Blue Justice

You have got to be kidding me.

I am usually one of the first people to defend police officers. Sure, as a Black man raised in a big city I have enough reasons to dislike police in general. I've been stopped and sometimes harrassed by them growing up as a teen of the '80's and I know that all police share the one major flaw of being human. But, I will tell anyone that being a cop is a tough, dangerous and thankless job. I probably couldn't do it. I'm not sure if I'd want to.

One of the usual points I like to bring up when police debates flare up is the fact that I think cops first promise should be to come home at night safe and sound to their familes. The second promise should be close behind and should be to protect and serve. I never think I have those two mixed up because if I were a cop, or a fire fighter, or a plumber or a truck driver - my FIRST promise is to always come home to my wife and kids!

I think when police are in a dangerous and life threatening position, they should use as much force as needed to protect themselves, their fellow officers and the public in general. They should be brave and smart and shoot straight and true.

But then you have cops like New York's Mike Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper. Murderers.

(In fact, I'm not even typing their names in blue, because they are not true cops)

These guys murdered Sean Bell in cold blood. And worse than that - New York Judge Arthur Cooperman decided that they were justified in shooting 50 times at a car containing three unarmed Black men. 50 TIMES!!!

Okay, granted. When this event was going down in the early hours of November 25, 2006 outside of a strip club in Queens. The shooters didn't know the car was empty, but they damn sure knew that NO ONE WAS SHOOTING BACK AT THEM! One of this men actually lowered his gun, popped a clip out, pulled a fresh one out, popped it back in, charged his gun and continued firing. 50 TIMES!!!

And this judge basically told them, "Nice job guys. No harm, no foul. One Black guy dead and two injured. Next time shoot straighter, see if you can get'em all."

That's what he told them. And, yes - I know that two of the cops where Black [looking].

This verdict is nothing short of a slap in the face of all minorities. This verdict is a sham and a travisty of justice. It shows that in New York, you can gun down Black men wholesale and as long as you are wearing a badge. You are teflon; you are safe, you are golden, you are held harmless to accountability.

This is sadly not the last time that New York cops are not going to murder a minority in cold blood. The NYPD... excuse me... not the [whole] NYPD, just the arrogant NYPD assholes that equate gun caliber with genitalia size, will consider Cooperman's verdict as a free pass to claim "fear" as justification to rain down hot lead on innocent civilians.

If there is a spirit of justice in this country, if she is blindfolded and truly issues her verdicts without bias towards race or stature, then today she must be sheding a tear, she must be sad, she must be blue.

TTBM

Wright and wrong...

I haven't blogged in a while and I certainly hope I haven't lost my voice... let's see.

This whole Jeremiah Wright thing has rubbed my nerves raw.

The media is eating these little sound bites up- CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the rest are burning the airwaves to snatch as many ratings points as possible with the words of Barack Obama's hometown preacher.

I've heard most of the comments, which were clearly snatched in segments which guaranteed the most shock value to the American listener. While I think the entire sermon should be heard in its full context before anyone should make a blanket denouncement of Rev. Wright, I live in America and I know 95% of the people complaining aren't going to go beyond 7 or 8 keystrokes to try and learn anything.

But, full context aside, Rev. Wright's comments are his own, he believes in them and frankly that should be that. Barack Obama didn't make these comments, so for anyone to try and hold Wright's comments to Mr. Obama is utter foolishness. Stupid, shallow, dim-witted election year foolishness! That's like people around the world holding the dumb stuff that George Bush says all the time to the citizens of the United States. Does anyone with an IQ higher than a bullfrog stand up and say, "George Bush's thoughts and feelings are mine?" No.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing Rev. Wright to George Bush, but I am truly saying that one man's comments should not be transposed over to another just because the two of them are associated. I am embarrased that as an American, my fellow voting adults are so easily manipulated and herded like a flock of dumb sheep into these little political columns as defined by the Republicans [and or Hillary Clinton]. Someone shows some nicely edited clips of Barack Obama's preacher, and suddenly Barack is a hate monger and a racist and a bunch of other nicely scripted catch words. I'm stunned.

I was reading some websites today and I am stunned by the number of people, [white people] saying dumb things like...

"I didn't know blacks hate America so much. It's like an eye opener. Since it is a view shared by almost 100% black churches throughout the country (according to a black FoxNews guest), it explains theoverwhelming anti-socieity tendency of the black community..."

I can't help but say, "What the hell????" "Blacks hate America?" "A view shared by almost 100% of Black churches?" What kind of dumbass wrote that? I will bet my next paycheck that this person has never been within 50 feet of a Black church! I feel so sad for this person that they are so weak minded and so prone to think just the way the MEDIA wants her to think. This is a great example of the power of the American media on people that are not strong enough to think for themselves. The media gave her a broad brush, and she ran off to paint with it. (Just a little knowledge for her - Blacks do not hate America! Many Blacks may have issues with various aspects of America, but we do not hate America. For my two cents - ANYBODY of ANY RACE that hates America, needs to get the hell out of America! ANYBODY!!!)

