ChaoticFat

Conversations In My Car #1

I am starting a video series called Conversations In My Car where I have conversations with myself or my imagined audience (you) or an actual person whose along for the ride. Enjoy!

As always, be well

CF

What is happening in this country…Jim Crow Lives!

What the hell is going on in this country; all the shit is coming to light now that Obama is president? Since we all wanted a real conversation about race, some black folks who face it every day in a real way are no longer afraid to “really” talk about what’s going on in their daily lives. Here is an article from the Philadelphia Daily News that is so disturbing and unbelievable in the year of our lord 2009.

It seems as though Jim Crow is alive and well and living in Pennsylvania at the city’s transportation department facility in Roxborough.

IT MAY BE the ultimate indignity.

Lawrence “Lonnie” Powell, 58, a semiskilled laborer at the city’s Northwest Transfer Station, in Roxborough, said that since he began working at the trash-handling plant in 2003 he has had to seek the superintendent’s permission to go to the bathroom — then descend five flights of stairs to use it.

Powell, who is black, said that white employees have been permitted to use a bathroom just 25 feet from his work station.

“On several occasions I’ve actually defecated on myself, trying to get down to the bathroom,” said Powell, who operates a machine that packs trash into tractor-trailers to be taken to landfills.

Photo: SARAH J. GLOVER / Staff photographer: Workers at the Northwest Transfer Station say they read "Runaway Slaves," found in trash, for inspiration.

Recently, after the black workers found in the trash a book titled Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation, by historians John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger, they began to read it for solace and inspiration, Young said.

“When this book turned up on our platform in the trash, …it just made us think that this is like slavery again,” Young said. “So we started keeping the book…as our little Bible in the drivers’ shack, where all the black drivers sit and we relax and eat lunch.

“And we just try to encourage each other to every now and then, when he does something racist to you or that really pisses you off, to read a couple pages of the book, to show you that this is not the first time this happened, we can get through this, but we got to do it together.”

This just breaks my heart.

As always, be well

CF

Rainbows & The Empire State Building…Home

A Rainbow and The Empire State Building…making me miss NYC. Just an image I wanted to share.

[via: ccho]

As always, be well

CF

Food Watch: Do You Really Know What You’re Eating?

Did you know that McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of ground beef, potatoes, chicken, pork and apples in this country? So basically there are a hand full of companies that control our food system and the food they are producing may not be in our best interest.

Did you know that the United States Government doesn’t have the right to recall contaminated meat off the shelves; only a corporation can. Did you know there was a Bill (H.R. 3160) introduced to congress in 2005 called Kevin’s Law (after a child was killed by a contaminated hamburger)? Kevin’s mom has become an activist trying to pass a law that sets higher standards for food safety and gives the USDA the ability to shut down plants that are repeat offenders (it is unbelievable that the government can’t shut down these facilities instantly).

Did you know that there are Food Libel Laws making it illegal to talk bad about food (remember the beef lawsuit in Texas against Oprah)? These laws vary greatly from state to state, but they typically allow a food manufacturer or processor to sue a person or group who makes disparaging comments about their food products. In some states these laws also establish weaker standards of proof than are used in traditional American libel lawsuits.

It’s very telling that we are supposed to be a free nation, but we aren’t free enough to control our own food. Most of the foods that are bad for you are inexpensive and readily available at your local grocer. A typical family doesn’t realize the high price of these low cost foods to their health and our environment because it doesn’t show up at the check out line.

There has been a definite industrialization of food. It is no longer grown on farms but in massive factories; chickens are grown bigger and faster so that we can consume chicken nuggets; pigs are being…I am so upset about the pigs, I can’t express the horror they live through; the film Food Inc. tells the story so much better than I could in this post. The documentary also explains the controversy over corn and soy subsidies and our tax dollars and how 90% of the products in supermarkets contain corn. Maybe all that is golden isn’t necessarily good.  I refuse to blame my fat on anything other than my overeating and lack of exercise but…

“If you’re fat, it’s not your fault,” said Dr. Sears. “The problem lies with America’s continually subsidizing of corn and soybean production that has resulted an oversupply of cheap refined carbohydrates and cheap vegetable oils that when combined give rise to increased diet-induced inflammation. This inflammation activates the genes people in people who are genetically predisposed to gain weight with relative ease.”

…corn is not helping!

I first learned about documentary and the director Robert Kenner from listening to a podcast on my iPod for the PBS show NOW. Here is the link to the webpage and their interview.

So, what can we do? Here is a list of 10 Simple Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System.

Also, learn more about these issues and how you can take action on Takepart.com.

What have I done? Well, first of all I’m a vegetarian, bordering on vegan. Secondly, I buy organic as much as possible and I hope to soon start an organic garden of my own with the help of  an groOrganic garden which can be installed in backyards, health care facilities, senior housing, public parks, apartment complexes, condo complexes, and housing tracts. They can be customized to fit in any yard, courtyard, or even on a small apartment balcony. Thirdly, I recycle like crazy and I no longer drink bottled water (I have a reusable container) which as we know is clogging our landfills to no end. You can just do small things to make a difference, it’s not really that hard.

There is also a movement called Meatless Monday where you can go meatless for one day a week. I know everyone isn’t keen on becoming a vegetarian, but we can help our environment by giving up meat for one day. Going meatless this past Monday saved 17 million gallons of water; can you believe that, just one day and look at the benefit.

We’ve got to do more than talk a good game in this country, we can’t just be about watching celebrities glorify going green and saving our planet, we have to get off our asses and really do something.

As always, be well

CF

MSNBC Is No Longer A Viable Option, I Want A Divorce!

