Cynique

When it comes to the Trayvon Martin case, the prosecution was ostensibly the loser. But in reality, the charges they brought and the case they presented made it unlikely that a guilty verdict would be reached. So it ended up being a win-win case for Florida law enforcement. Why? Because they dutifully brought Zimmerman to trial in order to pacify outraged Blacks, and then proceeded to craft an ineffective case whose not guilty outcome would placate Whites. Bottom line: the prosecution is being given an "E" for effort for "doing the best they could", - their "best" being a ploy wherein they set themselves up to lose. Justice for Trayvon Martin was a Catch-22. Who cares what loud mouth, compulsive gambler Charles Barkley who never won an NBA championship ring has to say??? Name-recognition always got him out of his drunken scrapes with the police. There is a video currently making the rounds on the social media featuring black conservative Larry Elders, ranting and condemning Blacks and Liberals for daring to think that a black youth deserves to be spared the suspicion of white vigillantes unless he is a carbon copy of a wholesome white suburban teenager. I am so revolted by these Uncle Tom lackeys that I want to barf.

What cave do you live in, Pioneer? Your "logic" is circuitous?? I can't believe you ask these question of someone who lives around Chicago where people who are trying to follow the straight and narrow path, trying to raise their kids to not join gangs, or become thugs, and to stay in school, and to not get pregnant, all the while trying to hold a job, attend church regularly and last but not least, deal with the daily violence and mayhem that victimizes more innocent people than intended targets. This hard lifestyle of catching hell is more the exception than the rule in all urban areas.How can you not know this??? And it's common for folks to end up being punished for trying to do good or whose attempts at being charitable have back fired. People doing the most wrong are the ones leading the easiest lives. Espcially those in high places. Sorry. Your sermon is not reaching me. And your definition of spirituality and morality is simply that. What YOU think these words mean. To me, being spiritual is being in touch with yourself, not burning incense. Describing black people as spiritual is about their capacity for feeling things. And morality is not setting yourself up as a judge, and being preoccupied with imposing rigid prudish rules on other people To me, It's about respecting a person's right to lead whatever life they choose as long as it doesn't threaten others. Everybody has their own "moral" code and it often coincides with their philosophy of life, not what somebody else is shaking their finger at. Who is to say who is right? But it's useless for me to argue this with somebody like you because your mind is finite. You can't think before or beyond a certain point; you're too scared to do this. And you mistake your fear for morality.

Where do you get the idea that inviting some man over to the house where I live with my daughter is a decision I'm pondering, Pioneer? I found this whole situation rather amusing. I thought others might find it funny, too, hearing about an encounter between 2 senior citizens who reconnected through FaceBook. I did not ask for any advice or do I need any help from you in deciding what to do. I wasn't born yesterday. I'll do whatever I feel like doing because I 'm also not seeking anybody's approval. So refrain from making assumptions and unfunny "jokes".

There's no such thing as engaging in a dialogue with you, Pioneer. You want to write the script and put words in people's mouths and portray yourself as a font of irrefutable wisdom. Yawnnn. Continue to do your thing, Harry. You always bring a smile to my face. I appreciate your brevity .

Who asked for your advice, Pioneer? I couldn't care less about your opinions. When it comes to the mating game, your credentials are nil. Put a sock in it, you sorry ass loser.

