Friday Rap

The Poisoning of Puerto Rico

If your Puerto Rican friends go home to the island for a visit, return to the hood and start growing an extra set of arms, you will understand why after reading this.

Once again the government is refusing to admit responsibility, totally denying there is a problem. The federal courts are so far blocking all lawsuits in connection.

-0-

Face to face...belly to belly...not anymore...

The art of conversation is passing out of existence...a report out today says that voice communication on cell phones is stagnating...meaning there is more texting and data tranferral going on than anything else....talking...well.... no one is doing it....apparently not even on the telephone these days....

-0-

LeBron, LeBron

The problem with labeling yourself King is that once you do it....you have to live up to it...as in win championships...disappearing when the game is on the line....not good...maybe it's the curse of Cleveland...maybe a change of scenery will help....New York, maybe?

Won't matter, Kobe and Phil are still together in Los Angeles...

-0-

11^th Leading cause of death in America is suicide...in fact there are twice as many suicides in the US as there are murders each year. According to the Center for Disease Control, men, Native Americans, white people and those primarily between the ages of 45 and 54 are the ones doing away with themselves.

Used to be only people over 80 were killing themselves in record numbers. You can read it here.

-0-

Definition of a bully.....Dr. Phil

-0-

That's just nasty

Seems many people like to eat while they bang on their keyboards..and I'm no exception...However...I don't allow the food to touch the board...I don't even sit whatever I'm munching on, on the same table...meaning I literally have to pivot in my seat to reach the snack....

But I guess most don't take those precautions because a new report out today says people are endangering their health by eating while typing....

So what's the danger of a few cookie crumbs caught between your keys.....Mice! Disease carrying mice!

You can read it here.

-0-

Gorgeous George Rekers

The right reverend George has resigned his position at his anti gay organization NARTH, the group that says gays can be cured...this from a guy who vacations with male hookers that he finds on the internet..

Question: If homosexuality can be cured....why didn't Georgie cure himself? Hmmmmmmmm?

And where is Georgie's ex...the Reverend James Dobson in all this...you telling me he didn't know when he and Georgie founded their Family Focus Council or whatever it is?

Maybe Dobson was blinded by Georgie's Village People mustache and couldn't see past the bush...

-0-

Arizona hates colored people

************************************************************

HOW ABOUT IT, CINCINNATI REDS....MOVE SPRING TRAINING OUT OF ARIZONA AND BACK TO FLORIDA!

***********************************************************

Now the bigots in Arizona are justifying their ethnic cleansing campaign by using Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech.....as an illustration of the kind of stuff that teaches folks to hate white people...

Trust me when I say this white people....you don't have to do another thing...to make us not like you...you've got years....years of shit...we can hate you for.....

An ethnic studies class is only the tip of the iceberg.....ethnic classes don't even begin to scratch the surface...

Outlaw them if you want to...won't make any difference...except maybe by creating that HUGE multi colored voting block that scares the crap out of republicans...

Ethnic Solidarity....can't wait for the elections come November.....

Obama already has 99% of the black vote....Imagine...99% of the Hispanic vote...99% of the Native American vote....99% of the Muslim vote....the stuff of nightmares for teabagging bigots..A real PUSH Rainbow Coalition...Jessie Jackson is cheesin' somewhere in Chicago at the thought...

Think about it GOP...ya'll done f**** up again..And there not enough deluded Clarence Thomas, Shelby Steele, or Michael Steele types runnin' around to save your ass...

-0-

Avery*Sunshine...my friend Max Reddick turned me onto this lady this week...been grooving to her since then....ending my weekly rant on a positive note....Sing it with me...A-V-E-R-Y SUUN-SHINE!

Kicking the Habit

I'm not sure when I lost my taste for all things sports. I grew up living and dying with the Cincinnati Reds and Royals....I remember being on my dad's shoulders at Fountain Square in 1961, I think..when the the Reds beat the Pirates for the Pennant..

