There Must Be Justice

When I saw the news that an NOPD office had actually pled guilty to covering up the shooting on the Danziger Bridge and agreed to cooperate with the government it floored me. The fact he tried to cover up what really happened didn’t floor me. The fact that he actually pleaded guilty did. They must have some serious evidence on Officer Lohman. My first thought about this is that there is a lot of pressure on prosecutors in this case. If any one of the seven officers accused doesn't plead guilty or get indicted we may see some race cards being thrown out around town and they will all be legitimate to me. This kind of thing should never happen and there needs to be zero tolerance and maximum sentences to anyone who had a hand in the shooting or the cover-up. We also need someone to look into every case these officers worked on to see if other people's rights have been violated. That’s the only way I feel we can move on without this hanging over the city.

There was a time in my life when an NOPD car would drive up and I and all my friends would cringe in fear hoping everything would be okay. When I first started driving in my teens there was nothing more frightening then seeing those blue lights behind me. I knew anything was possible if they pulled me over. I am older and not panicked like that now. I know enough officers personally to understand that it never was every one on the force who was doing wrong things. When you think about it the culture of the police department is just like the culture in the neighborhoods they fight crime in every day. There are good police officers that know some things are going on that shouldn’t be happening just like they are good people in bad areas that know the things are going on that shouldn’t be. In both instances those folks probably make up the majority. The problem is they all live by a code. Good officers don’t lose any sleep when a bad cop goes down but they won’t step up and speak out against those same officers. There’s a code. People in the community know who the killers are and whether they admit it or not, no one loses sleep when they get shot or go to jail. As rough as the environment is they are not going to call and turn in Ms. Jones’ grandson especially to the police that disrespected her nephew last week. It’s the same kind of code and a viscous cycle.

I just hope that since this officer chose to break the code and admit his wrong doing we can get this case resolved and start fixing the image of the department. If not then it will be interesting to see what happens because I don’t think this is one situation that the community should let go and get over without justice being served.

I guess it's time to get focused again. Football season is over and so is Mardi Gras. It's time to put up my Saints memorabilia until next year and cut down the number of times I watch the Superbowl replay to only once during the week and maybe once on weekends if the weather is bad. It's time to put away all the beads you fought hard to catch even though you don't have any real use for them and find a proper place to display you Zulu coconuts if you were lucky enough to get one. We've had a lot of fun these past few weeks. There's been so much fun going on that everybody almost forgot that we live in a city full of problems and things that need to be done. Since I am one of the 20 people that voted in the last election I just want to say that some of us never really stopped paying attention. I know that we have a new mayor and almost new city council here in the city. I know that Congress is working on a 15 billion dollar jobs bill which should be just enough money to give jobs to about 1000 people by the time it makes it through the red tape. I know it seems like every week Toyota seems to be recalling a different model but they will probably still outsell Chevy (Just for the record, I own a Chevy truck so don't send me none of that stuff about buying American). There's a whole bunch of things going on but the truth of the matter is I am tired and I need to recharge. The theme for the next few days is resting and using as little brain power as possible until Monday. Next week we are going to get all into everything. For the next few days I will trying to sleep as much as possible.


The posting of this video does not mean I forgive Lil Wayne for picking the Vikings in the NFC Championship game.

The Last Football Blog From The City Of Champions

I think I just wrote an 900 word post just to get a chance to put up a picture of the Lombardi trophy but I couldn't help myself. I’m sorry this season had to end. The beauty of how everything turned out is that six months ago if I would have titled this post the way I did everyone would have thought I moved. Deep down everyone in New Orleans, from New Orleans, or around New Orleans felt like champions already inside. They were just looking for a way to show the world how they felt. That is the key ingredient of Saints Fever. How else can you explain people that don’t know a touchdown from a free throw coming up to me to talk about how many times Gregg Williams blitzed Brett Favre? 800,000 people lining the streets in the cold last night just to get a glimpse of these guys pretty much put the exclamation point on it. Let's finish this football blogging strong.

