False Hustle

Merry New Year!

2010-01-02T11:51:00.002-05:00

May 2010 be the best year of all, for each and every one of us:

If you have any resolutions for the new year, feel free to share them here. I've got nothing specific planned, just a general hope that I can make it to Dec. 31 as a better person in some tangible and intangible ways.

I'm sure I speak for the rest of the PostBourgie family and the Grape Drink Mafia when I say that I wish you all the same.

Also, in a nod to the end of the aughts, let me provide a link to a moderately interesting Twitter meme that picked up a lot of steam yesterday: #10years ago.

It goes without saying that a lot can change over the course of a decade. But given that, 10 years ago, my personal e-mail address was jda12play@hotmail.com, I regularly wore do-rags in public and I was convinced that Canibus was going to be the next big thing in hip-hop, I find it hard to imagine that I could possibly mature even more in the, uh, 'tweens.

And yet, that's simply the way of life.

Salud, friends.

P.S. It goes without saying, that as part of being better, blogging more often here at False Hustle is part of the deal. Please bear with me. Shit has been real for the past couple of months. But I miss all five of y'all.

Making sense of the senseless

2009-11-06T02:12:00.002-05:00

James Fallows:

In the saturation coverage right after the events, the "expert" talking heads are compelled to offer theories about the causes and consequences. In the following days and weeks, newspapers and magazine will have their theories too. Looking back, we can see that all such efforts are futile. The shootings never mean anything. Forty years later, what did the Charles Whitman massacre "mean"? A decade later, do we "know" anything about Columbine? There is chaos and evil in life. Some people go crazy. In America, they do so with guns; in many countries, with knives; in Japan, sometimes poison.

We know the emptiness of these events in retrospect, though we suppress that knowledge when the violence erupts as it is doing now. The cable-news platoons tonight are offering all their theories and thought-drops. They've got to fill time. I wish they could stop. As the Vietnam-era saying went, Don't mean nothing.

Ten years ago, when I was a reporter at my college newspaper, Larry Gene Ashbrook walked into a Fort Worth, Texas, Baptist church and opened fire, killing seven and injuring seven more. He then turned the gun on himself.

When I arrived at the grisly scene later that evening, I couldn't help but wonder what sort of evil - or mental illness, or both - would compel someone to wreak that sort of havoc on a group of innocent people.

The wondering has never ceased.

As if divining a motive would make things better.

This shit is really complicated. We don't have any answers, and we might never have any. It really doesn't matter either way.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the survivors and family members of the victims.

Free Period: Friday Random Ten

2009-10-30T20:35:00.003-04:00

So, I'm assuming almost everyone is dressing up as a sexy nurse, a sexy pirate or a sexy gangster for Halloween this weekend. Something sexy, for sure. Or, as G.D. mentioned earlier, something potentially racist.

But not me. I plan to dress myself in pants two sizes too large, a doo-rag and something really feminine. Like a tunic. Or a wig. I'll be going as a rejected Morehouse applicant.

That said, if you are headed out into the wild and unpredictable night on Saturday, over at PostBourgie, we've suggested a few songs to keep the evil spirits and preteen panhandlers away.

My offering for this week was: Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.; Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell; Never Scared (remix) by Bonecrusher feat. Jadakiss, Cam'ron and Busta Rhymes; and this hometown classic ...

Thought we were gonna include "Thriller," huh? GTFOH.

Please, enjoy the weekend. And think sexy.

Some of my best friends

2009-10-27T11:00:00.003-04:00

Like to party:

This video reminds me of at least two years of my college experience. I can't remember which ones.

h/t Jeff Pearlman.

Free Period: Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup

2009-10-27T10:57:00.002-04:00

"Do The Right Thing" and "Malcolm X" are on the short list of my very favorite films. I fell asleep 30 minutes into "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" merely to escape the unholy rubbish unfolding before my eyes. And don't even ask me what I think about "Meet the Browns."

But when it comes to choosing sides in any silly beef between Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, and deciding who will be the ultimate gatekeeper for on-screen representations of colored folks, I think we're all better off picking Pootie Tang:

Sa da tay, people. Sa da tay.

Now, your weekly random-ass interruption of links can be found here.

Of concussions and cruelty

2009-10-13T12:58:00.009-04:00

In the end, I guess I was one of the lucky ones. I left the game of football with a touch of arthritis, a few battle scars, a bruised ego and memories that get all the more grand and outlandish with each passing year. Did I ever tell you all about that time I scored four touchdowns in a single game?

Now, maybe it seems odd to say that I was lucky. I played football in high school and not-so-much in college, leaving behind mostly a legacy of mediocrity. I never got even the faintest whiff of the dream of every kid who puts on the pads - the NFL. It took me about two practices at TCU in my sophomore year to figure out that LaDainian Tomlinson had a future in the game, and that I had a future writing about it.

So, what makes me lucky? Here, try some Malcolm Gladwell:

The HITS data suggest that, in an average football season, a lineman could get struck in the head a thousand times, which means that a ten-year N.F.L. veteran, when you bring in his college and high-school playing days, could well have been hit in the head eighteen thousand times: that’s thousands of jarring blows that shake the brain from front to back and side to side, stretching and weakening and tearing the connections among nerve cells, and making the brain increasingly vulnerable to long-term damage. People with C.T.E., Cantu says, “aren’t necessarily people with a high, recognized concussion history. But they are individuals who collided heads on every play—repetitively doing this, year after year, under levels that were tolerable for them to continue to play.”

That's pretty bad. And then I begin to think, maybe I wasn't so lucky. I had one diagnosed concussion in my abbreviated football career, in my first week of college football practice. Looking back over the course of my playing days, I'm almost certain that I had another during a game in my senior year of high school - I was blindsided by a defender, went to the sideline to throw up and I don't remember much more about that night. I kept playing, though. It was a bad night.

But what I'm not tallying are all the other little collisions that might have bruised my brain in some way. I started playing the game when I was a mere child, in the streets and backyards of my neighborhood, and started playing organized tackle football when I was 10.

What do all those thuds and thumps over the years mean? Gladwell, again:

Yet the HITS data suggest that practice—the routine part of the sport—can be as dangerous as the games themselves. ... In one column, the HITS software listed the top hits of the practice up to that point, and every few moments the screen would refresh, reflecting the plays that had just been run on the field. Forty-five minutes into practice, the top eight head blows on the field measured 82 gs, 79 gs, 75 gs, 79 gs, 67 gs, 60 gs, 57 gs, and 53 gs. One player, a running back, had received both the 79 gs and the 60 gs, as well as another hit, measuring 27.9 gs. This wasn’t a full-contact practice. It was “shells.” The players wore only helmets and shoulder pads, and still there were mini car crashes happening all over the field.

I had my fair share of car crashes. And, believe it or not, this was the part of the game that I enjoyed the most. I could hardly get my heart rate up for a game that didn't involve some collisions. To this day, I still long for the chance to randomly stiff-arm someone, or to bury my head into someone's sternum. Yes, I understand this makes me a Neanderthal.

But it's this yearning that makes me object to the premise of Gladwell's piece: that football and dogfighting are more or less the same. Gladwell points out that one of his interview subjects, former NFL lineman Kyle Turley, said "he loved playing football so much that he would do it all again." You'll find that most ex-players feel the same way. Nothing feels quite like playing under those lights, on that gridiron.

I don't pretend to know much about dogs or dogfighting but, to me, the major difference is the element of choice. I - and thousands of others - willingly submitted ourselves to the brutal theater that is football. But dogs, on the other hand, are maniacally conditioned by their owners to "please (their) master," said Carl Semencic in “The World of Fighting Dogs”. This is coercion, this is abuse, this is sick.

Honestly, I can't have a serious debate about whether football and dogfighting share any traits other than violence. But Gladwell's piece is compelling in that we see how players can drive themselves to ruin in much the same way as a "game" canine. The toll seems to be tremendous, man or beast.

Beyond that, I'm much more interested in how dogfighting is juxtaposed against a culture of sport hunting or some of the uglier practices of our industrial food complex. Michael Vick is condemned; Sarah Palin is celebrated. But why?

Because in the end, football can be brutal. But at least everyone knows they're getting played.

Free Period: Your Monday* Random-Ass Roundup

2009-10-13T12:53:00.002-04:00

Heard this joke? I'm sure you haven't. It's really funny. Like, President Obama was recently nominated for a Country Music Award. Or the Heisman. Or a Pulitzer. Or a Source Award. Hell, so was I.

Trust me. This is all hilarious. Without even giving it much thought, anyone can be Leno these days. Comedy isn't hard at all.

Here's another one: what did the five fingers say to the face ... ?

But enough with the funny. How about some random-assed, PostBourgie-approved reading material from the weekend? There's lots of material at that link. I won't even bother trying to sum it all up.

By the way, in case you all haven't noticed, I've been slacking a bit on my blogging over here. For whatever reason, over the past couple of months, I haven't felt much like writing. But I'm getting the urge again. Like, now. This week. Stay tuned.

Also, if you're not following me on Twitter, I don't know what the hell you're doing. Get it together. That's where I'm putting in most of my work these days.

Free Period: Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup

2009-10-06T12:13:00.002-04:00

Turns out, President Obama may have gotten some bad advice about the prospects for Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Games. Fortunately, he seems to care little about taking the L.

From Valerie Jarrett: "We have plenty on our plate to do. He called the president of Brazil from Air Force One to offer congratulations, and by the time we landed in Washington, he was talking about healthcare."

You can find more Olympi-links here, here, here, here, here, here, here. Meh. What's the big deal about the Olympics? Am I supposed to be sad that there won't be Greco-Roman wrestling at Soldier Field? And who wants all those foreigners coming across our borders anyway?

Also, rooting against our country is the hot, popular thing. All the (right-wing) kids are doing it.

Thus, without further ado, here's a link to some random-assness from the past weekend.

Free Period: Friday Random Ten

2009-10-02T19:21:00.004-04:00

Like thousands of bad headline writers before me, I’ll go ahead and indulge my corniest instincts: Blame it on Rio.

Earlier today, Rio de Janiero emerged as the victor in the heated competition to play host for the 2016 Olympic Games. Madrid and Tokyo finished second and third. And Chicago – thought to be one of the favorites coming into the day – finished last.

But there remains lots to love about Chi-Town: the skyline, the deep-dish pizza, the history, the Obamas and, of course, the music.

So over at PostBourgie, we saw fit to honor the great musical tradition of the City of Big Shoulders on a day when the disappointment seems to be weighing pretty heavy this afternoon. My contributions to the list were as follows: Brand New by Rhymefest featuring Kanye West; Reminding Me (of Sef) by Common featuring Chantay Savage; Po Pimp by Do or Die featuring Twista.

As I mentioned over there, off top, I know we missed Muddy Waters, Herbie Hancock, almost anyone who’s ever recorded house music, R. Kelly and, er, Lupe Fiasco (homey is boring, imo). And a couple readers threw Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls into the mix, too. We could run off names all day, you know?

There’s no denying Chicago’s rich musical history. But in the end, it’s hard to compete with this.

At least they’ve got the Cubs.

Rep. Alan Grayson

2009-10-01T22:48:00.002-04:00

The man is making sense:

"The reaction is overwhelmingly positive, and it’s because people like it when a Democrat shows guts," Grayson said. "They like it when people speak truth to power. That’s a big part of what being a Democrat really means."

And he could use your support.

No go run and tell dat to Baucus and Co. Some of these bears need to use their chainsaws.

Free Period: Your Monday* Random-Ass Roundup

2009-10-01T21:57:00.005-04:00

Now released on c.p. time.

Anyway, I don’t know what, if anything, can be learned from the fatal beating of 16-year-old Chicago honor student Derrion Albert. I don’t know if there are enough words to appropriately convey the tragedy. And I don’t know if watching the gruesome video footage will help much.

But I do know that this is no referendum on “the black community.” Derrion’s death is no more a reflection on me, my kin, my friends or my neighbors than, say, Thomas Junta was for hockey dads:

But most importantly, RIP Derrion. You deserved far better. And so do we.

Here's a link to this week's long-forgotten edition of Your Monday Random-Ass* Roundup.

More later.

Be like Mike

2009-09-27T15:12:00.001-04:00

SI digs into its priceless archives and comes up with these photos of His Airness in college:

I thought Ms. Pac-Man sucked too. So we had that in common.

How 'bout those Coogs?

2009-09-27T12:56:00.007-04:00

I might have been one of a handful of kids anywhere who dreamed of someday playing sports at the University of Houston. It was merely a matter of figuring out which sport to settle upon: did I want to pledge Phi Slamma Jamma, or did I want to play in the Run-n-Shoot?

I never got to make the choice. Puberty handled most of that decision: I topped out at 6-foot, filled out to more than 200 pounds, never developed a jumpshot, wanted to move away - if only four hours away - for college and decided to attend TCU in Fort Worth.

