Designer Vaginas, The Search for the Perfect P****

I guess it was inevitable. Some rather enterprising Ob-Gyns, have opened up a new frontier in plastic surgery designed, I can only surmise, to separate stupid women and the men who love them, from more of their money. A report in today’s Washington Post likens the new procedures to dying one’s hair to cover encroaching grey.

Laser vaginal rejuvenation is what it’s called. What it purports to do is to rebuild the muscles of your “cat” to make it more enticing to your partner, that is if you can get him to look at it in the first place. It’s not a body part that we women can see or can stare at on a daily basis, and lesbians don’t have this problem, so it’s obviously a “man-thing,” made up by men, for men.

I didn’t know that the muscle walls were the site of sexual gratification. I thought that was the “G” spot” inside. That’s the reason why men have tools, so they can reach it, isn’t it?

Anyway, there is this board certified brother in DC who offers what he calls the “wonder woman makeover .” For about 15-grand he will tighten up the muscles in your vag-JJ, raise your breasts off your navel, make them bigger with implants, suck the fat out of your stomach to give you that nubile washboard look, and blow your butt up to look like J-Lo’s or any naturally endowed sister walking down the street.

If you really want to go all the way, then you can even have your hymen put back, so hubby or boyfriend can re-enact the taking of your cherry, like he thought he did way back when the two of you first had sex.

I’m sure he will probably do your lips, too. All of this is designed to make your man happy and want to continue screwing you instead of that 18 year old office assistant at work.

Revirginization, as the hymen procedure is called, is said to be the newest and latest gift for the man who has everything. One surgeon claiming to have performed 150 of these “gifts” says his clients are celebrating new relationships or second honeymoons.

The article is filled with happy face testimonials from clueless women who begged borrowed or stole the money in order to have the procedures done for their guys.

Gee whiz, and I’ve always thought that the brain was the best sex organ, guess I’m wrong. All these years, and I’ve been using the wrong head. Damn!

Rhythm, Race and Politics

I guess I should be happy that finally, America is talking openly about race. We’ve got new laws and resolutions to ban the “N” word. We’ve got re-enactments of bloody Sunday down in Selma, recalling the events that culminated in the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

We’ve got blogs and news programs and major magazines debating whether or not Obama is black enough and accepted by “real black” Americans. Others want to know if Hillary and her card carrying black man of a husband will steal the White House away from the “blood born” black man that is Barack.

We’ve even got the Cherokee Nation kicking out the descendants of their slaves because they are not Native American by blood. Yes, Native Americans owned black slaves, in case that lesson was omitted from your history book. And up until yesterday, the slave descendants were considered part of the Cherokee Nation. The vote to rescind tribal membership was 76 percent in favor. Some are calling the vote racist. Others say it is self determination.

This Obama thing is funny. For most of this country’s history, what defined people as black was “one drop” of black blood, never mind what the skin color was. Obama is fully 50 percent black, so what is the problem? He looks black. He married black. His kids are black. He goes to a black church. Black man!

If white supremacists ever kick off their racial holy war, Obama will be right there next to Tiger Woods getting his head blown off with the rest of us obviously real blacks. So why question his ethnicity now when he’s running for president? Unlike young Eldrick, he doesn’t appear conflicted about who he is, so why should we be?

Anyone remember the Rainbow coalition. Jesse Jackson used to tell us that there were 64 shades of blackness. Black people, Jackson used to say, come in all colors and shades.
African Americans are a living, breathing rainbow. Obama is one shade of that rainbow.

Again I ask, what is the problem? Maybe it’s because he doesn’t feel black. Bill Clinton feels like a black man even though he isn’t and that is hard to explain. There is a rhythm to blackness... a musical....lyrical way of reacting to and within the universe. I’ll be honest, I don’t feel that rhythm with Obama. But I do feel that rhythm with Bill Clinton. I don’t feel that rhythm with Hillary Clinton. Hillary is a white girl, brilliant, but rhythm-less. Clarence Thomas is very obviously a black man. But he is rhythm-less and clueless and I’m not feeling him at all.

But my feelings don’t make Obama any less black. I can still relate to the brother and I suspect that most of my fellow blacks can too.

Now can we get on with the real issues of this campaign?

Can You Feel A Brand New Day

Or is it that we really are at the end of days as some religious folk would have us believe. Because if Jesus ascended in both body and spirit to heaven 40 days after resurrection, then whose bones has James Cameron unearthed outside Jerusalem?

Film maker James Cameron, you know the one who made Titanic and my personal favorite, The Terminator, says he along with some others have found the bones of Jesus, his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and their son.

What’s he trying to do, remake The Da Vinci Code as a documentary? If the discovery proves to have any credence at all then what about the Bible and Christianity itself? Is the Bible really a work of fiction? Is Christianity an extremist cult that simply got out of hand? Should we still all be practicing paganism and worshiping the earth?

We will have to wait for the great reveal.

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Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmond cousins...man that makes my day. Put another nail in that coffin filled with present day white denial about what went on during slavery and after.

Present day white denial is based in “I can’t be held responsible for what my ancestors may have done....besides you can’t prove it anyway........”

Well.....”WAY!”....Apparently it can be proven.........there’s an old saying about the “sins of the father being visited upon the son...........you can run, but you can’t hide.

I can just hear the cries for reparations, seeing that there are precedents for paying such here in America.

As for me, you can keep the mule....But I will take my forty acres.