Then I read:

"Barak sold his soul to win in Chicago and it's coming back to bite him. I voted for him for Sen. but will never vote for him again..."

I have to ask, how does going to a church for years and years before you ever think about running for Senate count as "selling your soul." I hope this person didn't just vote for Barack because he went to church in Chicago, because frankly, that would be stupid. Use your head fellow voter - don't let the Media lead you by the nose like a little puppy!

And lastly, this one just stunned me:

"Barack Obama has deliberately infected his own family with 20 years of anti-American racist hatred. He must not be allowed to similarly infect America. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright mentored Obama. They have hijacked Christianity in the same way as Osama has hijacked Islam. Obama and Osama really ARE the same person. Obama's fellow churchgoers simply haven't arrived at the point where the vests are strapped onto the children....yet."

I've tried to cut down my profanity on my blog, but for this one, I'm gonna' dust off a 10 pointer... (here we go) What the Fuck? Are you serious? Are you really serious? Infected his family for 20 years, huh? Obama and Osama are really the same person, huh? See ,these kinds of people scare the shit out of me. So narrow and so easily brought into line. Pitiful.

I think what gets me in all of this is the fact that so many people that have never heard of Jeremiah Wright until this week and who know nothing of this man are so quick to pass judgement on him and a member of his church after hearing 30 seconds of a partial sermon by him. I'm not saying he was right or wrong, and I'm not saying what I agree or disagree with in the SNIPPIT's of his sermon. But what I am saying is that I know Rev. Wright does not spend every Sunday taking shots and America, American Racism, and American Imperialism - sadly, many sheeple have been lead to believe this.

And on top of that - folks have to pick their argument when it comes to Obama and religion. Plenty of narrow-minded folks are worried about his name and assume he is Muslim [these people are an American embarrassment]! Yet, now we have a new cluster of folks that are taking arms against his relationship with his Christian pastor. So, somewhere these people have to decide - is he a Muslim or a Christian and for which one are they going to hate him!!!

How are we going to ever get a decent person in the White House as long as so many Americans are weak minded, mailable, vote clumps. So few people seem to be willing to look at the REAL political issues with clarity. People need to stay focused here - the consequences to this country and our future are so great! We have suffered under 8 years of George Bush's mismanagement of our economy and our military and we have to get serious. Let Jeremiah Wright be Jeremiah Wright and let Barack Obama be Barack Obama.

Armageddon has fallen upon DC!!!

Oh my God!

It's snowing in the District of Columbia! I see it with my very own eyes, right outside of my office window. Big fluffy snowflakes that seem to be melting on the sidewalk far below.

Snow in the District of Columbia spells catastrophe for men and women of all ages! People in DC, inside the I-495 beltway, loose their minds and all of their driving skills at the first sign of a snowflake. A mere dusting will guarantee countless pile-ups, road closings, and hours and hours of traffic. All is lost! All is lost!

Lock your doors and say your prayers because snow is falling in the nations capital!

How am I going to get home? Will I ever see my loved ones again?

I admit that I haven't been posting much lately on my blog - but, I still love my blog! I still love my readers! I still love reading the comments! But with snow on the streets of DC, my life will be in complete jeopardy as I set out to the subway!

Am I man enough to walk several blocks and cross several streets in the District under a (gulp) raging snowfall?

Pray for me.....

TSBM.

A special little place...

I'm a dad.

Being a DAD is a special thing. It's not the same thing as these numb-skulls that get women [and girls] pregnant and just roll out and treat their kids like lost socks... things you don't go back for.

Dad's do the damn thing!

Dad's worry about their kids; Dad's feel all of their kids pain 100 times more than the kids themselves; Dad's hear the sneezes and the coughs in the middle of the night and we go pull the covers up on our babies; Dad's protect and place nothing at a higher premium than the safety of our children. While very few of us will say we deserve it, there IS a special little place in heaven for real Dads.

But there is another little "special place" I hope, for fathers like Lam Luong.

Lam Luong is the guy that threw his four babies off of an 80 foot bridge in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama last week.

I hope that there is a special little place in hell for fathers like him.

Things effect me very deeply, usually to my detriment - the night after I heard about this insane and senseless quadruple homicide I barely slept. I tossed and turned and tried to keep my eyes closed for more than a few minutes at a time, but it didn't work. I sat on the edge of my bed for a long time around 2:30AM. I just keep thinking about how confused and terrified those children felt as the man that was supposed to be Dad, was murdering them. I just couldn't get the feel of drowning babies out of my head. I wonder if they understood that they didn't do anything wrong. I couldn't understand how this could happen. I found myself praying that God snatched these babies souls before they hit that water and they never felt a thing. (This is what I usually hope and pray when people die, especially from violence.)

I found myself wishing that I could have just two minutes alone with Lam Luong. Two minutes to reach into some of the darker places in my primal being and two minutes to show him the terror and pain his dying children felt. But I knew that that wasn't right. He had broken the rules of our fraternity, not me, and there was no reason that should corrupt my soul because of his ill deeds. So I could only hope that there was a special little place in hell for fathers that murder their babies.