Over time, I lost my love for U of H. But last night the spark was rekindled. If only for a few hours. (I mean, Hakeem Olajuwon was on the sidelines last night. The Dream! I almost passed out.)

It's been a long time since anyone other than me and a few thousand alums cared about Houston's football program. That might have changed following the Cougars' 29-28 victory last night over big-brother program Texas Tech.

I don't expect the attention or the adoration to last for long. It never really does at forgotten Division I outposts like Houston. Richard Justice knows this: "When was the last time it felt like something really special was about to happen? Ten years? Twenty? Try never."

Indeed, things have really changed. Few people remember the days when U of H routinely beat Texas and Texas A&M, sent highly rated quarterbacks to the NFL and competed for conference championships and Cotton Bowl berths.

But I remember. Who else but a long-suffering Cougars backer could think of Andre Ware and David Klingler as gridiron heroes? And one memory, more than all the others, stands out.

Of course, growing up a football fan in Houston, it was something I tried to forget.

In the days before we had cable in our home, my father paid for a night (couldn't have been more than $30) at a run-down, trucker motel off Interstate 10 to watch the Coogs take on the mighty Miami Hurricanes on ESPN - the first Thursday night college football game shown on the network. It was a pivotal moment for the Houston program.

Unfortunately, nothing went well that fall night in 1991: Miami mauled the Coogs, the hotel room was so filthy that I refused to eat our snacks, and I was all kinds of tired and frustrated at school the next morning.

Well, the Coogs dropped out of the rankings the following week and didn't return until a couple weeks ago. That was 18 long years ago.

I'm glad they're back. Makes me feel like a kid again.

The Dumbshow

2009-09-27T11:44:00.006-04:00

This piece from The Nation is more than a week old, but Charles Pierce gets to the heart of the health care debate in the skillful way that only he can:

Last week, through serendipitous circumstance, I found myself staring down the very nasty gun-barrel of the despicable way we do "healthcare" in this country. The details are unimportant, but I can say that it had something very much to do with this Kaiser Foundation study that Ezra Klein limns here. This concentrated my mind wonderfully on the current dilemma. I came to the not unreasonable conclusion that most of the politicians involved in this business--up to and including the lemon in the White House--don't care about the simple fact that this country is going to allow people to sicken and die because they can't afford to do anything else. Period. Everything else is dumbshow, a WWE card covered by people engaged in a really bad form of sportswriting--people, I might add, who could care less themselves that this country is going to allow people to sicken and die because they can't afford to do anything else.
Does anyone honestly believe that this White House has acted in good faith? With its allies in Congress? With its constituents? Hell, with its own campaign promises? Does anyone honestly believe that, say, Chuck Todd gives a rat's ass how many people out in the country slowly sicken and die as long as Chuck can tell us who's up and who's down, and what's politically feasible and what's not, and that he can still get a good table at the Palm? Never in my long career as a professional cynic have I seen an spasm of Beltway bubblehood so far removed from the actual concerns of people's lives--so far removed that, last weekend, we had a gathering of the politically halt, lame, blind, and crippled in Washington, gathered for the sole purpose of petitioning various oligarchs to keep screwing them with their pants on. Never in my long career as a professional cynic have I seen a spasm of Beltway bubblehood so far beyond even the limits of Irish Smartass to describe it. The political class in this country - politician and journalist, lobbyist and legislator, Republican and Democratic, Executive and Legislative -- has made a collective decision to protect the profits of one of the least popular industries in the history of the Republic, to preserve the iron grip of corporate bureaucrats over the practice of medicine in America, and to refuse vitrually without serious discussion to adopt measures favored by 77 percent of the voting public. It is to be in awe, is what it is.
And I hate to personalize this, but one of the prime Democratic waffle salesmen throughout this whole unholy mess has been Senator Mark Udall (D-Colorado) Now, as it happens, I spent half of 1975 and almost all of 1976 working to get Mark's pappy--Mo, of sainted memory--elected president. In the course of my duties, I handed out--or arranged to have handed out--about eleventy bajillion of these handbills. I handed them out at diners in New Hampshire, and hung them on people's doors in Massachusetts. I sent people out at 5:30 in the morning to distribute them at factory gates in Wisconsin in the middle of February. I even brought them (briefly) to the land of the Amish, where nobody votes and few people own telephones. Looking at the old flyer now, I am struck by this passage right here:
Why in America, with our immense wealth, should the poor get sicker and the sick get poorer? We have been promising ourselves a system of national health insurance for a quarter of a century. I am tired of apologizing year after year as we fail to achieve it. We have put a premium on conversation instead of coverage. America is the only industrialized nation in the world which does not provide basic health service as a universal right. As President, I will make sure that we do.
I didn't freeze my cojones off in front of the Allis-Chalmers plant so Senator Udall one day could calculate a half-dozen good political reasons why some people simply have to die. I didn't nearly get killed on a dark road outside Manchester in the snow so Mark Udall could come along thirty-three years later and quibble about which insurance company gobbler can suck up the biggest bonus this year. Jesus, Mark, if you won't listen to the people out there, at least listen to the spirit of the great man who was your father.

In a better place, in another time, we might be talking about a single-payer system and nothing so conciliatory as a public option. But we're not nearly going to be that fortunate because, for far too many people, single-payer is not a politically viable option.

Which is, once again, proof that we usually get the government - and accordingly, the health care - that we deserve.

Sort of related, I recommend checking out McKenzie Funk's piece (subscription only) about AIG's private fire protection service. Though the story mostly centers on the problem of housing development creeping into fire-prone areas of California, even more interesting is the story of how fire insurance came into existence.

Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, English doctor, real-estate developer and economist Nicholas Barbon thought up the idea of the first insurance company. Things didn't work out so well from there.

Also, Barbon died deeply in debt. Which makes sense.

Free Period: Friday Random Ten*

2009-09-26T18:48:00.003-04:00

Let’s be real about this: there’s no Genius involved in sorting through this list. So it’s all random from this point forward.

My only submission for this week's list at PostBourgie was "Here I Come" by Barrington Levy:

Which reminds me that, once upon a time, I really liked this song. A lot.

Other songs worthy of some quality burn this weekend: "Whistle While You Twurk"(sp?) by Ying Yang Twins; "Just Like Compton" by DJ Quik; "Time Will Reveal" by DeBarge; and this:

One of my all-time favorites. Back in the day, I loved this so much that I had a deejay play it at a friend's wedding reception. Might have been the funkiest moment in Minneapolis since Prince caught the first thing smoking out of town.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

* On False Hustle, this list almost never makes it to 10 songs. Sorry.

Player's Ball

2009-09-26T12:13:00.005-04:00

For those handful of people who were reading this blog in its earliest days on the Wild Wild Web, I have a treat for you or something you will ignore altogether. There really is no middle ground.

Though you might not have noticed, I am a huge sports fan. Huge. I can understand why you might be confused since I blog here at False Hustle about as often as I shave these days.

Anyhow, I'm going to restart weekly feature that I once uncreatively dubbed "Sports Saturday." It's just a short roundup of sports links that I've been compiling throughout the week. Nothing too special.

Hope you enjoy:

1. Though I realize empathy is unpopular in some precincts, I can't help but feel sorry for Plaxico Burress. "'He will be separated from the inmate population at all times and confined to a single cell,'" Foglia said. He'll only get out for three hours of recreation per day, plus his required meetings with counselors and medical and mental health staffers. He's allowed three showers a week and one visit per weekend, Foglia said. At 11 p.m., it's lights out." As PB blogmate Universeexpanding pointed out, three showers a week seems particularly inhumane. I can't imagine the reason why inmates are limited to a shower about every other day. ... Also, this story raised an interesting discussion between me and an old prosecutor friend. In short, he thinks Burress' sentence might act as a form of deterrence. I'm not so sure that I believe in the theory of deterrence. And as we already know, I'm already peeved at the thought that prosecutors worked hard to make an example of Plax.

2. Amanda Hess points out a The Washington Post item that recently asked its seven resident football bloggers to consider whether cheerleading should be disbanded because of its misogynist roots. They had something less than progressive responses. ... Since you all don't know me, you'll have to take my word for it: I've always told the First Lady that I would strongly discourage my unborn daughter from being a cheerleader. I'd much rather she be an athlete than root for one.

3. The best college football player of the past decade is ... Matt Leinart? Hmmm. Maybe. But any of the following is acceptable: Tim Tebow, Vince Young or Reggie Bush. I would even add Darren McFadden into the mix.

4. No matter what happens from this point forward, I hope Michael Beasley is getting the help that he needs. Rehab or no. At the least, sounds like he needs a better p.r. agent.

5. If you want to know why the Oakland Raiders have won fewer games than any other NFL team (even the Detroit Lions!) since 2003, this story is as good an explanation as any.

6. So, Zabeth's Corner thinks Khloe Kardashian is sending a strong message to all those baby mamas out there with her impending nuptials to NBA star Lamar Odom: "She's playing her part right. She's making him marry her and, has decided to opt out of the role of baby mama as baby mama and wife are not synonymous." This is so silly. As if getting married and becoming a wife after only a few weeks of dating is indicative of some sort of virtue. Kardashian is "making" Odom marry her. Well, I guess everything will turn out alright then, huh? (h/t Booker Rising)

7. Former boxing champion Evander Holyfield, who has suffered through a number of financial difficulties in recent years, is putting his money into a solar energy farm. Uh ... g'luck with that.

8. Legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice will get his chance to fight in the UFC after all.

9. Tasteless.

10. And finally, a link to a good Washington Post story about formerly troubled, ex-NBA point guard Kenny Anderson. When I was a kid, I told friends that Anderson was my cousin and when I played pickup hoops, if I ever made a nice crossover, I'd almost always yell "Kenny A!" as I drove to the hoop. So it should go without saying that I wish him well.

Burress pic via Smoking Gun.

post-script: Is that title too corny? It's never too late to change.

Finding Ms. Right

2009-09-24T18:50:00.005-04:00

Based on his life and experiences, Jozen seems to think it's a breeze:

These guys, who complain about not finding a good woman, just aren’t trying hard enough. Too much talking not enough action. Women are everywhere, high and low, big cities and small towns, clubs and bookstores, outside and inside. Everywhere. Unfortunately, these guys, who say, “Man, where are all the good women at?” are probably screaming this question from their mother’s basement. They live in the same place where they grew up all their lives, and all the women they want have either left or aren’t interested anymore, because they already tried to get together in high school once and it didn’t work out.
These guys, who complain they can’t find a good woman, are lames. Yeah, I said it. Lames. Not because they can’t find a good woman, but because they can, and they have, but only have done so by lying to women about how they haven’t found any good ones. They’re lame because they want to place the blame on women as to why they aren’t in a relationship, when really it’s their own fault. Their problem is not being unable to find a good woman, their problem is finding too many good women - at the same time.
These guys need to stop sounding like these women who complain about how they can’t find a good man, because when push comes to shove, the women have a much stronger case. I have always said, there are a lot of women out there, no matter what type of woman a man likes. Asian, Black, Brown, White, it doesn’t matter, the world has more women than men, so by default, these guys shouldn’t have a problem. I’ve seen guys with one arm, one leg, one eye, walking down the street with women who have two arms, two legs, and two eyes. Half a guy with a whole woman.
These guys are just like me but want to act like they aren’t. In my lifetime, I have found good women by accident, and trust me, I’m no rock star, no athlete, no model, no Obama-like man of prestige. But I am a social animal, who has traveled the world, lived on both coasts and visited cities in between and in my travels, women have been as constant as the sky above.

I think Jozen makes a valid point. I, too, roll my eyes whenever I hear a man - any man, really - talk about there not being any good women out there, somewhere. And to a lesser extent (not so much professional black women), I feel the same when I hear the ladies say it too.

Whether you want to call it a blessing, luck or extremely elaborate deception, I've had the pleasure of keeping company with lots of high quality women since I graduated from high school. I even convinced the best of them (for me, of course) to marry me.

But it's possible that the complaint about not being able to find good men or women comes from another place. Maybe it's a little more personal, a little more narrow and harder to articulate than simply being unable to find your soulmate - or a mate, period - at Barnes & Noble, at yoga class or the Publix down the street.

Because if people are truly seeking a monogamous relationship, that’s where things get hard. Finding someone that can tolerate your flaws, is comfortable with their own, gets along with your family and friends, has the same interests, has a sense of purpose that's different from yours, gets your silly jokes, thinks about your best interests, isn’t disgusted by the sight of you outside of your clothes, gets down in the bedroom the way you like to get down, etc., … all that can be difficult.

The odds are against you, in fact. Not finding a good woman. But finding a good woman for YOU for the long term. And that's before we even start to throw in the baggage of race, religion, waist size, whatever.

Any fool can find himself some women. That's no great trick. Even Mark Sanford did it.

But what if you want more than that? What if you believe in soulmates and other fairy tales? Then you really might start to believe that there's no good women (or men) out there.

And to a certain extent, you might be right.

