INTELLECTUAL PROPRETY THEFT

As many of you might have heard the Writers Guild of America is on strike out here in the Land of Broken Dreams. And the big thing is do you really know what the strike is about? Sure you're going to miss your favorite TV shows, and you probably think that Hollywood scribes are overpaid -- and many are, but no more so than any other author that you can think of -- music or book included, yes I'm including songWRITERS in the category -- as they get a nice royalty check anytime a song is played on the radio or a CD is bought or a song is legally downloaded.

Here's a video that breaks down what's really going out and why the so-called high priced writers are on strike.

http://weblogs.variety.com/wga_strike_blog/2007/11/writers-strike-.html

As a WGA member in bad standing (i.e. I haven't paid my dues in over a year, because I haven't had a WGA job in longer than that), I feel for the writers who are losing their jobs, but not that much.

Although the one thing that kills me is how shitty Hollywood producers and executives STILL treat us. Think about it this way -- projects GO FORWARD when the writing has reached a level to attract the necessary talent and to excite the marketing people.
Actors who make $20 million a movie (plus all the other obscene bonuses like first dollar gross and shit like that) forego all the ego-driven shit and will work for scale (roughly a few grand a week) IF AND ONLY IF said talent responds to the words on the page put there by none other than the writer!

Not the wily producer, not the studio executive, not the director (unless he's the writer) and the lawyer or marketing whiz or the D-Girl with the big tits who'd suck someone's dick to get a better job - THE WRITER, the scoffed at person who creates the words that come out of the rugged star's mouth those words that make the heroine swoon and all the women in the audience wet with envy.

Maybe the writer's ARE greedy for wanting $.08 instead of $.04 on EVERY DVD sold - at the retail price. Considering how they got ass-raped by VHS sales and the previous DVD boom (which now ain't shit, as people aren't interested in having movie libraries too much anymore).

The sad thing is that the producers were supposed to pay the writers back from the pay cut they took back in the early days of VHS... and that's NEVER going to happen. that money has been snorted, pissed, smoked, driven and built up, up and away for the rapaciously wealthy producers, actors and studio people.

And they'd all be nothing without the writers concocting stories.

I tell you whats going to happen, is that we'll have another year like 2005 -- when everyone thought that the movie industry was a few steps away from the grave because of ALL THE SHITTY MOVIES that got released in late '04 and throughout '05. See, back in late 2002 there was the threat of a WGA strike, so the studios stockpiled all these scripts and rushed them into production without really getting them ready or just buying shit and doing films so producers could get stuff in the distribution pipeline. Now that strike was averted, but not before some of the worst and expensive films were releases, stuff that was so bad the media were claiming that Hollywood was over.

But all that really happened is that the audiences were sick of gagging on the shit that was being spooled out weekend after weekend with huge marketing campaigns... if you remember during 2005, there were some great films -- BATMAN BEGINS, WEDDING CRASHERS, CRASH... to name a few, that really underscored the point -- if you make a great movie, people will come.

And where does a great movie start, from a writer staring at a blank page deciding where and how to begin.

Drinks On You

Ever notice at those do-it-yourself soda machines people blend up the wildest concoctions of soft drinks? Just this afternoon I was at the Trimana Grill in my office building (incidentally for those who’ve been an avid reader of this blog, I’m no longer homeless and I have a job in tony Century City to pay bills and get back on my feet), and this woman is playing chemist with the soda machine – mixing Hi-C Pink Lemonade with Coke and Fanta orange… yeah, that’s what I said, “Fanta orange?” Maybe Fanta cherry for a poor muthafucka’s Cherry Coke, but caramel flavoring and orange, who knew? Not I, that’s for damn sure!

The Damage Control Presidency

Unkle Ruckus
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So the 2008 Presidential Race is all about damage control. It's like that one mid80s Marvel Comic called "Damage Control" , where the people in the comic were tasked with cleaning up New York City after a superhero whupped the muthafuckin' ass of a super villain.

I was remarking that Benazir Bhutto became head of state in a gender repressive country, and it's tripped out because the US -- the bastion of freedom and democracy -- is having trouble electing a female head of state. And even if Hilary Clinton wins the White House, her presidency will be effectively dealing with the skunkshit that she's going to be inheriting. And if she can't really make heads of the mess, do you think the GOP will allow another female President? Unless it's Anne Coulter!

An Environmental Nobel Prize

trashdump
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So Al Gore won the Noble Peace Prize a few days ago for his work to educate the global public on the dangers of unbridled human activity (all in the name of greed?), and yet I have to believe what ever he's saying as a persuasive message to get people to change their behavior is falling on deaf ears.

In every house I've been in since his documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH came out last year, I haven't seen anybody use compact fluorescent light bulbs to at least cut down on electrical energy consumption, which would have a trickle up effect. And the number of gas guzzling SUVs - those rude rebukes to anyone claiming "green" status -- hasn't seemed to decrease on the roads of Los Angeles -- where regular gas is now $3.19/gallon!

I work really hard to recycle all the plastic bottles and aluminum cans that I can, and any kind of paper product - because

Although the public is more concerned that Britney lost her children (and doesn't want them back!) or that Jennifer Aniston FINALLY told Brad, "I hate you" (I would have thought knowing he was dicking down Angelina when they were married would have prompted that response! Shows what I know) than paying more than water cooler talk about the environment.

Some how talking about environmental issues falls into the category of politics and religion -- taboo public subjects... and I have to ask myself, what the FUCK is that about? We need to have the most open dialog possible about environment impact issues. But I guess like every other social issue of the day, Americans refuse to have an open public discourse about the environment -- and we do all we can to ignore how bad we're pissing on it with Syphilis-infected urine!

I was taking one of those online quizzes about my carbon footprint, and I have to say it wasn't that good, and I make an effort to reduce wasteful consumption of all sorts of shit. The move is to actively find ways to conserve, not just cut back and then foist those views and behavior modifications on those closest to you, who will listen and won't think you're a quack.

Women In Power Positions

Heidi Klum
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Today former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Karachi after 8 years of exile... now it's hard to believe that a woman ran a Middle Eastern Muslim theocracy, but it happened (ironically enough, we'll probably not a see a woman in the White House for at least another decade if Hillary Clinton loses, if she wins and her One Term presidency is a fiasco because she'll be forced to clean-up Dubya's supreme fuck-ups, then we'll probably never have another one in my lifetime -- at least another 50 years!).

But back to Bhutto... apparently she had to come to some sort of "arrangement/agreement" with current military strongman Parviz Musharif, the current Paki president in order to return -- otherwise, her assassination or imprisonment would be all but foreordained.

it's hard to believe that woman was in the position of supreme power in a Muslim state, considering that just next door in Afghanistan women -- under the Taliban rule -- where treated like the worst type of garbage! Truth be told in almost all Muslim states (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria) women are 3rd Class citizens (maybe camels get more love?), it's dictated by the Qu'ran (or so I'm told, I haven't read that tome of freedom masquerading as a tool for oppression).

if you think about a woman on top, it's not such a bad proposition... why? Because they're a little more group oriented when it comes to decisions. My experience is that they consult their peers more than men when it comes to making a decision.

And when a woman's on top she can control men and women... in different ways. They can use their sexuality in ways that men can't to invite suggestion... although female sexuality engenders a greater amount of Haters for irrational reasons.

Does Bhutto represent the future of world politics in the world's most troubled region? We'll only know that when we know what her Side Deal for returning is with the current leader. I would suspect that what ever that deal was, she's going to break it in a matter of months; once she solidifies her power base and re-establishes herself as an alternative voice. And when she gets some clandestine supporters inside Musharif's organizations.

Jail time could occur, but it seems unlikely. However, you can never rule anything out in a Muslim country. Suicide bombers can damn near make anything happen.

Keeping It Interesting... Part II

blue dominatrix
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

As I mentioned in the last post, I'd was going to be talking about injecting a little S&M in a long standing relationship. When I previously wrote on this topic, I wasn't in a serious relationship and any S&M experiences I had where with Pro Dominatrices...

S&M is the ultimate role-playing, and role playing adds a certain spice to a couple's sex life that is not only fun, but creative and re-explores one's inner child.

Unless you're really into kink, then light S&M is the way to go -- who hasn't thought about using handcuffs or ropes to immobilize their partner, so they can have their way with him or her? Imagine tying up your man, and then sitting on his face? He's licking and flicking and sucking and poking for as long as it takes the woman to cum... and maybe she wants a few oral orgasms before sucking the life out of his painfully erect cock or riding him like a jockey in the Kentucky Derby!

Conversely, blindfolding, handcuffing and tickling your woman with a feather will not only get her pussy super-lubed up, hearing her slowly moan with pleasure will stiffen your dick just the way you like.

Other light S&M activities -- including but not limited to -- such as using a crop or a whip or a cat o-nine tails, candle wax, ice cubes, etc., add a different dimension to the sexual encounter.

And who doesn't want to have the encounter be as charged as possible? Who, damn it, who?

Keeping It Interesting...

50 year old Fuck Toy? I say YES
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

As one gets older, one begins to think about the softness of a woman's pussy... and how to keep it the prized place to go and be

As a man you have to ask yourself, do you want your woman to stay in radically good shape throughout her 50s? So you can enjoy sex with her continually? The answers is hell fucking yes!

Doing yoga with your woman (or having her do it on her own) and working on those tantric breathing exercises, probably is the best way to keep her (and you) in the best possible physical shape and in her sexual prime for a lot longer than people realize.

The thing about men, women and sex is that finding ways to prevent it from getting stale is the key to not just making the relationship last, but to continually strengthening and enhancing it.

As humans we're going to be tempted by others outside of our main relationship... that's just going to be it. The way I see it exploring tantric sex, role-playing, some light S&M and If possible) threesomes will most likely add that extra dimension to a couple's sex life to keep it vibrant.

Threesomes perhaps pose the most alluring but potentially damaging sexual adventure -- for obvious reasons; if it's two girls and a guy, you have to make sure that the woman in the relationship has bisexual tendencies and make sure she is comfortable with the fact that another woman (probably of her choosing) will be interacting with her sexual partner. We all know how territorial women are when another woman comes into the mix, so treading lightly is an understatement. Although, to make a threesome most effective both partners in the couple need to have bisexual tendencies.

Why do I say this? Because to explore the sexual energy of a threesome, the couple needs to engage in the activity at least twice -- once with 2 girls and a guy, and the other 2 guys and a girl -- where all participants have bisexual tendencies. The desire, or should I say curiosity, to be with someone of your same sex needs to latent to enable a truly enjoyable and most memorable experience.

Now, if you're reading this and you're a guy, you're no doubt saying to yourself -- I don't want another man's dick around me or my woman. However, if you talk with people who have had homosexual flings, therefore consider themselves "straight" there tends to be a heightened level of intellect associated with the choice to explore that kind of energy exchange.

Here's the thing about sexual intercourse -- it's an energy exchange that leaves and indelible mark on who ever is on the receiving end of it... such that any man who knowingly and willingly accepts another man's cock (or maybe a woman wielding a strap-on) is looking to explore an abnormal sexual energy change. Even though I say abnormal, I say that with most non-judgmental tone -- in that the norm is cock into dick slot (i.e. pussy), so cock into ass (whether its a man's or woman's) is a little abnormal. Also, taking cock in the ass isn't as unpleasant an experience as everyone would claim it to be, otherwise women and gay men wouldn't do it. Nor would it be a staple of many S&M encounters (dominatrix pumping a strap-on into her male sub's willing ass). Sucking dick though... that's another matter.

The down-side to a 2 girls and a guy threesome, is that the man is going to give it hard to the woman outside of his relationship, and probably dick down that new woman in a way his current partner isn't getting the dick (or doesn't remember getting dicked down that way with that kind of intensity). It doesn't have to happen, but it could and if it does then there might very well be resent and budding animosity about enthusiasm to another woman -- when the threesome has broken up.

The extra titillating element of this combination is the girl-on-girl action -- watching a woman eat out another woman... besides being a male (and female) fantasy, the male could learn a thing or two about pleasing his woman from this encounter. The interloper woman will also show the man a good time in a way that the woman in the relationship could learn from.

The down-side to a 2 guys and girl threesome is that the man must see his woman get fucked by another man, sees his dick go in and out of her pussy, and watch her luscious lips devours another man's fuckstick. She might get pleasured in ways he might not know how to do for his woman -- and that can and will spell the anagram of the trouble mentioned above.

It the threesome goes down with energy and excitement and physical bliss, then all is good, and the core relationship is probably heightened and solidified even more than what was thought from the outset... however, this might only happen 33% of the time. It works as an adventuresome experiment if their isn't any staleness in the core relationship, and this jaunt is just that... if the relationship is rocky or isn't as stable as the couple believes, a threesome can expose the weaknesses and perhaps tear the relationship apart.

Bringing S&M into the mix... (that's for the next post)

I'm Playing Hookie with the Negroes, Ma!

Bush with Clean Hands
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Well, well, well -- Dubya has just been outed in the WORST possible way. It seems that the transcript to his United Nations script was leaked to the media and there is phonetic spellings throughout the whole damn thing!!!

The kindergarten-esque spelling was mainly for countries and WORLD LEADERS, but still... it makes you think that Prescott's Grandson always needs... needs "assistance" when he gives speeches to the public.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said it was "not unusual" to include phonetic spellings for various countries in the speech though when asked if the president had a hard time pronouncing some of those country names Perino declined comment saying, "I think that's an offensive question."

Uh, Dan, the fact that Dubya is our president is offensive to me, and more than half of the voting public, not to mention 90% of the rest of the globe!!!

How can you, Dan Perino, sleep at night, fuck your wife or play with you kids while you serve such a gianormous ass-wipe like Prescott's Grandson?

Four Months Later... NBC's HEROES

IMG_0005
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So the biggest hit of last season returned to the Fall line up, and I was extremely disappointed.

As a serious comic geek there are things about the show that I absolutely love, but then again there are things about the show that I find insulting -- until I realize that 90% of the audience probably didn't read comics (seriously I mean), so they're amazed by the show. And most viewers who are under the age of 25, probably never read a comic.

The things about HEROES as a show is that it's interestingly apolitical, when it really could be -- look at Fox's "24" or HBO's "The Wire" -- shows that tap into the country's zeigeist and exploit one way or another.

In the days of yesteryear, when superheroes were first created they stood for some piece of the American Ideal, the American Dream.

However, in today's age where selfish motivations are the overriding impetus for damn near everything we do, I'm surprised that we don't see a HERO who is doing things for himself, who is essentially a villain because he uses his special gifts for personal gain instead of serving humanity -- and he's not swayed by the so-called voice of reason.

In the new season, we've been introduced to Maya, a Latin American refugee with special gifts, and we already know from the way her story is unfolding she's going to be ending up on the side of "good." This a little ho-hum to me, because she could be like like Hugo Chavez, and have a mindset of a revolutionary, who is looking to use her powers for reasons that don't jibe with the North American halcyon view of things.

That would be cool... will Tim Kring and his people go down that road? Odds are "nah", but we'll see... it would make the show that much more interesting.

Play Yourself Like the White Trash You Is

Cumdumpster B. Spears
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

I never would have thought that one of our favorite cumdumpsters would embarrass herself any more than she has than what she did at the MTV VMA's -- a place where she was known to rule the masses, instead she showed her ass -- the pink of it!

The fact that Entertainment Weekly was shouting "The Horror, The Horror" in its best Marlon Brando voice circa Apocalypse Now!, just reinforces the fact that pop loves to rip the shit out of its icons more than it likes to the prop them and seemingly put them beyond reproach.

Truth be told the woman never had any talent anyway, a new fangled Milli Vanilli if you ask me -- just a marketed chick with high sexy appeal -- when squeezed through the manufactured beauty machine.

Is it sad?

It's sad that we care more about her than the credit crisis that will spell the death knell for hundreds of families.

On the Road To The UN

Iraqi fucking with their oil
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is coming to the UN to spit vitriol and then he'll head uptown to Columbia University to continue his verbal tirade's only he'll have questioning students assault him with logic and moral understanding... something that he's not presented with in his native Persian empire.

Some people wonder if this man, this dictator, should even be allowed in the country... and maybe he shouldn't as it is US State Department's MO to deny Middle Eastern political player to come to the US in order to address the UN General Assembly.

