Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Hopefully it's finally over and other "newsy" stuff.


Oh my, so much news so little time. Where do I begin? Let me start with a shout to my sisters over at Essence for quoting the field and giving a brother some shine. To the haters who questioned my loyalty to my sisters because I ripped that slave catcher last night, *that's my middle finger you are seeing* get over it.

Since he is the HNIC, I am going to start with my Prez. Loved the speech on Iraq O man, and I am glad that nightmare of a war in Iraq is finally winding down. It never should have started in the first place. I mean honestly; what exactly did we "accomplish"? Did folks ever stop to think that all the sectarian violence that took (and continues to) take place have probably (and will) cost more lives than if the evil one was still in power? Of course you didn't. It felt too good to kick some insurgent butt after what happened to us that fall day. Still, his O ness showed some class, he gave W a shout out and called for folks on different sides of the issue to come together. Of course it took the wingnuts exactly three minutes after his speech to rip him a new one over at Radio Rwanda. Unity my ass.

And now, as it turns out, the white MLK was the inspiration for this lovely fellow. Nice.

"Rich, like myself, loved Glenn Beck," Perkovic told me, and in the early months of 2009 the issues that animated Poplawski were increasingly the ones that Beck was talking about he launched his show that January on the Fox News Channel. (The FNC host later confessed: "When we were starting the TV show there are things that I did that I wouldn’t do now because I had to be more of an entertainer.”)

Most famously, Poplawski embraced discussions by Beck in March 2009 about the possibility of FEMA concentration camps -- and the future accused cop-killer even posted a video online of Beck discussing FEMA with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. But Poplawski also increasingly talked to friends and family members about the possible collapse of the U.S. monetary system and the need to stockpile food and even toilet paper for a possible socital collapse -- also ideas featured on Beck's program and on more fringe right-wing media.

Later in an affadavit, Poplawski's mother claimed that her son "only liked police when they were not curtailing his constitutional rights, which he was determined to protect."

Glenn, in the future, when you are dreaming up those schemes, just remember some of the folks who are dreaming with you.

Moving right along. Some people are too cruel for words, and some people are too dumb.
Humans are getting closer to animals every day. The world is becoming a dangerous place. It doesn't take much to send folks over the deep end.

Take this next story, for instance. Some dude Rodney "Kinged" some guy with wiffle ball bat because he wouldn't put his pants on. Seems my man's girl was coming over and the victim was being disrespectful. Now my first thought after hearing this story was this: How can someone catch a beat down with a wiffle ball bat? Are you serious? Dude, maybe you deserved that beat down. Next time put your damn pants on.

And, finally, because of my profession, I have to end with this story. Can someone say lawsuit?!!!

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Wants God To Kill Palestineans: Is This Fool for Real?

An 89 year old influential Israeli rabbi who is the spiritual head of the religious Shas party in Israel's government is calling on God to inflict a death plaque on Palestinians and their leader, Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas).

He is reported to have said: "Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this earth ...,"

He continued:"God should strike them and these Palestinians -- evil haters of Israel -- with a plague ...,"

Mmmmmm ... so I guess wisdom does not necessarily come with age and racist idiocy is a national pastime in Israel.

If this man was a Muslim Imam/cleric anywhere in the world we would have had lots of virulent condemnations from the "Muslims are terrorists" bandwagon already.

To be fair the US did say the Rabbi's comments were "inflammatory".

I guess he could use some Preparation H then?

Since this fool is really old he may just be acting up like an old cantankerous fool .... right?

Whatever.

Someone should put a cap in his decrepit ass and send him to a permanent pasture ... oops there I go again showing my militant Muslim terrorist tendencies.

I really don't need Obama to send a Drone to flatten my flat tonight ...

Onward!

Credit

On Luck

"My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying."
Rodney Dangerfield

The man got "no respect" ... :0)

Onward!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Bad field Negro.


Regarding that pic; I bet Naomi Barber King wishes she had one....let me stop. Bad field Negro!

Anywhooo, tonight I want to hit on a touchy subject: colorism. I have been accused of it on this blog. -At least when it comes to my taste in women- And some of this was based on my...ahem, ahem, affection for a certain former child star. And while I cannot deny that my love for Lark is undying, (yes her makeup has been a bit shot lately, but hell, even a Porsche has to be taken to the car wash every now and then) she is but one of a certain hue who I find among the top ten women I find most attractive. Nia Long; Debbie Morgan; Angela Bassett; Tyra Banks; Laura London; Angel Luv...well, you get the picture;
I pretty much "always bet on black."

The thing is I do think that to a certain degree, skin tones play a role in how certain people view others. I think, for instance, that folks in the majority population do find us darker skinned Negroes to be a tad bit more threatening. And, sadly, some of us Negroes are still hung up on skin color and tones within our own tribe. (Trust me, I know a thing or two about this one, Mrs. Field is from south Louisiana, I could dedicate an entire blog to the attitudes of some folks in that part of the world, but I want to stay in my in laws good graces.)

I am writing all this because of the next story I am going to drop on you, and because I wanted to put all of my cards on the table -well most of them- about the subject.

"THE FACTS
The singer says the coverage she’s received in the media stems from her features.

THE SPIN
Frankly, I find it odd that someone who nearly killed themselves weeks ago can instantly go back to the promo trail 90 seconds after being released from the hospital and acting like nothing is wrong.

Moreover, I find it annoying as hell that she’s trying to play the victim yet again on her own actions.

In a new interview with VIBE.com, Fantasia says that her darker skin and fuller features made her a target in the media. Normally, I would be down to defend such a stance, but in her case I want her to find tape for her mouth.

Via the VIBE piece:

But does she think her African and more ethnic features had anything to do with the excessive and sometimes mean-spirited tone of the coverage she received about her personal life? Say, versus the media’s nearly silent stance on the controversial love lives of other female entertainers like Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears or Alicia Keys?

“Yes, I do. I really feel like it does. I was on Nancy Grace, CNN, every gospel station and in every magazine and every newspaper,” she told VIBE about the scandal before her O.D. “It was on. You would have thought I was the President or something.”

First of all, the media has never not scrutinized Britney Spears. In fact, when she did something extreme – oh, shaving her head – that’s when the coverage got even worse. I still see Jennifer Aniston vs. Angelina Jolie stories in the supermarket tabloids.

As for Alicia Keys, no, the mainstream media haven’t touched on her adultery stories, but to be honest, the mainstream media didn’t touch on Fantasia’s either until she tried to commit suicide.

That’s why they talk about her so harshly. She is potentially facing a lawsuit from the wife of her married boyfriend and she tried to kill herself as a result. If Alicia Keys tried to kill herself and/or had Mashonda claiming there’s a sex tape of her and Swizz getting it in you don’t think the press would think about it then?

Fantasia adds:

“I’ve battled and have had to deal with that before. Lord forgive me and I don’t want to offend anybody,” she says, “but when [I did Idol] it seemed like everybody there was Barbied out. Slim, long hair, light eyes, light-skinned. And here I come with my dark skin, full nose, short hair and full lips — it was hard.”

Yeah, but you won. And the year before that, the big friendly black man won.

