Oklahoma GOP politician...fake Christian...bigot...racist...homophobic....Sally Kern...is in the news today. I usually don’t bother writing about these people because they do enough damage to themselves, just by opening their mouths...
However, today is an exception to my rule ....Kern has authored a proclamation on morality, that the Oklahoma legislature is actually going to consider.
According to this woman, Americaonly has a few years of existence left because President Obama has embraced the devil and is leading us to hell. She didn’t come out and call him the Anti Christ...that would be just too crazy...but she implied it..
I’m going to let the proclamation speak for itself.
You can read it here....
It seems the homophobic Mrs Kern also gave birth to a gay son, who is something of a hell raiser in his own right...Maybe he’s acting out at mommy....And maybe she’s taking her self perceived shortcomings out on the rest of us....
I don't know...
But anyway, she keeps trying to erase him from her biography....
Check it out here..
Kern is one of the GOP who apparently still takes their lead from that walking waste of oxygen named Rush...who was trying last week to blame Obama for Mark Sanford’s metamorphosis into the luv-guv...
Sanford, by the way, today admitted to several other affairs....but he claims he didn’t have sex with them.. And he apparently thinks that’s okay and does not constitute adultery or harm the sanctity of his very heterosexual marriage....
6.28.2009
Northern Kentucky Native Pens First Novel
When author Paul G. Bens, Jr., was growing up in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, he always knew that one day he wanted to be a novelist, but like all young boys he also wanted to be a policeman, a fireman, an astronaut and a paleontologist.
Well, some 40 years later, Bens has come full circle, with his first novel, "Kelland," being released on September 1, 2009, by the cutting edge small press, Casperian Books. "It took me a while," said Bens, who since relocating to Los Angeles in 1986 has worked as a bartender, casting director, film producer, and paralegal. "But I finally got around to being what I always thought I would be…a writer."
Bens began exploring his suppressed literary bent in 1999, churning out short stories and, shortly thereafter, he found himself published is markets as diverse as the groundbreaking Cemetery Dance Magazine and the award-winning e-zine, Outsider Ink. "I was very lucky," Bens remembers, "that I found editors who liked my slightly dark and twisted view of the world."
But all of that, Bens said, was practice for "Kelland," his very first novel-length work. Combining elements of horror and mystery with current events, Kelland centers on four unique story lines: two brothers from Viet Nam who relocate to Kentucky, a little boy, and a mother reeling from a recent tragedy in her life. Each of them meets Kelland, an enigmatic stranger with the power to expose all the secrets of their lives, and the common thread tying all the divergent stories together.
So, is "Kelland" as "dark and twisted" as his short stories? "Somewhat," Bens admits. "It is a story about truth and lies and the horrors that emerge when those two opposites collide. It can be very, very dark and it deals with serious subject matter, but in the end it is a story about relationships and love and a redemption of a sort." Is Bens going to give away any more of the story? "Nope," he laughs.
"Part of the mystery is unearthing who each of the characters in "Kelland" are and how they are connected."Bens, who graduated from the Covington Latin School and Thomas More College, is hopeful that the novel will speak to people and he seems to be on the right track.
Award-winning novelist Noel Alumit has praised Kelland as "an engaging read with characters that simply won't let go of you," and Bens is extremely flattered by that blurb. "From a writer I admire, that's the highest praise. It may have taken me a long time to get from small boy in Kentucky to published author, but I'm finally feeling that I'm in the right place."
Readers can find out for themselves all the mysteries of "Kelland" on September 1, 2009, when Casperian Books releases the novel in trade paperback format across the U.S. and Canada.
*****About Kelland: When the Truth Is All That MattersThe truth begins with a family evacuated from Saigon during the final days of the Việt Nam War. Or perhaps it begins later, with a devoutly Catholic child with the voice of an angel who is troubled by visions both sacred and profane.
Or perhaps later still, with a couple drifting apart following a tragedy.Kelland appears to them all in the guise of a small boy, a lover, a priest...Kelland is an enigma, a puzzle, and an almost imperceptible presence. Kelland is violence, sorrow and joy. Kelland is the common thread tying five disparate strangers together. http://www.whoiskelland.com/
****About Casperian Books: Based in Sacramento, California, Casperian Books is a limited liability company dedicated to publishing quality literary and genre fiction that the mainstream publishing houses often overlook. http://www.casperianbooks.com/
****About Paul G. Bens, Jr.: Born in the Commonwealth of Kentucky far too many years ago to be honest about, Paul G. Bens, Jr., has spent the majority of his adult life in the entertainment industry. As a Casting Associate, Bens worked for three years on the NBC hit series Night Court, as well as the short-lived series Walter & Emily, Good & Evil and Room for Two.
As a film and television Casting Director he was responsible for the principal casting of numerous low-budget features, as well as the television series Ned & Stacey, Malcolm & Eddie, Likely Suspects and Murder in Small Town X. Outside of casting, Bens has been many things: a film producer, a file clerk, an altar boy, a bartender, a boy scout and, for a second-and-a-half, an actor. Currently, he works in the new media division of an historic Hollywood film studio and lives in the Los Angeles area with his boyfriend. http://www.paulbens.com/
Well, some 40 years later, Bens has come full circle, with his first novel, "Kelland," being released on September 1, 2009, by the cutting edge small press, Casperian Books. "It took me a while," said Bens, who since relocating to Los Angeles in 1986 has worked as a bartender, casting director, film producer, and paralegal. "But I finally got around to being what I always thought I would be…a writer."
Bens began exploring his suppressed literary bent in 1999, churning out short stories and, shortly thereafter, he found himself published is markets as diverse as the groundbreaking Cemetery Dance Magazine and the award-winning e-zine, Outsider Ink. "I was very lucky," Bens remembers, "that I found editors who liked my slightly dark and twisted view of the world."
But all of that, Bens said, was practice for "Kelland," his very first novel-length work. Combining elements of horror and mystery with current events, Kelland centers on four unique story lines: two brothers from Viet Nam who relocate to Kentucky, a little boy, and a mother reeling from a recent tragedy in her life. Each of them meets Kelland, an enigmatic stranger with the power to expose all the secrets of their lives, and the common thread tying all the divergent stories together.
So, is "Kelland" as "dark and twisted" as his short stories? "Somewhat," Bens admits. "It is a story about truth and lies and the horrors that emerge when those two opposites collide. It can be very, very dark and it deals with serious subject matter, but in the end it is a story about relationships and love and a redemption of a sort." Is Bens going to give away any more of the story? "Nope," he laughs.
"Part of the mystery is unearthing who each of the characters in "Kelland" are and how they are connected."Bens, who graduated from the Covington Latin School and Thomas More College, is hopeful that the novel will speak to people and he seems to be on the right track.
Award-winning novelist Noel Alumit has praised Kelland as "an engaging read with characters that simply won't let go of you," and Bens is extremely flattered by that blurb. "From a writer I admire, that's the highest praise. It may have taken me a long time to get from small boy in Kentucky to published author, but I'm finally feeling that I'm in the right place."
Readers can find out for themselves all the mysteries of "Kelland" on September 1, 2009, when Casperian Books releases the novel in trade paperback format across the U.S. and Canada.
*****About Kelland: When the Truth Is All That MattersThe truth begins with a family evacuated from Saigon during the final days of the Việt Nam War. Or perhaps it begins later, with a devoutly Catholic child with the voice of an angel who is troubled by visions both sacred and profane.
Or perhaps later still, with a couple drifting apart following a tragedy.Kelland appears to them all in the guise of a small boy, a lover, a priest...Kelland is an enigma, a puzzle, and an almost imperceptible presence. Kelland is violence, sorrow and joy. Kelland is the common thread tying five disparate strangers together. http://www.whoiskelland.com/
****About Casperian Books: Based in Sacramento, California, Casperian Books is a limited liability company dedicated to publishing quality literary and genre fiction that the mainstream publishing houses often overlook. http://www.casperianbooks.com/
****About Paul G. Bens, Jr.: Born in the Commonwealth of Kentucky far too many years ago to be honest about, Paul G. Bens, Jr., has spent the majority of his adult life in the entertainment industry. As a Casting Associate, Bens worked for three years on the NBC hit series Night Court, as well as the short-lived series Walter & Emily, Good & Evil and Room for Two.
As a film and television Casting Director he was responsible for the principal casting of numerous low-budget features, as well as the television series Ned & Stacey, Malcolm & Eddie, Likely Suspects and Murder in Small Town X. Outside of casting, Bens has been many things: a film producer, a file clerk, an altar boy, a bartender, a boy scout and, for a second-and-a-half, an actor. Currently, he works in the new media division of an historic Hollywood film studio and lives in the Los Angeles area with his boyfriend. http://www.paulbens.com/
Death-Bringing Out the Worst
Vultures pickin' at the bones of Michael Jackson
Suddenly, anybody who merely stood in his shadow, handed him a menu, watched him board a plane, passed him on the street, lived 20 doors down and thirty blocks away...is a media anointed expert on Michael Jackson....
Jackson very publicly distanced himself from his family...his father in particular...yet here’s Joe demanding a second autopsy to get some answers about "his boy."
"His boy" was a 50 year old man...
Rev, Inc.....Al and Jesse, the religious pimpin’ race hustlers extraordinaire....suddenly pop up as spokesmen for the family...
The ex nanny...the unauthorized biographer....the dancer in the fourth row of the chorus who danced behind him.....
All suddenly proclaimed experts on the King of Pop by the mainstream media..
All talking about his alleged drug abuse....all quiet and enabling while there was still time to help him....
silenced by the money...
The drama surrounding Michael Jackson is not new....the bigger the star...the crazier the circus when they pass......
James Brown..the godfather of soul...lays in state while the family fights over where to bury him...
Marvin Gaye..killed by his own father...10,000 people turned out to attend his wake...
Sam Cooke.... Aliyah, Otis Redding...Lisa Lopes....Tupac...Biggie Smalls....Frankie Lymon....
death gave them the kind of notoriety and peace they didn’t have while living..
Michael’s legend....monumental in life...
Will be insurrmountable in death....
Suddenly, anybody who merely stood in his shadow, handed him a menu, watched him board a plane, passed him on the street, lived 20 doors down and thirty blocks away...is a media anointed expert on Michael Jackson....
Jackson very publicly distanced himself from his family...his father in particular...yet here’s Joe demanding a second autopsy to get some answers about "his boy."
"His boy" was a 50 year old man...
Rev, Inc.....Al and Jesse, the religious pimpin’ race hustlers extraordinaire....suddenly pop up as spokesmen for the family...
The ex nanny...the unauthorized biographer....the dancer in the fourth row of the chorus who danced behind him.....
All suddenly proclaimed experts on the King of Pop by the mainstream media..
All talking about his alleged drug abuse....all quiet and enabling while there was still time to help him....
silenced by the money...
The drama surrounding Michael Jackson is not new....the bigger the star...the crazier the circus when they pass......
James Brown..the godfather of soul...lays in state while the family fights over where to bury him...
Marvin Gaye..killed by his own father...10,000 people turned out to attend his wake...
Sam Cooke.... Aliyah, Otis Redding...Lisa Lopes....Tupac...Biggie Smalls....Frankie Lymon....
death gave them the kind of notoriety and peace they didn’t have while living..
Michael’s legend....monumental in life...
Will be insurrmountable in death....
6.26.2009
Friday Rap
Don’t know why...But the one song playing in my head is Dirty Diana...
I was already grown when the Jackson Five came to prominence, so I’ve been privileged to have witnessed his entire career, from the jump...
There are certain songs....I’ll Be There....Rock with You......Bad....The Way You Make Feel....Thriller...PYT...Remember the Time...Human Nature....
-0-
Farrah’s death was expected. Her struggle for survival, so untypically public....I remember her movie work...The Burning Bed....
But there was one movie...can’t remember the name...taken from a book by Vincent Bugliosi...where she played a mother who shot to death her three kids....Amazing performance...
-0-
Wimbledon
It's in the first week.....the Williams sisters are playing...well...like Williams sisters...Serena is already through to the round of 16....Venus is playing like the defending champion she is..
Looks like a collision in the final...All Williams, all the time...
-0-
From the sublime to the ridiculous...
South Carolina Governor....Mark Sanford....I’m not gonna waste any sentiment on this poor pathetic fool....Another case of white male privilege run amok...again...
