I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to hear it in my lifetime. A Black man of note, with a national reputation for activism, calling for action in the fight against AIDS.
Julian Bond, currently chairman of the NAACP is calling on the Black Community to wake up to fight this thing that is literally killing our people. His column is in the Washington Post today.
He stated what a lot of us have known for years, that AIDS is not a gay white disease. In America it is killing Blacks, primarily Black women. Women who are drug users or who sleep with drug users and share needles. Women who are straight and sleep with men who sleep with other men.
60% of new AIDS cases in this country are straight Black women. And while people are living longer, contracting the virus is still a death sentence.
Bond also called on Black Clergy to step past the rampant and vicious homophobia that is being preached in many black churches. A stance that has long hindered our community driving away some of our brightest people.
One can only wonder what woke him up and what it will take to wake up all of the others...Black Congressional Caucus, Urban League, Council of Black Churches, Black Ministers, Movie Stars, Hip Hop Stars, Sports Celebrities to name a few.
White stars have found their latest cause, of saving African children. Where are the Black celebrities willing to step forward to save our own in this country.
I wonder if someone in Bond’s family has contracted the disease. I know from experience how hard it is to watch a relative die from this disease. I’ve lost eleven friends, one uncle, and one cousin...all of them Black.
That is usually what it takes to bring understanding and an end to intolerance.
8.14.2006
8.11.2006
I Want My IPOD
Okay, now it’s on. I CAN’T TAKE MY IPOD? Give me a break. I’ve been a good camper. I put up with the invasive searches when I go to the airport. I love to fly and you will have to literally blow me out of the air to keep me off a plane.
I take off my shoes and my baseball cap when asked. I don’t really mind. I’ve been wearing sandals on planes for a while now. My baseball cap is all about attitude anyway. I wear it crunched low on my head to shield my eyes like Janet Jackson and to prevent being recognized, like I’m some kind of celebrity. But I take it off in the name of security.
I try to look and act conspicuous because I feel homeland security and the airport rent a cops are looking for those folks who are really really trying to blend in. I’m an American, I’m always conspicuous, so that’s no problem where ever I go. I just won’t go hip hop, that’s racial profiling on another level.
I’m not missing my other now absent freedoms. My library card is crumbling in my wallet because I can afford to buy my books rather than borrow them from the library. So homeland security will never know what I read unless they check my store receipts.
I’m still driving a big assed gas guzzling SUV and not complaining about bogus gas price raises every time this government decides to try to scare us into acceptance of it’s Orwellian version of this world.
And, no, I don’t travel with over priced, way too expensive cosmetics. I don’t drink gatorade or ten dollar starbuck’s lattes at the check in counter. I don’t miss that stuff. Nothing to complain about here.
But, NO IPOD? NO LAPTOP? HELL TO THE CAPITAL L NO!
I’m a writer. I’ve been typing so long, I get writer’s cramp when I write out a check. Besides, I’m of that age when arthritis has begun to set into my fingers, Curling my digits around a pencil won’t work.
My IPOD contains my music collection...ALL OF IT. I walk around with 55 years of musical memories in my pocket. I can put my baby on shuffle and up pops the first album I ever stole from my Dad’s album collection. I can sort through and find the first song I heard play on the first AM radio with a head phone that I bought myself. I can relive all over again the background music that was playing when I lost my virginity.
C’mon! No IPOD? Now I will get ugly.
Give me a gun. I’ll go to Afghanistan and find that six foot four, dialysis machine toting MF and personally blow him off the face of this earth. Him and every other wannabe terrorist who tries to keep me from my portable pacifier.
You may need your MTV.
Me, I NEED MY IPOD.
I take off my shoes and my baseball cap when asked. I don’t really mind. I’ve been wearing sandals on planes for a while now. My baseball cap is all about attitude anyway. I wear it crunched low on my head to shield my eyes like Janet Jackson and to prevent being recognized, like I’m some kind of celebrity. But I take it off in the name of security.
I try to look and act conspicuous because I feel homeland security and the airport rent a cops are looking for those folks who are really really trying to blend in. I’m an American, I’m always conspicuous, so that’s no problem where ever I go. I just won’t go hip hop, that’s racial profiling on another level.
I’m not missing my other now absent freedoms. My library card is crumbling in my wallet because I can afford to buy my books rather than borrow them from the library. So homeland security will never know what I read unless they check my store receipts.
I’m still driving a big assed gas guzzling SUV and not complaining about bogus gas price raises every time this government decides to try to scare us into acceptance of it’s Orwellian version of this world.
And, no, I don’t travel with over priced, way too expensive cosmetics. I don’t drink gatorade or ten dollar starbuck’s lattes at the check in counter. I don’t miss that stuff. Nothing to complain about here.
But, NO IPOD? NO LAPTOP? HELL TO THE CAPITAL L NO!
I’m a writer. I’ve been typing so long, I get writer’s cramp when I write out a check. Besides, I’m of that age when arthritis has begun to set into my fingers, Curling my digits around a pencil won’t work.
My IPOD contains my music collection...ALL OF IT. I walk around with 55 years of musical memories in my pocket. I can put my baby on shuffle and up pops the first album I ever stole from my Dad’s album collection. I can sort through and find the first song I heard play on the first AM radio with a head phone that I bought myself. I can relive all over again the background music that was playing when I lost my virginity.
C’mon! No IPOD? Now I will get ugly.
Give me a gun. I’ll go to Afghanistan and find that six foot four, dialysis machine toting MF and personally blow him off the face of this earth. Him and every other wannabe terrorist who tries to keep me from my portable pacifier.
You may need your MTV.
Me, I NEED MY IPOD.
8.08.2006
Catfish,Chicken Salad and the Wildflower Café
Fishing was and is a family activity for us. I've been catching catfish since before I could walk. My dad loves to fish. He caught the bug from his mom, my grandmother, who loved to fish. My grandmother always wore long skirts in the old fashioned way and carried a stool and a big can so she could be comfortable and not have to move around very much if the fish were biting. The only other thing she needed was a cold Pepsi in a glass bottle. But back then, soda pop only came in glass bottles.
Yet, even though catfish have been in my life since birth, I never ate catfish until I moved to Chicago when I was 34 years old. That's a few years ago now. Catfish have skin not scales, so they are a pain to clean. And while we enjoyed catching them. We threw them back or kept them and gave them away to the neighbors.
Once I started eating catfish, however, I was hooked. I like nuggets or even the whole fish laid out on a plate, fried, with mustard, salt pepper and maybe a green salad or some fried potatoes on the side.
If you like catfish and travel to Mentone, you need to stop at Dessies. It's right on the main drag through town, state route 117. There is a sign on the front window that announces that God is Dessie's security guard so walk right in cause he's always watching. That woman truly knows how to cook catfish. It is fried right and juicy, seasoned to perfection either whole as a dinner or as a sandwich.
Take your choice on sides, including turnips and collards. Dessie, a tall dignified snow white haired woman who may be approaching her 7th decade, was written up in the local papers, she's not famous for the catfish, but for her cobblers and pies. All of it is good and Dessie even comes out of the kitchen to chat you up and to make sure you're satisfied. She quietly hovers over you and I loved it.
Before you get to Dessies you have to pass the Wildflower Cafe. It sits on the corner next to the Gourdie Shop. It immediately caught our eye, but we didn't make it there until the weekend and it was worth the wait.
Temperature was approaching 100-degrees so my sister and I sat outside, in the shade of the back porch, which was sparingly decorated with ceramic tile covered wooden tables and chairs. Someone hand painted wild flowers or the porch columns and hung hummingbird feeders. We watched the tiny little birds come and go while we dined on a turkey club and chicken salad made with shredded chicken breast, not chunks, basil mayonnaise with green grapes and almonds, served with bread, romaine lettuce and soup if you want, and all the southern sweet iced tea you can drink.
I don't remember hearing the owner's name, but she was there too. A been around the world kind of woman, tired and slow moving with a cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth. Talky, her life started somewhere in California and I never connected how she got to Mentone, but listening to this part of her life was fascinating. She was on the porch to smoke and to hang magic marker signs about the night's specials. We talked about the heat, learned that our waitress was a native of Gadsden, Alabama and just up in Mentone for the weekend. Her mom was there too, I guess making extra money.
We learned how to order pizza and when to pick it up, since there was no delivery. We confirmed what we already knew and that was that there is no grocery store in Mentone. I mean big ones like Kroger or Food Lion. You have to drive to Fort Payne, about 30 minutes away.
We traded information about our origins, why we were there. It was an easy way to spend an afternoon in between our heavy duty shopping runs.
Yet, even though catfish have been in my life since birth, I never ate catfish until I moved to Chicago when I was 34 years old. That's a few years ago now. Catfish have skin not scales, so they are a pain to clean. And while we enjoyed catching them. We threw them back or kept them and gave them away to the neighbors.
Once I started eating catfish, however, I was hooked. I like nuggets or even the whole fish laid out on a plate, fried, with mustard, salt pepper and maybe a green salad or some fried potatoes on the side.
If you like catfish and travel to Mentone, you need to stop at Dessies. It's right on the main drag through town, state route 117. There is a sign on the front window that announces that God is Dessie's security guard so walk right in cause he's always watching. That woman truly knows how to cook catfish. It is fried right and juicy, seasoned to perfection either whole as a dinner or as a sandwich.
Take your choice on sides, including turnips and collards. Dessie, a tall dignified snow white haired woman who may be approaching her 7th decade, was written up in the local papers, she's not famous for the catfish, but for her cobblers and pies. All of it is good and Dessie even comes out of the kitchen to chat you up and to make sure you're satisfied. She quietly hovers over you and I loved it.
Before you get to Dessies you have to pass the Wildflower Cafe. It sits on the corner next to the Gourdie Shop. It immediately caught our eye, but we didn't make it there until the weekend and it was worth the wait.
Temperature was approaching 100-degrees so my sister and I sat outside, in the shade of the back porch, which was sparingly decorated with ceramic tile covered wooden tables and chairs. Someone hand painted wild flowers or the porch columns and hung hummingbird feeders. We watched the tiny little birds come and go while we dined on a turkey club and chicken salad made with shredded chicken breast, not chunks, basil mayonnaise with green grapes and almonds, served with bread, romaine lettuce and soup if you want, and all the southern sweet iced tea you can drink.
I don't remember hearing the owner's name, but she was there too. A been around the world kind of woman, tired and slow moving with a cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth. Talky, her life started somewhere in California and I never connected how she got to Mentone, but listening to this part of her life was fascinating. She was on the porch to smoke and to hang magic marker signs about the night's specials. We talked about the heat, learned that our waitress was a native of Gadsden, Alabama and just up in Mentone for the weekend. Her mom was there too, I guess making extra money.
We learned how to order pizza and when to pick it up, since there was no delivery. We confirmed what we already knew and that was that there is no grocery store in Mentone. I mean big ones like Kroger or Food Lion. You have to drive to Fort Payne, about 30 minutes away.
We traded information about our origins, why we were there. It was an easy way to spend an afternoon in between our heavy duty shopping runs.
The Kindness of Strangers
When you're growing up, your mom always tells you to never talk to strangers.It's a survival tactic passed on from parent to child and it is good practice. But I guess I have some of Blanche DuBois in me when it comes to meeting people.
One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is exactly that- talk to strangers when I travel. It is the best way to get to know the places where you are and to remember them when you return. Time passes, but the conversations and memories will always be with you.
Which brings me back to Mentone, Alabama, home to some really nice people and good places to chow down on real home cooking in between shopping for bargains at the world's longest yard sale.
I got lost wandering around the top of the mountain while searching for our cabin and I was alone since the rest of my party was driving in from South Carolina. I'm a buckeye girl, born and raised in Ohio and presently living in the Queen City, Cincinnati. So I had to ask for help and that meant driving onto private property and interrupting people I saw and asking them to guide me to where I needed to be.
I met a short round woman who reflected my similar build and who was famous in the area for making jewelry and a man who had moved to the area less than a year ago. They lived pretty far apart and may not have known each other although they were neighbors, sort of. They lived off the same state route 89.
The tall thin man with no local accent, was grilling steaks on his deck. I interrupted him, but he was very cool, scratched his head after reading the directions I was attempting to decipher, apologized for never having heard of the place I was looking for and sent me back the way I'd come. He didn't offer up any steak. I wasn't hungry and wouldn't have said so anyway. I was hearing my mother in my head with that other parental admonition-"don't take candy/food from anyone who isn't family."
I finally found the cabin with the help of a couple on a harley davidson motorcycle who stopped for the stop sign near where I parked attempting to read the directions again. They would've been my neighbors having rented a nearby cabin, but their vacation was over so they were headed home to Huntsville.
Bikers sometimes look intimidating because of what they wear, but past experience has taught me, they usually give great directions. So I asked her on the back of the bike and he answered from the front. All the time I was trying not to ogle the dragon tattoo that started at his throat and disappeared down the front of his vest. They got me where I needed to be.
Success!
Now to find my sister and some sustenance. Tiring work being lost and temporarily homeless.
One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is exactly that- talk to strangers when I travel. It is the best way to get to know the places where you are and to remember them when you return. Time passes, but the conversations and memories will always be with you.
Which brings me back to Mentone, Alabama, home to some really nice people and good places to chow down on real home cooking in between shopping for bargains at the world's longest yard sale.
I got lost wandering around the top of the mountain while searching for our cabin and I was alone since the rest of my party was driving in from South Carolina. I'm a buckeye girl, born and raised in Ohio and presently living in the Queen City, Cincinnati. So I had to ask for help and that meant driving onto private property and interrupting people I saw and asking them to guide me to where I needed to be.
I met a short round woman who reflected my similar build and who was famous in the area for making jewelry and a man who had moved to the area less than a year ago. They lived pretty far apart and may not have known each other although they were neighbors, sort of. They lived off the same state route 89.
The tall thin man with no local accent, was grilling steaks on his deck. I interrupted him, but he was very cool, scratched his head after reading the directions I was attempting to decipher, apologized for never having heard of the place I was looking for and sent me back the way I'd come. He didn't offer up any steak. I wasn't hungry and wouldn't have said so anyway. I was hearing my mother in my head with that other parental admonition-"don't take candy/food from anyone who isn't family."
I finally found the cabin with the help of a couple on a harley davidson motorcycle who stopped for the stop sign near where I parked attempting to read the directions again. They would've been my neighbors having rented a nearby cabin, but their vacation was over so they were headed home to Huntsville.
Bikers sometimes look intimidating because of what they wear, but past experience has taught me, they usually give great directions. So I asked her on the back of the bike and he answered from the front. All the time I was trying not to ogle the dragon tattoo that started at his throat and disappeared down the front of his vest. They got me where I needed to be.
Success!
Now to find my sister and some sustenance. Tiring work being lost and temporarily homeless.
8.06.2006
Waking up in the Wilderness
I must admit that I had a deliverance moment while trying to find this cabin. I need to tell my sister that the next time she plans to get away make sure she gets better directions, because the person who wrote out these directions has obviously never talked to city folk. And when I approached the locals (I talked to several) they'd never heard of the place. But I later found out I wasn't describing it right. I was just reading these nonsensical directions.
Our location, Mentone, Alabama, 1868 feet up the side of Lookout Mountain in the northern part of the state near the Georgia and Tennessee borders. . Our cabin was 3 miles above that in DeSoto State Park. We city folk are literally 3 miles up the mountain off a blacktop two lane road called Tutweiler Gap, that turns into gravel and chert, whatever the hell, chert is. Our cabin was aptly named Serenity.
I'm really, really glad that I have one of those gas guzzling high assed SUVs. Cause a gas saving economical four cylinder, something or other couldn't make it over the ruts in the road, where we are.
We both made it...me in my Ascender and my sister in her big assed Expedition. No problem, except there is not enough road and the locals drive like they're on a four lane highway. Just imagine yourself driving a top heavy SUV on a road that tilts nearly 30 degrees from level. Talk about precipitous. I was creeping too because I didn't want to take a deer home as a hood ornament.
The cabin itself is wonderful. It has all the conveniences of home and then some. It has a hot tub on the back porch with a gas grill and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom which is the size of my bedroom back home. Man, I love this place. And it is very very economical, even if there aren't four of us sharing the cost..
Two sets of sisters. Me and mine and Peggy and hers. We are two nurses, a teacher who teaches history to eighth graders and me, the writer and sometimes mail machine operator. They, including my sister are from South Carolina. They are ocean people. I'm the only one landlocked in Ohio, unless you consider the Ohio River a big body of water. The Ohio is only a little less muddy than the mighty Mississippi. On any given day it looks like you could walk across it with all the dirt and silt and not get wet.
Having the straight shot route from Ohio, I got here first and found the campsite, by talking with the locals. I then guided them to our location using what little cell power we had. Make no mistake, we are in the back woods and Verizon hasn't discovered this place yet.
While waiting for them, I spotted what I thought was a lonely little fawn who hadn't yet learned to camouflage effectively. Yet when a Harley Davidson soft tail drove by, the whole herd spooked. I was actually watching at least 8 or 9 deer that I counted before they leapt away up the side of the hill.
Once we got settled, we trekked out to quaint Mentone city or town for something to eat. It was only 7:30 but the sidewalks had been rolled up. We settled on the bbq grill for some ribs, pulled pork and chicken and a grilled cheese.
The food was delicious, the hospitality wonderful. We were exhausted and trekked back up the mountain top to get into the hot tub and or Jacuzzi. A little TV and were ready for bed.
