They say money can't buy you happiness, but it can sure give you options. That said I guess there's really no confusion as to the understanding of some of the things some do to get it. But even so, this next story I'm dropping on y'all kinda has me all confused. I haven't heard much talk about it around the blogosphere; and to be honest, as much as "our people" takes offense to being played, I'm surprised more people aren't fired up about it just yet. So what am I talking about? I'm talking about the nice and cozy relationship between the NAACP and Wells Fargo. You know, the same bank the NAACP brought a class action lawsuit against?
So, by now you probably know that Wells Fargo was involved in predatory lending practices which specifically targeted people of color. Well in 2007, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the financial institution for their egregious and albeit racist practice. A practice which has had dire consequences for not only the economy, but for the countless number of people of color caught up in foreclosures. Now of course I'm sure you remember the Tavis Smiley-Wells Fargo connection as we debated that issue when I defended him on this very blog. Yes, and I still defend him to this day; and, I still contend that he was played like a sucker, to reel black customers in. Well, this isn't about Tavis, but to his credit, he has distanced himself from Wells Fargo. Instead, this is about the NAACP's recent decision to drop its lawsuit against Wells Fargo.
So what's the big deal about that you ask? Well, writer/blogger Faye Anderson of the blog Anderson@Large lays out a pretty tough to beat indictment of the NAACP. In her piece she breaks down the new symbiotic relationship forged by both entities. More to the point, the NAACP has dropped the three year old lawsuit, only to turn around and form a partnership with Wells Fargo, who is now the chief sponsor of the upcoming 101st NAACP National Convention!
Oh yeah, that's how you fix the "immigration problem" in America Mr. Duncan Hunter? I've heard about the dumbing down of America, but goddamn! How can one be this stupid? Well, they do say that fear breeds ignorance. And it's become quite apparent that old white folks are fearful of what's been termed the browning of America.
Of course I've highlighted on this blog about a year ago, just how racial profiling has backfired, leading to the deportation of actual American citizens, who just happen to be a certain shade of color [read it here]. That said, checkout what Republican Congressman, Duncan Hunter had to say at a Tea Party event last weekend:
SAN DIEGO (AP)-- Rep. Duncan Hunter said he would support deporting U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, adding that "it takes more than walking across the border to be an American citizen."
The San Diego-area Republican congressman spoke Saturday at a video recorded tea party rally in Ramona. Hunter was asked by someone in the crowd if he backed deporting natural-born American citizens who are the children of illegal immigrants.
"I would have to, yes," Hunter said.
Hunter said in the video that some of his critics believe his stance is mean-spirited.
"And we're not being mean. We're just saying it takes more than walking across the border to become an American citizen," he said. "It's what's in our souls."
Well I'm all about keeping families together and all. But to "deport" children who are U.S. born citizens with their "illegal immigrant" parents as part of a solution? You know, because "it takes more than walking across the border to become an American citizen." Really? Well see there's this old piece of paper with a bunch of words written on it called the Constitution? Yeah, and in it there's a section called the 14th amendment? Uh-huh, yeah, that section explicitly guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
Remember when I told you a last year about the racist organization F.A.I.R., and how they were spending money to influence representatives with their anti-immigration message during the health care debate? Yep, back then they attempted to makeit impossible for legal and documented immigrants, to obtain government subsidized health care for up to a 5yr period. Yep, remember that whole, Joe Wilson "You Lie" thing last year? Uh-huh, yeah, you probably don't remember that, I'm sure. But thanks to those assholes out in Arizona, and their "Juan Crow" law, and thanks to Rachel Maddow, these white supremacist are being exposed:
Did she own his ass, or what?!!
If you think Rachel's research and fact check breakdown is full of shit. Do yourself a favor and read what I wrote last year and just what I found out about the very same organization [read it here]. The truth is, comprehensive immigration reform will add 1.5 trillion to the economy over the next 10yrs, and should be encouraged. Let's hope our elected officials get themselves together, and do the right thing in-spite of all the negative talk and aspirations of racist idiots the likes of the ass-hat interviewed by Maddow above. You know, the same people who say they're staunch constitutionalists, and are about freedom and equality?
It's a good idea to click and read all the embedded links in the post above.
I'ono y'all, but I'm feeling like something ain't right with this whole adoption thing, and how it all just came out of nowhere. Shoot, for all we know, why ya' bullshittin, this is prolly why Jesse James stepped out with the next chick! I'm just sayin', how you 'posed to be the man with your skinhead buddies when yo' woman creep with a black dude with a yuckmouth?
I mean c'mon, the kid is New Orleans, right? Didn't have like 4 or 5 chicks pregnant all at the same time? Of course that don't mean nuthin 'cuz Lil Wayne leaves his skeet in all fifty states and Puerto Rico. But I think there's more to it than we really know, son. But anyway, checkout the exclusive interview with Lil Louis and tell me if I'm lyin'. Word is born, son? I think they coached that kid on this whole adoption thing, yo:
Nah, nah, nah son... I ain't buyin' that adoption story. But son, I swear, I put this on e'ry thing! When this lil dude starts smokin' weed, tottin' burners and catchin' charges, yo? Don't say I ain't never told y'all. I'm just sayin', don't belee e'ry thing ya hear in the media! And I know you ain't gon' tell me that baby don't look like him...
I'm going to do something I almost never do on this blog, I'm going to preface this post by saying: The race of an adoptive parent has no impact on said adopted child... with the exception of Steve Martin in the movie The Jerk. Truthfully, adopting and successful child rearing has more to do with love, and very little to do with race, creed, color, or ethnic origin. Yep, it's hard to believe but it's true. I'm of the belief that transracial adoptions are not as complicated as we as a racially polarized society makes it out to be. But that said, let's not pretend that it's as easy as running out to the pet store and picking up a chihuahua.
OK, with that said....
