THE CRUMBLING U.S. ECONOMY: PUTTING IT INTO PERSPECTIVE

Y’know, sometimes life is all about putting things into perspective. I’m reminded of a scene in one of my favorite books, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. In this book, Arthur Dent has been rescued from Earth, by his friend who turns out to be an alien, just before the planet is destroyed.

There’s one point early on where Arthur is trying to come to terms with the fact that Earth is gone. He can’t quite grasp it when he thinks of the whole planet. So he tries to think of England (where he’s from). Doesn’t work. Then I think he thinks America, or New York. Doesn’t work. So finally he thinks of something small, I forget exactly, but I think it’s a local park, or a pub. And when he realizes THAT is gone, now it hits him, and he feels sad. He can finally comprehend the magnitude of the situation when he puts it into personal terms.

Well, that’s what’s just hit me with the U.S. economy. Yeah, I knew things were bad. There’s all of this talk of the Stimulus plan, but I just avoid it, because I don’t understand how this stuff works. I’ve got some friends who’ve blogged about it, and seen it discussed on some message boards, but it breaks down into partisan lines. All the liberals think it’s necessary and will make things better, while all the conservatives think it’s horrible and will make things worse. I can’t trust anyone to be Fair and Balanced in their opinion, and I’m no economic expert, so all I can do is sit back & wait & see what happens.

But I read the news, and I’ve been seeing all the reports of massive layoffs, companies going out of business, home forclosures, industry bailouts, stock market dropping, etc. But I’ve been lucky, so far. Had a few hits. For the first time in 8 years my company couldn’t give out X-Mas bonuses. That sucked, because it really would have come in handy. But I’ve still got a steady job, so it didn’t put me in the poorhouse.

Did my taxes last month, got my Federal refund, but my State refund has been delayed, supposedly until sometime next month, because of the California budget crisis. It’s only $243, but it sucks because that’s MY money. But it’s not like I’m starving, in the meantime. So I’m better off than a lot of folks.

But now something much worse as happened. My favorite radio station was a local station, 97.1 fm, which was a talk radio station. It was literally the only radio station I listened to, and had it always tuned to that in my caer. I’d listen to Adam Carolla (who replaced Howard Stern 3 years ago) in the morning on my way to work, and Tom Leykis in the evening on the way home. And if I went out during my first break, or lunch, I’d listen to Frosty, Heidi, & Frank.

But Thursday morning I tuned in and Adam revealed that all of the shows were cancelled, because the station was switching to Top 40 music. Apparently, even though the ratings were good overall, the station needed to save money, and it’s cheaper to play music than pay for talk shows. Just like that. That’s it. They all did their last shows and the station switched Friday @ 5pm.

This sucks! I have nothing to listen to in my car anymore! My drives to work & back Mon-Fri will be silent. I don’t like listening to music on the radio, I don’t need to hear the same songs twice an hour, & all of the other talk stations are political and, Left or Right, they all bore me.

I can’t believe this. I mean, just Wednesday night, Tom Leykis was bragging about how good his rating were, then the next day they’re shutting down. And the other hosts all said the same thing. Ratings were good and, in fact, they’re all still going to be getting paid for the remainder of their contracts but, apparently, it still works out to being cheaper for the station for them to play music instead. The economy must be really bad for CBS to take such a drastic step.

So now that my daily routine has been adversely affected, & I can personalize the situation, it’s really sunk in for me. WE’RE IN TROUBLE!

THE OBAMESSIAH COMPLEX

This blog was partially inspired by some other recent blogs
that I have read.

MULATTO OF THE MONTH

AN HISTORIC INAUGURATION…NOW WHAT?

OBAMA IS MY ACE, BUT, SERIOUSLY, GET OFF THE MAN’S DICK

I’ve always found the constant cries of “messiah,”
“celebrity,” “savior,” etc. to be both amusing and
annoying. First, it’s insulting in that it implies that
everyone who voted for him was just stupid. We
didn’t know what we were doing, didn’t really think
about it, we just heard some nice speeches and
said “Yep, he’s the one!” Like it was an American
Idol contest or something.

