Boston View

What's your advice?

So I'd like your opinions. It's not a big thing but it has been bothering me. This past December a friend and I planned to do a little shopping. So the plan was that she would call me when she was leaving home and on her way to pick me up. But she forgot to call before she left and stopped at a payphone to call me. (she, like me, does not have a cell phone). She was in a different city so rather than dig up a bunch of change she called me collect. I of course accepted the call and we talked for just a few minutes.

Fast forward to January

In January I received my phone bill. I immediately noticed that it was more than usual. I checked the itemized list of charges and noticed a $20 charge from a company other than the phone company. It took me a minute but I finally realized that the charge was for the collect call my friend made to me.

This company was charging me 20 dollars for a 4 minute phone call!

So my problem is; do I fight this charge or just chalk it up to experience and pay it? I paid the phone bill balance minus the $20 in January. The reason I'm hesitant to fight the charge is I know it's going to be a big hassle. The phone company does not have any walk in offices here. I would have to either deal with this via e-mail or by phone. Either way I know that if I am able to resolve this it's going to take a bunch of time and effort.

If I don't fight the charge I'm going to feel like I've been taken for a fool. Although I'm sure I haven't been the only one to get a $20 charge for a 4 minute call.

One more thing; I worked in a customer service call center once. I know how it works and that's how I know it would be a hassle to dispute the charge.

Anyway my phone bill is due again and I need to either pay or fight.

What should I do?

Should I dispute the charge?

Should I just go ahead and pay it?

Thanks!

Black History Month: The Final Post

Please click on the photo for a large view. This is a testament to what African Americans had to survive so that we could be here and have the opportunities we have today. If you are African American, as you read this remember that the Black people mentioned in this document could be one of your or my ancestors.

Photo Attribution: HickTownPress

Jermaine Stewart - Word is Out

Vaughn Mason & Crew - Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll

Friday Rare Groove: Joyce Sims - All and All

Düsseldorf by Night

Vernacular

I have been participating in a great post at Undercover Black Man about Black slang words. The post is basically asking readers to think of words that have been used in the Black community that have made their way into the larger culture.

Black slang originally was a way for African Americans to communicate without being understood by Whites. This was vital during the time that African Americans were enslaved and afterword during the Jim Crow era.

Now most Black slang eventually makes its way into the mainstream. Mostly this happens through music and film. Some examples of those words are; dissed, Micky D's in place of McDonald's restaurant, crib, holla, dog, cheese and 5-0.

Other slang black slang words are that haven't quite yet made it to the larger culture are fiftyleven, hyphy, hella or hecka.

Then there is Black British slang with words like criss, which means everything is cool or okay. It doesn't seem that Black British slang makes its way to the U.S. very often.

It also occurred to me that there are White slang words that have made there way into popular culture. Words like dude, which can refer to a man or woman. Then there is dork and nerd. Also words like totally, duh and what - ever, which are Valley Girl slang words.

The amazing thing about slang is that once most slang words work their way into the mainstream, such as being heard in advertisements for corporations, they usually die out in the communities that they originated in.

Can you think of slang words that have not made it to the mainstream?

How many mainstream slang words can you list?

What slang word(s) do you use?

Free College!

Here is some amazing information from my blog sister Symphony at Essential Presence.

"If you know a kid entering high school or who has done pretty good in their first couple of years then let them know how they can attend great institutions of higher learning free of cost. Remember, the kids must be accepted to the school based on admissions standards." - Symphony

Read more about this and find out what colleges are offering free tuition at Essential Presence.

Black History Month: Revolutionary Women!

This post is part two of two profiling abolitionist Frances Harper

(Part one was posted yesterday)

In 1859 Watkins's tale "The Two Offers" appeared in the Anglo-African, the first short story to be published by an African-American. Although cast in fictional form, the piece is actually a sermon on the important life choices made by young people, women in particular.

The tale relates the tragedy of a woman who mistakenly thinks romance and married love to be the only goal and center of her life. "Talk as you will of woman's deep capacity for loving," Watkins preached, "of the strength of her affectional nature. I do not deny it; but will the mere possession of any human love, fully satisfy all the demands of her whole being? . . . But woman—the true woman—if you would render her happy, it needs more than the mere development of her affectional nature.

Her conscience should be enlightened, her faith in the true and right established, and scope given to her Heaven-endowed and God-given faculties."

In 1860, Frances Watkins married Fenton Harper, a widower with three children, and moved to Ohio. Their daughter, Mary, was born in 1862. Fenton died in 1864. After the war was over, Frances Harper toured the South, speaking to large audiences, encouraging education for freed slaves, and aiding in reconstruction.

With slavery a thing of the past, Harper turned her energy to women's rights. She spoke up for the empowerment of women and worked with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to secure votes for women.

Unlike Anthony and Stanton, Harper supported the Fourteenth Amendment, which, together with the Fifteenth, granted the vote to black men but not to women. Recognizing the ever-present danger of lynching,

she reasoned that the African-American community needed an immediate political voice. With that would come the possibility of securing further legal and civil rights.

During the next few decades, Harper wrote a great deal and had her works published frequently. Because of her many magazine articles, she was called the mother of African-American journalism. At the same time she also wrote for periodicals with a mainly white circulation.

The poems in Harper's Sketches of Southern Life, 1872, present the story of Reconstruction, as told by a wise and engaging elderly former slave, Aunt Chloe. Harper's serialized novel, "Sowing and Reaping," in the Christian Recorder, 1876-77, expanded on the theme of "The Two Offers." In "Trial and Triumph," 1888-89, the most autobiographical of her novels, Harper presented her program for progress through personal development, altruism, non-discrimination, and racial pride.

In 1873 Harper became Superintendent of the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women's Christian Temperance Union. In 1894 she helped found the National Association of Colored Women and served as its vice president, 1895-1911. Along with Ida B. Wells, Harper wrote and lectured against lynching. She was also a member of the Universal Peace Union.

Although busy as a writer and active in public life, Harper continued to engage personally in social concerns at the local level. She worked with a number of churches in the black community of north Philadelphia near her home, feeding the poor, preventing juvenile delinquency, and teaching Sunday School at the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church.

Harper died on 22 February 1911, nine years before women gained the right to vote. Her funeral service was held at the Unitarian Church on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. She was buried in Eden Cemetery, next to her daughter, who had died two years before.

Although an extremely popular writer during her lifetime, Harper was not acclaimed by literary critics. Following her death W.E.B. Du Bois, whose ideal of high style was Henry James, eulogized her with faint praise: "She was not a great singer, but she had some sense of song; she was not a great writer, but she wrote much worth reading."

Shortly after, Harper's communicative and intentionally popular style was dismissed as sentimental hackwork by African-American male critics and her message held in suspicion because her mixed-race protagonists were not sufficiently black.

Text Attribution: Unitarian Universalist Historical Society

TEN CITY - DEVOTION

DJ Kool - Let Me Clear My Throat

Michael Jackson - Ben

Maui Sunset

Snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory

Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in the original film version of A Raisin in the Sun

There is a lot that can be said is negative about the African American experience in America. Many of us face racism, whether blatant or subtle, on a daily basis. The media is constantly showing every negative image of us that it can find or manufacture.

So it's very easy as a blogger to focus on the bad and sometimes not recognize the good even when it's right in front of our faces. I have seen a really good example of people in the blogisphere focusing on the negative when it would have been just as easy and more productive to focus on the positive.

Monday night ABC aired a version of Lorraine Hansberry's classic American drama A Raisin in the Sun. Even before it aired I read many posts decrying it as a travesty. I repeat; that was before the broadcast even aired. Mainly it seemed that people were upset with the choice of Shawn Combs aka P. Diddy to play the role of Walter Lee.

Lorraine Hansberry

While I too believe that Shawn Combs acting ability is suspect at best, I was pleased to look forward to seeing African American faces on network television that would not be the usual stereotypes that we all complain about.

After the TV version aired many people compared ABC's version of A Raisin in the Sun to the original film starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and others. Sure it's tempting to compare the two but ultimately it's setting the TV version up for failure.

ABC's A Raisin in the Sun

It's not reasonable to compare a film made for theatrical release to one made for TV. There is less money involved in television productions, the talent on and off camera will likely be less experienced and sometimes less talented.

I watched Monday night's airing of A Raisin In The Sun and I was happy to see African Americans portrayed as complicated and thoughtful people. To see such portrayals is rare indeed on the small screen or even on the big screen.

We are fed a constant diet of comedy and buffoonery on TV. We see African Americans portrayed as criminals, and usually stupid criminals, whores, rappers and miscreants.

So I celebrate ABC's version of A Raisin In The Sun. Will it win any Emmy Awards? Likely not but it was an island of realness in a sea of stereotypes.

And for that I say bravo!

Hopefully all the negative chatter about the movie will not prevent other networks, either cable or broadcast, from stepping outside the norm and producing more films that tell unique slices of African American life.

ABC's A Raisin in the Sun was a victory, it was a victory for those of us who are tired of what's on BET and VH1 and rap videos and Tyler Perry films (that mock Black women). It's just too bad that many people were so busy looking for a defeat that they missed the victory.

Did you watch A Raisin in the Sun on ABC Monday Night?

What did you think of it?

Black History Month: Revolutionary Women!

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825-February 22, 1911), was an African-American writer, lecturer, and political activist, who promoted abolition, civil rights, women's rights, and temperance. She helped found or held high office in several national progressive organizations. She is best remembered today for her poetry and fiction, which preached moral uplift and counseled the oppressed how to free themselves from their demoralized condition.

Frances was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to free parents whose names are unknown. After her mother died in 1828, Frances was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was the abolitionist William Watkins, father of William J. Watkins, who would become an associate of Frederick Douglass. She received her education at her uncle's Academy for Negro Youth and absorbed many of his views on civil rights. The family attended the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church.

At the age of fourteen, Frances found a job as a domestic in a Quaker household, where she was given access to their library and encouraged in her literary aspirations. Her poems appeared in newspapers, and in 1845 a collection of them was printed as Autumn Leaves (also published as Forest Leaves).

Following the passage in 1850 of the Fugitive Slave Law, conditions for free blacks in the slave state of Maryland deteriorated and the Watkins family fled Baltimore.

Frances Watkins moved on her own to Ohio, where she taught sewing at Union Seminary. She moved on to Pennsylvania in 1851. There, alongside William Still, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, she helped escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad on their way to Canada.

Watkins continued to write, and in 1854 her Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects attracted critical notice and became her biggest commercial success. In these poems she attacked not only racism but also the oppression of women. Most of the earnings from this and her other books went to help free the slaves. In 1854 she also began her lecturing career. She was much in demand on the anti-slavery circuit and she traveled extensively in the years before the Civil War.

Part two of the profile of Frances Watkins tomorrow.



Text Attribution: Unitarian Universalist Historical Society

Brandy - I Wanna Be Down

Al B. Sure! - Nite and Day

Barbara Mason - Another Man

In a post a few days ago I talked about my not paying attention to lyrics when I was younger. Well this song is a perfect example of that. I really listened to this song last night and I am so surprised. I had no idea what this song was really about. I really doubt that a song like this would be made today. What do you think?

Things that remind me of home...

Remember Ralph Nader and the "N" Word?

This past weekend Ralph Nader announced the he will run (again) for President this year. I read quite a few posts about his return yesterday but I didn't see any about Mr. Nader's unfortunate use of the "N" word back in 2005.

