Leave it to the General to get involved with the right cause again.

You know, its a little discouraging for us to have a person in this town who always tries to do the right thing and is ignored for all his hard work. Yes, I am talking about General Parker, the man who has recently been an advocate for Father's Rights and is now fighting to let Banks know that constant foreclosures are part of the problem that is ruining our economy.

JP MORGAN PROTEST - Read all about it

General Parker is ignored because, once upon a time when he was a stupid kid (weren't we all) he did something really stupid (didn't we all) and got caught. Now that is the important part to remember, because not all of us got caught. But we all did stupid things.

You know, a lot of us go to church and like to pray about redemption. As a matter of fact, redemption is the major theme of Christianity. Without Christ, we cannot be redeemed, and yet with Christ, everyone is redeemed. But not, it appears, in the eyes of his brothers here on Earth.

General Parker is out there standing up for causes. Perhaps it is time we looked past the stupid part, and started paying attention to the righteous part. Seems to me, judging by his actions lately, we are missing the opportunity to learn a lot about redemption and the direction it can take a man.

Go get 'em, General.

Labor Rally at the Courthouse

I had the privilege of attending the Labor Rally at the Peoria County Courthouse yesterday afternoon with Matthew Woodmancy, a local man who is running for the U. S. Congress in 2012. Randy Stevens was the organizer of the event, and I have to say the man is a very accomplished speaker who knows how to rally a crowd. Between 200 and 300 union brothers and sisters were there, braving the elements and standing shoulder to shoulder to support the cause of fighting against the movements lately to diminish the rights of labor to collective bargaining and fair wages.

There were representatives of AFSCME, Teamsters, AFL-CIO, Boilermakers, and several others who spoke to several incidents for Mine Workers and truckers who are undergoing attacks by management, and our Peoria NAACP was also there to pledge their support for the cause. One of the main themes was the Rally in Chicago this weekend. It seems there are still several seats on the bus if you want to attend. Contact Randy Stevens through his Facebook page and let him know.

The most impressive part of the rally for me was the powerful message from several of the local speakers: VOTE! I guess it is the poor turnout from the April 5th election that has this topic on everyone's lips, but it should be there all the time.

We always have suggestions about how to improve our society and our schools. How about this one? How about we start teaching our children (by example) that it is their right and their responsibility to VOTE! How about we start teaching our children that they matter, that they have a voice in our society, in our community, no matter who they are, no matter what they do, no matter what name they call God, no matter who they love. How about we Take Back Peoria with our VOTE!