What the f*ck is up with Sandra Bullock adopting a black baby?! I mean damn, I know the movie The Blindside did well and all, but did she really have to become the real life Ms. Save-A-Negro? What, the Academy Award wasn't enough? Nope, she couldn't stop there, she had to go for one of those elusive NAACP Image Awards to sit next to her Oscar on her mantle, didn't she.
Lemme guess, they'll be casting her as Harriet Tubman next, right?
SIDENOTE: Did they really have to put the X-Clan African beads on the kid in the pic above?
Oh, and also filed for divorce from her cheating ass husband Jesse James? And we hear this shit all in one day? Just great, when your husband cheats on you, do the natural thing, adopt a baby or get pregnant. Yep, just like that she's managed to become that no-man-having single successful black woman that everybody is chattering about. Uuh-huh, and you black women complain about how hard it is being a single parent? Well, none of that fazes Ms. Bullock, by God. Just like Black women, "she don't need a man telling her what to do."
Now of course, her being white makes it hard for anyone to portray her as the jilted angry black woman in the media. Sorry black women, it sucks, but that's just the way it is; and, Bullock will forever be seen as a savior of the black male, unlike yourselves. Her adoption of three month old Louis Bardo Bullock, who is from New Orleans, may indeed come as a public relations blessing. You know, sorta the same way one lowly down-trodden Negro from Mississippi upped her stock in Hollywood? Yes, I can see the headlines now:
Yes, let's do this because we all know that you truly need to vent. Let's do this because plainly speaking: you're tired as fuck of hearing all the talk about single black women who can't find a man, and about how much it's yo' damn fault. More specifically, you're tired of hearing all the talk of you making better choices, and lowering your standards, right? So, let's talk about this issue because, well, as hard as it is to believe, the truth according to you, is that there are very few good men left. And unfortunatly, some of you carry what I call these nigga scars around like luggage from relationship to relationship; yes, I've dated some of you; and yes, done my best Usain Bolt impersonations after meeting you.
Now of course I'm married, but even so, my wife has single female friends and family members; and yes, I still gotta hear the bullshit, especially when I wanna get freaky and ask Mrs. RiPPa to do something a lil sum'n sum'n n' shit! Uh-huh, and what woman you know wants to oblige a brotha when they pissed off about the shit some other muthafucka does to their girlfriends and family members? So yeah, this shit affects even me from time to time. F'real tho, how you 'posed to get your groove on with yo' woman when she just got thru talkin to one of her girls, who has her fired up because her man came home, smelling like old coochie, dropped his draws and burned down the damn bedroom with his dick!
One of the things you gotta love about post-racial America, is the new found interest in just about everything black. If you're an avid reader such as myself, and all around social network junkie, you can't help but to run into the latest "we're talking about black people," news articles and stories. One such article has popped up on the scene and has created somewhat of a buzz. Featured in the New York Times last week, was an op-ed piece by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. titled Ending the Slavery Blame-Game. I guess something like this is to be expected as we're into year two of our post-racialness. With a black president surely the talk of "forgiveness" was bound to come up, right?
In it, Gates writes:
"For centuries, Europeans in Africa kept close to their military and trading posts on the coast. Exploration of the interior, home to the bulk of Africans sold into bondage at the height of the slave trade, came only during the colonial conquests, which is why Henry Morton Stanley’s pursuit of Dr. David Livingstone in 1871 made for such compelling press: he was going where no (white) man had gone before.
How did slaves make it to these coastal forts? The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred."
When I was a kid my grandmother used to always utter the phrase, "Yuh too smart fuh yuh own good," in her strongest Charlottesville, Tobago countryside accent. After I read Gates' piece, I was reminded of this well known Caribbean idiom. It is one of those colloquialisms often used to chastise people who though intelligent, would say and do the most idiotic things, for which they should have known better. Skip Gates is a pretty intelligent and highly educated man; a man that is well respected, in the often overlooked Black intelligentsia. However, for him to write a piece which posits that Africans are as equally culpable as Europeans for slavery, and its subsequent effects around the world, shows the dramatic irony of he himself being a slave-catcher in my book.
The opening paragraph of the piece was a hint of what was to come:
"THANKS to an unlikely confluence of history and genetics — the fact that he is African-American and president — Barack Obama has a unique opportunity to reshape the debate over one of the most contentious issues of America’s racial legacy: reparations, the idea that the descendants of American slaves should receive compensation for their ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage."
Now this is the same Negro who had people like me across the country fired up and screaming about racial profiling after he was arrested in his own home. An event which proved to be quite the shit-storm which drew opinions from all walks of life, especially when, president Obama caught heat for stepping in the turds of the elephant in the room that is racism Yep, after Gates himself in his assumed arrogance declared to the arresting officer "Jim Crow", that "this is what happens to black men in America," he himself did a complete turnaround, only to squander a discussion on racial profiling all for a drink of beer at the White House.
[Editor's Note: A longtime reader and friend of mine, Cody Williams, wrote the following piece; and, I had to share it you, with his blessings of course.]
I almost don’t want to write this note for fear of stepping on the toes of a few people whom I love very, very much. But, a social commentator has to do what a social commentator does, right?
First, however, shall we pray…?
My facebook friend, colleague and journalist, Jacque Reid, took part in a black folk’s town hall in Atlanta Wednesday night where she and other panelists discussed the plight of unmarried professional black women and the mating habits (or lack thereof) of black men. [check it out here]
Déjà Vue. We’ve heard it all ad nauseam: “60% over 40 unmarried,” “No available black men,” “married, in jail or gay,” yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah.
I don’t mean at all to be insensitive here, but, when a record starts to skip do you keep listening to it, or do you change the song?
I say any man who commits to a woman as fast as a lot of sisters want him to commit is a fool. No matter how much our women kick and scream it behooves a man to take as long a time as he needs before he, in the lyrical refrain of Byonce, puts 'a ring on it.'
Why, because a lot of women look no further than the wedding day: The dress, the steeple, the guest list, the cake and what color the mother of the bride is going to wear. Men, more often than not, look at the marriage, life after the wedding: Are we going to be happy together? Can we afford a home? Can I support a family? Will she continue to turn me on?