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Congress is set to try and put the genie back into the bottle. The Auguste body will try to revoke Dubya’s permission to go to war that they gave him a few years back.

And while they’re at it, there is a measure to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Seems the army needs more bodies for the surge. This measure has bipartisan support, supposedly.

Darth Cheney has been traveling the world stroking our allies into believing that we’re winning in Iraq and Afghanistan and should stay the course. Darth desperately needs a vacation. Go ahead, Scottie, push the button and beam him up, please.

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The Oscars............man! Was that the worst show in years. The last time it was so boring I stopped watching the broadcast for 20 years. The only reason I tuned in last night was to see if Jennifer Hudson could pull off the trifecta. She did.

I can’t stand Ellen De Generis. I don’t think she’s funny. I don’t like her show. Her fidgeting drives me absolutely nuts.

For me, she is a female Jerry Seinfeld. He is like Woody Allen. I don’t find them funny or even remotely amusing, just boring.

I just don’t see it. Except for that shadow dance troop, the show was an absolute waste of time.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

Well, it’s about time. The Brits have finally decided to award equal prize money to men and women at Wimbledon this year.

The old boys of All England Tennis have refused for years to give women their just due, saying that men deserved more prize money because they play five sets while the women play just three.

All grand slams are now on the same page, sort of.....The French always seeing things differently only give the male and female champions an equal check. Other women from second place down will still get less than their male counterparts.

Now it’s time to work on Golf. While Tiger Woods is making millions per tournament, the women of the LPGA are left to split maybe a one million dollar kitty. That means the winning check is usually just a couple of hundred thousand dollars instead of multi millions.

And lest we forget the WNBA. Those women must still play overseas in order to supplement what they make in the American league. All this while the men pocket millions, destroy the game and, other than the all star game, don’t offer any real entertainment.

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Question: Why is Congress taking so long to pull the plug on Dubya’s war? Nonbinding resolutions aren’t worth the paper on which they’re written. Why bother?

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Question #2: What is Condi doing in the Palestine? Does she really understand what is going on there?

I usually don’t say stuff about a sister, but man, this child needs some help, fast. “Wake up girlfriend.” This administration is sinking and it’s taking you and your once pristine reputation with it.

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Feeding Frenzy

Good news...James Brown is finally going to be buried.
Bad news...the Anna Nicole reality show goes on. Please bury this woman before she melts on the coroner’s autopsy slab.....Please...take that baby away from Howard Stern....and Please...send her mother home without the body..

Finally...somebody please reprimand this Judge in Florida...talk about an a**hole.

Hollow Resolution

My city council in Cincinnati,Ohio, has passed a resolution expressing “deep concern” about Dubya’s 21,000 troop surge in Iraq. Now while I applaud them for taking a stand, I just wish they would take a stand a little closer to home.

I mean what about this city’s crime rate? Can’t we take a stand, to hire more police, and to deal with the underlying causes of all the murders, shootings, etc? How about dealing or showing “deep concern” for the black male school drop out rate that is fueling much of this street violence.

How about some “deep concern” for the continuing loss of population. How about the crumbling public school system. How about dealing with the fruitless efforts to draw business back into the downtown without having to bribe them with tax breaks?

How about dealing with all this snow and ice that has paralyzed this city for the past week. It’s too damn cold, nobody is on the streets and we still can’t get plowed, c’mon! The trees are falling down around me because of the ice that fell last night, two of them in my backyard, one of them on my fence. It’s beautiful to look at, but the trees are taking down power lines causing power outages that won’t be fixed until Thursday, says Duke Energy ( I remember CG&E being better than this). The city readily admits it can’t handle ice, the plows that they use are for snow, only. I guess the melting agent is too, go figure?

So why are we all of a sudden talking about Iraq? The war has gone on for awhile now. Why is my council, all of a sudden trying to tell the person that they all probably voted for in the first place ( Ohio did put Dubya back in the White House), how to run this country, when they can’t collectively run a city.

Sure, the money from the surge could be used to help cities, but that’s been the case from the beginning. Why didn’t council stand up and demand some help from this administration before, after it helped put this administration back in office. This administration owes Ohio. Why wasn’t it held accountable before?


Like it or not, the troop surge is going on because “the decider” said so. Congress is currently debating the issue for the next two days, because it wants to look congressional I guess. They could pull the money for the surge. There is a precedent for it. They could even pull the troops out. There is precedent for that too. Reagan backed out of Lebanon after he was dumb enough to think we could end that civil war there and after 200 some marines paid the ultimate price for his folly. Dubya always cites Reagan as his hero. Well he needs to pay attention all of the stuff that Reagan did or didn’t do. Our troops are stuck in the middle of escalating violence in Iraq. We don’t need to be there. But we already know this. The debate has been raging since the last election.

A resolution from the City of Cincinnati’s city council, now, is okay, I guess, but it is little or no comfort when people are still dying on the streets of Cincinnati in record numbers, for the same reasons that have plagued this city for longer than the war has lasted.

Good Intentions, Bad Law

A small community in Texas wants to ban the “N”-word. Furthermore it wants to charge up to 500-dollars in fines, if you get caught using it. The proposed legislation comes from the Mayor of the hamlet of Brazoria, Texas, with a population of little more than 27-hundred people, 81-percent of them white. Blacks make up a bit more than 10-percent of city residents with Asians and Native Americans filling out the rest of the demographic. A total of 736 families reside inside city limits.

The way it works is citizens who hear someone use the word can then report the usage to police who will come and issue a citation. The offender then appears in court where a judge sets the fine for bad linguistic behavior, which, as I said can run as high as 500-dollars.

