2.26.2007

Can You Feel A Brand New Day

Or is it that we really are at the end of days as some religious folk would have us believe. Because if Jesus ascended in both body and spirit to heaven 40 days after resurrection, then whose bones has James Cameron unearthed outside Jerusalem?

Film maker James Cameron, you know the one who made Titanic and my personal favorite, The Terminator, says he along with some others have found the bones of Jesus, his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and their son.

What’s he trying to do, remake The Da Vinci Code as a documentary? If the discovery proves to have any credence at all then what about the Bible and Christianity itself? Is the Bible really a work of fiction? Is Christianity an extremist cult that simply got out of hand? Should we still all be practicing paganism and worshiping the earth?

We will have to wait for the great reveal.

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Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmond cousins...man that makes my day. Put another nail in that coffin filled with present day white denial about what went on during slavery and after.

Present day white denial is based in “I can’t be held responsible for what my ancestors may have done....besides you can’t prove it anyway........”

Well.....”WAY!”....Apparently it can be proven.........there’s an old saying about the “sins of the father being visited upon the son...........you can run, but you can’t hide.

I can just hear the cries for reparations, seeing that there are precedents for paying such here in America.

As for me, you can keep the mule....But I will take my forty acres.

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Congress is set to try and put the genie back into the bottle. The Auguste body will try to revoke Dubya’s permission to go to war that they gave him a few years back.

And while they’re at it, there is a measure to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Seems the army needs more bodies for the surge. This measure has bipartisan support, supposedly.

Darth Cheney has been traveling the world stroking our allies into believing that we’re winning in Iraq and Afghanistan and should stay the course. Darth desperately needs a vacation. Go ahead, Scottie, push the button and beam him up, please.

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The Oscars............man! Was that the worst show in years. The last time it was so boring I stopped watching the broadcast for 20 years. The only reason I tuned in last night was to see if Jennifer Hudson could pull off the trifecta. She did.

I can’t stand Ellen De Generis. I don’t think she’s funny. I don’t like her show. Her fidgeting drives me absolutely nuts.

For me, she is a female Jerry Seinfeld. He is like Woody Allen. I don’t find them funny or even remotely amusing, just boring.

I just don’t see it. Except for that shadow dance troop, the show was an absolute waste of time.

2.22.2007

Equal Pay for Equal Work

Well, it’s about time. The Brits have finally decided to award equal prize money to men and women at Wimbledon this year.

The old boys of All England Tennis have refused for years to give women their just due, saying that men deserved more prize money because they play five sets while the women play just three.

All grand slams are now on the same page, sort of.....The French always seeing things differently only give the male and female champions an equal check. Other women from second place down will still get less than their male counterparts.

Now it’s time to work on Golf. While Tiger Woods is making millions per tournament, the women of the LPGA are left to split maybe a one million dollar kitty. That means the winning check is usually just a couple of hundred thousand dollars instead of multi millions.

And lest we forget the WNBA. Those women must still play overseas in order to supplement what they make in the American league. All this while the men pocket millions, destroy the game and, other than the all star game, don’t offer any real entertainment.

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Question: Why is Congress taking so long to pull the plug on Dubya’s war? Nonbinding resolutions aren’t worth the paper on which they’re written. Why bother?

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Question #2: What is Condi doing in the Palestine? Does she really understand what is going on there?

I usually don’t say stuff about a sister, but man, this child needs some help, fast. “Wake up girlfriend.” This administration is sinking and it’s taking you and your once pristine reputation with it.

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Feeding Frenzy

Good news...James Brown is finally going to be buried.
Bad news...the Anna Nicole reality show goes on. Please bury this woman before she melts on the coroner’s autopsy slab.....Please...take that baby away from Howard Stern....and Please...send her mother home without the body..

Finally...somebody please reprimand this Judge in Florida...talk about an a**hole.

2.14.2007

Hollow Resolution

My city council in Cincinnati,Ohio, has passed a resolution expressing “deep concern” about Dubya’s 21,000 troop surge in Iraq. Now while I applaud them for taking a stand, I just wish they would take a stand a little closer to home.

I mean what about this city’s crime rate? Can’t we take a stand, to hire more police, and to deal with the underlying causes of all the murders, shootings, etc? How about dealing or showing “deep concern” for the black male school drop out rate that is fueling much of this street violence.

How about some “deep concern” for the continuing loss of population. How about the crumbling public school system. How about dealing with the fruitless efforts to draw business back into the downtown without having to bribe them with tax breaks?

How about dealing with all this snow and ice that has paralyzed this city for the past week. It’s too damn cold, nobody is on the streets and we still can’t get plowed, c’mon! The trees are falling down around me because of the ice that fell last night, two of them in my backyard, one of them on my fence. It’s beautiful to look at, but the trees are taking down power lines causing power outages that won’t be fixed until Thursday, says Duke Energy ( I remember CG&E being better than this). The city readily admits it can’t handle ice, the plows that they use are for snow, only. I guess the melting agent is too, go figure?

So why are we all of a sudden talking about Iraq? The war has gone on for awhile now. Why is my council, all of a sudden trying to tell the person that they all probably voted for in the first place ( Ohio did put Dubya back in the White House), how to run this country, when they can’t collectively run a city.

Sure, the money from the surge could be used to help cities, but that’s been the case from the beginning. Why didn’t council stand up and demand some help from this administration before, after it helped put this administration back in office. This administration owes Ohio. Why wasn’t it held accountable before?


Like it or not, the troop surge is going on because “the decider” said so. Congress is currently debating the issue for the next two days, because it wants to look congressional I guess. They could pull the money for the surge. There is a precedent for it. They could even pull the troops out. There is precedent for that too. Reagan backed out of Lebanon after he was dumb enough to think we could end that civil war there and after 200 some marines paid the ultimate price for his folly. Dubya always cites Reagan as his hero. Well he needs to pay attention all of the stuff that Reagan did or didn’t do. Our troops are stuck in the middle of escalating violence in Iraq. We don’t need to be there. But we already know this. The debate has been raging since the last election.

A resolution from the City of Cincinnati’s city council, now, is okay, I guess, but it is little or no comfort when people are still dying on the streets of Cincinnati in record numbers, for the same reasons that have plagued this city for longer than the war has lasted.

2.12.2007

Good Intentions, Bad Law

A small community in Texas wants to ban the “N”-word. Furthermore it wants to charge up to 500-dollars in fines, if you get caught using it. The proposed legislation comes from the Mayor of the hamlet of Brazoria, Texas, with a population of little more than 27-hundred people, 81-percent of them white. Blacks make up a bit more than 10-percent of city residents with Asians and Native Americans filling out the rest of the demographic. A total of 736 families reside inside city limits.

The way it works is citizens who hear someone use the word can then report the usage to police who will come and issue a citation. The offender then appears in court where a judge sets the fine for bad linguistic behavior, which, as I said can run as high as 500-dollars.

Now, while I am on record as being in favor of no longer using the term, I am not in favor of this proposal. The intentions behind the measure are probably very good, but face it, the very people who should be protected by this law, will probably be the very ones cited and fined. Blacks use the term openly, and in many more contexts than whites and others. So if the word is heard in public, it’s probably going to be some black kid walking down the street with his friends.

What makes the word so insidious is the number of whites who use it covertly, in like minded company, when they think blacks aren’t listening. These users, who are probably the targets of the proposed legislation, more than likely, will not be reported. So you have a situation much like the Rockefeller drug laws of the 70's where the very people who were supposed to be protected, end up victimized, arrested and jailed.

Besides, I am against banning words. Say, the N-word gets banned. What’s next, the F-word, or the MF-word, or the J-word or the K-word? It goes on and on. Banning words, banning books, banning television, attempting to legislate behavior, does not work and is in violation of our first amendment rights.

Brazoria’s mayor is not the only legislator thinking along these lines. There is also a “ban the N-word movement” in upstate New York and also in Congress. Reportedly, New York Representative Charles Rangel is contemplating writing national legislation on this subject.

I applaud these folks for trying to do the right thing. Their hearts are in the right place, but this is a very bad use of legislative powers. It’s just bad law and no good will come of it.

2.11.2007

And on the 7th Day, She Rested

Haven’t felt much like writing this past week. I guess, sometimes the brain needs to take a break from creation. Makes me wonder how God did all that stuff in six days. Makes me understand why she rested on the seventh. Throughout my rest, I’ve suffered daily guilt at not putting fingers on keyboard to create. I’ve played solitaire. I’ve done crossword puzzles. I’ve answered tons of email. Just no literary creations, and I’m still not ready, but my angst at not writing, is driving me crazy. So I’m back.

There has been plenty to talk about, this past week, and I have been paying attention, just not enough to engage in my own personal spin on things. Until now that is.

Super Bowl redux
Yeah, I know, the Bears lost. I went with my heart instead of my head. I know Peyton is the best quarterback, but the last time Chicago was in the big game, it won without having a real quarterback. Anybody remember Jimmy Mac for anything other than his headbands and clashes with the commissioner? I rest my case. Grossman had as good a chance as any to win. He will be a good QB someday.

Besides Prince and half time was the real drawing card this year. But I’m wondering why the musical midget’s massive phallic display, which went on for several minutes, escaped notice? Janet flashed a nipple for a couple of seconds, you had to tivo and rerun it to see it...and she causes an uproar that is still reverberating.

Why is penis display okay while an accidental female nipple reveal is not?

