Hooray for Kung Fu Bear: I Needed This

After obsessing about the oil spill in the Gulf that will give us ugliness through August and beyond; writing about North and South Korea talking war; waking up to this morning's news that Israel had attacked a Gaza aid flotilla and 10 people died; contemplating Memorial Day and the number of dead in Afghanistan so far; hearing this evening of the tropical storms in in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador killing 115 people and leaving this gigantic sink hole that swallowed a house and a three-story building, I needed something light like this video of a bear in Japan at a zoo in Hiroshima folks are calling Kung Fu Bear because he can twirl a stick like a baton.

Happy Birthday, Walt Whitman, American Poet

Reading film critic Roger Ebert's Twitter stream today, the New Orleans Literature Examiner remembered beloved poet Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819, in Long Island, New York. Ebert shared a link to the following video, a recitation of "A Sight in Camp" from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. ... Please continue at the New Orleans Literature Examiner.

Pointe-au-Chien Native Americans Endangered by Oil Spill

CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports on efforts by Native Americans to keep oil off their coastal community in Louisiana. NOLA.com has more on this story, which includes Alaskan Native Americans visiting the Pointe-au-Chien tribe, "Alaskan visitors foresee long struggle in wake of Gulf of Mexico oil spill." This community has also been nearly wiped out during hurricanes.



See all Oil posts at this blog, including a look at what if we're hit by a hurricane.

Memorial Day: CNN's Interactive War Casualties Map

You'll be educated, but it may cost you a heavy heart, which is far less than what serving our nation in war has cost soldiers and their families: CNN's Interactive War Casualties Map.

From all parts of the world and from every U.S. state, more than 1,700 U.S. and coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, according to a CNN count. As the U.S. observes Memorial Day on Monday, explore CNN.com's Home and Away, sharing your messages or memories and discovering the individual stories of the fallen.

Click image to visit.

Israel Flotilla Attack Leaves 10 Dead (Video). Nations Call for Investigation

Happy Memorial Day. On this day when we remember the cost of war, fallen soldiers, I am saddened to relay this news that's all over the media this morning, "Israeli soldiers stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid intended for Palestinians in Gaza, leaving at least 10 people dead in the resulting violence," per CNN and other sources, such as the Wall Street Journal.

Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla carrying aid and activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip early Monday, with the Israeli military saying that more than 10 activists were killed in a skirmish aboard one vessel during the operation. ...The incident triggered strong condemnation from Israel's friends and foes alike, and plunged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into his worst diplomatic crisis since taking power early last year.

From Reuters:


Having recently written for BlogHer.com about North Korea threatening war on South Korea and the history of that tension, I'm not inclined to go into any detail about the Middle East conflict. Most adult Americans who watch news regularly probably know the background of the animosity between Arab nations and Israel, Palestinian woes, the hopes for peace, and the Gaza blockade.

As is often the case in politics, what you believe to be facts is influenced by who writes the history you read. If you want to see how talking about Israel without enough information can result in outrage, read this old post by a less-informed blogger posted in 2008 and the 139 mostly angry comments that follow.

On today's news, CNN reports that Israel says Israel Defense Forces "soldiers' lives were in danger after they were attacked with "severe physical violence, including live fire, weapons, knives and clubs." As you can see in the video below, Israel is saying the ship was commanded by terrorists. Other countries are calling for an investigation into what some are calling "a massacre."



Netanyahu, according to the WSJ, was scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington Tuesday. The visit was on the presidents calendar before today's violence, and the U.S. and Israel, old allies, hoped to repair its relationship. The visit has been cancelled. Reuters provides a factbox here on Israel's diplomatic troubles.

Obama had also invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with whom he planned to meet separately. Reuters reported before today's attack that the "meetings with Obama will be the first for the Middle Eastern leaders since the start of indirect peace talks which began last month, with Obama's special envoy George Mitchell mediating between the parties."

The White House did not give a date for Obama's meeting with Abbas and cited scheduling logistics as the reason.

Via the AP, here's video of the protests that followed the attack on the flotilla and reported deaths.



And on YouTube, this video's been posted and is also reportedly from the incident. The report begins in Arabic, but then a speaker comes on in English.

Summertime and the Living is Greasy: BP Oil Spill Lament

Photo from the Times Picayune

Summertime and BP Oil Spill
Adaptation to an environmental crisis by Nordette Adams

Summertime and the livin' is greasy.
Fish aren't jumpin' and the oil's flowing HIGH.
Oh that BP's rich and Obama's good lookin'.
So hush, Louisiana, baby, go on and cry.

One of these mornings,
You're goin' to rise up so oily,
Can't second line
'cause you'll slip down and slide.
But 'til that morning,
There's mo' work to do, chere,
With BP and Barack standin' by.

© 2010 Nordette N. Adams inspired by BP oil spill and of course, the beautiful aria, "Summertime" by George Gershwin. And yes, I know I'm not the first one to use the phrase "summertime and the living is greasy," but I may be the first to apply it to the oil spill. No solutions yet, and we expect to see no relief until August, if then.

I don't blame Obama for the oil spill. Actually, I think a lot of our weeping Louisiana politicians are hypocrites on this crisis, but Obama fit this spoof of the lyrics. The rage against the oil spill is flowing his way as Commander in Chief.

