But She's So Pretty !

One could tell that she hadn't been on this stage before. When it was time to perform, it was obvious that she was way out of her league. She really wasn't qualified. Her moves always looked robotic and fake. She had the moves down but her presentation just didn't seem right.

When I watch her on T.V., I see her old man in the background - reflecting on his past glories from more than three decades ago. He was a great American hero back in his time. I can still remember him competing against many from hostile nations. The memories of past glories still seem to haunt him but those old days are long gone. It's odd how he watches her take center stage like a proud father - reflecting back to when it was all about him. But those days are no more, it's her turn to shine.

"People think I'm sexy...but I'm not." she was quoted as saying.

I would have to disagree, she is sexy.

Too bad looks don't equal performance.

When I would see her in photographs, next to that skinny (almost skeletal) blond heiress - My eyes would always fall to her better proportioned figure.

The first time that I saw her, I said, "Damn... she's hot!"

"This chick is stunning!", that's what I thought.

She looked as though she had all the tools it would take, to win the crown

But when it came time to vote, it was three thumbs down.

I thought, "How could a woman with all those ass(ets), not know how to groove.

Now it seems like the tall Black guy, has all the right moves.

She couldn't perform, there's just nothing there.

It's sad to watch her, with only days to rehearse, learn and prepare.

Her partner would coach her, on every step and spin.

I still think she's sexy, she just won't win.

I'm not a big fan of ABC's Dancing With The Stars (or Sarah Palin) .

But I am a huge fan of Kim Kardasian.

-I never realized that Susan Lucci was so frail. I mean tiny, size "0" tiny.

-Misty May has an amazingly tight body.

-It's odd that the football players do so well. Warren Sapp is surprisingly light on his feet. He'll probably win the whole thing.

-Professional women dancers are sexy. I'm not sure about all of their faces, I tend to notice only their fit frames. I like Cheryl, she's cute.

But my girl Kim is gone, she was a huge disappointment. Her old man by marriage (1976 Olympic Decathlon champion, Bruce Jenner) couldn't help her prepare for dancing. Her ex-BFF, Paris Hilton, was of no use in this competition. Too bad being pretty doesn't count when judging one's ability.

"How could she have all that (butt) and not know how to shake it", asked Chris Rock.

Now that Kim is gone, I suppose that I'll go back to watching politics.

(Photo -unattributed)

Welcome To The Poorhouse

How much did you lose yesterday?
Me? Not much.
While the stock market crashed more than 700 points on news of there being no agreement for a Federally funded bail-out of America's banking system, I just stayed about the same - financially speaking.
You see, I'm probably the third poorest person on the Internet. While my home and rental units and farm are fully paid for, I have no stocks, bonds or treasury bills.

I used to gamble a little too much when I lived on the West Coast. I liked roulette. It had the worst odds but the biggest pay-outs.
If I took $3,000 to Caesar's and played roulette and kept winning and winning until I had $15,000 and then walked away from the table and cashed out, I would have made a $12,000 profit. But, had I stayed at the tables and lost back $11,000 of my winnings - I wouldn't have lost $11,000, I would have made $1,000.
So don't panic. Your profit is just smaller than it was a few days ago.
Just keep doing what you're doing. It's okay to spend money, just don't waste it.
Buy what you need and then buy some of what you're going to need and save the rest.
How many Armani suits do you really need?
If I was a real sucker, I would spend another $20,000 to try to win the $11,000 back - but would have only put myself deeper in debt.
Wall Street speculators are the REAL suckers, in this case.
Now they want you to buy a bunch of chips that they don't really have.


Don't worry, you won't be living like this.
Say that everyone had to sell their house to buy another smaller house. If you now live in a 5,000sq.ft. home you may only have a 3,000sq.ft. home this time next year. If you live in a mansion, you may have to move to that 5,000sq.ft. home next year.
But because no one will be buying homes next year, the borrower market will dry up and banks will be selling homes at a lower price. You may end up making money on the deal in the long run.

The odd thing is; we believe everything that the Government tells us. When the market was under performing - they said that we should save our money. Too many people saved their money and the products, goods and services that we were producing and providing weren't selling. So then the Government said that we should shop our way out of a recession. They even made it too easy to spend money that many didn't have.
College students were given credit cards on campuses just for signing their names. Every department store would give you a small gift just for taking their cards. Sub-prime mortgages were pushed on people who either qualified for a standard loan or who shouldn't have qualified for a gas station card.

