WHITE HOUSE REALITY-LIVE

I just received the strangest telephone call. I still can’t wrap my head around it but the conversation that followed was both bizarre and intriguing and I couldn’t wait to write about it before I forgot what was said.

It was close to 10pm and my brother and his partner had just left after an enjoyable evening of good food, wine and Lisa Lampanelli, when my telephone rang. I rarely answer the phone this late, but I thought I recognized the number within the Los Angeles area code so I answered.

When I picked up and said, “Hello,’ the person on the other end of the line started talking so fast that I could barely understand him. I hesitated and he said something unintelligible and then “are you there? Did I wake you?”

I didn’t recognize the voice but I said, “No, I’m here, just getting ready to hit the sack. What’s up?”

“What’s up? What’s up? He went for it,” he excitedly exclaimed. “Can you fucking believe it? He completely trusts me and has agreed to do the show.”

At this point I was sure I didn’t know the voice or person, but decided to play along so I asked, “Who went for what?”

“George! George Fuckin W. Bush, you idiot, that’s who,” the stranger replied. “The show is a go. It took me a long time to get him to commit, but I told him that people would see him as just another average Joe, who eats, drinks, shits and cries, just like them, but what I think convinced him was when I told him he would come out of it favorably and that it would add to his approval rating. Once I said that he didn’t skip a beat. He wants to start as soon as possible, possibly as soon as October 1st. He has agreed to initially let us film for six weeks and then if all goes well he has agreed to a total of six months. Do you think you can get a crew together immediately? Can we can have the White House set up by the first of October? We may even get a time slot and get on the air for November sweeps. Can you say Cha-ching?”

Not certain what to say, I told him it would be tight but it might me doable. “Sounds fantastic, so what’s the plan though, what are you thinking,” I asked?

“Well, he is not immediately telling Condi Rice but needs our assurance that we not show her with her girlfriend. ‘You know how adamant we have been against the gays.’ I was taken aback by that but tried not to show my surprise. He also doesn’t think that Cheney would approve, and since he isn’t around much anymore, he isn’t going to tell him either. I told him we would start getting the White House wired and cameras mounted on the walls ASAP. It will need to be done in the evening and initially he is telling his staff the cameras and the crew are for a documentary to be shown at his presidential library once he leaves office.”

“He really loves the idea and he is such a nice guy. He is a bit of a ham though, ya know? Laura was apprehensive but the president was able to convince her. She doesn’t want the American people to know her little secret so I have assured him that we will have it put in the contract that she will not be filmed with a cigarette in her hand, or anyone smoking near her.”

“He also said that his elderly parents would have to be shown respect. He doesn’t want his mother portrayed as a boozing, over powering, ball busting shrew, and he was adamant that she never be filmed without her teeth.

He also asked that his father not be filmed with Bill Clinton. He told me, off the record, that his dad and Bill spend far too much time together and although he isn’t jealous, he isn’t comfortable with their closeness.”

“And what about the twins, “ I asked, attempting to choke back a chuckle.

“He didn’t seem too concerned about little Barbara at all, he told me she is never around. I guess she spends all of her time in Amsterdam, hanging out in cafes. He told me she is a chip off the ol block. As for Jenna… well… she is going to be a problem. You know she is engaged, right?”

“Yeah,” I laughed.

“What no one knows is that she is 6 months pregnant and is showing.”

I started to laugh.

“Stop laughing…the president has insisted that we not film her, or if that isn't possible, we must agree that we show her only from the chest up. Laura is a little embarrassed but not the president. He loves his girls and he even hinted around that he got a couple of co-eds knocked up at Yale but that his dad had it all taken care of and hushed up. Just like his DUI and drug problems,” he added.

At this point, I could hardly control myself. I had my hand covering the receiver and I was laughing my ass off.

“Call me in the morning so we can discuss this some more, okay” he asked. “We have a lot to get done in a very short amount of time. I want to get this started without the media catching wind.”

“I’ll call ya tomorrow,” I promised. “And don’t worry about the media. I’m sure we can get in and out of the White House without them ever catching on…night.”

I then hung up the phone and wondered what had just happened.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS - PART ONE

For the past few years there have been rumblings regarding illegal immigrants, the number currently in this country, those still flowing into this country, and how they are taking jobs from hard working Americans.

Illegal immigrants are the kissing cousins of gay marriage – a diversionary issue used to get the public to focus on something other than the Bush administration’s failure in Iraq. No government agency has a genuine interest in finding a solution to the current illegal immigration problem. King George just does not want the public thinking about the billions in tax payer monies that his friends are stealing (or the thousands of innocent lives lost) in this war.

To fuel the bait and switch agenda, this week, Julie Myers, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified before a Senate committee, that it would cost $94 billion dollars to detain and remove the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. 94 BILLION! That figure does not include the expenses associated with finding them and having their cases adjudicated. The $94 million dollar figure is to house them and return them to their countries of origin.