How was I to get to sleep? After a long bout with my own rage and anger, I wandered down the hall to my kids room and watched them sleep. MY KIDS. MY SONS. MY ANGELS. I went over and sat on the bottom bunk bed, where my youngest sleeps. After a few minutes, I laid down and pulled the covers up over myself and drifted off into a peaceful sleep next to him. Maybe I was the one who needed protecting that night.

TTBM

Pardon the interruption...

Today, I did something very rude. It was incredibly thoughtless of me and I want to apologize. And, the worst part is - I do this very often, and I never seem to learn. But today, I felt compelled to blog my concerns and MY APOLOGY.

Let me tell you what happened.

I went to buy a couple of dress shirts. I picked up three different colors and took about 20 minutes to match them up with appropriate ties. I looked at cuff links and then made my way to the register. This was in a place where everybody lines up in one aisle right in the middle of the store and the line feeds perpendicular into a row of 6 cash registers.

When I got ready to pay, no one was in front of me, so I stood at the point where the sign reads "line starts here". There were two women standing at registers directly in front of me and they were talking. One was in her 20's and one was in her 40's. The younger one glanced at me and then went on talking. There was third woman working her register to my left and ringing-up a customer. To my right was a young man ringing up a couple of people. The ladies in front of me were still chatting and I assume almost a minute had gone by.

Now I'm wondering if maybe I was standing in the right place. I checked and sure'nuff I was in the right place. Both women glanced back at me, they knew I was still standing there! I'm pretty hard to miss! The young one looked annoyed with my lingering presence and finally asked me, "Can I help you?" I looked at her astonished and said, "Yeah, that's why I'm here." She rang me up, folded my ties and tossed everything in a bag and moved on to the guy behind me.

On my way out to my truck it dawned on me. I was very rude to that woman.

I mean, when you think about it... I left MY house to come to HER job. I decided that I wanted to spend some of MY money at HER place of business. Honestly, how rude of ME was it to pick up shirts and ties that are sold at HER job and expect HER to take MY money for them? Really... what a complete jerk I was to wait so quietly and so patiently while she finished talking and didn't even want to be disturbed and do her job of taking MY money.

I've learned my lesson.

I'm a rude dude.

So, to the young lady at the cash register at that men's store that I like so much - I apologize for interrupting your conversation. It was thoughtless, foolish and rude of me to expect you to be working while you were at your job. I'll try to do better next time by not expecting anything of you.

TTBM

We're smarter than THAT! Aren't we?

Okay, Hillary took New Hampshire. Nice job, Hill.

It wasn't a blowout over Barack, but at this level of a campaign, and in a contest of this magnitude, a win is a win and every vote pushes you closer to your party's nomination for President.

Today, I couldn't help but hear all of the laughable pundits claiming that Hillary's shaky voiced emotional comments from this past weekend were the reason she scored so well in Tuesday's primary. All of these expert, genius windbags were saying that voters saw Hillary's emotional side as a winning trait and suddenly the so-called Ice Queen had thawed. I couldn't help but say to myself, "Good Lord! Please let us [as American voters] be smarter than that!"

Now, granted, George Bush won the last election and he is quite possibly the worst President in the history of the world - so we Americans HAVE done some stupid stuff. But, voting for a person because SHE ALMOST CRIED!!! Please God let us be smarter than that!

For the record - I don't think of Hillary as an Ice Queen. Personally, I think Hillary's broken voice spoke her true and honest feelings, but the looks and the sounds were as staged as a Broadway musical and about as real as a seven dollar bill. Hillary and her handlers went fishing - they tossed a line to the media and the weaker minded voters and tried to see who they could catch. In my heart, I'd like to think she didn't really catch many people. I'd like to think that the people of New Hampshire voted on real issues and real concerns like the people of Iowa did when they voted for my man Barack.

I can only hope and pray that American voters can't be bought or swayed by some well acted blinking and some misty eyes. If that is all it takes, then maybe I should be running for President - as bad as George Bush has ruined our country, I find myself trembling with emotion damn near every day.

TTBM

Damn... I think.

Damn.

I haven't posted in a while, so happy New Year to all of my fellow bloggers and those wonderful folks who peek in on my ramblings from time to time. I hope you all have a great year and I truly wish you the very best!

Back to uh, uh, oh yeah - Damn!

Everybody that knows me, knows that I'm a Redskins fan. I love football and I love my burgundy and gold.

As I type this, the curtain has closed on the 2007 season for us. Seattle just beat us 35 to 14. Ah, there is the wonderful number 21 yet again. The same number worn by our fallen favorite son, Sean Taylor. Damn.

Actually, I am far from disappointed in my Wildcard Skins. We lost a lot of games this year that we should have won; We missed a lot of catches we should have caught; We threw a lot of passes we shouldn't have; We called a lot of plays that we should have thought through. But, when all was said and done, we ended up where we wanted to be all along - in the post season. Damn.

