29 August 2011
My favorite part of the VMAs last night
I love that glow. She looks so happy.
******
As soon as I found the clip on youtube and posted it, Viacom made it no longer available. :(
28 August 2011
26 August 2011
What if Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were still alive
Would we be behaving the way we do if they were still alive to remind to us about how smart, how beautiful, how strong and how capable of success we were, and to remind us to stand tall, when crawling would be so easy?
Just a thought
25 August 2011
Word
-African American proverb
One in a million-Aaliyah, 10 years ago today Gone but not forgotten
Some of my favorites from Aaliyah
24 August 2011
Note to self
-- Eleanor Roosevelt
Tea Party Chair In SC Posts Joke On Facebook About Killing The Obamas
Shery Lanford Smith posted the the joke on her Facebook page on August 11th. The page is now private.
In the joke, the Obamas are on a helicopter talking about how they could make people happy if they threw money out the window. The pilot says: "I could throw both of them out of the window and make 256 million people very happy!" Smith added: "If you're one of 256 million, PASS IT ON."
Smith reportedly pulled the joke after the Sumter Item contacted her about it. Here's an earlier screenshot, via the Item:
The Chair of the Sumter South Carolina Tea Party posted -- and then quickly pulled -- a post on her Facebook page earlier this month that joked about throwing the Obamas out of a helicopter.
Shery Lanford Smith posted the the joke on her Facebook page on August 11th. The page is now private.
In the joke, the Obamas are on a helicopter talking about how they could make people happy if they threw money out the window. The pilot says: "I could throw both of them out of the window and make 256 million people very happy!" Smith added: "If you're one of 256 million, PASS IT ON."
Smith reportedly pulled the joke after the Sumter Item contacted her about it. Here's an earlier screenshot, via the Item:
"It's just a joke," she told the Item. "I had no idea it would be an issue."
The Sumter SC Tea Party's page is now also defunct.
-courtesy TPM muckracker.com
Isn't it against the federal law to even threaten to kill POTUS? And that it was posted on Facebook shows her stupidity.
23 August 2011
Today's lowest of the LOW
The 9/11 Memorial Commemorative wines, produced by Lieb Cellars on Long Island, has drawn the expletive-laced ire of celebrity chef and No Reservations telelvision star Anthony Bourdain on Twitter, after @FDNY EMS Website -- the Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services of New York -- reached out to Bourdain, calling out his former stomping grounds, French brasserie Les Halles in New York for selling the wine.
Calling the wines "grotesque, exploitative," and "vomit inducing," Bourdain reacted swiftly to the news and pulled some strings to remove the product from the restaurant's menu.
Lieb Cellars, meanwhile, says proceeds of all sales will go towards the National September 11 Memorial Museum. In an interview with the LA Times, the winery said that amounts to six to 10 percent of sales.
The red wine is described as a barrel-fermented 2010 merlot, while their chardonnay is fermented in stainless steel, with dominant flavors of green apple, hints of citrus and pineapple, and a vanilla finish.
Or as one vociferous Twitterer put it, "9/11 wine. The dominant flavors are reminiscent of fresh green apples with underlying hints of VULTURES."
Both retail for $19.11.
--courtesy yahoo.com
What a great tribute to the people who died on 9/11/2001 their friends and family. Capitalizing on what is probably the most horrifying event in American History.
All I can do is shake my head. It's beyond my comprehension. I don't even know what to say.
22 August 2011
Solid as a rock
RIP Nicholas Ashford
Half of one of the most prolific,successful producing and song-writing teams of my youth.
Some of my favorites, produced by them.
Half of one of the most prolific,successful producing and song-writing teams of my youth.
 |
| Nicholas Ashford & Valerie Simpson |
Some of my favorites, produced by them.
Recently, they received a songwriting credit on Amy Winehouse’s song “Tears Dry On Their Own,” which contains a sample from “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
Note to self- Persistence
-- Albert Einstein
Back in the day, a girlfriend was getting her Masters in African Studies, and she invited me to see Maya Angelou, who was coming to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She had personally invited Ms Angelou to speak at an event, and I had a front-row seat. I was so very excited. I have been a fan of Ms Angelou since I was in the 2nd grade when my speech pathologist introduced me to poetry and the writings of Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks and Maya Angelou. At the conclusion of her very encouraging and inspiring discussion was the question and answer session, when I asked the following question:
"If there was one piece of advice you could give aspiring writers, what would it be?"
and she said,
"Keep trying. My poetry was rejected 210 times before the first one was published. If I had given up at the 210th time, you might not have ever heard of me."
I'm carrying that answer to this day, and am applying it to every single facet of my life, to keep trying, and to be persistent. I remind my nephew of this all the time. Success is around the corner. Maybe not around the very next corner, but if you keep trying, you'll find it.