I think we can find a better way of spending $94 billion!

The problem existed seven years ago when King George was running for president the first time, but we never heard him mention it. Seven years ago he and his father’s friends only mentioned Bill Clinton’s Monica indiscretion (every five minutes), keeping the people on their toes – outraged! He never mentioned the millions of people streaming across our border, and he was the governor of the largest border state - Texas

In 2004 the republicans won elections by instilling fear in the American public. Instead of running on issues that truly effect the electorate like health care, education and the economy, they claimed that the terrorists were at our door, queers were trying to steal the religious sacrament of marriage, and Mexicans were the enemy too because they were taking away jobs from honest, God fearing Americans.

Today, again, they are still trying to keep the public’s attention diverted from the blood running down the streets of Baghdad by talking about the Mexicans swimming across the Rio Grande , and also, but less so, the queers trying to infiltrate the institution of marriage.

Adding to the fear are ill-conceived reports stating that the majority of those crossing from Mexico are dangerous felons and drug traffickers.

There are even websites like http://www.immigrationshumancost.org that try to manipulate the truth regarding the illegal immigrant problem, and further scare the American public by showing innocent Americans who are victims of crimes committed by Mexicans.
According to “On Immigration and Crime,” a U.S. Department of Justice study published in 2001, illegal immigration does not lead to more crime; but shows that the majority of immigrants commit fewer crimes than the rest of the population. While there are bad eggs in every walk of life, those that live quiet, law abiding lives and whose only crime is wanting a better life for themselves and their family are far greater than those committing crimes.
My take on the situation is this: If I was born poor in Mexico and lived a few hundred miles from the United States border, and I was supporting my family on $5 a day, and I knew that just a few hours north my cousin was making $5 or more an hour, I too would be crawling through the desert under the cover of darkness to give my family a better standard of living. Who doesn’t want more for their family?

In America we appreciate a success story and we applaud those that come from meager beginnings and triumph over their situation. I think the same should be true of all people.

These hardworking people want the American dream so they risk their lives to get here and then they take the menial jobs that no American will do.

In the early 1900s, Irish and Italian immigrants came to this country (many illegally) and performed low level manual jobs that others were not willing to do. Eventually they worked their way up the socio-economic scale. Today they would not take a job landscaping in the 115 degree heat for $5 an hour.

In the middle of the 20th century the same is true of black Americas. In the shadow of slavery, and continued oppression, blacks started out doing the jobs no one else wanted to do, making no money in return. They too through the generations have worked their way into the American middle class and would not clean house for $7 an hour.

As a rule, illegal immigrants do not take jobs away from Americans. We would not do the type of work, for the low pay, that they are willing to do. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but I don’t know anyone willing to spend eight or more hours, hunched over picking strawberries for less than minimum wage.
In an April 16, 2006 article in the Winston-Salem Journal, Jim Johnson, the director of the Kenan Institute's Urban Investment Strategies Center - part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that what some people tend to forget is the indirect effect that the Hispanic worker has had on consumer prices.
“If everyone without proper immigration visas were deported, U.S. consumers would have to prepare to pay more for such ordinary goods as food and housing. For example, the construction industry in North Carolina would pay about $1 billion more in labor costs without the Hispanic worker, according to the study.”
"The next time you go to a restaurant and see a Hispanic busing the tables, just put an extra $20 on the table, because that's how much more your meal will cost," Johnson said. "If you play it to its logical conclusion, then it ought to be illegal to buy it (goods produced with illegal labor). It's a hot good."
With all of this said, I agree that we do need to stop, or slow, the flow of individuals crossing our borders illegally - not because of some irrational fear of Mexicans and their desire to take our jobs, but because of national security concerns.

We need to be aware of who is getting into our country and who is trying to harm us. If the uneducated, entering the country for economic purposes, get through the border with ease, you can be assured that those with more sinister purposes are also sneaking in undetected.

The biggest issue that needs to be addressed is border security - not illegal immigrants. Border security is now “Homeland Security” and therefore needs to be taken seriously.

This is how we should be approaching the problem, not by scaring the American public into believing that a multi-cultural society is bad and not by instilling fear and targeting a particular group.

Do we need to work on a solution for the 12 million hardworking individuals who came to this country to better their lives? YES.

Should we spend hundred of billions of dollars to locate them and return them to their homelands? NO

Should we find a way to lessen the influx of illegal immigrants? YES.

Do we need to secure our borders – ABSOLUTELY.

Republican Attempt to Steal California's Votes

Karl Rove may have resigned as the President’s chief strategist, but the dirty and secretive tricks that have characterized the Republican Party in recent years are still here to stay. Leading California Republicans are promoting a dishonest initiative that steals electoral votes from California, a democratic state. Republicans attempting to steal votes in a major election? This smells all too familiar.

