Oprah v. Ice Cube

Okay, I love Oprah to pieces but she has no business talking about things she knows nothing about: hip hop. I know she finds rap to be demeaning to women. She has claimed on more than one occasion that the problem with youth (black youth specifically) is the music and the videos (rap specifically). But, she’s completely inconsistent. First, she had that punk, Black-woman hating, shallow, arrogant, Louis Vuitton-pushing, materialistic, wanna-be pimp: Kanye West on her show. This manchild has nothing but half-whatever women in his videos. Never a classic Nubian African beauty in the midst. Weave abounds. Second, she has on Be-non-say on ever chance she gets. This girl has not shown her real hair since 1994. She weaves in blonde tresses like the rest of us speed down I-71---all the time. Beyoncé unwittingly belittles, mentally brutalizes and indoctrinates millions of girls everyday with her hypersexual dancing, hatred of kinky hair, and completely non-intellectual persona (her beloved Oprah asked her favorite book and she paused for like 10 seconds, the stupid girl couldn’t even come up with some pat answer like the Bible. Oprah saved her and moved on.). Third, she had on Puffy. He constantly put women on display as objects. I want consistency. Tons of things demean and degrade women. What about every makeover show Oprah has ever had? Message: you’re not good enough, wear better, more expensive clothes, get a weave (which invariable appear on the black female makeovers), and put on more make-up. What about every anorexic, bulimic pop- princess? What about the ridiculous magazines consumed with beauty tips and weight loss plans? What about the constant stream of money-worshiping reality shows of Mtv?

This 50+ woman does not know a thing about hip hop. She has one of the most positive rappers in the industry right in her own city of Chicago: Common. But has he made it to the show? No, white women don’t know anything about him. I agree with Ice Cube. Why hasn’t she had him on the show? He’s a great role model. Self-made millionaire. Never afraid to be outspoken. Mostly has works of substance. A married Black man to a Black woman with four beautiful kids. He’s basically rap’s version of Eddie Murphy: I used to be vulgar and crass, but now I’m a grown man and I’ve learned where to be vulgar and crass (mostly not in public). Ice Cube didn’t get invited for Barbershop. He didn’t get invited for a show he produced and created the controversial and much talked about Black/White on the F/X network. Why would she jump on Ludacris during a show about a movie? It was a totally unprovoked attack. He’s not one of the bad one. He’s like the new Redman. Funny and intricate lyrics. Tongue in cheek peppered with a little male bravado. I won’t even mention the bad ones. Ice Cube is a music revolutionary. Militant rhymes with great beats. He took his cues from KRS-One and Public Enemy while adding his own LA flavor of crooked cops and California racism. He’s an Icon.

How can she make any critical analysis of hip hop when she doesn’t know any of the details or the inter-workings of the music? It’s not that complicated, but, really doesn’t she sound like an old coot saying: “turn down that racket and put on some Billy Eckstein!” Plus, I’m the only one that can say anything negative about rap.

Admit you love the Pussycat Dolls as much as I do.

I have this funny feeling

That many people think that since I’m hard on crime, that I’m a Republican. Gosh, people want things to be so simple. But life is messy. Life is complex. Life does not have Hollywood endings. First, I am not a Republican. That’s a proposition that shocks my conscience. I’m a liberal. I was registered Independent for a LONG time, but I got tired of not getting to vote in the primaries. So, I changed it up. I believe gays should be able to married. I think women should get equal pay for equal work. I think there should be a safety net for our nation’s most vulnerable. If welfare for women and children should be limited, so should corporate welfare. Thanks to the intelligence of a friend. I now think that multi-national corporations should be prohibited. I’ve always thought that big corporation should have all the drawbacks and disadvantages of personhood like the rest of us do, not just the advantages. I think there should be affirmative action for many years to come…maybe as long as slavery lasted in America (256 years: 1609-1865). I think women should be able to sell their bodies if they want to. Sex education in the schools should start in Kindergarten. No religion in school. No religion in any place to do with public funding and functions. (i.e., the First Amendment). I think the ecology is more important than money. I HATE Wal-Mart. Now if that’s not liberal I don’t know what is. I just hate crime. Let the guilty criminals BURN.

Some people are on crack.

Did anyone read the forum section of the CJ today? This crazy woman praised men for making the sacrifice and choice against their “nature” to be fathers. She actually commended them for doing what they should do: take care of their children. Is she serious? She claims that fathers have been marginalized and it’s such a sad, pitiful shame. Honey, fathers made themselves irrelevant. Fathers made themselves disposable. Fathers made themselves unimportant in the lives of children. Young men don’t want to marry and be faithful to one woman. Fathers constantly, I mean constantly, complain about the amount of child support they have to pay. My friend’s babydaddy quit his job and took a considerably less paying job so he wouldn’t have to pay her as much. Her. Not his children. Her. Like she was walking around in furs, diamonds, carrying a Prada bag, and jumping in her Maybach. We won’t even talk about the men that just don’t flat out pay. The County Attorneys can tell you all about their deadbeat dad (and a few moms, but mostly dads) lists. Men, fathers should not be patted on the back for being apart of their children’s lives, shoot, being apart of any child’s life is a blessing for the child and the adult. I don’t believe in congratulating anyone for doing something their supposed to do. You’re supposed to take of your kids without complaint (or don’t have any). You’re supposed to obey the law (see many previous posts on that). You’re supposed to do the right thing. Why should a man get a pat on the back for sacrificing for his kids?

