Forced night off.

I'm off the plantation. If the boss allows it I will  have a post for you tomorrow. :(

"American Intellectuals"

I was going to write something about the politics of the Supreme Court decision on Thursday, but, quite frankly, I am sick of politics in this country and all the players who are involved with it.

Most of us who know how America really works, and how the political parties function, understand that it doesn't matter who is in the White House or who controls the halls of congress. We know that real power in America comes from lobbyist and the people who can afford to pay them. Politicians who go to Washington need money to get elected and John Q. Public cannot afford to write a big enough check.

The sad truth of the matter is that most of our fellow citizens are extremely naive and are not in the least intellectually curious.  As a result, what we get are dimwitted sound bite politicians who are elected every year by dim witted intellectually lazy citizens. (The republican Governor of Louisiana says that he will ignore a federal law and not implement Obamacare in his state.)

Just think, playmates are now getting "Genius visas" to come to our country. Nothing against playmates, I am sure that some of them are really smart people, but think about that for a minute.

The right keeps screaming that if Obama wins November it will be the end of the world as we all know it. But with all due respect to Sarah Palin, Rush Limpboy and the FOX NEWS crowd, nothing will change. America will pretty much be the same sound bite celebrity driven place with a few wealthy people controlling our lives, and the rest of us wishing that we were them.

The beautiful thing about this American experiment is that every one of those folks in the 99% believes that with just a little hard work they too will be in that 1% some day. And they believe that only if certain people are in power will they have a chance of getting there. "Mitt Romney has a better chance of making me rich because he is rich." 

Finally, I know I said I wouldn't write about it, but I can't resist one aspect of this Obamacare decision by the supremes: the reaction of [right] wingnuts to the ruling. (Did you see representative Jean Schmidt's orgasmic reaction to the wrong news about Obamacare?)  

"On his radio show Thursday, conservative talk radio firebrand Michael Savage wondered whether Roberts’ epilepsy medication affected the chief justice’s cognition. “I’m going to tell you something that you’re not going to hear anywhere else, that you must pay attention to,” Savage said. “It’s well known that Roberts, unfortunately for him, has suffered from epileptic seizures. Therefore he has been on medication. Therefore neurologists will tell you that medication used for seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, can introduce mental slowing, forgetfulness and other cognitive problems. And if you look at Roberts’ writings you can see the cognitive dissociation in what he is saying,”
In a closed door meeting with House Republicans, Rep. Mike Pence likened the health care ruling to Sept. 11, Politico reported

Geraldo Rivera didn’t criticize Roberts as much as call him a mad genius. On Fox and Friends Friday morning, Geraldo said: “(Roberts) has gifted President Obama a poison pill. Republicans now can remember, unless something is done, that the Bush tax cuts also lapse at the end of the year. So here you have the largest tax increase and the increase coming from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts - he taxed us, he said he wouldn’t tax us, he taxed us. I think the Obama presidency hangs by a thread right now.”

Saying the Supreme Court decision “destroys Bush’s legacy,” dimmed conservative star Glenn Beck put his rhetoric where his online store is. He is selling screen-printed Roberts “coward” t-shirts for $30 a pop." [Source]

What's amazing is that our republic has managed to survive this long.








     





          

A victory for O but his AG is still being hunted.

The most hated man by the FOX NEWS crowd in America tonight is John Roberts. Justice Roberts was the deciding vote in giving O a victory for his ACA.

The NY Times is calling this "the most significant federalism decision since the New Deal". If you are a wingnut tonight you are really pissed. If, on the other hand, you are a single mother with breast cancer; you are probably in the Hallmark store looking for a nice thank you card for the aforementioned Mr. Roberts.

 Let's stay in Washington for my next issue. The republicans followed up on their political witch hunt  investigation, and voted along party lines (yeah I know some blue dog dumbocrats crossed party lines, but they are dems in name only)to find the AG of these divided states of America in contempt.

"Eric Holder is the first African American to hold the position of Attorney General. He is the 82nd person to serve in the position. Holder also served briefly in the position in 2001 under President George W. Bush before John Ashcroft.

Democrats were very angry with the way the Republican controlled House proceeded on the matter of the investigation of a gun operation known as Fast and Furious. They were particularly unhappy with House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA).

The stakes were raised even higher when the House’s most senior member, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), who is 85, offered a resolution to conduct a bi-partisan investigation. Dingell, who has served in the House since 1955, was critical of the Republican led investigation of Holder.
Democrats had very strong words on the matter.

“We’re doing what has never been done in 111 Congresses,” said Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). ”I believe the political motivations behind this motion present a clear and present danger to this country,” he strongly added.
“The vote should not be dignified with an answer… This is a cheap political stunt to bring disfavor to the President of the United States,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).

“It may just be a coincidence, I don’t know, that the Attorney General is fighting voter suppression… it may just be a coincidence. Or maybe it isn’t,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). ”Just when you think they couldn’t possibly go over the edge they come up with something like this,” she added. Pelosi announced she would join Democrats in protest and not appear on the House floor during the vote. "  [Source]

Now now Nancy, you know that this is no coincidence. The republicans know exactly what they are doing. And I find it ironic that the democrats who crossed party lines to vote for this joke of a measure were all threatened by the NRA.

The same NRA that advocates for the free flow of all types of guns into this country, and to whose feet the blame can be squarely placed for all the carnage and killings that take place on the streets of our cities every damn day.

When are we going to have a "fast and furious" style investigation of that ongoing tragedy?



   

Teaneck, New Jersey man wanted for his unique skills in Washington on Thursday.

