The Accidental President

Until Bill Clinton came along, Gerald R. Ford was my favorite president. He is still in my top two.

He never intended to be president, just like I never intended to be a reporter. The stars lined up and we did what we did.

He was selected in 1973, to replace Spiro T. Agnew, as Richard Nixon’s vice president. He ascended to the White House when Nixon was forced to resign. Mr, Ford is the only man to serve as vice president and president without being elected to either office.

While all this was going on, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I had no clear plan. I never thought a black woman could have a future in radio and television. But it happened and in 1976, I met Gerald Ford, president of the United States of America.

I met him when I was a rookie reporter and he was a rookie president. He always had an easygoing way about him. He always smiled, looked you in the eye and if you were close enough, shook your hand.

His handshake wasn’t that phony politician wet fish handshake. It was real. Solid. Firm. Friendly.

Mr. Ford always remembered your name. I wasn’t a national reporter at the time, but I covered him several times, at different times around the country, and after that first time, he always called me Jo.

Back in the day, before Hinckly shot Reagan, it was possible to get close to the president and sometimes Mr. Ford would hang around and chat. He talked sports, current events, and sometimes even asked about your life. Nothing special. Just chitchat before things turned official.

I liked him and looked forward to seeing him, even when there was no chitchat. His eyes always said “hello” even when he couldn’t.

Gerald Ford and others, like Barry Goldwater, Jimmy Carter, George McGovern, Ed Muskie, Tip O’Neill, are the last of a dying breed of bigger than life men, who never took themselves so seriously that they couldn’t connect with just plain folks.

Gerald Ford was a nice guy, period.

Rest in peace, Mr. President.


(originally published in CRAM Magazine, Volume 2, 6/2006)

If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix it...

Later this week the Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue a long awaited decision to allow the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals.

Now according to all scientific testing so far, cloned food products are no different from natural food products. However, when polled about the subject, most folks don’t like the idea of eating anything with the word “cloned” attached to it.

I have to admit. I feel the same way. I realize cloning is the wave of the future. I realize the issue has been studied and will continue to be analyzed after the stuff hits the shelves for purchase.

I also realize that we have been eating genetically altered food stuffs for years. It just hasn’t come from cloned animals, yet.

I’m just, well, queasy about the idea. I don’t trust the source. I don’t trust the food stuffs. I don’t trust the scientists who clones the animals, who make the food, that I’m expected to buy and consume. The ultimate result in nearly all endeavors is to make money. And as we all know, some folks will do anything to make a buck.

We consumers are caught between a rock and hard place. Many of our health problems can be directly traced back to the food we eat and the fertilizers and growth hormones that are used to grow our food. The FDA is not the most vigilant of agencies, as we already know. Many of its rulings and approvals are political with little, or no regard for the consumer.

If we buy organically produced food, then we have to ransom our kids in order to buy it and to feed them. So, what do we do? Buy cloned food? Will it be cheaper? Will it be as wholesome as organic? Will it be healthier for us in the long run?

I guess, what I’m feeling is that the entire population is like a test rat living in a cage in some gigantic scientific testing facility. We’re being injected, poked and studied to see what will happen. The results take years to manifest. The same is true for the stuff we eat. It may take years to really tell what happens when we consume cloned food stuffs.

And one final question; given the regulations for what has to be put on a food label, will we even know that we’re eating cloned meat or drinking cloned milk?

Happy ChrismaKwanzaHannuka, Everyone

Taking a break...
May your holiday celebrations be free of stress and happy...
See you next year...

Was I Supposed to be a Boy?

I have never questioned my sexuality because I’ve been pretty convinced, almost since I was born, that I’m gay. I’m also quite sure about my gender. I’m a girl. I like makeup, and dresses and being overly emotional sometimes, and having the door opened for me and all that other feminine happy horse-stuff. I even like guys thinking they are smarter than me just because they are guys. It’s more fun when I demonstrate they’re not.

But 56 years after I’m born comes the question, was I supposed to be a boy!?

No, I’m not having gender issues. I don’t see any need to cut off my boobs. Gravity is rapidly taking them out of eyesight anyway, deflating them to where they lay down and will, in a few years, give me a more flat chested appearance, whether I want one or not.

