#Daddy Issues

The "fatherless home effect" has often been discussed in reference to boys. But the effect that growing up without a father or a positive male influence is just as devastating for girls, if not more so.

Their fathers may have left them, or abondoned them, and of course every situation is different. But the result is always the same. A single mother is then forced to be the sole care giver, the sole provider, and the sole nurturer. Not to mention the fact that she has to take on the role of both mother and father. The latter being virtually impossible due to the fact that there can be no real or sustaining duality. No woman on earth is equipped to be a father. They all deserve an A+ for their efforts but a woman being an effective father is like trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole.

That is not to say that these mother's are at fault for trying to raise their children. But they can only work with the tools that circumstance has left them.

With that being said it is important that we put the word raise, or raising into context.

Raise:

1. to move to a higher position; lift up; elevate: 
2. to set upright: 
3. to cause to rise or stand up; 
4. to build; erect: 
5. to set up the framework of: 
6. to set in motion; activate: 
7. to grow or breed, care for, or promote the growth of: 
8. to serve in the capacity of parent to; rear: to raise children. 

Notice that definitions 6-10 are the criteria that we traditionally apply to child rearing. But definitions 1-5 are just as important, but a little more complex. It is important that as parents we must realize, recognize, and understand that children learn far more from our actions than they do from our words. Examples are extremely important. The fact of the matter is that no matter what we say our children are constantly watching what we do. It is our responsibility to lift our children up, create a strong foundation, and build the proper framework for adulthood.

A young girl who grew up without her father may find it difficult to function or even develop a healthy relationship simply because she doesn't know what a healthy relationship is. This does not make her any less of a woman or a bad woman for that matter, it just means that she didn't have the experience of witnessing a functional relationship in her home when she was growing up. It is extremely difficult for anyone to ride a bike without having first seen someone do it. 

Men and women relating to each other is not intuitive, and it has very little to do with sex. If a girl has never seen her mother love, respect, or work in partnership with a man then how could she possibly have any idea how to relate to a man herself. Far too often her idea of having a relationship equates to having intercourse. She has no idea that sex is a very small part of intimacy, and she has a twisted view of what love is because the man who made her was never around to love her. 

In addition to having been emotionally scarred by her fathers absence, some women have also been emotionally scarred by bitter vindictive mothers who have told scary, hurtful narratives about their failed relationships in the interest of warning their daughters. Although they may have good intentions. These cautionary tales do more harm than good, and they ruin these young girls, who's maturation becomes stunted. As a result, any relationship that they get involved in as adults that has potential becomes an uphill battle. That is not to say that progress is impossible. It just means that in relationships she is at a disadvantage because she doesn't know to to treat, interact, or deal with a man in a healthy way. This void will only be filled, and the wound will only be healed through prayer, soul searching, and recognizing that a problem exists.

PR

He Didn't Know His Wife Is A Man?!

I don't believe him. I don't care how "pretty" he, she, it, shim is. After 19 years of marriage how could this guy not know that his wife is a dude. I won't say used to be. If you're born a man it doesn't matter what they cut off or tuck in, guess what.........YOU ARE STILL A MAN!

But that's a topic for another blog. 

Any self respecting REAL heterosexual man knows what a real woman feels like inside and out because there is nothing like the magnificence and splendor of a soft, feminine, delicate flower. But then again maybe that's just my woman. Apparently some of us are either too oblivious, or to blind to see reality. 

The man in question is Belgian and is known only as Jan, he once thought of his "wife" as beautiful and feminine.

But once his "wife's" cousin who was visiting from Indonesia revealed this secret, it all became crystal clear that this perceived feminity was a fasade. 

“I thought she was an attractive woman, and she was all woman  she had no male traits. She was 27 years old at the time, so I asked her if she wanted children. I was glad when she said she didn’t as I was 44 and already had two of my own,” he said.

He said that now he understands why his wife always needed to lubricate herself in the bedroom............and she always said that she was taking birth control pills.

He went on to explain that he should have realized that she was a man early on because she was no good at ironing. As everyone know, if you're not good at ironing you cannot possibly be a woman.

Further evidence that his mind is backwards and confused. In reality Jan didn't fall in love with he, she, it, shim. He fell in love with the idea that it represented even if it was false.

PR

A TRAITOR AMONG US!

They've always been in our midst. Black "superstar's" in Black face who believe that they have transcended color so much so that they choose to no longer identify with what they actually are. In their minds, their fame and fortune has become their color. While I do concede that the best part of being an American is the right to exercise your prerogatives, those who have gone this route in the past have all been jolted back into consciousness in one way or another. Just ask O.J. Simpson, who's fame morphed into infamy with the speed of light. Or think about Michael Jackson's legacy. The legendary "King Of Pop" was forced to drop his underwear, show his.... manhood, and was then put on trial for child molestation. His name has been forever tarnished, and despite being found not guilty neither him or his career ever fully recovered. 

