Let's talk women.

It's tough being a woman in this world of ours. First, the government is checking if women are virgins in Egypt. WTF? How does that work, exactly? Do they literally assault these women and poke around in areas that they have no business being in to see if (sorry folks, hide the kids, I have to get a little graphic here) the hymen is in tact? Virgin checks. And to think, we get pissed off when the po po has seat belt checks in this country.

Then there are those wonderful folks in the Ukraine. All they did was stone a beauty contestant to death because they thought that she was violating Sharia law.

"One of the suspects, identified as 16-year-old Bihal Gaziev, told authorities that he had no regrets about the stoning because the dark-haired Koren “violated the laws of Sharia.”

The teen’s battered body was found buried in the forest near her village in the Crimea section of the Ukraine. She had disappeared a week earlier. " [Source]

Stop the world, I want to get off.

Those were stories of women going through real suffering. But then there is my home girl, Naomi Campbell, girlfriend is crying racism over her image being used for a chocolate promotion.

"Cadbury is facing the prospect of a black consumer boycott after it compared Naomi Campbell to a chocolate bar in a new advertising campaign.

The supermodel - hardly known for taking things in her stride - is incensed that Cadbury used her name in the strap line to promote its new chocolate bar called Bliss, accusing the company of racism. The ad says: "Move over Naomi - there is a new diva in town."

Yesterday Campbell revealed she is considering "every option available" after Cadbury, owned by the US giant Kraft, refused to pull the ad campaign, which ran in newspapers last week: "I am shocked. It's upsetting to be described as chocolate, not just for me, but for all black women and black people. I do not find any humour in this. It is insulting and hurtful.." [Source]

Girlfriend you need to stop it! WTF is "insulting and hurtful" about being compared to chocolate? I am sorry, but the last time I checked chocolate was a good thing. And the darker the chocolate the better it is for you. Hell Mrs. Field and her girlfriends call men they find attractive "chocolate bunnies' (or something like that) for crying out loud. Sorry, I am not exactly seeing the racism here. Maybe they should be breaking you off if they used your image or your name without your permission, but that's a whole different issue.

Naomi, I won't be boycotting Cadbury, and I suspect that I am not alone.

Finally, I hear that Sarah was in my city earlier today. (No truth to the rumor that she was visting the African American Museum.) A little birdie tells me that she was a total Diva and that she was playing boss hog to everyone within earshot.

Still, I hear she had a lot of fans all over the place. Folks were screaming her name wherever she went. Girlfriend is a rock star. Palin v. Obama. We can only wish.

Profiling and smear jobs.

*

I am trying to wind down from my Memorial Day activities and get back into work mode.

I just got home and already my inbox is blowing up with folks behaving badly.

First, a SWAT team in Arizona shoots and kills a decorated Marine because they thought that he was a drug dealer. The man was unarmed.

And then, just to show that Northern states aren't immune from this type of ignorance; the po po in Massachusetts shoots and kills an unarmed 68 year old grandfather in a drug raid. He was not a target of the investigation. (This happened awhile ago, I swear I can't keep up)

Finally, (and this one pisses me off) former NFL star,Warrick Dunn, was profiled and stopped by the po po in Hotlanta because they thought he had the "characteristics of people transporting guns and drugs."

This story pisses me off because-for those of you who don't know- Warrick Dunn's mother was a police officer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and she lost her life in the line of duty while trying to protect and serve her community. Warrick Dunn has done tremendous work in the community while carrying on his mother's legacy, he did not deserve this. Actually, I take that back; no one deserves to be profiled.

Anyway, I am out, I have some work to do around the house. I am going to read more about this latest Andrew Breitbart smear job . If Anthony Weiner is innocent of what he is being accused of (sending a pic of his johnson -via twitter- while it is at full attention to an unsuspecting young lady* ) he better come up with a really good lawyer, pronto.

Thank you!

The following post is a repost of something I posted a little over two years ago after Mrs. Field's sister tragically lost her husband.

Every now and then the sad realities of real life gets in the way of the joy we get from blogging.

A couple of years ago I posted this piece about the war in Iraq and the men (including Mrs. Field's brother in law ) who were putting their butts on the line for all of us.

Joseph Barnaba came home from that war, but he was never the same. The physical injuries he suffered was nothing compared to the emotional ones he had to live with.

Joseph Barnaba was found dead in his home last week. A deadly combination of pills in his system was blamed for his demise. But I think Joseph died long before last week. Joseph, like so many young men before him, came home from a war that he had no right being involved with in the first place. And, sadly, it took its toll on him, his family, and all the people he touched.

Joseph Barnaba was buried on Saturday, far from the battle field where he was first injured. He was a good man, which is more that I can say for the son of a bitch who sent him there in the first place.

To the servicemen and women who put their butts on the line for the rest of us, I say thank you for your service.

Standing on your shoulders.

"You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live."

Thanks for getting it started, Gil!

Sarah, they don't want to roll with you.

It looks like Sarah is rolling out a bus trip this Memorial Day weekend to kick off her campaign.It's called the "One Nation Tour" and she will touch on all of the historic sites. (I hope she has been brushing up on her history. We wouldn't want her visiting the Liberty Bell in Wilmington.)

She also claims that she is going to be rolling with the "Rolling Thunder" folks, just to show what a true red white and blue loving patriot she is. But a funny thing happened on the way to Sarah's hog ride; the "Rolling Thunder" folks say that they didn't invite her.

"She wasn't invited. We heard yesterday she came out with a press release she was coming to Rolling Thunder," Ted Shpak, national legislative director of Rolling Thunder, told "Andrea Mitchell Reports." Shpak is one of three members of Rolling Thunder's current leadership who says he had no idea Palin was coming until it was posted on her website. " [source]

Whoops.

Oh well, I suppose that Sarah has to get out of the house. I know that her daughter is driving her crazy with this jungle fever stuff these days.

Sticking to my wingnut politician theme; I see that another republiclown has been caught throwing stones while living in a glass house.

**Rick [I should be in a] Sanitarium owes taxes on his Pennsylvania home, and he has had a lien filed against him. That is not a good look for someone who likes to preach to use about fiscal responsibility. But we shouldn't be surprised. Not when we see another wingnut pol running up a half a million dollar tab with Tifanny's and not think about paying it back until he is called on it. (Expect more on Mrs. Newt's jewelry fetish. Something about lobbyist and shady deals.)