Free Period: Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup

2009-09-20T13:33:00.005-04:00

Today in my office, a pimp and his prostitute came looking for advice on where to score some blow and advice on how to fill out their W-2s. When I told them what they could do, they accused me of encouraging them to engage in public masturbation. I hope Beck and Co. don't get hold of the video:

It's hard out here for a pimp. No, really. James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles (not pictured above) risked their lives, limbs and a camcorder to infiltrate the den of "thug criminality" that is the largest organization of poor and working families in America.

This is a time for us to appreciate their deep commitment to maligning ACORN, which clearly is an issue of utmost importance in these most troubled and divisive of times. I am sure their hearts and motives are pure.

In the meantime, we posted Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup over at PostBourgie. On Monday! Really! In this week's edition we covered: health care (again); Texas Fail; the very entertaining Values Voter Summit; lots about porn; various bits about feminism, sexism and rape; and the Dallas Cowboys.

Is that something you would be interested in?

Free Period: Friday Random/Genius Ten

2009-09-20T12:44:00.003-04:00

Ever had one of those weeks where you were running on fumes by Friday morning?

Yeah. Us, too.

As a result, we put the random in the Friday Random/Genius Ten. Forget about the genius.

It was just a list of whatever is getting regular burn on our iPods or CD players or (insert music-playing device that I can’t afford here) as we went into the weekend. Thinking of a coherent theme, at the time, was just much too hard.

My only contribution to the list was "Good Morning" by John Legend. I only became aware of its existence a few days ago, when my blog cousin Ave T dropped a note about the song on my Facebook page.

Needless to say, every spare moment since then, I've been giving it a spin:

Also, because he had a particularly rough week, I figured I might put together a list of my five favorite songs from Kanye West (I reserve the right to switch this list up, if I ever expand the idea to a full post):

5. Can't Tell Me Nothing - As much as anyone in the hip-hop industry, Kanye seems unafraid to confront his demons in a brutally public way. There's a lot about him that is all showman. But that doesn't mean he's inauthentic.

4. Jesus Walks - I first heard this song on a mixtape, probably in early 2003. And that's when I knew, I mean, I knew, homeboy would make a splash someday. Helps that the beat was bananas too.

3. Late - A playful, breezy close to the Late Registration album. (I might add, "Last Call" on The College Dropout was another great album-closing song.)

2. We Major - A seven-minute masterpiece that, in its way, ended the silly feud between Nas and Jay-Z. It's different from other great hip-hop songs in a way that is tough to pin down.

1. Through the Wire - I agree with my PostBourgie blogmate, Jamelle: this is Kanye's first and, still, best song. Love the video, too.

If I had to expand the list to 10 songs, somewhere - in no particular order - I would probably add "Heard 'Em Say," "Two Words," "My Way Home" (though it's really Common and the Gil Scott-Heron sample that get me). I'm still thinking about the other two.

In case you can't tell, I'm no fan of 808s & Heartbreak.

And no, Kanye: you can't talk your shit again.

More later.

Pretty, pretty, pretty good

2009-09-20T12:05:00.005-04:00

Actually, even better than that. Really, I can hardly contain my excitement about tonight's season premiere of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

My only wish for this season is that Larry either: a. stays with Loretta Black (which seems very unlikely) or b. never even entertains the thought of getting back with his estranged wife, Cheryl.

While watching re-runs over the past few months, the First Lady and I have developed a deep disdain for Larry's ex. Honestly, we don't see what Cheryl brings to the table besides her generically perky good looks - something Larry could obviously replace in quick order in Hollywood. We find Cheryl to be disloyal, selfish and perpetually dissatisfied.

Weird to say, but Larry could do better. And he certainly can do worse than Loretta (played by a suddenly rejuvenated Vivica Fox):

Also, I really can't wait to see Michael Richards (formerly Kramer on "Seinfeld") make his return in to the small screen. Given his highly publicized on-stage meltdown a couple years ago, I fully expect Leon to get all in Richards' ass.

It's open season

2009-09-16T10:47:00.006-04:00

On white children. And black people are now allowed to hit them.

Dammit. Makes me wish we had a brotha in the White House back when I was going to my all-boys, Catholic high school:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Intro - Violence Against White Children

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

But Stewart is right. Things have gotten out of hand. I mean, the following never would have happened if Ronald Reagan was still in the Oval Office:

Free Period: Your Monday* Random-Ass Roundup

2009-09-15T23:50:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not, I've been known to be a jackass. Ask anyone who had the misfortune of knowing me in college. Or a couple years ago. I really hope President Obama isn't asked about it anytime soon:

Anyway, lots of things have happened since we last posted a Monday roundup. Here's the latest, a week and almost a full day later than usual: there's been lots of chatter about this health care issue (been keeping up?); the U.S. continues to lose the Drug War while the U.K. discovers that giving heroin to addicts in supervised clinics lowers crime and usage (no, really); we learn about another Chocolate City, this one in China; South African runner Caster Semenya is placed on suicide watch; and Michael Jordan won't let it go until everyone acknowledges that he's the best.

Also, sorry that I've been away from the spot for a minute. Life has a way of ... getting in the way. Please stay tuned.

*It's actually Tuesday.

Random Acts of YouTube

2009-09-10T00:25:00.004-04:00

Michael Jordan, showing us once again that he wasn't nicknamed "Air" for nothing:

If Jordan's wrist was really sore, it was probably from forcing up 37 shots against the Bullets the night before. Or craps.

Memory Lane

2009-09-09T23:03:00.003-04:00

"But until then, I'ma shine to the last sin/resurrect through the birth of my son, and live again."

Capone-N-Noreaga will never be accused of elevating the art. But I loved them nonetheless. Back in 1997, "The War Report" remained in steady rotation in my stereo system.

CAPONE N NOREAGA- TONY
Uploaded by jayvunbitch. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Personal issues

2009-09-09T22:40:00.004-04:00

Not that I've never shared a detail with friends about my modest exploits over the years, but recently resigned California Assemblyman Mike Duvall learned a very valuable lesson about not oversharing and being cautious near a hot mic:

For those of you not wanting to watch it all, OC Weekly provides some of married, 54-year old, totally overweight and unattractive Duvall's raunchy ramblings, which he obviously didn't know were being recorded:
She wears little eye-patch underwear.... So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And  so, we had made love Wednesday a lot! And so she'll, she's all, 'I am going up and down the stairs, and you're dripping out of me!' So messy!"

Make sure to puke away from the keyboard.

Also, it reminds me of a memorable (to me, at least) riff from Dave Chappelle. To paraphrase, Chappelle jokes that some white men are loath to tell you their political leanings but not so tight-lipped about the intimate details from their personal life. I've known enough white men in my life to know this isn't true for everyone - or even most of everyone, let alone Duvall - but the joke seems apropos this evening:

Also, there was some sort of health care speech this evening. Oliver Willis echoes my thoughts.

Not to be Cavalier

2009-09-09T00:21:00.005-04:00

via EDSBS

If my PostBourgie blogmate Jamelle sees this, I apologize in advance. But TCU is about that business.

Amazingly enough, a whole week of college football has passed and I've had nothing to say about it in this space. That will hopefully change in the coming days and weeks. But I'm going to stop making promises ... I was even slipping on the Monday Random-Ass Roundup this week.

Just stay tuned.

The reason for the season

2009-09-07T12:47:00.004-04:00

Via Crooks and Liars, Labor Day is a good - and appropriate - time to thank the labor movement for both: a. my paid holiday and b. a 40-hour work week.

Of course, we should grill some meat, hang out at the beach, snooze on the couch, watch Florida State v. Miami and whatnot - I'm off to explore the hill country of central Florida and visit a winery with the First Lady. But let's not allow the historical significance of the day to pass us by.

Today, first and foremost, is about workers' rights.

Also for your viewing pleasure, check out this graphic comparing the average number of work hours per year and per week across selected countries and this memorable speech during last year's presidential campaign from the AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka.

Make it a good one.

The Audacity of Assholes

2009-09-06T13:19:00.005-04:00

Jack on Van Jones' resignation:

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the movies, it’s that “The United States of America does not negotiate with terrorists.” Yet this White House is willing to let these psychological terrorists set the terms of the debate and negotiate from their insane positions. One group of people is trying to talk about co-pays. The other thinks the president is a secret Kenyan. One group of people sees the creation of domestic, sustainable jobs as a cornerstone of the 21st century economy. The other thinks the president is going to murder your grandmother. This is not legitimate political discourse and to make decisions acknowledging terms so far apart in their reality is just plain stupid.
Van Jones was one of the good guys. A really, really good guy. He used his education and his passion to combat police brutality and the massive, wasteful incarceration of so many of this nation’s young, brown people. Having fought in the trenches for so long, he saw an opportunity to build hope and jobs and tangible communities as the world responds to the climate crisis. He connected the dots and inspired action and had a vision. He was the rare outsider who got a chance to move inside, and move he did.
Van was the kind of guy that gave me real confidence in this administration’s seriousness. President Obama meets with generals every day and sees scary reports and wants to get re-elected. I can always make some politics-based allowances for his underwhelming actions. Van, however, was truly one of us. He got it. And to give someone like him power gave me more faith in the president. So when the lynch mob came after Van, it was a test. The same test so many Democratic administrations have failed time and time again. When the going gets tough, do you back your people, or do you fall back on excuses.

Not much of a surprise, but the following might be somewhat related to the previous passage:

No longer are we talking policy, but rather, Obama's inability to fight for what he believes in has now turned the debate to a discussion of whether our president is a "wuss." People don't like having discussions about whether their leader is a wuss. The very fact of having the discussion is trouble in and of itself. Particularly troubling, the administration still thinks the president is playing some game of ten dimensional chess that only he can see.

In my relatively short lifetime, the last time the nation had a conversation about whether the president was a "wuss" and a "wimp," that president was a one-termer.

Just saying.

I don't think Obama is a wuss - at all (you don't make it from Chicago to D.C. without a stainless steel spine) - but I'm not really part of the demographic that needs convincing. And kowtowing to the likes of Beck and Grassley and their ilk won't do much to shore up the progressive support for his major initiatives or the '10 elections.

Sure, it's hard to defend someone who was even tangentially affiliated with the 9-11 truther movement. But things are different in Washington, where you can ask the president to produce his birth certificate, cheer on torture, make casual jokes about assassination, claim Obama wants your grandmama to die or even mount a soft defense of Hitler.

Had Obama, his administration and the Left in general dug in and insisted that Jones stay in the White House, there wouldn't have been one iota of difference in the intensity of the opposition. Instead, the lynch mob rounded up a posse and got themselves a scalp.

And they'll be coming back for more. Because that's how this works. John Cole:

We are dealing with crazy people. Even if Jones did not step down, they would be behaving the same exact way, BECAUSE THEY ARE CRAZY PEOPLE.

Also, they're assholes.

Free Period: Friday Random/Genius Ten

2009-09-05T01:30:00.002-04:00

If you are so inclined, Labor Day weekend is preferably celebrated with equal parts barbecue, beer and the beach. Since I’m an honest-to-goodness Southerner and a recovering jock, I might add football into that delectable mix.

But Labor Day isn’t all about fun in the sun and the symbolic end of the summer. In fact, the holiday’s origins have nothing to do with fun if my old history teachers and wikipedia weren’t just shitting me.

So rather than encouraging people to sit this one out, the good people of PostBourgie have offered up some songs about putting in serious work in this week's Friday Random/Genius Ten. Because, like it or not, in our newly socialist wasteland, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.

Consider it a labor of love.

My submissions for this week's list were: "Workin' Day and Night" by Michael Jackson and a bonus offering, "Work to Do" by The Isley Brothers. G.D.'s choice of "Thought at Work" by The Roots was sublime.

Had there been more spots available, I probably would have gone with "Work It" by Missy Elliott, "Doin' My Job" by T.I. (produced by Kanye, FTW), "I Get the Job Done" by Big Daddy Kane and "I Go to Work" by Kool Moe Dee.

Of course, a video is very necessary.

Memory Lane

2009-09-03T23:13:00.002-04:00

Weird but true: Mase's debut album "Harlem World" is one of my favorites. The whole CD reminds me of heading back to Houston on I-45, splashing on the Hilfiger cologne (which I still have, same container), slipping on some Polo boots and scoping out the ladies at The Roxy.

It's funny the things that trigger your memories, you know?

Also, Traci Bingham and the Mowry twins.

What he meant by change

2009-09-03T20:03:00.007-04:00

via

Also, he's just like O.J.

Just like him

2009-09-02T23:29:00.004-04:00

You know who else spoke to schoolchildren? Hitler!

I am not going to compare President Obama to Hitler.

Until the next sentence.

However, we can learn a lot from the spread of propaganda in Europe that led to Hitler's power. A key ingredient in that spread of propaganda was through the youth," wrote a blogger at the AmericanElephant.com blog, where the subject of the day was a national "Keep-Your-Child-at-Home-Day."
"Totalitarian regimes around the world have sought to spread their propaganda and entrench their power by brainwashing the children. I guess it's easier to indoctrinate a six-year-old instead of fighting a 26-year-old or being challenged by a 46-year-old in the voting booth," the blogger wrote.

