The Black Informant

Bettah than coffee

If this will not get you going in the morning, nothing will.

Whitlock woes

The following is a comment I posted on Afronerd’s site (note–I added one more sentence in my blurb):

I think one of the biggest complaints I heard against J.W. commentary (”Taylor’s death a grim reminder for us all“) was the fact that he laid part of the blame on hip hop. Personally, I would not have gone that far with it, but I do understand the overall message JUST LIKE MANY OF HIS CRITICS. Plus the resistance (which is often cheaply disguised as “setting the record straight”) to such a message is not only painfully obvious, but should be expected. There have been MANY commentaries put out there that have falsely laid the blame of all that ails Black America mainly on Whites, poverty, or the government with NO challenge to its accuracy–especially from the same social critics who know better. Do what J.W. did and it gets micro-analyzed followed by the ever-expected response “Black Conservatives (or right-leaning Blacks) just TALK about Black problems but do nothing about them” as if some amount of street cred was required for stating the obvious (mind you, ‘cred’ oftentimes they themselves have never acquired to the level they hang over folks like J.W.). BTW, “stating the obvious” in Black America is not a “Right” issue, but it often gets categorized that way in MSM and bloggers. That is why the best response to commentaries like the one put out by J.W. is no response to the online tit-for-tat which is ineffective on the streets. What is funny here is that his biggest critics do a much better job at keeping up with and advertising his commentaries than the rest of us.

Nothing wrong with the micro-analyzation. Again, it should be expected and welcomed. However, the flare-ups every time a Black individual like a Cosby or J.W. states the obvious is not all about “setting the record straight”.

Fishing the mighty Nushagak (blackoutdoorsman.com)

The Mighty Nushagak… A Land of Kings
Written by Charles K. West

“In March 2007, I received an email from a quiet gentleman that I had met at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, PA. Though I came across many of vendors and exhibitors at the show, Eli Huffman stood out the most. With reading glasses perched on the tip of his nose, he quietly kept to himself with eyes focused on a book as the voices of thousands of attendees echoed around him. After a brief introduction and conversation about Black Outdoorsman Magazine, Eli took a quick glance at our promo card, gave my family and me a burly grin and quickly resumed to his book. Months later I would be on the first leg of my flight heading to Jake’s Nushagak Salmon Camp on the known Nushagak River on a quest to fish the well sought king, coho, and sockeye salmon. Even after doing a bit of research on the location, I was in for a big surprise. I would soon discover that Eli would be as much of a quiet treasure as his fishing camp.” (read more...)

More men who are answering the call

Gregory Kane writes…

Young (Sen. Larry Young) said that after he first learned of Philadelphia’s efforts, he was driving to work one day when the inspiration hit him: If Philadelphians can pull together 10,000 men to hit the streets and curb that city’s homicide rate, why can’t Baltimoreans? (The Sun ran two articles about the late-October rally in Philadelphia.)

“I put out a call,” said Young, who used the airwaves of WOLB Radio. “I asked if five men would meet with me to discuss it. I got 22.”

By Monday, that number had grown to about 50. They came from groups as diverse as Israel Cason’s I Can’t/We Can, Ellsworth Johnson-Bey’s Fraternal Order of X-Offenders, the National Urban League and the Black Mental Health Alliance. By 2 p.m., they were gathered in a room at Philadelphia’s City Hall, listening to Street expound on why he hears so many calling for a return of prayer to public schools.

[SNIP]

Johnson gave the grim statistics about homicide victims and homicide suspects in Philadelphia, one that mirrors Baltimore almost exactly.

About 85 percent of Philadelphia’s homicide victims are black males, Johnson said, and 87 percent of them have criminal records. The suspects accused of killing them also are predominantly black, and 85 percent of them have criminal records.

Of both victims and perpetrators, Johnson said 94 percent were high school dropouts.

Qayyum, who’s part of an organization called Men United for a Better Philadelphia, elaborated on the dropout statistic for black offenders: Most of them read at a third-grade level and come from homes with no fathers.