Finally, I have one more wingnut polit-trickster to call out: This one is from the "land of Lincoln", and he, like so many others of his kind, believes that his O ness was elected to be president of these divided states because of "white guilt" and his black skin.

"Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there's nothing racist about this," Walsh told Slate's Dave Weigel in an interview. "It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn't have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different." [Source]

Oh boy, the poor white man again. He just can't catch a break.

** In an attempt to be" fair and balanced", I have updated the Santorum tax lien story. Apparently Rick paid his back taxes. (Sorry for the misunderstanding Rick)

Checking Shelby.

Every now and then I have to call out one of my favorite conservative writers. Shelby Steele is a pretty smart guy, and he usually does a good job of observing some of the racial dynamics here in America. The problem with Shelby, however, is his ideology, and where he chooses to align himself in our political debate.

Shelby is a classic black conservative. He likes to call out black folks and liberals for being too lazy and disingenuous, and he praises the conservative ethos and their (so called) honesty.

Anyway, Mr. Steele has struck again. [h/t to David for e-mailing this article to me) This time he has penned an article for the Wall Street Journal about Obama. (Shelby is fascinated with Obama. He is still pissed that the first black president came from the left and not the right.) In it, he lets America have it for not calling out Obama for his incompetence and giving him a pass because of his exotic skin and charisma.

"The president's success in having Osama bin Laden killed is an exception to a pattern of excruciatingly humble and hesitant leadership abroad. Mr. Obama has been deeply ambivalent about the application of American power, as if a shameful "neocolonialism" attends every U.S. action in the world. In Libya he seems actually to want American power to diminish altogether.

This formula of shrinking American power abroad while expanding government power at home confuses and disappoints many Americans. Before bin Laden, 69% of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track, according to an Ipsos survey. A recent Zogby poll found that only 38% of respondents believed Mr. Obama deserved a second term, while 55% said they wanted someone new.

And yet Republicans everywhere ask, "Who do we have to beat him?" In head-to-head matchups, Mr. Obama beats all of the Republican hopefuls in most polls.

The problem Mr. Obama poses for Republicans is that there has always been a disconnect between his actual performance and his appeal. If Hurricane Katrina irretrievably stained George W. Bush, the BP oil spill left no lasting mark on this president. Mr. Obama's utter confusion in the face of the "Arab spring" has nudged his job-approval numbers down, but not his likability numbers, which Gallup has at a respectable 47.6%. In the mainstream media there has been a willingness to forgive this president his mistakes, to see him as an innocent in an impossible world. Why?

There have really always been two Barack Obamas: the mortal man and the cultural icon. If the actual man is distinctly ordinary, even a little flat and humorless, the cultural icon is quite extraordinary. The problem for Republicans is that they must run against both the man and the myth. In 2008, few knew the man and Republicans were walloped by the myth. Today the man is much clearer, and yet the myth remains compelling.

What gives Mr. Obama a cultural charisma that most Republicans cannot have? First, he represents a truly inspiring American exceptionalism: He is the first black in the entire history of Western civilization to lead a Western nation—and the most powerful nation in the world at that. And so not only is he the most powerful black man in recorded history, but he reached this apex only through the good offices of the great American democracy.

Thus his presidency flatters America to a degree that no white Republican can hope to compete with. He literally validates the American democratic experiment, if not the broader Enlightenment that gave birth to it. "

Let me jump in here: Barack Obama is no worse than any of the previous presidents before him. So Shelby, you lost me at hello. Your article, from its outset, is poisoned by ideological prejudice. And you give Americans credit for enlightenment where they deserve none. I would argue that electing Barack Obama only highlighted the fact that America is still stained by its sad racial legacy. And it has created more bigotry, ignorance, and uncontrolled hostility by not only the usual suspects, but by those who we never expected to become so afraid and fearful of losing their country to those other people.

"..Conversely, the media hold the president's exceptionalism against Republicans. Here is Barack Obama, evidence of a new and progressive America. Here are the Republicans, a cast of largely white males, looking peculiarly unevolved. Add to this the Republicans' quite laudable focus on deficit reduction and spending cuts, and they can be made to look like a gaggle of scolding accountants.

How can the GOP combat the president's cultural charisma? It will have to make vivid the yawning gulf between Obama the flattering icon and Obama the confused and often overwhelmed president. Applaud the exceptionalism he represents, but deny him the right to ride on it as a kind of affirmative action.

A president who is both Democratic and black effectively gives the infamous race card to the entire left: Attack our president and you are a racist. To thwart this, Republicans will have to break through the barrier of political correctness.

Mr. McCain let himself be intimidated by Obama's cultural charisma, threatening to fire any staff member who even used the candidate's middle name. Donald Trump shot to the head of the Republican line by focusing on Mr. Obama as a president, calling him our "worst" president. I carry no brief for Mr. Trump, but his sudden success makes a point: Another kind of charisma redounds to those willing to challenge political correctness—those unwilling to be in thrall to the president's cultural charisma.

Lastly, there must be a Republican message of social exceptionalism. America has more social mobility than any heterogeneous society in history. Isn't there a great Republican opportunity to be had in urging minorities to at last move out of their long era of protest—in which militancy toward the very society they struggled to join was the way ahead? Aren't Republicans uniquely positioned to offer minorities a liberation from both dependency and militancy?

In other words, isn't there a fresh new social idealism implicit in conservative principles? Why not articulate it and fight with it in the political arena? Such a message would show our president as unevolved in his social thinking—oh so 1965. The theme: Barack Obama believes in government; we believe in you." [Article]

Let me jump in here: Republicans don't applaud social exceptionalism,they view it with scepticism. Your claim that Obama is an affirmative action president is proof of it. Telling the truth isn't political correctness, and honestly and openly questioning something isn't necessarily racism. But claiming that only republicans can move minorities out of their "long era of protest" because only republicans can show us how to work hard and achieve in America, is an insult to every hard working person of color who helped to make this country what it is. "Militancy" isn't always such a bad thing. Just ask the founding fathers to whom you and those of your ilk pray to every day. Without that "militancy" you wouldn't be able to speak of this great country that you seem to love so much. You wouldn't be able to collect a nice check from Stanford University. And you certainly wouldn't be able to collect what your publishers give you in advances for those wonderful books you like to churn out like pablum for the wingnut soul.