We flew to Seattle and we got beat by a better team. It was their day and it was in front of their fans. So, these things happen. We didn't play bad, we just didn't play as good as we should have. I would love to be able to point a finger at someone. I'd love to blame our veteran rookie quarterback Todd Collins, but he has had an impressive 5 games. I'd love to blame Clinton Portis, but he's put down over 1200 yards this year, impressive. I'd love to blame the defense, but hell - I love all of those guys!!! Damn.

So, I'll just let my images of beating Dallas in round two of the playoffs fade from view. Training camp starts in seven months and I'll just make due with the NFL network until then.

Hold your heads up fellow Skins fans, the loyal followers of 20 other teams were green with envy at us before our game today and even now, we've had quite a season - lets be proud!

Sean Taylor

I'm still pretty stunned about the death of yet another young Black man to pointless, stupid violence.

I'm a Redskins fan, and for the last few weeks my biggest concern was the fact that we've been playing so badly that we were going to miss the playoffs yet again. I was disgusted with The Great Joe Gibbs, I was disgusted with the play calling, I was disgusted with the poor execution I was seeing by a group of men that I was so loyal to. I was so disgusted with the Redskins that I refused to even watch their recent game against the Buccaneers. Then, Monday morning, suddenly everything took a back seat.

I was on the Internet at google.com checking headlines when "Redskin's Sean Taylor shot in home" popped up. I whispered, "Damn." and clicked on the story. "Okay, a leg wound. He should be okay," I foolishly thought. I followed the story all day online. All I kept hearing was "He's in a coma and in critical condition." I actually thought to myself on Monday night - He'll be fine. He'll be upgraded to serious in the morning and by Saturday there will be pictures of him smiling with doctors and nurses and signing autographs for sick kids in the children's ward. I assumed he'd miss the rest of the season and come back next pre-season as the Redskins Golden-Boy with smashing tackles and crazy interceptions." Yeah, he'll be fine.

Then Tuesday morning I turned on the radio next to the bed and they were talking about him in the past tense. "He was a talented player..." "He had this kind of spirit..." "He was well liked by..." And I thought, "Damn, why are they talking about him like he's dead. That's pretty thoughtless." With a knot forming in my stomach I went into the guest room and turned on the TV and there it was on channel 5, "Sean Taylor, 1983 - 2007" You could have knocked me over with a feather. I called to my wife, "Sean Taylor died!"

Just then my 3 year old son walked in, coincidentally wearing a Redskins jersey over his pajamas, and asked in a sleepy voice as he sat down next me, "Why did he die?"

What could I say?

I looked at him, then the TV, and then him again and I put my arm around him and said, "Because a very bad person hurt him. And that's why he died." My son looked satisfied with my answer. I don't believe he fully grasps the concept of death and dying, and I guess at this point that is kind of a good thing - maybe.

I'm just stunned.

The police are saying that right now his shooting looks random, but I believe that like I believe George Bush is a good president. I think that is a police ploy to capture the shooter. I don't believe this was a random crime. I'm confident that the person [or persons] that did this knew that was Sean Taylor's home, I'm confident they knew he was home, and I'm confident that he was a target for whatever reason. I think if someone just wanted to steal something, they wouldn't break into a bedroom and start shooting - they would avoid contact and flee. Or if they were startled they would run and just start shooting blindly during their excape. I'm sure that Sean's killer knew him and knew he was home. I truly hope that they bring him to justice!

I was so pissed off over the 'Skins not making the playoffs this year that I had vowed not to watch another single game. Now I can hardly give a damn. I feel for those guys. I feel for the whole organization. Football is just a game, a sport - life is REAL. Life is joy and strength and faith and happiness and pain and sorrow. Life is real and life is what is important. I'm ashamed that I had forgotten that on Sunday afternoons.

TTBM

Nation's Capital or Murder Capital?

A few nights ago in Washington DC, a young man named Timothy Spicer was getting into his car at a metro station when he was car jacked.

It wasn't enough that some thug wanted to steal his car, but they shot him three times and left him to die, which unfortunately he did a short time later. Then this same ruthless animal took his car, drove it for a few hours and then abandoned it in south-east DC. This savage hoodlum, KILLED a man, KILLED a father in cold blood for what? For a joyride? To get to his girlfriend's of his mama's house a little faster than a cab or a bus? Actually, it doesn't really matter. No reason is justifiable.

Of course, now almost everyone in DC is asking, "What can police chief Cathy Lanier do to solve the high murder rates in the district? What can police chief Cathy Lanier do to stop the violence in the streets?"

My question is, "What is DC going to do to stop the violence and the murders?"

I always hear around DC what is the POLICE CHIEF going to do? And, I'm always amazed. There is NO magic solution that the police chief is hiding or holding onto that is going to make these knuckleheads, hoodlums, thugs and monsters stop robbing, raping and killing innocent people. The police chief just can't reach into his or her [now "HER", but not too long ago "HIS"] pocket and pull out a substance that will make these people go away or at least stop being criminals.

All a police chief can really do is strategically move and allocate manpower to try and put band-aids on gunshot wounds [no pun intended] around the city. A chief can also try to maintain a system of post crime investigation that truly hunts and fully prosecutes criminals.

But, neither of these are REALLY and TRULY going to stop the vast majority of murders and violent crimes. Sure, they'll stop a few, but the bulk of crimes will continue. I think in DC there are probably over 1000 city blocks of varying sizes. Considering that you would need between 1 and 7 officers on foot patrol, shifts a day, almost 24 hours a day, for weeks, months and years to really make a big dent in the DC murder rate and frankly, DC doesn't have the manpower or the budget for such foolishness. Then when it comes to post crime follow up, the DC police constantly run into the 50 people standing over the body that "didn't see nuffin'. " It is truly a lose-lose situation for those who think the police chief is the savior.

It all comes down to simply one thing - if person A wants to kill person B for any reason... drugs, money, love, hate, whatever - there is a good chance that person B is going to be in the morgue in a very short time. DC is a city with tough, though useless, gun laws and getting a gun is not hard to do if you know the right people or can hop across the border into northern Virginia or central Maryland. Person A can get the equipment they need to slaughter person B and the police chief and police department can do little to stop it.

There are really only a few ways to stop the violence and murder in DC, some are legal - though not politically desirable and still others are illegal and unfavorable and yet highly effective.

-I think one solution to the crime rate would to be a massive overhauling of the public education system. The schools have to truly teach the children and teach them well. The teachers have to be talented and highly motivated [and yes, highly paid and highly recruited] and they must be supported by the parents! The parents are vital to children that become strong learners. It is only through solid learning that the young people can grow up to have options in their lives. With a school system that is just barely making it, kids just get pushed through and when they come out at 18 or 19, they are not prepared to find truly gainful employment. And these young people become very susceptible to the call of the violent and hungry streets. YOUNG PEOPLE MUST BE EDUCATED!

-The district of Columbia must also, constantly, seek to bring new business and industry to within its city limits. Young people must have job opportunities that will allow them to have comfortable and productive lives. I'm not knocking fast-food jobs, but before young people are drawn into the street life, they must be given professional and intellectual options to bring out the best in them, without that opportunity they will see no self-worth and will feel that being a thug or a "baby mama" is all they are good for. YOUNG PEOPLE MUST BE EMPLOYED!

-Lastly, law enforcement has to GET THE GUNS. I have no proof of what I am about to say, but in a city where civilian ownership of a firearm is illegal, I am willing to bet that there are easily 10,000 illegal guns inside the city limits. The gun violence is too high and there have been too many shootings and murders in the last 15 years to believe that there are less than 10,000 guns. Now, this is where it gets tricky. You can't just say, "Okay, everybody turn in your guns." That might get you a few hundred, and those will be 50 year old relics from law abiding citizens that didn't know what to do with Grandpa's old pistol from WWII. Police need to get out on the streets and do something akin to random spot-checks. YES, I KNOW that violates the 4th Amendment, and there is part of the problem. It's illegal. But when I was a kid in Baltimore, my buddies and I seemed to always be getting stopped by the cops and frisked. They'd mumble something like, "Oh, a lady was mugged up the street and she said a Black kid did it." While we never knew when this was true and when it wasn't, typically in my neighborhood - if someone robbed someone - it was a Black kid. Yeah, that is sad, but it is true and I'd be lying or bullsh*tting if I claimed otherwise. But, a big deterrent to gun violence would be the danger of being caught at random in a police search and facing stiff jail time. The bonus would be dozens of guns coming off the streets almost every day. While this is very unsavory to think about - it would work. Then as Black people, we have to decide whether we want our young Black men to have hurt feelings or to have bullet wounds.

All this ranting and it still seems like a lose-lose to me. I hope I'm wrong.

TTBM

The Noose

It saddens me to see that the "noose" has suddenly made a resurgence as a tool of hate and fear in this country. In the Black community, those of us who give a damn about our history have always held the noose at a mental "arm's length." It was not something we talked about, nor was it something we went to great lengths to NOT talk about - it was just a quiet symbol of a time we had hoped was gone forever.

But deep down I'm sure that most of us knew that it would take many years and several generations for this kind of hate and stupidity to fade out of our culture. And this is still the case. Fools are still trying to keep the images of lynched black men and black women and black children at the forefront of our minds and like the hey-days of the klan and the night riders, they perform this cowardice with stealth and darkness and anonymity. They are like the dirtiest of roaches - they stir in the filth, thrive in the garbage, spread disease and hide from the light.

It seems as though the nooses that sparked the troubles of the Jena Six have reminded a wave of narrow-minded imbeciles from one end of this country to the other that the noose is still a powerful symbol of racial hatred. There was an incident outside of the Black Student Union at the University of Maryland where a rope resembling a noose was left in a tree; then a noose was found inside the locker of a New York police officer; a noose was found in a partially completed store in South Elgin Illinois; a noose was found outside of a Manhattan post office; some clown in Punta Gorda has decided to hang bunches of nooses all around the outside of his house.

I think most of these noose hangers are closet racists. I think deep down they are taking the time to shake things up and give into their darker racist desires. But on the flip side, I think some of these people are stupid jerks that know nothing of the true hatred and dark history of this deftly twisted rope. To some of them, the noose is just some artsy tid-bit that gets people riled up, and to me these people are just as dangerous because of their sheer ignorance to history and their vulnerability to repeat it.

