Times Gone By-Auld Lang Syne

Auld Lang Syne by tradition is what everybody sings bringing in the new year. According to "How stuff works" the loose translation of Auld Lang Syne is "times gone by. How stuff works Wikipedia goes into a bit more detail stating that it is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . Wikipedia Blah,blah whatever the case, the song invokes memories of past times and the bringing in of a new year. For me this year has been a good one. I have good health, family.... and I have a new leader of the free world (I respect and admire) (a person of color) that I'm looking forward to supporting "Barack Obama" (You go Boy!!!). So with that said bringing in the new year there is only one person that can sing this song for me. That is the late, Great. Lou Rawls. Lou take it away....

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. Here is a little something recorded by yours truly. Doing my best Nat Cole imitation. Remember the reason for the season

A real Artist "Anthony Hamilton"

Anthony Hamilton has a new cd out called "The Point of it all" Anthony is another of the younger artist with a real old-school sound. This brother is a baaad man. Mo Kelly a blogger who's blog I follow regularly wrote a very glowing review of of this CD Mo Kelly I caught this song "Falling In love" from his new CD as he performed on GMA yesterday. I know what new CD I'm getting for Christmas. Enjoy!!!

The Huxtables are going to the Whitehouse

The Huxtables are going to the Whitehouse!!! I'm sure everyone has seen Barbara Walters interview with the president-elect and his wife. The Obama's are the modern day Huxtables going to the Whitehouse. Their every move will be chronicled and dissected so they might as well be on TV just like Bill's famous family.
Remember the controversy when Cosby's show was on, that they weren't indicative of black families both were successful and their relationship was to cutesy and not real......well black folks knew all along that there were families that mirrored the Huxtables, that is, having two working parents and raising kids....you know a real honest to goodness black nuclear family.
The most important thing we found out from the interview is Barack won't be getting a little yappy-girlie dog!!! he is going to get a "Big Rambunctious" dog....translation "a manly dog!!!! too funny
One thing for me is; I get the sense that Barack believes in the adage "Lead By Example" that is good thing. We have had enough of the lazy-white-boy-peter-principle leadership.Hopefully that cycle is broken.
Let the Huxtables lead......................

Unemployment Benefits Extended

It seems like the Bushmeister had second thoughts on his Fiscal irresponsibility decision and did the right thing.............

"This morning (Nov 21) President Bush signed the unemployment benefits extension into law, according to the White House. The legislation extends emergency unemployment compensation to 20 weeks, and gives additional help to residents of states with high unemployment rates."

Bush "Fiscally Irresponsible"

George Bush says that extending the unemployment benefits for the millions out of work is "fiscally irresponsible".....see here bush
Wait a minute....stop, hold the press, the Bushmeister is all for bailing out Wall Street and possibly the big three auto companies but you and me he has a problem with!!!! Jan 20 can't come quick enough to get his "ass" out of office.
I have been on unemployment twice in my work career and the second time in 2001 it was a life saver as I couldn't buy a job. The nerve of bush who has never wanted for anything whose family name has provided for everything he ever wanted to deny common folks like you and me an extension of "life-saving" benefits while in the same breath save Wall-street Big-wigs......can you spell Hypocrite....I have no words

Obama- We're a Winner

I can not explain how emotional this was for me. Change has truly come to America. This song by Curtis Mayfield "We're A winner" will be my theme song till the end of the year.
Enjoy!!

John Legend on Bill Maher

Ron Howard's Endorsement

Ron Howard put together a commercial for Barack check this out................

