next they'll say she was behind the Atlanta Child Murders

ok, so just so i'm following: first the MSM gave a platform so the right can say Sotomayor is racist. now the MSM are asking if her choice is due to her ethnicity?

man, it's hard out here for a G.

don't worry, fish with three eyes is the new normal.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee environmental officials say toxin levels in fish sampled after a massive coal ash spill in the Emory River are generally safe, though testing is continuing, additional results are pending and conditions could change.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's test results are the first to be reported from fish caught after the Dec. 22 spill of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash sludge from a storage area at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville.

The TDEC report released Thursday said results from the state's Environmental Protection Agency-certified laboratory are not definitive, but there is "no justification, at present, to modify" limits on consumption of fish caught in the Emory and downstream Clinch River that existed before the spill.

Analysis of bass, catfish and sunfish caught from January through April found the level of metals "below human health protection standards," with the exception of two catfish with slightly elevated mercury.

The report said levels of selenium were well below EPA toxicity standards for protection of fish and other aquatic life.

Earlier this month, independent researchers from Appalachian State and Wake Forest universities said their own sampling found much higher levels of toxins, particularly selenium. They said that fish populations in the Emory were at a "tipping point" for survival and that their ability to reproduce was in jeopardy.

The ash spill from a retention wall breach flooded into the Emory River and a lakeside neighborhood, damaging homes and covering 300 acres. TVA estimates the cleanup, with ash as much as 30 feet deep in the river, could take up to three years and cost $1 billion.
While tests to date show no sign of increased health risks to people and aquatic life, "they are not predictors of the future," the TDEC report said.

What's WRONG with these People??

there's something i cannot quite figure out. i can't seem to get a bead on why some people prefer to jump and flinch at shadows instead of tackling the real monsters under the bed...on on the bed, hiding in the sheets.

can anyone help me figure out why someone would rather talk crackheadedly about a service organization instead of talking about the hate group they're being compared to....TOM TANCREDO!

TANCREDO: If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case, which is, from my point of view anyway, nothing more than a Latino — it’s a counterpart — a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses. If you belong to something like that in a way that’s going to convince me and a lot of other people that it’s got nothing to do with race. Even though the logo of La Raza is “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” What does that tell you?

SANCHEZ: Alright. We’re not talking about — we’re not talking about La Raza –

TANCREDO: She’s a member! She’s a member of La Raza!

now, unless tancredo is delusional, he knows very well that what he is saying is false, inflammatory, and potentially dangerous. i mean, perhaps he really thinks that an organization who's purpose is to support civil rights and improve opportunities for Hispanics is the same as a group who's purpose is to eradicate all races that are not white....you know, without the hoods and ropes and murder and all.

?

some bloggers have pointed out that this type of rhetoric from the right is called blowing the dog-whistle. these types of words affect those of us with all of our marbles a certain way. it's a whole over story with some among us who have lost most of our marbles. those a little less marbled get a whole other meaning from the words, ya dig?

here's what would be great. it would be great if the republicans stopped embarrassing themselves by calling this woman "racist" when so many among their own ranks have done and said racist things repeatedly. and it would be great if, since they seem to be so concerned with racism, that they use they outrage for actual hate-groups that are commiting horrible acts of violence and intimidation in this country.

but i imagine that right around the time that happens, a unicorn with rainbow hair and a nose ring will come to my house Saturday morning and play a rousing game of crazy 8s with me.

What's WRONG with these People??

the screenshot that launched a thousand snickers.....this is the best thing to happen since sarcasm happened to that one eyebrow.

"you're scaring me!"

a scene from a relationship in which the woman is transitioning her hair from relaxed to natural...

he (sarcastically): i like that afro you got going on right there.

me: then you're really gonna love it when i cut my hair off and wear a small afro for real.

he: for REAL??

me: for real.

he: .....baby, remember a few years ago when we talked about you getting a weave? why don't you do that? just so, you know....we see what it looks like?

because it still jams.

i was singing this just last week to Trixie and Dixie. I had no idea it was sung by the Pointer Sisters. Man, my childhood had some bomb-ass moments....*sigh*

modeling FAIL

nice effort, but not everyone needs to be modeling scoop neck jumpsuits. especially those of us who have stretch marks on our necks.

because it makes me proud, that's why.

oh, and he's fine.

