you not gone leave me are you poppa

As a parent, a father, there is only a few things we desire to see with respect to our children, namely to smile and be happy. Last night I was placed in a difficult position. I was leaving the shop with my son and we stopped by the co-op in our county. It is not like the regular grocery store since they only buy and sell what is provided by farmers and growers I our area. I only stopped to get some prime rib, to cook and some potato bread since we only had one loaf left.

As soon as I turn the corner I saw my daughter and her mother, or should I say my daughter with her Patty Labelle-esque lungs saw me. She let it be known that she saw me calling “Daddy and Biti, I wanna go with daddy” at the top of her lungs. This on one of the days she was with her mother since I teach two Statistics classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at a local University. I attempted to calm her down when she asked me to hold her and pick her up, and indicated that she wanted to go with me. I knew that she would not be able to go home tonight and I suspected she did to for she followed me up and down each isle with me, as she asked me “are we going home?”

Now for some reason, my daughter considers my house our house. Well not for some reason, I know why and it is because I have basically raised her our entire life until over the past several months when her mother started to step up to the plate. She since birth has been with me basically every day, morning and night. I potty trained her; I cooked for her and took her to school with me when I taught and even taught classes with her sleep in my arms as I lectured. We were at every baseball, basketball and football game my son had; not to mention with me each day as I was building out my store for dogs.

And although her mother saw her as a burden, and loved to party and hit the streets during the first two and a half years of her life, I do acknowledge that she loves her daughter. But I also must admit that if my daughter had a preference she would not spend one ounce of time with her. That alone saddens me. For she needs her mother as much as she needs her father.

Jones mane, you don’t know how I felt; like a coward, hurrying up to pay for our purchase to get out of the store so my daughter would not see me. As I was at the register, I could still hear her back by the dairy section calling me, saying to the top of her lungs I want my daddy.

By the time I got home, her mother had called. I called her back. She told me that she was still crying and asking for me although I could hear her in the background. As I spoke to her she calmed down a little but any answer short of me not coming to get her then was not gonna be accepted. I told her I would get her the next day and she said “come and get me now poppa, I don’t like mommy’s house, I wanna come home. When you get me, you not gone leave me?”

If I could, I would have preferred to die and kill myself as opposed to hear her pain. In the car my son was even sad, asking why we don’t just take her with us. I had no answer, but I do know now why she hugs be so tight, and grabs me whenever we are together, and more importantly why she always ask “You not gone leave me are you poppa?”

Addendum: Post #600 and If I don’t like and vehemently speak out about the Court Opinions of Clarence Thomas, is that Thomas bashing, and does that mean I am not supporting another black man? If not, why is such called Obama bashing if one disagrees with his policies?

Jedi knight – not

Didn’t see the President on TV last night, nor did I see the GOP response. I did contrive the time to read both in between the teaching of my Statistics I and Statistics II classes. Reading the President speech, I can only describe it as rah-rah and floetical if such is a word. I heard plans, but not really more than I have heard already. I would have like to hear more specifics, in particular regarding seed money for small business (80%) of US new job growth historically, more on why he decided not to mandate all mortgage companies to accept his plan as law, a little on what laws he would repeal to keep shit like this from happening again, and how out right crooks, whether in Big Business, Banks, and Wall Street would be held accountable via prison. In summary, I don’t buy what I read, I mean he advances the concept that government can solve all of our problems but at the same time says he don’t support a bigger government – which his plan demands. I was hoping to read that President Obama had discussed in detail his plan – but he did not.

But that is not why I am writing this. What really got under my nerves was the response from the 38 year old GOP representative for cathode Ray tube time - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. On the one hand he dogs Obama’s proposal (as I do) with respect to big government but at the same times talks big government talk asserting that the federal government should mandate energy efficiency and alternative and renewable fuels,

He also addressed health care, saying to a certain extent that there is no role for the government in health care; suggesting that universal government run health care would be bad for the economy when the truth is that jobs are going over seas because other countries do not require for businesses to pay health care benefits for their workers.