The 2014 Judas award goes to Coby Bryant. The overrated ball hog who once threw Shaq under the bus to save his own behind made the brilliant decision recently to criticize other ball players for  supporting Trayvon Martin's family.

 We all remember the Trayvon Martin case. The one where an innocent African-American teenager was shot and killed by George "The New O.J."  Zimmerman for having the audacity to walk down the street carrying a bag of skittles, and a can of iced tea while minding his own business Whe wearing a hoodie. In the end Zimmerman literally got away with murder after the trial.

This is what Coby had to say when asked about an Ebony Magazine cover featuring Lebron Games and other NBA star's wearing hoodies in support of Trayvons family.

"I won’t react to something just because I'm supposed to, because I’m an African American," he said. "That argument doesn't make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we've progressed as a society? Well, we've progressed as a society, then don't jump to somebody's defense just because they're African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won't assert myself."

Really Coby?! 

Are you African-American? Are you human?  I'm still confused as to how anyone with a shred of humanity could not empathize with parents who's child was murdered is beyond me.

PR

And Another One Bites The Dust!

And another one bites the dust. The latest foolish bastard offspring of Jesse Jackson Jr, Kwame Brown, and Kwame Kilpatrick is The mayor of the "Queen City", Charlotte, North Carolina, Patrick Cannon.

Less than six months on the job, Cannon was arrested and accused Wednesday of accepting more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen who wanted to do work with North Carolina's largest city. 

Mayor Patrick Cannon, a 47-year-old Democrat who rose from the city's public housing projects and relative obscurity to become a successful businessman and politician, faces federal theft and bribery charges. Cannon was accused of soliciting and accepting more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes. Following in the crooked footsteps of the afore mentioned African-American politicians who's misdeeds, indescretions, and crimes have made it tougher for those who may aspire to a career in the public sector.

If convicted on all the charges, he faces 20 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines.

Cannon, a longtime radio show host and the founder of E-Z parking, a parking management company, was elected mayor in November, replacing Anthony Foxx. Foxx was named Transportation Secretary by President Barack Obama.

Telephone messages left for Cannon were not immediately returned.

According to the complaint, FBI agents posing as commercial real estate developers paid Cannon on five separate occasions between January 2013 and February 2014. Cannon accepted cash in exchange for access to city officials responsible for planning, zoning and permitting.

On the last occasion, Cannon was accused of accepting $20,000 in cash in the mayor's office, the complaint said.

The investigation began in August 2010, when Cannon still held an at-large seat on the Charlotte City Council. He was first elected to the council in 1993 at age 26, becoming the youngest council member in the city's history.

"I am both saddened and angered because I have known Patrick and his family for over 30 years, but more than anything, my heart is broken for the city of Charlotte," said Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor. "This is not the city that I know, served and love. This alleged behavior is inexcusable and cannot be tolerated."

This scandal has given Governor McCrory the perfect opportunity to climb atop his high horse to pontificate, and deflect the attention from his own brewing quagmire.

According to the complaint, Cannon was also accused of accepting $12,500 from an undercover agent to help him develop a feminine hygiene product called "Hers" to be marketed and sold in the United States. In exchange, Cannon offered to help the agent posing as a business manager for a venture capital company to get the necessary permits to open a nightclub.

During the meeting, an undercover agent told Cannon: "You know, again whatever you can do to get our application moved up towards the top, uh, business license and things like that, that we need."

According to the complaint, Cannon responded: "Yeah, not a problem."

Cannon later had a discussion with the undercover agent, apparently attempting to clarify that the money was strictly seed money for the "Hers" product and not payment for his help in opening the nightclub.

"OK, so I mean, 'cause I'm not, I'm not one of those Chicago or Detroit type (of) folk," Cannon told the agent, apparently referring to high-profile corruption cases in those cities. 

But as it turns out, he actually is, and the sad part is the fact that he referenced the scandal ridded cities of Detroit and Chicago inferring familiarity with those failed

Cannon ended the conversation by saying he looked good "in an orange necktie, but not an orange suit," according to the complaint.

When the agent set up two later meetings to discuss the money and give Cannon an opportunity to return it, Cannon failed to show up, the complaint said.

During his campaign, Cannon promoted plans to create jobs in a city of 760,000 people that has become one of the nation's leading banking and energy centers.

Big banks helped drive Charlotte's explosive growth over the past two decades, but the city's financial institutions were hurt in the nation's banking meltdown. Since 2008, Charlotte has lost thousands of good-paying financial services jobs.

Two days after Cannon announced he was running for mayor in May 2013, the first undercover agent introduced him to a second undercover agent posing as a developer from Las Vegas. The second agent told Cannon he was interested in developments along a streetcar and light rail line being built in Charlotte. Cannon provided the proposed routes and stops, according to the complaint.

Cannon later agreed to fly to Las Vegas to convince a group of potential foreign investors to invest in the company purportedly owned by the second agent. Even though the two had known each other only about a month, Cannon agreed to tell the investors he had known the agent for years. The complaint said Cannon acknowledged the story he would tell investors was false, saying, "Well, if it's made up, it really doesn't matter."