Here is what he said;

From Blogcritics.com - Speaking Wednesday night at a Washington fund-raiser to retire the debt from his 2004 presidential campaign, Nader complained that Democratic Party powerbrokers had kept him off the ballot in such Southern states as Georgia and Virginia - which reminded him of the oppressive Jim Crow laws that denied African-Americans equal rights.

"I felt like a [n-word]," said Nader. (paragraph attribution: Blogcritics/ June 17, 2005)

How is it that a so-called politician, Nader, can use the "N" word and then think he can run for President? I have no interest in anything Ralph Nader has to say and I find it offensive that he has the audacity to run for President after his "N" word incident.

Does it bother you that Ralph Nader used the "N" word?

Are you willing to take him seriously knowing of his past use of the "N" word?

Words!

Here are a few words I found. Enjoy!

kakistocracy (kak-i-STOK-rah-see) - government by the worst or least qualified citizens

merkin (MUR-kin) - a pubic wig for women

phobophobia (fo-bah-FO-bee-ah) - a morbid dread or fear of developing a phobia

quatopygia (kwah-tah-PIJ-ee-ah) — the shaking of the buttocks while walking

What do you think of these words?

Toni Braxton - Unbreak My Heart

La Flavour - Mandolay

Classic dance!

Twofer Tuesday: Lauryn Hill vs. Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly

The Cover: Lauryn Hill - Killing Me Softly

The Original: Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly

Which version do you prefer?

A Winter Night's Dream...

My Sources

I am a news junkie and I've been one for a long time. Unfortunately most of the news outlets in the U.S. are pretty bad. Corporate media has made a mockery of good journalism. When big stories come around I find that the coverage from big media is lacking on many, many levels.

The terrible journalism of corporate media has forced me to seek out new and better sources of news.

I have come to depend on NPR (National Public Radio) for good unbiased news coverage. I listen to NPR on a daily basis and am rarely disappointed.

I have also found several good online news resources, such as the BBC. There are also many independent media outlets online. It's nice to know that even though corporate media dominates there are great alternatives.

Finally the place that I look for great commentary and opinion is not The New York Times but blogs. I have found great and insightful commentary on current events on blogs. In fact I would go so far as to say the commentary on many of my favorite blogs is much better than that of commercial media.

When I hear of a big news story and I want insight I go directly to blogs. The CNN's of the world are now just a distant bad memory.

Go Blogs!

Where do you get most of your news and opinion?

Do you rely on corporate media for news and information?

Black History Month: More firsts!

Freedom's Journal was the first African American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States. Published weekly in New York City from 1827 to 1829, the journal was edited by John Russwurm from March 16, 1827 to March 28, 1829 and later, Samuel Cornish served as co-editor (March 16, 1827 to September 14, 1827). Freedom's Journal was superseded by The Rights of All, published between 1829 and 1830 by S. E. Cornish.

Freedom's Journal provided international, national, and regional information on current - events and contained editorials declaiming slavery, lynching, and other injustices.

The Journal also published biographies of prominent African Americans and listings of births, deaths, and marriages in the African American community in New York. Freedom's Journal circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.

The newspaper employed subscription agents such as David Walker, who in 1829 published the first of four articles that called for rebellion.

The pamphlet "Walker's Appeal" stated, "...it is no more harm for you to kill the man who is trying to kill you than it is for you to take a drink of water..." This statement was widely read, with Walker distributing copies of his pamphlet into the Southern United States, where it was widely banned.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia, seethisitem.com

Inner City - Big Fun

Milli Vanilli - Blame It On The Rain

Soul II Soul - Back To Life

What calling?

Have you ever wondered what your true calling is? I wonder that. At different times in my life I've thought that I knew what my calling was. When I was in my teens I thought it was to be a ballerina. Then I thought it was to be a playwright. After that I thought it was to work in the film industry. Then I thought it was radio.

Well I guess you get the picture. Over time I have gone through many "callings". At this point in my life I'm not sure if I really have a calling. There really isn't anything that I can think of that I want to be the best at, that was always my idea of a calling, wanting to be the best at something.

It would really be nice to find another calling. I'd love to feel the passion of having a calling again.

Have you found your calling?

Has your calling changed over time?

Black History Month: The Arts

Mary Edmonia Lewis (born July 4, 1845 - died 1907) was the first African American and Native American woman to gain fame and recognition as a sculptor.

At a time in America when slaves were just freed, she found inspiration in the lives of abolitionists and Civil War heroes. In a world which didn’t encourage women of color, through incredible determination and sense of purpose, Edmonia Lewis created great art and received world acclaim.

The daughter of a Chippewa Indian woman and an African American man, Edmonia Lewis was born about 1845 near Albany, New York. Her parents died when she was young, and she went to live with her mother’s sisters in Niagara Falls.

The Chippewa people named her Wildfire and taught her to make baskets and embroidered moccasins. Her brother, a California gold miner, arranged for her to enter Oberlin College in Ohio. At the school, Lewis was accused of theft and of trying to poison two classmates. Although she was acquitted of both charges, she was not allowed to graduate.

Moving to Boston, Lewis studied with a local sculptor and began selling her work. She opened her own studio, where she created a number of pieces, including a bust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of an African American Civil War regiment from Massachusetts, as well as medallion portraits of the abolitionists John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison.

Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis

In 1865 Lewis sailed for Europe, settling in Rome to continue her studies. She ended up staying there most of her life and becoming a member of a lesbian circle of American expatriates and artists (the group included Emma Stebbins (1815-1882) and Margaret Foley (1820-1877). Influenced by the Greco-Roman sculpture she saw there, she began creating works in a neoclassical style.

By the time she returned to the United States in 1874, her patrons included distinguished families in this country and abroad.

Edmonia Lewis eventually vanished from the art world.

Lewis’s surviving works include Forever Free, which was acquired by the Howard University Gallery of Art, and Death of Cleopatra, in Washington’s National Museum of Art.

Nothing is known of Lewis' final years and her death has been calcuated to have occurred sometime around 1907.

In 1996, the PBS television network featured Lewis in a "News Hour" piece hosted by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Her story was also told by author Rinna Evelyn Wolfe in a 1998 biography titled Edmonia Lewis: Wildfire in Marble and in A History of African American Artists from 1792 to the Present, by Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson (Pantheon, 1993).

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

Starpoint - Object Of My Desire

Bonnie Raitt - Something To Talk About

It's In The Eyes: Part Two

What experience?

I have been wondering for quite some time what Senator Hillary Clinton means when she says she has more experience than Senator Barack Obama. She says this over and over again.

But I think it's time for a reality check.

Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in the year 2000. That means she has been a U.S. Senator for 7 years. Prior to that Hillary Clinton never held public office. She had been a practicing lawyer and on the board of several corporations. Her only other experience was being First Lady of the United States.

Barack Obama served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. That's just about 10 years of legislative experience.

So can anyone explain to me how it is that Hillary Clinton claims to have more experience than Barack Obama? Am I missing something?

Do you think Hillary Clinton has more experience than Barack Obama?

Why doesn't the media challenge her assertion that she has more experience?

Music Saturday!

Do any of these bring back good memories?

Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots

Gil Scott-Heron - The Bottle

The Isley Brothers - Voyage To Atlantis

Anita Baker - Caught Up in the Rapture

Michael McDonald- I Keep Forgettin'

INXS - What You Need

Lucy Pearl - Dance Tonight

Queen Latifah - Ladies First

Us3 – Cantaloop

Black History Month: Revolutionary Women

This is part two of a profile of Assata Shakur. The previous post was yesterday.

After a widely-publicized nine-week trial, on March 25, 1977 in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Shakur was convicted as an accomplice in the murders of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster and Zayd Shakur and possession of weapons, as well as of assault and attempted murder of Trooper Harper.

Although the prosecution could not prove that Shakur fired the shots that killed either Trooper Foerester or Zayd Shakur, being an accomplice to murder carries an equivalent life sentence under New Jersey law.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Theodore Appleby sentenced her to 26 to 33 years in state prison for assault and weapons charges which was to be served consecutively with her mandatory life sentence for being an accomplice to the murders.

All of the jury members were white and five had personal ties to State Troopers (one girlfriend, two nephews, and two friends). One prospective juror was dismissed for reading Target Blue , a book by Robert Daley, a former New York City Deputy Police Commander, which dealt in part with Shakur and had been left in the jury assembly room.

Shakur's attorneys sought a new trial on the grounds that one jury member, John McGovern, had violated the jury's sequestration order. McGovern later sued Kunstler for defamation after Judge Appleby rejected Kunstler's claim that he had violated the order. In September 1977, New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne vetoed a bill to give the Morris County sheriff $7,491 for overtime expenses incurred in guarding Shakur's jury.

The judge did not allow evidence of alleged COINTELPRO involvement to be admitted during her trial. Shakur's defense attorneys had attempted to subpoena FBI Director Clarence Kelley, Senator Frank Church and other Federal and New York law enforcement officials to testify about the Counter Intelligence Program, which they alleged was designed to harass and disrupt black activist organizations.

Shakur's attorney's had also successfully asked a 10-judge panel of the Federal Philadelphia Court of Appeals to order that sessions for her murder trial not be held on Fridays because of Black Muslim Sabbath, although Appeals Court rejected her plea to move the murder trial to a federal court.

Imprisonment

After the Turnpike shootings, Shakur was imprisoned in New Jersey State Reception and Correction center in Yardville, Middlesex County, New Jersey and later moved to Rikers Island Correctional Institution for Women in New York City where she was kept in solitary confinement.

After a bomb threat was made against Judge Appleby, Sheriff Joseph DeMarino lied to the press about the exact date of her transfer to Clinton State Correctional Institute for security reasons. She was also transferred from Clinton Prison for Women to the Yardville Youth Correction and Reception Center in New Jersey, where she was the only female inmate, for "security reasons."

On May 6, 1977, Trenton Federal District Court Judge Clarkson Fisher denied Shakur's request for a transfer from the all-male facility to Clinton Correctional Facility. Shakur's only daughter, Kakuya Shakur, was conceived during her trial and born in September 1974 at the fortified psychiatric ward at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.

On April 8, 1978, Shakur was transferred to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia where she met Puerto Rican nationalist Lolita Lebrón and Mary Alice, a Catholic nun, who introduced Shakur to the concept of liberation theology. At Alderson, Shakur was housed in the Maximum Security Unit, which also contained several members of the Aryan Sisterhood as well as Sandra Good and Lynette Fromme, followers of Charles Manson.

On March 31, 1978, after the Maximum Security Unit at Alderson was closed, Shakur was transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey.

A 1979 special UN investigation into human rights abuses of political prisoners cited Shakur as "one of the worst cases" of such abuses and including her in a "a class of victims of FBI misconduct through the COINTELPRO strategy and other forms of illegal government conduct who as political activists have been selectively targeted for provocation, false arrests, entrapment, fabrication of evidence, and spurious criminal prosecutions."

Escape and political asylum in Cuba

On November 2, 1979 she escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, when three members of the Black Liberation Army visiting her drew concealed .45-caliber pistols, seized two guards as hostages and commandeered a prison van. No one, including the guards, was injured during the prison break.

Charged with assisting in her escape was her brother, Mutulu Shakur, and Silvia Baraldini; Ronald Boyd Hill was also held on charges related to the escape. In part for his role in the event, Mutulu was named on July 23, 1982 as the 380th addition to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, where he remained for the next four years until his capture in 1986.

State correction officials disclosed in November 1979 that they had not run identity checks on Shakur's visitors and that the three men and one woman who assisted in her escape had presented false identification to enter the prison's visitor room, before which they were not searched.