-0-
Going Naked-Going Green
Some nudist group is recommending that everyone start taking nude vacations as a way of reducing our carbon footprints and thereby saving the earth...
I’m on board with that...
The worst thing about having my sister and her kids move in with me, a few years ago was having to give up walking around the house in the nude....I sleep that way and had to remember to cover up out of respect for my family members..
Nothing like feeling the wind all over your body, unblocked....
-0-
Healthy Ice Cream
My ice cream can be a lot of things....
It can be loaded with fat....It can be loaded with sugar....It can be loaded with nuts and chocolate and come drowning in caramel....It can be surrounded by fruit in a boat...it can be piled high on a cone, melting so fast that I have to lick the back of my hand to get it all in my mouth...
But....Healthy or light....as in ice cream with green tea or granola or wheat grass..... with half the calories....give me a break......you keep that S***...
Some things you just take as they are.....
Bad for you.... But
heart stoppingly good....and worth every mouthful....
I was already grown when the Jackson Five came to prominence, so I’ve been privileged to have witnessed his entire career, from the jump...
There are certain songs....I’ll Be There....Rock with You......Bad....The Way You Make Feel....Thriller...PYT...Remember the Time...Human Nature....
-0-
Farrah’s death was expected. Her struggle for survival, so untypically public....I remember her movie work...The Burning Bed....
But there was one movie...can’t remember the name...taken from a book by Vincent Bugliosi...where she played a mother who shot to death her three kids....Amazing performance...
-0-
Wimbledon
It's in the first week.....the Williams sisters are playing...well...like Williams sisters...Serena is already through to the round of 16....Venus is playing like the defending champion she is..
Looks like a collision in the final...All Williams, all the time...
-0-
From the sublime to the ridiculous...
South Carolina Governor....Mark Sanford....I’m not gonna waste any sentiment on this poor pathetic fool....Another case of white male privilege run amok...again...
-0-
Going Naked-Going Green
Some nudist group is recommending that everyone start taking nude vacations as a way of reducing our carbon footprints and thereby saving the earth...
I’m on board with that...
The worst thing about having my sister and her kids move in with me, a few years ago was having to give up walking around the house in the nude....I sleep that way and had to remember to cover up out of respect for my family members..
Nothing like feeling the wind all over your body, unblocked....
-0-
Healthy Ice Cream
My ice cream can be a lot of things....
It can be loaded with fat....It can be loaded with sugar....It can be loaded with nuts and chocolate and come drowning in caramel....It can be surrounded by fruit in a boat...it can be piled high on a cone, melting so fast that I have to lick the back of my hand to get it all in my mouth...
But....Healthy or light....as in ice cream with green tea or granola or wheat grass..... with half the calories....give me a break......you keep that S***...
Some things you just take as they are.....
Bad for you.... But
heart stoppingly good....and worth every mouthful....
6.25.2009
The Way I Choose to Remember Them
Life is Fragile
Like the dew hanging delicately on the grass.
Crystal drops that will be carried away
on the first morning breeze
National HIV Testing Day
UPDATE
*************************************************************************************
If you can’t make to this weekend’s events, you can still be tested through JustGetTested.com. They will do the testing for $20 from now through June 30th. And you can get the results back in days rather than weeks....
If you can’t make to this weekend’s events, you can still be tested through JustGetTested.com. They will do the testing for $20 from now through June 30th. And you can get the results back in days rather than weeks....
Go to Just Get Tested.com to find out more information.
Weekend Events
Saturday, June 27th is National HIV testing day across America. One of several events taking place is an all day health fair designed to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Black Community at New Vision Methodist Church, 4400 Reading Road, in Bond Hill.
According to the Black AIDS Institute, testing is the only real way to combat the spread of the virus. There are several events taking place, starting today and lasting through the weekend.
There is no charge for testing at many of the events.
Black women in particular should take advantage, since it is known that straight Black women are the largest group which constitutes new cases of HIV infection.
In fact, more than 2/3 of all new infections come from within the Black Community. Statistics reveal that Black women are becoming infected by having sex with men who secretly have sex with other men.
To put it bluntly, this disease is killing us.... And you can pass it to your babies, even after birth....through breast milk......So get tested, please!
Schedule of Events in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Stop AIDS Cincinnati will hold events Thursday, Friday and Saturday: At 6 p.m. Thursday, the program "Let's Talk About Sex" at the MERC Auditorium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Oak Street campus, 620 Oak St., Avondale.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, a testing blitz at their headquarters, 220 Findlay St., Over-the-Rhine. At 9 p.m. Saturday, a performance of "The C-Chronicles" at the West End Centroplex, 1726 Linn St.
The Northern Kentucky Health Department will offer testing from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday at the following health centers: Boone County, 7505 Burlington Pike, Florence; Campbell County, 12 E. Fifth St., Newport; Grant County, 234 Barnes Road, Williamstown; and Kenton County, 2002 Madison Ave., Covington.
The health department will also test people attending two health fairs Saturday, including an NAACP event from 11 to 3 at the Peter J. Noll Community Center, 400 W. Sixth St., Newport, and from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Lane Chapel C.M.E. Church, 125 Lynn St., Covington.
The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and God's Finest Production will hold "Spotlight on Our Family's Future," from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New Vision Methodist Church, 4400 Reading Road, Bond Hill. Inspirational speaker and author De'Ron Smith will speak. HIV testing will be offered, and experts will lead discussion groups.
6.24.2009
The Nixon Tapes
Watergate/Nixon revisited
The release of more of the Nixon tapes has precipitated a flood of memories about the Watergate hearings in 1973. The hearings were must see TV and since there was no cable at that time, the television networks took turns broadcasting the hearings..ABC one day...NBC the next...CBS the next...Then they repeated the cycle until the hearings ended...
Thinking back on those those days....It was the personalities who stand out in my memories...The Congressmen who were larger than life...defending our government and our constitution....
They gave speeches and spoke extemporaneously off the top of their heads, using words that still resonate in my mind..
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."-Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
Those words affect me in the same way as those spoken by the Gladiator (Russell Crowe) when he once again stands before Commodus to confront him about killing his father....That was the “gotcha” moment in a magnificent movie...
Jordan's words were Nixon's “gotcha” moment.....
The old country lawyer...Senator from North Carolina...Sam Ervin was another one...Ervin not only brought down the corrupt Nixon White House...He also helped to take down the equally corrupt and bigoted Joe McCarthy.
"Divine right went out with the American Revolution and doesn't belong to the White House aides. What meat do they eat that makes them grow so great? "
- Senator Sam Ervin
If Sam Ervin had been in Congress these past few years...The imperial presidency crafted by Bush/Cheney would probably never have gotten as far as it did.
It was an amazing time.
I would urge those who marvel at the eloquence of Barack Obama to go back and read the words of some of the orators who went before... Obama is merely the latest in a long line of amazing public speakers...who once dominated politics......
Orators who put country first before politics...and the will of the people before the desires of the rich and powerful...
With this Congress, public speaking has given way to muted illiterate mumblings on twitter or email, in pursuit of the once mighty dollar...
The Nixon tapes were revealed in a time when bugging a room, let alone the Oval Office, was spy stuff...not real life...Not many of us really thought that such a thing was possible except in science fiction..
Nixon's surprise at being caught by his own handiwork was priceless. The technology was so foreign to us at the time, that Nixon's people didn't even know how to erase the damaging tapes...
hence...”the smoking gun..”
The tapes released yesterday, are good historical listening. About all they do is to reveal Nixon's bigoted tendencies which had already leaked with the other, older tapes...
For instance, this latest one reveals his thoughts on abortion....
He favored abortion and said it should be legal in the instances of rape...or to dispose of a fetus when the couple was interracial...Nixon didn't believe in the mixing of races...
Good thing he didn't get his way....Obama might never have been born....
The release of more of the Nixon tapes has precipitated a flood of memories about the Watergate hearings in 1973. The hearings were must see TV and since there was no cable at that time, the television networks took turns broadcasting the hearings..ABC one day...NBC the next...CBS the next...Then they repeated the cycle until the hearings ended...
Thinking back on those those days....It was the personalities who stand out in my memories...The Congressmen who were larger than life...defending our government and our constitution....
They gave speeches and spoke extemporaneously off the top of their heads, using words that still resonate in my mind..
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."-Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
Those words affect me in the same way as those spoken by the Gladiator (Russell Crowe) when he once again stands before Commodus to confront him about killing his father....That was the “gotcha” moment in a magnificent movie...
Jordan's words were Nixon's “gotcha” moment.....
The old country lawyer...Senator from North Carolina...Sam Ervin was another one...Ervin not only brought down the corrupt Nixon White House...He also helped to take down the equally corrupt and bigoted Joe McCarthy.
"Divine right went out with the American Revolution and doesn't belong to the White House aides. What meat do they eat that makes them grow so great? "
- Senator Sam Ervin
If Sam Ervin had been in Congress these past few years...The imperial presidency crafted by Bush/Cheney would probably never have gotten as far as it did.
It was an amazing time.
I would urge those who marvel at the eloquence of Barack Obama to go back and read the words of some of the orators who went before... Obama is merely the latest in a long line of amazing public speakers...who once dominated politics......
Orators who put country first before politics...and the will of the people before the desires of the rich and powerful...
With this Congress, public speaking has given way to muted illiterate mumblings on twitter or email, in pursuit of the once mighty dollar...
The Nixon tapes were revealed in a time when bugging a room, let alone the Oval Office, was spy stuff...not real life...Not many of us really thought that such a thing was possible except in science fiction..
Nixon's surprise at being caught by his own handiwork was priceless. The technology was so foreign to us at the time, that Nixon's people didn't even know how to erase the damaging tapes...
hence...”the smoking gun..”
The tapes released yesterday, are good historical listening. About all they do is to reveal Nixon's bigoted tendencies which had already leaked with the other, older tapes...
For instance, this latest one reveals his thoughts on abortion....
He favored abortion and said it should be legal in the instances of rape...or to dispose of a fetus when the couple was interracial...Nixon didn't believe in the mixing of races...
Good thing he didn't get his way....Obama might never have been born....
6.23.2009
Follow the Money...
Saudi Arabia's part in the 9/11 attacks...
Want to know who is in bed with whom..... or who was behind what.....follow the money trail...it always leads back to the real perpetrators.....
And from 9/12/2001, the money trail has led back to Saudi Arabia....
Read This....
All but 5 of the hijackers had Saudi passports on that fateful day...
For eight years the Bush White House was a Saudi palace home away from home for the Sheiks....
Now the Justice Department is fighting to block the publication of papers that will prove that...
We will probably never know...But maybe the conspiracy theorists are right...
9/11 was an inside job....
Want to know who is in bed with whom..... or who was behind what.....follow the money trail...it always leads back to the real perpetrators.....
And from 9/12/2001, the money trail has led back to Saudi Arabia....
Read This....
All but 5 of the hijackers had Saudi passports on that fateful day...
For eight years the Bush White House was a Saudi palace home away from home for the Sheiks....
Now the Justice Department is fighting to block the publication of papers that will prove that...
We will probably never know...But maybe the conspiracy theorists are right...
9/11 was an inside job....
6.22.2009
Justice Thomas Stands Alone
Lone Dissenter on Supreme Court Ruling on Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Why am I not surprised...
The Supreme Court rules 8-1 to uphold a section of the Voting Rights Act, that would have literally torn the heart out of the law, if the vote had gone the other way....
Uncle er, Justice Thomas was able to remove his nose from Justice Scalia's nether regions long enough to seemingly form an opinion of his own....It was the wrong opinion...but it was apparently an independent one since Scalia voted with the majority...
You can read the Thomas Opinion here...
What I am understanding is that Thomas dissented because he feels that the law oversteps its bounds, bordering on unconstitutional when it comes to dealing with violence against Blacks who try to vote in elections.
According to Thomas....Jim Crow violence doesn't happen anymore....Any problems that arise are for the states to handle and the US Government should stay out of it...
Okay....
I guess....the hanging chads in Florida were the product of my imagination...
I guess the Supco ruling giving Dubya the White House was a product of my imagination...
I guess....Blackwell's repeated attempts to steal the election for George Bush the younger are a product of my imagination....
I guess that republican in California who was changing minority votes this past election, in order to trick them into supporting John McCain, were a product of my imagination...
I guess the GOP intimidation of new voters in Ohio in this past election are a product of my imagination...
I guess the ongoing persecution of ACORN and its voter registration of minorities is a product of my imagination...
