Privacy is dead... I'll miss it.

Privacy is dead. She'll be sorely missed.

I have discovered that nothing we do is sacred or private anymore. Sure, we've all known for years that credit card purchases are traceable, just like phone records, bank records and the like. But now we can't even make a photocopy of a document without it being traced and tracked.

It seems as though Canon and Xerox have programmed their copiers to imprint each copy made with a semi-invisible code of dots that identify the machine, location, date and time of the copying. These dots can be revealed with a high power ultra-violet light. The companies claim that these are only for tracking counterfeiting, but in this day and age, they are probably being used to track anyone and anything that the Bush White House feels threatened by. You know what I mean... free speech and all that stuff.

I write this blog under relative anonymity, but I'm sure that as hard as I am on Dubba-Ya, I along with thousands of other bloggers have our identities on somebody's computer at NSA or CIA. Like I said, Privacy is Dead - Bush and Cheney killed her. But at least they made it quick and painless.

TTBM

When Democracy backfires...

Okay - let me lay things out the way I see them.

I do not condone blowing up civilians, no matter what your cause is. If you have a beef on the international stage, then you negotiate, you try to talk things over, when diplomacy fails, you try to sanction your enemies, you blockade their ports or sabotage their supplies or even arm up and go to war! War with soldiers! War with men! You look their leaders in the eyes and say, "Until I get what I want, our men will fight your men to the death!"

But, you do not send 15 year old kids, strapped with 10 pounds of semtex and 5000 nuts and bolts in a backpack, into a crowded restaurant to become a martyr.

However, Hamas doesn't see things the way I do.

Now, after a long rule by the corrupt Fatah party, the Palestinians have had a historic DEMOCRATIC election! Everyone showed up to vote and guess who won? The Bad Guys!

HAMAS won a landslide in the open and democratic elections for control of the Palestinian parliament! They won 76 out of 132 available seats and everyone in Europe, The US and Israel is scared shitless.

Now again, I have to say that Hamas is a bad group. They have their issues with Israel and I'll get to that in a second; but they kill civilians - women and children, that to me is unforgivable.

But wasn't it our president - George W. Bush - that invaded a sovereign nation three years ago, to bring DEMOCRATIC rule and DEMOCRATIC elections to the Middle East. And, now that another country, Palestine has had their own - non-American - influenced elections and the candidates of choice haven't won. George Bush is mad!!! He is actually MAD that a DEMOCRATIC process took place someplace in the world and he wasn't asked or allowed to influence the outcome.

He's pissed off.

Now, granted - Hamas is pretty radical, and that is putting it mildly, and I think significant actions are going to have to take place to avoid World War III in the Middle East. But sometimes Democracy backfires!!!

And, as far as Hamas vowing to destroy Israel... Wasn't it George W. who vowed to destroy Saddam Hussein? The answer is: YES. Now, if Bush had had a CIA operative put a bullet in Hussein and skip across the border for a flight to South America, I would have had no problem. But instead, he invaded Iraq with a piss poor exit strategy that has resulted in almost 2500 dead Americans, over 50,000 dead Iraqis and tens of thousands of wounded on both sides. Now, can someone tell me where the real crime is? The threat OR the action?

PS. That Bastard Osama bin Laden is still out their wandering the mountains of Pakistan. Can Bush get his head out of Alito's ass and go kill bin Laden? Please?

TTBM

The Dell 5000 - India is Luvin' it!!!

I read today that DELL will be creating 5000 new jobs in India in the near future.

I'm pissed off about that.

I'm typing this damn blog on a DELL. I love my DELL, but I am growing more and more ashamed of its manufacturer. I have a LINKSYS wireless router in my home and LINKSYS (Cisco) just like DELL loves to create jobs for the people of South Asia.

I hate calling DELL and LINKSYS for help! I'd almost rather have a root canal with no pain killer that stumble through the English language with Ahpu a half a world away when my hard drive is frozen. Of course, Ahpu doesn't tell me his true name - he answers my call with a cheery mid-western accent saying, "Hulloo! This is Chad! Operator 5656! How can DELL help you today?"

