Roman Catholic Priestess and Handshake Man vs. Secret Service Letter Delivery

Brenda Lee, the "reporter" aka "Roman Catholic Priestess" who wanted to give President Barack Obama a letter explaining that God is against gay marriage, said in a column at the Georgia Informer that she wouldn't have been dragged off if she had been a white, male clergy member. Her behavior sent up a red flag with the Secret Service to whom she tried to give the letter while waiting for Obama at the Los Angeles airport, LAX. (Thumbnail photo by Ut/AP)

Perhaps in years gone by, Lee would not have been dragged off, especially if she had been as crafty as "Handshake Man" aka "Rev. Richard Weaver," but even he was finally caught, and possibly told to stay out of Washington, D.C. for a while. Do you remember "Handshake Man"?

HOLY HANDSHAKE! COPS FINALLY GET A GRIP ON PROSELYTIZER

BY Helen Kennedy Richard Sisk Kenneth R. Bazinet Thomas M. DeFrank

Friday, January 21th 2005, 7:16AM

WASHINGTON - The third time was not the charm for "Handshake Man."

The Rev. Richard Weaver is famous for slipping by inaugural security in 1997 to shake Bill Clinton's hand and again in 2001 to hand George W. Bush a note urging him to "stand for Christ daily."

Weaver told reporters that God ushered him through security to deliver the Lord's message to the Presidents. The Lord apparently found a new messenger. Weaver was arrested on an outstanding warrant yesterday as he tried to get through a checkpoint near the Capitol. Helen Kennedy. (NYDN, 2005)

In follow up news stories it was reported that Handshake Man, who lives in Southern California, did not go to Obama's inauguration. He said, per WAPO, "I have decided to not do any more with presidents. ... (and) I've got one more year where I'm not allowed to go to Washington."

I said in my first post on Lee that Lee, while off her nut, was probably not a real threat. Airport Security "dragged her away" after she fell down like a 60s passive resistance protester. Had she not fallen out, they may have only escorted her away, but then we wouldn't have had the spectacle discussed worldwide, would we?.

It's possible that Lee could have been handled differently, but I've also read (not on any government site) that Secret Service agents may have had no choice but to refuse to take the letter from Lee, which you may read in the first post. She says the Secret Service told her to give the letter to a White House staffer, but she declined. Nevertheless, what I've read in various forums is that the Secret Service is not allowed to carry anything at all for anyone. That their hands must remain free in case they have to draw their weapons to protect the president. Again, I have not been able verify that via government documentation.

Unlike Lee, Handshake Man, now in his 60s, has been quiet lately. He did not go to the inauguration, but says he still got a message from God for President Obama:

... Weaver says, he was watching television when another message from God came to him. "The glory of the Lord has departed from the Democratic Party," Weaver says, reading from the message. "You have chosen a secular messiah. . . . You will see the Democrats take America farther down the road to insecurity."

Tough words, and Weaver says he's a little uncomfortable delivering them. He says he personally appreciates the positive vibe he feels in race relations since Obama was elected. "I just like the guy," he says. "I wouldn't vote for him; that doesn't mean he's a bad guy."

But a message of God must not be edited, he says.

Over the decades, Weaver has ministered to athletes and politicians through organizations he founded. He has pictures of himself with Clinton and both Bushes. He met Jimmy Carter.

At his sentencing in 2005, he said Secret Service agents had told him: "You're no problem to us, but you're making us look bad." (WAPO, 2008)

I can't vouch for Weaver's messages from God, but what he says the Secret Service told him, that he was making them look bad, sounds true. Consequently, he ruined Brenda Lee's chances to be a messenger from God to President Obama. The Secret Service has its divine message radar in full gear.

For anyone who has trouble getting my smile in this, I doubt either of these people have messages specifically from God for any president of the United States. Neither Lee nor Weaver are saying anything that any president couldn't learn by picking up a newspaper that tells the opinions of conservative Christians who, btw, also believe their opinions reflect God's message.

Now if either Lee or Weaver had said that on August 15, 2005, they were carted away by the Secret Service and prevented from telling President George W. Bush that New Orleans would be under water specifically by August 30, and they could prove they said that, then we'd have a diferent story. If that had happened, then Lee and Weaver would sound a wee less wacko.

Virginia Tech Beheading Case Closer to Trial

In January, when Virgina Tech grad student Haiyang Zhu allegedly decapitated a female graduate student from Beijing, China, Xin Yang, 22, I wrote about it but some of the grisly details had not come out. Today, the Roanoke Times reports with the picture in this post that Zhu's first degree murder charge has been certified to a grand jury.

The murder took place at an on-campus Au Bon Pain restaurant. It's popular on college campuses. A worker, Corey Cox, seems to have been present when Zhu beheaded Xin Yang and testified that he hid behind a counter and dialed 911. He said he heard "loud growl" from Zhu, who attacked Xin Yang with a knife, and according to Cox, Zhu remained very focused on removing the young woman's head.

An officer on the scene describes Zhu walking, holding Xin Yang's severed head by the hair. While it appears the alleged murderer and his victim had a personal connection, it's not clear whether they were romantically involved. Zhu was working on his doctorate in the school's "agriculture and applied economics program." Xin Yang, who had only arrived two weeks before, was working on a masters in accounting.

Read the Roanoke Times story here. The Associated Press has a longer version.

I shared my opinion on violence against women, avoiding stereotyping Asian men, and death by decapitation in my original post.

Anti-gay marriage reporter tells her side of story on being dragged by security

Brenda Lee, a freelance reporter, sounds sane on the video, certainly not like someone out to harm President Barack Obama, but how she identifies herself seems a bit off. Airport Security dragged her away at the Los Angeles airport, LAX, yesterday after she tried to pass a letter to President Barack Obama via the Secret Service. The text of the letter is in this post. (Updated to add the word "airport"before "security" for clarity's sake.)

I guess the Secret Service concluded she was dangerous and not really a reporter but a protester. What do you think?

From USA Today:

... Lee, who describes herself as a Roman Catholic priestess from Anaheim, was waiting for Obama to arrive at LAX on his way out of town, she tells the Associated Press. Lee is a columnist for the monthly Georgia Informer in Macon and said she has White House press credentials.

She told AP she asked a Secret Service agent to give the president her letter, but he refused and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee refused to give the staffer the letter. (USA Today)

The Georgia Informer is an African-American newspaper. Here is the text of the letter as Lee posted at the newspaper. Perhaps some words in all caps made them suspicious of her mental state. I know I wonder about people who write in all caps more than once. (That's just a joke, folks, because the SS didn't actually see the letter before airport security dragged her off, if they saw it at all.)

Late Tuesday, May 27, 2009, I wrote the following letter to President Obama.

Dear President Obama,

I am praying for you. You are the most powerful man in the world and GOD placed you there to do HIS WILL. On March 18th, you mentioned that you would rather have one good term than eight mediocre years as president. You will always be the first African American President; the challenge is for you to be A Great African American President, but to become a great president you must keep your hands in GOD’S HANDS.

