Ask the Black Gurl

WTF??? Word War Against Obamas is OOC

2010-08-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

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 ???

2010-08-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-07-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-07-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

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???

2010-07-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-10T04:22:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-06-04T05:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-02T05:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-12T05:01:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-02-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T04:55:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T05:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-02-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

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???

2010-01-22T04:38:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-01-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-01-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

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

WTF of the Week - Meet King and Queen Bama

2009-12-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

Both of these news stories referenced sent me through the conniption fit cycle:

A seven-year old girl was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when a Milwaukee school teacher whacked one of her braids during class. Agitated by the student’s incessant twirling of her beaded mane, the teacher popped off, ‘Now what you gonna go home and tell your momma?’ after applying scissors to the first grader’s head.

It’s incomprehensible how this imitator educator has suffered no further disciplinary action than a measly $175 disorderly conduct fine. No way was this a cosmetology class but had it been, Queen Bama deserved to be snatched bald.

What’s in the student’s head counts more than the hair that resides on it or so I thought.
Get the full story at http://www.kcci.com/education/21973453/detail.html

Of all NBA Hall of Shamers, it was Ron Artest, another married athlete who espouses spreading the penile wealth, racing to Tiger’s role model rescue. This is the same roughneck suspended 73 games from league play after diving into the stands to accost an unruly fan. The same cocky jock who admitted dashing to a Chicago liquor store to satisfy urges for Hennessey at half-time. King Bama’s fans may be quick to pin his ghettolicious ignorance on bi-polar disorder but big bank cannot buy a throwback thug change nor more than it can buy an adulterer trust.

An excerpt of the Artest letter to Tiger appears on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/ron-artests-letter-to-tig_n_395115.html

When Infidelity Hits the Hood

2009-12-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

While What-A-Burger’s been giving away freebies in its 12 days of Christmas countdown, the N.Y. Post’s front page has been riding Tiger’s tail with 17 days of non-stop sexcapades coverage. If your news nose has sniffed every whiff of Mr. Privacy’s privates, you might’ve missed the sinister scheme one queen “b” devised when she learned her man was sampling another’s honey. Reported in the N.Y. Post over a week ago, here’s how it went down.

Armed with an electronic gadget designed to transmit fictitious Caller-IDs, Kisha Jones, 38, phoned her husband’s pregnant “cuddy buddy” and instructed her to pick up a prescription. Instead of the medication she expected, “the other woman” was dispensed Cytotec, an abortion-inducing drug at a pharmacy she rarely frequents. According to authorities, a resourceful Jones pulled this off by mimicking the medical office’s Caller-ID and five-fingering a physician’s Rx pad. If wifey’s desperate act hasn’t registered an “oh, that’s cold” reaction, wait, it gets nippier.

Impersonating the mistress, the Brooklyn resident then called the hospital to ask if the newborn (yes, he survived) could be fed breast milk she’d allegedly pumped at home. When an unidentified man arrived with two bottles of a substance that looked nothing like breast milk, suspicion swirled and the Po Po(s) were summoned.

The new mother and nursing student claims she’d dated Mr. Jones for three years and had no idea his left hand was ringed. We may never how Mrs. Jones came up with this pharmaceutical caper but we do know the drug Mr. Jones used to render his cuddy buddy comatose of common sense. Too bad a list of potential side effects doesn't accompany the appendage.

Change Comes to Houston

2009-12-14T05:06:00.000-08:00

Twice in my lifetime, I’ve witnessed political spirit steeled in change shatter a ceiling that once favored good old boys: first, in an African-American’s election to the U.S. presidency and now with Houston’s 50th and first openly lesbian mayor-elect Annise Parker. Finally, the nation’s 4th largest city can retire its country-cosmo combo image and revel in a mayoral distinction no other major metropolis claims. Eat your hearts out, New York, San Francisco and most of all, Dallas.

Victory surfaced in Twitter tweets early Saturday evening; however, the runoff’s slim turnout came straight from a mixed message bag: either shedding bigotry’s pimpled skin was vocalized in the city’s best interest or political preference for white over black prevailed as status quo. Houston’s 25% African-American population failed to seal the deal for Gene Locke and given his alignment with anti-gay forces , a vote for the former city attorney came eerily close to a hate endorsement.

Yet historically monumental, Parker’s achievement hardly suggests the emergence of a post-sexual south. Enter gay marriage and the campaign’s high note fails to strike a dramatic chord in attitudinal shifts. Even with Houston’s victory, Texas’ blood still beats red in political ideological where religious tenets conveniently fuel ignorance to the legality of social parity. As recently as 2003, the last of the anti-sodomy laws were yanked from the books so homophobes rest assured, gay marriage won’t automatically advance just because a lesbian is mayor.

Though well credentialed, Parker didn’t win the keys to the city without playing it smart and shoving a gay agenda down the straight majority’s throat will only invite political suicide. Should local gays and lesbians foster any quid pro quo expectations now that one of their own is in, they’re certain to be as disappointed as they’ve been by Obama. If anything is to be gained from the Civil Rights Movement, gays and lesbians must understand that baby steps precede full strides. Change has come to Houston but giant leaps rarely occur overnight.

Is Tiger's Wife in Preparation for a PGA Tour?

2009-11-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

This year’s traditional Thanksgiving course didn’t include an escape clause from celebrity drama. Unlike leftover turkey, we’re still clamoring for more than “my fault” as an explanation for what precipitated Tiger Woods’ one-car accident. Sorry, Tiger, but you opened a reality window in your Florida Mcmansion and there’s never been a privacy option with fortune and fame.

Despite rumors swirling like an Arizona dust storm, here’s how I think the domestic upheaval went down: Tiger and wifey Elin’s heated discussion came to blows after she confronted him about creeping. Tired of his megawatt smile denials, the former model fetched one of his fancy golf clubs and issued a memorable beat down.

Tail tucked like a sick kitty, Tiger attempted a Cadillac Escalade roll out with a golf club-armed Elin likely in close pursuit. An obvious fan of hip-hop, the 29-year old Mrs. Woods then took the lyrics of Jazmin Sullivan’s “Bust Your Windows” to task before the actual crash:

"I bust the windows out your car
You should feel lucky that’s all I did
After five years of this bullshit
Gave you all of me and you played with it"

Tiger might’ve married white but I’m convinced this Swede has some sistah in her, especially if she's already consulted Kobe Bryant's Vanessa on the appropriate rock size.

Mayor's Race in Houston: Below the Belt Politics

2009-11-22T18:58:00.000-08:00

Now that the Houston’s mayoral election is run-off bound, the endorsement by a trio of prominent black ministers clearly demonstrates that Peter Brown’s loss is Gene Locke’s gain. Learning through a Houston Chronicle article that long-standing friendship was cited over qualification left me peeved like angst-loaded Maj. Hassan in Fort Hood. So much so that I howled ala Tina Turner, “What’s friendship got to do with it?”

If friendship had been a decisive factor, what on earth prompted the collective jockeying of Brown’s horse in the first place? This is politics played by men who’re revered for packing a persuasive punch on Sunday but rendered ineffective in delivering African-American votes for Brown on Election Day. Very few convene around the political table without agendas appetizing to self-interests.

It remains to be seen whether the ministers are positioned for a blundering repeat but saddling up with the likes of Dr. Steven Hotze, the newest member of Team Locke courted for conservative bolster, can’t be a good sign. Hotze was the political mastermind behind a Straight Slate city council campaign back in the day.

Unfortunately, in the sport of politics, fighting below the belt is fair. Just ask Christian conservative Dave Wilson who distributed 35,000 mass mailings to Houston households captioned, “Is this the image Houston wants to portray?” below a photo of openly gay Annise Parker pictured with partner.

Come Correct or Don't Come at All

2009-11-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Factuality was once American journalism’s first tenet. However, considering the avalanche of inaccuracies burying the truth on airwaves and in print these days, that seemingly is no longer the case. A few weeks ago, I gasped when I heard a live MSNBC anchor, obviously bitten by the “all blacks look alike” bug, mistake Rev. Jesse Jackson for Rev. Al Sharpton. Jackson checked her boo boo quickly given the rocky relationship the civil rights activists allegedly share.

While I’m almost certain the anchor attributed blame to the producer, the Washington Post writer who recently referred to the NAACP President Ben Jealous as a “grizzly bear of a white man” has no such excuse. She got it twisted while spotlighting the predominantly white Maine State Prison Chapter which signifies a shift in the NAACP's organizational wind.

Although the light-skinned and good-haired Jealous, the son of an African-American mother and caucasian father, could easily pass for white, assumption without verification in professional journalism is unvirtuous. With the Internet at our fingertips, the one-drop rule is surely no secret. Newsflash to mainstream media: Come correct or don’t come at all.

Houston's Next Mayor: Black Guy, Rich White Guy, Lesbian or Hispanic Republican?

2009-11-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

Billed as a boring mayoral contest by the Houston Press, the alternative newspaper's recent politically incorrect headline, “Black Guy, Rich White Guy, Lesbian and Hispanic Republican” pushed my buttons. Though accurate, the identity distinctions scream an outcome likely driven by race, status or gender. For some, the decision will come down to Gene Locke’s Afro activism and corporate connectedness, Peter Brown’s “big pimpin” media saturation and ministerial ties, and Annise Parker’s sexuality.

Rooted in reality, I’ve known that even as we approach 2010, Houston remains a cosmopolitan city full of countrified mentalities deep fried in bigoted fat. Whether black, white, yellow or brown, voters who utilize staid criteria to establish the city's future direction represent a backward brood. Hopefully, votes cast far from the superficial surface but closer to the substance of the issues will prevail.

Jackson's Doc Addicted

2009-11-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Bombshell? Well, not exactly, as talk show hostess Nancy Grace is so quick to blurt nightly. On the eve of the "This is It" premiere, Michael Jackson's dermatologist, Dr. Arnie Klein, petitioned the estate to cough up $50,000 for medical services previously rendered. The exorbitant fee amounts to approximately $1,000 a pop for 51 Demerol injections the celebrity doc administered within 90 days of the icon's death.

Klein is the same slimy character who boisteriously proclaimed on CNN that he wanted to make sure Michael's children weren't exploited financially. Before making his way to the bank should he receive a favorable ruling, Klein should consult his crony Dr. Conrad Murray for a prescription to arrest greed addiction.

Atlantur - We Have a Problem

2009-10-21T03:36:00.000-07:00

The recession might've flung me for a fashionista loop but the recognition of good taste hasn't taken a similar slide. So when the opinionated masses fueled the controversial Morehouse University dress code fire, I hooped and hollered to the hills.

Though Bill Cosby has been raked over the coals for telling Black America's truths, it's about time an official "Approriate Attire Policy" outlawed the ghetto fabulous trend of do rags, flip flops, hoodies, dental grills and saggy jeans on the predominantly black all-male campus in the ATL.

Hardly homophobic as some suggest, the policy also bans gay Morehouse men from parading around in women's clothing. Heels of the non Christian Louboutin variety and frilly tops may be a fashion staple of several gay men of the Real Housewives of Atlanta but trust, even among the gramatically crippled elite nots, the combo of pumps and the male frontal bump is hardly cute. After all, some things should be kept in the closet.

Mixed Blood, Light Skin and Good Hair

2009-10-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama's ascendance to the U.S.Presidency has cultivated fertile curiousity for all things black: Who we are, what we wear, how we live and style our hair have garnered constant media mention since the black family took up White House residence.

