Culture, Race & Economy

Celebrity is to Americans as The Royal Family is the British. I guess there is something in human nature that creates a tendency in the majority of folks to worship celebrity. And this is probably sufficient to answer my question. I draw a line when we begin to value the advice of folks on subject matters they have clearly demonstrated little success in their own lives. I’m not trying to pick on Steve Harvey personally, because I’m sure he is no worse (or better) than any of us. I just chose him of as one example, of many I could have selected, to illustrate my point. In this month Essence magazine, Steve Harvey was on the cover again. This time the …

I am wondering if we will see any black faces on Oscar night? It does not look good, does it? Well, I want to get Thump's opinion because that man don't miss. For those of you thats been following this site, you know Thumper picks the winners as if he has a crystal ball. So, if anyone happens to see my guy, tell him to hit me. Here's my big head... in review. http://www.youtube.c...DAeNxu8&index=2 Yeah, that's me behind the mic. Eat your heart out, Kola. :-)

You run comparative statistics on posters from time to time. I just noticed the "profile views" count. How about ranking the top posters by profile views? Or better yet, by views per post. I checked a few of those ratios: Cynique gets an average of 15 profile views every time she posts; Thumper gets 50 to 1; and ABM gets 100. I have no idea what that means (in absolute numbers, Cynique has five times as many views as ABM), but I find that intriguing.

The investigation of peace activists in Minneapolis and Chicago is part of a new push by the Department of Justice to undermine support for organizations the federal government has designated as “foreign terrorist organizations.” This strategy involves prosecuting even those American citizens who merely support the legal activities of such organizations. The targets of this strategy, naturally, are often vocal opponents of some aspect of the U.S. government’s foreign policy. This strategy got a big boost from Holder vs. Humanitarian Law Project, a 2010 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled 6-3 that it was not unconstitutional to punish Americans who sought to pro…

WHOOOOOO! WE'RE NO 1 USA! USA! USA! http://www.golf-talk.co.uk/news/st-louis-most-dangerous-city-in-the-us/12457501

This was referenced in another thread, but I'm starting a separate one to talk just about this issue. A statement attributed to Angela Davis was posted on the web on Nov. 17, saying: On September 24 the FBI raided homes of 14 activists in movements in solidarity with oppressed workers and peoples of Latin America and Israel/Palestine. Read the whole thing here. As far as I can tell from scouring the Web, Davis is the only person in the world who claims to know anything about this. And she isn't sharing any details that would allow anyone to find out any more about it. I'd be very interested to learn more about this alleged incident. But did it really h…

Well I saw For Colored Girls last night. For Carey's benefit every comment that ever made about the movie stands. Actually I could have said that before I saw the movie because I never previously offered an opinion of the film itself, just commentary on the debate and on the comments of others. The film itself was OK. I'd give it 2 stars out of five. One tremendous plus was For Colored Girls was an excellent showcase of some of the best or most popular Black actresses working today. I enjoyed Thandie, though her accent grated on my nerves. Even the secondary males characters were quite good. Loretta Divnine's faux beau was perfectly cast and Kimberly Elise's b…

Battle lines have been drawn within certain enclaves of the black community, and conflict is swirling around 2 high-profile men, - a couple of guys who controversy seems to follow. Kanye West and LeBron James? Nope. The males in question, although the subject of different debates, have a certain thing in common. Who are they? What are their names? None other than - Barack Obama and Tyler Perry! The rueful President just recently admitted that he had taken a “shellacking” courtesy of the Republican mid-term election landslide. And, although film-maker Tyler hasn’t publicly acknowledged it, he is being raked over the coals by irate critics of his latest movie, “For C…

TO MY NAY-SAY FRIENDS OF TYLER PERRY AND FOR COLORED GIRLS. Blow it out your ass! Yeah, that's what I said, find a clue and some toilet paper. Well carey,"Tyler Perry is a Black dysfunction porn pimp. He thinks that because he's so dysfunctional that all Black people are as well. I think Oprah falls into this category too" Is that right? Well let me tell you a thang or two. I get so tired of negros that watch a movie, and then cry about how it makes "us" look. Give me a freaking break! First, it's a damn movie, okay. It's one story in time. It's one of a thousand avenues in which one could draw a conclusion and/or opinion on any number of topics includi…

It’s bad enough that show biz divas are caught up in the latest fad, somehow convinced that the rest of the world gives a damn about their pregnancies as they flaunt their baby bumps in tight dresses that make their figures look like the question marks that come to mind with the announcement of the bizarre names chosen for the squalling little snots they pop out. Lately, another craze is invading the realm of dysfunctional circles, competing for public attention. Anorexia, bulimia, self-mutilation are not enough to evoke sympathy for skeletal starlets who hate themselves, or brooding hunks who’ve taken to poppin pills. The equal opportunity offense of being molested as a …

