She just had TWO babies and is looking fierce! I ain't mad at you Jenny from the block!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Question Of The Day: Should Hillary Bow Out?
As an Obama supporter and someone who desperately wants to see the Republicans out of the White House, I feel like Senator Hills should drop out of the race. I genuinely believe that taking the primary fight all the way to the convention will be to the detriment of the Democrats in the general election.
On the flip side, if I were a Hillary supporter and I had contributed to her campaign, I would probably be loathe to see her quit and would want her to fight it out.
So what say you bloggers? Should we just "chill out" as Bill says?
Picture Source
Friday, March 28, 2008
Remember The Time
Happy Friday bloggers. I don't know how many of you have XM, but if you do, I hope in recent weeks you have had an opportunity to tune in to Channel 63 Thriller. XM is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Thriller and have dedicated an entire station to 24 hours of Michael Jackson related music. It is fantastic. As someone who remembers being in like 2nd grade when the Thriller video premiered on The Movie Channel, owned a Michael Jackson Thriller doll and had a pack of 200 Michael Jackson stickers plastered on her wall, this has been a great trip down memory lane. From PYT to Off the Wall to Human Nature to ABC to Smooth Criminal to the latest remixes, Michael Jackson has been giving us hits for decades. So personal craziness aside, I salute MJ for the countless jams!
12Kyle informed me that it ends on Monday. So if you haven't had a chance to listen this weekend is it!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
RANDOM QUESTION OF THE DAY
Ok, so I'm giving birth in about six weeks and am a little confused on one major issue--circumcision. Before becoming pregnant with a son, I never thought twice about circumcision. I just always thought it was something that you should do but never questioned why one would do it. I've been reading a lot of articles criticizing the procedure by describing it as "barbaric" and "medically unnecessary". I asked my daughter's pediatrician about it yesterday and he basically agreed that circumcision is generally unnecessary for most males. The main reason that males are circumcised at birth is so that they "look like everyone else". He also stated that my baby boy will likely receive no pain medication but will nonetheless be OK. I was almost in tears. I asked him, so I'm going to subject my newborn son to pain so that his genitals will not look different? That just seems stupid to me. Of course, my husband was in total agreement with the pediatrician.
Perhaps, I'm overreacting but the thought of subjecting my newborn to unnecessary pain just seems cruel.
Any Thoughts?
Perhaps, I'm overreacting but the thought of subjecting my newborn to unnecessary pain just seems cruel.
Any Thoughts?
Joker of the WEEK Nominations
Congrats to Geraldine Ferraro for her Joker of the Week win last week, and thanks to all of you who voted. This weeks nominees are......
Hillary Clinton - For lying about being under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia with comedian Sinbad and her daughter, and claiming to have "misremembered." How the heck do you misremember running for cover on the tarmac while snipers shot down on you? Give me a break Mrs. Ready on Day One.
Chelsea Clinton - Although her smackdown of the college student who asked about credibility and the Lewinsky scandal was a bit amusing, if she's going to go around the country stumping for her mom, she's got to answer tough questions about her mother too.
David Paterson - For throwing out all of the skeletons in his closet at the outset of his term on the heels of Spitzer's prostitute crisis. Seriously, affairs, marijuana and cocaine? I really didn't want to know all of that. Come on David.
T.I. - He is allegedly set to plead guilty today for weapons charges. What a waste of talent and opportunity. Did he think about all of his kids before he did this?
Hillary Clinton - For lying about being under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia with comedian Sinbad and her daughter, and claiming to have "misremembered." How the heck do you misremember running for cover on the tarmac while snipers shot down on you? Give me a break Mrs. Ready on Day One.
Chelsea Clinton - Although her smackdown of the college student who asked about credibility and the Lewinsky scandal was a bit amusing, if she's going to go around the country stumping for her mom, she's got to answer tough questions about her mother too.
David Paterson - For throwing out all of the skeletons in his closet at the outset of his term on the heels of Spitzer's prostitute crisis. Seriously, affairs, marijuana and cocaine? I really didn't want to know all of that. Come on David.
