Muslims just want to have fun.

Oh Lawd! What is going on here in A-merry-ca? Why is it harder for Muslims to pursue happiness than the rest of you A-merry-cans? BTW, Speaking of pursuing happiness; I guess we won't be up in arms about this latest social media flash mob phenomenon. I mean they are just college students, and I didn't see any of you Negroes in the crowd scaring folks. But I digress.

 "Rye Playland was shut down Tuesday after cops scuffled with Muslims upset that women wearing head scarves were barred from the rides, witnesses said.
Fifteen people, including three women, were charged with disorderly conduct and assault in the chaos, authorities said.

The Westchester County park was packed with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr - the holiday marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
One woman, Entisai Ali, began arguing with cops over the amusement park's head scarf, or hijab, rule, said Dena Meawad, 18, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
The ban, which is not Muslim specific, was imposed about 3 years ago mostly to prevent hats from falling onto the tracks of roller coasters and other rides, park officials said.

"The cops started getting loud with her and she started getting loud, too. They pushed her on the ground and arrested her," Meawad said.
Her cousin, Kareem Meawad, 17, went to try to protect the woman and was beaten by cops and also arrested, she added. Her brother, Issam Meawad, 20, was pushed to the ground and taken into custody when he tried to help his cousin, she said.

"She just wanted to get on a ride. That was it," Dena Meawad said of the initial confrontation. "It's clear, this all happened because we're Muslim."
John Hodges, chief inspector of Westchester County Public Safety, insisted that police did not use excessive force.

He said up to 100 cops from surrounding departments converged on the park.
Two park rangers were injured in the melee, prompting felony assault charges against two people arrested, officials said.
The ugly incident happened just after 1 p.m. The event was organized by the Muslim American Society of New York, and attracted 3,000 Muslims from Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County.

Ali's sister, Ayman Alrabah, 24, of Brooklyn said her husband, brother and father were all tackled by cops and put into handcuffs when they tried to help her sister.
Alrabah said she was unaware of the head-scarf rule until she and her sister tried to get on the park's Dragon Coasters.

"We requested a refund and all of a sudden an argument became a riot," Alrabah said. "Cops came. They were hitting my brother, my dad. My husband was on the floor and they were handcuffing him.

She said her 4-year-old son was "traumatized" by seeing his father arrested.
"They treated us like animals, like we were nothing," Alrabah said. "They came with their dogs and sticks. We came to have fun." [Source] 

Oh stop it! Where have you ever heard of cops attacking people with "dogs and sticks"? Oh wait....never mind.

Finally, I am not an expert on climate change and global warming [or the lack of it], but I do know that we have been having some unusually freakish weather occurrences all over the world of late, and that reasonable people can disagree on just how much man made behavior is causing the earth's weather patterns to change.

Reasonable people. The wingnuts in this country, and folks like their presidential candidate, Governor Big Hair, are not convinced.  They believe that global warming is all a hoax. And thanks to their 24 hour propaganda machine and the ignorance of quite a few most of our fellow citizens, they are actually gaining the upper hand in the debate. Which is really kind of sad, because if they had their way there would be no debate in the first place.

   

He has some scores to settle.

This should be interesting. It seems that the wingnuts in Washington want to hold up FEMA funding for the hurricane battered East Coast states.

"As rescuers raced Tuesday to free people trapped by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene, Washington politicians bickered over how to pay for it.

The same budget arguments that nearly brought the first government default in history earlier this month now raise questions about whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will have enough money to deal with Irene's aftermath.

FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund has less than $800 million remaining, and given the pace of operations in the wake of Irene, could run out before the end of the current fiscal year on September 30.

With conservative House Republicans calling for spending cuts to offset any increase in emergency funds -- a condition opposed by many Democrats -- the ability of Congress to act quickly on the issue remains uncertain.

"The notion that we would hold this up until Republicans can prompt another budget fight and figure out what they want to cut, what they want to offset in the budget, and to pit one section of the country against the other and to delay this and create this uncertainty, it's just the latest chapter and I think one of the most unsavory ones of our budget wars," said Rep. David Price, D-North Carolina." [Source] 

Oh well, I guess we do need our government from time to time after all. Republicans, however, do not believe that.

This is a new twist to the class warfare game. Let's call it region warfare.

So Dick Cheney's book, "In My Time", will be in book stores today. ["Don't call it a comeback" ]

Cheney has some scores to settle. Already he is calling out Colin and doing it without any compunction. He even tried to embarrass Condi. If there has ever been a more crass and evil man [or woman] in A-merry-can politics I would like to know who it is. Even George Will is pissed at the porcine looking Neocon.

But I guess this is, according to Pat Buchanan,his last "political will and testament" to the A-merry-can people. He wants to set the record straight before he checks out of this life to his new one where it's very warm all year around. (I hope he packs light.) Mr. Cheney, I think your time is up.

Michele, "The Tonight Show" is calling.

"Tragedy hit Sunday after a young woman was caught in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene and died in her car in Salem County.

New Jersey State Police say Celena Sylvestri of Quinton, N.J., called authorities for help from her car on a flooded road early Sunday morning in Salem County and was found dead in the vehicle about eight hours later.

Sylvestri was driving to her boyfriend’s house when her car became stuck in floodwaters. Sylvestri called for help about 1:40 a.m. Sunday, first to her boyfriend then 9-1-1, saying water was up to her neck in her Honda Accord.

For some reason she had tried driving through the Salem River Creek and it had lifted her car off Harding Highway in Pilesgrove.

We tried to find her, we tried to locate her, we were screaming for her -- we couldn't find her," said State Police Lt. Jay Miller. "There was just so much water -- water was surging -- there was no telling where she went in at. It was just a dangerous situation."

Her body was found in her car about 9:30 a.m. about 80 feet off the road by state troopers, police said.

She was swept off the road and deep into the woods. She appeared to still be strapped into her car seat when she was found, according to authorities.

Her car was submerged along Route 40." [Source]

Hahaha......wait, that's not funny. Who would even make fun of something as tragic as a natural disaster that caused the death of poor Ms. Sylvestri and at least 34 other people? 

"As it turns out, Rep. Michele Bachmann was joking Sunday, according to an aide, when she said that God was sending a message to Washington through Hurricane Irene and last week's East Coast earthquake.
Talking Points Memo reports the following:

"Obviously she was saying it in jest," campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart told TPM in a statement.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, during a Florida campaign stop Sunday Bachmann, a fundamentalist Christian said the following:

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." [Source] 

 We have got to "rein" something in alright, but it ain't our spending.