Jim Crow violence doesn't happen anymore...huh?
Then that guy who got dragged in Texas, must have tied himself to back of that pick up truck...
And those nooses that mysteriously appeared on the office door of the college professor at Princeton, I believe...she must have defaced that door herself...
What about the kids in Jena....did they hang those nooses from the tree in the school yard?
The ruling by the Supreme Court, today sidesteps the bigger issue....Many people think the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has outlived its usefulness since we, as a nation, elected Barack Obama to the White House...
I disagree with that and I point to the evidence of those states who have repealed affirmative action.....
Since some states have done that....their schools and universities have returned to being bastions for white kids...
Check it out....
Gutting of the Voting Rights Act....would accomplish the same sort of backwardness....
Why am I not surprised...
The Supreme Court rules 8-1 to uphold a section of the Voting Rights Act, that would have literally torn the heart out of the law, if the vote had gone the other way....
Uncle er, Justice Thomas was able to remove his nose from Justice Scalia's nether regions long enough to seemingly form an opinion of his own....It was the wrong opinion...but it was apparently an independent one since Scalia voted with the majority...
You can read the Thomas Opinion here...
What I am understanding is that Thomas dissented because he feels that the law oversteps its bounds, bordering on unconstitutional when it comes to dealing with violence against Blacks who try to vote in elections.
According to Thomas....Jim Crow violence doesn't happen anymore....Any problems that arise are for the states to handle and the US Government should stay out of it...
Okay....
I guess....the hanging chads in Florida were the product of my imagination...
I guess the Supco ruling giving Dubya the White House was a product of my imagination...
I guess....Blackwell's repeated attempts to steal the election for George Bush the younger are a product of my imagination....
I guess that republican in California who was changing minority votes this past election, in order to trick them into supporting John McCain, were a product of my imagination...
I guess the GOP intimidation of new voters in Ohio in this past election are a product of my imagination...
I guess the ongoing persecution of ACORN and its voter registration of minorities is a product of my imagination...
Jim Crow violence doesn't happen anymore...huh?
Then that guy who got dragged in Texas, must have tied himself to back of that pick up truck...
And those nooses that mysteriously appeared on the office door of the college professor at Princeton, I believe...she must have defaced that door herself...
What about the kids in Jena....did they hang those nooses from the tree in the school yard?
The ruling by the Supreme Court, today sidesteps the bigger issue....Many people think the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has outlived its usefulness since we, as a nation, elected Barack Obama to the White House...
I disagree with that and I point to the evidence of those states who have repealed affirmative action.....
Since some states have done that....their schools and universities have returned to being bastions for white kids...
Check it out....
Gutting of the Voting Rights Act....would accomplish the same sort of backwardness....
DINOs (Democrats in Name Only)
Fake Democrats working to sabotage Health Care
There are several old timer phrases that will fit what's going with the Democrats and Health Care reform in Congress......
“Give them a minute and they will figure out a way to screw it up..”
or
“Democrats, always ready, willing and able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory..”
That last phrase was used a lot in the past election...because even when it became obvious that Obama was going to win...Democrats were as always, their own worst enemies...
Today with health care reform...it's SOSDD...same old shit different day....
Every single poll out there says the people want health care, they need health care, they understand the health care issues being presented...
Yet, fake democrats, who are very well covered with Congressional health benefits, which we pay for, are working to sabotage the worker's health care reform, by watering down various proposals or talking against the public option...
These fools work for us..and it is time to call them on it....
Or maybe they don't really work for us....just because we elected them....So the question becomes..
Who is paying them...which insurance company is bankrolling the fake democrat's kids college education?
Who paid for the last vacation taken by the Congressman and his family or current mistress?
Who does the Congressman play golf with when he's not ducking votes on the floor in the Capital?
Which Big Pharmaceutical company employes which Congressman's kid as a consultant?
From what's been in the news lately, seems these fake democrats....starting with Tom Daschle, who we already know is bought and paid for....are attempting to kill the public option of the reform...
They say many things...It is socialism....it costs too much....it's not good for the people....
The truth is.....
Anything good for the people is labeled socialism these days...by idiots who don't even know what socialism actually is....somebody told them something in 7th grade government class and they've been running with it ever since..
Costs too much....yes, it will cost a lot...but it still won't cost what Bush's last round of tax cuts cost...
It's not good for the people.....In whose world?
The only people who don't stand to benefit are the health insurance companies, Big Pharmaceutical, and their fake ass political puppets who have been screwing us for years....collecting billions of dollars off our backs...
Count the kickback money paid by big Pharma to their Congressional puppets and the country could probably put forth a free health care system that nobody would have to pay for...
What is making me really steamed is these guys are hiding....They are refusing to talk about what it is they are trying to do...
If what they are doing is right....Then come forward and tell us about it...
They don't give a damn about the people who put them in office......
And isn't Congress Democratically controlled...the last time I looked the man in the White House is also a Democrat.....
Then what is the problem....are we still worried about phony bipartisan participation...are we worried about hurting GOP feelings if we don't include them in the decision making?
Michael Steele is trying to take the GOP hip hop...that means he wants to play by street rules...Okay..That means he has taken his boys to the mattresses and he will understand.....
In street rules....it's “us versus them”......
In other words.......”F*** the insurance companies....F*** Big Pharma......
And
F*** any Democrat who dares to stand in the way of health care reform with a public option..
In the street....if you have to choose between me and mine and you and yours...
It's always going to be me and mine...which is the way fake democrats are playing it with us, for years, by the way...
So they will understand when and if we decide to take them out, if they disappoint us again...
This is war...and if they want war....they got it...
It's time for Obama to turn into Nino Brown and put his Bill Cosby back in the closet.
There are several old timer phrases that will fit what's going with the Democrats and Health Care reform in Congress......
“Give them a minute and they will figure out a way to screw it up..”
or
“Democrats, always ready, willing and able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory..”
That last phrase was used a lot in the past election...because even when it became obvious that Obama was going to win...Democrats were as always, their own worst enemies...
Today with health care reform...it's SOSDD...same old shit different day....
Every single poll out there says the people want health care, they need health care, they understand the health care issues being presented...
Yet, fake democrats, who are very well covered with Congressional health benefits, which we pay for, are working to sabotage the worker's health care reform, by watering down various proposals or talking against the public option...
These fools work for us..and it is time to call them on it....
Or maybe they don't really work for us....just because we elected them....So the question becomes..
Who is paying them...which insurance company is bankrolling the fake democrat's kids college education?
Who paid for the last vacation taken by the Congressman and his family or current mistress?
Who does the Congressman play golf with when he's not ducking votes on the floor in the Capital?
Which Big Pharmaceutical company employes which Congressman's kid as a consultant?
From what's been in the news lately, seems these fake democrats....starting with Tom Daschle, who we already know is bought and paid for....are attempting to kill the public option of the reform...
They say many things...It is socialism....it costs too much....it's not good for the people....
The truth is.....
Anything good for the people is labeled socialism these days...by idiots who don't even know what socialism actually is....somebody told them something in 7th grade government class and they've been running with it ever since..
Costs too much....yes, it will cost a lot...but it still won't cost what Bush's last round of tax cuts cost...
It's not good for the people.....In whose world?
The only people who don't stand to benefit are the health insurance companies, Big Pharmaceutical, and their fake ass political puppets who have been screwing us for years....collecting billions of dollars off our backs...
Count the kickback money paid by big Pharma to their Congressional puppets and the country could probably put forth a free health care system that nobody would have to pay for...
What is making me really steamed is these guys are hiding....They are refusing to talk about what it is they are trying to do...
If what they are doing is right....Then come forward and tell us about it...
They don't give a damn about the people who put them in office......
And isn't Congress Democratically controlled...the last time I looked the man in the White House is also a Democrat.....
Then what is the problem....are we still worried about phony bipartisan participation...are we worried about hurting GOP feelings if we don't include them in the decision making?
Michael Steele is trying to take the GOP hip hop...that means he wants to play by street rules...Okay..That means he has taken his boys to the mattresses and he will understand.....
In street rules....it's “us versus them”......
In other words.......”F*** the insurance companies....F*** Big Pharma......
And
F*** any Democrat who dares to stand in the way of health care reform with a public option..
In the street....if you have to choose between me and mine and you and yours...
It's always going to be me and mine...which is the way fake democrats are playing it with us, for years, by the way...
So they will understand when and if we decide to take them out, if they disappoint us again...
This is war...and if they want war....they got it...
It's time for Obama to turn into Nino Brown and put his Bill Cosby back in the closet.
6.21.2009
A Sunday Fruit Salad
A little this... A little that to greet Summer Solstice......
A rich guy with Tourette's..
is one of the people funding the fight against marriage equality...
He had problems with his parents...so he takes it out on the rest of us by paying for hate campaigns..
So how to do you continue to hate parents who died 44 years ago and left you 300 million dollars...
This guy, Howard Ahmanson, contributed nearly a million dollars to defeat Prop 8..
he is a disciple of a religious zealot who advocates putting America under the jurisdiction of a theocratic commission..
Which among other things mandates that people be stoned to death for being homosexual...
-0-
Juneteenth Celebrations..
Happening all across America....What Juneteenth is not...is the day that slavery ended in America as I heard one clueless newscaster say this morning... The Emancipation Proclamation became law on January 1, 1863..
Juneteenth celebrates the day that Texas slaves found out they were free....on June 19, 1865...two years late because Texas plantation owners refused to tell them....
and since there was no Twitter back in the day...it took em a while to find out...
-0-
Pass me the Sports section, please....
The US Open is in progress at Bethpage Black, as we speak....Tiger was the preemptive favorite going in...But he's having one of those tournaments where at least this week...I can beat him...
The talking heads are beginning to count him out...
Too Stoopid....Can't count Tiger out til the final putt goes down on 18 on the last day....
**
Wimbledon getting ready to fire up...
Nadal's out....Federer will win....
So will a Williams sister....Just think it will be Serena this time...
Even though the Wimbledon trophy is officially named “The Venus Trophy”....not after Venus Williams..it's had that name since it was created...
Venus Williams fulfills her destiny by claiming it more often than not..
-0-
Give me a break, please....
Now the critics are ticked off because the Obama's are allowing pop culture in the White House instead of doing stodgy and boring formal state dinners....
Damned if they do....damned if they don't....
Like it or not.....we have a real Christian in the White House...not one of the fake born again variety...
We have a man who dates his wife...not put his mistress on the payroll at double the going rate.....
A man who makes time for his kids...Not let them run wild
A man who seemingly lives the rest of his life as if he really, really pays attention when he goes to church....
-0-
Father's Day
I am blessed with coming from a two parent home....My dad turns 81 in a couple of weeks...my mom reached 79 back in January...They're will celebrate 59 years of marriage in a couple of months...
My Mom has always been the rock.....My Dad....well all you have to do is pick up the phone and say..
“ Hey Dad, I need some help...”
Knowing that his help meant he would literally take over the project, making you the assistant....
Don't get me wrong...We ain't the Cleavers ...we are as dysfunctional as every other American family..but still...there was and there still is...some good stuff going on...
On this day....I choose to think about the good stuff...
watching him Box on television, when I was four....he was a professional light heavyweight...32-2 before he quit...his knees gave out....he retired...
he said he quit because he was “too pretty to stand there and get hit”...My dad boxed dancing on his toes before Muhammed Ali...never flatfooted...
learning how to work on cars despite my gender....he taught me....and even today, I'm better at it then most guys I know...
Getting up before dawn to pick up our grandmother and go fishing at Lake Chetaq or the Doctor's lake..
Hearing from other people...how proud my Dad was because I was the morning anchor on the TV newscast....
Happy Father's Day...Daddy..
A rich guy with Tourette's..
is one of the people funding the fight against marriage equality...
He had problems with his parents...so he takes it out on the rest of us by paying for hate campaigns..
So how to do you continue to hate parents who died 44 years ago and left you 300 million dollars...
This guy, Howard Ahmanson, contributed nearly a million dollars to defeat Prop 8..
he is a disciple of a religious zealot who advocates putting America under the jurisdiction of a theocratic commission..
Which among other things mandates that people be stoned to death for being homosexual...
-0-
Juneteenth Celebrations..
Happening all across America....What Juneteenth is not...is the day that slavery ended in America as I heard one clueless newscaster say this morning... The Emancipation Proclamation became law on January 1, 1863..
Juneteenth celebrates the day that Texas slaves found out they were free....on June 19, 1865...two years late because Texas plantation owners refused to tell them....
and since there was no Twitter back in the day...it took em a while to find out...
-0-
Pass me the Sports section, please....
The US Open is in progress at Bethpage Black, as we speak....Tiger was the preemptive favorite going in...But he's having one of those tournaments where at least this week...I can beat him...
The talking heads are beginning to count him out...
Too Stoopid....Can't count Tiger out til the final putt goes down on 18 on the last day....
**
Wimbledon getting ready to fire up...
Nadal's out....Federer will win....
So will a Williams sister....Just think it will be Serena this time...
Even though the Wimbledon trophy is officially named “The Venus Trophy”....not after Venus Williams..it's had that name since it was created...
Venus Williams fulfills her destiny by claiming it more often than not..
-0-
Give me a break, please....
Now the critics are ticked off because the Obama's are allowing pop culture in the White House instead of doing stodgy and boring formal state dinners....
Damned if they do....damned if they don't....
Like it or not.....we have a real Christian in the White House...not one of the fake born again variety...
We have a man who dates his wife...not put his mistress on the payroll at double the going rate.....
A man who makes time for his kids...Not let them run wild
A man who seemingly lives the rest of his life as if he really, really pays attention when he goes to church....
-0-
Father's Day
I am blessed with coming from a two parent home....My dad turns 81 in a couple of weeks...my mom reached 79 back in January...They're will celebrate 59 years of marriage in a couple of months...
My Mom has always been the rock.....My Dad....well all you have to do is pick up the phone and say..
“ Hey Dad, I need some help...”
Knowing that his help meant he would literally take over the project, making you the assistant....
Don't get me wrong...We ain't the Cleavers ...we are as dysfunctional as every other American family..but still...there was and there still is...some good stuff going on...
On this day....I choose to think about the good stuff...
watching him Box on television, when I was four....he was a professional light heavyweight...32-2 before he quit...his knees gave out....he retired...
he said he quit because he was “too pretty to stand there and get hit”...My dad boxed dancing on his toes before Muhammed Ali...never flatfooted...
learning how to work on cars despite my gender....he taught me....and even today, I'm better at it then most guys I know...
Getting up before dawn to pick up our grandmother and go fishing at Lake Chetaq or the Doctor's lake..
Hearing from other people...how proud my Dad was because I was the morning anchor on the TV newscast....
Happy Father's Day...Daddy..
6.19.2009
Friday Rap
Healthcare Reform
While Americans are clammering for reform of a totally screwed up system, Obama's real enemies on healthcare seem to be within his own party. Dismiss the GOP..they can't do anything, really...
However....The Democrats who are working against the President's proposal for a public option...Tom Daschle...you should be ashamed...
Kind of a good thing he washed out of consideration for Obama's Health Care Czar..
His money ties to big insurance and health industry giants show they mean more to him than helping the people..
-0-
Why We Need Healthcare Reform
The House Subcommittee on Oversight Investigations held hearings this week on the healthcare industry's policy of recission...
Recission happens when the insurance company cancels a policy...supposedly for fraud...
However...Insurance giants also use it to boost the bottom line...They do this by canceling policies of the very sick and most in need of help...
In order to keep from paying huge medical bills...even though the families affected religiously pay their premiums on time...The companies refuse to pay...flat out....
Wellpoint, Inc....United Health....and Assurant are the three biggest companies in America...
And when asked if they would halt the practice...
They told the Congressmen....Hell No!
The cluelessness in the room from the insurance industry harkened back to that which was exhibited by the big three automaker CEOs who flew into their congressional hearings on private jets costing hundreds of thousands of dollars...
These three companies canceled 20,000 very sick people to keep from paying 300-million dollars in medical costs...and they rewarded with bonuses the employees who did the canceling...
These companies specifically target women with breast cancer s, lymphoma sufferers as well as a 1000 other conditions.....
We really do need health care reform....
-0-
Put Away the Manolos Ladies
What's up with high powered women falling all over DC. First Sonia Sotmayor..who breaks an ankle...now Hilary..who shatters her elbow and needs surgery...
Ladies...it's time to either slow your stroll....or go back to comfortable shoes while walking...
Think about all those high powered female execs in Chicago and New York....
They wear Nikes on the street or when they need to speed walk, and change into the Manolos in the office..
It's safer...........
-0-
Too Casual Friday
The city of Orlando wants people to start using deodorant and wearing underwear when they come to work...seems casual friday as well as other days have gotten out of control, apparently..
The lone vote against the new code was the mayor...who says wearing underwear...or not...is a matter of freedom of choice....
-0-
PETA
The president of PETA needs some diversion in his life....a new boyfriend maybe...
Any bug...fly, mosquito or otherwise that makes it near me...on my body...flying around my head can prepare to meet its maker...
PETA has way too much time on its hands....
-0-
Shout Out to Ashanti
Who is appearing in The Wiz....baby....There are some shoes that cannot filled....Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Stephanie Mills to name a few...
Ya just can't...
When these women step out of their shoes...throw them away because nobody else will ever be able to wear them.....
Impossible..
-0-
Slavery Apology
The Senate has formulated its own apology for the damage done to Blacks by two and a half centuries of slavery in this country...
The Senate Bill now must be reconciled to the one the House passed last year....
No reparations..in fact the bill was crafted with language to prevent future lawsuits seeking payment.
What will this apology do.....
Not a damn thing for those of us who are here....However, it will be good for those yet to be born..
So...Thank you, I guess...
I'm sure those who still suffer from Plantation mentality will celebrate and joyously jig for their masters...
Recently found a good definition of PM...
Plantation mentality: enslaved Blacks who have inherited, internalized, expressed and acted based on a perspective or deference that was most acceptable to those that dominated their view of reality — particularly exhibited by early African American generations recently freed by plantation masters, and sometimes exhibited by some among latter generations of the global Black diaspora.
Dennis Moore — Publisher
thank you Dennis for that definition...He was referring to Shelby Steele....
I can name a few others.....Thomas....Keys.....Blackwell....That fool in California who hates affirmative action....and all those young Black GOP talking heads who have no clue...have grown up privileged and untouched by their Blackness...historical or otherwise..
.
While Americans are clammering for reform of a totally screwed up system, Obama's real enemies on healthcare seem to be within his own party. Dismiss the GOP..they can't do anything, really...
However....The Democrats who are working against the President's proposal for a public option...Tom Daschle...you should be ashamed...
Kind of a good thing he washed out of consideration for Obama's Health Care Czar..
His money ties to big insurance and health industry giants show they mean more to him than helping the people..
-0-
Why We Need Healthcare Reform
The House Subcommittee on Oversight Investigations held hearings this week on the healthcare industry's policy of recission...
Recission happens when the insurance company cancels a policy...supposedly for fraud...
However...Insurance giants also use it to boost the bottom line...They do this by canceling policies of the very sick and most in need of help...
In order to keep from paying huge medical bills...even though the families affected religiously pay their premiums on time...The companies refuse to pay...flat out....
Wellpoint, Inc....United Health....and Assurant are the three biggest companies in America...
And when asked if they would halt the practice...
They told the Congressmen....Hell No!
The cluelessness in the room from the insurance industry harkened back to that which was exhibited by the big three automaker CEOs who flew into their congressional hearings on private jets costing hundreds of thousands of dollars...
These three companies canceled 20,000 very sick people to keep from paying 300-million dollars in medical costs...and they rewarded with bonuses the employees who did the canceling...
These companies specifically target women with breast cancer s, lymphoma sufferers as well as a 1000 other conditions.....
We really do need health care reform....
-0-
Put Away the Manolos Ladies
What's up with high powered women falling all over DC. First Sonia Sotmayor..who breaks an ankle...now Hilary..who shatters her elbow and needs surgery...
Ladies...it's time to either slow your stroll....or go back to comfortable shoes while walking...
Think about all those high powered female execs in Chicago and New York....
They wear Nikes on the street or when they need to speed walk, and change into the Manolos in the office..
It's safer...........
-0-
Too Casual Friday
The city of Orlando wants people to start using deodorant and wearing underwear when they come to work...seems casual friday as well as other days have gotten out of control, apparently..
The lone vote against the new code was the mayor...who says wearing underwear...or not...is a matter of freedom of choice....
-0-
PETA
The president of PETA needs some diversion in his life....a new boyfriend maybe...
Any bug...fly, mosquito or otherwise that makes it near me...on my body...flying around my head can prepare to meet its maker...
PETA has way too much time on its hands....
-0-
Shout Out to Ashanti
Who is appearing in The Wiz....baby....There are some shoes that cannot filled....Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Stephanie Mills to name a few...
Ya just can't...
When these women step out of their shoes...throw them away because nobody else will ever be able to wear them.....
Impossible..
-0-
Slavery Apology
The Senate has formulated its own apology for the damage done to Blacks by two and a half centuries of slavery in this country...
The Senate Bill now must be reconciled to the one the House passed last year....
No reparations..in fact the bill was crafted with language to prevent future lawsuits seeking payment.
What will this apology do.....
Not a damn thing for those of us who are here....However, it will be good for those yet to be born..
So...Thank you, I guess...
I'm sure those who still suffer from Plantation mentality will celebrate and joyously jig for their masters...
Recently found a good definition of PM...
Plantation mentality: enslaved Blacks who have inherited, internalized, expressed and acted based on a perspective or deference that was most acceptable to those that dominated their view of reality — particularly exhibited by early African American generations recently freed by plantation masters, and sometimes exhibited by some among latter generations of the global Black diaspora.
Dennis Moore — Publisher
thank you Dennis for that definition...He was referring to Shelby Steele....
I can name a few others.....Thomas....Keys.....Blackwell....That fool in California who hates affirmative action....and all those young Black GOP talking heads who have no clue...have grown up privileged and untouched by their Blackness...historical or otherwise..
.
6.18.2009
Sorry President Obama, But My Sugar's High
Obama passes out candy to the LGBT Community while urging patience....
Apparently seeking to placate the more vocal members of the LGBT community, the President signed a memorandum granting a few domestic partner benefits to federal employees-health and survivor benefits not among them.
I have a few problems with this scenario...
First, the action only affects a very few people...
Second, Obama used a memorandum...for those of you who don't know...memorandums are only in force for the lifetime of Obama's presidency...
In other words, if he should fail to be re elected in 2012, the memorandum dies...If he is re elected then it's good until 2016....
Memorandums come with a sunset clause....much like the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which must be renewed every 25 years or it expires...
Sunset Clauses are typically used by Presidents and Lawmakers to get the opposition to compromise...as in....”sign off on it now.... harvest the goodwill, now...it will go away later....”
Now I'm assuming, optimistically, that Obama thinks he can get things taken care of by 2012-meaning he can get DOMA repealed and DADT off the books and therefore all he needed was a memorandum today and the future will take care of itself...
I know he has only been in office for 150 days. I know that in order to spend political capital, you've got to make some first. In other words, he needs help changing this massive agenda so he has to quietly placate certain people in order to get them to go along with him.
However, while I still counsel younger community members to be patient, I am a little ticked.
Check that....I'm a lot ticked..
I've been waiting all my life.....and like Fannie Lou Hamer said....I'm sick n tired of being sick n tired...
I am ticked off at the President's silence....He needs to utter something other than tired platitudes.
And this not only includes the LGBT community...but the Black community as well...
Unemployment nationwide may be only 10%....In the Black community it is double that easily...
“last hired...first fired” is still in operation..
I'm sorry Mr President....but right is right.......
He has admitted the laws are wrong....He is the one who chose to do something about it...yet.. he remains silent...
There comes a time.....Like Lincoln and like FDR...like Truman...
When as President..you have to say....damn the law.....I will do what's right....like you promised...
Obama needs to remember that if Lincoln hadn't done what was right and just...Obama's Daddy's ancestors would only have seen the shores of America by disembarking from a slave ship...
Obama needs to remember that his mother and father literally broke the law to give him life....
It was right and it was just...
All these years...he has been chasing his destiny....Now that he is where he should be..in the White House...
He hesitates....I don't understand....
The Department of Justice equating same sex marriage with incest....cuts deeply...it is indefensible and completely wrong....
The White House defense of an indefensible act...is an insult to my intelligence and has me second guessing my vote back in November....
I remain in Obama's corner....
But today....I'm just too ticked to be a fan...
