comedy i couldnt make up

Tavis Smiley calls in Tom Joyner calling out Sharpton and others for being blind Obama followers.

Al Sharpton calls in to the show and says Tavis was "buck dancing" for the Clintons...

Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley go at it head-to-head this afternoon:

Cant we agree to disagree?

mark of the beast

One of the benefits of being the President of the United States of America, if time is on your side is stacking the United States Supreme Court. Obama has made one move with a Latino woman but he may have the chance to put another one on giving John Paul Stevens, the senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is 90 years of age. He joined the Supreme Court in 1975 and may not have that many years to live.

My concern is that I think Obama will put a man in office that scares the ish out of me - Cass Sunstein. Obama has been linked very closely to Sunstein since their faculty days at the University of Chicago law school and has appointed him to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), His job is to mainly to put in place regulations to protect health, safety and the environment but history has shown us otherwise, but that is besides the point.

He is a major proponent of cost-benefit analysis as the basis for assessing regulations, even though mathematically it is not precise and can be easily manipulated to support what ever policy is retro chic. For example, it was he who used such an approach to develop his "senior discount" method for undervaluing the lives of seniors with respect to health care. He has even asked that popular or partisan websites to be FORCED to carry links to opposing viewpoints; something I will never do, could you imagine neo-Nazis and white supremist posing on my blog? Taking this farther, he even wants mandatory "electronic sidewalks" for cyberville. He would like a "notice and take down" law that would mandate bloggers and service providers to "take down falsehoods upon notice," even if they are made by commenter’s.

In a 2008 Harvard Law paper called "Conspiracy theories" Sunstein suggested that the government should ban conspiracy theorizing asserting to me that he does not desire for individuals to think independently or ask questions if it is against the body politic of who is in control of the government.

His position is that unrestrained individual choice if not controlled or regulated by the government is dangerous and must balanced in the interests of "citizenship" and "democracy." He stated that “a system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government. Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not to be rejected in freedom's name." Unlike the most of us, he see’s the internet as dangerous and that the Internet is destroying the ability for the masses to have shared social experiences.

He also is against using what is called the "precautionary principle" as a basis for regulating environmental which he would like to give the "benefit of the doubt," over possible health and safety concerns of the public. If you have read Sunstein's new book, "On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done,"

He is concerned that in the future,” people’s beliefs” will be are a “product of social networks working as echo chambers in which false rumors spread like wildfire."
Sunstein suggest that the current libel standard - which requires proving "actual malice,” even if one blogger or news paper, that we should even be held responsible even for what people who comment on or blog say, this is true even for web service providers.

Cass Sunstein is a scary mother shut your mouth and I don’t believe that many folk even know or care are even up on folk, his writings, his papers, his belief or his policies. If you are not, then you need to be – he is the antithesis of liberty in word, belief and practice. Although he claims to be a progressive, he is more of a regressive to me. So take my advice and don’t be surprised if he is the folk Obama select to take the place of John Paul Stevens on the United States Supreme Court. And if does, there will be a real mark of the beast on America.

The new white folk – us

In 1954, 0n may 17 The United States Supreme Court announced its unanimous decision regarding the historic Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case. The case specifically targeted the doctrine of “separate but equal”. Thurgood marshall used social science to note the negative impact on the mental and psychological well being of African American students as well as the noted inferiority of the schools that African Americans were forced to attend. His purview was that such school segregation violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. One significant point of evidence was evinced by Dr Kenneth Clark and his wife. Called the doll test, Dr. Clark showed how segregation impacts African American children. In his words:

"I presented these dolls to them and I asked them the following questions in the following order: "Show me the doll that you like best or that you'd like to play with," "Show me the doll that is the 'nice' doll," "Show me the doll that looks 'bad'," and then the following questions also: "Give me the doll that looks like a white child," "Give me the doll that looks like a colored child," "Give me the doll that looks like a Negro child," and "Give me the doll that looks like you." By Mr. Carter: Q. "Like you?" A. "Like you."