"Bachmann, among the top three candidates seen to have a chance to win the Republican nomination and take on President Barack Obama next year, made similar comments elsewhere in Florida on Saturday, drawing some laughs from her audience.

When the remarks began drawing wide attention, she went into some damage control.

"Of course I was being humorous when I said that. It would be absurd to think it was anything else," Bachmann said on Monday on a campaign stop in Miami."I am a person who loves humor, I have a great sense of humor," she said." [Source] 

Hahaha!!

"Assimilationist", Irene is gone, and another day another stupid comment from a wingnut.

So O won't give a posthumous pardon to brother Marcus. (h/t to Asabagna over at the Afrospear for hipping me to this story) That's a shame. I know that it's all symbolism at this point, but it would send a nice signal to folks like moi. But then again, we know that it would send a totally different message to certain folks, and O needs their votes come November, 2012. He can always count on us Negroes for our support.  Forget the fact that Garvey was the hardest working man in the Negro self improvement business, and with his ideas for the advancement of African people (not just African Americans) he was way ahead of his time.

Anyway, I know that some folks are not pleased:

"The Obama administration has rejected a call for a posthumous presidential pardon for Marcus Garvey, calling it a waste of time and resources.
The denial of a pardon came only recently, in response to a campaign waged by attorney Donovan Parker, who had been writing Obama weekly since January 2011 calling for Garvey's pardon.
The denial letter stated:

"Many posthumous pardon requests would likely be based on a claim of manifest injustice, and given that decades have passed since the event and the historical record would have to be scoured to objectively and comprehensively investigate such applications, it is the Department's position that the limited resources which are available to process requests for Presidential clemency — now being submitted in record numbers — are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request."
So the Obama administration says pardoning Garvey is a waste of time and resources, yet he has found the time and resources to pardon a turkey on Thanksgiving.

The denial is ironic, considering that the struggle waged by the Garvey Movement in the early 1900s — and subsequent struggles influenced by it — set the stage for Obama's election.

That the U.S. government even needed to deliver a black president to African people as a last ditch effort to undermine struggle for true self-determination is a direct effect of the struggles influenced by the Garvey Movement.
Marcus Garvey was the founder and leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), a global organization of African people that held at least 11 million members during the early 1900s.
His work to organize for self-determination for African people has influenced every subsequent struggle of African people.

The U.S. government sought to destroy Garvey and his organization, including utilizing FBI agents to infiltrate his organization.

J. Edgar Hoover — the FBI director who initiated the vicious COINTELPRO war on the Black Power Movement of the Sixties — first made his name by destroying the Garvey Movement. It was to infiltrate Garvey's movement that the FBI integrated.

Though Hoover stated in an October 1919 memo that Garvey had committed no "crime" to justify deporting him, the FBI eventually set the black leader up.
Garvey was imprisoned and, in 1927, deported to Jamaica.

Independentist vs. assimilationist struggle continues

While ironic, it is not surprising that the Obama administration has taken a denial stance on the question of pardoning Garvey.

Obama represents the same trend that opposed Garvey in the 1900s.
Garvey represented the aspirations of African people for independence, self-determination and power over our own lives.

In opposition to him were assimilationists like W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP, those who saw their future working within the oppressive system that exploits African labor and resources for its continued existence.

The assimilationists attacked Garvey while he was alive, uniting with the U.S. government to undermine Garvey's movement, which was based among the African working masses.

Today, Obama represents the highest expression of the assimilationist trend.
His administration has already waged war on Africa in Libya, Somalia and elsewhere through AFRICOM, so it is only consistent that he would continue that trend by maintaining the criminalization of this African incredible leader." [Source]

Ouch!

Finally, Irene has come and gone, and, as is usually the case, the hype was more than the actual hit.

Some winners and losers:

Winners: The emergency management coordinators from state, municipal, and federal agencies. I know I always rip Governor Krispy Kreme, but he did a good job over in Jersey, and our HNIC here in Philly did a good job as well. Folks got the message to stay indoors and various public agencies were right on the spot when the going got tough.

Losers: The clueless news media. I know you have to hype and sensationalize every story for your ratings, but watching some clown stand in a puddle of water in the middle of Manhattan while the ticker is reading "BREAKING NEWS, NEW YORK FACES CATASTROPHE" is a bit much. This type of scene repeated itself over and over again. And when these idiots interviewed normal citizens who tried to tell them that things weren't as bad as they seemed, it was funny to see their reaction as they tried to scare more people into watching their over the top news cast.

One man who was just rescued from his truck here in Philly was being interviewed by a correspondent on the scene, when the anchor in the studio chimed in and asked the man if he managed to make it out -I swear to you that's what she said.-The poor man looked long and hard into the camera and and everyone watching made a silent connection with him. Everyone, of course, except the clueless anchor.

Folks, in the future, please give us less hyperbole and more of what is actually happening with the damn news.

Biggest Loser: Who else but a wingnutGlenn Beckkk for saying that Irene was actually a blessing.

"The Washington Post reports radio personality Glenn Beck has declared Hurricane Irene is a "blessing." He touts the strong storm lashing the East Coast of the United States as a harbinger to warn Americans to be prepared for anything and to stock up food."

I know Glenn, after we elect Governor Big Hair all these natural disasters will just suddenly go away. "Prayer changes things."







 


   

iPads and Irene.

I love technology as much as the next guy, but at some point we have to take a serious look at ourselves and realize that we might be taking this thing a bit too far.

I recently saw the following story on Yahoo.com:

"Virginia-based Renee Armstrong desperately wanted to attend the wedding of friends Jonathan Alberico and Jamie Wilborn – she’d been asked to be a bridesmaid, after all. The problem was, her friends live in Denver, Colarado, [sic]some 1500 miles away, and the cost of getting there just proved to be too expensive in these economically tough times.

Bride Jamie told Cnet: “Unfortunately, the economy sucks. She just didn’t have the means to make it out to Denver. It was absolutely devastating when we found she couldn’t come.”

So, what to do? After having a think about it, Jamie hit upon the idea of using an

Jamie put the idea to Renee, who loved it. On the big day, the bridesmaid got ready as if she was going to be at the wedding in person, donning her best outfit for the occasion.

She was ‘carried around’ the proceedings by a groomsman, who took her down the aisle and ensured she had a perfect view of the vows. Hopefully the wedding guests knew what the groomsman was up to, otherwise they might’ve been thinking, “Why is that guy showing off his new iPad like that?”

