An Example of the Difference

There was a C student who the Supreme Court made president even though more people voted for the other guy. Then he used the nation's outrage over a terrorist attack to send us to war based on bad information even though we didn't really need to at the time. Now we are stuck in this country in the middle of a civil war and more troops die with each passing day. The majority of the country thinks that this war is going bad and wants it to end. He has done such a poor job that the rival political party was able to take control of the House and the Senate primarily because of his performance. Even his own dad tried to save him by sending some of his old crew to help him out of the mess. After all of that, we are now waiting for the same man to come with a new plan to fix his old plan so he can take credit and repair his legacy.

This is one of those times where I feel comfortable in making the following statement....

America would never let a black man get away with this.

Bless you Boys...especially Drew

There is too much negativity in this city to mention.....

There is nothing short of winning the lottery that could ease the stress on our lives down here in New Orleans.....

We just re-elected a man that is about to be indicted for goodness sakes....

With that being said.........

Saints -42 Cowboys -17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to think Drew Brees for finally making me feel like my team has a legitimate shot to make the Superbowl and freeing me from the curse of Aaron Brooks. Since I was 4 years old I have been waiting for a team like this Can we just make Drew the national spokesman for our city and lock Nagin in his office? Dallas, there was a train coming through driven by Sean Payton and you got in the way. We can wrap up the division Sunday against the Redskins. I'm still mad at them ever since Dexter Manley spit on Jim Dombrowski in 1987 and the referee didn't see it(no I never forgot that..yes, I am a serious Saints fan). On Sunday I will feel revenge when we win the division at their expense.

Ten Steps Backward

It appears that not enough people in the New Orleans Metro area are reading my blog. William Jefferson won in a landslide destroying Karen Carter thanks to the influence of irresponsible community leaders, low turnout and Harry Lee. There are two things to take away from this race.

The first thing is that there is hardly anything a black public figure can do to lose any public credibility. I don't know if he is guilty or not but Congressman Jefferson did have 90K of government money in his freezer. We now live in a city that has re-elected a man under investigation for congress, and a mayor that everyone laughs at. Yet, it's everyone else fault that our recovery is going so slowly. I personally thought that he should have stepped down and not ran again. I also don't think any local officials should have supported him. We already know that Nancy Pelosi and the new leadership in Congress is not going anywhere near him. That means it was selfish and for his own gain. It's kind of like when he came back during the flood, went to the crib in his own military truck to get some "paperwork".

The most important thing is that the numbers from this election prove why this area will always be a joke. Look at the numbers from Jefferson Parish. I know the people in Jefferson Parish don't like the fact that they look racist to the rest of the country after the Spike Lee movie. They may not be racist as much as they are stupid. There isn't a thriving major city in the country whose suburbs think they can function without the use of the big city. Nobody moves to Dallas and actually live in Dallas. They live in Irvin, Cedar Hill, Carrollton and places like that. They might not live in Dallas but they know what name drives the whole area. The New Orleans area is one place where people in the surrounding cities could care less what happens in it. They want to drive into work, make their money and fill the hotels so we can send the taxes to Baton Rouge, but damn if a few people try to cross the bridge to get to dry land(how come no one ever mentions that the first part of the Westbank is actually Orleans Parish?). What if we fired shots at everybody who came here during the day to work downtown? Now, these same people including their crazy sheriff chose to vote for a candidate knowing he will either get indicted or have absolutely no power in Washington just to get back at Karen Carter. Basically, the people of Jefferson sold the city out for a personal vendetta. Jefferson and Nagin together is like political suicide for the most part. They don't care what Jefferson does in DC because most of their houses are dry and their families are not split. Their side of the levee didn't fall. This is why the people that live in the New Orleans city limits cannot be tricked into buying into that regional approach bullshit. The regional approach is going to end up just like the levee system, public schools and every other thing. In the end the people living in the city will get the short end of the stick.

We have to educate and take care of ourselves. It's definitely not coming from our neighbors.

Goodbye Nigga

It would be messed up if Kramer was the start of a cultural revolution.

Paul Mooney said that he would give up using the N word on stage because of how it is now being overly used by black people and confusing everyone.

I agree with that.

Since I don’t believe in throwing stones in the glass house I feel the need to admit that I use the word at least 50 times a day. Sadly, I have used it to describe a certain type of behavior by people that look like I do. Which almost insinuates that no one except people that look like me do the things that make me use the word. That premise alone makes the use of the word unfair to myself. Plus, as a co-worker told me while having this discussion about the word, “who defines the difference between a nigga and a black man anyway?”. That was a question that I couldn’t answer. We are hypocrites. If a white guy says the word once we want to march and ruin his life. A black man can say it all day and it‘s ok as long as we think we are not included. When I was growing up I thought of myself as a black man worthy of distinction and great achievement. That might be because my parents addressed me in that manner. Is it possible that if we keep calling the brothers niggers then they will act in the way that the name signifies?
That’s why as of today I am starting my Anti-Nigga Machine rehab program. I am going to start eliminating that word from my vocab as soon as possible. I don’t want to define my brothers like that. Plus, there are better words to describe someone acting like he has no sense. If Paul Mooney can stop saying it and Richard Pryor can stop saying it that I can. We all need to stop saying it. That way, the next time somebody uses it as a negative term it will truly be negative and the ass whipping can be done without any feeling of hypocrisy.

It hasn’t been easy. I said it five times today out of habit. That’s still down from my average of 50 so I am making big progress.

Now, if I can just get over gentleman’s clubs, Crown Royal and uncut rap videos it will be all good.

Thoughts from a Cold Ass Friday

How does the temperature go from 75 degrees on Thursday to 45 degrees on Friday? I need to watch that Al Gore movie to find out what the hell is going on.

I've been looking at this civil war in Iraq. The Shiites don't like the Sunnis and the Sunnis don't like the Shiites. The Kurds don't even want to be part of the country at all. Somebody needs to ask the question is there any other way to run that country than the way Sadaam did? I would hate to have my son or daughter over there playing referee. In the ghetto when two people want to fight that bad, everybody gets out of the way and lets them go at it.

If the Road Home Program is any indication of how the state of LA is going to handle major disasters now and in the future, everybody living in this area needs to buy a U-Haul and just be ready to relocate when the next storm comes. There is no way you could go through this shit twice.

If you want to see something that is equal parts inspiring and disheartening, watch the clips from the public housing residents protesting the demolition of the projects. I am inspired that they want to come home, but shouldn't they be trying to get a regular house somewhere in the city? I'm sorry everybody. I just don't think we should be that eager to get back in there.

The New Orleans media is the most negative local media in the country and I am willing to bet money on this. The way to get by down here is to not watch the news because if you do you will feel stupid coming back to this awful war zone full of crime to rebuild your life. There is a strong racial undertone……..Then again, the assholes who ignored opportunities to better themselves in other places just to come home early, hang on the block and do the same dead end activities that lend themselves to crime and death don't really help my case at all.

In 2007 New Orleans will hire a new inspector general to review and oversee government affairs. I am predicting now that not only will this person expose years and years of patronage, they will also divide this place down racial lines politically even worse than Katrina did. It's one thing for the poor and disenfranchised to be abandoned during a flood. The leadership of this city can get past that. When you start looking into how those same leaders have failed their own people by taking care of their own political homies for years, everybody's going to put on their dashikis and their afro combs with the fist on them and scream "No Justice No Peace!" to the top of their lungs. Everybody who's white and ask questions in 2007 is going to be a racist. It's already started. Me personally, I hope it all gets made public so some of these people can get their heads out of their ass and stop putting the same people in office under the veil of this one sided black loyalty that has only made politician friend's richer and the community poorer and more susceptible to bullshit like Katrina and broken levees. Just because the other man did backhanded deals for 100 years before you got some power does not mean it's ok for you to do the same thing especially when your people were already in the hole when you took over.

