07 December 2012

Chaka Khan....And Rufus - 70s Illuminati



A classic post of 40 years since this group got together in 1972 and fused the blues, jazz and emerging funk sounds of Chicago band Rufus into a musical force with the addition of a young singer, Chaka Khan. Such a midwest-going2Cali feeling amongst youth of that day coincided with market forces moving westward, which brought black celebrities, sports icons (especially the Lakers and Rams) and Soul Train to LA in droves. Rufus already had the link, now was their time to put it to good use.


A young and sexy Chaka Khan black & white rare photo. I've seen some taken in the 70s, and others taken in the early 80s during her solo career while producing with Quincy Jones. Appears she had media aspirations then too.

21 November 2012

A Message to the Whiny Bastards - ENUF ALREADY!!!

ISRAELI ROCKET FIRE IN GAZA INTENSIFIES


MAYBE IT'S JUST ME, BUT....


There seems to be a necessity in this part of the world to tow total destruction of each side as a noble goal, in the belief that somehow, some way, the survivors or "winners" will have everlasting peace and been made right in their beliefs - much like their story in the Bible - despite the face of reality that their numerous prior attempts at the same thing have resulted in more conflicts (bombing, killing, starving, hating each other) and attacks. 

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO FIGHT?  WHY THE HELL DO YOU HATE EACH OTHER SO?
IS IT ONE SIDE DOMINATING THE OTHER FOR THE SAKE OF POWER?
OR THE OTHER SIDE HARASSING THEIR "NEW" NEIGHBOR SINCE THEY MOVED IN?

Israel: have you not lived among the so-called "western" nations long enough to know that fascism, of any kind from any body, or apartheid, of any form or body, just is immaturity in being a nation and not a solution to deal with people you perceive as adverse to you. Perhaps you are among "God's chosen people" as sometimes quoted by others, but that doesn't make you God. You should be working towards a strong peace agreement for both sides, and stop playing Master & Commander.

Palestinians: you're gonna have to accept that you are a minority in your own homeland, a result of European colonialism, but this should be the opportunity for you to help re-carve self-determined borders. Of course some will be with Israel - but instead of fighting for everything let's see what we can afford to give up. To a a greater extent you need your own homeland with geographical boundaries as comfortable and as soon as possible. 

Mutual security for both of you is tantamount - for that reason alone you both need to put down your arms and talk peace. Both sides need to restrain their power, aggression, and fanaticism and have a regular, rational conversation. Then you can find solutions to why you can't seem to live with or next to one another, and what each other wants.

You'd think as older cultures they'd know better from experience that hatred rooted in fear is imaginary and their thoughts should elevate above it. Don't their "experienced" diplomats know this? Or psychiatrists? Or lawyers?  Somebody???

12 November 2012

The Champ Won, #FORWARD

Shall we call it fight the power?  Some have already referred to this photo as the affirmation of Black Power, although it's actually Obama's infamous fist-bump (or fist-pound) as opposed to the more up-in-the-air raise of the fist that was the original signal of "Black Power".  But either way it is affirmation of a re-elected President whose power cannot be taken away from him, unless he has a sunken moment like Clinton's impeachment trial over lying about Monica Lewinsky, or LBJ's realization that he had lied to the public about our success in Vietnam and the realization that the war was not winnable, or (god forbid) Nixon's Watergate, or Reagan's Iran-Contra Affair.

We are all happy, indeed the world is happy, that this great man has won re-election over a mean-spirited opposition (which is still there, albeit quite wounded and muted) and an empty suit who wasn't suitable to even win over his primary opponents, let alone worthy of being fit to be elected President. American, you made the right choice. Or at least 47% of you did, plus an additional 3% of you that also objectively saw the light or agreed with the 47%. But not 100% of you did, indeed 47% of you didn't. Those 47% class are never going to change their vote, but perhaps they can realize over time that the right person at the right time got elected in 2012. That will come to light eventually as over time their racism eases, and they join the rest of us in 21st Century America in leaning forward. And it is racism, nothing else, that is driving their hate and fear. No more dancing around the issue, we have heard it from pundits, from call-in citizens to talk shows, from constant and increasing statistics about the importance of getting the Latino an women votes, and in general the shift in numbers increasing the leverage of non-white voters and white voters becoming the minority by mid-century (if not sooner). THERE IS A FEAR THAT WHITE VOTERS WILL NO LONGER BE SUPREME IN DETERMINING WHO RUNS THIS COUNTRY. How much that will negatively impact their lives, if at all, is a matter of more focused debate than the simple numbers poked around today suggest.

For example, two of the highest per-capita populations in America are American Jews and Asian-Americans. In fact, the latter has highest median income in the nation. The latter is also growing in number and political influence. The former still holds strongly to liberal values in part because of their past and even current fears of anti-semitism, although there is a conservative element that has grown in their ranks in recent years. Their strength is not in numbers but in economics, and political history (Israel, the Holocaust, Nazi Germany) that maintains a hold on America, although that latter strength was weakened by an arrogant, possibly racist, Israeli leader who now sits naked like a loser at a strip-poker table after betting his pot on the wrong horse. Conservative Jews may not like or trust Obama, but they have no choice but to work with him or nothing at all, considering their miniscule numbers in society which in my opinion cannot be overcome by economic strength. As this recent election proved, you cannot buy the electorate (at least not this time); people vote in their best interests, not yours.

We also learned corporations are NOT people, as Romney and the Supreme Court had alluded.  Oh they may be the collective of real human beings, or considered "persons" by the tax code, but despite the Citizens' United legal decision, the will of the people prevails in the end, not the will of Justice Scalia. And shareholder's interest is not the interest of the people, who need safe streets, health care, jobs, economic and educational opportunity for their families, repair of infrastructure, and many other things in their daily lives. As Shakespeare once wrote "Kill all the lawyers first". Perhaps he should've have added the shareholders second.

On that note, going forward is a disturbing trend regarding the business community. They greatly supported Romney. They oppose the tax increases on the wealthy. They were prime donors to the political campaigns. They are sitting on at least $3 trillion in offshore cash they are not paying taxes on. They cry that they can't find workers trained in the jobs they have open, but want no part in paying for training or re-tooling workers or citizens for those jobs.  Then they blame those same persons for not getting the training (at their own expense, of course). They claim Obamacare will cause them to lay off workers because of the cost, which hasn't even kicked in yet, yet would move to kick them off the payroll as soon as possible if they got sick. They claim lowering taxes would allow high-income citizens, those so-called "job creators", to create jobs, yet their "trickle-down" theory has not yielded jobs in the past with prior tax cuts, such as the current ones from Bush. They don't want to pay you a living wage, but have no problem moving their businesses to China, and then demonize the Chinese as a dangerous economic adversary. The business community claims to be pro-American, and in the past they certainly were. But these days, I think their allegeance is detrimentally misplaced. We must evaluate this trend carefully, and start making plans to economically protect ourselves.

Finally, what did the GOP learn? I hope for their sake they learned that intolerance, and basing election on referendum against someone, is a losing strategy. Intolerance won't work in an increasingly multicultural society, and you can't win by being against someone unless you give people a credible and solid reason to vote FOR someone. Romney was clearly not that person; Republicans themselves were tepid on him in the 2008 primary election, which in the end he lost the nomination to McCain and for that matter Huckabee. 2012 was really no different; he nearly lost to Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. And he easily beat Rick Perry because he too was an empty suit, showing that a better empty suit can beat an even emptier suit. Running a campaign of intolerance, where you say fuck the niggers, deport all the spics, burn the faggots and dikes, men tell women what to do with their bodies, and Christianity is the only acceptable way to view the world in our Anglo-based society, is a loser from the start. As it stands, this strategy has guaranteed the Democrats will control the White House through at least January 2021, since Hillary will easily win if she runs and in my opinion will also win re-election in 2020. I'll be a grandfather by the time another Republican has a viable shot at the White House. Advice to GOP: don't make it any worse for yourselves than it already is. CHANGE!!

For now, let's hope that no crisis arises in the second term of Obama that could derail HIllary's shot at 2016, or mar his Presidency like those examples I gave at the top. On the other hand, LBJ, Reagan, Clinton and even Nixon were revered as great presidents as time moved on. There's always HOPE :)


07 November 2012

RE-ELECTED TO FINISH THE JOB HE STARTED: CHANGE

History has been cemented. No longer can we say it can't be done. But in all that, there is still much to do, and much to change. The evil ones are still out there, ready to use all weapons at their disposal to try and take the greatest President we have had in a long time down. But their best efforts have failed. No matter, we are still vigilant even in our lame-duck term. What does matter is we are giving him the time he needs to get the job done, and he will get it done.

02 November 2012

Bill Cosby on Obama (and a few other folks)

People who liked Bill Cosby in the past, because he was so wholesome and intelligent and funny and all the rest of that stuff, really took it to heart when Bill the informed citizen spoke up on issues, especially those affecting the people. Well, he has some good points to share here:

21 October 2012

Let's not get too Serious: Our Beauty of the Day


We get so rocked up with politics on this blog that we have to settle back and enjoy the finer things in life. Like this lovely here. Not sure of her origins, but she definitely has a future in the fashion modeling scene. I love how she sorta wipes the floor with Peek-A-Choo, who is just lovin' it! We'd just love to be there helping out with the housework ;-}

Isn't this truly a white fear of a black planet thing going on here?


Report: Multiple CEOs and businesses threaten workers over Obama's re-election

With the election less than one month away, business owners and "one percenters" are threatening their workers with possible unemployment if President Obama wins a second term.
It was reported last week that Central Florida billionaire, David Siegel, the founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sent a memo to over 7,000 of his employees threatening to fire them if President Obama was re-elected.
"What does threaten your job, however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration."
While Segal claims to invest "every dime" he makes into his business and that "Obamacare" could cripple his finances, the Orlando Sentinel points out that Segal is currently building a new 90,000 square foot home, with 30 bedrooms, 10 kitchens and a 20 car garage.
In his memo, Segal told his employees he could reduce the size of his company and retire in the Caribbean where he would have "no employees to worry about."
The Orlando Sentinel also notes that while Segal places blame on President Obama for his company's struggles, Westgate is documented to have had major financial problems before President Obama came into office. From the time the Sentinel reported Westgate's business troubles in September of 2008 until December of the same year, the company had announced over 4,000 layoffs.
In addition to David Segal, Arthur L. Allen, head of ASG Software Solutions, emailed his employees and urged them to vote for a "new president and administration" if they hope to "remain independent."
“If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6 and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that may come...I am asking you to give us one more chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and administration on November 6th. Even then, we still might not be able to remain independent, but it will at least give us a chance. If we don’t, that chance goes away.”
Though big businesses are the ones who make a habit of attacking President Obama, many small businesses have done the same, but taken a different approach. According to a local ABC affiliate, a New Jersey business owner has put up a window display that depicts President Obama as a "witchdoctor." The display outside of Skuby & Co. Lifestyle Clothing in Lake Spring, New Jersey has drawn criticism, but the owner has no plans to remove it.
Author's Note:
As a writer, I take pride in the work that I do and I'm very grateful for the opportunity that I have. In addition to my work as a political Examiner, I also have another job in Central Florida. During my most recent workday, along with my co-workers, I was told that we could have our hours cut to part-time if President Obama is re-elected due to "Obamacare." The Affordable Care Act is a controversial piece of legislation and far from perfect, but the alternative is not an option. No business, large or small, should use the fear of unemployment to attempt to sway an election. Small businesses have received tax cuts, tax credits and other incentives from President Obama during his first term in office and a business with less than 50 employees will be exempt from being required to offer health care. With the bill being as complicated as it is, it's easy to pick and choose what you want to force your agenda. Be informed, seek information and think for yourself.

20 October 2012

ROMNESIA: CAN'T REMEMBER A THING....


President Obama introduced a new word into the American political lexicon Friday, accusing his GOP opponent, Mitt Romney, of “Romnesia” for changing positions and trying to pivot to the political center.
Before nearly 10,000 supporters at a Virginia rally, Obama smiled, joked and wagged his finger as he mocked Romney’s earlier declaration that he was a “severely conservative” governor of Massachusetts.
Video
President Obama defined the symptoms of “Romnesia,” a disorder he jokingly describes as Mitt Romney’s changing of opinions to please different groups of voters.
President Obama defined the symptoms of “Romnesia,” a disorder he jokingly describes as Mitt Romney’s changing of opinions to please different groups of voters.
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“Now that we’re 18 days out from the election, ‘Mr. Severely Conservative’ wants you to think he was severely kidding about everything he said over the last year,’’ Obama said in a speech devoted almost entirely to attacking Romney, and during which he gave little indication of what he would do in a second term if reelected.
Building in intensity, Obama continued: “He’s forgetting what his own positions are, and he’s betting that you will, too. I mean, he’s changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping. We’ve got to — we’ve got to — we’ve got to name this condition that he’s going through. I think — I think it’s called ‘Romnesia.’ ”
The crowd roared.
The Romney campaign was not amused. “America doesn’t need a comedy routine; it needs a serious plan to fix the economy,’’ Romney senior adviser Danny Diaz wrote on Twitter.
Added Amanda Henneberg, a Romney spokeswoman: “Women haven’t forgotten how we’ve suffered over the last four years in the Obama economy with higher taxes, higher unemployment, and record levels of poverty. President Obama has failed to put forward a second-term agenda — and when you don’t have a plan to run on, you stoop to scare tactics.’’
The renewed skirmishing came as the other candidates converged on the key swing state of Florida ahead of Monday’s final presidential debate in Boca Raton, which is shaping up as critical in a race that polls show is tight nationally and in battleground states.
Vice President Biden and Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), spent their Friday rallying supporters in the Sunshine State, whose 29 electoral votes make it the biggest swing state prize. At one point, Ryan’s campaign jet rolled across the tarmac in Tampa past Biden’s Air Force Two.
Ann Romney and Michelle Obama, both important surrogates as the campaigns battle for an edge among women voters, have events scheduled for South Florida in the coming days. Female voters are a critical bloc that could determine who is elected on Nov. 6, and recent polls have shown Romney cutting into Obama’s lead among them.
With the economy still the key issue in the race, Obama got some potentially good news on Friday: New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the unemployment rate dropped in 41 states last month, including many of the top swing states. Those included Florida, Colorado and Iowa. Yet Florida’s rate, at 8.7 percent, remains higher than the national average, and unemployment is still high across the country.

02 October 2012

The First US TV Presidential Debate


Obama and Romney may wish to slide the electorate into waiting for a flaw from the other side to claim victory in November or a renewed down the stretch race to the finish. The debates will be crucial, especially this first one for Romney this week. If it's any console to either, consider the feelings of the candidates the first time they had to go under the lights and camera in an election.

The Kennedy-Nixon Debates were legendary in that they set the template for how a debate should, and should not go. They set the standard for appearance on television for politicians that still exists, and told you how much you could say or should say, what to and not to wear, what kind of analysis should be considered and given.

The debates created new limits and reaches for candidates for national office in particular that had not been the case before.  Just as modern politicians are learning the pitfalls of the internet as we plow along into the future. 

Well, Tricky Dick did eventually learn that it's not a good idea for a politician to wear a light-colored suit on television. It makes them pale and weak, me thinks.

Whateva....Good luck at your upcoming debates, President Obama and Mr. Romney.
























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