In a conversation captured on video (see below), Renee tells Jamie, “I got all teary-eyed during the ceremony, and I couldn’t have got that from pictures.”

According to the Cnet report, the FaceTime plan nearly didn’t happen when a slightly sloshed groomsman accidentally dropped the tablet in the middle of the wedding rehearsal. Luckily, a replacement was obtained.

The short video below, shot by wedding guest Jamie Goswick, shows the happy couple exchanging vows, as well as a man walking around with an iPad showing bridesmaid Renee on the screen." [Story]

Quick, how many of you sisters reading this would allow your best friend to attend your wedding via iPad? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Now I am not trying to be mean or anythnig, but how long did girlfriend know that her friend was getting married? Virginia to Denver? Come on now, I am guessing she could have flown Southwest for a couple of hundred bucks round trip.

Somebody give that groomsman a high five for walking around with that ridiculous iPad throughout the wedding.

I am still waiting on Irene. I just ditched my patio furniture and it was already raining and windy outside. I just hope that PECO doesn't lose power in my area. I need my electricity. Over a million people in North Carolina are already out of luck.That's not a good look.

Let's see how FEMA does with this one. Who will be Obama's "Brownie"? Maybe he won't have one; it looks like he was ahead of the curve with this. But we will see. I know one thing, he better be glad that this is a natural disaster, because, if it wasn't, the wingut and FOX crowd would be finding a way to blame him for it. I bet that they will say that O will use my girl Irene as an excuse for the economy not rebounding as fast as it should. Wait, they already have. Never mind.

To all my friends in Irene's path, please be careful and stay safe.

Hurricanes, white quarterbacks, and the evangelical candidate.

"Field, make sure you pick up a couple of cases of bottled water and snacks, and make sure you tap the ATM and get some cash. Oh, and don't forget to get some flashlights and batteries if you can..."

That's what part of my text from Mrs. Field looked like as the big gal upstairs prepared to hit you heathens on the East Coast with yet another rare natural disaster. This times it's of the hurricane variety. What will it be next, a meteor shower? WTF? Even the city that never sleeps is shutting down. These are strange days, indeed.

Irene is her name, and she is going to cost us some money.Heck she already started. This lady has expensive taste. Not even the Donald can afford this one. She might tear up his casinos in AC and some of his Manhattan high rises with one devastating swoop.

Speaking of strange, I see that ESPN the Magazine done went and made #7 white to make a point. [See pic with this post.] As is to be expected, some folks aren't pleased. But I have to give it to ESPN, they know how to sell magazines. Fire up those color arousal buttons and folks will talk. Talk leads  to curiosity, and curiosity leads to sales. And, let me say for the record, I can't even imagine Michael Vick as white. And if you knew how white folks feel about their pets  and vice versa, you couldn't either.

Finally, congrats to Governor Big Hair. I see that he is leading the republiclown field of presidential candidates. He does seem to be the "godliest" of all the candidates. Poor Mitt, he just doesn't have the right religion to satisfy that good ole republiclown base that is so full of true believers.

Governor Big Hair is the real deal among the republican bible reading base, and the main stream media is starting to take notice:

"That’s the mirror-mirror question for Republicans. Forget charisma, charm, intelligence, knowledge and that nuisance, “foreign policy experience.” The race of the moment concerns which candidate is the truest believer.

This was always a tough hurdle for Romney, whose Mormonism is reflexively distrusted by Southern evangelicals. Even so, in the absence of a better candidate, Romney had a fighting chance to win his party’s support. Then came Perry.

Talk about a perfect-storm, composite candidate. Combine Elmer Gantry’s nose for converts, Ronald Reagan’s folksy confidence and Sarah Palin’s disdain for the elites — and that dog hunts.

Perry doesn’t just believe, he evangelizes. He summons prayer meetings. He reads scripture while callers are on hold. Not incidentally, he’s a successful governor. Perhaps most important, he’s a wall-scaling fundraiser whose instincts make him a force of nature in the political landscape." [Source]

He is a force of nature alright, I am just glad that god created him. He might be the only one who can save us from these strange  times.

He doesn't like his slav...workers to have tattoos and piercings.

"Richardson, who said that Newton “was dressed perfectly” for their meeting, was blunt. “I said, ‘Do you have any tattoos?’” Richardson told Rose. “He said, ‘No, sir. I don’t have any.’ I said, ‘Do you have any piercings?’ He said, ‘No, sir. I don’t have any.’ I said, ‘We want to keep it that way.’ . . . .

“We want to keep no tattoos, no piercings, and I think you’ve got a very nice haircut.”

Interjected the host: “You sound like a Lombardi.”
Said Richardson, “No, I just sound reasonable to me.”

I must confess, listening to that soundbite sounds a lot worse than it reads.
You have to actually hear it.

I am disappointed in Charlie Rose. "You sound like Lombardi"? Nope, he sounded like someone else: A fifties era small town southern sheriff.

But Cam had to jig. He wanted that 24 million pay day. And for that kind of money Cam would have probably told the Charlotte Panthers owner that he would play a banjo for him and sing "I Wish I Was in Dixie" before he went to bed every night. Then I heard Stephen A. Smith co-signing with that b*&& s&^t today on the radio here in  Philly. "Bless Jerry Richardson's heart" he said, "somebody had to say it". Say what, Negro? Let's try this again: Cam Newton is a football player! I could care less if he wore a a bone in his nose and drove to the stadium in a pink tutu before every game. But this is A-merry-ca, we are so concerned with our image and nothing else. 

Now I understand that it's Jerry Richardson's team, and that he is the one writing the check. He has a right to demand certain things from his employees, that's a given. But would Jerry give the same lecture to Andrew Luck or Tim Tebow? I doubt it. And if Jerry has a no tattoo or piercing policy, why doesn't he demand it of all of his Panthers? -He just signed Jeremy Shockey for crying out loud! -

Memo to Jerry, Cam won't be working on Wall Street or Madison Avenue, he will be slinging a football in the NFL. I think it's fair to say that over 50% of the players in the NFL have ink, so what's the problem? Jerry should have been more worried about the laptops in the Panthers front office than how Cam was dressed or looked. (OK, cheap shot) Maybe that's why his Panthers stink so much and they only won two games last year.

Counter argument: "Field it's the man's team, football is a billion dollar industry, the man wants to make sure he is investing his money wisely on the number one pick in the draft. Doesn't your employer have the right to tell you how to dress and carry yourself in the work place? Besides, the team is in the bible belt, the owner has to careful not to alienate his fan base."

