Washington Times: Rice hits U.S. "birth defect"

The Washington Times: Rice hits U.S. "birth defect"
3/28/08

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.

"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

To read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/FOREIGN/746301768/1001

L(ying) A(ss) Times: L.A. carwashes, taking a stand...(whatever.)

L(ying) A(ss) Times: At L.A. Carwashes, taking a stand..

"Compañero, how do they treat you here?"

The stranger addressed Manuel Varela, a worker at Nary's Hand Car Wash on Beverly Boulevard, in Spanish.

"Badly," Varela answered, continuing to pass tickets to motorists as they pulled in.

Curious, Gabriel Chavez crawled out of the car he was vacuuming. Keeping his gaze on the small window that the owner used to peer at his workers, he stepped toward the visitor, out of his boss' sightline.

"Do you know you have rights?" the stranger asked Chavez.

The man's name was Mario Giron. He was a union organizer, promising a route to better pay and working conditions. As he explained, Chavez eyed the window. Twice, he raced back to vacuum cars, then returned.

Before leaving, Giron slipped the workers a card, urging them to attend a meeting.

Both men vividly recalled organizers' stealthy visit to Nary's in Los Angeles last March, the first in an effort by two of the nation's largest unions, the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers, to organize Southern California's 18,000 carwasheros, many of them illegal immigrants.

During the next year, at carwash after carwash, the organizers would crouch between rows of cars, whispering plans to right the wrongs in the industry. Sometimes they were evicted by owners or police, sometimes shunned by workers themselves.

"If they fire me," one Pasadena car dryer sneered, "will you pay my salary?"

Organizers, who will formally announce their campaign today, hope to reverse what they see as sweatshop conditions at many of the region's 1,000 hand carwashes.

A Times investigation published Sunday showed that many carwash owners flout state labor laws, paying workers less than half of minimum wage or insisting that employees work as propineros, or for tips only.

Owners say unionization will only raise costs for operators and push up prices for consumers. It could lead to job losses as well, if the industry embraces mechanization.

"The only winners of a union drive would be the people behind the drive," said Randy Cressall, a carwash owner and board member of the Western Carwash Assn., an industry trade group. "Consumers would be hurt by this."

Organizers eventually hope to create a steelworkers union local with a collective bargaining agreement. For now, the strategy is to embolden a skittish workforce and appeal to the consciences of consumers. They hope, with the aid of politicians, priests and, when necessary, pickets, to persuade motorists to use carwashes only if owners have signed pledges to hew to the law.

Labor experts say they are borrowing from successful campaigns by immigrant janitors, drywallers and home healthcare workers in Los Angeles. Despite opposition from some rank-and-file members, union leaders who once rejected illegal immigrants as serious prospects increasingly see them as a way to revive the flagging union movement.

Success is far from assured. The story of the unions' yearlong courtship of Nary's workers is one measure of the challenge.

Simmering anger

That first day the organizers came, Varela's insides churned with worry. He was terrified at the thought of losing this job. But he felt his boss owed him -- all of them -- more than the $3 to $4 an hour they typically were paid. He would see what this union meeting was all about.

Chavez balked. His family in Chiapas was counting on the money he sent. Without it, his 5-year-old daughter wouldn't have a school uniform or supplies.

To read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-carwash27mar27,1,4461100.story?page=1

Response: WTF!!! lets get this straight..I'm tired of illegal aliens bitchin' about rights and what they think they deserve!! What they deserve is to be caught, tagged and sent back to their jacked upped country. I wish there was a job, like the people who catch and tag animals...but this time, illegal aliens!! I need that job, and I'll be good at it...Local bus services will be delayed but I'll got damn-near tee it, you'll have a seat and the bus won't smell! The wait time in emergency rooms will be decreased and kids will be playing real sports and not soccer!!

I side with the owner, he should have fired them all, put up a help wanted sign, interview and do background checks on each applicant, and pay each employee $12.00 an hour...I bet for damn sure, the person drying your car won't be francisco from Meh he co. It'll be Leon, John and legal Juan.

RF23 - Well What Had Happened...Wuz..

A friend of mine, told me I needed to be fair and quit bashing on the brotha, or as my brother in law glosses him, 1/2 brotha running for president. Well like Pac-Man Jones, I can't promise, I'll quit bashing Obama, but for this post, I'll try to be fair and balanced on DNC bashing...

Quick question for Hillary supporters, Was it a vast right wing conspiracy that made her remind everyone else that she 's married to a certified on the record liar, by doing what her better half is...a liar. Did you all catch that lie she told about being under sniper fire when she was in the country of another big lie, Kosovo. Not only did she say it once, but she felt it necessary to repeat the lie. To bad it wasn't under oath, then she and Bill could lay in their separate bunk bed and compare perjury charges, with Bill one upping Hillary with his impeachment. I mean did you all, besides yeager catch it...she was doing more spinning than any figure skater I've ever seen and you all know that RF23 considers "women's figure skating a sport and has no knowledge of any other event.

But since I'm talking about democrats, John McCain is here in Los Angeles. I hope this guy picks a young vibrate candidate as VP and if he picks up a Dan Quayle like Veep, I will be voting for Less Filling over Taste Great....

This is another reason for black folk to hate republicans, I mean besides being the party of emancipation and civil rights [those bastards] but amending the constitution of Presidential term limits is another big mistake.

No good mofo's

RF23 - Black Laws?

Can someone please nominate a black "Moses" II or III (if you wanna go with the notion, that the biblical Moses was black) to go to the highest mountain top in our country, see a burning a bush and get the commandments for black folk. Because dammit we need it! and I wanna get on the same page...End the confusion in regard to what I need to be pissed off or offended about. I agree with Jason Whitlock when he asked, can he get a little help or some type of book.

A few weeks back, a golf host said that golfer Tiger Woods, and he's a bad azz mofo on the course, needed to be lynched by his so called competitors in order for them to win...Tiger said it was non issue, the hostess issues an on air apology following a individual phone call to Woods. Al "I want those Florida boys loose" Sharpton bitches and the hostess is suspended. ESPN's Al Saunders is offended of the remarks and upset that Tiger ain't. All on sports radio, black commentators and white ones are up in arms over a remark that the person the remark was about is not. Jim Brown says Tiger is out of touch and so on.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton basically insults black voters in South Carolina and not one blabber mouth so called civil rights leader says jackshizznit. But Pat Buchanan writes a piece about Jeremiah Wright and mentioned social welfare and black crime, and people like Deborah Mathis (Amer. Black Forum, columnist on Blackamericaweb and the Arkansas Democrat) breaks out the race card, like she's playing on TV1's All Star Bid Whist Contest.

But before I go on any further, let me clarify one statement, there was some condemnation of Clinton's statement about black voters in So. Carolina, there was none, when Hillary talks like Uncle Remus to black audiences...Okay this should buy me exactly one second of Darkstar not getting on my case....

Back to my rant, but that's not enough! ESPN's Jemele Hill wrote an article about Lebron James and his photo shoot on Vogue magazine, dribbling a basketball and a Tom Brady's baby momma in the other hand. Hill fed us image comparison between King Kong and Lebron James, both of them clutching on to a white woman.

To steal a quote from Barack Obama, "Oh, I had have enough!"

Look Jemele Hill needs to tell us whats really going on, is it jealousy or is she looking to put Lebron James on the same female black list Taye Diggs is on.

We need rules, we need black rules, just like there are man laws , we need black laws that govern the black community. I once wrote a parody, giving the State of the [Black Peoples] Union...I was just joking, but maybe, just maybe we might need that. I suggest we do what the white framers of our country did when they rebelled against King George III to start our path to whats called the United States of America...but instead of meeting in Philedelphia, we should send delegates of each urban big city to Atlanta, Ga and nail out our black constitution.

A constitution that says what we can say, what we are supposed to be angry at or offended about. Layout personal financial caps, and exactly how much gov't assistance each person could have. Do we make high school graduation optional? Do we make it a law that any black man who inpregnates a black woman, should have to stay at least 16 years of that childs life or face time in Jamaica in Club med...What?! and is there a cap on inter-racial relationships, I guess we can call it the "Tom and Helen Willis Act," that says a certain percentage of the black population can marry, ahem!! I read this on some other post, ahem! whitey!

I mean damn, it's life folks, it's our life and all we're trying to do is live it. And this life is too short to be worrying about who's on a got darned magazine cover....


Jason Whitlock: http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7955740/Am-I-supposed-to-be-mad-about-LeBron?MSNHPHCP>1=39002


Jemele Hill: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080320&sportCat=nba

Movie Quote: Rocky Balboa

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

Gary Coleman is damn nut!!!

I wasn't going to write about Gary Coleman, but the interview he did on the Tyra Banks Show w/ Guest Co-host Steve Harvey, is something I can't forget. First, let me get this out, just like the comparison we used to do in the ninth grade, between Rick James, Michael Jackson and Prince in who's better. Obviously Prince won. Well the comparison between Gary Coleman and Emmanual Lewis is in and Emmanual won. One, he's not in the media spotlight, like that damn nut Gary Coleman. Second, the only nut Lewis was around was, Michael Jackson and now that we know about Michael Jackson. I think somebody should check on Emmanual and see if he's alright.

Well anyway, Coleman and his new wife was on the Tyra Banks show and for one, I get Coleman has his kidney problems and all, but dude looks terrible. Second, he's not credible. Check this out, he mentioned that he was disgusted with Hollywood, but yet still looking for work. As a matter of fact, he's doing dumb stunts on video to get notice and I suspect, if someone can give Flava Flav and Bobby Brown a show. I know there might be two or three million Arnold Jackson lovers to see the train wreck of Coleman and his wife. It worked for Bobby Brown until he wanted more pay and network remembered that he needed them, more than they needed him.

Look, I feel sorry for former child stars, and especially the child stars on Different Strokes, Todd Bridges with his drug and arrest problems, Dana Plato with her druge and eventual death and now Coleman with his recent run-ins with the law. And I get that Coleman probably got the second worse end of the stick, I mean Dana is dead, it can't get any worse, but for Coleman's parents and management to steal money from him is just plain wrong and obviously devastating.

But it still doesn't excuse the fact that Gary "Arnold Jackson" Coleman is damn nut!!

Maybe that So. Carolina Senator was right...

Maybe that So. Carolina state senator was right...I know only a few of us listen to Rush Limbaugh, but yesterday, he played a youtube video of a Rev. James David Manning..And folks, ahhh, I dunno. Check this out:

You Tube Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU

Manning: Obama is a mack daddy. Obama pimps white women and black women. He got started -- you didn't notice him 'til he brought out those big-chested white women with their tight T-shirts and their short pants. That's what a pimp does. A con. You don't get your campaign started with a big-chested white woman, she must be a 54-D, double D. And a pair of shorts on. That's what started his campaign! He put his name on two big 54-Ds. Obama, that's where you first saw his name, that's the first place I saw it, on two great big old (bleep). He's a mack daddy. He pimps white women and black women. Obama is a long-legged mack daddy. I haven't trashed Obama. His African-in-heat father went a-whoring after a trashy white woman. He was born trash. I said he was born trash. I didn't trash him. I'm speaking the truth about him. Now, once again, I am a diplomat, but I'm not a compromiser. I got a word in my mouth! I said I got the Word of God in my mouth, and God's not afraid of Obama or anybody else or Ted Kennedy or that little Caroline or anybody else!

Manning: He [Clinton] gave a quarter of a billion dollars to this community, up came all the new stores, restaurants, financing for condos, all of this happened, made this for you, and now you're trashing him. I'm not making these statements because I'm supportive of Bill Clinton. When he was doing that, I told you about him, just like I'm speaking about this long-legged freak called Obama, I told you about Bill Clinton, a man that has built your home the way this home is built, and now you are trashing him and his wife, after he's given you all that he's given to you, from a man you have no idea what he's going to do, and the reason why you're doing it is not because of honor and integrity, but simply because he got a black face? But I told you, he also got a white mama! You hypocrites, you. You spineless you-know-what, you don't have enough sense to pull piss out of a boot and you're talking about Obama as your president. You're despicable! No honor, no integrity. Well, I'm not in favor of Bill Clinton, but if a man has done for you as much as he has done and then for you to trash him away, you are trashing him makes you less than a maggot. But that's how black men are, they don't have anything. Again, black men don't have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of, and they're looking for Obama to give them more irresponsibility and unaccountability!

(Then dude goes this route...)

Manning: They're looking for the easy way out. They're pimps and players. Black men, is who they are. Black women are player lovers. That's why you go to the churches that you go to. You're player lovers, rather than people of integrity, people of honor. You are the weakest people on the planet, and you have the audacity to accept affirmative action, which says that you are not as qualified as someone else, and you made it alone. You have accepted affirmative action and grinned and held parties to celebrate when the white man says we'll make a law similar to the Dred Scott decision that says that you are not as qualified as others because of racism and slavery, therefore what is required of the white race is not required of you! And you have applauded affirmative action. You are ignorant, you are despicable through and through!

Manning: I am the voice crying in the wilderness of planet Earth to the black faces, return and repent, saith the Lord of Hosts of your wicked doings. I got this word from God. It's in my mouth. The future of you African and African-American people is in my mouth! It's not in your hand; it's in my mouth! And I don't have to compromise with not one of you nappy-head people. The Word of God is in my mouth. Your health is in my mouth! Your ability to eat bread is in my mouth. If I don't speak, you don't eat. The Word of God is in my mouth.

Manning: I'm here to speak the Word of God! I don't have to compromise with you. You've been in this country as slaves for 500 years and you're still marching and complaining that you don't have anything, after 500 years! There must be something deficient about your intellectual strength. There must be something deficient about your God to let you be on the bottom as long as you're on the bottom, and two years from now, Mexicans are going to be running your life and writing your paycheck. If I don't stand up, I'm your last hope. After me, there will be no hope. Farrakhan didn't get it for you. Barack is an emissary of the devil.

L.A. Times: Report Urges LAPD to change SWAT unit

Report urges LAPD to change SWAT unit

Some officers criticize its call to ease rigorous training so women can join and to reduce reliance on using force.
By Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 18, 2008
A panel of law enforcement experts convened by Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton to examine the department's elite SWAT unit concluded in an undisclosed report that the rigorous testing to get into the unit should be changed to make it more open to women, called for tighter supervision and criticized officers for relying too heavily on force over negotiations.

Those conclusions and others, included in a draft of the panel's confidential report obtained by The Times, have deeply angered several Special Weapons and Tactics Team members, who say the changes -- some of which already have been imposed -- are misguided and will probably weaken the specialized unit that is charged with handling hostage situations and other high-risk operations.

To read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-swat18mar18,0,5852212.story?page=1


Response: This is absolutely ridiculas! lowering standards so women can join! are you kidding me?! This is prime example of what a liberal does. Lowering the standards so a person who wasn't qualified physically or mentally to join an elite unit like SWAT because they think it isn't fair! If the LAPD goes with this, they minds well paint their black and whites, pink and white and change their uniforms to maids outfits.

Joke: The Aisle Seat

I don't put too many jokes on my blog, but this one cracked me up.