Jindal as most Republicans just do not get it. In fact, what I read would suggest that the Democrats don’t either, but more so the GOP. They need to accept that the politics of the Regan area, the politics that started this economic crisis, are over and done and that they should stick a fork in them. It has taken 30 years but them days are finally over. And for Jindal to imply that the President’s budget plan is irresponsible, without reading it is scary to me. Not to mention all this talk of tax cuts, for the wealthy, as opposed to not for all boarders on being foul. What’s wrong with all Americans paying their fair share of taxes? Now that’s a thought.

I don’t know what Steele, or any of the GOP saw in Jindal except for the fact he is young, an ethnic minority, and can’t speak assertively (from the transcript I read). For certain, he ain the Jedi Knight they desire for him to be.

writer - me

My folk at morphological confetti tagged me. Yep, I know i hate tags and said I wasn't gone do one. Butterah, this was cool with me. Im supposed to list my 25 writers that have influenced me the most. Outside of #1, no particular order.

1. Voltaire
2. Albert Camus
3. Leo Tolstoy
4. Countee Cullen
5. Nella Larsen
6. Chekih Anta Diop
7. Carroll Quigley
8. Anais Ninn
9. Leibnz
10. IceBerg Slim
11. Carter G. Woodson
12. Anton Chekhov
13. Alexander Dumas
14. Fredrick Douglass
15. Geoffrey Chaucer
16. Trey Ellis
17. Malcolm X
18. Thomas Jefferson
19. Pablo Neruda
20. Martin Luther King, Jr.
21. Sterling Brown
22. Langston Hughes
23. Maya Angelo
24. Anthony Burgess
25. Tsitsi Dangarembga

Now: the rich house, capacity 4 private eyes, Write for life, kitty cleopatra, ms lady deborah, thermopylae hillbilly, keith's space, the portia diaries, star the barbie, limited means, promenade, imperfectly perfect, y paisley, mac daddy, BuelahMan's, joi, yasmeen christian, the socialite, assertive wit, Villiager and glamazon-og – tag yawl it.

from russia with no love

Now although I could talk loot, like how J.C. Penny’s profit fell 51% last quarter, or how Lowe’s profit fell 60% last quarter, or even how down here in Georgia, more than 120,000 folk filed for unemployment benefits in January – I won’t. Instead something else caught my eye while reading my favorite Russian News daily -the Kommersant.

Kyrgyzstan, which is located in Asia in between Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and China, just kicked out the only representative of the United States military in the region. Manas Air Force Base, which may be our closest military base to Russia, will be no longer in about 6 months. The base is only about 8 or 9 years old and formed ex post facto to 911. Not that this is an indication of how the new administration relationship with Russia will be in the future (which it is) or the fact that Russia flexing will continue to be a thorn in the side of America’s foreign policy objectives (which it is), but more so how this will play with respect to the administrations locution concerning Afghanistan. Manas was most likely our major supply hub to troops in Afghanistan. The President of this small nation,Kurmanbek Bakiyev made his announcement ironically right after the Russian government agreed to give his country $2.1 billion in economic aid.

As we read and twit and blog and type, the war in Afghanistan is growing and becoming more out of control each day. President Obama stated last week that an additional 17,000 troops are on their way to Afghanistan. Which is strange to me when the current President of the country, Hamid Karzai, was not involved in the decision to add more troops into his country? However, he was “informed of the deployments via a telephone call from Obama” on February 17.

