Vision Circle

Mental Health

OK, after a meeting I decided I need a mental health break, so I went out for lunch. Since I was in a mall, I decided to check out Batman Begins. This is the best in the series, both in the actor to play Batman, and in the story. I give this a rating of 9 out of 10.

On the way home, I turned into a talk show and the hour's guest was Gregory Kane.

The host and Kane were deriding something called "Ethnic Math". Now, I have no idea what it is, what is behind it, or if it works or not. But what I do know is that it set me off.

I called in, got through the call screener and was placed in the top of the queue.

I asked Kane why is it that he doesn't spend more time show casing that Blacks aren't total screw ups. Why is it that "Black conservatives", who claim that "Black liberals" only show that Blacks are pathetic people looking for a government hand out, don't show things like The Algebra Project, or Black Professional Men, or 100 Black Men, etc.

I asked Kane, directly, why he doesn't write MORE about them? He replied that he has written about Ted Coates, to which I responded that I asked why he didn't write MORE about such groups.

He was someone lost for words at that point. And I admit at being a bit animated in my speaking. The host thanked me and disconnected me.

When they returned, Kane wasn't saying anything but the host was saying, essentially, that bad news always gets reported and its bad news that makes for good talk show topics.

Make of it what you will. Too bad I'm not a gamer. I'd put on GTA or some such thing and go off.

Vision Circle Podcast pt. 1 (Acting White)

A few of us through the web have been thinking about podcasting some of our conversations. To an extent this is part of a larger brand building exercise. It's also an attempt to put voices to our writings. And it's part of a much larger effort to build networks of trust, and to build a new grassroots media initiative. let us know what you think. there's more to come.

Vision Circle Podcast #1.

Black Voices

My latest column for Black Voices looks at Tavis Smiley's Black Empowerment Summit a few months later.

Lock Him Up For Life, Or Else

Charges Against Teen Upgraded After Dog He Allegedly Raped Dies

SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA (FOX Carolina News) - A Campobello teen is accused of raping one neighbor's dog and another neighbor's two little girls. Now the dog has died and charges against the teen have been upgraded.

After receiving word that the dog died possibly because of the rape. Fox Carolina called the Solicitor's office to see if now new charges would be filed against the teen. An hour later Solicitor Trey Gowdy called to say that the charges will be upgraded to the "most serious animal cruelty charges they have on the books."

Sudan

From Nat Hentoff

I partially understand why President Bush, clearly a man of decent instincts, is no longer publicly, passionately condemning the Khartoum government. Sudan's intelligence agents have been providing the CIA with valuable information on terrorists in Muslim countries.

Moreover, they have actually gone after Al Qaeda suspects and turned them over to us.

This alliance with mass murderers and rapists is the very definition of realpolitik, but at what price? Not only with regard to the world's definition of the United States, but also to our definition of ourselves? As Leonard Rubenstein of Physicians for Human Rights asks: "How many people will have to die before we do enough in Darfur?"

Salih Booker, executive director of the Washington-based Africa Action, says: "The President of the U.S. has recognized that genocide is occurring, but apparently there are more pressing matters requiring his attention. We must ask, what could possibly be more pressing than genocide? Unless there is an immediate international intervention in Darfur, up to a million people may be dead by the end of this year."

Black Professional Men

Black Professional Men, Inc.

Mission

What is Black Professional Men, Inc.?

Black Professional Men, Inc. (BPM) is a nonprofit organization based in Baltimore, Maryland and established in 1991 to address the social, economic and political awareness needs of the African-American community, especially those of the African-American male.

Why do we exist?
Statistics on our community weigh heavily on the negative side. Whereas, the positive images go unnoticed or are given a small portion on the last page of the newspaper.
According to reports, African-Americans have $400 billion in purchasing power.
However, that $400 billion purchasing power leaves the African-American community; thereby, creating economic empowerment for other communities.
There are many laws and legislation enacted that directly affect the African-American community. However, many African Americans are not involved in the political process.

An awareness of social, economic, and political issues empower the African-American community. Through our efforts, these issues are addressed.

If you are interested in membership then contact or join us at one of our monthly meetings which is held the second Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. at the Boy Scouts Headquarters, 701 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21211. You may use MapQuest.com to locate our monthly meetings. Navigate to either "Online Maps" or "Driving Directions" and key in 701 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore, MD as your destination.

Robbin' Hood

It seems that anywhere one looks, there are countless stories of educators taking from the till. Rich and poor school districts alike are undermined by these thieves. Whether you're poor in DC or paid on Long Island, some teacher/administrator/ is pimping the public for all he/she can get.

It's too easy to "demonize" the students. It's not as if they're blind. They are surrounded by moral decay - and wonder why they should follow rules that are not obeyed by the very people who would be their "educators."

The Way they Do My Life

As Father's Day fades away, NYC readers were greeted with news of opulence, greed and envy. It seems that big bucks are the order of the day. I won't rush to judgment with an opinion on this in either direction - but $250k is alot of cheese. It will be interesting to see how this is handled in the judicial system. Mr. Combs may decide that the legal fees are not worth the pursuit of his definition of "justice."

Father's Day

I remember the first time I heard "Song for My Father" by Horace Silver. I couldn't have been more than five years old. My grandfather played it, and other old school classics, religiously. We never got a chance to talk about its meaning to him. Could've just been another song. But today reminds me how important fathers are. Not in crass Singltetonian sociological sense. I know plenty of men who grew to be fine men and fine fathers without having fathers around themselves. But in the sense of...well, again, pictures say it best. Dad, Mr. Mason, Bill, Chris, Steve, Mark, Marlin, Doom, Joseph, Sam, Darius, Stan, Jeff, Ernie, Chuck, Dan, Orrin, Louis, Robert, Ben, Kurmell, LaRoi, Rob G., Caurn, Will, Reg, Frank, RayShawn, Curt, Bird, Mike O., Todd, Tyron, Sel, Rudy, Harwood, Mike Minta, Ralph, Bowen, Craig, Ed, M.A.N., and those I missed, Happy Father's Day. I don't as a general rule celebrate it...but I'm warming up to the idea.

Negrorage

Riddle me this, what is the meaning of “black” (the adjective) in your theory of interpersonal communication?

The same as the orthodox meaning of "church". Black is a communion of persons participating in the emergent interpersonal properties arising from our unique protective and developmental psychological adaptation and social configuration in America.

Nietzsche would've understood black; Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

Nulan,

Are you so obsessed with "data", "facts", and "information" that you have turned a deaf ear to what is coming out of the mouths of the Black folk?

Spence asked for data to corroborate your position brah. What data there is, doesn't strongly support your contention(s).

Leaving that minor point aside, my interest is strictly applied and empirical. You see, I eschew economic sophistry in favor of direct engagement with energy and infrastructure, ideology in favor of psychology, and direct interpersonal engagement with black people in favor of abstract argumentation about the nature of the same.

In my 42 years of unrepentant blackness, the only time I've ever heard the accusation that I'm "acting white", was from the mouth of the elderly white woman who ran the pre-school program I attended in Wichita Kansas. This woman told me I was excessively assertive. She went on to say that I acted like a little white boy..., my mother had a life-changing conversation with this woman.

In a discussion of culture there are no "facts", there are only "interpretations". Are you a business major or an engineer or something? Is that why you seemingly love numbers so much? It is obvious that each one of us is convinced of their own claim and are therefore disdainful of proof.

I'm conversant with science and technology. My abiding interests lie elsewhere, however. IMOHO, all useful discussion must be rooted in practical experience of the thing discussed. As Nietzsche asserted in Die Götzen-Dämmerung

One chooses logical argument only when one has no other means. One knows that one arouses mistrust with it, that it is not very persuasive. Nothing is easier to nullify than a logical argument: the tedium of long speeches proves this. It is a kind of self-defense for those who no longer have other weapons.

"NR has no data. Look through the awesome expanse of verbiage he has produced and you will quickly see an immense and ultimately hollow exercise in verbal logic. By allowing symbols and symbol manipulation to completely stand-in for data and for the meaning of experiences of black interpersonal communion -and conflating the former with the latter two...., NR has gotten himself lost and egoically invested in the exercise."

Wow. Your ad hominem critique and brilliant psychoanalysis of me notwithstanding, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed.

Did I lie?

"Data" does not give meaning to culture. For the most part, culture is largely symbolic anyhow.

NR, once again I believe you've overthought the problem. We are a group of persons participating in..., got it? Nothing symbolic about that.

When Smith and Carlos put on the black gloves in the '68 Olympics.... was it "data" that compelled them to do so?

Black enthused those brothers in that moment. [en-thumos "god filled"]

I'm sure they were in the back after the race doing some hellafied number crunching when they decided, "You know what? According to these figures we need to go out here and put our fists in the air with these black gloves on." I suppose that you would say here, that statistically speaking, a cultural symbol of Black Power needed to be represented at the Olympics at that particular time in '68. Culturally speaking, "data" and "facts" do not provide us with an objective meaning. Its the distinction between "facts" and "values". Two people can look at the same "data" but then have wildly different conclusions with regards to the "meaning" or "value" of those "facts". In order to give "meaning" to any "fact" you have to subjectively apply "value" to the "fact". One person looks at the U.S. Black prison "data" and makes one conclusion (racist system, etc...) while another person looks at the same "data" and makes another (Blacks are more criminal, etc...).

You've wandered off into hyperbole brah..., bring it back down to earth.

I assume you follow Temple3 in believing that "blackness is about the multiplicity of ways of being". Now, in your esteemed opinion, is there an order of rank among these sundry ways of being in such a way that we could objectively say that one way of being was superior to the others?

