. I hope my readers will embrace this new journey as the economy and the instability of the world take center stage.
