"what's at stake"
lies spun about economic indicators
won't pay off your medical bills
or decrease corporate welfare.
despite boundless optimism,
lost jobs don't replace themselves.
'cause election day is nigh
we need to get real, people.
it's not the war on terror: it's your
government that's the issue.
can it protect your freedom
with the Patriot Act? can
it save you by cultivating fear?
little time between work and
picking up the kids to read
the newspaper or voter's guide
but the clock ticks and tocks
toward a reckoning we visit on
the world ignorantly, so stop
look and listen closely, breathe
deeply, and remember the God you
worship created all the universe
not just your piddling country.
don't reduce God to the borders
of your fear-stifled imagination.
9.08.2004
9.01.2004
7.08.2004
Ode to Bill Cosby...
Published on Thursday, July 8, 2004 by the New York Times
The New Cosby Kids
by Barbara Ehrenreich
It was such a dog-bites-man story that I almost skipped right by: Billionaire Bashes Poor Blacks. The only thing that gave this particular story a little piquancy is that the billionaire doing the bashing is black himself. Bill Cosby has been attacking the poor of his race, and especially the youthful poor, for a range of sins, including using bad words, "stealing poundcake," "giggling" and failing to give their children normal names like "Bill." "The lower-economic people," Cosby announced, "are not holding up their end in this deal."
They let me down, too, sometimes — like that girl at Wendy's who gave me sweet iced tea when I had clearly specified unsweetened. She looked a little tired, but, as Cos might point out: How hard can it be to hold a job, go to high school and care for younger siblings in all your spare moments while your parents are at work?
But it's just so 1985 to beat up on the black poor. During the buildup to welfare "reform" in 1996, the comfortable denizens of think spas like the Heritage Foundation routinely excoriated poor black women for being lazy, promiscuous, government-dependent baby machines, not to mention overweight (that poundcake again). As for poor black youth, they were targeted in the 90's as a generation of "superpredators," gang-bangers and thugs.
It's time to start picking on a more up-to-date pariah group for the 21st century, and I'd like to nominate the elderly whites. Filial restraint has so far kept the would-be Social Security privatizers on the right from going after them, but the grounds for doing so are clear. For one thing, there's a startling new wave of "grandpa bandits" terrorizing rural banks. And occasionally some old duffer works himself into a frenzy listening to Cole Porter tunes and drives straight into a crowd of younger folks.
The law-abiding old whites are no prize either. Overwhelmingly, they choose indolence over employment — lounging on park benches, playing canasta — when we all know there are plenty of people-greeter jobs out there. Since it's government money that allows them to live in this degenerate state, we can expect the Heritage Foundation to reveal any day now that some seniors are cashing in their Social Security checks for vodka and Viagra. Just as welfare was said to "cause poverty," the experts may soon announce that Medicare causes baldness and that Social Security is a risk factor for osteoporosis: the correlations are undeniable.
And the menace posed by the elderly can only get worse, as ever more of them sink into debt. What's eating up their nest eggs? In many cases, drugs. How long before the streets are ruled by geezer gangs mugging us to support their insulin and beta-blocker habits?
All right, before the AARP issues a fatwa against me, could we please acknowledge that the demonization of welfare recipients wasn't based on reality either? Contrary to the stereotype, welfare moms in 1996 averaged two children per family, not six, and in surveys always expressed a desire to work, should child care become available. Incidentally, only a minority of them were African-American.
As for the black youth who so exercise Cosby, their pregnancy rates aren't "soaring," as he reportedly claimed; in fact, they're lower than they've been in decades. Ditto with crime rates. And if Cosby's worried about poor grammar and so forth, why isn't he ranting about the Bush 2005 budget, which would end a slew of programs for dropout prevention, recreation and school counseling?
Or, if he's looking for tantrum fodder, what about the fact that a black baby has a 40 percent chance of being born into poverty? You can blame adults for their poverty — if you're mean-spirited enough — but you cannot blame babies, and that's, in effect, what we're talking about here.
As the sociologist Michael Males, who monitors youth-bashing outbreaks, told me: "Younger black America today is struggling admirably against massive disinvestments in schools, terrible unemployment, harsh policing and degrading prejudices, and they're succeeding amazingly well. They deserve respect, not grown-up tantrums."
But it must be fun to beat up on people too young and too poor to fight back, or the elderly rich wouldn't do it. Cranky old rich people: now there's a demographic group that qualifies as a genuine Menace 2 Society.
Published on Thursday, July 8, 2004 by the New York Times
The New Cosby Kids
by Barbara Ehrenreich
It was such a dog-bites-man story that I almost skipped right by: Billionaire Bashes Poor Blacks. The only thing that gave this particular story a little piquancy is that the billionaire doing the bashing is black himself. Bill Cosby has been attacking the poor of his race, and especially the youthful poor, for a range of sins, including using bad words, "stealing poundcake," "giggling" and failing to give their children normal names like "Bill." "The lower-economic people," Cosby announced, "are not holding up their end in this deal."
They let me down, too, sometimes — like that girl at Wendy's who gave me sweet iced tea when I had clearly specified unsweetened. She looked a little tired, but, as Cos might point out: How hard can it be to hold a job, go to high school and care for younger siblings in all your spare moments while your parents are at work?
But it's just so 1985 to beat up on the black poor. During the buildup to welfare "reform" in 1996, the comfortable denizens of think spas like the Heritage Foundation routinely excoriated poor black women for being lazy, promiscuous, government-dependent baby machines, not to mention overweight (that poundcake again). As for poor black youth, they were targeted in the 90's as a generation of "superpredators," gang-bangers and thugs.
It's time to start picking on a more up-to-date pariah group for the 21st century, and I'd like to nominate the elderly whites. Filial restraint has so far kept the would-be Social Security privatizers on the right from going after them, but the grounds for doing so are clear. For one thing, there's a startling new wave of "grandpa bandits" terrorizing rural banks. And occasionally some old duffer works himself into a frenzy listening to Cole Porter tunes and drives straight into a crowd of younger folks.
The law-abiding old whites are no prize either. Overwhelmingly, they choose indolence over employment — lounging on park benches, playing canasta — when we all know there are plenty of people-greeter jobs out there. Since it's government money that allows them to live in this degenerate state, we can expect the Heritage Foundation to reveal any day now that some seniors are cashing in their Social Security checks for vodka and Viagra. Just as welfare was said to "cause poverty," the experts may soon announce that Medicare causes baldness and that Social Security is a risk factor for osteoporosis: the correlations are undeniable.
And the menace posed by the elderly can only get worse, as ever more of them sink into debt. What's eating up their nest eggs? In many cases, drugs. How long before the streets are ruled by geezer gangs mugging us to support their insulin and beta-blocker habits?
All right, before the AARP issues a fatwa against me, could we please acknowledge that the demonization of welfare recipients wasn't based on reality either? Contrary to the stereotype, welfare moms in 1996 averaged two children per family, not six, and in surveys always expressed a desire to work, should child care become available. Incidentally, only a minority of them were African-American.
As for the black youth who so exercise Cosby, their pregnancy rates aren't "soaring," as he reportedly claimed; in fact, they're lower than they've been in decades. Ditto with crime rates. And if Cosby's worried about poor grammar and so forth, why isn't he ranting about the Bush 2005 budget, which would end a slew of programs for dropout prevention, recreation and school counseling?
Or, if he's looking for tantrum fodder, what about the fact that a black baby has a 40 percent chance of being born into poverty? You can blame adults for their poverty — if you're mean-spirited enough — but you cannot blame babies, and that's, in effect, what we're talking about here.
As the sociologist Michael Males, who monitors youth-bashing outbreaks, told me: "Younger black America today is struggling admirably against massive disinvestments in schools, terrible unemployment, harsh policing and degrading prejudices, and they're succeeding amazingly well. They deserve respect, not grown-up tantrums."
But it must be fun to beat up on people too young and too poor to fight back, or the elderly rich wouldn't do it. Cranky old rich people: now there's a demographic group that qualifies as a genuine Menace 2 Society.
7.06.2004
Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904-September 23, 1973)
I met Pablo Neruda in 1996 at a bookstore in Palo Alto, California. While perusing the poetry section, I skimmed a copy of his "Selected Odes", which I later bought as a birthday present for myself.
It is now 2004, and I have twice given away that book. An editorial in the New York Times reminds me that I need to get a third copy.
Happy (upcoming) Centennial, Pablo!
I met Pablo Neruda in 1996 at a bookstore in Palo Alto, California. While perusing the poetry section, I skimmed a copy of his "Selected Odes", which I later bought as a birthday present for myself.
It is now 2004, and I have twice given away that book. An editorial in the New York Times reminds me that I need to get a third copy.
Happy (upcoming) Centennial, Pablo!