19 August 2011
On today,
Benjamin Banneker writes letter to then secretary of state Thomas Jefferson. The letter showed the hypocrisy of slavery. Banneker challenged the idea of freedom for whites as the ascribed it to be the same freedom that should be granted to Africans.
Edith Sampson is the first African American appointed as a representative to the UN.
Ralph J.Bunche named undersecretary of the United Nations.
Members of NAACP Youth Council began series of sit-ins at Oklahoma City Lunch counters.
Defying apartheid laws, Bishop Desmond Tutu walks alone on a South African beach, 1989
--courtesy Blackfacts.com
18 August 2011
on this day,
He was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1958 and won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1960, breaking that award's color barrier. He was chosen to ignite the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1994, he was elected into the first class of the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. In 1998, he was named one of ESPN's 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the 20th Century. In 2006, the NCAA named him one of the 100 Most Influential Student Athletes of the past 100 years. On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Johnson would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California. Johnson is a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.
--courtesy blackfacts.com
 |
| The decathlon duel between Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang was the highlight of a star studded 1960 Olympics. |
STFU Rush Limbaugh
"It isn't going to be long before it's going to be called the Or-Bam-eo or something like this," he said in referencing a report about the new Oreo on his talk show this morning. The report, which appeared in the Chicago Tribune's business section, does not mention race and certainly doesn't call the cookie "biracial."
We're pretty sure that the Oreo will not be renamed Or-Bam-eo, mainly because it's just not that clever. We also don't think it's a coincidence that Limbaugh is using the term "oreo," a racial slur, to compare -- and reduce -- the significance of the president's racial makeup to that of a sandwich cookie. Tacky.
--courtesy theroot.com
17 August 2011
Oops, I meant happy Deathday!
Clueless Bachmann Wishes Presley A Happy Birthday
“We played you a little bit of ‘Promised Land’ when we pulled up. You can’t do better than Elvis Presley, and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started celebrating taking our country back to work!”
That was Bachmann’s opening statement in Spartanburg, S.C yesterday, as she addressed the crowd gathered at one of her presidential campaign events. The problem with her celebrating Presley’s birthday yesterday was a little fact that happened to be that August 16th was the day Presley died. Elvis Presley was actually born on January 8th.
But have no fear, this is Michele Bachmann after all. What would really be surprising would be if she even knew what day of the week it was!
Carry on Michele, do you!
“We played you a little bit of ‘Promised Land’ when we pulled up. You can’t do better than Elvis Presley, and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started celebrating taking our country back to work!”
That was Bachmann’s opening statement in Spartanburg, S.C yesterday, as she addressed the crowd gathered at one of her presidential campaign events. The problem with her celebrating Presley’s birthday yesterday was a little fact that happened to be that August 16th was the day Presley died. Elvis Presley was actually born on January 8th.
But have no fear, this is Michele Bachmann after all. What would really be surprising would be if she even knew what day of the week it was!
Carry on Michele, do you!
16 August 2011
Don't Try This At Home
Oregon mother gets 5 years of probation for trying to circumcise her 3-month-old son at home
Keemonta Peterson pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal mistreatment. The 30-year-old Portland woman must also undergo mental health treatment.
Peterson called 911 and the boy was rushed to a hospital last October after her botched effort left the infant bleeding uncontrollably and in intense pain. A prosecutor says he has fully recovered.
The Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/pFowiX) the boy and his three siblings are in the state’s care, although Peterson can see them under supervision.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Eric Bergstrom told Peterson on Monday that “the reality is you love your children and had absolutely no intent to harm your child.”
- courtesy Oregonlive.com
I hope she never ever gets her kids back.
affection
Oh my God, he done cut me !
When Ministers Attack
You know times are tough when ministers have it out for other ministers.
Singer and Minister of Music, Simone Moore (pictured), allegedly used a Taser on a pastor who just fired him, which set off a terrible confrontation. It ended up with a deacon stabbing the Moore’s mother.
It all went down a week ago at New Welcome Baptist Church in Alabama after Rev. Darryl Riley told Moore that he had to get gone and was released with his final paycheck.
Not so fast. Moore disputed the amount of the check and whipped out his Taser gun and did his thing.
When several church members rushed in to attempt to diffuse the issue, a deacon pulled out a knife and stabbed the music minister’s mother, Agolia Moore.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, he done cut me,” Agolia Moore told Local 15 News. Moore, who suffered a gash on her arm that required 19 stitches, claimed church leaders ganged up on her son when he was fired. “They owed him,” Agolia said. “He asked them for his money. That was the big thing right there, wasn’t no more or no less.”
