Tis the season of appeasement

It’s that time of year again!!! You can just smell the fresh baked cookies and the pine scented fake trees. Its Christmas suckers!!!!! This is the time of year when people lose their minds. You ask why? No not because of homelessness or being homesick. They get the Fever AKA The Debt Before XMAS. People run around like crack heads mistaking a sugar truck for carrying blow. The media calls them consumers. People that obtain all of their food and clothes from garbage cans call them fools. I call them the Big Spenders of Xmas Eve.


They consist of parents that don’t have the will power to tell their child no. And people who are afraid of what family will think if they don’t purchase gifts. You see these folks at work during their lunch break shopping on line (or possibly shopping on line during work). They have these long check lists of gifts that they are trying to fill out. I remember when my grandmother (on my mom’s side) use to give me long johns. I use to think to myself what am I going to do with these. She must have known that in the future I would be turning down my heat to offset those robbers known as Duke Energy. Boy! She must be a psychic!!! She didn’t do like the rest of my fellow Americans and shopped until their credit cards started smoking. So many people are charging their way into debt. What are they going to do when the bill is due? Trust me, the bill is always due. The last time I heard about someone giving away something for free, my high school lacrosse team ended up with mono.


Every Xmas there is the local commercial where some guy walks into a place with his car title and receives a cash loan. This is to show how easy it is to buy gifts for Xmas when the money is low.


Let’s review the tape shall we?
A person takes a car title to a business to receive a cash loan (STOP)!
1) If you are in possession of your car title that means that you have paid off your car loan.


The business gives the person a cash loan (STOP)!
2) This is a loan with a very high interest rate (has to be at least in the double digits).


The person takes the money to buy Xmas gifts (STOP)!
3) If you need a loan to buy your child a toy for Xmas, you must be broke! Therefore you have no business buying Xmas gifts.


Don’t get me wrong I’ve had to eat oodles of noodles (or as black folks call them oodles-n-noodles) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I highly recommend the shrimp flavor. The reality of this situation is that there are consequences to making this decision. Let’s say you don’t pay off your loan in time - guess what? Now this business owns the title to your car which you had previously paid off. So some fool will lose his car because he couldn’t tell his child that they can’t get any toys this year. I’m sure somebody will say Citizen you don’t have any kids so how would you know what it’s like. Well you are right!! I don’t have any kids. And if I keep looking at yours I might not want any!!! I remember one Xmas I wanted a Lone Ranger action figure set. I’m talking The Lone Ranger, Tonto, a Stage Coach and some other foolishness. Well on Xmas day I ran downstairs to open my gifts and I didn’t see what I asked for. This is also the time that I stopped believing in Santa Claus but I digress…. Well what I ended up with was long johns, some other toys and a radio that picked up television stations. I know that last part sounded weird but it’s the truth!!! I could tune the channels like a radio and I would receive television stations. I could hear the television shows perfectly but I couldn’t see the television show. I guess my parents were trying to stay ahead of the technology curve. We were always a little behind everyone else. During my freshman year of college I had a word processor. My parents were all proud like I was going to school with the Apple Notebook. Later on they got me a radio that had a TV in it. Please don’t ask……..


People need to be honest about their financial situation and not get caught up in the hoopla. Xmas is a once a year event but going into to debt can last forever. If the people around you don’t’ understand your situation then change the people around you. Drop your kids off in Nebraska and stop speaking to your relatives.

Merry Xmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SNL Skit on Rahm Emmanuel

No Country for Educated Men

"I admit it. I want a thug around the edges. Something about their swagger gets me all hot and bothered. Stick up their behind men bore the hell out of me. I think the more education you have the less you know how to have fun. I want a man who will stick up for me, not run if someone says some foolishness to me or grabs my ass in the club. What happened to all the real dudes standing up for their women? I will take a thug over a coward in a suit anyday."

