WTF??? Word War Against Obamas is OOC

Last week, the mean-spirited rants in review of Michelle Obama’s splashy trip to Spain were continued by mainstream media and bloggers. Next, when Barack Obama dismissed Gov. Rick Perry’s elevator speech about immigration on Texas turf, the bloomers worn by some Texans got bunched in their cracks. Now, the son of former “potatoe head” VP Dan Quayle ranks the first African-American commander-in-chief as “the worst president in history.” Ben Quayle is one of 10 candidates vying for an Arizona GOP seat.

When in office, daddy Dan demonstrated his spelling deficiencies and seemingly, son Ben is following suit with his tainted recall of presidential history. Amazingly, the younger Quayle must not remember Richard “Tricky Dicky” Nixon’s Watergate scandal or W’s political ineptitude that triggered the current economic disruption.

We knew there’d be gallons of Haterade sipping with the election of the first bi-racial president but enough is enough.

See young Quayle face’s political advertisement here:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/12/4875573-former-vps-son-dubs-obama-worst-president-in-history.

Gay Marriage in Texas ???

Marriage equality activists cut a rainbow jig when Proposition 8 was overturned but one same sex couple in Texas is blissfully immersed in their legal union. Of course, gay marriage is not sanctioned in the red state but a gray area entitles two Texas women to recognition as husband and wife.

Despite the out of control debate, same sex marriage is gaining steam as a civil rights issue. By the way, do you recall the interracial challenge to Loving v. Virginia where racial restrictions on marriage were struck down not long ago? With adultery and divorce as ample examples, how conveniently the equality in sin is dismissed.

So, if you buy the baloney that same sex marriage will spark a discriminatory fire for heterosexuals, stick it between two white bread slices and whoof it down. When we're stymied by the routine of limited experience, too often our fears of the unfamiliar are based more on fiction than fact.

Read their unique story here: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-newspaper/texas-news/some-gay-marriages-legal-in-texas/

Is Essence Headed for Extinction with White FD?

Although targeted to black women, Essence magazine’s appointment of a white woman to its Fashion Director helm has rocked its readership’s world. For the longest, the fashion industry lacked a black media slant so is Time Warner currently orchestrating a multi-cultural splash? The mega media machine snatched up 100% ownership of Essence in 2005 and BET is Viacom-owned also.

On Facebook, emotions ran from bewildered to bamboozled. A few sisters did the post-racial bounce by high-fiving Becky’s candidacy. Yet, many believe that the magazine’s key positions should be kept in the family. After all, it was Essence and Ebony magazines that plied black designers with props long before mainstream media granted them attention.

And so what if the new FD formerly worked at “O”? To date, Oprah’s magazine maintains its position of having never been black audience-aimed. She’s ours but Ms. Winfrey’s empire is largely erected on white dollars.

This marks another sad moment for white-owned black media. Under Susan Taylor, former Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director, this line would’ve never been crossed. Should Becky have a blonde moment and contemplate a “Booty Pop” feature or white woman cover, her pale derriere deserves an expedited dismissal. In fact, I’ll volunteer my right foot.

NAACP: Snookered on Sherrod?

Exercising the same voracity when condemning the Tea Party’s racist overtones, the NAACP’s Ben Jealous incurred egg on his face when he co-signed the forced resignation of USDA official Shirley Sherrod yesterday. Less than 24 hours later with the admission of failing to review the video gone viral in its entirety, Jealous
flip-flopped his position. Had it not been for the fact-finding foundation of old school journalism, the sliced and diced video’s sound bites to suit the TP’s purpose might not have come to truth’s surface.

Still, the right wing deserves blame for their below the belt tactics, however, we cannot absolve the NAACP’s young leadership team of errant haste. Jealous’ back slide demonstrated irresponsibility and set back colored people’s advancement. To be taken seriously, the NAACP must do better than this because something is wrong when our own fall short of getting it right.

Here's what the Color of Change organization had to say:
The Obama administration just caved in to the right-wing smear machine, firing a Black USDA official after she was smeared by far-right blogger Andrew Breitbart and his friends at Fox News Channel.

Sherrod's dismissal was based on a selectively edited video that made it appear she was confessing to discriminating against a White farming couple. In reality she was telling the story of how working with that family to save their farm helped her to lose her racial preconceptions.

It took less than 24 hours for the lies to be debunked. But by that time, it was too late — Sherrod was forced to quit. And even now that the truth is known, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is refusing to reinstate her. Worse, Vilsack has President Obama's support. This kind of political cowardice is beyond shameful.

NBA Ballin with OPP Takes a Messy Turn

Move over beach-baked Basketball Wives, Houston’s got its own NBA dish of drama cooked to perfection. C’mon now, when digging for gold, you better be prepared to get your hands and anything else dirty. Am I right, ladies?

Here’s a tease: An NBA-loving jumpoff girl crosses the etiquette line and gets blogged BIG time.

BY CRAIG MALISOW
A ho gotta promote her brand. The sentiment was posted in March 2009 to a forum on the gossip Web site LipstickAlley.com, a popular destination for NBA wives, ex-wives and the adulterous athlete's best not-so-¬secret friend, the ubiquitous jumpoff girl. The alleged "ho" referred to in the aforementioned comment was Houston's own Sakara Ross, an aspiring model, actress and track star. According to her résumé, the University of Houston student has also appeared among the obligatory gaggles of gyrating T&A ornaments populating videos for rappers like Lil Wayne, David Banner, Bubba Sparxx and others. In 2008, a story about her affair with L.A. Clippers baller Ricky Davis blew.

For the rest of the read, see http://www.houstonpress.com/2010-07-15/news/trash-talk/,

A Hot Mess for the Unemployed in Texas

For jobs and no state income tax, a flood of folks are still flocking to Texas according to the Econmist. When you can keep a little change jingling in the pockets and purchase prime property for far less than you’d pay in NY or California, it makes sense – at least on the surface. But if you lose your job, you might get BF’d without the KY.

Equally as asinine and self-serving as Rick Perry’s rejection of federal funds for public education, the gubernatorial-appointed Texas Workforce Commission seems to be stuck on the same politically tattered page. The Houston Chronicle recently exposed the TWC’s accelerated efforts in advising employers how to avoid paying unemployment insurance. (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7105339.html).

According to a 2001 state document, the TWC mission statement read “Our mission is to promote and support a workforce system that offers individuals, employers, and communities the opportunity to achieve and sustain economic prosperity. The mission statement on the official TWC Web site now reads “To promote and support a workforce system that offers employers, individuals and communities the opportunity to achieve and sustain economic prosperity.

Clearly, the service pendulum swings against the unemployed, the core audience TWC once served.