I have a few more things to say before we close out the season and move on to other things. My years as a season ticket holder taught me that it was not a good idea to watch the game with anyone but family or close friends. I’m too into what’s going on and I may say something out of character. I watched all but two of the games this season in the same spot. The week after the NFC championship game my favorite hobby was going online and finding video clips of people’s reaction to going to the Superbowl. It was cool to see how other people reacted to that moment like I did. There is one clip I ran across that sums up what this season did to the vibe of this area. Somewhere under the interstate after that game there was this group of about 20 young black men celebrating. They were in this circle jumping up and down singing the chorus to one of my favorite Saints songs from the season, “Ya’ll boys ain’t messing with dem Saints!!” They were hyped. It wasn’t a normal New Orleans hype either. It was first time Saints are going to the Superbowl hype and that’s a whole different kind of energy. They were so energetic and jumping around so much that unless you were prepared to get knocked down you shouldn’t be getting in the middle of that. While I was smiling and feeling jealous that I wasn’t in the middle of it out of nowhere came this white guy and his female companion. They had to be in their late 30’s or early 40’s. They jumped right in the middle of those brothers and started getting bucked up too! I think the lady got a chest bump and everything. That couple didn’t look the least bit afraid and those brothers were not the least bit puzzled about why they jumped in. They were all there together representing their city. That explains why sports make so much money. Nothing else in our society has been structured to generate that kind of reaction between different kinds of people. I don’t know how long the feeling can last but at least now we have a point of reference of what it could be if things start going downhill.

Now that the season is over the question becomes ‘who dat’ among us is going to do what we have to do to keep the winning spirit going and change the conditions in the city. Are we going to translate our championship spirit into our own personal performance and good deeds? The one thing about the Saints team that I admired over everything else is that they were a team and everyone did their job. They didn’t just wait around for Drew Brees to win games for them. He deserves his time in the spotlight since he’s the leader but everyone chipped in to get to the top. We have to be just like that. We all have to do our job and take care of our own individual responsibilities and everything will be okay. The day before the game I went to a pretty informative parent meeting at my baby’s school and there were less than ten families there. It doesn’t take over 24 hours to get ready for your Superbowl party. Sean Payton may be the best coach in the NFL right now but he can’t help us with these real problems. We have to do all that hard stuff ourselves. Eventually we are going to have to talk about things as bluntly and honestly as possible and it won’t be warm and fuzzy. It might get a little ugly but that shouldn’t be expected after all these years of division. I don’t have a problem with that as long as we are working towards making progress. If everyone starts bitching and moaning just to keep their supporters divided enough to hide their incompetence I’m going to put in my Superbowl DVD and watch Tracy Porter’s intercept another 500 times to refresh my spirit again.

I guess after waiting 43 years for a title, getting washed out, rebuilding homes, rebuilding sanity, trying to find a way to sleep more than two hours a night, dealing with all kinds of other problems and being a Saints fan through the Ditka and Haslett coaching years, I guess I can chill to the end of Mardi Gras and bask in the glow of my team winning it all. I think we earned that much.

I’m a proud member of the Who Dat Nation since 1980 and we are the NFL champs. It's been a glorious time.

P.S….

All you fans from the 31 teams looking up at us ask yourself this question. Would your quarterback show up at a bar full of regular folks and do this? I don’t think so. That's why he's the MVP.

Politics Of The Moment Part One....I Told You So

In the middle of all the Saints hoopla New Orleans had an election and we will have our first white mayor in over 30 years. He won every precinct except one. That means that we have a white mayor because black voters put him there. I hate to say I told you so but when Ed Murray dropped out of the race I predicted this. The outcome of this election should send a message to the leaders in our community. There needs to be a change and a shift in our approach. I was going to put all of this into one post but I decided to break it down a little further. Since I already wrote the post I linked to about this I will be brief.

I know the history of the city and what it means to have black leadership. Keep in mind that I am 35 years old and the first black mayor was elected when I was 3. That means that for my generation and those behind me we don’t have any personal memories of the same struggle. All we have is a lifetime of living here under declining conditions and difficult circumstances. We have been here looking at opportunity and people leave us behind for greener pastures. It just so happens that the whole time we couldn’t find a good job, the school system was failing us, and we were all scared of the NOPD black people were running these entities. Instead of being angry at them for not coming out to vote and doing research, go to the hood and find out where we went wrong. I think this is a perfect opportunity for a rebirth of grassroots leaders that are born out of real action for the community. I truly believe that the people will engage in the process again if they think the system can work for them.

Part two is coming soon……..

It Really Happened

You would think that after writing a blog every week during this great season I would have saved the best for last. Honestly, I have nothing to say except it feels just like I thought it would. I'll let the outcome speak for itself.

The Final Chapter Of A Wonderful Season

This is the day we have all been waiting for. I have never seen the city this excited about anything. This week people have been randomly shouting “WHO DAT!” to total strangers and giving one another high fives. I love it. I don’t know how long it’s going to last but if things get out of hand and people start bickering at least we have a point of reference to remind them of how it feels to be unified about something. It’s been very hard for me to get the same nervous and paranoid feeling that I usually have for a big Saints game. I really wanted the team to play in the Superbowl and I never really changed my agenda to winning it. I am already so satisfied that I can’t get it going for today. I hope the team isn’t feeling the same way I do.

Some people in the national media really got upset when we beat Brett Favre and have refused to give us any respect for being in the championship. If you listen to some of them it was like the Vikings were ahead in the game 28-0 and Brett’s intercept was worth 28 points at the end. For years I have listened to these experts give good teams credit for not beating themselves and taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes. The Saints did it to Brett Favre and suddenly they are not worthy of being in the game. That kind of stuff has made me not watch a lot of pregame coverage. I wasn’t letting their sour grapes take my joy.

I don’t think our team has gotten enough credit. Football is a team sport. No one player can be so good that he can make up for the other 52 guys. It just doesn’t happen. If that was the case Peyton Manning would have 8 Superbowl rings by now. Other guys have to step up. That’s what made this season special for the Saints. There hasn’t been enough mention of the fact that we played a full season with an untested backup left tackle after Jamaal Brown was injured. That usually spells doom for a team and he more than held his own. There hasn’t been enough mentioned that one of our starting defensive tackles was hurt early on and that there was a stretch in the middle of the season where both starters were hurt and a bunch of guys no one heard of played their hearts out and held up just enough for us to win those games. It was around this same time that both of our starting cornerbacks were hurt too and we fought through it with Randall Gay, a rookie, and some guys we had to sign off the street. We beat New England on Monday night with this lineup. I would for someone to mention that our fullback Heath Evans got hurt and our leading receiver from last year only played in a few games yet we still managed to lead the league in scoring. We didn’t have one running back with 2000 yards but we had three backs combine for over 1800 yards. Don’t get me started on Anthony Hargrove. We have had the ultimate example of 53 guys working together to do something special and these groupies want to make it seem like we are a charity case. We are a really good team and there’s no reason we can’t beat the Colts.

We are in the big game. Rickey Jackson made the Hall of Fame. The city feels good about itself. I can’t ask for much more. Let’s finish strong and see what happens. I’m going to light this grill and get my food ready. We’ll talk when it’s over.

The City Champ Goes To The Hall of Fame!

The picture above has been the desktop wallpaper on my computer all year. When the Saints got to 7-0 I refused to take down this picture until the season was over. Rickey Jackson is going to the NFL Hall of Fame. It's only fitting he would make it in the year the team broke through to the Superbowl. He's been my all time favorite Saints player for 30 years and he deserves this recognition. A lot of fans won't know much about his career when they see he made it but if you watched him play in his prime you know the only thing he didn't have was enough quality teammates and a big market to give him the proper exposure.

This has been the greatest season ever even if tomorrow doesn't go well. Congratulations Rickey.

Who Should I Choose For Mayor

Tomorrow night New Orleans will have elected a new mayor or shrunk the candidates down to two for a runoff. I watched the last televised debate last night. I have been following everything since the beginning. Most of my friends seem to think that the major candidates are interchangeable. That says to me that anything can happen tomorrow because there are enough folks who are going to walk into the booth and make their decision at the last minute. I am not totally sold on any particular candidate either. I have a few favorites but there has never been a point where I knew for sure what my vote would be. I think it would be a good idea to write out what I feel about each of the major candidates to see if people have seen the campaign the way I have.

Nadine Ramsey: If I were voting strictly on personal bias she would be my choice. We are from the same area and I am comfortable with her. It took her a minute to get her legs in the race but she has performed pretty well lately. There is a part of me that hopes she doesn’t win but chooses to stay involved in politics as voice in the community because we could use a few more voices that operate out of the political circle. Everyone doesn’t have to hold an office to be effective. If she did win my biggest concern would be her stage presence. She seems to be a little nervous in front of the camera and the mayor will be staring down the media every day. That could be a problem for her.

Rob Couhig: I am going to say something that may seem a little crazy. If Rob Couhig were black or an old school white democrat and said some of the things he has during the forum he might win the election. The problem is he’s a Republican in a heavily Democratic city. His party hasn’t done him any favors either nationally with the over the top reaction to President Obama. I think he ran this time around just to get his agenda out in the open and go after Mitch Landrieu. If makes the runoff it would be more surprising than the Saints in the Superbowl.

John Georges: The most confusing person in this race. He doesn’t need the money. He’s getting endorsements from everywhere and from people of all races. He sounds like he understands the problems of the poor and disenfranchised. He sounds the most like an old school black politician. I don’t know what to make of him. I saw those pictures of his fraternity dressing in black face and taking racism to the highest level. None of the black people that endorsed him backed out after those things became public. Local bloggers think he’s paying everyone off but I just don’t see the benefit in wasting all that money. As far as the pictures go, they are disturbing but I am not coming down as hard on him because that was 30 years ago. If blogging had been around when I was in my late teens and early 20’s the FBI would have had me on a watch list somewhere. You have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s grown especially with so many minorities that work for him in high positions. I am not sure if he can win but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in the runoff.

Troy Henry: He’s a very smart man. He carries himself like a leader. He’s polished enough that I don’t worry about him embarrassing everybody by saying something crazy. I think he would be competent mayor. I agree with his general ideas and he lives in New Orleans East so that would have to be a benefit. My only issue with voting for him is that he’s a business man and I don’t think we need another business man right now. I don’t want to say anything to get myself in trouble at work but if more people had to actually deal with the city in a working capacity they would know that there is a sense of urgency and progression that needs to happen in order to get things done for the people in a timely manner and that’s not happening right now. I don’t blame Mayor Nagin for everything but I blame him for this because he hasn’t done anything to make these folks recognize the need and move any faster. It’s not fair to say that Troy Henry is going to do the same thing but I can’t help it. I’m still working this out.

James Perry: I was ready to vote for James Perry six months ago. He’s young, intelligent and represents a changing of the guard from our parents’ generation to leadership to our time to take the torch and move forward. If you talk to him about the issues you will come away very impressed with him. I think he would be the best person to tackle the crime issue because at 34 he grew up in the city during the time when things really changed and he understands the factors and circumstances that lead to crime better than any of the other candidates. I think he could reach out to those young men and relate to them on a personal level. I even like the fact that he thinks a 40% reduction in the murder rate is achievable because that tells me he believes that some of these young brothers can be saved with the right opportunity. It would be a new day in local politics if he wins. I wish he would have gone door to door and spoke with the people. James ran a 2009-2010 campaign in a city that most of the people are around 1998 in terms of technology. We are logging on the internet more and more but this isn’t the main choice of media in the neighborhood. He should have bought more signs and posters and got his street team moving. I don’t know if enough people know who he is.

Mitch Landrieu: He’s an experienced politician and I think we need that. He doesn’t have a questionable history with dealing with the black community hanging over his head. His sister is the senior senator from the state and I think if he’s the mayor there is no way she or their party allows him to fail. All the money that’s being held up to spite Ray Nagin would magically flow like a river and things would get done. Plus, sometimes when a man is trying to fulfill a family legacy they work hard at it. His opponents attack him more than anyone else because he’s a heavyweight. His presence made two qualified people drop out. He’s probably going to at least make the run off. I just wish that after all his experience he would blow me away when he speaks at least one time. Just once I would have liked to listen to a forum and thought to myself that his experience set him apart from everyone else. The question is did he just put everything on cruise control since he didn’t feel that any of the people running could challenge him or is this all the energy he can muster? I guess shall see if he wins because I don’t believe you can turn the energy it takes to lead off and on that easily. If there is a runoff and it’s only two candidates sharing time instead of six or more, he’s going to have to step his game up or become a three time loser for mayor.

The first time I had a chance to vote for mayor was in 1994. Marc Morial won that election. The key issues that year were crime, blight, jobs, and economic development. Now in 2010 I am going to vote again tomorrow and the key issues are crime, blight, jobs, and economic development. It’s a good thing the Saints are in the Superbowl because that reality would have me very depressed.

Television, Blogging, Reality and Local Elections.

Around 6:40 PM Sunday night Don Lemon of CNN's Newsroom introduced me to world wide audience as a guest on his show along with Terrence Blanchard. I only had two goals. The first one was to not freeze up and stare at the screen. The second one was to not cuss and say anything overly Ebonic. I managed to accomplish both of these. I want to thank Karen Gadbois. The best part about the whole experience was the reaction of my family and friends. They were way more excited than I was. If you really want to know how people feel about you do something nice and see how the people close to you react to it. Judging by the reaction I got I have to assume that the people around me must really like me. It's either that or they are faking it thinking I am going to get some big money real soon. I'm just joking. They already know I am cheap. I don't have a clip to post. I have to step my game up in video recordings. Mark another notch for cool stuff blogging has allowed me to do. When someone in Congress tries to regulate this I am going to Capitol Hill and testify. Blogging has been the greatest thing I ever started doing just to kill boredom. Anything that happens after this is lagniappe.

Despite the Saints and the good feeling going through the city there is always reminders of our real situation. It doesn't take much to get some perspective. While I was feeling good this morning I got a call from a good friend and work colleague who were calling to cancel a meeting Thursday. I never knew her son was murdered back in 2003. I guess that's one of those things that don’t come up during casual conversation. Well, one of the guys charged with it is finally going to trial seven years later and she has to go testify. That's got to be rough having to relive that after all this time. As bad as I want to Saints to win, we could go 0-16 and if I never had to hear another story like my friend's then I would never complain. That's the power of the Saints I guess. They give you something to take your attention away from all the drama and baggage around here.

Ricardo left me a comment on my last post that went something like this...”Cliff if you can not tell us who you will be voting for maybe it would be edifying if you told us who you will not have on your list."

My answer is that I have not officially eliminated anyone because everyday I get more and more confused about what I want to do.

Superdeformed said..."I'm more concerned with city counsel, sheriff, and the assessor races."

He's right and I think I have those figured out. Here is the almost official Cliff Voting Card that is subject to change but probably not.

Assessor: Lemle
Sheriff: Gusman
Council: Hedge Morrell, Marshall, And Fielkow
Coroner: Not really worried about this.
Judge: Only voting for one of them because I know her personally so I won't pretend like I have a valid reason other than that.

The last thing I have to say about this election year is that it's really strange. I just read this today about a candidate that has gotten all kinds of African American support. He has a lot of black people working for him in the private sector too. My personal opinion is that if it's true he was involved in any of this foolishness I wish all former racist frat boys showed their regrets with jobs and opportunity to grow. We would have a better city.

I am tired of people thinking we are going to be distracted by the football game so we won't vote. After all the stuff we have had to rebuild and move past with negative energy, why would we let a time of positive energy keep us from doing what we need to do. We need a little more credit for our focus. The game is Sunday and voting is Saturday. We will be fine. I think we are going to have a high turnout and everyone is going to let their voices be heard. I have to vote and go to a parent meeting Saturday morning so I am dialed into everything. I'll go to the polls and press some buttons for our next leaders, go to the parent meeting and get my opinion drowned out by the mama's in the room, and then I will clean my grill to get ready for the greatest football day ever. It’s time to bring everything to a close this weekend.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere but New Orleans right now.....except for maybe seats on the 50 yard line in Miami on Sunday.

One Week Left And I'm Still Deciding

After I wrote my first Saints Super Bowl post the rest of the week was supposed to be about the New Orleans mayor’s race. I didn't write anything because I am too uninspired about the whole process. I have decided on who I am voting for every other position except for mayor. Before everything got started I had high hopes for the ideas and agendas of the candidates. Maybe I wasn't being realistic. I am not sure what I got instead but at this point no one has sold me totally on voting for them. I look at the number of people voting early and I wonder if I am missing something. What did they hear to decide that this person is the right one for the job? I haven’t heard that yet so at this moment all candidates are still on the table for me.

