Conspiracy theory: Did cops treat chimp better than blacks?

Travis the Chimp in 2003. (AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Kathleen O'Rourke)

So this lady had a chimp as a pet in Connecticut.

But as wild animals tend to do on rare occasions, he acted like one and badly mauled the lady’s friend who had arrived to help get the escaped chimp back in the house.

According to the article:

After the initial attack, Travis ran away and started roaming Herold’s property until police arrived, setting up security so medics could reach the critically injured woman, Conklin said.

But the chimpanzee returned and went after several of the officers, who retreated into their cars, Conklin said. An officer shot Travis several times after the animal opened the door to his cruiser and started to get in.

“The animal had cornered him,” Conklin said Tuesday. “He had no other recourse.”- Yahoo!

Now, I’m an animal lover like the next, however, I’m a little confused as to why the hell the chimp even got to open the car door.

I mean, they shoot black men for looking like they’re thinking about reaching for a wallet, but Mr. Monkey made it all the way to the driver’s seat before they decided to blast off.

I guess he wasn’t as great a threat.

I’m just saying.

Tags: chimp shot, chimp shot dead, chimp shot in connecticut, discrimination, police discrimination, racial profiling, sandra herold

Are you a crackhead? Knowing when to love and when to leave

Chris Brown and Rihanna. Photo from TheYBF.com

So, if you half pay attention to American pop culture, I’m sure you’ve heard about the Chris Brown/Rihanna fiasco that happened on the night of the Grammy’s. Reportedly, a woman - who sources have identified as Good Girl Gone Bad Rihanna - made a 911 call reporting an assault by her boyfriend, Chris Brown.

As soon as this story broke, people immediately took sides. Radio stations did call-ins, Chris Brown’s stepdad, who Chris publicly accused of abusing his mom, did Access Hollywood and radio interviews - claiming the opposite, and alleging that Brown in fact was the violent one.

Celebrities chimed in with their two cents; some, like rapper, T.I. and actor Terrence Howard who we’ll get to later, chimed in too soon and retracted their two cents shortly thereafter.

The truth of the matter is that noone knows what happened on that night except Chris and Rihanna. I’ve known men who were in abusive relationships at the hands of women - too ashamed to do anything about it. I’ve known women who cried wolf and gotten men arrested who’d never laid a hand on them.

So, I can’t, though I wish I could, travel back in time and be a stitch on the leather seat of that Lamborghini and see what the hell went down. Nor can I say that I haven’t been mad enough at a dude to contemplate going upside his head my damn self; and if I had a little less home-training, I might have.

But, on this, we all can agree, SOMETHING happened. The important question is: what happens now?

What happens now, after you realize you are in a dysfunctional relationship, or a functional one with dysfunctional tendencies? Do you stay or do you go? Do you love or do you leave? Read more…

Tags: abusive relationships, chris and rihanna, chris brown, rihanna, terrence howard

Microsoft to Malaria: This is why Bill Gates is so damn cool

Quote of the Day
“I am an optimist; I think any tough problem can be solved.” - Bill Gates

AFP/File/Dominique Faget from Yahoo!

Kudos to Billionaire Bill Gates for putting his money where his mouth is, and focusing on something other than his golden parachute or annual bonus.
He got in the face of some execs at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference, and released a jar full of mosquitoes into the room.

“I brought some. Here I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected,” Gates said according to the AP report on Yahoo.com.

He then chided:
“There is more money put into baldness drugs than into malaria . . . Now, baldness is a terrible thing and rich men are afflicted. That is why that priority has been set.”

I wish I could have been a fly, uh, mosquito on the wall when he opened that damn jar. Nothing cures a little moral and social disenchantment like a realization that the next life lost, might be your own.

Very cool, Mr. Gates. Very cool.

Tags: bill gates, bill gates foundation, microsoft, ted conference, ted conference and bill gates

Is that a pigeon in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

Yahoo! News is reporting that President Obama might have a spooky twin.

Yahoo News via Reuters is reporting this most-emailed image of an Indonesian man who has a spooky resemblance to President Obama.  I just find this completely weird.  My non-scientific hypothesis is that maybe there’s only but so many combinations of ways DNA can arrange your face; after a certain point, the combinations must repeat.   Their resemblance is so similar I’m almost tempted to say it’s the offspring of PhotoShop, rather than mother nature.

After all remember we got dupped a few months ago with those ”undiscovered tribe” photos, and it turns out  it was just some folks with spandex, red paint and some Nikes.  Or something like that.

How bout this one?

An Australian Customs handout shows a man caught with two live pigeons stuffed in his pants as he got off a flight from the Middle East - (AFP/HO/Australian Customs) From Yahoo!

Is that a pigeon in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

More from Yahoo!, this fool drove his van of a cliff near Grand Junction in Colorado in an attempt to committ suicide.  His van got stuck and he’s alive.   *shakes head*  Now, suicide is no laughing matter, however, if you’re unsuccessful at the attempt you just leave yourself open for all kinds of jokes.

My question is why would anyone want to ruin a perfectly good 1987 Dodge Van?

Tags: obama twin, pigeon customs australia photo, van suicide colorado, yahoo most emailed

Real Life Final Destination

Reuters photo from Yahoo news.

A plane crashed in the Hudson River in New York and everybody survived.

Which just goes to show, if it’s just not your time to go, it’s not your time to go.  Even if the damn plane falls out the sky, so eat, drink and be merry!

Tags: final destination, flight 1549, hudson river crash, life, live life

81, successful and single: Eartha Kitt leaves inspring legacy

Rejuvenate is Eartha Kitt's guide to staying fit. The late Kitt is an inspiration to single women. (Image from Simon & Schuster Inc.)