~ RideOrDie

Credit: the title post "Every Good Woman Needs A Thug?" from the blog The P.O.S.H. Life

Obama is president elect and women are still saying this? I’m having flashbacks to my freshmen year of college. I remember how girls would run behind the roughest dudes in school. Then when they graduated, (i.e. wanting marriage, kids etc), it was time to look for a responsible man. I guess it’s hard raising a family when your man is in the street. If Lil Wayne was running for president, would he have won the 2008 election? White folks would have voted 97% for McCain. The 3% are the white kids that think they are black. We have an education crisis in our inner cities and this woman wants a thug? That’s what we have in our schools already!!! Come on lady…. Really???

This Abraham Lincoln "Team of Rivals" stuff sucks!!!!

I am getting ready to commit a cardinal sin and question President Elect Obama’s judgment. This is not going to go over well with black folks, but I mean no disrespect. I have questioned Obama before and he has always proved me wrong, but this time I am scratching my head.
Joe “turncoat Lieberman betrayed Obama and his party during the Presidential Election. He never missed an opportunity to stab Obama in his back. “Lie”berman would speak disparagingly about Obama in front of Republican crowds. This is the same douche bag that was running for vice president as a Democrat. Instead of Obama keeping him as chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, he should boot his behind. I wouldn’t let him chair the small business and entrepreneurship Committee.

I know Obama likes reading about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. I know they both have roots in Illinois. I know they both are tall. I know that they both have black in them, but damn man… Hillary Clinton as secretary of state!!!! Was Condoleezza Rice that bad??? How did we get back to this? Why won’t she just get on her broomstick and fly away? This woman used the race card on Obama. That’s an automatic “hate on you” yellow card to throw at her. What other books on United States Presidents is he reading? Might I recommend “Lincoln Unmasked” by Thomas J. Dilorenzo. You will know it’s the right book because on the front it says “What you’re not supposed to know about Dishonest Abe.

These people tried to discredit and disgrace him. He must be the pillar of forgiveness. Enemies are to be vanquished. That’s what you do to them. You take them out with the quickness and efficiency of a ninja. You don’t keep them lying around plotting to take you down. UNLESS…Obama is reading “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. If he is trying to keep his eyes and hands on his enemies that would make me feel better. For the life of me, I don’t know why Obama would want Bill and Hillary, white America’s Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston, involved in helping him run the country.

Why is it so difficult figuring this guy out? He is unlike any other brotha I have ever met. I rack my brain everyday trying to figure out his next move. If someone can explain his motives to me, please let me know. Until then, this "Team of Rivals" stuff sucks!!!!

Taking Obama's off the pedestal

"Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1964 and Barack Obama is the 44th president. 1964 plus 44 is 2008. God works in mysterious ways!" ~ Anonymous



Um…. No! Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. By the above authors calculation, that would make President Elect Barack Obama destined to be President in 2012. Uh Oh someone needs to let Senator Clinton and Governor Palin know. As heavy as the Obama bandwagon has been, it’s a miracle the wagon never had a flat tire. It’s understandable that black folks would be excited about a black family occupying the White House but the jubilance has gotten out of hand.

I was reading my local paper yesterday and they had an article about what Michelle Obama means to black women. I thought to myself “oh that’s nice.” After reading the article, I was bewildered by many of the participants. Michelle Obama becoming the first lady garnered such responses as “because of the Obama’s, now I have hope in finding a man,” and one woman said, “I’ve started paying attention to my daughters more.” What??????? I think it’s nice that Michelle Obama can be a role model but savior of the black race she’s not. If you needed to see a black first lady in order to give your children the time of day, something is really wrong with your concept of parenting. The fact that Michelle Obama reads to her daughters at night shouldn’t motivate you to read to your kids. You should be reading to your kids regardless of who is in office. Don’t be put off because President Bush didn’t read a lot. You still need to read to your kids. Maybe things would have been different if he read those intelligence reports.

