Troy

Nah'Sun the parallels with Rap, unfortunately, seem quite valid. Oh, yeah I owe you a "Why Facebook an't sh-t rant". I'll probably blog about it when I find 5 free minutes.

The distinction between authors published by major publishers and who are self published have blurred. Some self-published authors are indistinguishable from authors published by a large publisher. I can name a dozen authors published traditional who work as hard as anyone in the game. In reality, an increasing number of Black authors obtain book deals after demonstrating commercial success on their own -- so much so, if seems as though self publishing success is a requirement to get a deal. If is true all authors need to work together, but this is rare beyond very small groups, or cliques. Part of the ABLE mission is to facilitate this collaboration, but building these alliances requires a lot of work... Steven Barnes and his wife author Tananarive Due are a fascinating couple.

It really is discouraging Cynique and it will only get worse.

I'm not making anymore contributions. The $3 amount make me think of the panhandler you asks you for a penny saying, "anything will help". It is amazing what political campaigns, in this country, have become -- contests to see who can raise the most money and is best spearing at the opponent. $750MM to become Mayor of NY, $1B+ to become president. I seem to remember the Democrats, and Obama, campaigning on campaign finance reform. Both parties are up for sale.. For anyone so inclined... Troy -- We've run a lot of contests on this campaign, but you should pay special attention to this one. Here are three reasons why: The winner gets to go to the Democratic National Convention, meet the President, AND spend time with the First Lady. Chip in $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered for a chance to meet her -- and her husband -- in Charlotte. In addition to sitting up front with the First Lady as President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president, the lucky winner and a guest will get airfare, a hotel room, and VIP tickets to all three days of the convention. You should give it a shot -- chip in $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered: https://my.democrats.org/Join-Us-in-Charlotte Good luck! Joe P.S. -- Every time you donate in the next 78 days, you are getting us that much closer to a win on Election Day. It's closer than you think. Chip in today.

There will be no assassination. I can say that with absolute certitude. Obama as a martyr would actually be more effective, sort of like the no good dad worth more dead, for the insurance money than alive. Besides it is not like Obama is exactly jamming things up for the rich...

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And China has more than a billion more people than the US

Congrats Sister as you embark upon you 8th decade of life! Love Troy

I always use the "print" option for articles like these: http://www.alternet.org/print/books/whats-matter-white-people-longing-golden-age-never-was I'll check it our a get back to you.

Milton do you know Sheree Thomas? If not check out her Dark Matter anthologies: http://aalbc.com/authors/sheree.htm and hit me back.

Milton, please share your conclusions of your conversation.

http://bit.ly/whatyoudont

With nukes, unmanned drones and God knows what else the US Government has in it's arsenal; the argument that the right to bears arms enables people to rise up against the government seems archaic and naive. Maybe that was possible in the mid 1700's but not in 2012. Besides there is no organization amongst the oppressed to "rise up" let alone get from in front of the TV. Agreed national law, and a total ban on assault weapons. But this will never happen people are too stupid and greedy -- despite the carnage in the streets..

I do know the murder rate in London is lower than it is in Philadelphia and unless things have changed the police in London don't even carry guns. But it should be fairly obvious that the number of killings would go down if gun ownership was illegal. In NYC, so many children have recently been shot or killed by accident. There is far less collateral damage when baseball bats, knives and nunchucks are the available weapons. Shoot (no pun intended), maybe kids will go back to fisticuffs to settle disputes if guns were unavailable. Guns make it so much easier to kill both the target and innocent victims. Guns also have the effect of turning punks into what they think are men -- making it possible for a situation to become deadly. If a gun were not available, the situation could have been squashed. So while we live in a violent world why increase the violence by making it easier to kill each other? Now I know if we made guns illegal. It would be the poor inner city Black kids being thrown into jail while the rich (most white kids) would take advantage of the inevitable loops hole for collectors, hunters, etc. So I do not like the idea of taking away the right. It should just be VERY difficult to obtain a gun and ammunition so difficult in fact that most people won't even bother to try. If the weapon is used to kill someone in the commission of a crime the gun's owner and the shooter get life.

No problem, I see you URL starts with "https" This is how you obtain the long link; when you at at YouTube clikc the share button, then select the long link option, then copy that URL (or you can just change "https//..." to "http//..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EhaPUqG3M

....or obesity.