Ahmadinejad isn't your typical head of state, he's a member of the "revolution" who rose up the ranks and eventually became master & commander. Outside of China's Gang of Five (or Four), I can't think of any leader who was part of the so-called "Revolution" and survived long enough to then become head of state -- I don't think Khruschev was part of Lenin's inner circle or part of the Stalin's gang -- and the idiots in the Khmer Rouge never succeeded Pol Pot because they country disintegrated when VietNam invaded.

Ahmadinejad is a recalcitrant one, though, as he demands Persian nuclear weapons to go along with their obscene and trenchant brand of Shi'ism. Even new French Prez Sarkozy wants sanctions slapped across the mouth of this fool. And when a Frenchie is talking tough -- especially about an Iranian -- then you know the man and his followers/sycophants are really bad for the planet.

Still, I'd be curious to be in the Columbia University lecture hall to hear the man rip the United States and the West in general a new asshole -- the type of dick-slapping of the current regime that would NEVER be allowed in his country, under any circumstances. Because once he's done, he's going to have to answer some questions from the student body and others in the audience... and they're going to break his jaw and shit down his throat... but it a nice way, a way that'll make Ahmadinejad look like an idiot.

Modern Day Citizen Kane

Modern Day Citizen Kane
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

You know I had been avidly following the story behind Rupert Murdoch's battle to acquire Dow Jones, and it's flagship publication The Wall Street Journal, and it just smacked of something out that Orson Welles classic piece of cinema.

it doesn't bode well for the "fairness" of the business press when a far-reaching business owns one of the top international media outlets for so-called "hard news" with a business slant to it.

Will we really see the change in the way news -- particularly news that could adversely affect any of Murdoch's other business ventures -- be covered differently? No, the change in editorially will be glacial and then maybe in 5 or 6 years from now the new face of the Journal will only be apparent those who style mavens who exude a talent for pattern recognition.

Retreat!?!? From what Objective...

Fuck! There's too many of them! Fall back!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Today I was listening to some Veterans of Foreign Wars speak about the much-ballyhooed Pull-Out of American Forces from that nasty quagmire formerly known as Iraq.

What people keep saying is that we can't leave until we've finished our mission, finished our objective... my question is, what the fuck exactly is our mission?

The fact that it can't be pitched Hollywood style in less than three sentences is the reason why it's a cluster fuck in the Middle East and Iraq specifically -- people are dying, money is being wasted, and animosity is being generated, because there really isn't any concrete plans, benchmarks and goal breakthrus for the military, the government or the U.S. citizens to monitor the successes and failures of Dubya's War...

A pull-out just needs to happen, because we can't keep soldiers there for years at a clip... at least rotate people from places like Europe and South Korea to the region, to give those poor souls who are getting heat stroke on the regular a break and a chance to see their families.

It's hard to tell what success in the country would constitute, and since that's not an ideal state to be in, it's best to figure that out so we can then turn tail and run AND STILL save face.

Obviously preventing the ripping apart of the country is the only major goal/mission -- but that's not something the US or anything cabal of countries could prevent from happening IF the Iraqis wanted to happen.

Pull out as soon as possible, eat the shit the Dubya has been concocting in a pot and waiting to serve since instigating the invasion, and see who America withstands feces-breath for years (if not decades) to come... 'cause the Brits are already on their way out, and we'll be the last man standing, holding the lion by the tail as the whirlwind comes a-reaping...

Wage Slaves - Man, I Wish!!!!

The Race Card
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

You know the one thing that is hard as fuck for niggas to do? And is something that white people just don't get it? Getting a job.

If you're non-black and you're reading this, stop and think about the job that you have... how many black people are in your workplace? And don't count the chump-change jobs like the delivery guy or the security guy or the janitor.

Probably not a lot, huh? Probably one or two people on your whole floor and maybe someone working as the receptionist.

Now think about the places you go, like retail establishments and restaurants and movie theaters and gas stations or 7-Eleven clerks (no niggas there!!!).

I'm gonna say that your mail deliver person (USPS or FedEx or UPS) to your house could be a nigga, and there's probably a few cops, not to mention most of the people at the DMV or any mind-numbing government job.

Niggas are typically assed out when it comes to better paying jobs - now I'm not even talking about high paying jobs, I'm talking about jobs that pay over $25K a year BEFORE TAXES!

There was a book about the culture of fear that was discussed in that Michael Moore movie Bowling For Columbine, where the author (a USC sociology professor) stated that the average black man with a college degree and some post-graduate work under his belt with work experience is making the same or less than the average white man who only has a high school diploma!!! A high school diploma, what the fuck is that?

So the term wage slave most likely refers to white peope who WISH they had more high-paying, more flexible jobs.

Controlling What Survives In The Market

The Enemy's HQ
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

I was listenin to the Wall Street Journal Report the other day and something very interesting was discussed -- the success of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD, and the WSJ predicted that HD-DVD would be come the standard because WalMart -- in its quest to supply the US consumer with the cheapest possible prices, that is hammering manufacturers to provide cheaper and cheaper wholesale prices -- will be stocking its shelves with HD-DVD and not Blu-Ray; simply because the manufacturing costs and therefore the profit margin for the retails in lower on Blu-Ray than on HD-DVD. T

hus WalMart won't be stocking Blu-Ray, and because of WalMart's market share, buying power and hypnosis of consumers, Sony and its colleagues are going to be assed out.

Now we'll have to see what actually happens, but it's a sure bet by next year this time we'll know about the fate of Blu-Ray.

The problem Sony has is that they bet the farm on the Blu-Ray technology by installing it in its Playstation 3 (the main reason by the platform is so expense and isn't performing that well). So if Blu-Ray crashes, because WalMart won't stock it will Sony have to design a Playstation 3 with HD-DVD? In order to make the platform relevant?

Sony fired the father of the Playstation recently, so no doubt the Playstation 4 (when it comes out a year before the Mayan Calender ends) will use whatever is the agreed upon DVD format of the time or won't even require a removable media option, because all games will be downloaded over the internet (which would lead to unlimited pirating).

However the more indisious thing about this story is WalMart -- the whims of that oppressive retailer will be dictating the success of new products? That's an extremely scary notion. WalMart is known for playing hardball with manufacturers to get prices as low as possible -- many a company will tell you that in order to meet the WalMart price requirements outsourcing and using sweat-shop child labor has become part of the business practice.

In our quest to keep buying whatever the fuck we can think of, we're in effect stiffling innovation and fueling child labor (read slavery) in various parts of the 3rd World. And WalMart is the Pied Piper of Hamlen leading us all to the brink of destruction -- happily!!!

Take It With A Broom Stick?

is that a dick across the table? It's mine, mine, mine!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So the head of the Hollywood Skank Mafia has been ordered to serve 45 Days in the Los Angeles County Jail! And apparently the judge said there wasn't going to be any "in lieu of" type of sentencing, that our favorite cum dumpster would have to serve the full 45 days.

From the various news reports about what happened, the Airhead heiress was driving WHILE drunk with a suspended license from another DUI that she was dick-slapped with only a few months prior.

Truth be told I wanna see the bitch get a beat-down in the slam. 'Cause ya know she gonna try hard as hell not to serve no time. I bet the funny sight is gonna be seeing this broad when she gets out 'cause she aint' gonna have her blonde hair dye or any of the much-need beauty products that she hasta use on daily basis just to look like she's a sexy vixen. If you ever get to see this broad up-close-n-personal, you'll see that she needs those beauty product endorsement gigs -- 'cause she's hit!

What would make this story a lot funnier would be to have O.J. Simpson speak out either for or against Paris's stint in LA County. Not to mention his media presence alone would indicate that money doesn't always get you out of every jam -- particularly when you engender such animosity as Paris has with all the dick-smacking that she does to people throughout society.

LA County -- even the female section -- is by no means an easy ride. Unfornately, I don't know if this is going to be a "Magnificent Ambersons" style of cumupence for the Airhear Heiress, because tough-girl Michelle Rodriguez was given a similar sentence for a DUI and only spent around 5 hours in LA County, before the Corrections Officials decided to release Rodriguez. COs have to deal with those over-crowding issues and they're not about to deal with the celebrity circus if they don't need to.

