Champions of Crackheadedness: DJ Cipha Sounds & HIV Prevention

I haven't listened to Hot97 since I was in my teens, but from hearing about DJ Cipha Sounds heartless and ignant as hell comments, I am guessing that the NY based Hip Hop and R&B radio station has come a long way from the Roll Call with Ed, Lisa and Dre back in the 90s.

"The reason I'm HIV negative is because I don't mess with Haitian girls," DJ Cipha Sounds said Friday morning on air. After a deluge of complaints were phoned in to the radio station, he quickly apologized "I made a stupid tasteless joke that was a one-liner and taken totally the wrong way and I want to say sincerely that I apologize," he said.

Please explain to me the RIGHT WAY the comment was supposed to be taken...I am still scratching my head about that one.



While I do not believe that DJ Cipher should be fired outright, primarily because I think everyone should have an opportunity to right their wrongs and to . I think, like expressed by a woman in the video, that this incident should be used as an opportunity to spread awareness about HIV and Aids and to in kind educate the younger or more ignorant listeners about protection. And apparently Emmis Communications, the owner of Hot 97 plans to do just that, so I guess only time will tell if this will turn into something that will... in the long run, be educational and life-saving to someone out there.

Champions of Crackheadedness: Target CEO's $150K Donation & His Response to Critics

After watching this video of one Minnesota Mother and Grandmother's trip to Target and her beautifully poetic protest of buying and immediately returning her $220+ purchase (explaining that because of Target's $150,000 to Minnesota Forward she will no longer patronize the store.), I was touched and knew that I would be boycotting Target until this act was reversed.



From The Huffington Post: The Human Rights Campaign, which previously gave Target a 100 percent approval rating for their treatment of LGBT employees, issued this statement Monday:

"Target has worked hard to create a fair and equitable workplace for its LGBT employees, and should be proud of its leadership in this area. It is for this reason that HRC is very disappointed in Target's significant monetary contribution to Minnesota Forward, a group supporting the most clearly anti-LGBT candidate for Governor in Minnesota. We have reached out to Target to express our concern over this contribution. While political contributions to support candidates are not a factor in HRC Foundation's Corporate Equality Index, HRC finds it puzzling that Target would take great steps to support LGBT inclusiveness while simultaneously helping a candidate who shamelessly rejects equality for LGBT Minnesotans."

What really made me angry was the half-assed reply from Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel-in an email to his staff:

"We rarely endorse all advocated positions of the organizations or candidates we support, and we do not have a political or social agenda," Steinhafel wrote. "As you know, Target has a history of supporting organizations and candidates, on both sides of the aisle, who seek to advance policies aligned with our business objectives, such as job creation and economic growth...Let me be very clear, Target's support of the GLBT community is unwavering, and inclusiveness remains a core value of our company."

I agree with Chicago state Rep. Greg Harris (who is openly gay),who said the following to ChicagoPride.com:

"Companies like Target need to understand that they can't have it both ways when it comes to issues of our basic rights, and that the facts will eventually come out. I hope that they will rethink this contribution and find a way to make it right,"

And I have added my voice to the others who have protested this decision and have affirmed their desire to boycott the company, by signing the petition at Change.org.

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/demand_target_stop_donating_to_anti-gay_politicians

Champions of Crackheadedness: Man Choked to Death by CVS employee for stealing

I read this article and wonder when the cost of a tube of toothpaste and a box of crayons became more important than someone's life. Granted theft is not the way to go about getting the things in life that you want and/or need, but when does bad behaviour become an excuse for worse behaviour!?!?!

This ties in to my recent blog about the D-Bag epidemic - One's complete willingness to ignore and deny the humanity of another!

Officer Was On The Scene As Man Was Choked To Death By CVS Employee For Stealing Toothpaste

Article from The Huffington Post

First Posted: 05-11-10 12:38 PM | Updated: 05-11-10 12:48 PM

The story of a man who was choked to death by a CVS employee after stealing toothpaste from the Chicago store on Saturday is getting even more scrutiny, after police admitted Monday that a Cook County sheriff's officer was on the scene when the man, Anthony Kyser, was killed.

Kyser, a 35-year-old barber, was chased out of the Little Village store and restrained by an employee of the store who saw him stealing, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The employee then strangled him to death.

Witnesses said Kyser, of the 1400 block of South Hamlin, cried, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe!" as the CVS worker held him in a chokehold for what they thought was several minutes.

Witnesses told the newspaper that there was an off-duty officer on the scene while Kyser was being choked, and after initially saying they were unaware of a police presence, the Chicago Police Department now admits that a Cook County sheriff's officer was on the scene:

As the correctional officer pointed a weapon at Kyser and told him to stop struggling, Kyser repeatedly pleaded that he couldn't breathe, the witnesses said.

[Chicago Police Lt. Lt. Maureen] Biggane said a surveillance video shows the correctional officer in the alley, speaking on a cell phone, but does not show her pointing a weapon. The officer waited for an ambulance to arrive, but left before uniformed Chicago Police arrived, Biggane said.