After her escape, Assata lived as a fugitive for the next several years. The F.B.I. circulated "wanted" posters throughout the New York-New Jersey area; her supporters hung "Assata Shakur is welcome here" posters in response.

In July 1980, FBI director William Webster said that the search for Shakur had been frustrated by residents' refusal to cooperate, and a New York Times editorial opined that the department's commitment to "enforce the law with vigor – but also with sensitivity for civil rights and civil liberties" had been "clouded" by an "apparently crude sweep" through a Harlem building in search of Shakur.

In particular, one pre-dawn April 20, 1980 raid on 92 Morningside Avenue, during which FBI agents armed with shotguns and machine guns broke down doors, and rummaged through the building for several hours while preventing residents from leaving, was perceived by residents as having "racist overtones."

In October 1980, New Jersey and New York City Police denied published reports that they had declined to raid a Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn building where Shakur was suspected to be hiding for fear of provoking a racial incident.

She fled to Cuba in 1984 where she was granted political asylum, saying she had never received a fair trial. In 1985 she was reunited with her daughter, Kakuya, who had previously been raised by Shakur's mother in New York.

She published Assata: An Autobiography, which was written in Cuba, in 1987. Her autobiography has been cited in relation to critical legal studies and critical race theory.

Extradition attempts

In 1997, Carl Williams, the superintendent of the New Jersey State Police wrote a letter to the Pope John Paul II asking him to raise the issue of Shakur's extradition during his talks with President Fidel Castro.

During the pope's visit to Cuba in 1998, Shakur agreed to an interview with NBC journalist Ralph Penza. Shakur later published an extensive criticism of the NBC segment, which interpliced footage of Trooper Foerster's grieving widow with an FBI photo connected to a bank robbery of which Shakur had been acquitted.

On March 10, 1998—the 85th anniversary of the death of Harriet Tubman—New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman asked Attorney General Janet Reno to do whatever it takes to return Shakur from Cuba. Later in 1998, U.S. media widely reported claims that the United States State Department had offered to lift the Cuban embargo in exchange for the return of ninety U.S. political exiles, including Shakur.

In 1998, the United States Congress passed a resolution asking Cuba for her "return"; House Concurrent Resolution 254 passed 371-0 in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate.

Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus later explained that they were against her extradition, but mistakenly voted for the bill which was placed on the accelerated suspension calendar, generally reserved for non-controversial legislation.

Representative Maxine Waters of California, who voted for the resolution, later explained her opposition, calling COINTELPRO "illegal, clandestine political persecution."

On May 2, 2005, the thirty-second anniversary of the Turnpike shootings, the F.B.I. classified Assata Shakur as a "domestic terrorist", increasing the reward for assistance in her capture to $1 million, the largest reward placed on an individual in the history of New Jersey.

New Jersey State Police superintendent Rick Fuentes said "she is now 120 pounds of money." New York City Councilman Charles Barron, a former Black Panther, has called for the bounty to be rescinded. The New Jersey State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation each still have an agent officially assigned to her case.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

El Malecón

Why I became a "vegetable - tarian"

I have a friend who has a niece that refers to people who eat nothing but vegetables as "vegetable - tarians", that is how she now refers to me. About a month ago I decided to transition from being a semi-vegetarian to being a vegetarian.

I had been thinking about becoming a vegetarian for quite some time but I suppose I needed something to push me over the edge. That thing was an announcement last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that cloned meat would be entering the food supply at some unspecified time in the near future. They also announced that cloned meat would not be labeled as such.

I refuse to be a guinea pig for corporate meat producers and the FDA.

I am also a very picky vegetarian because of the influx of food from China and Mexico. Food items from these countries have been reported to be substandard and potentially harmful to humans for a variety of different reasons. One thing I have heard is that it is a common practice in Mexico to use human waste as a fertilizer.

So now I do not purchase food from those countries and also avoid food that is not labeled with its country of origin. This is a problem when shopping in most commercial food markets since many times they don't label their fruits and vegetables with the country they are grown.

I do most of my shopping now at a specialty market that gets most of its fruit and vegetables from within a few hundred miles. And they clearly label the origin of food grown outside of the U.S. I also shop at a few different local farmers’ markets.

I have even had to be very careful when buying fruit juice since a lot of fruits used to make commercial juice are grown in China. This is sometimes a problem because a lot of juices do not label the origin of the fruit used in the juice.

All of this might seem like a lot to go through but to me it's worth the trouble, I don't want to find out in five or ten years that food I have eaten was not safe and is likely to make me sick in the future.

The U.S. has allowed food safety to take a backseat to corporate profit. That is totally unacceptable. I hope food safety becomes an issue this election season.

Do you worry about food safety?

Are you concerned about food grown in China?

Black History Month: Revolutionary Women

Assata Shakur (born July 16, 1947, as Joanne Deborah Byron Chesimard) is an African-American activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army (BLA).

Shakur was born in New York City on July 16, 1947, or, according to the FBI, August 19, 1952, but spent most of her childhood in Wilmington, North Carolina until her family relocated to Queens when she was a teenager.

She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York in the mid 1960s, where she was involved in many political activities. After graduation, Shakur became involved in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.

Shakur and others claim that she was targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's COINTELPRO as a result of her involvement with these organizations.

New Jersey Turnpike shootout

On May 2, 1973, just after midnight,Shakur, at that time a member of the Black Liberation Army and no longer a member of the Black Panther Party, along with Zayd Malik Shakur (born James F Coston) and Sundiata Acoli (born Clark Squire), was stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick by State Trooper James Harper and backed up by Trooper Werner Foerster, for driving with a broken taillight, only 200 yards away from a police administration building.

Accounts of the confrontation differ, but Zayd Shakur and Trooper Foerester were killed in the ensuing shootout, and Assata Shakur and Trooper Harper were injured. Acoli then drove the car (a white Pontiac LeMans with Vermont license plates) which contained Assata, who was wounded, and Zayd, who was dead or dying; several miles down the road, where Assata Shakur was apprehended.

Acoli then exited the car and fled into the woods and was captured after a manhunt the following day.

After the Turnpike shootings, Shakur was imprisoned in New Jersey State Reception and Correction center in Yardville, Middlesex County, New Jersey and later moved to Rikers Island Correctional Institution for Women in New York City where she was kept in solitary confinement.

Part Two of the Assata Shakur profile tomorrow

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Special Ed - I Got It Made

Amii Stewart - Knock on Wood

Friday Rare Groove: Chuckii Booker - Turned Away

The Jersey Shore

Question

Do you think Barack Obama, if elected President of The United States Of America, will or should apologize on behalf of the U.S. government for Slavery, Jim Crow Laws, stolen land and the many other atrocities committed against African Americans?


Japanese Americans who were interned during World War two received an apology and monetary compensation from the U.S. government. The details are below.

In 1988, U.S. President (and former California governor) Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which had been pushed through Congress by Representative Norman Mineta and Senator Alan K. Simpson — the two had met while Mineta was interned at a camp in Wyoming — which provided redress of $20,000 for each surviving detainee, totaling $1.2 billion dollars. The question of to whom reparations should be given, how much, and even whether monetary reparations were appropriate were subjects of sometimes contentious debate.

World War Two internment camp

On September 27, 1992, the Civil Liberties Act Amendments of 1992, appropriating an additional $400 million in order to ensure that all remaining internees received their $20,000 redress payments, was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, who also issued another formal apology from the U.S. government.

Would you hope for or expect an apology from Barack Obama?

Do you think the United States owes African Americans an apology?

Japanese Internment Information courtesy Wikipedia

Black History Month: Revolutionary Women

Kathleen Neal Cleaver was born on May 13, 1945, in Dallas, Texas. Kathleen's father was a sociology professor at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas and her mother had a master’s degree in mathematics.

Soon after Kathleen was born, her father, Ernest Neal, accepted a job as the director of the Rural Life Council of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Six years later, Ernest joined the Foreign Service.

The family moved abroad, and lived in such countries such as; India, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines.

Kathleen returned to the United States to attend a Quaker boarding school near Philadelphia, the George School. She graduated with honors in 1963. She continued her education at Oberlin College in Ohio, and later transferred to Barnard College in New York. In 1966, she left college for a secretary job with the New York office of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Black Panther Party

She was in charge of organizing a student conference at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At the conference, Kathleen met the minister of information for the Black Panther Party, Eldridge Cleaver.

After she met Eldridge, Kathleen moved to San Francisco in November, 1967, to join the Black Panther Party. Kathleen Neal and Eldridge Cleaver were married on December 27, 1967.

Cleaver became the communications secretary and the first female member of the Party’s decision-making body. She also served as the spokesperson and press secretary. Notably, she organized the national campaign to free the Party’s minister of defense, Huey Newton, who was jailed. Cleaver also ran for the California state assembly for the Peace and Freedom party, but was unsuccessful.

As a result of being part of the Black Panther Party, the Cleavers suffered from some acts of violence. The Cleavers’ apartment was raided in 1968 before a Panther rally by the San Francisco Tactical Squad on the suspicion of hiding guns and ammunition. Later that year, Eldridge was wounded in a shoot-out between Panther members and the police. Eldridge was charged with parole violation following the incident. He decided he did not want to face another incarceration and fled the country.

Living in Exile

Eldridge spent seven months in Cuba and was finally reunited with Kathleen in Algeria in 1969. Kathleen gave birth to their first son, Maceo, soon after arriving in Algeria. A year later she gave birth to Jojuyounghi, while the family was in North Korea.

In 1971, Huey Newton, a fellow party member, and Eldridge had a disagreement; Huey expelled the International Branch of the Black Panther Party. The Cleavers formed a new organization called the Revolutionary People’s Communication Network. Kathleen returned to promoting and speaking about the new organization. To accomplish this, she and the children moved back to New York.

The Algerian government became disgruntled with Eldridge and the new organization. Eldridge was forced to leave the country secretly and met up with Kathleen in Paris in 1973. Kathleen left for the United States later that year to arrange Eldridge’s return and raise a defense fund. In 1974, the French government granted legal residency to the Cleavers and the family was finally reunited.

After only a year, the Cleavers moved back to the United States, and Eldridge was sent to prison. He was tried for the shoot-out in 1968 and was found guilty of assault. He was sentenced to five year’s probation and 2,000 hours of community service. Kathleen went to work on the Eldridge Cleaver Defense Fund and Eldridge was freed on bail in 1976. Eldridge’s legal situation was not finally situated until 1980.

After all of Eldridge’s legal situations, Kathleen went back to school in 1981, after receiving a full scholarship from Yale University. She graduated in 1983, summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.

In 1987, Kathleen divorced Eldridge Cleaver. She then furthered her education by getting her law degree from Yale Law School. After graduating, Cleaver worked for the law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore.

Cleaver has had numerous jobs following the law firm including: law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, the faculty of Emory University in Atlanta, visiting faculty member at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, the Graduate School of Yale College and Sarah Lawrence College.

In 2005, she was selected an inaugural Fletcher Foundation Fellow. She currently is a Senior Research Associate at the Yale Law School, and a Senior Lecturer in the African American Studies department at Yale University.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Dance Thursday!: The Challenge - Gregory Hines & Sammy Davis, Jr. from the film Tap

Dance Thursday! : Rerun (Fred Berry) & the Lockers

Dance Thursday!: Cab Calloway with The Nicholas Brothers - Jumpin' Jive

A Beautiful Face - Waris Dirie

The Real Agony of Defeat

This is a difficult subject for me to write about but the time has come. My blog family has begun to write about it. There are even slight murmurs in the corporate media about it. So here goes.