Simone Moore eventually surrendered to authorities days later and was charged with third-degree assault. Rev. Riley was struck twice on the arm with the gun’s sting and bashed on the head with the moneybox, receiving to cuts that required 32 stitches.
“The deacons and myself said we were not going to pay him because this Sunday was supposed to be his last,” Riley told the Press-Register. “At that point, he pointed the Taser at me.”
Simone Moore said he was preparing to quit and was carrying a Taser because he “didn’t trust the situation.” He claimed the church owed him $600 more.
-- courtesy eurweb.com
All I can do is shake my head.
You know times are tough when ministers have it out for other ministers.
Singer and Minister of Music, Simone Moore (pictured), allegedly used a Taser on a pastor who just fired him, which set off a terrible confrontation. It ended up with a deacon stabbing the Moore’s mother.
It all went down a week ago at New Welcome Baptist Church in Alabama after Rev. Darryl Riley told Moore that he had to get gone and was released with his final paycheck.
Not so fast. Moore disputed the amount of the check and whipped out his Taser gun and did his thing.
When several church members rushed in to attempt to diffuse the issue, a deacon pulled out a knife and stabbed the music minister’s mother, Agolia Moore.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, he done cut me,” Agolia Moore told Local 15 News. Moore, who suffered a gash on her arm that required 19 stitches, claimed church leaders ganged up on her son when he was fired. “They owed him,” Agolia said. “He asked them for his money. That was the big thing right there, wasn’t no more or no less.”
Simone Moore eventually surrendered to authorities days later and was charged with third-degree assault. Rev. Riley was struck twice on the arm with the gun’s sting and bashed on the head with the moneybox, receiving to cuts that required 32 stitches.
“The deacons and myself said we were not going to pay him because this Sunday was supposed to be his last,” Riley told the Press-Register. “At that point, he pointed the Taser at me.”
Simone Moore said he was preparing to quit and was carrying a Taser because he “didn’t trust the situation.” He claimed the church owed him $600 more.
-- courtesy eurweb.com
All I can do is shake my head.
Love truly is a battlefield
--James A. Baldwin
15 August 2011
i miss these things.
- seeing more than 5 black people per week
- taking my nephew for drives every other weekend
- seeing my mother every other weekend as well
- listening to tom joyner in the morning on the radio while getting ready for work
- making love to the same woman multiple times per week
- her scent on my pillow
- hangin with my friend Jeff and catching a movie
- baking cakes for my department and the cakes being devoured within 30 minutes
- seeing more than 5 black people per week
- the African World Fests every summer in Milwaukee
- the Arab World Fests every summer in Milwaukee as well
- having my family to rely on when my friends are busy and it's the weekend
- turning on the radio and hearing Jill Scott, Luther Vandross, Anthony Hamilton and D' Angelo and others of that genre
- taking the train to work in DC
- having too many friends to hang out with.
- not having to call 50 people to see what they have planned for the weekend and having only one person respond
- driving with my friend Henry to atlantic city every payday friday
- seeing more than 5 black people per week
- being in love
- being happy
- i think i even miss the snow, even though I remember hating it. but at least i was with family
- having social things in common with the people I meet
- happy hour with friends after work
- knowing every one in the gym and the ease with which I made new friends
- making love to the same woman multiple times per week
- seeing more than 5 black people per week
- my friends
- Wisconsin, period
14 August 2011
12 August 2011
20 Years Of GOP Strategy In One Little Cartoon
I think the artist should have had a couple of panels where the donkey was going to buy some glue but the elephant was aghast at the expense.
The Legend of Echos
Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhh!!!"
To his surprise, he hears a voice repeating: "AAAhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?"
Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"
He looks at his father and asks: "What's going on?"
The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention."
And the father screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!"
Again the man screams: "You are a champion!"
The voice answers: "You are a champion!"
The boy is surprised, but does not understand.
Then the father explains: "People call this an ECHO, but really this is LIFE.
It gives you back everything you say or do.
Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.
If you want more love in the world,
Create more love in your heart.
If you want more competence in your team,
Improve your competence.
This relationship applies to everything in all aspects of life.
Life will give you back everything you have given to it.
Your life is not a coincidence. It's a reflection of you!
11 August 2011
WTF?
 |
| MORANS? |
On embracing life
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."
— Mother Teresa
09 August 2011
08 August 2011
05 August 2011
They are lying to you
Sincerely,
the republicans/tea party
Searching for James River
THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN WASTED TALENT.