"We'd really rather not be here," Boehner told reporters. "We'd really rather have the attorney general and the president work with us to get to the bottom of a very serious issue."

Riiiight. Careful Mr. Boehner, this is election season, I am not sure that the American people are ready for another republican witch hunt investigation.

"They have shown very little interest in reaching a resolution, instead they have chosen a path of political confrontation and theater," White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Republican leaders at Wednesday's briefing.

Stop whining Jay, I love a little political "theater". Let's see how far my right wing friends in Washington get with this one. I am glad that they (republicans) want to hold someone accountable for the death of agent Brian Terry. It just would have been nice if they had shown the same amount of zeal for some other good men and women who lost their lives because of poor political decisions as well.

Finally, I go from the ridiculous to the absurd. I honestly think that passing gas in public is crass and has no place among decent folks, but I don't think I would "put a hole" in someone's "dome" if they happened to let loose from their caboose.

Daniel Collins of Teaneck, New Jersey was arrested after he reportedly threatened to take his neighbor’s life when he farted in front of his apartment, the New York Daily News reports.

Collins, 77, pulled a 32-caliber revolver and threatened to “put a hole” in his neighbor’s dome, cops said.

According to police, the two men have been engaged in an ongoing dispute over noise. Collins said the 47-year-old neighbor passed gas so loudly that he heard it inside of his apartment before he smelled the funk. The disrespect proved too much, so the old man had to pull out his pistol to show the younger gentleman his smelly ways were out of order.

Collins has been charged with “aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and making terroristic threats.” He was released without bail. [Story]

Seriously, what are they eating in Jersey?

This dude was loud and funky. That, my friends, is a deadly combination.

Still, old head should have kept his cool. I would have personally just called 911 on the loathsome neighbor, but the po po would have just had a good laugh as they probably have better things do to in Teaneck, New Jersey than to run down a smelly fart.

I wonder if we can find the perpetrator and take him down to D.C. tomorrow?
We just need to give him a nice spicy meal before we go.  

Republicans come clean, and the return of the ladies man.

I have to give it to the republicans here in my home state of pistolvania, at least they are honest.

"This weekend, Pennsylvania Republican House Leader Mike Turzai (R-PA) finally admitted what so many have speculated: Voter identification efforts are meant to suppress Democratic votes in this year’s election.

At the Republican State Committee meeting, Turzai took the stage and let slip the truth about why Republicans are so insistent on voter identification efforts — it will win Romney the election, he said:

“We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years,” said Turzai in a speech to committee members Saturday. He mentioned the law among a laundry list of accomplishments made by the GOP-run legislature.

“Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

Voter identification efforts disproportionately affect low-income voters of color, a typically Democratic demographic. Despite insistence by Republicans that the efforts are needed to prevent misconduct on election day, voter fraud is less likely than being hit by lighting." [Source]

This gives new meaning to the phrase, "By any means necessary."

Finally, like a  bad dream, Mr. 999 is back. This time the "Ladies Man" is riding the "Cain train" and he has some advice for Mitt and the gang:

"The way Governor Romney could blow it is number one: if Republicans get over confident. Number two: don't slow down in terms of the amount of effort that you have to exert in order to make sure that we win."

As for Romney's search for a vice presidential nominee, Cain says he should pick someone he believes in. "If the nominee were Herman Cain," he says, "my shortlist would include people like Rep. Allen West out of Florida, Rep. Paul Ryan out of Wisconsin and Sen. Marco Rubio and a senator out of Oklahoma, Coburn, Sen. DeMint… They are not afraid to challenge the establishment." [Source]

I hear ya Herman. Let's hope that that they aren't all serial philanderers like a certain fast talking pizza salesman.

The white folks are coming and the illegals better leave.

*

Let me start this post by saying that I love D.C., it's one of my favorite cities in the world.

Even though gentrification is making what was once "chocolate city" more like butter pecan, I still love the place.

Of course, I didn’t grow up there, so my sensibilities are different. To me it's just a nice place to visit, do business, and hang out with friends who have made their homes in the area.

For the folks who grew up there, the writing of Natalie Hopkinson hits home, and it’s something that I hear in a lot of other cities where gentrification (or reverse white flight) is pricing working class minority groups out of their old neighborhoods.

So why isn’t this a good thing? Property values will go up, and conventional wisdom says that the overall quality of life in the city will improve. But some things can't be measured in dollars and cents.

"My own initiation in the ways of Chocolate City came nearly 20 years ago when, after growing up black in nearly all-white environments, I arrived in Washington as a freshman at historically black Howard University. The Washington I encountered then was a strange, alternate universe: I saw black schools taught by black teachers and run by black principals reporting to black superintendents. Black restaurants. Black hospitals run by black doctors and staff members. Black suburbs. Black judges ordering black police officers to deliver black suspects to black jail wardens. And of course a black-owned music industry, go-go.

      

In Washington, we were not “minorities,” with the whiff of inferiority that label carries; we were “normal.” For the first time in my life, I felt at home."

You shouldn't feel inferior. When that "whiff" tries to take hold of you just hold your nose. And remember, home is where the heart is.

Finally, the supremes made a ruling today which , in essence, told the clowns in Arizona that they can't make laws which supersede federal statutes. They shot down three key provisions of SB1070 ,but unfortunately said it was cool for the po po to profile with their "papers please" clause.   

The white house was not exactly doing cart wheels but they managed to do a half of a victory lap. (Still waiting on Flipper to take an actual position on immigration, and the gutless media to call him out for not doing it.)  I guess that with this court you take whatever victory you can get.    