T.I. - He is allegedly set to plead guilty today for weapons charges. What a waste of talent and opportunity. Did he think about all of his kids before he did this?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
RANDOM QUESTION OF THE DAY
Was Chelsea's response to the now infamous "was your mother's credibility hurt during the Monica Lewinsky scandal" question in which she annoying replied "That's none of your business" really appropriate?
I can understand why she was annoyed but I'm a bit confused by the "That's none of your business" response. Had he asked whether her parents have a good marriage, sleep in the same bed, etc. I would totally agree with her response. But, somehow "that's none of your business" strikes me as a bit odd when someone asks about a candidate's credibility.
What do you think?
Source
Monday, March 24, 2008
Random Question of the Day--Does Money Matter?
Most of my girlfriends are educated black women who earn over six figures. So, we spend a lot of time talking about their chances of finding an educated black man who is also financially secure. And, perhaps we're pessimists but we've basically concluded that their chances are very slim. But, should it even matter?
I read an article in Essence a few years ago stating that black women who earned six figures should consider men who earned less because money isn't everything. That may sound great in theory but in the expensive, materialistic world that we live in is this thinking practical? If for instance, a woman earned 200,000 a year and her husband earned 50,000, would the husband resent her? would the woman resent her husband because she felt like she was taking care of him? I'm confused.
What do you think?
I read an article in Essence a few years ago stating that black women who earned six figures should consider men who earned less because money isn't everything. That may sound great in theory but in the expensive, materialistic world that we live in is this thinking practical? If for instance, a woman earned 200,000 a year and her husband earned 50,000, would the husband resent her? would the woman resent her husband because she felt like she was taking care of him? I'm confused.
What do you think?
Friday, March 21, 2008
Dream Vacay Spots
Hey folks!
It's Friday, I'm at work, but why not fantasize about better things? I'm going to Jamaica in May and Portugal in July, but I'm always looking for new places to visit. Here are some places I want to go (in no particular order):
- South Africa - I think it's the perfect combination of culture, history, activities and nightlife. From visiting Nelson Mandela's prison cell to whale watching while sipping wine to an overnight safari to great nightlife. (sigh!). Maybe in December, I can swing it....
- Argentina - Everyone goes to Brazil so I'm not rushing to go there. I've been reading up on Argentina and it seems like a great place to visit.
- Dubai - I think it's relatively safe for the Middle East, and if by some chance I become a millionaire, I can stay at the world's only 7 star hotel and have my own butler and two level suite.
- Tokyo - It seems kind of crazy and exciting. (I wouldn't mind Singapore or Thailand either).
- Ibiza -ridic nightlife, luxury, beaches, rich folks. Sounds good. HA!
- Australia - I'm a little turned off by the aboriginal treatment, but it does seem like a beautiful continent.
So where are you dying to go and when are you going?
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Joker of the WEEK Nominations
Congrats to GW for his Joker of the Week win last week. Who can dethrone him? Heck if I know--there is some stiff competition this week...
DMX - For not knowing who Barack Obama was in a recent XXL interview and saying, Barack?! What the f**k is a Barack? Barack Obama. Where he from Africa?..What the f**k? That ain't no f**kin' name, yo. That ain't that n**ga's name. You can't be serious. Barack Obama. Get the f**k outta here" Apparently, they're not talking politics at the crackhouse.
Ray J - For going on Tyra, talking about watching his "tape" for performance purposes, licking his lips repeatedly like he was LL Cool J, and generally thinking that he is in demand in music and television. Umm, no. I don't know about you, but I'm okay with a Ray J-free life.
Geraldine Ferraro - Not only for her assertion that Barack Obama is basically an affirmative action presidential candidate, but for her suggestion that Obama should thank her for her comments because she was complimenting him on his African American support. Her exact words, "The spin on the words has been that somehow I was addressing the his qualifications. I was not. I was celebrating the fact that the black community in this country came out with a pride in a historic candidacy, and has shown itself at the polls. You'd think he'd say, 'Yeah thank you for doing that. ... we want to say thank you to the community.' Instead I'm charged with being a racist."
Pastor Manning - For downing affirmative action, African Americans, calling Barack Obama an emissary of the devil and a wicked spirit, and generally being a complete LOSER!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Obama's Speech on Race Relations in America
Here is the text of the speech Barack Obama delivered today on race in America. Thoughts? Likes? Dislikes? Do you think it was a good idea to confront race head on? Political Blunder or absolute necessity?