My favorite sport is without a doubt track and field. I have been a track fan since seventh grade when I joined my school track team. I tried to run the 100 meters but it just wasn’t my race. I always seemed to come in third. So for some crazy reason I tried the 400 meters. I still hate myself for that. I can't imagine that there is a more grueling race than the 400. It's basically an all out sprint and the last 200 meters is pure torture. If you don't believe it just watch the professionals, check them out in the last 200 meters as their body's lock up on them. So imagine how bad it was when I was 13!

2007 Track and Field World Championships

The point is I love track and field. I am happy at the moment because the 2008 track season has begun. This year however is not a usual year for track and field. It's an Olympic year. Normally that would be cause for celebration but there is a big problem. That problem is China.

The 2008 Olympics are being held in Beijing, China. The reason that is a problem is because of China's support for the Sudanese Government. The same government that is responsible for the genocide in Darfur. A genocide that so far has taken between 200,000 and 400,000 lives and counting. The United Nations says 400,000 murdered with over 2.5 million people displaced.

Darfur

China according to many sources has been trading weapons for oil with Sudan. Those weapons have been used against the people of Dafur in the continuing genocide. China has also blocked United Nations resolutions aimed at the Sudanese Government which were meant to hinder their ability to continue the genocide in Darfur.

It is amazing to me that so far no major nation has decided to boycott the Beijing Olympic Games. After all the U.S. boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow because of the then Soviet Union's on going war in Afghanistan.

So why isn't the U.S. boycotting the Beijing games?

There are actually 9.2 trillion reasons. The U.S. national debt is what I suspect is keeping the U.S from standing against genocide. The Chinese central bank (People's Bank of China) holds a huge amount of U.S. debt. My research turned up the figure of about 47% of the U.S national debt being held between the Central Banks of China and Japan.

The People's Bank of China

If the Chinese began to sell that debt or stopped buying new American debt that could cause serious economic problems for the U.S., maybe even a collapse of the American economy.

So the U.S. is in no position to play hardball with its major lender. And that means that the U.S will not be calling for a boycott of the Beijing games nor speaking out too much on the issue other than lip service.

And the rest of the world?

So far there has been no call for a boycott by any government that I am aware of. Most governments are too busy trying to trade with China to be concerned about their part in the genocide in Darfur.

And as astounding as it may seem even the government of Rwanda, which suffered its own genocide in the 90's has plans to send its athletes to China.

You can read about Rwanda's Olympic Trials here.

So if Rwanda, a nation that has suffered its own genocide is not boycotting then who will?

The only hope for any real disruption of the games is a boycott by participating athletes. I'm not sure if there is any real chance of that. Many athletes only have one chance in their lifetime to compete at the Olympics. And many more have huge amounts of money on the line.

Imagine an athlete going to Nike and telling them they are protesting the Olympic Games. I don't imagine that would go over too well and it may even be career suicide.

So it seems the world will just ignore China's part in the first genocide of the new century. And considering how the world seems content to sit and watch genocide occur in Darfur, I'm sure the genocide there won't be the last that occurs in this century.

Apparently never again didn't really mean never again.

Do you plan on boycotting the Olympics by not watching them on T.V.?

Do you think any athletes will boycott the Olympics?

Other Blog posts about the Beijing Olympic Games and Darfur

Nickhereandnow - Uneasy Traveller

The Happy Go Lucky Bachelor. - Olympics

On the media: Part six

This is the sixth and final post in a series looking at the big six U.S. media companies. Today we look at Viacom.

2006 revenues: $11.5 billion

Television Holdings

Networks: MTV Music Television, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, VH1, Spike TV, CMT: Country Music Television, Comedy Central, MTV U, LOGO, MTV World, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, Paramount Comedy, The Box, Game One, Viva, TMF (The Music Factory), MTV Network Europe, MTV base, BET, BET Jazz, BET Gospel, BET Hip Hop.

Production: BET Event Production, MTV Productions

Programming: BET Hip Hop, Noggin, Nick Gas, Turbo Nick, Nicktoons Network, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, MTV Tr3s, MTV Jams, mtvU, mHD, MTV World, The N, VH1 Classic, VHUno, VH1 Soul, VH1 Country.

Radio

MTV Radio, BET Radio, Imagine Radio Limited

Publishing

Music: Famous Music Publishing Co., The Extreme Music Library, Director�s Cuts Production Music

Magazines: Nickelodeon Magazine

Film

Production: Paramount Pictures (including DreamWorks SKG), Paramount Home Entertainment, iFilm Corp, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies.

Online Holdings

MTV.com, VH1.com, Spiketv.com, ComedyCentral.com, Nick.com, GT.TV, GameTrailers.com, Neopets Inc, MTVi Group, SonicNet.com, GoCityKids.com, Comedy Central�s MotherLoad, MTV Overdrive, VH1 Vspot, BET.com, BET on Blast, Cmt.com, TurboNick, Quizilla, Nick Jr. Video, The Click, Nicktropolis, Addictinggames.com, Shockwave.com, ParentsConnect.com, Atomfilms.com.

Other Holdings

MTV Networks International, Famous Players (theatrical exhibitor, Canada, with 50% interest in Mann Theaters), Xfire (gaming), MTV Mobile, BET Mobile, Harmonix, Y2M: Youth Media & Marketing, Rhapsody (part ownership).

Black History Month: More firsts!

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback- First African American Governor in U.S. History

P. B. S. Pinchback - (May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921) was the first African American to become governor of a U.S. state. He was also the first non-white (biracial) governor of Louisiana. Pinchback, a Republican, served as the governor of Louisiana for thirty-five days, from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873.

Pinchback was born in Macon, Georgia (Bibb County), to a white planter (William Pinchback) and his former slave, Eliza Stewart. Known as "Pinckney Benton Stewart," he was educated at the Gilmore High School in Cincinnati. After his father died in 1848, he left Cincinnati because he feared that his paternal relatives might try to force him into slavery. He worked as a hotel porter and barber in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In 1860, while in Indiana, Pinchback married the former Nina Emily. They had two daughters and four sons.

During the Civil War, Pinchback traveled to Louisiana and became captain of the Union Army's Company A, 1st Louisiana Native Guards (later reformed as the 74th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment).

After the war, he became active in the Republican Party and participated in Reconstruction state conventions.

In 1868, Pinchback organized the Fourth Ward Republican Club in New Orleans. That same year, he was elected as a Louisiana state senator, where he became the state Senate president pro tempore.

In 1871 he became acting lieutenant governor upon the death of Oscar Dunn, the first elected African American lieutenant governor of a U.S. state.

In 1872, the incumbent Republican governor Henry Clay Warmoth, was impeached and convicted, removing him from office. Pinchback, as lieutenant governor, succeeded as governor on December 9.

Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper

Aretha Franklin - Until You Come Back To Me

Alice Smith - Dream (Live)

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Thank you rap music!

I have in the last several years thought that there was absolutely nothing positive I could attribute to rap music.

But I was wrong.

Rap music has forced me to do something that in my life I have rarely done. And that is to actually listen to the lyrics of songs. When I was growing up and then into adulthood I never really paid much attention to the lyrics of songs. I listened to the music and my only thought was; is it danceable? If so then that was enough for me.

The only part of the lyrics that I usually knew was the hook. You know, the part of the song that catches your attention. Like Karyn White's song Superwoman; the only thing I really remember is the hook, "I'm not your super woman". The rest of the lyrics are a blur.

But in the early 90's that all changed. At a certain point I found myself buying and dancing to songs that if they had been written and performed by the Ku Klux Klan they would have caused an uproar in Black America. But those songs, with the racist and misogynist lyrics, performed by Black artists seemed to skate by without much notice.

I remember when C. Delores Tucker was campaigning against rap music lyrics in the early 90's. Her protests got a lot of media coverage. I however didn't really pay attention to what she was saying until one day when I really heard a rap song. I don't remember what song it was but I do remember having a sudden realization that rap had changed.

Rap music had transformed from pro-Black groups like Public Enemy (before Flava lost his mind) and X-Clan to NWA and Biggie Smalls. Instead of hearing about the plight of African Americans and what we needed to do to make changes rap became about wallowing in the mire.

It, rap music, became about the names Black people can be called. It became about celebrating the things that plagued Black America; drugs, prostitution, unbridled consumerism, the N word, the B word, the H word and anything else that many African Americans suffered from.

So that's when I began to pay attention to lyrics. It was really a self-defense mechanism. I didn't want to feel like a fool jamming to a song that was calling me a whore or a bitch. So no longer was it okay for me to ignore the lyrics and dance to the beat. I had to grow up musically and pay attention.

Now as I dig deep into the oldies bin over at YouTube I am hearing the lyrics of my favorite songs for the first time. I must say that I am mostly pleasantly surprised. That's because I am finding out that most of the songs I love from "Back in the day" were about love or being hurt or looking for love or just having fun.

I am really proud to hear the lyrics of these songs and to know that the music of my youth was mostly uplifting. I feel so sorry for kids who are growing up on rap music which is about hating woman and Black people.

What are they going to think years from now when they start to really listen to the music of their youth? Will they feel betrayed? Will they feel sad to know that their innocence was corrupted by rap music and the big corporations that produce it?

Yep I definitely owe rap a big thank you.

Do you think kids growing up now will feel cheated in 10 or 15 years by the corporate rap music they're growing up listening to?

On the media: Part five

This is part five of six in a series of posts looking at the big six U.S. media companies. Today we look at CBS Corp.

CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS, NYSE: CBSA) is an American media conglomerate focused on broadcasting, publishing, billboards, and television production, with most of its operations in the United States.

The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, whose company National Amusements is CBS's majority shareholder, serves as Chairman. The company came into being on December 31, 2005 and began trading on the NYSE on January 3, 2006. It is the legal successor to the "old" Viacom.

CBS Corp.

2006 revenues: $14.3 billion

Television Holdings

Networks: CBS Network, Showtime Networks, Inc. (SNI) owns Showtime, the Movie Channel, Flix, Showtime Too, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Next, Showtime Women, Showtime Familyzone, TMC XTRA, Showtime HD, the Movie Channel HD, Showtime on Demand, Sundance Channel (joint venture, SNI owns 30%), Showtime PPV, CBS Entertainment, CBS News, CBS Sports, CSTV Networks, Inc.

CBS Network consists of 27 stations.

Programming: CBS Television Distribution: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Survivor, Everybody Loves Raymond, Jeopardy!, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight, The Early Show, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Face the Nation, CW Network (50% with Time Warner), CBS Paramount TV, CSTV Networks, MountainWest Sports Network (50%), Smithsonian Networks (90%).

Radio

CBS Radio owns 140 radio stations in 31 markets; most of these are in the nation’s top 50 markets.

Publishing

Books:
Simon & Schuster: Atria Books, Kaplan, Pocket Books, Scribner, Simon & Schuster, The Free Press, The Touchstone, Fireside Group

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing: Aladdin Paperbacks, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Little Simon, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Simon Pulse, Simon Spotlight

Other Publishing: Simon & Schuster New Media, Simon & Schuster Online, Simon & Schuster UK, Simon & Schuster Australia, MTV Books

Online Holdings

Internet: CBS.com, CBSNews.com, CBS Interactive, CBSSportsline.com, CBSGames.com, MaxPreps.com, NFL.com, NCAAsports.com, OurChart.com (85%), ParentConnect.com, PGATour.com, Sho.com, Innertube, CSTV.com, TheShowBuzz.com.