I leave it alone. Why do black people have to do what white people aren't doing, Pioneer? They are 2 sides of the same coin. The white elite work The System the same way ghetto Blacks do; they are just more sophisticated in their tactics. They enjoy the fruits of corporate welfare and farm subsidies and low taxes.They instigate and support wars that kill thousands of people because this profits the military industrial gang even it it doesn't accomplish the goal of protecting this country's foreign turf. Power hungry America maintains an standing army of uniformed thugs ready to unleash firepower or launch drive-by drones. There are no good and bad guys in this equation. Religious hypocrites and homosexuals and perverts and a thriving porno industry pollute white America, but according to you, Blacks will be rewarded if they become Puritanical. And it's not as if Blacks don't already embrace religion, inspite of the fact that their ferverent prayers go unanswered, and they do penance daily for the sin of having black skin. Or is it as if white people have set an example of what it takes to win "god's favor. they do as they damn well please and still enjoy an abundance of racist blessings. You blithely suggest that Blacks stop doing what they really aren't doing; which is emulating intellectuals and embracing atheism. The black masses are not engaged in mentally profound discourse but are humbly worshipping god in spite of the fact that "he" has proven time and time again that "he" doesn't give a damn about them. African Americans endured 400 years of slavery and in the present their descendants are still shackled by racism. They are a forsaken people, beholden to white folks and their white god. And when are these universal laws you speak of gonna kick in? Blacks are a very spiritual race of people and if this was going to benefit them, it should've happened by now. It's a myth that after the civil rights movement, Blacks enjoyed great prosperity and no longer experienced discrimination and that the poverty that gave rise to the ghetto culture disappeared. It was all a charade that is manifesting itself in post racial America. When are Blacks going to become aligned with the channels of good fortune?? In the hereafter? In that vague domain in the sky invented to placate fools who are being denied what others have in the here-and- now. You always imply that Blacks are guillible, and easily corrupted by the factions that you personally don't agree with, Pioneer. Yet you have no problem with encouraging them to be guillible enough to think that their problems will all vanish if they just become humble judgmental believers. You also act as though people are looking to you for salvation, Pioneer, and that you have mission to come up with answers for the plight of black people and that yours is the final word. Not. Those Black folks who possess a natural guile will find ways to be among those who endure. Only the strong survive is the true universal law. So be it.

In any organized movement, there is a strategy. The strategy involves a series of tactics that come in stages. Public protest in the form of marching is an early stage; it is a tactic that seeks to dramatize a grievance by using the streets as a stage . Marches are not the be-all end-all; they are an attention-getting mechanism which serve to usher in the next stage which very often involves boycotting. Of course, legal challenges to injustices are an ongoing approach behind the scenes of any movement.But as we have seen in the incorrect charges lodged against Zimmerman, legal ploys can be used to circumvent the pursuit of justice. The final stage of a movement involves the achievement of having its goal become an institution in the greater society. Presumably in a Democracy this process works and the voice of the people prevails. Unfortunately, America is not what it claims to be. The majority does not rule, the States are not united, and the great melting pot has cooled and congealed as each ingredient has separated, becoming a clump of its own kind, and none of these entities seem inclined to blend with African-Americans. With all of their praying and struggling and demanding, black people have never achieved anything but tokenism. Barack Obama is the supreme example of this impotency. The question is why do Blacks remain mired in a situation that keeps them down. Is it because we remain strangers in a strange land, and don't know how to maneuver in a concrete jungle? Is it because class distinctions have become the equivalent of opposing tribes? When a situation never undergoes permanent change, there has to be an inherent reason for this. What is it?? Is it natural for Blacks to be despised and rejected, even among themselves? Jews have experienced centuries of anti-semitism and have never elected an American President, but they thrive. Their power lies in the mercantile genius of their DNA which provides them with the supreme weapon. Money.

Well, we can thank the social media for providing an outlet for Blacks to vent the anger that in an earlier time could've been played out big time in the streets. My face book page is bristling with anger and indignation about George Zimmerman going free. I'm sure Twitter is on fire, too. Actually, the decision was almost anti-climatic because the media was predicting that the prosecution had a weak case and live TV coverage allowed interested parties to see the defense's strengths and the prosecution's blatant inadequacies. I, personally don't think justice was served. And I was particularly galled not only by the smirks and smugness of the defendant and his team, the judge and the city officials, but also by the shrugging apathy of the losing team. I am, of course, impressed with the commentary from the liberal legal experts who say the prosecution did a lousy job of presenting their case, tiptoeing around the issue of racial profiling and calling witnesses that favored the defense, not to mention charging Zimmerman with second degree murder instead of intially pursuing the easier to prove charge of manslaughter. All I know is that there is something inherently wrong when a young black male whose only crime was reacting to a racist stalker who is exonerated from killing his prey on the grounds of defending himself from the victim who was defending himself from the stranger he perceived to be a threat. One party's actions were premeditated, the other's spontaneous. A gun put the vigilante at a great advantage. And a teenager out for an evening stroll paid for it with his life. Go figure. I listened to Fox News for as long as I could stomach it, then I switched back to MSNBC. The divisiveness in this country does not bode well for the future Maybe this case would make a good movie, after all, - because ironically George Zimmerman is now a victim. There's a cloud over his head and his life will never be the same.