Lights, Cameras, Not Akron

Lindsay Lohan’s profanity-painted nail barely registered a blink in comparison to the Hollywood-hype encircling NBA free agent Bron Bron. Despite overzealous speculation, it’s anyone’s guess whether South Beach’s alluring sands or New York’s bright lights offer sufficient sweepstakes bait.

Winning an NBA ring is not only the King’s cash but the lone certainty in this circus. Considering the absence of a supporting cast, Cleveland renders the dream impossible although planting Byron Scott at the head coach helm appears to be a smooth move.

However, what the media has failed to mention is how Bron Bron’s mama bedding down with one of his lowly teammates, Delonte West, factors into the “The Decision.” Ohio heartstrings aside, wherever King James lands, I’m pretty sure it’ll entail leaving the Quicken Loans Arena building. Hopefully, the city is prepared for the possibility of his departure and it wouldn’t exactly surprise if all hell broke loose.

As the b-ball world and pop culture curious swirl and twirl for tonight’s highly anticipated answer, Gloria James and son have since been hit with a million-dollar suit. For TMZ’s juicy details, bounce over here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/07/leicester-bryce-stovell-s_n_638779.html.

WTF? Are TV News Execs Smoking the Same Batch of Crack???

The copycat brush is smeared all over pop culture these days: If one more rock or pop celeb launches a fashion line or fragrance, my H-town barf will magically land in Hotlanta’s hip hop capital. To my dismay, the same trending is occurring in TV news.

With Campbell Brown, Gerri Willis and Christiane Amanpour jumping CNN’s sinking ship, network execs will attempt to buoy its airwaves with the addition of Eliot Spitzer – the former NY governor who fell from political grace when exposed for patronizing high dollar whores. And if that doesn’t get your fire crackin’, ABC has tapped G-Rod, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to host a Sunday talk show. Furthermore, the media mantel has been extended to wife-cheater South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford at NBC.

Teaming Spitzer with Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker and G-Rod with Maureen Dowd, a NYT columnist, salvages a shred of credibility, but pairing Sanford with his lover, Maria Belen Chapur, is not only irresponsible but squashes journalistic integrity. Because news audiences deserve more, the overhyped politico-celebrity quotient in TV news has got to go.

Fire up your knowledge stem here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326892584169062.html

Gay Union Sparks Chocolate City Church Lawsuit

It’s only Monday but there’s still a lot of residue floating in my ticked off wave: BP’s oil spill, teenybopper Justin Beiber billed as the modern-day Michael Jackson, rampant unemployment plus the Spanish language requirement that cancels out English-speaking African-Americans as if not’s the USA.

Of all things, the CNN news clip, which features a native Floridian and former Covenant Baptist Church parishioner in Washington, D.C., is the mutha of all muthas. If those holier than thou would consult someone who’s studied the Bible from a critical perspective, they’d know homosexual hatred isn’t the Christian way. Regardless of where you sit on the gay marriage fence, sister is a sho 'nuff Hatorade sipper. The song is still sung in a loud voice but truly, when will we overcome?

Sidebar: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060203403.html.

Shake-up Shuts Shakedown for Now

If only for a hot minute, President Obama’s ouster of General McChrystal succeeded in fanning the BP oil’s spill’s flames. Let’s be clear: had you launched a vitriolic rant against your superiors in work’s real world, you, too, would’ve felt a kick comparable to USA’s Landon Donovan’s foot making soccer ball contact. Although the General had been lauded for militaristic brilliance throughout his career, Rolling Stone’s record of insubordination revealed how tactless McChrystal is. He picked the wrong time and the wrong place to fire his most powerful weapon. And WTF if Obama hadn’t shown the four-starred mighty military dog that his black balls are bigger?

Holy Jalapeño: White v. Brown Boils

Small town Nebraska Follows Arizona’s Big and Bad

Long revered for its agriculture, Nebraska may cultivate a reputation more bitter than its corn is sweet if voters sign-off on an illegal immigration measure today. Residents of Freemont, a Cornhusker city 20 miles west of Omaha, aligned to push the issues of barring businesses and landlords from employing and extending illegal immigrants rental agreements to the ballot. As the Justice Department’s prepares its legal case against Arizona, I predict the ante will probably encourage rather than dissuade the current white power extreme.

Dark Politics Fail to Lighten Art

If Nebraska’s move flipped your wig, the restoration of a mural created to promote diversity at an Arizona elementary school to its original hue should realign it. Last month, white residents pitched a bigoted fit because the mural’s most prominent face belonged to a paper bag-brown youth. In a state where the population is less than 5% black, socially dusty Arizonians aren’t exactly enamored with our kind either.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/arizona-elementary-school-mural_n_601436.html.

Territorial Terrible
As expected, Obama’s change platform hasn’t been palatable to everyone. The following email I received adds proof that bigotry bandwagon’s rolls on ignorant wheels. Didn’t Native Americans have a foothold in this country prior to Columbus’ arrival?

Map of My Country

My great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil War, my father watched as his friends died in WW II, and I watched as my friends died in Vietnam.
None of them died for the Mexican Flag.
Everyone died for the U.S. flag.
Just this week, here in Texas, a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole; another student took it down.
Guess who was expelled… the kid who took it down.
Kids in high school in California were sent home on Cinco de Mayo because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.
Enough is enough.

The below e-mail message needs to be viewed by every American; and every American needs to stand up for America.
We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough. I'm taking a stand.
I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the U.S. flag can't stand up.
If you agree, stand up with me.
If you disagree, please let me know.
I will gladly remove you from my e-mail list.
And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.
A Map Of My Country: Let me make this perfectly clear!

This Is My Country!
And, because I make this statement DOES NOT mean I'm against immigration!!!
You are welcome here, in my country! Welcome! To come through legally:
1. Get a sponsor!
2. Get a place to lay your head!
3. Get a job!
4. Live By OUR Rules!

5. Pay YOUR Taxes!
And
6. Learn the LANGUAGE like immigrants have in the past!!!
AND
7. Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime savings of Social Security Funds to you.
If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone, then YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!
When will AMERICANS STOP giving away THEIR RIGHTS???
We've gone so far the other way… bent over backwards not to offend anyone.
But it seems no one cares about the AMERICAN CITIZEN that's being offended!

Dumbphone: More Text Than Talk

When cell phones first arrived, portable talk’s panache was highly touted. Roll the clock some 20-years forward and voila, technology has handily transformed the device into something beyond its original utility.

Under the modern crush of communication connectivity, many cell phone users would rather text than talk. There are many theories circulating, from Chatty Cathy conversation avoidance (some consider 10 minutes a marathon) to sheer convenience, as to why the mechanical mode has gained favor. No doubt, keeping the stream going or cutting it off sans guilt suits control freaks just fine.

However ugly the truth, I must highlight the obvious: texting has catapulted to the preferred option because there are some people with whom, at times, we’d rather not converse. Admittedly, I have a few contacts relegated to the minimum talk time file. I think we all do. Although we don’t need another excuse for talking less, email also deserves death by execution for murdering phone and face-to-face conversations.