MIXED BLOOD
Although it was not exactly news to us that the First Lady's ancestral chain included an Anglo-Saxon link, a CNN anchor of Canadian descent captioned the story as "history unknown." Somebody, please throw that clueless bloke a historical bone.

For years, African-Americans have recounted how white male domination during slavery surreptiously produced scores of mulatto babies. Despite repeated sexual violation instances, colored folks wear the translucent skin biracial blood sometimes affords them like a privileged badge.

In WASP households, I suspect, the subject is rarely broached since burying the societal shame of the black and white ties that bind perserves purity's perception. Clearly, the result weaves a fabric of facts unacknowledged versus unknown.

LIGHT SKIN, GOOD HAIR

Freshly plucked from the European standards tree, a bite of the "light skin, good hair" apple was initially savored in slavery when darker skinned slaves made the ripe observation that lighter skinned slaves were granted privileges they were forbidden to enjoy. Though the perception of creamy skin and 'bone strait' hair manifested a slave mentality on the plantation, identity and self-esteem issues surrounding appearance still boggle emancipated blacks in America today.

Surprisingly, some 'light, bright and damn near white' sisters and brothers have experienced unease with their culturally disassociated skin tones. Pain piercing her 'high yella face' and tears welling in her green eyes, a friend once confided the heavy burden she bears as a categorical misfit: "I hate it when people look at me as if they're having difficulty figuring out what I am."

Until African-Americans stop worshipping 'light skin and good hair' as the ultimate beauty barometers, in psychological bondage they'll remain. Granted, the African-American conditions of nappy hair and dark skin are ancestrally ours but make no mistake, the inferiority conclusion was coined by others.

WTF - Chicago Student Beaten to Death

2009-09-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Chicago, typically hailed as the Windy City, became Whack City when a throng of blood thirsty thugs beat a high school honors student to death last week. Thanks to cell phone video which captured the attack, four teenagers who knocked Derrion Albert unconscious with wooden planks and kicked him mercilessly now call a jail cell home. Losing another black youth to black heathens who devalue life confirms the fibers of self-respect in our community are fraying fast. Naturally, no respect for self breeds an absence of respect for others.

Fed up with the same brand of inner city violence that took the lives of 30 Chicago-area students in 2008, residents who aren’t tossing blame to parental neglect are looking to law enforcement to arrest the community’s ills. Until change comes to inner cities across America, land of limited opportunity and poverty gone wild, the expectation of a single-pronged solution seems extreme. Thank God my generation had a village.

Ain't this a Bow Wow Bxxch!

2009-09-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Despite NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s highly publicized lock-up for funding a dog fighting ring, his lukewarm message that the enterprise is cruel rather than cool is running cold in some urban and suburban neighborhoods. As recently as last week, a non-inner city Chicago day care center was shut down when its dual purpose as a dog fighting site was discovered. No children were injured and although rescued, nine dogs, body parts and flesh ripped in barbaric battle, required surgery - one pup lost an eye and another’s genitals were severed.

Right on to the columnist who cited “the real lesson in the Vick conviction is that dog fighting remains a national scourge” in the NYT’s Sunday edition because it perturbs me each time I see young black men, jeans sloppily sagging, shuffling down an urban sidewalk with a Pit Bull in ghetto fabulous tow. Shaken or stirred, the mix is hardly suggestive of a relationship within acceptable animal companionship bounds.

The NFL commissioner, ravenous for revenue, reinstated Vick but the conviction ensures the timeline in shedding the notorious dog fighting collar will likely exceed the years left in the former Atlanta Falcon’s football career. Reportedly, arrests and convictions are up across the nation; however, the dog fighting financier must growl louder because some obviously aren’t ‘trying to hear him.’ Until this violent breed of boys in the hood is aggressively chased and caged like Mike, urban communities will continue to be plagued by dog fighting’s pathological poop.

And The WTF of the Week Award Goes To...

2009-07-10T04:59:00.000-07:00

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly must be smoking crack again. In addition to denouncing Michael Jackson’s Black Icon status, he also said ““Black Americans are much more engaged in watching this stuff than white Americans, even though Michael Jackson has white children -- and he chose to have white children -- and the face deal, don't even want to get into... So what's that racial thing all about?” O’Reilly, you’re not qualified to intellectualize black pride. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/06/gretchen-carlson-michael_n_226707.html.

Forget the skin lightening, fathering to three white children, and the artificial lifestyle that often accessorizes superstardom because through all the manure, African-Americans never stopped claiming MJ as one of their own. Though it would've been icing on the cake, we don't need an official resolution. Clueless to the ways of a world that revolves black 24/7, the Irishman’s racially acidic tongue should be snipped like a Doberman pinscher’s tail. Back, back, O’Reilly, give me 50 feet.

On a personal note in harmony with a NYT journalist’s King of Pop compartmentalization, MJ’s music recorded “the soundtrack of my youth” – a carefree time untarnished by economic decay and vulgar Madoffian men who maintain stay rich hard-ons. At the time, however, deep in puppy love with the adorable face, I didn’t recognize the genius who would ignite a global unity fire like no one in musical history has. You better ask somebody, O’Reilly.

As MJ’s devoted rainbow coalition of fan millions attest around the world, when you’re that talented, the surgically saturated appearance becomes insignificant. Bill O’Reilly is only a nubby parcel in the landscape of the colorless “Don’t Get It” plenty so after whooping exasperation in response to his incendiary comments, I had to holler WTF.

The WTF of the Week Award Goes To...

2009-06-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

The BET Award show salute to Michael Jackson may be a wrap but the press continues to pounce on patriarch Joe Jackson for sullying the occasion with shameless self promotion. In his first public appearance since the King of Pop’s passing, Jackson plugged his new Blu ray record venture following an unemotional expression of grief for the “Superstar's” loss. Dark glasses, however, didn't shield the dollar signs permanently plastered in the elder Jackson’s eyes.

