Editor’s note: In terms of the Blackosphere, I consider the Humanity Critic to be my mortal enemy ever since he jacked my swagger and began posting his baby pictures. However I have put aside my perpetual disdain to run this drop from him posted at VIBE.com because it is spot on as to why Democratic candidates can’t win the big ones. You can’t have a king without a kingmaker. word to RON BROWN. Plus, in all honesty, there’s just a better chance that OBAAMA’s folks are reading DP Dot Com. True story.
I’m not a Campaign Manager, but I play one on this blog…
If Barack Obama’s quest to become the Democratic nominee for President has taught me anything thus far, its that the last thing on earth I should be doing, outside of trying to rehabilitate a room full of female sex addicts – is acting as anyones campaign manager. When Obama failed to attack his opponents in some of the earlier debates, I exhaustively screamed at the screen as if I was watching a slasher flick at an all black theater – at the time I was convinced that he lacked a killer instinct, and because of that Dennis Kucinich would probably be around longer than him. Ok, I was wrong about that. After he lost New Hampshire, it was my contention that Obama should go the Tonya Harding route and kneecap former president Clinton for belligerently going around and distorting his record like a drunken frat-boy – he more or less did that, and we haven’t seen much of Bubba since South Carolina. Then when John McCain used his wife, the seldom heard from Cindy McCain, to score cheap political points by saying that she loved America – a direct response to the Michelle Obama “..for the first time I’m proud of my country” non-story that the press regurgitated because of their fundamental laziness. I was convinced that Obama would have Michelle introduce him before he gave his Wisconsin victory speech, before handing over the microphone to her husband she would mention Mrs. McCain’s pathetic grandstanding and tell the crowd that her husband represents a new type of politics. Obviously that didn’t happen.
So every week, depending on the political developments of the preceding days – I’m going to give Barack Obama some campaign advice that I hope he’ll find beneficial. If not, I’m sure him and his staff can sit back and laugh at my suggestions – and openly wonder how they can take the advice of a career alcoholic who once had sex at his fathers wake.
Campaign Surrogates, Go Big or Go home!
One thing I noticed when it comes to Hillary Clinton’s surrogates, is that all of them feel extremely comfortable executing talking points – mercilessly attacking Obama on a plethora of issues as if it was second nature to them. Obama’s surrogates on the other hand, their collective judgement possibly clouded by the “Clinton mystique” – never go for the jugular, and whenever they do get critical they preface their remarks with “..with all due respect to Senator Clinton..” No, No, No. My advice for the Obama campaign, heading into next week – is to get some surrogates out there who aren’t scared to throw some serious punches – Obama can still perpetuate the “hope” message if his surrogates are willing to figuratively slice Achilles tendons and choke out Hillary’s presidential arguments with spare telephone chords.
Play the Marriage Certificate Card
Hillary has been saying all along that while she is the one with experience, all Obama has is “that one speech he gave in 2002” – its time for the Obama campaign to poke proverbial holes in said experience. Being that Ms. Clinton held no security clearance, and the laundry list of issues that she claimed to have had a hand in during the 90’s is disingenuous at best – its time for Obama to challenge her on this particular front. He should say, “While I have shown the proper judgment it takes to be commander in chief, by her vote authorizing the war in Iraq Hillary has not – matter of fact, she has the audacity to think that showing America her Marriage Certificate is experience enough. I don’t think so.”
Obliterate the “Dream Ticket” talk
The Clinton Campaign, Hillary and a handful of her surrogates – have made it their business this week to push this “Dream Ticket” theme. Obama has to aggressively knock this down for two Reasons: 1) This type of talk might de-energize some of Obama’s voters, giving them a false sense of security that regardless what happens – Obama will be on the ticket anyway. and 2)Mrs. Clinton has said, repeatedly, that her and John McCain have “crossed the threshold” needed to become Commander-in-Chief – suggesting that Barack Obama is vastly unqualified. Obama needs to call her on this – suggest that her attacks lack substance and intellectual honesty, because how can he be grossly unprepared on one hand but you wouldn’t mind the guy being your Vice President on the other.
The counterfeiting community in NYC shudddered last week when Mayor MIKE BLOOMBERG trained his bootlegging bloodhounds on a specific location in Chinatown. This building has been targeted previously by the authorities that regulate the counterfeit trading here in the city. Chinatown as a whole, or particularly Canal Street is regarded as the place where you can come up so some of the most well made non-licensed goods that a little money can afford.
There are several diifferent levels that counterfeit, or non-licensed goods can take depending on the factory that the products originate from. Some non-licensed products are actually created at the very factories where the flagship items are made, but they haven’t passed the requisite quality control processes enabling it to be offered in the flagship retail location. These products wind up following another distribution channel.
At the end of the day there are millions of items flowing through these channels. I’m not talking about poorly constructed knockoff pieces either. I’m talking about shit that us middle-class aspiring working class people love to consume. I have a LV duffel bag that is as sharp as a harp. I’ve had it for seven years already and the bag’s exterior hasn’t cracked nor have the zipper closures broken or jammed. The bag cost me $40 bucks in a warehouse on Elizabeth Street off Canal. This bag was the only way that someone like me could afford to look as classy and stylish as someone who has an actual bank account. When I rocked that travel bag with my minks at the All-Star Weekend events in Philly I was a Team Chickenhead All-Star.
True story is that was important to me too. Consuming these products are important to lots of working class and even lower class people who aspire to one day make the transfer to upward class mobility. It’s a lot easier to own a non-licensed designer suitcase than it is to actually achieve the move upwards. As a matter of fact, having the bag allows me to delude myself about my true impoverished status. The mayor is really targeting the designer dreams of poor people when he claims he has an ongoing war on counterfeiters.
There is always this movement to target the point of sale for materials that are considered illicit instead of focusing on the manufacturing, distribution and delivery systems that make these things available. Ultimately, the small sunshine on the quality of life that poor people enjoy is replaced with the dark clouds of interdiction and law enforcement. No matter how the NYTimes spins shit I recognize that the one battle we will always fight will be the war against the poor.
As far as the theme of jigs in space is concerned…
I just watched the pilot movie for the O.G. Battlestar Galactica series and that shit was way more progressive than any space movie for its time. Hell, it is still way more progressive than any sci-fi production since. Although they didn’t have any Black women in visible leadership positions like most science fiction does Battlestar Galactica had two brothers that were slotted in heroic roles.
And the best part about that revelation was neither of them had to be deformed either. No blind ass first mate on the bridge and no brother with a turtleshell instead of a forehead as deck officer. ‘Battelstar Galactica’ had two brothers with afros and no attitudes. No wonder this series didn’t last. You can’t sell that image of the Black male to people that have already been so thoroughly programmed ever since ‘Birth Of A Nation’. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to excuse people who can’t overcome their supremacy programming as much as I understand their affliction. Thank GOD the ‘A-Team’ was broadcast for several years to keep the image of the heavily armed angry negro fresh in the minds of Americans.
The original actor who played the Colonel Tigh character was TERRENCE CARTER. Truth be told is that I can’t remember him in shit else other than B.G. The same goes for HERB JEFFERSON who was cast as Lieutenant Boomer. These dudes fell into the Black actors vortex that JIM KELLY and homeboy from ‘Sanford & Son’ got sucked into. Too bad for them. Maybe they could have spelled MORGAN FREEMAN from some of his ‘magical negro’ obligations.
Editor’s note: The new name for domestic violence is Intimate Partner Abuse. Get familiar bitches.
I was going to write about this crazy drama that happened in my building parking lot last week, a la Amadeo’s experience, and it would have been a good story. It involved three homeless people, their shopping cart, a six floor balcony and my regular’s BMW and then, to quote CeezDiem, “I saw this motherfucking video.”
Now let us all get up on our Hip Hop and R&B high horses about Ashanti’s singing, the song’s production, the money laundering, the fucking for tracks, about how this wack ass music isn’t even on our level, yada yadda ya. The point is that this music video is going to be, if it hasn’t already been, seen by millions of people. Premiering on BET last week and running in heavy rotation this week, it’s clear that Ashanti isn’t going to sell any records but everybody’s going to see her damn video. We all know the motto:
Sex: If you’ll splay it, we’ll play it!
I love music. I will listen to most anything at least three times before I make a decision. I have a CRAZY music library made up of everything from Suzanne Vega to DJ Khaled. Yes, even DJ Khaled. I know what you are thinking, but I’m always down for a party record. Trust me, I’m not banging it on the regular. Oh, and pause to banging Khaled on my regular.
What’s frustrating is that the people at BET will have us believe that the programming on that channel reflects the entertainment needs and standards of the Black community in a culturally relevant and sensitive way. In honor of MY favorite show, Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit!!!
Apparently this video is a not so loose spin-off of the Oxygen channel’s ‘Snapped.’ Have you ever seen that show? Basically it’s real life crime analysis from friends, reporters detectives and the like, of women and cases where they went bat shit and fucked somebody up. You know, a woman scorned type shit. The lady who ran her husband over with her Mercedes and then backed up and did it again a few times, remember her? They featured her on the show, to give you an example of these brawlic bitches.
Maybe I was busy when I glanced at the video for the first time, I already knew the concept, but it took my second viewing before I realized that the direction of the video was not to create the illusion that Ashanti had killed her cheating lover, but to remove all doubt. She stabbed him with a knife from the kitchen they shared. They show dude in the bathtub, a presumed dead body, a 911 call, complete with grainy mugshot footage, rushed and hurried court scenes and the raw and emotional agony at the loss of life at the hands of a loved one.
Cut to Ashanti breathing hard in a bathtub with perfectly applied eye shadow. Wait! It’s only entertainment.
This is not the first time Ashanti has dabbled in the intricacies of domestic violence (you may remember “Rain on Me”) but it is certainly the more graphic of the two. What the fuck is wrong with people? Ashanti just don’t know. Cheating, jilted, and delusional spouses exist in our
communities, on our blocks, in the next house over.
In January of 2007 in a small town on the East Coast, months after they separated, this man fatally shot his wife. Four times in the chest, point blank with a .357 Magnum. It was reported that this man thought his wife was cheating on him while they were still together; town lore is that the marriage was over for years, “just neither of them knew it…” Allegedly this man went around this small town on the East Coast in 2007 the weekend before the murder telling people that his wife only had 48 hours to live. No one believed him though.
As the story goes, on that fateful day in January, the man shot his wife, four times in the chest, point blank with a .357 Magnum. Turns out this woman had children, four of them and three grandchildren. The woman’s teenage son was at home from school sick that day and he arrived at the house where the murder occurred, his grandmother’s house. There he saw the yellow Police ape, his mother’s car doors opened, detectives swirling about, he was taken to the hospital and told nothing. Family members were called, prayers were said.
“Hi. Are you okay? I just wanted to let you know that I am praying to God and asking Him to intervene and make a way…”
“Don’t worry,” people said to the woman’s family. “She’s going to be okay.”
But it wasn’t okay and it never would be again, because she was gone. Gone. She was killed by her husband of 24 years, father to her four children and Grandfather to her three grandchildren. He shot her four times in the chest, point blank with a .357 Magnum in a small town on the East Coast in January 0f 2007.
Maybe we should thank Ashanti for her crafty, creative, innovative way of showing true life. Let’s encourage artists to continue to speak on these very real experiences. It’s working!!!
