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 ...

This Is Stupid!

First off, I'm pissed because Dianne Feinstein is supporting this mess (and I wrote her to tell her so several months ago and got a stupid canned response back). But, is this really, really all we have to worry about? Will you note the only other countries who have such laws?

The U.S. Senate is one vote away from passing a constitutional amendment that would criminalize desecration of the U.S. flag.

If successful, it will mark the first time in 214 years that the Bill of Rights has been restricted by a constitutional amendment, and will place the United States among a select group of nations that have banned flag desecration, including Cuba, China, Iran, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Three reasons to oppose the flag amendment:

– Flag burning is a non-problem: As Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) has said, “I don’t want to amend the Constitution to solve a non-problem. People are not burning the flag.” One study found just 45 reported incidents in the over 200 years between 1777 and 1989, when the Flag Protection Act was first passed.

– Flag burning is protected speech: The Supreme Court has twice ruled that destruction of the flag for political purposes, although highly offensive to most Americans, is undeniably a political statement and a political expression.

– Amendment is vaguely worded: The amendment is “phrased in such broad and vague language” that it could could include censorship of images of the flag in works of art, advertising, or commerce. Last week, the Senate spent time debating whether “wearing a very skimpy bathing suit” decorated with the flag’s stars and stripes would constitute desecration.

Now, aided by a handful of Democrats, the amendment has gathered 66 votes in favor, just one shy of passage. “Whether advocates can find the 67th vote to send the flag amendment to the states for ratification remains unclear.”

New Novel: To Love Mercy

Since I was born and raised in Chicago, this should be an interesting read.

To Love Mercy is a new book by former Chicago newsman Frank Joseph that explores the city's South Side during the middle passage between the end of World War II and the lynching of Emmett Till.

To Love Mercy is a novel of two boys the same age as Till -- a Jewish boy from Hyde Park and a Black child from Bronzeville -- who breach the color barrier that divides their families, their friends, and their communities. The novel concludes with 35 pages of transcribed oral history and rare photographs of Bronzeville -- "Chicago's Harlem" -- at the cusp of the 1950s.

The excerpt covers the history of this Black Metropolis from the Great Migration to the era of segregation, including such landmarks as the Marshall Field and Pullman homes, the Twelfth Street Station, South Prairie Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Grand Boulevard, and the Regal Theater.

Frank Joseph grew up in Hyde Park, hanging out at White Sox Park or his grandfather's movie house, the States Theatre at 35th & State. He wrote for the City News Bureau of Chicago, covered Civil Rights for The Associated Press, and was an editor at The Washington Post during Watergate.

Is Vanity Fair On Crack?

Christopher Hitchens gets more disgusting looking everytime I see him. I'm not sure why networks keep inviting him to be a guest or panelist as his Foster Brooks imitation is getting old. I can smell his unkempt looking ass through the TV. I cannot BELIEVE that Vanity Fair would publish swill like this.

Ten years ago this spring, an intern named Monica Lewinsky was transferred out of the White House, and the nation became obsessed, once again, with the subject of, well, fellatio. From the Wild West to the wild White House, the author explores the blowjob's long and storied history—and its emergence as the nation's signature sex act

I don't even want to think about what he was doing when he was drafting this and Lord knows why Vanity Fair gave him the opportunity to do so. Ugh!

Good Question

How?

"And so, a mystery: How is it possible—with 2,500 U.S. solders dead, no discernible progress on the ground and a solid majority of the public now agreeing that the war in Iraq was a mistake—for the Democrats to seem so bollixed about the war and for the President to seem so confident?"

This Is BAD

This is sheer insanity. What on earth have 'we created in this place?

The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in Iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its Iraqi employees."

This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S. government."

It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's rights, and "ethnic cleansing."

A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name at the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador, though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely approved it.

The subject of the memo is: "Snapshots from the Office -- Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord."

As a footnote in one of the 23 sections, the embassy relates, "An Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi province, as political parties and their militiast are seemingly engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq."

Among the other troubling reports:

-- "Personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most neighbors."

-- One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.

-- Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in May, report "pervasive" harassment from Islamist and/or militia groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the quality of life." Conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods "have visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now described as a "ghost town."

-- Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May...."some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative." One of the women is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.

-- It has also become "dangerous" for men to wear shorts in public and "they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts." People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.

-- Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families where they work. They all plan for their possible abductions. No one takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee said criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her family believes the U.S. "is punishing populations as Saddam did."

-- Since April, the "demeanor" of guards in the Green Zone has changed, becoming more "militia-like," and some are now "taunting" embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly that they work in the embassy: "Such information is a death sentence if overheard by the wrong people." For this reason, some have asked for press instead of embassy credentials ...

The list is long and horrendous!

The Lies!

Because I refuse to watch or listen to the President say anything, I missed all of his BS this week after his trip, on the downlow, to Iraq. When is this man going to stop lying to America?

Take the police. It is meaningless to talk about Iraq's taking charge of its own security when the police forces that patrol its cities and run its prisons are rife with sectarian militias and death squads that would sooner wage a civil war than prevent one.

While Mr. Bush holds out visions of Iraqi security forces standing up so that Americans can stand down, Iraq's deputy justice minister more candidly told The Washington Post last week that "we cannot control the prisons; it's as simple as that." He added that "our jails are infiltrated by the militias from top to bottom, from Basra to Baghdad."

A new interior minister can change that only if backed by a new configuration of political power, no longer subject to vetoes by parties like the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq that run some of the very militias that must be curbed.

Consider also the level of sectarian violence, a clear indicator of whether Iraq is moving toward national unity or sectarian conflict. In May 2003, there were five recorded incidents of sectarian violence. In May 2004, there were 10. In May 2005, there were 20. Last month there were 250. This is a very discouraging trend, as is the predictable response: thousands of families fleeing their homes ...

We are not winning and things are clearly getting worse. Staying the course means more death, more destruction and more lies.

The Real Illegals

This is why I refuse to get into immigrant bashing. Blame and prosecute Ithe employers!

The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show.

Between 1999 and 2003, work-site enforcement operations were scaled back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which subsequently was merged into the Homeland Security Department. The number of employers prosecuted for unlawfully employing immigrants dropped from 182 in 1999 to four in 2003, and fines collected declined from $3.6 million to $212,000, according to federal statistics ...

This administration isn't even trying and probably doesn't plan to ...

... Big, Fat Ass

That's what John Murtha wanted to say about Karl Rove this morning on Meet The Press. I think he caught himself.