If someone reading this is good at economics I need some help. I need to know why even when my income goes up considerably, I never seem to have any money or possessions to show for it. I can't understand it. I don't have any bling, no Escalade, no stocks, bonds, CD's, property or anything. I'm living the same way I was at minimum wage.............Maybe I am a crack addict and my supplier's product is so good I even forget that I bought and smoked it. I need an intervention or a budget director.

The Saints are 7-4 and in first place in the NFC South. We swept the Falcons and that overrated Mike Vick. For the first time since I was 10 and Magnum T.A was still a professional wrestler, I have a Caucasian hero. DREW BREES IS THE MAN! San Francisco, your ass is next. Tell T.O. get some extra rest in that chamber of his because on December 10 we are coming to Dallas and bringing the drama.

Who Dat Call Da Police

It appears the NYPD has had another "accidental shooting". I don't know what happened for sure but I have three thoughts. First, there were 50 shots. One officer shot 31 times. That means he had to empty his gun and either put a new clip in or pull another gun. I am sure that car wasn't moving by then. I can understand being nervous at that time of night but it takes some calm to reload a gun and empty it again. Second, they are in a car and only one person is driving. What if the passengers in the car didn't realize what was going on? They both got shot at least ten times too. Police officers are trained to shoot accurately and have to be qualified enough that they don't hit innocent people. Then, they were undercover policemen working in a gentlemen's club. I am pretty sure they didn't have on blue uniforms and badges. Those guys might not have even known they were officers at first. There is nothing to justify 50 shots unless some shots were fired back at them. Third, nothing is going to happen. The guy that ran out of the car before the shooting will either have a long rap sheet or will be found with a gun at his house that matches the one the first cop saw and the attention will turn to him. Meanwhile, no one will take what happened seriously anymore because some crazy leader like Al or Jesse will stage a march and cause a big media event when they should be meeting with the police reps in private to get some serious changes done.

It's foolish for the black community to think they can function without the help and protection of law enforcement. However, it is also wrong that the same safety, caution, and courtesy that is extended to the majority of the population not be given to the black community when it comes to how police do their job. Let's face it, a 92 year old white grandmother would have never gotten shot by the police. That breaks down the trust and we end up with the ineffective image of police officers that the community has. I'm not anti-police because when someone does me something I want help. Growing up in New Orleans, I have seen some bad things done by the police force. When something happens in the street and people see it, there is no guarantee that the person you are reporting the crime to isn't the person that sent the guy to do the crime to begin with. That's just something that stays in the back of your mind. I can honestly say that if I was in New York and it was late at night I would stop, park my car and not move a muscle if I was pulled over even if the officer asked me to step out of the car. You want me out of the car and see my ID? You better pick me up and take it out of my pocket. I'm not going to Heaven early because you don't have the nerves to do your job the right way.

Lynching...The Forbidden Topic

I have watched the "Kramer" clip a few times. I will forgive the people in the audience that were laughing because afterall it was a comedy club so maybe they were not sure what was going on. I'm sure there are blogs all over the internet addressing his use of the N word. There is no need for me to get into that part. I will say this. I think I speak for all black people....

We need the word "Nigger" often! We even have created a different spelling for it so it won't be so offensive when we use it. Since I hear it dozens of times a day I won't consider physical violence as a valid reaction towards Kramer going off. However....no one should ever make any comments about lynching. We don't even make jokes about lynching and we laugh at everything. That is off limits. When I hear talk of "being upside down with a fork up my ass", I want to get a big ass gun and wait for the revolution to start. There will be no Emmett Till repeats without some retribution. The only good thing about that night is that Kramer was yelling at some civilized brothers. It could have been some Professor Griff disciples in there that would have burned down the damn club. That might have been cool.

Now I don't feel bad about not ever watching Seinfeld.

The Dumbest Brother

The Votes are in!!!

All precincts are reporting...

It wasn't even a close race....

I am proud to announce that O.J. Simpson has been voted as the most stupid black man in America. There is not another black man in the history of this country that would be lucky enough to escape the death penalty for killing two white people and keep showing up on TV and writing books to rub it in their faces. Any other black man that would have gotten this lucky would have went to Europe or something and never came back. Even Micheal Jackson had enough sense to know that you get out of the way if you beat the rap and he thinks playing Twister with 12 year old boys is ok. Johnnie Cochran is looking at this somewhere wishing he would have let this dumb ass go to jail. I can't believe Fox was going to let this fool actually explain how he would have killed those people.

p.s.

Isn't it amazing that Fox News is the national propaganda machine for the conservative movement in the country but almost every other show they come up with is some sick ass piece of television. How do right wing people take this channel serious when they come up with stuff like the O.J. special and things like " Who Wants to Marry a 500 lb Midget" ? It just goes to show that people will roll with any form of media that says exactly what they want to agree with.

Kind of Scary

Gerald Levert was 40 years old when he had a massive heart attack last week. I would be lying if I said that didn't scare me a little. Gerald was not a small man. Neither am I. I'm not an extremely large man but I am not a little one either. I probably could use some excersize and a diet change. I really don't do anything healthy. I eat way too much fast food during the day and fried food at night. I stopped going to the park and all I do at work is sit behind a desk. Basically, I am just living my way to the same outcome as Gerald. It's hard to let go of bad habits that feel so good. Have you ever tasted Patton's hot sausage? Having a daily cocktail or two probably doesn't help either. Situations like that are not that cut and dry for me. Grandpa was damn near 300 lbs into his 80's and he never had trouble. Of course, I don't know if he ever ate fast food a day in his life. Then I come from that old school New Orleans frame of mind where pot bellys have sex appeal on the right person. Whatever the the case is, I have to make sure I don't put myself in any unneccasary danger. There's enough of that for a young brother already.

I said all of that and still had three porkchops for lunch.....

How can you do this alone?

In life you have circumstances that give you new perspective on some things. This week I have been blessed to get a new outlook on parenting. I just want to say to all the single moms or dads out there. You are wonderful people. You are wonderful for your restraint. How you guys get up every morning, get yourself ready for work and get kids dressed and ready for school for years and years without any breaks or killing the other parent is remarkable. I have been doing it for four days and I am ready to quit my job and be Mr. Mom just to keep from dealing with that every morning. Instead of putting deadbeat dads in jail for not paying their child support. They should make them have to do the morning preperation for 3 months straight. After that, he will gladly pay back support plus interest. If you really want to add some extra spice to the morning add the following equation.

1 bubbling stomach + 30 minutes over sleeping + one three year old that hates the sitter.

It's been a beautiful morning so far....

The N.O. Spotlight

I decided once a week to spotlight a New Orleans native doing great things. I know it's election night and most people are focused on whether the donkeys or the elephants get to steal some money. Instead of talking about that right now, I want to give some love to Mr. Ron Washington. He is the first black manager of the Texas Rangers baseball team AND he is a full blooded New Orleanian (looks like an uptown brother to me).

Congratulations brother Ron. I don't watch baseball all that much but dammit I am rooting for the Rangers.

We Just Ordinary People

I’m just an ordinary guy. I like nice things but it doesn’t define me. I am cool with a good barbeque pit, all the channels on the cable box and cold beer. During my adult life that frame of mind may have hindered my professional growth. The thing is that although I probably could be more advanced, I am totally comfortable and not going crazy like some you are. Don 't take that to mean that I don't want to grow and prosper. I really do. I just think I am a pretty great guy regardless. I struggle with this mindstate because I am usually the only one around that see's it like this. Everyone appears to be in a panic to change where they are except me.
Why can’t we feel good about just having jobs and doing regular stuff. We all need to keep getting bigger houses, bigger cars and bigger debt just to keep feeding that foolish notion that somehow that makes us better people. I can’t prove this but I think we are the only group of people in this country that are never happy being regular people. We are the people who spend money on things way out of heir price range to feel included. Look at our movies, books, schools, churches and television shows. Black people pay attention to the overly blessed and gifted or the drastically ignorant and poor. It’s the upper-class or the thugs with nothing in between. Nobody recognizes the guy that works for the sanitation department or the sisters that work in housekeeping doing what they have to do everyday and are not mad about it. We are expected to want to do better than our current situation. If you do anything less than that you are considered crazy. It’s the reason why brothers lie to sisters all the time about all the things they are planning to do when in reality they don‘t plan on doing anything. It’s the reason the sisters always pick the fantasy guy and end up depressed and unsatisfied. It’s the reason our young people would rather make some rapper who brags about having things they can’t afford their hero instead of the plumber that lives across the street. It’s the reason that same plumber feels bad sometimes for actually liking his job. Nobody around him wants to be who and where they are so something has to be wrong with him. You should feel good about an honest day's work and liking what you do. You shouldn't feel bad for enjoying your modest home and still living in the old neighborhood. The pursuit of material possessions has way too much power in determining our self worth. If you have the means to shine then by all means do so. If you don't have that ability right now, don't look at yourself any less because of it. If you conduct yourself in the right way, you can shine in a hooptie.