Cannon and the second agent also discussed compensating Cannon for his part in the scheme, and Cannon suggested that he receive a campaign donation before he made the trip to Las Vegas.

Instead, the agent agreed to pay for Cannon's trip to Las Vegas, plus $6,000 cash for spending money for his wife. The Cannons received the first $1,000 when they arrived in Las Vegas; they received the other $5,000 after Cannon gave his presentation to the purported investors. 

Late last night Cannon submitted his resignation letter to city manager Ron Carlee and city attorney Bob Hagemann, Charlotte spokesman Keith Richardson said in an email.

PR

Jesus Would Stone Who?!

James David Manning, a Harlem pastor who is known for posting so called homophobic messages on a message board outside of his church, admonished gays for being outright bullies after his sign was vandalized. Apparently a gay rights activist posted "God is gay" on the sign. Pastor Manning has in the past used the sign to display messages such as “Jesus would stone homos” and “Harlem is a homo-free zone.”

Manning lashed out at the vandal by saying “Gay people are just outright bullies,” he said. “I expected them to act in a very violent way.”

The vandal climbed over a fence outside the church at about 12:24 a.m. Saturday, cops said. He was caught on a security camera pulling letters off the sign and replacing them with his own message, police said.

Investigators were at the church for seven hours on Saturday, dusting the sign for fingerprints and checking surveillance footage, Manning said. “I pray they’ll be able to find the people who did it,” he said. “We have the right of freedom of speech.”

While I don't totally agree with his method or his message, Pastor Manning definitely has a valid point in reference to some in the gay community being outright bullies. These people have turned a battle for gay rights into fights that they pick with any and everyone who dares to disagree. It's almost as if they've become hammers, and those who have a difference of opinion have become the proverbial nails. Each and every who expresses the slightest bit of disdain is labeled homophobic even if they have no fear of homosexuality. In the process they have managed to become the very same people that they despise. Bitter, critical people who are extremely intolerant of others.

As for Pastor Manning's comment about Jesus stoning someone. His ascertion is woefully inaccurate. Whether you are Jew or Gentile, Christian, Catholic, gay or straight, Jesus still loves you. He cares for you and he would not stone anyone.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (3-29-2014)

 

Usually the stories in "Just When You Thought You Heard It All News" are current. But when I read about this beyond bazaar blast from the past. I just had to write about it. 

There's a fine line between art and torture......Well, not really. Art probably shouldn't hurt.

American artist Chris Burden was nailed to the back of a Volkswagen Beetle and driven around for a few minutes in his 1974 performance artwork. The painful and confounding act took place at a time where large-scale violence broke out during the Vietnam War to shatter illusions of peace and the guise of justice and equality in the U.S. Burden considered the Volkswagen to be the “the car of the people” and likened his Christ-like crucifixion to self-liberation through demystifying the terror and violence of such an act while displaying the human body as truly free from being governed by laws............WHAT THE?!

Three years before this performance, Burden stood before a loaded rifle and was shot in the arm for another one of his extreme performance pieces appropriately called Shoot.

This guy definently had a death wish. I wonder if he's still........Let me Google him real quick...........Yes he's still alive.

Go figure!

This is Superman,.......and this is            Superman on drugs. Any questions?

Faster than a speeding bullet? No not really. More powerful than a locomotive? Well, maybe faster than a toy train set. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? He probably believes he can when he's high.

A man named Christipher Reeves, not to be confused with Christopher Reeve, the late actor known for his portrayal of Superman, was arrested in Utah earlier this week after allegedly driving his truck under the influence.

Davis County sheriff's deputies pulled over Reeves, who was wearing a Superman T-shirt at the time of his arrest, after they caught him allegedly speeding early Tuesday.

Deputies searched Reeves' truck after he failed a field sobriety test and found synthetic marijuana, drug paraphernalia,  "a baseball-sized bag of meth," and about 3 kilograms of Krytonite. Sgt. Susan Poulsen said.

The bag of meth weighed 52 grams. Reeves admitted to ingesting two Lortab prescription hydrocodone pills about two hours before he was stopped, according to police.

Reeves was transported to the Davis County Jail where he was booked on charges including possession with intent to distribute, as well as several traffic offenses.

When I was a teenager I did a lot of stupid things. I saved money just so that I could buy $200 sneakers. I used to drive 90 in my fathers Duece and a Quarter on the freeway, and one night me and a friend of mine sat in the parking lot of White Castle and devoured 100 cheeseburgers. Actually I was probably around 20 when I did that. But it was still stupid. But no matter how stupid I was, I was never stupid enough to leave any PERMANENT evidence.

An 18-year-old from Norway now has a McDonald's receipt tattooed on his right arm. Stian Ytterdahl of Lorenskog, said that his friends wanted to punish him for being "too active with the ladies". 

I'm not exactly sure what that means. But I guess in some kind of weird foreign, Norway kind of way it isn't good.