“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans — the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”
“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
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“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans — the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”
“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
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Politics, Aides and Threesomes, Oh My!
As if we haven't had enough sex scandals in our politics as of late, now Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey's aide, Teddy Pederson, is coming out saying he had threesomes with Gov. McGreevey and his wife Dina Matos McGreevey. The threesomes allegedly went on for two years and normally began with an evening out at TGI Fridays. (Let me pause for a minute and laugh about the fact that they begin with dinner at Fridays. HA!). Pederson claims to have only engaged in activities with Ms. McGreevey. Hmmmm. This is the latest in a bitter divorce battle between the McGreeveys. Lord have mercy!
Monday, March 17, 2008
And She Wonders Why People Call Her a "GoldDigger"
Ok, as Travel Diva reported earlier, Heather Mills received $50 million in her divorce settlement against Paul McCartney. They were married for only four years.
She also received $70,000 year in child support--as if $50 million won't cover the child's expenses. What has me cracking up is that Heather is apparently upset over the $70,000 year child support. She said she was unhappy with that amount because it isn't enough for school tuition, private security, or first-class airfare.
Ok, considering he's worth over a billion, $70,000 isn't that much money. However, what about the 50 million she has? Why can't she use some of that money for the tuition, private security, or "first-class airfare". I guess 50 million just isn't worth what it used to be. She also said "He likes her to fly five times a year on holiday," Mills said of McCartney. "It's 17,000 (pounds) for two people return (round-trip) first class, so that's obviously not meant to happen for her anymore. It's very sad." Very sad indeed. It is a sad day when someone who was awarded 50 million bucks wants to act like they are on the verge of welfare. Ridic.
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Random Tidbits
Dancing All the Way to the Bank- Heather Mills, Paul McCartney's ex got $50 million in the divorce settlement plus child support for the couple's 4 year old daughter. She is dancing all the way to the bank. I don't even think they were married that long. Now that's luck Geraldine Ferraro!
Ray J's Delusions - Ray J accused Chris Stokes and Marques Houston of trying to steal his records and take Ray J off of television shows. Ray J also accused them of both being gay, but in a fairly tactless way. Was there some huge demand for Ray J in music and television? Did I miss that memo? First his tasteless remarks about re-watching his porn tape to study his performance and now this. What a joker!
Berry's little bundle - Halle Berry had a baby girl. Congrats Chica! I bet Halle's going to look fabulous again in like a week. D*mn her. LOL.
Joker of the Week(end)!
I rarely do this, but something happened this weekend that warranted the first time ever crowning of the Joker of the Weekend. Kreativemix opened her fabulous boutique on Saturday (I picked up some fab jewelry, Congrats Chica!). In any event, TilShop arrived at the opening with a mystery man, who turned out to be her new boyfriend. PAUSE. STOP. REWIND. Tilshop, Kreativemix, Grown Woman and I talk almost every day, and TilShop never mentioned a new man, certainly not a new boyfriend. I was flabbergasted. I didn't even have proper interview questions for him to see if he was TilShop-worthy. Scandalous! LMAO.
And for that offense, TILSHOP YOU ARE THE JOKER OF THE WEEKEND!!!!!! LOL.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
LADIES GUESS WHAT? IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR MAN TO CHEAT, GIVE HIM A REASON NOT TO STRAY
Ok, so a few moments ago I was reading the comments to my blog regarding cheating/Governor and I just had to blog my thoughts. Yes, some of you had an issue with my stats. Of course, I was exaggerating--99.9% of men aren't cheaters. However, I stand behind my assertion that most men cheat. But, hey, that's my opinion.
Regarding Anonymous' comment, I utterly disagree with the notion that a woman can stop her man from cheating. women have been trying that ish for years and it doesn't work.
Do I agree that there are some men out there who cheat because their wives are withholding sex? I'm sure that happens. BUT, I'm also sick and tired of men manipulating women into thinking that it's somehow their fault if the man strays. There are many women out here who are willing to do anything and everything in the bedroom and are still cheated on. Why? Because no woman, not even Halle Berry, can stop a dog from sniffing around if that's what he wants to do. Believe me, I have stayed up late many nights with many of my friends who did all the right things but were still cheated on.
