The Dangers of Smoking ... and Breathing

No lie! A couple decades ago I worked for a temp agency and had a brief assignment at a Cole-Taylor (I think) office. One of the execs was an old, old fart who was on oxygen. Well, he had a habit of sucking up oxygen one minute then puffing on a cigarette the next. It was an office joke that one day we'd all be blown to smithereens like this woman!

A 76-year-old woman died Tuesday after catching fire while smoking and using an oxygen tank. Neighbors said Barbara Brouillette was on fire when she ran into her back yard. Fire officials said she caught on fire because she was smoking a cigarette while breathing oxygen from a portable tank.


“Anybody on oxygen is not supposed to smoke,” said John Raymond of the fire marshal’s office. Neighbor Christine Silfvenius said Brouillette, a widow, suffered from heart problems and recently was diagnosed with lung cancer.


“She said, ‘I smoked all my life,”’ Silfvenius said. “She said, ’I had no regrets. I’ve done everything I wanted to do.”

Luckily, I wasn't there long enough to find out. I think I only lasted a week or two. Seems one of the older, white female clerks there had a husband who had apparently had some negative contact with a black man (I don't know if he was killed, injured or just really scared by one). But, I heard a lot of whispers and not long after hearing "I just can't stand to look at any of them ," I got a really cheerful call from the temp agency with a "great new assignment" that I would really love and that they really wanted to send me on because I was "one of their best ." The upside was that the next assigment really was better and I didn't have to worry about that old coot blowing up the building. The downside was that the office had a personal chef who would come in and make us really cool lunches everyday. Oh well! Memories!

Pookie, Ray Ray and Tre'quan: Big Time Terrorists

Okay! I'm finally going to say something without laughing too hard. I will say I have some ineresting reactions to black folks being caught up in high profile "crimes". When the D.C. Snipers were on the loose and taunting the police who were looking for a white male, one small detail in their list of demands put a stop in my heart and the idea in my head that they were black (won't say what it is because that makes me laugh too). Turns out I was right!  That is why I think I can say that these ... I can't even say amateurs ... are no real threat and if this is all Bush and Gonzales can come up with in their dragnet, we are in saaaad shape. This is like fishing in the ocean for sharks and coming up with lake perch. They need to throw these little fishees back.

While the seven “brothers” arrested last week for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami had the will to kill, they had little means to carry it out, government officials said.

“This group was more aspirational than operational,” said FBI Director John Pistole, speaking in a news conference Thursday, a day after federal agents swarmed a warehouse in the poor, mostly Black section of Miami known as Liberty City and cut down a large metal door with the blowtorch. The group allegedly used the warehouse as headquarters.

The seven men charged in the plot — ages 22 to 32 — thought they had hooked up with al-Qaeda but were actually conspiring with an FBI informant, according to the Feds. Five are U.S. citizens, one is a legal immigrant from Haiti and the other is a Haitian national who was in this country illegally.

A four-count indictment handed up Thursday named Narseal Batiste as the ringleader, saying he had recruited and trained the alleged co-conspirators beginning in November 2005 to “wage war against the United States government” and to level the buildings.

According to the indictment, Batiste met several times in December 2005 with the informant, who claimed to be an al-Qaeda member, and asked for combat boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and $50,000 to help carry out their deeds. He even boasted that his terrorist acts would “be just as good or greater than 9/11,” the indictment says.

Uniforms, boots, machine guns, (well okay the machine guns are kinda scary) and radios? Doesn't it seem like they were more focused on the outfits?

I know that any black male's face may scare some or many white Americans but let's get real here! I don't think those dudes could bust a grape let alone blow up the Sears Tower. Save the Hatian dudes (both the legal and illegal one) have any of them even been outside of Miami or Florida?  Come on now! I cannot stop laughing! They aren't even 1/10th as scary looking as Willie Horton ... Maybe if we got them all to yell "BOO!" at the same time, I'd get serious ...

Just more colored folks to add to the penal system ... Maybe that's the real goal anyhow.

Thank Ya!

So glad this stupid thing failed!

A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger Tuesday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification a week before Independence Day.


The 66-34 tally in favor of the amendment was one less than the two-thirds required. The House surpassed that threshold last year, 286-130.


The proposed amendment, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, read: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."


It represented Congress' response to Supreme Court rulings in 1989 and 1990 that burning and other desecrations of the flag are protected as free speech by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

(... muttering under my breath like Astro Jetson).


p.s. To, my lovely Senator Dianne Feinstein, we still remain in disagreement. I'm just glad you lost this one!

Beyond Stupid!

I absoultely do not believe this! I mean, who on earth doesn't know that many Middle Eastern countries impose the death penalty for drugs? At the very least you won't see the light of day ever again. So, hopefully this is a misunderstanding. Dallas Austin has worked with some of the best. I'd hate to see him go out like this.

