Saucacisms

Micheal Jackson Sightings - GTFOH !!

2009-07-07T11:52:00.006-05:00

I was sitting here watching the funeral on CNN and surfing the 'nets when I came across this video. The bullsh!t is beginning already! I guess when you were a megastar like MJJ was, it's hard for folk to just let go. Hell, folks still are spotting Elvis and he's been dead for years!

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine (heyyyy, Katrina!) about MJJ and she told me that she thinks that he isn't even dead! I asked her why she thought that and she told me that he was faking his death because he was tired of the stardom and he wanted to just live a normal life.

I have to disagree with her there because NOTHING about MJJ is, was and will ever be just normal. By the way, are they really selling tickets to his funeral? I read where people are scalping them on Ebay and Craig's List....

150 Years Aint Nothing!

2009-07-07T09:25:00.010-05:00

After Bernie Madoff’s 150-year sentence last month, who woulda thought that someone could get more time than that?

Arthur Sease, a former Memphis police officer who also was an aspiring rap music producer, is the main defendant from a series of public-corruption investigations that over the past six years that have produced indictments and guilty pleas from more than 48 law enforcement officers from six different agencies. Sease also is the first to take his case to a trial.

"It's been like a black cloud over my head," said Sease, adding that he has been in federal custody for 30 months waiting for his case to be heard. "I'm ready to get it behind me and get it over with and let God make a decision."

Well, the jury and not God made a decision. Guilty on 44 counts stemming from shakedowns of drug dealers for money, drugs and merchandise. Sease's convictionincluded conspiracy charges involving drugs, extortion, civil rights violations, kidnapping, money laundering and illegal use of firearms.

After refusing a plea deal and a lighter sentence, this cat demanded a trial and was convicted in February on so many damned counts of official corruption that it took the judge half an hour to read the jury's verdict. His sentence announced Tuesday:

life in prison, plus a mandatory consecutive 255 years

"This is not an illusory sentence," said U.S. Dist. Court Judge Jon McCalla, noting there is no parole in the federal system. "This is a real one in which the numbers are real and the punishment is genuine. It is a long sentence and it is what is required by the law, the facts and the circumstances."

The five co-defendants in this case got off by pleading guilty and cooperating with investigators.

Former reserve officer Andrew Hunt: 19 years in prison, later reduced to 10 years after testifying against Sease

Former officer Antoine Owens: 5 years, 3 months

Former officer Alexander Johnson: 2 years, 6 months

Civilian Laterrica Woods: 3 years

Former officer Harold McCall: 3 years probation

According to evidence and testimony in his nine-day trial, Sease conspired with drug dealers to arrange drug buys, then robbed those dealers as they arrived or left the designated location and 16 similar robberies were committed between 2003 and 2006 before one dealer complained to the police that Sease had robbed him of $32,000 in cash. I wonder how that cat came to the conclusion that he was gonna go to the cops and tell them that a cop robbed him of his drug money!

Damned good thing he didn't kill their dog too!

The Air Up There

2009-07-05T15:41:00.002-05:00

Steve McNair was found dead Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., according to Nashville police.

McNair suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head in downtown Nashville. A female victim was also found dead. Police have not released the name of the female, only to say that it was not McNair's wife, Mechelle.

The call to police came in at 1:35 PM. The circumstances surrounding the shooting deaths still remain under active investigation. There were no signs of forced entry at the crime scene and no suspects have been taken into custody.

A Nashville police spokesman identified the woman as Sahel Kazemi, a "friend" of McNair's. A pistol was found near her body. She suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, police say, and McNair "was shot multiple times."

Titans owner K.S. "Bud" Adams Jr. released this statement: "We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair's passing today. He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they deal with his untimely passing."

R.I.P. MJJ

2009-06-26T18:14:00.007-05:00

The news was shocking. It seems as if MJJ was a family member. I remember back in the day when I was getting my hair done @ Gandy's. Dad and I went on thursdays and when I got to school on Friday, I would tell all my schoolmates that I was the 6th Jackson! Ya know, the one Joe never talked about. Talking bad about Mike would get you punched in the face.

There's a story about him and his brothers doing a mini-concert in South Memphis on top of a building. I don't know how true this is because I have heard plenty of people talking about it but no one has ever said that they were actually there. Might be an urban legend, who knows.....

But I did go to the Triumph tour. The Jacksons' 1981 Triumph Tour began in Memphis, Tennessee and ended in Los Angeles. The Jacksons set a record breaking 4 sold out concerts in Los Angeles. I was twelve and can still remember what I had on. Dark blue baggies and a white and blue no-collar shirt. Our seats were so high up in the Coliseum, I almost had to bend over when we got up to dance. Dancing all in the aisles.

Over the years, my love for MJJ has lessened while my appreciation of his music stayed the same but hell, I liked the black Mike. I aint scared to say it. I just never could get with the straightened hair and the bleached skin but the cat is still the greatest entertainer ever to me.

Yeah, music died yesterday and the world will miss you!

Cough It Up, Al!

2009-06-13T14:08:00.007-05:00

The lawsuit in Shelby County Circuit Court against Al Sharpton's New York City-based National Action Network seeks nearly $70,000. The Peabody Hotel in Memphis has filed a lawsuit against the Rev. Al Sharpton's civil rights group claiming some bills from a convention last year haven't been paid. The lawsuit in Shelby County Circuit Court against Sharpton's New York City-based National Action Network seeks nearly $70,000. The National Action Network said in a statement Friday that "some convention participants made unauthorized expenditures" during the meeting and it wants to resolve the outstanding issues. The group's 2008 convention brought thousands of members to Memphis to mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King in the city.

And by the looks of things, Al needs to pay his hairdresser too!

UFO's In Mississippi WTF??

2009-06-03T21:49:00.003-05:00

A group of people in Mississippi saw bright lights in the sky, stopped to take some

video footage - and then watched a large group of helicopters move into the area, according to witness testimony filed today at the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database. Their video from May 20 was posted May 21 at YouTube under the screen name jim20201.

source

At first look, I was like "Dayum, they got actual footage of ufo's but when I kept looking at the video and read where they were at when they recorded this I was like

HOLD ON

These are FedEx planes waiting to land at Memphis Airport! I live close to the airport and I see this every night. I am pretty sure that whoever filmed this has seen this before too. They had to have really been smoking some of that KUSH that night to trip out like that!

But after watching it again, those lights WERE kinda stationary. If they WERE planes, they woulda landed by then. If those lights WERE UFO's, they musta been lost. Flying over Southaven?? And what's with all the helicopters??? Dayummmmm!!!

Is this REALLY a hate crime?

2009-06-03T12:41:00.011-05:00

I've been making a few changes to my blog so bear with me. I want to touch on something that me and my co-worker been discussing for the last couple of days. This is some of the article....

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A Whitehaven man is behind bars for shooting a man he says mislead him about his gender. Police say Terron Taylor shot Kelvin Denton after an argument about Denton misrepresenting himself as a woman. According to reports, Taylor shot the victim in the neck and nose at the Peppertree Apartments near Graceland.

Source

For the fifth time since 2006, a transgendered woman of color has been shot in the streets of Memphis, Tennessee on May 27. Tiffany Berry was shot and killed in Memphis in 2006, as well as Ebony Whitaker and Duanna Johnson in 2008. Leeneshia Edwards was also shot in 2008, but survived. The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition is urging the swift and aggressive prosecution of Taylor for the crime and I'm sure that they are gonna want it to be listed as a hate crime but is this really a hate crime?

Second Most Dangerous City

2009-04-27T07:23:00.007-05:00

I have always known that one has to be careful while in Memphis. Now a new Forbes magazine report ranks Memphis as the second most dangerous city in the United States. Memphis trailed Detroit closely and Miami came in third. The three cities were the only large American cities with more than 950 violent crimes committed for every 100,000 people. Nashville is ranked ninth, and Little Rock comes in as the seventh most dangerous city. There are 3 things that will get your ass blowed off in Memphis quicker than anything else and those 3 things are money, women and having a smart-assed mouth! Just so happens, Memphis police are investigating eight different shootings that happened Saturday, April 25, 2009 and Sunday, April 26, 2009. Two of which were deadly.

I just love my city!!

My puppy is here!

2009-04-12T18:31:00.004-05:00

My main computer still has a virus. I have been meaning to take it to work and have a tech look at it. I hooked up an old pc to access the 'nets. It's slow but it allows me to surf and check my emails.

Put a down payment on my puppy yesterday. As if having four kids aint already expensive enough, I gotta go and BUY another mouth to feed! I got a French Bulldog and he's fully registered with the AKC. I don't know the difference between full registration and limited so I guess i will google it later. Mine is the one that's standing (the brindle one) and I will be bringing him home Friday after work.

I have never owned a house dog before. I have had three dogs (a mutt, a boxer and a pit) but none have ever been kept in the house. I should have a lotta help with training him though. I am sure the kids will be more than glad to do that. I don't know what we are gonna name him yet. Guess we will have to vote on that before I bring him home. I want to name him Dolemite but I have been thinking about something french like Maximo or maybe Napoleon.

Happy Easter!!

My PC is sick

2009-03-31T18:02:00.003-05:00

Somehow I've contracted the freaking mother of all viruses on my pc. I can't restore my pc nor can I run the disk it came with! All my administrative access has been denied too. The virus has deleted some of my dll files too. Bear with me yall......

Self Expression Or Distraction

2009-01-25T10:50:00.009-06:00

Dress Code Policy in the Memphis City School system dictates that a student wears tan, navy blue or black pants, skirts or jumpers. Student must also wear a white long sleeve or short sleeve shirt with a collar. However, school colors allowed.

One student said, "I had a white Aeropostale shirt. I had my gray belt. I had some skinny leg jeans and my flats and some leg warmers.”

So why did this outfit land this student in the Principal's office?

This student is a BOY!

The principal called him into his office and said that he needed to dress like a boy and his sexuality is getting too outrageous at school and that Gaderious going to have to find some place else to go. Gaderious says he usually wears a fitted girl's collared shirt, a long sleeve undershirt, cargo khakis, and tennis shoes or flats.

The dress code is unisex so there is no such thing as a "boy" or "girl" uniform. MCS policy says the principal can say something if the attire disrupts the learning environment or creates a safety hazard.

Gaderious says, "I don’t start trouble with anyone. I’m just a normal student.”

Gaderious has since filed a complaint with the Board of Education about the principal’s demands that he change his clothing and hopes to get a response back soon. He wants to attend a winter formal and prom and wants to be able to buy his outfit, even if it is a dress.

Should this type of behavior be permitted in public schools? At what point does self expression become a distraction?

P.S. I know I have been a little lazy in posting but work with me yall. Life happens!

Watch Yourselves

2009-01-03T13:41:00.000-06:00

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A woman who knowingly spread HIV to her sexual partners in Bedford and Marshall Counties 10 years ago has been released from prison.

Pamela Denise Wiser of Lewisburg was sentenced to 26 and a half years in prison in 1999 after pleading guilty to 22 counts of knowingly exposing partners to the virus that causes AIDS.

The Shelbyville Times-Gazette reports Wiser was released from a state prison in Memphis on Dec. 22 and is living in Tullahoma, where she will be under state supervision for the next 12 years.

When arrested in 1998, Wiser said an ex-boyfriend gave her HIV and that she slept with up to 50 men to get revenge, although she later changed the story to less than half that number.