The Aisle Seat

Two Radical Arab Terrorists boarded a flight out of London.
One took a window seat and the other sat next to him in the middle seat...
Just before takeoff, a U.S. Marine sat down in the aisle seat. After takeoff,
the Marine kicked his shoes off, wiggled his toes and was settling in when
the Arab in the window seat said, 'I need to get up and get a coke.'

'Don't get up,' said the Marine, 'I'm in the aisle seat, 'I'll get it for you.'

As soon as he left, one of the Arabs picked up the Marines shoe and spat in it.

When the Marine returned with the coke, the other Arab said, 'That looks good,
I'd really like one,too.'

Again, the Marine obligingly went to fetch it.
While he was gone the other Arab picked up the Marines other shoe and spat in it.

When the Marine returned, they all sat back and enjoyed the flight.

As the plane was landing, the Marine slipped his feet into his s hoes and knew immediately
what had happened.

'Why does it have to be this way?' he asked. 'How long must this go on? This fighting between
our nations? This hatred? This animosity?
This spitting in shoes and pissing in cokes?'
THE FEW. THE PROUD. THE MARINES. THE BEST!

Shelby Steele: The Obama Bargain

Wall Street Journal: The Obama Bargain
Shelby Steele

Geraldine Ferraro may have had sinister motives when she said that Barack Obama would not be "in his position" as a frontrunner but for his race. Possibly she was acting as Hillary Clinton's surrogate. Or maybe she was simply befuddled by this new reality -- in which blackness could constitute a political advantage.

But whatever her motives, she was right: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Barack Obama is, of course, a very talented politician with a first-rate political organization at his back. But it does not detract from his merit to say that his race is also a large part of his prominence. And it is undeniable that something extremely powerful in the body politic, a force quite apart from the man himself, has pulled Obama forward. This force is about race and nothing else.

The novelty of Barack Obama is more his cross-racial appeal than his talent. Jesse Jackson displayed considerable political talent in his presidential runs back in the 1980s. But there was a distinct limit to his white support. Mr. Obama's broad appeal to whites makes him the first plausible black presidential candidate in American history. And it was Mr. Obama's genius to understand this. Though he likes to claim that his race was a liability to be overcome, he also surely knew that his race could give him just the edge he needed -- an edge that would never be available to a white, not even a white woman.

To read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120579535818243439.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

RF23 - Unbelievable File...DMX

I caught this on BET's website, after looking for a new program promoting mixed martial arts called, Iron Ring. Well after finding that, I caught some of the other stuff on it and lawd and behold, there it was...DMX, not aware that Barack Obama is running for president...Now it gets worse, cause the interviewer is just as ignorant..but then again...

Partial interview from XXL magazine on BET site:

Are you following the presidential race?
Not at all.

You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
His name is Barack?!

Barack Obama, yeah.
Barack?!

Barack.
What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?

Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
Barack Obama?

Yeah.
What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.

You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
I ain’t really paying much attention.

I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…
Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.

So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
Nope.

Is that why you’re not following it?
No, because it’s just—it doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t really make a difference. These are the last years.

But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”

Right, exactly.
It’s all a fuckin’ setup. It’s all a setup. All fuckin’ bullshit. All bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about none of that.

We could have a female president also, Hillary Clinton.
I mean, either way it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. No one person is directly affected by which president, you know, so what does it matter.

Yeah, but the country is.
I guess. The president is a puppet anyway. The president don’t make no damn decisions.

The president…they don’t have that much authority basically?
Nah, never.

But Bush pretty much…
You think Bush is making fuckin’ decisions?

He did, yeah, he fucked up the country.
He act like he making decisions. He could barely speak! He could barely fuckin’ speak!
Can’t be serious. He ain’t making no damn decisions.

Well Barack has a good chance of winning so that might be something.
Good for him, good for him.

Dis Is Nahsty!!

The following story is straight up Nahsty...really.

http://startelegram.typepad.com/sky_talk/2008/03/woman-files-law.html

Jason Whitlock: Even at its worse, "the wire" was the best

Jason Whitlock: Even at its worse, "The Wire" was the best

You know, I spent two weeks trying to figure out how to justify writing an entire column about the series finale of "The Wire" on this site. You won't believe this, but I try my best to keep my topics appropriate for the venue.

So I thought about comparing and contrasting Wire creator David Simon to Sopranos inventor David Chase. It's the equivalent of debating Kobe vs. LeBron. Like Kobe, there's no hole in Simon's game. And like LeBron, if you catch Chase on a night when his jumper isn't falling, you'll wonder why, with his body, he never developed a low-post game and go-to move.

To Read More: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7907052/Even-at-its-worst,-'The-Wire'-was-the-best

RF23 - Does This Make Sense?!

This whole political thing is starting to turn some stomaches and it's getting real dirty. No, I'm not talking about your usual low blow political commercial that says that politician A spent gov't funds on an Alaskan cruise or some alleged embezzlement scam. By the way, whoever comes out of the democratic party race, is going to use McCain's involvement with the Saving and Loans Scandal in the eighties against him. But this race between Clinton and Obama has uncovered a past the democratic party thought they buried with 40 years of monotholic black vote.

Racism.