Yet, when new technology meets old school etiquette, shouldn’t the original communication courtesies apply? What more could we ask for since texting lifts the emotional energy some phone conversations and sexting sessions require? How about, brothers and sisters, can you at least spare a few clicks to reply?

Sidebar flashback: “Romancing the Phone” at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312104575298590730890292.html?KEYWORDS=romancing+the+phone.

WTF? A Hot Hair Mess

While former H-P Queen Bee Carly Fiorina, California’s Republican Senate nominee, has been blasted for dismissing opponent Barbara Boxer’s ’do as “so yesterday,” a Seattle student continues to reel from a more harried situation. Literally.

A biracial 8-year old was ejected from an all-white Thurgood Marshall Elementary honors class when her colorless teacher attributed her nausea to the girl’s hair product. Give me a preventive hair break because Organic Root Stimulator’s Olive Oil Incredibly Rich Oil Moisturizing Lotion is only the tip of the racial 'berg. If the consequences are harsh, the teacher's Thurgood Marshall cluelessness will be forever cured.

Inflamed like nappy heads smothered in overcooked relaxers, the girls’ parents have since sought legal counsel and NAACP guidance.

And you thought biracial always ensured "good hair?"

Stay tuned and check out the father’s blog but do so privately: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/my-daughter-her-hair-and-the-seattle-school-district/Content?oid=4180400.

Media Slap: Post Racial, My Ass

To let mainstream media tell it, America plunged into post racial mode when a rainbow coalition elected its first biracial president. Fast forward to 2010, with Tea Partiers stranded at the intersection of race and politics and Arizona gone illegal immigrant wild, color is back on the consciousness block. Granted, the signage pictured may be circa 1960’s but the race restrictive notice made its way into a Massachusetts publication just last month: http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/06/08/real-estate-firm-puts-up-a-sign-for-whites-only/.

Another swing of the racial pendulum and the Pew Research Center pipeline spewed the 411 that interracial marriages are at an all-time high. The least of the statistical shockers was the fact that 1 out of 5 African-American men married nonblack women in 2008. The surge in ethic intermingling, easily attributed to integration, assimilation and immigration, however, discredits headlines written in stark contrast to the post racial society news dispatchers attempted to sell.

If race no longer mattered, wouldn’t headlines render signs of minimizing racial differentiation by now?

White-hot about the post racial society hype, I couldn’t resist slinging some snarky comments regarding the headlines below:

1. What's killing African Americans?
Source: www.beliefnet.com on 6/4
BG: In headlines, do we ever see “What’s or who’s killing Whites?
Re: Who’s killing whites? African-Americans aren’t because sadly enough,we’re still embroiled in killing one another.

2. The Magnificent Migrants
Extraordinary photos of ordinary Mexicans.
Source: Foreign Policy Web site on 5/28
BG: Mexican is so PI (politically incorrect). Ordinary Hispanics, por favor.

3. Why do Latinas avoid the doctor? Study investigates
Source: CNN on 6/4
BG: Latinas don’t have a lock on medical care avoidance. Poor people of all colors and men in various income brackets have long been prone to this behavior.

4. The New Poor: Blacks in Memphis Lose Decades of Economic Gains
Source: NYT 5/31
BG: Of course, slow progress hasn’t hampered whites the way it has blacks but foreclosures and unemployment have also sliced and diced white wealth. Just ask anyone who was financially raped repeatedly by Bernie Madoff until their life blood trickled.

Blacks are never the new poor. Being behind the economic 8-ball is our historical reality and we were moneyless long before “We Shall Overcome” was anointed our anthem. It’s not unusual for blacks who lacked silver spoons at births to abandon the hood once they taste their first nip of success but for other escapees, poverty’s familiarity lurks in the form of one missed paycheck and back to the hood they go.

5. Black Flight Hits Detroit
Source: WSJ 6/4
BG: “White flight” was first coined to capture the movement of whites to the suburbs when an influx of blacks moved into their urban neighborhoods back in the late 50s and early 60s. Instead of blacks fleeing Detroit because of whites, today’s relocation is spurred by the deterioration of inner city neighborhoods, an infestation of crime and decreased economic opportunity.

WTF? REALity or GAYality?

Just when you thought Bravo had steered its “Real Housewives” series into overkill, you better rethink because it’s time to make room for daddy. That’s Ken doll right when Logo’s “The A-List” reality show shines an intrusive light on New York’s gay socialites this fall. Amid the Big Apple glitz and glam served on a flaming platter, the usual fare of catfights and relationship disasters will likely be whipped into dramarati's mix.

If only to escape a banal B-List existence or indulge an imaginary caviar life, ratings off the chart for the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” series substantiate one cast member’s statement, “following fabulous people is a billion-dollar industry.” Although I hope the attached value is inflated, isn’t exaggeration par for the reality course? To tell the truth, some cast as housewives are nothing more than piss poor fabulous impersonators. Still, like Barry White, we can’t get enough.

Though “The A-List” will likely wear production’s staging suit, tune in for a swatch of guaranteed recockulousness. Do gays give it any other way?

For more 411, check out: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/around-town/events/Move-Over-Real-Housewives-of-New-York-Here-Come-the-Gay-Socialites--95517439.html.

BP's Oil Gush: Beyond the Gulf

BP’s oil spill in the Gulf topples Exxon Valdez and its effects are expansive, from Minnesota to Washington, D.C. On top of 11 lives lost in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, the uncapped rush has disrupted the ecosystem, snapped fishing as an industry, and sent illness racing through the bodies of workers and residents. With summer fast approaching, it pains me to think that the out of control spew stands to jeopardize our beloved beaches, a family favorite for warm weather entertainment.

High Demand, Short Supply

Over time, I absorbed all of that, however, I didn’t get why my college roommate was so perturbed until she mentioned patronizing Fabian Seafood, a company that delivers the Gulf fresh delicacy in refrigerated trucks to her northern state regularly. Though connecting with customers via word of mouth and Wide World Web kept loyalists lined up until the protein bounty arrived, the disaster could slash the Galveston-based business’s base. Living close to where seafood originates, I never contemplated the extent of the northerners’ southern seafood dependency.

Since her last seafood stock-up in early May Minnesota, local chain favorite Pappas Restaurants Inc., and 10 other Louisiana restaurants and a distributor, according to Nation’s Restaurant News, have filed suit against the British energy powerhouse for revenue endangerment due to reckless contamination. This is definitely the last thing an economy staggering to recover needs.

Blame Game

What I also don’t get is why the media has been spit-quick to castigate Obama as the bearer of the same responsibility in BP’s Gulf oil spill as W bore in Hurricane Katrina. The conclusion runs contrary to evidence that clearly suggests the bushwhacked administration played a budget wielding role in the structural neglect of New Orleans’ unstable levees.

