July 5, 2000
Page A 4
— (The ^LÌnrtlanò (Dhseruer
Articles do not
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“The Manhood Line”
Bv M ike R amey
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USPS 959-680
E s ta b lis h e d
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STAFF
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Charles H. Washington
E d
i T o R
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
B
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M
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Gary Ann Taylor
C
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d it o r
Joy Ramos
C
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D
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Shawn Strahan
4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King,
Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1
503-288-0033
Fax 503-2 88 -0 0 15
Teen Males And Dirty Little Secrets
Recently, I took my wife Adele to dinner, a modest
celebration o f a victory in our lives that had been
accomplished by the power o f Jesus Christ. As we took
an inventory o f the activities o f some o f our friends and
their families, I learned that a high school student that we
both knew had recently gone through one o f those
‘spend a few days caring for a mock baby’ type o f
exercises put on by a local m en’s organization.
The exercise addressed the wrong end o f the problem, in
my opinion. Yes, this young man learned how to care for
‘baby’. He had to change it when it cried, carry it with him
at all times, and made sure that ‘baby’ was taken care of-
even in the middle o f the night. At the end o f several days,
when the young man had to turn ‘baby’ back in, he
learned the ‘lesson’ o f not producing offspring out of
wedlock— half-vowing not to engage in such behavior.
Now, had I not previously served as a veteran substitute
teacher in middle and high schools, meeting teenagers in
person, I would have accepted the ‘exercise’ as a well-
thought out plan. However, having personally observed
the ‘raging hormones’ o f teenagers in the school setting,
the mock baby idea could never go far enough. Thus, I laid
out my own lesson for teaching young men about the
responsibilities o f out-of-wedlock births that would scare
a lot o f them out o f sexual promiscuity. I called it: “The
Ramey Anti-Teen Pregnancy Plan”.
Our courts already call it: ‘Child Support’.
America’s Several Dirty Little Secrets:
Brothers, you and 1 both know that teaching a young man
how to care for a mock ‘baby’ is not going to make a
measurable difference in the number o f out-of-wedlock
births among teenage girls (at last count, about a million
o f them a year, if you believe the statistics). It ignores
several ‘dirty little secrets’ which exist in America at the
present time.
One o f these ‘secrets’: once a teenage girl becomes
pregnant, the boy responsible does not run to her side,
but runs away from her. Thus, the girl (and her parents)
often shoulder the responsibility for prenatal and postnatal
care o f the child— that is, unless an abortion is sought to
kill the evidence.
Another o f the these ‘secrets’: many o f today’s young
women are sexually aggressive, thanks to a combination
o f rap music, declining morals, and the feminist movement.
Ask the parents o f teenage boys how their phones ring
at all hours o f the day and night with calls to their sons,
from female classmates— some as young as 13 or 14 years
old. Factor in the number one unofficial sport among
middle and high school girls... ‘ having a boy, at any cost ’.
Add to the mix the fact that more older, female teachers
are actively trying to seduce our young men.
But, my brothers, it’s the last ‘secret’ that is going to
break the back o f teen pregnancies. It is called; “Child
Support”. Simply stated, once a court has ordered a
paternity test o f all parties involved in an out-of-wedlock
birth, the father is held to be financially responsible, and
has to pay his respective state child support system X
number o f dollars per week for the care and feeding o f his
child, or children for the next 18 to 20 years.
A System Within A System:
The courts, when it comes to Child Support, do not operate
on excess, pity, or compassion. Not only is it federal and
state law, it’s multi-billion dollar, yearly business. If the
listed father o f the Child (or, mother in some cases) do not
pay their Child Support, penalties range from jail time, to
lossofdriver’s licenses, professional licenses, andphysical
assets.
That’s why it is the cornerstone o f my Anti-Teen Pregnancy
Initiative.
Nutshell OfThe Ramey Plan:
S ince this is a class project, it is going to require coordination
between a school, a local Child Support court, the local
prosecutors and public defenders offices, ten teenage girls
and ten teenage boys. It should run about four weeks, but
will do more to teach about actions having consequences
than a hundred ‘mock babies’.
♦In week one, the Health Teacher should pair off males/
females as couples, and issue each a softball. Next, have an
official in from one o f the local agencies to explain the Child
Support system. The twenty students then need to do a
paper on the system for class credit, taking care to look at
both the federal and state application o f the Child Support
law. Each o f the male students should be given a ‘salary’
envelope, containing $500 worth ofplay money to represent
a weekly income.
* In week two, the student should take a field trip to the local
Child Support Court and observe how it operates, ifpossible.
Next, the boys should be on one side o f the courtroom,
represented by a public defender, and the girls should be
on the other, represented by the prosecutor’s office. In
advance, each student should be given a copy o f the child
support guidelines, visitation guidelines, and a copy ofthe
law.