Speak for yourselves, Guys. We senior citizens are not enslaved to the electronic devices that stifle communication and stultify behavior. We are not shackled to our computers or hooked on the social media. We still converse with each other and make eye contact and read books and write coherently. We still venture outdoors to walk about and take time to smell the flowers, still know how to enjoy leisure and appreciate solitude and contemplate life. Who is to blame for the direction this generation is heading? Not us. Change masqueraded as progress, and we are becoming extinct, soon to be fossils, relics from a better time when people retained their humanity.

Frederick Douglass has some choice words to offer on this subject in a speech he was asked to make back in 1852. He was less than enthusiastic about celebrating this date which had no positive meaning for a nation that was half-slave, half-free. Today, for black people, the 4th is a day off from work, an traditional occasion for families to gather at barbeque cook-outs where card playing and beer drinking will take place before darkness falls and the fireworks begin. The history associated with this date is insignificant to most of us. Juneteenth certainly has more relevance. It's a mystery why it has never gained widespread attention or popularity. Me, I personally don't have a patriotic bone in my body. Seeing the American flag flapping in the breeze stirs nothing within my breast. The framers of the Declaration of Independnce were a bunch of aristocrats who considered Blacks only three-fourths human. In advocating the separation of church and state, it's ironic how their opposition to religion didn't take into consideration what a role it would play in pacifying their slaves. People talk about LIncoln not deserving all of the credit he is given when it comes to freeing the slaves.Compared to the ambivalent Thomas Jefferson, ol Abe did what he had to do.

There isn't that much of a back story for this incident and the plot would call for a lot of filler. Maybe a made-for-TV movie would be made by the Life Time cable channel. Who would play Zimmerman? Trayvon? Rachel is just a minor character.

Tell that to all of the police forces on alert and black leaders who are cautioning against a violent reaction should Zimmerman go free. Widespread looting of white businesses and mass rioting are what they fear. These reactions are fueled by the frustration of everyday people and are not that common.The long term effects of an acquittal will fade, but spontaneous outbursts may occur. Every since her court appearance, the Internet has been alive with comparisons between Rachel and Precious. There may be documentaries made about this case, but I doubt if a movie will be made.

If nothing else, the social media is an equal opportunity venue. Take FaceBook, for instance. Anyone can traverse the lanes of the internet highway. Even old folks. The great lure of this network is the channels it provides to people from your past. I recently crossed paths with an old pal from the Post Office. We’d been fairly good friends during the many years ago when we worked together. In the hive of intrigue that characterized most postal work places, he had been an interesting character, just one of the many predators, cruising the aisles and offices and break rooms looking for fresh meat to inspect. He was 10 years younger than me and at that time, this age difference among other things, kept our relationship platonic. We were buddies and even confidants on occasion. Now, he and I are two old retirees, him seemingly more ravaged by age than me. Anyhow shortly after our recent reconnection, he started calling me. I had no problem with this because he is a bristling repository of interesting news and juicy gossip about all of our old mutual acquaintances. He also has lewd stories to reveal about his bygone days as a womanizer delivering his male and getting the stamp of approval from his patrons. Did I say lewd? Man, I‘m luvin’ it. The most brazen among our old co-workers are now sanctimonious church sistas. Naturally. Lately, not content with just reminisicing about his glory days, this ol fart has decided he wants to fulfill the secret fantasies he claims he used have about me. He wants this black widow to start spinning her web. His wife? According to him, she’s out of it, sickly and “forgetful”. Watta guy! Anyhow, for the past few months he‘s been calling regularly, and once he’s through with his updates about the “postal alumni association“, he then proceeds to talk dirty to me, promising me all manner of passionate sex, ecstatic experiences that will curl my toes and rock my world! He has diabetes and other health issues, but not to worry. He claims he has something better than viagra. I suspect it’s a penis pump. The ludicrous visuals his seductive suggestions bring to mind, send me into paroxisms of stifled laughter. EW. Undeterred he thinks I should take the plunge, or let him take it - as in being a priority on my Bucket List or fuck it list, as the case may be. He wants to take me to a romantic spa for my 80th birthday, pamper me, and ply me with champagne. Cheers. Unfortunately, the effect his promises have on me, dull rather stir desire. What if after things progressed, the room isn’t dark enough to spare us the petrifying sight of each other in the buff? Or the bubbly isn't intoxicating enough to reverse my reluctance? What if the geezer has a heart attack? What if I have a -stroke?(no pun intended) What if his wife really wasn’t out of it and found out about me. What would my grand children think? Omigod, Nana! Ooops, sorry, for this little lapse. Where was I? Ummmm, let's see. Will Zimmerman be found guilty of the lesser charge of boyslaughter? Will Obama get serious about Syria? Can the Asiatic Airlines plane crash be attributed to bad driving? Will Paula Deen offer Edward Snowden asylum? Will Kanye and Kim’s love affair go south now that they’ve had “North”? Will the heir to the British throne be a Prince - or a Madonna? Don’t ask me.