Monday was not the first time I heard Qayyum speak. In early October, he told one of only two Republicans in a group of black columnists called the Trotter Group: “I’m sorry to hear you’re a Republican.”

I was tempted to point out to Qayyum that Democrats were the conductors when the train wreck of black-on-black homicides occurred in places like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit and other cities.

And make no mistake about it, that’s what we have here: a train wreck. And it’s one we should have seen coming and could have avoided. What else is going to happen when you have a critical mass of young black men who read only at the third-grade level and who’ve dropped out of high school? (more…)

++++UPDATE++++

MADDADS

Putting a face on the statistics (part XI)

Jeffrey Sinclair, 17, a black youth, was shot multiple times at 825 W. 54th Street in LAPD’s 77th Street Division at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 20. He was taken to California Hospital, where he died at 9:45 p.m.

His mother was incarcerated; he lived with his grandparents. He had been on his bicycle just before he was attacked. The bicycle fell near him at the homicide scene. (source)

Importing poverty

Immigrants, illegals use welfare more often
By Stephen Dinan
washingtontimes.com

Both immigrants and illegal aliens are more likely to be poor and to use welfare programs than native-born Americans because they come to the country with lower levels of education, according to a new study looking at U.S. Census Bureau data.

“The problem here is not work, or a lack of willingness to work; it’s not legal status; it’s educational level at arrival,” said Steven A. Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which is releasing the report today.

The public burden is a major issue, and it was one of the disputes, along with border security and increased enforcement, that helped kill the Senate immigration bill earlier this year. (more…)

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If Fox News is “unfair and unbalanced”, what does that make CNN?

I think what really gets me about some of the haters out there of Fox News is that they really believe that outlets like CNN or MSNBC is the gold standard when it comes to balanced reporting (”balanced” btw is very subjective depending on who you talk to).

This is not the first time and certainly not the last time (as long as ratings and politics are a factor) CNN has been caught with their pants down. Michelle Malkin provided a very good overview of “plant-gate” and all campaigns that were involved.

Digging out more CNN/YouTube plants: Abortion questioner is declared Edwards supporter (and a slobbering Anderson Cooper fan); Log Cabin Republican questioner is declared Obama supporter; lead toy questioner is a prominent union activist for the Edwards-endorsing United Steelworkers [LINK]

In the words of Celie: “Beat her!”

British teacher tried for inciting religious hatred with teddy bear named ’Muhammad’ (AP)

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A British teacher went on trial today on charges of inciting religious hatred by letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad, a crime punishable by up to 40 lashes and six months in jail.

Gillian Gibbons walked in without handcuffs, wearing a dark jacket and blue skirt, according to reporters in the courtroom before media were ordered out of the chamber. Riot police surrounded the courthouse.

Muhammad is a common name among Muslim men, but giving the name of Islam’s founder to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims.

In a statement read to the court, Gibbons explained the incident and emphasized that her 7-year-old students picked the teddy bear’s name, British Embassy spokesman Omar Daair told The Associated Press. Gibbons’ lawyer said she would likely take the stand later.

The case set up an escalating diplomatic dispute with Britain, Sudan’s former colonial ruler.

Prosecutor-General Salah Eddin Abu Zaid told the AP the British teacher could expect a “swift and fair trial.” If convicted, she faces up to 40 lashes, six months in jail and a fine, with the verdict and any sentence up to the judge’s discretion, official have said. (more…)

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For a country (UK) that has prided itself over tolerance, diversity and sensitivity to other cultures (especially to Muslims), I find it somewhat funny that Foreign Secretary David Miliband and other British diplomats are bending over backwards to prevent this normal view of “justice” within this Muslim-inspired culture.

Time for the UK to fully embrace this slice of reality and brace for similar situations to appear within their own borders.

Tolerance doesn’t look so good when it is smacking one of YOUR women on the behind, does it?

Oh my! I remember this!!

