In America, there will be divorce.
There will be abortion.
There will be gay marriage.
Traditional marriage has a lot of problems, as it has been based primarily on the rights men should have over every aspect of a woman's life.
Gay marriage is the least of Alabama's problems with cohesive family structures.
Gay marriage will probably enhance core family values.
As for the rest of your social agenda; well make it hard. Let Repeelican public policy cause people misery. None of our social problems will disappear from the Americanl landscape.
I just hope we will be crafty enough to stay safe without you.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Roy Moore
The Federal courts are the courts of the United States of America.
You may not understand it now, but later you will see that Alabama cannot lead the U.S A.
You're sad about it, but the fifty states are united now.
Go sumwheer an git yeself a chirch to preech in!
You may not understand it now, but later you will see that Alabama cannot lead the U.S A.
You're sad about it, but the fifty states are united now.
Go sumwheer an git yeself a chirch to preech in!
We Can No Longer Vote For Monied Candidates
We have to begin to depend on social media to advertise the tiny budgets of our candidates.
If I see a candidate has a lot of money- I have to seriously consider not voting for him or her.
Why? Becasue Citizens United has made a world in which the President who wins from the
heaviest donations of the money class may actually not have one single idea or philosophy the
donors do not like.
That is a tremendously dangerous position for America to operate in in a world which has become
quite small.
The White House-Scientists-Congress communications pipeline is more necessary than ever in
a world fraught with lethal force every few miles on the earth's surface.
We cannot defend ourselves from nuclear forces without nuclear forces; and that doesn't help us
one bit because 90% of us have no bunkers in which we can hide away for several generations.
After 9-11, no one saw Bush or Cheney in New York for a good long time. We see they were
safe, but the people of New York, even the rich, had no immediately available ready place to hide.
Those people were in agony, and those friends and family the lost still have on earth suffer residual
effects of their sudden, violent bereft realities, as they always will.
More than ever, those of us who depend on smallish or medium (compared to billionaires and near
billionaires) monthly incomes, need leadership in our country to be much more informed, much more
available to us and to developmental ideas for our country than ever before in our history.
We may have to read our email and Facebook in order to know who to vote for next year. We may
have to depend on Twitter and Pinterest, etc.
We have so many DINOS, WINOS, BINOS, LINOS...we are going to have to try to listen carefully,
while we try at the same time to ignore and make a note of it, those who have money for slick,
expensive, frequently-aired commercials.
If I see a candidate has a lot of money- I have to seriously consider not voting for him or her.
Why? Becasue Citizens United has made a world in which the President who wins from the
heaviest donations of the money class may actually not have one single idea or philosophy the
donors do not like.
That is a tremendously dangerous position for America to operate in in a world which has become
quite small.
The White House-Scientists-Congress communications pipeline is more necessary than ever in
a world fraught with lethal force every few miles on the earth's surface.
We cannot defend ourselves from nuclear forces without nuclear forces; and that doesn't help us
one bit because 90% of us have no bunkers in which we can hide away for several generations.
After 9-11, no one saw Bush or Cheney in New York for a good long time. We see they were
safe, but the people of New York, even the rich, had no immediately available ready place to hide.
Those people were in agony, and those friends and family the lost still have on earth suffer residual
effects of their sudden, violent bereft realities, as they always will.
More than ever, those of us who depend on smallish or medium (compared to billionaires and near
billionaires) monthly incomes, need leadership in our country to be much more informed, much more
available to us and to developmental ideas for our country than ever before in our history.
We may have to read our email and Facebook in order to know who to vote for next year. We may
have to depend on Twitter and Pinterest, etc.
We have so many DINOS, WINOS, BINOS, LINOS...we are going to have to try to listen carefully,
while we try at the same time to ignore and make a note of it, those who have money for slick,
expensive, frequently-aired commercials.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
ISIL's Hero Country
ISIL wants to be Saudi Arabia if it can grow up.
The land it seeks, it feels has always belonged to those who hold it now anyway.
We call them terrorists, but they see themselves as the natural controllers of the land they lost
to the West during George W. Bush's bloody, larcenous, unjust war.
What will happen to these people who were once Saddam's people in power in the military, and in the
Baathe Party.
We cannot see an easy way around them; but they are way too entrenched in their own sense of
injustice to go away quietly.
They may be the Mid-East Sinn Fein.
The land it seeks, it feels has always belonged to those who hold it now anyway.
We call them terrorists, but they see themselves as the natural controllers of the land they lost
to the West during George W. Bush's bloody, larcenous, unjust war.
What will happen to these people who were once Saddam's people in power in the military, and in the
Baathe Party.
We cannot see an easy way around them; but they are way too entrenched in their own sense of
injustice to go away quietly.
They may be the Mid-East Sinn Fein.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Entertainment In The U.S.A.
I don't think it's only the fact that people have to die.
We have to see them get killed.
That's disappointing.
And, so many of those getting killed are women.
In the seventies, and eighties, Hollywood made so many slasher films I had to start taking
my kids to art films.
Once my seven-year-old asked me to take her back to the theater seven times to see Oblomov.
After that, none of the children took Hollywood all that seriously.
They insisted on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas; but I warned them, 'Remember that everything
dark may be evil or weak.'
They soon saw what I meant. I wonder if George Lucas married an African-American to prove
himself wrong.
We have to see them get killed.
That's disappointing.
And, so many of those getting killed are women.
In the seventies, and eighties, Hollywood made so many slasher films I had to start taking
my kids to art films.
Once my seven-year-old asked me to take her back to the theater seven times to see Oblomov.
After that, none of the children took Hollywood all that seriously.
They insisted on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas; but I warned them, 'Remember that everything
dark may be evil or weak.'
They soon saw what I meant. I wonder if George Lucas married an African-American to prove
himself wrong.
The Only Two Persons To Die Of Ebola In The U.S.
One of the men who died in the U.S. A. from Ebola was a black man of African descent, a private citizen from Liberia.
The other person who died from Ebola here in the U.S. was a black man of African-American descent- a medical professional.
I know people who believe in coincidence.
The other person who died from Ebola here in the U.S. was a black man of African-American descent- a medical professional.
I know people who believe in coincidence.
Women And Girls: Need An Abortion?
Enroll in a college.
As a matter of fact- enroll in a state university.
As a matter of fact- enroll in a state university.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Steve King And SCOTUS
Is it me?
I know the court is an activist mess; but why is Steve King calling out his hero Samuel Alito?
I thought things like that were meant for people like me to do!
I know the court is an activist mess; but why is Steve King calling out his hero Samuel Alito?
I thought things like that were meant for people like me to do!
Billy Beli
He thinks we're as dumb as the Republicans do. We aren't that dumb.
Even before the kerfuffle of filming an opponent's defensive signals, Belichick was famous for
checking every detail having anything at all to do with his team and their equipment. He told way
too big a lie when he said he'd never in his life ever discussed the footballs with any equipment
handlers on his team.
Belichick even insists the toilet paper in the team's hotel rooms, when the team is on the road, is exactly the right heft and right ply according to this coach's demands and expectations.
You be the judge. The toilet paper for his team being up to his desired specifications vs. the footballs
his team will use being up to insisted specs? Which would he discard if indeed he were going to go against his nature and discard either.
Even before the kerfuffle of filming an opponent's defensive signals, Belichick was famous for
checking every detail having anything at all to do with his team and their equipment. He told way
too big a lie when he said he'd never in his life ever discussed the footballs with any equipment
handlers on his team.
Belichick even insists the toilet paper in the team's hotel rooms, when the team is on the road, is exactly the right heft and right ply according to this coach's demands and expectations.
You be the judge. The toilet paper for his team being up to his desired specifications vs. the footballs
his team will use being up to insisted specs? Which would he discard if indeed he were going to go against his nature and discard either.
Steve King.dumb
Is there something wrong with marijauna?
How are you in Iowa? I thought you'd be on the border counting calves and valedictorians
to bolster the statistics in your claims.
How are you in Iowa? I thought you'd be on the border counting calves and valedictorians
to bolster the statistics in your claims.
ISIL Has 2 Billion Bucks?
We have entertainers who could buy them.
What does "bloody" have to do with accomplishment?
Are serial killers having fun?
Yes, fun has the effect of accomplishment on some groups.
What?
ha
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Why Does ISIL Want A Caliphate?
Because they don't have one.
ISIL has more of a show of power than real power.