The supremes still have some more hits to come this week, and I suspect that those of us on the left will not be liking the tunes.

Folks, if you don't think it's important to put the right person in the White House, just remember that the president of these divided states is the person who ultimately selects the members of the supremes.  

*Pic from the New York Times.  

No Mitt for the NABJ.

There is a large segment of folks in the majority population who do not believe that there should be separate organizations for black folks. I hear it all the time:Why do blacks have black entertainment television, a black coaches association,and a Ms. Black America pageant? There is always an association for black_______[fill in the blank]

Well there happens to be a National Association of Black Journalist and Mitt and his crew probably fall into that segment of the majority population that I mentioned above.

"The Republican National Committee and the putative GOP standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, have ceded the National Association of Black Journalists convention to the Democrats, rejecting invitations to send speakers or panelists that the Democrats eagerly accepted.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. addressed the convention Wednesday on its opening night, delivering his campaign's talking points. A Friday afternoon session, "A Working Journalist's Guide: Obama Administration Insiders You Need to Know," featured four press contacts in the Obama administration.
Additionally, at least three representatives from the Obama reelection campaign were available to discuss the state of the campaign, also on Friday afternoon.
"We reached out consistently and vigorously to the Romney campaign asking that he appear," Sonya Ross, a Washington editor at the Associated Press who chairs the NABJ's Political Journalism Task Force, told Journal-isms.

"We also made overtures to the Republican National Committee. We wanted to make sure we reached both political parties to ask them to participate. The DNC," she said, referring to the Democratic National Committee, "came to us and asked us, 'Can we be there?' . . . We got no such overtures from the Republican National Committee.

"If the Republican National Committee wants to come tonight or Saturday or Sunday, we would love to see them."

The absence of Republican representatives, even as audience members, was evident in a Friday morning session, "Covering Race in the 2012 Elections," moderated by Jesse Washington, Associated Press writer on race and ethnicity. Panelists were Kevin Merida, national editor at the Washington Post, and Michelle Jaconi, executive producer of CNN's Cross Platform Programming Unit." [More]

I keep warning you Negroes about segregating yourselves. Certain people believe that it's un-American, and they will not pander to you. There will be no Sister Souljah moment from Mitt when it comes to this type of stuff. The base does not want him visiting you self segregating Negroes and he will always honor their wishes. You Negroes are not going to vote fo him anyway, so why piss off the folks who will?

I wonder what Mitt will do if he becomes president? Maybe his wife will take up one of those Negro causes like urban poverty.

Still, all is not lost. From the looks of things old reliable, the NAACP, might still get a visit from Mitt.

"Republicans have captured the white vote in every presidential election since 1972, and during the recent primary season, GOP candidates were criticized for their failure to reach out to African Americans.

Still, some GOP hopefuls have courted African Americans if only to appeal to white independents who believe that a president should be accessible to all segments of society.

And while the campaign turned down NABJ, it announced that the candidate would address the NAACP convention in Houston, which runs July 7-12."

Mitt, wear cotton. It will be hot in Houston come July.

 

  

Don't say it quite so, Joe.

Did you hear the one about the brotha who works for "the man" and got suspended from his job for stating the obvious about "the man"?

"Politico has suspended White House correspondent Joe Williams over comments suggesting that Mitt Romney is more "comfortable" around white people.

Williams, who is African-American, made the comments during a Thursday appearance on Martin Bashir's MSNBC program. During the appearance, Williams discussed how he believes Romney appears more "comfortable" appearing on Fox News Channel, as opposed to other outlets, and implied that race is a factor:

"Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him. That's one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in town hall settings, why he can't relate to people other than that," Williams said during the appearance. "But when he comes on 'Fox and Friends,' they're like him. They're white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company."

In the announcement on Williams' suspension, Politico writes:

"Regrettably, an unacceptable number of Joe Williams's public statements on cable and Twitter have called into question his commitment to this responsibility," POLITICO's founding editors John Harris and Jim VandeHei wrote in a memo to the staff. "His comment about Governor Romney earlier today on MSNBC fell short of our standards for fairness and judgment in an especially unfortunate way." [Source]

Sorry Joe, we all know that what you said is true, but you work for "the man", and you just can't go stating uncomfortable truths on national television. 

Just curious, did Glenn Beck get suspended for saying that Obama doesn't like white people and has a "deep seated hatred" for them? I know that he took some heat, but did his employer suspend him? "Field, Beck is not a journalist, Joe Williams works for a real news organization."  Oh yea, that's right Beck worked for FOX at the time.

Beck's statement was way more outrageous because Obama is half white. And, trust me; he is very comfortable around white people. You don't get to be president of these divided states of America if you are not. The flip side is, of course, that you can become president if you are not comfortable around Negroes. And if Romney wins he won't be the first; "color arousal" is something that has plagued American presidents throughout history.   

Joe, hopefully you will get your job back real soon. There is a recession going on and no one can afford to be without work. Just be careful next time. Remember who you work for.

Real evil.

They are not Happy in Happy Valley tonight, because one of the most influential citizens of that bucolic area, who just happened to be a sociopathic monster, was found guilty by a jury of his peers of defiling and stealing the innocence of young boys for years.

It took the jury a little over 20 hours to make official what the rest of us suspected all along: that Jerry Sandusky was a predator who preyed on innocent children thanks to a powerful institution and iconic coach who turned a blind eye to it all.

The folks of Happy Valley will go back to cheering on their beloved Nittany Lions, and they will hope that the memory of Jerry Sandusky will go away. It won't. Because, in a way, they were all found guilty tonight.