Apparently seeking to placate the more vocal members of the LGBT community, the President signed a memorandum granting a few domestic partner benefits to federal employees-health and survivor benefits not among them.
I have a few problems with this scenario...
First, the action only affects a very few people...
Second, Obama used a memorandum...for those of you who don't know...memorandums are only in force for the lifetime of Obama's presidency...
In other words, if he should fail to be re elected in 2012, the memorandum dies...If he is re elected then it's good until 2016....
Memorandums come with a sunset clause....much like the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which must be renewed every 25 years or it expires...
Sunset Clauses are typically used by Presidents and Lawmakers to get the opposition to compromise...as in....”sign off on it now.... harvest the goodwill, now...it will go away later....”
Now I'm assuming, optimistically, that Obama thinks he can get things taken care of by 2012-meaning he can get DOMA repealed and DADT off the books and therefore all he needed was a memorandum today and the future will take care of itself...
I know he has only been in office for 150 days. I know that in order to spend political capital, you've got to make some first. In other words, he needs help changing this massive agenda so he has to quietly placate certain people in order to get them to go along with him.
However, while I still counsel younger community members to be patient, I am a little ticked.
Check that....I'm a lot ticked..
I've been waiting all my life.....and like Fannie Lou Hamer said....I'm sick n tired of being sick n tired...
I am ticked off at the President's silence....He needs to utter something other than tired platitudes.
And this not only includes the LGBT community...but the Black community as well...
Unemployment nationwide may be only 10%....In the Black community it is double that easily...
“last hired...first fired” is still in operation..
I'm sorry Mr President....but right is right.......
He has admitted the laws are wrong....He is the one who chose to do something about it...yet.. he remains silent...
There comes a time.....Like Lincoln and like FDR...like Truman...
When as President..you have to say....damn the law.....I will do what's right....like you promised...
Obama needs to remember that if Lincoln hadn't done what was right and just...Obama's Daddy's ancestors would only have seen the shores of America by disembarking from a slave ship...
Obama needs to remember that his mother and father literally broke the law to give him life....
It was right and it was just...
All these years...he has been chasing his destiny....Now that he is where he should be..in the White House...
He hesitates....I don't understand....
The Department of Justice equating same sex marriage with incest....cuts deeply...it is indefensible and completely wrong....
The White House defense of an indefensible act...is an insult to my intelligence and has me second guessing my vote back in November....
I remain in Obama's corner....
But today....I'm just too ticked to be a fan...
"We only want, we only ask, that when we stand up and talk about one nation under God liberty, justice for everybody, we only want to be able to look at the flag, put our right hand over our hearts, repeat those words, and know that they are true."
...Barbara Jordan, Late, Great US Congresswoman and member of the LGBT community.
6.17.2009
Cincinnati News
If it happens today....it's news to us
I stopped reading the Cincinnati Enquirer a long, long time ago. To put it bluntly, it has been an insult to my intelligence since I graduated the third grade....
It's ongoing racist, republican slant has always driven me up a wall...and I'm talking 50 plus years...since my people taught me to read...with comic books and the newspaper by the time I was three...The newspaper sections were handed around the kitchen table...each of us reading something..
But today...
Occasionally a story posted somewhere else may get my attention, however going to the Enquirer for more detail rather than the tease I'd just read, is a big waste of time.
Used to be you could get some news from the Post Time Star...but that was before it combined forces with the Enquirer and became a subsidiary before going out of business altogether..
The most wonderful thing about the internet is being able to read real newspapers from across the country and the world.....which I do daily with my breakfast...
I know they are going away, slowly, but it's good while it lasts...
Anyway...
I've been very upset with what passes as news on Cincinnati TV as well and after today, I'm turning it off too...
With the exception of Deb Dixon's work at Channel 12 and Hagit's work on the I team at Channel 9..there is no real news on Cincinnati TV.....Channel 5...well, I do like Andrew Setters....known him since he was a cub reporter....I don't get up early enough to watch Sheila Gray on 19 anymore..
This breaking news thing...which is little more then what is coming across the scanner...that's not news gathering...folks..
What set this rant off today is that the station that happens to be on my television...
leads with the fact that Simon Leis has bullied the Hamilton County Commissioners into allowing him to buy a new toy...in this case a boat..
When the real story should be....Why is this man still in office? Yeah, I know he is elected....He stopped being a sheriff a long time ago...
Given his age...he is probably double dipping just like all those people he refuses to let go under his command, because he doesn't want to train anyone new....
He said that....
Can you imagine a county or city official in any other state in the world, telling the administrators on camera, he's not going to make budget cuts because he doesn't want to pass the torch to younger and lesser paid people..
I paraphrased his words..that's not an exact quote...but you can go back and find it..
The Commisioners took it as usual..should have just stood up dropped their pants and bent over..no vaseline needed..
And Cincinnati news dutifully and quietly reported it...no pushback...no investigations....dropped the story.....like it never happened...
I know the reason is that the assignment editors and news directors are afraid that the newsmakers will stop talking to them..
News Flash Guys....They don't talk to you now!
Another story that should be screaming from the headlines...
A 20-million dollar unexpected shortfall in city money...due to an error...cuts have to come...okay...how many days off are city council and city administrators going to take unpaid...along with their hourly employees...
And if the answer is none....Why not?
It's the same as CEOs who screw up their companies and still want big bonuses...
The city is in trouble....the hourly workers didn't screw up....administrators did though..
Why should they still be paid in a business as usual fashion while hourly workers are forced to take unpaid days off to compensate for the shortfall
Another one...anyone figure out why it's easier to do business in Northern Kentucky then in Cincinnati...
Might make a nice investigative piece....
How about the real reasons why Black and other minority contractors can't get work on the so called big building projects in Cincinnati......
Or has anyone looked into the squeeze that a certain local health insurance agency puts on local doctors forcing them to cut services ..
Some doctors are charging an extra yearly service fee to patients, in addition to co pays..been going on for a while...
Why not look at the health plans being offered....rather than bitch about the changes...The changes may be legal...but are they fair....or do they allow the insurance giant to gain larger profits off the backs of the people...
Or why is everyone congratulating the new incoming head of Procter and Gamble, when this guy says he is going to move jobs into Asia and the Middle East....
Question.........are those Cincinnati jobs that are being outsourced? Even if the answer is No..there undoubtedly will be some "shrinkage" as in fewer people hired here and job consolidaion...
Questions...Questions...Questions.....And nobody is asking....hmmmmmmmmm
I stopped reading the Cincinnati Enquirer a long, long time ago. To put it bluntly, it has been an insult to my intelligence since I graduated the third grade....
It's ongoing racist, republican slant has always driven me up a wall...and I'm talking 50 plus years...since my people taught me to read...with comic books and the newspaper by the time I was three...The newspaper sections were handed around the kitchen table...each of us reading something..
But today...
Occasionally a story posted somewhere else may get my attention, however going to the Enquirer for more detail rather than the tease I'd just read, is a big waste of time.
Used to be you could get some news from the Post Time Star...but that was before it combined forces with the Enquirer and became a subsidiary before going out of business altogether..
The most wonderful thing about the internet is being able to read real newspapers from across the country and the world.....which I do daily with my breakfast...
I know they are going away, slowly, but it's good while it lasts...
Anyway...
I've been very upset with what passes as news on Cincinnati TV as well and after today, I'm turning it off too...
With the exception of Deb Dixon's work at Channel 12 and Hagit's work on the I team at Channel 9..there is no real news on Cincinnati TV.....Channel 5...well, I do like Andrew Setters....known him since he was a cub reporter....I don't get up early enough to watch Sheila Gray on 19 anymore..
This breaking news thing...which is little more then what is coming across the scanner...that's not news gathering...folks..
What set this rant off today is that the station that happens to be on my television...
leads with the fact that Simon Leis has bullied the Hamilton County Commissioners into allowing him to buy a new toy...in this case a boat..
When the real story should be....Why is this man still in office? Yeah, I know he is elected....He stopped being a sheriff a long time ago...
Given his age...he is probably double dipping just like all those people he refuses to let go under his command, because he doesn't want to train anyone new....
He said that....
Can you imagine a county or city official in any other state in the world, telling the administrators on camera, he's not going to make budget cuts because he doesn't want to pass the torch to younger and lesser paid people..
I paraphrased his words..that's not an exact quote...but you can go back and find it..
The Commisioners took it as usual..should have just stood up dropped their pants and bent over..no vaseline needed..
And Cincinnati news dutifully and quietly reported it...no pushback...no investigations....dropped the story.....like it never happened...
I know the reason is that the assignment editors and news directors are afraid that the newsmakers will stop talking to them..
News Flash Guys....They don't talk to you now!
Another story that should be screaming from the headlines...
A 20-million dollar unexpected shortfall in city money...due to an error...cuts have to come...okay...how many days off are city council and city administrators going to take unpaid...along with their hourly employees...
And if the answer is none....Why not?
It's the same as CEOs who screw up their companies and still want big bonuses...
The city is in trouble....the hourly workers didn't screw up....administrators did though..
Why should they still be paid in a business as usual fashion while hourly workers are forced to take unpaid days off to compensate for the shortfall
Another one...anyone figure out why it's easier to do business in Northern Kentucky then in Cincinnati...
Might make a nice investigative piece....
How about the real reasons why Black and other minority contractors can't get work on the so called big building projects in Cincinnati......
Or has anyone looked into the squeeze that a certain local health insurance agency puts on local doctors forcing them to cut services ..
Some doctors are charging an extra yearly service fee to patients, in addition to co pays..been going on for a while...
Why not look at the health plans being offered....rather than bitch about the changes...The changes may be legal...but are they fair....or do they allow the insurance giant to gain larger profits off the backs of the people...
Or why is everyone congratulating the new incoming head of Procter and Gamble, when this guy says he is going to move jobs into Asia and the Middle East....
Question.........are those Cincinnati jobs that are being outsourced? Even if the answer is No..there undoubtedly will be some "shrinkage" as in fewer people hired here and job consolidaion...
Questions...Questions...Questions.....And nobody is asking....hmmmmmmmmm
6.14.2009
Cincinnati Pride Sunday-Part 1
Veggin' out at the gay pride parade in Bowdie Park on Ludlow.
Pride Sunday, no matter where you are, meaning in what city you happen to reside, is a feel good day. For years, I have begun this Sunday, no matter where I lived, at brunch with friends, some easy conversation and good food before spending some time partying at the parade.
Since the parades, all over the country , are on Sunday, it's also a good time to see who went home with whom from the bar, on Saturday night... But I digress..
I intended to write a feel good piece about the parade because I do feel great from the camaraderie. For a change I wanted to not include politics on a feel good day, because politics feels like work to me and sometimes that's not good..
However, I can't do that today...I have to jump into politics for a little bit before I get to the feel good...so here goes...
I don't intend to vote for any person running for City Council who did not shake my hand in the Pride Parade today.
Greg Harris, Tony Fischer, and Laurie Quinlivan were there and shook my hand, coming out of the parade to meet and greet voters. They smiled, they looked me in the eye and they shook hands.
Now I can't say for a fact that they will support every issue that I think is important, but being strong enough to attend and march in the parade says a lot to me.
I will vote for Jennifer Brunner ...she wasn't there, but after that letter of support she wrote on marriage equality...can't say no to the lady, and she has to cover the whole state...
However...
These three asked for my vote....and you know what...I intend to give it to them....
I have a long personal and professional history with city council (going back to when my uncle was Vice mayor of this city) as well as many local, state and national Ohio politicians.
Some of them read my blog and tell me so....When we meet....
Some of my “friends and acquaintances” had people in the parade today...they weren't there themselves...but they had people in the parade....
And to them....I say this....It is not enough to have your token gay or lesbian staff member put on a shirt with your name on it and walk in my parade...and expect me to support you...
If you can't show up personally for an hour or so and look me in the eye and ask for my vote..
Then I got no use for you...
You are wasting my time....
Even if you are kinda sorta my cousin by marriage....
Having your token gay or dyke friend or the kid of your token, walk down Ludlow waving a rainbow flag or carrying a rainbow balloon is lazy and cowardly campaigning.....
It is completely arrogant to assume, that I am going to continue to support you when you don't give a damn about me....
I hope that maybe if enough LGBT community members read this and see some truth in what I write...maybe they will join me in a quiet protest.....
No visible support....no vote...simple....