The initiative, crafted by a lawyer for the California Republican Party and member of the group misleadingly called "Californians for Equal Representation,” proposes to divide California's electoral votes based on results in each congressional district, rather than award the entire 55 electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote. Proposed for the California ballot in June 2008, where voter turn-out is extremely low, this initiative would essentially give the next Republican presidential candidate as many as 19 additional votes--almost equal to all the electoral votes from Ohio and nearly all from Florida!

For many voters, this initiative upon first glance seems logical and fair. However, in the context of the rest of the country, where large red states in particular would still award their electoral votes to the candidate who won the popular vote, this ballot initiative is completely imbalanced and undemocratic. There is no way this initiative would create a more fair and balanced voting system in our country, unless it was uniformly adopted by ALL states.

This initiative shines a glaring spotlight on Republican hypocrisy. Republicans want to continue the same winner-take-all system in other big states that they consistently win, like Texas and Indiana. However, they want Democrats to share the electoral votes in California, a big blue state with the country’s most electoral votes. Democrats have been carrying California in recent elections. Even if Democrats were to win the state in 2008, Republicans would still get a substantial number of electoral votes under this new law.

If passed, this initiative would make a democratic victory in any major election extremely difficult. We can not let the Republican Party pull the wool over our eyes and steal yet another election.

Please visit Californians for Fair Election Reform to sign a petition in support of rejecting the GOPs California electoral power grab: http://www.fairelectionreform.com/

And visit the Courage Campaign’s web site to sign their petition and learn more about this important issue. http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/content/20for20onActBlue/

(This entry was written by Barbra Streisand and is posted on www.BarbraStreisand.com)

ADVOCATE READER'S TOP 40 HEROS

The Advocate magazine asked it's readers to name the Top 40 (coinciding with their 40th year anniversary) favorite gay heroes. The following list is the Top 40 "OUT" heroes in the fields of entertainment, sports, academia, artist, activists, etc.

40 - Barbara Gittings - Activist
39 - Roberta Achtenberg - former Asst Secretary for HUD
38 - John Amaaechi - NBA Player
37 - Tim Gill - Cofounder of Quark software company
36 - Leonard Matlovich - Celebrated Vietnam War Veteran
35 - Audre Lorde - Activist, Poet
34 - Bayard Rustin - Civil Rights Leader
33 - Elizabeth Birsch - Former Executive Director of The Human Rights Campaign
32 - Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon - 1st Gay Couple in the US granted a Marriage License
31 - Randy Shilts - Writer
30 - Indigo Girls - Rockers
29 - John Waters - Filmmaker
28 - CLive Jones - Activist
27 - Malcolm Boyd - Television and Movie Producer
26 - Pedro Zamora - AIDS Activist and Real World San Francisco cast member
25 - Tony Kushner - Stage and Screen Writer
24 - Tammy Bladwin - Congresswoman
23 - Harry Hay - Mattachine Society and Radical Faery Co founder
22 - Armistead Maupin - Writer
21 - Mark Bingham - September 11th Hero
20 - Rita Mae Brown - Activist
19 - k.d. lang - Entertainer
18 - Larry Kramer - Writer and Activist
17 - Betty Berzon - Psychotherapist
16 - Ian McKellen - Actor
15 - V. Gene Robinson - First Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop
14 - Mel White - Writer/Speechwriter, Dean of the Dallas Cathedral of Hope
13 - Greg Louganis - Olympic Gold Metal Winning Diver
12 - Troy Perry - Founder of the Metropolitan Community Church
11 - Martina Navratilova - Tennis Champion
10 - Rosie O'Donnell - Entertainer/Philanthropist
9 - Margarethe Cammermeyer - Highest Ranking "Out" Military Official
8 - Elton John - Entertainer
7 - Harvey Fierstein - Actor/Writer
6 - Billie Jean King - Tennis Champion
5 - Melissa Etheridge - Singer/Songwriter
4 - Matthew Shepard - College Student
3 - Harvey Milk - San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member
2 - Barney Frank - Congressman
1- Ellen DeGeneres - Entertainer

Your Thoughts? Your Picks?

WONDER ROBBIE IS POP-YOU-U-LER..LAR

As some of you know I met Wonder Robbie at the end of August when I was in New York City. The guy just puts a smile on my face so after countless heavy posts, its time to lighten up.

The song he is singing is from the Broadway show Wicked - the back story about the witches from the Wizard of Oz - Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba). I saw the show in Philadelphia over Labor Day. I would recommend it to everyone (even though I wasn't crazy about the actress/singer playing the role of Elphaba - she was the understudy.) I enjoy the music and it is one of the few CDs in my car.

and well, who doesn't want to be Pop-you-u-ler?

CAN WE LAUGH AT OURSELVES?