Legendary R&B producer Dallas Austin is in a Dubai prison, where he stands accused of transporting drugs into the Arab country en route to Naomi Campbell's birthday party last month.

Austin has worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Brandy, TLC, Aretha Franklin, the Indigo Girls and Boyz II Men. Dubai, which is a member state of the United Arab Emirates, has strict drug policies and a reputation for a stern justice system. In extreme cases, the death sentence for convicted drug traffickers is imposed, while possession of small quantities of various drugs can result in lengthy jail sentences.

Honestly, when I first emailed this story to some of my lists, I got replies back that he was a known weed head. But still, he had to know the rules and I just cannot see what kind of weed head you'd have to be to risk life imprisonment for a high. You cannot tell me one of Naomi's fiance's friends couldn't have found him some camel dung to smoke or something!

Update: He admits to it and will have to stand trial. Oh well! I hope they are corrupt as the system here that keeps getting Rush Limbaugh off. Maybe some of Michael Jackson's rich friends over there can get him a good deal - provided he never returns to that country again.

Star Dims

Well, looks like the rumors were true. Star announced she will be leaving The View. I must admit, Star worked my nerves down to the bone and I think her "bridezilla" act took it over the top. We'll never know the real deal but she will be making her exit from The View.

t's official, folks. Star Jones is leaving ABC's "The View." Her last day is still being determined, but sources say by next Friday, July 6 or July 13, the ladies will be kissing and hugging her and wheeling out a fat-free cake.

She does not — repeat — does not have any other gig lined up, contrary to other reports this morning. "Her contract is up and she's gone," says a source. "They are working out right now how they will explain it to the public."

I am told that producers for the show had planned to axe Star last fall after the hoopla around her endorsement-plagued wedding. But chief anchor and co-owner Barbara Walters relented. "She felt sorry for her," says an insider.

In the end, though, Walters knew that when Rosie O'Donnell agreed to join the show, Jones was finished.

As for replacements: even though Gayle King wants the job (and would be good, I think) several guest journalists will fill in the extra chair for the last two weeks of July.

The show goes "dark" until Labor Day with reruns, and there may be no permanent replacement named while O'Donnell settles in.

"They're looking for someone younger than Gayle or even Deborah Roberts," says a source. But the goal will be to find a hot, young African-American journalist whose background is clean as a whistle. Talent agents, start your engines!

I won't wish her bad things. That is not what I want. I just hope she tones it down some. Maybe she can swing a deal with Court TV or CNN Headline News ... or maybe she can just go back into plain old lawyering.

We Will Remain In Disagreement

I found this old email reply from Dianne Feinstein after I wrote her to express my displeasure with her decision to support the flag desecration amendment. I think it is a ridiculous waste of time when so many other things are pressing. It puts us in the ranks of our so-called enemies, Iran and Cuba, who also ban free speech. This is what she said:

Thank you for writing to express your opposition to a constitutional amendment prohibiting the physical desecration of the American flag. I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

Unfortunately, we will have to disagree about this issue. I strongly believe that the American flag holds a unique position in our society as the most important and universally recognized symbol that unites us as a nation. The flag -- as a symbol of our nationhood -- can and should be respected and protected from attack. Beyond my personal convictions, many Californians have told me of their desire for such protection for our flag. Indeed, California had a flag protection statute from 1929 until 1989, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the flag protection statutes of 47 states and the Federal government.

The authority for a nation to protect its central symbol of unity was considered constitutional for two centuries. It was only a decade ago that a narrow majority of the U.S. Supreme Court said otherwise. At this point, it seems clear that the only way to protect the American flag is to amend the Constitution to authorize Congress to prohibit the physical
desecration of the flag. In the 108th Congress I was an original cosponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 4 (S. J. Res. 4) which would have done just that. I will continue to pursue the topic in the 109th Congress.

Please know that I value your opinion, but on this issue I am afraid we will remain in disagreement. However, I greatly appreciate your input and hope that you will continue to share your views with me. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call my Washington, DC staff at (202) 224-3841.

Sincerely yours,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

I Vote For Delusional

It's not like this is news but it seems if you say "boo!" to a guy, he thinks you want him.

Call it ego, machismo or downright delusional behavior, but men are more likely than women to ''oversexualize'' conversations and incorrectly assume sexual interest, a study says.

Researchers from the University of Connecticut and Elon University found that after a first meeting, men were more likely than women to infer a sexual chemistry, regardless of whether it was there.

''Men were more likely to perceive their partner as sexy and flirtatious, but that didn't at all correspond with how she saw him or she saw herself,'' said Maurice Levesque, co-author of the study.

''Behavior that looks like she is engaged in the conversation may actually be taken as signs of sexual interest, as opposed to what she intends, which is friendliness,'' he said.

In the study, in the latest issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly, college men were paired with college women for a conversation that they were told was for a study about ''conversational smoothness.''