Before the election of 2008 I really didn’t give much credence to the MSM and the 24 hour news cycle;  it was all a bunch of whoo wee to me. But during the 2008 election I was glued to the television (to MSNBC and CNN in particular). Once I saw how CNN rolled, I cut them off at the knees; it wasn’t difficult. Wolf Blitzer and his Situation Room just annoyed me to no end; the pundits became just so much hot air and I found them very difficult to listen to. So I focused all of my attention on MSNBC; I really fell in serious like with Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews. They were funny, irreverent and for the most part I thought “fair and balanced”; then in 2009 Rachel Maddow got her own show and I was completely smitten. The only blight on MSNBC was Pat Buchanan, but he was tolerable because I tuned him out; but yesterday on the Rachel Maddow show, Pat Buchanan became completely intolerable and today MSNBC acted as if the incident never happen. MSNBC barely acknowledged the blatant racism this numb nut displayed in his “White Men are Masters of  The Universe” rant. It has completely turned me off and I like so many others will no longer watch MSNBC; I can’t, my conscience won’t let me. We always knew Pat was a racist, but he broke a blood vessel yesterday; it was so insulting to compare Judge Sonia Sotomayor to a black track team, to minimize her accomplishments because as so many other oppressed minorities, it was necessary for her to benefit from the equalizer affirmative action and to say that white men built this nation without acknowledging on whose back this nation was built (Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and poor Whites) was criminal.

Hey, there are many ways to vote in this country and I intend to exercise my right to vote these networks off the island. MSNBC is no longer welcome in my home, I WANT A DIVORCE!

Here is a great post from someone else who is divorcing MSNBC:

Because as long as Pat Buchanan is allowed to shout his bitter old white man bullshit on this network, I willnot watch. I am done with MSNBC. Enjoy this video–or, you know, not–because I’m not posting anything else from this network until Pat Buchanan is handed his hood and robe and shown the door.

Last night on the Rachel Maddow Show, Uncle Pat was allowed to declare that white men were soley responsible for the architecture of this country:

“White men were 100% of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100% of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100% of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100% of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a country built basically by white folks, who were 90% of the nation in 1960 when I was growing up and the other 10% were African-Americans who had been discriminated against. That’s why.”

This is a country basically built by white folks. But for some reason, Buchanan forgot to mention that this country was also built by the Africans those white folks shipped over to do the heavy lifting. And by the Natives that whites did their best to wipe from the land. And by the Asians who built the railroads, and by the hispanics who, now as in our country’s history, tended our fields. But it is the white man who orchestrated the great symphony of America–the white man who fought America’s wars and brought home victory.

White men have created life as we know it, and for that, we should be grateful. So, that ten percent of black folks who were brutally oppressed when Pat was growing up–they don’t amount to much. In fact, any contribution any person of color has made to the creation and progress of America has been rendered irrelevant by the sheer majesty of white men.

I wonder if The Root still wants to save Pat Buchanan?

As always, be well

CF

Michelle Gets the Side Eye of Death

Juliana Olabintan Nwanze, wife of International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD president Kanayo Nwanze, poses at the Capitoline Museum in Rome and gives Michelle the classic side eye of death; but in this case, the little smile seems full of pride.

via Michelle Obama In Rome On Wednesday PHOTOS.

As always, be well

CF

Fox News Contributor Honest About Sarah Palin…Go Figure!

It’s about damn time the conservatives stop pretending Palin is the second coming. This is one of the most honest descriptions of Sarah Palin that I have heard from either party.

In the midst of a segment about the Alaska Governor’s battle against “liberal” attacks, Liz Trotta went off-message.

Frankly, “the woman is inarticulate, undereducated,” Trotta said, arguing that for once liberal criticism was “well-deserved.”

Enjoy!

As always, be well

CF

Pool Boots Kids Who Might “Change the Complexion”

This just makes you want to SCREAM over and over again.

The beauty of these children is that for the most part they aren’t thinking in terms of race; they just want to swim and be happy. Adults always manage to fu*k things up and the adults at The Valley Swim Club did that unapologetically.

I wonder if Sasha and Malia would be allowed to swim at The Valley Swim Club or are they too black as well. Would they change the complexion and atmosphere at the pool? On the contrary, they would be welcomed with open arms which leaves me to believe that these kids weren’t the “right kind of blacks,” which would make John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club a hypocrite and a piece of sh*t.

It makes you want to VOMIT!

One thing that just came to mind, I want to see what the “Lovers of Black Folks” will  say and do in regards to this issue. C’mon Smiley, Dyson and West come out of your ivory towers and put your eloquent words into action…yeah right, that’ll be the day!

As always, be well

CF

Green Watch: The Peapod Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV)

Finally, a new vehicle that I can support, something that makes sense to me in our countries effort to be come more energy efficient and more responsible to our earth. The auto industry bailout is supposed to help them retool their industry and to start to focus on innovation and alternative energy instead of concentrating on profit/greed. So far, I think they should get a big fat FAIL; for example: The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid and the new Chevy Hybrids. Both of these  car manufacturers have got to be kidding me; the Cadillac hybrid costs between $73,000 – $87,000 and gets no more than 21 mpg highway; among the three new Chevy hybrids the highest mpg is 34 and the Chevy Volt (which will not run on gas at all) will be too expensive for the average American family to afford with a price tag beginning around $40,000. WTF!

Now comes along a solution for the masses, the Peapod NEV. Most of us only venture out of our neighborhoods when going to work, so a NEV for tooling around the hood running errands, etc sounds perfect and at $12,500 not including the Gov’t incentives/tax breaks (yippeee!) is affordable for the average American family.

All electric. No gas. No emissions. Lots of love. Meet Peapod, the revolutionary new neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) that will put a smile on your face.

My favorite color is the black:

As always, be well

CF

MJ Memorial

“Even now the King of Pop must bow before the King of Kings.” Amen.

Michael’s daughter Paris made it all real.