I'll Bust the Windows Out Your Car!

Brad Pitts Gift to Katrina Victims

NAACP, needs to give Brad Pitt, a image reward for his philanthropic efforts and activities in the lower ninth ward. Thanks to FRED A. BERNSTEIN, New York Times, AL ANDREWS, who lives on Tennessee Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, said he didn’t mind the tour buses coming through his neighborhood, but he wished the visitors “would give some of what they pay to the community.” Mr. Andrews lives in one of the brightly colored, modernist houses rising on a small patch of the Lower Ninth, four years after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.In 2007, frustrated by the slow pace of rebuilding in the Lower Ninth, Brad Pitt set up a foundation called Make It Right; the foundation then commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, green houses. The organization plans to build 150 homes, all for returning Lower Ninth residents. So far, just 15 of them are occupied, but those 15 make a big impression.

Indeed, from the main route into the Lower Ninth, the Claiborne Avenue Bridge, it’s impossible to miss the Brad Pitt Houses, as everyone here calls them. They are sprawling, angular buildings in bold hues not usually seen outside a gelateria. Monuments to the city’s resilience, and to Hollywood’s big heart, they are also New Orleans’s newest tourist attraction.



Residents like Mr. Andrews and his neighbor, Gertrude LeBlanc, were happy to converse. “If we don’t talk,” Ms. LeBlanc, a cheerful septuagenarian, said, “how will people know what happened to us?”


During my previous trip to the Lower Ninth four years ago, I mainly saw devastation. Wrecked houses were everywhere. Now much of the debris has been cleared, and acre after acre has gone back to nature, with grass almost as high as the reconstructed levees. The main effect in much of the district is an eerie stillness.

But “Brad Pitt’s neighborhood” is a beehive of activity, with builders and landscapers vastly outnumbering residents. A sign in front of each of the houses gives the name and city of its architect. One, called the Float House, was designed by the Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne of Los Angeles. The main part of the house is built to rise with surging flood waters, on pylons that keep it from coming loose. It’s difficult to see the innovative foundation, but unusual external features are easy to spot, such as a kind of trellis cut into intricate patterns and painted turquoise, set against the raspberry-hued building.

Nearby, an angular house by GRAFT, a multinational architecture firm, features a porch enclosure that looks as though it had been cracked open by a storm, an unfortunate visual resonance. A house by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has a private courtyard space between the living room and bedrooms, but none of the detailing that would make it feel like a part of New Orleans.

Indeed, the houses seem better suited to an exhibition of avant-garde architecture than to a neighborhood struggling to recover. A number of designers I talked to, some of whom had visited the neighborhood, lamented the absence of familiar forms that would have comforted returning residents. James Dart, a Manhattan-based architect who was born and raised in New Orleans, described the houses as “alien, sometimes even insulting,” adding, “the biggest problem is that they are not grounded in the history of New Orleans architecture.” But, like other architects I spoke to, he expressed admiration for Mr. Pitt. “He deserves a great deal of credit,” Mr. Dart said, adding that Mr. Pitt had “done more for New Orleans” than any government agency.

Jennifer Pearl, a broker who has several houses for sale in the Lower Ninth, has a practical view. “Brad has the very best intentions,” she said. “However, had he come here with houses that looked like what had been here before, he probably could have had four times, five times as many houses up by now.”

Another issue with the houses (except for Mr. Mayne’s) is their elevation: to protect them from future floods, they have been built on stilts that turn their front porches into catwalks. The goal of porches is to create a sense of community, and that’s hard to do when neighbors and passersby are literally overshadowed.

Cathy Hughes Please Sit Down!

With all the talented young black women graduating with degrees in journalism or mass communications, why must we endure a senior citizen trying to reclaim her youthful ambitions as a faux Oprah, sit your old ass down, just because you think you got legs like the young Tina Turner, doesn't mean you still got it!

The same goes for Dorothy Height, turned the leadership over to a younger progressive woman, you are damn near 100 years old!

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Says She Can Relate to Being Black, huh!

Victims of racial discrimination take heart -- you now have an ally in none other than Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

On 'The View,' Hasselbeck claimed to have received stares as she and her daughter, whose favorite toy is a black doll, walked through the streets of New York. And now, she says, she can relate to being black.

"We ran errands yesterday, so we went all around New York City and I saw a couple of looks that made me uncomfortable," Hasselbeck said, adding that people seemed to be questioning the color of her daughter's doll.

Because of this, Hasselbeck said she can "totally relate" to the black experience despite being white and that her name is "Hasselbeck, not Hasselblack." Hey, who needs 200 years of violent oppression when you've got a day's worth of puzzled stares?

Boston train driver hailed ‘hero’ after emergency stop saves woman on tracks

The Angry man has been on another hiatus, I took a break from some of the annoying bickering that you read online about the image of black men and women, but the me problem is that some black intellectuals don't take the time to get off the high horse, and appreciate our everyday heroes in the community, such as Charice Lewis. Whom quick reaction to commuters waves save another woman's life. When I see these type of stories about sisters, and brothers...it balances out the stereotypes portrayed in movies like Precious! Lewis the driver of a Boston subway train that stopped just before hitting a woman who had fallen onto the tracks has been hailed as a hero.


Charice Lewis got a radio call from fellow subway employee Jacqueline Osorio when she saw the woman, who had been drinking, tumble over.

Ms Lewis immediately tugged the emergency brake which stopped in time.

"As I'm approaching, the lady pops her head up, and I'm like 'Oh my God, someone's in the pit'. So I just threw it in emergency, exactly what I'm supposed to do. And it stopped just in time not to hurt her," said Ms Lewis.

House Negress of the Day!

Blackman Survives the Apocalypse!

Every since Keith Wayne's character Tom survived the zombie onslaught in the original Night of the Living Dead, we had to wait another 30 years, to be consider survivors in any aftermath of societal breakdown. Tony Todd didn't quite make it in the remake, the good ole boys ended up getting him in the end. It took sometime for another brother to survive the meltdown.

Wil Smith was mankinds savior, and post apocalyptic survivor in I AM LEGEND. Now In another version of post-apocalyptic world, a lone hero Denzel Washington guards the Book of Eli, which provides knowledge that could redeem society. The despot of a small, makeshift town (Gary Oldman) plans to take possession of the book.

With shows like the Real Housewives of ATL, Black In America 2 is the least of our problems!