Clifton

The N.O. Morale Booster

I’ve been quiet about New Orleans. Certain people had accused me of being too caught up in the condition of the city so I just sat back and watched for the last month or so to see what might happen. Well, it’s been long enough and it’s still the same so I am now getting back on my amateur soapbox and complaining. The biggest gripe I have at the moment about being back in the city is the low quality of life for the citizens and the lack of action to change any of it. I have tosay morale is low. The only people that are having a great time are the thieves, hustlers and prostitutes. Everybody else is in a bad mood or stressed. With that in mind, I am going to list ten things that can be done right away within reason to give some life and morale back to the all the fools that have returned home. They might as well use my list since no one else has come up with anything. These are things to just make everybody feel better.

1. Stop Telling People to Come Home: I know the mayor thought that was the right thing to do but the truth of the matter is that the more people we add without housing to match is the more chaos that goes on. I miss my family but I couldn’t tell them it’s time to go back to their street with a clear conscience. At least they are in a cleaner and safer city where they are now. The Ninth Ward just got water last week and even uptown where I work the water comes out kind of brown. There is no way we could handle another five thousand people without the available housing.

2. Re-institute the city curfew: This is not normalNew Orleans since the storm and we shouldn’t act like it. The reality is that there is nothing to do outside of the French Quarter after midnight anywhere else so we need to have a 1:00AM curfew for everyone and 10:00 PM for kids under 18. Stretch it to 2:00 in the French Quarters to be fair and that’s it. If tourist can’t come up with a way to get drunk and fornicate in the privacy of their hotel then they should have stayed home.

3. Fix the traffic lights: Anyone living here now knows that you can’t tell if some of the traffic lights are green, yellow or red. There’s got to be a grant or something to get money for new traffic lights. It’s a safety issue.

4. Put the Inspector General position on the fast track: We have to show we are ready to change the way things are done down here and that is the whole premise of this position. Also, we need to give him/her the ability to go over all current contracts the city has regardless of how old they are.

5. Potholes, Potholes, Potholes: Uptown didn’t get as much water but they sure have the biggest crater size holes in the street. Your entire car can come up missing. It’s either this or FEMA allows everyone to trade in their car for an SUV.

6. Weekly press conferences by the mayor and city council: One of the biggest problems everyone is having is the lack of knowledge about what’s going on. President Bush might not want to admit the war was wrong but even he knows that you have to explain what is happening and that people’s questions may be valid.We need to have updates even if it’s just to say that they haven’t done shit all week. I can deal with that as long as someone acknowledges me.

7. Turn the Lights back on the lake: If the French quarter where the tourist are can have lights all night, then the lakefront where locals to go to hangout and maybe catch a few catfish. I go to the lake for peace when I want to relax. I’m tired of seeing darkness and barricades. That picture at the top is how the lake looks at 7:00 PM.

8. Threaten to place a toll at all entrances to the city: I realize that everyone in the area and the state would get mad about this and probably call Nagin and the Council crazy but I would appreciate the fact that at least somebody proposed something that was strictly for the benefit of the people that actually lived in the city even if it meant pissing off everybody else. They seem to have no problem doing and saying things that we don't like.

9. Hire a Spokesman: There has to be someone that can do a better of job of expressing the views and wishes of the citizens of the city than Clarence.

10. Stand up to the State and Surrounding Parishes: That talk about being a united metro area is only true for Saints games. Every time something happens in nearby city they use words that blame it on evacuees even though they never actually say any of the perpetrators are from New Orleans. I haven’t seen one thing that proves that. They need to start proving that shit or stopping that shit. I also think that one of the reasons the Road Home program is so complicated is because they put in extra shit just to make sure no one thought that New Orleans people weren’t getting over. I think we need to ask for our own money from Washington and tell them that the reason we have to is because as long as the Superdome, hotel and casino money comes in, the rest of this state could care less if one more “refugee” came home or not. I’m starting to think they like it like this.

Confidence

Confidence

Confidence is essential.
Everyone needs at least a lil bit.
Goes hand and hand with self esteem.
Confidence is my fuel.
I thrive on it.

I lost my confidence.
Been running on empty.
Been looking for that bastard for the last two years.
I have finally found it.
I can't tell you how.
It was probably there all of the time.
Sometimes dark days will hide it from you.

Now I remember that I am the shit.
Accolades and compliments are expected.
I missed feeling this way.
Welcome back old friend.
I need some new theme music.

Clifton

Daddy Stress

I'm not going to name the person that inspired this blog. All I am going to say is that sometimes we have to tell our friends and family the truth about what’s really going on. He will never read this anyway. I am not the perfect father. I can't comb girl's hair. Reading the same book more than once in a day is crazy to me and I refused to watch Barney. Despite these flaws, I have a pretty good idea of what a dad is supposed to do. It's only right since I have the best one ever. The number one thing all brothers must remember is that you instantly become second to your child. My daddy had a wife and 5 kids. He made him the 7th most important person in our house. That man didn't do anything based on his own wants and needs first. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for holidays and his birthday, he would have had the same pair of underwear since 1974 because he never would have bought anything for himself if he thought we needed the money first. When the baby is on it's way it's not about you anymore. I didn't realize this until I experienced it. Babies don't care if you are grieving, or depressed, or feel less than a man, or whatever other kind of hang-up you might have. It's not their job to suffer while you work out your hang-ups. I'm sick and tired of all these cats that legitimize their lack of responsibility because of some sad story. That's not the baby's job to understand the bullshit you are going through. It's your job to try and make sure that they don't have bullshit. I know people from New Orleans have been through a lot. I'm high on that list. What kind of man would I be if I woke up Christmas morning and said 'Hey, daddy don't have any presents because he lost his album collection and couldn't get over it"? That would be bullshit and Tara would have the right to curse my manhood cheap if she saw fit. I couldn't be mad. I tried to tell the inspiration for this blog not to be mad. He doesn't understand that once that mama switch gets turned on in a woman's head, she could really care less about whether or not you don't feel like lifting boxes at work. If lifting boxes buys pampers then lift some boxes. Look brothers, two months after celebrating my first baby's birth, I was laid off, my uncle passed, I was unemployed for 5 months and took a twelve thousand dollar pay cut when I went back to work, then my godfather died unexpectedly, then my grandfather passed away, then came Katrina and I lost my grandmother, then my aunt died of cancer, and the whole time I was tripping. If you read this blog you know that it's been a rough ride. Through that whole time I kept working, got a promotion, my salary doubled, I drove 600 miles a week back and forth, and learned all the names of the characters on the Sprout channel even though I wanted to take off running like Forrest Gump did when Jenny left.


But I didn't because I couldn't.....


I'm Daddy....


I put myself last....


Now get your ass up and go get a damn job to take care of your family!

Only In America

Only in America can a senator get away with going to rehab for liking underage boys and people defend him or hide it just to keep power. I find it funny that once a month Dateline NBC has a show that makes men who do the same thing look like the sickest freaks in the world. In all the years I have been drinking, I have never had enough liquor to make me want to send instant messages to my little brother's friends.

Only in America can we spend years fighting a war for reasons that change every six months. Meanwhile, every little punk-ass leader that wants a rep is talking trash because they know we can't do anything about it. Do you really think North Korea would be testing weapons if they knew we could kick some ass?

Only in America can an entire generation destroy itself behind words with empty meanings like "hate" and "beef" and people think that shit is normal. At least the Muslim kids fight for what they think their god wants them to do. We are dying because someone doesn't like the fact we got new rims.

Only in America can a state develop a plan to help it's citizens get their life and home's back together but make it so damn complicated and full of penalties and rules that no one understands it or really gets the help they need. I was pretty good at trigonometry and calculus in school and I still don't understand how the Road Home program works.

Only in America can a city struggling to recover have a mayor endorse a congressman that had money in his freezer to use for bribes just to return a political favor.

Only in America would that crooked congressman have the balls to run again in spite of his lack of creditability and the need for people to re-invest in his city.

Only in America would that mayor and congressman not have to worry about the locals creating a guerilla army, naming a new leader, and locking all of the current leadership in a undisclosed concentration camp. This is an idea that I contemplate often while riding through empty neighborhoods.

Only in America can a billionaire try and move his football team to another city while the entire region was still in hotels and shelters, then have everyone forget about that a year later. How do you go from being a pariah to getting the key to the city without ever really doing anything special?

Only in America could I write all of this and not have anyone come to get me......I hope

The Chicken Dance...

You know, I was taking me a week or two off from blogging. Sometimes it's cool to just watch things go by and observe without having to talk about it. Then, I run across something that touches me so deeply that I just have to say something. Please watch the video above. I have friends of all races and backgrounds. This has nothing to do with them. I have to say what I am about to say from the heart..............

Niggas should never ever ever dance for chicken. That goes for the chicken dance, the chicken noodle soup dance, and this bullshit up here.

You can disagree and find this shit funny but we have to have some kind of damn standards. We can't shake our ass to everything.

I stand by what I said earlier about the game...

BUT THAT WAS FREAKING SWEEEEEEET!!

SAINTS 23 FALCONS 3

WHO'S YOUR DADDY VICK?

Not Feeling The Hype

Call me negative.

Call me pessimistic.

Call me the only person in New Orleans that is not excited about the game tonight.

I am all those things.

I am also a realist and unfazed by media generated inspiration.

I'm just keeping it real.

Honestly, if my friends were not going to be at my house watching, I probably wouldn't watch it. I'm a Saints fan since birth. I don't like the Falcons at all. I hope we win tonight. Everything else about this evening is bullshit. You can get wrapped up in the hoopla all you want. The fact of the matter is that if the same speed and effort put into bringing back Tom Benson's team (who he couldn't wait to move to San Antonio) was put into bringing back even decent surroundings and services for the citizens of the city life here would be so much more encouraging and inspiring than a football game. They were fixing the Superdome before people in New Orleans had hot water and streetlights. I wasn't thinking about the Saints during those cold showers.

I'm definitely happy that the Saints are 2-0 and are playing the Falcons.

I will be even more happy when I actually get a regular telephone and a drug store withing a mile of my house in case all the babies and elderly need medicine.

Go Saints!

Things I Thought About While Driving

Let me get this straight. When Nelly had the Tip Drill video on BET Uncut, sisters all over America was staging boycotts against his shows and writing BET to the point where I think they decided to go ahead and cancel the whole show. How could those sisters shaking their bodies be worse than Flavor of Love, a show that almost every black woman loves? Were those 3 or 4 minutes of video more damaging than 30 minutes every week of watching women throw themselves at Flav's ass just to be on TV? Al Sharpton protests the Boondocks and not this garbage? I need to know where the movement is to get this off the air. We won't even get into College Hill and what that has done.

I can’t believe William Jefferson is down here running for Congress again. I am tired of voting for black politicians just because they are black and Democrat. If George Bush weren’t a lying, election stealing, useless war-making president and most Republicans weren’t mindless clones that just go along with whatever they hear on TV, I would vote Republican just to make a statement. My city has had black democrats in charge for the last 30 years and shit has gotten worse. That's because we are enamored with the fact this person is smart and educated enough to actually run for office and not what they are going to actually do once they get in there. It makes total sense when you think about it. Black people are the only group in the country that values how much we can get and how far away we can move from our neighborhoods over anything else. That's our interpretation of the American dream. It’s the way we show we have “overcome”. It's only right that we would vote for inept politicians that used to live in our community even though he or she probably couldn't name three people there now. It’s style and presentation over substance every time. Nobody knows this more than black politicians and that’s why they don’t do anything. We are conditioned to vote for them. Ask Ray Nagin.

Finally, I read all the time about the crisis of black men. That is very real. There are a lot of brothers in trouble. Young cats are staying out all night, shooting, dying, fighting and selling drugs with no respect or concern for anything. It's a vicious cycle. In order for it to be a cycle, the people involved have to reproduce. So who's having all these crazy thugs' kids? I hope in our focus to find out what's wrong with the brothers we don't lose track of the fact there are allot of sisters who live the same kind of life. If they don't live it, they at least endorse it through their affection. I'm not trying to blame them. It’s all part of the same game. I'm just saying that if deep in the hood the valedictorian in school was a brother, and he had the five finest women in his class fighting over him because of how well he reads, every guy in the neighborhood would at least go to class and try to learn something. You have to attack a problem this big from all angles at the same time.

I am a die-hard Saints fan but I have to point out the following: We are going to have a football game Monday and still don't have a public hospital open in the city. I don’t know if I should be excited, sad, or embarrassed.

100 More Days and Still No Plan

I know for a fact there are some people from New Orleans that read this blog. Since some of you are not home yet I am going to start out this blog out with something positive. I can honestly say that there are signs of progress everywhere in the city. Even the Lower Ninth Ward has a few signs of life. Everyday there seems to be more people on the streets than the day before. The only problem with this is that no one in city government can take credit for any of it. Mayor Nagin presented his “100 Day Plan” review yesterday and I have to say I was very under whelmed with it. His major achievements were water pressure, trash pickup, and more plans to come up with plans. That seems to be his second favorite thing to do next to free vacations around the world. If this was his first 100 days being mayor or 100 days after the storm I would be willing to jump on that progress train with him. Unfortunately he’s been in charge the entire time so that makes this whole 100 day presentation a joke in my eyes. What’s even sadder and disheartening is that all the major players on the committee were the people running against him during the election so that means they obviously wouldn’t have done a much better job either. The time for planning to make other plans has got to stop. We need to know something. At this point, I will accept a bad idea as long as it has some details to it. How can we be mad about the lack of federal funding when we don’t even know what the hell we are going to spend it on? It might actually be more frustrating to have the money to fix certain things and still see it not done. It’s my fault for being naïve. When George Bush said he would do all he could to help rebuild the city, I thought for sure there was going to be a week long meeting by city leaders to at least come up with a blueprint and ballpark figure. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to know what to ask for. Katrina messed up allot of things but the infrastructure in New Orleans was not great to begin with. This is the city of a lot of old things. I refuse to believe that the mayor and city council didn’t already have certain things they wanted to do around here before Katrina. Now, you have the opportunity to name what you want and I haven’t heard a thing. That tells me that no one planned on doing anything before the storm and they are not equipped to handle what has taken place after it. The only thing left for me to say is that its going to be a damn shame when I move back into my house within the next two months and there is no grocery store, park, school, or pharmacy within walking distance. The inconvience alone makes you want to pack up and roll out of here but I’m not. Leaving only gives them the excuse for being incompetent.

Pac's Passing.....Ten Years Later

On September 13, 1996 Tupac Shakur died from gunshot wounds he had suffered days before in Las Vegas. I am finally ready to admit that he is dead now and not in Cuba. I never wanted to admit he actually got killed. The reason is that I couldn’t understand why a person with so much potential and talent could act so careless with his life. He was too smart for that. Imagine all the cool things he could have done in the last ten years. For my generation, the man is a legend. He is the poster child for not giving a damn about the system and keeping it real at all times. Did he really keep it real? Or, did he conform to the same ignorant ideas that have young brothers scattered in blood all over the streets of America? It’s amazing how ten years can change your perspective on life. At 22 years old Tupac helped validate my frustration. Now at 32 I have a different outlook on it. There is nothing more depressing than a thug that knows he doesn’t have to be but still does it.
I had a friend that reminded me of Tupac named Renaldo. He was murdered in 1993. While I don’t know exactly why he got killed, I do know that whatever the conflict was he went out like the fake soldier he thought he had to be. I’m not trying to put down my boy at all. If something ever happened when I was in high school he would jump in front a bullet for me. He was a brave kid just like Pac was. The fake part comes in because even though he knew he could have been a Rhodes Scholar if he applied himself, he chose to live the street life. That’s the same thing Pac did.
If you listen to songs today, you hear allot of blind ignorance and glorification of the most self destructive behavior. Most of these cats act like there is nothing better in the world than being stupid. I always figured the lyrics to these type of songs played to two crowds, the suburban kids that are fascinated with the part of town they are not allowed to go and the lost souls in the ghetto that don’t know any better and think this is the blueprint for life. That’s why Tupac the artist and the man have been presented the wrong way. If you go back and listen to all of his music from the beginning you will hear serious social commentary. Even when he got with Death Row and wanted to kill everybody he knew there was a better way. Tupac knew exactly why kids were led to act the way they do. He even knew what could turn that around. He rapped about it and talked about it. He just didn’t choose to live it. That makes his life kind of tragic. The black community should take Tupac and make him the poster child for what happens when a brother knows the way around the trap and still steps into it. It’s been ten years and all the things he said in song back then still make sense now. Sooner or later we as black men have to start telling ourselves that keeping it real and being a soldier is getting us nowhere but right next to Pac, Biggie, Renell and all the rest of the potential great men that died too soon.


Clifton

Cliff's Mix Tape # 1

Let's go back in the day....high school if you don't mind...........

Back in the day before CD's and MP3's, I spent my nights listening to Papa Smurf on WYLD FM 98 in New Orleans and his Mellow Moods show. The thing to do was stop at K&B on the way home and pick you up one of those 90 minute Maxwell tapes, sit by the radio all night and hit the pause button early enough to get the beginning of the song and stop it quick enough so Papa Smurf wouldn't talk through the end of the song like he always did and mess up your mix. Nothing killed the mood on a slow jam tape like the sound of the DJ's voice. Anyway, If I had to make me a fresh tape right now. This is what it would look like. Now remember, a tape only held about 15-18 songs so if I left something off go buy your own tape.

Side A.
1. Pretty Brown Eyes - Mint Condition
2. Baby I'm Ready - Gerald Levert
3. Oh Me Oh My(I'm a Fool) - Aretha Franklin
4. Send for Me - Atlantic Starr
5. Sparkle - Cameo
6. Where do we go from here - Enchantment
7. Say Yes - Floetry
8. Funny How Love Goes - Phyllis Hyman
9. Drop Down To My Knees - Elate (Does anyone from New Orleans know where I can find this song?)

Side B.
1. If This World Would Mine - Luther
2. I Love You - Lenny Williams
3. Insatiable - Prince
4. Right and a Wrong Way - Keith Sweat
5. Is It a Crime - Sade
7. Candlelight and You - Chante Moore and Keith Washington
8. Turn off the Lights - Teddy P.
9. 12 Play - R. Kelly



You can dub a copy if you want to...But don't pop my shit!

Where Would I Be?

I am sitting here tonight at 12:15 AM in a small apartment browsing the internet on my laptop.

I just looked over to my cousin who is staying with me for a few weeks until he can find a full time job and some affordable housing and asked him the following question....

Do you ever think where you would be and what you would be doing if that storm hadn't came?

It's Wednesday, so I would probably be at my house sitting in the den playing an album and getting ready to teach a training class at my old office in the Red Cross building.

Maybe I would be sitting outside smoking a cigar and giving bones to Sandy.

Maybe I would be playing a game of pool on my table to relax.

Who knows where I would be....

I know I wouldn't be here......

You refugees understand.

Goodbye Crocodile Man

I was listening to the radio this morning on the way to work and there was all kind of joking going on about the Crocodile Hunter. I will admit that getting stung by a stingray is not a common way to die. Steve did some crazy things with deadly animals so no one is surprised this happened. I still can't believe he sat in that boat surrounded by the hippos or lay in the tree with all the komodo dragons. Regardless of how he died, I have a large amount of envy for the Crocodile Hunter. There are three reasons why.

1. Here is a man that loved what he did to the point he was willing to risk his life to save animals that would have eaten him in a second. How many people in this world have that much passion and affection for any creature including humans?

2. Secondly, he died at 44 years of age. I plan on living pass my 44th birthday but I am pretty sure that with all the places he's seen and cool things he got to do that he has pretty much out lived half the population in a short amount of time. The man swam in the ocean with a pool of sharks with nothing but his khakis short set. There is no strip club road trip to beat that.

3. Third, he may have been a little crazy and kind of funny, but he had the biggest set of balls of any man on the planet bar none! There is nobody reading this that would have went to Africa and got spit on by a cobra or sat in a canoe surrounding by hippos. Who knows the number of times he had to jump on top of a crocodile's back. Not even my grandpa would have done that and he was the baddest SOB I ever met.

Rest in Peace Steve.

I hope there is a jungle in heaven full of dangerous animals just for you.

In Case You Need To Sit Down

The picture above is the space where my grandfather's home in the Lower Ninth Ward used to be. There are very few houses left in the area as it appears they are being demolished daily. I have accepted the fact that even if the people were coming home, the majority of these houses were going to have to be torn down regardless. I only have one question and I think I speak for the majority of residents and families from this area.

When you guys tear down these houses and memories, why in the hell do you leave the steps and porches?

There is lot after lot of nothing but dirt and steps. I know those big ass machines can break up that concrete and haul that away too. I hope you are not just fu@#ing with everybody. Take the steps too please. We don't need to be reminded where the front door was. We already know.

Thank You

It's hard to lose all of your shit and not question yourself and your existence. For the last 365 days I have thought long and hard about whether anything makes sense. I had what I like to call the "Katrina Grand Slam". I lost a loved one, my pets, my jeep, all of my possessions and my family got separated. It's amazing that I could have went to every single event for any type of loss and sat in the victim's section. I tried to find the remedy to turn the corner on my depression and feeling of low self worth. Nothing seem to do it. Then the "anniversary" came along. Between yesterday and today I have had about 50 phone calls, emails and text messages from co-workers, ex-coworkers, colleagues, friends, ex girlfriends, ex supervisors, and even some people that just read my blog from time to time. They were all worried about me and trying to see if I was ok. Some of them were people I haven't spoken with in months.

You know......

After all the stuff I experienced and lost...

My people reminded me that I ain't such a bad dude after all.

Thank You

Ray Goes Off Again

If you want to read exactly what Mayor Nagin said about The World Trade Center you can click here to read it.

I don't want anyone that normally reads this blog to get alarmed..

I am about to defend Ray Nagin....sort of.....

He shouldn't have said what he said about the "hole in the ground". That was wrong and insensitive because so many people died that day. However, I do understand the point he was trying to make. It's been 5 years since 9/11 and lots of people that were affected have yet to recover. They also haven't broken ground on any of the new plans that were made for that spot.
So why does everyone think New Orleans is supposed to look like a paradise by now? Everyone knows he wasn't trying to put down anything to do with 9/11. It's just the only thing in recent American history he could compare Katrina to. If Nagin would have paused a minute and thought about it, I think he would have said something like this.

"Look, I know we don't have a clear plan in place yet but does has nothing to do with receiving money to clean up things. That would have to be done anyway. Secondly, it's pretty hard to get certain things done because the population has been displaced to the point where we don't know the location of half of the property owners. Third, where have all you assholes been to show that we haven't got the money to do everything we need and put some pressure on the feds? You ought to be giving credit to the local citizens for making this place look half way clean because no one in Washington has sent the calvary in to help."

The question that I want someone to answer is this....Am I not a damn American? My grandfather fought in the Pacific in WWII. My dad went to Vietnam. I know for a fact that three people within blocks of the house where I grew up have died in Iraq and a guy I went to high school with has also. All of my family and friends pay taxes. Why are the people with the money taking their sweet ass time with the funding? Afterall, the feds built the levees that messed up everything anyway. We are not looking for a handout, we are looking for the government to correct their mistake just like the people in New York were looking for after the FEDS let those bastards get on the plane and crash them into the towers. As an American citizen, I have had to sit back and listen to hundreds of people discuss the faith of my city like it is no more than a pimple on the ass of American society. Some of these people have insulted our culture, our personality, our intelligence, and our families and it's been ok to do because we are just the poor coon asses sitting by the bayou. Now, our crazy mayor gets baited into making one inappropriate comment out of emotion about the mighty New York City and all of sudden everyone from New Orleans is in the Taliban.

God Bless America!!!

A Lesson From Tiger

I’ve never been a big golf fan. Mostly because in my youth I viewed it as an elitist sport that no one from my neighborhood could afford to play. Then came Tiger Woods. Every time he is playing on the weekend I watch the tournament. I don’t watch for the golf though. I watch for the message in the story. I watch for the legacy of black fathers put on display at it’s best. I watch because even though I am just a working class brother, I totally understand Tiger’s sense of responsibility. Any black man with any admiration and respect for his daddy should watch and take pride in it too. See, every single weekend in front of millions of people around the world Tiger Woods shows his love for his daddy by the way he carries himself. Earl Woods spent years with his son practicing how to hit golf balls but during that time he also got him prepared to deal with the fact that whatever he accomplished on the course could be wiped out if he didn’t conduct himself in the right way. He had to make sure that he was such a man of character that people in country clubs that wouldn’t let his daddy take him to practice as a child would have no choice but to accept him and marvel at his ability. That’s what a man like that can give you. That’s what my daddy gave me. Honestly, there aren’t too many guys from my neighborhood that could deal with the different types of people I deal with on a day to day basis. Now I know it’s a partnership between parents and I am not trying to minimize what mama does. Most mamas do everything. I give all the love and respect to mom but I have to take time and give daddy his props. Black daddies hardly ever get all the butt kissing they deserve. They were interviewing Tiger Sunday between holes during the tournament and he said something that was very true. He said that everything his daddy said turned out to be right even if he didn’t think so when he said it. There are no truer words than that. For a father/son relationship there are three stages. The first stage is when you are a little boy and think everything he does or says is the greatest thing in the world. There’s almost a superhero quality to your daddy. The second stage is your teens and early 20’s when you just want him to leave you alone and look the other way so you can get into some things you shouldn’t. This is the time your daddy usually thinks something is wrong with you. Hopefully, if things go right you can get to the third stage which is when all the stuff he says starts to happen and fall into place. Dad goes back to being a genius and you both have a respect for one another as men. If you can give your son that then you should feel pretty good as a man. Here’s to all the brothers out there that have that connection.

Not A Day For Rhetoric

This has nothing to do with all the people who tried to help evacuees after the storm. I will always remember anyone who did anything to rescue and help. This is about all the people who are about to fake the funk in the next week leading to the anniversary. I was not going to write anything about the Katrina anniversary because I didn’t feel the need to give the event that kind of power and status. However, I went to a meeting this morning and read some things that aggravated me. After this, I will not act like Katrina is something I need to mark on my calendar every year.

I don't want to sound ungrateful or bitter with what I am about to say. We are coming up on the anniversary of Katrina in 11 days. There will be all kinds of media and leaders coming here to "celebrate" the anniversary of a naturally disaster that changed the lives of thousands of people. We live in a society today where most stories are blown out of proportion or sensationalized by the media. There has never been a story like Katrina that has actually happened inside of America so the media went crazy with it. When the media takes whole of a story like this you can rest assured that two things would happen. Conservatives will try to turn the victims into the guilty to hide their own incompetence and liberals will run down and take pictures with the victims to show their compassion.This is the reason why I am asking Governor Blanco, George Bush, Jesse Jackson, Minister Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and any other member of any organization or political group that had nothing to do with or live in New Orleans before the storm. I have to explain why I feel that way. For years I have followed the news and kept up with what's going on around the country. Before Katrina, New Orleans was a forgotten place on the map except for the few days out of the year for Mardi Gras. It was almost like we were our own country. I have witnessed some of the worst disenfranchisement in the world take place in the black community here BEFORE THE STORM. I never saw any of the people that will be here next week come around to help us out of it. What you saw in the Superdome was the end result of neglect not the beginning. As my friend Sherri once told me months before the storm, New Orleans was a city that you could drive through and visibly see racism and lack of opportunity. Then came Katrina and everybody had an opinion on why we were so poor and underprivileged. We were the poster children for public education and urban flight gone wrong. Even the beloved Lower Ninth Ward where I grew up was "the den of crime and poverty" as a Dallas newspaper described it. Then the media frenzy died down and they all disappeared again. We went back to being the crazy niggas that like to fight and dance in the street. Jesse walked everybody across the Crescent City Connection so we could vote. He should have gone to Washington D.C after that to find out where the housing money is or why some people live in houses without water. No one has been here to help us speed up the rebuilding process. No one has been here to find out why these young brothers are still killing one another. No one has been here to see why FEMA is being allowed to treat people like criminals when it was there office that messed up in the first place. Now you want to come down to sing a few songs and make a speech on August 29. Keep your speeches and your songs and help us get a good plan for the future. Help us make sure that the Corp of Engineers explain why the levees broke only on the New Orleans side of the system, fixes the problem correctly and pays for what it caused. If you can't do any of that then don't come down here for one day to get in the next Ebony magazine. Many New Orleans residents are still living the storm a year later. The last thing I think we need is a bunch of empty speechless and marches by some so-called leaders who are going to go back to their own cities on August 30 and leave us stuck. I may dog Mayor Nagin sometimes, but at least he was here. That’s the only way you are allowed to come here that day and talk trash.

Please tell me if I am wrong………….

Blogging to Keep My Job

Saying it here so I don't say it out loud...............

The restroom door is directly across the hall from me. It is shared by a few of the other agencies and doctors in this building. Some guy went in there this morning and sounded like he was bombing Lebanon. Can we get this room soundproofed? And does everyone hear me when I am in there?

In every office there is the person that wants to put a smart ass sign up for something that adults should already know. Over the newly installed kitchen sink is a sign that reads "Please wash your dishes. This ain't ya Mama's house." I know I am supposed to wash my bowl jackass.

Never ever ever send me an email with bold print and things underlined like I don't understand what I need to do especially if I am not the one that made the mistake. Look, I am young, gifted, and black. I already know the damn procedures. If I didn't these people wouldn't have given me a fake title and a set of keys to the storage room. You just don't get that being dumb.

Today is the very last day that I let my one leg director tell strangers that I lost all of my shit in Katrina. I'm not the lab rat or the refugee quota filler. I was here before all of that. The next time she does it I am going to kick one of her crutches.

Every time someone buys a get well card for a co-worker, they pass it around the office for everyone to sign. For some reason I always get the card last. You know what happens when you get it last? Everyone else has already used all the common cliches for well wishes and now you have to think of some original corny shit that sounds stupid, or you can just sign your name and look like you didn't care as much as everyone else. The only thing I came up with today was "To a super dude"..............I wanted to punch myself in the face.

And just because I am a husky dude does not mean that I want to move every piece of furniture in the office. Mike is 100lbs bigger than me and the last time we moved a desk all he did was slide the damn chair out of the way. My name ain't Kunta.

Scaring my way to Support George

I don't consider myself to be the biggest patriot especially since I saw people in government looking like a deer in headlights while my New Orleans people were stuck down here in dirty water. I am an American though and I try my best to support the troops, pay taxes, work hard and all that good stuff. I have been following politics since I was about 10 years old. What's going on right now is something I have never seen before. From my viewpoint, George Bush sucks as a president. I honestly believe that his foreign policy of not acknowledging anyone that he considers to be a terrorist supporter has made the situation worse in the Middle East. When you ignore crazy people they tend to do something for you to acknowledge them. That's why N Korea, Syria and Iran talk so much trash all the time. Their egos are big and they want attention. Bill Clinton used to talk to Yassir Arafat all the time just so the Palestinians would feel they were being taken seriously and maintain some calm. We went to Iraq to free a country that shows it's gratitude by burning American Flags and setting bombs for the soldiers. They act like they miss Sadaam. We also let Israel bomb the hell out of Lebanon and kill hundreds of innocent people just to chase Hezbollah and I am not even sure they weakened them at all. I won't mention the price of gas, the unemployment rate and we still haven't caught Bin Laden.

Here is my problem. Every time we get to the point where most Americans can agree that he sucks, some group of Islamic extremists get caught planning to blow up airplanes or some buildings and you almost have to get behind Bush enough to at least make sure these assholes don't get to do anything here. You can't even catch a plane with toothpaste and Afro Sheen in your carry-on bag. Pretty soon we will have to travel buck naked. Al Queda and all the other wannabe groups have done more for the Republican Party in this country than anyone. Americans can agree that gas is too high. We all don't like the fact that we call certain "local" companies and end up talking to somebody in Bombay India but I would rather talk to some Indian guy about my computer all day than get blown up on a plane headed to my vacation. Bush might be stupid but I don't think he would blow me up? If none of the Democrats can show they can lower gas prices, plus kick a little ass when needed we are going to end up with another four years of the same shit.

No Sympathy for Maurice

The popular belief is that young black atheletes are signed to these big colleges and make millions for the institution while getting nothing in return. That might be true in some cases but it's very difficult for me to feel sorry for Maurice Clarette. Here is a young man that was so highly touted as a football player coming out of high school in Ohio. He had people all around him that were willing to help him out and take care of him. In many cases they did. He could have had that whole state at his feet for a few years after winning the championship. All he had to do was take a few classes in P.E. and hang out until he was old enough to hit the draft. What does this dummy do? He gets arrested, starts all kinds of trouble and tires to sue the mighty NFL to get into the draft early. It's been downhill since then. Even after he messed up and pissed off the league, he was drafted in the third round by the Denver Broncos. How did he take advantage of his second chance? He came in overweight and was drinking Grey Goose in the locker room before practice. Now he's been arrested for driving with guns, a machette, and wearing a vest like he's Tupac.

It's hard to get out the hood under normal circumstances. It takes hard work, discipline and a little luck. The best thing that could happen to you is that you can be born with the physical gifts to play a sport that rich people love enough to pay you for performing. Don't think for one minute that cats like Shaq, Lebron, or T.O. don't count their blessings and realize that they could have easily been on a job interview somewhere trying to get an entry level position or one of these corners playing life or death games like so many other brothers. They were born with the golden bodies to take an entire family out of poverty. That's why I have no remorse, sympathy or pity for the fools who don't have enough sense to take advantage of the oppurtunity that they were blessed to have. I'm sure Jesse Jackson will go down to Ohio and stand by his side talking about how all of this happen because the NFL wouldn't take him a few years ago. Hell, if every black man that wanted to get drafted went crazy there really wouldn't be any of us left on the street. All of this is happening because he's a dumb nigga who didn't take advantage of the numerous chances the man gave to him. Regular cats don't get as many chances to come up big. These fools get many and still don't get it right.

Keep On Blogging

This blog is dedicated to Another Conflict Theorist and anybody else who takes the time to keep blogging.

Lately I haven’t been feeling like blogging that much. I even had a friend question whether I was just doing it as a way to voice my anger from Katrina. I have not been posting that much and I have been trying my best not to dwell on New Orleans too much. After reading the last post from Conflict Theorist I realized that I am not the only one that feels a little tired with the whole process.
Back in 2004 before the storm, MySpace and Yahoo 360, I was bored at work one day and started reading Funk Digital. I don’t even remember how I found it but I started clicking on the links section and I realized that the websites I was looking at were actually created by regular people just like who felt they had something to say. Since I always thought I could express myself pretty good I decided to start one of my own. I got hooked on it. I even got a few friends to start one of their own. I used to blog about anything and everything. Sometimes I would just put up a list of songs I was feeling at the time. Lately I have been waiting around for something that inspires me enough to write a long detailed post about something deep. I figured that was the only way for people to keep reading. I thought about it and I don’t think that’s true. When you have a blog like this you can’t judge it by comments or anything because its not part of a network of people like MySpace where you just add people randomly. This site is for me to express how I feel about what’s going on around me. I can’t worry about how many hits I have or comments because the fact is that I will never get as many as some body with pictures of celebrities or big booties. That’s the reason I am taking the hits counter down and I am going back to my old template because I love it. If you write about the world from your perspective you will find that there are thousands of people out there that share the same views you do. They might not all pull up your page and make a comment but you might inspire them to share a part of their own mind and then we can learn from one another. At the least you might get a good debate out of the deal.
I have been online in one way or another for years now and to this day I have not found a commercial site that expresses what I think as a young working/middle class black man today. The only way I found anything of substance was when the blogger phenomenon took off. It’s an unedited way for our generation to talk about all the things that mainstream media won’t publish. So with that in mind, I am about to start getting back to saying how I feel about all kinds of shit. It may only be a post about how driving through these potholes in New Orleans are like a real life video game. I hope you all keep writing too.

P.S.
Yolanda needs to write something.

Devastation Cracks Me Up!

Nagin drops plans for fireworks, comedy on Katrina anniversary

11:12 AM CDT on Thursday, August 3, 2006

WWLTV.com

Mayor Nagin has dropped plans to include a fireworks display and a comedy show as part of the memorial slated for the anniversary of Katrina.

WWL-TV

Mayor Ray Nagin

The plans, which were slammed by some critics, were simply part of a total package that Nagin said would have included somber reflection and a celebration of the cityÂ’s rebirth.

“The events came through a planning session,” he said. “This is New Orleans. We mourn funerals and at the end of the funeral we have a second line.”

Full plans for the one-year anniversary are still in the works but are scheduled to include a memorial mass and some citywide bell ringing.

I don't know why everyone down here is upset about our mayor planning a comedy show and fireworks to celebrate the worst day in most of our lives. I sit around with my friends and we laugh hysterically everyday at the thought of losing everything. Personally, when I think of my grandmother dying, my family homes being destroyed along with all my possessions, and my dog...I PISS ON MYSELF WITH LAUGHTER! Maybe I should call my sister who I haven't seen this year after the state fired her and all the other teachers like low wage immigrant workers. I might call my 87 year old grandmother who has to start over after the house her husband built for her 50 years ago was blown away so she can laugh too. Our mayor and his administration are so out of touch with the average citizen. They should have sent in the troops to remove their ass. We are in trouble.

What about the Levee Board and the Corps

Turnpike chairman out after Big Dig death

The gentleman above is Mr. Matthew Amorello. He is the former chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. He stepped down today as the chairman before a hearing to remove him after one of the Big Dig Tunnels collapsed killing 39-year-old Milena Del Valle . I respect Mr. Amorello and the state of Massachusetts for at least attempting to show their citizens that they have their best interest at heart.
I live in Louisiana. Last year on August 29, 2005 over 1000 people died when the levees in the area collapse. 49 of those people have still not been identified. As of now, no one from the New Orleans Levee Board, the Corps of Engineers, or any member of the state or local government has stepped down or been run out of office. Our mayor even got re-elected. No one has even had a hearing locally about any officials. It's good to know that somewhere in this country their is accountability. It's just too bad that I happen to live in a place where there is none.

