President Barack H. Obama, before you fly over to Copenhagen, you need to take a look at what is going on in your home city. The Olympics can provide name recognition and put a jolt in the economy. But it can't stop the senseless violence. Was Chicago going to sweep this under the rug and then let it back out once the Olympics left town? Black folks, we can do better than this. We can't walk around in denial anymore. But!!! For those that still don't know - the message is now loud and clear! No one is coming to save us!!!!! Even with a Black President we still have to save ourselves.
For anyone that thought the 33-year-old Shar Jackson would be home taking care of her children, (Donnie, 18, Cassie, 14, Kori, 7 and Kaleb, 5) think again. I thought she was playing around on MTV’s Celebrity Rap Superstar. But while I was sitting at home laughing, she was on stage being dead serious. I was wrong in assuming you were a fraud, so all I can say is……My Bad!!!
Republican state Sen. Scott Brown wants to have Senator Edward Kennedy’s old job. It might be tough for him in Democratic leaning Massachusetts but anything is possible. It seems like every time he wants to run against a democrat his past comes up. It’s probably dirty politics as usual but that is how people play the game these days. A 22 year old Sen. Brown posed butt butterball naked for Cosmopolitan magazine. He was in Law School and needed the money to pay for tuition. I can’t be mad at that. When I was in school people were trading plasma for cash. Some folks probably went down to the sperm bank to drop a deposit off. Isn’t it weird that the sperm bank also pays you for withdrawls? Should what you do in college be brought back to haunt you? In Sen. Brown’s case it was harmless and no one was killed. Actually the picture looks like he was holding his crooked Johnson or is it the flap in the pages? (Article and Picture Included Here). If Sen. Brown was somebody that you would vote for, would this be a deal-breaker for you?
What is the worst thing that a candidate could do that would make you not vote for them?
How in the world did Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) get duped by a fake pimp? All of these black folks caught on tape getting played by a conservative suburbanite in disguise. Not since the movie ‘Soul Man' has there been such a blatant display of trickery. How do you call yourself a pimp and you don’t have any swag? How do you call yourself a pimp and you don’t have business sense? This cat walks into the Acorn office acting like it’s the first day of school. He is unsure and unsecure. Have you ever seen a pimp that looked like he wasn’t in control of the situation? He might not know what is going on but he will play it off like he does. And the person that was pretending to be his trick, are you serious? That was the saddest looking prostitute that I have ever seen. Taryn Manning looked better as a trick in the movie ‘Hustle and Flow.’
Don’t get me wrong because I don’t want you to think I’m promoting the ‘Pimp Lifestyle.’ But if you know that the Republicans are waiting for you to slip up, why wouldn’t you be more careful? The CEO should have put the word out for everyone to be on their guard. Now I know that you can’t blame everything on the CEO. Acorn is a nationwide organization and you can’t know what all your employees are doing. But you have to be a horrible employee to give business advice to someone that exploits women. Could a person really hate their job that much? But I digress……
Take a look at the video below. This is an example of a real ‘White Pimp’
1st Step in the Delegitimization of President Obama – You cause the people to doubt him by spreading lies as if they were the truth.
Obama obtained 53% of the total electorial vote last November. The break down below:
A. With 43% of white folks (total number of white people) voting for him. B. With 54% of white voters being between the age of 18 to 29.
Where are the White People that voted for Obama? Have the ‘white’ independents and the ‘white’ base been duped by the lies? Sure Obama did himself a disservice by not handling this Health Care situation better. Maybe you might not be pleased with his handling of our troops overseas. You’re possibly upset over the bailouts. It’s only been 8 months since Obama has been in office. So where did all this hate come from?
YEAH LADY, TELL YOUR BOY TO STOP LAUGHING...THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS!!!!
Last week Fox News ran an ad in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. They expressed their concern that ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN didn’t acknowledge the protesters at the “Tea Party” rally on Sept 12.
FYI: Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post are all owned by the same company.