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Early Voting

Quote from a local newspaper "More than 1 million people have cast a ballot in North Carolina's early voting, surpassing the total number who voted at one-stop sites four years ago."
Wow!! This bodes well for the democrats, but I'm hard-pressed to believe that the Dems will win NC. NC is full of old "dixie-crats" that have voted republican since the 60's. keep in mind that this state supported Jesse Helms until he was to sick to run then they turned over the senate seat to "Libby Dole", a conservative Republican puppet who has done nothing in six years.
Clearly, this is a difficult state to turn. Polls show that the presidential race is neck in neck. The senate race between Dole & Hagen (The Dem nominee) has Hagen ahead ever so slighty.....suprise surprise. Palin and Mccain have been here, Biden & Obama have been here as well as Michelle.
I am waiting with baited breath to see who NC actually votes for!!
BTW, my whole family has already voted. I guess you know who we didn't vote for.....nuff said!!!

Colin Powell_the Endorsement

Colin Powell yesterday on meet the press an issued a 10 minute soliloquy on why he was backing Barack Obama. It was very reassuring to listen to someone who has a great deal of respect and credibility skewer John McCain and the Republican party.
I loved it!!!

2008 Obituaries_Not a Good Year

2008 is turning out to be a very bad year for some of our more iconic figures.... although death is a part of life hearing about these people saddened me a great deal. May they rest in eternal peace...................
OBITUARIES 2008

Levi Stubbs Age 72
As the distinctive lead of the Four Tops, Stubbs was best known for his deep, passionate vocal style that turned Holland-Dozier-Holland compositions like "Bernadette" and "Reach Out" and later, upon the group's move from Motown to ABC Records, on adult soul songs such as "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got)" and "Keeper of the Castle." A heart attack and stroke permanently sidelined Stubbs a half decade ago, and he was wheelchair-bound as he took the stage for the group's 50th anniversary celebration in 2005. But Levi Stubbs will long be remembered as a staple of Motown's greatest years and as one of the most distinctive and revered vocalists of all time. He will be greatly missed.


Isaac Hayes Age: 65
Isaac Hayes, the baldheaded, baritone-voiced soul crooner who laid the groundwork for disco and whose "Theme From Shaft" won both Academy and Grammy awards, died 8/10/08 in the afternoon after he collapsed near a treadmill, authorities said. He was 65.

Gene Upshaw Age: 63
Gene Upshaw, the Hall of Fame guard who during a quarter century as union head helped get NFL players free agency and the riches that came with it, died on 8/20/08 at his home near California 's Lake Tahoe , of pancreatic cancer.

Dwight White Age: 58
Dwight White, the Steel Curtain defensive end known as "Mad Dog" who helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s, died 6/6/08, following complications from back surgery. He was 58.

Bernie mac Age: 50
Bernie Mac, an Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and comedian, died suddenly 8/09/08 at age 50 of complications from pneumonia. The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005.

Al Wilson Age: 68
Al Wilson, the soul singer and songwriter who had a number of 1970s hits including "Show and Tell," died 4/21/08. Wilson died of kidney failure at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana , according to his son, Tony Wilson of Yucaipa .

Bo Diddley Age: 79
Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of musicians, died 6/2/08, after months of ill health. He was 79.

Ivan Dixon Age: 76
Ivan Dixon, an actor and director who was best known for playing Sgt. James Kinchloe on the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" but whose films included vivid portrayals of black struggles in the American South and insurrectionist inclinations in the North, died 3/16/08 from complications of kidney disease.

Sean Levert Age: 39
Sean Levert, a third of the 1980s R&B trio LeVert and son of lead O'Jays singer Eddie Levert, died 3/30/08 after falling ill while serving a jail term. He was 39. Authorities said Monday that an autopsy was inconclusive but foul play was ruled out.

Johnnie Carr Age: 97
Johnnie Carr, who joined childhood friend Rosa Parks in the historic Montgomery bus boycott and kept a busy schedule of civil rights activism up to her final days, died 2/22/08. She was 97. She had been hospitalized after a stroke Feb. 11.

Buddy Miles Age: 60
Buddy Miles, a drummer who played with Jimi Hendrix and sang in the claymation commercials featuring the California Raisins in the 1980s, died 2/26/08. He was 60. Miles, who had been suffering from congestive heart failure, died in Austin, publicist Duane Lee said.