These tech companies are clearly concerned with nothing more than their bottom line! They are passing up jobs for Americans all to keep a little more cash in their own pockets. In the process, the quality of their services is dropping and the number of unemployeed Americans is going up and their DELL bank accounts are getting fatter.

Quite frankly, I'd pay a little extra for stuff, knowing the American workers were producing and supporting the product! I used to brag to everyone about my DELL, and tell them to consider buying one, but since DELL is more concerned with saving bucks by hiring Ahpu... I think I'm going to tell my friends to do their research before they buy - and only support those companies that support the American worker!

TTBM

Aaron's a lap dog...

To me, there are few crimes bigger than wasting the talent that God gives you.

Now, you have some people that never discover this talent – they are excused.

But then you have people like Aaron McGruder who has the talent of artistic drawing and critical thinking. Both of which he combined to create the edgy, witty, insightful and groundbreaking comic strip "The Boondocks." I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a big big fan of The Boondocks when it first came out. I even went to Aaron's website and left him a shout out in his guest book. I even cut out a few of his strips and taped them to the back of my office door, where they'd mainly be seen by me only.

But then, the Cartoon Network asked him to sell his soul. Sure – they didn't say it THAT way, but the offer was made – tucked in the fine print, clauses, and pay days that surrounded his ascension to the world of animated incarnations. Aaron signed on, and has done nothing but made the Cartoon Network top-brass fat and happy from his ratings.

But it is these ratings that have sealed his fate and his doomed soul. The Boondocks show has done nothing but leave intelligent blacks scratching their heads wondering were that talented Aaron kid had gone. The show, which is driven by bizarre, thin, asinine storylines, is nothing more than a n*gga-fest. All you hear is n*gga this and n*gga that. It's a tragedy. A pure, Greek-fuckin'-Tragedy. And, this past weekend's episode with Dr. Martin Luther King coming out a coma and calling a crowd of blacks, "N*ggas!" It simply shows that Aaron McGruder has sold out and taken the low road to entertainment fame.

Now, I'm sure folks, including McGruder are going to say, "It was just for entertainment… People are upset over nothing… I was just trying to bring to light another side of the N word… yadda yadda, whatever."

The bottom line is this. We in the black community have only a handful of historical heroes and Dr. King is at the top, if not – then damn close to it. Aaron McGruder, to promote his stupid little TV show is resorting to nothing more than shock value to get people talking about it. He is showing that his prime is past and he is now a little lap dog for The Cartoon Network. He is something to be petted and patted and fed little treats for running around in circles to make his masters laugh and grin. Aaron – like EVERY GOOD LAP DOG, knows his place and he knows that if crosses the wrong line he will be punished. He knows that America loves to watch black folks tear each other down and ridicule one another. He knows that he can make a mockery of Dr. King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, W.E.B. DuBois, and others… who cares? Cartoon Network is still going to appear on each of his checks. But let him try… let that n*gga try and start clowning white folks… Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Natalee Holloway ... The white people in this country would take up arms against him so fast, that he'd have to go hide in Bahrain with Michael Jackson. And, god help every black person if Aaron ever speaks harshly against the people of Israel!!! If Ariel Sharon's name ever came out of Huey's lips... the Mossad itself would put a bounty on his head!!!

Shame on you Aaron McGruder. You have disappointed The Thinking Black Man.

Pretty little white girls.

The media loves The White Girl.

I absolutely hate it when something happens to White Girls. The media goes absolutely berserk when a white girl is kidnapped, killed or otherwise taken out of the picture. And, what stands out the most in the pandemonium is the statement of beauty...

This weekend I was flipping channels and came across FOX News and heard a brief exchange between two white newscasters - a man and a woman. They were talking about the recently kidnapped Jill Carrol over in Iraq. Now, this is definitely a serious and a sad situation, but the female announcer, when talking about Jill said, “It’s a shame because she’s so smart and so pretty...”