If you look at my previous post titled: MLK was robbed in broad daylight and the cops did nothing, you will see that CNN heavily covered this event. I can’t speak for the rest of the networks but I can vouch for CNN. Don’t get me wrong because I’m not a shill for the mainstream media. I don’t trust any of them. I watch what I need to watch and form my own opinions. The Daily Show is probably the closest to being a news program that I can see. You know major news networks are in trouble when comedians are more trust worthy than they are. I truly believe that the MSM has their hands tied with what they can and can’t report. When you are owned by a corporation there is only so much that you can do. In the end, it all comes down to the bottom line. If a companies’ product is polluting a neighborhood, why would the company owned media do a story on it. Throw in the fact that minorities aren’t making decisions on what type of stories to run and you have a perfect storm of negligence. Black and Latino men are doing more than just robbing convenience stores and making babies. But who else knows this except other minorities???
Now Fox News, the most biased news network in America, has claimed that all the other networks are playing politics by not reporting the news. As I watch this story unfold, I have to check myself to see if I’m smoking crack. If it wasn’t for the television show ‘Fringe’ and ’NFC Football’ I wouldn’t need to watch Fox. Fox News gives the whole network a big black eye. How does a network that shows ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ also give us ‘Glenn Beck?’ This guy is the biggest turd wad that I have ever seen and believe me I’ve seen a lot of turd wads!! He is on a quest to delegitimize President Obama and anyone that supports him. His new passion is to get people in Obama’s administration fired. He has become so big that he has made you forget all about Sean Hannity (and Hannity was working at Fox before Beck). And to make things worse or better in Beck’s eyes – Time Magazine has given him the front cover of their magazine. Now he has been legitimized as a credible source for news. But not one time have we ever heard of his journalism credentials. After the smoke and mirrors, you have a college drop-out that has accused President Obama of trying to obtain reparations thru his health care plan.
But please don’t take my word for the gospel. Unlike Fox News I don’t distort the facts but I do give you my thoughts. I’m not a journalist by trade but I can’t do any worse than what the MSM is already doing. I fancy my blog as my personal editorial page. Even though I am giving you my opinions, I don’t have a problem with an honest debate. I am also man enough to know when I’m wrong and will admit so. Unlike some people we know…
I know last week was a rough one for you. I wanted to talk to you about this sooner but I needed to get my thoughts together. I know being from New York you were excited to see your fellow New Yorkers representing at the MTV Video Awards. But under no circumstances should you jump on stage while people are performing. If that was the Wu Tang Clan, you would have gotten your tail whooped!! You know they roll 20 deep when they are on are stage. One time I thought GZA was performing but it was the hype man that holds the gold chains. You are a young lady coming of age and you need to display the class that comes with that. People have eluded to you being manly but I don’t see that. I see a tom boy that needs to find her inner woman. I suggest that you talk to Oprah Winfrey because she seems to know any and everything about being a woman. She knows about marriage too but I find that odd since she has never been married. But I digress…
Lil Mama, I also want you to think about using a different name. Your name is an Oxymoron and that is not cool for an entertainer. Even Biggie Smalls started calling himself Notorious because of his command of the English language (people in the hood are going to be mad about this......I got jokes people). I hope that you take this constructive feedback and actually use it to your benefit. I don’t listen to any of your music and don’t plan to. But I hate to see a black girl lost.
The following Book Review has been sponsored by FSB Associates
This battle of Armageddon and the return of Christ is, according to thousands of Christian fundamentalist preachers, coming soon. In fact many are convinced that our modern military involvement in the Middle East is linked to this fiery end. In the book of Revelation, Babylon is the source of all evil and is ultimately overthrown; Babylon, of course, is in Iraq, which has presently fallen to U.S. forces and their allies. To Christian fundamentalists, the connection, and the importance, is obvious.
But the Christian fundamentalists are not the only ones to believe in a final battle. Muslims, too, with increasing urgency speak about the coming of their messiah, the Mahdi, who-with the aid of Jesus will fight against the demonic forces of the Dajjal, the Islamic anti-christ figure. Especially important is the belief held by many Muslims that the Mahdi will rule from Jerusalem, which the Muslims claim as their own. Muslims who follow these beliefs expect the final battle to come very soon, and this is affecting their politics, which in turn, is affecting all of our lives.
~ Michael Baigent, author of Racing Toward Armageddon – The Three Great Religions And The Plot To End The World.
