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Last May, I wrote about the Food & Drug Administration's rejection of Barr Laboratories' (makers of the morning after pill) proposal to make the drug available over the counter. The FDA promised to reconsider the proposal if Barr could find a way to only allow women ages 16 and older to purchase the pill.

Well, they're back, and this time proposing that drug store clerks check identification to verify that "Plan B" pill buyers are 16 and older. Becuase we all know how reliable drug store employees are, and considering how well the whole "must be 21" to drink alcohol bit is working, I'm sure this idea is destined for success.

Continue reading "Plan B is Back">>>

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I've often stated my complete contempt for the demeaning tripe being passed off as "creative" in these modern-day music videos. Currently, hip hop is probably the biggest repeat offender in this arena. Now it seems that a few sensible and grounded women have decided to wage war against hip hop's misogynistic undertones. Much of hip hop doesn't just have misogynistic undertones. It has misogynistic under, over, all the way through, up, down and around tones. It is safe to say that the "tones" are ubiquitous.

Myrna Blyth's latest NRO column, "You Go Girl!", discusses the recent protest by Essence Magazine against the offensive way in which black women have been portrayed in lyrics and music videos. "Essence" is of course the largest and most successful magazine geared towards black women (and might I specify liberal and "sexually liberated" black women). Although, in the past they've managed to publish a column or two on abstinence.

Essence Magazine's new campaign called "Take Back the Music" came onto the scene with a big agenda and a flashy new webpage. In spite of my tendency to want to place my hand on my hip and roll my eyes, the year-long campaign does have some promising aspects. One being an upcoming study on how young girls who watch hours of music videos are affected. Organizers have made it clear that facts, not just feelings, are necessary to prove to people how dangerous degrading lyrics can be. As if the arrests, killings, stabbings, and fights during award shows hasn't been evidence enough.

Another ray of hope is the campaign's partnership with well-known historically black women's college Spelman (almost went there). Many may recall last year when some Spelman College women protested the on-campus performance of rapper and licensed misogynist Nelly, causing him to cancel his performance. These are all great strides. I even have great faith that the effort of Essence Magazine will spur some to action and create a stir amid the numbness.

But as always, there's a "but/butt".

I know I run the risk of becoming that jerk who always comes into the room you just spent all day painting and proudly declares, "hey you missed a spot", but I must say, I'm not the least bit impressed with these latest "stop the men from being ignorant" tactics; especially when the tactics are being endorsed by the likes of Ms. Magazine, the hub of the new age feminist movement. Sounds really great and all, and I'm sure this "take a stand" thing will catch-on for the moment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't we the ones taking off our clothes and dropping it like it's hot? Did we not call ourselves female dogs on more than one album? Was anyone being held hostage and forced to don dental floss and red pleather with rivets? When was the last time you had to twist some girl's arm to become a video ho? And are we not the same women that allow our children to watch BET and all its filth? This entire "Take Back the Music" effort will be in vain if the mirror doesn't get pulled out expeditiously. And might I suggest we use a little Windex too?

Continue reading "Take Back the Dignity">>>

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the world crisis taking place in the aftermath of the Tsunamis along the coast of Asia. Anyone with their head buried in a pillow over the past week is probably awestruck, wondering why flags everywhere are flying at half mast. Meanwhile, news reports are informative, yet relentless. At what point does seeing the same graphic footage of thousands of bodies being carried from the rubble cease to aid us in being empathetic and start enabling us to fall further into our numbed state of desensitization?

It’s just unreal the numbers.

And is it just me, or does it almost seem like the financial relief effort is an auction to the highest bidder? Ever since it was falsely declared that Americans were stingy, it seems like countries have been competing to give the most money. This isn’t to say that more money towards the relief effort is a bad thing, although I think the whole “we’re the biggest givers” complex is a bit disheartening. In the case of America, I don’t necessarily think our substantial giving garners us a pat on the back, much less a chocolate chip cookie. We’re a blessed country that has been given much and therefore much should be required. We shouldn’t get special brownie points for holding up our end of an expectation.

The thing that’s really struck me is how unimaginable the loss of life is to our puny understanding of “tragedy”. As a precursor, what I am about to say in no way diminishes the blood spilled on September 11th. When two terrorist planes hit and destroyed the Twin Towers, early predictions of lives lost were in the low thousands. The thought of that was more than many Americans could bare. The big difference between September 11th and the Asian Tsunamis is that one was a terrorist attack while the other was a “natural” disaster. That of course depends on your definition of “natural” and your definition of “terror”.

Continue reading "A Little Perspective">>>

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Yesterday, I embarked on a two-day trip to one of my favorite places in the United States: Dallas, Texas. I’ve made it clear in the past that I adore the “Big D”. Given the political and racial history of Texas and other neighboring states, many Americans have developed an aversion to all things “South”. Being among black people, I’ve often heard people railing against southern white culture and the Republican majority and the racism and the bigotry and blah blah blah. Still I say, the South is the only place in all of America where a white person and a black person can sit down together at the same table and eat a bowl of grits.

I’m no dummy. The South has left many wounds yet to heal. I realize the South is far from perfect. Then again, so is the Pacific Northwest so what's with all the fuss? All the blabber really means nothing to me when confronted with the reality that some of the nicest and most genuine Americans you will meet are in the South while some of the meanest ones are in the North.

Sometimes I wish the South could come up North and teach classes. On the top of the docket of topics would be “How to open a door for a woman, How to say 'Ma'am' and 'Sir', How to say thank you, How to fry food, How to barbebque, How to worship God.” In defense of the South, a region about which people generally have very few nice things to say, I’m going to re-run my list of things I love about Texas:

1. Chivalry
   
2. Everything’s big
   
3. Chapels in the airports
   
4. The presence of the following fast food chains: Chik-fil-A, Whataburger, Popeye’s, Sonic
   
5. White people who know how to barbeque and eat grits
   
6. Nice, friendly, and outgoing people
   
7. Christian bookstores within a 5 mile radius
   
8. Four bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2500 square ft. homes for sale at the sickeningly low price of $175,000 (you couldn’t even buy a 350 sq ft condo in Seattle for that price)
   
9. State pride.
   
10. Primetime television starts at 7:00 pm
    
11. Biscuits with everything
    

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I found the following from the blog "Acme Mindlabs" to be particularly amusing:

Hollywood Pundit - A Recipe
Take one celebrity full of righteous indignation,
with a bit of socialism and a hint of professional frustration,
For detachement from reality, 2 pints of Ollie Stone,
A sprinkle of Martin Sheen for whine and [complain] and moan,
For hypocrisy and ignorance, one 1/3 cup of minced Sean Penn,
A dollop of Bellefonte to set the cause back a year, or ten,
To obscure the facts and twist the truth, a pound of Michael Moore,
Then a touch of Barbra Streisand for arrogance and stupid quotes galore,
For pretentious condescension, a liberal dash of Robbins and Sarandon,
Although if none's available, Robert Altman's an OK stand-in,
A dash of Alec Baldwin for general stupidity,
And perhaps some Woody Harrelson for lack of credibility,
Carefully mix half-truths and a pinch of outright lies,
Put it on TV and let it bake to rise,
Remove it from the spotlight, to vent carefully prick the surface,
When prepared as indicated will serve: no particular purpose.

In other news, "L-Breezy", aka La Shawn Barber discusses Hollywood's hatred for Christ.

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Oh the lovely world we live in. I'm extremely tired, which means I'm grumpy, which means I'm overly opinionated. Just a few takes on some happenings of the moment:

Accidental Cocaine Killing
The autopsy reports for rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard (a befitting name, really) have returned to show that he died of *gasp* a drug overdose. Now there's a shocker. To capture the media's correct wording, "The death of rapper O.D.B. was deemed an accident by the medical examiner, who said Wednesday that he died from the combined effects of cocaine and a prescription painkiller."

So my question is, at what point is death from cocaine ever an accident? Life is precious. Steward it accordingly.

The Case of the Murdered Fetus
Although most major media has referred to Scott Peterson's second victim as "Connor", their unborn child, the mental midgets at MSNBC have reported that Scott Peterson got the death penalty for murdering his wife Laci Peterson and her "fetus". An excerpted sentence from their most recent report reads, "Peterson was convicted Nov. 12 of one count of first-degree murder in the death of Laci, and one count of second-degree murder for the killing of her eight-month old fetus." Another sentence reads, "Three jurors said at a press conference afterward that they couldn’t let go of the fact that the bodies of Laci Peterson and her fetus had washed ashore a few miles from where Scott Peterson claimed he went fishing the day she disappeared."

Perhaps someone can explain to me how one can "murder" a fetus. According to Webster, the first entry for the verb "to murder" is "to kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice". Parenthetical clarity not mine but in fact, Webster's.

Crafty MSNBC. Very crafty. But unfortunately, not crafty enough. I smell bias.

Paternal Failure Goes Primetime
Just when you thought the reality TV craze was going away quietly, some clearly spastic individuals calling the shots at Fox Television thought up another whammy. Slated to air on primetime January 3rd is the new reality show "Who's Your Daddy?" wherein adoptees have to sift through a group of men to find out the identity of their real father in hopes of winning a prize worth $100,000. Because who doesn't want to see that disaster take place on national television! Paternity tests, prize money, and "reality TV"? I believe it's already been done. It's called "The Jerry Spring Show". JERRY JERRY JERRY JERRY. Adoption advocates are not happy.