Well yes, it's his team and the best way to keep his fan base happy is to win.
I wear suits to work every day because I work in court rooms, Cam Newton wears a football uniform because he works on a football field. Big difference.

The best way for Jerry Richardson to invest his money wisely is to pick the best player available that can help his sorry team win. How Cam Newton looks or chooses to carry himself won't help the Carolina Panthers win one single game.

Ask all those folks from the Main Line who used to come and sit court side to watch AI break off fools if they cared about all his tats and his cornrows. They didn't. They wanted to be entertained and see the Sixers win games.

"Did you get crazy after the draft and go out and get any tattoos or piercings? Do I have to check you for anything?"

"No sir,"

I am a good slave worker.




  

The day after the earthquake, and Killadelphia is still here.

Well, it's a day after the earthquake, and the [right] wingnuts have already started blaming Obama. Apparently they thought that if he wasn't out golfing he might have been able to stop it. An earthquake! They thought he should have done something to stop it. Or, he should have been more engaged, and maybe, just maybe, it would not have happened. Okaaayyy.

Words are not needed for certain things.

Meanwhile, back here on earth.

 “We're going to catch the little bastard, and he's going to do some serious time,”

That's Philly's HNIC on the recent shooting at a city rec. center where six people were shot. That's harsh language from Mayor Nutter, but the guy is obviously frustrated. I can't say I blame him. As a kid, he used to play in that playground, and the young punks doing the shooting look just like he does. Probably grew up in the same environment, and with the same social structure. Yet, he went on to get an Ivy League education from one of the nation's finest business schools (Wharton), and became the mayor of A-merry-ca's fifth largest city. If he can do it, why can't the little thug doing the shooting? To Nutter this is all personal. They are destroying the image of his city, and he is not a happy camper.

Nutter is so pissed, that he is digging into the city's crime reward fund and offering up 20,000.00 to anyone who will snitch on the shooter. (I wish I knew the SOB. His ass would be in jail faster than the bullets that came out of his .40- caliber gat. But that's just me. I don't live in that neighborhood, so I don't have to worry about someone firebombing my family once I cash my reward check. But I digress) Nutter had more to say:

"'We need the community's help and support. Someone knows who it is. We want that information today. We want that person in custody today. Then he can stand up as the coward he is and pay the price for the crime committed,' ....Given the 'incredible nature of the crime,' Nutter said he decided to dip into a $500,000 crime reward fund created by City Council earlier this year.
'We will not tolerate this kind of insane, asinine, idiotic behavior at any of our facilities,....They are safe havens . . . they are off-limits to this kind of heinous behavior. We will not stand for it.'..Of the gunman, Nutter said: 'We're going to find your little butt and lock you up."' [Source]

That's if someone doesn't split his wig first Mr. Mayor.

“This guy walked up and started shooting,” said Bill Evans, 54, a lifelong neighborhood resident who was among the spectators at Kingsessing Recreation Center. “I don’t think he meant to [kill] anybody because he was aiming low, at peoples’ legs.” HUH?!! Bill, what did you say? He didn't mean to kill anybody? WTF? He was shooting into a crowd of people! I don't care where he aimed his weapon. See, this is what's wrong with some of you Negroes...let me stop, that's for another post. *shaking head*

"All are in stable condition but one man, 19, who is critical but stable after being shot in the stomach. “Kids today are armed to the teeth,” Evans said. “I saw guys all around me pulling out guns of their own to protect themselves, that’s how bad it is.” [Source]

Like I said Mr. Mayor, that reward probably won't be necessary. You might want to give that money to his mama for his funeral.





      

"All Shook Up."

"You better get your behind to church this weekend!" That was a co-worker yelling at the field as she ran down the stairs and away from her shaking office. She was just two steps ahead of me, because my black ass was running as well.

I don't do earthquakes very well. Give me thirty inches of snow, and a category two hurricane, but keep your damn earthquake. They are too sneaky, too unpredictable, and we don't know enough about them. (Kind of like tea party republicans.) One of the joys of living on the East Coast is that we don't have to deal with this particular type of natural disaster. The South has their hurricanes, The Midwest their tornadoes, and The West Coast has their earthquakes. Here on the East Coast we have enough to worry about with man made s*&^, so the good lord, in her infinite wisdom, didn't give us any natural disasters to worry about. That is, of course, until today. (Is it something we said?)

Shaking buildings is not a good look for Center City, Philadelphia. Mrs. Field, bless her soul, stayed home today, so she didn't have to endure the rocking of that high rise monstrosity she works in known as an office building.

So we are all milling about outside,--- sadly oblivious to the fact that if the buildings started shaking again and eventually start falling down, they would fall right on top of us--- And we are telling each other war stories and recounting where we were when the shaking started. Everyone is laughing about it now, but it could have been so much different.

I was laughing as well. On the outside. Inside I was thinking, WTF? This ride that we are on is kind of shaky. At any moment the wheels could come off. I mean if the natural disasters don't get us the aliens will. I know that we all have to check out at some point, but I personally would love to ride it out until the engine can't go anymore. To stay with my car analogy: I don't want to be driving down the highway and get broadsided by a Mack truck. That earthquake today could have been a damn Mack truck. 

Yep, I think I am going to start working on the last part of my "bucket list" just a little bit sooner.

Finally, enough about earthquakes. Let's talk about my favorite subject: Wingnuts.

"No, I don't ... He's a very bright man. But think about his life. And think about what he was exposed to and what he saw in America. He's only relating what his experience in life was ... His intent isn't to destroy. It's to create dependency because it worked so well for him. I don't say that critically. Look at people for what they are. Don't assume ulterior motives. I don't think he doesn't love our country. I think he does." [Source]

That was republican senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, explaining how he feels about his O ness.

You see folks, it's like this; if you are a black man in A-merry-ca, dependency is what you rely on because it works for you. Forget the fact that this particular black man went to Ivy League schools and studied law at one of A-merry-ca's finer institutions. He is a black man, so the hard work to do these things doesn't fit into the narrative of some people.

Personally, I thought that wingnuts would embrace the hard work that Obama put in to get where he is. But I guess I was wrong.

Sadly, it looks like no matter how hard you Negroes work or how successful you become, (You can't get more successful than the president of these divided states) you will still be looked upon by the wingnut as someone who "dependency worked so well" for.  

I swear, you just can't win with the wingnut.  



     

It has served them well.