But as Pat Buchanan has taught us, Hitler was not all that bad. He was just misunderstood. So, don't force Obama to kill you and everything will be ok.

h/t here and here.

Inside the mind of Hitler

2009-09-02T22:38:00.006-04:00

Who better to go there than Pat Buchanan?:

Now one may despise what was done, but how did this partition of Czechoslovakia manifest a Hitlerian drive for world conquest?

Comes the reply: If Britain had not given the war guarantee and gone to war, after Czechoslovakia would have come Poland’s turn, then Russia’s, then France’s, then Britain’s, then the United States.

We would all be speaking German now.

But if Hitler was out to conquer the world — Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, South America, India, Asia, Australia — why did he spend three years building that hugely expensive Siegfried Line to protect Germany from France? Why did he start the war with no surface fleet, no troop transports and only 29 oceangoing submarines? How do you conquer the world with a navy that can’t get out of the Baltic Sea?

If Hitler wanted the world, why did he not build strategic bombers, instead of two engine Dorniers and Heinkels that could not even reach Britain from Germany?Why did he let the British army go at Dunkirk?

Why did he offer the British peace, twice, after Poland fell, and again after France fell?

Why, when Paris fell, did Hitler not demand the French fleet, as the Allies demanded and got the Kaiser’s fleet? Why did he not demand bases in French-controlled Syria to attack Suez? Why did he beg Benito Mussolini not to attack Greece?

Because Hitler wanted to end the war in 1940, almost two years before the trains began to roll to the camps.

Matt Yglesias has a thoughtful response here. Also, Mein Kempf.

I suppose that I'm just unfamiliar with the ways of the Beltway because I really didn't know being a Hitler apologist was acceptable in polite company anymore. But I'm sure Fox News could find a spot for Uncle Pat somewhere on their airwaves.

Free Period: Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup

2009-08-31T09:47:00.005-04:00

Four years after Hurricane Katrina carved a path of destruction from Texas to Alabama, we still can't know what sor of future awaits those devastated areas along the Gulf Coast. What we do know is that there is a lot of work left to be done. If you're interested, Leigh at Poverty in America is keeping track of some of the recovery efforts:

Late as usual, we've posted Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup over at PostBourgie. Some of the items for this week: more about Katrina, more about the fallen Liberal Lion of the Senate, more about health care, Moscow's problem with black and African people, our national bias against the overweight, OutKast is No. 1 and some classic MJ.

Hope you all enjoy. I was playing hurt this week.

Weird side note: I finally defriended someone on Facebook, saving myself from needless political aggravation when I go trolling through my friend's profiles and pictures. It was sort of liberating. I might even do it again.

Free Period: Friday Random/Genius Ten

2009-08-28T21:31:00.004-04:00

Known endearingly as the “Lion of the Senate,” Ted Kennedy backed enough meaningful legislation in his 47 years in office to qualify as a revolutionary by the milquetoast standards of the U.S. Senate.

If anything, Kennedy proved you didn’t have to be a punk to be a progressive.

It’s a lesson some liberals might do well to remember as they prepare to tackle the issue Kennedy often referred to as the “cause of my life.”

With that in mind, PostBourgie humbly submitted 10 songs for this week’s not-so Random Ten to light a fire for the fight ahead. Because as Common says, “The revolution ain’t a game/it’s another name/for life fighting."

My only submission for the week: Revolution by Arrested Development.

If there had been a few more spots (and thank goodness there wasn't), I also would have gone with:

1. C.I.A. (Criminals in Action) - KRS-One, Zack de la Rocha, Last Emperor
2. War - Bob Marley (Would "Get Up, Stand Up" have been too easy?)
3. Zombie - Fela Kuti
4. Cell Therapy - Goodie MOB
5. Soul on Ice - Ras Kass ("The End" with RZA would have also been acceptable)

"The End" with RZA from Ras' second album would have also been acceptable.

As we head into the weekend, just remember that the revolution won't be televised on the tee-vee ... but you might catch it on your Nano.

Also, since we're talking about music - I did bring up the topic after all - I've got a feeling that Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II" is going to be my favorite album of '09. And it won't be close. Don't even get me started on "The Blueprint 3."

Here's the first video off the upcoming album, "House of Flying Daggers":

Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer

2009-08-28T00:00:00.003-04:00

The defense attorney for a recently convicted rapist in West Virginia made a compelling case that Phil Hartman used too much of a soft touch:

"You cannot rape the willing," ReBrook said. "They got in those automobiles with the intention of having sex for money.
"I would be horrified if any of the women in my life were raped, but I'm talking about decent, honorable women," ReBrook said, and then dramatically raised his voice. "Not whores who have sex with many, many men for money."

Assistant Prosecutor Fred Giggenbach immediately asked Kanawha Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman to stop ReBrook, but he did not.

"They are whores," ReBrook persisted. "That is a perfectly usable word in the English language.

"Finding this man guilty of rape lessens the dignity of every other woman," ReBrook said. "What they have done is turn sex into something disgusting.

"They are not like your wife, your girlfriend or your daughter," he said. "They are street tramps. And what happened to them was, at least in part, their fault."

ReBrook is not like your husband, your boyfriend or your son. He is a very dangerous, judgmental asshole. And not all that different from his client.

h/t Feministing

Memory Lane

2009-08-27T18:33:00.002-04:00

Remember this guy? Whatever happened to him?

Eminem - New Music - More Music Videos

Great White ... Hopeless

2009-08-27T12:51:00.004-04:00

Colin Asher makes a point that I wish I had written first (damn oversleeping):

Republican Representative Lynn Jenkins stepped in it twice over when she said the Grand Old Party was looking for a "Great White Hope" to stop President Obama's political agenda.
Not only did she put the lie to Republican claims that the party's beef with the president is purely ideological, and not racial, but by employing a boxing metaphor that she clearly doesn't understand, she set herself up as a punching bag.
See, Ms. Jenkins, the thing about Great White Hopes is...they always lose.

Sarah Palin and Eric Cantor look an awful lot like James J. Jeffries to me.

Boycotting Beck

2009-08-27T00:00:00.001-04:00

Media Matters has come up with a list of 23 companies who are still running ads on Glenn Beck's Fox TV news show. Among the foolishly faithful are TeaPartyExpress.org (sadly, no events are scheduled for the Tampa area anytime soon), HughesNet and The Wall Street Journal.

Getting lonely over there, eh?

This comes after at least 37 companies have said they will no longer run ads on Beck's televised circus.

Since I rarely watch Beck's show anyway, I really don't have anything to boycott. And I doubt many of you - my faithful readers - are spending much time willfully turning yourselves stoopid by tuning in for his show.

Furthermore, I'm generally not much of a boycott sort of guy. But I am interested in seeing who the holdouts are going to be in this particular situation. What's the endgame?

Clearly, not every company is going to pull their ads from Beck's show - as long as the Fox Movie Channel is around, at least. Is it possible to run a show with only three companies running ads? Or will the right-wingers rally enough support for Beck so that, oh, Whole Foods and Microsoft find their kindred spirit on the tube?

Remembering the Last Lion

2009-08-26T19:15:00.004-04:00

Writers much more capable and qualified than myself are handling the tributes and obituaries for late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy. Assuming you haven't already been inundated with links about Kennedy today, try out some of these:

Michael Tomasky: "There are and will be more Kennedys, but the Kennedy era is over now. Teddy was imperfect enough that some Americans will say amen to that. Let them. The rest of us know what a dramatically better place this country is because of him."

Josh Marshall at TPM asks if Kennedy's death might be a turning point in the health care debate that was near and dear to his heart?

Adam Serwer calls him "the only Kennedy who wasn't overrated." More: "He couldn't make the whole country fall in love with him. But centuries from now, when the sentimental attachment of those who can remember the older Kennedy brothers are gone, it is the youngest Kennedy sibling who will be remembered, warts and all, for having most shaped America's path, and most exemplified its ideals."

Truly a man ahead of his time, Kennedy was the first member of Congress to have a Web page.

Kennedy v. Ashcroft, 2005. Spencer Ackerman: "That was one representative moment from the career of Senator Edward Kennedy, extraordinary both for the way the man rose to the challenge of his times and how routine it was that he would."

Kennedy's plane crash in 1964, which killed one of his good friends. In a bit of an ironic twist, Kennedy had been delayed because he didn't want to miss a vote earlier in the day on the Civil Rights Act. Nobody ever said helping teh Negroes would be easy.

The Monkey Cage plucks out a few meaningful tidbits from Adam Clymer's biography.

"The Senate's Fighting Liberal" from The Nation in 2002.

Charles Pierce's beautiful piece - "if his name was Edward Moore" - from the Boston Globe in 2003.

Neocon crank Andrew Breitbart keeps it classy, calling Kennedy a "special pile of human excrement." What a compassionate conservative.

The Green Bay Packers actually recruited Kennedy out of college in 1955. He had been a star tight end at Harvard.

Over at PostBourgie, we offered our condolences. (Actually, I learned of Kennedy's death from G.D.'s Twitter feed).

Speaking of Twitter, Atrios almost literally caught fire today. The Interwebs are a better place with him around.

As for Kennedy, it's not even a question that our country is a better place because he persevered through his tragedies and missteps and went on to devote his life to public service. We all owe him a debt that can never truly be repaid.

How to be cool

2009-08-26T18:01:00.003-04:00

If you're not reading my Twitter feed, then you're really not doing anything. Check out that link or the feed running down the right side of this blog.

Also, I will return to blogging like my fingertips are on fire in the coming hours and days. You've been warned.

Sing, Dance, Stiff-Arm

2009-08-25T22:17:00.005-04:00

Because football season makes me that happy. Enjoy the velvety pipes of Mizzou star linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, and then take time to appreciate twinkle-toed Michigan running back Mike Cox.

All I need now is a punter who is skilled with a tambourine to fill out the group. Holla if you know of anyone who fits the bill.

h/t EDSBS and Straight Bangin'

Palm-ela Hand-erson doesn't believe you

2009-08-24T21:09:00.004-04:00

Among Time's list of the 50 top Web sites for 2009, there's not a single porn site.

Of course, maybe the magazine editors simply misspelled the name of Supercook.com.

Free period: Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup

2009-08-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

Am I supposed to boycott companies who advertise on Glenn Beck's show, or am I supposed to boycott Glenn Beck's show? This is too hard. Who wants to have a viewing party for Beck's return to air tonight? Anyone? Two-and-a-half million people can't be wrong, can they?

Like we always do about this time, we've posted Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup over at PostBourgie. It's bigger and better (maybe?) than ever before: more about health care because this shit is important; the U.S. loses its claim to moral authority; Texas' troubles in its education and prison systems; a review of Superhead's latest work (a book); and why a slim majority of Americans prefer good sleep to sex.

In all, 30 items for you all to enjoy. So, enjoy.

WTF

2009-08-22T00:05:00.003-04:00

I can't even begin to explain all the things wrong going on here. h/t Gordon Keith.

Me, sexist?

2009-08-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Yeah. I'll admit to that. But, to borrow a line from G.D., I'm fighting hard to "unlearn my privilege."

Read about that and more in my PostBourgie blogmate universeexpanding's thoughtful post about Hillary Clinton, Congo and the hard conversations that men and women usually don't have but should.

Also, make sure to check out the comments.

As I've always said, I don't even know all that I don't know. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try to know it all.

Free Period: Friday Random/Genius Ten

2009-08-21T23:24:00.005-04:00

My friend and blogmate Shani-o was good enough to take on the chore of posting the Friday Random/Genius Ten at PostBourgie yesterday since I was buried under a pile of assignments.

But this is a time to rejoice. Soon, the streets and stores and my gym in particular will be free of annoying children and teenagers. The start of school is upon us, people!

Thus, this week's theme for the list was songs that reminded us of first-day clothes, JanSport backpacks and Five-Star notebooks. My submissions for the week: Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) by Soul II Soul; Git Up Git Out by Outkast; I Missed the Bus by Kris Kross.

And as a completely unrelated bonus, let me suggest House of Flying Daggers by Raekwon featuring Inspectah Deck, Method Man and Ghostface Killah.

In retrospect, the one thing I don't miss about school is going to school. Everything else was cool, though.

Memory Lane

2009-08-21T23:11:00.001-04:00

It's been a tough week in these parts. Mad Lion offers some good advice:

Giant Fall

2009-08-20T21:12:00.002-04:00

Plaxico Burress probably should have established residency in Arizona, where he could have registered his handgun - or an automatic weapon, even - and then brandished it at a large public event. Maybe even at a health care town hall hosted by the president of the United States.

That would have been perfectly legal. And Second Amendment enthusiasts would have applauded him for his commitment to freedom, democracy and terrifying libruls.