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Anna Nicole
Her sudden death wasn’t really a surprise, and I can’t really say that I am stunned by the massive media coverage. I make the distinction between media and news because it’s no longer news coverage. The news died when Walter Kronkite retired several years ago. We are in an age of celebrity for the sake of celebrity. People make the news now a days for simply being famous, no accomplishment or talent necessary. For several years now we have been in the age of infotainment or a blending of information (real or made up), gossip and news.

One of the TV stations in my town has the slogan “where the news comes first.”.....Then it opened it’s newscast with the death of Anna Nicole. The next day it led with 100 year old Prince what’s his name, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s apparently senile husband, claiming paternity of the dead woman’s five month old baby.

Meantime, 30 people died in yet another bombing in Iraq, another black hawk was shot down, and our president continues to try to steer us into a war with Iran.

There was a poll of high school students published a couple of weeks ago in the Washington Post. It said that most kids want to be famous and rich, in that order. Used to be that kids wanted to pursue a career, like fireman, policeman, teacher, lawyer, doctor. Kids wanted to grow up and help others, first. Don’t get me wrong, everyone wants to make a lot of money, but today no one hides the greed or the desire for material stuff.

Makes me understand why we’re in an age of humiliation television. This world abounds with people willing to do anything for 15 minutes of fame no matter what the cost to their psyche and dignity. Even the money has become secondary to that fleeting 15 minutes of spotlight. I think that I am most bothered by the huge audience for these pseudo reality shows. Millions of people tune in to watch daily, as people degrade and humiliate themselves in the quest for celebrity. As a people, we haven’t progressed very far from the romans watching their caesar feed Christians to the lions in some amphitheater.

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ET’s Back
That astronaut lady really is a rocket scientist, albeit a very confused one, at the moment. I can understand tossing the wig and the weapons after the botched attack on the other woman...but 600-dollars? Why throw away the money? Didn’t she need it to fund her escape?
I really think it’s time for one of those alien autopsies for real, to determine what came back from space inside Astronaut Nowak.

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Wow! It’s Black History Month.....did anyone notice?

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Not A Homo!
Man! After three weeks of intensive prayer therapy, the Reverend Ted Haggard is really, really, really, really, really, really, heterosexual. He said so.....again as he skips gaily off into the sunset hand in hand with his heavily in denial wife, as they pursue joint degrees in psychology at some closeted Midwestern university.

Careful Rev. Ted...gay boys are everywhere, even in the Midwest...think Brokeback Mountain... you don’t have to be in Kansas to find friends of Dorothy...but then, you probably already know that.

2.04.2007

Sunday Morning Tidbits

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, so not much else is going on in my brain this day. I’m a Bears fan who plans on attending a Colts party this afternoon, should be interesting.

I predict: Bears 24-17 over Peyton Manning’s Colts...and I like the Colts, actually. Just not today.

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Did you know that 87% of respondents to an MSNBC poll say Dubya should be impeached? More than 418,856 people responded to the poll.

As I’ve said before, ITMFA!

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Poor Mary Cheney. She’s written an article defending her right to have a baby with wife Heather and she wants us to leave her alone, because her baby is not a political tool for either the right or the left in this country.

Mary can’t help it...she is the neocons’ version of Paris Hilton......Mary and Paris have a lot in common...They apparently think their blondness, their richness, their whiteness, their name allows them to do anything they want without criticism, repudiation, or justification.

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Did you know that Congress passed a bill in 2005 mandating that everyone have a national driver’s license by 2008? It’s called REAL ID and is supposed to combat terrorism and keep illegals from faking identification in order to stay in this country. After 2008 all state motor vehicles departments will be linked, so information can be called up anywhere. In 2008, if you don’t have a REAL ID, you won’t be able to board a plane or open a bank account...It’s the law folks....unless Congress acts...

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Global Warming....”we has seen the enemy and it is us”....according to a report issued this past week by some expert scientists.

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Hillary wants to nationalize Exxon Oil’s record breaking profits from last year....Love me some Hillary, but that’s a bit too socialistic for me....Despite the inequities of capitalism...I’m still
more afraid of big government/ big brother in my life....

Now...can we get back to this war thing? When is Congress going to pull the plug on this? There is precedent for it, why all the foot dragging?

Even Ronald Reagan changed his mind and did a military about face...remember Lebanon?

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Daylight savings time comes three weeks early this year....on March 11th...It will end one week later on November 1st......Congress made it so, a couple of years ago....supposed to save us money on gas, light bulbs, since we will be outside in the daylight, and give the kids more time to collect candy on Halloween.....

Critics (where were they when this thing was just proposed legislation) liken this to a mini Y2K. All kinds of computers and schedules may be interrupted and confused by the new law. Check your computer....you may have to manually set yours to daylight savings time this year, depending on how old your ‘puter is.

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Why is anyone paying attention to Joe Biden? His bid for the presidency was dead on arrival when he declared. Does anyone outside his state or us political junkies even know who this dude is...or cares what he says?

Please!