And no, I’ve never felt the need to pee standing up, and the head perched on my shoulders functions quite well thank you, so I don’t need a backup between my legs.

So, why am I questioning myself, today?

Well, a couple of reports are floating around alleging that people are more aggressive and can think more rationally, if they got more testosterone in utero.

According to the BBC report, more testosterone means you can park your car better than someone who didn’t get much testosterone in utero. But it also means if you got it, then you probably drive like a crazy person, and are the reason for the creation of the term “road rage.”

For the unenlightened, “in utero” means while still inside your mom’s body. Testosterone is the male hormone that makes men, well men. As we women age and lose estrogen, which makes us women, we grow beards and exhibit other male like tendencies. Old men also tend to start looking and acting like old women, too, which proves they also have some estrogen in their bodies, but that’s for another day.

The way you can tell if you got the masculine dose of testosterone, but still look like a girl, is your ring finger, in relation to your index finger. If your ring finger is longer than your index finger, then you got more testosterone in utero.

That means you can probably parallel park your car exactly between the lines and you probably drive way too aggressively for your own good.

It’s more pronounced on my left hand, but my ring fingers are definitely longer than my index fingers.

Hmm...I guess that also explains why I’m good at sports, can think my way out of a paper bag, I drive too fast, look good in a fedora or newsboy cap, prefer trousers to mini skirts, and hate Joan Crawford “come-f**k-me-pumps.”

Running for President

The possibility of a Barack Obama candidacy for president raises a lot of questions about the American people. The first and foremost, or course, is whether or not whites and some blacks, would be willing to support a black man in his quest for this country’s highest office.

Obama represents the second black man who actually has the opportunity to pursue the presidency with the potential for success. The first was General Colin Powell. General Powell opted not to throw his hat into the ring, reportedly because his wife feared for his safety.

The Obama camp reportedly is also considering or has considered the safety factor. The bogeyman for blacks seeking higher office remains the white man with the sniper rifle.

Safety is not something usually discussed with white candidates. They don’t fear for their life when seeking higher office. The average white candidate doesn’t need to fear for his life in politics. They only worry about whether or not they have or can raise money for the campaign.

And that speaks to the underlying racism still permeating this country. For blacks, it’s the knowledge that going down some streets or traveling through some neighborhoods can still get you assaulted or killed in America. It’s not about being a politician. It’s about having power over whites, something that some whites simply will not allow.

As a country, we have not dealt with our racial feelings. We think we have. We respond to the racism polls as if we’ve put racism and racial thinking behind us, but we really haven’t.

A recent CNN poll reveals the deep disparity on race between blacks and whites. Whites think the problem is solved. Blacks are nearly united in thinking racism is still a very real problem in America.

Racism has changed. It’s not about slavery, jim crow, or segregation of the races. The laws of the land have done away with these concrete situations. The perception of racial inequality has been slower to change and therein lies the problem.

Just because the law says everyone is equal doesn’t mean that folks think that way. Mindset, just like morality, cannot be legislated away. It has to die off.

So until that happens, black presidential candidates will worry about their safety first and their fundraising abilities second while being twice as qualified as the white guy to handle the job.

Marching Backward

The boys of Ohio won a big one this week when state legislators overturned a Bob Taft veto of the current concealed carry gun law. The override abolished more than 80 local gun ordinances, including Cincinnati’s ban on assault weapons. The laws will actually fade away in 90 days.

The governor said he vetoed the state law because it was too broad and overturned the local ordinances. But the cave dwellers of the republican controlled legislature sided with the gun freaks of the NRA and went against the Governor.

So now it’s okay to own military style guns inside city limits again.

An assault weapon, for those of you who don’t know, are semi automatic rifles, pistols or shotguns originally designed for military or police use with larger than normal ammunition capacity. The bullets are typically housed in a removable clip. Semi automatic means you have to keep pulling the trigger.

The veto override now allows citizens to possess a semi automatic that can hold 10 or more bullets in a removable clip.

Fully automatic weapons are banned by federal law for everyone except the military, police and 007 types. It is possible for a private citizen to purchase a fully automatic weapon if they can get ATF, the county sheriff or police chief to sign off on the request and also pass an extensive background check. And after all that, it must be legal in the state of residence, too.

This is wonderful news for a city that is in the midst of a record breaking year for murders. So far there are 79 on the books. The record set back in 1967 at 82.