His results showed “that of the children between the ages of six and nine whom I tested, which were a total of sixteen in number, that ten of those children chose the white doll as their preference; the doll which they liked best. Ten of them also considered the white doll a "Nice" doll. And, I think you have to keep in mind that these two dolls are absolutely identical in every respect except skin color. Eleven of these sixteen children chose the brown doll as the doll which looked "bad." This is consistent with previous results which we have obtained testing over three hundred children, and we interpret it to mean that the Negro child accepts as early as six, seven or eight the negative stereotypes about his own group." This was a while back, a time before many of us were born, however there is a similar behavior however it is self directed.

It used to be that the forces of racism were the main culprits of the problems that many African American Currently, there are many trends in behavior that denote some of us are regressing. One such trend is young men calling themselves goons and thugs and gangsters and women calling them Barbie – a white doll. Now some have considered my presentation of such as petty, non-sensorial and even as bull shit. However I disagree. True it may be younger folk doing such but that does not abrogate my responsibility to point out what I perceive needs to be discussed.

It is as if one should not attended to unemployment just because they have a job; or not be concerned about high dropout rates among African American males because their son is graduating and going to college. I suggest that we have lost our way and that our behavior from self –hate, to being self absorbed and materialistic is akin to the manner in which white folks treated use decades past. They were the one that made us feel less than equal; they were the ones who used violence on us; they were the ones that made laws that made it a crime punishable by death to learn to read; they were the ones who considered black as vile and ugly. Not any more for today it is us. We make ourselves feel less if we don’t have certain material to define us; we sing about beating killing and shooting our own kind in popular music as if it is acceptable behavior and even parade it on television via videos and on the radio as if it proffers a benefit to our community; we no longer read and if we do in many cases it is about gossip and/or celebrity and now we proclaim ourselves to be representatives of white beauty, at least some of us with the use of fake hair and proclamations of the aforementioned. Why not Kendra, I mean the black doll has a name – or is it that even today – we associate with the white doll over the black one?

Even today what Dr. Clark noted still occurs. Now I don’t care nor am I trying to ruffle any feathers, however I will not separate myself from acknowledging or trying to openly discuss things that may be detriments to our community. It is sad that folks get defensive and prefer to attack the messenger than accept and think about problem solving. If we should have learned anything from Martin Luther King Jr., it should be tolerance of the opinions of others. He encouraged open discussion and the promulgation of thought as opposed to self-destruction when he wrote "A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan” and “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." 459 years latter and we still got major problems folk and we too weak to accept, point out or even acknowledge them. And as such, we may as well put on them white robes for how are we any different from the KKK?

same ole same ole

Ok I’m back, sorry have a lot on my plate but not enough to prevent a simple jactitation on the current President of the United States and his Cronies. Now I know we all know this is Black history month, a month in which we should I figure be trying to focus on education or even bring to the fore, past wrongs in an attempt to correct them.

If you did not know, this is the 100 year anniversary of the legendary Jack Johnson and James Jeffries fight which occurred during the summer of 1910. Born in Galveston, Texas in 1878 as Arthur John Johnson, he was the first African man to win the heavyweight boxing championship of the world. His life was one of hardship. His family lost all they owned in the great Hurricane of 1900 and he was arrested in Texas for boxing since it was against the law and considered a blood sport. Before becoming Champion of the world, Jim Jeffries refused to fight him because he was black. However Johnson went to Australia and defeated Tommy Burns to win the title in 1908 which forced Jeffries to fight him if he desired the title. After Johnson put the smack down on Jeffries (the first great white hope), folk lost their minds. There were race riots; the Texas state legislature even banned the showing of films of his victory. The only thing that could be employed to “handle” Johnson were Federal laws – mainly the Mann Act, of which he was charged for transporting white women across state lines for “immoral purposes” – a charge that was completely false. The original name of the Mann Act was the “White Slave Traffic Act”. In 1913, he was imprisoned as were many other African men to follow including Chuck Berry.