I had a lot of friends who wanted me to invest in a pyramid scheme. The problem was that something had to be sold (of the approximate value of the money spent) to make it appear legal. I made a list of ten reasons not to invest in a pyramid (And who could put a price on these wise tips?), made copies and sold that as part of the multi-level-marketing scheme. After I set the people in place, I walked away. You see, I couldn't invest in something that I knew that someone was going to be screwed. Many of my friends got stuck somewhere in the middle of these schemes and got nothing and some got paid. After a while, they did away with the pamphlet (Dummies, two went to jail. The pamphlet was the loophole.)
Anyway the way to get paid is to find a few bigger suckers than yourself and get them to buy your shares until they find bigger suckers to take their place until the whole thing crashes.
This is what happened in our banking industry. The suckers ran out. Congress seems to have actually noticed that we were being the suckers all along.


Am I worried?
Nah, you see...I care nothing about race, gender, religion etc. . I only care that a person is good. I only care that a person strives to do the right thing when that thing is needed. My crew will look out for each other.
If we just keep working and place more value on the things that really matter to us, only the selfish and greedy get screwed in the end.
As I wrote, in an earlier post (hurricane), good people come together in bad situations.
The guy that used to whizz by you in a leased Maybach will probably be working at the local Wal-Mart trying to sell you his Rolex so that he can by groceries. If you were humble and smart, you probably have been living within your means. You have money to spend and assets that are paid for.

If no one is buying gold, gold has no value. You can't eat gold. If someone is not used to having to hustle, they're stuck. People who can hustle (not cheat others - but work hard) will be worth more than some schemer who can't work.

As far as I'm concerned, we'll end up having to pay for their mistakes anyway. Maybe we should let them get down in the dirt too, to clean up the mess that they made.


(photos; Roulette - Fotosearch, Depression - FDR Library)

But some of my best friends are gay!

One of my younger brothers, who works in the adult film industry, is gay.
I've dated (well... done) some female strippers who turned out to be Bi.
I know a lot of gay guys and lesbians.
I like Ellen and Porsia (Rosie, not so much...).
Hey what you want to do in your home is your business.

I just don't see it. I can't see what a man could see in another man.
But I could understand if, say... Jessica Biel and Stacey Dash hooked-up. That would be one You-Tube video that I might actually watch. They're both hot so I could see the attraction.

In any other year, the Gay Marriage Bill in California (Proposition 8) would be getting a lot of press. (But we actually have issues that effect most of us this year - in a more direct manner.)

Derrick has written a piece;
http://derrickswindow.blogspot.com/
To which I would like to respond.

I'm not in favor of gay marriage. I no longer live in California so I can't vote on the bill. So in essence, my opinion doesn't really matter.

If a man and a woman get married at a courthouse, society views the Civil Union with the same credibility as it would a church marriage (my friend ErickA's argument) .
If a Muslim is married according to Muslim customs - even churches, who don't have the same belief system, view the marriage as a Holy Marriage (Angry African's point).
Even I view both marriages as real marriages.
So my moral beliefs get put in check with logical arguments.

When Mildred and Richard Loving won their Supreme Court case against Virginia, the wording in the opinion stated;
"Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man', fundamental to our very existence and survival..."
"Basic civil rights of man"... . Damn, there goes my legal argument too.

If the bill passes in California, could churches that disapprove of gay marriage be sued for discrimination?
Does protecting one's interpreted rights become more important than those actually stated in our Bill of Rights?

I'm a Christian but not a very good one. When I go to church, I sit in the back - with the rest of the sinners.
I think that the purpose of religion is to help us to rule over ourselves and not to rule over or oppress others.
My belief system teaches me that gay marriage is wrong.
My feelings tell me that gay marriage just doesn't make sense.
But as the writer of the article referred to states, "If you don't like gay marriage, don't marry a gay!"
Okay, I won't but you can.

Mildred Loving, on the 40th anniversary of Loving v., stated;
"I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the feeling, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all.
That's what Loving, and loving, are all about".

While I still can't support (vote in favor of) gay marriage, I have no real argument as to why.
What do you think?