Take your time, brothas. Get it right.
There are many reasons why we, black men and women, are not hooking up permanently in larger numbers. I say chief among those reasons is our economic situation. Black male unemployment is the highest in the nation. Instinctively all men want to be providers. Instinctively, all women want to be provided for, even the most successful ones.
When we fix our jobs situation our marriage numbers will more align with those of the general population. Which, ain’t saying much. Over 50% of those still end in divorce.
More and more black women in general, (I ain’t talking about anyone specific here) sound so desperate about mating that you’d think the continuation of the species depends on their making that lasting love connection. No, we're not that bad off, yet.
Desperation is not a good look. Appearing needy ain't attractive to any man, no matter how physically/sexually appealing a woman is.
We dudes can smell desperation coming from a mile away. We have a natural aversion to it. No kat really wants to be looked at like the last pork chop at a southern picnic, ladies.
Lighten up.
Instead of Waiting to Exhale, I say, Breathe Damn it! Enjoy your life as is. Have fun just being you. That will attract more guys than trying to make Sadie Hawkins Day every day of the year.
Do me a favor, please. Go to the mirror and take a good long look at yourself. What do you see? Take a good look at your facial features, your hair, your body type, the lines in your face, the various scars, and tell me what you see. Are you pleased at what you see? How does this affect youR interaction with others? How does this influence your attitude and outlook on life?
I know that my questions are a lot to hit you with this morning, but my questioning does serve a purpose. Theory posits the human body as a historical narrative, a broad palimpsest—a scroll written on and over innumerable times—that invariably proceeds us. Even before we open our mouths, even before we have the chance to speak for ourselves, to allow others to get to know us, our body with its various adornments and embellishments is always already presenting its own biography.
The question then becomes just how much this body narrative affects us in our day to day lives. Just how much does this narrative coincide with our own self-image? Just how much does this narrative dictate our actions?
The show starts at 8 PM EST. You can listen to the show by accessing our BlogTalkRadio platform by clicking here, or you can listen or comment by dialing in through our dial-in number, 914-803-4881.
Don’t miss out because this promises to be an informative, entertaining show, and don’t listen alone; please run tell your friends. And, as usual, the most important voice missing from this conversation is invariably your own.
Let me premise this by saying that I don't know about you, but I am tired of these kinds of videos. Only thing worse than this, as far as overtly and overly sexual innuendo and fuckery, was Kiely Williams' "Spectacular."
Before the Peanut Gallery sets up shop, let me say that physically she looks good (I prefer more muscle tone and more thickness...Ciara's arms scare me. I dig Beyonce...). The girl is a dancer, so I am sure it is easy for her to keep her physique that way. Her wig looks nice (didn't like the blond though) and her dancing is superb. She's a very good dancer.
I found the video tedious, cheesy, cliche and tired in its lack of visual. Someone basically picked the same soundstage for the "Like a Boy" video, but instead of giving us something to marvel at, they took the easy route and literally made the video soft porn. Don't even let me get into the mechanical bull(shit).
It is clear that Ciara is fighting for her life by putting this out. Rihanna, Beyonce and even Keri Hilson all seemed to pass her by while she took detour away from the "hood". What's sad is this is her getting back to her roots, and it implies that her "hood" roots are oversexed and wanton. But folk wanna get mad at Miss Badu. I can explain nudity to my kids. I can't with soft porn. So here's what Ciara's video needed in MY mind, to make it 100% thorough (and to keep it real):
1) Dicks: Yes, I mean a penis or two. In between shots of her on the bull, I would've liked to see an erect penis, maybe a cumshot? I mean, it would've tied this bullshit in well. Isn't that the purpose, Ciara?
2) What what in the butt: What's a good porn without a little butt action, right? Maybe Luda coulda jumped in?
3) Baby oil: Now, all the videos I see with black chicks have included some rubbing of baby oil on the buttocks while the camera man zooms in on the massaging of Johnson's & Johnson's staple oil. Don't act like you don't know...
4) Crazy talk: While everyone's getting it in, I would've liked to have heard some crazy introduction like, "Hi, my name is Ciara. I'm new to this..." (insert fake giggle here). Maybe some crazy, smarmy guys asking moronic and perverse questions like, "Hey baby, when you gonna show us that booty?"
5) Keep it 100, girl. The mechanical bull is SO 1980s. For real. If you go to any pr0n site, you will find machines to help you titillate the male audience (or the lesbians) but they ain't bulls... *wink* *wink*
Now, THAT would've been Ciara keeping it real, because this video is real bullshit.
I would love to hear your thoughts folks. And PLEASE think before using the word or even alluding the word "hater."
Let me take a second to set up this scenario. Let’s say you have teenage daughter. She’s about fifteen or sixteen. Now, your daughter is generally a good girl, a nice, pleasant young lady, but she’s working through a few emotional and self-esteem issues as adolescents are wont to do.
In helping your daughter through her issues, you find yourself tired and exasperated, but then it gets worse. Your teenage daughter is diagnosed HIV-positive, and on top of that, you find that she exposed herself to the virus through unprotected sex with an adult who knew he was carrying the virus at the time of the affair. How do you feel? What do you do?
That’s a shameful narrative; however, the most shameful aspect of this narrative is the fact that I did not make this up. It’s true.
After police arrested Nushawn Williams on a crack cocaine charge in 1997, he admitted to police that he had had unprotected sex with perhaps 300-400 women, and continued to have unprotected sex even after finding out about his HIV-positive status in 1996. [See a 1997 Newsweek article on the case.]
At least twenty-four HIV cases could be traced directly back to Williams though police state that the number could be much higher; no one really knows. The age range of the victims is wide; however, most were teenagers, and at least six young women were impregnated by Williams.
According to the Cuomo’s office, Williams suffers from a mental abnormality that prevents him from realizing the depravity of his actions and almost guarantees he’ll repeat the same behavior when released. However, there is no guarantee that Cuomo will be successful in keeping Williams off the streets, and because he has served his time, there is a chance he may be released.
