Tort of Intrusion

President Bush has signed an $82 billion military spending bill that was overwhelmingly supported by the House of Represenatives that will, assist to create electronically readable, federally approved ID cards for Americans (the Real ID Act).. The concept, which is stated to be the barinchild of Wisconsin Rep. Sensenbrenner is outlined primarily as an anti-immigration measure. It would require State drivers' licenses and other such documents to meet federal ID standards established by the Department of Homeland Security. It is supposed to help immigration because it will prohibit states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens (as if illegal aliens won’t drive if they do not have a licenses – laughable politics as usual).

In three years from nowall U. S. citizens and anyone in the country will need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, and make use of any government service. One form of information contained on the card is"common machine-readable technology" that Homeland Security will decide on. It will also have "physical security features designed to prevent counterfeiting, or any other fraudulent activity. I take this to imply that biometric information such as retinal scans, fingerprints, DNA data and radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking will be on the card. It seems to be a waste of money first on several levels. First passports alrady have/contain radio frequency identification chips embedded in them. Then there are estimates that it may cost $120 million bills that could actually (God forbid) be employed for real security.

My concern is that the legislation REAL ID will pass because it was attached to legislation that funds military action in Iraq, which means that it basically was accepted and pushed on the people without hearings or debate anywhere. To aid salt to the wound, reports have suggested that production of the card and associated data will be outsourced to a private corporation. Reports also suggest that DHS head Michael Chertoff personally ordered this option to be chosen, which in essecence outsurce State and Constitutional rights from state DMVs to a private corporation. All that is accomplished is that the federal government supercedes states powers and states’ systems for issuing driver's licenses.

The there is the uncanny question in my mind as to why I have not heard anything about REAL ID in the newspapers or on television anywhere? Where is the open discussion on the side of liberty? All this does is help to establish an Orewllian Police State since in October 2004 the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act became law and established and put in place new security measures for driver's licenses as recommended by the 9/11 Commission Report. Welcome to the inevitable, a National ID is coming and honestly, none of this is required nor does it increase homeland security or illegal immigration. As such, this is a tort of intrusion I cannot live with.

The New Civil Rights Battle

Man, let me make one query, what is the new civil rights battle currently and of the future? No, it is not gay rights, but if you do not have an answer, I will take the liberty to proffer that it is simply to get these fools back in line in the African American community.

See, I was raised in Memphis, and I recant vividly the presence of National Guards on my street telling me I could not go outside and play in my own front yard the night Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. My uncle along with his entire student body cut high school that day and the following day to go down town and wreck some feces. My momma worked at the hospital they took Dr. King to – pronounced dead on arrival. He was transported to the hospital in a bread truck she told me.

Now, unlike in the pass, often the enemy is we and our penchant for self-destructive behavior. Now, we have momma’s stabbing and killing their kids, Momma’s giving their sons guns to go and kill other children and high school coaches taking part in drive-by shootings. Last but not least, there is the presence of the new KKK – so called lyricist in the rap game that promote drug dealing, copulating with other men’s women, disrespect for family bonds and relationships, killing as if life is worthless and material in the form of diamond encrusted watches, teeth, and cars with spinning rims as being more valuable than thought or scholarship in the form of dialectical rumination. Ergo, I submit to you that this is the new battleground for civil rights in our community and that I find myself guilty too, if I cannot get these fools back in line.

Picking and Choosing Sin

Now i am not the churchiest person, or most religious person around, but I do acknowledge right from wrong and doing right to all by the best of my abilities. However, we all know someone or another who is vehement about not committing sin for whatever reason. This is good quality and I admire it. However, there are many folks who do this but seem to pick and chooses their top sin. Some folks may say they will never steal or other may say they living together without being married are sin - or that having sex before marriage is sin. They are correct in all respects; it’s just that it seems disingenuous if these people do other things that are just as sinful. Like getting drunk, having adulterous affairs, being unable to forgive others or even valuing material gains and worldly things more so than the grace of giving and unconditional positive regard to their neighbors.