I do not know what to anticipate with respect to the new administration approach to Afghanistan. I do hope that they do more than just chase the Taliban around the country back and forth; to and from Pakistan. Meaning he cannot continue the Bush approach, for Bush was so busy palling up with the former military dictator/president of Pakistan that he dropped the ball on Russia. And as of now, it seems as if Obama has been so enthralled, that he has over looked Russia as the player they are on the world stage, especially in their own backyard
A while back I wrote that Obama has to do some serious consideration to his dealings with Russia, specifically that Russia “may be the first head bump for Jones… Russia (Putin) is making a fat cat move to buy allegiance from Latin American states that are right in our own backyard. Plus they mad because of our decision to deploy elements of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. So as a result, they have decided to place some similar equipment in Cuba – or so they say." That was then, now he cock blocking with respect to US war efforts in Afghanistan. I can’t wait, for this will make for some good opinion editorials from Jones here.

Monkey see, monkey do

Is it possible for any sound logical mind to hope with any success to guide crowds by the aid of reasonable counsels and arguments, when any objection or contradiction, senseless though it may be, can be made and when such objection may find more favor with the people, whose powers of reasoning are superficial? Men in masses and the men of the masses, being guided solely by petty passions, paltry beliefs, traditions and sentimental theorems, fall a prey to party dissension, which hinders any kind of agreement even on the basis of a perfectly reasonable argument. Every resolution of a crowd depends upon a chance or packed majority, which, in its ignorance of political secrets, puts forth some ridiculous resolution that lays in the administration a seed of anarchy.

The aforementioned quote is supposedly from a book by the Learned elders of Zion. Now I did not want to waste my limited prowess on the subject of a cartoon, but I will. It seems to me that as a people, even as a nation many of us have our priorities all backwards.

I’m sorry if a cartoon of a monkey being shot, even if it alludes too, or is about The President of our United States doesn’t offend me. But It does not and I would be a coward or remiss if I did not express how I feel. I am not a follower, I am a free thinker, and as such, I can respect the opinions of others, but I can not respect folks being intolerant of the views of others with such vehemence that we get stuck on words or images. The truth is it did not offend me, I read the stimulus bill and I know that the folks shooting the gun were not whites, but the GOP (shooting holes into the stimulus plan.) The Chimp was not the President it was the STIMULUS plan, a plan that only a fool will think that the President wrote word for word. Second. If the cartoon did not exist or was never published, it is as if folks think that the same thoughts by the same people would not exist? I wish the sheepeople (thanks Buleman) would pull they head out of their ass. Me I see more important things to address than a cartoon: HIV and CVD rates in my community, massive illiteracy and even the rate at which folks that look like me are incarcerated. Bet you by golly wow that folks in the federal and state prisons think that massive incarceration (theirs) is more important and deserves as much if not more attention than what we as a collective are giving to a cartoon. Shit, draw your own cartoon – use McCain, Bush or who ever and if it is funny and a parody I will laugh. For real though.

This aint about what we know – yes racism exist in America and if one needs a cartoon to show them that, they have been lost long before this. I bet half the folk who upset, if not more, aint read the stimulus bill, let alone picked up, read or subscribe to the New York Post. Truth is that for some of us, it is easier for us to fuss, point fingers and blame than to put in work and act - sad aint it folk?

As I have quoted on Twitter,” Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” - Sun Tzu. I am the victor for ignoring what is not me. I am not a monkey and don’t see myself as such. Now if the monkey was hanging from a tree with a noose around its neck, then I would concur limited anger for a noose would not be funny to me based on our history of lynching folk like me up in this camp. But it wasn’t.

We don’t say a word about Mr. Robert Stanford(who gave 31K to Obama and 28K to McCain) taking $9.2 Billion from Latino’s and African American poor people. Nope, we don’t say shit about that but we will a cartoon. When I am in Africa fighting the spread of disease regardless of parasitic or infectious, I am many times the only person of my color doing so. When I am in the PTA at my children’s school, I am the only man of my color doing so and has been as such for years, when I am in prisons attempting to keep folk that look like me from going back to prison, I am the only one that is doing so.