Searching for D ' Angelo
Spoken word artist Charlie Peters explores this theme by blending his own work with an old and incredibly prescient interview of D'Angelo, poster child of squandered gifts, on a demo for the song "Searching For James River." The title of the piece is named for the James River, a historic body of water that flows through Richmond, the hometown of the Voodoo artist and the long-rumored title of his phantom third album. Peters yearns for the soul music of the '90s over jazzy instrumentals, which makes it easy to mistake this piece as shallow. The poem ambles slowly until it reaches the rapids of D'Angelo's remarks, where he describes the need for musicians to protect what is "pure" in themselves and their music lest it be destroyed by the industry. Knowing his struggle in recent years with substance abuse and legal woes, it seems that the search for D'Angelo -- and his legacy -- will continue.
--courtesy soulbounce.com
Searching for D ' Angelo
--courtesy soulbounce.com
Question of the day
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
--Dr. Robert Schuller
--Dr. Robert Schuller
A wish
" Making Obama A One-Term President Is My Single Most Important Political Goal."
--Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.
On Fox News Sunday, Bret Baier asked him if he stands by his previous statement that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President.” McConnell confirmed that his goal remains unchanged.
McConnell elaborated slightly explaining that it is still his goal to prevent Obama’s re-election, but for the rest of this year something else takes priority:“Well that is true, [making Obama a one-term President is] my single most important political goal along with every active Republican in the country. But that’s in 2012."
His single most important political goal? Is that not a f****d up priority? Shouldn't, I don't know, things like working WITH the President to improve the economy or create jobs be like #1 and #2??
If you had a birthday wish for President Obama, what would it be?
Every morning I do pray that God please find favor for our president and his family. And America at large. My additional wishes are actually prayers. I pray that the republicans and tea partiers realize their representatives are not looking out for their best interests, and that every congress man who is hoping for President Obama's downfall- that they reap what they sow much sooner rather than later. I also pray that President Obama stop with the over-compromising with the half of Congress who are proud self-professed enemies of him-those whose sole purpose is to make things back for him. But then again, like a coworker always says, perhaps President Obama is playing chess and I'm thinking checkers.
So, if you had a prayer for President Obama, what would it be?
04 August 2011
03 August 2011
"And another thing. Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No… don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. That is just being ‘in love’, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. […] Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Trust me, it is."
-- from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, a novel written by Louis de Bernieres
10 things I knew at 25
1.Better to have a few friends and many acquaintances.
2.There’s so much that I don’t know and will continue to learn.
3.I’m not perfect, and will never be—and that’s okay.
4.You won’t be liked by all, and that’s okay too.
5.It’s not what you know or who you know, it’s how you use (network) what you know and who you know.
6.Sleep does a body good (and so does regular exercise).
7.Don’t burn bridges, because you may need to cross one someday.
8.Your reputation is your most valuable asset.
9.Failure (and heartbreak) will occur (more than once) and with the right attitude, you’ll bounce back.
10.We all make mistakes, the lesson is in learning to make things right.
2.There’s so much that I don’t know and will continue to learn.
3.I’m not perfect, and will never be—and that’s okay.
4.You won’t be liked by all, and that’s okay too.
5.It’s not what you know or who you know, it’s how you use (network) what you know and who you know.
6.Sleep does a body good (and so does regular exercise).
7.Don’t burn bridges, because you may need to cross one someday.
8.Your reputation is your most valuable asset.
9.Failure (and heartbreak) will occur (more than once) and with the right attitude, you’ll bounce back.
10.We all make mistakes, the lesson is in learning to make things right.
all things being equal
I used to be thoughtful
but now i am just like you.
I used to be encouraging
but now i am just like you.
I used to be good at calling
but now i am just like you.
I used to be good at sending funny or encouraging cards
but now i am just like you.
I used to be good at texting good morning
but now i am just like you.
I used to be good at responding to your facebook status updates
but now i am just like you.
I used to leave voicemails wishing you a great day or a great weekend
but now i am just like you.
I used to be helpful
but now i am just like you.
I used to be good at being the first at offering to help people move furniture
but now I am just like you.
I used to be good offering to transport people, and for free.
but now I am just like you.
***
I used to be all about other people
but now i am just like you.
Now, I'm all about myself.
just like you.
(and when you ask why you haven't heard from me lately, read this poem)
Alexgeorge
Who are you?
I am hopeful | I am optimistic | I am timid | I am sad | I am shy| I am happy| I am energized | I am discouraged | I am fabulous| I am scared | I am beautiful | I am hurt | I am loyal | I am selfish | I am joyful | I am memorable | I am silly | I am brave | I am awkward | I am strength | I am nervous | I am confident | I am authentic | I am a believer | I am a work in progress | I am….ME.
a man
an uncle
a father
a son
a God-father
a brother
a nephew
a friend
I am a child of God.
I am love.
love.
02 August 2011
01 August 2011
Wisdom
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