The [only] thing I agree with is this:

“They never put me in those magazines [featuring] the red carpet. Everybody there has long hair and everybody is bright-skinned, and I was like, ‘But wait a minute. They never gave me that.’ That bothered me. And then I tried hard to find people to dress me and they still would not put me there [in those magazines].”

But that has nothing to do with the fact that the media saw a scandal by way of suicide, sex tapes, and being slapped with million dollar lawsuits. None of that happened for Britney, Alicia, and Angelina and if it did the press would’ve talked about it. Save racism/colorism debates for when they apply.

Otherwise, own up to your actions. Ain’t that right, Mrs. Paula Cook?

Now that I’ve had my say, what’s your spin, folks?"

TVOneonline.com is asking folks for their spin. I think I would rather hear yours.

And why am I thinking that knowing the complexion of the author will affect how I view the piece? I know it shouldn't, but I am thinking that it will. Hmmmmmm...... Bad field Negro!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

"Everybody loves Chris"


Chris Christie, the governor of Sopranoland, is currently the flavor of the month in the republican party. They just love the guy. He did, after all, beat a billionaire incumbent democrat to become governor of Jersey. They love his no bs style, and the way he is taking on the teacher's unions and making cuts to the state's bloated budget at every turn. "You go get em Chris, lower our taxes."

Anyway, Chris has been a little full of himself of late, so when his state lost over 400 million dollars because they just missed out on making the top ten cut in Obama's "Race To The Top" program, he let his O ness have it:

"That’s the stuff the Obama administration should answer for. Are you guys just down there checking boxes like mindless drones, or are you thinking? When the president comes back to New Jersey, he’s going to have to explain to the people of the state of New Jersey why he’s depriving them of $400 million that this application earned." Christie blamed the error on an official at the state's DOE, but said excuse him if he got one little thing wrong on the lenghty application. “We’ll take the responsibility we need to take for putting one wrong piece of paper in a thousand page [Ed Note: It was 260 pages] application,” he said. “If you want to take shots, take shots at me." [Story]

But wait.....seems the governor of Sopranoland spoke too soon:

"Earlier this week, New Jersey was first runner-up in the competition for education grants under the Obama administration's Race to the Top Program, barely missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for its schools.

Now it looks like the Garden State's own sloppy homework is to blame, CBS News Correspondent Elaine Quijano reports.

It was the rant heard around the political world.

"Anybody in Washington, D.C., have a lick of common sense?" Republican Gov. Chris Christie told reporters Wednesday. "Are you guys just down there checking boxes like mindless drones?"
Christie publicly blamed the Obama administration for New Jersey's failed bid to get a $400 million federal education grant.

"This is the stuff that makes people go nuts," said Christie. "This is the reason why people want to throw everybody the hell out of Congress. This is why people are angry at the president of the United States."

But a day later, the Education Department fired back, releasing a video showing Christie's top education officials unable to answer questions about their incomplete application.

"Can you explain how or where this information was presented in your application?" a federal official asked.

"No, I cannot; I don't …," a New Jersey official said.

New Jersey officials apparently never produced the information and missed the cut by three points.

On Friday, Christie fired his education chief, saying he got bad information.

"I was extremely disappointed to learn that the videotape … was not consistent with the information provided to me," Christie said in a written statement. "I regret this mistake was made."' [Story]

I don't. This is what happens when you try to be cute and pander to your political mates by taking shots at an easy target. In this case it happens to be his O ness. You couldn't wait to get in front of the news cameras and blame the most convenient target in A-merry-ca these days: Washington. But you were wrong. Seems the buck stops (literally) at your doorstep.

Wipe the egg off your face gov. (try not to eat it)just get back to governing Sopranoland. And, the next time you feel an urge to pop off about Washington; remember to think before you talk.




Saturday, August 28, 2010

I feel better already.


Tomorrow should be a great day in A-merry-ca. The churches will be full. Black folks will go to white churches and vice- versa. There will be none of this, or this, or this. It will be a new day. Why? Because we have restored our honor, and there has been a spiritual awakening. Thank you Glen Beckkk, we couldn't have done it without you.

I think Beckkk outdrew half of Rev. Inc. today, but that was to be expected, he does have millions of brain dead listeners and viewers every day for his media franchise. Poor half of Rev. Inc., he has to get it where he can. His radio show -god bless him- probably barely reaches a fraction of the audience that Beckkk has. So the numbers today didn't surprise anyone. (The wingnuts will tell you that there was enough people there to fill up every NFL stadium in A-merry-ca. Don't believe the hype.) I saw a melanin challenged AARP parade; I saw the guns and god crowd; and I saw the various slave catchers on stage jigging to keep the restless throng entertained. (Some of you Negroes will always have a place in A-merry-ca, because some white folks just love to be entertained by you. ) The race placement was in full effect. Indian? Check. Black? Check. Asian? Check. Latino? Check. I swear it looked like the "It's a Small World" exhibit at Disney World up on that stage. Now if the actual crowd only reflected the race placement diversity, they would have been on to something. Still, to be fair, some of you slave catchers saw the "I HAVE A SCHEME" rally for what it was, and you didn't bite. Good for you. You understood who the messenger was, and you couldn't, in good conscience, sit there and listen to the message that he delivered:

"This is a day that we can start the heart of America again,"... it has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with God. Everything [with] turning our face back to the values and the principles that made us great."

"Back to the values...that made us great"? You mean like the ones that said it's cool to enslave people because they weren't really people ? Those values? Sorry, I think I will pass. Whenever I hear certain folks talk about going "back" to the good ole days, it makes me a little nervous. I will just keep it pushing forward if you don't mind.

"I too have a dream," she said. "I have a dream that America will pray and God will forgive us our sins."

Alveda, now on that we can agree.

Overall it was a good day for a rally. The black parade didn't clash with the white one; white folks left chocolate city in one piece; and honor has been restored to A-merry-ca. I knew that some good would come out of Obama's presidency.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Please make your checks payable to Rev. Harry....


Last night a posted about a sister in Germany who had unprotected sex and failed to tell her partners. Well tonight, I am sad to report, that two can play that game.
"A U.S. Air Force sergeant infected with HIV is under criminal suspicion for allegedly failed to inform a “multitude” of sexual partners about his medical status, The Smoking Gun reported Thursday.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations reportedly launched a criminal probe last month after receiving information that Sgt. David Gutierrez, 43, “engaged in numerous, unprotected sexual acts…over the course of three years.”

Gutierrez, stationed at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., was apprehended on Aug. 9 for allegedly violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the website reported. Investigators then reportedly searched his home to “identify potential witnesses and victims.”


Shame on you David. You should be protecting this country from weapons of mass destruction, not making your johnson become one.

Tomorrow my man Glenn Beck will have his "I HAVE A SCHEME" rally in Washington D.C., and I hear that Albert Pujols along with his fraud of a manager will be participating. Now I am starting to believe that maybe he did juice up,(don't sue me Albert, it's just an opinion) because only someone who is not in his right mind would think that this event is not political. Albert, just make sure you have your green card.