Midnight Basketball Won't Keep Brothers From Fouling Out

The city of New Orleans is about to restart the midnight basketball program for young men ages 17-21. This is an effort to reduce the number of young kids on the streets and replace their guns with basketballs. The mayor, city council, and other community leaders believe that this will be a big step in reducing the amount of young men wandering around with nothing to do.
I have been trying my best to be an optimist these days. I am sure that this new program will go a long way to helping a few kids have something to do at night. However, we had midnight basketball before and there was no reduction in crime. The program will serve 180 kids. If you subtract them from the hundreds that have no direction, you will reduce crime by about .00005%. The reason why is simple. Crime and drug abuse is so much a part of the inner city that programs like midnight basketball and nights out against crime have no effect on the overall condition of the areas where most of the crime is happening. In New Orleans, drugs and crime are popular occupations. Many families are clothed and fed based on this revenue stream. That means it's a cultural thing. The kids and adults in this sub-culture are so out of touch that they are not going to play in this league. Most of them won't even know about it. The starting age for the league is 17-21. As a community, we are losing our children from the ages of 4-12. We all know the causes so I won't get into that. I do think there is a better way to fight crime then playing basketball. Instead of spending money on basketball for young adults, we should be trying to establish the following things to effectively reduce crime.

1. Equal education opportunities for inner city youth - This includes infrastructure and teachers. Suburban school districts recruit all the qualified teachers because they can offer more money and a better environment.
2. Mentoring programs for young men ages 5-10 - Because if they get to their teens without anyone that cares about them it's really too late.
3. Alternative education programs with an emphasis on job training. - Why are we still teaching our kids like everyone is going to go to college? Let some of these young brothers learn welding or construction in high school and give him a tool to earn a living.
4. Early childhood development programs for the kids and their mothers.- If mama can't read then the baby won't either.
5. Recreational programs for all neighborhoods- It can't cost that much to make sure that every park is at least clean and the grass is cut.

Of course, I am no expert. There are people who have way more education than me making these decisions. They are probably more qualified than I am. The only thing I have to go on is living in the same community for 32 years and watching it slowly turn into a place with little emphasis on youth development, education or family values. I have watched all that neglect morph into what we have today. If that counts for anything then I guess I am qualified. I hope the league does well. I might even go to a game or two. I just hope that my beloved city leaders have something else in mind to change some of the things going on down here other than basketball and the National Guard.

Just Ice--Going Way Back

I still know all the words.......For all the pioneers I'm going way back. Who wanna battle?

Salt and Pepa on Soul Train

Taking It In

You know those days when you go outside on your front porch, drink some kool-aid and watch the hood do what it do. That's what I have been feeling like the past few weeks. I'm just sitting up and watching things happen. I don't have enough to say to write a whole blog about any of it. Sure, I see it happening. I seen George Bush trying to fool the NAACP with that wack ass speech. I saw it get so hot in the country that if a hurricane would have hit the gulf right now it would have been a category 8. I see Israel kicking Lebanese ass and the U.S can't say anything because they did the same thing in Iraq. Terrorists are worse than Be Be Kids. They don't die, they multiply. I even seen where there are several other cities looking to bring in National Guard troops since New Orleans did it. Apparently, we are not the only crazy negroes in the country. We still haven't seen Mayor Nagin or Bishop Morton anywhere in the hood but at least they finally picked up the damn cars. In the middle of all of that I got to see some of my family and some old friends. I also got to go to the spot and overpay for drinks then I danced with someone who was probably unattractive but everyone looks the same after the fifth boilermaker. Some things are getting back to normal. All I need now is a BBQ grill and football season. There are only a few things that I need to address.

The fact that my co-worker won't speak to me because I refused to put 7.00 in an envelope to pay for a going away gift for a person that I don't even know. When I leave a job, the only I need to take with me is my check and vacation pay. Seven dollars should have been the total from everybody.

Brothers, please stop coming to your wife/girlfriend's job to hang out while she is trying to work. The young sister that works security in this building gets a three hour visit from her husband every damn day. He parks his Chevy truck right in the fire lane and they hang out like it's the lakefront. She needs to be focused on her responsibilities which must be talking on the phone and watching DVD's on her portable player in the lobby all day, not talking with him outside. At least her aunt and her friends come and sit inside to feel the air conditioner. What makes you want to hang out at your wife's job anyway? Unless she works at Club Rumpshaker and you get free drinks as long as she is dancing its no fun at all.

Listen, if you know someone that's been a crackhead for a long time, they are probably going to stay one unless they get some serious help. Now, if you marry the person without getting them some help, don't call me and tell me how wonderful things are going and then turn around 6 months later crying about how it all fell apart. You know I will be there for ya and everything but this is getting ridiculous. You can't marry someone that's been high since the 8th grade, give them a FEMA check and expect them to stay clean. You might as well just buy him an IV machine from the hospital and make it easier for him. Stop calling me.

Other than that I am chillin. I can't wait for something really exciting to happen. A good evacuation would be nice. Then there is always the day Tupac decides to come back from Cuba or Chuck D starts the revolution for real and punches Flava Flav right in the face. Until then, I'm sitting here browsing clips on Youtube and enjoying a sip of cognac.

Iwas reading this story on BlackAmericaweb.com today. You can click here to read it. It's all about how much money was squandered by Homeland Security after the storm. I went to every local TV news website looking for this story and couldn't find it. Conversely, when the story first came out about the locals using the money on a drink or two it was all over. I think I feel comfortable enough now to make the following statement. Although all news media has a slant against black people. There is no city in the country who's media takes more pride in making black people look bad than the city of New Orleans. It's like Bill O'Reilly is the executive producer at every station.

Rakim on YouTube

The most addictive site ever!

Stay Away Essence

For the first time the Essence festival was held outside of New Orleans last week. Houston had the honor of hosting the event this year thanks to the hurricane that starts with a K. From all the reports I heard, the fest just wasn't as good as it usually is. That's probably because New Orleans stays wide open until sunrise so there are hundreds of parties to go along with the concert that last all night. You can literally party until it's time to hit the airport when the festival is here. The locals here believe that this is one of the reasons that they will come back for good once the Superdome is back up and running. Because of what happened and the fact that they don't want to appear to be abandoning the city, I expect them to be back at least for next year. Personally, I hope the Essence Fest never comes back. If the Bayou Classic didn't have two teams from Louisiana, I wish they wouldn't come back either. Maybe they could play in Shreveport. I will be happy to explain why.

Since Hurricane Katrina, no one has really cared about the black community of New Orleans. The state hasn't done anything and neither has the city. If Essence wants to do something for the black citizens of New Orleans it will tell the state that it is not coming back until a detailed rebuilding plan is in place. This is a city that will have an NFL game in September but doesn't plan to open a fully functional public hospital until 2011. Somebody has to show the political and business community that you can't treat us like second-class citizens and then expect us to come and save you financially because we like to party past 2 AM. Susan Taylor needs to call mayor Nagin and tell him they are moving to another city unless someone acknowledges the need for better conditions and does something about it. Losing Essence money won't hurt the black community of New Orleans. We can't get any lower than we are right now. It's not like they were going to devote any of that revenue to rebuilding the city. The majority of that money ends up going to the state anyway. The city makes most of its money on parking tickets and towing brother's cars and that money will be used to cut the grass and prune the flower beds on St. Charles St.. Plus, French Quarter businesses treat us like crap every other day except for Essence Fest and Bayou Classic. Even on those weekends they jack all the prices up.

The funniest thing about the state of Louisiana is that they depend on tourist coming to New Orleans to marvel in all the food, art and music that blacks created yet they don't really care how they are living. Our own people don't need to take part in that.

Stay away Essence and make a statement!