Shopping begins tomorrow....
Our location, Mentone, Alabama, 1868 feet up the side of Lookout Mountain in the northern part of the state near the Georgia and Tennessee borders. . Our cabin was 3 miles above that in DeSoto State Park. We city folk are literally 3 miles up the mountain off a blacktop two lane road called Tutweiler Gap, that turns into gravel and chert, whatever the hell, chert is. Our cabin was aptly named Serenity.
I'm really, really glad that I have one of those gas guzzling high assed SUVs. Cause a gas saving economical four cylinder, something or other couldn't make it over the ruts in the road, where we are.
We both made it...me in my Ascender and my sister in her big assed Expedition. No problem, except there is not enough road and the locals drive like they're on a four lane highway. Just imagine yourself driving a top heavy SUV on a road that tilts nearly 30 degrees from level. Talk about precipitous. I was creeping too because I didn't want to take a deer home as a hood ornament.
The cabin itself is wonderful. It has all the conveniences of home and then some. It has a hot tub on the back porch with a gas grill and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom which is the size of my bedroom back home. Man, I love this place. And it is very very economical, even if there aren't four of us sharing the cost..
Two sets of sisters. Me and mine and Peggy and hers. We are two nurses, a teacher who teaches history to eighth graders and me, the writer and sometimes mail machine operator. They, including my sister are from South Carolina. They are ocean people. I'm the only one landlocked in Ohio, unless you consider the Ohio River a big body of water. The Ohio is only a little less muddy than the mighty Mississippi. On any given day it looks like you could walk across it with all the dirt and silt and not get wet.
Having the straight shot route from Ohio, I got here first and found the campsite, by talking with the locals. I then guided them to our location using what little cell power we had. Make no mistake, we are in the back woods and Verizon hasn't discovered this place yet.
While waiting for them, I spotted what I thought was a lonely little fawn who hadn't yet learned to camouflage effectively. Yet when a Harley Davidson soft tail drove by, the whole herd spooked. I was actually watching at least 8 or 9 deer that I counted before they leapt away up the side of the hill.
Once we got settled, we trekked out to quaint Mentone city or town for something to eat. It was only 7:30 but the sidewalks had been rolled up. We settled on the bbq grill for some ribs, pulled pork and chicken and a grilled cheese.
The food was delicious, the hospitality wonderful. We were exhausted and trekked back up the mountain top to get into the hot tub and or Jacuzzi. A little TV and were ready for bed.
Shopping begins tomorrow....
8.01.2006
Time off.........
This is my birthday month...yes I celebrate the whole month...I've earned it...so my posts will be a bit sporadic.
My first celebration stop is a cabin in the mountains close enough to the Worlds longest yard sale for some heavy duty antique shopping. I'm redoing my kitchen...
Happy birthday to me....happy birthday to me.......................
My first celebration stop is a cabin in the mountains close enough to the Worlds longest yard sale for some heavy duty antique shopping. I'm redoing my kitchen...
Happy birthday to me....happy birthday to me.......................
Why are We Surprised
By the anti semitic antics of Mel Gibson?
His Daddy raised him to not believe the holocaust happened.
It's not the first time he has shown himself to be a bigot. Just ask anyone in the LGBT community about Mel and his homophobic ways.
And please, please, enough with the "mea culpa" as he disappears into rehab.
Stars screwing up and checking into rehab is like criminals getting busted and finding jesus after they get locked up for life.
So hypocritical.
His Daddy raised him to not believe the holocaust happened.
It's not the first time he has shown himself to be a bigot. Just ask anyone in the LGBT community about Mel and his homophobic ways.
And please, please, enough with the "mea culpa" as he disappears into rehab.
Stars screwing up and checking into rehab is like criminals getting busted and finding jesus after they get locked up for life.
So hypocritical.
7.30.2006
You Want to Do What?
What makes white women think that because we are both women, that they can put their hands on me or ask me questions like a sister as in sibling, not sistah?
I had this peroxided, limp, shoulder length hair, roots showing white girl come up to me and reach toward my head. She wanted to rub my head, because as she said, it looks so soft.
She didn't ask, she just reached. I nearly broke her arm. I slapped away her hand. I didn't know where her hands had been. I barely knew her. We were acquaintances, meaning we had exchanged useless chit chat in the recent past. But I've never tried or even wanted to reach out and touch for any reason. She didn't apologize for the intrusion, only melted away perplexed at my reaction.
I know in my cooler, more rational moments that it's a cultural thing, Whites have no concept of personal space. Whereas Blacks have an invisible area around us that you don't step into unless you intend to fight. Pointing your finger into someone's face or at them is another cultural no-no that whites don't understand.
And touching a Black woman's hair.... well that will get you killed..period.
My own hair is basically non existent these days. I'm almost bald by choice....my head is covered with fuzz that I get trimmed every few weeks at the barbershop. I don't go to a beauty parlor cause women stylists aren't trained in hair cutting. I go to a female barber who knows her business..
My head is totally liberated from the need to flip my locks like white girls and some black women with weaves are wont to do. As Indie Airie says, I am not my hair.
I love getting caught in a rain storm with no hat, rain beating on my scalp, pouring down my face. Talk about orgasmic. Whoo! Makes me want to take all my clothes off and just stand there in God's shower with my arms reaching up and out, with a stupid grin on my face like Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption when he escaped prison.
And when I sweat, it beads on my head. I can feel the moisture on my skin rather then watch my hair go limp or frizzy from humidity.
This recent incident brought back another time when a white woman got touch crazy. I was working behind the service desk at Zayre. My hair was Angela Davis long...afro'd and picked and well taken care of and still soft. No hair spray no dandruff, just fierce and proud as we used to say..
White people didn't know what to think back in the day. They kept asking how do you get your hair to stand out like that? The bolder ones, usually women, would ask can I touch it?
Since I was at work at the time and still shedding my good Negro-ness (another story, another time), I let her touch me, but vowed inwardly never to let it happen again. She satisfied her curiosity about the black girl. I felt humiliated and slightly dirty.
So let me tell ya...if you see me and want to rub my head, you better ask somebody first..
Ya feel me?
I had this peroxided, limp, shoulder length hair, roots showing white girl come up to me and reach toward my head. She wanted to rub my head, because as she said, it looks so soft.
She didn't ask, she just reached. I nearly broke her arm. I slapped away her hand. I didn't know where her hands had been. I barely knew her. We were acquaintances, meaning we had exchanged useless chit chat in the recent past. But I've never tried or even wanted to reach out and touch for any reason. She didn't apologize for the intrusion, only melted away perplexed at my reaction.
I know in my cooler, more rational moments that it's a cultural thing, Whites have no concept of personal space. Whereas Blacks have an invisible area around us that you don't step into unless you intend to fight. Pointing your finger into someone's face or at them is another cultural no-no that whites don't understand.
And touching a Black woman's hair.... well that will get you killed..period.
My own hair is basically non existent these days. I'm almost bald by choice....my head is covered with fuzz that I get trimmed every few weeks at the barbershop. I don't go to a beauty parlor cause women stylists aren't trained in hair cutting. I go to a female barber who knows her business..
My head is totally liberated from the need to flip my locks like white girls and some black women with weaves are wont to do. As Indie Airie says, I am not my hair.
I love getting caught in a rain storm with no hat, rain beating on my scalp, pouring down my face. Talk about orgasmic. Whoo! Makes me want to take all my clothes off and just stand there in God's shower with my arms reaching up and out, with a stupid grin on my face like Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption when he escaped prison.
And when I sweat, it beads on my head. I can feel the moisture on my skin rather then watch my hair go limp or frizzy from humidity.
This recent incident brought back another time when a white woman got touch crazy. I was working behind the service desk at Zayre. My hair was Angela Davis long...afro'd and picked and well taken care of and still soft. No hair spray no dandruff, just fierce and proud as we used to say..
White people didn't know what to think back in the day. They kept asking how do you get your hair to stand out like that? The bolder ones, usually women, would ask can I touch it?
Since I was at work at the time and still shedding my good Negro-ness (another story, another time), I let her touch me, but vowed inwardly never to let it happen again. She satisfied her curiosity about the black girl. I felt humiliated and slightly dirty.
So let me tell ya...if you see me and want to rub my head, you better ask somebody first..
Ya feel me?
Random Thoughts on a Bloody Sunday.....
While Dubya's in Crawford...
Iraq pushed from the headlines by the killing in Lebanon. Condi cancels her visit to Beirut after Israel bombs a house in Qana full of women and children. 50 dead and counting.
Israel apologizes...women and children still dead...no resurrection...
Condi flies back to US with her tail tucked between her legs....no cease-fire...no resolution to the conflict...
Lebanese citizens riot, storming and trashing a UN building....
Dubya on vacation...Rumsfeld disappears...Cheney still invisible.... Ashcroft still retired...Gonzales still sucking up to the White House...Congress suffering massive erectile dysfunction....GOP at Sunday services celebrating their Christianity....Democrats mute as always...
When did Jesus join the GOP...
Bush promises Iraq more troops to contain the civil war ravaging Baghdad. Troops scheduled to come home.....can't...their stay extended by executive order....again...
How can people who profess to be pro life justify their support of the war in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza? Or be against stem cell research?
Democracy came to Palestine and we got Hamas....Israel is attempting to root out Hezbollah and gets chaos....America tries to force democracy on Iraq and gets civil war..
An American general admits to the press he has never been trained in 33 years in the military, how to fight insurgents......
We were beaten in Vietnam and chased out of Somalia using the same tactics.....did no one pay attention? Black Hawk down was not just a movie or was it?
Isn't this really a war between America and Iran.........America hiding behind Israel....Iran hiding behind Hezbollah......
The Last Poets were wrong....When the revolution comes we will watch it on TV thanks to CNN, MSNBC and FOX
Iraq pushed from the headlines by the killing in Lebanon. Condi cancels her visit to Beirut after Israel bombs a house in Qana full of women and children. 50 dead and counting.
Israel apologizes...women and children still dead...no resurrection...
Condi flies back to US with her tail tucked between her legs....no cease-fire...no resolution to the conflict...
Lebanese citizens riot, storming and trashing a UN building....
Dubya on vacation...Rumsfeld disappears...Cheney still invisible.... Ashcroft still retired...Gonzales still sucking up to the White House...Congress suffering massive erectile dysfunction....GOP at Sunday services celebrating their Christianity....Democrats mute as always...
When did Jesus join the GOP...
Bush promises Iraq more troops to contain the civil war ravaging Baghdad. Troops scheduled to come home.....can't...their stay extended by executive order....again...
How can people who profess to be pro life justify their support of the war in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza? Or be against stem cell research?
Democracy came to Palestine and we got Hamas....Israel is attempting to root out Hezbollah and gets chaos....America tries to force democracy on Iraq and gets civil war..
An American general admits to the press he has never been trained in 33 years in the military, how to fight insurgents......
We were beaten in Vietnam and chased out of Somalia using the same tactics.....did no one pay attention? Black Hawk down was not just a movie or was it?
Isn't this really a war between America and Iran.........America hiding behind Israel....Iran hiding behind Hezbollah......
The Last Poets were wrong....When the revolution comes we will watch it on TV thanks to CNN, MSNBC and FOX
7.29.2006
Bend Over and Pass the Vaseline
The House passed a minimum wage increase yeserday.
But don't get your drawers in a knot. They weren't trying to help poor folks. The GOP doesn't give a damn about poor or middle income people, no matter what color you are.
The GOP pushed thru the first wage hike since 1997 but used it to carry yet another tax cut for America's richest 5-percent, an estate tax cut that will drain the federal coffers of 268-billion dollars over the next decade.
As usual, the GOP is patting itself on the back, jumping up and down and saying look what we did, look what we did! Aren't you happy, now?
The ball-less wonders known as Democrats are crying or I should say whispering foul. The Democrats need to be jumping on desks and tearing down the doors of CNN demanding press time to talk about the situation.
This massive missile of future problems now goes to the Senate for probable approval.
And on another note, like you need more bad news............
A report circulating courtesy of the AP says big oil companies consciously manipulated gas and oil reserves by cutting back on supply in order to boost profitability back in the 90's. The AP, it seems got hold of some internal memos talking about the plan to screw America.
In other words, if something like Katrina hits, then there is not enough supply to cover demand because reserves were lowered.
It's all perfectly legal according to the report. They get richer and we get f***ed again by big business.
But don't get your drawers in a knot. They weren't trying to help poor folks. The GOP doesn't give a damn about poor or middle income people, no matter what color you are.
The GOP pushed thru the first wage hike since 1997 but used it to carry yet another tax cut for America's richest 5-percent, an estate tax cut that will drain the federal coffers of 268-billion dollars over the next decade.
As usual, the GOP is patting itself on the back, jumping up and down and saying look what we did, look what we did! Aren't you happy, now?
The ball-less wonders known as Democrats are crying or I should say whispering foul. The Democrats need to be jumping on desks and tearing down the doors of CNN demanding press time to talk about the situation.
This massive missile of future problems now goes to the Senate for probable approval.
And on another note, like you need more bad news............
A report circulating courtesy of the AP says big oil companies consciously manipulated gas and oil reserves by cutting back on supply in order to boost profitability back in the 90's. The AP, it seems got hold of some internal memos talking about the plan to screw America.
In other words, if something like Katrina hits, then there is not enough supply to cover demand because reserves were lowered.
It's all perfectly legal according to the report. They get richer and we get f***ed again by big business.
7.27.2006
Not Salem, But Still a Witch Hunt
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face....The American military is at it again...throwing gays out of the military.
I guess, just like our ability to harm the sanctity of heterosexual marriage, we must do tremendous damage with our presence and willingness to serve in the military.
After all, since Don't ask, don't tell went into effect in 1993, more than 11,000 troops have been kicked out of the military at a cost of 369-million dollars, according the GAO. That's how much it has cost so far, to train new recruits to take the place of the old ones.
According to the report, more than 800 of those dismissed had critical abilities including more than 300 with important language skills. Of that number 55 speak Arabic.
How can you fight a war against middle eastern terrorists if you can't speak, read or understand their language, their phone calls, their newspapers, their radio, their intercepted communiques? Can you say Iraq?
Decorated Army Sargent Bleu Copas, who joined the military because he wanted to do something about 9/11 was an Arabic language specialist. According to a report from the Associated Press, Copas never told or admitted to anyone that he was gay. He says he was outed by anonymous emails to his superiors. The thinking was that a jealous ex lover did him in.
And since he never copped to his sexuality, D.A.D.T. should never have been invoked in the first place.
Following an eight month investigation, Copas was kicked out of the 82nd Airborne based at Ft Bragg.
He is now pursuing his master's degree at a Tennessee University. He said he plans to appeal.
Appeal for what? Reinstatement?
Why don't we others just let straight white men and the women who love them fight their own wars and see how far they get without us.
Past, present and future.
I guess, just like our ability to harm the sanctity of heterosexual marriage, we must do tremendous damage with our presence and willingness to serve in the military.
After all, since Don't ask, don't tell went into effect in 1993, more than 11,000 troops have been kicked out of the military at a cost of 369-million dollars, according the GAO. That's how much it has cost so far, to train new recruits to take the place of the old ones.
According to the report, more than 800 of those dismissed had critical abilities including more than 300 with important language skills. Of that number 55 speak Arabic.
How can you fight a war against middle eastern terrorists if you can't speak, read or understand their language, their phone calls, their newspapers, their radio, their intercepted communiques? Can you say Iraq?
Decorated Army Sargent Bleu Copas, who joined the military because he wanted to do something about 9/11 was an Arabic language specialist. According to a report from the Associated Press, Copas never told or admitted to anyone that he was gay. He says he was outed by anonymous emails to his superiors. The thinking was that a jealous ex lover did him in.
And since he never copped to his sexuality, D.A.D.T. should never have been invoked in the first place.
Following an eight month investigation, Copas was kicked out of the 82nd Airborne based at Ft Bragg.
He is now pursuing his master's degree at a Tennessee University. He said he plans to appeal.
Appeal for what? Reinstatement?
Why don't we others just let straight white men and the women who love them fight their own wars and see how far they get without us.
Past, present and future.
7.26.2006
Another Young Black Man has Died.........
There were three shootings overnight in Cincinnati. A teenager was gunned down during an altercation between several youths at a gas station. Another young man died after being shot in the mouth in Fay Apartments.
It happens every night and all the city can do is put up billboards asking folks who probably can't read cause they dropped out of school, to call a number to get some help.
The Mayor walks around with a bodyguard. A Black activist was recently gunned down outside City Hall after addressing Council one last time.
The republican wannabe governor and native Cincinnatian proudly touts his membership in the NRA while his people die around him and not a word on a plan to stop the killing or to get guns off the streets. He's more interested in making it harder for folks to vote or to keep gays and lesbians from violating the sanctity of his marriage.
Several years ago, I wrote the following words to the people of Cincinnati, published in the local newspaper in June, 2001. The letter came shortly after the April riots. I was more interested in what was being done about the 45 Black men who died between April and June of that year.
I can probably say it better and differently....but why? Nothing's changed since then except that there are more bodies...
"Well, I want to know where the hell is the outrage over the 45 young blacks who have been shot and/or killed in the past month since the April disturbances? No police were involved except as investigators. No white people were involved as perpetrators. All shooters and victims are black.
Why is it that we can so easily voice our outrage when we think we're being victimized by whites or the system, but remain curiously silent when we do it to ourselves, over and over and over again.