Papa Jackson’s bravado bled red like ink through a bright white shirt pocket in the repeated sound clip. Far from crestfallen, an upbeat Joe appeared to be yet another ranch hand tugging desperately at the cash cow’s udders. How inappropriately pathetic but that's Joe.

Given this crass display of character, it’s a wonder Mrs. Jackson hadn’t kicked this “blow” to Sin City's curb sooner – though still married, reportedly, Joe and Katherine haven’t lived together at the Encino, CA compound in over a decade. If the father who forbade his son to call him Daddy has been excluded from a will that has suddenly surfaced, King Michael couldn't have sealed a finer goodbye.

The Self-Sabotaged NEcession

2009-05-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

It’s no surprise that Negroes, innately prone to adversity, are suffering bleakeconomics’ biggest hit. An article on Black Commentator.com reported last month’s startling statistics: joblessness spiked to 15% overall and men and youth facing unemployment rates of 17.2% and 34%, respectively. With so many jobs undergoing the knife, counting ourselves among the casualties has become routine. Since discrimination is a denominator in economic erosion’s equation, what equals recession for others amounts to a necession for us.

Economists, eager to spin reality’s wheel to encourage spending and quell fear, say things are easing in the U.S. economy, but the assessment radar excludes social dysfunction dynamics derailing success for some of Black America’s youth and young adults. For instance, consider these comment posted in the blogosphere: When asked if he had found a job, one teenager said, “Nope, they gotta come to me if they want my work.” Albeit there are many factors driving the unemployment course, the current colored community trend is not exactly mind-boggling.

Black youth and young adults, stymied by life preparation, often present prospective employers with undesirable packages wrapped in ignorant bows. I’ve seen first-hand the lack of adherence to job hunting’s cardinal rule that commands professional dress: elaborate multi-hued hairstyles, sagging slacks, tennis shoes, skin-tight clothing, gold grills and sunglasses accessorized with unsightly tattoos. More often than not, what’s revered in Hollyhood is worthless in the workplace.

Seemingly, the self-respect direction steered by teachers and parents is still veered by thug life’s magnetic allure. To the freedom fighters that risked their lives to open doors previously closed, the cultural insult must be crushing. With hope on a faraway horizon and small eyes sabotaged by glamorized blight, garbage will always find a home in minds unexpanded by possibility. However, birth in the ghetto never means one must adopt it as a permanent residence, at least not mentally.

Cable TV Cooking in Color

2009-05-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

It’s 2009 and we’ve come a long way, baby, but according to the NYT, the roles on major network TV have dipped dramatically for African-Americans. Thankfully, that’s not the case for cable.

The fade to black phenomenon, however, didn’t derail the recurring screen dreams of actress Jada Pinkett Smith who’ll executive produce and star in TNT’s “Hawthorne. “ The multi-talented dynamo and wife of Will assumes the role of Christiana Hawthorne, Richmond Trinity Hospital’s “don’t take no medical mess” Nursing Director. Based on the buzz, you’ll definitely want to tune in for the June premiere, molded in the dramatic vein of Gray’s Anatomy and ER.

And Smith isn’t alone as Vivica Fox and Kelly Rowland have also joined the primetime pack. Following the VH1 Fashion Show flop, actress Vivica Fox returns to the reality block, hosting TV Land Prime’s “The Cougar.” Fortysomething Fox, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s former eye candy, cannot cop an innocent plea when it comes to looking for love in immature faces. Starting this month, Fox strikes the older woman/younger man dating match each Wednesday at 9pm CST.

A boob- enhanced Kelly Rowland will be side dish-served to designer Isaac Mizrahi on Bravo’s latest reality entrée, “The Fashion Show.” The pairing signals a rebound for Destiny Child’s Rowland whose Matthew Knowles management camp departure gained steam before reports of being released by Columbia Records surfaced recently. Who knows what’s next musically for Kelly, however, parlaying her celebrity into another performance platform could keep the singer’s fame train on track. The reality series makes its fashionable splash on May 9th at 9pm CST.

Although CNN broke with D.L. Hughley, Fox has snagged funny woman Wanda Sykes to host a late night talk show a la Real Time with Bill Maher beginning either this fall or January 2010. Let’s hope Fox executives don’t pull the 9-episode plug like they did with Wanda At Large.

The NYT article detailing the decline in starring roles for African-Americans on network TV appears here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/arts/television/18minor.html?_r=1&sq=tv%20series%20black%20characters&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=5&adxnnlx=1239937234-lXzV7ajxkEWq1NaEl53O5A.

Words Kill Two Youth

2009-04-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

As political pundits peered into the president’s 100-day performance window, the clouds of disbelief, hovering over the recent suicides of two 11-year old male youths, have yet to dissipate. Though one resided in Springfield, Ma and the other in DeKalb, Ga., the commonalities are startling: both six-grade victims were taunted unmercifully about being gay at their respective schools. Carl Walker-Hoover hung himself at home with an electric cord on April 6th and two weeks later, Jaheem Herrera fashioned a belt similarly to end his earthly despair.

It matters not whether one at a tender age has a firm grip on his or her sexuality, but the callousness demonstrated by their classmates, reportedly, is especially disturbing. Sure, sticks and stones break bones but the provocation lends proof that malicious words not only hurt, they kill.

What’s more, I’m afraid the slanderous rants likely originated in homes, sensitive only to societal norms. Parents must be more consumed with thoughts in the heads of their children rather than the materialism their money can buy for their backs. Granted, teachers, overworked and underpaid, have their hands full with crowded classrooms and limited resources. Despite those things they may individually reject, it is incumbent on parents and teachers in partnership to impart stronger messages of tolerance and respect.

Ex House Doc in the Wrong House

2009-04-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, the naming of actor Kal Penn to a White House liaison post designed to forge relationships with the art world and Asian and Pacific Islander audiences caught many by surprise. Penn, whose claims to Hollywood fame are the Harold and Kumar films and TV series “House,” dedicated his political energies exhaustively to the Obama campaign according to The Daily Beast.

If you recall former actor Ronald Reagan’s era, it’s not unusual for a president to incorporate Hollywood into his strategic platform. Nevertheless, I question whether the move mandates necessity or political payback. I’d rather see a commoner’s council to keep the president abreast of what’s happening in American hoods. Obama must not forget a minority constituency challenged daily by the lack of judicial and economic parity.

California Dreamin: A Recession Blues Cure

2009-04-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

At times, the economic gun holding us hostage seems inescapable. Earlier this month, a report revealed that 61% of Americans bear burdens of enormous stress. For whatever’s ailing, however, there’s almost always a cure.

With a 24-hour poolside butler to fetch watermelon Mojitos following a fab food spread prepared for you and your crew, this spot might be the ultimate rejuvenation getaway. Don’t book the Gulfstream jet yet, honey, if you don’t have Bernie Madoff's stash. The former Calabasas, CA love shack of Eddie and Nicole Murphy won’t be yours year-round without $8.5 mil.

Recession or not, cast your California dreams and check out the rest of the Spanish-styled crib at http://www.luxist.com/2009/04/25/nicole-murphy-in-calabasas-estate-of-the-day/.

Lux Disgust

2009-04-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

One of the best things to emanate from the economic collapse is the colossal transformation in American values. Penny pinching consumers, fearful of joining the unemployment ranks, are dining out less frequently and shunning price-slashed flat screen TVs. Many may be heeding frugality’s convention, but Jill Zarin, one of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York, is proof that the trend hasn’t trickled down.

Tongues, laced with disgust or twisted with envy, are in a non-stop wag about major-moolahed Jill’s latest accessory. Despite the vulgarity of indulgence at recession’s height, the “keep it real lux” queen unzipped her pocketbook of $16,000 for a custom Bea Amblard handbag – New York magazine says it rivals red cardboard.

Unlike Louis Vuitton, Amblard’s name doesn’t exactly register bag world-big so here’s her design skinny: After a Hermes apprenticeship where she stamped the Kelly Bag with her signature, Amblard launched her own line. In fact, according to the April in Paris Web site, the major fashion player of French descent “is the only Hermes artisan designing under her own label, as well as owning her own boutique, in the United States.” See http://www.aprilinparis.us/beatrice.

If that’s not lux-disgust enough for you, this one will definitely leave you in stitches. Alexander Amosu, hailed as one of Britain’s most influential black men, recently unveiled the world’s most expensive suit at $103.000 a pop. A million-dollar man at 25, the entrepreneur was also the first to launch urban ringtones in Europe.

Undaunted by a raveled economy, Amosu’s design direction dictates nine eighteen carat-gold and pave-diamond button bling into the vicuna, qiviuk and pashmina fabric-blended ensemble. Considering its armored Range Rover transport to the London unveiling last week, this suit probably won’t find favor with Wall Street financiers.

Enough of the Obama Lust

2009-04-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Monkey see, monkey do. For lack of originality, the Washingtonian magazine's latest cover deserves a failing grade. Conjuring up images of the New York Post's offensive cartoon was not my intent, yet, the reference to imitation drives the cover's animalistic inference home. Although throngs of white women satiated with Barack Obama's Mandingo mystique have gotten extensive news play, the unabashed sexual obsession with the president should succumb to a natural death like serious journalism. Sex may be the sales belt's oldest tool but what a stereotypical shame!

Med Mouth Loose

2009-04-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

A reader, in distress over an ingrown toenail, recently hopped to a podiatrist’s office only to encounter additional irritation. The doctor’s conversation, concentrated in references to the brazen Somali pirates, rubbed her the wrong way like a bulging bunion would one with a foot fetish. Although the medical treatment relieved her ailing foot, she is still scratching her head and pondering whether the mention was coincidental or intentional due to the commonality of color.

Dear Reader,
I’d like to think that the colorless man meant no harm by mentioning a major news subject on the minds of many. In fact, he may have been acknowledging you as an educated woman in tuned with the news. Frankly, there's no way to check if the foot doc practices dually as a racist; however, I suspect you see the world through reality’s black and white lens so perception overrides intent. Unless you’re prepared to overlook this social fungus scenario, stepping to another expert that won’t inflict mental duress is my suggestion.

ATBG

Bravo's A-List Awards Recap

2009-04-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Did you catch Bravo's A-List Awards show last week? If not, Real Housewives of Atlanta's NeNe Leaks nabbed Reality's Guiltiest Pleasure distinction. Sistahgurl, wrong for that ghetto-tight metallic dress, should've taken home the Hot Mess award instead. I wonder where home is these days since she and hubby Greg received the boot earlier this year for mortgage default, reportedly. Check out the pumps on the non-Real Housewife of Atlanta to the far right. He's tipping more than Ben Franklins, honey.

Always over-the-top comedian Kathy Griffin shocked few when she called Aubrey O'Day (member or ex-member of Danity Kane, Diddy's latest group of non-singing girls) to the stage for a tongue exchange. While most men drool over girl-on-girl action, NeNe's other half looked on in pernicious disgust. Baby, please, these Hollywood wannabes are killing me with their crass classlessness.

O Obsession

2009-04-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

Since the election of America’s first black president, practically everything associated with Barack Obama has been examined within racial context except for the new White House dog, Bo. Barack is president, but First Lady Michelle’s speed on the popularity track is akin to a Carl Lewis blaze.