And it was amusing how the opposition tried to act
as if the fact that he could draw huge crowds,
throughout this country and foreign countries, was a
bad thing. Being an inspiring figure is not good, for
some reason. How dare he fill out an entire football
stadium for his acceptance speech? One pundit
actually pointed out that “Hitler used to draw huge crowds
too.”

It was classic jealousy, really. With all due respect to
Sen. McCain, whom I admire (& voted for in 2000 primaries),
he wished he could get that many people to come hear
him speak. But the reaction reminded me of a teenage girl
who didn’t get asked to the school dance. So she sits home
crying, and saying “Well, I didn’t want to go to that stupid
party, anyway!”

Right, keep telling yourself that, sweetie, if it makes you
feel better.

Then there’s the ironic fact that once Gov. Palin joined the
ticket, she was immediately treated like a celebrity, by the
Republicans, despite the fact that they didn’t know anything
about her, other than that she was “hot” and had a
bunch of cute little kiddies.

I heard Rush Limbaugh the day after her RNC speech,
gushing about her. It sounded like he was broadcasting
with one hand down his pants.

Nevertheless, that’s all over now, and the real work
begins. Which brings me to the point of this blog.

Now what?

For those reading this whom are old enough to remember
back in the late 1980’s/early 90’s, I was one of those young
Black teenagers that you used to see walking around in a
Malcolm X t-shirt, and caps, and X’s or African medallions
around their necks. But the thing is, unlike many, if not most,
of those young men, it wasn’t just a trendy fashion statement
for me. I really admired the man, and made it a point to learn
as much about him as I could. I must’ve read over a dozen
books about him, & bought video & audio tapes of his speeches
& interviews. When the Spike Lee movie came out, I took
my (White) girlfriend to see it on opening weekend. I had some
friends who smoked weed, and drank alcohol, but I never
touched the stuff, because Malcolm X preached against that.

I’d like to see that attitude regarding Pres. Obama. If you
say that he inspires you, prove it. Turn that adulation into
motivation. To the young Black men who say that he gives
them hope for their future, it’s not enough to just put on a
T-shirt with his picture, or the phrase “My President is Black”
on it. If you’re still wearing baggy pants with your underwear
showing, then don’t even bother wearing the t-shirt. You think
Pres. Obama is “cool,” well, notice how he’s highly educated,
and speaks proper English? Try it, sometime. Put down the malt
liquor & chicken wings, and pick up some books. Y’know what
I’m sayin?

There are rappers with songs out now about Pres. Obama.
That’s nice, but what about your next song? If it’s just going
to be the same “money/guns/b****es” crap that
you were rapping about before, then that was a waste of
time.

In one of the above blogs, there’s an article talking about
how many Blacks like that the Obama’s are an image of a
positive Black family.

You want to see more positive Black families? Then create
one! Let’s stop accepting the “Baby Mama/Baby
Daddy” dynamic as normal. Yes, those Special Edition
Commemorative Plates with Pres. Obama’s face on them would
look very nice on your table, but how about saving that money
to spend on an engagement ring, or pay for a
wedding, instead?

And can we finally disown the N-Word, once & for all?
Just stop using it, no matter what color you are, under
ANY circumstances. Please.

And I know this is coming of very Black-centered, but this
applies to everyone else, too. It wasn’t just Black folks that
put in him in office. He’s talked about encouraging a new spirit
of public service, and got huge applause for it. Well, all of y’all
who cheered for him, did you really mean it? He’s just one
man, he can’t do it all by himself. As he said, “WE are the change
we’ve been waiting for.

This was one of the most expensive Presidential campaigns in history. Pres. Obama himself raised almost $750 million dollars. Think about
that. To all of the people who gave him money (not to mention the millions who gave to Senators McCain and Clinton during the year), I’m sure there are schools, parks, hospitals/free clinics, community centers, and other places in your own neighborhood that could
also use some money. How about donating some money and/or
time to them?

In the immortal words of Michael Jackson “If you want to
make the world a better place, take a look @ yourself, and
then make a CHANGE.”

REPOST: SENATOR IRAQ OSAMA FOR PRESIDENT?