If you haven't paid too much attention to the race, or paid very little attention to it, you should pretty much know that Obama has won the majority of the state primaries and holds a slim 100 plus delegate lead over Clinton. Now a few weeks ago, I pointed out that these delegates that Obama has aren't in the pocket, he can't count on them nor can he take them for granted.

Why?

Because the delegates of each states can show up to the convention and change their vote..yeah, although the states in which Obama won, some in huge margins, can change their vote and give them to Clinton. And to make matters worse, if the race is close, then the Super Delegates can ignore the popular votes of the people and give it to Clinton, although Obama as stated is winning in the delegate count.

So now that you all know this, who are the super delegates? they are your elected and former politicians. For instance, Congressman Maxine Waters holds a super delegate vote and is supporting Clinton. Her district overwhelmingly voted for Clinton, do you think they will be happy to find out the person whom they voted for despite all her ridiculas rhetoric and dumb stances, is not going for Obama for whatever reason they are.

Recently Latrice sent me a e-mail that basically said that we should vote for Obama despite the ridiculas reasons of why some folk are not voting for him. I partially agreed, due to the fact of some reasons I heard why some folk are not voting for Obama. Now if Waters is supporting Clinton because she is a friend and feels that Clinton can do more and has more experience than Obama. Okay, but remember what I said earlier...

Racism is playing a part here...Not on Waters' place, but on her constituents. Black political and so called civil rights leaders are receiving death threats! and something I'm familiar with...

Their blackness questioned. I'm talking about the same ventriole Clarence Thomas, Condolezza Rice and Colin Powell questioning. Don't believe me, Tavis Smiley! has gotten threats and callled a Tom. John Lewis, a man who actually sang "We shall overcome," while dogs were biting his azz and water hoses being sprayed on him and other freedom marchers, had his blackness questioned. Lewis is an actual foot soldier!! for civil rights and just because he exercised his individual thought and felt the same about Clinton and not going with the "black like us" crowd.

Which brings me to this, if Obama would have won Texas and Ohio, of course the race would be over and the democrats would be concentrating on McCain. But he didn't and now the race as stated earlier has uncovered a past the democratic party didn't want you to realize.

"Although the party says they are for the little man and for racial equality...this race proves that a caveat is attached."

Now lets not get it twisted, blacks have ran for president and there were some serious contenders and even though I'm not a huge Jesse Jackson fan of late, he was a serious contender. Shirley Chisholm was a serious contender, Carol Mosely - Braun and Douglas Wilder, all like Obama had/have the qualifications to be commander of chief. So why in 2008, where we have a black man and a white woman running as top contenders are we talking race?

Let me help you.

As of right now, the statement made by former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Gloria Steinheim and Bill Clinton basically told blacks with aspirations of being president and actually on his or her way to doing so, "hey black boy! hey black gal! you don't know your place, we'll decide how far you go, we'll decide what you need and if you don't like it or cause trouble, we'll put you in your place."

In the past I used to say that blacks who continue to vote for a party that fought to keep their ancestors enslaved, fought to keep our great parents as second class citizens by Jim Crows laws, fought to deny our grandparents and parents their basic civil rights, did you read what I wrote! The party you punch every two to four years fought to keep generation after generation oppressed and now that Barack Obama has the chance to show the world, show a whole country of Black Americans that the little boy who is studying hard, staying out of gangs or if he lives in the neighborhood with gang infestation, survived and got out! that he too, can be president..But no! the party is split between black and white lines with racial overtones and if the race is close and the super delegates choose Clinton...You should feel like you're on a plantation. You thought your world was wide open and now if Clinton is picked and the black man is screwed over. You will see the boundaries of the massa's land.

Does what I wrote ring a bell or do you continue to let by gones be by gones and continue to read news stories of yet another young black male shot in the streets, yet another graduation class letting young black males pass without being able to speak properly, write properly and add.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't agree with Obama politically, but you know what, I'm almost 40 and I'm alive to see a black man or woman be president. And although I'm not voting for him for his stances on raising taxes, illegal immigration, the war in Iraq and terrorism and last but not least universal health care. Notice I didnt' put he'll be assasinated or whatever ridiculas reason I've heard as a reason why I oppose his vote. No, I won't be missing history if he is nominated..Will I be proud, yeah.

Pissed off..

Yeah.

David Mamet: Why I am no longer a "brain dead liberal"

David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'

John Maynard Keynes was twitted with changing his mind. He replied, "When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"

My favorite example of a change of mind was Norman Mailer at The Village Voice.

Norman took on the role of drama critic, weighing in on the New York premiere of Waiting for Godot.

Twentieth century's greatest play. Without bothering to go, Mailer called it a piece of garbage.

When he did get around to seeing it, he realized his mistake. He was no longer a Voice columnist, however, so he bought a page in the paper and wrote a retraction, praising the play as the masterpiece it is.

Every playwright's dream.

I once won one of Mary Ann Madden's "Competitions" in New York magazine. The task was to name or create a "10" of anything, and mine was the World's Perfect Theatrical Review. It went like this: "I never understood the theater until last night. Please forgive everything I've ever written. When you read this I'll be dead." That, of course, is the only review anybody in the theater ever wants to get.