The group has no system of physician licensing, attorney licensing, hospitals, court hierarchies, higher education, water treatment, pharmaceutical labs, science labs, widely available WiFi, commerce, political validity, manufacturing, etc.
ISIL has instead, a fierce, well-trained, very motivated armed force.
Good luck O bloody ones, turning that into a government in the modern world.
All you can expect, even if you succeed in some measure, is to be possibly one of the most isolated
boundaries in the world.
ISIL has more of a show of power than real power.
The group has no system of physician licensing, attorney licensing, hospitals, court hierarchies, higher education, water treatment, pharmaceutical labs, science labs, widely available WiFi, commerce, political validity, manufacturing, etc.
ISIL has instead, a fierce, well-trained, very motivated armed force.
Good luck O bloody ones, turning that into a government in the modern world.
All you can expect, even if you succeed in some measure, is to be possibly one of the most isolated
boundaries in the world.
Are We Angry At Brady About His Balls?
I don't think I understand. Let everyone have the balls the have and like.
Oh- pardon the pun.
Oh- pardon the pun.
# Shade!
POTUS is nothing if not hilarious.
Though he is leader of the free world, (and environs beyond I'd argue), and the consummate
politician- he can make a joke of you on the fly, and keep on with the keepin' on in your face.
I know President Obama had a world class education and was raised in many cultural realities-
but if he didn't swear his name was Obama, of recent African heritage, I would swear his name
was Home Boy from 'aroun the way'. He has that down.
At his SOTU speech Tuesday p.m. he definitely invoked the President who came in to his Press
Core dinner after the 2012 election to the T.Payne & Co. recording on the part 'all I do is win,etc."
Now I know POTUS can throw this shade impromptu. 'Roun the way boy'.
I know. Never call a black man 'boy', but POTUS is immersed in black culture, though he knows
all of America's conventions. How did this happen?!
MSNBC's Chris Hayes noticed this particular POTUS phenomenon when the President congratulated
America's basketball team in the last summer Olympics.
I saw it; but thought his manner of congratulating was more for the benefit of the guys he was greeting. I wasn't sure until Tuesday: This way of communicating is IN him!
Congratulations to you for being The Man, Mr. President.
(No one was certain Bill Clinton was black until we found out what he told M. L. what she could
do INSTEAD of sexual relations. So, Clinton should have his genetics investigated. If he really is
white, he certainly has been exposed to "the brothers")
Though he is leader of the free world, (and environs beyond I'd argue), and the consummate
politician- he can make a joke of you on the fly, and keep on with the keepin' on in your face.
I know President Obama had a world class education and was raised in many cultural realities-
but if he didn't swear his name was Obama, of recent African heritage, I would swear his name
was Home Boy from 'aroun the way'. He has that down.
At his SOTU speech Tuesday p.m. he definitely invoked the President who came in to his Press
Core dinner after the 2012 election to the T.Payne & Co. recording on the part 'all I do is win,etc."
Now I know POTUS can throw this shade impromptu. 'Roun the way boy'.
I know. Never call a black man 'boy', but POTUS is immersed in black culture, though he knows
all of America's conventions. How did this happen?!
MSNBC's Chris Hayes noticed this particular POTUS phenomenon when the President congratulated
America's basketball team in the last summer Olympics.
I saw it; but thought his manner of congratulating was more for the benefit of the guys he was greeting. I wasn't sure until Tuesday: This way of communicating is IN him!
Congratulations to you for being The Man, Mr. President.
(No one was certain Bill Clinton was black until we found out what he told M. L. what she could
do INSTEAD of sexual relations. So, Clinton should have his genetics investigated. If he really is
white, he certainly has been exposed to "the brothers")
Lussana Bathily: Thank You Lawrence O'Donnell For This Report
Mr. Bathily is a man of our times. Congratulations, sir, on your newly minted French citizenship.
I am surprised to hear you lost a great pal in the massacre at your workplace. I feel very, very sorry
that all had to happen, and to cause you to have such a grievous loss.
I had a friend at work a couple of different times, who made the sometimes interminable day go by
quickly, and with a fair amount of jovial fulfillment.
There are times at work when the chores pile up after some mishap, and the hours slog on without
extra efforts getting any acknowledgement, until a friendly co-worker begins to tease.
This awful thing has happened to you; but I hope your losses will help you realize your friend will
always have you to express his memory in this world.
I am surprised to hear you lost a great pal in the massacre at your workplace. I feel very, very sorry
that all had to happen, and to cause you to have such a grievous loss.
I had a friend at work a couple of different times, who made the sometimes interminable day go by
quickly, and with a fair amount of jovial fulfillment.
There are times at work when the chores pile up after some mishap, and the hours slog on without
extra efforts getting any acknowledgement, until a friendly co-worker begins to tease.
This awful thing has happened to you; but I hope your losses will help you realize your friend will
always have you to express his memory in this world.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Republican Field: 2016
Carly Fiorina- with a new ad man or woman?
Mike Pence- 'coming right away dad!'
Scott Walker- 'I am not a crook.'
Mitt Romney- 'I love firing everyone except myself and women in binders.'
Ben Carson- the new more bloody, morbid version of Herman Cain
Alan Keyes- oh no oops, well he may as well if Carson is in there
Allen West- oh no, oops, well he may as well if Carson is doing it
Bill Cosby- oh no, oops, but if Carson is running, big deal
Mike Huckabee- Well, his name is Huckabee, so he has to be taken seriously; not like for instance
if his name were Huckleberry or something just as ordinary.
Rick Perry- because he is Republican, and not good at prime time...I love this...
.
Rick Santorum- because he is Rick 'of the saints', and he could foster more religious
fundamentalism in our pitifully secular country...
Jeb Bush- who so wonderfully helped Florida become a 'stand your ground state' and helped to cheat the 2000 national election...such historic things the man has done for America-
Mitch Daniels- Indiana has a big Klan influence. Daniels could work well with Senator Scalise.
Michelle Bachmann- She can cure the gay.
Rand Paul- He loves to court minority votes. He just has little interests in serve minority interests.
Jimmy McMillan- Well he is still right after all these years. The rent is still too damned high.
Bobby Jindahl- he is one of the better Muslim candidates? Is his name Bobby?
Tim Pawlenty- What? He doesn't normally say rabid things. We can't have that.
Ted Cruz- Yes! The clown car. He loves to read aloud in the legislature, with vigor and expression about imaginary characters.
Marco Rubio- a Cuban who doesn't know his heritage but hates Cuba. We need loyalties like this in the White House.
Rick Snyder- He convinced a judge to admit Michigan has to provide students' an education, period, not a 'good' education. America needs more slopped-up education, destruction of unions, erosion of voting rights
Bob Corker- one of the quieter conservatives
Jon Hunstman- oh my goodness, a gentleman, a family man, a statesman with a generous entrepreneurial dad, and a media star daughter...why in the world is He a Republican? And it shouldn't matter, but his wife is gorgeous. She could be one of his daughters.
Lindsey Graham- doesn't know how his first name is spelled, but probably reads about the destruction
of Nagasaki and Hiroshima for his bedtime reading at night.
Susana Martinez- doesn't know how her first name is spelled.
John Kasich- helped create the monster legislature in Ohio which is now hard for him to manage.
Sarah Palin- creates so many jobs for Tina Fey and Saturday Night Live.
Jim Gilmore- didn't actually go to a coed university in Virginia, right?
Peter King- so rough around the edges...was he ever a beat cop for the NYPD?
George Pataki- ok, a bit worse than Andrew Cuomo (who's a bit of a DINO in my opinion) but the opposite of the great Mario Cuomo
Bob Ehrlich- he isn't anything like the current Governor of Maryland, right?
John Bolton- He could staff our government with neo-cons, and hold summits on how to get away with more state torture and greater mounds of twisted lies.
Have at it Democrats. Can you match these people?
Mike Pence- 'coming right away dad!'
Scott Walker- 'I am not a crook.'
Mitt Romney- 'I love firing everyone except myself and women in binders.'
Ben Carson- the new more bloody, morbid version of Herman Cain
Alan Keyes- oh no oops, well he may as well if Carson is in there
Allen West- oh no, oops, well he may as well if Carson is doing it
Bill Cosby- oh no, oops, but if Carson is running, big deal
Mike Huckabee- Well, his name is Huckabee, so he has to be taken seriously; not like for instance
if his name were Huckleberry or something just as ordinary.
Rick Perry- because he is Republican, and not good at prime time...I love this...
.
Rick Santorum- because he is Rick 'of the saints', and he could foster more religious
fundamentalism in our pitifully secular country...