But unfortunately, Plaxico works and plays in New York - home to some of the nation's toughest gun laws - and made what is probably a career-ending gaffe. He shot himself in the thigh AND foot, so to speak.

Today, the former Giants star accepted a plea bargain that will send him to jail for two years. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal possession of a weapon, avoiding a potential 15-year sentence on weapons possession and reckless endangerment charges.

And he was much closer to spending 15 years behind bars than he ever was to going free. From the very beginning Mayor Mike Bloombergand Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau said they would seek the maximum sentence for Burress.

Some, including a Fordham law professor, wondered if Burress was getting a harder time than your average gun possession suspect. Given the zeal with which Morgenthau prosecuted the case, I don't think there's any question about that.

“When you have the mayor and the district attorney both publicly demanding a maximum prison sentence, it was perhaps too much to hope for the grand jury to conduct a sympathetic review of the unique facts of this sad case,” Burress’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said after Burress's indictment a few weeks ago.

But justice is blind, right?

Anyway, even though he will spend the next couple years in prison, I want to use this space briefly to remember Burress for the uncommon talent that he was. At 6-foot-5 and about 225 pounds, Burress had the size, strength, jumping ability, hands and smarts to someday merit consideration for the Hall of Fame. For whatever reason, it never quite worked out that way.

And sadly enough, it never will. But we'll always have this:

Post-script: As I recently mentioned to G.D., I've been mulling over a top 5 or top 10 list of the biggest wastes of athletic talent in my lifetime. Plax is definitely near the top.

I'm more of the/trips to Florida

2009-08-19T14:40:00.005-04:00

Via Jez

Have I ever told you all how much I love Miami? Or more specifically, Miami Beach?

Sometimes, you just come across a picture that sort of explains it all.

Living within a four-hour drive of there might be my favorite thing about being a Florida resident. Someday I'm going to dedicate an entire, rambling post (like many of my others) to all the reasons I love that place. But not today.

You don't need a root canal. You need a new DJ.

2009-08-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

I found Funny People to be, well, very funny. But there wasn't nearly enough Raaaaaandy.

The following video clip might be slightly NSFW. Depending, of course, on where you work:

Raaaaaaaandy - Part 1 (Funny People) from Aziz Ansari

For the record, I live by the same three rules.

Also, if you can't get enough of Randy and Ol' Youngin, here's Part 2 and Part 3.

Free Period

2009-08-17T01:39:00.012-04:00

Questions, questions, questions: Now that I’m boycotting Whole Foods, where will I buy overpriced organic produce and choose from 30 varieties of bottled green tea? Do you think Tom DeLay can pull off the Tootsie Roll or the Cabbage Patch? And how long until a gunfight breaks out at one of those town halls?

Unfortunately, we’ll probably find out the answers to all of these soon enough:

Late as usual, we've (my fault, really) finally posted Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup over at PostBourgie.

This week, we've got a veritable gumbo of items: more about health care; California's failing prison system; some talk about reverse discrimination; a Bollywood star who gets racially profiled; Daddy's Girls; and the amazing Usain Bolt, among other things.

Enjoy.

A Miracle

2009-08-16T12:58:00.003-04:00

Also, a visit to the doctor might help:

A Night to Remember. And Then Forget

2009-08-15T14:39:00.000-04:00

After prom, after graduation, after all the senior-year pageantry, I hope each and every one of the graduates - black and white - from Charleston High School are able to put their sad little town in the rearview mirror.

Maybe that's not the right thing to say.

But I can't help myself. This is how I feel. When HBO's fascinating but frustrating documentary, "Prom Night in Mississippi," reached its uplifting - though carefully planned - denouement, I found myself wanting a more satisfying final act for the teens trapped in this Mississippi Delta backwater.

So what brought the film crew to town?

Well, like a lot of places, Charleston, Miss. - pop. 2,100 - moved deliberately in complying with the 1954 Supreme Court decision to desegregate its schools. Blacks student weren't allowed inside the classrooms and hallways of Charleston High until 1970. But the integration was far from complete: white students went to one prom while the blacks went to another.

After 27 years of segregated proms, celebrated actor - and Charleston native - Morgan Freeman came to the school with an offer. He volunteered to pay for the prom, as long as it was integrated. Believe it or not, his offer was turned down.

We pick up the story 11 years later, when Freeman again comes to school officials and students with a plea to end the segregated proms. This time, they take him up on his offer.

So we follow Freeman on his journey back to his hometown, a hardscrabble north central Mississippi town of about 2,100 with a median annual income of less than $18,000. Half of the children in town live below the poverty line - some important context that we never learn from the filmmakers. In fact, Charleston is the county seat of one of the poorest areas of Mississippi, which makes it one of the poorest areas of the country.

And soon we're meeting the kids, who are as smart and funny and silly and innocent and naive and manipulated as any kid that shared a classroom with you in high school. But, of course, it's not the teens who are the problem in Charleston.

In front of Freeman and the cameras, the students seem willing to party together. Away from the cameras, the white students meet with their parents later and decide to hold their own segregated senior prom anyway.

"A lot of the older people I know, they’re pretty racist,” said Andy, one of the white students who decided to go only to the integrated prom. "They wouldn’t, like, be the kind who would go hang anybody or anything. They just talk about it a lot. They talk about black people.”

Another student identified as "Billy Joe" but who we never see on-camera said: "I don't look at someone because they're white or because they're black. I just look at people because of what's inside of them. How they make me feel when I'm around them. But the adults around here. You don't tell them that. Because they'll get mad at you. Real mad. There's people around here who will disown their kids if they try to mix things up like that ... A lot of parents are like that."

As expected, what's missing from the documentary are the voices - and faces - of those fighting hard to keep the prom from being integrated. Few white parents are willing to go on camera, and their voices and grievances are sorely missing from the film. From their children, we hear what you might expect: they don't want niggers grinding all up on their daughters. It always comes down to this, it seems. That fear has "just drowned out common sense," Freeman said.

The few white parents willing to speak publicly don't come off at all like Bull Connor or David Duke. Far from it. In fact, one of the most reasonable people in the documentary might be Glenn Sumner, a self-described "redneck" whose daughter Heather dates a black student named Jeremy.

Sumner does not approve of the interracial relationship - the only one in the school - and says so: "She hollers I'm racist. You can ask anybody that knows me ... which, several hundred people around town know me because I've been here for years and years - I'm not a racist. I'll help anybody in any way that I can. But like I say, it's just going to be so hard on her when she gets older. She got blinders on; all she can see is straight ahead. She can't see from side to side because she ain't got no experience in life."

Really, it's not important whether Sumner is racist. He probably is. But his concerns are well-intentioned and valid, as long as Heather and Jeremy spend their lives in Charleston.

Which is the problem.

The kids go to the prom. Everyone seems to have a good time, including one tiny but indomitable freshman girl who served a senior on the dance floor. The prom goes off without a hitch. Freeman should be applauded for his effort.

But when all the dancing is over, you might find yourself wondering how much really changed. And then you find out that Charleston High had another all-white prom the following year. Segregation survived after all.

For the sake of Andy, Billy Joe, Heather, Jeremy and all the other teens, I hope they set out for brighter horizons - even if it's only Jackson - after graduation and only return to Charleston for holidays. The world has passed this tiny Southern town by, and only time and certain death can cure Charleston of its true ills.

Class warfare

2009-08-14T14:23:00.003-04:00

A war more lopsided than the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals:

Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez. The paper, which covers data through 2007, points to a staggering, unprecedented disparity in American incomes.
Though income inequality has been growing for some time, the paper paints a stark, disturbing portrait of wealth distribution in America. Saez calculates that in 2007 the top .01 percent of American earners took home 6 percent of total U.S. wages, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2000.
As of 2007, the top decile of American earners, Saez writes, pulled in 49.7 percent of total wages, a level that's "higher than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of stock market bubble in the 'roaring" 1920s.'"

Steve Benen nails it: "Any efforts to address this, of course, will be immediately met with cries of "socialism," "class warfare," and "welfare state." Today's conservatives see a chart like this and think, "It is as it should be."

A Business of Ca-Ching!

2009-08-14T00:51:00.006-04:00

Steve and Marian Coddington are having problems with their insurance company:

Each morning, Steve has to gamble – rushing the children to school, barreling through the grocery store for the day’s supplies and bolting home, praying all the while that nothing has happened to Marian in his absence. He is trying to keep his family together and happy and to meet everyone's needs, but he's drowning.
He has hired an attorney to fight CIGNA’s refusal to pay for additional care, but it’s an agonizingly slow, arduous process of seeking medical documentation, waiting for hospitals, doctors and CIGNA to reply to requests for records.
But, amazingly, in all of this, Marian IS making progress. Her vocabulary is growing and her interaction with Steve and the children gives hope to them all. By using a lift he bought with his own money, Steve was able to get Marian on a treadmill to begin moving and exercising her legs. He is trying to enroll her in a University of South Florida speech therapy program. But he’s running out of money and time and options.
We all know, and experts who have seen Marian, evaluated her and treated her agree, that Marian can make a tremendous recovery. That she can be a participant in her family and a mother to her children. The single impediment to her recovery has been the insurance that she and Steve paid for, for years, and then had the nerve to rely upon when it was time for them to use the coverage they had purchased.

For the record: CIGNA reported a second-quarter profit of $435 million, a 60 percent increase.

Also, outgoing CIGNA Chairman and CEO H. Edward Hanway took home a compensation package worth nearly $23 million in 2007 "boosted by a big bonus awarded during a year of lackluster stock performance."

Their motto is "A Business of Caring." Emphasis on the business.

Post-script: I'm obviously biased here - Steve Coddington is a former co-worker and friend of some of my friends. I don't know him well. But I don't need to to know that something is terribly wrong with this system.

Breaking: Vick to Eagles

2009-08-13T21:12:00.004-04:00

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is reporting that Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

I can dig that.

Frankly, there’s not much of a downside: the Eagles get another playmaker; Philly is the right city with the right fanbase to welcome Vick back into the League; and the Eagles have no immediate need to thrust Vick into the lineup.

And if McNabb gets hurt – and he usually does – then you’ve got Vick coming off the sideline to handle things.

Also, let’s be real: if there’s a franchise whose fans might run a dog-fighting ring as part of the tailgating experience, it’s probably Philly. And then Oakland.

In case folks don’t what Vick used to do before he went into the clink, here’s his resume:

Clinton, Congo and Cooler Heads

2009-08-13T00:00:00.003-04:00

So, earlier today I was checking out the video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton* momentarily losing her cool after being asked a question that she thought was about what "Mr. Clinton" thought about an international trade issue:

""You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" she asked incredulously when the student raised a question about a multibillion-dollar Chinese loan offer to Congo.
"If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion," she said. "I am not going to be channeling my husband.".

No, it wasn't an "outburst," a "meltdown" or a "blow-up." It was nowhere near a big deal** - unless, of course, you happened to be the extremely nervous Congolese student on the other end of Clinton's withering response.

And given her background, her husband's sometimes mettlesome ways and the relentless misogyny she's faced over the years, Clinton's initial exasperation at the question could certainly be understood.

But ...

More than anything, that response almost perfectly crystallized the reason why I preferred Barack Obama to Clinton, McCain and any of the other contenders for the White House last year. If we're being honest with ourselves, we know that very little separated Obama from Clinton in terms of agenda (if anything, I preferred Clinton's more ambitious health care goals). There was also a moment when - very early in the primaries - I found myself wanting Obama to gracefully bow out so that the stronger Democratic candidate could win the nomination.

But when it came to diplomacy, it became apparent very early on that Obama had no peer in the presidential race. He hardly ever seemed to lose his cool. He almost always seemed willing to disarm his opponents with poise rather than pique.

Remember his deft touch when Jeremiah Wright nearly threatened to consume his campaign? Remember John McCain's sneering performance in their debates, punctuated by the "That One" remark? Remember the moment we all - regrettably - came to know Joe the Plumber?

In retrospect, that impromptu confrontation had the potential to get ugly. It's almost amazing that anyone could have bum rushed Obama like that in the streets, especially given the heightened security that he was supposedly outfitted with from the start. But Obama completely diffused the situation. He politely answered the questions, and sent the perturbed - and phony - plumber back on his way.

Most importantly, when it came to matters of foreign policy, Obama was wedded to the idea that engaging your enemies was best while Clinton and McCain seemed all too eager to embrace military force as a solution. Of course, Clinton and McCain called Obama "naive" while Obama countered that diplomacy was no sign of weakness.

Yes, at some point during the campaign, I decided that I would rather have the composed Obama representing our country's interests abroad rather than someone given to "running hard right." We saw what eight years of that brand of cowboy diplomacy did to our country's rep around the globe.

Can you imagine President Obama dressing down an obviously jittery college kid? Even on his worst day? Right.

Then again, it's definitely possible that I'm making too much of this.

I don't think Clinton is an ugly American. I'm not out to do the dirty work of that The Corner can do so skillfully. I can understand why some might actually applaud her reaction. And I don't want the true purpose of her visit to Congo to get lost because of the news media's silly cycle.