But this is a problem the courts are actively dealing with. It has been proven that sex offenders, especially pedophiles, are usually repeat offenders. But once they have served their time in prison, once they can no longer be held, just what is to be done with them knowing that they more than likely will simply find other victims and continue until they are caught again.
Nushawn Williams’ case is more pressing because of the virus he carries; the consequences of sexual contact with him may be much more than just psychological. But what can we do?
What can we do or what should we do with people like Williams? Is it fair to hold a person far beyond the end of their sentence? Should we release them even though we know that are likely to offend again?
Oh Virginia, the great people of your state have suddenly found a way to be overtly proud of their racism and bigotry. Of course I wouldn't dare blame your governor McDonell for that. Hell, if I remember correctly he delivered the republican rebuttal to Barack Obama's State of The Union address, no? Yep, and if I remember correctly, there were a number of Black people strategically positioned as his backdrop as he spoke.
But I digress...
So now Virginia, one of your sons, felt the need to show his budding southern pride by placing the above pictured mural on his Ford F-150. Unfortunately for him, people on the internet were keen enough to pick up his hidden message within the mural. No Virginia, he didn't hide the fact that he hates Muslims. It was the secret encoded message of his license plate:
Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles is so accustomed to drivers trying to sneak lewd, gross, hateful or racist messages onto personalized license plates that it has a rigorous process to root them out.
A manager in the Personalized Plates Work Center reads through every application, putting any suspicious combination of letters and numbers into a computer program that analyzes the potential plate for hidden meaning. Questionable messages go to a 20-person Word Committee for review and a vote. Among the few printable examples of rejected license plates, according to Melanie Stokes, a member of the Word Committee, are "JERKA55," "IPOOPD," and "HORNI1."
But sometimes, the system doesn't quite work.
The owner of a Ford truck bearing the license plate 14CV88 will have to find a new message after the DMV on Wednesday canceled its earlier approval of that series of letters and numbers.
A photo of the truck hit the Web a few days ago, went viral on car and other blogs and finally came to the attention of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group for American Muslims. On Wednesday morning, the group complained to the DMV that the plate contained a white supremacist and neo-Nazi statement.
A few hours later, the DMV agreed that the plate contains a coded message: The number 88 stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, doubled to signify "Heil Hitler," said CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper. "CV" stands for "Confederate veteran" -- the plate was a special model embossed with a Confederate flag, which Virginia makes available for a $10 fee to card-carrying members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. And 14 is code for imprisoned white supremacist David Lane's 14-word motto: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." (source: WaPo)
Yep, amd ironically the picture of this truck was taken while sitting in handicapped parking. No word yet on whether said truck has the requisite disability tags. But clearly the bigoted bias of the trucks owner should count as some form of mental retardation or stunted growth, right? Good work Virginia DMV for yanking this idiots tags and permanently banning it and it's message.
Local Memphis, TN. preacher and pastor of The New Mount Olivet Baptist Church, Kenneth Whalum Jr., recently published a book, "Hip Hop Is Not Our Enemy: From A Preacher Who Keeps It Real". The book encourages the Black church to embrace Hip Hop culture. More specifically, he urges churches and other groups and civic orgs to refrain from blaming Hip Hop for the societal ills that plagues our community.
In speaking to a local news outlet, Whalum said, "if we embrace the hip-hop generation and not reject them, we can co-op the culture and allow them to create something new and better and lift the whole world to a better place." You know what? I couldn't agree with him more. As a product of the "Hip Hop generation", I take offense to the charge that Hip Hop is the bane of our existence. Point blank: it has always been my take that "bitches & hoes" have long existed before the birth of the Hip Hop urban youth cultural explosion.
But speaking to what Whalum suggest as "creating something new." In steps up and coming Hip Hop artist Lil B, from the group The Pack, with what appears to be a new take on Gospel Rap. I don't quite know if this is what Kenneth Whalum Jr. had in mind as far as using Hip Hop, from a spiritual point of view, to make the world a better place. But I'll let you be the judge after listening to the following song, 'Look Like Jesus'. Not exactly the well embraced 'Jesus Walks' by Kanye West, but still creative all the same, and reality based, as Lil B. sees it.
I've talked and talked y'all to death about how little anything is being done by the gov't to rescue our urban communities predominantly inhabited by people of color. Of that $787 billion dollar Stimulus Package of last year? Only about 1% has trickled down into these very communities.
Well, thanks to Congressmen Keith Ellison [MN-5] and George Miller [CA-7], the "Local Jobs for America Act," has been proposed on the floor of Congress. It is estimated that this bill would create up to 1 million jobs in communities that need it the most. Here's more from the good folks of colorofchange.org:
The economic crisis has hit Black folks especially hard — the unemployment rate is almost twice as high among African-Americans as among Whites. The picture is especially bleak for Black men — 19% are currently jobless [link].
Unless Congress does something big to create new jobs — and soon — the situation could just keep getting worse. Each wasted day means more lost jobs, more foreclosed homes, and more medical bankruptcies — all of which will drag the economy down even further.
The Local Jobs for America Act (H.R.4812) would do a lot to help. The bill would allocate $75 billion for creating and saving 750,000 jobs, with the most funds going to economically depressed areas [link]. It would allocate $25 billion to hire and retain teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Another $500 million would go to support on-the-job training programs.
Congressman Ellison has challenged us all to convince enough of our representatives to support this bill that its passage will be guaranteed. It’s a tall order, but Ellison has already gathered an amazing 139 cosponsors in just a few weeks. Now we must take advantage of that momentum.
So what can you do? First off, you must realize the positive impact this measure will provide. Secondly, take it upon yourself and encourage others to contact their representatives in Washington DC, to support this bill. To do so, take a moment to show your support by clicking the following link and helping the folks at colorofchange.org encourage Congress to sign onto a statement asking your representative to support the 'Local Jobs for America Act'. Lastly, do me a huge favor of spreading the word on this throughout the blogosphere and beyond, will you?
You know, I was beginning to wonder just when somebody was gonna get the bright idea to do something like that. Actually, to tell you the truth, I was really wondering about just how many white guys have gotten away with doing something like this unknown to us. Surely there's no way that black people corner the market on criminal activity:
(Newser)– Ohio police say they've apprehended a wily white bank robber who threw them off the trail by disguising himself as a black person. Authorities say 30-year-old Conrad Zdzierak would rob the banks in a high-quality mask, then take it off as he drove to his next robbery target, confounding police on the lookout for a black man. He allegedly managed to hit four banks and a CVS within just three hours, ABC reports. His mistake? He never disguised his car.
Police got a report of a vehicle outside a hotel matching the getaway car's description. They found it with an interior stained red by the dye bank tellers had slipped into the money bags. Inside the hotel, they found Zdzierak, the money, and “what I'm calling a 'Hollywood quality' mask,” said a police lieutenant. “These things cost $600-$700.” Zdzierak is now in custody on $3 million bail. “You are the type of villain we read about in novels,” the judge told him. (source)
Alright, so I know unlike me, some of you race-baiters out there are pissed after reading this. Yeah I know right about now you're looking at the screen thinking, "this ain't nothing but some ole racist stereotyping shit!" But, if you're like me you'd understand that it's not that the guy who pulled this off was racist. Instead, it's the fact just like I told you a while back: police sketch artists are racist! Besides, do we really wanna have a debate about a white guy posing as a black dude and robbing a bank like the way "certain people" do about blacks taking over professional sports? I mean, it was about time that reverse discrimination thing backfired on us, right?
Yep, they're the reason every criminal mug shot on the 10 o'clock news and in the daily paper all wear hoodies and have wide noses and dark tans. Nah but all jokes aside, this shit was brilliant! Now I gotta figure out a way to disguise myself as a white guy with a mask and walk into a bank and get a loan. Or better yet, some good credit. Uh-huh, how about that for some identity theft? Oh well, at least I take comfort in knowing that on all those Brinks/Broadview Security commercials on TV, the guy who always tries to break in is white.
No seriously, this guy in the following video should hold the title 'Slave catcher of the Millennium' - the new millennium at least. I swear, I listen to him speak in this video and he cracks-me-the-fuck-up, OK? Pay attention to the 8:29 minute mark especially; that's when he really fucked me up. Ok, Ok, Ok, I'm not gonna say anymore except....
...doesn't it look like the white dude holding the mic interviewing him did a good job of looking this guy in the eye and holding back on saying "Nigger please!" No for real, I doubt even he - the white dude - believed what he was hearing. The sad thing is that this is real and not a Dave Chappelle 'Black White Supremacist' skit.
I swear fo' God and Dwight Gooden's crackpipe, I'm sick of the marriage of religion and politics. Just when I was getting used to the everyday run of the mill bigoted Christian religious fundamentalist, in steps Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr. You may not know the guy because you're as 'godless' as me as he puts it, for being a black liberal/progressive. But he's the founder of the organization Staying True to America's National Destiny [S.T.A.N.D.] (umm,where the fuck we're supposed to be heading following this guy?). And also founder of Exodus Faith Ministries.
But anway, it would seem that the "good reverend" has sets his sights past the traditional collection plate for a come-up. Yep, he has formed the STAND AMERICA PAC... or political action committee for those of you not hip. Yep, according to the Rev. he is "declaring political war on the Democrat Party and the liberal Congressional Black Caucus," to end the deception that is hurting the black community by supporting the "Coalition of the Godless."
This slave-catcher spoke out at the anti-hate crimes bill rally last year in protest of a bill that not only protects homosexuals, but also people who are victims of crime motivated by their ethnicity. Hell the bill was co-named after James Byrd who was dragged to death in Texas several years ago, but yet they say God don't like ugly. But hey, he did win the lottery recently and donated $10 million to Morris Brown College, an HBCU with strong ties to the Baptist church:
Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr., retired attorney and Harvard Law graduate, is declaring political war on the Democrat Party and the liberal Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Bishop Jackson, having fought for pro-life and pro-family causes for 25 years, has entered fully into the political arena by forming a political action committee. The top priority of STAND AMERICA PAC, formed on April 1, 2010, is to recruit and support conservative black candidates to run against liberals in Congressional Black Caucus districts.
Says Bishop Jackson, "The black community has been deceived into voting for liberal black leadership which does not reflect their values." Jackson's strategy is to have black voters register as independents and vote their Christian values. He argues that the black voter is a conservative church going person. "This was shown by the large black vote for Proposition 8 to ban homosexual marriage in California. The black legislative leaders supported it, but the black voters did not. What does that tell us? These leaders are out of touch with the people. It is time to vote them out."
According to Bishop Jackson, CBC members insult the black community by "conflating the black struggle for civil rights with the demands of radical homosexuals for marriage and other special rights." He calls it "one of the most preposterous frauds ever perpetrated on a people." In a recent speech before a black Christian men's group in Williamsburg, Virginia, Bishop Jackson said, "Homosexuals have no history of slavery, Jim Crow, lynching or being legally defined as 2/3 of a person. I have known people who have been delivered from homosexuality. I have never known anyone to be delivered from being black. The Democrat Party's commitment to abortion, homosexuality and moral relativism is an affront to the values of the black Christian community. It is a 'Coalition of the godless.' Black Christians do not belong in a 'coalition of the godless,' and should not vote for those who are."
Bishop Jackson says the time has ended when getting elected to Congress in the black community requires no more than being a Democrat and play the race card. He says, "We must demand that representatives of the black community start respecting the values of the people who elect them. STAND AMERICA PAC has been formed to make sure that happens."
There so much that can be said about this tripe, but I'll leave that up to you. I mean personally, he sounds like your typical black homophobic minister to to me; and hell, you guys reading this blog long enough pretty much know how I feel about that, right? I mean this guy may mean well, but hey, the road to hell is paved with bibles and people with good intentions.