Did I answer this to your satisfaction at the outset of this post?

Apparently you seem to think so, since you "have equated high black culture with orthodox Christianity". And I assume that you hold "high" culture in opposition to "low" culture.

It's a question of mass and density. I'd consider 1957 an historical inflection point in the mass and density of black community. This is, however, an admittedly sentimental notion.

The "highest" Black culture is the Black culture in which "acting White" doesn't exist. (You'll say, "Where is the 'data' which proves that acting White exists in the aggregate?" --even though countless people have heard it said countless times in their neighborhood.) The "highest" Black culture is the Black culture in which moral judgments are not made across phenotypical lines. Egoic investments aside, your obsession with "data" blinds you to what is coming out of the mouths of the Black folk.

NR, it's not a part of my experience. The gravity of my blackness may have immunized me against the possibility of ever hearing such a thing. Hang in there brother, my objective is to demonstrate to you that there is a simple, literal alternative to the abstracted constructions of blackness you've interrogated here-to-date.

Steveland Morris

I'm still waiting...

The Scoop on Ben Wallace

ESPN's Scoop Jackson recently cobbled together a few words about the engine that drives the Pistons...

LKS, you are right...Wiley is missed...there are a number of places Scoop could have with this, but does not bring it home because...

he argues that Wallace makes white America comfortable in ways that Iverson never could, but says that his look (ostensibly the same as Iverson's) is what America and the NBA are afraid of...I don't think so (more below). I don't know that black folks aren't offended by white people wearing afros. The fact that white folks haven't caught a beat down in the Palace doesn't mean they won't catch a beat down in Greek Town or rolling out of The Joe. The Palace is a LOOONG way from the D. Still, Wallace's popularity does tug at the mythical American work ethic...

but, here again, how does Scoop J reference African labor in America without mentioning slavery explicitly. Jackson writes, "America, also, is a country built by black folk. From the cotton woven into the shirts we wear down to the concrete laid on the roads we travel, this country in large part was built on the backs of people like the ancestors who gave birth to Ben Wallace." The issue is not labor, but uncompensated labor, state-sponsored terrorism, and institutionalized practices to preclude capital formation or land tenure by Africans. Perhaps this was simply a stylistic choice by Scoop. Maybe. Nonetheless, this topic presents an opportunity to link Michigan's own John Conyers calling for reparations? 'Cause there's more to this than meets the eye. After all, it is the salary of athletes and entertainers that stands as one of white America's loudest, albeit weakest, counters to Conyers' appeal.

From a political standpoint, Big Ben is the strong, silent type. Contrast him with a guy like Mahmoud Abdur-Rouf (birth name Chris Jackson). He rose to national prominence for refusing to stand or face the flag during the national anthem. Since being white listed from the league, his house was firebombed and he has had no opportunity to restore himself to the NBA. He was absolutely the BEST scoring guard the NCAA has seen in decades...Prior to his embrace of Islam (fasting for Ramadan), and evolving Tourrette's Syndrome, he was an unbelievable on-court talent. He had "in the gym" range on the jumper (good out to 30+ feet), the quickest release in the game, a sick handle, and he was a good on the ball defender. So, his legacy is significantly different than that of Iverson or any other player still in the league.

His article got me to thinking about cats who are persona non grata in the NBA. Aside from Mahmoud Abdur Rouf, I came up with Craig Hodges (also Muslim), Kermit Washington (KO of Rudy T - back in the day...and I will say that had Rudy T grown up in any hood - he would know better than to run up behind someone engaged in a fight, regardless of his intentions...ya just don't do it...hell, I knew that in 2nd grade), Kareem Abdul Jabbar...and that's about it...the rest of the outsiders linked to drugs (usually given an infinite number of rehab shots). It's interesting that this league with so many Africans in its employ has taken such a neo-Bull Connor approach to these four men. Rick Barry is a fifth outsider worthy of mention. It seems the story on him is that his ego precluded folks from wanting to work with him...

Wallace doesn't really make white folks comfortable in a way that Iverson never could. Rodman makes white folks comfortable in a way that Iverson never could. From wearing a dress to kicking black cameramen in the balls to the creative hair coloring, Rodman epitomized the Black man posing the smallest threat to white folks. Ben Wallace is hardly that. Ben Wallace could well be "the spook who sat by the door." And, so, insecure, absurd white folks can wear Afro wigs and root and cheer, but beyond the confines of the hoop and the hardwood, Wallace is his own man - with his own mind.

The media would have us believe that anyone wearing tattoos and cornrows is a thug - and yet, the two hardest working men in the league (Wallace and Iverson) have embraced this look. Iverson is as popular in Philadelphia as Wallace is in Detroit. Iverson may not be popular with certain members of the media, but he is certainly a draw across the league. Until D'Wade's emergence in Miami, Iverson's jersey was a top-seller. Hard work is it's own reward and only small minds really believe America is really afraid of tattoos and cornrows. After all, in how many arenas of public/private/incarcerated life do tattoos and cornrows hold sway? It is limited by any measure. All of this notwithstanding, Big Ben is attractive to national and regional firms: EA Sports NBA 2K5, Ford...and more sure to follow - if he wants that - which is a question.

Is it the symbol or the substance? After all, tattoos and cornrows (or even a wedding dress)won't get your house firebombed and it won't get you banned from the league.

A Thought

Let's say I have a child in public school.

Let's say that my child brings home copies of pages to read from a book every night. Let's also say that the teacher makes those copies instead of sending home a book with each child because the school "doesn't have enough money to buy books for every child in the class."

Why should a parent of that child in the school care about the following quote from Walter Williams?

"if money were the answer, Washington public schools would be the best in the nation -- if not the world. Per student expenditures are $10,500 a year, second highest in the nation. With a student-teacher ration of 15.8, they have smaller-than-average class sizes. What is the result? In only one of the city's 19 high schools do as many as 50 percent of its students test as proficient in reading, and at no school are 50 percent of the students proficient in math. At nine high schools, only 5 percent or fewer of its students test proficient in reading; and in 11 high schools, only 5 percent or less are proficient in math."

If the parent is not in D.C., is it most likely that the parent will only care his child doesn't have a book because the school lacks money?

Lifting Up By Tearing Down

Today I was in a meeting when my mind wondered and then an interesting thought came to me.

I keep harping on the fact that public "Black conservative" commentators, present mostly negative about the Black community and hardly ever anything positive.

In doing so, there is always the tearing down of "Black leaders" and it seems to go hand in hand with the effort to "build themselves" up.

From the bits and pieces I saw of Tavis Smiley's "Black Summit", it appeared to be more of an affirmation of what can be done. From what I saw of Jesse Lee Peterson's summit on CSPAN, it was nothing but a full frontal attack on "Black leadership". In fact, one Black conservative noted the "attack mode".

Just recently I attended a “Black Conservative” forum in Washington, D.C.. I was expecting or really hoping for inspiration, some direction and good networking opportunities. As I sat, watched & listened I was disappointed as I saw “Brothers” that I highly respect slump to what I considered to be pitiful mediocrity. It would be one thing if this were a unique instance, but on a regular basis now I am seeing black conservatives become something that I do not find particularly attractive. And I know that if I am struggling with it, those outside the fold are finding it even harder to want to join us.

I believe that it might be a case of abused child syndrome. You have a child raised in a home where one or both parents are alcoholics, and abusive. The child grows up swearing it will never grow up to be like that, then fast forward 20-30 years and they have become exactly what they hated. Black conservatives appear to be headed in that direction.

[Side note 1: Alvin Williams didn't show up for the event. This caused Jesse Lee Peterson to call the man many names, none of which dealt with being a child of God.

Side note 2: I have an "internet history" with the commentator that I referenced and it is not pretty. In the past I've found him to be intellectually dishonest. He was a member of the "Black conservative" email list that I was on. ]

Cobb, who I have much respect for, has stated that he attacks the NAACP because they "suck the air out of the room".

I disagree. They provide nothing to public discourse. For example, they provide no new information on vouchers and they sway no opinions on the matter. They don't suck up the air. They are inert.

But my wandering mind brought to light something of which I have a strong dislike: Building yourself up by tearing down someone or something else.

Then, temple3 stated something that I have been mulling over for some time now. If "Black conservatives" have not been able to sway more people in their direction, maybe it is because they "tear down" others to "raise themselves up".

I've noticed that liberals get the "feeling thing" and "utopian thing" going, even if the logic behind their ideas quickly breaks down. But, they are going for something affirmative. Of course, this breaks down lately as many have seemed to lose their damned minds. But I think the generalization holds somewhat.

Maybe on that last part I'm wrong, but if I am, I'm not far off. You see, it's the same thing J.C. Watts said when he was in office about Republicans attitudes towards Blacks. He said, paraphrasing, that Republicans tell Blacks what they are against, but what are Republicans FOR?

See, a positive affirmation. Yeah, that's what's missing.

Inviso

As soon as you try to catch blackness and set it within predefined borders...it moves. But I'm repeating myself...

Brand Black

NitroMed has asserted..,

An FDA Advisory Panel has approved their assertion..,

both contrary to known genetic fact, and baseline ethical understanding..,

that blackness is substantially more than shared cultural identity - and they're intent on telling you what you think. Cause it's an equally well-established fact that if you repeat a lie often enough and for long enough, it becomes a truth in consensus reality...,

Ways of Being

One love peoples.