Here you go, Troy http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2010-11-04/news/kevin-jackson-wrote-the-book-how-to-win-white-friends-and-influence-black-people/

The first thing a defeated general does is repair his shattered formations and comfort and revivify his defeated troops. When I see Obama overseas getting pimpslapped in Seoul I realize he ain't got a clue. He needs to understand he don't get to go to these swell meetings unless he gets re elected and that he has a big problem with the electorate. He has to understand that he has been defeated and now he is fighting for survival. If the election were held today, he would lose. He has t go to work on that. Specifics? He needs to give in all the way on extending the tax cuts, but cut the best bargain he can for them. Maybe extend them si…

Maybe Tyler should have played all the parts in drag. Or had a bunch of other dragsters--Jamie Foxx, Martin Lawrence, Idris Elba, et al http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2010/nov/04/perry-treatment-for-colored-girls/

Comedian sez: Black folks, we have to examine this terrorism thing. See, there's some forms of terrorism we, as black folks, got to stay away from. For instance Time bombs. The first thing you gotta remember about time bombs is Ya gotta be on time. He got us good, didn't he. Almost as good as the Worstershire Sauce joke. They got us good with that one.

I’m so satisfied and excited, that I wanted to share my experience with others hoping that they would take advantage of WordPress and establish a web presence of their own. One of the questions I’m most frequently asked by when I speak to groups about the world wide web is, “I don’t have a big budget and I’m not super tech savvy, how do I create my own website?” Today my answer would be, “WordPress is a very good way to get started”. Read Part 1 of Article and Part 2

Well, here I go again, filling a void. Guess I just can’t resist taking advantage of a silent forum. If nobody is interested in what I have to say, so be it. My musings will be in cyber space forever and when the ruins of this civilization are discovered, archaeologists of the future will come across my computer hard drive and upon translating its hieroglyphics, will learn something quirky about an ancient culture. Along with everything else that is mercurial about my life, I spent a lot more time than I should playing cards on line; mostly the game of Bridge. When I discovered POGO, which is a free computer game app that includes Bridge in its selections, I was ecst…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elections/ Maybe it was inevitable given the tide of hysteria But there was also the clumsy politicking of the Democrats 1) They realized that their base included younger voters,esp college students. Once they had it in the bag instead of keeping all of them involved, like Republicans do their young, they told them to go home and sit down that they had it. Primarily ex legislators, they thought all they needed to do was get some bomb legislation over and everybody would go along. Wrong. 2) They knew they were in trouble when they lost Ted Kennedy's seat. They should have at least been campaigning like they a…

Troy you need to encourage a strong Black conservative stream of thought on these boards. You must know some. Get them to come on and post. How come they ain't defending their homie, Juan? http://www.counterpunch.org/lawrence10272010.html http://www.counterpunch.org/farago10272010.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130757782&ps=cprs

And it will all be over. But it will only be the beginning of the End. THE NEXT TWO YEARS IS GOING TO DRIVE MOST OF YOU OVER THE EDGE! I ain't goin'. I'SE ALREADY CRAZY! (Cue real scary laughter, haunted organ music, moans groans and chains rattling--haunted house sounds. Fade to Black!)

Pity newsman Juan Williams. NPR fired him cuz he confessed to being unnerved by anybody dressed like Ali Baba or Scherazade who happened to be boarding the same flying carpet with him. This has really sparked a debate. I'm filled with mixed emotions because I have never cared for the unctuous Williams, but I, too, find garbed Muslims scarey, especially since between prostrating themselves in prayer 5 times a day, brothers of this faith stone their sisters to death should they lose their virginity before marriage. And "Mary" ain't even an Arabic name. Naturally, conservative zealots are up-in-arms accusing the liberal media, as exemplified by NPR, of violating J…

Almighty Debt TV-Review by Kam Williams Soledad O’Brien’s latest CNN special report in her Black in America series is certainly her most practical yet in that it addresses the timely question of how to manage your money during these trying financial times. The show is apt to be of salient interest to African-American communities all across the country, given how they’re beset by skyrocketing rates of unemployment and home foreclosures. At the center of this installment is Reverend Buster Soaries who sets the tone at the outset by making the incendiary comment that “Debt is a bigger problem than racism” for black folks today. The New Jersey-based minister is no…

Rapper sentenced to prison-- That ain't news, is it? http://www.hotmommagossip.com/2010/10/16/rapper-t-i-gets-another-11-months-in-prison/

