What ever happened to....

Ghostwriter

The Hardy Boys Books


The Commodore 64

Danger Mouse


Teddy Ruxpin (I loved this little guy)


Candy Straws


Webster!!!


Olympic Gold Medals for USA Basketball


Reasonable Gas Prices

Crystal Pepsi


(Winning) Maryland Basketball :-(


Nintendo Gameboy


Ross Perot

Question of the Day: What are some things from the past you remember and/or wonder about?

What's your take on this?

My guy works for my state’s Democratic Party and has been slaving away to help prepare the Maryland delegation for the DNCC in Denver. This work will only get more intense in the coming days and weeks leading up to President Obeezy’s coronation. We’ve done a fairly decent of continuing to spend time together, but it’s been a struggle.

The situation as a whole is still alright, but is noticeably different from the way it was just a few weeks ago. Our communication has broken down and is damn near 100% text-based of late. We chat by telephone for a few minutes (less than 5) once or twice a day. I can deal with this, but recently it’s been a struggle to even get a timely response to an email. We’ve gone from seeing each other four or five times per week to maybe once or twice. The sex hasn’t been whack but is noticeably not as good as it was at first.

Here’s the gotcha, gotcha: there’s been someone else in the mix other than my significant other who has been occupying my mind and a chunk of my time. We talk via text and phone all the damn time. Hell, we had drinks and dinner the other night. So far, we HAVE NOT had sex, kissed or done anything remotely intimate, but still…I’m doing this with someone other than the person I’m supposed to be dating.

I feel some kind of way about this, but I can’t figure it out. I've tried (admittedly not very hard) to have conversations about my concerns, but essentially for him work comes first. I can dig that, but damn...can I have you, too? On one hand, we haven’t had the exclusivity talk, but I think getting there…maybe. On the other hand, is there anything wrong with having a void filled by someone else?

What constitutes cheating on your significant other in your mind? To me, cheating is anything that would break the trust your guy or gal have in you and your relationship. I personally don’t think cheating is necessarily exclusive to physically having sex with someone else other than your partner either.

Let me know what you think.

US Budget Deficit Hits Record High; Economy Low

I'm submitting this as a writing sample to a political blog being developed that is affiliated Baltimore City Paper. Similar opportunities are available with similar papers in D.C. and Philly.

The blog will have a liberal slant and is more formal than the actual newspapers, but don't think Huffington Report or anything like that. At the end of the day it's still associated with an alternative weekly.

I'd love for you all to read it and let me know what you think. Thanks.

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These are mind-boggling numbers. The U.S. national debt was about five trillion almost eight years ago when President Bush inherted a budget surplus from the Clinton administration, now it's about nine-and-a-half trillion dollars.

The White House is now predicting the budget deficit next year will be close to a half-trillion dollars, $482,000,000,000.00 to be exact. It equals about $1,500 for every person in the country. Add to that another eighty billion. That's the costs of the war that aren't included in next year's national debt projections. And add to that the $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities out there in front of the retiring baby-boomers for Medicare, Social Security.

The debt accumulated on George Bush's watch exceeds the national debt accumulated by all the previous presidents of the United States.

This country is broke. And there's only one way to solve that problem. You have got to either tax people more or spend less money. Politicians don't want to talk about either one of those.

Look at Fred Thompson and his performance in the primary. It's interesting to hear Fred Thompson about entitlement reform. He was quite passionate about it and said the things that one would expect to hear from someone who really wants to get things done. And we all know what happened to Fred Thompson's candidacy.

You know the mistake that politicians are making this time around, the public gets it. The public understands we're broke. The public understands $200 billion a year interest on the existing national debt. They know that we don't have the money to fund the wars or social security or universal health care. They get it. They want somebody, I think, to stand up and say, look, we got problems and I have solutions.

Put the damn brown paper bags away.