Simply, Blackness is not a singular way of being, but it is a way of being because it is a metaphor for identity; and identity is lived (dynamically, and in relationship to other identities) - and not a literal expression of culture. We should really move beyond these discussions of whether or not blackness or "authentic blackness" or "blacker than thou blackness" is monolithic or even subject to the dictates of any one of us. We arrived from a multiplicity of places...we arrived speaking a multiplicity of languages and embracing a multiplicity of beliefs.

For me, the primary legacy of slavery was that Africans lost the power to provide security. In the absence of security, we have been unable to stabilize our institutions, build wealth or reinforce culture through indigenous ownership of media (newspapers, television, film, radio, etc.). Hence, there is not a single industry that is dominated by blacks, nor are there sufficient wealthy individuals to begin to institutionalize the cultural practices espoused by the likes of Cosby. Wealthy folks like Cosby do not provide enough jobs to black folks to modify behavior in the manner of a Henry Ford or a John D. (pimpin' hoes like John Dewey).

In the absence of internal coercion or external pressures (read pre-1965 Jim Crow stuff), folks splinter and seek individual benefit or go for self, as it were. Those actions and the resulting diversity are not necessarily expressions of blackness, but I believe those are VALID expressions of ways of being black - precisely because being black is about context - identity is about context. The question of authenticity or validity or right or wrong seems misplaced - because what are we to do? It seems the choices are to become a self-conscious agent in your life or to proceed along a continuum of pre-selected options that may or may not serve you, that may or may not connect you to other black folks, that may or may not connect you to white folks, that may or may not compel you to live abroad, etc. That is the life we all lead - some choose a Cartesian approach to life that puts it all in play as a question...that is atypical - regardless of "racial identity." And so, this self-selected group of blog heads appears to have found one another through a somewhat Cartesian approach.

I read through the NR piece about a thing to be vs. a way of being and I can't get there. I understand the concept...but blackness is about the multiplicity of ways of being...and besides, I believe you are what you say you are. If you say you're black, then you are - regardless of "how you act" because we've got it all in the collective...and if you say you aren't, then you aren't regardless of your actions and your phenotype...because if you don't vibe with someone, that is the end of the ballgame...if you do vibe, then it's all good. I don't vibe with Sowell and negro apologists because I think they're hired guns with small brains, but I like my man Stanley Crouch - not word for word, but I don't like my daddy word for word - and I don't have to.

I would define blackness as the manner in which people create(present-future), use(past-present-future), and reinforce(past-present) or reject(past-present-future) shared elements of a collective identity, embraced in whole or in part by members of the African diaspora and continent. This manner of creating, using, reinforcing and rejecting is a way of being that is manifest in millions of different ways - but there are many appreciable "singularities."

A final share: I went upstairs in my office building to grab a bite to eat. I starting talking to one of the brothers working in the cafeteria and the conversation got around to Magic Shave. He starts talking about how his father kept a butter knife in the bathroom - and of course, I knew what he was talking about because my father keeps a butter knife in the bathroom, as do I. This is one item of shared identity between black men that would never be a topic of shared conversation across "racial" groups. It is unique - but obviously not all black men shave their heads...not all black men have a runway atop the dome...that does not marginalize my experience or make it any less real - just as my cousins proficiency in physics, calculus and writing should not marginalize him - it will only do so to the extent that he becomes less than the man he is supposed to become. Academic excellence did not push Paul Robeson to the margins. It didn't push me to the margins.

Blackness is a metaphor for our shared cultural identity - some elements we share to a greater or lesser degree. To the extent that one does not identify with any collective of black folks on any cultural level (ie. doesn't like black men or women as partners in romantic or social relationships; prefers white performers in music, dance, art and theatre; filters phenomena through various white lens, etc.) what is the point in claiming blackness...it becomes an intellectual exercise - an affirmation of phenotypic resemblance - but it has no value...That is an extreme example, but the point, simply is that few people live at the extremes of any opposition.

Life has never been about "a thing" - it's always been about "humans being" more or less humane to one another and their "surroundings."

Strive Baltimore

Strive Baltimore

Based on a model developed by the East Harlem Employment Service, STRIVE Baltimore is an intensive job readiness and placement service. The three-week training blends self-examination, critical thinking, relationship building, affirmation, learning and teaching with practical skill development and two-year post-graduation monitoring. Since the program began, 75 percent of STRIVE Baltimore participants have graduated, and 79 percent of graduates have maintained employment. Through STRIVE Baltimore, more than 300 clients have found jobs with area companies.

STRIVE is the name of thirteen community based organizations in New York City that employ STRIVE's attitudinal training methods and job placement and retention components. Together they comprise the STRIVE Employment Group (SEG). STRIVE Baltimore also includes national centers in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, each of which are independent, non-profit organizations. Together, STRIVE centers annually secure employment in the public and private sectors for over 3,000 people.

Mo' Black Leadership

So a comment on Cobb has me somewhat torqued. And the comment can't get past a filter, so I'm putting it here and trackin' back.

I think he did answer your question, DarkStar; he simply declines to be constrained to answer it in a manner demanded by you. Because the question includes a presumption he doesn't accept, right?

Wrong, but thanks for playing.

Look at all that I wrote:

Why is that that "Black conservatives" and conservatives in general, in denouncing "Black leadership", never promote the people and organizations like those listed here, as being "Black leaders" or being representative of the Black community or the strengths of the Black community?

Note the bolded part?

I'm not pulling this question out of thin air. It's based on LONG TIME observations as well as taking part in a past "Black conservative email list" where they, THEMSELVES, were asking each other the same thing.

Look, I saw a dang near civil war over the 1st Trent Lott and CofCC association mess on that email list. What blew me away was a list of self proclaimed Black Republicans saying the same things about themselves that Black Democrats say about Black Republicans. When "sellout" was flying between them and when the phrase "Black CON-servative" was used, from a Gingrich staffer no less, I took notice.

So back up. I'm not constraining anyone. And I don't ever expect a straight forward answer from Cobb, based on experience. And that's not a bad thing, that just is what Cobb is.

I don't accept that Blacks are not mainstream. I've traveled outside of the country enough to know that line is garbage.

A separate nation is foolish. A separate agenda is NOT foolish but will never happen because the Black community is not monolithic; radicals, conservatives, liberals, apathetic, all have a place in the mix.

I recognize and say that the civil rights battle has been fought and won and the next needs are economic and moral. You pick the order of importance.

Straight up, the questions about Black politics are annoying on all sides. I'm not being wishy washy or a "stick my finger in the air and see which way the wind blows" or whatever slander some conservatives place on those who proclaim the "moderate" label. BTW, I proclaim no label.

Straight up, it's all b.s. and I call 'em all on it. "Both sides" are equally pessimistic, negative, and degrading of the Black community. Neither show the positives going on. And as a parent who has one on the cusp of standing on her own damn 2 feet, and another just on the breast, I don't have the patience for the garbage being spewed.

When a proclaimed liberal calls a man like Clinton a brotha and gets cheers, and Fox News proclaims a semi-literate, race pimp reverend named Jesse Lee Peterson a "Black leader" while at the same time denouncing the label "Black leader" and the need for such, some Blacks need to stand up and call people on their b.s.

Yeah, I called Jesse Jackson a punk some years ago. And I just called Jesse Peterson a race pimp. What other man of God would say that if a person wants to get saved, they should not go to a Black church? No, he didn't say a particular type of Black church, but any Black church.

Yeah...
I'm pissed.
I'm sleep deprived 'cuz the new baby has "cholic", plus the ish is hitting the fan on the "9-5".

It took WHITE CONSERVATIVES to point to good goings on in urban schools across the country. Something REEKS about that.

Breathe....

Presumptions my fanny...

The Tyranny of Progress

It seems that we all lose a little perspective along the way. Then again, that works both ways. Grandparents hate hiphop and loved the juke joint. Parents hate hiphop but got "Between the Sheets" with them boys from Teaneck (Isley's for the "new"). I was going through a list of TOP 10 Power Forwards in the history of the association and thought I'd share.

So I got ta thinkin' that based on an entire career - and its current trajectory, I don't have much of a problem with this list...

but I also realized that too few of the "glamour" players have played this position and authentically established themselves as valuable. It's hard to get love as a grunt in the league.

The position has become sexier with the likes of Barkley, Coleman, Webber, Wallace, etc. Back in the day - it was all man-style...and that made me laugh. Ain't no way in hell Garnett is better than Elvin Hayes. As much as I like KG and respect his athleticism, the Big E would have chewed him a new one - EVERY time out. So, I can forgive the commentators their folly.

Life or death, gotta have one guy for one game??? - I'll take McHale. He's fouling you out...he's blocking shots, he's getting fifteen rebounds - maybe more...and HE'S MAKING HIS FREE THROWS...first guy in league history to shoot 60% from the field and 80% from the line. I'll take that any day.

Niara, an Elder, and Blackness

On a site I just got hipped to, a younger brother rails against blackness as a state of Being. As an ontological state. We're on very different sides, he and I. Take for example this:

At bottom, it is pure jealously and envy which drives them to fear and resent you. This I will vouch for. This is my cultural gift to you. I offer you this counter-discourse as a symbol of cultural good-will. But I should like to give you a new name for them; a much simpler name. Let us simply call them what they are: weaklings. They are those who would esteem mediocrity and all it’s cultural tenants as the defining characteristics of our culture. Had they been given the chance, they would have long since crowned mediocrity as the king of culture and placed it on the throne to rule over us all. At bottom, they seek to destroy culture; and art right along with it. At their core, these envious weaklings seek to kill all cultural possibility for the individial U.S. Black: it shows when they look at you with their envious leer; a look you know all-too-well.