Sen. John McCain and House Rep. Peter King last year pushed a resolution through the Senate and House of asking for President Obama to pardon Johnson. However, Obama’s head of the Justice Department, Eric Holder and staff said no, suggesting they do not “traditionally” pardon dead folk compared to people "who can truly benefit" from a pardon. Truth is that Bill Clinton pardoned Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1999, who was wrongly accused of embezzlement and G.W. Bush pardoned Charlie Winters in 2008 for illegally selling planes to Israel during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.

Strange to me that Obama is always talking about change, but his actions seem to continue the problematic approaches to politics that we have seen historically by folks trapped inside the beltway. So Mr. President, Pardon Jack Johnson, because for some strange reason, I thought you ran on a mantra of change, not the same ole same old.

ATL-BOS & BOS-PHI-BWI-ATL

Ok will start back blogging in a few: Below is why I was in 5 airports in 3 days. I hate snow. All these were taken at my hotel at BWI at 1245 in the am after i found out all flts to ATL were canceled.

eleventy seven reporters reporting on nothing

As you may have noticed I have not posted a blog in more than a month, not that I was not writing or thinking but because I lost my grandmother a few days before Thanksgiving and my aunt, my mother’s eldest sister, who lived with my granny a few days before Christmas – add that to trying to keep my business opened, I have been extremely occupied. However this week, while at a restaurant, I was able to see the news coverage regarding Haiti. I also saw some of the coverage while over my daughters God parent’s house.

Now it is a very sad conundrum, the aftermath of the Earthquake. Seeing people dead in the streets, maimed, injured and dying is enough to make ones flesh crawl. It was devastation that I could not imagine. Now with that said, I don’t want folks to take this the wrong way albeit I don’t care – but what good is relief and news coverage if it only parades folks for the purpose of individual attention and ratings. What little I saw gave me this opinion and this as a man who has worked in places all over Africa stopping infectious disease pandemics in small rural communities. When I see news folk broadcasting, all I can think is that they may be sorry but really don’t care and that they really acting, just like the major relief groups as well. Unfortunatelly our government places more importance on getting military troops on the ground than physicians. And then there are the media pundits.

They ask questions as if the folk in Haiti could have dealt with this not recalling that the last Earthquake to occur was some 200 years ago. Then they stand over folks and as opposed to presenting news they present commentary. Figure if they really cared they would be sleeping in the fields with the folk they covering instead of hotels, and being out removing rubble instead of taking pictures and showing make-believe I care faces. Then there is the issue of not know history. Reporters never speak of how Woodrow Wilson and the US occupied Haiti in 1915, or how we basically killed folk on site, or how Bill Clinton continued the same Progressive political approach of Woodrow Wilson. And yep, I’m not in support of progressives for around the world they feel that folks can’t solve their own problems and prefer to interfere and mess things up and ex post facto blame the targets. We forget that Haiti was made poor by the French and even US who did not even recognize them as a sovereign nation on until 1862. We neglected them then for years and now we blame them and don’t even see how we made them or accept that we made the one of the four poorest nations on the globe. And I won’t even mention all this talk about orphans and having folks in America on TV looking sad because they can’t get the kid they wanted to adopt – when these same folks don’t even want to adopt black kids in their own backyard.

Yep, this is why I don’t watch TV news – they will pass anything over as objective information and we are too ignorant to see that what is presented is neither objective nor information but rather conjecture empty of historic perspective. Cut your TV folks, they making you make yourselves slaves. We should see that there is enough research on Earthquakes and their impact historically to act as if this is a new thing and we have to study to help folk on the ground – humbug. I wonder what else is really going on in the world, cause it aint being covered given eleventy-seven news reporters are all occupied with Haiti.