An American President named Hussein

I’ve been taking a breather from politics since the election. I’m tired of thinking about elections and presidents and presidential edicts and Iraq position papers and recommendations. I would prefer to write about other things now, but the thought of a presidential candidate in 2008, with the middle name of Hussein has gotten inside my head.

Barack Hussein Obama....can it happen?

Media has gone crazy over the first black man with a real chance at the White House, who might even want it. Colin Powell had a chance, but he didn’t want to take the risk. Obama hasn’t declared, but he’s put his big toe into the water to test the temperature.

At this point the welcome has been overwhelming. The talking heads on television refer to him as a “rock star” selling “hope.” Certainly looks like he is the flavor of the month. At least for now. But it’s early. Way too early to get serious about 2008.

His message is strictly uplifting lightness, no substance, yet. He’s in the honeymoon stage where no one is digging just yet. But you know if he decides to run, it will get ugly.

Just take his middle name, for instance. Prior to Obama coming into the picture we’ve had Saddam and a host of other Husseins, all with bad terroristic connotations attached. Will the American people be able or willing to distinguish between good Husseins and bad Husseins? Or will they just paint all Husseins with the same negative paint brush and go on and vote for the rich white guy?

The rich white guys are an interesting lot, too. Dennis the Menace Kucinich is tossing his hat back into the ring. So is former New York Mayor Giuliani who occasionally cross dresses and supports LGBT rights, and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney a Mormon, to name a few. Kucinich is a joke, Giuliani should be a democrat instead of a republican and Mitt has the problem of religion. Many Christian conservatives consider the Church of Latter Day Saints to be a cult. Romney also has the flipflop factor going. Last year he was for gay rights and pro choice, this year he’s not. I guess it depends on who’s listening when he talks.

It’s refreshing that the present front runner is female. Hilary Clinton is the woman to beat. She is formidable and the first woman to mount a real and legitimate challenge to the old boys club. But her baggage may drag her down, and I’m not just talking about Bill.

She is one of the democrats who voted with Dubya on going to war in Iraq. She hasn’t disavowed the vote only said we misunderstood. She needs to display more spine and less political equivocation.

But back to Obama. I listened and was uplifted by his speech in 2004. But political speeches are like sex, they feel good while they’re happening. It’s what comes after that really matters.

I need to hear that he is serious about running.

I need to hear where he stands on issues....ending the fiasco in Iraq, foreign policy, health care for the masses, social security, taxes, AIDS, funding for public schools, don’t ask, don’t tell, affirmative action, birth control, a woman’s right to choose, black on black crime, repeal of the sunset clause on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, repeal of the Patriot Act, revamp of FEMA and Homeland Security, etc..

I need to hear about all that stuff and more before I make a decision.

My feeling is that Barack will probably end up as somebody’s vice presidential candidate until he gets more seasoning in the national arena.

A vice president named Hussein would be a step in the right direction, too.

If it happens, you can bet that one of the first laws proposed will be to change who can run for president, in order to allow Ahnold his shot at running the whole country.

Hmmm, America really is changing before my eyes, becoming the melting pot that it has long been reputed to be.

Progress!

Monday Meanderings...

Getting rid of face time.....Best Buy is going to put its entire workforce on flextime. From now on workers will be judged on what they produce rather than how long they spend being seen at the office. There will no longer be anything like arriving late or leaving early. There will be no schedules or mandatory meetings....as long as you produce.

****
Diana........yet another report on Princess Diana’s death. Now we learn her driver was drunk and she wasn’t wearing a seat belt. This woman died in 1997....when is she going to be laid to rest?

****
Sean Bell execution....first reports from police about the killing of Sean Bell don’t mention a fourth man in Bell’s car....Police have been terrorizing blacks in New York, looking for the mysterious fourth man who they say took away the guns alleged to have been inside Bell’s car the night of the shooting. Witnesses to the execution and the surviving men inside the car say the only guns present were those carried by the police. 50 rounds were fired at Bell and his friends as he left a strip club bachelor party the day he was to be married.

****
Eartha returns to the White House...has anything changed? The legendary performer was last at the White House during the Vietnam war when Johnson was president. She spoke her mind against the war and was promptly blackballed from performing in America. She apparently returned to the Bush White House last week at the invitation of the president.....Different war....but similarly problematic...According to reports, Ms Kitt kept her thoughts to herself this time...