Jeb Bush- who so wonderfully helped Florida become a 'stand your ground state' and helped to cheat the 2000 national election...such historic things the man has done for America-
Mitch Daniels- Indiana has a big Klan influence. Daniels could work well with Senator Scalise.
Michelle Bachmann- She can cure the gay.
Rand Paul- He loves to court minority votes. He just has little interests in serve minority interests.
Jimmy McMillan- Well he is still right after all these years. The rent is still too damned high.
Bobby Jindahl- he is one of the better Muslim candidates? Is his name Bobby?
Tim Pawlenty- What? He doesn't normally say rabid things. We can't have that.
Ted Cruz- Yes! The clown car. He loves to read aloud in the legislature, with vigor and expression about imaginary characters.
Marco Rubio- a Cuban who doesn't know his heritage but hates Cuba. We need loyalties like this in the White House.
Rick Snyder- He convinced a judge to admit Michigan has to provide students' an education, period, not a 'good' education. America needs more slopped-up education, destruction of unions, erosion of voting rights
Bob Corker- one of the quieter conservatives
Jon Hunstman- oh my goodness, a gentleman, a family man, a statesman with a generous entrepreneurial dad, and a media star daughter...why in the world is He a Republican? And it shouldn't matter, but his wife is gorgeous. She could be one of his daughters.
Lindsey Graham- doesn't know how his first name is spelled, but probably reads about the destruction
of Nagasaki and Hiroshima for his bedtime reading at night.
Susana Martinez- doesn't know how her first name is spelled.
John Kasich- helped create the monster legislature in Ohio which is now hard for him to manage.
Sarah Palin- creates so many jobs for Tina Fey and Saturday Night Live.
Jim Gilmore- didn't actually go to a coed university in Virginia, right?
Peter King- so rough around the edges...was he ever a beat cop for the NYPD?
George Pataki- ok, a bit worse than Andrew Cuomo (who's a bit of a DINO in my opinion) but the opposite of the great Mario Cuomo
Bob Ehrlich- he isn't anything like the current Governor of Maryland, right?
John Bolton- He could staff our government with neo-cons, and hold summits on how to get away with more state torture and greater mounds of twisted lies.
Have at it Democrats. Can you match these people?
POTUS And Hebdo
I have been trying and trying to picture the security placements necessary for President Obama or
Secretary of State John Kerry to walk in the streets of Paris- full frontal body before cameras, with
a great many other world leaders and millions of people.
I cannot picture it.
Even our own Secret Service seems compromised right now.
I'm still trying to picture it. I can't do it, but I'm still trying.
Secretary of State John Kerry to walk in the streets of Paris- full frontal body before cameras, with
a great many other world leaders and millions of people.
I cannot picture it.
Even our own Secret Service seems compromised right now.
I'm still trying to picture it. I can't do it, but I'm still trying.
Joan Walsh- What Is The Matter With Ben Carson?
Is he mad?
The Patriots were Americans who'd gotten richer than Croesus, from slavery. They didn't have great
uniforms, or a national army because the King wouldn't let it happen. But they had the great plantation owner George Washington, and his cohorts,who were educated enough in fighting wars and in the lay of the lands of the American colonies to organize battles.
British farm products were taking a big hit by competing with those in the colonies which were planted and cared for and harvested without labor costs. British soldiers were brave enough to come
miles and miles across the Atlantic to ensure the motherland, who fought what Americans call The French and Indian War (Europeans call it The Seven Years' War.) with and for these colonists, could collect taxes on the resources they protected for so long.
The American colonists didn't want to pay so many taxes that they couldn't grow richer than Britain.
They saw a chance to be powerful and they took it. That can be considered admirable, especially when young rhetoricians like Tom Payne talk it up excitingly.
But all parties in that war were risking life and limb for their loyalties. The Reformation was over.
What would have been 'politically correct' about building the background for each side of the war. Britain is our ally now.
Why is the politically correct not a friend to humanity for the right wing?
Carson can learn.
He is a skilled soft tissue mechanic.
But he cannot seem to synthesize or evaluate complicated histories. Scientists who study thought
structure and function should be eager to study his brain.
Why would Americans who fight and die in the Far and Mid-East not be considered willing to fight and die? How does that make sense?
Why would Americans who were beheaded simply because their devotion to us was intense enough for them to want us to know exactly what we are up against in this world, and in some cases to serve
their own humanitarian impulses at risk of their lives.
Why is an ISIL sacrifice superior to ours? Should we begin going into the wilderness to behead the bravest and kindness of our opponents?
I didn't think the GOP could get a worse minority candidate than Herman Cain.
I'm appalled now.
I give them credit, though. They aren't putting forth Charles Barkly or Bill Cosby...yet.
The Patriots were Americans who'd gotten richer than Croesus, from slavery. They didn't have great
uniforms, or a national army because the King wouldn't let it happen. But they had the great plantation owner George Washington, and his cohorts,who were educated enough in fighting wars and in the lay of the lands of the American colonies to organize battles.
British farm products were taking a big hit by competing with those in the colonies which were planted and cared for and harvested without labor costs. British soldiers were brave enough to come
miles and miles across the Atlantic to ensure the motherland, who fought what Americans call The French and Indian War (Europeans call it The Seven Years' War.) with and for these colonists, could collect taxes on the resources they protected for so long.
The American colonists didn't want to pay so many taxes that they couldn't grow richer than Britain.
They saw a chance to be powerful and they took it. That can be considered admirable, especially when young rhetoricians like Tom Payne talk it up excitingly.
But all parties in that war were risking life and limb for their loyalties. The Reformation was over.
What would have been 'politically correct' about building the background for each side of the war. Britain is our ally now.
Why is the politically correct not a friend to humanity for the right wing?
Carson can learn.
He is a skilled soft tissue mechanic.
But he cannot seem to synthesize or evaluate complicated histories. Scientists who study thought
structure and function should be eager to study his brain.
Why would Americans who fight and die in the Far and Mid-East not be considered willing to fight and die? How does that make sense?
Why would Americans who were beheaded simply because their devotion to us was intense enough for them to want us to know exactly what we are up against in this world, and in some cases to serve
their own humanitarian impulses at risk of their lives.
Why is an ISIL sacrifice superior to ours? Should we begin going into the wilderness to behead the bravest and kindness of our opponents?
I didn't think the GOP could get a worse minority candidate than Herman Cain.
I'm appalled now.
I give them credit, though. They aren't putting forth Charles Barkly or Bill Cosby...yet.
We May Need The Bloscar
I don't know why we should depend on Oscars.
How did Toni Morrison get her Nobel Prize for Beloved? The Black literati in New York judged Beloved the best of American literature for the year in which it was published. The establishment for The National Book Award gave the green light to something other tome.
I think black people go to the movies to remain informed about mainstream culture. I don't believe
we are particularly entertained.
Hollywood makes plenty of movies with black people.
We've had mammies whose heads are tied in rags.
I loved Butterfly McQueen though in Gone With The Wind. How many times has her famous line
been my theme song for so many occasions? "I don't know nuthin bout birthin' no babies!" She will
always be my girl for that.
We have had young women beaten to a pulp because they are not white- but look white enough to
merge into white society.
We have had black drivers of little old white ladies.
We have had beautiful black starlets willingly mauled by Billy Bob Thornton in the movie, and
unwilling so by Adrian Brody when the lady received her 'oscar'.
We have had the most brilliant, the most versatile actor, possibly in the world today, subject to bullet
overkill in the last scene of his movie, to the extent I had to leave the theater before the bullets stopped flying into what would have been left of the man's body.
We have had one of the most brilliant female actors in America today playing a mammy who
struggles with her lot with dignity passed over for an 'oscar' for one who plays a domestic who defecates in family pies. I know when you have to go you have to go. But do we celebrate that, or gets so titillated by it we have to reward it?
We have had wonderful butlers, esteemed by of all people- Nancy Reagan. Yay!
We have had a vengeful ex-slave looking for his wife, finding her naked in a hole in the earth.
When my daughter went to see Twelve Years A Slave the theater was full to the brim with white people- the theater never full of white people. I'm not knocking it. We all need the education.
But we did get to see the stories some of us already know. A young girl, played by a real African woman, must be raped, smelly, and beaten as a way of life. A man played by a real African, finds his freedom is only as real as the color of his skin- not his papers.
Are those of us not involved in media all nuts? Are we actually supposed to be interested in white
people telling the stories of what happened to us? If not-are we racists? I stopped seeing these movies
long ago, though I loved the professionals who had roles.