You're talking to someone who couldn't eat for three days after Carlton Fisk hit the homerun to win game six of the '75 World Series. I was in the sports booth when he did it. I was there working as a sports reporter.

I mean what people tend to forget is that the playoffs with the Pirates went down to bottom of the ninth, two outs in two games, before the Reds pulled it out to even get to the World Series.

During the celebration on Fountain Square, in 1976, I was standing, interviewing the police chief when somebody threw a 40 ounce beer bottle at him. It shattered on the wall between us...The Reds went on to beat the Yankees that year...

I used to watch the games from the announce booth with the voice of the Reds, Paul Summercamp. Gordie Coleman and Paul Rathgaber were there, too, sometimes.

Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Oscar Robertson's brother Baily were neighbors. Baily was one of my softball coaches. My other coach was Tom Turner of the Negro Baseball Leagues..

My parents were jocks. I thought everyone got up before the crack of dawn to go run six miles on the track at Walnut Hills High School and then go to the Melrose Y to spar, shadowbox in the ring and work the speed bag in the gym. My Dad did that and took me with him. I was two or three...walking..but not much else.

My mom played ball and bowled..She was a highly ranked amateur in Ohio, matching my father's prowess in the boxing ring..

My parents and I used to go to every Mohammed Ali fight...I stood between them as my mom rooted for Joe Frazier and me and Dad rooted for Ali....It was a long ride home the night Frazier beat Ali..Mom has never let us forget it...to this day..

I mean, when I was a kid my Sundays didn't start with church...they started with the Cleveland Browns...Jim Brown...Lou Groza...Paul Warfield..the holy trinity..

Loving sports was in my blood. And it lasted a long time. I mean I lived in Chicago the entire time that Michael Jordan played with the Bulls..retired...came back...played again...Michael had this habit of working out at various gyms around the city. One day, for three days, he chose mine on Broadway...He got a good workout...we just watched surreptitiously while playing with the weights and attempting to be cool as he stood among us...

I can remember getting dressed to join my friends at one of the play off games when OJ decided to do his slo-mo run from police. Chicago TV split screened the chase with the game.

I never made it to the game to be with my friends that night, but I do remember sitting there half dressed...watching that split screen...with tears streaming down my face....watching my old hero and my new hero...simultaneously...

It was a joyous time in Chicago...I lived a few blocks from Wrigley Field...open my windows and I could hear Harry Carey sing during the seventh inning....

I braved below zero temperatures along with 3 million other people to welcome home the Bears after the Superbowl...It was magic...

One night after reporting from the Virginia Slims tennis tournament...I was on a city bus that turned over after the driver fell asleep at the wheel and hit an abutment....My knee got stepped on in the ensuing stampede off the bus...I was the only one carried off the bus...If you see me limping today, as I sometimes do...it's because of this particular sports injury...

I played sports....I watched sports....I breathed sports....I worked sports.....

Yet...It no longer dominates...like it used to...

I don't care if Michael Vick finds a new team.....or if there is a coverup surrounding Ben Rothlisberger...

Nor do I care if Pete Rose is reinstated....Hell, unless ESPN takes over ABC network for some sporting event...I never see it these days...

And while I still turn him on to watch or to keep track....I realize that I don't really like Tiger Woods...

He is amazing at his sport...but he seems.....not human....more humanoid...no spark...nothing going on inside....

Same for Roger Federer....mechanical efficiency...yet incites no passion...

Rafa incites passion...but I can take it or leave it..

There is nothing that keeps me coming back anymore... except maybe the Williams sisters.....I guess my passion is gone...

These amazingly talented individuals work their sports like it is a business...and it is....but business is not exciting or passionate..

It's not sport..

and no longer worth my attention..

Monday Morning Meanderings

Rich Man’s Justice

Bernie Madoff...you know the story by now. Bilked family, friends, clients and customers of an estimated 50 billion dollars, by way of an elaborate ponzi scheme. His sons turned him in. Several business associates who trusted him, have killed themselves, because they couldn’t face the monetary losses. All this while the SEC looked the other way, allowing yet another rich man to feed his greed.