But I can't hate on Albert for attending as I can the next clown I am going to write about. Albert Pujols is a baseball player, so maybe he doesn't have time to read much. Harry R. Jackson, Jr., on the other hand, is supposed to be a man of god, so he should know better. Sadly, it would appear that he does not:

"The only question I have is whether the events of this weekend will lead to more of the same old race-based politics of the past or not. You know exactly what I am talking about. Further, I am concerned that everything is set in motion to create a political stalemate - the PR equivalent of two people attempting to shout over one another to impress a third party.

At this critical juncture in history, all Americans need solution-based moral and political leadership. We need to break the historically tainted lenses through which we view our collective moral and political decisions. African Americans are at an even more acutely strategic moment. Having slipped to the second most numerous minority African-American civic and moral leaders must decide to exert their political power and become a conscience to both Democrats and Republicans.

If only 18 to 20 percent of black voters feel at liberty to vote their values, blacks could become the swing vote that changes the destiny of our nation - race by race, candidate by candidate. The most natural unifying alliance that African Americans could build is with white and Hispanic evangelicals, who share their core values and worldview. With this kind of radical new alignment, new approaches to our most pressing problems could be developed and tested. Our newly defined “good guys” of whatever party could begin to emerge. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.
Yet this weekend we are celebrating the legacy of the ultimate dreamer, whose famed words moved him from being seen as a national security threat to center stage of the nation’s value system. Forty-seven years after the speech, everyone wants to be identified with the passion, power, and purpose of his message. In order to make real moral and political change possible in 2010, once again some black leaders have to wander off the “political plantation” upon which their people currently reside - the Democratic Party.

Therefore, although I have very close friends and associates on both sides, I have chosen to participate with Glenn Beck and to attempt to build the new coalition I have just discussed. Rallying with Beck may temporarily bring a backlash of ridicule and rebuke to many of the black civic and religious leaders who join me. Long term, however, the courage of these leaders will point the way and embolden others. Despite any personal discomfort, we feel that it is time to make a real change. "


Let me translate that for you: I am going with who has given me... whoops, I mean my ministry, the most money. I can't wait to see who is up there jigging with you, Reverend. Brother Martin would never have sold out to the highest bidder. Shame on you and your slave catching dancing friends.

"My personal reasons for involvement in the Restoring Honor Rally are primarily moral, not political. First of all, I believe that there needs to be a spiritual alarm sounded in the nation. I am convinced that the only answer to our country’s moral freefall is another great awakening. This means that we preachers must preach to individuals with a desire to see them transformed internally and spiritually.

Second, this critical mass of faithful believers will need to start a grassroots movement to recapture the essentials of “living faith.” We then must take responsibility for the disappointing political and cultural leaders we have elected or tolerated.

I would like to encourage everyone to pray for a spiritual awakening in America, which will affect the way we vote and the way we rebuild our most cherished institution. This weekend, I will join hundreds of thousands of Christians in prayer and reflection...."

And, his prayer will sound something like this: "Dear Jesus, please help these white folks remember me, so that when I solicit them for funds they will send a check. Hey, preachers gotta eat too, lord."




NO to Racism and anti-Islamic Bigotry

International Action Center - iacenter.org

Endorse this Call to Action AT
http://www.iacenter.org/moslemsolidarityendorse

We say NO to Racism and anti-Islamic Bigotry
Stand for Unity and Solidarity on Saturday, September 11

On September 11 the Tea Party and its racist and right wing allies plan to again demonstrate at the World Trade Center site. For months these bigots have attempted to whip up hysteria against a proposed Islamic masjid (mosque) and community center several blocks from the WTC.

On September 11 right wing, Christian fundamentalist plan a “Burn the Quran” day at a Florida Masjid. These same forces targeting masjids around the country are waging a national hate campaign against all people of color and immigrants.

We need to stand up to these racist forces. Together our voices are strong
In New York City the ugly demonstration of racism and bigotry against Muslims on September 11 at the World Trade Center must be countered with mass show of solidarity and unity

We call on all working people, youth, students, immigrants, trade unionist, community and human rights activists – ALL those opposed to racism and bigotry - to stand on that day in defense of our Muslim sisters and brothers.

Like Hitler before them, the anti-Muslim bigots are seeking to whip up hatred against a religious minority in the midst of an economic crisis. They want to divert popular anger away from the banks and corporations who rob millions of their jobs and homes.

The racist anti-Muslim campaigns are also pro-war mobilizations. It is used to justify war against Palestinians. The overwhelmingly people in the U.S. today are against continuing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or a new war in Iran.

These ugly, right-wing campaigns are given enormous media coverage. They are an effort to push back and divide with racism and bigotry all those who want to end U.S. wars. The billions of dollars wasted on endless war must be spent here at home.

We need JOBS, health care and schools, not war and racism.

Say NO to Racism on Saturday, September 11.

Emergency Mobilization Against Racism and Anti-Islamic Bigotry

Initial Signers (list in formation)
AlAwda NY Palestine Right To Return Coalition
American Muslims for Palestine
Arab Muslim American Federation - AMAF
Bailout the People Movement
BAYAN USA – Philippine American Alliance
Black Workers for Justice
Ramsey Clark
Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, VA
DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving-
Ana Edwards, Chair, Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation
Families United for Justice in America-FUJA
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Fight Imperialism Stand Together-FIST
Gabriella Network USA – Women’s Leadership
Steve Gillis, VP, USW Local 8751 Boston School Bus Drivers
Mike Gimbel, Chair, Local 375, AFSCME "Labor/Community Unity Committee"
Kosta Harlan, Students for a Democratic Society
Imani Henry, LGBT Activist, Playwright/Performer
In the Name of Humanity
International Action Center
Jersey City Peace Movement
Imam Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, Pres. North American Imams Federatiopn - NAIF
Angaza Laughinghouse, Pres, UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union
May 1 Workers and Immigrant Rights Coalition
Cynthia McKinney
Michigan Emergency Comm, Against War & Injustice
Millions for Mumia
MN Ã…nti War Committee
Moritorium Now Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shutoffs
Muslim Solidarity Committee
Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
North East Peace and Justice Action Coalition
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Pan Africa News Wire
Peoples Organization for Progress
Peoples Video Network
Queers for Economic Justice
Richmond Jobs With Justice
Stonewall Warriors
Senegalese Workers Association
Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St. Francis of Assisi, CCA
The Peace Thru Justice Foundation
Phil Wilayto, Author
Women’s Fightback Network

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Nadja, Ken, and Michael.


"All I can say, pretty looks isn't all" ~ Heptones~

It's not, and it can sure get you killed. I bet some of Nadja Benaissa's partners are hoping that it doesn't get them killed. Seems they swung some eps with my girl and she failed to mention that she was....well, HIV positive. Oh ohh, yes fellows, that can be a little problematic.

"The one-time pop star was tried in juvenile court because the sexual encounters began when she was 17, which is also the age she was when she learned she had HIV after a pregnancy test."

Memo to all you players out there, never leave your jimmies at home. It could save your life. [Story]

Speaking of failing to mention something: So let me get this straight; you mean to tell me that all those years Ken Mehlman was leading the republican hit parade against Gays and leftist, he was a closeted Gay man ,himself? Oh my. You just never know where those skeletons will come from.

"The unity of the Republican Party's electoral coalition may have been dealt a setback this week when longtime top party official Ken Mehlman walked out of the closet.