"You can't get shit in this world as a black man unless you one of them high-yellow niggas that got good hair...like him," said the guy who owns the barbershop I go to the other day. People chuckled, but I was too preoccupied with my Blackberry to realize who he was referencing. I took a break from the email I was drafting, glanced up and say everyone in the room looking at me.

"What?!? That's fucking bullshit," I responded.

"Nigga, if we both go outside and a cop walks by, he's gonna fuck with me before he'd fuck with you cus you a high-yellow nigga -- a house nigga," he replied back still edging up the person in his chair. "I tell my son to hate ya'll light-skinned cats."

I put down my Blackberry; he had my attention.

"A house nigga?!? Really?!? In 2008?!? We're still talking about being "in the house" because of the color of my skin?!? You're being so fucking ridiculous right now."

He turns to another barber, "This lil nigga, on [my son's] football team is light and pretty just like that. I tell [my son] to fuck that light-skinned nigga up every chance he gets. But you ain't no house nigga though. I don't know what you is. You ain't even black. What you Dominican or some shit?"

"Nah," interjects the guy who cuts my hair as he puts finishing touches on the kid he's cutting, "that nigga Mexican or Puerto Rican or Colombian or some shit, nigga." People snickered, but I didn't.

"You ready, Juan Carlos?" asks my barber with a grin. It was my turn to get in the chair and when he was done I went on my way.

Driving home I thought about a lot of things. I wondered why black people consistently stigmatize each other and pull each other down like crabs in a barrel based on stupid shit like the color of my skin in relation to that of another black person. I thought about what on a macro level led us to this type of conversation and why in 2008 a man is teaching his son to dislike another black kid based strictly on the fact that he has lighter skin.

In its recent "Black in America" documentery, CNN referenced "colorism" -- a form of discrimination in which human beings are accorded differing social and treatment based on skin color. I intially dismissed it as an overexageration of something that happens on occassion to a very small number of blacks. Then I got a taste of it for myself.

Is this an isolated event involving a simple idiot or pervassive underlying issue in Black America. What's your take?

I Made a Few Changes

I've been wanting to make some design changes and today I finally got around getting started. I hope to introduce some new features and begin posting more frequently than I have in the last several weeks. At this point I can't really promise anything as I don't know what I want to do.

Bear with me while I work out the kinks. Oh, and let me know if you have any trouble navigating or anything like that. I already know there's an issue with the header when viewing this site with IE. Until I figure it out and fix it consider this your punishment for using IE in the first place.
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President Obama = Simply Sensational

I love this shit and by 'this shit' I mean Obama's JFK-esque global appeal.

Over 200,000 of them motherfuckers gathered in Berlin yesterday to see the next America's next President and chief diplomat begin his quest to repair the United State's reputation as a global citizen.

The speak he gave was decent and was met with mixed reviews both at home and abroad, but this spectacle is nothing short of sensational.

Hurry the fuck up, January 20th.
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These Trannies Are Fucking Hilarious

There's too much going on in this vid to keep up with. I just can't do it. Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow, but not tonight.

The anti-gay cartoon Oklahoma County commish Brent Rineheart's used for re-election

This is pretty disgusting to me, but I'll let you call it.

I watched this dude on CNN's American Morning before heading out to work today. John Roberts asked him if he were homophobic. Rinehart's response verbatim: Well, I'm not even sure as to what homophobic means.

"But let's just keep in mind that we are in a cultural war, " Rinehart continued. "Not just here in the state of Oklahoma but nationwide."

Sadly, far too many people think like this idiot in rural America. Urban areas, too.

SMH @ how this backward yokel spelled "pedophile" incorrectly each time he tried to use it in the cartoon.

That's just one page in the comic book Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart sent to his constituents seeking re-election:

In one panel, you've got Satan holding up a pitchfork, the balloon overseeing his head says, "If I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal." And Angel on the other side of the panel says, hey, Satan, not with Brent around you won't."

Yes, is more where this homophobic foolishness came from and yes, it does get worse than this.