1/20/09 UPDATE: This is the blog that I originally wrote on 12/23/06 & posted on my Myspace page. It’s interesting to see how certain I was that I was right (love the part where I wrote “Ni**a please!”). Yet, as we can see, I was WRONG (although I was correct about the enhanced expectations he would face if he were elected). This will teach me to be so sure of myself…

This 2008 election will go down in history as not only historic, but one of the most unpredictable. If you had asked me back then, I would’ve sworn that this race would’ve ended up being Hillary Clinton vs. Rudy Giuliani. Not only did I not expect Obama to be the nominee, but I never would’ve guessed that Sen. McCain would’ve made it as far as he did. He deserves credit, as well.

I was considering taking today off, but I figured that Obama’s example means that Black men should be working even harder, not less. So I’m going to work soon (wearing my newest Obama t-shirt), but I’ll be in D.C. in spirit.

Congratulations Barack HUSSEIN Obama!..

Please don’t let us down.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16177866/?>….

“Iraq Osama” That’s what a guy on one message board said that some folks are thinking when they hear the name Barack Obama. I thought that was pretty funny, and sadly accurate.

I’ve been saying for months now that I seriously doubt that any Black man could get elected President of The United States today, but I know that no Black man with a foreign-sounding name like Barack Obama could get elected.

The question had been around since back when Colin Powell was being considered as a Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate in 1994. How many people would vote for a Black man? Sure, the POLLS said that he had tons of support, across all racial groups, and people would say that they would vote for a Black candidate, but we all know that how folks answer poll questions doesn’t always match how they really feel.

I mean, most polls would tell you that folks want more wholesome family entertainment on TV, but then they all go watch The Sopranos or Fear Factor. Most folks would tell a poll that pornography is disgusting, yet it’s literally a billion dollar industry, so somebody is watching it.

So, it’s way too easy to say “Sure, I’d vote for ____” if you’re asked by a pollster, but then, when alone in that voting both, how many just won’t check that name? I think Powell had the best shot. But we’ll never really know. Incumbents are hard to beat, especially in a good economy, so if Powell had gotten the Republican nomination in ‘94, and then lost the general election to Clinton, we couldn’t have definitively said that it was because he was Black.

Heck, I can’t prove it, of course, but I suspect that the reason that Al Gore lost in 2000 was because of his running mate, Joe Lieberman. I mean, that election was Gore’s for the taking. He was the incumbant Vice President, from an inexplicably popular (despite all the scandals) President, coming off of 8 successful years of an administration with a good economy & a balanced budget. Running against the comparitively inexperienced son of an unpopular ex-President. But he lost. Yeah, they technically won the Popular vote, but not by enough. He should’ve won by such a wide margin that all the trouble in Florida would’ve been irrelevent. But I suspect that Gore lost a significant amount of votes because some folks just would not vote for a Jew. But no one will admit that that’s why they didn’t vote for him…

Blacks have won state-wide offices before but, statistically speaking, it’s very low. Obama is only the 3rd Black elected to the US Senate, and there have been two Black elected governors (& @ least 3 Black Lt. Governors, one of whom later served half a term as governor, but he was appointed, not elected, though it’s possible that there may have been more that I just don’t know about, and am too lazy to look up), in American history. That’s not a lot.

I think that, for many, with Blacks, come all sorts of suspicions. How radical will he be? Will he favor Blacks over Whites when he gets into office? That sort of thing. Sometimes it may be easy to put race out their minds, but Obama’s name makes that nearly impossible. Buh-rock-oh-bah-muh. Nope. Not gonna happen. And before that MSNBC article, I didn’t even know that his middle name was Hussein. HUSSEIN! President Barack Hussein Obama? Ni**a please!

This is why I thought Powell had a better shot, @ least. Because I think that any Black person who ran for President would have to be a Republican, because he would need to be as conservative and non-threatening as possible. Even so, that didn’t help Michael Steele, who ran for Governor of Maryland and had the entire Republican party machine behind him, as well as many prominent Black Democrats in his state, mostly church ministers, endorsing him. And he still lost.