Pretty? What the hell do her looks have to do with anything? (And on top it, she's not really that pretty...)

But her looks should mean nothing. Her looks have nothing to do with anything, but when the white media sees a white woman in a bad spot, they just feel the need to remind people how pretty they - the white people - are. They love to work hard at humanizing white victims. Other races are treated no where nearly the same way by the media as a whole! No one is as human as the pretty whites.

The same hold true for Natalee Holloway, “pretty, blonde, Natalee Holloway...” The media ate her up! If I had a dollar for each time I heard her called “Pretty” or “The All American Girl” I’d be rich. Again, this is a legitimate tragedy with a undoubtedly a sad end, but the media wants to push her ‘good looks’ on us.

Same with Laci Peterson, all the media said was, "Pretty Laci...", "What a beautiful young woman...", "the beautiful young bride..."

Pay attention to the news - you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about! When black women or Latinas are involved - you’ll hear nothing about their looks, their HUMAN side, but when the white women are in the spotlight, all you’ll hear is pretty, pretty, pretty, beautiful and pretty.

TTBM

The anger of violence.

Most violent crimes hurt me deeply. I don’t care about the race of the victim, it doesn’t matter to me. I always feel such deep sympathy for the family and friends left behind.

But when it comes to the offenders of these crimes, I’ve taken an interesting twist in the last few years, a twist that I know I’m not alone in taking.

When I hear about a shooting or a stabbing or a beating that takes place outside of Washington DC proper, I always whisper, “Please don’t let them be black. Pleeease don’t let them be black.” Unfortunately, 90% of time - they are black. Black, aged 17 to 25, and sporting some kind of weird assed hairstyle. This always breaks my heart, because every time some dumb ass kid - more specifically, some dumb ass BLACK kid, sticks a gun in somebody’s face, or jabs a shank in somebody’s neck, or stomps an old lady into the sidewalk so he can steal her $11in quarters - they hurt ALL of us. These assholes create an environment of fear -a REAL environment of fear, not one of those fake George Bush environments of fear! These hoodlums, thugs, cock-suckers make people afraid of all of us Black men. These son’s of Bitches, will make it that much harder for my sons, and YOUR sons to walk down the street without people clutching their purses, holding their pepper spray, and simply being terrified because our kids are the same color and age of these robbing, killing, and threatening coward-punk-mother fuckers.

Now sure, plenty of folks will argue that young black men are disenfranchised because of the White Man and the thing that the White Man has done to black folks...
Frankly, the White man has done a lot of foul shit to black folks over the last few centuries, decades and years. A lot of these things have prevented a significant financial base for many black people and that has caused all kinds of family, educational and professional problems in the black community. But honestly, this does not excuse or justify the outrageous volume of violent and senseless crimes committed by these young, black, male criminals. Being poor and being disadvantaged is no justification for the shit these assholes are doing out here in the streets. And this isn’t to say that all these hoodlums are poor, because I don't want to knock the honest, hardworking, law abiding folks out there that happen to BE POOR! But, some of these hoodlums out here are just plain mean... hell- I’ll go as far as to say many of these mother fuckers are just plain evil.

I know this entry is rather jagged and clipped, but I’m so damn angry at these gun toting, knife welding bastards who kill, shoot and stab innocent people, I honestly don’t know what to do with myself.

TTBM

I don't feel safer. And, you shouldn't either!

I just read about a U.S. missile strike in a town called Peshawar in Pakistan yesterday. It seems as though the CIA was trying to kill Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Queda's #2 man. [Has anyone noticed that we kill Al-Queda's number two man once every three months?] Well, it seems that he wasn't where he was supposed to be, and between 6 and 10 civilians were killed by a U.S. missile instead.

Before I go on too much further, let me go on record as stating, I am all for hunting down and killing each and every member of Al-Queda. I'll never forget 9-11, I'll never forget seeing people jump to their deaths, having chosen a falling death over a burning one. So, I'm all for killing each and every A-Q bastard in the most creative ways possible.