But, hey that's just my perspective. BTW, I am not some disgruntled single woman who can't find a man or one that hates men as Anonymous suggests. I love men especially black men BUT that doesn't change the fact that most, if given the opportunity will cheat. I'm married but wise enough to know that I can't stop my husband from cheating. I can kill him if I found out, but can't prevent him from doing it.
Regarding Anonymous' comment, I utterly disagree with the notion that a woman can stop her man from cheating. women have been trying that ish for years and it doesn't work.
Do I agree that there are some men out there who cheat because their wives are withholding sex? I'm sure that happens. BUT, I'm also sick and tired of men manipulating women into thinking that it's somehow their fault if the man strays. There are many women out here who are willing to do anything and everything in the bedroom and are still cheated on. Why? Because no woman, not even Halle Berry, can stop a dog from sniffing around if that's what he wants to do. Believe me, I have stayed up late many nights with many of my friends who did all the right things but were still cheated on.
But, hey that's just my perspective. BTW, I am not some disgruntled single woman who can't find a man or one that hates men as Anonymous suggests. I love men especially black men BUT that doesn't change the fact that most, if given the opportunity will cheat. I'm married but wise enough to know that I can't stop my husband from cheating. I can kill him if I found out, but can't prevent him from doing it.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
RANT OF THE DAY: SOMEHOW, "SORRY" JUST DOESN'T CUT IT
Ok, so once again some dumb man has fallen prey to an extramarital affair. At 31, I have concluded that 99.9% of men cheat at some time in their lives (the .1% are very poor and unattractive and just don't have the opportunity). BUT why do they have to be so stupid? AND, why only after they are caught do they express remorse? This is why men and women are so different. If a woman cheats, her likely motive is because her significant other is treating her badly (either emotionally/physically). NOT, because the nanny looks hot. If a woman cheats she's going to find a man either on the same level as the one she has (financially/attractiveness) OR someone BETTER (Idris Elba). NOT, some prostitute (Governor Spitzer) or project mama with 5 kids. And, finally, if a woman cheats she's probably a regular person and not the FRIGGIN' governor of a huge state like New York!!
And, although I do not know this from personal experience, I hope that women who cheat can come up with something more profound than "sorry" after they're caught. Sorry is very lame and appropriate only in limited circumstances. For instance, my mother called and you forgot to tell me; you ate my slice of cheesecake; you stepped on my foot--ALL MISTAKES. It is, however, inappropriate for such a purposeful act such as sleeping with someone else, ruining my life and embarrassing me in front of millions of people. Who knows what Spitzer said to his wife behind closed doors. BUT, in front of those cameras, he lamely said "sorry" and that he apologized for embarrassing his family. In my opinion, somehow, that's just not good enough.
And from my experiences with men, I seriously doubt that he would accept such a "lame" apology from his wife. Source
Monday, March 10, 2008
Do they think we're stupid?
Ok, for months now Hillary and her hubby have been questioning Barack's readiness on Day One. He's inexperienced. His campaign is of full of too much hope. He's a mere wordsmith. BUT, now they are suggesting a possible Hillary/Obama ticket. Is this just another Clinton dirty trick to garner more Clinton votes? Are they hoping that people are gullible enough to not vote for Obama because hey, they can vote for both in November? If Obama isn't qualified to run for President, then wth would he be qualified to be the vice president? Surely, if Hillary is away from the White House one evening, Obama may have to answer that 3 am call. As Barack recently asked, "If I'm not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?" Obama asked. ""Do you understand that?"
So, what kind of game are these people playing? I think Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, an Obama backer, said it best:
"It may be the first time in history that the person who is running number two would offer the person running number one the number two position," Daschle told "Meet the Press."
If this is not just a game, then this proves that the Clintons are just that arrogant. I'm not saying that Obama shouldn't consider VP IF he loses the nomination. BUT, why should he consider it now when he's winning?
These people kill me. Well, I for one will NOT vote for Hillary in 08 unless Obama is on the ticket. She represents old politics and I'm fed up with it.
So, what kind of game are these people playing? I think Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, an Obama backer, said it best:
"It may be the first time in history that the person who is running number two would offer the person running number one the number two position," Daschle told "Meet the Press."
