Duke rape case

I have a lot to say on this...

However, I'm just gonna let shit play out first BUT I will say if they raped the girl, or if they didn't, I hope we learn something from this. All of this freakin' rush to judgement, marching, protesting, taking sides and shit all because somebody is black and poor and the other people are white is stupid on both sides. You all know folks were taking sides based on wanting some preppy white boys from Duke to go to jail for watching too much Mr. Marcus.

It's always the folks that talk the loudest that know the least. Right when this shit happened we saw Rev Sharpton and all kinds of folks down there talking about the unjust judicial system and black folks better get justice this time around. Well that is true, black folks been going to jail for shit they didn't do for a long time... but there is a lot of black folks that do shit they need to go to jail for too...

All I'm saying is, get the facts, don't be swayed by what they're saying on TV or what Al Sharpton says, think for yourselves! And before we all start singing Kumbaya, making signs and marching, lets just take a minute, observe shit for a bit, look at the facts, THEN make a decision.

How you gonna take sides on some shit you don't know about unless you were there catching the ping-pong balls as they were each popping out one by one..... (............I'm just saying,..... I've HEARD that this type of thing happens .......... um...... when you hire private strippers, .... but... um.... that could just be rumors and stuff...) Ultimately if this girl fabricated the shit, it just ends up making black folks look silly and serves as a nationally known "little boy who cried wolf"... and the fear is that it creates a backlash, where every little black girl that gets raped by a white guy is automatically doubted....

Whether they did it or not, if these guys get acquitted, it's a good day for white rapists and that is just the fu*ked up reality of the situation. Obviously science isn't reliable because you have people tampering with the evidence, screwing shit up.... I hope they don't talk about this anymore and the whole thing just goes away...

kind of an appropriate topic for MLK day no? flawed judicial processes, equal opportunity under the law for all, etc... etc... I read that a lot of young kids today don't have any clue what MLK was all about, and what the "I have a dream speech" was really set out to accomplish. I never get tired of hearing it and it serves as an inspiration to me every time.

Click here for the full 16 minute speech in its entirety. Enjoy!

~C

Grasswheel

grasswheel
Originally uploaded by cinnamon.stick.

Can you see me rolling through the hood with one of these?

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!!

What it is?

I'm bout to give you the low down shmowdown on somethin' that has been botherin' me since I visited my homies back in Springpatch...

..... sorry... just came from hanging out with my students and had a conversation with one of my students and couldn't resist.. When I was handing back the final papers from last semester to the students who are now taking part deux of my class, a student came to me afterwards and couldn't understand why I gave him a "C". I told him for starters, the sentence, "Basically, Baroque architecture is just the hotness!!" has no place in a scholarly paper. He thinks he's keeping it real, I say he's keeping it real dumb.

And when the hell did bluetooth headsets become jewelry? I asked this guy to take his off because the freakin' blinking blue light was bothering me!!! He goes, "You just said we had to turn our phones off and my phone is off." This is true, so how about I'm adding a new rule, no blinking blue lights in my face while I'm lecturing. No blue lights at all whether they're blinking or not! What the hell? These things aren't sexy!?

I was at dinner not to long ago and saw two people sitting down together and they both had they're blinking blue lights in their ears for the whole dinner!!? Do you know how silly, not to mention rude that is??? It is as if, I have to be ready at any moment to take a call from anyone because it may be more important than this time I'm spending here right now with you.

I just feel like we are getting less and less connected from each other in this IPOD technologically sophisticated world. The fact that we have to deal with people less and less has translated into a severe shortage of individuals with people skills. You see it whenever you have to interact with someone somewhere... gas stations, restaurants, wherever... its sad.

Next time you go out to eat with someone, turn your phones off and just enjoy the company of the person you're with.

In other news, It looks like I'm going to go from having a completely empty house to having two roommates. Two very close friends have stumbled into situations they didn't plan on being in and despite me not being completely done with everything and still not having heat (other than portable heaters) they're both moving in. It's cool, I'm at my girl's house 90% of the time anyway so it's not like it really changes anything for me. It'll actually be nice to have people to drink with when I go to my house.

I also had a couple squirrels move into my front porch... bitches... but you know as soon as you get ready to do some evil shit to a squirrel, you have second thoughts... do you notice this?? Because you know, if that squirrel decided to, he could probably fu*k you up. I know a guy who had a squirrel get into his house, twice!! He screamed like a little bitch too when that MFer came out from behind a box of Vanilla wafers.... (why do we insist on saying vanilla, when clearly the box says "Nilla wafers"? I ain't never heard nobody call them shits NILLA wafers)

They don't know, my family is country, my dad used to hunt squirrels... tastes like chicken.

~C

Iraq is Zeke's fault..

I swear to God, if Isiah Thomas was within 50 miles of ground zero on 9/11 they would've blamed him for that shit. I'm really having a problem with the way this whole Knicks / Nuggets fight is being portrayed in the media.

A bunch of ignorant overpaid niggas fight in the NBA and somehow it's Isiah's fault. Sure, the conjecture is that he ordered a hard foul, but guess what, I hope he DID order a hard foul!! You got MFers from out of town coming in and embarrasing you on your own home court, dunking all over you and doing 360 dunk contest shit with a 20 point lead.... eff that, show some mfing heard and foul them niggas hard!!!! You know how the Pistons used to do, you KNEW if you were coming to the lane Lambeir was gonna lay yo ass out!!!

So hell yeah it was a hard foul and it should have been. Sure to some people the NBA is entertainment, but to the mfers who live that shit every day, this is WAR on the court and I hope he did tell his players to put someone on the floor. That's how you send a message in war. Hell, if he would've done it in the third quarter, it might have fired his boys up to get the win, or at least keep them from being down 20 points in the fourth quarter!!

But what this ALSO is about is George Karl didn't like the way the Knicks treated his good buddy and fellow UNC alum Larry Brown last year. Sure the Knicks treated him like shit and the way Marbury and them were allowed to treat their coach on camera and in the media was way too fucked up, and Isiah in some ways, let that shit happen, and Karl didn't like that. (Is it just me? or does that scar on his face make George Karl look like some 1960's mobster from Philly?) This is about more than the players on the court the way this is being handled in the media... This is about trying to destroy a BLACK coach who doesn't shuck and jive for nobody.... now if Zeke could only get some wins he'd have some leverage for acting a damn fool whenever he wanted to...

~C

It's CHRISTMAS season

If it weren't for CHRISTMAS, there would be no need to create an antithesis to it. There would be no push to put up a menorrah or a kwanzah candle, or a buddhist monk, or a racoon booty skin for whatever else you worship other than Christianity. So lets stop trying to include everybody in this one holiday all right?

This is the CHRISTMAS season, it always has been, it always will be. Now, personally, I can't stand the season, as you are perpetually beaten over the head with the requirement to buy everyone gifts at this time of year, not to mention the god awful music that you hear everywhere you go. I heard Christmas music in the freakin Indian Subway the other day!! I suppose they are catering to their customers desires, but they're Hindu for Punjab's sake!!!

Starbucks is the worst. You can't buy anything without being reminded of the holiday, even the damn rice krispy treats have red and green on them... blasphemy to screw up a classic American desert like that. But at LEAST they're not hiding the fact that they're celebrating Christmas. I mean do the Jews integrate peppermint into their knishes, kugels, kibbles and bits? I don't think so, so all of the peppermint mochas and stuff are for the CHRISTMAS season... and I betcha Starbucks is ran by a bunch of Jews.

Speaking of Starbucks, I'm a really good tipper to any bartender that is going to get me fu*ked up. But I don't see the point of tipping the barrista at Starbucks?? What are you doing besides raping me over the coals by charging me and extra 40 cents for soy milk, an extra 30 cents for extra chai on top of the $4 you're already charging me??? And I don't even get a buzz??? I dated a chick that worked at Starbucks once and if I remember correctly she made pretty good money on tips... it didn't matter since the whole staff was on X half the time anyway, but I still don't see the point... Sure I'm getting raped even worse on the price of a drink but I'm also tipping a bartender to listen to my problems, and make me feel welcome.

maybe if i ordered blended drinks that take some effort... that might deserve a tip...

It's like when I buy a sandwich at lunch time with my checkcard, there is a little place on there for me to give a tip. I find that ridiculous. But I suppose it begs the question on whether or not there are certain levels of service that don't require a tip even though their asking for one... I would rather leave a tip for the immigrant who empties my trash at the office every day. Now THAT, to me is a service I wouldn't want to be without. I'm going to start leaving a couble bills at the bottom of the trash can.

But if I'm out at a nice restaurant I tip well... Since I usually only drink where I know the bartenders, all the money I would've saved on my drink hookups end up going back into their pocket anyway..

.... Have you tried this Omega-3 Fish Oil supplement yet?? I got an email from a cousin that said since he started taking it, he hasn't had a cold in 3 years. i dunno, it just gives me gas, but maybe it has to clear out my system first before it starts working... it's not a good look for me, the new employee to be blowing it up in my pod... not to mention the time I shit on my co-worker's shoes. So I think I'm going to leave the Omega 3 alone. I think i know who's shoes they were now.. there is this one dude who doesn't say much to me... I think it's him, but I just smile and say hi as if, "it couldn't have been that nice black guy who shit on my shoes, could it?"

Merry Christmas all. I'm sure I'll have some good holiday stories about the fam soon..

~c

My wine is the talk of the party!

The time of Christmas parties is always a fun time, free booze and free food. When I was single, it was also that time of year that you finally got to bang that office chic that you had spent countless unfruitful hours flirting with all year.

This year is a little weird because of how the holiday falls, EVERYONE is having their parties on the 16th which just makes it impossible to make it to everyone's party. So the choice has to be made to either not drink a whole bunch and make a quick appearance at everyone's party, which, while honorable and diplomatic will be a lot less fun as the majority of the night will be spent in the car, or you just choose one, the person that will probably have the best party and just stick with that one. Choices, choices....

Well, there was one party on the 9th which made it a no brainer to show up. So I roll up to the party, carefully parallel park, and as I open the door the bottle of wine we brought falls out of the car and rolls right into the only 24" opening within a half a block.... and the bottle fell into the freaking gutter.

Can you believe that shit? I wouldn't have either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. It is an unlikely story that noone would be likely to believe. It really just sounds like I forgot the wine and made up some shit to cover my ass. So what was supposed to be a subtle apology to the host ended up being a group of guys, standing outside in the cold with every garden and home utility aparatus from the house trying to fish a bottle of wine out of the gutter.

We could see it a couple of times, so everyone knew I wasn't lying. That's all that mattered to me, but you know how men are... once they have a task or something that is defeating them, we have to stick with it until we win. I gave up and told the others they should too. Eventually I left two guys outside and went in to enjoy the party. They came in without the wine about 20 minutes later. Oh well at least my wine was the talk of the party!

~C

Great Iraq article..

I read a fascinating article on Iraq over the weekend that I thought I'd share with you on Iraq. I don't think I can reprint the entire article from the New York Times without permission so I'm providing a link to the article HERE. It does a good job of explaining why our approach to "victory" is all wrong.

You might need to be registered to view the article, but here is an excerpt below...

~C
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“I am facing the most difficult times of my life here in Baghdad. Since I am a Sunni, I became a target to be killed. You know that our army and police are Shia, so every checkpoint represents a serious threat to Sunnis. During the last three weeks, two of my friends were killed at check points belonging to the police. They first asked to show IDs and when they saw the Sunni family name, they killed them.”

There, in plain enough English, you have it. The Iraqi Army and police whose proposed reinforcement lies at the center of the Iraq Study Group’s plan for American extraction are often less neutral institutions supporting the nation than a flimsy camouflage for Shia to settle accounts with Sunnis, while the Kurds bide their time and hope the child of chaos will be an independent Kurdistan.

The Iraqi Army and police are indeed overwhelmingly — but not exclusively — Shia. Most recruitment took place at a time when Sunnis had opted out of the new Iraq. Much has been made of the American error in disbanding Saddam Hussein’s army. More might have been made of the errors committed in creating the new force.