So peel that banana and ask yourself who is the real monkey, cause some have fallen from the bait. And as we know bait is merely a distraction from the really real. Fish take it because it is a lure and not the real food they require for daily sustenance. So yawl can **** a phalus mane, cause folk here don’t get down like that and will never allow himself to fall for the okie doke. And just because you did, don’t get emotional because I select not to bite. If I am a fish, I’d rather see you get pulled out of the water and stuffed on a wall or placed on someone’s grill. Not me mane.

thought amnesty (2.19.09)

Ok don't have to think today just a few pics. But first:

Point of order: 1] someone explain to me how we can get upset over a cartoon talking about stimulus bill, using a dead monkey, but we aint read bill cartoon is mocking?

2] Shouts out to Obama, for taking some suggestions I made last year: (A)

• For the Banks and wall street: Mandate they use the money to erase the balance of all outstanding student loans. This would be one way to foster consumer spending.
• As opposed to buying toxic assets and injecting capital, for banks, next time you may consider really attempting to stop home foreclosure rates by buying 35% of are the mortgages in America. You don’t have to purchase the entire mortgage for that will only assist 4 to 5 million of the 50 million across the country. This would make payments manageable, improve equity in said homes. And please just don’t use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; make them for all home lenders. All one would need is a standard agreement (as the Treasury made with Banks) for people to apply. This would be the best foreclosure mitigation approach from my view.

3] We had a hail storm - enjoy (pic on the farm)

Crack’s evil twin

Over the past few years I have provided warnings as well as proffered my personal view of how this current economic mess started. It was a terse recapitulation of some of the historical events I have personally considered to be the root at the problem. By doing so, it reminded me of the crack epidemic that started in the 1980s. As you may or may not know, Crack cocaine is a form of cocaine derived from powder cocaine. Since it would result in the form of a rock and could be smoked providing a quick high, it dramatically increased the numbers of Americans addicted to cocaine. Based on what I know about crack and substance abuse in general, the effects of Crack are similar to those of another C-word, CREDIT.

Now I am the first to talk about the massive debt, accrued via credit with respect to our US Government, both at the federal and State level. In fact, as of 2008, our total GDP was near or around 13 trillion, however our combined credit market debt was about 53 trillion. This is foul, but even worse are the habits that we regular old citizens practice. America has gone into debt unlike any other country.

It seems that we are no longer citizens, but rather consumers. Looking at credit cards alone, on average we owe about $971 billion. This is about, $3,100 of credit card debt per person, or $8,299 per household. This doesn’t even include non-revolving debt, like loans for auto, and other things. Our non-revolving debt is estimated to be $1.617 trillion, or about $5,200 per person ($13,800 per household).

To put it simply, we spend more than we save and in fact, our savings nationally have declined and at a negative level (about 2.0%) for the first time in our modern era of government. This means that if as a country we have negative savings, that we supplement what we don’t have from the surplus savings other nations have abroad, for other countries save more than we do in general. This is a result of several factors, namely folks living beyond their means. Just as our government borrows to hold lavish wars and purchase debt from big Wall Street banks, so do we the American people.

I can say the debt that we have amassed collectively has seemed to increase at a staggering rate since we came off the gold standard in the 1970s and again because of poor behaviors practiced across all segments of our economy. From credit cards, to the collateralization of debt, complex swaps and derivatives and other toxic papers.

At this point in time, at the corporate level alone, we have the most corporate-debt defaults, by dollar amount, in history. Some have even speculated that companies are poised to default on more than $500 billion of corporate bonds/bank loans over the next few year’s years. And why? Well I know no one asked me but it is simple due to people at all levels as stated earlier not being economically responsible. In 1991 we saved on average 7.3% of our income per household. As of 2007, this had declined to about 0.6%. We cannot continue this behavior for it means we will be living off of the surplus saving of other nations the likes of China and Japan. Politicians can only do so much, if anything about our current economic prospectus. Again it is on us. Because the way I see it, we may as well be smoking crack, for credit to me is its evil twin, and just as damaging and addictive. So Mr. Obama, you too need to put that pipe down, or at least tell me who and where you borrowing all this money we dont have from.

Who'd a thunk?

I always wanted to know what would be the prospects of a civil war, on these shores, in my lifetime. I mean, I wasn't around then nor was there a media outlet that could broadcast the gory war details on the cathode ray tube each night at 6pm. But after reading Hell's leading daily, and a few more links including FiredogLake, I have gotten giddy over the prospects, and of all places, California. I won't write about it from the perspective the aforementioned did, but I would like to add my own twist.

Seems that if civil wars will ever happen again up in this camp, it will be on the state level where counties try to succeed and form their own state. Now don't laugh, I'm bneing objective. It seems as if farmers in California, mad at the passing of the animal rights initiative called Proposition 2. It passed mainly because voters in the high-population counties couldn't think of putting themselves in the shoes of farmers when compared to the shoes of pet owners. It is kind of backwards to me to let folks who don't own or run farms to vote on them. You don't ask folks who are not having surgery if the person who is having surgery should, especially if they are awake and competent. But what do I know, I'm a country boy who owns an 11 acre farm.

Yes farmers, the backbone of grocery stores, restaurants, and deli's feel that "if they can't appreciate agriculture they should live without it. They belive that there should be two states : the 45 interior counties come together as a separate state and 13 costal counties being another. In their words, the farmers that is, by letting "the mass numbers of farm uneducated city dwellers dictate farm policy is committing agricultural suicide."

I don't know about you, but regardless of it being political, or agricultural, this shows me that the economic times in our country are manifesting themselves in ways never imagined. I'd like to see a civil war, the civil war of California fought on TV – cool, huh. It may gone a long way to take some of the air out of the social revolt that may be in the edge of occurring with the state sending out IOU's instead of tax refunds. Who'd a thunk?

And they’re off

Point of Order: Ok first off to Ensayn Reality for bringing his folk to the shop, having a glass of grape, his folk spending loot and supporting free enterprise.

I don’t know if I am the only one noticing, but doesn’t the folk around Obama seem to be taciturn, and maybe in disagreement of the manner in which he has so far addressed foreign policy and the economy? I mean in his own administration. First the Vice President statement that "there's still a 30 percent chance we're going to get it wrong." Then there were the two days of bumbling starring Tim Geithner on the Hill. The former New York Federal Reserve president, who looked the opposite way of Wall Street and all the breakneck and feckless behavior that has our economy where it is today; as well as the man who had a major role in letting Lehman Brothers fail, is looking more each day as incompetent in his ability to both make any decisive economic action, let alone serve as the point guard for Obama's economic proposals.

Now I won’t lie this at Obama’s feat, since the only part he had in it as an enabler was signing that first bail out bill. But as I have indicated above, I can at Mr. Geithner. What I can do is with Obama is study his plans, which seem to me a bunch of Malarkey, especially for a man so insightful with respect to history. Geithner basically threw the Obama administration under the bus basically asserting that they had no plan in place for the economy – which is really Geithner’s job description. Just like it seemed when The Vice President said what he said. I just wonder if Obama, didn’t expect this, seeing we knew whit Biden thought of Jones two years ago?

This is one reason I, as in a prior post by comment suggested and agreed with several readers that the current President is more akin to FDR to me than Lincoln. I would have hoped that this revisiting of the great depression would have been coupled with examine the position of Hans Morgenthau. Sixty years ago Morgenthau published Politics Among Nations, which systematized the notion of political realism. It was based on his experiences as the treasury Secretary for FDR. Morgenthau admitted that the New Deal approach of spending did not work and was short term; that no amount of spending at the government level helped in the long run. He admitted:

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong ... somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises ... I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... And an enormous debt to boot!" [Source]

I have basically decided to respectfully disagree with the Obama approach. I was down before any plan or non plan was presented. But what got me was what he said during his economic press conference February 9, 2009 “At this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.” He had said something similar a month ago on January 8, 2009. It was the government that got us in this mess. It will only be solved by us on the ground, by saving, buying from one another and insisting that they stop shelling out loot for the sake of spending. It took us years, decades to get into this and most likely ten years to get us out of this mess - if the FDR years are any teacher.