Bernie’s been under house arrest since the scandal broke, living in a seven million dollar apartment with an ankle bracelet, so he can’t legally go anywhere of any consequence, like out of the country. 

This past Christmas, Bernie got caught mailing out a couple million dollars in watches and jewelry to relatives, I would imagine to hide the loot, or to take it to a pawn shop to raise some cash. Whatever his reason, he got caught. It was against the rules laid out by the judge. 

You would think that the judge would have put ole Bernie in jail for violating the terms of his arrest. Well, think again.

The judge slapped him on the wrist with a ruler and sent him back to his multi million dollar jail cell, in Manhattan, to await trial. What we have here is the best justice that money can buy.  

Put his ass in Riker’s. He has not demonstrated any remorse...not said he’s sorry for the guys who’ve killed themselves...He’s literally screwed his family and he gets to wait in a seven million dollar walk up in Manhattan. 

Why is it that rich people do the crime...but never, ever do the time....

-0-

Oakland Execution

A black man gets arrested by police for partying too much. He’s made to lay face down on the ground. One officer puts his knee on the man’s back. Another officer pulls his gun puts the muzzle to the man’s back and pulls the trigger. All this in front of a crowd with cell phone cameras. You can see the execution on Youtube.  The cop has not been arrested or charged. Oakland people have been rioting for a several days. The mainstream media has not really reported this story, yet. 

The same goes for former Cincinnati Reds Player, Bobbie Tolan’s kid Robbie. Robbie and his cousin were accosted by a police officer in Houston, in his driveway. Robbie and cuz had completed a run to Jack in the Box for some burgers...kind of like us in the Queen City, jonesing for White Castle. Robbie was driving a real expensive car and lives in a pretty white neighborhood. 

The cop took him for a car thief. Somehow during the confrontation, Robbie was shot in the chest. He is alive. But....Shot by a cop, in his own driveway, in his own neighborhood that was not the ghetto...This the son of a reasonably famous sports figure? It happened just after New Years....Why is nobody talking or reporting about this? Did I miss this story? 

-0-

Black Reporters

Now that we’ve got a Black president (soon), a lot of people are asking why are there so few black reporters in the White House Press Corp. I’ve been asking that question for years, since 1974, when I became a reporter.  The main stream is no different than any other American corporate establishment...overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly white. 

Despite all the talk about post racial America now that Obama is set to live in the White House, the window dressing factor is still in play....in other words.....one black face, occasionally, or at the receptionist desk up front, equals integration and equality.

They want more Black reporters....call me....I will be happy to come out of retirement.  You want my resume, read my blogs and call me. 

-0-

Dubya’s Last News Conference

Bush held his last news conference today....said the economic trouble started before he got into office and will continue after he leaves...REALLY!  Dubya also said he made some mistakes....SHUTUP!....Says we “misunderestimated him!”  WTF!

-0-

Joe the Plumber, er War Correspondent

I can’t really comment on this...He’s in Israel. I find it tremendously insulting to those of us who are or were REALLY reporters. It’s like a two year old picking up a toy gun and playing soldier.

Give me a f**** break...

-0-

My Boy Ann

Anyone get the latest about Ann Coulter’s voting misadventures? If I read correctly, sort of between the lines...isn’t the guy who broke the story...the one she calls a stalker....saying that girlfriend voted twice...isn’t that illegal? Shouldn’t she be locked up for voter fraud? It’s in the Daily News, this past weekend.  She never denied the report...just claimed the guy was stalking her..hmmmmmmmmmm

-0-

The Atlantic ran an article titled, “The End of White America.”  The article rightly claims that America is getting browner. But that only means more poor people. So called whites, still control most of the wealth, Bob Johnson, his ex and Oprah are still anomalies rather than the norm.