Black on Black Crime

One more crime was committed this week against a black man by a black man. He wasn’t done in by his political opponents. Hillary “Tanya Harding” Clinton for one has been trying to do just that for a year. No he was done in by his minister; his spiritual guide.  

I guess the hate mongers and race baiters don’t want any one in their community to rise too high. President of the United States for example; because then their raison d’être (“reason to be” for all those who flunked high school french) is shot to pieces. What could Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or the Right Reverend Wright rail on about if a black man is a serious contender for the highest office in the land.

What does that say about their ranting on and on about how America is such a “Bad Place.”  What does that say about America? What does that say about the Right Reverend Wright? The Right Reverend Wright may not be able to finish the work he has started.  The work on his 10,000 square foot mansion that is.  It comes complete with maids quarters, swimming pool, and a movie theatre ensconced in a gated “white” community where the local black population is less than 2%.

Its far better to let the “downtrodden” continue to keep on thinking that they haven’t got a chance in this country.   In this world for that matter.  Victims keep coughing up the checks.   Successful citizens work hard and save money for their children’s college educations.   I mean how else is Al “Shady” Sharpton going to get his yellow jaguar out of the clutches of the NYC Police Towing Dept. since he ran up $900.00 in unpaid parking tickets. “No Justice; No Jag!!!”  

When he sees the present state of the “leaders” of his beloved movement, Dr. Martin Luther King must be turning over. “I have a dream that someday my child will be President of the United States.” The Right Reverend Wright has made it very clear.  Not if he has anything to do with it.

Keys to the Castle

The scariest part of this Presidental Election is that fully half of the voting population of America seems more than willing to give someone the Keys to The Castle when we really know so little about him.   I for one would be more than willing to give him a shot at the job; however his resume is incomplete to say the least.  It contains major gaps. His speeches; although very lyrical and soothing, say very little about what he really plans to do once he gets the keys.  I am willing to give a qualified untested  politician a chance at the big job that lies ahead of us in these trying days; however I need more specific facts as to the game plan.  It’s little enough to ask of anyone applying for the most important job in the country.  Change in and of itself is not an viable option when my families future is at stake.  All change is personal and local.

Valentines Day

“I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.” Now that’s a statement of love if I ever heard one and one to ponder on this Valentines Day. Thus in a very public radio address, the newly crowned King of England, Edward VIII told the world of his love for the american adventuress Wallis Simpson. He was first introduced to Mrs. Simpson when he was the Prince of Wales in 1931. At that time she was married to her second husband, a minor detail as it turned out. They soon began a relationship that would rock Britain’s most prominent institutions including Parliament, the monarchy and the Church of England, not to mention poor Mr. Simpson. Edward felt that Simpson was “the perfect woman.” A good many others criticized her as a financially unstable social climber. “Picky, Picky, Picky”. True love won out and just months after being crowned King in January 1936, after the death of his father, George V, Edward proposed to Simpson, setting off a huge scandal and prompting Britain’s prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, to say he would resign if the marriage went ahead. Not wanting to push his country into an electoral crisis, but unwilling to give Simpson up, Edward made the decision to abdicate the throne. Married and given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the couple lived in exile in France, where they lived long and seemingly very content lives and became the usual suspects of cafe society. They even had a social fling with Adolf Hitler before WWII. Oh well, as they say true love never runs smooth, but on Valentines Day it’s good to remember a man who would give up his Kingdom not for a horse, but for the woman he loved.

Langston Hughes at The Public Theater NYC

The poetry and prose of Langston Hughes reigned supreme at the performance workshop which I attended at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater on Thursday February 7th. This new musical with the lyrics of Langston Hughes set to music by Walter Marks; with book by Langston Hughes, Kent Gash and Walter Marks is a journey through America; Harlem in particular, set in the depression years as seen through the words of arguably the most important black writer of his generation. He was a leading writer in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s and 1930’s. During his lifetime he was called the “Poet Laureate of the Negro Race,” and he was considered the most original of all African American poets. Walter Marks has taken the poetry of Langston Hughes and written the perfect musical score to bring it to life on the big stage. I predict that this show will get to the Broadway Stage soon and once there will become a classic. Can the Tony’s be far behind?

Conservative hooks

It seems that John Cougar Mellencamp has served notice on the McCain camp that it would not be considered cool to keep using his song “This Is Our Country” in his campaign appearances. Seems Mellencamp did not mean for his tune to be used as a Republican theme song.  It’s only fit for General Motors car commercials, and they’ve already played the song to death anyway. Mellencamp was backing John Edwards until Edwards bowed out.  It turns out that if the lyrics to his song are read in their entirety; although the hook line would sound very Pro-American & Patriotic to a conservative candidate; the verse lyrics are more fitted for a working-class, blue-color proletarian democrat, like the multimillionaire Edwards.   If you are a conservative republican don’t even think of putting it on your IPod.  Same thing happened back when Ronald Reagan was using “Born in the USA”. Springsteen put the kibosh on that one right quick.  The rousing chorus hook line to that one also sounded very Pro-American; however at closer inspection the lyrics in the verse  are not quite in the conservative handbook. Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders also had a problem with Rush Limbaugh using her song, “My City is Gone”, at the beginning of his highly rated and successful radio show.  Chrissie finally chilled out when she found out her parents were big fans of Rush’s show and that Rush would donated money to an animal charity.  Wow, can’t any of these conservatives find any conservative songwriters songs that they can help propel into prominence? Stay tuned. 