If this is not just a game, then this proves that the Clintons are just that arrogant. I'm not saying that Obama shouldn't consider VP IF he loses the nomination. BUT, why should he consider it now when he's winning?
These people kill me. Well, I for one will NOT vote for Hillary in 08 unless Obama is on the ticket. She represents old politics and I'm fed up with it.
BTW, I thought of posting a pic of the Clintons, but can't even stand to look at their faces right now.
RANT OF THE DAY
A year or so ago when I heard that Barack Obama was running for President, I was among the many naysayers who thought that the "Great Melting Pot" a.k.a. USA was not ready for a "Black President". I thought why would he even set himself up for failure? Doesn't he know the "real" America we live in? BUT, my opinion changed--like many--when he started racking up those ol' so important delegates. I then said, well, maybe I'm just a pessimist. Perhaps, America has changed. While I wasn't ready to state that prejudice and racism were dead, I began to feel more optimistic about race relations in our country. BUT, then it happened--the thing I feared most. America showed her "true colors". People--not just the ignorant masses or KKK members--but politicians, political pundits began questioning Obama's "qualifications". At first, I said well, perhaps this isn't racism because he is running for the highest most prestigious position in the country, so this is just a part of the process, right? Then, they started questioning his religion. Admittedly, the name "Barack Obama" is not the type of name that one would associate with Christianity like "David". However, he has been a member of a christian church for over twenty years and still they question his religion. Plus, as far as I'm concerned the individual, not his name, defines his religion. Even Mrs. Hillary"My husband loves black people"Clinton subtly suggested that Obama isn't a Christian. Next, people started using his entire name "Barack Hussein Obama" to scare people into believing that he was a member of some terrorist organization, Then, Republican Congressman, Steve King stated that "al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists will dance in the streets like they did on 9-11 if Barack Obama is elected President of the United States." BUT, now just when I thought that most of the BS has been said, a BLACK preacher from Harlem has hit an all-time low. He calls Obama "white trash", "pimp" and the "devil". He also claims that Obama isn't "black" because he has a "white mama" who he also refers to as "white trash". While I don't agree with what this preacher says, I strongly believe in the First Amendment so he has the "right" to state his beliefs. However, I don't agree with his misuse of his position as pastor to spew hate during one of his sermons.
&http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA8z39Z8PJY
He also stated that any black person who votes for Obama is crazy. Does this black preacher have the right to endorse the Clintons, of course. BUT, why does he have to perpetuate the stereotype of black people being like "crabs in a barrel"--always trying to pull each other down?
Why is Obama the devil or white trash just because this preacher supports the Clintons?
Why aren't the Clintons "denouncing and rejecting" this Joker's comments?
This just really pisses me off. When Farrakhan endorsed Obama everyone looked to Obama to "denounce and reject" his endorsement because of course if Obama is black he must to some extent agree with Farrakhan's ignorance. BUT, will anyone ask the Clintons to denounce and reject this idiot's comments? Of course, not. Hillary will say, "I never asked for his endorsement" and America will accept that.
&http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA8z39Z8PJY
He also stated that any black person who votes for Obama is crazy. Does this black preacher have the right to endorse the Clintons, of course. BUT, why does he have to perpetuate the stereotype of black people being like "crabs in a barrel"--always trying to pull each other down?
Why is Obama the devil or white trash just because this preacher supports the Clintons?
Why aren't the Clintons "denouncing and rejecting" this Joker's comments?
This just really pisses me off. When Farrakhan endorsed Obama everyone looked to Obama to "denounce and reject" his endorsement because of course if Obama is black he must to some extent agree with Farrakhan's ignorance. BUT, will anyone ask the Clintons to denounce and reject this idiot's comments? Of course, not. Hillary will say, "I never asked for his endorsement" and America will accept that.
Why won't they just say what they really want--don't vote for this n--- because they are lazy, stupid and incapable of running the country. At least, that statement isn't subject to varying interpretations. But, Americans are cowards. They can't say that. Instead, they use buzzwords like "he's not ready on day one", he needs more experience, etc.
well, I'm sick of this BS!! Ok, that was my rant of the day. Any thoughts?
