Sir Nose D' Voidoffunk Vs. Star Child: The Final Showdown

Every blogger, writer or reporter worth his/her weight in ink has the one interview they covet - and I am no exception.

To my delight, I successful landed the privilege of interviewing Dr. I Funkyall. Our topic of discussion was the state of Funk and the Funkless state of Hip Hop



HGP: In your words can you explain to me what happen to the Funk over the last 20 years? I mean at one time Hip Hop picked up the Funk banner and gave us P-funk, Uncut funk and da Bomb. Now 90% of the music is Funkless and you even have rappers dissing the Queens of Funkland.


Dr. F: To understand the state of the Funk, you have to understand:

First, Funk is engaged in an intergalactic war with Sir Nose D' Voidoffunk. Sir Nose, alias the subliminal seducer, has vowed to destroy the Funk. You see, Funk is not domestically produced therefore, a Funky state threatens the livelihood of those that are Devoid of Funk.

Next, a Funk mind is a Free mind. Sir Nose, who hates free minds, has deep rooted control issues and can only thrive in a Funkless world - in a Funkless state he can use tricknology and pimpology to keep people in check.

Third, you have to understand Funk prophecy. The great Dr. Funkenstein sent Star Child, armed with the Bop Gun, to rescue those living in Devoid of Funk zones. Star Child was successful in creating One Nation Under A Groove in Funkadelica, but prophecy foretold that Sir Nose and crew would return .

Do you remember when Star Child warned about the Pimping of the Pleasure Principle and Urge Overkill?

He stated,

Mind Your Wants, Because Someone Wants Your Mind.

Well, Sir Nose was able to seduce the children of Funkadelica with bling-bling and mainstream fame. He divided and conquered Funk royality (i.e., East coast Vs. West coast).

And Funk pretenders, for fools gold, began to step on the Funk or in other words, cut the Funk up into pieces acceptable to Sir Nose. So, for a few trinkets they sold their birthright.

After a while of stepping on and cutting the Funk, the Funk got distorted into its current unrecognizable state. In this Funkless state, the citizens of Funkadelica have turn on each other - they robb, steal and kill their own to satisfy their Pleasure Priniciples.

The people have forgotten the divine healing power and promise of Funk, for as Sir Lollypop Man proclaimed:


WEFUNK, y'all.
Now this is what I want you all to do:
If you got faults, defects or shortcomings,
You know, like arthritis, rheumatism or migraines,
Whatever part of your body it is,
I want you to lay it on your radio, let the vibes flow through.
Funk not only moves, it can re-move, dig?
The desired effect is what you get
When you improve your Interplanetary Funksmanship

But have no fear, Dr. Funkenstein and Star Child are working in the Funk Lab, as we speak, and they will send a Funk Messiah to the rescue when they believe the people are ready. This time Sir Nose will be finally converted to the Funk side for good.

HGP: How will we know when he returns?

Dr. F: Don't you know son? Upon his return, he will Flash the Light again. I leave with these parting words:

Free Your Mind And Your A$$ Will Follow.

Enuff for now - stay tuned Funkateers. Dr. I Funkyall will appear as a guest writer from time to time on HGP.

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Today, the bands of nouveau corporate royalists (with coats of arms bearing such names as Coors, DeVos, Koch, Scaife, and Walton) are determined to take back those middle-class gains of yesteryear. They are working to achieve this through a coordinated, long-term campaign to

(1) crush the ability of working people to unionize,
(2) bust America's middle-class wage structure,
(3) eliminate job security, and
(4) emasculate government as a force capable of controlling corporate avarice and arrogance read more

The pundits, media and conservative radio folk had a field day at the expense of Hillary Clinton when she introduced vast right conspiracy into the political lexicon during her husband's tenure as president.

Hillary was neither paranoid nor far-fetched. She probably knows now that her charges were only the tip of the iceberg - the conspiracy is much more vast and sinister.

The Koch brothers and company are in fact at war against the middle-class in America. They are at war against the American worker and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create fake grassroot conservative organizations to do their bidding.

They have GOP governors on their payroll. Indiana's Gov. Mitch Daniels trashing school teachers and their union; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (remember that phone conversation with a fake Koch brother) trashing public workers and union busting; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christe cut the education budget and laid off police officers; Florida Gov. Rick Scott turned down federal money to build a much needed rail system - all of these governors and more are part of a coordinated effort to undermine public workers for the sake of the budget crisis illusion.

Daniels is one of a flock of far right-wing governors who seem to have flown out of the same dark political hellhole in the past couple of years. Now ruling from the highest roosts of power in more than a dozen states, all of them are pushing vituperative measures designed to disempower and downsize not only public employees and unions, but also the entire workaday majority of their states --the middle class itself.

Among other assaults, they are canceling collective bargaining contracts, suppressing union rights, arbitrarily eliminating hundreds of thousands of both public and private-sector jobs, turning over schools and other public functions to low-paying corporations

And these Koch employees impersonating governors all have the same playbook and rationale for their extreme policies:

Curiously, the governors all seem to have the same playbook. Not only are their agendas alike and the content of their proposals remarkably similar, but they're also parroting the same scripted rationale for their extremist actions: "The sky is falling on our Great State of [Blank], but luckily I was elected by the good voters of [Blank] to do the people's will, so I am taking these bold steps to balance [Blank's] budget."

The GOP manufactured budget crisis lie:

America does not face a deficit crisis--we face a multi-billion dollar annual tax dodge by the most elite of moneyed elites. The money our society needs is right there--in the coffers of flagrantly rich Fortune 500 corporations and Wall Street banks, in the personal accounts of absurdly wealthy CEOs and fast-buck speculators. America is hardly a poor country. It's the richest in the history of the world, and it ought to have the very best public education program in the world, the most advanced infrastructure network, and the finest system of health care for all.

My friends in the words of the irrepressible Funk master George Clinton:

You might as well pay attention; Free speech is high finance.

Multinationals target potential of Africa’s middle class

After decades of ignoring the region, multinational companies are turning to Africa as one of the emerging engines of consumer growth. By some estimates, Africa already has as many middle-class consumers as China or India. And most of them are buying mobile phones and televisions, own cars or houses, and use the Internet.

A recent study by the African Development Bank concluded that 34 per cent of Africans can be categorized as middle-class consumers. In absolute numbers, the study counted 313 million middle-class Africans in 2010, compared with just 111 million in 1980. read more

Hide Your Kids/Hide Your Wife/ Husband: She's Back - Ann Coulter

The fact that a Republican is in the late Senator Kennedy's old seat probably must have him rolling in his grave, probably spilling his drink.

We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.

We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say." --arguing that it would be better if we were all Christian.

If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president

Ann Coulter

Ole Ms Coulter is back. The original female verbal Molotov cocktail thrower has laid stakes to reclaim her throne. Apparently, tired of Sarah P and Michelle B hogging up all the limelight, Ann C decided to write another book bashing - surprise, surprise -liberals.

Coulter's book enforces the idea that liberals are fueled by the mob mentality that drove groups like the Ku Klux Klan and SDS.

Notice the behavior pattern of non-white male right-wingers. Evidently, they feel compelled to rhetorically over-compensate to prove they are down with the big boys.

Latino conservatives have to prove they can be staunchly anti-immigration.

Female righties have to be anti-feminist and anti-woman's right to chose.

Black conservatives have to yell from Mt. Zion that post-slavery racism is/was a figment in the imagination of blacks.

Enter black conservative running for the GOP presidential nomination, Herman Cain. In his effort to earn his bones, Cain aggressively defends the Tea Party:

"To all of those people who say that the Tea Party is a racist organization, eat your words,”

“When people ask me about the Tea Party, they ask me if it’s about color, and I say ‘yes it is, it’s about red, white and blue,’”

“I left that Democrat plantation a long time ago – and I ain’t going back!”

The Billionare and John Birch Society reared Koch Brothers to Herman C:

Well done chap, the check is in the mail.

KKK: Trying To 'Re-Brand' Itself?

Repost from Huffington Post

At the Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, a handful of picketers from controversial hate group the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) were siphoned off into a corner, as other military family members came to pay their respects.

Members of the hate group have become a ubiquitous presence at funerals in recent years; they can frequently be seen in packs, holding signs emblazoned with “God Hates Fags” or “Thank God For Dead Soldiers.”

But at Arlington last Monday, one group of demonstrators came out to counter-protest the WBC, catching national media attention as they handed out American flags to passersby and denounced the WBC's actions. read more

The Sarah Palin Gift

Ya gotta say this much, Sarah Palin makes good copy.

She epitomizes the proverbial gift that keeps giving. We all have run across Palin types in life - the dimmest in the room who think they are the smartest in the room - and have enjoyed their comedic gaffes.


During this latest flap over Paul Revere's historical ride - in which he warned the colonist (as we all learned in grade school): The British are coming, The British are coming - Sarah doesn't fail to disappoint us.

In the world according to Ms. Palin:

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

Instead of just saying "my bad" and moving on, Palin feebly and arrogantly attempts (remember that refudiate for repudiate explaination in which she called her word invention Shakespearean) to make it seem as if we are the clueless ones.

On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Palin, "You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don't you?" Palin responded, "I didn't mess up about Paul Revere. ... Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there. That, hey, you're not going to succeed. You're not going to take American arms," she explained. "He did warn the British." Many of Palin's supporters agree with her, and some are trying to create a new revised version of Paul Revere's midnight ride on Wikipedia.

I guess I am now part of the Lame Street media who unfairly picks on Palin by writing or reporting verbatim what she says.

BTW, after the Palin/Trump (or is it Trump/Palin) Pizza Summit, I couldn't resist pairing them in the above picture. After all, Donald shares the same I am never wrong disease.

Power of Social Networking

I love Facebook. Via FB, I, like millions and millions of FBers, have reconnected with old classmates, friends, family, fraternity brothers etc. The updated status reports provides me real time shout-outs to birthdays, reunions and anniversaries.

Gossip, amusing comments, pictures, party announcement aside, I also hope that we can maximize FB as a tool for community empowerment and continue a substantive dialog that addresses issues that impact our community and society.

The template for this type of activism is the phenomenal uprising in the Middle-east and Northern Africa. There, young people networked and interfaced via Twitter and FB to demand more accountability from their respective governments.

In particular, I hope through FB we can organize and mobilize to counter the covert and diabolical war that the well finance far-right, Fix News, Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch and others are waging against the middle-class.

The far right agenda is anti-union, anti-worker, anti-public education and anti-immigration and against Health Care Reform. In addition to be against a much needed energy policy (think five dollar gas), their policy position denies the link between carbon emissions and climate change. Needless to say, their agenda is 100% pro-business.

I am not saying FB should not be about socializing - no let's continue to have our fun - but let us this tool to the max. We can host voter registration drives, virtual rallies, government petition signings and so much more.

As historical election 2008 was, 2012 is going to be much more significant because the far-right is ginned up (by mid-term 2010 success) and they want to repel health care, dismantled medicare, give more tax cuts to the ultra rich and implement the Tea Party agenda.

Stay tuned.

GOP Fat Cats to Middle America: Let Them Eat Cake

The May Economy Report:

The May jobs report is a disaster -- the weakest reading since September. The recovery has stalled.

Many economists blame the slowdown on a witches brew of temporary woes that hit the economy in this quarter.

Higher gasoline prices have cut consumer spending, analysts said. A lack of key parts from Japan due to the earthquake has had a negative impact on output. At the same time, deadly storms have ripped though many regions of the country, especially the Southeastern states.

GOP response to obscenely high gas prices - continue the billions and billions of oil company tax subsidies dollars - yes, corporate welfare must continue.

GOP response to Job creation - Just say no to more stimulus and yes to more tax breaks for the wealthy 2%.

GOP response to a middle-class agenda - Just say no and call it a radical socialist agenda.

GOP reaction to Medicare - Just say no. The GOP congress voted affirmative for a medicare plan that even ultra-conservative Newt Gingrich called

right wing social engineering

.

GOP governors' state budgets: Cut school budgets but give the wealthty school voucher tax breaks, cut police department budgets, cut collective bargaining and more tax breaks for the wealthy top 2%.

And while making cuts, New Jersey's - balance the budget on the backs of the middle-class and poor while giving more money to the uber rich - Gov. Christie boarded a state police helicopter to get to his son’s high-school baseball game, leaving New Jersey with a $2,500 bill (he reimbursed the state after the outcry).

All in All:

The GOP's reponse to the poor and middle-class reminds me of another aristocratic and out of touch leader, French Queen Marie Antoinette. When responding to the needs of the poor, she is attributed the oblivious utterance:

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche
Well let them eat cake.

This is the only menu the GOP has intended for us.

Black Wall Street: 90th Anniversary of the Attack

Today marks the dubious anniversary of the race riot and aerial attack by thugs, KKK and various hatemongers that destroyed the Black Wall Street of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Never heard about the Greenwood Street district of Tulsa - well you are not alone because it has been all but erased from American history...

Greenwood was a district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As one of the most successful and wealthiest African American communities in the United States during the early 20th Century, it was popularly known as America's "Black Wall Street" until the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. The riot was one of the most devastating race riots in history and it destroyed the once thriving Greenwood community.

The business district, beginning at the intersection of Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street, became so successful and vibrant that Booker T. Washington during his visit bestowed the moniker: "Negro Wall Street." By 1921, Tulsa’s African-American population of 11,000 had its own bus line, two high schools, one hospital, two newspapers, two theaters, three drug stores, four hotels, a public library, and thirteen churches. In addition, there were over 150 two and three story brick commercial buildings that housed clothing and grocery stores, cafes, rooming houses, nightclubs, and a large number of professional offices including doctors, lawyers, and dentists. (sources: Wikipedia and computerhealth.org)

While this day marks a tragic chapter in American history, it also should serve as a template on how much can be accomplished by Economic Community Building.

If with meager resources and in an overtly dangerous environment they can create a Black Wall Street, what can we build in our community today?

The Beauty of Black Women

Earlier this month, the popular magazine Psychology Today published an article by evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa titled “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?" that was met, expectedly, with mass outrage.

The article used data based on another study to make several claims such as "black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women" yet "subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others."

First, with a last name like Kanazawa - close to being Afrocentric - you'd think his perspective would not be so Eurocentric.

Second, here we go again with this silly racist ish that is masqueraded as objective science. Remember the Bell Curve that professed we were stupid?

If folks have to devote so much time and resources to promote their superiority, I think it's an attempt to over-compensate for their shortcomings.

To be clear - and continue another racial stereotype - perhaps my Japanese brother is struggling with a very small er ahem ego (thank you Kanye West).

Jokes aside, from Kenya to Trinidad to Brazil to USA, black women are the most beautiful, graceful, dynamic and intelligent females to walk the earth.

Don't hate because they got a self-confident swagger!