5 Card Dad Monty

I'll see you two stereotypes and raise you millions of dads.
Trayvon had a nurturing father. And he wore Hollister.
He was stalked and killed.
Jordan had a nurturing father. And he drove a cherry red Durango.
He was gunned down in broad daylight.
So how many more black men out there are nurturing fathers, waiting for freaks with guns to take their young sons before the kids have a chance to graduate high school.
No, these young men were not high school drop-outs.
Does anyone broadcast that?
Oh yes, there are other young black martyrs in this century already.
We shall not forget any of the young people. We haven't forgotten Emmit.
Some white guy told me once Margaret Garner was sent back into slavery and forgotten about
after she was tried for murder.
I answered: "Apparently not."
What is wrong with people? The woman spawned the inspiration for a Nobel Prize in literature.
Who forgot about her? Slave holders? Well they were just the true criminals. They could allow themselves to forget quite easily. That's meaningless to those of us who will not forget.
Killer freaks in America don't run or hide anymore after killing young unarmed black persons- but
time is going to have to bring about a change. We love our children, and know they do not have to
answer to any old criminal-type carcass demanding to know where they are going, or to choose what sort of music they must shun. That would be more Jim Crow. We can't espouse Jim Crow. We couldn't do it forever in centuries past. We can't do it now.
So I wonder what's happening in Burkina Faso right now?

There Are Straight Men In The NFL?

What nonsense. What an idea. I never noticed any straight guys in the NFL. Oh- Drew Brees! Right.

Reprivatans

Here's the thing: today's Republican party does not believe in "the public" at all.  As far as they are
concerned, we are the "masses waiting to be fleeced".
Anything public can be gutted and left to rot because "the public" are simply a group of individuals
whose money isn't worthy unless it is collected.
So why should these "public" people elect a government to collect their funds for them when there
are enough of us private guys to get it from them, if we just think of a way?
Public safety? What a joke. Just be careful and quiet.
Paid professional fire fighters? Let 'em volunteer. Danger shmanger.
Retirement?! People used to die on the job!
Public schools?! Read a book! What do you need with a school?
Homes? Romney told us in 2012 all we need is a "big" private landlord or two.
Work? Mini jobs at 15 hours per day will be fine. Few careers will be tolerated.
Workplace? We can sometimes afford a hole in the wall, but not many seats.
Benefits? No way...we are collectors. You are "entitled" to nothing we collect.
Water? Oh, yes, but you must buy it from a private collector/hoarder.
Hospitalization- of course, when it's time for hospice.
Hospice? We have one or two nursing homes set aside. Wait at "home".
We are collectors.
We are hoarders.
Our party is now called- Reprivatans.

















'enti

And Trayvon And Jordan Should Stand What Ground?

Some ground in cemetary plots, since the young men can no longer stand or speak, belongs to these teenagers now.

Patrick Foye Is The Man!

Mr. Foye let's us know some officials are at work in our government who realize we aren't as dumb
as a Port Authority policeman's donut.
Are we supposed to believe no one on that bridge had a patient prepped for surgery the morning he or she couldn't get there?
Should we believe one of those surgeries wasn't a C-section for a woman who'd be in great danger along with her baby if a traditional delivery ensued?
Did anyone miss an important job interview?
Was anyone on his way to pick up his insulin?
Did a citizen call to report a fire?
Did anyone call for police help?
No ambulances had to get over the bridge?
No children were left at school -oh, aside from the children of democrats?
No food or medicine had to delivered on time?
No insurance meetings had to have on -time signings?
No funerals or funeral planning suffered?
No babysitters were able to leave in time to get their own children or get to a disabled relative?
No digital advertising accounts failed to launch in time to keep ad companies from losing big dollars?
We haven't heard what happened to these citizens, or how they are going to petition wrongdoers for
redress?
Mr. Foye seemed to understand laws were being broken, and he seemed to understand why the laws
would be there.
Maybe the person picking up insulin was picking it up for a little son or daughter. He may have gotten to neither on time.
How many dangerous situations may have been exacerbated during prisoner transport?
How many child custody cases went unheard?
How many attorneys didn't show up for clients they'd been paid to defend?
How many judges failed to make an appearance? Prosecutors?
How many protection orders didn't get signed? Didn't get delivered?
What happened to grand jury meetings and deliberation on capital cases?
How many dissertations didn't get reviewed on time?
Will those Ph.D.'s get awarded anyway?
Were any of those students summer holdouts waiting to defend?
Who was headed to bar exam study sessions? Do people understand how serious the New York
bar happens to be and how expensive those exam classes are?
I want Sherrod Brown for Vice President; but Patrick Foye would be wonderful too.
Of course, if  Joe Biden is going to be President, I want Susan Rice for V.P. And that may be what
Republicans fear greatly!