After watching Black In America 2, I found most of the stories anecdotal, and Inspirational. I realize our issues are too complex to evaluate or discuss in four hour reporting segment, but its not programs like BIA2 that get my blood pressure up, its the foolishness that counts for reality television such as, Tiny and Toya, Crackheads are Us, the BET Awards and now another season of the The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you might think it’s easy to get wealthy African-Americans to talk about money. Now Bravo will burden us with the second season this fall of the reality program chronicling the conspicuous consumption of five well-off women who have ordained themselves among Atlanta’s elite. Four of the Housewives are African-American. You have to remember that these nouveau riche women on the show did not earn any of the money on their own so what do you expect. They married NFL and NBA players. Most of the players didn't have a good upbringing so why would you expect them to married somebody respectful anyway!

This show should hit a raw nerve amongst the black women's the way it continues to it perpetuates negative stereotypes with its focus on cat fighting women who shamelessly lord their wealth and generally misbehave. A particular sore point is the consistently egregious grammar the Housewives stars use.

Now I know many of us have issues with the Links, Jack & Jills, and other so called elitist groups, that wouldn't allow my black ass in anyway, but these organizations actually have real Atlanta Housewives, that perform charitable and philanthropic work, and would never debase themselves in this manner. In article from the Houston Chronicle last year, Houstonian Phyllis Williams, well-known for her philanthropic work, recalled flipping channels on her television on Election Night — from the historic speech of President-Elect Barack Obama to a Real Housewives episode in which two wealthy women learn to let loose on a stripper pole.

“I was appalled,” she said. “This is not what elite women are about.”

The women on the show, she said, are shallow, graceless and mean.

“They eat and breathe money and clothing,” Williams said. In one episode, queen of mean Sheree Whitfield drops $6,000 on a private shoe-shopping spree in her living room; in another, Kim Zolciak, the show’s only white cast member, calls her sugar daddy “Big Poppa” to request $68,000 cash so she can buy a Cadillac Escalade on the spot.

Despite — or perhaps because of — the furor surrounding the show, few Atlanta women were willing to talk about it with the local media. When a reporter struck out to get a peek into what life is really like for the city’s black elite, she was met with polite no-thank-yous and snarky voicemails but mostly unreturned phone calls.

Merele Yarborough, another prominent woman in charitable fund-raising circles who has been featured on the Chronicle’s annual Best Dressed list, politely declined to throw open her closet doors for public inspection. She found what she saw on Housewives troubling and hopes it reflects the slant of the producers. “I was disappointed by the way these characters were portrayed,” she said. “I’m praying they are not like that. They are like children in a candy store. They’ve been given all this money. It’s almost like the blind leading the blind.” Money is a touchy subject for most people, but for some affluent African-Americans there’s an added layer of self-consciousness about how the black community is portrayed. They worry that too much bling reinforces the public’s worst perceptions.

“I’m just hoping that most people don’t look at this show and think that every wealthy black woman is like this,” said Williams. Like their old-money counterparts in the Anglo community, the black elite are quiet about their wealth and would rather die than parade themselves showing off “ridiculous homes that resemble Potemkin villages,” said Lawrence Otis Graham, author of Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class. He labeled The Real Housewives as the “P. Diddy crowd,” who are “here-today-and-gone-tomorrow money.”
The black upper class, he said, doesn’t want the likes of them living in their neighborhoods, going to school with their kids and certainly not marrying into their ranks.

“These are not people who value education and true philanthropy,” said Graham, who lives with his wife and children in an apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan and on an estate in Chappaqua, near the home of former President Bill and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. “We don’t know people like them.” Like the women on the show, Williams admits to a love for fine clothes, exclusive vacations and fabulous handbags. She even plans to launch her own line of women’s golf clothing next year. But there’s more to life than shopping and parties, she said.
Williams said she prefers to be known for her work sitting on the boards of such child-focused nonprofits as Chuck Norris’ Kickstart Foundation. “I don’t like talking about money,” she said. “We just feel blessed, At the end of the day, we’re just regular people.”

This is the image of Black Women being beam out to the world, and we wonder why the intial suspicious of our first lady. The purpose of these shows and to continue to degrade and demonize us to the rest of the world. Where is the choir of protest!

Kids shunned at Philadelphia swim club get trip to Disney World thanks to actor Tyler Perry!

To all the do nothing Tyler haters, you know who you are...complain about what other Black people arent doing, and you dont volunteer in community, dont support Black institutions or business in any charitable manner whatsoever, but have plenty of time to complain about the ill treatment of Black folks at the hands of White folks!

Well, Tyler Perry will pay for the trip to Walt Disney World after reading about allegations that a swim club shunned 65 children from a Philadelphia day camp because of racism. Creative Steps director Alethea Wright says she's thrilled about the offer, especially because Perry "comes from humble beginnings" like the children in her camp.

GAY Will Never be the New Black !

Unless you are Black and Gay, you are marginalize from two communities! But like most White People in general, I don’t think the gay community really understands this. Several years ago I ask a Gay colleague that carpooled with me, about White and Black Gay relations, he advised that they were no different than straight race relations with Whites; they still adhered to White Supremacy, and believe that they were better than Blacks.

Despite the catchiness of the slogan, gay is not the new black. Black is still black. White Gays are a powerful influential group. To suggest that their plight is like ours is to discount the suffering of the million of Africans who died in the Trans Atlantic slave trade, and the historical legacy of slavery, segregation, and domestic terrorism, that Black people experience and are still suffering from effects in current day America.

Is reminds me a film I saw about five years ago called Flag Wars. Which is a candid, unvarnished portrait of privilege, poverty, and local politics that was taking place across many Black Communities across America!

Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras' Flag Wars is account of competing economic interests between two historically oppressed groups, seen through the politics and pain of gentrification. This story takes place in Columbus, Ohio. Black residents, working-class or poor and often elderly, fight to hold on to their homes and heritage. Realtors and gay home-buyers see the enormous, often run-down homes as fixer-uppers. The inevitable clashes expose prejudice and self-interest. http://www.pbs.org/pov/flagwars/video_talkingback2.php

Many of the White Gays featured in this film, didn’t see that they were engaging in the same exploitative and bias behavior, that they themselves are convinced that they are the victims of.

These Stories we wont see on Black In America 2!

My thanks to Star-Ledger's James Queally for chronicling the story on Black Wall Street in Newark, and Nigel Parry with the New York Times. I had difficulty goggling this story after seeing it on ABC News, Black Street started by Victor Baker, Hassan Keith and Jeffrey Montgomery at a time when good economic news is scarce, it's encouraging to hear about three young businessmen, all Rutgers alumni, staking a claim to the future in Newark's West Ward. There company has been constructing houses on five empty lots on South 9th Street between 11th and 12th avenues. Is a quasi green construction company rebuilding homes for African Americans in blighted Newark, NJ. The company described how the trio plans to serve working families in need of affordable housing with five duplex-style homes. These three men are making a difference in there respective community.