"Y"

Someone left a comment on an e-mail that I have an interesting assortment of blogs listed on my blog-roll. Even though I know none of the people listed, they seem to mirror my friends from my real life.
I have many friends. But I have even more enemies.
Sometimes my friends ask why anyone would even like me. Sometimes they wonder why they themselves like me. They always love me but dayum... sometimes many want to just beat the stew out of me. But what are ya' gonna' do?

So I looked at my Blog-roll and wondered why I included some of them.

Angry African... and I Love/Hate America are mostly up-beat in their approaches to life. I'm not a gangsta' rappa' so I don't have to be mad all of the time.
Pages From My Notebook and Bitter White Folks for Obama give me that liberal point of view.

She Blinded me With Science - I'm curious about the struggles of going from a not so good situation to being an MD.

Two Buppie Chicks just seem like a couple of girls I could hang out with.
Denmark Vesey, Raw Dawg Buffalo and The Assault on Black Folks Sanity all seem Public Enemy hard. The kind of N****'s one just rolls with.
Math Me Thinks - because I tutor a lot of my bad azz little niglet cousins and sometimes I look for advice on teaching techniques.
Kimbot, Lindy Hop Figures and Grandpasartblog ? I like art. Mostly Picasso, Dali, Haring, Scharf, Basquiat and graffiti.
Dream and Hustle - Seems to be working on more than just a hustle. That and he always answers even my dumb questions.
The Desultory Life and Times... , Controversial Blackness and Acting White - because they don't seem to subscribe solely to the stereotypes.
Subrealism - it makes me think in a more esoteric way.
Undercoverblackman - I never know what to expect.
Black Tennis Pros -Who knew that there were so many?
Aby RAd's Blog and Prepare to be AbSuRdized - often make me say "WTF?".
Derrick's Window - a gay guys perspective without everything having to be about gays.
Slant Eye..., Immigration, Assimilation And All That Jazz and Mixed Race America - Asians are usually dismissed as a non-minority.
WOC PhD and Resist Racism - Because I so often disagree with their assumption that all minorities should rely on "The Victim Card" whenever possible. But they do have valid points on many other issues.
Season of the Bitch and Feministe - I want to know what some on the feminist front think.
Illegal is Illegal? - I want to keep up with the immigration issue.

Some I agree with, some not as much. But all have valid and honest opinions with a lack of pretense.

In real life, I have Black, White, Hispanic/Latino and Asian friends. I have gay and lesbian and straight friends. I have conservative and liberal friends. I have male and female friends. I have dirt poor friends and embarrassingly rich friends. All of my friends are really good at something (usually many things) and are cool to be around.

Beaumont, Texas is really segregated (still ) so I don't get the feedback that I'm used to. All of these sites (and others) fill the void left from my friends at home in Cali.
(Initially, I started this blog so that I could argue with my friends from Cali.)

I'm wrong a lot. A LOT. But like my friends from home, I learn from these blogs.
But didn't the Oracle tell Socrates (and his haters) that he was truly the smartest man alive because he didn't assume that he knew everything?

Where Did We Go Wrong?

I was just checking out everyone on my blog-roll today and came across this mess of a dress.

How did we go from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement to Barak Obama being in serious contention for the Presidency to THIS? Someone forgot to send her the memo. Checkout Boughetto for the whole story;

http://boughettonews.blogspot.com/

Waiting For The View

Richard Nixon and the South Carolina Miss Teen USA contestant. This is how I now view the Republican ticket.
John McCain seemed to be easily agitated while listening to Barak Obama's answers.
Neither candidate hit a home run.
Neither wooed any opposing voters.
Neither candidate made any major gaffs.

(Okay, McCain was slow in getting the news that at the time of the start of the debate - Ted Kennedy had been released from the hospital. Oh, and that Katie Couric [Who knew that Katie Couric would stump the Republican nominee for Vice President and disprove a statement by the Republican nominee for President in the same lifetime - let alone the same week?]would confirm that Kissinger DID say that he supports a non-conditional meeting with adversaries.)

Obama seemed (over)confident in his answers and rebuttals.
McCain seemed angry. But he may have been distracted. I have a great-aunt with the same problem. She forgets what she's saying in the middle of a sentence.