In general my view on the mayor has changed over the last few months. Watching the State of the Union Wednesday night solidified the way I feel. I watched the president up there practically begging the people in that room to work together and I could see it all on their faces that they really had no intentions on doing that. One person can only change things so much if the rest of the people involved aren’t willing or capable of doing what they need to do. Regardless who wins, if the other people involved in making the city work don’t get together and do the right thing then it doesn’t matter. If everyone is fully committed then we could have an average mayor and things would be okay. I’ll make a decision soon.

P.S.

I would like to tell Ms. Nadine Ramsey that even if she doesn’t win the election she should still get out there and address the issues. I don’t know if she’s ready to be mayor or not but as time goes by she’s more impressive to me. You don’t have to be a politician to be a voice for the people. Please stay engaged.

Sitting On My Porch....With A Halas Trophy

There's a nurse that works in my office building who is one of the most upbeat people you will ever meet in the morning. Her face is usually full of life. This morning I got on the elevator with her and she looked like she had never been to sleep. As she was yawning and trying to get herself together I couldn't help but making a comment..."You haven't been to sleep either have you?" Turns out she was down in the French Quarters last night and had to get up this morning for work. I started with this story to prove that New Orleans is home to the people who can party real hard and grind out 8 -12 hour work days afterward with no problem. That's how we roll. I have never seen people look so tired and be so happy at the same time.

When I was seven years old I watched my first Saints home game on television. Back then the games never sold out so if you didn't have enough money to go you had to listen to the radio or follow the scores while watching another game if they were at home. We played the Falcons and I was real excited to see the home team actually play at home. The final score was 41-10 Atlanta. I don't know if the Falcons were running up the score but we sure didn't do much to stop them. This is my first solid memory of dozens that didn't end well. I could name them all but it doesn't matter now. If you follow the team you should realize like I do that the game last night played out exactly the way it needed to in order to close all the open wounds of things that went wrong.

It had to be the Vikings because the two of the Saints dream seasons were ended by them. I love Minneapolis as a city. I want to go there again but this morning I hope they feel just like we did after that playoff game in 1987. I hope all their fans tossed and turned thinking about every call and they have to avoid ESPN so they won't have to see Hartley's kick go through again and again and again. It had to be the Vikings.

How many times would something like the Reggie Bush muffed punt live on for years because it turned the game around and we lost? How many times did Jim Mora's teams dominate games in time of possession and statistics only to lose on a few mental mistakes? The botched hand off at the end of the first half had to happen.

How many games did the other team get the ball and drive for a winning score and we sat back praying for our defense to just make one play but it never came and we had to sit there and take the stomach punch? Tracey Porter's intercept had to happen.

How many times did referees call penalties on us that changed games and we couldn't see them even after watching the replay 20 times? A few of those happen last night. The interference call in overtime was legit and we paid dues for the referee to throw that flag.

How many times since Morten Anderson left have we been haunted by horrible field goal attempts? Anyone remember the River City Relay extra point try? Garret Hartley's kick had to happen.

How many times have the Saints signed free agents that couldn't play, made trades for people that never came through, gave up on draft picks too soon or had someone playing that no one ever heard of and they sucked? Jabari Greer, Darren Sharper, Jonathan Vilma, Devery Henderson, and Pierre Thomas all had to contribute to this win.

This may sound corny but I don't know what New Orleans would look like right now if the team would have moved. The Saints are the one thing that everybody connects with. The Colts and Archie's son are next. Win or lose this team doesn't owe me anything else. All I want to see is those shiny gold helmets run out of that tunnel in Miami. It's going to be a beautiful sight.

Nothing About This Sucks!!!

I tried to write the blog I wanted to write all week but I can't get the words together. I am in a state of disbelief right now. I need this to sink in first.

Staying Undecided Until The End

I was sitting here looking at the latest polls for the mayors race in New Orleans. I'm not including a link because what I want to say has nothing to do with who is in the lead. When a pollster calls your house tell them you are undecided even if there is a candidate you like. The reason why we should do that is because when there are polls that show one candidate way out ahead of the others issues start to take a back seat to personal attacks so the other candidates can catch up. Instead of having forums where candidates talk about specific ideas we'll get shouting matches where nothing is really said and everything will be a waste of time. Let's make these candidates work until the end. The folks at the lower end of the poll are good people and their ideas need to be heard even if they don't win. The people at the top of the poll shouldn't take anything for granted and we need to hear from them consistently too.