I first thought this book was going to be against organized religion. I really need to stop judging a book by its cover. Mr. Baigent doesn’t make a case against all religions but the extreme sects of the religions. Christian, Muslim and Jewish fundamentalists are the subjects of this book. I don’t know if he meant to scare the readers but there is some frightening subject material in this book. Because of the fact that I live in America, the Christian fundamentalists peaked my interest. Baigent describes how fundamentalists have infiltrated the top echelons of our Government and how they use their beliefs to shape public policy.
My only regret is being not as well versed in scripture as I should be. It helps to know your way around the bible before reading this book. You don’t need a religious background to comprehend the book but it does help in understanding some of the biblical texts. The wars that are fought because of perceived religious doctrine are subjects in the book as well. Baigent evenly discusses each religion so there are no playing favorites. He also makes a good case for the separation of church and state. A subject that should possibly be revisited due to America’s last 8 years. Baigent doesn’t knock the concept of a religious foundation but does want us to question how we use it in our lives. Are we practicing our different religions in the way they were meant or are we misguided by our interpretation of the doctrine?
A man with 6 kids knows that he is not as marketable as a man with one or no kids. How fortunate for him when he met Burruss. Burruss had only one child and money from her singing career. Janet Jackson with a slow career is better than some scallywag you meet at the club.
The signs with Obama eating watermelon weren’t enough.
The signs with Obama as an African Witchdoctor with a bone through his nose weren’t enough.
The fake birth certificates floating around the internet weren’t enough.
The claims of healthcare being a form of reparations weren’t enough.
Now that President Jimmy Carter has weighed in on the current state of Affairs and deemed Racism a culprit in the backlash against President Obama its official…….Racism Might Be Involved!!!!
Do you mean I have to sit through a whole week of white folks arguing about whether or not Racism is involved at these rallies against Obama just because a peanut farmer from the south says it is? You betcha!!!
When Jimmy Carter speaks it must be true. Thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ that we have a white man co-signed on what black folks have been saying since March.
Citizen Ojo’s prayer to the Heavens: Ooooo lawdie!! I jus wanna think ya fo letten dis her man stind up fo r rights!!!!
President Carter I really appreciate you co-signing but you might want to sit this one out. The Right doesn’t like you that much anyway. Maybe it was the 4 years you spent in the White House or the fact that you build homes for poor people (what happened to pulling yourself up by your bootstraps – they can’t build their own homes!!!). You and President Clinton are the only old white dudes that can go to any black family reunion/cook-out and fit in. So that makes you almost black in the eyes of the Right.
So you speaking out is the equivalent of Tim Wise giving a lecture on the White Man’s Burden. It’s not your fault Mr. President, that’s just how the game is played. It’s nice of you to stand up for what you believe in but it won’t change anything. You will be called a traitor to your race, and they will have signs with you eating watermelon. This is not going to stop until more people start speaking out. America doesn’t need a former President to stand up, they need a Nation.
How did she do that: Wells Fargo is not showing the home to any potential homeowners.
So that gave Guyton free time to kick it at the mansion without being disturbed. She probably could have rented out the home to lil Wayne for a video shoot. I couldn’t find any photos of Guyton but that name sounds a little ethnic (wink wink to my black folks). I found her info on Linkedin and I was looking to see if I could add her to my network. I know eventually she is going to be fired but man was she working the con game. That’s somebody that I need to know. She might have good advice on dealing with the corporate plantation. I’m all about throwing a party at someone else’s 3,800 square foot home on the company dime.
But as always, the good times don’t last. The neighbors started getting suspicious about all the traffic that was going to the house. It got to the point that they started writing down license plate numbers. Those are the type of neighbors that will give you a full report when you come back from out of town. Don’t let your cousin come by to pick up the mail. They will hold your cousin at gun point until the police show up.
I would comment more on this story but I can’t as a former employee of Wells Fargo. Before they kicked me to the curb….oops my bad…um…laid me off, I signed some legal documents that said I couldn’t speak disparagingly about them. I tried to talk to the law offices of Screw me, because I signed the papers and Rosenbaum but they said the documents were ironclad. Therefore I can’t really give my full opinion on the subject (wink wink).