Other Holdings

CBS owns CBS Outdoor, CBS Consumer Products, and Star Trek: The Experience (themed attraction at Las Vegas Hilton), and manages Bonfante Gardens horticultural theme park (Gilroy, CA) and CBS Television City at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino (Las Vegas, NV).

Source Attribution: Free Press.net, PBS, Wikipedia

Black History Month: Pan-African Flag

The Pan-African flag, also referred to as the UNIA flag, Afro-American flag or Black Liberation Flag, is a tri-color flag consisting of three equal horizontal bands colored red, black and green.

It was originally created as the official banner of the African Race by the members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA).

They formally adopted it in article 39 of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World on August 13, 1920 during their month long convention held in Madison Square Garden, New York City, United States.

The three colors represent:

* Red: the blood that unites all people of African ancestry, and shed for liberation;
* Black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and
* Green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.

The flag was created in 1920 by the members of the UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 coon song "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon," which has been cited as one of the three coon songs that "firmly established the term coon in the American vocabulary".

A 1921 report appearing in the Africa Times and Orient Review, for which Marcus Garvey previously worked, quoted him regarding the importance of the flag:

"Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, "Every race has a flag but the coon." How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can't say it now...."

The flag later became an African nationalist symbol for the liberation of African people everywhere. As an emblem of black pride, the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s.

In 1971, the school board of Newark, New Jersey, passed a resolution permitting the flag to be raised in public school classrooms. Four of the board's nine members were not present at the time, and the resolution was introduced by the board's teen member, a mayoral appointee. Fierce controversy ensued, including a court order that the board show cause why they should not be forced to rescind the resolution, and at least two state legislative proposals to ban ethnic or national flags in public classrooms other than the official U.S. flag.

In the United States, the flag is presently widely available through flag shops or ethnic specialty stores. It is commonly seen at parades commemorating Martin Luther King Day, civil rights rallies, and other special events.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Force MD's - Tender Love

C-Bank - One more shot

Twofer Tuesday: Battle of the Classic Slow Jams - Reasons vs. Love T.K.O

Earth, Wind & Fire - Reasons

Teddy Pendergrass - Love T.K.O.

Which is the more classic slow jam?

The Beautiful Pacific Coast Highway

I'm it!

I was tagged by Tami of What Tami Said for The Three Pieces of Writing Advice tag/ meme. And even though I am not a professional writer I'll give it a try.

Be passionate!

My first rule is to write about things that interest me. If I'm not interested in something I'm writing about it shows. Being passionate about the subject is the most important thing.

Don't edit yourself!

On my first draft I allow myself to go nuts. I write whatever is in my head on the subject. I don't worry about length or grammar. I just let it flow. This to me is an important step in the writing process. It's during this stage that I get the truest expression. This is the stage that allows me to understand the point of my post.

When I say understand I mean that without the edit going in my head I can get a clear picture of my thoughts on a particular subject. I've tried writing with editing in mind at this stage and I never get my point across properly.

Edit yourself!

After I have allowed myself the abandon of writing without worrying about length or grammar then it's time to edit. This is the trickiest part of the process.

One of my favorite things about writing is trying to say what I want to say in as few words as possible. This can be both a blessing and a curse. On many occasions I have over edited which means I haven't made my point the way that I have wanted to.

I routinely start the editing process by deleting paragraph after paragraph. It's not unusual for me to start the editing process with 10 paragraphs and pare a post down to 3 paragraphs. I get a thrill out of saying what I want to say with as few words as possible. This can be problematic though. Often I don't quite hit the mark I was looking for.

Sometimes I edit just a little too deeply. When this happens the comments I get usually reflect that people think I am making a point that I am not actually trying to make. It's actually a good learning experience. I have gotten better at not cutting too much from a post.

But when I get it right and use an economy of words and make the point I want it's a wonderful feeling!


I'm supposed to tag three bloggers and they are;

Undercover Black Man - Because he's an expert on the subject.
Symphony at Essential Presence - I love the passion in her writing.
The Black Actor - Because I love the joy and flow of her writing.

What is your writing process?

On the media: Part four

This is part four of six in a series of posts looking at the holdings of America's biggest media companies. Today we look at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

News Corporation

2006 revenues: $25.3 billion

Television Holdings

Networks: Fox, Fox Business Channel, STAR (satellite television in Asia), Fox Movie Channel, Fox News Channel, Fox College Sports, Fox Sports Enterprises, Fox Regional Sports Networks (14 owned and operated), Fox Sports En Espanol, Fox Sports Net, Fox Sports Net Bay Area (40%), Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Reality, Fox Pan American Sports (38%), Premier Media Group (Australia 50%), Premium Movie Partnership (Australia 20%), Cine Canal (Latin America 23%), Telecine (Latin America 13%), FUEL TV, FX, National Geographic Channel (US 67% and Worldwide 50%), SPEED Channel, National Sports Partners, National Advertising Partners, My Network TV, Fox Television Studios

In the United States, News Corp. owns 35 television stations.

Satellite Television:
Europe: SKY Italia includes Sky Sport, Calcio Sky, Sky Cinema, Sky TG 24; British Sky Broadcasting (37%) includes Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Travel, Sky One, Sky Movies

Latin America:Sky Latin America DBS Platforms include Brazil (Sky Brasil 50%), Irect TV Latin America
Asia:Space TV (India DBS 20%), Phoenix Satellite Television (38%), Hathway Cable and Datacom (26%), China Network Systems (17 affiliated cable systems), BSkyB (38%), DIRECTTV, SKY Italia.

United States: DIRECTV Group (38%)

Programming: Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox Report with Shepard Smith, On the Record With Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Sunday, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes

Publishing

Magazines: Barron’s, SmartMoney, Big League, InsideOut, donna hay, News America Marketing (In-Store, FSI (SmartSource), SmartSource iGroup, News Marketing Canada), Alpha, The Weekly Standard, Gemstart — TV Guide International, Inc.(41%), The Weekend Australian Magazine, sundaymagazine, body + soul, STM (WA), home, TVGuide, News Magazine (Australia)

Newspapers:
Australia/Asia: More than 110 titles including: Daily Telegraph, Fiji Times, Nai Lalakai, Shanti Dut, Gold Coast Bulletin, Herald Sun, Newsphotos, Newspix, Newstext, NT News, Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (63%), Sunday Herald Sun, Sunday Mail, Sunday Tasmanian, Sunday Times, Sunday Territorian, The Advertiser, The Australian, The Courier-Mail, The Mercury, The Sunday Mail, The Sunday Telegraph, Weekly Times, The Weekend Australian, MX, Brisbane News, Northern Territory News, Cumberland (NSW), Leader (VIC), Quest (QLD), Messenger (SA), Community (WA), Darwin Sun/Palmerson Sun (NT).

United Kingdom: News of the World, The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Times, News International

United States: Newspaper holdings include The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post; News Corp. also acquired the Ottoway group of community newspapers through its takeover of Dow Jones in 2007.

Books: HarperCollins Publishers, Zondervan.

Film

Production and Distribution: Fox Film Entertainment: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox 2000 Pictures, 20th Century Fox Espanol, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising, 20th Century Fox International, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox Television Studios, 20th Television, Regency Television (50%), Blue Sky Studios, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox Music, Fox Studios Australia, Fox Studios Baja (Latin America), Canal Fox (Latin America), Balaji Telefilms (26%, Asia), 20th Century Fox Animation

Radio

Stations: Radio Veronica (Netherlands), Classic FM (Netherlands), Sky Radio Denmark, Sky Radio Germany, Sky Radio Netherlands. Sky Radio (93%).

Online Holdings

Fox Interactive Media manages Fox’s online holdings, which include MySpace.com, Scout.com (a college sports site), ign.com (internet gaming), Simply Hired (an online job search site), FoxSports.com, Fox News.com, Fox.com, Intermix, IGN.com, IGN.com.au, NYPost.com, MSN.Foxsports.com, WeeklyStandard.com, Broadsystem.com, NewsOptimus.co.uk, NewsOutdoor.com, RottenTomatoes, Scout.com, Fox.com, AmericanIdol.com, MarketWatch.com, Hulu.com (50%).

Fox is also now offering a mobile entertainment package called Mobizzo on Cingular and T-Mobile phones.

Other Holdings

International media companies: News Limited (Australia), News Optimus Ltd. (in UK).

Outdoor advertising: News Outdoor.

Sports: National Rugby League, Stats, Inc..

Misc.: Nursery World, Stats, Inc., Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. (41%), NDS (74%), Staples Center (40%).

Europe: NDS (76%), Broadsystem Ventures, Convoys Group, News Outdoor Group (75%), Balkan News Corporation

Australia and New Zealand: News Interactive, Sky Network Television Limited (44%).

Source Attribution: Free Press.net, PBS

Black History Month: Café Society

Café Society was a New York City nightclub opened in 1938 in Greenwich Village by Barney Josephson to showcase African American talent and to be an American version of the political cabarets he had seen in Europe before the war.
Josephson also intended the club to defy the pretensions of the rich; he chose the name to mock Clare Booth Luce and what she referred to as "café society", the habitués of more upscale nightclubs.

Josephson not only trademarked the name, which had not been trademarked by the gossip columnist for the New York Journal American M, who wrote as the first "Cholly Knickerbocker". but advertised the club as "The Wrong Place for the Right People." Josephson opened a second branch on 58th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenue, in 1940.

The club also prided itself on treating black and white customers equally, unlike many venues, such as the Cotton Club, that featured black performers but barred black customers. The club featured many of the greatest black musicians of the day, from a wide range of backgrounds, often presented with a strongly political bent.

Billie Holiday first sang "Strange Fruit" there; at Josephson's insistence, she closed her set with this song, leaving the stage without taking any encores, so that the audience would be left to think about the meaning of the song.

Relying on the keen musical judgment of John Hammond, Josephson helped launch the careers of Lena Horne and Hazel Scott and popularized gospel groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet and the Dixie Hummingbirds among white audiences.

The club was also a regular venue for such artists as the boogie woogie pianists Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, blues shouter Big Joe Turner, singer and activist Paul Robeson, country blues singers Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy, and jazz giants Lester Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, James P. Johnson, Sarah Vaughan, and Mary Lou Williams.

The club also served as a place for musical interchange and development: the Dixie Hummingbirds, performing under the name "The Jericho Quintet", sang with Lester Young's combo, while adopting some of the stage moves that their more popular rivals, the Golden Gate Quartet, had perfected.

Many of these acts had first been presented at Hammond's Carnegie Hall concerts, From Spirituals to Swing, in 1938 and 1939.

The club was the scene of numerous political events and fundraisers, often for left-wing causes, both during and after World War Two. In 1947 Josephson's brother Leon Josephson was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which led to hostile comments from columnists Westbrook Pegler and Walter Winchell. Business dropped sharply as a result and the club closed the following year.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Wish feat. Fonda Rae - Touch me (all night long)

Shalamar - A Night to Remember

Ray Parker Jr. - A Woman Needs Love

Djenné

Djenné (also Dienné or Jenne) is a historically and commercially important small city in the Niger Inland Delta of central Mali. It is just west of the Bani River (the Niger River passes well to the west and north). It has an ethnically diverse population of about 12,000 (in 1987).

It is famous for its mud brick (adobe) architecture, most notably the Great Mosque of Djenné, originally built in 1220 and rebuilt in 1907. In the past, Djenné was a centre of trade and learning, and has been conquered a number of times since its founding. Its historic city center was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Administratively it is part of the Mopti Region.

Djenné is the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa and is situated on the floodlands of the Niger and Bani rivers, 220 miles southwest of Timbuktu.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia, Sacred Sites.com

Stuff

I'm sure all of you have heard about the campus shooting spree in Illinois this week. But did you know that there was another deadly shooting on a college campus last week as well? Well if you didn't that may be because it involved three African American women college students and all three are dead.