As of now I expect it will be us on the ground, the foot solders that feel the brunt of our economic woes. For they seem to be jockeying for position in the Obama administration, and doing so on two fronts: the economy and foreign policy. Secretary Clinton is not even in the dog pit yet, but best believe she will soon. We all suspected that the Lincoln cabinet building approach was tenuous and fifty fifty at best. Yep it is on us because they are in the starting gate and they’re off.

when independent is really single

Ok, I digress. This weekend is one of the holidays that I really could give a flying hoppergrass about Valentine’s Day. For one not into celebrating executions of a vicar under the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius II and secondly, it seems to be more focused on selling a few cards, some flowers or a coupla few boxes of candy. Personal;ly I'd replace that holiday with March Madness If I had my way. With that said, I’m gonna talk about relationships based on my limited and personal understanding via my experiences.

First for us men, one word of advice own up to what we do and apologize. And don’t just apologize but mean it from your heart. For I know when I am wrong and that I am adult enough to apologize sincerely for what ever it is. From this I expect to move forward and grow. This is important for women to do as well. Now this is just the perspective of a man with respect to women, so don’t be commenting that “men do it too”, because this is not the nature of this essay. In fact it is because around the blogoverse, I have read so much about women problems with men, that I am doing this as a service to explain how we think.

But what I have learned is that some women do not listening to what a man is saying but more so how they are saying it. For it has been my experience that a considerable corpus of women have selective hearing. It is cool for me to listen, and I may not even say nothing, but sometimes the tone of discussion can be more that of yapping from a combative point of view. But the trick is that if I take this posture, then I am told that I find her intimidating, especially if I decide I do not want to deal with such and leave the situation. This lady's, playing the intimidation card is merely an excuse. Because in most cases, this is the result of issues from a prior relationship. I figure with a new man comes a new attitude. You can’t bring baggage in the past into a new relationship, especially if you are not trying to get to know me as my own person.

Another issue that women must confront if they desire to have a meaningful relationship with a man, is confusing being independent with being single. As an adult, you are supposed to take care of yourself, and be responsible. What I have found out is that they tend to be independent when they don’t have a man but it ends once they are in a relationship or in other words – no longer single. There is a difference and being independent seems to be more of an excuse, just like convincing ones self that men find them intimidating. I mean I don’t feel I am intimidating, but women often tell me I am. Has a man ever told you he found you intimidating? I doubt it, like I said, it is likely he just didn’t want to be with you and one has to get over it and deal with the rejection. Rejection should be a time for a person to evaluate oneself and not a time to make excuses.

I don’t want a woman in my face fussing and hollering in other words. I’m down with a discussion, but yelling at me for some reason is not a form of communication. Thus the importance of leaving the past in the past, in particular if it is based on another relationship.

The last thing I have learned is that communication is essential. Men will say what they mean as well as provide non verbal cues. We do not liked to be rushed into anything, let alone a relationship. As a result we will act accordingly. But even when we say such, it is as if what we desire at that point in time is relegated to being less than what the woman may desire. If I tell you I don’t want to be in a relationship, that we can date and be a friend. Never figured how a woman could make me her boyfriend or claim me with out me not desiring such and stating I don’t want a relationship. This will drive me away. If what I communicate is placed under what you communicate, there is no partnership, no growth and I’m ghost.

All I am saying is that we need to look inside of what we do, what we say if we want to sustain a meaningful relationship with another. Enjoy your candy and flowers and cards – just my two cents from this man, and i aint TD Jakes son-lol.