My prize, in a stunning example of irony, was a year's subscription to New York, which rag (apart from Mary Ann's "Competition") I considered an open running sore on the body of world literacy—this due to the presence in its pages of John Simon, whose stunning amalgam of superciliousness and savagery, over the years, was appreciated by that readership searching for an endorsement of proactive mediocrity.

But I digress.

I wrote a play about politics (November, Barrymore Theater, Broadway, some seats still available). And as part of the "writing process," as I believe it's called, I started thinking about politics. This comment is not actually as jejune as it might seem. Porgy and Bess is a buncha good songs but has nothing to do with race relations, which is the flag of convenience under which it sailed.

To Read More: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0811,374064,374064,1.html/full

Which Is It?

Which is it?

While surfing the net, I hit one of my favorite blogs, blackelectorate and saw these two stories in it. Strangely I was a little confused in regard to the state of black America, when I read the following stories:

BLACK BUYING POWER TO REACH $1.1 Trillion BY 2012
(Final Call)

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - A new report from Packaged Facts, “The African American Market in the U.S.,” forecasts that the buying power of 39 million Blacks will hit $1.1 trillion by 2012.

According to the report, there are 2.4 million affluent Black households with incomes of $75,000 or more. This group accounts for 17 percent of all Black households, but 45 percent of total Black buying power, the report said.

“Data shows that companies offering luxury items and financial services are at a particular advantage, because affluent African Americans are even more likely than other affluent cohorts to spend money on luxury items such as cruise-ship vacations, new cars, designer clothes, as well as investing in life insurance,” researchers said.

To read more: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4418.shtml


So you can imagine my surprise to see this:

BLACK AMERICA IS IN A PERMANENT RECESSION
Southern Studies (www.southernstudies.org)

Pundits are working themselves into a dither about whether the U.S. is or isn't officially "in a recession." But for at least one segment of the country, the question is settled: African-Americans are deep in recession, and have been for a while.

In fact, black America is in what should be called a permanent recession.

In January, economist Algernon Austin at the Economic Policy Institute pointed out that even in good times, huge numbers of African-Americans are being left behind:

In the best of times, many African American communities are forced to tolerate levels of unemployment unseen in most white communities. The 2001 recession pushed the white annual unemployment rate up from a low of 3.5% in 2000 to a high of 5.2% in 2003. During the same period, the black unemployment rate shot up from 7.6% to 10.8%.
But the reality of inequality is too often left out of the equation. For example, USA Today ran a feature this week -- "Is your state in a recession?" -- which found that many parts of the country aren't in a recession, and are actually growing

To read more: http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/03/black-america-is-in-permanent-recession.asp

Boston Globe: The Parent Trap

My comment about the below article is going to surprise some folk, because I am going to defend Calvin "Snoop-Dogg" Broadius based off what I seen on the show. Now I am not going to discount the article in regards to the percentage of single mothers and men not being in the home...I get that, but to use Snoop as an example, and I can't speak for Run cause I haven't seen the show, but I have seen and watched "Father-hood." Now I know Snoop, cause like him, I grew up in Long Beach, CA, (North Long Beach to be exact) and he grew up on the Eastside of town, and we all know each other from, Long Beach Jordan and Long Beach Poly High School that are both on Atlantic Ave. So I know Snoop and can either verify and question some things but! as for his works in the community, you can't criticize. For instance, with his own money, he started his own pop warner league. When we grew up we had Pop Warner football, Little League Baseball and Basketball. The parks were functioning programs where we had places to go and do. We had that, and what we also had, was involved dads! whether they were in the house or not, pops were there and played a huge role in our lives. I even seen it in reverse, where the father was raising the kids and the mother was absent.

But in Snoop's case, he did that and gave back. Next, in one of the episodes, he took those same two sons [mentioned in the column] to his old neighborhood in Long Beach and showed them, his life, where he hung out and you know where else he took them?

TO SCHOOL!! and had the principal of Long Beach Poly talk to his sons and the principal didn't pull punches, he told them, their father wasn't the best student, wasn't the best behaved and he got lucky cause he had a talent and someone took a chance on him. It paid back when we rushed to buy "Doggie Style, " his first [solo] album. Snoop made an interesting comment after they left the school.

"I know I messed up in school, but for all you kids out there, you never realize how much fun school was, until you look back and remember all the good times. School is cool."

Next, they went to his cousins house, where to my surprise a old classmate of mine was on the show. I heard rumors that he was hooked on drugs some time ago, so you can imagine how happy I was to see him alive and giving a life lesson to Snoop's boys, his relatives.

Now if that ain't a father, what is? Snoop's dad wasn't in his life, he had his uncle and cousin and a strong mother that went to a strong spirit filled church. In short, the man is there for his three kids and adoptive son. On his show, I figured out why he looks the way he looks, the man when he is recording is gone at all hours of the night and at the same time, traveling to push his CD. He said this one interesting thing:

"When I start a new project and have to do all this traveling, I rather not do it because I miss my wife (high school sweetheart) and kids and then I realize what I'm working for and it's all for them, so when I'm done doing all this traveling and promoting. I can be home with them."

Are there celebrities out there pimping their families...probably, Is Snoop one of them?
Hell Diggitty Naw!