Following the G20 Summit, The Daily Beast Editor Tina Brown reported that the First Lady has overtaken Oprah Winfrey as the “inspirational It Girl and iconic female African-American role model.” Some say the comparison to the media magnate is racist but I think not. White America’s reference bank of Ivy-League educated African-American women who are polished, primped and poised remains abysmally insufficient.

The comparison stems from lack of exposure since it was only recently that whites became privy to the black elite’s existence. Colored faces of career heavy hitters are simply not piped into white audiences’ family rooms daily like O’s: White House Social Secretary Desiree Rodgers, former chief of the Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, Faye Wattleton, Center for the Advancement of Women President, and Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Bennett College’s 15th President, to name an executive few.

Of all the global stagnation, we’re implored to focus on things more important like the staggering numbers in black unemployment or diminished economic opportunity in our communities. Oprah may reign as the moneyed media queen in the U.S., but Michelle, hands down, is the globe’s royal rock.

Easter Egg Roll Applause

2009-04-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

We won’t unanimously agree with every step he takes but President Barack Obama continues to demonstrate relentless commitment to diversity. For the first time in White House history, the president made tickets to the traditional Easter Egg Roll available to the children of gay and lesbian parents. Previous presidents should be shamed for penalizing children in the past for their parents’ sexual orientation. Even if this brand of family is not tied in a socially acceptable bow, at least these youngsters, unlike orphans, have the benefit and beauty of love.

Intervention Inequity at Wall and Main Streets

2009-04-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Word of GM’s recently kicked to the curb CEO Rick Wagoner is still vigorously spinning public opinion wheels. Unlike Wall Street, bolstered with bailout funds despite evidence of aggrandized greed, the Obama administration will sustain Main Street’s GM and Chrysler with temporary life support. Unimpressed with the companies’ respective restructuring plans, the U.S. government commandeered the driver’s seat, forcing Chrysler’s hand in marriage to Fiat and ousting GM’s ineffective chief.

The money manipulative fat cats in the financial industry have skirted the stringent accountability to which GM and Chrysler have been held. When AIG doled out the latest round of hefty bonuses, President Obama expressed consternation but no heads were chopped although deservedly so. In fact, it wouldn’t bother me one bit if Secretary Treasurer Timothy Geithner stepped up to the guillotine first for his breach in governmental transparency. Reportedly, Geithner co-signed AIG’s bonus plans before distribution of the checks ignited public fire.

Though many argue that the financial and automotive industries are dramatically different in market dynamics, others note presidential loyalties gelled in colossal campaign contributions: “Wall Street owns Obama like Big Oil owned Bush.” You can't very well oust the folks that gave you 40% of the money raised for your campaign (at least that's what I've read).” See Wall Street Watch’s “Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America” at www.wallstreetwatch.org for substantiation. Once again, instead of the pre-election change carrot that was dangled, “Big Brother” in cahoots with big business looks like status quo.

If anyone needs a bailout, it’s the American public. Outsourcing wielded the first knife in the American worker’s back and now due to economic necessity, employers are slashing jobs rather than creating them. But where are the stimulus funds for retraining since education as a high-cost reinvention tool remains massively inaccessible? Whatever it takes, bankruptcy for U.S. auto manufacturers must be averted because the non-executive hands of men and women that have produced GM and Chrysler’s hermetically challenged vehicles, whether black, white, yellow or brown, are the ones truly worthy of being saved.

Beyond the Fashion Calendar: When White is Wrong

2009-03-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Inasmuch as 2008 was a banner year for assigning blame to blacks for the subprime mortgage slide and Prop.8’s passing, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva recently attributed fault for the U.S.’ financial fallout to the “white and blue-eyed.”

At a pre-G20 summit meeting to spur world trade, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown looked as if he’d been spooked by Casper when Lula said “This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by the irrational behavior of people who were white and blue-eyed, who before the crisis they looked like they knew everything about economics, but now have demonstrated they know nothing about economics.” Lula’s public vindication’s drew the same “white ain’t always right” amens reserved for others who have been bold enough to publicly cite the obvious from blacks and browns.

Infrequently speechless NYT Columnist Maureen Dowd cited black cool's rebirth to the plethora of black faces promoting conspicuous consumption in “straw boaters and other prepster outfits in Ralph Lauren ads” in "Blue Eyed Greed." Dowd should be banished to fashionista timeout because Ralph Lauren's crowning of Tyson Beckford as the chocolate chiseled model king back in the 90s should be fairly common knowledge.

Although hopeful that the Obamas have opened doors for subsequent brown-eyed victories, Dowd summarily injected bias when she included study results that correlate eye color with ability: “A 2007 University of Louisville study concluded that people with blue eyes were better planners and strategic thinkers — superior at things like golf, cross-country running and preparing for exams — while people with brown eyes had better reflexes, making them good at hockey and football.”

We know all too well that color has historically represented a superficial barometer to spearhead racial oppression. Unfortunately, on the cool factor alone, the numbers of whites who emulate and siphon black culture far exceed those who are willing to recognize and assume the burden imposed by superiority's debilitating social caste.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/opinion/29dowd.html?em

Black Gurl Answers Reader's Rihanna Question

2009-03-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Q: One would think she had more confidence and self-esteem, more abuse-shame, and more sense than to publicly reconcile with a man who's beating of her has been made public. Black Gurl needs to think about this one. I'm worried about the message it sends to my niece who likes Rihanna.

A: “O” took it to Rihanna old school when she said “if a man hits you once, he will hit you again.” However, the public's expectation that the 21-year old pop princess be able to distinguish love from lust and legality from loyalty is vacuous. Why her family hasn't called in a high-powered intervention squad to turn up tough love is particularly puzzling because professional guidance is paramount. Mouths are mum but might amenability to abuse be a Barbadian cultural ill Rihanna has inherited?

