August 14, 2004

• You da funny, forks. Good link.
• War on terror, my ass. Death in Iraq, our boys droppin' fast. Dropped the ball in Afghanistan to roll with a new ill-conceived plan Weapons of mass D you claimed for 9/11, Hussein you framed Solidarity turned to dust The world turned away in disgust. Daily, this shit gets more dire In twos and threes good people expire The toll of casualties rises ever higher. and you can no longer put out the fire But for Middle America it's all good, 'cause hey, it ain't in their 'hood. So what gas costs a little more, small price to pay when you're fighting a war. Meanwhile the biggest thieves of all get to live extra large 'Cause Bush, Rove and Cheney are in charge.
• devil to devil on a political level Bush administration: causing instigation across the nation "I'm a uniter," he said - and the words ring true: United we stand against you apathetic notions washed away by political motion sparked by illegal wars across the ocean Unocal, ExxonMobil and Shell got Iraqi children living in hell your hegemonic designs create demonic crimes who pays for the hate that was made in Abu Ghraib? your global prison industry is complex privatize the snapping of necks so your "base" can cash checks and lock up all the broke people back in the states nonviolent drug offenders behind iron gates and my students see their future laid out in threes: sell dope, join the military, work at Mickey D's you got 'em pounding the sand for your sins overseas well, every war criminal needs a mug shot, so say cheese
• George Bush is not good for my blood pressure, I find, forky, so the following will have to do for now: George W. Bush is a lying bastard. He said it woz a pretzel. But I'm morally sure The guy was plastered.
• On the slam Bush front, check this vid: (Warning--potentially offensive on numerous levels) Fuck New York
• I dunno.. I cringe every time I see some white guy pretending to be black and using the n-word like it's his middle name. I don't care 'cuz they're making an important -- incisive, even -- political satirical point.
• I cringed too, but that was pretty good.
• I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed, And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Shelley wrote it in 1818, but the sentiment seems apropos for these interesting times.
• That New York video is a lot more on point if you see where they get their schtick from. That conversation is not uncommon in the streets of NY, just not from these guys. (Big Gipp from Goodie Mob) then refers to a track called’ ‘Shorty Wanna Be A Gangsta.’ (off their new album "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show") We’re talkin’ about what’s really gangsta? “Is ‘gangsta’ bein’ out on the corner shootin’ people over drugs or is gangsta sending bombs and sending soldiers over to take people’s land and end up killin’ their sons? What’s really gangsta?” The current administration is some serious busta ass motherfuckers and they need to get the fuck out.
• forks -- I know where they get their schtick from; I've been listening to hip-hop since I was ten years old. The point of the video is excellent, and as I said, it makes an important point in an incisive satirical way. But the history of that n-word is so layered with hatred and violence and evil that I cannot watch white people -- even well-meaning white people, who may be immersed in the culture -- using it so casually without cringing.
• I love you, Fes. That poem is perfect.
• Some personal opinions on the use of the word nigger in the current social climate. I'm derailing my own post. Not too bright but there you are.
• If President Kennedy got on television and said:'I'm considering appointing two or three of the top niggers in the country to my cabinet'-if it was nothing but nigger, nigger, nigger- in six months nigger wouldn't mean any more than good night, god bless you. Well, first of all -- this presumes that those phrases don't mean anything. But they do, to varying degrees of import, depending on who says them and what the context is. This is one case where I think George Carlin actually did better than Lenny Bruce. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word 'nigger' in and of itself. It's the racist asshole who's using it that you outta be concerned about." And while the context of the clip in question certainly indicates that the actors are not racist, I still cringe when they use the word as if it's their middle name.
• I remember when some well-meaning clueless folks wanted to remove the word "niggardly" from school materials. You know, for the children.
• Nevertheless, the connotations of the word when taken in light of the historical vituperativeness with which my race has employed it preclude *my* ever using it, even in jest. Carlin is wrong; I think that word in many ways crystalizes the evils that have been done to African Americans since the founding of this country, and while it is that community's privilege to use the term as they like, I think my race, though many of us individually may be innocent of the oppressions visited upon them, at least owes the African American community the respect of never EVER using that epithet again.