After the debate (on NBC) both Vice Presidential candidates were asked to appear for their opinions on the proceedings.
Joe Bidden said the usual pro-Democrat stuff.
Sarah Palin said ... nothing?
Apparently Rudy Giuliani is more qualified to field questions from the press at this time.
Dayum, Sarah... knocked out of the spotlight by a lightweight like Katie Couric?

Check out The UndercoverBlack Man for a nice piece on the Republicans becoming worried: Damn. That's cold. http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/
I'm just waiting.
I'm waiting to see how Elisabeth Hasselbeck will staunchly affirm EVERYTHING that John McCain said in today's debate.
I like Elisabeth. I like that she is a true believer.
It's just that some people are so blinded by their loyalties that they overlook the truth.
I watched in disbelief as Mrs. Hasselbeck was almost livid in defending Sarah Palin's qualifications to be our next President-in-Waiting. "She's qualified!", Mrs. Hasselbeck would rant on a recent episode of The View. It's like when you're a kid and believe that your dad could beat-up Superman. One can't imagine their own father having any weaknesses. Mrs. Hasselbeck seems adamant in her refusal to believe that the Republican party's policies may not be right for our current condition.

one TRILLION dollars

Maybe Sarah Palin was so focused on the financial crisis that she could not give one coherent answer to Katie Couric during her recent interview. I was waiting for Palin to just say "World Peace" and just give up. Palin sounded like the South Carolina Miss Teen USA contestant giving a rambling answer on illiteracy.

Palin = Ready to Lead?

Privatize Social Security? Isn't this McCain's (well the Republican Party's) plan?

Who gets the commission for the transfer of this wealth?

Do we really want to give Wall Street all of every body's money?

One TRILLION dollars?

How is this race this close?

Is this race only about race?

A Quick Journal About Ike

I thought that this was ironic. A scrap yard that is now nothing but scrap itself

(An explanation for this later. My computer (or the blog site) wont let me delete this photo)

Wed 9-10 The Radio host Tom Joyner just came to town. He remarks that Beaumont, Texas is nothing but refineries. Well... it is a port town (the second busiest in the country in terms of military equipment shipped for the Iraq War) that has petrol-chemicals as it's greatest employers. We're at the center of an area that refines about 20% of the country's petroleum products.

Ike is said to be headed south of us towards Brownsville or Corpus Cristi.

Thur 9-11 To the rest of the country, it is the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon (I had a cousin killed in the Pentagon attack) and the downing of a flight into a field in Pennsylvania.

There was a scene in Star Wars when the Death Star had blown up a planet and Obi Won Kanobi states that there has been a great disturbance in the Force. A kind of universal sigh in disbelief. I imagine that it was the same feeling felt when people learned of Pearl Harbor, the Killing of J.F.K., R.F.K. or M.L.K. .

Here in Beaumont (and the rest of the Gulf), we were waiting to see which direction the storm would take and awaiting word of a mandatory evacuation.

I spent the day re-boarding windows with ply-wood (after the false alarm that was Gustav) and making preparations to evacuate people who would need help in the process.

Fri 9-12 Scores of buses and planes are seen leaving town with the elderly and the ill.

There will be no local shelters open (not wanting to repeat the mistakes of NOLA during Katrina) and a dusk-till-dawn curfew has been put in place.

It's hot and the wind is picking up. I'm ready to shelter-in-place.

The low roar of the approaching hurricane can be heard in the distance.

The refineries are burning product (for safety reasons) and the night sky in neighborhoods surrounding the refineries looks as though it is on fire.

I decide to stay with some of my cousins tonight. This family is three generations of single mothers (for various reasons) and two teenage boys.

The lights go out about 10:45pm.

The women are terrified and want to leave for Houston (It's too late. And the storm should make landfall in Galveston and into Houston, so it's not a good idea.)

The kids burn though the batteries of their flashlights, cell phones, PSPs and portable televisions.

I just go to sleep. So does one of my young cousins.

Sat 9-13 I drive across town to check on my house with one of my cousins (The kid in the cast and white tee-shirt taking a break and letting a guy we met coming the other way take a few swings of the ax. [My cousin isn't up to chain saws yet...]). It's a five mile drive with trees and house parts blocking the roads. The trip takes about two hours to complete but there is at least one clear road. We chop, cut and push tons of debris from roads, deliver food and cooking supplies to needy people and make mitigating repairs to homes with no roofs. We make it to my house (minor damage that I repair in about an hour and a few fallen trees) and check on my neighbors. We then go back to his grandmothers house and cook ALL of the meat in the freezer and make Long Island Iced Teas and invite the neighbors over for dinner.