As far as I can see, President Barack Obama’s hand was nowhere in BP’s drilling. Plus, under Bush, the Minerals Management Agency was assigned oversight which it seemingly took cavalierly. Many things gone wrong have been chalked up to Obama but BP’s negligence to heed safety first does not belong on the presidential blame list no more than Toyota’s sudden acceleration issue.

Blame BP, not BO

Thanks to a soggy track record soiled by numerous accidents in the past, of two things we can be certain regarding BP: their well-oiled PR machine won’t be able to realign its bent reputation fast enough nor can we rest assured that the fix going forward will do what top kill didn’t.

Bottom line, the technological incompetence reflects more negatively on BP than BO. However, just as we learned in the Texas Board of Education’s highly contested social curriculum controversy, for some, getting and keeping it twisted is politics per usual.

Link up here to learn what could happen to The Big Easy:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/orleans_faces_R73pgfxP3Oa1wxa23seSFO.

Deception is the New Reality

While channel surfing recently, I heard a statement that couldn’t be truer as it applies to reality shows:Deception is the new reality.

KEEPING IT UNREAL

From the unReal Housewives of Atlanta comes new-nosed Nene. Though not nearly as unique as she’s often credited, sistah hood recently followed the footsteps of her predecessor housewives with surgical reconstruction. For reality TV’s popular fag hag, membership in the plastic surgery club must mean everything.

However, if she failed to work a gratis deal for services rendered, those funds might have been better spent enrolling her son in somebody’s college since he supposedly flunked out of Clark University during freshman year. Duh! He never went ‘off to school’ as she claimed in an episode. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt if Mother and son got schooled in tandem either.

The 'Mama Nem' Negro may be named Jones but truly, even with an altered honker, she can’t keep up with the elite.

TRUMP CARD

Where’s the fork because I’m done with Omarosa? The last time I heard, The Apprentice vixen had packed her hobo bag for a monastery and now, with the new reality show’s promos in swift rotation, the woman allegedly fired from the Clinton administration four times is seen toying with a fine brother in a bathtub. Talk about opposite ends of the lifestyle spectrum. Honey, money never walks to a bullshit beat.

Though not the first time the infamous O and the coiffure-challenged Trump have crossed T’s in reality show team, The Ultimate Merger is the debut of Mac Daddy Donnie’s big pimping venture. Although awaiting rumors that the pair has merged in more ways than one, I’ve already peeped the Donald’s ultimate fantasy in reality: seeing his chocolate sidekick kicking it with her own kind and getting paid. As the youngsters used to say, 'that's straight up Gangsta.'

Atlanta, Georgia On My Mind

No where in the cosmopolitan south can one chow down on shrimp and grits and get a fresh cut 24 hours a day but in the ATL. Yes sir, yes ma’am, that’s the kind of flavor I’m talking about – well seasoned southern hospitality. On the regular, black-owned restaurants like Landon’s, (the owner is the former Executive Chef to the Bishop Eddie Long estate) in the Cascade Corridor and Paschal’s at Castlebury turn up the heat and rock the pickiest palates.

BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL
Of course, the right ambience and alcohol is everything and amazingly, Moet and Chandon can be copped at an Atlanta University Center Chevron gas station for $44. I guess those Spelman girls and Morehouse boys can’t get enough and J. Roget certainly won’t do for their discerning champagne tastes. When I spotted a young African-American man with a gun holster strapped to his saggy pants at the same hood-based gas station late one night, my mouth flew wide open. Yepper pepper, state law sanctions “open carry” with a permit.

GEORGIA PEEPS
Georgia’s largest peach of a city, flanked by rolling hills and high rise homes, combines a population of buttermilk country bumpkins and a bursting at the seams bourgeoisie. As a former Houstonian and current Atlantian peeped, new Mayor Kasim Reed, who told it like it is at Clark University’s commencement, could be the city’s last colored mayor if black flight to outlining areas and urbanism’s appeal to whites continues to mark a new trend. I doubt if the sudden incursion will dent the African-American flock rate, though.

STUCK LIKE a THROWBACK CHUCK
Although I missed hopping a ride on MARTA (‘Moving African-Americans rapidly through Atlanta’) and experiencing the famous butt clap where girls with names like Leilani and Frosty perform at Magic City, fashion marching men in cropped pants and miniskirts provided suitable entertainment. Plus, as much as it is a mecca for all things hip and gay, Atlanta is also home to black folks stuck in a soulful strut.

So much for cellular technology’s overrated GPS such that I was forced to make a call to a Georgian transplant to pinpoint Gladys Knight’s and Ron Winans’ Chicken and Waffles’ Lithonia location. While enduring what felt like an hour wait, I was grateful my famished appetite was diverted by two old throwbacks, one decked out in a peach ensemble with matching leather lace-ups and another in shiny lilac gators.

Had it not been for these colorful characters, straight outta Hustlersville, I would’ve been denied the “Midnight Train,” a plate of plump wings and a buttery waffle drenched with pecans because the rest of my crew was ready to bail for Chick-Fil-A.

WTF? The NBA Just Got Whiter

For the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, owned in part by the hip hopperati king, Jay-Z, it’s come down to this: a billionaire Russian playboy principal. To diehard sports fans, I suspect the new white Russian ownership will raise few brows, given the infusion of international athletes perched on NBA benches today, including the Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming, the great yellow hope.

According to the WSJ, Moscow-based Mikhail Prokhorow shelled out $265 million to snag majority ownership of the fledging east coast team. And although billed as the first foreign owner, Prokhorow isn’t exactly alone since Lebron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers sold a 15% stake last year to Chinese investors. So, what’s got me so riled?

More than Wall Street’s buckling, outsourcing has been the bane of the American economy with a slew of unrecoverable job losses. And don’t think for a minute that these governments of foreign stock aren’t netting handsome payoffs. In some instances, global is good but ‘H to the no’ when China is the keeper of American debt to the piercing tune of $755.4 billion: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20100303/158082088.html. What, if anything, is American owned in China or Russia?

Like baseball, which is no longer as American as apple pie, the NBA seems headed in the wrong direction. Call me old school, however, the sports teams that we were once proud to call our own should continue to be reserved for American hands. I’m just not well with a foreigner making bank off of the backs of my African-American brothers though most suffer from an acute case of swirl syndrome.

Sorry, boo, but modern day slavery, despite its lofty financial benefits, is far from dead. Forget Arizona and let’s add Brooklyn, the city in which the Nets are expected to land, to the boycott list.

Will Texas Pull the Anti-Immigrant Trigger?

Compared to the rest of the country, the feds are tardy to the taco party with its threat to challenge Arizona’s illegal immigrant law as unconstitutional. President Obama had successfully dodged the controversial political bullet for the longest until John McCain’s home state forced the pesky issue. And now, since a Republican representative is set to introduce similar legislation the upcoming January session, will Texas be the feds’ next target?