Each pair was encouraged to have a five-minute conversation about positive and negative aspects of college life. Follow-up interviews with participants came next.

''Initially, we thought to determine whether we could identify what types of men were prone to do this,'' Levesque said. While they found that particularly ''masculine'' men were no more likely to oversexualize their conversations, there was a hint that men who self-assessed themselves as more ''sensitive'' were less likely to do so, he said.

He offered some advice to both sexes based on the findings.

''For men, there is a step back here somewhere, where you have to think about what cues you are actually getting,'' he said.

''For women, be aware this may well be a judgment he is making almost regardless of what you're doing.''

This Is What Happens When You Don't Really Believe That All Men Are Created Equal

That's right! Just round them Mexicans up and put them in slave camps!

A Republican gubernatorial candidate's call for creation of a forced labor camp for illegal immigrants drew rebukes Friday from two GOP lawmakers, who labeled it a low point in the immigration debate.

Don Goldwater, nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, caused an international stir this week when EFE, a national news agency of Spain, quoted him as saying he wanted to hold undocumented immigrants in camps to use them "as labor in the construction of a wall and to clean the areas of the Arizona desert that they're polluting."  The article described Goldwater's plan as a "concentration camp" for migrants.

Goldwater, a candidate for governor in Arizona, said in a statement Friday that his comments were taken out of context. He said he was calling for a work program for convicted nonviolent felons, similar to "tried and tested, effective and accepted practices" used by state and local jails.

But two Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jim Kolbe, called Goldwater's comments "deeply offensive" and asked state Republicans to reject his candidacy in the Sept. 12 primary.

"That Mr. Goldwater is either unaware of or indifferent to the loaded symbolism, injustice and un-Americanism of his 'plan' to address the many serious issues caused by illegal immigration reveals his flaws as a candidate and a stunning lack of respect for the basic values of a generous and decent society," McCain said in a statement.

Unaware or indifferent? Yeah, that's a definite understatement and I think it just shows the level of insensitivity that is so prevalent in our nation. I'd like to ask where these people come from but our country wouldn't even exist if it hadn't been for people just like this.

While We Were Sleeping ... In Iraq

Another Islamic extremist has been elected in a Muslim nation. Lets see, that makes Iran, the occupied territories and now Somalia. Our sponsored war lords lost the battle and now we have what could very well turn into a Taliban style government. True to form, we claim we will not support or talk to them ... until it blows up in our face.

The US has said it will not deal with a new Somali leader whose Islamist militia holds much of southern Somalia.

The US has accused Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who has been named as the head of a new legislative council, of ties to al-Qaeda - a charge he denies.

Mr Aweys has called for Islamic law to be imposed but a BBC correspondent says his colleagues have offered assurances they do not want a Taleban-style state.

The US has said it is willing to work with other leaders allied to Mr Aweys.

A state department spokesman said the US would wait and see how far the collective leadership of the Somali Supreme Islamic Courts Council, to which Mr Aweys belongs, was willing to work with the international community.

Mr Aweys' Islamist group is to hold talks with the weak interim government next month.

Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf strongly opposes political Islam.

The two groups last week agreed not to fight each other, amid fears of renewed conflict in Somalia, which has not had an effective national government for 15 years.

Stonings

Mr Aweys has said that the new Somali government should impose sharia law.

"Somalia is a Muslim nation and its people are also Muslim, 100% - therefore any government we agree on would be based on the holy Quran and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad," Mr Aweys told the AP news agency.

If strictly following my religion and love for Islam makes me a terrorist, then I will accept the designation Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys

He was speaking to the media for the first time since being named as head of the legislative council of the Somali Supreme Islamic Courts Council - the new name for the Union of Islamic Courts.

In the town of Jowhar, controlled by the Islamists, five people have gone on trial accused of serious offences such as rape and murder, for which they could be stoned to death if found guilty.

Stonings and amputations for thieves are not uncommon in areas run by the Islamic courts.

This is what happens when you elect a president because he seems like your average stupid guy. Except he really is stupid!

Okay Bye!

The GOP can call it cut and run if they want but Iraq wants us out and they want a timetable - as the Democrats have suggested. Sounds like a plan to me!

If this Newsweek story
is correct, the war is over. Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki will present a
reconciliation plan tomorrow that essentially uses anti-occupation
sentiment to unite the country, which means offering the Sunni
insurgents amnesty for anti-U.S. attacks and demands a timetable for
U.S. withdrawal. President Bush will be put in the position of either
endorsing precisely what he has for over a year defined as defeat
or defying what he insists is a sovereign government on the most
important aspect of sovereignty there is. It's hard to see how Bush can
reject Maliki's proposal, but it's worth stating that he should accept
it wholeheartedly and begin negotiations for a decent interval to get
out of Iraq. He'll be able to say, first, that he ended the war, and
second, that he ended it in accord with his objective of allowing a
democratically-elected government to decide its future for itself. It
may not keep Iraq together, and it may not get rid of jihadist
terrorism emanating from Iraq, but it's as close as we'll get to
victory, and allows us withdrawal with honor. Let's take it.