Remember toys by a company called Mego back in the 70’s? Anyway, here is a commercial for toy they produced in those days (I think this was one of the many toys I circled in the toy section of those BEST catalogs).

Either one of my friends or cousins had this toy. Like one commenter mentioned on youtube, there is NO WAY this thing had a range of 1300 ft.

The day Black folks took over

While I may have been just a glimmer in my mother’s eye when the movie “Planet of the Apes” first came out it theaters, I do remember all the reruns of the entire series that came on television throughout the 70’s as well as the cartoon and the miniseries. I even had the lunchbox ;).

When one watches this movie while keeping the time period the movie was produced in mind, it is not hard to see that the apes actually represented Black Americans who were now in a position to give Whitey what he has deserved for a very long time: retribution. This “Black” allegory becomes even more obvious when the 4th installment “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” dealt with an all-out race ape riot between man and apes (the Watts riots took place in 1965–7 years earlier).

I guess what inspired me to do this post was a very paternalistic White man I saw on television the other day. To him, most, if not all Black women were overweight simply because Blacks were simply too poor to make wise choices when it comes down to food. In the same breath he expressed his love for “big Burtha” Black women over “plastic’ White women “who have a tendency of treating men as either a cash register or a parking meter”. I am not making this up.

What really got me about this individual was the fact that he thought he was actually doing Black folks a favor by trashing his own while patting an entire race of people on the back for at least trying—as in trying to be ‘human’.

Planet of the Apes is not the first time Hollywood has used non-humans to portray the Black experience. Recently “Cavemen” (an ABC sitcom) is also trying to tackle the issue of race in America by using beings that are not quite human to address a human issue. Of course the creators of this show are in denial that race has nothing to do with the plot, so I will let you decide on that one. Another movie that comes to mine is the 1985 film “Enemy Mine” starring Louis Gossett Jr.

In any event, here is an interesting article by a Jamie Russell who talks a little bit about the racial and political undertones of the Planet of the Apes series.

P.S. This is actually one of my favorite movie series. I am a big fan of cheesy 1950–70’s movie faire.
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Monkey Business

Few people reading Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La planète des singes (translated as Monkey Planet) could have predicted the impact that it would have on the English speaking world. An amateurish piece of science fiction from a novelist who remains best known for his more serious work-such as The Bridge on the River Kwai - Monkey Planet is a Swiftian satire in the vein of Gulliver’s Travels in which intrepid adventurer Ulysse Mérou (note the classical reference) finds himself stranded on a technically advanced planet ruled by apes. The novel came and went without causing much of a stir.

When Hollywood producer Arthur P. Jacobs was searching for a new project in 1963, he asked friends and colleagues to find him ’something like King Kong.’ Most of Jacobs’ acquaintances assumed that he wanted a project with the same kind of box office appeal as the Fay Wray monster movie, but Boulle’s literally minded Parisian agent took Jacobs at his word and offered him Monkey Planet. Jacobs read it and was impressed, but it took him four long years of negotiating to convince Twentieth Century Fox to fund the project since the studio executives were convinced that humans dressed as apes wouldn’t be taken seriously by audiences. After a test film was shot with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson (the latter in ape makeup), Jacobs got the green light.

No one could have predicted the box-office success of the feature when it was released in 1968, least of all the nervous studio executives who were desperate for a commercial hit after a long string of flops. Expanding on Boulle’s ironic vision of a world turned upside down, the screenplay simultaneously pared down the novel’s more comic moments in favour of a heavier satirical punch. While Boulle had been writing in the misanthropic tradition of Voltaire and Swift, the Hollywood version of Planet of the Apes focussed its sights on a very American target, the white male ego.