U.S. President Barack Obama fist-bumps with graduate Chauncy Gray, of Chicago, while attending the 2009 U.S. Naval Academy graduation in Annapolis, Maryland, May 22, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing

just stop talking. forever.

dear post secret poster:

you have clearly never had anyone you care about suffer with cancer. i hope you never do. but i feel that i must let you know something very important.

cancer does not exist to make your kitchen cute, you self-centered fuck.

that is all.

it's all so new and great until you realize it's just all the same crap over and over and then you drop dead.

at the beginning of the year, i was online looking at people dancing in their own videos and stumbled across a video of three women dancing to a beyonce song i'd not heard before.

i thought the song, Ego, was the usual (theatrical) beyonce crap but what really brought it home for me was the badly shaped afro wigs the dancers were wearing. plus they were doing their thing, working it out for the love of their beyonce.

welllll just today i was reading a blog that had a link to beyonce's "new" video for her song Ego. i wasn't really surprised to see the same video as before with some notable changes (like the fact that the cheap afro wigs were replaces with stylized naturals and...well...boobs and buns).

but the thing that really got me? beyonce's eye make-up. the fact that they gave her a much more almond shaped eye. kinda like the natural eye of the girl in the first video!

nooooo, i'm not trying to say beyonce copied the other girls' video, not at all. i'm just saying i saw the amateur video first then say beyonce's "new" video today. and if the first video was just something produced by the choreographer, fine fine fine.

but WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE SHAPE OF BEYONCE'S EYES!!! why is her make-up done to give her a more Asian appearance?

canya help me with this?






and yes dammit, i get the fact that "ego" is a euphemism! you don't have to keep giving up the coochie shot to clue us in!

Hi, Hater.

why so glum, Sourpuss?

Look! It's a Witch Parade!!

you can tell they're witches because they're using three different types of font on that sheet.
pure witchery.

special shout out.

for all the girls who have weathered the "you ain't no real black girl" attacks and who have been informed "you don't have a big butt anymore!"...this one's for you.



* Oakland Face, LA Booty...greatest.t-shirt.ever.

wrong, wrong, and wrong.

good to know if i ever suffer brain damage, i can easily get a job at a convenience store.

you mean we're not even doing Contemporary American Negro right??

the summer before my senior year in high school, i had the opportunity to study music at a prestigious boarding school in massachusetts. this trip not only marked the first time i'd been on an airplane, the first time i'd been out of the state, and the first time i met native americans, it was also the first time i was in a position of not only finding myself a racial minority, but a socio-economic minority as well.

the only way i could go to this school was because i qualified for a scholarship which paid for my tuition, room and board. but i was attending summer session with many, many kids who didn't need anyone but mommy and daddy to write the checks to get their tuition paid.

while there studying violin, i had classes in individual performance, chamber groups, and voice and spent quite a bit of time with the kids who were there for the same reason. We ate together, saw each other all day in the same classes over and over, and performed in recitals and full concerts together. i was feeling pretty cozy with my mostly white and asian cohorts, palling around during breaks in class. and during one of these breaks, i got schooled. and i mean SCHOOLED!

one of my classmates, a cellist with long straight blond hair and hilfiger/lacoste gear was talking about an issue near and dear to her heart and the heart of her sister and mother: apartheid.

now i wasn't stupid, i knew what she was talking about. i'd heard of stephen biko. i'd heard of nelson and winnie mandela! but here's where i was slipping in my pimpin. apparently, that wasn't GOOD ENOUGH.

my classmate looked at me while telling a group of us about an anti-apartheid rally she and her family had attended and asked if I had been participating in such rallies. I said no. and then, i got chided: "YOU don't participate in apartheid rallies? don't YOU care about AFRICA??"

no, i'm not kidding you.

i was truly, seriously taken aback by her statement and at that time i couldn't really get past my reaction of "no this rich white girl did NOT just tell me i'm less black because she cares more about africa than i do!"

oh, yes she did.

and all of this brings me the curious case of Asher Roth. recently Asher, whose music is crap, made the news when he went to Rutgers for god knows what and decided to twat about it on Twatter...

"At Rutgers stirring up a ruckus. Been a day of rest and relaxation, sorry Twitter - hanging out with some nappy headed hoes..."

after getting chopped almost immediately for talking crazy, Asher apologized by stating he was just making fun of Don Imus and was sorry if he offended anyone!

let's follow Asher on the wild and wacky ride he calls logical reasoning:

in order to make fun of Don Imus, Asher decided to repeat that fucked up shit Imus said about the women's basketball team. because by doing that, it's going to cause people to laugh at IMUS.

oh. okay.

Asher has since used his dominant intelligence to shed some light on what exactly is wrong with black rappers today:

"When I dropped [the 'A Milli' freestyle] I thought, 'You guys are always going off about how much money you have. Do you realize what's going on in this world right now,'" Roth said. "All these black rappers - African rappers - talking about how much money they have. 'Do you realize what's going on in Africa right now?' It's just like, 'You guys are disgusting. Talking about billions and billions of dollars you have. And spending it frivolously, when you know, the Motherland is suffering beyond belief right now.'" (Canadian Press)

oh, yes he did. the white kid who hit the charts talking about how much he loves college is calling out black rappers...i mean...African rappers...for acting like life's a party while the MOTHERLAND is suffering.

just in case you're confused...because he can be confusing...dude is not talking about actual, literal, African rappers. no, no! he's calling black american rappers African. as if Baltimore is a township in Mozambique.

and with all this focus on the black/African/rapper problem of enjoyment of material things while the "Motherland" is suffering, why does he not look inside and wonder "why am i talking about how wonderful and carefree my life is in college when my brothers and sisters are suffering without educations and teeth in APPALACHIA" instead of chiding black people for not being more humble in solidarity with the entire continent of Africa, which is suffering, and i mean, suffering greatly.

what is this thing...this thing that causes the children to talk this way? where do they get this insufferable position of authority and knowledge from?

Jay Smooth and Dan Charnas had a talk about it, like to hear it, here it go:



i can only hope that Asher is arrogant enough to google his name everyday and will therefore stumble across this video. if so, i hope it sparks some self awareness. someone has got to stop him before he starts schooling black chicks on why it's a sad expression of self-hatred to relax our hair.

next time, maybe ihop?

in these tough economic times, it's completely normal for those of us who have avoided the unemployment chop to become hyper-sensitive regarding our work product. and depending on the culture of the work environment, even the simplest criticism can cause a marked increase in resentment and defensiveness.

and then there are cases like that of Yakeisha Ward.

MANNING, S.C. -- A Waffle House employee has been arrested and accused of shooting a customer who complained about the service.

The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office says 29-year-old Yakeisha Ward of Manning is charged with assault and battery with intent to kill.

Deputies said Ward worked at a Waffle House restaurant in Manning and was involved in a fight about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Lt. Tommy Burgess says the fight started when the customer complained about the quality of service in the crowded restaurant.

Burgess says Ward went to her van to get a gun. He says a 27-year-old woman was hit in the arm.

worked?? awww, don't tell me on top of getting arrested, Yakeisha got fired too! so perhaps an addendum needs to be added to the Waffle House Employee Handbook: don't shoot customers.

the thing that stuck out immediately for me is the fact that most Waffle House restaurants are about as big as shoeboxes. If Yakeisha had missed her target, that bullet could have ricocheted around the inside of that place like a pinball machine.

she could have killed everybody in there!

so let this be a lesson to us all: you may hate your job, hate your coworkers, and even hate your slow computer. but you'll hate going to prison for assault and battery with intent to kill even more.

you dizzy yet?

so, yesterday i was reading a blog on the website Jezebel in which one of the writers responded to a lambasting written about the site and it's writers by Linda Hirshman on Salon's new offshoot feminist blog XX.

in Hirshman's piece, she discusses her problem with Jezebel, its impact on its readers, and how the attitudes and behaviors they seem to advocate actually do more harm to the feminist movement than they may realize. one sticking point in particular for Hirshman is the Jezebel writers' stance that a woman who is raped is not obligated to report the crime but yet rail at institutions for not doing more to decrease instances of rape:

"Moe Tkacik was apparently date-raped and says she has had unprotected sex, and Tracie Egan, in her words, 'decided to go home with someone I never would have, had my vision not been impaired by 14 hours of drinking.' Jezebel editor Megan Carpentier was raped and did not report it to the police. ...How can writers who justify not reporting rape criticize the military for not controlling…rape? It’s incoherent."

"Suggest that women report the men who rape them for the sake of future victims, say, or that women should be asked why they stay with the men who abuse them, or urged to leave them, and the Jezebels go ballistic. Judgmental, judgmental!"

Megan wrote for Jezebel in response "Sigh. As many know, today a Slate writer offered that someone assaulted at the age of 17 who didn't report it should never be taken seriously or, really, allowed to write about the subject. What?"

she then goes on to discuss the problematic conclusions Hirshman comes to based on her readings of Jezebel and basically concludes:

"I assume that Hirshman's attack — based solely on my experience with sexual assault and my audacity to suggest that haranguing victims of violence to leave their abusive partners might not be helpful — isn't meant to show the Jezebel audience that I'm not to be trusted to speak about sexual assault in the military or anything else. I assume it is an attempt to shut me up. And as much as she throws the occasional firebomb at Ross Douthat or Chris Matthews, she seems to save her real rhetorical ire for women with opinions different than her. "

i love how smart women duke it out in a tsunami of words instead of razorblades and high heel shoes...

so to sum up: a writer on a blog wrote about writers on another blog, saying they didn't have the right to write about the problem of rape because they'd been raped and didn't even report it.
and the writers of that other blog said "hey, just because we all got raped and didn't report it don't mean we can't talk about the problems of rape! get it right!"

i can dig it....and yet....

via Jezebel, same day, in the post How Hair Affects African American Girls' Self-Esteem:

Taking a cue from Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair, today's Tyra examined how black women — including little girls — feel about their hair, and the (at times painful) lengths they go to alter it.

I have no idea what it's like to have hair that's considered difficult to manage (aside from flatness), but it was easy to empathize with the little girls on this show because, as women, most of us are subjected to the idea that we're not measuring up to certain standards of beauty, whatever they may be. And while I could understand Tyra's outrage over a mother who chemically relaxes her 3-year-old daughter's hair, TyTy's stance on the hair issue was confusing, since she's just about the weaviest person on the planet; in fact, she regularly gives white women weaves on America's Next Top Model.

you still with me? ok, once again from the top:

a writer who blogs about writers on another blog, saying they shouldn't be talking about the problem of rape because those writers were raped and didn't report it is TOTALLY OUT OF POCKET.

but then those same writers write about a women on a tv show who's topic is loving your hair texture, stating she shouldn't really be taken seriously because she wears a weave.

being raped, not reporting it, and then complaining about rape, according to Hirshman, is "incoherent."

having a weave, giving white women weaves, then hosting a show whose topic is hair's impact on african american girls' self esteem, according to Jezebel, is "confusing."

to quote Megan: "what?"

why, that's just plain old hypocrisy, ammiryt?! stop it right now.

just an fyi...erm....just because you see a black woman wearing a weave, it's not an automatic that she's doing it because she hates her own hair texture or believes straighter hair is "good hair." and i certainly don't think it disqualifies her from stating her opinion about what the western standard of beauty is doing to the psyche of young black girls and women in this country.

but we all knew that, right? .........ammiryt?

What's WRONG with these People??

you know what i hate? i hate it when you find out about a terrible deed committed by another person, tell someone else, and then realize that makes YOU the horrible person. you know, like when you find out your neighbor has been beating his child with his dog, and you call the proper authorities, and then someone stands on your lawn screaming that you must really really hate dogs and kids, otherwise why did you tell! hater!

what's that? you say that makes no sense? weeeeeeeeeeeeelll, it does if you're MARY CHENEY!



In an interview on Fox News, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney sharply criticized the new administration for agreeing to release photographs depicting alleged abuses at U.S. prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush administration.

"I think it is really appalling that the administration is taking this step," she said in the interview. "Clearly what they are doing is releasing images that show American military men and woman in a very negative light."

"I have heard from families of service members from families of 9/11 victims this question about when did it become so fashionable for us to side, really, with the terrorists," she continued.
(CNN)

mary cheney believes that by releasing photos of abuses by the US, the current administration is siding with terrorists. because that's showing the world that we...like to torture people...too?

is it siding with terrorists because it's showing a sense of simpatico because the methods of torture are so similar?

or is it just siding with torture because it is once again highlighting what it is about the administration of Dubya and Satan that makes people try to throw shoes at them during press conferences?

i think i see what side of the street mary's standing on. but can someone tell her that the rhetoric she's using is so dated, it's laughable? mary, really? "siding with terrorist," for real??

you know all is lost when you get chopped by Fergie:

i'm so 3000 and 8/
you're so 2000 and late.

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbburrittooooo!

in a spinach tortilla wrap.

when your backseat smells like pickles.

there is a car rental commercial that shows older cars parked and lonely wondering why their drivers prefer to rent cars than drive them. as the voice-over drones over the many reasons for the preference, one always pops out:

"maybe it's because your backseat smells like pickles."

the whole commercial is poking fun at the many thoughts that go through (usually) a woman's mind when she's trying to figure out why her mate has cheated on her. and that particular line always reminds me of a comment i once read on a blog. allow me to paraphrase:

"you gonna have hard time finding a man and keeping him from cheating on you especially if your pussy stinks!"

harsh.

but rest easy! the Chinese have invented a device to help regular girls become ladies of the etiquette!

your backseat never has to smell like pickles again!

horror movie fans! listen up!!

there’s a horror movie that’s gonna come out later called The Sacred. Looks very scaaaaaaaary.

also, i finally saw commercials for one movie I heard about a few months ago called Drag Me To Hell. i noticed they picked the least wack parts of the trailer to make the commercial.

DO NOT BE TRICKED!! THE TRAILER IS HORRIBLE!!

and besides, Derry the Mac Guy is the boyfriend. he ain’t no good! he always makes that same, Disney movie expression of shock. that ain’t emoting, Derry.

that is all.

ask and you shall get something close.

i put it out there on friday that i wanted an ice cream cone cupcake for mother's day. what i found myself enjoying this afternoon was red velvet flavored ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone.

this ice cream flavor was so amazing, it literally tasted just like a slice of red velvet cake. maggie moo is one creative cow.

and the best part was i enjoyed my ice cream without the stomach ache. yes, even my lactose hating guts gave me a break today.

mother's day weekend has been pretty banner.

oh, i don't know, Michael. maybe it IS ok.

especially if the soundtrack to your horrifying moment in modern adolescence happens to be played by a cat wearing a blue dress.

yeap...totally worth it.

i know what i want for mother's day!

oh, man......

Today's Moment in Deliciousness with a side order of unfortunate coincidence....

david beckham, looking like hotness incarnate wearing a tshirt bearing a picture of a somewhat familiar fellow...why does that guy so familiar?

oh. well. dang.

i left work early, stood in line 4 hours, and got a raincheck for THIS?

do you really think oprah would eat this crap? her richie-rich tastebuds would run screaming from her big rich head at the mere notion.

THIS is supposed to be kfc's healthier chicken. see? it's not fried, it's grilled. er...gried? and don't those "chargrilled" marks look like what the demon scratched out on the little girl's stomach in The Exorcist?

why must the proletariat always eat crap?!

simple lessons for navigating a complex world

watching my kids grow is all at once and amazing, terrifying, exciting, disheartening experience. i'm amazed and excited about the milestones they reach and yet it leaves a nasty little pang in my chest when i realize those same milestones are moving them inch by inch away from me.

i mean, it feels like i am going to blink and find myself going to high school graduations! blink again, and i'm going to college graduations. again, and i'm saying goodbye at the airport as they relocate. blink one more time and i'm moving in with one of them and showing up unannounced on the other's job because i can't STAND BEING THAT FAR AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!!!....but i digress.

tonight has been quite an adventure in Life Behind the Eyes of a toddler. having learned some valuable lessons, i feel much more prepared to handle the world tomorrow morning. thought i'd share:

1) BBQ sauce does not make it all better: if it's gross, it's gross. trying to smother the gross in bbq sauce does not make it more palatable. it's still gross but now it's also weird.

2) Try It, You Might Surprise Yourself: after bath time this evening, as i was drying Dixie off, Trixie walked over to the door, opened it, and sprinted down the hallway! up until that point, did i know she could open doors? no. did she? probably not. did that stop her from trying? hell to the no. and what was her reward? sweet butt nekkit success!

3) Cry It Out: emotions are cruel and capricious masters and sometimes the mere act of holding them all in check can be exhausting. it you feel the need to blow off some steam by letting loose with a full-throated, lung-rattling, blood-curdling crying jag, then by all means have at it. the consoling hugs and kisses you receive during your meltdown are awesome and you just can't help but feel better in the end.

4) Life Really is Like a Song: you ever noticed how much music we hear during the course of an average day? no? well, a toddler does. and what does this awareness of music lead to? impromptu dance recitals. be very serious about your performance and snap your fingers to the beat. you know your cell phone ringer is the jam, that's why you picked it.

5) Fake It Til You Make It: have something to say but you're unsure of the pronunciation? try to say it anyway; if you don't make mistakes you ain't gonna learn. and what's the point of getting embarrassed by mistakes? no one is perfect, duh.

so theses are just a few of the gems of wisdom passed up to me from my chaps. theses kids are quite learned for such young ladies. i can't wait to find out what they're going to teach me by this time next year.