7.02.2004
Big up to Marlon Brando (R.I.P.):
Full Article
"In 1963, Brando marched arm in arm with James Baldwin at the March on Washington. He, along with Paul Newman, went down South with the freedom riders to desegregate inter-State bus lines. In defiance of state law, Native Americans protested the denial of treaty rights by fishing the Puyallup River on March 2, 1964. Inspired by the civil rights movement sit-ins, Brando, Episcopal clergyman John Yaryan from San Francisco, and Puyallup tribal leader Bob Satiacum caught salmon in the Puyallup without state permits. The action was called a fish-in and resulted in Brando's arrest. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Brando announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film and would now devote himself to the civil rights movement. Brando said "If the vacuum formed by Dr. King's death isn't filled with concern and understanding and a measure of love, then I think we all are really going to be lost.." He gave money and spoke out in defense of the Black Panthers and counted Bobby Seale as a close friend and attended the memorial for slain prison leader George Jackson. Southern theater chains boycotted his films, and Hollywood created what became known as the 'Brando Black List' that shut him out of many big time roles."
Full Article
"In 1963, Brando marched arm in arm with James Baldwin at the March on Washington. He, along with Paul Newman, went down South with the freedom riders to desegregate inter-State bus lines. In defiance of state law, Native Americans protested the denial of treaty rights by fishing the Puyallup River on March 2, 1964. Inspired by the civil rights movement sit-ins, Brando, Episcopal clergyman John Yaryan from San Francisco, and Puyallup tribal leader Bob Satiacum caught salmon in the Puyallup without state permits. The action was called a fish-in and resulted in Brando's arrest. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Brando announced that he was bowing out of the lead role of a major film and would now devote himself to the civil rights movement. Brando said "If the vacuum formed by Dr. King's death isn't filled with concern and understanding and a measure of love, then I think we all are really going to be lost.." He gave money and spoke out in defense of the Black Panthers and counted Bobby Seale as a close friend and attended the memorial for slain prison leader George Jackson. Southern theater chains boycotted his films, and Hollywood created what became known as the 'Brando Black List' that shut him out of many big time roles."
6.30.2004
If you're not sure which finger and which motion to give someone, check out the Field Guide to the North American Bird.
My man, Mike, did the illustrations. He also laced me and my wife with some artwork.
My man, Mike, did the illustrations. He also laced me and my wife with some artwork.
6.24.2004
Yes, Paul Krugman is at it again. I look forward to his columns.
Check this one out:
Noonday in the Shade
June 22, 2004
By PAUL KRUGMAN
John Ashcroft seems to be neglecting real terrorist threats
to the public because of his ideological biases.
Full Article
I heard about this story a while back, perhaps on AlterNet.
(Reminds me of my friend, Timothea, who predicted the DC snipers were probably driving around in a Cadillac while everyone was on alert for a "white box truck".)
If we continue to think extremist Islamist elements are the problem, we will never solve the problem of extremist elements.
Check this one out:
Noonday in the Shade
June 22, 2004
By PAUL KRUGMAN
John Ashcroft seems to be neglecting real terrorist threats
to the public because of his ideological biases.
Full Article
I heard about this story a while back, perhaps on AlterNet.
(Reminds me of my friend, Timothea, who predicted the DC snipers were probably driving around in a Cadillac while everyone was on alert for a "white box truck".)
If we continue to think extremist Islamist elements are the problem, we will never solve the problem of extremist elements.
6.17.2004
Some days you have to pull out the Jungle Brothers and just deal with the fact you're old, and reminisce about "the good ol' days" of rap.
Nostalgia tends to romanticize, but I know you can make the argument that rap's commercialization was already in full effect by the time the JB's dropped Done by the Forces of Nature. I'll grant you that.
Just don't ask me to stop smiling when I hear "Doin Our Own Thang".
Because that was 1989... "a number/ another summer (git down!)/ sound of a funky drummer/ music hittin ya hard/ cuz i know ya got soul! (brothers and sisters)/" and at age 16, I was diggin' the Native Tongues.
Now, in my old age (31), I've moved from Chuck D on wax to Chuck D on Air America Radio.
"Say word. Word, I'm sayin" (dialogue from Prince Paul's "A Prince Among Thieves").
Nostalgia tends to romanticize, but I know you can make the argument that rap's commercialization was already in full effect by the time the JB's dropped Done by the Forces of Nature. I'll grant you that.
Just don't ask me to stop smiling when I hear "Doin Our Own Thang".
Because that was 1989... "a number/ another summer (git down!)/ sound of a funky drummer/ music hittin ya hard/ cuz i know ya got soul! (brothers and sisters)/" and at age 16, I was diggin' the Native Tongues.
Now, in my old age (31), I've moved from Chuck D on wax to Chuck D on Air America Radio.