Tonight on The David Letterman Show Dave asked the audience if anyone had bought the new Rosie O'Donnell book (Celebrity Detox). No one clapped (the book doesn't come out until October 9th).

He then went on to say that the book contained three chapters on Bush.... and one on the President.

I laughed out loud. I hope not to offend my lesbian readers but funny is funny! I like gay humor.

You know.. like the OLDIE But GOODIE:

How many gays does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Two - One to screw it in and the other to say "Fabulous!"

I like humor that is pointed at a group and then exaggerates the hell out of the stereotypes associated with that group. Most humor is that way to some degree but in this age of political correctness we feel like we aren't evolved if we laugh at jokes that target a particular group, whether it be lesbians, gays, latins, blacks, jews, blondes, polish, etc, etc.

Growing up my mother's best friend was polish. She told the funniest "polack" jokes. We loved Chuchi (sp) Connie and her jokes and they didn't turn us into "polack bashers."

Over Labor Day weekend I was in a bar in Philadelphia. It was a very mixed bar. There were latins, blacks, gays, asians, you name it. On the television was a video of a comedian I had never seen - Lisa Lampanelli - and she is called "Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean" because no one is safe from her jokes and there are few limits.

She claims to have a black boyfriend and loves black men, but lovingly trashes them along with everyone else. She picked out a asian man, a hispanic man, a black man, a jewish man and two guys she called fags throughout the night. No one was off limits, not even handicapped people, as she made comments to each of them playing to the typical age old stereotypes.

She was hilarious.

The next day I went to Amazon.com and purchased the video and had it shipped to my house. This past Friday we had guests over for drinks and I played the video for them. We all laughed our asses off, but it got me wondering.

Can we laugh at ourselves and the litany of stereotypes associated with each of us?

The group of friends I had over were slightly representative of the groups she tore into on the video. We had white, latin, gay and functionally handicapped (although everyone just thinks he is drunk). No one was offended by Lisa's routine.

I often hear black comedians making black jokes and hispanic comedians making fun of their latin families. God knows gay comics make gay jokes, but what about a white woman making black, latino, asian, gay, handicapped and geriatric jokes? Do we find it funny or do we look at this type of humor with disdain because it isn't politically correct. Have we lost our senses of humor? Or is it just not funny and hurts us?

A few nights before watching the Lisa Lampanelli video in Philadelphia my brother told me about seeing an Australian comedian in Scotland named Pam Ann. She dresses up in an flight attendant's uniform and makes airline and flight attendant jokes and she is beloved around the world by airline industry employees... okay, by the gays and flight attendants. I watched her myself and she was funny... funny making fun of people.

I challenge everyone to rent Lisa Lampanelli's "Take It Like A Man" video. Its irreverent and that's what we need these days - hell don't rent it, buy it (I think it was only $15) or are we so politically correct we Can't Laugh at Ourselves?

As a comedian, I'm hoping Rosie can laugh at herself and see the humor in David Letterman's joke.

DOES ROSIE DISS BARBARA WALTERS IN CELEBRITY DETOX?

It appears there are leaks from Rosie O'Donnell's new book "Celebrity Detox" and that she may actually have come to her senses regarding Barbara Walters.

Below is from today's New York Times, Page Six:

September 11, 2007 -- JUST when Barbara Walters thought she was rid of Rosie O'Donnell, the out-of-control comic is about to plunge "The View" into another mess.

In an upcoming book on her tumultuous year on "The View," Rosie calls Walters "tired" and says the legendary TV personality ought to hang it up.

"Rosie sent me the book with a note telling me how much she loved me," Walters told "Extra" yesterday on the set of "The View."

"I have read the book - and I would like to concentrate on the love that she sent."

The quote - which appeared to have been carefully crafted - was classic, understated Walters.

The newswoman, who has mastered the ropes of international diplomacy over many years, did not say directly what she thought of the new book - called "Celebrity Detox."

But in her attempt to sidestep the controversy, she left little doubt that her so-called friendship with O'Donnell is over.

And for good reason.

In the book, Rosie says:

"And Barbara. At some point, a person gets tired. It's inevitable.

"Barbara Walters is almost twice my age . . . at some point it becomes necessary to step back.

"Everyone has to go. Going is part of the gig."

O'Donnell is 45. Walters is 77, according to her biography.

"Barbara is trying to focus on the love," a spokesman for Walters said yesterday.

"Barbara was saying, 'Rosie wrote the book, I read it and she sent me love notes with the book.' "

The book's vitriolic content was revealed first on Page Six yesterday.

It was supposed to be a big day for Walters and "The View" as they announced the long-delayed hiring of a new co-host, actress Sherri Shepherd. She replaces Star Jones, who left more than a year ago.

But the news of Rosie's slash-and-burn book on the show was a wet blanket on the set.

"And I would be less-than-honest if I were to say that there is no trouble between Barbara and I," O'Donnell writes. "I mean, our differences are obvious."

O'Donnell tells the story about people in "The View" audience sometimes yelling "I love you, Rosie," during a commercial break - "and Barbara politely tells them in a schoolteacher tone, 'It is impolite to say I love you to one person when there are four us up here.'

"There are many rules I don't understand," O'Donnell writes.

Stories of O'Donnell's run-ins with Walters reached a head after Rosie's very public spat with Donald Trump over Trump's giving Miss USA, Tara Conner, a second chance after she admitted to boozing and partying.

O'Donnell called Trump a "pimp" and mocked his challenged hairstyle; he, in turn, called O'Donnell a "fat pig," among other choice names.

O'Donnell then accused Walters of supporting Trump behind her back.

"Rosie loves and adores Barbara and always will," O'Donnell's publicist, Cindi Berger, told The Post yesterday.

Well I think it is about time. Rosie has defended Barbara Walters for far too long.

Barbara Walter's says she created "The View" so women of different generations could get together and talk about issues. There are flaws in her concept. First, being the "Queen of the Politically Correct," Barbara never gives her opinion. Claiming that she is a journalist she cannot (will not) give her opinion. Secondly, she cringes and apologizes for those who do. She shies away from the very concept she created. During Ro's feud with The Dumptruck at no time did Barbara TRULY stand up for her and God forbid she should stand up for her numerous episodes with Elizabitch.

As co-creator of "The View" Barbara Walters, along with Bill Geddes, owns the show and pulls the purse strings; therefore,when Rosie was negotiating to extend her contract to stay, although she denies it, it was Barbara Walters who would not give her the $10,000,000 she correctly requested. Additionally, at no time have I ever heard Barbara thank Rosie for the tons of money that Rosie made her (by increasing the ratings by nearly 20%).

Rosie, staying true to herself, and believing in loyalty, has never come out and say it publicly (at least I don't think) how hurt she is by Barbara Walter's actions over the past year. Maybe "Celebrity Detox" will detail her true feelings. I guess we will have to wait until October 9th.

A DIVIDED COUNTRY REMEMBERS SEPTEMBER 11TH

In the late fall of 2000, and the winter and spring of 2001, the United States was more divided than it had probably been since the Civil War. The presidential election had just taken place and the ambiguous outcome, and subsequent Supreme Court ruling, left many feeling like their votes did not count. Sworn into office was a president who many believed was not elected by an American majority.

Suddenly, depending on which side you were on, red was bad and blue was good or red was good and blue was bad. The outcome of the election polarized the country.

Going into the fall of 2001 the fervor had diminished only slightly. Democrats were still not happy, but perhaps resigned, with the outcome of the election that gave George Bush the presidency, and the division was still palpable.

Then in New York City, on a near cloudless September 11th, at 8:46 in the morning that all changed. Two American owned airplanes, hijacked by Islamic militants, struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3000 innocent civilians, and after the country shook off the shock and dust, we were a nation united.

In every town and city across this vast land neighbors started talking to each other. There were candlelight vigils and marches of solidarity. In an instant all the dividers disappeared. It did not matter if you were a democrat or republican, red, blue, purple or green. Race, religion, sexual orientation, pro-life, anti-abortion, it did not matter. We were united in a belief and we stood together. We were Americans and for the first time in at least a generation, we were unified.

That is now all a distant memory. Six years later we all mourn the passing of those innocent and heroic, but as a people, and as a country, we are more divided then we were after the 2000 presidential election.

Promising to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, King George started searching for Osama Bin Laden - the man he knew to be responsible. Soon after our military unseated the extremist Muslim Taliban government in Afghanistan and continued the search for Bin Laden – who continues to elude us.

Have we not located and brought to justice this man because his ragtag organization has more intelligence gathering capabilities than those of the United States government, or was our government simply not invested in the search because unbeknownst to the American public, King George, and his band of merry men, was preoccupied? He had other more important concerns – he was already plotting the invasion of oil wealthy Iraq - a country that had little real interest in harming the United States and definitely did not have the capability in any way to do so.

Today the government issues terror alerts to help us understand the threats to our very existence. These same terror alerts are manipulated to keep the public frightened and serve their political purposes. Airport lines snake through terminals as travelers are frisked for oversized shampoo bottles, and shoes removed and inspected for bombs.

There are more unanswered questions then there were six years ago, and the glowing halos of the stewarding politicos of the day have been dimmed. We no longer blindly see them as American heroes but as flawed manipulators of our history and history will no doubt be unkind to them, and with good reason.

America is a divided nation yet again. We are back to red state versus blue state, Christian versus Jew and Muslin. Black and white again fight. The straights hate the gays and God forbid you are an immigrant, either legal or illegal…Except for one day - September 11th.

Together we remember and mourn as Americans. We continually see the images in our heads and our hearts and prayers are with the families and friends of those that were lost. For one day we put aside our differences and together we recall the tragic events of that day and we extend our deepest sympathies and love.

