Fiesty Gregory

For some reason this year I didn't have much zeal to wake up early and watch Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union on C-Span. But, I did catch Dick Gregory talk about the "First Black President". Thought he was gonna have a heart attack..

Smurred?

I told ya'll it was just a matter of time before dirt get tossed on Barack. Well let the durt begin.

But to be honest, what's the difference between this photo and when some of us rock Kente Cloths during graduation? I mean can't one represent their cultural or ethnic garb and not get slammed for being aligned with "Terrorists"? That's messed up. What impact does that photo have on you?

"The obvious difference is this: when white politicians go ethnic, they just look funny. When a black presidential contender does it, he looks foreign. And when the ethnic apparel in question is vaguely reminiscent of the clothing worn by Iraqi and Afghan fighters (at least to many Fox viewers, who think any headdress other than a baseball cap is a declaration of war on America), the image is downright frightening" Read the rest of the article, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080317/klein

To all my Wire watchers I had to sit on Omar getting killed by a kid for damn near a week. Didn't wanna spoil it for you. Can't believe it still! What's the big deal about the Wire? http://www.alternet.org/movies/77751/

Tiger Madness

I guess there is a rivalry between the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee. It was obvious after this weekends showdown between the top two basketball teams in the nation. Folks rocking there blue and white and the other side rocking their orange. Oh, there was one color challenged Omega who was rocking peach...but that's a whole nutha story in itself. I actually enjoyed the game, hated to see the Tigers lose. Some folk were doubly sad, not only losing but losing to U-T. Adding insult to injury, just more fuel to those who say Memphis is U-T's uh..shall I say itch in respects to athletics. Either way, rather see them lose now than in the Tournament.

Since I am on the Tigers, let me take a moment to congratulate two former classmates at the Law School truly representing. These cats made it to the finals for the Mock Trial competitions. I don't recall any brothas or sistas making it to the finals for Mock Trial during my time there. I got dropped in the semi-finals. Glad I got a chance to catch them in the finals. Looked like the deck was stacked against them from the start the way his Honor was ruling on motions and objections, but these cats did a great job and I am happy for their success.

Some of you may find their success no big deal, but from my viewpoint, when you only have six or seven or let me go long and say ten brothers in all three classes collectively, it's worth mentioning and highlighting. Sisters over there, ya'll know I'm wit you, but let me go there for a moment, not negating any of ya'lls accomplishments there...cause ya'll have been truly doing the damn thang. I find it an absolute shame that in a class of 140, 150, or 160, total students you have four black men. That's an absolute shame given the makeup of this city. My class of 143 students had thirteen black students, of that four were men. I mean walk the halls and look at the composites, how many bro's are in those graduating classes? Seriously? Don't be embarrassed by doing it, I did. Reminds me of the scene in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, "Yo Mookie...how come aint no brothers on the wall? Now, before I go on one of my tirades, let me start by saying, maybe word has gotten out to the brotha's and they just aint applying to U-M Law, yea...maybe that's it. Or, maybe admissions just aint really looking to increase those numbers. I'm not going to believe anyone in that department that says there are few qualified applicants. I'm just not. Are they not qualified based on numbers alone? Sometimes numbers aren't the right indicator, I would know wouldn't I? And, yea, with TIP being modified, who knows what the numbers will be looking like a year or two from now.

Since I'm on the law school, let me stay there and address faculty real quick. I did write a few months back about crossing paths with a former law professor who straight up called some of the professors there some of the most petty unprofessional individuals he had ever been around. There were some who he/she said found the students to be nuisances and didn't really want to teach. Given that, I wonder how it is the School allows some of it best professors to leave to competing institutions? How do you let another school recruit your own folk? Yea, it's a part of the business, but damn, at least make an effort to retain the good ones? Ok..ok, let me ask first are we making an effort to keep these professors once they decide to leave? Sheet, the folk that need to leave still up in there reeking havoc upon students. Now I'm not trashing any professor in particular, per se....but students can distinguish between a challenging professor and one that's just going through the motions. Interjecting race into the equation, how many black professors are currently teaching core course there now? Uh..that aint leaving?

