text:
PRICE - Our beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Eva Kendrick, age 91, passed away April 28, 2004 at the Harmony House in Helper.
She was born Sept. 1, 1912 in Gadsden, Ala., to Louis Harry and Merky Lou Beecham Countryman. Married Cyrus Kendrick Aug. 17, 1929 in Columbiana, Ala. He died Sept. 12, 1983.
Member of the Price Chapel-Christian Missionary Alliance Church. Eva will be remembered for her gentle kindness and love, her dedication and devotion to family and friends, who will miss her dearly.
Survived by son, Ken (Fawn) Kendrick, Sandy; five grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren; and sister, Emma, Hueytown, Ala.
Graveside service Fri., April 30, 1 p.m., Price City Cemetery. Family will be at Mitchell Funeral Home Friday, noon to 12:30 p.m. prior to service.
Special thanks to Harmony House for their compassionate and caring service.
WELLINGTON - Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and brother, Frank Corrales, age 85, passed away on May 1, 2004 of pneumonia, while surrounded by all those who loved him dearly.
Those who knew Frank best knew him as a man who had a great abiding love for his family and his Lord Jesus Christ and Savior. Member of the Spanish Assembly of God Church in Price where he was a Deacon. Frank will be best remembered for his sweet smile, his gentle ways and his helpful hands. Retired from the UMWA Kaiser Steel Local 9958 with 40 years of service. He loved the outdoors and was an avid fisherman and hunter. Franks leaves a legacy for his family to follow and it will live forever in our hearts.
He is survived by wife, Amabel Corrales, Wellington; two sons, Ross (Shirley) Corrales, Bothell, Wash.; Frank (Karen) Corrales, Jr., Challis Idaho; two daughters, Jayne Pilon (C.J. O'Neill) Salt Lake City; Theresa "Tessie" Corrales, Wellington; 12 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren; sister, Elizadia Suazo; and brother, Joe Corrales. Preceded in death by first wife, and four brothers.
Funeral service Tues., May 4, 11 a.m., Mitchell Funeral Home. Family will be at Mitchell's Tuesday one hour prior to service. Interment, Wellington City Cemetery.
CASTLE DALE-Janet Frankie Hancock Hurst, 72, passed away on Fri., April 30, 2004, at her home in Castle Dale. Janet was the oldest of three girls and one brother. She was born to Frank Daily and Thelma Blackley Hancock on July 2, 1929 in Pleasant Grove. Janet married Roy "Bud" W. Hurst on Dec. 18, 1948 in Provo, where they made their home. They raised three sons and two daughters.
Janet was very active in the LDS church where she served in many callings ranging from Cub Scout leader to Stake Relief Society President. She had many jobs in the community in addition to being a very busy and special mother and wife. She worked at Provo Nursing Home for about 12 years and Utah Valley Regional Hospital for 22 years. In 1999, Janet moved to Castle Dale where she lived until her death. Janet was the best mother that anyone could ever have. She was full of love, compassion and patience. She never knew a stranger and she was the prime example of what a mother, mother-in-law and grandmother should be. She dearly loved her family, especially her grandchildren. Janet did all she could for her family and was very proud of all of them.
Survived by two sons, Michael and wife Toni Hurst, Shawn and wife Julie Hurst, daughter Sherrie Cammack, all of Castle Dale, daughter Denise Brown of Orangeville, and a daughter-in-law Susan Hurst of Orem. Also survived by 30 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, sister Joan Holmes of Springville, and brother Tom and wife Louise Hurst of Nevada. Janet is now reunited with her husband and family whom she has missed so very much.
Funeral services were held on Mon., May 3, 2004, 10 a.m. at the 8th North LDS Chapel, 165 West 800 North, Castle Dale. Burial was in the Provo City Cemetery under the direction of Fausett Mortuary.
PRICE - Wayne "Hawkeye" Crouse, age 65, passed away April 28, 2004 at his home.
Born March 30, 1939 in Maser, to Raymond D. and Deon Pitt Crouse. Married Ina Curtis April 25, 1958 in Moroni.
Longtime resident of Carbon County and graduate of Utah Technical College where he received numerous positions and also created and managed the electrical program for UP&L. He loved visual arts and working with his hands. Wayne enjoyed wood carving, oil painting and making his black powder rifles from scratch. He loved camping, fishing, hunting and attending the Mountain Men Rendevous.
Wayne was a proud and active member of the Army Reserve and the National Guard. His greatest love was for his children, grandchildren and his special dog, Andy. He will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.
Survived by wife, Ina Crouse, Price; daughter, Deborah Jill Crouse, Salt Lake City; son, Steven Wayne (Jennifer) Crouse, Helper; three grandchildren, Morgan Crouse, Helper; Dainah and Michael Brockbank, both of Salt Lake; and mother, Deon Crouse Smith, Price. Preceded in death by father; and brother, Weldon Ray Crouse.
Funeral service was Sat., May 1, 1 p.m., Mitchell Funeral Home. Interment, Price City Cemetery.
PRICE - Jane J. Woolsey Mortensen passed away April 29, 2004 in Sugar City, Idaho while visiting family and friends
Born in St. Anthony, Idaho on Jan. 4, 1922 to C. "Code" and Nancy Elliot Woolsey. Married Arden W. Mortensen Nov. 16, 1946. She and Arden lived in Carbon County their entire married lives.
Jane was a veteran of World War II serving in the Navy as a Wave. Mom loved her country and was proud to have served. Grandma Jane loved to travel, read, dance, play cards with friends, and she was a beautiful seamstress. She was a passionate golfer and participated in the Carbon County Ladies Golf Association for over 40 years. Grandma "Morty" was a very colorful person bringing much love and laughter into the world. She truly loved and was devoted to family and friends. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
Survived by loving husband of 57 years, Arden; sons, Drake (Marie), Wellington; Keven and Murray, Price; Boyd, Farmington, N.M.; daughter, Darla Moore, Elko, Nev.; sister, Sandra (Phil) Broken Arrow, Okla.; 10 grandchildren and 2.5 great-grandsons. Preceded in death by parents; brother and sister-in-law, Orion and Mary Woolsey; and son-in-law, Kerrick Moore.
Funeral service will be Wed., May 5, 11 a.m., Mitchell Funeral Home. Family will be at Mitchell's Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday one hour prior to service. Interment, Price City Cemetery.
HELPER/SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Following a wonderful Easter weekend with her family, Mary Dalpiaz was received by the Lord on April 25, 2004 in San Francisco, Calif.
Mary was the daughter of Frederick and Constance Succurro Mancina, born Jan. 6, 1908 in Sunnyside.
Her early childhood years were spent at Saint Ann's in Salt Lake City. She worked for AT&T for many years as a chief operator. Mary was a parishioner of Saint Anthony's Catholic Church, was a former treasure of the Altar Society; and also a member of Sorelle Stella D'America Italian Lodge.
Survived by two daughters, Joan (Fred) Suellentrop, Sunnyvale, Calif.; Anita L. Dalpiaz, San Francisco, Calif.; loving friend and caregiver, Luisa Arucan; four grandchildren, Constance (Jim) Mitchell, Judith (Fred) Schwede, Thomas and John Suellentrop; three great-grandchildren, Christopher, Patrick and Gregory Mitchell; two great-stepgrandchildren, Kenzie and Isaac Schwebe; and many nephews and nieces.
Funeral Mass Sat., May 8, 10 a.m., St. Anthony Catholic Church. Rosary Friday evening, 7 p.m., Mitchell Funeral Home. Family will be at Mitchell's Friday and Saturday one hour prior to services. Committal service, Mountain View Cemetery, Helper.
In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Anthony's Catholic Church, 5 South Main St., Helper, UT, or favorite charity is preferred.


text:
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Stormbringer! Micheal Moorcock classic.
I rather be neutered with a rusty spoon than seeing any of my beloved books being turned into a bull's after-meal
considering how shitty the MMO industry is right now and the ludicrous levels of mediocrity and ineptitude among most if not all dev studios, I wouldnt trust them a dollar note, let alone an excellent and immaculate IP to work their anti-magic on...
Originally posted by RefMinor
Ulysses by James Joyce
Nah .. it is better as a SP third person action adventure.
The 80's cartoon: Masters of the Universe,
Or Perhaps "Captain Nintendo", where there are two obvious factions: heroes and villains.
would make an awesome MMO
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Originally posted by laserit
Westworld http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld would make an awesome MMO
it would, but the dark tower would be better, richer, deeper world already fleshed out and better yet, stephen king!
Originally posted by JasonJ
Originally posted by laserit
Westworld http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld would make an awesome MMO
it would, but the dark tower would be better, richer, deeper world already fleshed out and better yet, stephen king!
Surprised I've never read that.
Going to pick that series up.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. !
Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
Originally posted by Golelorn
Book of the Fallen Malazan. The Black Company. Both are a series.
couple in thread have mentioned this series of books wiil put this on my reading list im interested in seeing how Otherland will turn out as well as this was one of my favourite books
Originally posted by FromHell
Maybe cheesy, but... a HARRY POTTER MMO could be a beautiful, immersive title... or a dull, unspired, cartoony theme park mess. I wish I had the budget to make a good one.
But the usual gamer aversion to 'cute' 86es it immediately, regardless.
I'm gonna go with the Man-Kzin Wars period of Niven's Known Space.
But of course I'd be hoping for Ringworld, still.
We could go with the bug wars (Starship Troopers, Bill the Galactic Hero, Bob Aspirin, Orson Scott Card, et al) genre, instead; most likely an easier "sell". "Look how much money those Alien movies made! It's a natural!"
