City of Brotherly love chooses a new “brotha” Mayor

The Democratic Primary for Mayor in Philadelphia has been decided tonight.     I have said nothing about this race because there is truly so little to say.   Rarely are politicians of this caliber in the running for anything and rarely are they all black men.  Of the five major candidates, three are black men.  They are Congressman Chaka Fattah, Former Councilman Michael Nutter, and State Representative Dwight Evans.  

Normally brothas of this stature are inspiring.  None of these brothas really did anything for me this year.   Philadelphia’s politics are complicated and corrupt and I haven’t the time or inclination to decipher it for y’all.  Ain’t but so many hours in the day.  I know I shoulda said something before now and my sistah rikyrah asked about it awhile back, I just ain’t been in the mood.  

The long and the short of it for me is the MOVE tragedy in the eighties and the the steadfast refusal of city politicians to stand-up like grown ups and address the wider racial and political ramifications of those over-the-top police state tactics and assure Philadelphians that they will never occur again.  

With 67% of Precincts reporting,  Michael Nutter has won the Democratic Primary for Mayor with 36% and 68,221 votes to his nearest competitor’s 28% and 54, 302 votes.   The race for Mayor is over and my least favorite candidate-the “brotha” who is in favor of racial profiling and “stop and frisk” police tactics, will become the new mayor.  

I’m in mourning

I don’t care what nobody says, this girl is good.  

Monday Open Thread

What’s on your mind?  Tell a brotha.  I don’t see anything new to report.

1040 Blues: My taxes are not done and I owe big time

I absolutely hate this time of year.   It annoys me more than anything and once again, I have put it off until the last minute.  As usual, I am broke and wondering how I am going to pay.   Oh, I forgot, I got a check waiting on me and will use it.  Thank God for overtime.

Saturday Open Thread

For those of you who have absolutely nothing better to do this evening, tell me what’s on you’re mind.  I got about an hour to kill before I hit the clubs.

On Haitus

I apologize Y’all, I had to take a few mental health days and not even look in the direction of this site.  I’ll  be back strong Sunday.   What’s on your mind?  Tell me somethin’ good-as Chaka Khan used to say.

The deadline for the first quarter of fundraising for Presidential candidates will pass in about one hour from now.  I expect an announcement from Obama and Hillary that they both cleared $25 million, what do you think?

OPEN THREAD

My brain is so fried, I can’t even contemplate writing more than a sentence.  I luv y’all.  If I sufficiently recover, you’ll hear from me again tomorrow.

Hudson and Whitaker take home the Gold

I spaced this off last night.  I was deep into a Blockbuster moviethon and did not want to be disturbed.  I made my famous spaghetti topped with parmesan cheese and a glass of wild vines blackberry merlot.   I was in Heaven.  I missed Jennifer’s moment and I feel bad about that.  Jennifer is my girl and a role model for sistah’s everywhere.   All praise and glory to God for her. 

Judge Awards Anna Nicole’s baby to Material Girl.

In dramatic twist covered by a swirling horde of world media, Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin awarded custody of Anna Nicole Smith’s five-month old infant to Madonna.   An emotional Judge Seidlin, speaking to a tense courtroom said,  “Since the Material Girl is incapable of finding an orphaned child to adopt in the whole of the planet Earth and finds herself pilfering a black child from a destitute father like a puppy from a dog pound, I award custody of Dannielynn Smith to her in the hopes that she will be able to wholesomely teach the child how to properly and tactfully commodify her sexuality and exploit others creative talent for obscene profit.”   He also awarded custody of Smith’s remains to the Material Girl to “do with as she pleases, since everybody else has already.”

Plans for Anna Nicole’s burial were not available to Skeptical Brotha at the time of this report.

Al Franken for U.S. Senate

For those of you who have been pondering my twisted sense of humor, the culprit is Saturday Night Live and by extension-Al Franken.  Being closer to forty than thirty, I was heavily influenced by the humor perfected on Saturday Night Live.  It’s groundbreaking sketch comedy pushed boundaries like nobody else before.  Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Al Franken, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Eddie Murphy, and Garrett Morris are among my favorite people.   Before ten years old, I understood their humor.  From the political satire to the sexual innuendo, I soaked it all in.   It, along with SCTV, Fridays, MadTV, and In Living Color form the basis of my humor.  

Today comes news of Al Franken, commedian, writer, and Air America radio personality jumping into the race for Paul Wellstone’s Senate seat currently being held by corporate whore Norm Coleman.    Coleman, the former Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota is a New York bred,craven opportunist whose politics steadily moved from establishment Democrat to establishment Republican.   Recruited to run for the Senate by Dick Cheney, he was on a trajectory to lose that race before Paul Wellstone’s fatal plane crash in October 2002 that changed the face of Minnesota politics. 

I remember the shock and anguish I personally felt when the words ran across the monitor that announced the Senator’s death along with his wife, daughter, and campaign staff.  His death marked a turning point for progressive politics in Minnesota and the depth of feeling expressed by mourners at his memorial service was seized upon by the right-wing in a propaganda campaign of distortion to energize the right. 

Al Franken’s candidacy is a breath of fresh air and break from the politics of cookie cutter DLC automatons breathlessly mouthing the curative powers of the free market and incremental policy wonkism.  Al believes in something and its progressive.  The bottom-line for me though is his relentless lampooning of Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly.  He reveals O’Reilly as the pompous liar that he is and that is more than enough for a Skeptical Brotha endorsement. 

NASA Astronaut caught up in “Fatal Attraction” B.S.

 

By JOHN SCHWARTZ  New York Times 2/7/07

Like most of today’s astronauts, Lisa Marie Nowak worked in relative obscurity — even last July, when she took the spaceflight that she had spent 10 years at NASA hoping for.

She is famous now, the smiling image of her in astronaut gear a sharp contrast with her police mugshot — a woman with wild hair wearing an expression of personal devastation.

She is charged with the attempted murder of a woman she believed to be her rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut. Police officials say she drove 900 miles to Florida from Texas, wearing a diaper so she would not have to stop for rest breaks. In Orlando, they say, she confronted her rival in a parking lot, attacking her with pepper spray.

Captain Nowak was in disguise at the time, wearing a wig, the police said. She had with her a compressed air pistol, a steel mallet, a knife, pepper spray, four feet of rubber tubing, latex gloves and garbage bags.

Those who know her say they are mystified. “I was in shock,” said Dennis Alloy, 43, of Tysons Corner, Va., a friend and high school classmate. “When I knew her, I couldn’t imagine an evil bone in her body.”

Many inside and outside the space agency are wondering how the problems of Captain Nowak, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1985 and served in the Navy before joining National Aeronautics and Space Administration, were not detected before this. Many are also wondering whether the “Right Stuff” image of astronauts has been tarnished, or if that image somehow confused technical excellence with emotional stability. “Like any other people, they’re human,” said George Abbey, director of the Johnson Space Center when Commander Nowak was selected for the astronaut corps and recalled her as “an outstanding candidate.”

Captain Nowak, 43, was arrested at 4 a.m. on Monday at Orlando International Airport, the police said, after attacking Colleen Shipman, an Air Force captain.

The police report, by Detective William C. Becton, said that Captain Nowak said she had not intended to harm Captain Shipman and said she believed that “this was the only time she was going to be able to speak” with her. The compressed air pistol she carried “was going to be used to entice Ms. Shipman to talk with her,” according to the report.

Detective Becton wrote, “When I asked Mrs. Nowak if she thought the pepper spray was going to help her speak with Ms. Shipman, she replied, ‘That was stupid.’ ”

According to the police report, Captain Nowak said she saw Captain Shipman, 30, as a rival for the affection of Cmdr. William A. Oefelein, a fellow astronaut. She told the police that she and Commander Oefelein, whose NASA nickname is Billy-O, had “more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship.” Commander Oefelein, 41, is divorced and has two children.

Tuesday was a day of confusion and quickly shifting events. Captain Nowak, a married mother of three, was brought before a judge for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Two of her fellow astronauts — the chief of NASA’s astronaut office, Col. Steven W. Lindsey of the Air Force, and Capt. Christopher J. Ferguson of the Navy — were there to offer support.

The judge had agreed to release Captain Nowak on $15,000 bond on charges of kidnapping and battery, but the police added a charge of attempted murder, and bail was increased to $25,000.

In Orlando at the end of the day, Captain Nowak posted bail and, later in the evening, was fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet so her movements could be monitored after her return to Houston.

“She’s is going home,” said her lawyer , Donald Lykkebak.

Captain Nowak and her husband, Richard, a flight controller for the International Space Station, live with their children in a two-story brick-and-glass home on a cul-de-sac in suburban Houston.

Few neighbors there wanted to talk about the case, but one, who asked that his name not be used, said the couple had had an argument in November with raised voices and the sound of breaking china.

No one was home on Tuesday.

A statement from the family last night on the Web site of the Orlando Sentinel said that the Nowaks had been married for 19 years but that Captain Nowak and her husband “had separated a few weeks ago.” Michael Coats, the director of the Johnson Space Center, said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened by this tragic event. The charges against Lisa Nowak are serious ones that must be decided by the judicial system.”

Mr. Coats said Captain Nowak was “officially on 30-day leave and has been removed from flight status and all mission-related activities.”

He said NASA would “continue to monitor developments in the case.”

National Poll: Clinton 34% Obama 18%

February 6, 2007

Rassmussen Reports

After two weeks in which Senator Hillary Clinton (D) was pulling away from other contenders for the Democratic nomination, the latest Rasmussen Reports Election 2008 polling shows that the race has stabilized a bit.

Clinton now attracts 34% of the vote, up just a single point over the past week (see last week’s results). Barack Obama (D), the charismatic freshman Senator from Illinois, lost a single point and now attracts 18% support. That leaves him sixteen points behind the frontrunner. Three weeks ago, at the height of Obama-mania, the man from Illinois had pulled to within a single point of the frontrunner.

Despite the fact that the frontrunners in the Democratic Party are a woman and an African-American, 60% of voters believe that the Democrats will end up nominating a white male as their Presidential candidate in 2008.

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) earns support from just 10% of those polled. Edwards has consistently been in third place. However, now he shares that spot with former Vice President Al Gore. For Gore that reflects a slight gain from the 8% level of support he enjoyed a week ago. Gore has not indicated that he is running. Senator Joe Biden (D) and General Wesley Clark (D) each earn 3% of the vote. No other candidates top 1% at this time.

While Clinton is the frontrunner within the party, Obama and Edwards do a bit better in general election match-ups against leading Republicans.  Obama and Edwards both lead John McCain (R) while Clinton is essentially tied with the Arizona Senator. John Edwards is within two points of Rudy Giuliani (R) , closer than any other Democrat. See match-ups and favorability ratings for all Democratic candidates.

Eight-out-of-ten Americans say they are willing to vote for a woman Presidential candidate and a similar percentage say the same about an African-American candidate. However, in each case, just over 50% believe their peers are likely to do the same. There is a significant difference of opinion on these questions by age. Just a third of senior citizens believe their peers would vote for a woman or an African-American.

It is clearly very early in the nomination process and much could change between now and the time when votes are cast in Iowa and New Hampshire. However, given the front-loaded nature of the Primary schedule, perceptions of the candidates and their competitiveness could become very important in determining the nominees for Election 2008. If a candidate is unable to raise serious money and build a solid organization early, they may find themselves unable to compete in what is shaping up to be almost a national primary on February 5.

Columnist Molly Ivins passes

At the request of Rikyrah, I have written the following recollection of a great woman.

Columnist Molly Ivans was gifted writer and storyteller that could make a Vulcan laugh.  She possessed a singular gift to needle the powers that be with her lacerating wit.  She revealed their manifold sins and unfathomable ignorance.   She once mocked GOP House Majority leader Dick Armey by saying, “If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drillin’ rights on that man’s head.”   

She had special contempt for the ignorant patrician in the White House that she dubbed “Shrub.”  She has said of him, “Let me say for the umpteenth time, George W. is not a stupid man. The IQ of his gut, however, is open to debate. In Texas, his gut led him to believe the death penalty has a deterrent effect, even though he acknowledged there was no evidence to support his gut’s feeling.  When his gut, or something, causes him to announce that he does not believe in global warming — as though it were a theological proposition — we once again find his gut ruling that evidence is irrelevant. In my opinion, Bush’s gut should not be entrusted with making peace in the Middle East.” She was right on target and I think thirty years from now, when I am the same age as she was, historians will bear out her harsh judgment of this President’s basic ineptitude. 

I have been regaled by her stories for years.  I enjoyed her so much that I bought two of her books on tape when I traveled.  She could caress you with a story and teach you something profound in between the side splitting laughter.  I read with dismay several months ago that she was again ill with Cancer.  I sent her an e-mail and prayed for her recovery.   

My saddest realization upon her passing is that she died during the Bush Administration that she so effectively lampooned, that to me is quite disheartening.  Every time I post I try to channel a bit of her irreverence and sometimes I succeed. May God Bless her and keep her in his arms forever and may he give comfort to those who loved her and deeply miss her wit and wisdom.

 

Brandy sued for $50 mill

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) — Singer-actress Brandy was sued for $50 million Tuesday by the family of a woman killed in a four-car freeway crash which police have blamed on the 27-year-old performer.

The wrongful death lawsuit by the parents of Awatef Aboudihaj, 38, was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court a day after police recommended that prosecutors charge Brandy with a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter.

The California Highway Patrol found that the entertainer, whose full name is Brandy Norwood, was at fault in the December 30 accident for failing to prevent her Land Rover from hitting the car in front of her when traffic suddenly slowed, CHP spokesman Leland Tang said this week.

Aboudihaj was killed when her vehicle slammed into a third car, careened into the freeway’s center divider and was hit broad-side by a fourth automobile, police said.

The lawsuit, filed as a three-page form complaint, says her death was caused by “reckless driving” by Brandy. It seeks $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Investigators have ruled out alcohol and drugs as factors in the crash and say there was no evidence that Brandy was using a cell phone or was otherwise distracted. She was in her car alone, Tang said.

Brandy’s spokeswoman, Kelly Mullens of the 42West agency, said in a statement “the accident was a terrible tragedy and Brandy’s heart goes out to Awatef Aboudihaj’s family. But for legal reasons we cannot comment on this lawsuit.”

The Highway Patrol referred the case to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for further review with the recommendation that the former star of the TV comedy “Moesha” be cited with a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter.

A misdemeanor offense carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Hollywood says only white people can save us

I saw this article by this talented brotha and had to share a portion of it with y’all

By Kai Beasley
Black College Wire

It seems one of the most powerful notions in Hollywood is that black people can’t do anything for themselves. I’m sorry; I just have trouble understanding why nearly every movie about African Americans portrays us as having a weakness only white people can help us overcome. It’s starting to be a bit annoying, not to mention redundant. I’m sure we have all seen the preview that sounds something like this:

Kai Beasley

Announcer: “In a world where people of color from the inner city act like blatant stereotypes, one woman understood how to touch them better than they understood how to touch themselves. When no one else cared, there was one white woman who was willing to give them a chance. Michelle Pfeiffer in . . . “Dangerous Minds.”

Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank is starring in a similar film. Maybe you’ve seen the preview. It sounds something like this:

Announcer: “From the producers of all those other movies where white people are the only people who can save poor ethnic kids comes the same freakin’ story that you’ve seen over and over. When a bunch of unruly ethnic kids don’t want to listen to anyone, a random white woman is able to reach them. This time, it’s for real. This time, it’s for the future. This time . . . It’s not Michelle Pfeiffer. Hillary Swank in . . . “Freedom Writers .”

I mean, COME ON! African Americans don’t need white actors to help them do stuff. So what if Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise helped me write this article; that’s the exception, not the rule. So what if John Travolta helps me dress myself every morning, it can just as easily be Samuel L. Jackson. The fact that I can’t eat breakfast in the morning without being spoon-fed by Bruce Willis means nothing; Jamie Foxx can spoon-feed me anytime.

But seriously, are we as helpless and naive as our characterizations in film portray us? No! Do white people really care about our problems as much as they do in films? No! That’s the reason things are they way they are. If people cared as much as they do in the movies, there wouldn’t be any more movies like that, because society would have changed. But what really grinds my gears is that few movies give black people credit for the things we do for ourselves. In fact, the only thing they do give us credit for being good at is drug dealin’, rappin’ or pimpin’. Now I don’t know about you all, but I stopped pimpin’ a long time ago, and I would like to think that I have moved on to better things.

 

California Highway Patrol wants to charge Brandy with Manslaughter

 

By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – The California Highway Patrol recommended Monday that actress-singer Brandy be charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in a freeway crash that killed a woman motorist last month, a city attorney’s spokesman told The Associated Press.

The CHP referred the matter to the city attorney’s office for review, said spokesman Nick Velasquez.

“The office is currently reviewing the case and determining whether the evidence warrants the filing of a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter,” Velasquez said.

A message seeking comment from Brandy’s publicist, Courtney Barnes, was not immediately returned.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in county jail and a $1,000 fine, Velasquez said.

Prosecutors couldn’t say when they would make a decision about whether to bring a case. If charged, Brandy wouldn’t necessarily have to appear in court and could have her lawyer enter a plea, Velasquez said.

Brandy, whose real name is Brandy Norwood, has publicly expressed condolences to the victim’s family, Barnes said last week. Barnes also has said Brandy wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.

Brandy, 27, was driving a Land Rover on Interstate 405 on Dec. 30 when traffic slowed and her vehicle struck the back of Honda driven by Awatef Aboudihaj, 38, according to a CHP report.

Aboudihaj’s car hit another vehicle, slid sideways into the center divider and was then hit by another car, the report said. Aboudihaj, a Los Angeles waitress, died at a hospital from blunt-force injuries, according to the coroner’s office.