Now I'd actually argue this position in reverse. That is, those people who are constantly in the position of defending themselves against claims that they are acting white are too weak to do much of anything with in the way of cooperation, initiative, loyalty, and praxis. Their sense of history is usually skewed, and their sense of themselves is usually inflated. Just like the majority of whites, not coincidentally.

The Speed of Sound

Over at our companion blog Cobb someone asked me to describe the black way of being. There are a whole host of works that deal with this question...but I think perhaps the best way is to simply SEE it. Like here. The whirling dervish? One of the younger Morgan State bruhs...the Ace off of the 03 line I think. Or just go here. I spend a great deal of time on Flickr. I'll be uploading more pictures as I see fit...blackness is something to be seen as much as it is to be read.

Study counters beliefs about illegal immigrants

Drive by: First read this on Booker Rising.

Went to this blog to read his take on it.

Then went to the article, for which you must register.

Study counters beliefs about illegal immigrants

By Jessie Mangaliman

Mercury News

One quarter of the country's 10.3 million illegal immigrants have some college education and live with families, shattering a stereotype that this sector of the population is made up of poorly educated single men who work menial jobs, according to a national report released Tuesday.

...

Passel's report dismantled another widely held assumption: Only 3 percent of the undocumented immigrants work in agriculture. The greatest numbers, 33 percent, work in the service industry.

So much for the "Blacks won't work" bull.

Hat tip: Booker Rising

Black Leadership

Why is that that "Black conservatives" and conservatives in general, in denouncing "Black leadership", never promote the people and organizations like those listed here, as being "Black leaders" or being representative of the Black community or the strengths of the Black community?

Of Chancellors, Education and Threats

Today, I attended a forum sponsoring by the New York State Board of Trustees. The forum was subtitled, "A Call for a Summit on New York Education." The primary goal is to improve the overall performance of students, while closing what is referred to as "the achievement gap." The "achievement gap" is a euphemism for the disparity in quantitative measures of academic performance between "races."

During the session, I had the fortune this afternoon of hearing the Chancellor of the City University of New York, Matthew Goldstein, refer to the rapid growth of degrees in math and science to students in China and India as a national security issue for the United States.

Of course, Blacks are classified as a threat to national security - and have been since the formation of the nation. Educators act as if there is no accord on this...Americans have never been so united on any topic as the idea that Blacks constitute the principal danger in America. Therefore, can you rightly conceive of schools providing a dnagerous group with keys to succeed in math and science. Nothing could be more preposterous.

What Goldstein implied, but did not say is that national security is at stake because the ACHIEVEMENT GAP between WHITES and ASIANS will not be closed any time soon. The implications for the US of dependency on the intellectual capital of Indians, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Pakistani and other studets are dire. Nonetheless, no worse scenario can be imagined than an American dependent upon the intellectual success of Black Boys to stem the rising tide of Asia.

What an endarkening conversation. No one mentioned this for the rest of the day. Goldstein could not stay and expound on his pearl. His busy calendar intruded. The paradox of America's present dilemma is hilarious...there will be no salvation in the academic dedication of white students. The sense of urgency cannot be implanted into this generation. They will continue to lag behind and bemoan the loss of jobs to brown and yellow hearts and minds who are simply BETTER. To borrow from The Matrix, "[t]hat Mr. Anderson, is the sound of inevitability."

The balance of the "conference" consisted of the most child-like recommendations to create support groups and blah blah blah. Would love to hear suggestions about how to MODEL/REPLICATE/FINANCE extensive programs to GEOMETRICALLY INCREASE the number of black grads in math and science. Thoughts?? It's a matter of collective security.

Community Organization Shout Out

Do you know of a community organization dedicated to addressing issues in the Black community?

If so, let's hear about it right here.

If they have a website or just a snail-mail address or just a telephone number, let us know.

Petroleum Scorched Earth

According to the NSA intercepts, Petro SE was devised by the Saudis because of their overriding fear that if an internal revolt or external attack threatened the survival of the House of Saud, the U.S. and other Western powers might abandon them as the Shah of Iran was abandoned in 1979. Only by having in place a system that threatened to create crippling oil price increases, political instability and economic recessions did the royal family believe it could coerce Western military powers to keep them in power.

Huffington Post provides extensive additional detail..,

Makani Themba Nixon

The Praxis Project is the brainchild of Makani Themba Nixon. One of the central questions I've been trying to answer during my adult years--in my scholarship and in my work--is How do you give people the capacity to organize themselves? It is clear to me that the answer is not by calling millions of people together with nothing more in common than the desire to see black people "free." Rather it is by organizing at the local level and taking both the successes and failures and use those to engage in a larger discussion. And then creating activist primers, that give local communities not only the belief BUT THE TOOLS to fight their own battles.

What the Iraq fight really costs us

Niall Ferguson clearly sees that the obstacle to ''winning'' in Iraq is our reluctance to do what the British did in 1920: deliberately escalate attacks on civilians. And because, unfortunately to him it seems, the ''humiliation and torture of prisoners have not yielded any significant benefits,'' he is left with only one last proposal. We must maintain an occupation by bribing underprivileged immigrants to be mercenaries.

That Americans will not accept these solutions is not a military setback but an advancement of our morality.

Mr. Ferguson's suggested course of action would only prove what history has shown, and what the British and the Iraqis can attest to; it would prove all that I've known since my brother, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Iraq last year: these conflicts are not marked by winners and losers, but by irreversible tragic acts against humanity that are embedded in the souls of the affected.

Dante Zappala
Philadelphia, May 25, 2005

Niall Ferguson gave us a measure of that reality this week in a New York Times op-ed piece. Ferguson, a professor of history at Harvard, argued that to defeat the insurgency in Iraq and establish a modicum of stability there would take one million U.S. soldiers and possibly 30 to 60 years.

The very least our government can do for the armed forces and the nation is to admit the true price of war - James Klurfeld - May 27, 2005

As we begin a long Memorial Day weekend, the least we can do is finally, even at this late date, be honest about how difficult and costly the war in Iraq is going to be for the men and women fighting and dying for us there.

Niall Ferguson gave us a measure of that reality this week in a New York Times op-ed piece. Ferguson, a professor of history at Harvard, argued that to defeat the insurgency in Iraq and establish a modicum of stability there would take one million U.S. soldiers and possibly 30 to 60 years. That contrasts to the 138,000 soldiers there now and a prevailing belief that we will start to draw down troops next year - before the midterm elections.

Ferguson bases his estimates partly on the British experience in Iraq after World War I. The British, he says, put down an insurgency with a troop to population ratio of 1 to 23. The ratio there today is 1 to 174. He points out that the overwhelming number of British troops came from India, a type of manpower resource Washington doesn't have. And Ferguson says that many liberals in the United States don't grasp how high a price the United States will pay, in terms of its own security, if the mission fails and Iraq falls into civil war and chaos.

Even if you believe that Ferguson's estimates of manpower and time are high, the overall point is sobering: There has been and continues to be a tragic mismatch between the Bush administration's reach and its grasp. The administration grossly underestimated what it would take to make Iraq whole after the invasion. In fact, there were reports this week from a top meeting of U.S. military officials that the plan to start withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq next year is premature given the deteriorating military situation.

With the sharp escalation of bombings and new military operations, in fact, it looks as if we are at another one of those forks in the road in Iraq. The January elections have not led to any lessening of terror in the country, just the opposite. And the role of the United States - how long our troops will be there and in what numbers - is as uncertain as ever.

A just-released book, "Losing Iraq," by David L. Phillips, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former State Department official, details how the Pentagon's civilian leadership willfully ignored detailed reports about what it would take to reconstruct Iraq. Phillips argues that much of the post-invasion chaos could have been avoided with better planning and a more realistic assessment of what was required.

This, of course, is the argument the Democrats made against President George W. Bush's handling of the war during last year's campaign. But since Bush won the campaign, the general attitude seems to be that the administration's mishandling of the reconstruction was either a phony political charge or, even if true, is now irrelevant. They won the election, so shut up.

That just can't be the case. There are Americans and Iraqis dying in Iraq every day, and the prospect is that the insurgency and the deaths from it will continue to mount. To me one of the great mistakes the president made about Iraq was not being honest with the American public about what the cost of the invasion and reconstruction would be. The danger was always that if things turned out to be much more difficult than the administration indicated - and that is clearly the case - the public would not be willing to stay the course. It's the lesson the administration should have learned from Vietnam.

If Ferguson is at all right in his assessment, the administration still isn't matching resources with mission. Either the mission is important enough to get it right and do what it takes, or we should be out of there.

Yes, there are some good signs in Iraq. The elections went far better than many had believed they would. There is a political process now as various parties begin to try to write an Iraqi constitution. There are beginning movements toward democratic forms of governance in the region. But the best reading is that this is all very delicate and could come crashing down, especially if there is no security inside Iraq.

Memorial Day is a time to remember and pay tribute to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our security. It should also be the time that we give an honest assessment of what the men and women who are prepared to make that sacrifice now face in our latest battle for freedom.
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc

Big Pimpin DeLay Stylie

Tammany Fall
When Tom DeLay became majority whip in January 1995, he and Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, initiated the K Street Project, a plan to force lobbyists to hire only Republicans and raise money only for Republican candidates. It was based on the assumption that, by monopolizing political contributions from business, Republicans could preserve the congressional majority they had just won. But DeLay had his own stake in the project. By controlling the flow of these contributions, he could enhance his own power within the party. That, after all, was how he had defeated Robert Walker, Speaker Newt Gingrich's candidate for whip--by raising and dispensing over $2 million during the fall election to Republican House candidates.

Inquiring minds want to know which if any members of the CBC attempted anything so audacious back in the day when democrats actually called some shots on capital hill?

As a first step in tightening ties between corporate America and the Republican Congress, DeLay convened a meeting of lobbyists in early 1995 to write legislation that would freeze new government regulations on business. DeLay's success that year in getting the House to adopt this legislation and in waylaying the Clinton administration's ergonomics regulations cemented his ties to a group of lobbyists who would become his "kitchen cabinet."

Then, in 1998, as he was assuming de facto control of the House from an embattled Gingrich, DeLay began to threaten firms and trade associations that refused to replace Democratic staffers with Republicans. When the Electronic Industries Association hired former Democratic Representative Dave McCurdy as its president, DeLay held up copyright legislation it had lobbied for. And, in the spring of 1999, after a court ruled against Microsoft in an antitrust suit, DeLay let Microsoft know that, if it wanted Republican support, it should hire Republican lobbyists and fund Republican candidates. Recalls one high-tech lobbyist, "The [GOP] leadership was pretty much saying that, if we are going to bail you out, what are you giving to those [Democratic] guys for?"

The pressure worked. Although the Electronic Industries Association retained McCurdy, it made him a figurehead and put the actual lobbying work into the hands of two conservative Republicans. Microsoft began hiring Republicans and giving the bulk of its contributions to Republicans, including DeLay. (During the 2004 election cycle, for instance, Microsoft gave DeLay's PAC the maximum of $10,000.) By the late '90s, lobbying firms and trade associations were coming to DeLay's office to have their new hires cleared.

That's when DeLay took the K Street Project one step further. He didn't just get lobbying firms to hire Republicans; he got them to hire his former staff. Through these staffers, DeLay created a network of lobbyists, political consultants, and conservative activists who did his bidding. The ex-staffers on K Street didn't act like conventional lobbyists, who represent the interests of their clients. When DeLay staffers left his office for K Street, they continued to represent his interests as well as those of their clients. They would tell businesses how to please DeLay--and that meant funding him and his political operations. And, in addition, they would aid and oversee the organizations that he was developing to enhance his power. The result was the rise of a political machine reminiscent of New York's Boss Tweed or Mississippi's Theodore Bilbo.

That machine is one reason DeLay, now the majority leader, has continued to amass power over the last decade. With its assistance, he has raised much more money than any other House member, ensuring loyalty and obedience from his fellow Republicans. But DeLay's relentless drive to power has created a continuing temptation to sell votes, exceed campaign funding limits, and cloak greed in the guise of charity or education. DeLay, like Tweed and Bilbo, has repeatedly succumbed to this temptation to bend the law. That's why, as clouds of scandal gather over DeLay's office, the same political machinations that contributed to his rise to power may finally lead to his downfall.

ince 1984, DeLay has employed about 300 people in his congressional and leadership offices and about 75 more on his campaigns and at his political and charitable organizations, including Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (armpac) and the DeLay Foundation for Kids. Working for DeLay was a plum assignment for ambitious conservatives, but many left after three or four years, with DeLay's blessing, to become lobbyists and political operatives.

Indeed, lobbying firms competed intensely for top DeLay staffers. Says one high-level Republican lobbyist for a trade association, "There is always a premium for people coming from [the congressional] leadership, and DeLay has run a tighter ship, so that has put a premium on contacts with people who serve in his office." After the lobbying firm Williams & Jensen landed former DeLay Chief of Staff Susan Hirschmann in 2002, National Journal termed it "the biggest hiring coup of the year."

Since the late '90s, 29 DeLay alumni have acquired major lobbying positions on K Street. (That dwarfs any other leadership office. Speaker Dennis Hastert, for instance, has six former staffers on K Street.) Together, they represent around 350 firms and institutions, including the bulk of the country's energy firms, the giants of the finance and technology sectors, the airlines, the auto manufacturers, the tobacco companies, and the country's largest health care and pharmaceutical companies. Former DeLay staffers also represent 13 of the biggest trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, and the Information Technology Industry Council. Microsoft, for instance, has retained a host of DeLay alumni, including nine lobbyists from the Alexander Strategy Group, which former DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham founded in 1998 with a huge initial contract that DeLay secured from Enron. (The group also paid DeLay's wife a salary for several years.)

A few former staffers went to work for other House members or senators before leaving for K Street and are more clearly identified with them than DeLay. But most DeLay alumni trumpet their association with the majority leader. The Alexander Strategy Group's website sports a quotation from "Ed Buckham, partner, former chief of staff, Majority Leader Tom DeLay." The former staffers call themselves "Team DeLay," and, after DeLay's legislative director, Drew Maloney, quit to join the Federalist Group in 2002, he convened a meeting of ex-staffers every six weeks. One attendee, former Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Rudy, who is now with the Alexander Strategy Group, told National Journal, "There is a lot of discussion about how we can help Republican candidates and expand the majority." As for DeLay, Rudy added, "As long as he wants me, I'll be there for him." (DeLay, as well as Buckham and Rudy, did not respond to interview requests for this story, and former staffers who were interviewed insisted on not being quoted.)

DeLay's former staffers have also migrated to conservative Republican organizations. These include several high-powered communications firms. Former Press Secretary Michael Scanlon heads Capital Campaign Strategies, which is known as the partner of former lobbyist and DeLay crony Jack Abramoff in bilking American Indian tribes. Former DeLay Director of Communications Jonathan Baron's Red Sea LLC handles polling and media relations for armpac, Republican candidates, and the Club for Growth. DeLay alumni also occupy key positions in the Christian Coalition, the International Republican Institute, the National Right to Life Committee, the Home School Legal Defense Association, the Traditional Values Coalition, and Concerned Women for America.

DeLay has alumni throughout the Bush administration, including the White House and the Commerce, Justice, and State Departments, too. In January 2004, after reaching an antitrust agreement with Microsoft on its browser, Internet Explorer, the Justice Department appointed Patricia Brink, who had served for ten years as DeLay's press secretary, to oversee Microsoft's compliance. Asked whether the appointment could reflect DeLay's influence, one lobbyist commented, "I think that was a significant choice."

In the House, DeLay pushed Hastert, who had been his deputy whip, into becoming speaker in 1998 and nominated Missouri Representative Roy Blunt to succeed him as whip when he became majority leader in 2000. Many of their key staff are DeLay alumni, including Hastert's director of operations and Blunt's deputy chief of staff and director of floor operations. DeLay also has staffers in high positions in at least eight other House offices, including that of Republican John Boehner, who, along with Blunt, is often mentioned as a possible successor to DeLay.

These connections--and lobbying ties in particular--have allowed DeLay to dominate the relationship between K Street and the Republican Party. When pharmaceutical companies wanted a prescription-drug bill in 2003 that would not force them to bargain with the government over prices or to compete with imported drugs, they worked through a broad coalition organized by Hirschmann. The pharmaceutical companies also hired five other former DeLay staffers to lobby, including three from Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group. When energy firms wanted to pass a provision that would retroactively limit liability for manufacturers of mtbe, a toxic gasoline additive, they hired Maloney. And, when tobacco companies wanted to keep the Food and Drug Administration from regulating their industry, they looked to former DeLay staffer Karl Gallant at the Alexander Strategy Group.

DeLay almost invariably came through for these lobbyists and their clients, badgering and even allegedly attempting to bribe Republicans who didn't want to back the budget-busting prescription-drug bill, blocking the Bush administration's energy bill because the Senate version didn't limit mtbe liability, and killing a provision in a tobacco bill that would have permitted FDA regulation. His success redounded in fund-raising receipts. During the 2004 election cycle, two tobacco companies, R. J. Reynolds and Brown and Williamson, gave the maximum $10,000 contributions to DeLay's PAC. Energy companies contributed $143,425 and pharmaceutical companies $106,000 to DeLay's reelection campaign in the cycle.

ut DeLay's former staffers not only raised money for his campaigns--all lobbyists have their clients give money to politicians they want to influence--they also helped fund and staff his PACs and a succession of shadowy groups that intended to advance DeLay's personal agenda and preserve his power in the House. These efforts have proved enormously remunerative, but they have also contributed to the scandals and investigations that have dogged him.

The heart of DeLay's fund-raising has always been armpac, which he founded before the 1994 election to buy support from fellow Republicans. Initially overshadowed by Newt Gingrich's gopac, it became the leading House Republican PAC after Gingrich resigned. Its directors have played musical chairs between DeLay's offices and the Alexander Strategy Group, to which, at one point, armpac paid rent. After DeLay became majority whip, he recruited tobacco lobbyist Gallant to head it. Gallant was succeeded in late 1997 by Buckham, who also set up the Alexander Strategy Group, where Gallant went to work. In 1999, Jim Ellis, who worked for the Alexander Strategy Group, succeeded Buckham as armpac's director. Buckham and Ellis (along with Abramoff and later Hirschmann) became DeLay's principal political advisers.