The Noose is an interesting fabrication. My Dad taught me how to tie a modified noose with fishing line as a kid to secure my fishing hooks to the fishing rigs when we spent time on the Chesapeake. It was then that I learned that tying a noose is not an easy or quick process. You HAVE to WANT to tie a noose. It's not like a typical knot where you get two pieces of string and go over and under and over again with a pull. A Noose is a precise and methodical creation with lots if twists and loops and for someone to take the time to create one, they truly want... WANT... WANT... to use it. Whether that use is catching fish or taking an innocent life in 45 seconds of pain and terror - the noose is efficient, effective, unbeatable and will always be with us - I only wonder how long it will take for people to stop using it as a symbol of hate, fear and days of terror.

The deception we see...

I was driving the other day and not really paying attention to anything other than the road when this commercial caught my ear. Basically, it was talking about a Air Force surveillance aircraft that picked up an enemy target and sent an electronic signal to an Army ground unit who relayed instructions to a Navy fighter to take the target out. Then it finished with some snazzy catchphrase like, "Netcentric Warfare brought to you by Northrop Grumman."

I had been hearing this radio ad and others like it quite a bit over the last year. Then I got to thinking about the fact that I had been seeing a lot of television and newspaper ads for military contractors over the last few years. On the subway, on the sides of buses, in magazines, basically everywhere I go I see ads for the big military contractors. I don't seem to remember a lot of commercials for these types of companies until the last couple of years. I just don't think that these companies could have marketed themselves or their products so aggressively unless we as Americans hadn't gotten so conditioned to war, warfare and the images associated with both.

Certainly many of us had heard of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Grumman and these big companies, but they were back-burner companies when it came to the workings of most of our daily lives - we knew they existed, but they weren't household names until NBC Nightly News and CNN brought their products into our living rooms.

Then I got to thinking about it and I found myself asking the question: "Is the deception we SEE, the truth we DON'T?"

Honestly I don't know if that question is sheer genius or the definition of stupidity, but none the less it made me look deeper at this awful war that an unfit President and a Congress that is so busy trying to keep their jobs that they don't want to do their jobs - has gotten us into.

First, everyone in the White House was bent out of shape over Iraq's ignoring certain UN resolutions, and then Bush excited over Weapons of Mass Destruction, and then suddenly Bush told us that WE had to liberate the people of Iraq, and I think now we are, uh, let me see... fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. I'm sure there have been some other reasons for this war, but they'll come to me later.

However, I think my eyes are opened a little wider now. Surely we all know that Bush and Cheney and their supporters want access to that precious middle eastern oil, but I think even more than that, Bush wants to make his economic base, his economic supporters even wealthier by financing the military manufacturing industry of this nation.

It is no secret that WAR is great for a country's economy, at least for corporate side of the economy. Employment in related fields go up, raw materials are needed and gobbled up, technology goes through the roof - Industry Fat Cats laugh their way right to the bank! In the last six years, Northrop Grumman stock values have gone up nearly 100%; Lockheed Martin stocks have gone up over 150%; and United Technologies [the parent company of Pratt and Whitney who manufacture most of the military aircraft engines] has seen its stock rise by over 200% in the same period! The people behind our President - the people that funded his campaign for the White House, the people that he publicly called "his base" must now be repaid and thanked properly and what better way to do that than to give them a war, a war that has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into non-competed military contracts; a war that has built up massive numbers of tanks and jets and bombs, guns and bullets, and SOMEBODY has to make them! And then we have the support contracts from companies like Blackwater and the infamous Haliburton [who has since taken all of their tax generating income to the country of Dubai!!!] who are making billions of dollars with each passing year of our war in Iraq! There are actually more US contractors in Iraq than there are US soldiers and Marines!!! Somebody is GETTIN' PAID!!!

So, we not only went to war for a Presidential vendetta, and not only did we go so that powerful people behind the scenes in our country can take a large stake in the global oil reserves - but, we went to war because our political leaders wanted to make the rich in this nation richer, they wanted to fund the mighty American war industry and they wanted George Bush to go out of the White House as the most generous president to corporate interests EVER - and they were willing to fuel it and finance this with the blood of our brave men and women.

I'm not finished with this one yet...

TTBM

Could this change the world???

Every so often, I come across something that just blows me away. Today is one of those times.

There is a man who has made a discovery that could very well change the world, provided he is not a fraud. His discovery could change the world as we know it unless the powerful people who are undoubtedly lining up against him as I type this bury him. Our world could change FOR THE BETTER, provided, armies of lobbyists are stopped in their tracks THIS VERY MOMENT before they can start poisoning the minds of our fragile congressional representatives.

This article was taken from yahoo.com:

Radio Frequencies Help Burn Salt Water
By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ERIE, Pa. - An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century.
John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.

The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.

The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.

The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said.

"This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Roy said. "Seeing it burn gives me the chills."