I loved Nurse Betty. Thank you so much Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock!
I love anything Charles Lane made.
Boys In The Hood was so sad, but did express the director's life experience.
What could have been better than Menace To Society? 'Whachu say 'bout ma mamma?!'
and 'Why you come 'roun heah so God-damned urleh?!'
Those are my guys. What?
And even though black actors are not featured in Scarface, black men know almost every word
uttered in the film. The story rings culturally authentic.
My nephew knows every word in Friday. Chris Tucker couldn't have been better.
And in 'Money Talks', even the white people were as funny as they could be.
I don't know why some think black people find the same things as funny as white people do.
My parents might like Bob Hope. Dad would turn to Dick Cavett. But they didn't really love humor
until I played Richard Pryor's first album for them. They admitted he was speaking their 1930-1950
lives.
I don't know from maids and butlers and wayward cops unless I'm watching Downton Abbey or
Serpico, or maybe The Godfather, though my mom hated the glorification of mob activity, and I soon
slipped into her way of viewing after I turned thirty.
So we need our own Bloscar. I don't know if the films, or the ethos would crossover to commercial
success. But hey, we have culture, for good or for ill- we need to film it when we can.
As it is, most movies seem to me to be reduced to white people being brave, being, kind, being
powerful, being full of romance, being wonderfully super-human, etc. etc. etc. Most of it is
so terribly boring.
Black people in movies are props, mascots for the kind, the wonderfully super-human, the romantics, the powerful, unless it is a movie about the weaknesses in African American culture.
That seems to be fine if the movie is made chiefly by black people, because the characters are more
fully in a culture. They have parents, homes, other relatives, black friends, etc. But right now...
Stephen Speilberg has the rights to Dr. Martin Luther King's speeches, so Selma offers a lot of
inauthentic Dr. King rhetoric. And there was no available good enough African American actor whose recent ancestors were born and raised in America to play Dr. King.
We keeping searching for ourselves in Hollywood, because after all, we built an America all
immigrants could come to, and Hollywood is in America. Without the enslavement of my ancestors,
there would have been no place for 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free',
(Yearning to be free to eat). There would only have been the starving settler colonists from Europe, unwashed and unwanted at home, yearning to escape prison and/or neck-stretching in the Old Countries.
Miles Standish was barely literate, and he was one of bright ones.
But everyone who comes to America (except President Obama's dad, of course ) comes here to be white even Africans.
No one has come here to become a part of our community. We are 'those people'. And to be
fair, we don't rush to inclusivity. People new to America are warned away as soon as they arrive.
And even if they weren't- why would they become a part of us? We 'got a passel o' troubles'.
Selma did what it could, I'm sure; but so what it didn't get the 'oscar' it probably deserved? We need
to worry about whether it deserved a Bloscar.
How did Toni Morrison get her Nobel Prize for Beloved? The Black literati in New York judged Beloved the best of American literature for the year in which it was published. The establishment for The National Book Award gave the green light to something other tome.
I think black people go to the movies to remain informed about mainstream culture. I don't believe
we are particularly entertained.
Hollywood makes plenty of movies with black people.
We've had mammies whose heads are tied in rags.
I loved Butterfly McQueen though in Gone With The Wind. How many times has her famous line
been my theme song for so many occasions? "I don't know nuthin bout birthin' no babies!" She will
always be my girl for that.
We have had young women beaten to a pulp because they are not white- but look white enough to
merge into white society.
We have had black drivers of little old white ladies.
We have had beautiful black starlets willingly mauled by Billy Bob Thornton in the movie, and
unwilling so by Adrian Brody when the lady received her 'oscar'.
We have had the most brilliant, the most versatile actor, possibly in the world today, subject to bullet
overkill in the last scene of his movie, to the extent I had to leave the theater before the bullets stopped flying into what would have been left of the man's body.
We have had one of the most brilliant female actors in America today playing a mammy who
struggles with her lot with dignity passed over for an 'oscar' for one who plays a domestic who defecates in family pies. I know when you have to go you have to go. But do we celebrate that, or gets so titillated by it we have to reward it?
We have had wonderful butlers, esteemed by of all people- Nancy Reagan. Yay!
We have had a vengeful ex-slave looking for his wife, finding her naked in a hole in the earth.
When my daughter went to see Twelve Years A Slave the theater was full to the brim with white people- the theater never full of white people. I'm not knocking it. We all need the education.
But we did get to see the stories some of us already know. A young girl, played by a real African woman, must be raped, smelly, and beaten as a way of life. A man played by a real African, finds his freedom is only as real as the color of his skin- not his papers.
Are those of us not involved in media all nuts? Are we actually supposed to be interested in white
people telling the stories of what happened to us? If not-are we racists? I stopped seeing these movies
long ago, though I loved the professionals who had roles.
I loved Nurse Betty. Thank you so much Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock!
I love anything Charles Lane made.
Boys In The Hood was so sad, but did express the director's life experience.
What could have been better than Menace To Society? 'Whachu say 'bout ma mamma?!'
and 'Why you come 'roun heah so God-damned urleh?!'
Those are my guys. What?
And even though black actors are not featured in Scarface, black men know almost every word
uttered in the film. The story rings culturally authentic.
My nephew knows every word in Friday. Chris Tucker couldn't have been better.
And in 'Money Talks', even the white people were as funny as they could be.
I don't know why some think black people find the same things as funny as white people do.
My parents might like Bob Hope. Dad would turn to Dick Cavett. But they didn't really love humor
until I played Richard Pryor's first album for them. They admitted he was speaking their 1930-1950
lives.
I don't know from maids and butlers and wayward cops unless I'm watching Downton Abbey or
Serpico, or maybe The Godfather, though my mom hated the glorification of mob activity, and I soon
slipped into her way of viewing after I turned thirty.
So we need our own Bloscar. I don't know if the films, or the ethos would crossover to commercial
success. But hey, we have culture, for good or for ill- we need to film it when we can.
As it is, most movies seem to me to be reduced to white people being brave, being, kind, being
powerful, being full of romance, being wonderfully super-human, etc. etc. etc. Most of it is
so terribly boring.
Black people in movies are props, mascots for the kind, the wonderfully super-human, the romantics, the powerful, unless it is a movie about the weaknesses in African American culture.
That seems to be fine if the movie is made chiefly by black people, because the characters are more
fully in a culture. They have parents, homes, other relatives, black friends, etc. But right now...
Stephen Speilberg has the rights to Dr. Martin Luther King's speeches, so Selma offers a lot of
inauthentic Dr. King rhetoric. And there was no available good enough African American actor whose recent ancestors were born and raised in America to play Dr. King.
We keeping searching for ourselves in Hollywood, because after all, we built an America all
immigrants could come to, and Hollywood is in America. Without the enslavement of my ancestors,
there would have been no place for 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free',
(Yearning to be free to eat). There would only have been the starving settler colonists from Europe, unwashed and unwanted at home, yearning to escape prison and/or neck-stretching in the Old Countries.
Miles Standish was barely literate, and he was one of bright ones.
But everyone who comes to America (except President Obama's dad, of course ) comes here to be white even Africans.
No one has come here to become a part of our community. We are 'those people'. And to be
fair, we don't rush to inclusivity. People new to America are warned away as soon as they arrive.
And even if they weren't- why would they become a part of us? We 'got a passel o' troubles'.
Selma did what it could, I'm sure; but so what it didn't get the 'oscar' it probably deserved? We need
to worry about whether it deserved a Bloscar.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Now, How Do We Know Again?
Are we quite certain The Prophet wanted to be invisible?
Did he say that, or did some ordinary mortals come up with that?
And why again would he want us to exchange ink for blood?
Is this what he was?
He'd need people to kill for him?
Does Christianity have a Holy person of this sort?
Do Buddhists?
What about the Shinto religion? Does it value murder?
Do Hindi Deities want people to kill for them?
Maybe we simply don't understand why jihadists are committing
such horrors; but leaving The Prophet all the blame.
Surely they douse him with slaughter he truly has not asked for, and
does not want.
I think they might want to accept their own weaknesses as blame for what
they feel compelled to do.
Or the rest of us have to broadcast their weaknesses loudly enough that
their screaming their motivations as those of their Prophet will be
drowned out.
Did he say that, or did some ordinary mortals come up with that?
And why again would he want us to exchange ink for blood?
Is this what he was?
He'd need people to kill for him?
Does Christianity have a Holy person of this sort?
Do Buddhists?
What about the Shinto religion? Does it value murder?
Do Hindi Deities want people to kill for them?
Maybe we simply don't understand why jihadists are committing
such horrors; but leaving The Prophet all the blame.
Surely they douse him with slaughter he truly has not asked for, and
does not want.
I think they might want to accept their own weaknesses as blame for what
they feel compelled to do.
Or the rest of us have to broadcast their weaknesses loudly enough that
their screaming their motivations as those of their Prophet will be
drowned out.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Harvard
I get so amazed when I realize people who behave like dolts went to Harvard.
I can understand most people who have gone there are wondrous thinkers.
Others, well, perhaps they were accepted as legacies- like Geaorge W. Bush at Yale. Those sorts
of pedigrees hurt the country way more than Affirmative Action ever could.
Case in point- George W. Bush.
How many women and children did get killed in his bloody war, the war he based on so many lies?
One of the Charlie Hebdo killers invoked the horror of Iraq in his killing spree- though he himself
was killing civilians too. Did he learn from ISIL or from Bush and Chaney? Is a killer just a killer,
and the one who kills more efficiently has ideals which last and spread more easily?
I hope not. I want to believe American ideals are plentiful enough in the "humanity and humanities"
column to be worthy of lasting and sharing.
But Harvard really ought to look more diligently for people who don't just know a lot about the world, and have access to a lot about the world; but have a gifted and sacred way of interpreting
the world.
Knowledge is the lowest level of the intellectual spectrum.
Interpretation is key to mastering life and liberty in a various world.
I know perfectly well what Einstein's formula is for his theory of relativity. It is E=mc(squared).
Can I interpret it? Barely?
Mathematically interpret it?
Not at all.
If I could interpret it, would I want to do so, be able to do so, in a way which would enhance
humanity? I can only hope so. One doesn't have to be a saint in order to avoid massive evils.
If Harvard continues unleash Mitt Romneys and Ted Cruzes on our population, where are the
truly brilliant people the 'premier' institution leaves behind?
Who is having more influence in the world's human history right now? George Bush, or
Saddam Hussein?
I believe it's more and more a toss-up each day.
And sadly, we have dolts from Harvard wanting to continue in a "Yalie" legacy.
I give Harvard a bit of a pass for giving us Presidents Carter and Obama.
The world is a much better place because of the leadership we've gotten from these two men.
But now take Lawrence O'Donnell and Alan Dershowitz? O'Donnell is a genius.
The latter may have deserved a look when he applied to get in; however, why would thinking
people admit him, knowing he'd also want to leave in their names? All I can figure is that Dershowitz must also believe 'blood diamonds' were perfectly fine to begin and to continue in our lives if he
thinks France "deserves" terrorism.
Harvard! Get it together. Your slip is showing. These DOLTS are contemporaries.
I can understand most people who have gone there are wondrous thinkers.
Others, well, perhaps they were accepted as legacies- like Geaorge W. Bush at Yale. Those sorts
of pedigrees hurt the country way more than Affirmative Action ever could.
Case in point- George W. Bush.
How many women and children did get killed in his bloody war, the war he based on so many lies?
One of the Charlie Hebdo killers invoked the horror of Iraq in his killing spree- though he himself
was killing civilians too. Did he learn from ISIL or from Bush and Chaney? Is a killer just a killer,
and the one who kills more efficiently has ideals which last and spread more easily?
I hope not. I want to believe American ideals are plentiful enough in the "humanity and humanities"
column to be worthy of lasting and sharing.
But Harvard really ought to look more diligently for people who don't just know a lot about the world, and have access to a lot about the world; but have a gifted and sacred way of interpreting
the world.
Knowledge is the lowest level of the intellectual spectrum.
Interpretation is key to mastering life and liberty in a various world.
I know perfectly well what Einstein's formula is for his theory of relativity. It is E=mc(squared).
Can I interpret it? Barely?
Mathematically interpret it?
Not at all.
If I could interpret it, would I want to do so, be able to do so, in a way which would enhance
humanity? I can only hope so. One doesn't have to be a saint in order to avoid massive evils.
If Harvard continues unleash Mitt Romneys and Ted Cruzes on our population, where are the
truly brilliant people the 'premier' institution leaves behind?
Who is having more influence in the world's human history right now? George Bush, or
Saddam Hussein?
I believe it's more and more a toss-up each day.
And sadly, we have dolts from Harvard wanting to continue in a "Yalie" legacy.
I give Harvard a bit of a pass for giving us Presidents Carter and Obama.
The world is a much better place because of the leadership we've gotten from these two men.
But now take Lawrence O'Donnell and Alan Dershowitz? O'Donnell is a genius.
The latter may have deserved a look when he applied to get in; however, why would thinking
people admit him, knowing he'd also want to leave in their names? All I can figure is that Dershowitz must also believe 'blood diamonds' were perfectly fine to begin and to continue in our lives if he
thinks France "deserves" terrorism.
Harvard! Get it together. Your slip is showing. These DOLTS are contemporaries.
I Don't Understand...Do I Want To?
At least one of the Charlie Hebdo terrorists had a wife.
He had had a job at Coca-Cola.
He was young.
He was a pretty good-looking guy.
Was there never a thought of having a home or apartment to care about?
Never a thought of keeping the companionship of his wife alive and well?
Was there never any consideration of raising babies to play and learn and make
grandchildren?
Ever?
Some things can make one feel that if they understood, it would mar them forever.
One of the Mid-Eastern killers killed a Mid-Eastern policeman.
The killer of African descent killed a policewoman of African descent.
I don't think of New York policemen as more than henchmen at times. but today I am very
proud of some of them.
Some NYPD officers, nine of them I've heard, are going to travel half way around the world
to attend the French funerals of the two officers killed in the aftermath of the Hebdo massacre.
That is a gesture of personal respect and sacrifice which would be difficult for anyone to top
whether they believe in the cause set forth from it or not.
For those officers to be in attendance from so far away, from a major U.S. enforcement group
will mean so very much to the families of those officers lost in the line of duty, especially if
there are children in the families.
Sometimes, even in the midst of terrible, terrible tragedy, one comes upon a thing one is proud
and happy to have learned, to proud to be able to remember.
He had had a job at Coca-Cola.
He was young.
He was a pretty good-looking guy.
Was there never a thought of having a home or apartment to care about?
Never a thought of keeping the companionship of his wife alive and well?
Was there never any consideration of raising babies to play and learn and make
grandchildren?
Ever?
Some things can make one feel that if they understood, it would mar them forever.
One of the Mid-Eastern killers killed a Mid-Eastern policeman.
The killer of African descent killed a policewoman of African descent.
I don't think of New York policemen as more than henchmen at times. but today I am very
proud of some of them.
Some NYPD officers, nine of them I've heard, are going to travel half way around the world
to attend the French funerals of the two officers killed in the aftermath of the Hebdo massacre.
That is a gesture of personal respect and sacrifice which would be difficult for anyone to top
whether they believe in the cause set forth from it or not.
For those officers to be in attendance from so far away, from a major U.S. enforcement group
will mean so very much to the families of those officers lost in the line of duty, especially if
there are children in the families.
Sometimes, even in the midst of terrible, terrible tragedy, one comes upon a thing one is proud
and happy to have learned, to proud to be able to remember.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Is This The Decade Of The Three Monkeys?
See no evil; even when you have every right to do so.
One nation censures what another nation can see, even if a leader is only fictionally threatened
.
Hear no evil.
Journalists and civil libertarians forbid their own government from listening to anything that leadership has the power to hear, unless it can be proven to threaten our safety before it is heard. Huh?
Speak no evil, though you maybe able to prove you do no harm which threatens life, limb,liberty, temporary or permanent health.
Do we really have to go that far back in time to avoid being blind-sided by various slaughters?
How can that be the human condition inthis, our 21st century since the bloody crucifixion?
One nation censures what another nation can see, even if a leader is only fictionally threatened
.
Hear no evil.
Journalists and civil libertarians forbid their own government from listening to anything that leadership has the power to hear, unless it can be proven to threaten our safety before it is heard. Huh?
Speak no evil, though you maybe able to prove you do no harm which threatens life, limb,liberty, temporary or permanent health.
Do we really have to go that far back in time to avoid being blind-sided by various slaughters?
How can that be the human condition inthis, our 21st century since the bloody crucifixion?
United States District Court/ Southern District Of New York/ December 6, 1933
Ulysses, written by Mr. James Joyce, was considered an obscenity in this country until this day in history.
