Stick a Fork in that Dike, It's Done

So if you didn't notice, like half of the country is under water right now. It looks like a whole bunch of mini-Katrinas. People who were told they would be safe are left with nothing. 

The Mississippi seems mad and all those on her banks are feeling the wrath. I don't know who's fault this is. I don't know if flooding can be blamed on anything. Should people not live so close to the water? Should the levee's be better? Levee... I know a guy named Levy, and I know that dude drove his Chevy to the Levee but the Levee was gone, besides that I never knew shit about em. Since Katrina I've seen that funny lookin word more than I've seen Dutch's1.

So people are upset because they were told that their homes were at very little to no risk of flooding, but then the floods came. We can't say we're surprised to see levee's fail it's a common theme now. But take a look at what other countries have for levee's. I'm no engineer but I'd like to know why ours can't look more like:

And less like:

I got that top picture from some Joe-ks.com, he's got a page up showing a bunch of high-tech levee's from around the world. Click on the title of this article to see his collection of levee pictures.

The second is a broken by Katrina levee in New Orleans.

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

1- Funny I should say that. 

That was the last thing I wrote yesterday before we packed up for the boat. 

Then randomly I spent the afternoon with 3 gorgeous girls from Holland. 

They spoke Dutch.

BadNEWS with E.V.

Just When you thought the Bulls Coaching Saga couldn't get any worse...

VINNY DEL NEGRO!?!?!?!?!

He's never even coached before...

I can't say he's bad but a talent filled team with the #1 pick in the draft should be getting the best coach available not taking a chance on somebody with 0 experience.

I guess I'll have to go for the Celtics next year too.

Grade A Asshole

So the race for Democratic nominee went pretty wild huh? Everybody knows how large a role race and sex did and will continue to play. Question - Where in the hell was the media and women in general when this shit happened?

The signs were smuggled in (obvious folds in the paper) by 2 guys, Adolfo Gonzalez Jr. and Nick Gemelli. "Iron My Shirt" was an anti-women's rights slogan decades ago, and when asked the 21 year old Gemelli's best reasoning for pulling the stunt was "I just don't think a woman should be President". 

 This guy has an Iron My Shirt sign! In the year 2000. Can you imagine the response a "Go Pick some Cotton" sign, or even something like "I Love Watermelon" would get if it were at an Obama rally? Whoever held that sign would be strung up and demonized quick-fast by our (overt) racism intolerant media. They seem to have no issues with sexism though. $ex $ell$

 I know a lot of men (and some women even) don't think a woman "should" be President. First off if you're a woman and you would buy into a statement like that, I'm sorry for you. That self hate you have deep inside is only gonna eat you up. You need to break those mental chains, the only thing making you inferior is yourself. Men who believe that... I feel sorry for your mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. 

Basically I equate sexism and racism. (I also equate racism with racism, as in Blacks hating all Whites is not "reverse" racism, it's just racism and it's stupid either way) Growing up in an multi-racial family was great. It taught me how to look past skin color, lucky for me I also had some sisters, plenty of cousins, aunts and a mother. It would be a lie to say I don't see gender first, but there is plenty more to a woman. Some women are smarter than others, and some are smarter than plenty men. The idea that one of the qualifications to lead is being a man is pretty fucked. There's not too much a difference in that thought and the thought that being White is a qualification. 

I'm fuckin tired of people like Mitt Romney saying Barack Obama is "well-spoken". Remember when Chris Rock said they would say that? What do you expect from a well educated politician? It pissed me off for people to criticize Hillary's make-up or outfits, and the whole she almost cried thing. Sexism is alive and well, and I'll tell you I would have been just as proud to cast my vote for a qualified woman as I will be for a qualified minority. 

You slack-jawed yokels don't need to agree with her but you need to accept that she almost was, and may in the future be US President. 

