Dollar Bill loses change of venue motion in federal corruption trial

 

Surprise, y’all. Corrupt “Dollar” Bill Jefferson lost his change of venue motion to the District of Columbia in his federal corruption trial. Now, he’ll hafta face the white folk in Northern Virginia and explain how all dat payola ended up in his damn freezer. Give the Lord a hand clap, y’all.

According to the Associated Press, “Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., had argued that the government unfairly brought charges against him in suburban Alexandria rather than the District of Columbia because it wanted a venue where fewer blacks are in the jury pool. Jefferson, who represents much of New Orleans, is black.”

“Prosecutors contend that northern Virginia is an appropriate venue because that is where Jefferson was caught on videotape accepting bribes, and because the alleged victim in the bribery scheme ran a business based in the area.”

I cannot wait until the white jury foreman delivers the verdict and pronounces Jefferson guilty. That moment of ecstasy will be better than an orgasm.

 

 

The Jefferson empire is crumbling right on schedule. His baby girl and political protege, Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, a lawyer and state representative, lost her bid for a promotion to the State Senate to the candidate I endorsed, Cheryl Gray, a few weeks ago. Gray beat her like she stole somethin’ 71% to 29%. Give the Lord another hand clap, y’all.

When they finally convict this Negro, sometime next year, I anticipate that my girl, Karen Carter, will be ready to step up and take her place in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Hostage Situation at Hillary Clinton HQ in Rochester, NH

Hat Tip:  By Beverley Wang, Associated Press

A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate about access to mental health care. The hostage drama dragged on for nearly six hours until he peacefully surrendered.

Shortly after releasing the last of at least five hostages unharmed, 47-year-old Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn. Clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie, he was put on the ground and handcuffed.

Clinton was in the Washington area the whole time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution.

“Everything stopped, and it had to because we had nothing on our minds except the safety of these young people who work for me,” Clinton told reporters shortly after the standoff ended.

She traveled Friday night to Rochester, where she thanked law enforcement officials for their help. She said she knew of no previous contact between Eisenberg and her campaign.

“It appears he was someone who needed help and sought attention in absolutely the wrong way,” she said.

Rochester police Chief David DuBois said Eisenberg was being held on state charges of kidnapping and reckless conduct, and that federal charges were being considered.

According to police, the drama began shortly before 1 p.m., when the man walked into the office and peeled back his jacket to reveal what appeared to be a bomb duct-taped to his chest. He took several hostages, but let a woman with an infant go immediately.

Eisenberg had a hostage call CNN three times and spoke to network staffers during the standoff, CNN reported after the ordeal was over and all the hostages were safe. Eisenberg said he wanted help getting psychiatric care, but had been turned away because he didn’t have the money.

“I need to speak to Hillary Clinton,” CNN quoted him as saying. “Something’s got to change. Ordinary people need help” with their insurance.

The network described Eisenberg as “well-spoken, articulate and impassioned about his cause” but increasingly agitated. His third phone call was laced with profanities, CNN said.

About two hours after the man let the woman and baby go, at least one other woman escaped from the office; two other hostages made it out later, the last about half an hour before Eisenberg surrendered, police said.

Not long after the surrender, which occurred shortly after 6 p.m., police maneuvered a robot to the hostage-taker’s package and triggered an explosion to destroy it.

Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.

“She said, ‘You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape,” Tzizik said.

Heavily armed SWAT team members, protecting themselves with shields, called to the man over bullhorns and attempted to hand a phone into the office.

A law enforcement official confirmed to The Associated Press earlier that the suspect’s name was Leeland Eisenberg, and that he was known around the town to be mentally unstable. The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

Authorities believe the device strapped to the man’s chest was made with road flares, not a bomb, the official said.

The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers for the campaign.

Eisenberg walked into the office about a half-hour before he was scheduled to appear in Strafford County court with his wife for a domestic violence hearing, according to Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover.

Divorce papers filed Tuesday indicated Eisenberg was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, domestic related, and violation of a protective order. In the papers, Eisenberg’s wife said the divorce was a result irreconcilable differences and complained that he suffered from “severe alcohol and drug abuse, several verbal abuse and threats.”

Eisenberg also was arrested at least twice earlier this year, once for allegedly driving under the influence and once on two counts of stalking. The status of those cases was not immediately clear.

Congressional Race Update

The race to succeed Julia Carson is taking place behind the scenes because Carson, 69, is in the late stages of terminal lung cancer, she has no intention of resigning, and the process to name the Democratic nominee in a potential special election, should she pass away soon, is entirely in the hands of the 680 plus precinct committeepersons in the 7th Congressional District.    The rules of the Indiana Democratic Party are clear, “A vacancy for U.S. House of Representatives shall be filled by a caucus of the eligible committeepersons whose precincts are within the congressional district.”        

Blogger Jim Shella is reporting that the vacancies in county precinct committeepersons are being filled rapidly in anticipation of having to name a nominee to succeed Ms. Julia.  In that inside baseball scenario, City-County Councilman Andre Carson, Ms. Carson’s grandson, is likely to have an advantage if his grandmother’s allies are filling the vacancies.

 

In Maryland, State Delegate Herman Taylor, a liberal and supposed friend of Al Wynn, has announced his candidacy for Congress against Al Wynn in an attempt to split the liberal vote progressive challenger Donna Edwards needs to de-throne the incumbent corporate whore.   The Washington Post is reporting that a delegation of business leaders came to Taylor to urge his candidacy.  If you believe that a so-called delegation of business leaders came to the independent conclusion that Taylor was better than Edwards on their own, I have a bridge in brooklyn for sale that I think would be a good retirement investment for you.

Trent Lott, Mississippi Sissy

 

The other shoe has dropped and its a doosy:  the growing and swirling gay-escort scandal surrounding Senator Trent Lott.  I had no idea, although, looking back, the man is way to fastidious and prissy not to be suspect.  The way wingnuts demagogue gay issues is really a form of political inoculation to keep suspicious eyes from wandering into their closets.  This is the best possible development, a wonderful ending to the pinstripe klansman’s horrible career, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.   Anybody got some popcorn?

ADDENDUM:  Huffington Post and BlogActive, the leading out-the-hypocrites website, are throwing cold water all over this rumor masquerading as a legitmate story on the Big Head DC website and others.    It now appears that this isn’t true at all but a vicious rumor.   Too bad.

Hat Tip: Cleveland Leader

Earlier today, Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), announced that he would resign from the Senate by the end of the year. Lott, a former college cheerleader at Ole’ Miss, claims that he would like to leave on a “positive note”, ” after winning re-election last year to a leadership post and fostering legislation for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. However, one can’t help but wonder if there is some other reason behind the abrupt decision.

Later on Monday, a Washington D.C. blog, Big Head DC, made the claim that Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt had uncovered a connection between Lott and an openly gay male escort by the name of Benjamin Nicholas.

Nicholas so far hasn’t admitted to sleeping with Lott, but he hasn’t exactly denied it either. “Here’s my public comment, on-the-record: Sen. Lott and I have no current affiliation with one another. I’m sure he would appreciate no further scrutiny,” said Nicholas.

If Nicholas’ name sounds familiar, there’s good reason. He previously spoke out against Ted Haggard’s boy toy, Mike Jones, for airing the preacher’s dirty laundry and “breaking” an unwritten escort code of silence and betraying his client’s right to privacy.

Considering his feelings on the Haggard situation, it makes sense that he would not publicly admit or reveal any information. It is also very curious that Big Head DC mentioned that Hustler was working on this story, especially considering that Larry Flynt promised us a new GOP gay sex scandal coming soon.

At this point it is all pure speculation, and if Hustler is in fact about to reveal Lott and some gay romps with a male escort, well we’re sure to find out soon enough. But consider this: who, after spending millions of dollars seeking re-election, leaves in the middle of their term for any reason other than a scandal, health condition, or personal situation?

Jesse disses Obama in Chicago Sun-Times Op-Ed piece

 

Brotha Jesse is pissing outside of the tent again, this time its in the form of an op-ed piece in the Sun-Times. After reading it, give me your take.  Is Jesse’s criticism valid and is his timing right?  He’s endorsed the brotha and is pulling even with Miss Hillary in Iowa.  This piece begs the question of whether Jesse really wants Obama to win.