Boston Globe: The Parent Trap

In a recent episode of "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," the rapper's 10-year-old son, Cordell, and his son's friends play around by fake-slapping one another. Snoop doesn't approve of what they're doing and, as he leaves the room, tells them to stop. The kids don't listen. Instead Cordell becomes slap happy, fake-hitting three friends in a row. One gets up and slaps Cordell, accidentally connecting with Cordell's eye.

more stories like this
nullSnoop Dogg has no sympathy as he returns to the room after hearing his son's cries. "I told y'all 20 minutes ago to stop playing," he says. As his wife, Shante, takes a look at Cordell's face, Snoop says to his son, "You got to be able to take a blow if you can give a blow, cuz."

"Father Hood," an E! channel series that shows Snoop parenting his three children with his wife, is one of three television shows depicting fatherhood from a rapper's perspective. "Gotti's Way," which ended its first season on VH1 late last year, focused on producer Irv Gotti as he tried to revive his record label, The Inc.; it included family scenes of him interacting with his children. "Run's House," which has completed four seasons on MTV, shows former Run-DMC member Rev. Run parenting his blended family: three children from his first marriage and twins by his second wife.

"We think that these guys - because they're rappers, because of their connection to hip-hop, and because of the way that we think of black men as fathers in this society - we think, 'OK, they must not be good men. They can't be good fathers,' " says Mark Anthony Neal, a Duke University professor specializing in pop culture. "But when it comes to their children, what you see are men who are very much engaged, in touch, and responsible about their children."

The parenting abilities displayed in these shows play against persistent stereotypes in pop culture that present black men as absent fathers. It's not only celebrities who are fighting this perception. Plenty of black men have become effective parents despite lacking a father figure growing up. Until recently, these men's struggles were barely recognized. Now a number of books, television shows, and films are celebrating this movement by showing black fathers responsibly parenting their children.

Three photography books featuring images of black fathers were released last year: "Daughters of Men: Portraits of African-American Women and Their Fathers," "Pop: A Celebration of Black Fatherhood," and "I Am a Father: Celebrating African-American Fathers." Recent films such as "Daddy's Little Girls," "The Pursuit of Happyness," and "Something New" showcase black fathers who are important in their children's lives.

To read more: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2008/03/03/the_parent_trap/?page=1

Sioux Indian Honored with Medal of Honor Medal

M.Sgt Woodrow Wilson Keeble (Korean War)

President Bush apologized Monday that the country waited decades to honor Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble for his military valor in Korea, giving him the Medal of Honor more than 25 years after he died.

Link: http://www.newsvine.com/woodrow-wilson-keeble

Kane: 40 Years Later, a question still remains.

Gregory Kane: 40 Years Later, a question still remains

The Kerner Report turned 40 last Friday. Officially known as the "Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders," the 400-plus page document is perhaps best known for its "basic conclusion" on the first page of its 30-page summary:

"Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal."

That theme was reiterated all last week, during symposiums held at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro and at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The occasion was the release of the "Kerner Plus 40 Report," a joint project of the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies, which is located at North Carolina A&T, and the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and Center for Africana Studies.

To read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-md.kane05mar05,0,3208482.column

Apologize For Slavery? Well...I"m Sorry!!!!

This article was found on Tom Joyner's website, www.blackamericaweb.com from columnist Deborah Mathis:

Commentary: Is America’s First Black President Going to Be the One Making the Nation’s Apology for Slavery?
Date: Monday, March 03, 2008
By: Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

In politics, as much as in any other area, timing is everything.

So you have to wonder what’s up with senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who are calling on the United States government to officially apologize for slavery. Their bipartisan resolution is said to be in the any-day-now stage.

The advent of the country’s first electable black presidential candidate must have inspired the idea, as this must seem like prime time for a watershed on race. In sending a black man to the Oval Office, may as well clean up as many social messes as possible, I suppose the thinking goes.

But ordinarily, politicians are more calculating than that. They seldom do something simply because it’s the right thing to do. There’s got to be more to it than that.

Harkin says simply, “It’s time to do so.” But, arguably, it was time to do so an hour after it began. Or after the first slave rebellion. Or with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865. Or at least by 1997, the last time the idea came up.

You may recall that fiasco. There was such vehement opposition to then-Rep. Tony Hall’s apology proposal that it seemed the country, far from remorseful, was practically proud of the heinous old institution.

The big fear then was that an apology, which comes with at least an implicit admission of wrong doing, would have opened the door to demands for reparations -- something akin to a giant class action lawsuit encompassing 35 million Americans or more. If you think other civil actions can take a long time to resolve, just imagine the great debate over how to figure the damages for slavery. And that wouldn’t have commenced until after the hellfire over eligibility.

Harkin says he’s not talking about reparations. It should be noted that neither was Hall, and, indeed, the public furor never really even got that deep into the matter a decade ago. No, the land of the free was hung up over whether people who never owned slaves should apologize for those who did -- a feeble point considering that a government mea culpa would mean that even the descendants of slaves would be apologizing for slavery. Or had they forgotten our citizenship?