Religion and politics should never intertwine, and this is where the Separation of Church and State thing in the constitution comes in, right? Frankly, I could do without this type of divisiveness or promotion of a belief system in my politics. Hell, it's bad enough we have political ideological infighting as is; or one party assuming to corner the market on moral authority.
Sorry Rev., but with all due respect, until your church starts paying taxes, you can have a tall glass of that Holy STFU water, my man. Instead of getting people to donate money to your PAC, you should donate another $10 million of your lottery winnings to Michael Steele and the RNC. Shit, I'm sure they'll put it to good use; hell, lesbian bondage strippers gotta eat too, right?
Some say the notion of Black folks having a collective agenda is stoopid, given how diverse a race of people we are in many ways. I'm still not so sure where I stand, but as I watch other 'interest groups' get theirs in return for what they delivered in 08', I can't help but wonder if we just mighta missed the boat.
'Young voters'[1] got clemency from ObamaCare (staying on their parents' policies till age 27), as well as a redone student loan system which will eliminate the middleman and make college more affordable. While it's unlikely any level of immigration reform will happen this year, Hispanic voters got the lifetime gift of a Wise Latina on the Supreme Court. And LGBT voters[2] just received equal hospital visitation rights[3], hate crimes legislation, and sooner or later, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will be a thing of the past.
President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.
Administration officials and gay activists, who have been quietly working together on the issue, said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, a move that covers the vast majority of the nation's health-care institutions. Obama's order will start a rule-making process at HHS that could take several months, officials said.
Hospitals often bar visitors who are not related to an incapacitated patient by blood or marriage, and gay rights activists say many do not respect same-sex couples' efforts to designate a partner to make medical decisions for them if they are seriously ill or injured. Obama's mandate is the latest attempt by his administration to advance the agenda of a constituency that strongly supported his presidential campaign.
In his first 15 months in office, he has hailed the passage of hate crime legislation and held the first Gay Pride Day celebration at the White House. Last month, Obama's top military and defense officials testified before Congress in favor of repealing of the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for gays in the armed forces. But the moves have been too slow for some gay rights activists, who have urged the president to be more vocal and active in championing their causes.
That, my friends, is how you get sh*t done. They had an agenda, they supported their candidate of choice, and they held his feet to the fire until he rewarded their support.
[Editor's Note: In light of the unfortunate passing of my man Guru (pictured on the right next to DJ Premier) from the legendary Hip Hop group Gang Starr. I thought it important to showcase just how much of an impact their music has made in urban youth culture. To do so I've enlisted my man The Humanity Critic (@HumanityCritic on Twitter) free lance writer and contributor to the now defunct Vibe Magazine, of the blog The Nappy Diatribe. For me, DJ Premier & Guru, together as Gang Starr, left an indelible mark on the man that I am today through their music. The question I have now for Hip Hop is 'Who's Gonna Take The Weight'...?]
This is going to sound shallow, but it won't surprise the people out there who know me that I feverishly keep my snob game tighter than convent vagina. But there are some things in life that I simply believe transcend opinion and simply become fact, and anyone in the slightest opposition of that is either acting like a wiseacre contrarian or happened to born with a mild case of retardation due to being the offspring of forbidden sibling 'love'. You don't necessarily have to believe that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever to touch a leather ball, but his 'philandering, historical failure to ever take a stand on anything' ass better be in the discussion. Same thing with Walter Payton when it comes to running backs, I actually elbowed a guy in the face once just because he gave me a very indifferent sounding 'Ahh, he's alright' retort when talking about the great Stevie Wonder. That explains why 'High Fidelity' is one my favorite flicks, primarily because I subscribe to the philosophy in the movie that 'Its not what you're like, its what you like' - this is going to sound fucked up I know, but I can tell whether or not I'm going to get along with a person solely based on their tastes in music and movies.
But therein lies the rub, what's a chubby snob like myself to do when a woman I'm seeing, one who I feel is otherwise flawless - takes it upon herself to very cavalierly sully the good name of a man who I hold so near and dear to my heart? Let me explain. About a month ago, while ruining my liver amongst a slew of career alcoholics and women who look like they grew up next to nuclear reactors at my local watering hole - a very beautiful woman waked in, sat down, and sparked off a conversation with me on the strength of my ring-tone being Big Daddy Kane's 'Raw'. Immediately I knew she was a Hip Hop fan, 'check'. I asked what her nationality was and she said she was Portuguese, she was what I imagined the woman in Rakim's 'Mahogany' looked like, so 'check' like a motherfucker. Granted, she was younger than I would have liked, but I quickly counted on my fingers like a retard doing long division and figured out that she's been legally drinking for 6 years, not too bad.(Besides, I haven't been lustfully touched since the first episode of 'My Name is Earl' - I had to relax my usually stringent age requirements this time)
"Jobs Bill? Fuck a Jobs Bill, son! G'head and make weed legal so niggas ain't gotta worry about a damn piss test!! Shit, ain't nobody ever blown up no hotel trynna grow weed like them white boys do with that meth shit. But yet muthafuckas stay trynna criminalize and throw niggas in jail, and for what? What muthafucka you know ever stole from they kids or they momma just so they can cop a sack?
But naww, we got niggas running around cracked out looking like a dinosaur extra from Jurassic Park n' shit. And people 'posed to believe that they that way 'cuz they rolled and smoked a splif a time or two. Shit, speaking 'bout rollin'. If weed was as addictive as they say it is, as long as I been smokin', nigga you woulda thought I woulda known how to roll a joint already! Shit, weed been around forever and it ain't break the hood down like crack did. Real talk, how many bitches you know will suck a dick for a dimebag or a cheeseburger?"
I would probably make some more political statements about projected revenue if weed were legal and being a viable way for state and local governments in these recessionary times. Or even the fact that smoking weed is probably the one thing that brings white and black people together in harmony as symbolized in the pic above. But then again, being a weed smoker my memory would shot and would have left all of that important stuff out. But on some real shit? I'm still wating to see the show Intervention on A&E feature a weed head like they do all other "substance" abusers. The day I see a weed head cry on that show like this crackhead in the following clip, is when I'd say that weed is bad, but until then....