And if you think you can get elected without the LGBT vote.....Think again...Go for it....
Mayor Mallory
Roxanne Qualls,
Laketa Cole,
Cecil Thomas
David Crowley.
To name a few.....
To be continued............................................
Pride Sunday, no matter where you are, meaning in what city you happen to reside, is a feel good day. For years, I have begun this Sunday, no matter where I lived, at brunch with friends, some easy conversation and good food before spending some time partying at the parade.
Since the parades, all over the country , are on Sunday, it's also a good time to see who went home with whom from the bar, on Saturday night... But I digress..
I intended to write a feel good piece about the parade because I do feel great from the camaraderie. For a change I wanted to not include politics on a feel good day, because politics feels like work to me and sometimes that's not good..
However, I can't do that today...I have to jump into politics for a little bit before I get to the feel good...so here goes...
I don't intend to vote for any person running for City Council who did not shake my hand in the Pride Parade today.
Greg Harris, Tony Fischer, and Laurie Quinlivan were there and shook my hand, coming out of the parade to meet and greet voters. They smiled, they looked me in the eye and they shook hands.
Now I can't say for a fact that they will support every issue that I think is important, but being strong enough to attend and march in the parade says a lot to me.
I will vote for Jennifer Brunner ...she wasn't there, but after that letter of support she wrote on marriage equality...can't say no to the lady, and she has to cover the whole state...
However...
These three asked for my vote....and you know what...I intend to give it to them....
I have a long personal and professional history with city council (going back to when my uncle was Vice mayor of this city) as well as many local, state and national Ohio politicians.
Some of them read my blog and tell me so....When we meet....
Some of my “friends and acquaintances” had people in the parade today...they weren't there themselves...but they had people in the parade....
And to them....I say this....It is not enough to have your token gay or lesbian staff member put on a shirt with your name on it and walk in my parade...and expect me to support you...
If you can't show up personally for an hour or so and look me in the eye and ask for my vote..
Then I got no use for you...
You are wasting my time....
Even if you are kinda sorta my cousin by marriage....
Having your token gay or dyke friend or the kid of your token, walk down Ludlow waving a rainbow flag or carrying a rainbow balloon is lazy and cowardly campaigning.....
It is completely arrogant to assume, that I am going to continue to support you when you don't give a damn about me....
I hope that maybe if enough LGBT community members read this and see some truth in what I write...maybe they will join me in a quiet protest.....
No visible support....no vote...simple....
And if you think you can get elected without the LGBT vote.....Think again...Go for it....
Mayor Mallory
Roxanne Qualls,
Laketa Cole,
Cecil Thomas
David Crowley.
To name a few.....
To be continued............................................
6.13.2009
Freelancing-Confessions of an All My Children Junkie
I have to confess, the soap opera All My Children rules my work day. I am a morning writer, a freelance writer, who works from home.
My brain functions best early in the day, shortly after daybreak and after I’ve breakfasted and meditated, doing my favored exercise this month. Sometimes that’s just reading the morning paper. I get comfortable, while grabbing my laptop and settle in to knock out the articles to which I’ve been assigned by my editor.
Utilizing Background Noise
The television is on for background noise, a habit I picked up while working in TV news for 27 years. The newsroom is always humming with background noise, primarily from the monitors, 30-40 TVs turned to every other news channel. You get used to working in the noise. In fact, I can’t do computer work at home without it, so I turn on the television set in my office and work away.
Dealing with Interruptions
Now in my neck of the woods AMC comes on at 1pm. That means I stop to eat lunch, check out the noon news, let the dogs outside and get myself settled for my date with Erica Kane and her friends, family and neighbors. I wasn’t always like this. I used to scoff at those who dropped everything to watch the soaps. When I worked at ABC, the newsroom literally ground to a halt because nearly everyone with a couple of exceptions like me, were hooked on the Ryan’s Hope-All My Children-General Hospital block. It was amazing that any news got covered at all during those two and a half hours. But we managed
Resistence is Futile
But somehow, while working at home alone, I got hooked. I started peeking at the soaps while writing. Then I started listening to the soaps. Then I started asking my sister to background me on what led up to what I was watching and not understanding. She’s been hooked for 40 years. My dad, too. He got hooked while changing work shifts from first to second. Finally, I had to stop pretending to work and just give in. I don’t write when All My Children is on.
I’ve got to see who killed Stuart, and why Liza is back in Pine Valley and whether David will get his come uppence or if Zach will get out of jail. I mean it is driving me crazy waiting to see this stuff unfold. I can’t believe it.
Pushing Through the Block
I should be searching for new writing gigs. I should be formatting new proposals, making new bids for newly posted jobs in the database. I need to do the things that will keep my work from home income from dropping below acceptable levels. Waiting for Erica Kane to pick out her 12th husband is not what an efficient freelancer should be doing with her day.
I am as disciplined as all get out, as long as AMC is not on. I can crank out with the best of them. However as long as Kendall Slater is being a self centered little tyrant, or crazy Annie is shooting people for justifiable reasons I’m catatonic, hanging on every word in the make believe world of soaps.
Junkie to the end.
My brain functions best early in the day, shortly after daybreak and after I’ve breakfasted and meditated, doing my favored exercise this month. Sometimes that’s just reading the morning paper. I get comfortable, while grabbing my laptop and settle in to knock out the articles to which I’ve been assigned by my editor.
Utilizing Background Noise
The television is on for background noise, a habit I picked up while working in TV news for 27 years. The newsroom is always humming with background noise, primarily from the monitors, 30-40 TVs turned to every other news channel. You get used to working in the noise. In fact, I can’t do computer work at home without it, so I turn on the television set in my office and work away.
Dealing with Interruptions
Now in my neck of the woods AMC comes on at 1pm. That means I stop to eat lunch, check out the noon news, let the dogs outside and get myself settled for my date with Erica Kane and her friends, family and neighbors. I wasn’t always like this. I used to scoff at those who dropped everything to watch the soaps. When I worked at ABC, the newsroom literally ground to a halt because nearly everyone with a couple of exceptions like me, were hooked on the Ryan’s Hope-All My Children-General Hospital block. It was amazing that any news got covered at all during those two and a half hours. But we managed
Resistence is Futile
But somehow, while working at home alone, I got hooked. I started peeking at the soaps while writing. Then I started listening to the soaps. Then I started asking my sister to background me on what led up to what I was watching and not understanding. She’s been hooked for 40 years. My dad, too. He got hooked while changing work shifts from first to second. Finally, I had to stop pretending to work and just give in. I don’t write when All My Children is on.
I’ve got to see who killed Stuart, and why Liza is back in Pine Valley and whether David will get his come uppence or if Zach will get out of jail. I mean it is driving me crazy waiting to see this stuff unfold. I can’t believe it.
Pushing Through the Block
I should be searching for new writing gigs. I should be formatting new proposals, making new bids for newly posted jobs in the database. I need to do the things that will keep my work from home income from dropping below acceptable levels. Waiting for Erica Kane to pick out her 12th husband is not what an efficient freelancer should be doing with her day.
I am as disciplined as all get out, as long as AMC is not on. I can crank out with the best of them. However as long as Kendall Slater is being a self centered little tyrant, or crazy Annie is shooting people for justifiable reasons I’m catatonic, hanging on every word in the make believe world of soaps.
Junkie to the end.
6.12.2009
Friday Rap
You're fired! Now Shut up and Go Away, Please!
Carrie Prejean...the fired Barbie Beauty....The new Christian right wing cutie who can't keep her mouth shut.....
She's been turned into the 21st century version of Anita Bryant....At least Anita had a real career and real fame before she started trashing talking....
What Prejean needs to understand is that she's not the only one with first amendment rights...she does have a right to her opinion....
But so do the rest of us.....Honest....Don't believe me...go ask the people on the right who are giving you the bad advice...
-0-
Black Baby Sale Goes on...
Madonna's been handed her latest Mommy publicity prop....I don't begrudge the kids....But I do question girlfriend's motives...it looks shallow...artificial....not real....sincere or genuine....Then again...who am I to judge....It is not my right to do so...
I wish little Mercy a good life and well being..
-0-
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah....
Darlin......you were used....you served a purpose....you been kicked to the curb....you're supposed to go away....
Not pick fights with celebrities who make their living making fun of people...
The more you squawk...the less presidential and governor-like you look...It will not....I repeat...will not translate into votes come 2012...
Give it up already..
-0-
Lawmakers bought and paid for by the Tobacco Industry....
Mitch McConnell....got nearly a half million dollars....nearly double the next name on the list...
Good old Mitch was just taking care of his corporate constituents, giving them the best law money can buy....
Have to admit, that I have a problem with legislation intended to change certain behaviors like smoking...
I think it's an ugly habit...but if you want to do it...then do it...
Kind of like telling me I shouldn't drink wine or beer....my poison....my choice...
Of course the difference is that drinking wine only kills me, maybe..while smoking cigarettes can kill others with second hand smoke...
Still....There is that thing called freedom of choice...isn't there....
Prohibition didn't work....the bogus war on drugs is a big failure and should be ended.....Prostitution bans only penalize the women....
This thing with tobacco....consenting adults should decide...if they're willing to pay the cost as well as the price..then..let em..
-0-
Officials bought and paid for by Saudi Arabia...
Some guy, who no one's ever heard of but who was a deputy director of the Agency that sells advanced weapons systems to foreign governments..
Seems one of the many Saudi princes picked up the travel tab of this guy..named...Richard Millies and his wife to vacation in Riyadh to attend a festival..the eight day trip cost $24,000.
The Saudis spent $4.4 billion to buy weapons including smart bombs...
And they paid the tabs of many other Pentagon officials desiring to spend time in the Middle East....a total of 22,000 trips by Pentagon officials and their families, costing the Saudi princes $26 million dollars...
Spending that kind of money....No wonder Bush chose to dump on Iraq rather than go after the country that spawned the 9/11 hijackers..
You can read more about it here...
-0-
In Fear of a Black Planet...
Not content to blame the victim...the pseudo christian conservative right is blaming Obama for the guys with the guns attempting to turn back time or die trying....
I don't know what all the fear is about now...Earth has always been a mostly Black planet....
Power changed when Europeans couldn't take control of the oil....like they did with land, gold, diamonds, religion and other wealth generating commodities....
With Obama...the pigeons are coming home to roost, so to speak....Karma comeback....
-0-
ChastityBono
Good luck Chaz....as you transition...I can't imagine what it must be like to have lived for 40 years knowing you were born in the wrong body.....
God may not make mistakes...But Mother Nature certainly does...
And apparently did....
Take care of yourself first, the others will come around later.
-0-
Pride Weekend
It's Pride weekend ….Let's go Party....
Yeah!
Carrie Prejean...the fired Barbie Beauty....The new Christian right wing cutie who can't keep her mouth shut.....
She's been turned into the 21st century version of Anita Bryant....At least Anita had a real career and real fame before she started trashing talking....
What Prejean needs to understand is that she's not the only one with first amendment rights...she does have a right to her opinion....
But so do the rest of us.....Honest....Don't believe me...go ask the people on the right who are giving you the bad advice...
-0-
Black Baby Sale Goes on...
Madonna's been handed her latest Mommy publicity prop....I don't begrudge the kids....But I do question girlfriend's motives...it looks shallow...artificial....not real....sincere or genuine....Then again...who am I to judge....It is not my right to do so...
I wish little Mercy a good life and well being..
-0-
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah....
Darlin......you were used....you served a purpose....you been kicked to the curb....you're supposed to go away....
Not pick fights with celebrities who make their living making fun of people...
The more you squawk...the less presidential and governor-like you look...It will not....I repeat...will not translate into votes come 2012...
Give it up already..
-0-
Lawmakers bought and paid for by the Tobacco Industry....
Mitch McConnell....got nearly a half million dollars....nearly double the next name on the list...
Good old Mitch was just taking care of his corporate constituents, giving them the best law money can buy....
Have to admit, that I have a problem with legislation intended to change certain behaviors like smoking...
I think it's an ugly habit...but if you want to do it...then do it...
Kind of like telling me I shouldn't drink wine or beer....my poison....my choice...
Of course the difference is that drinking wine only kills me, maybe..while smoking cigarettes can kill others with second hand smoke...
Still....There is that thing called freedom of choice...isn't there....
Prohibition didn't work....the bogus war on drugs is a big failure and should be ended.....Prostitution bans only penalize the women....