He's in New Hampshire. He's making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside-saying stay the course. That’s not a plan! We've got to change direction. You can't sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell troops carrying seventy pounds on their backs, inside these armored vessels-hit with IED's every day-seeing their friends blown up-their buddies blown up-and he says stay the course? Easy to say that from Washington, DC.

I'm Proud To Say ...

I don't know any black people like this ...

There is no way in hay-ell my sister would have let my niece leave the house looking like that for prom or anything else! Save 'em Jesus!

Update: Ghetto prom part II.

U.G.L.Y.

He ain't got no alibi!

Jacob The Jailbird?

I guess that unlike the Cristal folks, Jacob didn't mind being linked to hip-hop. But look where it got him.

Jacob the Jeweler, well known for providing hip-hop's biggest names with high-end custom jewelry, was arrested on federal charges outside his flagship store in New York on Thursday morning (June 15).

According to reports, Jacob (born Jacob Arobo) was indicted along with 16 other individuals by a Michigan district attorney in May for violating federal drug laws and laundering in excess of $270 million.

The indictment, which is part of a previous indictment that alleges that Terry Flenory, Demetrius Flenory and 23 others operated a Atlanta-based drug organization called the Black Mafia Family (BMF) in the '90s, also seeks criminal forfeiture of more than 30 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a number of residences and cars.

Daniel Gatlin, Jacob's lawyer, revealed that his client is also charged with giving and lending jewelry to individuals tied to the BMF. Gatlin said he had been trying to get back the loaned jewelry since November.

According to Gatlin, Arobo faced a New York judge today and will go to court in Detroit at an undetermined date.

Technorati Tags: BMF, Jacob The Jeweler

The Ice In My Teeth Keep The Cristal Cold

Uh-kay! I've been sitting on this for a few days. While I understand that "Mr. Cristal" might not be pleased with the publicity generated by some of his best customers, best believe he won't be giving back any of the cash.

Rappers love it, quaff it, idolise it. But the makers of Cristal champagne have revealed they are at best ambivalent about the patronage of the hip-hop fraternity.

In its clear bottle with the gold label and the UV-filter wrapper, Cristal is a distinctive enough brand to start with.

Commissioned at the behest of Tsar Alexander II in the 19th Century, the Louis Roederer marque was revived after World War II. It is the drink of kings and princes, and failing that, surely captains of industry and Grace Kelly-style film stars at the very least.

No longer. Now it is the drink of people whose taste in luxury items stretches only to things that are big and shiny, with big, shiny badges on them. Rappers like Gucci, they like Prada, they drive Bentleys and Benzes and most of all they sup Cristal.

And it seems that Louis Roederer may have started to think twice about endorsement from a community that even likes its guns gold-plated.

Asked by the Economist about whether associations with rap stars could affect the marque, new managing director Frederic Rouzaud said: "That's a good question, but what can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."

Graham Hales, of branding experts Interbrand, says the short answer is that brands can do nothing.

"You can have an exclusivity around your brand but these are people who can afford it and are voting for it. You have to go try and find a way to make it a good thing."

It might be known as the Burberry effect. Luxury brand gets adopted by football hooligans and Danniella Westbrook. Brand panics. Brand finds there is nothing it can do. Brand just gets on with life.

Indeed, the rappers aren't suggesting kids steal Cristal, they are merely thanking the Lord for giving them the talent to earn the money to buy it.

Rapper Young Buck speaks for many when he sings: "The ice in my teeth keep the Cristal cold."

.... and why, why, why is this negro talking about the ice in his dang teeth keeping the Cristal cold? That's a classy reminder for me to pick up a bottle! Yuck!

Related Articles:
The Economist: Bubbles & Bling


This just in: Jay-Z claims he is going to boycott the brand!

Technorati Tags: Jay-Z, Cristal

Please, Please, Please Stop

The man is legally blind!

Bush: You gonna ask your question with shades on?

Wallsten: Yes...

Bush: But there's no sun out here.

Wallsten: It depends on your perspective.

Bush: Touch�

Who? We?

Couldn't be!

US 'biggest global peace threat'

People in European and Muslim countries see US policy in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran's nuclear programme, a survey has shown.

The survey by the Pew Research Group also found support for US President George W Bush and his "war on terror" had dropped dramatically worldwide.

Goodwill created by US aid for nations hit by the 2004 tsunami had also faded since last year, the survey found.

The survey questioned 17,000 people in 15 countries, including the US.

The latest in a series of annual polls by the Pew Global Attitudes Project interviewed respondents between 31 March and 14 May 2006.

Its release coincides with a surprise visit by President George W Bush to Baghdad in an effort to shore up support for US policy in the region.

'Fading goodwill'

The latest survey shows the worldwide reputation of the US continues to suffer over its prosecution of the "war on terror".

Sharp declines in the public perception of the US were particularly apparent in India, Spain and Turkey.

Goodwill towards the US had fallen from 71% to 56% in India, from 41% to 23% in Spain and from 23% to 12% in Turkey.

A majority of people in 10 of the 14 countries outside the US surveyed said the war in Iraq had made the world a more dangerous place.

Some 60% of people in the UK, which is the US biggest ally, felt the Iraq war had made the world less secure, while some 30% said it had made the world safer ...

Baghdad Is Still Burning

So Bush slithered into Iraq again like a little snake. I wonder if he will talk to Iraqi people like the Baghdad Burning author?

So 'Zarqawi' is finally dead. It was an interesting piece of news that greeted us yesterday morning (or was it the day before? I've lost track of time…). I didn't bother with the pictures and film they showed of him because I, personally, have been saturated with images of broken, bleeding bodies.


The reactions have been different. There's a general consensus amongst family and friends that he won't be missed, whoever he is. There is also doubt- who was he really? Did he even exist? Was he truly the huge terror the Americans made him out to be? When did he actually die? People swear he was dead back in 2003… The timing is extremely suspicious: just when people were getting really fed up with the useless Iraqi government, Zarqawi is killed and Maliki is hailed the victorious leader of the occupied world! (And no- Iraqis aren't celebrating in the streets- worries over electricity, water, death squads, tests, corpses and extremists in high places prevail right now.)


I've been listening to reactions- mostly from pro-war politicians and the naïveté they reveal is astounding. Maliki (the current Iraqi PM) was almost giddy as he made the news public (he had even gone the extra mile and shaved!). Do they really believe it will end the resistance against occupation? As long as foreign troops are in Iraq, resistance or 'insurgency' will continue- why is that SO difficult to understand? How is that concept a foreign one?


"A new day for Iraqis" is the current theme of the Iraqi puppet government and the Americans. Like it was "A New Day for Iraqis" on April 9, 2003 . And it was "A New Day for Iraqis" when they killed Oday and Qusay. Another "New Day for Iraqis" when they caught Saddam. More "New Day" when they drafted the constitution… I'm beginning to think it's like one of those questions they give you on IQ tests: If 'New' is equal to 'More' and 'Day' is equal to 'Suffering', what does "New Day for Iraqis" mean?


How do I feel? To hell with Zarqawi (or Zayrkawi as Bush calls him). He was an American creation- he came along with them- they don't need him anymore, apparently. His influence was greatly exaggerated but he was the justification for every single family they killed through military strikes and troops. It was WMD at first, then it was Saddam, then it was Zarqawi. Who will it be now? Who will be the new excuse for killing and detaining Iraqis? Or is it that an excuse is no longer needed- they have freedom to do what they want. The slaughter in Haditha months ago proved that. "They don't need him anymore," our elderly neighbor waved the news away like he was shooing flies, "They have fifty Zarqawis in government."


So now that Zarqawi is dead, and because according to Bush and our Iraqi puppets he was behind so much of Iraq's misery- things should get better, right? The car bombs should lessen, the ethnic cleansing will come to a halt, military strikes and sieges will die down… That's what we were promised, wasn't it? That sounds good to me. Now- who do they have to kill to stop the Ministry of Interior death squads, and trigger-happy foreign troops?

What Are These People Trying To Do?

The pro-birth/forced pregnancy people are at it in Ohio now. Who are these people?

What she terms ``an extreme piece of legislation'' -- another hot button issue popping up in the middle of this election year -- is scheduled for a Tuesday hearing in the Ohio House, and it has the full attention of the executive director of Planned Parenthood of Summit, Portage and Medina Counties.

House Bill 228, as proposed by State Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Cincinnati, would criminalize all abortion -- whether to save the life of the woman or to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Furthermore, it would make it a felony for anyone to take a woman across the state line to obtain an abortion elsewhere.

``What are these legislators trying to do?'' Aber asked.

Tar Baby, Cynthia McKinney, Sheila Jackson Lee

Tony Snow doesn't know the difference.

At a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Tony Snow talked about a point Cynthia McKinney had made during a meeting with the president last week.

McKinney is a member of Congress. She is also an African-American. But as Dan Froomkin notes today, she isn't the African-American member of Congress who participated in a meeting with George W. Bush last week. That would be Sheila Jackson Lee, a point the White House acknowledges -- even as it misspells her name -- in a corrected version of the transcript of the press briefing.

A Girl Like Me

This really, really makes me sad. Take a look at this short but telling video: A Girl Like Me

No English, No Service

I just saw this rube on GMA. He was explaining his rationale for having the "This is America. When ordering speak English" sign in the window of his cheese steak shop. Given the demographics where I live I often say that I live in Mexico (or Asia - depending upon which direction I drive) and one thing I have never seen is a Mexican trying to order in Spanish unless they were in a Mexican restaurant. So, I think the sign is just plain ignorant and nasty. Further, when questioned on how good his immigrant grandparents' English was, he went on to explain that theirs wasn't good and it limited them and the second and third generations did well because they spoke English. Well, that is the same for Mexicans. Second and third generation Mexicans do speak English and prosper as well. I know far too many "descendents" who cannot hold a conversation with their grandparents because they learned English but discarded their heritage and didn't learn Spanish. Some brag about not speaking any Spanish as though it makes them more American (until someone calls them a wetback or the like) . I think Mr. Vento is out of line and bigoted.

For more than 40 years the people of Philadelphia have divided themselves into two camps: Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's, two sandwich stands endlessly fighting the Philly cheesesteak wars.


It now appears the owner of Geno's has fired another shot ... at himself.


Joseph Vento posted signs at his famous sandwich shop declaring his refusal to serve anyone that doesn't speak English, "This is America. When Ordering, Speak English."


Geno's sits in the heart of what was once Little Italy, at Ninth and Passyunk, but is now a largely Mexican neighborhood.


"If you can't tell me what you want, I can't serve you," he said. "It's up to you. If you can't read, if you can't say the word cheese, how can I communicate with you -- and why should I have to bend? I got a business to run."


So Vento has made it his policy to refuse service to anyone who can't speak English and those who cannot speak at all.


"I don't want somebody coming here to change my culture to their culture," he said with no apparent irony. "They want us to adapt to these people. What do you mean, 'Press 1 for Spanish'? English, period. Case closed. End of discussion. You better make it the official language."


Asked for his opinion on the immigration battle brewing, he simply declares "Go back to the 19th century, and play by those rules."


That wouldn't have affected Vento much. It wasn't until 1921, the year Vento's own grandfather arrived on these shores, that there was such a thing as an "illegal immigrant" from Italy. That was the year the U.S. began issuing entry visas. Up until then Congress had only passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and entered an agreement in 1907 with Japan that allowed their laborers to enter only Hawaii but not the U.S. mainland.

When Vento's not busy making sandwiches, he likes to drive around his neighborhood -- with a PA system mounted on his SUV -- scolding area businesses that hire illegal aliens.

Vento founded Geno's in 1966. Unable to work up an original idea, Vento opened his cheese steak stand across from Pat's King of Steaks, the original.

Not only did Vento lack a fresh idea, he couldn't even use his own name, as it was already taken for another restaurant. As legend has it, he got the name from a broken door he found with GINO painted across it. But that too was taken and so he misspelled it.

Vento likely would've refused service to his own grandparents, who spoke almost no English.

If people spent half as much time learning something as they did spewing ignorance, the world would be a calmer, more peaceful place. In my opinion, Joseph Vento doesn't speak English either. He speaks stupid!

On The Verge Of Inappropriate Glee

I'm with this kill joy:

As happened with the capture of Saddam Hussein and the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad, some American news organizations yesterday covered the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with marked enthusiasm, verging on inappropriate glee.

Perhaps the tone was set by the cheering and sustained applause by Iraqis at the Baghdad news conference announcing al-Zarqawi's death. But American television didn't have to follow that gung-ho lead to the extent that some channels did throughout the day.

The 24-hour cable news channels and their Web sites were the worst offenders, though other news organizations shared that lack of proportion and restraint ...

