Slavery Text Messages Swayed My Voting Opinion in Favor of Obama!

It's election day for the Democratic primary in good old New York City and I have my heart set on voting for Hillary Clinton. Being a black man, I know most people would label me a sell-out; however, I had thoroughly researched the credentials of both candidates and had decided to vote for Hillary for my own person reasons. It was a hard decision; but, a finalized decision none the less.

After a fairly productive day of selling fixed-income products and services to world's largest investment banks I decide to leave a little early so I can get a head start on my way home so I can vote and make a difference (hooray for me). As I’m entering the subway to hop on the NRW, which I take to 23rd street to catch my express bus to my temporary home in Co-op City, in the Bronx, and my Treo begins buzzing. “Shit! Another text message. These damn things cost me 0.15 a text.”, I thought to myself. I normally ignore these damned things, out of fear of responding and making the 0.15 charge grow to .030 then .045, .090 etc. This was my decision after I received over $100 in overage charges on my previous phone bill (thanks AT&T). However, some strange force in the universe compelled me to take a quick read.

Upon checking my incoming texts I soon found myself gazing upon a message read something like:

“SO LONG HAVE THE AFRICAN PEOPLE BEEN MISLED AND LIED TO. NOW WE FINALLY HAVE THE CHANCE TO HAVE A REAL VOICE IN AMERICA. NEVER FORGET SLAVERY, NEVER FORGET WHAT YOUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT FOR, AND NEVER EVER FORGET WHO PUT YOU IN SHACKLES. VOTE OBAMA!”

Damn, now I know what you’re thinking. That is one trippy ass text message; especially when it came from an unknown sender. However, this was not the only one I had received all day. On my commute home my phone kept buzzing with more and more text messages telling me to vote for Obama and to pass these messages along to friends and family. This really made me think and the "Angry Black Man" really came out of me.

I began to think about all of the injustices done to Black people in addition my own personal sufferings. So, I’m thinking about these things for the entire ride; however, I still decided to vote for Hillary (with a guilty conscience, of course). However, when I get to the local community center were the voting was taking place, there are swarms of Obama supporters holding signs and giving me fliers while encouraging me to “vote for the Black man brother” all the way to the booth. Even the booth operator asked me if I was voting for Obama while giving me the most awesome look of disdain when I hesitated to answer. At this moment I began to black out and started thinking back to those text messages and suddenly the thoughts and images of the oppression of Black people came racing through my head in a series of flashes in an A Clockwork Orange kind of fashion. Scenes of the Rodney King beating, policing hosing down protesters in the 60's, Amado Dialo, Sean Bell, conspiracy theories about Michael Jackson and R. Kelly being set up for the fall, the Tuskegee experiments, A Time to Kill, me not getting that job I wanted at Morgan Stanley, Stan O'Neil getting fired--you get the picture. When I finally snapped out of my psycho-trance I continued to proceed into the booth and pulled those rickety levers down for Obama and his party.

So, can we sway voters’ opinions via text message?

YES WE CAN!

Drudge Says Heath Ledger is Poised for Posthumous Oscar

It looks like Heath Ledger really did his thing in the new Batman movie. While checking out the Drudge Report I came across an urgent release that made this prediction. Myself, not having seen the movie cannot give my opinion on the matter. However, I would not be surprised if he does take home the Oscar due to his untimely death. I have been a fan of the Batman movies; or, at least the good ones (Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Begins).

What I really want to see is how good old Heath compares to Jack Nicholson’s rendition of the role in the first Batman movie. Granted I was about eight years old when this movie came out I can still remember his most stellar performance. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll rent Batman this weekend and re-watch it. The quotes along are the best. Who can forget the famous, “Who are you?” . . . “I’m Batman” and “Have you ever danced with the devil under a pale moon light” lines? I know that after almost two decades later I can’t. I’m excited to see this movie and will be checking it out and will be providing my feedback shortly thereafter.

I really think the movie overall will be a good one and it seems like the Hollywood studios have really stepped their game up with the super hero movies. I grew up reading Batman, Spider-man (my favorite hero), Spawn, X-Men, etc. and I can appreciate a good Hollywood adaptation. I can equally despise a horrible (i.e. Hulk circa 2003).

The link to the story can be found here: http://blogs.ktla.com/ktlamorningnews/2008/06/urgent-from-sam.html

BJ CJ

The Supreme Court is Back at It Again!

I walk into work this morning and I click on CNN.com and I see that Supreme Court has lifted the ban on guns Washing D.C. . . . Okay.

The big debate that is going on now is that now gun violence and firearm related deaths will increase tremendously in D.C. If ask me, this argument is critically flawed. Lifting a gun ban on a city is not going to curve the amount of gun violence committed in any city. What we need to do is really analyze the situation.

Who is more likely to commit GUN CRIMES? Your average law abiding citizen or a criminal? I think the criminal is more likely to commit a gun grime in this instance. The last time I checked, most criminals choose not to honor the law any way; so, why the hell would they honor a gun ban in the first place? I don't believe that all gun grimes were eliminated after the ban was first initiated; so, what's the point? Also, D.C. is not exactly surrounded by brick wall and cut off from the rest of society. It really only takes a couple of hours to drive to Pennsylvania and purchase all the firearms and semi-automatic weapons. It's the same thing with drugs. The U.S., in general, has a nationwide ban of drugs; but, they still get into the country and into our communities. Just because the Supreme Court says it's now "legal" to own a gun doesn't mean that all the criminals are going to load up on weapons like it's the Sunday before the Forth of July at Sam's Club.

These criminals already have found ways to get guns into D.C. and use these illegal weapons to kill people. Even with the gun ban lifted, the weapons will still probably be illegal. Gangsters like big guns (i.e. AK-47, AR-15, Mac10, etc.) I don't think these types of weapons can "easily" be purchased at your local gun shop. However, I could be wrong since I'm not exactly the gun connoisseur. I could imagine that could possibly benefit from the lifting of the gun ban would be the law abiding citizen looking to protect him or herself from local thugs. Would having a hand gun in the home give a person a piece of mind? It sure would allow me to sleep better at night knowing that if someone ever tried to forcefully enter my home I would have a firearm that I could use to protect myself and my family.

Sure criminals can choose to purchase these now legal weapons; however, from my experience (not saying I'm a criminal, but I have encountered a few at some point in my life) gangsters like untraceable weapons. They usually like to murder people and not go to jail. Forensic scientists can easily trace bullet markings back to almost any gun. This would make it pretty easy for law enforcement to track down these killers by pinpointing the weapon, learning what shops in the area sell these weapons and who recently purchased them in the area. In addition, I doubt criminals that wish to quickly obtain their weapons would be too thrilled about waiting the mandatory time period required to purchase a weapon, as required by the Brady Bill. The Brady Bill also requires a background check before a gun is actually issued to the purchaser. Now, how many thugs and criminals do you know that are willing to subject themselves to a background check, especially to purchase a gun they plan to use to kill someone?

With the underworld everything is done underground. Criminals purchase their guns in empty lots from out of the back of a truck from some "fast talking" city slicker from New York that has some untraceable, unmarked weapons with no "bodies" attached (never been used to kill anyone). With that being said, I don't think that this controversial ruling is very controversial at all.

Let the people in D.C. have their guns. Criminals will always be criminals and gun crimes are inevitable; especially in the United States.

Just my 0.02 cents.

BJ CJ

Shaq Loses His Badge – Calls Kobe a N*****!

I know everyone has heard of the new deep “doo” that Shaq has happened to get himself into lately. Recently, at a night club he was recorded kicking a freestyle, dissing my boy Kobe. Personally, I think Kobe is one of the greatest basketball players of all time; he just has a little “ego” problem that he needs to work. But hey, the guy is still young and hopefully one day he’ll mature. But, back to Shaquille.