There are two things that are killing us outright as a community; black on black violence and AIDS, and we as a community have placed our heads firmly in the sand and have refused to face the problems.
White people are not our problem. Yes, some are racist and yes, some liberals are naive in thinking that throwing money or temporary jobs programs at the problem will make it go away.
Yes, our system, our government is inherently racist having been built by the master race for the master race on the backs of slaves, our ancestors.
But I don't see whites pulling guns and killing us. I don't see white boys standing at the corner of Reading Road and Hutchins selling dope across from the Town Center..........
I don't see white men infecting black women with the HIV/AIDS virus and living a life on the down low because they are afraid to be who they are and admit that they also sleep with men. This is not a sexual issue. For Black women it is a life and death issue....
Black on black violence must stop. Preying on our own community is the ultimate abomination. ..
Drug dealing is not a career move, just a quicker trip to the grave yard. Superfly was a movie, a myth, not reality, once caught up, you're caught up and dead, not caught up and eventually legit.
Our people fought and some died so we could go to the schools of our choice, yet we don't go or make our kids go. My fellow baby boomers, parenting is not a democracy, s/he who pays the bills rules. Bringing a kid into this world and not taking the time to make sure they are educated is a crime.
Sports is not the answer and not all rap is good rap. Just cause Pookie can rhyme don't mean he's the next Ja Rule. Our kids need a plan "B" and that being education just in case they can't be a star.
Malcolm said we must use "any means necessary" to achieve our goals and desires. Well, why don't we try helping ourselves for a change......................"jam 6/2001
Nuff said.
It happens every night and all the city can do is put up billboards asking folks who probably can't read cause they dropped out of school, to call a number to get some help.
The Mayor walks around with a bodyguard. A Black activist was recently gunned down outside City Hall after addressing Council one last time.
The republican wannabe governor and native Cincinnatian proudly touts his membership in the NRA while his people die around him and not a word on a plan to stop the killing or to get guns off the streets. He's more interested in making it harder for folks to vote or to keep gays and lesbians from violating the sanctity of his marriage.
Several years ago, I wrote the following words to the people of Cincinnati, published in the local newspaper in June, 2001. The letter came shortly after the April riots. I was more interested in what was being done about the 45 Black men who died between April and June of that year.
I can probably say it better and differently....but why? Nothing's changed since then except that there are more bodies...
"Well, I want to know where the hell is the outrage over the 45 young blacks who have been shot and/or killed in the past month since the April disturbances? No police were involved except as investigators. No white people were involved as perpetrators. All shooters and victims are black.
Why is it that we can so easily voice our outrage when we think we're being victimized by whites or the system, but remain curiously silent when we do it to ourselves, over and over and over again.
There are two things that are killing us outright as a community; black on black violence and AIDS, and we as a community have placed our heads firmly in the sand and have refused to face the problems.
White people are not our problem. Yes, some are racist and yes, some liberals are naive in thinking that throwing money or temporary jobs programs at the problem will make it go away.
Yes, our system, our government is inherently racist having been built by the master race for the master race on the backs of slaves, our ancestors.
But I don't see whites pulling guns and killing us. I don't see white boys standing at the corner of Reading Road and Hutchins selling dope across from the Town Center..........
I don't see white men infecting black women with the HIV/AIDS virus and living a life on the down low because they are afraid to be who they are and admit that they also sleep with men. This is not a sexual issue. For Black women it is a life and death issue....
Black on black violence must stop. Preying on our own community is the ultimate abomination. ..
Drug dealing is not a career move, just a quicker trip to the grave yard. Superfly was a movie, a myth, not reality, once caught up, you're caught up and dead, not caught up and eventually legit.
Our people fought and some died so we could go to the schools of our choice, yet we don't go or make our kids go. My fellow baby boomers, parenting is not a democracy, s/he who pays the bills rules. Bringing a kid into this world and not taking the time to make sure they are educated is a crime.
Sports is not the answer and not all rap is good rap. Just cause Pookie can rhyme don't mean he's the next Ja Rule. Our kids need a plan "B" and that being education just in case they can't be a star.
Malcolm said we must use "any means necessary" to achieve our goals and desires. Well, why don't we try helping ourselves for a change......................"jam 6/2001
Nuff said.
7.25.2006
Gum Law: A Sticky Situation
The middle east is in chaos...
Iraq has devolved into civil war...
North Korea, Iran, China and India have the bomb...
America is like an airplane loaded with missiles with Howdy Doody at the controls...
And Europe and Great Britain are worried about Gum Control.
You heard me, I said GUM CONTROL.
According to a report in today’s USA TODAY, cleaning up gum off the sidewalks is costing European taxpayers MILLIONS of dollars a year in clean up expenses.
Ireland has gone so far as to levy a $160 fine for anyone caught abandoning their chewed up little wads on the sidewalk in Dublin. It’s all the work of the Gum Litter Taskforce, who have even erected billboards praising people who toss their gum responsibly.
And, of course there is an American in the woodpile. Chicago-based Wrigley, maker of Juicy Fruit, Doublemint and a host of other brands has been lobbying against a special 6-cent tax that some countries want to impose upon the beleaguered gum chewers.
There are even pro-gum groups like the International Chewing Gum Association which has its headquarters in Belgium.
A spokesman for KEEP BRITAIN TIDY, an anti litter group claims gum removal costs $15 million because it’s a labor and time intensive process.
It apparently is also a problem in the subways, too and you can blame the terrorists for this one. British subways no longer have trash cans, which are often used by terrorists to hide bombs, so consequently, no place to toss the wad. Brits just stick it under the seat or hang it on handy billboard.
Don’t ask me for a solution. This all seems like much ado about nothing. Common sense should prevail in these cases but doesn’t.
Besides I don’t chew gum. Might make my dentures fall out.
Iraq has devolved into civil war...
North Korea, Iran, China and India have the bomb...
America is like an airplane loaded with missiles with Howdy Doody at the controls...
And Europe and Great Britain are worried about Gum Control.
You heard me, I said GUM CONTROL.
According to a report in today’s USA TODAY, cleaning up gum off the sidewalks is costing European taxpayers MILLIONS of dollars a year in clean up expenses.
Ireland has gone so far as to levy a $160 fine for anyone caught abandoning their chewed up little wads on the sidewalk in Dublin. It’s all the work of the Gum Litter Taskforce, who have even erected billboards praising people who toss their gum responsibly.
And, of course there is an American in the woodpile. Chicago-based Wrigley, maker of Juicy Fruit, Doublemint and a host of other brands has been lobbying against a special 6-cent tax that some countries want to impose upon the beleaguered gum chewers.
There are even pro-gum groups like the International Chewing Gum Association which has its headquarters in Belgium.
A spokesman for KEEP BRITAIN TIDY, an anti litter group claims gum removal costs $15 million because it’s a labor and time intensive process.
It apparently is also a problem in the subways, too and you can blame the terrorists for this one. British subways no longer have trash cans, which are often used by terrorists to hide bombs, so consequently, no place to toss the wad. Brits just stick it under the seat or hang it on handy billboard.
Don’t ask me for a solution. This all seems like much ado about nothing. Common sense should prevail in these cases but doesn’t.
Besides I don’t chew gum. Might make my dentures fall out.
7.20.2006
Dubya Speaks
See, this is why I think the NAACP should dissolve its organization.
After years of laying dormant instead of continuing to lead the fight for civil rights, the organization begs and pleads for six years to get Dubya to come to the convention and make a speech.
It took him six years to say "yes" I will come to your convention and talk to you. I will grace you with my presence.
Today, the arrogant MF made good on this promise. He showed up, and among other things, he talked about his eagerness to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
SIGN IT AGAIN, PEOPLE!
THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT IS NOT A PERMANENT LAW. IT HAS TO BE RENEWED EVERY 25 YEARS.
And he's proud of that?
The NAACP is proud of that?
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is not permanent law because that was the only way Lyndon Johnson could get southern lawmakers to approve the measure. It is set to expire after 25 years. The passage of the Act is the overriding issue as to why the South is the Republican stronghold that it is today. Southerners left the Democratic Party rather than consort with Blacks.
The Voting Rights Act is a living testament to the bigotry and racism that permeates this country.
There was talk of amending it, talk of letting it sunset or expire because we don't need it in this enlightened era. Hell, why not just take it off the table. What about making it permanent law, period.
We shouldn't be having this conversation in the 21st Century. The Voting Rights Act should have been taken off the merry go round years ago. The NAACP should have been very vocal about this years ago.
But no. The NAACP is more concerned about who shows up and speaks at their annual convention. It's see and be seen rather than do and accomplish.
How long do we as Blacks have to put up with this half assed piece of law, this slur, this slap in the face and constant reminder that we are and remain second class citizens?
Making it permanent was the only acceptable thing that Dubya could have said today. But he didn't.
Probably never even crossed his mind. No anyone else's it seems either.
When are we, as a people going to stop listening to what they say and start looking at what they do.
"Colored" is on my birth certificate.....It's not my state of mind or what I am.
NAACP-resign!
After years of laying dormant instead of continuing to lead the fight for civil rights, the organization begs and pleads for six years to get Dubya to come to the convention and make a speech.
It took him six years to say "yes" I will come to your convention and talk to you. I will grace you with my presence.
Today, the arrogant MF made good on this promise. He showed up, and among other things, he talked about his eagerness to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
SIGN IT AGAIN, PEOPLE!
THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT IS NOT A PERMANENT LAW. IT HAS TO BE RENEWED EVERY 25 YEARS.
And he's proud of that?
The NAACP is proud of that?
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is not permanent law because that was the only way Lyndon Johnson could get southern lawmakers to approve the measure. It is set to expire after 25 years. The passage of the Act is the overriding issue as to why the South is the Republican stronghold that it is today. Southerners left the Democratic Party rather than consort with Blacks.
The Voting Rights Act is a living testament to the bigotry and racism that permeates this country.
There was talk of amending it, talk of letting it sunset or expire because we don't need it in this enlightened era. Hell, why not just take it off the table. What about making it permanent law, period.
We shouldn't be having this conversation in the 21st Century. The Voting Rights Act should have been taken off the merry go round years ago. The NAACP should have been very vocal about this years ago.
But no. The NAACP is more concerned about who shows up and speaks at their annual convention. It's see and be seen rather than do and accomplish.
How long do we as Blacks have to put up with this half assed piece of law, this slur, this slap in the face and constant reminder that we are and remain second class citizens?
Making it permanent was the only acceptable thing that Dubya could have said today. But he didn't.
Probably never even crossed his mind. No anyone else's it seems either.
When are we, as a people going to stop listening to what they say and start looking at what they do.
"Colored" is on my birth certificate.....It's not my state of mind or what I am.
NAACP-resign!
7.19.2006
That's What I'm Talkin' About!
Apparently, there's life in the old girl yet!
NAACP President Bruce Gordon wants Blacks to let their money do the talking. In his first keynote address, Gordon is asking us not to patronize the stores that refused to answer an NAACP survey.
He stopped short of calling it a boycott. There will be no pickets, no commercials...just word of mouth in the community.
He is going to trust the drums to get the message out or in this case, the internet.
The four stores on the hit list include; Target, Dillards, Kohls, and Sears, surprisingly enough. You would think Sears would know better than to ignore civil rights organizations. But then as someone once said, those who forget history are destined to repeat it.
According to Gordon, it's real simple, we should spend money on corporations who spend money on us, with us and for us, period.
Gordon said:
"We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need," Gordon said. "All we have to do is believe it and use it."
I agree....think it, believe it, so be it!
NAACP President Bruce Gordon wants Blacks to let their money do the talking. In his first keynote address, Gordon is asking us not to patronize the stores that refused to answer an NAACP survey.
He stopped short of calling it a boycott. There will be no pickets, no commercials...just word of mouth in the community.
He is going to trust the drums to get the message out or in this case, the internet.
The four stores on the hit list include; Target, Dillards, Kohls, and Sears, surprisingly enough. You would think Sears would know better than to ignore civil rights organizations. But then as someone once said, those who forget history are destined to repeat it.
According to Gordon, it's real simple, we should spend money on corporations who spend money on us, with us and for us, period.
Gordon said:
"We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need," Gordon said. "All we have to do is believe it and use it."
I agree....think it, believe it, so be it!
7.18.2006
My Bad
Damn!
I just get back in the house after cutting my grass in this MF-ing heat before my neighbors lynch my ass, turn on my computer only to find out that Dubya is trying to make a liar out of me.
This after I wrote yesterday that for the sixth time the NAACP has invited him to speak and since he'd said "no" five times before, I figured he was going to say "no" again.
Well, guess what....He's going to attend....Just cause he wants to, says official mouth Tony Snow. Made the announcement today amidst talk of the skirmish going on in the middle east.
But nothing else has changed. Politics is his only motivation. I don't care how many Latino maids and nannies he hires or how many Hispanics other members of his family marry, or how many times he hugs Condi, he don't have a thing to say to or about Black people or any other minority that won't vote republican.
It is an exercise in futility on his part and on the part of the NAACP. Why do they insist on beating their collective heads against the wall?
Why doesn't the NAACP do something productive like get the vote out for someone who is looking after our collective interests?
The GOP and its left wing otherwise known as the Democratic Party kicked us to the curb a long time ago.
We have only one party in this country now and both wings see no reason to cater to Black folk, especially since we no longer vote and because we are no longer the majority minority.
Saw a bumper sticker today....says Vote the OC in '08....Obama and Clinton...sounds good to me.
Except I hope they form a new party first.
.
I just get back in the house after cutting my grass in this MF-ing heat before my neighbors lynch my ass, turn on my computer only to find out that Dubya is trying to make a liar out of me.
This after I wrote yesterday that for the sixth time the NAACP has invited him to speak and since he'd said "no" five times before, I figured he was going to say "no" again.
Well, guess what....He's going to attend....Just cause he wants to, says official mouth Tony Snow. Made the announcement today amidst talk of the skirmish going on in the middle east.
But nothing else has changed. Politics is his only motivation. I don't care how many Latino maids and nannies he hires or how many Hispanics other members of his family marry, or how many times he hugs Condi, he don't have a thing to say to or about Black people or any other minority that won't vote republican.
It is an exercise in futility on his part and on the part of the NAACP. Why do they insist on beating their collective heads against the wall?
Why doesn't the NAACP do something productive like get the vote out for someone who is looking after our collective interests?
The GOP and its left wing otherwise known as the Democratic Party kicked us to the curb a long time ago.
We have only one party in this country now and both wings see no reason to cater to Black folk, especially since we no longer vote and because we are no longer the majority minority.
Saw a bumper sticker today....says Vote the OC in '08....Obama and Clinton...sounds good to me.
Except I hope they form a new party first.
.
Abortions Cause Breast Cancer
At least that is what 20 of 23 federally funded pregnancy resource centers have been telling women.
According to a minority report issued yesterday by the House Government Reform Committee, the abstinence based organizations tell women seeking help with unintended pregnancies that abortions can lead to infertility and increased risk in breast cancer and deep psychological trauma.
This information is in direct contradiction to established medical belief and practice according to the report and backed up by the National Cancer Institute.
The centers investigated by the House subcommittee have received more than 30-million dollars in federal funds since 2001.
The report concluded that the exaggerations;
"may be effective in frightening pregnant teenagers and women and discouraging abortion. But it denies the teenagers and women vital health information, prevents them from making an informed decision, and is not an accepted public health practice."
A spokesperson for one of the alleged clinics dismissed the report stating the allegations were nothing new.
These bogus clinics are being funded by my taxes and yours.
We not only have voodoo economics, but the witch doctors have taken over medical clinics for women.
According to a minority report issued yesterday by the House Government Reform Committee, the abstinence based organizations tell women seeking help with unintended pregnancies that abortions can lead to infertility and increased risk in breast cancer and deep psychological trauma.
This information is in direct contradiction to established medical belief and practice according to the report and backed up by the National Cancer Institute.
The centers investigated by the House subcommittee have received more than 30-million dollars in federal funds since 2001.
The report concluded that the exaggerations;
"may be effective in frightening pregnant teenagers and women and discouraging abortion. But it denies the teenagers and women vital health information, prevents them from making an informed decision, and is not an accepted public health practice."
A spokesperson for one of the alleged clinics dismissed the report stating the allegations were nothing new.
These bogus clinics are being funded by my taxes and yours.
We not only have voodoo economics, but the witch doctors have taken over medical clinics for women.
7.17.2006
What Have ya Done for me Lately
So Julian Bond has stood up once again before the members of the NAACP and publicly invited President Bush to come and address the annual convention. For what?
This will make the sixth time that Dubya has been invited and will probably be the sixth time that he will not show up.
I'm not mad at Dubya. This one time he is not being a hypocrite. He knows we don't like him. He can't handle hostile crowds, never has, so he just simply doesn't go into hostile situations. Which makes his visits to Iraq and strolls in the green zone all the more comical.
What ticks me off is why is the NAACP wasting energy asking him in the first place. He is a lame duck president. He has refused to attend in past years. He can't hide behind the facade of compassionate conservatism. He can no longer hide behind General Powell.
And the problem with the rest of the card carrying Black folk in the administration, well they don't have street cred in the first place, so he can't trot them out and make us believe that they care. They don't.
The NAACP keeps asking because it is the one time of the year when they can get some publicity. They want us to know they are still here.
But face it, hasn't the NAACP and the Urban League gone the way of SNCC, CORE, Black Panthers, etc?