ARMPAC was wildly successful. From 1998 to 2004, it raised $14.3 million, which it dispensed to the National Republican Congressional Committee (nrcc) and Republican House members. But DeLay was never satisfied with armpac, which had to disclose its contributors and limit the size of their hard money contributions. So, after the 1998 election, DeLay, Buckham, Ellis, and Gallant set up three dubious fund-raising vehicles: the U.S. Family Network (usfn), Americans for Economic Growth (AEG), and the Republican Majority Issues Committee (rmic). Usfn and AEG were registered as tax-exempt "social welfare" organizations that didn't have to report their contributors but did have to devote the bulk of their time to nonpolitical activities. The rmic could participate in politics but couldn't back specific candidates. All of these organizations were supposed to be independent of DeLay, but DeLay's lieutenants ran them on his behalf. Usfn, run by DeLay's former campaign manager, Robert Mills, seemed designed to subsidize DeLay's political operations and Buckham's lobbying. It raised over $1 million from five donors, which it used to purchase a Washington, D.C., townhouse for armpac and the Alexander Strategy Group and a 15-year lease on an MCI Center skybox (presumably to entertain clients and donors). In 1999, the nrcc--whose chairman, Representative Tom Davis, owed his position to DeLay's support, and which hired Buckham as a consultant--sent the usfn $500,000, most of which it funneled to AEG for ads in congressional races. The FEC later ruled that the nrcc was trying to avoid rules on the use of corporate money by laundering it through the two organizations and fined it $280,000.

DeLay shut down usfn and AEG after the 2000 election and rmic soon afterward. But he wasn't finished with questionable ventures. After the 2002 congressional election, when new campaign finance rules took effect barring members of Congress from raising soft money, DeLay's hand could be seen in the establishment of the Leadership Forum, chaired by Hirschmann and launched with a $1 million grant from the nrcc. And, on the eve of the Republican convention last August, DeLay established a "charity," Celebrations for Children, which planned to use the money it raised to entertain lobbyists and politicians at the convention.

But, of all DeLay's ventures, the one that has gotten him in the most trouble is Texans for a Republican Majority (trmpac). In September 2001, DeLay and Ellis established trmpac to help Republican candidates win control of Texas's House of Representatives in the 2002 elections, so that they could vote for a new congressional redistricting plan that was aimed at replacing seven Democratic incumbents with Republicans. Trmpac raised $1.6 million for Republican statehouse candidates, but at least $600,000 of trmpac's funds came from corporations. That's against Texas law, which forbids corporations and unions from funding state campaigns. Last September, a grand jury in Travis County indicted Ellis and two co-workers, John Colyandro and Warren Robold (who came from armpac).

DeLay denies that he had any knowledge of trmpac's fund-raising, but the entire operation was geared toward attracting his donors. Trmpac's fund-raisers went after not only Texas companies, but also firms like Kansas City- based Westar Energy Corporation, which didn't have any special business in Texas but wanted to buy favors from the majority leader. And DeLay's former staffers from K Street were brought in to involve DeLay in the fund-raising.

One of these ex-staffers was Drew Maloney of the Federalist Group. In June 2002, Maloney organized a joint armpac/trmpac golf fund-raiser featuring DeLay at the Homestead Resort in Virginia. It included several energy companies interested in limiting mtbe liability and Westar, which wanted a special exemption from public utility laws. In an e-mail to another former staffer, Chris Perkins, who was working for armpac, Maloney explained that Westar was giving $25,000 to trmpac on the understanding DeLay would champion its legislation. And, after reportedly asking Westar executives what they wanted, DeLay did so. DeLay later drew an admonishment from the House Ethics Committee for appearing to sell his vote to Westar.

As the Travis County case and a civil suit by former Democratic Representative Chris Bell, a victim of DeLay's gerrymandering, have proceeded, e-mails have surfaced linking DeLay directly to trmpac through his ex-staffers. In one e-mail, Maloney told Robold that he had two checks from Reliant Energy that he would give to DeLay to convey to trmpac. "Will deliver to T.D. next week probably," Maloney wrote. In another, Robold asked Colyandro to draw up a list of the top ten potential givers. "I would then decide from response who Tom DeLay others [sic] should call," Robold wrote. These and other e-mails could provide the basis for indicting DeLay. At the least, they add further detail to the picture of DeLay as an accessory to corruption.

eLay has, of course, been dodging investigators and civil suits since 1999 without any apparent reduction in his power. Up until this year, his notable successes--for instance, winning the Republicans six additional House seats from Texas--increased his clout. But DeLay's accumulation of misdeeds, most of which grew out of his attempt to create a political machine that would put lobbyists and their clients at his service, may have finally stalled his drive to power. Facing a panoply of ethics charges, DeLay's influence has begun to wane.

In the face of new charges against Delay, the House voted earlier this year to repeal the changes in ethics rules that were adopted last November at DeLay's behest--and which would have allowed him to keep his leadership position even if indicted in Texas. DeLay also failed to block a bill relaxing government rules on funding stem-cell research. Says one influential Republican lobbyist, "You would not think that, if he were at the height of his powers, the stem-cell bill would have passed." Only a handful of DeLay's colleagues showed up at a tribute that the American Conservative Union held for him in Washington on May 12. And Republicans, who once coveted DeLay's backing, are now worried about suffering from a "DeLay factor" in November 2006.

Social conservatives like Paul Weyrich and James Dobson of Focus on the Family have stood solidly behind him, but other conservatives have begun to waver. The Wall Street Journal's editorial page has criticized DeLay for ethical lapses. And even his closest conservative allies are distancing themselves. Norquist, while insisting that DeLay has not been weakened by the scandal, tried to dissociate DeLay from the K Street Project. "Not to be critical of DeLay," Norquist says, "but this is an outside project where we have raised the importance of hiring people who understand economics." Norquist showed up briefly at the tribute to DeLay but left before the dinner and the speeches.

There has also been a sharp falloff in DeLay's fundraising. Contributions to his legal defense fund have plummeted, even as DeLay's legal expenses have mounted. In the last quarter of 2004, DeLay raised $254,250. In the first quarter of this year, he raised only $47,750. Contributions to armpac may also be falling off. In its FEC filing for the first months of this year, armpac listed $386,252 in contributions. In a comparable filing for the first four months of 2003 (also at the beginning of an election cycle), armpac listed $446,223 in contributions. (According to FEC records, DeLay also loaned his congressional campaign $100,000 this spring.)

DeLay could still rebound, or he could be forced out as Gingrich was, allowing Blunt, who is being groomed as his successor, to take up where he left off. But, in the growing public disquiet with congressional corruption--which is reminiscent of the early '90s--there are clear warning signs to DeLay and to Republicans. In trying to introduce the kind of political machine most commonly found in postbellum Mississippi or Tammany New York City, DeLay may have damaged not only his career, but also the Republicans' grip on Washington.

Shyness Tied to Junk Genes

Social behavior, such as shyness and boldness, may be shaped by seemingly unimportant DNA often referred to as "junk" genes. The study, published in this week's issue of Science, is the first to show a link between junk genes, otherwise known as microsatellite DNA, and social behavior in different species.

hmm..., let's detonate a little more gasoline on the combustible myth infecting what passes for rigor among the freakonomics schoolies, stoolies, and chindroolies..., boys and girls, ignore the hypeman and instead pay attention to genomics and big pharma...,

Seemingly Unimportant DNA May Shape Social Behavior

By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News

June 9, 2005 -- The difference between a social butterfly and an introverted recluse may be in the genes. But it may be the genes that scientists least suspect.

Researchers say the findings indicate that social behavior, such as shyness and boldness, may be shaped by seemingly unimportant DNA often referred to as "junk" genes.

The study, published in this week's issue of Science, is the first to show a link between junk genes, otherwise known as microsatellite DNA, and social behavior in different species.

"The variability in the microsatellite could account for some of the diversity in human social personality traits," says researcher Elizabeth Hammock, of Emory University, in a news release. "For example, it may help explain why some people are naturally gregarious while others are shy."

Researchers say the findings may also lead to a better understanding of human social behavior and disorders such as autism.

Genes May Affect Shyness

In the study, researchers looked at how microsatellite DNA affects social behavior in male prairie voles, a type of rodent.

Previous research has shown that the male prairie vole is highly social, forms lifelong attachments to a mate, and shares parenting duties with the female. But the closely related montane vole does not bond with a mate nor contribute to parenting duties and seems socially indifferent.

To see if these differences may lie in seemingly nonfunctional genes, researchers bred two groups of prairie voles with short and long versions of the junk DNA.

When they examined the behavior of the male offspring, they found that microsatellite or junk DNA length affected gene patterns in the brain. These changes corresponded to differences in social behavior.

For example, males with long junk DNA had higher levels of receptors in the brain involved in social behavior and parental care. These moles were more likely to form bonds with mates and spent more time with their offspring than those with shorter sequences in this DNA.

"Because a significant portion of the human [genetic makeup] consists of junk DNA and due to the way microsatellite DNA expands and contracts over time, microsatellites may represent a previously unknown factor in social diversity," says Emory researcher Larry J. Young, PhD, in the release.

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SOURCES: Hammock, E. Science, June 10, 2005; vol 308: pp 1630-1634. News release, Emory University Health Sciences Center.

Peak Oil and Humanity

This is a free book in the form of a Power-Point presentation that is comprehensive, well done, and quite accessible. Illustrations and easy dialogue coupled with statistical data make for an effective presentation suitable for those unfamiliar with the issue(s).

Roland Fryer and Acting White

In a paper written with P. Torelli, Roland Fryer tackles the dreaded "acting white" syndrome. If you were to look at the press coverage of the article, you'd expect that Fryer and Torelli's paper breaks the back of the unbelievers--people like me, Ed Brown, and Dunovant.

Nope.

So on a suggestion from Dunovant I take a look at technorati for the first time (recognize, I'm not a blogger...I'm a scholar who blogs).

Marginal Revolution? Gets it wrong.

Lockjaw's Lair? Gets it wrong.

The California Patriot blog? Yep...them too.

I don't really feel like going through the entire list (which wasn't half as long as I thought it would be...Earl made it seem like there were HUNDREDS). But I'm willing to bet that the entries are all...off. Just like the ones above. I don't know whether these readers are clueless or something else is going on.