Had enough media coverage that highlights the exploits of Republicans, the Tea Party, and the tin foil hat wearing bunch? Yep, just when you've finally conceded that Fox News is indeed the devil in as red dress (pun intended), in steps a new network destined to give more airtime to people the likes of Jon Voight, Michelle Bachman, and now Kelsey Grammer?
I swear I never liked that dude Frasier Crane; but I digress. I'm guessing using him in a promo would appeal to the more intellectual and less redneck side of Conservatism (We'll see how good that works). Hopefully these new guys at RightNetwork are not gonna try and fool us with the "fair and balanced" version of what passes for journalism from Fox News. According to this PDF, RightNetwork is going to be responsible for providing "a perspective we don't generally get from the media." No word yet on footage of protesters spitting on lawmakers and or derogatory words.
Let's be honest, without that, we can all agree that their presentation would be a different perspective. Oh yeah also different is that their channel "focuses on entertainment with Pro-America, Pro-Business, Pro-Military sensibilities." Yep because Fox News is just a bit too Liberal for some, and just not American enough. At any rate, checkout the following promo shot at a recent Tea Party rally in (D) Senator Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nevada. Oh yeah, pay attention to the 35 second mark. They managed to throw a brotha into the mix and captured him doing a jig.... literally! Yep, not too different from Fox as far as Negroes are concerned...
People laughed at Rev. Al Sharpton when he announced his bid to become president several years ago. But today is a new day, and it's safe to say that Sharpton is the one laughing. No he didn't become president of the United States. But today one has to be blind not to see just how he has positioned himself at the feet of Barack Obama as one piece puts it: Sharpton is Obama's link to the streets. Yes, Barack Obama, just like every successful hip hop label before him has put together a street team via Al Sharpton and his National Action Network. A street team, son; a damn street team with Al Sharpton as the man!
Kim Kardashian isn't just posing without clothes in the new issue of Harper's Bazaar, on stands April 27. She's posing without the safety net of Photoshop.
She and Joy Bryant both stripped down for an all-natural photo shoot by Amanda de Cadenet with the promise of no retouching. Yikes!
The E! star, for one, welcomed the experience.
"I think the message is embrace your curves and who you are," she tells the magazine. "I feel proud if young girls look up to me and say, 'I'm curvy and I'm proud of it now.' "
But she also insists that her infamous booty is literally no big thing.
[source: Eonline]
What more y'all fvckers want me to say? Shyt! She nude, laying on the fvcking floor! No clothes. She's legal and of age... Don't judge me.
So what if she's been bukkid azz nakkid before in Playboy! Everybody knows Playboy airbrushes the hell out of their photos, so that really wasn't her. And yeah, there was that video she did with ol'dude few years ago... That was so fvcking yesterday.
The lil lady ain't got to worry about Folk jumping off the ship for ol' Kim but Kim got nice legs / thighs / butt and a cute face. Two of the most important features for Folk. Plus she got a nice skin tone. The lil lady knows that Kim wouldn't last longer than a few minutes up in Folk's house before Folk like "WTF! Get out." Folk need a woman that got some substanance between those ears as well as those legs. Stimulate my fvcking mind, sooth my stomach with culinary skillz, and scare the hell out of me in the bed!
But ain't a thang wrong with window shopping. Is there? How y'all feel about Kim? Anyone got a problem with 2nds? What stimulates y'all? Does the mind matter? Or is it just all about the physical for ya? Or do you just not give a d@mned?
"Our new government's foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition." -- Alexander Stephens, Vice President, The Confederate States of America
During the height of the Japanese occupation of the Pacific during WW II, there were tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers scattered over literally thousands of tiny islands. Eventually, the war would end. But since these survivors had no way of knowing, they continued living as if the war was still being fought, maintaining military protocol, totally isolated, yearning for the day when they would be reunited with their command.
This situation reminds me of the neo-Confederates of today, clamoring for a celebration of the Confederacy and evoking its symbolism. Well, not really. After all, the poor lost Japanese soldiers had a legitimate excuse for their ignorance: forces beyond their control isolated them from civilization. It seems that our neo-confederate bigots have managed to isolate themselves...
Think celebrating the Confederacy is just about Southern pride? Think again.
Just when you thought T-Pain couldn't reach new heights of niggerdom from the days of his "big ass chain", and that crappy mosquito in your ear sounding music. In steps Sean Hannity into his life to motivate his most coontastic behavior to date:
Look, I wasn't gonna even blog this shit all due to the fact that both of these guys make my ass itch. But then my man Jay Smooth, of Ill Doctrine fame, dropped his two cents and said what I wanted to say a lot nicer than I would. You can check out what Jay has to say in the following video.
I have only one thing to add, and here it is: Is it me, or does the unusual pairing of T-Pain and Sean Hannity in that video look like one of those ventriloquist dummy acts? No seriously, didn't it look like Hannity had his hands up T-Pains ass the whole time? I dunno, but maybe that's how all that auto-tune crap got started? Sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect to the late Roger Troutman or any of his fans, but it's just a thought...
Detective Lester Freamon of the hit series The Wire prophetically once said: "You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don't know where the fuck it's gonna take you." No truer words have ever been said especially when it comes to power and politics. case in point, the not so grassroots political activists who've dubbed themselves as The Tea Party Express. Or as I'd now like to call them, the white new millennium Freedom Riders with Jon Voight as the driver.
Journalist Kenneth P. Vogel, lays out an excellent piece over at POLITICO that exposes the Tea Party Express for the money grubbing Republican "activists" that they are. The piece is titled: GOP operatives crash the tea party; and it's a piece well worth the read. However, I suspect that it's being touted as more of the same "liberal media bias" by our concerned citizens within the Tea Party Movement. Especially by those in the movement who are blind to the symbiotic relationship between the Tea Party and the GOP, or at least pretend to be.