Name something the NAACP has done lately for Black folk besides hold a convention.
Has the group taken the lead on the number one killer of Black women (HIV/AIDS).
Have they spoken out on Black on Black crime that is killing our people here, or the genocide that is going on in Africa.
Have they mounted any programs to combat teen pregnancy, or the overwhelming school dropout rate, or the problem of obesity within our community..
Have they come up with ways to break the death cycle of crime and recidivism that ensnare our young men.
Has the NAACP spoken out against homophobia against Black gays and lesbians.
The NAACP needs a name change, an agenda change, and to take a major leap into the 21st Century.
Leave Dubya alone. He doesn't have time to go to the convention, and you already know his answer, anyway. He's too busy trying to dig out of the hole he's dug himself into.
This will make the sixth time that Dubya has been invited and will probably be the sixth time that he will not show up.
I'm not mad at Dubya. This one time he is not being a hypocrite. He knows we don't like him. He can't handle hostile crowds, never has, so he just simply doesn't go into hostile situations. Which makes his visits to Iraq and strolls in the green zone all the more comical.
What ticks me off is why is the NAACP wasting energy asking him in the first place. He is a lame duck president. He has refused to attend in past years. He can't hide behind the facade of compassionate conservatism. He can no longer hide behind General Powell.
And the problem with the rest of the card carrying Black folk in the administration, well they don't have street cred in the first place, so he can't trot them out and make us believe that they care. They don't.
The NAACP keeps asking because it is the one time of the year when they can get some publicity. They want us to know they are still here.
But face it, hasn't the NAACP and the Urban League gone the way of SNCC, CORE, Black Panthers, etc?
Name something the NAACP has done lately for Black folk besides hold a convention.
Has the group taken the lead on the number one killer of Black women (HIV/AIDS).
Have they spoken out on Black on Black crime that is killing our people here, or the genocide that is going on in Africa.
Have they mounted any programs to combat teen pregnancy, or the overwhelming school dropout rate, or the problem of obesity within our community..
Have they come up with ways to break the death cycle of crime and recidivism that ensnare our young men.
Has the NAACP spoken out against homophobia against Black gays and lesbians.
The NAACP needs a name change, an agenda change, and to take a major leap into the 21st Century.
Leave Dubya alone. He doesn't have time to go to the convention, and you already know his answer, anyway. He's too busy trying to dig out of the hole he's dug himself into.
7.13.2006
And Now There are Five.....
Earlier this week, I wrote about how some of the hyper-religious are attempting to hasten Armageddon.
They may soon get their wish.
The middle east has gone all the way live. Israel has invaded Lebanon in the north while fighting Hezbollah in Gaza in the south.
Iran is threatening holy war with nukes. North Korea is firing missiles at us.
And we've lost all control in Iraq and Afghanistan, not that we had control in the first place.
I keep hearing that Iraq is a different kind of war, one that we're not good at fighting.
I'm old enough to remember those same comments being made about Vietnam.
Oh, what a world, what a world.
They may soon get their wish.
The middle east has gone all the way live. Israel has invaded Lebanon in the north while fighting Hezbollah in Gaza in the south.
Iran is threatening holy war with nukes. North Korea is firing missiles at us.
And we've lost all control in Iraq and Afghanistan, not that we had control in the first place.
I keep hearing that Iraq is a different kind of war, one that we're not good at fighting.
I'm old enough to remember those same comments being made about Vietnam.
Oh, what a world, what a world.
7.12.2006
It Ain't Tricklin'
So what am I supposed to do, jump up and down, break out the champagne and celebrate cause the deficit is lower than expected?
Give me a break! It's still a deficit....about 300 BILLION dollars in the red. That's 4000 dollars for every person in the United States of America.
It's also not the real figure. The real amount is hidden by the fact that we still have a surplus in Social Security.
In real figures we are about 468 billion dollars in debt.
But Bush is celebrating. Celebrating what? When he came into office we had a surplus. We had jobs. We had reasonably priced gasoline. We could feed our families.
We were happy.
No war. No thought police. No moral minority running rampage over the majority.
No lies about unemployment-4.6%, like I heard some NeoCon wannabe say last night.
4.6% of white people may be unemployed, but nearly 70% of all Black men are without jobs.
And employed people...when was the last time you got a raise that mattered or kept up with the cost of living?
Earlier this week Dubya signed off on raises for his cronies in the White House but left the people who work in the White House with not even a pat on the head.
Globalization and outsourcing to cheaper labor pools keep wages down in this country while CEOs make 200 times what the average worker makes.
Economics...makes me want to pull out my hair, except that I wear it so short anyway, nobody would notice.
Give me a break! It's still a deficit....about 300 BILLION dollars in the red. That's 4000 dollars for every person in the United States of America.
It's also not the real figure. The real amount is hidden by the fact that we still have a surplus in Social Security.
In real figures we are about 468 billion dollars in debt.
But Bush is celebrating. Celebrating what? When he came into office we had a surplus. We had jobs. We had reasonably priced gasoline. We could feed our families.
We were happy.
No war. No thought police. No moral minority running rampage over the majority.
No lies about unemployment-4.6%, like I heard some NeoCon wannabe say last night.
4.6% of white people may be unemployed, but nearly 70% of all Black men are without jobs.
And employed people...when was the last time you got a raise that mattered or kept up with the cost of living?
Earlier this week Dubya signed off on raises for his cronies in the White House but left the people who work in the White House with not even a pat on the head.
Globalization and outsourcing to cheaper labor pools keep wages down in this country while CEOs make 200 times what the average worker makes.
Economics...makes me want to pull out my hair, except that I wear it so short anyway, nobody would notice.
7.11.2006
They Done Lost Their Minds Part II...
Normally I save my vitriol for local politicians and national idiots, but I have to take time today to comment on something that I feel is a travesty happening in New York, another one.
LifeBeat, the music industry's arm that focuses on raising money to fight AIDS is having a concert. That's good.
What's bad is that they've actually booked two of the most homophobic assholes on the planet to perform.
Is it just me or has this world gone nuts?
The event is the 6th "Hearts and Voices Concert" series and is sponsored by BET, VIBE Magazine, Music Choice and New York Radio Station Power 105 FM.
Black bloggers all over America have posted the info, you might want to check them out for the full story..
They include:
www.keithboykin.com
www.jasmynecannick.com
www.claycane.com
www.brooklynboyblues.com
www.pamspaulding.com
www.femmenoir.com
to name just a few.
If you want to stop this travesty contact the individuals listed below and let them know how you feel.
John Cannelli- jcannelli@lifebeat.org
Sarah Peters-speter@lifebeat.org
LifeBeat- lifebeat@lifebeat.org
LifeBeat, the music industry's arm that focuses on raising money to fight AIDS is having a concert. That's good.
What's bad is that they've actually booked two of the most homophobic assholes on the planet to perform.
Is it just me or has this world gone nuts?
The event is the 6th "Hearts and Voices Concert" series and is sponsored by BET, VIBE Magazine, Music Choice and New York Radio Station Power 105 FM.
Black bloggers all over America have posted the info, you might want to check them out for the full story..
They include:
www.keithboykin.com
www.jasmynecannick.com
www.claycane.com
www.brooklynboyblues.com
www.pamspaulding.com
www.femmenoir.com
to name just a few.
If you want to stop this travesty contact the individuals listed below and let them know how you feel.
John Cannelli- jcannelli@lifebeat.org
Sarah Peters-speter@lifebeat.org
LifeBeat- lifebeat@lifebeat.org
They done Lost their minds...
Has everyone on this planet gone crazy?
What was that in New York yesterday when the building blew up? Well, according to reports, the owner of the building, a doctor, locked in a bitter divorce dispute with his wife, blew the building up in an attempt to kill himself. WHAT?!
What was he doing, trying to shoot himself in the head with a bazooka rocket, missed and ended up torching the place?
The report goes on to state that Dr. Bartha was apparently despondent over the fact that a court had ruled his soon to be ex wife deserved half the building which was worth somewhere around 5-10 million dollars depending on who you're listening to.
He survived, by the way, and nobody else died either. Although I'm sure he scared the shit out of everybody on the upper eastside.
Okay, so he has to sell his building which he bought in 1993 or there abouts. He gives his wife, what, say 5-million dollars, she's gone from his life and he moves on, right? He's free to carouse with all those 20-something blonds, brunettes and redheads looking for a sugar daddy in the big apple.
What's the problem? Why go and disrupt the lives of so many people just to stick it to your wife one last time.
How egomaniacal is that?
The arrogance of this man just boggles my brain.
I mean, I would be happy to have 5-million on either end of that scenario and I would be willing to bet the Doctor is probably worth a lot more than that.
When Doc gets out of the hospital he needs to be locked up with that other fool from a couple of weeks ago who brutally killed his ex and then shot the Judge through a courthouse window.
They deserve to accompany each other straight into hell.
*****************
And less you think that egomania is confined to the East Coast, think again. Some mega church religious groups out west are actively trying to bring about Armageddon, according to the Los Angeles Times.
They apparently can't wait for Jesus to make up his own mind about when he is coming back. They want to help him by doing a lot of stuff to pave the way, since they feel we are at "End Times."
What are they doing, well, they're flying plane loads of missionaries to Israel in an attempt to convert all Jews to Christianity so they can find Christ and be saved. By doing this, they say, Jesus should be cleared for landing within the next two decades, give or take a few years.
Meantime...
Iran's latest crazy man is paving the way for the Mahdi to return and wipe out Christianity. The Mahdi is the last true prophet of Mohammed's true heirs, chosen by God to lead the faithful. The number of righteous descendants is 12, by the way. Iran's ruler thinks the Mahdi will come to Tehran in two years.
And....
Some Jews are attempting to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, on a site that is currently holding one of Islam's holiest shrines. These Jews feel that if they can rebuild the Temple, Islam will be wiped off the face of the earth and God will be happy.
And then there is Clyde Lott of Mississippi, self styled preacher and cattle rancher.
He is attempting to breed a unique herd of heifers as required by an obscure passage in the Bible. Sacrifice of these special cows will hasten the return of the Messiah, he thinks.
He wants to raise them and ship them enmass to Israel for the Jews, but so far, they don't want em citing the dangers of mad cow disease. So Lott's shipped them off to Nebraska instead.
Why is all this happening?
Well, if you read Revelation it says:
"Jews return to Israel after 2000 years, the Holy Temple is rebuilt, billions of people perish during seven years of natural disasters and plagues, the Antichrist arises and rules the world, the battle of Armageddon erupts in the vicinity of Israel. Jesus returns to defeat Satan's armies and preside over Judgment Day."
So basically all these folks are doing all this stuff in order to hasten the day when they can stand before Jesus and be judged.
Do they really think he is going to let them into heaven?
What was that in New York yesterday when the building blew up? Well, according to reports, the owner of the building, a doctor, locked in a bitter divorce dispute with his wife, blew the building up in an attempt to kill himself. WHAT?!
What was he doing, trying to shoot himself in the head with a bazooka rocket, missed and ended up torching the place?
The report goes on to state that Dr. Bartha was apparently despondent over the fact that a court had ruled his soon to be ex wife deserved half the building which was worth somewhere around 5-10 million dollars depending on who you're listening to.
He survived, by the way, and nobody else died either. Although I'm sure he scared the shit out of everybody on the upper eastside.
Okay, so he has to sell his building which he bought in 1993 or there abouts. He gives his wife, what, say 5-million dollars, she's gone from his life and he moves on, right? He's free to carouse with all those 20-something blonds, brunettes and redheads looking for a sugar daddy in the big apple.
What's the problem? Why go and disrupt the lives of so many people just to stick it to your wife one last time.
How egomaniacal is that?
The arrogance of this man just boggles my brain.
I mean, I would be happy to have 5-million on either end of that scenario and I would be willing to bet the Doctor is probably worth a lot more than that.
When Doc gets out of the hospital he needs to be locked up with that other fool from a couple of weeks ago who brutally killed his ex and then shot the Judge through a courthouse window.
They deserve to accompany each other straight into hell.
*****************
And less you think that egomania is confined to the East Coast, think again. Some mega church religious groups out west are actively trying to bring about Armageddon, according to the Los Angeles Times.
They apparently can't wait for Jesus to make up his own mind about when he is coming back. They want to help him by doing a lot of stuff to pave the way, since they feel we are at "End Times."
What are they doing, well, they're flying plane loads of missionaries to Israel in an attempt to convert all Jews to Christianity so they can find Christ and be saved. By doing this, they say, Jesus should be cleared for landing within the next two decades, give or take a few years.
Meantime...
Iran's latest crazy man is paving the way for the Mahdi to return and wipe out Christianity. The Mahdi is the last true prophet of Mohammed's true heirs, chosen by God to lead the faithful. The number of righteous descendants is 12, by the way. Iran's ruler thinks the Mahdi will come to Tehran in two years.
And....
Some Jews are attempting to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, on a site that is currently holding one of Islam's holiest shrines. These Jews feel that if they can rebuild the Temple, Islam will be wiped off the face of the earth and God will be happy.
And then there is Clyde Lott of Mississippi, self styled preacher and cattle rancher.
He is attempting to breed a unique herd of heifers as required by an obscure passage in the Bible. Sacrifice of these special cows will hasten the return of the Messiah, he thinks.
He wants to raise them and ship them enmass to Israel for the Jews, but so far, they don't want em citing the dangers of mad cow disease. So Lott's shipped them off to Nebraska instead.
Why is all this happening?
Well, if you read Revelation it says:
"Jews return to Israel after 2000 years, the Holy Temple is rebuilt, billions of people perish during seven years of natural disasters and plagues, the Antichrist arises and rules the world, the battle of Armageddon erupts in the vicinity of Israel. Jesus returns to defeat Satan's armies and preside over Judgment Day."
So basically all these folks are doing all this stuff in order to hasten the day when they can stand before Jesus and be judged.
Do they really think he is going to let them into heaven?
7.10.2006
Monday Morning Sports Junkie Hangover...
Brava Italia!
They won the world cup. But, Zidane from France was voted best player. W.T.F.? He was tossed out of the game during extra time for head butting Materazzi in the chest, and still got the trophy...Go figure.
No more talk about the World Cup until 2010. This next one happens in South Africa.
Federer again at Wimbledon. Dude looks cool wearing a white blazer to court side and during his interviews. Most tennis players think new nikes are the height of couture.
Amelie Mauresmo finally breaks thru and wins, really wins a grand slam. She's always had the game, just not the nerves or the head for winning. Previously she was only famous for tattoos, her motorcycle and the fact she dates older women.
This women's final was the first since 1999 without a Williams sister. I hope they come back. It's so boring when their not around and man, the networks just hemorrhage money when they don't have Serena and Venus to jump start primetime TV.
Tiger almost pulled it out at Cog Hill. He's looking, well, rather Tigerish once again. He finished second. Just couldn't pull the trigger on that last putt at 18. He actually lost it on the second shot into the green. But he came close.
He's still grieving for his Dad. That's okay, too. He can go home to the arms of his wife, the ex nanny and work on making little blond babies.
Why is it that powerful, rich, famous Black men settle for marrying blond nannies and cheerleaders?
Why can't an educated, rich, maybe famous, but mocha colored sister ever get a break from these guys.?
Are Black power couples a thing of the past?
And why don't Black women play professional golf?
More later..
They won the world cup. But, Zidane from France was voted best player. W.T.F.? He was tossed out of the game during extra time for head butting Materazzi in the chest, and still got the trophy...Go figure.
No more talk about the World Cup until 2010. This next one happens in South Africa.
Federer again at Wimbledon. Dude looks cool wearing a white blazer to court side and during his interviews. Most tennis players think new nikes are the height of couture.
Amelie Mauresmo finally breaks thru and wins, really wins a grand slam. She's always had the game, just not the nerves or the head for winning. Previously she was only famous for tattoos, her motorcycle and the fact she dates older women.
This women's final was the first since 1999 without a Williams sister. I hope they come back. It's so boring when their not around and man, the networks just hemorrhage money when they don't have Serena and Venus to jump start primetime TV.
Tiger almost pulled it out at Cog Hill. He's looking, well, rather Tigerish once again. He finished second. Just couldn't pull the trigger on that last putt at 18. He actually lost it on the second shot into the green. But he came close.
He's still grieving for his Dad. That's okay, too. He can go home to the arms of his wife, the ex nanny and work on making little blond babies.
Why is it that powerful, rich, famous Black men settle for marrying blond nannies and cheerleaders?
Why can't an educated, rich, maybe famous, but mocha colored sister ever get a break from these guys.?
Are Black power couples a thing of the past?
And why don't Black women play professional golf?
More later..
7.05.2006
Look at Me, World
We had him. Then Secretary of State Madeline Albright had that North Korean nutcase under control and at the negotiation table. Kim Jong II was willing to act like an adult and at least discuss ways to get rid of nukes.
Then comes 9/11 and Dubya lists him as part of the problem....Part of the axis of evil along with Iran and Iraq.
So what does "Dear Leader" do....he pulls out of treaty talks and goes home and threatens us until yesterday, when he starts firing dud missiles at us.
Even if we wanted to retaliate, we can't. Dubya's got everybody tied up in that quagmire called Iraq.
He's trying to play it cool...sort of like a big brother taking punches from his little brother. You know the scenario when the little brother is whaling and big brother is standing there saying it doesn't hurt, go ahead and hit me again...
I want to know what will happen if one of those missiles turns out to be real?