"For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South.” ~ Michael Steele~

I am not an educator, and I do not have a degree in history. But every now and then when I post I feel that I have to give my friends in A-merry-ca a history lesson. Why? Because some folks just never seem to learn. Or, it's just really convenient for them to forget. I was inspired to give tonight's lecture because of the following tidbit from an oped by a wingnut named Billy Hallowell writing for some website called The Blaze.

"..Then, last night, Chris Matthews made a startling association — that Rick Perry is like “Bull Connor with a smile.”

For those who don’t know, Connor was a Democrat and the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights era. He infamously directed the use of fire hoses and attack dogs against peaceful, African American protestors — extreme brutality that was rooted in sheer racism.
This bizarre statement came after Matthews’ guest, Wayne Slater of The Dallas Morning News, reacted to Perry’s criticisms of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Slater explained that entitlements are only the beginning in the push for “states rights.” According to The Daily Caller, he said:

“The question is the attack on Perry is ‘Social Security is a Ponzi scheme,’ ‘Medicare needs to be changed or potentially abolished,’ which is not precisely what he said. Raising questions about the Voting Rights Act saying it is just a tool for gerrymandering in the South and the Civil Rights Act — the terms under which we’ve established — this has the look of someone who when he talks about states’ rights, states’ rights, states’ rights could make some voters, again — very nervous.” [Source] 

OK, let's try this again for the...oh, I don't know...millionth time.

Yes, Bull Conner and others like him were dumbocrats. In fact, most of your white southern racist during the Jim Crow era were dumbocrats. That fact is undisputed. What is also undisputed is that most (if not all)of those racist southern whites, fled the dumbocratic party in droves and became....wait for it wait for it..... REPUBLICANS! And this was done, thanks in part, to a wonderfully crafted political ploy called "The Southern Strategy." It was where white politicians exploited the racism felt towards blacks by fellow whites to vote against the political party which had now become the party of African Americans.

"From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats."^]


That was Richard Nixon's version of David Axelrod giving us a little insight into the strategy that now works so well for the "party of Lincoln."

Of course it all started before that, when Southern dumbocrats like Richard Russell and Herman Talmadge boycotted the 1964 party convention in Atlantic City. All because Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Many of the southern delegates at that time refused to support the national ticket because of Johnson's actions. Throw in our boy, Barry Goldwater, --who joined the southern dumbocrats to filibuster the Act-- and the rest, as they say, is history.

That is your republican party today, the one that ran away from all things civil rights and never looked back. So no matter how much you hear wingnuts try to revise and revisit history, just remember who they were back then and why they switched. It's why every time ninety percent of the time you see something like this, and like this, taking place on the national landscape; it involves a republican.

“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.” ~ reublican strategist, Lee Atwater~

Some things never change.

 

Maxine, the devil is upset with you.....

...He says that sending all those tea- party people to hell will only ruin the joint.

The first time I met Maxine Waters in person she was flirting with my friend from law school while we visited Washington some 15 years ago. (Relax Sidney, it was totally innocent. I won't even repeat what was said.) I have followed her career ever since. And it has, to say the least, been colorful. (No pun intended.) 

Girlfriend told the tea party folks to "go straight to hell", recently, and, as you can imagine, wingnuts are "fit to be tied."

“I’m not afraid of anybody,” said Waters. “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned, the ‘tea party’ can go straight to hell.”

Mrs. Waters, I am sure that they are all convinced that they are going to that other place. You know the one. Where they have all the Angels, milk and honey, and no black folks. So I bet that you telling them to "go straight to hell" must have really pissed them off.

Anywhoo, I love Maxine's fight. And before you wingnuts think it's only the right she has it in for, Maxine has made it quite clear that even our boy O is going to get the business from her if he doesn't get his s&^% together. She wants O to pay more attention to black folks, and she is letting her constituents know that she will be holding his feet to the fire. This seems to have become a trend: Black folks have become somewhat frustrated with O, and they are letting their politicians know about it.

"The economy, the loss of jobs, the pain is real. We’re talking about indisputable facts,” she said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“We’ve got to be in the discussion. We want to be part of the solution. We cannot continue to go on watching everybody talk about what the solutions are without us being included in it,”

I agree with her there. I know that O and his peeps will be looking for a large voter turnout from old reliable, and it would help him in key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. But if these Negroes in places like Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Tampa, and Jacksonville stay home, O better start packing his bags for that long ride back to the Windy City. It's no secret where the next presidential election will be won or lost: In northern suburbs with independent white voters, and the turn out in urban areas in key swing states. That's it. No need to listen to all the political pundits on television bore you for hours with red state blue state crap. I just gave you the key to winning in November, 2012 in a couple of sentences.

So Maxine is right.  O and his people have to address urban issues in the larger discussion about economic recovery. What good is it going to do if home values go up again and Tyrone keeps breaking in to my nice new home because he can't find a job or wants to support a drug habit? Or, unemployment drops for the rest of A-merry-ca and stays at double digits for poorly educated urban youths with nothing to look forward to but a long criminal record? We have all these great resources at our finger tips and at some point we are going to have to start connecting the dots.Politicians (both locally and nationally) are not doing that, and we are going to pay for it down the line. The truth is, we are probably paying for it already.

Finally, every time you think that Governor Big Hair is a legitimate candidate for president of these divided states, or every time he questions O's patriotism or love of country; just remember the following quote from him just a couple of years ago:

"Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that,” Perry said. “My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that.”

And with that, I rest my case.

 

  

I am not smiling with Coke and Nivea isn't being civilized.

I don't think that I will be having a Coke and a smile anytime soon. (Not that I would. Those sodas are bad for you.) My good friends from Atlanta decided to invest four billion dollars in China. That's FOUR BILLION with a B!

Those "emerging markets"  sure have a lot of clout. I guess since corporations are people according to our friend, Mitt Romney, Coke just wanted to show that they have friends of all races and nationalities.     

"Kent said the company is even considering listing its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, adding itself to the list of mainstream brands listing their depositary receipts on exchanges outside of their home base. Massachusetts luggage maker Samsonite opted to list in Hong Kong in the second quarter rather than do its initial public offering on the NYSE. The new China investments will focus on innovation, infrastructure and expansion of its production capacity. The company now has six manufacturing centers in the country."

"Expansion of its production capacity." I think that means more jobs for my friends who just put a beat down on those Hoyas.

I wish my friends at Coke all the best.

And then there is the latest little racial controversy here in A-merry-ca brought to us by yet another clueless advertising executive:

"Skincare brand Nivea’s popular “Look like you give a damn” campaign went very awry this week after they released a new print ad that showed a well-groomed, clean-shaven black man about to toss away a rubber mask of his earlier self with facial hair and an afro.