During his set, Shaq goes on to diss Kobe by telling him that he can’t win a championships without him and even calls him a snitch—a huge dishonor in the Hip-Hop world. Damn, looks like Shaq took away Kobe’s street credibility with that one. But then again, what kind of street credibility does a guy that speaks like eighty difference languages and grew up rich have to begin with? To me, this whole rap about Kobe is the funniest piece of news I’ve heard or viewed on Shaq. I actually find the guy quite entertaining and trust me on this one, if you go to Youtube and just Google “Shaq” you will find some funny clips. One my favorites being after he got traded to Suns and said that negative criticism gets him “angry and start doing things like winning championships.—classic. However, it seems that the little town where Shaq was given an honorary sheriffdon (is that a word?) didn’t think it funny.

Whogivesafuck township recently fired Shaq from his job as sheriff of that town. Now, if you’re like me, you probably remember the NBA running a story about Shaq getting this honor and you probably even saw him uniform, squeezing into a top car like a circus clown and trying to enforce the law. But come on now. If any of us saw Shaq’s big ass pull up in a squad we all know that we could not only outrun him; but, it would take him a good forty-five seconds to squeeze out of the got damn squad car!

So, all in all, Shaq’s appointment was a fake one and I doubt he returned to Whothehellcares to enforce the law when he wasn’t on the road. I also doubt that Shaq is losing any sleep over this any way. I mean, he’s still a multi-millionaire, he’s still living his dream by playing in the NBA and he is regarded as one of the best to ever play the game. Let’s also not forget to mention that he has a few rings, rap albums, movies, video games and television show under his belt. The only problem I see going on in Shaq Diesel’s life is that he is getting a divorce—big deal. Tons of people get divorced all the time and continue to live their lives normally. This is true for both normal people and celebrities. What I feel sad for is that huge army of children Shaq and his wife spawned. Now if you ask me (and I’m going to ask me for you), I would rather see them two stick together for the sake of the kids. It’s bad enough they are going through seeing their parents split up; but, they are doing so in the public eye.

--Mr. and Mrs. O’Neil, if you are reading this, which I doubt you are, please stay together and spare your children the shame, heartache and pain.

In my honest opinion, I think Shaq’s wife is over reacting. Let’s stop and think about this for one second. She is married to big tall, Black multi-million dollar earning NBA super start that is on the road with a bunch of men for good chunk of the relationship. Shaq’s wife is not the most attractive woman in the world. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not ugly—there just isn’t anything special about her. I’m sure Shaq loves her and that’s the reason that he married her and not some super model; but, she and other wives of athletes need to understand that there are a lot of beautiful women out there lusting for their husbands. The women throw themselves at these star athletes and when you’re on the raod and there is virtually no way for your wife to find about it (unless Kobe snitches on you) then you’re PROBABLY going to take advantage of the opportunity. So, if I were an NBA, MLB, NFL or whatever wife, I would expect my husband to cheat on me while he’s on the road or out in Beijing playing in the Olympics. It just comes with the territory. Even executives do the same thing. If I had one-hundred dollars for every man, or woman for that matter, that cheats on their spouse when away on a business trip I would buying an island right next to Shaq’s right about now. I’m not in any way condoning this type of behavior; but, it harsh reality. Not everyone cheats; but, most people do and how do you really know unless you catch them in the act? Kind of hard to do when they’re over a thousand miles away from home.

But, back to Shaq’s rap. After doing a little more research and listening to the news, I learned that Shaq was actually fired for using “racially charged” language. I’m thinking ot myself, “racially charged language? What the fuck did Shaq say?” He probably was drunk during his lyrical tirade and more than likely wasn’t using the best judgment that night. Now my mind starts to wonder about what the hell he said for a bit. I’m thinking maybe he made some anti-Semitic remarks or said something about Asians or Mexicans or something. We all know that some of our favorite rappers have said some pretty racy things in their lyrics when rhyming (i.e. “sweating like a Mexican” and “flow tight like Jew”). Then I learn that the “racially charged” language was Shaq calling Kobe a nigger (or nigga—you be the judge).