A Thursday Night Blog : Consequences and Expectations of Character

There are two things that are dominating my thoughts right now. The first one is the Saints NFC Championship game and the other is the New Orleans mayoral election. I have a lot to say about the mayor’s race but I will do that next week. I have something to say before the Saints take the field but that’s coming on Saturday. I have avoided all football related media this week. I’m still working on my energy and positive chi flow for the game. I’m using local hip hop artists and brandy to assist me. That means that whatever this post ends up being you need to deal with it because it might make sense and it might not. We will see when it’s over.

I believe that all human nature and tendencies are the same no matter what the environment or circumstances are. I am a very bias Charles Barkley fan. He was one of my favorite players growing up because he played much bigger than his height. Back when I could still play ball without medical attention I used to mimic his game. As much as I love Charles I have to admit that he’s kind of reckless. He’s been arrested for DUI. He threw a guy through a window. He damn near lost all of his money in Vegas. I am watching Lebron and Kobe on TNT right now. Despite that he’s still is hosting Inside the NBA and has been on commercials since this game started. Every time one of those commercials comes on I think about poor Tiger Woods in hiding at a sex rehab clinic and losing endorsements. Tiger and Charles hang out together and I am sure Tiger is sitting in his room at the rehab center shaking his head. Despite all the wild stories about him the fact is Tiger never told anyone he was a saint. He never told anyone anything. It really doesn’t matter. Charles can be wild and crazy while Tiger can’t because the consequences of your actions depend on other people’s expectations of you and your character.

It didn’t matter how many women came out after the first one. People expected him to be above that kind of behavior in general so even the idea that he was fooling around was a big deal. That’s how it is in the world. I know some of you have a sibling that gets away with all kinds of stuff that barely gets a whisper. You can get mad and say one cuss word that sparks a family meeting and sends your grandmother to the emergency room. I hate to put it this way but it’s much easier to be that guy that people expect to act crazy. I believe you should present yourself as a person above the foolishness but you have to understand that comes with a lot of pressure to keep up every day.

That’s the Democrats problem. People don’t really expect them to get in there and put up a fight. They are the gentle and caring party. They want to do things with dignity. They carry themselves like a pre-car crash Tiger. They are boxed in by the expectations for their behavior. The Republicans are like Charles Barkley. They are in your face with who they are. They say what’s on their mind and they don’t care who they offend. Since everyone is accustomed to them acting that way, they stretch the limits as far as they can go without much backlash. At this point they can’t do what their opposition does because if they do people will be looking around wondering what got into them and they would get some backlash. I think the Democrats need to do something to help them the way Tiger’s drama helped him. They need to pick a fight and carry on in a way that is so out of character that when it’s over no one will expect that soft ass behavior all the time. Maybe then can actually control the message when they present an idea they think is good for the country instead of sitting back and getting slapped around.

365 Days Of Obama at the Wheel

President Obama has been in office for a full year now. Since he is the leader of the country I think it’s fair that everyone has an opinion about his performance. I’m not going to give him a grade or anything because honestly most of the large things he has tried to do haven’t totally taken shape or been implemented. I’ll wait for year two or three for any of that. I only have one complaint. It’s the same complaint I have here locally. I have some friends that are close to some politicians or someone in the political circle. Every now and then during a conversation I will make an uninformed accusation that someone isn’t doing this or that. That’s the point where I am usually corrected with all these facts about how they tried to get something done or they are working with someone on another issue. I have the same thought every time this happens. I always say that if that person is doing so much for my benefit then they need to stand up and say it and stop letting regular folks think they are not. Even if I never tell it to the person I am speaking with I am thinking it.