Over the model, words in giant font read: RE-CIVILIZE YOURSELF.
The public outrage over the ad was immediate, with many calling the ad racist. “The message couldn't be clearer,” wrote Nona Willis Aronowitz at Good, “natural hair on a black man isn't a style preference or a nod to afrocentrism — it's straight-up uncivilized.”

Questlove, a musician who often tweets about race issues, was angered by the ad, tweeting Thursday: “Lotion with a 38-year-old stripper’s name really wants my head off. Uncivilized? #[expletive]Nivea.”

Within hours, Nivea had apologized. On its Facebook page, the company wrote: “This ad was inappropriate and offensive. It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again.”
The ad is already printed in the September issue of Esquire, and Nivea still runs other variations of the ad, including one that features a white male model and rubber head, with no text about “re-civilization.” [Source]

Questlove, I feel you homie, that head in the brother's hand does look a lot like you. I can see why folks are upset. I get the message that this campaign sends, and it's not a good one. Civilized is a relative term, so where the hell does Nivia get off implying that some dude who looks like Questlove isn't civilized and the dude with the J. Crew v-neck, is civilized?

I am not even going to call them racist, just stupid. Their advertising agencies need to start putting some added flavor in their board rooms, and get out of this Procrustean approach to all of their products. Mad Men is a nice television show, but it's just that; a television show. This is 2011. Nivea, please feel free to join us whenever the spirit moves you. The time you spend apologizing for this type of faux pas could be well spent developing better products. (BTW, your Q10 moisturiser for men sucks. Or, as my white friends like to say: "Sucks balls"! )

Questlove, time for the Roots to drop another classic and show those fools over at Nivea that just because you rock your hair like their definition of uncivilized; actually listening to your music is as far away from uncivilized as it gets.  

    

Impeach him massa!

Does Herman Cain realizes what a fool he is making of himself? I mean I am all for black folks doing their thing and being engaged in the A-merry-can political process, but the stuff Herman does.....*shaking head*

"Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain suggested that impeaching President Barack Obama "would be a great thing to do" on a conference call with bloggers on Tuesday night, Politico reports.
The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza predicted, however, that achieving such a goal would likely prove easier said than done.
"Because the Senate is controlled by Democrats we would never be able to get the Senate first to take up that action, because they simply don’t care what the American public thinks," he said. "They would protect him and they wouldn’t even bring it up," Cain said,.."

Herman, please stop. Yes, the Senate is controlled by democrats, but the Senate only votes on whether to carry out the articles of impeachment, it is the house that initiates the impeachment process. Get the Herman? The house. Congress!
The Senate can then vote to remove him from office with a two thirds majority vote.

You can send the Field Negro a thank you note for your civics lesson.

The thing about a slave catcher is this; he is so busy trying to please massa and to show his that he is not like the rest of those Negroes, that he sometimes forgets that he is one of those Negroes himself. Herman didn't notice that he was all alone on the impeachment island because he thought that was what massa wanted to hear. Of course massa wanted to hear it, but they would never say it themselves. That's why they have Herman to say it for them.

Of course Herman botched it all by not having a clue about how the government works. Herman, that acclamation from your wingnuts friends will not be forthcoming. Because, quite frankly, even they realize how foolish you sound.

But hey, it's only good ole Herman; that's why they are glad he is around. Somebody has to lead the chase.

Go get em, Herman!!




     
 

Where is Yao when you need him?

I swear they can't take you Negroes anywhere. So now you done went and started a fight with the Chinese. This is not a good look for John Thompson III and the boys. I don't care how many bows those Chinese were throwing at you, you boys should have just sucked it up and walked away. Instead, we have an ugly international incident on our hands.

 "BEIJING — What began as a goodwill trip to China for the Georgetown men’s basketball team turned violent Thursday night, when its exhibition game against a Chinese professional club deteriorated into a benches-clearing melee in which players exchanged blows, chairs were thrown and spectators tossed full water bottles at the Hoyas players and coaches as they headed to the locker room.

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III pulled his players off the Olympic Sports Center Stadium court with 9 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game and the scored tied at 64 after a chaotic scene in which members of both the Georgetown and Bayi Military Rockets teams began swinging wildly and tackling one another.

There were an estimated half-dozen individual altercations on the court , and eventually some Chinese onlookers joined the fracas, including one wielding a stanchion. As the brawl spilled beyond the baseline, an unidentified Bayi player pushed Georgetown’s Aaron Bowen through a partition to the ground before repeatedly punching the sophomore guard while sitting on his chest.
Georgetown senior center Henry Sims had a chair tossed at him by an unidentified person, and Georgetown freshman forward Moses Ayegba, who was wearing a brace on his right leg, limped onto the court with a chair in his right hand..."

Oh Lawd! Maybe you boys couldn't have just walked away after all. What's wrong with the Chinese? They don't have love for GT? Have they ever heard of Patrick Ewing, Sleepy Floyd, AI, and Alonzo Mourning?

"The brawl occured one night after Vice President Biden, who is in Beijing on a four-day visit to discuss U.S.-Chinese economic relations, attended a Georgetown game against another Chinese club at the Olympic Sports Center. That game, which was won by Georgetown, passed without incident.

The turbulent ending to Thursday night’s contest marred what had been billed as the second game of a two-day “China-U.S. Basketball Friendship Match” in Beijing. Georgetown intended for the team’s 10-day trip to China to be an athletic, cultural and educational exchange designed to promote the school internationally."

Maybe next time we will send Duke.

I really don't want to blog about Michele Bachmann as much as I do, but girlfriend just wont let me walk away.

Here is the latest from the Queen of the tea party:

"This could be the least serious campaign promise of the year. While on the trail in South Carolina this week, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann vowed that if elected president, gasoline prices would fall to less than $2 per gallon.

"Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again," Bachmann said during a town hall meeting in Greenville, S.C., according to The Hill newspaper. "That will happen."
To accomplish this, Bachmann said, she would encourage more oil drilling by opening up spaces currently under federal protection and reduce restrictions and regulation on oil companies. The national average for the price of gas is currently $3.60 per gallon." [Source]

Michele, I have a news flash for you: if gas is selling at less than $2 a gallon during your presidency that will not be good for the economy. Just a thought. Still,if you can get the field to pay less than $2 a gallon at the pump, you just might have my vote.

Finally, speaking of the tea party, I see that a new study by a couple of academics is confirming what I believed all along about my wingnut friends. Remember how they tried to say that they were independent of either political party? Well, it turns out that was a lie. And, as it turns out, they don't like us black folks too much, either. Nooooooo.

"Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.

What’s more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.

So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics.

And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government." [Source] 

A desire "to see religion play a prominent role in politics". That sounds like another group I know.

"OrBameo", and Happy Birthday, Elvis?

Poor Rush. The guy must be feeling really irrelevant these days. He is trying so hard to get a rise out of us black folks and it ain't even working. When a racism chaser like moi doesn't even feel motivated to take the bait you know he (Rush) has hit rock bottom.

"Today on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh described a new Oreo that will have both chocolate and vanilla cream as a "biracial" cookie and said that "it isn't going to be long before it's going to be called the Or-Bam-eo or something like this." Limbaugh later called it the "Or-Bam-eo" himself.
Listen:

LIMBAUGH: Kraft foods is going to launch a new Oreo. You ought to see -- that got Snerdly's attention. It's a Triple Double Oreo. Do you like Oreos, is that?
Well, it -- what it's going to be here, it's actually a biracial cookie. You've got three of the chocolate wafers, and then you've got the white vanilla cream -- the cream -- and then there's a chocolate cream. So you've got, you've got three -- the stuff, the thing that says Oreo on it, the wafer. And then you've got the white cream, then you've got another chocolate wafer, then you've got the chocolate cream, and then you've got the bottom wafer.
The Triple Double Oreo. You wait, it isn't going to be long before it's called the Or-Bam-eo, or something like this. Well, it's a biracial cookie, here. And this story is from the Chicago Tribune, and it's all about Kraft's juicing up its investment in the Oreo in recent years. Legitimate businesses.
Do I know you get Oreos and ice cream? Yeah, I know that. I don't -- I'm not a big ice cream fan, but I know that you can do that. I know that you can -- you know what? What I heard the other day, McDonald's? You know these -- what are they called? Rolos, these caramel things that come in a roll that you get? McDonald's is putting those in their soft ice cream or shakes or whatever. I saw that the other day. Yeah.
In the midst of all this talk of obesity. And, I mean, every time Michelle Obama goes out there and talks about healthful eating, the food industry responds with, "Oh, yeah? Take this." And Kraft comes up with the Or-Bam-eo, the triple double-dipper.
OK, to the phones.

The Chicago Tribune article that Limbaugh was referencing mentions nothing about race, of course, and it certainly doesn't describe it as a "biracial" cookie.
Limbaugh is clearly aware of the use of the word "Oreo" as a racial slur.
In 2005, Limbaugh repeated the dubious allegation that former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele had Oreos thrown at him in 2002 while he was running to be lieutenant governor of Maryland.

Limbaugh was discussing NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb's statement that some criticism of his play was related to race. Limbaugh listed Steele among the "names of people that the NAACP has tried to destroy."

I want to thank Tyrone Gayle from Media Matters for e-mailing that story to me. But, sorry Tyrone, Rush is about as relevant as the last man off the bench for the Washington Wizards these days. Maybe when he starts trying to buy his oxy pills again on the black market we will pay attention.

I must confess that I have never been a big Elvis fan. But the man is an A-merry-can icon. Maybe this is why some of you folks just refuse to believe that the man is dead. Some of you have taken it a step further, and you have actually declared that the day that the rest of us believe that he died, is actually the day that he was born:

"Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today," Bachmann greeted event attendees at a "Join Team Bachmann" rally in Spartanburg, SC.
"We played you a little bit of Promised Land when we pulled up. You can't do better than Elvis Presley and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started celebrating taking our country back to work."

OK, I don't want to be cruel here ( "Dont be cruel", get it?) but Michele, once again,I think you might have a little problem:

"GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann mistakenly wished Elvis Presley a "happy birthday" today during a campaign event in South Carolina.
Presley -- "The King" to music fans everywhere -- died 34 years ago on this date." [Source]

Whoops!

Michele, I think you just lost the vote of every white woman who is over 55 in A-merry-ca.

A "big black cloud" is hanging over Thibodaux.

Now you all know me, I can chase the big R with the best of em. But a couple of recent incidents have me crying slow down just a little and let's trot around the track.

A top A-merry-can diplomat in India found herself in some hot water recently for the following remarks: "I was on a 24-hour train trip from Delhi to Orissa," the eastern Indian state, Chao continued, according to Agence-France Press. "But, after 72 hours, the train still did not reach the destination ... and my skin became dirty and dark like the Tamilians."...

The U.S. consulate soon posted a statement of apology on its website:"During the speech Ms. Chao made an inappropriate comment," the statement, posted Saturday, read. "Ms. Chao deeply regrets if her unfortunate remarks offended anyone, as that was certainly not her intent."

Chao's comment came while she was attempting to recount "positive memories from her own study experiences in India 23 years ago," the statement continued." [Source]

Ok, that's one. Now here is the other one: "Barely days into his official presidential campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been a gusher of controversial quotes, calling President Obama’s patriotism into question, making vaguely threatening statements about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, and now, making what some see as a blatant reference to President Obama’s race by saying that “a big black cloud” is hanging over the country. AURN White House Correspondent April Ryan, for one, wasn’t shy about calling Perry out.... 

The quote has been held up as a not-so-veiled reference to the President’s race. Loop21’s Maurice Garland translated Perry’s remark:
After that he said that a “big black cloud” was hanging over the country. In Perry-speak that means there’s a “big black guy running the country and I’m not too happy about it.”

Garland went on to say that he “hope(s) (Perry) doesn’t actually start ‘hanging’ these big black clouds he speaks of.”

Veteran White House reporter April Ryan, who was recently elected to the board of the White House Correspondents Association, was quick to call Perry out via her Twitter feed, tweeting “Rick Perry’s words ‘a black cloud over this country.’ He knows exactly what he is saying and appealing to. Perry has to remember if he is President he would be POTUS over all including black america who are part of his ‘black cloud.’” [Source] 

OK, so maybe I have to think about the Governor Big Hair quote a little more. Sometimes I just can't hear those racist dog whistles. But then, I am not supposed to. They are not meant for me.

Finally, speaking of black clouds; they are hanging over one particular Louisiana town tonight and here is why: "THIBODAUX, La. -The mother of 7 year old Jori Lirette can’t help but ask why, her son was brutally murdered allegedly at the hands of his own father. Jori has cerebral palsy and heart problems.