Did The US Create The Prince of al Qaeda?

This is a long and informative article on the life and times of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It makes one wonder if he was a man or a myth.

bu Musab al-Zarqawi, barely forty and barely literate, a Bedouin from the Bani Hassan tribe, was until recently almost unknown outside his native Jordan. Then, on February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell catapulted him onto the world stage. In his address to the United Nations making the case for war in Iraq, Powell identified al-Zarqawi—mistakenly, as it turned out—as the crucial link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime. Subsequently, al-Zarqawi became a leading figure in the insurgency in Iraq—and in November of last year, he also brought his jihadist revolution back home, as the architect of three lethal hotel bombings in Amman. His notoriety grew with every atrocity he perpetrated, yet Western and Middle Eastern intelligence officials remained bedeviled by a simple question: Who was he? Was he al-Qaeda’s point man in Iraq, as the Bush administration argued repeatedly? Or was he, as a retired Israeli intelligence official told me not long ago, a staunch rival of bin Laden’s, whose importance the United States exaggerated in order to validate a link between al-Qaeda and pre-war Iraq, and to put a non-Iraqi face on a complex insurgency?

Update: This guy says Zarqawi was a stooge.

Racist Russians

Yes, freedom breeds many things - including the right to hate and kill people because of their skin color or ethnicity. This is just lovely ...

Newcomers to Russia, especially those who are not white, should beware of young, aggressive radical nationalists. Attacks against people of other nationalities, on the streets and in the Metro, have been rising. Some of the victims have died as a result of being assaulted. Targets include not only people of color, but also human rights activists and members of anti-fascist youth organizations.

For weeks, the Russian mass media has reported on the outbursts of racially motivated violence, but the attacks still continue.

Here are some recent examples:

• On May 4, a Vietnamese student was beaten in St Petersburg by unidentified persons. The student was hospitalized.
  
• On May 7, two young men wearing dark clothes and army boots beat a 34-year old man from Azerbaijan, in Krasnoyarsk.
  
• On May 14, a 22-year old male Gypsy was beaten to death by two young people in the town of Sovetsk, located in the Tula region.
  
• On May 21, a citizen of Ecuador was beaten in St. Petersburg. On the same day, two skinheads beat a 30-year old Krishna worshipper in Krasnoyarsk.
  

St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Voronezh are known to be the most hostile cities for immigrants from Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia. St. Petersburg is especially notorious in this regard, where nationalists kill even children. In 2004, a 9-year old Tajik girl named Khursheda Sultonova died after being stabbed there. This March, Lilian Sissoko, a 9-year old girl of Russian and African parentage, was attacked by two men near the door to her apartment and stabbed in the neck. Fortunately, she survived.

Many More Hadithas

As I've said before, I don't think that the murders in Haditha were an isolated incident - in that city or anyplace else in Iraq. Iraqis say civilian murders were far more common.

An Iraqi doctor who was in Haditha during a deadly U.S. raid last year says there are many more stories like that in Haditha that are yet untold.

The Pentagon admitted last week that U.S. Marines killed 24 civilians -- including a 66-year-old woman and a four-year-old boy -- in the Western Iraqi town last November. Before that, the military had maintained the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb.

"There are many, many, many cases like Haditha that are still undercover and need to be highlighted in Iraq," Dr. Salam Ishmael, projects manager with the organisation Doctors for Iraq, and former chief of the junior doctors in Baghdad's Medical City Hospital told IPS.

In Haditha itself, he said, the U.S. military cut electricity and water to the entire city, attacked the hospital and burned the pharmacy.

"The hospital has been attacked three times. In November 2005 the hospital was occupied by the American and Iraqi Army for seven days, which is a severe breach of the Geneva Conventions," he said.

"In one of these attacks, the U.S. soldiers used live ammunition inside the hospital. They handcuffed all the doctors and destroyed the entire contents of the medical storage. It ended with the killing of one of the patients in his bed."

The Iraqi Red Crescent reported at the time that nearly 1,000 families had been forced to flee their homes in Haditha following the launch of the U.S.-led military operation.

And The Band Played On

The bottom line with the death of al-Zarqawi is that it won't change a thing and means very little in the grand scheme of this disaster in Iraq. I've always thought that his power and influence was a figment of the Bush administration's imagination. There were times when I really didn't even believe he really existed. Iraq is in the midst of a civil war and we are stuck between a rock and a hard place with or without al-Zarqawi.

Representative John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and former marine who has become a fierce critic of the Iraq war, said now that a "real thorn" in the side of the Americans has been removed, Iraqi forces were trained and a government was in place, the Bush administration should compose a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.

"We cannot win this," he said in an interview on CNN. "It is a civil war they are involved in. Al Qaeda is a small part of this."

He added, "We have Sunnis fighting Shiites and the Americans are caught in between."

The insurgency and violence in Iraq is fueled by a complicated fabric of foreign fighters, Saddam Hussein loyalists and other groups, while most recently, militias have been blamed for sectarian strife.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., in an interview on CNN, noted that the various groups that have contributed to the violence in Iraq were not all linked to Mr. Zarqawi.

"He did not control any of those people," he said in the interview.

Daddy's Little Boy

While I am in total agreement that Donald Rumsfeld should have been long gone, I see Daddy Bush's attempts to save his stupid son from himself and his reckless decisions part of Bush's life long problem. When has he ever been successful - on his own or with daddy's help - at anything? Bush Sr. needs to butt out and let his son sink, fail and self-destruct on his own.

Former President George H.W. Bush waged a secret campaign over several months early this year to remove Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The elder Bush went so far as to recruit Rumsfeld's potential replacement, personally asking a retired four-star general if he would accept the position, a reliable source close to the general told me. But the former president's effort failed, apparently rebuffed by the current president. When seven retired generals who had been commanders in Iraq demanded Rumsfeld's resignation in April, the younger Bush leapt to his defense. "I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain," he said. His endorsement of Rumsfeld was a rebuke not only to the generals but also to his father.

The elder Bush's intervention was an extraordinary attempt to rescue simultaneously his son, the family legacy and the country. The current president had previously rejected entreaties from party establishment figures to revamp his administration with new appointments. There was no one left to approach him except his father. This effort to pluck George W. from his troubles is the latest episode in a recurrent drama -- from the drunken young man challenging his father to go "mano a mano" on the front lawn of the family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, to the father pulling strings to get the son into the Texas Air National Guard and helping salvage his finances from George W.'s mismanagement of Harken Energy. For the father, parental responsibility never ends. But for the son, rebellion continues. When journalist Bob Woodward asked George W. Bush if he had consulted his father before invading Iraq, he replied, "He is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength. There is a higher father that I appeal to."

The former president, a practitioner of foreign policy realism, was intruding on the president's parallel reality. But the realist was trying to shake the fantasist in vain. "The president believes the talking points he's given and repeats on progress in Iraq," a Bush administration national security official told me. Bush redoubles his efforts, projects his firmness, in the conviction that the critics lack his deeper understanding of Iraq that allows him to see through the fog of war to the Green Zone as a city on a hill.

Just as his father cannot break Bush's enchantment with "victory," so the revelation of the Haditha massacre does not cause him to change his policy. For him, the alleged incident is solely about the individual Marines involved; military justice will deal with them. It's as though the horrific event had nothing to do with the war. Haditha, too, exists in a bubble.

War Against Women

We keep calling it freedom and democracy but it seems that the people who are wielding the most power (and weaponry) are those who are denying people rights - especially women.

"And my friend Lubna, she was with her fiancé. They shot him in the arm and then killed her in front of him," she explained. Then there were the two sisters who worked in the laundry at Basra Palace base. With a shrug, she briefly detailed each life cut short.

Under Saddam, women played little part in political life but businesswomen and academics travelled the country unchallenged while their daughters mixed freely with male students at university.

Now, even the most emancipated woman feels cowed.

A television producer Arij Al-Soltan, 27, now exiled, said: "It is much worse for women in the south. I blame the British for not taking a strong stand."

Sajeda Hanoon Alebadi, 37, who - like Mrs Aziz - has now taken to wearing a headscarf, said: "Women are being assassinated. We know the people behind it are saying we have a fatwa, these are not good women, they should be killed."

Do the American people get that Iraq is being taken over by religious zealots. Saddam had a secular society for a reason? He had a death grip on the Shiites for a reason. Their fundamentalist brand of Islam will restrict rights of Iraqi citizens and totally marginalize women. What kind of freedom is that?

Whose Revenge Is More Just?

I'm really not fond of seeing dead bodies on television whether they be Iraqi civilians or so called terrorists. All of the hoopla over the supposed death of al-Zarqawi, I think, marks a sad state of affairs for America. As with the pictures of Saddam Hussein's sons, I wondered who on earth would rejoice in murder and assassination and how are we any different from the Iraqis who celebrate when American soldiers are killed? I agree with Michael Berg, the father of the American contractor who was beheaded - allegedly by al-Zarqawi. Mutual barbarism is no a good thing and I think it will solve very little.

The father of Nicholas Berg, a U.S. contractor believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, said Thursday that he doesn't see any good coming from al-Zarqawi's death.

"I see more death coming out of al-Zarqawi's death," Michael Berg told The Associated Press after learning a U.S. air strike had killed the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi is believed to have beheaded two American civilians in 2004: Nicholas Berg, a 26-year-old businessman from West Chester, Pa., and Eugene Armstrong, a 52-year-old contractor from Hillsdale, Mich. Jack Hensley, a 48-year-old engineer from Marietta, Ga., was abducted at the same time as Armstrong and also killed.

Armstrong's family didn't want to discuss al-Zarqawi Thursday morning.

"An evil man is dead, and what more can you say?" said family spokeswoman Cyndi Armstrong, the wife of the slain contractor's cousin.

Nicholas Berg's father, a pacifist who is running for Delaware's U.S. House seat on the Green Party ticket, said al-Zarqawi's death is likely to foster anti-American resentment among al-Qaida members who feel they have nothing left to lose.

He dismissed the notion that al-Zarqawi's death might bring him closure.

"First of all, I'm not even certain that al-Zarqawi even killed my son," said Michael Berg, who doesn't believe the videotape of his son's execution or what he's been told by the FBI any more than he believes conspiracy theories suggesting his son was killed by the U.S. government.

"I think the news of the loss of any human being is a tragedy. I think al-Zarqawi's death is a double tragedy," he said. "His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."

Berg said that while al-Zarqawi may have killed a couple of hundred people, Bush is responsible for 150,000 deaths.

Al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed his death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site. The group has taken responsibility for numerous attacks on U.S. and Iraqi targets in the past few years.

Mr. Berg was also on CNN refusing to be baited by Soledad O'Brien into seeing Zarqawi's death as a positive event. Watch and listen to the video.

Catapult The Propaganda '07

They are kidding right? They're going to dig up this dead horse in 2007 and attempt to ram it down the throats of Americans who didn't buy it the last time?

Here we go again. Will there be another 60 day Bush tour again? That worked so well the last time.

Pelosi:

"When the House Republican point man on Social Security says that privatizing Social Security will be a top priority next year, it is clear the Republicans once again are not listening to the American people, who resoundingly rejected this risky scheme last year.This is simply not a priority of the American people, yet Republicans continue their relentless quest to privatize Social Security over the real needs of Americans. The Republican plan to dismantle Social Security, which would slash benefits for the middle class, is a blast from their failed policies of the past."

Are they insane or just stupid?

Shake That Tree A Little Harder

What a maroon! Is this all they have to talk about in the Senate? This goon is bragging that in his recorded family history there has never been a divorce or a homosexual relationship. Wanna bet that is close to impossible?

This afternoon on the Senate floor, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) stood before a large photograph of his family and shared this important fact: “I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.” Watch it:

INHOFE: As you see here, and I think this is maybe the most important prop we’ll have during the entire debate, my wife and I have been married 47 years. We have 20 kids and grandkids. I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.

If it means that much to him I guess there's no harm in him believing that. I'd bet that despite the zero divorce rate in his family legacy, there have been adulterous affairs, children with a different daddy than documented, substance abuse and domestic violence issues and yes, dear Senator Inhofe, a homosexual or two (though not obviously out of the closet). Just check the fruit on the tree a little closer (no pun intended).

Poor deluded thing. Bless his heart.

Politics Test

Not a secret but here goes:

You are a Social Liberal (78% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (30% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

(test via shakespeare's sister)

So Now She's A Bitch?

I think we know who the bitch ia/ian'r and let's just say I'm sure Oprah will never allow him anywhere near her show or Harpo studios.