The church didn't appreciate this book one bit; and yet no one, as I understand it, was killed over it.
The real difference between then and now is that cultures underwritten by mysticisms have to be motivated to compartmentalize their religious faith against their faith in one another, and in how much faith they have that their religious foundations cannot be assailed in their hearts.
Catholics, for instance, have no reason to believe Charlie Hebdo revered them or their beliefs.
Still, they'd see no need for that to be a requirement for Hebdo's existence.
Devout Catholics may not have ever considered reading the magazine. However, they feel their devotion is unable to be lessened in their hearts, unless they do it personally. They are also quite certain their fellow citizens have no reason to care much what they say when they get on their knees.
Equally impactful- Catholics sense their faith is unassailable in this world. The Catholic imagination
is unable to believe Jesus might need, or want mortals to let blood for him.
If living is healthier than killing; then perhaps fundamentalists everywhere can learn to concentrate
on the former. And perhaps there are ways, through implanting precepts of the evolution of Christian martyrdoms in the pluralistic societies of our human conscience to convince people their
holy ones don't need people killing and torturing, and leaving the blame for the holy ones who never
did do any of that.
What to do?
Should we publish more stories of St. Stephen?
The church didn't appreciate this book one bit; and yet no one, as I understand it, was killed over it.
The real difference between then and now is that cultures underwritten by mysticisms have to be motivated to compartmentalize their religious faith against their faith in one another, and in how much faith they have that their religious foundations cannot be assailed in their hearts.
Catholics, for instance, have no reason to believe Charlie Hebdo revered them or their beliefs.
Still, they'd see no need for that to be a requirement for Hebdo's existence.
Devout Catholics may not have ever considered reading the magazine. However, they feel their devotion is unable to be lessened in their hearts, unless they do it personally. They are also quite certain their fellow citizens have no reason to care much what they say when they get on their knees.
Equally impactful- Catholics sense their faith is unassailable in this world. The Catholic imagination
is unable to believe Jesus might need, or want mortals to let blood for him.
If living is healthier than killing; then perhaps fundamentalists everywhere can learn to concentrate
on the former. And perhaps there are ways, through implanting precepts of the evolution of Christian martyrdoms in the pluralistic societies of our human conscience to convince people their
holy ones don't need people killing and torturing, and leaving the blame for the holy ones who never
did do any of that.
What to do?
Should we publish more stories of St. Stephen?
Friday, January 9, 2015
The U.S. Endured A Massive Terror Attack
We lost thousands of lives.
We lost many lives in many locations.
We lost scores of businesses.
We lost a great deal of our financial center.
We suffered an attack on our premiere military location.
No one should compare that horror to any other.
As terrorism goes, we have come back from fires of hell-
even though Muslim citizens here are NOT marginalized in any great way.
We lost many lives in many locations.
We lost scores of businesses.
We lost a great deal of our financial center.
We suffered an attack on our premiere military location.
No one should compare that horror to any other.
As terrorism goes, we have come back from fires of hell-
even though Muslim citizens here are NOT marginalized in any great way.
MSNBC Unravels A Lot
French Muslims feel marginalized in French society, and are kept largely segregated from opportunities even in their own enclaves.
Apparently, political progressives in Europe and America are worried the Charlie Hebdo attack will
encourage right-wing politics; thereby encouraging Muslims to further radicalize because they would then have no one to turn to but already radical extremists.
Is France a big enough country to continue to harbor so many violent, disenfranchised radicals?
Even a large country should not, of course; but the square mileage in France shouldbe one thing to make the country stop to think about housing 5 million people who may lack full citizenship.
If Marine Le Pen should be elected in France to succeed Francois Hollande, where would she suggest
as a place for French Muslims to go?
Britain has minority problems.
Germany has an increasingly vocal right-wing ... again.
Eastern Europe is not tolerant.
Perhaps the time has come to assimilate people with French citizenship, or at least begin the process.
If it's true that only 1% of France's Muslims are in sympathy with extremists, or jihadists, then 500,000 French citizens are dissatisfied enough with the country to fight it or agree with fighting it.
France, you don't have enough citizens to stay on the kill or be killed track with a half million of them.
You just spent tens of thousands of men and man hours of dangerously engaged work to find the Charlie killers. With the Euro in a nine year free fall, and Greece still on another baiil-out brink.
Is "manhunt" an effective way to plan to protect your citizens?
As long as President Obama keeps American dollars from making increasing oil purchases, and as long as he keeps those same dollars from having to compete with currencies of countries under sanction- a great many entities around this world with undiversified economies are going to use young, compromised citizens to express their own panic by offering mystical rewards where none seem available in this life.
Your countrymen and women could be more secure than to await the expressed bitterness of thousands, even in the persons of a few. Your citizens deserve better use of their resources, and of their pursuit of happiness.
As a country enjoyiing an advanced civilization, you need much better policy better ideas, going forward. You need more encouraging prevention.
Apparently, political progressives in Europe and America are worried the Charlie Hebdo attack will
encourage right-wing politics; thereby encouraging Muslims to further radicalize because they would then have no one to turn to but already radical extremists.
Is France a big enough country to continue to harbor so many violent, disenfranchised radicals?
Even a large country should not, of course; but the square mileage in France shouldbe one thing to make the country stop to think about housing 5 million people who may lack full citizenship.
If Marine Le Pen should be elected in France to succeed Francois Hollande, where would she suggest
as a place for French Muslims to go?
Britain has minority problems.
Germany has an increasingly vocal right-wing ... again.
Eastern Europe is not tolerant.
Perhaps the time has come to assimilate people with French citizenship, or at least begin the process.
If it's true that only 1% of France's Muslims are in sympathy with extremists, or jihadists, then 500,000 French citizens are dissatisfied enough with the country to fight it or agree with fighting it.
France, you don't have enough citizens to stay on the kill or be killed track with a half million of them.
You just spent tens of thousands of men and man hours of dangerously engaged work to find the Charlie killers. With the Euro in a nine year free fall, and Greece still on another baiil-out brink.
Is "manhunt" an effective way to plan to protect your citizens?
As long as President Obama keeps American dollars from making increasing oil purchases, and as long as he keeps those same dollars from having to compete with currencies of countries under sanction- a great many entities around this world with undiversified economies are going to use young, compromised citizens to express their own panic by offering mystical rewards where none seem available in this life.
Your countrymen and women could be more secure than to await the expressed bitterness of thousands, even in the persons of a few. Your citizens deserve better use of their resources, and of their pursuit of happiness.
As a country enjoyiing an advanced civilization, you need much better policy better ideas, going forward. You need more encouraging prevention.
Amedy Coulibaly
Why your life?
Why your own life for the privilege of non-state sanctioned killing?
This was not worth your life, sir.
None of this was worth your life.
Why your own life for the privilege of non-state sanctioned killing?
This was not worth your life, sir.
None of this was worth your life.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
The Search For Charlie Hebdo Killers
I don't believe for one moment an 18 year old suspect was mis-identified.
I can't even begin to believe one of the suspects "accidentally" left an I.D. in a car.
Maybe France has ignored minority populations a bit too long, and has no idea what is happening
in those communities which can so befuddle authorities.
Or maybe they don't want anyone to know the real linchpins of their investigations.
France, for whom are you searching? And who is helping these murderous guys? I don't believe we know.
I can't even begin to believe one of the suspects "accidentally" left an I.D. in a car.
Maybe France has ignored minority populations a bit too long, and has no idea what is happening
in those communities which can so befuddle authorities.
Or maybe they don't want anyone to know the real linchpins of their investigations.
France, for whom are you searching? And who is helping these murderous guys? I don't believe we know.
The NAACP In Colorado
Well, we live in America.
Our children are being gunned down in the streets by people paid to protect them.
We have to focus more specifically on whether our criminal courts call bombers terrorists,
not whether or not the media does so.
The media has the duty to follow the news once it is made. We are so accustomed to them of late
as a group, anticipating news, then commenting on it.
Whereas that is likely a profitable tack, monetarily, it hasn't yet proved fruitful for us inasmuch as their depiction won't necessarily help get laws and policies on the books, and enforced.
We very much need them to widely disseminate what is happening; but their power to guess is not
so much a force for the lasting base of safe passages we need in our communities.
Our children are being gunned down in the streets by people paid to protect them.
We have to focus more specifically on whether our criminal courts call bombers terrorists,
not whether or not the media does so.