I Forgot About The Mod Squad and The Rookies

Not the biggest fan of his daughter Tori but Aaron Spelling made the television that consumed my childhood and a good portion of my adulthood. You always want to feel bad when someone dies but sometimes, when you look at the legacy they've left behind, all you can do is marvel at what will be with us in perpetuity.

Aaron Spelling, who produced such television programs as ``Charlie's Angels,'' ``Dynasty'' and ``Beverly Hills, 90210'' featuring beautiful people in glittering settings, has died, according to the Associated Press. He was 83.

Spelling's career followed the arc of television, starting with the early TV Westerns. More than 50 years later, his name was linked to almost 200 television titles representing more than 4,200 hours of programming, earning him recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records as the ``most prolific'' TV producer.

Spelling's programs made last-place ABC a network contender beginning with ``The Mod Squad'' in 1968, and he became the network's largest program supplier under an exclusive pact. In the next decade, he delivered ``The Rookies,'' ``Starsky and Hutch,'' ``The Love Boat'' and ``Hart to Hart'' in addition to ``Charlie's Angels'' and ``Fantasy Island,'' prompting wags to say that ABC stood for ``Aaron's Broadcasting Company.''

The ABC pact lasted 18 years, until new owners ended the relationship. Spelling then helped do the same for two newer networks. He delivered hit series for Fox Broadcasting in ``90210'' and ``Melrose Place'' in the 1990s, and he provided popular programming for the WB Network well into the next decade with ``7th Heaven'' and ``Charmed.''

Spelling took his company public in 1986, then saw it folded into Viacom Inc. a decade later.

His wife, Candy, and his acting children, Tori and Randy, were tabloid favorites, along with his 56,500-square-foot mansion, which earned a second Guinness Book entry for the largest Hollywood home. Spelling said he and his wife built their dream house because they were both claustrophobic and seldom traveled because he refused to fly.

Every show mentioned above has been a favorite of mine at one time (oooooh, forgot about Hart to Hart too ... is that on DVD?).

God's Humble Bullies

I've had this sitting in the queue for a couple of days but a post over at ShakesSis reminded me to come back to it.

God tries to punish me almost every morning my waking me up early and just in time to see the Washington Journal call in show in C-Span (4am PST). There are generally some good topics and guests on but you also have to endure innumerable nutjobs and crackpots too. This morning a nutjob (but semi-well meaning) called in to complain about the "Christians" who have hijacked the GOP and American theology. He called them ChrJews and went on and on about how they go back to the Old Testament (the Jews' book) to justify all of the negative things that they do (he was a little too intense about the Jews so I wasn't totally feeling him). He spoke of how they weren't paying enough attention to the New Testament (the book of Christ) which is what Christians should really be following.

In anycase, that is basically what this Pastor is saying in Don't Bow To God's Bullies.

Neither Calvin nor Luther spoke English, but they helped the Popes lay the groundwork for the view of God as a cosmic dictator. From Popes, Luther and Calvin we have some of the ugliest slurs ever recorded against women, intellectuals and those who refused the church's message. How did Christians hold slaves, oppress women and slaughter nonbelievers? Perhaps they could not see Christ in non-male, non-European, and non-Christian people because they were limited by their theology. Their "Christ" was merely a glorification of the most powerful member of their own culture.

To picture God in terms of power is also one of the great bait-and-switch gimmicks of all time. People within the power hierarchy proclaim that God is the ultimate authority, and then appoint themselves as God's interpreters and enforcers. They are God's humble bullies. It has been one of the most successful con games of all time.

The real Jesus was born illegitimately. He called himself "the human one." Just like Buddha, his authority came from truth, not power. He taught whoever has love has God. He said those who work for the common good are his church.

The real Jesus was an anarchist. He spent his life refusing to claim power over anyone. He said that God is understood in terms of love not power. We add nothing to the majesty of "the human one" by adding a throne or a crown. If he did not want to rule over others in life, why should he want it in death? That is why Jesus is called "lamb of God"; he spoke not as the king of the universe, but from its heart ...

As I've been saying since this attempted hostile takeover of Christianity went into full drive, I don't know the Jesus these people know and don't want to. I try (though not very hard) to avoid religious conversations with even some of my friends because they are half straddled in the fundamentalism of that which is most black churches.

Being raised and educated Catholic, I always had a very intellectual view of religion, the bible and faith as opposed to the "you better believe or you are going to hell" view. I may visit a church with friends once or twice a year but I end up being rather amused - more than moved - by the presentation of "the word." I don't want to spend the whole service flipping back and forth through my bible as the pastor weaves his message by putting random and unrelated scriptures together (as the faithful congregants mark up their bibles with yellow highlighters to note every verse that was referenced). I hate witnessing those conversations that end up being "let's see who can quote the most scriptures" contests as people try to show just how good of a preacher and teacher their pastor is.

