Full Time Grindin'

"Presidential" by Youngbloodz

...just look up and read all the lyrics to that song...that was Gwen, Tina, and my cut back in the day...

The previously listed song is about acquiring material goods, having beautiful women on one's arm, and just being a generally cool cat.

Before you say anything, I'm not about to criticize hip hop.

The aforementioned themes of the song (that most other songs also share) are common themes of capitalism in a patriarchal oppressive society.

This country is a great example of democracy and capitalism but it is also a great stage on which corruption and greed perform luxurious dialogues.

The current economic collapse is evidence of such a performance.

This morning, the White House approved a $13.4 billion package for the ailing automobile industry.

Everytime I hear these numbers, I develop a fever. How is such a number possible (do not mention the $700 million package so as not to offend me)?

My father explained to me how the housing crisis erupted and became the catalyst for the tragedy that is the ecomony right now. In very rudimentary terms, it boils down to corruption and greed on the side of these institutions and greed on the part of the participating American residents.

Adjustable rates and interest only plans sound like stupid ideas to me and I am only 21, have a year left of college, and am not almost qualified to purchase a home. But what I understand from buying a home and building equity, interest only is counterproductive. Why pay only the interest on a home and build absolutely no equity? You are basically paying the profit directly to the loaner and building no wealth of your own.

Adjustable rates? That means they can manipulate the rates as they see fit. Of course, to get you to sign, it'll be spectacularly low. The next year, the rate is offensively jacked up and suddenly the Joneses cannot afford their mortgage.

People are left in a tight spot now. They have to pinch pennies all around so no money is circulating in the economy. Businesses suffer as people cannot afford the typical overindulgences of American culture. Bigger is better. More is better.

And people aren't buying cars. Every year my father and I would watch for the new lines of cars and discuss aesthetics and functionality, although our family wasn't actually buying a new car. Now, we don't have that conversation. Pocketbooks are so tight that simple discussion of things that cost money seems to incur debt.

Two million jobs have been lost this year, over 500,000 of them in the month of November alone. And according to many, things will not look up for a quite some time.

So the car industry has suffered to a degree I never imagined. This is a deep, deep recession. As they say, sh*t is about to get real.

_______

Back to our capitalism in a patriarchal oppressive society. Capitalism, as we practice it, must change. A free market is good but total freedom and a healthy market cannot coexist and the idea of its possibility is a fallacy.

We all have rules. We all have to live under rules and regulations. Why is wall street or any of those institutions that need a bailout now any different? The thing is, people, left unmonitored, are not honorable, at least not all the time. People are greedy. Humans are innately greedy, self-preserving creatures. That is why learning to share your toys in kindergarten is an important gauge for a child's social development. We have to be taught to give a damn about other people and what they want/need.

So these institutions were left unmonitored. The inflated the values of houses and there was no one to blow a whistle and say, "That house ain't worth no $700,000. Chill." No one can do that because the other banks are busy doing the same thing. The government is the only institution that has the clout to intervene. It has the power of the Constitution and law behind it.

This is where the party lines will be drawn in this entry. Conservatism abhors big government. The market should regulate itself. Liberalism thinks that big government is the only remedy. The market has to be regulated.

I am a liberal. The market has to be regulated. These banks inflated the prices of homes and lowered the qualifications to buy a home. Suddenly, everybody qualified to buy a home (and trust me, everybody did not qualify to buy a house). Now, you have people who owe more on their homes than the home is actually worth.

That is to say, if a house is worth only $200,000, the bank inflated the value to $500,000, the Jones bought the house under some bogus adjustable rate contract, the rates went up, the Jones couldn't afford it anymore, but they owed, $475,000 on a house that is only worth $200,000.

And the American residents. People who signed up for the $500,000 houses knowing they could not afford them under normal circumstances have a share in this blame. This whole culture of more, more, more is a problem but this is the culture we built and continue to subscribe to.

Money is to buy things, to impress people, to think well of ourselves, to work harder, to get money to buy more things.

Act Your Age or Your Shoe SIze

"50/50 Love" by Teddy Pendergrass

...said it's so good lovin' somebody when somebody loves you back...

In four weeks and 1 day, George W. Bush's administration comes to and end and will pass the torch to Barack Obama and his camp.

It just occurred to me that he will be leaving office and Barack is responsible for somehow ending the war in Iraq. I feel as though he has to stay in some kind of detention (he, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and whoever other idiot allowed this to happen) and help in ending this responsibly and with honest intelligence. He should be held accountable somehow. It aggravates me that he shall return life as a citizen in Dallas, Texas as soldiers and civilians continue to lose their lives and limbs.

He started this mess of a "war" by lying to everyone who wasn't in on this profit machine of an invasion of Iraq. He created this "surge" scheme so as to claim one victory in Iraq and the conservatives harp on that one claim all day, despite the juxtaposition of pain and treachery, demolition and carnage, that this surge is set against. But that isn't what this entry is supposed to be about.

But there are times, honestly, of late that I have felt bad for the man. At a recent speech following the election of Obama, he became a little choked up and I felt bad for him. In light of some of the world's leaders refusing to shake his hand, the constant jocular theme of discussion about Bush on almost every program, and now this incident in which an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him, I feel a little bad for him.

I admitted that to my mother, who, along with my father, hates Bush and conservative ideology in general, and she said that she does too. He is, after all, a human being and he is aware of his unpopularity within the country and the world and that is a devastating thing to a person.

I used to say, following several blunders in the Bush administration, that I couldn't decide whether George Bush was completely evil or utterly retarded. I have decided that he is neither.

Bush is a conservative. That in and of itself presented a problem for the way he handled the issues of our day. Secondly, he is a very privileged White male which makes it very hard for him to identify with the average American citizen or resident. Thirdly, the man is highly unqualified for the rigors of the job as president. He was a small part of a big machine that meant to accomplish specific things on behalf of rich, White, male Washington (and Texas).

However, when I think about things like the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the thousands of tragedies that are casualties of war, the casualties of the housing and job markets, I don't feel sorry for the buffoon anymore.

The people of New Orleans sat in contaminated water decorated with corpses for days before preliminary help was sent. And three years after the disaster, New Orleans has yet to return to better days. People, American citizens, were begging for help from the most powerful and most wealthy government on the face of the earth. That was embarrassing. There were other countries volunteering help and services and they were turned down by the government, who never really came into help. Bush just looked at New Orleans like it was a movie that he had nothing to do with.

And the war. I won't even say anything about the war so as not to be persecuted. My opinions might be a little to radical and I am not a citizen yet.

So George, I say that you are not evil. I say that you are not retarded. I say that you were a bad president. I say you might be the worst president in American history. I say you were not qualified for the job and you should have never been elected.

What your legacy is, we won't know for sure for several years. The secrets don't come out for at least 20 years so we'll have to wait for the history books of 2028.

**The fact that he got 2 shoes thrown at him is hilarious though. I could not stop laughing when I saw that. But I wouldn't want someone to throw anything at Obama. That isn't fair but I just respect Obama more thus far. And I tried to find a neutral picture about Bush's legacy by typing in "Bush's legacy," but I couldn't. I only found ones similar to the third one in this post which I think is very telling.**

Get Off My Line

"Tell Me Somethin' Good" by Chaka Khan

...tell me somethin' good / tell me that you love me yea / tell me somethin' good / tell me that you like it yea...

Barack Obama has been highly praised, thus far, from both sides of the political line about the team he has assembled for his administration.

From cabinet members, advisors, and ambassadors, Obama's choices reflect an administration that is poised to work and take on the task of returning America to more triumphant days.

I have heard some arguing that his cabinet looks rather "Clintonesque" but I fail to see how that is a problem. Additionally, Obama has crossed party lines to invite Republicans into his cabinet and has even retained a current member of Bush's Administration, Robert Gates.

I feel that this demonstrates a new kind of Washington, just as Obama has promised from the inception of his campaign. He is not rewarding business chums with positions in his administration. He is not excluding those who are kind of politically antithetical to him. He is not allowing the tumult of campaign days to bar qualified people's participation in his administration. Obama is really ready to go to work and will work with anyone who is like-minded.

Barack Obama has also managed to demonstrate some more marked differences from the Bush Administration. The position of Ambassador to the United Nations has been filled by Susan Rice. The position has also been elevated to a cabinet member. A cabinet member has a direct line to president, allowing for quicker communication.

Bush had downgraded the position and removed it from the cabinet roster following Clinton (who also had the position as a cabinet member). This makes me wonder how seriously Bush and his administration ever took the United Nations and how much they ever planned on cooperating with United Nations. It does not seem coincidental that the administration downgraded the position and then ignored the UN when they decided to invade Iraq. Even Congress was not on board for this war.

Basically, in my opinion, this is the stuff of conspiracy theories. It seems as though the war in Iraq was inevitable and was going to happen regardless of circumstance, protest, or disagreement. Conveniently, the administration that is a responsible for a tragic and irresponsible war that the UN and Congress were against, also downgraded the position of Ambassador to the United Nations.

I guess you weren't trying to hear anybody on your direct line telling you not to do exactly what you, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and them came to Washington to do: destroy America and get rich, huh?

Brown Cabinets

Barack Obama is beginning to build his team for his cabinet and has named a few department heads already. This is the list of the cabinet in order of succession to the presidency. Those that we do not know of yet will definitely be listed later.

Departments and Secretaries
Department of State: Secretary of State: Senator Hillary Clinton (of New York)

Department of Treasury: Secretary of the Treasury: Timothy Geithner

Department of Defense: Secretary of Defense: Robert Gates (incumbent)

Department of Justice: Attorney General: Eric Holder (current Deputy Attorney General)

Department of Interior: Secretary of the Interior: Senator Ken Salazar

Department of Agriculture: Secretary of Agriculture:

Department of Commerce: Secretary of Commerce: Governor William Richardson (of New Mexico)

Department of Labor: Secretary of Labor: Representative Hilda Solis (of California)

Department of Health and Human Services: Secretary of Health and Human Services: Senator Thomas Daschle (former senator of South Dakota)

Department of Housing and Urban Development: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Shaun Donovan

Department of Transportation: Secretary of Transportation: Representative Ray LaHood (of Illinois)

Department of Energy: Secretary of Energy: Dr. Steven Chu

Department of Education: Secretary of Education: Arne Duncan

Department of Veteran Affairs: Secretary of Veteran Affairs: General Eric K. Shinseki

Department of Homeland Security: Secretary of Homeland Security: Governor Janet Napolitano

Chief of Staff: Representative Rahm Emmanuel

Ambassador to the United Nations: Susan Rice

National Security Advisor: General James Jones

Head of Small Business Association: Karen Mills

U.S. Trade Representative: Ron Kirk

Head of Council of Environmental Quality: Nancy Sutley

Belong

"I Tried" by Anthony Hamilton

...tried for so long / for you to hold on / but you won't belong to anyone, anything, any love, at all...

Some people have been saying that the future has arrived and we are already late (John!). I believe I agree. The future has arrived, the alarm clock has gone off and we are still sleeping.

Unfortunately for us, we did not have a mother or a father to come into the room and awaken us so as not to be late for the future.

So we have slept through several lectures in the future.

But children, we have been adopted. We are out of the darkness of the orphanage and into the light of a good, solid home.

Barack noticed that the children were still asleep and Michelle has come into the room to wake us. Us, little Black girls and boys are we.

Barack and Michelle mean a great deal for Black people. Let me be clear though, racism and prejudice are alive and are severe impediments in all of our lives, White and Black alike.

But it still means something very significant and very positive. We little Black children have not had prominent, easily accessible, and highly publicized examples of Black intellectuals, professionals, humanitarians, and the ilk.

We have looked to entertains in sports, music, movies, etc. for mentors, heroes, and role models almost exclusively. Nothing is wrong with any person of the aforementioned careers. Quand même, there is something dangerous and devastating about those individuals being the only ones Black children consult about how to live their lives because they are just entertainers.

Many have come forward and complained about the burden of "mentorship" or "role modelhood," especially when they are behaving in an embarrassing or criminal manner. They have come outright, time and time again, and told us wee children not to look to them for guidance for they too are late for the future.

For that reason, the children have been unintentionally misled. Our "heroes" do not want to be heroes, but since we have nothing else to follow, we have followed them, erroneously believing that the crowd behind them would motivate them to change, do better, and show us something brilliant.

Oh but we have a live alarm clock in Michelle and Barack. Little Black girls can walk with poise, confidence, aspire to be intelligent, be excited to learn, use their minds over their bodies, and believe again. Little Black boys can pursue books instead of balls, be intelligent with swagger, love a Black woman, be a good father, and change the world.

This scantily clad lady above smiles and closes her eyes, cocks her head to the side and dances to what others hear as silence. You know why? Because she has been awakened too. She knows she can put on some clothes, grab a book, read that book, create beautiful synapses, and change the world too.

Aint No Line Too Damn Long!

So I have to admit that prior to this, I have been disgusted by the pompous extravagance Diddy has made his persona...but this sh*t here, this sh*t here is the truth.

We forget, overlook, take for granted, and are downright ignorant to the luxury of the right to vote. We call it a right. In this glorious country we have a consensus on the fundamental amenities granted to citizens.

This is not so everywhere in the world! Democracy is a dream deferred than mug in other places!

And Black people!! People died so we could vote! Marched! Hosed down! Attacked by dogs! You cannot be dismissive. You cannot be indecisive. You cannot even be cynical (and Lord knows I love me some cynicism!).

Vote.

Freedom After Speech

Star Spangled Banner

...whose broad stripes and bright stars / through the perilous night...

I have never understood political apathy. On Facebook and Myspace and all those other online social networks, there are usually places that ask for one's political affiliation.

People often put up "apathetic". I understand if you don't want to classify yourself as liberal or conversative; democratic or republican, but I cannot understand apathy.

I understand if you don't totally trust the government, if you subscribe to conspiracy theories, or if you are generally afraid of the big machine. I am too.

I even understand if you just don't know much about the system, how it works, who is in it, etc.

But I cannot understand apathy. Apathy is a lack of feeling or emotion and to have such apathy about American politics is sad.

Not that people aren't entitled to their opinions, but I feel as though Americans feel a little too entitled. The American democratic system is the stuff of dreams.

In America, there is a transition of power without violence or resistance. That is the hallmark of American democracy. No matter which party wins, we can all be sure that our national safety is not vulnerable to internal distress. At the end of the grueling process that is an election, Americans can go about their lives just as they did before. We are all able to travel to work and school safely, go to the grocery store, buy gas, go out to eat, go clubbing, have barbecues and everything else without interruption or threat of death.

There are places in the world in which such a transition is impossible. Transition of power, sometimes to another person of the same party, is equivalent to a declaration of war. Each elections is not just the innaguration of a new leader, but also the innaguration of bloody opposition. And this is in places that subscribe to democracy, rogue as their system may be.

There are more places where people exist under a tyrannical government, with no formal political opposition (because tyranny by definition does not allow that). And the people suffer. The government can be as unfair and cruel as it pleases and there is no one to speak on behalf of the people. Either they leave or they die, because in such a government and such a social climate, life is not reliable option.

So, hate the American government if you want. Do not trust the American government if you can't. Oppose the government. Because in America, that is your right. You have the right to dissent in democracy without fear of government censorship via murder. For that reason, if you can, you must vote, you must pay attention, you must have an opinion.

If enough people stop caring about our government...stop talking, stop questioning, stop listening, stop looking...you give the goverment permission to run amuck. People are not that good. Without supervision, we do not uphold the kinds of characters and behaviors we know are right and the government ain't no damn different. Pay attention. Questioning, criticizing, watching, and listening to the government is supporting the government and maintaining our democracy.

Posers

The man in this photo is supposedly a kind of mouthpiece for God. The Nation of Islam, and maybe a few more, revere him and his words.

It is not different from any other religious movement or institution. The preachers or pastors, imams, rabbis and such are important figure heads and advisors.

But in my personal opinion, this man is a little disturbing. He in some way perturbs me. Possibly because, for the longest time, I have been taught that he aided in the assassination of the wonderful Malcolm X. To silence such a voice is on some level, irredeemable.

Or maybe it is the picture that perturbs me. (It is actually far more than this picture that perturbs me, but what this picture demonstrates at large is a foundation for my unsettling feelings). This man here, a mouthpiece for God sits beside a woman who has made her claim to fame by sleeping with innumerable rich and famous men and subsequently publishing a book about her escapades.

This very degradation of herself is something the Nation of Islam vehemently speaks against women doing.

I am not judging. I would have done the same thing in those circumstances. I am not judging Farrakan either, but this pictures leaves me to wonder what conversation, what suggestions, what flirtations may have occurred.

Truth be told, I do not like the man.