But it's nice to remember that, once upon a time, my instincts might have been right.

*I'm a sucker for using formal titles. Sorry if that seems awkward.

** Unless you're referring to the presence of Dikembe Mutombo. That was really dope.

The real death panels

2009-08-11T13:17:00.004-04:00

Via Digby, Southern Beale gives Sarah Palin a lesson on "death panels":

In your free market wonderland everyone somehow manages to get healthcare, even those who are poor or live in isolated areas, though the poor and isolated in your own state required assistance from the federal government.
And despite all of this, you appear blithely unaware that the free market healthcare system we have now does, indeed, have “death panels.” I’ve been part of a death panel conversation. I know about death panels.
You have no idea what it’s like to be called into a sterile conference room with a hospital administrator you’ve never met before and be told that your mother’s insurance policy will only pay for 30 days in ICU. You can't imagine what it's like to be advised that you need to “make some decisions,” like whether your mother should be released “HTD” which is hospital parlance for “home to die,” or if you want to pay out of pocket to keep her in the ICU another week. And when you ask how much that would cost you are given a number so impossibly large that you realize there really are no decisions to make. The decision has been made for you. "Living will" or no, it doesn't matter. The bank account and the insurance policy have trumped any legal document.
If this isn’t a “death panel” I don’t know what is.

Is it possible that Palin didn't already know this? Or is she a liar? With her, it's almost always hard to tell where the ignorance ends and the dishonesty begins.

Memory Lane

2009-08-11T00:25:00.002-04:00

I truly believe that Mystikal could only come from a place like New Orleans. And that's a compliment.

"I'm a virgin. I always have been."

2009-08-11T00:00:00.002-04:00

Via Instaputz, I'm not sure that Ross Douthat was watching the same movie that I did:

No movie has made saving — and saving, and saving — your virginity seem as enviable as “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” whose closing segue into connubial bliss played like an infomercial for True Love Waits.

Is it possible that Douthat really does hate sex?

Also, we have completely different views on the word "enviable."

Free Period

2009-08-10T01:11:00.006-04:00

So where do we go from here? President Obama has been portrayed as a monkey, witch doctor, various types of pimps and now The Joker. Certainly, there’s more variations on this general theme.

But I really want to know, what’s the endgame? Is this supposed to advance some principled political opposition? Or merely “to get their country back”?:

As always, Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup has been posted over at PostBourgie.

In this week's post, we talk about health care, California's overcrowded prisons, what's wrong with "no homo," Princess Moroccan Barbie, the rise on an unsettling trend, why Bob Herbert is boring and, once again, Michael Vick. Of course, there's also a bunch of other stuff.

Enjoy. And more later.

Free period

2009-08-09T16:09:00.006-04:00

Today is just a lazy Sunday, which is probably not a great thing since I had to work this morning and afternoon. And I'm doing a lot more reading than writing, which is probably a great thing since I'm much better at the former than the latter.

Anyway, here's a few housecleaning notes:

1. I'm still trying to figure out how to make the "Continue Reading" tab disappear for posts that don't need it. I suck with HTML (and computers in general), so this might be an ongoing problem for awhile. If you've got any tips, please share them.

2. Speaking of my sucky computer skills, I have some ideas for how to improve this site but I obviously can't afford a professional on a journalist's salary. Which means I gotta go for dolo. You might have noticed that I recently added my Twitter feed in the right column. I think the subhead needs some work. You all have any ideas? I've heard from a few folks that they want me to re-do the blog list to include the title of the most-recent post. That all? Speak up if you'd like to see something.

3. I'm still working on that to-do list, believe it or not. The Plaxico Burress post idea has sort of morphed though ... I think it's gonna be a list of players who probably should have become Hall-of-Fame worthy but didn't. He's on the list.

4. If you have a minute, please go here and vote for PostBourgie in the Best Political/News blog category. Should we win, there's a slim chance that we might get to go to the Black People's Awards. I want that Pookie.

5. A few hip-hop related notes: I mentioned on Twitter that I think Drake might be in the conversation of top five active hip-hop artists. For real; I recently discovered that the name of the rapper who performed "Pistol Grip Pump" is Volume 10. That is all; If I could redo that list of my favorite diss tracks, I would definitely include UNLV/Bad Ass Yellow Boy's "Drag Em Thru The River" that was directed at Mystikal. A terrible oversight; Check out Ave's list of his favorite 15 ATCQ songs. It deserves a response, and I'll have one soon.

That's all for now. More later.

The Birther Anthem

2009-08-08T13:55:00.005-04:00

I can never tell if these are parodies or sincere musical efforts:

This is one time I wish I had been Rick-Rolled.

Also, is this better or worse than the Young Con Anthem?

h/t Balloon Juice

Quote of the week

2009-08-07T22:09:00.004-04:00

Actually, there was a lot of competition for this honor (it was an unusually good week of reading for me). But Doug J at Balloon Juice sums up the week's disturbing events quite nicely:

When someone talks back to a cop in his own house, that’s disorderly conduct.
When people make death threats and start fights in public, that’s exercising their First Amendment rights.

Dishonesty, distraction and endless debate

2009-08-07T16:47:00.012-04:00

So instead of making much progress on my expanding to-do list yesterday, I got locked in a stupid Facebook argument over Obama's poll numbers with a former co-worker and a couple of his buddies.

I try to avoid political arguments with people with whom I'm not particularly friendly or familiar, but my archconservative former co-worker was clearly trying to bait someone when he posted this in his status update: New CNN poll show more people view Obama as a failure than Bush... poll included oversampling of black voter... I am just posting this national story and now ducking for cover from my generally humorless Leftward-leaning associates.

Silly me, I took the bait. Twenty-four hours and thousands of dead brain cells later, here's the transcript (I've dropped the real names the protect the innocent AND stupid):

Blackink
Now, why would you assume no humor from The Left? But I wonder how that poll judging Bush as a "failure" looked after Aug. 2001? Tough to know for sure before because he was on vacation a third of the time before that. I assume Bush must have had a pretty spotless record over the next 7 years, no?
Yesterday at 5:34pm · Delete

Allan
Whatever opinion people from the left have about Bush, he was elected for two terms, and I know he could not have been elected on right wing voters alone, especially twice. You guys deserve at least part of the blame he's getting for electing him twice.
Yesterday at 5:46pm

Blackink

Well, actually, more people voted for Gore than Bush. But that's a discussion for another day ... . Anyway, polls don't mean much right now, do they? Especially one like that one that doesn't offer much context. Bush inherited a surplus and relative prosperity; Obama inherited Bush's burning greasefire of a presidential legacy - Iraq, Katrina, a crumbling economy, an out-of-control banking industry, etc.
Yesterday at 5:58pm · Delete

Allan
and he's not improving anything much, is he?
Yesterday at 6:00pm

Blackink

Yeah. I mean, 6 months compared to 8 years. That's a fair comparison.
Yesterday at 6:02pm · Delete

Allan
Even the press gives the new president 100 days grace period, but after that, it's no longer the Bush Administration. It's Obama's. Six months into his 4 year term and he was just recently given the lowest approval rating of his term so far. That's not Bush's fault.
Yesterday at 6:05pm

Allan
And by the way, Gore was in 2000, Bush was elected a second term in 2004.
Yesterday at 6:08pm

Blackink
I'm sorry. What you said doesn't make a lot of sense. I wasn't aware of this press "100 days grace period." Where have you read that? And also explain how "approval ratings" correlate to performance? Obama is trying to undo the damage wrought over 8 years. A sensible person would understand that it might take more than 6 months. Or would they?
Yesterday at 6:08pm · Delete

Fred
I wonder what his approval rating will be in another six months.
Yesterday at 6:25pm

Allan
Taken from the following link: http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/bl100bush.htm"During some part of their first hundred days, Congress and the press generally allow new presidents a "honeymoon period," during which public criticism is held to a minimum. It is during this totally unofficial and typically fleeting grace period that new presidents often try to get bills through Congress that might face more opposition later in the term."
Yesterday at 6:28pm

JAP
Oh come on, the national media still admits it gets a woodie when it thinks of Obama -- Chris Matthews and the "tingle up the leg" anyone? The man has a gaggle of groupies following him, not the same pack of ankle-biters Bush had to deal with. The National Media needs to get back to doing real journalism and get out of bed with the politicians it covers.
Yesterday at 6:33pm

JAP
Allan, Fred, you know 20 years from now any failing Dem politician will be digging up the political corpse of George W. Bush to kick it and bash it for their failures. Not saying he didn't have his shortcomings, but at least he didn't put GM out of business.
Yesterday at 6:34pm

Allan
thank you John!
Yesterday at 6:35pm

Blackink
Yeah. Obama put GM out of business. I mean, that's beyond silly. You can't be serious. You think GM went out of business merely because of the policies of the past six months? Jeebus.
Yesterday at 6:37pm · Delete

Blackink
@Allan: That's a really weak and tenuous link. But I'll acknowledge it. Either way, the press easing up on criticism of Obama for his first 100 days has nothing to do with substantive critiques of his performance. It's going to take more than six months, more than a year, to know hos this will all shake out. Maybe if he passes health care reform, and people's premiums go down and more people get insured, his approval ratings will go back up again. Who knows?
Yesterday at 6:40pm · Delete

Allan
A year? That's a fourth of his term! More than a year? Come on now! How long is he going to blame Bush for things he can't get done? Talk about "beyond silly"!
Yesterday at 6:43pm

Blackink
Well, if we had judged Abraham Lincoln on only the first year of his presidency, we wouldn't have had much to go on, eh? Same with FDR. Or LBJ. Or Bush. I didn't realize we could put a president's place in history into context inside of a year. That's news to me. You should share that tidbit with historians and such.
Yesterday at 6:49pm · Delete

Allan
All I'm saying is once a president leaves office and the next one comes in, the new one has to take responsibility at some point. As I pointed out before, he's only got a four year term to prove what he's worth in history. When should that critique start?
Yesterday at 6:52pm

Blackink
At this point, I also see we'll have to agree to disagree. I guess we'll need a few more months to determine whether or not Obama is the crazy, unqualified Kenyan socialist some on the Right imagine him to be. Let's check back on Jan. 20, 2010.
Yesterday at 6:54pm · Delete

Fred
John, I think Obama's numbers will actually be lower than they are now. And as for Obama putting GM out of business? I don't know about that, but the policies of his party (union supporters) certainly did.
Yesterday at 7:07pm

JAP
(Blackink's) first comment was why did I assume no one on the left has a sense of humor and then he put up a half-dozen posts proving my point. QED!
Yesterday at 7:08pm

Allan
:)
Yesterday at 7:09pm

Nancy
Exactly. I'm having real difficulty understanding why any American would want a president to fail, regardless of that president's political party. So much energy is spent criticizing the incumbent...my God, the things this country could achieve if, regardless of who's elected, we all got behind him/her and supported the programs on which he/she was elected by a majority of our country.
Yesterday at 7:10pm

JAP
The last and greatest leftie with a great sense of humor, I think, was Dick Tuck. Still alive, 94 years old! Was a big thorn in Richard Nixon's side. Once hired a Brink's armored money truck and a Chinese laundry van to follow the Presidential motorcade in D.C. Heck, you could have done that with any president since, even to the present dude, and it would be funny and on-target.
Yesterday at 7:15pm

Blackink
JAP, what does humor have to do with this? Was that poll a joke? Or were you hoping no one called you out on the out-of-context bullshit that it was?
Yesterday at 7:18pm · Delete

Blackink
I mean, if this was funny, I guess I'd laugh. But uh ... this wasn't exactly Richard Pryor material you were posting here.
Yesterday at 7:20pm · Delete

Allan
He was referring to your posts being humorous.
Yesterday at 7:21pm

Blackink
Again ... wtf? He posted something. I didn't think it was funny, and responded as such. I wasn't trying to be funny. Which doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humor.
Yesterday at 7:28pm · Delete

Pamela
I don't see why this would be news. All presidents have a drop in ratings after a few months. Using that to discredit someone simply because you want them to fail may make you look sharp to fellow Obama haters, but it only serves to undermine your credibility to everyone else.
Yesterday at 8:24pm

Fred
Obama failing? It's not possible is it? That's not in the headlines!
Yesterday at 9:13pm

Blackink
That's cute. But he's not failing. Now, if he let thousands of people in a great American city drown during a natural disasteror led thousands of soldiers to their death in the Middle East in a meaningless war or diminshed regulatory powers to the point that the banking and housing industries ran amok, that might be failure.
Yesterday at 9:32pm · Delete

JAP
The Leader never fails. He is faultless. Brilliant. Mankind's answer. The antidote to all ills. The Leader never fails.The Leader never fails.The Leader never fails. (I just graduated from the re-education camp. Seems after they email the White House with your name and number you get "the call.")
Yesterday at 9:35pm