Many Washington insiders long had suspected that Mr. Mehlman, a former Republican National Committee chairman who ran President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, is gay, but the public admission - and Mr. Mehlman's promise to work actively for legalizing same-sex marriages - clash for many with the party's message on social values.

'I could care less if Ken is a gay; it is a private matter. But gay marriage is not,' said Indiana Republican National Committee member Jim Bopp Jr.. Mr. Bopp, a constitutional lawyer who has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, co-founded the first formal conservative caucus within the RNC."

"Marriage is NOT a private matter"? Mr. Bopp (I love that name) you have got to be kidding me. The honest truth is this: the sooner you republicans get into the 21st Century the easier life will be for you. Twisting yourselves up like a pretzel in order to make sense of your twisted positions is starting to make you folks look really stupid.

"Earlier this year, an informal private agreement was reached among some social, religious and fiscal conservatives and Republican officials to emphasize fiscal issues in the midterm elections and to downplay issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research."

Of course. Now it all makes perfect sense.

Why do I get the feeling that the rise of the tea party folks and wingnuts is causing more stuff like this to happen here in A-merry-ca? Still, I am going to leave this one alone. I need some new Air R's before I can go chasing my man racism, he has gotten way too fast for me. Where is Glenn Beck when you need him to bring peace and racial harmony to a troubled country? Oh yes, he will be in D.C. this weekend. I can't wait.

Unfortunately for Michael Enright he won't be there.- Although I know he would love to be. It seems my man has been taking his cues from Glenn lately. Hey Michael, cab drivers piss me off sometimes, too, but I don't go around pretending that they are a Thanksgiving turkey just to make a point.

Stabbed For Being Muslim In NY

TPM reports that "a cab driver in Manhttan was allegedly stabbed by a passenger who asked if the cabbie was Muslim (the cabbie said "yes"), and says the incident is being treated as a hate crime. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder and other crimes."

TPM in another report says the stabber is Michael Enright. (In picture with 'third world' prop so important to whiteness.)

Enright is said to be "a film student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and has been working with the Intersection International, an interfaith and multicultural effort which seeks to promote justice and peace."

Ok! So what they been teaching him?

The word is that Enright is said to be a serious drinker according to his classmates.

So I guess being tanked in the US dredges up anti-Muslim hatred too.

What else?

The Muslim cab driver's name is Ahmed H. Sharif.

In a released statement Sharif said:"I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here."

Sad day for Mr. Sharif. I am very happy to know he survived to tell the world of the growing madness that lurks just beneath the veneer of American style democracy.

I lived in the US for 26 years and claim it as my 'other' place of belonging just as much (if not more at times) as South Africa.

I am ashamed to know that so much of my youthful admiration for the idea of America was mostly delusional.

This attack is merely one incident I know. But it is hardly in isolation of the rampant bigotry that Muslims face in the US.

And it extends from there.

This blog receives almost daily anonymous rants that are anti-Muslim and racist (I refuse to post most of them).

In other web places you will find acrobatic liberal and conservative translations of why a Mosque close to Ground Zero "is not the right thing ... right now."

I wish I had a dollar for each time the "right thing" mantra was thrown at me.

Calling the US on it's sh*t is "the right thing ... right now." There is no other choice but to stand against the racist drift that has 70% of Americans supporting the racist nonsense that a Mosque close to Ground Zero is not "the right thing ... right now."

Islam is not responsible for imperial Humpty falling down ... Humpty did it all by hisself.

In the end Islam will be standing long after the US is not. So the wheel turns hey.

May Mr. Sharif heal in peace.

Onward!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Dr. King, why are you high fiving that "racist"?


"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition..."


Sorry Dr. King, one hundred and forty seven years later we must face the tragic fact that the Negro might be free, but some folks are not happy that he has his freedom. In fact, some Negroes don't want to be free. Some Negroes are still "crippled by the manacles" of their own ignorance. They are emancipated in body only, their minds are still not free.

On the very place where you gave that speech some forty seven years ago, a man will be coming with a very different agenda, and a very different view of A-merry-ca. He will bring a lot of friends with him, [including some Negroes] and, sadly, they will all be in the same state of mind.

"Since Beck first announced the event, much critical attention has been paid to the date. This Saturday is the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech," a landmark event in the history of the civil rights movement that is also enshrined in the national mythology as one of the finest expressions of American ideals. Beck claims that the scheduling is mere coincidence. But he has eagerly claimed King's legacy, and the meaning of Aug. 28, as his own.

On the May 24 edition of his radio program, he described himself and his conservative-activist legions as "the inheritors and the protectors of the civil rights movement;" liberals, he claimed, "are perverting it." He said he "wouldn't be surprised if in our lifetime dogs and fire hoses are released or opened on us. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of us get a billy club to the head. I wouldn't be surprised if some of us go to jail -- just like Martin Luther King did -- on trumped-up charges. Tough times are coming." Two days later, he reiterated his intent to "reclaim the civil rights movement," since "we were the people that did it in the first place." More recently, he has described the alleged scheduling coincidence as "divine providence"--as God's way of telling Beck he walks in King's footsteps.

If this is true, and a supreme being did in fact decide that Beck should hold his self-branded Tea Party rally in the shadow of Martin Luther King, then we should take this as proof that God has a very dark sense of humor.

Far from being a civil rights icon, Glenn Beck has built his empire and fame in part by being a master divider along racial lines. Especially since the inauguration of Barack Obama on the eve of his Fox News debut, Beck has emerged as the media's boldest manipulator of white racial anxieties, fears and prejudice. His willingness "to go there" has even earned him grudging respect from hardcore white nationalists who usually have little patience for major media.

Most people are aware by now that more than 100 sponsors have fled Beck's program since his June 2009 claim that President Obama was a racist "with a deep-seated hatred of white people." But this is only the best known event in a 30-year career in broadcasting that has been partly defined by racist humor, racially charged venom, and advocacy for far-right foes of the civil rights movement.

Throughout his career in Top 40 radio, Beck was known for his imitations of "black guy" characters and racist tropes. According to Beck's former colleagues in the late 90s, this included mocking unarmed blacks shot and killed by white police officers. Such was the case of Malik Jones, the victim of a controversial killing that took place in 1997.

"After the shooting, Beck sometimes did a racist shtick," remembers Paul Bass, a former radio host and Beck colleague at a Clear Channel station cluster in New Haven. "Glenn did routines about Jones' grandmother being on crack. Generally he made fun of his family and the loss of life--as joke routines."

Beck's racially tinged tirades did not disappear after he switched formats in 1999. During his first talk radio stint in Tampa, he often referred to the Rev. Jesse Jackson as "the stinking king of the race lords." Most recently, Beck has worked to resuscitate the names of famously anti-civil rights figures from the history of his adopted Mormon faith. He has respectfully played tapes of Ezra Taft Benson, who thought Martin Luther King was a communist agent out to destroy the Mormon Church (and who once wrote the foreward [sp] to a book of race hate whose cover illustration featured the severed, bloody head of an African American).