Shelby, I credit my success in life to my parents and the work ethic that they gave me, not the benevolence of white America. I have succeeded in America in spite of American -so called- exceptionalism, not because of it.

I wonder if you can say the same thing?

Under siege!

*

"A new study by researchers at Tufts University and Harvard Business School shows that whites believe they are victims of racism more often than Blacks.

While that may elicit a raised eyebrow from most people, the title of the study 'Whites See Racism as a Zero-sum Game that They Are Now Losing,' shows that many whites believe that as racism against Blacks has decreased, racism against them has increased much more.

'It’s a pretty surprising finding when you think of the wide range of disparities that still exist in society, most of which show black Americans with worse outcomes than whites in areas such as income, home ownership, health and employment,' said Tufts Associate Professor of Psychology Samuel Sommers, Ph.D., co-author of the study." [Source]

I am not surprised. When you read blog posts like this one you can't help but feel the frustration and pain of my melanin challenged friends. (h/t brohammas) I mean first Harry Potter and now Charlie's Angels. Is nothing sacred in A-merry-ca anymore? Folks are even writing about "the end of white America." The majority is under siege. Our poor Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves.

I blame that Obama guy. Don't worry folks, he won't be president forever. Things will be back to normal soon.

*Pic courtesy of NewsOne.com

You can't be too careful with Negroes. Even Negroes in wheelchairs resist arrest.

Hey, do you all remember the movie Training Day? Remember that scene where Snoop plays a wheelchair bound drug dealer and Ethan Hawke's character, the rookie detective, chases his ass down and checks him?

Apparently the D.C. Metro police saw it as well. They just don't trust you Negroes in wheelchairs. It could all be a hoax. Just another trick you Negroes like to play on the government to get a free SSI check.

Sadly, this poor dude was apparently homeless, and he really did need the wheelchair.

(Sorry dude, the president won't get involved. Maybe if you lectured at Haaavaad.)

But hey, I bet some folks will say that he deserved it. That he was resisting arrest. You know how some folks are.

Seriously. Couldn't they have just cuffed his ass to the chair and called it a day? Why did they have to yank him out and bloody him?

The po po in D.C. sure could use a refresher course on how to treat people with disabilities.

Anyway, watch the video and tell me what you think:

Irish eyes were smiling.

"Is Feidir Linn"! I see you O. You done went over to Ireland and got new. I hope you not forgetting the black side of your family, Negro. We tend to get a little jealous when it comes to these things.

Still, I can't say that I blame you if you were feeling like you wished you lived in Dublin instead of D.C. Those lads were really feeling you. For a moment there I thought that Shamrock Rovers had won the UEFA Champions League.

So you down some Guinness in a pub in (half of) your ancestors hometown, (Why didn't you have a bottle of Tusker when you were in Kenya Mr. President?)you give a stirring speech to thousands of screaming Irish men and women, and you feel like an international rock star. All you were missing were the Bono shades.

Meanwhile, here in A-merry-ca, one of your opponents in the upcoming presidential race was announcing his run to be president of these divided states.

"It's time for new leadership. It's time for a new approach. And, it's time for America's president -- and anyone who wants to be president -- to look you in the eye and tell you the truth... Someone has to say it. Someone has to finally stand up and level with the American people. Someone has to lead. I will."

Yawn.....

Newt, maybe you should join Mitch.

Can someone explain to me how someone running for President on a fiscally conservative platform can manage to owe a jewelry company over a half a million dollars? I need someone to explain it to me because Newt didn't do a very good job of it on Face The Nation, today.

"For the first time, Newt Gingrich addressed reports regarding his wife’s financial disclosure forms, which revealed a debt ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 to premier jewelry company Tiffany & Co.

He did not disclose what he and his wife purchased at the jewelry store, arguing that he is 'very frugal' and lives debt-free.

'We're private citizens,' Gingrich said today on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” 'I work very hard. We have a reasonably good income. I currently owe nothing except I owe one mortgage on a house that's a rental property in Wisconsin. Everything else is totally paid for. My home is paid for, my cars are paid for. We don't have a separate house. We don't do elaborate things.'

“You’re running for president, you’re going to be the guy in charge of the Treasury Department and it just sticks out like a sore thumb,” host Bob Schieffer said.

But Gingrich said that in fact, his financial situation would be a good example for the government to follow.

'I’m the guy running for president who pays for all of his bills and after tax income and at no cost to the taxpayer, and who currently owes nothing except one rental property in Wisconsin,' he said. 'I am debt free. If the U.S government was debt free as I am, everybody in America would be celebrating.'

Earlier in the week, Gingrich refused to answer questions regarding the account, saying Tuesday on Fox News that he would not engage in 'trivial pursuit.”' [Article]

"I currently owe nothing". Splitting hairs as usual, Newt? What about the thousands of dollars you owe in taxes on a bunch of your companies in at least four states? Yeah I know I know, "trivial pursuit."

Finally, I see that yet another republiclown candidate decided not to take on O. I swear this field is getting thinner than Vanna White's arms. Vanna, it's called food! You should try it sometime. But I digress.

The republiclowns are bumming, he was the last great hope of the true believers who had a shot at winning in the general election. Now they have to depend on Mitt, Newt, Tim, Michelle, and the rest of the gang that can't shoot straight.

Personally, I didn't see the big deal with Mitch Daniels. He is just another flip- flopping poli-trickster who will do whatever it takes to get elected. I am glad he listened to his wife and decided not to run. (Something about an embarrassing incident back in the early nineties.) I am guessing that he would have regretted it.

Why am I still here?

So there I was looking at the beautiful Mrs. Field over dinner, and telling her what a wonderful ride it has been. It was about fifteen minutes to six, so we only had a little time left together. I was sure that we wouldn't be seeing each other ever again, because, quite frankly, we were going to different places.

Anywhoo, the waiter came and I thanked him for a wonderful meal. The joint was kind of high end, but what the hell, I wasn't going to pay for it.