In this panel, there's a lineup of caricatures of gay men, one of them wearing a toga. Some of the signs that they're carrying say we're here, we're queer, get used to it, I want be a Boy Scout leader.

If you want to see the whole book, click here.

This is old, but it made me laugh...

...and turned me on.

Edit: I've watched this no fewer than 10 times already today. I dunno what it is about this vid-yaw that does it for me.

Ahhh, Jeeze. Not this shit again.

After studying "An Idiot's Guide to Creating Inflammatory Magazine Covers", the staff at The New Yorker quickly got going on next week's cartoon. Someone there clearly took great notes, made their "let's make this most inciting" list and checked it twice.

• Traditional Muslim garb donned by a man who clearly isn't Muslim. Check.

• An AK-47 and afro sporting Michelle Obama. Check.

• Mural of the elusive Osama bin laden hanging above the mantel. Check.

• A burning American flag. Check.

• Oh, and just for shits and giggles -- the quintessential "terriost fist jab". Double Check.
  

I'm all for political satire, but this goes too far. Since when did liberal publications blast liberal presidential candidates this hard on non-issues?

Shame on you, The New Yorker.

I'm in New York right now, but I'll post soon.

I know, I know. It's been nearly two weeks since I've posted anything here and it's been longer than that since I've posted anything of substance. That is so unlike Mr. Jones and you hoes know it, so spare me the big shit.

Between work and play (and trust me...there's been lots of play), I just haven't had the time to post like I used to. To be honest, I forgot how much time this whole relationship thing requires. I ain't complaining though.

I'm in New York right now, but I'll post something soon. I promise.

Until then...please entertain yourself by watching this vid-yaw of wack ass Terrence (of BET's 106 and Park "fame") completely ruin Rocsi's day by shitting all over her.

The first dig @ 1:07 was shallow. He would've been fine if he had just left it at that, but he didn't. He tried it @ 1:11 with the "why can't you have a body more like Ciarra?" comment.

This dude REALLY tried it @ 2:19 by bringing her mistake back up. Bwahahaha @ Rosci starting to catch feeling @ 2:20 and then again @ 2:24, trying to keep it together at 2:26 and the walk off at 2:49.

With that kind of build up, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Aye...I'm going to the Chi, Joe. (UPDATED)

UPDATE: So, I arrived in Chicago hours ago without issue. After expected delays and a bevy of travel-related issues, I got here without a hitch. I mean, this was really the easiest travel day I've ever had.

I took the train from my office today around 11am to Baltimore's BWI, waited about 40 mins to board my flight which departed exactly when it was supposed to and arrived at Chicago's O'Hare airport a full 10-minutes before we were supposed to. I then took the blue line from O'Hare to the loop area, flagged down a taxi that drove me all of 3 minutes to Hotel 71. Upon arrival, my taxi was greeted by a eager bellperson waiting to take my bags upstairs. Within minutes of entering the hotel, I was upstairs admiring my view, which is phenomenal.

Speaking of my view...from my hotel room, which overlooks the Chicago River and the city's famed riverwalk, I can see a number of Chicago landmarks. The most prominent of which are the ubiquitous Marina City towers, the Wrigley Building and the 92-story Trump International Hotel.

That's all for now. I need to grab a bite to eat and figure out how I plan to entertain myself tomorrow.

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What up, peoples? Mr. Jones was in dire need of a vacay, so he booked himself one. Nothing too major, just a little mid-western get-away.

I'm off to Chicago for a relaxing week void of anything work-related. I might get a chance to update you guys. I might not. Who knows? All I know is that plan to enjoy myself when I finally get there.

I made the ultimate mistake of flying United...into O'Hare. My flight has a 70% on-time rating. We all know what O'Hare gives, so I'd be ecstatic if I make it to my hotel at some point today.

Have a great week and a safe holiday. I'll get up with you hoes next week sometime.

Peace.