Beck has also implored his viewers to read the "divinely inspired" books of W. Cleon Skousen, another John Birch Society fantasist who believed that the civil rights movement was part of a worldwide Communist (and, later, "New World Order") conspiracy..."
[Link]

Dr. King, I don't think this guy shares your vision. You poor man; I just wish that you could rest in peace. All that turning in your grave must be making it hard for you to have another dream.

"US Drone Strike Destroys House Full Of Children In Pakistan"

By Jason Ditz

24 August, 2010
AntiWar.com
(re-posted in countercurrents.org)
The Obama Administration’s policy of escalating drone strikes took another hit today, after the explosion from a drone attack against the house of “suspected militants” in North Waziristan also destroyed a neighboring house full of women and children.

The combined toll from the blast was 20 people killed, with at least four women and three children among the slain. At least 13 other civilians were also reported wounded, including a number of other children.

Pakistani intelligence officials say most of the “suspects” killed in the attacks were Afghans, but it is unclear how much evidence they had of wrongdoing. Large numbers of Afghan civilians have been living as refugees in the tribal areas since the 2001 US invasion.

The large numbers of civilians (700 in 2009 alone) killed in the US drone strikes has fueled considerable anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. When pressed during a previous visit Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shrugged off concerns about the civilians, saying only “there’s a war going on.”
How can the US continue launching drone attacks on Pakistan in the wake of the utter devastation brought on by massive flooding in recent weeks?

Surely someone in Obama's circle is humane enough to call off killing innocents in their flawed war(s).

Right?

Or am I just too idealistic and naive?

Whatever.

As it stands now Obama is no better than Bush, and in these contexts, he is proving to be worse.

Onward!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A sight for white eyes.


"Pimp Juice" energy drink? WTF? My people, you have got to stop doing ignorant s&^%. h/t Greg Fuller.

Although maybe, just maybe, it's because you Negroes like to do ignorant s^%$ from time to time that white folks- who are joining Glenn in D.C. this weekend- have put out warnings about avoiding you people. Yes sir, if you want to stay in that WSZ it is essential that you follow instructions and stay away from those crazy "Pimp Juice" drinking Negroes.

Still, you have got to admit; the irony is thicker than a southern biscuit: Marching on the day of a famous black man's speech to bring racial unity here in A-merry-ca, yet trying your best to avoid areas where said black folks might be found. Nice. No wonder some of you Negroes are pissed. (Well, not all of you.) A bunch of these white folks are coming to "Chocolate City" to parade in your back yard and yet they don't even want to be around you. That is not cool wingnuts, that is just not cool. And then you have the nerve to be cocky about it:

…whites “do not own” the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and, by this logic, “blacks don’t own Martin Luther King,”

The day a bunch of black folks go marching on D.C. to commemorate the "Gettysburg Address" I hope someone lets me know, because that s&^#will be seriously historic.

"If you are on the subway stay on the Red line between Union Station and Shady Grove, Maryland. If you are on the Blue or Orange line do not go past Eastern Market (Capitol Hill) toward the Potomac Avenue stop and beyond; stay in NW DC and points in Virginia. Do not use the Green line or the Yellow line. These rules are even more important at night. There is of course nothing wrong with many other areas; but you don't know where you are, so you should not explore them..."

And, don't forget; if you see someone holding a "Pimp Juice" can in his hand, walk the other way as fast as possible.



Newt The Bigot


Credit

Monday, August 23, 2010

I will protect massa's house at all costs!


Another day in A-merry-ca and the hate filled, right wing, jingoistic mobs are in rare form. (Is that a black person I see in the middle of that pic? Yep, it sure looks like it. I swear, you Negroes and this house called A-merry-ca. Don't worry, your black ass will be next. ) They were out over the weekend at Ground Zero to make their feelings known. And, as we get closer to election day here in A-merry-ca, I suspect that we will see more not less of them.

Where is George Bush when you need him? Wasn't it old George after 9/11 calling for tolerance and peace? That seemed like such a long time ago. That was before we got the brown guy with the Muslim sounding name occupying the people's house. I bet W wouldn't recognize his party now. They have party officials saying that the brown guy is a Muslim and party leaders saying that they will take him at his word. Huh? "Take him at his word"? OK, Mitch, I will take you at your word that you aren't a racist prick from Kentucky. See how that works?

"It is a disturbing discussion. The tone is ugly; the charges are vicious. And no Christian, Jew, or other religious person can feel safe if angry mobs -- even if only virtual -- are able to stop the activities of an unpopular faith.

There is no legal barrier to building the mosque and Muslim community center, called Cordoba House, in New York City. If the First Amendment means anything, the government cannot single out a particular religion for constructing a worship facility. The Free Exercise Clause would mean little if politicians could willy-nilly close down mosques -- or churches, synagogues, temples, and other religious sites.

Any attempt to block Cordoba House also would run into the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Passed by voice vote in the Republican Congress of 2000, the law targets state and local governments attempting to inhibit religious exercise through land use regulation. Senate sponsor Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) explained: "At the core of religious freedom is the ability for assemblies to gather and worship together."

That was well written Mr. Bandow, and it was riddled with facts. But unfortunately we are talking about religion here; something, that along with race, always stirs the passions and brings out the most deep-seated fears in even the most seemingly sane person in A-merry-ca.

If you think I am lying, watch what happens on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington D.C., this weekend. Glenn Beck will be there for a political/love the white race rally, (something he has every right to do) and just look in the faces of those people who will be there. Don't worry, if they look familiar it's because you have seen them before.

Obama Wins No-Balls Prize

Nobel Committee Regrets "Tragic Typo" That Mistakenly Awarded U.S. President 2009 Peace Prize

by Michael K. Smith
Legalienation News, Oslo
Re-posted in Dissident Voice
August 20
In a dramatic announcement that drew gasps of pleasure and cries of “it’s about time,” President Barack Obama today won the “No-Balls” Prize for “spinelessness above and beyond the call of duty,” while retroactively losing the 2009 Nobel Peace prize, which the awards Committee confessed had been mistakenly granted due to a “tragic typographical error.” The five-member Norwegian delegation explained that it had never intended to award Obama the Nobel prize, ironically named after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of gunpowder, but rather, the “No-Balls” prize, named after Nobel’s brother-in-law Alfred Noballs, inventor of the white flag.

“President Obama’s unparalleled record of evasions, cave-ins, and sell-outs is truly awesome,” said Committee-member Erik Wahl. “We have never seen a more immense consistency of cowardice.” Obama won handily over second-place finisher Morris “Yellow Belly” Butler, who stole money from orphans and spent it on liquor and prostitutes. Gracefully conceding defeat, Butler pronounced Obama “a champion invertebrate with few peers and no superiors.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa reacted with unrestrained delight: “From throwing Reverend Wright under the bus to increasing the slaughter of innocents with pilotless drone attacks, Obama has proven himself a great mass of cowardly energy time and again,” he said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi in Afghanistan also applauded the Nobel committee’s decision, confirming that Obama was responsible for escalating war and had “the blood of countless innocents on his hands.” Few can doubt that this is the stuff of which “No Balls” winners are made.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said,”It’s difficult to think of a more deserving recipient than a man who sustains simultaneous wars against defenseless populations in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.”