Killer Mike bitches about Oprah. There's a definitely an "Oprah bites" bandwagon. And Killer, pardon, Masarati Mike, is the lastest rapper to hop on board. Like Ludacris and Fif before him, Ice Cube criticized Oprah for not inviting hip-hop artists to her show. Apparently Oprah failed to invite Cube, who executive produced and starred in Barbershop, when her show did a feature on the movie. Interestingly, Eve, a rapper, was a guest alongside Cedric the Entertainer. The same thing happened for FX's "Black & White." Masarati Mike didn't get it. "Why is it that the producers of "Black and White" were invited to go on Oprah, but not Ice Cube? Name me someone more progressive than O'Shea Jackson,
who came up in a black neighborhood, had the courage to leave a highly successful group only to start his own major multi-media company?" Killer asked SOHH.com. "That's a feat. And then he's snubbed by a black broad because she doesn't like rappers. Ludacris who starred in this breakthrough movie goes on the show with the rest of the cast, only to be forced to defend his lyrics. Where were you when [Bill] O'Reilly was criticizing him? Bill O'Reilly is just gangsta rap for middle America. He's there to keep soccer moms scared of niggas."

"Oprah is full of shit," Mike added. "Nobody has the courage to say that Oprah is full of shit. She's not some beneficent person, she's
just a person capable of doing incredible good, exposing people to reading, exposing people to Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, or she can just be a dumb bitch shitting on rap, shitting on poor black people, it's possible to be both things at once."

... just ig'nunt!

I Got A Song That Ain't Got No Melody

RIP Billy Preston

US singer and song-writer Billy Preston has died at the age of 59 in Arizona after a long illness.

A former teenage keyboard prodigy, Mr Preston was one of the few musicians to play with both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

He contributed to The Beatles' Let it Be, and Rolling Stones records including Exile on Main Street.

Mr Preston later had a string of hit singles in his own right, winning a Grammy for the song Outta Space.

Mr Preston had been in a coma at a health centre in Scottsdale, Arizona, since last November after suffering kidney failure.

Solo hits

Mr Preston, who was born in Texas, spent most of his life in the entertainment industry in a career that spanned five decades.

As a teenager he played keyboards for the likes of Little Richard and Ray Charles.

Mr Preston became the only person to be given a label credit alongside The Beatles after his work on the song Let it Be, as well as the Abbey Road and White Album recordings.

Mr Preston's fame was galvanised with a string of Number 1 hit singles of his own, including Outta Space, Will It Go Round In Circles, Nothing From Nothing and Space Race.

A prolific writer, he also wrote You Are So Beautiful, a major hit for his friend, British blues singer Joe Cocker.

And he collaborated with superstars such as The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, The Jackson Five, Sly and the Family Stone and Barbra Streisand.

Wow! That Baby Has Teeth!

I think all babies are cute so I'm not bashing this one. But ... doesn't it look like this one was born with teeth (I know it's possible but dang!)?

Be Our Guest

I think the whole National Guard to the border scene is a crock of bull and yet another political stunt by George W. Bush to appease a portion of his itchy base. Sure, thousands stream across the border every year but nearly just as many fly right on in and just stay.

Millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States never jumped the U.S.-Mexico border where Congress wants to erect impenetrable walls and President Bush is sending National Guard troops to patrol. They never sneaked in at all.

The little-acknowledged reality is that nearly half the estimated 12 million undocumented foreigners in the United States entered on bona fide U.S. visas—and simply never left. Authorities call them "overstays" who have been largely overlooked in the vitriolic debate on immigration.

"The southwestern border gets all the attention, but it's staggering the number of people who come and overstay their visa," said Dean Boyd, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington. "It's a very large-scale problem."

A study by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center last month indicated that 45 percent of the undocumented migrants in the United States overstayed legal visas ...

Yes! Separation of Church and Health

I think these pharmacists who think they can play judge, jury and God with people's contraceptive prescriptions need to find a new line of work or find a job at theo-pharmacies. Thank God this court saw fit to stand behind Walmart's (of all places) right to fire him. His behavior was negligible.

A progressive development in the pharmacy wars: U.S. District Judge John Shabaz upheld Wal-Mart's firing of a pharmacist who refused to fill birth control and emergency contraceptive prescriptions. The Associated Press reports that Neil Noesen, a Roman Catholic, claimed that he was fired by a Wal-Mart in Onalaska, Wis., last summer because of religious discrimination. According to the AP, Noesen argued that the agreement he signed with Wal-Mart and the Medical Staffing Agency -- an employment agency that was also named in the lawsuit -- allowed him to simply walk away from customers seeking contraception and that "his boss was pressuring him to help customers seeking birth control."

In a 12-page ruling Shabaz wrote that the firing was "justified because he was disruptive and failed to meet Wal-Mart's expectations." Shabaz explained that Wal-Mart and the Medical Staffing Agency accommodated Noesen's religious beliefs by allowing other pharmacists to fill birth control prescriptions. However, he found that Noesen went too far "by putting customers who called about birth control on hold indefinitely and refusing to get service for those who showed up in person without notifying other pharmacists."

Noesen was actually sanctioned by the state Pharmacy Examining Board last year and fined $20,767 after refusing to fill a contraceptive prescription or transfer it to another pharmacist while working at a Kmart in another part of the state. The AP reports that "the board reprimanded him and forced him to attend ethics classes, saying he could not stand in the way of women's care."

What's particularly important about this case is that it's one of the first in the country dealing with religious accommodations for pharmacists. Additionally, after Noesen's sanction Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would prohibit state regulators from punishing pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control -- and the plan failed to win approval in either chamber.

As Stephanie Adler, the lawyer who represented the Medical Staffing Agency, said of the ruling, "It demonstrates that there has to be a balance between accommodating someone's religious beliefs while at the same time providing a service and allowing people access to medical care. Noesen believes that his personal beliefs are more important than a patient's right to have access to legally prescribed medication."

It's called separation of church and health.

Black Man! Black Man!

I never claimed to be sane so the title of this post comes from a tangential and random song that comes to my mind every now and then courtesy of a character from one of my favorite sitcoms: Designing Women. Tear rendering laughter aside, the Washington Post launched a series called "Being a Black Man" last Friday which will run for a year on black men in America. Depending on the article or update, I will post to my blog with the ones that interest me.

Now This Is An Abomination

It's been said that the oppressed shall become the oppressors. Well if that isn't God's truth. That hate and ignorance could bring together100 black men of the cloth and a known sympathizer of the Ku Klux Klan is downright nauseating. As far as I am concerned, this alliance is the absolute work of the devil.