How can Shaq dropping the N-bomb on Kobe be racially charged? Trust me, I don’t take the stance that the word “nigger” is a “term of endearment” among Blacks in today’s society at all. I feel that saying that Shaq referring to Kobe as a “nigger” being racially charged is a racist statement by the media. By taking this stance, they are suggesting that only Black people can be niggers. I’m not here to get into a debate about the use of the “N word” or who can say it or only Black people can say it to other Black people or whatever. I’m just expressing my point of view in the situation. Of course Shaq was out of line, as Black man, calling another Black man a nigger in public (not to mention allowing himself to be video taped saying it). However, I don’t think the media should go around saying that his words were “racially charged.” I feel that looking at Kobe Bryan’ts credentials, it is easy to see that he is far from being a nigger; however, the media thinks that he could be one simply because he’s Black. I wonder how the coverage would have been if he had referred to Phil Jackson as nigger? Hmmmm . . . . would it still have been “racially charged?”

I feel that this sends across the wrong message to the public in this case. My reason for taking this chance is that I firmly do not believe that only African-Americans, Afro-Caribbean, Africans or any other people that hail from African decent are the only people on this planet capable of being niggers. If you look up the original definition of the word you can clearly see that any human being on this planet, regardless of race, is fully capable of being a nigger. Yes, it was used as a derogatory term toward Blacks for years and it still is to this day; however, that still doesn’t mean that all niggers are Black. I think that it is safe to say that there are some Black people are niggers; however, there are much more that are Caucasian, Asian, Indian, Hispanics, and so on. I feel that once people start to realize this then the word wouldn’t really have much meaning as a racial slur any more. To be honest, I don’t consider myself to be a nigger and if someone were to call me one I would laugh in their face. I mean, after all, it does take one to know one right?

In my honest opinion, during my life time on this earth I’ve met a ton of niggers and the majority of them were NOT of African decent.

Just my two cents on the matter.

BJ CJ

My First Post: Child Rapists and the Supreme Court

So, I come home from a long day of work, followed by a few drinks at the South Street Seaport. I unbutton my dress shirt, step out my trousers and put some left-over hot wings into the microwave. While changing into my “around the house” clothes, I put CNN and I hear that the Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty cannot be sought in any child rape case. To me this is pure B.S.

I firmly believe that these people should be executed. They have a condition that puts the public at risk. Even if they are incarcerated, empirical evidence states that these people have a high chance of committing these types of crimes again. Even though these people have to register as known sex offenders, there is nothing that can stop them from traveling to another town, city or county and find another victim. The other alternative would be to lock them up for the rest of their natural lives and let them live a living a hell behind bars as they are tormented by other inmates for their dastardly crime. However, this is a very expensive route and I feel that the best way to alleviate the problem would be to exterminate the criminal if this would justify the crime. Deciding if the crime is worthy of being punishable by death would be up to a jury in a court of law.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that all child rapists should be put to death. Some of these people are sick and some are curable. If this is the case, then they should be treated so they could continue to lead normal lives—everyone deserves this change if it is possible. But, for the people that are a real threat (i.e. repeat and violent offenders) I feel that the prosecution has the right to seek the death penalty if they see fit. I feel that the Supreme Court was wrong in it’s decision to bar the death penalty from child rape cases. To me, this sends the wrong message to child rapists and would be child rapists. By the Supreme Court saying you cannot get the death penalty for raping and helpless and defenseless child, that it’s not really that bad of a crime.

I think that if a child rapist new he or she would be put to death for the crime they were about to commit they would think twice about it. There is a concept of deterrence in the American Justice System. This whole concept is based on the belief that crimes will be prevented if the would be criminal is deterred from committing the crime out of fear of the penalty. Yeah, crimes do happen; but, think what would happen if the penalties for certain crimes were made less harsh. (i.e. murder would be punishable two years community service). I believe that criminals are more fearful of death than spending time behind bars. The Supreme Court really made a bad ruling on this one.

At least this is how I feel about the situation.

BJ CJ