Police wouldn't release the correctional officer's identity. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Patterson said there is nothing for the sheriff to investigate, based on Chicago Police's account of her actions.

Chicago Police will not press charges against the unnamed CVS manager, despite a medical examiner's finding that man's death was a homicide, reports MyFoxChicago.

Kyser was accused of stealing tooth paste and crayons, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Story continues below

Kyser was known as "Pops" to his three former step-children, reports the Chicago Tribune. Kyser's ex-wife Ann Marie Balboa questioned the police department's decision not to press charges against the CVS manager:

"How's it accidental?" Balboa said. "You're choking the [expletive] out of somebody. He [the employee] should be fired. He should be facing criminal charges. You don't take someone's life over toothpaste."

Witnesses told the Sun-Times the officer never told the employee, who has been placed on leave by CVS, to release Kyser. The witnesses also said the officer can be seen pointing a gun at Kyser on the surveillance video. Police also have not explained why the off-duty officer left the scene before uniformed officers arrived.

Champions of Crackheadedness: Rod Blagojevich

By now you've heard the story, and all over pundits, blogger and barbershops are buzzing with comments about Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's statement about President Barack Obama:

“This guy, he was catapulted in on hope and change, what we hope the guy is. What the fuck? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter. I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up."

 

Now, what now? "What the fuck?", indeed! This is my beef...people who consider themselves a PhD in Afro-American Studies just because they watched 70s & 80s black t.v. shows...

This may knock Rod off his socks but there are millions of African-Americans who have never shined shoes for a living. And just because both your Daddy and George Jefferson owned a laundromat (Though technically George owned a dry-cleaner), does not mean that being a small business owner is part in parcel of the WHOLE African American experience... (even though it should be!)

And he's actually like a five-room apartment is the same as an entire family living in an efficiency!!! A five-room apartment is THREE BEDROOMS, Y'ALL!!!! It's not exactly trailer fabulous, you know?

Champions of Crackheadedness: Teacher Cuts Off Girl's Braid

Like I wrote on my FaceBook page in response to this article... I would've held a "Whup-Ass-Athon" where people can make donations for every hour I laid the smack down on this chick!!!

Teacher Cuts Off Girl's Braid In School
Police Issue Teacher $175 Ticket For Disorderly Conduct



POSTED: 4:54 pm CST December 11, 2009
UPDATED: 10:21 pm CST December 11, 2009

MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee teacher is charged with disorderly conduct after punishing a first-grader by cutting her hair.

Lamya Cammon is angry, confused, and scared by the incident last week in which the apparently frustrated teacher cut one of her braids off after she wouldn't stop playing with them in class.Cammon, 7, sports a few dozen braids, but one is conspicuously absent."She told me to stop playing with it. Then cut it off and sent me back to my desk," Cammon said.Cammon's a first-grader at Congress Elementary and said her teacher used a pair of classroom scissors to cut off one of the braids after she absent-mindedly kept playing with them."Tell me how you play with your hair. Show me what that means," 12 News reporter Nick Bohr said to Cammon."I wasn't playing with it that loud," Cammon said.She said the teacher called her to the front of the room and cut it in front of the whole class."What did you do?" Bohr asked."I went to my desk and cried. And they was laughing," Cammon said. "She threw it away, and she said, 'Now what you gonna go home and say to your momma? ' And I said, 'That you cut off my hair,'" Cammon said.Cammon's mother is furious. She went to the school and confronted the teacher."I said, 'Well, you know, you cut a lot of her hair off.' And she was like, 'Well, I do apologize.' She said, 'But I was frustrated,'" Cammon's mother, Helen Cunningham, said.The Milwaukee Public Schools District said it is going through the disciplinary process with the teacher, who remains in class, although Cammon has been moved to a different classroom by the principal."The main thing is, from the heart of the principal, and me speaking for the district, we're very sorry that this happened," MPS spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said.Cammon's mother said she appreciates the apology but said the district should seriously question whether the teacher should keep her job."Why would we want someone like that teaching our kids? We trust our kids once they go to school to be safe," Cunningham said.Milwaukee police investigated the case and referred it to the district attorney for possible physical or mental abuse of a child charges.When the district attorney's office decided not to file criminal charges, police this week issued the teacher a $175 ticket for disorderly conduct.The Milwaukee Teachers Education Association can't talk about the incident, but said stress is not unusual.“As budget constraints get tighter every year, the stress level and frustrations do increase,” said the MTEA’s Sid Hatch.12 News called the teacher Friday night and went to her home for comment, but someone came to the door and said she did not want to talk.

Copyright 2009 by WISN.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Champions of Crackheadedness - Why Other Countries Hate Us.

According to the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than 852 million people - about 13 percent of the world population - do not have enough food each day to sustain a healthy life.

Of this, about 815 million people live in developing countries, 28 million in "transition" countries of the former Eastern Europe and ex-Soviet republics, and about nine million in the industrialised world.*

When I first saw this picture, I was so disgusted to think that people actually eat something like this and that as you read this, someone shelled out their hard-earned money to buy this for themselves and (Worse to think!) their children.