“A Marriage Protection Amendment is necessary. Activist courts have left our nation with no other option. Marriage will either be defined by the courts or by the people. Now is the time for Congress to act!”
– FRC President, Tony Perkins

Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., jughead Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, will vogue with 100 black homobigots in a joint press conference to support the Marriage Protection Amendment.

That faith-based cash and face time must do wonders for the coffers of these pastors. Shameful.

Look at who he’s humping for support:
* Bishop Harry Jackson, Chairman of High Impact Leadership Coalition (said this in all seriousness: “I’m not against gay people; I’m not trying to bash them per se. I just think that we’re in such a terrible situation in my community that I’ve got to protect the institution.”)

* Star Parker, President of The Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education. Yes, the Star Parker who has stolen a copy of our Homosexual Agenda and has been moaning about the positive trend of the general public’s views about gay rights. (”Churches which promote homosexual “marriage” are threatening to bring even more chaos into the lives of children.”)

A commenter over at my pad reminded me that Tony Perkins has curious ties to David Duke and the Klan, which makes the fact that these 100 black “leaders” are appearing with Perkins even more sick.

If these are the people who are going to heaven, I'll gladly rot in hell.

Gee! I'm Surprised!

It's only the American public that can "get fooled again." The Iraqis lived under a brutal dictatorship for years. They know a lie when they hear one. Who really believes that there was no wrong doing in Iraq Rejects US Probe Clearing Troops of Killings

Iraq vowed on Saturday to press on with its own probe into the deaths of civilians in a U.S. raid on the town of Ishaqi, rejecting the U.S. military's exoneration of its forces.

Adnan al-Kazimi, an aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the government would also demand an apology from the United States and compensation for the victims in several cases, including the alleged massacre in the town of Haditha last year.

'We have from more than one source that the Ishaqi killings were carried out under questionable circumstances. More than one child was killed. This report was not fair for the Iraqi people and the children who were killed,' he told Reuters.

The U.S. military had issued a statement about Ishaqi saying allegations that U.S. troops 'executed a family ... and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false'.

It said troops had been fired on as they raided a house to arrest an al Qaeda suspect. They returned fire and called in air support, which destroyed the building, killing one militant and resulting in 'up to nine collateral deaths'.

The military had previously said one guerrilla, two women and a child were killed in the March 15 raid in Ishaqi, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

It has repeatedly pledged to punish any soldier found guilty of atrocities in Iraq, but the decision to clear the troops in Ishaqi fueled deep mistrust among ordinary Iraqis three years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

Police in Ishaqi say five children, four women and two men were shot in the head, and that the bodies, with hands bound, were dumped in one room before the house was blown up.

WIDESPREAD SUSPICION

Maliki, who took office two weeks ago at the helm of a U.S. backed national unity government, is battling a widespread public perception that U.S. troops can shoot and kill with impunity and Iraqi leaders are too weak to do anything about it.

'Ishaqi is just another reason why we shouldn't trust the Americans,' said Abdullah Hussein, an engineer in Baghdad.

'First they lied about the weapons of mass destruction, then there was the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and now it's clear to the world they were guilty in Haditha,' he told Reuters.

A tribal leader in Ishaqi said it was clear that U.S. forces were above the law in Iraq."

Positively Senseless

I cannot even imagine how depraved someone has to be in order to do something like this ...

Police hunted on Friday for the killers who barged into a home and shot seven family members in the worst mass murder in Indianapolis in at least 25 years. They made one arrest and were still searching for a main suspect.

A search of a home for one of the suspected gunmen turned up empty after police officers fired tear gas in and broke down a door Friday night.

Police said 28-year-old ex-convict Desmond Turner was believed to have been inside. He had grown up in the area and returned last fall after getting out of prison on drug and weapons charges.

Deputy Police Chief Tim Foley said Turner might have planned the shooting deaths.

'We have reason to believe that ... especially Mr. Turner, made statements prior to the robbery that these people were pretty much presumed dead before they ever went in the house,' Foley said.

Police arrested 30-year-old James Stewart in connection with the shooting after a traffic stop Friday afternoon, but did not elaborate on his role.

The bodies of three boys, ages 5 to 11, were found on a bed, and four adult relatives were discovered elsewhere in the house after the Thursday night robbery and massacre that rocked the working-class neighborhood ...

Why?

Killing The Vote

This is positively insane! How on earth are we calling this country a democracy?

In a country that spends so much time extolling the glories of democracy, it's amazing how many elected officials go out of their way to discourage voting. States are adopting rules that make it hard, and financially perilous, for nonpartisan groups to register new voters. They have adopted new rules for maintaining voter rolls that are likely to throw off many eligible voters, and they are imposing unnecessarily tough ID requirements.

Florida recently reached a new low when it actually bullied the League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts in the state. The Legislature did this by adopting a law that seems intended to scare away anyone who wants to run a voter registration drive. Since registration drives are particularly important for bringing poor people, minority groups and less educated voters into the process, the law appears to be designed to keep such people from voting.

It imposes fines of $250 for every voter registration form that a group files more than 10 days after it is collected, and $5,000 for every form that is not submitted — even if it is because of events beyond anyone's control, like a hurricane. The Florida League of Women Voters, which is suing to block the new rules, has decided it cannot afford to keep registering new voters in the state as it has done for 67 years. If a volunteer lost just 16 forms in a flood, or handed in a stack of forms a day late, the group's entire annual budget could be put at risk.

In Washington, a new law prevents people from voting if the secretary of state fails to match the information on their registration form with government databases. There are many reasons that names, Social Security numbers and other data may not match, including typing mistakes. The state is supposed to contact people whose data does not match, but the process is too tilted against voters.

Congress is considering a terrible voter ID requirement as part of the immigration reform bill. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, introduced an amendment to require all voters to present a federally mandated photo ID. Even people who have been voting for years would need to get a new ID to vote in 2008. Millions of people without drivers' licenses, including many elderly people and city residents, might fail to do so, and be ineligible to vote. The amendment has been blocked so far, but voting-rights advocates worry that it could reappear.

These three techniques — discouraging registration drives, purging eligible voters and imposing unreasonable ID requirements — keep showing up. Colorado recently imposed criminal penalties on volunteers who slip up in registration drives. Georgia, one of several states to adopt harsh new voter ID laws, had its law struck down by a federal court.

