Living In America

James Brown was 72 when he wrote his book, Living In America, or told the story to Marc Eliot, who likely did all the writing. He thought he was gonna be around for a long time and that if he made it till 80 or 95 he would still be performing.

Brown says he was asked "a million times" if he would endorse Rev. Al Sharpton if he ran for president. Brown says that if "the Democrat Party somehow ever gave him the number one pole position, they would be making a major mistake."

he said the difference between White boy and Black boy was "every Black boy knows that the chip doesn't fall too far from the block, while every White boy thinks he can be president." Or black children are realists and whites see a world of unlimited opportunity by virtue of skin color.

Brown also says: "For a black man to even dream about becoming president, he'd better be as talented as Abe Lincoln. You understand what I'm saying? I think you do. And if this Black person does become a president, he'd better stay out of Ford's Theatre."

Brown did not live to perform at 80 or 95 and he missed out on seeing the historic election of President Barack Obama. More amazing is that Michelle, a po' black girl from Chicago grew up to become First Lady. The odds were all against her and her brother Craig, yet they rose above circumstances admirably.

I do not know if Lincoln was talented and so far so good that the Obama's have survived amid death threats and smear campaigns.

Cost To Kill?

A character in Walter Mosley's fiction, The Long Fall, pondered a newpaper article that said: "...the Left was claiming that the death toll in Iraq was nearing a million, while by some calculations we would end up spending a trillion dollars on that effort...". Or we will have spent a million dollars per death in Iraq.

It has been quite some time since I was up on the latest death tolls and cost of war in Iraq, but the imaginery article figures seems to be an accurate picutre of the cost to kill.

Perhaps Mosley's fiction grabs and holds my interest due to tidbits as above quote. Obama even got an honorable mention or should I say President Obama.

Enemies of Freedom

Continuing thoughts inspired by Jim Sitterly on Omaba supporters being on the side of real enemies of freedom.

True enemies of freedom might be citizens who vote to restrict liberties of other citizens. Citizens who demand, as an example, that people become criminals if they smoke a cigarette on a deserted beach. Who is breathing all that second-hand smoke, I wonder? The dastardly person who chooses to break the law and light up on that beach is endangering his/her lungs more by breathing polluted air along with his/her first hand smoke. Some laws simply make no sense to me.

Ditto a business owner having his freedom of choice or liberty curtailed. S/he must not be allowed in his/her place of business, nor be allowed if s/he will allow patrons to smoke inside. People who applaud such laws are enemies of freedom. Might say First Lady, Michelle, and others, are enemies of President Obama's freedom to choose to smoke a cigarette.

Some laws restricting liberty are good ones. Thou shalt not murder, steal, rape, beat your wife and children. Talking on cell phone while driving prohibition: good law. Can not count the number of times I was close to getting hit ~ while walking or driving ~ I could see the shocked look on the other driver's face. Shocked because they were so engrossed in that phone call they did not notice they were about to run over a pedestrian or plow into a more alert driver's vehicle.

Seat belt laws: bad law. If a person decides not to use one and is maimed or killed, they are only suffering consequences of their own behavior. Would make more sense if public transportation mandated seat belts; driver mishap, passenger safety.

Outlawing red meat might be a good law; citizens and government so worried about other's obesity and putting themselves at risk for heart failure. Outlawing fast food restaurants because they cause obesity has been considered in Los Angeles, hey we got to decide for the people, who cares about words on that outdated document anyway?

Sitterly obviously.

Enemies of Freedom

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people were created equal..."

Okay, so when I was seven nor eight, I thought that word ~ men ~ meant human beings of all types. A few proclamations, amendments, Supreme Court decisions later, the playing filed was leveled guaranteeing all citizens (and a number of people who bypass the law to live in the U.S.A. demanding equal rights with born citizens and those who immigrate legally) "liberty".

Liberty simply means "freedom of choice".

Interesting, too, the mantra under Pres G.W. Bush became "We are a Christian country!", yet even that Christian God allows people to make their own choices ~ right or wrong. Yet it is Christian men and quite a few contemporary ladies that take it upon themselves to override their God, picking and choosing who is created equal enough to be given the right to life and pursuit of happiness, not to mention liberty.

Muslim and Hebrew men, likewise are taught by their God that they were created superior to other human beings and act accordingly.

Jim Sitterly of San Pedro (California) wrote a scathing letter to the editor of Random Lengths ("Obama is an evil dictatorial slug...", oh my, how grown up is that?).