♦In weeks three and four, not only is a share o f the ‘salary’
to be paid to the teacher, but, back Child Support amounts
have to be paid as well, from the previous envelopes. The
males can be hit with ‘extra” expenses (via a type o f game
piece card) o f having to fork over extra money from their
‘salary” to help the ‘mother” pay for extra child care
expenses, etc. also, the males get to have ‘visitation” set
by their court. If it is violated, the females get ‘ja il’ time. If
the males don’t pay their support on time, they too, face
‘jail’ time.
About the softballs. Boys and girls can each place a sticker
on them called ‘Child Support’. They each have to carry the
ball with them for the entire time period no matter where they
go. Each time they meet, they must put a ‘sticker’ on each
ball to serve as ‘visitation’ or ‘payment”.
Scared Morally And Financially Straight:
Through this four week exercise, young men will get a wake­
up call. In my view, they will have demonstrated for them-
up close and personal— that fifteen minutes in the backseat
will call for some 18 to 20 years worth o f payments, and
judges who w on’t accept excuses nor plea bargains.
Brothers, I can sum up my message for our young men: it
is a mark o f manhood and a respect for womanhood to wait
until marriage to exercise sexual intimacy. Y our future wife
will shout ‘Am en’ to the heavens— if you wait!
According to The BookOfGenesis, before Adam exercised
sexual intimacy with Eve, he had the Lord, ajob, and a home
in that order! This formula is the real deal— and still works!
Want ‘The Ramey Plan’ for your community? The mailbag
is always open. Drop a letter to “The Manhood Line”, care
ofMike Ramey, PO Box 20131, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46220
Old Glory represents
America's values
B y P a i rick B rady
for T he P ortland O bserver
On the Fourth o f July we celebrate our birthday, a colorful and exciting
event, but the true beauty o f our Declaration o f Independence that marks
the day is that it led to our Constitution. In between these two events,
George Washington helped adopt our flag, the symbol for a new nation,
our trademark, the glue that united 13 very diverse and independent
colonies. It was this triumvirate that gave mankind true freedom, the very
source o f our dignity as humans.
All military people, those who pay the price for our freedom, take an oath
to protect and defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and
domestic. And every day millions o f civilians take that same oath when
they pledge allegiance to the flag. Although we take the oath and the
pledge in the presence o f Old Glory, it is the Constitution that is in our
hearts.
We have all seen our share o f foreign enemies to our Constitution -
Communists, Nazis, and Fascist Dictators who are now pretty much
vanquished to the slime pit ofhistory. There will always be foreign enemies
to our Constitution, but those we can handle. The real threat to our
Constitution today, however, is domestic.
Today’s enemies to our Constitution are not armed with guns and tanks.
They don’twearcamouflaged fatigues and bunker in the jungle. They wear
black robes and expensive suits. Their bunkers are courtrooms, classroom,
cloakrooms and news rooms. Their missiles are law suits, legal dictates and
media misinformation. Their casualties are parents, children, teachers and
apathetic Americans struggling to do what is right and busy earning a
living.
We see our Constitution assaulted almost daily by those who were
trained on the playing fields o f the elite, most o f whom have never seen a
battlefield. Their battle cry is that toleration for offensive and evil conduct
is essential to freedom, that pornography is protected speech but prayer
is not. They are masters o f psychological warfare. They know if they can
change the language, they can change ourminds. They rant and rave about
civil liberties and never mention civil responsibilities. Their armor is a
distorted First Amendment. Their target is the Constitution. They are the
founding fathers who created it.
The enemy these elite fear most is an informed, alert, active populace. A
victory for an amendment, which would return to the people the right to
protect their flag, would be a devastating defeat for the elite. It would
change the battlefield from courtrooms to living rooms and start a slippery
slope that could return the Constitution to the people.
Justice Hugo Black said, “Our Constitution was not written in the sand
to be washed away by each successive wave o f new judges blown in by
each successive political wind”. He also said: “It passes my belief that any
thing in the Federal Constitution bars... making the deliberate burning o f
the American flag an offense”. The author o f the First amendment, James
Madison, denounced flag burning as a crime and so did Thomas Jefferson
whose great document we celebrate on the fourth.
The flags we pledge to will wear out and be replenished, but our
Constitution is ageless and must never be replaced. The great patriots we
honor on the Fourth participated in the defeat o f all the foreign enemies o f
our Constitution in this century. It is comforting to know that such warriors
are joined in the battle to recapture Old Glory. They know it is not a battle
over a colored cloth, it is an affirmation o f their oath as soldiers, and pledge
as civilians, to protect and defend the Constitution from all its enemies
foreign and, tragically, domestic.
Patrick Brady is Chairman ofthe Citizens Flag Alliance, a retiredU.S. Army
Major General and recipient o f America’s highest military combat award,
the Medal o f Honor.
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