And please don’t think Michelle Obama can change the marriage statistics for black women. The numbers still look shaky ladies!!! I hope women aren’t running around looking for the next Barack Obama. You have a better chance finding the next Bobby Fisher. When the Obama’s first met in the law office back in the day, it wasn’t just her looks that Obama liked. If Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was working in the mail room instead of as a lawyer, Barack probably would have kept it moving to the next chick. You are not going to find a man of Barack’s character at ladies night, or on the corner. I’m not here to persuade black woman from dreaming of a “knight in shining armor” but there is more to finding a “quality” man.

I’ve also been disturbed by statements from black men saying “the day after Obama won I put on a suit….” what???? Why do we need Barack Obama in office to get our grown man on? I guess Jay Z wearing a suit didn’t give folks a hint. You should have been wearing a suit before Barack become president. Why are people taking their life “cues” from the first black president? What would we have done if he never would have entered the race? I remember that no one (including myself) thought that he could win in America. We thought he would never be able to fight the Clinton Machine and white folks wouldn’t vote for him. It wasn’t until Iowa that black folks started looking at him with possibility. Then when the Clintons showed their natural behinds in South Carolina, black folks bucked the Clinton Machine and went with the Brotha. Now we have arrived and people have placed their hopes on this one family.

The Obama’s aren’t good parents because of MLK. Barack doesn’t wear suits because of John H. Johnson. Michelle doesn’t carry herself with dignity and class because of Judith JAMESON. They don’t need to be inspired to do what most people do every day. I’m sure they aren’t perfect but it’s not about that. It’s about doing the best you can with what you got. It’s okay to admire a person or be inspired by them. You just have to remember that they are just like you…….human.

Back to Basics: Return of an old friend

"People are looking to buy the things they want with non-credit-based terms. The lend and spend boom is over.”

~ Michael Bilello, senior vice president of business development at ELayaway.com

A favorite friend of shoppers is making a comeback. Our good friend lay-away is back in business. Tough times have ushered in a frugal mentality when it comes to shopping these days. In our current financial crisis, people aren’t splurging like they use to. Stereotypically, less affluent shoppers where once the poster children for lay-away. Many stores ditched their lay-away programs because they wanted to appear more upscale. It’s actually ironic if you think about it. Our current financial depression brought back a retail program that was birthed in our 1st Great Depression.

Babbling Bush King of Toastmasters

"He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed."

~ conservative blogger John Hinderaker advice to President Elect Barack Obama

The Republicans got their heads handed to them on Nov 4th but they still keep talking. You think after they got mauled on both coasts and the Midwest, they would go somewhere and sit down. Nope! Not these clowns. They keep talking and talking and talking. Some dim wit Georgia Congressman named Paul Broun called Obama a Marxist today. Newsflash to Paul Broun….you are 1week late. Obama won the election. You are probably like Sarah Palin and don’t read anything in print. Are the words to big for you Mr. Broun?????

I digress………….I’m not going to blow him up tonight because I’m focused on this loon of a blogger. This fool actually thinks that President Bush is a good public speaker. This idiot must be deaf? Bush couldn’t talk his way out of a paper bag. Every time he opens his mouth, he proves that you don’t have to attend an Ivy League school to be successful. A professor in constitutional law needs speaking lessons from a C Average student?
It would have to be a black man that someone would step to like this. Let me not mix words so you won’t be guessing. If Obama was white, he wouldn’t have attempted to give him advice like this. Yeah I said it!!!!!! This man must be out of his damn mind!!!!

My Post Election Commentary

The results of this past Tuesdays election has me contemplating. I am still in a state of disbelief. I have to admit that I am cynical when it comes to race relations in this country. I wasn’t always like this. I grew up in predominantly white environments and had a mix of black and white friends. But after being out here in the working world, I have become more cynical as the days go on. I see the disparity between whites and blacks every day. I’ve watched less qualified whites get hired, while qualified blacks had to work at minimum wage jobs. I’ve watched blacks get marginalized as stereotypes on television and print. I’ve heard whites say some of the most despicable things on radio.