Blackink
Yeah. When you don't have the facts on your side, you try - meekly - with comedy. It's not working, dude.
Yesterday at 9:37pm · Delete

Fred
(blackink) no matter how much u want to blame HURRICANE katrina on bush it doesn't make it true
Yesterday at 9:50pm

Blackink
Yeah. I guess the feds had the perfect response. We should bring Brownie back, I suppose.
Yesterday at 9:52pm · Delete

Fred
Seems to me you got a mayor and a governor who could take some of that blame pie.
Yesterday at 9:57pm

JAP
Tell y'all what: I'll support the new guy as completely and honestly as y'all backed Bush. That should be comforting. I want this COUNTRY to succeed, not whoever happens to be warming the seat for any particular four-year interval. Imperfect as it may be, this is the best damned country in the world and to hell with whoever would change that.
Yesterday at 9:58pm

Blackink
That much is true. It was not a shining moment for Nagin or Blanco. They have paid or will pay their political price. But, in general, the federal government handles much of the response to huge natural disasters. And in that regard, the Bush House fell down on the job.
Yesterday at 10:00pm · Delete

Fred
Don't see it that way (blackink).
Yesterday at 10:05pm

Blackink
I reject that. But maybe it's because I'm "hacked off" right now. Feel free to not support the President, just like Rush told you to. *For context, JAP - the former co-worker - had earlier posted a FB status saying that he had "posted a reply or two to thoroughly hack off some folks here on Facebook (you know who you are)"
Yesterday at 10:06pm · Delete

Fred
(Blackink), it's the cold hard truth. Bush did not aim a hurricane at New Orleans.
Yesterday at 10:13pm

JAP
ROFL, you think Rush tells US how to think? It's more the other way around. Still, live the delusion.
Yesterday at 10:21pm

Blackink
@Fred: There's a difference between the "truth" and an opinion. Thought Bush handled the response pretty good, do you? That's telling.
@JAP: The only people delusional are the ones who think a poll in early August, six months into Obama's term, tells us anything about anything.
Yesterday at 10:24pm · Delete

Blackink
Btw, this has gone on much too long. It was something similar to fun. But not really. Thanks for the memories.
Yesterday at 10:27pm · Delete

Fred
There IS a difference in truth and opinion, I've dedicated my life to truth. So, what makes your opinion true and mine just an opinion? THAT my delusional friend is telling.
Yesterday at 10:32pm

Blackink
Dude, get real. You're not even making sense any more. And I've dedicated my life to the same.
2 seconds ago · Delete

There were no winners here. Everyone lost.

What a waste of time, eh? And I'm still working on that to-do list.

Free Period

2009-08-07T13:50:00.003-04:00

Greetings.

Once again struggling to come up with a theme for PostBourgie's "Friday Genius Ten" this week, I jacked this idea from a friend on Facebook: pick a song(s) with a beat that you would want to rhyme over in a cipher.

My submissions for the week (this was the easy part): Thelonious by Common featuring Slum Village; June 27 by DJ Screw; and I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby by Barry White.

I've heard at least a couple of dudes rip that last track, including Mos Def on "Grown Man Business" and Nas on "No Idea's Original."

Also, let me go ahead and add another five songs to this list:

1. Xxplosive by Dr. Dre featuring Six-Two, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and Hitman.

2. Royal Flush by Outkast featuring Raekwon.

3. You Gots to Chill by EPMD.

4. Mass Appeal by Gangstarr.

5. Juice (Know The Ledge) by Eric B and Rakim. Pretty much, this beat was played endlessly throughout the movie of the same name. And I never once got tired of it.

Also, almost anything by the late, great J Dilla.

But let's be real: if I ever got into the booth, it would probably look a lot like this ...

Chappelle's Show

Fisticuff

http://www.comedycentral.com/

Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs

Black Comedy

True Hollywood Story

More later.

Deep Thought

2009-08-06T22:01:00.002-04:00

I want my country back. The one where people of color and women didn't have any civil rights.

Where I'm From

2009-08-06T18:56:00.002-04:00

The good thing about this revelation is that I was never going to come close to holding public office:

Now it's time for President Obama to come clean, too.

Memory Lane

2009-08-06T01:11:00.002-04:00

Hard words from a hard man:

Can you imagine the kind of awesome it takes to create an entire song about all the ass you've whipped in your career? Of course not. Ya'll must have forgot.

My to-do list

2009-08-05T10:33:00.004-04:00

To keep myself accountable, and to let you all know some of the things that I'm cooking up in the kitchen, here's a list of posts that I'm working on at the moment:

* Eminem's diss track, "The Warning," his unacceptable misogny and why I wish he would just disappear into the ether.

* Stephon Marbury's on-camera cry for help.

* My review of HBO's "Prom Night in Mississippi."

* My thoughts about Malcolm Gladwell's fascinating piece in the New Yorker about Atticus Finch, former Alabama Gov. James "Big Jim" Folsom and the limits of southern liberalism. Somehow, Sam "Bam" Cunningham and Bear Bryant figure prominently into my take on this.

* The wasted talents of Plaxico Burress.

* And, in short, why I think this woman is full of shit. (I've spent about a total of 2.5 hours debating this piece with the First Lady and my friend and PostBourgie blogmate Shani-o).

Of course, in between all of that, I'll make sure to find time for the foolishness that makes up most of this blog's content.

Don't get too impatient with me in the meantime. Here's some very necessary Slum Village to honor the memory of Baatin, who died this weekend at the age of 35.

Slum Village - Selfish Music Videos SPIKE.com

Obamacard

2009-08-04T19:28:00.005-04:00

Sean Kelly via Sullivan:

That little boy from Kenya sure made it big, didn't he? Happy birthday to him.

Also, I have no clue where my birth certificate - or my certificate of live birth - is today. I only assume it's at my mother's house in Houston. For all I know, I could be from Mombasa.

Free Period

2009-08-03T19:43:00.003-04:00

If this post from Thomas Lifton passes for true American Thought, then we’re all doomed: “I think this photo constitutes another major Obama blunder. As some AT commentators point out, this picture becomes a metaphor for ObamaCare.” A former colleague once told me, “Blackink, don’t argue with logic. Because logic will argue with you.” Truer words …

Don't front. You know what time it is. We just posted Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup over at PostBourgie.

This week, we cover Obama's Kenyan birth certificate, the GOP's mostly male initiative to unseat 13 sitting House Dems, more about health care, how TV killed home cooking, Crazy Uncle Lou and Michael Vick, among many other things.

More later.

Black Invisible Power

2009-08-02T13:52:00.000-04:00

Still don't like Tracy Morgan?

Human Giant - Invisible Man w/ Tracy Morgan from Tracy Morgan

Free period

2009-07-31T15:03:00.004-04:00

Before you sneak out of the office today, make sure to check out the Friday Genius Ten playlist over at PostBourgie.

My submissions for the week: "Warm It Up, Kane" by Big Daddy Kane; "24K Rap" by J Dilla feat. Havoc and Raekwon; "Oh No" by Chico DeBarge; and "Birthday Sex" by Jeremih.

Yes, that last choice is pretty awful. But it is the First Lady's b-day, and believe it or not, there's really not a lot of good birthday songs to choose from out there. As always, she deserves so much better.

I'll do my best to make it up to her.

Until the next post, how about some more Chico with some bonus shots of Taral Hicks?

By the way, did you all know that there's another generation of singing DeBarges out there? Meet Kristinia.

Hawaii: No longer home of the Rainbows

2009-07-30T18:46:00.005-04:00

Via The Big Lead, Hawaii football coach Greg McMackin strikes yet another blow against the oppressive forces of common sense, tolerance and political correctness. I salute you, sir:

"I know most of the coaches in the country are rooting for us to beat Notre Dame," McMackin said. "Charlie gives this talk, 'We do something special at Notre Dame,' and(the players) get up and they do this little cheer ... this little faggot dance. ...
... After describing the dances, McMackin asked reporters not to write about it and made a reference to Karl Benson, the WAC commissioner who was in the room.
"Don't write that 'faggot' down. I was misquoted," he said. "Just please … cover for me," McMackin said Thursday. "Go ahead, say ‘faggot dance.’ No. Please cover for me on that, too — right Karl? I’ll deny it. Anything else?"
About 15 minutes after McMackin left the room, he returned and added, "I want to officially, officially apologize. Please don’t write that statement I said as far as Notre Dame. The reason is, I don’t care about Notre Dame. But I’m not a … I don’t want to come out and have every homosexual ticked off at me. You know what I mean. Because I don’t have any problem with homosexuals. But I apologize for saying that and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t run that word. If you said dance, that’s OK. But don’t use the bad term that I chose, please. Thank you."

I should also mention that the only team in college football known for its pre-game dancing is ... Hawaii:

Nothing gay about that.

Preserving post-racial America

2009-07-30T15:41:00.005-04:00

After hearing MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell invoke the term "post-racial" last evening in a non-ironic way, I nearly hurled all over my laptop. I want nothing more than for this word to be tossed off a cliff into a river of molten lava.

But then a friend reminded me over Facebook what that might mean: banishment of "the face of post-racial America":

It's not a chance that I'm willing to take.

Also, here's a very short list of some of my favorite clips involving Tracy Morgan: 1. Pick Up the Pieces; 2. Doug Flutie; 3. NFL 2K - "Ya understand me, sweet tooth?"; 4. Cornbread; 5. NBA 2K4 - "The way I dunk on you is going to look unorthodox'd."

It's like picking your favorite kids, ya know?

Remind me to tell you all someday, my wonderful readers (all six of you), why Tracy Morgan, Mike Epps and Marlon Wayans are on my list of the 10 funniest people in the world.

WTF

2009-07-30T15:07:00.004-04:00

Unusual Paintings of Obama Naked with Unicorns. The mind reels:

h/t S.K.

Beyond ridicule

2009-07-29T01:55:00.004-04:00

Obama denialist Orly Taitz on "The Colbert Report":

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Womb Raiders - Orly Taitz

http://www.colbertnation.com/

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Political Humor

Tasers

If you want to know more about this attorney/dentist/interior decorator/second-degree taekwondo black belt/tinfoil saleswoman/aspiring wig model/certified clown, you should go here. And here. Please. Do it.

And she represents Alan Keyes. So you know she's official.

The Hate That Hate Produced

2009-07-29T00:45:00.003-04:00

Media Matters presents "Fear of a Black President." Enjoy:

Rush Limbaugh thinks President Obama is "angry" and "has a chip on his shoulder"? That's rich.

It's the pot calling the kettle ... nigger.

A word about acting stupidly

2009-07-28T13:27:00.005-04:00

At a certain point, I was really close to brushing off Gates Gate. I thought it was clear the cops had overreached and that Professor Gates should have known better than to engage the authorities in that way, if only because it spoke poorly of his self-preservation skills. What else was there to say?

I didn't have anything to add to the conversation. And I'm still not sure if I do.

But this fantastic post from digby needs to be acknowledged. Here's the thrust of it:

Now, on a practical, day to day level, it's hard to argue that being argumentative with a cop is a dangerous thing. They have guns. They can arrest you and can cost you your freedom if they want to do it badly enough. They can often get away with doing violence on you and suffer no consequences. You are taking a risk if you provoke someone with that kind of power, no doubt about it.
Indeed, it is very little different than exercising your right of free speech to tell a gang of armed thugs to go fuck themselves. It's legal, but it's not very smart. But that's the problem isn't it? We shouldn't have to make the same calculations about how to behave with police as we would with armed criminals. The police are supposed to be the good guys who follow the rules and the law and don't expect innocent citizens to bow to their brute power the same way that a street gang would do. The police are not supposed wield what is essentially brute force on the entire population.
And yet, that's what we are told we are supposed to accept. Not only can they arrest us merely for being argumentative as they did with Gates, they are now allowed to shoot us full of electricity to make us comply with their demands to submit.

Please read the rest.

I should have known better than to dismiss the incident, having been stopped by cops on a number of occasions and reading through comically unreliable arrest reports on a daily basis. I should have been smarter. I should have been more empathetic. And most importantly, I should have been more skeptical.

Amanda Marcotte points out this tendency to reflexively side with the authorities, even in clear cases of abuse:

But by and large, I’ve seen more concern out there with whether or not Gates was stupid for not staring at his shoes and apologizing for breathing the second a cop started speaking to him. Since I’ve been blogging for a long time, on and off, about the politics of rape, I know this behavior when I see it---it’s victim-blaming.

And it's easy to see how this societal acceptance of inexcusable behavior, of cops acting "stupidly" if you will, can start with Gates and end with Shem Walker.

What's beef?

2009-07-28T12:56:00.002-04:00

Apropos of nothing, I read this hilarious e-mail exchange between comedy writers Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill sometime ago and was reminded of it yesterday.

Stuff like this is why the Internet was invented.

The Birth of an Idiocracy

2009-07-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

And Sarah Palin could be their leader.