We waited... and waited......and when the clock finally struck six I squeezed her hand and.....nothing. The waiter was standing over us with a check and asking us if we enjoyed our meal. I told him "Yes, but I never expected to pay for it". "We prepared some[checks] just in case." A wise guy, huh. Let's see how you like it with no tip. "Field, you better not stiff that man on the tip". (This is why she would have been heading up in the rapture and I would have been packing my warm weather clothes.

"Thank you folks, please come again."

I am still here, and if you are reading this, so are you. That's the good news. The bad news is, of course, that you could be gone tomorrow and that s&*^ isn't planned or predicted. One minute you are driving down the highway and.....Pow! You go all Randy Savage into an immovable object. Poor Randy, I bet he was laughing at the Judgement Day "Kooks" just like we were.

But you know who I feel sorry for in all of this? My man Harold. Apparently he has been missing since the clock struck six and there was no destruction to show for it. --Well, except for that Volcano in Iceland. I hope he doesn't take this too hard. Folks have been wrong about this kind of stuff before. I hear that his followers are devastated (see Obamaholics, you are not alone), and they are pretty much in a major depression mode over what to do next.

I guess Harold could go back to the good book and revise his notes. But he has to be careful, the big guy has a cruel sense of humor. It's been lord knows who long and we are all still waiting around.

I know one person in A-merry-ca who wishes that that the world did end at six o clock today. That would be one Newt Gingrich. After the week he had last week I even started feeling sorry for him... Not!

Anyway, it's a good thing that he has handlers around him who can fight back and let the haters have it.

"The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding," ..... "Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world."

The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness,....They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting to be dropped from the establishment's cocktail party invite list unloaded their entire clip, firing without taking aim their distortions and falsehoods......

Now they are left exposed by their bylines and handles. But surely they had killed him off. This is the way it always worked,....A lesser person could not have survived the first few minutes of the onslaught. But out of the billowing smoke and dust of tweets and trivia emerged Gingrich, once again ready to lead those who won't be intimated by the political elite and are ready to take on the challenges America faces." [Source]

Why couldn't the rapture just take some people?

HERO?

I am blogging all over the place tonight. I have to get as much as possible off my chest, because, let's face it, we all might not be here tomorrow.

Anyway, I will start with Lance Armstrong. Is there any doubt now that he is a cheater? I know that it's blasphemous to utter those words about one of A-merry-ca's darlings, but it's time we acknowledge the juiced up elephant in the room. One former teammate might have been lying, but two? Come on now.

Sometimes it's hard to admit to ourselves that our heroes aren't as pure as we would like them to be, but at some point we have to let the chips fall where they may. Armstrong's manager has declared that his latest accuser and former wing man and teammate is a liar. But here is the thing; if all these people are lying why doesn't Lance sue them? I will tell you why, because the truth is always a defense in defamation claims.

Speaking of lies, let me move on to FOX NEWS. I see that Rupert and his crew are embroiled in a scandal across the pond which could have far reaching implications here in A-merry-ca. (h/t Greg Fuller) The FOX NEWS folks have been hacking phones to get news and their claims that they had no knowledge of the rogue reporter who was doing these dastardly deeds doesn't seem to be flying.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch.

Oh Lawd! Is it me, or does it seem like my man Tavis is tag teaming his O ness with Dr. West?

Tavis is putting his O ness on blast for black unemployment and wants something done NOW!

I know Tavis, if only Hillary was Prez. all of us Negroes would have jobs.

O, you better be careful, if these Negroes leave your side you won't have a shot at getting reelected.

Finally, it looks like Beyonce is becoming our female Michael. B, I loved you in the 03 Bonnie & Clyde video, but sorry, I haven't been feeling you since. Nothing about you says "ride or die" to me.

"Black Like Me."

I have to confess (and lord forgive me for this one) but I can't watch Cornel West for one minute. Every time I see fam on television I change the channel. I have heard that he is a smart guy, and that he sometimes says some deep things, but I will never know, because......well....I just can't watch or listen to him. I know that many of you have a predilection for all things West so you will have to help me out with this one. Please tell me why I should force myself to start listening to him. "Otay"? (Stop it field)

Anyway, I notice that my man has been in the news of late because, much to the delight of wingnuts, he has had some not too flattering things to say about O, and it has started an interesting debate among us black folks about what it means to be truly black.

For the record, O's upbringing and the way he chooses to carry himself should not define his blackness or lack of it. We have to judge him by his actions as president for all the people of these divided states who comes to the office from the unique position of being able to feel our pain.

This is a good discussion to have on Malcolm's birthday; is O in the house? Personally, I don't think so. I think he visits it quite often and is comfortable when he is in there, but that is not where his heart is. I think his heart is outside in the fields. ( I think)

But I want to ask Mr. West to put his Ivy League mind to work and tell me exactly what he would want his O ness to do to help black A-merry-ca. I want to know what policies he would implement and how he would go about getting it done. I want to know how he would better use the "bully pulpit" to (if I may get a little colloquial) hook us up.

I know what I would like O to do: Get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, use the "bully pulpit" to talk more about urban issues such as education, and turn Eric Holder loose on some of those Wall Street crooks. Yes, I am pissed that he extended the Bush tax cuts. Yes, I am pissed that he kept Gitmo open. And, yes, I am pissed that ddn't go far enough on health care reform and with the stimulus package.

Still, having said that, I have to acknowledge that he at least tried with health care, there was some Wall Street reform, and a little stimulus package is better than none at all.

I am not sure what you Negroes who were waiting on the Magic Negro expected. O can't work miracles and make your lives better. I hate to sound like a conservative, but government can only do so much. If you thought O was going to get into office and your lives were going to change overnight, you have another thing coming. Urban terrorist are still going to rob and steal, greedy polititicksters on the local and national level are still going to line their pockets, first. And the corporate machine of greed that drives A-merry-ca isn't going anywhere. In short, it's business as usual in A-merry-ca. If there is going to be any change it's going to have to come from within each and every individual who really wants it.

I thought that a - supposedly- smart man like Cornel West would know that.

Blaming the left for a lack of morals in America.

"Field, why aren't you posting about the dude who said black women are not as attractive as other people"?

That is typical of some of the e-mails I have gotten. I thought I would ignore this clown who posted his study in Psychology Today , but apparently you all won't let me. (WTF is an "evolutionary psychologist? I swear you academic types keep coming up with new ways to get paid every day.) Calm down people, this man is not all right upstairs. I am surprised that he is allowed to peddle his craft at a fine institution such as the LSE. But hey, it takes all kinds.