Bet Dubya's hoping that Japan will protect us from "Dear Leader" or at least run interference. Kind of a payback for us rebuilding the Empire of the Sun after we blew them up to end World War II.
Then comes 9/11 and Dubya lists him as part of the problem....Part of the axis of evil along with Iran and Iraq.
So what does "Dear Leader" do....he pulls out of treaty talks and goes home and threatens us until yesterday, when he starts firing dud missiles at us.
Even if we wanted to retaliate, we can't. Dubya's got everybody tied up in that quagmire called Iraq.
He's trying to play it cool...sort of like a big brother taking punches from his little brother. You know the scenario when the little brother is whaling and big brother is standing there saying it doesn't hurt, go ahead and hit me again...
I want to know what will happen if one of those missiles turns out to be real?
Bet Dubya's hoping that Japan will protect us from "Dear Leader" or at least run interference. Kind of a payback for us rebuilding the Empire of the Sun after we blew them up to end World War II.
7.04.2006
Off to See the Wizards
Here I am halfway thru my fifth decade and I never knew that Judy Garland's Wizard of Oz was a remake of a remake and that The Wiz with Diana Ross was a remake of a remake of a remake.
Wiz number one was a 13 minute short made in 1910. The second one came about in 1925. Both were in black and white and were silent. The 1925 version had a black man in it as one of the main characters. It also had Oliver Hardy without Stan Laurel.
All of the films manage to hit the high points of the L. Frank Baum story. But Toto has a much bigger role in the 1910 version. He is actually transformed by Glinda into a big dog protector of Dorothy. In fact, he's about as big as the lion. And there is a donkey and a cow along with the tin man and scarecrow. The movie also ends without Dorothy returning home, something of a mystery. I like the cyclone in the 1910 version too. It was a haystack that was lifted with Dorothy, the cow, donkey and scarecrow inside it and twirled in front of painted paper that was supposed to be scenery.
I watched all of the versions on Turner Classic Movies back to back starting with the 1939 Judy Garland version. It still has the most impact on me, I guess because It imprinted itself on my psyche when I was so young. When I was small, it was only shown once a year, around Easter and we watched it as a family.
The Wiz came about when I was older, in 1978. Never liked Diana Ross but I loved Michael Jackson and Nipsey Russell. I had already seen the stage version by then too.
To my mind Stephanie Mills was the only Dorothy, the true successor to Judy Garland, and the only one who can sing the song "HOME.."
Wiz number one was a 13 minute short made in 1910. The second one came about in 1925. Both were in black and white and were silent. The 1925 version had a black man in it as one of the main characters. It also had Oliver Hardy without Stan Laurel.
All of the films manage to hit the high points of the L. Frank Baum story. But Toto has a much bigger role in the 1910 version. He is actually transformed by Glinda into a big dog protector of Dorothy. In fact, he's about as big as the lion. And there is a donkey and a cow along with the tin man and scarecrow. The movie also ends without Dorothy returning home, something of a mystery. I like the cyclone in the 1910 version too. It was a haystack that was lifted with Dorothy, the cow, donkey and scarecrow inside it and twirled in front of painted paper that was supposed to be scenery.
I watched all of the versions on Turner Classic Movies back to back starting with the 1939 Judy Garland version. It still has the most impact on me, I guess because It imprinted itself on my psyche when I was so young. When I was small, it was only shown once a year, around Easter and we watched it as a family.
The Wiz came about when I was older, in 1978. Never liked Diana Ross but I loved Michael Jackson and Nipsey Russell. I had already seen the stage version by then too.
To my mind Stephanie Mills was the only Dorothy, the true successor to Judy Garland, and the only one who can sing the song "HOME.."
7.03.2006
Boycotting BP
Whenever I see a call for a boycott I usually file it under waste of time and go about my business. Not because I disagree with boycotts, I've been conducting my own personal boycotts for several years, but because I don't believe my people will follow and do what is necessary to make it successful.
For several years, I have refused to give my hard earned money to anyone who doesn't want it, meaning anyone who discriminates or voices disapproval of me and mine. If you make it hard for me to give you my money or you sneer at me while delivering service, you won't see me again, ever.
Every Black person has heard it before....repeat after me...."if you want to hurt a white man, make him a poor man..." We say it, but we don't really believe it.
The problem with boycotts is that they are inconvenient and we don't want to, or simply refuse to inconvenience ourselves in order to make a point. It's called lack of conviction, and white people know this about us.
Lack of conviction is why we can't lose weight, won't vote, can't get people to listen to our complaints. They know that most of us won't go along in the first place. Further, they've insulated themselves by moving out of the cities and neighborhoods where we still live.
They don't sell to us, anymore. All the little food stores, pony kegs and drive thrus are owned by foreign born people of color. And now there aren't enough Black owned businesses to pick up the slack if we ever do decide to stage a real boycott.
When was the last time you saw thousands of people take to the streets for a common cause? Immigration reform right? The last time you saw us take to the streets it was called a riot, and with good reason, We were tearing up our own neighborhoods, hurting our own people and stealing everything not tied down. Not to make a point but just to be doing it. Doing it just to get more stuff.
In Cincinnati, at least, two boycotts worked for a little while. Not from the inside out, but from the outside in. People horrified by the image of raging Blacks in the street refused to patronize Cincinnati. A boycott called by gays and lesbians about discriminatory laws, since repealed caused the city to lose convention business and our city fathers were forced to do something.
Inside the city there was no boycott, nothing has changed, except now we have a Black mayor. Bill Cosby came back a year after refusing to cross city lines honoring the Black boycott. So I guess it is now officially over.
Another boycott that worked was when the LGBT community boycotted Coors beer because company owners discriminated against and gave money to anti gay organizations. Gay bar owners refused for years to serve Coors beer. That one really worked. Coors changed its practices.
Well, now comes word that the Reverends Jesse and Al are calling for a boycott of BP. They say because BP has no Blacks in upper levels of management or Black owners for that matter. The Revs say we need to do this to send a message to all the other oil companies.
I'm on board with that. Not because I worry about how many Blacks they have in management but because I think BP sells a lousy product.
I stopped buying BP gas a long time ago because my car's performance seemed to drop every time I used their petrol. I could always tell when my sister borrowed my car and filled it up with BP. Every time.
I'm in favor of boycotting every company that attempts to dump shit into my neighborhood under the guise of providing service. Let's start there and see what happens.
For several years, I have refused to give my hard earned money to anyone who doesn't want it, meaning anyone who discriminates or voices disapproval of me and mine. If you make it hard for me to give you my money or you sneer at me while delivering service, you won't see me again, ever.
Every Black person has heard it before....repeat after me...."if you want to hurt a white man, make him a poor man..." We say it, but we don't really believe it.
The problem with boycotts is that they are inconvenient and we don't want to, or simply refuse to inconvenience ourselves in order to make a point. It's called lack of conviction, and white people know this about us.
Lack of conviction is why we can't lose weight, won't vote, can't get people to listen to our complaints. They know that most of us won't go along in the first place. Further, they've insulated themselves by moving out of the cities and neighborhoods where we still live.
They don't sell to us, anymore. All the little food stores, pony kegs and drive thrus are owned by foreign born people of color. And now there aren't enough Black owned businesses to pick up the slack if we ever do decide to stage a real boycott.
When was the last time you saw thousands of people take to the streets for a common cause? Immigration reform right? The last time you saw us take to the streets it was called a riot, and with good reason, We were tearing up our own neighborhoods, hurting our own people and stealing everything not tied down. Not to make a point but just to be doing it. Doing it just to get more stuff.
In Cincinnati, at least, two boycotts worked for a little while. Not from the inside out, but from the outside in. People horrified by the image of raging Blacks in the street refused to patronize Cincinnati. A boycott called by gays and lesbians about discriminatory laws, since repealed caused the city to lose convention business and our city fathers were forced to do something.
Inside the city there was no boycott, nothing has changed, except now we have a Black mayor. Bill Cosby came back a year after refusing to cross city lines honoring the Black boycott. So I guess it is now officially over.
Another boycott that worked was when the LGBT community boycotted Coors beer because company owners discriminated against and gave money to anti gay organizations. Gay bar owners refused for years to serve Coors beer. That one really worked. Coors changed its practices.
Well, now comes word that the Reverends Jesse and Al are calling for a boycott of BP. They say because BP has no Blacks in upper levels of management or Black owners for that matter. The Revs say we need to do this to send a message to all the other oil companies.
I'm on board with that. Not because I worry about how many Blacks they have in management but because I think BP sells a lousy product.
I stopped buying BP gas a long time ago because my car's performance seemed to drop every time I used their petrol. I could always tell when my sister borrowed my car and filled it up with BP. Every time.
I'm in favor of boycotting every company that attempts to dump shit into my neighborhood under the guise of providing service. Let's start there and see what happens.
Still Working Toward the 4th
9am sports.......LPGA U.S. Women's Open Playoff...Sorenstam vs Hurst..no soccer Brasil lost...Venus is out so no more Wimbledon...
Today's libation of choice: Amaretto, Ginger Ale, with a twist of lime over ice in a tall glass...drink between glasses of lime flavored perrier over ice
Main meal: Grilled marinaded jumbo gulf shrimp w/grilled mixed veggies
mangia!
Today's libation of choice: Amaretto, Ginger Ale, with a twist of lime over ice in a tall glass...drink between glasses of lime flavored perrier over ice
Main meal: Grilled marinaded jumbo gulf shrimp w/grilled mixed veggies
mangia!
7.01.2006
6.29.2006
Flotsam and Jetsam
Okay, Bush stands up back in 2001 outside the rubble that was once the world trade center and says this country is going after the terrorists by following the money. He promised to cut off the funds that made 9/11 possible. Since that time, periodically this government has issued press releases touting its success at freezing alleged terrorist bank accounts around the world. Dubya and company has been doing exactly what it said, following the money trail and bragging about it openly.
Now, back to the future, last week, the New York Times writes a story about how our government is following the money tracking alleged terrorist funds. but the GOP is calling the report an act of treason and saying that the NYT should be held criminally accountable. Why?
The New York Times didn't break the story. They reported something that was already known, maybe in greater detail, but not something new. In reporter parlance, they fleshed it out a bit. According to reports they even told Dubya and company about the story before hand.
So I say again, what is the problem here?
Looks like another attempt at misdirection away from the important stuff again. I don't care what they try to throw at us, who the gang of W tries to attack.....
It's still the economy, still the war, still the lies, still Osama, still Katrina, still "no child left behind," still the blatant destruction of the American middle class, still social security and medicare, and still the attempts to codify discrimination into law.
-*-
The one thing I give the GOP credit for is having a "plan B." Everyone should always have a plan B in case the first plan doesn't work. Despite the fact that the GOP has screwed up so badly these past few years and is looking like it is headed for defeat in the next election, they may just pull it out cause they appear to have a "plan B."
Their Plan B....stealing the election. The 2000 vote was just a practice run in two states, Ohio and Florida. The result in that election has stampeded every state across the country to get rid of the hanging chads and replace paper ballots with touch screen electronic voting.
Problem is, any computer geek with half assed knowledge can now steal the election and alter votes according to a report issued earlier this week by a commission put together to study e-voting in this country. The new e-voting systems going into use don't have a back up paper trail or auditing procedures in place to track and identify potential fraud, if and when it happens. And we all know it's going to happen, sooner rather than later.
What's even more frightening is that many more states have elections officials overseeing the change and subsequent elections just like we have here in Ohio, namely one Kenneth Blackwell. Blackwell is the candidate for governor who has been sabotaging voting in Ohio for the past several years from his current position as Secretary of State, by putting into place quasi legal restrictions that have successfully disenfranchised voters, specifically Black voters.
So don't be surprised come 2008, The fix is already in and the Democrats are still standing around with their collective thumbs up their ass courting evangelicals in the GOP way.
Now, back to the future, last week, the New York Times writes a story about how our government is following the money tracking alleged terrorist funds. but the GOP is calling the report an act of treason and saying that the NYT should be held criminally accountable. Why?
The New York Times didn't break the story. They reported something that was already known, maybe in greater detail, but not something new. In reporter parlance, they fleshed it out a bit. According to reports they even told Dubya and company about the story before hand.
So I say again, what is the problem here?
Looks like another attempt at misdirection away from the important stuff again. I don't care what they try to throw at us, who the gang of W tries to attack.....
It's still the economy, still the war, still the lies, still Osama, still Katrina, still "no child left behind," still the blatant destruction of the American middle class, still social security and medicare, and still the attempts to codify discrimination into law.
-*-
The one thing I give the GOP credit for is having a "plan B." Everyone should always have a plan B in case the first plan doesn't work. Despite the fact that the GOP has screwed up so badly these past few years and is looking like it is headed for defeat in the next election, they may just pull it out cause they appear to have a "plan B."
Their Plan B....stealing the election. The 2000 vote was just a practice run in two states, Ohio and Florida. The result in that election has stampeded every state across the country to get rid of the hanging chads and replace paper ballots with touch screen electronic voting.
Problem is, any computer geek with half assed knowledge can now steal the election and alter votes according to a report issued earlier this week by a commission put together to study e-voting in this country. The new e-voting systems going into use don't have a back up paper trail or auditing procedures in place to track and identify potential fraud, if and when it happens. And we all know it's going to happen, sooner rather than later.
What's even more frightening is that many more states have elections officials overseeing the change and subsequent elections just like we have here in Ohio, namely one Kenneth Blackwell. Blackwell is the candidate for governor who has been sabotaging voting in Ohio for the past several years from his current position as Secretary of State, by putting into place quasi legal restrictions that have successfully disenfranchised voters, specifically Black voters.
So don't be surprised come 2008, The fix is already in and the Democrats are still standing around with their collective thumbs up their ass courting evangelicals in the GOP way.
6.28.2006
Unleashing my Inner Butch
So many sporting events....not enough TVs in the house. What's a girl to do?
Juga Bonita-Brazil-Goooooallllllll!
The Championships at Wimbledon-Venus!
LPGA- Women's Open-Se Ri Pak returns- yeah!
Besides, who cares about Rush Limbaugh getting caught with viagra. It only confirms what we already knew, that he is nothing more than an over exposed limp dicked junkie.
Discuss......I'll be back later.
Juga Bonita-Brazil-Goooooallllllll!
The Championships at Wimbledon-Venus!
LPGA- Women's Open-Se Ri Pak returns- yeah!
Besides, who cares about Rush Limbaugh getting caught with viagra. It only confirms what we already knew, that he is nothing more than an over exposed limp dicked junkie.
Discuss......I'll be back later.
6.27.2006
"That Colored Guy"
I have often wondered what it is about me that makes white people comfortable in displaying their bigotry in my presence. Why is it they say things around me that they wouldn't dare say around other Blacks, especially Black men.
Let me tell you what happened. I was standing in a group of people in a public location talking with four or five other people that I've known for awhile, all of them white, all of them male. It was your basic bullshit session, nothing heavy going on. It was the end of a shared night, everyone beginning to relax back into our individual existences before actually exiting the building.
We were joined near the end by a young man, white, 21 years old. This young man proceeded to insert himself into the conversation during the course of which he used a phrase that sent chills of anger down my spine. He used the phrase in a manner which told me he'd said it hundreds of times in his young existence. It was a common phrase for him and I would discern, of those around him. It was not something he gave any thought to using in my presence.
It took everything I could to control myself. I wanted to plant my size 9 up his ass and beat the living daylights out of him.
All the other guys in the group tensed as well, but I think it was more to wait and see how I would react to what was said. They were waiting to take their cues from me on how they should react, or not react. It certainly wasn't because they themselves had never before heard the phrase. It wasn’t because they''d never used it before. They just knew when to use it and when not to.
Despite my anger, my reaction was to ignore him. I gave him a pass on what he said. I was pissed and mute. He stood there shining in his ignorance totally unaware of how close he stood to the abyss.
" You hired that colored guy?"
That was the last time I'd heard that phrase. It was a question from my boss. He owned the company. I was his operations manager in charge of 150 workers, and I'd made a new hire for the production floor. I'd hired a temporary worker on after nine months of showing up and doing an excellent job. I felt he should have been rewarded. It was my call. After all, staffing was part of my job description.
I]d hired others, several in fact and never once been questioned, with one slight difference. Every other hire I'd made was of an Hispanic male or female. I was the only Black American in the company and I knew the boss thought I was Hispanic when he hired me.
You see I speak Spanish. He needed someone to speak Spanish to his preferred workforce and I got the job. I'm a fair skinned black, high yellow in ghetto terminology, and outside of my home state of Ohio have always been routinely mistaken for Cuban or Puerto Rican.
My boss made the same mistake when we met. He didn't ask, I didn't tell. During the course of our working relationship, I came to know his prejudices against Blacks. He came to know that I am Black, but he didn't change or soften toward my race. He just somehow drew a cocoon around me in his mind, removing me from my heritage. I'm okay, but the others are still colored or something worse. It stayed unspoken between us until that day.
"You hired that colored guy?"
I answered his question in the affirmative and then went back to my desk packed my stuff, returned to his office and quit. I haven't looked back. He has written me glowing recommendations in every job I’ve had since then. I guess that is his way of apologizing to me. But he still doesn't hire Blacks into his company, no matter how well they perform.
15 years removed from that incident, I hear it again, "that colored guy." I hear it from a young man, a boy far removed from the civil rights struggles of the past. A boy who has no power other than the power of words over me. Someone who is not my equal intellectually or in public standing. Someone who has doors open simply because of his gender, his color and who he knows.