I think the sub-genres are easier to 'sell' as IPs, in general. "We can tell a story every gamer's already kinda familiar with, and we don't have to pay rights to any specific author. Worked for Zombies and for Vampires!".
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
Ideal for MMOs: bronze age city states, gods, demons, cults, magic but more subtle than fireballs.
Originally posted by bcbully
Stormbringer! Micheal Moorcock classic.
I agree .... You could take it a step forward and make a hub City lets call it Tanelorn which could protal the user to any of the Eternal Champion worlds (the game could basically be any genre the players wanted to play in).
The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King
The Legends of the Dragon Realm series - Richard Knaak
- - "What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?" - -
The late G. H. Stien's Warbot series for those that like mechs.
David Veber's Honor Harrington books.
Mercedes Lackey The 500 Kingdom books. But it would be a very hard series to do as a game. One up side to it would be the GM's should be the God Mothers playing an active roll in the game.
Not sure how Ghost in the Shell anime series would do as a game.
Robotech I think would make a good ground/air/space combat game if done right.
Originally posted by Yyrkoon_PoM
Not sure if it has been mentioned, but Doctor Who would make an interesting MMO.
When they started up the new Doctor Who series back in 2005 I thought the same as they went on.
Create your Time Lord, design what your TARDIS looks like(chameleon circuits can be wonky), unlock/collect companions, quick travel, etc., lots of things this franchise has just fits the MMO concepts perfectly.
Originally posted by Greyface
Games based on licensed properties always suck. It's one of the fundamental laws of the universe. Here's a handy-dandy chart for future reference: Book > Movie = Good, frequent exceptions Movie > Book = Bad, no exceptions Book > Comic Book = Good, frequent exceptions Comic Book > Movie = Good, frequent exceptions Movie > Comic Book = Bad, rare exceptions Video Game > Movie = Bad, no exceptions Video Game > Anything not a movie = Bad, rare exceptions Anything > Video Game = Bad, no exceptions
Wrong the original SWG was great and a few 100K people agree with that. There are several other instances however, I won't be going into them. Your opinions are not fact.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre

subset: commoncrawl


text:
BFGoodrich has a wide range of tires for every vehicle. And every adventure.
From tough off-road tires to high -performance racing tires, only BFGoodrich has the all-season tires (including winter tires), all-weather tires, and all-terrain tires you need to play anywhere on Playground Earth.
Need help finding your size? Click here
If you have question or do not see the information you are looking for, feel free to Contact us.


text:
Choosing the perfect pair of studio monitors can be difficult when there's so many brilliant brands out there. Here at AC Audio we stock all the top monitors from Eve Audio, KRK, Genelec, Focal and Yamaha, to name just a few!
No products to display
© Copyright 2017 A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. All Rights Reserved - E&OE


text:
Debates of June 23rd, 2011
House of Commons Hansard #14 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was post.
- Question Period
- Commissioner of Lobbying
- Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
- Yukon Land Claims and Self-Government Agreements
- Access to Information Act
- Income Tax Act
- Breast Implant Registry Act
- Criminal Code
- Food and Drugs Act
- Parliament of Canada Act
- Excise Tax Act
- Statistics Act
- National Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Heritage Day Act
- Holidays Act
- Canadian Human Rights Act
- Criminal Code
- Canada Post-Secondary Education Act
- Petitions
- Questions on the Order Paper
- Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Legislation
- Women of Excellence Awards
- Food Security and Sovereignty
- William Teleske
- Special Olympics World Summer Games
- Lethbridge
- Ragweed
- Prince Albert
- Anniversary of Ukrainian Settlement
- Quebec National Holiday
- Camp Nathan Smith
- Riding of Trois-Rivières
- Violence Against Women
- Air India
- The Budget
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day
- The Budget
- Canada Post
- Afghanistan
- Canada Post
- The Senate
- Asbestos
- Household Debt
- Poverty
- Persons with Disabilities
- Asbestos
- G8 Summit
- Air India Flight 182
- Citizenship and Immigration
- Libya
- Citizenship and Immigration
- Afghanistan
- Disaster Assistance
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day
- Rail Transportation
- Search and Rescue
- Canada Post
- Windsor-Detroit Border Crossing
- Asbestos
- Presence in Gallery
- Points of Order
- Business of the House
- Points of Order
- Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Legislation
- Points of Order
- Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Legislation
- Message from the Senate
- Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Legislation
- An Act Respecting Queen's University at Kingston
- Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Legislation
- Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act
Special Olympics World Summer Games
Statements By Members
2 p.m.
Justin Trudeau Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Special Olympics World Summer Games begin on June 25. Some 151 Canadian athletes and coaches will be in Athens to represent our country. They will do so with dignity and in the Olympic spirit.
Dignity, acceptance and a chance to reach one's potential, these are human rights that will drive our young Canadians through this competition.
For more than four decades, the Special Olympics has been bringing one message to the world: people with intellectual disabilities can and will succeed if given the opportunity.
I would like to congratulate our athletes for making it to Athens and I wish them great success at the games, but most of all I thank them for representing us well and making us so very proud. Go Canada go.
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Jim Hillyer Lethbridge, AB
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the people of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta for electing me as their new member of Parliament. They put their trust in me because they have grown to trust the Conservative Party. They know that we are the party of the hard-working working class.
They know that they can count on me to work hard to reduce taxes and to strengthen the economy, to continue to let parents choose for themselves how to care for their children and to work toward a more just justice system.
Southern Albertans also know that Conservative policies are the only sure way and the most compassionate way to help the poor and lift the downtrodden.
We offer families real choices, real assistance and real results.
I am here to listen and to serve and to ensure that Southern Alberta remains a place of rich diversity and independent thinkers who work together within a strong, vibrant community.
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Anne Minh-Thu Quach Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, I rise here today to commend the entire community of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield for its involvement in the fight against ragweed. Over 400 partners, including the City of Valleyfield, public health workers, the health and social service centre and the people of this city in my riding, have all joined forces for the past three years to take part in a study on pollen concentrations.
Ragweed is systematically cut down every year in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, and as a result, the intensity of allergy symptoms has dropped by over 58%. This goes to show that, by working together, it is possible to positively influence people's health. I would remind the House that 25% of Canadians suffer from this kind of allergy. I therefore invite all communities in Canada to follow the example set by Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in order to improve air quality and everyone's health.
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish the people of my riding and everyone in Quebec an excellent Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.
Prince Albert
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Randy Hoback Prince Albert, SK
Mr. Speaker, on May 2, the constituents of the federal riding of Prince Albert honoured me by re-electing me as their member of Parliament.
I want to thank them for the trust and confidence they have placed in me. I also specifically wish to acknowledge the commitment and hard work of my campaign manager, Larry Brewster, and my entire campaign team, who are too many to mention in this short statement.
Most of all I would like to thank my wife, Jerri, and my children, Broc and Alicia, for their continued love and support.
The voters of Prince Albert sent a clear message on May 2. They want to see the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry repealed. They want the ability to market their grain as they fit, just as producers in Ontario have the right to do. They want to see a Senate that is democratically elected. They want to see the economic policies of our Conservative government continue, polices that kept Canadians working during the global recession, and a balanced budget by 2015.
Most of all, they want Canada to be governed by a Conservative majority led by the Right Hon. Prime Minister, and thanks to the leadership of our Prime Minister, their wants will be our realities.
Anniversary of Ukrainian Settlement
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Robert Sopuck Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Mr. Speaker, on May 2 the voters of Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette bestowed on me the honour of representing them in the House of Commons by re-electing me.
On June 14, parliamentarians from all parties elected me as the chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group. I succeeded the former chair, the member for Langley, whom I thank for his distinguished service.
In 1891, the first wave of Ukrainian settlers arrived on Canada's shores, and the rest, as they say, is history. This year marks the 120th anniversary of that settlement.
Western Canada was a destination for many of these settlers who yearned for a farm of their own. The Ukrainian culture is alive, well and thriving in my constituency, as is the case in many regions of Canada. The many manifestations of Ukrainian culture in my constituency range from beautiful churches to lovingly tended cemeteries, thriving dance groups, beautiful gardens and, of course, productive farms.
I am honoured to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Ukrainian settlement, a testament to our great land of hope and opportunity.
Quebec National Holiday
Statements By Members
2:05 p.m.
Marie-Claude Morin Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Mr. Speaker, I want to take this first opportunity in the House to thank my constituents for the confidence they placed in me on May 2. I want to wish them and all Quebeckers a happy Quebec national holiday and tell them I will be with them in spirit, as I will not be joining the festivities. Let us face it, the Prime Minister refuses to respect the holiday of a nation he claims to recognize.
I look forward to returning to my riding and taking part in many summer activities with the extraordinary people who live there.
I also want to add that I am proud that the NDP, unlike the current government, supports workers. I chose this party for its values, which I share, as do a vast majority of Quebeckers. I will continue to represent these values when it comes to social and affordable housing, for which I am the critic, because every citizen, without exception, has the right to have a decent roof overhead.
Camp Nathan Smith
Statements By Members
2:10 p.m.
LaVar Payne Medicine Hat, AB
Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a momentous day in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.
The Canadian flag was lowered for good at Camp Nathan Smith, where Canadian civilians have been serving for the last six years.
This solemn moment marks both the achievements and sacrifices of all Canadians who have served in Afghanistan. It is a step forward in the transition of that country's future to the Afghan people. It is also a chance to pay tribute to all those who have sacrificed, some with the ultimate price, in the fight against the Taliban and terror generally.
Afghanistan today is a better, freer place than Canadians found it when they first arrived at Camp Nathan Smith. The people who have used the camp as a base for their work have helped tangibly to improve the lives of people in the region and the country as a whole. Canada's commitment to Afghanistan's future continues.
I would ask all hon. members to join me in saluting the men and women who have served with honour and distinction at Camp Nathan Smith. Theirs is an impressive legacy, indeed.
Riding of Trois-Rivières
Statements By Members
2:10 p.m.
Robert Aubin Trois-Rivières, QC
Mr. Speaker, one minute to talk about the important events in my riding is not very much. But I would like to mention a few situations that reflect the best things, and in some instances the worst, that are on the minds of the people of Trois-Rivières.
First, I would like to wish all Quebeckers a happy national holiday. I apologize for not being able to participate in the festivities for reasons known to everyone and approved by very few.
After the bundle of English-only documents that were presented yesterday, the battles to be fought in Ottawa are more urgent than ever.
I also wish to reassure Claude Mercier and Louis Poisson of CUPW in Trois-Rivières that I will work relentlessly to defend their rights to fair and equitable bargaining.
In another vein, I would like to congratulate Marie-Ève Nault and the entire Canadian women's soccer team, who are bringing us honour in the final round of the tournament in Germany.
Violence Against Women
Statements By Members
2:10 p.m.
Nina Grewal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians were horrified to learn of the savage beating inflicted on Rumana Manzur, a barbaric act of violence. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ms. Manzur and her daughter, but prayers are not enough.
Violence against women destroys families and weakens the fabric of society. Canadians know we are addressing violence against women and girls.
Since taking office, our government has invested more than $30 million in projects to end violence against women and girls in communities across the country. We have increased funding to end this violence to its highest level ever.
We are addressing these barbaric crimes by supporting programs like the Indo-Canadian Women's Associations' elimination of harmful cultural practises project. This initiative will empower immigrant girls and young women.
Violence should not be and will not be tolerated.
Air India
Statements By Members
2:10 p.m.
Bob Rae Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, early this morning, on the coast of Ireland, a few families will be lighting candles and sending them into the water.
In Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver today, people will come together and reflect on the terrible events of June 23, 1985 when hundreds of people were killed by bombs that were built and set in Canada.
The Air India bombing stands as a terrible act of violence and terror, an event that took Canadians far too long to recognize in its full significance.
We recognize the courage and dignity of those who died and those who lived. We dedicate ourselves to the struggle against extremism and against violence, and we remember the words that are found on each monument memorializing these lives:
Time flies, suns rise and shadows fall,
Let it pass by, love reigns forever over all.
The Budget
Statements By Members
June 23rd, 2011 / 2:15 p.m.
Jacques Gourde Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Mr. Speaker, in June we laid out the next phase of Canada's economic action plan, a positive plan that will keep taxes low and stimulate jobs and growth.
Canadians supported this budget and the important economic measures it contains. We are asking the NDP and the opposition to work with us to support Canada's forestry, mining, manufacturing, agriculture and aerospace sectors; to increase the guaranteed income supplement for Canada's poorest seniors; to bring health care and social transfers to record levels; to provide tax breaks to family caregivers, families with children involved in arts activities, and volunteer firefighters; and to attract doctors and nurses to rural areas.
But the NDP voted against all of these measures. Let us work together for a strong Quebec within a united Canada.
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day
Statements By Members
2:15 p.m.
Jack Layton Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to wish my dear friends in Quebec a happy national holiday. It is a time to celebrate our language, our culture, our heritage, our history and our nation.
Quebec has a great deal to offer and many reasons to celebrate. On behalf of the entire NDP team and caucus, and especially the 59 members from Quebec, I wish all Quebeckers an excellent national holiday.
I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that francophones across Canada will be celebrating Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day tomorrow. May the French culture, history and language be at the heart of our celebrations from coast to coast to coast.
The Budget
Statements By Members
2:15 p.m.
Brian Jean Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Speaker, in June, we presented the next phase of Canada's economic action plan, a positive plan to keep taxes low and support jobs and growth. Canadians supported the budget and its important economic measures.
We asked the NDP and the opposition to put aside politics and to work with us to support Canada's forestry, mining, agricultural, manufacturing and aerospace sectors; to increase income support for Canada's most in need seniors with a GIS increase; to bring health care and social transfers to record highs; to provide tax relief for family caregivers; to provide for families with a children's art tax credit; to provide for volunteer firefighters; to help attract doctors and nurses to rural areas; and much more.
The budget won praise among many Canadians but the NDP voted against it all.
Why did the NDP and the opposition members vote against seniors, vote against forestry, vote against record money for health care and much more? It is because they are in it for themselves and not for Canadians.
Canada Post
Oral Questions
2:15 p.m.
Jack Layton Leader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, negotiations between Canada Post and its workers have broken off. After locking the doors of post offices and sorting stations, Canada Post has no reason to negotiate in good faith because the Prime Minister is doing the dirty work on its behalf. He is preventing a healthy bargaining process, and imposing a labour contract with lower wages.
Where is the Prime Minister's good faith?
Canada Post
Oral Questions
2:15 p.m.
Calgary Southwest
Stephen Harper Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the role of the federal government is to act in the best interests of the Canadian people and the Canadian economy, and not in the interests of those at the table. The reason for the legislation is to put an end to this situation that threatens our economy. The wage rates being imposed are identical to those offered in negotiations with our federal public servants.


text:
At Denim Therapy, we're constantly looking for new ways to help you love your denim. From our newly launched denim dye service (check out sample pics on denimtherapy.com), to our promotion with The Laundress on a love-your-jeans denim wash–we're always experimenting.
Our latest venture? A resizing service. Check out the jeans before:
And after:
Can you believe this is the same pair of jeans? Our denim expert managed to turn size 29 straight legs into size 27 skinnys. Amazing!
We've still got more testing to do, but be sure to look out for this service in the near future.
-Renee Sykes
Tags: denim lab, Denim Repair, Denim Therapy, resizing


text:
Friday, September 11, 2009
Weekend Laughs: Which is Funnier? Pastor Manning? The Coffin Preacher? Or the Casket Practical Joke?
Pastor Manning is at it again! You got's to love him. I think that some enterprising video game developer should make a first person shooter or role playing game featuring Pastor Manning--now I would buy that for a dollar!
Behold the coffin preacher:
As the blog Oh Hell Nawl put it, this video damn near made me poop myself:
So which of these is funniest? I vote for Pastor Manning as my default, because as you all know he is my personal happiness pill.
Question: Is Pastor Manning putting some sort of Christian science hoodoo curse on Barack Obama? We know that prayer is purported to be able heal the sick, but can a "reverse prayer" make sick the healthy?
Not casket related, but a worthy bonus. Question: if the following happened to you, would you not just go ahead and simply "bless" the fool?
Chauncey DeVega says: Don't Say We Don't Give Equal Time To Our Enemies or Pat Buchanan Says "America is Coming Apart"
Seeing that we got a great deal of mileage off of our faux interview with Pat Buchanan, it seems only fair to give him equal time and the chance to speak in his own words. Even more priceless is the fact that his latest editorial on WorldNetDaily is a real gem that even we could not parody-- lest we diminish its inherent schizophrenic, paranoid, xenophobic, madness. It seems there is indeed a culture war afoot...and folks like Buchanan are leading their foot soldiers straight through the gates of Hell.
Is America Coming Apart?
By Patrick J. Buchanan
Flying home from London, where the subject of formal debate on the 70th anniversary of World War II had been whether Winston Churchill was a liability or asset to the Free World, one arrives in the middle of a far more acrimonious national debate right here in the United States.
At issue: Should Barack Obama be allowed to address tens of millions of American children, inside their classrooms, during school hours?
Conservative talk-show hosts saw a White House scheme to turn public schools into indoctrination centers where the socialist ideology of Obama would be spoon-fed to captive audiences of children forced to listen to Big Brother -- and then do assignments on his sermon.
The liberal commentariat raged about right-wing paranoia.
Yet Byron York of the Washington Examiner dug back to 1991 to discover that, when George H.W. Bush went to Alice Deal Junior High to speak to America's school kids, the left lost it.
"The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," railed the Washington Post. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was called before a House committee. The National Education Association denounced Bush. And Congress ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate.
Obama's actual speech proved about as controversial as a Nancy Reagan appeal to eighth-graders to "Just say no!" to drugs.
Yet, the episode reveals the poisoned character of our politics.
We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama's health-care plans were called "thugs," "fascists," "racists" and "evil-mongers" by national Democrats.
We see it as Rep. Joe Wilson shouts, "You lie!" at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress.
We seem not only to disagree with each other more than ever, but to have come almost to detest one another. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each others' throats.
One half of America sees abortion as the annual slaughter of a million unborn. The other half regards the right-to-life movement as tyrannical and sexist.
Proponents of gay marriage see its adversaries as homophobic bigots. Opponents see its champions as seeking to elevate unnatural and immoral relationships to the sacred state of traditional marriage.
The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays and share the same music, poetry, art and literature?
Yet, today, Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a skirmish in a French-Mexican war about which most Americans know nothing, which took place the same year as two of the bloodiest battles of our own Civil War: Antietam and Fredericksburg.
Christmas and Easter, the great holidays of Christendom, once united Americans in joy. Now we fight over whether they should even be mentioned, let alone celebrated, in our public schools.
Where we used to have classical, pop, country & Western and jazz music, now we have varieties tailored to specific generations, races and ethnic groups. Even our music seems designed to subdivide us.
One part of America loves her history, another reviles it as racist, imperialist and genocidal. Old heroes like Columbus, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King and Cesar Chavez.
But the old holidays, heroes and icons endure, as the new have yet to put down roots in a recalcitrant Middle America.
We are not only more divided than ever on politics, faith and morality, but along the lines of class and ethnicity. Those who opposed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and stood by Sgt. Crowley in the face-off with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates were called racists. But this time they did not back down. They threw the same vile word right back in the face of their accusers, and Barack Obama.
Consider but a few issues on which Americans have lately been bitterly divided: school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, the Duke rape case, Terri Schiavo, Iraq, amnesty, torture.
Now it is death panels, global warming, "birthers" and socialism. If a married couple disagreed as broadly and deeply as Americans do on such basic issues, they would have divorced and gone their separate ways long ago. What is it that still holds us together?
The European-Christian core of the country that once defined us is shrinking, as Christianity fades, the birth rate falls and Third World immigration surges. Globalism dissolves the economic bonds, while the cacophony of multiculturalism displaces the old American culture.
"E pluribus unum" – out of many, one - was the national motto the men of '76 settled upon. One sees the pluribus. But where is the unum? One sees the diversity. But where is the unity?
Is America, too, breaking up?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Chauncey DeVega's World of Ghetto Nerds: Is Barack Obama a Zombie Who Wants to Eat Representative Joe Wilson's Brains?
We are going to do a more serious, incisive, and analytical post on President Obama's health care speech to Congress in a few hours, but because I am a ghetto nerd who loves Bro'Bama, and I will ride or die with the man, I feel that I can make the following observation.
Have any of you have seen the photo of President Obama on CNN's homepage?
Does he not look like one of the undead? Do you remember during the campaign when that kindly looking, black elder was trying to kiss him, a moment that many (including me) joked that she was a zombie trying to bite him? Could Bro'Bama be infected with the z-virus?
For your inspection, here is Barack Obama side by side with THE Romero zombie Bub from Day of the Dead, a little Black Zombie obligatorily thrown in from Land of the Dead--and Romero's cemetery zombie from Night of the Living Dead:
Do we have something to worry about? And after Congressman Joe Wilson's impolitic outburst, doesn't President Obama look like he wants to eat said offender's brains? Are we in the beginning stages of a full scale zombie apocalypse--a trickle down, brain eating, end of the world, scenario?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Do You Want to Win a Free Copy of Hill Harper's New Book "The Conversation?"
Another day, another set of prizes to give away.
Courtesy of Gotham Books, we are hosting a contest featuring Hill Harper's (the actor of CSI fame) new book "The Conversation." Hill's work, I just got my copy today and will be reading it on the bus to and from work, presents a light, insightful, and accessible user's manual for African American men and women to better understand that which keeps us apart (and hopefully what can bring us closer together). I am not a big fan of self-help books, but The Conversation is fun reading and I do recommend it.
Now, we respectable negroes have always talked around the dynamics surrounding gender relationships, but this contest seems like a great entry point into this impassioned conversation.
We respectable negroes also have a biting sense of humor-- so of course we can't just give copies of this book away. You all need to work to get this swag. In the spirit of the Church of James Brown (wasn't that a fun contest?), we bring you the chance to play ...insert drum roll...
Each of the submissions should have the following format.
1. Tell us what the symptoms are of the patient (i.e. if the Black Male/Female relationship was a patient, what would he/she come to you as the doctor complaining about?)
2. What condition is the patient in? Please use this helpful guide:
As an example, if I were to submit a response, here is what mine would likely be.
I was the attending physician for the Black Relationship's visit to the emergency room on September 8, 2009. The patient arrived complaining of shortness of breath, headaches, and swollen joints. There were suspicious marks on the forearms and chest that would suggest defensive injuries from an attack, cutting, or a history of domestic violence. The patient's neck also displayed scarring consistent with being burned by hot grits or cooking oil.
In addition, the patient described acute conditions that are associated with a generalized anxiety disorder. I ran a standard exam and the vitals were within a normal range. However, said patient's blood pressure was extremely high (both systolic and diastolic) . When questioned about its lifestyle habits, the Black Relationship became upset, confused, and belligerent. He/she was paranoid and fixated on a deep internal schism around love and acceptance. There was also a repeated reference to "interracial dating," "white people stealing our good women and men," something called "BMW," as well as to "Angry Black Women." I suggested that the Black Relationship consult a mental health professional. At first resistant because of cultural norms, the patient quite wisely and lucidly agreed to do so in the future.
Physically the patient is in FAIR condition. However, the mental and emotional state of the patient is SERIOUS.
My PRESCRIPTION for the Black Relationship is intensive psychotherapy, a series of in depth physicals, as well as a consultation with a nutritionist.
In short have fun. We are giving away 3 copies of the book. But, I will probably have some additional prizes for the runners-up.
Monday, September 7, 2009
You Make the Call: George Clinton's Maggot Brain versus Metallica's Unforgiven
Totally random. I just got back from seeing the one and only George Clinton (can you smell the p-funk on me?) at the Africafest in Chicago. Gordon and his queen were also in attendance. At the climax of the show--one song before "Flashlight"--George Clinton's boy Michael Hampton played "Maggot Brain." Am I just that late to the party, but did Metallica borrow some of "Unforgiven's" chord progressions from Parliament's "Maggot Brain?"
In union, Gordon, his queen, and I noticed the similarities between the two songs. Are we crazy? What are some other funk-rock-metal borrowings/samplings/collaborations that are so obvious they have subsequently gone under the radar for most listeners? Enlighten me please as I enjoy adding those selections to my music rotation.
I am still waiting for the mothership!
I wonder if Riley Martin will get me a seat on the next outbound shuttle to Alpha Centauri?
When We Countenance Evil Anywhere, It Diminishes All of Us Everywhere: Father Wants Son's Beating Treated as Hate Crime
As we discussed earlier this week. Where is the outrage? And where is the "social justice" community? Remember, when we countenance evil anywhere, it diminishes all of us everywhere...
from CNN:
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Brian Milligan Sr. believes his son's race triggered a brutal attack on the streets of Buffalo, New York.
Armed with a chunk of concrete, several assailants beat Brian Milligan Jr. on the back of the head on August 18, leaving a 3-inch gash. They kicked him in the face, breaking his jaw.
Bloodied and bruised, the 18-year-old managed to walk five blocks to his grandmother's house before being rushed to the hospital.
Milligan's father believes several African-Americans beat his son, who is white, because he is dating an African-American woman. He wants police to treat the beating as a hate crime. He also has criticized what he calls a deafening silence from the community, police and the national media.
"If this was a black guy who was beaten by a group of white guys for dating a white girl, people would be up in arms," he said. "There's a double standard."
Buffalo police believe a group of about 10 to 15 African-American men attacked Milligan late at night, police spokesman Mike DeGeorge said. Police have made no arrests and are still investigating the motive, he said.
Milligan Sr. says he believes the attackers are the same "neighborhood guys" who threatened his son and his African-American girlfriend because of their interracial relationship.
The younger Milligan and his girlfriend, Nicola Fletcher, who is also 18, had recently complained of an increase in insults and threats in east Buffalo, where Fletcher lives and where Milligan was staying with his grandmother, Fletcher said.
"Every time they walk the streets, people stop him and call him 'cracker' and ask her why she's not with a black guy," Milligan Sr. said.
Two days before the attack, Fletcher said she was shot with paintball pellets by the same group of neighborhood aggressors.
"I'm afraid to walk the streets," she said. "Those guys are still out there."
Police "are making good progress in the case," said DeGeorge, the police spokesman. Investigators are still trying to determine if it should be declared a hate crime.
They have asked members of the community to call police if they have any information.
When Milligan was taken to Erie County Medical Center, he was unconscious and suffered blood on the brain and brain swelling as a result of the beating. He will see a neurosurgeon on September 10 to be evaluated, said his father.
He is now recovering at home and remembers nothing about the attack, which has made the police investigation even more difficult.
The story has touched a nerve with several members of Buffalo's African-American community, including a local pastor who leads a predominantly black church in Buffalo.
"At first, it didn't affect me the way that it would have if I heard it was a black teen attacked," said the Rev. Darius Pridgen, who spent years fighting for civil rights for African-Americans.
"But after I saw his father on TV pleading with the community to find the assailants, I decided I had to go after the people who beat this kid."
Pridgen said he felt that the community has turned a collective blind eye to the beating. So he gave a fire-and-brimstone sermon at the True Baptist Church on a Sunday after the attack, appealing to his congregation to help find the culprits.
"He didn't deserve to be beaten this way," Pridgen recalled saying at the service. "If you believe this, put your hands together."
If it was a black teen, Pridgen said, "We would have been protesting with flags and everything else."
Rod Watson also addressed the issue in his column in the Buffalo News. Watson, who is black, pointed out that interracial marriages are nearly 10 times higher than they were in 1960, according to U.S. Census data, but still those couples have a tough time being accepted by society.
"If blacks in Buffalo in 2009 are acting like whites in Selma in 1959, this society has big problems, despite electing a president who is himself the product of an interracial union," Watson said.
Judy Milligan, a community activist and Brian Milligan Jr.'s great-aunt, said she has been overwhelmed with support from her friends, both black and white.
Mary Woods, a member of Buffalo's African-American community, reached out to Milligan to offer her support.
"I don't care what color you are, when something like this happens, justice must be served," Woods said. "There had to be someone who saw something, and they should come forward."
Milligan Sr. has criticized the Buffalo Police Department for spending too much time "trying to prove this crime wasn't a hate crime instead of performing a solid investigation."
But DeGeorge said the department is pursuing the attackers with the same vigor as it would any crime.
"People tend to want crimes solved yesterday," DeGeorge said. "We are performing a thorough investigation and that takes time."He expressed optimism that Buffalo residents would come forward to help bring the perpetrators to justice.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Power of White Women's Tears (Redux) or Right Wing Mother Cries over Barack Obama's Speech to School Children
A colleague who forwarded the above clip to me summed it up best with his email that:
This woman's tears has inspired me to start a new feature: every time a Conservative (of if appropriate a Liberal) becomes histrionic about Barack Obama--and their only real motivation for said complaining and panic is the fact that the President of the United States is a Black man--I will play an appropriate video clip.
Today's installment of "we are really upset that a Black man is President but we don't have the courage to tell you is"...
Friday, September 4, 2009
Chauncey DeVega says: A Mugging On Lake Street or Let's Talk Honestly About Ignt's, Black on White Violence, and Liberal (or Not) Guilt
Hat tip to Ta-Nehisi Coates for this one. I was a victim of an attempted robbery at gunpoint (by a young black ign't) and am thus a bit too close to this story to offer a traditional essay.
Consequently, I have more questions than answers and will share accordingly.
I must applaud John Conroy's honesty in sharing the complex mix of feelings he experienced in the aftermath of his attack by a group of black hoodlums. For the uninitiated, Conroy is a local Chicago journalist who is good people and has worked diligently to highlight injustices wherever he has found them. In total, Conroy is a sincere defender of the "powerless" and the "disadvantaged"--how ironic then, when a member of said group viciously attacks him.
In reading "A Mugging on Lake Street" I must ask: what happens when you are one of the good guys (in this case a self-avowed, white progressive) and you are betrayed by those folks who you are invested in helping? Do you give up the fight? Should you? Or is this betrayal a litmus test for how deep one's commitment to a cause really is?
For example, if a person is invested in rehabilitating pitbulls, and one of those poor abused souls does not return the generosity of your deeds--except for a sudden and painful bite...so much just rewards for your hard work--are you a fool for continuing with that cause? How do we reconcile the moment of praxis that occurs when theory meets practice?
Did these ign'ts attack Conroy because he was white? Or did they attack him because he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time? Are these predators so utterly unreflective, and controlled by their base impulses, that to assign any amount of premeditation to their deeds functions as an ironic, backhanded "complement"--one which they are not worthy of receiving?
When you hear about instances such as Conroy's attack, does your mind wander to the inevitable question, "what if a group of white kids had attacked a local black journalist? Wouldn't there be protests?" More generally, what of our common humanity? I bring hell down on white folks when they don't stand up for justice, and I try to bring the same rain down upon black and brown folk as well: Where were/are Sharpton et al. when hate crimes are committed against White people?
Or is this is a story of power, where "the powerful" i.e. White people, have enough advocates already? Thus, those who speak for the "weak" cannot and must not divert their attention from that cause? Or is the reluctance on the part of the media, public intellectuals, and activists to turn a bright light on hate crimes against whites a function of how these violent incidents are often taken as a cause de celebre by White Nationalists and other hate mongers, and thus there exists a natural aversion to giving said groups any additional ammunition?
Finally, what is more disturbing? "Larry's" behavior? Or that of the "responsible" adults around him? Is it not at all surprising that so many young black men end up in prison as much because of poor choices, as because of how those around them act as enablers? What is the over/under on how long until this young ign't, piece of human debris ends up in prison? I say 2 years, 5 on the outside. What is your bet?
Am I too callous, when after reading these stories I shake my head and say incidents such as these aren't about race at all? That instead these happenings are more precisely a commentary on the thin dividing line which separates the civilized and the savage--and that Conroy is actually lucky because if he were black those young ign'ts might have just as soon killed him?
Some choice excerpts:
I was willing to believe that this was just an example of the inexplicable teenage mind at work. Carolyn Frazier, a Northwestern law professor who often represents juveniles facing criminal charges, told me recently that her clients sometimes use the phrase "going on dummy" to describe doing something stupid, something bad, offering "a big 'fuck you' to society. . . . It's that whole frontal cortex issue: They are just incredibly impulsive; they are not thinking about the higher consequences." Of course, not every kid behaves that way, so there's obviously more at work. "It's peer pressure; it's what you see in your neighborhood, what values you are being raised with; it's all sorts of things." Maybe, she said, "you got dummied."
"Some people are just thugs," an African American friend of mine said. And I thought there might be something to that. I just had the bad luck to run into one—they come in all colors—and perhaps mine was an equal opportunity thug. Maybe if I'd been black, I'd have hit the same piece of pavement.
Larry sat still for all of this, his eyes downcast. Aaronson asked him to reply. "Wasn't no motive," he said quietly, his voice hardly carrying to Aaronson's end of the table. "Nothin' like that." He was hesitant, didn't seem to be able to look at me directly, and there was no trace of cockiness or street toughness. "We was playing basketball at school, and then we got off the train, and one of the guys said, 'Let's do somethin'.' 'Like what?' 'Like beat up somebody.' Thirty seconds later you came riding by on your bike."
Larry maintained that he wasn't the guy who'd hit me. He said that he hadn't objected to the plan, and that afterward he had just run away with the others. "Seeing the way it happened, I had no feeling. Didn't know what to feel." The whole thing had nothing to do with race, he said. "If it was any other person in that state of mind we was in as a group, it would have happened to anyone. . . . Really wasn't no reason. Just kids doing kids."
"Why didn't you steal anything?" I asked.
"Wasn't part of the plan."
I called seven more times, trying at hours when I thought I might catch Larry but not his aunt, but had no success. Finally, I called on Memorial Day. Larry's aunt answered and said her husband wanted to talk to me. "I don't see what it is that you want to know," he said. "You got mugged, he got in trouble. So what is it that you want to know?"
"I'd just like to know what is behind it, what happened that day."
"So, what you writing—a book, a movie, or what?"
"No, I'm just trying to write a magazine article. I'm not using—"
He interrupted before I could explain I wasn't going to use Larry's name. "Oh, you just writing a magazine article? That means you gonna get paid."
"That's right."
"So is he gonna get paid?"
"Okay, then he ain't gonna do the interview. I am his uncle, and that's the end of that. Thank you. Have a nice day." He hung up.
Dan Savage on Beck, Malkin, Bachmann, Palin et al.--They Basically Want to See the President Assassinated
I have completed my move back into Chicago--and will be moving again in a week--I thought I would be able to live comfortably next to the subway but I ain't that strong (I think the CIA should just take suspected terrorists and put them in an overpriced apartment next to the CTA or Metra and wait the obligatory 3 days until said terrorist begs for mercy).
Until I get settled in, here is a quickie to tide you over--my boy Dan Savage, yes Dan Savage of "Savage Love" fame--offering some analysis of the death cult that is Beck, Limbaugh, et al.
Who would have thought that the father of "santorum" and one of my favorite advocates of booty love would be so sharp.
Kudos to you Mr. Savage.
Here is a bonus:
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Would Should a Respectable Negro Do?
I work with a white guy I've known for years. We are somewhere in between good friends and casual acquaintances. He is a stand up guy and a raging liberal (he has all the symptoms of liberal overcompensation syndrome: he is from a small, lily white suburban town; his parents are super-conservative). We talk politics and race frequently, and we both employ sarcasm and humor when talking about these things.
So, this guy and I were in a meeting, and he wrote a bunch of things on the whiteboard. When we were finished, he smiled, tossed me the eraser, and said, "Here you go, clean this up for me" (I've made similar jokes to him in the past). I shot back "Oh, so the black man has to clean up after you?" We both laughed.
As I stood up to leave the room, I saw the black janitor emptying the trash. I'm fairly positive that he heard us even though he gave no indication that he did. As I'm one of the few men in our office, the janitor and I end up talking a lot every afternoon. He's never mentioned anything about this, and there's been no change in the tone of our discussions.
I feel terrible, even though I don't think the joke is really offensive. Should I feel bad about the joke? Should I apologize to the janitor?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Jayson Blair & the 2 Rules of Judging Black Screw-Ups
Disgraced negro Jayson Blair is in the news again. It seems that the
Reading the many news reports on Blair's new career made me remember how thoroughly he screwed up his last career. These reports also remind me how mainstream media depict Blair's blackness as central to his deceit and his shoddy work.
The predictable way in which the Blair case played out in the media gives us an opportunity to illustrate the two broad rules governing how black screw-ups are perceived (and therefore judged) in mainstream American public discourse. These rules also shape how black folks respond to black screw-ups.
A version of the first rule is stated at around the 5 minute mark of this snippet from Chris Rock's 2004 stand-up special Never Scared:
Rule 1: A black person who screws up is attacked more severely than is a white person who screws up.
In Rock's corollary, "only the white man can profit from pain." The words "wrongdoing" and "incompetence" can often replace "pain," but the point stands. Rule 1 is what responsible black parents instill in their children when they state, "you have to be x times as good as a white person in order to succeed" (whether x is 2 or 5 or 10 depends on the parent, the place, and the year).
In popular discourse, Jayson Blair has become the poster boy for plagiarism. When I see this yoke placed on the lone black writer among the dozens of contemporary mainstream writers busted for plagiarism, my antennae go up (think also of high profile black offenders becoming the poster children for corruption and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system).
The journalistic fraud of former New Republic associate editor Stephen Glass was arguably as impressive as Blair's; nevertheless, the public was more sympathetic to Glass' fictionalized (auto)biographical novel The Fabulist as well as the movie it spawned, Shattered Glass than they were to Blair's opportunistic literary cash grab, Burning Down My Master's House. Glass certainly received his fair share of loathing, but, as evidenced by the sneering undertones pervading the reports of Blair's new career, there is a little something extra in the condemnation of Blair.
Those who point out Rule 1 are often accused of "playing the race card," which is supposed to imply a refusal to hold black people personally accountable for their self-inflicted woes. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Rule 2: The misdeeds of any black screw-up are attributed not just to that lone screw-up, but to black people as a whole.
Rule 2 is significantly more pernicious than the first. One of the biggest advantages of being white is having the luxury of being treated as an individual—for people who aren't white, the sins of any become the sins of all, while the good deeds of any are exceptional and are used to denounce the masses ("you're one of the good ones;" "why can't the rest of you be like so-and-so?").
Mainstream media framing the Blair affair as a black mark against affirmative action is an example of Rule 2 in action. This framing is hardly surprising coming from conservative opponents of affirmative action, but the affirmative action meme has also featured heavily in liberals' accounts of the scandal, though sometimes merely as a foil. Such an interpretation calls into question the qualifications and character of all people of color and, most insidiously, undermines formal attempts to address systemic exclusion.
Rule 2 can also bolster the notion that the failures of a black screw-up can be attributed to some inherently flawed aspect of black culture (e.g. homophobia, misogyny, violence, anti-intellectualism).
Contrary to popular opinion, black people are the harshest critics of black screw-ups. Even though black people know the rules are unfair, the attitude seems to be that if you're too reckless or stupid to ignore the rules, you get what you deserve. It should be noted that this attitude is not borne of defeatism or internalized self-hatred, but of individual and collective self interest: black screw-ups make us all look bad.
There is often black pushback against both rules, however. Black people may relent in their criticism of a black screw-up when it appears that whites are giving the knife in the back of that black screw-up an extra twist. Since explicit, anti-black animus has been driven from public discourse, these impulses must be either coded or channeled into publicly acceptable outlets. Black people can usually sense when white folks are criticizing a black screw-up in order to vent their anger toward black people in general.
I am willing to forgive Blair's past screw-ups, and I wish him much success in his new endeavor, but since the rest of us are penalized for his missteps, he'd better not screw up again.
A Limerick for a Hoe, a hoe, and a Hoe's Grandma or You All Are Going to Jail--15 and 17 Year Old Girls Caught Working at Strip Clubs
Here's a tongue twisting kind of sort of limerick for you: so a Hoe's grandma attempts to beat a reporter with a hoe for reporting on her granddaughter's Hoeish behavior, a Hoe who is working at a local strip club--where said Hoe is a hard working Hoe and hoe. Hoes a plenty it seems!
Grandma was going to work over that reporter with her very own Shaolin spade--and I am impressed. But I must ask: is "grandma save a hoe" actually more akin to being an expert at Filipino stick fighting than the Shaolin martial arts?
Who says the black family isn't strong?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Keep on Keepin' On Edward Kennedy or Senator Edward Kennedy Passes Away at 77
Some Black/White dap from me to you. And Bro'Bama will be speaking at your homegoing ceremony. The torch passes? I hope so...
Travel well most honorable Senator Kennedy. You weren't a respectable negro, but you simultaneously WERE a respectable negro.
Senator Kennedy, can you please do me a favor? When you get to your destination have a drink with your brothers Bobby and John, and make sure one of my faves, President LBJ, gets a sip of the good stuff as well.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
"Double Down" on Diabetes---We Are Indeed a Society Too Sick to Survive: KFC Has a "Sandwich" Where the Bread is Replaced by Fried Chicken
Again, I am rendered speechless. Is this sandwich a crime against humanity? Where is the UN?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Gordon Gartrelle says: Which Part of Michelle Obama's Body Will They Debate Next?
Chauncey and I often discuss Michelle Obama's booty. It's not what you think. Well before her backyard became a news story, Chauncey and I had tried to unpack the fixation on the body of Michelle Obama (the fixation on President Obama's body is related, but distinct).
The treatment of Mrs. Obama's figure goes beyond the typical, inane, sexist reduction of First Ladies to their bodies and clothes. With Mrs. Obama, there is a fixation on her perceived or imagined nudity. There is also an unreasonable expectation that she uphold stodgy norms of decorum (e.g. hugging the Queen, dressing conservatively and formally at all times). These hangups signal the persistence of race and class stereotypes about black women's behavior while recalling the historical public uneasiness about the black female body.
Peep the slow creep of the debates surrounding Mrs. Obama's body parts:
*September, 2008: Her boobs
This one didn't really make a splash.
*Nov, 2008: Her butt
This one did make a splash, and it's not surprising why: black women are more commonly associated with their butts than with any other body part. Even we got into the action a bit. I think that media folks were so uncomfortable with the sexual connotations of this discussion that they abstained from overt discussions of Mrs. Obama's body…but only for a short while.
*February, 2009. Her hair
This moved us away from her lower half altogether, but it's really a black thing; I'm not sure that everyone else gets the class and cultural implications of this one.
*March, 2009: Her arms
Now they've moved back down her body. Though stupid, this discussion seems safe because womens' arms aren't commonly sexualized or racialized.
*August, 2009: Her legs
Is it appropriate for a distinguished woman to wear active/vacation wear when she goes on vacation? Because of this dumb (non)story, I've probably sworn off TV news for good.
And believe me, it's not over. So, we ask our readers--which of Michelle Obama's body parts will be the next subject of debate? Where will it end?
Monday, August 24, 2009
Jon Voight, Why are You Making Me Boycott Karate Dog? or Proceed to Vomit as Jon Voight Speaks at Sean Hannity's "Freedom" Concert
From my cold dead hands! Oh sorry, wrong confused Hollywood celebrity.
In looking through my bedside copy of the DSM IV, I have finally made my official diagnosis: Jon Voight and the GOP are manifesting a classic case of Freudian projection where they attribute all of their own worst traits to Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
In a previous piece, I lambasted Jon Voight and promised to never again watch Rosewood. That was really difficult for me because I love the Ving Rhames school of method acting, and Voight's nuanced portrayal of the stereotypically greedy Jewish store owner was an Oscar winning performance. Now, after his appearance at Sean Hannity's "Freedom" Concert, I am forced to boycott other Jon Voight classics such as: Anaconda, Bratz, Four Christmases, and Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2.
And for the record, Jon Voight can show up at a Klan rally and I would still keep U-Turn in my film rotation--tell me that Jen Lopez's sex scenes in that movie are not something to behold, go ahead...I dare you!
A few random thoughts. One, Sarah Palin is a great American who will lead the GOP to glory? Lord, I hope they nominate her in 2012. Two, am I the only one who gets the sad irony that a rich man with access to health care (Jon Voight) is pandering to the masses with another corporatist (Sean Hannity) while a senior citizen who is likely covered by Medicare cheers on their Rightist, political, circle jerk? Three, "if we let Obama have his way he will create a civil war in this country." Huh? I didn't know that progressives, centrists, and liberals were showing up at health care rallies with pistols and assault rifles. And my conservative friends, wasn't Timothy McVeigh one of you folks? Four, am I alone in being disturbed that the CIA was praised as though they are a bunch of superheroes? The CIA is a necessary evil, but a citizenry cheering on the National Security Apparatus is a bit too fascist for this respectable negro.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Tim Wise is a Bad White Man or Tim Wise on Barack Obama, How Race is a Factor, and Health Care Reform
Tim Wise is a bad white man. You get me, no? We have picked on Tim Wise a few times on this site, but this a White man who is on point--especially here.
Brother, we have met before, next time I will offer you a Sapporo beer and a sit down--one of my highest complements. We respectable negroes got some allies in the struggle and Tim Wise is (likely) one of them.
Yes or no?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
My Personal Happiness Pill of the Day: Pastor Manning Sings, Jukes, and Jives as He Proclaims his Support for a White Uprising Against Barack Obama
Pastor Manning is at it again. Now he is siding with white racist Right-wing militia members who want to depose President Barack Obama. In the immortal words of my avatar Fred Sandford, this nigga's crazy!
But you know what? This respectable negro still loves him some Pastor Manning. Can I have an amen?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
A Historian's Reflections on the Political Use of Racial Fear by the American Right Wing
I think I may have to put Werner Herzog's Bear on a semi-permanent retainer. His measured voice...such a historian isn't he...is a nice balance for my often histrionic bombast. Courtesy of the blog, I Used to be Disgusted Now I Try to be Amused:
This article is less about the abuse of history than the history that much of our current political debate (if it can be called such) developed from. That hidden history (for the layperson, at least) is the political use of racial fear.
Some of these moments are pretty obvious, like the rhetoric of white supremacy used by Democrats in the 1870s to roll back Reconstruction. Campaign posters of the time unabashadly announced that "this is a white man's country" and that the Democratic party was for the "white man" and the Republican side was for the "negro" with stereotypical images thrown in to make the point.
Since the 1960s the use of racial fear has necessarily become more subtle and veiled, but remained just as potent and effective. The 1968 election is a case in point. Ardent segregationist George Wallace's ads alluded to law and order, school busing, and "local control of schools" without needing to explain that white fear and prejudice towards blacks was a major factor in his policy stances. During that same election Nixon used Wallace's split of the Southern Democrat vote and a less inflammatory version of his rhetoric to take the White House (and gave the Republicans their biggest success in the South to that point.)
Ronald Reagan, that canonized pole star of the modern day Right, learned these lessons well. His infamous 1980 campaign speech in Neshoba County, Mississippi, is case in point. Standing in the place where Goodman, Cheney, and Schwerner were murdered in one of the most well-known violent attacks on the civil rights movement, he attacked welfare programs and claimed that he would stand for "states rights." At this moment, and others in his campaign, he implicitly associated welfare with African-Americans. States rights" had been the language of Wallace and other Southern governors in response to federal integration measures, certainly contrasted with the fight for equal rights that Goodman, Shwerner, and Cheney were martyred for.
His apologists like to pretend that Reagan's comments were entirely innocent, but at the very least they show a staggering inattention to the issue of racial inequality. Imagine if he had gone to Wounded Knee, and given a speech praising "frontier pioneers" without mentioning Native Americans, or had gone to a Waffen SS cemetery and called Nazi Germany's foot soldiers "victims" of Nazism. (He actually did the latter.)
Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, managed to make a comeback against Michael Dukakis and take the White House largely due to the Willie Horton ad, which nakedly played on white fears of black men. Like the Swift Boat ads in 2004, it was not produced officially by the Bush campaign, meaning that it could benefit politically from the fears it stoked while being able to plausibly deny any connection with its sentiment. This ugly tactic was so obvious that it was roundly denounced at the time, which may have lead to an overall reduction in the use of the racial fear card during the 1990s. (In 2004 homophobia was used intead, to great effect.)
These days the racial fear mongers have been active, with Glenn Beck ridiculously claiming that Barack Obama is a racist who "hates white culture," and the likes of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III turning the Sotomayor hearings into a circus of alleged white male victimization. Already during the election the birthers ginned up their crazy assault on reality, buoyed by the notion that Barack Obama's race and background made him alien to "real America," in the words of Sarah Palin. (Notice Wallace's similar use of "America" in his ad.)
The feverish inability to accept a black man as the leader of "America," which is most certainly coded white in their minds as much as it was in the 1870s, has made the expressions of fear and hate less guarded and more public. Witness the distrubing uptick in death threats against the president (including out in broad daylight by sign holding protesters) and the insane claims of the "deathers." The whole "death panel" rumor has absolutely no basis in reality whatsoever, but has a whole lot of basis in the perpetual white racial fears, which easily slide into the realm of the fantastical. I seriously doubt that this rumor would have been nearly as public, or would even be in existence, if it the current health care reform had been proposed by a white president. Clinton had Harry and Louise, but nothing like this. (This fear has always been gendered, too. Notice that deathers talk of "Grandma" getting killed by president Obama, not "Grandpa.")
If anything, the ability for that long-standing fear to still drive our public discourse, the same fear that made The Birth of a Nation the first movie blockbuster and gave the South to the Republican Party, shows that it's not going away any time soon. As I will explore soon, it is by no means the only factor, or even the most important, in the current backlash, but it should put to rest the ridiculous claims about America being a "post-racial" society.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Black Conservatives are the New Darkie Toothpaste or Black Conservatives with Guns Oppose President Barack Obama at Arizona Anti-Healthcare Rally
Things done changed. Back in the 1960s we had Negros with Guns. In 2009, we have Black Conservatives with Guns.
We have walked through the looking glass people. This is really dangerous stuff folks...truly, truly ominous. When I see this nonsense, am I alone in thinking that America is the laughing stock of the world right now? Ought I to be embarrassed by the collective state of affairs in our body politic? Am I alone in this sentiment?
First Kenneth Gladney, and now this. Is there a 2 for 1 sale at Walmart on Uncle Tom, slave catcher, moon cricket, Garbage Pail Kid, sycophantic, shine conservatives? Are they part of the federal stimulus bill? Is there a tax rebate I didn't get in the mail?
African-American gentlemen? Huh. He is carrying a weapon "because he could." Sure, I can yell fire in a movie theater. But should I?
Imagine the outcry from Fox News and their shills if armed anti-Bush protesters had appeared at an engagement where the (then) president was speaking? The Right would have had a collective priapism (yes, I did indeed say priapism). And imagine if said protesters were primarily people of color? We know the police response would have been neither measured, reasonable, nor considerate.
Two final points..
One, isn't it funny how the radical Right can put a black face in a crowd (this is part of their modus operandi) and his or her presence acts as a salve which magically immunizes the Right-wing cabal against the charge of being either racist or of harboring racial animus?
Metaphorically, are these black conservative lapdogs a right-wing version of Darkie Toothpaste?
Second, notice how said black conservative, brown shirt is dressed. Look at the glasses, white shirt, and tie. Notice any similarities to one of our greatest leaders? Is said "brother" channeling Malcolm X specifically, or the restrained, professional demeanor and style appropriated by African-American freedom fighters during the Civil Rights and Black Power eras?
Friday, August 14, 2009
They Chose the Wrong Man to Mess With: Harlem Store Owner Shoots 4 Robbers, Killing 2
The wages of sin are death. I wonder how long before these ign'ts are valorized as victims? From The New York Times:
They strode into the restaurant supply store in Harlem shortly after 3 p.m. on Thursday, four young men intent on robbery, one with a Glock 9-millimeter pistol, the police said. The place may have looked like an easy mark, a high-cash business with an owner in his 70s, known as a gentle, soft-spoken man.
But Charles Augusto Jr., the 72-year-old proprietor of the Kaplan Brothers Blue Flame Corporation, at 523 West 125th Street, near Amsterdam Avenue, had been robbed several times before, despite the fact that his shop is around the corner from the 26th Precinct station house on West 126th Street.
There were no customers in the store, only Mr. Augusto and two employees, a man and a woman. The police said the invaders announced a holdup, approached the two employees and tried to place plastic handcuffs on them. The male employee, a 35-year-old known in the community as J. B., struggled with the gunman, who then hit him on the head with the pistol.
Watching it happen, Mr. Augusto, whom neighborhood friends call Gus, rose from a chair 20 to 30 feet away and took out a loaded Winchester 12-gauge pump-action shotgun with a pistol-grip handle. The police said he bought it after a robbery 30 years ago.
Mr. Augusto, who has never been in trouble with the law, fired three blasts in rapid succession, the police said, although Vernon McKenzie, working at an Internet company next door, heard only two booms, loud enough to send him rushing to a window, where he heard someone shout: "You're dead! You're dead!"
The first shot took down the gunman at the front. He died almost immediately, according to the police, who said he was 29 and had been arrested for gun possession in Queens last year and was the nephew of a police officer.
Mr. Augusto's other two blasts hit all three accomplices, who stumbled out the door, bleeding.
One of them, a 21-year-old, staggered across 125th Street and collapsed in front of the General Grant Houses, a nine-building complex with 4,500 residents, one of the city's biggest housing projects. Someone called 911, and an ambulance rushed him to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he was dead on arrival. The police said he had a record of arrests for weapons possession and robbery.
Another wounded man left a blood trail that the police followed to 125th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The fourth wounded man was picked up, on the basis of witness descriptions, at 128th Street and St. Nicholas Terrace. Both were taken to St. Luke's.
The names of the men who were shot — two dead and two wounded — were not immediately released by the authorities. The two at the hospital, both 21 years old, were in stable condition late Thursday night, the police said.
Outside the emergency room entrance of the hospital, at 113th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, relatives and friends of the dead and wounded men screamed and wailed in anguish as word of what had happened spread.
"No! No!" a woman cried. "They said he just died!"
Another crying woman, surrounded by family members, heard one of her relatives had been shot trying to rob a store.
"Oh my God!" she wailed. "Why would they want to rob a store?" She started to scream: "Damn! Why? Why would he go to a family store? He got money!" She slumped against the wall and began to pray...
The story continues here.
Chauncey DeVega's World of Ghetto Nerds: District 9 versus Alien Nation
I saw District 9 last night at midnight, and will be seeing it again tonight. There is a lot going on with this film, but the recurring thought that I had upon first viewing centered upon its similarities to the classic Alien Nation (which not surprisingly I am watching on cable as I post this). With District 9 and Mad Men's debut on Sunday, I will have a full weekend of pop culture goodness to digest.
Courtesy of Cinema Blend:
I feel like I should apologize for everything I'm about to write here in advance. The thing is I saw District 9 last week and I liked it, I really did. It's a solid science fiction movie with sharp special effects and a brain rattling around somewhere in its CGI noggin. When you see it, you'll go nuts for it. It's likely to engender the kind of broad-based adoration not seen since Star Trek appeared earlier this summer, warped across all walks of life, and became one of those rare movies that everyone agreed was, wow, pretty good. And District 9 is indeed pretty good. In fact District 9 is a lot of things, most of them very positive. One thing it isn't, though, is original.
Yet if you read some of the early reviews posted for the film, that's the praise you'll hear most frequently launched in its direction. The words "fresh", "original", "unique", and "groundbreaking" have been used liberally in describing it and in particular its story. So I guess I'm the only one who's seen Alien Nation?
The year is 1988 and in theaters is a movie about a near future where alien refugees have landed and humanity is forced to deal with the consequences of their presence. Sound familiar? Hey, that's the plot of District 9! It's also the plot of the movie Alien Nation, starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin, and the acclaimed television series it went on to spawn a year later in 1989. That's only the tip of the iceberg. District 9 is a great movie. Make sure you're there, ticket in hand, to see it opening weekend. It's a fantastic experience and writer/director Neill Blomkamp deserves praise for what he's accomplished. But it's not fresh. It's not original. In fact, whether intentional or by accident, it's kind of an Alien Nation knockoff.
Want proof? Here it is. Below I break down the similarities but be warned, in doing so I'll be forced to hack through heavy District 9 spoiler foliage. If you want to see D9 unspoiled then read no further, unless of course you've seen Alien Nation, in which case you're spoiled already.
Saucer Separation
In Alien Nation: When the movie begins Alien Nation's aliens, called Newcomers, have been on the ground for many years. We never actually see their landing, except in brief flashbacks and stories told by present day characters who were there. Through those flashbacks and stories we learn that the Newcomers descended out of nowhere, with no communication, to hover above the ground near Los Angles, California in a single, massive, saucer-shaped spaceship.Slave Labor
In District 9: When the movie begins District 9's aliens, called Prawns, have been on the ground for many years. We never actually see their landing, except in brief flashbacks and stories told by present day characters who were there. Through those flashbacks and stories we learn that the Prawns descended out of nowhere, with no communication, to hover above the ground near Johannesburg, South Africa in a single, massive, saucer-shaped spaceship.
In District 9: Prawns were bred as workers meant to carry out manual labor. When discovered aboard their ship they appear to be of limited intelligence, almost unable to take care of themselves, though they're very good at taking orders. Once taken off the ship and brought to Earth things begin to change and there are hints that not only are they intelligent, they may be far smarter than us.Missing Overlords
In Alien Nation: Newcomers were bred as workers and slaves meant to carry out manual labor. When discovered aboard their ship they'd been drugged to dull their intelligence and make them obedient, almost to the point that they're unable to take care of themselves. Once taken off the ship and brought to Earth things begin to change and there are hints that not only are they intelligent, they may be far smarter than us.
In Alien Nation: Since Newcomers are basically obedient workers being shuttled around on a transport ship, no one is entirely sure how they got to Earth in the first place. Investigators never discover a ship's pilot or crew, nor does there seem to be anyone giving orders… at first. Eventually the Newcomers in charge are revealed as a subplot in the film's subsequent spin-off TV series.Name Recognition
In District 9: Since Prawns are basically obedient workers being shuttled around on a transport ship, no one is entirely sure how they got to Earth in the first place. Investigators never discover a ship's pilot or crew, nor does there seem to be anyone giving orders… at first. Eventually the Prawns hidden leaders reveal themselves and by the end of the movie we know where the Prawn leader has been hiding.
In District 9: Prawns are often referred to by a variety of other names, most of which, like Prawn, are really just bigoted slurs. Prawn is not their proper species name. In fact they are and prefer to be called… a complicated name which I've forgotten. Hey give me a break. In addition to being given English substitutes for their species name, Prawns are also given human personal names to use in their daily life. For instance, Christopher Johnson is the name of the Prawn lead in District 9.Alien Muscle
In Alien Nation: Newcomers are often referred to as Slags, which is regarded as a bigoted slur. Neither Slag nor Newcomer is their proper species name. In fact they are and prefer to be called the Tenctonese. In addition to being given English substitutes for their species name, Newcomers are also given human personal names to use in their daily life. For instance, George Francisco is the name of the Newcomer lead in Alien Nation.
In Alien Nation: Aliens look pretty much like bald versions of us, except with spots, but they possess physical strength far beyond that of normal human beings.Internment Camps: An Alien Staycation
In District 9: Aliens look like giant bugs, or prawns as their name suggests, and they possess physical strength far beyond that of normal human beings.
In District 9: When they first land Prawns are held in internment camps to protect a nervous human population from them.Outer Spacial Descrimination
In Alien Nation: When they first land Newcomers are held for several years in interment camps as they're processed and certified safe enough to be allowed out in public.
In District 9: Prawns are used as a stand-in for discriminated against minorities, in particular South Africa's struggle with Apartheid which was a political and social policy of segregating blacks from whites.Hater With A Heart Of Gold
In Alien Nation: Newcomers are used as a stand-in for discriminated against minorities, in particular they symbolize the struggle of black Americans against discrimination during the civil rights movement.
In Alien Nation: A bigoted homicide detective is forced to team up with a Newcomer by a government integration program. As they work together to solve crime, the Newcomer begins to win over his human partner who eventually abandons his bigoted views.Addicted To Gross
In District 9: A bigoted civil servant is forced to team up with a Prawn when circumstances beyond his control force him to take desperate measures. As they work together on a common cause, the bigoted human and wary alien develop a begrudging respect for one another.
In District 9: Prawns are addicted to cat food which affects them like catnip. Though it disgusts humans, they'll do almost anything to get it.Something's Growing On Timmy
In Alien Nation: Newcomers are addicted to sour milk which affects them like alcohol. Though it disgusts humans, some aliens will do almost anything to get it.
In Alien Nation: Two of the major subplots of the spin-off television series and the film involved both a strange substance which has unexpected effects on Newcomers and a dangerous disease which may have been brought to Earth along with the aliens. Newcomers will do anything to hide the truth of both.There you have it. If it were made by Quentin Tarantino District 9 would be an homage. With luck, Blomkamp can get some sort of special QT dispensation.
In District 9: A strange substance brought to Earth by the Prawns has an unexpected and dangerous affect on humans. Both the Prawns and South Africa's mega-corporation controlled government will do or say anything to hide the truth of what's happening.
So maybe it's not entirely original and maybe it's not completely unique, at least for anyone born before 1989. That doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. Whether knowingly or by accident, what Blomkamp has done is take an old idea and give it his own twist, his own flavor, and done it up in his own style. In some ways he's made it even better. So to be fair, as long as we're picking this thing apart here's a few examples of District 9 going its own way..
I am Kenneth Gladney or Come One, Come All! Rub a Picaninny's Head (aka a Black Conservative) for a Dollar!
Okay, I think I am actually going to call for the discommendation of Kenneth Gladney. Apparently, he has taken a horrible turn for the worst following his appearance on Fox News. It seems Kenneth is now a token of sorts, a fetishistic idol whose head right wingers and conservatives can rub (or kiss) for good luck. He is a black conservative shrine of Lourdes. Sad. So very sad. And Mr. Gladney has a Paypal site where we can make donations towards his medical bills. But, I have to give him credit for his hustle. Maybe, I will go to one of these health care town hall meetings and get my behind kicked so that I can get a little cash. Are you with me? Do we all have a little Kenneth Gladney in each of us?
From his website:
Kenneth Gladney was attacked on the evening of August 6, 2009 at Rep. Russ Carnahan's town hall meeting in South St. Louis County. Kenneth was approached by an SEIU representative as Kenneth was offering "Don't Tread on Me" flags to those exiting the gathering. The SEIU representative demanded to know why a black man was handing out these flags. The SEIU member used a racial slur against Kenneth, then punched him in the face. Kenneth fell to the ground. Another SEIU member yelled racial epithets at Kenneth as he kicked him in the head and back. Kenneth was also attacked by one other male SEIU member and a woman. The three men were clearly SEIU members, as they were wearing T-shirts with the SEIU logo.
Kenneth was beaten badly. One assailant fled on foot; three others were arrested. Kenneth was admitted to the hospital, where he was treated for his numerous injuries. Kenneth was merely expressing his freedom of speech by handing out the flags. He in no way provoked any argument or altercation, as evidenced by the fact that three of his assailants were arrested.
We hope that Kenneth fully recovers from his injuries; however, he is in pain at this time. This was a truly senseless hate crime.
Kenneth subscribes to no particular political party. He prefers to think of himself as an independent. He is calling on the SEIU, Representative Carnahan, and President Obama to condemn the racist, violent actions of these union members.
Kenneth thanks everyone for their outpouring of support and well wishes. After he recovers from his injuries, Kenneth plans to travel across the country to promote "Project Liberty," a new educational program designed to teach America's youth about their fundamental rights under the Constitution.
To Kenneth, this is not about Left versus Right nor Democrats versus Republicans. This cause is about personal liberties and freedom of speech. Project Liberty will sweep across this great nation to unite people for the common cause of protecting our individual liberties.
Kenneth wants to make it clear that he is not funded by any special interest group or political party. Kenneth vows never to accept funds from any of these sources. Project Liberty is "people-powered." As with any endeavor of this magnitude, there are costs associated with this. If you would like to help defray these costs in this fight for liberty, stand up with Kenneth and donate today.
I am Kenneth Gladney. You are Kenneth Gladney, Remember, we all are Kenneth Gladney. "Liberty knows no race, sex, creed, or color. You see, liberty is for us all. It was given to us by our Creator." -- Kenneth


text:
2 Lips Too K-Delve Girls Toddler & Youth Wedge Sandal
Sorry, this item is sold out!
Looks like you've got more shoe shopping to do - have fun!
Looks like you've got more shoe shopping to do - have fun!
Item # 277860
These K-Delve Wedge Sandals by 2 Lips Too are super cute and stylish for your little fashionista! They are on-trend with their color-blocked look and woven wedge heel. All of her friends will want a pair!
- Faux suede upper
- Buckle closure at heel for adjustable fit
- Padded insole for comfort
- 1" platform and 3" wedge heel
- Woven midsole
- Rubber traction sole
- Imported
- Online Exclusive!
By: MButterfly
Location: New Jersey
July 13, 2013
Fashion Forward
"These sandals are great, my daughter loved them. The color block is perfect to match with most of her summer clothing. The colors are vibrant and cute. The sandal was a perfect size."
By: KQ28CA
Location: Ca
May 07, 2013
2 Lips Too K-Delve Girls' Wedge Sandal
"I'm glad they make such cute wedge sandal for little girls. Runs 1/2 size short..."
Click anywhere to close this.


text:
Top Definition
(Verb) - To walk around with a fly new pair of kicks on, looking like a big boss. Deriving from "Bapes", or even more so, "Bathing Apes", a shoe company that produces some fly kicks.
"Yo man, I bought these Osiris' the other day... shit man, i be baping all day! ... 'cause I'm that mutha fuckin' awesome!"
by SmoogleDurgen September 14, 2009
The Urban Dictionary Mug
One side has the word, one side has the definition. Microwave and dishwasher safe. Lotsa space for your liquids.Buy the mug
The Urban Dictionary T-Shirt
Smooth, soft, slim fit American Apparel shirt. Custom printed. 100% fine jersey cotton, except for heather grey (90% cotton).Buy the t-shirt


text:
Jack Curtis will celebrate his 80th birthday on Nov. 29. An open house will be held for all family and friends at his home in Orangeville from 3:30 - 5 p.m. on that day.
John Marinoni is turning 90. An open house for all family and friends will be held to celebrate on Nov. 30 at the Notre Dame Church Social Hall from 1-4 p.m. No gifts please. John was born Dec. 3, 1912 in Rovetta, Italy.