Obama "Cool" - The Final Debate

Using the baseball metaphor.....three strikes and your out!!! The third and final debate was last night (thank God) and once again according to all of the polls Obama was the clear winner!!
The Obama Cool factor was was in play and unfortunately old man McCain had no offense or defense against it. The "cool factor" makes Obama impervious to all attacks. The old man even called Obama "eloquent" although he meant it as a backhand compliment (I think he wanted to call him a silver tongue devil) McCain has no defense against his more eloquent opponent, simply because not only can Obama explain his policies and position better but McCain has nothing but the same tired old republican rhetoric "cut taxes and reduce spending" surprise surprise.. Mr McCain guess what? That dog don't hunt no more!!! That ain't going to cut it.
If the best argument you've got is Obama's ties to a sixties revolutionary when Obama was 8 years old.......give it up!! Are you (Mr. McCain) the best the Republicans got??? If so then "Houston you have a problem".
Now all thats left is to wait for the election results. We will see if The economic crisis will trump prejudice. That is say; will white people get over the fear of putting a person of color in the White House because conditions are so bad that they will be willing to vote for someone who does not look like them???
That is the 700 billion dollar question.

Robin Thicke on GMA singing "Magic" and hawking his new DVD.

The Debate

Ok, the debate happened Friday 19th in Mississippi. I basically thought it was a tie. A tie in my mind goes to Obama, simply because "Foreign Policy" was supposed to be McCain's territory. In any case perception is reality and most polls are indicating that people think Obama won rather handily. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/27/debate.poll/?iref=hpmostpop

Howard Terence Live

Terence, was on the View hawking his new music CD. sorry I missed the very beginning.

Jon Stewart Tells it like it is

Jon Stewart nails it!!!!


The sky is falling!!! President Little

Politcs - High Drama

McBush trying his best to appear presidential is now holding the debate hostage issung the edict that he will only debate if congress will agree on the bailout. Here we go again, Mcain grandstanding, being political and trying his best to one-up his better (not peer). The old-man is killing me with his constant ploys. First he is employing what I call Piniccho politics by stretching the truth at every opportunity (you can actually see his nose growing), now he is going to suspend his campaign so that he can go to Washington and work on the "bailout". Ok what exactly is he going to do? He is not part of the commitee, so what's the plan??
Then there is the timeline issue, who called whom first? Barack says he reached out to to Mcain and he (McCain) didn't return his phone call until later on in the day. Apparently they talked but according to Barack he wasn't aware of McCain stopping everything and wanting to put off the debate........What the hell is going on??
The first thing that comes to my mind is the song "Backstabbers" McCain at his best.
Mcain was rescued by his friend Bush by being invited to the White-house for a meeting today Thursday 25th. Ok so now we know one thing that McCain will be doing. What will he do next.............. probably thinking up another Pinocchio moment to tell the people.

Too Much to Talk About

Unbelievable amount of news, Politics, Hurricanes, music.
Politics
Can you believe the pick of Sarah Palin??? Did you see the kid glove interview that the closet republican Charlie Gibson did on ABC? He talked to her like she was in grade school. She didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was..WTF. She is Pro-life, and feels that that Roe vs Wade should be overturned. Her state is next to Russia and that gives her foreign-relations experience. To top it off people are actually buying this garbage....Unbelievable!!!! She says she is ready....ready for what???
Truth in politics is now more of a joke than ever. My now favorite site is factcheck.org Please frequent this site for some truth in all of the political spin.
Hurricanes
IKE ain't playing, why people want to test it is beyond me???
Music news
Bet has a decline in viewer ship (That is good news) less youth being poisoned by that garbage and Reginald Hudlin resigns ( remember he tried to bring "Hot Ghetto Mess" to television) like we needed to see that....NOT. full article href="http://"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103380.html