Why is this acceptable? SMH

Champions of Crackheadedness: Save Our Souls

So this clip has been circulating around the Blackternet (that's black internet, y'all) for a few days and what I find most shocking is not so much the behavior of little Tangueray and Cristal (That's the names I've given them!)... but the comments this video has inspired out of people. This is one example:

"If I ever caught my daughter doing that shit, I'd beat her azz so hard, she won't have no azz to make jump!"

Here's my problem with that. If you are raising your daughters right and instilling in them love of self... you wouldn't catch them booty popping in a children's party. Tangueray and Cristal was taught by someone that this was not only acceptable, but that it was adorable and a great way to get attention. Yes!! Let's teach of prepubescent daughters how to sexualize themselves for attention. Why wait for the media to do it?!?!?

Frankly, if anyone deserves to get their asses beat (and I don't condone violence).. it's their Mamas. But I have a feeling that these women have been exposed to enough violence in their worlds, so perhaps what I would really do is enroll both Mothers and Daughters into a Self Esteem workshop.

We need some more Iyanla Vanzant's in the world... a lot less booty tootin' sistahs!!!

Champions of Crackheadedness - Cambridge PD

I had to wait a few days to process the situation surrounding the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for breaking into his own home. The situation was just so ripe with stupidity (and for lack of a better - or real word, crackheadedness) that I had to really compose myself. I know I call this blog my Rantings, Ramblings and Revelations... but sometimes it's better to voice your outrage coherently, you know?

I have been in the situation where I've been locked out of my home, as I am sure many people in the world has. I know for my personal experiences... the first thing I did was break out my old high school i.d., which works as good as a credit card. If it's a choice between waiting hours for someone to get home or jimmy the lock.. guess what? I'm jimmying the lock.

The Cambridge Police report says that Gates "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior.". How did they expect someone to respond in the same situation. Once it had been adequately established that he was the proper owner of the house, the police should have dropped the situation. And the police officers who refused to provide their identification show me that the scenario is bogus: if they didn't have anything to hide, why refuse to provide their badge numbers?

This whole situation reminds me of the Dave Chappelle joke from "Killin' them Softly"



"He's still here!"

Champions of Crackheadedness

I am all for finding love, with a millionaire or with a broke dude... even finding companionship or a good time but I highly doubt that a job classified site is the appropriate forum for this advertisement (even though they pay participants for "interviews"... with rich CEO types... right):

Millionaire Dating? We invented it! Now interviewing female candidates

posted: July 1, 2009, 03:02 AM

---

Reply: click here

Millionaire Dating? We invented it! Are you the "whole package"? Woman-run, upscale & discreet Corporate Introduction Service now interviewing Admin Assts, Managers, Models & other professional women in the medical, hospitality, retail, advertising, modeling, acting, publishing, PR, arts, real estate, administrative & financial fields etc... who are underpaid, underemployed or just sick of the constant financial struggle, to date CEOs, Senior Executives and Corporate professionals. Your pictures will NOT appear on any website and your family, colleagues & friends will never know. Be 18-40yrs., very attractive, articulate and honest. College educated a plus but not necessary. Paid interview for qualified candidates.

Salary/Wage: unlimited
Status: Full-time, Part-time
Shift: Days, Nights and Weekends

• Location: Miami/Dallas/NYC/Toronto, Your City

I love how they had the nerve to put this in the office administrative job section. Wouldn't it be more of a "customer service" job? LMAO

Champions of Crackheadedness...

A few years ago, I saw a bumper sticker that had the above message on it, and naturally I cracked up. When I read stories like this, I shake my head and sincerely ask this request.

From RightWingWatch.org:

A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who on June 2 called the death of abortion provider George Tiller an answer to prayer said later in the day he is also praying "imprecatory prayer" against President Obama.

Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and former running mate of American Independent Party presidential candidate Alan Keyes, said June 2 on Fox News Radio he didn't understand why people were upset with his comments quoted by Associated Baptist Press from a webcast of his daily radio talk show.

"Imprecatory prayer is agreeing with God, and if people don't like that, they need to talk to God," Drake told syndicated talk-show host Alan Colmes. "God said it, I didn't. I was just agreeing with God."

Asked if there are others for whom Drake is praying "imprecatory prayer," Drake hesitated before answering that there are several. "The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama," he said.

Later in the interview, Colmes returned to Drake's answer to make sure he heard him right.

"Are you praying for his death?" Colmes asked.

"Yes," Drake replied.

"So you're praying for the death of the president of the United States?"

"Yes."

Colmes asked Drake if he was concerned that by saying that he might be placed on a Secret Service or FBI watch list, and if he believed it appropriate to talk or pray that way.

"I think it's appropriate to pray the Word of God," Drake said. "I'm not saying anything. What I am doing is repeating what God is saying, and if that puts me on somebody's list, then I'll just have to be on their list."

"You would like for the president of the United States to die?" Colmes asked once more.

"If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that's correct."

I wonder if there is a "special bible" out there for fanatics and kooks that tells a different story of Jesus than the one I read.