This thing with tobacco....consenting adults should decide...if they're willing to pay the cost as well as the price..then..let em..
-0-
Officials bought and paid for by Saudi Arabia...
Some guy, who no one's ever heard of but who was a deputy director of the Agency that sells advanced weapons systems to foreign governments..
Seems one of the many Saudi princes picked up the travel tab of this guy..named...Richard Millies and his wife to vacation in Riyadh to attend a festival..the eight day trip cost $24,000.
The Saudis spent $4.4 billion to buy weapons including smart bombs...
And they paid the tabs of many other Pentagon officials desiring to spend time in the Middle East....a total of 22,000 trips by Pentagon officials and their families, costing the Saudi princes $26 million dollars...
Spending that kind of money....No wonder Bush chose to dump on Iraq rather than go after the country that spawned the 9/11 hijackers..
You can read more about it here...
-0-
In Fear of a Black Planet...
Not content to blame the victim...the pseudo christian conservative right is blaming Obama for the guys with the guns attempting to turn back time or die trying....
I don't know what all the fear is about now...Earth has always been a mostly Black planet....
Power changed when Europeans couldn't take control of the oil....like they did with land, gold, diamonds, religion and other wealth generating commodities....
With Obama...the pigeons are coming home to roost, so to speak....Karma comeback....
-0-
ChastityBono
Good luck Chaz....as you transition...I can't imagine what it must be like to have lived for 40 years knowing you were born in the wrong body.....
God may not make mistakes...But Mother Nature certainly does...
And apparently did....
Take care of yourself first, the others will come around later.
-0-
Pride Weekend
It's Pride weekend ….Let's go Party....
Yeah!
6.11.2009
Old White Guy Sacrifice
The Wingnut KamiKazi Mission to Save/Bring Down America
Is this the way the Grand Ole Party is going to save itself from itself....Send the racist, homophobic, I hate everybody old dinosaurs of the right, on suicide missions ...to wipe out as many “enemies of America” as they can.....get killed in the process....and thereby purge the party of all the ugliness...so they can start over with newer, younger and more subtle ugliness..
Is this what they're doing...first Dr. George Tiller....Now Stephen Johns....Who's next...
Except these two shooters didn't die....they will survive to spew their hate from behind bars...to clueless reporters from the main stream media, only too happy to seek them out and then play it back to the rest of us..
Hope they lock em up in the chocolate wing of the prison where some muscle for brains knucklehead named Adebisi decides to make one of them his new wife...poetic justice..
“They made me do it”...
That's the excuse to kill innocents....or Black people, or Jews, or Hispanics, or some other alternative thinking-different looking person....
It's always “our” fault....the so called "victim" always does something to “provoke” these people....
“If I can't have(control)you.....no one will..”
The “it” was America's decision to put a Black man in the White House....a nationwide rejection of the status quo.....
It said to the old white guys and the young white guys in training.....”sorry....but Daddy really doesn't know best....”
And as any wife or girlfriend of an old white guy can tell you....they don't handle rejection at all...
They just start killing...or trying to kill...everyone they say they love and anyone nearby..
And all the while...the talking heads...the real hatemongers...the draft dodgers...the college dropouts...the pill-popping, red light district visiting hypocrite, sit back silently celebrating, taking no responsibility for their repeated calls to the old dinosaurs, egging them on to kill...
Well, you know what....The plan is not going to work....We've been there....done that...and we're still standing....
The battles of the 1960s were training sessions for what the conservative right is attempting to unleash today...And back then...the numbers against us were astronomical compared to now....
The most difficult thing about these kamikazi white guys today is it's hard to see them coming...
And I have a question about that too...
Both these last two shooters...as well as that Black simpleton muslim wannabe embarrassment, in Arkansas who killed the soldier... were on the FBI radar....for years....
Yet...they still got off enough rounds to kill people...
Is that the price of freedom in America?
In order for all of us to walk free...we have tolerate the crazies in our midst...even when we know the danger....just askin'
Old white guys and the GOP should know....We will not be moved...
Continue to Obfuscate.....spit your Hate....bring your guns....bring your dogs...bring your fire hoses...
It don't matter...
Never did.....
I've said it before...the only game we don't win...is the one we don't play....
This time....we playin' politics, baby.....from the White House..
And....we're packin'....
thank you second amendment and concealed carry...
So Get ready...cause it's on...
Is this the way the Grand Ole Party is going to save itself from itself....Send the racist, homophobic, I hate everybody old dinosaurs of the right, on suicide missions ...to wipe out as many “enemies of America” as they can.....get killed in the process....and thereby purge the party of all the ugliness...so they can start over with newer, younger and more subtle ugliness..
Is this what they're doing...first Dr. George Tiller....Now Stephen Johns....Who's next...
Except these two shooters didn't die....they will survive to spew their hate from behind bars...to clueless reporters from the main stream media, only too happy to seek them out and then play it back to the rest of us..
Hope they lock em up in the chocolate wing of the prison where some muscle for brains knucklehead named Adebisi decides to make one of them his new wife...poetic justice..
“They made me do it”...
That's the excuse to kill innocents....or Black people, or Jews, or Hispanics, or some other alternative thinking-different looking person....
It's always “our” fault....the so called "victim" always does something to “provoke” these people....
“If I can't have(control)you.....no one will..”
The “it” was America's decision to put a Black man in the White House....a nationwide rejection of the status quo.....
It said to the old white guys and the young white guys in training.....”sorry....but Daddy really doesn't know best....”
And as any wife or girlfriend of an old white guy can tell you....they don't handle rejection at all...
They just start killing...or trying to kill...everyone they say they love and anyone nearby..
And all the while...the talking heads...the real hatemongers...the draft dodgers...the college dropouts...the pill-popping, red light district visiting hypocrite, sit back silently celebrating, taking no responsibility for their repeated calls to the old dinosaurs, egging them on to kill...
Well, you know what....The plan is not going to work....We've been there....done that...and we're still standing....
The battles of the 1960s were training sessions for what the conservative right is attempting to unleash today...And back then...the numbers against us were astronomical compared to now....
The most difficult thing about these kamikazi white guys today is it's hard to see them coming...
And I have a question about that too...
Both these last two shooters...as well as that Black simpleton muslim wannabe embarrassment, in Arkansas who killed the soldier... were on the FBI radar....for years....
Yet...they still got off enough rounds to kill people...
Is that the price of freedom in America?
In order for all of us to walk free...we have tolerate the crazies in our midst...even when we know the danger....just askin'
Old white guys and the GOP should know....We will not be moved...
Continue to Obfuscate.....spit your Hate....bring your guns....bring your dogs...bring your fire hoses...
It don't matter...
Never did.....
I've said it before...the only game we don't win...is the one we don't play....
This time....we playin' politics, baby.....from the White House..
And....we're packin'....
thank you second amendment and concealed carry...
So Get ready...cause it's on...
6.06.2009
Last Man Standing-D Day, 2009
Black soldiers in World War II have been called the Ultimate Patriots of America...
They got this moniker because they fought and died for a country that refused to recognize their humanity before, during and after the great war. When they came home....
if they came home...
they were relegated to second class citizenship...the vestiges of which still exist today....
The last known member of the all Black 320th returns today to the beach at Normandy....You can read about it here...
I have already chronicled the story of the only Black women to be sent overseas during World War II....I have reposted that here as well...for anyone who likes history...
The story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory WAC Battalion
Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee Airmen, Black men, bigger than life historical figures. Their stories told over and over. Their exploits dramatized on television and in movies. Rightfully celebrated as warriors and men who helped to create this country we call America.
In recognition of their accomplishments, President Elect, Barack Obama, has invited the remaining members of the Tuskegee Airmen to attend his inauguration, in January.
That invitation should also be tendered to the members of the Women Army Corp, the Black WACs of World War II.
There is always a distaff side to history. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Women Army Corp Battalion, was the only unit of Black women to serve in the European theater during the great war.
As were all units, it was a segregated unit, created specifically to handle a monumental problem overseas.
You see, the mail, the packages, the letters and boxes of food, sent to the troops, piled up in a warehouse in Birmingham, England for the first few years of the war. The mail was not making it to the soldiers on the front lines.
The workers, both soldiers and civilians assigned to process the mail, were overwhelmed by the volume of their assigned task.
The 6888th CPD, was quickly formed. The unit was comprised of women from all over the country, who had signed up to serve.
My own great Aunt, Sargent Bessie L. Robinson, was one of them. If she hadn’t been a member, then I don’t think even I would have known of their existence, or their contributions to history.
I had the privilege of delivering the keynote speech at their first reunion, after the war, in June, 1979, in Cincinnati, Ohio. By this time, they were old, but still full of life, sparkling as they recalled the memories of their great adventures.
The women trained at Ft. Olgethorpe, in Georgia. Among other things, they had to complete five mile hikes in full battle gear, which included, pistols belts, gas masks, canteens, packs and helmets.
They made these hikes under, what the army calls, active war conditions, meaning, somebody was shooting at them, or blowing up stuff, while they did it. After training, the battalion boarded a special train to New York, and Camp Shanks.
From there, they took a ship to Europe, and on February 12th, 1945, they landed in Scotland and boarded a train for Birmingham, England. Battalion Command was entrusted to Major Charity Adams, who died in 2002.
The unit’s job was to clean up the backlog of mail. They accomplished it in record time, working two eight hours shifts, per day. They processed 65,000 pieces of mail per shift, in order to get the job done.
The 6888th CPD also served in Rouen, France as Allied troops liberated that country. They also pulled duty in Paris, France before returning home to the USA. Three members of the unit died while stationed in France.
While overseas, they learned about the death of FDR
They shook hands with America’s only Negro general at the time, Brigadier General, Benjamin O. Davis. He greeted them when they arrived in England.
When they returned to America, the 6888th was disbanded. The women dispersed. Some stayed in the service. Some retired and went home.
The war was over, the country was still segregated, and there was very little said or written about their tour of duty. The women who are still alive, are well into their 80's, now.
The unit totaled 824 women and 31 officers. My aunt, Sgt. Bessie, passed away several years ago. The small part of history that I have presented here was passed down orally.
A couple of books have been written, however, the official web sites, detailing the exploits of women in war, glance over, or fail to make any mention what so ever, of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
Take nothing away from the Tuskegee Airmen. They deserve their acolades. I'm just saying that someone should remember their sisters, too.
They got this moniker because they fought and died for a country that refused to recognize their humanity before, during and after the great war. When they came home....
if they came home...
they were relegated to second class citizenship...the vestiges of which still exist today....
The last known member of the all Black 320th returns today to the beach at Normandy....You can read about it here...
I have already chronicled the story of the only Black women to be sent overseas during World War II....I have reposted that here as well...for anyone who likes history...
The story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory WAC Battalion
Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee Airmen, Black men, bigger than life historical figures. Their stories told over and over. Their exploits dramatized on television and in movies. Rightfully celebrated as warriors and men who helped to create this country we call America.
In recognition of their accomplishments, President Elect, Barack Obama, has invited the remaining members of the Tuskegee Airmen to attend his inauguration, in January.
That invitation should also be tendered to the members of the Women Army Corp, the Black WACs of World War II.
There is always a distaff side to history. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Women Army Corp Battalion, was the only unit of Black women to serve in the European theater during the great war.
As were all units, it was a segregated unit, created specifically to handle a monumental problem overseas.
You see, the mail, the packages, the letters and boxes of food, sent to the troops, piled up in a warehouse in Birmingham, England for the first few years of the war. The mail was not making it to the soldiers on the front lines.
The workers, both soldiers and civilians assigned to process the mail, were overwhelmed by the volume of their assigned task.
The 6888th CPD, was quickly formed. The unit was comprised of women from all over the country, who had signed up to serve.
My own great Aunt, Sargent Bessie L. Robinson, was one of them. If she hadn’t been a member, then I don’t think even I would have known of their existence, or their contributions to history.
I had the privilege of delivering the keynote speech at their first reunion, after the war, in June, 1979, in Cincinnati, Ohio. By this time, they were old, but still full of life, sparkling as they recalled the memories of their great adventures.
The women trained at Ft. Olgethorpe, in Georgia. Among other things, they had to complete five mile hikes in full battle gear, which included, pistols belts, gas masks, canteens, packs and helmets.
They made these hikes under, what the army calls, active war conditions, meaning, somebody was shooting at them, or blowing up stuff, while they did it. After training, the battalion boarded a special train to New York, and Camp Shanks.