So I says Mabel, Mabel I says/

Do you really think they will let you be the Pres?/

Do you really think they'll salute you in a dress?/

They be like "Oh he speaks well I'm really impressed"

-Incog of 3rdeyelanders from `Whats Yo Problem` 2002

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

Classic. Like Lakers vs Celtics

The Fuss is all about NBA finals. Lakers vs Celtics for the 11th time the NBA Finals. 11! These two teams have won 30 out of 61 NBA Championships! I mean The Bulls in all their glory only have 6. I'm not mad... I'm impressed.  

So why is this such a big deal? It must be the nostalgia. Everybody loves looking back to the good ole days, -yeah the good old days the good old days well what was really so good about them shits then?   /  Can it be that it was all so simple then? - Sorry

This game has us all thinking about Magic and Bird, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem, Kevin Mchale, Robert Parish, John Havilcek, Jerry West, James Worthy, Elgin Baylor... Now Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Bryant, Gasol, Odum, Fisher, Walton and Rondo get to be part of that history. 

Phil Jackson gets his own story line. If his Lakers can beat the Celtics he will surpass legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach as the NBA coach with the most championships. 

The Celtics have 16 championships but it's been a while. Their starting 5 has no Finals experience in all their careers, 52 years all put together. But I don't care. All this season it's been my lifelong dream to see Boston take the crown. Yeah, I've been going for the Celtics since they got Garnett. Except when they faced Chicago of course. Green milkshakes for all!

Name a better rivalry... I'll wait. 

ps.

Jerry West is the NBA logo 

look at the bottom right on 

above pic, it's only fitting 

that he was playing against 

the Celtics in that game.

Sidebar: 

KG was the first in the 

new era of the straight from 

high-school players, paving the way for-

Kobe who has been most successful of the straight 

from high-school players, helping inspire Spike Lee so he could have-

Ray Allen play Jesus Shuttlesworth in He Got Game, 

but he went to college. 

(Shuttlesworth that is)

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

Fin

Well what do you know about that? Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for the presidency. The presidency of the United States of America. The CNN says he has 2132 delegates to Hillary Clintons 1925, the magic # is 2118, the Fox News says he has 2143 to her 1919. 

The Democratic National Convention is still 3 months away. The way our system works she can still win by swaying the super-delegates. There is historical precedent. 

She has not conceded the victory and has left the door open to fight on. Now she has reportedly said she is "open"  to being Obama's running mate. I think it's a lil bit too late for her to be open to being Vice President. I already said what I had to say about that, I don't think he owes her anything. I left the door open for myself I said "she should be used in a capacity where she will be effective and respected. As long as she figures out how to get out of this race the right way" Well she didn't, she continues to want to fight it out and at this point I think it is bad for their party. 

So now we have him, the first Mixed Man with a real chance at becoming President of the US. This is a huge day for Mulattos all around the world. I know everyone has been saying he's Black for a long time, but he's mixed. To use the rule that one drop of Black blood makes him Black is about as stupid as slavery to me. 

That does not take away from how big this is historically though. If elected he would still be the first non-White President. I wanna be clear about how I don't think people should vote based on race. It's time for big change in this country. That change could come from many places. I actually would prefer the leading primary vote getters to be neither Republican nor Democrat before I die but I digress. 

It's time for change, we can't keep the same party in office for 12 years when things are going the way they are here. I'll hope that most of us realize that the President has power but is not the king. Our two party system is still a contest where the teams are more similar than different, but we still can't have 1 party steady running us up the down escalator. 

I'm going to hope that Barack Obama can be who he has been saying he is going to be. To those of you who don't know if you can trust him... I haven't met him myself. I can't soothe those fears but I don't think it's really that valid a question honestly. When was the last time you really trusted a politician anyway? 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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Savages! Let us teach and enlighten them...

An uncontacted indigenous tribe was photographed in South America on the Brazilian and Peruvian border. The pictures were taken from a plane by the Brazilian government to prove the tribes existence as well as protect them. 

Apparently there approx 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide. I don't know how they can have any kind of accurate count of something they have not seen but... Anyway, more than half of those tribes live in Brazil and Peru. 

Indeigenous tribes are at risk of extinction due to human interaction. Logging is a major problem along with disease. They can die from a common cold cause their bodies can't defend against our diseases. They can however live in the rainforest without dying from Malaria.