Governor Brewer And SB 1062

Governor Brewer should ignore this bill. Why sign unconstitutional legislation? Pretend it isn't on
your desk.

Our President Wants Better Dads

I don't blame him. However, a great many dads who stay away do so for admirable reasons.
Those reasons revolve around the wheel of facts all adding up to one central fact: these men are no good, and have no good family sealants to offer. Why do we think the moms involved are' for the most part, not pleading with these people to return to the family? I am sorry Pres.

Really POTUS?

American Black culture happens to be one of the only cultural pockets in American life where
childhood is real and lively.
This has been true since the fifties when black dads came back from WWII and began to earn a living
for their growing families.
Those young people who came of age in the sixties were bound and determined to explain their
absolute disbelief in white superiority.
The rest is history.
Maybe today's youngsters take a bit too much for granted; but they can't exactly put down the X-box.
Their childhoods create industries in this country which transfer to wider world. Most other
childhoods in America are established in the play of some sort of war games if they exist at all.
So many childhoods in America are predicated upon learning the very political value of living in an all white neighborhood, going to an all white school, and learning to shoot many guns.
I am not sure a majority of young black children think of those things as very wonderful.  I think they may be able to spend more time on homework; but we have to be careful there. Homework doesn't
exactly spawn all the industries we need for black youngsters.
We need music industries, writers, history professors, directors, poets, social innovators, and religious leaders. We aren't going to get the brands of those things we need from children who don't
play.
Remember Peter Jennings? I always do. He made everyone aware that if he had been black when he
began in journalism, no one he knew would have given him even a ghost of a chance!
We will never be able to say that about talented black people who wanted help from, say,
Barry Gordy.

Which Ground Is Yours?

The ground on which you walk to leave the scene and get your gun, then come come to the argument
unharmed, and start shooting deadly weapons- that's the ground you are calling yours?

Are We Going To Let Ourselves Be Dumb?

No. No we won't.
I admire the CBO.
However, if jobs will be lost when the minimum wage increases it may be because people dumped a
great many crummy jobs with crummy companies to take other better paying work.
Besides, if companies do shed jobs, it will likely be temporary, because they are obviously going to be adding customers if millions more people will be making 39% more money!

BUT- Lawrence O'Donnell Makes It All Worthwhile

I am so glad to stay up late to watch Lawrence. He informs us on progressive news and its many
enemies. I only wish he would speak more elaborately about Malawi's economy and how many
black children may have parents who own businesses sprouting from the "desk' business. I firmly
believe Bono when he says the time has come for America to do business with Africa as competition
with Chinese companies who do.
If disease is abating in Africa, we have to acknowledge Africans will be a great consumer class because they are one of the only younger population groups in the world.
Europe, Asia, and Australia have aging populations.
Can we find a way to do business in Africa? They aren't going to emerge as only a continental charity
case.
We may not realize it now- but either China will be their principal business partners, or we will.

A Terribly Lacking Fourth Estate In The Visual Media

Say you make it 92 years old.
You then have a medical problem  which engulfs you, rendering you unconscious.
The powers that be- have they decided you wouldn't have needed help if you had become
unconscious at maybe 42, or 22?
What is the moral of the story?
It could be this: don't live to be 92 if you you are going to expect help for a medical emergency.
Don't live to be 92 if you think you should be able to depend on, for instance, the George Washington Bridge as a major thoroughfare where you live. After all...
This is America.
America the young?
Why aren't we reporting what actually happened to people in those days including 9-11?
Did someone think it was all funny?
How are the families involved to be made whole?

Terrorism By Any Other Name

Having thousands of people trapped on a mammoth bridge in the heart of business and finance in the
United States is of course, terrorism.
It could not have been more vicious if Al Queda had planned it.
What's more- it left so many citizens who live and work at the heart of our economy vulnerable to
further terrorist attacks from foreign entities.
Homeland Security should bring charges even if no one else does.
We aren't so stupid as to think no harm was done save inconvenience, simply because we can't hear
the harm done. And U.S. citizens are never safe in a dangerous world when trapped in one place for
hour after hour, day after day. U.S. citizens should never be rendered 'sitting ducks' for any one's purposes.

Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York For President Some Day?

Ba da boom. Ba da bing.

Chris Christie For President?

Ba da boom. Ba da bing.