When the co-dependence dust dissipates, perhaps Rihanna will reemerge with self-esteem intact. Although buzz alleging her raised hand or stiletto as a weapon in dysfunction's love nest on previous occasions has been building, the former beauty queen is not facing charges, Brown is. Reader, if you're taking an active role in your niece's development and popular culture is not the delivery vehicle for social education, I suspect she'll embrace the boundaries of love provided you approach the subject candidly and practice what you preach.

Is Steele Still a Good Negro?

2009-03-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

Engaging Rush Limbaugh’s caustic comments and characterizing his RNC role as one to piss people off may strip Chairman Michael Steele of his “Good Negro” status. “Good Negroes” don’t get too big for their britches or mouth off in the media when challenged. Limbaugh said of Steele earlier this week, “You are head of the RNC, not the Republican Party. It’s time for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking-head media star...”

Guided by ambition more than ancestry, Steele accepted the figurehead hat when he assumed the RNC chair. African-Americans, however, are not easily bamboozled, having realized the strategy to drive diversity front and center was conceived in deceit that even Ray Charles could “peep” from the grave – thus far, the makeover, which has attracted the likes of a breakout Republican rapper named Hi-Caliber, has hit an inclusive skid.

Steele’s “My bad, Massa” to Limbaugh, who 11% of Republicans consider to be the party leader according to the Rasmussen Poll, cancelled the modest applause his initial dismissal of Limbaugh as entertainer generated earlier. A statement attributed in a Washington Post article to the former Maryland Lieutenant Governor, "You cannot win in this country a statewide or a national election without the black vote" also signals political naiveté on a grand scale.

The RNC Chairman would be well advised to watch his back because field privileges can easily replace those currently limited to the house. That’s exactly what will happen should Steele heed Dr. Ada Fisher’s recent resignation request. Fisher, a national RNC committee member, who is also black, has suggested the ill-gamed Steele take his pseudo hip hop swagger elsewhere.

More Monkey Business at Barnes & Nobles

2009-02-28T09:13:00.001-08:00

Reaction to a Barnes and Nobles’ display window photograph mimicking the NYP’s cartoon’s racist theme proves imitation is not always the highest form of flattery. Blacks, whose backs are burdening an upsurge in racism, were pissed like cotton-picking slaves when a picture surfaced on the Internet of a Barack Obama commemoratives’ display injected with more monkey business – this time, a book with a monkey on its cover infiltrated the bookseller’s publication shrine to the 44th U.S.President.

Feeling as though I’d been slapped twice by the same hand tightly wadded my panties, and when text didn’t accompany the depicted vulgarity, I called the store in Coral Gables, FL, an affluent enclave of “Living La Vida Loca” Miami, the next day. I calmly expressed my concerns to the manager on duty, an overly apologetic woman whose dialect conveyed Hispanic heritage. Although the incendiary incident occurred two weeks ago, complaint phone calls have been non-stop, according to the B&N representative. When I asked if the guilty party had been hogtied, she merely advised that an unidentified customer was the suspected interloper.

Though it’s not the first time a customer has disrupted a retail display, B&N management also bears blame for its lax in ensuring store windows promote products positively. In this day of consumer tightwads, brisk traffic certainly isn't a feasible explanation for quality assurance neglect.

With the election of the first H.N.I.C., we knew this was coming. We knew that with a climatic historical event, a swell in ignorance was bound to accompany it. We also knew that a deepening recession wouldn’t be enough to distract white supremist mindsets. No matter the degree to which the lives of blacks and whites collide by rising unemployment and home foreclosure commonalities, there will always be change resisters who strive to divide. Every picture tells a story, even those we may least expect.

Attorney General Lays Truth's Gavel Down

2009-02-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

If anything is distinguishable about diversity’s multi-meat stew, the dark meat must not overpower the white meat’s flavor. In other words, when blacks season their speech with critical truth just as U.S. Attorney Eric Holder did when he branded America a "nation of cowards," rancidity invades the mouths of whites. While Holder’s call is correct, this nation also includes a herd of hypocrites who cling to diversity’s political correctness in public, yet, fail to practice what is championed privately.

The main ones quick to reject the societal observation, like Pat Buchannan, who accused Holder of calling “white people” cowards, are the same ones guilty of self-segregating. Apparently, Maureen Dowd was equally inflamed when she wrote “…we don’t need a Jackson/Sharpton-style lecture on race. Barack Obama’s election was supposed to get us past that” in a NYT column entitled “Dark, Dark, Dark,” at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/opinion/22dowd.html. Though an intelligent writer, either Dowd has been sipping her assertions from a flawed post-racial straw or the hue of her reality is several shades lighter than mine.

Racism's discussion remains a lifetime staple in the African-American kitchen, but in the cupboards of many white households, its supply is scant. Hope burns eternal, however, the expectation that White America smell the breadth of racism's putrid aroma when they’ve not been forthright within their own insulated communities is, at best, extreme.

Cartoon Buffoonery in the New York Post

2009-02-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

Update 2/21: A Rev. Al Sharpton-led protest of 200 prompted a NYP apology. NAACP Head Ben Jealous has since called for a boycott of the media powerhouse.

The race card will still be played even when logic defies, yet, Rev. Al Sharpton and NY Governor David Paterson deserve a "right on" for raising issue with the controversial New York Post cartoon. The depiction, two white police officers standing over a chimp disabled by gunfire, is fried chicken-familiar to African-Americans but the caption seals the stereotypical deal: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

The tasteless reference is ‘someone’ other than U.S. President Barack Obama. Whites have equated African-American ancestry with the gorilla family for years. Just as in comedy, politics is abrasively targeted in cartoons, even those in journalistic context. Cartoonist Sean Delonas, reportedly, says the charges are “friggin ridiculous.” Undoubtedly, the thinking caps donned by the NYP powerheads were infant-sized. Incidentally, didn't we prove that a primate cannot be elected president?