President Obama is a smart man and I truly believe he feels his decisions are the best thing for the country. The problem is his administration is depending on Americans to educate themselves about his agenda and that will cancel out the shouting and accusations from his opposition. Things don’t work like that. If you put enough energy behind an idea it can turn into the truth even if it was built on falsehood. At some point you have to counter all of that energy with some of your own. You can’t just assume that Americans will figure out stuff on their own. I know the president knows this because the only way he won the election in the first place was to get out and fight for each and every voter possible. If he would have followed the same pattern during the election that he has now he would be Senator Obama of Illinois trying to help Mrs. President Clinton push her health care bill through. Start calling out some of those legislators that are holding up progress. Stage some dramatic looking media events. That stuff works. President Bush talked everybody into a war doing it. He needs to do a better job at playing politics. He should be able to do that without losing any of his principles provided he doesn’t lie or break any commitments. If he doesn’t realize that some folks are around strictly to make him fail and fight back it won’t matter what his principles or commitments were because none of his agenda will make it through anyway. I know its coming because the situation is going to dictate that he does it. I just hope that he doesn’t let a lot of time pass.

Even after all of that, I still get my pride up when I see a picture of the first family and that makes everything worth it. That feel good image hasn’t worn off for me and it probably won’t for a long time.

Thinking About Dr. King in Today's Times

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

People always talk about what Dr. King would say if he was here today and saw some of the things going on in the world. That’s a fun topic for this time of year when we celebrate his memory. I am certain he would be proud and ecstatic about all the advances his life’s word laid the foundation for. You can’t get any better evidence of that than Barack Obama being president. I think we would also have to explain how we let so many people continue to struggle at the bottom of the ladder. I know the violence in the community would have difficult to deal with. This is the biggest issue we have to deal with. Maybe he would say we are doing too much celebrating at the top when the folks at the bottom are struggling so much.

We can’t really know what he would think about today’s times because we have no idea what the world would have looked like if he was around another 30 years or so. I could imagine that he never gets into politics and runs for office and the community has someone not tied to any affiliation that compromises his ability to deal with things open and honestly. We probably would have handle education better. I don’t know if the crack epidemic spreads as wide as it did. We’ll never know. That’s what makes his holiday kind of somber when you think about it. There’s always the thought in my mind is that things could have been so much different had he been here.

Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 and to this day no one else is on that level of leadership. I think we have produced people capable but they either went into politics or to private sector to reap the benefits of opened doors. I am not criticizing them for it but it’s the truth. President Obama is not on that level yet. He’s the symbol of Dr. King’s work but we can put him up there with King once we see how things turn out in the next few years. The bigger challenge is the community at large. Dr. King made the speeches and made the case for equality but it was the everyday person that stopped riding the bus and marched behind him. Even if we had a leader like that it wouldn’t do us any good because he would always seem like he’s talking for himself. If Dr. King were here today it wouldn’t matter because the energy in the community is not the same. That’s something he would probably speak about for sure. He might wonder what happened to will of the community to make things better. I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question. I never did well with explaining bad news to elders.

Finish Strong

And Bring the Wood! The championship game post will be coming later this week.

What's Wrong With These People

Haitian Americans have enough things on their minds right now than worrying about Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh. Since I know what it’s like to not know if your family is okay after a disaster. I also know how it feels to lose someone you care about unexpectedly like that. You know what makes that feeling even worse? When someone is saying they deserved it. Long after all the bodies have been discovered and the grieving is over you never forget those kinds of words. Who is this mortal human being that feels he’s righteous enough to tell the world what other humans deserve. What you should do is shut the hell up and help somebody. There are people trapped under collapsed buildings and rubble. Why don’t you take that black dude with the blonde afro from the 700 Club or Rush’s pill supplier, grab a couple of shovels and help dig some people out. You have the money. If you are too old and fragile to do anything but run your mouth, why don’t you send a few million of those dollars people call in to your show and contribute so you can stay on the air with your ignorance.

One day in Mississippi right after Katrina there was a man standing on a sidewalk with a big sign full of religious sayings. He was screaming at the top of his lungs about how the great flood came to wash out the sinners. I thought about my grandmother who went to church a few times a week and who I never heard utter a curse word. My post traumatic stress almost made me pull over and hurt that man really bad but I realized that none of the washed out sinners who raised me would want me in prison for doing him anything. I took the high road and didn’t acknowledge him. I hope all Haitians do the same to Pat Robertson. I would like to say not to acknowledge Rush Limbaugh but if I saw him in a parking lot I couldn’t make any promises.

These guys are supposed to represent the values of America? You have to be kidding me. If making insensitive comments about a natural disaster that has killed over 50,000 people is acceptable then we are doing something wrong.

To My Favorite Blue Note

Rest in peace....