If it had not been for the blog Essential Presence I would not have heard anything about it.

Read Symphony's post here: I can't wait to get my ass off a college campus

Did you hear about the Louisiana College shootings?

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You really should see this, this young woman is amazing. Her name is Nokulunga Buthelezi or Lunga for short. Apparently she is South African and very talented.

Thanks to Undercover Black Man for this.

What do you think?

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Black History Month

Exodusters was a name given to black Americans who fled the Southern United States for Kansas in 1879 and 1880. After the end of Reconstruction, racial oppression and rumors of the reinstitution of slavery led many freedmen to seek a new place to live. Many settled in Kansas because of its fame as the land of the abolitionist John Brown (1800–1859). The state was reputed to be more progressive and tolerant than most others. Separatist leaders such as Benjamin "Pap" Singleton had promoted it among black Americans.

The Kansas Exodus was an unorganized mass migration which began in 1879. Local relief agencies, such as the Kansas Freedman's Relief Association, did try to provide aid, but they could never do enough to meet the needs of the impoverished migrants. The Exodusters continued coming to Kansas through the summer of 1880; then the movement died out.

Have you heard of the Exodusters before?



Wolf ticket is a corruption of woof ticket, an African American slang expression for the practice of verbal intimidation, "sellin' (or passin' out) wolf tickets," that was misinterpreted. Over time, the misnomer has become accepted terminology in some quarters.

Woofing (woofin')," like "signifyin" and "talkin' trash," is part of the African American oral tradition. The term is derived from the onomatopoeic expression of the sound of, for instance, a junkyard dog barking to ward off potential intruders.

"Selling wolf tickets" is the act of engaging in threatening or intimidating verbal aggression, usually without the intent of doing actual physical harm. In West African and African-American cultures, verbal sparring and physical displays traditionally were employed as proxies for physical violence to preserve life and maintain peace and order. Woofin' also can be a means of "calling someone out," of challenging an opponent to a verbal or physical match.

Have you heard the phrase "woof Ticket" before?

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

On the media: Part three

This is part three of our look at the big six media companies in the U.S. Today we look at The Walt Disney Company.

The Walt Disney Company

2006 revenues: $34.3 billion

Television Holdings

Disney Media Networks, a company whose holdings include:

The ABC Television Network: ABC Entertainment, ABC Daytime, ABC News, ABC Sports, ABC Television, ABC Kids, and Touchstone Television.

Cable Networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN PPV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN International, ESPN Classic Sport Europe, ESPN Latin America, ESPN Asia, ESPNU, ESPN2 HD, Disney Channel (cable and satellite), International Disney Channels, Toon Disney, SOAPnet, ABC Family Channel, JETIX Europe, JETIX Latin America, A&E Television Networks (37.5% equity; includes A&E, the History Channel, the Biography Channel, History International, A&E International), Lifetime Entertainment Services (50% equity; includes Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime Radio for Women, Lifetime Home Entertainment), E! Networks (39.6% equity; includes E! Entertainment Television, the Style Network), Buena Vista Television, Walt Disney Television

The ABC Television Network has 226 affiliated stations reaching 99 percent of all U.S. television households. The company owns and operates ten ABC television stations in the nation’s top markets.

Programming: Good Morning America, World News with Charles Gibson, World News Now, 20/20, Primetime, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, ESPNU

Radio Holdings

Through its controlling stake in Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, Disney owns 227 radio stations in the United States.

Publishing

Magazines: Family Fun, ESPN the Magazine, Buena Vista Magazines Wonder Time, and Disney Adventures

Music: Buena Vista Music Group distributes music and motion picture soundtracks under its four labels: Walt Disney Records, Hollywood Records, Buena Vista Records, Lyric Street Records.

Books: Disney Publishing, a subsidiary of the Company, owns Hyperion Books, Hyperion Books for Children, Disney Press, Disney Editions, and Disney Adventures, Mirimax, ESPN books, ABC Daytime Press, Hyperion East, Hyperion Audiobooks, Volo, Jump at the Sun, Disney Libri (Italy), Disney Hachette JV (France)

Film

Production and Distribution: Walt Disney Pictures (includes Walt Disney Feature Animation and DisneyToon Studios), Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, Pixar Animation Studios, Hollywood Pictures, Buena Vista International, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment International, and Buena Vista Theatrical Group (includes Disney Theatrical Productions and Disney Live Family Entertainment).

Online Holdings

Broadband channels ABC News Now and ESPN360
Disney’s Blast, broadband entertainment for children
Subscription-Based internet services: Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online, for toddlers; Disney Connection, for children; Disney’s Toontown Online, for families
Websites: ABC.com, ABCNews.com, Oscar.com, Disney.com, Disneychannel.com, Family.com, ESPN.com, Familyfun.com, Go.com, Soccernet.co (60%), NFL.com, NBA.com, NASCAR.com, Toysmart.com (partial), Go Network, www.disneysgamecafe.com, ESPN.com, Abcsports.com, ESPNdeportes.com, Movies.com, Wondertime.com

Other Holdings

Parks and Resorts: Disneyland (CA), Walt Disney World Resort (FL), Disneyland Resort Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and DisneyVacation Club, Euro Disney, Walt Disney World (separate from Resort), Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, WD Studio Park, WD Tokyo, Sea Disney-MGM Studios, Disney Animal Kingdom, and ESPNZone.

Consumer Products: Disney Hardlines, Disney Softlines, Disney Toys, Buena Vista Games, the Baby Einstein Company, Muppets Holding Company, Disney Direct Marketing’s catalog and website (DisneyShopping.com) and Disney Stores.

Disney also owns Mobile ESPN and has launched the cellular service Disney Mobile.

Source Attribution: Free Press.net, PBS

Speak!

Women's History Month Blog Carnival

Dates: March 1 through March 31

Theme: Come Together - Healing Tensions among Women Working for Equality

Essays, poetry, art and more accepted.

Deadline: Feb. 28

Learn more...

House Party Dance off

The Blackbyrds - Walking in Rhythm

TLC - No Scrubs

Paris

My apologies!

If you sent me an email in the last couple of weeks then I owe you an apology. I have been overwhelmed by emails recently. My blog email account has a little over 6000 emails in it!

I'll be spending the weekend replying to emails so if you sent one I'll respond very soon!

Music Saturday!

It's Music Saturday and that means extra selections of what I hope are some of your favorite songs. I hope you enjoy them and I hope you are having a great weekend!

Let me know what you like and what you don't!

Cheryl Lynn - Shake It Up Tonight

Lillo Thomas - I'm In Love

James "D-Train" Williams - Keep On

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Erykah Badu - On and On

ABC - When Smokey Sings

On the media: Part two

This is part two of six profiling the six major media companies in the U.S., today we look at TimeWarner the largest media conglomerate in the world.

TimeWarner

2006 revenues: $44.2 billion

TV Holdings

Network: the CW (a joint venture with CBS), Kids' WB, Telepictures Productions, Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO, Cinemax, HBO Sports, HBO Pay-Per-View, HBO Video, HBO Independent Productions, HBO Multiplexes, HBO on Demand, Cinemax Multiplexes, Cinemax on Demand, HBO HD, Cinemax HD, as well as HBO channels around the world), Court TV (50% Time Warner, 50% Liberty Media), TBS, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Europe, Cartoon Network Latin America, Cartoon Network Studios, Cartoon Network Asia Pacific, Cartoon Network Japan (70% share), NBC/Turner, Williams St. Studio, New Line Television, Turner Classic Movies, TCM Europe, TCM Asia Pacific, TCM Classic Hollywood in Latin America, Turner Network Television, Turner South, TNT, TNT HD, TNT Latin America, TNT CNN / US, CNN Airport Network, CNN International, CNN Headline News, CNN Headline News in Asia Pacific, CNN Headline News in Latin America, CNN en Espa�ol, CNN en Espa�ol Radio, CNNj, CNN+, CNN Turk, CNN-IBN, CNNfn, CNN International, CNN Mobile, CNN Newsource, CNN Pipeline, CNN to go, CETV (China), n-tv (German news network; Turner owns interest), BOING (family channel in Italy; joint venture with Mediaset)

Local cable news channels: Capital News 9 Albany, Albany, NY; MetroSports, Kansas City, MO; News 8 Austin, Austin, TX; News 10 Now — Syracuse, Syracuse, NY; News 14 Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC; News 14 Carolina-Raleigh, Raleigh, NC; NY1 News, New York, NY; R News, Rochester, NY; Urban Cableworks of Philadelphia (joint venture with Urban Cableworks); Texas and Kansas City Cable Partners, LP (joint venture with Comcast)

Programming: American Morning, CNN Newsroom, Live From The Situation Room, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper 360

On Demand Services: Video on Demand, Digital Video Recorders, High Definition Television, Local News Channels

Online Holdings

America Online: AOL, AOL.com, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Wireless, AOL Music Now, AOL Local, CNN.com, CNNMoney.com, CNNStudentNews.com, CompuServe, ICQ, inStore, KOL, McAfee VirusScan Online (bundled with AOL services), MapQuest, Moviefone, Movietickets.com, Netscape, RED, Singingfish, Advertising.com, AOL by Phone, AOL Call Alert, AOL CityGuide, AOL PassCode, AOL Voicemail, MusicNet@AOL, Tegic Communications, Inc., Truveo, Weblogs, Wildseed, Xdrive, AOL Europe (France, Germany, the U.K. and Luxembourg), America Online Latino (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico), AOLnet, America Online�s Access, America Online�s Audience, AOL High Speed (a partnership with BellSouth, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and other DSL providers to offer broadband internet access.)

Time Warner Cable Inc.: Digital Phone (Internet protocol-based voice service), RoadRunner, and RoadRunner-Business Class.

SI.com, People.com, Pipeline, GameTap, CartoonNetwork.com, DCComics.com, Time.com, VeryFunnyAds.com, Cwtv.com, Golf.com.

Film

Production: Subsidiary The Warner Bros. Entertainment Group owns: Warner Bros. Pictures, Castle Rock, Warner Independent Pictures, a joint venture with Village Roadshow Pictures, and a joint venture with Alcon Entertainment, Warner Home Video.

Warner Bros. International Cinemas

Subsidiary New Line owns: New Line Cinema and Fine Line Features.

Picturehouse is a joint venture between HBO and New Line.

