Dog Parks and Swimming Pools

Access...or lack thereof...is one of three reasons why Black people don't swim. In most cities of America...there are no pools in the ghetto...or if there are pools...access was limited to white people...who either made it a private club...or posted sentries at the gate to keep certain people out...

I'm not talking about way back in the day...well maybe a little...when I was born...Black people weren't allowed to swim at Coney Island...not until it was desegregated due to protests led by Marian Spencer back in 1957.

By 1967 my family had moved from Cincinnati to Mt. Healthy and I was taken out of Walnut Hills High and forced by my parents to go to Mt. Healthy High....

Even though our move was only ten miles, Mt. Healthy is a city in its own right and had its own parks and pool system.

Shortly after moving in to our new house...my sisters and I were turned away at the gate of the pool and told the park was only for residents...

We were residents....just not white residents...that apparently was the difference...Even with proof of residency, we could not get in...which is why I have never, ever been to a park in Mt. Healthy, to this day....

70% of all accidental drownings in America are Black people....The most recent having taken place in Louisiana where seven members of one family drowned in a horrific accident a few weeks ago.

You can read it here.

Access to swimming pools is pretty good in Cincinnati. There is or was at least one pool in every neighborhood. There are also the YMCA pools all over the city.

The more recent problem has been money to keep the pools open all summer. Cincinnati has done a pretty good job of finding the funds to keep them open most of the time, too.

So with obvious need for swimming pools in the ghetto and all the common sense surrounding swimming pool access in Cincinnati, why the hell tear one out and replace it with a dog park?

I'm talking about what is going on in Washington Park, where the renovation calls for putting a dog run in the space where the kids swim. In a nod to the children, the plans call for a water play area, but that is totally different from having a place to swim, or learn to swim.

You don't learn water safety from a moving hose squirting water at you.

Why are dogs more important than the neighborhood kids? Or is the plan to move the kids out of the neighborhood along with their more impoverished parents?

You can't make me believe that there are enough foo-foo dogs moving in to justify getting rid of a swimming pool and playground...

Because what is happening is that Washington Park is being changed from a kid friendly place to a gathering place for the upwardly mobile and their four legged friends...

The pool and basketball court....are gone...or soon to be gone....The city has signed off on this travesty..and nobody seems to give a damn...

Progress...new and better ways to segregate...

Labor Day Roundup 2009

Venus Williams playing on one leg is good enough to comfortably beat just about everybody else on the WTA Tour. However there are a few exceptions besides her sister, and Kim Clijsters is one of them.

Clijsters who recently decided to come back to the tour following an injury and baby retirement, has always had one of those dangerous games for either Williams. She is one of the best returners in the game. And she is a former grand slam champion.

I was surprised when she dusted Venus in the first set and equally surprised when Venus returned the favor in the second set. The outcome of the match didn't bother me too much. Venus is gimpy and it shows. She can't get down on her shots because of the knee. She does need the rest.

She would have met Serena in the semifinals and now this is not going to happen. So Serena has pretty much of a straight shot at the championship with only Clijsters in the way. I am discounting the 17 year old phenom.

She is good, but I don't think she has the guns to take out Serena, or Clijsters for that matter. She would not have beaten a healthy Sharapova either.

The sister act is still alive in the doubles. They paired up after Venus lost and looked completely at ease doing it. They have already claimed two out of three grand slam doubles titles this year. This one will be the third this year, if they win.

They already have a doubles slam in their trophy case..that means in one year they won all four titles..pretty hard to do....Serena is one of only five women who have done it in singles...Stephie Graf did it twice.

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Mark Sanford

Man....can you believe it.....South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is the one who started the rumors that his Lt Governor is gay? Rumors have been flying for months now, however the source has only just been revealed...

Stay tuned it's getting uglier down in the Palmetto State..

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The Crazy Lady from Minnesota

Michele Bachmann for President, huh....I can't even type that and keep a straight face...I guess she figures if Sarah can do it....so can she...you betcha......hehehehe...

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The Big Scary Black/Boogie Man

Funny how in all this rigamarole about Obama talking to school kids...nowhere have I seen any file footage of Dubya....Some show Dubya's dad talking to kids...some mentioned that Reagan routinely talked politics with school children...

But nowhere have I seen that footage of Dubya inside a classroom...I'm talking about the time he visited while the planes flew into the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11...

He used to go to schools on a regular basis...yet no one ever accused him of being politically motivated

Some stereotypes just won't die and the big black boogie man is one of them....

White guys can do the same thing over and over for days....but as soon as the black guy does it..then there must be something wrong...something negative....something that is going to hurt somebody...

circle the wagons....lock up the women....hide the kids....

still doing this shit....

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And for the record.....Van Jones may have resigned...but he didn't lie...like it or not...he... did ..not.. lie...

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George Will

I like George Will. I do listen to him, even if I don't agree with him. I respect his opinions and, honestly, I like the way his mind works....But like I said I tend to come to different conclusions...Except this time..

George has said we need to get out of Afghanistan pronto...and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Afghanistan is another mistake by the Bush Administration that should never have been made given our mistakes and history in that area, in the past, as well as our history with Vietnam.

We should not be there....period.

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Obama is at Coney Island

The President is in Cincinnati today at the annual Union picnic at Coney Island. Been there in past years...not there this year...prefer to enjoy my tennis..

Labor Day is a day for sports...not politics...

But a word to the O-man.... Mr. President....Health Care without a public option is not reform....