Another institution was on trial here in Philadelphia this past week, and,like Penn State, the jury found that those who represent that institution was also guilty of despicable acts.

Here in America we like to demonize and paint only certain segments of our population as evil and malevolent, and yet we worship and idolize people and institutions that are just as evil. It's only when the facade comes off that the rest of us get to see what was there all along.





      

The sequel.

I am not a big fan of movie sequels, give me the original every time. With a few exceptions, (the Bourne franchise comes to mind) the sequel never quite lives up to the original. Big Momma’s House 2? Beverly Hills Cop 11?The Hangover Part 11? Please!

So anyway, now we have “Fast and Furious” playing out in Washington, and if you haven’t been paying attention, you might not realize that this too is a sequel. Yes, let’s call this one 2 Fast 2 furious.

The original came under our friend W, and, as is the case with most originals, I am guessing that it was better than the sequel as well.

"One after the other, Republicans on the panel waved the bloody shirt. “Here’s the proof!” hollered Rep. Trey Gowdy (S.C.), claiming he had evidence that President Obama knew about a botched federal program that contributed to Terry’s death. Gowdy’s proof: that Obama cited executive privilege in denying the committee all the documents it sought. “If he’s not part of it, then he’s got no business asserting executive privilege,” Gowdy concluded.

Terry’s death is indeed a scandal, part of the “Fast and Furious” operation in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost track of 2,000 guns it was planning to trace on their way to Mexican drug cartels; two of those firearms were found near Terry’s body. After that, the Justice Department shut down the program (which followed similar “gun-walking” operations during the George W. Bush administration), fired or reassigned several people who ran the program out of ATF’s Phoenix office, requested an inspector-general investigation and handed over about 7,600 pages of records to Issa’s committee." [Source]

Wait, what was that Mr.Milbank? We have actually seen this movie before? Yes, I thought it looked familiar.

I wonder why this one is such a hit with republicans and the original was such a dud? Hmmmm, I am guessing that they didn't like the first director.

"Republicans didn’t have much on Holder — it’s one of those perennial disputes about how much the executive branch needs to divulge to the legislature — so they did what sensible people usually do when they have an honest disagreement: They accused the attorney general of being an accessory to murder."

Or, maybe they just like a more dramatic script.

Where is Vin Diesel when you need him?

Whenever I hear the words fast and furious I think of Vin Diesel and really fast cars. Now when I hear it I will think of really stupid republican politicians who like to overreach. (Oversight and overreach are two different things.)

The wingnuts in charge of the house oversight committee voted to hold the AG in contempt today. They think that there is a fire when most of us don't even see any smoke.   

But politircksters will be politricksters. It is, after all, political season. They have a presidential race to win, and anything to make the HNIC look bad will help their cause.

They want documents from the "Fast and Furious" gun walking "scandal", and they think that Holder and his peeps are hiding something. Of course O invoking executive privilege in the matter didn't help. A move that I personally didn't like and that I have to rip O for as well. I know that you have to protect your boy, (and possibly the office you hold, since W and his peeps were also mixed up in this mess)  but you have to remain consistent. That was not the case here.

I am no big fan of Lady Nancy, but she is right about this latest charade out of Washington. It's a joke.

"On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) slammed the House Oversight committee’s hearings relating to the Fast and Furious gun walking scandal and the imminent committee vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt. “I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day,” said Pelosi." [Source]

One of the reasons that I am no fan of Mrs. Pelosi is that she didn't arrest the little bastard. Or at least make his life more uncomfortable while he was using Washington as his own personal playground.

Oh well, this too will pass. But it should be fun to see what happens as the summer heats up.

Finally, do you want to know why the GOP will never get more than 10% of the African American vote in this country?

Read the following:

 "You might recall that, yesterday, we reported that Arizona radio host Barbara Espinosa is defending comments she made about referring to President Barack Obama as a “monkey” and telling a caller to her show that she does not “believe in calling him the first black President. I voted for the white guy myself.”

As it turns out, there was a guest with her that day: Arizona Republican Party Chair Tom Morrissey.

RELATED: Radio Host Barbara Espinosa Stands By Calling Barack Obama ‘A Monkey’

And, as Think Progress is reporting today, Morrissey said not a word on the air regarding Espinosa’s “nickname” for the President. Instead, he shared that, as he sees it, Americans who do not support Obama are nothing short of patriots.."
[Source]

"Patriots"? So that's what they are calling bigots these days?







    

Negroes get booted from a club and it's all about the shoe.

Honestly, I don't even trip with the racism chase anymore. This stuff is so commonplace in America that it doesn't even pay to feature the all too frequent incidents of the ignorant and moronic.

Besides, you Negroes need to start doing for yourselves and stop trying to get into white folks business.

"Last Saturday, June 16th, Wall and two other friends arrived at Downtown Sports Bar and Grill around 12:30 AM. “You need a membership to come in tonight,” the bouncer told them. “I’ve never seen you here before.” The friends were confused, since the bar is better known for its all-you-can-eat wings and massive TVs than fancy private parties — and because the people in line before them walked right in after showing their ID.

The only difference between those people and my friends and I was our race. Still, we stood at the door in bewilderment asking “What?” as he further tried to explain that we weren’t going to be able to come in because of our “non-member” status. However, as he was explaining this, a police officer walked up to where he was standing to tell him something unrelated. As soon as he caught sight of the officer beside him, he said “Never mind, y’all go ahead.” This was the first interesting ordeal of the night, but not the last.