All I have to say about this subject is that "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", and the top twenty...hell top one hundred most beautiful women in the world (starting, of course, with the lovely Mrs. Field) in my eyes just so happen to be sisters.

For a wonderful article on the subject read what my girl Jenice Armstrong wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer. It should give all of you who were stressing over this latest bit of junk science a bit of perspective.

Now on to something that has been bothering me all day. It was an article I read by a so called conservative thinker by the name of Walter Russell Mead. His article focused on the moral decay of what he calls the progressive elites in this country, and their lack of moral leadership.


"Here in the early years of the twenty-first century, the American elite is a walking disaster and is in every way less capable than its predecessors. It is less in touch with American history and culture, less personally honest, less productive, less forward looking, less effective at and less committed to child rearing, less freedom loving, less sacrificially patriotic and less entrepreneurial than predecessor generations. Its sense of entitlement and snobbery is greater than at any time since the American Revolution; its addiction to privilege is greater than during the Gilded Age and its ability to raise its young to be productive and courageous leaders of society has largely collapsed.....

...Many problems troubling America today are rooted in the poor performance of our elite educational institutions, the moral and social collapse of our ‘best’ families and the culture of narcissism and entitlement that has transformed the American elite into a flabby minded, strategically inept and morally confused parody of itself. Probably the best depiction of our elite in popular culture is the petulantly narcissistic Prince Charming in Shrek 2; our educational institutions are like the Fairy Godmother, weaving shoddy, cheap, feel-good illusions into a gossamer tissue of flattering lies."

Oh please! This is more right wing "gobblygook" written to make it look as if progressives are the morally bankrupt ones in this country and not folks like W and his band of merry men who took us to war and caused the loss of thousands of lives for god knows what.

Bill Bennett, on his radio program, actually tried to connect what this clown wrote to the latest moral failings of The Governator and the horny little Frenchman who tried to get his jungle fever on with a chamber maid at his hotel without her permission. Talk about a reach.
He actually said that the moral decay of those in power started with Clinton. Clinton!

Hmmm, I wonder how many of our Founding Fathers were getting their jungle fever on with the help? The little Frenchman got caught. They, on the other hand, had children and sent them off to work in the fields (and sometimes to the house) to work with the other slaves. I suspect that many of them were just like The Governator: getting it on with the help.

"I am not, repeat not, saying this was a bad thing. Having grown up under Jim Crow, and having seen the University of North Carolina deny my mother a chance for an advanced degree because it refused to admit married women into certain professional programs, I have no nostalgia for Tara. Count me in with the carpetbaggers, scalawags and civil rights activists; I’m marching with Martin, not sulking with Scarlett.

But it has given the United States a complicated and kinky relationship to our national past. The racist, Indian-killing, woman-oppressing America of the past was not a perfect society, but it was the source of the values that enabled us to grow. Disentangling the good from the bad and finding a way for society to connect ever more deeply with the good in our roots without resuscitating old evils is one of the essential skills national leaders need.." [Article]

"A SOURCE OF VALUES THAT ENABLED US TO GROW"? Mr. Mead, maybe it's time you revisit your value system

I need more time.

I am bumming tonight. Why? Well, it seems that I have less than a week to try and hook up with Lark Voorhies before the world comes to an end. According to some believers the world will come to an end on May 21, 2011. Don't laugh, apparently there is some biblical interpretations to back this up. And, in typical A-merry-can fashion, the rapture folks are cashing in. (What's the point of cashing in if they won't be around to spend anything?)

I wish you people could have given a brother a little more time. Now what am I going to do with the rest of my "bucket list"? Five days is just not enough to do all the things that I want to do.

Hell it will take me that long just to get my mack on with Lady Lark. And why did it have to end on a beautiful Spring day? On a Saturday no less. That guy upstairs has a cruel sense of humor. Why didn't he end it all on a Monday? I bet a lot of us would have appreciated that a little more.

But I have to ask this question: I thought the big guy was going to come as a thief in the night. ( I am paraphrasing, one of you Christians might want to help me out.) When did he change his plans and decide to announce the big bang? I always liked the idea of no one knowing when Mother Earth went kaput. No long lines at the confessional booth, no massive sell- offs, no rush to the national parks. Just everyone going about their daily grind and........bam! It's over.

Still, I hope you rapture folks don't mind if I hedge my bets a little. I am not going to exactly take off tomorrow and head to Cali to find you know who. Nothing personal, and I don't want to be a sceptic like some folks, but you folks have been wrong before.

They made his day.

"Yo, Junior, what are you doing?" That was one of Philly's finest to a young man who has been all over the news in my fair city for openly packing heat on a Philly street. Mr. Fiorino taped the entire encounter and Philly's finest didn't come out looking so good.

Sadly, they (the po po) weren't familiar with Philly's law as it relates to concealed weapons on city streets. (Yes, I know it's confusing and a little vague, but a police officer, of all people, should be familiar with it. You can carry openly if you have a license to do so.)

"On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?"

Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.

What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing - openly carrying a gun on the city's streets - was against the law.

"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip."Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive."

The cops, department officials later admitted, were wrong. They didn't know that a person who has a license to carry a firearm can openly carry it in the city.

But the story doesn't end there. How could it?

After Fiorino posted his recordings on YouTube, they went viral. Members of pro-firearms forums on the Web took a particular interest in the incident.


The Police Department heard about the YouTube clips. A new investigation was launched, and last month the District Attorney's Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police.

Fiorino said he plans to sue the city whenever his criminal case is resolved.

Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers said the department believes that Fiorino wanted to get into a confrontation with cops, that he wanted to see them lose their cool so he later could file a lawsuit.

Or, as one cop was overheard saying on the YouTube recording: "He set us the f--- up, that's what the f--- he did."

Terrified to be powerless
Fiorino, an IT worker who lives in Montgomery County, grew up in Feltonville.

A handful of his friends fell victim to random crimes over the years - a mugging here, a beatdown there, the kind of stuff that happens all the time in a big city.

It was enough to make him think about being able to protect himself if he ever ran into trouble. "It would be terrifying to me to be powerless," he said.