Marvin Lyles and Gospel Sunrise Productions did their thing this past Saturday and I missed it. For $20 in advance or $25 at the door I could have had a blast. A Holy Ghost Blast that is (wink wink)!!! Gospel Wings 8 was held this past Saturday at the YMCA of Northwest Indiana. What makes this event so special was that the price of admission included all-you-can-eat-chicken wings. All You Can Eat Chicken Wings!!!!
Lord say it ain’t so! You mean I can hear your word and eat all the chicken wings that I want? You got preaching, singing and chicken eating all at the same time. It’s a black Baptist preacher's dream.
“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”
~ Rep Joe Wilson (Republican Congressman from South Carolina)
I know you apologized for your outburst Rep. Wilson but I’m not buying it. This is a case of too little too late. This is the part where I usually say Screw You and everyone that voted for you. But I won’t say it tonight, because I’ve been down this road before.
You know, when I was a little boy there was an old Negro farmer lived down the road from us, name of Monroe. And he was... Well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my daddy was. He bought himself a mule. That was a big deal around that town. My daddy hated that mule. His friends kidded him that they saw Monroe plough in' with his new mule and Monroe was gonna rent another field now that he had a mule. One morning that mule just showed up dead. They poisoned the water. After that there was never any mention about that mule around my daddy. One time we were drivin' past Monroe's place and we saw it was empty. He'd just packed up and left, I guess. Gone up North or somethin'. I looked over at my daddy's face and I knew he'd done it. And he saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and he said "If you ain't better than a nigger, son, who are you better than?
~ Gene Hackman’s Character Agent Rupert Anderson, in the movie “Mississippi Burning”
This disdain for black folks isn’t new. No matter how hard we try to move past this we just can’t. The Racism is so bad that people can’t contain it anymore. No matter how you feel about President Obama, he is still the President of THE United States. You don’t have to respect the man but you do respect his position. To call the man a liar in a joint session of Congress shows an enormous amount of disrespect.
The people holding up signs with him looking like a monkey or eating watermelon….Disrespect.
The people that say nasty things about his children's hair and appearance…..Disrespect.
The people that talk about his wife's physical attributes as unattractive…..Disrespect.
The people that keep referring to him as an illegal alien……Disrespect.
These are all fronts for something more sinister. No one ever called Laura Bush unattractive or talked about how nappy her children's hair was. Making someone that looks different into a monster is what racists do best. It makes them feel more superior. These individuals dislike black people but are afraid to show their true colors. So they make up all these other side issues to complain about. My Great Granddaddy knew racism, my Granddaddy knew racism, my Daddy knew racism and I know racism. When you have a legitimate beef with someone you can back it up with facts and logic. Not a lot of hocus pocus (i.e. fake birth certificates and death panels.) It is painfully obvious that you can’t negotiate with the Devil. So I’m going to address this post to Republican National Chairman Michael Steele.
I’m addressing this to you because you are the leader of this organization. The people under you should be following your lead. Instead it looks like you are the one being led around like an old donkey. You are the head of a tired party that still specializes in race-baiting. You have lost most of your clout in the Northeast and are pigeonholed in the South and Midwest. You’re National Conventions looks like the auditions for the 1940 Harvard University Glee Club. Your party has used religion to fight progressive Ideas and to divide America. To make matters worse, your party has alienated people from the same race (i.e. Black Folk) that you belong to. So I’m addressing this post to you Chairman Steele. Do you support Rep. Wilson’s disrespect of our President? Do you believe that the President was born in a hut in Africa somewhere? Do you believe that the President wants to turn American into “The New Russia”? Do you believe that the President is trying to give black people reparations through the passing of a health care bill? Chairman Steele, do you believe that the man elected by a landslide actually wants America to fail? If you do, then you are no better than Rep. Wilson and those like him. We can disagree respectfully and work towards solutions that will help us all. Or we can do what we have been doing. So I ask you Chairman Steele, do you cosign on all of this?
We must fight until Hell freezes over and then fight on the Ice.