IDF runs over babies with tanks

y i dont watch tv news #5

1] Study: TV may perpetuate race bias

2] Israel stripped body organs of Palestinians

3] Police expect Mumbai style attack in London

4] Obama ordered military strike in Yemen

5] Saudi Air raid kills 54 civillians in Yemen

6] States get more time to comply with Real ID

7] Drug Giant General Electric uses libel law to gag doctors

8] China: The world does not have money to buy more US Treasuries

9] NYC cuts off section 8 Vouchers (lack of funding)

10] New HP web cam does not recognize black faces

Rosa Lee Ingram (1938-2009)

Ironic is that today marks my 700th post, however I am not writing about what I may have wanted to. In 2008 I lost my Granny Hazel, the woman that taught me that with the use of kindness and a smile, you could chop a person up like Hannibal Lecter. This year, a few days before my Granny Virgie’s Birthday, I lost her; the woman who gave me the backbone to know and not think I was great and should only lead as opposed to follow or be successful. This Morning, at 243 am central time, I lost my aunt Rosa Lee, my granny Virgie eldest daughter and my mom’s big sister, less than a month after my granny’s death; she taught me how to read and the value thereof.

My Granny Virgie the week before thanksgiving and now my aunt Rosa, basically a week before Christmas. Now my mother has on sister left. She lost her brother, my uncle who was the baby in 2004. I remember that day for I found him in his bed. Which means out side of the last two in our family matriarch, I am the eldest man remaining with four other in my generation remaining, with two of us, my cousin and myself having two kids each.

The last time I saw my Aunt it was during my Granny’s funeral in Memphis, I drove her in her Cadillac to the service. She was in good spirits seeing that she had lived with my Granny all of her life and that her sisters including mom had been taking care of her. It was if a burden had been lift to live her life again. I just didn’t know it would be the last time I saw her. She was the first to go to college in my family – Rust in Mississippi where she studied education and became a teacher with a focus on reading education. She was so dedicated that in Memphis, in the late 50’s, she was arrested for using a library that was meant for whites only. In fact I remember seeing that picture of her and her friends from the newspaper in several history books.

My Granny was married when she was 16 and had my Aunt Rosa when she was 17. She was married to my grandfather until the day he died. She used to tell me that they married for peanut butter - meaning that they would be together even if they had to eat just peanut butter. Which is one reason I may not have a wife as of yet because of the standard she imprinted in my mind at a young age. I think that is why she and aunt Rosa Lee were so close, being only 17 years apart, they were more like sisters.

Although she was 71, I never looked at her as being old. But guess she was, I used to hate being a little kid having to go with her to Helen of Memphis where my family bought all of their fur coats or to Nelson Endicott – our family jeweler. I would only remember being the only boy and us the only blacks in those places at that time. When my mother called me this morning I knew she was gone and could not sleep the entire night before her call after she told me the Doctor’s said she had fluid on the lungs and my mom said she had stopped eating. I was supposed to call her that night; my mom felt like my Granny, she would start to eat again if I asked her to do so. I did not make the call and did not get the chance to hear her voice again. Now the Klan is down to eleven in the bloodline.

I just want to tell my aunt, who corrected my speech each time I mad a mistake that love her and want to remind folks of what is really important and that is the love that is evinced between the families. No bond is greater and no gift is equal to that of giving someone special a piece of your heart. I am hurting but I am still blessed for having the family unit that have. I have learned that love is unconditional through them and gifts of such are forever. For they love me and love all that I love. I will take that to my grave because no one can love your for real, if they do not love the things you love and for me that is one thing – my family.

i aint mad - maybe i should b a whitehouse servant

$172,2000 – Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)

$140,000 – Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$113,000 – Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)

$102,000 – Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$90,000 – Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$84,000 – Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

$75,000 – Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$70,000 – Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$65,000 – Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

$62,000 – Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$60,000 – Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

$52,500 – Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

$50,000 – Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

$45,000 – Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)

$40,000 – Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$36,000 – Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)

Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)