Orlando Sosa, a recent addition to the Nobel Committee, said the selection was intended to honor not just Obama’s swan dive into the lap of Big Business, but also his incredibly multi-faceted cowardice, including: (1) peerless command of euphemism and double-think; (2) outstanding capacity to orate for hours without saying a thing; (3) artful evasion of every moral point; (4) proven ability to see nuance where none exists; (5) a capacity to cave-in faster than an avalanche.

Obama conceded he was “deeply humbled” by the honor, and launched a cruise missile attack on Yemen to celebrate. The No-Balls Laureate promised to “stay the course” in Afghanistan, where he has killed more U.S. troops in 19 months than George W. Bush did in 7 years, and accelerate his extraordinary achievements in torture, environmental catastrophe, bankster bailouts, HMO fascism, and imperial wars from Colombia to Palestine.

As a gesture of good will, he pledged the $2 million cash award that comes with his prize to a deserving death squad that preys on children.
Michael K. Smith is the author of The Madness of King George from Common Courage Press.

Problems

"I've had so many problems in my life, most of which never happened ..."
Reportedly said by Mark Twain.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The "Fourth Reich"?


It's starting to feel like 1933 here in A-merry-ca. February 28, 1933, to be exact.

But thankfully, folks are still allowed to write opinion pieces like the following:

"The first thing that must be said about the mosque at ground zero is that it is not just a mosque, and it is not at ground zero.

Granted, calling it an Islamic center that contains a prayer space, a spa, a swimming pool, community meeting rooms, a 9/11 memorial, an auditorium, a basketball court, classrooms, and an exhibition space - to be located two blocks away and around a corner from ground zero, at a site Muslims are already using for prayers - doesn't have quite the same kick as calling it the mosque at ground zero. It's just a more accurate description.

Facts matter, and they seem to be in short supply in this ugly fight.

It's also important to note that the controversy over the center, which has now engulfed the president, is only one of several that have flared up across the country over mosque construction or expansion plans. Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, California - all have seen fights over mosque proposals. There are even two other New York mosque projects, in Brooklyn and Staten Island, that have provoked attacks and demonstrations.

There have also been attacks on existing mosques, not just planned ones. A bomb exploded during services at a mosque in Jacksonville, Fla., and there have been reports of arson and vandalism of mosques in Texas and Tennessee. (No one was hurt in the incidents, which are being investigated.)

Murfreesboro, Tenn., is witnessing a particularly ugly construction standoff, with many of the same features as the fight in Lower Manhattan. Mainstream politicians running in tough primary races have attacked the project there, and so have grassroots activists affiliated with local tea party groups........as Park51 after its address on Park Place - were high-profile grassroots activists, including Mark Williams, then-leader of a group called the Tea Party Express. He labeled the center a "monument" for the "worship of the terrorists' monkey-god."

One key opposition group, Stop the Islamization of America, is well-known for the inflammatory rhetoric of its leaders. They include Pamela Geller, who didn't bother providing a shred of evidence when she suggested that funding for the center could be "tied to jihad or terror." (There is no funding at the moment.) Geller has called for a ground zero rally on the anniversary of 9/11, and she has been touting Geert Wilders, a virulently anti-Muslim Dutch politician, as a featured speaker.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has highlighted Geller associate John Joseph Jay as "truly vicious." According to the center, Jay wrote in his (all-lowercase) blog: "if islam kills non-believers as a matter of religious doctrine, then why should muslims expect to be free of retribution in the name of those islam kills?"

These are the people who defined and framed the debate over the Lower Manhattan Islamic center. Now the controversy has gone viral, attracting opposition to the project from ambitious mainstream politicians, including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, both of whom are toying with presidential runs, and Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor of New York. Palin has ratcheted up the rhetoric, referring to Park51 as the "9/11 mosque....We should bear in mind that it's election season, and some politicians have clearly calculated that opposing the center - and similar projects around the country - will translate into political and financial support. But why should that be? And why should the construction of a house of worship in America - a country founded partly for the sake of religious refuge - become a full-blown national controversy?

Here we come to the key fallacy driving these fights - the "big lie," to use Hitler's term for a falsehood so preposterous that it goes unchallenged. In this instance, the lie is that Muslims attacked America in the name of Islam.

The U.S. government bears much of the responsibility for propagating this myth in the wake of 9/11. It allowed - indeed, encouraged - the view that a political attack carried out by a tiny group of radical terrorists was, in fact, an attack on America on behalf of all Muslims in the name of Islam. This was the argument disseminated by al-Qaeda itself. Hence, the federal government was in the curious position of promoting al-Qaeda's propaganda.

That al-Qaeda is a gang of disgruntled thugs - many of whom were our disgruntled thugs during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - is deemed irrelevant in this view. They were our "freedom fighters" when Ronald Reagan was president; now they "hate our freedoms," as George W. Bush put it.

Of course, President Bush spoke in mosques, invited imams to the White House, and intoned that "Islam is peace." At the same time, though, his administration was interrogating tens of thousands of Muslims and jailing thousands of them, investigating Muslim students, using Byzantine immigration laws against Muslims and deporting tens of thousands of them, employing the Energy Department to monitor mosque radiation levels, using the Census Bureau to identify Muslim neighborhoods, and sending the FBI out to count American mosques.

This intense investigative focus on Muslims during the last several years, coupled with a constant labeling of terrorist plots as Muslim, created a fertile field for xenophobia.

Now Bryan Fischer, a leader of the fundamentalist American Family Association, has gone so far as to state flatly that Muslim Americans are by definition treasonous. "Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for ground zero," Fischer wrote recently on his blog. "This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government."

Fischer's solution? Repatriate Muslims to their home countries. This completely ignores the fact that close to a majority of the five million to eight million Muslims in this country were born here, and roughly a third are African American. Facts do matter. " [Story]

No they don't Mr. Salisbury, not if you are a wingnut.

Finally, I just read that James Jackson Kilpatrick is dead. May he go straight to hell. (If there is such a place.) The next time one of you black conservatives try to justify your political stance here in A-merry-ca, just remember that folks like James Jackson Kilpatrick was one of the founders of your movement.


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Getting smart with the "war on drugs", and responding to a House Negro.


Now this is what I am talking about. Even folks in law enforcement are finally getting wise about the drug problem in this country.

"First the California NAACP endorsed it. Now the National Black Police Association voiced support for a measure to legalize marijuana.

On the common sense marijuana meter, score it black folks 2, white folks 0.

Proposition 19, on the California ballot to legalize, tax and regulate pot, is a measure that's time has come.

Too many public resources are wasted chasing petty pot dealers, and there is growing evidence that marijuana laws are unevenly applied by police in the streets when it comes to race.

But race has little to do with why marijuana should be legalized. It simply isn't a big deal for many Americans these days. It makes little sense to criminalize an act that lots of Americans take part of in the quiet and privacy of their own homes.

I would rather see the money used for pot prosecution go for violent criminals - the type of people who really lower the quality of our lives...."
[Story]

I say amen! And, for the record, yes I am Jamaican, but I never touch the stuff. Hell if it wasn't for these pictures I wouldn't even know what it looks like........

Here in Philly we are taking steps to make possession of the stuff a summary offense. Which is a step in the right direction. The court system is overloaded as it is with cases that shouldn't be there. Let's start thinking outside the box with this war on drugs, people.