****
Ancient Greeks had computers.....a recent find in a 2000 year old ship wreck in the Aegean sea off the island of Crete turns out to have been an analog computer. Scientists are totally baffled by the find....they are trying to figure out how it worked and who invented it...probably was a gift exchanged from an early close encounter of the third kind, way back when.

****
Iran holocaust conference...opens today for those seeking to prove the mass killing of jews during World War II didn’t happen. Many Americans are in attendance including six members of an orthodox Jewish sect, two of whom are allegedly rabbis...Critics have long said the holocaust was the illegal justification for the creation of the state of Israel.

Dick’s Little Girl, Mary

Mary Cheney, Dick’s little girl is pregnant. Mary and her lesbian girlfriend Heather have decided to have a baby 15 years into their quietly closeted relationship.

LGBT activists have their collective drawers in a knot because Mary is living her life of rich white privilege, rather than being the poster child for queer activism.

Why get upset. The fault lines in this country have always been driven by money. If you have it you’re cool. If you don’t then you have to follow the laws of the land or face penalty.

Mary doesn’t have to follow the law. Her dad is the Vice President of the United States of America. He is the head NeoCon in charge. Dubya is his lap dog. Who is going to tell Dick Cheney’s daughter, that she can’t do what she chooses when she chooses to do it? Daddy and his crowd make the laws, They never said their kids had to follow them, too.

That’s what the poor and middle class are for....obeying the laws, paying taxes and fighting wars....so they don’t have to.

The state where Mary lives, won’t allow her to marry her partner. Does it matter what the law says? 38 states and counting have anti gay laws on the books. Does it matter when it comes to rich people?

Who is going to tell Mary’s partner, Heather, she can’t visit Mary in the hospital or she can’t pick the kid up at school because she is not a relative, or she can’t say how the child is to receive medical treatment because she is not a parent?

Right wing conservative Christians who would just as soon put all queers in concentration camps or biblically throw them to the lions, have apparently given Mary a pass. They’ve been looking the other way all her life. Or for the past 15 years, at least.

Their kids, colleagues, and neighbors are all allowed personal lives. The Mark Foleys of the world are always well known within the circle. Every congressman and congressional worker knows who is queer on capitol hill. They just don’t tell the under privileged poor and middle class.

Mary Cheney’s pregnancy is just another example of “do as I say.....not as I do.”

Welcome to America..

Monday Meanderings

The murder rate in Cincinnati is on record pace this year. Three weeks to go until 2007 and already 79 people have been killed, including a 17 year old yesterday.

Maybe we need to work on getting the guns off the streets. Maybe it’s time to outlaw the NRA and it’s gun pandering lobby just like we’ve outlawed smoking.

Maybe if there were fewer guns...harder to get...harder to own...killing wouldn’t be the sport that it has obviously become.

*****

20 years and you get a lousy polo shirt....that’s Walmart’s answer to improving the lives of its workers. Walmart has apparently instituted an “Associate First” program designed to make its employees feel special, and to combat the growing number of disgruntled workers picketing the stores...

I’ve got a great idea...why not raise salaries above third world levels, so Walmart employees can feed their families..

*****

Whoa! Two days before he resigned, Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo saying change in strategy was needed in Iraq.

Now if only Dubya would buy a clue. He’s already rejecting the Baker-Hamilton recommendations and they’re not due to be released until later this week.

*****

Double whoa! Colin Powell says Iraq is a civil war....nice to see the general find his balls and comment, but is anybody listening to him these days.

*****
Condi says mistakes were made in Iraq, but she won’t talk about it until after she leaves office.

****

Smoking ban goes into affect in Ohio on Thursday...Does that mean that employees will have to get into their cars and drive off company grounds in order to legally light up? Do same employees have to clock out first? Inquiring minds want to know?

And now that smoking has been outlawed in the name of healthiness....can overeating and obesity be next?

Is a visit from the weight police be just around the corner?

Bebe Moore Campbell

Died Monday at the age of 56 due to complications from brain cancer.

May she rest in peace. Her work will live on..

Kramer Redux

I have a problem with the way Michael Richards is making amends for his racist tirade at the Laugh Factory last week.