Yes, it’s me. The Lone Poster. Hi-Ho Silver, here I go. Got my gun cocked ready to take some pot shots. My target? The easiest one in sight. Television. TV is currently overrun with reality shows, encouraged undoubtedly by the ratings which attest to how voyeuristic viewers have become, seemingly mesmerized by narcissistic airheads whose vicissitudes allow audiences to either empathize with or live vicariously through them. Who needs soap operas or sit-coms when you can watch exhibitionists be their own obnoxious selves. And who can deny that truth is stranger than fiction? Guess it’s easier to observe the bizarre than to read a book. Just ask Snookie. Or Kim. …

Hello Everyone, I am a senior at Amherst College and I am writing a senior thesis on black women who read romance novels. I need about 10 female participants, all of whom are college educated (have attained or are pursuing Bachelors degrees), and who would describe themselves as romance novel readers. I will conduct interviews with interested participants over skype ( preferably) or the phone (if no other option is available). All the information I collect will be completely confidential, and I would be happy to share my findings with you guys after I complete the thesis. It is time to allow black women to state their own reasons for reading the kind of literature …

In a Sea of Mediocrity Tom Sowell is a shrimp. Hey, Tom! How many criminals you think could afford to pay their way out? They are pulling crimes because they are usually stupid and poor. http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/09/22/penny-wise_on_crime/page/full/ And if he thinks these Missouri Bushwhackers are liberals, he needs to get out of the library sometime--or use one!

I don't want you to feel slighted, Chris, because Troy singled me out to comment on polio. So tell us any recollections you have about chicken pox, - that childhood scourage! I can hardly wait for you to share your memories with us.

I finally finished the 620-page “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Isabel Wilkerson, and it was a trip! Literally, - its subtitle being “the epic story of America’s great migration.” This was an amazing, magnificent book chronicling the history of great numbers of Blacks who began leaving the south to seek a better life in the big cities of the North during the time period between 1915 through 1970. I was particularly interested in checking this book out because my mother was a part of this exodus, having left her home town of Franklin, Tennessee, in 1916 to seek her fortune in Chicago. My father, who was a midwestern farm boy from Kansas, had a…

GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up! Film Review: http://aalbc.it/ghettophysics

There has been a lot of talk about Polio in the news recently. My only experience with Polio was when I was a kid I had a counselor (white) that told me his older brother had polio and eventually died from it. It sounds like the threat of contracting Polio was a very scary thing back then. I heard somewhere that ice cream was suspected as a cause, because incidences of Polio increased during the summer when ice consumption increased. Was this a really that scary a time for us or did Black folks have more pressing things to be concerned with, like lynching, earning enough money to survive, etc... It is also funny I’ve spoken with Black folks who wil…

I told ya so, though I was only reporting what everybody has known for months. Obama and the Demorcrats are going to get their butts whipped. Their heads handed to them. The voters are gonna whip them like they STOLE something. They were too greedy. This wasn't 1933 and they ain't Franklin Roosevelt administration. They should have kept their troops mobilized. Like good, ole time Chicago pols, they told all the committed idealistic young people to go sit down. We got this. Now they looking for them. TOO LATE! But this presents an opportunity to see what the man is made of. Can he survive the next two years, sure to be a bloody, nasty des…

http://kalamu.posterous.com/info-white-america-has-lost-its-mind-village

Because I can’t keep up with the upkeep, I am giving up the old homestead, and am accepting my oldest daughter’s invitation to move in with her, something that will convenience rather than inconvenience her circumstances. Having resided at my present home for almost 40 years, the prospect of disposing of all of my possessions entails dealing with a lot of logistics as well as emotional baggage. Along with this, strange things have started to happen in connection with my re-locating. I find myself wondering if my persona has imbued my house, and it has become a brick and mortar version of me. Why? Because it’s like the house doesn’t want the physical me to separ…

"A more controversial conclusion arrived at by the authors and propagated by controversial pundits like conservative Bill Bennett was the notion that the U.S. crime rate could be significantly reduced by sterilizing all African-American females." From Kam's review of the film Freakonomics: http://aalbc.it/FREAKONOMICS

I will let the video speak for itself. Download free ebook at: http://DTPollard.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ghX644NIk&feature=player_embedded

From the Chrishayden FWYMM collection http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dSvXf0gATo

http://www.counterpunch.org/reed09242010.html

I knew if I waited long enough, I’d be back in style. With the public maybe growing tired of anorexic actresses sporting their baby bumps, focus has shifted to the healthy bodies of the past, perspective mummies instead of expectant mommies, One of the hottest celebs around these days is 86-year-old Betty White who is having a ball with her tongue-in-cheek dirty ol lady persona. Now joining her in the spotlight is 76-year-old Florence Henderson of Brady Bunch fame, appearing as a contestant on "Dancing With The Stars", flashing her bosom and shaking her booty like a 20-something hottie. Not to be out done 76-year-old ageless sex pot Sophia Loren is about to be th…

Well, although I take my ginko biloba faithfully, and work crossword puzzles and read books and engage in other activites to stimulate my mind, some things just elude my comprehension. I have a memory like a elephant, with just an occasion senior moment when I can’t immediately call to mind somebody’s name, but when looking for coherence, there are just some things that I can’t wrap my mind around. I faithfully stuck with Ishmael Reed's marathon commentary posted by Chrishayden and just when I thought I was gleaning the point Reed was trying to make, he would do a flip-flop, contradicting himself before lapsing into irrelevant anecdotes and parenthetical asides giv…

Black Men and the White Left http://www.counterpunch.org/reed09172010.html Why Some White Progressives Make Me Sick By ISHMAEL REED Ralph Ellison wrote his novel, “Invisible Man,” in an elliptical style because HUAC was breathing down the necks of black writers. Langston Hughes, appearing before the committee, had to renounce his left leaning pro-Soviet poetry. But stripped bare, Ellison’s book is about the left’s abandonment of the issue of housing foreclosures. Progressives of the day turned their attention to saving the Communist revolution abroad, under attack by German fascists. Ellison was furious about what he considered a betrayal. I thought a…

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/judge_judy_knocks_oprah_off_top_AVkY89z91qr8srHhdoCkAM

After a chase a black motorcyclist beaten by Dallas, TX cops. This has touched off a firestorm of controversy and resulted in firing and suspensions. http://DTPollard.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rS9_LU7qog

The big swing bands of the 1930s and early 40s were who provided dance music for hep cats and fly chicks. I can see my older sisters and brother jitterbuggin now, - or “cuttin a rug” as it was also called. This era was the hey day of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Who hasn’t heard of these giants? The name Jimmy Lunceford may not be as familiar but he was also a trail blazer in this domain. For trivia buffs Lunceford was once the rival of Harlem Renaissance poet, Countee Cullin for the hand of W.E.B.DuBois’ daughter. Countee got the girl because her family found him more acceptable than a transient saxophone player. Jimmy got the last laugh, however, when …

In my ongoing quest to do what some will find boring, the next two entries are meant to remind people that before Motown, Disco, Psychadelic Funk, Hip-hop, and Rap, black people snapped their fingers and patted their feet to other types of R&B music. Yeah, you know a little about the Blues. BB King. Roberty Cray. But, let’s go back a little further, back to the 1930s. Myth has it that musician Robert Johnson went to the crossroads and while there, sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the amazing guitar skills he inexplicably acquired. Nobody does, or did it better. Blues aficionados claim Johnson approached his guitar like a keyboard and treated the strin…

There was a time when Frank Sinatra had the ladies swooning and Nat Cole elicited sighs, but back then there were those of us who also appreciated the vocalizing of chitlin-circuit singer best known for his rendition of a raunchy song entitled “I want a bow-legged woman”. Like his contemporaries Arthur Prysock, and Billy Eckstein, a guy named Bull Moose Jackson could also wrap his pipes around love ballads and make female hearts flutter. Yes, Ella’s fans considered her the best, and blond blue-eyed Doris Day was everybody’s favorite girl next door but, with her soaring range and luscious tone, Sarah Vaughn could hold her own.

Man, this is getting good to me now that I know how to embed YouTube songs in a post! And I know I am being self indulgent, but who cares. This is more fun than exchanging insults with Carey, and it’s not like other board members, who obvious prefer to lurk, don’t have equal time to do their thing. Moreover, people should always take advantage of an opportunity to broaden their music tastes. With the that said, let’s get esoteric. To my surprise I have discovered that a piano genius who burned up the key board back in the late 50s and early 60s has become increasingly unfamiliar to anybody but the most elite of jazz buffs. Check out this dynamic rendition by the…

From time to time people provide links to songs they want to share with others for one reason or another. Since it's a slow day, I'll indulge my personal tastes. Music lovers know that good music is good music, and the passage of time doesn’t alter this. My first choice is a song that became popular around 1950. It is entitled “It’s a Blue World” and was a ground-breaking record because it set the bar for all the crooning male singing groups that came after, including The Temptations, who cited The Four Freshmen as the vocal quartet which had inspired and influenced them most. As is the case in all of their selections, the Four Freshmen’s 4-part harmonizing …