I wonder if Fox realizes that any ground gained in the battle for common sense in good judgement via their arrogant pundits on cable television, is completely lost by their alternative programming.

Pedophilia is Art
The recent release of the film biography of "sex-researcher" (a rather generous title if you ask me) Dr. Alfred Kinsey has barely been in theaters but is on the American Film Institute's list of top 10 movies of 2004. Yep, right up there with Pixar's "The Incredibles". Quite the juxtaposition. And right there cheering the film on is Planned Parenthood President and Chief Executive Liar, Gloria Feldt:

"Kinsey is a powerful reminder of the importance of healthy sexuality and the many impediments to attaining it. The film illustrates the revolutionary nature of applying scientific research to human sexuality, including the study of sexual norms. Though Kinsey himself was as complex and imperfect as any of the rest of us, his groundbreaking research has helped generations to experience pleasure without shame and moved our society toward a place where sexuality can be understood and embraced as a fundamental aspect of our humanity."

Kinsey has helped generations experience pleasure without shame? I'm sure Jocelyn Elders would be proud. For that, Kinsey deserves a crusty medal and a spot right next to Sigmund Freud on the list of "Sick and twisted individuals".

Somewhat unrelated: I've never quite understood the whole "sex research industry". It seems to me that people have been having sex for thousands of years with zero problems (so I've heard). Leave it to human beings to come into the fray and jack it up (maybe a poor choice of words) and make things more complicated than they need to be. Then again, on this topic, I'm all theory.

Continue running the great race!

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Carrying over from some of the comments addressing my assertion that black women are oversexualized in media, I frame a statement Actor Will Smith made in the form of a question:

Is Hollywood "black", "white", or is it green?

Discuss.

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These people are out of their minds.

Washington State Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a mother's eavesdropping on a telephone conversation between her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend violated "children's privacy".

The Seattle Times reports:

The high court unanimously reversed a 2000 robbery conviction against Oliver Christensen, 22, of Friday Harbor, in a case based in part on the testimony of the mother and what she heard in that telephone conversation.

"The court said it is against the law to intercept or snoop on anybody's private conversation and that even a child has privacy rights," said Christensen's attorney, Michael Tario. "And further, the law says it is a crime for someone to do that, and that whatever is heard cannot be mentioned in court."

The mother, Carmen Dixon, was incredulous.

"I just believe you have the right to know what your kids are doing and who they're doing it with," said Dixon, 47, of Friday Harbor. "We were having a hard time with her as a teenager. She was sort of out of control."

When I was growing up (I arguably still am), my mother would threaten to knock the sense out of me if I even suggested that she had to knock before entering my room. My favorite line of hers, "I'll be required to knock when you participate in paying the mortgage."

Now I'm all for respect between parents and children, but if a parent wants to eavesdrop on their child's conversation, I say more power to them. Maybe we can intercept some more bedroom bomb-building that way. What is all this talk of "rights" anyway?

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Joe at the Evangelical Outpost writes in "Let's Think About Sex":

"...the debate between “comprehensive” and “abstinence-only” sex education programs is itself a misguided focus on a false dilemma. Both approaches are primarily concerned with indoctrination toward a particular viewpoint and inoculation against the effects of certain behavior. Neither is concerned with providing a true education. The abstinence advocates, for example, want teens to 'just say no' while the comprehensive crowd want students to 'just wear a condom.' Both are more concerned about “effectiveness” than with teaching teens how to think for themselves about human sexuality.

Now we're getting somewhere. Maybe next week I'll have the strength.

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When I was all of 4-years-old, the only two television shows I watched with vigilance were "The Cosby Show" and what I called "The Archie Bunker Show" (maybe I was a little ahead for my age). I even made my parents tape it when we had Thursday night Bible study. In taking a look at the lyrics to the theme song for "All in the Family", I had to chuckle because I think they may have been on to something:

"Boy, the way Glen Miller played.
Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made.
Those were the days!
Didn't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulled his weight
Gee, our old LaSalle (a car) ran great.
Those were the days!
And you knew where you were then!
Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
People seemed to be content.
Fifty dollars paid the rent.
Freaks were in a circus tent.
Those were the days!
Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win.
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin (five dollar bill).
Hair was short and skirts were long.
Kate Smith really sold a song.
I don't know just what went wrong!
Those Were the Days!"

Except the "skirts were long part". I would have made a horrible orthodox anything as don't like long skirts. Anything to the knee is more than appropriate.

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