After further embarrassing himself on Letterman, Richards hires a public relations expert, who allegedly has years of experience in handling black people. This hack then proceeds to have Richards call Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to apologize.

Why?

Jackson and Sharpton weren’t the ones offended. Jackson and Sharpton don’t represent the guys who were in the audience. Jackson and Sharpton don’t represent black people.

In fact, the only people who think Jackson and Sharpton are leaders of the black race, are white people.

That is probably the most racist thing about whites....they think that one man or woman can legitimately speak for an entire race of people. Jackson and Sharpton have been making hay off this assumption for years.

They have no power within the community. They are convenient. When some news talking head needs a comment from a black man, they go find Jesse or Al.

So now we go through news conferences with Richards saying he’s sorry again, while Jesse or Al or both stand solemnly in the background.

The only thing missing is the “power to the people” salute, black fist clothed in black leather glove thrown to the sky in unity.

“Kramer”..... dump the hack, get away from Jackson and Sharpton, and get yourself into counseling or some anger management courses. You need to deal with what’s going on inside you before you step back onto a stage.

Your fans will wait.

Fear of Black Men

Three black men go to a club the day before one of them is to be married to the mother of his two children. The party ends in a hail of gunfire with the groom dead and his two friends mortally wounded and hospitalized.

The shooters, cops, New York City undercover police officers. The police were in the club, according to reports, investigating illegal activity in the establishment. They were reportedly trying to shutdown the business for repeated violations of the law.

According to the latest official story, the officers allegedly heard one of the young men make reference to a gun in his car while still inside the club. After the men got into their car, the undercover officers moved to intercept them.

This is where it gets crazy.

One undercover officer steps in front of the car as it is pulling from the curb. A witness, who was also supposed to be in the car but hadn’t gotten in yet, said the undercover never identified himself and simply opened up on the car when it drove toward him. Another police van was rammed in the process. The van had pulled around the corner in an effort to block the car in, apparently. The officers in the van as well as one officer in another car also opened fire on the men. Again, witnesses said, no one identified himself.

Police said the officers, all veterans, believed they were under attack because the driver was trying to pull away from the curb. Witnesses said the men in the car thought they were being robbed and were simply trying to get away. Bullets hit nearby houses and cars during the onslaught. Luckily no one was hurt in the houses.

50 shots were fired....one man died...one man was shot eleven times...one man was hit three times....one cop emptied his gun, reloaded and emptied it again...

The men in the car did not have a gun. They were totally unarmed. The only guns on scene were the 9 mm carried by the officers.

The officers involved in the shooting are two whites, two blacks and one Hispanic. This was an equal opportunity execution. One officer, one of the white ones fired 31 of the 50 bullets. He got down on one knee, according to reports, emptied his clip, reloaded and fired again.

Brother officers said he is a good cop who simply lost it and, I guess, panicked. The police have been placed on administrative leave. The prosecutor has decided to present the case to the grand jury.

Al Sharpton is marching, leading the family and friends in protest marches around the hospital.

Fear of black men....

These situations keep happening....Lorenzo Collins, a man armed with a brick, surrounded by eleven uniformed police officers....shot to death. The brick is a threat only until he throws it at one of them. Why did the other officers fire. Execution of an unarmed black man.


Amadou Diallo, holding a wallet in his hand, standing at his door....dies in a hail of bullets from police who thought he had a gun. No threat except he was black.

A man named Carpenter, pulled over by police, who then open fire on him from behind, killing him by firing through his rear window....again....no gun in sight...and since the officers were behind the car, no apparent threat except for the fact that they’d stopped a black man.

Fear of black men.....

There has to be change.

Sunday Reading

Can you name the last 100 books you've read?

In this age of instant information, can you name the last book you read? Have you even read 100 books in your lifetime?

Maybe the better question is, when was the last time you picked up a book and read it cover to cover and it wasn’t a school book?

The New York Times today published a list of what it considers the 100 best books, both fiction and nonfiction, published this year.

I haven’t read any of them. I’ve heard of a few of them. I even plan to read some of them someday. But 100 books is a lot of reading, especially within one year.