Sources: http://atlah.org/about/index.html
Friday, March 7, 2008
WOODY IS A LOSER
Grown Woman received a hilarious video in her e-mail this morning involving Dru Hill. It's too late to nominate Woody from Dru Hill for this week's Joker of the week contest, but he might have won. I don't know if his on air quitting of the group during Dru Hill's promotion of their reunion album was real or just a publicity stunt. The group looked pretty stunned to me. Either way, I don't think God told him to quit the group in such a callous, cowardly manner. Woody you are a buster!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Joker of the WEEK Nominations
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones - This is actually personal. I know everyone can support whichever candidate they please. But given how the Clintons have shown their true colors, Rep. Jones, skinnin' and grinnin' on Tuesday in Ohio and her stumping for Clinton turns my stomach.
George W. Bush - For tap dancing while waiting to endorse McCain and for responding to a question regarding gas being raised to $4/gallon - "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. ... I know it's high now." Interesting? Astronomical gas prices are interesting Bush? I'm not even going to get started on how ridiculous this man is.
Allison (from America's Next Top Model) - For saying "I'm black so I take it from the back" after getting into an argument with a black model, and subsequently getting booted from the show. I am positive, Ms. Tyra was alerted to her racist comment before the elimination round and that was one of the reasons Miss Allison promptly got the boot. She must have forgotten she was on a black woman's show!
Britney Spears - Because her dad will retain control of her finances for another 4 months.
George W. Bush - For tap dancing while waiting to endorse McCain and for responding to a question regarding gas being raised to $4/gallon - "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. ... I know it's high now." Interesting? Astronomical gas prices are interesting Bush? I'm not even going to get started on how ridiculous this man is.
Allison (from America's Next Top Model) - For saying "I'm black so I take it from the back" after getting into an argument with a black model, and subsequently getting booted from the show. I am positive, Ms. Tyra was alerted to her racist comment before the elimination round and that was one of the reasons Miss Allison promptly got the boot. She must have forgotten she was on a black woman's show!
Britney Spears - Because her dad will retain control of her finances for another 4 months.
Last minute nominee!
Rush Limbaugh - In response to the possibility of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama being on the same ticket, Limbaugh said, ""Let's say it is Obama and Hillary…Let's put Hillary at the top — That's a position she's familiar with...Therefore, you've got a woman and a black for the first time ever on the Democrat ticket. Ahem. They don't have a prayer." (I have nothing to say that does not contain profanity).
Picture Source - Allison
Picture Source - Bush
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Black/Brown Divide - Topic of the Day
CNN is reporting that Hillary Clinton won 67% of the Hispanic vote in Texas. This has been an issue that has dogged the Democratic Presidential campaign since the start -- that the vast majority of Hispanics are unwilling to vote for Barack Obama. Polls even suggest that Hispanics are unwilling to vote for any Black Candidate. Which raises the question, what is at the root of the Black/Brown divide?
I know there may be a struggle to be the dominant "minority" group in the U.S. I know many Blacks resent Hispanics, believing they have taken jobs that Blacks otherwise would have gotten. But what else is behind this? When I was in college I took a class called the Politics of Race in the Americas and we studied Blacks in all of Latin America and the U.S. What was amazing was that every Latin American country was pretty much the same: Blacks were routinely at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, poor schools, housing, health care, and they even had less access to water. Blacks could however improve their lot by attaining wealth or marrying someone lighter and brighter via a process called "whitening." So I wonder if the constant association of blackness with inferiority in Latin America is also impacting how Blacks and Hispanics interact in the U.S.
Thoughts?
P.S. I'm disappointed about last night, but I'm PERSEVERING!
I know there may be a struggle to be the dominant "minority" group in the U.S. I know many Blacks resent Hispanics, believing they have taken jobs that Blacks otherwise would have gotten. But what else is behind this? When I was in college I took a class called the Politics of Race in the Americas and we studied Blacks in all of Latin America and the U.S. What was amazing was that every Latin American country was pretty much the same: Blacks were routinely at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, poor schools, housing, health care, and they even had less access to water. Blacks could however improve their lot by attaining wealth or marrying someone lighter and brighter via a process called "whitening." So I wonder if the constant association of blackness with inferiority in Latin America is also impacting how Blacks and Hispanics interact in the U.S.