Once inside, Wall was accosted by an employee [who he later learned was the bar's manager] after standing near the bar by himself for a few moments. “Either buy a drink or leave right now,” the man told him. Wall said he was waiting for his friend to come back from the bathroom, but man insisted he had to buy a drink right away. When Wall continued to look for his friend, the employee physically attacked him:" [Source]

Don't let them have to tell you that you aren't wanted. It's simple; just don't go in the first place. Still, I hope these hillbillies realize that there are certain rules that they have to follow if they want to engage in such a public business in these divided states of America.

Finally, I was going to slam Adidas for their " slave shackle shoe" but they decided to come to their senses and pull the line.

Honestly, had they gone and released the shoe, I am quite sure that lots of my little cousins would have been lining up to buy it. And that is just one of many the tragedies surrounding this entire sad launch. Another is the lack of  understanding on the part of a business that has made millions pushing their products to the very demographic they offended.

Some folks are already wondering how this could even have happened, but if you understand anything about the American psyche when it comes to dealing with race you wouldn't be surprised.

"The advertising for the shoe premiered on the Adidas Original Facebook page on June 14 with the caption:

“Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?”
“Wow obviously there was no one of color in the room when the marketing/product team ok’d this,” said a commenter identifying herself as MsRodwell on nicekicks.com.

Adidas defended the shoe’s designer Jeremy Scott by saying that he was just being “quirky” and “lighthearted,” but Rev. Jesse Jackson is but one of the leaders in the Black community who disagrees:

“The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive,” Jackson said in a statement Monday."

Calm down Reverend. Jeremy was just being "quirky and lighthearted". I guess that slavery was so long ago that we can now view it as something "quirky" at this stage in our country's history.

Amazing Wallenda and "Wawa's".

I saw that white dude walking across Niagara Falls Friday night on a wire, and all I could do was shake my head. White folks will do anything for thrills. For most black folks, just trying to make it every day in America is an adventure. If you are white you have to go looking for that adrenalin rush. Not so with us. Every time we see the po po or get shaded at some high end store our hearts start racing.

Anyway, dude made it to the other side in one piece. The Canadians asked him for his passport and it was pretty much a wrap. Let's see what he does for his next trick. I bet he wouldn't walk through Southwest Philly alone on a Saturday night. Personally, I would pay to watch that. Yes Mr. Wallenda, if you really want to impress me try that trick just once. TV One or BET might even carry it live.

Finally, if you live anywhere in Southeastern Pennsylvania or the Mid-Atlantic portion of the United States, you pretty much know all about our  Wawa stores. (Or, as Flipper calls it, "Wawa's.) You can get everything from  sandwiches, to coffee, to gas for your car at the local Wawa.

Anyway, thanks to his run for president of these divided states, Mitt Romney is also learning about Wawa.  

Apparently Mitt has never actually visited a supermarket before. If he had he would have noticed those little things called scanners that they tend to use.

"Where do you get your hoagies here?" Romney asked supporters gathered at the Cornwall Iron Furnace. "Do you get them at Wawa's? Is that where you get them?"

When audience members audibly disapproved of Romney namedropping the Pennsylvania-based chain, he revised his question, asking if they instead bought their sandwiches at rival store Sheetz. The new suggestion caused even greater negative feedback.

"I'm sorry," Romney said. "I know it's a very big state divide."
Romney went on to applaud "Wawa's" -- the actual name of the chain is Wawa (no "s") -- for its electronic ordering system, which he discovered at a Quakertown store earlier in the weekend. He reportedly ordered a meatball hoagie with sweet peppers and pickles while mulling options for his running mate.

"You press a little touch-tone keypad," Romney said, referring to the chain's touch-screen system. "You touch this, touch this, go pay the cashier, and there's your sandwich. It's amazing!" [Source]

Yes Mitt, it is. There are a lot of "amazing" things going on in America these days.







  

 

Rodney King will never see if we can get along.

Rodney King passed away today. Most of us who saw that horrific video believe that he got a 21 year rain check from the Grim Reaper. He should have died that night. In a way it is only fitting that the man who begged for us to get along has died. Because, in America, any hope of us getting along has pretty much died as well.

Black and white Americans are actually getting along less now. It’s as if the beating caught on tape, and the riots that subsequently followed, divided the country even more. (Of course O.J. didn't help)

Before his ass whopping, thanks to Los Angeles’s most notorious street gang at the time, most Americans didn’t know that this was how big city police departments handled their crime problems. (Thank you George Holliday) This was before camera phones and You Tube exploded on the scene. Even now, with so many eyes watching, the po po will still administer their own brand of justice before a Judge or jury has a chance to.

Still, some Americans saw the tape and thought that he (King) got what he deserved. -The folks who sat on the first jury clearly did. - Those same Americans are angrier now than they ever were before. They see America as going to the lawless, and, to them, more not less Rodney King style ass whippings are needed. "Let them burn their cities, they are already going to hell in a hand basket. They can't be any worse than they are now" .

It's a shame to see King die so young. He seemed to have been getting his life together and had recently written a book which I promised myself that I would read one day. It's funny, but when folks in the hood struggle from addiction it is totally different from folks in suburbia. There are no fancy treatment centers or 24/7 hot- lines for them. Police officers won't call your parents and tell them to come and get you because you are acting funny. In the hood they will shoot you first and ask questions later. Or, if you are driving a Hyundai at a high rate of speed, they will track you down and beat you like a dog.

It's ironic that Rodney King died in his own swimming pool some 21 years after getting a violent beat down that should have killed him before our eyes. It's still too early to tell what caused King's death, but I think that we all know what caused the death of the peace and harmony that he hoped for.