I realize everyone wants to live right. But some need a verse for everything they do or think of doing. But, I think I also realized I had my fill of these folks when someone asked "what does the bible say about eating catfish?" on one of my yahoogroups. I'm sorry! My psyche hit the roof. There are all kinds of things the bible suggests and prohibits when it comes to food, but I had to let them know that CATFISH wasn't in the bible and I hardly thought that God gave a care (and I know there is probably some who will say that catfish are scavengers and dirty but these days catfish is farm raised and not swimming in a dirty river)!

Somewhere in my lifetime, I was taught that God gave us a brain and that we should use it. I honestly don't believe that 2006 years after his son, we are supposed to carry around the bible trying to find a verse for every step we take. If he gave you good sense and free will, utilize it to make sound choices . There is a New Testament for a reason. If you are a believer, you know that Jesus was sent down for a reason. The Old Testament has many things that directly contradict what Jesus taught. How can these Christians conveniently follow that which contradicts Christ when it suits them? Jesus was nothing that these fanatical bullies are and the faithful don't need to prove their faith by following them.

Technorati Tags: Rev. Jim Rigby, WWJD

What You Won't Do For Love To Get Off

Well, they didn't believe her so for all the kinky folks, be careful.

A wife who shot dead her husband while claiming she was dancing with a shotgun during a sex game has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years' imprisonment.

Linda West, 49, sat shaking in the dock while she was sentenced for the murder of her husband Greg at Winchester Crown Court.

She was found guilty earlier this month following a retrial after the original jury had been unable to reach a verdict.

West had said she was drunkenly dancing to the Shania Twain song, Man! I Feel Like A Woman, when she slammed the double-barrel weapon on to the floor while taking a bow and shot her marine engineer husband Gregory West, 45, in the chest, killing him instantly.

But the prosecution said that the couple, who had been married for only nine weeks had rowed and West had loaded up the faulty shotgun and deliberately murdered her husband at their Southampton flat in May last year.

He Likes Big Butts and He Cannot Lie

This is a cute little story by a man who likes fat chicks!

A colleague and I are driving from Hollywood to Los Angeles. I look out the passenger window and see a beautiful young woman with extra-large thighs sitting on a bus stop bench.


"How'd you like to wake up next to that?" he snickers. Though we'd just met that morning, after two hours in the car together, we've covered every subject from cars to politics to music to money. Not girls, though.


I take a deep breath.


"I gotta tell you something. I love fat women, and I'm married to one. You're entitled to your opinion, but comments like that don't float with me. She looks pretty damn cute, too."


The color drains from his face.


"Are you kidding?"


"Nope. Not kidding."

Have You Ever, Ever, Ever ?

I mean evuh?!

A gunfight broke out this morning in a federal prison here between federal agents and prison guards, as the agents tried to arrest six guards on charges that they traded alcohol and drugs for sex with female prisoners.

When the shooting ended, two people were dead. One was a federal law enforcement agent, whose name has not been released, and the other was Ralph Hill, one of the six men who was to be arrested, the authorities said. Another person whose name has not been released was wounded, and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The five other guards who were to be arrested were identified in court papers as Alfred Barnes, Gregory Dixon, Vincent Johnson, Alan Moore and E. Lavon Spence. They were all taken into custody.

The shooting erupted at 7:42 a.m., according to Michael Folmer, the special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Jacksonville. He said the arrests followed a yearlong investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice and the F.B.I.

The six guards were indicted on Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of bribery, witness tampering, mail fraud and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. Those charges carry maximum sentences of 20 years in prison.

"Actually, what this involved is the defendants using their official positions to obtain money from inmates in exchange for introducing contraband into the prison," he told reporters outside the detention center.

Black folks, you know I've got my eyes closed and my fingers crossed don't you?

Hell No, She Won't Go (Back)

Many, many people do not support the war but go out of their way to say they support our troops. I don't bother with that mantra because I think it makes people sound like they are apologizing for not supporting an illegal war. Unfortunately we also have to admit that some of our troops do not deserve our support - particularly ones who commit crimes of abuse against fellow soldiers.

Since the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, some 508 women serving in the military have complained of sexual assault, says the Miles Foundation, a private advocacy group. "Sexual harassment and sexual assault is an epidemic in the army," said Larry Hildes, Spc Swift's lawyer.

Spc Swift says she reported the harassment to the unit's equal opportunities officer and no action was taken. She later began a sexual relationship with a superior. Spc Swift now says that that relationship, which lasted three months, was coerced, and that she was threatened with being sent on dangerous assignments. "They have absolute power of life and death," she said. "If someone has to run across a minefield, and they don't like you, guess where you are going."