So, about a year ago, Fiorino said, he got a firearms license and began openly carrying his .40-caliber Glock.

"I did research for quite a few years leading up to making a decision to carry," he said. "I was ready to take on the responsibility."

His gun went with him everywhere - to the store, you name it.

After he began carrying, Fiorino said, he was stopped a handful of times by cops in Montgomery County and other parts of the state. The encounters were civil and quick, he said, and usually ended when an officer checked out his firearms license.

He also had encounters with Philadelphia cops last year near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and on South Street.

"Both times they told me what I was doing was illegal," he said. "They patted me down and said, 'We don't care what you consent to.'

"The second time, they did an official confiscation, and it took me five months to get back my gun." [More]

Mr. Fiorino, your ass is lucky to be alive. And why were you "terrified to be powerless"? Have you ever been a victim of a crime? I bet not. Yes, you can openly carry in Philly, but you must seriously have a death wish to do some dumb s&^% like that. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to do it. Look, I know you want to be a hero to the NRA crowd, so you leave home with your tape recorder running while looking for an incident. I am glad you have that luxury, but just remember, cops here have lost a few of their own, and they tend to be a little itchy with the trigger. So you might want to save your little social experiment for town where there are less killings every year.

The next time you go to the corner store conceal your weapon and don't go thinking you are Clint Eastwood playing out some damn Spaghetti Western. You recorded it all on tape, but that tape recorder wouldn't have stopped Michael Dougherty's bullet from putting a hole in your chest.

Oh well "Junior", you are going to learn the hard way how law enforcement works here. They didn't charge you with a crime for having your licensed firearm, but now you might have to fight that little reckless endangerment charged they just slapped on you.

That's the man for you ,"Junior", they just don't like you to show them up.

Goodbye Huck!

*

Oh my, these are indeed tough times for my friends in the GOP. Who is going to be left to run against O when the dust clears?

Mike Huckabee- may god bless his god fearing soul- has decided that he does not have the stomach for a presidential run and is begging out. He says that being president would take him to the "limit of his human capacity." Somehow that doesn't seem right coming from a man who professes to be so close to the big guy. I suspect that the love of the almighty dollar, or a lack of enough of it (a billion and counting) is what's keeping ole Mike off the campaign trail.

It has gotten so bad that former first lady Laura Bush has found herself on the recruiting trail. (Calling Governor Krispy Kreme.)She has called the wife of Mitch Daniels in a desperate pitch to get her husband in the race. Just call Mitch Daniels the Bush candidate. Good luck with that, Mitch.

Anyway, so now we know that Newt is in, and so is Ron. Mitt is in, but he might have some "splaining" to do to his base. I know he tried, but I suspect that it wasn't good enough. Mitt pushed for (and got)health care reform in his home state. And now the wingnuts are crying anybody but Mitt. If the poor guy could only get out of his own party's primary he might have a shot.

Finally, a warning to the wingnuts who do not want to raise the U.S. debt ceiling:

“The full consequences of a default – or even the serious prospect of default – by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the value of the dollar.”

The author of that quote is none other than Ronald Reagan. [Source]

I guess that changes things a little.

*Pic courtesy of Phawker.com

Newt, is that you?

Oh Lawd! I knew that having a black president was driving some folks crazy, but this story is just ridiculous:

NEW YORK–A 41-year-old naked white man* who was caught on tape yelling the N-word and attacking black passengers in a NYC subway had to undergo psychological evaluations.

The naked lunatic stripped down bare naked, and attacked random passengers yelling profanity, including the “n-word” repeatedly.

He even told a police officer “Shoot me N-word!”.

The officer who could not handle the situation was helped by a group of bystanders to hold the man down.

He was taken to Hospital for a psychological evaluation and not charged, according to the NYdailynews.com" [Story]

So now we know what certain folks are doing when they are not commenting on this blog.

Anyway, now that Newt's presidential campaign is off and running, it sure didn't take him long to start with the racist code words for his followers."MACON, Ga. (AP) -- Republican Newt Gingrich told a Georgia audience on Friday evening that the 2012 presidential election is the most consequential since the 1860 race that elected Abraham Lincoln to the White House and was soon followed by the Civil War.

Addressing the Georgia Republican Party's convention, Gingrich said the nation is at a crossroads and that the re-election of Democratic President Barack Obama would lead to four more years of 'radical left-wing values' that would drive the nation to ruin.

Gingrich also blasted Obama as 'the most successful food stamp president in modern American history."' [Story ]

You know what's funny? I bet that most of the people in Newt's audience are on food stamps.

Just a guess.

Blogger, you "tripppin"!

Folks, don't ask me what happened to your comments from a couple of days ago, they are lost in bloggerland somewhere. Apparently, blogger has had some issues over the past 48 hours and comments going to bloggerland is the unfortunate results of said issues.

Oh well, until I have enough time to focus on the technical side of blogging I think I am stuck with these Google folks. Blogger is just so much easier for a non-techy like moi.

Anywhoo, I wanted to blog about this last night; the feud between Glen Beckkk and the McCain women.

It turns out that Beckkk has been making fun of Meghan McCain for baring it all for skin cancer. He doesn't like the fact that she appears "Naked" in a PSA for that cause. Beckkk, forever classy, kept pretending to be vomiting and said the following:

"Oh, I got something bad. Might be that Meghan McCain. When I look at the picture, I think to myself, I get the point, put some extra clothes on," Beck said, suggesting that McCain wear a burqa. [Article]

Glenn Beckkk talking to Meghan McCain about her skin? Now there is the pot calling the kettle...wait, that's not a good analogy. It's more like the Tupperware bowl calling the coffeemaker white. Anyway, understandably, Meghan's Mom took offense to Mr. Beckkk's comments and took a shot of her own:

"I'm so glad Glenn Beck is leaving Fox. Enough vitriol and hate. Glenn you are no rodeo clown. They are decent and nice. You aren't..."

Ouch! The McCains weren't done, daddy McCain took a shot at the wingnut bloviator as well:

"I now think I can relate more closely to Harry Truman who took some umbrage at a critic that criticized his daughter's singing," McCain said. "...I don't think I should dignify that kind of behavior with a comment." [Article]

Double ouch!