Roy will meet this week with officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to try to obtain research funding.

The scientists want to find out whether the energy output from the burning hydrogen — which reached a heat of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery.

"We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads," Roy said. "The potential is huge."

Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Now, I must admit that I haven't researched this thing too much, but over the next few days I'm going to use the link on this blog (to the right) to E-Mail my representatives on The Hill to aid the research of this discovery. Provided it is legit, this could end global warming, cut greenhouse gases down to next to nothing, wipe air pollution off of the map and give our children, grand children and dozens of more generations a world with clean clear air, clean water and endless fuel.

TTBM!!!!

That queezy feeling...

You know that feeling you get just before a first date?

You know how you've met this person and you're all excited over whether or not this person could be THE ONE?

They look good, they've got a great smile, they say the right things, they've got that twinkle in their eyes that makes you wonder... "Are they as special as I think they are?"

In the hours leading up to the Big Date, you have butterflies in your stomach, your chest is kinda' tight, your thoughts and mind are all over the place, you can't think of much else. You just want to get to the date and see what's what?

That's how I feel right now.

Me and 500,000 REDSKIN fans all across this country!!!

We are queezy with anticipation as the first kickoff of our new season approaches. Is Jason Campbell going to be something special? Is Clinton Portis going to rush for 1600 yards? Is the defense going be number one against the run? Are we gonna' crush some teams this year? Is Joe Gibbs FINALLY gonna' live up to the hype? Are glory days going to be upon us again?

Lord knows I want the answer to be "YES" to all of these. But sadly I'm a realistic pessimist. The answer to most of these is going to be "NO" and the worst part is, I'm still going to be there for all 16 weeks. I bleed burgundy and gold. And for the last decade or so - I've been bleeding a lot.

I'm still lost in the glory days of the past... Theismann throwing touchdowns, Riggins blowing across the goal line, Green intercepting balls and jetting into the endzone, Mann pressing opposing quarterbacks out of the pocket, Marshall crushing opposing running backs, Manley bruising his way through the line, Williams and Rypien leading us to The Promised Land, Big Tre' shuttin' defenses down... it's all still with me.

Every year for the last ten years I find myself threatening to become a Colts fan 'next season' because I get tired of the same old "Skin's collapse." I get tired of the stupid holding penalty; the dumb interception, the foolish fumble; the damned delay of game penalty - all of the avoidable stuff that puts one in the right hand column. Every year.

And yet, I'm here again - hours before kickoff and the butterflies are in my stomach. I'm still burgundy and gold and ready to bleed - again. As usual, I'll be ready on Sunday with a some Heineken, hot dogs, Fritos and band-aids.

Lets do it!

My prediction: Skins 17 - Dolphins 13

Like Mike...

I have to admit that I'm pretty stunned at the outcry for Michael Vick to be allowed to return to the NFL after he does the jail time that is coming his way.

This morning I discovered that NBA player Stephon Marbury felt that dog fighting was a sport and Vick is a man that is hurting and being brought down.

The NAACP was on the morning news standing firm behind Michael Vick being allowed to resume his gainful employment with the NFL after he pays his debt to society. R.L. White of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP said that Vick was getting more attention than he would have if he had killed a person. White then said something foolish like, we should all join hands with Vick and embrace the fact that he is only human.

Then, Jason Whitlock of FOX Sports, who I usually kinda' like, wrote the most ridiculous piece of non-sense that I have seen all year crying foul against anything negative that should befall the precious Mr. Vick. In his article he said that "As a society, we should aid in Vick's rehabilitation and welcome a new Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football." He goes on to say that Vick, deserves the opportunity to re-enter society and earn an honest living..."

One of my co-workers stood tall for Mike Vick, proclaiming that she'd heard about a lot of guys in Baltimore dog fighting and she felt that it was a "legitimate sport like dog-racing" and she felt that the justice system was just trying to bring another Black man down.

God, if I write one more quote from these bleeding heart imbeciles - I am going to drop dead right here on my keyboard.

This whole - "Cry For Mike" campaign that so many people are participating in is nothing short of astonishing. I wish this kind of outcry occurred for the hundreds of Black people that are shot, stabbed and killed by other Blacks every day. I wish groups like the NAACP re-established their value in our community by standing taller and stronger for the law abiding Black people and took less of a presence for Blacks who are LEGITIMATELY convicted of and confessed to criminal activity. (please note the word "legitimate" in the previous sentence, I am ALWAYS for the defense of innocent Blacks that are falsely accused and railroaded into our jails)

This whole Vick thing comes down into three parts in my book:

1. The criminal act of dog fighting

2. The media blitz surrounding Vick

3. The post prison life for Vick

Here's my two cents...

#1. This dog fighting thing. It's some of the most vile and savage stuff I've ever seen. I'm disheartened that so many people in the Black Community have either embraced it or dismissed it. With all the Vick hype in recent months, everybody is racing to show as much as they can of this spectacle and I've tried to watch it to grasp just what MIGHT be sport like about it, and sadly I didn't have the stomach for it. It is animalistic, sub-human and barbaric... two dogs - raised and trained to kill, are in a pit and forced to bite and claw each other to death. They sink their fangs into each others throats and rip and tear - trying to pull enough skin, muscle and arteries off of one enough to break the other dogs spirit and continue ripping into it to bring about death or submission. Then for the losers who aren't fortunate enough to die, the thugs that own them take them to the side and find sadistic ways to kill them.