Unlike his fellow crewmembers, Heston’s character-American astronaut Taylor-joins the expedition out of a cynical disenchantment with humanity and progress. The film opens with a monologue from Taylor, recording his last entry in the ship’s computer before they enter deep space. Lamenting humanity’s propensity for violence and war, Taylor hopes to find ’something better than man.’ After the spaceship crashes, Taylor’s cynicism comes to the fore. He’s so gleeful that their noble mission has been reduced to nothing that one of his fellow crewmembers angrily calls him ‘a negative. You despise people. You thought life on Earth was meaningless.’ But not even Taylor’s cynicism is prepared for what they find - a society ruled by apes in which Man is no more than a dumb animal. As Taylor first lays eyes on the walking, talking, horse riding apes, the camera focuses on Heston’s face. Cynicism gives way to abject horror.

Much of the entertainment value of Planet of the Apes is in watching the apes mistreat Heston’s character. There’s a masochistic enjoyment in seeing Heston, the All-American hero, discover that the wages of hubris are humiliation. Heston himself was quite aware about the iniquities that he had to face on and off the screen. Writing in his journals during the shoot, he acknowledged that ‘there’s hardly been a scene in the bloody film in which I’ve not been dragged, choked, netted, chased, doused, whipped, poked, shot, gagged, stoned, leaped on, or generally mistreated.’ Commenting on the scene in which Taylor is captured by the apes, Heston claimed: ‘It’s surprising the perspective an experience like this gives you. Upside down in a net, a man isn’t worth much.’ Such was the extent of his humiliation that one crewmember commented ‘You know, Chuck, I remember when we used to win these things.’ (more…)

The religious left

source:followthemoney.org

Earmarks galore

CAGW Uploads Database of Labor-HHS Earmarks

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today makes public a comprehensive, searchable database of the 2,243 earmarks worth $1 billion in the Fiscal 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Act, H.R. 3043.

“CAGW provides taxpayers with the information that Congress wants to keep under wraps: a convenient, searchable database of earmarked spending,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “With our more transparent format, pork gems such as $882,025 for 25 “abstinence education” programs in the state of Pennsylvania, $500,000 for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada, and $400,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York are more easily found.”

President George W. Bush vetoed the Labor-HHS bill on November 13, and told Congress, “This bill has too many earmarks. I set out clear goals for the Congress to reform the earmarking process. The Congress chose not to put earmarks in bill text, instead including nearly all in report language, and they did not reach the goal of cutting the cost and number of earmarks by at least half.”

CAGW noted a 41 percent decrease in the dollar amount, as well as a 27 percent decrease in the number of projects compared to fiscal year 2005, the last year that a Labor-HHS bill included earmarks. In that year, the 2005 Congressional Pig Book identified 3,071 projects worth $1.7 billion.

On November 15, the House failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to override the president’s veto, 277-141. CQ Today reported on the same day that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said, “The president vetoed our Labor-HHS bill. We’re gonna now bundle these bills up, [and] send him a bill splitting the difference between the $22 billion that he says we’re over and his budget number.”

“While Congress dithers over whether to aggregate the Labor-HHS bill into another huge omnibus spending bill, or repackage it as a stand-alone bill to be sent back to the president, taxpayers will have the ability to search the earmark database and lobby their legislator to get rid of specific wasteful spending,” concluded Schatz.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. (source)

What is this?

Click on picture for the answer.

One word: YIIIIKKKKEEEESSSS!

Are cholesterol-lowering drugs effective?

This is the question according to the NY Times that is on minds of many cardiologists as they await a delayed study on Zetia and Vytorin–two cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Cardiologists Question Delay of Data on 2 Drugs
By ALEX BERENSON
nytimes.com

Prescriptions for the cholesterol-lowering drugs Zetia and Vytorin are written for almost 800,000 Americans every week, at a cost this year of about $4 billion. Yet it still is not clear how well the drugs work.

Nearly two years after the medicines’ makers, Merck and Schering-Plough, completed a clinical trial of the drugs, they still have not released the findings. The delay has led to a growing chorus of complaints from cardiologists. And yesterday, the companies responded by promising to publish a portion of the results next March — but not the entire set of data.