I was kicking it at the family reunion when I was interrupted from my diet of Ribs, Chicken, and Low Country Boil to hear the news about Van Jones. Van Jones worked for the White House at the Council on Environmental Quality. They created a special position for him as the Special Adviser for Green Jobs (aka The Green Czar). Maybe I don’t get out that often but I don’t know too many black folks that have jobs created for them. The last time that happened they gave a black guy a mop and called him janitor. But I digress…
The news this past weekend was that Jones resigned from the Obama Administration. A Brother quitting his job on a holiday weekend….now that is unheard of!!! Now calling in on Tuesday saying you quit is what I would have expected. For those that don’t know, Glenn Beck has turned Van Jones into his whipping boy (pun intended). Van Jones old group The Color of Change has been turning the heat on Beck because of his recent comments about President Obama (i.e. Obama doesn’t like white folks etc etc etc). Television sponsors have been jumping off the Beck ship because of “The Color of Change’s work. So Beck gets mad and instead of taking his anger out on The Color of Change he picks on Van Jones. Van Jones is an easy target because he works for Obama and we know how Beck feels about Obama. Beck’s logic for who he decided to go after was flawed at best. It is the equivalent of me quitting McDonalds and Glenn Beck burns his tongue on the fries. Instead of complaining to McDonalds he calls my house complaining about his tongue being burned.
This resignation has caused a storm of controversy over the internet regarding Van Jones. People have talked about his qualifications, past views, and his white wife. Screech!!!!! (That was me putting the breaks on the car!!) (This is me backing up the car) Beep Beep Beep! His white wife!!!! If you didn’t know from the previous paragraphs, Van Jones is black or as they say at the Republican Convention he’s colored.
To be honest I don’t know about Jones qualifications. I know Obama is a pretty smart dude and he doesn’t surround himself with dummies. I also know that Jones had a New York Times Best Selling book called “The Green Collar Economy”. So until I see different I will assume that the man is qualified.
Now you are probably wondering what his wife has to do with him resigning. She has absolutely nothing to do with it. She came into play when Van Jones past came back to haunt him. To some people Van Jones came off as a Black Nationalist. Therefore, why would a Black Nationalist be married to a white woman?
From what I’ve seen so far, if Jones is a radical, he needs to go back to militant school. He is lacking in the kill whitey and down with the government department. A true Black Nationalist would have never taken a job with the Government. Jones probably sits in Starbucks texting on his Blackberry while listening to Ice Cube’s “The Predator Album” on his I-Pod. If he is a Black Nationalist, I’m a descendant of Chairman Mao.
Now let me tell you what I do know:
I know the Obama Administration doesn’t know anything about vetting people. Don’t they know how to use Google and Youtube? Tom Daschle didn’t pay his taxes and messed up the opportunity to be the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Now instead of getting the person he really wanted, Obama had to settle for a 3rd stringer for the position. Obama is getting out-flanked and out-hustled on this HealthCare Business. We can only wonder would it be different if Daschle was running things.
Obama is going to have to start micromanaging the people in his Administration. He can’t leave people to manage on their own because they are doing a terrible job. His Presidential Legacy is in the hands of people that don’t understand the magnitude of this moment. They need to help him by doing their jobs better. If they were better at vetting people, we wouldn’t be watching these resignations. How difficult is it to research a persons’ past when he has video footage on the internet?
If Van Jones was the right guy for the job, then they should have fought to keep him. Obama’s Administration has been bullied by The Far Right so much that it doesn’t take much to make them rollover. It took President George Bush (Bush Jr) many moons before Donald Rumsfeld left the fold. He protected his boy Alberto Gonzales until the bitter end. People in the Obama Administration need to man up and learn how to throw a punch. If you believe in your employees, you need to stand by them.
“It struck me, why go after this guy? He is a minor player, he has no power, no budget, why take him? It’s because he looks like Obama and he has all those same attributes of being well-educated and he’s an electrifying speaker with an elite education. It seems to me that he is symbolic of what the Obama administration is and could be and that’s inspiring for me, but for some people on the right, it’s terrifying and threatening.”
~ John Anner, Former Chair of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.
To friends, colleagues and those that should know,
As of today (September 8, 2009) I am no longer the Executive Editor of Music at BET.com. Upon entering the position at BET I said that I needed one year to see what really went on inside the belly of the beast. I needed 365 days to sleep with the enemy and infiltrate the system. One year to see if they REALLY wanted change at BET.