She has maintained she told all her sexual partners about her medical condition, but some of the men denied that. At least one man contracted the virus.

Memphis' First Homicide In 2009

2009-01-03T13:15:00.004-06:00

A shooting at a convenience store has become Memphis' first homicide of 2009. It took place @ the Watkins Market in the 1000 of North Watkins, Thursday, January 1, 2009, around 10:40 a.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they found 26 year-old Darramis Stevens on the floor of the business. Detectives say he had been shot in the chest and taken to the Med in critical condition. Stevens died at 12:56 a.m., Friday, January 2, at the hospital.

Police say the shooting stemmed from an argument between the store clerk, Yahya Murshed, and Stevens. The 37 year-old Murshed has been charged with second degree murder in this case.

Still Killing The Dream Or At Least TRYING To

2008-11-18T23:33:00.005-06:00

08725976 That's the booking number for President-Elect Barrack Obama. I was on my way home from work, listening to talk radio when I heard that the city of Memphis cited Barack Obama personally for a class c misdemeanor for the placement of campaign signs in areas that the city states they should not be and not the local campaign office which actually should be held responsible. Obama's court date was set for Monday and after he did not appear in court, a bench warrant was about to be issued for his arrest.

I didn't believe it until I saw for myself. If you think I am lying to you, you can go to jssi.co.shelby.tn.us and see for yourself! Just search for Barrack Obama under GS Case History.

Bass Ackwards

2008-11-08T21:10:00.003-06:00

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee man convicted in the death of his teacher wife's student lover has been sentenced to four years, but will spend almost all of it on probation.

Eric McLean had faced a possible life sentence when he was tried for murder in September for the 2007 shooting death of 18 year-old Sean Powell, the lover of his now former wife, Erin McLean.

But a Knox County jury convicted him of the lesser charge of reckless homicide.

On Friday, Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz gave him the maximum sentence on his conviction, but sent him to jail for only 47 days. The rest of the sentence will be on probation.

McLean had also spent 43 days in jail after his arrest, before being released on bond.

McLean admitted shooting Powell, but said it was an accident. Defense attorney Bruce Poston argued Powell grabbed a rifle McLean pointed at him to get him to leave the McLeans' house, and the gun discharged.

BUT IN OHIO

Housemother Gets 3 Years for Sex With Teen

Carolynn "Carrie" Hatcher, who is due to deliver in late January, was ordered to surrender Feb. 10 to begin serving her sentence, the Cincinnati Enquirer has reported. Hatcher, who is married, was a housemother and teacher at the Mid-Western Children's Home, where the father of her child was a resident

Another teen reported the sexual activity in July and Hatcher pleaded guilty in September to three counts of sexual battery..

God Don't Like Ugly

2008-10-26T13:11:00.003-05:00

Police say a West Memphis, Arkansas church congregation was robbed at gunpoint during a service Tuesday @ the New Revelations Church in the 700 block of 13th Street, around 8:30 p.m. Police say a man wearing a ski mask walked into the church and started waiving a gun and demanding money. Authorities say no one was hurt and the robber got away.

Has times gotten so bad that we need to stay strapped even @ church? If anyone has information that can help investigators, call the Crittenden County Crime Stoppers at (870) 732-4444 or the West Memphis Police Department at (870) 732-7555.

If It's OJ's Shit, You Must Acquit!

2008-10-05T13:05:00.012-05:00

"O.J. was toxic, and he has been toxic since 1994, and this jury was just ready to clean up the mess" --Loyola University law professor Laurie LevensonIn Las Vegas, where luck means everything, O.J. Simpson crapped the hell out. He was convicted of kidnapping and an armed robbery that happened on Sept. 13 and was found guilty on the 13th anniversary of his Los Angeles murder acquittal. A Las Vegas jury deliberated for 13 hours after a 13-day trial. He'll be sentenced Dec. 5.

The 61-year-old OJ was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for getting five more old geezers to go with him a year ago and do a kick-door on a room @ a hotel-casino in Las Vegas to seize his sports mementos — including game balls, plaques and photos — from two collectors. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed and one even said that OJ had asked him to bring a gat with him.

The case was brought about by Thomas Riccio, a collectibles broker who tried to bring in the FBI when he heard that two memorabilia dealers were planning to sell Simpson artifacts. He didn't get the FBI's attention so he helped set up a "sting" by promoting an anonymous buyer who turned out to be the Juice.

Riccio rented a hotel room away from the Las Vegas Strip for the meeting and planted a digital recorder in the room. Riccio then sold the recordings of the six-minute confrontation for $210,000 before turning them over to police eight days later. The recordings were sometimes inaudible but Simpson's voice came through loud and clear when he said, "Don't let nobody out of this room." and those words formed the core of the prosecution's kidnapping charge.

Kidnapping is punishable by five years to life in prison. Armed robbery carries a sentence of at least two years behind bars and could bring as much as 30.

The judge immediately ordered the Juice to go directly to jail pending sentencing which she did not have to do. Judge Glass could have let him stay free on bail until sentencing but we can all assume she will keep Simpson incarcerated through the appeal process as well. I read that the standard wait for the Nevada Supreme Court to hear and decide an appeal is about 2 years but the Nevada Supreme Court can take as long as they want to take and often takes longer. So even if OJ succeeds in appealing the jury verdict and have that verdict vacated by the Nevada Supreme Court, those two or more years will most likely be spent behind bars.

As of now, OJ is no longer a free man and will not be for quite some time. Simpson will stay in jail until sentencing in December and then he will be sent to prison in Nevada. Because of the seriousness of the charges, there is the real possibility he will be sent to Nevada's maximum security prison. Simpson could get anywhere from a few years to a possible life sentence. If a gun had not been involved in the case, probation could have been a possibility.

From the beginning of the trial, OJ and his lawyers argued that the incident was not a robbery, but an attempt to reclaim items that had been stolen from him. The defense portrayal of Simpson as a victim of shady characters who wanted to make money from his famous name,and of police officers who saw his arrest as an opportunity to "get" him and avenge his acquittal over the murder charges didn't work.

Prosecutors said Simpson's ownership of the memorabilia was irrelevant; it was still a crime to try to take things by force. Four other men charged in the case struck plea bargains that saved them from potential prison sentences in return for their testimony against Simpson and Stewart. Some of them had criminal records or were otherwise compromised in some way - for example, one was an alleged pimp who testified he had a revelation from God telling him to take a plea bargain.

I truly believe that this trial was just part two of OJ's trial for allegedly murdering his former wife and that white boy , Ron Goldman 'cause when does taking back your OWN shit constitutes armed robbery? And can anyone really believe that the Juice can get a fair trial when all jury members were white and majority of them were women?

This Can Happen

2008-10-05T12:33:00.000-05:00

I can't remember where I got this from or who wrote it but I thought it was well worth posting.

Yesterday, that FEMA camp down outside of town was only a tree farm. Occasionally there had been some trucks with workers going in and out. People tried to get the workers to chat about it, and all they got was a disinterested stare. They were all illegals anyway. Work was work and the economy is in a recession.

Tonight as you sit at home with your family watching American Idol, the program is interrupted by a news brief from CNN’s Washington desk. A female Army captain in battle uniform is reading a report about some kind of nuclear device that has detonated within the City of Houston. No one has yet claimed responsibility.

12 hours later, with every update, CNN shows the faces of a dozen dark haired men with Middle Eastern sounding names. The FBI had raided their apartments and found large amounts of documents and other evidence, - video tapes, parts, tools, and rolls of lead foil. The scene shifts to a news crew and team FBI investigators at one of the apartments mentioned. He holds up a driver’s license – Ahmed Tehrani. Other documents a reporter holds up to the camera reveal that Ahmed is a graduate physics student at the University of Texas, an Iranian immigrant.

CNN cuts away now to a hurriedly arranged press conference at an air force base, somewhere in North Dakota. He announces that martial law had been put into effect one hour after the nuclear detonation in Houston. He confirms everyone’s worse fears. For all 50 states and US protectorates, all civilian air travel and railroad travel have been shut down.

All police, fire services, public and private telecommunications facilities have been feudalized under Homeland Security. Active duty, national guard units and Blackwater security forces are in control of roads, bridges, fuel, and food warehouses. The President hardly paused when he continues to mention that the November elections will be cancelled due to the present state of emergency.

Because perhaps, you’re a different kind of bear, you become vocal about the arbitrary dissolution of Congress and the mass arrests and detentions, under cover of numerous executive orders issued over the course of the previous eight years. You smelled a rat. You spoke up.

Flash forward a month: You are in line at the local ‘Freedom Camp”, being pushed along, away from your FEMA trailer. The Blackwater guards are harassing some of the more stubborn ones. You see many with bloody noses and bruises, in a line that stretches for three blocks.

“You all stink”, says one. “We’re getting all you maggots over to the showers so you can get decontaminated. It’s for your healthy and safety.”

“I’m hungry, when can we eat?”

“Not until you get decontaminated. Now shut up.”

You realize that the place you are being walked towards is an old meatpacking plant, but there are no animal in stockyards anywhere nearby to butcher. First, they come along and everyone is shaven down. Those doing the menial work are illegals, They walk up to each person in line, taking their valuables away and putting them into crates. A woman follows behind, says she’s from the Red Cross, and asks for anyway interested in donating blood. They’ll be able get their lunch without having to wait for the decontamination. Many agree and are walked away from the line.

You are about to ask the woman why it would be safe to give blood if you hadn’t yet been decontaminated, but suddenly she moves along and someone else is now asking each person in line for their name and social security number. Two old men in the line begin They mumble, unable to remember their numbers. They’re ignored as the line suddenly begins to move again. The line continue to surge every twenty minutes or so, then halts.

You smell smoke, an acrid, awful thick greasy smoke. Just beyond the shower building you, see a plume of black smoke slowly. You hear whispers in the line know. You can’t see, but you can hear someone scream, as he’s being clubbed down by three Blackwater men. The screaming stops.

You look around again and shake your head. How could this have happened? you say to yourself. You feel a rising pitch of vomit climb up into your throat, and then all you can do is double over and retch. You are not the only one doing so. A rotten smell hangs in the air.

There is nobody there to rescue you. You cough and wipe your mouth with your sleeve and look around, angry now. One guy suddenly dashes out of line, heading towards a line of trees a hundred yards to the west. He gets 30 feet and then he’s gunned down by Blackwater men. He could have waited - he could have bought some more time, maybe a minute, maybe more. What did it bring him to be a hero and try and make a run for it? Nobody cared. You’re still here and he is not. You smile.

More Blackwater guards have arrived. They begin joking amongst themselves, pointing at the sullen men queued up in the long march to be decontaminated.

One turns and makes eye contact with many. You all smell like I hope there’s some soap left by the time you reach the shower. Only clean pigs allowed here. The other Blackwater guards begin another loud round of laughter.

The line continues its occasional surges forward. It has been hours. There must have been a thousand ahead of you, but thankfully, you near the building.

You hear muffled sounds within the building, unable to make out the words, the meaning. You hear doors open and close. Then you and others move quickly through a hallway, and told to remove your clothes and put them on the floor. Helpers walk up and down the hallway now. The helpers cheerfully tell everyone that their clothes will be tagged and returned after they’re decontaminated. The mood brightens a bit around you. You can even hear a few joking. Orders are for everyone to remain calm and quiet. You're reminded that there is plenty of warm water for everyone. It becomes silent now, as you all shuffle slowly towards another door. When the door opens, the helpers guide you in and you’re told to not bunch up together, and reminded that it's selfish to waste too much warm water.