From there, they took a ship to Europe, and on February 12th, 1945, they landed in Scotland and boarded a train for Birmingham, England. Battalion Command was entrusted to Major Charity Adams, who died in 2002.
The unit’s job was to clean up the backlog of mail. They accomplished it in record time, working two eight hours shifts, per day. They processed 65,000 pieces of mail per shift, in order to get the job done.
The 6888th CPD also served in Rouen, France as Allied troops liberated that country. They also pulled duty in Paris, France before returning home to the USA. Three members of the unit died while stationed in France.
While overseas, they learned about the death of FDR
They shook hands with America’s only Negro general at the time, Brigadier General, Benjamin O. Davis. He greeted them when they arrived in England.
When they returned to America, the 6888th was disbanded. The women dispersed. Some stayed in the service. Some retired and went home.
The war was over, the country was still segregated, and there was very little said or written about their tour of duty. The women who are still alive, are well into their 80's, now.
The unit totaled 824 women and 31 officers. My aunt, Sgt. Bessie, passed away several years ago. The small part of history that I have presented here was passed down orally.
A couple of books have been written, however, the official web sites, detailing the exploits of women in war, glance over, or fail to make any mention what so ever, of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
Take nothing away from the Tuskegee Airmen. They deserve their acolades. I'm just saying that someone should remember their sisters, too.
6.04.2009
6.02.2009
Gay Pride Month...Big Whup!
Pardon me for being a day late, since I’m writing this on June 2nd, but there were other things on my mind from this past weekend....
Yesterday President Obama signed the first ever national proclamation designating June as LGBT Pride Month. Check out the statement here.
I will be perfectly honest with you, I feel the same way about Gay Pride Month that I feel about Black History Month....
I’m Black since birth....58 years....I’m lesbian since well, probably from birth, but I had the epiphany at the age of five the first time I fell in lust for a girl, so I figure I’ve been officially gay for the past 53 years...
So since I’m this way all of my life....24/7...365...366 during leap years.....one month don’t cut it....simply ain’t enough...I prefer to celebrate my fabulousness everyday and will....
However...
Black history is American history....I will not celebrate until all...history is taught as a part of the regular curriculum, period...It should not be a separate but unequal section in the Library, as it still is...There is more to Black history than Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers or Malcolm X....
The same holds true for LGBT Pride/history....let’s start with the Black openly gay man who stood beside Martin Luther King, yet is never mentioned when talking about the Black Civil Rights struggle....I’m talking about Bayard Rustin. You can read more about him here.
Suffice to say never got his due respect...
Obama’s proclamation comes 40 years after Stonewall...
Check out Stonewall history here...
During those 40 years, too many of us have been beaten or been killed.... The Black Community and Black Church remains as homophobic as ever.....Hate crimes continue to happen....two this past week in my neck of the woods...one passed off as a street robbery..but it was covered on the news...the other passed off as bar fight...instead of a homophobic attack...it, too received coverage on the news...that’s a good thing.....that is progress....
However...
I’m trying to be patient with Obama...but his foot dragging is honestly getting on my nerves...
Instead of the platitudes and "let’s all respect each other crap" I would love to see a little fire and kick ass attitude.... like.....I don’t know...."I’m the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces....and it’s gonna be this way from now on.....No More Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell..."
Worked for Truman when he desegregated the troops....
Or maybe...."I’ve changed my mind....gay marriage is better than civil unions... and prop 8 is bad law."
Smart man that he is Obama knows that there are a thousand federal benefits difference for couples between civil unions, domestic partners and marriage....so let’s cut the crap.....marriage between consenting adults is the only real equality....
Even if he can’t automatically reverse these crappy policies....he can at least speak out about them...decisively...instead of this namby pamby BS of....."We’ve got to love one another and respect one another".....or silence.....
Especially since I don’t see any bipartisan respect coming back in anything Obama’s done....
Don’t matter what he does....the so called right wing conservatives are so pissed off about having a Black man in their White House that he will never be able to do right in their eyes....
So...
When somebody spits in my face....I throw a left hook....plain and simple....Obama needs to flex those well honed muscles of his....
I would...
Obama’s got the people behind him....He’s got the numbers on Capital Hill....What are they going to do.....impeach him?....
they can try.....
Okay...given the choice of having an LGBT proclamation from the most powerful leader on earth....I am happy he did it....
Thank you Mr. President....
But I wish you’d put the hammer down and get to work....on some of the things that you promised during your campaign...
Yesterday President Obama signed the first ever national proclamation designating June as LGBT Pride Month. Check out the statement here.
I will be perfectly honest with you, I feel the same way about Gay Pride Month that I feel about Black History Month....
I’m Black since birth....58 years....I’m lesbian since well, probably from birth, but I had the epiphany at the age of five the first time I fell in lust for a girl, so I figure I’ve been officially gay for the past 53 years...
So since I’m this way all of my life....24/7...365...366 during leap years.....one month don’t cut it....simply ain’t enough...I prefer to celebrate my fabulousness everyday and will....
However...
Black history is American history....I will not celebrate until all...history is taught as a part of the regular curriculum, period...It should not be a separate but unequal section in the Library, as it still is...There is more to Black history than Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers or Malcolm X....
The same holds true for LGBT Pride/history....let’s start with the Black openly gay man who stood beside Martin Luther King, yet is never mentioned when talking about the Black Civil Rights struggle....I’m talking about Bayard Rustin. You can read more about him here.
Suffice to say never got his due respect...
Obama’s proclamation comes 40 years after Stonewall...
Check out Stonewall history here...
During those 40 years, too many of us have been beaten or been killed.... The Black Community and Black Church remains as homophobic as ever.....Hate crimes continue to happen....two this past week in my neck of the woods...one passed off as a street robbery..but it was covered on the news...the other passed off as bar fight...instead of a homophobic attack...it, too received coverage on the news...that’s a good thing.....that is progress....
However...
I’m trying to be patient with Obama...but his foot dragging is honestly getting on my nerves...
Instead of the platitudes and "let’s all respect each other crap" I would love to see a little fire and kick ass attitude.... like.....I don’t know...."I’m the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces....and it’s gonna be this way from now on.....No More Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell..."
Worked for Truman when he desegregated the troops....
Or maybe...."I’ve changed my mind....gay marriage is better than civil unions... and prop 8 is bad law."
Smart man that he is Obama knows that there are a thousand federal benefits difference for couples between civil unions, domestic partners and marriage....so let’s cut the crap.....marriage between consenting adults is the only real equality....
Even if he can’t automatically reverse these crappy policies....he can at least speak out about them...decisively...instead of this namby pamby BS of....."We’ve got to love one another and respect one another".....or silence.....
Especially since I don’t see any bipartisan respect coming back in anything Obama’s done....
Don’t matter what he does....the so called right wing conservatives are so pissed off about having a Black man in their White House that he will never be able to do right in their eyes....
So...
When somebody spits in my face....I throw a left hook....plain and simple....Obama needs to flex those well honed muscles of his....
I would...
Obama’s got the people behind him....He’s got the numbers on Capital Hill....What are they going to do.....impeach him?....
they can try.....
Okay...given the choice of having an LGBT proclamation from the most powerful leader on earth....I am happy he did it....
Thank you Mr. President....
But I wish you’d put the hammer down and get to work....on some of the things that you promised during your campaign...
6.01.2009
A Use For the Patriot Act
Make no mistake about it, I consider the USA Patriot Act, pushed through Congress by Bush&Co, into law just 34 days after 9/11, to be very bad law.
It should not be on the books, if America is to remain the Republic and bastion of personal freedoms that we delude ourselves into thinking that it is.
However, since it is on the books and the Obama Administration is so far comfortable in leaving it there intact, then I think it should be put to use post haste.
The Patriot Act can legally be used to go after domestic terrorists such as the guy who killed Dr. George Tiller, yesterday while he was at church.
Those of us old enough to remember, recall the days when the so called pro life movement regularly used this kind of activity to scare doctors and medical providers away from rendering legal medical help to women, and also to scare women into hiding, fearful of the crazed masses of pro-birth fanatics camped outside clinics.
Yesterday’s killing was merely the first salvo.
The killings always follow after movement leaders or talking heads take to the airwaves stirring up the base to take action to save the babies..no matter who else dies in the process.
Title VIII of the Patriot Act redefines the term "domestic terrorism" to include assassination or kidnaping as terrorist activity in addition to mass murder and destruction. The murder of Dr. Tiller was assassination, plain and simple.
The definition also takes in activities that are "dangerous to human life, that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any State.....that are intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.... or influence the policy of a government..
The Patriot Act also defines the steps that can be taken to penalize those who support the terrorist. It is a crime to harbor or to conceal a terrorist or to help them in any way.
The government can legally seize any property or bank accounts of any group or individual who gives so much as information or vocal support to terrorists. Supporters can be jailed for up to 10 years in federal prison.
Remember how pro birth radical Eric Rudolph was found practically hiding in plain sight for several years. Many people in the area helped him elude authorities. Rudolph bombed the Atlanta Summer Olympics killing five people...he confessed to bombing women's clinics, and gay clubs.
He had help doing what he did...those helpers have not even been arrested, or prosecuted.
And, inciting to riot or to do violence is not protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution either. The Federal Communications Commission would be within its rights to levy some heavy fines, rather than twiddling their thumbs or worrying over the ramiifications of Janet Jackson’s nipples at the Superbowl.
Ya hearin’ me.....Bill....Rush...Randall Terry...Dick....Tancredo...Newt?
Although these clowns will never take responsibility for the effect of their words. Nor will anyone in the mainstream media be bold enough to step back from the controversy and not give these men the platform they crave. After all they do serve the same master....broadcasters and newscasters all owned by the same corporations chasing the same big bucks to fuel the bottom-line.
Nobody bites the hand of the man who signs their paychecks..
These days..the guys in government...the guys on the radio and at the news desks and own the corporations...are all the same...
It should not be on the books, if America is to remain the Republic and bastion of personal freedoms that we delude ourselves into thinking that it is.
However, since it is on the books and the Obama Administration is so far comfortable in leaving it there intact, then I think it should be put to use post haste.
The Patriot Act can legally be used to go after domestic terrorists such as the guy who killed Dr. George Tiller, yesterday while he was at church.
Those of us old enough to remember, recall the days when the so called pro life movement regularly used this kind of activity to scare doctors and medical providers away from rendering legal medical help to women, and also to scare women into hiding, fearful of the crazed masses of pro-birth fanatics camped outside clinics.
Yesterday’s killing was merely the first salvo.
The killings always follow after movement leaders or talking heads take to the airwaves stirring up the base to take action to save the babies..no matter who else dies in the process.
Title VIII of the Patriot Act redefines the term "domestic terrorism" to include assassination or kidnaping as terrorist activity in addition to mass murder and destruction. The murder of Dr. Tiller was assassination, plain and simple.
The definition also takes in activities that are "dangerous to human life, that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any State.....that are intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.... or influence the policy of a government..
The Patriot Act also defines the steps that can be taken to penalize those who support the terrorist. It is a crime to harbor or to conceal a terrorist or to help them in any way.
The government can legally seize any property or bank accounts of any group or individual who gives so much as information or vocal support to terrorists. Supporters can be jailed for up to 10 years in federal prison.
Remember how pro birth radical Eric Rudolph was found practically hiding in plain sight for several years. Many people in the area helped him elude authorities. Rudolph bombed the Atlanta Summer Olympics killing five people...he confessed to bombing women's clinics, and gay clubs.
He had help doing what he did...those helpers have not even been arrested, or prosecuted.
And, inciting to riot or to do violence is not protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution either. The Federal Communications Commission would be within its rights to levy some heavy fines, rather than twiddling their thumbs or worrying over the ramiifications of Janet Jackson’s nipples at the Superbowl.
Ya hearin’ me.....Bill....Rush...Randall Terry...Dick....Tancredo...Newt?
Although these clowns will never take responsibility for the effect of their words. Nor will anyone in the mainstream media be bold enough to step back from the controversy and not give these men the platform they crave. After all they do serve the same master....broadcasters and newscasters all owned by the same corporations chasing the same big bucks to fuel the bottom-line.
Nobody bites the hand of the man who signs their paychecks..
These days..the guys in government...the guys on the radio and at the news desks and own the corporations...are all the same...