Finally speaking of being on drugs; I hate to give this blogger some shine, but she called me out, so I have to go there. (I feel like Derek Jeter going to bat against Little League pitching, but this is the path I chose.) Girlfriend is my current HNOTD, and apparently she took offense.

"Yesterday, a blogger styling himself as the Field Negro dubbed me the "House Negro of the Day":

(JULIETTE OCHIENG) I SWEAR SOME OF YOU NEGROES MUST GET PAID BY THE WORD TO SAY DUMB STUFF. THIS CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER CALLS THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO A "SECURITY RISK". SAYING DUMB S#*T JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN IS ALWAYS HNB

[Link added by me; don't worry--it leads to my post, "Beacon."]

Field Negro--may I call you Negro?--would it actually hurt you to expound on why you think my opinion is "dumb?"

Show you lack of "dumbness" by explaining to your readers how building such a mosque--set to be funded and "pastored" by a person who has continually called for the the implementation of Sharia law in the United States--is not a security risk. Take it step by step.

I can further defend my position. Are you capable of defending yours? I'd sure like to read it. You never know--if you're premises are sound and your conclusion follows logically from them, I would be compelled to change my opinion. In case you have never heard of this concept, it's called 'intellectual honesty.' Try it, you'll like it--eventually.

Otherwise, I merely write you off as one of the conditioned."

Ms. House Negro, you may call me whatever you like, just as long as you don't call me collect. Now let me "expound" -just a little-on why I think your opinion is dumb:

You argue that putting this Mosque two blocks from Ground Zero would put Americans at risk because the leader of the Mosque believes in a strict form of Islamic law. (Sharia) That, in of itself, is ludicrous. I am not connecting the dots between an interpretation of an ancient religious philosophy and bombs dropping on suburbia. And, just for argument sake, let's assume that Faisal Abdul Rauf does believe in the most negative and regressive form of Sharia law as you allege; what difference would it make if he built his Mosque a block from Ground Zero or in Jersey City?

But my rebuttal above assumes that you were right about Rauf and his position when it comes Sharia Law. You were not. Only a person whose mind has been poisoned by right wing ideology -A poison that was inflicted by the likes of Newt Gingrich- could view a man who has published writings such as this in such spurious and mendacious manner. Parroting right wing talking points to score "brownie points" with your ideological soul mates does not make you a critical thinker, or, for that matter, someone capable of "intellectual honesty". It makes you a fraud, and a fraud of the worse kind: one whose sole purpose in life is to remain in the comfort of a poorly constructed house.

I hope you didn't trip over my steps.




Friday, August 20, 2010

"In God we trust"! Not Muslim presidents.


I see that most of you folks here in A-merry-ca believe that either your president is a Muslim; or, you are not sure just what the hell he is. I guess telling you that he is a Christian, just like you, isn't enough. After all, his middle name is Hussein. O man, I think you need to go to church more often, seems that the folks in these divided states do not like being led by a man -who they perceive- does not take his cues from the good book.

Of course it doesn't help that folks like Franklin Graham ( a partisan political hack who masquerades as a man of god) is publicly saying that he is not sure about you. Something about Muslims and the seed flowing through their fathers. And since your daddy was one of them Muslims, you must be one as well. And then there is Rush just flat out calling you our first Muslim president. Yes sir Mr. President, it looks like you have a religion problem. Here in A-merry-ca a religion problem is not a good thing to have. See, it's like this: We A-merry-cans like to think of ourselves as god fearing good hearted people. It helps us all to buy into American exceptionalism, and it separates us from those savages in the rest of the world. If our president, the man who is supposed to lead us, is not making us believe that, then he cannot lead this nation of good Christian people. (Where is that born again Christian, W, when you need him? Now there was a man of god.)

~Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.~ Matt 7:15~

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many .
~Matt 24:11~"

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt 24:24

Oh lawd! O man, I think Saint Matthew the Apostle was talking about you. Or was it Franklin and Rush? Now I am truly confused. I need a sign.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

"Your glasses or your life"


Do you know how many kids you have? Don't laugh, my man Antonio Cromartie of the New York "Pets", doesn't. (My man, FOUR THREE YEAR OLDS? 2006 must have been a very busy year for you.) Seriously....

Let me move on: Who knew that eye glasses would be the new Air Jordans in post racial A-merry-ca.

"DETROIT - He was an accomplished athlete with a promising future, but a gunshot ended it all. A young man was killed while leaving a club in Detroit; gunned down over a pair of glasses.

"Detroit Police say whether they are real or just knock-offs, you can loose your life over Cartier shades.

That was my only son. My baby," said Rose Ford, the victim's mother.

Ford loved her son more than life itself. 20-year-old Darryle Miller, Junior was a Northwestern High School basketball standout turned college star.

Miller was leaving a Detroit nightclub early Sunday morning. That is when Ford says her son was shot in the back. It was over a $2,400 pair of sunglasses that he refused to give up.

Miller had worked to pay for the Cartier shades and the killer took them after pulling the trigger.

"I never thought in a million years... that my brother would be the one to get killed over some glasses," said Latoreya Till, the victim's sister.

"My son worked for whatever he had whether it was his car, glasses, shoes, whatever. He worked for that and I feel you should do it, too. You don't go out and take (somebody's) life for a pair of glasses," Ford said.

"Somebody out there knows this individual who did it," said Detroit Police Deputy Chief James Tolbert.

The murder at Fort and Cass now tops their priority list. They are confident it will not be long before the gunman slips up.

"(He) told somebody or now he's wearing a pair of Cartier glasses or he just recently sold or pawned a pair of Cartier glasses, so he didn't just take them and put them in his pocket," Tolbert said.

While justice may help bring closure, one thing is certain, it will not bring Miller back.

"He has a baby. She adores him, and she can't see her daddy (any) more," said Ford.

Detroit Police also shared a disturbing statistic with us. They say there have been 15 to 20 of these murders over glasses in just the last year.

There are no suspects yet in this case. Call Detroit Police if you have any information. "

Quick, tell me five f*&^%d up things about this story. OK OK, the $2,400 sunglasses is easy. But can you find four more? I know I can.

1. My man is 20 with a child.


2. Why does any murder take priority over another one?


3. WTF was he doing in a club? He is 20 years old.


4. Any why are folks in Detroit clapping each other's chrome over glasses?

[Story]

Finally, I think I found someone even more twisted than my man James. Bernard Keith Howell, you need Jesus.

American Missionary Found Guilty of Paedophilia

Forty year old missionary Douglas Perlitz has pleaded guilty "to traveling from the United States to Haiti at various times between 2001 and 2008 to have sex with ... eight (male) victims."

He is the founder and director of Project Pierre Toussaint (for boys) in Cap-Haitien, northern Haiti.

I deliberately chose the post heading to include "American" because we live in a time when general aspersions about Islam and Muslim is thrown wildly around.

Just yesterday I read another story where an American journalist was calling on all Muslims to apologize for 9/11 and "Islamist terrorists".

If we use that logic then I guess all Americans are pedophiles or at least those who will not accept responsibility or apologize for Douglas Perlitz's actions.