Now, while I am on record as being in favor of no longer using the term, I am not in favor of this proposal. The intentions behind the measure are probably very good, but face it, the very people who should be protected by this law, will probably be the very ones cited and fined. Blacks use the term openly, and in many more contexts than whites and others. So if the word is heard in public, it’s probably going to be some black kid walking down the street with his friends.

What makes the word so insidious is the number of whites who use it covertly, in like minded company, when they think blacks aren’t listening. These users, who are probably the targets of the proposed legislation, more than likely, will not be reported. So you have a situation much like the Rockefeller drug laws of the 70's where the very people who were supposed to be protected, end up victimized, arrested and jailed.

Besides, I am against banning words. Say, the N-word gets banned. What’s next, the F-word, or the MF-word, or the J-word or the K-word? It goes on and on. Banning words, banning books, banning television, attempting to legislate behavior, does not work and is in violation of our first amendment rights.

Brazoria’s mayor is not the only legislator thinking along these lines. There is also a “ban the N-word movement” in upstate New York and also in Congress. Reportedly, New York Representative Charles Rangel is contemplating writing national legislation on this subject.

I applaud these folks for trying to do the right thing. Their hearts are in the right place, but this is a very bad use of legislative powers. It’s just bad law and no good will come of it.

And on the 7th Day, She Rested

Haven’t felt much like writing this past week. I guess, sometimes the brain needs to take a break from creation. Makes me wonder how God did all that stuff in six days. Makes me understand why she rested on the seventh. Throughout my rest, I’ve suffered daily guilt at not putting fingers on keyboard to create. I’ve played solitaire. I’ve done crossword puzzles. I’ve answered tons of email. Just no literary creations, and I’m still not ready, but my angst at not writing, is driving me crazy. So I’m back.

There has been plenty to talk about, this past week, and I have been paying attention, just not enough to engage in my own personal spin on things. Until now that is.

Super Bowl redux
Yeah, I know, the Bears lost. I went with my heart instead of my head. I know Peyton is the best quarterback, but the last time Chicago was in the big game, it won without having a real quarterback. Anybody remember Jimmy Mac for anything other than his headbands and clashes with the commissioner? I rest my case. Grossman had as good a chance as any to win. He will be a good QB someday.

Besides Prince and half time was the real drawing card this year. But I’m wondering why the musical midget’s massive phallic display, which went on for several minutes, escaped notice? Janet flashed a nipple for a couple of seconds, you had to tivo and rerun it to see it...and she causes an uproar that is still reverberating.

Why is penis display okay while an accidental female nipple reveal is not?

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Anna Nicole
Her sudden death wasn’t really a surprise, and I can’t really say that I am stunned by the massive media coverage. I make the distinction between media and news because it’s no longer news coverage. The news died when Walter Kronkite retired several years ago. We are in an age of celebrity for the sake of celebrity. People make the news now a days for simply being famous, no accomplishment or talent necessary. For several years now we have been in the age of infotainment or a blending of information (real or made up), gossip and news.

One of the TV stations in my town has the slogan “where the news comes first.”.....Then it opened it’s newscast with the death of Anna Nicole. The next day it led with 100 year old Prince what’s his name, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s apparently senile husband, claiming paternity of the dead woman’s five month old baby.

Meantime, 30 people died in yet another bombing in Iraq, another black hawk was shot down, and our president continues to try to steer us into a war with Iran.

There was a poll of high school students published a couple of weeks ago in the Washington Post. It said that most kids want to be famous and rich, in that order. Used to be that kids wanted to pursue a career, like fireman, policeman, teacher, lawyer, doctor. Kids wanted to grow up and help others, first. Don’t get me wrong, everyone wants to make a lot of money, but today no one hides the greed or the desire for material stuff.

Makes me understand why we’re in an age of humiliation television. This world abounds with people willing to do anything for 15 minutes of fame no matter what the cost to their psyche and dignity. Even the money has become secondary to that fleeting 15 minutes of spotlight. I think that I am most bothered by the huge audience for these pseudo reality shows. Millions of people tune in to watch daily, as people degrade and humiliate themselves in the quest for celebrity. As a people, we haven’t progressed very far from the romans watching their caesar feed Christians to the lions in some amphitheater.

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ET’s Back
That astronaut lady really is a rocket scientist, albeit a very confused one, at the moment. I can understand tossing the wig and the weapons after the botched attack on the other woman...but 600-dollars? Why throw away the money? Didn’t she need it to fund her escape?
I really think it’s time for one of those alien autopsies for real, to determine what came back from space inside Astronaut Nowak.

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Wow! It’s Black History Month.....did anyone notice?

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Not A Homo!
Man! After three weeks of intensive prayer therapy, the Reverend Ted Haggard is really, really, really, really, really, really, heterosexual. He said so.....again as he skips gaily off into the sunset hand in hand with his heavily in denial wife, as they pursue joint degrees in psychology at some closeted Midwestern university.

Careful Rev. Ted...gay boys are everywhere, even in the Midwest...think Brokeback Mountain... you don’t have to be in Kansas to find friends of Dorothy...but then, you probably already know that.

Sunday Morning Tidbits

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, so not much else is going on in my brain this day. I’m a Bears fan who plans on attending a Colts party this afternoon, should be interesting.

I predict: Bears 24-17 over Peyton Manning’s Colts...and I like the Colts, actually. Just not today.