Call me jaded or paranoid, but I don’t trust the timing of this proposal -- not now, in the midst of a heated presidential campaign. I can see conservatives pummeling Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama with the issue, demanding that they take a position not just on the apology but on its appendages, most notably, reparations. Were they to waffle, that could upset a bunch of the progressive base. Were they to support reparations, it would almost certainly scare away any moderates leaning in their direction. It’s a wedge issue waiting for its moment.

It is the prospect of a black president that makes this tricky territory. The actuality of a black president is safer terrain.

My open letter to Mathis:

Will he (Obama) be apologizing for his father's country's part of it, also?

You know what, screw it!

Dear Ms. Mathis: I read your latest column on Tom Joyner's Black America Website and like your others, you did not disappoint in your victicrat mentality, oh! excuse in your fight for racial justice for equal effect instead of equal rights.

But your lastest column, I feel, I can help with your problem with the confidence of now calling myself a black leader. I will send you my creditials later, but for now I represent the masses of those who are sick and tired of, well fill in the blank. Our organization as of this month are sick and tired of you and people of your ilk. It is or intention to mock and ridicule you, until you make a huge donation to our various charities.

of.

ME, MYSELF AND I...

Yeah, your donations will benefit ME, so I can do my work, MYSELF, which will benefit, well....I. Oh! I forgot we're a non-profit organization that has no political ties to the left, far left and leaning left political organizations.

But back to my real reason of writing you this letter...You wrote that Obama is going to be the first president to apologize for slavery. I say why wait, why wait until he is hopefully elected and by the way, that's kind of presumptious of you. You're counting the Sen. Clinton out already? Is it, what they say, "A wrap!" "T-Is-Over."

Well notwithstanding your hopes and daydreams, let me help you out on that apology...

On behalf of the United States Gov't...

WE'RE SORRRRRRRRRRRRRY!!!!!

Okay!! we're sorry! we participated in a trade that involved you, Deborah Mathis for being separated from your family and put on a wooden boat, where you were chained! we're sorry for all the abuse and murder!, we're sorry for making you a fraction (1/5) of a person, we're sorry for calling you boy, gal, nigger, blackie and whatever derogatory name. We're sorry for making you, Deborah Mathis, get up from sun up and work from sun down in our tobacco, cotton and wheat fields. We're sorry, Deborah Mathis for making you a nanna, and taking care of the United States Gov't white kids...we're sorry Deborah Mathis, We're sorry for stripping off your clothes and giving you what they called on Roots, the bloody back for talking back or looking at the United States Gov't wrongly...We're sorry Deborah Mathis for having you be a slave until 2008...We're sorry Deborah Mathis!!

Satisfied?

Now somehow you must endure 100 years of being denied your civil rights, lynching and other intimidation and still manage to get an education, work and maintain your family. And after those 100 years are over, you'll be awarded race based preferences, gov't funded welfare and other government programs. You will then see the erosion of the family, fathers not at home, kids, especially boys get into trouble with the law and be sent to jails, where they might meet that absent father, girls pregnated by these same boys, while they are still kids and education? Lets move on.

But hey, Deborah I don't want to scare you from having a dream...I want you to overcome and be part of a people that if it were it's on country...

Would rank 15th in GNP....Would produce doctors, scientist and explorers. Would produce poets, musicians and Hall of Fame athletes. Would produce authors and some of the greatest politicians and civil rights leaders that the world and some country's envy. Would produce a 'style", define "cool", and be the envy of your white counter parts.

But for you Deborah this takes time, you have to move on from your ordeal of slavery, not forget, because it's history and it did happen...

The victory is seeing from whence we came...and continue to living the dream...

Sorry Deborah Mathis.

Sincerely

RepFanz 23
Civil Rights Leader
Me, Myself and I Inc.
a Non Profit Organization

Diana West: The Farrakhan Factor (www.washingtontimes.com)

Diana West: The Farrakhan Factor
www.washingtontimes.com

3/4/08

Transfixed by the two-candidate "horse race," maybe we didn't focus precisely on what happened in the home stretch of the last Democratic debate when Barack Obama tried to pick and nuance his way through a straight-ahead question from NBC's Tim Russert.

Q: Do you accept the support of Louis Farrakhan? (The question arose because the longtime racist and anti-Semitic leader of the racist and anti-Semitic Nation of Islam had delivered a two-hour speech devoted mainly to praising Mr. Obama's candidacy.)

Here is Mr. Obama's answer: "You know, I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I think they are unacceptable and reprehensible. I did not solicit this support. He expressed pride in an African-American who seems to be bringing the country together. I obviously can't censor him, but it is not support that I sought. And we're not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally, with Minister Farrakhan."

"Minister" Farrakhan? The honorific seems unduly deferential applied to a demagogue who, just to recall a few pearls of his noxiousness, has labeled Judaism a "gutter religion," said "the white man" is "the anti-Christ," and suggested the post-Katrina failure of the New Orleans levees was a "white" plot to flood "black" neighborhoods. But what is most important here is to note Mr. Obama's failure to take a stand on Farrakhan support: "I obviously can't censor him" — whether Mr. Obama could censor him wasn't the question — "but it is not support I sought." Kind of tepid, no? Mr. Russert tried again.

To read more: http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/EDITORIAL04/280164763/-1/RSS_EDITORIAL