His friends gave him the option of getting a Barbie tattooed on his butt or his fast food purchase on his arm.

"Now I'm a living billboard," he said. "But I think all this is just fun. Maybe it won't be as fun when I'm 50 or 60 years old, but it's my choice."

The tattoo, which takes up most of his arm, shows a recent purchase that included a soda, cheeseburger and "nonstop Flurry."

A spokeswoman from McDonald's Norway has stated that the teen is "obviously" a "loyal customer."

Sound like code words for, "Thanks dummy!"

The tattoo parlor also offered to ink the receipt they gave Ytterdahl for the first tattoo on his left arm for free and he's agreed. The tattoo on his other arm will be the receipt he got when he bought the crack that made him high enough to agree to the first tattoo.

PR

The Old Fashion Way\The Good Old Days

A few weeks ago my 7 yearsold daughter asked me why an acquaintance of ours, Miss Abigail has a baby and no husband.

This concept is kind of foreign to her, being seven from a 2 parent home and being raised a certain way. I explained to her that some people make different choices than others. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, and sometimes they're just different. I told her what was right and I reinforced what we already told her and she was satisfied.

I few days later I was telling one of my co-worker's the story because, like most father's I think that just about everything my tiny daughter says or does is cute.

The first thing he said to me was, "Oh ya'll are teaching her the old fashioned way", as if we were wrong for teaching our daughter that she shouldn't have children until she gets married.

After further investigation, and conversation I discovered that this person became a father at 14, and a grandfather at 30. So with that being said, as individuals we are the sum totals of our experiences. The problem is that many of us have a tendency to make our experiences "right", and acceptable just because we've been through them. Rather than being retrospective, and realizing that many of the things that have made us are not necessarily things that we should be proud of. In other words, just because you've done it does not make it the right thing for someone else and just because the road less traveled is not a popular one doesn't make it "old fashioned", If the entire world does wrong that doesn't suddenly make wrong right.

"The Good Old Days": This is a highly subjective term. Simply because of the fact that what is good for some, can be awful for others. Conservatives, and Republican's love to talk about the good old days, or simpler times. These phrases are nothing more than "dog whistle words". Phrases that ignite nostalgia to those in America who are constantly being told that they're being displaced by Black and brown people. The "good old days" that they refer to are the decades in this country in which anyone who was not white caught hell multiplied by ten. Once again we as individuals are the sum totals of our experiences. People who are told lies that reinforce their fears experience a disconnect from reality, making days long gone seem ideal. These people seem to forget that the good old days weren't so good. Things like World War's 1 & 2, the Vietnam War, the arms race, the cold war with Russia, Water Gate and the assassination's of 5 key public figures in the same decade. Were those the good old days? If they were? Can somebody please point out the good in any of that?

I'll wait......................

PR

Blame It On A Black Guy

Every year, it seems as if a crazy white person commits a crazy crime and blames it on a Black person. With that being said, here are the top 5 “The Black Guy Did It”  excuses by white criminals:

1. Ashley Todd, Pennsylvania, 2008. This crazy, overweight, young Republican thought it would be a good idea to carve a backwards B on her face and blame it on a Black Barack Obama supporter. Too bad the police investigated her story and found out it was a not so elaborate lie. 

2. Charles Stuart, Massachusetts, 1989. Charles Stuart shot himself and killed his pregnant wife for insurance money and blamed it a Black man. After the police arrested several Black men on suspicion of being involved in the incident, Stuart’s brother admitted that he was involved in the murder of his sister in law. Charles Stuart, later committed suicide. 

3. Susan Smith, South Carolina, 1994. Susan Smith claimed that a Black guy hijacked her car with her kids in it. She went on TV and received a lot of media attention. She would later admit to rolling her car into a lake, with her children in it. Why? So she could start her life over by marrying a wealthy man without having the burden of her old family.

4. Brian Wells, Pennsylvania, 2003. Pizza deliveryman Brian Wells came to a bank in Erie, Pa. with a bomb locked around his neck. He told police that group of Black men had taken him hostage and put the bomb there. After receiving close to $9,000, the pizza man was blown to bits by the bomb. Police would later find out that Wells was in on the plot with a few of his white friends.

5. Bonnie Sweeten, Pennsylvania 2009. Sweeten was found in Disney World riding the carousel after claiming that she and her daughter were abducted by two Black men. Sweeten claimed that she just wanted to "get away" for a while.

These are just 5 fables. Imagine how many others there are, and how many Black people have been incarcerated because of them.

PR

I Wish That I Could

I wish that I could show you the light.

I wish that I could.

Give you every star in the night.

I wish that I could.

I lay here and wonder why.

Why you and not me.

And all that I can reason with myself is that it's not meant to be.

I wish that I could show you the light.

I wish that I could.

Give you every star in the night.

I wish that I could.

If I could gift wrap hope. I'd give it to you on a silver platter.

With a warm side of optimism so that you know how much you matter.