Even with Palin out of power and momentarily out of spotlight, I'm not sure there is a limit to how low some of these guys can go:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It's clear that, as TNC often says, Barack Obama has a way of driving some conservatives absolutely insane. But this goes beyond the usual radio bluster from Beck or Hannity or Limbaugh.

These are actual elected officials.

What's the endgame here? What do they want to happen?

Bush, Kardashian call audible

2009-07-27T21:54:00.004-04:00

I should be above posting this sort of stuff, but because it involves two of my favorite things - football and women, and not necessarily in that order - I can not resist:

Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend of two years, New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, are going their separate ways, the reality star's rep confirms to PEOPLE.
The pair, who recently returned from a charity trip to Africa with Kardashian's sister Khloe, just last May talked about "heading" toward marriage, but sources tell PEOPLE their relationship suffered from the time they spent apart – with yet another separation looming with the upcoming NFL season.

Not sure that I really have much to add here. The picture is enough.

Free Period

2009-07-27T21:28:00.004-04:00

Because of technical difficulties and an unusually busy work day, today's edition of the roundup almost became Your Tuesday Random-Ass Roundup. Sorry I’m late again.

This week, we bring you news about soon-to-be Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, Skip Gates, health-care reform, the rape culture of South Africa, more evidence that poverty sucks, some positive legislative moves on the Hill and tributes to the late, great boxing champ Vernon Forrest. And much more.

Check it out.

Also, courtesy of friend and regular reader ljh (actually, I jacked this from his gmail status line), here's a peek at one of the world's least intelligible people:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I think she uses the same speechwriter as Sarah Palin.

Memory Lane

2009-07-26T15:41:00.004-04:00

Back in the day, I was never a big fan of this song. But I never missed a chance to watch the video.

Wonder why?

On an unrelated note, I'm officially hating Grant Hill.

Post-script: I just had to post one of these comments from her "Officially Missing You" video: "If I were Grant Hill I would try maybe a year or two more to win a ring and if it doesn't work out I'd retire. Tamia's the real prize. Fuck a Larry O Brien trophy."

Priorities

2009-07-26T15:12:00.002-04:00

Thers seems to have it about right:

Stupid foreign wars: cheered for, given blank checks, can't end them.
Decent health care for Americans: worrying, can't be paid for, unsustainable.

Remembering Reign Man

2009-07-26T12:46:00.003-04:00

Via Ave and apropos of the thorougly underwhelming LeBron dunk tape, Sports Illustrated submits its summer list of 10 memorable bangers.

And there's not much to quibble with there. Any respectable list should include Vince Carter in the '00 Olympics over 7-foot-2 Frederic Weis (for my money, the best in-game dunk ever); B-Diddy over AK-47; and T-Mac with a dunk that essentially ended Shawn Bradley's career.

But somehow, someway, homage must be paid to the most vicious dunker of my lifetime: Shawn Kemp.

Were it not for struggles with cocaine, condom use and carbs, no doubt we'd be talking about the Reign Man as one of the best power forwards in league history:

Goodness knows, if Kemp ever had his head on straight, no way my beloved Rockets would have won two straight titles in the mid-90s. I hate admitting that.

Memory Lane

2009-07-25T17:37:00.004-04:00

What's left my conscience said? What's left my conscience said?

It's been a rough, uneven couple of days. And there's no need to stay in the apartment and figure it all out while clear skies and sandy beaches await outside. Normal, sucky blogging to return next week.

Post-script: Believe it or not, this is the 1,000th post on this site. And it only took me a year and a couple weeks to do it. (me, patting myself on the back).

Don't spend it all in one place

2009-07-24T16:27:00.003-04:00

Because 70 cents more per hour certainly won't take you too far:

Poor workers may have especially good cause to say TGIF today.
That's because amid the worst recession in decades, about 500,000 of Texas' lowest paid employees will get a raise. The federal minimum wage increases to $7.25 per hour from $6.55.
While those workers include thousands of financially secure students still living with Mom and Dad, they also include thousands of the most impoverished and vulnerable members of the workforce – those who sink further into debt each month as ordinary expenses outweigh their meager paychecks.

Sure, the raise is the right thing to do. But it's not nearly enough. To emphasize that point, how about a slice of life from April Greer of Dallas?

She finally caught a break two months ago, when a nonprofit agency helped her land a part-time, minimum-wage job at T.J. Maxx, taking home about $800 a month.
Two weeks ago, after she started having dizzy spells at work, she collapsed and spent two days in the hospital.
Doctors aren't sure what's wrong with her. Maybe diabetes. Maybe her heart. Maybe just stress.
Greer knows she can't afford $434 a month for the medication her doctor says she needs. She can barely afford the $100 a week she's been paying her in-laws to cover their ballooning utility bills.
She wants to find a second job, but doesn't know if her body can take it.
"Since I'm the only one right now for my kids, I have to take care of my health," she said.
Her children worry. Her oldest, who is 17, wants to drop out of high school to help pay the bills.

And thus the cycle continues.

I suppose here is where we bring it all back to health care. I know, everyone finds it more interesting to analyze Obama's offhanded remarks about arrest of Skip Gates, but all that boring stuff he talked about before was the whole point of that news conference.

The poorest among us, people like Ms. Greer, are also generally the most vulnerable among us. And there's nothing healthy about straddling and slipping below the poverty line. As dday at Hullabaloo noted, "In this most cruel of American landscapes, the poor and the sick often are the same person."

If forced to predict the future, I see a very bleak outcome for Ms. Greer and her young family. Maybe she'll get so sick that she can't work at her job anymore. Maybe she'll be crushed by the wave of debt sure to follow. Maybe her 17-year-old son will follow through on his plans to drop out of school so he can accept the same kind of low-wage job that his mother has.

And maybe a lot of this could have been prevented if Ms. Greer had access to health care that didn't send her spiraling into financial oblivion.

But on the bright side, no socialized Obamacare for at least another couple months.

Random Acts of YouTube

2009-07-24T02:34:00.001-04:00

For your smelly privates. Or, as the First Lady says, when soap and water won't do:

Caring about our health

2009-07-24T00:00:00.001-04:00

First off, I do not know much about the intricacies of the health care debate. What's more, I do not know all that much about my own insurance coverage. That doesn't necessarily mean you should stop reading, but I'm only trying to be honest with you.

But even with this paucity of knowledge about the nuts and bolts of the issue - like Michael Steele, I don't do policy - I know there is something critically wrong with a system that allows for 47 million people in this country to go uninsured.

Also, I know that if I were to really get sick, I would be shit out of luck. I'd plunge into the financial abyss. But I would have plenty of company.

Anyway, I have a pair of friendly but very long-winded neighbors who live on the first floor of the building in my apartment complex. They are in their late 50s: the woman is dying from a brain tumor and other related illnesses and her husband walks with help of a cane, is missing about a third of his teeth and thinks "something is wrong with me, but I probably won't know what it is until they wheel me into the emergency room." He tells me that it would cost as much as $85,000 for him to get insurance coverage. It should go without saying that he's uninsured.

They are friendly, resilient people. And they - regular Fox News viewers - are fiercely against any plan from Obama to expand access to health care.

Last night, the man tried to force me into a conversation about Obama's news conference. And against my better judgment, I halfheartedly engaged in a debate with him.

Mostly, I let him rant. And I posed a series of questions: "But don't you think anything is better than the system we have now?" "Do you really prefer insurance company bureaucrats interested in profits to government bureaucrats interested in better health outcomes?" "Don't you think you'd have a better chance of getting care under a public option?" "Are you really OK with a system that allows 47 million people to go uninsured?"

He was unmoved. And then he started off on a diatribe about Obama appointing a "science czar" who believes in "Eugenics." It was about that point that I mentally checked out of the conversation.

But what gives?

More than ever, I'm concerned - especially after Sen. Harry Reid's brilliant stroke of leadership yesterday - that any Obama plan for healthcare reform is going to meet successful resistance. And my neighbor, in some ways, is the clearest indication of this concern.

Despite all the available evidence, all the terrible stories, financial struggles that have nearly ruined him and even his own failing health, my neighbor is convinced that Obama and the Congressional Democrats are trying to run a fast one on the rest of us.

What's wrong with him? And where does the conversation go from here? I wonder if I'm missing out on a teachable moment, even though the discussion is already far above my small little brain.

UPDATE: Fixt typo in 7th graf. (Thanks, Maria)

Relationship advice from Superhead

2009-07-23T19:10:00.006-04:00

Is this a joke?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Though in all fairness, if there's anyting she knows how to do, it's how to allow someone to "stand down" and "let a man be a man."

I think Hoda Kotb actually has a "bitch, please" moment during this segment.

And here's more from Ms. Steffans' latest literary effort, the "Vixen Manual."

Memory Lane

2009-07-23T15:43:00.002-04:00

I really miss New Orleans. It will never be the same:

The Kenyan Prince Birth Announcement Scam

2009-07-23T13:35:00.005-04:00

Maybe the "birthers" are actually on to something:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Born Identity

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Daily Show
Full Episodes

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Joke of the Day

The scam is tricky. But I wouldn't put anything past a fur-ner and a colored lover.

Speaking of interracial love, I'm beginning to fall head over heels for Salon's Joan Walsh. She even managed to outdo herself last night on "Hardball."

Post-script: I always find myself trying to quit Chris Matthews. But then he goes out and does something like this. No one is better at letting their guests hang themselves with their own rope.

Because she deserved it

2009-07-22T15:44:00.003-04:00

USA Today's Christine Brennan on Erin Andrews:

“Andrews incident is bad, but to add perspective: there are 100s of women sports journalists who have never had this happen to them.” She continued, “women sports journalists need to be smart and not play to the frat house. There are tons of nuts out there.”

Post-script: What was I thinking about? You can not be a real, bonafide blogger and post an item about Erin Andrews without a picture. I have my limits but I'm not above a little pandering for pageviews.

Free period

2009-07-20T20:00:00.000-04:00

Jeebus. If only my day job would stop getting in the way of all this important blogging.

But finally, Your Random-Ass Monday Roundup has been posted over at PostBourgie.

This week, we reflect briefly on the career of good 'ol Houston kid Walter Cronkite; another fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in New York; Uncle Pat; President Obama's, ahem, "no excuses" address to the NAACP; how overconfidence might have doomed Wall Street; and how a victory by the NFL in the U.S. Supreme Court could forever alter the history of American sports.
You know. Just lightweight stuff. And, as a bonus, no mention of Sarah Palin or Michael Jackson.

Now enjoy some Shaq:

Sorry. I was lying about Michael Jackson.

Random Acts of YouTube

2009-07-20T11:16:00.004-04:00

An e-mail from a friend this morning - who rushed off to the gym to fit in a quick workout - reminded me that I never have enough time to stay in shape the way that I want.

If only there was a workout plan that was effective and time-efficient:

The Random Ass Monday Roundup - Free Period, for our purposes - will be posted a little later than usual today. Stay tuned.

In praise of progressive hip-hop

2009-07-19T14:38:00.005-04:00

Over at PostBourgie, we've posted our weekend endorsements today. You might remember that this is a semi-regular feature over there.

Here's mine:

As an owner of satellite radio for the past four years, I have learned not to get too attached to particular channels, shows or hosts. Things change quickly and often without explanation.

I’m thinking about the demise of Wax 42, a channel dedicated to airing relatively obscure hip-hop remixes and freestyles. As you might imagine, it was a sanctuary of sorts from rappers named “Yung” and songs elaborately produced by Pharrell or Timbaland.

Well, against my better judgment, I have once again found myself jonesing for a reliable “progressive hip hop” outlet: the weekly Subsoniq show on the old school-devoted Backspin channel. Hosted by Doc and KB, the show comes on every Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. eastern.

On Subsoniq, the hosts almost never resort to cheap radio gimmicks or regular spins from “106 and Park”-type fare. A regular listener might hear artists ranging from Outkast to Blackalicious to Big L, reasoned critiques of a new Kanye release or a thoughtful debate about Inspectah Deck’s best verse – “Triumph” or “Above the Clouds” with Gangstarr (I'm thinking Triumph).

If you love hip hop and the people who love the music, you won’t be disappointed.

Post-script: I actually wrote this endorsement a couple weeks ago. Now, I should also note that you can go to their Web site or join their Facebook fan page and download the show or find play lists from older shows.

Post post-script: Because this video was so nice and I mentioned it earlier, I had no choice but to post it. Inspectah's verse was heated but I was always partial to Raekwon on this one ("Aiyo, that's amazing/gun in your mouth talk/verbal foul hawk/connect thoughts to make my manchild walk"). Dopeness.

Memory Lane

2009-07-19T14:32:00.002-04:00

I've been listening to Nas all morning. It's that kind of day - I need serious help get the writing juices flowing. I'm hoping for some "in my rhyming book, all the words pass the margin"-type inspiration.

Anyway, all that "Illmatic" led me to this classic remix from Mariah and Joe featuring God's Son. It's probably my favorite song from Mariah:

I'll come with something a little harder - or sillier - next go-round. But sometimes we all need to mellow out.