All I know is I receive those monthly requests to support my law school, but you know what, ok wait aint ready to say that yet... With the law school hyping up its new downtown building, it's hard to get excited when you know the same folk within the administration will be making decisions in the new building. That says new building, same ish. How bout some new fresh decision makers? I learned a while back at a function,(due to me slipping on an e-mail) that some faculty cruise through here from time to time. I needn't add any disclaimer about the respect I have for those individuals either, (just did), but these are legitimate issues. I'd love to hear them addressed. Why should I support an institution that doesn't appear to want to hire and retain new blood (professors) or an institution that's not dedicated to having a diverse study body? Straight up. Sheet I may as well start sending money to the Federalist Society if I just wanna start giving money away.

Then & Now

You know, you never know what is in store for you on any given day, we plan and then as you know God has planned. So as I was getting dressed for work last Monday morning, my mind was on your average work day thoughts. I could not have foreseen that by mid-day, I would be watching a man take his last deep breaths of life.

I have to go back almost nine years, just starting my new job, getting acclimated, learning the ropes. My job then, required me to establish a good trusting relationship with high ranking officials within a certain tight knit department of government. It was my first meeting with one of those high ranking officials. I remember walking in to this individuals office, the smell of fresh cigarette smoke tainting the air, and then seeing this light skin dude with a tight fro sitting behind a desk. I wasn't really nervous, so I strolled on in towards an empty seat and before sitting, introduced myself, advising him who I was with and why I was there. I remember dead silence....and him.....looking at me with beady eyes, kind of like staring me down.....still not saying anything, just looking me up and down. Still waiting for him to say something, he reaches for a cigarette, lights it up, blows out the smoke, then he takes a deep breath and says....Spike...have a seat. By now, I'm thinking this dude crazy. What is he trying to intimidate me? That wouldn't be unusual for his profession. But I go ahead and take my seat. I begin to tell him my angle, why I will be looking for him and his staff's cooperation. The whole time, he's got the beady eye thing going, puffing his cigarette and not saying much, just listening. So I request a file, something I know he's not gonna give me, at least not on the first meeting. That question at least forces him to put the cigarette down. Spike, I can't give you the file, at least not right now. Meaning, he had to call some other folk to find out who the heck this young dude was in his office requesting sensitive material. So with that I get up, and he rises from his desk, still staring me down, extending his hand to offer a handshake to which I too extend my hand. He doesn't walk me out he just stands at his desk, and I make my way on out of his office, closing the door behind me. The meeting to say the least was, uncomfortable and I'm thinking dude is crazy. But there is his secretary, sitting at her desk smiling; I guess she had read my facial expression, so she says........"He does everyone new like that...you've gotta earn his trust."

Needless to say, he and I established a good working relationship, especially when he noticed I had started growing a lil fro. I'd request a file, and he'd deliver. I guess I earned his trust. He was later transferred elsewhere, and we crossed paths very infrequently, when we did, he was very friendly, no beady eyes, no silent stares. Then I left for school, and can't remember the last time we had talked.

Little could I have imagined back then that years later, I would be standing at the foot of his bed, saying a prayer for him as he lived his final hours. It was so eerie to me. I hadn't been on this job more than a month, just as it was years earlier and here I am in front of him again. Who could have imagined that possibility? I just kept thinking how unlikely this event could be? And then he slowly drifted away. RIP MSJ.

So I'm sitting inside of the church for this gentleman's homecoming celebration, or at least that's what they call it. Sitting in a funeral gets your brain to thinking. When my time comes, will I be ready? Some other questions come to mind, some to uncomfortable to type, but it all goes through one's mind. Will anyone be present? Will anyone have anything good to say about you? Not that any of that is important in the big scheme of things. I guess it truly boils down to how you lived your life on this planet and whether you lived a life good enough to bring you success in the hereafter. Gotta lot of work ahead of me. What about you?

Grilled Rice

So you know now that McCain and his old antiquated azz has received the GOP nomination, there is talk about who would make a good running mate. I guess due to the fact that the Democrats are having success with both a woman and a black man, the Repugs feel the need to counter such appeal. So.......