By the way, my daddy is the best father in the world. Happy Father’s Day, daddy! He did (does) his duty as a father and expects nothing in return. In that he gets EVERYTHING in return: love, admiration, respect, and blessings.

Have I mentioned this girl to you guys yet: Leela James. Love her hair (and her voice).

Young folks need our own AARP

I just saw a commercial for AARP, you know the mafia for the oldsters. I mean lobbying group. Hum, not sure which is the dis…But anyway, young people (25-45) need their own lobbying group. We need someone to sway congress to vote on issues that help us. College tuition slow-down. ALL student loan interest being able to be written off on taxes. Increase in wages. Healthcare as a right not a luxury. Incentives for public service jobs. The end to the corporate ownership of America. Tax cuts for the middle class and the working poor. Mandatory paid maternity or paternity leave. We are being pushed aside. We will not do better than our parents. We’re going to do worse. Let’s face it: baby boomers are the most greedy, self-serving, self-interested, selfish generation of American history. Would the WWII generation ever sacrifice the future of their children so they could live in luxury in the present??? Would the WWI generation make policies based on the next quarter or the NEXT 20 years??? We ‘re never going to be the leaders of tomorrow. The babyboomers want to hold on to power to their last dying breath. We are being fed a line of bull and propaganda about everything. The biggest is that our generation is lazy. A complete fallacy. It’s just a line to make us feel less than the previous generation, therefore controlling us even more (They’re older and wiser, they should lead.). We are prevented from attaining any power in this country. The torch is not passed on. The torched may have to be stolen. Babyboomers don’t want to die or get old. It’s a natural part of life, but they fight it tooth and nail. Take a rest and let someone else lead. What is we gonna do? (My friend heard a woman say that to a man as he got on a plane.)

Bad Boy may be back: Cheri Dennis has a HOT new song I love you.

The Block is HOT.

What the heck is going on in the Second Division???? Ya’ll got pounds of crack under car seats. Sixteen year olds with guns with blanks. Teenagers gambling with dice. Prostitutes and drug dealers hanging out in the bricks. T-shirts that proudly proclaim “stop snitching.” What the hell? This was not the dream of the slave. I told you about that dream on March 6 of this year. No one is listening. This all sickens me. How can any reasonable Black person point the finger at white racism when we continue to allow this self-destruction?? It’s ridiculous to blame white people for the problems in the West End. Institutional racism/oppression can be blamed for the pitiful educational system, the deadly environmental background of most Black neighborhoods, non-existent healthcare…..even the poor economical state of most Black households. But there is no, absolutely NO excuse for crime. I’m sorry. None. The only good reason to break a law is when it oppresses freedom, liberty or justice. Other than that, if you disagree with a law, work through the proper channels to change it. But the last time I checked selling and possessing crack had nothing to do with freedom. My thoughts about the right of a woman to sell her body if she chooses to can be discussed another time. But, if you want to sell your body move to Nevada, it’s legal there and illegal in the Commonwealth. I’m so tired of this stuff. Stop snitching???? Stop snitching???? Are you kidding me? You would rather live with bars on your windows, locked in your houses, children can’t play on the sidewalk, elders imprisoned in the house, dead and paralyzed young men everywhere than telling authority who are the terrorists in your community. Yeah stop snitching so you can exterminate one another like some insane African civil war. I feel like screaming on the corner with an alarm clock and yelling “WAKE UP!!!!” But, I’d probably be shot.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.

Harlan Ellison (1934 - )

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Strength to Love, 1963

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Act 3 scene 2

Me and my husband

Me and IBM (Ideal Black Man). Take notes, all haters.

****DISCLAIMER****

This is a picture of me and Tavis Smiley when he came to Louisville, Ky. This is at a book signing for The Covenant at Books-A-Million on Breckinridge Lane. He is a great, dynamic Black man. Intelligent, frank, charismatic, handsome, intellectual, a gentleman, informed.....uh, I'm gushing all over the place, annnnyway. This is the type of man that could be the counterpart to this Black Goddess. Sigh......

Cops II

Well, well, well. I’ve been forced to answer my critics; well nobody can force me to do anything. I feel compelled to say something to everyone who wants to make the majority of today’s rap something that isn’t: thought-provoking. Besides a few “underground” groups which in the early days of rap were the mainstream, most rap is garbage. Rap has been turned into a corporate product marketed towards its main buyers: young white males. Young white males have always enjoyed rebellious music that upsets their parents (Elvis, The Beatles), now they have 50 Cent, Emimen, Chamillionaire, Jay-Z, Kanye West and the rest of those pawns. See the problem with all this is young white males grow up, leave childish pursuits behind, go to college, start families, and become the next generation of parents who are appalled and disgusted by their kids’ music. Some Black kids listen to this music and think it’s a lifestyle guide. A way to behave. And even worse: “black culture.” Black culture???? The encouragement of promiscuity and criminal behavior, the marginalization of dark-skinned and brown black women, the promotion of white beauty standards, the glorification of violence and a plethora of other ill-conceived notions on life are NOT black culture. In fact those ideas are the racist ones, not pointing out illogical and detrimental thinking. The song I commented on may have mentioned racial profiling, which is definitely a problem that deserves addressing, but the repetitive chorus talks about the supposed jealousy that cops have for drug dealers. We need to examine this garbage we let in our community and our brains considering the violence of this weekend. Garbage in, garbage out.

The Animal I’ve Become by Three Days Grace. Read the words. (I liked their last album, let’s see if they can do it again.)