Publishing

Time, Inc. controls: Time Warner Book Group (with publishing companies The Mysterious Press, Time Warner Book Group UK, Warner Faith, Warner Vision, Warner Business Books, Aspect, and Little, Brown and Company (including Little, Brown Adult Trade, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Back Bay, and Bulfinch Press); Oxmoor House, Inc., Leisure Arts, Inc., Sunset Books, Books-of-the-Month Club, Inc., Southern Progress Corporation, Parenting Group, Time 4Media (publishes 17 magazines worldwide), Grupo Editorial Expansion (publishes 15 magazines in Mexico)

Over 150 Magazines: 25 Beautiful Gardens, 25 Beautiful Homes, 25 Beautiful Kitchens, 4x4, Aeroplane, All You, Amateur Gardening, Amateur Photographer, Ambientes, Angler’s Mail, Audi Magazine, Balance, Bird Keeper, BMX Business News, Bride to Be, Business 2.0, Cage & Aviary Birds, Caravan, Center Street, Chat, Chilango, Classic Boat, Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Cottage Living, Country Homes & Interiors, Country Life, Cycle Sport, Cycling Weekly, Decanter, Elle (joint venture), English Woman’s Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Essence (joint venture), Essentials, EXP, Expansion, European Boat Builder, Eventing, Family Circle (U.K.), Field & Stream, Fortune, Fortune Asia, Fortune Europe, FSB: Fortune Small Business, Golf Monthly, Guitar, Hair, Health, Hi-Fi News, Homes & Gardens, Horse, Horse & Hound, Ideal Home, In Style, In Style Australia, In Style U.K., International Boat Industry, IPC, Land Rover World, Leisure Arts, Life, Life and Style, Livingetc, Loaded, Manufactura, Marie Claire (joint venture), MBR-Mountain Bike Rider, MiniWorld, Mizz, Model Collector, Money, Motor Boat & Yachting, Motor Boats Monthly, Motor Caravan, NME, Now, Nuts, Obras, Outdoor Life, Oxmoor House, Park Home & Holiday Caravan, People, People en Espanol, Pick Me Up, Popular Science, Practical Boat Owner, Practical Parenting, Prediction, Progressive Farmer, Quad Off-Road Magazine, Quien, Quo (joint venture), Racecar Engineering, Real Simple, Ride BMX, Rugby World, Salt Water Sportsman, Ships Monthly, Shoot Monthly, Shooting Times, Ski, Skiing, Soaplife, Southern Accents, Southern Living, Sporting Gun, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Stamp Magazine, Sunset, Superbike, Synapse, Teen People, the Field, the Golf, the Railway Magazine, the Shooting Gazette, This Old House, This Old House Ventures, Time, Time Asia, Time Atlantic, Time Canada, Time for Kids, Time Pacific, TrandWorld Business, TransWorld Motocross, TransWorld Skateboarding, TransWorld Snowboarding, TransWorld Surf, TV & Satellite Week, TV Easy, TVTimes, Uncut, VolksWorld, Vuelo, Wallpaper, Wallpaper Navigator Webuser, Wedding, What Camera, What Digital Camera, What’s on TV, Who, Woman, Woman & Golf, Woman & Home, Woman’s Own, Woman”s Weekly, World Soccer, Yachting, Yachts, Yachting Monthly, and Yachting World.

Joint Ventures: Avantages S.A., BOOKSPAN, Elle, European Magazines Limited Marie Claire (U.K.), and Quo.

Other Holdings

Marketing businesses: Synapse Group Inc. and Targeted Media, Inc.

Other: CNNRadio, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc., Monolith Productions (game developer), Warner Bros. Games, GameTap, Warner Bros. Consumer Products Inc. (licensing), HBO Properties (licensing and merchandising), Warner Bros. International Cinemas, New Line International Releasing, New Line Merchandising and Licensing, Warner Bros. Animation (including Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes), Warner Bros. Online (distribution), Time Warner Investments, Time Warner Telecom Inc. (aggregate interest of 44%), New Line Music, New Line Theatricals, NASCAR.com, PGA.com, MusicNow

Partnerships

As a result of the aquisition of Adelphia Communications, Time Warner will shuffle certain cable operations with Comcast to give each a greater concentration of customers in the former Adelphia service areas.

Time Warner's areas of enhanced concentration include: Southern California (Los Angeles), Maine, Western New York, North Carolina, Ohio (Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus), South Carolina, Texas (Dallas).

Source Attribution: Free Press.net, PBS

My favorite sport is back!

Are Hillary and Barack Naïve or lying about Iraq?

Major U.S. military bases in Iraq (map courtesy FCNL)

I am at a loss to understand how most Americans are ignoring the fact that the U.S. is not leaving Iraq anytime soon. At this very moment the United States military is building military bases in Iraq. Why would the U.S. build bases if there was an expected pullout of troops in the near future?

The answer is that the U.S. has no intention what-so-ever of pulling troops out of Iraq. Look around the world for further evidence that the U.S. has no plans to leave Iraq. There are U.S. military bases in every theater that it has operated in the last century except Viet Nam. There are bases in Japan, Europe, South Korea and Cuba.

So why are the media and the Democratic Presidential candidates acting as though there is some actual chance that the U.S. will bring the troops home from Iraq?

Are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton just uninformed or are they lying when they both say they will bring the troops home? I tend to think they are both lying. After all they both serve in the U.S. Senate so they are privy to all the goings on in Iraq. Which means the Senators know that the U.S. is not only occupying over 100 bases in Iraq but at least 14 of them are described by the Pentagon as "enduring bases".

It seems that the only Presidential candidate that is currently speaking the truth about America's future involvement in Iraq is Sen. John McCain. Say what you want about him but he is unabashedly giving the American people the "straight dope" on Iraq.

Another question is; why hasn't America's corporate media asked Obama or Clinton more about their supposed plans to bring troops home? Could it be that big business has a stake in America staying in Iraq?

Can you say oil.

The Iraq situation is problematic in terms of how the Democratic candidates are addressing it. There needs to be more real questioning of them by someone. Otherwise , if either is elected, they may just do what the Democratic Congress has done since taking the majority; which is make excuses as to why the troops are not home yet.

What do you think?

Are Clinton and Obama lying?

Do you really believe the troops are coming home any time soon?

On the media

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at big media companies and what they own. The major American media companies own so much that I'll need to list the holdings of a different media company each day for the next six days. The companies I will look at are; General Electric, TimeWarner, Walt Disney, News Corp., CBS Corp. and Viacom. These media giants are known as the big six.

General Electric

2006 revenues: $163.4 billion

TV Holdings

Cable: A&E, History Channel (part), NBC Entertainment, NBC News, NBC Sports, NBC Television, NBC Universal, CNBC, CNBC World (Arabia, India, Asia, Europe), MSNBC, Bravo, Sci Fi Channel, Sundance Channel (part), Trio, Telemundo, USA, and Weather Plus

Production and distribution companies: NBC Universal Television Studio, NBC Universal Television Distribution

26 television stations, owned under the “NBC Universal” division. These include NBC affiliates, Univision affiliates, and a small number of independents.

International Channels: 13eme Rue (France), 13th Street (Germany), Calle 13 (Spain), Sci Fi Channel UK, Studio Universal (Germany), Studio Universal (Italy), Universal Channel (Latin America), CNBC Asia, and CNBC Europe

Programming: NBC Network News, NBC Universal Global Networks, NBC Universal International Channels, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Dateline NBC, Meet the Press, Early Today, CNBC, Squawk Box, Mad Money, Tim Russert, CNBC World, CNBC Arabia, CNBC-India TV-18, Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Rita Cosby Specials Unit, Morning Joe, Mun2, Sleuth, A&E [part], The History Channel [part], The Sundance Channel [part], ShopNBC (27%), Ion Media Networks, Universal HD,

Film

Production: NBC Universal (80% ownership): Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Rogue Pictures. Universal has production agreements with Imagine Entertainment, Jersey Films, Tribeca Films, Shady Acres, the Kennedy/Marshall Company, Playtone Company, Strike Entertainment, Type A Films, Depth of Field, Stephen Sommers and Working Title Films (Europe)

Publishing

SciFi Magazine

Online Holdings

CNBC.com, NBC.com, iVillage.com, Scifi.com, telemundo.com, nbbc.com, hulu.com (a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.)

Other Holdings

Military Production: Manufactures and maintains engines for the F-16 Fighter jet, Abrams tank, Apache helicopter, U2 Bomber, Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), A-10 aircraft, and numerous military equipment including planes, helicopters, tanks, and more.

Parks: Universal Studios Theme Parks and Resorts (Orlando, FL; Hollywood, CA; Costa Durada, Spain; Universal City, Japan)

Consumer Products: NBC Stores, ShopNBC

Other:

* Tivo (part)

* GE Commercial Finance: GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Commercial Equipment Financing, GE Corporate Financial Services, GE Structured Finance Global Energy Unit, GE Fleet Services, GE Healthcare Financial Services, GE Real Estate, GE Vendor Financial Services

* GE Advanced Materials (engineering of thermoplastics, silicon-based products and technology platforms, and fused quartz and ceramics).

* GE Consumer & Industrial (appliances, lighting, and Industrial Systems).

* GE Energy (technology for the oil and gas, power generation and energy management industries, including nuclear)

* GE Healthcare (diagnostic and interventional medical imaging, information and services technology)

* GE Infrastructure (comprised of GE Water Technologies, GE Silicones, GE Superabrasives, and GE Quartz, commercial aviation financing, and serves various industries including cosmetics, semi-conductors, oil drilling, construction and telecommunications)

* GE Insurance (insurance and investment products for businesses and individuals)

* GE Money

* GE Transportation (serving the aviation, rail, marine and off-highway industries with jet engines for military and civil aircraft, freight and passenger locomotives, motorized systems for mining trucks and drills, and gas turbines for marine and industrial applications)

Source Attribution: Free Press.net, PBS

Pebbles - Mercedes Boy

Stetsasonic - Sally

Friday Rare Groove: Mel and Kim - Showing Out

Beautiful Santa Barbara

The lost art of the billet-doux

The French refer to it as a billet-doux, a love letter. I still remember the first love letter I ever received. I was thirteen and had met someone over the summer at camp. I remember my mother telling me I had a letter. Previous to that the only letters I'd received were from my grandmother or my mom when I went away for the summer.

I can still feel the joy I felt upon receiving that letter. I remember holding it in my hand an how thick and heavy it felt; and seeing the name and the return address of my first love. Okay well it wasn't real love it was puppy love but it surely felt real at the time.

There is nothing like getting a letter from someone that you love and who loves you. It's amazing knowing that they have taken the time to find paper, then sit and put pen to paper; to know that they have taken the time to craft their feelings into words.

There is a kind of satisfaction and joy which cannot ever be replaced by an email. And to think there is now a generation of people who have reached maturity during the computer age who have never received an honest-to-goodness love letter.

An email is quick and easy. There isn't a search for just the right stationary, there is no selecting just the right pen and the scent of the object of your affection cannot be contained in an email.

As fast and efficient as an email is it can never take the place of a wonderfully handwritten billet-doux.

Do you remember the first love letter you ever received?

Do you remember the joy you felt upon receiving it?

Love then and now

Michelle and Barack

Betty and Malcolm

Diane and Deval

Angela and Courtney

Jada and Will

Coretta and Martin

St. Valentine's Day Songs: Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

St. Valentine's Day Songs: LL Cool J - I Need Love

St. Valentine's Day Songs: Amy Winehouse - Moody's Mood For Love

St. Valentine's Day Songs: Luther Vandross - Your Secret Love

The Art of Frida Kahlo

There is a new frontrunner in town!

Barack Obama easily won the Potomac Primaries yesterday and is now the undisputed frontrunner in the Democratic race for the Nomination. Hillary Clinton is now putting all of her effort and hopes into the upcoming Texas and Ohio Primaries.

Do you think Hillary Clinton can come back or is it over for team Billary?

Stuff...

It looks like people are starting to realize how many African Americans are online looking for information. I received an email about a new website featuring news, opinion and a few other interesting things, it's called The Daily Voice.

I really like it; check it out here.

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Are you celebrating St. Valentines's Day this year? I'm not since I don't have anyone to celebrate it with. :(

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Do you remember Stoney Jackson?

I Can Dream About You by Dan Hartman

This is from a song from a movie called Streets Of Fire. The actual artist is Dan Hartman. Stoney Jackson, who appears in the video, played the part of a singer in the movie. (Thanks Lisa for the song title!)

Black History Month: More Firsts!

United States Air Force Major Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. (October 2, 1935 - December 8, 1967) was the first black astronaut.