I tend to buy books rather than borrow from the library for two reasons; I don’t like return deadlines and I have a problem with the Patriot Act, which allows the government to look over your shoulder when you go to a library (check out my archives). I do visit the library for the purpose of researching my family genealogy. But I haven’t checked out a book since my school days.

I also tend to buy two or three books at a time, and then read them when I have time. This means my house is piled high with books that I’m still working through.

Just looking around my sitting room, I am surrounded by the books I have earmarked for reading as well as the one I am actually reading. Well actually, I’m reading two at the moment; “Cross” by James Patterson and John Sanford’s latest mystery. Can’t remember the title of the Sanford book because it’s not a Lucas Davenport novel. The Davenport novels’ titles all are “something Prey,” as in “Mind Prey.”

Next on my list...one of Bill Cosby’s collection of essays on life...
three books by Chester Himes, including a collection of his short stories, also novels “A Rage in Harlem,” and “Cotton Comes to Harlem.” I’ve read “Cotton” before, and I’ve seen the movies based on the books..
James Thurber’s short story collection..
Two books by former Supreme Court Justices
and a book by John Ashcroft..

I still read several newspapers daily albeit via the internet, several magazines weekly in addition to the aforementioned books.

So, can I name the last 100 books I’ve read in my life...yes....can you?

No fair counting books you’ve read more than once, more than one time.

I’ll make it easy for you....name the last ten and email me...I’d love to know..

My N******

There’s a saying among black folks about white folks....”Never get drunk with your white friends.” Because doing that is guaranteed to bring the word “nigger” into the conversation.

In my case, it was “come kiss me with those big nigger lips.” This, from someone I called friend. Someone I thought was color blind. There was no reason to bring out that word. We were celebrating our birthdays, which were one day apart.

Actually, we weren’t even to the point of drunken stupidity, The party had just begun. There was no indication that this racial lightning bolt was about to strike. We were a multi colored party. A little this, a little that, nothing special. Just a diverse group of friends out for the evening.

My friend didn’t even know that she had done anything wrong. No clue. She thought she was making a joke. She felt safe within the group, I guess, and when I look back at the situation, I can understand her comfort level. I was comfortable, too.

I kept my cool, preferring not to react. We partied on. But the friendship changed. Never the same after that night. She exposed a wound and I never trusted her again.

I’ve seen the Michael Richards tape. He lost his cool. He didn’t fight fair when heckled by two audience members. He actually stooped pretty low by resorting to the ugliest of name calling. He’s grown up in America and knows that the best way to hurt a black person is to use the term nigger. But is he a bigot? One thing is certain, the world now perceives him differently. He is no longer trusted.

But is he any more bigoted than the rest of us who lose our cools during a heated moment and resort to name calling?

I fault him for losing his cool. He is, after all, a professional comedian who should be used to dealing with hecklers. Heckling is normal in comedy clubs. The situation should have been business as usual for a man who makes his living telling jokes from a stage.

Am I surprised that he would use the word nigger? No. Not at all.

In America, the word nigger is always just below the surface with all of us. We blacks have tried to claim the word and make it benign. It hasn’t worked. White people hear us using it and wonder why they can’t use it, when we use it to refer to ourselves, friends and families.

Whites don’t understand the nuance between “nigger” and “nigga.” They think it’s just a spelling change, a hip hop word. While blacks are too emotionally tied to the word, past and present, to explain it to them, without wanting to kick their ass when they say it.

The fact of the matter is, nigger has too many negative connotations, bad memories and bad history for anyone, black or white to continue to use this word.

We have nigger, niggard, niggardly, nigra, and my personal favorite, nigger-rig, as in “I nigger-rigged it to make it work.” I grew up knowing that word as gerry-rig. I do know that gerry-rig comes from the name of the man who’s name also gave us the term gerrymander, as in to change something.

I don’t know when gerry-rig became nigger-rig, but I’ve heard it a lot over the years, usually from blue collared white guys who didn’t realize I was within hearing distance.

The word needs to go. I’m not saying go back and erase it from our history or burn books because the word is used. We’d lose many good books and a lot of history, if we did that. What I am saying is that we, as Americans should stop using it for any reason what so ever.

All people, both black, white, Hispanic, whatever, need to stop using the word, period.

Yes, I use the word, in conversation, and in my writings. I was taken to task one time when I was quoted in an interview as using the word. Since I said it, I owned it. My words. My responsibility.