It just strikes me as funny, that a person who would say that having sex before marriage for example, is sin doesn’t think it a sin to steal, get intoxicated, have affairs with a married person, cannot love their neighbor or all life, would have any hang ups about discussing sin in the first place.

I figure if we gone talk it, walk it and be about it. For when people feel their convictions are holier than others, they loose it all in the big picture and end up being the biggest sinners of all.

Lift up Your Skirt and Find Your Balls

As African American men, we find ourselves in precarious and difficult positions daily in life that the average denizen will never experience. Namely due to social, economic and historical factors, we have a hard job of just maintaining respect and our life. The conundrum is that we are few in many, especially those of us deserving of the title of men.

As it stands, we are a dying breed although many self proclaim the title of being a real per say, man. I just think the aforementioned has a responsibility to his community and family as being one. That includes making to the best of his abilities, a stable living environment free from detrimental factors both in the home and neighborhood. This means being responsible enough to provide and take care of our children and our women. It also entails being able to sustain tolerance for scrutiny, criticism, and plane old meanness that will be directed towards breaking us down.

We should be able to critically make decision that look at our families and communities first, even if they may be to our disliking. We should not desire outcomes such as that which lead to the arrest of former Atlanta Falcon Asley Ambrose who is reported to have pushed his wife in the face and threw a glass vase at her after she responded in self-defense. According to police reports, when she tried to call 911, thge brother of the former falcon, Naim Shakir, 24, "tackled her and held her down while Ashley Ambrose kicked her in the side and hit her in the face, according to the report."


So I guess I state this as challenge to us men who claim to be real but are never there at PTA meetings for our kids, never changing diapers, not treating the women in your lives like queens, being faithful and respecting the relationships and commitments of others. More importantly, it means if you cannot do any of these things, then lift up your skirt and find your balls.

The New Freaknic

Yesterday I read the take on the All-star game that was held in Vegas. The perspective was from a man I respect, admire, and actually personified the term student athlete while enrolled at Ball State University – Jason Whitlock. The article was called “Mayhem Main Event at NBA All-Star Weekend.” He suggested that the NBA and the local communities like Atlanta, Houston and Las Vegas have experienced this for years.

He described all star weekend as an “unmitigated failure” and said it was merely a”new millennium Freaknik. I guess the shoe may fit somewhat. After all, I consider myself old school ATL folk and was a participant at each one. Everybody I have talked to that attended the All-star game said they game itself was not the attraction, but mainly talked about the wild parties, the freaky women, folks shooting guns and smell of Purp everywhere. But then again that is what people talk about whenever they go somewhere expecting to have a wild time. Then again, it is Las Vegas, a city that sells itself on the statement “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” They have some responsibility for this also.

Over a three-day period, it is reported that a total of 403 arrests were made by police with a large amount of these being vice-related. Others have stated that 362 people were arrested during the All-Star Game. The say one man was shot at 4 a.m. in the front e of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino as late as Monday and that a brawl broke out around 30 minutes later in a club at the Wynn hotel. NFL player Pacman Jones, Nelly and Jermaine Dupri were at the Minxx Gentlemen's Club. The way I have heard it from news and blog outlets, The Tennessee Titans Cornerback Jones had a bag with $10,000 worth of singles and started to “make it rain” being the College Park Native he is., took the singles out, and threw them in the air all around the club for strippers and patrons. After a few fight broke out, the club owner told him he had to leave. After which one of his boys who was sitting with him while inside went back and started shooting. It was also alleged that by the owner of the strip club that PacMan slammed and punched a stripper before the shootings.

I can expect this from Pacman, given his poor decision-making and penchant for “keeping it real” – really stupid. CBS says that the professional football player was just a “witness to the triple shooting early Monday that left two critically wounded.” The owner of the strip club with the shootings was on the radio saying one of PacMan's crew was the shooter. Also said PacMan slammed and punched a stripper before a bouncer got there and they closed the club all-leading up to the shootings.