As clashing public and political opinions continue to gain steam, I suspect all jalapeno hell to break loose should Texas follow the Desert State’s lead. Although the state where everything is bigger may be on the verge of inviting political backlash, I’m one of many Texans who are accustomed to shrugging off our infamous reputation for ravenous appetites and Governor Rick Perry’s anti-Washington shenanigans. However big and bad, Texas, like other states, can’t afford to pooh pooh revenue and I hear Phoenix’s projected losses in tourism could topple $90 mil.

Maybe something good will come from what has been surmised as Arizona’s bad turn. At least, the enough is enough message has brought Georgia’s unfair practice of allowing those without citizenship to register as students to the forefront. The pass recently given to one of them after a traffic stop is mind blowing. See http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/undocumented-kennesaw-state-student-525038.html.

In the larger scheme of things, both racial profiling and legality arguments hold water; however, let’s flip the fairness coin: if the throngs of undocumented Latino immigrants who flood Home Depot parking lots daily seeking quick cash in exchange for labor had been African-American, they would’ve been removed more swiftly than Hurricane Ike’s debris. Now stuff that in your taco shell and wash it down with an ice cold Corona because it’s definitely getting hot in here.

Miami's Super Bowl of Ignorance

Even in the NBA’s thrilling playoff thick, what a Miami Dolphins GM asked Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant managed to outshine basketball headlines. Like Bryant, I, too, would’ve been mad as hell had a potential employer inquired if my mother engaged in prostitution. More than one NFL organization has probably dismissed Bryant’s lesbian mother as a “ghetto whore,” the stereotype likely thrust upon her for giving birth to three children by the age of 18 and getting busted for selling drugs.

With his lofty title no indication of executive finesse, ignoramus Jeff Ireland was hands down, out of bounds. I understand interview thoroughness is imperative, especially when billions of revenue dollars and international scrutiny are at stake. However, if these questions don’t fly in the typical employment arena, why should they take wings in the gloried NFL? Naturally, the question prompts more questions: Since when is the NFL not an employer and are white footballers subjected to the same humiliation, provided their backgrounds are blemished?

The GM’s slip from political correctness showed oceanic disrespect to limited ownership partners Venus and Serena Williams. Palm Beach Gardens, FL’s tennis diva duo joined a short list of celebrities in the Miami Dolphins venture last year. Several news reports reveal that this is not the first time such an appalling question has crossed the NFL’s business table.

While previous cases involving NFL players Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Donte Stallworth and Ben Roethlisberger confirm Roger Goodell's quickness in laying down the moral gauntlet, we can only hope that the commissioner maintains similar speed in reprimanding Ireland harshly.

To get the scoop on Dez Bryant and his harsh beginnings, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/sports/ncaafootball/25okstate.html?pagewanted=print.

If you’d like to sift through the NFL’s filthy Interview Process dirt, check out
http://kevin-blackistone.fanhouse.com/2010/04/29/nfls-despicable-interview-process/

Change Delivered by Hooks and Height

The fabric of the original civil rights movement frayed further when Doctors Benjamin Hooks and Dorothy Height recently passed. Both tireless warriors played pivotal roles in righting America’s historical wrongs and to them we owe thanks for freedoms that some of us take for granted.

Education equality, of course, was one of the movement’s strongest threads. Ironically, the nation’s second African-American female college graduate to be recorded was Dr. Hooks’ grandmother. Augmenting his long-term NAACP chairman post, the pastor in retirement was also the first black appointed to a FCC board seat. Hooks was laid to rest last week.

President Barack Obama will eulogize civil rights royalty when the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal winner’s funeral is held at Washington National Cemetery today. According to a WSJ report last week, Dr. Height attended New York University after Barnard College refused to admit her because they’d reach their quota of two.

And despite the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954’s dismantling separate but unequal, something is still amiss some 56 years later. Had 2010 been the heyday of Hooks and Height, I guarantee the holler about a return to school segregation wouldn’t be faint.

See this brother's take: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/90849294.html.

WTF - Bored Stiff?

They say the love of money makes one do bad things, however, when the well ran dry, one former millionaire and convicted cocaine smuggler officially filed moral bankruptcy. Though usually open to what turns one on as long it's not physically or emotionally injurious, I was shocked to learn how one Oregon man got satisfaction. Digest his dirty deed with caution:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100416/bc_bestiality_farm_100416/www.ctv.ca/mar/fragments/pipe/redirectBinNewI6398.html.

Sweat Equity or Reality?

Just when I thought the raft of reality shows couldn’t get any more impaired, my eyes bugged wide when I learned who’s got next. The folks at Centric, formerly BET-J, must be desperate, having given R&B crooner Keith Sweat’s “Platinum House" a reality go. Produced by Sweat, the show will trace throwback group Dru Hill’s stab at a new album. When it comes to reviving a stalled career, the reality show is upstaging promotional tours as the new publicity platform.

While I fondly recall the bouncy “Thong Song” and Sisqo’s platinum doo from back in the day, the Sweat connection remains baffling. Perhaps, Mr. “Nobody” is trying to be a TV somebody since ex-wife Lisa Wu Hartwell amply poured his abusive husband tea on the unReal Housewives of Atlantur.

What's more, I hear that R&B artists Toni Braxton and Faith Evans have landed docudramas. Same old contrived concept. Because “monkey see, monkey do” lacks originality, I doubt seriously if exposure to a small audience will propel either to the top of the charts. Just ask the Jacksons.

The Reality Roll Needs to Slow

Baaaaby, puleeze, the simultaneous installments of “Keeping up with the Jones,” “The Real McCoy,” “What Chili Wants” and “Basketball Wives” are proof pudding that the black reality show roll needs to slow. Unfortunately, superficially staged productions in this genre rarely emit real life.

The one that makes me cry foul the loudest is “Basketball Wives,” the lackluster brainchild of Shaquille O’Neal’s soon to be ex, Shaunie. Following in the footsteps of her former LA Laker hubby, Mrs. O’Neal assumes top billing as the show’s executive producer, purposely electing, I suspect, not to share the spotlight with other boldface names.

Although hyped to the glitz hilt, some in the series could easily be mistaken for women of ill repute. As a result, “BW” falls short of a fabulous lifestyle template and the crass behavior showcased deserves cautious applause. It matters not how many upscale goods line their shelves because even the feet of a $20.00 skank can look stunning in Jimmy Choo’s $1,000 shoes.

Do we really require more evidence that a stack of crisp C-notes cannot buy class?