I am begging you, as a father of two daughters, to establish America as a GOD fearing country and to stand against the gay life that threatens to tear America apart.

Same sex marriage is a GOD ISSUE not a Civil Right Issue. The pursuit of happiness and safety in the context of the law protects the human race not only individuals. GOD’S WRATHS, Aids and VD threatens the population at large. There has never been and never will be total happiness.

No one has addressed the abused children who were given to gay couples in the State of California or the breaking of the law by California Attorney General Jerry Brown and the five justices when they lifted the ban on gay marriage without due process of the law, which they swore to uphold. To the American people, it appears that they are above the law.

No one has spoken of the ramification of the gay life style. How will children be conceived, how much will it cost, who will be able to afford it and who will over see the doctors? Which races will disappear? These are only a few of the complex questions that must be answered.

Who is qualified to take GOD’S PLACE and who will rule in Truth and Fairness? Once people can decided which sex they would like to be listed as, chaos will follow.

Your daughters and my grandchildren may not have the legal right to know the true sex of their potential spouses. You cannot image the opening of Pandora’s box. I pray that moralists will come to your aid in the coming months and let you know how they feel about these issues

I will continue to pray for your family, America and the world.

GOD BLESS You,

Rev. Brenda Lee

Read more of what Lee says about the incident here in her column God vs. Men at The Georgia Informer.

The whole "Roman Catholic Priestess" thing is weird. She doesn't want gays to marry and identifies with a church that doesn't think God wants females as priests. Furthermore, it seems she doesn't believe in separation of church and state, and unfortunately appears to be one of the people who confuses pedophiles with homosexuals.

Despite that, it was probably a mistake for security to drag her off. They should have taken the letter, a staff member should have held it, and then they should have kept an eye on her to see if she did anything threatening. She wouldn't have even know that Obama didn't get the letter.

More importantly, why was she perceived to be a threat? Didn't President Obama have Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, pray at his inauguration? Brenda Lee and Rick Warren in many ways are on the same page, except Warren doesn't want to be under the Pope.

On the side of the Secret Service, however, if Lee had done something like lunge at the president, they would have been criticized for seeing the letter but letting her get near Obama.

In the rest of her column about the incident, Lee suggests she wouldn't have been dragged off if she had been a male, white member of the clergy. Given the president's association with Warren, on that point Lee sounds quite sane to me. (For clarification to readers, what made Lee look suspicious was that she claimed to be a reporter and so was not supposed to be there as a member of the clergy. I've had press credentials before. You don't use them to pass messages to your subject. Despite Fox News saying she was removed for her message, her anti-gay message was not the threat because the president's heard that before from Rick Warren. My last paragraph was not executed well. To clarify for skimmers, I think Lee is off her nut. I think she's sane to wonder if she would have been treated differently had she been a white male member of the clergy saying the same things Warren says, but she's not so sane because she ignores that she was supposed to be there as a reporter and not a clergy member. In the first paragraph I say that how she identifies herself is "off")

State Troopers Jack Up Black Paramedic Who's Doing His Job Taking Woman to Hospital

Incident in Paden, Okla. (Okfuskee County). When you watch the following videos that show one incident--Oklahoma State Troopers aka Oklahoma Highway Patrol slamming a trained African-American paramedic (EMT) against the side of the EMT's ambulance after stopping him while he was on the job--think about the BART shooting. The number of people who said it was important to know whether Oscar Grant, the man shot to death by a BART police officer, had a criminal record disturbed me because I believe it doesn't matter whether a black man is a bona fide criminal or a trained professional with a clean record, some police officers will treat him like an animal, especially if he doesn't show strict submission to the officers.

Two EMTs were on their way to take a black woman, accompanied by her adult son, Kenyada Davis, to the hospital Sunday. Davis caught the incident on his cell phone camera. In the video, you can hear Davis's mother screaming inside the ambulance. The officers stopped the EMTs for "failure to yield."

First is Davis's cell phone video. He tells the EMTs that he's getting them some evidence by recording the incident after the EMT tells him to not get involved. It's more disturbing than the CNN edited video farther down in the post. Near the end of Davis's video, his mother's husband steps in and tells the officers he just wants his wife to get some help.


If you read the statements of both the driver Paul Franks, and the EMT who you see being roughed up in the video, Maurice White, Jr., you can guess that what set one white police officer off in particular is his perception that one of the black men had flipped him the bird. That perception was enough for Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers to gang up, force the EMTs to stop, and to tell White to step out of the ambulance, not listen to his statement, and choke him against the vehicle. [Download or click and read Frank's statement here (PDF) and White's statement here (PDF). Updated: The Oklahoma Hwy Patrol claims to have its own footage showing White attacking the officers. Seems like they'd release that if it's true.]

Updated, 5/29, 4:27 AM:

OHP says before the home video was recording, the paramedic assaulted the state trooper. But, Diana Walkup says the paramedic never touched anyone until the patrolman grabbed his arm.

She says it was the trooper who was out of control.

"We thought, my God, is he going to pull a gun? That's really what we thought. We didn't know if he was fixing to pull a gun or what," said witness Diana Walkup.

So, who had the right of way? The Creek Nation admits the ambulance did not have on its lights and sirens, while the trooper had on his lights, but no sirens.

The News On 6 couldn't find anything that gives one emergency vehicle the right of way over another, but we did find one state law that says: "Every person who willfully delays...an emergency medical technician...in the performance of...care and treatment...is guilty of a misdemeanor." (NewsOn6)

I saw this story for the first time today (5/28) on CNN's Rick Sanchez show, and had been waiting for videos to post. The footage blew me away. Below the following video you'll see part of EMT White's account of what happened from WTUL, ABC Oklahoma. According to WTUL, White was "nearly" arrested.


White, who is a critical care EMT, says the troopers came up fast with lights on; however, he heard no siren. His partner, Paul Franks was driving. They pulled off to the side of the road.

White says as the trooper passed them, he made radio contact, telling Franks "you should consider checking your rearview mirrors".

White says a few blocks after this incident, another trooper entered the road at a high rate of speed, cutting in front of a car driven by a family member of the patient. White says he then saw another trooper approaching from the rear.

"As my partner was pulling onto the shoulder, the cruiser came alongside our unit and gestured for my driver to pull over," White says. "When the officer came to a complete stop behind the ambulance, I noticed a woman in the front seat. Based on the officer's erratic driving behavior, I thought that the woman in the front seat of the cruiser was in need of immediate medical attention; hence I exited the rear of the ambulance in order to assess the situation."

White says the officer was in a rage when he approached them and yelled "get your a-- back here! I am giving you a ticket for failure to yield." White says he told the trooper they had a patient in the ambulance and that they were on their way to the hospital.

"He ignored my statement, became even more belligerent, and demanded my partner come to his patrol car so he could write him a ticket," White says. "I calmly told the officer that we were transporting a patient and we could continue this at the hospital."

White says the trooper then approached him and shouted "you are under arrest for obstructing a police officer" and grabbed his arm to handcuff him. A brief struggle followed, at which point the trooper grabbed White by the throat. The cell phone captured this incident on video. (Visit KTUL . You can also read the full statements of Franks and White in the PDFs linked up top.)

This is, hmm, I don't have words for what this is quite yet, "black man choked while doing his job." CNN's description below the video calls it a shoving match, but I don't think that's what is was. I also think Rick Sanchez and Ashleigh Banfield laughed way too much commenting on it. But Banfield did say she smells a big, fat lawsuit.

Diana King's Shy Guy. Never Saw the Music Video Before

I love this song, "Shy Guy" by Diana King. Yes it's old now, but for the first time I saw the music video with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence pushing Bad Boys 1, 1995. Saw it on YouTube tonight.

NOLA.com story on man trying to kill 'fictitious' adulterer

This story at The Times Picayune's NOLA.com site about a Lacombe, La., man trying to kill a "fictitious adulterer" is sad. He forgot to take his medication, but it sure reminds me of a certain divorce case of which I have personal knowledge. The husband in that case convinced himself of all kinds of madness beyond the scope of what actually happened, but he was not diagnosed as needing medication like the man in this story. Nevertheless, he could have used anger management, which is what the judge ordered for the Lacombe man.

Lambert Fans Not Taking Loss Lying Down: American Idol Recount?

I'm behind again, but should have seen this coming. Some people think American Idol was rigged because Adam Lambert didn't win, and cry foul by AT&T and texting parties.

I've questioned that homophobia may have influenced the vote, but I don't think it was rigged, and don't care really because Kris Allen is talented and probably fits the pop idol stereotype better than Lambert, who's more rock idol. I admire Allen's humility and see some longevity for him like a new generation James Taylor, and Adam Lambert's going to do wonderfully no matter what because he's a career strategist, already surrounded by rumors that he may do a collaboration with Queen.

Ultimately, excluding its possible reflection of the tragedy of homophobia in the nation, American Idol is just entertainment, folks. It's far below the challenges of raising a family, global warming, crime, poverty, hunger, heath care, war, and death. However, this is not the first time viewers have screamed the show is rigged.

American Idol fans may want to argue votes, but it seems the two stars, Allen and Lambert, get along just fine. The two have been making their appointed media rounds, smiling all the way to the bank.

Pennsylvania Woman Channels Susan Smith to Run from Alleged Theft

Susan Smith blamed a black man in 1995 for her missing children. She claimed a mysterious African-American male carjacked her and her two children on a Union County, S.C., road. The sheriff was suspicious immediately, and so were many African-Americans, me included, because I knew that a black man in South Carolina would have to be insane to kidnap two little white children. He'd stick out like a sore thumb.

As it turned out, Smith had murdered her little boys.

This week we're hearing a story not nearly as tragic as the Susan Smith case, thank God, but similar. A Pennsylvania woman near Philly called 911, claimed to be locked in the trunk of a car, and said a black man had kidnapped her and her daughter, age 9.

From USA Today:

Today, the Orlando Sentinel reports that the woman, Bonnie Sweeten, and her daughter, Julia, have been found at Walt Disney World. She faces charges of identity theft and filing false police reports. (USA Today)

I heard about this story on CNN today while watching Rick Sanchez, and Ashleigh Banfield said probably what any other American more than a minute old thought. She wondered if Sweeten had not heard of Susan Smith?

Uh, I'm gonna guess "no" because anyone as lost as Sweeten probably doesn't read or watch the news regularly and so definitely would not know recent history. You don't have to watch the news regularly, however, to know that the media mentions black men committing crimes often. Sweeten was too stupid to notice, however, the kinds of crimes with which these males, usually young males are charged. The media-blasted crimes rarely involve kidnapping white women and their children.

Sweeten was spotted with her daughter on airport video, which raised flags with the FBI that she was a liar. Authorities also traced her through her cell phone use, reports CNN. Apparently Sweeten missed the 911 terror attacks on the World Trade Center also and our new world of heightened security.

Her ex-husband went on ABC and said she'd apparently lost her mind a little. Per that same story, "Sweeten is facing charges of making a false report and identity theft for what authorities describe as a hoax that may stem from an investigation into whether she stole $300,000 from a former employer."

Dr. Boyce Watkins is talking about this at BlackVoices. He lists other cases where African-American men were accused of crimes to cover up crimes committed by white people, including the Boston case where Charles Stuart claimed a black man shot his pregnant wife. Stuart, however, had murdered her. (Updated: Wayne at Electronic Village has an even better list.)

Watkins also has a series of questions, such as why is the public so quick to believe any story concocted about black men committing violent acts? He ties his piece to how much attention the media gives to stories of abduction or murder of white women and children, a topic I touched in my Grim Sleeper post, "Death and Racial Politics."

In all this, my sympathy goes most to Sweeten's little girl. She looks so confused on the video. It's horrible that her mother put her in this position.

Making a Killing: Charlaine Harris, Sookie Stackhouse, vampires, and shape-shifters

If you saw Charlaine Harris in the local supermarket, she might not strike you as rich, as a woman who writes hot sex scenes between vampires and mortals and spins yarns about witches and shape-shifters. Harris looks and talks like the friendly mother you meet at the local PTA meeting.

Or even more likely, she's the woman you meet in Wal-Mart. She told New York Times writer Motoko Rich that "Every trip to Wal-Mart is an inspiration." Harris is the perfect example for the lesson your librarian tried to teach you, "Don't judge a book by its cover." ... Please continue reading full post about Harris and her insights on selling film options for her books at New Orleans Literature Examiner. Harris is the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books on which HBO's True Blood vampire TV series is based.

On Mike Tyson's Daughter's Death, the Dangers of Treadmills

I posted on the death of Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter, Exodus Tyson, yesterday, who died after being injured on a treadmill. Denise at BlogHer.com has written a good post about children and the dangers of exercise equipment. Read her post here.

People have been hitting this blog looking for information on Mike Tyson's alleged domestic violence aggression, but I don't think that should be the focus as the man's just lost his daughter. Furthermore, what does his history with Robin Givens have to do with Exodus's death? Nothing.

Oprah's What Can You Live Without Challenge, Not Quite

Dear Oprah, I have a confession. I can do without my cell phone, and I've gone days without turning on the TV, and in order to save money, I've cut down on eating out before, but if I had to give up my Internet connection, I might need anti-anxiety drugs to make through. ... Continue reading the full post at BlogHer.

Mike Tyson's 4-Year-Old Daughter Dies in Treadmill Accident

CNN and other news sources report that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, is dead. The child succumbed to injuries received in a treadmill accident at her home in Arizona.

According to CNN, Exodus Tyson's older brother, 7, found her 'with her neck on ... a cable" attached to the machine,' per a police statement.

The following CNN video apparently posted before the child died. Local ABC in Phoenix has additional video.



Full CNN story here.
Updated story at ABC News.

12 Meditations for Writers in a Twittiful Age

Yes, I'm baring my personal angst online, but not to the point of overshare, a topic discussed in a recent New York Times blog post, "One Tweet Over The Line." Unlike people who want to share tweets and blogs about their gynecological exam while they're on the table, I'd prefer to talk about writing, politics, race relations, and sometimes family dynamics or how I wish I had a maid.

Lately I've been thrashing myself as the social media revolution thrashes me because I'm feeling a strong pull to reduce my time online and focus on fiction writing. So, consider this list as me talking to me, but if it helps you also, that's good.

12 Meditations for Writers in Social Media's Twittiful Age
By Nordette Adams, African American Books Examiner

1. I write therefore I am.
2. Say "no" to tweeting before writing.
3. Do not use Facebook to not face your book.
4. Write first, friend later.
5. There are no good twribes just good scribes.
6. In the beginning was the word not the tweet.
7. If Faulkner had Facebook, would we have Faulkner?
8. Oprah's book club makes money, her tweet club makes noise.
9. Ashton Kutcher can be King of Twitter. You can be Queen of completed books.
10. Seen the real Toni Morrison tweeting lately?
11. Moby Dick's not the one shared on MySpace.
12. Writer shall not live by 140 characters alone.

Yes, I have a Twitter account, but I'm seeking balance and a return to writing long as in novel.

If the NYT blog post "One Tweet Over the Line" pricked your curiosity, your may read it at this link.

For old school writers, to blog means ...

My fellow blogger and writer Mark Folse who blogs at Toulouse Street, an excellent spot on the web, and who is also on Twitter as Wet Bank Guy, sent me a note that made me laugh. He wrote, "Writing for the blog is writing. Blogging a horrid word. Does anyone Book?"

Mark is wrote the book Carry Me Home.

The collection of short essays in Carry Me Home begins as a lament for what in September 2005 looked to be the lost city of New Orleans. Over the following two-and-one-half years, these brief essays become a lyrical celebration of the city and the people, and a journal of a 20-year expatriate's decision to move home after the flood. Mark Folse is a former journalist who, after a twenty-year remove first to Washington, D.C. and later to the upper Midwest, returned with his family to the city of his birth. He currently resides in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans with his wife Rebecca, and their two children Killian and Matthew. He continues to chronicle his life in the city of New Orleans at his weblog Toulouse Street -- Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans. (from the books product description)

Folse has taken to "blogging" like an alligator to the bayou, and he's right about the oddness of the word "blog" but only because so many people on the Net now have forgotten how the word "blog" evolved. Dinosaur that I am, I was there when the Internet gods said, "In the beginning was the Web Log and the Web Log was Blog."

The web log concept is connected to the brick-and-mortar world practice of keeping a log, an account of say a radio station's or a science experiment's events or incidents, maintenance records, etc. and in verb form the word "log" means "to enter in a log; compile; amass; keep a record of: to log a day's events." Star Trek fans recognize this as "Captain's Log, stardate 1514.0"

With that in mind, the idea that a web log was just some human keeping track of his or her day, in the old days nobody thought a blogger was a writer anymore than they thought the engineer documenting an adjustment he made to editing machine at the TV station was a writer or that a housewife writing in her diary was a writer.

To be a writer you had to be doing something at least a little extraordinary, not just listing what you had for dinner, and these folks keeping web logs were ordinary nobodies doing ordinary things, mostly computer geeks telling others on the Net a little about themselves and how to fix computer bugs, maybe sharing what they did that day, but with the development of applications that made web logging easy, no geekiness required, the telling evolved into how-to-guides, political opinions, fashion advice, music critiques, celebrity gossip, Net poetry, flash fiction online, and all kinds of "experts."

A good example of a group furthering the evolution of the web log would be what we now call "mommy bloggers." Mothers were web logging much more in the traditional sense at first, ordinary moms telling other mothers about their days with their children. But, as it turns out, their daily information was useful to other mothers, and so their blogs grew into communities of mothers talking about their children. This mommy blogger community became monster huge because all humans have mothers, and eventually it gave birth to people like Dooce.

I name Dooce aka Heather Armstrong to poke mommy bloggers (of which I have been considered a member sometimes) because when Armstrong is named as though she's the only successful mommy blogger online, some people get annoyed. There are many other mommy-blogger-to-super-writing-stardom stories. I mentioned some who've gone from blog to hard-print book in a Mother's Day gifts article.

With all this web logging going on, talented writers were bound to emerge, and with people landing book deals talking about anything from adventures with baby to their wild sex lives to actually producing novels via blog, "the professionals" noticed. Book deals attracted to the blogosphere people who think of themselves as "real writers."

By "real" writers I mean people who came to writing through traditional scribe channels such as journalism, English, and MFA programs, who suspected they were born with ink in their veins, who sniffed the morning newspaper and got high. These are the people who were working hard at being writers, getting paid or collecting rejection slips, and telling their families they were writers like to write was a sacred calling back when the tech elite spoke over all our heads about something called Arpanet.

I'm not talking about people who had an epiphany while keeping their web log that they too could be a writer and earn money or who pop up in interviews saying, "I dunno. I just sorta fell into writing, never thought about it before until Editor Bob called me and wanted to put my whole blog in a book." And yet, these Johnny-come-latelies are "real" writers as well.

So, with the mashing of the words web and log to weblog and then that word's minimalization, we got the word "blog" as noun and verb. But only with the evolution of blog power did bloggers and writers frequently become one in the same.

From that history, just as to say one "logs the day" makes sense, to say one "blogs" also makes sense, but only the words in the blogger's posts tell us if we're reading a writer or some cool person's hellish quest for popularity and hipness via web log.

I think Wet Bank Guy--Mark Folse, book author--knows that. He doesn't blog his day. He writes his world.

I am Troy Davis and you could be too

These kinds of stories get to me, stories of men and women who've been put into prison for crimes they didn't commit, and are kept there even after evidence emerges to support not guilty. Troy Davis of Savannah, Ga., has such a story, and you can read about it at AmnestyUSA and also take action to stop his death by the state. You can ask Governor George Perdue of Georgia (Republican) to grant Troy Davis clemency.

Other bloggers have written about Troy Davis such as Marva of Conversations with Marva, SJP at Sojourner's Place, and MsLadyDeborah at My Brown Eyed View, and as you can see in the video below, a number of media outlets have covered his story.

Two days ago, Bob Herbert writing in Op-Ed at the New York Times said:

It’s bad enough that we still execute people in the United States. It’s absolutely chilling that we’re willing to do it when we’re not even sure we’ve got the right person in our clutches.

... I’m opposed to the death penalty, but I would have a very hard time finding even the faintest glimmer of sympathy for the person who murdered that officer. The problem with taking Mr. Davis’s life in response to the murder of Officer MacPhail is the steadily growing mass of evidence that Mr. Davis was not the man who committed the murder.

Nine witnesses testified against Mr. Davis at his trial in 1991, but seven of the nine have since changed their stories. ... (Herbert, "In the Absence of Proof")

Wayne at Electronic Village wrote last week:

He lost his appeal to the federal appeals court in April. The Supreme Court jumped in about 90 minutes before Davis was set to be executed back in September 2008. However, they turned down a hearing on his appeal in October.

When I hear stories like this, I think also of the Innocence Project, a social justice nonprofit that also has spoken up for Troy Davis, and consider that knowledgeable attorneys, such as best-selling author John Grisham, believe that far more people in this country are behind bars for crimes they did not commit than we are willing to admit.

I'll wager that for black men and women, that statement is even more true.

Is the Blogger World, Social Media Revolution Ruining Your Dream of Being a Book Author?

Some days I go into a writing funk, not writer's block, but writer's funk, meaning I'm mad at the world about everything it takes to become a successful writer that has nothing to do with writing at all. It used to be that if you wanted to be a good writer, the first advice was to go write, write a lot, and work on your writing, and pretty much that was it. So, I guess this is a mini-rant.

1.) I'm annoyed at all the advice to build an online writing platform. That means publishers want you to expand and show you can get at least 500 regular readers of your work online before you even send your query. This aggravates me because from what I see online, the folks with the most readers are not always the best writers. What they seem to be is the same people who had the most friends in high school and college or are the best sales people in life. No, I'm not saying that if you have a mega-blog you're a bad writer.

What I'm saying is that if you have a mega-blog and you built it up from scratch, not having a radio, newspaper, or television platform already or made a name for yourself in some other sector, you probably got those readers by making the rounds to comment on the work of others. Lots and lots of commenting that takes lots and lots of time. Nothing wrong with that but ...

2.) I'm tired of everybody and her grandmama starting a group or a new social media network or making the one they already had new and improved so I must spend time reading up on how to use it. There are only 24 hours in a day, and increasingly too much of my time is being spent reviewing user notes.

3.) I'm crabby about having to be a marketing wizard. I thought that at this point in my life, I'd be able to think about writing first. But it seems as though it doesn't matter how well you write or try to write, whether you earn a living boils down to a good marketing strategy and having the time to implement it.

4.) Really, I could scream at the people who say it's always been like this, that best sellers, etc., always demanded heavy marketing work and time from the writer. Sorry, but I wasn't born yesterday. Things have changed and much more of the onus to market has been placed on the writer than used to be placed on the writer. What does the publisher do now other than pay the printer?

One stereotype of the writer used to be the not-so-social artist with head in a book. This new way to be a writer is forcing me out of my comfort zone. I'm not the social butterfly I once was, and I'd hoped to be more like Octavia Butler, who didn't bother much with people at all. Maybe that's how she got so many great books out the door. She watched people; she didn't cozy up to them.

5.) I feel guilty because I embraced blogging early, but lately I really want to give up blogging so I can get back to writing and thinking about craft, but I'm starting to feel the world is saying "Craft is dead. Long live the networks. Should you write the great American novel, no one will care or read it unless you tweet it first." If I drop blogging and focus on writing fiction, it looks like my book won't go beyond my computer hard drive unless I make time to expand my "writing platform."

Is it just me who's pressed for time to write what she would prefer to write? And after I finish this post, who's going to read it if I don't have 500 Facebook friends, 6,000 MySpace friends, and 1200 people following me on Twitter? And if I did, would they really read this post or just get distracted by a cell phone text message before they finished the the first line?

Obama's Memorial Day Controversy: We Can't Even Eat Barb-b-que in Peace

From "Obama's Memorial Day controversy plus 5 books about black soldiers":

What's an American holiday without a little controversy? Memorial Day is no different, and a little hornet's nest is lodged in this year's celebration because for the first time the presidential tradition of sending a wreath to Arlington's Confederate Memorial will be carried out by the nation's first African-American president.

Continue reading full article here.

Kris Allen and wife talk life change, Adam Lambert wants to be a movie star

Just an FYI to folks keeping their eyes open for news on American Idol contestants Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. Reuters published a story today in which Allen says he wants to be respected in the music industry while Lambert says he wants the all-encompassing clout of old-school movie stars.

Lambert wants to not only do music but also film, he told Reuters. He undoubtedly will get a record deal soon, and hopes he can swing work with Slash and Queen guitarist Brian May. The story says his fans call Lambert Glambert, riffing off his being known as a glam rocker, but Lambert wants a broader scope for his work.

Allen and his wife Katy have been talking how the Idol win will change their lives. The young couple's been married only eight months. I hope Katy's grounded because life is gonna change dramatically for the pair. Read full story here.

In other Idol related news, Idol runner-up from season two, Clay Aiken, seems to be blasting both the show and Lambert, saying that Lambert's performances are contrived and Idol has lost its roots as a show about real people. Supposedly Aiken had a falling out with Idol when he left its management company, 19 Entertainment, run by Simon Fuller. Read that at MSNBC, which is the source of the photo in this post.

Watch post show interviews at AmericanIdol.com.

OSF: This is Dedicated to Women Coming into Their Own Souls and Dreams

This week's Old School Friday theme is "This is dedicated to." Here's B.B. King and friends Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, and Etta James singing "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do."



Part of the lyrics are a woman saying if her man beats her but she sticks with him, it ain't nobody's business. Gladys sings that part and makes sure you know she's not gonna stand for that. :-)

Anyway, I tossed around ideas in my head for this dedication theme, and naturally thought of individuals to dedicate a song to first. I changed my mind and decided to go with this song and dedicate it to all women who are coming into their own, whether they are young women or women who aren't discovering who they are and what they want in life until midlife and beyond.

I think this idea of women coming into their own crossed my mind moreso because I recently posted at the African-American Book Examiner on Sapphire's book Push being produced as the movie Precious by Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey.

I thought about not only Sapphire, Oprah, and Tyler's success but also the character Precious, an obese teen who's been abused and must free herself from those who treat her badly and accept love not fear it. Most of us need help to overcome major obstacles in our lives, but one sign of knowing that we're coming into our own is to recognize that we make our own choices to improve our lives, and making a choice for our own dreams usually means freeing ourselves from the expectations of others or telling others we will not be a slave to their egos. We come to a place and say our business is our own and we're responsible for our own joy.

I mentioned women because women tend to try to please others so much that they sometimes lose themselves, but I also give props to men who move forward. Think about Tyler Perry. Whether you like his work or not, that man had to have an attitude of "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" to accomplish what he's accomplished. He started producing plays during a period when mainstream theater business people were still saying the success of a black playwright was naturally limited.

O.K. enough of my soap box today. :-)

The creators of the Old School Friday meme are Mrs. Grapevine and Marvalus at Conversations with Marva and has these rules, if you want to join this theme party.

Look, I'm a Big Time Simon & Schuster Author!

O.K., not really, but I'll take this weird feed at Simon & Schuster as prophetic. Ego surfing in the wee hours, I was surprised to see the following come up in Google. Only explanation is Simon & Schuster has a feed on a page for an author who's no longer there with the last name Adams and the feed is pulling in anything that says Adams and author or writer.

For all you know, it's pulling your name up with your work somewhere too. Now, if getting an editor's attention were only that easy.

Oprah with Skype Cameras in Public Spots Scares Me to Diet and Better Fashion

I'm working right now and Oprah's on in background. She's promoting Skype, which she loves, with her show "Where in the Skype are you?" recorded before Mother's Day. She started talking to this guy in Best Buy somewhere, maybe downtown Chicago, and it cracked me up when he realized Oprah was talking to him from the wide screen TV on display.

She asked if they could use the video on the show. He said, "Hell yeah!" Watch the video here.

Anyway, I think this show, more than any of her Live Your Best Life shows or even her confession that she was embarrassed about gaining weight, has encouraged me to get skinny, always wear make-up when I leave the house, and dress better. I'd hate to be walking through the Rouse's or something and discover I'm on national TV. Don't know how long this fear will last, but if I leave the house tonight, I'm gonna look like a model.

Kara DioGuardi vs. Bikini Girl Video, Funniest American Idol Finale

Kara DioGuardi vs. Bikini Girl on American Idol's finale last night gave me the biggest laugh of the evening. The first video's image quality isn't as good, but it shows the history of Bikini Girl, Katrina Darrell, dissing American Idol's new judge Kara DioGuardi, a songwriter, plus Katrina Darrell with her new breast implants getting the Golden Idol award during the finale. The bigger surprise was Kara DioGuardi pops out starts singing too, Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love," and schools Ms. Darrell on how to sing a song right. DioGuardi then rips her dress open at the end showing she can wear a bikini too, later saying the strip was for charity.

The video below the first is better quality but skips on one of DioGuardi's best notes and doesn't show the history of the "feud" clips. Bikini Girl may have played along, but doesn't seem to have been comfortable about Kara out-singing her.





Of course, neither Kara nor Bikini Girl tried to hit Mariah Carey's high note. Speaking of Carey, she will be in Oprah and Tyler Perry's new movie based on Sapphire's novel, Push. The movie is entitled Precious; read more here.

NY Terror Plot or is it The Long Kiss Goodnight again?

If you've seen the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, please raise your hand. It's partly about a government agency planning to blow up Niagara Falls, NY, and blame it on a Muslim so it can get more funding from the U.S. government. A couple of other movies also have the blame-a-Muslim plot, I think. And this season's 24 on Fox used that plot device as well.

Some people thought our 911 tragedy was one such deception; I am not one of those conspiracy theorists. I believe we really were bombed by Osama bin Laden Nevertheless, I'm reading carefully the timeline for thwarted terrorist plot incident that went down in New York yesterday, especially since the alleged terrorists appear to be black.


Reuters, CNN, WABC NY, BBC and other news sources are reporting that yesterday four men were arrested for plans to bomb two Jewish synagogues in NYC and possibly go on a shooting spree at U.S. military bases. WABC and Reuters say the men, three U.S. citizens and one Haitian, may be "radicalized recent converts to Islam." The one-year plot has been labeled "home grown," reminding us that the intelligence community believes America's new danger may be so-called "sleeper" Islamic terrorist cells on U.S. soil.

The police told Reuters that the men wanted a jihad, a holy war. CNN's story does not have this element of drama, and its critics are all very willing to point that out, implying it's the legacy of political correctness.

In November the informer and James Cromitie discussed possible targets in New York as they travelled to a meeting of a Muslim group in Philadelphia, the affidavit says. The suspect said that "the best target [the World Trade Centre] was hit already". (BBC and man in picture is Cromitie)

Per news stories via the FBI, Cromitie told the informant that "his parents were of Afghan origin and he was upset about the war there, according to the affidavit."

My issue is that I've read five stories on this thwarted plot that involved an FBI informant supplying the men with "inert" bombs or fake weapons, and I'm missing a piece. What came first, the chicken or the egg--were these guys angry but minding their own business when they were approached by an FBI informant to coax out rage and violent tendencies? Or did the FBI get wind of a plot and insert an informant into the mix.

It makes a difference. Scenario one is entrapment. Scenario two is good law enforcement. But sounds like some coaxing was involved.

And I can't help but wonder, especially since I keep hearing praise for Homeland Security in this story, is Homeland Security in jeopardy of losing funding post-Bush? Is it important that its administrators remind the public of its value, which inevitably means worthiness of tax dollars?

Oh, don't get your knickers in a bunch! I believe we do need to be on the look out for terrorists, but I'm also sharing an observation that isn't that far-fetched given that we're still in a war that was pushed with propaganda. In addition, the Rumsfield top secret reports that may have been given to George Bush recently came out. It's been suggested that Bible quotes and religious zeal were used to manipulate Bush and nudge him toward war while we citizens ruminated on "the axis of evil" metaphor.

Also, about the black thing, how much will the "home grown" terrorists' skin color play into the paranoia of white pro-war conservatives who were so easily convinced during the election that Obama, the first African-American president, is Muslim? To which we must say for the 11 millionth time, Obama is not Muslim, and neither was his father a practicing Muslim.

The suspects names are James Cromitie aka Abdul Rahman; David Williams aka Daoud or DL; Onta Williams aka Hamza; and Laguerre Payen aka Amin and Almondo.

These guys they've arrested don't seem like the sharpest tools in the shed, and so, again, I think of movies like The Long Kiss Goodnight, and feel a tad skeptical. It's not like we haven't been duped before. I'm just saying.

Weird picture of President Barack Obama with hankie from Great Britain paper

This picture of President Barack Obama from TimesOnline, Great Britain, is so odd that I wondered if was the president or one of his look-a-likes. He looks tired and drawn, but we expect our presidents to show more wear and tear than the average bear after a while. Still, it's an odd picture that I haven't seen elsewhere. Even placement of the hand with the hankie looks odd.


There's no photo credit with the picture either. It is posted with a story about Obama's troubles with shutting down Guantanamo Bay and his potential to key campaign promises as he tries to do what he thinks is right. So, it's the right picture to go with the story, but when was the photo taken and who took it? It's definitely not one of his O-cool shots.

Did America's Homophobia Kill Adam Lambert's Idol Chances?

By now you've heard that Adam Lambert did not win American Idol. Kris Allen, the affable singer and guitar player from Conway, Ark., won. No way to keep that news from the west coast tonight, folks. Sorry L.A.

Updated 5/21, 8:24 AM with snippet from AP on American Idol vote margin indicating the race between Kris and Adam was close:

Last week, only 1 million viewer votes separated them — a tiny margin considering that nearly 100 million votes were cast for the finale.

"I knew it was going to be a close race," Lambert said backstage. "I think Kris is incredibly talented, and he's a good person." (AP story on Kris, his humility)

Also adding this LaTimes blog link:The Rushfield Review: Allen win gives idol its heart back.

ORIGINAL post continued: Simon Cowell was careful last night during the Top 2 sing-off not to make the same mistake he made last year when he implied David Archuleta was the winner over David Cook during the Top 2 show, which was the night before finale results. Cook won the 2008 title, and many a little girl wept when the baby-faced Archuleta was not crowned American Idol.

This year Cowell was very gracious to both contestants, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, calling both singers brilliant in their own way. But even Kris looked shocked and so did his family. He clearly did not expect to win and said Adam should have won. I like Kris, but Adam's the more talented singer. As the show closed Kris wept on someone's shoulder.

For many people it's a shock. They assumed Lambert win. I was surprised but not wholly shocked because I've been watching the clippings and blogs on the anti-Adam side.

I think Adam may have faced backlash from America's heartland due to the pictures of him in drag, kissing boys, and people blasting him for performing in a play in which he bleated the National Anthem. It's highly possible he got creamed by homophobia and nationalistic fervor by the masses who voted in a preference for the adorable boy next door, Kris.

You know how some Americans get about God, country, and what they think will be a bad influence on their children. Remember how the public tried to crucify Idol Fantasia when it was revealed she had a child and wasn't married?

However, for some it was probably just Lambert's style is not their cup of tea. He's very dramatic and thinks out of the box, a genuine artist who some people said "screamed" too much when he sang. Yet, to scream on key is a gift, folks.

I'm not going to recap the AI finale, just say I laughed at Bikini Girl getting served by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. Kara sang that body opportunist under the table, and then flashed the audience her own sleek bikini-clad bod for the sake of charity.

Here are my tweets from Twitter tonight. A screen shot is better than a rewrite at this late hour.

Other than the shocker of the night, Kris winning, it was a solid show, including performances by the Black Eyed Peas, David Cook, Kiss, Fergie, Cyndi Lauper, Queen, Keith Urban, Queen Latifah, Lionel Richie, and Rod Stewart. However, it could be argued that Adam losing made it an even better show, high drama.

In many ways, it didn't matter who won. Kris, while not having Adam's range, is talented and likable with his own James Taylor-like stylings, meaning low-key. He could end up as big as James Taylor one day, and Adam Lambert will land on his feet so can't cry for him. He probably has a record deal already lined up.

Author of Push, Sapphire, profile and Oprah's new movie

Sapphire is known as a performance poet, sometimes called a spoken word artist. She is also a novelist, the author of the critically-acclaimed book Push, her first novel. The book has been adapted to film with the help of talk show host Oprah Winfrey and ... Continue reading at African-American Books Examiner.

Forget Vegas! NOLA is First American Sin City

It's strange that sometimes we can even be jealous when a "bad" image is stolen. The exception is being known as something like "Death City," which New Orleans has sometimes been called. With that in mind, I remember that I grew up hearing NOLA called not only the Crescent City but Sin City, thanks to Bourbon Street.

I was a tad miffed when Las Vegas, that was a dust bowl when New Orleans was born, started calling itself Sin City. I was young, but strange, and even at a young age, I understood Vegas was trying to steal dollars from us.

And now I see this advertisement for a Burlesque party here suggesting party-goers come naked if possible, and I've got mixed feelings. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that NOLA has burlesque events? Is it an artistic feather in the cap?

'Brothel' Burlesque dance party @ Dragon's Den

Saturday, May 30 2009, 10:00pm - 3:00am

On May 30th New Orleans Partying will be throwing a 2 floor party @ Dragon's Den called 'Brothel'. This event will feature a performance by the Slow Burn Burlesque Collective consisting of comedy, performance art, burlesque, and a host of other surprises that will no doubt keep you entertained all night. The party kicks off @ 10pm downstairs with DJs Tony Skratchere and Yamin on the 1's and 2's. Downstairs will be free all night. The Burlesque show will start @ 11pm upstairs. There is a $5 cover for the burlesque performance. After the show, there will be a dance party on both floors, w/ DJ RQ Away spinning dirty booty bounce jams downstairs, and DJ to be announced spinning good time vibes upstairs.

In the spirit of burlesque, come dressed in as little as you want, come dressed as a freak, come to get undressed, come to get freaky!

Hmm. I can go as freak with a purple wig but not naked. Wonder if they'll allow a Flip camera inside. I'm sure there's a good blog post there.

New Orleans Wins as Super Bowl 2013 Host

WWL-TV and NOLA.com report that New Orleans has been awarded the 2013 Super Bowl (Super Bowl XLVII), expected to be an economic boon to the city. I don't see a full story at WWL, but NOLA.com/The Times Picayune, including links to background stories on the campaign to keep the New Orleans Saints here at the Superdome.

"This is my hometown, and maybe we don't need to talk about New Orleans being on the way back anymore. New Orleans is back, and today is proof," said Saints owner Tom Benson as quoted by the Picayune.

This is the city's 10th time hosting the Super Bowl, but the first time since Hurricane Katrina flooding.

Links:

• WWL
• More back story from WWL Radio

NObama, NoBush Steeler James Harrison's Head Too Big for White House, Can't Fit in Oval Office after Splitting MVP Cap

I laughed when I saw an ESPN story on James Harrison, a linebacker for Superbowl Champions Pittsburgh Steelers explaining why he's turning down President Barack Obama's invitation to the White House. Oh, the arrogance!

And you anti-Obama people, don't race to give Harrison a medal. I suspect he'd tell you to f*ck off too. Note that he also refused to go to Washington when George Bush invited his team. Harrison thinks he's bigger than the White House, America.

Linebacker James Harrison has said the trip is no "big deal" and he'll skip it again after not making the trip following the Steelers' title in 2006.

"If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl," he told Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV. "So as far as I'm concerned he would have invited Arizona if they had won."

... "I don't feel the need to actually go," he said of the visit with President Obama. "I don't feel like it's that big a deal to me."(ESPN)

Emphasis on the word "me" here is probably an accurate reflection of Harrison's psyche.

Whether he goes to the White House is not important, but the arrogance of how he arrived at his opinion made me wonder, "Who raised this man?" Or at least, what happened to him in his life that he craves special recognition apart from any particular accomplishment? Is it all the money he's earning going to his head that makes him a prime candidate for Dickipedia? (Harrison money graphic comes from WLAE-TV)

I feel a sense of sorrow for him. I suspect the man has a hole in his soul.

From what I've observed, some athletes, having been inordinately praised over a lifetime, can be as big-headed as the most ego-maniacal movie star and as infantile as two-year-olds, but Harrison's reasoning reflects not only arrogance but also ignorance and perhaps spiritual poverty. His statements reveal he has no appreciation for history or his true place in the universal scheme. Most of us don't realize how small we are in the big picture, or we know and resent it. In that way, maybe Harrison's exceptionally ordinary.

He seems to be saying that the president, any president, should hanker to meet him simply because he is a Pittsburgh Steeler and completely discounts that his team is receiving an honor because its a champion. What other reasons would the president have for inviting them? Does he think that any POTUS needs a sports team for the sake of getting attention?

Yes, I see it now--Obama's all broken up that Harrison won't be there.

Generally, U.S. presidents don't behave like royalty, inviting people to come over by command just because they like them. It would be inappropriate for the president to ask the entire Pittsburgh Steelers team to come to the White House just because he likes them.

I could understand Harrison's decision if he were protesting some presidential policy the way protesters came out against Obama's speaking at Notre Dame, but it seems his only protest is "I want Obama to love me for me and the Steelers just because they are the Steelers." That and maybe he'd prefer to stay in that day and coo to his reflection in the mirror.

In Harrison's honor, I'm tweeting "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon at Twitter today. He's so vain, he thinks this world is about him!

Mr. Harrison, I know you're an MVP, but that stands for most valuable player in a game, not most valuable person on the planet. Just wanted you to know.

Stacy Head's emails, Tracie Washington's protest: Ain't no mess like a NOLA mess

Last year when I wrote about the off-duty cop pulling a gun in car line at the Treme Community Center, I intended to do a follow-up on New Orleans Councilwoman Stacy Head because I think she's out of her damned mind. But! I was sidetracked.

Back then she called Jerome Smith, the community center summer camp manager, a racist because of comments he made to the City Council while demanding answers on the car line incident. Head then threatened to cut funds to the summer camp, a program that serves black children in New Orleans.

Smith's opinion that "an officer responding to similar misconduct outside the Jewish Community Center in Uptown would have behaved differently" angered Head. Can you say stupid heifer?

She looked even more insane when she continued with the following last year:

Monday's memo, Head also alleged that Smith physically threatened her and other council members by saying that if he was not allowed to speak, they would not be sitting in those seats in a week.

Smith said that he was merely speaking of unseating council members through political protest. "We can come down there and march and take over that City Council," Smith said. "I've been beaten by the Klan, beaten in all sorts of instances. But no one has ever known me to punch or shoot or even spit at anyone," he said. (NOLA.com, 2008 article)

O.K., that was a memo she sent to the City Council and the mayor via email. Her current mess also involves email and is part of a battle between the mayor and the council and the media over transparency in government and public records.

Certain members of the council were fully in favor of releasing copies of Mayor Ray Nagin's emails, but when the requests turned on them, it was another story. Believe me, ain't no mess like a NOLA mess.

I'm no fan of Mayor Nagin, but I equally disapprove of Stacy Head. She needs to go. She's a drama queen with her antics and is embarrassing to city representation. I direct readers to her defense at WWL-TV of her now notorious emails made public by black Civil Rights attorney Tracie L. Washington.

Read more about Washington's court battle here.

Here's a descrpiption from NOLA.com aka The Time's Picayune of the kind of content that shows Head's true colors in her messages/emails that Washington publicized:

They contain disparaging references to City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson and other public figures and an irate description of the allegedly extravagant purchases of a food-stamp recipient in line ahead of Head at a grocery. In the latter message, Head, a Democrat, threatens to vote for "the freak" Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his "trash bag" running mate, Sarah Palin. (NOLA.com)

Ahh, so she's also a Dixiecrat at heart.

And I've updated this post to include a link to Library Chronicle's discussion of what's wrong with Stay Head's emails/text about people on public assistance making food choices in Wal-Mart.

Below is video of NOLA's dysfunctional city council in action. Watch and you'll get an inkling of why I think Stacy Head is a fruit loop.



Photo of Head from PBS.org.

Battlestar Galactica's James Callis was on Numb3rs last night.

Did you recognize James Callis on CBS's Numb3rs last night in this season's final episode, "Angels and Devils"? I did. Recognized more as Dr. Gaius Baltar of the SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, Callis showed again what a good actor he is as his character challenged Don (Rob Morrow) and Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), the show's main characters.

Callis, who was born and raised in Great Britain, is often confused with another actor raised in Great Britain, Alexander Siddig who played Dr. Bashir on Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

I confess that I've confused the two, Callis and Siddig, before. The last time I recall seeing Siddig on television, he played Hamri Al-Assad, a suspected terrorist on Fox's 24. (Siddig's official website.)

I double checked at IMDB to make sure that I was not confusing Callis with Siddig again last night on Numb3rs. In the episode, Callis plays a crazed maniac who thinks he's some kind of Messiah. Is the actor being stereotyped? His appeared a little nutty on BSG and later in the show led a cult, but it turned out that Gaius Baltar really was connected to God and not just insane.

The name of Callis's character on Numb3rs was Stephen Duryea. The madman kidnaps Charlie's girlfriend, Amita, but all ends well.

Wayman Tisdale dies of a cancer slightly more common in African-Americans

Former NBA basketball player, Olympic gold medalist, and beloved jazz musician Wayman Tisdale lost his battle to cancer, osteosarcoma, Friday morning, May 15. This type of bone cancer is slightly more common among African Americans. ... Continue reading at African American Books Examner.

OSF: G.O.A.T. -G.O.A.T. Going in Circles

It's that time of the week again, Old School Friday, and I need it, I need it bad. This week's theme is G.O.A.T., greatest of all time. I've got Luther here, but as much as I love Luther, this G.O.A.T. for me is about the song. I have loved almost every version of the song "Going in Circles" that I've heard. So, I'm saying the song is the G.O.A.T..

I have the song on my MP3 player five times by five different singers/groups, including an instrumental version by Kirk Whalum.

My least favorite version is Isaac Hayes's version, probably because I really love the song and don't want anyone to veer away from its melody and rhythm too much.



I think Friends of Distinction did this song first, but I could be wrong. I liked their version first, and then the Gap Band's version, but Luther slays me. Here's is Kirk Whalum's instrumental version, another favorite.



This meme theme was hard for me this week because really, it's hard for me to make up my mind about the greatest of all time song.

The creators of the Old School Friday meme are Mrs. Grapevine and Marvalus at Conversations with Marva and has these rules, if you want to join this theme party.

Check out other participants at this link, or in the scroll box below.

I try to participate in Old School Friday each week because it's good for the soul. Click this link for all my OSF posts. Other participants: ... Electronic Village | Fresh And Fab | Danielle | Kim | Ms Grapevine | Quick| Marcus LANGFORD | Cassandra |iriegal | Mahogany | Hagar’s Daughter | Lisa C | Chocl8t | DP | Dallassouth | John | CC Groovy | Kreative Talk | Marvalus One | Regina | Clnmike | Vivrant Thing | AJ | Sharon | The Creole Pimp | Invisible Woman | Beleiver 1964 | Cooper | SJP | Bria | BklynQueen 86 | Hey Shae | From the Battlefield | Thembi | D Spot | Malcolm | Pop Art Diva | Pjazzypar | MsLadyDeborah | PR Scribe Create your own vinyl record at Says-it.com

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