Finally, speaking of the aforementioned John McCain, I am so glad he exposed the wingnuts for the liars that they are. They tried very hard to push the meme that torture led us to Bin Laden. It did not. And McCain was honest enough to say so.

Maybe this is why wingnuts are going after his family.

That ain't Walt Whitman!

"This is street radio, for unsung heroes
Riding in they regal, trying to stay legal
My daughter found Nemo, I found the new primo
Yeah you know how we do, we do it for the people
And the struggles of the brothers and the folks
With lovers under dope, experiment to discover hopes
Scuffle for notes, the rougher I wrote, times were harder
Went from rocky starter to a voice of a martyr
Why white folks focus on dogs and yoga
While people on the low end trying to ball and get over
Lyrics are like liquor for the fallen soldiers
From the bounce to the ounce, its all our culture"

I thought I would start this post with a classic rhyme from my man Common, who is, no doubt, a great lyricist.

The winguts, of course, do not share my affection for Common. They are up in arms because the First Lady invited him to the White House for a poetry reading, tonight.

They think that it's an outrage that this White House would invite a man who has written lyrics about cop killing in the past and who has made less than flattering references to George Bush in some of his past songs.

I have to give it to the wingnuts, though, no one can work the three card monte like they can. While the governor of Indiana is declaring war on the women of this country, they choose to focus on an artist going to the White House for a damn poetry reading. Watch one hand while we f*&^ you with the other. That's the wingnut way.

Poor wingnuts, I guess they have to do something; O's job approval is at 60% and they still can't find a viable candidate to run against him 2012. (Where is governor Krispy Kreme when you need him?)

But don't worry Michelle, go ahead and invite your home boy to the White House, his flow qualifies as poetry in my book.

"Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said Mr Obama has "spoken out very forcefully against violent and misogynist lyrics", but also thinks some of Common's views are being distorted. ...Mr Obama respected Common's work with children in Chicago, seeking to turn them to poetry rather than "the negative aspects of life on the street".

Yes, but what I like most about Common are flows like this:

"Burn a Bush cos' for peace he no push no button, Killing over oil and grease, no weapons of destruction".

Now that's downright Shakespearean.

It's not hard being young black and smart.

My father -in- law is a wise man. He has always done a good job of taking care of himself and his family, but you would never know what he has or how comfortable he is by outward appearances.

I remember a story he told me just after I met him: He was working for an old white man on a sweet potato farm when he was much younger, and when he saved up enough money to buy a new car and drove it around the farm, the man fired him. He never forgot that, and he wanted to make sure I understood the moral of his story before I went off to the East Coast with his daughter.

Anyway, reading the story about Chris Johnson and the subsequent response the story got from one particular person posting about it, made me think of my father- in- law.

"ORLANDO-Tennessee Titans, star running back, Chris Johnson had some harsh words for the police after they visited his house allegedly because there was a tip about a number of high end cars entering the premises. TMZ reports:

Moments after cops walked out the door, Johnson tweeted, 'Y did the police just walk in my condo saying they think it’s drug activity because it’s alot of traffic but it was the MTV camera crew.'

He added, .'Hard being young, black and rich.. '"

Comment from some person calling himself "The_Donlamb"

'That's what you get when you are simple, black and suddenly becomes super rich, you flash and dash and you get the attention of the rulers of this society; and they will let you know who's still in charge. Do yourself a favor; stay off mtv, buy you a modest home, get you a wife and calm yo black @#### down. because whether you realize it or not, you are still owned by the white slave master for his entertainment, and if you don't break your d###n neck to entertain him, he's going to toss you to the dogs when he's done with you; just ask oj and mike. you ni##@s never cease to amaze me! But you thugged out though! you probably think you larry hoover, or frank lucus huh?"' [Story]

Man you Negroes can be tough with the real talk. *still laughing*

Chris, there is nothing wrong with being young black and rich my brother, but please try not to be young black and broke in a few years because you blew all of your money on things of no value.

Make sure that you take care of your family and invest your money wisely so that your children and grandchildren won't have to work as hard as you did.

In the meantime, go ahead and get your party on, and don't fight the po po when the come knocking at your door. You can't spend your money if you are dead.

Mr. Speaker, why would you flood out the people of Cairo?You know that black folks can't swim.

It must really suck to be the most famous birther, Mr. Bad Hair, these days. Has anyone heard from him lately? I am afraid that my man might be thinking about jumping from one of his towers. Donald, I hope your timing in business isn't as bad as your timing in politics, because, if it is, I am sure that there are some very nervous bankers out there. Thank you Kevin Allen, for confirming what we have long suspected.

Staying with the birther theme; I see that my Indian American friend down in Bayou country is having some birth certificate issues of his own. What goes around comes around Bobby. I am sure you were born in A-merry-ca, but, as a child of immigrants, you might need to be a bit more sensitive with this issue in the future.

Finally, speaking of stuff coming back to bite you; it seems that the folks in the Cairo, Illinois area are experiencing a little bad karma these days. You remember those folks, right? They were the ones that had that public lynching of Will "Froggy" James back in 1907. And they were the ones who chose to put cement over their municipal pool before they let you Negroes swim in it.

So anywhoo, we fast forward fifty years or so and now Cairo is a town made up of mostly you Negroes. It is a poor town, but you Negroes chose to stay there, because, let's face it, where else were you going to go?

Here comes the mighty Mississippi, and rather than flood out the town of Cairo and its Negroes, the Army Corp of Engineers decided to blow up a levee and flood out valuable farmland belonging to white folks to save you Negroes in Cairo. The horror!

As is to be expected, some folks were not pleased. "What? Flood valuable farmland to save a bunch of Nig...I mean Negroes?" I am paraphrasing here, but that was Missouri's republican speaker of the house weighing in on the subject. Wait, I have a direct quote, let me give it to you:

"Missouri's Republican House Speaker Steve Tilley was asked by reporters about the dilemma. "Would you rather have Missouri farmland flooded or Cairo underwater?" Tilley is asked.

Without hesitation, he replies, "Cairo. I’ve been there. Trust me. Cairo.” [Source]

I have never been there Mr. Tilley, but I think I know what you saw.

Imams kicked off a plane.

That sounds like a movie title or something.

