The Lesson I learned Last Week about Public Servants.

FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE…….PAY THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hide the money ya'll, there are poor people around!!!!

Why is the mainstream media acting like Billionaire Bob Johnson (aka - one of the seven princes of Hell) is close to Thousandaire" status?


In 2003, he survived a divorce settlement of $400 million and even lived through watching his ex-wife marry the judge that presided over their divorce proceedings.


Side Note: That whole event would have put me 6 Feet Deep.

The famous anonymous former colleague quotes, that the media always uses for these stories has Johnson being a “poor investor.” Not Bob Johnson, the great trailblazers of American business?? With all the Hotels, Gaming and Asset Management business he shouldn’t be having any problems.

Oh wait? Yeah, I forgot about the Charlotte Bobcats. This was the NBA Franchise that was going to bring glory back to the Queen City. The NBA thought Charlotte N.C. would be getting a well-heeled Negro. Instead we got a cowardly coon that snuck out of town like the last NBA Owner. Or as this experiment is unofficially called: “When affirmative action goes horribly wrong. “

Johnson was losing around $20 - $25 million per year on the franchise per media estimates. Maybe that is why he raised ticket and concession prices. It was becoming cheaper to sit in a parking garage uptown while listening to the game on the radio.

What does all this mean? At this point it is too premature for all of this sensitization. Sure I laughed with pure joy when one fellow blogger said: “Karma meet Bob Johnson.” But then I realized that Bob Johnson won’t go out without a fight. I’m sure he has something in the works to help him sure up some of his loot. Even if he was relegated to Millionaire status, he would still be a Millionaire. And that is a million more than what I have in the bank.

Tiger Woods Hijacked Black History Month!!!

Black Folks get the shortest month of the year and Tiger Woods couldn’t give us 28 days? Why couldn’t he have waited until March to give his mea culpa? Now the media will spend the rest of February talking about Tiger and his women. And it didn’t help that one of his jump-offs had a press conference the same day asking for an apology. He could have gone to sit (or in Tom Cruises case….Jump) on Oprah’s couch in March. Tiger is one of the worst adulterers in the history of Adultery. He had more women than a Chicago Pimp and he didn’t know what to do with them. Apparently he didn’t learn anything from hanging with Michael Jordan. People, I can’t make this stuff up!!!! This Black History Month interruption was unnecessary and unwarranted. His apology is only good for his wife, sponsors and The PGA. As an average citizen that can’t afford to golf in a private club I don’t care. Tiger was calablasion until the media got a hold of him. Now we see the media doesn’t see any difference between him and O.J. Simpson.

I’m so sick of the media analysis of Tiger’s behavior. He doesn’t have a sex addiction. His problem is he slept with a lot of women and was cheap with it. He wouldn’t even pay rent for one of his chicks. If anything, he should go to cheap peoples rehab. I’m also sick of Black Folks analysis of Tiger. Besides his work with inner city youth, he has proven that he doesn’t get down with us like that. If you look at his mistresses, you can tell what he likes. Out of all of the 15 or 20 women that he allegedly slept (or have said they slept with him) with, not one was a woman of color (any color!!). Some of those women looked beat up from the ground up. A Billionaire sleeping with busted chicks? Bruce Wayne didn’t get down like that. Tiger can date whoever he wants but black folks shouldn’t rally behind him like he is a persecuted civil rights fighter. He doesn’t get that option!!! Tiger is a guy that cheated on his wife. That’s all he is – nothing more – nothing less.

The Black Man’s He-cession.

Sometimes when I look out on the black blogosphere I see some distressing conversations. I see black women downing black men and black men having to defend themselves. There is a lot of black on black hate on the web. I do understand some of the animosity on behalf of the women bloggers. As black men, some of us have been falling down on our jobs. But on the flip side, all black women haven’t been easy to deal with. In the end, we’ve all got our hang-ups. Unfortunately the recession has the potential to make our relationships worse.


Due to the high numbers of men affected by the Recession, our current financial difficulty is being called a He-cession. And black men have seen the worst of our economic problems. The national unemployment rate for black men is currently 15.7%. The national unemployment rate for black men (20 years and older) is currently 17.1%. So if you are a black male and hate your job, suck it up and ride it out!!! This bombshell dropped by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics sent shockwaves from the city to the suburbs. Once again black men are the low man on the totem pole. And this is where the problem begins. Black women don’t want to hear any more excuses!! Black women have their own complaints concerning racism and sexism. They are tired of hearing about how “The Man” is holding black men back. I especially know this because my wife hates to hear it at our house. So here we are with something else that black men have to gripe about. Columnist David Zincenko, wrote an article about the he-cession in USA Today. One of the phrases mentioned in his article was “the decline of the endangered male.” Uh Oh! Needless to say some Feminists didn’t like the tone of the article. I guess women of all races don’t want to hear men complaining either.


So what do black men do now? Do we pull a Michael Baisden and “cry in the dark?” They have a saying when it comes to race and economics in this country. When white folks catch cold black folks catch pneumonia. Well black men are past the pneumonia stage. It appears black men are at the emergency room hooked on an intravenous drip. Regardless of whatever Keisha thinks about Leroy, the numbers are real. And the men that were raised to go to work every day are hurting. All they want to do is provide for their families. They would work if they could and take any job they could get. I just hope that this subject doesn’t divide black men and women. We have too much working against us already. We don’t need to muddy the waters with who has the biggest grievances. Because even if black men win the argument, with a 17% unemployment rate they still lose.


Do you agree?

Which should we save: A) Black Radio or B) Black Colleges & Universities. Don’t worry if you're wrong because President Obama doesn’t know either

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is attempting to pass Bill HR848. You know U.S. Representative (Detroit) John Conyers, don’t you? If you don’t know him, I bet you know his wife Monica. Remember this piece of “Professionalism”. Black politicians working hard for their constituents!!!! Bill HR848 would require radio stations to pay artists (the word artist is used so loosely these days) for songs played by the stations. These payments are separate from the royalty fees the musicians already receive. Can you believe someone gets paid for the song “I’m in love with a Stripper”?

Anywho…Individuals associated with black radio (local black radio in particular) are concerned because of the financial implications. In other words, black folks can’t afford the prices. I rarely listen to black radio these days. Mostly a little bit of Tom Joyner, some Steve Harvey and a bit of Michael Baisden. We have a local show that comes on Saturdays at 9am. If you can get up at that time, it’s not a bad show. When you take away the syndicated shows (the individuals I listed above). And you take away the shows that provide information on local news. You are left with a lot of bad music. No…let’s make that a lot of terrible music. Sometimes Citizen Wifey sings hooks from these “Hood Nursery Rhymes” that are disguised as songs. The creativity and artistry of music has gone the way of the Dodo Bird.

Black Colleges and Universities are fast approaching Dodo Bird status as well. President Obama wasn’t checking the books when they were balancing the budget. Also please refer to my previous post on HBCU’s. The saving grace for HBCU’s is that they can’t be replaced. People have so many ways of listening to music and news these days. You can go online and download your favorite songs. It’s that wild and crazy internet people!!!!! HBCU’s give opportunities to many black folks and those opportunities can’t be measured on any scale. The tradition and heritage of these institutions have made them cornerstones in their communities. But I am sure that black radio can make the same argument. I will use the internet as my counter argument to their argument. Black bloggers have been doing weekly and weekend radio shows. Is it not possible for current/former radio hosts to have on line shows? Not only can they reach a local audience but a national audience as well.

Now I’m not banging the drum for the banishment of black radio. I’m just getting people to think outside of the box. If this economy has taught us one thing, it’s that we need to have options. When black radio isn’t beefing about what we should listen to: Syndicated Shows vs. Local Shows. Or they aren’t playing straight garbage disguised as music. You have an effective tool to reach the masses. So it is time for President Barack Obama to get in the fight. Black radio and HBCU’s helped him get elected. He might not be able to help black radio but HBCU’s he can help. I generally don’t like to say the Obama owes folks but this time he needs to pay up.