Add to Americans all Christian too while you at it since he was a Christian Evangelist and, therefore, we can expand the web of guilt.

Oh yes don't forget all white people too!

Crazy world we live in ain't it?

So crazy that about 70 percent of all Americans do not want to allow a Mosque to be built close to Ground Zero in New York because it offends them and those who died in the 9/11 attacks.

So, Islam and all Muslims must be held to be responsible for 9/11 (of course those 300 or so Muslims who died in the attacks are conveniently erased).

My head hurts!

When will the US grow up?

Article and Picture Credit

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

"I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another”


I love that quote attributed to Jefferson.

So I was thinking: Why is it that people can be such blatant hypocrites in A-merry-ca and get away with it? For instance; my man Glenn Beck is all over this Mosque being built near Ground Zero, and his argument goes something like this: (I am paraphrasing) Of course they have a right to their religious freedom under our Constitution, but why do they choose to build a church there given how people feel about that? They should be more sensitive to the feelings of their fellow A-merry-cans, just because they have a right to do it, doesn't mean that they should do it.

Ahhh Glenn (and I hate to agree with your colleague, Greta Von Frenkenstein, but do you notice something about that kettle staring you in the face? Yep, it looks just like you.
My man, you are doing the very same thing when you hold your march on the anniversary of Dr. King's I Have A Dream speech. Of course you have a right to do it, but should you? Given how some folks feel about you and your views on race. (You did call A-merry-ca's first black president a racist) I call bullshit on it being a mere coincidence, you knew exactly what you were doing.

And as for this Mosque at Ground Zero, I see that something like seventy percent of A--merry-cans oppose it. I wonder how many of them lost loved ones on 9/11? I agree with
Bob Cesca when he writes the following:

"If we take Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich at their word, their objection to the proposed community center two blocks north of Ground Zero is that the entire area is hallowed ground, and a Muslim facility so close to the site is an insult to the victims and heroes of September 11.

Of course this is entirely about a swath of 9/11 fetishists, mostly Christians, ginning up anti-Muslim fear and demagoguery to score political points. It's a cheap and obvious exploitation of the widespread American prejudice that anyone who happens to be Muslim is equally as guilty and offensive as the terrorists who hijacked and crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers.

It must be an election year because Republicans are once again rolling out September 11 as a wedge issue. You know, because they care about honoring the fallen. When it helps them politically.

If Beck, Limbaugh, Palin and Gingrich, along with the entire population of far-right AM talk radio, really cared about hallowed ground and historical preservation, they wouldn't be limiting their crusade to Park 51 (formerly Cordoba House).

As many of us have heard, there's a strip club two blocks away. I'm not sure how lap dances are less offensive than a religious community center. In fact, there are quite a few places in lower Manhattan within short walking distance of Ground Zero that would have to be eliminated as part of these stringent guidelines dictating how sacred ground ought to be respected. Via Twitter, Sarah Palin urged President Obama to weigh in on the Park 51 issue. Well, I urge Sarah Palin to weigh in on the strip club "at Ground Zero." We're waiting, Sarah. Will you campaign against the strip club? How about the gun shows that happen at Cox Pavilion, not far from the site of the Oklahoma City bombing? Or the shinto shrines a mile or two from Pearl Harbor?"
[Article]

And I agree with Robert McIlvaine:

"Robert McIlvaine still struggles and probably always will. When the subject of his son, Bobby, comes up, McIlvaine asks that I give him a minute so he can compose himself.

Bobby McIlvaine, a Princeton graduate and aspiring writer who worked in media relations for Merrill Lynch, was on his way up to the 106th floor of the World Trade Center for a seminar that September morning when the plane hit. He never made it there. He was only 26.

Once the elder McIlvaine starts talking about the mosque controversy, sadness gives way to anger. How can people shred the Constitution to justify their biases?

"Nobody's asked me, and there are plenty of 9/11 families who feel the way I do," says McIlvaine, 65, a retired teacher who lives in Oreland.

When he first heard of the proposed Islamic center, he had no problem. "I didn't give it a second thought," he said. "And if you knew my son, you'd know he'd be rolling over in his grave over this."

As would the American Muslims who also died on that day.

"It's a sin what [fearmongers] are doing, making this about politics at the families' expense," McIlvaine adds. "It's producing hate, and it's the last thing this country needs right now." [Story]

Mr. McIlvaine, it's folks like you who makes us all realize that the terrorist lost that day. Sadly, if folks like Beck and company have their way, our victory will be short lived.

Breaking Fast In Nairobi


DISHING: A worker at a mosque prepares food to be served to Muslims who come to break their fast in the mosque in Nairobi, Kenya, during the month of Ramadan.(Sayyid Azim, AP)

News24 Credit

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

An education agenda is a terrible thing to waste.

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You all need to stop sending me links like this. A brother is trying to concentrate on writing his post. Eco Soul, I have mad love for you, and I know the point of your post was sisters getting their work out on, but sometimes a picture can get in the way, if you know what I am "sayin".

Anyway, let me stop before folks start calling me James Vine. James, you are one sick dude.

Anywhooo, tonight I am not going to chase my man racism. He is too easy to catch. Hell, when he starts f#*&^%g with black celebrities without a care in the world, I might as well leave his ass alone. There is nothing I can do from here, so go on with your bad self Big R. It's your world.

I do want to talk about a serious subject, and if we overcome it, we can tell Big R to kiss our collective black asses. Why? Because then it really won't matter what he does; we will already have ours, and thanks to the laws in this great country, there is not a damn thing he will be able to do about it.

The serious problem is education; or a lack of it among young black males. I heard Brian Williams yapping about it on NBC Nightly News, and I already knew there was a problem, but damn! Only forty seven percent of black males are graduating high school in this country. And, in my hometown of Philly- and in places like New York- it's twenty seven percent. Now that is some scary stuff. Oh we talk about it, and we are aware of it, but can we really do anything about it?

I know one thing; the HNIC's that are in charge aren't doing the job. It's one fancy program after another, and none of it is doing any damn good. "No Child Left Behind";"Race To The Top", what's the difference? None of them are working. I suspect that the folks implementing these programs with their fancy Ed.D's and assortment of letters have no clue about motivating young black men to learn. A think tank here, a think tank there, and people trying to score cheap political points at the expense of our children.

Some programs, to be sure, have been working. Urban Prep in Chicago comes to mind. And apparently the charter schools up in Harlem are kicking butt. So, help me out here, why aren't the folks who were instrumental in starting some of these schools not in serious decision making positions in Washington? Whose job is it to find these people and put the brightest and hardest working people together to come up with solutions? One problem, to be sure, is ego. I have been in the room and seen the my degree is better than yours interplay that takes place among folks who are supposed to be about the business of educating. It's depressing. And folks like me who -just want to give a helping hand- throw our hands up and say f*&k it! That's almost where I was, (almost) until I watched Brian Williams yapping about it on Nightly News, as if it was all taking place in some foreign country and not right in his back yard. (Well, not his back yard, but you know what I am saying; it's here in A-merry-ca. )

Education is still the great equalizer, and it's time these youngsters realise it.


*Pic lifted from a wingnut website. Sorry, I don't remember the name.