I wish that I could show you the light.

I wish that I could.

Give you every star in the night.

I wish that I could.........

Take you home today.

Heal you right away.

Make your life completely wonderful and good.

But I have to tell you I know someone who could....make it all good.

But I still wish I could.

Just pray.

PR

Just When You a Thought You Heard It All News (3-22-2014)

Change is good, sometimes. It all depends on whether the change is positive or negative. But what seems like good change can actually be negative change especially if you get caught stealing it from work.

A sticky fingered former public works inspector for a northern New Jersey town has admitted stealing $460,000 in quarters.

Thomas Rica pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of theft. In return, prosecutors will recommend that he receive five years' probation and pay about $200,000 in restitution to Ridgewood.

The 43-year-old Hawthorne resident lost his job with Ridgewood in January 2013, following his arrest for taking $500 in coins from its parking meter collection room. But investigators later determined that he stole $460,000 overall.

He must have had a ton of laundry.

Authorities said the money was stolen over the course of 25 months. They say Rica was not authorized to be in the room but would enter it and fill his pockets with money.

They say he deposited the money more than 1.8 million quarters, into his bank account.

Let me just start by saying that I empathize and I sympathize with this woman. I've been there and I know where she's coming from. After all, the average person just can't understand what it's like to be perfectly toned, physically fit, and as lean as we are!

A woman says she was told her "toned body" was too "intimidating" for other gym members to handle, but the gym in question contends that's not exactly true.

Tiffany Austin says that she was working out at a Planet Fitness Gym in Richmond, Calif. on Monday when an employee approached her.

According to Austin, the staff member told her "excuse me we've had some complaints you're intimidating people with your toned body. So can you put on a shirt?”

Oh, snap! That happens to me each and every time I go to the beach.

Austin agreed, but as the first staff member went to go get her a free shirt, another staff member again told her that her body was too fit to be shown. It was at that point that Austin said she asked for a refund for her gym membership and bolted.

But Planet Fitness says the issue was not with Austin's body, but with her outfit.

In a recent statement made by Planet Fitness a spokesperson is quoted as saying. "In this particular instance, club staff received complaints from several members about Ms. Austin’s attire. As a result, a staff member informed her of the dress code policy and also offered to provide her with a free t-shirt to complete her workout. Planet Fitness’ dress code policy is based solely on attire and not physique, as members of all shapes and sizes are welcome in our clubs.”

It's takes all kinds of people to make a world. But the fact is, some of these people are such super freaks they'd make Rick James blush.

Police say a man in Lincoln, North Carolina sucked a woman's toes at a Wal-Mart after he convinced her he was a podiatry student and persuaded her to take off her shoes.

Okaaaaaaay.

So what would have happened if he told her that he was a proctologist?

Detective Dennis Harris said the woman agreed to try on several pairs of shoes at the discount store in Lincolnton, and that at some point during the process, the man stuck her foot in his mouth. Harris said the man apparently tried the same thing at another Wal-Mart 15 miles away, where he told a woman he was conducting a survey on the feet of different races and nationalities.

The second woman also agreed to take off her shoes, but left when the suspect asked her to remove her socks.

Both confrontations happened Monday. Police are looking for the man.

PR

Jail House Rap!

Ladies and gentleman, I AM TIRED! As a hard working Black man who wakes up and puts in hours at work before the sun even thinks about rising, I am not ashamed to admitt that I AM TIRED! I am tired of defending "my people". People who don't work as hard as me, and don't strive to be anything more than a stereotype. I've had conversation after heated conversation defending "my people" with both fact and theory. At times I've felt like its just another full time job. Advocating less stringent sentences because of the disproportionate incarceration rate, arguing and spouting statistic after statistic in an effort to prove to the naysayers that the system is severely flawed, only to have the very same people that I do verbal battle for spit in my face by playing "the punch out game", and teaching their toddlers how to use profanity and then posting it on YouTube.

I AM TIRED of being thought of as an exceptional Black man just because I do what I'm supposed to do because it seems as if most of us don't.

I AM TIRED of hearing about crimes and arrests on the news, hoping that they aren't Black and then finding out that they are half the time. 

You may ask yourself. What sparked my outrage? Watch this video.

http://youtu.be/YEk4hM2i6Yo

Correction Officers say cell phones like an iPhone go for close to $2,000 behind bars. Phones and other contraband are in such high demand that someone tries to throw them over prison fences just about every day.

A video shows inmates in a South Carolina state prison recording a song with a cell phone, something that is considered contraband behind bars.

"I am not happy about it and I've talked to the warden about why this was allowed to happen and we are doing things currently to change how contraband gets in," said Director of the state Department of Corrections, Bryan Stirling.

The video has only been on the web for about two days and already has close to 500,000 views.

Stirling is the Director of the Department of Corrections and he says any contraband is dangerous but cell phones pose a huge threat.

"We have a case that's in federal court with Captain Johnson where there was an alleged use of a cell phone to perform a hit on Johnson and he was shot six times at his home."