History_The man who would be President

I have not written about this until now. I thought I would never see the day an African-American would be nominated and run for POTUS (President Of The United States)!! WOW!! How I wish my mother were here to see this historic event. Irrespective of how this turns out, this hopefully will set in motion a change in the hopes and dreams of young African-Americans. No longer will their only role model be limited to sports and the arts. Perhaps once again,education will become a force in our community and not be co-opted by negativity.
Barack will need our prayers and support.
What a speech!! Simply outstanding. There is no question that Barack Obama is a gifted individual. He is heads and tails above the current republican candidate.
Anyone that believes the hype of the RNC that he is not ready, I have a bridge to sell you!! The text of his speech can be found here.

href=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/obama.transcript/index.html

The Passing Of A Friend

This is a picture of my friends in college. We formed an organization called BOSS (Brothers Of Soul Society) More on this at a later date.

See the guy in the front with the green jacket that is “ARK”. That was our nickname for him, his name was Armond Renee Kane "ARK" for short. Ark passed away this weekend 8/9/08. We were all the same age and his passing has left me feeling down all week.

Ark was the type of guy that was always positive, we spent many nights all of us talking about various things. The one night that stands out in my mind we were arguing about something and it had to do with “doing what we said we would do”. He was very big on that. Anyway he made this statement “You have to take time to make time” of course we all just laughed and dismissed his statement but ultimately we understood what he meant. He was trying to get me or one of us to stop missing appointments and giving the lame excuse that we didn’t have time! Ark was a good guy and I will miss him. Although we were out of touch for about 20 years or so we hooked up with a phone call about a year ago and spent at least an hour on the phone playing catch-up. Since that time we were exchanging emails daily. It is very hard to accept the fact that my friend, our friend is no longer with us………………….

Rest in peace Ark, we will miss you

Isaac Hayes

Another Icon and wonderful voice from the 70's has passed away. Black Moses as he was called was one of my music heroes. He possessed a deep resonant voice that elicited pleading emotions and and a pathos that was very real.
I was extremely saddened when I heard this, I was affected the same way when I heard that "Melvin Franklin" of the Temptations had passed. These voices were once in a lifetime voices and stood for an era that will never be again.
Here is a song that Isaac released on the U-Turn album in 1986. This album has not been released on CD and was not well known. It is quintessential Issac.......a revealing rap/talk with his estranged girlfriend and then the remake of a classic song....."Hey Girl" www.zshare.net/audio/513667367bca364b/Hey Girl

Your Laptop can be seized at any time

Did you know.............
American federal agents can now take your laptop, iPods without reason


American federal agents can now take your laptop, iPods without reason According to new border search policies disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security, federal agents may take your laptop or other media devices for an "unspecified" period of time even without any suspicion of wrongdoing, in an effort to "prevent terrorism."

Additionally, the officials may share any content of the laptop or device with other agencies or private companies for "language translation, data decryption or other reasons."

The policies are dated as of July 16th by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but the DHS says the policies have been in effect for "some time now."

"The policies . . . are truly alarming," adds Sen. Russell Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin who has vowed to look into the new border search policies. Feingold also plans to introduce legislation that will force the government to have "reasonable suspicion" for searches. The legislation will also limit racial and religious profiling during searches.

The policies effect anyone entering the United States, including US citizens. Civil liberties and business travel groups have been pressing for months to have the government disclose publicly these policies, after receiving complaint after complaint from international and US travelers that have had their laptops, iPods and even cell phones taken, sometimes for months at a time.

To quote exactly from the policies, federal officers can "detain any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." They may do this "absent individualized suspicion."

"Any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form" means anything from iPods, laptops, cell phones and hard drives to, I kid you not, books and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.'"

Although there are protections on "business information and attorney-client privileged material" there is no protection on personal data of citizens, including medical or financial records.

"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." He recalled times where searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" and hard drives full of child pornography.

Earlier this year the US Court of Appeals upheld the government's right to conduct searches without any suspicion of illegal wrongdoing.

If you wish to view the the full policies, they are available here:http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/admissability/search_authority.ctt/search_authority.pdf