Floyd does his time and time is up for the vagina.

I have a great deal of respect for Floyd Mayweather's pugilistic skills, but I am really getting sick of dude crying a river about his incarceration. First he tried to get his lawyers to beg for house arrest because he claimed that he would lose his boxing skills, and now he is crying about the food.

Floyd, it's a jail, it's not one of those fancy Vegas hotels that you are used to.

The conditions in a jail are going to be tough. Especially for a guy like you who is used to living large.

It can't be any worse than the jails here in Philly, and young bucks here sit in jail like it's a walk in the park.

Floyd is going to sit for 90 days. That isn't exactly hard time. He pleaded guilty to a serious charge and was allowed to earn a big pay day before going to lock down. It's time to stop with the whining and get on with doing the time.

My advice to Floyd is to make the best use of his time while he is being held by the state. Read some books and do some soul searching. At the end of the day it isn't always about how you take care of your body; it's about how you take care of your mind as well.

Finally, republicans in Michigan have decided that the word Vagina is a bad word. This could have something to do with the fact it (the vagina) is attached to women. I bet they would never ban the word penis. That is too close for comfort.

This fits a pattern with republicans of late, anything having to do with a woman or her body has caused them to come out blazing. Some of these republicans are married and have daughters, (heck some of them are women themselves) so you have to wonder where all of this dislike for women is coming from.

 “It was so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women,” one state representative said. “I would not say that in mixed company.”

Really? Vagina is "offensive"? What if she had said my pussy? What other word should she have used to describe this particular part of her body?

“If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas?”

They are "legislating vaginas" because vaginas are dangerous weapons. Look how many self righteous republicans it brought down. If the vagina goes unchecked there is no telling how much damage it will do. 







      

15 Minutes for Neil.

My friends and I used to joke about why a black man could never become president. The comedian, Cedric The Entertainer, had a nice routine about it as well. It takes a certain amount of *patience and a special temperament to become the leader of the free world. Some of you Negroes just aren't cut out for this kind of thing.

Anyway, some dude decided to test O's patients today. Fortunately for some of you O is only half black, so he didn't act the fool when this [so called] journalist heckled him. Imagine that, a journalist heckling the president. (Neil Munro must be looking for a job at FOX NEWS.) I am quite sure that we have never seen that one before. But we have seen a lot of firsts with this particular president.

"And the answer to your question is sir, and the next time I prefer you let me finish my statements before you ask that question, is this is the right thing to do for the American people...I didn't ask for an argument. I'm answering your question," he said, speaking over the man's protests. "It is the right thing to do for the American people."

Poor Obama, he is trying so hard to bite his tongue. We all know what he really wanted to tell the contemptible little twerp. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Obama bedroom: "Can you believe that little mother f&^%$r! I wanted to step down there and slap the s&^% out of him!"

Winguts, of course, find nothing wrong with a reporter heckling the person they should be reporting about.

"Tucker Carlson, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller, defended Munro in an interview with the The Huffington Post's Michael Calderone shortly after the incident.

"This is what reporters are supposed to do," Carlson said by phone. "They're supposed to get their questions answered."

"It's hard to know what's wrong with asking the president a question," he continued." [Source] 

Still, this is a very easy problem to fix: Just pull the wingnut's WH press card and tell him to take a hike.

His winguts friends, I am sure, will then add that to the list of things that they hate about Obama.

Obsession?

America, I think you might have another O.J. on your hands. This time it's not "The Juice", but the doctor who is on the loose.

Dude was a trauma surgeon and he hooked up with a single mother who happens to be a nursing student.  *deep breath*

Let's see where this leads, I am guessing that it will not end well for the good doctor. O.J. got away with murder, if the good doctor actually killed this woman I suspect that he will not walk like a certain USC Trojan. Doctor's make good money, but not the type of money O.J. had back then. And then there is the whole fame thing.

This doctor lived in Buffalo, New York, ironically, O.J. played in Buffalo, New York. Of course there are other similarities as well.

"Police have circulated pictures of Jorden and his four vehicles. They also surrounded his half-a-million home for nine hours in Lake View, N.Y. Law enforcement cut off all power to Jorden’s home and even sent in a robot to try and seek him out, but he was not in his dwelling.

In interviewing ECMC employees, investigators discovered that Jorden had been allegedly acting odd as of late, avoiding eye contact and barely speaking. He even dropped a dramatic 75 pounds from his frame. Authorities suspect that he might have been living out of his office instead of his home, because they found takeout containers of food and dirty laundry in some ceiling tiles in Jorden’s office.

Neighbors say Jorden stopped greeting them, and they also noticed that his avid do-it-yourself home repairs stopped.

People who knew Wisniewski says that she met Jorden on a psychiatric floor at ECMC in 2010 and was immediately smitten with him. After the couple got together, friends of Wisniewski state that the relationship became rocky."

Oh ohh, it looks like the good Doctor was going through some "love jones".
I wonder how Timothy's mama feels about all of this? (Most of you reading this are probably picking up what I am putting down. Most of you. To the rest of you...well, there are just some things that us folks have to keep to ourselves.)

This type of sick obsession with those we sometimes fall for is not healthy, and it often leads to domestic violence and sometimes murder.

Speaking of domestic violence, I see where Chris Brown and Drake were brawling in Miami. The scuttlebutt was that they were fighting over Rihanna, but my peeps tell me that Philly rapper, Meek Mill, actually cracked a bottle over Chris Brown's head and that is what set the whole thing off.