As someone who has been critical of BET for many years, it surprised many that I would leave my post at HipHopDX last year to take a position at BET. But it was an opportunity I absolutely had to take. I could no longer be critical of this company without accepting the opportunity to change it when given. Although I was hired to bring about change, I was systematically shut down. I wasn’t hired to make noise, I was hired to be silenced.
The truth of the matter is that everything that you thought was wrong with BET is true. Over the past year I’ve seen a lot to reinforce my position that BET is too far gone in the negative to turn into a positive. We have all always thought the worst, but to actually see it in action is another thing in its entirety. The unprofessionalism, the tom foolery, the favors, the misappropriation of resources, the bad ideas that reinforce negative stereotypes, the emasculation of men, the meetings that break down in full fledged cursing battles, the unpaid overtime, the tears from employees scared for their underpaid and overworked positions and ultimately the unwillingness to change are all harsh realities that I’ve witnessed firsthand. That is not to say that there aren’t some good people who have sat in the offices of BET. Unfortunately, the good people are not in positions of power to instill any change. Instead, they work their fingers to the bone just to keep their jobs in this harsh economic climate. The other good people ran out of the door as soon as an another employment opportunity presented itself. To say BET was a revolving door would be an understatement. I came in with a plan to provide balance and to deliver good music to
the masses and help make BET relevant again – at least in the dot com world. Those attempts were shut down by out of touch executives who run a dot com but could barely turn on a computer. By those who judge their metrics by page views over absolute unique visitors (that‘s ad sales talk). By those who simply don’t understand the internet.
They brought me in because of my track record but never once took a look at my body of work. If they did, they would have known that I was the pen behind editorials such as “BET’s Coon Picnic” or were aware of the many times I have been critical of their award shows and programming. All they knew is that I played a major role in making a once unknown website into a online media outlet that surpassed theirs and they wanted a piece of the action. Too bad they never researched who I really was.
During my tenure I worked long hours and sometimes succeeded at bringing in decent content to try to reflect the change I wanted to achieve. But it wasn’t without opposition. While some interviews and content initiatives were able to make it through, many others were either shut down or met with ridicule. I offered ideas to incorporate the blog world and to spotlight new talent before MTV did. Those ideas were met with comments such as “This isn’t HipHopDX” or “You don’t know what you are talking about.”
BET is not about the quality of your work. Rather, BET is about the relationships you have with powerful people within the company. BET is not about challenging. Instead, BET is about accepting and saying “yes.” If you have known or followed me over the years, you would know that these are things that simply are not in my character and ultimately resulted in my removal. For the artists and labels that I have worked with for years, I tried. I did whatever I could to achieve that balance many of us wanted to see happen. To the writers who wanted to writer for BET, I made an attempt but was never given a budget to work with.
Upon my arrival, I was told I would be given a staff. Not true. I had a staff of one to carry out daily operations on a website. I fought tooth and nail to accomplish the minimum (an embeddable player and a site people could navigate) and was constantly brushed off. It was a position that was set up for failure. But I endured as long as I could.
Alas, I have been removed from my position after infiltrating the system and the timing was perfect. I wasn’t let go because the site’s numbers were down. Not because I didn’t work hard. Simply because of a personality clash with an individual whose proverbial ass I didn’t kiss enough. Again, not about the work you do but about the relationships you keep and the sides you take.
I’d like to thank BET for covering the cost of my relocation to bring me to the great city of New York/New Jersey. I’d also like to thank them for putting me in close quarters with people who think like me and will hopefully work with in the near future. I’d also like to thank them for providing me enough controversial content that I observed firsthand and will make for many tales to be told.
I said it and I meant in: One year to either make changes or move on. I left HipHopDX on September 16th 2008. Today is September 8, 2009. Eight days short of a year. Most thought I wouldn’t even last that long. But in that year I’ve had my greatest fears about Black Entertainment Television affirmed.
There is so much wrong with BET that I’d rather not break it down in a single email. It is pretty good fodder for a book don’t you think? As of today, Andreas Hale is a free agent.