Protecting the integrity of voting is important, but many of these rules seem motivated by a partisan desire to suppress the vote, and particular kinds of voters, rather than to make sure that those who are entitled to vote — and only those who are entitled — do so. The right to vote is fundamental, and Congress and state legislatures should not pass laws that put an unnecessary burden on it. If they do, courts should strike them down.

Well, That's One Way To Phrase It

DHS Gets All “Soup Nazi” on NYC’s Ass

But it is true!

Ain't Jumping No Brooms

I'm starting to collect recipes on MyDelicio so have added a number of food blogs to my blogroll. I happened upon this blog today which featured a wedding. As I scrolled down looking for the food, I saw picture of the couple holding a "broom." It seems it is some sort of Scottish tradition.

The Besom is a broom made out of birch, the groom jumps over it followed by the bride and if the besom is touched or knocked in any way then their marriage is recognized.

The first time I saw people "jump the broom" was in Roots in the mid-70s. Since then, I've been to many a black wedding where this was done as some sort of recognition to "slavery times" when slaves couldn't legally marry but jumped over a broom to signify the coupling. I've never really been too keen on reminiscing about "dem good ole days" so, even if by some miracle I decide to get married, jumping a broom like a piece of property with no legal rights wouldn't be part of my ceremony. This blog find, though, did get me thinking so I looked up this tradition on Wikipedia.

Besom brooms are the broom traditionally associated with witches and are traditionally made of twigs tied to a larger pole. As a result, the besom is rounded instead of flat. The bristles can be made of many materials including, but not limited to straw, herbs, or twigs. Supposedly, an upward pointed besom (bristles up), especially over or near a doorway, will help protect the house from evil spirits or negative energies.

A besom is one of the tools used in Wicca. A traditional Wiccan besom is an ash stave handle with bristles made from birch twigs. These twigs are tied on using thin pieces of willow wood. It is used to cleanse the ritual area before circle casting.
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The besom is an important part of Wiccan handfasting (marriage) ceremonies. The couple jump over the besom during the ceremony.
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Now, the question: Is this really some African for modern blacks to be reinacting as though it was some part of their long lost heritage or was it some tradition, among alleged others, passed on to them by Scottish slave masters to grant some token of legitimacy for relationships they sanctioned for breeding?

Offender or Crazy

I know that these kinds of stories aren't new and are just coming to light because of mass media but this is getting ridiculous. What is it with these women insisting upon having relationships with these teenaged boys? It would almost be more understandable if they were like the male predators who have an compulsive craving for young flesh. But these women seem to believe they are in full blown relationships with, are having children by and are willing to go to jail to be with these children. What gives?

A 37-year-old woman who married one of her son's 15-year-old friends pleaded guilty to helping her young husband escape from state custody.

Lisa Clark was sentenced Wednesday to two years in jail and three years' probation after entering the plea to two counts of hindering the apprehension of a child.

Clark had denied having anything to do with the boy's escape in February after she had given birth to their child. The boy bolted from a juvenile home and was found in Cleveland.

Assistant District Attorney Jeff Ballew said Clark arranged with a friend to hide the boy in Ohio.

In March, Clark pleaded guilty to charges of statutory rape and was sentenced to nine months in jail. She was also forbidden to have any contact with her teenage husband until at least his 17th birthday.

Clark was arrested in November. A few days earlier, she married the boy under a 1962 law that set the marrying age in Georgia at 16 but made an exception in the case of pregnancy.

Last month, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill that bans teens under 16 from tying the knot. The new law allows 16- or 17-year-olds to wed with the approval of a parent or guardian and a probate judge.

The couple's child is now in the custody of a friend of Clark's.

Can somebody study these chicks? Something else is clearly going on here.

Beating Is Not A Felony Unless You Are Married

As a consequence of Ohio voters' zeal to ban homosexual marriage, folks who are shacking up don't have the same protection against domestic violence that married couples do.

A constitutional amendment banning gay marriage bars prosecutors from charging some unmarried people under the state's domestic violence law, a state appeals court ruled.

Friday's decision by the 2nd District Court of Appeals is the first from Ohio's 12 appellate courts to rule that the Defense of Marriage amendment, passed by voters in 2004, means that the domestic violence law does not apply to unmarried people.

The appeals court upheld the dismissal of a domestic violence charge against Karen Ward of Fairborn, charged with assaulting her live-in boyfriend in Greene County.

Ohio's amendment defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman and barred the state from granting legal status to unmarried couples.

Judges have differed in their interpretation of how that applies to the domestic violence law, which some judges have argued gives unmarried couples a special legal status.

In December, two state appeals courts - one in Cleveland, the other in Middletown - ruled that lower courts were wrong to throw out domestic violence charges against two men who had live-in girlfriends. Both lower courts had ruled the charges unconstitutional.

The issue needs to be resolved by the Ohio Supreme Court, said Greene County First Assistant Prosecutor Suzanne Schmidt.

'Until the high court decides, unmarried defendants, who would have faced felony domestic violence charges, will be charged with misdemeanor assault charges in Greene County,' Schmidt said.

Boys, It's Not Nice To Kill Innocent People ...

What's this? I'm so sure this is going to help or change anything. You cannot teach values or erase the reality of these soldiers frustration and, in some cases hate for the Iraqis, through a class.

Members of the U.S. military in Iraq will receive core values training beginning Thursday, as a result of the incident in Haditha in which American troops allegedly murdered 24 Iraqi civilians.

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, will announce the new directive Thursday, assigning the training to all 130,000 U.S. troops over the next 30 days.

All service members will view a slide presentation with vignettes that highlight the importance of adhering to legal, moral and ethical standards on the battlefield.

The directive emphasizes professional military values, the importance of disciplined professional conduct in combat and an explanation of what to expect of Iraqi culture.

Soldiers will also be reminded of the outcome if they act contrary to professional military values.

The directive comes on the heels of the first comments from President Bush regarding the November 2005 incident in which Marines are accused of raiding a home in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

Think about it! When racial or sexual harrassment issues happen in the workplace and sensitivity training is held, how many people really adhere to it in their hearts? They just make sure they don't say or do things around the wrong people. If our soliders see every Iraqi as suspect, there is no way to build trust either way. This war is three years old. We've had Abu Ghraib and probably numerous, unreported "Hadithas." I think it is a little to late to start teaching soldiers "what to expect of Iraqi culture" and certainly too late to toss out a few buzzwords about ethics. Things are not getting better in Iraq. They are getting worse and Haditha may just mean the beginnning of a not so honorable end.