After seeing snippets of the upcoming Black in America 2, that appeared to be upbeat and inspirational, but we will see on Wednesday night once the entire segment is telecasted. I wanted to mention an individual whose efforts in the green/urban farms movement needs to be heralded. Will FarmerWILL ALLEN already had the makings of an agricultural dream packed into two scruffy acres in one of Milwaukee’s most economically distressed neighborhoods.


His Growing Power organization has six greenhouses and eight hoophouses for greens, herbs and vegetables; pens for goats, ducks and turkeys; a chicken coop and beehives; and a system for raising tilapia and perch. There’s an advanced composting operation — a virtual worm farm — and a lab that is working on ways to turn food waste into fertilizer and methane gas for energy.

With a staff of about three dozen full-time workers and 2,000 residents pitching in as volunteers, his operation raises about $500,000 worth of affordable produce, meat and fish for one of what he calls the “food deserts” of American cities, where the only access to food is corner grocery stories filled with beer, cigarettes and processed foods.

For Mr. Allen, only the second working farmer to win the award, according to the foundation, his efforts are not meant simply to keep people well fed. He sees Growing Power as a way to organize people whose voices are rarely heard and to fight racism.

“I am a farmer first, and I love to grow food for people,” Mr. Allen said. “But it’s also about growing power.”

For 16 years, through sales, and proceeds from grants, he has extended Growing Power’s operations in Milwaukee and Chicago, spreading the gospel of urban farming around the world and training fellow agricultural dreamers.

An imposing 6 feet 7 inches tall, Mr. Allen, who grew up on a farm outside Washington, D.C., played professional basketball for a time after college, mostly in Europe. In 1993, he left a job with Procter & Gamble and bought a roadside farm in Milwaukee’s economically depressed north side — the last remaining registered farm in the city — and got local teenagers involved.

Now, along with its main farm in Milwaukee, Growing Power, a nonprofit group, has a 40-acre farm in a nearby town, and gardens throughout the city. The group also has operations in Chicago, including a garden at the Cabrini-Green housing project and urban farms in Grant and Jackson Parks.

In addition to retail sales at the Milwaukee headquarters, Growing Power sells to food co-ops, other retail stores and about 30 restaurants in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas.

The Growing Powers headquarters looks like a farm stand in need of a paint job and feels like a 1960s community center. Young and old mill about, shopping and waiting for a tour or a training session or a conference.

There is constant activity, with projects at various stages of completion. Mud-encrusted boots share space with pick-axes and pots of salad greens.

“It’s a crazy place,” Mr. Allen said.

As with any top-notch farmer, Mr. Allen takes special care with his soil. Using millions of pounds of food waste, his farm produces endless compost piles, which are then enriched by thousands of pounds of worms, essential to producing what he calls the highest quality fertilizer in the world.

“There are worms in every pot of soil and every tray of vegetables in this greenhouse,” Mr. Allen said.

His food, free of chemicals, tastes better, Mr. Allen said. “And that’s what the really good chefs understand.”

Paul Kahan, the chef and managing partner of the award-winning Chicago restaurants Blackbird and Avec, is one of the chefs who has been working with Mr. Allen’s organization.

“They are wonderful people and do some interesting things that fit in with what we are trying to do,” Mr. Kahan said. “We buy regular produce, such as tomatoes, but they do some things in particular that we really love: pea tendrils, baby beet greens, nasturtiums, baby mustard greens.”

Mr. Allen said he learned it all from his parents. “We’re having to go back to when people shared things and started taking care of each other,” he said. “That’s the only way we will survive.”

“What better way,” he mused, “than to do it with food?”

Pedro Espadas Albany Escapade!

Espada, a Democrat from the Bronx, had helped set this crazy chain of events into motion on June 8 by defecting to vote the Republicans into control of the State Senate—with Espada installed as Senate president, a heartbeat away from becoming governor. One week later, Senator Hiram Monserrate undefected back to the Democrats, effectively creating a tie between the parties. Fulmination and stasis have ruled ever since. He’s also skeptical about the spine of his new allies. “My Republican friends were in power for 40 years,” Espada says. “They don’t know how to do this, to engage in a street fight, to deal with this on the ground.” Espada knows how. He’s been scrapping since he was 16 and homeless. Now, at the age of 55, he is a sturdy five foot six and a meticulous dresser, dandily matching his pocket square with his tie.

Pedro Espada has been cast as the prime villain in the Albany mess—and he’s giving an amazing performance in a role he loves. Politics more than ever is a blood sport, and Espada, a former boxer, relishes playing the toughest guy in the room. If collateral damage is the 1.1 million kids in the city’s public-school system, or the thousands of tenants whose rents will soar, well that’s too bad. Espada has scores to settle.

He is not, however, without redeeming qualities: Espada, the founder of a network of medical centers, has delivered badly needed health care to his constituents. He raised $300,000 for a man struck by a subway train. And he has a dark charisma that complements his shrewd tactical mind. He needs all those skills. Espada has been dogged by investigations for more than ten years and is currently being scrutinized by both state attorney general Andrew Cuomo and Bronx district attorney Robert Johnson, who are trying to determine whether Espada violated campaign-finance laws and whether he actually lives in the Bronx district he represents. “He’s a little bit like Evita Perón,” says Liz Krueger, a Democratic state senator from Manhattan’s East Side. “Espada is always saying he’s ‘of the people,’ but he’s been stealing from the people as long as he’s been in office.”

Espada isn’t solely to blame for the Albany calamity. He’s being used by the Republicans, who are fighting a desperate rearguard action to hold on to power in the face of ominous electoral demographic changes, and by the powerful real-estate lobby, which is fending off regulatory reforms that would cost it millions.


Espada is also a product of a Bronx political culture where elected office is treated as a family fiefdom (a concept that’s not geographically or ethnically limited, of course) and multiple politicians are under investigation or indictment. He’s a creature, too, of an Albany system in which a handful of leaders have long dominated the real decision-making, so individual members grew adept at splitting up the spoils. Plus the Democrats are incompetent.

But Espada is a willing tool, and he’s an extreme example of the self-dealing dysfunction. He’s exploiting a particularly fraught moment, when Albany’s old leadership system has broken down and allowed legislators rare autonomy—which they’ve used to fight, endlessly, among themselves. And he’s taken a legitimate problem—the underrepresentation of Latino voters—and twisted it to his own purposes. “Pedro has no moral center whatsoever,” one Bronx Democrat says. “There is a fundamental difference between negotiating policy issues and horse-trading within the rules. Pedro is not within the rules. This is about self-aggrandizement. For him, this is about ‘What do I need?’ ”

Rise in Violent Racist Attacks

Sometimes I get the impression that we are experiencing a bad rendition of a Sci Fi B movie like They Live, when I hear Attorney and civil rights leader Morris Dees who co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama speak to the National Press Club. As featured speaker, he talked about his group’s legal efforts to hold certain groups accountable for violent acts committed by their members. Dees mentioned how often FOX channel is allowed to openly encourage these groups to commit acts of insurrection against the state. Why is it a surprise that White Supremacy and Militia groups would not make a comeback during the presidency of first elected Blackman, and economic downturn.

What I don’t understand, and Dees fail to discuss is why wont the FCC pull FOX channels license, especially when they incite assassinations plots against the president, the government could easily invoke the patriot act to shut these groups down, which of course would lend to these groups arguing that these are acts of a fascist state, as indicating in there racist tomes such as the turner diaries. Yet Dees went on to compare the Nation of Islam to these groups, I disagreed with Morris Dees about the NOI, the Islam of Islam’s criticism in the form of verbal attacks against the Jewish community, were based on exploitative relationship and egregious acts committed by the Jews against black folks.

BET is now officially INC!

It its official, BET will now be known as INC, the ignorant ass nigga channel. Supposely, Black Entertainment Television (commonly referred to by its acronym B.E.T.) was an American cable network based in Washington, D.C. with a targeted audience of young black and urban audiences in the United States. Robert L. Johnson founded the network in 1980. Most of the original programming of the network comprised of rap and R&B music videos and urban-oriented movies and series, and expande to news programming, over the last ten years BET has devolved into the worst parody of Spike Lees Bamboozled!

Food Inc

The Princess and the Frog!

Indignation of White Folks!

Now we all have had our beefs, and disputes with the TSA, but sometimes arguments for the sake of false liberties is a waste of time. A lawsuit filed Thursday against the Transportation Security Administration alleges a Ron Paul supporter and a traveler Steven Bierfeldt who claims he was hassled by security agents at Lambert-St. Louis's International Airport after he repeatedly asked if the law required him to answer their questions about $4,700 in cash he was transporting

Mr. Bierfeldt felt that he was unreasonably detained at the St. Louis airport because he was carrying about $4,700 in cash. The organization had hosted an event in St. Louis that included the sale of tickets, T-shirts, stickers and other materials and Bierfeldt said he was carrying the cash proceeds in a metal box when he was detained at Lambert Airport for about 30 minutes on March 29.

Bierfeldt said he refused to answer when a TSA official asked what was in the box. Another TSA official arrived, and Bierfeldt was taken into a separate room where he used an iPhone in his jacket pocket to record the officials' questioning. "It's obviously important that the safety of flights be ensured," Bierfeldt said in a telephone interview. "But subjecting innocent travelers like me who are doing nothing wrong — I think it diverts TSA away from its core mission of safeguarding air travel." My question to Mr. Bierfand is...did you not read the Patroit Act, and why didn't you just tell the TSA agents what the proceeds where from!

The lawsuit does not seek money but asks the court to declare the TSA's actions unconstitutional and to prohibit the agency from similar searches when there is no evidence aircraft are endangered. Note to DV don't try this with refusing to remove your shoes!

TSA spokesman Greg Soule said the agency would not comment on pending litigation.

PBS Tavis Colson Whitehead Interview

After reading Toures review in the New York Times, I had my issues with Toures post-racial rationalizes, but I saw this coming, but Colson gave Tavis a reasonable explanation on his take of the article and this alledge post racial period we live in.

Congrats Ursula!

As I browse my favorite blogs this am, absence is the congratulatory responses that I expect to see from the so called black woman empowerment sites, I read the usually complaints about the fool uncle tom Michael Steele, Strip Club prowling for eligible men, and other frivolous nonsense.

Mrs. Burns currently serves as president of Xerox Corporation, named to the position in March 2007. She previously served as president of the company's Business Group Operations and as a corporate senior vice president. On May 21, 2009, it was announced she will succeed Anne M. Mulcahy as CEO starting July 1, making Xerox the largest company headed up by an African American woman.

Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern. She subsequently held several positions in engineering, including product development and planning. In June 1991 she became the executive assistant to Paul A. Allaire, then Xerox chairman and chief executive officer.

From 1992 through 2000, Burns led several business teams, including the office color and fax business, office network copying business and the departmental business unit. In May 2000, she was named senior vice president, Corporate Strategic Services, and most recently, president of the Document Systems and Solutions Group.

Burns received a bachelor of science degree from Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1980 and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University in 1981. She serves on professional and community boards, including American Express, Boston Scientific, FIRST, National Association of Manufacturers, University of Rochester, the MIT Corporation, the Rochester Business Alliance and the RUMP Group.

So I just wanted to congratulate a sister from humble means, child of a single mother in New York City, and graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, that started a internship at Xerox over 25 years ago, to become the first African American Women to head a fortune 500 corporation.

Water Water Water!

(Mos Def Said:)
There's nothing more refreshing (that cool refreshing drink)
Than a cool, crisp, clean glass of water
On a warm summer's day (That cool refreshing drink)
Try it with your friends

New World Water make the tide rise high
Come inland and make your house go "Bye" (My house!)
Fools done upset the Old Man River
Made him carry slave ships and fed him dead nigga
Now his belly full and he about to flood somethin
So I'ma throw a rope that ain't tied to nothin
Tell your crew use the H2 in wise amounts since
it's the New World Water; and every drop counts
You can laugh and take it as a joke if you wanna
But it don't rain for four weeks some summers
And it's about to get real wild in the half
You be buying Evian just to take a fuckin bath
Heads is acting wild, sippin poor, puffin dank
Competin with the next man for higher playin rank
See I ain't got time try to be Big Hank,
Fuck a bank; I need a twenty-year water tank
Cause while these knuckleheads is out here sweatin they goods
The sun is sitting in the treetops burnin the woods
And as the flames from the blaze get higher and higher
They say, "Don't drink the water! We need it for the fire!"
New York is drinkin it (New World Water)
Now all of California is drinkin it (New World Water)
Way up north and down south is drinkin it (New World Water)
Used to have minerals and zinc in it (New World Water)
Now they say it got lead and stink in it (New World Water)
Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Push the water table lopside
Used to be free now it cost you a fee

A young man asked me one afternoon while riding commuter rail, with the current financial crisiss what would be a prudent investment...I said, Water! Even Oil tycoon corporate raider Boone T Pickens has switched gears and is investing in wind and water, why?

A quick spin spin through recent headlines reveals just how badly and soon we're going to desperately need new supplies of freshwater: Over the past 18 months in the United States alone, the governor of Georgia declared a state of emergency due to water shortages; salmonella contaminated municipal water in Colorado, Las Vegas Nevada will experience shortages from depleted levels in Lake Mead due area overgrowth; and eight other states ratified the Great Lakes Basin Compact, an agreement designed to ensure that the Great Lakes water, nearly 20 percent of the worlds freshwater, won't be shipped beyond those basins not even to nearby Minneapolis or Pittsburgh.

No this not something of Science Fiction or recent James Bond Film. Worldwide, the picture is far bleaker. Global water consumption has roughly doubled since World War II. Over 1.1 billion people still don't have access to a clean, reliable supply.

Several multinationals stand to profit and control the worlds drinking supply. GE Water, Coca Cola, Halliburton are a few, In 2005 GE Water, acquired Ionics and three other market-leading water services companies. GE Water is a 2bn business unit, employing 78,000 people in 43 countries. And the company has aims for $5bn in water revenue in the next five years. The question is what impact will this have on our economic, and geopolitical future, and what detrimental impact on environment of future generations.

Latest King Sibling Feud!

By Christopher Quinn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA - Zealous guardians of his words and his likeness, the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters and other merchandise depicting the civil rights leader alongside Barack Obama.

Isaac Newton Farris Jr., King's nephew and head of the nonprofit King Center in Atlanta, said the estate is entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees — maybe even millions.

But while Obama's election as the first black president may be the fulfillment of King's dream and could yield a big windfall for his estate, policing his image and actually collecting any fees could prove to be a legal nightmare because of the great proliferation of unauthorized King-Obama paraphernalia, much of it sold by street vendors.

Now the Kings are fighting the sale of movie rights to Spielberg Film works. The latest controversory sparks new battle among King siblings and DreamWorks Studios’ announcement Tuesday that it plans a big-screen epic on the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. quickly sparked a new battle among his three feuding children.

Dexter King, who lives in California, negotiated the sale of rights by the King estate for what he hopes will be “the definitive film” on his father’s life and legacy, he said in a news release.

But his brother and sister, Atlantans Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, said they only learned of the deal in an e-mail from him Tuesday as Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios announced the project.

They don’t consider the deal valid and plan to fight it, Bernice King said in an interview later Tuesday.

“We are taking action. We cannot reveal what it is at this time,” she said.

“Dexter King has entered into an agreement without approval of his shareholders,” she said. “It’s about Dexter King and the empire he is trying to build with Madison Jones.”

Jones, a longtime associate of Dexter King’s, and former Motown Records executive and film producer Suzanne de Passe worked on the deal with DreamWorks and heavyweight filmmaker Spielberg, according to de Passe. Spielberg, Jones and de Passe would be co-producers. De Passe, in a phone interview, declined to say how much the deal is worth.

Dexter King, 48, who could not be reached Tuesday, is the chief executive of the King estate. Martin Luther King III, 51, and Bernice King, 46, have been contending legally with him for months over its control and other issues.

De Passe said she was aware of ongoing legal fights among the King siblings.

“But that has no real bearing on [the film],” de Passe said, a comment echoed by a DreamWorks spokeswoman.

Production years off

Spielberg said in a DreamWorks news release that he hoped to bring a movie “of undeniable power that we can all be proud of” to the screen.

De Passe said the next step will be hiring screenwriters, and that production could be two years away.

The King siblings have gone to court in Georgia over control of the corporation that controls their parents’ legacy. That case revolves around papers of their mother, Coretta Scott King, that Dexter King is trying to use for a biography and that Martin and Bernice King are trying to block.

Martin and Bernice King were also angered by a deal cut by Dexter King and a record company for recordings of their father.

Young supports film

Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor, diplomat and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr., said a movie by Spielberg —- maker of “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan,” among other films —- might be the best way to tell the slain civil rights leader’s story.

“We’ve had few documentaries but we’ve never had a film that has the budget and the cinematography and the spirit that is capable of telling the King story,” Young said.

“His work was dream works and we all grew up on his dream.”

Young also said such a film has been Dexter King’s longtime goal.

“Dexter has been single-minded in his pursuit of this effort. … What he has been looking for is a major motion picture production.”

He said he thought Martin and Bernice King had accepted that Dexter King is in control of at least this aspect of their father’s legacy.

“They have gotten a bad rap but they have given a bad rap to each other,” he said of the three children.

“I think Dexter is a loner. He would have been a hero if he had … continued the legacy by feeding the hungry or if he had gone into politics. But he has always thought he had the responsibility of communicating his father’s and mother’s legacy globally. I think the other two didn’t feel that way, and I could see both sides.”

“They are all accomplished in their own way but none of them are their father and we can’t expect them to be their father.”

Young said the film will have a hard time pleasing everyone.

“The problem is that nobody will like the movie in the movement,” Young said. “I don’t know who they can get to play Martin Luther King.”

Staff writer Steve Visser contributed to this article.

Remembering Malcolm X

Thank you Melissa Harris-Lacewell for keeping Malcolm's spirit and memory on our minds, I totally slip on this one yesterday.http://princetonprofs.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-birthday-malcolm.html

The Pendulum Swings Back!

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Al Roker host the reunion of Cosby Show cast members celebrate its impact on television, and perception of Middle Class Black Americans, noticeably absence was Lisa Bonet.

Star Trek Reboot!

Saw the latest incarnation in the Star Trek franchise, this latest film is not your fathers Star Trek, and die hard purist, Trekkers and Trekkie's alike will probably not be pleased. **Spoilers Beware* *If you want to tamper with canonical use time travel as a plot point in your prose, this appears to be a favorite vehicle of choice for Abrams to tie up loose ends.

The 2009 “Star Trek” film goes back eagerly to where “Star Trek” began, using time travel to explain a cast of mostly the same characters, only at a younger point in their lives, sailing the Starship Enterprise. As a story idea, this is sort of brilliant and saves on invention, because young Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty and the rest channel their later selves. The child is father to the man, or the Vulcan, and all that.

Even with this criticism the new "Star Trek" is pure movie making excitement, "Star Trek" is the best kind of summer movie: smart, sleek, spectacular excitement. Fast pace from beginning to end!

Jazz in the Diamond District

When Jasmine "Jazz" Morgan (Monique Cameron) loses her mother to lung cancer, she can only focus on one thing—pursuing her dream of becoming a singer. Ignoring the wishes of her father (Clifton Powell), a strict doctor who prefers that she return to college, Jazz spends the summer entrenched in the hyper-sexualized, drug-influenced Washington, D.C. music scene, dragging along her naïve younger sister (Erica Chamblee). One night after an impromptu audition, Jazz is invited to join a local Go-go band (music by Likeblood, Uncalled 4 Experience) that is managed by a laid-back barber (Wood Harris) and supported with drug money provided by the lead MC (Andre' Strong). With ease, she falls in line with the band and in love with the stage and together they reach new heights of popularity. But just as quickly as her success builds so does the pressure and Jazz recklessly tries to maintain control. Directed and co-written by Lindsey Christian.
http://www.jazzinthediamonddistrict.com/film_thestory.html

United States First Black Female Supreme Court Judge

Leah Ward Sears the current chief justice of Georgia's State Supreme Court, Sears could be the first black female justice. Sears will be the second Black Female attorney from Georgia considered for a presidential appointment. Teresa Wynn Roseborough,a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Clinton administration and previously attorney with Sutherland Asbill Brennan in Atlanta.

Wishful Thinking!

Thinking Green...A Better Place!

Israeli-American Shai Agassi has come up with a innovated solution to oil dependency, with his better place concept of bp style recharging stations that solve the electric car distance or range anxiety, the problem with most all electric vehicles is insufficient power to make it to your destination outside of mileage range.
Motorist are able to pull into these into a Better Place Station, and have batteries quickly replenished or replaced by robotics.

Better Place does not make cars. The company will partner with leading automakers to continue offering consumers the wide range of make and model choices they have come to expect. The Renault-Nissan Alliance is the first automaker to join in this effort.

These electric cars, sport utility vehicles and other models from leading manufacturers will look and perform much like what we drive today. They will be subject to the same safety standards, but will not have tailpipes or generate harmful emissions. They are quieter, more efficient, and more reliable than gas-powered cars. But will be designed with swappable batteries based on the same technology used for to hold 500 pound bombs in place on bombers. Designed to release bombs within millisecond precision, the technology is suited to keeping batteries safely inside the cars, yet allowing them to be easily extracted in seconds.
A Better Place robot is designed to reach under the chassis of a electric vehicle and extract the battery and swap it with a new battery, same way you would replace batteries in your remote or child's toy. The consumer will have the option of choosing batteries with ranges of 1000-3000 miles. It appears that the Israelis have figure out away to ween themselves off oil dependency.

US standoff against the Somali Pirates!

The pirates boarded and seized the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday, taking 20 American sailors hostage. Although the crew managed to retake the ship within hours, the pirates were still holding the ship’s captain as they fled the ship in an empowered lifeboat.The Wingnut in me, request immediate intervention, with all the technology available to the US Military, the WTF are they waiting for…I guess I’m waiting for Dennis Haysbet and unit to drop in with frog suits and seize the vessel. Last year a high jacking
occurred involving a French leisure vessel Le Ponant flying French flag, and with Francophone citizens that was taken off the Somalia coast by a band a raggedy, hopped-up Somali pirates last spring, in the Gulf of Aden, it looked as if the bandits had bitten off more than they could chew. But after a week-long standoff, they got what they had come for—a $2.15 million ransom. Unlike the French I don’t expect the Americans to be taken as easily.

Roland Martin on CNN

Roland S. Martin is a dynamic and engaging journalist who offers a fresh perspective for the 21st century.Roland S. Martin is currently a CNN contributor/analyst, appearing regularly on Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull as well as on The Situation Room, Anderson Cooper 360, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and other CNN programs. In August 2007, he joined Essence Magazine as a special correspondent, writing a bi-monthly column and a daily blog on Essence.com and in October 2008, Martin joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show as senior analyst. He is also a commentator for TV One Cable Network, where his “In Conversation: The Michelle Obama Interview earned the 2009 NAACP Image Award for Best Interview. He won the same award in 2008 for his In Conversation: The Sen. Barack Obama Interview.

In addition, he’s a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate, and the author of Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith, and Speak, Brother! A Black Man’s View of America.

He was named by Ebony Magazine in 2008 as one of the 150 Most Influential African Americans in the United States, has been recognized as one of the top 50 political pundits by the Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom, and was awarded the 2008 President’s Award by the National Association of Black Journalists for his work in multiple media platforms. In 2008, he was inducted into the Texas A&M University Journalism Hall of Honor.

An insightful and provocative analyst, Martin has appeared on MSNBC, FOX News, Court TV, BET Nightly News, BBC News, National Public Radio, The Word Network, America’s Black Forum, American Urban Radio Networks, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, and NPR’s News and Notes.

He is the former executive editor/general manager of the Chicago Defender, the nation’s largest Black daily newspaper.

Martin is the former founding news editor for Savoy Magazine under the team of New York-based Vanguarde Media, and the former founding editor of BlackAmericaWeb.com, owned by nationally syndicated radio show host Tom Joyner and Radio One. So now to the critics of DL Hughley, this is a welcome replacement.

Faces of Africa

After my BET rant this morning, I decided to go shopping at Barnes & Noble, and found two publications published by African Immigrants, that celebrate African culture and black beauty in all its array, JTON published by Joy Tongo, entertainment industry veteran, that brings news, fashion, and entertainment from the continent, yet is accessible to African American audience. http://jtonmagazine.com/index.asp. ARISE is a UK based African fashion and pop culture magazine.

Although we African Americans set the tone culturally, and politically for other people of colour, these publications show where we fall short.

BETs Colour Problem!

Black Entertainment Television (commonly referred to by its acronym B.E.T.) is an American cable network based in Washington, D.C. and targeted towards young black and urban audiences in the United States. Robert L. Johnson founded the network in 1980. Most of the original programming of the network comprised of rap and R&B music videos and urban-oriented movies and series, news programming

In the mid nineties, BET offer progressive news programming with BET tonite with Ed Gordon, Lead Story, featuring George Curry, Clarence Paige, Barbara Reynolds. Personal Diary, BET News. However, Where BET fell short amongst its many failings...was its continue perpetuate the ages old colour caste system, the irony is that urban is usual associated with dark skinned black folks. For ten years BET has broadcast the image of the long hair light skinned black woman as the standard bearer of black beauty. How can we challenge westernize standards of beauty when we spread the same ignorance... its time to end the tradition of the light skin vixen host. 106 & Park, co-host have continued this traditional since its inception in 1999.

The Black Womans Lotto!

What is happening to Allonzo Trier is the equivalent to child exploitation, this no different from Child Labour in third world countries, Trier's youth should be spend in his development as adolescent, and not in becoming a star athlete.

The problem I have is when Trier spends 4-5 hours on developing his basketball skills, but no equivalent time on developing his social, and academic skills, and is allow to get away with a statement like "It’s hard for me because I'm not the smartest kid".

It appears that Marcie Trier is being swayed by the lure of the Black Women’s Lotto, the notion of her child becoming an NBA Multimillionaire, and providing her a life of ease. Instead of marrying a baller, steer your child into becoming the man-child baller that you were not able to capture in your youth. Allonzo Trier experience reminds me of a manager that I had, who had flown her budding child athlete all over the country to track meets and tournaments, with the hopes of him making the Olympics and carer in the NFL, providing her the life of luxury she desired.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/magazine/22basketball-t.html?ref=magazine

Harlem Heights

The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought in the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The action took place in what is now the Morningside Heights and west Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City on September 16, 1776. Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It lies between Morningside Heights to the south and Washington Heights to the north. It is the westerly part of Harlem. It contains the neighborhood of Sugar Hill. Sugar Hill is a neighborhood in the northern part of Hamilton Heights, which itself is a sub-neighborhood of Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is defined by 155th Street to the north, 145th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west. The name originated in the 1920s, when the area became a popular place to live for wealthy African Americans.
Named to identify the "sweet life" in Harlem, it was a popular residential area of rowhouses for wealthy African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance, including W.E.B. Dubois, Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell, and Duke Ellington. Langston Hughes wrote about its relative affluence in relation to Harlem in his essay "Down and Under in Harlem" published in the The New Republic in 1944.
"Harlem Heights" is BET's new show that premieres at 10 pm on Monday nights. It is a docudrama, and latest addition to reality television, BETs Harlem Heights attempts to capture the hopes and aspirations of young buppie 20-30 somethings, they are the post intergrationist children that now occupied this vibrant community. Have we truly arrived, that now the post intergrationist children can engage themselves in the same type of mindless hedonism, and errant behavior as the white counterparts in the Hills
Dubbed as insight to the young, black, and fabulous crowd, the setting is in Harlem, New York and follows real friends through their professional and social ups and downs. Of particular interest is Brooke Crittenden, Kanyé West’s ex-fiancée. Feeling like she needed to lend a voice to her experience as ‘the other half to a famous person’, B.E.T. president Loretha Jones assures us that Harlem Heights is not The Hills.
The cast includes a lifestyle editor for the basketball publication Dime magazine, an aspiring actress, a fashionista, a young man contemplating a career in politics and even a young dad. It is a group of friends moving out of college and into the working world.
“This show isn’t ‘The Hills,” said BET president Loretha Jones. “The cast was friends before, so their relationships are natural and they allowed us to follow them in such a way that they were unconcerned with the cameras being there, and let us capture the real interactions.”
Jones also said that unlike some other reality shows about twentysomethings, “Harlem Heights” would explore not only emotional drama, but also professional drama and the excitement and celebrations of last year’s historical election night. After watching BET devolving into an outlet for soft-core porn disguised as music videos, I will give Harlem Heights a second viewing.

Bernie Stole Our Money...sob!

Can you hear the whispers, its the murmurs of the Madoff victims asking for a bailout or restitution for their loses and theft. These same people several years ago had a problem with us raising the issue of reparations.

A retired couple that lost the proceeds from several home sales that were invested in Madoffs fund demanded to be treated like GM and AIG, Bank of America. Requesting SIPC money, how dare these people crack there mouths for government dollars, I'm going to demand my reparations check.

A recent article in Vanity Fair, stated how persons in places like Aspen played the spread, basically gamble with there homes...many owned free and clear, by taking mortgages on a 15 million dollar house, at 4 percent interest. To get a loan for $10 million, The carrying costs on such a mortgage would be about $400,000 per year by investing the $10 million dollar proceeds of the loan with Madoff at a 12 percent return, the 8 percent difference between the carrying costs and the return would have given the owner $800,000 per year. But you think that in a down market, that some of these people would wonder how Bernie was able to get these returns.

It just comes down to simple avarice and irresponsible investing, and trust. But in the Jewish communities that were ravished by these events felt that they were getting entree into a elusive club that others weren't benefiting from. So should we empathised with their plight? More to follow on this saga.

The New House Negroes of the GOP

The GOP is attempting to attract new adherents and galvanised the masses with its newest recruits, and old main stay...More recently, Mr. Limbaugh galvanized Republican opposition to Democratic plans for an economic stimulus; saying he hopes that President Obama will fail, he derided the stimulus package as "porkulus."

Mr. Limbaugh, who is 57, sees himself as an entertainer and businessman first, not as a conservative polemicist. But his barbed advocacy of right-wing causes has distinguished him since he first emerged as a talk-radio sensation in the mid-1980’s. His idols are William F. Buckley Jr., who became a mentor, and Ronald Reagan.

Adward Bobby Jindal the beige hope is the new whipping boy for the GOP. Talking typical Immigrant Horatio Alger nonsense. Why is Michael Steele apologizing to Rush Limbaugh ass!

State of the Black Union

PBS Talk Show Host Tavis Smiley and a variety of America's black leaders meet in Los Angeles, CA, for the 2009 "State of the Black Union." This day-long event is titled, "Making America As Good As Its Promise."
The event is living up to its promise as recent challenges are made to the governors of Louisania, Mississipi, Tennessee and Georgia. Black Voters need to take the these policitians to task for recent actions and comments. Especially Bobby Jindal, and Sonny Perdue.

Madea Goes To Jail!

At long last, Madea returns to the big screen in Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail. This time America's favorite irreverent, pistol-packin' grandmomma is raising hell behind bars and lobbying for her freedom...Hallelujer! To the dismay of many of my fellow bloggers, that find these films as disappointing, I disagree. Once again Tyler Perry brings to the screen unheralded talent, such as Viola Davis, whom on this Oscar evening is well desrving of a oscar nod, and win this evening for her performance in Doubt. And this is why I defend Tyler against some of his ardent critics in the blogsphere. Who else continues to recoginise and promote unherald black talent.


Tyler Perry is a master at making modern morality plays which address an array of concerns of the African-American community. What makes his films feel so authentic is that his characters invariably reflect black culture in a manner which is instantly recognizable and thus effortlessly resonates with the audience as real. Another plus is Perry's knowing how to mix-in plenty of comic relief without diluting the power of the sobering message he's trying to deliver.
Loosely-based on the stage production of the same name, Madea Goes to Jail just might be Tyler Perry's best endeavor to date. The film stars Tyler, back in drag, as the sassy, pistol-packing Mable "Madea" Simmons, heading a talented ensemble which includes Viola Davis, Derek Luke, Ion Overman, Keisha Knight Pulliam and David and Tamela J. Mann.

The cast also features an incredible number of celebrity cameos, most notably, Dr. Phil, and TV Judges Greg Mathis and Mablean Ephriam, not to mention Reverend Al Sharpton, comedian Steve Harvey, DJs Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden, CNN news anchor Tony Harris, and The View talk show hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Fortunately, balancing all the egos never gets in the way of making a hilarious flick, for the finished product is a rollicking roller coaster that ought to be fun for the whole family.
At the point of departure, we find Madea in front of Judge Mablean who lets the hell-raising granny off with a slap on the wrist and a stern warning for leading police on a high-speed freeway chase. Instead of landing behind bars, she is ordered to undergo treatment for anger management with Dr. Phil. While on the coach, she and the shrink engage in a hilarious exchange reminiscent of Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's on First?"
Needless to say, the therapy doesn't work, and Madea goes berserk again when a customer steals her parking spot at the mall. After wrecking the woman's car with a forklift, Madea is arrested again but ends up this time in front of a very incensed Judge Mathis who decides to teach her a lesson with a sentence of 5-10 years.
Meanwhile, there's a whole parallel plot unfolding involving Assistant District Attorney Joshua Hardaway (Luke) who is engaged to Linda (Overman), a bourgie colleague who doesn't understand why he might care about rehabilitating Candy (Pulliam), a former girlfriend who has turned to streetwalking. With the help of a prison minister (Davis), Josh does his best to get his ex the help she needs anyway, a decision which destabilizes his once solid relationship. Everything comes to a head when Madea and Candy cross paths in a correctional facility, leading to tidy resolution which not only ties loose ends but elicits a few tears.
Remember to stay for the closing credits, for some bonus badinage between Madea and Dr. Phil.
Lionsgate and TPS Present A Reuben Cannon/Lionsgate Production of Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail. Based on Perry's successful stage play, Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail is produced, written and directed by Tyler Perry.

The New Archtypes for Black Folks!

Congrats to Barack and Michelle OBAMA on both covers this month. The reign of the niggas is coming to a end, maybe we will see improvement in literature, Movies and everything else.

The New Face of Black Masculinity!

The New Face of Black Male Masculinity,sans oversexed rappers, and clownish buffoons. The new face, however is reminiscent of the early works of Sidney Poiter of Blackboard Jungle, Lilies of the Field, and later films such as Heat of the Night, and no one personifies this more than Rob Brown (Finding Forrester)(The Express)Derek Luke(Antoine Fisher)(Miracle at St Anna's)It is refreshing to see these two young actors carry on Poitier's legacy in their roles!

What do you have to say for yourself Burro?

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CHICAGO - Sen. Roland Burris admitted Saturday that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother asked him for a campaign contribution before the governor appointed Burris to the Senate.

The disclosure is at odds with Burris' testimony in January when an Illinois House impeachment committee specifically asked if he had ever spoken to Robert Blagojevich or other aides to the now-deposed governor about the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

Burris admits Blagojevich donation request
He says ex-governor's brother sought $10,000 in campaign funds

State Rep. Jim Durkin, the impeachment committee's ranking Republican, told The Associated Press that he and House Republican Leader Tom Cross would seek an outside investigation into whether Burris perjured himself.

"CHE the Movie"

CHE
Variety
By TODD MCCARTHY

Over the years, Soderbergh has occasionally displayed a disregard for audience expectations in films such as “Full Frontal,” “Solaris” and “The Good German,” and presumably makes the “Ocean’s” films in order to earn the opportunity to undertake such projects. But “Che” is too big a roll of the dice to pass off as an experiment, as it’s got to meet high standards both commercially and artistically. The demanding running time also forces comparison to such rare works as “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Reds” and other biohistorical epics. Unfortunately, “Che” doesn’t feel epic -- just long.

For all its length, however, the mostly Spanish-language film provides a far from fulsome portrait of a complex man whose face still adorns T-shirts, campus dorm rooms and Mike Tyson’s body, but who is also scorned by many.

Part one begins intriguingly with a flurry of time-jumps showing Ernesto Guevara at different times and places: Meeting Fidel Castro for the first time in Mexico in 1955, in Havana and at the United Nations in 1964, onboard a ship in 1956 heading to Cuba with Castro and 80 other revolutionaries who formed the core of their movement, and suffering from asthma in the jungle the following year. Intro’s snippets of assorted information and events suggest an overall kaleidoscopic approach that, if pulled off, could conceivably provide a completed jigsaw puzzle by the end.

Card-shuffling technique employed by Soderbergh and scenarist Peter Buchman also lays in a lot of political background and dogma via interview and voiceover. A revolutionary, Guevara says early on, “goes where he’s needed,” which in the case of this well-educated, well-traveled Argentinean, means to foreign climes to hasten the spread of Marxism-Leninism.

It can’t necessarily be said that the film takes its protagonist’s point-of-view or reps an endorsement of his positions -- Soderbergh remains too far outside his subject for that -- but it does give such ample airing to communist ideological thinking -- and presents American and Latin American authorities so exclusively as cardboard mouthpieces of imperialism and abusive dictatorships, respectively -- that some conservative political commentators might work themselves into a lather over it. However, so few people will likely see the picture, at least in its current state, that there’s little chance it will have much cultural impact other than by the fact of its very existence.

In a patchwork manner, the film portrays with reasonable clarity the way in which a few dozen men fought their way across Cuba from east to west, gathering more recruits and winning the help of locals as they went in their determined effort to overthrow the corrupt, U.S. and Mafia-backed president, Gen. Fulgencio Batista. Lots of attention is paid to military strategy and procedure while Guevara, who enjoys Castro’s trust, is promoted to commandant, and, after being temporarily sidelined, begins to distinguish himself in battle and eventually leads his men into a key fight at Santa Clara, paving the way for the final push into Havana.

Oddly, “Che” seems more about denial of audience expectations and pleasure than it does about providing the intellectual and historical heft that would serve as a good alternative. Soderbergh withholds much in addition to dramatic modulation, narrative thrust and psychological insight: A feeling of revolutionary zeal, the literal transformation of Ernesto into Che, his marriages and family life, the depiction of the entry into Havana, Che’s oversight of many executions after victory, the Cuban missile crisis and Che's wish that nuclear missiles be immediately fired at the U.S., his mounting distaste for Russians, his obsessive diary writing, his “lost year” as a failed revolutionary sparkplug in Africa before heading for his fatal misadventure in Bolivia, and even the famous photograph.