But this missile strike, which is so far from the first misguided attempt on A-Q hierarchy, that I have lost count of them. This strike killed three children of a man named Shah Zaman. Now, I don't know Shah, he may be an A-Q bastard on the down low, or he could be some schmuck that was unlucky enough to just live in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, 3 of his kids are dead. Suffice it to say, that Shah could give a damn less about 3000 dead American's on 9-11. All he cares about are HIS three little babies, his 3 dead little babies.

Many American's have gotten a massive hard-on for Bush and his WAR ON TERRORISM, but terrorism is an ideal, it's a concept, a practice, a means to an end. Terrorism doesn't lie within a specific plot of ground, terrorism doesn't have a navy or a constitution. We can't go to Terrorstan and kill all the Terror-troops and march to the Terror-Capital and force the Terror-Boss to sign a treaty of surrender. It's not that simple, it's not that black and white. Our brave men and women, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers over in Iraq aren't fighting the war on terror. They are losing their lives covering up for President Bush's lies, tricks and treachery. He will have them dying in the streets, getting blown up and shot up till he sneaks out of the White House in January of 2009.

But what do Shah Zaman, September 11, 2001 and The WAR ON TERROR have to do with each other? They all show a dangerous, arrogant and short sighted Presidential administration that has made America more vulnerable and more of a target than ever before in her short history.
The response to 9-11 by the Bush League was lame and unguided at best. It took US troops over 2 months to get on the ground in Afghanistan to go after the Taliban. That gave A-Q plenty of time to scramble into the hills of Pakistan - the very same hills that many of them played in as children and trained in as men. This is why, over 3 years after 9-11, the US is still carelessly and arrogantly dropping missiles into villages trying to kill A-Q members. And this is why men like Shah Zaman will be dangerous to you and me in the years to come. Does anyone reading this just figure the families of these countless victims [ie. innocent children and non-combatant civilians] of Bush's WAR ON TERROR are just going to peacefully and quietly turn the other cheek over the dead bodies of their family members. If so - you need to wake the fuck up!

TTBM

Name Blending... why...

Okay - this entry is strictly a gripe, with no intellectually nutritional value.

I saw today in the paper, the phrase "Brangelbaby" which is a combination of Brad Pitt - Angelina Jolie - and the word 'baby.' This article is simply announcing that Angelina Jolie is knocked up by Brad Pitt. Hooray, hooray, yippie, yippie, etcetera etcetera...

But, what absolutely annoys the shit out of me is this silly name combining non-sense which undoubtedly started years ago in some silly assed white girls bedroom. I can see them now - giggling over each other:
"Julie! You like Tommy!
"I do not!"
"Yes, you do and when you get married we'll call you Toolie!"
giggle, giggle...

But, somehow this non-sense has slipped into the world and into the media. Now we have "Branjelina" [Brad & Angelina]; "Viniffer" [Vince (Vaughn) & Jennifer (Aniston)]; "Bennifer" [Ben (Affleck) & Jennifer (Aniston)] and "Bennifer 2" [Ben (Affleck) & Jennifer (Garner)]!!!

This whole name game thing, is stupid as hell and twice as annoying as Chinese Water Torture! Shame on all the [evil] little girls that created this crap! And, shame on the media that embraces it.

TTBM

What do Hip Hop videos REALLY say?

I just watched VH-1's "Hip Hop Video Exploitation."

It was interesting.

As a heterosexual Black man, a lot of today's hip-hop videos get my attention. You have these scantedly clad Sista's with bodies and faces that are sometimes beyond my wildest dreams, and they're just dancing and prancing around for my enjoyment. Well, mine and Snoop Dogg's, Nelly's, Chingy's and any number of other rappers.

Now, as a THINKING BLACK MAN, I find considerably less joy in the hip-hop video scene. The thinking Black Man (TTBM) sees a poor representation of Blacks and Black culture.
Let's face it - PERCEPTION IS REALITY .
Most people who have never had dinner in a black home, or spent any significant time in a black neighborhood, or don't have any black friends - view music videos as a private window into black life and black culture. These people figure that all black men do is drink and dance and listen to music wear gold 'fangs' and other "bling". And, all that black women do is parade around half naked and get passed around from one black man to another with a smile and without a word.

Now surely anyone naive' enough to believe this image, isn't really worth worrying about - but while that may be the case, these stupid stereotypes have a way of trickling down and making this worse for other blacks, in the employment realm, in the social realm and eventually in the economic realm.


I hope that eventually, hip hop artists and producer's stop bullshitting themselves and the public about the desire for and value of these skin flick videos. It's bad enough that these people are so unimaginative and untalanted that all they can do is grab their crotches and drone on about their guns, their paper and their bitches. But to exploit our women in the process? Give me a break.

I also hope that the never ending stream of fyne Sista's will soon start demanding either better roles in videos or more clothes. While I will certainly miss the bikini clad Ki-Toy Johnson's, Melyssa Ford's and Candace Smith's, I think its far more important that we as black men stop exploiting our women and stop supporting brothers that do nothing more than promote violence, theft, thuggery and drug use - all to a heavy bass track.

The Patriot Push...

President Bush is pushing Congress hard to extend his Patriot Act.

Noting that the Patriot Act was overwhelmingly approved not long after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC, the President harshly criticized members of Congress saying the political considerations were now getting in the way.

I find this very amusing, amusing in a sad – "roadkillish" kind of way.

The Patriot Act was a big deal after 9-11 but he's still pushing it and mad that others aren't pushing with him.

If I remember correctly, wasn't the president pushing hard to capture Osama Bin Laden as well just after 9-11? I don't think I've heard bin Laden's name in the news in months and I haven't heard his name from Bush's lips in almost 2 years! Why isn't he still pushing to capture or kill bin Laden?

Why is he more passionate about spying on American's than he is on killing the evil bastard that killed over 3000 of us on 9/11/2001.

This administrations perspective is so off the mark, it borders on being criminal.

TTBM

Poor little Mo' Clarett.

Poor, poor, Maurice Clarett.
First, the NFL wouldn't let him play with them.
And now, to support himself, he has to resort to petty theft.

1… 2… 3… 4… 5…

Okay, I've kept a straight face long enough!

I have to say that Maurice Clarett is everything that's wrong with some of your more arrogant and more stupid college athletes. Many of these clowns feel that it is their right to play professional sports. It is their RIGHT to be a professional football or basketball player. And if anyone stands in their way, then they are wrong, they are the enemy. Shame on them!

Poor, poor stupid Maurice Clarett.

When he got an NCAA Championship ring with Ohio State, he figured his streets were laid with gold in the NFL. But taking "illegal gifts" from boosters and coaches got him blacklisted from the big leagues. Then he did the begging thing, then he did the blaming thing, then he did the crying thing (ALL on ESPN by the way) and finally, he did the suing thing. All to no avail. Then reality set in – MAURICE CLARETT would have to (insert dramatic music) GET A JOB TO SUPPORT HIMSELF!!!

No, no, no – how could this be? How could an athlete be forced into the shame and personal self loathing of a 9 to 5 loser making $40K a year. The shame of it all.

Then he decided to REALLY be a stupid jerk and figured, "Instead of working a real job. I'll just rob folks! Yeah, I'll get a little gun and hide in an alley here in Columbus and I'll steal from people to make ends meet! Yeah – that way I won't have to get a real job and work like 99.5% of the other people in America!"

Maurice Clarett is a sad, pathetic loser. Every kid that dreams of being a professional athlete should look at him and his current pitiful state and make plans for the rest of their life that don't include a football, basketball, baseball or puck. Young people need to prepare for career ending injuries, better talented opposition and plain old bad luck – and they need to be smart enough to live off the fields of sport.