You look up and see shower heads above you. You want to ask why the floor is not wet, but are afraid they’ll beat you if you raise your voice.

You notice now that the room smells of urine and death. Before you can say anything, the doors slam shut and the lights go out and a gas slowly rises up from the showerheads towards the ceiling.

You think to yourself - there might still be time that someone may somehow burst in to rescue all of you. You hear sobbing and realize it is coming from you.

And now you take in one long breath and your mind begins to fade to black.

It's the Weekend, Baby!!

2008-10-04T10:35:00.005-05:00

Well, the football season for my younger son's team is over. We went 3-3. Corry didn't beat Riverview so we are out of the playoffs but there is always NEXT YEAR! My son won't be playing because he will be attending high school next year but my girls should be at the football games cheerleading.

Whitehaven beat Hamilton 53-0 last night @ Crump stadium so WHS is STILL undefeated! Houston's next up to lose. We got them Friday.

Basketball tryouts for John P. Freeman Middle School began today so once again, I'm at the gym early in the morning on a Saturday. I am sure that my son will make the team again. He played one year but he sat out last year to focus on his schoolwork. So now I am picking up the kids from band, karate and basketball practice!

Four Weeks Later

2008-09-28T13:36:00.003-05:00

Yesterday my younger son played football in our last regular season game. After going undefeated and winning the district championship last year, our record this season is 3-3. We have one chance to make it to the playoffs though. Corry Middle needs to beat Riverview. This was my son's first and last time playing football for JPF Middle School since he's in the 8th grade.

Whitehaven High is still undefeated in varsity football. We are now 5-0. Had an open week this week but we gotta play Hamilton on the 3rd. (RawDawg, what you gots on the game? I accept paypal, bruh!!) We beat them 50-0 last year, I think. They don't wanna see us!

I have made it out of my second month of my 6 month probationary period @ my grind. All the old heads keep telling me to just walk 'em down slow because the spotlight gets dim after your six months are up. Keep a list of the things that bother me and address them accordingly AFTER my six are up.

I can do that but I keep bumping heads with one of the guys on my team. He dodges and flodges. You know, dodge work and flodge like he's working his ass off when the boss comes around. Which only puts more work on the other two of us, me and North Memphis' Finest Mike G. I will tell yall about him later. I gots plenty to write about that cat. He aint worth a DAMN!

No Child Left Behind

2008-08-24T04:20:00.002-05:00

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is federal law that reauthorized federal programs geared to improve the performance of U.S. primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools.

No Child Left Behind should have been the mindset of all who listened to the parents of 5-month-old Caleb Janowski last week when Janowski defended himself and told Shelby County jurors he and his wife had both thought their 5-month-old son was asleep in his bedroom after what he described as a "hectic" family outing back in September of 2005.

Gerald Janowski told the jury he and his wife both thought the other had removed Caleb from a third-row seat and their 5-month-old son was asleep in his bedroom after he and his wife took Caleb and their other three children to their soccer games and shopping but about two hours later when his wife asked him where he had put the boy, they allegedly realized their mistake.

How can something like this happen? Their excuse is total bullshit. Both thought the other had removed lil dude from the third-row seat and he was in the bed asleep.

Maybe my kids are the exception and not the norm 'cause they look out for one another. Big brother watches lil brother. Twin girls always stay together. Brothers looking out for their sisters. Why didn't none of the other kids tell them they forgot to get lil dude out? Guilty.

Then neither one of them checked on lil dude after being home two damn hours. When my children were babies, I checked on them regularly if they weren't in eyesight. Even now at ages 10, 13 and 16 I will still look in on them. They got a 5 month old. Neither one bothered to check on their child. They Guilty!

And what's the time limit on jury deliberations? I read that jurors in this case only deliberated for about 12 hours over two days before a mistrial was declared Friday in this criminally negligent homicide case in the heat death of Caleb. Tell those lazy bastards, some of us work more hours than that over two days. Guilty!

Both parents will return to court on Sept. 26 to learn whether they will face another trial for the death of their 5-month-old son who died of hyperthermia in the rear seat of their family van on Sept. 10, 2005. They better hope my black ass don't get jury duty!

Brillante Blog Award

2008-08-24T01:07:00.003-05:00

Still trying to adjust to my new schedule so I haven't posted this week but I am back. Truth over @ The Enclave is my folk up the Missippi River. I read his posts regularly and he frequently comments on the posts here. I dunno if I've ever said that I appreciated his support before or not but I am doing it now. Thanks, bruh!

He nominated me for this award. I am at a loss for words which is kinda funny, blogging @ a loss for words, but let me say that I really appreciate it. With this nomination, he left seven rules to follow.

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.

5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Well, this was easy. All except number three 'cause not counting the blogs that I starting reading by way of a link from The Enclave, I only have two nominations because the others I don't read on the regular.

1. Raw Dawg Buffalo
2. Sister Girl's World

And if I am not mistaken, kinfolk don't do tags so Sister Girl, you are it!!

Following Truth's lead, I am including in this post seven random things about me.

1. I am a die hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

2. Still got the set of World Book encyclopedias that my parents bought in 1978 which I still read daily out of habit.

3. Bought my first house @ 23.

4. I can't hit an elephant in the ass with an ironing board without my glasses.

5. Never took the SAT but I scored a composite of 24 on the ACT.

6. Still got the wheels off the roller skates that I got for Christmas back in the 5th grade. I recently put them on my third pair of skates. My kids gave me a pair for my 39th birthday. Kinfolk can STILL roll!!

7. Never been west of Little Rock, Ark.

So there it is. Thanks again, truth. Sister Girl, holla @ me!

420 Post | My Mom Hates Me

2008-08-14T04:20:00.000-05:00

Yall I know the title may sound outrageous 'cause all mothers love their children, maternal instinct or whatnot and I know folk like to exaggerate but something just dawned on me. I started this while sitting here trying to relax my mind after getting on my older son for the umpteenth doggone time (it's always something), my mom hates me. What makes it so bad is she been hating me for awhile. Not hating on me but really and truly hating me. How I know? 'Cause of what she said to me when I was younger. I didn't really listen to her at the time, her words kind of went in one ear and out the other. What did she say to me? I'm gonna tell ya. Back then, I didn't even realize what she was actually saying to me. Many times she told me, "One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you". God bless him, my older son is 16 and you guessed it. He's juuuuuuuuuust like me . Don't know if he's gonna make it to 17 though 'cause I swear I am gonna kill him. I am past the why, I've just about moved on to the how and when. Hell, I shouldn't even be writing this. Probably can be used as evidence but I know I can trust yall not to be snitching on me though, right???

And I won't even get into how when one day while sitting around watching my two sons playing, guess they were around 5 and 2 then, I was bragging to Moms about how I was the last male with the family name that had boys so I was the one who carried on the family name and that mine was the "last of the red hot lovers." I got so full of myself that I told her that I was planning on having one more "little playa" before I was 30 so I can buy a personalized tag for the back of the ride. MY3SONS but guess what? She turned to me, looked me dead in the eyes and told me that I wasn't gonna have any more boys, I was gonna have a girl. "Matter of fact, ya gonna have twin girls"is exactly what she told me. well, to make an already long story short, we named that "last son before I am 30",the little "playa from the himaLAYas", we named him Robyn and Ravyn. Ya already know, twin girls...

I'm just kidding about Moms hating me. She loves me and I love all my children. Even my older son. Yes, they get their good sides from their mom and I am grateful for that. I wouldn't trade my baby girls for all the world. They love they daddy. I'm still gonna kill my son. Just kidding. Nahhhhhhhh, I aint kidding. I'm killing him!!!

Now & Laters

2008-08-11T21:34:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of school. Came home and can you believe everyone was through with their homework. They even checked each other homework for mistakes. It would be nice to think that I've finally gotten through to them but at the same time I wonder how long this gonna last 'cause it's still just the FIRST DAY.

I always tell them that it's best to do what you NEED to do NOW so you can do what you WANT to do LATER.

R.I.P. Bubba Lee

2008-08-10T23:53:00.003-05:00

Soul legend Isaac Hayes died today in Memphis, Tennessee. All I know is his family members found him laying unconscious next to a treadmill @ his home around 1 p.m. and he was pronounced dead at Baptist East Hospital. He was born in Covington, Tennessee and was 65 years old.

173 More Days

2008-08-10T08:48:00.005-05:00

Friday was officially the end of the first week @ the new grind. Only 25 more weeks to go before I finish my 6 month probationary period. Damn. Six months probation, that's a long time but I don't think I should have any problems. If I do I'll let yall know.

My probationary period ends the day before my birthday so I will have two things to celebrate that week. Hell. I might even take me a coupla days off. Just kidding. Just the day after the superbowl and that's fo' sho'. Not because that day is my birthday but because I always take the day after the Superbowl off regardless. I'm planning on hosting a big party for the SB this season not if but when the Steelers go.

On another note before I go, I want to say a little something about Bernie Mack (may he rest in peace). I didn't even know the cat was sick. Got a phone call while I was watching the scrimmage telling me he passed. I remember catching this on HBO when he did his first show on Def Comedy Jam. He had me tripping.

Drivers Drive

2008-08-07T19:21:00.006-05:00

I'm in the driver's seat. I am driving. You are in the passenger seat. Sit yo ass over there and passenge.

PopSauceThis cat @ work is really trying my patience. We leaving one site and going to another today and I'm the designated driver. Lil dude is over there telling me which way I need to go & whatever and is starting to get on my nerves.

I don't mind driving but aint no way I am gonna roll and you gonna sit over there and tell me how to drive. You wanna do all that, you coulda took the wheel. I aint gonna say nothing. Just ride.

We already late and he wants to take the streetway but I'm ready to hit the E-Way. We on salary. It's 3:30 and I gots to get back 'fo foe. You aint gonna catch me there @ 4:01. Not when everyone else is cutting on up outta there @ 340 and before.

He griping 'cause when he drove the vehicle yesterday, he claimed it had a slight shake when you reach about 48 mph which it does but hell, if it shakes at 48, speed up until it stops. That's what I say. Slow driving molly hopper. I'm doing 65-70 and I am straight. Just shut up and ride!

420 Post | Fvck That, This Is Football

2008-08-02T15:10:00.009-05:00

John P. Freeman played in a scrimmage against Bellevue this morning. It started @ 9 and would you believe less than an hour before the game lil dude come to me and tell me that he can't find his mouthpiece.

Shot up to the closest WalMart I could find and bought two . Lesson I learned while searching stores to find that ONE particular baby pacifier that got lost while the wife was at work and plus, I do hate last minute ripping and running. Told him last night to get his gear together for today's game.

The scrimmage ended after 12. Never been to a 3 hour scrimmage before and it was hotter than a firecracker today. Wasn't like a real game, each team ran about ten consecutive plays on offense then it was the other teams turn.

Ran into quite a few old acquaintances of mine @ the game today. Three of them I've known since back in the day @ Graves & Raineshaven Elem. schools. Holla back @ them next game.

So we @ the game when I hear the coach cussing while he's talking to one of his linebackers then some mom in the stands says, "did you hear that? he's cussing at that child!"

Until that second, it hadn't occured to me that here it is an adult using profanity towards a child right in the middle of the field so loud that everyone can hear. He wasn't belittling him for his performance but telling him what he did wrong and the right way to do it but still he WAS cursing.

I was listening to the mom talking about the coach's choice of words while watching the same linebacker get back in position for the next play. They called a sweep to the outside and he went right down the line and made the tackle. Put a good lick on the other kid too.

I looked back to see the lady's face 'cause she was still on the coach's ass. I began to think of the time when I played little league football 'cause the powers that be cut out football my junior high years. The way I felt when the coach got in my ass when I made mistakes. Hell, it made me want to go hit somebody!! So I laughed to myself as I thought....

Fvck that, this is football lady!

Back To School

2008-07-31T16:02:00.016-05:00

This is the video of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock animation (Verb! That's what happenin'). My second is the one about the bill, did I take you back? I like all of them to tell the truth though. There are so many good ones. My kids like the one about the pronouns. If you can remember, it's the one about the guy who has a friend named Rufus Xavier Sasparilla. If you got young kids, you need to put them up on Schoolhouse Rock. I passed the Preamble recital back in the day solely on my memory of the Schoolhouse Rock rendition of it.

Memphis City Schools begin registration for the '08-'09 school year next Tuesday and school starts the following Monday so I gotta make sure I don’t miss the opportunity to buy tax-free school supplies this year.

This weekend, parents can purchase certain items in Tennessee without paying state sales tax including school supplies, school uniforms, shoes, computers, and backpacks.

I don't know if I've said this before but my younger son plays football for John P. Freeman this year. He played basketball for them before and he's also in the band but it's his first year playing football. They've been practicing for the last couple of weeks and I can't wait to see him this weekend in the scrimmage game against Bellevue.

Two more scrimmages are scheduled before the season starts the 21st of August against Geeter @Whitehaven. Scrimmage @ AMWalker and another @ JPFreeman. The other team will be announced later. I gotta get the full schedule from my son. Don't plan on missing a game!

I know I've said that my older son attends Whitehaven and he's in the band but I've never mentioned my babies. They are twins and are in their last year in elementary school. I tried to get them in John P but they were full. I will try again next year but next time I will be sure to apply for their transfer earlier than I did this year.

I am pleased with the school they attend now but it would be much easier on me if I could get them and my son from the same school. As of right now, I have to fight traffic @ three different schools when I pick them up after school. Good for me, they're close to one another.

My older son turned 16 in May and he now has his driving permit. Soon he'll be getting his license but if he's anything like his daddy, I can wait for that day but that's a whole nother post.

He Gots The Hookup

2008-07-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

Michael Hooks Jr. is a former Memphis City School board member who pled guilty to embezzlement January 10th of this year. His fake-invoice scandal with the Juvenile Court Clerk's Office spawned the Operation Tennessee Waltz investigation which got several Tennessee state lawmen including 2 others caught up & indicted on bribery charges.

Hooks reported to prison May 15th and by July 16, he was hired by the county Corrections Division as a part-time recruiter for a prisoner re-entry program.

Even though Hooks was released in June from a federal correctional institution in Yazoo City, Miss., he was never a participant in the program which helps inmates restore relationships with their families. Instead he found out about the job and applied, the executive assistant to county Mayor A C Wharton said.

As hard as it is to find employment nowadays THIS cat gets hired not just by the county but the County CORRECTIONS Division exactly 2 fvcking MONTHS and 1 day after he gets out the penile. What the hell he put on HIS resume 'cause we all know what he DIDN'T!

It was reported in a local newspaper that Andrew Taber, director of the Shelby County Division of Corrections, said that Hooks was highly qualified to act as a recruiter for the program.

"(He is) one of several individuals with past criminal offenses currently hired as staff members with the larger re-entry program," Taber said. "It resonates for these incarcerated men to be assisted by staff members who understand intimately the challenges before them."

How in the hell can Hooks understand the challenges that the normal felon faces. This cat was a fvcking school board member who got elected before he was 30 and got locked up on a white collar crime charge of EMBEZZLEMENT for accepting $1,500 in fees back in 2001 for consulting work @ Juvenile Court he did not do.

Shelby County mayor A.C. Wharton said in a statement that the county's re-entry mission even extends to its employees.

"The overall re-entry program is about giving individuals another shot to make good," Wharton said. "That's not only something we've adopted for the mission of this initiative, but even relative to the program's hiring practices."

Hooks' father, also a former county commissioner, was also convicted in the investigation and is serving a 26-month prison sentence for accepting $24,200 in bribes from undercover agents posing as businessmen. You think he he has a job waiting for him too when he gets out. You never know. But for real though, how convicted felons other than Hooks do you think will be offered employment by the county? Not many, I am quite sure of that!

420 Post | Public Offender

2008-07-23T04:20:00.003-05:00

Perfect example of why it's not wise for everyone to speak to the court. Invoke your right to STFU. Allow your lawyer to do the job he's getting paid to do. This court proceeding looks more like something you would see on a tv show like Judge Joe Brown than an actual trial. Where is this guy's lawyer? If it's the fat guy standing next to him, I hope he aint paying him! Notice how he politely steps his ass to the side when Homes got belligerant with the prosecutor. Did the stenographer nod @ him?

from Kake.com
Sedgwick County Courtroom Scene Of Outburst

A shouting match at the Sedgwick County Courthouse took place Thursday afternoon during one man's sentencing.

Michael Gaines, who is H-I-V positive, was convicted of battery for spitting in the face of two deputies while in the Sedgwick County Jail.

During his sentencing Thursday, when Judge Rebecca Pilshaw gave Gaines the chance to speak, he shouted obscenities at both her and Assistant District Attorney Kevin O'Connor.

Gaines was escorted from the courtroom and the sentencing continued about an hour later through a televised hearing. Pilshaw eventually sentenced Gaines to 13 years in prison.

I know everyone who comes before a judge who feels like they aren't receiving a fair shake in our so-called "justice system" wants to give the court a piece of their minds and I feel yall, I swear I do. However for future references please, if you feel the urge to call the damn judge "a b!tch in a robe", do it AFTER the damn sentencing and not before, idiot!

420 Post | If At First You Don't Suck Seed

2008-07-22T04:20:00.004-05:00

By Lawrence Buser, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Political operative Joe Cooper said Monday he believes there was tampering with the jury that acquitted former Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford of bribery charges earlier this year.

He said 10 anonymous businessmen have offered to pay $10,000 for information that leads to an indictment and conviction of anyone who tampered with the federal court jury.

Ford was acquitted of bribery and extortion charges in May after telling jurors the $8,900 he accepted from Cooper was a loan rather than a bribe for his vote on a zoning issue before the council.

for more on this, click here

Now aint that the pot calling the kettle a motherfvcker! Cooper was..... Hell, he IS a government informant and also the government's key witness in Ford's case. As the video shows, he even went as far as to wear a hidden camera to record former City Council member Edmund Ford Sr. accepting a couple thousand of dollars in cash from him in 2006 so I am pretty sure that he was shocked as hell when a federal court jury acquitted Ford on all six counts of bribery and extortion. Another former councilman, Rickey Peete, had already pled guilty in the same sting operation after viewing secret tapes

Cooper made of him accepting $14,500 for votes. Peete is probably kicking himself in the ass now that he's serving a 51-month prison sentence in that case and Ford got off.

Despite Ford's acquittal, Cooper claims he still held up his part of the agreement with the feds and he hoped they would cut his sentence in his federal case for laundering money for drug traffickers while he was a car salesman. Cooper even has acknowledged that he agreed to cooperate with the FBI only after being charged with money laundering! He thought he was getting probation but Cooper is scheduled to begin serving a six-month prison sentence later this year. I guess he cut another deal with the feds involving the alleged jury tampering.

Cooper tried to set him up but failed miserably. Now he's offering money for information on jury tampering after the guy got off, which has to be the weakest shit ever. If @ first you don't suck seed, just keep on sucking!

A Friend With Weed Is A Friend Indeed

2008-07-20T17:16:00.017-05:00

It was only two days ago, I was commenting on a post @ GoZack (If you're reading by the way, great post, Zack!). The blogger was speaking out on all the athletes who persue sports careers to escape the poor living conditions that exists their neighborhoods but never quite escape the influences of the hood. In the post Zack stated and I quote,

"Being from Baltimore, Carmelo might not have had any choice but to have friends with gang ties. But the fact that he is a public figure makes it clear that he had a choice to leave that life behind"

Which essentially is true, you DO have to leave that life behind but I was thinking " do you have to just forget your friends too". I mean, I got friends from choir boys to firemen to two and three-time felons. Ate free lunch in the park every summer with more than one killer, I hate to say. But still I gots love for ALL of them but come to think of it, I do treat them differently. The ones that stay in some shit, you aint gonna hear me inviting them over to the crib where my kids lay their heads but if I see them in the hood or over they mom's crib, I'll holla. If I'm cool with ya, I'll fool with ya. PERIOD I guess if I was stacking that NBA loochie then I could see where having such a wide array of acquaintances would be a problem. Wish I had those kinda problems.

Anyway, Zack's post popped back in my mind when I read the following...

Associated Press
Originally published 03:30 p.m., July 20, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS -- Police arrested a passenger in a car driven by Shawne Williams of the Indiana Pacers for marijuana possession, an incident that team president Larry Bird said jeopardizes the forward’s future with the Pacers.

Williams was not arrested but was written up for a window tint and seat belt violation after the police stop about 6 p.m. Friday in Carmel, said Lt. Jeff Horner, a spokesman for police in the northern Indianapolis suburb. The car did not belong to Williams.

A passenger, 21-year-old Darrell Smith Jr. of Williams’ hometown of Memphis, Tenn., was arrested on a misdemeanor charge after police found he had a small amount of marijuana, Horner told The Indianapolis Star. Smith was not in custody Sunday and his whereabouts were not clear.

Bird said Saturday he planned to meet with Williams to discuss the latest incident.

This is not the first time Shawne Williams has been scrutinized for the company he keeps and the decisions he makes regarding them. Decisions that definitely will jeopardize his long term future with the Pacers and even moreso, the NBA . Earlier this year, police arrested a Memphis man, Gary Bohanon, who was wanted for murder in Tennessee as he was leaving the home of the Pacers forward. The same Bohanon used an alias when he was arrested with Shawne Williams last September for marijuana. Williams apologized for that issue last year. He later pleaded guilty to driving with expired tags and operating a vehicle without a license. He was fined and sentenced to community service and was suspended for three games by the Pacers following the arrest.

Staying loyal to their boys who are clearly not assets to society is gonna get many profelssional athletes kicked straight to the curb sooner or later and it's clearly obvious that some of Williams' friends are bad influences but hey, whoelse he gonna get to carry the Kush???

420 Post | the HHWF

2008-07-16T04:20:00.003-05:00

To the left is a audio clip from late last month where rapper Tony Yayo appeared on the Russ Parr radio show saying he wanted to exchange blows with Buck. Now I read where Young Buck got on the air @ XM satellite radio and challenged Tony Yayo to a boxing match recently. (Yeah, read about it. No XM in the ride!)

“As far as Yayo talking about he wanna fight, I’ll do it,” Buck said, according to UDub News. “I’ll do it off of real nigga shit I swear on my child’s life. If they line this shit up, where me and that nigga can go in a ring, we can put that shit on VH1. We can make that shit real life. I’ll have Floyd Mayweather training me. I’ll knock that nigga’s fat, flabby, old non-rappin’ ass out."

After reading this, I looked for the Russ Parr interview because I didn't even know these two were @ one another. I got to thinking. I am sure this is a publicity stunt. With hip hop record sales being what they are, it's probably a good idea to stage a boxing match but on VH1? Sure, VH1 has been riding the wave of reality tv for a minute but then again, why not pay-per-view? I am sure PPV will get more for this match than they will get when, as what HBO's Official Boxing website says could be the fight of the year, Miguel Cotto (who?) meets Antonio Margarito (who?) in the ring, July 26th. Then again, maybe not. I dunno. Don't follow boxing anymore. Not when I can watch Kimbo Slice, in a bare knuckle brawl in someone's backyard, knock someone on their ass on Youtube anytime I want to. Then i got to thinking...........

Forget boxing maybe they could get in the octagon and do the mixed martial arts where damn near anything goes. So if one of them feels the urge to kick like a _____ well you know, it's cool. But knowing not one of these rappers is as hard as they try to act publicly, they won't agree to no real straight up fighting especially not Buck with all his pent up emotions and shit. Although, he might shank him a mf. Nahhh, that won't work either.

Wrestling!! Shidd, that's it. We all know it's fake but hell, with already established integrated media focusing on television, Internet, and live events, pro wrestling is a money tree waiting to be shook by hip hop! I can see rappers beefing on records and taking it to the ring all over the country. East Coast vs West Coast, the South vs well, damn near everybody. Maybe Vince and Russ can join up & be like the executive board and we can call it the Hip Hop Wrestling Federation with every label being represented. I can picture Yayo and Buck in the ring now and Buck is about to pin Yayo when Lloyd Banks & that cat from Mobb Deep run in and jumps Buck (while 50 watches from the aisle) so the ref stops the match and everyone has to wait for the next time they lock up. Buck teams up with the Game, Fat Joe and Ja Rule to schedule a rematch and then well, you can see where I am going with this, right ? It's all a publicity stunt anyway but do you think I am onto something? Can I get paid? Yall talk to me.

420 Post | I Owe All Yall An Apology

2008-07-15T16:20:00.003-05:00

I must apologize to all yall. First for not expressing the way I feel about things in my exact thoughts. You know, not really putting PopSauce (yeah, that's me) in my posts. Realized this last night as I was starting a new post. I got spellcheck and for the most part, I don't use it but I have gotten in the habit of always rewording sentences to make sure that they are grammatically correct and to tell the truth, that shit's tiring. I use run on sentences when expressing myself and from now on I am gonna just let them keep running (I will throw a comma in there from time to time so yall can keep up with me though) and if I knew what participles were, well I am pretty sure I am gonna have some dangling also. That's just me and that's the way I talk so from now on, yall get it like I give it.

Secondly, I have tried to be politically correct here and sensitive to everyone that may read my posts but hell, I gotta be me. That's the title of the blog! Saucacisms-Just Me Being Me In The BHZ. So guess what, in my posts I might swear from time to time 'cause I do. Not a lot but shit, I do cuss and I don't mean curse. Dammit, I am from the south so I cuss. Not anymore than the next mf but I do cuss. But I ain't the one to be calling women b's and h's all the time. Never can say never but I do not say bitch or whore in anger nor will i say that in casual conversation unless I am actually talking about a bitch or a hoe so you won't see me typing neither of those words here. Normally, my choice of words would be broad or even heifer (heffer)if was to call someone out her name. Even though I have been trying not to, I say ~~nigga~~ sometimes. Even when referring to white folk, I sometimes say ~~nigga~~ because don't get it twisted, being a ~~nigga~~ aint all about the color of one's skin. But you won't see me typing that here often either.

Last but not least, I want to briefly apologize IN ADVANCE if I do in fact offend anyone in the future. It's not my intention to step on anyone's toes 'cause I do appreciate yall's visits 'cause that's what I started doing this thing for. You know, to express my views on certain topics that interests me. That and to continue to teach myself how to type. I truly enjoy reading the comments and reading visitor's posts but like I said before, this IS my spot and if I want to take a shit right in middle of the fvcking floor.........................

Well, I still wouldn't because that's nasty and besides, shit stinks and no one would want to come by to visit but yall all know what I mean....

Malcolm Monday

2008-07-14T17:57:00.001-05:00

Memín Pinguín

2008-07-10T17:20:00.009-05:00

A popular Mexican comic book being sold at Wal-Marts in the U.S. was causing outrage before being taken off the shelves. Memín Pinguín is a fictional character from Mexico. Stories featuring him, a very poor Cuban-Mexican boy, first appeared in the 1940s and have remained in print ever since. The Memin character is intended to be Cuban but reinforces all the dark-skinned stereotypes once thought to be strictly reserved for white supremacists.

Historically, the character has been hugely popular on newsstands in Mexico and Latin American nations, with sales in the millions. The character first spurred debate in 2005 when the Mexican government issued a stamp commemorating Memin. At the time, many U.S. activists and political figures called the character racist.

The Mexican government protested the characterizations, asserting that Americans simply do not understand Memin’s cultural significance in Mexico. That debate spurred the publisher to re-issue the old comics in a collector’s series that are available for purchase in the United States as, well as Mexico.

In addition to Mexico, Memín remains a popular magazine in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Panama, Colombia, the Philippines and other countries. At its peak, it boasted a weekly circulation of one and a half million issues in Mexico and as of mid-2005 it sold over 100,000 issues a week.

Even in the eyes of the Hispanics, it's acceptable for the children and mothers of Afro decent to be portrayed as "picaninnies" and "mammies". I looked up Memín Pinguín on Youtube because I saw part of a news video and I was sure someone had uploaded the video to Youtube. I found responses about Memín like this..

"I can't believe that somebody could be ofended Memin Penguin! my G...!!! I am from the caribean and there we do not pay attention to something like this, we call each other negro, meaning honey, baby or something like that, and in the caribean not everybody is black, we have all colors there, anyways, Why black people in this country are so so so so vulnerable to their color? I love Memin and this character is very very funny and tender!"

"If us Mexicans got offended and scandalized everytime we got depicted with donkeys and sombreros we wouldn't have any rest. These blacks need to relax a bit"

I googled Memim and read an article called "The Pride In Memin Pinguin" written by Enrique Krauze in which he states,

"To Americans, the figure, with his exaggerated "African" features, appears to be a copy of racist American cartoons. To Mexicans, he is a thoroughly likable character, rich in sparkling wisecracks, and is felt to represent not any sense of racial discrimination but rather the egalitarian possibility that all groups can live together in peace. During the 1970s and '80s, his historietas sold over a million and a half copies because they touched an authentic chord of sympathy and tenderness among poorer people, who identified with Memin Pinguin."

I am not debating the fact that he is a "thoroughly likable character" in Mexican history. What I take offense with is the fact that everyone else in the comic book series are portrayed normally but the main character is portrayed in offensively racist caricature or is this how hispanics actually view people with Afro ancestry. Talk to me.

When "Keeping It Real" Goes Wrong

2008-07-07T16:20:00.003-05:00

I really enjoyed the Dave Chappelle Show when it was on. Dave's one of the funniest mf's around. He did a few hilarious skits on his show titled "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong". Well, here's 3 examples of "Keeping It Real" going wrong in one real-life incident. Matter of fact, this happened right around the block from me this weekend.

A Memphis man has been charged with attempted second-degree murder after a woman was shot in the head during a getaway attempt that followed a domestic incident. According to police affidavits, Kevin Powell asked his mother to drive him to a home where he believed his EX wife was with another man. Powell got out of his mom's Dodge Caravan, broke out a bedroom window at the house and yelled, “It’s on!” to his wife inside, as he tugged on a blanket while trying to grab her. She got up and ran into the living room but Powell ran around the outside of the house and kicked the front door in, punched her in the face and knocked his wife to the floor.

The woman’s boyfriend woke up when he heard glass breaking and her screaming. He grabbed his yawk (gun) and ran after Powell who then ran outside and jumped back into the van with his moms. The woman’s boyfriend pointed the assault rifle at another man inside the vehicle and fired a shot through the van’s back window. The bullet struck Powell’s mother in the head as she tried to drive away. She was taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, where she was in critical condition this morning.

In addition to the attempted second-degree murder charge, the boyfriend is accused of two counts of aggravated assault and with using a firearm to commit a felony. He’s being held on $950,000 bond while the husband is being held on $50,000 bond for aggravated burglary and domestic assault.......

By "keeping it real" thinking he was going to go over to dude's house and beat his EX-wife's ass, Powell got 2 charges and a $50,000 bond. By "keeping it real" and shooting at the mf who broke into his house and whipped his gal's ass, the boyfriend gets 3 charges and a $950,000 bond. And last but certainly not least, by "keeping it real" with her son, driving him over dude's house to help take care of his business with his wife, moms got her wig split.

Yall keep it real,

Sauce

Band Season

2008-07-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

Band season has started again. Not for me but for one of my sons. He plays trombone for Whitehaven and summer band has started for the Sounds Of Perfection. Right now it looks like this band year is gonna cost me about 900 so far. Not counting the cost of a horn, jogging suit, shoes and spats. When I marched for Whitehaven, the school board furnished most if not all the instruments. Now the students have to provide their own instruments. What really angers me is if the principal decides that he wants the band to support the football team @ away games, the band has to provide its own transportation to the games! You may not believe this but it costs the band about as much for a chartered bus as for one of those yellow school buses. No matter if it's around the block or across town, the prices are the same. This practice is a pure ripoff. That's why when the Sounds of Perfection travel, we ride in style. By force not by choice.

This season's football schedule is as follows...........

Sat. Aug. 23 vs. Mitchell

Fri. Aug. 29 vs. Fairley 3rd annual Whitehaven Classic

Fri. Sep. 5 vs. White Station

Fri. Sep. 12 at Melrose

Fri. Sep. 19 at Collierville

Fri. Oct. 3 vs. Hamilton

Fri. Oct. 10 vs. Houston

Fri. Oct. 17 at Kirby

Whitehaven vs. Fairley is the hood game. I grew up in the Fairley district but I transferred to Whitehaven. I won't miss this game. Everyone from the hood will be there. We been stomping Fairley for years!

Aug. 31, 2007 at Fairley 6, Whitehaven 35
Aug. 19, 2006 at Whitehaven 13, Fairley 0
Aug. 20, 2005 at Fairley 8, Whitehaven 13
Aug. 28, 2004 at Whitehaven 25, Fairley 0
Aug. 29, 2003 at Whitehaven 33, Fairley 8
Aug. 30, 2002 at Whitehaven 24, Fairley 26 (they cheated!!)
Aug. 24, 2001 at Fairley 6, Whitehaven 22

Reception for Cash

2008-07-07T00:46:00.000-05:00

The Memphis School Board will have a reception to welcome Dr. Kriner Cash on Monday, July 7, 2006 @ his first public event as the new superintendent of Memphis City Schools. The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. @ the Teaching and Learning Academy @ 2485 Union Avenue and all are invited.

Dr. Kriner Cash officially became the next superintendent of Memphis City Schools in a special meeting of the Memphis Board of Education a week ago but the board voted unanimously to hire Cash June 10. Cash spent the past four years working as chief of accountability and systemwide performance for Miami-Dade (Fla.) County Public Schools and nearly 10 years as superintendent in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

As American As Baseball & Apple Pie

2008-07-05T18:37:00.009-05:00

Went to the Redbirds game thursday evening. Kellogg's had a function for the employees and I somehow got invited. First time in the stadium and I really enjoyed myself. Still don't see why they located AutoZone Park where they did but I guess it's a nice stadium because the last time I went to a baseball game had to have been the Memphis Chicks in Tim McCarver Stadium. Even though I do know the game, I couldn't even tell you who won because I really wasn't paying any attention to the game. I was mostly kicking it on the party deck and entertaining my niece. She will be turning 4 soon and she IS a true diva so Unka Dune (that's me!) had to escort her around the stadium which I didn't mind because baseball just aint me anyway plus she was leaving the next day to go to Newport News with her grandmother and will be gone for two weeks. Missing my twins now. They are in Atlanta for a family reunion with my aunt.

I went thru my folks' house for the 4th. We barbecued and fried fish. The fam watched Hancock while I sat outside and watched the children shoot off fireworks. I aint too big on firecrackers since one went off in my hand back in the day. I will buy a brick or two of bottle rockets and a couple of roman candles so I can use them to aim my bottle rockets when I get tired of throwing them but other than that, I'm cool. Played chess and smoked out until dark. Won 2, lost 2. I need to work on my middle game.

Even though I don't care for baseball, aint too big on fireworks and have never even tasted apple pie, I still had a pretty good 4th. I can't say that I was celebrating America's independence but it's truly a blessing to be around fam.

Fastest Man On Earth

2008-07-01T17:59:00.004-05:00

Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100-meter race in history the other day when he finished the race in 9.68 seconds but was aided by a wind reading 4.1 meters per second (about 9 miles per hour) which is more than twice the allowable speed of 2.0 mps.

Even though Jamaican runner Usain Bolt's record time of 9.72 will remain the record, Gay's time is a wind-aided world record and will still go down in the record books. The previous fastest time under any conditions came in 1996 when Obadele Thompson of Barbados, who is also the husband of sprinter Marion Jones, clocked 9.69 with a wind reading in excess of 5.0 meters per second.

Black Music Month | Bobby Womack

2008-06-28T09:23:00.005-05:00

One of the most enigmatic and talented Soul men of all time, Bobby Womack has been a sort of Soul music version of Forrest Gump, serving as a link from 50s Gospel to 60s Soul to 70s Rock and to some of the greatest musicians in each genre. Born in an extremely devout religious family, he was singing Gospel with his brothers Cecil, Friendly, Harry and Curtis as the Womack Brothers while he was still a child. The talented group was discovered by Gospel/Soul legend Sam Cooke, who redubbed them the Valentinos and transformed them into a teenage secular vocal group. By the early 60s ,they were touring with James Brown and scoring on the R&B charts with their first hit, "Lookin' For A Love." Cooke's death in 1964 sent the group on a spiral from which it would never recover.

Also, Womack encountered some public fallout when married Cooke's widow less than a year later (even more ironic was that brother Cecil ultimately married Cooke's daughter, Linda, who became his partner in the popular writing/singing group Womack & Womack).

Black Music Month | The Last Poets

2008-06-24T20:35:00.003-05:00

The Last Poets were rappers of the civil rights era. Along with the changing domestic landscape came the New York City-hip group called The Last Poets, who used obstreperous verse to chide a nation whose inclination was to maintain the colonial yoke around the neck of the disenfranchised.

Shortly after the death of Martin Luther King, The Last Poets were born. David Nelson, Gylan Kain, and Abiodun Oyewole, were born on the anniversary of Malcolm X's birthday May 19, 1968 in Marcus Garvey Park. They grew from three poets and a drummer to seven young black and Hispanic artists: David Nelson, Gylan Kain, Abiodun Oyewole, Felipe Luciano, Umar Bin Hassan, Jalal Nurridin, and Suliamn El Hadi (Gil Scott Heron was never a member of the group). They took their name from a poem by South African poet Willie Kgositsile, who posited the necessity of putting aside poetry in the face of looming revolution.

"When the moment hatches in time's womb there will be no art talk," he wrote. "The only poem you will hear will be the spearpoint pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain....Therefore we are the last poets of the world."

Black Music Month | Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly

2008-06-23T04:20:00.000-05:00

This band can more or less be considered as the project of former The Butlers, and later Raw Soul, member Frankie Beverly; being songwriter, record producer, arranger, singer, keyboardist and guitarist.

Frankie Beverly’s smooth, distinct voice is instantly recognized, and Maze’s laid-back, bass driven musical arrangements differ a lot from other soul acts. Their signature sound is especially vivid on the classic "Live in New Orleans."

Maze signed a contract with Capitol Records in 1976, and released their debut album LP, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, in 1977. They had success with the début and the following albums Golden Time of Day (1978), Inspiration (1979) and Joy and Pain (1980).

Their most acclaimed recording is Live in New Orleans (three quarters of which was recorded at the Saenger Theatre, on November 14-15, 1980). By that time, the band had a reputation as one of the best live acts in American soul music, also enjoying a following in the United Kingdom with considerable promotional support from British DJ Robbie Vincent. In 1989, they released the hit album Silky Soul, plus Back to Basics in 1993, and the live recording at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1994.

Black Music Month | the Rance Allen Group

2008-06-22T16:20:00.001-05:00

When you hear Contemporary Gospel music today you are venturing a boulevard paved by the “Fathers of Contemporary Gospel” , the Rance Allen group . Gospel singer Rance Allen founded the Rance Allen group in Detroit in the 1960's and has fronted the band with his soulful, soaring vocals ever since. This Detroit-based traditionally trained black gospel group was the first traditional gospel group to incorporate rock, jazz, and soul into their music. They were harbingers for the contemporary Christian music movement popularized in the late '70s by Andrae Crouch, Amy Grant and the Winans.

The Rance Allen group scored a Top 30 R&B hit in 1979 with "I Belong To You," one of two Stax singles that year to make the charts. The recordings for Gospel Truth, Capitol, and Stax proved quite popular among gospel audiences, and had some success attracting soul fans as well.

Black Music Month | Gil Scott-Heron

2008-06-21T13:34:00.004-05:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an American poet and musician known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word performer. He is associated with African American militant activism, and is best known for his poem and song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"; and for writing "Home is Where The Hatred Is" an eerie account of drug use that was a hit by the grammy-award winning R&B singer Esther Phillips in 1972, the song also featured in the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV. Scott-Heron's father, Giles "Gil" Heron (nicknamed "The Black Arrow") was a Jamaican football player who, in the 1950s, was the first ever black player to play for Glasgow's Celtic Football Club.

Business As Usual for the Boys In Blue

2008-06-20T04:20:00.000-05:00

I saw part of this on the news and I was glad to find the whole video. This is a video of a Memphis police officer viciously beating and spraying tear gas on someone in the holding area @ 201 Poplar. The security video, taken Feb. 12, shows one of Memphis' Finest striking Duanna Johnson, a transsexual, several times. Johnson says the attack is a hate crime because the officer

called Johnson a "he/she" and a "faggot" before the beating began.

The videotape is very disturbing because not only does it show the assault, it also shows other officers and employees standing around but no one steps in to put a stop to this vicious attack by the officer. It seems the one that does intervene grabs the victim from behind only so the other officer can get some more good punches in. If their fellow officer was "struggling to subdue" Johnson, they should have helped "restrain" him instead of standing around talking while dude is getting his ass kicked. A nurse is even seen coming into the room to tend to the officer while Johnson, the beaten victim, had to be treated later at the Regional Medical Center (the Med).

I am sure all the officers involved knew that they were being videotaped but obviously they didn't care or they knew that nothing would likely happen to them. Officer James Swain, the officer shown holding the victim, had been on probation because he was a new officer so he has been fired (although I don't know when he was) while Officer Bridges McRae, the officer seen in the video striking Johnson, has only been assigned to desk duty pending an administrative hearing. Matter of fact, McRae even filed an assault charge against Johnson! In his report, McRae said Johnson took a swing at him and threatened to shoot the officer in the head. The officer said he was punched repeatedly in the head and neck by Johnson, whose first name is listed as Dwayne in the report.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, who is in charge of the jailhouse @ 201Poplar, only wants to know how the video got from its computer system to attorneys for the victim in the first place! The sheriff’s office has begun an internal affairs investigation to see if anyone within their department leaked the video to the victim's attorneys since they say only one copy was made and that copy was given to the Memphis Police Department as part of its investigation of the confrontation. Even though, McRae faces an administrative hearing, sheriff official wouldn't say when that hearing will happen. Probably never since it has not happened already. It's been 4 months......

I have been hearing that Johnson refused to get up until the officer called him by Duanna. If that is true, I still don't think that's enough cause for him to get beaten like that. It did seem like they were in any hurry to restrain him and since when is taking punches to the face "resisting"? All the video feeds from the jails ought to be viewable to the public. If they can't police themselves , maybe they need to be watched too. Then again, they would just find somewhere else to lay the smack down.

Sparing The Child While Spoiling The Parent

2008-06-19T18:55:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, a former superintendent of the school system, said corporal punishment, which hasn't been used in Memphis City Schools since 2004 when the school board banned the controversial form of punishment, needs to return to city classrooms . While presenting his plan to overhaul Memphis' education system, Mayor Herenton told the city council that he proposes reinstating the practice of paddling students in grades K through 8.

I have plenty of memories of being told to bend over and grab my ankles while a teacher administered three blows to my backside with a paddle. I wasn't an unruly student but I liked to talk. If I did when I wasn't supposed to and got caught, I knew the consequences. Corporal punishment worked in the past mostly because children were used to being held accountable for their actions and even expected to be punished for their wrong doings. Most kids nowadays never get so much as a stern look for misbehaving from their parents. In fact, misbehavior from young kids is mostly looked upon as being funny or cute. How can today's teachers be expected to establish clear behavior expectations and guidelines at school when the same obviously isn't being done at home in most cases?

The best way of dealing with school misbehavior is by preventing it. Schools with good discipline not only correct misbehavior but also practice teaching appropriate behavior and coping skills. Furthermore, parents should be held more responsible for the actions of their children while attending school. If they don't want their children to be disciplined by authority figures, every time their child acts up they should be required BY LAW to attend that child's class for a specific amount of time to monitor their child's behavior. Once the parent misses enough days from work or and I hate to say this, misses enough episodes of their favorite soap opera, I am pretty sure that parent will pay more attention to their child's behavior. No more sending the child home on a mini-vacation to sit in front of the tv and play video games only to get the suspension cleared and be allowed to come back in 3 days to do the same thing all over again.

If you live where corporal punishment is allowed, do you feel like it is working? Do you want to see the practice continue? If you live where such punishment is banned, would you support its re-introduction into the classroom? Twenty-two states allow some form of corporal punishment while twenty-eight have banned the practice.

Black Music Month | Earth Wind & Fire

2008-06-19T18:34:00.004-05:00

Earth, Wind & Fire, the soul band led by Maurice White, achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. The group was formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969. They have had many hits such as "Shining Star", "That's the Way of the World", "Fantasy", "September", "Let's Groove", and "Boogie Wonderland".

Black Music Month | Willie Hutch

2008-06-15T00:55:00.001-05:00

Willie Hutch grew up in Dallas where he sang with The Ambassadors. He was a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas. He first came to the attention of the music business in 1964 when his debut single 'Love Has Put Me Down' was released by the Soul City Records label. His songs attracted the attention of The Fifth Dimension who recorded a number of them. Willie himself recorded with Venture prior to two albums in the early 70's with RCA (including 'Let's Try It Over'). In 1970, he received a phone call from producer Hal Davis who urgently needed a song written to a backing track he had entitled 'I'll Be There'. By 8 am the next morning, the Jackson 5 were in the studio recording it. Willie later co-arranged vocals on 'Got To Be There' and 'Never Can Say Goodbye' for the group, impressing Berry Gordy who employed him @ Motown on a more permanent basis. Willie produced the first Smokey Robinson album without The Miracles and when Sisters Love had a cameo role in 'The Mack', the group's manager suggested Willie record the soundtrack. The result was 'The Mack', including 'Brother's Gonna Work It Out' and 'Slick', Willie's first album for Motown in 1973. (Willie also worked with Sisters Love on 'Mr Fix-it Man'.) His other albums at the label included 'The Mark Of The Beast' (1975); 'Concert In Blues' (1976), including 'Party Down'; 'Color Her Sunshine' (1976), including 'I Like Everything About You', 'Havin' A House Party' and 'Fully Exposed' before he joined the Whitfield label for two albums, 'In Tune (1978), including 'Easy Does It', and 'Midnight Dancer'. In 1982, he wrote 'Keep The Fire Burning' for Gwen McCrae and returned to Motown for three collaborations. The first was a duet for Aretha Franklin and The Four Tops 'What Have We Got To Lose' (1983), the second a song / production for Sammy Davis Jr., 'Hello Detroit' (1984), and the third a soundtrack album for Berry's film 'The Last Dragon' (1985).

Pied Piper The Pervert Pees On Poorly Prepared Prosecution Presentation

2008-06-14T15:45:00.019-05:00

It took more than six years for prosecutors to get R. Kelly into court on charges of child pornography but it took just 7 1/2 hours for a jury to declare

him not guilty on all 14 counts. Kelly had been accused of making a 27-minute sex tape with an under-age female but a high-powered defense team convinced the jury of nine men and three women that the identity of the girl was not conclusive. Five jurors told reporters that the absence of testimony from the alleged victim was a big handicap but I really can't see the girl taking the stand and giving testimony to the fact that she got pissed on...

The jury panel included a preacher's wife, a self-described Christian and a Department of Children and Family Services employee. Even the foreman told the attorneys that he thought Kelly was guilty during the selection process.The jury knew good and damn well that was him. The

defense team never even denied that the tape had been shot in Mr. Kelly’s former home but they did suggest not one but many alternate narratives: that the mole on the back of the man in the film didn’t exist, was a computer blip or was inserted by an unknown someone for nefarious purposes; that the film itself was a fake; that it had computer morphing in it like the dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park”; or that it starred models or prostitutes who looked like Mr. Kelly and his alleged victim. Some jurors believed Kelly was the man in the tape, but they couldn't be sure that his goddaughter was the female. Without her testimony, the panel relied on a

low-quality VHS tape and still photographs to determine the two participants' identities but like I said before I really can't see the girl taking the stand and giving testimony to the fact that it was her in the video getting pissed on. Her absence during the trial supposedly played a key role in deliberations according to jurors. Following nearly five weeks of testimony, the panel of nine men and three women had initially been split, but after intense debate and hourly votes, the holdouts eventually conceded that reasonable doubt existed, members said...

I know that I included comic skits and cartoons with this post but this aint nothing to laugh about. R Kelly does need professional help. This aint the first time he was caught messing around with an underaged girl. It's just the only time the sick bastard was caught on tape. I think that the prosecution really did a piss poor job on this case and I am really pissed off at the verdict but it's still better to get pissed off than to get pissed on. I am not saying whether or not I actually saw the tape with him in the room that looked like a sauna with wood all on the walls doing what he did with the young girl and more footage of him and some other broad with him answering the phone and even saying his name while videotaping but I'm just saying, "You can't pee down MY leg and tell ME it's raining".

When Gaining 18 cents Costs $496,000,000.00

2008-06-14T13:40:00.009-05:00

Last week, members of the Memphis City Council surprised Memphis City Schools last week with an ill-timed and ill-considered funding decision to cut school funding by $73 million. Council members hope to eliminate all city funding to the district in the 2009-10 budget. The city first provided money to city schools in 1937.

The county schools teacher who led the fight to cut city schools funding, Councilman Bill Morrison, stated he does not know how students will be affected and neither do those who supported the cut, which will shave a whopping $91 a year from the city property tax bill on a home valued at $200,000. The school board is being forced to consider a number of options beyond the immediate step of a management hiring freeze. Consideration has to be given to the risks of spending its budget reserves that would leave the district vulnerable to a potential catastrophic event. It will also be forced to look at the possibility of shutting down extracurricular activities or discontinuing valuable academic programs such as optional schools and advanced placement courses.

Now I have just read that if the City Council doesn't reinstate $73.3 million in funding to Memphis City Schools, the Tennessee Department of Education is going to withhold $423 million from the district. The state was expected to provide $423 million toward the district’s $931 million operating budget for 2008-09 and the schools are counting on that state funding, which would make up 45 percent of providing that $423 million toward the district’s $931 million operating budget for 2008-09.

In an emergency meeting Friday night, the Memphis Board of Education voted to file suit if the City Council won't reconsider its decision to cut more than $70 million from the district's budget. I didn't graduate with a business or accounting major but something here just doesn't seem right to me. The state is planning on withholding FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE MILLION DOLLARS just because the city won't fund $73 million? This decision would totally cripple the city school system. How can they justify this? And to think, this all started because last week, council members made cuts in order to reduce the property tax rate by 18 fvcking cents and now the city school system stands to lose $496 million!!!

Black Music Month | Al Green

2008-06-14T10:09:00.003-05:00

Didn't know there was a video for this song so I am posting this again. One of my all time favorites of his. Didn't know he could play the guitar either. Well, barring that one note he hit around 1:15.

You Fit The Description

2008-06-13T23:12:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine was visiting a friend who lived next door to a bunch of Mexicans. While standing outside, one of the Mexicans called the cops and identified him as one of the guys who robbed him earlier in the day. He got picked up by the police and taken to jail. The mexicans described the guys who robbed them as "black, tall and skinny with braids". After spending about a week in jail and over $6000, he is out. After he got out, the cops somehow finally caught the two guys that actually robbed the mexicans. They confessed to the crime and also said that he didn't have anything to do with it. I guess they confessed because everyone in the neighborhood knew who did it by the time the cops caught them. My folk still has to go to court though. I guess he now has to pay more money for a lawyer to prove that he DIDN'T commit any crime other than being "black, tall and skinny with braids." Even though I hate to say it, most latinos look alike to me so I am pretty sure we just might look alike to them too.

Black Music Month | Funkadelic

2008-06-13T22:26:00.002-05:00

Mama said PFunk was too wild so I never went to a George Clinton concert when I was a child. Grew up listening to the albums though. My cousin was stationed in Germany and he sent home footlockers packed with nothing but albums. He had just about every Funkadelic and Parliament album that I could remember . Wonder if they are still over his mom's. They came to Memphis a few years back for Memphis In May but I missed it. Heard it was 3 hours long. Plenty of everything going on backstage, on stage and in the crowd.

This has got to be my favorite early Funkadelic song. Maggot Brain by Funkadelic appeared as the lead track on their 1971 album of the same name. The original recording of the song is over ten minutes long and features little more than a spoken introduction and a guitar solo by Eddie Hazel.

Wiki says radio disc jockey Bill "B.L.F. Bash" Freeman played the original full version of "Maggot Brain" on WMMS/Cleveland every Sunday morning at 1:30 AM from 1976 through 1994. Presently 98.5 FM WNCX/Cleveland plays "Maggot Brain" at approximately midnight every Saturday night. In March 2005, Father Nature Magazine placed Eddie Hazel's performance on "Maggot Brain" at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.

Who knows the difference between Parliament and Funkadelic ?

Black Music Month | Bill Withers

2008-06-12T17:39:00.006-05:00

Songwriter/singer/guitarist Bill Withers is best remembered for the classic "Lean on Me" and his other million-selling singles "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Use Me," but he has a sizable cache of great songs to his credit. Al Jarreau recorded an entire CD of Withers' songs on Tribute to Bill Withers (Culture Press 1998). His popular radio-aired LP track from Still Bill, "Who Is He? (And What Is He to You?)," was a 1974 R&B hit for Creative Source.

Born July 4, 1938, in Slab Folk, WV, Withers was the youngest of six children. His father died when he was a child and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. After a nine-year stint in the Navy, Withers moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career in 1967. He recorded demos at night while working at the Boeing aircraft company where he made toilet seats. His recording career began after being introduced to Clarence Avant, president of Sussex Records.

Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones produced his debut album, Just As I Am (with some co-production by Al Jackson, Jr.), which included his first charting single, "Ain't No Sunshine" that went gold and made it to number six R&B and number three pop in summer 1971 and won a Grammy as Best R&B Song. Its follow-up, "Grandma Hands," peaked at number 18 R&B in fall 1971. The song was later covered by the Staple Singers and received airplay as a track from their 1973 Stax LP Be What You Are. "Just As I Am" featured lead guitar by Stephen Stills and hit number five R&B in summer 1971.

Withers wrote "Lean on Me" based on his experiences growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town. Times were hard and when a neighbor needed something beyond their means, the rest of the community would chip in and help. He came up with the chord progression while noodling around on his new Wurlitzer electric piano. The sound of the chords reminded Withers of the hymns that he heard at church while he was growing up. On the session for "Lean on Me," members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band ("Express Yourself," "Loveland") were used: drummer James Gadson, keyboardist Ray Jackson, guitarist Benorce Blackman (co-wrote with Withers "The Best You Can" from Making Music), and bassist Melvin Dunlop. His second gold single, "Lean on Me," landed at number one R&B and number one pop for three weeks on Billboard's charts in summer 1972. It was included on his Still Bill album which went gold, holding the number one R&B spot for six weeks and hitting number four pop in spring 1972. "Lean on Me" has became a standard with hit covers by U.K. rock band Mud and Club Nouveau. "Lean on Me" was also the title theme of a 1989 movie starring Morgan Freeman. Still Bill also included "Use Me" (gold, number two R&B for two weeks and number two pop for two weeks in fall 1972) .

Withers' Sussex catalog also included Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall, 'Justments, and The Best of Bill Withers. Withers contributed "Better Days" to the soundtrack of the Bill Cosby 1971 western Man And Boy, released on Sussex. There was a duet single with Bobby Womack on United Artists, "It's All Over Now," from summer 1975.

After a legal battle with Sussex, Withers signed with Columbia Records. Columbia later bought his Sussex masters when the label went out of business. Withers was briefly married actress Denise Nicholas (ABC-TV's Room 222 and the 1972 horror film Blacula) in the early '70s. His releases on Columbia were Making Music ("Make Love to Your Mind," number ten R&B), which hit number seven R&B in late 1975; Naked and Warm; Menagerie ("Lovely Day," a number six R&B hit), which went gold in 1977; and 'Bout Love from spring 1979.

Teaming with Elektra Records artist Grover Washington, Jr., Withers sang the crystalline ballad "Just the Two of Us," written by Withers, Ralph MacDonald, and William Salter. It went to number three R&B and held the number two pop spot for three weeks in early 1981. "Just the Two of Us" was redone with hilarious effect in the Mike Myers movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, released in summer 1999. Withers teamed with MacDonald for MacDonald's Polydor single "In the Name of Love" in summer 1984.

Withers' last charting LP was Watching You, Watching Me in spring 1985. He occasionally did dates with Grover Washington, Jr. during the '90s. His songs and recordings have been used as both the source of numerous covers (Aaron Neville's "Use Me") and sampled by a multitude of hip-hop/rap groups. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

Black Music Month | Simply Beautiful

2008-06-11T14:13:00.006-05:00

Al Green was the first great soul singer of the '70s and arguably the last great Southern soul singer. With his seductive singles for Hi Records in the early '70s, Green bridged the gap between deep soul and smooth Philadelphia soul. He incorporated elements of gospel, interjecting his performances with wild moans and wails, but his records were stylish, boasting immaculate productions that rolled along with a tight beat, sexy backing vocals, and lush strings. The distinctive Hi Records sound that the vocalist and producer Willie Mitchell developed made Al Green the most popular and influential soul singer of the early '70s, influencing not only his contemporaries, but also veterans like Marvin Gaye. Green was at the peak of his popularity when he suddenly decided to join the ministry in the mid-'70s. At first, he continued to record secular material, but by the '80s, he was concentrating solely on gospel. During the late '80s and '90s, he occasionally returned to R&B, but he remained primarily a religious performer for the rest of his career. Nevertheless, Green's classic early- '70s recordings retained their power and influence throughout the decades, setting the standard for smooth soul. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Enemies

2008-06-10T17:50:00.002-05:00

Toward the end of Sunday service, a Minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?"
80% held up their hands.
The Minister then repeated his question.
All responded this time, except one small elderly lady.
'Mrs. Neely, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?'
I don't have any.' She replied, smiling sweetly.
'Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?'
'Ninety-eight.' she replied.
'Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front & tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years & not have an enemy in the world?'
The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation, and said,'I outlived the bitches.'

June 2008 = Black Music Month

2008-06-10T16:08:00.011-05:00

copied from www.whitehouse.gov

Black Music Month, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

America's diverse musical heritage exemplifies the creativity and optimism of our Nation. During Black Music Month, we celebrate the extraordinary talents and creativity of African-American singers, musicians, and composers whose achievements have enriched our culture and enhanced our lives.

For generations, African-American artists have created music that communicates across racial boundaries and expresses both joy and sorrow. When facing the cruelty of slavery and injustice, African Americans lifted spirituals to the heavens, bringing comfort to troubled souls. These timeless declarations of hope and faith evolved into the more modern genres of gospel, blues, ragtime, and jazz, and they are given voice in the musical genius of Scott Joplin, Marian Anderson, Eubie Blake, and Mahalia Jackson. During the Civil Rights era, African-American musicians such as Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, and Ruth Brown conveyed the struggles of their communities while bringing people of all backgrounds together. Today, this music continues to inspire America's citizens and advance its creative spirit.

Throughout the course of American history, black musicians have used their great talents to share the richness of the African-American experience and to develop a uniquely American style of music enjoyed throughout the world. This month, we honor the pioneers of African-American music and today's contemporary artists who have enriched the lives of people everywhere.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2008 as Black Music Month. I encourage all Americans to learn more about the history of black music and to enjoy the great contributions of African-American singers, musicians, and composers.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH

So in the spirit of black music month, I will post a music selection by Gil Scott-Heron.

The Wire

2008-06-08T16:06:00.005-05:00

Exactly 6 years and 6 days after the first showing, I have begun to check out "The Wire". I didn't know what I was missing!

Feel Good Friday Jam

2008-06-06T15:16:00.001-05:00

An Extention Cord > A Time Out

2008-06-05T13:39:00.021-05:00

While watching this video, I thought aint no way one of mine would even think of doing something like this. Hell, I WISH they would! When he first told her to shut up and stuck his finger in her face, right then he should have gotten choked the hell out but this little bastard didn't even flinch so I know this aint the first time he pulled some shit like this. All that's missing is him calling her a bitch and telling her to go git his money! After he pimp slapped the lady, I guess now she thinks it's time for him to be sent to time out. What he needs is a few across his ass from that brown extension cord because in times like this, a simple belt just won't do. I am from a small town called BeatAKidsAss and this video just made me homesick!

Fool Me Once

2008-06-03T15:14:00.008-05:00

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." --- George Bush, Nashville 2002

Mr President, there IS an old saying in Tennessee but it goes something like this, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

That's exactly what W.W. Herenton is doing, trying to fool us again. The fifth-term Memphis mayor wants to become superintendent again. Plus his business and political friends are working quietly to make sure he is successful in his return. I just read where influential members of the business community are publicly supporting Herenton's return to the school system he ran for more than 12 years, while political allies try to line up support for a move to influence the school board, whose members say (thank God!!) they are sticking with the process they established for picking a new schools chief.

Herenton, the soon to be former Mayor of Memphis and former Memphis City Schools superintendent, has tried to pitch various education reforms during his 16-year tenure. I remember when he was in a pissing match with the school board and he proposed lobbying the legislature for a mayor-appointed school board. With 115,000 students, the Memphis system is the 21st-largest in the nation. Its operating and building budget, at $1.2 billion, is larger than the city's. Seems to me like Herenton is trying to go where the money is. He and his cronies have fvcked the city out of all they can and now the feds are watching so they like any other gang would are trying to take over new turf.

Did any of you know that Memphis's graduation rate is only about 67.2 percent which is much less than the state average of 80.7 percent? We owe more to our children than Herenton being superintendent. What did he do while he was in that office before besides bone some teachers, parents and faculty members? We ALL know what he's done while mayor and I can agree with Wiki when it says he has..........

Failed to ensure sound fiscal management of the City of Memphis.
Fraud allegations involving national money for the building of the FedEx Forum.
Failed to communicate effectively with the City Council.
Failed to address multiple allegations of improprieties regarding Memphis Light Gas and Water.
Served as the prime target and catalyst for the City Charter rewrite.
Angered citizens to the point of becoming a target of a citizen recall effort.
Mayor Herenton proposed raising property taxes by 17% while taxes on his personal home were delinquent.
Done little in response to the significant rise in crime under his leadership, stating that "No mayor in any American city can solve the crime problem."
Appointed new leadership of the Memphis Public Library over the objections of the Tennessee Library Association.

When Will It Stop?

2008-06-01T18:57:00.024-05:00

It's evident that we have our share of problems within our public school system. That's why I am so glad that this isn't yet another video showing the foolishness that goes regularly in the Memphis City School system. I see that there are problems in the schools everywhere not only Memphis.

I don't know the teacher from the student but I sure hope that it's the teacher that's kicking that ass! I bet the child's parent doesn't have a clue how their child is behaving at school. Call me crazy but maybe if the parents took the same approach at home and beat that ass, the teacher wouldn't have to go toe to toe with her at school...

Go Shopping !

2008-06-01T17:21:00.006-05:00

I don't know how true this is and I'm not planning on researching this but I received an email stating that the following companies just filed for Bankruptcy so if you have gift cards from any on the following list use them ASAP for they will not be valid for much longer.

PASS THE WORD.

Hollywood Video
Levitz
Sharper Image
Performance Team Freight
Linens n Things
Circuit City
Bed, Bath and Beyond

Feel Good Friday Jam - Maze feat. Frankie Beverly

2008-05-30T19:04:00.008-05:00

Customer Service Hall Of Shame

2008-05-29T14:01:00.015-05:00

MSN's "Customer Service Hall Of Shame"
1. AOL
2. Comcast
3. Sprint
4. Abercrombie & Fitch
5. Qwest
6. Capital One
7. Bank Of America
8. Time Warner Cable
8. HSBC Finance
9. Cox Communications

I was surfing the internets today and I read where MSN Money released the results of its second annual "Customer Service Hall of Shame" on Tuesday. It's a nationwide survey that was conducted by Zogby International back in March. They make a list of companies with the worst customer service. Out of the top 9, I do business or have done business with 6 of them.

Yall remember when Netzero was free? Well, when NetZero stopped being free, I got my Internet connection through AOL. It was cool until I went to work in telemarketing and happened to get an AOL billing contract. I found out how they did their billing and I changed service providers.

Everybody that had cable in Memphis had Time Warner Cable. I think they had a monopoly or something. Ain't there laws against monopolies? Now it's Comcast. Is there any other cable providers in Memphis? I don't think so right off hand. I can't lie and say that I used Time Warner's customer service department either. Can't call the folks when you bootlegging cable anyway but I'm not saying that I was bootlegging cable, I'm just saying.....

I have cellular service through Sprint. I can't say I have complaints with their service because everytime I threaten to change providers they hit me off with some free sh!t. Come to think of it, I need a new phone right now. I gotta call them later.

I've had 2 trucks financed through Capital One. Didn't use their customer service department but I can tell you that they don't hesitate to call yo ass promptly if you late paying them. I aint saying I be paying late, I'm just saying............

I used to bank with Bank of America which has pretty good customer service if you got money in their bank. However, if you just need to cash a check that's drawn on one of their accounts, you are screwed. They take care of the customers in line that have accounts with them first and then everyone else. Damn!

Can I pick them or what???

Know Your Districts

2008-05-25T16:46:00.008-05:00

If you can't tell or already know, I reside in Memphis,TN. I was born in Orange Mound and was raised in Whitehaven. We moved to Whitehaven in '73. Bought my first house in Westwood and stayed there for about 6 years and then I bought a house in Whitehaven so I've been living right here in Whitehaven most of my life. My parents moved to Mississippi a few years back but I love living right here but even I don't like the direction in which my community and my city is moving.

I don't get too involved in local politics other than voting for the city or county Mayors but with all the scandals going on within our government at the state and local levels, I have begun to take interest in the affairs of our local government. It's hard to remember what district (3) I live in and I don't remember the last time I have ever voted for a councilman. To be honest with you, I didn't know who my councilman (Harold B. Collins) even was until I researched it yesterday. I made myself a promise that I will start to be more active in and aware of local politics. I hope that all my fellow Memphians would too. The city of Memphis has a website with information about our city's government, residents and businesses. If you haven't seen it, go to City Of Memphis.

Is Black Still Beautiful ?

2008-04-26T15:23:00.047-05:00

I aint gonna get too drawn out on my first post but I was having a discussion with a poster on another site and this person who happened to be black said

to me, "with yo nappy headed self" which I guess was supposed to be derogatory but hell, she don't know me from Adam. I aint gonna go on and on but if she did happen to know me, she would know that I embrace the natural texture of my hair. Been sporting an afro off and on for a long time and haven't had any chemicals in my hair since I got my last blowout back in elementary school. You know back when the Jackson5 was the sh!t. No lie, I used to swear I was the 6th Jackson.

Our black skin comes in all different shades and our hair in all textures so in this day and age, do we still feel like our African features are ugly or offensive, do we still believe that there is a such thing as "good hair" and really most of all, is black still beautiful?

Disclaimer

2008-04-25T03:05:00.000-05:00

Whatever I post here is for entertainment purposes only. I make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability or validity of any information on this site and none shall be implied. I will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.

This is my personal weblog so the opinions expressed here represent my own. Also my thoughts and opinions may change from time to time which I think is a necessary consequence of having an open mind so any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same nor remotely similar to those I may hold today.

Exercise your freedom of speech. Just watch what you say.