Obama’s campaign will be focused on race constantly. And there will be all sorts of racially ambiguous attacks used against him. Like the campaign add against Harold Ford (who, like Obama, is very light-skinned and well-spoken) when he ran for Senator in ….Tennessee…. this year. The commercial had several “people on the street” saying things about Ford. In the beginning of the add a blonde White woman is shown saying that she met Harold @ the Playboy mansion (Ford, who is single, admits to having attended a Superbowl party @ the Playboy mansion before), then the commercial ends with that same woman looking into the camera and saying “Harold, call me.” & winking.

So, there ya go. Playing right into the old fears of Black men & White women. Ford’s opponent denounced the add, saying that he had nothing to do with it, and the National Republican Committee also asked for it to be pulled. But there are still some that defend that add. I’ve seen a guy on one of those political talk shows, saying that it’s the one’s who are offended by that add who are the real racists, because what difference did it make what color the woman was? Earlier today on some political blog, some guy claimed that that there was nothing racist about that add because Ford is “half-White.” Right. They know exactly what that add meant, they just don’t want to admit it.

And that’s what a Black running for National office will have to deal with. Opponents will do whatever they can to use race against him (or her), & if he tries to call them on it, they’ll just say that he’s being oversensitive about race, which feeds into another stereotype of the “angry Black man” who’s “always crying racism.” So he can’t win.

Heck, & even if he did somehow win, I don’t know how effective he could be, with the intense scrutiny he’ll face. This is why some referred to ….Clinton…. as “The first Black President,” because of the way every single issue of his life was scrutinized &, in some cases, blown out of proportion, & his every move 2nd-guessed. Just multiply that by 12 for a real Black President.

Starting with his Cabinent appointments. The racial make-up will be watched like never before. How many Blacks in his administration? More than Whites? And, if so, why? Was that on purpose? I’ve already seen snide remarks online about Obama making Jesse Jackson Sec. Of State, and Al Sharpton Sec. Of Defense. When it comes to appointing Federal Judges, what color with they be? And If he gets the opportunity to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, then it’ll really be pressure time. If he picks a Black Judge he’ll be immediately asked if race played a part in his decision. And what if he picks more than one. Bush appointed two Whites to the Supreme Court (&, inbetween, nominated another White person), & that wasn’t an issue. But if a Black President nominated 2 Blacks to the Supreme Court, that would be attacked online and on talk radio for months. Affirmative Action, they’d all be screaming…..

Of course, the hardest part is the criticism and expectations he’ll be facing from the Black community. They’ll be upset if he doesn’t have enough Blacks in his cabinet or appoint Black judges. He’ll have to constantly prove that he’s not “selling out.” And the press will be asking him to comment on every single racial issue that comes up. Nobody asked Pres. Bush about Michael Richards’ rant @ The Laugh Factory, but Pres. Obama would’ve been expected to talk about it. Pres. Obama would’ve been asked about the Michael Jackson trial, as well as about Kobe Bryant. Any time any Black rapper made some offensive song, or some Black athlete or celebrity got in trouble or did something stupid, the press would go running to Pres. Obama for a statement. And if he doesn’t respond in the “right” way, as far as some are concerned, he’ll be crucified. And God help him if there’s another major racial incident, like a Rodney King-type riot, or an OJ Simpson trial.

So, I just don’t see this happening, folks. @ the very least, he..

shoud’ve been smart enough to change his name to Barry Howard O’Mally or somthing…

Just my opinion

THE PLANET OF THE APES!!!

Angry monkeys in China give trainer a beating

Reported 12/18/2008 by Guardian Unlimited

Angry monkeys turned on their trainer in a market in Sizhou, China, after he handed out a vicious beating to one of the trio during a performance of them riding mini bicycles.

While one twisted his ears, another pulled his hair out in handfuls and bit his neck.

Then when he dropped his cane, the third snatched it up and began beating the trainer around the head until it broke the stick.

The dazed trainer confessed: “They were once wild and these performances don’t always come naturally to them”.

He added: “They may have built up some feelings of hatred towards me”.

Now police are investigating allegations of animal cruelty and may confiscate the monkeys.