Robert Johnson who was shot back in 2010 was a corrections officer overseeing efforts to keep contraband like cell phones out of Lee Correctional Institution.

With this incident Stirling says there were several broken violations.

"The windows should not have been covered and those are going to be questions in our investigation that I want answers to."

Aside from the covered window, about seven inmates were in a cell without supervision and there was writing on some of the inmate's hats, something Stirling says is a violation.

Apparently inmates make the rules in this prison.

He says there are a number of ways that contraband can get in a prison some hide drugs and phones in footballs and other items.

The department has now added officers to patrol more areas and they are using new metal detecting devices.

"We also walk their mattresses by and it can detect if medal is in them."

There is a bill in the state house that would make it a felony to provide contraband. Lawmakers will discuss the bill yesterday.

As for the seven inmates in the video, they have been removed from that prison and an investigation is ongoing.

All of their efforts are too little, too late. These inmates we're able to record audio and video of what is probably going to be a hit single, and someone will probably capitalize on this foolishness by signing them. The sad, frustrating and disturbing part is the fact that these inmates have no idea how much impact this stunt has. They have single handedly given credence to the conservative ascertain that prisons just aren't tough enough. Never mind the African-American incarceration rate, or the lengthy prison sentences. These guys were happy enough to rap behind bars, had enough freedom to obtain a cell phone, and were relaxed enough to utilize their creativity by coming up with a chorus, rhymes and a beat. What hard time? These institutionalized M.C.'s seem right at home with the concrete, cold steel, and broken dreams, and maybe they are. Which is perhaps, the sadest part of all.

Predictably, proponents of lengthy prison sentences for repeat offenders will use this stupid video as a "case in point" reference because of these moron's gone viral.

PR

Baked To Death

The issue of mental health has long been a taboo topic in the African American community. Having an "ackward", "odd", or "strange" relative living in the back room of a Grandmother or Aunts house is nothing out of the ordinary. They're just kin who are taken care of and handled with kid gloves. Their physical needs are taken care of but often times their mental health needs are ignored. This attitude also seems prevalent in some penal institutions. They put those with a history of mental illness in a cell, feed them, and their mental needs are not met.

Jerome Murdough was just looking for a warm place to sleep on a chilly night last month when he curled up in an enclosed stairwell on the roof of a Harlem public housing project where he was arrested for trespassing.

 

A week later, the mentally ill homeless man was found dead in a Rikers Island jail cell that four city officials say had overheated to at least 100 degrees, apparently because of malfunctioning equipment.

 

The 56-year-old former Marine was on anti-psychotic and anti-seizure medication, which may have made him more vulnerable to heat. He also apparently did not open a small vent in his cell, as other inmates did, to let in cool air.

 

"He basically baked to death," said one of the officials, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to discuss specifics of the case.

 

The medical examiner's office said an autopsy was inconclusive and that more tests were needed to determine Murdough's exact cause of death. But the officials, all with detailed knowledge of the case, say initial indications from the autopsy and investigation point to extreme dehydration or heat stroke.

 

Advocates for mentally ill inmates in New York say the death represents the failure of the city's justice system on almost every level: by arresting Murdough instead of finding him help, by setting bail at a prohibitive $2,500 and by not supervising him closely in what is supposed to be a special observation unit for inmates with mental illnesses.

 

Department of Correction spokesman Robin Campbell said in a statement that an internal investigation will look into all circumstances of Murdough's death, "including issues of staff performance and the adequacy of procedures."

 

Campbell acknowledged that the temperature in Murdough's cell was "unusually high" and that action has been taken to fix mechanical problems to ensure safe temperatures, "particularly in areas housing vulnerable inmates."

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Murdough's 75-year-old mother, Alma Murdough, said she did not learn of her son's death until the Associated Press contacted her last week, nearly a month after he died. His public defender was told of the death three days after the inmate was found, the Department of Correctiond said.

 

"He was a very lovely, caring guy," said Murdough, adding that her son had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and that she had not seen him in about three years.

 

"He had beer problems. Drinking beer. That was his downfall. Other than that, he was a very nice guy. He'd give you the shirt off his back."

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Family members say Murdough grew up in Queens and joined the Marine Corps right out of high school, doing at least one stint in Okinawa, Japan.

 

When he returned from the service, his family said, both his mental illness and thirst for alcohol became more pronounced, and he would often disappear for months at a time, finding warmth in hospitals, shelters and the streets.

 

"When he wanted to venture off, we let him, we allowed him to come and go," recalled his sister, Cheryl Warner. "He always came back."

The sad thing is that although his family knew that he had diagnosed mental disorder's there is absolutely no evidence of any attempt to get him help. He was allowed to just "venture off".

 

According to the city officials, Murdough was locked alone into his 6-by-10 cinderblock cell at about 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 14, a week after his arrest. Because he was in the mental-observation unit, he was supposed to be checked every 15 minutes as part of suicide watch, they said. But Murdough was not discovered until four hours later, at about 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 15. He was slumped over in his bed and already dead.