Then there was the little altercation between Young Buck and Game. It too occurred durinmg the early morning hours of Saturday (February 17) when Game attended a party hosted by T.I and Jeezy. The event, called The Las Vegas Takeover and was held at the The Ice House Lounge nightclub. All over non sense because Buck got on stage, grabbed a mic and started a freestyle dis of Game on one of Games Tracks [ACTUAL VIDEO HERE]. Security had to hold back Game and his folk escort Buck and rapper Young Jeezy who came together, out of the club.

Now I do not get Mr. Whitlock with his nearly 350 pound self. But he sounds more like ESPN’s Bill Simmons than a brother. Simmions described the event as the “hip-hop Woodstock”. I would expect Mr. Simmions to be afraid but not Mr, Whitlock. I am 6'2" and barely 180 pounds but I am not afraid of anyone. The only thing I am afraid of is not being able to take care of, provide, and protect my family. However, Whitlock basically said that he was afraid of his own folk in 2007. Now I am hard, extremely hard on my folk but I am not afraid of them nor promote to feel uncomfortable or threatened by people that look like me. Mr. Whitlock I still respect you but let’s attempt to expose the problems without stereotyping all our folks. We do need to check our behavior. Especially those behaviors that are self-destructive and artifical and rooted around money defining who we are. However, you have picked the wrong side, and may even be the personification of what Frantz Fanon called “Black Skin White Mask.” I do respect your opinion, I am just not afraid of my own kind.

the kind of guy u take home to momma

I do not know what to make of our incessant acts of violence and disrespect towards one another. This past week was no different. One would figure with all of the festive activities and parties and evens going on around the country.

Around a week ago, Jeezy had a party for the platinum success of his new Album at this swank ATL nightclub. From what my folks tell me, there was little incidence in which a man beat down a young woman. The alleged man is Rodney Hill and he is the boyfriend of soulstress Monica. According to reports, the altercation occurred the night of Young Jeezy’s platinum party in Atlanta, GA at the Velvet Room. They say the party was packed and everybody, especially the women, were pushing and trying to get as close to the gangster rapper Jeezy. Even in the VIP, it was reported that the party area was extremely crowded. It was at this time it is reported that a diminutive woman was said to be standing in front of Monica’s fiancé “Rodney Hill”.

After which, it is said that his glasses were caught in the young woman’s hair and he went into a raging triad while all the time the young woman was apologizing to him. Onlookers who saw the event first hand alleged that Mr. Hill then grabbed her by her hair, pushed her to the floor and started to pound on little momma. It is stated after he beat her up and when the young woman stood up, her eye had been beat shut. It is even said that he wanted or threatened to beat up a friend of the young woman with a bottle. Need I not say that Mr. Hill was not arrested for this act of manliness?

I don’t see how any woman first of all would want to marry a man that beats on women. I do not want to say this is the woman’s fault, for I feel that no man should hit any woman (unless they are giving their daughter a spanking). However, I wonder what was it that lead this woman to be so caught up to see a rapper. One could suspect she was even intrigued by his self-proclaimed thug and gangerstism, which again, I do not see what a woman would find so appealing about a man that purports a propensity and enjoyment for hurting people in his community by killing and selling drugs. I will say that It does not surprise me.

Many of these men have no home training and couldn’t even spell or use the words gentleman or responsible in a sentence. Where were the men at? I mean they so hard and stuff, they should have whipped his ass. Oh, they likely beat on women too. However, women flock to these events I guess in hope of being choose and used by a fool. Even if they know this person via their lifestyle, running back and forth to jail (maybe even prison)will likely always lie, and cheat and be unfaithful and uncaring to his significant other. I would like to think that we can all make the tiny steps to stop this nonsense. However, it seems as if we never will as long as folks like Rodney Hill and Jeezy are the kind of men women want to take home to meet their parents and our little boys want to grow up to be.

Hey Rodney, find a man to beat up on. You can step this way, but I apologize, I don't beat up on women.

who needs counseling more?