There's talk of none other than Condorskeeza excuse me...Condoleezza Rice as a potential Vice President. Well she's a woman and she's black, I think? Anyway, from what I've read a lot of folk behind the scenes are pumping her up. Sheeet...what has she done in her tenure in this administration? Played the game, been the tender lips near to her boo's ear, enforcing his insane foreign policies. In other words she been a part of the problem and not a part of the solution. Oh...Happy Valentine's Day. So as I was saying, actually I can't remember.....soooo

Oh..now I remember! Condo showed me she was a true sister today while appearing before a Congressional Committee. No doubt she a sista. She had her Boomquisha neck roll in full effect, had the Tyrone get yo ish hand gesture poppin, she represented South Birmingham to the fullest. Congressman Wexlex struck a nerve in sista-gurl. Have at it. Shocked the hell out of me. Oh...her answer was some bullish...

Obsessed? No.

It's not that I am obsessed with the Occupation, cause I'm not. I'm simply disgusted everytime I hear about that a soldier died, or some Iraqi civilians have been killed. You know its f'd up when you have to estimate how many civilians have dies, numbers ranging from 680,000 to 1,000,000. All on account of our so-called war on terror. Some absolute bullshit. That's the Iraq war, Afghanistan might have been called for. But that's the forgotten one. Last I checked, it was said we were losing ground there. Any way, if you feel like being disgusted some, watch this brief two minute film on the cost of the occupation. You wonder why we are in a recession?

"The continued ambivalence of the American population as a whole toward the war in Iraq, perhaps best manifested by the superficiality of the slogan "Support the Troops," all the while remaining ignorant of what the troops are actually doing, has led to a similar amnesia among politicians all too willing to allow themselves to seek political advantage at the expense of American life and treasure." Scott Ritter, The Truth Is, Iraq's Future Is Abysmal. Click here to read the rest of the article.

And if you have been keeping up with the whole waterboarding issue, I aint even gonna type anything, I think I shared my thoughts on it months back. But....this scene here says it all. Powerful aint it.....Shred the constitution?

Supa-Tuesday

So there was a shooting at Hamilton High. A tenth grader there shot another tenth grader over get this. Some damn rap lyrics. WTF??? What, were they disputing the deep lyrical message of KRS-One, or Nas or maybe Chuck D? Naw, these fools arguing over Yo Gotti lyrics. WTF??? I mean it aint like I've never raised my voice over whose lyrics were more on point, but damn, pull a gun out and shoot someone, come on.....

So tomorrow is Super Tuesday, I got my early vote on. I can't say who I voted for but Lil Momma below can!

A good article supporting Obama, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/hayes . No matter who you support, get your vote on!

By the way, tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of when Colin Powell killed all of his street cred, making that bull-ish azz presentation before the U.N. about all the weapons of mass destruction is Iraq.

Your Gubment N Da News

It's kind of funny how the powers that be tout when an alleged corrupt politician is so called brough to justice, but when that same "powers that be" is found to also appear to be politically corrupt, not much can be done to correct it. Bill Moyers does a great job exposing some of the current issues addressing this issue. Oh...have you yet figured out who or what Blackwater is? Watch both parts of the piece. Quite interesting, quite sickning.

Here is part One, http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02012008/watch2.html Here's part Two, http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02012008/watch3.html

Then there is the FISA law, look it up, and the whole issue of giving immunity to the telecom companies that have spied on Americans phone calls and e-mails on the behalf of BUSHCO. Keith Olbermann does a great job breaking it on down.

You know, it's not like we really know where the meat we dine on comes from? I'm sure we'd like to believe that it comes from some nice clean farm, and the meat is processed and packaged in the most cleanest of factories. That said, would you eat meat from a cloned animal? Yes, cloned? I'm not to kool on the whole idea, but given the fact that I don't hesistate to enjoy a juicy steak, not knowing its origins why would I be just as excited to break off a juicy cloned steak? I dunno? Here is a recent article from the NY Times," F.D.A. Says Cloned Animals Safe to Eat" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/business/15cnd-clone.html?_r=1&ex=1201064400&en=83a1db7b1632c12a&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

Here's a pro cloned meat article, http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/74615/ , and a con, http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bal-fo.kasper30jan30,0,2681564.column

To all my Wire heads, did you see the fear in Omar's face?