And then unfortunately, it is back to business as usual...

RUDI GIULIANI

WHAT WAS RUDI GIULIANI'S BIGGEST FAILURE ON 9/11?


Watch and let me know what you think!

PROGRESS - DON'T BE FOOLED

We are about to hear the same old line regarding Iraq "We are making Progress."

Do Not Be Fooled... AGAIN!

JENA 6 UPDATE (FROM CNN)

I was able to find this report on CNN regarding Mychal Bell of the Jena 6. It was dated September 5, 2007:

JENA, Louisiana (CNN) -- A judge Tuesday vacated one of two convictions against a teen involved in a violent, racially charged incident in Louisiana that left another teen hospitalized.

Defense lawyers argued -- and 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. agreed -- that a charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree aggravated battery should have been brought against Mychal Bell in juvenile court rather than adult court.

But he left standing Bell's conviction on a second-degree aggravated battery charge.
The teen's attorneys said they would file an emergency appeal and ask for a stay of Bell's September 20 sentencing date until the appellate court rules.

A regular kid

Bell was like a lot of boys his age, his mother says.

The always-smiling 16-year-old often spent weekends on the couch, munching Little Debbie snack cakes, watching football and dreaming of the day he would join his heroes in the NFL.

That was before police arrested the star running back and five other teens -- dubbed the "Jena 6" -- on attempted murder and conspiracy charges after a December 4, 2006, fight at the local high school. Three of the six, including Bell, later had their charges reduced to aggravated battery.

Bell, now 17, sits in a cell in Jena, waiting to learn whether he will spend the next two decades in prison.

"He's not the same. He's grown up a lot since he's been in there. He's not the same ol' smiling Mychal he used to be," his mother, Melissa Bell, says. "I pray that the judge will go easy on him."

Mychal Bell wasn't convicted of attempted murder. The charges were diluted to aggravated battery and conspiracy, but undiluted is the outrage over the fates of Bell and the rest of the Jena 6.

Many in this sleepy town of 3,000, where 12 percent of the population is black, are calling Bell's June conviction a case of Jim Crow justice.

They question why Bell's public defender never called a witness in the trial. They question the all-white jury that took three hours to convict him. They question charges they say are wildly overblown. They question why the teen was tried as an adult.

And they say the fight never would have happened if not for the nooses.

A threat or a prank?

In September 2006, as the school year kicked off, a black Jena High School student asked the vice principal if he and some friends could sit under an oak tree where the white students typically congregated.

Told by the vice principal they could sit wherever they pleased, the student and his pals plopped down under the sprawling branches of a shade tree in the campus courtyard.

The next day, students arrived at school to find three nooses hanging from those branches.

"I seen them hanging. I'm thinking the KKK, you know, were hanging nooses. They want to hang somebody. Real nooses, the ones you see on TV, are the kind of nooses they were," Robert Bailey, 17, one of the Jena 6, told the syndicated radio show "Democracy Now!"

The school's principal recommended expulsion for those behind the nooses, according to the local newspaper in nearby Alexandria. Instead, The Town Talk reported, a school district committee overruled the recommendation and suspended three white students for three days for hanging the nooses, a gesture written off as a prank.

"Toilet paper, that's a prank, you know what I'm saying?" Bailey told the radio show. "Nooses hanging there -- nooses ain't no prank."

A series of scuffles ensued over the next three months as racial tension at the school became palpable.

The district attorney was summoned to address the student body. Off-campus fights were reported. Bailey said he had a beer bottle broken over his head in one incident, a shotgun pulled on him in another.

On November 30, someone torched the school's main academic building. The arson remains unsolved, but many suspect it's linked to the discord strangling Jena High.

The attack

Four days after the arson, several students jumped a white classmate, Justin Barker, knocking him unconscious before stomping and kicking him.

Parents of the Jena 6 say they heard Barker was hurling racial epithets. Barker's parents say he did nothing to provoke the beating.

Barker was taken to the hospital with injuries to both eyes and ears as well as cuts. His right eye had blood clots, said his mother, Kelli Barker. Justin Barker was treated and released that day.

Bell, Bailey, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and an unidentified juvenile -- all black teens -- were arrested and charged with attempted murder. The weapons used, according to the charges -- shoes. Their bails were set at between $70,000 and $138,000. Watch Purvis' mother say her son heard the 'lick' that leveled Barker

On Tuesday, LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters reduced the charges against Jones and Shaw to second-degree aggravated battery, the same charge on which Bell was convicted.

Only Bell remains in jail, on a $90,000 bond, and the judge has refused to lower it, citing Bell's criminal record, which includes four juvenile offenses -- two simple battery charges among them.

The Jena 6 say they are innocent. Bailey told CNN that by the time he arrived at the fight, students and coaches had broken it up.