Ck out these sidebars:
Football Wives Spinoff as ShaqDaddy threatens VH-1 suit:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/04/15/2010-04-15_vh1_game_plan_football_wives.html

A Royalty Scorned LisaRaye Takes Aim for Star and Vivica?
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/10/08/2009-10-08_star_jones_vivica_a_fox_targets_in_new_lisaraye_mccoy_reality_tv_show.html

The FAA's New Fly High Policy

The next time you’re on a plane and it goes bump, bump, bump, don’t assume an errant bird strike is the culprit. That’s because the FAA has given airline pilots who are under the influence of Prozac, Lexapro, Zoloft and Celexa clearance to assume the controls. At best, the departure from policy banning the use of antidepressants while flying is pernicious to passenger safety. And who gives a flip if the plane police issue FUI citations since the suicidal effects of these drugs are far weightier than a fully stuffed set of Louis Vuitton luggage? In short, Washington’s sacrifice of our safety in the sky yields little faith so this is change that we can definitely fly without.

Here’s the antidepressant scoop: http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2010/04/05/faa_pilots_antidepressants_tsa_security_checks

WTF of the Week: Teen Pimps Out Baby Sister

I thought the news report pinning 27 men and women to a Trenton, NJ jail cell wall was April Fool’s Day emblematic until the sordid details unfolded. Some say pimping is dead but a teenage girl who entangled her 7-year-old sister in a sexual web with multiple men and boys for money proves the practice is alive and well.

Desperation is a ghetto life accessory but the juvenile’s “Pimp My Sister” reality show is still difficult to script. I mean, did someone put the teen up to this act expressly for financial gain? And where were her parents while she was sexing at a project party and lavishing some of her earnings on baby stepsister to fulfill her voyeuristic fantasies? Rightfully so, the sick heifer has since been jailed following a swift slap of aggravated sexual assault and promoting prostitution charges.

Surprisingly, the police raid at Roman Towers netted a female majority whose arrests were linked to outstanding warrants. According to reports, police said there were at least seven men and boys at the party and anyone in attendance might be found culpable. Until the same responsibility rope lassos the parents who are just as guilty as the men and boys who gang-raped their baby girl, justice won’t be served.

See the latest account:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_re_us/us_teen_sister_sex

ABC Ain't Easy as 1-2-3

For its threat to literacy, texting and hip hop lyrics should be accompanied by side effects like drugs. Because they would rather text than dial, today’s youth are infamous for taking English composition shortcuts. Plus, their little overloaded brains don't give a flying flip if their butts bounce to catchy beats laced under grammatically fractured lyrics.

Butchering the King’s English is one of my pet peeves and an ethnic jolt goes all through me whenever I hear “axe” instead of “ask,” “conversate” instead of “converse” and “prostrate” instead of “prostate.” Until reading the emails below by an un-ed-u-ma-ca-ted educator, I couldn’t conceive of a hotter ghetto mess in academia. See for yourself:

If U Kin Reed This, Thank the Skule Bord Prezudint

The president of Detroit's school board, Otis Mathis, "acknowledges he has difficulty composing a coherent English sentence," reports Laura Berman of the Detroit News:
Here's a sample from an e-mail he sent to friends and supporters on Sunday night, uncorrected for errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage. It begins: If
you saw Sunday's Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason's he gave for closing school to many empty seats. , , .

Here's another mass e-mail from Mathis, from Aug. 11, 2009:
Do DPS control the Foundation or outside group? If an outside group control the foundation, then what is DPS Board row with selection of is director? Our we mixing DPS and None DPS row's, and who is the watch dog?

Despite lacking what would seem to be a basic skill, Mathis has his defenders:
"I know he's a terrible writer. Oh wow, I've seen his e-mails," says Ida Byrd-Hill, a parent and activist who runs a nonprofit and is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ group.
"His job, though, is to represent the community. His lack of writing skills is prevalent in the community. If anybody does, he understands the struggles of what it's like to go through an institution and not be properly prepared."
And if the Detroit public schools are turning out people who are capable of running big institutions like the Detroit public schools, they must be doing something right.

WTF? Black Females Who Wheel, Deal and Steal

HBO’s defunct drug drama, “The Wire,” encapsulated the explosion in the African-American male prison population. However, it’ll be a minute before American Greed on CNBC frames the rise in black female public officials dethroned due to greed.

As if New Orleans, LA hadn’t been besieged with enough, the not so slick mother and daughter team of Ellenese Brooks-Sims and Stacy Sims come along to sip from bribery’s brew. Brooks-Sims, a former Orleans Parish school board member, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison this week for accepting $100,000 to support an algebra software program. For her knowledge of the transaction, daughter Stacy received 2 years probation and 40 hours of community service.

With as many as seven years of freedom at stake, Brooks-Sims received a reduced sentence for wearing a wire to trap her benefactor, Mose Jefferson, brother of U.S. Representative William Jefferson who was busted earlier behind $90,000 in unrelated freezer burned bribes.

Remember Sheila Dixon? Although she plea-bargained her way into resignation, the former mayor was administered a dose of “de-greed” when she ripped off gift cards targeted for Baltimore’s poor last year.

If you recall, D.C. was drenched in a blistery white winter so if former NBA player Juan Dixon’s aunt missed anything, rest assured it was her mink jacket. Spotted on eBay this week, the not so fancy token came courtesy of a developer Dixon was allegedly sexing. Should she go where I suspect she’s headed in the afterlife, girlfriend will wish she was back in the thick of D.C.’s frigidity.

Incidentally, her b-baller nephew has his own issues, having recently been suspended from the Spanish basketball league for a steroid-tainted UA.

Unlike Dixon, former Detroit city councilwoman Monica Conyers will soon paddle up Jail River for a 37-month stay thanks to a bribery conviction. She was accused of flip-flopping on a controversial $1.2 billion sludge contract that she adamantly opposed previously. Her complicity in wrongdoing also casts a dark shadow on her 80-year-old husband, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, who signed a letter in support of the Houston-based Synagro project.

Caught fake nail-handed in the cookie jar, Mrs. Conyers’ white collar crime reportedly netted less than $100K. Though, on paper, she graduated from a D.C. law school, the 44-year-old failed miserably at mastering Wall Street’s golden rule – When a theft opportunity knocks, always steal BIG!

Winans Sings The Madoff Blues

Trouble is nothing more than an equal opportunity rope that threatens to squeeze the life out of any celebrity or average Jane or Joe. Last year, it was 46-year old Bebe of the supremely talented musical family dangling from the legal string and now it’s his nephew, Michael Winans, Jr.