I'm not so sure that there won't be violent reactions if Zimmerman beats the rap, - that there won't be a replay of what happened when Rodney King's assailants were found not guilty. We got a long, hot, summer ahead of us and the natives are restless. Anything can set off an orgy of rioting and looting. All the inner cities need is an excuse to explode. But at least, law enforcement will be on the alert and ready to combat the violence, which might in itself compound rather than quell the situation. We shall see. What lesson can be learned from whatever happens? Trayvon Martin may not be a hero, but he is a martyr. Matured far beyond the outdated pictures of him, it's not that he was extraordinary, - a wholesome preppy, out for an evening stroll to gaze skyward at the configuration of the stars, a babe in the woods, set upon by a villain who rendered him helpless and then shot him in cold blood. It's, instead, that Trayvon was ordinary, and this made him a suspicious homeboy on the defensive, ready for combat. In a fair fight he might've prevailed, - athletic in build, emboldened by the joint he'd smoked earlier, he might've kicked the creepy cracker's ass. But this confrontation was not fair - or justified. Trayvon Martin died for the sin of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, oh yeah, - because he was black. Go ahead and pay homage to this Saint of Swag. What can black kids learn from this? What they already know: is that they have 2 strikes against them and that it's a jungle out there where guns are the great equalizer. Justice may not be served. But the lines have been drawn. Things will get worse before they get better. Race matters, and racism won't go away. God bless America, indeed. Slavery cursed America.

I cast a jaundiced eye at anyone who smugly looks down from their pedestal and says something to the effect that "if I can do it, you can do it". This assertion sounds noble and modest but is an empty platitude. Not everybody has the same potential. Contrary to constitutional rhetoric, all men are not created equal. Some are born more intelligent and more talented and more skilled than others. Everybody who makes it big, had what it took to do this, and when an opportunity presented itself, they were able to take advantage of it; cream eventually rises to the top. Inept people obviously do not progress because of their ability; their upward mobility has to do with them being rewarded by the people who use and manipulate them for their own purposes. (Think, George Bush) Yet, people like Dr. Ben Carson seemingly want to set themselves up as examples and chide anybody who, as Troy has noted, doesn't have the innate ability to do as well as the doctor has done. An effective leader doesn't preoccupty himself with shaking his finger at his naughty constituents. He has the wisdom to realize that he has to create optimal conditions for everyone to do their best. If Dr. Carson thinks the Republican Party offers the best springboard for him to help Blacks reform their errant ways, then he is not utilizing the knowledge he should have when it comes to recognizing the signs and symptoms of a malignancy. When it comes to black people, unless single black females stop having more children than they can care for, progress will be stalled. Bad schools are, of course, a factor, but it should be remembered that parents are children's first teachers, and young baby mamas are not equipped to fulfill this role. Republicans are not great advocates when it comes to birth control measures or educational reform. Their idea of creating jobs is to reinforce the prison industry. America is in such a state of disarray that no one individual can guide the ship of state through perilous waters. It's hard not to recall how things were back in the 1950s and the unspoken agreement of the Eisenhower years. "Ike" was not power hungry and he voluntarily settled into the role of a figurehead, quite receptive to the idea of the country being ruled "by committee." Was he crazy? Crazy like a fox. The 8 years of his presidency were a fairly stable era, a time when Americans looked upon their president as a kindly father figure. And from his vantage point, he was the one who warned against the rising specter of the military industrial complex that now has America in its grip. I'd be interested in hearing what argument "smart" people would come up in determining that Carson is more qualified than Obama as presidential caliber. Just because somebody can cut and stitch and prescribe pain killers doesn't mean he can heal the human condition. Obama is savvy and knows the score. He just can't surmount the racism that restricts him. This should clue Carson to the reality that unless he's a Republican puppet, racism will stifle him, too.