"When a fight breaks out, all the kids just run to see a fight. That's just how it was," he said. "You really couldn't see nothing. So when I'm running to see what's going on, I got down there to the fight, it was over."

Attorneys ask judge to reconsider

Bell is scheduled for a September 20 sentencing hearing where he faces up to 22 years in prison. The other five await their days in court.

The case is getting international media attention -- a buzz that has drawn the NAACP and civil rights stalwarts such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III --but many in Jena are skeptical the boys can get a fair trial.

"Jena has been a community that has had self-imposed segregation probably since the '50s. They never got the memo," said radio host Tony Brown, who coined the name Jena 6.

Brown, who hosts a statewide radio newsmagazine from Alexandria, where he has lived since 1991, says there are still "righteous people" in Jena. However, he said, there is little commingling among black and white residents and the town often abides by "a Jim Crow mentality."

The mothers of Bell and Bailey concur, but Caseptla Bailey insists, "Jena's a good place to live. It's home. It's something that's in our hearts."
Kristi Boyett, a white resident, is not so nostalgic. She and her family are leaving Jena "because of the racist stuff that's going on here," she said.

She fears for her children's safety in the public schools, she said, and she's not surprised that racial tension in Jena has reached a breaking point.

"That's the way this town's always been. I've lived here for 16 years, and it's been segregated since we lived here," she said.

'We lost Jena'

Other longtime residents, however, paint a more harmonious portrait of Jena and blame the media for casting their town in a negative light. Mayor Murphy McMillan declined to be interviewed, saying only, "The media is making our town look bad."

Paula Brewer, who grew up in Jena, told The Town Talk in Alexandria that "everybody
talks to everybody" and there are no racial boundaries in the central Louisiana hamlet.

"Where did Jena go in all this?" she asked the newspaper. "We lost Jena. We aren't what they are calling us -- racist and ignorant. Jena is a good town with good people."

Though some say race drove the decision to charge the teens with attempted murder, Walters released a statement last year saying no one was charged "based on who they are." He has made no public comment since.

The victim's mother says she, too, believes the charges are warranted and not based on race. Had the attackers not been pulled off her son, she said, he could have been killed.

"I wish to goodness it wouldn't have happened," Kelli Barker said. "And I hate it for them parents. I mean, I can only imagine, but I also have to think about my child and my family."

Advocates for the Jena 6 aren't saying the boys should be let off if they indeed pummeled Justin Barker. Rather, they're saying the charges should match the crime -- and that the juvenile court should handle the teens' cases.

Brown said he will use his radio show as a platform to push for justice until an appellate court throws out Bell's conviction and the remaining Jena 6 see a fair trial.

Brown said of his rationale, "My grandma used to tell me, 'You can't hang a thief for murder,' and that's what they're doing in Jena."

ANOTHER NOOSE-UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Earlier today I wrote about the JENA 6 - six young black men charged with attempted murder for a schoolyard brawl, partially provoked by three nooses hanging on a tree at their school.

This past Friday another noose was discovered hanging from a tree outside the Nymburu Cultual Center at the University of Maryland.

In Jena the white citizens referred to the three nooses as a school boy prank - nothing more.

There are no coincidences, especially when it comes to bigotry and racism.

Again... I am outraged that this behavior continues nearly forty years after the death of Martin Luther King.

Let me pose a question - Do you think the individuals responsible for these acts were raised by Christ loving and God-fearing republicans or "so-called" godless democrats?

YOUR THOUGHTS?

JENA 6-RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL IN AMERICA

Recipe for turning a schoolyard brawl into a string of felony charges

Ingredients

1 Small Backwoods Lousiana Town
1 Ambitious Power Hungry District Attorney
A 400 year history of slavery, the KKK and racism
6 Angry Young Black Men

Mix vigorously and add an all-white jury

RECIPE FOR CONVICTION!!!!

For those of you who have not heard about the Jena 6 it is the outrageous story of six black high school athletes from Jena, Louisiana who have been charged with Second Degree Attempted Murder and Conspiracy for a school yard brawl. Google it or watch this video which. I will warn ya, the video is 28 minutes long.

But it proves that Racism is alive and well and living down the street!

IM TIRED OF OPRAH (lets hear the screams)

(WARNING: If you think Oprah Winfrey is a Do-No-WRONG QUEEN – Please don’t read…. You will be disappointed with my latest take on her)


I told someone recently that I needed to write about an American Untouchable, Miss Oprah Winfrey. I am not writing because I dislike Oprah, I’ve always been a big supporter, but after watching this past season of the Oprah Winfrey Show I think she is too out of touch, too powerful, too rich, too spoiled, and too full of her damn self. She may very well have become too much of everything.