However, I wouldn't put it pass the sentencing judget to instruct the Prison Officials to put up with any and all boolshit that Paris brings to the table in hopes of skipping out on her sentencing. You have to admit that the criminal justice system needs to show that it's not subject to overt or covert bribery and to have a scandal-hound yuothful heir do time (much like Martha Stewart) would be just what the country needs. And unlike Martha who spent time in club fed, Paris will be in the gen pop of LA County where the broom-stick wielding cholas run things in ways that Paris probably never even contemplates.

It would sure humble her in the right way.

So only time will tell...

Getting Ass-Fucked

Road Warriors
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

One of the myriad of problems of living in Los Angeles is the near-complete dependence on a car. We all know about Southern California being the car economy, perhaps the most dynamic auto market on the planet -- for a variety of reasons that I'm not going to get into here.

What I'm going to get into here is what happens when one's precious auto, goes on the fritz and needs service/repairs. Your options are to go to the dealer, over-pay and perhaps get quality service... although most likely you'll get C- work on your car. Your second option is to find a reliable mechanic... which in a city of getting over on muthafuckas and dicking people out of their hard-earned cash is a difficult proposition to successfully navigate.

I was a little tired of going to the VW dealer, 'cause I noticed that they wouldn't tell me things that were wrong with the car, i.e. an alignment issue. So I had sought out a reliable and respectable mechanic... a few actually, but none really made a strong impression on me except this one Filipino guy out in Reseda and this Armenian who runs a place called Eurowurx in Burbank.

The worst though came last January, when I felt the car needed a little more than a service... perhaps a tune-up, because the engine was strenuous while idling. I was living deep on the westside of the fucking San Fernando Valley and couldn't get to a good mechanic, nor did I know one (as Eurowurx has moved, or so I thought). So went online to www.cartalk.com ('cause I listen to that NPR radio show from time to time on Sunday mornings when I'm too thrashed to get out of bed) and checked out their "Mechanic Recommendation" boards. I came across a shop called Stuart's German Auto Specialist, which was based in Burbank -- near the Disney studios where I was working at that time.

I go in with an appointment to see ths dude named Stuart Schreiber the owner/sole mechanic... explain to him what I want -- oil change, look at the brakes and see if a tune-up is necessary because of the hard idle. Stuart agrees, and then proceeds to TAKE FOUR DAYS to do this so-called minor service. It's costing me daily rental car fees, and I could only guess what the bill was going to be for his labor.

When I finally do get the car, I'm tempted to stop order the check 'cause Stuart Schreiber cost me so much extra cash. Here's were it turns to shit and I bend over and spread my ass cheeks. I pick up the car on a Saturday morning and drive around all weekend. culminating with a smoking hot date with the girl I was just beginning to date... we come back from a party on Sunday night, and due to other stupid ass circumstances, we can't go up into her place to have sex or go to mine ('cause the owner of the house I was staying at had these two ass-bag bulldogs who weren't really housetrained).

Me and my girl are making out in the car in front her apartment, with the engine idling, and we notice steam coming up from the engine. I look at the engine temp guage and it's deep in the red zone! I shut the car off and let it cool down for about 45 minutes, as we continue to do everything but fuck in the front seat of my car.

When it's about 5am, my girl goes inside and I have to drive back from Hollywood to Woodland muthafucking Hills -- the car is overheating the whole time, and I'm stopping to fill the coolant resevoir up with first coolant and then water every three highway exits.

The next day I call Stuart tell him my troubles and he says he'll do any repairs free of charge, if the problem was something he caused or overlooked. I tell him what about the tow!!?! It's going to cost me about $70 to get the car towed to his garage -- even with AAA!!! He agrees to pay for that, too, if it's his fault.

Baghdad Wall

Watts Riot - Get back in your house, Nigger!
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Why did this stupid idea remind me of Berlin in 1952? Or Israel's occupied territories last summer?! Or the Rio Grande border anytime recently?

For some reason people honestly believe that putting up a wall between two opposing factions is actually going to work.

The one thing that this Division Wall in Baghdad proved is that the U.S. Military is the most devisive force there is in Iraq -- Sunni and Shia, factions that have been slitting each others throats for the better part of the War in Iraq, abandoned their mutual hatred for a common external hatred -- that of the US Armed Forces in Iraq.

No doubt the so-called SURGE, has proved to be a futiles as any other effort to qwell the chaos in an arab country (now that could be anywhere)... now why is that?

Toyota bitch-slaps GM!

You knew it was gonna happen this year, I knew it was gonna happen this, and not that it happened what do we think about it?

Toyota surpassed GM in sales for the first time in the first quarter of 2007. Toyota’s ascendancy, which many in the auto game had predicted for some time, is another milestone in America’s long decline from unchallenged industrial preeminence. A decline that actually spells, "fuck you, gringo."

G.M. swept past Ford in 1931 in the enormous American car market and in worldwide sales, and barely looked back for seven decades. But a combination of inattention to quality -- the biggest issue with American cars... that and SHITTY-ASS design, strained labor relations, adverse regulatory decisions and a slowness to recognize the potential for small cars eroded G.M.’s seemingly insurmountable lead starting in the mid-1960s.

Emerging from the ashes of Japan’s World War II defeat, thanks in part to American assistance during the Korean War, Toyota established itself through the 1970s and 1980s as the industry’s standard for quality and reliability. It has since built a reputation for technological leadership as well, most notably with the Prius and other hybrid cars. Funny thing is Japanese automakers use techniques developed by dismissed US auto industry players.

Well, I can see Detroit becoming the next Mad Mad wasteland over the next five years and the main industry of that rusting metropolis continues to fail its populace.

Once again the "hip kids" laid the ground work for a youth rampage/massacre... Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were the previous ostricized individuals who decided to become Duke Nuk'em, don militia fatigues and take up arms against their aggressors -- they've been surpassed on the trip down the insane lane by VT Shooter Cho.

Cho gets props for using technology to distribute his mayhem manifesto (bigups to QuickTime... as this will surely be the tip of the iceberg for QT rants), because otherwise we wouldn't have actually heard his words or seen his pained face... the FBI would have censored it, or the news media outlets would have only given us the snipets they FELT we should have access to. As I watched clips of Cho's outbursts/rants, it occurred to me... it wasn't a question of what made him snap that fateful Monday -- because obviously he snapped days, if not weeks or months prior -- but how did he keep it together for as long as he did, and why did he choose that Monday to unload his 9mms?

You might be asking why I said the "hip kids" laid the ground work for Cho's impersonatin of Frank Castle aka THE PUNISHER, because it was stated in a background story about Cho that when he moved to the US from South Korea when he was 9, because of his limited mastery of English he became the whipping boy, target of pranks by those kids who think they're too cool for school. Every culture has that same issue with the way young kids interact with "the other" (which is perceived and relative designation) -- some would say it's just part of growing up. However, in a base culture like that of America's where being considered "cool" or part of the "in-crowd" is more important than anything else IN AN ACADEMIC SETTING. The seeds for non-normal social adult life are planted in junior high and high school. If you think back to elementary school, pretty much everybody was on equal ground in terms of the social strucutre... although changes once kids become 10, 11 and 12...

Honestly, I'm surprised that there's not more of these style rampage killings on college campuses and at high schools. Since the repellant rise of Paris Hilton and these new Mean Girl/skank mafia types (Brittany, Lindsay, et al.) over the past three to five years, the pressure to get with a girl to get pussy it EVERYTHING. These days girls are liable to suck a mean dick (see my post on Lipsticking back in Dec. 06) as easily as they would give a peck on the cheek say circa 1999. If you happen to be one of those guys who doesn't falls into the category where your dick can be used in a lipsticking contest or actually get to fuck, then you're going to be mad. Also, if the "in-crowd" does it's best to single you... they become Ego Assassins -- you're going to sink and sink and sink... and ultimately you might rise out of it when you go off to college -- where self-reinvention is staple of the institution -- but the damage has been, and most people don't fully recover... they just fall in to one of those categories that we can all label when it comes to who's who and who's what upon college graduation.

Cho gets no props for what he did, but the pundits and psychologists have an opportunity to indicit the youth culture and sadly they won't. The culture that breads serial killers, now also has the dubious distinction of breading youth rampage killers... that's no accident.

Postscript to Imus Debacle

Ethiopain Immiator - Bert Williams
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Here's part of an article from Newsday... My commentary is in bold...
It's more than just Imus
Shaun Powell
SPORTS COLUMNIST

April 12, 2007

In retrospect, outraged people shouldn't have united and screamed "blank you" to Don Imus the last few days. No, instead, we should've stuck out our hand and said, "Thank you."

We should feel indebted to a shriveled, unfunny, insensitive frog for being so ignorant that he actually did us all a favor. He woke society the hell up. He grabbed it by the throat, shook hard and ordered us to take a long, critical look at ourselves and the mess we've made and ignored for much too long. He made us examine the culture and the characters we've created for ourselves, our impressionable young people and our future. The piss-poor pop culture and its icons that have grown out of the so-called equalizing of Blacks throughout the 90s via hip-hop... is one the most extreme lies that have been believed by the masses.

Had Imus not called a bunch of proud and innocent young women "nappy-headed hos," would we be as ashamed of what we see as we are today?

Or, to quote Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer: "Have we really lost our moral fiber?"

And our minds as well?

I'm not sure if the last few days will serve as a watershed moment for this MTV, middle-finger, screw-you generation. Probably not, according to my hunch. A short time from now, the hysteria will turn to vapor, folks will settle back into their routines, somebody will pump up the volume on the latest poison produced by hip-hop while Al Sharpton and the other racial ambulance chasers will find other guilt-ridden white folks to shake for fame and cash. How does Al Sharpton make his living anyway? He ran for president in 2004, so he's obviously make some illegit cash... only I can't figure it out... I mean yeah, he is a Reverend, so he' s liable to be skimming from the church he fronts. In five minutes, the entire episode of Imus and his strange idea of humor will be older than his hairstyle. Lessons learned will be lessons forgotten.

I wish I were wrong about that last part. But I doubt it, because any minute now, black people will resume calling themselves bitches and hos and the N-word and in the ultimate sign of hypocrisy, neither Rutgers nor anyone else will call a news conference about that.

Because when we really get to the root of the problem, this isn't about Imus. This is about a culture we -- meaning black folks -- created and condoned and packaged for white power brokers to sell and shock jocks like Imus to exploit. Can we talk? The pre-packaging of the worst of Black culture for white power brokers and financiers to cull more money than modern-day adjusted slavery reparations would be worth

Tell me: Where did an old white guy like Imus learn the word "ho"?

Was that always part of his vocabulary? Or did he borrow it from Jay-Z and Dave Chappelle and Snoop Dogg?have to say that he borrowed it, like damn near everything else considered "pop"

What really disappointed me about that exhausting Rutgers news conference, which was slyly used as a recruiting pitch by Stringer, was the absence of the truth and the lack of backbone and courage. Black women had the perfect opportunity to lash out at their most dangerous oppressors -- black men -- and yet they kept the focus on a white guy.This is the god's honest true... Black men oppress each other and Black women on a level that is highly inappropriate and continues to the be race's Achilles' Heel.

It was a tremendous letdown for me, personally and professionally. I wanted Stringer, and especially her players, many of whom listen to rap and hip-hop, to take Nelly to task. Or BET. Or MTV. Or the gangsta culture that is suffocating our kids. They had the ear and eye of the nation trained upon them, and yet these women didn't get to the point and the root of the matter. They danced around it, and I guess I should've known better, because black people still refuse to lash out against those black people who are doing harm to us all.Sad thing about Stringer and her charges is that no one was there to "coach" them the way Imus was obviously coached, and the way you need coaching in today's PR'd and Spin Rx culture... and with Al Sharpton rallying the troops, at least a deeper social message could have and should have been said. Granted it is hard to be the one Black who points fingers, because the term "Uncle Tom" I believe has no equivalent in any other ethnographic grouping.

Honestly, I wasn't holding my breath for Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, a pair of phony and self-appointed leaders, because they have their agendas and financial stakes. I was hoping 10 young women, who have nothing on the line, who are members of a young culture, would train their attention to within the race, name names and say enough is enough. But they didn't, and I was crushed.

You should walk around the playground and the elementary and high schools today and listen to how young black people speak to each other, treat each other and tease each other. You'd be ashamed.The cycle of self-hate continues unabated, in fact enhanced by the lack of financial freedom that the majority of Blacks suffer from, the inability to cast a wider net on what is consider socially accetpable, i.e. "what it means to be black?" and by the images pushed by the media... a media that no Black has the ability to even guide their image.

Next, sample some of their CDs and look at the video games they're playing. And while you're at it, blame yourself for funding this garbage, for allowing your kids to support these companies and for not taking a stand against it or the so-called artists making it happen.

Black folks, for whatever reason, can be their own worst enemy. The criminal beauty of slavery is the Niggas ARE and WILL ALWAYS BE their own worst ankle-cutters... the crabs in a barrel concept isn't something that's misladenThe last several days, the media had us believe it was Don Imus. But deep down, we know better.

Lynching Imus

Birth of Fade Nigga Nation
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

So Don Imus got his nuts sliced off today. Too bad... not because I like the guy or loathe him, but because it's free speech being curtailed in an era of corporate control of the media. CBS just showed that they have no balls, no freedom because they're enslaved by those groups that boycott huge corporations when ever somebody says something objectionable and that someone is being sponsored by some NASDAQ-listed company who wears a chain and collar that leads all the way over to Madison Avenue.

Imus didn't say anything that white people (and other non-Blacks) say amongst themselves when microphones and n*ggers aren't around. I'm not saying that all white people trip out and drop racial bombs all the time, but it does happen -- who doesn't say wild outlandish from time to time. Frustration will cause racial hated -- the bete noir that has no expiration date for Americans -- to boil up and

As a shock-jock similar to Howard Stern, Imus was known for being offensive, bigot and misogynist -- his poison lyrics made him and CBS radio millions of dollars over the years. However, as the 21st Century marches on and Americanism loses its prominence, off-the-cuff "keep a nigga down" remarks or ANY kind of ethno-hate speech 'causes the kind uproar that refuses to allow cowardly advertising dollars from backing a stance that our country claims to have as a founding principal.

You might say, "well, Ramses, why should Gm or Procter & Gamble fund the vitriol that spews out of Imus' piehole?" How 'bout they back the rest of the bullshit images, messages and concepts that continue to have acting like sheep. It's only when act is so base, so harsh to the core (i.e. Michael Richards' outburst) do people sit up and notice. When Budweiser is trying to get you to suck down as much of its suds as it can with it's really subliminal life-style advertising. Now that is the true crime!

The problem with this is corporate lynching of past his prime court jester is that, people are NOT going to like certain groups that are different, particularly when the difference bread an entire lingua franca of degradation. I mean a few weeks ago, the lunatic president of Iran was claiming that the filmmakers behind the hit movie 300 were trying to disparage Persians -- as if the Battle of Thermopalye was some made up shit that didn't happen or that the Persians beat the Greeks into submission at that trully epic battle!!! I was like, and this man thinks it's ok to have nuclear bombs at his finger tips?
FUCK!
ME!


Imus' ability to say whatever the hell he wanted to say (within the FCC) is why he was successful, why he got stiff-ass white people to relax and speak candidly.

So just like cable TV vs. Network TV, broadcast radio has lost out -- questionable if it lost a talent, but it lost its relevance, its independence -- if had any left, once the news divisions of the networks were forced to make a profit.

Death of Icon symbolizes more?

I haven't posted in a long time, and that's just a personal matter. But on to business... I'm glancing through an old TIME magazine and in the "Milestones" section (where the death of important people is discussed) Marvel Comics' CAPTAIN AMERICA was listed among the newly dead.

Apparently my prediction from just about a year ago -- that in Marvel Comics' Civil War, Captain America would die -- actually came true. Obviously killing off Steve Rogers, the man behind the mask, is a ground breaking event; only we've seen it before with Superman, The Flash and several others.

However, the interesting thing about killing Captain America -- and the whole Civil War cross-over event -- is that Cap represented what is supposedly best about this country. He embodied it, lived it, and breathed it (not to mention he kicked a lot of ass defending it). And by killing him, the comic publisher took a huge stab at what's going on in the popular culture -- the death of American liberties as we know them under Prescott Bush's grandson's administration.

Comics became somewhat relevant again, they weren't totally regulated to being the fodder for terrible summer action movies aimed at an audience that never even read the characters in their Glory Days OR on their decline throughout the late 80s and early 90s.

Cap will live again... probably comes back in January after the new President is sworn in... that's what a notorious negro aggitator like myself would do.

It's All Gossip-Driven

I was listening to this radio show the other week about the state of affairs in the collapsing recording industry, and on the show many of the guests wresteld with the problem with pirated mp3s and the myriad of peer-to-peer download sites that are at their core stealing money from the artists and the propaganda organizations (the record companies). This one guest suggested that the model of cable TV be instituted for the web, in that each and every ISP would charge $3/month that a would funneled to ASCAP/BMI -- and then people can trade as much "illegal" music as they want AND the artists get compensated.

It's not a bad idea. Xtina Aguilera had recently lamented that the music business has become driven by the tabloids and the gossip columns -- if you think about it, that is too true. New music doesn't really have a chance of becoming internationally known unless the big media money is spent on it, and the Record Companies seem to only want to spend money on the well established acts (which also have a back catalog). For instance, I've been listening to this CD (yeah, I actually bought the CD) of this supergroup from the UK called THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE QUEEN; it's Damon Albarn's new project that Danger Mouse produced that features Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and The Clash's bassist Paul Simonon. You'd think there'd be a lot of buzz about this music, off the participants alone, not to mention the quality of the tracks.

It actually drives a nail into my dick knowing that the a huge element of pop culture is dictated by the bratty rich bitch behavior of Hollywood socialites. Music, arguably one of the most plebian-influencing activity, is caught in the deathgrip of "did you hear that Brittany cut off all her hair?" or "Jessica Simpson is dating John Mayer! No, they're not... oh, yes they are" or "Cameron Diaz just bitch-slapped Justin Timberlake at the Sunset Marquis." See -- nothing of any actual importance, in fact it's the kind of crappy drivel that people will talk about at the watercooler at the office or what they'll read about when 15 different photographs from 15 different photographers about the same subject on 10 different magazines... er, tabloids masquerading as magazines.

So where are we actually with music without the continuous mulch of bullshit.

A Surprise for the Establishment

Henry Box Brown - A Nigga Who GOT OVER
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

What can I say, Obama in '08 is probably the least surprising thing about Washington politics since Bush won AGAIN in '04. Mainly because I remember people talking about Barak that half-Naija/half-white junior senator from Illinois as a possible presidential candidate before he even took the Oath of Office for Senator!

I figure he has to spend all of his time creating a platform, and unlike most white politicians I seriously doubt that Barak has any skeletons in his closet -- no mistresses, no cocaine-abuse, no fake military service that Daddy can erase with the wave of a hand, no junkie wives, little known drug use, no homosexual sibilings or children, no affiliation with crooked business men, no war time scandal that comes back to haunt. All those things that if the GOP found out about they would crucify him before the Primaries.

Obama's time has CEO of the Harvard Law Review is where people will look to smack him and go negative, but even then I suspect that's

Black People in his generation, who want to go in to politics, know that whitey is out to fade, so they've been working for a long time to stay on the straight and narrow. 'Cause if ya thought skulldugger practictioners like Carl Rove stick hot pokers up the ass of people like John McCain, John Kerry or Bill Bradley -- imagine how much Rove AND HIS WHOLE CREW would like to skewer a nigga looking to hold the highest office in the land.

Let's not forget that MANY a people claimed that having Bill Clinton in the white house was a dry run for how a nigga would behave up in there! In fact, Clinton lauded by many in the Black community for acting like "we would" when he was getting lynching for using a Monte Cristo as a sex toy.

I'm reading this Rolling Stone article on Barak, and I'm getting a copy of his book from the LA Library (still homeless, so buy copies of hardbacks only works to hurt my back more) to read up on what Barak's mind-state is, 'cause if he can win the Democratic nomation... this country is about to have a dose of the racial tension that nearly drowned it after the OJ Trial.

What will happen is that because there is precious little SHIT to smear on Barak, the GOP and any right leaning Democratic, will just pull up the race card as the political game of Texas No Limit is played over the next 21 months.

Speaking of No Limit, there's been estimates that $100 million (if not quite a lot more) will need to spent to capture the White House this time. When I heard that I was like, WHAT THE FUCK? I might have miss heard, when they actually meant a billion dollars. It was on NPR, and apparently there was a breakdown on what Bush and Kerry spent their money on, so I have to check that out -- as that kind of green is obscene, particularly since Bush wasted all the United States' political capital internationally and the Country's economy doesn't affect the globe the way it used to.

But still that's a lot of money for a SINGLE campaign. I'm obviously in the wrong business, I need to be one of those guys on K-Street who collect bucks hand over fist just to peddle influence!

The price of Beauty

Ever heard of Taiza Thomsen? Yeah, me neither. But anyway, she was the 2002 Miss Brazil and she fled the scene shortly afterwards and people thought she was the victim of fould play or kidnapping. Yet, she was doing well and good living in isolation in London. Even her parents didn't know where the hell she was. Taiza just wants to be left alone... that classic line uttered by Greta Garbo still has weight.

Apparently, being crown a fuck object in the world's most sexually explicit country isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Reverse Beatdown!

Birth of Fade Nigga Nation
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

This past week saw the "guilty" verdict handed down in Long Beach, CA in regards to a hate crime that occurred last Halloween in which at least 10 Black Youths beat THE FUCK OUT of three white girls (in their late teens/early 20s) -- and when I say beat down, I mean damn near massacring these babes and these niggas shouted: 'fucking whites! fucking whites" -- which immediately turned the attempted murder into a hate crime.

Skateboards and Timberlands were the weapons of choice, which lead to possible loss of eyesight, brokens ribs, arms and face bones.

Not to mention psychic scarring -- best believe these white chicks will think twice about even walking down the same sidewalk with a bunch of niggas!

Not pretty to say the least.

This event no doubt polarized the community in Long Beach... that sleepy town just south of Los Angeles that gave birth to Snoop Dogg and Cameron Diaz (who ironically were at the same high school at the same time), and doesn't crop up in the news -- at least the national news that much -- but there it was front and center.

Apparently, 9 out of 10 "Black Youths" were found guilty, but ironically they're only either facing time in the Juvenile Facilty or Probation!

For that kind of asswhipping?!?! I'm surprised they're not being hunted down and strung up by Aryans or by these Latino gangbangers that are looking to make a name for themselves by slaughter niggas in broad daylight.

Racial tensions erupt more and more in SoCal, because the economic situation continues to grow bleaker and bleaker, but people don't give a good fuck. Everyone is so concerned about their personal and familial struggles that they might be seeing that LA County is approaching the tipping point in terms it's ability to provided wages that aren't being eaten by inflation and extreme competiton that could provide extended prosperity for the bulk of the population.

Biggest issue facing SoCal is -- what does this part of the nation produce (that's in the urbanized zones) that couldn't be farmed out to India or Southeast Asia for pennies on the dollar in savings?

Not much... induststry is so threadbare compared to what it was in just late 80s, and yet 1000 people move to this city/county every fucking day.

Can anyone say, "Blade Runner?"

Niggas vs Spics!

Armed Troops in Liberia
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Ya know what the social topic of the month is in LA? A surprising strange rise of Spics killing Niggas in the mean streets of LA -- and not for drug beef, but still a simple factor of territory control.

It seems that latinos in LA are looking to reclamate certain parts of the city from the "negro menance" and they're killing innocent Blacks (like 14 year old girls) to send a message -- "Darkies get out!" The ghettos of LA have given

This one spic fool was interviewed on the radio talking about how Black people are "unclean and that they bring ghettoism." Like that's a word (more on that in a sec). Quite frankly I was shocked, because if you look at these poor Hispanic neighborhoods that have their own style of ghetto traits and sanitary habits that would make a OCD Victim kill themselves... not to mention the smell of refried beans permeates the air, the carpet and the walls of low income and poverty level latino communities.

Who would think that these two groups -- both people of color with an oppressed past in the US -- would turn on each other! Just goes to show that Afro-Americans never catch a break.

However these latinos need to recognize that all the Civil Rights work that Black people spearheaded, took the most ass-beatings and raised enough shit so MEXICANS could get a fair shake -- and here they go capping niggas for kicks and claiming that all niggas are good for is bringing ghettoism to their 'hoods.

The thing about Latino/Black gang violence is that the concept of "stopping it" has to come from a pure desire to reconcile in respect to a purely subjective issue -- it's not about drugs, it's just about skin color -- the perpertual problem of America for all times.

But back to this term "ghettoism" -- the way that word is used in popular culture days lets me know that Black people took ownership of that word throughout the mid 90s in rap music and made it a badge of dubious honor. So much so that the rest of the American population use the word ghetto as an adjective to describe behavior that is decidedly classless, behavior that has no shame, behavior that is indicative of generations of institutional racism, poverty and iirational assault by whites.

I don't know how this new crop of racial violence is going to pan. I assume that it'll only get worse and the reprisal attacks will get more and more random, striking complete innocents and then when it encroaches into the white part of town, then and only then will the police and maybe even the national guard come out and crack down on the bullshit.

Congress Wants To Line Your Pocket

$20 Stacks
Originally uploaded by Phalanx.

Well... not really, but what Congress wants to do is raise the minimum wage... to a whopping $7.25/hour!!!!

Yeah, the price of a Large Value Meal at Wendy's.

The concept of a minimum wage is a misnomer. It is basically a wage that curbs peoples appetite for turning to crime to get by and/or avoids insanity (which usually leads to homelessness). That's not to say one doesn't need to have to two or three minimum wage jobs just to survive.

Brothers Gonna Work It Out!!!

I didn't know if this day would come before or after I had children, and I'm glad it's happened before -- what am I talking about? Well, we know that the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears are headed for a showdown in the SuperBowl, but is must remarkable is that no matter what happens A NIGGA IS GOING TO WALK AWAY WITH THE VINCE LOMBARDI TROPHY.

Yeah, that's right.
It's either Tony Dungy, who's been paying his dues since like forever, or Lovey Smith, who I'm sure has been paying his dues just as long, but not with the media spotlight that Dungy has had since Dungy's been a premiere NFL head coach for at leat 5 years.

After all those years of the Good Ole Boys claiming that Black men didn't have the mental capacity to be quarterbacks, let alone head coach in the NATIONAL Football League. Hats off to those Brothers.

You know the thing about it is Dungy and Smith are no doubt opening the doors for other minority head coaches, but I wonder if we'll see an Asian (any style - Indian, Chinese, Samoan) get on within the next decade or so (unless there already is one, I don't follow the pigskin gladiators all that much).

It's such a big thing though, because Black people -- particularly Black men -- have been systematically, institutionally and continually told that they don't have the "intelligence" to really kick it live in any era of so-called modern America. And yet here we are having two Brothas vie for the prize of all prizes, and in an era that is more complicated - technology-wise - than we've ever seen in pro football (in pro sports in general). That says something to me more than the fact that they are Black and are coaching, as there have been Black football coaches in college for quite sometime -- ever since all-Black colleges and universities suited up teams for the combat on the gridiron.

I wonder if Lombardi is spinning in his grave? I'm up on the fact if he kept niggas down or not, or even if he had niggas playing for the Packers (I doubt it though, too cold for Blacks to be up there anyway...)

Uh... is this what it has come down to?

I mean come on, now!!!! What the fuck?!?

But of course we know that a nigger can be Prez before a bitch...
Still I don't know if Hillary Clinton in '08 is a good prospect for the Country, much like Obama, Clinton immediately creates polarization amongst the voting populace. Since she's a double lightning rod for the GOP -- a bitch and a Clinton -- it gives the GOP a perfect sounding board for the "Get Out The Vote" campaign that they're going to need for the general election.

As much as I want to see Obama win the ticket, win the White House, I can see the election looking just like the 2000 election when the country was so split down Red/Blue State lines, with Obama potentially taking the popular vote (although highly unlikely, 'cause he's of Nigerian descent) and whoever the GOP prop up with Carl Rove dirty tricks winning the electorial college voting.

The same thing would happen with Hillary, and that's if she can get over the fact that she's a woman. Too many men AND WOMEN operate under the assumption that Women don't have the true-grit mindset to deal the confrontational nature of national and international politics... I think outside of Britain, the Philippines and India, there hasn't been a female leader on the world stage... until that new PM of Germany won oh, so recently. Britain and Germany get a pass, because the systematic debasing of women isn't part of their culture the way it is the land of the free, the home of the brave (my favorite oxymoron in the history of the world).

You have to realize that the GOP are going to capitalize on Hillary's scorned woman persona that she has left behind... not tripping and standing behind her man (good ole Bill) might look like she's soft and will accept being slighted to her core. Imagine the similar questions that were asked of Michael Dukakis about his wife getting raped, being aimed at Hillary? I'm shuddering now, and if she ever just once even has tears welling up in her eyes SHE IS THROUGH, completely and utterly.

The '08 means more to the GOP than it does to the Dems, because if they lose after Dubya's assfucking of the country (Iraw debacle, economy, domestic civil rights policies, sucking Big Businesses dick) then they'll be out of the national power circle for some time. As it's hard to believe that they'll win back the Congress this time around, too. Not to mention any new supreme court appointments.

I just don't want to see the Monica Lewinsky shit get rehashed AGAIN, and it will be. I can see Carl Rove know pulling up the video tape from the archives already, getting ready to smash the prospect of women president -- in general, let alone Hillary -- by showing the bullshit media coverage of "Cigar-in-the-pussy-gate."

The election season just got cranked up to nasty level 12...

I'm single now, so.... who wants to fuck?!

Did you see the Golden Globes on Monday? Yeah, blah, blah, blah, -- nothing exciting except for Helen Mirren (at 60 she still looks sexy, and you know from his recent appearance in the Caligula remake, she's still freaky) but Reese Witherspoon perhaps looked the best, nay the most fuckable that I've ever seen her...

Of course she always looks movie star beautiful when ever she's OUT at events to get photographed, but this is her first time amongst the rich & beautiful since her split from what's his name, and she HAD to look extra hot, to let people know that, "okay, yes, I'm sexy, but I'm not getting sex right now -- so all you hot, young men who want to get down, don't not think of me as the Sexiest MILF you'll get to see.

Considering that she's way under 30, she is probably one of the primest catches in Hollywood at the moment; and since she's done with her first marriage, she's most likely to "do it right" the second time around... which is basically what they say, "the first one is practice."

Return of the Show of Shows

No, not Syd Casear, but the return of Jack Bauer and the gang at CTU! I've been telling people since the very beginning that this is TV best show since the invention of cable TV networks. Sure, THE WIRE and update of BATTLESTAR GALATTICA and SEINFELD fall within the pantheon of great shows, but they're not as captivating and addictive as "24".

"24" is maybe the most gripping piece of televised drama that we'll ever likely see -- the editing style (which changed the game) and the pulse-pounding storylines were finally reward for an industry-insider award -- The Emmy this past fall. While some people complain about some of the logic in the show, "that's not real", I'm like, "fuck off, it's TV" -- because all that TV has to do is deliver 40 minutes of truthful emotions within in believeable scenes, so if any individual scene bends reality but its emotional core is true... then the scene works, and the show wins (for example car bombs that are wired to the ignition, I was reading up on how that happens, and most of the time the victim survives the actual explosion).

The thing about this scene of Jack Bauer's exploits is that we see a broken man tracking down terrorists under the auspecies of a presidential administration that is ready to suspend civil rights & liberities at a moments notice to get the answers that it wants... which closely resembles what's actually going on in the Dubya Bush administration. You have to love the way a TV show can criticize what's going on within the Beltway, and seem like its grandstanding on a soapbox.

What like so far about the latest daily installment is that Bauer, who was used to using torture to extract information, has been the victim of dehumanizing physical & mental abuse at the hands of the Chinese (before this season began) and he's unable to take on the "mindset" to be an effective counter-terrorist... or at least he's unsure of his abilities... which again makes for fantastic drama. And Bauer is initially released from the Chinese, because he's to be traded for information about an Arab terrorist; Bauer tortured and killed a defecting terrorists brother several years ago and now that dude -- in perfect Arabian mode of eye-for-an-eye -- wants to torture then murder Bauer... however, Bauer does escape.

It's an intersting prospect to consider what would happen if the names and addresses of the Haliburton-hired private contractors who ordered or carried out some of the most heinous toruture for info extraction purposes in Iraq, was leaked to terrorist cells operating here inside the US? It calls into question the concept of War Crimes by private citizens... what's the purview for that?

Anyway, the second part of "24"'s season openner is in about 3 hours, so I gotta get back to rousing the rabble on another subject...

Whole Sale Slaughterin'

Niggas cain't help but kill themselves, and over the most stupid things you can think of. I was listening to a report that in the past week in New Orleans there have been 8 murders! 8! The wackest of them all was the murder of the drummer for the Hot Eight Brass Band, because his death was apparently random violence.

Ray Nagan needs to get his ass in gear and put a lock down on that city. If you think about there is more killings per capita in New Orleans than any place else in the United States. The population is so small well under a million people, yet you get a person getting killed everyday - maybe even a few people each day. Over drugs and gold and women... three things that don't mean anything in the grand scheme of things, yet a triumvirate that holds sway over niggas like you won't believe!




And let's not mention Darrent Williams senseless killing on New Year's Eve! And what's even worse is not no one wants to come forward and drop a dime on the killers; who are apparent gangstas with some fear on the street rep. Being a snitch is the worst thing possible in the world of street niggas, because at a certain level one is perpetuating violence, abuse and gangsterism by not fingering dirty, society endangering people. But then again the police are going to do what they gotta do to bring you down, and for Blacks in America the history of getting taken down by Cops with trumped up charges and confessions has been too much.

Aren't You Curious...

So from time to time a serious bout of perversity invades my mental state, and I'm always wondering where the hell did that come from... well this clip below is probably what gave birth to it. It's a trailer to a fictionalized remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula. Take a look and then we'll get back to the good stuff...


When I was a college refreshman there was a lot of talk about FINALLY getting a chance to see the original film starring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren (who coincidentally shows up in the remake, I wonder what a weekend with her would have been like in her prime?!!) -- we had to get on a waiting list that was like six weeks of people. When my night finally came, I think about 15 to 20 people came to my room and we sat down to watch the film, and slowly minute by minute people began to drift out of the room from the highly, highly perverse and dehumanizing and disgusting sexual acts, sexually-charged violence and outright brutallity until there was maybe two or three people left (I left myself maybe 30 to 45 minutes in, just too disturbing; didn't want those images in my head... at least that's what I thought at the time).

However, here it is 17 years later and after seeing the frank/explicit sexual images in this film clip (which reminded me of the uncut sequence of sexual barbarism -- if you could call it that -- in EYES WIDE SHUT) I have to say that those images and the ideas expressed in Tinto Brass's CALIGULA easily shaped a look of the darker sexual imagations that I have today. Makes me wonder what other films have done to shape the minds of others...

I'll leave you with this: consider this... to be uninhibited about one's own sexual acitvities is not the same as being unshockable...

From Camp David to Concentration Camps?

Have you read the Peanut Farmer President’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”? I’ve haven’t yet, but it’s next in line for me, particularly after reading an article in today’s NYTimes that 14 of Atlanta’s business and civic leaders resigned from the Carter Center’s advisory board on Thursday to protest Jimmy’s recent criticisms of Israel and American Jewish political power.

Their multi-signature letter of “I’m quitting, peace!” dragged the best-selling book through the mud for its [scathing?] criticisms of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The letter also took issue with comments Mr. Carter has made suggesting that Israel’s supporters in the United States are using their power to stifle debate on the issue.
Here’s a quote from the letter, “It seems you have turned to a world of advocacy, even malicious advocacy,” the letter said. “We can no longer endorse your strident and uncompromising position. This is not the Carter Center or the Jimmy Carter we came to respect and support.” .

Now, Carter has a STRONG point that Israel’s backers in the US do quell any meaningful questioning of the US’ near 60 year unwavering, unquestioning support of Israel – even when it’s damaging to our oil & security interests in the so-called Holy Land region.

Truth be told you can’t criticize the current US-Israel foreign policy, by doing so it is de facto consider anti-Semitic and brings up charges of denying the suffering Jews faced during the 1930s & 40s during the Nazi pogroms...

That's a little problematic in my book, because the security concerns that are plaguing our nation, having all these troops sent to the Middle East to get killed (ranging all the way back to the Beirut bombing in 1984) stems from an unwillingness by the people of the United States and its government to approach the problems of the Holy Land (and the subsequent seepage into the rest of the Western world) with a neutral gaze.

There was a film I saw earlier this year called “Paradise Now” or something like that, it was from the Palestinian Territories and it followed two mid20s Arabs who wanted to become suicide bombers and blow up themselves and good chunk of Israelis in Jerusalem. And I was captivated on the depiction of everyday life in the occupied territories, just the location footage alone was enough to make you say, FUCK...

Is comparing the treatment of the Palestinians in refugee camps for close to 60s years comparable to Apartheid?

I’ma say, “Hell yeah!! ‘Cause muthafuckas who ain’t got no cribs for Big Mama and Big Mama’s mama -- let's be real, now, they had their cribs stolen from them --and are treated like the worst bunch of foul peoples on the face of the planet (that might be that regardless though) smacks of being too close to the P.W. Botha government view of niggas in South Africa.

Maybe it ain’t right to compare these apples and oranges (as the South Africans were extremely docile compared to the rock-thrown-at-tank Palestinians), but there ain't no reason for the issue not to be debated, and if Israel and its US supporters need to be put on Front Street for the hypocracy... then so be it!

Pump Up The Troops! Pump Up The Troops?

Dubya is determined to “win” in Iraq, but apparently his definition of winning is woefully out of date; in fact, it’s a 1950s definition. As “The Decider”, he asinine decision to increase the troops on the ground in Iraq (thereby overextending the military) is perhaps the most hubristic act of military inanity since Hilter thought he could overrun Moscow in the middle of the pre-global warming Russian winter!!

I don’t understand why a bicameral legislature – extremely similar to ours, where one house is proportionally represented and the other is a fixed representation – wasn’t in the “Game Plan” from the beginning. Dubya & Crew invaded the country under the aegis of bringing democracy to these wayward sand niggers, and yet the democracy that they wanted to bring (to a country/region that has no philosophical or actual precedence for it) wasn’t even considered; particularly in a region where the feuds and hatreds have been boiling over since before the concept of democracy existed!!! At least with a government similar to our congress (don’t ask me about the executive branch, maybe the two houses choose or there are general elections), the ethno-religious violence that is beyond out of hand (and approaching dastardly disturbing)

Some people say that we (i.e. the US via the Bush Administration) can’t let Iraq tear itself apart, that the vacuum that would appear if the G.I. Joes pulled out would tumble the region into chaos… uh, wasn’t the region circling the chaos drain during Hussein’s reign of terror anyway? If he wasn’t warring with the Islamic revolutionaries in Persia, then he nerve gassing people within his own borders with Sarin and other neurological goodies. It might do the region good, if Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran gobbled up the country – getting the oil out would be hard, and the price per barrel would skyrocket (although it shouldn’t because how much is the global economy getting out of that forsaken land as it is?), but eventually the region would calm down.

Nobody said that the country HAS TO continue to exist… it’s just that in the last 20 years, we’re used to seeing more countries from internal squabbles than less (i.e. break-up of the CCCP, East Timor, Ethiopia split, Czech Republic and Slovakia…), we’d be hard pressed to believe that the disappearance of country would be a good thing for its people. But let’s face it, the Arab Shi’ites would feel comfortable under Arab or Persian Shi’ia control, whereas the Kurds don’t want to be down with the Turks, but ethnically that’s where they belong. With the annexation by the surrounding countries, there is sure to be great amounts of Arab blood shed, but that’s not my concern – as that’s going to happen regardless of the outcome.

This one pundit last night posited the question, if a Marine scout force stumbled upon a Shi’ite militia versus Sunni insurgent firefight, the Arabs where join forces to eradicate the Marines, then go back to fighting themselves… now if that doesn’t sound hopeless, I don’t know what does…