The media has the duty to follow the news once it is made. We are so accustomed to them of late
as a group, anticipating news, then commenting on it.
Whereas that is likely a profitable tack, monetarily, it hasn't yet proved fruitful for us inasmuch as their depiction won't necessarily help get laws and policies on the books, and enforced.
We very much need them to widely disseminate what is happening; but their power to guess is not
so much a force for the lasting base of safe passages we need in our communities.
Fundamentalists: Get To Drawing...With Ink
If you feel your religion is unfairly depicted, draw it fairly.
If you think a non-Muslim religion is lacking- draw that.
Cartoonists may not have audiences of millions, but they draw what they believe.
In Detroit, we have the largest Muslim and Chaldean population in the U.S.
They aren't always so happy with Christians. Do they open fire on us? No. Of course not.
These American Muslims are as valid and as religious as you. Thankfully, they are not as murderous.
Detroit and Dearborn Muslims aren't always thrilled with the very large Jewish communities in
our immediate vicinity. Do they start shooting at them? They do not.
Are you deaf? You cannot hear what Muslims are saying, so you cannot depict the complaints?
Are you without tongues? You are unable to say publicly what bothers some Muslims unless you
do it at a killing?
You are not deaf. You have tongues. Use your most human facilities. That is what people do,
Are you without art skills?
Are you without imagination?
Are you without critical thinking satirical abilities?
Fundamentalists- you lack none of these things. Find them within yourselves and use them.
Many of you are artists.
Many of you are writers.
So many of you are evaluative thinkers.
When you kill, you do what any brainless brute can do. You further nothing new, nothing truly
generative. You do what you have no right to do, to people doing what is well within their own rights.
Charlie Hebdo is now more beloved than ever. We have you to thank for that, and for insuring
their work will continue. Was that your aim? No? Well, you did achieve it.
If you think a non-Muslim religion is lacking- draw that.
Cartoonists may not have audiences of millions, but they draw what they believe.
In Detroit, we have the largest Muslim and Chaldean population in the U.S.
They aren't always so happy with Christians. Do they open fire on us? No. Of course not.
These American Muslims are as valid and as religious as you. Thankfully, they are not as murderous.
Detroit and Dearborn Muslims aren't always thrilled with the very large Jewish communities in
our immediate vicinity. Do they start shooting at them? They do not.
Are you deaf? You cannot hear what Muslims are saying, so you cannot depict the complaints?
Are you without tongues? You are unable to say publicly what bothers some Muslims unless you
do it at a killing?
You are not deaf. You have tongues. Use your most human facilities. That is what people do,
Are you without art skills?
Are you without imagination?
Are you without critical thinking satirical abilities?
Fundamentalists- you lack none of these things. Find them within yourselves and use them.
Many of you are artists.
Many of you are writers.
So many of you are evaluative thinkers.
When you kill, you do what any brainless brute can do. You further nothing new, nothing truly
generative. You do what you have no right to do, to people doing what is well within their own rights.
Charlie Hebdo is now more beloved than ever. We have you to thank for that, and for insuring
their work will continue. Was that your aim? No? Well, you did achieve it.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Me And Stephen Hawking
Many years ago I saw a small documentary of Stephen Hawking's growing up in Britain. Most of the
best scenes came during the times when Professor Hawking was being a prankster.
He and his friends seemed to grow up playing. That's the childhood I always thought every person
should have. I so admired him and the film's producer for recreating those scenes, and for seeming to
so cherish them, though science had already defined the professor's life.
What prompted me to see the film was that I had come late to the reading of A Brief History of Time.
I knew the book was immensely important because I'd heard of the professor's work. So when I realized the film would show one week-end at The Detroit Institute of Art Film Theater, I felt compelled to see it, as it was 20 minutes then from where I lived.
At the start I thought the scenes and depictions were mainly quaint. I appreciated the stories, but didn't feel I was getting to somewhat know more of one of the most important minds in human history.
Then the filmmakers showed a clip of Professor Hawking's mom. She was talking through a slightly
exasperated laugh, saying something to the effect of, 'I asked Stephen when he graduated school to go to university, Stephen, I can understand if you didn't want to be first in your class, but did you have to
come in dead last?'
At that moment I got the picture of Professor Hawking I've had ever since. He must have been an
incredibly generous, an incredibly good-natured person.
Imagine a kid with that intellect not graduating with a reputation among the other children as a know-it-all, not gaining a reputation of being prone to correct teachers, not striving to skip a grade, not striving to 'place' in the hierarchy of class grade point averages. 'Staggering, I thought...simply an
astounding personality.'
The film took us into the start of Professor Hawking's university classes.
He remained a guy who wanted to do his requirement's, then get to partying.
Interviewers asked his friends from that time when they understood his capacity?
Most of them chuckled. 'We knew a short time after our university classes started. We had been up all
night for days working on our physics assignments. Several of us working together couldn't figure out
all the problems. Stephen came up to the room where we were studying, complaining we were taking to long. He was ready to party. He claimed he had figured it all out ages ago. Then he showed us the solutions he'd found. We knew then he was much, much different than any of us, or anyone we'd
ever known.'
The interviewer asked these other guys if they thought back then perhaps the work had been easier
than they first imagined.
Each one of the professor's friends answered firmly they knew what they were working on had been
very, very challenging. The film clearly showed each of Professor Hawking's friends experienced
an early realization of an amazing intellect in their presence soon after their college careers began.
The evident admiration and affection they showed for their friend and his abilities came through in this film.
I couldn't be satisfied even with both the book and the film under my belt. I needed to hear from this
unusually human and brilliant person.
So I got this bright idea to write to Professor Hawking's publisher. I did that.
Soon, I got a letter back from Professor Hawking!
I had written to him about admiring that he had so faithfully tackled the difficulty and time-consuming nature of his work.
That's when I found how effortless the professor's sense of humor was.
He said he loved his work so much he could never complain about it. He imagined he must be a bit like a sex worker who was happy with her profession.
I couldn't have imagined all those years ago the professor would be still working in 2014.
And I am tremendously surprised the professor is a bit older than me. I don't know why I was recently puzzled when the new film came out, and I realized Professor Hawking was born in 1942.
He has had a more productive life than so many of us with no motor neuron problem at all.
I don't have all the professor's books, but I struggled through 'A Briefer History of Time'.
I understand maybe 100 pages of On The Shoulders Of Giants, but I love it anyway.
I have to make it one of my life's missions now to find that letter!
best scenes came during the times when Professor Hawking was being a prankster.
He and his friends seemed to grow up playing. That's the childhood I always thought every person
should have. I so admired him and the film's producer for recreating those scenes, and for seeming to
so cherish them, though science had already defined the professor's life.
What prompted me to see the film was that I had come late to the reading of A Brief History of Time.
I knew the book was immensely important because I'd heard of the professor's work. So when I realized the film would show one week-end at The Detroit Institute of Art Film Theater, I felt compelled to see it, as it was 20 minutes then from where I lived.
At the start I thought the scenes and depictions were mainly quaint. I appreciated the stories, but didn't feel I was getting to somewhat know more of one of the most important minds in human history.
Then the filmmakers showed a clip of Professor Hawking's mom. She was talking through a slightly
exasperated laugh, saying something to the effect of, 'I asked Stephen when he graduated school to go to university, Stephen, I can understand if you didn't want to be first in your class, but did you have to
come in dead last?'
At that moment I got the picture of Professor Hawking I've had ever since. He must have been an
incredibly generous, an incredibly good-natured person.
Imagine a kid with that intellect not graduating with a reputation among the other children as a know-it-all, not gaining a reputation of being prone to correct teachers, not striving to skip a grade, not striving to 'place' in the hierarchy of class grade point averages. 'Staggering, I thought...simply an
astounding personality.'
The film took us into the start of Professor Hawking's university classes.
He remained a guy who wanted to do his requirement's, then get to partying.
Interviewers asked his friends from that time when they understood his capacity?
Most of them chuckled. 'We knew a short time after our university classes started. We had been up all
night for days working on our physics assignments. Several of us working together couldn't figure out
all the problems. Stephen came up to the room where we were studying, complaining we were taking to long. He was ready to party. He claimed he had figured it all out ages ago. Then he showed us the solutions he'd found. We knew then he was much, much different than any of us, or anyone we'd
ever known.'
The interviewer asked these other guys if they thought back then perhaps the work had been easier
than they first imagined.
Each one of the professor's friends answered firmly they knew what they were working on had been
very, very challenging. The film clearly showed each of Professor Hawking's friends experienced
an early realization of an amazing intellect in their presence soon after their college careers began.