Here's the skinny. The paper's findings toss out the two most prominent theories of acting white--John Ogbu's oppositional culture theory, and McWhorter's theory (which actually is more of an anecdote than a theory). Fryer's argument is that there is a two stage signalling process occurring, where the things needed to succeed in the labor market are juxtaposed against the things needed to be popular. Getting information about both things, causes one to have to choose--be popular or be able to get a job.

His findings suggest that this dynamic really only occurs in ONE setting--integrated public schools with small black populations. It doesn't happen in private schools. Doesn't happen in majority black schools.

There are some problems with the paper. Perhaps the biggest one they cannot deal with. If the problem of 'acting white' is one that only occurs in schools where blacks represent a minority then they would have to deal with the possibility that the market itself is gamed. If we assume that the smartest students are the ones most likely to be in honors and ap classes, we have to think about the possibility that ap class spots are being allocated based on something other than merit. The political dynamics of the school setting should somehow be accounted for.

"Acting White", Yet Again

P6 started it up by pointing out problems with this article on an "Acting White" study.

Check out the comments section.

Have You Made Up Your Damn Mind Yet?

On or about memorial day, I linked an American Milestone.., Much discussion has swirled around a cluster of issues related to this over at P6 - it collapsed to something very succinct today;

Quoth P6 - Our foreign and economic policies are one and the same

Is this something that a black partisan can get with, or, is it a moral and cultural abomination that we should oppose?

Large Smelly Object in Punchbowl NOT a Baby Ruth Bar

Looks like John Conyers may be getting a little much-needed air support for his efforts to point out that the large smelly object in the neocon punchbowl is not a nutty, chewy, baby ruth bar after all...,

A simmering controversy over whether American media have ignored a secret British memo about how President Bush built his case for war with Iraq bubbled over into the White House on Tuesday.

At a late afternoon news conference, Reuters correspondent Steve Holland asked Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair about a memo that's been widely written about and discussed in Europe but less so in the USA.

It was the most attention paid by the media in the USA so far to the "Downing Street memo," first reported on May 1 by The Sunday Times of London. The memo is said by some of the president's sharpest critics, such as Democratic Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, to be strong evidence that Bush decided to go to war and then looked for evidence to support his decision.

The Sunday Times said the memo is the minutes of a meeting that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had with some of his top intelligence and foreign policy aides on July 23, 2002, at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence. The story said the memo indicates that Blair was told by the head of Britain's MI6 intelligence service that in 2002, the Bush administration was selectively choosing evidence that supported its case for going to war and ignoring anything to the contrary. The war began in March 2003.

"Intelligence and facts were being fixed" by the Bush administration "around" a policy that saw military action "as inevitable," the newspaper quoted from the memo.

"There's nothing farther from the truth," Bush told reporters as Blair stood at his side. "Both of us didn't want to use our military," Bush said in response to a question about the memo. "It was our last option."

Blair added, "The facts were not being 'fixed' in any shape or form at all."

Bush said that at the time the memo was written, no decision had been made about going to war. He pointed out that it was written two months before he went to the United Nations and asked for a Security Council resolution calling on Saddam Hussein to give up his weapons of mass destruction or face "serious consequences."

The Sunday Times' May 1 memo story, which broke just four days before Britain's national elections, caused a sensation in Europe. American media reacted more cautiously. The New York Times wrote about the memo May 2, but didn't mention until its 15th paragraph that the memo stated U.S. officials had "fixed" intelligence and facts.

Knight Ridder Newspapers distributed a story May 6 that said the memo "claims President Bush ... was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy." The Los Angeles Times wrote about the memo May 12, The Washington Post followed on May 15 and The New York Times revisited the news on May 20.

None of the stories appeared on the newspapers' front pages. Several other major media outlets, including the evening news programs on ABC, CBS and NBC, had not said a word about the document before Tuesday. Today marks USA TODAY's first mention.

Some activists who opposed Bush's decision to attack Iraq have been peppering editors with letters and e-mails to push the media into more aggressive coverage. Last week, a group known as Democrats.com offered $1,000 to anyone who can get Bush to answer "yes or no" to this question: Did he or his administration "fix the intelligence" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to terrorism?

"We want what the Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton and Star Wars stories have gotten: endless repetition until people have heard about it," says David Swanson, one of Democrats.com's organizers.

Robin Niblett of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, says it would be easy for Americans to misunderstand the reference to intelligence being "fixed around" Iraq policy. " 'Fixed around' in British English means 'bolted on' rather than altered to fit the policy," he says.

Ombudsmen at both The New York Times and The Washington Post have been critical of their newspapers for not covering the story more aggressively.

USA TODAY chose not to publish anything about the memo before today for several reasons, says Jim Cox, the newspaper's senior assignment editor for foreign news. "We could not obtain the memo or a copy of it from a reliable source," Cox says. "There was no explicit confirmation of its authenticity from (Blair's office). And it was disclosed four days before the British elections, raising concerns about the timing."

'Downing Street memo' gets fresh attention By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY
Wed Jun 8, 6:58 AM ET

Green Jobs Not Jails

In reverse:

I've been reading the entries at Worldchanging.com on the regular. In a word, I find them visionary. The June 5, entry was particularly so:

The connection between social inequality and environmental destruction isn’t one made easily by most environmentalists. Sure, they may see a connection between a perceived lack of concern among politicians and corporations about both people and the planet. But that’s usually about it.

Van Jones tells another story. For him, the two are inextricably linked. “Both problems are reaching crisis points,” he writes in the Summer 2005 issue of Yes! magazine. “We act as if they are separate. But they are linked -- economically, politically, and morally. The solutions and strategies for each must, therefore, be one.”

Last week, during the World Environment Day festivities in San Francisco, the Ella Baker Center, the Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit Jones heads, launched an initiative that attempts to link the two: Reclaim the Future. RTF is envisioned as a think tank and advocacy group representing and empowering ecologically sound, urban entrepreneurs and their local communities. According to the Ella Baker site:

Our goal is to push for public-private-community partnerships endorsing clean, healthy, and economically developed urban environments. The project is devoted to fostering the creation of dignified, clean-energy job opportunities for de-incarcerated individuals and those at risk of encountering the punishment industry.
Or, as Jones puts it: “Green Jobs, Not Jails.”

More here.

In DC...

...for a health disparities symposium. I presented a paper yesterday on the relationship (or the lack thereof) between black political empowerment and beneficial health outcomes (looking at infant mortality rates in this case).

Last night i hung out late after the victory. Was at a Salsa club on Connecticut Avenue. Came out to walk back to the hotel...and heard sirens.

Then saw three police cars, six policy motorcycles, an ambulance, another six or so motorcycles, a few more police cars, and bracketed between them, two limosines, and a nondescript black Explorer.

Bush doesn't as a rule go to bed later than around 10 or so. I thought it might have been the VP...but it didn't seem right.

Then I find out that Prime Minister Tony Blair is in town for only one day.

One of the arguments that conservatives made during the Clinton hearings was that CLinton was just a guy like the rest of us, and he shouldn't be treated any different.

See one of those motorcades in the middle of the night drive by, makes one think a bit differently.

Urban League, "Empowerment Fund"

Urban League, state announce $127 million 'empowerment fund'

Seeking to foster the expansion of minority businesses, who often lack access to the capital, the National Urban League came to Baltimore on May 17 to announce a new "empowerment fund" designed to promote entrepreneurship among minority and urban-based businesses.
Standing with Sharon Pinder, director of the Maryland Office of Minority Affairs, executives from the National Urban League and Stonehenge Capital announced that $127 million in U.S. tax credits had been assembled and would be sold to raise money to capitalize existing businesses poised for growth and expansion.

"Small businesses are the largest creators of new jobs in America, and the Urban League Empowerment Fund will help minority-owned businesses find the technical assistance, financial investment and corporate relationship they need to grow, develop and create more jobs in those urban areas that need it most," said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. "Growing small businesses is one of the best ways to close the wealth gap in America."

The National Urban League, through partnerships with Stonehenge Capital, the Kauffman Foundation, the Business Roundtable and the Office of the President of the United States, will use the fund to purchase guaranteed loans made in low-income areas, directly fund minority-owned businesses and finance projects and increase minority employment.

Conyers Quiet Fortitude

The office of Representative John Conyers (D-MI) believes it has surpassed its stated goal of 100,000 signatures requesting an investigation into the Downing Street Memo, minutes of a British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002.

Neocons, say it out loud with me now, "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

Feeling A Bit Salty

I'm doing Google web searches for a web site that I'm doing and I put in the search string black mentor program.

While scanning the result list, I noticed the number of colleges that had mentorship programs. Now, I realize I'm a bit short of temper due to lack of sleep, but I got a bit salty.

You see, I realized that I have NEVER read any of the well know Black conservative commentators, who have spoken out against "Black Student Unions" and "separatism in colleges", mention that the Black Student Unions provide mentor programs or study programs for students at the colleges or for students in surrounding areas. Then I remembered that offspring #1 mentioned that she learned of a mentor program of "inner city students" her first year attending a university, and she will help out the rest of her time at the school.

Again, it seems that "Black conservatives" voice opinions that are overwhelmingly negative about the Black community. Then this "revelation" hit me:

Why is it that it took white conservatives to write a book that demonstrates success of Blacks in public schools?

She Deserves A Beat Down

The subject line says it all:

Waldorf Mother Accused of School Bus Brawling

A Charles County woman was one angry mom this week -- enraged enough to try to block her daughter's school bus, spit at the driver, pull an ice pick from her purse, and then hop on the bus's hood, police said.

The apparent reason: A driver attempted to move her daughter to a different bus seat because of the girl's alleged rowdy behavior.

The Algebra Project

The Algebra Project

THE MISSION OF THE ALGEBRA PROJECT

The Algebra Project is a national mathematics literacy effort aimed at helping low income
students and students of color--particularly African American and Latino/a students--successfully
achieve mathematical skills that are a prerequisite for a college preparatory mathematics sequence
in high school full citizenship in today's technological society.

Founded by Civil Rights activist and Math Educator Robert P. Moses in the 1980's, the
Algebra Project has developed curricular materials, trained teachers & trainers of teachers,
provided ongoing professional development support, and community involvement activities
to schools seeking to achieve a systemic change in mathematics education.

The AP reaches approximately 10,000 students and approximately 300 teachers
per year in 10 states and in 28 local sites, with a particular focus on the Southern U.S.,
where the Southern Initiative of the Algebra Project is directed by David J. Dennis, Sr. ,
and on the Young Peoples' Project (YPP), which recruits, trains and deploys
high school and college age "Math Literacy Workers" to work with their younger peers in a variety
of math learning opportunities and engage "the demand side" of mathematics education reform.
The Young People's Project is directed by Omowale Moses.

Increased AP student performance in mathematics, as well as greater numbers of AP students
enrolling in college preparatory mathematics classes, is a well documented outcome of the
project's work. Please contact Ben Moynihan at The Algebra Project Inc. for Evaluation Report data.

For more organizations, see Black Self Help Information.

Quick Thought

I don't understand why conservatives are whining about the "fillibuster compromise". Bush gets 3 nominees to get the up or down vote and he gets to nominate a lot more with limited reason to believe there will be a fillibuster.

I don't get the opposition unless members of the conservative media are doing a joint okie doke.

Goes Sheed, So Goeth The Pistons

A look at the boxscore from last night's Detroit-Miami matchup reveals two things. First the game got away from the Pistons in one quarter--the second. Every other quarter the game was close. The second, was Rasheed Wallace's line. A couple of points on a couple of shots.

When the Pistons don't get production out of Wallace--who is really their only postup threat, they don't win. It's that simple.

But the way the Pistons broke down mentally was frustrating not just from the standpoint of a supporter (as Prince noted "fan" is short for "fanatic").

From the Pistons' standpoint, the refs took this game (and game #3) from them. Three or four offensive fouls called consecutively? Even the announcers were puzzled by it, noting that the refs' calls didn't seem to be consistent.

As someone watching from tv-land, while coding data (I told you I'm a supporter not a fan), it seemed as if most of the refs calls were legitimate calls...but that they were calls that would not normally be made during the course of an nba game. It's technically illegal to switch lanes while driving without signalling, but most police officers won't pull you over for doing it.

But here's the thing--during the course of the game you cannot do a damn thing about what the ref calls. All you can do is play your game. You want to mobilize against the refs? Cool. Do it after the game.
*********************************************************************

I always thought that Rasheed got a bum rap. Coming from the Derrick Coleman school of power forwards (can handle, pass, shoot the rock from behind the arc, use power, and use finesse), Wallace has always had game. Always. I still marvel at the fact that the Washington Wizards (then Bullets) let Webber, Howard, and Rasheed get away. But Sheed's problems (which didn't appear until he was shipped to Portland) were threefold.

First, he was in the wrong market for his game. Someone like Wallace was much better suited to a Detroit, a DC, an Atlanta, than a city like Portland. He needed to be in a city where folks sported gold teeth and rims. A solid working class city with a lot of working class black people. The type of people who understood why someone like Rasheed wasn't friendly towards the media off the court, why he played with righteous anger on it.

When Dumars made the play for him, I knew Wallace had found a home. Even when Zeke came calling from NYC.

Second, Wallace was always more of a Pippen (sans the chump-like headaches)than a Jordan. That is, Wallace wasn't really cut to demand the ball. To be "the man." People always expected that of him, because of the skills he had...but that doesn't really fit his style. Rasheed is well aware that the game of basketball is just that, a game. One of the things that separated Bird, Magic, JOrdan, and Isiah, or someone like a Woods, is that they felt that everytime they competed, their lives were on the line. And everytime they lost, a little bit of them died inside.

Hell, I hate to lose. Hate it. But I'm not going to do the equivalent of slitting someone's throat to not lose. Someone like Isiah? In a minute.

Rasheed? Nope.

Third.

The referees. I think NBA refs have too much control over the game. I think they have no visible checks on their authority--not even a commentator can go too far in criticizing them. And it is clear that certain refs have much too thin a skin for their job, and that they go after players. Javits is particularly hard--I believe it was Javits that had to be separated from van exel at one point. And if Rasheed is anything besides a Tar Heel, he is skeptical and highly critical of authority. The way Rasheed feels about NBA refs is most likely similar to the way he--and most of us (by "us" I mean black men under 40) feel about police.

But in his case, he encounters them every day on the job...and they're watching over him like a hawk. Raise an eyebrow?

Smack.

No wonder Rasheed's led the league in technicals or been near the top. But going to Detroit, folks thought he turned the corner. And indeed he had.

But he turned the corner right back in the most important of times.
*********************************************************************
My politics at the aggregate level is decidedly leftist with crusian nationalist overtones, and a boggsian belief in grassroots organized democracy.

My politics at the individual level? You've got to do the work. You've got to be responsible. An Ancient saying goes something like this: Strive for excellence in all you do, that no fault may be found in your character. Damn right we don't need to "act right" to get our rights guarenteed by the Constitution. But I'll be damned if you're going to be a decent organizer if you don't know a damn thing about showing up to work on time every day. If you don't know anything about the idea of seeing something through beginning to end whether you like it or not.

Here is where Rasheed's breakdown in game 5 was troubling to me. What he--and so many like him--have to somehow do is take the pinpricks and jabs of the moment, and somehow rise above them to deal with the pinpricks from a better place. There's nothing he can do about the refs during the course of the game. All he can do is play his game.

That lesson is probably the most radical--in that it is the most fundamental--to learn.

The Pistons have one, maybe two more games for Wallace to get it this season. But the joy and pain of organized sports is its never ending nature. He learns it now...only to emerge the next day to relearn it.

Al Sharpton, Again Misunderestimated

I'm not an Al Sharpton supporter, but I give props were props are do. The man gets props for sticking it to the Democrats. The man gets props for going onto "hostile" shows and standing his ground, many times making his hosts look stupid when they believe he is stupid.

Now, Rush Limbaugh steps up to the plate and Sharpton does his thing.

What he thinks about specific issues is of no consequence. It will not be a matter of the critique. It will not be a matter of my mentoring. I have no intent to change Sharpton's thinking about anything. It would not be the point. My offer had to do specifically with the specific requirements necessary to succeed on the radio. I have no desire to learn from anybody who doesn't do this. There's nothing to learn from anybody who doesn't do this. So I don't disagree that it would be interesting, but as far as my learning some of the thoughts of the left...? By the way, by the same token, Reverend Sharpton, this would not be about teaching you anything to do with conservatism. You probably think you know what conservatives think and that's why you're a liberal and you disagree with them on some things, but that had nothing to do with politics. Nothing whatsoever to do with issues, this offer. This offer was made only in the best of good faith, to try to genuinely impart, by virtue of mentoring and critiquing the time-honored and tested techniques, skills, and required necessary before one even gets to the substance of one's comments on the radio. So I'm going to continue to hold this under advisement. Because I'm not sure that Reverend Sharpton understands exactly what I meant and I'm not sure he understands the goodwill in which I mentioned it. I'm not interested in debating Al Sharpton on this program. Everybody else does that with Al Sharpton everywhere else. I'm actually interested in creating a Limbaugh of the left so the media can drop it.

I don't think the Dr. of Democracy gets it.

"Deep Throat"

The conservative media appears to be having a "hate Clinton" type of melt down over the "unveiling" of Watergate figure, Deep Throat.

I understand former Nixon officals loosing their minds, but I was surprised at the conservative pundits who also blew a gasket.

Felt had problems. In fact, he was found guilty of crimes, himself. Later, Pres. Reagan gave him a pardon. So, the man isn't a saint like some are making him out to be. But the fact is, Nixon and his aides broke the law, and they paid the price for it.

The U.S. places itself as "The Example" for other countries to emulate. It is then appropriate, to say that when our officials mess up, they are handled within our system. If Felt believed the only way to handle it was to go to the press, because the FBI higher ups would cover up the issue, so be it.

To steal from Two Face, "Some people need an enema!".

The Association

What would Ralph Dub have said about Nash winning the league MVP? I can't say that I know the answer to that, but I can say that it would have been something that has not blessed the back pages since the announcement. I think Nash probably had more of a singular impact on the regular season (in terms of wins) than any of the player in the league. In fact, I think it's a bit of BS to argue for Shaq when we all know damn well he doesn't even do the regular season anymore.

Nash's award does not suggest he is the best player or point in the NBA, the Western Conference, or even in the city of Phoenix. Last time I checked, Kevin Johnson was still in the area and Joe Johnson was still in the locker room. Paul Westphal might still be around. Nonetheless, Nash's energy, movement and tenacity allowed the young guns to flex on those old cats in the West. He brings value as a penetrator, perimeter shooter, interior passer and leader of the break. For Detroit heads like LKS who grew up with Isiah Lord Thomas, this is hardly worth mentioning.

The playoffs, as "Zeke" proved, are a different story. Nash is still a little light in the ass to be running around in May and June. So, as great as Nash was in the regular season, the calendar suggest a turn may be afoot. We'll see if he's the real deal.