So they will remain uncontacted. My question is why? Are we protecting them or just looking at em like a damn ant farm. Some would argue that their souls needs saving. We know they can't make it to heaven unless they hear about Baby Jesus. For the record I would be completely against contacting them. We should make sure we keep clear of their lands and don't destroy their habitat. But I have to wonder if I would want to be contacted if I were them... I mean these people don't know who Mike Jordan, Jackson or Tyson is! Maybe they would like chillaxin1 in the air conditioning, microwaving a hot pocket and playing Rockband on an 42" HDTV. 

Welcome to the Jungle

Look at them pointing arrows at the plane. 

They may have put the red and black war paint 

on after the plane made it's first pass. 

The one painted black is a woman. 

I wonder what they think of the plane. 

They are a pretty good sized tribe. I really like this picture. 

Doesn't it look like this plane is a huge deal to them? They look scared.

1 Chillaxin: chillin and relaxing at the same time

WHAT DO EWE THINK? 

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...Not So Bad

Now a days something like this doesn't really count. 7 people were killed by midwest tornadoes on sunday. 6 people in Iowa and a toddler in Minnesota. But this aint too bad right.

I mean only 7 people, thats nothing compared to China or Burma or New Orleans... Really? Ask somebody who knew one of those 7 victims. Ask the owner of the home in that picture. What is the measure of storm severity? 

The strength of the storm would be pretty accurate, but then if the strongest hurricane in the world spins around the Atlantic, never breaking shore it doesn't matter. 

So then maybe it's the number of people affected, but then a weaker storm hitting in a heavily populated area would be "worse" than a much stronger storm where say "only" 7 people die.

So maybe it should be damage in dollars, but then a place like Miami or L.A. will always have the worst storms cause of how expensive the houses, cars, stores and business lost and all that shit is. A Terrible storm can hit an impoverished nation and "not be so bad" cause those people didn't have much to loose anyway.

Now-a-days I think it's really all about exposure (of course relativity too, but more exposure). If the TV decides that this disaster is good for business than they report on it. Good for business means they have a lot of pictures, somebody famous is involved, the numbers are outrageous, it scares us, and a lot of other shit like that. Good for business does not necessarily mean you need to hear it, or you can do something about it, or unfortunately that it's accurate. 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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MC Ricky D Finally Free

New York Governor David Patterson is granting Slick Rick a FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON for the attempted murders of two men in 1991.

This will finally halt the deportation efforts trying to send Rick the Ruler to his birthplace the UK.

Rick served more than five years in prison for the 1991 shooting of his cousin and another man who both survived.

More recently he spent more than a year in prison when he was arrested in 2002 on a 1997 warrant. Agents got him as he returned to Miami from a weeklong cruise where he was a featured performer.

The Gov. said in his announcement-

"Mr Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years." He also said. "I urge immigration officials to once again grant Mr. Walters relief from deportation, so that he is not separated from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his two teenage children."

All I can say is I'm glad Slick Rick is finally free.

Some choice Slick Rick Joints to check for:

La-Di-Da-Di

Children's Story

Hey Young World

Who Rotten Em

Street Talkin

Trapped in Me

Why, Why, Why

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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I'M BACK!

Edvard Munch's The Scream, stolen by armed robbers in 2004 is back on display. Recovered in 2006, the painting underwent restoration by experts due to damage. It was pulled from it's frame and has a stain from a damp spot in the bottom left corner. The robbers also stole Munch's Madonna it is back on display too. 

The paintings were stolen by two armed men who threatened staff members and then ripped the paintings of the wall. They believe they ripped them out of the frames because they feared tracking devices.

 

Apparently the painting is now believed to had been painted in 1910- not 1893 like thought previously.

I have always been a fan of this painting, but who isn't? Do you remember when it was on The Simpsons?

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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Fear + Ignorance =

This is a scene from South Africa where a wave of anti-immigrant violence has broken out. At least 22 people have been killed since Friday. The violence is directed at the 3-5 million foreigners who flocked to the country hoping to escape from poverty and violence in an  apartheid free South Africa. 

Many of the victims are Zimbabweans who are estimated to number up to 3 million there. At least 2 people were burned as we can see above. Large numbers of immigrants have taken to turning themselves in to local police for protection from angry mobs.  

 

This criminal xenophobia is not a new phenomenon many of these victims were lucky survivors of this same type of thing before. Unfortunately these people have become the scapegoats in the never ending Place-Blame-Game. High unemployment, a housing shortage, and one of the worlds worst crime rates are some of the things "the others" are being blamed for this time.  

Who's interest is it in? What is really gained from this type of desperate violence? At some point regular people decide maybe they'll give the mob thing a chance, and the next thing they know they are cheering while somebody gets murdered. What can be done to fix a situation like this?  

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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Chester Copperpot

 So by now it's not news to you that you my friends are mortal. One of these days everybody is going to die (unless you are a vampire or some other type of Duncan McCloud of the Clan McCloud immortal) 

What if nobody shows up to your funeral? Do you care, you're dead already... How bout this, what if nobody even knew you died at all?

Hedviga Golik of Zagreb Croatia died some 35 years ago, but was not found until this week. It's hard to write about this cause so many questions come up as I write the "facts". (I'll try  with this color change. The story as reported from BBC.com will be in red, my thoughts will be in black.) Forensics experts estimate she died in 1973, which is the last time anybody (a neighbor) saw her. They say it looks like natural causes but "it's almost impossible to say for certain". (bullshit, if it was important to them they'd figure it out. They got all types of forensic techniques they use on wrapped mummy's, your gonna tell me they can't figure that out) Some neighbors claim she spoke of going abroad. Residents of her loft building broke into her apartment after deciding that it should belong to them and not to her. But if they knew her didn't they think she would say goodbye or that they would see something happen with the apartment? So 35 years later they say, hey we have not seen her since she mentioned going on vacation, I think I should own her apartment. Startled by the remains in the bed they called the police who say nobody ever reported her missing, and no one has come to claim her body. Her windows were left open (for 35 years! No leaks or building damage?) likely diminishing the smell. It remains unclear who - if anyone- has been paying her bills and who exactly owns the apartment. Apartments were state-owned when Golik died in the 70's.

35 years... How can nobody ever have cared enough to check on the lil old lady. It seems weird that they decided they should own it and broke in. Sounds a bit criminal, shouldn't they have gotten somebody before they went in. How bout if there was a ton of cash in there too and somebody snatched it before the cops got there? Sorry to be such a cynic but the whole thing  comes off weird to me.

It's gonna happen and I can't control how or when but I can make a lasting impression on this world while I'm here. The day that I die will be a sad day for people across the globe and the ages. 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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Support America!

So you may have noticed Obama sporting the uber patriotic flag pin lately. I thought he was playing risky before by not wearing it, but then he defended himself and it made perfect sense. (He basically pointed out how people were fakin and wearing that shit just to look like they gave two shits)

Conservatives have used his lack of lapel pin along with his middle name (Hussein which he was given before Saddam made a name for himself) and whatever else they can to make him look unpatriotic. The funny thing is John McCain and Hillary Clinton don't wear em... actually if you go back to the first debates for either side you'll only find 4 candidates with the pins on.

I for one was opposed to the whole post 9/11 flag craze. As I started seeing the flag being used a symbol for 9/11 I became more and more worried cause it looked like propaganda to me. I think it played a big role in making people believe that "the terrorists hate us because of our freedom" and "if you're not with us you're against us". Why do people think that by putting a flag sticker on your car or wearing a flag shirt (which is against official flag guidelines) makes them more patriotic? A better question might be why do people think loving the flag makes them patriotic? I guess the definition can be debated, but it sure aint wearing some pin while you help the country gown down the hole.

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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That's the Ticket!

Now that looks like a winning combination. Like I said before I got no beef with Clinton, but I think her and Obama teaming up would be a little strange. Their campaigns have been goin at it pretty hard and I don't think teaming up would be the right look. Now Edwards... that's a horse of a different color. As far as being President of the US goes, I think Edwards could do as good a job as the rest of em. This wasn't his year cause of Obama vs. Clinton so I always figured he was the natural running mate for either nominee. I'm not sure why he lost to Kerry... I think people felt he was too young and inexperienced, now that Obama has overcome those obstacles I don't see what the down side to Edwards is. Both of these guys say they want to clean up the government. We've heard that shit before, but suppose they mean it. People want change and they have been promising some. 

Obama was estimated to pick up 60% of Edwards voters without the endorsement, but if they team up that obviously rises. Edwards still has 19 pledged delegates who can go either way, and apparently Edwards still got 7% of the vote in tuesdays West Virginia contest. That's 7% who still would prefer to make a statement with a vote for Edwards than pick between the two running. I know that Huckabee and Ron Paul still pull a remarkable percantage in the Republican contests... those could be Democratic votes with the right speeches from Jordan and Bird. If they were able to pull the whole thing off and actually put their money where their mouths are it could lead to 2 Obama terms followed by 2 Edwards terms. I don't think that has ever happened where a 2 term VP went on to become a 2 term President, George H.W. Bush tried but lost to Clinton. (11 have served 2 terms, and Franklin D Roosevelt actually served 3 and died early into his 4th)

 

I guess the final matter is what does Hillary do? She has fought hard and deserves a place in the administration. Secretary of State seems to be the natural choice. But I am not suggesting some token assignment, she should be used in a capacity where she will be effective and respected. As long as she figures out how to get out of this race the right way she's earned the respect. 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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Disaster

Death tolls are a tricky thing. Everyday or every so many hours the death toll for the number of people confirmed dead or missing jumps. I realize this is a tragic reflection of the devastation, but how is it that 20,000 can be confirmed dead, than in an hour 30,000 are confirmed dead? Who is counting the bodies? I'm not trying to make light of this, it's really weird to me. 

 

My main concern with these numbers is how this storm or that tragedy is considered the worst of all time based on some estimated number. Everything is a competition, all of a sudden Burma is out of the news and China is in. 

 

China's death toll is expected to top 50,000 while Burma's state media have raised the official death toll to 43,318 with 27,838 missing, how do they get these numbers? How can 100,000 people all just die within such a short time frame? So close to each other too. 

 

I am curious as to what happens next on a personal level. If your whole city is just ruined, you obviously loose some if not all friends and family members. How do you go on when everything is gone? 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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There's Only 4 Years Left

You may be wondering what there is only 4 years til, well that's simple my friends, 4 years til Election 2012! But we are still in the 2008 running you say, well who isn't growing tired of this endless political contest? This primary season could've used a lock-out or something. We've doing this since like October of 2007 now. Can we figure out a national primary week, or two weeks, or month? Why have we drug this out to the point where Guam and Puerto Rico are drawing the eyes of the nation about selecting the U.S. President. (just so you know I'm not mad at Guam, P.R. or any other territory, it's the Democratic strategy that put them into this position)

 

After seeing the outcome of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, it's time now to tell Hillary Clinton to call it quits. She could do the job, and I do like the idea of everyone's voice being heard but this just aint her year. Why ask for her to quit? Don't worry, I have not bought into that type of talk for the purpose of unifying the party, or cause they're giving the Republicans ammo... bullshit. For me it's the fact that Obama has won more votes from the people, it is basically impossible for her to catch up. She has been pulling out these stats including Michigan and Florida results, knowing that they do not count. She has been playing with words and this silly gas tax holiday, knowing that it won't do us drivers any good. Who's out of touch? I am frustrated by the government. Why is she in the race unless she is counting on using the same old tricks that we are all so tired of? It does the most damage to her own reputation if she can't see what's best for her party. It's time for change in this country and her brand of novelty is too familiar. 

 

I wonder if it's even possible for Obama to deliver the type of sweeping reforms he's touting? I don't think he can do it, but if he delivers half-way on half of his promises (which is more than I expect from politicians) that will be a start. 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

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