Hat Tip: By Rev. Jesse Jackson, Chicago Sun-Times  

Can Democrats get the votes they need simply because they’re not Republicans? You might think so in this presidential campaign. African-American and urban votes are critical to any Democratic victory. Bill Clinton won two terms without winning the most white votes. His margin was the overwhelming support of black voters. George Bush learned that lesson; that’s why his campaigns spent so much effort suppressing the black vote in key states like Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. His victory margin was the tally of votes suppressed or uncounted.

Yet the Democratic candidates — with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign — have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country. The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention. No urban agenda is given priority. When thousands of African Americans marched in protest in Jena, La., not one candidate showed up.

Democratic candidates are talking about health care and raising the minimum wage, but they aren’t talking about the separate and stark realities facing African Americans.

The civil rights movement succeeded in ending segregation and providing blacks with the right to vote. But the end of legal apartheid did not end the era of discrimination. And the ending of institutionalized violence did not end institutionalized racism.

Patterns of discrimination are sharply etched. African Americans have, on average, about half of the good things that whites have, and double the bad things. We have about half the average household income and less than half the household wealth. On the other hand, we’re suffering twice the level of unemployment and twice the level of infant mortality (widely accepted as a measure of general health).

African Americans are brutalized by a system of criminal injustice. Young African Americans are more likely to be stopped, more likely to be searched if stopped, more likely to be arrested if searched, more likely to be charged if arrested, more likely to be sentenced to prison if charged, less likely to get early parole if imprisoned. Every study confirms that the discrimination is systemic and ruinous. And yet no candidate speaks to this central reality.

African Americans are more likely to go to overcrowded and underfunded schools, more likely to go without health care, more likely to drop out, less likely to find employment. Those who do work have less access to banks and are more likely to be ripped off by payday lenders, more likely to be stuck with high-interest auto and business loans, and far more likely to be steered to risky mortgages — even when adjusting for income. And yet, no candidate speaks to this central reality.

The result is visiting a catastrophe on the urban black community. I and many others campaign for young people to stay in school, to graduate and not to make babies until they are prepared to be parents. My son and I write and teach about personal financial responsibility. Personal responsibility is critical. But personal responsibility alone cannot overcome the effects of a discriminatory criminal justice and economic system in generating broken families and broken dreams.

The Rev. Martin Luther King saw the movement to end segregation and gain voting rights as the first stage of the civil rights movement. The second stage — to gain economic justice and equal opportunity in fact — he knew would be more difficult. Now, 40 years later, it is no longer acceptable for candidates to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to entrenched discrimination and still expect to reap our votes.

Trent Lott steps down from Senate

Yesterday, surrounded by friends, family and his GOP Klavern, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate by the end of the year.   Lott, a 66 year-old segregationist from Pascagoula, Mississippi, spent 35 years in the U.S. Congress serving in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.   His repeated attempts to repeal the twentieth century and the thirteenth amendmendment to the U.S. Constitution proved unsuccessful.

A corporate whore with no peer, Lott hopes to feather his nest as a Washington lobbyist. During his downtime, perhaps the pinstripe Klansman can build a monument to his ego which commemorates his achievements in preserving white supremacy. How bout The Jefferson Davis-Strom Thurmond-Trent Lott Senate Library. Sounds good to me. 

Julia Carson ends House career

Indiana Congresswoman Julia Carson, 69, of Indianapolis, has announced the end of her congressional career today by declining to seek a seventh term.    Ms. Carson has battled a number of serious health problems throughout her tenure and is now battling terminal lung cancer.  

The speculation surrounding the potential candidates is fierce.  Former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, Carson’s grandson, City Councilman Andre Carson,  State Reps. Carolene Mays and Gregory Porter and Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer have all been rumored as potential candidates.   Carson, Mays, Porter and Drummer are African American.

 Living in a district with an African American population of just under 30%, Ms. Carson’s potential black successors need to huddle in a pow-wow to determine which of them is the most viable and coalesce around that candidate.  Otherwise, the Congressional Black Caucus will lose this seat.   Ms. Carson’s endorsement is also key, as is the endorsement of former Rep. Andy Jacobs, her predecessor.    Mr. Jacobs has already endorsed Ms. Carson’s grandson.

A newly elected Indianapolis City Councilman, Andre is just taking office and has no public record.   A congressional campaign at this point is premature to me, but if he already has Mr. Jacobs support, he will probably receive Ms. Julia’s.  

Solidly Democratic, the 7th Congressional District hasn’t elected a Republican since its creation. Ms. Carson has been challenged by a series of black and white Republicans and defeated every single one with more than 53%.   The key here, as in many urban constituencies, is to win the Democratic primary and turn out Democratic voters in healthy numbers in the general .

I expect announcements of candidacies within the week. 

On Thanksgiving

 

This week millions of Americans traveled home to celebrate Thanksgiving- a mythological holiday, which propagandizes America’s European colonizers taking a break from genocide to break bread with their savage Native American enemies.  We’ve set aside this holiday to give thanks for racism, manifest destiny, white supremacy and the gross military, economic and political inequality which is responsible for this land of plenty.

As I write this, I’m eating on mama’s succulent roasted turkey, sweet potato pudding with marshmallows and raisins, green bean casserole, cornbread and herb stuffing, and her famous corn casserole.  I’ll finish it off with a piece of pumpkin cake with caramel frosting.  Mama threw down in a twelve-hour cooking marathon which all but guarantees that everything I own will be fitting tight next week, if it fits at all.

As I gorge on mama’s cooking, I am reminded of our singular brand of American gluttony and the insatiable thirst for power and natural resources, which has turned our planet into an even nastier cauldron of poverty, disease, and war.  I am deeply saddened by our nation’s shameful past and its blissfully ignorant present. 

I take comfort in my family and friends during this time and for the outlet of this blog.   For thirty-six years, God has blessed me to be surrounded by my closest loved ones and I cherish them each and every day.  I am especially thankful to God for a mother who has always been such a warm, loving and supportive presence in my life.

Saturday brought sad news that Congresswoman Julia Carson has terminal lung cancer.   Born to a teenage mother, she rose from humble circumstances to serve the people of Indiana in both houses of the state legislature and for the last 11 years in the halls of congress.   A true progressive, she has represented all of her constituents with compassion, fairness, and love.  We humbly ask the Lord’s blessing during this difficult time.  

15 year-old sentenced to 60 years in jail

15 year-old Sherman Burnett, a St. Louis area teen with an angelic face, was convicted today of abducting, sexually assaulting, and beating a six year-old child when he was 13.   He left the girl half-dead in the middle of a cold November chill two years ago.   The St. Louis Dispatch reports that, “she had suffered a skull fracture, a lacerated liver and heavy bruises, and half an ear had been torn off.”

“She told police she couldn’t walk, so she crawled through a hole in a fence near the tracks but could go no further. As night descended, she said, she tried to cover herself with leaves. From her hospital bed, the girl identified Burnett from a school picture.”

They also report that the 8 year old victim wrote to the Judge presiding over the trial and requested that Burnett be sentenced to 60 years in prison and that’s what Judge Marvin Wiesman gave him. 

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked its readers whether or not they believed the sentence was appropriate and 46% agreed that it was, 16% said it was too lenient, and 37% said it was too harsh.  However, it was the comments made in their comment section that were truly illuminating.   The blood thirsty rantings of outraged people harken back to the days of lynching. 
 

“Really, there is no point in keeping this animal alive. By the time it’s sixty, what difference does it make if it’s “rehabilitated.” It should be killed…plain and simple. The viciousness with which this crime was carried out mertis only one punishment…death. Let us stop pretending that the system is designed to rehabilitate…well, let the animal get taken apart in prison for a while, and then kill it…””No, the sentence was not appropriate. He should have been sentenced to death. I hope that he is assigned a cell with a huge male homosexual who not only sodomizes him on a regular basis, but prostitutes him to the rest of the inmates. Then I hope that he develops cancer of the rectum and dies in agony before he is eighteen. “

“When I think about that poor little girl, crawling through a hole in a fence because she could no longer walk, trying to keep warm with leaves after what that animal did to her fills my eyes with tears of rage…he deserves to die.”

One commenter, identified as Jack Seiler, spoke for me “No, this sentence is not appropriate. Although, the sentence is indicative of the compassionless, draconian U.S. criminal justice system where human warehousing takes precedence over rehabilitation. I acknowledge the severity of the crime is abhorent, but considering the age of the boy at the time of the offense, it seems more justified that he should have been incarcerated in a facility where intense therapy was integral and then had his reentry into society examined at the age of majority. The fact that this Judge summarily threw this boy’s life away is nearly as sad as the crime that occurred.”

This level of violence is learned behavior and probably indicative of some kind of severe physical and emotional abuse and possibly mental illness.  I have a hard time envisioning these children, both he and the girl, as anything but victims.  I have nothing but contempt for a judge who hands down draconian sentences like this.  It gives new meaning to cruel and unusual.  This kid is sick. Incarcerating him until he is 64, without psychiatric treatment, will do nothing about that. 

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Coroner sites surgical or anesthesia in death of Donda West

Hat Tip: The Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles County coroner launched an investigation Tuesday into the death of rap star Kanye West’s mother, who received cosmetic surgery from a prominent Brentwood doctor a day before she died.

The development came the same day the coroner’s office completed a preliminary autopsy, which concluded that Donda West, 58, died “as a result of surgery or anesthesia.”

Earlier this year, her doctor, Jan Adams, was served with a complaint from the Medical Board of California and state attorney general’s office seeking to revoke or suspend his medical license. The officials cited his multiple criminal convictions for alcohol-related offenses since 2003.

Adams has also recorded at least two major medical malpractice settlements totaling nearly half a million dollars and has been sued by several patients in other cases, court records show.

Adams is a high-profile doctor who has appeared on such TV shows as “Oprah” and “Extra” and hosted his own plastic surgery show on the Discovery Health Channel.

West arrived Friday morning at Adams’ Wilshire Boulevard office for the cosmetic surgery. The operation lasted 5 1/2 hours, after which she was sent home, according to the coroner’s office.

A day later, paramedics rushed an unconscious West from her home to a Marina del Rey hospital, where she died, said an official with Centinela Freeman HealthSystem.

Coroner’s officials said the investigation will include examining medical records, conducting interviews and reviewing West’s medical history.

West’s family declined to discuss the death, and it was unclear what type of plastic surgery she had. But a Beverly Hills surgeon said through his spokesperson Monday that West had approached him months ago about having cosmetic surgery. He said he never performed the procedure because of an undisclosed preexisting condition that might result in a heart attack.

Adams issued a statement though his spokesman, Kevin Williams, saying he sympathized with the West family but would not discuss details of the case.

“I first want to express my deepest condolences to the West family at a very difficult time,” the statement said. “Out of respect for the West family and in the absence of other verifiable information, any comment from me without first discussing that information with the family would be unprofessional.”

Adams is not certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, though state law permits medical doctors like him to perform plastic surgery even without board certification.

According to state medical board records, Adams graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1985. He was licensed to begin practicing medicine in California in July 1992.

In the last decade, Adams became a regular on the talk show circuit, discussing plastic surgery on morning television,CNN and E! Most recently, he hosted the Discovery Health Channel show “Plastic Surgery: Before and After.”

Adams also sells a line of cosmetics called Dr. Jan Adams’ Women of Color. The products include skin brighteners, skin lighteners, facial cleansers and microdermabrasion treatments.

On his website, Adams says he has focused his career on “the problems of today’s women of color. Women of color age differently from Caucasian women and have unique skin concerns, such as hyperpigmentation, scarring and blotchy skin. Dr. Adams helps Women of color take the anxiety out of choosing the best products for their skin.”

Adams faces an upcoming hearing on the possible revocation or suspension of his license.

In their six-page complaint, the medical board and state attorney general’s office cited three convictions for alcohol-related offenses. In 2003, according to board documents, Adams pleaded no contest to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He lost control of his car and struck a parked vehicle, the documents say, and was placed on three years’ probation.

On March 31, 2006, California Highway Patrol officers pulled Adams over while he was speeding on the 10 Freeway near La Brea Avenue, according to the complaint. CHP officers found that he was driving without a valid driver’s license and that he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10%, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08%, the complaint says.

Adams pleaded no contest to driving with a suspended license, and a jury found him guilty of driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08% or greater, according to the complaint. He was ordered to serve four days in County Jail, be placed on probation for five years, perform 45 days of highway cleanup service, participate in an 18-month alcohol treatment and counseling program and attend 60 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Adams has also been sued several times for malpractice. In 2001, he was hit with a pair of malpractice settlements in Los Angeles County Superior Court totaling $467,337, records show.

Gina Cloud, who received one of the settlements, said Adams botched a surgery to remove excess skin around her navel. She said she got a $217,000 civil settlement against him, which she said he has never paid.

Cloud, 46, of Pacific Palisades, said Adams convinced her that he could surgically correct his initial mistake, which left her with an unsightly scar. Each time, she said, her problem worsened. After his fourth attempt, Cloud said, she sought help elsewhere.

Cloud, who hosts an Internet radio show on women’s issues, said she was saddened to hear of West’s death.

“It’s tragic,” she said in an interview.

Patient Teana Lucas sued Adams in 2005 for medical malpractice and sexual battery. An aspiring actress and model, Lucas said that she began discussing liposuction with Adams and that he performed the procedure on her upper arms and stomach Nov. 18, 2004. Later, she claimed in her lawsuit, he had sex with her while she was incapacitated by painkillers and alcohol. Her lawsuit also alleged malpractice for a subsequent surgery to remove a “fat pad” from under her chin, a procedure that she claims was bungled.

Lucas’ lawyer said that the case was settled but that he was barred from divulging details by a confidentiality agreement.

Happy Birthday to me

I have offically turned 36 and I feel so old.   Am I crazy, am I supposed to feel this way?  I don’t get it.  This has been a consistent thing for 6 years now.  I hope it passes.   Reflection is never easy and the regrets are mounting, but I am resolving to press on with a positive attitude.  I am still here, and for some reason I thought I would not be.  It’s good to be alive and to reflect on the blessings of this life and some goals for the future.   By forty, I’d like to be finished with grad school, make a career change, and have child.   Most folk have achieved these things already by forty and I feel like I’m playing catch up.   Anyway, I can’t wait to get home and get another piece of mama’s carrot cake because mama don’t cook much and the cake she made me is from scratch.

Kanye’s Mama, Dr. Donda West, passes at 58

 

Hat Tip: People Magazine

Donda West, the mother and onetime manager of rapper Kanye West, died Saturday in Los Angeles.

BBC News quotes her publicist as saying she passed away “as the result of complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure,” but gave no more details. West’s spokesman said the family “asks for privacy during this time of grief.”

West, 58, a retired professor and former chairwoman of the Chicago State University English department, was a tireless supporter of her son as he both earned success and stirred up controversy.

“Kanye likes to think as a hobby and speak his own mind. He was always like that,” Donda West told InStyle earlier this year. “He came out of the womb looking like he had that attitude.”

As CEO of West Brands LLC and co-founder of the Kanye West Foundation, she teamed with her son to develop a nonprofit that aimed to combat the dropout problem in high schools in 2005. In May, she released the book Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar.

Supportive Mother

Donda West raised her son as a single mother in the Chicago neighborhood of South Shore after divorcing his father Ray, a former Black Panther, when Kanye was 3.

The rapper paid tribute to her efforts in his song “Hey Mama,” singing: “See you’re unbreakable, unmistakable/ Highly capable, lady that’s makin loot/ A livin’ legend too, just look at what heaven do/ Send us an angel, and I thank you (Hey Mama).” The ode became the ring tone she played on her cell phone.

“She always gave me support,” Kanye West said. “A lot of parents don’t train their kids to think.”

In June, Donda joined Kanye to celebrate his 30th birthday at the flagship Louis Vuitton store in Manhattan, where she danced onstage to “She Wants to Move” as her son chanted “Go Mom! Go Mom!” The next celebration she was looking forward to was his marriage.

Of Kanye’s fiancé Alexis Phifer, she told PEOPLE: “The best thing that I love about her is that she loves my son. You can’t beat that.”

My heart is breaking for him.   As a mama’s boy myself, losing my mom is my greatest nightmare.   Y’all please pray for Kanye. 

Obama declares Iowa voters beyond race

photo courtesy of flickr by Guy as in Gee

The “Safe Negro,” Barack Obama, has declared that Iowa voters are beyond race.   He is quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “People are less concerned about race and much more concerned about, is this somebody who is going to be fighting for me.”   That is an astounding statement of cynical calculation which panders to Iowa’s lily white electorate that is false on its face and goes to the root of why black people like me remain skeptical brotha’s and sistah’s.    For the record, all of my closest friends are supporters of the Safe Negro, but I just can’t go there.   I probably never will as long as he keeps serving up rhetorical gems like this to a narcissistic and oblivious white electorate.

Let me be clear, y’all.   I was born and raised in a neighboring state to a family of southern transplants looking for a kinder and gentler racism so that they might have a fighting chance to raise healthy and happy chirren.  My grandparents largely succeeded.  After high school, I realized that in terms of a future, there was no there there and decided to strike out for the greener and decidedly blacker pastures in the south.  

After a false start in Louisiana, I ended up in the Carolinas.  Having four generations of my family living in the rural Midwest, you’d think that our sense of pride in self and community woulda dimmed somewhat, quite the opposite is true.    We know exactly who we are, where we came from, and we appreciate it and celebrate it.   We’re realists that were raised to see the world as it is, defects and all. It is because we do that statements like Obama’s can be decisively debunked with little effort.

According to Human Rights Watch, it is patently ridiculous for Barack Obama to be giving racial absolution to Iowans, “In every state, the proportion of blacks in prison exceeds, sometimes by a considerable amount, their proportion in the general population (Figure 2). In Minnesota and Iowa, blacks constitute a share of the prison population that is twelve times greater than their share of the state population. In eleven states — Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming –the percentage of the prison population that is black is more than six times greater than the percentage of the state population that is black.”

“Racially disaggregated incarceration rates that measure the number of confined blacks and whites per 100,000 residents of each racial group yield another perspective on the extent of racial disparities in imprisonment. Nationwide, blacks are incarcerated at 8.2 times the rate of whites. That is, a black person is 8.2 times more likely to be in prison than a white person. Among individual states, there are even more extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration rates (Figure 3). In seven states — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — blacks are incarcerated at more than 13 times the rate of whites.”

“….Nationwide, black men are incarcerated at 9.6 times the rate of white men. In eleven states, black men are incarcerated at rates that are twelve to twenty-six times greater than those of white men (Table 5). Thus, in Minnesota, the state with the greatest racial disparity in incarceration, a black man is 26.8 times more likely to be in prison than a white man. In Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, a black man is more than fifteen times more likely to be in prison than a white man.”

The criminal justice system is always an accurate measure of how deep the sickness of racism is. In Iowa, on the basis of these 7-plus-year-old figures, the sickness is profound.   Apparently, Barack Obama is a glass is half-full kinda guy.  I’m just the opposite.  It’s one thing to campaign on the basis of optimism and hope, its quite another to pander to some white people’s grossly inflated sense of racial fairness and fairplay when statistics clearly show that their “fairness” is a lie from the pit of Hell.  Because of these and other reasons, I shall continue remaining skeptical about Barack Obama.  

 

I’m Back

I’ve been going through this week on my job and have been dealing with some issues with my close friends.   As a result, I haven’t had the time or inclination to post anything.   I really and truly hate drama.  Sometimes, though, you just have to go through it.   I had all kinds of plans for posting this week that got sidetracked.   I’m gonna try and post some more tonight and tomorrow and throughout the week.   I am fine, if you’re wondering.