When badge-sanctioned injustice continues to trample and reduce humans of color to animal stature, a post-racial society is akin to a pipe dream. Religious roots may predicate forgiveness but we will never forget the beat down of Rodney King or the recent gun downs of Oscar Grant, unarmed and handcuffed, courtesy of Oakland B.A.R.T. Police, and Bellaire,TX resident Robbie Tolan, plus others maimed and murdered by hands posturing white supremacy. Grant paid the ultimate price with his life, unfortunately.

Jakes' Son Snatched in Dallas Sex Sting

2009-02-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

The son of megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes was figuratively cuffed for indecent exposure in a recent Dallas, TX sex sting. According to the Advocate.com, 29-year old Jermaine Donnell Jakes is accused of revealing his "family jewels" to two undercover police officers at Oak Cliff’s Kiest Park. Billed as gay-friendly by www.citydata.com/zips/75224.html, the area's wooded spot belied cordiality when gays and the down low straight men who engage them were targeted the night of January 3, 2009.

While specifics about the father/son dynamics are unknown, the elder Jakes’ homophobic slant is clear in the reported declaration that “he would never hire a sexually active gay person.” Naturally, methodology utilized to determine whether a gay or lesbian applicant is sexually active sparks considerable curiosity. Though equally perplexing is how to reconcile a powerful message of love preached seven days a week when employment discrimination is practiced Monday through Friday.

Here’s the official police document at a glance courtesy of http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9453:

Detective X and Detective X entered the wooded area. Suspect Jakes walked directly over to where Detective X was, and stood next to Detective X with his penis exposed through his unzipped pants. Suspect Jakes then began to masturbate his erect penis with his left hand for several seconds while making eye contact with Detective X.

Celebrity Liability Lassoes Its Latest Victims

2009-02-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

Suggesting the American public’s propensity for vindication as proof in the election of Barack Obama, who admitted a previous life’s cocaine vice, Houston Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman was out-of-order for citing the comparison as a basis to release Michael Phelps’ photographed bong bust from incrimination’s hooks. Hoffman said of Barack Obama in “Lay off Michael Phelps” published February 9, 2009: “Americans seemed to have forgiven him. They just elected him president over a war hero. And judging from all those magazine covers, commemorative coins and collectible plates, nobody moves product like Barack Obama.”

Ken’s logic must be lodged in a Kellogg's Fruit Loop. Had Barack Obama been caught on camera like Washington D.C.’s former crack mayor Marion Berry during the presidential run, he would be an ousted Illinois Senator.

Because Kellogg's dashed for corporate cover, severing ties with the athletically accomplished Aquaman, Phelps apparently has more in common with R&B crooner Chris “Smiley” Brown than Obama. Brown, in a judicial pickle for assaulting his girlfriend, pop princess Rhianna, was temporarily scratched from Wrigley’s endorsement lineup after the allegations gained steam.

Both Phelps and Brown, who exercised judgment unrestrained by common sense, have also likely fallen victim to invincibility's hype. If Michael must bong and blaze, why can't he do so privately in his palatial Maryland bach pad to avoid risking income or reputational tarnish?

Lost in Presidential Lust

2009-02-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

I’m no prude but the sexual fodder of which Barack Obama is the subject crosses the acceptability line. Throngs of women, weak-kneed with rapture, proclaimed more than a political interest in the man who rose to the presidency long before he took office. However, sexual confessions eclipsed when New York Times columnist Judith Warner professed a dream about the president emerging from her home’s shower last week. In “Sometimes a President is Just a President,” Warner confided that “many women – not too surprisingly – were dreaming about sex with the president." The article in its entirety may be viewed here: http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/sometimes-a-president-is-just-a-president/.

Black women may be similarly smitten with the new Commander-In-Chief but if they’re wet dreaming, it’s likely kept under wraps out of respect for his First Lady. Unarguably, the black president has brought sexy back to the White House but it matters little if he can’t rescue the country from this recessionary cesspool. Seemingly, the ongoing Mandingo dick obsession by white women, though taboo in some circles, is one that will never die. Had comments of the same lascivious stream come from men about a female president, they’d be swiftly dismissed with a sexist slap.

A Bitter Etta Bites Back

2009-02-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Though she has since apologized, the acerbic acidity Etta James hurled at Beyonce for singing “At Last” on Inauguration Night caught the masses by surprise. Conversely, James sang the Houston native’s praises after her portrayal of the singer in “Cadillac Records.” In the same Seattle gig, James also demonstrated how classless she is when she coined Barack Obama the big-eared president of others. For that, Etta, a steroidal sour puss, needs her ass whupped.

Don't Diss the Queen

2009-02-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

As expected, eagle eyes will microscopically examine everything about First Lady Michelle Obama from her clothing choices to causes she champions. Poised for criticism within the avalanche of adulation, the African-American female first adds significant flair to Washington’s drab fare beyond any assigned style quotient. Occasional objectionable banter targeting Mrs. Obama by the press might be allowable; however, messing with the Queen, according to black protocol, is a no-no.

Aretha “Queen of Soul” Franklin has been unmercifully mocked for the millinery finery she donned on Inauguration Day. The original artistic architect of the civil rights anthem, “Respect,” deserves no disrespect whether it’s accusations of substituting ‘cunt tree’ for country in “My Country,‘Tis of Thee” or giving her royal less vocally in nippy D.C. Unhappy with her performance, the perfectionist elected to re-record the song for digital download last week.

With 18 Grammys bursting her musical belt, Franklin has earned exclusive license to do as she damn well pleases. Whether she’s svelte or food seduced, “Ms. Re Re” forever reigns as Black America’s Queen.