The Eagles have landed…with

Michael Vick: NFL Superstar, turned felon, turned NFL superstar? Excuse me? Michael Vick is back in the NFL after the Philadelphia Eagles signed him to a  2 year contract? And here I was thinking that the Town Hall protesters were crazy. What a country we live in when a dog killing, herpes spreading, felon can be reinstated back into an elite sports league.

And when I mean elite I mean less than 1% of African American males in this country are NFL football players. Being part of that select group of athletes is a privilege indeed. If they are really good (and most are) they can earn millions of dollars in salary and bonuses and even more in endorsements. NFL athletes are adored, reveared, catered to, excused, and even worshiped. At one time, Michael Vick was a part of that exclusive club. He had the world at his feet. How could he eff it up so badly? And how can he be asked back?

A privilege I say, NOT a right. As an athlete Vick is entitled to try to make a living doing something that he’s trained for years to do. What Vick isn’t entitled to is a welcome mat back into the league in that he treated with such selfish disdain. As much we all like to say that only parents should be a child’s role model, we know in our hearts that it’s not true. How many of us have fed the dreams of young athletes we know with exhortations of, “Keep it up and you can get into the NFL like so and so!”  We buy hats and jerseys with our favorite athlete’s name on them, and we spend a small fortune for tickets just for the experience to see players do what they are so handsomely paid to do.

Which leads to the question, what do these guys owe us? Us, who by our ticket purchases get to play in huge stadiums. Us, who stock up on sports drink, tennis shoes, car, and beef jerky brands that endorse the athletes. What should we expect? How about respect for the law for starters. A lot of sports fans get up everyday, work hard, pay our taxes (taxes that help maintain those big stadiums by the way) , and manage to stay out prison. We shouldn’t expect that our favorite team isn’t piled with former jailbirds? Yeah I know about  Leon and Ray and you know what, their asses shouldn’t have been allowed to play either. And how about a respect for life? Lest we forget, Vick supplemented his hefty income by financing and watching animals rip each other apart for kicks and  when that animal could no longer fight, it was killed. Think about that. Think about how absolutely sick and souless that is.

How should a man be viewed? How he treats those he considers equals or how he treats those deemed less than he is? True, Vick has served his time and he has expressed regret for his actions. That’s all well and good but saying you’re sorry doesn’t always mean you get to pick up where you left off. Sometimes you have to really earn redemption.  The Eagles hiring Vick has little to do with altruism, I know that. But think about how much money and future grief they can save by focusing their resources on a young, hungry, upstanding player who will not be so easily tempted to take that chance for granted.

photoshopped and screwed

This month’s Self magazine cover girl is Season 1 American Idol Winner Kelly Clarkson. And doesn’t she look great? She looks all fresh faced and trim and everything. The problem is, that’s not her. Well I take that back. It’s her digitally created doppleganger.  How ironic that a magazine that has the words,  ”Total Body Confidence” on its cover feels the need to photoshop its cover model into some almost unrecognizable fantasy girl.

When this obvious point was brought up to the Editor in Chief of the magazine, Lucy Danzinger stated that it was a standard practice to digitally alter photos. According to her it’s art, not news. She is right in once aspect; digital alteration of photos is a standard practice. Every magazine cover from Vogue to Newsweek features subjects that have had crow’s feet, tummy bulges, and flyaway hair magically brushed away. Pale starlets are given tans and African Americans skin tones are made lighter and brighter. It’s all based on the notion that real people looking like they really do won’t sell magazines.

That’s where Ms. Danzinger has it wrong. As much as we all would like to have our own personal digital alteration program that allows us to wipe away all of our flaws , that just ain’t the way things are. One of the most important lessons all of us have to learn is that we have accept ourselves as we are, otherwise happiness is as much an illusion as that girl on the magazine cover. Hell, the name of the magazine is SELF. What are they trying to hawk? Self love obtained by Adobe? What’s the real message? You can be your best self–only if you’re skinny with no acne?

Kelly Clarkson has always stated how proud she is of her body, so she has to be extremely disappointed that her pride in herself was brushed away with a few keystrokes.

final thoughts

It all started with a question during President Obama’s prime time press conference on Wednesday. Lynne Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times asked him about his thoughts concerning the highly publicized arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. PBO said he thought that the Cambridge police officers acted “stupidly”. The ensuing uproar over that one word was so ridiculous and unnecessary that by Friday when the President asked Gates and the arresting officer to the White House for a beer, I was already through.

For one, I knew that in the end no one was going to be satisfied because within the black/white dichotomy of race in this country, people rarely if ever are satisfied. African Americans were upset with the President’s perceived capitulation and Whites were upset that he bothered to get involved in the fray in the first place. Everyone’s wrong as far as I’m concerned. The President has his own mind and no matter the occasion, he should feel free to express his thoughts as he wishes. African Americans need to understand that the President cannot suddenly don a Malcolm X T-shirt and walk down Pennsylvania Avenue with Spike Lee shouting, “Fight The Power” whenever there is racial incident. And white folks, *sigh* they just need to get a clue. Let me break it down real simple like, African Americans and other minorities have a very different view of the police than you. To many of us, the police aren’t always right, their motives sometimes lay outside the boundaries of law and order, and they often posses the same prejudices that the general population do. We’ve seen the video from Los Angeles, Oakland, and Houston. Many of our brothers have shared stories of being stopped for no reason, handcuffed, beaten, illegally searched, arrested, and sometimes killed.

There was a moment during PBO’s press conference that clearly illustrated this difference in attitude. The President joked about getting shot while trying to get into his own home and the crowd of mostly white journalists roared with laughter. For African Americans and Hispanics however, his statement was no laughing matter. That was the real “teachable” moment in my opinion, that even the President of the United States knows that sometimes justice isn’t for all.

crime, death, and inequality

After a rash of shocking celebrity deaths, the latest victim-former NFL quarterback, Steve McNair was laid to rest today in Mississippi. Thousands gathered at a local auditorium in Hattiesburg to remember Steve McNair’s life and to try to find some reconciliation in his death. The person responsible for his death, 20 year Sahel Kazemi was buried Friday in Jacksonville, FL in a private graveside service. Little has been said about her other than she was McNair’s mistress and that she was a troubled young woman.

That disturbs me greatly because she is something else, a murderer. Think about it, had it been a 20 year man who shot his female lover in the chest and the head as she slept, he would have been vilified and rightly so. However, since Kazemi was young, female, and attractive she was given a degree of sympathy that frankly she didn’t deserve.

We all know that the relationship between McNair and Kazemi was wrong. He was a married father of 4 boys who carried on a clandestine relationship behind his wife’s back with woman who was obviously having some financial difficulties. She was also obviously more into the relationship than McNair. But instead of breaking it off or going public with the affair, she decided to become McNair’s judge, jury, and executioner. Her actions were more than wrong. They were selfish, horrifying, and disturbing. True, McNair was no angel. He probably deserved to be called out for his behavior. He probably deserved some divorce papers thrown in his face. Hell, he might have even deserved an embarrassing press conference in order to confess his sins. What McNair didn’t deserve was to be shot like an animal as he slept. His wife didn’t deserve to have to endure the pain of burying her 36 year old husband. His 4 sons don’t deserve having to suffer the loss of their father.

So yes, I am more upset at Kazemi than McNair. I’m also upset with the double standards of the media. Women have as much capacity to commit atrocious acts of violence as men do. Hell, they even have a television show dedicated to violent women called “Snapped” (a/k/a “Women who have lost their fucking minds”).  On average though, women are given lesser sentences and serve less time for committing the same crimes as their male counterparts. Something just ain’t right.

I’m all for equality. I feel that women should be given equal pay for the work they do. They should be given equal access in all fields. Women deserve equal attention and praise for their accomplishments. I also feel that women should be given equal punishment for their crimes and face their fair share of blame equally as well.

Rest in peace, Steve McNair.

sex in the center court

According to an article in the UK’s Daily Mail today, Officials at the All England Club confirmed that they factored “babeness” in scheduling women’s matches on Center Court at Wimbledon. Those who follow tennis closely have been hip to this sort of behavior for some time. Look how much Maria Sharapova has earned for her off court activities as compared to Amelie Mauresmo. Attractive female tennis players have often been photographed in bikinis, skimpy skirts, and sheer shirts for men’s magazines. The on court outfits some of them wear can easily be mistaken for Frederick’s Of Hollywood Lingerie.

Interestingly enough, when former men’s tour player Michael Stich pointedly remarked that the Women’s Tennis Association was, “selling sex”. He was roundly criticized. Well now with the admission of the TPTB of the AELTC, it seems that Mr. Stich simply wasn’t talking out of his rear end. The rationale according to these lunkheads was that the television audience would be more interested in seeing good looking girls play on Center Court. To me, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to put two low ranked vixens on a show court in order to bring more attention to women’s tennis, which at this point is fighting tooth and nail against irrelevancy. I figure, if you’re in the top 3 and/or you’ve won Wimbledon before, you should always play on Center Court because it’s like you EARNED it instead of just looking hot in a pair of tennis panties. The call for equal pay just doesn’t hold up when the 59th ranked player in the world is conducting a clinic on error prone tennis on what’s dubbed the “Cathedral of Tennis”.

It’s disrespect pure and simple. If the WTA was worth anything, they would make a statement calling out the AELTC for this. Notice I said, “IF”. So far, I’ve heard nada from the ruling heads. They’re probably too busy putting together the, “Hot Babes of the WTA” 2010 calender.

article link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196155/Babe-set-match-How-looks-count-talent-Wimbledon-decides-girls-play-Centre-Court.html

Oh well…

Both defending French Open champions were defeated today. When has this ever happened in history?

 

I’m gutted.

un-empathetic

Today the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the state same sex marriage ban that passed in November. The court did declare that the 18,000 marriages conducted before the ban remain legally intact but how much does this suck?

With their decision, the court basically has given over to the rule of the majority, but what if the majority is inspired by hate? What if that was the prevailing thought during the Civil Rights era? Hell, I’d still be sitting in the back of the bus. Today was just a shining example of the State Supreme Court lacking the courage to make the law work for everyone.

It’s interesting that this decision was passed down on the same day that President Obama chose his SCOTUS nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. The President had expressed his desire to have someone on the court who exhibited in his words, “empathy”. I suppose Judge Sotomayor fit that part of his criteria. Wouldn’t it be nice if all judges possessed that trait? Seems like it’s truly lacking in the California courts.

better luck next time..

Rusty, unfocused, and outplayed. But you know what? You’re still the best. The haters can laugh today, but unless the paper #1 actually starts to win, they won’t be laughing for long. So get some practice in, shine up those 10 Grand Slam singles titles and do your thing.

No, I’m not bitter. I’m just confused as to why we shouldn’t question how it is that someone who hasn’t managed to win a title in 2009 is sitting on top of the rankings. Like it or not, the standard for a number one ranked player is to hold major championship-somewhere. Since the other two women besides Serena who have held the top ranking haven’t managed to do that, one has to wonder what does being the top female tennis player in the world mean?

I don’t think the ranking system should be changed. I think the players do. Seriously, buck up. Get a gut transplant and play like you’re the champion you want everyone to believe you are. Serena does. No matter what her ranking may be at the time, she still believes that she can win every single time she walks out on court.

That’s why she is the best.

prosecution complex

To prosecute or not to prosecute, that is the question that the Obama administration is facing this week.  I’m pretty confused by the answers to tell the truth.  While on the campaign trail, then Senator Obama did not show the slightest interest in broaching the subject in depth concerning the CIA torturing enemy combatants. He simply said he wanted to look forward. He hadn’t changed his answer much by the time he was elected and it looked as if his administration was going to fall in lockstep with his philosophy. Cheif  of Staff Rahm Emmanuel told George Stephanopulos that President Obama wasn’t the least bit interested in pursuing Bush Administration officials who devised and allowed torture tactics.

This statement was made after Attorney General Eric Holder on the orders of  President Obama, declared that immunity would be granted to those who carried the torture orders out. All this generated a swell of criticism from those who wanted to see justice FINALLY  served against the Bush torture contingent. And it grew after the release of its secret memos. The critics asked, “What could be the harm in making Bush officials and the CIA answer for obvious war crimes?” They were correct. How could America be the standard bearer for justice and democracy when our government utilizes the basest of tactics in order to deal with its enemies?

Then, the Obama administration threw a curveball today. AG Holder announced that he had not ruled out hiring a special prosecutor to investigate (and hopefully indict) the architects of Bush’s torture policy. The President himself chimed in later, “I would say that that it is going to be more of a [question] for the Attorney General, within the parameters of various laws. And I do not want to prejudge that”

In other words, The Prez is going to let  Holder do his thing. President Obama also stressed that if an investigation is going to forward, the Congress should be involved-but without the partisan politics. Okay, good luck with that. Hey, I can’t offer any suggestions as to how Obama & Co. should go about this. I’m still caught up in the “will they” or “wont they” parts. Being someone who doesn’t get caught up with a bunch of details, I’m not getting much from the apparent hemming and hawing that’s going on.

I do understand the President’s reluctance at possibly having to trot out Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the crew to testify on Capitol Hill. It’s rather distasteful business but then again, so is torture. In the face of the harsh criticism and the dubious history this government, it’s time for this President to finally set things right. No matter how bad he may feel, letting these crimes go unpunished will make us all feel worse.

rebels, but what’s the cause?

So the big national tea party has come and gone and all we areleft with are lingering questions and thousands of tea bags floating in the various water sources across the country. From I what I saw, a lot of white people are angry about a lot of things.  They’re angry at President Obama. They’re angry about the stimulus package that was passed. They’re angry about taxes. They’re angry that the Republicans are in the minority. They’re angry about socialism and fascism. They’re angry about guns and the encroachment of federal rule over individual freedom. They’re just mad and they wanted everyone to know about it. That’s all well in good but when that anger is manufactured and stirred by lobbyists, fundraisers, politicos, and Fox News then there’s a a problem.

See, we were supposed to believe that this was some grassroots movement created and funded by ordinary citizens instead of the likes of Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey. We’ re expected to fall for the okie doke and accept the fact that the revolution WILL be televised by Fox. I have no doubt that the anger is real. It just doesn’t make any sense. When asked why this type of protest didn’t happen when Bush was President, you only hear crickets. When pressed to explain why Obama is a Fascist/Socialist/Messianic/Rasputin, you get, “Because he is!”  Yeah, makes sense to me…or not.

Isn’t it great that we live in government that allows folks to protest over their fear and hatred of the government? Isn’t it just dandy that those very same people wailing about their taxes are protected by policemen and policewomen who are paid from tax dollars? How wonderful will it be for those in fear of our country becoming a socialist nation to look forward to medicare benefits!

So I say” Happy Fox Endorsed Newt Gingrich Approved Tea Bag Day” you rebels! Stay angry! Stay uninformed! It’s the American way.