The Levees Have Broken, Herman Cain

Sometimes I wonder what these politicians are thinking about when they decide to run for the highly visible offices of Senator, Mayor, and President of the United States? Take Herman Cain for example. This is a man who ran his own pizza business. PIZZA! Should we really expect this man to know anything about foreign policy?

*clears throat*

This is a man, Black man,who felt he would be a good candidate to represent the Republican Party as a Presidential candidate. Now I have nothing against Black Republicans, but let's be realistic here.Our country is barely 40 years removed from full blown legal segregation and to some people those laws were never abolished. Now to those people still stuck in the '60s (hello Tea Party?) do you think they would allow a Black man to represent them?

Back to my point. What was Herman Cain thinking about knowing that he had alleged sexual harassment claims settled in the past? Did he think no one would dredge that up especially if he found himself leading in the polls?

Now as more  and more women start to remember that Cain sexually harassed them, the obligatory mistress emerges. Isn't this supposed to happen to old White men in the Senate? Now a woman in Atlanta claims she had a 13-year affair with Cain that ended only eight months ago, around the same time he decided he was going to run for President. He can't be that stupid can he? I hope not.

Because Barack Obama was elected President does not mean the country is ready to see TWO Black men fight for the highest office. Cain blamed the sexual harassment leaks on his opponents, but what did you expect, Herman??

I'm dumfounded. 

Hope you didn't think it was gonna be easy, son. If so, you probably had the same brain cramp you did when asked about Libya.

Conrad Murray Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison

From the Huffington Post/AOL:

Michael Jackson's personal physician was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment in an L.A. County jail on Tuesday, capping a more than two-year legal journey investigating the King of Pop's death.
Conrad Murray, 58, stood stone-faced as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor declared him an unfit candidate for probation and pronounced the sentence for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's 2009 death, citing Murray's involvement in what the judge called a "cycle of horrible medicine."

"He has absolutely no sense of remorse," the judge said. "[Murray] is and remains dangerous. ... I think Dr. Murray is so reckless that I believe he is a danger to the community."
Pastor said the court will order Dr. Murray to pay restitution to Jackson's estate and children in an amount to be determined at a later restitution hearing when they can get more detailed information. Pastor also ordered $800 in restitution to the court, a $30 court security fee, and a $40 criminal conviction assessment.

"We know that Michael Jackson, as a direct result of the actions of Dr. Murray died on June 25, 2009, leavening his three children without their father," Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said during the proceedings. "It is the people's opinion that prison is warranted."
"As his brothers and sisters we will never be able to hold, laugh or perform with our brother Michael," said spokesman Brian Panish, delivering a collective statement from the Jackson family. "As his children we will grow up without a father, our best friend, our playmate and our dad. We are not here to seek revenge. There is nothing you can do today that will bring Michael back. But we will keep the love in our hearts that Michael embodied throughout his life. His passion was for unifying the world through the gift of his artistry. We respectfully request that you impose a sentence that reminds physicians that they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder and cast aside their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. As we all know from this tragedy doing so can have devastating results."


Defense attorney Edward Chernoff told the court Murray grew up dirt poor in the Caribbean, made his way to U.S. and put himself through college and medical school, saying, "That's exactly what we want our neighbors and citizens to aspire to."
"For 14 years he prepared for a life as a doctor. All he is is a doctor and now that's gone. It's his fault. I'm not saying it's not but it is gone and if punishment is the point. If what you are really trying to determine is punishment as opposed to vengeance should that be taken into consideration at all? Dr. Murray, whether he is a barista for the rest of his life or a greeter at Walmart he still going to be the man that killed Michael Jackson. That's really who he is now. He's not a doctor. That's who he is," Chernoff said.


But Judge Pastor remained focused on the charges at hand and the doctor's "medicine madness" when handing down the sentencing decision. "Some may feel this was a medical malpractice case. It wasn't. It was and is a criminal homicide case," he said. "Michael Jackson died not because of an isolated, one-off occurrence or incident. He died because of a totality of circumstances which are directly attributable to Dr. Murray."

The California Department of Corrections will decide whether Murray will spend his time in a 23-hour lockdown cell or in the general jail population.

Somehow it feels as if four years is not long enough for this crime  of gross negligence.

Love Does Cost A Thing?

First off, what the heck is a FIAT? Second, who actually believes Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo) would be caught dead in this thing in real life? I don't. So imagine my surprise (not) when the website Smoking Gun revealed that "Jenny From The Block" never really stepped foot on it during her "This Is My World" commercial. Lopez was reportedly taping her scenes on a green screen in Los Angeles while a body double drove through the mean streets of the Boogie Down Bronx.

Talk about going Hollywood.

The people at FIAT was under so much pressure after the Smoking Gun site released documents proving the ol' switcheroo that they had to apologize for the fraudulent spots (the one where she is driving in Manhattan is also fake green screen trickery) stating (paraphrasing here) that one can be inspired by their hometown even if they don't actually go back there.

Someone is paying this lady a boatload of greenbacks. How else do you explain the SHAMELESS Kim Kardashian-style shilling of this FIAT vehicle during Lopez's American Music Awards performance?

I won't even go into all the forced stereotypical 'hood scenes present in the commercial (kids playing in the jonny pump, breakdancers, shirtless men playing basketball, etc).

The funny thing is after all of that no one is buying the car. J-Lo needs more people.

Check out the commercial below. Can you spot the body double?

NBA Lockout Over!

So the players and owners decided to end this farce of a lockout. My question is why scrap two months of the season only to agree on what the owners wanted anyway? 49 to 51 percent BRI? Sounds like less than 50/50 to me. Concession stand employees, arena employees, local businesses all lost money, even their jobs for this? Smh.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Be thankful for life, family, freedom, and true friendship!

God Bless!

"Pass The Torch" Now on Amazon.com!

"Pass The Torch: How A Young Black Father Challenges The 'Deadbeat Dad' Stereotype" is now available at Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Pass-Torch-Challenges-Deadbeat-Stereotype/dp/0615484425/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321936056&sr=1-1 and digital download for the Amazon Kindle.

Also available at Createspace.com e-store www.createspace.com/3566686

Heavy D laid to rest today

Hip Hop's "Overweight Lover" and first big man sex symbol will be laid to rest today (Nov. 18th) at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon. In honor of the "Heavster" I have compiled a bunch of my favorite videos from Heav D below.

May you have a peaceful journey, my brother.

"We Got Our Own Thang"

"Mr Big Stuff"

"Somebody For Me"

"Girls They Love Me"

"Don't Curse" (a.k.a. one of the greatest posse cuts of ALL time!)

"Dem No Worry We" f. Supercat (Lighter!!)

"Big and Broad" f. Supercat and Frankie Paul (no video for this tune, but there should have been)

"Blue Funk" (love this track)

"You Can't See What I Can See" (Classic! Flavor Flav ad libs put it over the top)

"Now That We Found Love" (Heavy's biggest hit!)

"Nuttin' But Love" (This video ran constantly in '94! Shout to Chris Tucker and Talent)

Final U.S. Performance at 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards (I was shocked as everyone else that he closed the show. Who knew it would be the last time we saw Heavy D on television)

New book "Pass The Torch" is available today!

"Pass The Torch: How A Young Black Father Challenges The 'Deadbeat Dad' Stereotype" is now available at the Createspace.com e-store. https://www.createspace.com/3566686

Not only does the book speak on my experience as a victim of an absentee father, it analyzes the theme of fatherhood in controversial films "Boyz N Da Hood", "Menace II Society", and "He Got Game", Fathers in Hip Hop, the absence of the Black family sitcom and more.

Please support Black fatherhood by ordering your copy today!

You can also order from Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Pass-Torch-Challenges-Deadbeat-Stereotype/dp/0615484425/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321645342&sr=1-1

Why Is This Man Smiling?

Because his so-called "competition" for the 2012 election are shooting themselves in the foot and slowly bleeding to death. When you are a Republican presidential candidate and you can't remember what you want to get rid of when you get elected to office or you can't recall a single thing about a major international incident that took place mere months ago and subsequently tell reporters you are not "supposed to know about foreign policy", it's not looking good for the GOP.

This comedy of errors is worse than having Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate.

I have never seen Barack Obama lose his cool in public much less stumble over words. The man knows his history, he is well read, and even when he pauses you can tell he is measuring his words not looking for answers.

ENERGY, dammit! Lol!

What the hell?

Painful to watch.

"Psst. It can't be this easy, can it?"

Report: Busta Rhymes Signs to Young Money/Cash Money

????

I miss this guy.

That's all.

Sandusky lawyer also enjoys kids

In the "can't make this up" department, the attorney assigned to defend accused child abuser Jerry Sandusky has a sordid past of his own. Joseph Amendola reportedly impregnated a 17 year-old teenager he was supposed to be defending in a separate case back in the '90s. 

Although he targeted an older child, no less sick.

NBA Players Rejects Owner's Offer

Player representatives from all 30 NBA teams, along with superstar Kobe Bryant among others, convened in New York in a last ditch attempt to settle the NBA lockout imposed by David Stern and the owners. The players rejected the ultimatum given by the owners of a 50-50 split on BRI or fallback to a worse offer. According to Billy Hunter (above right) the players chose unanimously to decertify the player's union and file an anti-trust lawsuit against the league.

The proposal included a possible 72 game season to start December 15th, but a season is less likely to happen after what took place today.

The bright side is the NFL players decertified their union but were still able to get it together. Stay tuned.

From Penn State to the State Pen

I must say I am sickened by this whole Penn State scandal. The board of trustees did the right thing firing Joe Paterno (above right), arguably the face of Penn State. It wasn't his accomplishments on the field but his inaction off of it in the most toughest test in his more than 60 years at the school that ultimately doomed him.

Given the timeline of events that took place after coach Mike McQueary (above left) witnessed Jerry Sandusky (first photo, above left) raping a 10-year old boy in the locker room shower in 2002, that no one thought to call the police is beyond comprehension. For McQueary to walk away and allow that boy to continue to be assaulted is reprehensible to me.

Make a noise, McQueary! "What's going on here?" would have been just fine. Or if you didn't want Sandusky to see you, grab a cell phone and call the cops, go to another part of the area and get on a phone, don't LEAVE the building and run and tell your daddy. You're a 28 year old graduate assistant, not a teenager.

That Joe Paterno had to lose his job for not following up completely on what he was told by McQueary, but McQueary, the key eyewitness, up until this past Thursday was set to coach the Penn State game today against Nebraska is unfathomable. Death threats against McQueary initially kept him off the sidelines, but to still pacify this guy by attempting to allow him to coach from the booth, I totally believe Sandusky's crimes were covered up.

Friday (Nov. 11) the university put McQueary on PAID administrative leave. So he still hasn't been fired AND he's getting paid to stay away. There are those that are saying because he is a whistleblower, the only eyewitness that there are laws that protect him from being fired.

Please. He can still be canned and testify. Protect the whistleblower? He didn't do that good a job. He never called the police. He was still taking part in activities with Sandusky for Sandusky's foundation after the incident. How does Paterno get fired and not McQueary?

As ESPN radio personality Michael Kay said, everyone is using legalese and terms like "allegedly" to describe Sandusky's actions against eight boys, yet everyone who makes a statement asks to "pray for the victims and their families." Kay continued to say if the crimes are alleged there should be no victims. If Sandusky didn't do anything why ask to pray for the victims. That means everybody knew something was going on and did nothing to keep Sandusky away from society.

Despicable.

Joe Paterno needed to retire, I'm glad the trustees did not allow him to dictate how he was going to go out. As for Sandusky, the floodgates have opened with reports that he was pimping boys out to the highest bidder and that his victims were African-American boys.

He needs to go under the jail.

Eddie Murphy Quits As Host of Oscars

One day after his friend and director Brett Ratner stepped down as producer of the upcoming Academy Awards, Eddie Murphy has followed suit resigning as host.

It was Ratner who convinced Eddie to take the gig, but it was also Ratner, whose homophobic slur this past Friday (Nov. 4) in front of a crowd of movie goers viewing "Tower Heist", chose to step down as producer leading to Murphy's subsequent decision.

After Eddie's Rolling Stone interview I was looking forward to what he was going to do at the Oscars. I knew it was too good to be true.

Heavy D Reportedly Dead at 44

Legendary rapper Heavy D aka Dwight Myers was pronounced dead at an L.A. Hospital earlier today (Nov. 8th).

Heavy D was one of the first successful big men in Hip Hop and one of the early stars of Uptown Records in the mid to late '80s releasing numerous classic songs like "We Got Our Own Thing", "Now That We Found Love", and "Nuttin' But Love" among others. Heavy was also the voice behind the "In Living Color" theme song.

Heavy recently appeared on stage to close out the BET Hip Hop Awards showcasing his signature ability to pull off athletic dance moves with more slender dancers. He also appeared at the Michael Jackson tribute concert in Wales to sing his part in the collaboration with The King Of Pop "Jam".

Heavy D was 44.

Conrad Murray Found Guilty!

Maybe Michael is smiling again. On the night when VH1 will run the movie "This Is It" showing his final rehearsals for his series of comeback concerts, Dr. Conrad Murray has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jackson. Murray will most definitely go to prison for up to four years, but I can't help but feel that he was a fall guy, definitely guilty of negligence and sloppy work, but what about all the other "doctors" who fed Michael's drug addiction?

Still alive, Michael is not.

Magic, 20 Years Later

Today (Nov. 7th) is the 20th anniversary of the day the sports world was rocked by Los Angeles Lakers superstar Magic Johnson's announcement that he would be retiring from basketball because he contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

I, like evryone else was stunned by the news. He had just made the NBA Finals a few months before losing to Michael Jordan and the Bulls (the one time I ever rooted for Chicago to win because I was tired of the Lakers being in the Finals every year). His startling announcement shed new light on what was thought to be a "gay disease". HIV and AIDS were thought to be the same thing at the time so many people believed Magic was going to die. Many of the players in the NBA were uneducated about the disease and thus when Magic attempted to return to basketball a few months later, he was met with an ignorance and fear by some of the superstar players in the league, most notably Karl Malone, that made him reconsider and stay retired.

Malone, erroneously thinking the virus could be spread through sweat, expressed his concern stating he would not play as hard if he knew someone who had the virus was playing. Cleveland all-star guard Mark Price was another outspoken player and, if I remember correctly, Charles Barkley was fearful as well.

Magic Johnson's press conference that day was classic Magic. Although he was probably scared out of his mind, he managed to step up to the microphone and tell the world why he decided he would leave the game he loved and dominated. It had to be tough, his wife Cookie sitting to his right pregnant with their child (both Cookie and the future Earvin Johnson, Jr. tested negative), Commissioner David Stern, and the recently retired Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who shared all of those championship moments with Magic in the '80s, to his left. Still Magic was able to flash his trademark smile as he told a captive audience that he would live on and go on with his life. The fierce competitior that he was, Magic was not going to let HIV defeat him.

As inspiring as his positive attitude that day was, his triumphant return to the court in February of 1992 for the NBA All-Star game was just as uplifting. Magic, on the ballot because he was an active player at the start of the '91-'92 season, was voted a starter by the fans even though he did not play a game that season and he more than delivered. All I remember about the game was the high-fives he received from his West teammates (even Malone) during the announcement of the All-stars and the end of the game where he was guarded by former good friend Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan on consecutive possessions. These matchups got a huge rise out of the crowd, but when Magic hit an off balance 3-point shot on Thomas, the 42 points he scored and game MVP he won was the perfect exclamation point to a Hall of Fame career ended too soon.

Magic also started the Magic Johnson Foundation that fateful day effectively becoming the face of HIV in a "if it could happen to Magic, it could happen to anyone" sort of way. Johnson used his platform to educate not only the NBA and its players about the difference between HIV and AIDS and how the HIV virus could be transmitted, but kids, adults, people who were ignorant to the facts about the epidemic that would become a pandemic.

The "cut rule" was introduced into the NBA that season. If a player suffered an open wound or if blood was drawn during play a time out was immediately called so that  team doctor could stop the bleeding before play resumed.

Magic was in the prime of his career when he stepped away, all of 32 years old. Although he did manage to comeback late in the '95-'96 season, the game had already changed. All of his former teammates had retired or moved on to other teams and the young players on the roster did not mix well with the aging star. Magic retired for good after that season and has actually gained weight since his playing days leading artists like Kanye West to playfully rap that Magic has the cure for AIDS.

If he does I can't think of a better man who is more deserving.

Below is a suprise appearance Magic made on The Arsenio Hall show (throwback!) the day after losing to Jordan and the Bulls in the 1991 Finals. Check out how classy he is in defeat.



Then five months later having to do this...

Can't spell "elite" without Eli

In shades of Super Bowl XLII, the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots Sunday (Nov. 6th) on a last second drive. In the big game four years ago Manning led the Giants down the field after a go-ahead score by Tom Brady and the Patriots. It was Super deja vu on Sunday as Manning got the ball back with about a minute less on the clock than he had in 2007 and with the help of Jeff Ballard's one handed catch in traffic (reminiscent of David Tyree's miracle catch) and subsequent touchdown grab, New York was able to emerge victorious 24-20 and move to 6-2 on the season.

This is the fourth time Eli has led a comeback in the final quarter this season. With older brother Peyton sidelined with a neck injury, Eli is the only Manning in the spotlight and he is taking full advantage of it.

Can we get this guy some more endorsements?

Former VIBE Magazine and ESPN executive in hot water

Keith Clinkscales, former ESPN vice president, has been accused of pleasuring himself while sitting next to reporter Erin Andrews on a March 2011 flight.

The allegations were brought to public attention by the website Deadspin.com, long in the business of exposing alleged secrets and boorish behavior by employees of "The Worldwide Leader in Sports". Clinkscales who was reportedly doing the deed under an iPad was allegedly discovered by Andrews and panicked and muttered 'you know I am one of your bosses'".
Andrews was freaked out, but reportedly did not report the incident to the company's human resources department brcause she wanted it to go away. Andrews was also the victim of a peeping tom back in 2008.

Clinkscales vehemently denied the allegations and has filed a lawsuit against another colleague Jane Lynch whom he says was jealous of promotion to VP and has tried to sully his name as a result.

So I guess Clinkscales is gonna go with the "because I'm a Black man" defense here?

In the words of another ESPN show: "C'mon, Man".

Girl Whipped By Judge Father In Video Wants a Do Over

As many are now aware Hilary Adams (above) was repeatedly whipped by her father who happens to be a judge on a video that was recorded seven years ago. Okay, the video of the beating is disturbing because of the length that it goes on (clocking in at over seven minutes), but to children raised in a Caribbean household over twenty years ago, this was an average, good ol' fashioned whipping you were used to receiving if you stepped out of line. Beatings like that made you the well-mannered member of society that you are today.

Nowadays, ofcourse, it is considered child abuse. There is two sides to every story and Judge William Adams has confirmed that he was in the video whipping his daughter because she was caught stealing. Caught STEALING. Let me get caught stealing as a little boy... I don't even want to think about it.

My thing is this, Hilary only released this video, that she secretly taped, SEVEN YEARS after it happened because of a recent argument she had with her father over the phone. Daddy got you upset so you chose to show one of hundreds of whippings you probably received because you're pissed off?

And then you say that you're sorry you did it after the fact? After the video has gone viral and the Judge has been stripped of his livelihood and his life has been threatened? Come on, Hilary. Your father is an officer of the court. If he needs help for abusive behavior, you call the police. You don't post a video into cyberspace where there are maniacs and psychos that are looking for a reason to fight or harm someone for no other reason that he or she is miserable and wants to take it out on another person.

Judge Adams' home address and phone number is public record. The local Dominos pizza has received dozens of prank orders to be sent to the judge's home. Local authorities are being beseiged by angry phone calls about this incident that happened SEVEN YEARS AGO! But you wanna take it back. You're sorry you posted it.

Going on Twitter and asking people to stop threatening your father and give him the help he needs? What is that supposed to do? They will give him help alright, help him to a beatdown worse than what you received since you got them so fired up.

If this gets Judge Adams the help he needs, it also got him a boatload of unwanted attention from people that have no business being involved in the matter.

Nice work.

Shaq says he threatened to kill Kobe according to book

Shocking.

What is it with teams that win. The ownership of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s decided after winning six NBA championships in eight years that instead of paying Coach Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan, that they could let these guys walk and continue to win. We saw how that worked out.

The Los Angeles Lakers (with Phil Jackson as coach) won three staright titles at the turn of the century with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, yet a stupid feud between the two stars made it impossible for them to co-exist and derailed what could have been more championships.

Everyone knew these two could not stand each other stemming from Kobe breaking the supposed "man code" by telling police he should have "paid off" a Colorado woman he was accused of raping to be quiet "like Shaq does".

We all knew Shaq wanted to kill Kobe then, but he reportedly admitted to telling his teammates so in his upcoming tell-all book.

Should be a good read.

C'Mon Man

The NBA season should be tipping off tonight....

A year after one of the top 5 NBA seasons in history you guys can't get back on the court on time?? On top of that y'all are depriving me of a full season with Carmelo Anthony on the Knicks.

Let's get it together!!