Single at age 81 looks damn good if you follow the life and times of multi-faceted performer Eartha Kitt.

Kitt, one of the original triple-threats, died on December 25 in Connecticut. Her career spanned six decades on stage, screen, and audio. Catwoman wasn’t Catwoman until Kitt purred her way into the role during the Batman television series in 1967. And nobody’s looked at Santa the same after she dropped the hit “Santa Baby” in 1954.

Her career accomplishments include winning two Emmys and scoring nominations for Tonys and Grammys. She found her niche in performing after auditioning for an international dance troupe as a teen, and she didn’t stop. Ever. Weeks before she died, she concluded taping for a PBS special that will air in February 2009. She penned three autobiographies and, in 2001, a guide to staying physically fit, Rejuvenate.

She stood up and spoke out for what she believed in: being blacklisted in the U.S. for speaking out against the Vietnam War and standing up for an end to racism by performing in South Africa.

Kitt, who was married for five years, remained single for most of her life, having high-profile relationships including renown writer Orson Welles, and Revlon founder Charles Revson. She was abused as a child in South Carolina, shipped off to live with an aunt in New York, then abused some more.

Her life should inspire single women. She triumphed over a troubled past. She had the relationships that she wanted, how she wanted. While it’s nice to think marriage is forever, the reality is that sometimes it doesn’t work out like that and it’s nicer when we are enlightened enough to accept that it doesn’t have to.

Your happiness and legacy should not depend on being Ms. Right.

Like Kitt’s, it should depend on doing what you love, standing up for what you believe in and speaking out for what’s right in your heart.

Tags: eartha kitt

Spoken-word artist nominated for Poet of the Year in Tampa, FL

Life: So many things push me. The emails and phone calls, from people, who buy my CDs and/or attend the shows I produce and/or perform in, that communicate how meaningful what I do is, to them, are certainly inspiring.

Knowing that, as an artist and entrepreneur, I’m a leader and role model, in my community, for people who have so few, positive examples, is certainly motivation. I always wanna do better, for my family. So, that keeps me hungry.

I guess the source, of my drive, can be summed up as my love, for my folk.

Tags: Hip Hop, hip hop awards, life, life poet, lifeizpoetry, poetry, spoken word, tampa bay hip hop awards

Brainwash anyone?

I was in Target (the new one in the Trumbull Mall) the other day and was blown away what I saw:

WHY IN THE HELL DO THEY NEED A WHOLE AISLE OF MOUTHWASH?!?!?

It was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen.  It just goes to show that Big Business in America is a proponent of gluttony and excess.  There are people STAARRRVING to death and we have an aisle of cinnamon, apple, fluoride, and mint mouthwash. 

The joke is probably on us.  It’s not our mouths that are being washed.  It’s our brains.

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Tags: america, consumer greed, excess, gluttony, target

Connecticut business owner uses wine to save lives

$100,000.00 Check donation presented to Boston University Medical Center Scleroderma Research Department. From left to right: Dr. Lafyitus, Bob DeCesare, Vice President ASFSR, Joe LoSchiavo, President ASFSR, Carmen J. Cartiglia, Treasurer ASFSR, Joy LoSchiavo, Board Member ASFSR, Lou Turiano, Board Member ASFSR (Photo by ASFSR.com)

Connecticut business owner Carmen Cartiglia said he follows the old adage find something you love and figure out how to make money at it. But this year, he’s taking it one step further by using that money to hopefully save lives. The Connecticut Wine and Food Wine Festival on November 21 - 23, 2008 at the Stamford Marriott will give area residents a chance to sample fine wines and delicacies while raising money to find a cure for Scleroderma – a potentially fatal disease.

The Festival will feature nearly 30 different exhibitors from wine and spirits companies, restaurants, caterers, and package stores. Friday, November 21 from 12 – 6 p.m. is open to industry professionals. Saturday and Sunday are open to the general public from 12 - 6 p.m.

“We anticipate a good crowd. We think it’s going to be a real fun couple of days,” said Cartiglia, who plans to expand the annual event to New Haven County next year. Read more…

Tags: amity wine and spirits, boston medical university, carich expos inc, carmen cartiglia, connecticut wine and food festival, scleroderma, stamford marriott, trattoria carl anthony

Cosmo-Smosmo! Use my dating tips and he won’t know what hit him

This article first appeared on SingleWomeRule.com

Cosmo-Smosmo! Single Women Rule's dating tips put the ball in your court.

God Bless Cosmopolitan Magazine. Hell-bent on helping the single gal land her man.

One article posted recently on Yahoo’s Dating site is by Christie Griffin: “Dating 101: How to be a Total Man-Magnet”.

So I thought it’d be fun if I took the liberty to uh - amend - these rules to a Single Women Rule liking.

Griffin / Cosmo says:
“Dating tip #1: Go out in groups of no bigger than three.Larger groups of girls are supertough (read: intimidating) to approach. Three is a good number because your two friends can keep each other company when a guy walks up to chat with you.”

SWR Dating Tip #1:
Go out in groups of at least six. Maybe sixteen. Larger groups of women may intimidate men and you want to make sure you weed out the weak yellow-bellied ones - so the more of your girls the merrier. You don’t want a guy who’s going to prey on you like an injured wilderbeast that’s fallen behind the herd. If he’s ballsy enough to brave the front-line, then you best believe he can handle Aunt Erma at Thanksgiving dinner.

Okay there was no number two on the version of the article I read, so here’s my own: Repeat number 1. Read more…

Tags: cosmopolitan magazine, dating 101, dating article, man-magnet, single women rule