Following the Foot Prints of LEGEND

A Sons Words

We’ve gleaned so much from Dr. Maya Angelou. She’s been a mentor, mother and guardian angel to the world. But we often forget that she has her own family. At the age of 16, Angelou, born Marguerite Ann Johnson, gave birth to her pride and joy, son Guy Johnson.

During an interview on OWN, Johnson tells Oprah, “I grew up in her light. Sometimes I wasn’t worthy of it, but it has always been an experience that expanded me.

“She thinks that the divine hand is in all things,” he adds. “She has faith that’s like a rock — you can stand on it. She speaks to our humanity and she reminds us that we are both brother and sister to the rest of the human race.

“Keep on speaking, Ma,” Johnson says. “We need the lessons, the beautiful poems, books, movies, dances, celebrations and love.”

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Johnson, who completed college in Egypt, is also a writer and poet. After graduation, he managed a bar on Spain’s Costa del Sol, ran a photo-safari service from London through Morocco and Algeria to the Spanish Sahara, and worked on the oil rigs in Kuwait, according to his Random House bio.

Some of his poetry can be found in the anthology of black male poets titled My Brother’s Keeper. Johnson is married, has a son and is a resident of Oakland, California.

-Will T Barlow

From Obama with Care

Working Families are suffering.... 

Middle class families are dealing with lost wages due to the Obamacare guidelines. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) says the House will soon consider legislation aimed at eliminating incentives in ObamaCare that lead people to work just 30 hours a week.

In an op-ed published Thursday on National Review Online, Cantor said ObamaCare's definition of full-time work as working just 30 hours a week is an incentive for people to work less and should be repealed.

"We will confront head-on the policies of the Obama administration that punish work, such as the 29-hour-work-week provision in ObamaCare that is cutting hourly workers’​ wages by as much 25 percent," he wrote.

Under the healthcare law, companies are required to offer health plans to workers if they have 50 or more full-time employees. "Full-time" is defined under the law as anyone working 30 or more hours a week.

Republicans have said this creates an incentive for companies to only let people work 29 hours a week or less, in order to have fewer than 50 full time workers.

Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee marked up legislation that repeals ObamaCare's definition of full-time work. The Save American Workers (SAW) Act, H.R. 2575, was approved by the committee in a 23-14 vote — no Democrats supported the bill, but committee passage could set it up for floor consideration in the coming weeks.

"This law is hurting Americans' ability to find a job and earn a good paycheck, making it harder for Americans to afford their homes, pay tuition, or simply have enough money for groceries," Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said of ObamaCare on Feb. 4. "Repealing the 30-hour rule is a necessary step to get Americans working again, and the two parties must come together to ensure that we remove this barrier to job growth and wage increases."

Cantor, who has been charged with putting together a GOP alternative to the healthcare law that leaders have said will get a vote this year, also reiterated Republican plans to propose an alternative to ObamaCare that focus on "patient-centered care, while reducing costs through increased competition, improving outcomes, and expanding choices and coverage."

He also called for Senate passage of a House bill to reform federal job training programs, and another bill to increase school choice.

The problems that Americans are facing is lost wages and hurting the middle class families that are trying to keep food on their tables. So is Obama really okay, the right to choose what's best for your family should not be determined by government leaders. 

Author Dondre Everwood