I sure hope that this was not over Rihanna, because if it was, it might show that Chris Brown (and possibly Drake) might have some of the same issues that  besets so many of these jealous and possessive cats out here who just can't let go.

These are the dudes who stalk and abuse; the ones who can't let go or take no for an answer. The ones who end up going on the run after a tragic confrontation.

 

Elijah gets paid, Sheldon pays Mitt, and Eric lays a smackdown.

Memo to all of my "color aroused" friends out there:This particular type of pathology can cost you money.

I am not mad at Elijah Turley. He handled his ignorant co-workers and the company that enabled them in the proper way; through the court system.

Elijah is probably thinking that twenty five million will make the sting of being called a "boy" and having a noose hung around a stuffed monkey on his car a little easier to take.  

Speaking of millions, the casino dude who backed Newt is now putting up 10 million of his hard earned money to support a pro- Flipper Super Pac. I wonder what type of access 10 million dollars buys you these days?

Sheldon used to be a Democrat then as he started getting wealthier he morphed into a republican. Like most republicans, Sheldon doesn't like to give any of his money to the government. Never mind that he made his money with the help of governments.

  "Why is it fair that I should be paying a higher percentage of taxes than anyone else?"

The irony is, of course, that Sheldon has huge casino interests in a communist country. Sheldon is also the guy who was involved with some shaky dealings with convicted criminal and former republican whip, Tom DeLay back in the day. 

Given his background and the people surrounding Flipper, I am sure that Sheldon will get a good return for his money.

I can't sign off without giving a shout out to a guy who is fast becoming my favorite person in Washington.

Good job on checking those sanctimonious blowhards who tried to call you out Mr. Holder.

"Cornyn: In short, you’ve violated the public trust in my view and, by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office.

It’s more with sorrow than regret, than with anger, that I would say that you leave me no alternative but to join those who call upon you to resign your office.

Americans deserve an attorney general who will be honest with them. They deserve an attorney general who will uphold the basic standards of political independence and accountability. You’ve proven time and time again, sadly, that you are unwilling to do so. The American people deserve better. They deserve an attorney general who is accountable and independent. They deserve an attorney general who puts justice before politics.

It’s my sincere hope that President Obama will replace you with someone who is up to that challenge.

[Chairman Patrick Leahy offers a few remarks of support for Holder and then allows him to respond.]
Holder: With all due respect, senator, there is so much that is factually wrong with the premises that you started your statement with, it’s almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy, but, I’ll simply leave it at that.

You know, we want to talk about Fast and Furious, this is, I guess, what, the ninth time?— [turning to an aide who nods "yes"]—this is now the ninth time that I have answered questions before a congressional committee about “Fast and Furious.”

If you want to talk about Fast and Furious, I’m the attorney general that put an end to the misguided tactics that were used in Fast and Furious. An attorney general whom I suppose you would hold in higher regard was briefed on these kinds of tactics in an operation called “Wide Receiver” and did nothing to stop them. Nothing. Three hundred guns, at least, “walked” in that instance.

I’m also the attorney general who called on an inspector general to look into this matter, to investigate this matter. I’m also the attorney general who made personnel changes at ATF and in the U.S. Attorneys office that was involved, have overseen the changes of processes and procedures within ATF to make sure that this doesn’t happen ever again.

So I don’t have any intention of resigning. I heard the White House press officer say yesterday that the president has absolute confidence in me. I don’t have any reason to believe that in fact is not the case.

And in terms of, you know, what is it that we have turned over to Congress in this regard, let’s put something on the record here. … We have collected data from 240 custodians, we have processed millions of electronic records, looked at over 140,000 documents, turned over 7,600 pages. Over the course of 46 separate productions, we have made available people from the department at the highest levels to be interviewed.

And I’ve also said, indicated, I guess, earlier in my testimony, to the extent that all of that is not enough to satisfy the concerns that have been raised in the House committee, I am willing to sit down and talk about the provision of more materials. I have sent letters in that regard, the deputy attorney general has sent letters in that regard, and have not had responses. Which leads me to believe that the desire here is not for an accommodation but for a political point-making. And that is the kind of thing that, you know, you and and your side, I guess, have the ability to do if that’s what you want to do. It is the kind of thing that I think turns people off about Washington. While we have very serious problems, we still have this political gamesmanship.

Cornyn: The problem we have is that you won’t allow Congress to do its job when it comes to oversight and you thwart a legitimate investigation into programs like Fast and Furious."

No, the problem you have, Mr. Cornyn, is that a verbal "can of whup ass" was just laid on you by a man who is sick of your political games. I just wish that his boss could show some of that sometimes.       

Are we getting closer to a "post racial" America?

I must confess, I never even knew that there were black folks in North Dakota. Now I found out that some sister just won the Miss North Dakota beauty pageant. If you are an attractive 24 year old sister living in North Dakota, I am guessing that the dating pool is pretty small for you.

But this is a good thing. It shows that we are making racial progress here in A-merry-ca. And it's not just beauty Queens. There is a republican sister in Utah who just won the republican primary and will face the democratic incumbent for a congressional seat in November. With a name like Mia Love, she better be good. Girlfriend is smart because she is also a Mormon. If you want to run for elected office in Utah it probably helps to be a Mormon.  

But I am not mad at her, go on and get your hustle on boboo.

I wonder if both of these sisters had one of those real black sounding names they could have accomplished what they did in their respective states?