But, being a writer and practitioner of the spoken word, I know the damage that words can do. I know how dangerous language can be. I like being able to use any word I choose in order to get my point across.

But if I don’t start change with me, how can I ask someone else, black or non black to change, too?

As Spock said, “the needs of the many, sometimes out weigh the needs of the one.”

Change, and we all live long and prosper.

‘Nough said.

The People Have Spoken

O.J. Simpson's book and upcoming TV special have been cancelled. Rupert Murdoch, apparently fearing an even bigger public backlash and realizing that ultimately he would lose money, has pulled the plug on this ill advised sweeps adventure.

Make no mistake, I don't for a minute think Fox has a heart, I just think the loss of dollars outweighs and possible gains.

Can't wait to see what they try next.

Heterosexual Privilege

Question: Did you know it’s okay to beat the crap out of your live in girlfriend in Ohio? And go ahead girls, it’s okay to kick the snot of your common law husband, too.

This is equal opportunity insanity, as long as it’s opposite sex. Same sex couples, roommates, etc don’t exist in Ohio under the law.

Ohio wrote discrimination into its constitution when it passed the Defense of Marriage Amendment a few years ago. That’s old news. Ohio was the 38th state to do so. They’re reasoning for doing so was to protect the sanctity of heterosexual marriage.

However, Ohio’s law also makes it illegal to live as a couple with someone who is not your spouse. In other words, if you aren’t married, you aren’t legal and therefore have no recourse under the law. This directly conflicts with Ohio’s domestic violence laws which protect people who “live as a spouse.”

Which brings me to my topic. There is a guy in Dayton, one Michael Carswell, who according to the Dayton Daily News,
is suing to get assault charges thrown out, because under DOMA, slapping your girlfriend around is no longer a crime.

Carswell’s arguments are scheduled to be heard by the Ohio Supreme Court, next month. There are in fact 60 cases pending, where the defendants have argued that beating up your girlfriend, is not a crime under this law.

The 2nd and 3rd District Appeals Courts have issued rulings agreeing with Carswell’s reading of the law.

The 2nd and 3rd Districts cover about 17 counties in northwest Ohio. But a number of other courts have rejected the argument, hence the need for the Ohio Supreme Court to settle the dispute.

In the meantime, Dayton police are using misdemeanor assault laws instead of the felony domestic violence laws when the partners are not legally married.

That means that a woman cannot get an order of protection, while this hassle is working its way through the court system. It means that the assaulter will still be on the streets and could pose a threat to the victim. We’ve seen this craziness in Ohio.

Alleged Christian groups Citizens for Community Values and Focus on the Family have filed briefs supporting Carswell’s argument.

These two groups led the fight to get DOMA passed. Now they are trying to protect abusers, victims be damned.

And they call themselves christian? Hmmmmmmmmm....

Friday Thoughts...

Am I the only one who thinks O.J. Simpson is one sick f***. Slimy is a nice way of describing his publisher. And Fox Network, earlier this week they get busted for doctoring news video, to make it more dramatic, I guess, now they’re airing this “interview.” I can’t imagine anyone, anyone wanting to watch this or read this book.

Let’s all do something nice for Ron and Nicole by not participating in this madness...

*******

First she loses the loser she married, now we hear Whitney is losing her mansion to foreclosure. I hope she makes it all the way back. I miss her voice. Give some of these self named Divas a lesson in Diva-dom, oh and also how to sing. Or am I the only one who thinks today’s singers...all of em...need lessons on how to carry a tune.

There are a few who can sing....Lizz Wright, Vivian Green, Leela James, Christine Aquilera Diane Reeves, Diana Krall, and the woman from the Lion King..Lena.Headley? can’t remember her name but I certainly know her voice.

The rest are pretenders. Queen Latifah has the chops. But she is just walking talent, period.

********

Some really good news....Red wine long known to be good for your heart...now studies show it increases endurance. Makes my day. Time for a nice Cabernet!

Cheers

Having It Both Ways

The Grand Old Party gets blown out of the water during last week’s midterm elections and what do they do....they trot out Tom Delay to explain and rationalize what happened. I ignored that when I saw it. The GOP is clueless and has repeatedly proven it the past six years.

The morally judgmental party talks the talk but never walks the walk. Delay has not yet been convicted, but it’s no secret the guy is bad news. Next to Jack Abramoff, he is probably the worst of the lot, which brings me to my subject today.

I find myself railing at my televison set today because Trent Lott has been elected minority whip. For those of you not versed in congress-talk that means he is the GOP vote counter in the senate.

It is a power position. Lott was booted out of power four years ago for making racially insensitive comments while toasting a fellow senator at his birthday party.

Basically, Lott said the country would be better off today, if birthday boy, former senator, staunch segregationist and proven father of a black illegitimate daughter, Strom Thurmond, had been elected president back in 1948. He apologized and was banished until today.

Today he is back in the old boy’s club.

Throughout the past several months, I’ve watched how the party of compassionate conservatism rationalizes the racist, sexist and bigoted attitudes of it’s members. From George Allen in Virginia, to the campaign run against Harold Ford in Tennessee, to the bigotry spewed by Ken Blackwell against Ted Strickland in Ohio, the attacks were unbridled and vicious in their intent.

Yet when called on it, they immediately try to rationalize and explain it away. When they find themselves unable to explain it away, the other members banish them for a while, only to trot them back out and into a power seat when they think we’ve forgotten.

The Christian principle of “forgive and forget” only applies to members. Those on the outside are never allowed to forget and are never forgiven (can you say, Jane Fonda and Bill and Hilary).

The GOP which wants to codify discrimination against gays and lesbians and has actually written it into its party platform, finds itself being outed as the true party of gay white men.

Further, GOP talking heads are making the talk show rounds having to defend their gay party members.

The talking heads argue that it is okay to be gay and to have a private life. It’s okay to have a job and a beautiful house or condo. People should not be punished for that.

Question: If gay is okay....then how come folks are still being killed, like the guy in New York, two weeks ago...how come Gary Studds husband can’t receive the dead congressman’s pension....how come people who want to get married, can’t, because it’s against the law....how come certain companies are allowed to fire people for looking gay, Cracker Barrel.....how come there is a boycott of walmart, and ford motor company for entering into a business agreement with an LGBT organization....

Yeah, It’s okay to be gay, as long as you’re closeted, support oppressive laws against other LGBT people, and are a member of the republican party....Mary Cheney. Phyllis Schafly’s son, whatever his name is. Mark Foley...the list goes on and on....Can you say Roy Cohn and J. Edgar Hoover.

Kind of like me supporting legislation against black people. Oh, I forgot, that’s Clarence Thomas’ job and Harold Ford Jr's, Alan Keyes' and J.C. Watts'. But that is a topic for another. day.

The GOP is going to have to make up it’s mind, which way it wants to flow or face the possibility of permanent banishment to their garden of homegrown hypocrisy.

Taming Your Inner Carnivore

Women should pay attention to two extensive scientific studies released this week. The studies deal with the links between eating red meat and how effective vitamins are as a preventative for heart disease in women.

You can read the full report on red meat and breast cancer in the Archives of Internal Medicine magazine. In a nutshell the report says the more red meat you eat, the greater your risk for breast cancer.

“More” is defined as 1 and ½ servings per day which makes women twice as likely to develop hormone related breast cancer, as those women who ate fewer than three portions of red meat per week.

The second report is the longest running study of how, or if, vitamin supplements help prevent heart disease in women. This study was conducted by doctors from Harvard who concluded that the supplements, don’t help much at all. Although there were some hints that vitamin C may do a little something for high risk women. That conclusion, say doctors, needs more study.

The vitamin study has been going on for a decade and more than 8000 women were randomly given vitamin C, E and beta carotene. Another 5000 women were given folic acid and vitamin B for seven years.

The doctors concluded there was “minimal evidence” of cardiovascular benefit. This study continues.

In the meat study, 90,000 women between the ages of 26 and 46, were looked at, and questioned over a 20 year period. They were divided into five groups based on how much meat they ate on a regular basis.

Meat consumption was linked to breast cancers caused by the hormones estrogen and progesterone, but not to non hormonal cancers.

The women who ate the most meat were also likely to be smokers and overweight. Even taking these factors into account, doctors say they were able to document the red meat cancer connection.

The bottom line to all this.....cut down on red meat, stop smoking and exercise. We keep hearing that.

Are we listening?