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Did you know that 87% of respondents to an MSNBC poll say Dubya should be impeached? More than 418,856 people responded to the poll.

As I’ve said before, ITMFA!

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Poor Mary Cheney. She’s written an article defending her right to have a baby with wife Heather and she wants us to leave her alone, because her baby is not a political tool for either the right or the left in this country.

Mary can’t help it...she is the neocons’ version of Paris Hilton......Mary and Paris have a lot in common...They apparently think their blondness, their richness, their whiteness, their name allows them to do anything they want without criticism, repudiation, or justification.

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Did you know that Congress passed a bill in 2005 mandating that everyone have a national driver’s license by 2008? It’s called REAL ID and is supposed to combat terrorism and keep illegals from faking identification in order to stay in this country. After 2008 all state motor vehicles departments will be linked, so information can be called up anywhere. In 2008, if you don’t have a REAL ID, you won’t be able to board a plane or open a bank account...It’s the law folks....unless Congress acts...

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Global Warming....”we has seen the enemy and it is us”....according to a report issued this past week by some expert scientists.

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Hillary wants to nationalize Exxon Oil’s record breaking profits from last year....Love me some Hillary, but that’s a bit too socialistic for me....Despite the inequities of capitalism...I’m still
more afraid of big government/ big brother in my life....

Now...can we get back to this war thing? When is Congress going to pull the plug on this? There is precedent for it, why all the foot dragging?

Even Ronald Reagan changed his mind and did a military about face...remember Lebanon?

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Daylight savings time comes three weeks early this year....on March 11th...It will end one week later on November 1st......Congress made it so, a couple of years ago....supposed to save us money on gas, light bulbs, since we will be outside in the daylight, and give the kids more time to collect candy on Halloween.....

Critics (where were they when this thing was just proposed legislation) liken this to a mini Y2K. All kinds of computers and schedules may be interrupted and confused by the new law. Check your computer....you may have to manually set yours to daylight savings time this year, depending on how old your ‘puter is.

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Why is anyone paying attention to Joe Biden? His bid for the presidency was dead on arrival when he declared. Does anyone outside his state or us political junkies even know who this dude is...or cares what he says?

Please!

By His Own Words

Dubya, in the big apple today, talking economy. He says we’re doing well as a country. Stronger than it’s ever been, and you can thank him and his administration for it.

Talking with business leaders on Wall Street today, Bush said the salaries of CEOs should be linked to performance. He told the leaders that Americans are sickened and resentful of the massive compensation that CEOs have been pulling in for the past several years without demonstrating that they deserve all that money.

Okay, let’s take fearless leader’s words and apply them to him. Does he deserve his paycheck based on his performance of the past six years?

We already know how he’s screwed up both foreign and domestic policy, the court system, and health care. What about this strong robust economy that he is bragging about.

Since Dubya took office, the federal deficit has sunk into the trillions of dollars from the surplus that Clinton presided over.

Since Dubya took office, one in five manufacturing jobs has disappeared...that’s 2.96 million jobs lost.

Since Dubya took office, the trade deficit is expected to hit a record mark for the fifth consecutive time when it is announced next month.

Since Dubya took office, gas prices have climbed through the roof, despite falling prices per barrel of oil.

Since Dubya took office, household incomes have stagnated, while the richest 1-percent have gotten richer.

Since Dubya took office, the number of the people living in poverty has increased dramatically.

Since Dubya took office, interest rates, while stable for the past couple of months, have risen to uncomfortable levels.

So, should he continue to get his paycheck based on his performance in the White House?
Hell No!

ITMFA, please!

Halfakin American!?.....”Yo Mama!”

I don’t usually waste time listening to the would-be commentators of the far, far right who pass off their racism under the guise of Christian conservatism or pseudo-political punditry. I would rather watch grass grow than spend time reacting to these walking wastes of oxygen.

But once in a while, one of these bottom feeders rises from the muck and says something that pushes my buttons releasing my inner Laqitta Shaquitta Jefferson, making me want to go ghetto on their behind.

Rush Limbaugh has taken to referring to Barack Obama as a Halfakin American, apparently in reference to his white mother and black father. Limbaugh apparently can’t find anything of substance with which to attack Obama at this time so early in his run for the White House, so he resorts to veiled racism, playing to the race mixing fears of his listening audience.

Halfakin, indeed!

Say what you really mean Limbaugh. Use the word you really, really want to use. No need to hide. We already know what you are.

Halfakin, indeed!

Everybody in America is half something. The only racially pure people in America are the ones who recently swam the Rio Grande or hopped off an airplane from somewhere else. We are a nation of half-somethings....ALL OF US! It’s what makes us Americans.

Halfakin, indeed!

Truth be told, Rush and Obama are probably cousins twice removed. Or, Rush, can you prove your granddaddy didn’t go into the slave quarters for some midnight chocolate delight. It’s one of those open American secrets that next to being sandwiched by lesbians, the second most popular fantasy of white guys Rush’s age is having sex with a black woman.

Prior to the repeal of laws banning miscegenation, white guys were very busy making Halfakins, some of which were light enough to pass into the mighty Caucasian race. So, Rush, do you know where your ancestors have been?

Hell, who’s yo daddy.....what is yo mama s’posed to be, eh? She passin’? You passin’?

Halfakin American, indeed!

Here’s an idea...take your hillbilly heroin addicted, viagra poppin’, bloated ass back to the bottom of the barrel. Better yet, let’s strap your big butt onto the next unmanned NASA rocket headed to the sun and thereby do something to improve the air quality on earth for the rest of us.