 

When Murdough was found and his cell opened, his internal body temperature and the temperature in the cell were at least 100 degrees. Those temperatures could have been higher before he was discovered because the cell had been closed for several hours, the officials said.

 

Dr. Susi Vassallo, an associate professor at New York University School of Medicine and a national expert on heat-related deaths who monitors heat conditions at Rikers Island, said psychotropic medications can impair the body's ability to cool itself by sweating, making it retain more heat than it should.

 

Exposure to intense heat for a couple of hours by someone on such medications could be fatal, she said.

  

Of the 12,000 inmates who make up the nation's second-largest jail system, about 40 percent are mentally ill, and a third of them suffer from serious mental problems the department said. Advocates and others have long argued that correction officers are not sufficiently trained to deal with mentally ill inmates whose needs are complex.

 

Catherine Abate, a member of the New York City Board of Correction, an agency charged with overseeing the city's jails, suggested at a recent public meeting that Murdough should have been referred to psychiatric care, not to Rikers Island.

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Jennifer J. Parish, an attorney at the New York-based Urban Justice Center's Mental Health Project, said Murdough appeared to be a man in need of care.

 

"So Mr. Murdough violated the trespass law. So he suffered the consequences by going to jail," Parish said. "But the jail system committed more serious harm to him. And the question is, 'Will they ever be held responsible?'"

 

Wanda Mehala, another of Murdough's sisters, said the family wants an explanation.

 

"We want justice for what was done," she said. "He wasn't just some old homeless person on the street. He was loved. He had a life. He had a family. He had feelings."

Indeed the New York City Department of Corrections was derelict in their duties, and violated Mr. Murdough's civil liberties by allowing him to bake in a cell. But the question is. Why is the issue of mental so difficult to deal with? I am of the opinion that it is because mental diseases are not tangible. Physical wounds are easy to see, easier to treat, and visual. It is hard for man to believe, much less treat or diagnos what he cannot see. But it can be and is being done. But for jails and prisons it becomes a symptomatic, problematic, delicate guessing game, and penal institutions are just not equipped enough to handle these cases. However this doesn't not lessen the responsibility they have to those who are in custody.

PR

Sending Children To Jail!!

In the past I've written a blog or two about the appalling school to prison pipeline which is quickly becoming a staple in some Southern school districts. These schools are taking a zero tolerance approach to adolescent indescretion and rather than calling a child's parents or simply suspending them when they misbehave, children as young as 5 years old are now being placed under arrest by the police and carted off to jail. Many of them end up with a juvenile record as a result of being introduced to the penal system at such an early age. This early incarceration can ruin children's lives and often leads to a lifetime of institutionalization. This is a sad situation indeed and particularly frightening when it's happening right in your own backyard. I have two children in the Wake county school system and I am proud of the students who have recently decided to take a stand against this unfair practice.

Wake County high school students sent a powerful message to school board members Tuesday evening.

Students have criticized school disciplinary policies in the past, but, now, they were advocating for a classmate in jail.

Some students showed up wearing prison suits and handcuffs.

"In Wake County, black students make up 25 percent of the student body, and over 60 percent of suspensions," said Cary High School student Qasima Wideman.

About a half dozen student's with the student advocate group NC HEAT used the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting to blast what they call the system's school-to-prison pipeline.

"You're just constantly, constantly trying to be pushed out of school," said Knightdale High School student Tavon Bridges. "Whether it be in jail, or you just sitting at home not doing any work."

They claim zero-tolerance policies involving minor incidents lead to arrests, juvenile detention referrals and jail. That's the case with their friend Selina Garcia.

Excerpts from a letter the southeast Raleigh senior wrote behind bars read, "I slept in a cage, on a hard metallic bed, with a paper thin mattress."

Garcia remains in jail 12 days after she allegedly got into a fight on a school bus with another student. 

"I just want to see change. This is getting ridiculous," said Broughton High School student Markyona Patrick.

NC HEAT said the system should hire more counselors, not more resource officers and put a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions.

"We've been taking many steps to both recognize the data that's in Wake County which is concerning and I think the board also has taken a lot of steps to improve our discipline policies," said Wake School Board Chair Christine Kushner.

Wake County Schools recently adopted a five level infraction system with five being the highest level. Garcia is accused of a level two violation. So with that being said. Does a level 5 violation equal toture, starvation, or worse.

She was set to graduate this spring, but her arrest now puts that in jeopardy.

Although incarcerating children for simply being children is an outrageous, knee jerk reaction deeply rooted in paranoia, the rules still stand. No matter how unjust or unfair they may be. Throughout my time in public school I was allowed to make mistakes, and I was given countless second chances. I was never a juvenile delinquent or menace to society. But like the majority of adults in America I was involved in the occasional school yard shoving match. Back then suspension or a mid day phone call to my parents was the worst that could happen. Today in our regressive society children are no longer given the luxury of failure. Just the disadvantage of swift punishment. They just don't have the option of making a mistake. Because in this encironment the things that seemed trivial thirty years ago are now being used as weapons to destroy them. With that being said, as parents we have to know the laws in our state, and have an in depth knowledge of school policies. We must be ever vigilant in making sure that our children have a clear understanding of these policies and rules so that they can adhere to them no matter how ridiculously unfair they are. Their futures may depend on it.