Sun 9-14 The water system is flooded with salt water so we have a boil-water notice. Above is the method of showering that we must use for the next few days. The alcohol burns because of the many cuts and scratches acquired in the clean up process. I've gotten my Tetanus shot but still don't wish to risk an infection. I thought that I was still in good shape (I can still run a 4.2 ... umm... 20. No, not 40) but...ouch. My abs, glutes and lats are killing me. My young and helpful cousin apologizes that he has to leave. His mother and grandmothers can't take the heat and lack of electricity and water so they decide to leave for Shreveport, LA (which is where the storm would head after it was through with Houston).

Mon 9-15 - Thurs 9-18 Fences, trees, roofs, windows and walls. I used to work in construction (back in the day) so I end up making free repairs to many homes. Ants, mosquitoes and snakes - all are common after a hurricane.

Fri 9-19 The lights finally come on. Air Conditioning, T.V. and a cold Coke. I may be addicted to Coke. All I wanted was an ice cold Coke for more than a week. Oh... I had warm Cokes but the things one looks foreword to. (I wanted to type all this on this day but there was (is) still a lot of work to be done.) I make deliveries of food to my tenants. One says that he found some food that a store had thrown out and that he was fine but wanted to know if I could get him a couple of packs of cigarettes. Yes. I knew how he felt - with me it was Coke but for him it was a cigarette.

Houston is not NOLA What was the difference in the case of Ike ? The people. The people are taking responsibility for themselves and are not expecting the Government to solve all of their problems. Yeah, there are some (actually, some of those in Houston are there because of Katrina) who still want Uncle Sam to do everything for them. The worst example is that one of my cousins got a hotel room in Dallas next to people still living in hotels three years after Katrina hit NOLA. WTF? People in Galveston were warned of "Certain Death" if they failed to evacuate.

Those you see on T.V. failed to heed the warnings. Crystal Beach, High Island and most of Galveston are largely white - so don't try to use race as an excuse.

Where are all of the tele-thons for these people? C'mon Kanye, tell me again that George Bush hates Black people. He may, but the response to Katrina wasn't racially motivated - it was simple incompetence.

Where is the uproar? 5th Ward in one city is the same as 9th Ward in the other. Why no cries of racism? Why not the endless blog posts about government neglect?

Oh, that's right...our economy is about to implode. We actually have common threats to our well being and not the minor inconvenience of someone not liking us or looking at us in the wrong way.

Maybe we're actually growing up and realizing that what's in our best interest is to work on what is actually important and not the trivial disagreements on gay-marriage, overturning Roe v. or Britney's shorn hair.

NOLA failed because everyone was waiting for someone else to solve their problems.

Houston (well, all of Texas) is doing better because we are doing the hard work ourselves and working together to fix our common problems.

We were warned of the collapse of the dollar in coming off of the gold standard. We were warned about foreign entanglements, we were warned of giving up our rights through the instruments of fear (Patriot Act).

If we're smart we won't suffer the fate of NOLA and be sitting around blaming everyone else for that which we should have prepared.

Token Guilt (But it's MY house, n****'!)

Why Token Guilt?
Because it's hard when no matter how bad one had it in the past, they still can't understand the real Black experience.

Because when one decides to follow the rules and overcome any situation, they are called a "House N****' ".

Because once one has achieved a certain level of success, they are instantly transformed into
"Not Really Black" (Tiger Woods, Prince, Barak Obama, Halle Berry, Vin Diesel, The Rock etc.)
or "One of the Good Blacks" (Collin Powell, Oparah, Whoopi, Will Smith etc.).

Because when one chooses not to let the condescending philosophy of "White Guilt" become an excuse instead of a motivating factor, their "Blackness' is called into question.

Because one gets to say that they like a non-Black female because of who she is not because of what race she is, the choice is not seen as "trophy".

Because one receives the same preferences (in cases of Affirmative Action - more) as the dominant culture, they are not given credit for good networking skills.

I'm claiming my own social malady - Token Guilt.
It's hard not to let one's condition determine one's outcome.
I think that I'll blame my parents.