From the moment Oprah Winfrey came on the screen in the movie adaptation of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” it was evident there was a star in the making. She exuded a talent, charm and likeability rarely seen in the movies. So it was not surprising that within the next year she had a nationally syndicated television show. Little did I know at the time she was already a talk show staple in the Chicago television market.

Since that time I have followed her continuous weight loss and gain and the hundred of hairstyles. I’ve been through the Emmy awards and the made-for-TV movies. I have purchased the monthly selections from her book club and I have even donated to her Angel Network.

It was during the past television season that I came to the realization that my love affair with Oprah was waning.

The trip across the country with Gayle King may have started it. Her difficulties with pumping her own gas, her bitching about Gayle’s singing (some people – myself included – know all the words to the songs on the radio and cannot help ourselves from singing – its an innate thing) and in hindsight I thinks rather rude to crash someone’s wedding, even if they are from Oklahoma.

The opening on the Oprah (Furer) Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa became more of a tribute to herself than about the girls’ potential and when it was announced that the contact between the girls and their parents would be limited, I had to question.

With all of that money, why not build an academy like that here in the United States… also? I understand the importance of the school in Africa but honestly, the money would be better spent on America girls of African descent. There are many deserving low, middle and higher income black girls in this country who could benefit from such an opportunity - girls who live within miles of her multi-million dollar penthouse and Harpo studios.

Don’t misunderstand. I think the school in South Africa is wonderful and it will definitely give the enrolled girls a head-start in their lives, but there are just as many American girls of African descent who could be helped greatly as well.

Another problem is that Oprah does nothing without a camera present. She gives away cars, she helps build houses for Katrina victims. Everywhere she goes there is a camera. What happened to quiet philanthropy? I can’t imagine her donating $100 without there being a camera crew filming the counting out of each bill.

She brings to her show, people who have turned in pedophiles, and hands them checks for $100,000 each. That’s wonderful - isn’t it - but she parades them around like she is a queen and they are lucky that she has anointed them.

What about the Best of Show? That show is so choked full of over-priced, over-inflated, over- pampered rich lady crap it is ridiculous. Here her audience is struggling to buy shoes for their children and she is barking on about some $350 foot cream that makes you feel like you are in a private spa. Well excuse me, but I can use that $350 to pay the light, water, and grocery bills. She has become the purveyor of pampered rich white lady’s shit.

Oprah does not cry unless a camera is directly on her. It seems that she waits until the camera is right on her (and she is looking for it too) before she lets out the big tears. The same is true on her singing along with every musical guests - she never knows the words. She is sitting there singing along like a teenage girl, but the bitch, I mean woman, never even knows the chorus.

And don’t get me started on how she hugs everyone, everyone but John Travolta, like they have cooties. Maybe she should give everyone that knuckle bump that Howie Mandel gives the contestants on his show.

Is it possible to come from dirt poor beginnings, and grow up to have the top rated syndicated television show for 21 years and become famous and rich, truly rich, and stay humble? I’m going to answer HELL NO… because I think if there was a possibility, it would be Oprah Winfrey and she has clearly forgotten where she came from. She talks a good talk but I see a judgmental, spoiled white woman every time I look at her these days.

(NO ONE has to agree with me on this…. And you are more than welcome to leave me an honest comment.)

TODAY I BREAK 1000-HOPEFULLY

Today is the day I suspect I will break the 1000 visitor mark on my web page and blog. One thousand sounds like such a pathetic little number when visiting sites that have one million hits a day but Perez Hilton I am not (that would be fun as long as I could look like me and not him) and the site does not contain sex or pornography, and God knows I am not google, so I am extremely happy with my paltry 1000 hits.

My counter really only tracks hits to the website, not necessarily the blog so "officially" I am approaching 1000 but am sure there have been more than 1000 visitors to the blog - plus I didn't add the counter for at least a month in. I never expected more than a few friends and family members to check me out once in a while so I am happy to be hitting this mark only a little over two months after I started my site.

When I started the website I planned it as a place to put photos of Noelle, my granddaughter, so friends and distant family could experience and share in her growth and it turned into much more. It is a tribute to my family, especially my grandparents, as well as a glimpse into my childhood and life - mostly through photos.

The blog was something I thought I would try my hand at because I am opinionated as hell and think the world should listen to my take on things. Its quite delusional and self-important to believe anyone would, or should, listen to my take on world events, or music, or anything else for that matter, but I have learned I am in good company and there are millions of self-anointed princes (and princesses) of the blogosphere.

There are several individuals who are Loyal Friends and True (as Bob Barker used to say on The Price is Right) and I appreciate your support - especially my "Stranger Friends" from Flickr who continue to encourage me and I am surprised to find I now have regular email contact with a few individuals that have reviewed the web site (or blog) and felt a connection or wanted to explain their appreciation - this is an unexpected but wonderful side effect.

So I thank each of you for taking a glance every now and then and cheers to the next thousand, or ten thousand, or how about a million..............