"Those with the white-sounding names were actually downloaded 17 percent more often by job recruiters than the résumés with black-sounding names, according to ABC News. Sad (and probably dumb on the part of those doing the hiring, considering that they're passing over people with qualifications that meet their needs), but not really surprising.

Some examples from the lists of "black" names:
Imani
Ebony
Shanice
Aaliyah
Precious
Nia
Deja
Diamond
Asia
Dominique
DeShawn
DeAndre
Marquis
Darnell
Terrell
Malik
Trevon
Tyrone
Willie
Demetrius"

I don't want to tell you Negroes what to name your children, but please, for the kids sake, just remember where you live.   

Finally, I see that the wife of a certain person down in Central Florida was arrested for perjury today. Shellie, you just can't lie to the court. I know that your husband is a hero to certain people here in A-merry-ca, but that courtroom is not an Internet chat room, it's the real world and there is going to be real consequences for your actions.  

*Pic from thegrio.com

They want to hang something besides chads in Florida.

More bad news for you Obamaholics here in A-merry-ca. They are hanging your boy in effigy in the land of the hanging chads. (Pun intended)Wait, it gets better; the folks doing the hanging are church going folks. Nothing like a little fire and brimstone from the good book to make the hanging complete. The feds are actually investigating the guy. I say leave him alone. He is not doing anything that most of the people in a certain political party who will be holding their convention in Florida don't agree with.

They say that they have to do it because he (Obama) is "killing America". And, you know how it is; if it's between our beloved America and the Negro the Negro has got to go.

Still, you would think that given the history of those "strange fruits" hanging from trees in this country they would find another way to bring about the president's demise. I guess the more things change...

Hey, I am not one of these folks who believes that if you disagree with O you are necessarily a racist. -Hell I have progressive friends who hate Obama's politics and will not vote for the guy.- But I know one thing: if you are a racist you hate that N*&&*#'r guts. The logic goes like this: All racists are republicans, but not all republicans are racist. Then, of course, some of you are probably a bit "color aroused", but you are scared to admit it. You all are the worst, because we can never really tell with you.

Let's see what one scholarly racism chaser has to say about this:

"After gathering information on the racially charged search queries, Stephens-Davidowitz took a look at voting data from around the country and compared each area's 2008 results, when Obama was running for president, to voting results from 2004, when all of the candidates were white.

Though many people believe that our first African-American president won the election thanks in part to increased turnout by African-American voters, Stephens-Davidowitz's research shows that those votes only added about 1 percentage point to Obama's totals. "In the general election, this effect was comparatively minor," he concludes. But in areas with high racial search rates, the fact that Obama is African American worked against him, sometimes significantly.

"The results imply that, relative to the most racially tolerant areas in the United States, prejudice cost Obama between 3.1 percentage points and 5.0 percentage points of the national popular vote," Stephens-Davidowitz points out in his study. "This implies racial animus gave Obama's opponent roughly the equivalent of a home-state advantage country-wide."

"Any votes Obama gained due to his race in the general election were not nearly enough to outweigh the cost of racial animus, meaning race was a large net negative for Obama," he adds.

The state with the highest racially charged search rate was West Virginia, where 41 percent of voters chose Keith Judd, a white man who is also a convicted felon currently in prison in Texas, over Obama just this May. Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Alabama, and New Jersey rounded out the top 10 most-racist areas, according to the search queries used."

I am so disappointed in West Virginia. And here I was actually thinking of taking a vacation there in the near future. I am serious. Hey, if any of you Negroes reading this live close to a place named Daniels, West Virginia, please holla at your boy.

I need to know that there is a safe house close by. Obama has the Secret Service at his disposal. All I have are some very fast Jamaican feet.













   

Who killed Darius Simmons?

In a way I blame some of you Negroes for this latest TrayvonMartin style killing in "cheese head" country. You kill each other so effortlessly and with such ease, that other folks feel that they can kill you (or people who look like you) without giving it a second thought.

Also, as was the case with Martin, I have to blame the actions of the authorities in the aftermath of the killing of 13 year old Darius Simmons for making a bad situation worse. Hey, I understand what being "color aroused" will make certain people do crazy things,- it’s the price some of you will pay for being young and black in A-merry-ca -but part of the blame belongs to their peers, and a part of it can be pinned on the the forces that drive popular culture and news in this country. When you are already easily "color aroused" and you throw all these other factors into the mix, it can be a recipe for disaster.

What I don’t understand is why the folks who are in positions of authority and who are trained to deal with these types of situations always  make the same mistakes. It's as if they are "color aroused" as well. 

"After speaking with the family, Community Activist, David Muhammad, said that police questioned Darius’ mother for two hours while leaving his body on the sidewalk. Even after Darius was taken to the hospital, his mother was held in the police car. He was pronounced dead before she could get to him. Then police searched Darius’ home and found nothing. Instead, they arrested his older brother for having truancy tickets. Police have stated that the lengthy questioning was necessary in leading to an arrest.

Spooner’s family, however, was allowed to return to Spooner’s home (also a crime scene) and retrieve personal items.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Spooner was upset that his neighborhood had turned from a majority Caucasian neighborhood to a mixed-race neighborhood. Darius and his family had recently moved next door to Spooner.

Darius regularly attended church and worked in the church’s community garden. His pastor, Steve Jerbi, described him as, ”The kind of kid who, one quick look from the pastor, he’d quiet down.”

Sorry pastor Jerbi, he looked like a "thug" to Mr. Spooner. In 21st Century America that is a death sentence. Your look can literally get you killed.

Sadly, John Henry Spooner shot Darius Simmons to death, but we all helped him pull the trigger. (h/t Tia for this story)