Halfakin, indeed!

Dick’s Other Daughter, Liz

Well, at least this one talks. Liz Cheney, who works at the state department and is Mary’s older sister penned an Op-Ed piece in today’s Washington Post, that reads like Daddy dearest wrote the script.

It was an attack on Hillary Clinton and the rest of the big bad politicians who are daring to go against Darth and Dubya on the Iraq question. Nothing new put forth, just more partisan neocon attacks, albeit from a baby neocon.

What gets my goat is that instead of attacking Hillary directly, as they would any front running male candidate, the head neocon in charge rolls out one of his mute and spineless female offspring. That’s like trying to turn the pillow dwelling, rhinestone collared, miniature shih tsu into an attack dog, to ward off the pit bull confronting you on the sidewalk.

Give me a break. The least they could have done was to send a woman to do the job. Where’s Lynn Cheney? Where’s Libby Dole? Don’t they know how to cat fight?

Isn’t that what all straight guys want anyway, two women duking it out for male pleasure? Isn't that the real desire powering the Condi-Hillary dream race talk?

Despite what you may think of Hillary, she is a real candidate with real money, who has a real possibility of taking the nomination and the White House. Don’t insult her with baby neocons. Send in the heavyweights. She can handle it. Apparently, nothing scares a man more then when the woman behind, steps out front to deal with the situation.

C’mon Darth, you can do better than this. Where’s Scooter? Oh, I forgot. He’s on trial for obstruction. What about the brain? Is he still at the White House? How about the Minister of misinformation, Tony Snow? He’s probably snowed under trying to spin Dubya, these days.

Well, let me see...who can talk for this administration?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............maybe the babies are the only ones left.

President Hillary

She’s not the first woman to make a run for the White House, but she is the first woman who actually has a chance. She is considered the democratic front runner for the nomination and has a real war chest with which to make the run. She is a very real and viable candidate.

I should be happy that she announced today, but I’m conflicted. I want a woman president. This country needs a woman president. The USA needs a feminine touch to dilute the overwhelming testosterone agenda that has been pushed, well since the formation of this republic and has been seeping like a garbage spill from the White House for the past six years.

But Hillary? I have a problem with giving her my support solely based on her gender.

I don’t support candidates simply because they are black. I don’t support candidates simply because they are gay or lesbian. I don’t support one issue candidates, no matter how strongly I feel about that one issue.

Hillary Clinton is extremely intelligent. She is a United States Senator. She is a former first lady and has lived in the White House. She’s married to Bill. I like Bill. I would love to see him as first husband.

So what’s wrong? Well, she feels like a professional politician to me and I just don’t trust professional politicians. By that I mean, the ones who will say anything to get elected. The ones who pander to all racial groups or hot topic grassroots groups while standing in front of them, but then take the money, only to disappear on the important issues when the vote comes up.

That’s just crazy. I said previously that I like Bill and he is the consummate politician. Bill Clinton can sell snowballs to Eskimos, as the saying goes. Yet I trust him to ultimately do the right thing. His loyalty to the people of this country has never been in question. It just hides behind his libido sometimes.

But Hillary? She never stood up to Bush in the past six years. She voted for the war on Iraq, a vote which she has yet to repudiate. She went along like a good little professional politician, more interested in protecting her job than leading her people.

She courts the LGBT vote, but has yet to really do anything to derail the blatant discrimination against gays and lesbians coming out of Washington.

She courts blacks, but I don’t see it reflected in her stance on anything in particular.

I’m curious about where she is on immigration or legalizing illegals. Does she have an illegal maid in the closet like Bush did? Don’t know.

She is the junior Senator from New York. Yet, I haven’t heard her say anything about the Sean Bell execution by New York City cops, this past December.

I want to support her. I need to support her. But I want some answers first.

I want to get rid of this hollow feeling inside that if I support her and she does get elected, that it won’t be more of the same.

I want the fun back in the White House. I want a return to glamour and an end to cowboy chic and school marm logic. I want the fanatics to go back to church and ask God for forgiveness for what they’ve done to this country. I want the Neocons to apologize. I want my civil rights back. I want to feel protected by the Constitution, the Justice Department, the FBI and CIA. I want New Orleans rebuilt. I want the guts put back into FEMA.

I want Homeland Security to do its job and not be the dumping ground that it is for stupid, sycophantic, political hacks who must be appointed to something because they can’t get elected.

I want to fight the war on terror for real, not the vendetta called war that is now civil war in Iraq.

I want the sunset clause removed from the 1965 voting rights act. I want “don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed.

I want our schools to go back to educating the young rather than teaching them how to take tests.

There is so much to be done. There is also another saying in this country, “if you want the job done right, send in a woman to get it done.”

I just hope Hillary is up to the task.

It’s the End of the World, As We Know It

Well, for the first time since 2002, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted. The minute hand has been moved to five minutes to midnight and that is not a good thing.

The Doomsday Clock was created by the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project in 1945. It was unveiled to the world in 1947, after America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. The scientists of the Manhattan Project invented the bomb, in case you missed that day in history class. They decided a simple clock would be the best way to make people understand the gravity of nuclear power. Midnight on the doomsday clock symbolizes the end of the world. The closer we get to midnight reflects just how close we are to blowing ourselves up.

The BAS, which stands for The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, says the move reflects the perilous times in which we are currently living. They say we stand on the brink of a second nuclear age.