Spc Swift did not report the harassment. The two were assigned to different units when they returned to Fort Lewis in February last year. A week later, she asked another superior where to report for duty. She says he replied: "In my bed, naked." She filed a complaint, and was treated, her mother says, like a "traitor".

So, it is no wonder that she is refusing to go back. Are people supporting her now?

Some of Us Are Brave: A Black Women's Radio Program

Via The World According to Supa Sister, this is great!

Some of Us Are Brave: A Black Women's Radio Program (SOUAB) began on June 10, 2003 at KPFK in Los Angeles, CA. It takes its name from the ground-breaking book, All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave, edited by Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith and published in 1982.
The current cyberspace incarnation of SOUAB is a project of the newly-formed Ida B. Wells Institute based in Atlanta, Georgia. Its purpose is three-fold:

• To provide a space for the voices and perspectives of Black women, since our voices and perspectives are silenced in much of the media;
  
• To raise the level of dialogue and analysis on issues of importance to Black women wherever they may be; and
  
• To provide food for the minds of Black women as opposed to simply playing music for the hearts and souls of Black women

Check out the original SOUAB every Thursday at 2:00 pm (Pacific Standard Time) on KPFK (90.7 FM in Los Angeles, 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara, or http://www.kpfk.org/), and check out Some of Us Are Brave … South at www.live365.com/stations/souab

Witches Camp

My mom saw Water, a movie about widow's homes in India where they basically discard women who've lost their husbands (even young girls who've been arranged to old men and end up widows). Now I run across this story from the Christian Science Monitor where widows and older women are cast off as witches and exiled in witches camps in Ghana.

A year ago, Fatimata Chimsi was living happily with her son, his wife, and the couple's six children in Karaga, a tiny village in northern Ghana. That is, until the longtime widow was accused of being a witch in late 2004. Furious neighbors insisted that Ms. Chimsi had "killed" an elderly man. Afraid that she might be lynched, she fled in the middle of the night, riding on the back of her son's motorbike. Today, Chimsi resides at the Kpatinga "witches" camp.

Mournfully rocking back and forth on a bamboo mat in her clay hut, she cries, "If my family wasn't allowed to visit me, I would die from loneliness."

More than 1,000 women live in exile among six camps in this impoverished region. Isolating widows or older women as witches is a deep-rooted custom in this part of the world. Indeed, accusations of witchcraft may be seen as a way to keep women subservient in African society.

But various organizations are trying to help. Some are using education to fight superstitions, while others are offering loans to these women to help them develop skills and earn income.

Empowering young women by giving them a voice and positions of authority can help, says Allison Berg, who spotlighted the problem in her award-winning 2005 documentary "Witches in Exile" (www.witchesinexile.com).

I feel as though there is so much work to be done in the world for women in places where they aren't deemed as having any value. I suppose it will take a number of generations for some places to get out of the dark ages. That as our own country tries to push women back into them.

Blocked By State Government

Unbelievable!

The Lie and Die Strategy

Given the grisley murder of two of our American soldiers, this is comical but it is also painfully true.

Imus: Doesn't that just give them a heads up...



Kerry: No, what it does is provide the only opportunity for success. Stay the course is not a plan. And what this administration wants is to have a fake debate, as usual. There, there, you hear the drumbeat on every television show from every commentator, cut and run, cut and run, cut and run, cut and run. That's their phrase.


They've found their three words, they love to do that, and they're gonna try to make the elections in November a choice between "cut and run" or "stay the course." That's not the choice. My plan is not "cut and run." Their plan is "lie and die." And that's what they're doing...Our plan is very simple. It's re-deploy to win the war on terror. Change to succeed....

Since the Rove machine is so good at planting simplistic catch phrases into the minds of the mindless sheeple who still support this bumbling President, I think we need to start chanting a few of our own: "Stay the course is not a plan" is one. "Lie and Die" is another! We can dismantle this farce of an administration (and supporting Senate and Congress) if we use the right tools ... and words.

Mules of The World

After that last rapper called Oprah a bitch, I thought I wouldn't post anymore about those deluded artists who think Oprah owes them something. But this essay by Yvonne Bynoe pretty much sums up how I feel about it. These rappers with one hand on their crotch and one hand looking for a welcome to the Oprah show need to be gone!

There is a particular arrogance that permeates Ludacris’, 50's and Ice Cube’s statements, as if Oprah owes them a spot on her show. It is Oprah who has issues if she will not put Black men on her show who have made millions of dollars demeaning Black women. If songs such as Ludacris’ “Move Bitch”, or NWA’s “A Bitch Iz A Bitch” are not Oprah’s cup of tea, then why should she be obligated to give these rapper-actors a platform to promote themselves or their work? This sense of entitlement is the result of years of rap artists going television on program spewing whatever ignorant and/or anti-social messages that they wanted, in the name of art. It does not seem to occur to these Black men (or to their supporters) that Oprah has the right not to use her show, which is seen by 21 million viewers a week, in 105 countries to promote performers whose work she personally feels is misogynistic or offensive. Oprah may not be kicking any Black feminist credentials, but rather than blindly using her influence to “help the brothers,”she is choosing not to support Black entertainers whose work denies the humanity of Black women.