The evident admiration and affection they showed for their friend and his abilities came through in this film.
I couldn't be satisfied even with both the book and the film under my belt. I needed to hear from this
unusually human and brilliant person.
So I got this bright idea to write to Professor Hawking's publisher. I did that.
Soon, I got a letter back from Professor Hawking!
I had written to him about admiring that he had so faithfully tackled the difficulty and time-consuming nature of his work.
That's when I found how effortless the professor's sense of humor was.
He said he loved his work so much he could never complain about it. He imagined he must be a bit like a sex worker who was happy with her profession.
I couldn't have imagined all those years ago the professor would be still working in 2014.
And I am tremendously surprised the professor is a bit older than me. I don't know why I was recently puzzled when the new film came out, and I realized Professor Hawking was born in 1942.
He has had a more productive life than so many of us with no motor neuron problem at all.
I don't have all the professor's books, but I struggled through 'A Briefer History of Time'.
I understand maybe 100 pages of On The Shoulders Of Giants, but I love it anyway.
I have to make it one of my life's missions now to find that letter!
Get To Political Intersection/ Turn Right?
Speaker of the House in our new Republican U.S. Congress of 2015, Rep. John Boehner, tearfully accepted the gavel from former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, sounding way less combative than he did when he was sworn in as Speaker in the last Congress.
I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.
In the last Congress Speaker Boehner had Eric Cantor on his heels just as he had Louie Gohmert and gang barking at him this time. 'Why so pale and wan fond lover' of this Republican House?
Or perhaps Speaker Boehner senses because hardly anyone voted in this 2014 election, he has more
room to legislate if he chooses to do so because though the House is Republican; it has a majority
without a mandate.
The tea party, which loves to shred any ideas of governance, can be vocal, and can be heard, but what
actual threats do they have to offer now since 2016 is not going to be a right-wing landslide? And if
some Democrats are willing to work with this Speaker on key pieces of legislation, the teas won't be
able to do more than whine through Dr. Seuss again and again on the Senate floor.
Nancy Pelosi, for her part, as she handed over the gavel, didn't hesitate to refer to her Italian heritage
almost in the same breaths as she praised former Governor Mario Cuomo, and slapped Chris Christie,
also a fellow Italian, by praising Speaker Boehner for loving his Ohio State football.
She seemed to be saying the heritage of principals and loyalties should often trump the heritage of politics.
If the former Speaker really feels this way, her leadership may keep Congress from moving too far right.
The Keystone Pipeline vote should be one which Democrats refuse to endorse, because so many Democratic constituents have voiced strong opinions about the negative effects it poses for them, and for its communities.
Immigration should be a firestorm; but it shouldn't turn the country right. So many Congresspersons
have actually suggested grave fines and jail times for persons who don't pass the new 'trials by fire'
for citizenship.
Senator Barbara Boxer has suggested severe fines and jail times for anyone found guilty of voter
fraud as well. So isn't that a voter suppression technique? Do we need a right-winged threat from Democrats regarding voter fraud? We don't have enough voter fraud to warrant the kinds of threats she suggests. So many voters will feel the possibility of false accusation from the threat of such stiff
and punishing personal prosecutions following any irregularity in any vote.
Extremists would use those laws as a 'voting death' penalty for many ordinary citizens fearing faulty
prosecutions from a country hostile to the power of the vote in poorer political constituencies.
Some would say the way Latino immigrants have already suffered so that so many other Americans could 'scream the dream', should be quite enough payment already for requesting citizenship. Perhaps the Hispanic Caucus will be vocal on many of those stories. I personally know a great many of them.
Congress should move as well on presenting municipalities with special prosecutors for police shootings.
But how does that fit into a right-leaning agenda? Democrats have to push to the left in order for policy to arrive anywhere near even the middle.
If Speaker Boehner wants to provide the jobs he has been asking about, he has a lot of room to get
infrastructure going and even to take credit for those jobs. Speaker Pelosi would help him do that
for the good of American public policy.
As the American population shrinks, we need more and more citizens to be well-educated professionals. We already have a lot of rich foreign nationals in our universities. If Speaker Boehner
wants to advance an agenda which will offer Americans good chances for critical thinking education
completion, I believe he could get help from Democrats.
Rather than tacking on absurd amendments to good legislation so that our country can be a haven for right-winged nonsense, why not 'get a fire goin' for real American progress, and take credit for
it?
As I digress to entertainment, I have to admit today that I truly hated 'The Wire' because it seemed
to be a secretly right-winged wonder fantasy. But hey- I'm a Detroiter. I think Big Sean could have written "The Wire" in a much better way. I also have to admit I often watched the show because 'Bumpy' was just my guy.
In the 'Wire', all black people seemed angry with all other black people- all of the time.
Blah!
In the 'Wire' daytime is dark. Afternoon is dark. Night is dark. What a pain.
But if it's coming back, I will look for Bumpy.
I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.
In the last Congress Speaker Boehner had Eric Cantor on his heels just as he had Louie Gohmert and gang barking at him this time. 'Why so pale and wan fond lover' of this Republican House?
Or perhaps Speaker Boehner senses because hardly anyone voted in this 2014 election, he has more
room to legislate if he chooses to do so because though the House is Republican; it has a majority
without a mandate.
The tea party, which loves to shred any ideas of governance, can be vocal, and can be heard, but what
actual threats do they have to offer now since 2016 is not going to be a right-wing landslide? And if
some Democrats are willing to work with this Speaker on key pieces of legislation, the teas won't be
able to do more than whine through Dr. Seuss again and again on the Senate floor.
Nancy Pelosi, for her part, as she handed over the gavel, didn't hesitate to refer to her Italian heritage
almost in the same breaths as she praised former Governor Mario Cuomo, and slapped Chris Christie,
also a fellow Italian, by praising Speaker Boehner for loving his Ohio State football.
She seemed to be saying the heritage of principals and loyalties should often trump the heritage of politics.
If the former Speaker really feels this way, her leadership may keep Congress from moving too far right.
The Keystone Pipeline vote should be one which Democrats refuse to endorse, because so many Democratic constituents have voiced strong opinions about the negative effects it poses for them, and for its communities.
Immigration should be a firestorm; but it shouldn't turn the country right. So many Congresspersons
have actually suggested grave fines and jail times for persons who don't pass the new 'trials by fire'
for citizenship.
Senator Barbara Boxer has suggested severe fines and jail times for anyone found guilty of voter
fraud as well. So isn't that a voter suppression technique? Do we need a right-winged threat from Democrats regarding voter fraud? We don't have enough voter fraud to warrant the kinds of threats she suggests. So many voters will feel the possibility of false accusation from the threat of such stiff
and punishing personal prosecutions following any irregularity in any vote.
Extremists would use those laws as a 'voting death' penalty for many ordinary citizens fearing faulty
prosecutions from a country hostile to the power of the vote in poorer political constituencies.
Some would say the way Latino immigrants have already suffered so that so many other Americans could 'scream the dream', should be quite enough payment already for requesting citizenship. Perhaps the Hispanic Caucus will be vocal on many of those stories. I personally know a great many of them.
Congress should move as well on presenting municipalities with special prosecutors for police shootings.
But how does that fit into a right-leaning agenda? Democrats have to push to the left in order for policy to arrive anywhere near even the middle.
If Speaker Boehner wants to provide the jobs he has been asking about, he has a lot of room to get
infrastructure going and even to take credit for those jobs. Speaker Pelosi would help him do that
for the good of American public policy.
As the American population shrinks, we need more and more citizens to be well-educated professionals. We already have a lot of rich foreign nationals in our universities. If Speaker Boehner
wants to advance an agenda which will offer Americans good chances for critical thinking education
completion, I believe he could get help from Democrats.
Rather than tacking on absurd amendments to good legislation so that our country can be a haven for right-winged nonsense, why not 'get a fire goin' for real American progress, and take credit for
it?
As I digress to entertainment, I have to admit today that I truly hated 'The Wire' because it seemed
to be a secretly right-winged wonder fantasy. But hey- I'm a Detroiter. I think Big Sean could have written "The Wire" in a much better way. I also have to admit I often watched the show because 'Bumpy' was just my guy.
In the 'Wire', all black people seemed angry with all other black people- all of the time.
Blah!
In the 'Wire' daytime is dark. Afternoon is dark. Night is dark. What a pain.
But if it's coming back, I will look for Bumpy.
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