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!
1.31.2007
1.27.2007
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!
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!
1.23.2007
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.
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.
1.20.2007
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.
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.
1.19.2007
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.
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.
1.11.2007
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
1.09.2007
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.
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.
1.04.2007
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!
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!
1.01.2007
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.
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.
12.27.2006
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)
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)
12.25.2006
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?
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?
12.20.2006
Happy ChrismaKwanzaHannuka, Everyone
Taking a break...
May your holiday celebrations be free of stress and happy...
See you next year...
May your holiday celebrations be free of stress and happy...
See you next year...
12.18.2006
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.”
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.”
12.16.2006
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.
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.
12.13.2006
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.
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.
12.11.2006
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!
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.
****
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.
12.06.2006
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..
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..
12.04.2006
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?
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?
11.29.2006
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..
May she rest in peace. Her work will live on..
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