So to see a black man become the President Elect of the United States of America, it still leaves me in awe. I still don’t know what this means yet. I don’t think we are moving to a post racial America, but it does change how I look at this country. The white folks that voted for Obama bought into the concept of judging a man by his character vs. his color. The vote did not validate America’s tolerance, but showed how this country is supposed to work. Tuesday wasn’t just a win for diversity, but for the people that died, all genders and races, in order for this to happen.

When I woke up the day after the election, I had to renew my driver’s license. I can’t believe the DMV doesn’t take debit cards……….I digress though. The day looked like any other day, but there was something in the air. It was something that I have never felt before after a general election. This feeling was a sense of newness in America. I was looking at the world through a different set of eyes. What I saw wasn’t limitations but great possibilities. They say life is a beautiful struggle – well the struggle continues but the world just become a little prettier.

President Elect Obama can't even get a blurb in East Texas?

“We run a newspaper, not a memory book service. We covered the local commissioner’s race. We thought that was more important.”

~ The Terrell Tribune’s publisher, Bill Jordan

The day after Obama was elected president, the headline of the Tribune centered on the local county commissioner’s race. The headline was titled, “Jackson defeats Schoen.” If you thought this was an error in judgment it wasn't. Not one story in the newspaper was devoted to the presidential victory. So the local commissioner’s race was more important than the presidential election? We are talking about the president of the United States of America.

I was taking my Post Election Nap and Racism woke me up. I tried talking to him because he is really down in the dumps.

"Hello Racism, I see you look the same since we last met. Oh, you don't like that there is an African American President? Yep, white folks even voted for him. You do know that he won the popular vote and the Electoral College. No the Electoral College is not in New Hampshire. Anyway don't be mad, it's all good. If it makes you feel any better, they have impeach Obama websites up and running. Funny thing is he hasn't even started the job yet. Stop crying it is undignified. This too shall pass and you will live on to fight another day. You still have many supporters including the publisher of a raggedy newspaper. With Obama in office business is going to pick up for you. Besides you thrive off of causing dissention among the races. You know you're going to spend the next 4 years telling us how bad Obama is. You are who you are and that's all you know how to do. Well I'll talk to you later. I have to get my "local newspaper" with Obama on the front."

The National Nightmare Is Over

The 8 year dictatorship of President George W. Bush will be coming to an end next year. I can’t say that I am going to miss the guy. Most people I know, i.e. Black Folks, hate George Bush’s guts. I don’t think he is the devil as some people say. I just think that he was under qualified to be President. He lacks the intellectual skill set to be the leader of a country. That’s one of the things I like about President Barack Obama. He knows what he knows and he knows what he doesn’t know. Obama doesn’t make “gut” decisions based on personal feelings. He believes in surrounding himself with knowledgeable advisors. I don’t know what the future holds but it should be something to see. For now though… the National Nightmare is over.

What up pilgrim? There's A New Sheriff In Town!!!!

Citizen Ojo congratulates Barack H. Obama as the 44th president elect of the United States of America. 11/4/08.

Wonder Woman: I wonder why John McCain picked you?

"Now tomorrow, I hope, I pray, I believe that I'll be able to wake up as vice president elect, and be able to get to work in a transition mode with the president -elect, John McCain."

~Sarah Palin voting on election day in Wasilla, Alaska

Liddy Dole click your heels three times and go back to Kansas

Democratic state Senator Kay Hagan was elected to the U.S. Senate by beating Elizabeth Dole. Toward the end of the campaign, Dole used attack ads against Hagan questioning her Christian faith. The commercials were of bootleg quality so that speaks to her professionalism. Now Dole can go back to spending time with her sour patch faced husband.

Welcome to the party Obamaholics but I'm done......party on without me.