According to the announcement from the BAS. You can read it here.

Life, as we know it is threatened by 27,000 nuclear bombs, with 2000 of them capable of being armed within minutes. Couple this with world climate change, which directly affects human habitation and you have a very good recipe for annihilation.

The doomsday announcement doesn’t surprise me, considering the number of crazy men who now have access to “the button.”

Take that fool in Korea, the minuscule idiot in Iran, toss in the nut who runs America along with the crazies in India, Pakistan, Israel and probably every other black market arms dealer from Russia or in Africa, and you have a world gone mad, possibly all the way to oblivion.

Even Japan is thinking of changing its enforced pacifist world stance. The Japanese government is currently debating whether to re-arm itself in these trying times. Japan, you will recall from your history lessons, was forced into pacifism by the USA after losing World War II. The pacifism was actually written into their constitution. Those clauses must be removed before Japan can jump into the nuclear race and buy itself a bomb.

World watchers think Japan wants to re-arm because of the 800 pound gorilla named China that sits on its doorstep. China, with it’s massive globe-killing population, its blossoming economy and its penchant for killing girl babies, which is leading to a testosterone fueled, overwhelmingly aggressive, totally masculine future, will be the next superpower to dominate the world stage. As anybody who watches chop-socky martial arts movies knows, there is no love lost between China and Japan.

Since its creation, the doomsday clock has only been adjusted 17 times, the last time, as I said, back in 2002, following 9/11.

The BAS does offer solutions to the problem. It asks that the United States and Russia take a step back from launch readiness and completely remove nuclear weapons from day to day military operations.

The BAS also wants 20,000 nukes dismantled and destroyed over the next ten years, and to find a better and safer way to store the dangerous material.

The scientists are also asking that all production of nuke materials be stopped, for both military and civilian use.

And finally, the BAS is asking that the world leaders start talking to one another again, rather than using military tactics to make a point.

Ya listening, George?

I should insert some kind of joke at this point to downplay the seriousness of which I write, but I don’t have one.

The end of the world isn’t funny. It’s just the end, senseless and preventable.

Failure to Communicate

An Open Letter to the President

Dear Mr. President,

I listened intently to your speech last night, waiting patiently for clarity, and some indication that you finally understand what you’ve done by sending American troops into Iraq. I waited and waited for you to reveal the logic behind your actions. I waited to see you return to the realm of sound thinking about the way we, as a country, deal with the rest of the world.

Instead, with mind firmly planted in the old west, you handed us more platitudes, lies and denials fueled by the religious fervor of your arrogance. The smugness with which you have tried to sell this travesty to the American people is still very much in evidence.

You just don’t get it. You still refuse to face the reality of your actions. You are going ahead with sending more troops into danger, despite the recommendations of your generals, whom you’ve now replaced with puppets. You have turned your back on the Baker-Hamilton commission and their recommendations for getting us out of this trouble. You have steadfastly refused the counsel of the United States Congress, circumventing them and bypassing the Constitution at every given opportunity.

Sir, you were elected President, not Emperor of the United States. The last King George lost, and you will too. The difference is that he didn’t take us down with him, but you might accomplish the destruction of America, if you continue down this perverse path. History will not treat you well. Your legacy is in shambles.

You say that you are fighting the war on terror, keeping it away from American shores. I understand the move into Afghanistan. I understand going after Osama Bin Laden. It makes sense to go after the people who have tried to harm us. I even understand the recent retaliation bombings in Somalia, albeit late in coming.

But your move to Iraq and your wrong headed decision to stay there boggles the brain. What are you thinking?

There was no Al Quaida in Iraq before you invaded. Now the whole country has been turned into a terrorist practice ground ready for export to the rest of the world.

There were no weapons of mass destruction.

The man who tried to kill your Dad has been hanged.

Your policy of forcing democracy with the business end of a gun has not worked.

You haven’t tried diplomacy and you should. It served your father well. Maybe you should ask Dad for some help.

The new Iraqi government is a sham. Your puppet, Maliki, is a joke and unable or unwilling to confront the Shia death squads that are dominating the streets of Baghdad.

You asked for more money, a billion dollars more, to rebuild and restructure Iraq. This after you’ve already poured billions into the country and your cronies' coffers for the past four years to do this very thing.

Yet, the people still don’t have the necessary comforts of safety, electricity, and water.

You want to rebuild a country when you can’t even rebuild Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina.

I guess what scares me most are your blatant threats against Iran and Syria. Threats such as the ones you issued should only be made from a position of power. We have none. Our dog in this fight is the little one in the corner, not the pit bull with the big teeth.

You have taken us from being the one true superpower to a shadow of our former competence.

We don’t have the troops to open another front in your war on the middle east. Some of your generals have recently asked for repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," thereby bolstering military numbers and enlistments, while providing more cannon fodder for your fatal dream of a democratic middle east.

Your mea culpa comes four years and 3000-plus lives too late. How many more are going to die for your ego and your perceived legacy?

You have ruined this country financially for years to come. We are a debtor nation in debt to China which is slowly buying us one highway at a time.

My fervent hope is that Congress will finally stand up to you by refusing to support this death march that you call a surge.

Saner heads are needed now. You, Mr. President, and your invisible vice president, need to step aside and let more rational people take over, before you take us from civil war in Iraq to global World War III. A war that I fear, given the current climate, we may not win.


