Saturday, April 28, 2012

Romney the Poli-trick-tion: Need money just ask mom and dad

Romney and his shell games
Poor Mittens, forever demonstrating how little he understands or relates to the average American family, now states: if you need business start-up money just ask you parents.

His follow-up should have been:


Right out of school I too was worried about obtaining a job, so I just borrowed 10 or was it 15 million dollars from dad and friends to start a business. See, if I  could be a self-made man, you can do it too.


Mittens, the true Politricktion (thanks Peter Tosh) in his own words:


Speaking during a campaign stop Friday, Mitt Romney encouraged students at Otterbein University in Ohio, to show enterprise by going into business -- with a little help from their parents, if necessary.
Romney cited the example of Jimmy John's owner Jimmy John Liautaud, who borrowed money from his father to start his successful sandwich franchise.
"We've always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business," Romney said. source
As I see it.
The true rank-in-file of the GOP have themselves smack, dab and in the middle of a true political conundrum:
  1. Vote for Mr. Mitt Three Card Monte Romney - a robotic, self-entitled man that lacks any empathy or core values. Hell, the wingnuts -- wacky as they are -- don't trust Mitt as far as they can throw him. 
  2. Vote to re-elect President Obama: not gonna happen, they have been too brain washed  (FOX/Rush/Beck) to vote for their own interests. In their wacky world, a middle-class agenda = socialism.
  3. Option C: stay home and by-pass 2012.
What's a right-winger to do?


Hey, while we are on the subject of moms and dads, I want to give a milestone birthday shout-out to my pops -- Mr. Benjamin Edward Harvey, Sr.  He is a true self-made man. Happy B-day, we all love ya - the Harvey Clan.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

2009 Inauguration of Obama: The night the GOP smear campaign launched

The Upside Down GOP
For this post, bare with me as I set the table:

On the resplendent evening of President Obama's 2009 inauguration, the country -- while in a celebratory mood -- was reeling from the truly unmitigated disaster of Cheney/Bush or Bush/Cheney (Don't get it twisted Dick, you two, Dumb & Dumber were the disasters).

Euphoria was in the air, yet our country was in the throes of the greatest Real Estate, financial meltdown and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

And while we suffered, we were celebrating The Hope You Can Believe In promise of a young president. So, as the recently coronated Obama swooned the night away at reception after reception with his equally regal wife, the GOP brain-trust (what an oxymoron) were stealthy convening/stewing/plotting/scheming on the other side of town.

The Cabal Agenda:

Was their sit-down about how to sure up the fragile economy in order to avoid an over-the-cliff depression?

Did they spend their time to strategize on what legislation they could meet the president half-way?

Were they working on a comprehensive Job bill to reverse the 800,000 jobs lost per month under Bush/Cheney?

Or, were they working on their own version of a badly needed Stimulus bill?

No, no, no and no! According to a new book by Robert Draper:


WASHINGTON -- As President Barack Obama was celebrating his inauguration at various balls, top Republican lawmakers and strategists were conjuring up ways to submarine his presidency at a private dinner in Washington.
The event -- which provides a telling revelation for how quickly the post-election climate soured -- serves as the prologue of Robert Draper's much-discussed and heavily-reported new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives."
According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- who, Draper writes, had an acrimonious relationship with Luntz.
For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama's legislative platform.
"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," Draper quotes McCarthy as saying. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign." read more
I got one thing to say: Un-American. 



Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Bob Marley Unplugged

Garvey, Selassie & Marley
I have seen many interviews of Bob Marley in which he is asked superficial and stereotypical questions: How long have you been growing you hair? Or, How much weed do you smoke?

However, the great and recently departed Gil Noble  (see below video dedication to Mr. Noble) had more substantive questions for Bob.

And this gave Bob a chance to elaborate on his faith, music, goals, price of fame and his influences - Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie.

Marley radiates charisma, humility and love for his people: Africans and Africans in the diaspora. His vision: A united African People.




Sidebar: In Memory of Gil Noble

Reprinted from the New York Daily News



Gil Noble, who became one of the city’s most revered black media voices for seeking the truth even when it was hard to find and hard to hear, died Thursday at the age of 80.
He had suffered a debilitating stroke last summer that forced him to leave “Like It Is,” the weekly public affairs program he had hosted on WABC-TV since 1967.
Over nearly five decades he became an admired colleague, an iconic community voice and an uncompromising survivor.
News director Bob Slade of WRKS (98.7 FM) noted that “Like It Is” was the last regular public affairs show in local mainstream media with a focus on black affairs, politics, music and culture.
"Like It Is" featured Noble's commentary, analysis and interviews with thousands of guests, from the late Kwame Ture, Dr. Martin Luther King and civil rights pioneer Fannie Lou Hamer to entertainers like Lena Horne and Bill Cosby.
“Gil Noble's life and work had a profound effect on our society and culture," said WABC-TV President and General Manager Dave Davis. "His contributions are a part of history and will be remembered for years to come. Today, our hearts are with Gil's family - his wife Jean and their five children - and we thank them for so lovingly sharing him with the world all these years."
He won four Emmy Awards for “Like It Is” and other WABC-TV projects, which included documentaries and specials on subjects from Paul Robeson to the inside world of heroin addiction.
Ironically, he never interviewed the man he called his greatest influence, Malcolm X.
In his 1981 memoir, “Black is the Color of My TV Tube,” Noble wrote that Malcolm X "taught me the cold, brutal facts of the Black existence in this country. He told me who I am, and I have kept that knowledge with me ever since, even as I walk down the corridors of ABC wearing a smile.”
“The African community has lost one of its most humble, most noble and brightest stars,” said Bernard White, a friend and former program director of WBAI (99.5 FM). “I see his passing as the end of an important era of black progressive, uncompromising electronic journalism.”



Sunday, April 22, 2012

Bob Marley the Documentary Film: As you have never seen him before

Bob Marley

How do you describe him? Musician, artist, spiritual guide, legend, icon, revolutionary, Pan-Africanist, Rastafarian, co-founder of Reggae (can't forget Peter Tosh or Bunny Wailer), conscious music producer and so much more!

Bob Marley the documentary produced by Ziggy Marley and Kevin MacDonald hit the theaters April 20th. I haven't seen it yet, but in an era of Zombie, corporate controlled and wansta sounding music - think Lil Wayne, Diddy and company - I am certainly planning to see this flick.

Growing up in the multi-layered soul music of the 1970's, I was spoiled by the abundance and diversity of our music. Just think we had The Sound of Philadelphia including Patti Labelle, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Chaka Kahn, Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Grover Washington, Angela Bofill, Donny Hathaway, Earth Wind & Fire, Parliment-Funkedelic, Roy Ayers, Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, Eloise & Ronnie Laws, George Duke, Stanley Clarke and the list goes on and on and on...

Hopefully, the Bob Marley film will inspire a new generation to create a new music movement that is reconnected to our spiritual nature -- in other words, music for our Soul...our hungry souls.

Here's one review from the Summit Daily:

Just in time for Earth Day, and not un-coincidentally, released on April 20 (the somewhat well-know national marijuana holiday), a new documentary about the life and music of Bob Marley is in theaters.

The movie “Marley” opened nationwide Friday and is currently showing at the Landmark Mayan theater at 110 Broadway in Denver.

Until now, the definitive biography of Bob Marley's life was Timothy White's 500-plus page book “Catch a Fire,” originally published in 1983 and with the most recent revision published in 2006. Many other books and films about Marley's life have come out since the Jamaican-born singer-songwriter and musician died from cancer in 1981, but the new “Marley” is being acclaimed as the most definitive and best-produced story to date. The film is the only one made with complete support of the Marley family with telling, never-before-seen footage and interviews with people who knew Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley (1945-1981) best. 


Take a peak at the movie trailer:



Couple of my favorite Bob Marley jawns: