Another NBA Gangster

Andrei Kirilenko has to be one of the most over-paid players in the NBA.  He’s pulling down $12m a year to turn the ball over every other trip down the floor.  He’s not rebounding or blocking shots with the consistency of years past.  He’s not even a reliable scorer from outside or in the post.  The Jazz are in desperate need of a two-guard to lighten the offensive load of Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer.  That great shooting guard will not show up tonite – and neither will Kirilenko.  The Jazz are done for this season  and will need to look at strengthening their offense and getting more bang for their buck by moving AK-47.  It’s time to move on.

If I’m Jerry Sloan, I’m only keeping one Kirilenko.

and, it ain’t the one with the shit-eating grin.

Your Beautiful White Face

From Mali to Malaysia, the rush is on.  The New York Times is reporting that India is the latest nation to be embroiled in a discussion about “beauty” and skin complexion.  International firms like L’Oreal and Unilever are marketing products in Africa, Latin America and Asia promising to lighten skin and create new opportunities for love and career advancement.

What is compelling about this is not the assumption that this type of marketing is odious.  That’s hardly the point.  The issue is that Africans, Asians and Latin Americans consistently remark that their nations are free from the “racial animus” or “color consciousness” of the United States.  The comments are made in the face of some serious conflicting evidence.  There is broad appeal for these products.  Sales have spiked and the demand curves suggest new and more innovative campaigns to satisfy more and more customers.

The attraction for lighter skin in women has evolved in different ways in different locales.  The evolution in Asia is not the same as in Africa or Latin America.  Nor has that preference come about the same way in Europe or among whites in the United States.  Presently, the whites in the United States do not exhibit a clear preference for the pale skin idealized in India, Japan, Korea or in parts of Africa.  What may have begun as an indication of social status (tanned white skin indicating menial labor in the outdoors) has often become synonymous with ill health.
Was not Kate Moss the poster girl for drug addiction and anorexia while also being the waif-like body/face of Calvin Klein adverteasing?  Nothing keeps a model in tip-top shape like a few lines of the good stuff.  That’s not a sexy look.  That’s a near-death look – but it worked – for a time.

Since that time, Kate’s more often than not revealed, captured, depicted as colorized, even Africanized.  Americans may occasionally go for that pasty pale look, but there is usually something else in the “package.”  (Even in this pic, it’s easy to see the photographers use of color to change the appearance of this actress.)

What do we make of the fascination with pale skin in India?  It’s an age-old dynamic rooted in thousands of years of history.  It couldn’t be about Krishna:

“The term Krishna in Sanskrit has the literal meaning of “black” or “dark”, and is used as a name to describe someone with dark skin. The Brahma Samhita describes Krishna’s complexion as being “tinged with the hue of blue clouds”,^[2] and he is often depicted in paintings with blue or dark-blue skin. In murthis, Krishna is more commonly portrayed as being dark skinned or black. For instance, the Jagannatha (a name meaning: Krishna as ‘Lord of the World’), deity at Puri in Orissa shows Krishna as being ‘jet black’ in colour alongside his brother Balarama, and sister Subhadra, the latter two having much lighter complexions.”

This has absolutely nothing to do with “Europeans”…in fact, these values stem from a time when there was no Europe.  It does have something to do with Aryans and Brahmins, though.  It all makes for interesting reading when one considers the impact of pre-Aryan Indus Valley civilization on our modern world.  Just who were these ancient people with their jet black god?  And who are their descendants with their abundantly obvious ‘fear of a black planet’?  Another thread, another time.

Back to the modern world of marketing and beauty products:  The latest is that Unilever is going to market these products to men.

A word to the wise: “That shit ain’t gonna help you get laid, buddy.  Remember the Jheri Curl?  Exactly.  Get some sun, lift some weights, kcik some endorphins, earn some loot, learn how to smile and relax.”

Dobb and Weave

CNN – “the most trusted name in news” is little more than an advertising slogan designed to garner market share against rival fabricators at Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC, and their respective cable affiliates.It’s not a statement of fact. It’s just a statement. Lou Dobbs is engaged in something wholly different from making mere pronouncements. He is engaged in connecting dots predicated on false information. In a Bushian way, he is making connections with the intent of generating a reaction from a population that is easily duped – the American people.

I know politicians and pundits (even the righter of this New York Times article) often celebrate the intelligence of the American public, but that has to stop. Honestly, enough is enough. Americans have been duped into supporting the majority of the nation’s war which began under false pretenses – and led to support domestic engagements under equally dubious foundations. Perhaps the schools are to blame for this recurring nightmare. Perhaps it’s the media. The New York Daily News has seen fit to put Lindsay Lohan on the FRONT PAGE for two consecutive days.

These are days in which the United States announced a set of weak sanctions of the Sudanese government for committing acts of genocide in Darfur. These are days in which the Iranian government has accused the United States of conducting espionage within its sovereign borders. There is something worth reporting openly and honestly, but the MSM refuses to play that game…and so it is with Lou Dobbs and his leprosy fiasco.

While Mexicans and other foreigners were allegedly losing their skin, Lou was really losing his mind. See below and the link.

clipped from www.nytimes.com In the report, one of Mr. Dobbs’s correspondents said there had been 7,000 cases of leprosy in this country over the previous three years, far more than in the past. When Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” sat down to interview Mr. Dobbs on camera, she mentioned the report and told him that there didn’t seem to be much evidence for it. “Well, I can tell you this,” he replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.” Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives. That’s where leprosy comes in. clipped from www.nytimes.com More to the point, if Mr. Dobbs’s arguments were really so good, don’t you think he would be able to stick to the facts? And if CNN were serious about being “the most trusted name in news,” as it claims to be, don’t you think it would be big enough to issue an actual correction?

Barry Bonds: Does He Have a (Second) Chance?

ESPN’s cover story this month is about Barry Bonds and his image problem.  One could argue that Bonds has had an image problem from birth, or at least the better part of the last three decades.  The feature includes highlights of unsolicited advice from redeemed personalities: CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Presidential Candidate John McCain, Howard Stern, Denny McClain and Leigh Steinberg.  It struck me as interesting that none of those folks were black athletes who have traveled down this path before.  Now there are certainly examples of white athletes who were either blasted by the media or scorned by the public being redeemed.  The article highlighted the case of Mike Schmidt.  McClain certainly counts.  Pete Rose will probably be on this list in 20 years.  There’s Mickey Mantle and his battle with alcohol.  There’s Tony LaRussa and his DUI.

I know that all athletes get a lot of love from the public but I started to wonder what the dividing line might be between heaven and hell.  Is it different for getting redemption from the press?  What about Mark McGwire?  Is he ever going to come back from his debacle?  How about Bill Romanowski?  What constitutes a comeback?  Is it sitting on the couch on a FOX show desperate for ratings?  What about Michael Irvin?

I couldn’t think of a Black athlete (quickly) who was redeemed in the public eye after either a hate-hate relationship with the media or an off-field incident of serious magnitude.   One could argue that Charles Barkley’s redemption on TNT after accidentally spitting on a little girl at a game and being involved in multiple fights constitutes a best case.  I can’t argue with that – except that Barkley functions largely as a comic figure.  He is neither a force to be reckoned with, nor someone to take seriously on the issues of his time within sports or beyond.  As such, he can be discounted because his presence does not constitute a challenge in any arena of significant value.

Perhaps Muhammad Ali is the best example.  It could be – but then again, he has Parkinson’s and is no longer perceived as a threat.  He no longer has the vitality of a Jim Brown or the erudition of a Bill Russell or the calm presence of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  I don’t know that he would have been redeemed if he did not contract Parkinson’s.  I doubt it.  Jim Brown certainly has not.  Kareem has not.  He has not been accorded the respect of someone who is arguably the single greatest basketball player of all time.  Kareem was ostracized in the 1970’s for his unwillingness to “play the game.”  Nearly 40 years later, his presence is barely discernible in the NBA.  Moreover, in the public mind, he is still a steely, dangerous, angry man.  This may or may not be true – but the consequences of patiently seeking redemption in this land were never lost on Kermit Washington.  After his face-breaking blow to the grille of Rudy Tomjanovich, Washington was unable to find a team, a job or a vantage point to breathe freely in his chosen profession.  Washington took his act to Africa and began a legacy of charitable, life-affirming work that merits serious commendation.  The American public, however, has little or no knowledge of this.  The press, to my knowledge, has only on rare occasions made mention of his work in an attempt to lay bare the fullness of his life after “The Punch.”

Drug addiction in sports is an area where decision-making is not as cut and dry.  Take the case of pitcher Steve Howe.  Howe couldn’t kick the habit but he was tremendously talented and teams always need pitchers.  He was Rookie of the Year for the Dodgers.  Howe was given so many chances that fans and the media stopped counting.  He was suspended 7 times.  He died in 2006 in a traffic accident with methamphetamine in his system.  Now, I don’t know how much the public in Los Angeles stood behind Steve Howe, but the national and local media never subjected him to the lambasting that Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden took for their addictions.  While Howe was the Rookie of the Year, he was never as big of a star as Strawberry or Gooden.  That may have been part of the deal.  Perhaps the greatest loss for sports and the American public is that Steve Howe never became the poster boy for drug addiction in the major leagues.  That indignity went to a number of players who benefited from owners turning a blind eye to addiction – as long as production was high.  The “Straw” and Doc were given numerous opportunities to slay the dragon and were unable to do so through the end of their playing days.  Both of these players were likely Hall of Famers absent the influence of narcotics in their lives – but that dream never materialized.  In New York, I believe these two players were pitied more than reviled by the fans and media because they emerged on the big stage as teenagers.  Gooden and Strawberry, during the best of times had the key to the city.  In the worst of times, they had the key to the hearts of their fans and the support of team ownership.  I don’t believe drug-addicted athletes provide a sound basis for assessing the possibilities of redemption with the public and the media.  Local fans who witnessed the peak performance of a player are likely to be far more forgiving that “the rest of us.”  Does anyone really want to talk about Don Mattingly’s drinking or Brett Favre’s painkillers?

Barry Bonds is not facing the spectre of drug addiction – but he is embroiled in a controversy closely linked, in my mind, to Pete Rose.  Gambling on the game, by players and managers, suggests an attempt to influence the outcome of an ostensibly fair contest.  I don’t raise this issue to compare Rose’s treatment with Bonds.  Pete was treated with kid gloves for years.  He was a better interview for years and he was Charlie Hustle.  Bonds, though, stands accused of also trying to influence the outcome of games by using steroids.  The question, though, of his redemption will be difficult.  It is the road less traveled.

I think ‘roid guys will always be looked down upon.  Will anyone ever consider Bill Romanowski an “upstanding guy”?  Was there any chance of that BEFORE he spit on J.J. Stokes?  What about Rafael “I’ve Got Your Finger!” Palmeiro?  Bonds’ problems with the press and the public precede the steroid controversy.  In fact, they precede the birth of Barry Lamar Bonds.  I believe the problems go all the way back to the life and times of an underrated, underappreciated, alcoholic father – Bobby Bonds.  Bobby was a tremendous player, but he came of age at a time (like Russell and Brown and Ali) where players had contentious relationships with a smug, racist, white supremacist media.  The media went out of their way to make Black and Latino players look less than smart, less than diligent and less than worthy of a contract extension on favorable terms.  Roberto Clemente had the same problem.  I don’t doubt that Barry cultivated some disdain for the press long before he hit Arizona State’s campus.  I bet he developed a watchful eye long before young and old reporters tried to nestle up close to his jock strap and feign friendship.  I bet the relationship was spoiled as soon as the first reporters confirmed his suspicions that he would not be treated any differently than dear old dad.  Bonds’ image will not EVER recover because Black men with positive national American images occupy one of three roles: buffoon, a singer or a savior (of a dream, a childhood memory, a team, a city, a soul).  Barry is none of that.  He’s just a surly muhphukka that could care less.

Cindy Sheehan – Waking Up Is the Hardest Part

Cindy Sheehan snaps out of it.

With respect to her position on this war, she occupies the same position once held by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The absurdity of Democrats actually celebrating King’s legacy (when they were set to comprise his greatest opposition had he lived past 1968) should not be lost on Ms. Sheehan or other Americans who are opposed to this war. Like Vietnam, it constitutes a criminal, imperial gangster smack down of a resource rich little brother with arms to short to box with The Decider. The Democrats are not new whores. They’re old, stank, skanky whores with no front teeth and sagging policies. It takes a bit of time for American reformers to realize that the institutional left was co-opted over six decades ago.

The late University of Michigan professor Harold Cruse wrote about the demise of the radical left in great detail in Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. I do not suspect that Ms. Sheehan has read Professor Cruse. I doubt that any of her teachers or her son’s teachers ever read this book. I doubt that a critical mass of her critics or supporters on the left read this book. It is their loss – but it is also their source of comfort. Harboring notions that the Democrats are somehow substantively different from Republicans when it comes to war is a convenient myth.

The myth is propped up by moral critiques of Republicans and George Bush which highlight his evasion of the draft, drug use, membership in a secret society and violations of the Constitution to advance what is considered a uniquely personal agenda. Democrats and the liberal left, however, cannot or simply refuse to connect the dots between American wars and deceit on both sides of the aisle. Was LBJ’s war substantively different from this engagement? Was FDR’s withholding of critical information BEFORE the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor any different than Bush’s fumble upon receiving confirmation of the WTC attack? I bet if Ms. Sheehan knew the sinking of the USS Maine was a farce she’d feel a little better. Maybe if she knew about the Bay of Pigs invasion in that context, she could find some solace in looking at things along a broader historical continuum. Maybe if the knew the Gulf of Tonkin fiasco was an American creation it would ease some of her pain. Maybe if she knew that George Washington was America’s number one whiskey distributor before kicking the bucket and that FDR’s grand-father sold opium to the Chinese, she could get through her travails.

I don’t believe there will be much peace ahead, though. The skeletons are not merely in the closets of Democrats and Republicans. The skeletons are in the closets of duped Americans celebrating their war-dead yesterday.

“Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.”

Cindy Sheehan has awoken from a fog – but she is only partially awake. She has had a glimpse of the complete bullshit on both sides of the aisle and feels like a fatherless child. She feels used, disrespected and isolated. She feels like a nigger. What could be more American? Niggers were here before apple pie and baseball and the flag – and they’ll be here long after apple pie has been displaced by peach cobbler and baseball has been supplanted by the NBA. That’s already happened…nothing left but the flag – 27 down, 1 to go. I’m sure that this “new nigger” is still a patriot – the problem is that the ideals to which she dreams of returning her homeland were never established. After all, when were those “glory days” when some American grandparents weren’t being duped in this corrupt system? There has always been a big lie just under the surface – and there has always been a left and right opposition willing to look the other way.

Welcome to the club Cindy – and don’t forget that knowing the real deal and choosing friends accordingly often means being on the outside.  I suppose this is the “local moment” – when activists get overwhelmed by the magnitude and tenacity of empire, the delusions and small-mindedness of fellow activists, and by the psychotic, visceral anger of the opposition.  Waking up is the hardest part.

Double Jeopardy: Hip-hop on Pop

Tonite I witnessed a first…a category in Jeopardy on hip-hop. It probably was not the first time this has happened. Honestly, I haven’t watched Jeopardy in quite some time. Nonetheless, the level of the questions was sophomoric…I suppose they had to be. Still, I should not have to be subjected to Alex Trebeck read Dr. Dre’s lyrics. Brutal.

I imagine this is how my great uncles must have felt the first time they saw Elvis Presley or Pat Boone.

Only In America

A rags to riches story like this could only happen in America. That’s why America is the greatest country in the world. That’s why…what? This happened where? Oh, damn!

clipped from business.guardian.co.uk Britain’s best-known Indian food brand, Patak’s, is being sold by its founding family in a deal thought to be worth more than �100m.The buyer of the business, famous for its pickles and chutneys, is Associated British Foods, whose brands range from Sunblest bread to Silver Spoon sugar, Twinings tea and Ovaltine. The company was founded in 1957 by Kirit’s father, Laxmishanker, who came to Britain in the 1950s as a refugee from Kenya, with his wife and six children. He is said to have had just �5 in his pocket when he arrived in the country. He soon realised there was a market in London for Asian food and began producing samosas in the family’s small kitchen, later saving enough to buy his first shop. Now the business, which has a factory in Leigh, Lancashire, supplies some 75% of the 8,000 Indian restaurants in Britain and its products, which include curry paste, pappadums, chapattis and cooking sauces, are sold through the major supermarket chains. It exports to around 40 countries.

But it hasn’t always been curry and butta.  Sometimes the road has been bumpy.

That’s Kirit Pathak and his mother.  It seems that brother man had a big beef with his sisters over seasoning – among other things.   Nothing smoothes things out like cashing out.

Spies Like U.S.: Venezuela and Iran

The United States Department of State has on two recent occasions denied the US is engaged in espionage in Venezuela and Iran.  Denials of espionage activities are standard operating procedure.  What are you supposed to do?  Cop to the crime and pay the price with reduced tariffs – not likely.  The funny thing is that the State Department has thousands of formal and informal spies on the payroll – as does the CIA and other similar type organizations.  If all of these folks are on the payroll (the rationale for increasing budgets after September 11 – remember), but they aren’t actually hard at work spying on countries like Iran, what exactly are they doing?

Can you really have it both ways all the time?  Statement A: We need more money to increase our intelligence on the ground in hostile states.  Response:  Ok, we’ll give you the money.  Go out and get results.  Statement B:  We categorically deny any espionage against your hostile state.  Now that simply won’t work.  Credibility problems abound.  How can folks reasonably expect that the same people committed to DOMESTIC SPYING would NOT spy against a nation alleged to constitute an imminent nuclear threat.  These press releases are like Hollywood movies starring the “Governator.”  Everything is about the SOD…suspension of disbelief.

Venezuela on the DEA.
Iran charges US with spying.

It’s early.  The jury is not in.  I suspect those suspects with dual citizenship might expect as fair a trial as a Negro might have expected in America at any time from 1619 through the O.J. Simpson verdict.  I doubt that the US will go too far in pushing for the release of these people.  One has been detained since mid-May.  The Iranian government, masters of P.R., made an announcement over a long holiday weekend.  The story is already buried under Bush’s recent call for sanctions against Sudan and Lindsay Lohan’s cocaine fiasco.

Haleh Esfandiari – currently held in Iran and accused of spying for the U.S.:

Time will reveal.

Roger Clemens: Avoiding Scrutiny in the Face of Accomplishment

This afternoon, on ESPN’s “Around the Horn” Jay Mariotti (by all accounts a wimpy anti-analyst looking for the easy way out) remarked that Clemens has avoided scrutiny in the ongoing MLB steriods controversy. The national media has not dared dig deep here to figure out the unbelievable success of this 40+ year old pitcher. Clemens’ physical features and performance are as stark as those of Barry Bonds. 7 MVP awards, 7 Cy Young awards. These are interesting times, but the media is reluctant to dig deeper. It’s curious, but then again, the media didn’t care in 1998 when there were rumors about Mark McGwire. It is possible that the media simply did not want to ask the logical questions of how the “Bash Brothers” and the rest of the biggest lineup in recent baseball memory did get to be so huge – and how was it that Tony LaRussa knew so little about this after managing McGwire in Oakland and St. Louis. Oh, whatever, baseball journalism isn’t about asking tough questions…it’s about press passes, cold beer and hot dogs. Back to Roger and the visuals:

Not-so-big-head Roger Clemens (Boston Red Sox):

Big Head Roger Clemens (Houston Astros):

(with a little ‘Roid Rage for the Road)

From 2005:

clipped from www.post-gazette.com Virtually no one is surprised because Bonds long has been under such suspicion. After all, he went from being a Hall-of-Fame caliber player to an all-time great, whose hitting prowess matched and often surpassed the likes of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Baseball fans and the media were skeptical of such accomplishments. It was believed such prodigious feats could not be achieved without chemical assistance. So why aren’t people saying the same thing about Roger Clemens? Why hasn’t this bulked-up, overperforming baseball senior citizen received the same treatment as Bonds? Unlike Bonds, whose career never faltered, Clemens had a four-year period, beginning when he was 30, when many people believed he was in decline. Included in that group were the Boston Red Sox, the team he played for during the first 13 years of his career. After the 1997 season, the Red Sox did not re-sign Clemens, who was eligible for free agency. It seemed like the right move.

While ESPN’s robo-racist Eric Kuselias has compared Bonds to O.J. Simpson (presumably as an unredeemable and unconvicted “killer” of the great blond game), Clemens continues to dodge the introspection of ESPN, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Houston Chronicle, the Miami Herald and others who’ve dedicated so much column-space to this issue. Roger is just living the dream and your favorite sportswriters are drinking the Kool-Aid. Seems like only bloggers can keep their lips closed long enough to avoid ingesting poison and bullshit.

“Hip-hop Made Me Do It” – Lindsay Lohan

Confession is good for the soul.  It seems that this debacle is all the result of a listening session gone awry.  Someone subversively inserted some “Dirty South” hip-hop into Lindsay’s i-Pod.  The results speak for themselves.  Word is Lindsay will be on a steady diet of rock n’roll while in rehab.

Aside from the fact that New York City daily newspapers should be shut down for putting this non-story on the front page of the paper, someone has to put the blame where it belongs – on hip-hop culture.  Some dastardly fiend has been running around changing the i-Pods of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears as well.  Nothing else could explain this outlandish behavior.  Jail will be too good for this fiend when he/she is discovered.

I’ll bet the source of all this hip-hop hysteria is that BLACK guy RIGHT THERE!!!  He probably made her listen to that music and drink that liquor and snort that coke.  Lynch that man now, ask questions later.  And the first one of you with “Lindsay Hohan” jokes can expect a call from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.  She’s just an innocent victim in the cruel, cruel hip-hop world.