I have found that there is the world as it is verbalized and publicized and theorized and prophesized and, then, there is the real world, a sphere where a person is the center of his own universe.and left to his own devices finds a way to cope and survive, be it by random luck or deliberate maneuvering. What I also know is that things will never go back to being the way they were. Technology has, indeed, wreaked havoc of menial labor and even eliminated the need for many skilled jobs. In the meantime, problems cry for solutions, and solutions invariably split out into more problems. Turmoil is the norm and there is order to the chaos as the little blue planet wavers in its orbit. Ironically, it has been my lot to stay under the radar. For the past 20 years, nothing happening in the world has had any great impact on me. Kinda like living in a bubble where the more things changed, the more they became the same. Since retiring from the post office in 1992, I have lived an unremarkable life unphased by all the economic upheaval going on around me. Uncle Sam sends me 2 checks every month, and once a year he gives me a cost of living raise. Everything that happened in one area has been offset in another so that to this day I have mangaged to maintain a stable existence. I am a member of what was once known as "the silent majority". People who manage to get by. What lies ahead for my children and grandchildren, I do not know, but if being good at texting and tweeting and navigating the Internet, - and this may very well be a factor, - they will somehow find their niche in a re-formatted world. I'm sure the author of "Who Owns The Future" has done a good job of defining the situation, and hard times lie ahead. That's the way it goes... I only have one question. What possessed this man to have a swarm of long, down-past-his-waist, synthetic dread locks woven into his own hair roots?????

According to what popular astrology attributes to my sign, I am not a typical Leo, being neither extravagant, nor maternal nor flamboyant. And I have not found myself to be more compatible with any one sign. I also have never found the old saying about opposites attracting to be true when it came to mates. I always gravitated toward men whose ideas jibed with mine because agreeing rather than arguing was more romantic I could never have hooked up with a conservative tight-assed bible thumper. Signs and challenges aside, over the years, I always found it odd that whenever I was confrontational with a guy, he always thought I wanted to give him "some". The male ego is something else. When it comes to female friends, I can do without drama queens and moms whose lives revolve around their children. Hurry up August, so I can turn 80 and can then concentrate fully on stopping the world so I can get off.

There's a difference between addressing a woman as "Girl" and referring to her as "a girl", Pioneer. If you can quell your urgent need to proclaim your "straightness" long enough, you might be able to detect the implications of the above distinction. As a boy who advocates polygamy, along with your not feeling an urgent need to woo a woman before jumpin her bones, you could probably benefit from reading Ms. Lewis' book.

Have you ordered your copy yet, Pioneer? Sounds like a book that would help to set you straight. You could start shaping up by referring to the author as a "woman", not a "girl".

Well, Troy, Paula Deen made her living communicating in public on her very successful TV cooking show. She's is in a vulnerable position right now and losing her aplomb because her image has been tarnished. She is suffering the consequences of the privileges she took for granted as a southern woman steeped in old traditions of her cullture It's even possible that she may be putting on an act to gain public sympathy. Her fried chickens have come home to roost and she has been singled out and made an example of for the "sophisticated" indifference she showed not only about using the word nigger but about the other biased behavior that her white accuser is suing her for. Is this fair? Probably not. But, then, life isn't fair. Paula is gaining public sympathy, playing to her audience, scoring a coup d'tat by calling on Jesse Jackson for help, and once this all blows over, she'll be back in business.

Paula Deen is a millionaire many times over, and yet everybody wants to label her unsophisticated and inocuous. Puleeze. This woman didn't get to where she got by being dumb and naive. She is a shrewd business woman who parlayed her good ol southern gal persona into a fortune, and she's still playing the "some of my best friends are black" card. Now she's being lynched on the tree of public opinion for the benefit of black folks who are increasingly empathizing with her plight. Good for us. To forgive is divine. Thank ya, Jesus. The media, media, the media. The media is "doing what it do":reporting the news, revealing how Corporate America is bending over backwards to show niggers that it ain't racist, and is politically correct. You black people want respect? You got respect. Now whatcha gonna do with it? Don't blame us white folks if Trayvon Martin's "precious" girlfriend who can't read cursive writing gives her impression of a sista with attitude for the benefit of a jury made up of George Zimmerman's peers. If Zimmerman goes free, don't blame the white business world. We punished ol Paula for saying nigger. If Trayvon paid the price for wearing a hoodie and calling his assailant a racial epithet, well, that's how it goes... Maybe Skittles will add licorice to its flavors in honor of Trayvon. And the beat goes on as America stumbles forth in the year of our lord 2013.

All any woman really needs to do is read the book's title.The power of suggestion doesn't cost anything.

MAN! I'd like to get a hold of some of those pork chops to barbeque for the 4th of July!