There have been times when I was getting on a plane and I felt a strong urge to tell the pilot that I was uncomfortable with certain passengers: The ones with the infants who were acting up in the waiting area, for instance. Or, the family with the screaming obnoxious teen aged kids. But I never did it, because I knew that it wouldn't do me any good.

So how did those passengers in Memphis manage to get the pilot of an ASA flight heading to Charlotte to return to the gate area after taxiing onto the runway? I guess all fears aren't created equal. Only a really strong fear would cause a pilot to do such a thing to protect his or her airplane.

Boy It must really suck to be a Muslim these days. I guess if you are a Muslim and planning a trip you have to make all kinds of contingency plans and prepare yourself for the worst. Kind of like us Negroes used to do back in the day when traveling down South. We always had to pack our food because stopping in some places just wasn't an option. Rest room stops? Forget about it. Your restroom was where you felt safe getting out of the car and getting your tinkle on. God forbid you really had to do the business. But I digress.

Anywhoo, it seems that the Imams were heading to a conference on prejudice and "Islamophobia". "My brothers and sisters, do we ever have a story to tell you about our trip...." Talk about irony. Fellows tell your peeps to hold your next conference in a place like Philly. We see folks in traditional Muslim garb everyday. Even if they were born and raised right here in the USA. Just an FYI; you guys might not want to hold a conference south of the Mason- Dixon line in the future.

Oh well, all is well that ends well. There were apologies all around and the men said that they were treated very well by TSA agents. In fact, they said that the folks at Delta Airlines seemed downright embarrassed by the whole incident. Meanwhile, those worried passengers were able to head along on their merry way without having to worry about those funny looking people on their plane.

I could never be so lucky.

The shunning of Rashard Mendenhall.

Rashard Mendenhall has learned the hard way that speech isn't exactly free in A-merry-ca. Exercising his rights given to him by the first amendment of our Constitution is going to cost him big time. It has already started.

Poor Mr. Mendendall, the vitriol that has been thrown his way would leave one to wonder if he was one of the 19 hijackers who came into our country on September 11, 2001, and killed almost 3,000 of our fellow A-merry-cans.

What he said was no doubt dumb, but he had every right to say it. This is, after all, A-merry-ca.

Rashard is a football player, fans of the NFL should keep that in perspective. As long as he performs on the field and doesn't break any laws it should be a wrap. But we all know that it doesn't work that way in A-merry-ca. It's never about the person's actions, but who is doing the acting. We are funny like that.

I blame the people around Mendenhall as well. They should have told my man about the dangers of tweets. Twitter can be a good thing, but it can sink you. It will probably sink this Steelers career for sure, and that's a shame. After the Rooneys let him go he will have a tougher time finding a team to take him than Michael Vick did. (Eagles we could always use a good running back.)

Now, as is to be expected, he is backtracking faster than one of his teammates who plays cornerback. I can't say that I blame him given all that is at stake, but I am afraid that it's too late, the damage has been done. The tweet is out there, and A-merry-ca has passed judgement on Mr. Mendendall.

Rashard, I hope you saved your money. You are going to need every penny of it.

Finally, shout out to Steven D for picking up the Bobby Yates story we posted here and posting it over at Daily Kos. My man is all over the case as well, and I say the more the merrier.

Also, thank you Nancy Lockhart for sending me all the material and transcripts from the case. That is serious FNB by both of you.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers who visit the fields!!!

Ron, I thought we were cool.

The republicans had a debate in Greenville, SC last night. I know I know,who knew? Exciting bunch those republicans, but hey, it takes two parties to make the republic go round so we have to pay attention to them.

Anywhoo, one of the candidates in the debate was Ron Paul.

Paul, I must admit, is a man who I find myself agreeing with when it comes to some of his public positions. (Public positions.) His position on the war and the legalization of drugs comes to mind.

But then, after reading an article about my friend Ron, I have come to realize that you just never know about some people.

"Ron Paul is back in the hunt for the Presidency. Many see him as an appealing candidate, one who opposes the wars, wants drugs legalized and supports fiscal responsibility. What they don’t know, is his long history of racism and connection to white supremacists. He has dodged questions on his connections to white supremacists and the newsletters, full of abhorrent racism that he put out in his name and he made millions from, spreading racism.

There has been controversy over Ron Paul’s ties to racism for some time now. Many people have pointed to Ron Paul’s Newsletters as proof of his racism. Paul has previously admitted to writing the newsletters and defended the statements in 1996, then blamed them on an unnamed ghostwriter in 2001 and then denied any knowledge of them in 2008. He has given no explanation, for how the racism entered his newsletter and has dodged questions about them without casting blame on anyone. If we are to take Paul at his word, he is guilty of at least promoting racism on a large scale. Paul earned almost a million dollars a year from the racist, conspiracy theorist newsletters. Here are some excerpts that I’ve found.

In this story Ron Paul writes about “needlin” and blames packs of young black girls for spreading AIDS to white women. I could find no evidence of this “epidemic” and the article seems to have no point other than to make white people scared of Black people.

In this piece he criticizes Martin Luther King as a pro-communist philanderer and says the MLK holiday is “Hate Whitey Day.” This is in great contrast to 2008 when he told Wolf Blitzer that Martin Luther King was one of his heroes. When activists suggested naming a city after Martin Luther King Paul suggested other names such as “Welfaria,” “Zooville,” “Rapetown,” “Dirtburg,” and “Lazyopolis” He would continue:

In another piece he blamed Black people for the riots that happened in Chicago in 1992 after the Bulls won the NBA Championship

Paul here is using false information to attack African Americans. The Washington Post reported that 1000 people were arrested but did not indicate their race. The riot, like most sports riots was multi-racial, including Blacks, white and Latinos, yet Paul used the incident to demonize African Americans. The Washington Post also reported that two officers suffered minor gunshot wounds and that 95 were injured in total, but the way Paul phrased it, it would seem most of the 95 officers injured were shot.

In this article Paul uses the “carjacking” epidemic to put fear into white people. He advises them to carry guns and shoot “carjackers” illegally and then dispose of their weapons. He also refers Black people as “animals” and directly refers to his home town of Lake Jackson, Texas." [For the articles Casey Gane-McCalla is referring to go here]

Ron, I am disappointed in you. And here I thought I was going to consider supporting a republican for a change. Oh well, it's back to the drawing board for me. I wonder how my man Herman Cain did last night?