So, like the grumpy old troll, Jon Voight crawled out from under a bridge or California freeway, got on Mike Huckabee's show on Fox and had the following message to deliver to the people of America idiots who watch that channel:
I'll be honest, if it wasn't for one of my readers tipping me off, I would have never known about this. Matter of fact, if it wasn't for that very reader hitting me up on Twitter. I would never had known that this turd was still alive. Shit, I ain't seen this dude in a movie since Deliverance. Which is ironic because the only people feeling his message are the toothless banjo picking knuckle draggers posing as intellectuals in the Tea Party Movement. You know, the same people motivated and moved to water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots, since the light skinned brother and his family moved into the White House?
You know, the same people who are of the opinion that Obama has made America less safe by signing the new treaty on nuclear weapons? Yeah, it's as though Obama signed a deal to have everybody around the world dump their plutonium here, so we could drop it off to the Bloods & Crips in Compton. Or that now the nuclear stock pile will be reduced, the Republic of Tonga will finally be able wipe the United States off the map with its new advantage. I mean Obama has been bowing down to kings and shit, so you know this had to happen.
The nerve of this asshat to suggest that people are ignorant to Obama's agenda. Seems to me that the only people ignorant are the very people he represents. The same fools talking about runaway spending and linking it to Obama. When they've been sitting with their thumbs up their asses while George Bush's tax cuts have benefited the wealthy at the expense of the working poor. Don't believe me? Well, check out this recent report from the organization Wealth for the Common Good, titled: Shifting Responsibility: How 50 Years of Tax Cuts Have Benefited America's Wealthiest Taxpayers. Here's a little pertinent information from their site, per the results of the study:
Between 1960 to 2004, the top 0.1 percent of U.S. taxpayers — the wealthiest one in one thousand — have seen the share of their income paid in total federal taxes drop from 60 to 33.6 percent.
America’s highest income-earners — the top 400 — have seen the share of their income they pay in federal income tax alone plummet from 51.2 percent in 1955 to 16.6 percent in 2007, the most recent year with top 400 statistics available.
If the top 400 of 2007 paid as much of their incomes in personal income tax as the top 400 of 1955, the federal treasury would have collected $47.7 billion more in revenue from just these 400 taxpayers.
In 2007, if the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers — Americans with incomes that averaged $7,126,395 — had paid total federal taxes at the same rate as the top 0.1 percent paid these taxes in 1960, the federal treasury would have collected an additional $281.2 billion in revenue.
Tax cuts for the wealthy between 2001-2008 cost the U.S. Treasury $700 billion, with all of these billions added directly to the national debt. Retaining these tax cuts will cost $826 billion over the next decade.
So who is Jon Voight talking to, and who is he really representing? Surely not the ignorant progressives as myself, right? Oh no, he's appealing to the lemmings on the right who find solace in the words of some actor from Hollywood's Cro-Magnon era who's starving for work, and attention. Yes Jon, America is just that stupid to fall for the lie that is Obama. Lucky for you, they're just as ignorant so as not to see an angry old man projecting his inner frustrations and failings as a father. No wonder his daughter Angelina Jolie doesn't carry his last name nor wants to be bothered by his old decrepit, and cantankerous ass. Surely he's opposed to the Obama administration or more specifically Health Care Reform. Hell, he's already a corpse.
Look, I make no apologies for my twisted sense of humor. Yes I know domestic violence is no joke, but the following story brought tears to my eyes as I chortled like a warlock in laughter. Oh spare me the dramatics and faux outrage, OK? I don't care who you are, or what you think, because this shit is hilarious:
Last week the good news was the pickup of the most jobs in one month in three years - 162,000 to be exact. Today the new hype is that the Dow Jones is slightly above 11,000 for the first time in a year and a half. Both are indicators of the economy slowly creeping back in the right direction - hooray for free market advocates! However, the reality, as all economists will tell you, is that unemployment will continue to lag behind (if not slightly increase) for a long time to come. I'm not trying to be a party pooper; but instead, I'm just keepin it real witch'yall so as to not forget the masses of people living this current American nightmare on Main Street.
And since I'm traveling down the road of stir fried shit where many Americans currently reside - unlike the suits on Wall Street. Lemme show you much more the government themselves can have a significant impact in job creation. Let some people tell it, there's no way the government can create jobs. But, if you take a few minutes to watch the following short documentary created by an independent media source, you'll see differently. In it, you'll be surprised to see just how Mississippi Governor, Haley Barbour - one of many republican governors who condemned last years Stimulus Package - is using said federal funds to create jobs. Which isn't too bad for a fat redneck with an accent I might add; especially when he's considered a republican presidential hopeful in 2012; keep his hypocrisy in mind when he makes his run, and remember where you heard it first. Especially if you remember his speech this weekend at the recent SRLC (Southern Republican Leadership Conference) Klan Rally in New Orleans.
Spanking kids at about three years old will make them aggressive. Well, no shit Sherlock! That's why you don't spank them that early. They are too young to understand.
I spank my kids and I will spank my grandkids, and I don't care who disagrees with me.
Each child is different, and the idea that only spanked kids become violent is bullshit. Children who are not disciplined or disciplined inefficiently grow up to be drains on society.
In Kindergarten, my son was keen on pushing his boundaries, and even hit a teacher. I knew what would happen if we didn't act. Talking to him wasn't working. But guess what did? Spanking. It wasn't immediate, but it was swift. This year, my son is a star pupil and his principal is most pleased with his 180 degree turn for the better.
I don't even remember my spankings, save the few that are actually hilarious to me looking back.
Also, I personally don't agree with listening to a privileged class telling me how to parent when my kids are at greater risk for falling prey to fuckery (in the statistical sense) than their children. Culturally, I grew up in a country, and in a family, where spanking was the norm because they had to ensure the kids didn't fall to predators. I couldn't do half the shit my friends were doing for fear of what would happen to me. So I stayed straight and narrow, even into my adulthood.
What are your thoughts? Is spanking really all that bad?
“He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” -- Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