Tim Hardaway or

Britney Spears?

obsessed with celebrity

Harvey Wheeler wrote a book called “Beyond the Punitive Society” in which he wrote, “Man is a social insect." This is no more evident in the obsessions, albeit sickly that we have with fame and celebrity. Whether it is a bout the girl from the Mickey mouse club who shaved all of her hair off her head or the preacher who say he aint gay no more or the fat dame who married the 85 year old Jones for his money and died in Florida, it seems that there is a morbid fascination with celebrity that this nigga here cannot fathom.

The real conundrum for me is that I cannot suppurate why one would follow with conviction and seriousiousness beyond the surface interest, these topics. In the African American community, although we don’t get as much TV coverage, the same sickness is evident.

What is all this about I ask? Most folks don’t know what it is like to drop $15,000 In one night a club or in a mall, but yet we seem to follow them in magazine or television, as if they were first Sunday and communion is being served. Many of us would do anything to get an autograph, or to find out what us going on in their personal relationships than handling our own business. We would rather be in a club that a famous rapper is supposed to make an appearance at and having our picture taken with someone famous than to stay at home and cook dinner for our family. All the time, the celebrity in most cases desires to remove themselves from your preoccupation with them. I'm willing to bet if i was on tv or had a hit album or was in a movie I'd havefans and groupies too which is scary on the real.

I worry that this may be some type of new mental disorder, for I feel that too much absorption with celebrity and fame and the desire for such could make the weak minded feel insecure and make them fall into depression or anxiety because they want the same thing.

Folks in the 2003 New Scientist magazine reported that one-third of Americans had what they called "celebrity-worship syndrome". I figure this means that the weak among us idolized people more successful and beautiful than ourselves because we are disappointed with who we are as individuals.

It so bad now that most young men I speak with and ask what they want to do, 9 out of 10 say they want to rhyme. They don’t mention being a scientist, a lawyer, a physician, a coach or a teacher – but rather a rapper. Even the women are caught up in this so much that if they cannot be with someone famous, they wil be with someone who is next to someone famous just for name sake and recognition. This means that even if you are not famous but are associated with someone famous, you have fame as well even though it is artificial. Like Game says in his new song "you wouldn't get far" F'n them rap stars You know who you are..." Maybe this aint nothing to worry about, but you tell me, if we are more concerned with taking a picture with someone famous or wanting to be a rapper more so than a politician or businessman, then what does that say about the future of our community – enquiring minds would like to know.

Sacraligi-Fried

The other day was Valentines Day. I did not have real one or at least no volunteers. Sure, I had the wishes for a happy V-day, but that is another story. Not to mention the murderous vicar St. Valentine was not my idea of the kind of man that should be venerated by holiday.

Any who, son spent the day with his mom and aunt. I have truly raised a fine young man. So I pick up baby girl from the sitter and head for the house. I was already as usual, hungry than a motherfucker. I start peeling some potatoes and stewing them in a skillet and cooking some green beans and Crowder peas. Next, I pulled out that black cast iron skillet my mom gave me and loaded it with Crisco. I had seasoned the pork chops that morning when I was coking breakfast. I cooked breakfast every morning because I noticed it is a lot easier to get my son out of the bed with the smell of bacon than with my voice.

So as I start to fry the pork chops, I can only smile as the aroma saturates the air. Lil Momma is right up under me, so I have to leave the kitchen because she will grunt incessantly as food cooks until I give her something to put in her mouth. When all is ready, I realize that there is no bread in the house. I am like severely disturbed at this time, because what is the use of having any fried food – especially pork chops and or chicken, when you have no bread. So I did not worry, I went and looked on the side of the refrigerator where I knew I had stashed a loaf of white bread. But it was gone too. It was sacrilegious for me to have all that good food, and meat soaked up with hot sauce, and no bread, not even white bread to sop up the hot sauce and pot liquor with. So I say this just to point out, always have bread in the crib, especially if u a meat eating, hot saucing, house shoe wearing country boy as my self - anything else would be sacraligi-Fried.

i didnt have no valentine yesterday except 1

and she loved it