He is someone for whom the racial troubles of this country are a thing of the past. For me, however, it's like it was yesterday.
It was and it still hurts.
Let me tell you what happened. I was standing in a group of people in a public location talking with four or five other people that I've known for awhile, all of them white, all of them male. It was your basic bullshit session, nothing heavy going on. It was the end of a shared night, everyone beginning to relax back into our individual existences before actually exiting the building.
We were joined near the end by a young man, white, 21 years old. This young man proceeded to insert himself into the conversation during the course of which he used a phrase that sent chills of anger down my spine. He used the phrase in a manner which told me he'd said it hundreds of times in his young existence. It was a common phrase for him and I would discern, of those around him. It was not something he gave any thought to using in my presence.
It took everything I could to control myself. I wanted to plant my size 9 up his ass and beat the living daylights out of him.
All the other guys in the group tensed as well, but I think it was more to wait and see how I would react to what was said. They were waiting to take their cues from me on how they should react, or not react. It certainly wasn't because they themselves had never before heard the phrase. It wasn’t because they''d never used it before. They just knew when to use it and when not to.
Despite my anger, my reaction was to ignore him. I gave him a pass on what he said. I was pissed and mute. He stood there shining in his ignorance totally unaware of how close he stood to the abyss.
" You hired that colored guy?"
That was the last time I'd heard that phrase. It was a question from my boss. He owned the company. I was his operations manager in charge of 150 workers, and I'd made a new hire for the production floor. I'd hired a temporary worker on after nine months of showing up and doing an excellent job. I felt he should have been rewarded. It was my call. After all, staffing was part of my job description.
I]d hired others, several in fact and never once been questioned, with one slight difference. Every other hire I'd made was of an Hispanic male or female. I was the only Black American in the company and I knew the boss thought I was Hispanic when he hired me.
You see I speak Spanish. He needed someone to speak Spanish to his preferred workforce and I got the job. I'm a fair skinned black, high yellow in ghetto terminology, and outside of my home state of Ohio have always been routinely mistaken for Cuban or Puerto Rican.
My boss made the same mistake when we met. He didn't ask, I didn't tell. During the course of our working relationship, I came to know his prejudices against Blacks. He came to know that I am Black, but he didn't change or soften toward my race. He just somehow drew a cocoon around me in his mind, removing me from my heritage. I'm okay, but the others are still colored or something worse. It stayed unspoken between us until that day.
"You hired that colored guy?"
I answered his question in the affirmative and then went back to my desk packed my stuff, returned to his office and quit. I haven't looked back. He has written me glowing recommendations in every job I’ve had since then. I guess that is his way of apologizing to me. But he still doesn't hire Blacks into his company, no matter how well they perform.
15 years removed from that incident, I hear it again, "that colored guy." I hear it from a young man, a boy far removed from the civil rights struggles of the past. A boy who has no power other than the power of words over me. Someone who is not my equal intellectually or in public standing. Someone who has doors open simply because of his gender, his color and who he knows.
He is someone for whom the racial troubles of this country are a thing of the past. For me, however, it's like it was yesterday.
It was and it still hurts.
6.26.2006
Another Mojito, Please
Let me apologize in advance for my inattention to the news this week . I'm a sports junky and currently in junkie heaven with the second round of the juga bonita (world cup), "BRASILIA," and the beginning of Wimbledon. In my part of the world that stuff begins around 7am in the morning and lasts all day. I probably won't go outside unless one of the dogs threatens to break training and pees on my floor.
I have food, water and my electric and cable bills are paid and my couch is comfortable.
So, ya'll discuss while I veg.
I'll be back!
I have food, water and my electric and cable bills are paid and my couch is comfortable.
So, ya'll discuss while I veg.
I'll be back!
6.23.2006
Deja Vu All Over Again
Okay,
They didn't have any weapons, no explosives, no vehicles, not even a slingshot.
They hung out in and around a warehouse somewhere in a Miami Florida ghetto, wearing black, standing guard and saying prayers.
They did express anger at America....wanted to blow it up starting with the Sears Tower in Chicago.
Apparently they tried to contact Usama Bin Laden and even swore allegiance to him.
They met this dude, let him into their group and who apparently promised the hook up with Al Qaeda but who turned out to be a fed snitch. They allegedly told him their desires and asked for 50,000-dollars to fund this jihad on America.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone else besides me, who happens to be over the age of 21?
Does anyone remember the alphabet of the 60's and early 70's.... COINTELPRO? FBI? SDS? SNCC? SLA? BLF? BP?
This shit played out 30 years ago, only the government was hunting Black folks not Arabs. We've been thru this.
When something goes down in this country this government still looks for the nigger in the woodpile not the white boy hiding in the bush with the AK-47.
Yes the Towers were knocked down by Saudi Arabians (our allies), but the only other building blown up like that was done by a white American guy named Timothy.
We have home grown terrorist cells in this country. They are called Militias. They openly express their hatred of America and Americans of Color (any color but white). They are all over the country. They are organized, well armed and vocal.
So why is no one arresting them? Oh! I forgot they tried. Remember Ruby Ridge? Militia people shoot back and FBI guys get killed. Don't want to do that. Can't rely on that same shitty kevlar they've sent overseas with our kids on the front lines in Iraq.
I guess it's better to go after the kooky dashiki-less militants in black....non-meat eating, Muslim...marchin'....loud talkin'... trust anybody, soldiers of the ghetto..hanging out in the warehouse...with no means to accomplish anything, much less a revolution.
Makes a damn good photo op and gives lot's of publicity to this government's bogus war on terrorism.
They didn't have any weapons, no explosives, no vehicles, not even a slingshot.
They hung out in and around a warehouse somewhere in a Miami Florida ghetto, wearing black, standing guard and saying prayers.
They did express anger at America....wanted to blow it up starting with the Sears Tower in Chicago.
Apparently they tried to contact Usama Bin Laden and even swore allegiance to him.
They met this dude, let him into their group and who apparently promised the hook up with Al Qaeda but who turned out to be a fed snitch. They allegedly told him their desires and asked for 50,000-dollars to fund this jihad on America.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone else besides me, who happens to be over the age of 21?
Does anyone remember the alphabet of the 60's and early 70's.... COINTELPRO? FBI? SDS? SNCC? SLA? BLF? BP?
This shit played out 30 years ago, only the government was hunting Black folks not Arabs. We've been thru this.
When something goes down in this country this government still looks for the nigger in the woodpile not the white boy hiding in the bush with the AK-47.
Yes the Towers were knocked down by Saudi Arabians (our allies), but the only other building blown up like that was done by a white American guy named Timothy.
We have home grown terrorist cells in this country. They are called Militias. They openly express their hatred of America and Americans of Color (any color but white). They are all over the country. They are organized, well armed and vocal.
So why is no one arresting them? Oh! I forgot they tried. Remember Ruby Ridge? Militia people shoot back and FBI guys get killed. Don't want to do that. Can't rely on that same shitty kevlar they've sent overseas with our kids on the front lines in Iraq.
I guess it's better to go after the kooky dashiki-less militants in black....non-meat eating, Muslim...marchin'....loud talkin'... trust anybody, soldiers of the ghetto..hanging out in the warehouse...with no means to accomplish anything, much less a revolution.
Makes a damn good photo op and gives lot's of publicity to this government's bogus war on terrorism.
6.22.2006
F***ed Again
If that nut in North Korea who wants to fire missiles at the US needs some help with his aim then I've got the perfect target for him. I'd like to point him in the direction of Capitol Hill. One well placed missile would go a long way in stopping the silliness that passes for government in this country.
Think of how much money we could save as taxpayers if we didn't have to pay congress or put up with their automatic annual pay raises. They give themselves 3,300-dollars yearly and have been doing it since 1996. They decided to make it automatic so that if we taxpayers get pissed about it, they can honestly say to us constituents that they didn't vote for it.
Talk about games.
And today comes word that they have once again refused to vote an increase in the minimum wage after quietly okaying their annual increase last week. I guess poor folks don't need money. The minimum wage has been the same since 1996, but Congress has given itself seven raises during that same time.
Poor folks get 5.15 per hour which works out to little more then 10-thousand dollars a year. Congress makes in the area of 168-thousand dollars a year. Now if you compare congressional salary to the average CEO then you could say congressmen are getting screwed too, because the average CEO in this country makes 42,000 dollars per day. But that's food for thought for another day.
The reasoning behind the "no" vote is that raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses and small businesses in particular, say Republicans. According to the GOP, poor folks can't make more money cause business owners would be forced to eliminate some of their jobs in order to keep up with the pay hike for others.
So for poor people it's a no win situation. So take your five dollars an hour and be quiet about it. Bullshit ! We're talking a one dollar raise, not 3000-dollars.
Voodoo economics is alive and well and in practice in America.
Can Congress be impeached? Recalled maybe?
Think of how much money we could save as taxpayers if we didn't have to pay congress or put up with their automatic annual pay raises. They give themselves 3,300-dollars yearly and have been doing it since 1996. They decided to make it automatic so that if we taxpayers get pissed about it, they can honestly say to us constituents that they didn't vote for it.
Talk about games.
And today comes word that they have once again refused to vote an increase in the minimum wage after quietly okaying their annual increase last week. I guess poor folks don't need money. The minimum wage has been the same since 1996, but Congress has given itself seven raises during that same time.
Poor folks get 5.15 per hour which works out to little more then 10-thousand dollars a year. Congress makes in the area of 168-thousand dollars a year. Now if you compare congressional salary to the average CEO then you could say congressmen are getting screwed too, because the average CEO in this country makes 42,000 dollars per day. But that's food for thought for another day.
The reasoning behind the "no" vote is that raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses and small businesses in particular, say Republicans. According to the GOP, poor folks can't make more money cause business owners would be forced to eliminate some of their jobs in order to keep up with the pay hike for others.
So for poor people it's a no win situation. So take your five dollars an hour and be quiet about it. Bullshit ! We're talking a one dollar raise, not 3000-dollars.
Voodoo economics is alive and well and in practice in America.
Can Congress be impeached? Recalled maybe?
6.21.2006
Last One Out, Turn Off the Lights
Over the years the general consensus about Cincinnati is that it's a great place to raise a family. Well that apparently is no longer true if you look at a recently released census report. According to the report, the Queen City lost 6.8% of its population between 2000-2005. Only one other city in the country has lost more.
The question is why. Why is Cincinnati on the road to becoming a suburb of Covington, Kentucky. Because that's what's happening. People are fleeing Cincinnati in two directions- north into the burbs and south into Kentucky. Northern Kentucky is booming. It's actually fun to cross the river these days. There are things to do there. There is Newport on the Levee. There is the aquarium. There are too many different restaurants and clubs to mention. Take your pick, there is plenty to get into. The aforementioned activities were things that were originally slated to be built on the Cincinnati side of the river. So what happened?
Cincinnati is architecturally and historically beautiful. It is pristine and clean. It has lots of green space. It has lots of Classical culture, museums, etc. It has sports. Yes the Reds and Bengals are wannabe professional sports teams, but they do provide some excitement once in a while.
But the city itself is nothing more than a lifeless man-made concrete canyon. The clubs are gone from downtown. The businesses have trouble doing business because there is no foot traffic. The last movie theater shut down several years ago. When there is a festival in town, several downtown restaurants choose to shutdown, preferring to do inventory instead. Yet they don't want to be called racists. I've never ever heard of a real businessman passing up making money to do inventory. Except for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The business community yearly prostitutes itself for the Harley Davidson biker rally, while choosing to take inventory when the black bikers rally the very next week. More on that another time.
The City has become a ghost town watched over by a government mired in indecision and inactivity. It's like crabs in a barrel at city hall. Nobody working together in favor of promoting their own individual agendas.
The school system has been in steady decline for years. Crime is well publicized and the police are paralyzed. The city's image still suffers from misguided discriminatory civil rights legislation aimed at gays and lesbians. The measure has been repealed but the perception that Cincinnati is not an all inclusive community lingers on. The city's score on dealing with Blacks is also bad. Now we have an immigration problem, too.
More and more I run into people who having been born here chose to leave only to return to take care of family. That's the only reason they come back. Not for the atmosphere or livability of the city. They live here cause they have to and party elsewhere. Me too.
Like what's his name said..."All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
The question is why. Why is Cincinnati on the road to becoming a suburb of Covington, Kentucky. Because that's what's happening. People are fleeing Cincinnati in two directions- north into the burbs and south into Kentucky. Northern Kentucky is booming. It's actually fun to cross the river these days. There are things to do there. There is Newport on the Levee. There is the aquarium. There are too many different restaurants and clubs to mention. Take your pick, there is plenty to get into. The aforementioned activities were things that were originally slated to be built on the Cincinnati side of the river. So what happened?
Cincinnati is architecturally and historically beautiful. It is pristine and clean. It has lots of green space. It has lots of Classical culture, museums, etc. It has sports. Yes the Reds and Bengals are wannabe professional sports teams, but they do provide some excitement once in a while.
But the city itself is nothing more than a lifeless man-made concrete canyon. The clubs are gone from downtown. The businesses have trouble doing business because there is no foot traffic. The last movie theater shut down several years ago. When there is a festival in town, several downtown restaurants choose to shutdown, preferring to do inventory instead. Yet they don't want to be called racists. I've never ever heard of a real businessman passing up making money to do inventory. Except for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The business community yearly prostitutes itself for the Harley Davidson biker rally, while choosing to take inventory when the black bikers rally the very next week. More on that another time.
The City has become a ghost town watched over by a government mired in indecision and inactivity. It's like crabs in a barrel at city hall. Nobody working together in favor of promoting their own individual agendas.
The school system has been in steady decline for years. Crime is well publicized and the police are paralyzed. The city's image still suffers from misguided discriminatory civil rights legislation aimed at gays and lesbians. The measure has been repealed but the perception that Cincinnati is not an all inclusive community lingers on. The city's score on dealing with Blacks is also bad. Now we have an immigration problem, too.
More and more I run into people who having been born here chose to leave only to return to take care of family. That's the only reason they come back. Not for the atmosphere or livability of the city. They live here cause they have to and party elsewhere. Me too.
Like what's his name said..."All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
6.19.2006
Having your Chocolate and Eating it too
Nestle, the big chocolate candy company is buying Jenny Craig, the giant diet company. If ever there was a case of playing both sides of the fence, this is one of them.
Nestle is reportedly paying 600-million dollars for the firm and will add it to its "functional food" line up. Does that mean my Nestle's crunch bar will now come in diet chocolate form?
Works for me.
I can just see it now, the Jenny Craig Nestle's Crunch bar coming to a supermarket near you.
I don't consider myself a chocoholic except during certain times of the month when I willingly eat anything including the wallpaper off the walls, but I would love to incorporate diet chocolate bars into my personal and ongoing battle with the junk in my trunk.
After all, if God wanted everyone to be anorexic and miserable, she would have never invented food.
Nestle is reportedly paying 600-million dollars for the firm and will add it to its "functional food" line up. Does that mean my Nestle's crunch bar will now come in diet chocolate form?
Works for me.
I can just see it now, the Jenny Craig Nestle's Crunch bar coming to a supermarket near you.
I don't consider myself a chocoholic except during certain times of the month when I willingly eat anything including the wallpaper off the walls, but I would love to incorporate diet chocolate bars into my personal and ongoing battle with the junk in my trunk.
After all, if God wanted everyone to be anorexic and miserable, she would have never invented food.
6.18.2006
Red Rover, Red Rover, Will Someone Please Come Over
You know, sometimes you have to go home and by that I mean you have to go back to where you came from and look at how you used to deal with situations in order to find the right solution. When I was a kid and some one said nasty things about a friend of mine, I was ready to jump into their ass to defend my friend, cause I knew my friend wasn't like that. I didn't worry about the consequences of my actions or my words. I was just about protecting my friend's back as I knew she would protect mine and together, I knew we would prevail. We were friends because we had things and beliefs in common.
So as I listen to today's political conversation, I am asking, "who has John Murtha's back?" He's still a Democrat isn't he? That's his "gang" isn't it? So why doesn't somebody, anybody step forward to stand alongside this man? Why are Howard and John and Hilary and even Bill letting this man take all the heat? Isn't he saying exactly what they believe, too?
I mean, I'm getting all kinds of emails asking me for money and to sign this petition and that petition. But I don't see anyone else in the gang acting like they really want to fight for what they say they believe in.
It's gotten so ugly that even the mini me that is Karl Rove is taking direct aim at Congressman Murtha, calling him out by name. Rove is that guy in high school who hung out with the big man on campus mopping up the sloppy seconds cause he couldn't get it on his own, paying for the privilege by doing the big guy's hatchet work so the big guy could keep his hands clean.
Murtha's not lying about the war in Iraq or making up stories about this White House and this President. Furthermore, if you believe the polls, the majority of Americans agree with him. Hell, he sounds more like my representative than the one who represents me.
If Murtha were running for President, I'd vote for him. He has been the only honest politician I've seen in a number of years. And we all know that the term "honest politician" is another one of those oxymorons, just like "compassionate conservatism."
Murtha is absolutely correct to say that what we have here is governance by arrogance or policy wrapped up in illusion.
So why are the other Democrats standing clear? Are they afraid of being tainted? Are they afraid the gang of Karl, Don, Dick and Dubya might come after them again? Do they think they can win the next election by being nice, agreeable and invisible?
There is nothing politically correct about politics. I keep waiting for some real throw down from the Democrats. But at this rate, I may be waiting a long time.
In fact, why don't I just start my own political party. I could get more done, that's for sure.
Anyone want to vote for a short black woman with a bad attitude toward the status quo?
So as I listen to today's political conversation, I am asking, "who has John Murtha's back?" He's still a Democrat isn't he? That's his "gang" isn't it? So why doesn't somebody, anybody step forward to stand alongside this man? Why are Howard and John and Hilary and even Bill letting this man take all the heat? Isn't he saying exactly what they believe, too?
I mean, I'm getting all kinds of emails asking me for money and to sign this petition and that petition. But I don't see anyone else in the gang acting like they really want to fight for what they say they believe in.
It's gotten so ugly that even the mini me that is Karl Rove is taking direct aim at Congressman Murtha, calling him out by name. Rove is that guy in high school who hung out with the big man on campus mopping up the sloppy seconds cause he couldn't get it on his own, paying for the privilege by doing the big guy's hatchet work so the big guy could keep his hands clean.
Murtha's not lying about the war in Iraq or making up stories about this White House and this President. Furthermore, if you believe the polls, the majority of Americans agree with him. Hell, he sounds more like my representative than the one who represents me.
If Murtha were running for President, I'd vote for him. He has been the only honest politician I've seen in a number of years. And we all know that the term "honest politician" is another one of those oxymorons, just like "compassionate conservatism."
Murtha is absolutely correct to say that what we have here is governance by arrogance or policy wrapped up in illusion.
So why are the other Democrats standing clear? Are they afraid of being tainted? Are they afraid the gang of Karl, Don, Dick and Dubya might come after them again? Do they think they can win the next election by being nice, agreeable and invisible?
There is nothing politically correct about politics. I keep waiting for some real throw down from the Democrats. But at this rate, I may be waiting a long time.
In fact, why don't I just start my own political party. I could get more done, that's for sure.
Anyone want to vote for a short black woman with a bad attitude toward the status quo?
6.13.2006
Cincinnati: Home to Many Fruits and a Whole Lot of Nuts
Cincinnati, The Queen City, is aptly named. It is home to many queens most of whom proudly marched in Sunday's Pride Parade through Clifton and Northside much to the delight of a similarly fruity throng of rainbow clad happy people. I was one of them. It was a fun day.
Despite the sometimes oppressive and downright discriminatory nature of the city, fruits have always thrived here. The city is a veritable orchard when it comes to growing fruits. And with the city now making strides to leave the 19th century and enter the 21st by doing away with outdated draconian laws, it can only get more festive in coming years.
But the climate around here is also great for growing nuts and that's not necessarily a good thing. Some of the more harmless but fun nuts have gone national, like Jerry Springer, or Morganna the kissing bandit. . Some are just locally famous like Fife, rest in peace, lady, or the late Charlie Taft or Marge, no last name needed. There was a vibrancy, an aliveness, if you will in their nuttiness. They provided a spark and twinkle that is missing today from this once great city.
Others, however, are more dangerous in their nuttiness, like The Wilkes, husband and wife, Phil Burress, and lately, one Tom Brinkman. The Wilkes founded "Right to Life." Phil Burress is a reformed porn addict who campaigns for "community values." Tom Brinkman sponsors legislation aimed at women. He is the man behind a proposal in the Ohio State House that would ban all abortions, even for rape victims. There is a hearing today on the issue.
Were I living in a more enlightened State than the Great State of Ohio, I would not be too concerned about this piece of legislation making it into law. After all it completely contradicts federal law on the issue. But this is Ohio, home to a convicted Governor who is nephew of the aforementioned Charlie. It is home to wannabe governor Ken Blackwell, who uses his powers as Secretary of State to steal elections for the GOP among other seemingly questionable actions, and he is also from Cincinnati.
Considering Ohio was the swing state for re-electing Dubya to the White House for four more years of "compassionate conservatism," well you can understand my reticence for assuming that common sense and logic will prevail in knocking down this insidious measure.
Women have a right to choose, period. I get angry just having to feel that I have to justify my rights on any level to anyone other than myself. I, and I know there are other women who refuse to be returned to being second class citizens. I grew up back in the day of back alley abortions where women died after being violated by hacks with coat hangers. I remember that. It's not some history lesson for me. We ain't goin' back there.
This whole anti abortion movement is based on two premises that date all the way back to when men figured out how to write. One, that men need to propagate and live on, preferably thru their sons, and two, that women need to be protected and have decisions made for them by right thinking upstanding individuals, namely their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers. Get the picture ? We haven't been property for a very long time, guys.
I don't know any woman who chooses routinely to have an abortion, or even wants to have one. I certainly don't know any women who enjoy getting raped.
The right to a safe abortion is simply one of many choices available, or would be available if this same movement and the Tom Brinkmans of the world would stop fighting sex education and knowledge about contraception in schools and on the internet.
One of the most horrendous things that this White House has done is to erase sex education information from all government websites. It has also successfully withheld federal funding in the fight to keep women safe.
The Tom Brinkmans of the world are not pro life or they wouldn't be about getting laws passed that kill women.
Despite the sometimes oppressive and downright discriminatory nature of the city, fruits have always thrived here. The city is a veritable orchard when it comes to growing fruits. And with the city now making strides to leave the 19th century and enter the 21st by doing away with outdated draconian laws, it can only get more festive in coming years.
But the climate around here is also great for growing nuts and that's not necessarily a good thing. Some of the more harmless but fun nuts have gone national, like Jerry Springer, or Morganna the kissing bandit. . Some are just locally famous like Fife, rest in peace, lady, or the late Charlie Taft or Marge, no last name needed. There was a vibrancy, an aliveness, if you will in their nuttiness. They provided a spark and twinkle that is missing today from this once great city.
Others, however, are more dangerous in their nuttiness, like The Wilkes, husband and wife, Phil Burress, and lately, one Tom Brinkman. The Wilkes founded "Right to Life." Phil Burress is a reformed porn addict who campaigns for "community values." Tom Brinkman sponsors legislation aimed at women. He is the man behind a proposal in the Ohio State House that would ban all abortions, even for rape victims. There is a hearing today on the issue.
Were I living in a more enlightened State than the Great State of Ohio, I would not be too concerned about this piece of legislation making it into law. After all it completely contradicts federal law on the issue. But this is Ohio, home to a convicted Governor who is nephew of the aforementioned Charlie. It is home to wannabe governor Ken Blackwell, who uses his powers as Secretary of State to steal elections for the GOP among other seemingly questionable actions, and he is also from Cincinnati.
Considering Ohio was the swing state for re-electing Dubya to the White House for four more years of "compassionate conservatism," well you can understand my reticence for assuming that common sense and logic will prevail in knocking down this insidious measure.
Women have a right to choose, period. I get angry just having to feel that I have to justify my rights on any level to anyone other than myself. I, and I know there are other women who refuse to be returned to being second class citizens. I grew up back in the day of back alley abortions where women died after being violated by hacks with coat hangers. I remember that. It's not some history lesson for me. We ain't goin' back there.
This whole anti abortion movement is based on two premises that date all the way back to when men figured out how to write. One, that men need to propagate and live on, preferably thru their sons, and two, that women need to be protected and have decisions made for them by right thinking upstanding individuals, namely their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers. Get the picture ? We haven't been property for a very long time, guys.
I don't know any woman who chooses routinely to have an abortion, or even wants to have one. I certainly don't know any women who enjoy getting raped.
The right to a safe abortion is simply one of many choices available, or would be available if this same movement and the Tom Brinkmans of the world would stop fighting sex education and knowledge about contraception in schools and on the internet.
One of the most horrendous things that this White House has done is to erase sex education information from all government websites. It has also successfully withheld federal funding in the fight to keep women safe.
The Tom Brinkmans of the world are not pro life or they wouldn't be about getting laws passed that kill women.
6.11.2006
Corporate Behavior: Having it Both Ways
Today I ran across an article in the New York Times talking about how corporations are using personal living websites like Myspace. Com to check out potential employees.
Apparently what is happening is that employers are disqualifying otherwise good job applicants based on what they have posted on their personal websites.
Now I don't know about you, but I consider this a tremendous invasion of privacy, another one in this day and age. From what I've seen, most of what's posted on the internet, especially on these sites where kids and teenagers and college kids hang out is posturing, an attempt by the posteur to be "cool" or "kewl" as my nephew corrected me in one recent text message.
What potential employers find out is that the potential job applicant is a kid. He/she drinks, smokes, parties too much and has some fun, sometimes. Kids are learning life. They are learning how to cope. They are experimenting. And most of it, unless there are pictures, is probably not true.
The employers are looking at him for his first job, for goodness sake. They don't intend to pay him good money like he's an adult and would be the first to tell you that there is not enough experience to justify a bigger paycheck. So what's the beef? He/she didn't spring from the womb full grown with grown up values and common sense. The time on these websites is downtime, personal time, time where corporations have no say. Or do they?
There is a huge movement in corporate America to exert more control over workers' personal lives, all hidden behind the guise of making workers healthier. In other words, there is the move to ban smoking, inside, outside, on the sidewalk, in the car and in the home. A couple of companies have been allowed to fire people for coming to work with smoke-breath. There are now random routine nicotine pee tests being administered. The courts are backing them up. They do this as a means, they say, of controlling spiraling health care costs.
That's a load of crap. If they want to control something, take a look at the pay packages and golden parachutes of upper management. Talk about something out of control. I guarantee you in any corporation, if the CEO takes six months off, nobody would notice. But if the mail room takes 8 hours off, everybody notices and comes to a stand still. Now you tell me who should be making the money, the CEO or the guys in the mailroom?
Corporations have long done criminal background checks on both workers and potential workers. Some perform them every couple of months. Emails are being monitored. Anyone with a brain who works in corporate America knows you don't put anything in an email that you wouldn't say out loud in front of your boss or his boss.
At the same time, while policing the employees and potential employees, they aren't doing anything to stem the flow of run away profit and profit taking by upper echelon company officials.
And from what I've read, upper management is pretty good when it comes to partying too, if you happen to make it to CEO level.
But then the Ken Lays of the world didn't have personal websites back in the day for someone to check out before they got the jobs, did they?
Apparently what is happening is that employers are disqualifying otherwise good job applicants based on what they have posted on their personal websites.
Now I don't know about you, but I consider this a tremendous invasion of privacy, another one in this day and age. From what I've seen, most of what's posted on the internet, especially on these sites where kids and teenagers and college kids hang out is posturing, an attempt by the posteur to be "cool" or "kewl" as my nephew corrected me in one recent text message.
What potential employers find out is that the potential job applicant is a kid. He/she drinks, smokes, parties too much and has some fun, sometimes. Kids are learning life. They are learning how to cope. They are experimenting. And most of it, unless there are pictures, is probably not true.
The employers are looking at him for his first job, for goodness sake. They don't intend to pay him good money like he's an adult and would be the first to tell you that there is not enough experience to justify a bigger paycheck. So what's the beef? He/she didn't spring from the womb full grown with grown up values and common sense. The time on these websites is downtime, personal time, time where corporations have no say. Or do they?
There is a huge movement in corporate America to exert more control over workers' personal lives, all hidden behind the guise of making workers healthier. In other words, there is the move to ban smoking, inside, outside, on the sidewalk, in the car and in the home. A couple of companies have been allowed to fire people for coming to work with smoke-breath. There are now random routine nicotine pee tests being administered. The courts are backing them up. They do this as a means, they say, of controlling spiraling health care costs.
That's a load of crap. If they want to control something, take a look at the pay packages and golden parachutes of upper management. Talk about something out of control. I guarantee you in any corporation, if the CEO takes six months off, nobody would notice. But if the mail room takes 8 hours off, everybody notices and comes to a stand still. Now you tell me who should be making the money, the CEO or the guys in the mailroom?
Corporations have long done criminal background checks on both workers and potential workers. Some perform them every couple of months. Emails are being monitored. Anyone with a brain who works in corporate America knows you don't put anything in an email that you wouldn't say out loud in front of your boss or his boss.
At the same time, while policing the employees and potential employees, they aren't doing anything to stem the flow of run away profit and profit taking by upper echelon company officials.
And from what I've read, upper management is pretty good when it comes to partying too, if you happen to make it to CEO level.
But then the Ken Lays of the world didn't have personal websites back in the day for someone to check out before they got the jobs, did they?
6.08.2006
Ann Coulter: Political Punditry's Paris Hilton
I've spent the past several years ignoring the "one note samba" that is political commentator Ann Coulter.
For those of you who don't know, she is a self described far right wing conservative who hates liberals and just loves her some George Bush.
She's got everyone up in arms this week for attacking four women who lost their husbands in the bombing of the World Trade Centers. Coulter accuses the women of reveling in the deaths of their spouses, using their deaths for political and monetary gain.
Coulter makes these accusations while traveling the talk show circuit to promote her latest book. She also doesn't see any problem with Dubya using 9/11 for his political purpose. Or maybe she just didn't see his campaign ads when he was running for re-election. People as busy as her rarely watch TV and I doubt she's even heard of TIVO.
The reason I ignore her is that she says things to get your goat. Things like, The Emancipation Proclamation should be repealed, she said that. Now I could get ugly, question her parentage and call her all kinds of racist, bitches, but one of us has to show some class and take the high road.
She gets off on the reaction that she draws out, much like a child. She makes illogical statements that she cannot defend, pretending to debate issues. She just repeats the same stuff over and over each time louder and louder, calls names, shouts down her interviewer if he doesn't agree and moves on to another outrageous position.
She does make a lot of money as a public speaker traversing the country, but does anyone take her seriously. I mean yes she says outrageous things but the first thing noted about her in nearly every introduction that I've seen has been that she is blonde, leggy and wears micro-mini skirts. Remind you of anyone?
I hope that when she crawls up on that big stage and stands there to greet her audience in the micro-mini, that she's not wearing patent leather shoes.
We already know she lives in a glass house and it's just a matter of time before it cracks...
For those of you who don't know, she is a self described far right wing conservative who hates liberals and just loves her some George Bush.
She's got everyone up in arms this week for attacking four women who lost their husbands in the bombing of the World Trade Centers. Coulter accuses the women of reveling in the deaths of their spouses, using their deaths for political and monetary gain.
Coulter makes these accusations while traveling the talk show circuit to promote her latest book. She also doesn't see any problem with Dubya using 9/11 for his political purpose. Or maybe she just didn't see his campaign ads when he was running for re-election. People as busy as her rarely watch TV and I doubt she's even heard of TIVO.
The reason I ignore her is that she says things to get your goat. Things like, The Emancipation Proclamation should be repealed, she said that. Now I could get ugly, question her parentage and call her all kinds of racist, bitches, but one of us has to show some class and take the high road.
She gets off on the reaction that she draws out, much like a child. She makes illogical statements that she cannot defend, pretending to debate issues. She just repeats the same stuff over and over each time louder and louder, calls names, shouts down her interviewer if he doesn't agree and moves on to another outrageous position.
She does make a lot of money as a public speaker traversing the country, but does anyone take her seriously. I mean yes she says outrageous things but the first thing noted about her in nearly every introduction that I've seen has been that she is blonde, leggy and wears micro-mini skirts. Remind you of anyone?
I hope that when she crawls up on that big stage and stands there to greet her audience in the micro-mini, that she's not wearing patent leather shoes.
We already know she lives in a glass house and it's just a matter of time before it cracks...
6.07.2006
Blackwell's Rules.....The Attempt to Control the Vote in Ohio
There is something terribly wrong with a system when a candidate for Governor can issue rules governing who can vote in an election. America is not a dictatorship form of government, so how is this happening? Well, it's happening here in Ohio where the Secretary of State is running for governor. And, the Secretary of State is in control of how State elections are conducted. He is the one who makes up the rules of play.
The man in question is Ken Blackwell. He has once again put into place "emergency" regulations that could possibly criminalize the work of voter registration workers. The rules appear to be another blatant attempt to shut down voter registration in Ohio.
Blackwell has a history of these kinds of tawdry tricks on the electorate. In 2004, he instructed county boards of elections to reject any registrations on paper that was the "wrong" paper stock. He backed down under harsh and wide spread criticism. But the order was in place long enough to get some registrations invalidated.
This time around He has come up with a rule that says paid registration workers, and volunteers who collect registrations, must PERSONALLY take the forms they collect to the election office.
Now organizations, like the League of Women Voters, for instance, generally have their volunteers turn in the forms to a supervisor who then takes them to the election office after first reviewing them for errors.
Blackwell's rule would make everyone involved in the exchange a criminal.
Blackwell also says the forms CANNOT be mailed to the election office. That would seem to be a violation of federal elections law.
Blackwell issued these edicts because he feels he has the backing of the Republican Controlled Ohio Legislature.
The moves are a clear grab at power and an attempt to keep the GOP in control of Ohio.
If Blackwell were as honest and as forth right as he wants us to believe then he would have given the election procedures control over to someone who has nothing to gain.
He does not deserve the power with which he has been entrusted.
The man in question is Ken Blackwell. He has once again put into place "emergency" regulations that could possibly criminalize the work of voter registration workers. The rules appear to be another blatant attempt to shut down voter registration in Ohio.
Blackwell has a history of these kinds of tawdry tricks on the electorate. In 2004, he instructed county boards of elections to reject any registrations on paper that was the "wrong" paper stock. He backed down under harsh and wide spread criticism. But the order was in place long enough to get some registrations invalidated.