Doctors say that decision is highly unusual and will do little to quell concerns about the trial, as well as broader questions about the effectiveness of the drugs.

Cardiologists have been awaiting the results of the trial, called Enhance, to learn how well Zetia and Vytorin work. If they are not as effective as other cholesterol medicines, patients taking them may be putting themselves at unnecessary risk of heart attacks.

“There’s clearly some rightful interest in what the results are,” said Dr. Allen J. Taylor, chief of cardiology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. “You’ve got millions of people treated with the drugs.” (more…)

Bottom line, please get a second or third opinion on drugs unfamiliar to you.

Christmas decoration tip #3

“If the string of lights do not work, please…no duct tape. Just invest the $3 or so at Big Lots and buy another pack.”

Who’s on first?

For the younger folks out there, from time to time you may hear me or others use the phrase “Who’s on first?”. This is a reference to a famous skit performed by the comedic team of Abbott and Costello simply called “Who’s on first”. Although I was not around when this routine first came out, I do remember watching many reruns of Abbott and Costello as a kid on television as a kid (either channel 29 or 48 in Philly). For the rest of you old heads out there, enjoy the clip as we see the perfect example of what happens with too much bureaucracy.

uRwututhink

Atlanta, GA - November 12, 2007 - uRwututhink. Any avid “text messager” knows exactly how this reads. For those less text savvy, that same item may look like a weird “typo”. No need for spellcheck – the message you see is not an accident - u-R-wut-u-think (You Are What You Think). The rationale behind this statement is one that RTKZ is confident both young and old can grasp. Thinking differently and thinking period are objectives that RTKZ wants to emphasize to youth and communities. From poor decisions & education gaps to finger pointing & dodging responsibility, there is a plethora of examples that reflect the need to think differently. RTKZ’s uRwututhink campaign is one of multiple stimuli the company plans to use to meet this need.

RTKZ is a grassroots group focused on empowerment through media, social interaction, and relevant initiatives. The way people think and operate based on those thoughts determines whether or not empowerment is a reality or a distant concept. Aside from the upcoming uRwututhink campaign, RTKZ also uses its “Think Differently” Talk Radio show to connect with the audience. Via internet radio, “Think Differently” airs every Thursday evening from 9pm -11pm EST - attracting over 250 listeners on a weekly basis.

RTKZtv is a visual format used as a channel for outreach, discussing pop culture, as well as thinking on the path to empowerment. RTKZtv is filmed in local businesses & venues so that RTKZ is truly in the community, for the community.

RTKZ’s uRwututhink campaign will launch on December 5, 2007. Campaign mediums will include email, RTKZradio.com, social networking sites, street teams & viral marketing, as well as a custom designed uRwututhink microsite. RTKZ has already launched a grassroots buzz campaign to set the stage for uRwututhink. “It is much harder to mislead the informed than it is to drag the ignorant”, says Lex “Specta” Matthews, RTKZ Founder & “Think Differently” Talk Radio Host, “uRwututhink is a tool to show the relevance of our message. This campaign is just one tactic – community service & outreach are things that we do on a consistent basis.”

Started in 2004, The RTKZ Co. (RTKZ) is a multi-media, grassroots effort to provide a new outlook for America’s youth and communities. RTKZ’s toolbox is equipped with RTKZradio.com, “Think Differently” Talk Radio, RTKZtv, RTKZ Outreach, and viral campaigns.

[LINK]

Paper cups please!

Turning it around

Atlanta, GA (BlackNews.com) - In 2005, Devin Robinson was shopping in a Korean-owned beauty supply store for his new salon when the Korean owner threatened him with a golf club and threw Devin out of the store for no apparent reason. This enraged the author so much that he put his writing career on hold and decided to open his very own beauty supply store. With no industry experience to guide him but only his willpower to lead him, he plummeted into this Korean dominated industry and to everyone’s surprise it was an alarming success.

