My Rant - King Cheney

I am outraged that there is so little outrage regarding King Cheney's latest proclamation. For those few souls not preoccupied with the ordeals of Paris Hilton, our VP wanna be King, stated he does not have to adhere any executive orders. Therefore, he is exempt from providing congress with documents pertaining to his public office. By extension, he claims congress has no check and balance oversight of his shadow de facto government.

Let's look back over his reign.

Remember the energy policy Cheney crafted in secret that lead to Enron bilking billions from the state of California. Remember the billions upon billions of non-bid contracts awarded to Cheney's Haliburton - only to have Haliburton relocate its headquarters to the middle-east, thus, avoiding paying American taxes. Remember what Cheney uttered about the Iraqi war: we will be greeted as liberators; the war will be a cake walk; Iraqi oil revenue will pay for this war; Saddam possesses WMD and we should not wait for the mushroom cloud; the insurgency is in the last throes. Remember how our Veep shot his friend and reported the incident over 16 hours later - I guess the affects of his drinking had worn off. Remember how Cheney told a senator to F**koff on the senate floor.

Well, now Cheney is essentially telling the country to F**koff and mind it's own business. The business of Cheney, our elected servant, is off limits to us. My god, just think, the congress initially went after Bill Clinton for a land deal worth a couple hundred thousand dollars. What does Dick Cheney have to do before he generates the same or more amount of outrage?

To repeat the words of a reader of a Charlotte, NC newspaper: We should go after Cheney because he is a dangerous rogue nation.

Holiday Cookouts

If you are anything like me, the Fourth of July cookouts can be diet busters. Hey, if you agree, I have some relatively good news. I was listening to Dr. Ian Smith (think 500 million pound challenge) on the radio this morning and he stated (to paraphrase) have a good time and enjoy (eat) at your holiday cookout. He further stated, it's not the Fourth to worry about, it's the fifth of July and the rest of the summer to be most concerned about. In other words, it's ok to spurge for one day, however, after that day return to your healthier eating way of life.

Here is an healthier version of hot wings I found online:

1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsps hot sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
skinless 1/2 cut chicken breast

Coat chicken with 1/2 cup of blue cheese salad dressing. Add the above ingredients. Allow the chicken to marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Last, you can bake or grill the chicken.

If you have a healthier version of our favorite cookout foods, please share.

My Bookshelf

I am currently reading On the Shoulders of Giants, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The book is a fascinating and informative account of his journey through the Harlem Renaissance.

Jabbar recounts how a racial slur by his high school coach (his coach claims it was used to motivate Jabbar) inspired him to research the Harlem Renaissance. His summer’s 1964 trek to Harlem from his all white Manhattan neighborhood became Jabbar’s awakening. He discovered one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements of our history.

Kareem does not portray the Harlem Renaissance (1920s and 1930s) through rose color lenses. No, he unwaveringly details the mythological Harlem and the gritty day to day Harlem without diminishing the cultural contributions by the giants of that era. He describes the two identities as Oz Harlem and Daily Harlem:

First, there was the idealized Harlem that white people imagined because of its portrayal in white films and in white literature. In Oz Harlem, whites were welcome, … in high class nightclubs such as the Cotton Club, which featured black jazz performers, black dancing girls, and a deferential black staff – but only allowed white patrons. In Oz Harlem, blacks entertained and serve, but didn't mingle with whites. …white visited this Harlem weekly, seeing only what they wanted to see. Like people visited a zoo who marvel at the animals but ignore the cages.

…behind the velvet curtain of Oz Harlem was the other Harlem … the on that black people wrote about, sang about, painted and sculpted. The one where black people actually lived, worked, cooked, went to church … This was the Harlem where they raised families, raised the rent, and, on occasion, raised the roof.

Kareem also explains how the confluence of geopolitical, social, and cultural events sparked the Harlem Renaissance. These events include, The Great Migration of blacks from the south to the north; WWI service of African-Americans - the returning soldiers had experienced rights and freedoms in Europe and demanded the same from their home country; and, the immigration to Harlem by blacks from the West Indies such as Marcus Garvey.

Finally, Kareem shares profiles of the giants of the era including W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglass, William H. Johnson, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong,to name a few. These profiles are connected to the continuum of black progress and Pan-Africanism.

This is a must read!

Fitness Blunders

I love bullet lists. They serve up the information with less fat. Speaking about less fat,

Top 5 Nutrition/Fitness Blunders:

• Believing that food deprivation will help you lose and sustain your ideal weight. Simply, lowering calorie intake is not sufficient to healthy weight management. To maintain the optimal weight our bodies need to achieve the right blood glucose level. The answer is smaller meals (3 times daily) and healthier snacks in between meals.
• 100% diet perfection – This is a set up for failure. The more you deprive, the stronger you will crave. We need to gradually modify our diets, so relax; you can eat your favorites (just in smaller portions).
• Abdominal crunch madness – Many of us believe that ab exercises alone will flatten that belly. Wrong! We need to burn calories and fat in order to obtain that slim and sleek look.
• Cardio Overdrive – To be effective, our workouts need a balance of strength training (think weights) and 15-30 minutes of cardio two to three times a week.
• Not having a realistic workout schedule – you know yourself and your schedule; hence, it is wise to start small and build up. Maybe you can begin by walking 20 minutes 3 times a week and then expand from this point after three weeks.

For more information see www.gleemagazine.com

Healthy Mind, Body and Soul part two

As I stated in my bio, I reside in Washington, DC. In particular, I live in Southeast, DC.

Southeast is currently in a state of transformation. New condos, businesses, restaurants, schools, shopping centers, and not to mention new baseball stadium and the proposed waterfront development are bringing a new energy to this community that was mostly famous for crime and drugs. Underneath the veneer of this transformation reveals a community still suffering from drugs, crime, unemployment, and disease (southeast has the city’s highest diabetes, infant mortality and aids rate). All of these issues surfaced on June 2, 2007 at the annually street festival called Unifest.

A woman, apparently high from smoking crack all day, plowed her car into the throngs of celebrating people as the festivities were winding down for the evening. The woman, approaching speeds of 50-70 mph, struck and injured over 40 people. It was a miracle no one was killed. It was reported, this deranged woman was laughing as she drove with reckless disregard for human life.

Earlier in the afternoon, I attended the previously peaceful and violence free festival. I only left to attend a birthday cookout my friends held for me. Upon returning from the cookout, I observed the crime scene and shocked witnesses. I could hear the frequently asked question over and over. Why? What provoked her? I also heard the very toxic; see black folks can’t do nothing (sic) together without chaos.

In my initial anger, I thought, our community makes too many excuses for criminal minded individuals and we can be slow to take responsibility for our failures. I felt we coddle the destructive elements in our community and blame racism for all of our woes. I reflect on the times, when gardening at my home, sometimes people almost hit me with their poorly discarded trash as the drive and walk by. I lament over the lack of self-respect and self-pride that has invaded our neighborhood. Lastly, I thank god for my own block of hardworking people that take excellent care of our properties.

After my initial anger, I realize my thoughts fall far short of the mark. Yes, I am correct in many of my above observations. However, that’s not the full story. A wise man once stated: Don’t curse the darkness, light a candle. I ask myself, have I carried enough lit candles. People locked in poverty, unemployment, ignorance, death, and disease find themselves depressed and with little self-worth. It’s far too easy to condescendingly remark, what wrong with those people without rolling up our own sleeves and toiling next to our brothers or sisters in god's eye. In summary, I answer my candle question by simply lighting a few more candles myself.