by Dexter Harper

This post is for my Subway folks on Tascosa Road. Two thumbs up on the experience yesterday.

[22 words]

Now Available at

Super Dollar Outlet

501 N. Hughes

Does god test us?

I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Jeremiah 17:10

God doesn’t preserve believers from difficult circumstances, but he test the both the righteous and the wicked. For some God’s test become a refining fire, while for others they become an incinerator for destruction.

Don’t ignore or defy the test and challenges that come your way. Use them as a opportunities for you to grow closer to the Father.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:6

$2000 fee for cashing an IRS refund check??
by L. Arthalia Cravin

Last week I was talking with someone about a money management program being offered to individuals by a local community center. During the conversation an example of poor money management was given of someone in Amarillo who paid a Mr. Payroll $2000 to cash an IRS refund check. WHAT?? was my response. So the person repeated the story– that he and several other people were standing in line at a local Mr. Payroll, when, not only he but several other people overheard a conversation between a Mr. Payroll teller and a customer about the $2000 fee for cashing the IRS refund check. What these people claim to have overheard was the customer telling the Mr. Payroll cashier something to the effect—after paying then $2000 fee to cash the check, “I should have taken the check to my bank.” Some things sound so outrageous that there is no way they could have happened.

Because this incident has been nagging me for the past week, I decided to call three Mr. Payrolls (in Amarillo) and inquire about their fees for cashing an IRS refund check. The first Mr. Payroll told me that there was a flat 2% fee to cash my phantom check for $4780. That would amount to $95.60 to cash the check. I decided to vary the amount and try another Mr. Payroll. This time my check was for $480. I was told that there was a flat 1% to cash government checks—a fee of $48. I tried a third Mr. Payroll and was told that the fee for my phantom $4780 check would be $48 or a flat 1 percent. So, if in fact someone in Amarillo paid a Mr. Payroll a $2000 check cashing fee to cash an IRS refund check, the face amount of the check would have been either $200,000, to generate a $2000 check cashing fee at 1 percent fee, or $100,000 at a 2 percent fee. Let me just say this, “I don’t think so! I do not believe that any Mr. Payroll (in Amarillo or elsewhere) has that kind of cash lying around. Besides, what person in their right mind would stand in line in a public place, with a whole slew of people within earshot of the transaction, and have a cashier count out 200 one thousand dollar bills, or 400 five hundred dollar bills, or 2000 one hundred dollar bills? In these tough times with folks robbing stores for $50 who would dare walk out of any establishment with either $100,000 or $200, 000 in cash?

Read more »

Happy Birthday Dallas Eaves

Another case of well-intentioned thinking has gone wrong yet again, with NBC being the latest culprit. The drama began yesterday when The Roots drummer Questlove posted a picture on Twitter of the NBC cafeteria’s “Black History Month” menu, which included white rice with black eyed peas and collard greens. But what everyone is really upset over is the fried chicken.

After the photo was posted, a racial brouhaha ensued all over Twitter with some calling for a protest of NBC. Of course, NBC immediately took down the menu - although it continued to serve the food - and sent an apology via Twitter.

It should be mentioned that the menu was put together by Leslie Calhoun, a black chef in the cafeteria, who told theGrio that she’s been seeking approval to have such a menu for years, and was told last year that she could create the menu every Thursday during February.

The NBC commissary is not the first establish to touch on this racial faux pas; just a couple of weeks ago the Denver public school system got into the some trouble for creating a similar lunch menu for its students in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday.

Apparently, many food establishments around the country have adapted fried chicken as the staple of their Black History Month celebrations. While many African-Americans with Southern roots enjoy fried chicken, going back to the days of slavery, the opposition to these menus are coming from the fact that there is still a racial stereotype that all black people eat fried chicken, as not all Southern blacks eat fried chicken. Nonetheless, based on longstanding historical and pop culture imagery, many of these stereotypes have sustained themselves.

The long history of chicken and blacks goes back to slavery, when slave owners gave their slaves left over meats that were deemed unsuitable for the master’s dinner table. At the turn of the last century, inventor Thomas Edison made silent films, showing white actors in blackface who steal chickens out of their coops and celebrate their spoils while dancing and eating watermelons. Those images and the many other films leading up to the civil rights movement have been permanently marked in our society, leading to the association that blacks who eat fried chicken are less than intelligent and not worthy of better foods.

Read More … Can fried chicken just be fried chicken?

Carter Chapel Primitive Baptist Church
by Dexter Harper

Carter Chapel Primitive Baptist Church celebrated their 41st church anniversary on Sunday evening. Their theme ‘Feed the Church Of God’ was taken from the book of Acts.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Acts 20:28

Elder Tom Jones of Langston Memorial C.O.G.I.C. delivered God’s message.

Guest churches were Greater Mount Olive Baptist, New Covenant Missionary Baptist, Church of the Living God C.W.F.F., Holy Trinity C.O.G.I.C., New Zion Primitive Baptist - Borger, New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist, Langston Memorial C.O.G.I.C., Greater Love Temple, Mount Zion Baptist, New Zion Primitive Baptist, Shiloh Cathedral of Praise, Northside Church of Christ, Tempe of Praise, Emmanuel Church of Amarillo, Jenkins Chapel Missionary Baptist, Carter Chapel C.M.E., New Birth Fellowship, Emmanuel Temple C.O.G.I.C., Johnson Chapel A.M.E., Mount Olive Missionary Baptist, New Hope Baptist Church and St. John Baptist Church.

Agreeing with Rush Limbaugh—“The SAP” and the New Politics of Resentment
by L. Arthalia Cravin

I never thought that I would ever agree with Rush Limbaugh on anything, but we have found common ground on one thing—and that is calling a “retard” a “freakin’ retard” when the situation warrants.

If you have been following the news lately you know that Sarah Palin, who from now on I will refer to using combo-name initials “SAP.” I have added the title “The” because, according to a recent Dr. Phil Show, the use of the word “The” to refer to a person will gain popularity this year, as in how Donald Trump was called “The Donald.” The “the” was placed before his name because of his self-centered, egotistical arrogance. It fits Palin precisely. And so from now on I will refer to her by combo-name initials, along with the word “The.”

As you know, The SAP was bothered recently by Rahm Emanual’s use of the term, “retarded” to refer to disabled children. The SAP said it was politically incorrect or some such self-aggrandizing, stay in the public eye, purely politically, and self-promotional reason. Anyway, I think Rahm Emanual issued some kind of apology similar to Harry Reid after he used terms about “light-skinned Negroes.” Well, not too much later, Rush Limbaugh went on a tirade on his radio show and called Democrats a bunch of “freakin’ retards.” The press waited with bated breath to see if The SAP would call Limbaugh’s coattail for his use of the term “retard.” Well, The SAP knows who is buttering her current slice of old-stale bread, so she by-passed a chance to at least show one drop of intellectual honesty. But this is understandable coming from The SAP because one has to have some intellect to have intellectual honesty.

Read more »

Opening Doors for Small Business
by The White House

Reiterating once again his commitment to small business as the engine of our economy, the President urges Congress to move forward immediately on steps to help them expand and create jobs. These proposals include using $30 billion in TARP funds to create a new Small Business Lending Fund to provide capital to community banks to increase lending to small businesses, offering a new tax credit for over one million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages, and providing targeted support for the most innovative small businesses with the potential to export new goods and products.

Watch the address below: