The Week In Review

Let’s go for the rundown on things I didn’t get to cover this week:

U.S. Congress Apologizes For Slavery – I’m not big on apologies without any sense of responsibility. Such is the case with this one. I’m not asking for reparations but something like our Native American counterparts achieved from stealing (I mean taking) their land would not hurt.

U.S Senator Ted Stevens Got Indicted – So the longest Republican Senator, Alaska U.S. Senator Ted Stevens got indicted on seven counts of corruption. Is something wrong with me when I didn’t bat an eye when the latest news of this charge happened? I’m hardly shocked about the state of our government or our officials.

Speaking of our officials, some of them are avoiding the indicted Senator like a plague. Honorable mention: a guy running for President (John McCain) who announced he's donating the $5K Stevens contributed to his campaign to charity.

$482 Billion Deficit – Yep that’s the figure the next President will inherit come January. Say what you want about “Slick Willie” chasing skirts, but the guy left the office with a budget surplus.

Exxon-Mobil Post Almost $12 Billion Profit In A Quarter – OMG!

Packers Offer $20 Million to Brett Favre To Stay Retired – It seems every week comes with a new thing with Favre. Can you imagine someone offering you money just to stay away? The Packers are willing to pay Favre $2 million each year for the next 10 years if he stays retired. They must be really desperate or just want a peace of mind. In any case, such action doesn’t make a case for good business sense.

Ron Artest Becomes A Rocket – If there’s a guy who gives me a pause in the NBA, it would be Ron Artest. And I'm a proponent of not putting all my attention on a guy's off-court or off-field's questionable activities as long as he has served the consequences and wants to play. Afterall, we have Ricky Williams who's coming back to the Dolphins for the upteenth time after drug use suspensions.

But when it comes to Artest, I'm tempted to renege on my theory. Why? Oh there are so many instances to count but let me oblige you a little. He was the main culprit in the worst brawl in sports history. Only to come back from the suspension to ask for time off to promote a rap album, a few domestic situations with a significant other and then a spouse, smashed a $35K video equipment after a loss in Madison Square Garden, got in the great Pat Riley's face during a Miami Heat game with his then Indiana Pacers in Miami then giving us fans a nice salutation with the middle finger.

I'm already tired of listing his colorful history and there is still a LOT more I didn't list. Let's just say NBA Commissioner, David Stern owes a few nights sleep and gray hairs to Ron Artest. Artest says he's changed, well good for him and all the best to you Rocket fans.

Tags: U.S. Congress, Apology for Slavery, Brett Favre, Ron Artest, Sen. Ted Stevens, Pat Riley

Mamma Mia McCain

The Abba-loving Senator from Arizona has stooped to a new low with his campaign ads against another Senator from Illinois. Yes I’m talking of John McCain with his incessant (about four) negative attacks against Barack Obama the past two weeks. But as always before the latest Britney Spears and Paris Hilton Ad, Obama brushed it off.

Perhaps it was due to the fact he was on his overseas trip, which really tripped his opponent and his party for such adoration bestowed on him when he’s not even President yet. Even Reagan (50,000) didn’t get such numbers when he declared before the Germans to “tear down this wall.”

Seriously McCain, of all people, Spears and Hilton – two dumb blondes in comparison to Obama. You couldn’t think of Will Smith, George Clooney, or Brad Pitt (who some lineage roots found out he is a distant cousin of Obama) to compare to the Illinois Senator? At least those three actors show how they balance their celebrity with humanity.

No, that wasn’t your intention. You wanted to reduce him as all style and no substance. Forget he became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review; forget his many years as a community organizer, a state senator, a fellow U.S. Senator with you and now running for the highest office of the land against you. Seriously!

Then your excuse for making the ad was to show a satire. Mamma Mia McCain! Here you go again (just can’t resist your Abba group). Haven’t you learned anything about the satire fiasco from the New Yorker Obamas’ cover? And they were supposed to be professionals. Newsflash: You don’t have to explain satire.

When you saw your sorry excuse for satire didn’t stick, your campaign spokesperson, Rick Davis had the gall to charge Obama as playing the race card this morning. Nobody said so until you brought it up. But your innuendos sure sound like a “race” trip up. Why is it that the Spears and Hilton ad look so familiar to one your party used to scare folks in a hotly contested race in Tennessee between Harold Ford (who’s black) and his republican opponent less than two years ago?


Another dumb blonde in the video against a black candidate that led to Ford losing the U.S senate seat with one of the closest margins ever seen. Why reinvent the “race” wheel when it gained a much-needed seat for your party? But you’re not playing the race card. You sure are not playing the card when you say Obama should know his place. And if that card is not enough, how about play the “patriotism” card?

You forgot about that? Let me refresh your memory. When you keep saying that Obama will rather lose the war to win a political campaign while you will do the exact opposite. Come on! If you really wanted to lose the political campaign, why don’t you just drop out of the race because you care about the war so much and stay in the Senate to pass decisive bills for the winning of the said war?

Mark Whitaker Takes Over Meet The Press

Wow! Two Kudos in a day. A brother took over Meet The Press y'all! Talk about Progress.

I knew of Mark Whitaker in college when he was head of Newsweek. It's great seeing him taking on an iconic seat!

Tags: Mark Whitaker

Michelle Obama - International Best Dressed

Kudos to Michelle Obama, hopefully, our next First Lady for making one of Vanity Fair's International Best-Dressed List.

Way to represent the sisters Michelle! What can I say about her style (not fashion, there's a difference)? In French, Tres Chic! She has a definitive style with using the pearls as her signature; kind of reminded me of another First Lady, Jackie O.

She's made the classic sheath dress the cool thing again. Check her out: This just goes to show you, sticking with the classics (white shirt, little black dress, sheath dresses, trench coat, pencil skirts, to name a few) will always make you look impeccable and timeless.

Tags: Vanity Fair, International Best-Dressed List

Stephen Colbert Is Sick

I meant the title in a humorous and loving manner. As I've said before, I'm a fan of great satirical shows and The Colbert Report (a spinoff from The Daily Show) is one of the best.

For those of you who are not part of the "Colbert Nation," let me give you a summary for the premise of the show, The Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert plays a Republican character but not just any Republican Character but the most conservative kind who loves his God, his guns and don't want to discuss gays.

But the catch of this Republican is that as he's supporting his causes, he reveals the flaws of his party and the viewers are in on the joke. For example, Colbert has a segment called "The Word" where he takes on hot button issues. Last night's episode was about "torture," I mean "enhanced interrogation techniques" as the Bush administration will have us believe. So during "The Word," he defends the cause of his party's decision but what he's really thinking is displayed on the screen. Check it out here:


But that wasn't what motivated me to write this post (for loyal readers, you know where I stand on the aforementioned subject - don't care for it). I decided to write after laughing so hard about another segment Colbert also does called "Better Know A District."

Here I was in a reflective state with some tears shed after Diane Sawyer's remembrance of Randy Pausch only forty minutes later holding my stomach laughing on the "Better Know A District" where Colbert traps politicians on their policies. One of my local congressman, Robert Wexler made the segment with his infamous remarks. Even Colbert told Larry King last year he didn't expect the Congressman to go along with the statements (Note to Colbert: We dance to a different beat in Florida).

Anyway, after Wexler's remarks, many politicians on Capitol Hill didn't know (at the time) the premise of the show since it was still in its infancy over a couple of years ago that Nancy Pelosi (before she was Speaker of the House) advised Democrats not to go on The Colbert Report. So last night, Colbert had another segment of "Better Know A District" with 14th District of New York Congresswoman, Carolyn Maloney. See for yourself:



Sometimes, Colbert's "real" persona shines through. Examples include him talking to civil rights Icon Andrew Young during the TV writers strike to help him with how to deal with his writers since Young is so great with strikes from busing to poverty. Also, giving a great tribute to Tim Russert. And I'm glad, he showed me you can still keep your humor even in sad times.

Tags: Stephen Colbert, Carolyn Maloney, Robert Wexler, Andrew Young

What I Learned from the Last Lecture

Diane Sawyer will dedicate a full hour to a great man tonight - ABC @ 10:00pm. Like I said last Friday, Randy Pausch made an impact in my life with his "last lecture" (Video embedded).

When I started this blog, I mentioned in my profile that I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up - numbers or words? Don't know yet. But recently, I've been taken risks in my transition phase and I've wondered if I'm moving in the right direction for my life.

Well, what I'm learning and learned from the last lecture is that the fact I'm taking a risk is worth it. I would love to have a laid out plan to see the immediate results as my fast-paced environment has conditioned me. But I'm also learning some unique words called "patience," which supposed to have a perfect work in me and "consistency" - very unsexy, when a newness to style is more exciting.

But newness is not debunked in my life's theory - that's where the risk comes in; taking new courses for my career when I thought I was done with any studying after grad school. But in the process of all this really liked the dormant muscles that are being stretched in my brain - you never know how much information it could absorb.

Has it been easy? That's an understatement of the year! NOPE! But that's another thing with Pausch's last lecture, he encouraged his students both live and beyond to take the road less traveled; if given a choice, take the harder task. And while you're at it, have fun!

Tags: Randy Pausch, Last Lecture, Diane Sawyer

Dumb It Down

Noticed two similar titles in two days? It's intentional since that's where my head is these days. Dumb it down - obviously that's NOT the essence of this blog. But it doesn't mean I haven't heard that phrase time and time again when it comes to my life and others.

It was confirmed by a thought provoking I read last year in a major women's magazine how smart girls have to "dumb it down" to get in a relationship; meaning guys (not all of them) are intimidated by educated and smart girls. The article went further with profiling successful women from a Project Runway contestant in her 30s with a graduate degree to a corporate lawyer on Wall Street especially the latter who had an insecure boyfriend for the kind of success she was able to achieve in comparison to his (you know what was going through my head: kick him to the curb).

Then early this year, I saw the book titled "Just How Stupid Are We?" it makes American voters face the truth of the dumbing down Politics being fed to us. Last week I heard Lupe Fiasco's rap song "Dumb it Down" which made me cringe because of its truth but proud that somebody could make it that cool to spit the truth in rap (especially when I'm sick and tired of the sexist and materialism lyrics in rap). Check out the video here:

Since I like to respect all my "readers" and maybe rap isn't your thing, let me just write out some of Lupe's "Dumb it Down" lyrics:

Chorus 1:

You goin' over niggas' heads Lu (Dumb it down)
They tellin' me that they don't feel you (Dumb it down)
We ain't graduate from school nigga (Dumb it down)
Them big words ain't cool nigga (Dumb it down)
Yeah I heard Mean And Vicious nigga (Dumb it down)
Make a song for the bitches nigga (Dumb it down)
We don't care about the weather nigga (Dumb it down)
You'll sell more records if you (Dumb it down)

Chorus 2:

You've been shedding too much light Lu (Dumb it down)
You make'em wanna do right Lu (Dumb it down)
They're getting self-esteem it down)
These girls are trying to be queens Lu (Dumb it down)
They're trying to graduate from school Lu (Dumb it down)
They're starting to think that smart is cool Lu (Dumb it down)
They're trying to get up out the hood Lu (Dumb it down)
I'll tell you what you should do (Dumb it down)

Chorus 3:

You putting me to sleep nigga (Dumb it down)
That's why you ain't popping in the streets nigga (Dumb it down)
You ain't winning no awards nigga (Dumb it down)
Robots and skateboards nigga? (Dumb it down)
GQ Man Of The Year G? (Dumb it down)
Shit ain't rocking over here B (Dumb it down)
Won't you talk about your cars nigga? (Dumb it down)
And what the fuck is goyard nigga (Dumb it down)
Make it rain for the chicks (Dumb it down)
Pour champagne on a bitch (Dumb it down)
What the fuck is wrong with you? (Dumb it down)
How can I get on a song with you? (Dumb it down)

Then I read a great post by Frank Scheaffer on Huffington Post titled: Real Americans Are Stupid. Those were all the proof I needed that I had to write this post. Scheaffer talked about Jesse Jackson's comments on Barack Obama "talking down to black people" and other crazy (and stupid) stuff some surrogates have been saying this election season.

So this is a notice: I won't insult the intelligence of my readers and in my life and on this blog, I won't DUMB IT DOWN!!!

P.S. This is one of the few times you'll see the use of "profanity" on this blog but it's in perspective of the art :-)

Tags: Lupe Fiasco, Dumb It Down , Jesse Jackson, Huffington Post, Frank Scheaffer