Thoughts?
P.S. I'm disappointed about last night, but I'm PERSEVERING!
Monday, March 3, 2008
PUT BARACK ON THE PHONE!
Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont - Vote for Barack so he can answer the call!! On the topic of EXPERIENCE, I've been waiting for the media to examine this a little more. but they haven't. So I'll do it my fine self.
First of all, on foreign policy experience, this is all we got - Hillary as first lady traveled to several countries. Let's not forget Barack lived and schooled internationally for several years. (See Dreams from my father). But more important to me, is his ability to relate to people internationally and nationally from Kenya to Kansas from Indonesia to Hawaii. You can't deny that it says something when your President has an intimate understanding of foreign life. It allows to them to communicate more effectively with other nations and like it or not, we in the US are not an island. But that's my opinion. I'm sure Clinton supporters would have something to say against that.
But U.S. Americans if that's not enough for you on the EXPERIENCE topic - compare the senatorial record between Clinton and Obama. the following is from an email I received:
----
Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term - 6yrs. - and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law - 20 - twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years. These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress http://www.thomas.loc/. gov, but to save you trouble, I'll post them here for you.
1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.
5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.
6. Name post office after Jonn A. O'Shea.
7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death.
10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program.
13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death.
15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty. Only five of Clinton 's bills are, more substantive.
16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
18. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system. There you have it, the fact's straight from the Senate Record.
Now, I would post those of Obama's, but the list is too substantive, so I'll mainly categorize. During the first - 8 - eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced 233 regarding healthcare reform, 125 on poverty and public assistance, 112 crime fighting bills, 97 economic bills, 60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills, 21 ethics reform bills, 15 gun control, 6 veterans affairs and many others.
His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These included **the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 - became law, **The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, - became law, **The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate, **The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, - became law, **The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, In committee, and many more.
In all, since entering the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096. An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no record according to some who would prefer that this comparison not be made public. He's not just a talker. He's a doer.
-----
So I say when that call at 3:00 am comes, I'm hoping Barack Obama answers the phone!!
First of all, on foreign policy experience, this is all we got - Hillary as first lady traveled to several countries. Let's not forget Barack lived and schooled internationally for several years. (See Dreams from my father). But more important to me, is his ability to relate to people internationally and nationally from Kenya to Kansas from Indonesia to Hawaii. You can't deny that it says something when your President has an intimate understanding of foreign life. It allows to them to communicate more effectively with other nations and like it or not, we in the US are not an island. But that's my opinion. I'm sure Clinton supporters would have something to say against that.
But U.S. Americans if that's not enough for you on the EXPERIENCE topic - compare the senatorial record between Clinton and Obama. the following is from an email I received:
----
Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term - 6yrs. - and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law - 20 - twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years. These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress http://www.thomas.loc/. gov, but to save you trouble, I'll post them here for you.
1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.
5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.
6. Name post office after Jonn A. O'Shea.
7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death.
10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program.
13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death.
15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty. Only five of Clinton 's bills are, more substantive.
16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
18. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system. There you have it, the fact's straight from the Senate Record.
Now, I would post those of Obama's, but the list is too substantive, so I'll mainly categorize. During the first - 8 - eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced 233 regarding healthcare reform, 125 on poverty and public assistance, 112 crime fighting bills, 97 economic bills, 60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills, 21 ethics reform bills, 15 gun control, 6 veterans affairs and many others.
His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These included **the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 - became law, **The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, - became law, **The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate, **The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, - became law, **The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, In committee, and many more.
In all, since entering the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096. An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no record according to some who would prefer that this comparison not be made public. He's not just a talker. He's a doer.
-----
So I say when that call at 3:00 am comes, I'm hoping Barack Obama answers the phone!!
Ummmm, What?
A Little Morning Idris
A short while ago, CITC ran a "Who's Sexiest" poll and Idris Elba won, beating out Denzel, L.L., the Rock and David Beckham.
So to those "Idrisa" fans (me included), follow this link and see a short video of Idris dancing at a club in D.C. last May. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Js-aPhcbgA. (I'm so bitter I was not there!)
WARNING - you will need an ice cold drink and/or a shot post viewing.
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