Andreas Hale AIM:Halejackson Email: Andreas_Hale13@yahoo.com
Republican National Chairman Michael Steele came back to the “hood” on Tuesday to speak at Historically Black Howard University. The event is part of his comeback tour…..oops…I mean his “Freedom Tour.” This is where he goes around talking about what the Republicans stand for in this new “Post Racial” America. I guess he decided to try it out on black folks as a test run. He talked about his past attempts to use street vinacular in order to show a bridge between Republicans and Black Folks. Citizen Ojo says: Wrong Move!!! He also tried to tell the students to reach for their dreams. Because if he could make it, they could make it too (remember he is from “Da Hood.”) Citizen Ojo says: Terrible Move!!!
"For a while, I thought his point was to, like, encourage black people, to be an all-inspiring, 'You can do this too, we're already in college. There are people I left behind who need that. Most of the people who come here were coming specifically to hear about the GOP side" of politics -- not to hear a motivational talk.
~ Lindsey Smith, sophomore political science major at Howard University.
It turned into one of those situations where Steele had to ask himself “how did things turn so wrong so fast?” The tour turned into a typical drama filled Health Care Town Hall Event. But unlike the reports from the 6pm and 11pm local news, the perpetrators weren’t young unruly uneducated under classed black men and their bombastic belligerent baby mommas. It was some white chick that caused the ruckus!!! I guess she got around all those black folks and decided to get her “Courage On.” Amanda Duzak ended up giving Steele the business (or as it’s spelled in Urban Diction “The Bizness”) and eventually was escorted out of the room. Not before Steele had to throw in his 2 cents though.
It is apparent that the students were ready for a serious debate. But it was ruined by the chaos that is breaking out all over the country. Duzak, maybe with good intentions/maybe not so good intentions, took the event to another level. Some of the students at Howard didn’t like her stealing the spotlight as well.
“The student’s outbursts and attacks were not only inconsequential in the healthcare debate, but they were downright disrespectful and rude. One of the few chances us young black folk had to get the ear of someone in government was ruined by party crashers who claim to be making their voices heard, but in reality did nothing but silence the rest of ours. So what do you think would have made the news? Twenty-something black college students showed up in droves for something other than a Li’l Wayne concert, but the air time will probably go to the white lady who was shouting until her face turned red. Thanks a lot, ma’am.”
It would have been nice for America to see a debate/forum with positive discourse. I’m biased but I would like to see that at an HBCU.
(Side note: Citizen Ojo and Citizen Wifey went to an HBCU)
I also would have liked it if Steele came with a real game plan. After all these years and Republicans still don’t know how to talk to black folks!!! What’s makes it worse was that it was a black person talking to black folks. I guess it is true when they say you can’t go home again.
Due to the timeliness of the subject - I gotta pull this back out again!! Sorry Charlie....
Please don’t get it twisted!!! I’m not about looking out for rich folks. I don’t believe any of AIG’s upper management deserves bonuses. My upper management doesn’t deserve any bonuses and they weren’t even involved in the financial crisis. But I think it is shameful to see Representative Charles Rangel waxing and waning when it comes to taxes. This is the wrong guy to complain about AIG. Especially when it comes to taxes!!!
Mr. Rangel’s populist stance is a nothing more than mediocre political theater. Rangel’s credibility is full of more holes than the Titanic. As Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (They write the U.S. Tax Legislation) you would think Rangel would know better. But……………………NOPE!!
Let’s take a look down memory lane……………..
Rangel failed to pay taxes on his rental property in the Caribbean from 1988 to 2007 (Smells like Tax Evasion???). Now I really feel bad for Wesley Snipes……………..
Rangel did not disclose any royalty income from his 2007 memoir (Must receive approval from the Ethics Committee before accepting payments).
Rangel used an apartment, one of his Harlem rental properties, as a campaign office (Against City and State Laws).
Now they have a short film out on him. When they pull out films on you, it means you are doing something wrong!!!
Point Of Reference: Michael Moore scorching folks on film.
Blaming your wife and the property management company won’t cut it!!!! We have a property management company and those checks come monthly (like welfare checks). They might be off by a day but come rain, sleet or shine……It’s awfully nice of his wife to take the weight for him. That’s true love. That’s that “The Wire” type of love.
In the end I know he won’t spend a day in jail. This post is actually not about a call to send him to jail. I just want Rangel to own up to his mistakes.
Bristol Palin and Sarah Palin have more in common than being related. They both have been screwed by Levi Johnston. Someone has cleaned up Levi Johnston and now he looks like a new man. He went from looking like Cooter to a “broke” Rob Thomas. What a difference a haircut and some cash can make. Now Levi is singing like a jail house snitch to anyone who will listen. The first stop on his gab tour is Vanity Fair. In the olden days (just 3 years ago) people would have rushed out to pick up Vanity Fair. But due to the recent discovery that print is dead, I’m sure that people will try to read it on-line. Opps…they are only giving a teaser on the magazine’s website. I guess they want people to really pick up their magazine after September 8. Now you have to make a Labor Day decision. Do you spend your last money at the club on September 6 or save your cash to buy the October issue of Vanity Fair?
To the beer and beaver trapper set, Palin is like an Alaskan version of Jacqueline Kennedy (before she married that Onassis dude – because you know how “they” feel about foreigners). In some circles she is a popular figure that can draw a crowd like a moth to a flame. To the people that can’t stand her, (the educated right wing set, most black women I know, extremely liberal white woman), she is a pretentious hillbilly. Citizen Momma has questioned her educational background due to the number of undergrad schools she attended. Sometimes finding a good school is like trying on a pair of shoes. Palin just happens to like a lot of shoes (five different colleges in six years). So what can Levi possibly tell us that we don’t already know? He didn’t have a problem in 08’ when he was in the public eye. I guess hanging with Cindy McCain and flying on private jets has its perks.
I know you are probably saying “Citizen, you are being hard on the kid.” I don’t hate him for trying to make an extra buck. We are in a recession so I understand him telling his business for a limo ride and a new suit. I just don’t want to hear it or read about it. I already know Sarah Palin is a fraud. No new news there!!! Her lack of professionalism and inept way of getting her point across is glaring. She is the kind of person that skates through life on good looks and personality. Like the girl in your company that wears her skirts too high. On Monday she was working in the mail room and on Thursday she is team lead in the Marketing Department. I know you are probably saying “Citizen, you are being sexist.” Nope!! I am all for gender equality. Ask Citizen Wifey!!! My problem is when a Constitutional Lawyer (President Obama) is being compared as an equal to someone that bounced around from school to school trying to find what sticks (Somewhat Governor Palin). I knew Palin wasn’t about much when I first laid eyes on her so I don’t acknowledge her as a legitimate politician. So Vanity Fair won’t be getting any money from me. Sorry Levi, I’m not mad at you, but your subject material is kinda weak.
The following Book Review has been sponsored by FSB Associates
Focusing on the restoration of prosperity, Obamanomics relies heavily on humanistic economics – that is, placing social concerns before the altar of economic expansion. Obama came into office knowing the economy would probably contract further, so he didn’t make any pronouncements on growth of the gross national product. Instead of touting numbers, he emphasizes people-centered principles by focusing on health care and education. Having built much of his historic campaign with social capital---the powerful networks of people throughout the country, text messages, e-mail, and the Internet---Obama wants to show how social goals can be combined with capitalism. As he moves to remake the economy, his social capitalism is a stark rebuke of the folly of laisez-faire capitalism. Instead of a free-for-all in which only the well-positioned financial elite would benefit, he wants to create a culture of sharing and responsibility for the entire population.
~ excerpt from The Audacity of Help
Mr. Wasik was able to do what all of Congress apparently doesn’t have the time or smarts to. Reading actual legislation!!!!! Mr. Wasik has provided his readers with the skinny to what’s exactly in these bills that people are fighting over. If you want insight into President Obama’s economic policy, this book is for you. This book breaks down all of the economic legislation passed since President Obama has been in office. We know that there is a lot of “Horse Trading” on Capital Hill. And unless you are an Uber NPR Junkie, you don’t have time to read each bill.
I like that this book explains economic policy in easy to understand terms. That doesn’t mean that Mr. Wasik has dumbed down the book. It means that he gives detailed information regarding each subject. He tells you what economic legislation Congress promised and what they eventually passed. Then he explains how the legislation will affect you. For full disclosure, I’ve read a previous book by Mr. Wasik called "The Cul-De-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream". What make his books credible are two things. The first is that he has a background in Financial Reporting. The other is that he always gives suggestions on what could be done.
For all of the President Obama haters out there, this book is not a Pro-Obama book. It’s actually a good read whatever your political persuasion might be.
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