“He was a very important person in my life, maybe the best thing that ever happened to me,” says Jesslyn Lirette

30 year old Jeremiah Wright is accused of bludgeoning, decapitating and dismembering Jori Lirette. Thibodaux police say Wright left his disabled son’s head near the street in front of the family home, so the child’s mother would see it when she returned from running errands." [Source] 

"See I told you that Obama was no good, now look what his pastor done went and did." No wingnuts, not that Jeremiah Wright. This Jeremiah Wright [see pic]probably hated Obama as much as you do.

"Veteran police officers who initially arrived on the scene to investigate were reportedly in tears. Outside of the home, a memorial is growing and the close knit community is shaken as well.

“It’s real hard to walk into campus this morning and see so many empty looking eyes because everybody is grieving over his death,” says Principal Diane Smith

Investigators are trying to understand too. They say when officers arrived at the house, Wright was standing on the front porch.

“Actually he told the officers that it was a CPR dummy, that the head was a CPR dummy,” says Chief Scott Sillveri

Later, they say Wright confessed to killing his son and cutting him up in the kitchen sink. Police say Wright’s only explanation for placing his son’s head by the road was to make the boy’s mother feel stupid when she saw it.
Wright has been in trouble before. He was arrested for contempt of court and drug charges.

“You will be missed and loved by everyone and we will pray every day in your honor. Love you,” says Jesslyn Lirette

Through tears, Jori’s mother, called him a star who will never be forgotten.

Wright is being held on a $5 million bond.

The boy’s mother said she left the house to go get her truck fixed so she could take Jori to the doctor Tuesday.

The couple was not married. They had been together, though, for 10 years."

Ten years?! Wow, that's a lot of clouds.

Strange days, and "The Help" isn't helping.

"Long time ago, back in the mist of time Back when the crystal waters flowed There was a world so strange and so beautiful All life would flourish and would grow
Years went by, time just fell away Love was worshiped like the sun But as we arrive at the house at the waterside We're living in strange times Do dodo do dodo doooooooo
Strange times, strange times" ~Moody Blues~

These are strange times indeed.

Consider the following: An anti Gay republican was accused of trying to get his freak on with a black male prostitute on the Internet. A mega church preacher from Florida was found dead up in a Zoo York hotel room with drugs in his possession. (Hold the offering plate.) WTF is going on with you preachers,lately?  They are shooting at politicians in Brooklyn. (Wait, this isn't Jamaica.) Negroes are hanging from towers in Oklahoma and refusing to come down. White folks in Louisiana love Wal*Mart so much that they are literally masturbating in the parking lot. (Must be all the beautiful people coming in and out...)

I swear, those Moody Blues dudes were right on the money.

OK, speaking of money, The Help pulled in a little over 25 million this weekend. That's a decent opening by any measure. I am sure that most of you are not surprised. There is nothing A-merry-cans love more than seeing those "dignified" blacks of the civil rights era and the white folks who felt their pain telling us about it. 

Over at The Grio the director and producer of The Help was lamenting the fact that some folks are just too critical of the movie:

"theGrio: What made you decide to direct 'The Help?'

Taylor: I am from Jackson, Mississippi, and this story really pulled at my heartstrings and my nostalgic urges. The moment for me, was when Aibileen and Mae Mobely's characters came to life in the manuscript. I was immediately thrust back, to years ago and I thought of Carol Lee, the woman who helped my mother raise me.

Kathryn Stockett had a very similar situation in her adulthood, where she began missing her nanny. It made her start writing short stories that ultimately became The Help.

I knew I wanted to direct the movie, as soon as I read the manuscript. I got the rights to the manuscript a year before the book was even in print. Kathryn had been turned down by 60 agents, and she said "Tate, I have this book, nobody's interested, you can read it if you want." I did read it, and I was immediately blown away.

So you had a black nanny growing up in Jackson, Mississippi?

Yes I did. Her name is Carol Lee. She is still in my life, she came out to the premiere of the movie and walked the red carpet and everything. I put her in the film too. You know the scene where Skeeter goes to the house and all of the maids have come together to help tell their stories? She is the first woman that tells Skeeter that she wants to help write the book.

So is Carol Lee proud of 'The Help?' Does she feel your depiction of maids in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's is authentic?

She was so proud of the movie. So thrilled. Absolutely. She has been one of my strongest supporters.

What was your most memorable experience while making this movie?

Every day was a memorable experience. What I remember the most was the sense of joy, that so many friends were together. Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, and Kathryn Stockett and so many others. We were able to tell this personal story on our homeland and tell it in a way that we felt was accurate...

What do you say to people that say this film did not accurately represent black maids of south during the 1960's?

I want them to tell me, what their version of accurately is. People are being too critical of this film.

It's so perplexing to me. Kathryn set out to write a book not about victims. She wrote a book about four women that were victims of circumstances of their surroundings. The book is about courage and love and integrity, and talking to whom you consider to be your enemy and finding common ground. Kathryn has said, she would never be equipped or interested in writing a historical, fictional account of the civil rights movement. It's just a story. My job as a director and person who is adapting a novel that is a monumental success is not to go take what she did and make is something that it's not. That would be more offensive and wrong. This is art, this is an expression in storytelling, and this is the particular story that we are telling.

I think anyone who sees this movie will feel that Aibileen and Minny are the most courageous, brilliant, smart, and spiritual loving humans on the planet, and oh yeah they have on a uniform. I didn't film these ladies scrubbing toilets.

I didn't want to have a yard man beaten with a crowbar because he went to use a white bathroom. We have seen that, done before and we know it. That takes away time and moments for me to show the layers of these women. Conversely, that's why I had one of the maid, Yule Mae taken off of the bus and beaten with a club. That's not in the book, but I am trying to show that yeah, horrible things happened in the South, but through a character that means something to the storyline. That's filmmaking.

The scene where Viola Davis sitting on a toilet in a garage in 108 degrees, and then a white woman comes out and tells her to hurry up was visually brutal. To me that's worst than seeing a lynching. It just is." [Source]

I am sorry folks, maybe I need some Kumbaya juice or something, but I just can't get behind the whole I took my nanny to the premiere and she was on the red carpet with me thing. The word patronizing comes to mind.

Mr. Taylor talks about the book being about finding common ground, and about the maids being these "courageous" and "spiritual" human beings; which I am sure that they were. But something is missing. And it's the same thing I see missing every time I watch one of these movies about the civil rights era in A-merry-ca. The story is never being told by the oppressed but always the oppressor. The narrative is always the same: Oppressor finds their humanity and helps the oppressed and becomes a hero to us all.

Sadly, I guess it has to be that way. How else are you going to sell 25 million dollars worth of tickets?