Billie Holiday sings the original in the video below.



See all Oil posts at this blog, including a look at what if we're hit by a hurricane.

BP CEO on Oil Spill: I'm Sorry. I Want My Life Back

I waited for someone to post video of today's BP Oil Spill protest at Jackson Square. Here it is, a clip of organizers making some of their demands of the Federal Government.



As a result of the growing anger against BP and protests, BP CEO Tony Hayward went on camera again to say he's sorry. He told WDSU's Latonya Norton that he's sorry for the disruption to Louisiana lives but also, "There's nobody who wants this over more than I do. I'd like my life back."

Really, Hayward? BooHoo! BP's PR person probably stabbed himself in the eye after seeing Hayward say, "I'd like my life back." A PR script writer would never have let him talk about getting his life back when some people's lives on the Gulf may have been ruined forever. Even more, as YatPundit wrote when addressing Garland Robinette's showmanship, remember 11 people died in that the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in April.



He also told WDSU:

"I'm very sorry that this has impacted people down here to the extent it has," he said. "Since the very beginning, we have thrown enormous resources at this to contain the leak on the seabed, to contain the oil on the surface and to defend the shoreline, and we continue to do that. We have the largest environmental response in the country's history ongoing, and it will stay until we've dealt with it."

As implied earlier, this is not the first time Hayward's said "I'm sorry."

You know what people here would say to that: Show us the money! People who depended on the Gulf to make their living are sad, angry, broke, and wondering how they're going to make ends meet.

Prior to that statement, Hayward was busy denying the rumor that there's an oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico. And the company is also blaming the Federal Government for wrong estimates of amount of oil flowing in the Gulf. Congressman Ed Markey disagrees. The company is losing credibility more each day.

According to this PBS widget, the oil is flowing into the Gulf at more than one million gallons per day, an average between most conservative estimates and worst case scenario estimates.



See all Oil posts at this blog.

Colin Powell on the Oil Spill and Gays in the Military

I've been seeing people commenting about the possibility of the military taking over the oil spill clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico. I didn't know what they were talking about until now, Gen. Colin Powell's comments today.



Powell appeared today on ABC's This Week. Before Powell spoke, a segment ran with Louisiana Bobby Jindal criticizing the Obama administration's handling of the oil spill and an interviewer challenging Louisiana's approach.

While Powell talked about gays in the military and his opinions on Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, he also said it's time for Obama to present a "comprehensive total attack" to solve this environmental problem and the military could possibly have a larger role. He agrees with many others that BP cannot fix this.

From the Huffington Post:

"The president has to get involved as quickly as possible," Powell told ABC's This Week. "If you don't, then public opinion starts to drag you in the media, and pushes you. And so when something like this clearly is going to get beyond the capacity of whoever caused it, get beyond the capacity of local authorities, I think the federal government has to move in quickly and move in with, to use my favorite expression, decisive force and demonstrate that it's doing everything that it can do."

Sam Stein thinks the general's comments reflect growing disappointment with Obama. Stein's correct that anger is growing and more people are frustrated with what they perceive to be Obama moving at snail pace. I've thought that what people really want to see is Obama in waders scooping the oil off the waters himself, and they want him to kick BP's behind out in the open. Echoes of the magic Negro perhaps?

Powell says the military could help, but whether or not that help would be effective depends on what the military is asked to do. He told ABC that he's not the man to say what needs to be done. It's up to leaders of today's military.

This idea of the military going in is not new. It was mentioned a month ago. In addition, the National Guard has been activated to work on the oil spill.



Recently the guard completed a 2.5 mile wall to protect the shore, but that's not enough.

On gays in the military, Powell says the world has changed since he testified in support of "don't ask, don't tell" in the 90s, and decision makers should listen to the people who are in charge now. He thinks how "don't ask, don't tell" could be implemented should be studied. He's not against repealing the policy.

See all oil spill posts under Oil label.

BP Oil Spill: Protesters List Demands at Jackson Square

The New Orleans Ladder has great pictures, like the one at left, from today's Jackson Square protest against BP and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The photo plays off BP's initials, converting British Petroleum to "Bitch, Please!" It also appears to suggest BP is using our need for oil like a gun aimed at our heads. However, a post at Humid Beings says protest organizers are making demands of the Federal Government, not BP. Read the demands there, where it's said that 650 people showed up. The New Orleans Ladders says 700 in the rain.

An action group with a website called Murdered Gulf appears to have organized today's protest.

Other groups area also taking action. As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, a petition has been started asking the government to seize BP. The group behind that campaign is called the Answer Coalition. According to its website, "It is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and prominent individuals and scores of organizing centers in cities and towns across the country," and its focus is social justice.

Humid Beings says the national media ignored the protest. I'll wait to see if they pick it up from affiliates like WDSU and WWL. The latter says protesters swarmed the square. WDSU, which also has a slideshow, reports director Spike Lee was present. Will we see another documentary from him about our disasters?

While some of our local political leaders blasted him for When the Levees Broke about Katrina and called any officials who spoke on camera against how it all went down "traitors," I appreciated his documenting the emotions and injustices rising with the flooding of New Orleans.

NOLA.com/Times Picayune has a story about the dispirited summer of oil that awaits us and growing anger in Louisiana, including pastors praying in church. Its collection of protest photos is pretty big. It includes the photo on the left of Spike Lee who was with someone filming the event, it seems.

See all oil posts here.

Is Ken Salazar Obama's Mike Brown?

The Washington Posts reports that environmental groups and scientists want Ken Salazar to resign or be fired. Salazar is Interior Secretary. The Department of Interior oversees the Minerals Management Service, the agency that regulates offshore drilling. From its website:

(The bureau) is the Federal agency that manages the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses an average of $13.7 billion per year in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and American Indian lands.

The MMS is reported to have ignored environmental risks when approving leases for offshore oil drilling.

Last week MMS Chief Elizabeth Birnbaum quit in the face of the BP oil spill fallout and questions about MMS procedures, including that its officers get bonuses for quickly approving leases. President Barack Obama took heat for saying he did not know the circumstances surrounding her resignation.

President Obama supported Salazar's management at a press conference two weeks ago, saying:

...from the day he took office as Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar has recognized these problems and he's worked to solve them. Oftentimes he has been slammed by the industry, suggesting that somehow these necessary reforms would impede economic growth."

The Washington Post says:

"A group of several dozen conservation groups and scientists -- including more than 30 who urged President Obama not to appoint Salazar in the first place -- are now calling for his resignation.

So, Ken Salazar may be Obama's Mike Brown as more people compare the oil spill to Hurricane Katrina. I said in an earlier post that Billy Nungesser, President of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, had called for Admiral Thad Allen's resignation, and I thought that was off the mark in Nungesser's and other Republicans' quest to make the oil spill about Obama's leadership because Obama didn't appoint Allen. He did, however, appoint Salazar. When he did, a New York Times editorial opined that Salazar was "too nice" to provide the toughness the Department of Interior needs.

Read WaPo and HuffPo.

The photo of Salazar comes from a 2009 blog post at the Colorado Springs Business Journal about Salazar's big plans for the DOI. Salazar, a Democrat, served as Senator of Colorado from 2005 to 2009.

Dem. Thinks BP Looks Like Liar. Activists Call for BP Seizure

I've read that people who worked on the Valdez oil spill also became ill, and so, I'm concerned about the people being hospitalized after working with BP oil disperstants used to clean up the Gulf of Mexico. WWL reports two more oil clean-up workers (local fisherman) have become ill, and that brings the total to nine.

The station also reports that BP is losing credibility.

At nearly every step since the Deepwater Horizon exploded ... BP PLC has downplayed the severity of the catastrophe ... "They keep making one mistake after another. That gives the impression that they're hiding things," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who has been critical of BP's reluctance to publicly release videos of the underwater gusher. "These guys either do not have any sense of accountability to the public or they are Neanderthals when it comes to public relations."

Yep. Just last night I posted that Stephen Colbert's satire about BP's ineptitude remains relevant after the top kill failure. People are getting more angry with each day the oil slick remains and oil continues to flow from the Deepwater Horizon accident.

Today in video from CBS Face the Nation, Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass, says he has no confidence in BP, doesn't think they know what they're doing, and perhaps the company is blatantly lying.

Flashing confidential documents from the company, he says BP misrepresented how much oil was flowing from the leak. This isn't really news except that a congressman is saying it. NPR and other news sources reported earlier this month that something was fishy about BP's oil flow reports. Markey says the "fine that can be assessed on the company is based on how much oil is leaking. He continues, saying clearly that the company has been "making things up" in his opinion, and calls actions "criminal."


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Reading the New Orleans Ladder, I discovered SeizeBP.org. The blogger has the button in this post posted in the sidebar. The activists behind the petition say:

The government of the United States must seize BP and freeze its assets, and place those funds in trust to begin providing immediate relief to the working people throughout the Gulf states whose jobs, communities, homes and businesses are being harmed or destroyed by the criminally negligent actions of the CEO, Board of Directors and senior management of BP.

If the current administration agreed to do that, I'd be shocked. Despite what conservatives say, Obama is a moderate and pro-business. He's a bona fide capitalist. I watched him before he was elected in a private session with a social justice group that advocates for the poor, and I realized then that he's going to look at the bottom line always.

He'd consider whether a seizure would hurt the national economy more than it would help the fisherman and Louisiana's local economy. The man believes in compromise not extremes. That's his nature.

But I wish the government would go to the killing floor with BP on this oil spill. If they did, you know that the conservatives would show their true colors then on environmental issues and accuse Obama, as Rand Paul already has said, of being too hard on BP and big business. Paul said Obama was "unAmerican."

CNN has a story today about the conflict between the Federal Government and the oil giant.

Here's video from WWL about the sick fishermen.

Stephen Colbert's Oil Spill Solutions Randomizer's Still Relevant

As I posted earlier today, the top kill method failed. We'll have to wait until August for BP to complete the relief wells to capture the oil. So now, the company will try the lower marine riser cap that will not stop the oil flow but slow it down.

See video embedded below of BP's latest talk to the press. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry is also present, reminding viewers/reporters that top kill was never the end goal but the relief wells were always the long-term solution. Below the CNN video is satire from Stephen Colbert. About two weeks ago he said it's clear nobody connected to the oil leak knows what the "f*#k" they're doing, and so he offered his comical oil spill solutions randomizer.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Oil Containment Solution Randomizer
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

VH1 Launches Dad Camp with Jeff Gardere. Seriously?

I like the concept of Dad Camp. I think young fathers should take more responsibility when their bundles of joy arrive, but I can't take this show seriously. It's kind of a scared straight for fathers expecting a child from an unplanned pregnancy. The show airs tomorrow night at 10:30 ET on VH1 with Dr. Jeff Gardere. The L.A. Times calls it social service reality TV.

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Glenn Beck Apologizes for Ridiculing First Daughter, Malia

Who can keep up with Glenn Beck's stupid remarks? He makes so many, and that's probably why I missed that he's sunken to the new low of mocking President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia. The Huffington Post has audio and a transcript.

I won't print all of what the Beckass said here. As is expected, however, there was a racial element to it about Malia asking her daddy why does he hate black people. Beckass and his followers tend to project onto others their own race issues. His sense of humor is somewhere at fifth-grade level.

CNN's Political Ticker says the Beckass has since apologized, something about his breaking his own rules. The air it took for him to say he's sorry is worth far more than the his words. I won't link to Beck's website either. CNN reports the Beckass has his statement of apology posted there.

Is Top Kill Failing to Stop Oil Leak?

Update: WOW! That didn't take long. Shortly after I posted this, the story was updated to say it's official: Top Kill Method Has Failed.

Local television stations like WWL TV and nation news outlets, such as CNN, report that the "top kill" method is not stopping the flow of oil from the BP/Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to WWL TV, BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles says the company is considering other ways to stop the well. It's video includes a question and answer session.

CNN confirms, but also says top kill seems to be making a difference of some type. Suttles said the ratio of oil to gas appears to have changed.

Obama and the Great Oil Spill

Obama and Louisiana leaders photo
from Times Picayune

I was busy yesterday writing about the threat of war between North Korea and South Korea, and so I didn't post on President Barack Obama's visit to our area to address the oil spill/leak again. Therefore, I direct you to local coverage here at WWL and here at the Times Picayune/NOLA.com.

The TP has a great picture. Talk about your photo op symbolism: Obama, Jindal, Landrieu, and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser and other officials sitting around a big table with their sleeves rolled up. That's a thumbnail left. Check NOLA.com for the larger image.

Today the Picayune features a letter to the editor from Bruce Smith of New Orleans under the title "Louisiana leaders liked oil fine until now."

For 80 years Louisiana has sat up and begged whenever the oil companies whistled; they're already responsible for one slow-motion ecological catastrophe, the gradual destruction of the state's coastal wetlands via canal dredging for transporting rigs and equipment. Yet Louisiana has done little or nothing to hold them to account for that.

Smith gives the governor and other Louisiana politicians a verbal beat down on their hypocrisy. He also commends an opinion piece from Bob Marshall, "Oil disaster brought to you by deregulation."

After I posted on Thursday's Whitehouse press conference, "Obama Takes Responsibility for the Oil Spill Solutions Jam, But He Said A Lot More" and my request for submissions of poetry about the oil spill, Kyle Luke from Newsy.com sent me the video I've embedded near the end of this post.

Newsy.com says it wants to give the public video reports of the day's news with analysis from multiple sources to put the news in context. The video below includes snippets of commentary from Fox News and CBS, the Atlantic and the National Review and Wall Street Journal. The video opens with the anchor saying Obama says he takes responsibility for the oil spill. However, Newsy is not the only news outlet playing Obama's speech that way, and he did give the media that sound bite by his phrasing.

Even though politically his opponents and supportive critics don't mind building in the public mind an image of Obama pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico, he did not cause the oil spill as the headline "Obama takes responsibility for the oil spill" connotes. Still, as I said at the New Orleans Literature Examiner, Obama did say Thursday, "Make no mistake: BP is operating at our direction." He's accepting responsibility for the slowness of stopping the leak the way any leader takes responsibility for what others do under his command.

Nungesser's been quoted to say "Thad Allen should resign." Remember that Nungesser is a Louisiana Republican politician. On some level Republicans may hope they can jam up Admiral Thad Allen over the oil spill and paint him as another Michael Brown, the Republican appointee who was crucified over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

Allen, however, was not appointed to his position as was Brown. He worked for it. He's a U.S. Coast Guard admiral who was commended for his effectiveness following Hurricane Katrina, not a presidential crony who got his job via favors.

And I still don't think Obama's response to the oil spill is like George W. Bush's response to Katrina. Bush showed a general lack of concern when he first heard about New Orleans flooding. His administration said it couldn't confirm the city had flooded even though the world was watching it flood on CNN.

In no way can Bush's ignorance ignorance of common knowledge and his initial lack of concern about Americans suffering comparable to Obama not understanding details of science and technology about stopping an oil leak. Yet, some see it as the same.

The federal government has an agency to help clean up after natural disasters like hurricanes. It does not have an agency with the technology BP has to clean up an oil spill. I'm not sure what the people expect the president to do other than yell and maybe start sanctioning BP financially in some way. If he were to start yelling, however, Fox News would no doubt play that as Obama is unraveling or perhaps play its ever handy Look!-another-overly-emotional-black-person card.

Maybe people want Obama to send the military in to lay more boom? Maybe they want to see him in the ocean laying boom himself? I don't know. Progressives and conservatives alike are angry at him, expecting him to do more.

I find conservative criticism to be no more than political grandstanding here because most conservatives have been pro offshore oil drilling and anti-government involvement in business. Now that a business has screwed up the environment with offshore oil drilling, they want the government all in the mix fixing a problem it didn't create except that it went along with conservatives and allowed offshore oil drilling.

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

I recommend you check the New Orleans Ladder for its usual great round-up of links on the oil spill, and the NOLA Defender has commentary on Jindal and Nungesser's "plan" to stop the oil spill, "Battle of the Berm." From its own description, "Founded back in early 2010, the NOLA defender is the result of a long night of drinking and speculating about the best strategies for securing love and pleasure in New Orleans."

Oil Spill: Obama Takes Responsibility for Solutions Jam, Yes, But He Said A Lot More

I listened to President Barack Obama's press conference today at which reporters bombarded him with questions about the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The first sound bite video CNN posted was of Obama saying he takes responsibility for how the oil spill has been handled by the administration. As I said in my post yesterday, "Streaming Top Kill Video to Screaming Pundits," the president is under fire.

However, in my post at the New Orleans Literature Examiner asking for poems on the oil spill, it's clear the president said more than just "I take responsibility."



Here is the beginning of a partial transcript of today's press conference:

Before I take your questions, I want to update the American people on the status of the BP oil spill, a catastrophe that is causing tremendous hardship in the Gulf Coast, damaging a precious ecosystem, and one that led to the death of 11 workers who lost their lives in the initial explosion.

Yesterday the federal government gave BP approval to move forward with a procedure known as a top kill, to try to stop the leak. This involves plugging the well with densely packed mud to prevent any more oil from escaping. And given the complexity of this procedure and the depth of the leak, this procedure offers no guarantee of success; but we're exploring any reasonable strategies to try and save the Gulf from a spill that may otherwise last until the relief wells are finished, and that's a process that could take months.

Read nearly a full transcript at Chicago Sun Times.

On one question about comparisons between his handling of oil spill and George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina, President Obama responded that he'll leave it to reporters to make those comparisons.

You can follow the administration's take on the oil spill at WhiteHouse.gov.

Dining While Gay Syndicated at BlogHer.com

I can tell by the number of hits I've received over the last two weeks that I'm not the only person who was shocked to learn more than half the states in the U.S.A. have laws that allow restaurants to refuse service to homosexual men and lesbians. Therefore, it pleases me that this issue will get more attention. My post was recently syndicated at BlogHer.com, and so you may read it there as well.

Lost Isn't About the Story. It's About How the Story is Told

I agree with the speaker in this video, a musician, who says at the end, "Lost isn't about the story; it's about how the story is told."

Warning: Don't watch this video if you don't want to hear Lost explained or about the series finale because you're watching the show on DVD.



As a fiction writer working on a novel, I've spent a lot of time considering narrative style. When I got hooked on ABC's Lost, that was what fascinated me, how J.J. Abrams was telling the story.

To the Tennis Shoe Confused: The post answering questions about the shoe in the tree in the finale is here.

Janelle Monae: I Like this Little Girl Telling Sci Fi Stories in Music

I like the song, the visuals, dance, and storyline in the music video below. Thank you Martin Lindsey for posting this to Facebook. It's the Janelle Monáe "Tightrope" music video featuring Big Boi of OutKast. I'm always happy to learn of new music produced by young people that I can enjoy.

Part of the appeal for me, aside from the lyrics, beat, and dance, is the science fiction flavor. Her new album is called ArchAndroid. She told the Chicago Tribune that she "identifies with androids."

(The album is) a self-empowerment manifesto couched inside a futuristic “emotion-picture” about an android’s battle to overcome oppression. The notion of space travel and “new worlds” becomes a metaphor for breaking the chains that enslave minorities of all types – a theme that has a long tradition in African-American music, from Sun Ra and Parliament-Funkadelic to Cannibal Ox and OutKast.

She also visits the android theme in "Metropolis."

Go, girl, go! My novel includes a subculture of disenfranchised people who practice illegal magic.

Plus this girl, Janelle Monáe, is hot with some Michael Jackson/James Brown old school swagger and skills.



I saw Big Boi on the Martha Stewart Show a while back as I was flipping channels. Thought I was seeing things. Talk about your odd matches, Martha talking about bling and "B-O-I, BTW!" as she said to her audience. Comedy.

Big Boi's released his first solo album, "Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty." Martha asked him if he was breaking up with André 3000. He said, "No."

All the tuxedos in the video also reminded me of the Nicholas Brothers. Here they are dancing Stormy Weather, one of Lena Horne's old films.



Michael Jackson admired them as well. In the clip below he and other Jacksons dance with the tappers, reminding us of all the training that family had.

BP Oil Leak: From Streaming Top Kill Video to Screaming Pundits

At Fast Company or CNN, the Times Picayune and most likely multiple other news outlets have posted live streaming video of BP's attempt to stop the oil leak using the Top Kill method. The oil company started the procedure this afternoon.

Apparently Admiral Thad Allen had to address rumors that BP was going to cut off video. The company's taking a lot of criticism right now for possibly withholding information and blocking access. See video from CSPAN below.



Before today's effort began, WWL TV reported that this is the first time the Top Kill method has been tried at the depth of the Deepwater Horizon/BP gusher.



The Fast Company piece opens with a sentiment that echoes mass thought:

It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of BP's failed efforts at stopping the Oil Spill that Ate the Gulf. The latest long-shot solution involves pumping drilling mud down a pipe and into the Deepwater Horizon's well in an attempt to hold back oil--a process known as "Top Kill".

CNN's posted video and an article that explains how the Top Kill method works. The Times Picayune explains it with a graphic.

My son said yesterday at work he helped scientists who are trying to clean-up the oil spill to load vehicles with supplies. They told him that the damage is unbelievable, overwhelming.

I had considered driving down through Terrebonne Parish to see damage or calling up to find out if my cousins in Cajun country knew of any fishermen who could take me to a spot, and so I'm glad I saw this TP video. In it, two local reporters say it's impossible to go see oil spill damage without a boat.

Oil spill video: out with the birds and booms

Are you having trouble keeping up? RisingTide on Twitter shared that Social Gumbo's posted on a Smart Phone application to help people get involved. If you'd like to see which bloggers are sharing personal stories and reports on the oil leak, Deb on the Rocks has a piece at BlogHer.com today.

Mother Jones reports that "anecdotal" stories are surfacing saying some people are getting sick from chemicals BP's using to disperse the oil. The publication also looks at controversy around "BP's Oil Spill Plan":

There's mounting evidence that federal regulators at the Minerals Management Service were paying zero attention to the oil industry, particularly when it came to authorizing oil spill response plans. Case in point: BP's Oil Spill Response Plan for the Gulf of Mexico lists sea lions, seals, sea otters, walruses in its evaluation of how a spill might affect local wildlife. The problem? None of these critters live in the Gulf.

The Huffington Post continues to follow the crisis with its Big Oil Spill News page, including growing anger at government leaders, including President Barack Obama. Field Negro has an opinion on the flow of oil frustration to Obama's door.

Louisiana resident and former Clinton strategist James Carville has been blasting Obama.



And now, even former President George W. Bush is stepping forward to say we must find alternative energy sources. He said this speaking at a wind energy conference. I may have to comment on that later.

My posts on oil are all under the oil label here. At Examiner.com I listed books on why Louisiana wetlands must be saved.

South Korea and North Korea Are Still At It: Tips for Sarah Palin

Just in case Sarah Palin has to comment on troubles between North Korea and South Korea and know why the two countries are separate, history of the Korean War, and why the nations appear to be going to war again, I'm going to help her out with some videos and links. Remember, it was reported earlier this year that the Republican VP candidate didn't know that there was a South Korea and North Korea.

So, here's an Associated Press video, embedded below, on the tensions that have grown between the two countries, and a link to a U.K. Guardian article saying North Korea has told its military to prepare for war. The Huffington Post, CNN, and other news sources confirm.



And this piece from Reuters gives a history of the conflict, why these two countries still quarreling. In addition, here's background on the Korean Conflict at Archives.gov.

Mercury Shows up In Skin Lightening Creams in Chicago: FDA Will Investigate

What harm is there in using a skin bleaching cream to lighten your skin or banish age spots? If the skin lightening cream you use contains mercury, then the harm to the human body can be devastating. The FDA announced Friday that it will investigate incidents of creams containing mercury found on Chicago store shelves. ... Read more at BlogHer.com.

Body Image: Looking at Research and Women, Food, & God

How do you feel about your body? That seems like a simple question, but for many women, even attractive women who choose to be honest, the answer is neither simple nor positive. Throw weight or shape into the equation and rarely will you hear a positive answer. Did you ever think that maybe it's not your actual body holding you back but your feelings about your body?

Research conducted by a clinical psychologist at the Pennington Biomedical Center in Baton Rouge, La., indicates negative feelings about our bodies--obsessing about weight, internalizing the criticisms of others about our looks--hinders us from reaching legitimate health goals. ... Please read the full post at BlogHer.com

Wasted Time and Sad Love Poems

The video here is one of my favorite dance routines from So You Think You Can Dance, Season 6. It's Bianca and Victor performing a contemporary piece by Travis Wall to the song “Wasted Time” by Me’Shell Ndegeocello. Below the video is a list of links to some of my love poems from various places online, the sadder or more plaintive ones (o.k. sappy).

• Reading You Again
• Your Name Should Rhyme with Mine
• Cleaving
• A Stroll Down the Riverbed
• In All Sincerity, Wisdom
• The Green Green Grass
• Apology
• I Remember When We Were Fun
• I See It Now
• A Spill on the Ice
• Time Traveling With a Dragonfly Poem
• Brokenhearted Survivor's Sonnet

Lost Finale and the Tennis Shoe in the Tree

This blogger was surprised by all the hits her blog has gotten from people who want to know whose tennis shoe was hanging in the tree at the end of the Lost finale on ABC last night. However, she's not surprised that search engines are sending the curious to this blog for that information.

It makes sense, given the blog's name and because she published a recent post about the end of the series before the finale aired. While Whose Shoes Are These Anyway? is not a blog about shoes, this blogger will tell you what she knows about white tennis shoe that viewers saw hanging on the tree as Dr. Jack Shephard died. Thus you will not have dropped by in vain.

Two people helped answered this question, Megan Smith, one of the Entertainment editors at BlogHer who also blogs at Megan's Minute, and Leslie Madsen-Brooks, also a Blogher CE whose personal blog is The Clutter Museum.

Megan said, "In the pilot, when Jack woke up after the plane crash, the sneaker was hanging on that same branch. ... Last night it was still there, three years later, weathered and worn."

Leslie sent a link to a Lostpedia wiki article about the white tennis shoe.

After his father's death, Jack Shephard felt that the corpse did not need new shoes, and instead gave his father an old pair of white tennis shoes that he had. Jack later attributed this to the fact that he didn't think his father was worth a new pair of shoes. These shoes were on Christian's body in the coffin aboard Oceanic Flight 815. ("316")

I had forgotten that completely. Knowing to whom the shoe belongs and its history should give you insight into the life message of the finale.

You may also enjoy Megan's look at the finale at BlogHer.com.

How Am I Like that Writer I Admire, Octavia Butler?

As quoted in Anthropology off the shelf: anthropologists on writing by Alisse Waterston, Maria D. Vesperi, the late Octavia Butler wrote in 2001:

"I am a 53-year-old writer who can remember being a 10-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an 80-year-old writer. I'm also comfortably asocial — a hermit in the middle of Seattle — a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.

I am concerned of late that I identify too much with Butler, a gifted writer of speculative fiction who slipped on the ice outside her home and died in 2006. While I'd like to say it's the giftedness with which I identify, it's the darker aspects of her personality that she acknowledges in the quote that remind me of me, including the "oil-and-water combinations" she mentions.

Currently, I am 50 and find increasingly that I have to force myself to participate in social activities. I am content writing, or researching information, or reading. Nevertheless, I struggle with duality of desire.

If I could split myself successfully in two, one of me would be busy running a social action group with people 50 and over, a think tank I would call The Village Elders. Its members would write letters to their children's children and post them online. The letters would cover the struggles through which these elders had lived and share the wisdom they believe future generations will need so that our communities are less burdened by crime; so that fewer of our young people murder each other, and fewer drift toward unpromising futures because they don't sense a purpose in living well.

I keep thinking that perhaps those of us who are older, who have already raised children, could unite and teach young parents, speak to them in person and via the Internet in ways that don't condemn them but edify them, build a rapport and bridge. In a way it's the knowledge management principle that was once that businesses used to promote: workers found ways to pass on information so the corporation would not lose valuable knowledge as employees retired, quit, or died. Are the older generations of African-Americans passing on to younger generations lessons learned or are we so embroiled with our daily life drama that we pass on nothing but our angst?

The Village Elders group also could take political action to not only influence government but neighborhoods and families. It could be seen as similar to the older people in less-sedentary days who sat on porches, kept an eye on the community, and advised younger parents when they saw a child going astray. But would younger parents listen or tell us what they do with their children is none of our business?

You know what I mean, the mother who's so rapped up in her childhood insecurities that when she's given advice, she turn on the person offering help and says, "Don't you be telling me about my child! I'm the mother."

While I've led people before, the thought of doing anything like this vision intimidates me today. Plus, I know there are others more suited to such work than I am, trained social workers, lettered psychologists, and professional non-profit administrators.

If I could split in two, then my other self would stay home, out of the world's way, would read, write, never watch the news and learn to garden--keep herself to herself. Which life is more dangerous, the hermit's or the extrovert's?

Splitting or no splitting, this fall I begin graduate school. Perhaps I'll rediscover there the parts of me that can do something more beneficial for others with my remaining years.

Unlike Octavia Butler, I don't see myself at age 80. I'll be lucky if I make it to 60. She was not the pessimist she thought she was to assume she'd live so long. Sadly, she did not.

Lost Finale: I Will Accept Whatever Happens

Earlier this year, Megan Smith at BlogHer.com quoted me in her post on 25 best moments of ABC's Lost. She said that I may be the shows biggest convert:

After resisting stories about "Lost" being a great show, she (Nordette c'est moi) finally watched the first season on her cable's on-demand. She was hooked.

And then she repeated, with my permission, something I'd said in an email thread:

Next thing I knew I was at the Blockbuster renting every season and watching until I got to the end of rentals and had to buy a season because it wasn't available any other way. And so I bought it and watched and then had the DTs until the show returned with new episodes.

My name is Nordette and I'm a Lostaholic.

So, reading that, you must know that I will be in front of the television tonight when the series finale airs. However, I've already adopted the same attitude that Salon writer Heather Havrilesky has in her post, "How Can the 'Lost' Finale Not Suck?"

Comparing our hopes and dreams for the finale to the rise of Barack Obama and how we were destined to be disappointed, she writes:

Personally, unless that glowing light energy at the center of the island flows straight out of my TV screen and into my body, blessing me with the purest, sweetest sensation of joy and fulfillment in the known universe (and since I don't currently have any narcotics dealers on speed dial, this seems unlikely), I'll be disappointed.

Yep. And since I know not to expect the light to appear, I'll watch for sentimental reasons and also so I can know the ending J. J. Abrams and the other Lost writers envisioned.

About four or five years ago, one of my son's middle-school teachers said she thought the series was about good and evil, including multiple allusions to Christian archetypes and mythology. She thought the island was a symbol for purgatory. Today, whenever my son walks through the living room and I'm watching Lost, he says, "You know it's a mind game, Mom. Even the writers don't know what theyr'e doing."

We'll see. One story today says fans should not expect all the answers in the finale. No, duh.



I read a while back that producers had added an extra half hour to the finale. Here in Louisiana, CST, the finale events begin at 6:00 p.m. and go through Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel. I can't hang all the way through Kimmel. Maybe I'll DVR that.

In the meantime, the CNN video in this post includes clips of fans telling how they thing the mega-hit series will end, from speculation about the child Aaron to Hurley saves the world.

So, This Hurricane Slips on an Oil Slick

Not funny. I don't even want to think about it. But I'm not surprised someone has speculated about the BP oil spill's flow into the Gulf of Mexico and how it might impact a hurricane. Hurricane season starts June 1, and experts say we'll have a higher than average number of storms this year.

At Slate, Chris Mooney writes:

In an absolute worst-case scenario, powerful hurricane winds might drive the oil slick towards land and push some of it ashore with the ensuing storm surge.

Lovely. Just lovely.

The oil slick might not slow the hurricane, could possibly even strengthen it. The good news is a hurricane might dilute the oil slick with enough ocean water to make the slick degrade more quickly. Read Slate.

Look at this NASA photo of the oil leak's slick here. As big as it is, it's smaller than the average hurricane.

Dear Black Village: Did You Kill Je'Rean Blake and Aiyana Jones?

That headline has a question mark because I'm not sure what's going on in Detroit. I've already written the piece "Dare We Blame Aiyana's Family for Her Death?" because I think we're on a slippery slope to adopting a premise of excusing the police for misconduct and unnecessary deaths when we start to discuss what was wrong with a victim's family.

Regardless of what the family was doing or its possible links to crime, blaming Aiyana's family for her death is no different than blaming a woman in a short skirt for her own rape. "Yeah. She was asking for it!" is what some folks think, but rapists get acquitted when the jury has that attitude, and police officers get off the hook when public sympathy swings in its favor on bad shoots. Consider that's what they want, not to be challenged.

Detroit mayor Dave Bing is blasting the family's lawyer, Greg Fieger, saying he's only after money, and that's probably true. But Fieger is asking legitimate questions, which is more than I can say for the media and some people in the black community.

I'm on this subject again because The Root has an exclusive from Black Voices posted today, a story that says the Jones family was not very neighborly, the home had the air of criminal activity, and was no place for a child.

Neighbors said the residents of Aiyana's house were all relatives living in the two-family flat. They say the family has lived there for about two years and Chauncey Owens, the man police were looking for when the stray bullet hit Jones, was known for terrorizing the neighborhood. "Soon as they moved over here, you didn't even want to sit outside anymore," said one neighbor, who chose not to give his name to Black Voices. "If he [Owens] said something to you, you just let it go, because you already know how he is." . . . .

Perhaps I'm reading too much into the growing scrutiny of the Jones family, but these are the kinds of comments that leap out at me: "And regarding the precious #aiyanajones, when will we look at her parents who put her in an unsafe environment? -->," posted at The Root.

So, to Max Reddick to whom I commented in an earlier post at his website, Soul Brother V.2, saying that the black community was like a dog on a nail when it comes to crime, not in enough pain yet to move and change, I take it back. Maybe black people in crime-ridden neighborhoods are fed up. Maybe they are "ready to take a bite out of crime," even it means not questioning a family's background more than how police conduct a raid. Maybe the black community is ready to ignore whether police were showing off for reality a TV show, such as A&E's First 48, or the possibility that police were at the wrong address. Maybe the black community is ready to sacrifice children in the village to police raids in the name of stopping crime and for the sake of the whole. But is that the way we want to address crime in our communities?

Nobody listens to me, but I wrote elsewhere today that:

My only peeve (in this scrutiny of the family binge) is that with all the crimes we see daily in the black community, why is it that people interject a need to address that crime in the midst of cases where the police should be held culpable. Some did the same thing with the Oscar Grant shooting. (Surely there are other cases to examine where you can challenge the family's lifestyle and not appear to give police a pass.)

The question is why don't we separate the two--stay on the cases where no police mishandling is obvious and it's clearly black people hurting black people, and when it's a case of a police overkill and misconduct, address that? When we mix the two for the sake of argument and to protest criminals in our midst, it gives the police the opportunity to deflect from their bad deeds.

Humans are not good at multitasking and this applies to sorting through discourse with too many pieces. Separate and simplify for the sake of political action on both fronts. I think mixing the two is a tactical error.

But you know, I'm an older woman, not long for this world. It's not my concern, is it? If the people controlling media today want to divert attention to the environments of victims of questionable police strategies and a family's criminal behavior rather than focus on police misconduct, and then the black community wants to play along, who am I to warn that we may be signing our own death warrants.

Nevertheless, let me ask this: All these neighbors who are now saying their block is calmer now that police have shaken up the Jones family and little Aiyana is dead, why don't we question your neighborliness and ask how did you help Aiyana before this tragedy? Perhaps if you had the courage to speak sooner, then the 17-year-old Chauncey Owens shot, Je'Rean Blake, and Aiyana Jones would still be alive. Thank you for clearing this up. I think my old poem "Why You Have Roaches" applies on some level.

I'd bet money that nobody reported the conditions at the home because they clung to the old adage, "It's none of my business" or "I might be in danger too" or the philosophy that ratting someone out is worse than being a criminal. But a child is dead and now everybody's talking.