MSNBC Can Be A Pain

They fired a black reporter during the 2012 run-up to election day, I guess because he used the term
'white folks' referring to Romney's presidential campaigning political comfort zone. What?
But later when Chuck Todd -a guy they continually attempt  to aggrandize- referred to our President
as having been 'neutered' in a trip abroad, nothing at all seemed to have been done.
Todd was a pain in the first place, because he was paired with Savannah Guthrie- a true intellectual
heavy-weight. Did MSNBC think viewers wouldn't notice?
The network began having her stare quietly at Todd when he was gurgling something at the cameras, rather than correct his glaring on-air mistakes.
That looked phony. So they had her wear alluring necklines and fetchingly 'big' pieces of jewelry
which were decidedly Not her style.
Maybe the White House rescued her by giving her interviews in which she was allowed to ask
"hardball" questions of the President and First Lady. I just know I was overjoyed to see her out of that constricted 9 a.m. slot.
Then they fired their best satirist, Keith Olbermann.
What a drag.
Again, now they fired another great satirist- one who tells the most biting of truths. And for what?
Apparently one truth the great Martin Bashir told referred to Sarah Palin.
I can't quit them because they have Rev. Al ( who I would love to see get an "A" in elocution class}
and they have 'Big Ed' Ed Schultz.
I have only seen Ed be really mean once- to a lady in Ohio. Aside from that, he tells his positions
passionately and in the vein of wanting only progress, nothing more, nothing less, for the American
people. Whether one agrees with Ed or not, he is the man. He sticks to it once he names it.
Chris Hayes was great until POTUS didn't call his brother's name in the 2012 victory speech. In that
case, Chris, POTUS would have had to name at least a hundred or so people in the campaign. He
didn't name Patty Murray either, and she made his upcoming job a lot easier. She was supposed to,
but she didn't have to.
And of course I can't lose chances to see Chris Jansing, or Craig Melvin, and especially not now
Joy Reid. What an intellect that woman has!
Besides, even though I miss knowing I will see Mara Schiavacampo, Joy- though her dad is Congolese- may be the only black woman on the network not of mixed-race parentage.
Is that important?
I am a black woman, not of mixed-race parentage. I guess people of my ilk are simply too dumb
to be regulars on MSNBC.

Two Governors: One Takes The Fall

Why would it take four days of horror for Mr. Foye to be able to put a stop to thousands of people being trapped on the GWB?
Either Governor could have put a stop to it within hours. Yeah, I know how it is in the great northeast. It was that way too with the Guiliani government after the gargantuan tragedy.
Who would get the lion's share of rebuilding money? How would they split it up? Police? Fire?
Not a chance. That entire glop may have driven Anthony Weiner to exaggerated porn behaviors.
But I have something to say to both these governors...
Ba da boom. Ba da bing.

We Lost A True Leader/ Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa

When Nelson Mandela said:"Let my people go." ...he truly meant 'by any means necessary'.
With any other person in human history, I would say the title of leadership could justly precede that
person's name. In Nelson Mandela's case, however, the man greatly enhances the title.
Mr.Mandela was the consummate head of the hearts, minds, and spirits of his own people from the
time they espoused him as their own.
He did not decry peace, nor did he reject violence, so long as his people were subject to the big ugly
thumb of apartheid.
He lead his own brethren at home, in exile, out of custody, in government jails, his name praised,  his name forbidden- as we say in America, through hell and high water.
Whereas he could not agree with Shenge (Mongosuthu) Buthelesi, I always saw Buthelesi as a leader who said he wanted to share power, but really wanted an army which would obliterate white South Africa altogether. I don't see how the nation could have escaped even stricter sanctions, and even other world armies had such violence won the day among black South Africa. For one thing- way too much money, and way too much associated industry would have been up for grabs. even infighting
would have gotten worse among original tribes.
I have always felt certain Nelson Mandela was released from jail because he was the one and only
chance of keeping the peace in South Africa. Both Buthelesi's tribe and Winnie's boys would have
been happy to engender a new Mau-Mau.
I also mourned President Mandela's marriage to Winnie Mandela, because she held his coalition together in his name for so very many years; but when he asked her to help disarm her boys, she was more like Mr. Buthelesi. She had to consistently refuse.
At that time the average age in  South African black culture was only about 15. Winnie had nurtured
those boys from birth, and she vowed never to suggest they be uncomfortable in their security, even
though they may not have actually needed their guns in Mandela's new government.
I saw the inevitable split in the Mandelas as a tragedy of Shakespearean proportion.
I also always held a special place in my heart for Mr. Buthelesi, because his tribes opposed accepting
European foreigners into South African societies in the first place.
The film, Zulu, starring Mr. Buthelesi, shows that sentiment for tribal nation autonomy in a tremendously memorable way with some of the most stunning cinematography since 
Once Upon A Time In The West- a tale most decidedly Not fairy.
History shows us though, that for good or for ill- Nelson Mandela was the man to lead his people out
of apartheid- a system which would never have let them thrive in the land of absolutely every single
one of their ancestors. That system held a promise of continued unrest, naturally, for all of
South Africa.
As it is now, Nelson Mandela has given his country and his countrymen a chance to build the social and
economic freedoms they did not have as inhabitants of a modern society.
Hail to Mandela the Chief.