PR

The Drop Dead Confession

Those of us who are Christian's and believe in the principal's of Christianity know that whatever you sow you must reap. The process of sowing and reaping  is made in reference to planting seeds and watching them grow to bare fruit.

In this case the sowing is done in the deeds that we do, good or bad, and the reaping represents the result of those deeds, good or bad. The process of reaping and sowing is often thought of as the long term process. But sometimes it may not take nearly as long as we think.

Bishop Bobby Davis, a Connecticut pastor has died after confessing to his congregation he cheated on his wife.

On Sunday Davis asked the congregation to stay afterward for him to make an important confession that he had already made to his wife of 50 years.

Davis collapsed suddenly when members of the congregation questioned him about his admitted infidelity. 

But according to the local media, churchgoers were actually expressing their forgiveness when Davis unexpectedly passed away.

A church elder was quoted as saying: "We were shouting, 'We forgive you, we love you,' but the stress of all of it, he had a heart attack." Davis' official cause of death, though, has not been determined.

Police have already reviewed a video that a church member recorded while attending service. Police have also interviewed several witnesses.

Davis had been a pastor at the church he and his wife founded since 1967. He leaves behind six children and eight grandchildren.

May he rest in peace.

PR

Her Father Shot Him

This story serves as a fatal, cautionary tale. A narrative fraught with deception, youthful indescretion, bad judgement, disobedience, and lies. A tale with plot twist's that continually changed my opinion, and gave me cause for self examination.

A Houston father who fatally shot 17-year-old Johran McCormick, whom he discovered in bed with his 16-year-old daughter will likely not face charges. But he will still have to look in the mirror and face himself each and every day.

“What was going on in the person’s mind at the time of the shooting,  not what they found out after the fact” is key, said Houston area prosecutor Warren Diepraam. “They’re looking at what he was thinking when he made the decision to shoot.

 McCormick, who was unarmed, was discovered around 2:30 a.m. after the girl’s younger brother noticed two feet sticking from underneath his sister’s bed and went to tell his father.

The father, who has not been identified, grabbed his gun and ran to his daughter’s room where he confronted who he assumed was an intruder.

The girl initially lied and said that she did not know McCormick. The father and the teen argued and when it appeared that the boy was reaching for a gun, the father shot him. 

McCormick died at the scene.

His distraught mother, Zakia McCormick, is allegedly hoping that the girl’s father is charged with murder.

“If you take a life, you give your life,” Zakia McCormick  “We’re suffering. Why isn’t he suffering too?”

“I wish the father could have asked more questions, he could have picked up the phone,” said Shawn Curley, the teen’s father. “And for her to say she didn’t know who he was, that was most hurtful.”

McCormick was shot in the head.

At the time of his death, his parents both believed that he was in New Orleans for Spring Break and had no idea that he had returned.

“For him to be in someone else’s house at 2:30 in the morning is shocking to us,” Curley said. ”Every day one of us would tell him, ‘Don’t go by no little girl’s house if her parents don’t know you.’ “

The 55-year-old father suffered panic attacks after the shooting and was rushed to the hospital.

Scenario's like this have been a staple in teen comedies and coming of age stories ever since I can remember. A budding teenage girl hides a boy in her bedroom closet or under her bed and prays that he isn't discovered. It usually ends with a teenage boy climbing out of the window, dropping to the ground and running across someone's lawn. Each and every time that I've seen this situation play out I'd declare that if it were my daughter I don't know what I'd do. But it wouldn't be anything nice. Not taking into account the fact that I was once the teenage boy under the bed, or in the closet. I was so enamored at the time that I never considered the fact that this girl was somebody's daughter. At the time it just didn't resonate with me. It meant absolutely nothing.

As the patriarch's of their homes most men have the natural inclination to protect their families. But sometimes it is necessary to stop and consider the circumstances before you do something that cannot be undone. There are no do over's after murder. His daughter lied to him. Had she told the truth, her boyfriend would probably still be alive today.

McCormick disobeyed his parents who said, "Every day one of us would tell him, ‘Don’t go by no little girl’s house if her parents don’t know you.’ 

In addition he lied about where he would be. Although it seems like a small thing given the fact that just about all teenagers lie and deceive, his decision to do so put him in a perilous situation. So in a way Johran McCormick bares some of the responsibility for his own death. 

This girls father let his anger get the best of him and as a result he killed an unarmed child. In the end, bad judgement killed Johran McCormick.

So once again I ask myself what I would do if I was in the same situation. I definitely wouldn't kill the boy. But I would definitely "beat his behind", and leave him alive.

PR