With sadness and little respect,

Jo Anne Moore

You’ve Had Worse Things in Your Mouth

I’ll admit, right off the bat, that I’ve run across some pretty disgusting food in my travels. Some of it has even ended up in my mouth, since I will usually try anything once, as long as it doesn’t appear to be poisonous and I’m allowed to spit it out, if I don’t like the taste.

However, I do draw the line at things that have been consumed by others, both animal and/or human first.

I recently came across something called Kopi Luwak, which roughly translates to “cat coffee.” Cat coffee, I’m told, is a much sought-after coffee served in the far eastern lands of Indonesia and Vietnam. It is made from coffee beans that are gathered from the “cat sh**” of a weasel like animal known as the palm civet. Its closest north American cousin is the skunk, I’m told.

This coffee has apparently been around for hundreds of years, with most people who’ve heard of it, thinking it was an urban legend. Well, I’m here to tell you Kopi Luwak is real and has made its way to America and is being sold at select coffee houses around the country. But I don’t think you can buy it at Starbucks, just yet.

It is being sold for about 10-dollars a cup, which to my mind is outrageous. But then I think Starbucks prices are outrageous.

I’m not a coffee drinker and never have been. Other than a sip of my sister’s vanilla bean frappachino, a couple of years ago, I’ve never had Starbucks coffee.

Back to Kopi Luwak. In some circles, it is actually called monkey coffee, but except for hanging in coffee trees, the cat has no resemblance to a monkey.

The cat loves to eat ripe coffee cherries and while digesting the fruit, it poops out the allegedly untouched coffee bean. Harvesters then walk around picking up coffee beans off the ground. After the s*** is cleaned off, the beans are shipped out to coffee houses to be brewed and consumed by the discerning coffee lover.

The washing, I’m told also helps lower the bacteria content making consumption safe, even though in China, civets have been linked to the SARS outbreak. The Chinese used to eat civet steaks until the SARS disease began killing people. Sale of civet meat has now been banned.

Some who have had the coffee say it has a strong aroma, why am I not surprised. They also say it tastes good, coffee-like but a little musty.

Thank you, but please don’t pass the coffee, somehow I can’t imagine it being good to the last drop.

Bipartisanship? When Pigs Fly!

One day before the historic 110th Congress is sworn in, Dubya is published in the Wall Street Journal calling for Congress to work with him for the benefit of the American people.

This administration has fed us nothing but arrogance and partisan politics for the past six years, and now that the GOP no longer controls the Hill, it suddenly wants to work together?

Well, let’s all build a campfire and sing “cum by yah,” why don’t we? Pass me that jug of moonshine, hey partner.

The big message from the American people, last November, was to do something about the war in Iraq. Most people now think it was wrong to go there in the first place. But is this president paying attention?

No! He reportedly is going to give a speech next week, calling for more troops in a “surge and accelerate” action. He has decided to do this, despite what the Baker-Hamilton Commission recommended, despite what his generals are telling him, despite public opinion, despite losing a midterm election and control of congress.

To whom is he listening? Was he on that party line to god with Pat “there will be a mass killing in America” Robertson?

Mr. President, the voices inside your head are still cracked out. You don’t regain brain cells once you’ve burned them out with alcohol and cocaine. Maybe a stem cell transplant would help. But then you did veto the funding. So never mind.

Bipartisan...no, we don’t need bipartisanship if it means continuing the course set forth by this administration. Dubya has made it clear that the only trail he follows is the one he blazes. His idea of cooperation is for the democrats to jump behind him and blindly follow him off the cliff.

What the democrats need to do is to grow balls, plain and simple. Congress needs to remember that it represents the people’s interests, not their own individual wants and desires.

Realistically, we can’t pull the plug on funding in Iraq. That is an even bigger death sentence for our troops already there in harm’s way. Besides, if memory serves me correctly, Dubya already has many, many billions of dollars to play within the already approved defense budget. So he really doesn’t need congress right now on anything military.

What congress can do, though, is to challenge any new money subsidies, challenge those no bid contracts for Haliburton as well as other companies favored by the GOP. They can challenge this new plan to send thousands more of our young into that quagmire.

If Dubya is so set on sending more troops, call the twins back from South America and give them some guns. Arm that half Hispanic nephew and send him to the front lines. Tell Cheney to swap out Mary’s hunting rifle for an AK-47 and put her in a humvee outside Baghdad. Oh wait. She’s pregnant. Ok, then, what about her wife, the former forest ranger? She’s a kept woman now, isn’t she? Send her to defend her growing family.

This war is not being fought by the folks who started it. There is no shared responsibility for it. The middle class and poor kids are again the cannon fodder for rich men seeking more money to fill their already overflowing private coffers.

Sending more troops is not the answer. Iraq is in civil war between Shiite and Sunni. We precipitated it and now the time has come for us to admit our error and figure out a graceful, if not face saving way to get out.

That is why the American people put the democrats in control.

Playing bipartisan games....No!

Recovering our national sanity, our national integrity, our international standing, and our ethics.....Yes!

The Godfather, The President and The Dictator

Old folks, or those older than me, have always said that deaths come in threes. Well, we got quite a triumvirate this past Christmas weekend.

On the first day of 2007, as we mark the loss of 3000 troops dead, and 22,000 wounded in this illegal war in Iraq, we also lost James Brown, and former President Gerald Ford.

The third member of the big three went quietly but not willingly. He was ushered out kicking and screaming. That would be Saddam Hussein, who was hanged for crimes against his people. He was buried Sunday, in the town of his birth.