Instead of drug possession or bullet spray, it was GREED that tripped the songwriting youngin up. Like Wall Street mastermind Bernie Madoff, Winans allegedly concocted an elaborate Ponzi scheme that picked unsuspecting Detroit-area investors’ pockets to the tune of $3 - $11 million. Gospel royalty definitely has its advantages since church connections were used to fatten the illegal cash cow. Follow the manure trail here: http://www.freep.com/article/20100305/COL07/3050372/1001/news/Winans-Jr.-ran-scheme-state-says

WTF of the Week: The Gay Edition

From Big Papa to Little Mama

Among the rumors spiraling over the Real Housewives’ halos, it looks like the one about Kim Zolciak’s lip lock with a female DJ has tinges of plausibility. Banished from her married sugar daddy’s bed last year, “Brokeback Barbie” is creating major buzz for the Real Housewives of Atlanta’s 3rd installment with her switch to lesbian love.

Keep in mind that it was Tracy Young who remixed the marginal hit, “Tardy for the Party,” so the jury’s still out on whether Kim is just another bi- for- now celebrity or merely attempting to further her Autotune-influenced career. Given the blonde’s terminal addiction to materialism, I don’t expect the relationship to endure beyond a few episodes especially if Young’s fish basket doesn’t come packed with chunks of easily replenished cash.

See http://www.usmagazine.com/healthylifestyle/news/real-housewives-kim-zolciak-steps-out-with-girlfriend-201013

Undercover Bubba

Anti-gay spouting state senator Roy Ashburn is now a living witness to the adage that what one does in the dark will come to the light. Ashburn, a married GOP politician and father of four, was reportedly busted by the boys in blue for DUI following a late night tip to Faces, a Sacramento gay bar. Although the male passenger in his vehicle was not identified, first-class detective skills aren’t needed to sort this one out. Perhaps Ashburn should consult former Idaho senator Larry “Minneapolis bathroom” Craig on how to put this situation under wraps before it swallows his career.

Get the scoop here: http://cbs2.com/local/gay.bar.faces.2.1538307.html

Did the One Queen Rule Oust Desiree Rogers?

A political target since the Gatecrasher fiasco, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will soon be private sector-bound according to the Chicago Sun Times. In retreat from Washington’s harsh spotlight, the Wellesley College and Harvard Business School grad said to favor Viktor & Rolf and Comme des Garcon is poised for East Wing exit next month with her designer finery in tow.

Raked through the fiery coals for her self-assured swagger long before the Salahi incident, Rogers has also been subjected to the same stylistic scrutiny as First Lady Michelle Obama. The FrockStar cannot match Mrs. Obama’s magazine cover record but what a spicy splash she made during her brief tenure.

Just as some will credit the inner turbulence to a cat fight where the First Lady was forced to put the New Orleans native in check, others will cite incompetence as the catalyst for the departure. Yet, it would not shock if Rogers’ prominence on the media radar provoked repetitive gasps of 'Who the hell does she think she is?’ behind closed doors.

Whatever the case and scandal aside, Desiree Rogers made white America take note that charisma and cachet come packaged in more than one color. Black women are highly resilient and I’ve no doubt this one will land where Louboutins are an asset instead of a liability.

Brands Gone Mild

Tiger Woods and Toyota have a lot in common. With both iconic brands now scathed by scandal, the man and the manufacturer’s shift into crisis management may have come too late.

Tiger's Tale:
Tiger’s mea culpa and sniffles on cue rivaled an ineffective press release soaked in “spin speak.” Whether parking his pecker in various spaces is a real affliction or nothing more than a convenient PR-engineered excuse remains unknown. To the surprise of few, the golfer sounded a lot like the same pre-beat down Tiger, barking up a potential sponsor’s money tree. Unarguably, immediacy has its advantages and time will reveal if arrogance is harder to kick than sexual addiction.

Say It Ain’t So, Toyo
Amid reports suggesting that Toyota sacrificed consumer safety for corporate profits, the Asian suits seem powerless to put the brakes on reputational disrepair. However, don’t expect Toyota’s H.A.I.C. to be KFC chicken-grilled this week in D.C. because politics will likely invade the procedural marinade.

Driven to protect jobs afforded by Toyota’s strong U.S. plant presence, some politicians have been urged to tread lightly when Akio Toyoda takes congressional stage. According to the WSJ, Texas’ Rick Perry engaged his gubernatorial gears, offering these consumer-insensitive comments to Representative Henry Cuellar: “Hey, Henry, will you please look at the other side of the issue? They have been a good company…Let’s not pummel Toyota.” Seemingly, economics trump safety so Texas motorists aren’t in good hands with Perry at the helm.

Although being bamboozled by a trusted brand never feels good, of all things tugging at Toyota and Lexus owners like diminished market value and compromised safety, auto theft, thankfully, isn’t one of them.

For more than a tip of Toyota's political iceberg, their long lobbying trail is traced here: http://www.newser.com/story/81471/toyota-armed-with-lobbyists-for-dc-showdown.html

Black Gold at the White Olympics

Watching U.S. athlete Shani Davis speed skate to his second “black gold” in Vancouver and the accompanying news coverage reminded me why the winter games are often referred to as the ‘White Olympics.’ Unlike Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White who also nabbed gold, there was no sappy, crème puff news footage to spotlight who this Olympian is. Vonn’s support circle pops up constantly and White’s dog even made the trip.

Maybe the absence is strategically packaged as part of the Davis mystique but one can’t help but wonder where the skater’s peeps were. Whether they were bursting with pride TV-side or in person, why did the cameras not find them?

Though Davis’ triumph as the first African-American to win individual gold in the 2006 Olympic Games garnered some press, his appearances in print have since been sparse. If slicing his way into the Olympic record book as the only American to win repeat gold doesn’t upgrade his opportunity card, I don’t know what will.

After Sext, What's Next?

As e-relationships have evolved, sexting has also emerged as the preferred tool of the naughty. That means a slice in carrier revenue since many cell enthusiasts who abide by the why talk when you can text rule have engineered the messaging boom. Even if feverishly pecking X-rated material on the cool doesn't appeal to you, what happened to a Canadian man will make you go hmmm…

Check it out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123595409&f=1006&sc=17

WTF: Cindy McCain Strikes a Gay Marriage Pose???

The book “Game Change” put Harry Reid’s racial slip of the tongue on perpetual media spin but trouble in John and Cindy McCain's paradise has not gained equal traction. Although a safe bet that the main money tap of wife Cindy's Anheuser-Busch distributorship fortune is flowing freely, things in their multiple master bedrooms may be as dry as an Arizona desert. Landing like a fly on one of their bedroom walls for confirmation is unlikely, however, the odd couple’s philosophical split on gay marriage didn’t exactly expel WTF until now.

So, WTF were the NOH8 Campaign organizers thinking when Cindy McCain joined a host of celebrities who’ve posed for a pro gay marriage advertisement? Daughter Meghan who also stuck a pose said via Twitter, "I think more Republicans need to start taking a stand for civil rights in this country and set the example that this is not a partisan issue" according to http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/cindy-mccain-poses-for-ad-supporting-gay-marriage/.