"Say word. Word, I'm sayin" (dialogue from Prince Paul's "A Prince Among Thieves").
6.16.2004
Ted Rall's got some cool comics. But what I'm talkin' about today is his op-ed on Ronald Reagan.
"reagan haiku"
sometimes collective
memory lies, erasing
what really happened
I remember my mom working in a battered women's shelter through the reagan years, wondering whether federal funding would be renewed. I remember first seeing homeless people, first hearing of AIDS, never hearing government could be part of the solution. I remember documentaries about the Berkeley free speech movement, accounts of Reagan's naming of names during the McCarthy era. I remember that Reagan negotiated to keep Americans as hostages until he was inaugurated. I remember Central America's death squads, and Negroponte's wink-nod alliance with killers. I remember air traffic controllers/working people getting shafted. I remember a lot more than "the Gipper" or the "Great Communicator". I remember nuclear attack drills in elementary school.
As an adult, I've learned a lot more about his administration than I care to believe America let happen-- but history doesn't lie. The man won two terms. I believe that says more (terrible things) about the American voting public than about Reagan's supposed greatness. Guess we get the rulers we deserve (Jefferson?).
"reagan haiku"
sometimes collective
memory lies, erasing
what really happened
I remember my mom working in a battered women's shelter through the reagan years, wondering whether federal funding would be renewed. I remember first seeing homeless people, first hearing of AIDS, never hearing government could be part of the solution. I remember documentaries about the Berkeley free speech movement, accounts of Reagan's naming of names during the McCarthy era. I remember that Reagan negotiated to keep Americans as hostages until he was inaugurated. I remember Central America's death squads, and Negroponte's wink-nod alliance with killers. I remember air traffic controllers/working people getting shafted. I remember a lot more than "the Gipper" or the "Great Communicator". I remember nuclear attack drills in elementary school.
As an adult, I've learned a lot more about his administration than I care to believe America let happen-- but history doesn't lie. The man won two terms. I believe that says more (terrible things) about the American voting public than about Reagan's supposed greatness. Guess we get the rulers we deserve (Jefferson?).
6.14.2004
Kai's link seems too good to pass up without passing it on...
You also need to get up on Wild Style and Scratch.
I watched "Scratch" on the train from DC to NYC, on my way to my friend's wedding. The X-ecutioners, Scratch Picklz and all the originators put the art form in perspective for those who don't know, and accentuate it for those who do.
Head noddin' acceptable...
You also need to get up on Wild Style and Scratch.
I watched "Scratch" on the train from DC to NYC, on my way to my friend's wedding. The X-ecutioners, Scratch Picklz and all the originators put the art form in perspective for those who don't know, and accentuate it for those who do.
Head noddin' acceptable...
I'm on a listserv for The League of Independent Voters.
Are you?
I have a copy of How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office.
Do you?
Whatever your choice in November '04-- VOTE!
Are you?
I have a copy of How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office.
Do you?
Whatever your choice in November '04-- VOTE!
6.08.2004
6.04.2004
Yeah, it's agitprop. So what?
Check out the trailer for Fahrenheit 9/11. Some shit's about to jump off when the film opens, June 25th! Can't wait till next year's Oscar speech.
Remember what Moore said last year? Get ready for more Moore.
(I wish I'd saved the link to an article where Moore said he made this film because he didn't want to leave it up to the Democrats to fuck it up and lose the election. If it weren't after 1am, and I was a teenager, I'd search for it. But for now, I have to say, "Goodnight, Dick".)
Check out the trailer for Fahrenheit 9/11. Some shit's about to jump off when the film opens, June 25th! Can't wait till next year's Oscar speech.
Remember what Moore said last year? Get ready for more Moore.
(I wish I'd saved the link to an article where Moore said he made this film because he didn't want to leave it up to the Democrats to fuck it up and lose the election. If it weren't after 1am, and I was a teenager, I'd search for it. But for now, I have to say, "Goodnight, Dick".)
6.03.2004
mo' betta...
for Pearlie and Johnny Will Jones, Sr.
we listened to cicadas sing that afternoon, sitting on the porch
looking across the road named after Grandpa toward Cousin Huey’s
fields. as the darkening sky thundered, rain and wind cooler than
inside ceiling fans chased humidity off to the swamps, past the
clearing and log camp, around by the Flying Eagle
where you two sold 'shine and fish sandwiches. hard to believe you
ever set foot in a jook joint, but Uncle Charles and Uncle Leroy drove
me and Huey and Spanky past the spot last time we had a reunion.