Brown, not that you’d know it, had a connection to the City of Cincinnati. He began his recording career at King Records, which was based right here in the Queen City. King Records is long forgotten. The only evidence are the many still existing vinyl records in my collection and the collections of others, bearing the King label.

My favorite album, was Brown’s “Live” at the Apollo, recorded October 24th, 1962, but pressed right here in Cincinnati. I was twelve and would put on that album and dream of being old enough to be in the audience when performers like Brown took to the stage.

I’m surprised it’s still in such good shape, because I literally wore the grooves out playing it over and over.

I think it would help the city resurrect its image by remembering what Brown and King Records in particular, meant to the music industry and to Cincinnati. How about a street named after Brown. How about a King boulevard or Avenue in the neighborhood where the record company used to do business?

I’ve already talked about Mr. Ford (The Accidental President). I liked him. He was one of the good guys. We now know that he was against going to war in Iraq, and that he was not too fond of how his former proteges Rumsfeld and Cheney were handling our military. That news comes after his death because he was too much of a gentleman to slam a sitting president.

We’ve also learned Ford favored, and quietly worked for affirmative action, LGBT rights, as well as women’s rights. I wish he had spoken up. Maybe the republican party, while still leaning right, might not have stepped off into the deep end of fundamentalist conservatism in which it is now mired.

Both James Brown and Gerald Ford leave huge holes in the cosmic fabric that surrounds us, as did Saddam Hussein.

He was a bad man, a killer, a despot, a dictator. I guess he deserved to be hanged. But while he was alive, there was no al Quaeda in Iraq. There was no terrorist machine turning out angry young men and women dedicated to killing Americans. There was no practice field for would-be terrorists to get good at killing innocents while perfecting their homemade bombs.There was no threat to the USA from Iraq. He served his purpose. America did not suffer while he was alive.

Those of us left behind by the passing of these three, must now pay the price of their loss.

The Accidental President

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gerald Ford was a nice guy, period.

Rest in peace, Mr. President.


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

If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix it...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy ChrismaKwanzaHannuka, Everyone

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

Was I Supposed to be a Boy?

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

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

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

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

So, why am I questioning myself, today?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Running for President

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marching Backward

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An American President named Hussein

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

Barack Hussein Obama....can it happen?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I need to hear that he is serious about running.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Progress!

Monday Meanderings...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dick’s Little Girl, Mary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welcome to America..

Monday Meanderings

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

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

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

*****

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

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

*****

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

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

*****

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

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

****

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

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

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

Bebe Moore Campbell

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

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

Kramer Redux

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your fans will wait.

Fear of Black Men

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

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

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

This is where it gets crazy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fear of black men....

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


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

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

Fear of black men.....

There has to be change.

Sunday Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My N******

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Change, and we all live long and prosper.

‘Nough said.

The People Have Spoken

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

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

Can't wait to see what they try next.

Heterosexual Privilege

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And they call themselves christian? Hmmmmmmmmm....

Friday Thoughts...

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

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

*******

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

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

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

********

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

Cheers

Having It Both Ways

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taming Your Inner Carnivore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are we listening?

Fish Anti Freeze

My favorite food in the entire universe is ice cream. I love Hagen Daaz. I like Breyers and will eat it when I can’t get Hagen Daaz. If I can’t get either, I will eat whatever is available, as long as it is early in the day, and I haven’t had it for awhile. Eat it too close to my bedtime and I suffer all night, because I’m one of those lactose intolerant people.

My number two choice has come out with something called double churned ice cream. It’s extra creamy and is lower in fat than the regular stuff, according to the commercials.

Well, there’s a catch....in order to get the ice cream smoother and creamier, Breyers is using a genetically altered fish protein culled from an antarctic fish that swims in ice cold waters. The ice structuring protein keeps the fish from freezing to death in polar waters, by keeping ice from forming inside the fish’s body.

And guess what, the fish anti freeze is not listed on the label. Breyer’s, at this point in time, doesn’t have to list it.

This is another case of a genetically altered product that we consumers are eating without our knowledge or consent.

Unilever is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to make the fish anti freeze an allowable food additive in order to add it to more foods. But it’s already in use in America, Australia and New Zealand.

A group of scientists is protesting the use of the additive stating that not enough testing has been done to find out about long term effects on people.

I mean, are we going to grow gills down the road? Our kids are already outsized and I’d bet my next paycheck it has something to do with the all the foods we eat from animals that are fed growth hormones. It’s being passed up the food chain and the buck stops with us.

The scientists fear that the fish protein may cause inflammation or trigger inflammatory diseases that will go unrecognized because the protein is not listed on the label. The scientific report also says that chronic inflammation takes a long time to develop, making the label information even more important.

Preliminary reports on tests done by Unilever shows the corporation has not done testing with regard to inflammation and that, says the scientists, could set the public up for an immunological time bomb.

The scientists recommend testing on both young and old animals before the FDA grants any approvals for use in people food.

The problem though is it’s like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. It’s already in the ice cream and probably, knowing corporate America, in everything else.

It’s already too late. We just have to wait for this latest food bomb to go off.

I don’t know about you, but my days of eating ice cream are really over, now.

Time to Recharge

Taking a break this weekend. All this political action has worn me down and burned out some brain cells.

See you Monday...or maybe Tuesday

Ed Bradley

I’ve lost another hero.... Ed Bradley....the supercool one who reported for CBS news and 60 minutes.

He was one of the first, along with my mentor Mal Goode, may he rest in peace.

Mr. Bradley you will be missed.