This election is bittersweet for me because it is my last time voting as a Democrat. I’m going to become an independent or as it’s called in North Carolina “unaffiliated”. As long as I have been voting I have been a Democrat. I have Harry S. Truman to thank for sending my family down this path. President Truman advocated national health insurance, and civil rights issues. I personally don’t think he actually believed in black and white equality, but don’t’ mind me I’m cynical about race relations. I’ve watched my parents vote for the Democrats every presidential election. They voted even when the candidates were wack (Dukakis, and Mondell). I even carried on their tradition of voting for wack candidates (Kerry).

I remember my first election like it was yesterday. A young saxophone playing upstart from Arkansas was running for president. He was so popular with black folks that they started calling him “The first black president.” That never passed down to his wife though, because there wasn’t anything “stereotypically black” about her. I know the Republicans hated the way black folks revered the Clintons. The more they attacked the Clintons, the more black folks loved them. When President Bill Clinton was caught getting “serviced” in the oral..oops.. oval office, black folks gave him a pass. I remember a black guy telling me “the presidency is a stressful job, of course he needs a pick me up to help him relax.” I voted for Clinton twice and I don’t regret my vote. I decided to let the good times roll and vote for Al Gore in 2000. With all the shenanigans that went on with Gore vs. Bush, I thought I was voting in a Kenyan election. For 4 years I walked around with a bitter taste in my mouth because of Democracy denied. I stuck with my party and tried again with Kerry vs. Bush. Bush bamboozled voters with thoughts of Gay folks marrying each other and having babies in the streets. So they voted Bush in and he didn’t stop gay people from marrying at all. Actually gay people are getting married faster than ever now.

So after 8 years of a Bush dictatorship, I was ready for something different. I thought Hillary Clinton was a good bet and I decided to roll with her. I thought it was nice that Barack Obama was running but I didn’t think white folks would actually vote for him (I told you I’m cynical). I think the turning point was in Iowa when he pulled out the victory. He became a serious contender in the race and that’s when Hillary lost her mind. It started in South Carolina with the Clintons using the Republican model of the southern strategy. Then my arch-enemy Bob Johnson opened his cooning mouth, referring to Obama as habitual drug user. Every primary and caucus after that became painful to watch. The party that I have stood by for years was disintegrated before my eyes. It all came to a head when the Democrats met to discuss giving voting rights back to Michigan and Florida. White women in hotel lobbies yelling how unqualified Obama is and that they were being robbed. Hillary used the fact that she was a woman and played the damsel in distress role. She accused everyone and anyone of sexism. Black folks in the party were covering for the madness saying that they were unified. Obama had to fight black Democrats, white women, the mainstream media and the Clintons. I realized that the party was not the same one that was advertised to me. I had thought that all the Dixiecrats left to become Republicans. I realized the Democrats were just as racist as the Republicans. Then polls turned up showing how White Democrats wouldn’t vote for Obama because of his race. I personally like my racism out in the open and not hidden. I came to the realization that the party I have supported since 1992 was not the kind I want to belong to. I thought the Democrats would support the best candidate whether they were black or female. I thought Democratic candidates would respect each other and not tear each other down. Black Democrats supporting Clinton didn’t even pull her to the side to say “calm down.” I would rather be by myself then stay with a dysfunctional family. I can’t support people that truly in their hearts don’t support me.

Now I can see someone reading this and saying “why don’t you become a Republican?” My two word answer to that is…………………………………………………………….NO!!!!

The party of Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, Trent Lot, Tom Delay, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Anne Coulter… need I say more.
I think this independent move will work out best for me. It feels right to me. I view certain issues with a liberal eye and a conservative eye. Being unaffiliated also takes me out of the box that pollsters and pundits want to put me in (such as: I’m black so I automatically vote Democrat). I just hope that I won’t be getting any flyers from Cynthia McKinney and that Green Party.