Eighteen months after the opening of his first store, Devin had opened three stores. All stores began to thrive. Devin had many pitfalls while trying to navigate his way through this industry but somehow always came out on top. He partnered with Aron Ranen, the filmmaker of The Korean Takeover: Black Hair DVD and decided to write, Taking It Back: How to Become a Successful Black Beauty Supply Store Owner, a book that teaches other aspiring, badly treated Blacks how to get into the business and be successful at it. (more…)

Why folks move out of the inner-city

I have very mixed feelings about my days living in a row home in Philly. While I was always attracted to the design and layout of these structures, I hated them immensely for two main reasons: A. No matter how well you kept your house clean, if the neighbors had roaches–you had roaches. B. You could hear just about everything happening in your neighbor’s house.

Well apparently the woman in the following story could hear and smell everything going on in the abandoned home next door. In fact, her neighbors were squatters who were not supposed to be there in the first place.

BURNED OUT

By STEPHANIE FARR
Philadelphia Daily News

ALVIRA PERRY knew when the squatters moved in next door by the smell of their cooking.

She’d lie awake at night, alone in her house on a deserted block in Frankford, frightened that she’d left the stove on.

“It’d wake me up and it scared me because I knew no one else was in my house,” Perry, 66, said.

With her home not a foot away from the squatters’ den next door, it didn’t take long for Perry’s nose to lead her to the odor’s origin.

“My major concern was I was scared I was going to get burnt out,” she said.

For months, Perry complained to an aide in her councilman’s office about the vacant building and the squatters.

For months, nothing was done.

Now, Perry leaves her stove on anytime she’s in the house. She doesn’t have a choice. It’s the only source of heat she has left after her house was severely damaged one year ago today in the fire she had predicted the squatters next door would start. The squatters didn’t care about her house, and now she’s wondering if anyone does.

Even though she warned, even though she pleaded - and even though, according to Perry, the city itself owns the vacant building where the fire started - the city’s Office of Risk Management has offered her only part of the cost of the needed repairs.

“I’m not asking anyone to rebuild my house,” she said, “just to fix what is broke.”

Two gaping holes in the roof, two broken-down doors, and the destruction of the house’s heating system were among the damage from the fire, Perry said.

She bought the two-story house on Margaret Street near Darrah in 1998 for $3,500. It wasn’t much - “it was one of them drug houses you buy at an auction,” she said - but she managed to clean it up.

The house has a bar and kitchen downstairs and an apartment upstairs. At first, she rented out the downstairs portion for small events.

“It was good for a while,” she said. “This was my getaway relaxation.”

But it didn’t take long for the neighborhood to turn uglier, particularly when, she claims, a nearby barbershop began selling drugs as well as haircuts. Today, all the houses on the block are vacant, except for Perry’s.

While the building next door to hers was vacant from the time she moved in, Perry said she didn’t begin noticing the presence of squatters until late 2005. That’s when she began contacting an aide to her then-councilman, Rick Mariano.

“I could hear walking up and down next door. Sometimes it sounded like there was a whole gang of them in there,” she said.

After Mariano was convicted of corruption in March 2006, the aide went to work for the new councilman, Daniel J. Savage, and Perry continued her complaints: “They just kept hearing me complaining all last year. They kept saying they would get somebody out there to clean it out and board it up again,” she said. “As far as I know, nobody came out.”

In desperation, Perry grabbed the ear of any city worker who showed up on her block. One night a police officer came by, and she told him about the squatters. Another time, she approached a city crew boarding up a different house and asked them to re-board the one next to hers.

“They said yes and they put it on a list to do it,” she said. “It did get boarded up, but later on the squatters broke back in it again.”

It was 1:53 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2006, when the fire that Perry had long feared finally broke out.

Luckily, she was staying the night at a friend’s house. It wasn’t until the next morning that she saw what the fire had done to her home.

“After I seen my damage and the next-door damage, I knew what it was,” she said. “I knew it had happened.” (more…)

If a person lives in an area that has historically been neglected by local politicians, why is it so important for them to vote?