Up the road, near Bogalusa, we all stood by the tree Grandpa hit
when the Klan ambushed him. Fools thought they could kill a deputized
veteran moonshining farmer easy as that? Imagine if Grandpa had two legs.
almost a century since you married, decades since you passed we Joneses
have become Grahams and Saintens and more, left and returned, fought in
wars, buried our young and old. We no longer work the land, citified and
spread in every direction; but we still depend on those roads to bring us home, on the rain and wind to stave off heat, on those trees to sing with cicadas
on afternoons like the ones we shared before you went home to God
for Pearlie and Johnny Will Jones, Sr.
we listened to cicadas sing that afternoon, sitting on the porch
looking across the road named after Grandpa toward Cousin Huey’s
fields. as the darkening sky thundered, rain and wind cooler than
inside ceiling fans chased humidity off to the swamps, past the
clearing and log camp, around by the Flying Eagle
where you two sold 'shine and fish sandwiches. hard to believe you
ever set foot in a jook joint, but Uncle Charles and Uncle Leroy drove
me and Huey and Spanky past the spot last time we had a reunion.
Up the road, near Bogalusa, we all stood by the tree Grandpa hit
when the Klan ambushed him. Fools thought they could kill a deputized
veteran moonshining farmer easy as that? Imagine if Grandpa had two legs.
almost a century since you married, decades since you passed we Joneses
have become Grahams and Saintens and more, left and returned, fought in
wars, buried our young and old. We no longer work the land, citified and
spread in every direction; but we still depend on those roads to bring us home, on the rain and wind to stave off heat, on those trees to sing with cicadas
on afternoons like the ones we shared before you went home to God
6.02.2004
I don't know where exactly I'm going with this. Any comments? Click the "send props or gripes" link above. Thanks.
for Pearlie Jones
you were here the last time. sitting on the porch, looking
across the road named after grandpa to cousin huey's fields
and the darkening sky. we listened to the
afternoon ricochet between earth and heaven. cicadas
thundered and the rains came cooler than inside
ceiling fans caked with dust.
for Pearlie Jones
you were here the last time. sitting on the porch, looking
across the road named after grandpa to cousin huey's fields
and the darkening sky. we listened to the
afternoon ricochet between earth and heaven. cicadas
thundered and the rains came cooler than inside
ceiling fans caked with dust.
6.01.2004
testimonial
my man knew Un-American
oxymorons better than
they knew themselves
and did not edit
his words in margins
of errant ideology
my man knew Un-American
oxymorons better than
they knew themselves
and did not edit
his words in margins
of errant ideology
5.31.2004
I have a cynical streak mitigated by a sense of humor, as exemplified in this poem by Roque Dalton:
OAS
The President of my country
is called for the moment Colonel Fidel Sanchez Hernandez
But General Somoza, President of Nicaragua,
also is President of my country.
And President Stroessner, President of Paraguay,
is also a little the President of my country, though less
than the President of Honduras, namely
General Lopez Arellano, and more than the President of Haiti,
Monsieur Duvalier.
And the President of the United States is more President of my country
than the President of my country,
that one who, as I said, is for the moment
called Colonel Fidel Sanchez Hernandez.
OAS
The President of my country
is called for the moment Colonel Fidel Sanchez Hernandez
But General Somoza, President of Nicaragua,
also is President of my country.
And President Stroessner, President of Paraguay,
is also a little the President of my country, though less
than the President of Honduras, namely
General Lopez Arellano, and more than the President of Haiti,
Monsieur Duvalier.
And the President of the United States is more President of my country
than the President of my country,
that one who, as I said, is for the moment
called Colonel Fidel Sanchez Hernandez.
5.28.2004
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes with fire, not ink or binary code. I've enjoyed/winced at his stuff for years. So it comes as no surprise that Bill Cosby gets lit up in the Village Voice after waxing ridiculous about "the lower economic people" last week at a gala event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.
(On background: earlier Coates articles)
(On background: earlier Coates articles)
Here's a nice little story about a movie I won't see for a while (no cable, friends): Something the Lord Made. It's about the first successful open heart surgery, performed by a white surgeon and a black lab technician.
Or, was it Dr. Daniel Hale Willliams who performed the first successful open heart surgery? That's what I always heard, about once a year, usually during Black History Month.
(NOTE: This post was inspired by NPR)
Or, was it Dr. Daniel Hale Willliams who performed the first successful open heart surgery? That's what I always heard, about once a year, usually during Black History Month.
(NOTE: This post was inspired by NPR)
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