At the age of 16, he graduated in the top 10% from Englewood High School. At the age of 20, graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry. At Bradley, he distinguished himself as Cadet Commander in the Air Force ROTC and received the commission of Second Lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Program.

Read more about Major Lawrence here.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Midnight Star - Curious

Please ignore the video, these youtubers get a little carried away.

Kelis - Caught Out There

The Whispers - And The Beat Goes On

On The Nile

I collect!

When I lived in N.Y there were two 24 hour outdoor magazine stands. One was in Greenwich Village and the other was off of Lexington Avenue near the 59th street Bridge. In the summer I would sometimes get in my car at 1 or 2 am and drive to one of them to buy magazines. I loved magazines, mainly fashion like Elle and Vogue but also interior design magazines like Casa Vogue.

I used to spend a fortune on them. And I always bought two of them. One I would use to cut out the fashions I liked and the other to save. Back then I still read Essence magazine and would collect them. I had years of issues of Essence magazines.

Throughout my life I have had other things I liked to collect; like fridge magnets from places I have visited, airline ticket jackets and luggage tags, and radio station stickers from all over the world.

I bought this sticker on eBay, it cost $30 along with another one.

I collected the airline stuff when I worked for an airline; I had tags from airlines all over the world. I still collect radio station stickers. I have them from all over; Italy, France, Canada, even Syria and Iran. I began collecting those when I worked in radio.

I also collect (don't laugh) Sasha Bratz dolls. I love them and have about 7 now. I also have a few Scary Spice dolls and 3 WNBA dolls. I started collected dolls about three years ago.

Sasha Bratz Rock Angelz was the first doll in my collection.

I don't know why I collect stuff. I just enjoy it. I enjoy finding the stuff and displaying it. I wouldn't say collecting is an obsession but I do really get into it.

Do you collect anything?

If so have you ever thought about why you collect?

Black History Month: Words

pigmentocracy - a group-based social hierarchy based largely on human skin color, spanning across ethnic, religious, gender, and socio-economic groups.

Explanation: the British Empire imported labourers (from British India) to the British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. These Indian labourers were free, had more rights and had better societal functions and status than the darker-skinned Africans (who were mostly slaves), but less than the lighter-skinned European colonizers.

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Hypodescent - the practice of determining the lineage of a child of mixed race ancestry by assigning the child the race of his or her more socially subordinate parent.

Because recent history shows Caucasians being socially dominant in the Western world, mixed race children are most commonly assigned to their non-Caucasian parent.

However when two non-Caucasian parents have a child, the child is typically not assigned to either race. Although mulattos and Blasians are both half Black, only the former are generally perceived as Black, while Blasians such as Tiger Woods are not forced to self-identify as Black.

What do you think of these words?

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Patrick Hernandez - Born to be alive

Another dance classic!

Nena - 99 Luftballoons

Do you know what this song is about?

Twofer Tuesday: I'll be there - Mariah vs. Michael

The Original: The Jackson 5 - I'll Be There

The Cover: Mariah Carey - I'll Be There

Which version do you prefer?

A monument to love

Click on Photo for large view

Why would I consider voting for John McCain...here's why

Recently I stated in a post that I was considering voting for John McCain. I have never voted for a Republican before, in fact I've never even considered it. But as I become more politically aware I am forced to consider alternatives to the Democrats.

I am looking at alternatives because the Democrats have not been responsive to my political needs and wants. In my opinion the Democrats are living on a reputation they earned in the 1960's. That was a time of great political up evil. It was a time of a controversial war and one of, if not the greatest civil rights movement in history.

It was a time when the Democrats pushed through civil rights legislation and were responsive to the calls of African Americans for equality.

The Democrats during that time were not perfect but they were indeed listening.

In the 1970's the Democrats began to listen less and less. They began to ignore the plight of many African Americans, especially those in so-called inner cities such as Chicago's South Side and The South Bronx in New York City.

The South Bronx in 1975, where were the Democrats?

They also ignored the impact that welfare was having on the aforementioned parts of African America. Although many in and out of those Black communities began to sound the alarm, the Democrats did not react.

As the 1980's came around those inner city areas were really in for it with the Reagan Presidency. It was a time when all sorts of evils overtook many Black communities. During that time the Democrats continued to pay lip service to the needs of their African American constituents. And the efforts they did make were misguided and led to even more misery.

For instance the so-called war on drugs in the United States, although it’s modern incarnation was the brain-child of Richard Nixon, it was the Democrats that watched as millions of their constituents became collateral damage in that so-called war. As with the misguided policies of public assistance or welfare programs the Democrats sat by again as Black neighborhoods were first used as a money making opportunity by the Reagan administration to fund a covert operation in Nicaragua, then barely held anyone accountable.

It's amazing that government officials admitted to helping foreign nationals import and sell cocaine in Black neighborhoods in Los Angeles and nothing was done about it.

The war on drugs continues except now the Democrats in all their wisdom want to release thousands of people who had been jailed for drug crimes. They pushed for an end to mandatory drug sentencing which has most directly impacted African Americans.

Although fair drug sentenceing is a good thing, it will not be a good thing to release at once thousands or even hundreds of thousands of drug offenders back into Black communities all over the country.

Has Nancy Pelosi done anything for you?

Even now as the Democrats hold the majority in Congress they have made no effort to correct any problems that afflict so many African Americans. Schools in Black communities are in disarray, welfare reforms instituted by Bill Clinton have caused many to be lost for another generation and crime spurred on by drug infestation in Black communities continues to take the lives of thousands of innocent African Americans.

Where has the Democratic Party been for the last 40 years?

I know that many people say as bad as the Democrats have been, the Republicans have been even worse. And I agree that they have. But have we, African Americans, held them accountable? Or have we simply pinned all of our political hopes on the Democrats?

I would say we have done the latter.

So do we continue to support the Democrats? Do we give them our political allegiance even though they have not done anything for us in 40 years?

Maybe it's time for us to hedge our political bets by giving a portion, a sizable portion, of our votes to the Republican candidate. If we don't and a Republican is elected for 4 or 8 years, what can we look forward to; years of being ignored by the Republican Party is what.

So I am considering giving my vote to a Republican candidate in hopes that if a large enough percentage of African Americans do the same we can hold some sway over a Republican President and just as importantly use those votes to make the Democrats work to get us back in the fold.

And those are my reasons for considering voting for the Republican Presidential Nominee.

Oh, one more thing; I had a sip of Obama kool-Aid Saturday night after he swept that day's political races in Nebraska, Washington State, Louisiana and the Virgin Islands. And it was very tasty, so if Obama ends up being the Democratic Nominee I might have another sip of the Obama Kool-Aid. That would mean I may have to delay my political strategy until after the 2008 race.

What do you think?

Do you think it's wise to put our collective political eggs in one basket?


Do you think the Democrats respect your vote?

Do you understand my reasoning?

Black History Month: More Firsts

In 2002 René Syler became the first African-American woman to host a network morning news program as co-anchor for The Early Show on CBS. Syler deftly handled news stories and conducted interviews with both celebrities and political heavy-weights, and she won a top journalism honor for her 2003 series on breast-cancer awareness after her own health scare.

Read more about René Syler here.

Amy Winehouse - Love is a losing game

Despite the fact the Amy Winehouse had Visa problems and couldn't make it to the show she still won five out of six Grammy's that she was nominated for last night in Los Angeles at the Grammy Awards

She won Record of the year, Song of The Year, and Female Pop Vocal Performance , all for the song Rehab. She also won Grammy's for Pop Vocal Album and Best New Artist.

I tried to watch a bit of the Grammy's and overall I wasn't really impressed with many performances. I thought Kanye West's ode to his mother was heartwarming.

The performance by Tina Turner and Beyonce was lackluster. I know a lot of people really like Beyonce but I really don't think she sings very well outside of the studio.

The Time also performed and that was interesting seeing all of the members on stage together. That performance was shared with a weak performance by Rihanna whom I really like otherwise.

Another thing that bugs me about the Grammy's is that even though I live on the West Coast, which is where the Grammy's are held, I am forced to watch a taped show. The people on the East Coast get the live show. That's really wierd to me. I wish they would broadcast live like the Academy Awards.

Anyway the best part of the evening was Amy Winehouse winning five awards. I hope her time in real rehab sticks.

Although this song (above) wasn't nominated for any awards last night, it's my favorite song by Amy.

What did you think of the Grammy's?

Chic - I Want Your Love

I know that most people's favorite Chic song is Good Times but this one is my favorite.

Charlotte at Night

Hillary Clinton shows her true colors (again)

Hillary Clinton supporter 50 cent with Paris Hilton

Okay let me get this straight, the rapper known as 50 cent (Curtis Jackson) endorses Hillary Clinton and that's okay with her. But when a MSNBC news anchor says that the Clinton campaign has"pimped" Chelsea Clinton by having her make phone calls to voters, that's not okay?

A few days ago on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson Show, guest host David Shuster made a comment about the Clintons using their daughter to campaign.

Here is the exchange;

DAVID SHUSTER: Bill, there's just something a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea's out there calling up celebrities, saying support my mom, and she's apparently also calling these super delegates.


BILL PRESS: Hey, she's working for her mom. What's unseemly about that? During the last campaign, the Bush twins were out working for their dad. I think it's great, I think she's grown up in a political family, she's got politics in her blood, she loves her mom, she thinks she'd make a great president --


SHUSTER: But doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?

After this aired the Clinton campaign complained about the use of the term "pimped out". In the days following the incident David Shuster apologized. Then MSNBC suspended him.

Once again Hillary Clinton shows her hypocritical and duplicitous nature.

First it was using her feminist friends such as Gloria Steinem to solicit women voters and then "hooking up" with BET founder Bob Johnson.

Hillary doesn't seem to have much concern for the daughters of African Americans. If she did she would have said no thanks to the endorsements of rapper 50 cent and BET founder Bob Johnson. Both of whom have made a fortune degrading Black women with all sorts of terms relating to "pimping".

I suppose she figures say whatever vile things you want about Black women and that's okay, but how dare anyone use these derogatory terms in reference to a White woman, namely her daughter.

Do you think Hillary Clinton is being a hypocrite?

Does this change your opinion of Hillary Clinton?

Black History Month: More firsts!

E. Denise Simmons is the current mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts and is the first African-American (openly) lesbian mayor in the United States. The previous mayor, Kenneth Reeves, was the first openly gay African-American mayor in the United States.

Read more about Mayor Simmons here.

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Shirley Clarke Franklin (born May 10, 1945) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and, since January 7, 2002, the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, a nonpartisan office. The 58th mayor of Atlanta, she was the first woman to hold the post and became the first black woman to be elected mayor of any major Southern city. Franklin is the fourth black mayor of Atlanta, the latest in a line of African American mayors that stretches back to 1974.

Read more about Mayor Franklin here.

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Former Ohio Lt. Governor Jennette Bradley

In 2002, Governor of Ohio Bob Taft ran for re-election but his lieutenant governor, Maureen O'Connor, ran for the Ohio Supreme Court. Taft replaced her with Jennette Bradley, a decision that sparked protests from his own party on the grounds Bradley was too liberal, having supported abortion and homosexual rights. The Taft-Bradley ticket easily defeated the Democratic challengers, Tim Hagan and Charleta Tavares and Bradley became Ohio's first African-American lieutenant governor and the first African-American woman to serve as Lt. Governor in the United States. (The 2002 election marked the first time that both candidates for lieutenant governor were black women.)

Read more about Lt. Governor Bradley here.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Gibson Brothers - Cuba

Hootie & The Blowfish - Hold My Hand