 

 

Discrimination

Discrimination is a funny word. It is discrimination to discriminate against someone because of the color of their eyes, their weight, their height, their race. That would be discrimination. However if someone asks you to borrow $500,000 dollars and you find out that they have little income and a bad credit history; that is they don’t feel obligated to pay back the smaller amounts of money that have been lent to them in the past; not giving them the $500,000 would not be discrimination it would be smart. In their ultimate wisdom our government managed to upset this logical way of thinking with the sub prime loans. Not smart. It’s the way big government kind of messes up just about anything they stick their nose into. This rather foolish idea was not something the heavily regulated banking industry would pursue on their own. They are basically risk adverse and know how to make money. The economic morons that pass as our present day politicians and “well meaning” activist groups forced the banking industry to grant loans to a group of individuals based not on sound business principles but on the fact that these individuals had previously been rejected for mortgages. The reason these people were previously rejected was not discrimination of any kind. It was because they had a weak financial profile and would probably not be able to make the payments on the mortgage. That’s just the way it goes. Our founding fathers were not politicians; Thank God! They were intellectuals and business men. They would have immediately understood this idea as folly. Unfortunately a large majority of our present day politicians are just that; “Politicians”. They’ve never worked at a real business or had to balance a checkbook. For them money grows on trees. They think they just have to shake the tree and money falls on the ground and they pick it up. They make money the old fashioned way, they just shake down the tax payers. Anyway, the damage the government and the “well meaning” activist groups did by ramming the “flexible lending programs” down the banking industry’s throat gave us the predictable outcome. No good came out of it for the banks, the economy, and ultimately the people this was meant to help. Losing a house you couldn’t afford in the first place to foreclosure is no help at all. Back to the drawing board.

Super Tuesday

Following close on the heals of Super Bowl Sunday, Super Tuesday promises little excitement and a forgone conclusion. Let’s see what happens. We did get rather surprised by the Super Bowl results. Can John McCain hold his temper long enough to get past the vetting process. Can Hillary continue to turn on or turn off the tears when necessary. Can Huckabee take enough conservative votes from Romney to guarantee himself the VP nod on McCain’s band wagon. Can Obama keep Hillary scared enough to offer him the VP nod.
That’s my prediction. A McCain/Huckabee vs. Clinton/Obama.
Stay tuned.

Missed Chance

After watching what turned out to be an amazing Super Bowl game late last night I feel like I have to reiterate what I wrote about in the blog I posted yesterday. The game STARTS TOO LATE! A future generation of football fans, the kids missed out on a couple of late in the fourth quarter, seat of your pants drives by both teams. That generates the kind of excitement you don’t usually get in a Super Bowl Game. That’s the kind of game that can turn someone into a fan of the sport for life. Any sport for that matter. It doesn’t even matter which team wins. It’s just that, that kind of nail biting excitement sticks with you your whole life. Especially if you’re a young impressionable kid. What a shame that the youngsters, future football fans all, were probably sound asleep by that time. If not they should have been. At least on the East Coast where I live. I really feel that the Football Powers and the Gods of Prime-Time Advertising Revenue blew it BIG TIME! They should start the game a couple of hours earlier and suck it up. Sure they’ll lose a couple of bucks in the short run but come on. Short term gain / Long term pain. The future eyeballs they covet so badly will not necessarily be there when they need them down the road, a few short years from now. I know from my own experience as a young neophyte that when my extended family and friends would gather on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of the winter to watch a Super Bowl game; I came away with memories I’ll never forget. And this is B.L.S. (before large screens). The banter of the adults with their instructions, theories and opinions on how the game was being played and should have been played left an indelible mark on my little grey cells. I’ve been a fan ever since and would never think of missing a Super Bowl game no matter what teams are playing in it. This is all because of the opportunity I had to be indoctrinated at an early age by the very people I looked up to and respected. They imparted to me their knowledge and love of the game. I think it’s a big mistake to take that experience away from the next generation.
What do you think?

not super bowl sunDAY/ super bowl sunday NIGHT !!!

Yeah! Right! Night!  For fully half the country (this year it just happens to be the half of the country that has the two teams playing in the super bowl) the Game will end when it’s way past most people’s bed times.  Why? You ask!? Not for the fans that’s for sure.  It’s to maximize the advertising dinero. Because the networks can charge the advertisers for the amount of TV sets tuned into the show.  Because the networks don’t like Super Bowl Parties; Most Super Bowl Parties have become a thing of the past.  Why? Because at 9:00 on a Sunday Night most kids are getting ready for Monday AM and adults are falling asleep.  Most are not ready to start watching the second half of an already too long game, made too long because the excess commercials have taken more airtime than the game itself.  Not to mention the extravagance of the half time show.  The Networks would rather have a lot of TVs tuned in than two dozen people at a Super Bowl Party watching on just one Big Screen TV.  Two or three sets of eyes watching one TV set brings in a lot more revenue then 25 sets of eyes watching one set. Talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg.  I remember going to my Uncle Louie’s Super Bowl sunDAY (NOT SUNDAY NIGHT!) parties. The game would start around 3:30 in the afternoon and everyone was there.  Like Christmas without the presents.  No clean up afterwards either, Aunt Mary took care of that.  Those parties are what turned me into a football fan.  Todays kids are turned into fans of the half-time-show featuring a randomly exposed left something of Janet Jackson’s.  And if that’s not bad enough, what about being able to watch the end of the game. Isn’t that what its all about?  I guess not.  But I for one want to know who won.  I want to watch them win in real time.  Not just hear about it the next day   Oh well, I guess not much has changed in the last 2,000 years of human existence.  You still have to FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY!!!!  FIGHT ON FELLOW FOOTBALL FANS !!!

 

Bill the 2nd

If Hillary gets back in the White House and goes from being First Lady to Madam President does that mean that Bill becomes the First Man. We’ve had so many First Ladies already.  That would be some achievement; going from being the first black President in american history to becoming the First Man; that is the husband of the president.  Is that what he would be called?  Or would he be called First Husband?   Does anyone know? I’m just curious.