Now that John has denied his wife First Lady status, a like Mother, like daughter reversal has emerged. Rebounding from her father’s defeat as if it were a mild hangover one minute, the youthful McCain woman was handed a huge shot at media stardom the next. Very little can dispel the campaign trail’s impression that Mama Cindy craves the limelight a tad more than money so riding piggyback is only self-fulfilling.

As they say, every picture tells a story and this one smeared in a thick Republican ploy to appear open-armed isn’t pretty. To demonstrate the GOP’s tendency to exclude rather than include, the same sex marriage issue drove conservatives to distance themselves from their own Log Cabin Republicans, a political arm whose members happen to be gay. If this is demonstrative of Michael Steele-branded unity, give me the Democrats’ disunity any day. Like Reid, the Republican Party Chairman has also been accused of vacillating similarly, saying one thing publicly and something else privately.

MLK's Successors to the Dream?

In salute to Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, The Daily Beast inked a predictable list of blacks presumed to be Dr. King’s successors. Among the top 13 chosen by 100 Black Men of America and the National Council of Negro Women, it came as a surprise that only three were women: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Susan Taylor. No doubt, the successful blend of religion and social action thrust Reverends T.D.Jakes, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson into spotlighted recognition.

In some respects, the results seem more predicated on popularity than the creation of employee over shareholder wealth or greater civic than corporate upsides. No disrespect to the game-changing contributors, however, these very parameters represent the untenable foundation on which King firmly stood, where zest for social action had no correlation to personal wealth or the wealth of others.

Conversely, many black preacher men and women who likely wouldn’t gain mention have become quite un-King like, having graduated to greedier times that affix C-Note dreams to the ministerial mainstream. I'm afraid disenfranchised community flocks forced to live in environmental squalor have not kept priority’s pace with the church’s receipts of deposit in some instances.

Sliding from relevant social commentary ranks according to those polled, Dick Gregory also missed a top slot but there he was on “Imus in the Morning,” professing love for the radio host synonymous with “nappy headed hoes.” I understand the Christian doctrine of forgiveness but what motivated the salt and pepper-bearded Gregory to spout his love your bigoted brother sentiment on M.L.K. Day? Furthermore, how responsible was it to blurt out that blacks are still holding paper bag parties in Louisiana without substantive explanation? And on the Fox Business Network, the right-winged attack machine arm, of all places?

Even at 77, Dick Gregory stands to benefit from Dr. King’s ability to craft messages that resonated with his audiences and his razor-sharp recognition that some words require time and place specifics. It may be clear why Gregory didn’t break the top 13 standings, however, I’m still not convinced that all who did deserved to.

See the full list here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-17/reverend-kings-successors/?cid=bs:archive7#gallery=1222;page=1.

What Harry Reid and Blacks Have in Common

If blacks are raising major cane about anything, Harry Reid’s reference to pre-president Barack Obama likely soared to a WTF meter high. The “light-skinned” black with “no Negro” dialect reference Reid made privately has publicly cast him as another white politician stuck in slavery’s muck. Systematic exclusion, where whites view lighter-skinned blacks more favorably than their darker counterparts, may have emanated in slavery but 2010 charts a social cancer uncured.

Like Reid, blacks who administer paper bag tests instead of open hearts and minds to establish the suitability of other blacks are equally culpable. Ain’t nothing like an educated fool and the sophisticated racism in which both blacks and whites sit comfortably perched is powerless to annul bigotry’s guilt. Until the caste system of skin color is abandoned, there can be no post-racial society.

See: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-10/harry-reid-was-right/

Note: The Reid quote appears in the new book "Game Change."

Guns and Gangsters in the NBA

Empty parking spaces at a typically bustling Galleria Mall offer incontestable evidence that the holidays are over. For several weeks, goodwill and peace on earth have been exalted to the highest, however, wouldn't a continued refrain from dishing the dirt be akin to balking social tradition?

Hardly a week into January, here we go again with scandal dripping from the neck of another rich and reckless black athlete like a thick gold chain. This time it’s the NBA’s Gilbert Arenas who could forfeit his hefty $111 million contract over allegedly pulling an unloaded pistol on a Washington Wizards teammate last December. His actions, presumably designed to intimidate, didn't include making good on the $60,000 gambling debt in dispute, unfortunately. Before the first month's first week ended, the league's big cheese deep fried an embroiled in hot grease Arenas, suspending him indefinitely without pay. D.C. authorities have yet to file formal charges.

Likely under duress from rumors hitching his baby mama to Shaq Daddy's monsterous wagon and a series of sub-par performances, it’s a wonder Gilbert didn’t get all ghetto gangster sooner. Ignorance and arrogance make an odd but common couple and talent is a terrible thing to waste especially when it affords a black man inflated earning power too miniscule to buy a moral compass. Trust, had this been an ordinary Negro in the workplace, the boys in blue would've been swiftly dispatched to bounce brothaman out.
For the latest, read the NY Post: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/grand_jury_to_look_into_arenas_crittenton_k5cOCO0Au3mnKoJmnLtLnK

2009 Holiday Review: Recession? Really?

I couldn’t help but howl that’s so yesterday when a friend waxed poetic about his latest electronics haul. Jeez, had his inbox rejected the recap circulated en masse detailing how “I need” TKO’d “I want” in our bout against a broken economy?

Many of us were well on our way to cashing the instant gratification check before reality cancelled self-indulgence’s platinum card. Against the fashionista grain, even well-heeled handbag fiends for the real thing began flinging replicas or declaring their own initials enough. In a blink, the good times’ roll screeched to a halt, mandating drastic lifestyle shifts.

However, if we ignore 2009’s dried-up credit lines, “all about me” and the microwave mentality - wanting what we wanted when we wanted it and not a minute too late - dominated the decade’s attitudes. Given the challenging muck through which we’ve collectively trudged, whether foreclosure, Hurricane Ike or lost revenue, wouldn’t it be prudent to retire the selfish streak’s long run?

Although filled with the usual fare of food fixings and white-bearded décor, this holiday season was dramatically different with shop ‘til you drop adherence registering a notable absence. Slashed or abbreviated gift lists shone a brighter light on Christmas’ true significance: It’s never been about the gifts we shop exhaustively for but God’s gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ. Ultimately, ‘tis the reason for the season, not the continuously ringing retail bells beckoning debt.

I appreciated the material gifts some generously gave but gifts of love and friendship were equally special. Intangibles like these are particularly priceless because they cost nothing and never necessitate a box or a bow. In fact, one holiday highlight entailed reconnecting via numerous texts and email exchanges with high school and college chums I’ve not laid eyes on in years. Reaching out and touching successfully delivered a warm and fuzzy feeling that will likely stay with me throughout the year.

Given the me decade’s expiration 40 years ago, (yes, it’s been that long), it’s my wish that a bold spirit emblazoned with ‘more we and less me’ emerges in 2010. Happy New Year, New You!

New Me