Hi Mystic Woman, just post the youtube long link http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EhaPUqG3M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EhaPUqG3M

Who keeps a condom receipt? Funny that the receipt tripped me up and I'm not domestic violence involving the police...

I mentioned Condi because I once described her as attractive, sexy in a way a I said I would "go for that". I was looked at like I had too heads by the women. One even questioned my sanity. I was like home girl has money, power, has never been married and can even play the piano -- whats not to love. Quick name one Black republican that is respected by the Black community? The congressional Black Caucus doesn't even embrace Black Republicans. I get grief for having folks like Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, or even folks like Juan Williams. The culture need spiritual renewal. I can't see that coming for your garden variety preacher though...

I hear you Cynique, I know there are at least two sides to every story and a third -- the truth. So if the shooter said, "hey, I'm a cop" does that mean they would not have kicked his ass? Or rather, it is OK beat someone down, as a result of an accident (they caused), if he was not a cop? No matter how you look at it they should not have ganged up on the guy. But again I was not there, However, the way the article reads I think even our friend, Milton would have whipped out his piece to prevent himself from being killed. I was in a similar situation; driving down a city street someone walked out in front of my car, from between parked cars, in the middle of the street, against the light. I slammed on my breaks, but was unable to stop in time. I hit homeboy, he flew into my windshield, smashing it, and landed in front of the car. I did not know if I'd killed him or not -- but I do know there was nothing I could have done to avoid hitting him. When I got out the car to see what happened I was immediately surrounded by a mob of folks -- one yelling, "He did it, I saw him, he did it!!" This enraged me (good thing I did not have a gun), but I was also scared what might happen next. Out of nowhere some plain clothes cops -- just told me to get out of there. Which I promptly did. I'm Black, the crowd was Black, we were in Harlem, the cops were white. I truly believed those cops saved from a bad situation that day. The guy I hit was intoxicated and survived. They refer to Philadelphia as "Killadelphia". We could probably come up with a list of similar names other dangerous chocolate cities.

"Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell have escaped this stigma..." Well Cynique that depends upon the circles you role in -- especially for Condi. "Real humanitarians [sic] and philanthropists don't require trophies and plaques. Their rewards are derived from the satisfaction of helping those in need." This is very true, but because of the way we recognize people, the real humanitarians do not get the resources that they could get. Those funds go to the most popular. So all those awards mean something in that they can help raise the profiles of real humanitarians. But they generally go to celebrities, which is more profitable.

I asked Milton, because while you did present home protection as an argument for gun ownership, you also admit our neighborhood is extremely peaceful... But I hear you, I actually believe in personal freedom to own a gun. But when folks demonstrate an inability to avoid infringing on on the freedom of others by shooting them to death, it is up to society to correct the problem. No one has presented an argument to convince me that the murder and mayhem we have is a reasonable tradeoff for the freedom of gun ownership is worth the trade off (home protection in a peaceful neighborhood does not count ) First you have to buy into the fact that we have a serious problem with the use of guns. Some folks don't agree with this. I think they are crazy or so far removed from the situation they simply don't care. If you accept the fact that we indeed have a problem; the issue becomes what do we do about it. I guess as long as poor folks are the majority of the victims, I guess nothing will be done. So Milton while we don't have to worry about you shooting up a crowded theater or gunning down another Brother over some silly beef, there are too many other folks out there that we do have to worry about. What do you propose that we do about it?

Cynique, the shooting in Maywood while tragic seems justified. A little girls darts into the street and the off duty police officer crashes his bike trying to avoid her. The girl's family starts to beat the crap out of the cop and he shoots in self defense.

Here is the video from the 2nd article: LIL MOUSE-GET SMOKED http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSgpwhF8Dbc The US is firing on all cylinders when it comes to destroying Black folks. I know someone will say it is Black folks in and shooting this video so why blame the US of America. Of course getting into all the conditions that led to this situation would involve more time than I have right now.

Being a police officer, especially, in New York City is a difficult job. The work is stressful, your see the worst humanity has to offer on a regular basis. The job can be thankless. A role that is needed, desperately in some locations, but if a mistake is make the general public is all over you. That said I can not fathom a single justification for the senseless murder of a 51 years old Black man in broad daylight on a crowded NY City street. 12 shots fired by 2 officers, hitting the Brother 7 times (or so I've heard). I don't get it. They decided to execute kill this man. The police commissioner said the actions of the officers were justified. I don't see it.