This time around He has come up with a rule that says paid registration workers, and volunteers who collect registrations, must PERSONALLY take the forms they collect to the election office.
Now organizations, like the League of Women Voters, for instance, generally have their volunteers turn in the forms to a supervisor who then takes them to the election office after first reviewing them for errors.
Blackwell's rule would make everyone involved in the exchange a criminal.
Blackwell also says the forms CANNOT be mailed to the election office. That would seem to be a violation of federal elections law.
Blackwell issued these edicts because he feels he has the backing of the Republican Controlled Ohio Legislature.
The moves are a clear grab at power and an attempt to keep the GOP in control of Ohio.
If Blackwell were as honest and as forth right as he wants us to believe then he would have given the election procedures control over to someone who has nothing to gain.
He does not deserve the power with which he has been entrusted.
6.06.2006
24/7 365....All Day, Every Day
I don't know about you but I can't be anything other than what I am. Despite cosmetic possibilities in this day in age, when I shed the makeup and look into the mirror, I'm me. I can't be tall, cause I'm short. I can't be white, cause I'm black. I can't be male, cause I'm female. I can try to be right handed, but I'm not. I can try to be straight, but again I'm not.
Furthermore, I like me just the way I am. Well, almost. I need to lose some of the weight I've gained recently and I'm doing that. I need to get more active and lately I'm doing that too. So overall except for winning the lottery I'm okay.
But I have a problem with being pigeonholed. This is June and June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. You hear me? I said MONTH. I'm queer 24/7, 365, so why the hell am I expected to express it only during the month of June? Why should I have to hide my fabulousness for eleven months? Why can't I show it all the time?
Same goes for Black History Month in February. That one really pisses me off. February is the shortest month of all. We Blacks get screwed no matter what. I can't hide my Blackness. I sleep in my Blackness, shower in my Blackness and you're going to tell me I can only celebrate this Mocha Magnificence for 28 out of 365 days? Give me a fuckin' break and pardon me for not joining this party.
I even like my age...55 going on 56...for all you ageist muthafuckas who have a problem with middle aged/old people. I can do everything I used to do in my 20s. Some things are even better than in my 20s. Maybe not as fast and sometimes with a little more pain in the joints, but I can do them.
The only thing different about me is my growing impatience with stupidity and immaturity and a decided lack of tolerance for intolerance of other's differences.
So, yes I'm going to enjoy LGBT Pride this month and read an extra Black- authored book next February to celebrate my Specialness.
But if I feel any fabulousness creeping out in July and August, I'm going to let it happen.
Now, go home and leave me alone!
Furthermore, I like me just the way I am. Well, almost. I need to lose some of the weight I've gained recently and I'm doing that. I need to get more active and lately I'm doing that too. So overall except for winning the lottery I'm okay.
But I have a problem with being pigeonholed. This is June and June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. You hear me? I said MONTH. I'm queer 24/7, 365, so why the hell am I expected to express it only during the month of June? Why should I have to hide my fabulousness for eleven months? Why can't I show it all the time?
Same goes for Black History Month in February. That one really pisses me off. February is the shortest month of all. We Blacks get screwed no matter what. I can't hide my Blackness. I sleep in my Blackness, shower in my Blackness and you're going to tell me I can only celebrate this Mocha Magnificence for 28 out of 365 days? Give me a fuckin' break and pardon me for not joining this party.
I even like my age...55 going on 56...for all you ageist muthafuckas who have a problem with middle aged/old people. I can do everything I used to do in my 20s. Some things are even better than in my 20s. Maybe not as fast and sometimes with a little more pain in the joints, but I can do them.
The only thing different about me is my growing impatience with stupidity and immaturity and a decided lack of tolerance for intolerance of other's differences.
So, yes I'm going to enjoy LGBT Pride this month and read an extra Black- authored book next February to celebrate my Specialness.
But if I feel any fabulousness creeping out in July and August, I'm going to let it happen.
Now, go home and leave me alone!
6.05.2006
Bugs in My Gut...EW!
Three pounds of bugs in my intestine? 100 trillion tiny creepy crawly microbes living everyday inside my gut? Damn, I didn't need to know that. That is W.T.M.I....way too much information. And don't laugh, baby you got em too. We all do.
Humans have bugs. Bugs that live inside us and help keep us healthy if you believe the latest report in last week's journal Science. These microbial tenants live in our intestines, our colon, our nose, mouth, ears, on our skin and in our vaginas, if you have one.
In fact, according to the report, we shouldn't even think of ourselves as a single living organism. We should think of ourselves as a hybrid consisting of 10% human cells and 90% bacteria. Yuck!
The only reason, apparently, that we see each other as human is because the human cells are bigger than the bugs living in us and on us and that the entire 100 trillion bugs only equals three pounds of body weight. That's three pounds I'd love to lose.
The scientists who are conducting this on-going study tell us to be happy we have bugs cause otherwise we would die. We can't live without our bugs. So who's the host and who's the symbion? My internal movie theater is showing pictures of great white sharks swimming around with all those lampreys attached them sucking up shark cast off. Is that what's going on in my body?
By studying DNA, scientists have been able to determine some of the bugs or bacteria, if you will, make essential vitamins for us that humans cells are genetically incapable of manufacturing. Others make enzymes that break down certain stuff we need to function. Some of the bugs neutralize illness causing flavonoids, including some that cause cancer.
But some of em, according to the report, eat the digestive bi-product hydrogen gas and turn it into methane. They make us fart, people. They keep us from being over bloated. Farting contributes to the accumulation of the Earth's greenhouse gases which is not a good thing either.
So it's a toss up folks, what do you want to do....fart and kill the Earth slowly, or kill the bugs in your system and die quickly.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Think I'll just go back to bed and check back into my last nightmare.
Humans have bugs. Bugs that live inside us and help keep us healthy if you believe the latest report in last week's journal Science. These microbial tenants live in our intestines, our colon, our nose, mouth, ears, on our skin and in our vaginas, if you have one.
In fact, according to the report, we shouldn't even think of ourselves as a single living organism. We should think of ourselves as a hybrid consisting of 10% human cells and 90% bacteria. Yuck!
The only reason, apparently, that we see each other as human is because the human cells are bigger than the bugs living in us and on us and that the entire 100 trillion bugs only equals three pounds of body weight. That's three pounds I'd love to lose.
The scientists who are conducting this on-going study tell us to be happy we have bugs cause otherwise we would die. We can't live without our bugs. So who's the host and who's the symbion? My internal movie theater is showing pictures of great white sharks swimming around with all those lampreys attached them sucking up shark cast off. Is that what's going on in my body?
By studying DNA, scientists have been able to determine some of the bugs or bacteria, if you will, make essential vitamins for us that humans cells are genetically incapable of manufacturing. Others make enzymes that break down certain stuff we need to function. Some of the bugs neutralize illness causing flavonoids, including some that cause cancer.
But some of em, according to the report, eat the digestive bi-product hydrogen gas and turn it into methane. They make us fart, people. They keep us from being over bloated. Farting contributes to the accumulation of the Earth's greenhouse gases which is not a good thing either.
So it's a toss up folks, what do you want to do....fart and kill the Earth slowly, or kill the bugs in your system and die quickly.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Think I'll just go back to bed and check back into my last nightmare.
6.03.2006
Smoke, Mirrors and a Whole Lot of Bull****
Dubya the number one compassionate conservative is planning another push to write discrimination into the Constitution. In his radio address today he plans to bamboozle his conservative followers by telling them he really, really, really believes that marriage should only be between a man and a woman and that furthermore it should be law.
The amendment is scheduled to be voted on next week in the Senate. It is largely ceremonial since even if approved, it can't get the three fourth state's votes necessary to make it into the Constitution. But that's not going to stop them from trying. Dubya says it's not politics just heart felt conviction on his part.
Bullshit! The polls show he has lost his conservative base and is once again trying to wake them up so they will vote for all those minor GOP politicos standing on his coat tail in the upcoming mid term elections.
Witness Ohio Congressman Steve Chabot who's half heartedly trying to push Dubya away. Chabot's quoted in the Cincinnati Enquirer as saying he's disagreed with President on a couple of issues. That may well be true, but Stevie you voted WITH him 89% of the time. Give me a break. If Dubya says "jump" you say "how high" Please, go sit down. Better yet, trim that fringe you call hair.
Bush and his conservative base are bigots, plain and simple. These pseudo-Christians follow the teachings of the Bible only when it suits them. The only threat to marriage in this country is the heterosexual divorce rate which is hovering at 60%. Instead of worrying about what gays and lesbians are doing, how about dealing with the very real problems of the divorce/adultery rate in this country among straights.
Last time I looked the ban on adultery was still a part of the Ten Commandments and the TC was still a part of the Bible (go find the story of Moses, for those of you have never read the Bible or seen the movie). And if you believe the Bible, it also says "let him who is without sin cast the first stone." That is real compassion, and why compassionate conservative remains an alliterative oxymoron.
To paraphrase a former President IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID!"
It's still the illegal war on Iraq. It's still the lies that got us into Iraq. It's the needless deaths of our young soldiers in the military.
It's inflation. It's sky high gasoline. It's tax breaks that only benefit the rich. It's out of control corporate America. It's no health care. It's failing Social Security.
It's the phony war on terrorism. It's the inability to help our own people following the devastation of the past hurricane season.
It's immigration and the failure to deal with it realistically.
There are indications that even Dick Cheney the shadow president has differences on this issue. He is allowing his Lesbian daughter to speak out finally, even if he hasn't spoken himself.
First Wife Laura also apparently has problems with this amendment considering some of her utterings lately. She is quoted by FOX News as saying that same sex marriage should not be used as a campaign tool.
Ya listenin' Dubya?
The amendment is scheduled to be voted on next week in the Senate. It is largely ceremonial since even if approved, it can't get the three fourth state's votes necessary to make it into the Constitution. But that's not going to stop them from trying. Dubya says it's not politics just heart felt conviction on his part.
Bullshit! The polls show he has lost his conservative base and is once again trying to wake them up so they will vote for all those minor GOP politicos standing on his coat tail in the upcoming mid term elections.
Witness Ohio Congressman Steve Chabot who's half heartedly trying to push Dubya away. Chabot's quoted in the Cincinnati Enquirer as saying he's disagreed with President on a couple of issues. That may well be true, but Stevie you voted WITH him 89% of the time. Give me a break. If Dubya says "jump" you say "how high" Please, go sit down. Better yet, trim that fringe you call hair.
Bush and his conservative base are bigots, plain and simple. These pseudo-Christians follow the teachings of the Bible only when it suits them. The only threat to marriage in this country is the heterosexual divorce rate which is hovering at 60%. Instead of worrying about what gays and lesbians are doing, how about dealing with the very real problems of the divorce/adultery rate in this country among straights.
Last time I looked the ban on adultery was still a part of the Ten Commandments and the TC was still a part of the Bible (go find the story of Moses, for those of you have never read the Bible or seen the movie). And if you believe the Bible, it also says "let him who is without sin cast the first stone." That is real compassion, and why compassionate conservative remains an alliterative oxymoron.
To paraphrase a former President IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID!"
It's still the illegal war on Iraq. It's still the lies that got us into Iraq. It's the needless deaths of our young soldiers in the military.
It's inflation. It's sky high gasoline. It's tax breaks that only benefit the rich. It's out of control corporate America. It's no health care. It's failing Social Security.
It's the phony war on terrorism. It's the inability to help our own people following the devastation of the past hurricane season.
It's immigration and the failure to deal with it realistically.
There are indications that even Dick Cheney the shadow president has differences on this issue. He is allowing his Lesbian daughter to speak out finally, even if he hasn't spoken himself.
First Wife Laura also apparently has problems with this amendment considering some of her utterings lately. She is quoted by FOX News as saying that same sex marriage should not be used as a campaign tool.
Ya listenin' Dubya?
6.02.2006
What's good for the Goose.........
Talk about hypocritical, Mexico has no right to talk when it comes to illegals in this country or theirs. Mexicans, Hispanics in this country, and those sympathetic to the plight of illegals in America have roundly criticized the US government for calling out the national guard to patrol our southern borders.
Well, let me tell ya, Mexico routinely has thousands of troops patrolling its southern border in a massive effort to keep Central Americans from crossing the border to work. President Vincente Fox called out the troops more than five years ago. In addition, since 1974 sneaking into Mexico is a criminal offense punishable by two years in prison.
And sympathizers want to scream at us? For the past several years Fox has been lobbying the US to upgrade the status of illegals here, read that amnesty, while his own government has granted legal status to only 15,000 plus illegals in Mexico.
Central Americans who work in Mexico live in the worst conditions, doing back breaking labor for $ 3.60 a day on the big coffee plantations. And guess what the plantation owners said when questioned as to why they don't hire Mexicans for the job.
The bosses said,"You can't depend on Mexicans. They don't work hard; they're irresponsible."
Sound familiar? The truth is just like in America, corporate can abuse the illegals because they are illegal. If they fuss, you can send em back to where they came from.
Now if the government will only get real on how much an additional 40 million people is going to cost us taxpayers.
Well, let me tell ya, Mexico routinely has thousands of troops patrolling its southern border in a massive effort to keep Central Americans from crossing the border to work. President Vincente Fox called out the troops more than five years ago. In addition, since 1974 sneaking into Mexico is a criminal offense punishable by two years in prison.
And sympathizers want to scream at us? For the past several years Fox has been lobbying the US to upgrade the status of illegals here, read that amnesty, while his own government has granted legal status to only 15,000 plus illegals in Mexico.
Central Americans who work in Mexico live in the worst conditions, doing back breaking labor for $ 3.60 a day on the big coffee plantations. And guess what the plantation owners said when questioned as to why they don't hire Mexicans for the job.
The bosses said,"You can't depend on Mexicans. They don't work hard; they're irresponsible."
Sound familiar? The truth is just like in America, corporate can abuse the illegals because they are illegal. If they fuss, you can send em back to where they came from.
Now if the government will only get real on how much an additional 40 million people is going to cost us taxpayers.
6.01.2006
"Whee Doggies!" Texas Talk for "What the F***!"
I guess New York must be on the White House's Shit List. Yesterday when the federal anti-terror funds were doled out, the Big Apple's cut got sliced by 40% while other cities like Louisville and Omaha (no need for state names, we know where they are) were given a bigger slice of the pie.
I have to go along with NY Mayor Bloomberg. He said and I quote,
"When you stop a terrorist, they have a map of New York City in their pocket. They don't have maps of any of the other 46 places or 45 places (that get funding),"
The feds reasoning for cutting the juice to NY was that there was nothing to protect, no monuments, no financial institutions or cultural icons and institutions that a terrorist might want to destroy in order to make a point. I guess not, since they blew them up the last TWO times they bombed this country.
What the hell is the Statue of Liberty? Oh I forgot, that was a gift from France modeled after a black woman, very low on the totem pole of things that should be remembered and saved. Maybe it would have gotten a better shake if we changed the name from Statue of Liberty to Condi's Lighthouse.
Louisville has the Kentucky Derby a great place to dress up and get smashed on mint juleps once a year. But Omaha? What are they protecting there? The only people who know where Omaha is are white supremacists and Christian identity militias. You can spot a middle eastern terrorist clear across the plain in Omaha long before he can plant his bomb.
Even my city, Cincinnati was given some anti terror money, but not as much as officials were thinking they would get. It's not like terrorists make their way to the Queen City either.
Maybe Cincinnati will put armed guards on the Delta Queen to keep the terrorists from migrating down the Ohio since the feds think they will bypass New York.
I imagine the money will be used by the Police force and Sheriffâ's department for some more toys to misuse on citizens.
A homeland security spokesman, while not being specific about how the funds were disbursed, summed it up this way;
"It's not so much fighting the last war, it's taking in the threat picture today, " he said. "We've got to apply dollars where they will have the greatest impact."
Translation: we put the money where the votes are. Nuff said.
I have to go along with NY Mayor Bloomberg. He said and I quote,
"When you stop a terrorist, they have a map of New York City in their pocket. They don't have maps of any of the other 46 places or 45 places (that get funding),"
The feds reasoning for cutting the juice to NY was that there was nothing to protect, no monuments, no financial institutions or cultural icons and institutions that a terrorist might want to destroy in order to make a point. I guess not, since they blew them up the last TWO times they bombed this country.
What the hell is the Statue of Liberty? Oh I forgot, that was a gift from France modeled after a black woman, very low on the totem pole of things that should be remembered and saved. Maybe it would have gotten a better shake if we changed the name from Statue of Liberty to Condi's Lighthouse.
Louisville has the Kentucky Derby a great place to dress up and get smashed on mint juleps once a year. But Omaha? What are they protecting there? The only people who know where Omaha is are white supremacists and Christian identity militias. You can spot a middle eastern terrorist clear across the plain in Omaha long before he can plant his bomb.
Even my city, Cincinnati was given some anti terror money, but not as much as officials were thinking they would get. It's not like terrorists make their way to the Queen City either.
Maybe Cincinnati will put armed guards on the Delta Queen to keep the terrorists from migrating down the Ohio since the feds think they will bypass New York.
I imagine the money will be used by the Police force and Sheriffâ's department for some more toys to misuse on citizens.
A homeland security spokesman, while not being specific about how the funds were disbursed, summed it up this way;
"It's not so much fighting the last war, it's taking in the threat picture today, " he said. "We've got to apply dollars where they will have the greatest impact."
Translation: we put the money where the votes are. Nuff said.
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