Not to change the subject, but it was Pres Bush who proclaimed he was the decider; Hillary Clinton agreed, saying the government had to make choices "like that" for the people because we, those people, could not make them ourselves. Talk about dictating!

Sitterly ends his diatribe: "When will well meaning OBAMA supporters finally realize they are on the side of the real enemies of freedom?"

Um, true Obama voted yes on the Patriot Act ~ citizens were cool with giving up some freedoms in the interest of security. So did the vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats. Does that mean most all of our elected officials enemies of freedom? Would that not mean most all citizens are likewise the enemy of freedom, why single out Obama supporters?

The Tragedy of Detroit

The Tragedy of Detroit Newsweek headline caught my eye. Home of the Motown sound, source of my interest in the city. Although I checked the magazine out of the library (and five others), did not read much of the article about the decline and hopeful rebirth of the motor city.

Graph stats: In 1950 Detroit was the 5th of Top Ten populated U.S. cities, now down to number 11 spot. New York then and now, number one spot. Chicago and Los Angeles cross back and forth on the graph and Philly took a nose dive from #3 in 1950 to 6th place now.

Dave Bing former NBA player mayor of Detroit? The 3/4 profile picture of Bing in Newsweek article does not look like the Dave Bing I met and spoke to in the mid 70s. Google search for images; um, even the younger Bing does not look the man I remember, maybe I am mistaken...

A google seach gave me this: "Sep 24, 2007 ... I met Dave Bing! He and Maurice Lucas coached kids at a basketball camp run by Howie Landa in the Pocono Mountains. ...". Okay, so I was not mistaken just faulty memory of exactly what Bing looked like. My minds-eye pictured him with a rounder face, um, maybe more of a Charles Barkley look. It was that basketball camp that brought Bing, Landa, and Lucas to the Pocono's and Coffaro's Pizzeria where I worked part time.

So our conversations were more like "May I help you?" and "That will be..." taking his money. I did dance with Lucas. Ex-husband's idea. The guys hung out at motel bar where ex then worked. Have zero recall if Lucas and I spoke at all. I did deliver a lot of pizza for the kids staying at the camp. Anyway the google search blurb leads to ironically an Associated Content article. The meeting of the three basketball guys is not part of the article, which I was interested in reading. It is a short bio of Bing.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/383788/brief_biography_of_nba_legend_dave.html?cat=49

Blog Action Day ~ Climate Change

This year's Blog Action Day topic is Climate Change. As I wrote on Homeless in Long Beach, I have nothing to say on the topic. Anything I know about climate change I have read about in newspapers, magazines or on the Internet.

The idea of Blog Action Day is to get a unified group blogging on one topic, to create awareness and promote change through action. All I can add to myriad info already available:

Be good to Mother Earth, it is the only planet we have.

I do not know, however, that we, the people, can do anything to alter the course of climate change. Truly, an ounce of prevention is always worth a lot more than pounds of cure.

Living In America

James Brown was 72 when he wrote his book or told his story to March Eliot. He thought he was gonna be around for a long time and that if he made it till 80 or 95 he would still be performing.

Brown says he was asked "a million times" if he would endorse Rev. Al Sharpton, if he ran for president. Brown says that if "the Democratic Party somehow ever gave him the number one pole position, they would be making a major mistake."

He said the difference between White boy and Black boy was "..every Black boy knows that the chip doesn't fall too far from the block, while every White boy thinks he can be president." Or black children are realists and whites see a world of unlimited opportunity by virtue of their skin color.

Brown also said "For a Black man to even dream about becoming president, he'd better be as talented as Abe Lincoln. You understand what I'm saying? I think you do. And if this Black person does become a president, he'd better stay out of the Ford's Theatre."

I am not sure President Obama is as talented as Abe Lincoln, or if Lincoln was of exceptional talent. If it would have kept the states together, I read, Lincoln said that he would not have abolished slavery. I do know many multi-ethic people were concerned for the Obama family safety, with good reason. I still have moments when I wonder if he will live through his term of office or terms, if re-elected.

Even more so than our President, Michelle Obama's story could inspire generations of children. She would be the first to agree: no way a poor, black girl could grow up to be First Lady and that is exactly what happened. Too bad Brown did not live to see an impossible dream become reality.

Quotes from, I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul by James Brown as told to Marc Eliot.