The main focus of this brouhaha is not Hip Hop or rap, but the commercially successful subset of Hip Hop and rap that has transformed the public image of Black women from flygirls to bitches, tricks, ‘hos and chickenheads. This is the same sector of Hip Hop that has mainstreamed stripper culture, reduced the value of women to their body parts (remember Nelly’s music video “Tip Drill”) and mocked the importance of love. Rap music should not be banned or censured, but if living in an open society means that performers are free to express themselves, then that same freedom of expression has to be extended to folks who are not feeling them. Unfortunately among Black Americans there is little substantive debate about how popular culture affects our communities. Any criticism of rap music, however slight or legitimate, is routinely dismissed as “hating.”

In early 2004 Motivational Education Entertainment (MEE), a Philadelphia communication firm released a nationwide study of 2,000 “urban” teens. The authors of the study say that overall the teens in their survey indicated that, “Black females are valued by no one.” The vast majority of youth received many of their perceptions about life from the rap music that they regularly consumed. The study states that the one of most relevant changes in the Hip Hop generation from their Civil Rights and Black Power predecessors is the open disdain for Black women. It makes perfect sense then that Oprah, a Black woman would not want to even indirectly advance messages that negatively impact young Black women.

In his FHM interview, Ice Cube says that he deserves an invite on Oprah’s show because if he was not a “rags-to-riches story to her then who is?” Sure Ice Cube has made millions but his success is founded on rap songs such as NWA’s “One Less Bitch,” and the extremely raunchy, “Giving Up the Nappy Dugout,” a solo release. What Ice Cube fails to understand is that Oprah herself is the prototype for the “rags to riches” stories that she highlights on her shows. Oprah’s life story is a lot worse than that experienced by many rap artists. She grew up dirt poor in rural Mississippi to unwed parents and was sexually abused by a relative at age nine and repeatedly thereafter. She also endured years of bad relationships, weight problems, and a career changing demotion that moved her from her news anchor seat to co-hosting a morning talk show. Oprah credits her fortune to education and faith; her shows reflect her strong belief in self-transformation. For over 20 years Oprah has featured numerous “success” stories on her show—primarily women who become wealthy or influential through perseverance and creativity and people who have overcome adversity, tragedy or horrible abuse to produce richer lives for themselves, their families or their communities. For Oprah success is not predicated on amassing large sums money, it is based on the contribution that a person makes to improving his or her world.

Oprah has her detractors because she has used her show to bring attention to the subjects that she cares about. Implicit in all of the criticism from rap artists, is the idea that because Oprah is Black she is expected to push every Black entertainers’ latest film or album regardless of what she thinks about it or them. The underlining sentiment is that if she is unwilling to set aside her values and opinions, then she can’t be down for Black people. This position assumes that what is good for Black entertainers is good for Black folks and that notion is arguable. There are many media outlets that expose U.S. rap artists to the global marketplace. However, Oprah is virtually alone in her ability, through her selection of guests, to provide the world with a broader view of Black Americans and their achievements. For most of us, particularly Black women, who are frequently equated with the images of half-naked, gyrating females found in the rap music videos, a countervailing portrayal is welcomed. It is often said that those who control their image control their world and Harpo Studios is Oprah’s world. If the brothers feel that they need more media visibility, rather than jocking Oprah, they should use their millions to finance and produce their own television talk shows, then they can have invite on whomever they wish. I am sure however that everyone would not make the cut with them either.

That's right! Get your own shyt! Get your own show!

Not Afraid of Getting Her Nose and Ears Cut Off

Via Feministe, here is another example of what a wonderful job we are doing in Afghanistan. They don't have as many guns as we do but they can do what they do best ... threaten and attack women and children.

Summer vacation has only begun, but as far as 12-year-old Nooria is concerned, the best thing is knowing she has a school to go back to in the fall. She couldn't be sure the place would stay open four months ago, after the Taliban tried to burn it down. Late one February night, more than a dozen masked gunmen burst into the 10-room girls' school in Nooria's village, Mandrawar, about 100 miles east of Kabul. They tied up and beat the night watchman, soaked the principal's office and the library with gasoline, set it on fire and escaped into the darkness. The townspeople, who doused the blaze before it could spread, later found written messages from the gunmen promising to cut off the nose and ears of any teacher or student who dared to return.

The threats didn't work. Within days, most of the school's 650 pupils were back to their studies. Classes were held under a grove of trees in the courtyard for several weeks, despite the winter chill, until repairs inside the one-story structure were complete. Nearby schools replaced at least some of the library's books. But the hate mail kept coming, with threats to shave the teachers' heads as well as mutilate their faces. Earlier this month, NEWSWEEK visited and talked to students and faculty on the last day of classes. Nooria, who dreams of becoming a teacher herself, expressed her determination to finish school. "I'm not afraid of getting my nose and ears cut off," she said, all dressed up in a long purple dress and headscarf. "I want to keep studying."

Schoolgirls need that kind of courage in Afghanistan. Unable to win on the battlefield, the Taliban are trying to discredit the Kabul government by blocking its efforts to raise Afghanistan out of its long dark age. They particularly want to undo one of the biggest changes of the past four years: the resumption of education for girls, which the Taliban outlawed soon after taking power in 1996. "The extremists want to show the people that the government and the international community cannot keep their promises," says Ahmad Nader Nadery of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). Today the Ministry of Education says the country has 1,350 girls' schools, along with 2,900 other institutions that hold split sessions, with girls-only classes in the afternoon. (Coeducation is still forbidden.) More than a third of Afghanistan's 5 million schoolchildren are now girls, compared with practically none in early 1992. In the last six months, however, Taliban attacks and threats of attacks have disrupted or shut down more than 300 of those schools.

Most of the closures have been in the far south, where the Taliban are strongest, but schools are also getting hit in areas that used to be relatively safe, like the fertile river valleys of Laghman province. The rock-walled compound where Nooria attends classes is one of six schools for girls in the province that have been torched so far this year. The damage at two of them was so bad that they remain closed. In nearby Logar province, arsonists have struck 10 sister schools—all within 50 miles of Kabul. "People are extremely frightened," says Palwasha Shaheed Kakar, the AIHRC representative in neighboring Nangarhar province, where at least eight other schools have burned. "These extremists need to attack only one or two schools to send a strong message."

We didn't get rid of the Taliban. They are back and gaining strength.

Staying The Tortured Course

I saw Kristian Menchaca's brother on CNN last night. This was before the bodies were found. He couldn't even lift his head and said he'd tried to prepare himself for his brother being killed ... but not kidnapped. I guess he knew that kidnapping would mean this:

The bodies of two US soldiers who went missing south of Baghdad were found, as the military said it killed 15 insurgents but Iraqi police and a rights activist claimed they were ordinary poultry farm workers.

The bodies of the two soldiers, Kristian Menchaca, 23, and Thomas L. Tucker, 25, were found in a brutally 'tortured' condition, General Abdul Aziz Mohammed of the Iraqi defense ministry said.

'The two US soldiers were found in the Yusifiyah area near the power station and unfortunately their bodies show that they had been tortured and then killed viciously,' the general told a news conference.

The soldiers went missing Friday night after they came under attack at a traffic control point near Yusifiyah, along the Euphrates river. One soldier was also killed in the attack.

The Mujahedeen Shura (consultative) Council, a coalition of insurgent groups led by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, claimed Monday it had abducted the two soldiers.

The US military had launched a massive hunt for Menchaca and Tucker with nearly 8,000 troops searching for them by land, water and air. Seven US troops were wounded in action during the search operations."

Is this what we need to expect as we "stay the course?"

Update: This just makes me nauseous!

Call Me A Prude

But I just find this totally unacceptable!

Update: And the dress ain't cute either!

No Snitching Bitches!

This is a thought provoking (and sad) article on violence in hip hop and women who refuse to speak out about it. I don't /cannot buy into that whole "no snitching" mindset but apparently the unwillingness to report domestic violence is part of it.

Big Pun--born Christopher Rios on Nov. 10, 1971 in the Bronx, N.Y.--was a 697-pound platinum-selling solo rap artist who died in 2000 at the age of 28 from a heart attack.

After his death, his widow, Liza Rios, chronicled their stormy relationship and the physical abuse that began when she was 16 years old in the 2002 documentary, "Big Pun: Still Not a Player," which she co-produced and which included footage of Pun pistol-whipping her.

The documentary did not earn Rios many friends in the hip hop community. When she tried to recruit hip hop stars to perform in a fundraising tour to benefit programs to fight domestic violence, her calls went unanswered, according to various reports in hip hop publications.

The documentary did, however, turn journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry into a Rios fan.

"I think Liza is a hero," says Berry. "She could have been a tragic first lady of hip hop but she decided not to be . . . She could have been sort of 'a first widow,' a woman who gets sympathy galore because of her fallen (husband) and who doesn't rock the boat."

Instead, Berry found that Rios, unlike many hip hop women, was willing to break an unwritten rule about "not snitching" on the domestic violence in the personal lives of rap stars.

After some initial difficulty reaching Rios, Berry interviewed her for an article about domestic violence in the March 2005 issue of VIBE, the New York-based hip hop magazine ...

read the rest ...