Why fools think this is a REAL SPORT is beyond me. They need to stop making excuses for the criminal and inhumane behavior of thugs and hoodlums. They need to stop trying to coddle that element in society that makes padlocks, lo-jacks, burglar alarms, mace, steering wheel locks and guns for home protection necessary! At some point, we - especially as Black people need to acknowledge crimes as CRIMES. Everything illegal does not warrant a wave of sympathy and excuses. SOMETIMES - SOME PEOPLE have no regard for the law and SOMETIMES things are actually CRIMES!

#2 This media blitz. Okay, I'm tired of seeing Vick - I really am. But he brought this mess on himself! He is a public figure... dare I say a 'celebrity' in many people's eyes. When you are a high profile figure, in this country, in this day and age - everything you do, even the slightest bit negative, is going to be captured on a camera, on a phone, on the Internet - somewhere! You are going to be scrutinized, whether it is fair or unfair, it is going to be publicized. So, Vick should have known that if he was involved in something illegal - regardless of whether it was dog fighting, gun running, drug smuggling, DWI, DUI, gambling, handgun violations, weed smoking, dice, or peeing in public - it would be the lead story on ESPN and FOX news! I'm actually starting to wonder what the hell Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan are doing this week?

#3 Post prison. My buddies think I'm being hard on Mike Vick when I say that he should be banned for life from the NFL. My reasoning for this has nothing to do specifically with the dogs or the color of his skin. It has, however, everything to do with the National Football League. It is a PRIVILEGE to play in the NFL, it is not a RIGHT. It is a PRIVILEGE to put on an NFL team uniform and take the field on the grandest stage in the world, it is not a right. It is a PRIVILEGE to have the opportunity to earn millions of dollars a year playing the greatest game in the world, it is not a right. And, it is a PRIVILEGE to live the dreams of millions and millions of boys and men across the globe by being a professional football player, it is not a right. Vick knew this and he took it for granted and he broke the rules and now he should not be allowed to participate in the game again. He had the opportunity - the once in a lifetime opportunity and he squandered it - thus it is called a ONCE IN A LIFETIME opportunity. Bleeding hearts like White and Whitlock are begging for Vick to be given a chance to earn a living when he gets out - NEWSFLASH - Mike Vick already has more money in the bank than 90% of Americans will ever see in a lifetime - earning a living is the LEAST of his worries, so again - GIVE ME A BREAK! And just because he may not be allowed to play football again, nobody said he couldn't be a plumber, or an electrician, or a dentist, or an airline pilot. There are only about 96 NFL quarterbacks in the world, so there ARE other jobs out their for him. Besides, after he gets out of jail, I'm confident that Vick a.k.a. Ron Mexico will find plenty of other shenanigans to get into!

For those people that are crying about the justice system trying to pull down another Black man, please, please, please, please, please give me a break. Michael Vick did not just wake up a few months ago wearing Black skin. Unless they have been living under a rock, or they've been in the Republican party for more than 10 years - 95% of Blacks over the age of 18 knows that the justice system in this country is far from perfect when it comes to Black people. Let's be honest here. Vick, assuming he has a modest amount of sense, knows that he as a Black man, and not just ANY Black man, but a Black MULTI-MILLIONAIRE is not going to be untouchable when it comes to the law. He knew this. So for all these people acting like the US justice system just suddenly became unfair and unbalanced in the case of this guy, get over yourselves, its the same game it always has been and Vick knew the rules and the risks!

Let me share a little something with anybody that is not a Black man living in 21st century America. I respect police officers for the most part - but when it comes to the justice system as a whole, I am ALWAYS on guard. With the exception of mornings when I take the trash out, I am never without legal identification a.k.a. MY LICENSE. Because I am always aware that as a Black man, if I am ever pulled over, or detained, or question by law enforcement - there is a reasonable chance, that in this day and age - I could be blamed, charged or even incarcerated for any given amount of time for virtually any crime that has occurred within 50 miles and 48 hours of my present location. And, this is simply because "I fit the description" - Black Male, 25 - 45 years old, 5' 8" to 6'1" - it sounds crazy. Yeah - it sounds insane, but it is true. If you don't believe me, ask around. I'm never slippin'. I am always able to prove who I am. I'm always inbounds. And frankly, Mike Vick was slippin'. He went out-of-bounds. He thought he was above a justice system that thrives on Black men. He thought he was above the laws of human decency. He thought he was above the rules of the largest sports organization in the world. He wasn't - and now he has to face the music.

Mike Vick was living the dream. The dream that so many boys and men have. He was an NFL Quarterback. He was a professional athlete. The world was his oyster, and he threw it all away for some foolish, thuggish, criminal, barbaric ignorance. I have no sympathy for him.

TTBM